6 HOLDRs Funds to Take Market Vectors Name On Tuesday

Van Eck, the sixth-largest U.S. ETF issuer and parent company of Market Vectors, has commenced its exchange offer for six HOLDRs ETFs and the funds will begin trading under the Market Vectors name on Tuesday December 21, 2011. The converted funds will be the following: The Market Vectors Biotech ETF BBH, the Market Vectors Bank and Brokerage ETF RKH, the Market Vectors Oil Services ETF OIH, the Market Vectors Pharmaceuticals ETF PPH, the Market Vectors Retail ETF RTH and the Market Vectors Semiconductor ETF SMH. All of those tickers are the same tickers the HOLDRs funds currently trade under. "Van Eck Global's Market Vectors ETF Trust is offering to exchange shares of soon-to-be-launched Market Vectors ETFs for underlying assets in six HOLDRS. Van Eck's new ETFs are expected to retain the corresponding HOLDRS' tickers and will be part of the firm's family of Market Vectors ETFs. This offer is intended to allow participating HOLDRS' investors the opportunity for uninterrupted exposure to target industries," Van Eck said in a statement. Van Eck and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which sponsors the HOLDRs ETFs, announced the conversion in August, saying at the time the six funds had an $3.65 billion in aggregate assets and a combined 30-day average daily trading volume of approximately 20.07 million shares as of the close of trading on August 11, 2011.