AVI Japan Opportunity eyes uptick in 'animal spirits' after difficult year

Significantly underperformed sector in one year

Kathleen Gallagher
clock • 3 min read

The Tokyo Olympics have failed to improve investor sentiment towards Japan, according to the manager of the AVI Japan Opportunity trust, Joe Bauernfreund, who is instead focused on whether there will be an increase in catalysts for “unlocking the value” of the country’s corporates.

"The Olympics were intended and hoped to represent a shift in the perception of Japan," he said. However, amid the onset of Covid, the games have not been the "event it was intended to be" and therefore will not have "the impact it had intended", Bauernfreund explained. More problematic for the £167.9m trust has been the lack of "corporate animal spirits" over the past number of months due to the pandemic, he added, referring to shareholder and takeover activity. The trust is comprised of over-capitalised small-cap Japanese equities, which the fund manager engages with to help driv...

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