The folks at a $63-billion-AUM (as of June 30), subadvised U.S. asset manager and an arm of a $151.7-billion-AUM, active British asset manager are teaming up again, this time to enter the ETF space and to launch another new mutual fund.

Jeffrey Karl "Jeff" Ringdahl Resolute Investment Managers / American Beacon Advisors President, CEO

Today, Jeff Ringdahl, president and CEO of American Beacon Advisors, Inc. [profile] and of Resolute Investment Managers, Inc. (American Beacon's parent), and Russell Korgaonkar, chief investment officer of AHL Partners LLP (Man AHL, part of Man Group plc), unveil the launch of the American Beacon AHL Trend ETF (AHLT on the NYSE Arca, Inc.) and of the American Beacon AHL Multi-Alternatives Fund. AHLT is the first ETF from American Beacon, the first from Man AHL, and the first from Resolute. London-based Man AHL has worked with Irving, Texas-based American Beacon for nine years and now subadvises four American Beacon funds.

The launch of AHLT comes after Ringdahl told MFWire last year he planned to build an ETF platform and launch it in 2023. Watch for the American Beacon and Resolute teams to team up with new and existing subadvisors to launch more ETFs.

"Looking forward, we will be multi-dimensional in our approach," states Becky Harris, senior vice president for product management and corporate development at Resolute and American beacon. "We will bring differentiated products to the marketplace that offer clients efficient methods of exposure. Most importantly, we will continue to meet investors where they are by delivering unique investment styles and asset classes in the vehicles that best suit their modern portfolios."

AHLT is a series of American Beacon Select Funds and comes with an expense ratio of 95 basis points. The ETF's inception date was yesterday, and it is powered by an active, quantitative, systematic trading strategy.

The American Beacon AHL Multi-Alternatives Fund is a series of American Beacon Funds, and it launched on August 17. The new mutual fund is powered by a combination of Man AHL's Managed Futures and TargetRisk strategies.

American Beacon's new open-end mutual fund comes in four share classes: A shares (AHMAX) with up to 575 basis points in up-front load, up to 50bps in deferred load, and an expense ratio of 156bps; C shares (AHMCX), with up to 100bps in deferred load and an expense ratio of 231bps; R6 shares (AHMRX) with no load and an expense ratio of 123bps; and Y shares (AHMYX) with now load and an expense ratio of 133bps.

American Beacon Advisors, Inc. will serve as investment advisor and administrator to both new funds, and Man AHL will subadvise them. The funds are powered by the same two PMs: Korgaonkar and Otto van Hemert, director of core strategies at Man AHL.

Ringdahl describes the dual launch as "a natural step" for the American Beacon team and praises Man AHL as "a pioneer in systematic trading."

"We're thrilled to officially enter the ETF market, as our clients have expressed a strong desire for this alternative investment vehicle," Ringdahl states.

"As we approach a decade of partnership with American Beacon, we are thrilled to further build on that success by increasing access to liquid alternative strategies with the launch of two additional funds with American Beacon," Korgaonkar states. "We believe that a wide range of investors should have access to the diversification and crisis alpha embedded within trend-following and multi-alternative strategies. Demand to participate in more liquid vehicles is rapidly growing and ETFs are further complementing mutual funds as a critical component of the retail investor toolkit."

"We are excited to announce these new offerings and expand our partnership with Man AHL," states Greg Stumm, head of distribution at American Beacon and Resolute. "Over the last nine-plus years of working together, we've focused on delivering a better client experience in the liquid alternatives space and we will strive to continue doing the same in the future."

Other service providers to both new funds include: K&L Gates LLP as counsel; PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as independent accounting firm; and State Street as custodian, securities lending agent, and sub-administrator. For the new mutual fund, Resolute Investment Distributors, Inc. will serve as distributor, and SS&C GIDs, Inc. will serve as dividend paying agent and transfer agent. For AHLT, Foreside Financial Services, LLC will serve as distributor, and State Street will serve as dividend disbursing agent and transfer agent.

With this month's two launches, the American Beacon team now offers a total of 26 mutual funds (including one ETF) powered by 25 firms. 

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