SEC Form N-CSRS filed by Highland Global Allocation Fund

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM N-CSR

CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF REGISTERED

MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES

Investment Company Act file number: 811-23369

HIGHLAND GLOBAL ALLOCATION FUND

(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)

300 Crescent Court

Suite 700 Dallas, Texas 75201

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

NexPoint Asset Management, L.P.

300 Crescent Court

Suite 700 Dallas, Texas 75201

(Name and Address of Agent for Service)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (866) 745-0264

Date of fiscal year end: September 30

Date of reporting period: March 31, 2025

(a) A copy of the Semi-Annual Report transmitted to shareholders pursuant to Rule 30e-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), is attached herewith.

(b) Not applicable.

Objective 

Highland Global Allocation Fund seeks to provide long-term growth of capital and future income (future income means the ability to pay dividends in the future.)

Net Assets as of March 31, 2025

$282.2 million

Portfolio Data as of March 31, 2025

The information below provides a snapshot of Highland Global Allocation Fund at the end of the reporting period. Highland Global Allocation Fund is actively managed and the composition of its portfolio will change over time. Current and future holdings are subject to risk.

SEE GLOSSARY ON PAGE 6 FOR ABBREVIATIONS ALONG WITH ACCOMPANYING NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS. | 3

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Selected data for a share outstanding throughout each period/year is as follows:

Supplemental Expense Ratios:

Note 1. Organization

Highland Global Allocation Fund (the “Fund”) is organized as an unincorporated business trust under the laws of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Fund is registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), as a diversified, closed-end management investment company. This report covers information for the six months ended March 31, 2025.

On November 8, 2018, shareholders of the Fund approved a proposal authorizing the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of the Fund to convert the Fund from an open-end fund to a closed-end fund at a special meeting of shareholders. The Board took action to convert the Fund to a closed-end fund effective shortly after 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time on February 14, 2019 (the “Conversion Date”). The Fund also effected an approximately 1-for-1.4217 reverse stock split of the Fund’s issued and outstanding shares on February 14, 2019, thereby reducing the number of shares outstanding. Shareholders were paid cash for any fractional shares resulting from the reverse stock split. The Fund began listing its shares for trading on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) on February 19, 2019 under the ticker symbol “HGLB”. The Fund may issue an unlimited number of common shares, par value $0.001 per share (“Common Shares”). Prior to the Conversion Date, the Fund issued Class A, Class C, and Class Y shares.

Note 2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following summarizes the significant accounting policies consistently followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements.

Segment Reporting

The Fund adopted Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2023-07, Segment Reporting (Topic 280)—Improvements to Reportable Segment Disclosures (“ASU 2023-07”). Adoption of the new standard resulted in new financial statement disclosures and did not affect the Fund’s financial position or its results of operations. An operating segment is defined in Topic 280 as a component of a public entity that engages in business activities from which it may recognize revenues and incur expenses, has operating results that are regularly reviewed by the public entity’s chief operating decision maker (“CODM”) to make decisions about resources to

be allocated to the segment and assess its performance, and has discrete financial information available.

The CODM for the Fund is NexPoint Asset Management, L.P. (“NexPoint” or the “Investment Adviser”) through its management, investment, and operating functions, which is responsible for assessing performance and making decisions about resource allocation. The CODM has determined that the Fund has a single operating segment based on the fact that the CODM monitors the operating results of the Fund as a whole and that the Fund’s long-term strategic asset allocation is pre-determined in accordance with the terms of its prospectus, based on a defined investment strategy which is executed by the Fund’s portfolio managers as a team. The financial information provided to and reviewed by the CODM is consistent with that presented within the Fund’s Schedule of Investments, Statement of Assets and Liabilities, Statement of Operations, Statement of Changes in Net Assets and Financial Highlights.

Use of Estimates

The Fund is an investment company that follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance of FASB Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 Financial Services—Investment Companies applicable to investment companies. The Fund’s financial statements have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”), which requires the Investment Adviser to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases or decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Changes in the economic environment, financial markets and any other parameters used in determining these estimates could cause actual results to differ materially.

Valuation of Investments

Pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the 1940 Act, the Board has designated NexPoint as the Fund’s valuation designee to perform the fair valuation determination for securities and other assets held by the Fund. NexPoint acting through its “Valuation Committee”, is responsible for determining the fair value of investments for which market quotations are not readily available. The

Valuation Committee is comprised of officers of NexPoint and certain of NexPoint’s affiliated companies and determines fair value and oversees the calculation of the NAV. The Valuation Committee is subject to Board oversight and certain reporting and other requirements intended to provide the Board the information it needs to oversee NexPoint’s fair value determinations.

