Horizon Kinetics Launches Japan Owner Operator Exchange-Traded Fund (Ticker: JAPN)
Horizon Kinetics has launched its sixth ETF, the Japan Owner Operator ETF (NASDAQ:JAPN), which began trading on May 13, 2025. The actively managed fund focuses on Japanese companies run by owner-operators who maintain significant ownership positions in their businesses. JAPN aims to capitalize on the emerging trend of Japanese owner-entrepreneurs breaking traditional cultural norms, targeting companies with management that has high industry expertise, strong networks, and commitment to long-term growth.
The ETF differentiates itself from conventional Japanese indexes by investing in primarily domestic-focused businesses rather than export-oriented firms. Portfolio managers Murray Stahl, Aya Weissman, and Utako Kojima see opportunity in the underexplored segment of Japan's 4,000 listed companies, particularly focusing on those that break from the traditionally conservative Japanese corporate culture of maintaining excessive cash reserves.
Horizon Kinetics ha lanciato il suo sesto ETF, il Japan Owner Operator ETF (NASDAQ:JAPN), che ha iniziato a essere scambiato il 13 maggio 2025. Il fondo gestito attivamente si concentra su aziende giapponesi guidate da imprenditori-proprietari che mantengono significative quote di partecipazione nelle loro imprese. JAPN punta a sfruttare la tendenza emergente degli imprenditori-gestori giapponesi che sfidano le norme culturali tradizionali, selezionando aziende con una direzione dotata di alta competenza nel settore, reti solide e un impegno verso la crescita a lungo termine.
L'ETF si distingue dagli indici giapponesi convenzionali investendo principalmente in imprese orientate al mercato interno piuttosto che in aziende esportatrici. I gestori del portafoglio Murray Stahl, Aya Weissman e Utako Kojima vedono un'opportunità in questo segmento poco esplorato delle 4.000 società quotate in Giappone, concentrandosi in particolare su quelle che si discostano dalla tradizionale cultura aziendale giapponese, caratterizzata da riserve di cassa eccessive.
Horizon Kinetics ha lanzado su sexto ETF, el Japan Owner Operator ETF (NASDAQ:JAPN), que comenzó a cotizar el 13 de mayo de 2025. Este fondo gestionado activamente se centra en empresas japonesas dirigidas por propietarios-operadores que mantienen posiciones significativas de propiedad en sus negocios. JAPN busca aprovechar la tendencia emergente de emprendedores propietarios japoneses que rompen con las normas culturales tradicionales, enfocándose en compañías con una gestión que posee alta experiencia en la industria, redes sólidas y un compromiso con el crecimiento a largo plazo.
El ETF se diferencia de los índices japoneses convencionales al invertir principalmente en negocios enfocados en el mercado interno en lugar de empresas orientadas a la exportación. Los gestores de cartera Murray Stahl, Aya Weissman y Utako Kojima ven una oportunidad en el segmento poco explorado de las 4,000 empresas cotizadas en Japón, centrándose especialmente en aquellas que se alejan de la tradicional cultura corporativa japonesa de mantener reservas de efectivo excesivas.
호라이즌 키네틱스(Horizon Kinetics)가 여섯 번째 ETF인 Japan Owner Operator ETF (NASDAQ:JAPN)를 출시했으며, 2025년 5월 13일부터 거래를 시작했습니다. 이 적극적으로 운용되는 펀드는 사업체에 상당한 지분을 보유한 오너-운영자가 경영하는 일본 기업에 집중합니다. JAPN은 전통적인 문화적 규범을 깨고 있는 일본의 오너-기업가라는 신흥 트렌드를 활용하는 것을 목표로 하며, 산업 전문성이 높고 강력한 네트워크를 갖추었으며 장기 성장에 헌신하는 경영진이 있는 기업을 타깃으로 합니다.
이 ETF는 수출 지향 기업이 아닌 주로 국내 중심 사업에 투자함으로써 기존의 일본 지수와 차별화됩니다. 포트폴리오 매니저인 Murray Stahl, Aya Weissman, Utako Kojima는 4,000여 개 상장 기업 중 전통적인 일본 기업 문화인 과도한 현금 보유를 벗어난 기업에 특히 주목하며 이 탐색되지 않은 분야에서 기회를 보고 있습니다.
Horizon Kinetics a lancé son sixième ETF, le Japan Owner Operator ETF (NASDAQ:JAPN), qui a commencé à être négocié le 13 mai 2025. Ce fonds géré activement se concentre sur les entreprises japonaises dirigées par des propriétaires-exploitants détenant des parts significatives dans leurs sociétés. JAPN vise à tirer parti de la tendance émergente des entrepreneurs-propriétaires japonais qui brisent les normes culturelles traditionnelles, en ciblant des sociétés dont la direction possède une grande expertise sectorielle, des réseaux solides et un engagement envers la croissance à long terme.
