Smart beta specialist Ossiam hits $2bn AUM milestone

Jul 17th, 2014 | By | Category: Equities

Ossiam, a leading European provider of smart beta exchange-traded funds, has revealed that assets under management have surpassed $2 billion.

Smart beta specialist Ossiam hits $2bn AUM milestone

Since its launch in 2010, smart beta specialist Ossiam has accumulated more than $2 billion in assets under  management.

The Paris-based firm, which is an affiliate of investment giant Natixis Global Asset Management (NGAM), was founded 2010 and has quickly established itself as one of the foremost providers of smart beta strategies.

Smart beta – also known as alternative, advanced or strategic beta – refers to a set of approaches that deviate from the traditional cap-weighted model and instead weight indices or securities based on alternative rules-based methodologies.

Ossiam offers a range of smart beta ETFs, including minimum variance, equal weight and risk weighted enhanced commodity strategies. The most popular of these is the Ossiam US Minimum Variance NR UCITS ETF 1C (USD), a US minimum variance equity strategy, which across all its share classes has accumulated $750 million in assets.

The fund was launched in 2011 and recently celebrated its three-year anniversary. Since inception, it has delivered a return of 57.64%, only fractionally short of the 59.85% return of the benchmark S&P 500 Index. However, the fund has exhibited considerably lower volatility than the index: 11.69% for the fund compared to 16.41% for the S&P 500.

Other funds to have hit their three-year milestones are the Ossiam iStoxx Europe Minimum Variance NR UCITS ETF 1 C (EUR) and the Ossiam Stoxx Europe 600 Equal Weight NR UCITS ETF 1 C (EUR). The European minimum variance strategy has been a particularly strong performer, trumping the performance of the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index whilst also demonstrating significantly lower volatility.

Each ETF maintains listings on the London Stock Exchange, Borsa Italiana, Deutsche Börse, NYSE Euronext Paris and SIX Swiss Exchange.

Commenting on the milestones, Bruno Poulin, CEO of Ossiam, said: “We are delighted to have reached these milestones. Achieving them is testimony to Ossiam offering something distinctive to investors by combining innovation, consistency in performance, intellectual edge and transparency. The alternative-weighted index ETF market has developed considerably since our first fund launches in 2011. This is likely to be a long-term trend. Institutional and retail investors and their advisers have come to realise that alternative beta funds, including ETFs, can add value to their investment portfolios. We are grateful to our clients, partners, and Natixis Global Asset Management for supporting Ossiam to this point and we look forward to being at the forefront of alternative beta for a long time to come.”

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