AGF Investments, a Canadian asset manager, has launched two new actively managed ETFs – the AGFiQ Enhanced Global ESG Factors ETF (QEF CN) and the AGFiQ Enhanced Global Infrastructure ETF (QIF CN) – on the Toronto-based NEO Exchange.
Florence Narine, senior vice-president, head of product, AGF Investments.
QEF uses a quantitative investment approach based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors to select global equity securities which aim to provide long-term capital appreciation with reduced volatility.
According to AGF, the fund’s investment approach is able to isolate the ESG factors which have a significant correlation to future returns.
The fund is currently most heavily weighted towards the US at 49.8%, followed by the UK at 8.3%.
QIF invests primarily in global equity securities of issuers in the infrastructure industry and related sectors including telecom, utilities, energy and transportation. It seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation and a high level of income and provides potential diversification benefits as infrastructure historically has a low correlation with traditional asset classes.
The fund has 69 holdings but is somewhat concentrated among the largest constituents. American Tower is the largest single holding at 8.2%, followed by Enbridge (6.9%), TransCanada (5.2%), Vinci (3.1%) and The Williams Cos (2.4%). The US represents the largest exposure by country at 38.4%, followed by Canada at 22.3%.
Both ETFs have a management fee of 0.45% and their underlying currency is the Canadian dollar.
“We are excited to partner with NEO as we grow our suite of factor-based ETFs leveraging the expertise of our in-house AGFiQ team to provide investors with differentiated access to growing segments of the market as they build their global equity portfolios,” said Florence Narine, senior vice-president, head of product at AGF Investments.
“We are proud to embrace a partner like AGF who recognizes the importance of promoting sustainability, doing what is right for the investor and the value of competition in Canadian capitals markets,” added Jos Schmitt, president and CEO at NEO Exchange.