Van Eck To Convert Six HOLDRs To ETFs

Van Eck Global, the sixth-largest U.S. ETF issuer and ninth-largest in the world, has entered into an agreement with Bank of America's (NYSE: BAC) Merrill Lynch, the sponsor behind the HOLDRs exchange traded products, to offer shareholders of six HOLDRs funds shares in equivalent, newly created Market Vectors ETFs.The HOLDRs funds that will be the Oil Services HOLDRs (AMEX: OIH), the Pharmaceutical HOLDRs (AMEX: PPH), the Retail HOLDRs (AMEX: RTH), the Semiconductor HOLDRs (AMEX: SMH), the Biotech HOLDRs (AMEX: BBH) and the Regional Bank HOLDRs (AMEX: RKH).Those funds had an $3.65 billion in aggregate assets and a combined 30-day average daily trading volume of approximately 20.07 million shares as of the close of trading on August 11, 2011, according to a statement issued by Bank of America and Van Eck. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.The new Market Vectors ETFs will keep the current HOLDRs tickers and the offer is expected to commence early in the fourth quarter with completion targeted for the end of that quarter. HOLDRs funds debuted in 1999 and while considered innovative at the time, some the funds have come under criticism for excessive weights to a small number of stocks. For example, in OIH, Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB), Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) and Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI) combine for nearly 50% of the fund's weight. In SMH, Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) combine for over 41% of the fund's weight.Overall, there are 15 HOLDRs currently trading.“We believe ETFs offer significant advantages over HOLDRS in their ability to evolve with a dynamic underlying index; this in turn leads to enhanced diversification and broader-based representation of a market or industry segment,” said Adam Phillips, Managing Director of ETFs at Van EckAs of the end of July, there were 35 Market Vectors ETFs trading with $24.2 billion in assets under management, according to data from the National Stock Exchange.