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First Trust/Gallatin Specialty Finance and Financial Opportunities Fund
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PRESS RELEASE
SOURCE: First Trust/Gallatin Specialty Finance and Financial Opportunities Fund
FIRST TRUST/GALLATIN SPECIALTY FINANCE AND FINANCIAL OPPORTUNITIES FUND BOARD
APPROVES CONFLUENCE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LLC AS NEW INVESTMENT SUB-ADVISOR.
FUND WILL ENTER INTO INTERIM SUB-ADVISORY AGREEMENT AND CHANGE ITS NAME.
LISLE, IL -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- July 29, 2008 -- First Trust/Gallatin Specialty
Finance and Financial Opportunities Fund (the "Fund") (NYSE: FGB) today
announced that its Board of Trustees has voted to approve Confluence Investment
Management LLC ("Confluence") as investment sub-advisor to the Fund, following
the resignation of Gallatin Asset Management, Inc. The Fund will enter into an
interim sub-advisory agreement among the Fund, First Trust Advisors L.P.
("FTA"), and Confluence, as investment sub-advisor which will be effective on
August 1, 2008.
The Fund also announced today that it will change its name to First Trust
Specialty Finance and Financial Opportunities Fund which will be effective on or
about August 8, 2008. After the name change, the Fund will continue to trade
under the same ticker symbol, "FGB."
A meeting of FGB shareholders to vote on a proposal to approve the new
sub-advisory agreement with Confluence is expected to be scheduled on or before
December 1, 2008. Any solicitation of proxies by FGB in connection with this
shareholder meeting will only be made pursuant to separate proxy materials filed
with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") under applicable
federal securities laws. There can be no assurance that the necessary percentage
of the shareholders of FGB will vote to approve Confluence as new investment
sub-advisor.
FGB is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company that seeks to
provide a high level of current income and, as a secondary objective, attractive
total return. The Fund seeks to achieve its objectives by investing at least 80%
of its managed assets in a portfolio of securities of specialty finance and
other financial companies that the investment sub-advisor believes offer
attractive opportunities for income and capital appreciation. Under normal
market conditions, the Fund concentrates its investments in securities of
companies within industries in the financial sector.
FTA has served as the Fund's investment advisor since the Fund's inception. FTA,
along with its affiliate First Trust Portfolios L.P., are privately-held
companies which provide a variety of investment services, including asset
management, financial advisory services, and municipal and corporate investment
banking, with collective assets under management or supervision of over $32
billion as of June 30, 2008, through closed-end funds, unit investment trusts,
mutual funds, separate managed accounts and exchange-traded funds.
Confluence is a newly-formed investment advisor registered with the SEC pursuant
to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The investment professionals at
Confluence have over 50 years of aggregate portfolio management experience.
Confluence's professionals have invested, on behalf of their clients, in a wide
range of specialty finance and other financial company securities during various
market cycles in their attempt to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns to
their clients.
In connection with the solicitation of proxies, the Fund will file a proxy
statement. Because the proxy statement will contain important information, FGB's
shareholders are urged to read it carefully when it becomes available. When
filed with the SEC, the proxy statement will be available free of charge at the
SEC's website, www.sec.gov. FGB's shareholders will also be able to obtain
copies of these documents and other transaction-related documents, when
available, by calling FTA toll-free at 800-621-1675. The foregoing is not an
offer to sell, nor a solicitation of an offer to buy, shares of any fund, nor is
it a solicitation of any proxy.
The Fund's daily closing New York Stock Exchange price and net asset value per
share as well as other information can be found at www.ftportfolios.com or by
calling 1-800-988-5891.
Contact:
First Trust/Gallatin Specialty Finance and Financial Opportunities Fund
(to be renamed First Trust Specialty Finance and Financial Opportunities Fund
on or about August 8, 2008)
Press Inquiries: Jane Doyle, 630-241-8775
Analyst Inquiries: Jeff Margolin, 630-915-6784
Broker Inquiries: Jeff Margolin, 630-915-6784