Toronto-based First Asset Investment Management Inc. Tuesday announced an expansion to its recently launched Core Equity suite with the introduction of First Asset Core Balanced ETF (TSX:CBB).

The new exchange-traded fund invests primarily in Canadian issuers. It looks to provide investors with a balance between long-term capital appreciation and consistent income while diversifying risk through exposure to equity and fixed income securities. CBB will use a multi-factor portfolio optimization strategy, which looks to produce a well-diversified portfolio with strong fundamentals, consistent levels of income and an attractive historical risk-adjusted rate of return, First Asset says.

“We are focused on delivering smart, low-cost investment solutions to meet the real world needs of Canadians,” says Barry Gordon, president and chief executive officer of First Asset.

CBB is the third ETF in the Core Equity group of products, joining the firm’s Canadian Equity Core ETF and U.S. Equity Core ETF.

First Asset Energy Giants Covered Call ETF

First Asset has also added to its ETF lineup with the introduction of First Asset Energy Giants Covered Call ETF (TMX:NXF). NXF invests on an equal-weight basis in a portfolio of equity securities of the 15 largest non-Canadian oil and gas exploration and production companies, as measured by their market capitalization in U.S. dollars and presence on a Canadian or U.S. stock exchange. It also employs a covered call option writing program on approximately 25% of the securities of each portfolio issuer.

“We excluded Canadian energy producers to avoid replicating exposure that most Canadians already have, and combined equal weighted exposure to the portfolio of energy giants with our 25% covered call writing strategy,” says Gordon.

NXF is meant to provide investors with quarterly cash distributions; the opportunity for capital appreciation: and lower overall volatility of returns on the portfolio than would be experienced by owning a portfolio of securities of such issuers directly. NXF’s portfolio will be rebalanced to equal weight at the end of each calendar quarter.

Both products began trading Tuesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.