American Beacon taking a minority stake in ARK continues a trend of active managers and other investment firms acquiring or making investments in ETF providers. For example, in May, it was revealed that Emerging Global Advisors, the exchange trade funds issuer behind the EGShares family of ETFs, will be acquired by Columbia Threadneedle Investments.
Related: ETF Industry Consolidation: Emerging Global Acquired by Columbia Threadneedle
Also in May, Hartford Funds entered the smart beta exchange traded funds space with its acquisition of Lattice Strategies, the San Francisco-based money manager with an emphasis on risk-focused research and investment strategy design.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) took a passive stake in Global X earlier this year.