Bulker and container ship companies will be in a basket alongside railways, trucking firms and autonomous drone manufacturers as US investment firm ProShares plans a new investment product focused on supply chain logistics.
The company has filed papers revealing plans to launch the Supply Chain Logistics ETF, an exchange-traded fund that will allow investors to place bets on a diversified bucket of companies across the transportation space.
ProShares has not revealed the potential holdings of the fund. But the prospectus lodged with the US Securities & Exchange Commission shows that its investments will be based on the FactSet Supply Chain Logistics Index.
The share index compiled by FactSet Research Systems includes a wide variety of transportation and logistics firms focused on land, air and sea, as well as logistics technology providers, according to the prospectus.
ProShares' passively managed ETF jumps on the growing attention among the US public on supply chain issues after a year of container ship queues and bare shop shelves.
The ETF adds to a long line-up of similar funds created by ProShares in other sectors, ranging from nanotechnology to pet care, as well as those focused on dividend growth stocks or interest rate-hedged bonds.
The company, which started in the mutual fund business, has $60bn in assets under management.
ProShares is not the first to provide an ETF, which, unlike mutual funds, can be bought and sold during the trading day, with a broad-based look at transportation.
Rival State Street Global Advisors offers the SPDR S&P Transportation ETF, which includes stocks in the shipping, air freight, rail and trucking sectors, among others.
