NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - April 21, 2008) - Over 600 members of the investment community
and the financial press attended the 7th Annual Capital Link Forum on
Closed End Funds and ETFs which took place at the Metropolitan Club in New
York City, following the tradition of previous years.
The Forum focused on current trends and developments in Closed-End Funds
(CEFs) and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and for the first time in Exchange
Traded Notes (ETNs) with presentations by fund managers, analysts and
specialists from the industry, as well as with industry roundtables with
discussion among industry participants.
With a successful track record of seven years, the Annual Capital Link
Forum on Closed End Funds and ETFs has been established as a major industry
event where analysts and portfolio managers can debate with their peers and
present to a wider investor audience.
Traditional attendance has been between 400 and 500 every year and for this
year for the first time it surpassed 600.
Forum Organizers:
This Annual Forum is organized by Capital Link, a New York based Investor
Relations and Financial Communications firm which among other activities
maintains a strategic focus on the Closed-End Fund and ETF sectors.
Sponsors and Presenters:
BlackRock was the Gold Sponsor of this event, while Deutsche Borse Market
Data, First Trust Advisors, Nuveen Investments, Barclays Global Investors,
Invesco PowerShares and Merrill Lynch were the Silver Sponsors.
The Bronze Sponsors included Calamos Investments, Chicago Board Options
Exchange, Cohen & Steers, Eaton Vance Management, Evergreen Investments,
Fund Data, ING Investment Management, NYSE Euronext, Pioneer Investments,
State Street Global Advisors, Tortoise Capital Advisors, The Vanguard Group
and WisdomTree.
The American Stock Exchange and Standard & Poor's were Sponsors as well.
Media Partners:
The Forum's Media Partners included Barron's, Bloomberg, Institutional
Investor, Euromoney Yearbooks, Financial Planning, IndexUniverse.com and
Registered Representative.
Welcome Remarks:
Mr. Nicolas Bornozis, President of Capital Link, made the introductory
remarks highlighting the significance of this Annual Forum as a unique and
major industry event. The Forum serves the double purpose of enhancing the
overall visibility of Closed-End Funds and ETFs in the investment community
while also highlighting current trends, developments, challenges and
opportunities in these areas.
Inaugural Address:
Mr. Mario J. Gabelli, Chairman, CEO & CIO, Gamco Investors, Inc. in his
inaugural address pointed out the evolution of the CEF sector and its
current challenges and highlighted GAMCO's development and positioning in
the sector.
CLOSED-END FUNDS IN 2008: AN OPPORTUNITY OR RISK?
Ms. Sangeeta Marfatia, Closed-End Fund Analyst, UBS Wealth Management
Research introduced Mr. Doug Bond, EVP & Portfolio Manager, Closed-End
Opportunity Fund, Cohen & Steers, who analyzed why the Closed-End Funds can
be an investment opportunity in 2008.
INDUSTRY ROUNDTABLE: THE CATACLYSM OF LEVERAGE IN CLOSED-END FUNDS
Ms. Mariana Bush, Closed-End Funds & Exchange-Traded Funds Analyst,
Wachovia Securities moderated the first discussion panel.
The panel was consisted of Mr. Steven A. Baffico, Director of Strategic
Initiatives, BlackRock Investments, Mr. Kenneth Fincher, Vice President,
Director of Product Management & Client Advocacy, Calamos Investments, Mr.
Jonathan Isaac, Vice President, Closed-End Funds, Eaton Vance Managed
Investments, Mr. Jon Maier, Investment Strategy Group - Closed-End Funds
Merrill Lynch and Mr. Paul Williams, Managing Director, New Product
Development, Nuveen Investments.
The discussion focused on the growth of leverage by CEFs, the current
challenges with the ARPs and discussed fund sponsor initiatives in this
area.
INDUSTRY ROUNDTABLE: CEFs -- CURRENT TRENDS, OPPORTUNITIES & OUTLOOK
Mr. Kenneth Fincher, Vice President, Director of Product Management &
Client Advocacy, Calamos Investments moderated the second discussion panel.
Mr. Doug Bond, EVP & Portfolio Manager, Closed-End Opportunity Fund, Cohen
& Steers, Ms. Karen R. McColl, CFA, Vice President, Investment Product
Management, Evergreen Investments, Mr. Jeffrey Margolin, Vice President and
Closed-End Fund Analyst, First Trust Advisors and Mr. David Lamb, Managing
Director, Head of Modeling & Analysis Group, Nuveen Investments
participated in this panel discussing the current trends, challenges and
outlook in the sector.
