After announcing the firm’s intention to launch as many as seven new active funds earlier in May, Fidelity has confirmed three funds will launch on 31 May, while the fourth will kick off on 3 June.
In a statement on Wednesday, the firm said the funds in question are Fidelity Australian High Conviction Fund, Fidelity Asia Fund, Fidelity India Fund, and Fidelity Global Future Leaders Fund, all of which will be available as actively managed ETFs via the ASX.
The Fidelity Australian High Conviction Fund, launching on 3 June, is actually the existing Fidelity Australian Opportunities Fund with a new name.
Fidelity’s managing director, Lawrence Hanson said: “Making these four strategies available as ETFs allows investors easy access to some of our most popular funds in Australia, with solid long-term track records.
“Whether they are seeking exposure to offshore market opportunities like Asia, India or global small to mid-caps, or to a high quality concentrated Australian strategy, investors can now tap into our 400+ investment professionals in one simple trade.”
Hanson explained Fidelity is launching more of its top strategies through ETFs having seen growing demand for accessible and flexible investment solutions among Australian investors.
“The ETF structure enables us to offer our clients an alternative option on how they invest in our products.”
Earlier this month, Hanson said the firm planned to launch multiple strategies, including Fidelity Hedged Global Equities, Fidelity Global Equities, Fidelity China, and Fidelity Australian Equities as active ETFs.
The asset manager currently has two active ETFs available in Australia, the $221 million Fidelity Global Emerging Markets Fund (Managed Fund) and the $111 million Fidelity Global Demographics Fund (Managed Fund), the latter of which will, however, be delisted from the ASX in June 2024 pending approval.
Earlier this month, the firm said that following a review of the fund, it made the determination that it is “no longer economically viable” to maintain the fund as a dual-access fund by continuing to have the fund’s units admitted to trading status and remain quoted on the ASX. The decision was made based on the lack of support for the fund’s strategy in the listed channel.
As of 30 March 2024, the active ETF units represent approximately $8.12 million or 7.3 per cent of the fund’s total funds under management.
The Australian ETF industry reached some $195 billion in funds under management in April, just shy of the all-time high set in March of $196.7 billion, according to Betashares’ monthly ETF review.
Over the last 12 months, the industry has grown by 33.5 per cent or $49 billion.
