iShares has licensed the Dow Jones Emerging Markets Select Dividend Index and the Dow Jones Asia/Pacific Select Dividend 30 Index to serve as the basis for two new iShares ETFs.
The ETFs – the iShares Emerging Markets Dividend Index Fund and the iShares Asia/Pacific Dividend 30 Index Fund – began trading on NYSE Arca on 24 February.
The Dow Jones Emerging Markets Select Dividend Index is designed to measure the stock performance of 100 leading dividend-paying emerging markets companies, selected by dividend yield. At the time of its November 2011 launch, Dow Jones Indexes announced the index would be licensed to underlie the iShares Dow Jones Emerging Markets Select Dividend ETF, listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Launched in 2006, the Dow Jones Asia/Pacific Select Dividend 30 Index is designed to measure the performance of 30 top stocks by dividend yield in the Asia/Pacific region, which includes Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore. The Dow Jones Asia/Pacific Select Dividend 30 Index is also licensed to serve as the basis for seven other iShares ETFs, all of which trade on European exchanges.
“The licensing of the Dow Jones Emerging Markets Select Dividend Index and the Dow Jones Asia/Pacific Select Dividend 30 Index by iShares underscores the continued demand for Dow Jones Indexes’ inventory of global dividend gauges,” says Michael A Petronella (pictured), President, Dow Jones Indexes.
Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, pioneered the dividend-index space with the launch of the Dow Jones US Select Dividend Index in 2003, and since that time has expanded its dividend-index offerings to include a full suite of country- and region-specific measures. In September 2011, the company unveiled Europe and Eurozone Dividend Indexes, as well as distributing versions of dividend indexes for Europe, Eurozone, Germany and France.