FIXED INCOME INVESTING
Ms. Amy Charles, Senior Vice President, Director - Closed-End Fund
Research, Raymond James introduced Mr. Brendan Ahern, Business Development
Officer, Barclays Global Investors who made a presentation on "INVESTING IN
FIXED INCOME THROUGH ETFs."
Followed Mr. Michael Temple, Vice President, Director of Fixed Income
Credit Research, Pioneer Investments who was also introduced by Mrs. Amy
Charles and his topic was the "CATASTROPHE BONDS: A NEW AND UNIQUE ASSET
CLASS-Pioneer Diversified High Income Trust (HNW)."
EQUITY & TOTAL RETURN INVESTING
Mr. Kristoph Rollenhagen, Sr.V.P. - Research, Closed-End Funds and ETFs,
Oppenheimer & Co introduced the panelists:
Mr. Dan Norman, Senior Vice President & Group Head of the Senior Debt
Group, ING Investment Management talked about "INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN
SENIOR LOANS."
Mr. Timothy O'Brien, Portfolio Manager, Evergreen Investments presented the
"EVERGREEN UTILITIES & HIGH INCOME FUND" and Mr. David Schulte, Managing
Director, Tortoise Capital Advisors who presented the "INVESTMENT
OPPORTUNITIES IN THE ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR."
THE EVOLUTION OF INDEXING AND ETFs
Mr. Alex Reiss, Analyst, V.P., Closed-End Fund & ETF Research, Stifel
Nicolaus introduced the panelists:
Dr. Hartmut Graf, Head of Issuer Data & Analytics, Deutsche Börse AG
presented on "ACCESS TO EMERGING MARKETS & INVESTING WITH INNOVATIVE INDEX
CONCEPTS."
Mr. H. Bruce Bond, President & CEO, Invesco PowerShares Capital Management
talked about "THE EVOLUTION OF INDEXING AND ETFs."
Mr. Luciano Siracusano, Director of Research, WisdomTree Investments made a
presentation on "A COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO INVESTING IN EMERGING MARKETS."
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Mr. Raymond L. Bell, Vice President, Global Corporate Client Group, NYSE
Euronext. Introduced the Keynote speaker Mr. Robert S. Kapito, President
and Director of BLACKROCK INVESTMENTS who made a presentation on "The 21st
Century Asset Management Business: Challenges, Opportunities and Beyond."
Mr. Matthew Moran, Vice President, Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE)
made a presentation on "CAN PUT-WRITE & BUY-WRITE INDEXES GENERATE HIGHER
INCOME & RISK-ADJUSTED RETURNS?"
Mr. Satch Chada, Managing Director, Structured & Alternative Solutions,
Merrill Lynch and Mr. Michael Forstl, Managing Director, Structured
products Consulting Group, Nuveen Investments made a presentation on
"BUILDING INVESTMENT PORTFOLIOS WITH ELEMENTS EXCHANGE-TRADED NOTES
(ETNs)."
INDUSTRY ROUNDTABLE: FUNDAMENTAL VERSUS TRADITIONAL INDEXING
Mr. Paul Mazzilli, Director ETF Research, Morgan Stanley moderated the
panel discussion and the panelists were the followings:
Mr. Dodd F. Kittsley, CFA, Strategist, Barclays Global Investors, Mr.
Edward McRedmond, SVP - Portfolio Strategies, Invesco PowerShares Capital
Management, Mr. Luciano Siracusano, Director of Research, WisdomTree
Investments, Mr. Tom Anderson, CFA, Vice President and Head of Strategy and
Research, State Street Global Advisors and Mr. Paul Drakeley, Account Sales
Executive, Vanguard Financial Advisor Services (VFAS).
INDUSTRY ROUNDTABLE: ETFs: CURRENT TRENDS, OPPORTUNITIES & OUTLOOK
Mr. Joe Witthohn, Director of ETF Research, Janney Montgomery Scott
moderated the panel discussion.
The panelists included Dr. Hartmut Graf, Head of Issuer Data & Analytics,
Deutsche Börse AG, Mr. Jeffrey Margolin, Vice President, First Trust
Advisors, Mr. Ben Fulton, Executive VP, Global Product Development, Invesco
PowerShares, Ms. Jill Iacono, Vice President and Director of National
Accounts, State Street Global Advisors, Mr. Paul Drakeley, Account Sales
Executive, Vanguard Financial Advisor Services (VFAS).
