BUYO vs VPC

BUYOBKraneShares Man Buyout Beta Index ETF

VPCDVirtus Private Credit Strategy 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.

VPC VPC buys the lenders, not the loans: one ticker for a slate of US-listed BDCs and private-credit closed-end funds. Its eye-popping fee line is mostly those underlying funds' own costs, which SEC rules force into the table.

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.

VPC The Fund seeks an alternative source of yield through private credit, focusing on lending to non-investment-grade small- and mid-sized U.S. companies. It tracks the Indxx Private Credit Index, which provides passive exposure to U.S.-listed private-credit instruments.

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.

• VPC One ticker for a broad slate of US-listed BDCs and closed-end funds lending to small and mid-sized American companies, instead of a bet on one lender.sec.gov
• Virtus charges 0.75% at the fund level; the rest of the headline expense ratio is the underlying BDCs' and CEFs' fees, itemized because SEC rules require it.virtus.comvirtus.com 2
• The index weights holdings by dividend yield, caps any single name at 5%, and screens out the closed-end funds trading at the most extreme premiums or discounts.sec.gov
• Trading since 2019, one of the early passive routes into exchange-listed private credit.

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.

• VPC Stacked BDC management and incentive fees are real money, and the all-in expense ratio sits far above cohort peers like GPZ and GTPE.virtus.com
• A small fund that trades lightly, so spreads can run wider than the cohort's bigger names. Limit orders help.
• You own lender equity, not the loans: prices move with credit conditions and sentiment, and payouts can include return of capital.sec.gov

Full BUYO profile⁠

Full VPC profile⁠