State Street Global Advisors recently decided to merge its SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap ETF (SLY), which has more than $1.8 billion in assets under management, into the SPDR Portfolio S&P 600 Small Cap ETF (SPSM), effective around June 9.
SPSM, which has more than $5.2 billion in AUM, tracks the same index as SLY — the S&P SmallCap 600 Index — and is part of the low-cost SPDR Portfolio ETF suite, the firm said.
SPSM has a 0.05% gross expense ratio, compared with 0.15% for SLY.
Each fund is an index fund that seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the S&P SmallCap 600 Index. The funds' investment objectives, strategies and risks are the same, and the funds are managed by the same investment adviser, SSGA Funds Management Inc., according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"The merger of SLY and SPSM aligns the product suite by having one ETF track the S&P SmallCap 600 Index," the firm said in a statement.
As a result of the merger, each SLY shareholder will receive shares of SPSM and cash in lieu of fractional SPSM shares, if any, equal in value to the SLY shares held prior to the merger, State Street said in its filing and an investor fact sheet.
