Grail Launches Four Active ETFs

• By IndexUniverse Staff
• On 3:19 pm EDT, Friday October 2, 2009

There’s active, and then there’s active.

On Oct. 2, Grail Advisors launched what some consider the first traditional “actively managed” equity exchange-traded funds, debuting four new products on the New York Stock Exchange. The new funds are:

• RiverPark Growth ETF (CDNX:RPX.V - News)
• RiverPark Focused Large Cap Growth ETF (NYSEArca: RWG)
• RiverPark Financials ETF (NYSEArca: RFF)
• RiverPark Technology ETF (NYSEArca: RPQ)

Quite a few actively managed ETFs have already launched, including the PowerShares Active Alpha MultiCap Fund (NYSEArca:PQZ - News) and the Grail American Beacon Large Cap Value ETF (NYSEArca:GVT - News). But until today, all of those funds either used primarily quantitative strategies or relied on a multimanager format.

The RiverPark ETFs use what the Wall Street Journal referred to as “traditional, kick-the-tires stock pickers.”

Grail Advisors chief executive William Thomas said the launch was part of his firm’s aim to introduce a slew of new actively managed products to compete in the predominantly index-based ETF market.

“Our stated goal has been to bring a full lineup of traditional, active fund managers and strategies to the ETF marketplace,” said Thomas.

The funds charge 0.89 percent in annual expenses; expensive for ETFs, but below the average 0.99 percent fee for traditional mutual funds.

The funds will be managed by the New York-based RiverPark Advisors, a relatively new firm run by former executives and managers at Baron Funds.

The new funds will be fully transparent, disclosing their full portfolios at the end of the day.

Buzz up!