The team at a publicly traded insurer's $1.34-trillion-AUM (as of March 31) asset manager is rolling out a pair of funds of funds built out of two new ETF series.

Yesterday, Stuart Parker, president and CEO of PGIM Investments LLC [profile], and Linda Gibson, CEO of PGIM Quantitative Solutions LLC, unveiled the launch of the PGIM Laddered Fund of Buffer 12 ETF (BUFP on the Cboe BZX) and the PGIM Laddered Fund of Buffer 20 ETF (PBFR). Both new ETFs are series of the PGIM Rock ETF Trust.

PBFR and BUFP are both made out of laddered portfolios of other PGIM buffer ETFs, which launched back in January. BUFP is built out of the PGIM U.S. Large-Cap Buffer 12 ETF series, which provides a limited downside buffer against the first 12 percent of losses in a given year. PBFR is built out of the PGIM U.S. Large-Cap Buffer 20 ETF series, which provides a downside buffer against the first 20 percent of losses.

PBFR and BUFP's inception date was Wednesday (June 12), and they come with an expense ratio of 50 basis points. BUFP had $7.036 million in AUM as of yesterday, while PBFR had $7.03 million.

PGIM Investments serves as investment advisor to PBFR and BUFP, and PGIM Quantitative Solutions serves as subadvisor. The new ETFs' PM team includes three PGIM Quantitative Solutions executives: Marco Aiolfi, managing director and head of multi-asset; John Hall, principal; and Lorne Johnson, managing director.

Parker describes "laddered buffer ETFs" as "one of the fastest-growing segmentts of an already accelerating defined outcome ETF market."

"Flexibility and accessibility is critical in this space," Parker states. "We've seen strong client demand for both the underlying buffer ETFs as well as single-ticker soltuions that can provide efficient exposure to this style of investing while reducing some of the operational load of investing in the individual monthly vintages."

BUFP and PBFR's other service providers include: the Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) as custodian, dividend disbursing agent, and transfer agent; PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as independent accounting firm; and Prudential Investment Management Services LLC (PIMS) as distributor. 

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