MSIM Adds Latest Strategy, Parametric Equity Plus, to $3.3 Billion ETF Platform

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 8, 2024--

Morgan Stanley Investment Management (“MSIM”) today announced the launch of its latest ETF, Parametric Equity Plus ETF (Ticker: “PEPS”), a US large-cap equity strategy. Since the introduction of MSIM’s first ETFs in 2023, the platform has grown to over $3.3 billion in ETF assets with 16 total strategies that span asset classes and themes. Listed on the Nasdaq, the latest addition to the platform is the third Parametric ETF brought to market and follows the conversion of three active fixed income mutual funds to Eaton Vance ETFs earlier this year.

“MSIM’s ETF platform continues to expand by introducing differentiated strategies that address the range of investor needs for accessing market exposures within an ETF structure,” said Brian Weinstein, Head of Global Markets at MSIM. “We are pleased with the strong growth to over $3.3 billion in ETF assets from both institutional and retail investors in less than two years and remain focused on building a comprehensive platform that reflects our distinct capabilities across asset classes.”

The Fund seeks to provide long term capital appreciation by investing in an underlying portfolio of US large cap equities through Parametric’s direct indexing capabilities, which seeks to minimize tracking error versus the benchmark index. The equity portfolio is then enhanced with a rules-based options strategy and a risk management strategy. PEPS potentially offers investors equity market outperformance with similar volatility and drawdown risk to the benchmark. Additionally, the strategy may utilize Parametric’s well-known active tax management techniques.

“This latest ETF strategy combines Parametric’s industry-leading capabilities in options-based strategies and direct indexing to offer US large-cap equity exposure plus additional upside potential,” said Thomas Lee, Co-President and Chief Investment Officer at Parametric. “We are pleased to add to the MSIM ETF platform and meet client demand for our investment expertise in a vehicle that offers daily liquidity at a lower cost.”

MSIM’s ETF platform is comprised of 16 total products including the three Parametric-branded equity- and options-based strategies, six Calvert-branded ETFs, and seven Eaton Vance-branded fixed income strategies. Launched in early 2023, the platform has grown to over $3.3 billion in assets.

About Morgan Stanley Investment Management

Morgan Stanley Investment Management, together with its investment advisory affiliates, has more than 1,400 investment professionals around the world and $1.6 trillion in assets under management or supervision as of September 30, 2024. Morgan Stanley Investment Management strives to provide outstanding long-term investment performance, service, and a comprehensive suite of investment management solutions to a diverse client base, which includes governments, institutions, corporations and individuals worldwide. For further information about Morgan Stanley Investment Management, please visit www.morganstanley.com/im.

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services. With offices in 42 countries, the Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals. For more information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.

