Why Hedge Funds Are Launching Their Own ETFs

Hedge fund products might not be so exclusive anymore.

Man Group, which oversees roughly $43 billion in assets in the US, entered the ETF race earlier this month with two active bond ETFs, the Man Active High Yield ETF (MHY) and the Man Active Income ETF (MANI), which will invest, respectively, in junk bonds and debt instruments including corporate, government and securitized notes. Several other firms have launched or sought SEC approval for their own strategies in the past year, a sharp departure from typical offerings geared toward sophisticated or institutional investors. Man Group’s move reflects the ongoing popularity of active strategies, and fund managers believe that, despite lower fees, ETFs can bring in new clients.

“It makes sense from a commercial standpoint that you’re seeing some of these firms try to broaden out their investor base,” said Andrew Daniels, Morningstar’s director of equity strategies. “I don’t think that’s going to slow down.”

Over the Hedge

Bridgewater Associates has also joined the ETF fray, repackaging its diversified “all-weather” strategy as an ETF earlier this year. The challenge for Bridgewater, Man Group and others will be standing out from the crowd, Daniels said. Another risk is cannibalizing their existing funds. “If you have a product that’s extremely similar or the same as something you already have at a lower cost, why would a client not go with that cheaper option?” he added. Other recent ETFs linked to hedge funds include:

• The large mid-cap company-focused Tremblant Global ETF (TOGA), whose launch in May of last year made Tremblant Capital one of the first hedge fund shops to bring an active ETF to market.
• Five ETFs focused on financial, small- and mid-cap stocks from Baron Capital, which filed for SEC approval last month.

Earlier this month, Tremblant was named the sole advisor for Vanguard’s mid-cap growth fund, VMGRX, which has roughly $3 billion in assets. The decision was “a huge win” for Tremblant and provides another example of how hedge funds are diversifying from traditional lines of business, Daniels said.

Trades and Tradeoffs. Hedge funds have historically offered actively managed products with very high fees only to accredited investors, but the shift toward ETFs reflects an ongoing effort to democratize private investments. “For a lot of these hedge fund firms, there’s a tradeoff because the fees are going to be higher in the traditional space,” Daniels said. “They’re making the calculation that with lower fees and the ETF wrapper, they can [grow] their investor base.”