CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nuveen, an operating division of TIAA Global Asset Management, has launched a suite of five exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track indices employing environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. The NuShares ESG ETFs, which will begin trading today on the Bats Exchange, Inc., seek to track the investment performance of the U.S. stock market across various market capitalizations and investment styles while giving special consideration to certain ESG criteria. The NuShares ESG ETFs are the most comprehensive offering of domestic ESG ETFs in the asset management industry, and draw upon the deep, highly respected and decades-long responsible investment expertise of TIAA Investments. The name and ticker of each NuShares ESG ETF, as well as the name of the index each ETF is designed to track, is set forth below:
| ETF Name | Ticker | Index | ||
| NuShares ESG Large-Cap Value ETF | NULV | TIAA ESG USA Large-Cap Value Index | ||
| NuShares ESG Large-Cap Growth ETF | NULG | TIAA ESG USA Large-Cap Growth Index | ||
| NuShares ESG Mid-Cap Value ETF | NUMV | TIAA ESG USA Mid-Cap Value Index | ||
| NuShares ESG Mid-Cap Growth ETF | NUMG | TIAA ESG USA Mid-Cap Growth Index | ||
| NuShares ESG Small-Cap ETF | NUSC | TIAA ESG USA Small-Cap Index |
The underlying investments in each index are selected with consideration given to certain ESG criteria initially established by the Fund’s sub-adviser, Teachers Advisors, LLC, an affiliate of TIAA. ESG performance is measured on an industry-specific basis, with assessment categories varying by industry. Environmental assessment categories can include a company’s impact on climate change, natural resource use, and waste management and emission management. Social evaluation categories can include a company’s relations with employees and suppliers, product safety and sourcing practices. Governance assessment categories can include a company’s corporate governance practices and business ethics. The ESG criteria also consider how well a company adheres to national and international laws and regulations as well as commonly accepted global norms related to ESG matters. The indices generally exclude companies with significant activities in certain controversial businesses, including those involving alcohol, tobacco, military weapons, firearms, nuclear power and gambling, among others. The indices are owned, calculated and controlled by MSCI, Inc. (MSCI); TIAA has licensed its name to MSCI for use in the names of the indices.
“Following the success of our initial ETF offering, NuShares Enhanced Yield U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NUAG), we are pleased to bring this new suite of ETFs to the market as we strive to offer our clients products that are most meaningful to their long-term portfolio needs and success,” said Martin Kremenstein, Managing Director and Head of Exchange-Traded Funds at Nuveen. “This latest offering highlights the many areas of strength across our firm as we are able to leverage the widely respected ESG expertise of TIAA with the product development and service platform of Nuveen,” Kremenstein added.
ESG investing has been a bright spot for the asset management industry, representing a significant growth opportunity as investors increasingly seek to align their investments with their values. In a recent TIAA Global Asset Management survey of over 1,000 high net worth U.S. investors, 89% said they would like to invest responsibly as long as they could achieve the same or better investment returns, and nearly three quarters of respondents said they would be more likely to work with advisors who were able to offer them competitive investment options that also have a positive impact on society.
“Investors are beginning to realize that it is indeed possible to build a well-diversified portfolio of ESG options that can deliver competitive returns. Offering a comprehensive range of ESG products and strategies that helps investors achieve their financial goals is critical,” said Amy O’Brien, managing director and head of Responsible Investment at TIAA Global Asset Management. “We expect interest in ESG investing to continue to grow in 2017, and we intend to continue to leverage the knowledge we’ve acquired during our decades of experience in socially responsible investing in order to become an indispensable ESG resource for investors and their advisors.”
For more information about the NuShares ESG ETFs, please visit Nuveen’s NuShares ETF homepage by clicking here.
About Nuveen
Nuveen provides investment solutions designed to help secure the long-term goals of individual investors and the advisors who serve them. Through the investment expertise of leading asset managers across traditional and alternative asset classes, Nuveen is committed to delivering consultative guidance that aligns with client needs. Nuveen is an operating division of TIAA Global Asset Management. For more information, please visit the Nuveen website at www.nuveen.com.
Before investing, carefully consider fund investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. For this and other information that should be read carefully, please request a prospectus or summary prospectus from your financial advisor or Nuveen at 800-257-8787 or visit www.nuveen.com.
This document is not an offer to sell securities and is not soliciting an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.
Risk Considerations
Investing involves risk; principal loss is possible. There is no guarantee the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved. These ETFs seek to generally track the investment results of an index; however the Funds may underperform, outperform or be more volatile than the referenced index. In addition, because the Index selects securities for inclusion based on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria, the Funds may forgo some market opportunities available to funds that don’t use these criteria. The value of equity securities may decline significantly over short or extended periods of time. Growth stocks tend to be more volatile and can experience sharp price declines. Value stocks may not be fully recognized by the market and be undervalued. Depending on the capitalization and characteristics of the companies in the underlying securities, the Funds may underperform or be subject to increased volatility. These and other risk considerations are described in detail in the Fund’s prospectus.
Shares of ETFs are bought and sold at market price as opposed to net asset value. As a result, an investor may pay more than net asset value when buying and receive less than net asset value when selling. In addition, brokerage commissions will reduce returns. Fund shares are not individually redeemable directly with the Fund, but blocks of shares may be acquired from the Fund and tendered for redemption to the Fund by certain institutional investors in Creation Units.
NuShares ETFs are distributed by Nuveen Securities, LLC, a subsidiary of Nuveen.
NUVEEN and NuSHARES are registered trademarks of Nuveen. TIAA is a registered trademark of TIAA, and is used by MSCI under license.
The NuShares ESG ETFs are not sponsored, endorsed, issued, sold or promoted by MSCI. MSCI makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in the ETFs. MSCI makes no warranty regarding the indices upon which the NuShares ESG ETFs are based. MSCI is not affiliated with Nuveen or any of its affiliates.
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