TOKYO, Feb. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices, one of the world's leading providers of financial market indices, today announced that it has launched the S&P Business Development Company (BDC) Index and licensed it to Nikko Asset Management to launch a tracker fund in Japan. The Index is comprised of U.S.-listed private equity firms that invest equity and debt capital in small and mid-sized businesses, allowing investors to measure a growing industry specialty within the financial sector.

Drawn from the S&P United States BMI universe, the S&P BDC Index is modified float-adjusted market cap-weighted. Modifications are made to market cap weights, if required, to reflect available float, while applying a single stock cap of 10% to mitigate over-concentration in a few components. To qualify for membership in this Index, a stock must be a publicly traded company with a Business Development Company structure, as specified in SEC filings, and listed on the NYSE (including NYSE Arca), the NYSE MKT, the NASDAQ Global Select Market, the NASDAQ Select Market or the NASDAQ Capital Market.

"Japanese investors are increasingly looking for investment solutions that allow them to execute their view on specific markets and sectors with precision," said Philip Murphy, Vice President of U.S. Equities Product Management at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "We are very excited to license our S&P BDC Index to Nikko Asset Management. The agreement demonstrates our commitment to support greater index choices for Japanese investors."

S&P Dow Jones Indices is an active advocate of index integrity, with evolving product offerings in Japan across multiple asset classes and sectors. Index integrity is based on the transparency of the index design, reliability of the underlying data, robust data processing and independence of the index provider.

For more information, please visit: www.spdji.com.

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SOURCE S&P Dow Jones Indices