Transamerica files TAVI, a Great Lakes EAFE ETF, as a $4.27 billion fund changes sub-adviser

Transamerica on Monday put an ETF in registration with the same equity sub-adviser it has already scheduled to take over a mutual fund and a variable-annuity portfolio. On or about November 1, Great Lakes replaces Thompson, Siegel & Walmsley on Transamerica International Equity, a $4.27 billion foreign large-value mutual fund (all share classes, as of June 30) whose Institutional shares trade as TSWIX. An August 13 supplement says the related variable-annuity portfolio, Transamerica TSW International Equity VP, will be renamed Transamerica Great Lakes Advisors International Equity VP when that sub-adviser change takes effect. The 2023 ETF Series Trust filed to add Transamerica International Equity Active ETF TAVI, an actively managed fund that would invest primarily in companies from the developed-market countries in the MSCI EAFE Index, naming Great Lakes as equity sub-adviser.

Monday’s paper does not say TAVI is a share class of that mutual fund, a conversion of it, or a clone of its book. Total net assets in the mutual fund were $4.38 billion as of July 31. Transamerica has not said whether the ETF is meant to serve the same buyers. Great Lakes already picks stocks for Transamerica’s large-value U.S. equity ETF CTALV, which listed in December 2025 with Tidal Investments as operating sub-adviser, the same pairing the TAVI draft names.

A 485APOS with the fee left blank

The trust filed Post-Effective Amendment No. 25 under the Securities Act, a 485APOS, which is the form an existing trust uses when it wants to add a series. The explanatory note says the paper adds one fund. It does not change an existing series, name, ticker, or fee, and it does not terminate anything. Transamerica Asset Management is named as adviser, Great Lakes and Tidal as sub-advisers.

What the paper leaves empty is the part a buyer would use. Management fee, other expenses, total annual fund operating expenses, any waiver, the listing exchange, and a listing date are all blank. The cover is marked “SUBJECT TO COMPLETION”: the information is not complete and may change, and the shares may not be sold until the registration statement is effective. The trust proposes effectiveness 75 days after filing under Rule 485(a)(2). No calendar date is named. Financial highlights state the series had not commenced operations.

The assigned ticker is already in use on Nasdaq by Tavia Acquisition Corp. Placeholder tickers in a 485APOS get changed. This one may have to.

What developed-market international ETFs already charge

The index fund that owns the same developed-market ex-Canada universe, the iShares MSCI EAFE ETF BEFA, charges 0.32% and holds $78.4 billion. Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF AVEA includes Canada and small caps, holds $324 billion, and charges 0.03%. On the active side, JPMorgan International Research Enhanced Equity ETF AJIRE seeks to beat EAFE at 0.24% with $11.1 billion behind it, and the International Active Equity group has 57 listed funds.

Last week Causeway filed two active ETFs, including an international series, into this same trust, also with the fee left blank. That paper is a separate registration. Causeway files its first ETFs into a 0.22% to 0.39% category, its own fee blank.

The November 1 sub-adviser change on the mutual fund and the annuity portfolio is dated. TAVI is not. Until an amendment fills in the fee and the exchange and the registration is effective, there is nothing to buy.