Impax Asset Management Group, which doesn’t currently offer ETFs, is seeking exemptive relief from the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer ETF share classes of mutual funds and mutual fund share classes of ETFs, an application filed Sept. 20 with the SEC shows.
London-based Impax, which has North American offices in Portsmouth, N.H., and New York, offers investment strategies focused on "the opportunity to invest in the transition to a more sustainable economy,” an Impax spokeswoman said.
The filing listed two trusts as well as Portsmouth-based Impax Asset Management LLC, a majority-owned subsidiary of Impax, as applicants.
“We strive to provide our clients access to our expertise in the structure best suited for them,” the spokeswoman said. “It is clear that many clients are showing a preference for ETFs.”
With the filing, Impax joins long list of asset managers seeking exemptive relief relating to a multiclass structure. Like others before it, the Impax application cited an exemptive order granted by the SEC to Vanguard Group in 2000.
The order allowed Vanguard “to offer certain index-based open-end management investment companies with mutual fund classes and exchange-traded classes,” the filing said. Relying on that and later exemptive orders, “Vanguard has become a major sponsor of index-based ETFs,” the filing said. A patent obtained by Vanguard expired in May 2023.
Founded in 1998, Impax opened its first U.S. office in 2012, the spokeswoman said. In 2018, it acquired Portsmouth-based Pax World Management. As of June 30, Impax had assets under management totaling £36.9 billion (U.S. $46.7 billion), the spokeswoman said, adding that North America accounted for about 27% of those assets.
