Americas: Merill lists software trust, The

Global Finance, Nov 2000 by Platt, Gordon

Merrill Lynch selected the Bank of New York as trustee for the Software HOLDRs Trust, which will issue depositary receipts, representing both common stock and American depositary shares issued by 20 companies involved in the software industry. The Bank of New York has now launched 14 basket securities with Merrill Lynch since 1998. Software HOLDRs will trade on the American Stock Exchange.

The trust is designed to provide investors with diversified exposure to an industry, sector, or group of stocks in a single investment.This results in lower transaction costs than trading each of the underlying securities separately.