MutualFundWire.com: A Politically Aligned ETF Turns Three

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Wednesday, November 1, 2023

A Politically Aligned ETF Turns Three

The team at a Washington, D.C.-area firm is celebrating a big milestone for their politically-aligned fund.

William Edward Flaig
Ridgeline Research LLC
CEO, Co-Founder

On Monday, William Flaig, CEO and co-founder of Ridgeline Research LLC, and Tom Carter, president and co-founder of Ridgeline, confirmed that their flagship American Conservative Values ETF (ACVF on the NYSE Arca, Inc.) is now three years old. (Having a three-year track record can be critical for distribution, as many screening processes exclude funds that don't have at least a three-year track record.) The fund debuted on October 29, 2020.

ACVF, a series of the ETF Opportunities Trust, comes with an expense ratio of 75 basis points. As of Monday, it had about $59 million in AUM.

Darnestown, Maryland-based Ridgeline serves as investment advisor to ACVF, while Vident Advisory, LLC (dba Vident Asset Management) serves as trading subadvisor. The fund has had the same PM team since inception: Austin Wen, portfolio manager at Vident; Rafael Zayas, head of portfolio management and trading at Vident; and Carter at Ridgeline.

The fund is an actively managed, large cap equity fund. ACVF "boycotts" (i.e. screens out) companies seen as "hostile to conservative values." Flaig describes the fund as a way for "conservative investors ... to fight back."

"We are extremely satisfied with ACVF's performance thus far, demonstrating its ability to effectively balance performance with principled boycotts," Carter states. "No longer a proof of concept, ACVF has demonstrated its expertise."

ACVF's other service providers include: Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. as fund accountant and transfer agent; Citibank, N.A. as custodian; Cohen & Company, Ltd. as independent accounting firm; Commonwealth Fund Services, Inc. as administrator; ACA's Foreside Fund Services, LLC as distributor; and Practus, LLP as counsel.

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