HBDC vs IALT

HBDCAHilton BDC Corporate Bond ETF

IALTBiShares Systematic Alternatives Active ETF

In short

HBDC Private credit's lenders have to borrow too. HBDC owns the senior unsecured bonds that business development companies issue, a first-mover take on BDC debt instead of BDC stock, wrapped in a rules-based index.

IALT Hedge-fund-style machinery in an ETF wrapper: IALT runs long and short across global asset classes, with quant models hunting mispricings instead of an index calling the shots. It launched in 2025 and is already a multi-billion-dollar fund.

Stated mandate

HBDC The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the Solactive Hilton Capital BDC Corporate Bond TR Index.

IALT The Fund seeks long-term total return through global asset classes and diversified alternative strategies. It combines long and short strategies and uses quantitative, model-driven methods to identify potentially mispriced securities and asset classes.

Why people hold it

• HBDC At 0.39% it undercuts the typical alternatives fund (cohort median near 1.01%) and peers like QAI at 0.75% and FTLS at 0.95%.
• First fund built only around BDC bonds, and it sits above the equity: senior unsecured debt from issuers required by law to keep 150% asset coverage.hiltoncapitalmanagement.comhiltonetfs.com
• Plumbing is plain: a Solactive index rebalanced quarterly with credit and liquidity screens, and the fund seeks to pay monthly.hiltonetfs.com

• IALT Goes both ways. Long and short positions across global asset classes, with quantitative models picking what looks mispriced rather than an index setting the lineup.
• Spread is the point. Roughly 1,800 positions across global markets and multiple asset classes, so no single name or region carries the fund.
• Strategies like this usually live in private funds. Here it is a 1940 Act ETF that trades on an exchange all day, and it is an actively traded, multi-billion-dollar fund.

Worth knowing

• HBDC Non-diversified by design. The BDC bond universe is small, so one issuer's credit trouble carries more weight here than in a broad corporate bond fund.hiltonetfs.com
• Thinly traded, so spreads can run wider than in mainstream bond ETFs.
• Launched in 2025, meaning the record is short and has not yet spanned a full credit cycle.

• IALT At 0.99%, it costs several times what plain allocation funds charge (AOA at 0.19%, NTSX at 0.20%). The fee buys the short book and the models, not market exposure.
• Shorting cuts both ways, and a model rather than a benchmark makes the calls. Results can sit far from a standard stock-and-bond mix in either direction.
• It opened in December 2025, so there is little history showing how the models handle a full market cycle. Distributions come once or twice a year, not monthly.

Full HBDC profile⁠

Full IALT profile⁠