New Vanguard Offering to Include ETF Shares

September 23, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Vanguard Group plans to unveil investor shares and exchange-traded VIPER Shares of a new equity index fund, Vanguard Dividend Achievers Index Fund.

A news release from the suburban Philadelphia fund company said that its Quantitative Equity Group will manage the new offering, which will seek to provide long-term growth of capital and increasing income.

The fund’s target benchmark will be based on the Mergent Dividend Achievers Select Index, a subset of the Mergent Dividend Achievers Index. The benchmark is a market-capitalization weighted index of approximately 300 stocks with a consistent history of increasing dividends, Vanguard said.

“The new Dividend Achievers Index Fund further broadens our index lineup of more than 50 offerings and provides a low-cost, passively managed choice to dividend-oriented investors,” said Vanguard Chief Investment Officer Gus Sauter in the news release. “We believe that the new fund will appeal to a broad range of investors, including individuals, institutions, and financial professionals, who desire a growing income stream over time.”

According to the announcement, the VIPER Shares of the Dividend Achievers Index Fund will expand Vanguard’s ETF offerings to 24 and represent the company’s eighth ETF introduction over the past year (See Vanguard Unwraps Three International ETFs ). Vanguard manages some $9 billion in exchange-traded assets.

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