Korean asset management firm Mirae Asset Financial Group has purchased a majority interest in BetaPro, the Canada-based exchange traded fund manager that handles the Horizons family of ETFs.

Horizons ETF has around $3 billion in assets under management. Under the terms of the deal, Mirae also gets an indirect controlling interest in AlphaPro, the subsidiary of BetaPro, and a minority interest in BetaShares Holdings. AlphaPro specializes in actively managed ETFs, while BetaShares is a new ETF firm that is based in Australia. With the acquisition, Mirae effectively increases its global ETF AUM to $4.1 billion. 

The deal comes as Canadian investors are increasingly looking to ETFs as viable investment choices. According to Investor Economics, assets in Canada-listed ETFs have grown an average of 27 per cent annually over the last five years. To date, there are over 200 ETFs listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.