Correspondence 0000894189-22-008746 from ETF Series Solutions (CIK 0001540305)
ETF Series Solutions (CIK 0001540305)
Date: Dec. 2, 2022 · CIK: 0001540305 · Accession: 0000894189-22-008746
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File numbers found in text: 333-179562, 811-22668
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CORRESP 1 filename1.htm Document ETF Series Solutions 615 East Michigan Street | Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 December 2, 2022 Deborah O’Neal U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Division of Investment Management 100 F Street NE Washington, DC 20549 Re: ETF Series Solutions (the “Trust”) BTD Capital Fund (the “Fund”) File Nos. 333-179562 and 811-22668 Dear Ms. O’Neal: This correspondence responds to comments that the Trust received from the staff (the “Staff”) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with respect to Post-Effective Amendment No. 823 to the Trust’s Registration Statement on Form N-1A filed August 24, 2022 (the “Amendment”) with respect to the Fund, a series of the Trust. For your convenience, the comments have been reproduced with a response following each comment. Capitalized terms not otherwise defined have the same meaning as in the Amendment. Comment 1.Please provide a completed fee table and confirm that there are not any fee waiver or expense reimbursement arrangements. Response: The Trust so confirms. The fees and expenses table for the Fund will appear as follows: Fees and Expenses of the Fund The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). This table and the Example below do not include the brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries that investors may pay on their purchases and sales of Shares. Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) Management Fees 1.25% Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees 0.00% Other Expenses1 0.00% Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses2 0.04% Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 1.29% 1 Estimated for the current fiscal year. 2 Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses (“AFFE”) are the indirect costs of investing in other investment companies. AFFE is estimated for the current fiscal year. Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses will not correlate to the expense ratios in the Fund’s Financial Highlights because the Financial Highlights will include only the direct operating expenses incurred by the Fund and exclude AFFE. Expense Example This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then continue to hold or redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. The Example does not take into account brokerage commissions that you may pay on your purchases and sales of Shares. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be: 1 Year 3 Years $131 $409 1 Comment 2.In the Principal Investment Strategies section, please emphasize “Individual equity securities are typically held for a period of time ranging from one day to seven days, but may be held longer depending on the model’s signals” by using bold typeface font. Response: The requested change has been made. Comment 3.Please order the risks to prioritize those risks that are most likely to adversely affect the Fund’s net asset value, yield, and/or total return. Please note that after listing the most significant risks to the Fund, the remaining risks may be alphabetized. Please refer to ADI 2019-08 “Improving Principal Risks Disclosure.” Response: The Trust has reviewed the Fund’s risk disclosures to ensure that such disclosures are tailored appropriately to the risks of the Fund, not overly lengthy or technical, and that the risks the Staff would consider as the most significant risks are not obscured or constructed in a manner that could render the disclosure misleading. Additionally, the Trust believes that ordering the risks alphabetically makes it easier for investors to find applicable risk factors and compare them across funds. While the Trust respectfully declines to reorder the principal risks, the Trust notes that the following disclosure is included before the first paragraph under “Principal Investment Risks” in the Fund’s summary section with similar language in response to Item 9 of Form N-1A to help investors understand the importance of reading each risk disclosure regardless of their sequence: “The principal risks are presented in alphabetical order to facilitate finding particular risks and comparing them with other funds. Each risk summarized below is considered a ‘principal risk’ of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears.” Additionally, the Trust notes that the first two risks disclosed are “Active Management Risk” and “‘Buy the Dip’ Risk,” which the Trust believes are the risks that the Staff would consider the most significant for the Fund. Comment 4.Please include the period covered by the reports which will contain the basis of the Board of Trustees’ approval of the Fund’s Investment Advisory Agreement and Investment Sub-Advisory Agreement. Response: The Trust respectfully declines to make the requested change because the period covered will not be known until the Fund has commenced operations, which will be after the effective date of the Amendment. In the