L'ETF se distingue des indices japonais conventionnels en investissant principalement dans des entreprises axées sur le marché intérieur plutôt que dans des sociétés orientées vers l'exportation. Les gestionnaires de portefeuille Murray Stahl, Aya Weissman et Utako Kojima voient une opportunité dans le segment peu exploré des 4 000 entreprises cotées au Japon, en se concentrant particulièrement sur celles qui s'écartent de la culture d'entreprise japonaise traditionnellement conservatrice, caractérisée par des réserves de trésorerie excessives.
Horizon Kinetics hat seinen sechsten ETF, den Japan Owner Operator ETF (NASDAQ:JAPN), gestartet, der am 13. Mai 2025 in den Handel ging. Der aktiv verwaltete Fonds konzentriert sich auf japanische Unternehmen, die von Eigentümer-Managern geführt werden, die bedeutende Eigentumsanteile an ihren Firmen halten. JAPN zielt darauf ab, den aufkommenden Trend japanischer Eigentümer-Unternehmer zu nutzen, die traditionelle kulturelle Normen durchbrechen, und fokussiert sich auf Unternehmen mit Management, das über hohe Branchenexpertise, starke Netzwerke und ein Engagement für langfristiges Wachstum verfügt.
Der ETF unterscheidet sich von herkömmlichen japanischen Indizes, indem er hauptsächlich in inländisch ausgerichtete Unternehmen investiert, statt in exportorientierte Firmen. Die Portfoliomanager Murray Stahl, Aya Weissman und Utako Kojima sehen Chancen in dem wenig erforschten Segment der 4.000 börsennotierten japanischen Unternehmen, mit besonderem Fokus auf solche, die sich von der traditionell konservativen japanischen Unternehmenskultur mit übermäßigen Barreserven abheben.
- Targets a unique investment niche in Japanese owner-operated companies, offering portfolio diversification
- Managed by experienced portfolio managers with over 30 years of investment philosophy
- Focuses on an underexplored market segment among Japan's 4,000 listed companies
- Provides exposure to domestic Japanese businesses rather than export-dependent companies
- New ETF without established track record
- May face liquidity challenges due to focus on smaller companies outside major indexes
- Limited to Japanese market exposure, increasing geographic concentration risk
Insights
Horizon Kinetics launches a specialized Japan ETF focusing on owner-operated companies, offering unique exposure beyond typical Japanese index funds.
Horizon Kinetics' new Japan Owner Operator ETF (JAPN) brings an interesting twist to Japanese market exposure. While most Japan-focused ETFs concentrate on large exporters that dominate the indexes, JAPN specifically targets companies where management has significant ownership stakes - a factor that historically addresses the agency problem in public equities.
The investment thesis centers on what Murray Stahl, Horizon's Founder and CEO, describes as an emerging trend: Japanese owner-entrepreneurs breaking through rigid cultural boundaries. This approach aims to solve a well-documented issue in Japanese corporate governance - companies maintaining excessively conservative balance sheets with too much cash and insufficient reinvestment for growth.
The actively managed structure allows the portfolio managers to tap into market inefficiencies among Japan's nearly 4,000 listed companies, most of which don't make it into major indexes. By focusing on owner-operators, the ETF seeks businesses naturally incentivized to deliver higher returns on equity - a potential predictor of superior shareholder returns according to the managers.
For investors, JAPN offers
This ETF represents Horizon Kinetics' sixth fund offering and aligns with their 30-year value-oriented investment philosophy. The management team combines Stahl's leadership with the expertise of two additional portfolio managers who have been researching Japanese value opportunities for over two decades.
NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / May 13, 2025 / Horizon Kinetics LLC announced the launch of its sixth exchange-traded fund (ETF), the actively managed Japan Owner Operator ETF(NASDAQ:JAPN). It began trading on the NASDAQ on May 13, 2025.
JAPN will be managed in accordance with the long-term, value-oriented, proprietary research-driven philosophy that has defined Horizon's other products for over 30 years. The ETF invests in Japanese companies-specifically, firms operated by individuals who have significant ownership positions in their companies.
JAPN aims to provide long-term capital appreciation by investing in the owner-operators who also have a high degree of management skills, specific industry knowledge, deep networks, and a strong commitment to long-term growth. This owner-operator factor is just about the only demonstrated, persistent way to solve the much-studied, never-cured agency and incentive alignment problem in public equities.
