Almost unnoticed by large parts of the investor community, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index recently reached a new all-time high and was thus as successful as the S&P 500 or the US technology exchange NASDAQ. For reasons of geographical diversification, it is certainly not a bad time to think about investing in an actively managed Japan fund.
In order to build up exposure to the more promising stock market in the Far East, which can benefit from more shareholder-friendly corporate policies and improved economic figures, an above-average successful Japan fund such as CT (Lux) Japan Equities, launched by Columbia Threadneedle and soon to celebrate its two-year anniversary, is a good idea. Fund manager Daisuke Nomoto looks after the fund on site and is a detailed expert on the Japanese stock market – before his time at Columbia Threadneedle, he held various positions at Nippon Life Insurance and was senior portfolio manager at Nissay Asset Management in Tokyo. Nomoto is a clear advocate of bottom-up security selection and fundamental analysis and invests in his Japanese equity fund in high-quality companies with lasting competitive advantages that have the potential to generate sustained high returns. The fundamental research is complemented by quantitative elements, ESG screenings and macroeconomic instruments – by analyzing multiple sources of excess returns, Nomoto gains an overview of the most important performance-relevant factors for Japanese stocks.
The CT (Lux) Japan Equities IE EUR Acc (ISIN LU2656574600, WKN A3ERN9) was launched on December 14, 2023 and currently has a volume of 480.4 million euros. The fund’s currency is the Japanese yen (JPY), which creates additional upside potential if the euro exchange rate normalizes compared to the currently highly undervalued yen. The MSCI Japan Index serves as the fund’s benchmark; the portfolio is quite concentrated with 49 individual stocks and includes stocks of all market capitalizations. Fund manager Daisuke Nomoto summarizes the investment strategy of the CT investment product as follows: “Thanks to our bottom-up stockpicking approach, which looks for companies across the entire market capitalization spectrum, we are well positioned to benefit from the numerous opportunities that exist in the Japanese corporate landscape.” What performance figures can the Japan fund managed in this way boast?
Fund development. Clear.
Since the fund was launched in December 2023, CT (Lux) Japan Equities has achieved a positive return of +16.99 percent in euros (as of November 4, 2025). This results in an outperformance compared to the broad Japanese TOPIX index, which the SJB selected as a benchmark index for its fund analysis: The TOPIX NR JPY only recorded a return of +15.43 percent on a euro basis over the same period. Even over the most recent one-year period, CT fund manager Daisuke Nomoto is clearly ahead with his stock picking strategy. In this range, CT (Lux) Japan Equities recorded a performance of +19.76 percent in euros, while the market-wide TOPIX achieved a performance of +17.22 percent. The convincing performance of Columbia Threadneedle’s Japan fund is complemented by its performance in the current trading year 2025: A double-digit positive performance of +11.88 percent for the actively managed fund product is offset by a return of around two percentage points lower of +9.96 percent for the TOPIX NR JPY. The additional return achieved over all analysis periods impressively demonstrates how well CT (Lux) Japan Equities’ stock selection based on bottom-up criteria works.
What are the volatility values of the Japan fund? A look at the fluctuations reveals that CT (Lux) Japan Equities tends to have a higher fluctuation range than the broader Japanese stock market. In the almost two years since launch, the price fluctuations of the Japan fund have been at a higher level of 22.77 percent compared to the TOPIX benchmark index, which has an annualized volatility of 21.91 percent. Even over a year, the Columbia Threadneedle fund is more susceptible to fluctuations than the SJB benchmark: Here, the “vola” of the actively managed fund is 10.74 percent, above the fluctuation intensity of the comparison index of 8.40 percent. In the current trading year 2025, the fund’s fluctuations are also more ambitious: since January, the CT (Lux) Japan Equities has had a volatility of 23.93 percent, while the benchmark index TOPIX NR JPY has a volatility of 20.91 percent. The increased volatility of between one and three percentage points, which can be demonstrated across all periods, results in a somewhat less favorable risk profile for the actively managed Japan fund, but is justified in view of the consistently achieved outperformance. What does the fund strategy look like in detail?
Fund strategy. Decrypted.
CT (Lux) Japan Equities aims to generate long-term capital growth by investing in a concentrated portfolio of Japanese companies. The focus is on stocks where fund manager Daisuke Nomoto firmly believes that the current share price does not reflect their business prospects. Preference is given to high-quality companies with strong competitive advantages that achieve high or increasing returns on capital and can increase their growth in the long term. Investment strategist Nomoto emphasizes: “The ability of these companies to generate consistently high returns and above-average growth is often underestimated by the market, so potential winners are often traded at a discount to their intrinsic value. We want to take advantage of this inefficiency.” The most important influencing factor in the investment process is bottom-up stock selection, which is based on evaluating companies using fundamental analysis. At the heart of FundManager Nomoto’s investment strategy is the premise of not taking unintentional risks. To this end, upper and lower price targets are set for all companies in the defined investment universe. These objectives guide capital allocation during portfolio construction, with positions based on strong convictions contributing the most to portfolio risk. Finally, there are formal selling rules for the portfolio: If a stock suffers a price loss of 15 percent compared to the original price or falls back to the fifth quintile in the quantitative model, it tends to be reduced or sold. What is the fund’s portfolio structure in detail?
In the sector breakdown of CT (Lux) Japan Equities, industrial companies take first place with 28.40 percent, while financial stocks take second place in the fund’s assets with 22.00 percent. The cyclical consumer goods sector takes third place in the industry weighting with 18.90 percent, while IT companies cover 18.80 percent of the stocks. Communication service providers (6.60 percent) and the healthcare sector (4.60 percent) have a medium weighting in the Japan fund’s portfolio. Real estate stocks (3.90 percent) and energy stocks (2.70 percent) round off the sector breakdown of the fund portfolio.
Among the top 10 positions, the shares of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group are at the top, other financial stocks in the top 10 are Tokio Marine Holdings and the shares of Nomura Holdings. The industrial stocks, which also serve as the focus of the portfolio, are represented by the Kinden Corporation and Hitachi among the ten largest individual positions in the Japan fund. Cyclical consumer goods (Sony Group, Niterra) and stocks from the information technology sector (Tokyo Electron) complete fund manager Daisuke Nomoto’s top holdings.
SJB conclusion. CT (Lux) Japan Equities.
Investors who are looking for attractive investment opportunities outside of the major US stock exchanges should not forget the Japanese stock market, which has just climbed to a new all-time high. CT (Lux) Japan Equities has had above-average success in the land of the rising sun and has consistently outperformed the market-wide TOPIX index since its inception. Fund manager Nomoto prefers quality companies with strong competitive advantages and impresses with its concentrated portfolio, which is put together on the basis of bottom-up analyses. An excellent depot mix not just for Japan connoisseurs!
Proven fund expertise is not only at home in the financial centers of Germany, but also in Korschenbroich on the Lower Rhine. Founded on January 1, 1989, SJB FondsSkyline is one of the oldest and largest private financial services institutions in Germany. The SJB has been pursuing its countercyclical investment approach for over 30 years and publishes regular newsletters and fund analyzes for private investors.
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