BUYO vs PBDC

BUYOBKraneShares Man Buyout Beta Index ETF

PBDCDPutnam BDC Income ETF

In short

BUYO Private equity's playbook, run through public stocks. BUYO tracks a Man Group index that screens listed companies for the growth, profitability and value traits buyout funds hunt for, then holds roughly 300 of them in a plain ETF wrapper.

PBDC Private-credit lenders, hand-picked. PBDC is an actively managed basket of exchange-listed BDCs, with Putnam weighing each one's credit performance, leverage and dividend outlook instead of taking whatever an index serves up.

Stated mandate

BUYO The fund seeks to track the Man Buyout Beta Index, which provides exposure to public companies displaying characteristics associated with private-equity buyout investments.

PBDC The fund seeks current income and invests mainly in exchange-listed business development companies (BDCs).

Why people hold it

• BUYO 0.89% expense ratio, roughly half the median for listed private-markets ETFs and well under the 1.80% charged by the old guard of the group (PSP).
• Buyout-style exposure without private-fund plumbing: a systematic index of listed stocks, bought and sold like any other ETF share.kraneshares.com
• Roughly 300 names screened on growth, profitability and value, so the buyout tilt comes from a broad basket rather than a short list of alternative-asset managers.
• Ranks in the upper half of its listed private-markets peer group, helped by a diversified book and a risk profile milder than most ways to play this theme.

• PBDC Not an index tracker: the managers weigh each BDC's credit performance, risk level, earnings and dividend outlook, and balance-sheet leverage before buying.sec.gov
• The scary headline expense ratio is mostly accounting. SEC rules fold the underlying BDCs' own fees into the total; the fund itself charges one all-inclusive management fee.franklintempleton.comfranklintempleton.com 2
• Income is the stated job: current income from exchange-listed BDCs, the lenders to private US companies, paid out quarterly.sec.gov
• Running since 2022 and now several hundred million dollars in size, with Franklin Templeton behind it since its 2024 purchase of Putnam.sec.gov

Worth knowing

• BUYO Small asset base and thin trading. Spreads and market impact can add to the cost of getting in and out, on top of the stated fee.
• Launched in October 2024, so the record covers only a short stretch of market weather. Less history to judge than most of its peers offer.
• Cheaper doors into the theme exist (GPZ at 0.40%, GTPE at 0.50%), though each tracks a different slice of the private-markets trade.

• PBDC Reported total expenses are 11.77%, above the category median and above index rival BIZD's 9.69%. Both figures are swollen by pass-through BDC fees.franklintempleton.com
• Non-diversified, and the holdings lend to privately held or thinly traded US companies. That is middle-market credit risk, not broad-market equity risk.sec.govsec.gov 2
• Active means the lineup is the team's call, not a published rulebook. The fund measures itself against the S&P BDC Index.franklintempleton.comsec.gov

Full BUYO profile⁠

Full PBDC profile⁠