Mutual Fund Summary Prospectus (497k)

ALERIAN ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE ETF	ALPS ETF TRUST
NYSE Arca Ticker: ENFR	Summary Prospectus March 31, 2020

 

Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund’s prospectus and other information about the Fund online at https://www.alpsfunds.com/viewer/ENFR?docType=summary-prospectus. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 877.398.8461, by sending an e-mail request to [e-mail], or by contacting your financial intermediary. The Fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information, each dated March 31, 2020, along with the Fund’s most recent annual report dated November 30, 2019 are incorporated by reference into this summary prospectus and may be obtained, free of charge, at the website, phone number or e-mail address noted above.

 

Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, paper copies of the Fund’s annual and semi-annual shareholder reports will no longer be sent by mail, unless you specifically request paper copies of the reports from your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank). Instead, the reports will be made available on the Fund’s website (www.alpsfunds.com), and you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted and provided with a website link to access the report.

 

If you already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and you need not take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from a Fund electronically anytime by contacting your financial intermediary.

 

You may elect to receive all future reports in paper free of charge. You can contact your financial intermediary to request that you continue to receive paper copies of your shareholder reports. Your election to receive reports in paper will apply to all funds held in your account with your financial intermediary.

 

The Securities and Exchange Commission has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this Prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE

 

The Fund seeks investment results that correspond (before fees and expenses) generally to the price and yield performance of its underlying index, the Alerian Midstream Energy Select Index (ticker symbol AMEI) (the “Underlying Index”). As a secondary objective, the Fund seeks to provide total return through income and capital appreciation.

 

FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE FUND

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund (“Shares”). Investors purchasing or selling Shares in the secondary market may be subject to fees and expenses (including customary brokerage commissions) charged by their broker. These fees and expenses are not included in the expense example below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees	0.65%
Other Expenses	0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	0.65%

 

Example

The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the costs of investing in other funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year, that all dividends and capital gains are reinvested each year, and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same each year.

 

	One Year	Three Years	Five Years	Ten Years
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower based on these assumptions, your costs would be:	$66	$208	$362	$810

 

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

 

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year ended November 30, 2019, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 26% of the average value of its portfolio.

 

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

 

The Fund employs a “passive management” – or indexing – investment approach designed to track the performance of the Underlying Index. Developed by Alerian, a leading provider of objective energy infrastructure and master limited partnership (“MLP”) benchmarks, data and analytics (“Alerian”), the Underlying Index is intended to give investors a means of tracking the overall performance of North American energy infrastructure companies.

 

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ALERIAN ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE ETF

 

 

The Underlying Index is a composite of North American energy infrastructure companies engaged midstream activities involving energy commodities including gathering and processing, liquefaction, pipeline transportation, rail terminaling, and storage (also known as “midstream energy businesses”). Midstream energy companies include midstream MLPs and midstream corporations, either based in the United States or Canada.

 

MLPs are publicly traded partnerships engaged in, among other things, the transportation, storage and processing of minerals and natural resources, and are treated as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes. By confining their operations to these specific activities, MLP interests, or units, are able to trade on public securities exchanges exactly like the shares of a corporation, without entity level income taxation. To qualify as an MLP and not be taxed as a corporation for income tax purposes, a partnership must, for any taxable year, receive at least 90% of its income from qualifying sources as set forth in Section 7704(d) of the Code (as defined below).

 

The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its total assets in securities that comprise the Underlying Index (or depositary receipts based on such securities).

 

Pursuant to Section 851(b)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), the Fund may invest no more than 25% of the value of its total assets in the securities of one or more qualified publicly traded partnerships, which include MLPs.

 

Unlike direct investments in MLPs, income and losses from the Fund’s investments in MLPs will not directly flow through to the personal tax returns of shareholders. The Fund intends to qualify as a regulated investment company under Subchapter M of the Code. The Fund will report distributions from its investments, including MLPs, made to shareholders annually on Form 1099. Shareholders will not, solely by virtue of their status as Fund shareholders, be treated as engaged in the business conducted by underlying MLPs for federal or state income tax purposes or for purposes of the tax on unrelated business income of tax-exempt organizations.

