AdvisorShares, the Bethesda, Md.-based ETF firm known for its
actively managed strategies, today rolled out an active ETF that
captures uncorrelated returns in any market environment through an
options overlay.
The STAR Global Buy-Write ETF (NYSEArca:VEGA) is a global
equities fund that sells an option against each position as a way
to achieve not only price appreciation from the portfolio's
holdings, but also to generate an income stream from the sale of
the covered calls or cash-secured put options.
The fund, whose ticker stands for the proprietary strategy
behind it-Volatility Enhanced Global Appreciation-is subadvised by
Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Partnervest Advisory Services and is
expected to go live on Sept. 18. VEGA is set to cost 2.01 percent a
year.
At the end of the day, VEGA is designed to be an all-weather
strategy that serves up lower beta and positive alpha, especially
in times of market uncertainty, AdvisorShares' Chief Executive
Officer Noah Hamman said in a release. When volatility is low, the
fund will turn to protective put options to manage downside
risk.
"If history has taught us anything, it is that a single person
or entity cannot consistently predict the markets with any high
degree of accuracy," Partnervest's head Ken Hyman said in the
release. "We feel confident that VEGA may minimize losses on the
downside and has the capability to participate in the markets'
upside."
Although VEGA isn't the first fund to use a buy-write strategy,
it will be the only actively managed fund that does so globally.
Invesco PowerShares offers a buy-write strategy ETF, the
PowerShares S&P 500 BuyWrite Portfolio (NYSEArca:PBP), but the
fund is passively managed, and tracks an index that applies the
buy-write strategy to the S&P 500.
PBP has gathered nearly $250 million in assets since it came to
market in December 2007, and has gained nearly 8 percent in the
past year.
VEGA should invest primarily in ETFs and ETNs that tap into
various global sectors and indexes.
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