Horizons ETFs to Launch World's First U.S.-Focused Marijuana ETF

Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. is pleased to announce that it has filed its final prospectus to launch the Horizons US Marijuana Index ETF. Units of the exchange traded fund ("HMUS" or the "ETF") have been conditionally approved for listing by the NEO Exchange ("NEO") and are slated to begin trading on April 18, 2019, under the ticker symbols HMUS (Canadian dollar units) and HMUS.U (U.S. dollar units).

HMUS will be the first ETF in the world that is solely focused on providing exposure to companies with significant business activities in, or significant exposure to, the United States marijuana or hemp industries. HMUS is an index (or passively managed) ETF, which seeks to replicate, to the extent possible, the performance of the US Marijuana Companies Index (the "Underlying Index"), net of expenses.

ETF Name

Tickers

Management Fee

Horizons US Marijuana Index ETF

HMUS (Canadian dollar units)

HMUS.U (U.S. dollar units)

0.85%
(plus applicable 
sales taxes)

The ETF will make its units available on NEO in both Canadian and U.S dollars.

"While marijuana remains federally illegal for medical and recreational usage in the United States, the number of legal cultivators and distributors at the U.S. state level continues to grow. Many of these companies have chosen Canadian stock exchanges to list their stocks in order to raise capital to meet growing investor demand," said Steve Hawkins, President and CEO of Horizons ETFs. "HMUS will be the first index ETF solution to focus solely on identifying, and investing directly in, U.S. marijuana and hemp companies. As the U.S. continues to further liberalize its marijuana regulations, we anticipate that more investors will be looking to invest in companies with significant business operations in the U.S. market and HMUS will provide a diversified and liquid way to gain that exposure in one ETF."

The Underlying Index is designed to provide exposure to the performance of a basket of publicly-listed companies having significant business activities in, or significant exposure to, the marijuana or hemp industries in the United States. Constituent companies will primarily include those with business activities as a producer, developer, or supplier of marijuana or hemp-based products, and can also include investment companies focused on investments in the Marijuana or Hemp industries, or companies with businesses ancillary to the Marijuana or Hemp industries. 

Constituents of the Underlying Index are selected from Canadian and U.S. exchanges. While some securities may be listed on major North American exchanges, the majority of the securities currently trade on North American exchanges that include but are not limited to the Canadian Securities Exchange and NEO.

The Underlying Index is market-capitalization-weighted, subject to a cap for each constituent issuer of a maximum of 10% of the net asset value of the Underlying Index at the time of any rebalance. For a security to be eligible for the Underlying Index, the issuer will generally need to have a market capitalization of greater than $75 million.

The top-20 constituents and weights of the Underlying Index as at April 15, 2019, are in the table below. Please note that the weights of the Underlying Index and the actual portfolio weights of HMUS could be different. Horizons ETFs will not invest the assets of HMUS on a discretionary basis except to the extent it may select securities of issuers in the course of employing a stratified sampling strategy to seek to closely match the investment characteristics of the Underlying Index.

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