MutualFundWire.com: Rockefeller Float Its First ETF With a New Ally

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Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Rockefeller Float Its First ETF With a New Ally

The folks at an $12-billion-AUM (as of June 30) asset manager and a 10-year-old fund firm, both based in New York City, are rolling out their first joint ETF.

Jonathan Krane
KraneShares
Founder, CEO

Yesterday, Rolando Morillo (senior vice president and co-portfolio manager for thematic investments at Rockefeller Capital Management's Rockefeller Asset Management arm), Jose Garza (SVP and co-PM for thematic investments at Rockfeller AM), and Luke Oliver (head of climate investments at KraneShares [profile]) unveiled the launch of the KraneShares Rockefeller Ocean Engagement ETF (KSEA on the NYSE Arca, Inc.). The new fund is a series of the KraneShares Trust, and it is the first ETF that the Rockfeller and KraneShares folks have jointly launched since revealing back in May that they would be teaming up to launch a new suite of ETFs.

KSEA's inception date was yesterday, and by the end of the day it has $2.491 million in AUM. The new, actively managed fund comes with an expense ratio of 86 basis points.

Krane Funds Advisors, LLC serves as KSEA's investment advisor, and Rockefeller & Co. LLC serves as subadvisor. The fund's PM team includes Garza, Morillo, and a pair of KraneShares portfolio managers: James Maund, head of capital markets, and Jonathan Shelon, chief operating officer.

"Our goal with KSEA is to offer investors access to the blue economy," Morillo states, noting Rockefeller's partnerships with non-profits like the Ocean Foundation and World Resources Institute.

Garza puts the launch of KSEA in the context "constructive shareholder enagement" being a "key part of [Rockefeller's] investment process."

"We see significant opportunities to invest and engage with companies striving to improve their impact on the world's oceans," Garza states.

Oliver describes KSEA as an addition to KraneShares' "distinguished climate investment portfolio." He calls the new fund "an opportunity to contribute to healthier ocean ecosystem and potentially achieve superior returns from this rapidly emerging sector."

"We firmly believe that the companies that drive positive environmental change will be the frontrunners of economic growth, and the Rockefeller team designed KSEA specifically to tap into this potential for outperformance," Oliver states.

KSEA's other service providers include: Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. (BBH) as custodian, dividend disbursing agent, securities lending agent, and transfer agent; K&L Gates LLP as counsel; KPMG LLP as independent accounting firm; SEI Investments Distribution Co. as distributor; and SEI Investments Global Funds Services as administrator.

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