The folks at a firm near Philadelphia are more than doubling the side of a new fund series, and they're preparing to more than double it again.

Yesterday, Dan McCabe, CEO of Precidian Investments, and Stuart Thomas, founding principal, unveiled the launch of four ETFs: the ADRhedged BP ETF (BPH), the ADRhedged GSK ETF (GSKH), the ADRhedged Novo Nordisk ETF (NVOH), and the ADRhedged SAP ETF (SAPH). And the team at the Newtown, Pennsylvania-based firm has filed to further expand their ADRhedged suite with 10 more ETFs: the ADRhedged Anheuser-Busch ETF (BUDH), the ADRhedged Banco Santander ETF (SANH), the ADRhedged British American Tobacco ETF (BTIH), the ADRhedged Diageo ETF (DEOH), the ADRhedged Mitsubishi UFJ ETF (MUFH), the ADRhedged Novartis ETF (NVSH), the ADRhedged Sanofi ETF (SNYH), the ADRhedged Total Energies ETF (TTEH), the ADRhedged Toyota Motor Corporation ETF (TMH), and the ADRhedged Vodafone Group ETF (VODH).

NVOH's inception date was last Thursday, January 2, while the inception date for SAPH, GSKH, and BPH was January 3. The expense ratio for all the ADRhedged ETFs is 19 basis points, and the four that debuted last week had about $500,000 each in AUM as of yesterday (Tuesday, January 7).

Precidian serves as investment advisor to the ADRhedged ETFs, while McCabe and Mark Criscitello, founding principal at Precidian, serve as the ETFs' PM team. Each of the ETFs is designed to provide U.S. investors with currency-hedged exposure to a specific non-U.S. company, with the four newest ADRhedged ETFs tracking: London-based oil and gas multinational BP; London-based vaccine multinational GSK; Bagsvaerd, Denmark-based pharmaceutical multinational Novo Nordisk; and Walldorf, Germany-based software multinational SAP.

Thomas puts the expansion of Precidian's ADRhedged ETF suite in the context of the potentially significant impact that currency fluctucations can have on oversees investments. McCabe notes that the seven ETFs in the suite so far "provide exposure to some of the largest, most widely held international companies among U.S. investors."

"By embedding a currency hedge in our ADRhedged ETFs, we're providing a smarter, more streamlined way to access global leaders without the added complexity of managing exchange-rate risk," Thomas states. "Our goal is to empower U.S. investors to participate in the growth of international markets in a manner that enables them to mitigate the risk associated with the currency exposure inherent in traditional means of international investing."

"With several economic tailwinds pointing toward a strong U.S. dollar in the near future, we believe it's more important than ever to consider hedging currency risk, whether it be the Euro, Yen or Krone, and further believe our ETF lineup presents the simplest way to achieve this," McCabe states.

GTS serves as the new ETFs' market maker. Reggie Browne, principal at GTS, mentions the late Julio Lugo, whom Browne describes as "a true pioneer ... and a trailblazer" in the expansion of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs, the namesake for this ETF suite).

"Today's launch of these ADRhedged ETFs carries special significance as we remember Julio Lugo," Brown states. "Julio was a trusted partner by those in the industry including GTS, Precidian and so many more. GTS is honored to support these products, and their launch is a reflection of the past decade of work Julio and others committed to building smarter ways for investors to access global equities."

The ADRhedged ETFs all list on the Cboe BZX, and they're all series of the Precidian ETFs Trust. The ETFs' other service providers include: Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) as co-administrator, custodian, dividend disbursing agent, fund accounting agent, and transfer agent; Commonwealth Fund Services, LLC (CFS) as co-administrator; ACA's Foreside Fund Services, LLC as distributor; KPMG LLP as independent accounting firm; and Practus, LLP as counsel.

The Precidian team launched their first three ADRhedged ETFs three months ago, on October 1. They are: the ADRhedged AstraZeneca ETF (AZNH); the ADRhedged HSBC Holdings ETF (HSBH); and the ADRhedged Shell ETF (SHEH). As of yesterday, SHE had $1.498 million in AUM, HSBH had $1.666 million, and AZNH had $1.702 million. 

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