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No More New ETFs From HealthShares
December 2, 2008
SAN DIEGO - (ETFguide.com) - Since their launch in March/April 2007, HealthShares ETFs have not been able to capitalize on the momentum that attracts more and more investors to ETFs.
The HealthShares suite of ETFs underwent a total makeover less than two months ago. 15 ETFs were closed while four ETFs were redesigned (read related article here).
Obviously, this must not have yielding the desired results. HealthShares announced that the remaining four shares will be liquidated as of December 31st. December 23rd will mark the last day of trading. About $30 million in assets will be affected by the liquidation. Ironically, all four ETFs outperformed the S&P 500 (AMEX: SPY) in 2008.
ETFs to be closed:
HealthShares Cancer Exchange Traded Fund – HHK
HealthShares European Drugs Exchange Traded Fund – HRJ
HealthShares Diagnostic Exchange Traded Fund - HHD
HealthShares Enabling Technologies Exchange Traded Fund - HHV
Until December 23rd, the four ETFs will be “in limbo” as the ETF are unlikely to track their underlying indexes due to the fund’s effort to liquidate underlying positions.
HealthShares investment advisor, XShares Advisors, plans to launch new ETFs related to environment and infrastructure in 2009.
No prior year has seen as many ETFs liquidate as 2008. Including the above four ETFs, 43 ETFs have been closed so far this year. ETFguide maintains the only database that tracks closed ETFs. |
