PowerShares Scores $60 Milllion Buyout

By Staff Writer

June 01, 2006 at 04:00 AM

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AMVESCAP PLC (NYSE: AVZ) has announced its plan to purchase PowerShares

Capital Management for $60 million plus added financial incentives.

PowerShares, based in Wheaton, Ill., currently has 36 ETFs and roughly $3.8 billion of assets under management. Although much smaller than its rivals, the company has made an impact on the ETF marketplace by emphasizing enhanced indexing, which aims to outperform traditional benchmark indexes. PowerShares launched its first two ETFs in 2003 and has continued to add new funds at a frenzied pace. In 2005, it launched 31 ETFs.

"AMVESCAP is an outstanding organization and an excellent fit for PowerShares. We are very excited about our future together," says Bruce Bond, president and CEO of PowerShares Capital Management.

Notable ETFs that have attracted attention are the PowerShares LUX Nanotech (Amex: PXN), PowerShares Dynamic Oil & Gas (Amex: PXJ) and the PowerShares FTSE RAFI U.S. 1000 (NYSE: PRF). The latter index was developed by industry pioneer Rob Arnott, a vocal proponent of equally weighted stock indexes.

"The addition of PowerShares ETFs is a natural extension of our core mission to provide a broad range of investment management solutions to our diverse clients across the globe," says Marty Flanagan, president and CEO of AMVESCAP.

AMVESCAP, which also owns the AIM lineup of mutual funds, will begin distributing PowerShares ETFs after regulatory matters have been finalized. Explaining its decision to buy PowerShares, the company cited ETFs as "one of the most compelling growth opportunities in the asset management sector."

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