AVXC vs MEMX

AVXCAAvantis Emerging Markets ex-China Equity ETF

MEMXDMatthews Emerging Markets ex China Active ETF MEMX

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.

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

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.

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

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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 AVXC profile⁠

Full MEMX profile⁠