ETF Change IndexJovian Capital proposes change of investment objectives
2009-05-21 17:16 ET - News Release
Mr. Howard Atkinson reports
BETAPRO MANAGEMENT INC. PROPOSES CHANGE OF INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES FOR
HORIZONS BETAPRO DJ-AIG(SM) AGRICULTURAL GRAINS BULL+/BEAR+ ETFS AND
HORIZONS BETAPRO S&P/TSX GLOBAL MINING(TM) BULL+/BEAR+ ETFS
Jovian Capital Corp. and its subsidiary, BetaPro Management Inc. -- the manager of the Horizons BetaPro DJ-AIG Agricultural Grains Bull Plus ETF, Horizons BetaPro DJ-AIG Agricultural Grains Bear Plus ETF, Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Global Mining Bull Plus ETF and Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Global Mining Bear Plus ETF -- will hold special meetings of the unitholders of each of these ETFs on July 24, 2009, to consider changing the underlying index of the ETFs.
Currently, the underlying index of the Horizons BetaPro DJ-AIG Agricultural Grains Bull Plus ETF and Horizons BetaPro DJ-AIG Agricultural Grains Bear Plus ETF (the HBP Agri ETFs) is the Dow Jones-UBS Grains Subindex (formerly called Dow Jones-AIG Grains Sub-Index), and the underlying index of the Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Global Mining Bull Plus ETF and Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Global Mining Bear Plus ETF (the HBP Mining ETFs) is the S&P/TSX Global Mining Index.
At the special meetings of the HBP Agri ETFs, unitholders of each HBP Agri ETF will be asked to consider revising the investment objectives of the HBP Agri ETFs by replacing the Dow Jones-UBS Grains Subindex with the S&P Agribusiness North America Index. The S&P Agribusiness North America Index is designed to provide liquid exposure to the upstream and downstream supply chain of the agribusiness sector. The S&P Agribusiness North America Index includes some of the largest publicly traded agribusiness companies trading on the U.S. and Canadian exchanges. To ensure investability, constituents must have a developed market listing and meet minimum market capitalization and liquidity requirements. The S&P Agribusiness North America Index has a daily market close that is the same as the daily net asset value calculation of these HBP Agri ETFs, which is expected to be more useful to investors and foster greater liquidity.
By moving to an equity based agricultural index, BetaPro believes the HBP Agri ETFs may benefit from improved market liquidity because public trading of the equity issuers in the index and exchange will close at the same time.
At the special meetings of the HBP Mining ETFs, unitholders of each HBP Mining ETF will be asked to consider revising the investment objectives of the HPB Mining ETFs by replacing the S&P/TSX Global Mining Index with the S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index. The S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index is a subset of the S&P/TSX Global Mining Index. The S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index is designed to provide an investable index of global securities involved in the production or extraction of base metals, other than gold. To ensure investability, constituents must meet minimum market capitalization and liquidity requirements.
The S&P index committee, whose members include Standard & Poor's economists and index analysts, maintains the S&P Agribusiness North America Index and S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index.
By moving to an exclusive base metals index, investors will receive a pure play in the sector, compared with the S&P/TSX Global Mining Index, which included significant weighting to gold. In addition, the S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index has a comparatively smaller underlying basket than the S&P/TSX Global Mining Index which BetaPro believes may also result in improved market liquidity.
"We are pleased to propose changing the underlying indexes of these ETFs to S&P Agribusiness North America Index and S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index," said Howard Atkinson, president of BetaPro. "The proposed changes are in response to market demand and should in both cases significantly improve the market liquidity of these ETFs."