First Active ETFs Launch From Goldman Sachs Accelerator
Brandes Investments Partners launched the three active funds.
Three actively managed funds from Brandes Investment Partners have hit the market, the first to emerge from the Goldman Sachs ETF Accelerator.
The Brandes U.S. Small-Mid Cap Value ETF (BSMC), the Brandes U.S. Value ETF (BUSA) and the Brandes International ETF (BINV) are all actively managed and focus on investing in undervalued equities, according to a press release.
The funds are the first ETFs to launch from Goldman Sach’s ETF Accelerator, an ETF incubator the firm first announced in November. Goldman provides aspiring ETF issuers with the infrastructure with the goal to help clients get their product to market in six months or less, according to Lisa Mantil, global head of Goldman Sachs ETF Accelerator.
Goldman helps its clients navigate the time- and capital-extensive process of rolling out an exchange-traded fund from scratch, from dealing with Securities and Exchange Commission regulatory challenges to implementing portfolios and raising fees.
“We're very proud of the fact that in an 18-month period of time, we've managed to deliver the value proposition to our clients, which is that they want to be able to get into the active ETF market but don't want to spend two years doing that—they don't want to have to hire all the people and build out the operational infrastructure themselves,” Mantil said. “They're doing all security selection, and then they're delivering a model, we absolutely help them manage their ETF.”
Yet Goldman insists it isn’t a “white-label” issuer, which is typically a firm that provides the capabilities for a client to launch an ETF. “We’re not the advisor, we’re not the subadvisor, and we’re not a white labeler,” Mantil said. The firm is listed as a consultant to the clients.
Growth of Active ETFs
Other clients of the accelerator include Eagle Capital Management, which filed for an undervalued equity ETF in June. Jeremy Grantham’s asset-management company, GMO, filed for an ETF through the accelerator in August.
The ETF issuers decide when they want to bring the funds to market, according to Mantil. ETFs from both Brandes Investment Partners and Eagle Capital Management were approved by the SEC on Sept. 29.
Mantil said that the accelerator has seen interest from a wide swath of potential ETF issuers beyond asset-management firms, from insurance companies to hedge funds to family offices.
The accelerator can also help firms build out their ETF portfolio globally. Goldman can help execute ETFs in the UCITS wrapper, which is more easily traded among international investors.
Contact Lucy Brewster at [email protected].