Global X Serves Up A New Alternative ETF
By DailyAlts Staff Global X Funds has a growing line of “SuperDividend” ETFs, and the latest is sure to be of interest to liquid alts investors: the Global X SuperDividend Alternatives ETF (NASDAQ: ALTY ) , which began trading on the Nasdaq on July 14. The ETF is the sixth in Global X’s SuperDividend ETF series and is designed to closely track the INDXX SuperDividend Alternatives Index. The underlying index tracks the performance of the highest dividend-yielding securities in each category of alternative income investments, as defined by index sponsor INDXX. This includes MLPs (master limited partnerships), REITs (real estate investment trusts), BDCs (business development companies), and other nontraditional income-producing investments. The Global X SuperDividend Alternatives ETF’s aim is to provide income from alternative sources with low correlation to dividend stocks and other traditional income investments. The strategy also seeks to limit volatility by screening for lower-volatility investments and overweighting categories that have been less volatile, historically. “The alternatives space encompasses a broad range of investments with risks, returns and correlations that differ from traditional equity and fixed income securities,” said Jay Jacobs, research analyst at Global X Funds, in a recent statement. “Investors are increasingly looking for alternative solutions that can potentially generate high income while diversifying their portfolios. Applying the SuperDividend approach to the alternative income space is a natural extension of our suite.” In practice, the Global X SuperDividend Alternatives ETF carries exposure to MLPs and other infrastructure companies, REITs and other real estate investments, alternative managed portfolios, and fixed-income and derivative strategies. As of July 13, REITs accounted for the largest share of the fund’s holdings at over 26%, while private equity and BDCs accounted for the next-largest share at over 19%. MLPs constituted less than 9% of the fund’s holdings, according to the fund’s fact sheet . On the downside, the Global X SuperDividend Alternatives ETF’s expense ratio is rather high at 3.03%. This is largely a function of the fact that the fund invests in other funds, according to ETF.com , and, as required, includes the underlying expense ratios of those fund in its expense ratio.