Calgary-based active ETF all in on `lucrative' blank-cheque firms

The world's first actively managed exchange-traded fund that invests in blank-cheque companies is doubling down on the red-hot SPAC market at the expense of its other strategy, merger arbitrage.

The Accelerate Arbitrage Fund was launched in April by Julian Klymochko, the founder and chief executive of Calgary-based Accelerate Financial Technologies.

The firm invests in special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, before they've announced deals, and also incorporates merger arbitrage, which aims to capitalize on the spread between a target's stock price and the offer price before a deal closes.

SPAC investing has become “so lucrative,” according to Klymochko,

that the Arbitrage fund has curbed its exposure to merger arbitrage in favour of SPACs, of which it now holds 150.

“It's real hard to get excited about merger arbitrage these days,” Klymochko said.

The ETF, which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange, has returned about 43 per cent since its April 7 launch compared to an almost 11-per-cent gain for the S&P Merger Arbitrage Total Return Index over the same period.

Its only actively managed rival, The SPAC and New Issue ETF, ticker SPCX, launched in December on the New York Stock Exchange, surpassing US$25 million in assets under management earlier this month and up 15 per cent since its debut.

Michael Klein's Churchill Capital

Corp IV is SPCX's top holding, according to Matthew Tuttle, chief executive of Tuttle Tactical Management LLC, the ETF's adviser.

Meanwhile, The Defiance NextGen SPAC Derived ETF, ticker SPAK, which debuted on the NYSE in October, has returned about 16 per cent since its launch.

De-SPAC holdings account for most of SPAK's portfolio, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, and is passively managed.

Known as blank-cheque companies, SPACs raise money from investors and then look to acquire another business, usually a private one. A record 237 SPACs debuted on U.S. exchanges in 2020, raising nearly US$79 billion, and at least 54 have already begun trading this year.

Examples of high-profile SPAC deals include gambling company DraftKings Inc., which went public through a reverse merger with Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp. in April, and electric-vehicle maker Nikola Corp., which merged with VectoIQ Acquisition Corp. in June.

Accelerate's launch was aided by a shift in Canadian security regulations, which allowed mutual funds and ETFs to use complex liquid alternative strategies that were previously limited to high-net-worth and institutional investors.

Accelerate Financial declined to give its assets under management, though it said the firm's AUM has grown more than 1,100 per cent year-over-year.