Standard & Poor’s and the Toronto Stock Exchange are launching three new indices covering the income trust market in Canada.

Two of the new indices will cover specific segments of the income trust market that have garnered the greatest investor attention — energy and real estate investment trusts. The third index will be a broad composite of all market segments, including EITs and REITs.

To qualify for inclusion in the indices, income trusts will have to derive their income from actual operating entities. Individual constituent income trusts within each index will have their relative weights capped at 25%. The launch date is set for October 15.

Income trusts are the fastest growing segment of the Canadian equity marketplace, with over 150 issues having a market capitalization of over $45 billion. “The launch of these three new indices reflects the importance of this type of security as an investment in Canada,” said Glenn Doody, vice president Canadian index services, S&P, in a news release.

“We look forward to continuing our work with the income trust community to deliver financial tools that help investors get exposure to income trust investments. We believe that index-linked products will provide investors with opportunities to further diversify their portfolios, while taking advantage of the unique features of the income trust structure,” he added.

S&P expects that exchange-traded funds will be launched on one or more of these indices. Barclays Global Investors Canada Ltd. has been licensed to create an ETF, based on the S&P/TSX Canadian REIT Index,that will trade on the TSX.