First Trust Advisors, a US investment provider, plans to launch three exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in Europe using smart beta indices.
Marketed under the brand of AlphaDex, First Trust Advisors plans to launch the funds in Ireland during the first quarter of the year.
The ETFs are designed to track the performance of a group of enhanced indices, which are also known as smart beta. Alpha will be added through a proprietary, rules-based selection, says the firm.
Instead of weighting stocks by market capitalisation, they are selected according to value and growth factors.
“These new ETFs are designed to provide investors with targeted equity market exposure whilst seeking to generate positive alpha relative to the broad-based passive index from which it selects its stocks,” says Eric Anderson, vice president for First Trust.
“Every step in the process is driven by a transparent, repeatable quantitative process.”
The US-based provider of investment products and services launched its first ETF in 2005, followed by the first AlphaDex ETF launched two years later.
Its proposed European listings are subject to regulatory approval.
©2013 funds europe
