ETF Securities Hires Goldman to Manage Sale, FT Reports

ETF Securities, the London-based ETF issuer most known for its commodities funds, has hired Goldman Sachs GS to manage a sale of the company that could be worth up to $1.6 billion, according to the Financial Times. Earlier this year, there was speculation ETF Securities found Graham Tuckwell might be mulling a sale or an IPO of his firm, which now lists more than 200 exchange-traded products on various global exchanges. In the U.S., ETF Securities has seven ETFs with over $2.8 billion in assets under management, according to the firm's Web site. Overall, the company has $28.2 billion in AUM. The FT article credits Tuckwell with helping the World Gold Council introduce the SPDR Gold Shares GLD, the world's second-largest ETF by assets, in 2004. Among ETF Securities' more popular U.S.-listed funds are the ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares SGOL, the ETFS Physical Silver Shares SIVR, the ETFS Physical Palladium Shares PALL and the ETFS Physical Platinum Shares PPLT.