BetaShares launches new product

BetaShares has launched a new product - an ASX-traded fund, aimed at boosting the income potential from a portfolio of US shares. 

The new product, the BetaShares S&P 500 Yield Maximiser Fund (managed fund) trades under the ASX Code “UMAX”. 

The announcement said the Fund aims to provide investors with exposure to the stocks comprising the benchmark US Index, the S&P 500 equity index, while providing regular income that exceeds the  dividend yield of the stocks alone. It also aims to provide lower overall volatility than the Index. 

The Fund’s investment approach is to hold an investment portfolio providing exposure to the S&P 500 Index and, at the same time, to sell some of the upside share price potential of the Index in return for additional income. 

The company’s announcement said the launch of the Fund followed on from the success of BetaShares’ yield-focused Australian equities product, the BetaShares Australian Top 20 Equity Yield Maximiser Fund (managed fund) (YMAX), which employs a similar strategy and has attracted more inflows than any other equities exchange traded product on ASX in 2014. 

UMAX provides investors with the potential to enhance portfolio yields, as well as offering the additional diversification benefits of exposure to an overseas market and currency. Units in the Fund can be bought and sold on the ASX like any share. 

The Fund will be the first Australian-domiciled ETP on the ASX to provide US-specific equity exposure, offering significant administrative benefits for Australian investors, including no need for W-8 BEN forms and no US estate tax implications.