Columbia Threadneedle Investments on Wednesday launched the Columbia Multi-Sector Municipal Income ETF (MUST), an index-tracking product with exposure to five sectors of the muni bond market and a ticker symbol that commands attention.
MUST’s underlying index, the Beta Advantage Multi-Sector Municipal Bond Index, was created by Columbia Threadneedle’s municipal fixed-income team and is administered by Bloomberg Index Services Ltd.
It covers five segments of the muni debt market, and each has a predefined weight within the index: the municipal core revenue sector (45%); health care-related debt (20%); high-quality revenue bonds (15%); general obligation bonds (10%) and high-yield debt (10%).
The index excludes bonds from California, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Island bonds, along with other U.S. territories, commonwealths and possessions. It also excludes pre-refunded bonds, insured bonds, floaters, callable bonds with less than one year to call, tobacco bonds and derivatives.
The fund’s expense ratio is 0.28 percent.
Columbia Threadneedle posits this product either as a core municipal bond portfolio holding or as a complement to traditional core holdings.