 

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT RISKS

 

Investors should consider the following risk factors and special considerations associated with investing in the Fund, which may cause you to lose money.

 

Investment Risk. An investment in the Fund is subject to investment risk including the possible loss of the entire principal amount that you invest.

 

Market Risk. The market value of a security may decline due to general market conditions that are not specifically related to a particular company, such as real or perceived adverse economic, political and social conditions, inflation (or expectations for inflation), changes in the outlook for corporate earnings, changes in interest or currency rates or adverse investor sentiment generally.

 

Industry Specific Risks. The Fund invests primarily in companies in the North American energy infrastructure sector. Companies in the North American energy infrastructure sector are subject to risks specific to the industry they serve including, but not limited to, the following:

 

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fluctuations in energy commodity prices which may impact the volume of energy commodities transported, processes, stored or distributed;

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reduced volumes of natural gas or other energy commodities available for transporting, processing or storing;

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new construction risks and acquisition risk which can limit growth potential;

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a sustained reduced demand for crude oil, natural gas and refined petroleum products resulting from a recession or an increase in market price or higher taxes;

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changes in the regulatory environment;

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extreme weather;

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rising interest rates which could result in a higher cost of capital and drive investors into other investment opportunities;

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global, political and economic instability; and

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threats of attack by terrorists.

 

MLP Risk. Investments in securities of MLPs involve risks that differ from investments in common stock including risks related to limited control and limited rights to vote on matters affecting the MLP, risks related to potential conflicts of interest between the MLP and the MLP’s general partner, dilution risks and risks related to the general partner’s right to require unit-holders to sell their common units at an undesirable time or price due to regulatory changes and cash flow risks. MLP common units and other equity securities can be affected by macro-economic and other factors affecting the stock market in general, expectations of interest rates, investor sentiment towards MLPs or the energy sector, changes in a particular issuer’s financial condition, or unfavorable or unanticipated poor performance of a particular issuer (in the case of MLPs, generally measured in terms of distributable cash flow). MLPs holding credit-related investments are subject to interest rate risk and the risk of default on payment obligations by debt issuers. Prices of common units of individual MLPs and other equity securities also can be affected by fundamentals unique to the partnership or company, including cash flow growth, cash generating power and distribution coverage.

 

MLP Tax Risk. MLPs generally do not pay U.S. federal income tax at the partnership level, although under the centralized audit regime, MLPs are audited and imputed underpayments at the partnership level. A change in current tax law, or a change in the underlying business mix of a given MLP, could result in an MLP being treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, which would result in such MLP being required to pay U.S. federal income tax on its taxable income. The classification of an MLP as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes would have the effect of reducing the amount of cash available for distribution by the MLP and could result in a reduction in the value of your investment in the Fund.

 

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Canadian Investment Risk. Investments in securities of Canadian issuers involve risks and special considerations not typically associated with investments in the U.S. securities markets. The Canadian economy is very dependent on the demand for, and supply and price of, natural resources. There is a risk that any changes in natural resources sectors could have an adverse impact on the Canadian economy. Additionally, the Canadian economy is heavily dependent on relationships with certain key trading partners including the United States, countries in the European Union and China. Because the United States is Canada’s largest trading partner and foreign investor, the Canadian economy is dependent on and may be significantly affected by the U.S. economy. Reduction in spending on Canadian products and services or changes in the U.S. economy may adversely impact the Canadian economy. The expanding economic and financial integration of the United States, Canada, and Mexico through the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”), or its successor, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”), has made, and will likely continue to make, the Canadian economy and securities market more sensitive to North American trade patterns. In addition, certain sectors of Canada’s economy may be subject to foreign ownership limitations. This may negatively impact the Fund’s ability to invest in Canadian issuers and to track the Underlying Index. Because the Fund will invest in securities denominated in foreign currencies and the income received by the Fund will generally be in foreign currency, changes in currency exchange rates may negatively impact the Fund’s return.

