Tamara Haban-Beer Stats
BlackRock Australia has announced its intent to launch its first active ETF in Australia, the iShares U.S. Factor Rotation Active ETF (ASX: IACT),1 underscoring its commitment to broadening access to global active investment capabilities for Australian advisers and investors.
Competitively priced at 0.45%, IACT offers a lower-cost entry point to an actively managed US equities strategy, compared to other active offerings currently available in the market. IACT is expected to list on the ASX in mid-June.
IACT seeks to outperform the broad U.S. equity market by tactically allocating across six key economic drivers of returns, or factors: value, quality, momentum, size, growth, and minimum volatility, based on evolving market conditions. By taking a bottom-up, data-driven stock selection approach, the portfolio is actively managed to favour stocks that exhibit these return characteristics, with the goal of reducing short-term cyclical volatility and delivering outperformance relative to the broader market over time.
IACT builds on the success of its U.S. counterpart, DYNF, which is managed by BlackRock’s global Systematic Active Equity team – Philip Hodges, PhD, He Ren, and Raffaele Savi. DYNF has delivered a 10.8% return over the past year and a 19.4% annualised return over five years2, outperforming its benchmark3 and the active large blend category average. As of 27 May 2025, DYNF has US$17.4 billion4 in AUM.
Philip Hodges, PhD, Head of Investments for Enhanced Factors, BlackRock, said, “We’re excited to launch BlackRock’s first active ETF in the Australian market. Drawing on our 40 years of systematic investment experience, IACT showcases the power of combining deep research, real-time data, and machine learning with BlackRock’s active management expertise – now delivered in a convenient, cost-effective ETF wrapper. This gives investors an accessible way to navigate shifting market conditions while aiming to deliver consistent outperformance over time.”
Tamara Haban-Beer Stats, iShares ETF Specialist, BlackRock, said, “U.S. equities remain a core allocation for many Australian advisers and investors, underpinned by the strength of U.S. corporates and the momentum of structural themes like AI.
“IACT offers a differentiated source of return across market cycles for Australian investors seeking a long-term holding that provides access to an active US equity strategy – at a lower cost than other active equity options available in Australia.”
BlackRock Systematic’s global platform manages over US$300 billion5 across equities, fixed income, and alternatives, supported by a team of more than 220 portfolio managers, researchers, and technologists, and backed by over 40 years of systematic investing experience.