Legg Mason Inc. on Thursday launched the Western Asset Total Return ETF (WBND), its first actively managed taxable fixed-income exchange-traded fund.

According to the prospectus, the fund can invest in a range of debt instruments including corporate and U.S. government bonds, asset- and mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations and mortgage dollar rolls. It can also invest in non-U.S. issuers.

But the portfolio has restrictions, including a 30 percent cap on below-investment-grade fixed-income securities or debt instruments. It also has a 30 percent limit on non-U.S. issuers, and other limitations apply to non-U.S. dollar denominated assets; asset-backed securities; non-agency, non-government sponsored mortgage-backed securities; collateralized debt obligations; and junior loans that are unsecured and subordinated.

The fund is sub-advised by Western Asset Management Company LLC, a fixed-income shop and Legg Mason affiliate. The portfolio managers are Kenneth Leech, Mark Lindbloom, Julien Scholnick, Frederick Marki and John Bellows.

WBND’s bogey is the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index, and the fund’s net expense ratio is 0.45 percent. According to XTF.com, there are 91 U.S.-listed actively managed fixed-income ETFs, and the group’s average expense ratio is 0.51 percent.

Legg Mason's forte is active investment management, and it oversees nearly $750 billion in assets. The company entered the ETF space in December 2015 and now has 12 ETFs with total assets of roughly $790 million. Its largest product by a country mile is the $588 million Legg Mason Low Volatility High Dividend ETF (LVHD).

That fund is up just 0.16 percent year-to-date and 4.3 percent over the past year, but it does sport a healthy SEC yield of 3.66 percent.

Legg Mason’s top performing ETFs during the past year are the ClearBridge Large Cap Growth ESG ETF (LRGE), up 26.5 percent, and the ClearBridge All Cap Growth ETF (CACG), up almost 20 percent. Both actively managed funds are sub-advised by ClearBridge Investments, a Legg Mason subsidiary.