Rohit Mehta explains why he thinks the rebrand aligns Horizons with its global organization, puts rebrand in the context of wider changes
Canada’s 4th largest ETF issuer is rebranding. In May of this year Horizons ETFs will change its name to Global X, aligning its brand with a US ETF issuer of the same name owned by the same parent company Mirae Asset Financial Group. Horizons ETFs is currently the 4th largest ETF issuer in Canada with over $31 billion (CAD) in AUM. Global X claims an AUM of roughly $51 billion (USD) as of December 2023, making it the 13th largest ETF issuer in the United States. Their parent company, Mirae Asset manages over $535 billion (USD) in AUM across a range of different fund vehicles. Rohit Mehta, CEO of Horizons ETFs, explained that the rebrand seeks to align Horizons ETFs more closely with their global organization and show Canadian advisors that this company is connected to a global network of asset management talent.
“I went across the country last year speaking with partners, advisors, and investors, and it became very quickly apparent to me that they were familiar with Horizons’ local expertise…but they weren’t aware of the enormous depth we have through our global strength,” Mehta says. “They didn’t know we were part of the 11th largest ETF provider in the world, they only knew us as the 4th largest in Canada. As more people look to do business with fewer companies, we want to demonstrate that global strength that contributed to our business significantly in the last year.”
Mehta emphasizes that after the rebrand is completed in May, the new Global X will have the same structure and team as Horizons. Its product names will change with Global X replacing Horizons, but the tickers will remain the same. Mehta says that the Global X brand was chosen because of its existing presence across North America, noting that Global X already manages $1 billion of Canadian-owned US-listed products. Global X is the largest ETF brand within the Mirae organization, too, so aligning Horizons with that brand was intended to create a stronger unified presence.
Mehta accepts that Horizons has built a strong brand presence in Canada. Rebranding while trying to maintain that level of trust and recognition can be challenging. He says that’s why his team has taken a staggered rollout approach. Mehta says he told his internal teams in January of this year, and remarked how happy he was that no news of the rebrand leaked before it was publicly announced last week. There are now two months until the company officially rebrands in May. In that time Mehta and his teams will work hard on public outreach and brand building, trying to connect with as many advisors and investors as they can to reintroduce themselves under the new Global X brand.
Since taking over as CEO of Horizons roughly one year ago, Mehta has striven to make his work as transparent as possible. He says that’s why the Horizons team was told about the rebrand months before it went public. While the broad strategic direction of the company has been set, he wants the encourage collaboration and innovation around the details of that work.
Mehta says the feedback he’s received from stakeholders so far has been positive. He says there is excitement around the global capabilities that the new branding highlights. Mehta notes, too, that members of his sales team have already secured meetings they might not have otherwise on the back of that greater global tie-in.
Under the new brand, Mehta’s goals remain the same. He wants to build a “performance culture” with new hires and upskilling of existing staff. He wants to bring in more diverse voices, especially in leadership, and wants to drive continued product innovation and data integration into their work. All of these pieces, he explains, should be aimed at growing this company to 10 per cent market share under the new Global X brand.
As advisors look at the news and see new products launched under the new brand, Mehta wants them to see this as a way to reframe the existing presence of Horizons in Canada, a company with the same reputation now more clearly connected to a global ETF ecosystem.
“It brings more visibility to the bench strength than we have,” Mehta says. “Advisors who are not familiar with Global X will have opportunities to become familiar with it. They’ll be able to see that we are the same organization, they can see what we offer as Global X in Canada and look broader in terms of the additional solutions that they can tap into.”
