First Trust Announces that Assets Now Exceed $1 Billion in the First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund (EMLP)

First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust”), a leading ETF provider and asset manager, announced today that the First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund (NYSE Arca: EMLP) has reached over $1 billion in assets under management. According to Bloomberg, the fund is the only actively managed equity ETF with assets over $1 billion.

The fund seeks to provide total return with an emphasis on current distributions paid to shareholders by investing at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of companies deemed by the sub-advisor to be engaged in the energy infrastructure sector. These companies principally include publicly-traded master limited partnerships and limited liability companies taxed as partnerships (“MLPs”), MLP affiliates, Canadian income trusts and their successor companies, pipeline companies, utilities, and other companies that derive at least 50% of their revenues from operating or providing services in support of infrastructure assets such as pipelines, power transmission and petroleum and natural gas storage in the petroleum, natural gas and power generation industries headquartered or incorporated in the United States and Canada.

“EMLP invests primarily in non-cyclical energy infrastructure such as petroleum and natural gas pipelines and electric power transmission across North America via numerous asset classes,” said James Murchie, President and CEO of Energy Income Partners, LLC, the fund’s sub-advisor and portfolio manager. “The ETF structure provides EMLP with improved tax efficiency over traditional, actively managed mutual funds because of its method for creating and redeeming shares, making it an attractive alternative for those invested in MLP funds and utility funds.”

Although past performance is no guarantee of future results, EMLP was the best performing fund of the 24 ETFs in the “Equity Energy” category tracked by Morningstar based on its one year total return for 2014. “We believe energy infrastructure is a great example of a niche asset class in which active management can potentially add significant value versus an index-based approach. This ETF’s focus on non-cyclical energy infrastructure assets has helped to lessen the impact that tremendous price volatility in the energy markets has had on other energy-related investments in recent months,” said Ryan Issakainen, CFA, Senior Vice President, Exchange-Traded Fund Strategist at First Trust.

For more information about First Trust, please contact Ryan Issakainen of First Trust at (630) 765-8689 or RIssakainen@FTAdvisors.com.

About First Trust

First Trust Advisors L.P., along with its affiliate First Trust Portfolios L.P., are privately held companies which provide a variety of investment services, including asset management and financial advisory services, with collective assets under management or supervision of approximately $104 billion as of December 31, 2014 through unit investment trusts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, mutual funds and separate managed accounts. First Trust is based in Wheaton, Illinois. For more information, visit http://www.ftportfolios.com.

You should consider the fund’s investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses carefully before investing. Contact First Trust Portfolios L.P. at 1-800-621-1675 to obtain a prospectus or summary prospectus which contains this and other information about the fund. The prospectus or summary prospectus should be read carefully before investing.

ETF Characteristics

The fund lists and principally trades its shares on the NYSE Arca, Inc.

Investors buying or selling fund shares on the secondary market may incur customary brokerage commissions. Market prices may differ to some degree from the net asset value of the shares. Investors who sell fund shares may receive less than the share’s net asset value. Shares may be sold throughout the day on the exchange through any brokerage account. However, unlike mutual funds, shares may only be redeemed directly from the fund by authorized participants, in very large creation/redemption units.

Risk Considerations

The fund’s shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the fund. One of the principal risks of investing in the fund is market risk. Market risk is the risk that a particular stock owned by the fund, fund shares or stocks in general may fall in value. The fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed portfolio. In managing the fund’s investment portfolio, the sub-advisor will apply investment techniques and risk analyses that may not have the desired result. There can be no assurance that the fund’s investment objective will be achieved.

The fund may invest in small capitalization and mid capitalization companies. Such companies may experience greater price volatility than larger, more established companies. The fund may use derivatives which can lead to losses because of adverse movements in the price or value of the underlying asset, index or rate, which may be magnified by certain features of the derivatives.

The fund invests primarily in securities of companies headquartered or incorporated in the U.S. and Canada. Accordingly, an investment in the fund may be more volatile than an investment diversified across several geographic regions. An investment in a fund containing securities of non-U.S. issuers is subject to additional risks, including currency fluctuations, political risks, withholding, the lack of adequate financial information, and exchange control restrictions impacting non-U.S. issuers. The fund may invest in depositary receipts which may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market.

The fund is concentrated in securities of companies in the energy sector which involves additional risks, including limited diversification. The companies engaged in the energy sector, which includes MLPs and utilities companies, are subject to certain risks, including price and supply fluctuations caused by international politics, energy conservation, taxes, price controls, and other regulatory policies of various governments.

Energy infrastructure companies may be directly affected by energy commodity prices, especially those companies which own the underlying energy commodity. A decrease in the production or availability of commodities or a decrease in the volume of such commodities available for transportation, processing, storage or distribution may adversely impact the financial performance of energy infrastructure companies.

An investment in MLP units involves risks which differ from an investment in common stock of a corporation. Holders of MLP units have limited control and voting rights. In addition, there is the risk that a MLP could be taxed as a corporation, resulting in decreased returns from such MLP. Rising interest rates could adversely impact the financial performance of MLPs, MLP-related entities and energy companies. The fund may be subject to additional risks pertaining to currency, interest rates and derivatives.

The fund is classified as “non-diversified” and may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in a limited number of issuers. As a result, the fund may be more susceptible to a single adverse economic or regulatory occurrence affecting one or more of these issuers, experience increased volatility and be highly concentrated in certain issuers.

First Trust Advisors L.P. is the adviser to the fund. First Trust Advisors L.P. is an affiliate of First Trust Portfolios L.P., the fund’s distributor.

Performance data quoted represents past performance. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results and current performance may be higher or lower than performance quoted. Investment returns and principal value will fluctuate and shares when sold or redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. You can obtain performance information which is current through the most recent month-end by visiting ftportfolios.com.

*Market Price returns are based on the midpoint of the bid/ask spread. Returns are average annualized total returns, except those for periods of less than one year, which are cumulative.

1Fund inception date: 6/20/12

EMLP expense ratio: 0.95%