The team at an 896-billion-euro-AUM (aka $973-billion-AUM) (as of December 31, 2023), publicly traded, multinational asset manager are bringing the bank-backed firm into the active ETF space, starting in the U.S.

Henry Wu DWS Group Head of Xtrackers Products U.S.

Last week, Henry Wu, head of U.S. products for DWS' [profile] Xtrackers ETF unit, and John Jojticek, global head of liquid real assets at DWS, unveiled the launch of the Xtrackers RREEF Global Natural Resources ETF (NRES on the Nasdaq). The actively managed ETF is a series of the DBX ETF Trust.

NRES' listing date was last Tuesday, February 27. As of Friday, March 1, the new fund had $10.12 million in AUM. It comes with an expense ratio of 45 basis points.

DWS subsidiaries DBX Advisors LLC and RREEF America LLC will serve as NRES' investment advisor and subadvisor, respectively.

The new ETF's PM team includes: Shlomo Bassous, vice president of DBX and senior portfolio engineer, systematic investment solutions for DWS Investment Management Americas, Inc.; Patrick Dwyer, VP of DBX and senior portfolio engineer and team lead, systematic investment solutions at DWS IM Americas; Avraham Feinberg, head of investment strategy liquid real assets and co-head of DWS' commodities and global natural resources equities team; Darwei Kung, head of investment strategy liquid real assets and head of multi-asset and commodities and natural resources equities; Bryan Richards, VP of DBX and head of portfolio engineering, systematic investment solutions, DWS IM Americas; Ashift Shaikh, VP of DBX and portfolio engineer, systematic investment solutions for DWS IM Americas; and Vojticek.

Vojticek puts the launch of NRES in the context of the continuing expansion of government deficits and debts.

"We believe natural resource equities proivde a timely opportunity to protect capital in a prolonged period of gentle or minor price increases," Vojticek states.

"With the launch of Xtrackers RREEF Global Natural Resources ETF, we are connecting the dots of our firm's global capabilitiees to present the "best of DWS' to the market in an area thoughtfully selected to provide investors with our expertise in both alternative investing and ETF management," Wu states, describing NRES as as providing "an innovative, specialized, and differentiated investment solution in a competitive environment."

DWS' Xtrackers business has about $167 billion in AUM worldwide as of February 16. That includes $20.5 billion in its product suite for U.S. investors.

NRES' other service providers will be: SS&C's Alps Distributors, Inc. as distributor; Bank of New York Mellon as administrator, custodian, and transfer agent; Ernst & Young LLP as independent accounting firm; and Vedder Price as counsel. 

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