db Equity Strategies Hedge Fund Index ETF

Morningstar Europe Editor 24 February, 2011 | 5:59PM
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Following the success of its Hedge Fund Index ETF, db x-trackers recently brought a new hedge fund ETF to market aimed at investors seeking equity exposure through hedge funds. The db x-trackers db Equity Strategies Hedge Fund Index ETF tracks the performance of currently 17 hedge funds that follow two equity strategies: equity long-short and equity market neutral. Equity long-short managers hold long positions in equities they believe will rise in value while going short stocks they believe will fall in value. Equity market neutral managers also combine long and short stock positions to make their portfolios market neutral. Equity hedge funds typically apply an investment methodology derived from fundamental company research, sometimes combined with a macro view of the markets. Some funds also use systematic model-driven investing.

The db x-trackers db Equity Strategies Hedge Fund Index is rebalanced quarterly to reweight the constituent funds equally.

Cons:
While db X-trackers provides details on how the db Equity Strategies Hedge Fund Index is constructed, it won’t give investors access to security-level information, so full transparency is lacking here.

This fund is also relatively pricey for an ETF, although not in comparison with direct hedge fund investment. The ETF carries an annual management fee (TER) of 0.90% and typical hedge fund fees built into its underlying index, including an average 1.60% annual management fee and a 20% performance fee.

Pros:
Because it tracks the performance of 17 hedge funds, this structure provides diversification across individual managers.

The db x-trackers db Equity Strategies Hedge Fund Index (EUR) has had an even better track record than its sister index. Since 2005, the index has achieved an average return of 6.8% per annum, with volatility of 5.1%. Over the past eight years, the index has shown a fairly low correlation of 0.57 with the MSCI World TR EUR, making it a good diversifier in a balanced asset allocation.

In Europe, the db x-trackers db Equity Strategies Hedge Fund Index ETF is available in USD, EUR GBP and CHF. As the underlying index constituents are denominated in USD, the ETF will hedge the index returns into the other currencies using one-month futures contracts.

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