A Maine-based firm by the name of Forum files to join the world of ETF sponsors.
Forum Investment Advisors LLC, a Portland, Maine-based money management firm, filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to gain regulatory permission to market actively managed ETFs, with the first one in the works to be focused on debt.
The company said its initial fund will seek current income and capital appreciation by investing at least 80 percent of its net assets in bonds, notes or other debt obligations denominated in different currencies in combination with forward currency contracts.
The firm is also contemplating marketing other funds focused on fixed-income or equity securities, according to the filing. The filing said such funds may invest all of their assets in mortgage- or asset-backed securities and may engage in forward commitment transactions and own depositary receipts that the advisor, Forum Investment Advisors, deems to be liquid enough.
The filing also said the company might market fund-of-funds ETFs that invest in other open-end and/or closed-end investment companies and/or other ETFs.
Exemptive relief filings grant the ETF firms exception to sections of the Investment Act of 1940 and are just the first step in the path to launching ETFs. It often takes at least six to 12 months from the date of the initial filing for a company’s first ETF to hit the market.