JK Japan
This is a core large-cap fund. It is a pragmatic and style-agnostic fund, which is quite rare in Japan where managers often tilt in favour of one style extreme or the other. The fund identifies investment themes and undertakes detailed bottom-up stock analysis to find the best opportunities.
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Our Opinion
A core solid Japanese fund which will suit investors who are looking to minimise style risk. The manager is exceptionally experienced with over 35 years of experience. The fund has delivered solid and steady performance with a proven process.
Fund Managers
Simon Jones, Lead manager
Simon Jones is the lead manager of the JK Japan fund. Simon lived in Tokyo for 8 years in the 1990s and 2000s. He is an exceptionally experienced Japanese investor with experience going back to 1986. Over the years he has worked at Prudential, Jardine Fleming and JP Morgan Fleming before he set up JK Investment Management with Francis Kirkpatrick in 2003. He has a BSc in Banking and Finance from Loughborough University and is a member of CFA Institute.
Ryan Mills, Deputy manager
Ryan Mills is the deputy manager on the fund. He joined JK Investment Management in 2016. Ryan specialises in screening, stock analysis and technical analysis. He has a MSc in Finance and Economics from LSE and has also completed Level I, II and III of the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst).
Risk
The fund is 90% large-cap and 10% mid-cap with no small-caps. The fund is concentrated although the biggest positions do not tend to go beyond 5% of the fund. Around 35% of the fund is in its top ten holdings. A key feature of the fund is its style agnosticism and therefore its ability to perform in different markets. As part of this, the fund is well diversified by sector. This mitigates a key risk in Japan where sentiment towards different investment styles can often swing wildly. The fund has a reasonable but not extreme tracking error of around 6% versus its benchmark since the fund launched.
Company Description
JK Investment Management was established in 2003 by co-founders Simon Jones (CIO) and Francis Kirkpatrick (CEO). It is a boutique investment manager with more than $350m in assets under management, as of May 2026. The company has two UCITS funds, JK Japan and JK Global Opportunities. It is also an adviser on two segregated accounts.
Investment process
The fund is style-agnostic. The managers believe in running a concentrated, high-conviction portfolio. Valuation discipline is key and they will not overpay for investments.
They start with an initial 1,660 stocks in the Topix and screen this down to around 500 according to liquidity and market cap. They are then left with two buckets of stocks from which to fish: quality compounders (stocks which generate high returns on capital), and quality thematics (stocks geared into a secular theme with a catalyst). This leaves them with 125 stocks to do bottom-up work and create a final portfolio of 35 to 50 stocks.
The fund takes a thematic approach and combines this with bottom-up stock analysis to uncover mispriced growth and value opportunities. They are not afraid to trade the portfolio. The fund has quite a high turnover (around 60%). There is no stamp duty in Japan and low commission on trading so it makes sense to take advantage where they can.
The team looks for valuation, momentum, strong technicals and qualitative factors. They like companies which are cheap relative to their own history and have consistent earnings growth and a proven ability to allocate capital efficiently.
Risk
The fund is 90% large-cap and 10% mid-cap with no small-caps. The fund is concentrated although the biggest positions do not tend to go beyond 5% of the fund. Around 35% of the fund is in its top ten holdings. A key feature of the fund is its style agnosticism and therefore its ability to perform in different markets. As part of this, the fund is well diversified by sector. This mitigates a key risk in Japan where sentiment towards different investment styles can often swing wildly. The fund has a reasonable but not extreme tracking error of around 6% versus its benchmark since the fund launched.
ESG
Good governance and identifying companies with a proven ability to allocate capital efficiently is an important part of the fund’s process. They also want to see shareholder-friendly management and a strong drive for self-improvement.
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