Asset manager VanEck has listed the VanEck Space Innovators UCITS ETF on London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse Xetra.
The firm writes that with the new ETF, investors can gain access to some of the currently largest and most liquid companies in the global space industry.
“A new space age has begun”, says Martijn Rozemuller, CEO at VanEck Europe. “In recent years, space technologies have made great strides, and the cost of rocket launches and satellites has dropped significantly. As a result, space has become a lot easier and cheaper to reach, opening up entirely new business areas.”
Areas such as reusable rockets and smaller, lower-cost satellites offer new opportunities for companies and investors as costs fall – at a time when demand for satellite-based Internet services is rising and entirely new services such as space tourism are becoming established. Conversely, commercial space sector could develop from the current level of around $350 billion into a trillion-dollar industry by 2040.
“While rockets and satellites used to be developed and launched primarily by governments, a variety of commercial companies are now engaged in building and operating these technologies”, Rozemuller says. “At the same time, space is starting to come back onto the agenda of governments – but they are increasingly relying on the services of private companies in this new commercial space age.”
Investment in five future space topics
With the VanEck Space Innovators UCITS ETF, investors can now gain exposure to a global selection of the largest companies that are helping to shape this new era of space travel, from sectors as diverse as satellite equipment, communications, research and space tourism. With its pure-play approach, the ETF invests only in companies that have the potential to generate at least 50 per cent of their revenue from space-related business.
The ETF has a special focus on five selected future areas of space travel:
Reusable rockets: They are revolutionising the space industry by lowering the cost of accessing space and launching satellites.
Low-cost satellites: A new generation of companies producing low-orbit satellites is challenging traditional satellite manufacturers. With the introduction of 5G broadband and the development of the metaverse, these new satellites provide much needed data capacity.
Space tourism: Future passengers have already made million-dollar deposits. While tickets are very expensive, space tourism is just beginning.
Climate research: Satellites have become an indispensable part of climate research. They monitor aspects such as the state of the oceans, global temperatures or sea levels.
Greenhouse gas monitoring: New groups of satellites are helping to monitor and even combat climate change. They can track methane and carbon dioxide emissions from factories, predict the course of forest fires, and detect radio signals in remote regions to uncover illegal logging.
The VanEck Space Innovators UCITS ETF aims to track as closely as possible the performance of the MVIS Global Space Industry ESG Index. The ETF has a total expense ratio of 0.55 per cent p.a. and is physically replicating. With its own ESG filter, the ETF specifically excludes severely controversial companies as well as manufacturers of controversial weapons, including biological and chemical weapons, cluster munitions and anti-personnel mines.
