(Bloomberg) -- First Trust, one of the largest issuers of US ETFs, terminated TCW Group Inc. as the manager of four exchange-traded funds valued at about $8 billion.
Most Read from Bloomberg
-
ICE Eyes Massive California Tent Facility Amid Space Constraints
-
Washington, DC, Region Braces for ‘Devastating’ Cuts from Congress
First Trust’s board voted to terminate each fund’s sub-advisory agreement with TCW last week, according to filings. The board approved a new deal with Smith Capital Investors, which manages more than $5 billion, according to a prospectus.
The largest of the four ETFs is the First Trust TCW Opportunistic Fixed Income ETF, with about $4.2 billion, which debuted in 2017 and invests in relatively undervalued assets.
A First Trust spokesperson declined to comment.
“TCW and First Trust have been in discussions for some time about the future of the partnership,” TCW spokesperson Doug Morris said, adding that the firm launched a new ETF platform last year that has had “significant asset growth.”
Most ETFs are low-fee index funds, and active fixed-income managers have been ramping up their offerings as retail investors move more of their money into the products.
It’s rare for sub-advisory roles to change on ETFs, unlike active mutual funds, according to Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi.
TCW, which oversaw almost $200 billion as of Dec. 31, recently launched its own suite of fixed income ETFs, totaling about $1.2 billion of assets, and acquired the ETF business of Engine No. 1 in 2023.
First Trust oversees more than $250 billion and locks in roughly $1 billion in annual US revenue from selling ETFs.
Smith Capital was founded by Gibson Smith, who was previously head of fundamental fixed income for Janus Capital before it merged with Henderson Group.
--With assistance from Silla Brush.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
-
Nvidia Looks Past DeepSeek and Tariffs for AI’s Next Chapter
-
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel Bets Meta Can’t Copy High-Tech Glasses
-
How Trump’s ‘No Tax on Tips’ Could Backfire for the Working Class
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.