Turner Investments has announced that it has reached a definitive agreement with Elkhorn Funds’ Board of Trustees to acquire Illinois-based ETF provider Elkhorn Capital. The acquisition, which is not conditioned on shareholder approval, is expected to close in the next few weeks.
Turner’s acquisition of Elkhorn Capital is expected to close in the next few weeks.
Through the acquisition, Turner is expected to gain significant product capability to complement the company’s existing investment processes and technology platform.
In addition, the acquisition provides Turner with a team with 25 years of experience in exchange-traded funds which will complement Turner’s long history and experience in mutual funds and separately managed accounts.
Elkhorn’s largest ETF is the Elkhorn Lunt Low Vol/High Beta Tactical ETF (LVHB) which has approximately $130 million in assets under management. The fund tactically rotates between low-volatility and high-beta stocks in the S&P 500, seeking to capture alpha created by the wide dispersion between low volatility and high beta stocks.
Bob Turner, CIO and founder of Turner Investments, said: “The investment industry has witnessed tectonic shifts in technology, product structures, distribution channels, and fees over the past decade. This combination provides Turner with proprietary technology, added expertise, and unparalleled product development capabilities that we believe will deliver enhanced investment performance and value for both current and prospective clients over the long term.
“We are shifting the firm’s investment focus to uncorrelated returns and more predictable investment processes, more efficient and lower cost product structures utilizing the development capabilities of Elkhorn, with its collaboration partners, Barclays, Lunt Capital, and Dorsey, Wright & Associates, as well as the global technology and distribution platform.”
Commenting on the strategic combination of the two investment management firms, Ben Fulton, CEO of Elkhorn Capital, remarked: “Turner’s 26-year history and strong distribution capabilities, together with [its] technology platform, represent a perfect combination with Elkhorn’s ETF platform and product development capabilities.”
Fulton, who previously helped grow Invesco’s global ETF business from approximately $6 billion to $82bn over nine years at the firm, is to be appointed head of global ETFs for Turner.
He continued: “Turner’s disciplined, proprietary investment processes and operating platform will bring a high degree of automation and transparency over the investment process and products. We believe our combined capabilities will enhance the breadth and depth of our client offering at a lower cost, and will further empower our personnel who have vast experience in constructing the exchange-traded investment engines, unit investment trusts, and other exchange-traded products.
“Turner has developed a number of multi-factor and multi-asset class investment processes, including pure alpha trading strategies and risk management systems, which will provide us with a large number of market opportunities to deploy strategies that are in high demand among investors.”
Turner is expected to use Elkhorn’s existing ETF infrastructure and knowledge to deliver its own investment strategies within ETF wrappers. According to the firm, Turner’s strategies will cover all asset classes, from fixed income and equities to commodities and alternatives. Beta Plus and Strategic Alpha products will be designed to produce alpha utilizing an underlying index or beta strategy globally and across all asset classes. Investment themes will also include a series of global and international equity; momentum; absolute return; environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies; and fixed income strategies.
Turner strategies will be managed utilizing the company’s proprietary investment processes, which are built around a global technology platform bolstered by a disciplined factor- and proprietary models-based approach.
Fulton concluded: “There have been numerous meetings of the firms’ combined investment personnel and with Elkhorn stakeholders over the past several months. I believe that I can speak for everyone involved when I say that we are very excited about the depth of talent provided by the combined investment personnel and the number of new ETF strategies that we can launch on a combined platform.
“Our industry has undergone significant changes, with investors becoming both more fee sensitive and more risk averse, and this merger provides the tools and expertise for Turner to deliver more predictable returns with enhanced value to institutional and retail clients. As a number of new investment products are brought to market in the coming months, I believe the investment community will be impressed by their quality, as well as by the personnel and processes we are developing—this is truly an exciting time for our firm and our clients.”