The folks at a publicly traded insurer's $517.8-billion-AUM (as of March 31) asset management arm are rolling out their 15th ETF, this time powered by a $44.4-billion-AUM (as of March 31) mid-cap and blue chip equity-focused team.

K. William "Bill" Nolin Principal Global Investors, LLC Chief Investment Officer, Principal Aligned

Yesterday, Jill Brown, managing director of U.S. wealth platforms at Principal Asset Management [profile], and Bill Nolin, chief investment officer of the Principal Aligned team, unveiled the launch of the Principal Focused Blue Chip ETF (BCHP on the Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc.). The actively managed, translucent (aka semi-transparent or active non-transparent, i.e. ANT), non-diversified ETF is a series of Principal Exchange-Traded Funds.

BCHP's inception date was yesterday, and it has $2.5 million in AUM. The new fund comes with an expense ratio of 58 basis points.

Principal Global Investors, LLC (PGI) serves as BCHP's investment advisor. Nolin and Tom Rozycki, director of research and portfolio manager at Principal Aligned, will PM the new fund.

The Principal team puts the launch of BCHP in the context of the recent growth of large-cap growth ETFs ($411 billion in AUM as of December 31, 2022) and active ETFs (which brought in about 30 percent of ETF inflows in the first five months of 2023). Brown describes the fund as a way to offer the Principal Aligned team's "proven approach" in ETF form.

"The team's active approach focuses on owner-operator companies with long runways in front of them — businesses getting better as they get bigger, with strong management teams and attractive valuations," Brown states.

The launch of BCHP comes about a year after the debut of Principal's first translucent ETF, for which Principal licensed Fidelity's active equity methodology for structuring translucent ETFs. BCHP is also Principal's 15th ETF. As of June 30, Principal's ETFs held a combined $2.4 billion in AUM.

BCHP's other service providers include: Alps Distributors, Inc. as distributor and principal underwriter; Ernst & Young LLP as independent accounting firm; and State Street Bank and Trust Company as custodian, dividend disbursing agent, securities lending agent, sub-administrator, and transfer agent. 

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