FTSE NAREIT Indexes Selected For Five New iShares - First US ETFs To Track Real Estate Market Sub-Sector

FTSE Group (FTSE), the leading global index provider, today announced that it has licensed Barclays Global Investors (BGI) to create five new iShares® Exchange Traded Funds (listed below) that track the FTSE NAREIT US Real Estate Index Series. The new iShares will be the first exchange traded funds to track real estate market sub-sectors in the United States.

FTSE and NAREIT (National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts) partnered in March 2006 to collaborate on domestic US real estate indexing. Both leaders in their respective fields, they have worked together to create an index series that ensures awareness and visibility of the US REIT industry and is also suitable for the creation of financial products.

The iShares Funds will be linked to the FTSE NAREIT Residential, Industrial/Office, Retail, Mortgage REIT and Real Estate 50 Indexes. In 2006, these indexes had total annual returns of 38.93%, 39.39%, 29.01%, 19.32% and 35.64% respectively. Constituents of these sub-sector indexes are selected from the FTSE NAREIT Composite REIT Index. The index has demonstrated superior short and long-term performance, outperforming most other major market benchmarks for the past 1-, 5-, 10-, 15- and 30-year periods.

“We are pleased to have been selected by BGI as the basis of these innovative new iShares funds,” commented FTSE Americas President Jerry Moskowitz. “As indexing becomes more specialized and the number ETFs grow, we are seeing some truly diversified investment alternatives. REITs are an exciting asset class because they allow today’s investor to become involved in commercial real estate markets that they might not otherwise have access to.”

“REITs provide a transparent window for investors into the real estate asset class,” said NAREIT President and CEO Steven A. Wechsler, “and the use of the FTSE NAREIT index sectors by BGI spotlights key property types of traditional interest to investors.”

iShares Exchange Traded Funds:
iShares FTSE NAREIT Residential Index Fund (REZ),
iShares FTSE NAREIT Industrial/Office Fund (FIO),
iShares FTSE NAREIT Retail Index Fund (RTL),
iShares FTSE NAREIT Mortgage REIT Index Fund (REM); and
iShares FTSE NAREIT Real Estate 50 Index Fund (FTY)

About FTSE Group
FTSE Group is a leader in the creation and management of indexes and related market data services. It is estimated that there are over $2.5 trillion USD in assets under management globally using any of the 100,000 FTSE indexes calculated daily for markets worldwide.
FTSE’s flagship index, the FTSE Global Equity Index Series (GEIS), covers 98% of the world’s total investable market capitalization. It also calculates a broad range of traditional and alternative asset class indexes such as multinationals, style, socially responsible investment, real estate and hedge. Custom indexes are designed and created regularly to meet a wide variety of investment strategies for clients. FTSE also manages and calculates non-market capitalization weighted indexes, which offer investors an alternative way to benchmark performance.
FTSE has partnered with notable financial industry leaders in key regions to create unique and innovative products for the investment community, including NASDAQ, Dow Jones Indexes, NAREIT, and Research Affiliates (RAFI™) in the US; Xinhua Financial Network of China, and the ASEAN stock exchanges in Asia; and Euronext, the London Stock Exchange, EPRA, and Global Wealth Associates in Europe. Partnerships with the Athens, Cyprus, Johannesburg, Luxembourg and Madrid stock exchanges round out FTSE’s global coverage of markets worldwide. Real-time FTSE indexes are calculated on systems managed by Reuters. Prices and FX rates used are supplied by Reuters.