Merk Investments enters the ETF market with the launch of the Merk Gold Trust, the deliverable gold ETF. Merk Gold Trust shares will trade on the NYSE Arca under the symbol “OUNZ”. The Merk Gold Trust (OUNZ) provides investors with the opportunity to buy and hold gold through an ETF with the option to take delivery of physical gold if and when desired:
- The Merk Gold Trust holds gold bullion as allocated “London Bars” vaulted in London. OUNZ shareholders own a pro-rata share of the gold held by the Trust.
- Investors have the option to take delivery of their gold in exchange for their OUNZ shares. If and when desired, investors may request delivery of the London Bars held by the Trust, as well as exchange their shares for gold coins (or bars) that are more commonly desired by individual investors.
- Typically, taking delivery of gold is not a taxable event1, as investors are merely taking possession of what they already own: their gold.
- As an ETF, OUNZ seeks to track the price of gold less the expenses of the Trust’s operations.
“We believe we have revolutionized commodity investing by bridging the world between institutional and individual investors. Gold investing will never be the same, as investors may now buy gold with the ease of an ETF, but also have the option to take delivery of their gold when they want, where they want, in the form they want,” explains Axel Merk, President and Chief Investment Officer of Merk Investments.
James Machuga, Merk’s Vice President for Advisor Services adds: “We believe OUNZ will not only be embraced by retail investors, but gives advisors and institutional investors the opportunity to assure their clients that their gold is deliverable.”
Axel Merk expands: “As a large gold investor ourselves in our Merk Hard Currency Fund, we wanted a better way to hold gold. Having studied perceived deficiencies of other gold ETFs, we devised the Trust’s Guiding Principles (available in the Prospectus and at www.merkgold.com) as the philosophy upon which we built the Merk Gold Trust. By creating an open-end exchange-traded product, we make OUNZ available to all investors. Even if investors currently don’t plan to take advantage of the opportunity to exchange their shares for gold, investors may appreciate that they have the option to take delivery of their gold should they change their mind. To serve investors in OUNZ, we have created a highly scalable and robust delivery process. We are thrilled to announce that the U.S. Patent office agrees that our process is truly innovative by granting a patent on the delivery process.”
See links below for fact sheet and prospectus