Awards for Asset Management Company of the Year, as well as equity fund management, ESG fund management, and ETF
Nikko Asset Management Co., Ltd. (Nikko AM) was chosen as the winner in seven categories of The Asset Triple A Sustainable Investing Awards for Institutional Investor, ETF, and Asset Servicing Providers 2025. The wins, announced on 1 May, include Asset Management Company of the Year – Asia, and Asset Management Company of the Year – Japan, along with Equity Fund Manager of the Year – Japan and ESG Asset Management Company of the Year – Japan. The seven wins include Best ETF Provider in three categories: Asia, Japan and Singapore. The Asset, an influential industry publication about the asset management industry in Asia, selected the winners for each category looking at the period of 1 January to 31 December 2024 across all Asia-Pacific markets, including the Middle East.
For Nikko AM’s first win as Equity Fund Manager of the Year – Japan, The Asset chose Lead Portfolio Manager of Japan Core Active Equity Strategy[1] Norihiko Kamada. Through bottom-up research, Kamada and his team identify high quality companies with earnings growth yet to be reflected in the stock price, and stocks undervalued relative to their fundamentals. The “Core” in “Japan Core Active Equity Strategy” refers to the core of Nikko AM’s Japanese equity active management capability, with a robust multi-style research platform and experienced portfolio managers and in-house analysts who share the same philosophy and work closely as a team to select the best stocks. This award is for fund managers (individual, team) who have consistently generated exceptional outperformance, but unlike the other categories, The Asset’s judges looked at the past five years (through end December 2024.)
Nikko AM won ESG Asset Management Company of the Year – Japan for the second consecutive year for efforts to support clients’ sustainable investing pursuits without sacrificing returns. Specifically, as with last year, The Asset cited two of Investment Technology Fund Management Department’s strategies. One was Japanese Equity Human Capital Empowerment Strategy1, which employs a propriety in-house quantitative model to invest in companies that effectively and actively invest in human capital while maintaining strong management discipline, and seeks to help them improve productivity and invest more in people to achieve a positive social and economic impact and higher equity returns. The other was Climate Change Solutions – Japanese Equity Strategy1, which uses Nikko AM’s in-house greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions estimate model and aims to achieve a 50% reduction in GHG emissions compared to the benchmark TOPIX index. The award recognises “fund managers who lead the industry in ESG using investment strategies and methodologies to produce products and solutions that will service the ESG requirements of their investor clients.”
This was the first time The Asset chose Nikko AM as Asset Management Company of the Year - Asia, and the second time the firm won Asset Management Company of the Year - Japan. The Asset recognised Nikko AM’s efforts to launch funds, along with fund performance and an emphasis on sustainable investing. During the award period, Nikko AM President and CEO Stefanie Drews made a number of global appearances to promote the firm and Japan equities to international investors, including in Tokyo, New York and London. In addition, in June 2024, Nikko AM entered into a strategic partnership with alternative investment group Tikehau Capital of France to work towards meeting investors’ growing demand for private assets. The partnership consists of an agreement for Nikko AM to distribute Tikehau Capital’s products, to set up a joint venture in Singapore, and for Nikko AM to begin building an equity stake in Tikehau Capital.
For the exchange traded fund (ETF) awards, The Asset looked at the scope of candidates’ ETF business, flagship and other ETFs and supporting services, leadership, ETF and business performance, partnerships, client engagement and other new initiatives.
Nikko AM won Best ETF Provider – Asia for the second consecutive year. During the award period, the firm carried out cross-border collaborations to grow its ETF business and boost awareness of ETFs in general, such as participating in events not only in Japan and Singapore, but also Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand.
Nikko AM won Best ETF Provider - Japan for the sixth consecutive year, managing 37 ETFs and holding a 19.8% share (based on ETF market capitalisation) of all ETFs on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as of 31 December 2024. During the award period, the Japan ETF Team listed one new ETF, which tracks the Nikkei Semiconductor Stock Index.
Nikko AM was awarded Best ETF Provider - Singapore for the fourth year in a row, with six ETFs listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX), reaching SGD3.2 billion as of 31 December 2024, an increase of 6.7% year-on-year with a market share of 27.1% (based on ETF market capitalisation) on the SGX.
Nikko AM President and CEO Stefanie Drews commented, “It is an honour that The Asset has recognised Nikko Asset Management once again with these prestigious awards that showcase not only our investment expertise and commitment to sustainability, but also importantly our global interconnectivity all with a client-first mindset.”
For the background and decision-making process of the awards please visit the award website. https://www.theasset.com/awards-single/asset-servicing-investor-fund-management
Past performance of the managers or funds is not necessarily indicative of its future performance.
