Nearly a year after it introduced the popular First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund (NasdaqGS: MDIV), First Trust will roll out MDIV’s international counterpart today with the debut of the First Trust International Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund (NasdaqGS: YDIV).
YDIV, which will charge 0.79% per year, will track the NASDAQ International Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index. Like MDIV, which has raked in $482.8 million in assets since coming to market last August, YDIV will hold master limited partnerships (MLPs), preferred stocks and real estate investment trusts (REITs). [High Yield Dividend ETFs off the Beaten Path]
YDIV will also invest in dividend stocks, non-U.S. infrastructure firms and a non-U.S. junk bond ETF. Dividend equities comprise a quarter of the index while REITs, infrastructure companies and preferred stocks each account for 20% with the bond ETF getting an allocation of 15%, according to ETF Daily News.
Dividend stocks and MLPs combine for nearly 48% of MDIV’s weight, all a junk bond ETF is the fund’s largest individual holding at 15.5%. No other holding has a weight of more than 1.42%.
The concept of an international mutli-asset ETF is not new as YDIV will compete directly with the six-year old Guggenheim International Multi-Asset Income ETF (NYSEArca: HGI). HGI has an annual expense ratio of 0.7% and $114.3 million in assets.
HGI invests in “international companies, global REITs, master limited partnerships, Canadian royalty trusts, American depositary receipts of emerging market companies and U.S. listed closed-end funds that invest in international companies,” according to Guggenheim.