Actively managed exchange-trade funds are set to launch in Tokyo next week, with one asset manager focusing its strategy on corporate Japan’s effort to elevate shareholder returns.
Simplex Asset Management, which will list three of six active ETFs that debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Sept. 7, has one targeting improvement in price-to-book ratios, another honing in on companies that can lower cross-shareholdings with affiliates and a third that backs firms whose executives have skin in the game with substantial ownership stakes.
The asset manager’s three choices underscore confidence that long-awaited change is under way in corporate Japan, which until recent years has been notoriously resistant to prioritizing the interests of shareholders. The shift has been an important driver in the surge of Japanese shares to a three-decade high, along with the return of inflation, the tailwind of a weak yen and global investors trimming their China allocations.