Japanese financial conglomerate Strategic Business Innovator Group (SBI) and US asset manager AllianceBernstein have signed a pact to form a joint venture focused on active exchange-traded funds in Japan.
The joint venture, 51% owned by SBI and 49% by AllianceBernstein, aims to offer advanced active ETF strategies and will seek to broaden choice in Japan’s ETF market, which is dominated by index-based products, the Japanese company says in a statement on November 21.
There are now 21 actively managed ETFs listed in Japan with 85 billion yen (US$542 million) of total assets, accounting for only 1% of overall ETF assets, according to figures from the Japan Exchange Group, operator of the Tokyo bourse.
“The company will promote domestic and international institutional investors to invest in Japanese equities through active ETFs,” SBI says. “This will foster a sustainable cycle of long-term investment in Japanese companies.”
Tokyo-based SBI had around $214 billion of assets as of March this year.
Tennessee-based AllianceBernstein managed $860 billion of assets as of September, including $10 billion in active ETFs.
