MutualFundWire.com: Zinkula Brings Dual Share Classes to Nasdaq

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Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Zinkula Brings Dual Share Classes to Nasdaq

The folks at a 44-year-old, $57-billion-AUMA*, privately held fund firm in the Land of Enchantment is expanding their one-year-old, $600-million-AUM exchange-traded fund lineup to six ETFs in total by entering the new active dual mutual fund ETF share class space. More specifically, the asset manager's team is rolling out ETF share classes of a $701-million-AUM** pair of longstanding mutual funds (one is more than 24 years old, and the other is more than 29 years old).

Mark Joseph Zinkula
Thornburg Investment Management, Inc.
President, CEO, Director

Today, Mark Zinkula, CEO of Thornburg Investment Management, Inc. [profile], unveils the launch of ETF share classes of the Thornburg American Opportunities Fund (TAOZ) and the Thornburg Focus Growth Fund (TFGZ). The Santa Fe, New Mexico-based firm's team lays claim to these new ETF share classes to be the first dual share ETFs ever to list on the Nasdaq Stock Market, LLC.

The launch of the TFGZ and TAOZ share classes comes about a week after the two mutual funds made another transformation. On March 23, the Thornburg team rebranded both funds and updated their investment strategies. The $206.4-million-AUM** Thornburg Focus Growth Fund (whose inception date was December 27, 2000) was formerly known as the Thornburg Small/Mid Cap Growth Fund, and the $494.6-million-AUM** Thornburg American Opportunities Fund (whose inception date was October 2, 1995), was formerly known as the Thornburg Small/Mid Cap Core Fund. Those changes, in turn, followed new portfolio manager duos taking over the two funds back in January.

TAOZ and TFGZ's inception date is today, and both new ETF share classes come with expense ratios of 79 basis points (which bake in fee waivers, promised through March 27, 2027, of 14bps and 19bps, respectively). That makes the new ETF shares 16bps cheaper than the funds' lowest cost mutual fund shares (I shares and R5 shares) and 116bps cheaper than the funds' most expensive mutual fund shares (C shares). (Both funds also offer load-based A shares, as well as R3 and R4 shares.)

Zinkula describes the launch of TFGZ and TAOZ as "a new and innovative way to access Thornburg's investment strategies."

"Extending these mutual funds into ETF share classes underscores our commitment to meeting evolving client demand with actively managed, high-conviction strategies grounded in fundamental research," Zinkula states.

Thornburg serves as investment advisor to both funds.

The Thornburg American Opportunities Fund's PM team now includes:

Miguel Oleaga, managing director; and

Neal BasuMullick, managing director.

The Thornbug Focus Growth Fund's PM team now includes:

Nicholas Anderson, managing director; and

Julian Serafini, senior equity research analyst.

Both mutual funds are actively managed, diversified series of Thornburg Investment Trust. The new ETF shares' other service providers include:

SS&C's Alps Distributors, Inc. as distributor;

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as independent accounting firm;

Ropes & Gray LLP as counsel; and

State Street Bank and Trust Company as custodian and transfer agent.