Grail Advisors LLC is at it again. The firm has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch two actively managed bond exchange-traded funds.

Just a few days ago, it launched four active equity ETFs with RiverPark Advisors. (You can read that story here.)

This time around, the goal is to introduce the first actively managed bond funds in the mainstream bond market. The new funds will be the Grail McDonnell Intermediate Municipal Bond ETF and the Grail McDonnell Core Taxable Bond ETF.

According to the preliminary prospectus filed with the SEC, the new ETFs would both have fixed-income specialist McDonnell Investment Management firm as subadviser. The firm will have discretionary power to pick stocks for the ETFs’ portfolios on a daily basis with the objective of providing investors with exposure to a relatively low-cost actively managed portfolio of fixed-income securities.

There are other active bond ETFs on the market, including the PowerShares Active Low Duration Fund (NYSEArca: PLK), but they all focus on the ultrashort-term money market space.

Grail's move into bonds is not surprising. Bond ETFs have led all other ETF categories in attracting new assets year to date. In addition, there is a widespread perception that the illiquid bond market is a fertile field for active management. Although data does not corroborate that perception—in fact, nearly all bond portfolios under-perform their indexes—demand for active bond funds is strong.

No data was provided on fund expenses.

You can read the SEC prospectus here.

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The article originally stated that PowerShares High Yield Corporate Bond Portfolio (NYSEArca: PHB) was an actively managed bond fund. Instead, it's PowerShares Active Low Duration Fund (NYSEArca: PLK) that is actively managed.