American Century Ventures Across the Atlantic: European Debut with Innovative ETFs

American Century, known for its mutual funds in the USA, has now ventured into the European market by launching two actively managed ETFs. The Avantis Global Equity UCITS ETF (AVWC) and the Avantis Global Small Cap Value UCITS ETF (AVWS) are listed on the Deutsche Börse as of today. With expense ratios of 0.22% and 0.39% respectively, they aim to provide investors with access to global securities and smaller companies. AVWC focuses on large, medium, and small companies from developed markets. It seeks to achieve superior performance compared to its competitors by overweighting stocks with lower valuations and higher profitability metrics, which it considers the most promising. The benchmark for this ETF is the MSCI World IMI Index. In contrast, AVWS uses a similar selection process, but with a particular focus on smaller firms, and follows the MSCI World Small Cap Value Index as its benchmark. With a total of $3.38 billion in assets under management across 19 ETFs, American Century leverages its extensive expertise. The new European presence adopts a strategy aiming for minimal tracking error — a style that has already gained popularity among European ETFs. Another product, the Avantis Emerging Markets Equity UCITS ETF, is already registered with the Central Bank of Ireland but is still awaiting its launch. Under the leadership of CIO Eduardo Repetto, the quantitative investment unit Avantis Investors, which introduced the new ETFs, continues to expand. Repetto expresses enthusiasm about the international launch: “Many investors greatly appreciate our portfolio approach, and we are excited to offer our cost-effective, well-diversified strategies now in the European market.” Richard Adams, Head of the EMEA region at American Century Investments, also sees great potential: “Avantis Investors provides essential building blocks for our clients' investment strategies. The demand for our products in Europe is steadily growing.” The move marks the latest entry of a U.S. asset manager into the European market, following similar moves by Janus Henderson and Pacer ETFs.