INDUSTRY ROUNDTABLE: USING ETFs, CEFs AND ETNs IN INVESTMENT PORTFOLIOS
Mr. Dennis Emanuel, Managing Director, CEF & ETF Research, Citigroup
Investment Research moderated the last panel of the conference and the
round table consisted of Mr. Brian D'Anna, Senior CEF Specialist,
BlackRock, Mr. Dodd F. Kittsley,CFA, Strategist, Barclays Global Investors,
Mr. Michael Jones, Chairman & CEO, Riverfront Investment Group, Mr. Michael
Forstl, Managing Director, Structured Products Consulting Group, Nuveen
Investments, Mr. Jamie Block, Wealth Advisor, Morgan Stanley, Ms. Deborah
Fuhr, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley, Consolidated Equities.
You may find more information on the 7th Annual Capital Link CEF & ETF
Conference at
http://www.capitallinkforum.com/cef/2008/main.html
ANNUAL CEF, ETF & ANALYST AWARDS
During the luncheon the CEF, ETF and Analyst Awards were presented to the
Winners. The Awards are based on Nominations by industry analysts for the
CEFs and ETFs Awards and by CEFs and ETFs for the Analyst Awards
respectively. Capital Link is not a member of any of the Nominating
Committees.
The winners are the following:
Closed-End Fund Awards
-- Most Innovative New Closed-End Fund in 2007: Eaton Vance Management
for the Risk-Managed Diversified Equity Income Fund (NYSE: ETJ)
-- Best Shareholder Relations by a non-US Closed-End Fund Family in 2007:
ING Investment Management
-- Best Shareholder Relations by a US Equity Closed-End Fund Family in
2007: Eaton Vance Management
-- Best Shareholder Relations by a Fixed Income Fund Family in 2007:
Nuveen Investments
-- Best Investor Relations Website in 2007: Nuveen Investments
-- For Contribution to the Closed-End Fund sector in 2007: Mr. David
Lamb, Managing Director & Head of Modeling & Analysis Group, Nuveen
Investments
Exchange-Traded Fund Awards
-- Most Innovative New ETF Product in 2007: Invesco PowerShares Capital
Management for the PowerShares S&P 500 BuyWrite ETF (NYSE: PBP)
-- Best Shareholder Relations in 2007: Barclays Global Investors
-- Best Investor Relations ETF Website In 2007: Barclays Global Investors
-- Most Innovative Index In 2007: Mergent, Inc. & Ryan ALM, Inc. for the
Mergent/Ryan ALM Investible Benchmark Bond Indices: For Contribution to the
ETF Sector In 2007: Mr. Edward McRedmond, Senior Vice President - Portfolio
Strategies, Invesco PowerShares Capital Management
-- Best ETF Focused Publication In 2007: Exchange-Traded Funds Report
(ETFR), Mr. Jim Wiandt, Editor
Closed-End Fund Analyst Awards
-- Best Research Team for Closed-End Funds in 2007: Citi Smith Barney
-- For Contribution to the Closed-End Fund Sector in 2007: Ms. Mariana
Bush, CEF & ETF Analyst, Wachovia Securities
Exchange-Traded Fund Analyst Awards
-- Best Research Team for Exchange-Traded Funds in 2007: Morgan Stanley
-- For Contribution to the ETF Sector in 2007: Ms. Mariana Bush, CEF &
ETF Analyst Wachovia Securities
More information on the Awards can be found at
www.cefawards.com,
www.etfawards.com
About Capital Link:
Capital Link is a New York based Investor Relations and Financial
Communications firm, also with offices in London and Athens, with strategic
focus, among other, on Closed-End Funds and ETFs.
Capital Link provides vertically integrated service packages which support
its clients along all phases of the investor relations process. The
objective is to establish and deliver the proper message to the investment
community, identify the proper target investor and analyst group, establish
and maintain contact with them, gather investor and analyst feedback,
monitor the development of the shareholding base and keep track of
developments in listed peer group companies. Also, to establish contact and
coverage by the proper financial media.
Capital Link has developed specific programs and IR tools focused on CEFs
and ETFs and on enhancing their investor outreach raising their profile
among analysts, investors and the financial media.
With a successful track record of seven years, the Annual Capital Link
Forum on Closed End Funds and ETFs has been established as a major industry
event where analysts and portfolio managers can debate with their peers and
present to a wider investor audience.
Contact Information: For more information please contact:
Nicolas Bornozis
Capital Link, Inc.
230 Park Avenue - Suite 1536
New York, NY 10169
Tel. (212) 661-7566
E-mail: fundforum@capitalklink.com