CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwire - February 22, 2011) - Invesco PowerShares Capital Management LLC, a leading provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with more than $57 billion in franchise assets, announced today the PowerShares Senior Loan Portfolio is anticipated to begin trading March 3, 2011, on the NYSE Arca under the ticker symbol BKLN. The PowerShares Senior Loan Portfolio is the first ETF that provides investors access to a portfolio of senior secured bank or floating rate loans. The fund is expected to issue monthly dividends.
"Senior loans can provide an attractive income stream for yield-minded advisors and investors interested in shortening portfolio duration," said Ben Fulton, Invesco PowerShares managing director of global ETFs. "As a result of shorter maturities and a floating interest rate feature that typically resets quarterly, senior secured loans have the ability to keep pace with rate changes and have historically proven to be more stable than traditional high yield fixed-income investments. We believe the PowerShares Senior Loan Portfolio (BKLN) provides a compelling new means to access this asset class through the benefit-rich ETF structure."
Senior loans -- also called leveraged loans, syndicated loans, bank loans or floating rate loans -- are privately arranged corporate debt instruments that provide capital to a company and are syndicated to a group of banks and institutional lenders. The loans are typically secured by specific assets of the borrower such as property, plant, or equipment and are senior to all other outstanding debt obligations. Proceeds are often used to finance leveraged buyouts, mergers, acquisitions, stock repurchases and other transactions.
The PowerShares Senior Loan Portfolio (BKLN) is based on the S&P/LSTA U.S. Leveraged Loan 100 Index. The Underlying Index is designed to track the market-weighted performance of the largest institutional leveraged loans based on market weightings, spreads and interest payments. The Fund will normally invest at least 80% of its total assets in the securities that comprise the Underlying Index.
The index consists of 100 loan facilities drawn from a larger benchmark -- the S&P/LSTA Leveraged Loan Index which covers more than 1,100 facilities. Loans eligible for inclusion in the index must be U.S. dollar denominated, senior secured first lien, with a minimum initial term of one year, and a minimum initial spread of 125 basis points over LIBOR at the time of issuance. The underlying index which is compiled, maintained and calculated by Standard & Poor's is rebalanced semi-annually and reviewed for deletions on a weekly basis.
Invesco PowerShares Capital Management LLC is leading the Intelligent ETF Revolution® through its family of more than 148 domestic and international exchange-traded funds, which seek to outperform traditional benchmark indexes while providing advisors and investors access to an innovative array of focused investment opportunities. With franchise assets over $57 billion as of Jan. 31, 2011, PowerShares ETFs trade on both U.S. stock exchanges. For more information, please visit us at www.invescopowershares.com.
Invesco PowerShares is part of Invesco Ltd., a leading independent global investment manager, dedicated to helping investors worldwide achieve their financial objectives. By delivering the combined power of our distinctive investment management capabilities, Invesco provides a wide range of investment strategies and vehicles to our retail, institutional and high net worth clients around the world. Operating in more than 20 countries, the company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol IVZ. Additional information is available at www.invesco.com.
Not FDIC Insured | May Lose Value | No Bank Guarantee
Duration is a measure of a bond's sensitivity to interest rate changes that reflects the change in a bond's price given a change in yield.
There are risks involved with investing in ETFs, including possible loss of money. Shares are not actively managed and are subject to risks including those regarding short selling and margin maintenance requirements. Ordinary brokerage commissions apply.
Shares are not individually redeemable and owners of the shares may acquire those shares from the Fund and tender those shares for redemption to the Fund in Creation Unit aggregations only, typically consisting of 100,000 shares.
Investments in loans are subject to interest rate risk and credit risk. Interest rate risk refers to fluctuations in the value of a loan resulting from changes in the general level of interest rates. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the borrower of a loan will be unable and/or unwilling to make timely interest payments and/or repay the principal on its obligation. There is no organized exchange on which loans are traded and reliable market quotations may not be readily available.
