The team at a $5.3-billion-AUM (as of December 31), tactical quant shop in the Southland is entering the ETF space. They're also preparing to rebrand their mutual funds.

Albert George "Skip" Schweiss III Ocean Park Asset Management CEO

This morning, Skip Schweiss, CEO of Ocean Park Asset Management, LLC, and James St. Aubin, chief investment officer, unveiled the launch of the Santa Monica, California-based asset manager's first four ETFs. Those new ETFs are: the Ocean Park Diversified Income ETF (DUKZ on the NYSE Arca), the Ocean Park Domestic ETF (DUKQ on the NYSE Arca), the Ocean Park High Income ETF (DUKH on the Nasdaq), and the Ocean Park International ETF (DUKX on the Nasdaq).

DUKX, DUKH, DUKQ, and DUKZ are each series of Northern Lights Fund Trust, and their inception date was July 10 (i.e. last Wednesday). As of yesterday, they each had about $500,000 in AUM.

DUKQ comes with an expense ratio of 98 basis points. DUKX and DUKZ come with expense ratios of 99bps. And DUKH comes with an expense ratio of 107bps. (All of those expense ratios bake in a 19bps fee waiver promised through January 31, 2026.)

Ocean Park serves as investment advisor to DUKZ, DUKQ, DUKH, and DUKX, while Exchange Traded Concepts (ETC) serves as trading subadvisor. The four new funds each have the same PM team: Ryan Harder, chief investment strategist at Ocean Park; Ken Sleeper, managing director; and St. Aubin.

Schweiss describes Ocean Park's new ETFs as "a direct response to advisor demand for access to Ocean Park's investment process in an ETF wrapper."

"The new suite of ETFs will allow individual investors and their financial advisors to create total portfolio solutions tailored to an individual's objectives," St. Aubin states.

The launch of Ocean Park's first ETFs comes after Wright Fund Management, LLC shifted to the brand of its sibling Ocean Park last December. Looking ahead, watch for Ocean Park to rebrand its Sierra Mutual Funds under the Ocean Park name this fall. (Sierra Investment Management is a sister company and retail RIA.)

"This simplified product framework will improve the experience for advisors, their clients and private account business," Schweiss states. "Though parts of our business will be under a different name, Ocean Park will remain dedicated to providing innovative investment solutions tailored to the evolving demands of all of our clients."

DUKH, DUKQ, DUKX, and DUKZ's other service providers include: Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. as custodian, dividend disbursing agent, securities lending agent, shareholder servicing agent, and transfer agent; Cohen & Company, Ltd. as independent accounting firm; Northern Lights Compliance Services, LLC (NLCS) as chief compliance officer provider; Northern Lights Distributors, LLC as distributor; Thompson Hine LLP as counsel; and Ultimus Fund Solutions, LLC as administrator, custody administrator, and fund accountant. 

Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE