Nuveen AA-BBB CLO ETF |
Ticker
Listing Exchange:
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3 December
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This summary prospectus is designed to provide investors with key Fund information in a clear and concise format. Before you invest, you may want to review the Funds complete prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Funds prospectus, reports to shareholders and other information about the Fund online at www.nuveen.com/etf. You can also get this information at no cost by calling (888) 290-9881 or by sending an e-mail request to mutualfunds@nuveen.com. If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the prospectus, reports to shareholders and other information will also be available from your financial intermediary. The Funds prospectus and statement of additional information, both dated December 3, 2024, are incorporated by reference into this summary prospectus and may be obtained, free of charge, at the website or phone number noted above.
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Investment Objective
The investment objective of the Fund is to seek total return, primarily through current income.
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The table below describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, when buying or selling shares of the Fund, which are not reflected in this table or the example that follows:
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees |
0.25 | % | ||
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees |
0.00 | % | ||
Other Expenses1 |
0.00 | % | ||
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses |
0.25 | % | ||
1 Other Expenses are estimated for the current fiscal year. |
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Example
The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all your shares at the end of a period. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Funds operating expenses remain the same. The example does not reflect brokerage commissions that you may pay when you purchase and sell Fund shares. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
1 Year |
$ | 26 | ||
3 Years |
$ | 80 |
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or turns over its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Funds performance. The Fund has not completed its first fiscal year, and therefore it does not have a portfolio turnover rate to report.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) that seeks to pursue its investment objective by investing, under normal market conditions, at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in debt tranches of Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLOs) of any maturity that are rated between AA+ and BBB- or an equivalent rating by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization (NRSRO), or if unrated, determined to be of comparable credit quality by the Fund management team. For purposes of the Funds investment policies, CLOs are floating- or fixed-rate debt securities issued in different tranches, with varying degrees of risk and yield, by a trust or other special purpose vehicle and backed by an underlying portfolio consisting primarily of a pool of loans. Such loans may include domestic senior secured loans, senior unsecured loans, covenant lite loans (which have few or no financial maintenance covenants), and subordinate corporate loans (which may individually be rated below investment grade or the equivalent if unrated). The underlying loans are selected by a CLOs manager. A CLOs credit rating may fall below the CLOs credit rating at the time of the Funds purchase. In such cases, the Fund will consider whether to continue to hold the CLO. The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in cash and fixed income ETFs.
At the time of purchase, the Fund will not invest more than 5% of its portfolio in any single CLO, and will not invest more than 15% of its portfolio in CLOs managed by a single CLO manager. The Fund will generally only invest in CLOs with a minimum initial total offering size of $250 million. The Fund may invest up to 10% of its assets in non-investment grade CLOs rated between BB+ and B- (or equivalent by an NRSRO) at the time of purchase. However, the Fund will not invest in any CLO debt security that is rated below B- (or equivalent by an NRSRO) at the time of purchase or in any CLO equity security.
The Fund may purchase CLO securities in both the primary (i.e., purchased directly from the issuer) and secondary markets (i.e., markets where the securities are trading following the initial offering). The Fund will only invest in CLOs that are U.S. dollar denominated, and the Fund may invest in CLOs of any maturity or duration.
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The Fund is non-diversified and therefore is not required to meet certain diversification requirements under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act).
Principal Risks
You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The principal risks of investing in the Fund listed below are presented alphabetically to facilitate your ability to find particular risks and compare them with the risks of other funds. Each risk summarized below is considered a principal risk of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears.
Active Management RiskThe Funds sub-adviser actively manages the Funds investments. Consequently, the Fund is subject to the risk that the investment techniques and risk analyses employed by the Funds sub-adviser may not produce the desired results. This could cause the Fund to lose value or its investment results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.
Call RiskIf, during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer exercises its right to prepay principal on its higher-yielding debt securities held by the Fund prior to the scheduled maturity date, the Fund may have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, which may adversely impact the Funds performance.
Cash Redemption RiskThe Funds investment strategy may require it to effect redemptions, in whole or in part, in cash. In order to obtain the cash needed for a redemption, the Fund may be required to sell portfolio securities, which may cause the Fund to incur certain costs such as brokerage costs and recognize capital gains or losses that it might not have recognized if it had satisfied the redemption in-kind. Therefore, to the extent the Fund effects redemptions in cash, it may pay out higher annual capital gain distributions than if it satisfied redemptions entirely in-kind. These costs may decrease the Funds NAV to the extent not offset by a transaction fee payable by an authorized participant.
