EuroMTS Index Licenses Lyxor AM For First Exchange Traded Funds

MTSNext today announced that it has entered into an agreement to license Paris-based Lyxor Asset Management for Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) aimed at tracking the EuroMTS Index. The EuroMTS Index is the only independent, real time eurozone government bond index calculated using tradable prices.

Lyxor Asset Management, a fully owned subsidiary of Société Générale, is a major player in the rapidly developing European ETF industry with over €3 billion in its Master Unit range. The French asset management company has developed a range of ETFs covering major equity indices in the eurozone, the United States and France. Its CAC40 Master Unit is the largest European ETF and is currently the most heavily traded ETF listed on Euronext.

"Lyxor Asset Management is delighted to be able to extend its expertise in ETFs into the bond market," said Isabelle Bourcier, ETF Global Coordinator for Lyxor AM Master Units. "The EuroMTS Index is highly representative of the eurozone government securities market and is widely used as a benchmark in Europe, particularly in France, where the majority of government bond funds already reference the index. The tradability and transparency of the index mean that it is an ideal underlying index for an ETF, and its number of constituents strikes an excellent balance between representation and trading cost efficiency for a wide range of bond investors."

Scott Stark, Chief Executive Officer of MTSNext, said: "The strong competition for the EuroMTS index ETF license confirms the market's recognition of the value that the index provides, both as a transparent European government bond benchmark and as a base for cost efficient financial instruments. Lyxor's success in the European ETF market and the advantages of the EuroMTS index, including the unique price transparency and tradability of the underlying bonds on the MTS markets, are factors that we believe will make this a very successful product."

The EuroMTS Index, formerly the CNO Etrix, was acquired by EuroMTS in January 2003 and is now calculated in real-time with two daily price fixings at 1100CET and 1600CET. A major goal in developing the index has been to provide widespread, easy access to the index methodology, prices and underlying data, a policy that reflects the demands of a wide range of bond investors. The latest index prices, historical data and the underlying bond prices used at the fixings are distributed free of charge via www.euromtsindex.com and are also available on market data vendors including Bloomberg ("EMTS" ) and Reuters ("EUROMTSINDEX").