Harbor Capital Advisors, which describes itself as an asset manager known for curating an intentionally select suite of active ETFs from boutique managers, has launched the Harbor Corporate Culture Small Cap ETF (ticker: HAPS).
The new ETF, which tracks a proprietary index methodology developed by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and Irrational Capital LLC, is designed to provide diversified access to US small cap companies with strong corporate cultures to help investors capture the connection between human capital and performance.
HAPS is described as a fully transparent ETF which seeks to provide investment results that correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Human Capital Small Cap Index. The Index is comprised primarily of a modified market capitalisation-weighted portfolio of US small cap companies identified by their Human Capital Factor, a new investment factor developed by Irrational Capital.
The firm writes that based on proprietary data and research, the Human Capital Factor enables a strong, systematic assessment of a company’s corporate culture and its link to potential future equity performance. The Human Capital Factor first became publically investable through the Harbor Corporate Culture Leaders ETF (ticker: HAPY), and also serves as the foundation for the Harbor Corporate Culture ETF (ticker: HAPI).
“We are thrilled to expand our partnership with Irrational Capital to grow our suite of human capital ETFs, the latest focusing on small caps which we believe are poised to continue to help investors meet their long-term investing goals,” says Kristof Gleich, President & CIO, Harbor Capital.
“We’re delighted to be enhancing our partnership with Harbor to improve investor access to the Human Capital Factor,” says David van Adelsberg, Co-Founder & Partner, Irrational Capital. “A high-performance work culture is a powerful competitive advantage, particularly in an environment where recruiting and retaining talent is among the top challenges facing companies. Harbor’s growing suite of corporate culture ETFs provide investors with an opportunity to tap into an often-overlooked catalyst for corporate growth.”
