Key Highlights

  • The fund holds 52 defence companies, with the top ten at 60.35% and Palantir at 8.96%.
  • Industrials holds 80.52% and Technology 19.48%, and the United States 46.69%.
  • The management fee is 0.65% and the fund size is $234.41 million.
  • The July 2026 distribution of $1.200 is far above the $0.030 paid in July 2025.

VanEck Global Defence ETF (ASX:DFND) aims to provide investment returns, before fees and other costs, that track the performance of its reference index, the MarketVector Global Defence Industry Index. The issuer notes that the fund does not necessarily aim to replicate the index on a one-to-one basis. The fund was admitted to the ASX on 12 September 2024 and last traded at $31.29 on 13 October 2026.

Detail

Information

Ticker

ASX:DFND

Fund

VanEck Global Defence ETF

Category

Equity World Other

Benchmark

MarketVector Global Defence Ind TR AUD

Fund size

$234.41 million

Management fee

0.65%

Total holdings

52

ASX admission date

12 September 2024

Holdings

The ten largest positions represent 60.35% of the fund. Palantir Technologies leads at 8.96%, followed by RTX (7.63%), Hanwha Aerospace (7.25%), Thales (7.07%) and Saab (5.77%). Leonardo holds 5.71%, Elbit Systems 5.40%, Curtiss-Wright 4.48%, Kongsberg Gruppen 4.20% and Singapore Technologies Engineering 3.81%.

Companies between $500 million and $1 billion in market capitalisation represent 22.95% and those below $500 million 2.65%.

Sector and country exposure

Industrials holds 80.52%, against 13.12% for the category, and Technology 19.48%. The fund has no weighting in the other sectors.

The United States accounts for 46.69%, South Korea 11.67%, against 6.31% for the category, France 9.33%, Israel 6.69% and Sweden 5.78%. Italy holds 5.72%, Norway 4.21%, Singapore 3.82% and Germany 3.01%. The United Kingdom holds 2.35%, against 7.71%.

Fee, risk and distributions

The management fee is 0.65% a year and the fund reports a standard deviation of 20.07. The final distribution of $1.200 per unit had an ex-date of 1 July 2026, a record date of 2 July and payment on 27 July, equal to an annual yield of 3.84%.

That is higher than the $0.030 paid in July 2025, the only other distribution on record.

Category classification and liquidity

Morningstar places the fund in the Equity World Other category, which covers funds investing primarily in global stocks almost exclusively, with less than 20% of the portfolio in assets other than equities and a possible bias towards a single sector or country.

Liquidity indicators add a further view. There are 7,513,241 units on issue, and average daily trading volume is 18,904 units. Over the five sessions from 7 to 13 October 2026, daily volume ranged from 5,700 to 30,500 units, with 5,717 recorded on 13 October while the market was still open. The bid-offer range stood at $31.25 to $31.41, and the day range at $31.26 to $31.67. These figures change through the trading day and reflect market activity rather than the fund's holdings.

Recent announcements

The issuer lodged Issued Units Outstanding as at 30 September 2026 on 7 October, the Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2026 on 28 September, and a Target Market Determination on 19 August. Unit notices followed for August and July.

Final Takeaway

DFND is a defence-only portfolio with a larger Korean, French and Israeli weighting than a typical global fund, at a 0.65% fee. Its distribution record is short and uneven. These facts describe the fund and do not forecast outcomes.