17th Sep 2008 12:29
NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN, INTO OR FROM THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA OR JAPAN OR TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC IN THE UNITED KINGDOM OR JERSEY.
Announcement Wednesday 17 September 2008
Commodity Securities and AIG - Update
ETF Securities Limited ("ETFS") would like to update investors and all market participants regarding the Exchange Traded Commodities (ETCs) issued by ETFS Commodity Securities Limited and which are backed by matching contracts from AIG Financial Products Corp. and guaranteed by American International Group, Inc (collectively "AIG").
AIG confirmed that last night there was an announcement by the Federal Reserve Board, that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is providing a two-year, $85 billion secured revolving credit facility to AIG that will ensure the company can meet its liquidity needs.
AIG has continued to honour all of its obligations under our agreements with them, including processing all creations and redemptions in the usual manner and paying all redemptions due on time.
ETFS is in discussion with its market makers and the Exchanges (London Stock Exchange, Deutsche Borse, Borsa Italiana and Euronext) to ensure that trading can resume and/or continue in an orderly fashion as soon as possible. It is our understanding that the London Stock Exchange ("LSE") has suspended electronic execution for Wednesday 17th September but off-book trading will continue. ETFS Commodity Securities will continue trading on all other Exchanges.
ETFS continues to be in close dialogue with AIG, the Exchanges and its market makers and Authorised Participants with the hope of returning to an orderly and liquid market on every Exchange as soon as possible.
Trading and operations of all other products administered by ETF Securities remain unaffected.
All of the securities are structured as stand-alone credits, so that if there is a credit issue with any ETC or issuer there is no recourse to the assets of any other ETC or issuer. For example, if there are credit issues with Commodity Securities then none of the other Issuers, or ETCs issued by them, are affected.
Summary of outstanding Exchange Traded Commodities owned/managed by ETF Securities:
|
Issuer |
Credit |
ETCs |
|
ETFS Commodity Securities Ltd |
AIG |
Classic Commodity Securities Forward Commodity Securities Short Commodity Securities Leveraged Commodity Securities |
|
ETFS Metal Securities Ltd |
Physical precious metals |
Metal Securities |
|
Gold Bullion Securities Ltd |
Physical gold |
Gold Bullion Securities |
|
ETFS Oil Securities Ltd |
Shell |
Energy Securities |
ETFS will continue to update investors and market participants via our website (www.etfsecurities.com) and via the Regulatory News Service (RNS) if there is any change to the situation.
For further information, please contact:
Hector McNeil, Head of Sales, ETF Securities Ltd
Tel: +44 20 7448 4348 (direct) or 4330 (switch)
Roman Townsend, Penrose Financial Tel: +44 20 7786 4875
This press release does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation to sell or issue, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe for, any transferable securities to be issued by the ETF Securities Limited group ("ETFS"), nor shall it or any part of it nor the fact of its distribution form part of or be relied on in connection with any contract or investment decision relating thereto. Any offer, invitation or solicitation shall be made solely by means of a prospectus and recipients of this release who are considering a purchase of securities are reminded that any such purchase should be made solely on the basis of the information contained in such prospectus and any supplementary prospectus(es). This release does not constitute any recommendation regarding the securities of ETFS. The communication of this press release is not being made by, and this press release has not been approved by, an authorised person for the purposes of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the "FSMA"). Accordingly this press release is not being distributed to, and must not be passed on to, the general public in the United Kingdom. The communication of this press release or any other document issued in connection with the offer and sale of any ETCs is only being made to and directed at those persons in the United Kingdom falling within the definition of Investment Professionals (as defined in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the "Order"), or high net worth entities, and other persons to whom it may otherwise lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(1) of the Order or any person to whom it may otherwise lawfully be made (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). The communication of this press release (or any other document issued in connection with the offer and sale of the ETCs) must not be acted upon or relied upon by persons who are not relevant persons. Persons distributing this press release must satisfy themselves that it is lawful to do so. All applicable provisions of the FSMA must be complied with in respect of anything done in relation to the ETCs in, from or otherwise involving the United Kingdom. This is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States. Securities issued by the ETFS group ("Securities") have not been and will not be registered under the US Securities Act or any other applicable law of the United States. These Securities are being offered and sold only outside the United States to non-US persons in reliance on the exemption from registration provided by Regulation S of the US Securities Act. The Issuer has not been and does not intend to become registered as an investment company under the Investment Company Act and related rules. These Securities and any beneficial interest therein may not be reoffered, resold, pledged or otherwise transferred in the United States or to US persons. If the Issuer determines that any Security Holder is a Prohibited US Person (being a US Person who is not a "qualified purchaser" as defined in the Investment Company Act), the Issuer may redeem the Securities held by that Security Holder in accordance with the provisions described in the Prospectus. The Securities may not be purchased with plan assets of any "employee benefit plan" within the meaning of section 3(3) of the United States Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended ("ERISA"), any "plan" described in section 4975(e)(1) of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code") or any entity whose underlying assets include "plan assets" of any of the foregoing by reason of an employee benefit plan's or other plan's investment in such entity, which employee benefit plan, plan or entity is subject to Title I of ERISA or section 4975 of the Code or any United States Federal, state, or local law or non-United States law that is substantially similar to the prohibited transaction provisions of section 406 of ERISA or section 4975 of the Code (any such employee benefit plan, plan or entity, a "Prohibited Benefit Plan Investor"). If the Issuer determines that any Security Holder is a Prohibited Benefit Plan Investor, the Issuer may redeem the Securities held by that Security Holder in accordance with the provisions described in the Prospectus relating to those Securities." "Dow Jones," "AIG®" "Dow Jones-AIG Commodity IndexSM," "DJ-AIGCISM", "Dow Jones-AIG Commodity 3-Month Forward Index" are service marks of Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and American International Group, Inc. ("American International Group"), as the case may be, and will be licensed for use for certain purposes by ETF Securities Ltd. ETCs based on the DJ-AIGCISM or related subindices (including single commodity sub-indices) or 3-Month Forward Indexes are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Dow Jones, AIG Financial Products Corp. ("AIG-FP"), American International Group, or any of their respective subsidiaries or affiliates, and none of Dow Jones, AIGFP, American International Group, or any of their respective subsidiaries or affiliates, makes any representation regarding the advisability of investing in such product(s).
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