Xtrackers by DWS Launches its First Active ETF: NRES

Global Natural Resources Fund Combines Strength of DWS’ Xtrackers Platform and Liquid Real Assets Expertise 

NEW YORK, NY – February 27, 2024 – DWS, one of the world's leading asset managers, announced today the listing of its first actively-managed exchange-traded fund (ETF), the Xtrackers RREEF Global Natural Resources ETF (NASDAQ: NRES) (the “Fund”). The Fund is designed to provide investors with exposure to global natural resources (GNR) companies primarily through investments in equity and equity related securities.  The Fund seeks total return from both capital appreciation and current income and, as an actively managed ETF, does not seek to replicate the performance of a specific index. 

For DWS, this listing marks its entry into the fast-growing actively managed ETF market in the US^[1]. “More and more investors are recognizing the advantages of this form of investment. Active strategies can adapt to a wide range of market conditions, especially in times of great uncertainty,” says Arne Noack, Head of Systemic Investment Solutions, Americas. “Adding the actively managed Xtrackers RREEF Global Natural Resources ETF to our range of US-listed ETFs, combines two of DWS’ global core competencies and expands the range of best-in-class specialty investment solutions, while leveraging the liquidity, cost efficiency, transparency, and potential tax benefits of the ETF structure.” 

The Fund seeks to identify and capitalize on opportunities across a variety of resources subsectors including metals, energy, agriculture, paper & forestry. The Fund will be managed by seasoned DWS ETF portfolio managers based on a target allocation provided by DWS Liquid Real Assets (LRA) portfolio managers Avi Feinberg, Darwei Kung, and John Vojticek. The Fund’s target allocation is continuously reviewed by the LRA portfolio management team and adjusted as necessary. 

“During the post-COVID inflationary cycle, investor portfolios were under-allocated to inflation-resilient assets. Because government deficits and debts have continued to expand, we believe natural resource equities provide a timely opportunity to protect capital in a prolonged period of gentle or minor price increases,” noted John Vojticek, Head of Liquid Real Assets. 

At a time when powerful forces including a growing global population, supply constraints, and deglobalization are pressuring commodity prices upward, DWS believes global natural resources can provide strategic diversification to client portfolios. Our DWS market insights reveal that resource companies broadly have strong balance sheets, generate healthy free cash flow, and can continue to return capital to shareholders via dividends and share buybacks.  

The S&P Global Natural Resource Index includes 90 of the largest publicly-traded companies in natural resources and commodities businesses that meet specific investability requirements, offering investors diversified and investable equity exposure across three primary commodity-related sectors:  agribusiness, energy, and metals & mining, with a market capitalization of $4 trillion. By comparison, the tech giant Microsoft alone has a market cap of around $3 trillion. To succeed in the GNR space it is crucial to understand how strategic themes, commodity-price cycles and linkages across sectors, and management incentives converge to create investment opportunities. For example, copper production growth will likely depend on the pace of electric vehicle adoption, the cost of substitutes such as gasoline or aluminum, copper companies’ cost of capital, government policies that impact the access to reserves and cost of production, etc.  Base metals & mining companies would be poised to harness a trend of growing demand vs. challenges to develop new supplies.

 “With the launch of Xtrackers RREEF Global Natural Resources ETF, we are connecting the dots of our firm’s global capabilities to present the “best of DWS” to the market in an area thoughtfully selected to provide investors with our expertise in both alternative investing and ETF management. As an actively managed ETF in the GNR segment, we believe the Fund provides an innovative, specialized, and differentiated investment solution in a competitive environment,“ said Henry Wu, Head of Xtrackers Products US. DWS' robust Alternatives platform has a 50-year history of active investing for institutional, corporate, and sovereign clients worldwide.  With $120 billion in assets under management as of September 30^th, 2023, DWS is one of the world's leading fiduciary managers for alternative investments. Of this amount, $28 billion was invested in Liquid Real Assets (LRA) strategies with active track records dating back to 1993. 

Within this investment universe there is tremendous dispersion, which requires special expertise. “For specific asset classes and sub-asset classes, it is clear that managers with experienced teams and proven processes are best positioned to identify investment opportunities,” says Amanda Rebello, Head of Xtrackers Sales, US Onshore. The Fund’s US-based LRA portfolio managers cover both commodities and GNR equities. With comprehensive expertise in both asset classes, DWS has the research depth and competitive advantage to add value for investors.”  

The Fund is competitively priced with net/gross expense ratios of 0.45%.  

As of February 16, 2024, the Xtrackers U.S. product suite has $20.5 billion USD in assets under management.^[2] Since January 2023, Xtrackers by DWS has launched 8 ETFs and has plans to continue to approach the market with innovative, cost disruptive strategies that give investors building blocks to various types of exposures.  

To learn more about Xtrackers ETFs available in the U.S., please visit www.etf.dws.com/en-us/etf-products/.