SMM Salient Midstream and MLP Fund

HOUSTON, June 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Salient Midstream & MLP Fund (the "Fund") (NYSE: SMM) provided today a summary of unaudited statement of assets and liabilities and announced Net Asset Value (NAV) as of May 31, 2022.

On May 31, 2022, the Fund's total assets were $233.8 million and the NAV per share was $9.72. On May 31, 2022 the closing share price of the Fund was $8.50, which was trading at a 12.6% discount to the NAV.¹ The Fund's NAV and market price total returns for the month of May were 6.6% and 8.1%, respectively, compared to 6.6% for the Alerian Midstream Energy Select Total Return Index (AMEIX).² The Fund's NAV and market price total returns year-to-date (YTD) were 32.9% and 28.9%, respectively, compared to 26.7% for the AMEIX.² 

While we continue to consider various alternatives to enhance shareholder value, we believe the most effective strategy to improve the discount is to generate top quartile total returns relative to our peer group of leveraged regulated investment company (RIC) and C-Corp closed-end funds and to pay an attractive and growing cash distribution to investors.³ Over the last 12 months, SMM has increased its distribution by 46% and management plans to review the distribution rate every six months with expectations to continue passing through distribution increases as the Fund's portfolio has distribution increases.

Since the Fund's inception, the portfolio management team has focused on generating top-tier total returns rather than focusing on the distribution rate and the Fund's performance over multiple time period's versus its peers is provided in the table below along with a ranking of SMM vs. peers. 

Since inception in 2012 SMM is the second best performing closed-end fund on market price and the third best on NAV in the peer group of eleven funds.

SMM's inception to date (ITD) annualized total return (based on market price) of -1.2% has outperformed the RIC Average of -3.2% and C-Corp average of -3.8%. Likewise, on a NAV basis, SMM's ITD return of 0.1% compares favorably to the -2.6% return for the peer group of RIC Funds and -1.7% for C-Corp Funds.

May Market Commentary

May was a strong month for energy infrastructure equities which were up 6.6% as measured by the Alerian Midstream Energy Select Index (AMEIX).² A meaningful portion of the industry reported earnings in early May that were largely better than expected across multiple metrics such as cash flows, throughput volume and margins. Healthy earnings increases compared to last year were met with a generally positive reaction from investors. For the remainder of 2022, we remain positive on the industry as 1) free cash flow after dividends is growing at a healthy pace, 2) hydrocarbon volumes are growing as drilling activity improves and 3) capital allocation remains mostly focused on returning excess cash to investors through buybacks and potential dividend increases.⁴

Crude oil as measured by the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) benchmark was up 9.5% for the month of May and is now up 52.5% for the year.⁵ Crude oil prices have moved sharply higher due to the war in Ukraine. Russia produces ~10 million barrels per day (mmbbls/d) of crude oil, or about 10% of global supply and is the second largest crude oil exporter after Saudi Arabia.⁶ Markets are worried that crude oil supplies may be disrupted which could lead to a spike in crude oil prices well above current levels. Europe's move towards sanctioning Russia's energy exports could lead to a further spike in global crude oil and natural gas prices. Longer term, we view crude oil prices in the $70-$80 range as being positive for investment in the American energy industry. While the Ukrainian war will have an as yet unknown effect on crude oil supply, fundamentals remain robust as energy consumption continues to rise post COVID. Commodity analysts continue to see a tight supply environment for both crude oil and natural gas in 2022 and potentially into 2023 as energy demand appears to be on trend to exceed peak pre-COVID levels.⁷ We believe that current prices are sufficient to lead to U.S. volume growth in 2022, with increases in production already showing up in recent Energy Information Administration (EIA) data. The promise of these incremental volumes should be supportive of midstream companies going forward.

The Fund's Top 10 holdings as of May 31, 2022 are shown below:⁸

The Fund's unaudited balance sheet as of May 31, 2022 is shown below:

Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Salient Midstream & MLP Fund is a Delaware statutory trust registered as a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. The Fund's investment objective is to provide a high level of total return with an emphasis on making quarterly cash distributions to its common shareholders. The Fund seeks to achieve that objective by investing at least 80% of its total assets in securities of MLPs and midstream companies. There can be no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined under the U.S. federal securities laws. Generally, the words "believe," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "project," "will," and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, which generally are not historical in nature. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future results to differ significantly from the Fund's present expectations or projections indicated in any forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, changes in economic and political conditions; regulatory and legal changes; leverage risk; valuation risk; interest rate risk; tax risk; the volume of sales and purchase of shares; the continuation of investment advisory, administration and other service arrangements; and other risks discussed in the Fund's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. The Fund undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements made herein. There is no assurance that the Fund's investment objective will be attained.

About Salient

Salient Partners, L.P. ("Salient") is a real asset and alternative investment firm that offers a suite of strategies focused on energy and infrastructure, real estate and tactical alternative investments. Institutions and investment advisors turn to Salient to build smarter, more efficient portfolios. Strategies are offered in the form of open- and closed-end funds and separately managed accounts. Salient was founded in 2002 and has offices in Houston and San Francisco. Learn more about Salient at www.salientpartners.com.

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SOURCE Salient Partners, L.P.