William DeRoche, former vice president at State Street Global Advisors, has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to form a yet-to-be-named exchange-traded shop and launch ETFs under the QuantShares brand.

An executive with the firm declined to comment for this article, citing a quiet period with the SEC.

According to the filing, DeRoche will offer seven ETFs, including: the QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Momentum Factor Fund; the QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Value Factor Fund; the QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Beta Factor Fund; the QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Small Size Factor Fund; the QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Quality Factor Fund; the QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Momentum Factor Fund; and the QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Beta Factor Fund.

An industry source familiar with the new offerings said: "The firm feels like there's an opening in the current marketplace for the new products."

Joining Deroche in his new venture are: co-PM Kishore Karunakaran, a former director in the quantitative equities stock selection group at Platinum Grove Asset Management; co-PM Chuck Martin, a former senior PM in SSgA's global enhanced equities group; and Rich Block, a former head trader at Putnam. DeRoche previously was the head of the U.S. enhanced equities team at SSgA. 

Edited by: Hung Tran


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