An 87-year-old, $1.63-trillion-AUM, publicly traded, mutual fund industry giant is entering the thematic ETF space, four years after the debut of its first ETFs. The new offering expands the asset manager's ETF lineup to 17 active ETFs in total (including six traditional "transparent" equity ETFs, plus transparent bond ETFs and translucent ETFs).

Timothy John "Tim" Coyne T. Rowe Price Head of Exchange-Traded Funds

Yesterday (Thursday, October 24), Dominic Rizzo, a T. Rowe Price [profile] portfolio manager, and Tim Coyne, T. Rowe's global head of exchange-traded funds, unveiled the launch of the Baltimore-based fund firm's first thematic ETF, the T. Rowe Price Technology ETF (TTEQ on the Nasdaq). T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. serves as the new fund's investment advisor.

TTEQ's inception date was Wednesday (October 23), and it comes with an expense ratio of 63 basis points. As of yesterday, the new ETF had $15.07 million in AUM.

Rizzo manages TTEQ and serves as chair of the new fund's 18-person investment advisory committee. (The T. Rowe team also notes that Rizzo already PM's the firm's $9.4-billion-AUM Global Technology Equity strategy, while also noting that TTEQ's strategy is distinct from that of all of T. Rowe's existing funds.)

The new ETF draws on T. Rowe's "deep industry expertise and commitment to rigorous research" and "offers an appealing option to investors who favor the ETF format and are seeking to invest in attractive opportunities globally," Rizzo states.

"TTEQ targets mission-critical, linchpin technologies from companies innovating in secular growth markets," Rizzo states. "We look to navigate different market environments responsibly by tactically allocating to these enduring technology companies when they exhibit improving fundamentals and are trading at reasonable valuations."

Coyne puts the launch of TTEQ in the context of T. Rowe's "commitment to providing innovative offerings that meet ... clients' evolving needs in the ETF wrapper."

"As our ETF roster grows, our expansion into thematic offerings enables investors to tap into specific sectors and trends, like technology, and access the best of our active management expertise paired with the benefits of the ETF vehicle," Coyne states.

TTEQ is a series of T. Rowe Price Exchange-Traded Funds, Inc. The new fund's other service providers include: Bank of New York Mellon as middle office provider; PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as independent accounting firm; State Street Corporation as custodian, fund accountant, securities lending agent, and transfer agent; T. Rowe Price Investment Services, Inc. as distributor; and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP as counsel. 

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