Notes

"The Swiss Helvetia Fund (SWZ) is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company. The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation through investment in equity and equity-linked securities of Swiss companies. The Fund will invest primarily in equity and debt securities of Swiss companies. The Fund does not intend to enter into transactions to reduce currency risk.
http://www.swz.com/default.cfm

From the FAQ (see Web site)...

* What type of the currency exposure does the Fund have?
The FundÕs equity investments are denominated in Swiss francs. The cash and short-term investments are generally held in Swiss francs as well. The investment policy of the Fund is not to hedge the exposure to the Swiss Franc. As a result, investors in the Fund are fully exposed to fluctuations in the value of the Swiss franc relative to the U.S. dollar.

* How do changes in the U.S. dollar / Swiss franc exchange rate affect the FundÕs Net Asset Value?
The Fund benefits if the U.S. dollar weakens against the Swiss franc because the FundÕs Net Asset Value (NAV) increases once translated (daily) into U.S. dollars. The market price of the Fund may not react to the same extent because it is by definition exposed to market forces (supply and demand of the stock). The market price movement may not reflect the NAV movements, hence the presence of a market price discount/premium to NAV.
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Switzerland is a quasi-EU member. It doesn't use the Euro, and the Swiss franc moves independently of other currencies.

Swiss interest rates have been significantly lower than in the US or Europe for a while; the general expectation is for them to increase.

Switzerland is a good way to play global and emerging markets:
http://tinyurl.com/2ojshx

There seem to be no oil & gas companies in Switzerland, or at least, in this fund. (There are some utilities.) There are many pharmaceutical and financial companies.

More info: http://www.etfconnect.com/select/fundpages/global.asp?MFID=3902

NAV updated daily at Web site.

17JUL07 $18.73

Fees: 1.17%
Discount to NAV: 10.9% (historically the discount has been around 13%)
There has been significant insider buying for the last year.

Thoughts: The discount to NAV and the management fee are decent. Insider buying is steady. The fund has significant exposure to large-cap companies with significant global reach. The combination of growth, yield, and discount makes a persausive argument for buying.

1AUG08

NAV: $17.43
Discount: 14.7%
Expense ratio: 1.1%

Insider buying in June, around the $15 mark (possibly this is part of the fund's ongoing share repurchase program).

It's not a bad way to get Nestle and Roche, two solid companies only available to US investors via the Pink Sheets (i.e. poor liquidity).

TEN LARGEST HOLDINGS, as of May 30, 2008
Nestle SA 15.23%
Roche Holding AG 11.05%
Syngenta AG 9.57%
Novartis AG 7.26%
Temenos Group AG 4.22%
Atel Holding AG 3.76%
UBS AG 3.62%
BKW FMB Energie AG 3.17%
ABB Ltd. 3.10%
CENTRALS KFTWK AG 2.63%

22NOV08 - $9.78

NAV per share: $12.63

"NEW YORK, Oct. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Board of Directors of The Swiss Helvetia Fund, Inc. (NYSE: SWZ - News), a closed-end investment company, announced today that it has increased the authorization for open-market repurchases under the Fund's 2008 stock repurchase program from 500,000 shares to 1,000,000 shares of the Fund's common stock during 2008. The principal purpose of the stock repurchase program is to enhance stockholder value by increasing the Fund's net asset value per share without creating a meaningful adverse effect upon the Fund's expense ratio. The Fund has repurchased 494,130 of its shares in open-market transactions during 2008.

Small insider buying in October.

23JAN09 - $10.61

NAV: $12.43
Discount: 14.6%

Top 25% of its portfolio (31DEC08):
Nestle 17%
Roche 13%
Novartis 9%

Food and medicine: pretty defensive.

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