Evolve Funds Group has filed its final prospectus to launch the Evolve U.S. Marijuana ETF (USMJ), the world’s first ETF focused on the U.S. marijuana industry.
Units of ticker symbol USMJ have been approved for listing on the NEO Exchange and started trading on April 17.
USMJ is designed to provide investors with long-term capital appreciation by actively investing in a diversified mix of equity securities of public issuers that are involved in the U.S. marijuana industry where state and local laws regulate and permit such activities, according to Evolve which will act as the portfolio manager for USMJ.
“The cannabis opportunity in the U.S. is similar to that of Canada a couple of years ago, but in many respects has the potential to be exponentially larger,” Evolve President and CEO Raj Lala said in a statement. “In the U.S., 10 states have legalized recreational use and 33 states have legalized medical use. Given the population in the U.S. compared to Canada, there are some U.S. cannabis companies generating more revenue than Canadian producers, albeit with much smaller market caps.”
USMJ may invest in equity securities of companies listed domestically and globally, and other companies, with business activities in the U.S. recreational and/or medical marijuana industry.
Evolve says it will employ an investment process that combines quantitative techniques, fundamental analysis and risk management to the portfolio. USMJ will be denominated in Canadian dollars and will incorporate a dynamic foreign-exchange strategy to hedge back to the Canadian dollar, at the discretion of Evolve.