Paris, January 24, 2007 – State Street Global Advisors France (SSgA France), the French investment management arm of State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), and largest institutional fund manager in the world, today announced the launch of State Street Global Alpha Edge, a new FCP (Fonds Commun de Placement) approved by the AMF, the French securities regulator, as a compliant UCITS III investment fund.

Aimed at European institutional investors, State Street Global Alpha Edge represents the first in a range of investment products that SSgA plans to roll out in the next few months based on its Edge methodology.

Relying on the well-established expertise of SSgA in alpha generation, Global Alpha Edge introduces the 130/30 strategy, reflecting the latest research developments in portfolio management. In this regard, State Street Global Alpha Edge is one of the very first funds based on this strategy launched in Europe.

This strategy aims at achieving consistent overperformance by combining the implementation of buy and sell positions, which actually increases the potential of winning bets on the market. As a result, selling positions, which can represent up to 30 per cent of the portfolio, are initiated before additional equivalent buying positions are carried out, thus allowing for a full 100 per cent net exposure on the market, without any leverage.

With about 350 investment streams selected from a universe of close to 2,000 international stocks, the State Street Global Alpha Edge strategy provides a representative exposure to all international markets. Securities are selected based on a multi-criteria analysis, such as the free cash flow to price ratio, distribution rate, earnings forecasts, etc. with a view toward building a diversified and neutral portfolio in terms of style, capitalization, sector and region.

Following such a management policy allows the strategy to maintain a four to five per cent tracking error against its benchmark, the MSCI World Index.

The State Street Global Alpha Edge strategy provides a first concrete solution to those investors who are looking for a generation of products offering a risk level between those of long-only and long/short funds. While limiting market exposure to 100 per cent, it improves the portfolio’s efficiency by providing a better risk-return ratio.

Consequently, the strategy aims at achieving consistent overperformance of four to five per cent over a three-year market cycle.

State Street Global Advisors, the investment management arm of State Street Corporation, delivers investment strategies and integrated solutions to clients worldwide across every asset class, investment approach and style. With US$1.7 trillion in assets under management as of December 31, 2006, State Street Global Advisors has investment centers in Boston, Hong Kong, London, Milan, Montreal, Munich, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Zurich, and offices in 25 cities worldwide.

In France at the end of 2006, State Street Global Advisors France S.A. managed 34.88 billion Euros in assets, including 20.8 billion Euros as SICAV and FCP “State Street or Balzac and StreetTRACKS” funds and 14 billion Euros in asset management mandates. For more information, visit State Street Global Advisors at www.ssga.com or www.ssga.fr 

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State Street Global Advisors France SA
Olivier FAIVRE
Marketing & Communication Manager
Tél : 01 53 75 80 06
Olivier_Faivre@ssga.com

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