As part of its fund selector analysis on Japan, Morningstar has identified the newest funds to watch.
JOHCM Japan Dividend Growth was launched in 2014 and is co-managed by Scott McGlashan and Ruth Nash.
This new fund looks to incorporate a blend of dividend growth and dividend yield, and taps into increased demand from Japan investors for higher-yielding equities.
The fund is a large-cap product, launched in addition to the existing JOHCM Japan fund, which has a small- and mid-cap bias. There is no explicit yield target.
The aim of the fund is to take advantage of the changing macroeconomic environment in Japan, which has been facing a long-term struggle against deflation, as well as the emerging dividend culture in the Japanese equity market.
Matthews Asia Funds Japan was launched in 2015, although the US-based mirror strategy has been available to investors since 1998.
The Ucits fund follows an identical bottom-up, fundamental investment approach and is managed by the same lead portfolio manager, Kenichi Amaki, supported by co-manager Taizo Ishida and the broader, 40-member Matthews Asia investment team.
Matthews views Japan as a long-term, core investment opportunity and, as such, invests across the market-cap spectrum. The portfolio includes lesser-known small-cap companies with strong and sustainable growing domestic businesses relative to many large-cap peers. They also look at Japan in a regional context.
