"im keen on picking a few of these up down the track at the...

"im keen on picking a few of these up down the track at the right price."

That part of your strategy is most important in this investment climate BB. Patience is very necessary at the moment and you should do well - provided you have luck with your timimg.

Keep in mind that the NTA's provided by the large LIC's at 31/10/08 are now out of date with the XFL down by another 13.6% since then.

ARG have already statad - "While we have increased our energy and natural resource exposures in recent years, we have also been mindful of the much lower dividend yields from these companies and our corporate objective, which includes providing dividend growth to our shareholders,"
and "Looking forward, falling interest rates and input costs should provide some relief from slower revenue growth as the economy contracts but company profits and dividends are likely to remain under some pressure in the foreseeable future."

I and my family hold core holdings of some of these but have lightened considerably since Nov/Dec last year. In this market it doesn't seem wise to be buying Lic's where prices are way above NTA's which are now in doubt.

I should state that I, like you, am looking to purchase as I see fit.

Good luck.

If you are interested in Hedge Funds have a look at Man Investments - http://www.maninvestments.com.au/index.cfm?cat=fundprices&subcat=ahldiversifiedaud&r_id=&CFID=1182816&CFTOKEN=86711652. In particular Man AHL Diversified (AUD)Limited. Needs some investigation, again because of what is happening with all Hedge Funds at the moment.