Daily ETF Watch: NextShares Set A Date

After years of regulatory wrangling, it looks as if investors finally have a firm date for the first nontransparent, actively managed exchange-traded fund. Eaton Vance is set to roll out the first of its NextShares exchange-traded managed funds on Feb. 26, with the general public able to trade the fund as of Feb. 29.

The Eaton Vance Stock NextShares ETF (EVSTC) will use a core investment approach driven by research and be managed by Charles Gaffney. Gaffney is also the portfolio manager for the Eaton Vance Stock Fund, which will also invest in EVSTC’s portfolio. EVSTC has a master-feeder structure.

The fund will list on the Nasdaq exchange, and the press release noted that investors will be able to buy and sell the fund through online broker-dealer Folio Investing. It is not clear if the fund will eventually be available through other broker-dealers.

Eaton Vance had originally planned a concerted blitz of launches in conjunction with its NextShares licensees who include American Beacon, Gabelli, Hartford, Pioneer Investments, Nile Capital Management, Principal Financial Group, Victory Capital Management and Broms Asset Management. However, the firm is ultimately going with a less aggressive approach, intending to roll out the first of its 18 NextShares in registration in February, with more coming later in the first quarter.

The NextShares structure trades at a premium or discount to the fund’s next daily net asset value and doesn’t disclose its underlying holders on a daily basis. Instead it operates under the same disclosure rules as actively managed mutual funds.

EVSTC comes with an expense ratio of 0.65%, far cheaper than your average actively managed mutual fund.

Contact Heather Bell at [email protected].