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Nuveen ESG Mid-Cap

Growth ETF

  

 

  Ticker

  NUMG

 

  Listing Exchange:          

  Cboe BZX Exchange,

  Inc.

 

     

 

 

  26 February

  2021

  as supplemented

  28 September 2021      

 

  

 

This summary prospectus is designed to provide investors with key Fund information in a clear and concise format. Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s complete prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund’s prospectus, reports to shareholders and other information about the Fund online at www.nuveen.com/etf. You can also get this information at no cost by calling (888) 290-9881 or by sending an e-mail request to mutualfunds@nuveen.com. If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the prospectus, reports to shareholders and other information will also be available from your financial intermediary. The Fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information, both dated February 26, 2021, are incorporated by reference into this summary prospectus and may be obtained, free of charge, at the website or phone number noted above.

As permitted by regulations adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, paper copies of the Fund’s annual and semi-annual shareholder reports will not be sent to you by mail unless you specifically request paper copies of the reports. Instead, the reports will be made available on the Fund’s website (www.nuveen.com), and you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted and provided with a website link to access the report.

You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the Fund electronically at any time by contacting your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank) through which you hold your Fund shares.

You may elect to receive all future reports in paper free of charge at any time by contacting your financial intermediary. Your election to receive reports in paper will apply to all funds held in your account with your financial intermediary.

 

Summary

Prospectus

 

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Investment Objective

Nuveen ESG Mid-Cap Growth ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to track the investment results, before fees and expenses, of the TIAA ESG USA Mid-Cap Growth Index (the “Index”).

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

The table below describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, when buying or selling shares of the Fund, which are not reflected in this table or the example that follows:

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees

     0.30% 1   

Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees

     None  

Other Expenses

     0.00%  

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

     0.30% 1 

1    Restated to reflect a reduction in the Fund’s contractual management fee effective September 28, 2021.

Example

The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all your shares at the end of a period. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. The example does not reflect brokerage commissions that you may pay when you purchase and sell Fund shares. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

1 Year

   $31

3 Years

   $97

5 Years

   $169

10 Years

   $381

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 94% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Index, which is comprised of equity securities with growth characteristics issued by mid-capitalization companies listed on U.S. exchanges that meet certain environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) criteria. The Index selects from the securities included in the MSCI USA Mid-Cap Growth Index (the “Base Index”), which generally consists of mid-capitalization U.S. equity securities that exhibit overall growth style characteristics based on five variables: long-term forward earnings per share (“EPS”) growth rate, short-term forward EPS growth rate, current internal growth rate, long-term historical EPS growth trend, and long-term historical sales per share growth trend. Securities in the Base Index are weighted based on market capitalization. MSCI Inc. (“MSCI”) is the index provider for the Index and the Base Index. The Index and the Base Index are owned, calculated and controlled by MSCI, in its sole discretion. Neither the Fund’s investment adviser, sub-adviser nor their affiliates has any discretion to select Index components or change the Index methodology.

The Index identifies equity securities from the Base Index that satisfy certain ESG criteria, based on ESG performance data collected by MSCI Research Inc. ESG performance is measured on an industry-specific basis, with assessment categories varying by industry. Environmental assessment categories can include how a company is addressing climate change, natural resource use, and waste management and emission management. Social evaluation categories can include a company’s relations with employees and suppliers, product safety and sourcing practices. Governance assessment categories can include governance practices and business ethics. The ESG criteria also consider how well a company adheres to national and international laws and regulations as well as commonly accepted global norms related to ESG matters. Index rules generally exclude companies with significant activities in certain controversial businesses,

 

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including those involving alcohol, tobacco, nuclear power, gambling, and firearms and other weapons, among others. Companies otherwise eligible for inclusion in the Index that exceed certain carbon-based ownership and emissions thresholds are excluded from the Index.

Companies that meet the ESG criteria are then ranked within their respective sectors based on their ESG performance score. The highest ranked companies in each sector are identified as eligible for inclusion in the Index until such point that the aggregate weight of companies in the sector reaches 50% of the market cap of such sector in the Base Index. For example, if the market capitalization of all consumer discretionary sector companies included in the Base Index totals $20 billion, then the Index would screen these consumer discretionary sector companies, rank them based on ESG performance scores, and add the highest scoring companies to the Index until such point that their combined total market capitalization reaches $10 billion. Those companies identified as eligible for inclusion in the Index are market capitalization weighted within their respective sectors. Once the universe of eligible Index components is established, the Index optimizes the market cap weightings of individual components to approximate the sector weightings of the Base Index, within certain constraints established by the Index. As of the date of this prospectus, a significant portion of the Index is comprised of companies in the information technology sector.

