Sorry but Hibernate 3 doesn't support subselects in the from clause (even though it may generate SQL that uses them). Would this do what you want, or does it have to be the first row of the subselect (even though there is no order specified?)
Code:
SELECT cot.vlCotacaoIndFinanceiro
FROM com.mercurio.lms.configuracoes.model.CotacaoIndicadorFinanceiro cot join cot.indicadorFinanceiro idf
WHERE idf.nmIndicadorFinanceiro = ?
AND idf.pais.id = ?
AND cot in (select cif
from com.mercurio.lms.configuracoes.model.CotacaoIndicadorFinanceiro cif
where cif.indicadorFinanceiro = idf and cif.dtCotacaoIndFinanceiro <= ?)