Cleantech Index (CTIUS) realigns focus and composition

• 20-Year Industry Veteran Rafael Coven Named New Index Advisor

• New York, NY, April 3, 2007 -- Cleantech Indices, LLC, in conjunction with the American Stock
• Exchange (AMEX) has announced a significant revision of the Cleantech Index™ (ticker: CTIUS). The resulting changes occurred during the Index’s quarterly rebalancing on March 30, 2007. The changes will also be reflected in the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based upon the Cleantech Index: the PowerShares Cleantech Portfolio (AMEX ticker: PZD) and the KSM Cleantech ETF (Bloomberg ticker: KSMCLNT) in Israel. The Index revision is being driven by D. Rafael Coven, who was recently named Managing Partner of Cleantech Indices LLC. Coven has spent most of the last 21 years in the cleantech area as a manager, entrepreneur, equity investor and management consultant.
• Reasons for the Realignment of The Cleantech Index™ (CTIUS)
• Coven explains the strategy behind the realignment of Cleantech Indices™ (CTIUS), “Although CTIUS has performed well since its inception, we believe the revision will greatly improve the Index’s ability to reflect the economic growth from the rising global demand and use of clean technology products & services. While this type of revision is a one-time event, we are confident that investors and other index users will be pleased with the changes.”
•  
• Coven continued, “Additionally we also wanted to ensure that CTIUS can accommodate the growth of derivative financial products that it underlies such as exchange-traded funds.” The symbiotic, and
• sometimes volatile, relationship between sector funds and their underlying indices has become a growing concern as sector ETFs have grown rapidly in both size and variety.”

As part of the revision, Coven has implemented general rules addressing component weighting, liquidity and diversification intended to limit unnecessary volatility, to help the Index to track sector fundamentals better and to make for less speculative ETFs that are better suited for long-term investors.

• “While cleantech as a sector is booming, it’s also one in which it’s hard to invest directly because of its
• great diversity, rapidly evolving markets and technologies and young companies. Thankfully, the
• PowerShares Cleantech ETF now provides investors with an easy and low-cost means to invest in the
• entire cleantech sector with much less risk. It’s really a godsend for those looking to gain exposure to the sector,” Coven said.
•  
• Cleantech Index (CTIUS) Composition Changes
• The Index has narrowed its focus to 45 component companies that Coven believes best showcase global success and growth potential from the development and commercial use of clean technologies. This was accomplished by rigorously screening companies (from the Amex, NASDAQ and NYSE) for quality, purity, liquidity and other factors. In the case of ‘purity’, either 50% of a company’s sales or operating profits must be from cleantech businesses just to be considered. Coven explains, “We also sought companies that are leaders both in their business and in technology, are in long-term growth markets and have staying power. So we chose the best companies and limited the Index’s exposure to the more speculative cleantech companies. The Index may now have significantly fewer companies, but overall they are of much higher quality.”
•  
• Cleantech Index (CTIUS) Weighting Strategy
• The Index has changed slightly from an equal-weight to a modified equal-weight strategy. Component
• stocks will now be grouped in several bands corresponding to the market capitalization of their freely
• traded (floated) shares. Stocks within each band are equally weighted at rebalancing. A lower weighting will be assigned to the handful of component companies that have yet to post positive operating profits and are not forecast to have them in the coming fiscal year. Coven explains the reasoning behind the new weighting strategy, “We believe that this strategy will improve Index performance while helping limit volatility, and other unnecessary risks associated with portfolio concentration and that often bedevil ETFs when they grow large.”
•  
• About D. Rafael Coven
• A managing partner of Cleantech Indices LLC, Coven brings a unique combination of global cleantech
• industry and institutional investor experience. He has worked with leading cleantech firms such as
• Abengoa, Dynatech, Philips Lighting, Siemens and numerous private equity and venture capital investors. In the 1990s, Coven was an international equity analyst at Dietche & Field Advisors where he evaluated, made and managed a US $700 million segment of the firm’s $5.6 billion equity portfolio (including many cleantech companies) as part of the portfolio management team. Coven holds a B.A in Developmental Economics from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School. He is a CFA level II candidate.
•  
• Cleantech Indices™
• In February 2006, the Cleantech Group™ announced the creation of the first Cleantech Index™ (CTIUS). It was published on the American Stock Exchange in February 2006. The index contains 45 publicly traded companies that have a sizable proportion of their revenues derived from cleantech. As the forerunner in this field, the index enables both the creation of ETFs and structured products to bring additional investment into cleantech and to make investing in the sector easier and less costly. For more information please visit http://www.cleantechindex.com.
•  
• Cleantech Group™, LLC
• The Cleantech Group™ LLC provides insight, opportunities and builds relationships that catalyze and
• accelerate the growth of cleantech markets globally. The Cleantech Group™ family of companies is the founder of the cleantech investment category and brings investors, executives, thought leaders, policy makers and entrepreneurs together to facilitate cleantech’s global growth through six business units; the Cleantech Venture Network®, Cleantech Advisors™, Cleantech Indices™, Cleantech Search™, Cleantech China™ and Cleantech Innovation Institute™. Since introducing cleantech as a viable investment thesis in 2002, the efforts of the Cleantech Group™ companies have spawned a new investment class with an annual growth rate exceeding 50%. In 2006, more than $3.5 billion in venture capital was invested in cleantech companies in North America and Europe alone a 45% increase over 2005. For more information please visit http://www.cleantech.com