The Fund’s investments are recorded at fair value. In computing the Fund’s net assets attributable to shares, securities with readily available market quotations on the NYSE, National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (“NASDAQ”) or other nationally recognized exchange, use the closing quotations on the respective exchange for valuation of those securities. Securities for which there are no readily available market quotations will be valued pursuant to policies and procedures adopted by NexPoint and approved by the Board. Typically, such securities will be valued at the mean between the most recently quoted bid and ask prices provided by the principal market makers. If there is more than one such principal market maker, the value shall be the average of such means. Securities without a sale price or quotations from principal market makers on the valuation day may be priced by an independent pricing service. Generally, the Fund’s loan and bond positions are not traded on exchanges and consequently are valued based on a mean of the bid and ask price from the third-party pricing services or broker-dealer sources that the Investment Adviser has determined to have the capability to provide appropriate pricing services.

Securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or for which the Fund has determined that the price received from a pricing service or broker-dealer is “stale” or otherwise does not represent fair value (such as when events materially affecting the value of securities occur between the time when market price is determined and calculation of the Fund’s net asset value (“NAV”), will be valued by the Fund at fair value, as determined by the Valuation Committee in good faith in accordance with policies and procedures established by NexPoint and approved by the Board, taking into account factors reasonably determined to be relevant, including, but not limited to: (i) the fundamental analytical data relating to the investment; (ii) the nature and duration of restrictions on disposition of the securities; and (iii) an evaluation of the forces that influence the market in which these securities are

purchased and sold. In these cases, the Fund’s NAV will reflect the affected portfolio securities’ fair value as determined in the judgment of the Valuation Committee instead of being determined by the market. Using a fair value pricing methodology to value securities may result in a value that is different from a security’s most recent sale price and from the prices used by other investment companies to calculate their NAVs. Determination of fair value is uncertain because it involves subjective judgments and estimates.

There can be no assurance that the Fund’s valuation of a security will not differ from the amount that it realizes upon the sale of such security. Those differences could have a material impact to the Fund. The NAV shown in the Fund’s financial statements may vary from the NAV published by the Fund as of its period end because portfolio securities transactions are accounted for on the trade date (rather than the day following the trade date) for financial statement purposes.

Fair Value Measurements

The Fund has performed an analysis of all existing investments and derivative instruments to determine the significance and character of inputs to their fair value determination. The levels of fair value inputs used to measure the Fund’s investments are characterized into a fair value hierarchy. Where inputs for an asset or liability fall into more than one level in the fair value hierarchy, the investment is classified in its entirety based on the lowest level input that is significant to that investment’s valuation. The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are described below:

The Investment Adviser has established policies and procedures, as described above and approved by the Board, to ensure that valuation methodologies for investments and financial instruments that are categorized within all levels of the fair value hierarchy are fair and consistent. A Pricing Committee has been established to provide oversight of the valuation policies, processes and procedures, and is comprised of personnel from the Investment Adviser and its affiliates. The Pricing Committee meets monthly to review the proposed valuations for investments and financial instruments and is responsible for evaluating the overall fairness and consistent application of established policies.

As of March 31, 2025, the Fund’s investments consisted of senior loans, asset-backed securities, bonds and notes, common stocks, preferred stocks, LLC interests, master limited partnerships, registered investment companies, cash equivalents, repurchase agreements, rights, and securities sold short. The fair value of the Fund’s loans, bonds and asset-backed securities are generally based on quotes received from brokers or independent pricing services. Loans, bonds and asset-backed securities with quotes that are based on actual trades with a sufficient level of activity on or near the measurement date are classified as Level 2 assets. Senior loans, bonds and asset-backed securities that are priced using quotes derived from implied values, indicative bids, or a limited number of actual trades are classified as Level 3 assets because the inputs used by the brokers and pricing services to derive the values are not readily observable.

The fair value of the Fund’s common stocks, registered investment companies, rights and warrants that are not actively traded on national exchanges, are generally priced using quotes derived from implied values, indicative bids, or a limited amount of actual trades and are classified as Level 3 assets because the inputs used by the brokers and pricing services to derive the values are not readily observable. Exchange-traded options are valued based on the last trade price on the primary exchange on which they trade. If an option does not trade, the mid-price, which is the mean of the bid and ask price, is utilized to value the option. At the end of each calendar quarter, the Investment Adviser evaluates the Level 2 and 3 assets and liabilities for changes in liquidity, including but not limited to: whether a broker is willing to execute at the quoted price, the depth and consistency of prices from third party services, and the existence of contemporaneous, observable trades in the market. Additionally, the Investment Adviser evaluates the Level 1 and 2 assets and liabilities on a quarterly basis for changes in listings or delistings on national exchanges.

Due to the inherent uncertainty of determining the fair value of investments that do not have a readily available market value, the fair value of the Fund’s investments may fluctuate from period to period. Additionally, the fair value of investments may differ significantly from the values that would have been used had a ready market existed for such investments and may differ materially from the values the Fund may ultimately realize. Further, such investments may be subject to legal and other restrictions on resale or otherwise be less liquid than publicly traded securities.

The inputs or methodology used for valuing securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities. A summary of the inputs used to value the Fund’s assets and liabilities as of March 31, 2025, is as follows:

The table below sets forth a summary of changes in the Fund’s assets measured at fair value using significant unobservable inputs (Level 3) for the six months ended March 31, 2025.