Polen Capital has partnered with iM Global Partner Fund Management to launch the first in a suite of actively managed ETFs that highlight the growth market with the first replicating an existing mutual fund and separate account.
The Polen Capital Global Growth ETF (PCGG) seeks long-term capital growth and targets companies with high returns on capital and double-digit earnings growth. The goal is for the ETF to hold those companies for long-term periods to minimize portfolio turnover, according to both firms.
Los Angeles-based iM Global Partner Fund Management will manage the ETF while Boca Raton-Fla.-based Polen will be the sub-advisor, according to Jeff Seeley, CEO of iM Global Partner Fund Management.
“It's focused obviously on growth, but global companies with a strong emphasis on sustainable earnings growth,” he said. “I don't mean ESG, I mean companies that have persistent sustainable mid-teens earnings growth characteristics.”
The ETF is the replication of the popular Polen Global Growth Mutual Fund and separate account, which launched in 2014. The mutual fund has more than $400 million in assets under management. The ETF will look to mimic the success of those strategies, according to Seeley.
“The ETF is identical. It's the same team,” he said. “It's the same firm, and it's the same investment process for the Polen iM Global Growth Strategy that they have a mutual fund and a separate account for.”
With the success of the strategy as a mutual fund and a separate account, advisors were seeking access to that strategy through an ETF, which is what led Polen and iM Global to launch PCGG.
“We are literally getting client demand as advisors and clients want to use the vehicle that they would prefer versus what is solely available from the investment firm,” he said. “So, the partnership is just to make another vehicle available for a strategy that clients have been using but now they’re asking if they can get this in a different vehicle.”
PCGG will be the first of a suite of ETFs that the two firms will launch over the next few weeks into next year, according to Seeley. They will also mimic existing Polen strategies although not all of them will copy specific mutual funds and separate accounts, he added.
"You are likely going to see in the coming week or two the filings with the SEC for three to four additional ETFs that are all focused obviously on growth investing, active investing [and] all utilizing Poland strategies that they're already managing,” he said.
PCGG is currently available on all major platforms and there are no minimums. It has a 0.85% expense ratio, and the investor will not have to pay any more than that amount, according to Seeley.