Macquarie Launches Private Market Fund for Accredited Investors: Portfolio Products

Greg Kuhl, co-portfolio manager along with Danny Greenberger, said real estate has the potential to create “significant shareholder value” due to “attractive valuations, structural and secular growth tailwinds and an opportunity to provide investors with protection from inflation.” The firm’s Global Real Estate team had more than $3 billion in global assets under management as of March 31. The ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.65%.

Amplify ETFs Adds the Amplify Cleaner Living ETF

Amplify ETFs has launched the Amplify Cleaner Living ETF (DTOX), an index-based ETF that invests in companies focused on cleaner products and services across a variety of industries including food and dining, health and beauty, building and infrastructure, energy and transportation.

Its benchmark index is the Tematica BITA Cleaner Living Index and its expense ratio 0.59%.

“When it comes to human health and environmental impact, cleaner living is a global trend that’s just beginning,” said Christian Magoon, CEO of Amplify ETFs, in a statement.

Robinson Capital Management Introduces Pre-Merger SPAC ETF

Robinson Capital Management has launched the Robinson Alternative Yield Pre-Merger SPAC ETF (SPAX), an actively managed ETF that will invest at least 80% of its assets in the equities and warrants of pre-merger small-cap special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) with at least a $100 million market capitalization.

The fund plans to sell its investments prior to a merger, asset acquisition, or any business combination in an effort to minimize downside risk and use a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis in determining its constituents, according to its prospectus.

It uses qualitative analysis to determine the likelihood that a SPAC will be successful in identifying and completing a business combination and a quantitative approach consisting of the implied yield-to-worst of the SPAC common shares as well as the value of any attached SPAC warrants. The fund’s expense ratio is 0.85%.

Pre-merger SPAC structure “has the credit and interest rate risk of a T-Bill portfolio, a base case return proline of the high yield bond market and the upside potential of a strong equity,” said James Robinson, CEO and chief investment officer of the firm,  which specializes in alternative fixed income strategies.

VanEck Renames Real Asset Allocation ETF

VanEck has changed the name of the VanEck Vectors Real Asset Allocation ETF (RAAX) to the VanEck Inflation Allocation ETF, but its ticker symbol remains unchanged.

“The risk of inflation is arguably higher now than it has been in the past 50 years,” said Portfolio Manager David Schassler in a statement. “We are very pleased to be making this change to better align RAAX’s branding with the type of solution it provides.”

The fund invests primarily in exchange-traded products that provide exposure to real assets, including commodities, real estate, natural resources and infrastructure. During periods of sustained market declines, it will also seek to reduce downside risk through a rules-based approach that determines  when to allocate a portion of the fund’s assets to cash and cash equivalent holdings.

Bloomberg Launches Emerging Market Fixed Income Index Family

Bloomberg has launched the Bloomberg Barclays MSCI Emerging Markets ESG Index Suite, which incorporates environmental, social and governance (ESG) and socially responsible investing (SRI) considerations in hard and local currency emerging market fixed income indexes.

The suite consists of:

• Bloomberg Barclays MSCI EM ESG Weighted Indexes, which use MSCI ESG Ratings to tilt issuer market weights
• Bloomberg Barclays MSCI EM SRI Indexes, which screen out issuers with substantial revenue service from adult entertainment, alcohol, gambling, tobacco, controversial military weapons, civilian firearms, nuclear power and genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
• Bloomberg Barclays MSCI EM Sustainability Indexes, which use the emerging markets debt benchmark that includes fixed and floating rate debt denominated in U.S. dollars, the euro and/or British pound issued by sovereign, quasi-sovereign and corporate issuers and includes issuers with ESG ratings of BB and above.

The new index suite “extends the breadth of coverage of ESG fixed income indexes and provides institutional investors with additional options for indexed funds and for benchmarking performance,” said Eric Moen, head of ESG Product at MSCI, in a statement. He noted the “accelerating demand from investors to expand ESG indexes and data solutions across asset classes and markets.”