PIMCO StocksPLUS UCITS ETF listed on the LSE

Jul 29, 2026

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The PIMCO Advantage StocksPLUS™ US Large Cap UCITS ETF USD Accumulation made its debut on 24 July 2026 on the London Stock Exchange.

Article created by the editorial staff of ETFWorld.co.uk

Ryan Blute, Managing Director and Head of Global Wealth Management, EMEA at PIMCO

The actively managed ETF, which aims to outperform the S&P 500 with a bond collateral, makes its debut on the ETFplus segment

It is an actively managed ETF issued by PIMCO, denominated in US dollars and with income reinvestment, with ISIN code IE000KR2IEH1 and a total annual expense ratio (TER) of 0.55%. The product offers exposure to US large-cap equities and aims to deliver a total return higher than that of the S&P 500 index.

On the same day, the ETF was also admitted to trading on Borsa Italiana and on Xetra (Deutsche Börse), which classifies it as an Active Equity ETF, with the ticker 5PSU and trading in euros.

Listing markets: LSE and Borsa Italiana (ETFplus) and Xetra (ticker 5PSU, trading in euros)

The benchmark is the S&P 500 Index, which comprises the leading US large-cap companies. Deutsche Börse describes the fund as an actively managed product that invests in US large-caps, with index tracking achieved through derivatives and secured by a short-term bond portfolio.

How the StocksPLUS strategy works

The fund gains exposure to the returns of the S&P 500 through unleveraged positions in futures contracts and Total Return Swaps on the index. These positions are collateralised by an actively managed portfolio of short-term bonds. The equity component therefore tracks the performance of the index, whilst the bond collateral is the source of potential additional return.

The bond portfolio aims to generate a return in excess of prevailing money market rates. PIMCO states that the targeted excess return stems from a high-quality bond portfolio and tends to be weakly correlated with the performance of active equity managers.

The StocksPLUS strategy was introduced by PIMCO in 1986. It combines full exposure to US large-cap equities, achieved through derivatives, with the application of active fixed-income management to the collateral. The objective is to retain the key characteristics of passive equity index tracking whilst deriving an additional return from the bond portfolio, thereby outperforming the S&P 500.

Fund-specific risks

PIMCO’s documentation lists a number of risks associated with the product’s structure. The main ones are:

Credit and default risk: a deterioration in an issuer’s financial health may reduce its ability or willingness to meet its contractual obligations, affecting the value of the bonds. Exposure is higher for sub-investment-grade securities.

Currency risk: changes in exchange rates may increase or decrease the value of investments.

Equity risk: the value of equities or equity-linked securities may be affected by market movements and by economic, political, sectoral or corporate factors.

Derivatives and counterparty risk: the use of derivatives may increase or make exposure to the underlying assets more volatile and increase counterparty risk, potentially leading to larger gains or losses.

Fixed-income risk: the insolvency of a bond issuer would result in a loss of income for the fund; the value of bonds tends to fall when interest rates rise.

Liquidity risk: in difficult market conditions, certain securities may become difficult to sell at the desired time and price.

Interest rate risk: changes in interest rates are generally reflected in the opposite direction in the value of bonds and other debt instruments.

The context: actively managed ETFs in Europe

The launch comes at a time of strong growth for actively managed ETFs in Europe. According to Morningstar’s ‘Europe Active ETF Trends’ report, by the end of June 2026, assets under management in actively managed ETFs domiciled in Europe had reached €108.3 billion, almost triple the level at the end of 2023. In the first half of 2026, these products recorded net inflows of €18.8 billion, accounting for 8.8 per cent of total inflows into European ETFs, up from 7.6 per cent in 2025 and 7.3 per cent in 2024.

However, active ETFs still account for only 3.4 per cent of European ETF assets under management, compared with around 12.5 per cent in the United States. According to Jose Garcia-Zarate, senior principal for manager research at Morningstar, the European market for active ETFs is moving into the mainstream at a remarkable pace.

Morningstar also highlights the growing demand for active fixed-income strategies. In the first half of the year, active fixed-income ETFs attracted around €5 billion, accounting for 27 per cent of total inflows into active ETFs, up from 10 per cent in 2024. J.P. Morgan remains the leading issuer of active ETFs in Europe, with a 42.1 per cent market share.

Looking at the sector as a whole, data from ETFGI (expressed in dollars and not directly comparable with Morningstar’s figures) show that the European ETF industry recorded record net inflows of $265.65 billion in the first half of 2026 and assets under management of $3.74 trillion (3,740 billion) at the end of June, following 45 consecutive months of positive inflows. According to ETFGI, at the end of June the S&P 500 index was up 10.21 per cent year-to-date.

Conclusions

With the listing of the PIMCO Advantage StocksPLUS US Large Cap UCITS ETF, PIMCO is bringing to the London Stock Exchange a strategy that combines exposure to US equities with the active management of a bond portfolio. The fund enables investors to gain exposure to the S&P 500 with the aim of generating excess returns from the fixed-income component, against a TER of 0.55%.

This listing forms part of the growth of actively managed ETFs in Europe, a segment which remains a minority compared to passive products but which continues to increase its share of inflows. The fund’s actual ability to outperform the index will depend on the results of the active management of the bond portfolio, which can only be assessed once the product is operational.