Products March 3, 2008

Fiserv Target-Date Funds Include Claymore ETFs

March 3, 2008 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Claymore Securities, Inc. has announced that eight of its exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are included as underlying investments in the Fiserv Trust Target Date Blueprint Funds.
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The Claymore ETFs have been selected as underlying investments within the collective investment fund structure of the Target Date Blueprint Funds, which are bank collective investment funds managed by Fiserv Trust Company, the announcement said.

The Target Date Blueprint Funds may invest in Claymore ETFs, other ETFs, and mutual funds in order to seek to optimize the asset allocation for individuals’ varying retirement dates between 2010 and 2050. Unlike other target date funds that typically depend on four major asset classes (cash, fixed income, U.S. equity, foreign developed equity), the Target Date Blueprint Funds currently use 11 asset classes, providing exposure to low correlation assets, which can potentially reduce expected volatility, Claymore said.

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The Claymore ETFs currently included as underlying investments in the Target Date Blueprint Funds are:

  • Claymore/Ocean Tomo Patent ETF,
  • Claymore/Great Companies Large-Cap Growth Index ETF,
  • Claymore/Ocean Tomo Growth Index ETF,
  • Claymore/Zacks Yield Hog ETF,
  • Claymore/Zacks Mid Cap Core ETF,
  • Claymore/Sabrient Stealth ETF,
  • Claymore/Robeco Developed International Equity ETF, and
  • Claymore/BNY BRIC ETF.

“This open architecture structure using both passive and active management styles creates portfolios that more closely resemble those found in a typical defined benefit plan,” said Mark Tucker, Managing Director, Claymore Securities, in the announcement.

More about Fiserv’s Blueprint Funds is at www.blueprintfunds.com .

Administration March 1, 2008

Airline Hopes to Bid Aloha to Bankruptcy

January 27, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Aloha Airlines has filed a motion for a hearing on a restructured reorganization proposal that it hopes will allow it to exit bankruptcy soon.
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The $98 million modified deal provides $63 million in cash and $35 million in exit debt financing, as well as $4.5 million more in cost savings than the previous plan, according to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.   The previous reorganization plan was worth $100 million and provided $50 million in cash and up to $50 million in debt.

Aloha filed for bankruptcy on December 30, 2004, and its plans to exit bankruptcy within a year were thwarted by appeals from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) last month, the Star-Bulletin said.   Judge J. Michael Seabright of the US District Court for the District of Hawaii gave approval for Aloha Airlines to terminate its four underfunded pension plans (See  NewsDash – December 19) after the airlines and its unions for pilots and flight attendants could not reach an agreement on their own about contract terminations (See  Aloha Airlines and Unions Butt Heads ).

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The Star-Bulletin reports that Aloha said in its motion that the plan must be approved expeditiously or“there is the distinct possibility that (Aloha) could run out of cash and would be forced to cease operating, rendering 3,500 residents of the state of Hawaii unemployed, and severely harming the state of Hawaii’s passenger and cargo operations.”   It blamed the PBGC appeals and rising fuel prices for the need to restructure its plan.

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