AVXC vs MEM

AVXCAAvantis Emerging Markets ex-China Equity ETF

MEMDMatthews Emerging Markets Equity Active ETF

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.

MEM An Asia specialist's take on the whole emerging world. Matthews runs MEM as a concentrated active book of roughly 40 names, with the prospectus objective pointing primarily at the Asia Pacific region.

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.

MEM The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation and invests primarily in the Asia Pacific region.

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.

• MEM Matthews built its research franchise on Asia, and this fund applies that lens to broad emerging markets rather than tracking an index.matthewsasia.com
• Concentrated by design: roughly 40 names, at least 80% of net assets in emerging-market common and preferred stock, with stock picking framed by a top-down macro view and beta controls.matthewsasia.com
• Simple plumbing. A 1940 Act ETF that owns the stocks directly: no swaps, no leverage, no notes.

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.

• MEM At 0.79% a year it runs above the typical active EM ETF, and several times the 0.33% charged by systematic rivals like AVEM or the 0.39% at DFEM.
• Thinly traded next to the category's giants, so the spread you pay getting in and out is part of the real cost.
• It sits in the lower tier of its active EM peer group on cost and tradability, and with about 40 holdings, individual country and stock calls carry real weight.

Full AVXC profile⁠

Full MEM profile⁠