AdvisorShares Marks Two-Year Anniversary of the WCM/BNY Mellon Focused Growth ADR ETF (AADR)

BETHESDA, Md., Aug. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- AdvisorShares, a leading sponsor of actively managed Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), recently celebrated the two-year anniversary of its industry leading international active ETF, the WCM/BNY Mellon Focused Growth ADR ETF (AADR), which has outperformed all broadly comparable Foreign Large Cap Indexes since its inception.  AADR is sub-advised by WCM Investment Management (WCM), an institutional money manager with over $1.6 billion assets under management, and a seven-year track record of beating international benchmarks for its clients.  BNY Mellon, the world's largest depositary for American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) provides expertise to the portfolio management team as well as to all other market intermediaries.

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AADR, which seeks long-term capital appreciation by using domestically-traded equity ADRs in its portfolio, has proved to provide alpha within the ETF structure that allows transparency, liquidity and better operational and tax efficiency.  As of 7/31/2012 and since inception (7/20/2010), AADR has outperformed the MSCI EAFE Index and the BNY Mellon Classic ADR Index with lower Beta and higher Alpha, and a low correlation to those respective indexes.  Additionally, when compared to its benchmark indexes, AADR had a substantially less drawdown further defining its risk-adjusted performance attributes as a better risk-adjusted option for investors. 

AADR Performance Against Its Benchmarks (as of July 31, 2012)

Performance data quoted represents past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than original cost. Returns less than one year are not annualized. For the Fund's most recent month end performance, please visit www.advisorshares.com. The Gross Expense Ratio is 3.04% and the Net Expense Ratio is 1.25%.  The Advisor has contractually agreed to reduce its fees and/or reimburse expense in order to keep net expenses from exceeding 1.25% of the Fund's average daily net assets for at least a year from the date of the Prospectus and for an indefinite period thereafter subject to annual reapproval of the agreement by the Board of Trustees.

"We're proud to mark this milestone with WCM and BNY Mellon," said Noah Hamman, Chief Executive Officer of AdvisorShares.  "Prior to bringing AADR to market, WCM's portfolio management was exclusive to an institutional client base, but now via a ticker symbol, any investor can access this high-quality international strategy, which has displayed effective risk management in challenging market conditions while outperforming its benchmarks since inception."

Kurt R. Winrich, Chairman and Co-CEO of WCM said, "Through our partnership with AdvisorShares and BNY Mellon, we're pleased to have established wider investor access to a strategy, associated with a seven-year institutional track record, but wrapped in a fully-transparent actively managed ETF vehicle.  We believe our success is anchored in our long-term investment approach of focusing on fundamentals and equity research, to best help AADR shareholders reach their investment goals."

"We remain committed in delivering the same investment resources long-realized by our institutional clients to AADR shareholders," said Duff Daniels, Managing Director of WCM.  "As we mark two years since AADR's inception, we look forward to establishing our track record further and seeking continued outperformance of international benchmarks."

Julio Lugo, BNY Mellon's Global Head of ADR Structured Products said, "We are proud to help support the first actively managed international ETF.  We believe the benefits of the ETF structure along with the outperformance provided by WCM is beneficial to all types of people from the smallest investors to the largest institutions."

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 8/14/2012 AdvisorShares offers 15 active ETFs with approximately $650,000,000 of assets under management, including:

Alternative Strategies

Tactical
Cambria Global Tactical ETF (NYSE: GTAA)
Meidell Tactical Advantage ETF (NYSE: MATH)

Long/Short
Accuvest Global Long Short ETF (NYSE: AGLS)
Rockledge SectorSAM ETF (NYSE: SSAM)
QAM Equity Hedge ETF (NYSE: QEH)

Short
Active Bear ETF (NYSE: HDGE)

Sustainable
Global Echo ETF (NYSE: GIVE)

Global Equity
Global Alpha & Beta ETF (NYSE: RRGR)

Domestic Equity Strategies
Madrona Domestic ETF (NYSE: FWDD)
TrimTabs Float Shrink ETF (NYSE: TTFS)

International Equity Strategies
WCM/BNY Mellon Focused Growth ADR ETF (NYSE: AADR)
Madrona International ETF (NYSE: FWDI)

Global Equity Strategies
Accuvest Global Opportunities ETF (NYSE: ACCU)

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 WCM Investment Management

WCM Investment Management is committed to helping clients achieve their financial goals by utilizing a variety of disciplined techniques for security selection and portfolio construction. Since 1976 our team of investment professionals has met client objectives with innovative and thoughtful investment management.

As of 6/30/2012, WCM Investment Management has approximately $1.6 billion in assets under management. Visit their website at www.wcminvest.com.  

About BNY Mellon Depositary Receipts

BNY Mellon acts as depositary for more than 2,100 American and global depositary receipt programs, acting in partnership with leading companies from 83 countries. With an unrivaled commitment to helping securities issuers succeed in the world's rapidly evolving financial markets, the company delivers the industry's most comprehensive suite of integrated depositary receipt, corporate trust and stock transfer services. Learn more at www.bnymellon.com/dr.

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.

An investment in the Fund is subject to risk, including the possible loss of principal amount invested. Other Fund risks include concentration risk, foreign securities and currency risk, emerging markets risk, large-cap risk, early closing risk, counterparty risk and trading risk, which can increase Fund expenses and may decrease Fund performance. The Fund is, also, subject to the same risks associated with the underlying ETFs, which can result in higher volatility. This Fund may not be suitable for all investors.

Alpha is a measure of performance on a risk-adjusted basis. Beta is a measure of the volatility of a security or a portfolio in comparison to the market as a whole. Correlation shows how closely related a fund is to an index, or another fund. If there is perfect positive linear relationship between the two, the correlation will be 1.0. ADR (American Depository Receipt) is a negotiable certificate issued by a U.S. bank representing a specified number of shares (or one share) in a foreign stock that is traded on a U.S. exchange.

Drawdown is the peak-to-trough decline during a specific record period of an investment, fund or commodity. A drawdown is usually quoted as the percentage between the peak and the trough.

Shares are bought and sold at market price (closing price) not 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.

The BNY Mellon Classic ADR Index combines the over the counter (OTC) traded ADRs with exchange-listed ADRs bringing transparency to the available universe of American Depositary Receipts, including those issued by many of the world's premier companies. The Index is capitalization-weighted and adjusted for free-float utilizing Dow Jones' current methodology. The MSCI EAFE Index is an unmanaged free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed markets, excluding the US & Canada.  One cannot invest directly in an index.

SOURCE AdvisorShares

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