Hanwha Asset Management's Defense ETF Hits Record High: "Net Assets Surpass 140 Billion Won"

Hanwha Asset Management announced on the 19th that the 'ARIRANG K-Bangsan Fn' Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) has reached a 52-week high.

According to financial information provider FnGuide, the ETF has recorded a return of 82.2% based on net asset value (NAV) as of the 17th since its listing. It has been about 1 year and 5 months since its listing in January last year. By period, the returns are 7.3% over the past month, 19.9% over 3 months, 39.4% over 6 months, 35.4% over 1 year, and 37.5% year-to-date. The ETF's total net assets amount to 142.4 billion KRW.

In particular, the 'ARIRANG K-Bangsan Fn' ETFs rose 4.6% on the 17th. On the same day, defense stocks included in the ETF saw significant gains, with LIG Nex1 up 17.3%, Hyundai Rotem 10.0%, Hanwha Systems 4.5%, Hanwha Aerospace 4.3%, and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) 2.9%.

For LIG Nex1, media reports indicated that the short-range ship-based surface-to-air missile 'Haegung' will be installed on the Malaysian Littoral Mission Ship (LMS) Batch 2 vessels. Hyundai Rotem also disclosed that it won a contract worth 270 billion KRW from the Uzbekistan Railways for the supply and maintenance of distributed power high-speed trains.

Defense Minister Shin Won-sik will visit Romania and Poland from the 17th to the 22nd to hold defense minister talks and joint defense and defense industry cooperation committees, respectively. Romania plans to increase its defense budget ratio from the current 2% of GDP to 2.5%, and invest 39.9 billion USD (approximately 54 trillion KRW) in major weapons procurement by 2032.

The 'ARIRANG K-Bangsan Fn' ETF is the only domestic defense-themed ETF that diversifies investment across 10 leading domestic defense industry companies. Major constituent stocks include △Hanwha Aerospace △Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) △Hanwha Ocean △Hyundai Rotem △LIG Nex1, among others.

Kim Kyu-yeon, fund manager of the ETF management team at Hanwha Asset Management, said, "The export momentum of domestic defense companies is expected to continue in the second half of 2024." He added, "In particular, with expectations for LIG Nex1's Bigung missile and Korea Aerospace Industries' advanced trainer aircraft exports to the U.S., successful exports by domestic defense companies to the U.S. will further enhance the influence of K-Bangsan in the global market."