New York-based asset manager Van Eck Global today launched on the American Stock Exchange the Market Vectors-Lehman Brothers AMT-Free Long Municipal Index ETF (Amex: MLN), designed to offer investors exposure to investment-grade municipal bonds with a nominal maturity of 17 years or more.
MLN seeks to replicate, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Lehman Brothers AMT-Free Long Continuous Municipal Index. Lehman Brothers is the world’s largest provider of fixed income benchmarks and producer of some of the most widely followed benchmarks in the global debt markets. Issues in the underlying Lehman Brothers index are investment grade and AMT-free. The expense ratio of MLN is 0.24%. This new ETF joins the Market Vectors-Lehman Brothers AMT-Free Intermediate Municipal Index ETF, launched by Van Eck on the Amex on December 6.
“I like to think of both MLN and ITM as offering ‘more munis for the money’,” said Jan van Eck, Principal at Van Eck Global. "I believe they both have a unique combination of benefits for many investors, including a structure that offers the potential for enhanced yield through broader diversification of index constituents.”
Potential investors can get information on this ETF and the underlying Lehman Brothers index by visiting www.vaneck.com/muni.
Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission declared effective the registration statement for a total of six new Market Vectors municipal bond exchange-traded funds, including three national municipal bond ETFs, two state specific municipal ETFs (California and New York) as well as a high yield municipal ETF.
About Van Eck Global
Van Eck Global was founded in 1955. The company managed over $9.2 billion in assets for individuals, insurers and institutional investors, as of December 31, 2007. In addition to the municipal bond ETFs, seven others are marketed under Van Eck’s Market Vectors brand. The other seven are: Agribusiness (Amex: MOO), Environmental Services (Amex: EVX), Global Alternative Energy (NYSE: GEX), Gold Miners (Amex: GDX), Nuclear Energy (Amex: NLR), Russia (NYSE: RSX) and Steel (Amex: SLX). These seven ETFs had a total of over $3.6 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2007. In addition, on January 2, 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission declared effective Coal ETF and Gaming ETF.
Van Eck has a 50+ year tradition of offering global investment choices in hard assets, emerging markets, precious metals including gold, and other specialized asset classes. Van Eck Global investment products are designed for investors seeking innovative choices for portfolio diversification.
About Lehman Brothers
The Lehman Brothers indexes mentioned in this release are trademarks of Lehman Brothers Inc. and are licensed for use by Van Eck Associates Corporation in connection with its family of municipal bond ETFs. Lehman Brothers neither sponsors nor endorses this family of ETFs and it makes no warranty or representation as to the accuracy and/or completeness of the Indexes or the results to be obtained by any person from the use of the Indexes in connection with the trading the ETFs.
About the American Stock Exchange
The American Stock Exchange® (Amex®) offers trading across a full range of equities, options and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including structured products and HOLDRSSM. In addition to its role as a national equities market, the Amex is the pioneer of the ETF, responsible for bringing the first domestic product to market in 1993. Leading the industry in ETF listings, the Amex lists over 380 ETFs to date. The Amex is also one of the largest options exchanges in the U.S., trading options on broad-based and sector indexes as well as domestic and foreign stocks