AVSE vs MEMX

AVSEAAvantis Responsible Emerging Markets Equity ETF

MEMXDMatthews Emerging Markets ex China Active ETF MEMX

In short

AVSE Avantis's emerging markets workhorse with a values filter bolted on: the same profitability tilt and thousands-of-stocks build as its flagship EM fund, at the same 0.33% fee, minus the issuers its team flags on ESG grounds.

MEMX Most emerging-markets funds come with China baked in. MEMX takes it out by charter, putting at least 80% of assets in emerging-market stocks outside China and handing the picks to active managers at Asia specialist Matthews.

Stated mandate

AVSE The fund is an actively managed emerging-markets equity strategy that seeks to identify securities with higher expected returns while excluding issuers that raise concerns under the portfolio team's environmental, social, and governance evaluation.

MEMX The fund seeks its objective by investing at least 80% of net assets in common and preferred stocks of companies located in emerging-market countries other than China.

Why people hold it

• AVSE Charges 0.33% a year, roughly half the typical fee among actively managed emerging markets funds. The cost drag stays out of the way of the strategy.
• The screen trims rather than concentrates: the portfolio still spans thousands of emerging markets stocks, not a short list of approved names.avantisinvestors.com
• Active in the Avantis sense: a systematic tilt toward more profitable companies, not a manager's hunches about which stocks pop next.
• Priced level with Avantis's mainstream EM funds (AVEM, AVXC) and JPMorgan's JEMA at 0.33%, and one of the stronger builds in the active EM group.

• MEMX The China carve-out is written into the prospectus: at least 80% of net assets in common and preferred stocks of emerging-market companies outside China.
• Active by design. Managers choose the holdings rather than replicate the MSCI Emerging Markets ex China Index, which serves as the yardstick.
• Run by Matthews Asia, a boutique built around Asia and emerging markets, not a broad-lineup shop filling a hole in its menu. Launched in 2023.

Worth knowing

• AVSE Thinly traded next to the index-fund giants of emerging markets, so bid-ask spreads can widen and larger orders need care.
• The ESG exclusions are the portfolio team's own judgment calls, so the holdings and the results will drift from a plain broad EM benchmark.
• Emerging markets equity brings currency swings and country-level political risk, and this fund holds that exposure directly. Pays quarterly.

• MEMX 0.79% a year sits above the roughly 0.65% median for active EM peers, and far above index-based ex-China options such as AVXC at 0.33%.
• Thinly traded and modest in size, so spreads and order type matter more here than in the category's largest funds.
• Leaving China out cuts both ways: returns can drift a long way from a standard emerging-markets fund in either direction.

Full AVSE profile⁠

Full MEMX profile⁠