WisdomTree to Enter Commodity ETF Space Through Acquisition of the GreenHaven Commodity Funds

NEW YORK, Oct. 30, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WisdomTree Investments, Inc. (Nasdaq:WETF), an exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) and exchange-traded product (“ETP”) sponsor and asset manager, today announced it entered into an agreement to acquire GreenHaven Commodity Services, LLC, the managing owner of the GreenHaven Continuous Commodity Index Fund (NYSE Arca:GCC), and GreenHaven Coal Services, LLC, the sponsor of the GreenHaven Coal Fund (NYSE Arca:TONS), from GreenHaven, LLC and GreenHaven Group, LLC, respectively.  The transaction is subject to approval by the GreenHaven Continuous Commodity Index Fund shareholders and customary closing conditions, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015.

WisdomTree intends to enter the U.S. commodities ETF space through this transaction.  WisdomTree CEO and President Jonathan Steinberg said, “WisdomTree’s planned acquisition of these unique commodity funds emphasizes our continued commitment to providing differentiated solutions in response to developments in the market and investor preferences.”

WisdomTree will retain GreenHaven Advisors, LLC as the sub-advisor to the funds to conduct portfolio management services. The transaction consideration is $11.75 million in cash. GCC has $247 million in assets under management and TONS has $1 million in assets under management, as of October 28, 2015. The financial impact of the transaction is not material to WisdomTree earnings per share.

“We're excited about working with WisdomTree because of its leadership position in the ETF space and outstanding track record of growth,” said GreenHaven Group, LLC  President Ashmead Pringle.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on WisdomTree’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to its management. Although WisdomTree believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements relate to future events or its future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions. Undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which are, in some cases, beyond WisdomTree’s control and which could materially affect results. Among other things, the parties’ ability to complete the transaction in a timely manner (if at all), including satisfaction of various closing conditions, and WisdomTree’s ability to successfully integrate the acquired funds into its own operations could affect the extent of the strategic benefits that WisdomTree generates from this acquisition, and the impact of the acquisition on results of operations. In addition, the economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors identified under the heading “Risk Factors” included in Item 1A of WisdomTree’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 and information contained in subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission could affect actual results.

The forward-looking statements in this press release represent WisdomTree’s views as of the date of this press release. WisdomTree anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause its views to change.  However, while WisdomTree may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, it has no current intention of doing so except to the extent required by applicable law.  Therefore, these forward-looking statements do not represent WisdomTree’s views as of any date other than the date of this press release. 

About WisdomTree

WisdomTree Investments, Inc., through its subsidiaries in the U.S. and Europe (collectively, “WisdomTree”), is an exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) and exchange-traded product (“ETP”) sponsor and asset manager headquartered in New York.  WisdomTree offers products covering equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities and alternative strategies.  WisdomTree currently has approximately $58.1 billion in assets under management globally. 

WisdomTree® is the marketing name for WisdomTree Investments, Inc. and its subsidiaries worldwide.

About GreenHaven

GreenHaven currently provides investors with two commodity-based ETFs. GreenHaven Continuous Commodity Index Fund (NYSE Arca:GCC) is an ETF designed to provide investors with broad based, diversified commodity exposure by using futures contracts to track the Thomson Reuters Equal Weight Continuous Commodity Total Return Index (“CCI-TR”). The CCI-TR is an equal weighted index of 17 commodities plus an additional Treasury Bill yield. GreenHaven Coal Fund (NYSE Arca:TONS) is the first ETF designed to offer investors with exposure to daily changes in the price of coal futures contracts.

Contact Information:
WisdomTree Investments, Inc.
Stuart Bell / Jessica Zaloom
+1.917.267.3702 / +1.917.267.3735
sbell@wisdomtree.com / jzaloom@wisdomtree.com

Released October 30, 2015