LocalShares Sold To NY Firm

The firm behind the Nashville Area ETF (NASH) has been acquired by New York-based Worth Group, which runs the media brand Worth. The new combined entity will be known as AuthEx going forward.

LocalShares was founded in 2012 and launched NASH in 2013. The fund covers companies headquartered in and around Nashville, Tennessee, and currently includes less than 30 names. It has roughly $8 million in assets under management. LocalShares calculates a family of indexes that cover the publicly traded companies associated with various major U.S. cities.

The CEO of AuthEx, Eric Sinoway, indicated the acquisition is part of an overarching plan to expand its brand into cities and to focus on local innovation.

“We are exploring strategies to scale the LocalShares methodology of tracking—and quite literally, enabling citizens to invest in—the publically traded companies headquartered in their hometowns with a variety of leading financial and strategic partners,” he said in a press release.

The release did not mention the financial terms of the deal.

Contact Heather Bell at [email protected]