Oppenheimer Funds, the global asset manager, has made a move into the growing smart beta space with the announcement of an agreement to acquire VTL Associates, known for its RevenueShares range of exchange-traded funds. “Investors are looking to active managers for innovative solutions to add to their overall investment strategy, including products that are designed to deliver better-than-market returns with full transparency of their investment process,” said Art Steinmetz, Chairman, President and CEO of Oppenheimer Funds.

The rise of smart beta products in the exchange-traded funds industry is a credit positive for asset managers with smart-beta focused ETF businesses, according to new report from Moody’s, a credit ratings agency. “The expansion of smart beta will benefit asset managers with businesses centred around smart beta the most,” says Stephen Tu, Vice President, Moody’s. “Invesco’s Powershares franchise, which offers smart beta ETFs, will benefit, as will BlackRock. Guggenheim may also benefit given the majority of its ETFs are based on non-traditional indexing.”

RevenueShares, a US-based provider of exchange-traded funds, has expanded its roster of fundamentally weighted ETFs with the launch of the RevenueShares Ultra Dividend ETF (RDIV). Listed on the NYSE Arca, the fund comprises the 60 highest dividend-yielding constituents of the S&P 900, weighted by top-line company revenue. The fund is designed to capture the capital appreciation benefits of revenue-producing companies while offering income-seeking investors a higher-than-average dividend yield.

VTL Associates, the parent company of RevenueShares, a US-based sponsor of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has received an injection of capital from Suzhou Industrial Park Kaida Venture Capital, a Chinese venture capital firm. The investment will be used to support the expansion of RevenueShares, which is known for its line-up of revenue-weighted ETFs. In addition to new products, RevenueShares will expand its staff and marketing efforts for the firm’s six existing ETF products.