Amerant Investments enters Europe with launch of first UCITS ETF – active Latin American Debt ETF

The ETF seeks to invest in an actively managed portfolio of Latin American corporate bonds, with the aim of achieving steady income for investors, while providing a unique opportunity to access the attractive, rapidly growing economies of Latin America.

Emerging markets bonds offer higher yields than bonds from U.S. or developed market issuers, even though many of these corporations are large, multi-nationals and/or export-oriented firms. Spreads for Latin American bonds tend to be elevated, but active management can help avoid defaults in the region.

Latin America has resource-rich economies with fast-growing populations. Although the countries are developing markets, they have many multi-national, export-oriented, corporations – particularly in natural resources and basic materials. In addition, the ETF seeks to include diverse sectors such as energy, consumer, manufacturing, utilities, and financial services companies.

RNTA focuses on bonds issued in hard currency U.S. dollars, minimising currency risk. It also predominantly selects bonds from larger and stabler Latin American countries such as Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, and Paraguay. The strategy is not expected to hold distressed or defaulted bonds.

Sources: Bloomberg, Amerant Investments. Data as of December 17, 2024. For illustrative purposes only. There can be no guarantee that any strategy will be successful. All investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

The ETF is actively managed by the CIO of Amerant Investments, Baylor Lancaster-Samuel. Baylor acts as the portfolio manager for in-house discretionary portfolios for advisory clients, including mutual fund target allocation portfolios, and discretionary fixed income strategies across maturities and credit quality.

Baylor is a recognised expert in her field and a frequent contributor to Bloomberg news and television. She has two decades of experience, primarily in fixed income investing, in a variety of institutional, family office, and analytical roles.

This is the first ETF launched by Amerant Investments, and the first opportunity for non-Amerant clients to access its asset management expertise. Amerant is a south Florida-based, dually-registered RIA and broker-dealer. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amerant Bancorp (NYSE: AMTB), and serves domestic and international clients, across both discretionary and non-discretionary investment strategies, with total assets under management and custody of approximately $2.9 billion as of December 31, 2024.

RNTA becomes the seventh active ETF on the HANetf platform. The European active ETF space has been growing rapidly – with total AUM increasing by 68% last year – and HANetf expects that growth to continue throughout this year and beyond.

The launch continues HANetf’s expansion into the Latin American market. HANetf has 12 products listed on Mexican exchanges, with 11 on Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) and one on Bolsa Institucional de Valores (BIVA). The UCITS wrapper is increasingly favoured by Latin American investors due to recognition of its robust regulation and governance structure. Demand is also thought to be increasing for UCITS products in Latin America due to the preferential tax treatment of UCITS compared to alternative wrappers.

Baylor Lancaster-Samuel, CIO of Amerant Investments, comments:

“I am delighted to be the portfolio manager for Amerant’s first ETF, RNTA. This ETF is the culmination of 25 years of experience in fixed income for me. RNTA will invest in the debt of Latin American corporate issuers and help our clients invest in hard currency bonds from an attractive and growing region.”

Hector McNeil, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of HANetf, comments:

“We are delighted to be partnering with Amerant Investments to launch their first UCITS ETF. At HANetf, we pride ourselves on our ability to enable asset managers from around the globe to launch new and innovative products in Europe, in a cost and time efficient manner reducing the barriers to entry. Enabling an asset manager to launch their first ever ETF is always a proud moment. The Latin American bond market is an exciting and rapidly developing space, and Amerant are well-placed to capture the opportunity given their demonstrated fixed income expertise.

“This is the seventh active ETF launched on the HANetf platform, and there are more to follow. Active ETFs have seen tremendous growth in the U.S., but it seems Europe is only just getting started. At HANetf, we are always looking to innovate, and it is our goal to become one of Europe’s leading active ETF issuers. HANetf expects to have the broadest range of active ETFs in Europe by the end of 2025, spanning active equity, fixed income, and structured outcomes.”