AXA Rosenberg Announces Launch of Global Emerging Markets Funds

AXA Rosenberg Announces Launch of Global Emerging Markets Funds

March 23, 2006

Offerings Utilize Firm's Proprietary Stock Selection Process

    ORINDA, Calif., March 23 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- AXA
Rosenberg Group LLC, the specialist global equity
investment management firm within the AXA Investment
Managers group, today announced the extension of its highly
successful global equity strategy with the launch of the AXA
Rosenberg Global Emerging Markets Equity Strategy and an All
Country World Equity Strategy.

    The funds are designed to outperform the Morgan Stanley
Capital International Emerging Markets (MSCI EM) and All
Country World (MSCI ACWI) indices. They will invest across
the capitalization spectrum of the emerging markets of Asia
Pacific, Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Central
and South America. Separate accounts as well as various
commingled vehicles including a Dublin-based UCITS for
investors in Europe and Asia will be available. 

    "AXA Rosenberg's proven investment strategies are
predicated on the belief that earnings matter and that the
best companies to invest in are those that produce the
highest future earnings relative to their current
price," said Stephane Prunet, AXA Rosenberg Group
Chief Executive Officer. "Our strategy of building
portfolios with a distinct earnings advantage relative to
the market has generated alpha in developed markets, and
our research shows the same should be true within emerging
markets as well," he added.

    Tom Mead, Managing Director of the Barr Rosenberg
Research Center LLC, the dedicated research arm of the AXA
Rosenberg Group, noted that in contrast with many emerging
market managers who make country or industry bets, AXA
Rosenberg's approach is designed to add value through pure
stock selection while keeping industry and country weights
tight to the benchmark. "While success in these
regions has traditionally been viewed as the result of
timing markets or industries, our research shows that
creating well-diversified portfolios based on finding
undervalued companies with high future earnings potential
is rewarded from a risk and return standpoint."

    The firm's Global Emerging Markets funds are being
launched following several years of detailed evaluation of
more than 200 financial statement items across 170 business
segments for more than 4,500 emerging markets companies. 

    "We've done the difficult work of applying our
approach in this area and the evidence indicates that there
are ample stock selection opportunities in emerging markets.
The availability and completeness of financial data in these
markets have improved dramatically and many companies are
now reporting their financial results on either a U.S. GAAP
basis or based on International Financial Reporting
Standards (IFRS). At the same time, these markets are
typically under-researched and less efficient, which makes
them particularly attractive for applying our rigorous
bottom-up, fundamental analysis," Mr. Mead said.

    Noting that AXA Rosenberg has been managing emerging
country assets in Asia for over five years with strong
results, Mr. Prunet said, "The Global Emerging Markets
Strategy complements our other offerings. It also reflects
the increasing demand from clients who are looking for
alternative sources of alpha, have appreciated our approach
to global equity markets, and have expressed interest in
both our stand alone global emerging product and the all
world country strategy." 

    This communication is issued for information purposes
only and is not intended to be an offer to sell nor a
solicitation of offers to purchase shares of the funds
specified herein, in any jurisdiction or to any persons or
entities where prohibited by law.  Investments in the funds
are subject to investment risks and past performance is no
guarantee of future results.

    About AXA Rosenberg

    AXA Rosenberg Group LLC, the specialist global equity
investment management firm within the AXA Investment
Managers group, was founded in 1985 by Dr. Barr Rosenberg,
who plays an active role in the development of equity
insights. AXA Rosenberg models and predicts company fair
value, future earnings and risk in building portfolios that
aim to produce higher future earnings per dollar than the
markets. This analysis is embedded in an expert system --
the proprietary software built to embody the firm's
collective knowledge -- so that it can be applied in a
consistent and repeatable fashion in all markets worldwide.
AXA Rosenberg manages more than $85 billion in individual
country, regional and global strategies for pension funds,
foundations and government entities in North America,
Europe, Asia and Japan. Headquartered in Orinda,
California, the firm has offices in New York, Toronto,
London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney. For more
information, please visit http://www.axarosenberg.com .

    For more information, please contact:

    North America, Asia Pacific, Japan

     Danette Shipe
     AXA Rosenberg
     Tel:   [phone] 
     Email: [e-mail]

     Neal Rosen
     Kalt Rosen & Co.
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]                      

    Europe

     Ellen Gracey
     GR Communications
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

     Wendy Sayer
     AXA Rosenberg
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  AXA Rosenberg Group LLC