Van Eck Global announced splits for three Market Vectors fixed income ETFs including the:
Market Vectors–Barclays Capital AMT-Free Intermediate Municipal Index ETF (ITM)
Market Vectors–Barclays Capital AMT-Free Short Municipal Index ETF (SMB)
Market Vectors–Barclays Capital AMT-Free Long Municipal Index ETF (MLN)
ITM and MLN will split five-for-one. SMB will split three-for-one.
The splits will lower the share price of the Funds by increasing the number of shares outstanding, but will not change the total value of shares outstanding. The expected primary benefit of this action is that lower share prices will make the Funds more accessible to investors. Van Eck anticipates that the splits may also create greater liquidity for the Funds and, by extension, facilitate tighter bid-ask spreads.
These splits will take place for shareholders of record as of the close of business on October 21, 2008, and will be payable on October 23, 2008. Fund shares will begin trading on a split-adjusted basis on October 24, 2008. Shareholders will see the change in their holdings sometime after that date, depending upon their brokerage firms’ procedures.
See the VanEck Global ETF directory for a complete listing.