In seeking to track the investment results of the Index, the Fund attempts to replicate the Index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the securities represented in the Index in approximately the same proportions as the Index. The Index is normally rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly in February, May, August, and November. The Index may also remove a security at any time in response to a corporate event such as bankruptcy, delisting, merger or acquisition that causes the security to become ineligible for inclusion in the Index. The Fund makes changes to its portfolio shortly after any Index changes are made public. As of December 31, 2020, the Index was comprised of 58 securities.

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in component securities of the Index. In addition, under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in the securities of mid-capitalization companies. Mid-capitalization companies are defined as companies that fall in the range of companies included in the Base Index as of the last business day of the month in which its most recent reconstitution was completed. As of December 31, 2020, the Base Index had a float-adjusted market capitalization range from $1.5 billion to $40 billion, with an average market capitalization of $14.3 billion. “Float-adjusted” means that the share amounts used in calculating the Index reflect only shares available to investors, with shares held by control groups, public companies and government agencies excluded.

To the extent the Index concentrates (i.e., holds 25% or more of its total assets) in the securities of companies in a particular industry or group of industries, the Fund will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Index.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The principal risks of investing in the Fund listed below are presented alphabetically to facilitate your ability to find particular risks and compare them with the risks of other funds. Each risk summarized below is considered a “principal risk” of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears.

Concentration Risk—To the extent that the Fund’s portfolio is concentrated in the securities of issuers in a particular market, industry, group of industries or sector, the Fund may be adversely affected by the performance of those securities, may be subject to increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting that market, industry, group of industries or sector.

Cybersecurity Risk—Cybersecurity risk is the risk of an unauthorized breach and access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or the risk of an incident occurring that causes the Fund, its investment adviser or sub-adviser, custodian, transfer agent, distributor or other service provider or a financial intermediary to suffer a data breach, data corruption or lose operational functionality. Successful cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures or events affecting the Fund or its service providers may adversely impact the Fund or its shareholders. Additionally, a cybersecurity breach could affect the issuers in which the Fund invests, which may cause the Fund’s investments to lose value.

Equity Security Risk—Equity securities in the Fund’s portfolio may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur because of declines in the equity market as a whole, or because of declines

 

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in only a particular country, company, industry, or sector of the market. From time to time, the Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in companies in one or more related sectors or industries which would make the Fund more vulnerable to adverse developments affecting such sectors or industries.

ESG Strategy Risk—Because the Fund’s ESG investment strategy may exclude securities of certain issuers for non-financial reasons, the Fund may forgo some market opportunities available to funds that do not use an ESG investment strategy. This may cause the Fund to underperform the stock market as a whole or other funds that do not use an ESG investment strategy. In addition, there is a risk that the companies identified by the Fund’s ESG investment strategy will not operate as expected when addressing ESG issues or they will not exhibit positive ESG characteristics as intended.

Growth Stock Risk—Growth stocks tend to be more volatile than certain other types of stocks and their prices usually fluctuate more dramatically than the overall stock market. A stock with growth characteristics can have sharp price declines due to decreases in current or expected earnings and may lack dividends that can help cushion its share price in a declining market.

Index Provider Risk—There is no assurance that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. To correct any such error, the index provider may carry out an unscheduled rebalance or other modification of the Index constituents or weightings, which may increase the Fund’s costs. Unusual market conditions may cause an index provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. Such a postponement in a time of market volatility could mean a constituent that would otherwise be removed at rebalance may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Index providers generally do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the indexes in which they license, and generally do not guarantee that an index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. Losses or costs associated with any index provider errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.

Information Technology Sector Risk—The Fund currently invests a significant portion of its assets in the information technology sector, although this may change over time. The information technology sector can be significantly affected by changes in, among other things, the supply and demand for specific products and services, the pace of technological development and product obsolescence, market competition, government regulation, and patent and intellectual property rights.

