Daily ETF Watch: 5 More Firms Plan ETMFs

In the past few weeks, five more firms have filed exemptive relief requests with the Securities and Exchange Commission that indicate they plan to launch exchange-traded managed funds—or “NextShares”—using Eaton Vance’s model that relies on “NAV-based trading.”

ETMFs are basically a nontransparent actively managed version of a traditional exchange-traded fund, and Eaton Vance has been licensing its patented structure to a wide range of traditionally active shops. The funds have yet to launch, but Eaton Vance has indicated it plans to roll out a wave of the products all at once, coordinating the launch date with its licensees.

The newest licensees include Pioneer Investments, Nile Capital Management, Principal Financial Group, Victory Capital Management and Broms Asset Management.

Pioneer Investments

The Pioneer filing lists 16 funds under the heading of “Initial Funds,” all of which appear to be clones of existing traditional mutual funds managed by the firm. They are as follows:

• Pioneer AMT-Free Municipal NextShares
• Pioneer Bond NextShares
• Pioneer Classic Balanced NextShares
• Pioneer Core Equity NextShares
• Pioneer Disciplined Growth NextShares
• Pioneer Disciplined Value NextShares
• Pioneer Equity Income NextShares
• Pioneer Floating Rate NextShares
• Pioneer Fund NextShares
• Pioneer Fundamental Growth NextShares
• Pioneer Global Equity NextShares
• Pioneer High Yield NextShares
• Pioneer International Value NextShares
• Pioneer Mid Cap Value NextShares
• Pioneer Select Mid Cap Growth NextShares
• Pioneer Strategic Income NextShares

Victory Capital

Meanwhile, Victory Capital described nine initial funds in its exemptive relief filing, many of which appear to be very similar to existing traditional mutual funds offered by the firm. The proposed ETMFs are as follows:

• Victory Munder Mid-Cap Core Growth NextShares
• Victory Munder Focused Small/Mid-Cap NextShares
• Victory NewBridge Global Managed Volatility NextShares
• Victory Trivalent International Core NextShares
• Victory Multi-Franchise Small/Mid-Cap NextShares
• Victory Dividend Accelerators NextShares
• Victory Sycamore Established Value NextShares
• Victory Integrity Small/Mid-Cap Value NextShares
• Victory Emerging Markets Enhanced Opportunities NextShares

Broms Asset Management

Broms Asset Management outlined plans for four initial funds, including the Broms U.S. Small Cap Growth NextShares, Broms U.S. Small Cap Value NextShares, Broms U.S. Small Cap Core NextShares and the Broms U.S. Micro-cap NextShares. Principal Financial Group named the Principal Global Value NextShares Fund as its initial fund, while Nile Capital described the Nile Pan Africa ETMF and the Nile Frontier and Emerging ETMF.

The five firms join other licensees such as American Beacon, Gabelli and Hartford.

Credit Suisse Repurchases ETN Shares
Credit Suisse announced in mid-June that it would be repurchasing shares of two of its alternative beta ETNs in early July via an irrevocable call notice, and the NYSE suspended those ETNs today. The notes’ last day of trading was July 1.

• Credit Suisse X-Links 2xLeveraged Merger Arbitrage ETN (CSMB)
• Credit Suisse X-Links HOLT Market Neutral Global Equity ETN (CSMN)