IQ ARB Merger Arbitrage ETF is designed to provide exposure to accelerating global M&A activity; new fund is latest addition to IndexIQ’s roster of alternative investment products ..…
IndexIQ, a leading developer of index-based alternative investment solutions, has introduced the first merger arbitrage Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) designed to give investors exposure to global corporate merger & acquisition activity, which is rapidly increasing, it was announced today.
The IQ ARB Merger Arbitrage ETF (NYSE Arca: MNA) seeks to provide capital appreciation by investing in global companies for which there has been a public announcement of a takeover by an acquirer, a strategy generally known as “merger arbitrage.” This strategy generally seeks to take advantage of the price differential, where it exists, between the current trading price of a stock and the price of that stock at the time the deal is completed.
“To date, investors have not had broad access to capitalize on mergers and acquisitions activity in an ETF,” said Adam Patti, chief executive officer at IndexIQ. “The Merger Arbitrage ETF is a hedged strategy designed to take advantage of price disparities that exist in merger activity and strengthen investor portfolios by buying below the target price and realizing the capital appreciation if the deal closes at or above the target price. As such a strategy has not previously been accessible in an ETF offering investors a highly liquid, transparent, low cost, and easily tradable product,* we are very excited about providing this ETF solution to investors.”
Merger Arbitrage funds typically have the potential to benefit from buying target companies below the target price. The “spread” in price, the difference between the target price and market price, can be quite lucrative for investors, especially if there are competitive bids for a company. Given today’s relatively low corporate valuations and the significant amount of cash on corporate balance sheets, industry experts forecast a rapid increase in M&A activity. Cash on the books of non-financial companies in the S&P 500 Index (SPX) hit a record of more than $700 billion as of June 2009, up more than 8% in the past year and 16% above the level of two years ago, according to S&P.1 The IQ ARB Merger Arbitrage ETF, the first of its kind, provides investors unique access to this trend.
The IQ ARB Merger Arbitrage ETF seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the IQ ARB Merger Arbitrage Index. The Index seeks to achieve capital appreciation by investing in global companies for which there has been a public announcement of a takeover by an acquirer. This approach is based on a passive strategy of owning certain announced takeover targets with the goal of generating returns that are representative of global merger arbitrage activity. The Index also includes short exposure to global equities as a partial equity market hedge.
Key Addition to Firm’s Offerings of Alternative Investment Strategies
The launch of MNA follows IndexIQ’s rollout of other important alternative investment strategies in the form of ETFs. In October, the firm launched the IQ CPI Inflation Hedged ETF (NYSE Arca: CPI), the first U.S.-listed “real return” ETF, which seeks to give investors a hedge against the U.S. inflation rate by providing a return above the rate of inflation as measured by changes in the Consumer Price Index; and the IQ ARB Global Resources ETF (NYSE Arca: GRES), the first global resources hedged ETF, which seeks to solve the problems associated with the significant overweight in the energy sector inherent in other broad-based commodity products. In addition, GRES seeks to provide a hedge against inflation and a real return through exposure to a diversified portfolio of commodity-related equities.
IndexIQ also is the sponsor of a number of other index-based alternative investment products designed to “democratize” the alternative investment landscape, including the first U.S.-listed hedge fund replication ETF, the IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF (NYSE Arca: QAI); the first market directional hedge fund replication ETF, the IQ Hedge Macro Tracker ETF (NYSE: MCRO); and the first open-end, no-load hedge fund replication mutual fund, the IQ ALPHA Hedge Strategy Fund (IQHIX – Institutional Share Class, and IQHOX – Investor Share Class). IndexIQ products are designed to be liquid, transparent, low cost, tax efficient, and accessible to a broad range of investors.
Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Source: ETFWorld – IndexIQ
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