Daily ETF Watch: New Dividend Fund Debuts

Today ProShares rolled out an ETF focused on European companies that are reliable dividend payers. The ProShares MSCI Europe Dividend Growers ETF (EUDV) covers companies included in the MSCI Europe Index that have grown their dividends consistently for the past 10 years.

The underlying index also adds another smart-beta twist by equal-weighting its components. Individual sectors are capped at 30 percent of the total index and individual countries are capped at 50 percent.

It seems that the underlying index has the potential to become fairly concentrated, as there is a provision in the methodology that if fewer than 25 companies qualify, companies with shorter dividend-growing histories can be included to make up the difference.

That suggests that the fund is more of an income vehicle than a core holding. Companies with shorter dividend growth histories can also be included if caps on individual countries and sectors are exceeded.

EUDV is listed on the NYSE Arca and comes with an expense ratio of 0.55 percent.

Deutsche Closes 2 Funds

Yesterday was the last day of trading for two Deutche Bank ETFs. Both were stand-alone funds that were not part of larger fund families within Deutsche Bank’s ETF offerings and never really seemed to gather any significant assets. The Deutsche X-trackers Regulated Utilities ETF (UTLT) launched in June 2013, while the Deutsche X-trackers Solactive Investment Grade Subordinated Debt ETF (SUBD) rolled out in May 2014.

Both funds were designed to provide investors with income in the current low-rate environment. UTLT tracked an index of regulated utilities in developed markets outside of Japan. SUBD tracked an index of USD-denominated subordinated corporate debt, a space that generally offers higher yields than the rest of the investment-grade corporate debt space.

The closures bring the total fund shutdowns for the year ever closer to the 200 mark.

Contact Heather Bell at [email protected].