Portfolio realignment

I used the first trading day of 2009 to do a bit of realignment to my portfolio. Toward the end of 2008, I spent quite a lot of time look at Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) to provide a bit of protection and spreading some of the risk.Started 2009 with some specific counters in mind and have outlined them below:

Small caps:

Beige Holdings (BEG) - have been a regular buyer of this counter over the last few years and expect some big things in the future

Bioscience Brands (BIO) - believe that for the patient investor, this is another share that could offer some nice growth potential

Freeworld coatings (FWD) - New one on my list - noticed that it is trading well below its NAV and expect it to come up for grabs for the private equity players

Buildmax (BDM) - Been watching the sharp guys at Brait taking a strategic stake in this business and think that it also offers some intriguing longer term opportunities in the coal and energy space

Interwaste (IWE) - I'm a big believer in the whole waste management game - particularly in South Africa. With Enviroserv having been delisted, Interwaste proves the only entry point - even if the share price has been somewhat battered since listing.

Larger industrials:

Grindrod (GND) - Touched on this shipping and diversified industrial counter previously

Invicta Holdings (IVT) - Long time success story and one of those which I believe will be well positioned despite tough economic conditions

Big names:

Naspers (NPN) - the media company with its offshore strategy (particularly in South America and Asia definately fits my portfolio well)

Reinet (REI) - the Rupert hedge fund as its affectionately known. These guys have made a living generating huge wealth for South Afircans. Suppose it would be good to trust them with a few bucks of mine.

Pref shares and others:

Grindrod Pref (GNDP)
Standard Bank Pref (SBPP)
Beige Holdings Pref (BEGP)

Newgold (GLD) - Gold exchange traded fund - didn't have anything in my portfolio at this stage and thought I might hedge my bets a bit here

CBN013 - The carbon credit note issued by Sterling Waterford. Something a little different for my portfolio but I believe in the longer term story and bought it for many of the reasons I liked GLD.

The main thinking behind this realignment is to begin rebuilding some wealth, protecting the value of the portfolio (in hard currency terms) and using things like the Preference shares to begin to generate cash flow from the investments.

HOWEVER

I still don't buy that the US has seen the end of its troubles and with lots of uncertainty around India / Pakistan - I wouldn't get too excited about this new year rally. Interesting times ahead....