John Jacobs, CEO of NASDAQ Financial Products said, "Today we have launched Europe's very own version of the world's most actively traded ETF. The EQQQ provides European investors with low cost access to the entire range of companies in the NASDAQ-100 Index in European hours, on a European market. ETFs offer investors a range of benefits including low costs and diversity. There is great potential in the European marketplace which has accounted for the majority of new ETF product launches in 2002. Based on our experience in the US, our intention is that EQQQ will follow the success of our US product."
EQQQ is an Exchange Traded Fund registered with the Central Bank of Ireland, which is listed and traded on NASDAQ Europe. EQQQ is authorized as a fund in the UK, Belgium and Ireland. It is structured for the European market and is denominated in euros. EQQQ will clear and settle in Europe, helping to reduce trading costs. Furthermore, expenses of EQQQ are limited to 20 basis points (0.2%) per year.
Jacobs added, "This is a major step forward in NASDAQ's plans to extend the geographical reach of its investment products. The NASDAQ-100 Index is composed of the one hundred largest non-financial services companies listed on NASDAQ which means that investors gain instant exposure to a wide variety of sectors including computer hardware and software, media, retail, life science and biotechnology. Some of the world's most visionary companies are amongst those included in the NASDAQ-100 Index, including Microsoft, Dell, Starbucks, Cisco, Oracle, Intel and Amazon.com."
In addition to providing a diversified investment for private investors, EQQQ can be used in a variety of different portfolio strategies by institutions, including:
- Rapid equitising of cash inflows or asset allocation switches out of cash
- Buying and holding for long term investment
- Index-tracking core portfolio around which actively managed satellite investments can be positioned
- Implementing regional or sectoral policy changes
- Implementing diversified exposure to the international markets
- Shorting or leveraging index exposure within hedge strategies
- Trading on margin
Tarek Robbiati, Director, Lehman Brothers International (Europe), said "The NASDAQ-100 European Tracker (EQQQ) will enhance our offer to our European customers of easy, low cost access to the Nasdaq-100 basket in Europe."
"EQQQ will allow us to quote, trade, clear, and settle a NASDAQ-100 basket in Europe." added a company spokesperson for Madoff Securities International Limited.
Lehman Brothers International (Europe), Madoff Securities International Limited, Goldman Sachs International and Merrill Lynch International have agreed to be Authorized Participants in EQQQ and Berliner Effektengesellschaft AG and Madoff Securities International Limited will be market makers in the product on NASDAQ Europe. To invest in this product, investors should contact their broker and obtain a copy of the prospectus, which should be read carefully before investing. For additional information about ETFs in general and EQQQ in particular, visit our website at www.nasdaqeurope.com
