Victory Capital Announces Plans to Launch NextShares™ Exchange-Traded Managed Funds

Victory Capital today announced that it has entered into a preliminary agreement with Navigate Fund Solutions LLC (“Navigate”), a subsidiary of Eaton Vance Corp. (NYSE: EV), to support the launch of a family of NextShares™ exchange-traded managed funds.

“NextShares are a natural extension of our multi-boutique investment model,” said David Brown, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Victory Capital. “Our goal is to deliver best-in-class investment solutions managed by autonomous investment franchises and NextShares will enable us to provide our clients with an actively managed vehicle that features lower costs and greater tax efficiencies.”

NextShares are a new type of actively managed fund seeking to provide a lower cost structure, enhanced tax efficiency, and potentially better performance for investors. Like actively managed mutual funds, NextShares are managed by an investment team using a specific investment philosophy and approach that seeks to outperform a benchmark index over time. Like exchange-traded products, NextShares also have built-in cost and tax advantages. Additionally, compared to conventional exchange-traded funds, NextShares provide buyers and sellers of shares with transparency of their trading costs and protect the confidentiality of fund trading information. NextShares were developed by Navigate Fund Solutions LLC, a subsidiary of Eaton Vance Corp., and have been licensed to a range of leading asset managers who plan to offer NextShares funds to their investors. Learn more by visiting nextshares.com.

“We welcome Victory Capital to the NextShares family and we look forward to partnering with them to offer this new fund structure with potentially significant benefits for financial advisors and their clients,” said Stephen W. Clarke, President of Navigate. “Their investment experience and strong commitment to serving their clients will benefit the introduction of NextShares to the marketplace.”

The launch of NextShares is subject to Victory Capital obtaining an exemptive order from the Securities and Exchange Commission to allow it to manage exchange-traded managed funds.

VICTORY CAPITAL
Victory Capital is a multi-boutique asset management firm, headquartered in Cleveland, OH, with offices in Birmingham, MI; Cincinnati, OH; New York, NY; Boston, MA; Denver, CO; and Rocky River, OH. As of February 28, 2015, the firm had approximately $36.5 billion in assets under management and advisement.

Victory Capital provides investment advisory services to institutional clients including corporations, non-profits, public funds, Taft-Hartley and sub-advisory clients. Victory Capital offers international and domestic equity and domestic fixed income products to these investors through separate accounts and commingled funds.

Victory Capital is the investment adviser to The Victory Funds, a collection of 29 mutual funds, offering a variety of share classes. Through its intermediary channel, Victory Capital also offers retail and retirement clients separately managed accounts through wrap fee programs and access to its investment models through unified managed accounts.

About Navigate and Eaton Vance
Navigate is a wholly owned subsidiary of Eaton Vance Corp. formed to develop and commercialize NextShares. Aspects of the operation of NextShares are protected intellectual property owned by Navigate.

Eaton Vance Corp. is one of the oldest investment management firms in the United States, with a history dating to 1924. Eaton Vance and its affiliates managed $295.6 billion in assets as of January 31, 2015, offering individuals and institutions a broad array of investment strategies and wealth management solutions. For more information, see eatonvance.com.

This press release is for information purposes only and is not intended to constitute, and should not be construed as, an offer to sell securities. The agreement described herein is preliminary in nature and non-binding, so therefore may not be executed. The launch of NextSharesfunds by Victory Capital is conditional upon regulatory approval, the likelihood and timing of which cannot be predicted. Commercial success also requires completion of enabling implementation technology and acceptance by market participants, which cannot be assured. Like mutual funds, NextShares will not offer investors the opportunity to buy and sell intraday based on current (versus end-of-day) determinations of fund value. NextShares trade execution prices will fluctuate based on changes in NAV and may vary significantly from anticipated levels during periods of market volatility. Although limit orders may be used to control trading costs, they cannot be used to control or limit trade execution prices. There can be no guarantee that an active trading market for NextShares will develop or be maintained, or that their listing will continue unchanged. Buying and selling NextShares may require payment of brokerage commissions and expose transacting shareholders to other trading costs. Market trading prices of NextShares may be above, at or below NAV, will fluctuate in relation to NAV based on supply and demand in the market for shares and other factors, and may vary significantly from NAV. The return on a shareholder’s NextShares investment will be reduced if the shareholder sells shares at a greater discount or narrower premium to NAV than he or she acquired the shares. The performance of actively managed NextShares will depend in part on the portfolio managers’ successful application of analytical skill and investment judgment. A NextShares fund is not a complete investment program, and there is no guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective. It is possible to lose money on an investment in NextShares. Investors in NextShares should have a long-term investment perspective and be able to tolerate potentially sharp declines in value. An investment in NextShares is not a deposit in a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, entity or person.