Global X brought out the Global X Fishing Industry ETF (FISN) yesterday (5/4/11) targeting companies engaged in commercial fishing, fish farming, fish processing, or the marketing and sale of fish and fish products. It becomes the first fishing related ETF, and its holdings do not overlap with the new Global X Food ETF (EATX) launched one day earlier.
The underlying Solactive Global Fishing Index is designed to measure broad based equity market performance of global companies involved in the fishing industry. The indexing methodology allows for a range of 20-40 companies to be included, with current constituents numbering 20. Each stock is weighted by its free float market capitalization, with the four largest capped at 10% and all others capped at 4.75% during each 6-month rebalancing.
Although global by definition, the current country exposure for FISN is unique in that there are no U.S. based companies. The eight countries represented and their allocations are Norway 35.6%, Japan 22.7%, Chile 13.0%, South Korea 9.3%, China 5.4%, Spain 4.8%, Malaysia 4.7%, and Peru 4.7%. The large allocation to Norway is simple – that’s where the publicly traded companies are located. There is also a Global X FTSE Norway 30 ETF (NORW), but its allocation to fisheries is only about 4%.
The five largest holdings are Cermaq ASA (CRMQF) 10.8%, Marine Harvest (MNHVF) 10.7%, Toyo Suisan Kaisha Ltd (TSUKY) 9.8%, Cia Pesquera Camanchaca SA 8.5%, and Dongwon Industries Co Ltd 4.9%. The fund buys the stocks in the markets of their primary listings. The ADR symbols for U.S. markets listed above are thinly traded and are not recommended for direct purchase.
Global X provides a Fishing Industry Investment Case (pdf) for investors wanting to better understand the potential opportunities this ETF provides. My friend, Roger Nusbaum, has been bullish on the fishing industry for years.
FISN has an expense ratio of 0.69%, and additional information is located in the press release (pdf), summary, fact sheet (pdf), and prospectus (pdf).