AdvisorShares, a US-based sponsor of actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs), recently celebrated the two-year anniversary of its NYSE-listed international active ETF, the WCM/BNY Mellon Focused Growth ADR ETF (AADR).

AdvisorShares’s actively managed WCM/BNY Mellon Focused Growth ADR ETF (AADR) has delivered outperformance in its first two years of existence.

AADR seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in US-traded equity ADRs. The fund is sub-advised by WCM Investment Management (WCM), an institutional money manager with over $1.6 billion assets under management.

BNY Mellon, the world’s largest depositary for American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), provides expertise to the portfolio management team as well as to all other market intermediaries.

Since inception (20/7/2010), AADR has outperformed the MSCI EAFE Index and the BNY Mellon Classic ADR Index with lower beta and higher alpha, and a low correlation to those respective indexes. Additionally, when compared to these indices, AADR had a substantially less drawdown.

“We’re proud to mark this milestone with WCM and BNY Mellon,” said Noah Hamman, Chief Executive Officer of AdvisorShares. “Prior to bringing AADR to market, WCM’s portfolio management was exclusive to an institutional client base, but now via a ticker symbol, any investor can access this high-quality international strategy, which has displayed effective risk management in challenging market conditions while outperforming its benchmarks since inception.”

Kurt R. Winrich, Chairman and Co-CEO of WCM said, “Through our partnership with AdvisorShares and BNY Mellon, we’re pleased to have established wider investor access to a strategy, associated with a seven-year institutional track record, but wrapped in a fully-transparent actively managed ETF vehicle. We believe our success is anchored in our long-term investment approach of focusing on fundamentals and equity research, to best help AADR shareholders reach their investment goals.”

“We remain committed in delivering the same investment resources long-realized by our institutional clients to AADR shareholders,” said Duff Daniels, Managing Director of WCM.  “As we mark two years since AADR’s inception, we look forward to establishing our track record further and seeking continued outperformance of international benchmarks.”

Julio Lugo, BNY Mellon’s Global Head of ADR Structured Products said, “We are proud to help support the first actively managed international ETF.  We believe the benefits of the ETF structure, along with the outperformance provided by WCM, is beneficial to all types of people from the smallest investors to the largest institutions.”

AADR has $6.6 million in assets and comes with a net expense ratio of 1.25%.