方舟首次进军欧洲 买下伦敦ETF公司

Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management buys Rize ETF as it pushes into Europe


Wall Street investor partners with Martin Gilbert on developing new funds.
方舟投资的掌门人是凯茜•伍德。这位华尔街知名投资者正在艰难应对旗下美国基金遭遇的持续资金流出。



Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest has acquired a London-based exchange traded fund company in its first big push into Europe, as the Wall Street investor battles persistent outflows from her stable of US funds.
凯茜•伍德(Cathie Wood)的方舟投资(Ark Invest)收购了一家伦敦交易所交易基金(ETF)公司，这标志着方舟首次大举进军欧洲。这位华尔街投资者正在艰难应对旗下美国基金遭遇的持续资金流出。
    
Ark, which manages some $25bn in assets through Ark Investment Management, has bought Rize ETF, which manages more than $450mn across 11 European funds designed around themes including the future of food, cyber security, environmental impact and cannabis.
方舟——通过方舟投资管理公司(Ark Investment Management)管理着约250亿美元资产——收购了Rize ETF，后者管理着11只欧洲基金，总价值超过4.5亿美元，这些基金的主题包括未来食品、网络安全、环境影响和大麻。
    
The deal brings Wood into partnership with Martin Gilbert, a veteran dealmaker and former chair of Aberdeen Standard Investments, whose company AssetCo previously owned Rize. AssetCo’s active equity asset management arm subsidiary, River and Mercantile, will launch its own ETFs on Rize’s platform.
该交易使伍德与资深交易撮合者、安本标准投资(Aberdeen Standard Investments)前董事长马丁•吉尔伯特(Martin Gilbert)建立合作伙伴关系，后者的公司AssetCo此前拥有Rize。AssetCo的主动型股票资产管理子公司River and Mercantile将在Rize平台上推出自己的ETF。
    
Wood said the investment group was betting on rising demand from European investors for thematic ETFs — a nascent market compared with the US. According to data from provider ETFGI at the end of July, assets in US ETFs amounted to $7.6tn, compared with $1.7tn in Europe.
伍德表示，该投资集团押注于欧洲投资者对主题式ETF需求的不断增长——与美国相比，在欧洲这仍只是一个初生的市场。根据数据提供商ETFGI 7月底的数据，美国ETF资产总计达7.6万亿美元，而欧洲ETF资产总计为1.7万亿美元。
    
Wood told the Financial Times on Wednesday that a quarter of subscriptions to the company’s research came from Europe. “The top question we have [received] from investors is ‘why can’t we access your strategies in Europe’,” she said.
伍德周三告诉英国《金融时报》，该公司研究报告的四分之一订户来自欧洲。“我们从投资者那里最频繁听到的问题是，‘为什么我们不能在欧洲投资于你们的基金’。”她说。
    
“Active equity ETFs [in Europe] are really just now starting to roll out,” she added.
“主动型股票ETF在欧洲刚刚开始推出。”她补充道。
    
The acquisition, announced on Tuesday night, also marks a push into a new region as the company navigates a stark downturn in its US portfolio as a result of rising interest rates and inflation.
周二晚宣布的此次收购，也标志着该公司在应对美国投资组合严重缩水（原因是利率和通胀上升）之际进军一个新的地理区域。
    
Wood, one of Wall Street’s best known investors, is known for her punchy bets on fast-growing companies in sectors from robotics to space exploration. Ark’s $8bn Innovation ETF, its most popular product, has delivered annualised returns of 10.8 per cent since it was launched in 2014.
伍德是华尔街最知名的投资者之一，以大举押注机器人和太空探索等领域的快速增长公司而闻名。方舟旗下最受欢迎的产品、80亿美元的创新ETF(Innovation ETF)自2014年推出以来年化回报率为10.8%。
    
But performance has soured since the start of 2021, as valuations for many technology stocks have been hit by increases in US interest rates.
但自2021年初以来，随着许多科技股的估值受到美国加息的打击，业绩出现恶化。
    
Kenneth Lamont, senior fund analyst for passive strategies at Morningstar, noted that all but one of Ark’s US-domiciled ETFs have suffered net outflows this year, collectively losing $689mn, according to data provider ETFGI.
晨星(Morningstar)被动策略高级基金分析师肯尼思•拉蒙特(Kenneth Lamont)指出，根据ETFGI的数据，今年以来除一只ETF外，方舟在美国注册的其他所有ETF均遭遇净流出，总计失去6.89亿美元。
    
Rize has attracted inflows of $29.6mn so far this year after gathering $47.9mn in 2022, according to ETFGI. However only its Cybersecurity Data Privacy ETF and Future of Food ETFs currently hold assets of more than €100mn.
ETFGI的数据显示，Rize在2022年吸引了4790万美元的资金流入，今年迄今吸引了2960万美元的资金流入。然而，目前只有其网络安全数据隐私ETF(Cybersecurity Data Privacy ETF)和未来食品ETF(Future of Food ETF)分别持有超过1亿欧元的资产。
    
Wood expects to launch a range of active Ark funds in Europe by the end of the year.
伍德预计今年底前将在欧洲推出一系列方舟主动型基金。
    
Rize, which will be renamed Ark Invest Europe, was founded in 2019. Gilbert’s AssetCo business acquired a 63 per cent majority stake in Rize for £16.5mn in 2021 and later invested a further £5.25mn.
成立于2019年的Rize将更名为方舟投资欧洲(Ark Invest Europe)。吉尔伯特的AssetCo在2021年以1650万英镑购得Rize 63%的多数股权，后来又追加投资525万英镑。
    
However, AssetCo wrote down the value of Rize this year, saying the business remained “materially behind plan”. Although there was potential in the business, it was emerging “later and slower” than initially hoped, the company said.
然而，AssetCo今年减记了Rize的价值，称该业务仍“严重落后于计划”。该公司表示，尽管Rize业务有潜力，但其进展比最初希望的“更迟且更慢”。
    
AssetCo’s decision to sell Rize in little more than two years since it acquired the business underlines the difficulty facing smaller boutiques trying to establish a European presence, where inflows are dominated by large global players like BlackRock, Amundi and DWS.  
AssetCo在收购Rize业务两年多一点之后就决定出售该业务，凸显了试图在欧洲打开局面的较小规模精品机构所面临的困难。贝莱德(BlackRock)、东方汇理(Amundi)和德意志资产管理(DWS)等大型全球参与者吸收了欧洲的大部分资金流入。
    
Ark paid AssetCo £2.6mn upfront for its 70 per cent stake in Rize, and has agreed to a deferred payment of £2.6mn and an earn-out provision capped at £5.2mn over five years.
方舟为买下Rize 70%的股份向AssetCo立即支付260万英镑，双方还同意260万英镑的递延付款，外加在五年期间上限为520万英镑的获利能力支付计划(earn-out)。
    
Gilbert told the FT there was “huge logic” for the deal which maintains River and Mercantile’s access to the platform. “It is a win-win for both sides,” he said.
吉尔伯特告诉英国《金融时报》，这笔交易背后有“强大的逻辑”，包括让River and Mercantile继续使用Rize平台。“这对双方来说是双赢的。”他说。
    
The deal will be Ark’s first real push into Europe, and comes after Swedish broker Avanza launched a mutual fund for local investors managed by Ark Investment Management earlier this year.
这笔交易将是方舟首次真正进军欧洲，今年早些时候瑞典经纪商Avanza曾面向当地投资者推出一只由方舟投资管理公司管理的共同基金。