Toronto-based Guardian Capital LP launched Tuesday its first actively managed ETFs.

The inaugural suite of five ETFs from Guardian Capital comprises two Directed Outcomes solutions that combine high conviction ideas with derivative overlays to seek high income and risk mitigation and three i3 funds that use artificial intelligence to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns. (Stockhouse.com)

“Guardian Capital’s entry into the ETF marketplace aligns with our innovative approach to investment solutions,” said Barry Gordon, Managing Director and Head of Canadian Retail Asset Management. “The development of these outcome-oriented solutions will meet the broad needs of the Canadian retail segment and its clients. We continue to find opportunities that allow us to showcase our skilled management teams, highly differentiated active equity strategies, and solutions focused on solving decumulation challenges.”

One of the ETFs in Guardian’s new suite is the Guardian i3 Global REIT ETF. It focuses on the global real estate market.

Guardian i3 Global REIT ETF (TSX: GIGR)

This Guardian REIT ETF seeks to provide exposure to the global real estate market by investing in a diversified portfolio of publicly traded real estate investment trusts and stocks of real estate operating corporations. It offers a lower correlation to traditional markets and sustainable dividend yields.

The ETF will identify high-quality and defensive global real estate equities with sustainable dividend growth and avoiding areas of weakness. Fusing artificial intelligence, human intelligence, and innovation, the i3 fusion process produces a global, long-only REIT equity strategy designed to deliver differentiated alpha and diversification, enhancing investment outcomes.

The Guardian ETF intends to pay quarterly distributions commencing in September 2020. The distribution amount is not fixed; the amount of ordinary cash distribution, if any, will be based on the Manager’s assessment of the prevailing market conditions.

Real estate heading for “great reshuffling”

According to Rich Barton, CEO of real estate analytics company Zillow, the real estate market is amid a churn as work-home priorities changed dramatically following the pandemic. He observed that there was a tilt towards home office space.

“I believe we are at the dawn of a great reshuffling,” says Barton. “I’m sure I don’t need to spell it out for you because we are all living it, spending an average of nine hours more per day at home. Zoom meetings are changing the way families think about space and privacy. Home offices are in high demand. Backyards are more desirable than parks and gyms. Work-from-home policies are eliminating the commute for many. There’s an endless list of considerations.”

Barton also said he saw a rising trend of people migrating away from large, crowded, and expensive U.S. cities. He said this appeared to be “a lasting, multiyear meaningful trend.”

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