The MarketsJune 8, 2011

FaithShares Shutters Four Faith-Based ETFs

IndexUniverse.com reports that Oklahoma-based FaithShares has shuttered four of its five exchange-traded funds (ETFs) after the funds failed to attract significant assets.

Reported by PLANADVISER staff

The four ETFs scheduled to stop trading on July 15 are:

FaithShares Baptist Values Fund
FaithShares Catholic Values Fund
FaithShares Lutheran Values Fund
FaithShares Methodist Values Fund

These funds were linked to particular segments of Christianity, but the remaining fund, the FaithShares Christian Values Fund, is focused on Christian values in general, according to a weekly report from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney on the U.S. ETF landscape. Few investors are interested in overly-specific investment themes to sustain narrowly focused lines of products, IndexUniverse.com noted.

FaithShares had a total of $10.6 million in assets as of June 3. At that time, its remaining fund (FOC) had almost $3.1 million; the Baptist fund (FZB) had almost $1.5 million; the Catholic ETF (FCV) had $3.1 million; the Lutheran fund (FKL) had almost $1.5 million; and the Methodist ETF (FMV) had just over $1.5 million.

The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed that the last day of trading for the closing ETFs will be July 15; the funds are expected to liquidate their assets between July 20 and July 27. The regulatory paperwork claimed that shareholders remaining in any of the closing funds as of July 27 will have their shares redeemed automatically on that date and receive, in cash, the net asset value of their shares as of the close of business on July 27. This amount includes any accrued capital gains and dividends.