 

Returns of Capital Distributions From the Fund Reduce the Tax Basis of Fund Shares. A portion of the Fund’s distributions are expected to be treated as a return of capital for tax purposes. Returns of capital distribution are not taxable income to you but reduce your tax basis in your Fund Shares. Such a reduction in tax basis will result in larger taxable gains and/or lower tax losses on a subsequent sale of Fund Shares.

 

Issuer-Specific Risk. The value of an individual security or particular type of security can be more volatile than the market as a whole and can perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

 

Non-Diversified Fund Risk. The Fund is considered non-diversified and can invest a greater portion of assets in securities of individual issuers than a diversified fund. As a result, changes in the market value of a single investment could cause greater fluctuations in share price than would occur in a diversified fund.

 

Fluctuation of Net Asset Value. The net asset value (“NAV”) of the Fund’s Shares will generally fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings. The market prices of the Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in NAV as well as the relative supply of and demand for Shares on the NYSE Arca, Inc. (“NYSE Arca”). The Adviser cannot predict whether the Shares will trade below, at or above their NAV.

 

Index Management Risk. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund is not “actively” managed. Therefore, it would not necessarily sell a security because the security’s issuer was in financial trouble unless that security is removed from the Underlying Index.

 

Non-Correlation Risk. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Underlying Index for a number of reasons, including operating expenses incurred by the Fund not applicable to the Underlying Index, costs in buying and selling securities, asset valuation differences and differences between the Fund’s portfolio and the Underlying Index resulting from legal restrictions, cash flows or operational inefficiencies.

 

FUND PERFORMANCE

 

The following bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual returns for a certain time period compare with the average annual returns of the Underlying Index and of another benchmark of market performance. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Total return figures assume reinvestment of dividends and include the effect of the Fund’s recurring expenses. Updated performance information is available online at www.alpsfunds.com or by calling 866.675.2639.

 

Annual Total Returns (calendar years ended 12/31)

 

 

 

Highest Quarterly Return	21.84%	(March 31, 2019)
Lowest Quarterly Return	-23.18%	(September 30, 2015)

 

The after-tax returns presented in the table below are calculated using highest historical individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Your actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from those shown below. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Shares of the Fund through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

 

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ALERIAN ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE ETF

 

 

Average Annual Total Returns
For periods ended December 31, 2019

 

	1 Year	5 Year	Since Inception (October 31, 2013)
Return Before Taxes	21.20%	-2.51%	0.44%
Return After Taxes on Distributions	20.75%	-3.05%	-0.11%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares	12.84%	-1.93%	0.31%
Alerian Midstream Energy Select Index* (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)	22.35%	-1.74%	1.29%
Alerian MLP Index* (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)	6.56%	-7.00%	-4.61%

 

*	Index performance shown in the table is the total return, which assumes reinvestment of any dividends and distributions during the time periods shown.

 

INVESTMENT ADVISER

 

ALPS Advisors, Inc. is the investment adviser to the Fund.

 

PORTFOLIO MANAGER

 

Ryan Mischker, Vice President, Portfolio Management & Research, and Andrew Hicks, Vice President of Index Management of ALPS Advisors, Inc., are responsible for the day to day management of the Fund. Mr. Mischker and Mr. Hicks have each served in such capacity since March 2015 and March 2016, respectively.

 

PURCHASE AND REDEMPTION OF SHARES

 

The Trust issues and redeems Shares at NAV only in a large specified number of Shares called a “Creation Unit” or multiples thereof. A Creation Unit consists of 50,000 Shares. Creation Unit transactions are typically conducted in exchange for the deposit or delivery of in-kind securities included in the Fund’s Underlying Index and/or cash.

 

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold in secondary market transactions through brokers. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on NYSE Arca under the ticker symbol ENFR and, because Shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, Shares of the Fund may trade at a price greater than or less than NAV.

 

TAX INFORMATION

 

The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains.

 

PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary, the Adviser or other related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares or related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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