Mirae Asset Global Investments is now the majority shareholder of Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc (Horizons ETFs).
Horizons ETFs, together with its subsidiaries AlphaPro Management Inc and Horizons Investment Management Inc, manages the Horizons family of exchange traded funds, the largest ETF family in Canada by number of funds with 75 ETFs listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and approximately USD3.3 billion in assets under management (as of 31 October, 2011). Horizons ETFs had until recently been known as BetaPro Management Inc.
Prior to the transaction, announced on 15 July, 2011, the majority owner of Horizons ETFs had been Jovian Capital Corporation (Jovian). In the transaction that closed today, Mirae Asset has purchased all of Jovian’s 58% interest in Horizons ETFs, with the remainder of Mirae Asset’s stake purchased from other shareholders. Jovian’s stake had included Horizons ETFs’ significant interest in BetaShares Holdings Pty Ltd, which is based in Australia.
Taeyong Lee, who leads Mirae Asset’s global ETF business, will join Horizons ETFs as Executive Chairman. Lee will also assume the newly created role of Global Head of ETFs for Mirae Asset. In this new role, Mr. Lee will split his time between Seoul and Toronto. Adam Felesky will continue as CEO of Horizons ETFs and Howard Atkinson will remain President of the company.
Mirae Asset, one of Asia’s largest asset management firms by assets under management, will capitalise on the regional expertise of Horizons ETFs’ management team to grow its global ETF business further. Mirae Asset’s TIGER ETF series, which is listed on the Korea Exchange (KRX) and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (HKEX), has assets of approximately US$1.1 billion (as of 30 September, 2011). With the Horizon ETFs acquisition, Mirae Asset’s global ETF assets under management are now approximately USD4.5 billion.
“We welcome Horizons ETFs into the Mirae Asset family and are delighted to offer our clients more diversified investment products and solutions,” says Hyeon-Joo Park (pictured), Chairman and Founder of Mirae Asset. “Our new partnership strengthens Mirae Asset’s position as a global asset management company, expands our product line and will serve our clients across all regions.”
“We are very excited to be part of Mirae Asset now,” says Felesky, CEO of Horizons ETFs. “We look forward to the global resources that Mirae Asset will provide as we continue to expand our ETF business.”
