Firm Sets Launch of Dividend ETFs

WisdomTree said its new offerings provide products not available elsewhere in the market. In particular, the firm's International SmallCap Dividend Fund, which will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DLS, is the first international small-cap ETF listed in the U.S. The company also plans to offer the first family of ETFs tracking foreign high-yielding equity funds: the DIEFA High Yielding Equity Fund, the Europe High-Yielding Equity Fund, the Japan High-Yielding Equity Fund and the Pacific ex-Japan High-Yielding Equity.

The company plans to focus on marketing to "the community that has already embraced indexing," says Bruce Lavine, WisdomTree president and chief operating officer. The company said it will promote its strategies to pension managers, plan sponsors and endowments.

The focus on dividend-paying stocks also will help the company capture the benefits of demographic changes taking place in the U.S., a WisdomTree representative said. In particular, the company wanted to generate interest in its products from retiring baby boomers who wanted investment income as well as capital gains.