On Thursday, February 28, the ProShares Global Listed Private Equity ETF [ PEX ] began trading. The fund tracks the LPX index, which is comprised of up to 30 companies that are involved in making investments in private equity. According to Morning Star, the fund currently owns 28 firms, and its largest holdings include Ares Capital (ARCC), American Capital (ACAS), and England-based 3i Group. For more information, visit the fund’s site .
State Street filed paperwork with the SEC last week, seeking permission to bring to market the SPDR S&P Global Dividend ETF. According to Index Universe , this is State Street’s first global dividend ETF and “will draw holdings from a variety of companies in both the developed and developing world in countries including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.” No ticker symbol or expense ratio were provided. For more info, please review the SEC filing .
Columbia Management changed the names on four of its five active ETFs on March 1st. The one fund that was left unchanged was the Columbia Growth Equity Strategy Fund [ RPX ]. The funds along with their old and new names can be seen below: Columbia Large-Cap Growth Equity Strategy Fund is now the Columbia Select Large Cap Growth ETF [ RWG ] Columbia Concentrated Large-Cap Value Strategy Fund is now the Columbia Select Large Cap Value ETF [ GVT ] Columbia Intermediate Municipal Bond Strategy Fund is now the Columbia Intermediate Municipal Bond ETF [ GMMB ] Columbia Core Bond Strategy Fund is now the Columbia Core Bond ETF [ GMTB ](Source: IndexUniverse )
Last week, State Street filed paperwork with the SEC, seeking to bring to market two passively managed bond ETFs that offer exposure to certain maturities of US Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS). The two funds will specifically target 0-5 year and 1-10 year TIPS, both of which would be tracking a Barclays index of TIPS bonds. For more information, visit the SEC filing .
The First Trust High Yield Long/Short ETF [ HYLS ], an actively managed ETF, began trading last week on February 27th, 2013. According to NASDAQ ,”HYLS seeks to provide current income by investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of below-investment-grade or unrated high-yield debt securities, including U.S. and non-U.S. corporate debt obligations, bank loans and convertible bonds.” The fund is comprised of up to 80% junk securities and can invest up 10% of its net assets in non-US securities that are denominated in non-US currencies. In addition, “the fund intends to maintain both long and short positions-long positions in securities that the ETF advisors believe have the potential to outperform the fund’s benchmark Bank of America Merrill Lynch U.S. High Yield Master II Constrained Index and short positions in securities expected to underperform the index.” For more information, visit the fund’s fact sheet .
PowerShares filed paperwork with the SEC last week to create the PowerShares Global Select Short Term Bond Portfolio, a global Fixed Income ETF, that invests in investment-grade, U.S. dollar-denominated, short-term debt issued by governments and corporations from around the world. The fund is designed to track a Deutsche Bank index of bonds with maturities of three years or less. (Source: Morning Star )