Cambria, the company that manages AdvisorShares’ ‘GTAA,’ looking to offer its own ETFs.
Cambria Investment Management, the company that manages the ETF firm AdvisorShares’ most successful fund to date, filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to win the right to market its own line of actively managed ETFs.
The first fund the in the works will be called the Cambria Domestic Equity Strategy ETF, and it will invest in stocks and ETFs that the advisor deems to be undervalued. The fund will use a quantitative strategy to actively manage the portfolio.
The “exemptive relief” Cambria is seeking is aimed at issuing transparent funds that would report their portfolio holdings every day. All active ETFs now on the market operate with such transparency, though companies like Eaton Vance and especially iShares are pushing for the right to market nontransparent ETFs that would only have to disclose holdings quarterly.
Cambria is no stranger to the world of ETFs. It serves as advisor to the Cambria Global Tactical ETF (NYSEArca: GTAA), a fund brought to market by Bethesda, Md.-based AdvisorShares in October 2010 that has gathered more than $170 million in assets. It is an actively managed fund of funds that uses index ETFs to execute its strategy of seeking exposure across many asset classes, including equities, bonds, real estate, commodities and currencies.
In its paperwork seeking its own exemptive relief, El Segundo, Calif.-based Cambria said future ETFs it is contemplating might invest in open- or closed-end investment companies and/or ETFs.
“Exemptive relief” grants firms exceptions to certain sections of the Investment Company Act of 1940, and are the first step companies must take to earn the right to market ETFs. It often takes anywhere from six to nine months for a company’s first ETF to come to market after it has filed for exemptive relief.
