Old Mutual Global Index Trackers, a South Africa-based index tracker asset manager, last Friday said that the Board of Trustees of Old Mutual Global Shares Trust has approved the closure of all five of its U.S. exchange-traded funds, with trading suspended prior to the market opening on October 6. [SEC filing]

The ETFs to be closed are: GlobalShares FTSE All-World Fund; GlobalShares FTSE Emerging Markets Fund; GlobalShares FTSE All-Cap Asia Pacific ex Japan Fund; GlobalShares FTSE All-World ex US Fund; and GlobalShares FTSE Developed Countries ex US Fund. Shareholders in these funds will receive the net asset value of their shares as of October 8.

The firm said the closure of the ETFs has no impact on the other asset management businesses of Old Mutual plc, including Old Mutual Asset Management and Old Mutual Capital in the US.

In a statement, Tendai Musikavanhu, CEO of OMGxT, said: "Given the structure of the U.S. ETF market and prolonged volatile market, we've decided that it's unlikely our products will gain sufficient market share in the United States. We will continue using our core business of segregated account index management as a springboard for growth into other distribution channels and markets."  

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