First hedge fund ETF and Russell 2000 Index fund launched on XTF

Date: Thursday, March 12, 2009
Author: Hedgeweek.com

Deutsche Börse has expanded its XTF segment offering for exchange listed index funds with the admission to trading of two new ETFs on the pan-European Xetra trading platform.

Investors now have the opportunity for the first time to invest in a hedge fund ETF issued by db-x-trackers, a Deutsche Bank subsidiary, as well as participate in the performance of the Russell 2000 US small-cap equity index.

The db x-trackers db Hedge Fund Index ETF tracks the performance of the db Hedge Fund Index, which comprises various hedge fund strategies and can serve as a fund of funds substitute.

It is tracked via a hedged portfolio with a one-month term in euros through futures contracts. The aim of the db Hedge Fund Index is to chart the bundled performance based on the weightings of the different index components.

The db Hedge Fund Index comprises various sub-index components, the dbX-THF Equity Hedge Index, dbX-THF Event Driven Index, dbX-THF Credit and Convertible Arbitrage Index, dbX-THF Systematic Marco Index and dbX-THF Equity Market Neutral Index. The management fee is 0.90 per cent.

The db x-trackers Russell 2000 ETF aims to track the performance of the Russell 2000 Index, which seeks to offer exposure to the investible small cap segment of the US equities universe. The index is a subset of the Russell 3000 Index, which comprises the 3,000 largest US shares in terms of market capitalisation.

The Russell 2000 comprises around 2,000 of the smallest securities in the Russell 3,000 Index, thus covering approximately 10 percent of the entire market capitalisation of the broader index. The ETF management fee is 0.45 per cent.

A total of 413 exchange traded index funds are currently listed in Deutsche Börse's XTF segment.