T. Rowe Price expands fixed income ETF capabilities by acquiring F/M Investments

T. Rowe Price is acquiring F/M Investments, an independent asset manager that recently crossed $10 billion in ETF assets under management. The deal is designed to bolster T. Rowe Price’s fixed income ETF and separately managed account (SMA) capabilities, two areas where institutional and retail demand has been surging.

For a firm already managing roughly $1.89 trillion in assets, this isn’t about filling a gap so much as widening a lane it’s been aggressively building in.

What T. Rowe Price is getting

F/M Investments has carved out a reputation as a specialist in fixed income ETFs, particularly those targeting US Treasury securities and inflation-protected bonds. The firm crossed the $10 billion AUM threshold in its ETF business.

The firm has filed for dual-share-class ETF structures and has pursued tokenized ETF shares through SEC exemptive applications. Think of dual-share-class structures as a way to offer the same underlying portfolio through different wrappers, each optimized for different types of investors or tax situations.

T. Rowe Price’s ETF buildup

T. Rowe Price launched four new active fixed income ETFs in late 2025, bringing its total ETF lineup to 28 funds.

In early 2026, T. Rowe Price issued its first collateralized loan obligation, ROWE CLO 2026-1 Ltd., valued at $403.59 million. CLOs package pools of leveraged loans into tranches with different risk profiles.

The bigger picture in active fixed income

F/M’s work on dual-share-class ETFs is particularly relevant in this context. If regulators continue to warm to these structures, they could allow asset managers to convert existing mutual fund assets into ETF shares without triggering taxable events for investors, and having a team that has already navigated the filing process gives T. Rowe Price a head start.

One thing to watch is how T. Rowe Price integrates F/M’s tokenization efforts. If T. Rowe Price decides to continue pursuing F/M’s tokenized share applications, it would make the firm one of the largest traditional managers actively exploring on-chain distribution of regulated securities products.

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