The new Ucits-structured SPDR 500 ETF is primarily listed in Germany from today and is also registered for sale in the UK, Netherlands, France, Ireland and Italy.
In terms of appealing to non-US investors, a Ucits structure is most beneficial from a tax perspective and for SPDR it makes wider distribution possible.
The original US-listed SPDR S&P 500 ETF is the largest and most actively-traded ETF in the world, with over $108bn in AUM, as at 16 March. It was the first ETF ever to be launched back in 1993 and amassed over $2bn (£1.3bn, €1.5bn) in assets within its first three years.
SPDR said the new physically-backed ETF would allow for a cost-efficient way to transfer assets from the US version of the fund to the Ucits-compliant product.
The same portfolio management team that has managed the US product for the past 19 years will also manage the European one.
Phenomenal success
Deborah Fuhr, partner at ETF Global Insight, said: "It has been an amazingly successful product and illustrates the trend that people tend to embrace ETFs based on benchmarks they know and understand and also there is significant first-mover advantage.
"State Street have previously focused on the US market, but now Scott Ebner [managing director and global head of ETF product development at the firm] is looking at investors in non-US markets and which ETFs are appropriate to create in Ucits or other fund structures and where to list and cross-list new ETFs."
James Ross, senior managing director and global head of SPDR ETFs at SSgA, said: "The SPDR S&P 500 is well-recognised by many investors. The case for investing is straightforward – instant and easy access to one of the world’s premier indices tracking 500 large cap US stocks diversified across a range of sectors."
The objective of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF is to replicate as closely as possible the total return of the S&P 500 Index, the new version trades in both euro and sterling with the ticker codes SPY5 and SPX5 respectively and carries a TER of 0.15%.
Fuhr continued: "An S&P 500 ETF is a useful product for investors around the world so making it appropriate for those investors is important."
Year-to-date the US version of the fund has returned 8.96%, as at 29 February. Over three and five years to the end of February it has returned 25.32% and 1.52% respectively.
