Key Reasons to Invest

• Preferred Shares rated Pfd-2 low trade on Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) at a discount to underlying net asset value (ticker symbol ASC.PR.A).
• Class A Shares may trade on the TSX with leveraged exposure to the underlying portfolio. For instance if Class A Shares are purchased at $1.20 at the time the underlying net asset value per Unit is $9.25 then should the net asset value rise 40% to $12.95 (and so the Preferred Shares value be restored to $10.00) then the Class A Share’s net asset value will rise to $2.95 - 146% higher than the price paid.
• Weighted average credit rating of issuers in the portfolio equivalent to at least Standard & Poor’s high quality “A” rating.
• Active currency hedging to be at least 50% of the Company’s non-Canadian dollar exposure - currently it’s approximately 64%.
• In our view, current valuations are cheap, (sourced from FactSet) the portfolio’s:
  1. Trailing 12-month weighted average dividend yield was approximately 9.9%;
  2. Trailing 12-month and 36-month weighted average return on equity were approximately 10.0% and 15.4% respectively; and
  3. Current weighted average price/book ratio of the portfolio is 1.4x, compared to the historic 10 year average of 2.4x.
• Sentiment has been extremely negative as governments worldwide enforced strengthened balance sheets.
• In our opinion, markets tend to bottom 6-12 months before the economy; and pieces are in place for a rally in 2009, led we believe, by the financial services sector.