Brookmont Vows to Backstop Struggling Catastrophe Bond ETF

Brookmont Capital Management is ready to use its own money to prop up the world’s first catastrophe bond ETF, as investors draw the line on the kinds of assets they’ll embrace in the $12.6 trillion market for exchange-traded funds.

“Organizationally we’re very committed,” Ethan Powell, chief investment officer of Texas-based Brookmont, said in an interview. “We’re going to tell our story” and “keep telling it.”

The Brookmont Catastrophic Bond ETF (ticker ILS) wasn’t able to attract a lead market maker when it went public in April. Since then, the fund has brought in $12 million in investor cash, about ...