New ProShares Offer First Way for Fund Investors to Get Short or Magnified Exposure to Style Indexes

ProShares Grows to Third-Largest Lineup of ETFs in U.S. 


NEW YORK, Feb. 22  /PRNewswire/ -- ProShares, together with the American Stock Exchange(R) (Amex(R)), today announced the addition of 12 exchange traded funds (ETFs) to the ProShares lineup.  The new ProShares, benchmarked to six Russell style indexes, are the first ETFs or mutual funds designed to provide short or magnified exposure to growth and value indexes-with large-, mid- and small- cap versions of each.

"Investing in a specific style mutual fund or ETF has long been an easy way to tilt a portfolio's exposure toward growth or value," said Michael Sapir, CEO of ProShare Advisors LLC, part of ProFunds Group. "The new ProShares are a unique-and we think useful-addition to the style fund arsenal. Now, by simply buying an ETF, fund investors can seek to hedge gains in other style investments with short exposure, or seek to increase the buying power of their investment dollar with magnified exposure."

The new "style" funds bring ProShares' total offering to 52 ETFs, covering a wide range of indexes-from broad market choices to specific sectors. ProShares are the first and only ETFs designed to provide short or magnified exposure to indexes. In the eight months since the initial launch of ProShares, the family has grown to more than $3 billion in assets.

"Since the beginning of the year we have more than quadrupled the size of the ProShares lineup-we now offer the third-largest lineup of ETFs in the country," Sapir added.  "Investors have been asking us to add more choices because they want to be able to get ProShares' built-in short or magnified exposure to more of the indexes they use."

The newest ProShares provide short and magnified exposure to each of six benchmark Russell indexes. The UltraShort version of each is designed to provide twice the inverse of the daily performance of the applicable index (before fees and expenses), and the Ultra version is designed to double the daily performance of the applicable index (before fees and expenses).

  Ultra Style ProShares

  Names of ProShares          Index                     Daily         Ticker
                                                        Objective*    Symbol

  Ultra Russell1000 Value     Russell 1000(R) Value       Double       UVG
  Ultra Russell1000 Growth    Russell 1000(R) Growth      Double       UKF
  Ultra Russell MidCap Value  Russell  MidCap(R) Value    Double       UVU
  Ultra Russell MidCap Growth Russell  MidCap(R) Growth   Double       UKW
  Ultra Russell2000 Value     Russell 2000(R) Value       Double       UVT
  Ultra Russell2000 Growth    Russell 2000(R) Growth      Double       UKK



  UltraShort Style ProShares

  Names of ProShares                Index                Daily        Ticker
                                                         Objective*   Symbol

  UltraShort Russell1000 Value     Russell 1000(R)       Double
                                    Value                 the inverse    SJF
  UltraShort Russell1000 Growth    Russell 1000(R)       Double
                                    Growth                the inverse    SFK
  UltraShort Russell MidCap Value  Russell MidCap(R)      Double
                                    Value                  the inverse   SJL
  UltraShort Russell MidCap Growth Russell MidCap(R)      Double
                                    Growth                 the inverse   SDK
  UltraShort Russell2000 Value     Russell 2000(R)        Double
                                    Value                  the inverse   SJH
  UltraShort Russell2000 Growth    Russell 2000(R)        Double
                                    Growth                 the inverse   SKK
  *Before fees and expenses





"ProShares continues to be active in bringing new and innovative products to the marketplace. The Amex is proud to be partnering with ProShares and listing its 52nd ETF at the Exchange," said Cliff Weber, senior vice president, Amex ETF Marketplace.

"By using Russell's style indexes for these new ETF products, ProShares relies on the same underlying index methodology that produced the leading benchmarks for institutional investors," said Rolf Agather, director of business development for Russell indexes. "These products provide investors with some important new tools to more effectively use growth and value stocks in their investment strategies. We wish ProShares a world of success with them."

About ProShares and ProFunds Group

ProShares are managed by a team headed by Chief Investment Officer Bill Seale. In addition to ProShares ETFs, ProFunds Group manages ProFunds mutual funds, the nation's largest lineup of indexed mutual funds.(1) Since 1997, ProFunds has provided mutual fund investors with access to innovative mutual fund strategies, including funds that seek to magnify daily index performance and funds that seek to increase in value when markets decline. ProFunds Group describes the portfolio managers common to ProFund Advisors LLC, advisor to ProFunds mutual funds, and ProShares Advisors LLC, advisor to ProShares ETFs.

JP Morgan Worldwide Securities Services provides a full range of fund administration services to ProShares.

About The American Stock Exchange(R)

The American Stock Exchange(R) (Amex(R)) offers trading across a full range of equities, options and exchange traded funds (ETFs), including structured products and HOLDRS(SM). In addition to its role as a national equities market, the Amex is the pioneer of the ETF, responsible for bringing the first domestic product to market in 1993. Leading the industry in ETF listings, the Amex lists 257 ETFs to date. The Amex is also one of the largest options exchanges in the U.S., trading options on broad-based and sector indexes as well as domestic and foreign stocks. For more information, please visit http://www.amex.com/.

About Russell Indexes

Russell Investment Group's objective index methodology is designed to ensure benchmarks that reflect a true representation of actual market activity. More than $3.8 trillion in investment assets are benchmarked to Russell's U.S. family of indexes.  Russell posts its index methodology, including style determination factors, on its web site: http://www.russell.com/.

Carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses of ProShares and ProFunds before investing. This and other information can be found in their prospectuses. Read the prospectus(es) carefully before investing. For a ProShares ETF prospectus, visit http://www.proshares.com/ and seek advice from your financial advisor or broker- dealer representative. Financial professionals can also call 866-PRO-5125. For a ProFunds mutual funds prospectus, call 888-PRO-FNDS (individual investors) or 888-PRO-5717 (financial professionals) or visit http://www.profunds.com/.

(1) Source: Lipper, October 6, 2006.  Lipper defines "indexed fund" as an open-end mutual fund (not an ETF) that falls into one of the following subcategories: pure index, enhanced index or index-based.  The majority of ProFunds are categorized by Lipper as enhanced index funds.

ProShares ETFs are distributed by SEI Investments Distribution Co. (SEI), which is not affiliated with any ProFunds Group affiliate. ProFunds mutual funds are distributed by ProFunds Distributors, Inc. (PDI). SEI and PDI are not affiliated.

Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Please note that in addition to the normal risks associated with investing, ProShares and ProFunds entail certain risks, including, in all or some cases, aggressive investment technique, inverse and imperfect correlation, leverage, market price variance and short sale risks. These risks may pose risks different from, or greater than, those associated with a direct investment in the securities underlying the funds' benchmarks, can increase volatility, and may dramatically decrease performance. In addition, ProShares are not diversified investments. Please see the prospectus for a more complete description of these risks. 

DATASOURCE: American Stock Exchange



CONTACT: Media, Tucker Hewes of Hewes Communications, Inc. for ProShares,

[phone], or ; or Mary Chung of American Stock

Exchange, [phone], or 



Web site:  http://www.amex.com/

http://www.russell.com/

http://www.proshares.com/

http://www.profunds.com/

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