Please consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of the fund carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other information about the fund. To obtain a prospectus (which includes the applicable fund's current fees and expenses, if different from those in effect as of the date of this material), download one ateatonvance.com or contact your financial professional. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Risk Considerations:Equity - In general, equities securities’ values also fluctuate in response to activities specific to a company. Liquidity - Illiquid Securities. The fund may make investments in securities that are or become illiquid or less liquid and which may be more difficult to sell and value(liquidity risk). Information Technology Sector Risk. To the extent the Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in the information technology sector, the value of Fund shares may be particularly impacted by events that adversely affect the information technology sector, such as rapid changes in technology product cycles, product obsolescence, government regulation, and competition, and may fluctuate more than that of a fund that does not invest significantly in companies in the technology sector. Market & Geopolitical - Funds are subject to market risk, which is the possibility that the market values of securities owned by the fund will decline. Market values can change daily due to economic and other events (e.g. natural disasters, health crises, terrorism, conflicts and social unrest) that affect markets, countries, companies or governments. It is difficult to predict the timing, duration, and potential adverse effects (e.g. portfolio liquidity) of events. Accordingly, you can lose money investing in this fund. Please be aware that this fund may be subject to certain additional risks. Derivative Instruments. The use of derivatives may disproportionately increase losses and have a significant impact on performance. They also may be subject to counterparty, liquidity, valuation, correlation and market risks. Call Option Writing Risk. Writing call options involves the risk that the Fund may be required to sell the underlying security or instrument (or settle in cash an amount of equal value) at a disadvantageous price or below the market price of such underlying security or instrument, at the time the option is exercised. As the writer of a call option, the Fund forgoes, during the option’s life, the opportunity to profit from increases in the market value of the underlying security or instrument covering the option above the sum of the premium and the exercise price, potentially causing underperformance in rising markets, but retains the risk of loss should the price of the underlying security or instrument decline. The Fund’s call option writing strategy may not fully protect it against declines in the value of the market. The use of call options could increase the volatility of the Fund’s returns and may increase the risk of loss to the Fund. There are special risks associated with uncovered option writing which expose the Fund to potentially significant loss. FLEX Options. The Fund utilizes FLEX Options guaranteed for settlement by the Options Clearing Corporation (“OCC”). The Fund may suffer significant losses if the OCC is unable or unwilling to perform its obligations or becomes insolvent or otherwise unable to meet its obligations. FLEX Options may be less liquid than other securities or options. The Fund may be negatively impacted if market participants are not willing or able to enter into transactions involving FLEX Options with the Fund in relation to creation and redemption transactions. The Fund may experience losses from certain FLEX Option positions and certain FLEX Option positions may expire with little to no value. Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. The Fund has a limited number of intermediaries that act as authorized participants and none of these authorized participants is or will be obligated to engage in creation or redemption transactions. As a result, shares may trade at a discount to net asset value (“NAV”) and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. Trading Risk. The market prices of shares of the Fund are expected to fluctuate, in some cases materially, in response to changes in the Fund's NAV, the intra-day value of holdings, and supply and demand for Shares. The adviser and subadviser cannot predict whether shares will trade above, below or at their NAV. Buying or selling shares in the secondary market may require paying brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by brokers as determined by that broker. Active Management Risk. In pursuing the Fund’s investment objective, the adviser and/or sub adviser has considerable leeway in deciding which investments to buy, hold or sell on a day-to-day basis, and which trading strategies to use. For example, the adviser and/or subadviser, in its discretion, may determine to use some permitted trading strategies while not using others. The success or failure of such decisions will affect the Fund’s performance. New Fund Risk. A new fund's performance may not represent how the fund is expected to or may perform in the long term. In addition, there is a limited operating history for investors to evaluate and the fund may not attract sufficient assets to achieve investment and trading efficiencies. Underlying Index and ETF Risk. The Fund invests in options and futures that derive their value from an underlying index or underlying ETF, and therefore, in addition to the performance of the Equity Portfolio, the Fund’s investment performance at least partially depends on the investment performance of the Underlying Index or Underlying ETF. The value of the Underlying Index or Underlying ETF will fluctuate over time based on fluctuations in the values of the securities that comprise the Underlying Index or Underlying ETF, which may be affected by changes to general economic conditions, expectations for future growth and profits, interest rates and the supply and demand for those securities. Correlation Risk. As an option approaches its expiration date, its value typically will increasingly move with the value of the Underlying Index or the Underlying ETF. However, the value of the options may vary prior to the expiration date because of related factors other than the value of the Underlying Index or the Underlying ETF, including the value of the options include interest rate changes and implied volatility levels of the Underlying Index or the Underlying ETF, among others. Clearing Member Risk. Transactions in some types of derivatives, including FLEX Options, are required to be centrally cleared (“cleared derivatives”). In a transaction involving cleared derivatives, the Fund’s counterparty is a clearing house, such as the OCC, rather than a bank or broker and the Fund will hold cleared derivatives through accounts at clearing members. The Fund is also subject to the risk that a limited number of clearing members are willing to transact on the Fund’s behalf, which heightens the risks associated with a clearing member’s default. If a clearing member defaults, the Fund could lose some or all of the benefits of a transaction entered into by the Fund with the clearing member. The loss of a clearing member for the Fund to transact with could result in increased transaction costs and other operational issues that could impede the Fund’s ability to implement its investment strategy. Counterparty. Counterparty risk generally refers to the risk that a counterparty on a derivatives transaction may not be willing or able to perform its obligations under the derivatives contract, and the related risks of having concentrated exposure to such a counterparty. If an OCC clearing member or OCC becomes insolvent, the Fund may have its positions closed or experience delays or difficulties in closing or exercising its FLEX Options positions and the Fund could suffer significant losses. Tax Risk. The Fund intends to limit the overlap between its stock holdings and the stock holdings of the underlying ETF or underlying index of options to less than 70% on an ongoing basis in an effort to avoid being subject to the “straddle rules” under federal income tax law. The Fund expects that the option contracts it writes will not be considered straddles. Under certain circumstances, however, the Fund may enter into options transactions or certain other investments that may constitute positions in a straddle. The straddle rules may affect the character of gains (or losses) realized by the Fund.

Eaton Vance, Parametric and Calvert are part of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, the asset management division of Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley Investment Management Inc. is the adviser to the ETFs. Parametric Portfolio Associates LLC is the subadviser to the Parametric ETFs.

ETFs are distributed by Foreside Fund Services LLC.

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CONTACT: Media Contact: Lauren Bellmare

Lauren.Bellmare@MorganStanley.com

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