Bill Smalley is expanding a $170.7-billion-AUM*, publicly traded asset manager's $3.7-billion-AUM* ETF lineup to 21 funds in total, thanks to a second launch from a 26-year-old liquid alts quant boutique in Massachusetts.

Last week, Smalley, executive managing director of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc.'s [profile] Virtus ETF Solutions, and Alexander Healy, chief investment officer of Virtus' AlphaSimplex, unveiled the launch of the Virtus AlphazSimplex Global Macro ETF (ASGM on the NYSE Arca). Hartford, Connecticut-based Virtus Alternative Investment Advisers, LLC serves as the new ETF's investment advisor, while $4.7-billion-AUM*, Boston-based AlphaSimplex Group, LLC serves as subadvisor.

ASGM's inception date was August 4, and the ETF comes with an expense ratio of 86 basis points. The fund now has $5.722 million in AUM**.

The PM team for ASGM includes three AlphaSimplex portfolio managers:

Tansu Demirbilek, senior research scientist;

Kathryn Kaminski, chief research strategist; and

Healy himself.

Smalley lauds AlphaSimplex, which entered the ETF business last year, as "a leading provider of systematic investment strategies."

"ASGM's combination of proprietary trend techniques and dedicated, tactical exposure to global equities enables investors to stay invested in alternatives regardless of the global economy," Smalley states. "Hedge funds are no longer the only destination for global macro strategies."

"Investors can potentially unlock a broader range of opportunities and mitigate risk by diversifying globally, particularly with geopolitical uncertainties and a changing trade environment influencing portfolio returns," Healy states.

ASGM is a non-diversified, actively managed series of Virtus ETF Trust II. The new ETF's other service providers include:

the Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) as accounting services administrator, custodian, dividend paying agent, and transfer agent;

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as independent accounting firm;

Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP as counsel;

Virtus ETF Solutions, LLC as operational administrator; and

VP Distributors, LLC as distributor.

*As of June 30, 2025.

**As of August 4, 2025. 

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