WisdomTree Emerging Markets Equity Income ETF Tops $3B In AUM (DEM, EEM, VWO)

WisdomTree WETF, the only publicly traded pure play ETF issuer, announced that its popular WisdomTree Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund DEM has surpassed the lofty $3 billion in assets under management mark. DEM tracks the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Equity Income Index, which has outperformed the MSCI Emerging Markets Index by 717 basis points (bps) per year, while exhibiting standard deviation that is 525 bps lower on an average annual basis, according to a statement issued by WisdomTree. With an expense ratio of 0.63%, DEM is now home to over $3.2 billion in AUM. Data from the ETF Industry Association show DEM had $2.68 billion in AUM at the end of January. The fund is the largest by assets issued by WisdomTree. DEM debuted in July 2007. In the past five years, the ETF has outperformed the Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF VWO and the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund EEM, the two largest emerging markets ETFs. DEM is home to roughly 280 stocks. Financials receive a sector weight of almost 27%, the largest in the fund. Telecom, technology and utilities also receive double-digit allocations. The ETF offers exposure to 18 countries, but Brazil and Taiwan combine for almost 42% of the country weight. South Africa, Malaysia and Chile round out the top-five country allocations. Taiwan Semiconductor TSM is DEM's largest individual holding at 3.84%. "Historically, investors have focused on large-cap blue-chip companies in developed countries when looking for significant generators of dividends. Yet our research establishes that in recent years the emerging markets delivered the fastest growth in aggregate dividend streams among the major regions, with more than $175 billion in dividends paid in 2011. Contrary to conventional wisdom, investors do not need to make a trade-off between the growth potential of the emerging market region in order to achieve exposure to dividend-paying stocks," Jeremy Schwartz, WisdomTree Director of Research, said in the statement.