Eaton Vance Insured Florida Municipal Bond Fund (AMEX: EIF) shares rose marginally this week after the board recently announced its intentions to merger EIF into the Eaton Vance Insured Municipal Bond Fund (AMEX: EIM) at a special meeting of shareholders to be held in October.

The closed-end fund was facing some shareholder concerns that its valuation was being hurt through concentrated geographical risk that was unnecessary to endure. Karpus Management, which owns around 14% of the fund, had been a vocal advocate of such a merger in order to unlock value in the fund. In fact, the activist withdrew its hostile intentions and complimented the fund in its most recent Schedule 13D filing with the SEC.

"We would like to commend the Board for its recently announced recommendation to EIF shareholders to merge EIF into the Eaton Vance Insured Municipal Bond Fund ('EIM') at a special meeting of shareholders to be held in October," said Sharon Thomton of Karpus. "Consequently, we wish to withdraw our termination proposal, director nominees and shareholder list request, which were submitted to EIF on April 17, 2008 and April 24, 2008."

However, Karpus did bring up the fact that a related closed-end fund owned by the same group is facing similar problems:

"Given the Board's recently announced action, we also believe that the Board must also address similar circumstances facing shareholders of FEV. In fact, a press release issued by FEV on December 12, 2007 and reiterated again on June 19, 2008 indicated: '... the Board of Trustees of FEV may in the future consider other actions, potentially including a merger of FEV into a similar closed-end Eaton Vance national municipal bond fund.' Without further action by the Board, shareholders of FEV continue to bear concentrated geographical risk without any additional benefit for doing so."

Both of these funds could represent strong buying opportunities for those investors looking to jump on board an activist campaign. The success in EIF will become apparent when the fund is absorbed by the parent and value is unlocked in the fund's shares. A similar story may emerge in FEV, which makes that stock one worth watching closely!

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Insiders know a lot about the companies they work for, so watching their actions can help bank some serious profits. These transactions can be monitored by the public through forms 3, 4, and 5 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Here are the top 5 insider buys from last week, which can be useful when creating a watchlist of stocks with a potential catalyst for this week:

1. Lamar Advertising Company (LAMR) - 10% owner Edward McDermott purchase a substantial block of shares valued at over $20 million.
2. Stericycle Inc. (SRCL) - The company's chairman and director each purchased substantial blocks of shares valued at over $10 million.
3. Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. (OWW) - Par Capital Management Inc. purchased over $12 million in new shares.
4. Saks Inc. (SKS) - Inmobiliaria Carso purchased over a million shares for nearly $10 million.
5. Hearst Argyle Television Inc. (HTV) - Hearst Family Trust purchased nearly a half million shares in a transaction worth some nearly $10 million.

Cardiome Pharma Corp. (NDAQ: CRME) shares moved sharply higher today after the company announced positive phase IIb results for its oral Vernakalant drug. The experimental drug reduced the rate of abnormal heart rhythms in patients with recurrent atrial fibrilation - a condition in which the heart's top two chambers quiver instead of beating regularly, thereby reducing the heart's ability to pump blood efficiently.

Cardiome said it would move forwards with phase III study and seek a development partner or strategic buyer for the entire company. Investors clearly applauded the move since the likelihood of a strategic buyer is substantially higher with every development milestone that they pass. These latest results demonstrated that the dosing group significantly reduced the rate of arrial fibrillation relapse as compared to the placebo group.

"We are delighted to report clearly positive clinical results from our vernakalant (oral) program, which continue to support our belief in the exciting potential of vernakalant as a therapy for atrial fibrillation," said Bob Rieder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cardiome. "With 949 patients and subjects exposed to vernakalant (oral) in this development program, we now have an extensive safety and efficacy dataset to guide us as we move this exciting clinical program forward and finalize our strategic discussions with interested parties."

Shares of Cardiome Pharma rose 27.46% to $10.63 on the news today.

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