Korea Investment Management Lists New ACE High Dividend Plus Covered Call Active ETF

Korea Investment Management announced on June 2 that it will newly list the "ACE High Dividend Plus Covered Call Active" Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) on the Korea Exchange. This ETF seeks to achieve both capital gains and dividend income by combining domestic high-dividend stocks with the nation's two leading semiconductor companies.

The key feature of this product is that, in addition to 20 carefully selected high-dividend stocks, it also includes Samsung Electronics and SK hynix in its portfolio. The selected high-dividend stocks are not chosen solely based on high dividend yields; instead, they are comprehensively screened based on factors such as dividend growth rate, strengthened shareholder return policies, and post-ex-dividend price recovery rates.

The inclusion of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix reflects not only a pursuit of capital gains from potential share price increases but also consideration of each company's dividend policies. As of 2025, Samsung Electronics returned over 11 trillion won to shareholders annually through both regular and special dividends. At the regular shareholders' meeting in March, SK hynix resolved to transfer approximately 4 trillion won from capital reserves to retained earnings. Since capital reduction dividends are classified as a return of capital rather than a profit distribution, dividend income tax is not imposed.

Furthermore, this ETF employs an at-the-money (ATM) call option selling strategy on the KOSPI200. The proportion of option writing is expected to remain around 30 percent, similar to the comparative index. At the time of listing, the fund will use KOSPI 200 weekly options to collect premiums twice a week, and both the option premiums and stock dividends will be used as monthly distribution resources.

Nam Yongsoo, Head of the ETF Division at Korea Investment Management, stated, "As an active ETF, the fund managers will proactively select and include companies that implement capital reduction dividends, and when the expiration of KOSPI 200 weekly options expands to five times a week in the future, we will quickly incorporate these changes to pursue even higher levels of distributions." He added, "For investors torn between seeking dividends and market gains, the ACE High Dividend Plus Covered Call Active ETF will be an excellent choice."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.