Calamos' Kaufman on launching a new ETF of closed-end funds now

Matt Kaufman, head of ETFs at Calamos Investments, says that years of experience running separately managed accounts of closed-end funds plus the firm's experience running closed-end funds -- as well as an investment environment where a fund that focuses on discounts had lots of investment prospects -- were part of the firm's thinking behind its new Calamos Closed-End Fund income and Arbitrage ETF which launched in January. While the fund is shopping for discounts in closed-end funds that are outside of the Calamos family, Kaufman said it will not be an activist investor in trying to narrow those discounts.