Fund in a fix

THE ISLAND’S LARGEST mutual fund has a $52 million problem.
Fortress Fund says its Caribbean Growth Fund (CGF) is awash with cash but it is struggling to find suitable investments in Barbados and the region.
Fortress said CGF had cash reserves of about $52 million – 15 per cent of the fund’s assets – ready to be invested but the opportunities were few.
“The fund returned 0.5 per cent for the year ended September 30, 2013,” said the annual report for the year ended September 30, 2013.
“This is once again well below the long-term average, reflecting the significant economic headwinds in Barbados and elsewhere in the Caribbean.”
The report said the fund remained constrained in its ability to invest outside Barbados and the Caribbean by exchange controls and the availability of foreign currency.