Overview

VanEck is a global investment management firm headquartered in New York City. The firm is primarily engaged in issuing exchange-traded fund (ETF) products although it also deals with mutual funds and separately managed accounts for institutional investors. It was a pioneer of investing in foreign growth stocks as well as gold investing.

In 2024, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission fined the company $1.75 million for paying Dave Portnoy to artificially inflate the value of its exchange-traded fund (ETF) without adequate disclosures.

Van Eck Global (1955 to 2016)

In 1955, John van Eck founded Van Eck Global, an investment firm that capitalized on the growing international stock market after the opening of Western Europe to US investors in the wake of the Marshall Plan. His father moved to the US from the Netherlands in the early 20th century as an employee of Shell plc to expand its international business.^([excessive citations])

In 1968, the firm launched one of the first US gold funds, International Investors Gold Fund and moved most of its portfolio into shares of gold mining companies. During the 1970s and up to the mid-1980s, gold experienced a bull market and the firm experienced significant success. The International Investors Gold Fund received large subscriptions and had more than $1 billion in assets under management (AUM). However, after the mid-1980s, the gold market boom ended and the firm's business slowed down. By February 1998, the International Investors Gold Fund had dwindled to $250 million.

In response to the decline of the gold market, the firm started developing its business of investing into emerging markets of Asia in the 1990s. In 1996, the firm signed a joint venture agreement with Shenyin & Wanguo to tap the fund market of mainland China. However the 1997 Asian financial crisis had turned off demand for emerging market funds. One of its funds, the Van Eck Asia Dynasty Fund had its AUM decline from $46.3 million at the end of 1996 to $11.2 million at the end of 1997.

VanEck (since 2016)

In March 2016, the firm announced that from May 2016 onwards, it would be using the brand name VanEck and all businesses and investment offerings would be all under the VanEck brand.

In January 2018, VanEck acquired Think ETF Asset Management, a Dutch ETF issuer for an undisclosed sum. It was done to help expand the firm's business in Europe.

In November 2020, VanEck applied for a China retail fund management licence. It had previously set up an office in Shanghai to provide consulting services. The China Securities Regulatory Commission stated in March 2021 that VanEck wasn't among the top firms when it came to AUM but requested for more information. In April 2023, VanEck terminated its application and let go of more than 10 employees who were supposed to be part of its planned China mutual fund team. However it retained a team of few than 10 to seek a private fund business.

Controversy

In 2024, VanEck paid the United States Securities and Exchange Commission a $1.75 million USD settlement for failing to disclose a social media influencer's role during its exchange-traded fund (ETF) launch. The SEC claimed that the investment management firm privately paid Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports to promote the ETF before its launch. However, the firm broke disclosure laws by failing to disclose the arrangement to the SEC. VanEck did not inform its fund overseers or the ETF's supervision board about its payments to Portnoy.