ASIA vs AVXC

ASIAFMatthews Pacific Tiger Active ETF ASIA

AVXCAAvantis Emerging Markets ex-China 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.

AVXC The China question, answered by subtraction. Avantis runs its usual emerging-markets playbook (roughly 2,800 stocks of every size, tilted toward the cheap and the profitable) with China left out entirely, for 0.33% a year.

Stated mandate

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

AVXC The fund invests in a broad set of companies across emerging-market countries, excluding China, and spanning all market capitalizations. It seeks higher expected returns by overweighting securities with lower valuations and higher profitability ratios.

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.

• AVXC 0.33% a year, about half the typical fee among active EM funds, and the ex-China carve-out costs no more than Avantis charges on its with-China flagship, AVEM.
• Roughly 2,800 holdings spanning all market-cap sizes, so removing China doesn't turn the fund into a concentrated bet on a few large markets.avantisinvestors.com
• Actively run against MSCI Emerging Markets IMI rather than tracking it: the mandate overweights lower-valuation, higher-profitability companies.
• One of the stronger builds in the active emerging-markets group we review, on cost and portfolio construction alike.

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.

• AVXC Thinly traded next to the giants of the category, so spreads and limit orders matter more on the way in and the way out.
• Launched in 2024, so the live record is short and the risk picture is still forming.
• Leaving China out is a real departure from standard EM exposure, and the value and small-cap tilts add more distance from a plain cap-weighted index.

Full ASIA profile⁠

Full AVXC profile⁠