Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has added four investment strategies to its ETF range.
The firm said they are predicated on the themes of ‘exploring the metaverse’, ‘emerging cyber security’, ‘harnessing the science of light’, and ‘providing convenient access to global themes’. The latter three will sit within the firm’s flagship thematic range.
Meanwhile, the metaverse-themed strategy will sit within LGIM’s ‘Access’ range. The firm said this range aims to provide exposures designed to serve as tactical or strategic tools for investing looking for non-traditional investment opportunities.
Aanand Venkatramanan, head of ETFs for the EMEA region at LGIM, said: “Thematic investment strategies have seen strong investor interest over recent years, thanks to their ability to capitalise on structural and foundational changes in the way we live and work. As we have continued to build our thematic ETF range, we have sought to provide investors with purer and differentiated access to new and emerging themes that are shaping the future.”
He added: “Three of the funds launched today capture some of the most innovative and disruptive companies shaping global economies, while the Global Thematic Fund will seek to allow investors to gain exposure to multiple themes, in an easily accessible format.”
Around the metaverse-themed investment strategy, LGIM said it had identified multiple investment opportunities related to the development still required across hardware provision, software advances, networks, and digital payments to augment human policing of the metaverse. The L&G Metaverse ESG Exclusions UCITS ETF, it added, aims to offer targeted exposure to companies actively involved in developing the technologies needed to deliver the metaverse.
Its cyber security ETF, the firm went on, will focus on emerging segments such as hardware security, threat intelligence and blockchain enabled security solutions, in addition to growth segments, such as cloud and network related security solutions that are also captured in the existing fund.
Meanwhile, the optics ETF strategy will focus on providing exposure to leading companies in the theme. The underlying investment strategy leverages the expertise of European Photonics Industry Consortium (Epic), the largest photonics industry association in the world.
Lastly, the global themes ETF strategy looks to comprise a diversified, risk-balanced basket of companies involved in multiple investment themes, focused on innovation and long-term growth. The fund combines the investment universes of LGIM’s existing individual thematic strategies and brings together nine investment themes, in the areas of technology, energy and resources and changing demographics, all of which are currently available to investors via L&G building-block ETFs.
LGIM said that each of the funds incorporates an ESG overlay which aims to exclude companies not compliant with the United Nations Global Compact. They are listed on the London Stock Exchange, Borsa Italiana, Deutsche Boerse, and Six Exchange.
