First Trust is first to market with its First Trust ISE Global
Wind Energy Index Fund
NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
The First Trust ISE Global Wind Energy Index Fund (NYSE Arca: FAN)
began trading today on NYSE Arca. It is the first exchange-traded fund
(ETF) to be focused entirely on wind energy.
FAN is designed to track the performance of the ISE Global Wind
Energy Index. The Index provides a benchmark for investors interested
in tracking public companies throughout the world that are active in
the wind energy industry.
"It is exciting for First Trust to be first to market with our
global wind energy ETF," said Robert Carey, CFA, and Chief Investment
Officer of First Trust Advisors L.P., the investment advisor of the
ETF. "FAN allows investors to participate in the growth and
development of global wind power generation through an index of
international companies that are producing equipment and services for
this important growth industry."
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 is First
Trust's 37th ETF. For more information, please visit
www.ftportfolios.com.
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. The index is
reconstituted and rebalanced semi-annually according to the index
methodology. The index is calculated and maintained by Standard &
Poor's.
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.
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
sector is relatively nascent and under-researched in comparison to
more established and mature sectors, 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
Copyright Business Wire 2008
