ASIA vs AVEM

ASIAFMatthews Pacific Tiger Active ETF ASIA

AVEMAAvantis Emerging Markets Equity ETF

In short

ASIA Most international ETFs spread you across the developed world. ASIA does one job: active stock-picking across the Asia-Pacific, from region specialist Matthews, inside a plain-vanilla 1940 Act ETF wrapper.

AVEM Emerging markets taken whole: roughly 3,900 stocks, large down to small, with an active tilt toward cheaper and more profitable companies. Avantis charges about half the typical active EM fee to do it.

Stated mandate

ASIA The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation through an Asia-focused active equity strategy.

AVEM Seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in a broad range of companies across emerging-market countries and all market capitalizations.

Why people hold it

• ASIA One region, one job: Asia-Pacific equities chosen actively, with long-term capital appreciation as the stated objective. The highest-graded funds in its group are broad developed-international instead.
• Active by design. There's no index to shadow, so the portfolio reflects the manager's Asia growth calls rather than a benchmark's country and sector weights.
• Ordinary ETF plumbing around a specialist strategy: a registered 1940 Act fund with the usual intraday trading and creation/redemption mechanics.

• AVEM Fee is 0.33% a year against a 0.65% median for active emerging-markets funds, so the active tilt starts from a low-cost base.
• Owns roughly 3,900 names across the MSCI Emerging Markets IMI universe, including small caps, rather than a short stock-picker's list.avantisinvestors.com
• Active, but rules-driven: the portfolio leans toward lower valuations and higher profitability instead of relying on manager hunches.
• Running since 2019 and now a multi-billion-dollar, actively traded fund. One of the strongest implementations in its emerging-markets peer group.

Worth knowing

• ASIA Fees run 0.79% a year against a 0.60% peer-group median, and far above systematic rivals like DFIC (0.22%) and AVDE (0.23%). Hands-on Asia research carries a price tag.
• Thinly traded with a modest asset base, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads at the moment you trade.
• Launched in 2023, so the ETF's own record is short, and payouts arrive only annually or semiannually. This is a growth mandate, not an income one.

• AVEM Emerging-market equity is a bumpy asset class, and returns arrive in dollars, so local currency swings add a second layer of movement.
• The value and profitability tilts are the whole point, which means the fund is built to drift from a plain market-cap EM index, sometimes for long stretches.
• No China carve-out: this one takes the full EM opportunity set. Avantis runs AVXC on the same approach for those who want it without China.

Full ASIA profile⁠

Full AVEM profile⁠