NEW YORK, Sept. 24, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Horizons ETFs Management (USA) LLC ("Horizons USA"), a subsidiary of Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., Ltd. ("MAGI") is pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Fardy as Executive Vice President and Head of Sales for Horizons USA.
Mr. Fardy is an investment industry executive with nearly two decades of experience in business development and strategic relationship management. Previously, Mr. Fardy was a Director at BlackRock responsible for expanding the presence of the iShares exchange traded funds across the northeastern United States. Prior to that, he was a Regional Vice President with Dreyfus Mutual Funds and a Regional Marketing Director with Putnam Investments.
Mr. Fardy graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in economics. He holds the Certified Portfolio Manager (CPM) and Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) designations.
Horizons USA launched its first exchange traded fund (ETF) in the U.S. market in June 2013 with the Horizons S&P 500® Covered Call ETF, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol HSPX. HSPX seeks investment results that, before fees and expenses, generally correspond to the performance of the S&P 500 Stock Covered Call Index™, which uses an innovative covered call strategy to attempt to generate additional income from the option-eligible stocks in the S&P 500®.
In his new role at Horizons USA, Mr. Fardy will focus on developing retail sales channels, concentrating on Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) and National Broker-Dealer firms.
"Michael has a terrific track-record in helping RIAs and brokers find the right index ETF solutions for their client portfolios," said Howard Atkinson, Managing Director of Horizons USA and the Global Head of Sales and Marketing for MAGI's ETF business. "We're excited to have him join Horizons, where he will use his ETF expertise to help expand the usage of HSPX."
"We are very pleased to welcome Michael as a member of Horizons USA. To attract someone with his experience and reputation to our organization underscores the credibility we have established in our global ETF franchise," said Taeyong Lee, President of the Global Business Unit of MAGI.
Before investing you should carefully consider the Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. This and other information is in the prospectus, a copy of which may be obtained by visiting the Fund's website at www.HorizonsETFs.com/USA. Please read the prospectus carefully before you invest. Distributor: Foreside Fund Services, LLC.
There are risks involved with investing, including possible loss of principal. The Funds are non-diversified and may invest a greater portion of its assets in securities of a small number of issuers. This may have an adverse effect on a Fund's performance. Concentration in a particular industry or sector, will subject the Funds to loss due to adverse occurrences that may affect that industry or sector. The Funds risk benefiting from potential increases in the value of underlying securities above the exercise prices of the written covered call options, and is subject to the risk of declines in the value of such securities. Each sector fund is subject to its own specific risk factors. See prospectus for specific risks regarding each Fund and sector.
An option is a contract sold by one party to another that gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy (call) or sell (put) a stock at an agreed upon price within a certain period or on a specific date. A covered call option involves holding a long position in a particular asset, in this case U.S. common equities, and writing a call option on that same asset with the goal of realizing additional income from the option premium.
About the Horizons ETFs Group (www.HorizonsETFs.com)
The Horizons ETFs Group consists of innovative financial services companies offering regional families of ETFs in Canada, Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, and the United States. Currently, all of the ETFs offered by these companies use the Horizons ETFs brand with the exception of the 'BetaShares' family of ETFs in Australia and the 'TIGER ETFs' family in Korea. With approximately $7 billion in assets under management and 180 ETF listings worldwide, the Horizons ETFs Group makes up one of the largest collective families of ETFs in the world. All of the Horizons ETFs Group companies and affiliates are subsidiaries of Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., Ltd.
About Mirae Asset Global Investments (www.miraeasset.com)
Mirae Asset Global Investments is a global investment management firm with offices located in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam. With approximately 560 employees, including 133 investment professionals, the firm manages over $57 billion in assets globally through a diversified platform to offer market-leading franchises in traditional equity and fixed income products, ETFs and alternative strategies, including real estate, private equity and hedge funds.