Amplify Doubles Assets to $8B With ETF Managers Group Purchase

Company sought ETFMG’s out-of-favor ‘thematic’ funds before expected turnaround.

Amplify ETFs has agreed to acquire the 17 exchange-traded funds issued by ETF Managers Group in a deal that doubles Amplify’s offerings, while boosting its lineup of funds that target specific areas like cannabis and cybersecurity. 

The deal creates a top 30 issuer, with $8 billion in assets under management spread across 32 ETFs, out of a pair of smaller players. Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed in a statement.  

Amplify, based in Lisle, Illinois, manages $4.36 billion across 15 funds. It’s largest, a $2.8 billion stock dividend fund—the Amplify CWP Enhanced Dividend Income ETF (DIVO)—has brought in $392.9 million in new funds so far this year.  

ETF Managers, of Summit, New Jersey, focuses on niche, or thematic ETFs, its largest being the $1.4 billion ETFMG Prime Cyber Security ETF (HACK), which has lost $106.2 million in funds this year despite an 11% price gain.  

Amplify is seizing the opportunity to boost its line of thematic ETFs, according to Bill Belden, the firm’s president. Prices have dropped while those funds lost favor with investors over the past year and a half, he said. 

“If I thought we had another couple of years to wait, we wouldn’t be acting so aggressively,” Belden told etf.com in an interview. “We’re closer to the turnaround for thematic ETFs than we are from the peak.” Since the beginning of the year, thematic ETFs have had $3.6 billion in outflows, a drop of roughly 10%. 

Not included in the deal is ETFMG itself. Belden says that Amplify’s infrastructure is set to take on ETFMG’s product lineup already, and they don’t need more.  

ETFMG didn’t immediately respond to a call and email seeking comment about the company's future. 

The deal announced Monday says that at least $3.5 billion in assets will be acquired, but Amplify would not say if the deal would include all of ETFMG’s $3.7 billion in ETF assets. 

Amplify doesn’t anticipate closing or combining any of the funds, Belden noted. 

While he wouldn’t disclose what was coming up for Amplify, he did say there were some new thematic ideas in the pipeline, but nothing is filed yet. 

Corrections: in fifth paragraph, figure is changed to $106.2 million; in seventh paragraph, amount is changed to $3.6 billion.

Contact Gabe Alpert at [email protected]