S&P Indices and Arab Federation of Exchanges Create S&P AFE 40 Index

LONDON, Dec. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Indices has launched the S&P AFE 40, an index designed to measure the performance of 40 leading companies from the Pan-Arab region. S&P Indices partnered with the Arab Federation of Exchanges (AFE) to create the Index which includes companies from Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.

Robert Shakotko, Managing Director at S&P Indices said: "We are seeing a growing interest among investors in Arab equities as this market begins to mature. The Arab Spring and the liberalisation of Arab countries seem to signal a new era of investment opportunities in the Arab world. We are delighted to have worked with the AFE to create the AFE 40 Index, which is timely and fulfils the demand from investors seeking to measure this important, growing segment of the market."

Dr. Fadi Khalaf, Secretary General at the Arab Federation of Exchanges said: "The S&P AFE 40 is expected to be an important blue chip index in the Pan-Arab region, offering a true representation of the performance of leading, publicly traded companies trading on Arabian exchanges. We are excited to partner with one of the leading index providers in the world, S&P Indices, to offer this exciting,new benchmark to investors."

The S&P AFE 40 is comprised of the 40 largest stocks (measured by float-adjusted market capitalisation) listed on AFE member exchanges subject to the following restrictions: each stock must have at least US$50 million in value traded over 12 months, there can be no more than 10 stocks per country, based on domicile, and at least one stock from each country must be included. In terms of weighting, the S&P AFE 40 uses a capped market capitalisation weighted index scheme, where the maximum weight of any constituent cannot exceed 10% and the maximum weight for each country, based on domicile cannot exceed 35%.

Below is a table showing the top 5 countries by weight and the largest weighted constituent within each. All data is as of October 31, 2011.

For more information on the S&P AFE 40, please visit: www.standardandpoors.com/indices.

About S&P Indices
S&P Indices, a leading brand of the McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE:MHP), maintains a wide variety of investable and benchmark indices to meet an array of investor needs. Over $1.25 trillion is directly indexed to Standard & Poor's family of indices, which includes the S&P 500, the world's most followed stock market index, the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, the S&P Global BMI, an index with approximately 11,000 constituents, the S&P GSCI, the industry's most closely watched commodities index, and the S&P National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Index, the premier investable index for U.S. municipal bonds. For more information, please visit: www.standardandpoors.com/indices.

It is not possible to invest directly in an index. S&P Indices does not sponsor, endorse, sell or promote any S&P index-based investment product. This document does not constitute an offer of services in jurisdictions where S&P Indices or its affiliates do not have the necessary licenses. Standard & Poor's receives compensation in connection with licensing its indices to third parties.

SOURCE Standard & Poor's