Grail Advisors Planning Four Active, Single-Manager ETFs

Grail Advisors is planning to offer four actively managed exchange-traded funds that will the first to use a single-manager approach.

The funds are the RP Growth, RP Focused Large Cap Growth, RP Technology and RP Financials ETFs. RP stands for RiverPark Advisors, which will be the sub-advisor for each of the funds, except for the RP Focused Large Cap Growth ETF, which will also be co-managed by Wedgewood Partners.

“One of our goals from the outset was to bring traditional, active fund managers to the ETF marketplace,” said William Thomas, chief executive officer of Grail Advisors.

The funds will have an expense ratio of 89 basis points, which the firm says will be a significant cost savings to clients, as it is half the average cost of an actively managed fund. As far as revealing holdings yet sidestepping front-running, the firm believes it can avoid that by revealing holdings at the end of the day and by investing in securities with a fair amount of liquidity.