Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has launched a multi-factor equity ETF designed for the increasingly popular ETF saving plans in partnership with German welath manager Gerd Kommer Invest.
The L&G Gerd Kommer Multifactor Equity UCITS ETF (GERD) is listed on the Deutsche Boerse with a total expense ratio (TER) of 0.50%.
The launch is a concerted push into the German retail market by LGIM, leveraging the Munich-based wealth manager’s local brand after the pair entered a partnership earlier this year.
GERD is available via online broker Scalable Capital with transaction fees waived for those investing in the ETF via their savings plan.
Investors can access the ETF with a minimum investment of €10 and will also be available to investors in Austria and Switzerland “over the coming days”, both as a lump sum and a savings plan option.
It tracks the Solactive Gerd Kommer Multifactor Equity index, designed by LGIM and Gerd Kommer, offering exposure to over 5,000 across developed and emerging markets and across the market cap spectrum.
The index will increase exposure based on five factors, comprising size, value, quality, investment and momentum and looks to reduce US concentration risk by weighting countries by their gross domestic product in addition to their market cap.
The ETF is 42.8% weighted to US stocks versus 61.1% in the MSCI All Country World index. Its top weightings are Microsoft (1.11%), Apple (1.08%) and Meta (1.07%).
GERD will be labelled Article 8 under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).
Gerd Kommer Invest, which houses €720m assets under management (AUM), follows the investment strategy of Dr. Gerd Kommer, author of several books on self-directed investing, offering independent financial advice using exclusively index funds and ETFs.
The ETF will be based on Gerd Kommer’s “world portfolio concept”, designed to minimise the influence and emotional reaction on investment decisions via a “scientific and rules-based approach”.
Gerd Kommer, CEO of Gerd Kommer Invest, commented: “We believe this proposition should allow certain investors to cover their equity allocation in one single product. To date, this is a unique proposition in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.”
Aanand Venkatramanan (pictured), head of ETFs for EMEA at LGIM, added: “With this partnership, we have combined our respective strengths to design an ETF solution that does not yet exist in the German-speaking ETF market.
“The ETF is characterised by an active bottom-up approach and the active development of investment strategies, which will allow us to help meet the evolving needs of our clients and to differentiate our offering.”
LGIM has been looking to grow its presence across Europe in recent months. In May, it partnered with Italian distributor Widiba Bank in a bid to push its thematic ETF range in the region.
