The team at a $47.5-billion-AUM (as of June 30) asset manager in Illinois is rolling out their 14th ETF since entering the ETF space two years ago.

John Steve Halaby Harbor Capital Advisors, Inc. Executive Vice President, Head of Distribution

On Thursday, Spenser Lerner, managing director and head of multi-asset solutions at Harbor Capital Advisors, Inc. [profile], unveiled the launch of the Harbor Multi-Asset Explorer ETF (MAPP on the NYSE Arca, Inc.). The new fund is a series of the Harbor ETF Trust and, like Harbor's other ETFs, it is actively managed and, as is traditional for ETFs (though not for other mutual funds), offers daily transparency.

MAPP's inception date was last Wednesday, September 13, and it comes with an expense ratio of 87 basis points. As of Friday, the fund has $3.501 million in AUM.

Harbor serves as investment advisor to MAPP, which is powered by Harbor's in-house multi-asset solutions team. The new fund's PM team includes: Jason Alonzo, portfolio manager; Lindsey Houghton, managing director and PM; Justin Menne, PM; Jonathan Poynter, PM; Jack Schurmeier, PM; and Lerner. It is a fund-of-funds, designed primarily to invest in passive funds (though it can invest in active funds and invidiual securites, too.)

Lerner puts the launch of MAPP in the context of Harbor team's concerns that "too many investors inappropriately anchor their portfolios to arbitrary benchmarks or target static volatility profiles which result in sub optimal starting points."

"Rather than anchor to some arbitrary starting point, we anchor to the prevailing business cycle regime, which we believe is the primary driver of cross asset returns," Lerner states. "This should help drive better returns and better downside hedge vs. our multi-asset peers." 

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