Emerge
Sustainable Dividend Equity ETF

Ticker: EPCA

Investment Objective

Emerge EMPWR Large Cap Dividend Sustainability ETF seeks to achieve a long-term total return and current income by investing primarily, under normal circumstances, in equity securities of U.S. large capitalization issuers that meet the Emerge ETF’s Sustainability investment criteria.

The investment objectives of the Emerge ETF can only be changed with the approval of a majority of the unitholders at a meeting called for such purpose.

Fund Description

In order to achieve its investment objective, this Emerge ETF invests at least 80% of its net assets in dividend-paying equity securities of large-capitalization issuers in the U.S. that, at the time of investment, meet the Emerge ETF’s Sustainability investment criteria.

CAIM applies a “bottom-up” research process to seek to identify equity securities for investment that it believes have the potential to increase dividends in the future. CAIM uses a proprietary screening process to identify companies that it believes have favorable balance sheets and above-average levels of cash flow per share, pay a dividend and demonstrate the ability to increase that dividend over time. CAIM identifies securities for investment that meet the above criteria when it believes they are trading at a discount to their future value. CAIM identifies securities to be sold for several reasons, including when it believes the security is overvalued or management is unable to achieve its goals.

About Our Sub Advisor

Catherine Avery, CEO/CIO, Catherine Avery Investment Management

 

Catherine founded CAIM in 2007. She previously worked for Morgan Stanley, Shearson and Lehman Hutton, Prudential Securities, and Merrill Lynch. B.S. in Finance from New York University.

Catherine Avery founded CAIM to focus on creating dividend-yielding portfolios with low volatility. With Catherine’s broad experience gained from over 25 years of global investing, CAIM has generated Top Quartile performance and achieved an impressive 5-star Morningstar Rating. Catherine favors this classic strategy because stable dividends benefit investors, retail or institutional. CAIM’s Dividend Benefit Sustainability has captured growth in the dividends of large-cap stocks in both up and down markets while minimizing risk. Dividend stocks can provide both the necessary growth to keep up with inflation and income for appropriate diversification.

Who Should Invest?

This Emerge ETF may be suitable for investors who:

  • seek exposure to dividend-paying equity securities of large-capitalization issuers in the U.S. that meet the Emerge ETF’s Sustainability investment criteria
  • have a long-term investment perspective and
  • have a risk tolerance.
Fund Facts
Ticker CAD EPCA
Ticker USD$ EPCA.U
AUM (As of October 10, 2023) $511,161 CAD
AUM (As of October 10, 2023) $375,923 USD
Fund Type Active ESG Equity
Inception Date September 8, 2022
Management Fees 0.8%
CUSIP CAD$ 29105N102
CUSIP USD$ 29105N201
Primary Exchange NEO Exchange
Number of Holdings 29 – this is an approximate
Advisor Catherine Avery Investment Management
Benchmark Russell 1000 Value**

 

**The fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) that does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index.

NAV

(As of October 10, 2023)

EPCA (CAD) $10.22
EPCA.U (USD) $7.52

Commitment to Sustainability

Investing in forward-thinking companies is a part of our core philosophy and product offering. We believe that the future of innovative products and services will be greatly influenced by global sustainability issues and the risk associated with them. Thus, investment managers that effectively assess environmental, social, and government “ESG” factors are more likely to generate sustained performance, while having a positive impact the society.

At Emerge, our focus on environment social, and corporate governance is centered around four broad base categories:

ESG Material issues
Climate change
Diversity and Inclusion
Activity Involvement

All Sustainability-related investment decisions made by Emerge are discussed by the Sustainability committee and documented in a report. Should Emerge decide to divest a company that has been identified, the divestiture will be done in an orderly manner; within a 90-day period

Top 10 Holdings

As of July 31st, 2023

Caterpillar, Inc.4.7%
Cummins Inc.4.4%
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.4.3%
Valero Energy Corporation4.3%
Chevron Corporation3.9%
LyondellBasell Industries 3.7%
Oracle Corporation 3.7%
U.S. Bancorp3.6%
NextEra Energy, Inc.3.6%
Cisco Systems, Inc.3.6%

Geographic Allocation

As of July 31st, 2023

  • Americas 93.1%
  • UK 3.7%
  • Europe 3.0%

Market Cap

As of July 31st, 2023

  • Medium 5.5%
  • Large 38.4%
  • Giant 56.0%

Before investing, you should carefully consider the ETF’s investment objectives, strategies, risks, charges and expenses. This and other information are in the prospectus, which may be obtained by visiting www.emergecm.ca. Please read the prospectus carefully before you invest.

ESG Risk. Because the Funds evaluate ESG factors to assess and exclude certain investments for non-financial reasons, the Funds may forego some market opportunities available to funds that do not use these ESG factors. Information used by the Funds to evaluate ESG factors, including data provided by third-party vendors, may not be readily available, complete or accurate, and may vary across providers and issuers and within industries, which could negatively impact the Funds’ ability to apply its methodology and in turn could negatively impact the Funds’ performance. Currently, there is a lack of common industry standards relating to the development and application of ESG criteria which may make it difficult to compare the Funds’ principal investment strategies with the investment strategies of other funds that apply certain ESG criteria or that use a different third-party vendor for ESG data. In addition, the Funds’ assessment of a company may differ from that of other funds or an investor. As a result, the companies deemed eligible for inclusion in the Funds’ portfolios may not reflect the beliefs or values of any particular investor and may not be deemed to exhibit positive or favorable ESG characteristics if different metrics were used to evaluate them. Regulatory changes or interpretations regarding the definitions and/or use of ESG criteria could have a material adverse effect on the Funds’ ability to invest in accordance with its investment policies and/or achieve their investment objective.