AXA Investment Managers obtain an exclusive licence to create ETF on EPRA European Real Estate indic

AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) are pleased to announce the signing of an exclusive licence to launch exchange traded funds (trackers) on the EPRA Indices, which illustrates AXA IM’s capacity to be highly innovative and offer a new ETF on this asset class.

By announcing the launch of such a product, AXA IM becomes the first issuer in Europe to announce an ETF on the real estate asset class. The superior quality of EPRA indices (calculated by Euronext), combined with the exclusive character of the licence, is a strong foundation and paves the way to making this ETF a success. The EPRA index family was launched in May 2000 to answer demand for real-time indices managed and constructed by Real Estate professionals. They are regarded as the most representative indices on this asset class.

The launch of the ETF is scheduled for the first half of 2004. Euronext, one of the leading trading platforms for ETFs in Europe, has been chosen as the listing Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley all support this initiative and will be official market makers on this new range of products.

Nick van Ommen, Chief Executive Officer of EPRA commented; 'This is a huge step forward for the European real estate sector. The introduction of exchange traded fund, on the listed Real Estate sector, will provide a more professional and flexible environment for both institutional and retail investors. The EPRA ETFs will enable the sector to compete, on an equal footing, with other sectors and asset classes where derivatives already exist.'

Bruno Guiot, Head of EasyETF development at AXA IM said: “Such an innovation illustrates the maturity of the Real Estate sector in Europe and will further enhance the efficiency of this market by offering a liquid and transparent product. AXA IM is honoured to partner with EPRA and is committed to making this product a great success”.

'We are delighted to maintain an excellent relationship with AXA IM which has chosen Euronext as a unique trading platform for all its EasyETF family. As a result, the launch of the new product will be listed on Euronext which has managed the EPRA indices calculation since the launch in 2000, ' Roland Bellegarde, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Cash Market and Listing at Euronext commented.

AXA IM’s Strategy on trackers
AXA IM’s strategy for ETFs is based on the solid and consistent development of our
offerings, leveraging on AXA IM’s vast investment expertise to bring superior solutions. Further to the extension of our EasyETF Euro Sectors range in 2003, AXA IM is delighted to place this innovative product into the market. As one of the pioneers of ETFs in Europe, AXA IM is number one for sector ETFs with a market share of 35% in assets under management and with assets growing 45% in 2003.

The EasyETF offering is part of a broader expertise in passive and quantitative management, with AXA IM managing in excess of € 11 billion countries.

Source: EPRA & AXA

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