Avantis flags 2 active ETF launches for 2026
Fresh off launching three active ETFs to the Australian market, Avantis Investors is already planning to expand its range with two further products next year.
At the start of October, it launched three dual-access active ETFs for advisers in Australia covering global equities, global small-cap equities, and emerging market equities, which seek to offer long-term capital appreciation.
Avantis is a $133 billion sub-brand of global investment manager American Century Investments. Based in the US, the firm is growing its presence in Australia and currently has five staff in its Sydney office.
Speaking to Money Management, Avantis chief investment officer Eduardo Repetto said the firm has now secured its first research rating and is set to go live on multiple investment platforms next month.
While the funds are new for the Australian market, similar strategies have been run in the US for several years, which enabled the research house to see its historic performance and asset allocations.
Repetto said: “The next step will be launching an Australian equities ETF next year and a global equities hedged version, we have found Australia has shown huge interest in hedged versions and is keen to hedge their equity exposure back into Australian dollar.
“When we launched the funds, we had Australian investors commenting that it was ‘about time’, we had already seen Australian clients accessing our US ETFs so we knew there was demand here.
“You have to pace yourself though, we can’t launch everything at once, but we already manage Australian equities in our global portfolios so we can carve them out for a dedicated ETF.”
Regarding the growth of active ETFs, Repetto said Avantis’ first active ETFs were launched in the US back in 2019 with five products and have now grown to 35 products and around US$55 billion in assets.
“Active ETFs were not always allowed in the US, ETFs could only be index products but there was a lot of demand for non-index products as people wanted an alternative to mutual funds. So there was a gap where there was demand but no supply and since that has changed, we have seen huge adoption of active ETFs. It is good to be able to give people the choice and they can decide which option is best for them,” Repetto said.
In Australia, 2025 has seen a raft of active ETF launches by firms such as Perpetual, PIMCO, JP Morgan Asset Management, and Ausbil.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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