Odds & Ends: Elements Rogers ETNs Maturing

The past week in the exchange-traded fund industry was fairly quiet, which isn’t odd for August, when the summer doldrums tend to be still winding down.  

Five funds launched during the week, most of them from major players in the ETF space, and there were a number of minor changes. But perhaps the most interesting news was the fact that four exchange-traded notes from the Elements platform will mature as of Oct. 24, 2022.  

Exchange-traded notes have many similarities to traditional exchange-traded funds, but there are some differences. They are fixed income products that track indexes and are backed by the credit of their issuers. Their structure does not permit for the issuance of dividends. They also have maturity dates like any fixed income product. 

The Elements platform was started by Merrill Lynch in 2007, though Swedish Export Credit Corporation is currently the issuer for all six of the products in its lineup. The four affected ETNs all launched in October 2007. They and their assets under management are as follows: 

• Elements Rogers International Commodity Index-Agriculture TR ETN (RJA), $181.7 million 
• Elements Rogers International Commodity Index-Total Return ETN (RJI), $125.3 million 
• Elements Rogers International Commodity Index-Energy TR ETN (RJN), $13.6 million 
• Elements Rogers International Commodity Index-Metals Total Return ETN (RJZ), $6.1 million 

With these four ETNs maturing, the number of closures that have completed this year or that have been scheduled to finalize now stands at 84, more than the 79 exchange-traded products that shut down in all of 2021. 

After Oct. 24, only two ETNs will remain on the Elements platform: the $8.7 million ELEMENTS Linked to ICE BofAML Commodity Index eXtra Grains - Total Return ETN (GRU) and the $1.6 million ELEMENTS Linked to the ICE BofAML Commodity Index eXtra Biofuels - Total Return ETN (FUE). Both are set to mature in February 2023. 

Inspire Adds Multifactor ETF 

On Wednesday, biblically responsible ETF issuer Inspire rolled out its ninth fund, the Inspire Fidelis Multi Factor ETF (FDLS). The fund tracks an index that targets companies that align with biblical values and offer exposure to the quality, momentum and value factors.  

The fund comes with an expense ratio of 0.85% and lists on the NYSE Arca.  

Pending Conversion 

Another ETF conversion has been announced. The Main BuyWrite Fund (BUYWX) is expected to convert from a mutual fund structure into an ETF wrapper on or around Sept. 9. The new fund will be known as the Main BuyWrite ETF and is expected to have an expense ratio equal to or less than the existing mutual fund, which has an expense ratio of 1.00%, according to a recent filing. Main Management offers two other ETFs with combined assets under management of more than $1 billion. 

Additionally, the WisdomTree CBOE S&P 500 PutWrite Strategy Fund (PUTW) is set to change its name to the WisdomTree PutWrite Strategy Fund as of Oct. 24.  

Contact Heather Bell at [email protected]