Topic: How To Invest

Q: Pat: My ex-broker bought a large position in Cymbria for my portfolio. I am now managing my own investments and must decide whether to keep the stock or sell. I would appreciate your opinion on Cymbria. Thanks.

Article Excerpt

A: Cymbria Corp., $56.00, symbol CYB on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 22.6 million; Market cap: $1.3 billion; www.cymbria.com), is a closed-end fund that invests in a portfolio comprised largely of publicly traded stocks. Separately, the fund owns 20.7% of EdgePoint Wealth Management, a private firm that sells mutual funds and asset-management services; it also manages Cymbria’s stock portfolio. Cymbria and EdgePoint are both run by Trimark Financial co-founder Bob Krembil and former Trimark managers Tye Bousada, Patrick Farmer and Geoff MacDonald. Amvescap PLC, parent to the AIM fund family, bought Trimark for $2.7 billion in 2000. Closed-end funds like Cymbria hold portfolios of securities, and their own shares trade on stock exchanges. However, because a closed-end fund’s capital structure (how it finances its operations and its growth) is fixed, its shares can trade at a premium or a discount to the per-share value of the fund’s holdings. Cymbria charges investors a 1.20% MER. It does not pay a dividend. The top 10 holdings in the fund’s…