Goldman Sachs Asset Management has entered into an agreement to acquire the $500 million Perth Mint Physical Gold ETF (AAAU US).

The fund will become GSAM’s first commodity ETF.

The fund, which will be GSAM’s first commodity ETF, currently provides exposure to physical gold custodied with and guaranteed by The Perth Mint.

The Perth Mint is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Government of Western Australia.

The acquisition is expected to close by year-end with the fund being renamed the Goldman Sachs Physical Gold ETF.

The ETF will remain listed on NYSE Arca and its ticker will be unchanged.

However, the mint will no longer act as custodian, with a new third-party custodian, as yet undisclosed, set to be appointed.

Michael Crinieri, GSAM’s Global Head of ETF Strategy, commented, “Our team aimed to respond to investor demand for an asset class that has demonstrated resilience and popularity with innovative features at a competitive price.

“Our goal at GSAM is to continue to give investors thoughtful and cost-effective ways to diversify their portfolios, and we believe this fund is an attractive addition to GSAM’s growing ETF suite.”

AAAU was originally launched in 2018 in partnership with white-label platform Exchange Traded Concepts.

It is one of the lowest-cost gold ETFs in the US with an expense ratio of just 0.18%. This matches the fee on the $3.7 billion SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust (GLDM US) and is only fractionally higher than the $2.7bn Aberdeen Standard Physical Gold Shares ETF (SGOL US), which is priced at 0.17%.