Marquest Canadian Equity Income Fund Closes Initial Public Offering

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - May 9, 2011) - Marquest Canadian Equity Income Fund (TSX:MIF.UN) (the "Fund") is pleased to announce the closing of its initial public offering. Pursuant to the offering, the Fund issued an aggregate of 2,250,000 units (the "Units") at $10.00 per Unit, for gross proceeds of $22,500,000. The Units are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (the "TSX") under the symbol MIF.UN.

The Fund's investment objectives are to provide holders with:

1. monthly distributions; and
2. the opportunity for long-term capital appreciation.

In order to achieve the Fund's investment objectives, the Fund will invest in a broadly diversified portfolio (the "Portfolio") of the securities (the "Portfolio Securities") comprising the S&P/TSX Equity Income Index (the "Index") in approximately the same weightings as in the Index and may sell covered call options on the Portfolio Securities from time to time in order to enhance returns and lower the overall volatility of the Portfolio.

The Fund's initially monthly distribution is expected to be $0.0583 per Unit (approximately $0.70 per annum, representing an annual cash distribution of 7.00% based upon the $10.00 per Unit issue price).

The Index is market capitalization weighted and is comprised of 50 to 75 of the highest yielding securities selected from the S&P/TSX Composite Index with each constituent being capped at 5% of the Index and each Global Industrial Classification Standard sector being capped at 30% of the Index. The manager of the Fund, Marquest Asset Management Inc. ("Marquest"), believes that the Index will become the new benchmark for equity income mandates in Canada and that the securities comprising the Index will benefit from the positive outlook for the Canadian economy, which is being driven by the improving prospects of the global economic recovery.

Marquest is a private Canadian investment management firm which offers a diverse range of quality equity and fixed income investment products to retail and institutional investors.

The Fund has granted the agents for the offering an over-allotment option to acquire up to an additional 337,500 Units at a price of $10.00 per Unit at any time during the next thirty days.

The syndicate of agents for this offering was led by Scotia Capital Inc., CIBC World Markets Inc., and RBC Capital Markets, and included BMO Capital Markets, National Bank Financial Inc., Canaccord Genuity Corp., GMP Securities L.P., HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc., Macquarie Private Wealth Inc., Raymond James Ltd., Mackie Research Capital Corporation, Wellington West Capital Markets Inc., Dundee Securities Ltd., and Union Securities Ltd.

"Standard & Poor's®" and "S&P®" are trademarks of Standard & Poor's ("S&P") and have been licensed for use by the Fund. "TSX®" is a trademark of the TSX, Inc. and has been licensed for use by S&P. The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by S&P or the TSX, Inc. and neither S&P nor the TSX, Inc. make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in the Fund.

Certain statements included in this news release constitute forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those identified by the expressions "targeted", "may", "will" and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Fund. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect Marquest's current expectations regarding future results or events. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. Although Marquest believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. Marquest undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statement or information whether as a result of new information, future events or other such factors which affect this information, except as required by law.