AdvisorShares Announces Rockledge SectorSAM ETF (SSAM) Launch Date

BETHESDA, Md., Dec. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- AdvisorShares Investments, LLC, a sponsor of actively managed Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), announced today that the AdvisorShares Rockledge SectorSAM ETF (NYSE: SSAM) will open for trading on Thursday, January 12, 2012. New York-based Rockledge Advisors ("Rockledge") is the portfolio manager of SSAM. SSAM seeks to generate stable and consistent annual returns under all market conditions by utilizing both long and short positions in U.S. Sector ETFs that correspond to the U.S. large capitalization sectors.

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In almost any year or market cycle, there is a significant difference in the performance between the top performing sector and the bottom performing sector.  This strategy is designed to invest in the top performing sectors, while hedging by short selling the sectors expected to have the lowest or negative returns.  To do this, Rockledge will use a proprietary quantitative analytical system known as the Sector Scoring and Allocation Methodology ("SectorSAM") which helps Rockledge determine specific conditions in both economic and business cycles. Rockledge evaluates whether a sector is cheap or expensive, given the cycle relative to the rest of the market and will invest (be long) in the undervalued sectors while avoiding (be short) the overvalued sectors.  

Alex Gurvich, Co-Founder of Rockledge and portfolio manager of SSAM said, "The U.S. economy goes through various growth cycles, which means there should be relative sector variation at all times. We rotate investments between the U.S. economic sectors based on our proprietary evaluation in order to try and outperform the overall market. We believe that the prudent investor, who understands the risk vs. reward tradeoff, should be looking at sector investing vs. individual stocks. Holding a position in a sector can provide inherent diversification while reducing individual company risk."

"We are very excited to be launching SSAM with Alex Gurvich's team from Rockledge," said Noah Hamman, CEO and Founder of AdvisorShares. "Financial Advisors and investors are seeking more active and hedging strategies to add to their investment portfolio.  The ability to add a new alternative manager in a transparent, cost-effective actively managed ETF structure will be a compelling offering to both advisors and their clients. We feel this provides an excellent complement to our existing suite of actively managed ETF strategies."

To request more information on AdvisorShares or SSAM, please contact Noah Hamman or Chuck Robertson at 202-657-6383, [email protected] or [email protected].

About AdvisorShares
AdvisorShares is one of the leading providers of actively managed ETFs.  As of 12/15/2011 AdvisorShares offers 11 active ETFs with approximately $440,000,000 of assets under management.  AdvisorShares is pleased to offer actively managed ETFs, including:

Alternative Strategies

Core Tactical Strategies

Dent Tactical ETF (NYSE: DENT)

Cambria Global Tactical ETF (NYSE: GTAA)

Meidell Tactical Advantage ETF (NYSE: MATH)

Core Long/Short Strategies

Accuvest Global Long Short ETF (NYSE: AGLS)

Core Short Strategies

Active Bear ETF (NYSE: HDGE)

Core Domestic Strategies

Madrona Domestic ETF (NYSE: FWDD)

TrimTabs Float Shrink ETF (NYSE: TTFS)

Core International Strategies

HWCM/BNY Mellon Focused Growth ADR ETFH (NYSE: AADR)

Madrona International ETF (NYSE: FWDI)

Income Strategies

Peritus High Yield ETF (NYSE: HYLD)

Madrona Global Bond ETF (NYSE: FWDB)

AdvisorShares provides educational support to help investors understand ETFs, and the underlying investment strategy for each of the AdvisorShares ETFs.  AdvisorShares continues to seek qualified sub-advisor investment partners to offer compelling investment strategies in an active ETF structure. Visit our website at www.advisorshares.com to learn more about us. Follow the AdvisorShares Team on Twitter or 'Like' us on Facebook.

About Rockledge Advisors

Rockledge Advisors is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, and is a subsidiary of The Rockledge Group LLC, a Connecticut limited liability company established in 2004. The Rockledge Group LLC serves as investment adviser to a variety of individual and institutional investor accounts in the U.S. and in Europe.  For more information, please visit www.RockledgeAdvisors.com.

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. Other Fund risks include allocation risk, market risk, short sale risk, liquidity risk and trading risk. The Fund will be subject to the risks associated the Underlying ETFs' or ETP's investments such as concentration risk, "growth" investing risk, Large, Mid and Small-Cap risk, tracking error risk, "value" investing risk, and investment risk. Newly organized, the Fund has no trading history and there can be no assurance that active trading markets will be developed or maintained.

Diversification and Sector investing do not guarantee a profit nor do they eliminate the risk of loss of principal.

The S&P 500 Index is a broad-based, unmanaged measurement of changes in stock market conditions based on the average of 500 widely held common stocks. One cannot invest directly in an index. A long position is the purchase of an investment with the expectation that it will rise in value. A short position is the sale of a borrowed investment with the expectation that it will decline in value.

SOURCE AdvisorShares Investments, LLC