Where to find Japan’s small, cash-rich bargain stocks

One of the few big opportunities in global markets is Japan’s small-cap value sector. And now there is finally a fund that focuses directly on this niche, says Merryn Somerset Webb.

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(Image credit: 2013 Bloomberg)

We have been telling you for years that you need to get into one of the very few compelling opportunities left in global stockmarkets: small but cash-rich value stocks in Japan. But we haven't been able to point you to an investment vehicle dedicated to doing this and only this. Several larger global funds have recognised the value opportunities in Japan. In the world of investment trusts, think Ruffer, the Scottish Investment Trust and British Empire, for example.

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.