David Snoddy, a former head of Tiger Management’s Tokyo office, is preparing to launch a new activist-oriented Japan equity strategy under his firm Nezu Asia Capital Management, targeting undervalued listed companies with strong fundamentals and excess capital, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The Nezu Engagement Fund, scheduled to launch next month, aims to raise several hundred million dollars and will focus on a concentrated portfolio of 15 to 20 Japanese companies. According to Snoddy, the strategy will favour firms with solid balance sheets and sustainable cash flows, where there is clear potential to unlock shareholder value through dividends, buybacks, or improved capital allocation.
“Our target is really companies that want to stay listed—and want to stay listed with a significantly higher market cap than they’ve got now,” Snoddy told Bloomberg in an interview in Tokyo last week.
The fund reflects a growing appetite among global investors for shareholder-friendly reforms in Japan, where Tokyo Stock Exchange initiatives have already encouraged listed firms to focus more on improving capital efficiency and market valuation.
Snoddy, who has invested in Japanese equities for over three decades, launched Nezu Asia in 2000. The firm will partner with Japanese distributors that serve high-net-worth clients, tapping into a pool of domestic capital increasingly open to activist and engagement-driven strategies.
To support the rollout, Nezu hired Hiromitsu Kawakita last year. Kawakita brings experience from United Managers Japan and Nissay Asset Management, further strengthening the firm’s local distribution and client engagement capabilities.
