Avi Japan Opportunity Share Discussion Threads

[vacendak] 19/3/2021 09:19

Expected Sterling strength against the Yen is not going to help AJOT.

[vacendak] 15/2/2021 20:31

Good news, as I have just commented in the AGT thread.
Now, if only that NAV could decide to jump above 115 and shoot towards 140-150p where we all expected to be not so long ago, that would cheer us up.

[davebowler] 15/2/2021 17:43

N+1 Singer are delighted to have acted as Sponsor, Financial Adviser and Broker to AVI Japan Opportunity Trust plc ("AJOT") on their Placing raising £13.9 million.



AJOT is an investment trust established to provide investors with capital growth through investing a focussed portfolio of over-capitalised small-cap Japanese equities. The Company’s investment manager, Asset Value Investors, leverage its three decades of experience investing in asset-backed companies to engage with company management and help to unlock value in the under-researched area of the market.



The net proceeds of the Placing will be used to fund further investments in accordance with the Company's investment objective and policy.




Joe Bauernfreund, CEO and CIO of Asset Value Investors, commented:





“We want to take advantage of valuations which in many cases remain depressed despite encouraging signs of recovering earnings and heightened levels of corporate activity. In addition to investing in a number of new opportunities, the proceeds will be used to increase the size of the shareholdings in several companies where the manager is planning on submitting shareholder proposals at the AGM later this year. The increased stakes will improve the likelihood of a successful outcome.”

[davebowler] 21/1/2021 09:08

New fund raise webinar [...]

[p1nkfish] 13/1/2021 12:48

Yes. I did a scout and performance relative to their index looks baked in imho so might as well go with the etf at lower cost.

[vacendak] 13/1/2021 12:31

The 100-110 range has been very sticky for a while indeed, both for the share price and NAV.
As for the charges, they never managed to find a good time to have a serious right issue. They had to pull back. Drip feeding at a premium was not significant enough when they were doing it either.

They IPOed closer to the bare minimum than the expected size. Not enough of a failure to cancel the trust but difficult indeed with regards to charges ratio.

Kind of limbo-ish with still some decent prospects; but this is turning more into a "faith" approach than a purely "greed is good" one as it should be.

[p1nkfish] 13/1/2021 10:05

Performance has not been good vs ETF ISJP and I dont see that changing soon and relatively high charges.

[vacendak] 16/10/2020 16:33

They have now given up on Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings (TBS) as they are not responding positively to AJOT's entreaties.
At least they have only spent one year on that. Back in the days of British Empire, they had held Hudson's Bay for an eternity in the hope they would sell their buildings... and the loss when they finally gave up was more concerning.

[vacendak] 14/9/2020 15:53

According to the latest update, the fund capitalisation is back to what it was in February 2019 (yep, 2019) when it became fully invested.

The NAV is creeping back up indeed and still hovering about a slight premium, although it has been hitting a discount every now and then lately.

[vacendak] 14/8/2020 16:32

The NAV is now above 100. It would be better if it could cruise back to 113 or more.

[vacendak] 12/8/2020 13:44

It has been a bit disappointing of late indeed.

Technically they are strongly overperforming their index (MSCI Japan Small Cap) but the index is running at -11.6% in 2020. So, it is merely a "less worse" achievement.

New factsheet out for July. A bit more text than usual, no mention of Softbank in the commentary. It is indeed in 4th place for the top holdings at 6.2%.

From the AIC website under "Japan Smaller companies" this is the only trust with Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon to be at a premium.

For strong discount (-17.4%) go for Atlantis Japan Growth.

[spectoacc] 12/8/2020 11:22

Still keeping eye on it but the NAV's been mildly disappointing IMO, & I still can't abide that 6% in Softbank! But agree a discount unlikely & it's an LTBH at some point - good luck.

[value hound] 12/8/2020 11:02

Bought in here for the first time today having watched it since launch but not having had the bottle to buy in late March / early April (though was busy trading various other things at that time).

Like others, I like the strategy, but it's a pity about the lack of a discount. So one to buy and forget about completely IMO as I guess there'll never be much of a discount though I believe the NAV will rise steadily.

[vacendak] 20/7/2020 09:57

Talking about ARM:

[spectoacc] 20/7/2020 06:20

Thanks @steve3sandal & @vacendak.

[steve3sandal] 19/7/2020 19:53

The Factsheets provide a good rationale for Softbank. Bought at distressed prices and Softbank changes afoot. I'm happy to hide something here.

[spectoacc] 19/7/2020 07:29

Thanks @vacendak. Nearly bought in the market mayhem but never got back in.

One thing I really don't like about AJOT - Softbank?? Why?

[vacendak] 17/7/2020 07:46

AJOT good cop - NAVF bad cop:

[vacendak] 16/7/2020 15:40

Q2 Newsletter is out:


For those who follow AGT (AVI Global) a lot of it can be found in the latest AGT factsheet.

June factsheet:


This is only about the numbers.

Note that Fujitec, the lift and escalator company is clocking at 9.3% of the NAV for AJOT, pretty high for a single holding. It is mentioned in the newsletter that AVI controls 3% of the company across its three vehicles (AJOT, AGT and likely their fund AFHC, the AVI Family Holding Companies fund).
I could not find much about Japan in AFHC but I assume they have a component there that holds Fujitec.

The Q2 newsletter explains some of the limitations put on foreign capital in Japan, but there is an exclusion clause for fund managers, so at 3%, they should have the wherewithal to do more than ask questions at some point.

[vacendak] 09/7/2020 16:33

Joe Bauernfreund has an article in MoneyWeek:



Usual background on Japan: Companies heavy on cash, etc.
New bit on the chronic under developed IT infrastructure in Japan.

[vacendak] 18/6/2020 16:24

That is now two rounds of issue in the past couple of days.
They walked back from the big placement back in March, so they are doing it in small slices under the radar. The premium is pretty hefty too, considering the current market conditions so the dilution for existing shareholder is not too painful. :)

[vacendak] 05/6/2020 20:11

At the end of the article: AJOT is mentioned as entering the FTSE All-Share index.

"Several investment companies also won places in the FTSE All-Share, designed to track at least 98% of the UK market, via their inclusion in the FTSE SmallCap index, which companies must be worth at least £100m to enter."