ETF Watch: iShares Plans Argentina Fund

BlackRock’s iShares unit has made an interesting stand-alone filing for an ETF that will invest in companies that offer exposure to Argentina’s market even if they are not listed or headquartered in the country. The filing for the iShares MSCI Argentina Global Exposure ETF does not include a ticker, expense ratio or listing exchange.

The fund’s underlying index, the MSCI All Argentina 25/50 Index, includes 25 companies. Its methodology prioritizes companies that are categorized as Argentinian by MSCI and also those that are listed or headquartered within the country. However, if there are not 25 companies that fulfill those descriptions, the index can include companies from other markets that have economic exposure of more than 10% to Argentina.

The 25/50 methodology means that no single company can represent more than 25% of the index and that companies with weightings of 5% or more cannot have an aggregate weight of more than 50% of the index.

However, what makes this an especially interesting filing is the fact that the Global X MSCI Argentina ETF (ARGT), the only U.S.-listed ETF to cover just Argentina’s market, tracks the exact same index. ARGT launched in 2011 and adopted its current index in 2014. The fund has just shy of $100 million in assets under management and comes with an expense ratio of 0.75%.

ARGT’s portfolio currently has a weighting to Argentinian stocks of roughly 42%, with the U.S. and Italy weighted at 23.4% and 22.4%, respectively.

Contact Heather Bell at [email protected].