db x-trackers, Deutsche Bank’s exchange-traded fund platform, has expanded its corporate bond offerings with the listing of ETFs linked to the performance of global financial and non-financial corporate bonds.
The two new euro-denominated ETFs, listed on Germany’s Deutsche Börse, give exposure to sub-sets of the iBoxx EUR Liquid Corporate 100, which represents the performance of up to 100 euro denominated corporate bonds taking into account rebalancing costs.
The db x-trackers II iBoxx EUR Liquid Corporate 100 Non-Financials Sub-Index Total Return ETF is linked to the performance of the broader index’s 53 corporate bonds classed as non-financial.
The db x-trackers II iBoxx EUR Liquid Corporate 100 Financials Sub-Index total return ETF is linked to the remaining 47 constituents of the parent index.
The highest weighting in the financials index is to UK-domiciled companies, which constitutes 30 per cent of the weighting. This is followed by the Netherlands at 18 per cent, then the US with 12 per cent. The index lists bonds from a total of 12 countries. The non-financials index has 11 countries in it, with the largest weighting being to the Netherlands at 36 per cent, followed by France (16 per cent) then the UK (12 per cent).
“The listing of these new products gives investors the opportunity to create targeted corporate bond exposures,” says Thorsten Michalik, global head of db x-trackers. “db x-trackers is known for giving investors access to liquid exposures traditionally regarded as difficult to access. In the case of the new non-financials listing this is again the case, as bonds in this sector tend not to have a high turnover rate while also generally trading in high denominations.”
