Krane Funds Advisors, LLC, (“KraneShares”) a U.S. asset management firm known for its China focused KraneShares exchange traded funds (ETFs) and innovative China investment strategies, announced the launch of the KraneShares MSCI One Belt One Road ETF (ticker: OBOR). The OBOR ETF, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, holds strategic companies from countries participating in China’s One Belt One Road initiative (OBOR).
The OBOR initiative is a primary focus of Chinese President Xi Jinping. This extensive infrastructure initiative is a long-term modernization of the original Silk Road trading routes. The OBOR initiative connects China by land through Central Asia, West Asia, the Middle East, and Europe (“One Belt”), and by sea to the western coast of Africa, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean (“One Road”). All together the OBOR initiative will connect 69 countries (including China), representing an aggregate population of 4.5 billion and a nominal GDP of $23 trillion USD. These figures represent 62% of the world’s population and 30% of global GDP1.
The OBOR initiative provides a solution to the growing need for infrastructure development across the region. A recent report by the Asian Development Bank estimates that Asia and the Pacific will need $1.7 trillion in annual infrastructure investment amounting to as much as $26 trillion by 20302.
The KraneShares MSCI One Belt One Road ETF (ticker: OBOR) delivers the OBOR investment theme through The MSCI Global China Infrastructure Exposure Index. The index is designed to represent the performance of listed companies within Developed, Emerging and Frontier markets with high revenue exposure to China infrastructure development from within a specified set of industries relevant to the OBOR investment program and development strategy promoted by China.
“The MSCI Global China Infrastructure Exposure Index highlights MSCI’s commitment to designing innovative benchmarks for global investors” said Christine Berg, CFA, Managing Director at MSCI. “This index aims to capture the performance of wide-ranging global infrastructure investment opportunities represented by China’s One Belt One Road initiative.”
“We believe the OBOR initiative is creating a new paradigm in global investing,” said Jonathan Krane, Chief Executive Officer at KraneShares. “The OBOR initiative will receive trillions of dollars of investment over the next decade3 and should increase the economies and trade of both China and the participating nations.”
KraneShares will host an OBOR summit in the United States with the New York Stock Exchange in January 2018.
About Krane Funds Advisors, LLC
Krane Funds Advisors, LLC is the investment manager for KraneShares ETFs. Our suite of China focused ETFs provides investors with solutions to capture China’s importance as an essential element of a well-designed investment portfolio. We strive to provide innovative, first to market strategies that have been developed based on our strong partnerships and our deep knowledge of investing. We help investors stay up to date on global market trends and aim to provide meaningful diversification. Krane Funds Advisors, LLC is majority owned by China International Capital Corporation (CICC).