AVXC vs EPEM

AVXCAAvantis Emerging Markets ex-China Equity ETF

EPEMDHarbor Emerging Markets Equity ETF (EPEM)

In short

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.

EPEM Harbor's 2025 entry into emerging markets goes narrow: an actively run book of roughly 40 stocks, where most EM funds spread across hundreds. Concentrated by design, and priced like it.

Stated mandate

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.

EPEM The Fund seeks long-term total return.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• EPEM Roughly 40 stocks, not several hundred. Each pick carries real weight instead of getting diluted into an index-sized tail.
• One clean mandate: long-term total return from emerging market equities. No ex-China carve-out, no factor overlay, nothing to decode.
• Plain long-only stock exposure in a standard ETF wrapper. No leverage, no derivatives sleeve, no structural quirks flagged.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• EPEM The 0.84% fee runs above the going rate for active EM, and well-regarded rivals like AVEM and DFEM sit near 0.33% to 0.39%. The stock picking has a hurdle to clear.
• Small asset base and light trading since launch, so spreads can run wider than at the category's giants.
• A 2025 launch means no full market cycle on record yet, and it currently sits in the lower reaches of its active EM peer group.

Full AVXC profile⁠

Full EPEM profile⁠