Nomura converted its small- and mid-cap fund into an ETF that can count a company of about $92.6 billion as mid-cap

Nomura Asset Management converted two mutual funds into ETFs that began trading on New York Stock Exchange Arca on Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. The conversions closed after trading ended on Friday, Nov. 6.

Shareholders received shares of the new funds equal in value to their old shares. A registration statement filed May 22 described the exchange as tax-free for U.S. holders, apart from cash paid in place of a fractional share.

The equity fund is Nomura Asset Management's Nomura Small and Mid Cap ETF, SMDC. It replaced the Nomura Smid Cap Core Fund, formerly the Macquarie Smid Cap Core Fund.

The bond fund is Nomura Asset Management's Nomura Strategic Income ETF, MFIX. It replaced the Nomura Strategic Income Fund, formerly the Macquarie Strategic Income Fund.

What the equity fund can count as mid-cap

SMDC seeks capital appreciation. Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of net assets, plus borrowings for investment, must be invested at the time of purchase in common stocks the Nov. 6 prospectus calls small- and mid-capitalization companies.

Small, for that test, means a market capitalization similar to the Russell 2500 Index. Mid means a company inside the Russell Midcap Index's range. As of June 30, 2026, those ranges ran as high as about $30.6 billion for the Russell 2500 and about $92.6 billion for the Russell Midcap.

Every stock in the Russell Midcap Index, ranked 201 through 1,000, also sits in the Russell 1000, which FTSE Russell's November 2026 ground rules list among its large-cap indexes. The Russell 2500, ranked 501 through 3,000, includes companies ranked 501 through 1,000, which are in that large-cap index too.

The ranges move with the indexes, and the test applies when the fund buys. SMDC can count a company near $92.6 billion toward the 80% test.

CresAlta Investment Management's CresAlta Small and Mid-Cap ETF, CVSM, stops its test at the Russell 2500 range, its April 30 summary prospectus says. On the figures in Nomura's prospectus, that range topped out near $30.6 billion on the same June 30 date.

The policy does not force the manager to stay at the small end of the Russell Midcap range.

What the small- and mid-cap ETF charges

The old equity fund sold several share classes. The institutional class, whose results the ETF adopted, had an expense ratio of 0.89% in the year ended March 31, 2026, the Nov. 6 prospectus shows. The ETF's net expense ratio is 0.59%.

In the old fund's July 31, 2026 summary prospectus, net expense ratios ran from 0.77% for Class R6 to 1.87% for Class C. Class A listed 1.12%, plus a sales charge of up to 5.75%. The ETF charges no sales charge.

The gross expense ratio is 0.70%. Delaware Management Company, the investment manager and part of Nomura Asset Management, has agreed to keep total annual operating expenses from exceeding 0.59% of average daily net assets through Nov. 6, 2028. The waiver can end sooner only if the manager and the fund agree.

CVSM, the fund with the tighter size rule, lists a 0.55% expense ratio in its April 30 summary prospectus. It held $94.4 million as of July 31, 2026, its filing shows.

The index fund costs less, and is far larger. The iShares Russell 2500 ETF, SMMD, states a net expense ratio of 0.15% and a gross ratio of 0.23%, and held $4.3 billion as of Nov. 9, iShares reports.

The PGIM Jennison Small-Mid Cap Core Equity ETF, PJSM, lists a 0.29% expense ratio. It started on Sept. 1, 2026, and had $6.1 million as of Nov. 9, PGIM reports. PGIM calls the holdings small- and mid-cap stocks and lists the Russell 2500 as a benchmark, without a dollar range.

What the old equity fund returned

The figures are for the predecessor's institutional class, before taxes. The Russell 2500 figures beside them deduct no fees.

For the year ended Dec. 31, 2025, the class returned 8.95%, 2.96 percentage points behind the Russell 2500's 11.91%.

Over the five years ended that date, the class returned 8.66% a year, 1.40 percentage points ahead of the index, which returned 7.26% a year. That span includes the months before April 30, 2021, when Delaware Management Company became the manager, and before Nov. 15, 2021, when the strategy changed. The prospectus says returns from before April 30, 2021, are the prior manager's, and that performance before Nov. 15, 2021, reflects the former strategy.

The bond fund that converted with it

MFIX seeks high current income and, secondarily, long-term total return. Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of net assets plus borrowings goes into U.S. and foreign debt, including emerging-market bonds.

The net expense ratio is 0.41%, against a gross 0.61%. The predecessor's institutional class, the share class whose results the ETF adopted, had an expense ratio of 0.59% in the year ended July 31, 2026. A fee waiver runs through Nov. 6, 2028, and can end sooner only if the manager and the fund agree.

For the periods ended Dec. 31, 2025, that class returned 8.16% over one year and 2.82% a year over five years. The prospectus sets those returns next to the Bloomberg US Aggregate Index, which returned 7.30% and an annualized loss of 0.36% and deducts no fees.

Bloomberg's Nov. 5, 2026 description calls the index a measure of investment-grade, U.S. dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bonds. The fund can hold bonds outside that market.