New ProShares Offer First Way for Fund Investors to Get Short or Magnified Exposure to Style Indexes
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New York, NY, February 22, 2007—ProShares, together with the American Stock Exchange® (Amex®), today announced the addition of 12 exchange traded funds (ETFs) to the ProShares lineup. The new ProShares, benchmarked to six Russell style indexes, are the first ETFs or mutual funds designed to provide short or magnified exposure to growth and value indexes—with large-, mid- and small- cap versions of each.
"Investing in a specific style mutual fund or ETF has long been an easy way to tilt a portfolio's exposure toward growth or value," said Michael Sapir, CEO of ProShare Advisors LLC, part of ProFunds Group. "The new ProShares are a unique—and we think useful—addition to the style fund arsenal. Now, by simply buying an ETF, fund investors can seek to hedge gains in other style investments with short exposure, or seek to increase the buying power of their investment dollar with magnified exposure."
The new "style" funds bring ProShares' total offering to 52 ETFs, covering a wide range of indexes—from broad market choices to specific sectors. ProShares are the first and only ETFs designed to provide short or magnified exposure to indexes. In the eight months since the initial launch of ProShares, the family has grown to more than $3 billion in assets.
"Since the beginning of the year we have more than quadrupled the size of the ProShares lineup—we now offer the third-largest lineup of ETFs in the country," Sapir added. "Investors have been asking us to add more choices because they want to be able to get ProShares’ built-in short or magnified exposure to more of the indexes they use."
The newest ProShares provide short and magnified exposure to each of six benchmark Russell indexes. The UltraShort version of each is designed to provide twice the inverse of the daily performance of the applicable index (before fees and expenses), and the Ultra version is designed to double the daily performance of the applicable index (before fees and expenses).
| Names of ProShares | Dow Jones U.S. Sector Index | Daily Objective* | Ticker Symbol (NAV) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ultra Russell1000 Value | Russell 1000® |
Double
|
UVG
|
|||
| Ultra Russell1000 Growth | Russell 1000® Growth |
Double
|
UKF
|
|||
| Ultra Russell MidCap Value | Russell MidCap® Value |
Double
|
UVU
|
|||
| Ultra Russell MidCap Growth | Russell MidCap® Growth |
Double
|
UKW
|
|||
| Ultra Russell2000 Value | Russell 2000® Value |
Double
|
UVT
|
|||
| Ultra Russell2000 Growth | Russell 2000® Growth |
Double
|
UKK
|
|||
| Names of ProShares | Dow Jones U.S. Sector Index | Daily Objective* | Ticker Symbol (NAV) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UltraShort Russell1000 Value | Russell 1000® Value |
Double the inverse
|
SJF
|
|||
| UltraShort Russell1000 Growth | Russell 1000® Growth |
Double the inverse
|
SFK
|
|||
| UltraShort Russell MidCap Value | Russell MidCap® Value |
Double the inverse
|
SJL
|
|||
| UltraShort Russell MidCap Growth | Russell MidCap® Growth |
Double the inverse
|
SDK
|
|||
| UltraShort Russell2000 Value | Russell 2000® Value |
Double the inverse
|
SJH
|
|||
| UltraShort Russell2000 Growth | Russell 2000® Growth |
Double the inverse
|
SKK
|
|||
"ProShares continues to be active in bringing new and innovative products to the marketplace. The Amex is proud to be partnering with ProShares and listing its 52nd ETF at the Exchange," said Cliff Weber, senior vice president, Amex ETF Marketplace.
"By using Russell's style indexes for these new ETF products, ProShares relies on the same underlying index methodology that produced the leading benchmarks for institutional investors," said Rolf Agather, director of business development for Russell indexes. "These products provide investors with some important new tools to more effectively use growth and value stocks in their investment strategies. We wish ProShares a world of success with them."
About ProShares and ProFunds Group
ProShares are managed by a team headed by Chief Investment Officer Bill Seale. In addition to ProShares ETFs, ProFunds Group manages ProFunds mutual funds, the nation's largest lineup of indexed mutual funds.¹ Since 1997, ProFunds has provided mutual fund investors with access to innovative mutual fund strategies, including funds that seek to magnify daily index performance and funds that seek to increase in value when markets decline. ProFunds Group describes the portfolio managers common to ProFund Advisors LLC, advisor to ProFunds mutual funds, and ProShares Advisors LLC, advisor to ProShares ETFs.
JP Morgan Worldwide Securities Services provides a full range of fund administration services to ProShares.
About The American Stock Exchange®
The American Stock Exchange® (Amex®) offers trading across a full range of equities, options and exchange traded funds (ETFs), including structured products and HOLDRSSM. In addition to its role as a national equities market, the Amex is the pioneer of the ETF, responsible for bringing the first domestic product to market in 1993. Leading the industry in ETF listings, the Amex lists 257 ETFs to date. The Amex is also one of the largest options exchanges in the U.S., trading options on broad-based and sector indexes as well as domestic and foreign stocks. For more information, please visit www.amex.com.
About Russell Indexes
Russell Investment Group's objective index methodology is designed to ensure benchmarks that reflect a true representation of actual market activity. More than $3.8 trillion in investment assets are benchmarked to Russell's U.S. family of indexes. Russell posts its index methodology, including style determination factors, on its web site: www.russell.com.
Media contacts
ProShares: Tucker Hewes, Hewes Communications, Inc., (212) 207-9451, tucker@hewescomm.com
American Stock Exchange: Mary Chung, 212-306-1641, mary.chung@amex.com
Feb 22, 2007
¹ Source: Lipper, October 6, 2006. Lipper defines "indexed fund" as an open-end mutual fund (not an ETF) that falls into one of the following subcategories: pure index, enhanced index or index-based. The majority of ProFunds are categorized by Lipper as enhanced index funds.