Emphasizing active management
With today’s markets being more sophisticated than ever, we firmly believe that active management can result in further value. Our first series of four ETFs offer exposure to non-traditional niches, both active and alternative, and allows investors to reduce the risk of their portfolios.
Adopting a 100% open architecture approach
Our four ETFs adhere to our 100% open architecture approach, which empowers us to pick and choose from among the world’s best portfolio managers. We base our selection process on the following criteria: organizations with a proven track record; tried-and-true stock selection processes; optimal portfolio construction; performance; and the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria.
Should results fall short of expectations, this approach allows us to act quickly. Our decisions are guided by one dominant goal: to offer investment solutions that meet the requirements of different risk profiles, tailored to today’s market conditions.
Opting for non-traditional niches
The investment objective of our NBI Global Real Assets Income ETF (TSX: NREA) is to create income and long-term capital growth while focusing on hedging against inflation.
It invests, directly or through investments in securities of other mutual funds, in a portfolio composed primarily of common shares of companies located around the world in industry sectors associated with real assets.
These real assets are publicly traded securities of real estate and infrastructure companies. In terms of portfolio diversification, such exposure has shown an ability to generate attractive returns in both bull and bear market scenarios.
In the current market, it takes time to generate returns on real estate investments. With this ETF, we prioritize publicly traded companies that build infrastructure projects supported by different governments. These can include hospitals, prisons and water systems in North America and Europe, or telecommunications infrastructure in the United States and Italy. In most cases, such projects generally move forward, regardless of socio-economic or political changes.
Because this is a niche market, it doesn’t correlate precisely with stock fluctuations. And yet, for this very reason, it can serve as a way to hedge against market downturns, because irrespective of the financial or geopolitical landscape, the world will always need adequate infrastructure.
The investment objective of our NBI Active Canadian Preferred Shares ETF (TSX: NPRF) is to generate tax-efficient dividend income while focusing on capital preservation.
It invests, directly or through investments in securities of other mutual funds, in a portfolio composed primarily of preferred shares of Canadian companies and other income-generating securities of Canadian companies.
Exposure to preferred shares is appropriate for most investment portfolios, as they pay fixed dividends that have priority over dividends on common shares.
For investors looking for a non-traditional product, this ETF provides an opportunity to reduce risk and is comparatively less costly. The portfolio manager’s active style favours a balanced approach that avoids undue exposure to certain risks.
Trusting Canadian stock market analysis
The investment goal of our NBI Canadian Family Business ETF (TSX: NFAM) is to ensure long-term capital growth by replicating, to the extent reasonably possible and before fees and expenses, the performance of a Canadian equity index that measures the investment return of family-owned, publicly listed Canadian companies. Currently, this ETF tracks the performance of the NBC Canadian Family Index.
The NBI Canadian Family Business ETF invests directly, or indirectly through investments in securities of other mutual funds, in a portfolio composed primarily of shares of family-owned Canadian companies.
Of our four ETFs, it is the only one that employs passive index management. Over the last 10 years, the NBC Canadian Family Index has shown that family-owned companies tend to perform satisfactorily and stably. Once again, this ETF stands out for its highly niched exposure strategy, while diversifying traditional Canadian index products.
Rethinking liquid alternatives ETFs
Our NBI Liquid Alternatives ETF (TSX: NALT) aims to provide positive returns while also seeking to reduce volatility and to lower correlation to the returns of the world’s major equity markets.
This mandate will be upheld, regardless of prevailing market conditions or general market direction, by investing primarily in long and short positions on financial derivatives providing exposure to major asset classes such as government bonds, currencies, equities and commodities.
When investors think liquid alternatives, they tend to think high volatility and high returns. This can lead to disappointment in the asset class in general; when the markets have pulled back in the past, liquid alts have not fared well. Such liquid alts, however, were designed to provide returns under full exposure to risk.
With the NBI Liquid Alternatives ETF, we are not aiming for full risk. Indeed, there is little appetite for going full risk in a volatile market. But there is a desire to hedge risk while achieving returns above and beyond what liquidity-based portfolios can offer. With this ETF, we are giving the portfolio manager greater flexibility to pursue non-traditional products.