A liquid alts shop is teaming up with a 52-year-old capital markets research firm to power a new passive fund.

Gregory David "Greg" Bassuk AXS Investments LLC Chairman, CEO

Today, Greg Bassuk, CEO of AXS Investments LLC [profile], and Brendan Wood, chairman and CEO of Brendan Wood International (BWI), unveil the launch of the AXS Brendan Wood TopGun Index (TGN on the NYSE Arca, Inc.). The new fund's inception date was Tuesday, and it's a series of the Investment Manager Series Trust II.

TGN comes with an expense ratio of 98 basis points. It is a passively managed fund, designed to track the Brendan Wood TopGun Index, which debuted back in 2010 and includes about 25 companies that are in the top two percent of the "Brendan Wood Shareholder Conviction Universe," drawing on BWI's "TopGun" concept and labeling of certain companies.

New York City-based AXS serves as TGN's investment advisor, and Toronto-based BWI serves as index provider. The fund will be PMed by Parker Binion (a portfolio manager at AXS) and Travis Trampe (vice president of portfolio management and product management at AXS).

The new fund, according to Bassuk, is designed to "provide exposure to the best quality stocks in the highest demand sectors."

"We are excited to partner with Brendan Wood in brining first-of-its-kind access for individuals to their world-renowned TopGun philosophy and methodology," Bassuk states. "While select institutions have benefited from Brendan Wood's TopGun access for decades, the TGN ETF offers those same investment attributes to the broader investing public."

Wood puts BWI's team up with AXS in the context of AXS's aim of "challenging the statuos quo with unique investment ideas."

"In seeking an entrepreneurial asset management firm to introduce the TopGun concept to the public market, we sought out a creative and disciplined invesetment manager who would exercise due diligence and approach the market with a game changer concept," Wood states. "AXS patiently subjected the TopGun concept to meticulous examiniation and concluded that its clients would benefit from an ETF dedicated to the TopGun Index."

The new fund's other service providers include: Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. (BBH) as custodian, fund accounting agent, and transfer agent; IMST Distributors, LLC as distributor; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP as counsel; Mutual Fund Administration, LLC (MFAC) as co-administrator; Tait, Weller & Baker LLP as independent accountant; and UMB Fund Services, Inc. (UMBFS) as co-administrator. 

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