Global X, VanEck Close Handful of ETFs in Europe

VanEck and Global X are both is set to close a handful of Europe-issued funds that have failed to catch on with investors.

VanEck, which in the U.S. manages $82.5 billion in 68 ETFs, is shutting its actively managed smart home ETF following the termination of its investment advisory agreement. The VanEck Smart Home Active UCITS ETF (CAVE) will delist from the London Stock Exchange, Euronext Amsterdam, Deutsche Börse, Borsa Italiana, SIX Swiss Exchange and Euronext Dublin on 20 August.

In a shareholder notice, the firm said the ETF’s investment advisor Dasym's decision to terminate the agreement prompted a review of the ETF's viability.

VanEck said the assets under management (AUM) of the ETF have “been below the expectations since the fund was launched on 5 November 2021” and “have considered the viability of the fund in light of the ‘value for money’ principles”.

Since its launch, CAVE has amassed $2.9m AUM with a total expense ratio of 0.85%.

Actively managed, CAVE captures 44 companies that buy into the smart home megatrend, with the top three holdings being Amazon (4.5%), Check Point Software Technologies (3.8%) and Nestle (3.5%).

It comes amid a flurry of ETF closures such as the iShares J.P. Morgan € EM Bond UCITS ETF (EB3M), the iShares FTSE Italia Mid-Small Cap UCITS ETF (IPIR) and the Invesco MSCI EMU ESG Universal Screened UCITS ETF (EEMU).

In the U.S., 10 funds closed in June.

Global X, which manages $50.3 billion in 92 exchange-traded funds, is set to close three China ETFs that also didn't catch fire with customers.

In a shareholder notice, the firm said the Global X China Biotech UCITS ETF (CBIO), Global X China Clean Energy UCITS ETF (CCLN) and the Global X China Cloud Computing UCITS ETF (CCLD) will close on 28 August.

Global X declined to comment.

With all three ETFs launching in 2022, CBIO and CCLD have both amassed $1m since their inception, while CCLN houses $1.8m AUM.

China ETFs have struggled to generate returns after a difficult 2023, making them some of the worst performing ETFs of the year.

The struggle continued into 2024, though China ETFs saw some respite in May, managing to come out among the top performers for the month after some bright spots started to appear in economic data.

Despite the encouraging data, two issuers have closed China-related ETFs over the last few months.

State Street Global Advisors closed its China government bond ETF in June as persistent low yields impacted investor demand.

Meanwhile, KraneShares also closed its China bond and a China A-Share ETF due to low AUM.

Invesco went against the tide by launching Europe’s first ETF tracking China’s tech-focused ChiNext index in June.

This news was originally published on etf.com sister publication ETF Stream.