Hartford Hybrid and Credit Opportunities ETF prospectus takes effect for a contemplated November conversion

Hartford Hybrid and Credit Opportunities ETF HCOP, which would hold hybrid capital securities and other credit instruments, now has an effective prospectus. The conversion contemplated for on or about November 13 would take in Hartford Hybrid and Credit Opportunities Fund, which held $140 million as of July 31, and adopt that fund’s Class F history. The same filing already writes the adviser contract to terminate in the first quarter of 2027, when Wellington’s parent is expected to close its purchase of Hartford Funds, unless predecessor shareholders approve a new agreement.

A conversion contemplated for November 13

Before the ETF starts operating, it expects to acquire all eligible assets and liabilities of Hartford Hybrid and Credit Opportunities Fund, a series of The Hartford Mutual Funds, Inc., and to adopt the accounting and performance history of that fund’s Class F shares. The transfer is described as a tax-free reorganization. Nasdaq is the named listing exchange. The ETF has not begun operations, and no first trade is recorded. The prospectus took effect Wednesday on filing.

The 2011 record the ETF would inherit

The predecessor, formerly Hartford Low Duration High Income Fund, dates to September 30, 2011. The ETF has the same investment objective and principal strategy as that fund has now: long-term total return and current income, with at least 80% of assets, under normal circumstances, in hybrid capital securities and other credit-related instruments selected by Wellington. Until July 31 it ran different objectives and strategies, under a different name, with different portfolio managers. Class F’s performance history would still travel onto HCOP, including returns earned under the old mandate. What that inherited track record represents, once objective, strategy, name, and manager have all changed, is a question the prospectus discloses rather than resolves.

Wellington Management Company LLP is the sub-adviser. Noah C. Atlas, a Wellington managing director and fixed income portfolio manager, is named as portfolio manager of the ETF from November 2026 and of the predecessor from July 2026. Hartford Funds Management Company, LLC is the adviser.

A 0.55% cap, and a contract vote on November 5

Net expenses after a contractual reimbursement are 0.55%. Class F of the predecessor, the share class whose history the ETF would adopt, has net operating expenses of 0.65% against $140 million of fund assets as of July 31. For those shareholders, the conversion would be a 0.10 percentage-point cut in what they pay.

The prospectus already looks past the conversion. It discloses a definitive agreement under which Wellington Management’s corporate parent will acquire Hartford Funds Management Group, Inc. and its operating subsidiaries, including the adviser, in a transaction expected to close in the first quarter of 2027. That change of control would be an “assignment” that terminates the existing investment management agreement. A new agreement is expected to be approved by the board and the ETF’s sole initial shareholder, contingent on approval by the predecessor fund’s shareholders, and to take effect at closing. The services under the new contract are identical, and no changes in the contractual management fee will result.

Predecessor shareholders vote on that new contract at a meeting on November 5, ahead of the contemplated conversion. If they do not approve it, the current agreement still terminates on the 2027 assignment and the replacement does not take effect. The prospectus does not name who would manage HCOP after that closing.