Placing your bets on a post-Fidel Cuba

Placing your bets on a post-Fidel Cuba

If you're hoping to cash in when Fidel finally cashes out - and,
presumably, the US embargo on the country is finally lifted - you might
want to get in touch with the guys running the Herzfeld Caribbean Basin
Fund (ticker symbol CUBA, appositely).

CUBA is not a hedge fund - it is a tiny, closed-end mutual fund run out
of Miami, Michael Katz reports at TheStreet.com. The fund invests at
least 80% of its assets in companies that derive substantial revenue
from operations in the Caribbean region.

The Caribbean Basin Fund's share price has more than doubled since
Castro fell ill last year, Katz says. Over the past 12 months, it has
returned 135%, making it the year's highest-returning closed-end fund in
the US, according to data provided by the Closed End Fund Assocation.

While the fund is not a pure Cuban play - since the embargo prevents any
US company from investing directly in the island nation - Thomas
Herzfeld, president and chairman of the fund's eponymous manager,
insists each of the companies it has invested in has the potential to
significantly increase its business if and when the embargo is lifted.

Hmm. This might not be as risky as investing in an Iranian hedge fund,
but it would still require reasonably-sized cojones.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2007/01/23/2003/placing-your-bets-on-a-post-fidel-cuba/