US Buyback Leaders Fund Closes its $53 Million Initial Public Offering

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - March 25, 2015) -

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Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. (the "Manager") is pleased to announce that US Buyback Leaders Fund (the "Fund") has completed today its initial public offering (the "Offering") of Class A Units at a price of $10.00 per Class A Unit and Class U Units at a price of US$10.00 per Class U Unit for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $53 million. The Fund has granted the Agents an over-allotment option to acquire up to 15% of the Class A Units issued at a price of $10.00 per Class A Unit exercisable in whole or in part for a period of 30 days following today's closing of the Offering.

The Class U Units are designed for investors who want to make their investment in U.S. dollars. The Class U Units will not be listed on a stock exchange, but are convertible into Class A Units on a monthly basis. The Class A Units are now trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol HUL.UN.

The Fund's investment objectives are to provide Unitholders with (i) the opportunity for capital appreciation; and (ii) quarterly cash distributions.

The Fund was created to provide investors with exposure to select large capitalization U.S. companies that are leaders in terms of share repurchase programs or "buybacks". The Fund invests in an equally- weighted Portfolio (immediately after each rebalancing and reconstitution) of the top 25 ranked US Buyback Leaders that meet the following criteria: (i) are included in the S&P 500 Index; (ii) have a market capitalization that is at least US$10 billion as determined at the time of investment; (iii) are incorporated in the United States of America; (iv) pay a dividend; and (v) have bought back their shares within the prior four quarters as determined at the time of investment. The Manager will quarterly rebalance and reconstitute the Portfolio.

The Manager is responsible for the execution of the Fund's overall investment strategy, including managing the composition of the Portfolio.

The indicative distribution amounts are $0.10 per Class A Unit per quarter ($0.40 per annum representing an annual cash distribution of 4% based on the $10.00 per Class A Unit issue price) or US$0.10 per Class U Unit per quarter (US$0.40 per annum representing an annual cash distribution of 4% based on the US$10.00 per Class U Unit issue price).

The syndicate of agents for the Offering was co-led by BMO Capital Markets, CIBC and Scotiabank, and included National Bank Financial Inc., Canaccord Genuity Corp., GMP Securities L.P., Raymond James Ltd., Desjardins Securities Inc., Dundee Securities Ltd., Global Securities Corporation, Industrial Alliance Securities Inc. and PI Financial Corp. (collectively, the "Agents").

Borden Ladner Gervais LLP acted as counsel for the Fund and the Manager and Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP acted as counsel for the Agents.

Certain statements included in this news release constitute forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those identified by the expressions "expect", "intend", "will" and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Fund, the Manager and/or the Investment Manager. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect the Fund's, the Manager's, and/or the Investment Manager'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 the Fund, the Manager, and/or the Investment Manager 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. The Fund, the Manager and/or the Investment Manager 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.

All capitalized terms noted herein but not defined are as defined in the prospectus of the Fund dated February 25, 2015.

Visit Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. online at www.harvestportfolios.com, or for additional information or a copy of the prospectus, please contact your registered financial advisor.