Precidian Investments Receives Exemptive Relief From The SEC For Its ActiveShares® Intellectual Property

NEW YORK, May 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Precidian Investments today announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) granted exemptive relief for Precidian's non-transparent exchange-traded fund (ETF) structure, ActiveShares®.

Once approved for listing and trading on a national stock exchange, funds utilizing the ActiveShares intellectual property will be able to offer semi-transparent active portfolios with the tax efficiency, cost effectiveness and intraday trading capabilities of an ETF. While there are structural differences between ActiveShares and traditional ETFs, ActiveShares is an enhanced version of the traditional ETF structure.

"ActiveShares will enable active managers to offer new and existing strategies in an ETF vehicle, combining the best of active management with the many benefits of an ETF," said Dan McCabe, CEO of Precidian. "ActiveShares will fit seamlessly onto existing platforms and into investment models that utilize ETFs. For active managers that had been hesitant to utilize transparent ETF structures due to concerns of infringement, a non-transparent structure is the option they have been waiting for."

Legg Mason, a global asset manager, holds a minority stake in Precidian, and is working with its investment affiliate, ClearBridge Investments, to launch products utilizing ActiveShares.

Precidian currently has signed contracts with 10 asset management firms that make up approximately 25% of the active U.S. equity mutual fund market. Precidian is currently in discussions with a number of other firms interested in licensing ActiveShares.

About Precidian
Precidian Investments® designs and develops next-generation tools for the mutual fund industry, ETF providers and leading financial services institutions to meet the needs of today's more sophisticated investors. Precidian's expertise in product development, trading, clearance, sales, technology and securities law enables the company to more efficiently design and build cutting-edge financial instruments. We pride ourselves on our ability to create novel, state-of-the-art financial products that address specific investor needs and differentiate us from the competition.

About Legg Mason
Guided by a mission of Investing to Improve Lives™, Legg Mason helps investors globally achieve better financial outcomes by expanding choice across investment strategies, vehicles and investor access through independent investment managers with diverse expertise in equity, fixed income, alternative and liquidity investments. Legg Mason's assets under management are $768 billion as of April 30, 2019. To learn more, visit our website, our newsroom, or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.

This release contains forward-looking statements subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially. For a discussion of these risks and uncertainties, see "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Legg Mason's Annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018 and, in the Company's, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

SOURCE Legg Mason, Inc.

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