(CSRwire) ZURICH - SAM Indexes today announced that the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes have been licensed to UBS Global Asset Management (Japan) Ltd as underlying and reference benchmark for a new sustainability offering in the Japanese market. The product will be launched in cooperation with Daiwa Securities and will be based on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index.

With UBS Global Asset Management, one of the largest asset managers worldwide, and Daiwa Securities, a leading Japanese brokerage firm, another two heavyweights in the investing industry have turned to the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes. Following the launch of Nikko Asset Management’s DJSI-based sustainability fund in 2000, the UBS offering will be the second Japanese product managed against the DJSI family. Worldwide, the new agreement increases the number of outstanding DJSI licenses to 47.

“This is an important milestone for us and adds to the great momentum we have experienced recently. The agreement with UBS Global Asset Management (Japan) is the fifth new license signed during the last three months. We are particularly proud to expand the presence of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes in Japan and we are looking forward to the future cooperation with our new client in this market”, says Alexander Barkawi, Managing Director, SAM Indexes.

“Together with our partner Daiwa Securities, we have invested considerable time and effort to ensure we offer an attractive global equity sustainability-driven product. The Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes provide us with a comprehensive, reliable and objective universe. Interest in the integration of sustainability criteria among Japanese investors is on the increase and we are confident in using the DJSI as a tool to target this growing segment”, says Kai R. Sotorp, Head of Asia Pacific, UBS Global Asset Management.

Note to the editor:

Established in 1999, the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes were launched as the first global indexes tracking the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide. Based on the cooperation of Dow Jones Indexes, STOXX Limited and SAM they provide asset managers with reliable and objective benchmarks to manage sustainability portfolios. 47 DJSI licenses are currently held by asset managers in 14 countries to manage a variety of financial products including actively and passively managed funds, certificates and segregated accounts. In total, they presently manage 2.1 billion EUR based on the DJSI. A list of the DJSI licensees is available at www.sustainability-indexes. com/htmle/other/licensing.html.

The Dow Jones Sustainability World Indexes (DJSI World) cover the top 10% of the biggest 2,500 companies in the Dow Jones World Index in terms of economic, environmental and social criteria. As a benchmark for European sustainability investments, the Dow Jones STOXX Sustainability Indexes (DJSI STOXX) cover the leading 20% in terms of sustainability of the companies in the Dow Jones STOXX^sm 600 index. The selection of index components follows a rule-based process defined in the DJSI Guidebooks. It is based on a thorough assessment of General and industry-specific sustainability criteria. The analysis is verified by an external auditor. Full details about the design philosophy, review methodology and index components are freely available at www.sustainability-indexes.com.

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