Mellon Financial's Proven Institutional Strategies Made Available to the Retail Investor

NEW YORK, Aug. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mellon Financial Corporation today announced that the new Global Alpha Fund, which uses global tactical asset allocation strategies, is now available for individual investors and already operating on five major intermediary platforms. These strategies have been used by sophisticated institutional investors for years.

"Individual investors, who would have great difficulty replicating these strategies on their own, can now take advantage of investment strategies that, up until now, have been used by sophisticated institutional clients," said Thomas F. Eggers, president and chief operating officer of The Dreyfus Corporation, a Mellon Financial Corporation subsidiary. "The investment managers at Mellon Capital, sub-investment adviser to the Global Alpha Fund, have a long history of managing global asset allocation strategies for their clients. It is through Dreyfus that this institutional investment management expertise is now readily available to the retail investor."

Global Alpha Fund, launched in May, employs a global tactical asset allocation (GTAA) process and seeks total return by investing in instruments that provide investment exposure to global equity, bond and currency markets, and in fixed-income securities. GTAA is different from many other investment strategies in that it provides an "alpha" source that is relatively uncorrelated with traditional equity and fixed-income portfolios, but it also involves greater risk. The Fund seeks to deliver alpha (value-added excess returns) by applying a systematic, quantitative investment approach designed to identify and exploit relative misvaluations across and within global capital markets. The Fund's asset allocation and performance baseline benchmark is a hybrid index comprised of 60 percent Morgan Stanley Capital International World Index (half-hedged) and 40 percent Citigroup World Government Bond Index (half-hedged). The Fund will use to a significant degree derivative instruments -- such as futures, options, forward contracts, swaps and hybrid instruments -- as a substitute for investing directly in equities, bonds and currencies in connection with its investment strategy. The fund may also "sell short" securities and other instruments. The minimum initial investment is $1,000.

The Dreyfus Corporation serves as the Fund's investment adviser. Helen Potter, CFA, who serves as the fund's primary portfolio manager, is a managing director of Mellon Capital Management Corporation and is responsible for managing its global and domestic asset allocation products. Mellon Capital was founded in 1983 and their founders are recognized in the financial industry as the originators of relative value-based tactical asset allocation. Mellon Capital is a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of Mellon Financial Corporation and has approximately $148.8 billion in assets under management. Both Mellon Capital and Dreyfus are part of Mellon Asset Management.

"By combining the institutional quality investment processes and distribution capabilities available through our Mellon Asset Management companies, we can create state-of-the-art products for retail investors and, in doing so, become better providers to our intermediary partners," Eggers concluded.

The Dreyfus Corporation, established in 1951 and headquartered in New York City, is one of the nation's leading asset management companies, currently managing more than $170 billion in mutual funds, separately managed accounts and institutional portfolios. Dreyfus Service Corporation, the fund's distributor, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Dreyfus Corporation.

The Dreyfus Corporation is a subsidiary of Mellon Financial Corporation, a global financial services company. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Mellon is one of the world's leading providers of financial services for institutions, corporations and high net worth individuals, providing asset management, private wealth management, asset servicing, and payment solutions and investor services. Mellon has approximately $5.1 trillion in assets under management, administration or custody, including $870 billion under management. News and other information about Mellon is available at http://www.mellon.com/.

Investors should obtain a prospectus and consider the fees, charges, expenses and risks associated with an investment in the Global Alpha Fund carefully before investing. Investors should contact their financial advisors or call 1-888-334-6899 for the prospectus and other information and should read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Equity securities are subject generally to market, market sector, market liquidity, issuer, and investment style risks, among other factors, to varying degrees, all of which are more fully described in the fund's prospectus. Investing internationally involves special risks, including changes in currency exchange rates, political, economic, and social instability, a lack of comprehensive company information, differing auditing and legal standards, and less market liquidity.

Short sales involve selling a security the Fund does not own in anticipation that the security's price will decline. Short sales may involve substantial risk and leverage, and expose the fund to the risk that it will be required to buy the security sold short at a time when the security has appreciated in value, thus resulting in a loss to the Fund. Leverage may magnify the Fund's gains or losses.

The use of derivatives involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in the underlying assets. Derivatives can be highly volatile, illiquid and difficult to value and there is the risk that changes in the value of a derivative held by the fund will not correlate with the underlying instruments or the fund's other investments.

Dreyfus Service Corporation, Distributor.