Chicago based V-Square Quantitative Management LLC (V-Square), a global asset management firm with sustainability at its core, announced today that it has expanded its market-leading capabilities with the launch of its second thematic ETF the V-Shares MSCI World ESG Materiality and Carbon Transition ETF (VMAT).

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Mamadou-Abou Sarr, Co-Founder and President (Left), Habib Moudachirou, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer (Right) (Photo: Business Wire)

Tracking the MSCI World ESG Materiality and Carbon Transition Select Index, the fund represents the performance of companies which are assessed to be sector leaders based on a set of relevant key issues scores that are aligned with the Sustainability Accounting Standards (SASB) Materiality Framework and seek to minimize carbon transition risk and to capture opportunities through companies’ operations and business model.

VMAT's underlying index constituents are selected from a universe of large and mid-capitalization companies across 23 developed countries.

“We are thrilled to launch the V-Shares MSCI World ESG Materiality and Carbon Transition ETF tracking an innovative index, focusing on the financial impacts of sustainability and accounting for current and potential exposure to climate change transition risks and opportunities,” said Mamadou-Abou Sarr, Co-Founder and President of V-Square.

“V-Square sought to build off of the SASB Standards within an MSCI ESG and Climate index to provide investors with a thoughtful way to focus on financially material ESG issues and participate in opportunities associated with the low carbon transition.”

“Investors increasingly recognize that material ESG matters may have a direct financial impact on companies’ balance sheets and investment portfolios as vectors of risks and opportunities. Yet, out of a plethora of ESG data, only a subset may have a direct financial impact on companies. VMAT focuses financially material ESG issues to seek to drive better performance,” said Habib Moudachirou, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of V-Square.

The investment framework for VMAT is reinforced by V-Square’s custom proxy voting policy guided by the core tenets of accountability, stewardship, transparency, and sustainability. By focusing on these areas of responsible governance, V-Square seeks to promote long-term shareholder value creation and risk mitigation at portfolio companies.

A thematic ETF

Edward Allen, Head of ESG Client Coverage – Americas, MSCI, said, “As climate change and the management of climate risk climbs the investment agenda, there is a growing interest and need for solutions aligning with SASB Standards and we were pleased to develop this index for V-Square. MSCI ESG and Climate Indexes are designed to provide institutional investors with effective and transparent tools to integrate ESG and Climate considerations in their investment portfolios and align their benchmarks with their objectives.”

“We are glad to see V-Square’s use of the SASB Standards in a unique approach to help investors allocate capital based on industry-based and sustainability-related risks and opportunities,” says Nicolai Lundy, the Value Reporting Foundation’s Chief of Market Relationships. “As the market moves toward standardization and rationalization of the sustainability disclosure landscape, we believe SASB Standards and future IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards will continue to be a valuable tool to help integrate ESG factors into investment decision making in a rigorous, scalable way.”

Rob Marrocco, Senior Director for Listings at Cboe Global Markets said: “We are delighted to welcome V-Square Quantitative Management’s latest ETF to Cboe Global Markets. V-Shares and Cboe share the same spirit of innovation and commitment to sustainability, both of which are demonstrated in this product through its innovative structured approach and world-class partnerships.”

For more information about V-Shares, visit www.v-shares.com.

For more news and information about V-Square, visit the www.vsqm.com

About V-Square

V-Square Quantitative Management LLC is a global asset manager with sustainability at its core. V-Square specializes in developing and managing thematic, customized passive and factor-based portfolios and delivers analytics to integrate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) into portfolio, risk management and reporting. A subsidiary of Chicago private equity firm Valor Equity Partners, V-Square has a distinct approach to sustainability taking a long-term view that is deeply rooted in academic research overlayed with a rigorous quantitative process.

Disclosures

The V-Shares MSCI World ESG Materiality and Carbon Transition ETF seeks to track the investment results, before fees and expenses, of the MSCI World ESG Materiality and Carbon Transition Select Index (the “Underlying Index”). The index includes large and mid-cap securities across 23 Developed Markets countries and is designed to represent the performance of companies which are assessed to be sector leaders based on a set of relevant key issues scores that are aligned with SASB’s Materiality Map. The index excludes companies involved in Controversial Weapons, Tobacco-related businesses, Thermal Coal mining, Thermal Coal power generation and unconventional Oil and Gas. Also, it excludes companies that fail to comply with the United Nations Global Compact Principles and companies with Low Carbon Transition (LCT) category of Asset Stranding. (Ticker: MXESGMTN)

Carefully consider a Fund's investment objectives, risk factors and charges and expenses before investing. This and other information can be found in the Fund's prospectus, which may be obtained by calling + 1 844 VSHRETF (1 844 874 7383) or by visiting the Fund's website v-shares.com to view or download a prospectus. Read the prospectus carefully before investing.

As with all ETFs, Shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of Shares will approximate the Fund's NAV, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount) due to supply and demand of Shares or during periods of market volatility.

A strategy or emphasis on environmental, social and governance factors ("ESG") may limit the investment opportunities available to a portfolio. Therefore, the portfolio may underperform or perform differently than other portfolios that do not have an ESG investment focus.

The Fund is a recently organized investment company with no operating history. As a result, prospective investors have no track record or history on which to base their investment decision.

The Fund is classified as “non-diversified,” which means the Fund may invest a larger percentage of its assets in the securities of a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.

Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and therefore the Fund generally will not sell a security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry or sector, unless that security is removed from the Underlying Index or the selling of the security is otherwise required upon a rebalancing of the Underlying Index.

Methodology Risks. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the Index Provider can offer assurances that Underlying Index's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or that the included issuers will provide the Fund with the market exposure it seeks.

The V-Shares MSCI World ESG Materiality and Carbon Transition ETF is distributed by Quasar Distributors, LLC. V-Square Quantitative Management, LLC acts as the investment advisor to the Fund. Quasar and V-Square are unaffiliated entities.

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