Collateralized Loan Obligations RiskA CLO is an asset-backed security whose underlying collateral is a pool of loans, which may include, among others, floating rate and fixed rate senior secured loans, senior unsecured loans, and subordinate corporate loans, including loans that may be rated below investment grade. In addition to the risks associated with loans and high yield securities, CLOs are subject to the risk that distributions from the collateral may not be adequate to make interest or other payments; the quality of the collateral may decline in value or default; the Fund may invest in tranches of CLOs that are subordinate to other tranches; and the CLOs manager may perform poorly. CLOs may charge management and other administrative fees, which are in addition to those of the Fund.
CLO Manager RiskThe Fund intends to invest in CLO securities issued by CLOs that are managed by third-party collateral managers. The Fund is dependent on the skill and expertise of such managers. CLO managers are responsible for selecting, managing and replacing the underlying bank loans or bonds within a CLO. CLO managers may have limited operating histories and may be subject to conflicts of interests, including managing the assets of other clients or other investment vehicles, or receiving fees that incentivize maximizing the yield, and indirectly the risk, of a CLO. Adverse developments with respect to a CLO manager, such as personnel and resource constraints, regulatory issues or other developments that may impact the ability and/or performance of the CLO manager, may adversely impact the performance of the CLO securities in which the Fund invests.
Covenant Lite Loan RiskThe Fund may obtain exposure to loans that are covenant lite through its investments in the CLOs. Covenants contained in loan documentation are intended to protect lenders by imposing certain restrictions and other limitations on a borrowers operations or assets and by providing certain information and consent rights to lenders. Covenant lite loans may lack financial maintenance covenants that in certain situations can allow lenders to claim a default on the loan to seek to protect the interests of the lenders. The absence of financial maintenance covenants in a covenant lite loan might result in a lower recovery in the event of a default by the borrower. Covenant lite loans have become much more prevalent in recent years.
Credit RiskCredit risk is the risk that an issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be, or perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) to be, unable or unwilling to make interest and principal payments when due and the related risk that the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuers ability or willingness to make such payments.
Credit Spread RiskCredit spread risk is the risk that credit spreads (i.e., the difference in yield between securities that is due to differences in their credit quality) may increase when the market believes that bonds generally have a greater risk of default. Increasing credit spreads may reduce the market values of the Funds debt securities. Credit spreads often
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increase more for lower rated and unrated securities than for investment grade securities. In addition, when credit spreads increase, reductions in market value will generally be greater for longer-maturity securities.
Cybersecurity RiskCybersecurity risk is the risk of an unauthorized breach and access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or the risk of an incident occurring that causes the Fund, its investment adviser or sub-adviser, custodian, transfer agent, distributor or other service provider, a financial intermediary or the issuers of securities held by the Fund to suffer a data breach, data corruption or lose operational functionality. Successful cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures or events affecting the Fund, its service providers or the issuers of securities held by the Fund may adversely impact the Fund or its shareholders. Additionally, a cybersecurity breach could affect the issuers in which the Fund invests, which may cause the Funds investments to lose value.
High Yield Securities RiskHigh yield securities, which are rated below investment grade and commonly referred to as junk bonds, and unrated securities of comparable quality are high risk investments that may cause income and principal losses for the Fund. They generally are considered to be speculative with respect to the ability to pay interest and repay principal, have greater credit risk, are less liquid, are more likely to experience a default and have more volatile prices than investment grade securities.
Income RiskThe Funds income could decline during periods of falling interest rates or when the Fund experiences defaults on debt securities it holds.
Interest Rate RiskInterest rate risk is the risk that the value of the Funds fixed-rate securities will decline because of rising interest rates. Changing interest rates, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Funds performance to the extent that it is exposed to such interest rates. Fixed-rate securities may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. Higher periods of inflation could lead to government fiscal policies which raise interest rates. When interest rates change, the values of longer-duration fixed-rate securities usually change more than the values of shorter-duration fixed-rate securities. Conversely, fixed-rate securities with shorter durations or maturities will be less volatile but may provide lower returns than fixed-rate securities with longer durations or maturities. Rising interest rates also may lengthen the duration of securities with call features, since exercise of the call becomes less likely as interest rates rise, which in turn will make the securities more sensitive to changes in interest rates and result in even steeper price declines in the event of further interest rate increases. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the income generated by its investments may not keep pace with inflation.
