Eaton Vance Announces Launch of Global Macro Absolute Return Advantage Fund

BOSTON, Sept. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Eaton Vance Management, a subsidiary of Eaton Vance Corp. (NYSE: EV), announced today the launch of Eaton Vance Global Macro Absolute Return Advantage Fund (Class A: EGRAX, Class C: EGRCX, Class I: EGRIX), a new mutual fund managed for total return.  Designed to complement traditional asset classes, the new Fund employs a flexible strategy that provides wide-ranging exposure to global investment opportunities, including many typically unrepresented in conventional investor portfolios.  

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As an absolute return fund, the Fund benchmarks performance primarily against short-term cash instruments and expects to provide returns over the long term that are substantially independent of movements in the stock and bond markets. In making investment decisions on behalf of the Fund, Eaton Vance utilizes macroeconomic and political analysis to identify opportunities throughout the world in both developed and emerging markets.  The Fund's investments will normally consist primarily of positions in the debt, currencies and interest rates of sovereign nations. The Fund may also invest in corporate debt and equity, municipal obligations and commodities-related investments. Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 40% of its net assets in foreign investments and may have significant exposure to foreign currencies and derivative instruments.

"We're country pickers," said Michael Cirami, co-portfolio manager. "We seek to identify disconnects between a country's fundamentals and the pricing of assets in its investment markets." The Fund's flexible strategy allows for implementation of long positions in markets believed to be strong or improving, but also short positions as well. "Deteriorating markets can often represent some of the most compelling opportunities. Narrower mandates could miss them."

The Fund is managed by Eaton Vance's Global Fixed Income group, also responsible for managing the firm's Global Macro Absolute Return, Strategic Income, Emerging Markets Local Income and International Income Funds, which had combined assets under management of $11 billion as of August 31, 2010.  Relative to the original Global Macro Absolute Return Fund, the new Fund differs in two principal respects: first, a reduced exposure to investments in frontier markets, thereby freeing the Fund from capacity constraints that limit growth potential of the original product; and second, the targeting of higher levels of potential return and a willingness to accept commensurately higher performance volatility.  

"Our original Global Macro strategy gained wide popularity based on its consistently positive returns, low volatility and low correlation to most other asset classes," said Christopher Remington, Director of Fixed Income Product Management at Eaton Vance. "But investors have expressed significant interest in accessing a higher-return-potential fund that incorporates a similar approach to global markets."

"Global Macro Absolute Return Advantage will own larger and more concentrated positions in countries about which we have strong conviction," said Remington.  "The tradeoff with larger exposures is increased potential volatility, though we expect similarly low correlation to traditional equity and fixed-income markets.  From a business perspective, the new Fund allows us to build our position as a leading global macro manager."

Portfolio manager Michael Cirami discusses Eaton Vance's global macro investment philosophy and approach to risk management at boston.videolinktv.com/extranet/ev_aug27.  A new micro-site, www.eatonvance.com/gfi, provides additional information about absolute return investing and the firm's global macro investment approach.  

Eaton Vance is one of the oldest investment management firms in the United States, with a history dating to 1924.  Eaton Vance and its affiliates managed $173.3 billion in assets as of July 31, 2010, offering individuals and institutions a broad array of investment strategies and wealth management solutions.  The Company's long record of providing exemplary service and attractive returns through a variety of market conditions has made Eaton Vance the investment manager of choice for many of today's most discerning investors.  For more information about Eaton Vance, visit www.eatonvance.com.

About Risk – The following is a summary of the primary risks of investing in the Fund. Investments in foreign instruments or currencies can involve greater risk and volatility than U.S. investments because of adverse market, economic, political, regulatory, geopolitical, or other conditions. In emerging countries, these risks may be more significant. Derivatives instruments can be used to take both long and short positions, be highly volatile, result in economic leverage (which can magnify losses),  and involve risks in addition to the risks of the underlying instrument on which the derivative is based, such as counterparty and liquidity risk. Investments in income securities may be affected by changes in the real or perceived creditworthiness of their issuer and are subject to the risk of non-payment of principal and interest. An imbalance in supply and demand in the income market may result in valuation uncertainties and greater volatility, less liquidity, widening credit spreads and a lack of price transparency in the market. As interest rates rise, the value of certain income investments is likely to decline. Investments rated below investment grade (typically referred to as "junk bonds") are generally subject to greater price volatility and illiquidity than higher rated investments and typically have greater credit risk. Because investments may be concentrated in a particular geographic region or country, the value of Fund shares may fluctuate more than that of a less concentrated fund. The value of commodities investments will generally be affected by overall market movements and factors specific to a particular industry or commodity including weather, embargoes, tariffs, or health, political, international and regulatory developments. A "non-diversified" fund may be exposed to greater risk by investing it assets in a smaller number of investments than a diversified fund. No Fund is a complete investment program and you may lose money investing in a Fund. The Fund may engage in other investment practices that may involve additional risks and you should review the Fund prospectus for a complete description.

Before investing, investors should consider carefully the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of a mutual fund. This and other important information is contained in the prospectus or summary prospectus, if available, which can be obtained from a financial advisor. Prospective investors should read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Not FDIC Insured.  Not Bank Guaranteed.  May Lose Value.

The Funds are distributed by Eaton Vance Distributors, Inc. Two International Place, Boston, MA 02110

SOURCE Eaton Vance