Why 17 ETFs Are Closing up Shop

Northern Trust, which entered the ETF business last year, is closing its funds.

The company, based in Chicago, had $33 million in assets at the end of last year. The board of trustees decided to close all 17 of the NETS funds, citing current market conditions, the inability of the funds to attract significant market interest and their future viability.

Their final day of trading will be Feb. 9, and any investor holding shares after that date will receive a cash distribution equal to the net asset value (NAV) of their shares as determined on Feb. 20.

If funds aren’t grabbing market share, closing them is the responsible thing to do.

The ETF provider was the first to launch a line of funds that tracked the major foreign market indexes. Some of their funds included:

• NETS S&P/ASX 200 Index Fund (AUS): Represents Australia
• NETS DAX Index Fund (DAX): Tracks Germany’s major exchange
• NETS FTSE 100 Index Fund (LDN): Invests in the largest companies by market cap on the London Stock Exchange
• NETS CAC40 Index Fund (FRC): Represents France
• NETS Hang Seng Index Fund (HKG): Represents Hong Kong

Comments

[Geoffrey Lordi:]

Not a bad idea for many of these to be closed. Aside from awfully low volume, large spreads, and minuscule investor interest, some of these ETFs' movements were so divergent from their tracked indices that one wonders about their construction methodology...

Jan 29 12:13 AM

[Chkrazer:]

please name all 17 of the ETFs that are closing.

Jan 29 08:42 PM

[gordontravels:]

I second that... please name all 17.

Jan 30 02:26 PM

[etfsare4lovers:]

all 17 NETS
* NETS BEL 20 Index Fund (Belgium)
* NETS S&P/ASX 200 Index Fund (Australia)
* NETS Hang Seng China Enterprises Index Fund
* NETS CAC40 Index Fund (France)
* NETS DAX Index Fund (Germany)
* NETS Hang Seng Index Fund (Hong Kong)
* NETS ISEQ 20 Index Fund (Ireland)
* NETS TA-25 Index Fund (Israel)
* NETS S&P/MIB Index Fund (Italy)
* NETS TOPIX Index Fund (Japan)
* NETS AEX-index Fund (The Netherlands)
* NETS PSI 20 Index Fund (Portugal)
* NETS FTSE Singapore Straits Times Index Fund
* NETS FTSE/JSE Top 40 Index Fund (South Africa)
* NETS FTSE 100 Index Fund (United Kingdom)
* NETS FTSE CNBC Global 300 Index Fund
* NETS Tokyo Stock Exchange REIT Index Fund

Feb 02 01:22 PM