Investment Style Risk—The Fund invests in the securities included in, or representative of, the Index regardless of their investment merit. The Fund does not attempt to outperform the Index or take defensive positions in declining markets. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected by a general decline in the market segments relating to the Index. In addition, because the Index selects securities for inclusion based on ESG criteria, a Fund may forgo some market opportunities available to funds that do not use these criteria.

Market Trading Risks—The Fund is an exchange-traded fund (“ETF”), and as with all ETFs, Fund shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of a Fund share typically will approximate its net asset value (“NAV”), there may be times when the market price and the NAV diverge more significantly, particularly in times of market volatility or steep market declines. Thus, you may pay more or less than NAV when you buy Fund shares on the secondary market, and you may receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares. Although the Fund’s shares are listed for trading on a national securities exchange, it is possible that an active trading market may not develop or be maintained, in which case transactions may occur at wider bid/ask spreads (which may be especially pronounced for smaller funds). Trading of the Fund’s shares may be halted by the activation of individual or market-wide trading halts (which halt trading for a specific period of time when the price of a particular security or overall market prices decline by a specified percentage). In times of market stress, the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings may become less liquid, which in turn may affect the liquidity of the Fund’s shares and/or lead to more significant differences between the Fund’s market price and its NAV. Market makers are under no obligation to make a market in the Fund’s shares, and authorized participants are not obligated to submit purchase or redemption orders for the Fund’s shares. In the event market makers cease making a market in the Fund’s shares or authorized participants stop submitting creation or redemption orders, Fund shares may trade at a larger premium or discount to NAV.

Mid-Cap Company Risk—Securities of mid-cap companies may be subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements than those of larger, more established companies or broader market averages in general.

Service Provider Operational Risk—The Fund’s service providers, such as the Fund’s administrator, custodian or transfer agent, may experience disruptions or operating errors that could negatively impact the Fund. Although service providers are required to have appropriate operational risk management policies and procedures, and to take appropriate

 

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precautions to avoid and mitigate risks that could lead to disruptions and operating errors, it may not be possible to identify all of the operational risks that may affect the Fund or to develop processes and controls to completely eliminate or mitigate their occurrence or effects.

Tracking Error Risk—Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Index. Tracking error may occur because of, for example, pricing differences, transaction costs, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of distributions, changes to the Index or the need to meet various new or existing regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, but the Index does not.

Fund Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the potential risks of investing in the Fund. Both the bar chart and the table assume that all distributions have been reinvested. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at www.nuveen.com/etf or by calling (800) 257-8787.

 

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During the period reflected in the bar chart above, the Fund’s highest and lowest quarterly returns were 33.29% and -19.12%, respectively, for the quarters ended June 30, 2020 and December 31, 2018.

The table below shows the variability of the Fund’s average annual returns and how they compare over the time periods indicated with those of a broad measure of market performance and the Index. All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as IRAs or employer-sponsored retirement plans.

 

           

    Average Annual Total Returns    

for the Periods Ended

December 31, 2020

     Inception
Date
        1 Year  

Since

Inception

NUMG (return before taxes)

  12/13/16     45.60%   21.08%

NUMG (return after taxes on distributions)

      43.64%   20.05%

NUMG (return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares)

      27.23%   16.51%
TIAA ESG USA Mid-Cap Growth Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)       46.26%   21.60%
MSCI USA Mid-Cap Growth Index (reflects no deduction for taxes or sales loads)           41.97%   20.09%

 

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Management

Investment Adviser

Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC

Sub-Adviser

Teachers Advisors, LLC

Portfolio Managers

 

Name    Title      Portfolio Manager of Fund Since

Philip James (Jim) Campagna, CFA

   Managing Director, Equities Portfolio
Manager
     December 2016

Lei Liao, CFA

   Managing Director, Equities Portfolio
Manager
     December 2016

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Fund is an ETF. Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and can only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer at market prices. Because Fund shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (at a “premium”) or less than NAV (at a “discount”). An investor may also incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase Fund shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for Fund shares (ask) when buying and selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid/ask spread”). Recent information regarding the Fund, including its NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid/ask spreads, is available on the Fund’s website at www.nuveen.com/etf.

Tax Information

The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account (“IRA”) or 401(k) plan (in which case you may be taxed upon withdrawal of your investment from such account).

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the Fund’s investment adviser or its affiliates may pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of Fund shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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