Company Press Release

San Francisco, 26 May, 2010 -- Forward Management, LLC (Forward) has announced that Accessor Funds are renamed as the Forward Funds. The announcement completes the transition associated with Forward’s merger and acquisition activity begun in 2008, resulting in an expanded family of 32 funds unified under the Forward name, and accounting for more than $5.6 billion in assets under management. Supplementing its core plus satellite fund line-up with alternative strategies was the main thrust behind Forward’s acquisitions. It now includes seven actively managed alternative strategy funds designed for both retail and institutional investors.

The expanded Forward Funds family offers investors a wide selection of asset classes for building diverse portfolios seamlessly. Forward’s complete line-up also includes asset allocation, core domestic equity, international equity, fixed income, real estate, emerging and frontier markets strategies and a money market fund. The funds are managed by the company’s internal asset management team and through sub-advisor agreements.

“Investors today demand a broad choice of tools to build solution-based portfolios and Forward has looked for ways to meet that demand,” said J. Alan Reid, Jr., CEO of Forward Management. “The main focus of our search for acquisitions and partnerships has been to add to our fund line-up alternative strategies, which have emerged as key building blocks of investment portfolios in a changed investment climate. Now that we have completed bringing these new funds into our family, I am pleased that the shareholders of Forward Funds, as well as those formerly under the Accessor and Kensington names have seamless access to all strategies,” he added.

The rebranding of Accessor Funds to the Forward name comes after the June 2008 announcement of the Forward agreement to acquire Seattle-based Accessor Funds. The Accessor Funds expanded Forward’s fund offerings in asset allocation strategies, as well as in alternatives strategies with the Strategic Alternatives Fund and Frontier Markets Fund, which was launched after the acquisition. Accessor was one of the unique providers of investment strategies to bank trust departments, and the acquisition has opened that distribution channel to all Forward Funds.

Forward’s most recent strategic investment in New York- based Broadmark Asset Management and the launch of the Forward Tactical Growth Fund epitomizes the firm’s leadership in the alternative asset class. Launched in September of 2009 and sub-advised by Broadmark, the Tactical Growth Fund provides investors with an access to a long/short tactical strategy that strives to participate in the upside of the market while limiting the downside.

In February 2009, as a result of Kensington Funds acquisition, Forward also added four real estate focused funds and Kensington’s portfolio management team with a dedicated expertise in specialty and alternative real estate strategies, including a Global Infrastructure Fund.

The Accessor acquisition, combined with the acquisition in August of 2008 of the San Francisco-based retail division of Berkeley Capital Management, LLC also established internal asset management capabilities at Forward and further expanded its Separately Managed Accounts operation.

About Forward Management, LLC

Forward Management, LLC, based in San Francisco, is the investment advisor to the Forward Funds, a family of 32 mutual funds. The firm also markets a range of separately managed account strategies. Forward offers institutional money managers, financial advisors and individual investors access to industry leading investment managers, investment products and services. The firm specializes in identifying managers who have long track records of managing assets in specific investment disciplines and asset classes. More information on Forward Management and the Forward Funds can be found at www.forwardmgmt.com.

You should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Forward Funds carefully before investing. A prospectus with this and other information may be obtained by calling (800) 999-6809 or by downloading one from www.forwardfunds.com. It should be read carefully before investing.

An investment in the U.S. Government Money Fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Although the Fund seeks to preserve the value of your investment at $1.00 per share, it is possible to lose money by investing in this Fund.

Investing in foreign securities, especially emerging markets, will involve additional risks including exchange rate fluctuations, social and political instability, less liquidity, greater volatility and less regulation. Funds that concentrate in a particular industry will involve a greater degree of risk than a fund with a more diversified portfolio. Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) funds will be subject to a higher degree of market risk because of concentration in a specific industry, sector or geographic sector. Risks also include declines in the value of real estate, general and economic conditions. The Global Infrastructure Fund concentrates its investments in infrastructure-related entities and therefore has greater exposure to the potential adverse economic, regulatory, political and other changes affecting such entities. The Frontier Markets, Global Infrastructure and Strategic Alternatives are non-diversified funds. An investor will indirectly bear the expenses of the funds’ underlying investments. The underlying investments of the Frontier Markets, Strategic Alternatives and Tactical Growth Funds (such as Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), futures and options on securities, securities indexes and shares of ETFs) involve heightened risks related to liquidity, increased volatility and unfavorable fluctuations in currency values. The underlying international and real estate investments will also be subject to economic or political instability in the U.S. and other countries, credit risk and interest rate fluctuations. Investors will indirectly bear the expenses of the Funds underlying investments. The Funds use of short selling and derivatives involves additional risks and transaction costs, and creates leverage, which can increase the volatility of the Fund. When investing in bonds, you are subject, but not limited to, the same interest rate, inflation and credit risks associated with the underlying bonds owned by the Fund. Mortgage-backed securities are subject to prepayment and extension risk and therefore react differently to changes in interest rates than other bonds. Small movements in interest rates may quickly and significantly reduce the value of certain mortgage-backed securities.

There are risks involved with investing, including loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results, share prices will fluctuate, and you may have a gain or loss when you redeem shares.

The Forward Tactical Growth Fund was launched on September 14, 2009, and has a limited operating history.

Forward Funds are distributed by ALPS Distributors, Inc. J. Alan Reid, Jr. is a registered representative of ALPS Distributors, Inc.


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