A $4.6-billion-AUM SoCal team is teaming up with a Mid-Atlantic ETF-in-the-box shop to build a fund. The team is part of a $130.6-billion-AUM (as of June 30), 135-practice RIA aggregator.

David Lyle Bahnsen The Bahnsen Group Founder, Managing Partner, Chief Investment Officer

Yesterday, David Bahnsen, founder and managing partner of Hightower Advisors, LLC's Newport Beach, California-based The Bahnsen Group, unveiled the launch of the TBG Dividend Focus ETF (TBG on the NYSE Arca, Inc.). The new fund is a series of the EA Series Trust (fka the Alpha Architect ETF Trust).

TBG comes with an expense ratio of 59 basis points. Its inception date was Monday, and as of today it has $250,000 in AUM.

Empowered Funds, LLC (dba EA Advisers, aka ETF Architect) will serve as advisor to TBG, and Madison Avenue Financial Solutions, LLC (a subsidiary of Hightower) will serve as subadvisor. The new, actively managed, diversified ETF's PM team includes: Bryan Szytel, portfolio manager at Madison and managing director and partner at The Bahnsen Group; and Bahnsen himself, PM at Madison and chief investment officer at his eponymous shop. (Note: Bahnsen also uses "TBG," which is the new ETF's ticker, as an abbreviation for The Bahnsen Group.)

Bahnsen argues that "dividend growth speaks volumes about the financial well-being and sustainability of a company" and puts the launch of TBG in that context.

"We want nothing to do with companies whose dividend is in jeopardy," Bahnsen states. "Selectivity is critical in dividend growth investing, as not all dividends are created equal."

TBG's other service providers will include: Practus, LLP as counsel; ACA Foreside's Quasar Distributors, LLC as distributor; Tait, Weller & Baker LLP as independent accounting firm; U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC (dba U.S. Bank Global Fund Services) as administrator, fund accountant, and transfer agent; and U.S. Bank National Association as custodian and securities lending agent. 

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