With its purchase of the exchange-traded fund provider Claymore Group still hot out of the oven, Guggenheim Partners announced in mid-February that it was deepening its move into the ETF space, acquiring a controlling interest in Security Benefit Corp. with a $400 million investment.
Security Benefit has four major lines of business, including the asset management group Rydex, which at the time of the acquisition had $22 billion in assets under management, highlighted by a $5.6 billion ETF portfolio. Rydex’s ETF lineup is led by the $681 million Rydex S&P Equal Weight ETF (NYSE Arca: RSP), as well as the popular CurrencyShares ETFs.
Combined with Claymore’s $2.8 billion in ETF assets, Guggenheim now controls $8.6 billion in ETFs, making it the seventh-largest ETF provider in the U.S.
For Guggenheim, Rydex’s ETF lineup will pair well with Claymore’s offerings. Claymore’s ETFs tend to focus on satellite areas of the investment universe, such as emerging markets and thematic investments. By comparison, Rydex’s ETFs focus more at the core, highlighted by RSP and its complete lineup of “pure style” ETFs.
The deal comes just 2 1/2 years after the Topeka, Kan.-based Security Benefit acquired Rydex. Terms of that deal were not disclosed.
Rumors of the Guggenheim/Rydex/Claymore marriage have been circulating for nearly a year.
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