Emles Advisors has become the latest new issuer to enter the ETF market.
Emles Advisors co-founders, Gabriel Hammond, CEO, and Dave Saxena, CFO.
The company is headquartered in New York City and has been founded by former Alerian executives, Gabriel Hammond, CEO, and Dave Saxena, CFO.
The firm is positioning itself as a provider of differentiated funds delivering access to non-traditional asset classes and strategies that are designed to generate uncorrelated returns.
It has debuted with four thematically focused funds on Cboe.
Uncorrelated returns
“I created Emles because I am unsatisfied with the investment opportunities that exist in the marketplace. I want to create the infrastructure to be able to source and invest in what we believe are attractive, uncorrelated asset classes that investors have historically struggled to access,” said Hammond.
The team consists of 18 industry professionals with experience across investing, trading, operations, and distribution.
“We’ve brought together a seasoned team of investment, operations and marketing professionals who have demonstrated excellence at their previous firms,” said Saxena. “Our entire team is dedicated to building an asset management firm where we seek to align our incentives and those of our clients. In that spirit, we intend to invest our own capital in each of the funds that we market such that we succeed only if our investors succeed.”
The firm’s Chief Investment Officer is ex-PineBridge Investments portfolio manager, Agam Sharma.
Maiden funds
The firm’s inaugural ETFs have each been seeded with $2.5 million and all reflect something of a thematic hue.
Emles Made in America ETF (AMER US)
The Emles Made in America ETF seeks to capitalize on the secular shift of deglobalization by investing in domestic manufacturing companies that generate at least 70% of their revenue in the US. The fund is linked to the proprietary Emles American Manufacturing Index which is composed of companies that feature in the annual Industry Week Top US Manufacturing Companies list, excluding companies in the energy or energy-related, financial services, and distribution sectors. To be included in the index, a company must have a market capitalization of at least $75 million and at least a 60% manufacturing footprint based in America. Constituents are weighted by market capitalization subject to an individual security cap of 5%. As of September 29, 2020, there were 60 companies in the index.
The fund comes with an expense ratio of 0.49%.
Emles Federal Contractors ETF (FEDX US)
The Emles Federal Contractors ETF provides exposure to companies that have at least 40% revenue exposure derived from federal contracts with the US government. It is linked to the proprietary Emles Federal Contractors Index which includes companies operating in the aerospace & defense, information technology, cybersecurity, and healthcare industries. Companies must have a market capitalization of at least $100 million, a minimum average daily trading volume of 100,000 shares, $10 million in average daily trading value, and a minimum share price of $5.00. As of September 29, 2020, there were 14 companies in the index.
The fund comes with an expense ratio of 0.60%.
Emles @Home ETF (LIV US)
The Emles @Home ETF is designed to provide exposure to companies that stand to benefit from the accelerating shift towards more time spent at home. It is linked to the proprietary Emles Home Lifestyle Index which comprises companies that primarily offer products or services related to at-home work productivity, e-commerce, home health and fitness, home security, home entertainment and telecommunications, home supplies and goods, and digital lifestyle and social media platforms. Of the companies that meet these criteria, only a maximum of two with market capitalizations in excess of $1 trillion are included. Moreover, all securities that have a market capitalization of $750 billion or higher have their weighting capped at 4%. The remaining companies that align with the themes are analysed using publicly available information to rate and weight them based on financial health and revenues attributable to the theme. As of September 29, 2020, there were 27 companies in the index.
The fund comes with an expense ratio of 0.49%.
Emles Real Estate Credit ETF (REC US)
The Emles Real Estate Credit ETF delivers access to bonds issued by real estate companies. The fund is linked to the Solactive US Real Estate Bond Index, a market value-weighted index that measures the performance of corporate bonds denominated in dollars and issued domestically by US companies operating in the real estate sector. Eligible issuers include equity REITs and real estate management and development companies, including homebuilding companies. To be eligible for inclusion, bonds must have a maturity of 36 months or more at the time of issuance and a credit rating of B- (S&P, Fitch) or B3 (Moody’s) or higher. As of September 29, 2020, there were 373 issues in the index.
The fund comes with an expense ratio of 0.48%.