Product roundup: Global X introduces 11 ETFs with varying strategies

In an effort to appeal to a broad range of investors during a critical geopolitical and economic moment, Global X Investments Canada Inc. has launched 11 new ETFs with varying strategies, including a defence sector index ETF and two bitcoin-focused covered call funds.

Given recent geopolitical tensions, market volatility and slower growth, the funds are meant to provide investors with options “to potentially move around some of their exposures and their positioning [in their portfolios] based on what their market views and expectations are,” said Chris McHaney, head of investment management and strategy with Global X.

“We think it’s important to give investors that choice and that ability to go to areas that we think could resonate over the next few years,” McHaney said.

The new funds include:

• Global Defence Tech Index ETF (TSX: SHLD), which has a 0.49% management fee
• Global X Equal Weight Global Healthcare Index ETF (TSX: MEDX), which has a 0.40% management fee
• Global X Equal Weight Canadian REITS Index ETF (TSX: REIT), which has a 0.25% management fee that’s rebated to 0% until the end of 2025
• Global X Equal Weight U.S. Groceries & Staples Index ETF (TSX: UMRT), which has a 0.25% management fee
• Global X Equal Weight U.S. Banks Index ETF (TSX: UBNK), which has a 0.25% management fee
• Global X Equal Weight Canadian Telecommunications ETF (TSX: RNCC), which has a 0.39% management fee
• Global X Bitcoin Covered Call ETF (Cboe: BCCC, BCCC.U), which has a 0.65% management fee
• Global X Enhanced Equal Weight Canadian Telecommunications Covered Call ETF (TSX: RNCL), which has a 0.65% management fee
• Global X Enhanced Russell 2000 Covered Call ETF (Cboe: RSCL), which has a 0.85% management fee
• Global X Enhanced Gold Producer Equity Covered Call ETF (TSX: GLCL), which has a 0.85% management fee
• Global X Enhanced Bitcoin Covered Call ETF (Cboe: BCCL, BCCL.U), which has a 0.85% management fee

McHaney spoke to some of the motivating factors behind the product launches.

He said geopolitical tensions, and a signal from governments that they intend to increase their defence spending, was what motivated Global X to launch SHLD. It seeks to replicate, to the extent possible and net of expenses, the performance of the Global X Defence Tech CAD Index.

The fund was also inspired by similar defence sector ETFs that Global X’s U.S. counterpart has listed south of the border, which have garnered “a lot of interest recently, given geopolitical fallout that we’ve seen over the last several months or so.”

“With defence spending in general, globally, becoming such a talking point, we felt this was a great time to bring this one to market here in Canada,” McHaney said.

The bitcoin ETFs — BCCC and BCCL — were launched to respond to investor demand for alternative asset classes, given the “market turmoil and market selloff” in stock and bond markets in recent weeks, he said.

One standout feature for these bitcoin ETFs is that they offer a novel bi-weekly approach to distributions.

“A semi-monthly distribution kind of starts to mimic a paycheque. Investors get paid twice a month from their job and now they can get paid twice a month from their investments as well,” McHaney said.

“Certainly that’s something that could be expanded to other areas as well, and other strategies,” he said, “if there’s demand for it.”

Global X also decided to launch ETFs in a few concentrated sectors that it expects to perform well, such as REIT, UBNK, UMRT and MEDX.

Of UBNK and UMRT, which seek to replicate the performance of the Mirae Asset Equal Weight U.S. Banks Index and Mirae Asset Equal Weight U.S. Groceries and Staples Index, respectively, McHaney said these “more timely sectors” are meant to give investors a defensive position “with the economy sort of slowing down.”

A full breakdown of the products and their investment strategies is available here.

Travelers Capital Corp. launches private credit fund

Vancouver-based Travelers Capital Corp. (TCC) has launched a new liquid alternative mutual fund that will aim to deliver stable, double-digit annualized net yields.

The new Travelers Capital Private Credit Fund, which has a mutual fund trust structure, is composed of TCC’s portfolio of private credit business loans, which leverage the collateral value of the borrower’s tangible owned assets, such as vehicles, aircraft and heavy equipment, a release said.

In an interview, Mark Breakspear, head of capital and investor relations with TCC, said his firm has long offered products for institutional investors, but it wanted to respond to demand from retail investors for similar offerings.

