Seoul, South Korea. Photo credit: Mathew Schwartz
CT Investments has officially launched an exchange-traded fund (ETF) called KPOP and Korean Entertainment, which aims to enable K-pop’s notoriously dedicated supporters to back the world’s leading publicly traded companies.
CT Investments, which launched earlier this year, debuted the KPOP and Korean Entertainment ETF on the NYSE Arca today. Additionally, CT is a wholly owned asset management subsidiary of two-year-old Contents Technologies, which bills itself as a “next-generation content company that builds and invests in IPs and technology/financial/services-centric content value chains.” .”
For additional context, Contents Technologies “currently acquires and manages one of the largest portfolios of music copyright and related rights in South Korea,” according to the company’s official release, “and has made strategic investments in music production, music technology, the creator economy and VFX , Web3 and Gaming.”
With these points in mind, the KPOP and Korean Entertainment ETF, trading under the ticker KPOP, aims to provide investors with pre-calculated results that are “generally equivalent to the total return of the KPOP Index.” Said index, according to the ETF’s website, is a collection of 30 stocks of companies listed on the Korea Exchange.
In case the target audience isn’t clear yet, the ETF website further proclaims, “It’s time for fandom to contribute beyond culture directly to the K-pop industry. With fans directly participating in its investment and speaking out, K-pop will be able to sustain and thrive in a healthier and more desirable direction.”
According to the KPOP and Korean Entertainment ETF website, the project’s largest index holdings currently include 156 shares of Hybe (trading as 352820), 280 shares of Seoul’s CJ ENM (035760), 441 shares of JYP Entertainment (035900), and 111 shares of Naver Corp (035420).
In its first day on the NYSE Arca, KPOP fell slightly to $19.71. Going forward, it will be interesting to see if the ETF resonates with K-pop fanatics, especially as their favorite acts continue to grow globally and in South Korea.
On the former frontline, major K-pop stadium festivals are now taking place in the United States, where Universal Music Group and the aforementioned BTS agency Hybe are building a new girl group as well as a boy band. Meanwhile, SM Entertainment and AmazeVR have teamed up to bring fans virtual reality concerts by “mega K-pop stars” and the 2022 edition of Europe’s biggest K-pop festival kicked off with a live stream, so international fans could watch.
And in South Korea, the (reportedly separate) BTS has agreed to perform in Busan in an attempt to bring the 2030 World Expo to the city, while construction has already begun on the Seoul Arena, a K-pop venue expected to open has (or before) 2025.
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