Expense ratio: 0.99%
Prospectus is here.
Investment Objective
As a secondary goal, the Fund seeks to adhere to ESG principles by excluding investments in issuers that are involved in and/or that derive significant revenue from, certain practices, industries or product lines and by increasing the representation of underrepresented groups in the governance of ETFs.
- US Treasuries: Treasuries and ETFs
- Options: Long spreads and butterflies
- ESG: SASB framework.
Extract from the filing:
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund is actively managed by the Fund’s investment sub-adviser, Quadratic Capital Management LLC (“Quadratic” or the “Sub-Adviser”), and seeks to achieve its investment objective primarily by investing, directly or indirectly, in a mix of U.S. Treasury securities (“Treasuries”) and option strategies (as defined below) tied to the shape of the U.S. interest rate swap curve (described below). The Fund’s strategy is designed to hedge against deflation risk and generate positive returns from the Fund’s options during periods when the U.S. interest rate curve flattens (i.e., the spread between interest rates on U.S. long-term debt instruments and U.S. shorter-term debt instruments tightens) or inverts.
The Fund is also designed to adhere to ESG principles, as reflected in the framework published by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (“SASB”), by excluding investments in issuers that are involved in and/or that derive significant revenue from, certain practices, industries or product lines, including Extreme Event Controversies, Controversial Weapons, UN Global Compact Violations, Civilian Firearms, Thermal Coal Extraction and Tobacco. Further, the Fund represents an ESG “impact” investment insofar as Quadratic is a registered Small/Minority Business Enterprise and a majority woman-owned firm and, thus, an investment in the Fund advances certain ESG governance principles (such as increasing the representation of women in senior management and board positions in the U.S.).
The Fund invests in Treasuries of various maturities directly or through other exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) that invest in Treasuries. The “option strategies” used by the Fund are options strategies that are tied to the shape of the U.S. interest rate swap curve and structured to limit the loss to the Fund and include long options, long spreads and butterflies. The U.S. interest rate swap curve is a type of interest rate curve that reflects the fixed interest rates used in interest rate swap agreements with different maturities. (“Swap rates” are a fixed interest rate exchanged for a floating interest rate in an interest rate swap). The Fund may buy options, long spreads and “butterflies”. Long spreads involve buying one call (put) option and selling another call (put) option to create a range consisting of a lower (higher) strike price and an upper (lower) strike price and the maximum loss should be limited to the premium paid. Butterflies involve buying a call (put) with a lower (higher) strike price, selling two call (put) options with an intermediate strike price, and buying one additional call (put) option with a higher (lower) strike price and the maximum loss should be limited to the premium paid.
The option strategies used by the Fund are expected to (i) appreciate in value as the curve flattens or inverts and (ii) decrease in value or become worthless as the curve steepens. The U.S. interest rate swap curve “flattens” when the spread between swap rates on longer-term debt instruments and shorter-term debt instruments narrows, “steepens” when such spread widens, and “inverts” when swap rates on longer-term debt instruments become lower than those for shorter-term debt instruments (i.e., the spread is negative).
When the Fund purchases an option, the Fund pays a cost (premium) to purchase the option. The Fund’s investments in options will be traded in the over-the counter (“OTC”) market. OTC derivative instruments generally have more flexible terms negotiated between the buyer and the seller, and the counterparties may be required to post “variation margin” as frequently as daily to reflect any gains or losses in such options contracts. If such variation margin is not required to be posted, such instruments would generally be subject to greater credit risk and counterparty risk. OTC instruments also may be subject to greater liquidity risk.
Options contracts, by their terms, have stated expirations; therefore, to maintain consistent exposure to options, the Fund will periodically migrate out of existing positions and into different positions with different strike prices and maturities — a process referred to as “rolling.” Quadratic will use its discretion to implement option strategies with a time-to-expiration of any maturity.
Under normal circumstances, the Sub-Adviser generally expects to invest less than 20% of the Fund’s assets in option premiums (as defined below) and to actively manage the Fund’s options investments to reduce the weight of such options in the Fund’s portfolio if their value increases above the desired amount. Similarly, the Sub-Adviser generally expects to sell portfolio investments and reinvest proceeds in options if the value of such options declines below the desired amount.
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