MutualFundWire.com: Hayward Rolls Out GMO's First Credit ETF

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Friday, June 6, 2025

Hayward Rolls Out GMO's First Credit ETF

The folks at a 48-year-old, $65-billion-AUM* fund firm in Massachusetts are entering another side of the ETF business.

Scott Louis Hayward
Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo LLC
CEO, Board Member

On Wednesday (June 4), Scott Hayward, CEO of GMO [profile], unveiled the launch of the GMO Systematic Investment Grade Credit ETF (INVG on the NYSE Arca, Inc.). Boston-based Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co. LLC (GMO) serves as INVG's investment advisor. INVG is GMO's 6th ETF and its first credit ETF.

MFWire reported back in November that the GMO team had filed to launch INVG. The fund debuted this Tuesday (June 2, 2025) and comes with an expense ratio of 25 basis points, as expected.

The GMO team made one change to INVG's PM team prior to inception this week. James Donaldson serves as one of the new fund's portfolio managers, as expected. Yet Jason Hotra, who was listed as the other expected INVG PM last fall, has been replaced by PM Rachna Ramachandran, per an updated prospectus filed last month, on May 22. (Both Ramachandran and Donaldson serve on GMO's developed fixed income team.)

Hayward puts the launch of INVG in the context of the GMO team's "commitment to providing innovative and differentiated fixed-incoem solutions in the formats investors and their advisors wants."

"Investment grade corporate credit spans all major sectors and offers relatively lower default risk and offers investors access to higher quality corporate balance sheets across the global economy," states Joe Auth, head of GMO's developed fixed income team. "INVG draws on GMO's quantitative capabilities with a systematic approach designed to maximize risk-adjusted returns."

INVG is an actively managed series of the 2023 ETF Series Trust II. The new ETF's other service providers include:

ACA's Foreside Fund Officer Services, LLC as provider of an anti-money laundering officer, a chief compliance officer, a president, a secretary, and a treasurer;

Foreside Fund Services, LLC as distributor;

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP as counsel;

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as independent accounting firm; and

State Street Bank and Trust Company as administrator, custodian, dividend disbursing agent, securities lending agent, and transfer agent.