Precidian Issues Statement on Launch of American Century ActiveShares® ETF

NEWTOWN, Pa., April 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Precidian Investments commented today on the launch of American Century Investment's (ACI) two new Actively Managed ETFs utilizing their proprietary ActiveShares® structure. Legg Mason, Inc. (NYSE: LM) currently owns a 19.9% stake in Precidian.

"We are truly appreciative of ACI's perseverance in making ActiveShares® a reality," stated Dan McCabe, Chief Executive Officer of Precidian Investments.  "I'd like to thank ACI CEO Jonathan Thomas, as well as Ed Rosenberg, Matt Lewis, Cleo Chang, and Rene Casis for their tireless efforts and unwavering support in bringing the launch of these funds to fruition."

"I'd also like to thank our ETF community, but notably, the Cboe, BNY Mellon, State Street Bank, JP Morgan, Mizuho, Cantor Fitzgerald, Rosenblatt Securities, Citadel, GTS Mischler and Foreside, for their commitment to the ActiveShares® model."

"We are incredibly proud of this structure, which we believe combines the best attributes of active management with the additional flexibilities of an ETF wrapper. ActiveShares should provide a much better experience for both investors and asset managers." he continued.

Designed to fit seamlessly into the existing ETF ecosystem, ActiveShares® offers investors and managers a far more flexible structure than currently exists with today's mutual funds.

Potential benefits include:

• Investors: Lower operating costs, improved tax efficiency, lower potential cash drag, benefits of exchange trading, lower liquidity charges and eliminates multiple share classes.
• Active managers: No changes in day-to-day responsibilities, but greatly improved flexibility. Significant improvement in tax efficiency enables more effective implementation without fear of front-running or loss of intellectual property.
• Markets: Diversifies the markets away from concentration in index-based ETFs and associated price discovery challenges, supporting goals of regulators. The availability of additional investment capabilities within the ETF structure can lead to more robust asset allocation models.

"We believe these features, added to the ETF landscape, will provide investors significant benefits, including reduced fees and tax advantages," McCabe said.

About Precidian Investments

An industry leader in the creation of innovative financial products, Precidian specializes in ETF and mutual fund development, and associated trading and pricing technologies. We design and develop 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 Investments' expertise in product development, trading, clearance, sales, technology, and securities law enables us to more efficiently design and build cutting-edge financial instruments.

SOURCE Legg Mason, Inc.

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