Horizons ETFs launches its first ETF in Colombia

BOGOTÁ, Oct. 23, 2013 /CNW/ - Horizons ETFs Management (LATAM) LLC ("Horizons LatAm"), a member of the Horizons ETFs Group, is pleased to announce the launch of its first ETF in Latin America in partnership with CitiTrust.  The new ETF will be listed on the Bolsa de Valores de Colombia.

The Mercado Integrado Latino Americano (MILA) platform is an integrated trading venture formed by the Colombia, Perú and Chile stock exchanges. Recognizing the growing importance of the Andean region, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC ("S&P") partnered with MILA to create the S&P MILA 40^™ Index (the "Index"), a key indicator of regional stock market performance. Horizons ETFs Group has a license agreement with S&P to use the Index in Latin America.

The rapid growth of MILA's three member exchanges has allowed MILA to emerge as a regional alternative to Brazil's BM&FBOVESPA. Between 2003 and 2012, the combined total market capitalization of Colombia, Perú and Chile rose to USD $672 billion from approximately USD $117 billion, an increase of nearly 500%, according to S&P.

Cititrust Colombia S.A. will act as the management company of the new ETF, while Horizons Investment Management Inc., an affiliate of Horizons LatAm, will act as the portfolio manager.

"This is our first ETF in Latin America," said Howard Atkinson, Managing Director of Horizons LatAm and the Global Head of Sales and Marketing for Mirae Asset Global Investments' ETF business. "Solid economic growth and deepening financial markets in Colombia, Perú and Chile have put the Andean region on the global investment map," added Mr. Atkinson, "MILA is attracting a lot of interest from investors diversifying away from the 'BRIC' nations  (Brazil, Russia, India and China), which are all experiencing their respective challenges."

"We're very pleased with the listing of our first ETF on the Colombia Stock Exchange.  Mirae Asset has a globally renowned reputation for identifying and serving markets with the greatest potential. We believe that building an ETF business is a great way to participate in the growth of Colombia, Chile and Perú," said Mr. Taeyong Lee, President of the Global Business Unit and Global Head of ETFs at Mirae Asset Global Investments, the parent company of the Horizons ETFs Group.

"The rapid growth of the MILA markets over the last two years now provides ample support for investment products such as ETFs, said Juan Pablo Cordoba, President of the Bolsa de Valores de Colombia. "ETFs like the one launched by Horizons ETFs, only serve to increase the market visibility of the MILA."

Horizons ETFs Management (LATAM) LLC is a registered investment advisor specializing in exchange traded fund ("ETF") investment management.  The information in this document is believed to be correct at the time of compilation, but no warranty of accuracy or reliability is given and no responsibility arising in any other way for errors and omissions (including responsibility to any person by reason of negligence) is accepted by Horizons ETFs Management (LATAM) LLC, its officers, employees or agents. This document contains general information only and is not intended to be relied upon as a forecast, research, investment advice, or a recommendation, offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities or to adopt any investment strategy. This document may not be published or distributed without the express written consent of Horizons ETFs Management (LATAM) LLC.

Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and have been licensed for use by S&P Opco, LLC ("S&P Opco"), a subsidiary of S&P and sub-licensed by Horizons ETFs Management (LATAM) LLC ("Horizons") for certain purposes. MILA is a trade mark of Bolsa de Valores de Colombia, S.A., Bolsa de Valores de Lima and Bolsa de Comercio de Santiago (collectively, "MILA"), and has been licensed for use by S&P Opco and Horizons. The Index is a product of S&P Opco, and has been licensed for use by Horizons. Horizons LatAm is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by S&P Opco, S&P, Dow Jones or any of their respective affiliates (collectively, "S&P Dow Jones Indices") or MILA. Neither S&P Dow Jones Indices nor MILA makes ant representation or warranty, express or implicit, to the owners of a Horizons branded ETF or any member of the public regarding the convenience of investing in securities in general or in the any of the Horizons branded ETFs in particular, or the capacity of the Index to track the general trends of the market.

About the Horizons ETFs Group (www.HorizonsETFs.com)
Horizons ETFs Management (LATAM) LLC and Horizons Investment Management Inc. are members of the Horizons ETFs Group. The Horizons ETFs Group consists of innovative financial services companies offering regional families of ETFs in Canada, Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, the United States and Colombia. Currently, all of the ETFs offered by these companies use the Horizons ETFs' brand with the exception of the 'BetaShares' family of ETFs in Australia and the 'Mirae Asset Tiger ETFs' family in Korea. With approximately $8 billion in assets under management and 141 ETF listings worldwide, the Horizons ETFs Group makes up one of the largest collective families of ETFs in the world. All of the Horizons ETFs Group companies and affiliates are subsidiaries of Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., Ltd.

About Mirae Asset Global Investments (www.MiraeAsset.com)
Mirae Asset Global Investments is one of the world's largest investment managers in emerging market equities (Investments & Pensions Europe, January 2013). With approximately 550 employees, including 137 dedicated investment professionals, Mirae Asset offers a breadth of emerging markets expertise. Mirae Asset's offices are located in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Taiwan, the U.K., the United States and Vietnam. Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, the firm manages $58 billion in assets globally through a diversified platform to offer market-leading franchises in traditional equity and fixed income products, ETFs and alternative strategies, such as real estate, private equity and hedge funds.

About Mercado Integrado Latinoamericano (MILA) (www.mercadomila.com)
The Mercado Integrado Latino Americano (MILA) exchange was formed in 2011 by the integration of trading platforms from the Colombia Stock Exchange, Lima Stock Exchange and Santiago Stock Exchange. MILA is Latin America's second largest stock exchange after Brazil's BM&FBOVESPA by market value, and the largest by number of listings.

About the S&P MILA 40™ Index
The S&P MILA 40™ Index is designed to track the performance of the 40 largest and most liquid stocks trading on the Mercado Integrado Latino Americano (MILA) platform, an integrated trading venture formed by the Colombia, Perú and Chile stock exchanges.  The S&P MILA 40™ is intended to provide a primary benchmark for the rapidly growing Andean equity market.

About Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
"ETF" stands for exchange traded fund. Like mutual funds, ETFs invest in an underlying basket of assets, such as stocks, bonds, currencies, options or commodities. Unlike mutual funds, however, the participation units of ETFs trade like ordinary shares, meaning that pricing is transparent and that ETFs can be bought and sold throughout the regular trading day on the stock exchange. Index based ETFs generally aim to track, as closely as possible, the performance of a given index or asset class, before fees and expenses. They are a liquid, cost-efficient and flexible investment tools - designed to be attractive to both individuals and institutional investors.

SOURCE: Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc.

Howard Atkinson
Horizons ETFs Management (LATAM) LLC
[email protected]
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Federico Torres
Horizons ETFs Management (LATAM) LLC
[email protected]
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