Daily ETF Watch: ALPS Plans Active Funds

ALPS has put two funds into registration that will implement active strategies managed by RiverFront Investment Group, a firm that has been listed as a subadvisor in filings from two other firms in the past month. The funds in the ALPS filing, the RiverFront Dynamic US Dividend Advantage ETF and the RiverFront Dynamic US Flex-Cap ETF, will implement strategies that give companies a composite score based on their value, quality and momentum characteristics and that use an optimization process to select the highest-scoring companies for inclusion in the respective portfolios.

The Dividend Advantage ETF will primarily target companies with high scores that also exhibit above-average dividend yields within their respective sectors; the fund’s holdings can include small-, mid- and large-cap securities. Meanwhile, the Flex-Cap ETF will take a broader focus and simply invest in the broad market across the size spectrum.

ALPS is already the issuer for the actively managed $463 million RiverFront Strategic Income ETF (RIGS | B-34), which launched two years ago. However, RiverFront’s brand has also most recently appeared in the fund names of filings from First Trust and PowerShares.

In November, First Trust filed for four actively managed ETFs that will be subadvised by RiverFront:

• First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Asia Pacific ETF
• First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Developed International ETF
• First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Emerging Markets ETF
• First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Europe ETF

And in October, PowerShares put six “Price Matters” funds into registration that will track indexes developed by RiverFront:

• PowerShares RiverFront Price Matters Asia Portfolio
• PowerShares RiverFront Price Matters Emerging Market Portfolio
• PowerSharesRiverFront Price Matters Europe Portfolio
• PowerShares RiverFront Price Matters Global High Dividend Portfolio
• PowerShares RiverFront Price Matters US Dividend Growth Portfolio
• PowerShares RiverFront Price Matters US Flex-Cap Portfolio

The ALPS filing indicated that the proposed funds would list on the NYSE Arca; however, it did not include tickers or expense ratios.

Contact Heather Bell at [email protected].