The folks at a 31-year-old, faith-based fund firm in the Midwest are rolling out their first two ETFs.

On Tuesday (April 8), Chad Horning, president of Praxis Funds, and Benjamin Bailey, vice president of investments, unveiled the launch of the Praxis Impact Large Cap Growth ETF (PRXG on the NYSE Arca) and the Praxis Impact Large Cap Value ETF (PRXV). Goshen, Indiana-based Praxis Investment Management (part of Everence) serves as the two funds' investment advisor, while Vident Advisory, LLC (dba Vident Asset Management) serves as subadvisor.

PRXV and PRXG's inception date was Monday (April 7), and they each come with an expense ratio of 36 basis points. As of yesterday (April 9), PRXG had about $1.4 million in AUM, while PRXV had about $1.3 million.

The Praxis team likens their new ETFs, which are actively managed and powered by quantitative equity strategies, to a pair of Praxis' longstanding, open-end, index mutual funds: the $608.3-million-AUM, 18-year-old Praxis Growth Index Fund; and the $476.9-million-AUM, 19-year-old Praxis Value Index Fund. The ETFs come with roughly the same price tag as those two mutual funds' I shares.

The PM team for PRXV and PRXG includes:

Dale Snyder, portfolio manager at Praxis;

Austin Wen, senior PM at Vident; and

Rafael Zayas, senior vice president and head of portfolio management and trading at Vident.

Horning highlights demand from "faith-based investors." (80-year-old Everence was founded by the Mennonite Church.)

"Investors want competitive, values-driven investment options and they want to talk with their financial advisors about investing with their faith in mind, and these products facilitate that conversation," Horning states.

"All Praxis funds embody our stewardship investing core values and use our ImpactX framework to create real-world impact," Bailey states. "Research shows that investors want advisors who understand and engage with their faith-based investing preferences. Our new ETFs provide practical solutions for advisors looking for lower cost, liquid, tax-efficient, values-driven investment options to serve these clients."

PRXG and PRXV are actively managed, non-diversified series of the Praxis Funds. (The dual launch brings Praxis' total lineup to 5 open-end funds, 2 ETFs, 3 portfolio solutions, and 1 money market account.) The ETFs' other service providers include:

Cohen & Company, Ltd. as independent accounting firm;

Dechert LLP as counsel;

ACA's Foreside Financial Services, LLC as distributor;

Foreside Management Services, LLC as administrator and business manager;

U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC (dba U.S. Bank Global Fund Services) as dividend and distribution disbursing agent and transfer agent; and

U.S. Bank National Association as custodian and securities lending agent.

 

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