PetroChina (PTR) partly liquidated to purchase Bank of Ireland (IRE)

We liquidated slightly more than 50% of our PetroChina holdings and the proceeds were used to purchase shares of Bank of Ireland (IRE). PetroChina rallied 50% in a little more than a month following reports about the company’s plans and approval for an IPO in Shanghai. A Company issuing additional shares as a reason for a major rally does not make business sense and we felt it prudent to take the profit.

Bank of Ireland (IRE) was hammered 35% to 63.5 by 9/6/2007 in the wake of fears about exposure to subprime mortgages. It has since rebounded after management reassured investors on good growth prospects. The purchase price of $76.4 is still about 22% below the 52-week high of 97.89 attained on 2/23/2007.

The list of stock sales and the gain/losses for the year are listed below:

Stock	Buy Date	Price	Sell Date	Price	% Gain (Loss)
Harrah’s (HET)	75.61	10/2/2006	83.68	8/7/2007	10%
St. Joe (JOE)	39.4	8/7/2007	41.8	8/8/2007	6%
Google (GOOG)	441	3/14/2007	515.99	8/10/2007	17%
LOCM (LOCM)	5.47	8/10/2007	6.094	9/17/2007	11.4%
PetroChina (PTR)	106	9/12/2006	188.5	10/1/2007	77.8%
Overall Portfolio Gain/(Loss) YTD	-	-	-	-	5.5%

An analysis of Bank of Ireland will follow.