ALPS to Liquidate Another Jefferies ETFs

ALPS ETF Trust announced on Wednesday April 18, 2012 that it will shutter another Jefferies ETF. This time it's the Jefferies | TR/J CRB Wildcatters Exploration & Production Equity ETF WCAT that's headed for the ETF graveyard. In December 2011, ALPS decided to close two Jefferies ETFs cutting the number of Jefferies ETFs on the market to two. The Jefferies | TR/J CRB Global Agriculture Equity Index Fund and the Jefferies | TR/J CRB Global Industrial Metals Equity Index Fund were closed on December 28, 2011 due to thin volume and light assets under management. The same attributes have plagued WCAT. The fund trades less than 1,800 shares per day and has just $9.51 million in AUM despite being introduced more than two years ago. WCAT will close to new investors on April 27, 2012 and will liquidate on May 2, 2012. ALPS ETF Trust's Board of Trustees decision was made after consultation with ALPS Advisors, Inc. the investment advisor to the Fund. The Board considered current market conditions as well as prospects for growth in the Fund's assets in the foreseeable future, according to a statement issued by ALPS. From April 30, 2012 to May 1, 2012, shareholders may be able to sell their shares to certain broker-dealers, but there can be no assurance that there will be a market for WCAT. Any person holding shares in the Fund as of the liquidation date of May 2, 2012 will receive a cash distribution equal to the net asset value of their shares as of that date, ALPS said in the statement. The remaining ETF with the Jefferies label will be the Jefferies TR/J CRB Global Commodity Equity ETF CRBQ. CRBQ, which will turn three years old later this year, has almost $89.5 million in AUM and average daily turnover of more than 11,400 shares.