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Matthews Asia Growth Fund
MPACX

Snapshot
  • Unconstrained growth strategy investing across Asia Pacific’s developed, emerging and frontier markets
  • Focus on the most profitable and attractive growth opportunities in Asia
  • Highly-differentiated portfolio offers exposure to names often under-represented in broader global equity strategies

10/31/2003

Inception Date

-1.25%

YTD Return

(as of 04/25/2025)

$22.11

NAV

(as of 04/25/2025)

+0.02

1 Day NAV Change

(as of 04/25/2025)

Objective

Long-term capital appreciation.

Strategy

Under normal circumstances, the Matthews Asia Growth Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets, which include borrowings for investment purposes, in the common and preferred stocks of companies located in Asia. The Fund may also invest in the convertible securities, of any duration or quality, of Asian companies. The Fund seeks to invest in companies capable of sustainable growth based on the fundamental characteristics of those companies, including balance sheet information; number of employees; size and stability of cash flow; management’s depth, adaptability and integrity; product lines; marketing strategies; corporate governance; and financial health.

Risks

Investments in Asian securities may involve risks such as social and political instability, market illiquidity, exchange-rate fluctuations, a high level of volatility and limited regulation. Investing in emerging and frontier markets involves different and greater risks, as these countries are substantially smaller, less liquid and more volatile than securities markets in more developed markets.

These and other risks associated with investing in the Fund can be found in the prospectus.

Fund Facts
Inception Date 10/31/2003
Fund Assets $214.85 million (03/31/2025)
Currency USD
Ticker MPACX
Cusip 577-130-867
Benchmark MSCI All Country Asia Pacific Index
Geographic Focus Asia - Consists of all countries and markets in Asia, including developed, emerging, and frontier countries and markets in the Asian region
Fees & Expenses
Gross Expense Ratio 1.13%

Performance

  • Monthly
  • Quarterly
  • Calendar Year
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As of 03/31/2025
Average Annual Total Returns
Name 1MO 3MO YTD 1YR 3YR 5YR 10YR Since Inception Inception Date
Matthews Asia Growth Fund - MPACX
10/31/2003
MPACX
-1.11% -0.63% -0.63% 0.31% -1.74% 2.39% 2.64% 6.56%
MSCI All Country Asia Pacific Index
-0.19% 0.97% 0.97% 5.66% 3.12% 8.67% 4.98% 6.40%
As of 03/31/2025
Average Annual Total Returns
Name 1MO 3MO YTD 1YR 3YR 5YR 10YR Since Inception Inception Date
Matthews Asia Growth Fund - MPACX
10/31/2003
MPACX
-1.11% -0.63% -0.63% 0.31% -1.74% 2.39% 2.64% 6.56%
MSCI All Country Asia Pacific Index
-0.19% 0.97% 0.97% 5.66% 3.12% 8.67% 4.98% 6.40%
For the years ended December 31st
Name 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015
Matthews Asia Growth Fund - MPACX
MPACX
8.14% 3.53% -33.12% -14.65% 46.76% 26.18% -16.25% 39.39% 0.92% -0.05%
MSCI All Country Asia Pacific Index (USD)
10.01% 11.81% -16.92% -1.19% 20.07% 19.74% -13.25% 32.04% 5.21% -1.68%

Source: BNY Mellon Investment Servicing (US) Inc. All performance is in US$.

Assumes reinvestment of all dividends and/or distributions before taxes. All performance quoted represents past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate with market conditions so that when redeemed, shares may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the return figures quoted. Returns would have been lower if certain of the Fund’s fees and expenses had not been waived. Performance differences between the Institutional class and the Investor class may arise due to differences in fees charged to each class.

Additional performance, attribution, liquidity, value at risk (VaR), security classification and holdings information is available on request for certain time periods.

Growth of a Hypothetical $10,000 Investment Since Inception

(as of 03/31/2025)

Source: BNY Mellon Investment Servicing (US) Inc. All performance is in US$.

The performance data and graph do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on dividends, capital gain distributions or redemption of fund shares.

Ratings

  • OVERALL
  • out of 10 funds
  • 3 YEAR
  • out of 10 funds
  • 5 YEAR
  • out of 10 funds
  • 10 YEAR
  • out of 10 funds

Ratings agency calculation methodology

Portfolio Managers

Michael J. Oh, CFA photo
Michael J. Oh, CFA

Lead Manager

Peeyush  Mittal, CFA photo
Peeyush Mittal, CFA

Co-Manager

Shuntaro  Takeuchi photo
Shuntaro Takeuchi

Co-Manager

Portfolio Characteristics

(as of 03/31/2025)
Fund Benchmark
Number of Positions 65 1,256
Weighted Average Market Cap $154.9 billion $126.2 billion
Active Share 65.8 n.a.
P/E using FY1 estimates 17.0x 13.8x
P/E using FY2 estimates 14.8x 12.6x
Price/Cash Flow 13.5 8.9
Price/Book 2.6 1.7
Return On Equity 16.3 15.3
EPS Growth (3 Yr) 20.4% 9.2%

Sources: Factset Research Systems, Inc.