As the purchaser of a loan assignment, the Fund typically succeeds to all assigning institution rights and obligations and becomes a lender under the credit agreement with respect to the debt obligation. However, the Fund may not be able to enforce all rights and remedies under the loan including any associated collateral. If the loan is foreclosed, the Fund may become part owner of any collateral and may bear the costs and liabilities of owning and disposing the collateral. The Fund may be required to pass on to a purchaser that buys a loan from the Fund a portion of fees it is entitled to under the loan. In connection with purchasing loan participations, the Fund will have no right to enforce borrower compliance with the terms of the loan agreement, nor any rights of set-off against the borrower, and the Fund may not benefit from any collateral supporting the loan. Consequently, the Fund will be subject to the credit risk of both the borrower and the lender that is selling the participation. In the event of the insolvency of the lender selling a participation, the Fund may be treated as the lender's general creditor and may not benefit from any set-off between the lender and the borrower.
The Fund may invest in non-investment grade, or high-yield, securities (junk bonds). High-yield securities have additional risks, including interest-rate changes, decreased market liquidity and a larger amount of outstanding debt than investment-grade securities.
Proceeds from a current investment of the Fund, both interest payments and principal payments, may be reinvested in instruments that offer lower yields than the current investment due in part to market conditions and the interest rate environment at the time of reinvestment.
The market value of the shares of closed-end investment companies may differ from their NAV. In addition, the shares of closed-end investment companies frequently trade at a discount to their NAV. As an investor in closed-end investment companies, the Fund would bear its ratable share of those closed-end investment companies' fees and expenses, including its investment advisory and administration fees, while continuing to pay its own advisory and administration fees and other expenses. As a result, shareholders will be absorbing duplicate levels of fees with respect to investments in closed-end investment companies.
The Fund may invest all or a portion of its assets in loans of non-U.S. borrowers. Loans of non-U.S. borrowers have additional risks, including decreased market liquidity, political instability and taxation by foreign governments.
The Fund's use of a representative sampling approach will result in its holding a smaller number of loans than are in the Underlying Index, and may subject the Fund to greater volatility.
The Fund currently intends to effect creations and redemptions principally for cash, rather than principally in-kind because of the nature of the Fund's investments. As such, investments in the Fund may be less tax efficient than investments in ETFs that create and redeem in-kind.
The Fund is non-diversified and can invest a greater portion of its assets in securities of individual issuers than a diversified fund.
Investments focused in a particular industry are subject to greater risk, and are more greatly impacted by market volatility than more diversified investments.
The Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate, Barclays Capital U.S. Government: Intermediate and Barclays Capital U.S. Municipal Bond Indexes are unmanaged indexes considered representative of the U.S. investment-grade, fixed-rate bond market, intermediate maturity U.S. government securities market and the U.S. municipal bond market, respectively.
The BofA Merrill Lynch U.S. Corporate Master Index is an unmanaged index of corporate bonds considered representative of the investment-grade corporate bond market.
The Barclays Capital U.S. Treasury: U.S. TIPS is an unmanaged index considered representative of the U.S. Treasury inflation protected securities market.
The Credit Suisse Leveraged Loan Index is designed to mirror the investable universe of the $U.S.-denominated leveraged loan market.
The S&P 500® Index is an unmanaged index considered representative of the U.S. stock market.
Invesco Distributors, Inc. is the distributor of the PowerShares Exchange-Traded Fund Trust II.
PowerShares® is a registered trademark of Invesco PowerShares Capital Management LLC. Invesco PowerShares Capital Management LLC (Invesco PowerShares) and Invesco Distributors, Inc. are indirect, wholly owned subsidiaries of Invesco Ltd.
Standard & Poor's® and S&P® are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC (S&P) and have been licensed for use by Invesco PowerShares Capital Management LLC. The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by S&P or its affiliates, and S&P and its affiliates make no representation, warranty or condition regarding the advisability of buying, selling or holding units/shares in the Fund.
Note: Not all products available through all firms.
An investor should consider the Fund's investment objective, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. For this and more complete information about the Fund call 800 983 0903 or visit invescopowershares.com for a prospectus. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.
Contact Information:
Media Contacts:
Kristin Sadlon
Porter Novelli
212-601-8192