Lazard Steps Into $450 Billion EM ETF Arena in Stock-Picking Bet

Lazard Asset Management is betting the newfound appetite for emerging-market assets is only just starting, launching its first-ever exchange-traded fund focused on the region as investors look for ways to ride a rebound in international markets.

The actively-managed ETF will track roughly 70 hand-picked stocks from the developing world, according to the $265 billion asset-management arm of Lazard Inc. The move follows a months-long rally that’s lifted nearly every corner of risk assets, amid waning confidence in the world’s largest economy and the prospect of lower US interest rates.