future, the Trust will update the above-referenced disclosure with the applicable period covered. Comment 5.Please include the sub-advisory agreement as an appendix to your letter that responds to these comments. The Staff must review the agreement prior to the effectiveness of the Amendment. Response: Please see attached Appendix A. The Trust will also file such agreement as an exhibit with its next post-effective amendment prior to the effectiveness of the Amendment. * * * If you have any questions regarding the above response, please do not hesitate to contact me at (920) 360-7173 or alyssa.bernard@usbank.com. Sincerely, /s/ Alyssa M. Bernard Alyssa M. Bernard Vice President 2 Appendix A ETF SERIES SOLUTIONS INVESTMENT SUB-ADVISORY AGREEMENT with Kaiju ETF Advisors This INVESTMENT SUB-ADVISORY AGREEMENT (the “Agreement”) is made as of this 2nd day of December, 2022 by and among EXCHANGE TRADED CONCEPTS, LLC, an Oklahoma limited liability company with its principal place of business at 10900 Hefner Pointe Drive, Suite 401, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73120 (the “Adviser”), ETF SERIES SOLUTIONS (the “Trust”), and Kaiju ETF Advisors, a Cayman Island Exempted Company with its principal place of business located at 33 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 2210, Chicago, Illinois 60602 (the “Sub-Adviser”). W I T N E S S E T H WHEREAS, the Trust is an open-end management investment company, registered as such under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”); and WHEREAS, the Adviser is registered as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Advisers Act”); and WHEREAS, the Adviser has entered into an Investment Advisory Agreement dated December 23, 2014, as amended to add additional series, with the Trust; and WHEREAS, the Sub-Adviser is registered as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Advisers Act”) and is engaged in the business of supplying investment advice as an independent contractor; and WHEREAS, the Investment Advisory Agreement contemplates that the Adviser may appoint a sub-adviser to perform some or all of the services for which the Adviser is responsible; and WHEREAS, the Sub-Adviser is willing to furnish such services to the Adviser and each Fund listed in Schedule A to this Agreement (each a “Fund” and, collectively, the “Funds”), as such Schedule may be amended from time to time upon mutual agreement of the parties. NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants and benefits set forth herein, the parties do hereby agree as follows: 1.Duties of the Sub-Adviser. Subject to supervision and oversight of the Adviser and the Board of Trustees (the “Board”), and in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Agreement, the Sub-Adviser shall manage all of the securities and other assets of the Funds entrusted to it hereunder (the “Assets”), including the purchase, retention and disposition of the Assets, in accordance with the Funds’ respective investment objectives, guidelines, policies and restrictions as stated in each Fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information, as currently in effect and as amended or supplemented from time to time (referred to collectively as the “Prospectus”), and subject to the following: a.The Sub-Adviser shall, subject to subparagraph (b), determine from time to time what Assets will be purchased, retained or sold by the Funds, and what portion of the Assets will be invested or held uninvested in cash as is permissible. b.In the performance of its duties and obligations under this Agreement, the Sub-Adviser shall act in conformity with the Prospectus, the Statement of Additional Information, the written instructions and directions of the Adviser and of the Board, the terms and conditions of exemptive and no-action relief granted to the Trust as amended from time to time and provided to the Sub-Adviser and the Trust’s policies and procedures provided to the Sub-Adviser and will conform to and comply with the requirements of the 1940 Act, the Advisers Act, the Commodity Exchange Act, the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), and all other applicable federal and state laws and regulations, as each is amended from time to time. 3 c. The Sub-Adviser shall maintain all books and records with respect to transactions involving the Assets required by subparagraphs (b)(1), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9) and (10) and paragraph (f) of Rule 31a-1 under the 1940 Act. The Sub-Adviser shall keep the books and records relating to the Assets required to be maintained by the Sub-Adviser under this Agreement and shall timely furnish to the Adviser all information relating to the Sub-Adviser’s services under this Agreement needed by the Adviser to keep the other books and records of the Fund required by Rule 31a-1 under the 1940 Act, as requested by the Adviser. The Sub-Adviser agrees that all records that it maintains on behalf of a Fund are property of the Fund and the Sub-Adviser will surrender promptly to the Fund any of such records upon the Fund’s request; provided, however, that the Sub-Adviser may retain a copy of such records. In addition, for the duration of this Agreement, the Sub-Adviser shall preserve for the periods prescribed by Rule 31a-2 under the 