Loan RiskThrough its investments in CLO securities, the Fund has significant exposure to the underlying loans selected by a CLOs manager. The lack of an active trading market for certain loans in a CLO may impair the ability of a CLO manager to realize a loans full value in the event of the need to sell a loan and may make it difficult to value such loans. Portfolio transactions in loans may settle in as short as seven days but typically can take up to two or three weeks, and in some cases much longer. As a result of these extended settlement periods, a CLO manager may incur losses if it is required to sell other investments or temporarily borrow to meet its cash needs. In addition, when the Fund purchases a newly issued CLO security in the primary market (rather than from the secondary market), there often may be an extended settlement period, due in part to the settlement periods for the underlying loans, which may give rise to investment leverage and may result in increased volatility of the Funds net asset value. The risks associated with unsecured loans, which are not backed by a security interest in any specific collateral, are higher than those for comparable loans that are secured by specific collateral. For secured loans, there is a risk that the value of any collateral securing a loan in which a CLO has an interest may decline and that the collateral may not be sufficient to cover the amount owed on the loan. Interests in loans made to finance highly leveraged companies or transactions such as corporate acquisitions may be especially vulnerable to adverse changes in economic or market conditions. Loans may have restrictive covenants limiting the ability of a borrower to further encumber its assets. However, in periods of high demand by lenders for loan investments, borrowers may limit these covenants and weaken a lenders ability to access collateral securing the loan; reprice the credit risk associated with the borrower; and mitigate potential loss. A CLO manager may experience relatively greater realized or unrealized losses or delays and expenses in enforcing its rights with respect to loans with fewer restrictive covenants. Additionally, loans may not be considered securities and, as a result, the CLO manager may not be entitled to rely on the anti-fraud or other protections of the securities laws. Because junior loans have a lower place in an issuers capital structure and may be unsecured, junior loans involve a higher degree of overall risk than senior loans of the issuer.
Market RiskThe market value of the Funds investments may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably and for short or extended periods of time, due to the particular circumstances of individual issuers or due to general conditions
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impacting issuers more broadly. Global economies and financial markets have become highly interconnected, and thus economic, market or political conditions or events in one country or region might adversely impact the value of the Funds investments whether or not the Fund invests in such country or region. Events such as war, terrorism, natural and environmental disasters and the spread of infectious illnesses or other public health emergencies may have a severe negative impact on the global economy, could cause financial markets to experience extreme volatility and losses, and could result in the disruption of trading and the reduction of liquidity in many instruments. Additionally, to the extent the rate of inflation increases, the value of the Funds assets may decline.
Market Liquidity RiskReductions in trading activity or dealer inventories of securities such as bonds, which provide an indication of the ability of financial intermediaries to make markets in those securities, have the potential to decrease liquidity and increase price volatility in the markets in which the Fund invests, particularly during periods of economic or market stress. In addition, federal banking regulations may cause certain dealers to reduce their inventories of securities, which may further decrease the Funds ability to buy or sell securities. As a result of this decreased liquidity, the Fund may have to accept a lower price to sell a security, sell other securities to raise cash, or give up an investment opportunity, any of which could have a negative effect on performance. Although only certain institutional investors are entitled to redeem shares of the Fund (as described in more detail under Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares below), if the Fund is forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss and hurt performance.
Market Trading RisksThe Fund is an ETF, and as with all ETFs, Fund shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of a Fund share typically will approximate its net asset value (NAV), there may be times when the market price and the NAV diverge more significantly, particularly in times of market volatility or steep market declines. Thus, you may pay more or less than NAV when you buy Fund shares on the secondary market, and you may receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares. Although the Funds shares are listed for trading on a national securities exchange, it is possible that an active trading market may not develop or be maintained, in which case transactions may occur at wider bid/ask spreads (which may be especially pronounced for smaller funds). Trading of the Funds shares may be halted by the activation of individual or market-wide trading halts (which halt trading for a specific period of time when the price of a particular security or overall market prices decline by a specified percentage). In times of market stress, the Funds underlying portfolio holdings may become less liquid, which in turn may affect the liquidity of the Funds shares and/or lead to more significant differences between the Funds market price and its NAV. Market makers are under no obligation to make a market in the Funds shares, and authorized participants are not obligated to submit purchase or redemption orders for the Funds shares. In the event market makers cease making a market in the Funds shares or authorized participants stop submitting creation or redemption orders, Fund shares may trade at a larger premium or discount to NAV.
