British Empire manager targets £100m+ for new Japan trust

Identified 'exciting gap in the market'

Asset Value Investors, manager of the £850m British Empire trust, plans to launch a new investment trust investing in small to mid-cap Japanese equities.

The AVI Japan Opportunity trust will be managed by Joe Bauernfreund, who has run the British Empire trust since October 2015. He will be supported by Tom Treanor and a team of analysts, who are all based in London but have strong expertise in Japanese investing. A prospectus for the new trust is due around mid-August and it is set to officially launch in mid-October, with a fundraising target of £100m+. Speaking to Investment Week, Bauernfreund said: "We have had encouraging indicators of interest from a variety of sources from institutional investors and large family offices to we...