“We wanted to create that opportunity to allow more people to get involved in what we’re doing, and then also create another leg of our capital stack and our capital raising capabilities,” Breakspear said.

The new fund invests in loans to small and medium-sized companies, “which are backed by senior security, so the loan-to-value ratio is extremely conservative and easily covers the outlay capital,” he explained.

Further, its underlying fund returned 12 – 13% over the last four years, “so we’re very confident in being able to maintain that level of return,” Breakspear said.

“We’ve got four years of track record behind this fund. We’ve just created a mutual fund trust wrapper to make it registered-plan eligible,” he added.

The Travelers Capital Private Credit Fund has a 1.35% management fee and redemptions will be available on a quarterly basis.

A new CLO ETF from BMO

BMO Asset Management Inc. announced on Friday the launch of an ETF that provides exposure to a diversified portfolio of AAA-rated collateralized loan obligations (CLOs).

The BMO AAA CLO ETF is now available in Canadian-dollar units (Cboe: ZAAA), hedged units (CA: ZAAA.F) and U.S.-dollar units (Cboe: ZAAA.U).

The fund aims to provide income and preserve capital by investing — directly or indirectly — primarily in a diversified portfolio of AAA-rated CLOs of issuers outside of Canada, a release said.

For the hedged units of the fund, the BMO ETF will also invest in or use derivative instruments to seek to hedge U.S. currency exposure, the release noted.

The new ETF has a 0.2% management fee.

Mackenzie rolls out fixed-income funds

As market volatility continues to impact investor sentiment, Mackenzie Investments has rolled out several new fixed-income mutual funds and ETFs, which it says are designed to provide investors with tools to diversify their portfolios in a “relatively predictable” and low risk way.

The new funds include the:

• Mackenzie AAA CLO ETF (TSX: MAAA), which has a 0.18% management fee
• Mackenzie Target 2027 North American IG Corporate Bond Fund and its corresponding ETF (TSX: MTBA), which have a 0.2% management fee
• Mackenzie Target 2029 North American IG Corporate Bond Fund and its corresponding ETF (TSX: MTBB), which have a 0.2% management fee

MAAA provides access to AAA-rated CLOs that adjust their yields to the prevailing benchmark interest rates. The actively managed fund provides investors “with the potential to increase returns without proportionally increasing their risk exposure,” a release said.

The Mackenzie Target 2027 North American IG Corporate Bond Fund and Mackenzie Target 2029 North American IG Corporate Bond Fund, and their corresponding ETFs (MTBA and MTBB), will hold bonds to their target maturity dates and “aim to offer investors attractive returns in varying interest rate environments while minimizing risk,” the release noted.

The new offerings are managed by Mackenzie’s fixed-income team.

Harvest brings new bitcoin ETFs to market

Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. has brought two new bitcoin ETFs to the Canadian market.

The Harvest Bitcoin Enhanced Income ETF (Cboe: HBIX) and the Harvest Bitcoin Leaders Enhanced Income ETF (Cboe: HBTE) began trading on Wednesday.

HBIX seeks to provide investors with “long-term capital appreciation” through purchasing and holding, on a levered basis, an ETF or a portfolio of ETFs that provide exposure to the underlying price movements of the U.S. dollar price of bitcoin. It will also aim to provide “high monthly cash distributions,” a release said. HBIX has a 0.65% management fee.

Meanwhile, HBTE seeks to provide investors with monthly cash distributions and “the opportunity for capital appreciation” by investing, on a levered basis, in 15 publicly-traded companies that either directly hold bitcoin, mine bitcoin or by provide services to customers “interested in transacting or holding bitcoin.” It has a 0.75% management fee.

Both funds will generally write covered call options on up to 50% of the option eligible portfolio securities held in their portfolios. However, the level of covered call option writing may vary based on market volatility and other factors, the release noted.

Hamilton ETFs launches mixed-asset ETF

Hamilton Capital Partners Inc. has launched a new mixed-asset ETF.

The Hamilton Enhanced Mixed Asset ETF (TSX: MIX) seeks to replicate — to the extent reasonably possible and before the deduction of fees and expenses — “a 1.25-times multiple of the Solactive Hamilton Mixed Asset Index,” the firm said in a release.

