First Trust Advisors, an asset management shop based in Wheaton, Illinois, is entering the fray with its first actively-managed ETF. The First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund will invest in energy infrastructures and be managed by Connecticut-based sub-advisor Energy Income Partners, in which First Trust has a minority stake.

The new fund, which started trading today, was disclosed through an SEC filing, and confirmed to MFWire by Ryan Issakainen, First Trust's senior vice president and ETF strategist.

The fund will be managed by a four-person team at Energy Income Partners led by PM James Murchie, who has spent over 25 years in the energy industry.

Issakainen told MFWire that the intention of the new fund is to invest in mature energy infrastructure companies that pay out a high level of interest, with the advantage that the fund is structured as an RIC and so will be able to avoid the negative tax consequences connected with the MLP structure.

Issakainen added that First Trust may further expand its actively managed ETF lineup in selected asset classes. "We're looking for managers who've demonstrated that they can add value, and Energy Income Partners has demonstrated that by doing a great job with our closed-end funds," he said. 

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