National Bank Launches Two New International Funds

National Bank Securities Inc. announced that it has launched two new international growth funds whose investment objective is to ensure superior long-term capital growth. These two new funds are:

• the National Bank Emerging Markets Fund and
• the National Bank European Small Capitalization Fund

The Emerging Markets Fund invests in developing countries that are characterized by strong growth in their macroeconomic conditions and an improved standard of living for citizens. These markets can be found all over the world and are divided into five regional groups, namely Latin America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The fund will be managed by Pictet (Canada), which is already responsible for managing the National Bank Future Economy Fund and the National Bank Global Technologies Fund. The company was chosen because of its vast experience in managing this type of fund and because of its excellent record for past returns.

For its part, the European Small Capitalization Fund invests in small and mid-capitalization securities of European issuers. As Jean Blouin, Senior Manager at National Bank Investment Solutions explained, "The European small-cap segment is certainly an attractive investment opportunity at this time, given the sustained growth of the main European economies, the corporate rationalization process and the creation of specialized exchanges. Moreover, the European market represents 26% of the world's market capitalization, making it the second largest market in the world after the United States".

This fund will be managed by Kempen Capital Management, a Dutch portfolio management firm which specializes in European markets and especially in small and mid-cap stocks. The management team consists of seven professionals whose responsibilities are divided up geographically.

The firm was also selected because of its experience and successful track record in managing funds similar to the National Bank European Small Capitalization Fund, which are offered to European investors exclusively under the Orange Funds banner.

The two new National Bank funds represent segments with very high return potential. They also respond to the needs of investors who would like to fully achieve their objective of optimal diversification or increase the odds of "overperformance" in their portfolio.

With the addition of these two new products, the National Bank family of mutual funds now offers a total of 43 funds with 10 in the international growth category.

-30-