First Trust Announces that Assets Now Exceed $100 Million in the First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance® ETF

First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust”), a leading ETF provider and asset manager, announced that the First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance® ETF (NASDAQ: AIRR) has reached over $100 million in assets. The fund was launched in March of this year and is among the fastest growing ETFs in 2014 according to data from Morningstar.

The fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the fund’s fees and expenses) of an equity index called the Richard Bernstein Advisors American Industrial Renaissance® Index (the “index”). The index was developed by Richard Bernstein Advisors (“RBA”) to measure the performance of small and mid cap U.S. companies in the industrial and community banking sectors. The index is constructed using RBA’s proprietary portfolio optimization method, which encompasses a variety of screens and factors and their macroeconomic analysis and judgment.

“Many of the trends that drove American companies to shift their manufacturing operations overseas during the past few decades have diminished or reversed more recently. As a result, an industrial and manufacturing renaissance has emerged in the U.S., as an increasing number of companies are choosing to manufacture their goods here,” said Ryan Issakainen, CFA, Senior Vice President, Exchange-Traded Fund Strategist at First Trust. “We believe investor interest in this fund is evidence of the quality of RBA’s research behind the American industrial renaissance theme.”

“We have contended for the past several years that the American Industrial Renaissance was one of the world’s best investment themes, and First Trust helped to deliver that message. AIRR’s fast growth is the result of combining an exciting investment theme with the professional support of First Trust to educate financial advisors and investors about the fund,” said Richard Bernstein, RBA’s Chief Executive and Chief Investment Officer.

For more information about First Trust, please contact Ryan Issakainen of First Trust at [phone] or [e-mail].

About First Trust

First Trust Advisors L.P., along with its affiliate First Trust Portfolios L.P., are privately held companies which provide a variety of investment services, including asset management and financial advisory services, with collective assets under management or supervision of approximately $105 billion as of November 30, 2014 through unit investment trusts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, mutual funds and separate managed accounts. First Trust is based in Wheaton, Illinois. For more information, visit http://www.ftportfolios.com.

You should consider the fund’s investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses carefully before investing. Contact First Trust Portfolios L.P. at 1-800-621-1675 to obtain a prospectus or summary prospectus which contains this and other information about the fund. The prospectus or summary prospectus should be read carefully before investing.

ETF Characteristics

The fund lists and principally trades its shares on The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC.

The fund’s return may not match the return of the Richard Bernstein Advisors American Industrial Renaissance® Index. Securities held by the fund will generally not be bought or sold in response to market fluctuations.

Investors buying or selling fund shares on the secondary market may incur customary brokerage commissions. Market prices may differ to some degree from the net asset value of the shares. Investors who sell fund shares may receive less than the share’s net asset value. Shares may be sold throughout the day on the exchange through any brokerage account. However, unlike mutual funds, shares may only be redeemed directly from the fund by authorized participants, in very large creation/redemption units.

Risk Considerations

The fund’s shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the fund. One of the principal risks of investing in the fund is market risk. Market risk is the risk that a particular stock owned by the fund, fund shares or stocks in general may fall in value. There can be no assurance that the fund’s investment objective will be achieved.

The fund may invest in small capitalization and mid capitalization companies. Such companies may experience greater price volatility than larger, more established companies.

The fund invests in industrials companies, financial companies and community banks. The fund is concentrated in securities of companies in the industrials sector which involves additional risks, including limited diversification. General risks of industrials companies include the general state of the economy, intense competition, consolidation, domestic and international politics, excess capacity and consumer demand and spending trends. In addition, they may be significantly affected by overall capital spending levels, economic cycles, technical obsolescence, delays in modernization, labor relations, and government regulations.

Financial companies are especially subject to the adverse effects of economic recession, currency exchange rates, government regulation, decreases in the availability of capital, volatile interest rates, portfolio concentrations in geographic markets and in commercial and residential real estate loans, and competition from new entrants in their fields of business. Unlike larger national or other regional banks that are more geographically diversified, a community bank’s financial performance may be highly dependent upon the business environment in certain geographic regions of the U.S. and may be adversely impacted by any downturn or unfavorable economic or employment developments in its local market and the U.S. as a whole.

The fund is classified as “non-diversified” and may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in a limited number of issuers. As a result, the fund may be more susceptible to a single adverse economic or regulatory occurrence affecting one or more of these issuers, experience increased volatility and be highly concentrated in certain issuers.

First Trust Advisors L.P. is the adviser to the fund. First Trust Advisors L.P. is an affiliate of First Trust Portfolios L.P., the fund’s distributor.

The fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by RBA. RBA makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of trading in the fund. RBA’s only relationship to First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust”) is the licensing of certain trademarks and trade names of RBA and of the index, which is determined, composed and calculated by RBA without regard to First Trust or the fund. Licensor has no obligation to take the needs of First Trust or the owners of the fund into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the index. Licensor is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices at, or quantities of the fund to be listed or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the fund is to be converted into cash. Licensor has no obligation or liability in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the fund.

First TrustRyan Issakainen, (630) [e-mail]