Chicago based V-Square Quantitative Management LLC (V-Square), a global asset management firm with sustainability at its core, announced today that it has expanded its market-leading capabilities with the launch its first thematic ETF the V-Shares US Leadership Diversity ETF (VDNI).

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Mamadou-Abou Sarr, co-Founder and President (Left), Habib Moudachirou, co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer (Right) (Photo: Business Wire)

Designed to track the ISS ESG US Diversity Index, the fund is the first ETF to hold a basket of companies with a specific focus on both broad ethnic and gender representation for board directors and Named Executive Officers (NEOs). Fund's holdings are selected from a universe of large, mid, and small capitalization US companies.

“We are thrilled to launch the V-Shares US Leadership Diversity ETF (VDNI), tracking an innovative index, seeking to unlock the diversity value, and focused on diversified human capital in leadership positions accounting for both gender and ethnicity,” said Mamadou-Abou Sarr, Co-Founder and President of V-Square Quantitative Management.

“VDNI is a great addition to our investment offering, providing investors with a thoughtful way to align their US All Cap exposure with their values.”

With the launch of VDNI, V-Square expands its relationship with ISS ESG, the responsible investment arm of Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) and will be the first asset manager in the US to license the ISS ESG US Diversity Index for an ETF.

“Diversification and Diversity have more in common than their Latin root, they both carry value. Human capital is a key driving force of any business, that too enjoys the benefits of diversification. Diversity at the senior leadership level is often a foreteller of a healthy company culture, which in turn strengthens the levers and drivers of sustainable corporate performance,” said Habib Moudachirou, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of V-Square Quantitative Management.

The investment framework for VDNI will be reinforced by V-Square’s custom proxy voting policy guided by the core tenets of accountability, stewardship, transparency, and sustainability. By focusing on these areas of responsible governance, V-Square seeks to promote long-term shareholder value creation and risk mitigation at portfolio companies.

A thematic ETF

“We are excited that V-Square has chosen the ISS ESG US Diversity Index Total Return to launch its first thematic ESG ETF suite. This launch is both timely and highly relevant for the many institutional investors and asset owners now working to incorporate best-in-class gender and ethnic diversity metrics into their portfolios,” said Hernando Cortina, Head of Index Strategy at ISS ESG.

For more information about V-Shares, visit www.v-shares.com.

For more news and information about V-Square, visit www.vsqm.com.

About V-Square

V-Square Quantitative Management LLC is a global asset manager with sustainability at its core. V-Square specializes in developing and managing customized passive and factor-based portfolios and delivers analytics to integrate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) into portfolio, risk management and reporting. A subsidiary of Chicago private equity firm Valor Equity Partners, V-Square has a unique approach to sustainability taking a long-term view that is deeply rooted in academic research overlayed with a rigorous quantitative process.

Disclosures

The V-Shares US Leadership Diversity ETF (VDNI) invests in domestic companies (US) exhibiting broad ethnic and gender representation for Directors and Named Executive Officers (NEO). The fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the ISS ESG U.S. Diversity Index Total Return (Ticker ISSDIVUT).

Carefully consider a Fund's investment objectives, risk factors and charges and expenses before investing. This and other information can be found in the Fund's prospectus, which may be obtained by calling + 1 844 VSHRETF (1 844 874 7383) or by visiting the Fund's website v-shares.com to view or download a prospectus. Read the prospectus carefully before investing.

As with all ETFs, Shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of Shares will approximate the Fund's NAV, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount) due to supply and demand of Shares or during periods of market volatility.

Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and therefore the Fund generally will not sell a security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry or sector, unless that security is removed from the Underlying Index or the selling of the security is otherwise required upon a rebalancing of the Underlying Index.

Methodology Risks. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the Index Provider can offer assurances that Underlying Index's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or that the included issuers will provide the Fund with the market exposure it seeks.

V-Shares US Leadership Diversity ETF is distributed by Quasar Distributors, LLC. V-Square Quantitative Management, LLC acts as the investment advisor to the Fund. Quasar and V-Square are unaffiliated entities.

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