First Eagle Investments is entering the active exchange-traded fund (ETF) space later this year with two offerings for investors – the First Eagle Global Equity ETF and First Eagle Overseas Equity ETF – the firm said Wednesday.
According to a press release, the new ETFs will be added to the firm’s product lineup that includes mutual funds, managed accounts, private funds, separate accounts, interval funds, collective investment trusts, collateralized loan obligations and UCITS funds.
“Active ETFs have become an important component of how our clients construct portfolios,” explained Mehdi Mahmud, CEO and President of First Eagle Investments.
“Our decision is a response to customers’ requests over the last few years,” Mahmud said. “We anticipate our active ETFs will be embraced just as positively by clients as our mutual funds and separately managed accounts have been.”
New York-based First Eagle is an independent, privately owned investment management firm with about $138 billion in assets under management (AUM) as of June 30, it said.
The new ETFs will be supported by The RBB Fund Complex, which First Eagle called a “pioneer” of the independent series trust model, noting that RBB oversees about $29 billion in assets. RBB supports 12 separate investment advisors, more than 20 unaffiliated sub-advisors, and over 60 mutual fund or ETF offerings, First Eagle said.
Quasar Distributors will distribute the new ETFs.
“Partnering with RBB allows us to focus on what we do best—managing robust, research-driven investment strategies—while their extensive experience with ETF operations makes them the ideal partner for this new initiative,” said Jay Lisowski, Head of Product Management and Development at First Eagle Investments.
“We are thrilled to be working with First Eagle as they expand their offerings,” said Steve Plump, CEO of RBB. “Our goal at RBB is to provide asset managers with the tools and support they need to thrive in the ETF market.”
Plump added: “First Eagle’s expertise in active management is well aligned with demand trends in the ETF space, and we look forward to helping drive their success.”
Additional details about the ETFs were provided by The RBB Fund Trust in an EDGAR filing with the SEC on Wednesday.
Matthew McLennan and Kimball Brooker, Jr. are serving as Co-Heads of the First Eagle Global Value Team and are both managing the First Eagle Global Equity ETF and First Eagle Overseas Equity ETF.
Prior to joining First Eagle in 2008, McLennan served in various senior positions at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, the SEC filing said. Brooker joined First Eagle in 2009. For the three years before that, Brooker was Chief Investment Officer of Corsair Capital, according to the filing.
The investment objective of the First Eagle Global Equity ETF is to seek long-term growth of capital by investing mainly in equities of U.S. and non-U.S. issuers, the filing said. The investment objective of the First Eagle Overseas Equity ETF is to seek long-term growth of capital by investing mainly in equities of non-U.S. issuers, according to the filing.
The investment philosophy and strategy of the ETFs “can be broadly characterized as a ‘value’ approach, as it seeks a ‘margin of safety’ in each investment purchase with the goal being to avoid permanent impairment of capital,” the filing said.
Jeff Berman, Contributing Editor and Reporter at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at jberman@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
