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(Bloomberg) -- The race to open up the multi-trillion-dollar private-asset market to retail investors is getting a jolt, as a much-anticipated ETF from Wall Street giants State Street Corp. and Apollo Global Management Inc. looks set to launch as soon as this week.
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The SPDR SSGA Apollo IG Public & Private Credit ETF, which would trade under the ticker PRIV, is drawing closer to an official debut following an updated regulatory filing and information listed on the website of the New York Stock Exchange.
The fund could start trading as early as Thursday, according to two people familiar with the plan, who declined to be identified because the information is private.
Private credit will generally range between 10% and 35% of the fund’s portfolio, the Securities and Exchange Commission filing shows. PRIV’s illiquid investments will be capped at a regulatory mandated 15%, it adds. The actively managed fund would carry a 0.70% expense ratio.
Apollo has been looking to make markets in private, investment grade debt, in a bid to make the historically closed-off market more liquid.
State Street and Apollo made waves when they filed for the fund in September, with their application appearing to jump ahead of rivals. Its debut may now pave the way for unleashing fresh billions into an already booming ETF universe and lead to a raft of copycat products.
The paperwork submitted to regulators dated Feb. 26 states that private-credit investments could incorporate “a wide range of credit instruments,” including those directly originated, or issued in private offerings or to private companies, among other things, and could include deals sourced by Apollo. The private-credit giant will provide “intra-day, firm, executable bids” on the instruments sourced by the firm.
“This is a ground-breaking ETF launch, in the amount of private assets held and the partnership with Apollo,” said Bloomberg Intelligence’s Eric Balchunas. “The ETF industry is relentless about pushing the envelope, and this is the furthest the envelope has been pushed into privates. And the industry will continue pushing from here on out.”
--With assistance from Denitsa Tsekova, Isabelle Lee and Beth Williams.
(Updates with additional information on holdings in fourth paragraph)