Amundi is closing three ETFs tracking European stocks including multi-factor and scientific beta strategies amid low assets under management (AUM).
The Amundi MSCI Europe Ex UK UCTS ETF (AEKK) will delist from the London Stock Exchange on 20 April before liquidating a week later.
Meanwhile, the Amundi Europe Equity Multi Smart Allocation Scientific Beta UCITS ETF (SMRE) and the Amundi iStoxx Europe Multi-Factor Market Neutral UCITS ETF (MKTN) will delist from the Deutsche Boerse and the Borsa Italiana on the same date.
MKTN, which houses €9.2m AUM, will also delist from the Euronext Paris.
“Given the ETFs’ small assets and the fact that the board of directors did not anticipate increased investor interest and commercial prospects in the near future, the board decided to liquidate the ETFs,” Amundi said to shareholders in a market announcement.
It added the liquidations were part of its ongoing product range review primarily driven by client demand.
Currently, AEKK houses €5.8m assets while SMRE has €4.9m.
Amundi has made a series of changes to its ETF range in recent months as it looks to streamline its product range following its acquisition of Lyxor in January last year.
The French asset manager has merged several ETFs as it looks to benefit from greater economies of scale in its bid to tighten its grip as Europe’s second-largest ETF issuer.
In addition, Europe’s largest asset manager has started domiciling ETFs in Ireland in a bid to take advantage of a favourable tax treaty in the US.
As well as launching a new fund range domiciled in Ireland last May, Amundi plans to duplicate six existing ETFs in Dublin and did not rule out the possibility of merging the Luxembourg-domiciled ETFs into Ireland in the future.