For those looking to get genuinely Japanese exposure, JAPN offers a way to invest alongside Japanese owner-operators, an entirely distinct return factor that can add functional-not merely semantic-diversification to a conventionally structured portfolio. The portfolio companies primarily do business in Japan, unlike the more global export-oriented firms that comprise popular Japan indexes, which are not really Japanese exposures.
"There is a recent development in Japan that the media in America has not picked up on: Japanese owner-entrepreneurs are emerging to break the rigid boundaries of their cultural norms," says Murray Stahl, the Founder, CEO, and Chief Investment Officer at Horizon Kinetics-and one of JAPN's three portfolio managers, along with colleagues Aya Weissman and Utako Kojima. "This group is naturally incentivized to deliver a high return on equity, which can often have predictive potential for superior shareholder return."
"In every market, there are swathes of inefficiency," says Weissman. "Sometimes it is information- and analysis-based. Often it is the liquidity divide between large multinationals and firms of insufficient size to interest indexation and large-scale investors. There are almost 4,000 listed companies in Japan, and only the smallest fraction-primarily multinationals-make it to the major indexes; this is the thumbnail picture of the Japan-top-heaviness conundrum. We see a significant investment opportunity under the hood."
"We have been closely following value investment opportunities in Japan for more than two decades," adds Kojima. "One of the problems in Japan is that companies are too conservative with their balance sheet assets, meaning they have too much cash-and not enough new product development, new investment activity, or capital investment, at least not enough to make the economy grow as the policy makers feel it should. But we have identified some notable exceptions."
For more information about JAPN, please visit https://horizonkinetics.com/products/etf/japn/
About Horizon Kinetics LLC
Horizon Kinetics LLC is the parent holding company of one SEC-registered investment advisory subsidiary (Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC) and two limited-purpose broker dealers (Kinetics Funds Distributor, LLC and KBD Securities, LLC, which are SEC-registered and members of FINRA). Horizon Kinetics LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of an OTC Pink-listed parent company, Horizon Kinetics Holding Corporation (Ticker: HKHC).
Horizon Kinetics is an owner-operated investment boutique that adheres to a research-driven, long-term, contrarian, fundamental value investment philosophy that the founders established more than 30 years ago at Bankers Trust Company. Horizon Kinetics has over 80 employees and has primary offices in New York City and White Plains, New York. For more information about Horizon Kinetics, visit www.horizonkinetics.com
Please consider carefully a fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. For this and other important information, obtain a statutory prospectus and summary prospectus by contacting 646-495-7333. Read it carefully before investing.
Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Shares of any ETF are bought and sold at market price (not NAV), may trade at a discount or premium to NAV and are not individually redeemed from the Fund. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns. The Fund's investments in securities linked to real assets involve significant risks, including financial, operating, and competitive risks. Investments in securities linked to real assets expose the Fund to potentially adverse macroeconomic conditions, such as a rise in interest rates or a downturn in the economy in which the asset is located.
The Fund is non‐diversified, meaning it may concentrate its assets in fewer individual holdings than a diversified fund. Therefore, the Fund is more exposed to individual stock volatility than a diversified fund.
Risks Related to Investing in Japan. Japan's economy has historically lagged that of its Asian neighbors and other major developed economies due in part of to economic, political and social conditions. Japan's economic growth is heavily dependent on international trade, government support of the financial services sector and other troubled sectors, as well as governmental policy supporting its export market. However, slowdowns in the economies of key trading partners, such as the U.S. and China, leading to decreased demand from these countries, new trade regulations, and changes in exchange rates may also have an adverse impact on the economy of Japan.
Fund holdings and sector allocations are subject to change at any time and should not be considered recommendations to buy or sell any security.
The Fund invests in foreign securities which involve greater volatility and political, economic and currency risks and differences in accounting methods. These risks are greater for investments in emerging markets.
The Fund may invest in the securities of smaller and mid‐capitalization companies, which may be more volatile than funds that invest in larger, more established companies. The fund is actively managed and may be affected by the investment adviser's security selections.
Diversification does not assure a profit or protect against a loss in a declining market.
HKAM does not provide tax or legal advice, all investors are encouraged to consult their tax and legal advisors regarding an investment in the Fund. You may obtain additional information about HKAM at our website at www.horizonkinetics.com.
No part of this material may be copied, photocopied, or duplicated in any form, by any means, or redistributed without the express written consent of HKAM.
The Horizon Kinetics Japan Owner Operator ETF (JAPN) is distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC ("Foreside"). Foreside is not affiliated with JAPN or Horizon Kinetics LLC or its subsidiaries.
SOURCE: Horizon Kinetics Japan Owner Operator ETF
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
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