Invesco Japanese Equity Advantage
The Invesco Japanese Equity Advantage fund carries a Morningstar OBSR Analyst Rating of Bronze. It ranks amongst the largest funds in the sector and has limited capacity. The fund is managed by Tadao Minaguchi who uses a distinct long-term and bottom-up investment approach. In essence, he invests across the market cap scale in attractively-valued companies which make advantageous use of their capital and intangible assets, resulting in a strong free cash flow which in turn should create shareholder value. Whilst this gives the fund a quality bias, the portfolio is diversified across most sectors and stock selection has been strong resulting in the fund holding up well in 2012 and 2013.
CC Japan Alpha
The CC Japan Alpha fund does not carry a Morningstar OBSR Analyst Rating. The fund is managed by Jonathan Dobson, who has 20 years of experience investing in Japanese equities. He invests across the market cap spectrum in a concentrated portfolio of around 30 stocks and has a distinct high conviction approach. The manager is willing to use cash and derivatives extensively to reduce the downside. Since inception in 2007, the fund is ahead of the Topix thanks to an exceptional 2013 during which the fund outperformed the index by circa 20%, most of which occurred in the sharp rally of Japanese equities in the first half of the year.
Orbis Japan
The Orbis SICAV Japan Equity (Yen) fund carries a Morningstar OBSR Analyst Rating of Silver. The fund is managed by the firm’s well-resourced investment team. The bottom-up approach is long-term and somewhat contrarian in nature with the team looking for good quality companies trading at discounts to their intrinsic value. The approach has historically provided investors with downside resilience, as evidenced by the strong relative outperformance in 2011. However, the fund has also held up well in the recent rally thanks to a bias towards domestic-oriented companies which have performed strongly in a year where exporters have enjoyed mixed fortunes.