Nornickel-backed Global Palladium Fund has launched an ETC providing physical access to a basket of metals that are essential to the production of electric vehicles.
The GPF Physical Electric Vehicle Metals ETC reflects the performance of up to six metals with allocations to each metal dependent on its use within the electric vehicle market.
The ETC has been listed on Borsa Italiana (TEVB IM) with listings on Xetra (PEVB GR), LSE (TEVB LN / TEVS LN) and SIX Swiss Exchange (TEVB SW) set to follow in due course.
The ETC’s underlying basket is determined by the Solactive GPF Electric Vehicle Index, which presently includes Copper (40%), Palladium (28.13%), Nickel (18.65%), Cobalt (11.45%), and Platinum (1.77%).
Silver is also eligible for inclusion though it currently commands a zero weight.
Each of the metals in the index plays an important role in the manufacture of electric vehicles across the battery, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell segments of the industry
Index constituents and their weights are specified by NTree International, which acts as the index’s discretionary ‘selection party’. NTree is the marketing agent for the GPF ETPs.
Constituents are rebalanced annually in July to reflect evolving use of metals across the different electric vehicle segments with weights capped at a maximum of 40%. Further metals (lithium is a notable absentee for what is a basket of metals crucial to the electric vehicle industry) may be added to the index at future rebalances subject to availability, liquidity and tradability.
The ETC is physically backed with metals stored in LME warehouses in Rotterdam and LPPM vaults in London and Switzerland.
Commenting on the launch, Alexander Stoyanov, CEO of Global Palladium Fund, said: “The growth in consumer appetite for electric vehicles in recent years has been phenomenal, and we are just at the start of this megatrend to replace the internal combustion engine.”
Timothy Harvey, Head of Business Development at Global Palladium Fund and CEO of NTree International, added: “We are particularly excited that it’s the first time a physically-backed basket of metals including base metals such as cobalt, copper and nickel, is being made available to investors. At a time when investors are looking for diversification, the GPF Physical Electric Vehicle Metals ETC provides simple and transparent access to key metals used in electric vehicles.”
The ETC has a total expense ratio of 0.80% and debuts with $10m of seed assets.