Greg King Debuts New ETF Firm

Greg King is perhaps best known as the brains behind the very first exchange-traded note—a structure he developed when he ran iPath at Barclays. Now, King is launching a new ETF issuer that sets out to offer what he calls more efficient beta in the alternatives segment.

REX Shares, the company officially debuting today, is not another smart-beta ETF provider. Instead, King is looking to innovate by finding better ways of investing in alternatives, while staying away from me-too strategies centered on traditional betas such as equities and fixed income.

Two Gold-Hedged Funds Coming
The firm’s first two ETFs, already in registration, are gold-hedged equity funds. The REX Gold Hedged S&P 500 ETF and the REX Gold Hedged FTSE Emerging Markets ETF will both be able to gain access to the equity portions of their portfolios via stocks, but also via other ETFs, closed-end funds, futures contracts and depositary receipts. The funds, expected to launch sometime this fall, will be brought to market via Exchange Traded Concepts.

“The ETF industry has seen tremendous growth, and we believe REX can provide significant value to investors looking for efficient portfolio and trading solutions,” King said. “We like to think of ourselves as ‘ETF architects,’ and are laser-focused on solving specific problems by building better tools for investors.”

King’s track record includes time as former CEO and co-founder of VelocityShares, which is now owned by Janus. He also served as head of exchange-traded products for Credit Suisse, and most recently, he joined forces with New York-based Global X Funds to bring to market 14 ETFs in 12 months.

Global X will be a minority stakeholder in the new firm.

Contact Cinthia Murphy at [email protected].