Risk Metrics (3 Yr Return)

(as of 03/31/2025)
-4.72%
Alpha
0.93
Beta
83.94%
Upside Capture
107.56%
Downside Capture
-0.37
Sharpe Ratio
-0.79
Information Ratio
6.16%
Tracking Error
86.90

Fund Risk Metrics are reflective of Investor share class.

Sources: Zephyr StyleADVISOR

Top 10 Holdings

(as of 03/31/2025)
Name Sector Country % Net Assets
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Information Technology Taiwan 6.4
Sea, Ltd. Communication Services Singapore 5.0
Tencent Holdings, Ltd. Communication Services China/Hong Kong 4.4
Alibaba Group Holding, Ltd. Consumer Discretionary China/Hong Kong 4.0
PDD Holdings, Inc. Consumer Discretionary China/Hong Kong 2.9
Hitachi, Ltd. Industrials Japan 2.8
Sony Group Corp. Consumer Discretionary Japan 2.6
Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. Consumer Discretionary Japan 2.6
Keyence Corp. Information Technology Japan 2.5
ITOCHU Corp. Industrials Japan 2.4
TOTAL 35.6

Top 10 holdings may combine more than one security from the same issuer and related depositary receipts.

Source: BNY Mellon Investment Servicing (US) Inc.

Portfolio Breakdown (%)

(as of 03/31/2025)
  • Sector Allocation
  • Country Allocation
  • Market Cap Exposure
Sector Fund Benchmark Difference
Consumer Discretionary 27.4 15.6 11.8
Information Technology 19.3 18.7 0.6
Financials 16.7 22.6 -5.9
Communication Services 13.5 9.3 4.2
Industrials 9.8 12.0 -2.2
Health Care 7.1 5.4 1.7
Real Estate 1.2 2.6 -1.4
Materials 0.9 5.0 -4.1
Energy 0.8 2.5 -1.7
Consumer Staples 0.0 4.3 -4.3
Utilities 0.0 2.0 -2.0
Cash and Other Assets, Less Liabilities 3.2 0.0 3.2

Sector data based on MSCI’s revised Global Industry Classification Standards. For more details, visit www.msci.com.

Country Fund Benchmark Difference
China/Hong Kong 30.5 23.7 6.8
Japan 29.4 31.4 -2.0
India 12.4 12.4 0.0
Taiwan 8.9 11.2 -2.3
South Korea 5.1 6.0 -0.9
Singapore 5.0 2.5 2.5
Australia 3.9 9.5 -5.6
Philippines 0.8 0.3 0.5
Vietnam 0.8 0.0 0.8
Malaysia 0.0 0.9 -0.9
Indonesia 0.0 0.8 -0.8
Thailand 0.0 0.8 -0.8
New Zealand 0.0 0.3 -0.3
Macau 0.0 0.1 -0.1
Cash and Other Assets, Less Liabilities 3.2 0.0 3.2

Not all countries are included in the benchmark index(es).

Equity market cap of issuer Fund Benchmark Difference
Mega Cap (over $25B) 75.4 65.2 10.2
Large Cap ($10B-$25B) 16.0 21.5 -5.5
Mid Cap ($3B-$10B) 4.8 13.1 -8.3
Small Cap (under $3B) 0.6 0.1 0.5
Cash and Other Assets, Less Liabilities 3.2 0.0 3.2

Source: FactSet Research Systems.

Percentage values in data are rounded to the nearest tenth of one percent, so the values may not sum to 100% due to rounding. Percentage values may be derived from different data sources and may not be consistent with other Fund literature.

Distributions

Record Date Ex, Pay and
Reinvest Date
Ordinary
Income
Short Term
Capital Gains
Long Term
Capital Gains
Total Distributions
Per Share
% of NAV Nondividend Distribution (Return of Capital)
12/17/2024 12/18/2024 $0.52880 $0.00000 $0.00000 $0.52880 2.2% N.A.
12/13/2023 12/14/2023 $0.37967 $0.00000 $0.00000 $0.37967 1.8% N.A.
12/13/2022 12/14/2022 $0.00000 $0.00000 $0.57757 $0.57757 2.6% N.A.
12/14/2021 12/15/2021 $0.00000 $0.47969 $1.17413 $1.65382 4.8% N.A.
12/15/2020 12/16/2020 $0.15061 $0.16831 $1.39495 $1.71387 4.6% N.A.

 

There is no guarantee that the Fund will pay or continue to pay distributions. 

