Topic: How To Invest

Pat: Upon reviewing my portfolio, I question whether the following purchase, suggested by a previous broker, should continue to be held: Citadel Premium Income Fund. Your much-valued opinion would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Article Excerpt

Citadel Premium Income Fund, $5.74, symbol CPF.UN on Toronto (Units outstanding: 34.1 million; Market cap: $195.7 million), is a closed-end investment trust. The fund aims to provide monthly income and some capital appreciation through its income-trust holdings. Its $0.085 monthly distribution yields 9.4%. The fund trades at a 10.0% discount to the net value of its assets. The fund’s managers have proposed merging it with seven other Citadel funds as well as TSX-listed Crown Hill Fund into a single fund that would be called Citadel Income Fund. As income trusts will lose their tax-favoured status at the beginning of 2011, the merged fund may look for other ways to maximize income. These may include buying common shares and debt securities. However, a group of dissident unitholders have put forward an alternative proposal that would see the funds combine into a fund called Blue Ribbon High Income Fund. This group believes that its proposal would let unitholders benefit from administration and management fees…