OAKVILLE, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Aug. 19, 2014) -
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES
Harvest Portfolios Group Inc., the manager of Brand Leaders Income Fund (the "Fund") (TSX:HBL.UN), is pleased to announce the closing of the previously announced warrant offering of the Fund. The warrant offering was fully subscribed and, as a result, the Fund issued 958,872 units and raised gross proceeds of approximately $11.3 million. The warrant offering expired at 5:00 pm (Toronto time) on August 15, 2014.
The net proceeds from the exercise of warrants will be invested by the Fund in accordance with its investment objectives which include providing holders of units with (i) monthly cash distributions; (ii) the opportunity for capital appreciation; and (iii) lower overall volatility of the Portfolio returns than would otherwise be experienced by owning Equity Securities of the Brand Leaders directly. In order to seek to generate additional returns, the Investment Manager will sell "at-the-money" call options each month on Equity Securities held in the Portfolio. The Investment Manager will not sell call options on more than 25% of the Equity Securities of each Brand Leader held in the Portfolio.
The Fund trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol HBL.UN. As at July 31, 2014, the Fund generated an annualized total return of 14.72%, 13.16%, 11.19% and 10.60%, respectively, for the one, two and three year periods then ended and the period since inception on July 19, 2011.
For more information on funds managed by Harvest Portfolios Group Inc., please visit our website at www.harvestportfolios.com.
Certain statements included in this news release constitute forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those identified by the expressions "expect", "intend", "will" and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Fund. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect the Fund's and Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. (the "Manager")'s, current expectations regarding future results or events. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations, including, but not limited to, market factors. Although the Fund and the Manager believe that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. The Fund and the Manager undertake no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statement or information whether as a result of new information, future events or other such factors which affect this information, except as required by law. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Annualized returns are calculated using monthly compounded returns, net of all fees and expenses.