1940 Act any such records as are required to be maintained by it pursuant to this Agreement, and shall transfer said records to any successor sub-adviser upon the termination of this Agreement (or, if there is no successor sub-adviser, to the Adviser). d.The Sub-Adviser shall provide the Adviser with such information upon request of the Adviser and shall otherwise cooperate with and provide reasonable assistance to the Adviser, the Trust’s administrator, the Trust’s custodian and foreign custodians, the Trust’s transfer agent and pricing agents and all other agents and representatives of the Trust. e.The Adviser acknowledges that the Sub-Adviser performs investment advisory services for various other clients in addition to the Funds and, to the extent it is consistent with applicable law and the Sub-Adviser’s fiduciary obligations, the Sub-Adviser may give advice and take action with respect to any of those other clients that may differ from the advice given or the timing or nature of action taken for a particular Fund. f.The Sub-Adviser shall promptly notify the Adviser of any financial condition that is reasonably and foreseeably likely to impair the Sub-Adviser’s ability to fulfill its commitment under this Agreement. g.The Sub-Adviser will have no obligation to advise, initiate or take any other action on behalf of the Adviser, the Funds or the Assets in any legal proceedings (including, without limitation, class actions and bankruptcies) relating to the securities comprising the Assets or any other matter. Sub-Adviser will not file proofs of claims relating to the securities comprising the Assets or any other matter and will not notify the Adviser, the Funds or the Trust’s custodian of class action settlements or bankruptcies relating to the Assets. h.In performance of its duties and obligations under this Agreement, the Sub-Adviser shall not consult with any other sub-adviser to the Funds or a sub-adviser to a portfolio that is under common control with the Funds concerning the Assets, except as permitted by the policies and procedures of the Funds. The Sub-Adviser shall not provide investment advice to any assets of the Funds other than the Assets which it sub-advises. i.The Sub-Adviser shall maintain books and records with respect to the Funds’ securities transactions and keep the Board and the Adviser fully informed on an ongoing basis as agreed by the Adviser and the Sub-Adviser of all material facts concerning the Sub-Adviser and its key investment personnel providing services with respect to the Funds and the investment and the reinvestment of the Assets of the Funds. The Sub-Adviser shall furnish to the Adviser or the Board such reasonably requested regular, periodic and special reports, balance sheets or financial information, and such other information with regard to its affairs as the Adviser or Board may reasonably request and the Sub-Adviser will attend meetings with the Adviser and/or the Trustees, as reasonably requested, to discuss the foregoing. Upon the request of the Adviser, the Sub-Adviser shall also furnish to the Adviser any other information relating to the Assets that is required to be filed by the Adviser or the Trust with the SEC or sent to shareholders under the 1940 Act (including the rules adopted thereunder) or any exemptive or other relief that the Adviser or the Trust obtains from the SEC. j.The fair valuation of securities in a Fund may be required when the Adviser becomes aware of significant events that may affect the pricing of all or a portion of a Fund’s portfolio. The Sub-Adviser will provide assistance in determining the fair value of the Assets, as necessary and reasonably requested by the Adviser or its agent, and use reasonable efforts to arrange for the provision of valuation information or a price(s) from a party(ies) independent of the Sub-Adviser if market prices are not readily available, it being understood that the Sub-Adviser will not be responsible for determining the value of any such security. 4 k.Subject to any other written instructions of the Adviser or the Trust, the Sub-Adviser is hereby appointed the Adviser’s and the Trust’s agent and attorney-in-fact for the limited purposes of executing account documentation, agreements, contracts and other documents as the Sub-Adviser shall be requested by brokers, dealers, counterparties and other persons in connection with its management of the Assets. The Sub-Adviser agrees upon request to provide the Adviser and the Trust with copies of any such agreements executed on behalf of the Adviser or the Trust. 2.Duties of the Adviser. The Adviser shall continue to have responsibility for all services to be provided to the Funds pursuant to the Advisory Agreement and shall oversee and review the Sub-Adviser’s performance of its duties under this Agreement; provided, however, that in connection with its management of the Assets, nothing herein shall be construed to relieve the Sub-Adviser of responsibility for compliance with the Prospectus, the Statement of Additional Information, the written instructions and directions of the Board, the requirements of the 1940 Act, the Code, and all other applicable federal laws and regulations, as each is amended from time to time. 3.Delivery of Documents. The Adviser has furnished the Sub-Ad