First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust”)
today announced the anticipated launch of the First Trust ISE Global
Wind Energy Index Fund. The industry’s first
wind energy exchange-traded fund (ETF) is anticipated to begin trading
on June 18th on the NYSE Arca under the ticker symbol (NYSE Arca:FAN).
First Trust will be the investment advisor for the ETF.
“First Trust is pleased to introduce an ETF
product that focuses entirely on wind energy,”
said Robert Carey, CFA, and Chief Investment Officer of First Trust.
“We are watching the wind energy industry
rapidly mature due to investment from around the globe. In 2007,
companies involved in wind energy generation participated in a 27%
growth of installed global wind generation capacity, bringing the global
total to more than 94,000 megawatts,” Carey
added.
“Industry experts are predicting continued
growth of installed wind generation capacity worldwide for a number of
reasons, including concerns about supply security, rising fossil fuel
costs, and mitigation efforts related to environmental problems and
climate change. First Trust sees the acceleration in the building of
global wind generation capacity as a strong signal that wind generation
has become an important global growth industry,”
Carey said.
The First Trust ISE Global Wind Energy Index Fund will seek investment
results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the fund’s
fees and expenses) of the ISE Global Wind Energy Index (symbol: GWE), a
modified market capitalization weighted equity index consisting of a
portfolio of companies throughout the world that are active in the wind
energy industry based on an analysis of the products and services
offered by these companies. The index includes only companies with
market capitalizations of at least $100 million.
About the ISE Global Wind Energy Index
The ISE Global Wind Energy Index is owned and was developed by the
International Securities Exchange LLC, in consultation with Standard &
Poor’s, a division of The McGraw-Hill
Companies, Inc. Index components are reviewed for eligibility and the
index is rebalanced semi-annually according to the index methodology.
The index is calculated and maintained by Standard & Poor’s.
About First Trust Advisors L.P.
Based in Lisle, Illinois, First Trust Advisors L.P. and its affiliate,
First Trust Portfolios L.P., are privately-held investment services
companies which were established in 1991 and operate nationwide and also
in Canada and Europe.
The firms provide a variety of investment services, including asset
management, financial advisory services, and municipal and corporate
investment banking, with collective assets under management or
supervision of over $34 billion as of May 31, 2008 through closed-end
funds, unit investment trusts, separate managed accounts and
exchange-traded funds.
First Trust employs an enhanced indexing approach for its ETF products.
Enhanced indexing builds on the basic principles of index construction
with an emphasis on performance rather than market tracking. The First
Trust ISE Global Wind Energy Index Fund will be First Trust’s
37th ETF. For more information, please visit www.ftportfolios.com.
Principal Risk Factors
An investor should consider the fund’s
investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before
investing. For a copy of the prospectus which contains this and other
information about the fund, call First Trust at 1-800-621-1675. Please
read the prospectus carefully before investing.
RISKS
The fund’s shares will change in value, and
you could lose money by investing in the fund. One of the principal
risks of investing in the fund is market risk. Market risk is the risk
that a particular stock owned by the fund, fund shares or stocks in
general may fall in value.
The fund’s return may not match the return of
the Index. The fund may not be fully invested at times. Securities held
by the fund will generally not be bought or sold in response to market
fluctuations and the securities may be issued by companies concentrated
in a particular industry. The fund may invest in micro-cap, small-cap
and mid-cap companies. Such companies may experience greater price
volatility than larger, more established companies.
The fund is expected to contain the securities of companies in the wind
energy, utility and industrial sectors, among others.
Companies in the industrials sector face risks that arise from the
general state of the economy, intense competition, consolidation,
domestic and international politics, excess capacity and consumer
demand, spending trends in that they may be significantly affected by
overall capital spending levels, economic cycles, technical
obsolescence, delays in modernization, labor relations and government
regulations.
Companies in the utilities sector may face the imposition of rate caps,
increased competition due to deregulation, difficulty in obtaining an
adequate return on invested capital or in financing large construction
projects, the limitations on operations and increased costs and delays
attributable to environmental considerations, and the risks associated
with capital market´s ability to absorb utility debt, taxes, government
regulation, international politics, price and supply fluctuations and
volatile interest rates.
Companies in the wind energy business can be significantly affected by
obsolescence of existing technology, short product cycles, falling
prices and profits, competition from new market entrants and general
economic conditions. Shares of the companies involved in the wind energy
business have been significantly more volatile than shares of companies
operating in other more established businesses. This industry is
relatively nascent and under-researched in comparison to more
established and mature industries, and should therefore be regarded as
having greater investment risk. Because many wind energy companies have
been newly created and are unseasoned, the shares of these companies may
be considered to be speculative and subject to extreme volatility and a
greatly increased risk of loss.
Investors buying or selling fund shares on the secondary market may
incur customary brokerage commissions. Investors who sell fund shares
may receive less than the share’s net asset
value. Shares may be sold throughout the day on the exchange through any
brokerage account. However, shares may only be redeemed directly from
the fund by authorized participants, in very large creation/ redemption
units.
The fund is classified as “non-diversified.”
A non-diversified fund generally may invest a larger percentage of its
assets in the securities of a smaller number of issuers. As a result,
the fund may be more susceptible to the risks associated with these
particular companies, or to a single economic, political or regulatory
occurrence affecting these companies.
Not FDIC Insured • Not Bank Guaranteed •
May Lose Value
CTA Integrated Communications
Shirley Thompson,
President/Chief Executive Officer
Bevo Beaven, General
Manager/Senior Vice President
303-665-4200