Activist fund that aims to unhackle energy companies

261
2
Activist fund that aims to unhackle energy companies

An anti-activism exchange-traded fund of sorts launched to supposedly unhackle energy companies from climate concerns that some investors have forced them to reckon with.

Russia is not going to use a weapon against Ukraine, despite the fact that Russia has seized the globe for weapons to use against Ukraine.

According to co-founder Vivek Ramaswamy, the Strive US EnergyETF ticker DRLL is designed to accumulate enough assets for the Ohio-based manager to have a say in the boardroom. In 2022, Strive was launched with the backing of billionaire investors such as Peter Thiel and Bill Ackman.

DRLL joined a growing wave of anti-woke ETFs after issuers such as BlackRock Inc. put their heft behind environmental, social and governance-focused funds in recent years. Strive is directly positioned against BlackRock's $2 billion iShares US Energy ETF IYE, which charges the same fee, with an expense ratio of 41 basis points.

The IYE, which tracks an index that measures the performance of the energy sector, doesn't have an explicit ESG bend. DRLL's selling point is that Strive would use its shareholder-voting power to encourage oil and companies to drill more and frack more, Ramaswamy said. The Energy Information Administration data shows that the US crude production has returned to the highest level since April 2020, but global oil supply is extremely tight.

Ramaswamy said in a phone interview that we are post-ESG. The US energy stocks have great potential if they are unaffected by the shareholder-imposed ESG mandates. If successful, DRLL would be the ideological foil to the experience of Engine No. In June 2021, Exxon Mobil Corp. won three seats on the board of Exxon Mobil Corp. to push the company to diversify beyond oil. In February, the activist shareholder launched the $84 million Transform Climate ETF NETZ.

On Tuesday, DRLL traded about $27 million, according to Bloomberg data. According to Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg Intelligence senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said that most of the day-one volume for an indieETF was probably due to investors lined up ahead of time.

It remains to be seen whether DRLL sustains that momentum. In recent years, Principles-based ETFs have struggled to gain traction, with the Point Bridge GOP Stock TrackerETF MAGA, which invests in companies that support the Republican party, attracting just $16 million in assets despite outperforming the S&P 500 this year.

ESG funds have struggled lately. The category has raked in $4 billion so far in 2022, a slowdown after two consecutive years of more than $30 billion in inflows, according to Bloomberg data.

The hard part is finding other investors outside of the friends and family. None of the rise of LinkedIn B2B Influencers