“Combining a 60/20/20 allocation to U.S. stocks, U.S. Treasuries and gold, with modest 25% leverage to enhance growth and diversification, MIX offers investors a modern, all-in-one portfolio solution,” said Pat Sommerville, senior partner and co-president with Hamilton ETFs, in the release.

The fund will have a 0% management fee until at least April 30, 2026, Sommerville noted.

More CDRs from CIBC

CIBC has launched 15 new Canadian Depositary Receipts (CDRs) that invest in U.S. stocks, bringing its total CDR count to 101.

CDRs allow investors to own fractional shares of companies across the world in Canadian dollars, mitigating the currency risk associated with global investing.

CIBC’s latest CDRs include:

• Abbott Labs CDR (Cboe: ABT)
• Amgen CDR – (Cboe: AMGN)
• AutoZone CDR (Cboe: AZO)
• Charles Schwab CDR (Cboe: SCHW)
• Fiserv CDR (Cboe: FI)
• GE Vernova CDR (Cboe: GEV)
• Gilead Sciences CDR (Cboe: GILD)
• KKR CDR (Cboe: KKR)
• Morgan Stanley CDR (Cboe: MS)
• NextEra Energy CDR (Cboe: NEE)
• Pepsi CDR (Cboe: PEP)
• S&P Global CDR (Cboe: SPGI)
• TJX CDR (Cboe: TJX)
• Union Pacific CDR (Cboe: UNP)
• Waste Management CDR (Cboe: WAST)

Canada Life announces sub-advisor change

Canada Life Investment Management Ltd. (CLIML) has announced a sub-advisor change to the Canada Life Global Small-Mid Cap Equity Fund.

Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. will replace Fiduciary Trust Company of Canada as one of the fund’s sub-advisers, effective on or about April 30.

In a release, CLIML said the fund will continue to be managed by the same individual portfolio managers and there will be no changes to its investment objectives and strategies.

SLGI announces fund changes

SLGI Asset Management Inc., a subsidiary of Sun Life Financial Inc., has announced a fund closure and the upcoming maturity of another fund.

In a release, the asset manager said it’s decided to close Sun Life Wellington Opportunistic Fixed Income Private Pool.

The fund is no longer open to purchases or switches by new accounts as of April 25. Any accounts that already hold units of the fund may continue to hold, purchase or switch in additional units. The fund will be terminated at market close on Aug. 29.

Meanwhile, the Sun Life Milestone 2025 Fund, which will mature on June 30, is no longer available for purchases or switches in by both new and existing investors as of April 25. Once the fund matures, investors will receive the guaranteed value of their units of the fund. More information is available here.

Accelerate launches Canadian-dollar-hedged series of ETFs

Accelerate Financial Technologies Inc. will soon launch a Canadian dollar-hedged series of its private credit ETF.

The new series of the Accelerate Diversified Credit Income Fund (TSX:INCM) is designed to offer Canadian investors diversified exposure to the primarily U.S. dollar-denominated private credit market while mitigating currency risk.

The fund’s Canadian-dollar-hedged series is expected to be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange on May 6 or later, under the ticker symbol INCM.B, a release said.

BMO announces fund mergers

BMO Investments Inc. has announced the mergers of two target-date funds as the products approach their target end-dates.

The BMO LifeStage Plus 2025 Fund will be merged into the BMO Money Market Fund. Meanwhile, the BMO Target Education 2025 Portfolio will be merged into the BMO Target Education Income Portfolio.

As of June 30, unitholders of the terminating BMO LifeStage Plus 2025 Fund and BMO Target Education 2025 Portfolio will receive units, on a dollar-for-dollar basis, of Series A, Series F or Advisor Series of their corresponding mutual fund.

The mergers will be implemented on a tax-deferred basis on or about July 11. And the BMO LifeStage Plus 2025 Fund and BMO Target Education 2025 Portfolio will be terminated “as soon as reasonably possible” following the mergers, a release said.

TD launches all-equity portfolio

TD Asset Management Inc. has launched a new all-equity ETF portfolio.

The TD All-Equity ETF Portfolio (TEQT) “seeks to provide long-term capital growth by investing primarily in units of other equity-oriented ETFs, emphasizing those with greater potential for capital growth,” a release said.

The product began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on April 15.

It has a management fee of 0.15%.