Invesco to Shutter Ten ETFs

The firm said the decision to close the ten PowerShares ETFs was part of “a continuing effort to proactively address the growing needs of investors in ETFs and to position its business for future growth opportunities.”  The PowerShares Funds Board of Trustees approved the closings on October 5.

“We regularly review portfolios carefully evaluating numerous factors such as investment results, length of time in the market, investor interest, and the potential for future growth,” said Ben Fulton, Invesco PowerShares managing director of global ETFs, in the announcement.  “Based on this assessment, we believe that it’s in the best interest of our investors that we refocus our resources on areas that we believe are of greater client interest. As a pioneer and one of the leading innovators in the ETF industry, Invesco PowerShares continues to be fully committed to maintaining and developing a comprehensive product line.  We have actively introduced several innovative ETFs to the market in the past year and we anticipate introducing new products in the months ahead.”

The affected ETFs are:

• PowerShares Dynamic Healthcare Services Portfolio (ticker: PTJ)
• PowerShares Dynamic Telecommunications & Wireless Portfolio(ticker: PTE)
• PowerShares FTSE NASDAQ Small Cap Portfolio (ticker: PQSC)
• PowerShares FTSE RAFI Europe Portfolio         (ticker: PEF)
• PowerShares FTSE RAFI Japan Portfolio           (ticker: PJO)
• PowerShares Global Biotech Portfolio    (ticker: PBTQ)
• PowerShares Global Progressive Transportation Portfolio (ticker: PTRP)
• PowerShares NASDAQ-100 BuyWrite Portfolio   (ticker: PQBW)
• PowerShares NXQ Portfolio       (ticker: PNXQ)
• PowerShares Zacks Small Cap Portfolio(ticker: PZJ)

The final day of trading on The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC and NYSE Arca, Inc. for the ETFs (“NYSE Arca”) will be December 14, 2010.  Also, Invesco noted that the affected funds represent less than 1% of Invesco PowerShares’ total assets.

According to the announcement, shareholders may sell their holdings on or before December 14, 2010, and that those who don’t sell until after that date will receive cash equal to the amount of the net asset value of their shares, which will include any capital gains and dividends, in the cash portion of their brokerage accounts on the liquidation date (currently scheduled for December 21, 2010).

More information is online at www.invescopowershares.com.