Fund trade body the Investment Association (IA) has closed the IA Japanese Smaller Companies sector, with its constituents moving to the broader IA Japan sector, Trustnet can reveal.
The small-cap sector, which has been closed since 30 September, was under review from the start of the year for falling short of the trade body’s sector committee’s 10 fund minimum for a peer group – it housed eight at the start of 2023.
Data from FE Analytics shows there are 10 dedicated Japanese smaller companies funds now in the IA Japan sector, although not all previously resided in the IA Japanese Smaller Companies peer group.
The eight that have moved are: Aberdeen Standard Japanese Smaller Companies; Baillie Gifford Japanese Smaller Companies; iShares MSCI Japan SmallCap UCITS ETF; BlackRock Japan Small & MidCap Opportunities; BNY Mellon Japan Small Cap Equity Focus; Invesco Japanese Smaller Companies; Janus Henderson Horizon Japanese Smaller Companies; and M&G Japan Smaller Companies.
The best performing has been the M&G Japan Smaller Companies fund managed by Carl Vine, which has returned 200.8% over the past decade – the best performance in the IA Japan sector.
Janus Henderson Horizon Japanese Smaller Companies, meanwhile, has made 161.8% - putting it in second place over the decade in the enlarged peer group.
Other fund sectors with fewer than 10 funds in the peer group include IA Short Term Money Market (7) and IA Standard Money Market (4). IA Asia Pacific Including Japan and IA Latin America meanwhile house the minimum 10 funds.
A spokesperson for the IA said: “The IA seeks to review existing sector(s) from time to time. This is typically due to factors that suggest that something may have changed in the market impacting on the number of funds that are like for like and could be usefully classified into a new sector to aid comparisons for end investors. Sometimes it is necessary to sub divide or close existing sectors, and on other occasions new sectors are created.
“At the beginning of the year, the Japanese Smaller Companies sector housed eight funds, which is below the minimum 10 that the sectors committee considers viable for a sector. The committee also considered size and growth, recent fund launches and momentum. A full review of this sector by the committee concluded that the sector would close with effect from 30 September 2023.”