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate with changing market conditions so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

Commentary

Period ended March 31, 2025

Market Environment

  • Asia performed better than expected in the first quarter of 2025 thanks in part to a more favorable macro environment. Many investors had expected the strength in the dollar and U.S. equity market to continue into 2025 and contribute to a weaker performance in the region but that didn’t happen.
  • At the country level, performance was mixed. China led markets in Asia higher while Taiwan and India faced pressure. China technology shares were buoyed by the success of the DeepSeek artificial intelligence (AI) platform which in turn spurred a selloff in U.S. big tech stocks and negatively impacted Taiwan, a market that is almost a direct play in a narrow area of technology driven by AI.
  • India’s market was challenged as earnings disappointed amid softening economic growth caused by weaker government spending and tight monetary policy. Sentiment toward Japanese equities was impacted by concerns that a stronger yen along with rising rates may dampen export demand. Earnings remained robust in the quarter and buybacks and dividends continued to support total returns.
  • In more peripheral markets, Southeast Asia should have benefited from a weakening U.S. dollar but was hurt by political disruption. As the quarter progressed, optimism toward the region receded as U.S. economic data deteriorated and concerns gathered over the prospect of new far-ranging reciprocal U.S. tariffs and a trade-related global economic slowdown.

Contributors and Detractors

  • For the quarter ended March 31, 2025, the Matthews Asia Growth Fund returned -0.63%, (Investor Class) and -0.57% (Institutional Class) while its benchmark, the MSCI All Country Asia Pacific Index, returned 0.97% over the same period.
  • On a country basis, the top three contributors to relative performance were Singapore due to stock selection, China/Hong Kong due to an overweight allocation and stock selection and the Philippines due to stock selection. The top three detractors were India and Japan due to stock selection and Vietnam due to an off-benchmark allocation.
  • On a sector basis, the top three contributors to relative performance were communication services and real estate due to stock selection, and utilities due to zero allocation. The top three detractors were industrials, consumer discretionary and financials due to stock selection.
  • The largest contributors to absolute performance included Alibaba Group, the largest e-commerce platform company in China, Sea, a Singapore-based provider of PC and mobile digital content, and Tencent Holdings, a Chinese online gaming and social media conglomerate. The top three detractors included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TMSC), a globally leading chipmaker, Eternal Ltd., operator of Zomato, a leading Indian online restaurant booking and food delivery company, and Recruit Holdings, a Japanese human resources (HR) company.

Outlook

  • Front and center to our outlook is the impact of U.S. tariffs on the global economy and markets. The Trump administration’s tariff policy has shown itself to be fluid and unpredictable. We may see some new tariffs rolled back in certain markets and a different picture coming into focus in the coming weeks and months.
  • At this point, what we can conclude is that from a U.S. perspective, the administration’s tariff policy is growth negative and inflation positive. It probably means that inflation stays around 3% and that has implications for the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy and in turn for markets in Asia.
  • When the global economy is under pressure, we believe domestic drivers are more important than global drivers. For Asia, that means we need to be cautious of markets that are correlated to the U.S. and of companies that are selling into the US. Domestic demand-driven markets like India and China, which rely less on the global economy, we think will be more resilient.
  • Many investors are expecting the Federal Reserve to maintain a rate-cutting trajectory this year which would be a tailwind for Asia. We believe markets will also be supported by a pick-up in earnings on valuations that are still cheap. We think there are opportunities for experienced active managers to pick their spots and focus on fundamentals.

View the Fund’s Top 10 holdings as of March 31, 2025. Current and future holdings are subject to change and risk.

Average Annual Total Returns - MPACX as of 03/31/2025
1YR 3YR 5YR 10YR Since Inception Inception Date
0.31% -1.74% 2.39% 2.64% 6.56% 10/31/2003

All performance quoted is past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate with changing market conditions so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the return figures quoted. Returns would have been lower if certain of the Fund's fees and expenses had not been waived. For the Fund's most recent month-end performance visit matthewsasia.com

Fees & Expenses
Gross Expense Ratio 1.13%

Investments in Asian securities may involve risks such as social and political instability, market illiquidity, exchange-rate fluctuations, a high level of volatility and limited regulation. Investing in emerging and frontier markets involves different and greater risks, as these countries are substantially smaller, less liquid and more volatile than securities markets in more developed markets.

 

Visit our Glossary of Terms page for definitions and additional information.

Index Definitions

The information contained herein has been derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate at the time of compilation, but no representation or warranty (express or implied) is made as to the accuracy or completeness of any of this information. Neither the funds nor the Investment Advisor accept any liability for losses either direct or consequential caused by the use of this information.

The views and opinions in the commentary were as of the report date, subject to change and may not reflect current views. They are not guarantees of performance or investment results and should not be taken as investment advice. Investment decisions reflect a variety of factors, and the managers reserve the right to change their views about individual stocks, sectors, and the markets at any time. As a result, the views expressed should not be relied upon as a forecast of the Fund's future investment intent. It should not be assumed that any investment will be profitable or will equal the performance of any securities or any sectors mentioned herein. The information does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any securities mentioned.