S&P Indices and Arab Federation of Exchanges Create S&P AFE 40 Index

Standard & Poor's (S&P) Indices has launched the S&P AFE 40, an index designed to measure the performance of 40 leading companies from the Pan-Arab region. S&P Indices partnered with the Arab Federation of Exchanges (AFE) to create the Index which includes companies from Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. These companies have been selected according to the Standard & Poor's international standards.

The S&P AFE 40 is comprised of the 40 largest stocks (measured by float-adjusted market capitalization- trading volume) listed on AFE member exchanges. In terms of weighting, the S&P AFE 40 uses a capped market capitalization weighted index scheme, where the maximum weight of any constituent cannot exceed 10% and the maximum weight for each country, based on domicile cannot exceed 35%.

For more information on the S&P AFE 40, please visit: www.standardandpoors.com/indices .