STOXX Ltd., the operator of Deutsche Börse Group’s index business and a global provider of innovative and tradable index concepts, has licensed the iSTOXX® FactSet Automation & Robotics Index to BlackRock. The asset manager is launching an ETF today, which is listed in Tokyo. The index is comprised of companies from selected countries exposed to the themes Automation and Robotics.

“Automation is crucial for the Japanese economy contending with an aging population and a declining workforce. iShares is leveraging the iSTOXX FactSet Automation & Robotics Index to provide investors with a product that captures opportunities automation affords, where a fourth of the companies represented are Japanese,” said Jason Miller, Head of iShares Japan at BlackRock.

“Thematic investing attempts to capitalize on broad, disruptive, compelling and often hard-to-predict trends that are changing our society. STOXX has identified technology as one of the three thematic megatrends; one index that captures this megatrend is the iSTOXX FactSet Automation & Robotics Index. Each of our thematic concepts on its own has the potential to be a fantastic growth and transformation story,” said Inderpal Gujral, STOXX Head of Product.

The index universe is defined as all stocks from the STOXX Global Total Market index that derive more than 50% of their most recent total annual revenues from Automation & Robotics sectors and which are classified as belonging to a defined set of developed and emerging countries.
The index is equal-weighted. Each iSTOXX FactSet Thematic index aims to have a minimum number of 80 constituents at each review.

Source: STOXX