AdvisorShares Pacific Asset Enhanced Floating Rate ETF (FLRT) To Begin Trading on Thursday, February 19th

New ETF seeks attractive monthly income through active management within the most liquid segments of floating rate loan marketplace

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AdvisorShares

Feb 18, 2015, 11:45 ET

BETHESDA, Md., Feb. 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- AdvisorShares, a leading sponsor of actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs), announced today that the AdvisorShares Pacific Asset Enhanced Floating Rate ETF (NYSE Arca: FLRT) will begin trading on Thursday, February 19, 2015. The FLRT portfolio is managed by Pacific Asset Management, a Newport Beach, Calif.-based SEC registered investment adviser that specializes in institutional fixed income management, and features an investment professional team that carries multiple decades of experience managing floating rate loan portfolios.

In pursuing FLRT's investment objective, Pacific Asset Management seeks to provide a high level of current income through selective investments within a portfolio comprised primarily of income producing floating rate loans and floating rate debt securities of non-investment grade companies, which are commonly referred to as bank loans.

The FLRT portfolio seeks to invest in the most liquid segments of the bank loan marketplace, allowing for more fluid entry and exit of positions as needed. Additionally, the portfolio manager can discretionally employ modest leverage, aiming to enhance returns relative to its benchmark and other offerings in this space. Due to bank loans' unique characteristics, the FLRT portfolio may possess limited correlations to most major fixed income asset classes, potentially providing diversification to an overall investment portfolio.

"In what seems like a perpetually low interest rate environment, investors and financial advisors are constantly looking for pragmatic solutions to enhance their fixed income allocation," said Noah Hamman, chief executive officer of AdvisorShares. "Driven by Pacific Asset Management's deep expertise within fixed income management, we believe FLRT will dynamically allocate to individual floating rate offerings while providing a keen discernment towards risk that can allow attractive monthly income while providing diversification outside of traditional interest rate risk. Combined with the transparency, liquidity and overall efficiency of an ETF vehicle, we feel FLRT's investment strategy provides yet another compelling addition to AdvisorShares' actively managed ETF suite."

"As an organization, we rely on our collective experience and close collaboration to identify the best fixed income opportunities for our investors when navigating the bank loan marketplace, emphasizing attractive yield and favorable risk-return profiles. In doing so, we believe we have provided a real value-added service for our clients," said Jason Rosiak, senior managing director of Pacific Asset Management and co-portfolio manager of FLRT. "We believe FLRT's strategy will allow more flexibility to enhance returns by utilizing our top-down perspective on loans, which is complemented by of our bottom-up fundamental selection process. We look forward to delivering this approach through a universally accessible actively managed ETF in collaboration with AdvisorShares."

For media inquiries requesting more information on AdvisorShares, please contact Ryan Graham at 202-684-6442 or [email protected]. For financial professionals and investors requesting more information, please visit www.advisorshares.com or call the AdvisorShares Investment Consultant Team at 1-877-THE-ETF1 (1-877-843-3831).

About AdvisorShares

AdvisorShares is one of the leading providers of actively managed ETFs. As of February 13, 2015, AdvisorShares offers 22 active ETFs currently trading with over $1.3 billion of assets under management. AdvisorShares provides educational support to help financial advisors and investors understand the benefits of actively managed ETFs and their underlying investment strategies.

Please visit www.advisorshares.com to register for free weekly economic commentary. For educational insight into the active ETF marketplace, visit www.alphabaskets.com, follow @AdvisorShares on Twitter and 'Like' us on Facebook. Every Thursday at 4:00pm Eastern time, AdvisorShares hosts an educational "AlphaCall" for Financial Professionals featuring our portfolio managers and leading investment industry experts. On Thursday, February 19th, this conference call will feature Pacific Asset Management's portfolio management team of FLRT—Dial: 1-800-977-8002; Code: 777534#

About Pacific Asset Management

Pacific Asset Management is a registered investment advisor specializing in institutional fixed income asset management. Founded in 2007, Pacific Asset Management's investment team manages bank loans, high yield corporate bonds, and investment grade bonds. They provide their clients the ability to invest with an entrepreneurial, boutique investment group focused on fundamental credit analysis and supported by the scale and infrastructure of their parent, Pacific Life Insurance Company (Pacific Life). Please visit www.pam.pacificlife.com for more information.

Before investing you should carefully consider the Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. This and other information is in the prospectus, a copy of which may be obtained by visiting the Fund's website at www.AdvisorShares.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before you invest.

Foreside Fund Services, LLC, distributor.

There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. An investment in the Fund is subject to risk, including the possible loss of principal amount invested. Investing in derivatives may be riskier than other types of investments because they are more sensitive to change in economic or marketing conditions that could result in losses that significantly exceed the Fund's original investment. The Fund primarily invests in floating rate loans and floating rate debt securities. The market for floating rate loans may be subject to irregular trading activity, wide bid/ask spreads, and extended trade settlement periods. The floating rate feature of loans means that floating rate loans will not generally experience capital appreciation in a declining interest rate environment. Declines in interest rates may also increase prepayments of debt obligations and require the Fund to invest assets at lower yields. Other Fund risks include market risk, leverage risk, foreign investment risk, liquidity risk, income and interest rate risk, liquidity risk, management risk, high yield securities risk, loan participation risk, prepayment risk, and trading risk. Please see the prospectus for details regarding risk. This Fund may not be suitable for all investors.

Liquidity is the degree to which an asset or security can be bought or sold in the market without affecting the asset's price. Leverage is the amount of debt used to finance a firm's assets.

Shares are bought and sold at market price not net asset value (NAV) and are not individually redeemed from the Fund. Market price returns are based on the midpoint of the bid/ask spread at 4:00 pm Eastern Time (when NAV is normally determined) and do not represent the return you would receive if you traded at other times.