Invesco’s (NYSE: IVZ) PowerShares unit, the fourth-largest U.S. exchange traded funds issuer, will look to capitalize on the success of the PowerShares Buyback Achievers Portfolio (NYSEArca: PKW) by introducing an international equivalent.
The firm is planning to introduce the PowerShares International BuyBack Achievers Portfolio (NasdsaqGS: IPKW) on Feb. 27, according to a statement.
“BuyBack Achievers are companies that have effected a net reduction of 5% or more of their outstanding shares in the past 12 months, and have met additional criteria in accordance with the guidelines and mandated procedures of the NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc., the underlying index provider,” said PowerShares in the statement.
IPKW will have an annual expense ratio of 0.55%, which is actually below the 0.71% charged by PKW. Like PKW, IPKW will be rebalanced quarterly in January, April, July and October.
The NASDAQ International BuyBack Achievers Index (DRBXUS), IPKW’s underlying index, is currently home to 41 companies including Agrium (NYSE: AGU), AMEC, Betfair Group, Celestica, Domtar and Nippon Meat Packers, according to NASDAQ OMX Global Indexes.
The index was debuted on Dec. 12, 2013 with a base of 1,000 and currently trades around 1,025.
PKW debuted in late 2006 and has grown to $2.74 billion in assets under management with a significant portion of those assets coming into the ETF in just the past year. Over the past 12 months, PKW has attracted $2.2 billion in new assets, making it the third-best PowerShares ETF on the basis of inflows. Year-to-date, the ETF has raked in $265.1 million, making it the second-best PowerShares ETF by inflows.
In the six-year period ending 2013, PKW outperformed the S&P 500 five times with 2012 being the outlier. Over the past three years, PKW is up almost 68% compared to 47.2% for the S&P 500.
PowerShares Buyback Achievers Portfolio
ETF Trends editorial team contributed to this post.