UK – iShares, the UK’s exchange traded fund(ETF) provider, is to rebrand one of its existing funds, from the iFTSE ExUK ETF to the iShares FTSE Euro 100, as a result of greater investor demand for Euroland-only investments and forms part of an agreement with FTSE, the major UK indices provider, to establish two new ETF products.

The rebranded fund will continue to be managed by Barclay’s Global Investors (BGI) but will be priced in euros and companies from Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the UK will no longer be included, since they are outside the Euro-zone.

IShares director, John Delmaine believes that the rebranded fund will allow greater exposure across Euroland than is available through existing ETFS at present. It will continue to trade on the London stock exchange.

A new fund will then be launched later this year to be listed on the London and Euronext exchanges and will be based on the FTSE Eurotop 100 index. iShares claims that it will offer investors “complete pan-European exposure across a well diversified set of leading blue chip stock”.