Mezzanine CLO RiskThe Fund can invest in tranches of CLO securities that are subordinate to higher-rated tranches (e.g., tranches rated AAA+ through A-) in terms of payment priority. Subordinated (i.e., mezzanine) CLO tranches are subject to higher credit risk and liquidity risk relative to more senior CLO tranches. Mezzanine tranches may be of investment grade (i.e., BBB) or non-investment grade quality (i.e., BB+ or below), and, the Fund is expected to have some exposure to below investment grade CLO tranches. To the extent a CLO or its underlying loans experience default or have difficulty making principal and/or interest payments, subordinated CLO tranches will be more likely to experience adverse impacts, and such impacts will be more severe, relative to more senior or higher-rated CLO securities, which in turn will adversely affect the performance of the Fund. In a CLO structure, senior tranches have payment priority over mezzanine tranches (i.e., the tranches that the Fund invests in).
Non-Diversification RiskAs a non-diversified fund, the Fund may invest a larger portion of its assets in the securities of a limited number of issuers and may be more sensitive to any single economic, business, political or regulatory occurrence affecting an issuer than a diversified fund. Poor performance by any one of these issuers would adversely affect the Fund to a greater extent than a more broadly diversified fund.
Other Investment Companies RiskWhen the Fund invests in other investment companies, such as ETFs, shareholders bear both their proportionate share of Fund expenses and, indirectly, the expenses of the other investment companies. Furthermore, the Fund is exposed to the risks to which the other investment companies may be subject. For index-based ETFs, while such ETFs seek to achieve the same returns as a particular market index, the performance of an ETF may diverge from the performance of such index (commonly known as tracking error).
Service Provider Operational RiskThe Funds service providers, such as the Funds administrator, custodian or transfer agent, may experience disruptions or operating errors that could negatively impact the Fund. Although service providers are required to have appropriate operational risk management policies and procedures, and to take appropriate
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precautions to avoid and mitigate risks that could lead to disruptions and operating errors, it may not be possible to identify all of the operational risks that may affect the Fund or to develop processes and controls to completely eliminate or mitigate their occurrence or effects.
Unrated Security RiskUnrated securities determined by the Funds sub-adviser to be of comparable quality to rated securities which the Fund may purchase may pay a higher interest rate than such rated securities and be subject to a greater risk of illiquidity or price changes. Less public information is typically available about unrated securities or issuers than rated securities or issuers.
Valuation RiskThe debt securities in which the Fund invests typically are valued by a pricing service utilizing a range of market-based inputs and assumptions, including price quotations obtained from broker-dealers making markets in such instruments, cash flows and transactions for comparable instruments. There is no assurance that the Fund will be able to buy or sell a portfolio security at the price established by the pricing service, which could result in a gain or loss to the Fund. Pricing services generally price debt securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but some trades may occur in smaller, odd lot sizes, often at lower prices than institutional round lot trades. Over certain time periods, such differences could materially impact the performance of the Fund, which may not be sustainable. Alternative pricing services may incorporate different assumptions and inputs into their valuation methodologies, potentially resulting in different values for the same securities. As a result, if the Fund were to change pricing services, or if the Funds pricing service were to change its valuation methodology, there could be a material impact, either positive or negative, on the Funds net asset value.
Fund Performance
The Fund is new and therefore does not have a performance history for a full calendar year. When this prospectus is updated after a full calendar year of operations, a bar chart and table will be included that will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing the variability of the Funds returns based on net assets and comparing the Funds performance to a broad measure of market performance. Updated performance information is available at www.nuveen.com/etf or by calling (800) 257-8787.
Management
Investment Adviser
Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC
Sub-Adviser
Nuveen Asset Management, LLC
Portfolio Manager
Name |
Title |
Portfolio Manager of Fund Since |
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Himani Trivedi | Senior Managing Director, Head of Structured Credit |
December 2024 | ||||
Joshua Grumer | Senior Director | December 2024 |
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an actively managed ETF. Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and can only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer at market prices. Because Fund shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (at a premium) or less than NAV (at a discount). An investor may also incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase Fund shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for Fund shares (ask) when buying and selling shares in the secondary market (the bid/ask spread). Recent information regarding the Fund, including its NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid/ask spreads, is available on the Funds website at www.nuveen.com/etf.
Tax Information
The Funds distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account (IRA) or 401(k) plan (in which case you may be taxed upon withdrawal of your investment from such account).
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the Funds investment adviser or its affiliates may pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting
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systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of Fund shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediarys website for more information.
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