Nomura Launches Active Japan Equity ETF (NJPN) Targeting Undervalued Stocks

Nomura Asset Management has launched the Nomura Japan Equity ETF (NJPN), its 13th U.S.-listed ETF, offering actively managed exposure to Japanese equities at a 0.49% expense ratio, making it the lowest-cost active Japan equity ETF. The fund leverages Nomura's Tokyo-based team of more than 20 investment professionals, who conduct over 3,000 company visits annually, combining fundamental research, quantitative analysis, and macroeconomic insights to select 75–100 stocks. NJPN benchmarks against the MSCI Japan Index and targets 4% annual excess return over a full market cycle. According to Nomura, 65% of active Japan equity strategies have outperformed their benchmarks since 2010, compared with 45% in the U.S. The launch follows Nomura's recent introduction of HFIX and the conversions of SMDC and MFIX, reinforcing its expansion into actively managed U.S. ETFs.