Waddell & Reed’s Ivy Affiliate to Introduce Five Index Funds in Partnership with ProShares
February 03 2017 - 7:45AM
Business Wire
In a move to further adapt its mutual fund product line to the
evolving needs of financial advisors and investors, Waddell &
Reed Financial, Inc. (NYSE: WDR) affiliate Ivy Investment
Management Co. (IICO) has filed a registration statement with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to register five new index
funds, the first passively managed funds offered by the firm.
The funds, to be managed by IICO and sub-advised by ProShare
Advisors, LLC, the advisor to the ProShares ETF lineup, are
expected to become effective in April. They will be offered by Ivy
Distributors, Inc. through the Waddell & Reed, Inc.,
broker-dealer, as well as through unaffiliated distribution.
Following is a snapshot of the planned lineup:
PRODUCT INVESTMENT FOCUS
PROPOSED BENCHMARK Ivy ProShares S&P 500
Dividend Aristocrats Index Fund Invests in S&P 500 companies
with at least 25 years of consecutive dividend growth S&P 500
Dividend Aristocrats Index Ivy ProShares Russell 2000 Dividend
Growers Index Fund Invests in small cap companies that have grown
dividends for at least 10 consecutive years Russell 2000 Dividend
Growth Index Ivy ProShares MSCI ACWI Index Fund Seeking to track
MSCI ACWI performance MSCI All Country World Index Ivy ProShares
S&P 500 Bond Index Fund Designed to track index of corporate
bonds issued by S&P 500 companies S&P 500/MarketAxess
Investment Grade Corporate Bond Index Ivy ProShares Interest Rate
Hedged High Yield Index Fund Invests in a diversified portfolio of
high yield bonds and in an effort to hedge against rising interest
rates Citi High Yield (Treasury Rate-Hedged) Index
“Financial advisors increasingly are combining both active and
passive investment management styles when building client
portfolios. These new products allow us to pair a highly
experienced index fund manager with our skilled in-house Ivy
investment management team, whose focus of course is on active
management,” said Thomas W. Butch, executive vice president of
Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. and CEO of Ivy Distributors,
Inc.
“We chose these five categories precisely because they
complement our active product lineup, and they are differentiated
styles, outside of what we believe are more commoditized passive
asset classes commonly available elsewhere,” he added. “For
example, the S&P 500 Bond Index Fund, tracking bonds of the
index’s companies, will be the first index mutual fund with this
strategy to this point.”
Index funds typically are a cost-effective way for investors to
track a benchmark index, meaning returns to index funds, over time,
generally should mirror returns of their tracking index, minus any
fund expenses. The divergence between the net returns of an index
fund and its tracking index is referred to as “tracking error.”
IICO and ProShares intend to monitor continually the performance
and tracking error of the proposed Ivy ProShares Index Funds to
seek to ensure investors' expectations are properly addressed,
according to Ivy executives.
Share class and expense information will be available as the
funds become effective.
A registration statement relating to these securities has
been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, but is not
effective. No sale of these securities can be executed until such
registration statement is effective. This release is not an offer
to sell these securities and is not a solicitation of an offer to
buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is
not permitted.
About ProShares
ProShares and its affiliates have been at the forefront of the
indexing revolution since 1997. ProShares offers one of the largest
lineups of ETFs, with more than $27 billion in assets. The company
is the leader in strategies such as dividend growth, alternative
and geared (leveraged and inverse). ProShares continues to innovate
with products that provide strategic and tactical opportunities for
investors to manage risk and enhance returns. ProFunds, the
affiliated mutual fund company to ProShares, manages index funds
across a wide spectrum of asset classes, including broad-based
equities, sectors, fixed income, commodities and currencies.
About Waddell & Reed
Waddell & Reed, Inc., founded in 1937, is one of the oldest
mutual fund complexes in the United States, having introduced the
Waddell & Reed Advisors Group of Mutual Funds in 1940. Today,
we distribute our investment products through the retail
unaffiliated distribution channel (encompassing broker/dealer,
retirement, and registered investment advisors), our retail
broker-dealer channel (through financial advisors), and our
Institutional channel (including defined benefit plans, pension
plans and endowments, and our subadvisory partnership with
Mackenzie in Canada).
Through its subsidiaries, Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc.
provides investment management and financial planning services to
clients throughout the United States and internationally. Waddell
& Reed Investment Management Company serves as investment
adviser to the Waddell & Reed Advisors Group of Mutual Funds,
while Ivy Investment Management Company serves as investment
adviser to Ivy Funds, Ivy NextShares, Ivy Variable Insurance
Portfolios and InvestEd Portfolios, and investment adviser and
global distributor to the Ivy Global Investors SICAV, an umbrella
UCITS fund range domiciled in Luxembourg. Waddell & Reed, Inc.
serves as principal underwriter and distributor to the Waddell
& Reed Advisors Group of Mutual Funds and InvestEd Portfolios,
while Ivy Distributors, Inc. serves as principal underwriter and
distributor to Ivy Funds and Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolios.
Before investing, investors should consider carefully the
investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of a mutual
fund. This and other important information is contained in the
prospectus and summary prospectus, which may be obtained at
www.ivyinvestments.com or from a financial advisor. Read
it carefully before investing.
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Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc.Investor Relations ContactMs.
Nicole RussellVP, Investor
Relations913-236-1880nrussell@waddell.comorMedia ContactRoger
HoadleyVP, Director of Communicationsrhoadley@waddell.com
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