HedgeCo.net – —Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced the Dow Jones EPAC Select Dividend Index has been licensed to Barclays Global Investors to serve as the underlying for an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The iShares Dow Jones EPAC Select Dividend Index Fund launched today on NYSE Arca.

This is the first time the Dow Jones EPAC Select Dividend Index has been licensed as the basis for an ETF.

”We have seen strong interest in our existing select dividend indexes for the U.S., the Euro zone and Europe. We also have seen particular interest in the unique index concept that uses a combination of indicated annual dividend and dividend yield in order to determine the weightings of the components and countries within the index,” said Michael A. Petronella, president, Dow Jones Indexes/Reprints. “Licensing the Dow Jones EPAC Select Dividend Index as the basis of an ETF allows market participants to add leading dividend-paying companies in Europe, Asia, Australia and Canada to their portfolios”

Launched in December 2005, the Dow Jones EPAC Select Dividend Index measures the performance of the 100 high dividend paying non-U.S. companies in developed markets. Represented markets currently include Canada, Western Europe, Japan, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. To be included in the Dow Jones EPAC Select Dividend Index, stocks must have a positive, three-year dividend-per-share growth rate; a dividend payout ratio of less than or equal to 1.5 times the five-year average payout ratio of the Dow Jones country index to which it belongs; and a three-month average daily dollar trading volume of at least $3 million.

For the weighting of the stocks, the Dow Jones EPAC Select Dividend Index –  calculated in U.S. dollars—uses a combination of indicated annual dividend in order to determine component weights within each country, and dividend yield in order to determine country weights within the index. The represented countries are weighted within the index based on dividend yield. Eligible stocks are ranked in descending order by indicated annual dividend yield, and the top 100 components are selected for the index. Component weightings are capped at 10% in the index.

The Dow Jones EPAC Select Dividend Index further complements the Dow Jones and Dow Jones STOXX Select Dividend Index series, which consists of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index, the Dow Jones STOXX Global Select Dividend 100 Index, the Dow Jones STOXX and EURO STOXX Select Dividend 30 Indexes, the Dow Jones STOXX NORDIC Select Dividend 20 Index, the Dow Jones STOXX EU Enlarged Select Dividend 15 Index, the Dow Jones Select Dividend Indexes for Asia, Asia/Pacific, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, U.K. as well as the Dow Jones SWX Select Dividend 20 Index.

Since its inception on December 5, 2005, the Dow Jones EPAC Select Dividend Index has an annualized return of 31.21%.

 Historical data for the Dow Jones EPAC Select Dividend Index is available back to December 31, 1998.