VanEck has announced the restructuring of three of its funds, the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners (GDX), the VanEck Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) (MOAT) and the VanEck Vectors China AMC CSI 300 ETF (CETF), to make it easier to invest internationally.
The firm said all the three products would be simplified for Australian investors and would be converted to locally domiciled funds. Also, under the new structure, VanEck would be allowed to offer investors dividend reinvestment plans (DRP) on each ETF which would be expected to reduce the administration burden.
“While there are no changes to the current investment exposure or the fees or costs for investors in these three ETFs, the restructure will streamline the investment experience for our clients. Investors will no longer be required to complete W-8BEN forms, meaning less administration. Furthermore, a DRP will be available in the new ETFs,” VanEck’s managing director and head of Asia Pacific, Arian Neiron said.
“We expect the restructure will support increased demand for these three international ETFs, which have been sought after by Australian investors in the last few years as more people look to offshore opportunities.
“The new structure continues to provide Australian investors access to the liquidity and track record of the much larger US funds, however, we can now offer these funds without the administrative burden for clients.”
This would mean that to remain invested in the three ETFs, existing investors would need to accept an offer from VanEck to exchange their CDIs for units in the new Australian funds by 4th October 2019, before the CDIs no longer trade on 8th October 2019, the firm said.
“GDX, MOAT and CETF offer all the benefits of ETFs including simple trading on ASX, liquidity and cost-effective investment management when compared to actively managed funds. With over $3 billion in assets under management in Australia, VanEck is optimising the experience for its clients,” Neiron said.
