The latest news in investment offerings, financial products and other services relevant to wealth advisors and their clients.

Universal Investment Group
Universal Investment Group, a European fund services platform and Super ManCo, has launched an active exchange-traded fund (ETF) offering in response to rising client demand to advance into the growing international ETF market. Drawing on nearly 60 years of expertise, UI Group is using its infrastructure, regulatory expertise, and UCITS capabilities to provide an efficient, future-proofed entry point for asset managers into the rapidly evolving ETF landscape.

With the global ETF industry now exceeding $17 trillion, the new business area enables asset managers and fund initiators to launch active UCITS ETFs with efficient time-to-market, regulatory certainty, and full operational support, the firm said in a statement. Universal Investment is already working on customised active ETF structures as well as a white-label multi-manager solution for its asset manager clients which will support active ETFs domiciled in Ireland.

“The momentum behind ETFs – and particularly active ETFs – continues to grow as investors demand transparent, liquid, and cost-efficient solutions,” Marcus Kuntz, group head of sales and fund distribution at Universal Investment Group, said.

The global ETF industry reached a record $17.34 trillion in assets at the end of July 2025, an increase of nearly 17 per cent since the end of 2024. Europe has seen similarly strong expansion, with the market reaching $2.58 trillion. Active ETFs are a contributor to this growth, offering managers a transparent, exchange-listed wrapper that attracts significant inflows across both equity and fixed income strategies in the first half of 2025. Ireland, Luxembourg, and Germany are still among the most dynamic markets as asset managers seek differentiated strategies within ETF wrappers.

Muzinich & Co, SMBC
Muzinich & Co, the New York-headquartered corporate credit specialist, has inked a strategic partnership with Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation to launch a loan origination strategy. 

The Muzinich Enhanced Loan Origination Strategy will initially focus on a joint venture of around €1.5 billion ($1.17 billion). It has potential to reach a larger size, Muzinich & Co said.

The strategy is unique because it concentrates on the public broadly syndicated loan market, the firm said in a statement. Until now, bank and asset management partnerships have typically invested in private credit.

Loan origination means that an investment fund provides credit (originates a loan), acting as a sole or a primary lender, to borrowers such as small or medium enterprises. As such, this activity represents an alternative form of market-based financing, according to a definition from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).

The strategy will invest in a portfolio of primarily BB/B-rated new issue European senior secured loans. The strategy seeks to benefit from preferential access to primary deal flow in the syndicated loan market and will aim to deliver consistent quarterly high-income distributions.

The partnership builds on Muzinich’s credit expertise and SMBC’s European leveraged finance origination and syndication capabilities. 

“We believe this pairing, with access to primary deal flow, has the potential to earn risk-adjusted returns not available in the secondary market,” Justin Muzinich, CEO, Muzinich & Co, said. 

The strategy will be managed by portfolio managers Torben Ronberg and Stuart Fuller as part of Muzinich’s syndicated loans investment tea.

Muzinich & Co has more than $41 billion (as of 31st October 2025) in assets under management and offices in 17 locations worldwide.