Toronto-based First Asset Capital Corp. is launching three new bond exchange traded funds that will begin trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday, July 10.

The company says each First Asset DEX ETF is unique in the Canadian marketplace and has been designed to replicate, to the extent possible, the performance of a particular PC-Bond DEX Bond Barbell Index on a low cost basis.

A barbell bond investment strategy is implemented, as the name implies — with 50% weighting in short-term bonds and floating rate notes and a 50% weighting in long-term bonds, with nothing in the middle.

Barry Gordon, president and CEO of First Asset ETFs advises investment advisors and investors to consider a barbell ETF as part of a prudent, risk mitigation strategy.

“The First Asset Barbell Bond ETFs and the DEX Indexes which they replicate allocate investment grade fixed income securities in a balanced way, combining 50% short-term and floating rate bonds with 50% in higher yielding longer-term bonds — an ideal combination to maintain a strong yield while mitigating inflation and interest rate risk and protecting the value of your portfolio, on a low cost basis,” he explains.

First Asset DEX Government Bond Barbell Index ETF (TSX:GXF) has been designed to replicate, to the extent possible, the performance of the DEX Government Bond Barbell Index, net of expenses. The index is comprised of Canadian federal government, provincial government and municipal government bonds. The Index is divided into two buckets, with the short maturity bucket comprised of floating rate notes and fixed coupon bonds with at least 1 year to maturity but less than 2 years to maturity, and the long maturity bucket comprised of fixed coupon bonds with at least 10 years to maturity but less than 20 years to maturity. This ETF features a management fee of 0.20%.

First Asset DEX Corporate Bond Barbell Index ETF (TSX:KXF) has been designed to replicate, to the extent possible, the performance of the DEX Corporate Bond Barbell Index, net of expenses. The index is comprised of investment grade fixed income securities issued by Canadian corporations, as well as special purpose companies utilized and fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Canadian corporations that are federally regulated entities by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI). The index is divided into two buckets, with the short maturity bucket comprised of floating rate notes and fixed coupon bonds with at least one year to maturity but less than two years to maturity, and the long maturity bucket comprised of fixed rate bonds with at least 10 years to maturity but less than 20 years to maturity. This ETF has a management fee off 0.25%.

First Asset DEX All Canada Bond Barbell Index ETF (TSX:AXF) has been designed to replicate, to the extent possible, the performance of the DEX All Canada Bond Barbell Index, net of expenses. The index is comprised of Canadian federal government, provincial government and municipal government bonds, and investment grade fixed income securities issued by Canadian corporations and special purpose companies utilized and fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Canadian corporations that are federally regulated entities by the OSFI. The index is divided into two buckets, with the short maturity bucket comprised of floating rate notes and fixed coupon bonds with at least 1 year to maturity but less than 2 years to maturity, and the long maturity bucket comprised of bonds with at least 10 years to maturity but less than 20 years to maturity. This ETF has a 0.25% management fee.

The three ETFs are also avaiable in advisor class units.