The firm launched its first active ETF fund in 2009. By 2014 it had 24 active ETFs and $1.83 billion under management. By August 2018 it had 17 ETFs with an average expense ratio of 1.12% and only $817.6 million in assets under management. AdvisorShares is a subsidiary of Fund.com, which has a 60% ownership interest. AdvisorShares partners with third party financial advisers who already manage clients’ assets to package their investment strategy using exchange-traded funds. As part of promoting its funds it also provides educational support to help financial advisors and investors understand actively managed ETFs and their underlying investment strategies. In October 2012 Esposito Securities LLC sued AdvisorShares, claiming that the parties signed a mutual nondisclosure agreement and that subsequently Dan Ahrens, an officer of AdvisorShares, began sharing confidential information with Esposito's clients and told them not to do business with Esposito. The suit was later dismissed without merit.
Funds
The DENT Tactical ETF
The Dent Tactical ETF commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange on September 15, 2009 under the. The first product of AdvisorShares Investments, LLC, DENT was actively managed by HS Dent Investment Management, LLC, an independent economic research and forecasting company and publisher of The Dent Method. HS Dent Investment Management was managed by financial author, Harry S. Dent Jr. Previously, HS Dent had raised and managed a $2.0 billion mutual fund, AIM Dent Demographic Trends, which was merged into another fund after it lost 80% of its assets. According to Morningstar, Inc., DENT had highest expense ratio among ETFs, 1.5% of assets, as of July 2011. DENT closed in August 2012. Its last day of trading was August 8, 2012 and remaining investments were returned to shareholders on August 15, 2012.
The Mars Hill Global Relative Value ETF (NYSE symbol: GRV)
The Mars Hill Global Relative Value ETF commenced trading on the New YorkStock Exchange on July 9, 2010 under the NYSE Ticker: GRV and was managed by Mars Hill Partners, LLC. GRV was the industry's first actively managed long/short ETF. While GRV managed to raise $38 million a month after it launched, investors fled until the fund had only $3.2 million left. On December 1, 2011, Accuvest Global Advisors took over management of the fund and changed the name and ticker to AdvisorShares Accuvest Global Long Short ETF.
The Global Echo ETF (NYSE Symbol: GIVE) and partnership with Philippe Cousteau Jr.
In May 2012, AdvisorShares launched the AdvisorShares Global Echo ETF on the New York Stock Exchange focused on sustainable investing; the fund also said it would donate a portion of the fund expense fees to Global Echo Foundation, a nonprofit co-founded by Philippe Cousteau, Jr. focused on social issues impacting women and children to environmental conservation, as well as supporting social entrepreneurship. The fund's expense ratio is 1.7%, including 0.4% that is donated to the Global Echo Foundation. One potential concern investors may have about investing in GIVE is that they don't get a tax write-off for the portion of the management fee that is donated to the charitable foundation, whereas an individual donating the proceeds of a profitable investment to an eligible charity would be able to get a substantial tax write-off. In reaction to that, AdvisorShares lowered the management fee on GIVE to 0.80% and capped its net expense ratio at 0.99% in January 2017. GIVE finally closed on May 17, 2017.
