- Business
- Themes ETF Trust – Themes Transatlantic Defense ETF is a U.S.-domiciled, passively managed exchange-traded fund that provides investors with targeted equity exposure to aerospace and defense companies headquartered in North Atlantic Treaty Organization member countries. The Fund, which trades on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker NATO, seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the Solactive Transatlantic Aerospace and Defense Index, an index maintained by Solactive AG that includes eligible large-, mid- and small-capitalization companies classified by FactSet within the aerospace and defense industry. The Fund was established on October 11, 2024, is advised by Themes Management Company, LLC, and is part of Themes ETF Trust, headquartered at 34 East Putnam Street, Suite 112, Greenwich, Connecticut.
The Fund’s principal investment products consist of common stocks of transatlantic aerospace and defense companies; American Depositary Receipts; Global Depositary Receipts; and, where appropriate, representative samples of index constituents. Under normal conditions, it invests at least 80% of net assets, plus borrowings for investment purposes, in securities included in its underlying index and in securities of qualifying transatlantic defense companies. Eligible issuers derive at least 50% of revenue from aerospace and defense activities, including aircraft, aircraft-parts and aircraft-accessory manufacturing; weapons systems; military equipment; missiles; military navigation systems; and related defense services. The portfolio is ordinarily replicated in approximately index weightings and is rebalanced quarterly, with constituent weights subject to issuer and concentration limits. As of September 2026, the Fund holds approximately 90 securities, primarily in the industrials sector, with leading positions including RTX Corp., Rolls-Royce Holdings plc, GE Aerospace, The Boeing Co., Airbus SE, Safran SA, Lockheed Martin Corp., Howmet Aerospace Inc., General Dynamics Corp. and BAE Systems plc.
Themes Transatlantic Defense ETF serves retail and institutional investors seeking thematic exposure to North American and European defense and aerospace markets through a single listed security. Individual shares trade in the secondary market through broker-dealers at market prices and may trade at premiums or discounts to net asset value; creation and redemption activity is generally conducted in large Creation Unit blocks by authorized participants. The Fund carries a 0.35% annual management fee and may lend portfolio securities up to one-third of total assets. It is non-diversified and is expected to concentrate investments in aerospace, defense and industrials to an extent similar to that of its benchmark index.
Recent developments include the Fund’s surpassing of $100 million in assets under management in March 2026, reflecting continued expansion within Themes ETFs’ thematic ETF platform. The Fund’s current strategy remains focused on passive, index-based exposure to NATO-member-country aerospace and defense issuers rather than active security selection or defensive positioning. Themes ETFs has also expanded its broader product platform through thematic, sector-focused, commodity and leveraged ETF offerings, and reported more than $1 billion in total assets under management across its thematic, daily leveraged and capped accelerated ETFs in October 2025.