On Thursday, following the launch of its first two fixed income ETFs in October, Avantis Investors, a $2.5 billion investment brand from global asset manager American Century Investments, announced the launch of its first low-cost, broadly diversified municipal bond fund, the Avantis Core Municipal Fixed Income ETF (AVMU).
AVMU joins the Avantis Core Fixed Income ETF (AVIG) and the Avantis Short-Term Fixed Income ETF (AVSF) in the brand’s fixed income ETF lineup. All three strategies, listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE Arca, Inc.), are designed to seamlessly augment investors’ asset allocation.
“We’re very happy to add a municipal bond strategy to our new fixed income lineup,” said Eduardo Repetto, Avantis CIO. “We know clients are looking for well-designed, low-cost solutions that offer the potential benefit of current income with tax advantages to their investment portfolios.”
AVMU has an expense ratio of 0.15% and is expected to soon be offered as a mutual fund with an Institutional Class at the same total annual operating expense ratio.
Aiming High
The fund invests primarily in investment grade quality municipal debt obligations from a diverse group of issuers. The fund’s investment process uses an analytical framework, including assessing securities’ expected income and capital appreciation, seeking securities with high expected returns.
Similar to Avantis’ other two fixed income ETFs, AVMU will be co-managed by Repetto, Senior Portfolio Manager Hozef Arif, Senior Portfolio Manager Mitchell Handa, and Senior Portfolio Manager Daniel Ong, CFA. Arif and Handa held portfolio management positions with Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO); Ong previously was a senior portfolio manager with Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA).
The new fixed income funds join Avantis Investors’ five inaugural equity ETFs, launched during September 2019, followed by five mutual funds that mirror the ETFs: Avantis International Small Cap Value ETF (AVDV), Avantis International Equity ETF (AVDE), Avantis Emerging Markets Equity ETF (AVEM), Avantis U.S. Equity ETF (AVUS) and Avantis U.S. Small Cap Value ETF (AVUV).
Avantis Investors is led by Eduardo Repetto, chief investment officer, and Patrick Keating, Chief Operating Officer.
For more information about American Century Investments, visit www.americancentury.com.
For more market trends, visit ETF Trends.