S&P Merger Arbitrage Index Launched By S&P Dow Jones Indices

NEW YORK, Dec. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices, the world's largest provider of financial market indices, announced today the launch of the S&P Merger Arbitrage Index, which seeks to model a risk arbitrage strategy that exploits commonly observed price changes associated with a global selection of publicly announced mergers, acquisitions or other corporate reorganizations. The Index has been licensed to ProShares to serve as the basis for an upcoming ProShares ETF.

"The S&P Merger Arbitrage Index aims to address the market's continued interest in a merger arbitrage strategy says Vinit Srivastava, director of strategy indices at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "This offering expands our family of long-only merger arbitrage indices and further builds our capabilities in the alternative indexing space." 

The S&P Merger Arbitrage Index (the "Index") is comprised of stocks that are active in pending merger deals. At any given time, a maximum of 40 companies that are currently targets in merger deals are represented in the Index in long positions and a maximum of 40 companies that are currently acquirers for the same stock merger deals are represented in short positions.

The S&P Merger Arbitrage Index includes two sub-indices which represent the long and the short components of the headline Index separately –

• S&P Merger Arbitrage - Long Index
• S&P Merger Arbitrage - Short Index

For more information on the S&P Merger Arbitrage Indices, please visit: www.spindices.com.

About S&P Dow Jones Indices

S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., is the world's largest, global resource for index-based concepts, data and research. Home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500 ^® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ^SM, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC has over 115 years of experience constructing innovative and transparent solutions that fulfill the needs of institutional and retail investors. More assets are invested in products based upon our indices than any other provider in the world. With over 830,000 indices covering a wide range of assets classes across the globe, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC defines the way investors measure and trade the markets. To learn more about our company, please visit www.spdji.com.

Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC ("S&P"), a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC ("Dow Jones").  These trademarks have been licensed to S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, Dow Jones, S&P and their respective affiliates (collectively "S&P Dow Jones Indices") do not sponsor, endorse, sell, or promote any investment fund or other investment vehicle that is offered by third parties and that seeks to provide an investment return based on the performance of any index. This document does not constitute an offer of services in jurisdictions where S&P Dow Jones Indices does not have the necessary licenses. S&P Dow Jones Indices receives compensation in connection with licensing its indices to third parties.

SOURCE S&P Dow Jones Indices

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