Northern Income Equity fund grabs preferred shares

He also owns a BB- rated subordinated convertible note due June 2006 issued by the Interpublic Group of Companies, the New York-based holding group of advertising agencies. Last summer, "Interpublic's stock price got clobbered when its earnings didn't meet expectations, and everyone worried about whether they can believe anything that management told us." he said.

He bought the issue before the SEC notified Interpublic in January that it was upgrading an informal inquiry into the company's accounting practices to a formal investigation.