Goldman Sachs just revealed a new investment-grade corporate bond exchange traded fund as part of its new suite of so-called Access ETFs that offer low-cost access to the markets.
On Thursday, Goldman launched the Goldman Sachs Access Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (NYSEArca: GIGB). GIGB comes with a 0.14% expense ratio.
“This is a unique opportunity to revolutionize the fixed income ETF space, providing investors with exposure to bond markets while seeking to deliver smoother performance at a lower cost,” Michael Crinieri, GSAM’s Global Head of ETF Strategy, said in a note.
The new smart beta bond ETF will try to reflect the performance of the Citi Goldman Sachs Investment Grade Corporate Bond Index, which is comprised investment grade corporate debt. The underlying index follows a rules-based methodology that follows two steps:
First, only corporate bonds of the Reference Index, which includes investment grade corporate bonds with a minimum of one year to maturity and are rated at least BBB- or Baa3, that have a minimum of $750 million outstanding and a minimum issuer size of $2 billion are singled out.
Secondly, a fundamental screen is applied where securities are grouped into the three broad industry groups of financials, industrials and utilities. Within each industry group, issuers are measured by operating margin and leverage. Each issuer is ranked based on the two fundamental factors and equally weighted. Component holdings only include those with the highest ranking in each industry group.
“Investors need a smarter choice evaluating the overall health of companies” Jason Singer, portfolio manager for GIGB, said in a note. “By screening for both liquidity and fundamental factors, the Index seeks to limit exposure to illiquid, volatile and underperforming assets.”
The ETF currently shows a 7.09 year effective duration.
Current sector allocations include banks 31.9%, consumer noncyclical 15.8%, telecommunications 15.4%, energy 9.8%, consumer cyclical 4.1%, basic industry 3.8%, insurance 2.1% and transportation 1.8%.
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