Last November, Eaton Vance opened its wallet and acquired the intellectual property of Gary Gastineau's Managed ETFs LLC. In a recent chat with InvestmentNews, Eaton Vance CEO Tom Faust talked about why he pulled the trigger on the deal.

"We are interested in pursuing active ETFs, and we recognize that the transparency is a huge issue," Faust tells the pub. "It is certainly our view that for a large percentage of active strategies, it doesn't make sense to communicate to the world effectively in real time what you own and your trading activity."

He also discusses the steps Eaton Vance needs to take before it can get non-transparent ETFs to market. Don't expect such offerings this year, though.

"We don't think non-transparent active exchange-traded funds will be a 2011 event," he says.

Meanwhile, Eaton Vance might also roll out transparent active ETFs. In the interview, Faust notes that full transparency is appropriate for some strategies, such as fixed income.

A few months before it unveiled the Managed ETFs deal, Eaton Vance filed to launch five active fixed income ETFs. 

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