With all the negative press swirling around UBS’s family of Puerto Rico funds, investors are undoubtedly concerned about the current value of their investments.  The following breaks down the current net asset value (NAV) of many of the UBS Puerto Rico Funds as reported by each fund’s latest quarterly report:

UBS Puerto Rico Fixed Income Fund I, Inc. – current NAV value of $6.73.

UBS Puerto Rico Fixed Income Fund II, Inc. – current NAV value of $7.40.

UBS Puerto Rico Fixed Income Fund III, Inc. – current NAV value of $6.86.

UBS Puerto Rico Fixed Income Fund IV, Inc. – current NAV value of $8.28.

UBS Puerto Rico Fixed Income Fund V, Inc. – current NAV value of $8.48.

UBS Puerto Rico Fixed Income Fund VI, Inc. – current NAV value of $9.76.

UBS Puerto Rico Investors Tax-Free Fund, Inc. – current NAV value of $6.63.

UBS Puerto Rico Investors Tax-Free Fund II, Inc. – current NAV value of $6.62.

UBS Puerto Rico Investors Tax-Free Fund III, Inc. – current NAV value of $6.95.

UBS Puerto Rico Investors Tax-Free Fund IV, Inc. – current NAV value of $6.64.

UBS Puerto Rico Investors Tax-Free Fund V, Inc. – current NAV value of $6.75.

UBS Puerto Rico Investors Tax-Free Fund VI, Inc. – current NAV value of $7.85.

UBS Puerto Rico AAA Portfolio Bond Fund, Inc. – current NAV value of $8.17.

UBS Puerto Rico AAA Portfolio Bond Fund II, Inc. – current NAV value of $9.22.

UBS Puerto Rico AAA Portfolio Target Maturity Fund, Inc. – current NAV value of $8.65.

UBS Puerto Rico Tax-Free Target Maturity Fund I, Inc. – current NAV value of $1.11.

UBS Puerto Rico Tax-Free Target Maturity Fund II, Inc. – current NAV value of $1.64.

UBS Tax Free Puerto Rico Fund, Inc.  – current NAV value of $8.29.

UBS Tax Free Puerto Rico Fund II, Inc. – current NAV value of $7.75.

UBS Tax Free Puerto Rico Target Maturity Fund, Inc. – current NAV value of $7.40.

UBS Puerto Rico Mortgage-Backed & Government Securities Fund, Inc. – current NAV value of $7.04.

UBS Puerto Rico GNMA & US Government, Inc. – current NAV value of $8.49.

As you can see, several of these funds have suffered catastrophic losses.  Additionally, due to the way these investments are structured, the NAV value is not necessarily what buyers would pay for these investments on the secondary market.  One quirk of closed-end funds is that the share prices can diverge wildly from the NAV.

Unfortunately for investors, the risks and features of closed-end funds like the UBS Puerto Rico Funds are often misunderstood.  For example, closed-end funds can use leverage, or borrowed money, to increase their income distributions.  This leverage adds enormous risk, particularly when rates rise as they recently did.  This is because the fund then has to pay a higher rate on its borrowing.  Distributions from closed-end funds can at times be nothing more than a return of your own principal.  This practice can sometimes mask larger problems within the fund until it is too late.

Often the problem with how these investments are sold is to ignore some of these risks and features and to focus on the yield potential.  Of course a mere discussion of yield makes it appear that closed-end funds are perfect for conservative, income seeking investors.  This ignores the risk that the investor is assuming to achieve that yield.

The White Law Group continues to investigate the liability that brokerage firms may have for selling the UBS Puerto Rico Fund investments.  Brokerage firms and financial advisers have a fiduciary duty to perform due diligence on any investment they recommend and to insure that each recommendation is appropriate in light of the investor’s age, net worth, income, investment experience, and investment objectives.  If a broker or brokerage firm recommends an unsuitable investment, investors may have an actionable claim to recover their investment losses in a claim through FINRA dispute resolution.

If you are concerned about your investment in a UBS Puerto Rico closed-end municipal bond fund investment and would like to speak to a securities attorney about whether you have a potential FINRA dispute resolution claim, please call The White Law Group’s Boca Raton, Florida office at 561-807-6804 for a free consultation.

The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Boca Raton, Florida and Chicago, Illinois.

For more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at http://whitesecuritieslaw.com.