The folks at a New York City-based fund firm are rolling out ETF that combines investing in U.S. equities with investing in a sister, quantitative alts fund.

Paul Sang Jin Kim Simplify Asset Management Inc. CEO, Co-Founder

Yesterday, David Berns, chief investment officer and co-founder of Simplify Asset Management Inc. [profile], unveiled the launch of the Simplify US Equity PLUS QIS ETF (SPQ on the NYSE Arca, Inc.). The new fund is a series of Simplify Exchanged Traded Funds. This is Simplify's 7th ETF launch of 2023.

SPQ's inception date was Monday, and it comes with an expense ratio of 100 basis points. As of market close yesterday, the new ETF had about $2.5 million in AUM.

Simplify serves as investment advisor to SPQ. The news ETF's PM team includes: John Downing, managing director; David Jackson, vice president of portfolio management; Paul Kim, CEO; and Berns himself.

Berns describes SPQ as being designed to "enhance both the absolute and risk-adjusted returns of a core equity investment." The fund invests in U.S. equities (through ETFs and futures) and in another Simplify ETFs, the Simplify Multi-QIS Alternative ETF (which launched back in July, as previously reported).

"We've spoken with a number of investors and advisors who have been seeking a simple way to gain exposure to an alternative return source without reducing equity exposure, and that is exactly what we have designed with SPY," Berns states. "Complex markets require access to sophisticated solutions, and we're very pleased to be adding SPQ to our fast-growing family of alternative ETFs."

SPQ's other service providers include: Bank of New York Mellon as administrator, custodian, fund accountant, and transfer agent; Cohen & Company, Ltd. as independent accounting firm; ACA's Foreside Financial Services, LLC as distributor; Foreside Fund Officer Services, LLC as chief compliance officer provider; and Thompson Hine LLP as counsel. 

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