Emerald Asset Advisors has renamed and restructured its flagship allocation fund and hired a research partner. The fund, originally known as the EAS Genesis Fund has been renamed the EAS Alternatives Fund.

The fund will be partnered with Investment Guidance Solutions, LLC, a financial technology firm that will provide research.

The fund originally allocated capital across alternative investments, long U.S. equities and long global equities. After the company's restructuring of the fund, the fund's mandate is based solely on liquid alternative investment strategies.

"We believe the inclusion of data from IGS will provide a valuable tactical benefit that our shareholders will appreciate," said Medon Michaelides of Emerald Allocation Strategies, according to the press release.

Company Press Release WESTON, FL, Aug 08 �Emerald Asset Advisors, LLC (www.EASfunds.com), an independent investment firm that advises two open-end mutual funds, is pleased to announce that its flagship allocation fund has been materially restructured and refined. Several constructive changes have been implemented which Emerald believes may serve as significant enhancements to the Fund's strategy, focus and style of management.

The firm's flagship fund, formerly the EAS Genesis Fund, previously followed a broad mandate that allocated capital across three general areas: alternative investments, long US equities and long global equities. This mandate has become more focused and is now based purely on liquid alternative investment strategies.

The restructured fund, renamed the EAS Alternatives Fund (the "Fund"), is derived from Emerald's longstanding multi-strategy/multi-manager alternative SMA portfolio ("EAS Hybrid"), which is approaching its 10-year anniversary and carries a GIPS-compliant track record.

Similar to the firm's Hybrid SMA strategy, the EAS Alternatives Fund applies a multi-strategy/multi-manager approach and invests across a variety of potential alternative investment classes such as Arbitrage; Commodities; Convertibles; Currencies; Emerging Market Bonds; Global Macro; High Yield; Long-Short Equity; Managed Futures; Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) and Real Estate. However, the Fund also includes a quantitative-based tactical overlay which the Adviser believes will serve as a valuable risk management tool and one that will enhance its macro-level allocation decision-making.

Specifically, the Fund has partnered with Investment Guidance Solutions LLC (IGS), a Wellesley, MA-based financial technology firm that provides quantitative risk-managed solutions designed to analyze and monitor different asset classes. The Fund uses data from IGS' dynamic risk model to help guide its top-down, macro-level asset class allocations. The Adviser believes this special input will be a strong complement to its internal qualitative research approach and will strengthen its overall portfolio construction process.

"We've managed our Hybrid SMA strategy for almost 10 years using primarily a fundamental style, and we feel we've done well," said Medon Michaelides of Emerald Allocation Strategies. "The Fund is now based on this core strategy, but by adding a true technical component to the process, we expect to apply a more disciplined, rules-based methodology that will enable the Fund to operate more tactically and potentially avoid certain alternative classes that are indicating weakness. We believe the inclusion of data from IGS will provide a valuable tactical benefit that our shareholders will appreciate."

In managing the Fund, Emerald's goal is to provide a core multi-alternative solution for investors who desire an allocation to non-traditional investment styles, particularly those that tend to exhibit low volatility and low correlation to the equity markets. As the menu of strategy options in the alternative universe has greatly expanded for advisors, it is more challenging than ever to sift through their diverse complexities, differentiate them and then apply them to their practice.

Matthew MacEachern, a member of Emerald's investment team, said: "Understanding the nuances among all the different alternative strategies for many advisors is difficult enough; knowing when and how to use them is a whole other challenge. The Fund offers a packaged solution that actively manages these decisions for them."

IGS is equally excited about its involvement with Emerald and the newly structured Fund. Phil Lussier, CEO of IGS, said: "We are thrilled to work with the Emerald team, seasoned managers and pioneers in the liquid alternative space. By combining our dynamic risk managed model with their alternative manager diligence expertise, we believe the EAS Alternatives Fund offers a compelling opportunity for investors."

While the Fund has been renamed, its symbols all remain the same (NASDAQ: EASAX) - A shares; (NASDAQ: EASYX) - C shares and (NASDAQ: EASIX) - I shares and the Fund remains available through all major custodian platforms and many broker-dealers. For more information, please visit the Fund's website (www.EASfunds.com) or contact Medon A. Michaelides @ 954-385-6492 or mmichaelides@emeraldeas.com.

About IGS

Investment Guidance Solutions LLC (IGS), a provider of portfolio construction solutions for mutual fund fund-of-fund portfolio managers, was formed in 2011. The company uses data provided by the proprietary technology of Newfound Research LLC (www.newfoundresearch.com) with the goal of protecting against downside risk associated with mutual funds. Specifically, IGS offers asset managers, financial advisors and investors a tool called IGSignals(TM) which may allow them to avoid down markets by signaling whether it is better to be invested in specific funds or in cash. For more information, please visit www.igsignal.com.

About Emerald Asset Advisors, LLC

Emerald Asset Advisors, LLC ("Emerald") is the advisor to the EAS Alternatives Fund. Founded in 1998, Emerald is an independent investment firm serving the needs of high net worth individuals, financial advisors and institutional investors. Emerald has embraced the use of liquid alternative strategies for its practice and has managed multi-asset class portfolios for its clients since the firm's inception. For more information about Emerald's mutual funds, please visit www.EASfunds.com. Emerald Asset Advisors, LLC and Northern Lights Distributors, LLC are not affiliated.

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