STOXX Smart-Beta Indices To Underlie Mutual Fund

STOXX Ltd., the operator of Deutsche Boerse Group’s index business, and a global provider of innovative and tradable index concepts, today announced that several indices of STOXX’s smart-beta index suite were licensed by Ersel Asset Management SGR (Ersel) to underlie a new mutual fund. Ersel is an Italian based asset management firm that manages and places mutual funds.

“STOXX has always been at the forefront of the smart-beta evolution taking place in the world of indexing and today offers a broad range of smart-beta index strategies that are available for different regions and countries,” said Matteo Andreetto, chief executive officer, STOXX Limited. “We are delighted to see twelve indices of our range licensed by Ersel.”

“Ersel, over the last few years, has been very active in the research related to the growing universe of smart-beta indices, with the objective of exploiting their relative performance vs the corresponding market-cap weighted benchmarks within total return investment strategies, whenever market conditions allow for it. We are pleased to launch an innovative total return mutual fund, based on dynamically hedged exposures to a diversified selection of STOXX smart-beta indices”, said Gianluca Oderda, Head of Quantitative Investments, Ersel.

Smart-beta indices are innovative tools which are based on an alternative weighting scheme rather than free-float market capitalization. Ersel licensed twelve STOXX smart-beta indices, spanning three regions (Europe, US and Japan) and four strategies (Minimum Variance, Low Risk, Equal Weight and Dividend).

The STOXX Minimum Variance Indices seek to minimize risk by reducing the volatility in a portfolio, while the STOXX Low Risk Weighted Indices represent the least volatile companies from the respective parent index. For the latter, constituents are selected and weighted by the inverse of their 12-month historical volatility. The STOXX Equal Weight Indices give equivalent representation to large, mid and small cap companies in the respective parent index, leading to maximum diversification of the indices. STOXX offers two families of dividend indices, of which the STOXX Select Dividend Indices include the highest dividend-yielding stocks relative to their home markets and the STOXX Maximum Dividend Indices aim to maximize the dividend yield of the index portfolio. Companies for the STOXX Select Dividend Indices are selected and weighted solely on the basis of historical dividend payments. In the STOXX Maximum Dividend Indices, companies with the highest expected dividend yield, based on a 3-month dividend forecast, are represented.

Please see below a full list of indices: