LTCM vet Haghani enters the ETF fray

Ex-LTCM founder Victor Haghani has filed for an ETF, joining a string of wealth managers and strategists who have recently put their names behind the popular investment vehicle.

Haghani’s firm, Elm Wealth, on Friday submitted regulatory paperwork for the Elm Market Navigator ETF, a group of funds that would invest in mutual funds and active and passive ETFs, among other things. The new product would, if launched, rely on Elm’s “Dynamic Index Investing” whose baseline construction is composed of 75% equities and 25% fixed income. The adviser would then rebalance after evaluating each asset class based on a number of factors, including riskiness. 

A fee and ticker were not disclosed. 

Haghani founded Elm Wealth in 2011 to manage clients’ — as well as his own family’s — money. He had been a co-founding partner at Long-Term Capital Management in the 1990s after a stint at Salomon Brothers. 

Elm clients can currently invest their money with the firm via a private fund or a separately managed account. The firm’s website lists an “active index investing” asset-allocation methodology, which constructs a baseline portfolio that adds value and momentum overlays that make it “responsive to changing market conditions.”

A number of high-profile names, and, increasingly, strategists and research shops, have applied for their own ETFs of late. Rob Arnott, the founder of Research Affiliates, recently launched a product, while economist Nouriel Roubini has filed to do so as well. The list of those who have already put out their own or are looking to do so includes Fundstrat’s Tom Lee, Fairlead’s Katie Stockton, Jim Bianco of Bianco Research, and others. Meanwhile, some large ETF issuers have put some of their star strategists or portfolio managers behind new ETFs. That includes two BlackRock funds, one being the nearly $6 billion Flexible Income ETF (ticker BINC), for the firm’s bond chief Rick Rieder.