AdvisorShares’ international active exchange-traded fund, the WCM/BNY Mellon Focused Growth ADR ETF (AADR), has outperformed all broadly comparable foreign large cap indices since its inception two years ago.
AADR is sub-advised by WCM Investment Management, an institutional money manager with over USD1.6bn assets under management.
BNY Mellon, the world’s largest depositary for American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) provides expertise to the portfolio management team as well as to all other market intermediaries.
AADR, which seeks long-term capital appreciation by using domestically-traded equity ADRs in its portfolio, has proved to provide alpha within the ETF structure that allows transparency, liquidity and better operational and tax efficiency.
As of 31 July and since inception (20 July 2010), AADR has outperformed the MSCI EAFE Index and the BNY Mellon Classic ADR Index with lower beta and higher alpha, and a low correlation to those respective indexes. Additionally, when compared to its benchmark indexes, AADR had a substantially less drawdown further defining its risk-adjusted performance attributes as a better risk-adjusted option for investors.
“We’re proud to mark this milestone with WCM and BNY Mellon,” says Noah Hamman, chief executive officer of AdvisorShares. “Prior to bringing AADR to market, WCM’s portfolio management was exclusive to an institutional client base, but now via a ticker symbol, any investor can access this high-quality international strategy, which has displayed effective risk management in challenging market conditions while outperforming its benchmarks since inception.”
Kurt R Winrich, chairman and co-chief executive of WCM, says: “Through our partnership with AdvisorShares and BNY Mellon, we’re pleased to have established wider investor access to a strategy, associated with a seven-year institutional track record, but wrapped in a fully-transparent actively managed ETF vehicle. We believe our success is anchored in our long-term investment approach of focusing on fundamentals and equity research, to best help AADR shareholders reach their investment goals.”
