Gabelli Closed-End Funds Preferred Stock Ratings

  Gabelli Closed-End Funds Preferred Stock Ratings

Business Wire

RYE, N.Y. -- July 12, 2012

Moody’s Investors Service has issued revised ratings for preferred shares of
our closed-end funds. Closed-end funds are regulated under the Investment
Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), and subject to oversight by
the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Gabelli Closed-End Funds meet the requirements of the 1940 Act, which
require “asset coverage” (as defined in the 1940 Act) of at least 200% of the
amount of any preferred shares outstanding at the time of issuance, at the
time dividends or distributions are declared on common stock or at the time
common stock is purchased (with certain exceptions).

As a reminder, The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc. (the “Fund”) is currently
conducting a transferrable rights offering to the Fund’s existing 6.20% Series
F Cumulative Preferred Stock (the “Series F Preferred”) shareholders. The
rights offering allows Series F Preferred shareholders to acquire Series G
Cumulative Preferred Stock (the “Series G Preferred”) in accordance with the
terms of the offer. The rights offering is only made by means of a prospectus,
and this document does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of
an offer to buy, any of the Fund’s securities.

GAMCO Investors, Inc. (NYSE:GBL), through its subsidiaries, manages assets of
private advisory accounts (GAMCO Asset Management Inc.), mutual funds and
closed-end funds (Gabelli Funds, LLC), and partnerships and offshore funds
(Gabelli Securities, Inc.) and is known for its Private Market Value with a
Catalyst™ style of investment. As of March 31, 2012, GAMCO Investors, Inc. had
$36.7 billion in assets under management.

This document is not an offering, which can only be made by a final
prospectus. Investors should consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks,
charges and expenses carefully before investing. The base prospectus contains
this and additional information about the Fund and the prospectus supplement
contains this and additional information about the rights offering and Series
G Preferred, and should be read carefully before investing.

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Our disclosure and analysis in this press release contain some forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements give our current expectations or
forecasts of future events. You can identify these statements because they do
not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They use words such as
"anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe,"
and other words and terms of similar meaning. They also appear in any
discussion of future operating or financial performance. In particular, these
include statements relating to future actions, future performance of our
products, expenses, the outcome of any legal proceedings, and financial
results. Although we believe that we are basing our expectations and beliefs
on reasonable assumptions within the bounds of what we currently know about
our business and operations, there can be no assurance that our actual results
will not differ materially from what we expect or believe. Some of the factors
that could cause our actual results to differ from our expectations or beliefs
include, without limitation: the adverse effect from a decline in the
securities markets; a decline in the performance of our products; a general
downturn in the economy; changes in government policy or regulation; changes
in our ability to attract or retain key employees; and unforeseen costs and
other effects related to legal proceedings or investigations of governmental
and self-regulatory organizations. We also direct your attention to any more
specific discussions of risk contained in our Form 10-K and other public
filings. We are providing these statements as permitted by the Private
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We do not undertake to update publicly any
forward-looking statements if we subsequently learn that we are unlikely to
achieve our expectations or if we receive any additional information relating
to the subject matters of our forward-looking statements.

Contact:

Gabelli Funds, LLC
Bruce N. Alpert
Agnes Mullady
914-921-5070
or
For further information please visit
www.gabelli.com