CFTC Staff Allows Euronext Paris’s Futures Contracts Based On The FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Europe Index And FTSE/EPRA NAREIT Euro Zone Index To Be Offered And Sold In The United States

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC's) Office of General Counsel today announced that it issued a no-action letter permitting the offer and sale in the United States of Euronext Paris’s futures contracts based on the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Europe Index and FTSE/EPRA NAREIT Euro Zone Index (collectively, “Indices”).

The Indices are broad-based, free-float-market-capitalization-weighted, total-return security indices composed of real estate securities, either shares of real estate investment trusts (REITs) or real estate companies, that are listed and traded in Europe. The FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Europe Index includes approximately 100 stocks from 16 European countries, and the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Euro Zone Index includes approximately 50 stocks from 10 Euro Zone countries. Based on data supplied by Euronext Paris, as of August 31, 2007, the total adjusted market capitalization of the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Europe Index was approximately U.S. $179 billion and of the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Euro Zone Index was approximately U.S. $82 billion.