We spoke about “Low Vol” ETFs yesterday and some of the sector exposure that such funds typically have.
Today, this brings us to a quick examination of the MLP ETP space given the propensity for the same type of investors that buy Low Vol, Utilities, and REITs to also utilize MLPs for diversified equity exposure as well as yield.
AMLP (ALPS Alerian MLP ETF, Expense Ratio 0.85%) has actually attracted an impressive level of new assets in recent trading sessions as well, adding >$200 million and bringing the fund asset base to about $8.2 billion.
The fund holds twenty-six individual names in the MLP space, and those looking for yield are likely attracted to the >6% yield at the moment. Created as an “answer” to AMJ (JP Morgan Alerian MLP Index ETN, Expense Ratio 0.85%) which in its own right has accumulated $6.1 billion in assets under management in terms of being an ETF instead of an ETN and thus having different tax treatment for those whom are sensitive to that, AMLP has surpassed AMJ in terms of fund size inside of a four year period (AMLP celebrates its four year anniversary of live trading in late August of this year).
This segment of the ETP market has actually matured quite nicely in terms of the variety of fund offerings, in both ETF and ETN form, as well as asset management growth and awareness among both retail and institutional ETF investors.
MLPI (UBS E-TRACS Alerian MLP Infrastructure ETN, Expense Ratio 0.85%) also has had an impressive run in raising assets even though it is sometimes overshadowed by both AMLP and AMJ in MLP conversations.