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Talk about nice timing!
Just as the first Covid vaccines are coming into widespread use, Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. has filed a preliminary prospectus for what it says will be Canada’s first Travel & Leisure Index ETF.
Travel and leisure stocks have of course been among the most hard-hit during the Covid-19 pandemic and are among the sectors that have started to move up as optimism over Covid vaccines and economic recovery builds.
When in January it begins trading on the TSX as TRVL, the Harvest Travel & Leisure Index ETF will provide investors with access to some of the most prominent Travel & Leisure companies in the world, says Michael Kovacs, President & CEO, Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.: “The ETF provides a low cost portfolio that will benefit from a rebound in international travel as the global economy recovers, as well as a demographic trend that was well established prior to the recent Industry shut downs.”
The ETF is based on the Solactive Travel & Leisure Index, which invests in large-cap issuers that own or operate travel-related businesses and are listed on regulated North American exchanges.
Clean Energy ETF also in the works
Harvest has also filed a preliminary prospectus for what it says will be “one of” Canada’s first clean energy ETFs: Harvest Clean Energy ETF (ticker HCLN). Kovacs says this is aagrowing space, an area that is “getting the proper political and societal attention it needs as more Canadians look to environmental factors when investing. There are large sources of Government and Private capital flowing into this space at unprecedented levels which we see continuing to grow into the future. With the changes going on in Energy generation, the future is definitely Clean.”
HCLN will invest in large-cap issuers engaged in clean energy related businesses listed on regulated stock exchanges in North America, Developed Asia or certain European countries. The preliminary prospectus has been filed with securities commissions in all Canadian provinces and territories, copies of which are available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).
The ETFs’ Management Expense Ratios (MERs) have not yet been divulged but are expected to be in the range of .04, a company spokesperson said. That’s in line with its other passively managed index ETFs, and less than its actively managed ones.
Founded in 2009, Harvest is a Canadian Investment Fund Manager managing more than $1 billion in assets for Canadian investors.
