Genter Capital Launches First ETFs With Plans for More
Dan Genter, the $6.6 billion manager's CEO, says the standard mutual funds has become a "dinosaur."
Institutional asset manager Genter Capital Management is following the money into the ETF space with two actively-managed income-oriented funds aimed at financial advisors and retail-class investors.
The Genter Capital Taxable Quality Intermediate ETF (GENT) and the Genter Capital Municipal Quality Intermediate ETF (GENM) began trading last week ahead of two other planned exchange-traded fund launches by the $6.6 billion Los Angeles-based asset manager.
GENT, which charges 38 basis points, is an income strategy with a secondary focus on capital appreciation. It actively invests in U.S. Treasuries, Treasury inflation-protected securities, floating rate notes and various agency bonds.
GENM, which also charges 38 basis points, is a muni bond fund that produces income free from federal income taxes and has a secondary objective of capital appreciation. The fund actively invests in investment grade municipal bonds, primarily general obligation and revenue bonds.
“We think ETFs are an easier way for us to distribute what we’re doing to a non-institutional market,” said Dan Genter, president and chief executive officer.
ETFs at the Center; Mutual Funds a "Dinosaur"
Genter said the 56-year-old boutique asset management firm has carved a niche in short-to-intermediate term taxable and tax-exempt portfolios, where he believes there’s a dearth of strategies in the ETF space.
“There’s very little in the 2-to-5-year duration space, and even less that is actively managed by institutional managers,” he said.
The new exchange-traded funds mark the second effort by Genter Capital to go after the financial advisor and retail investor market.
The Genter Dividend Income mutual fund (GDIIX) has been around since the start of 2009, but currently only has $30 million, which is part of the reason the mutual fund is on track to be converted into an ETF.
“The standard mutual fund has become a bit of a dinosaur,” Genter said.
Also on deck, but not yet filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is an international high-dividend ETF.
But Genter made it clear the current move toward the ETF space is not part of a larger transition for the business model, which will continue to focus on serving the institutional investor market.
“The international high dividend ETF will probably round us out in terms of ETFs,” he said.