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ABRDN JAPAN EQUITY FUND, INC.

MD
Tender-offer fund1099
Compared against all funds.
1Y return
+24.1%
97th pctile · ahead of most peersas of 2025-07-07
Since inception
not stated in filings
Distribution rate
6.5%
exceeds net investment income
Net assets
$102.3M
as of 2025-07-07
Net expenses
1.1%
6th pctile · cheaper than median
Repurchase
10% Open market discount management program at adviser discretion; no periodic tender obligation
1 of 293 peers match
Level 3
0%
1th pctile · less model-priced than peers
Last offer
no offer yet
4 offers on record · never prorated
What owning this fund costs per year
Hold period3 yrs
Net expense ratio (includes the 0.6% management fee)1.10%
Minus interest on borrowings, the cost of portfolio leverage0.09%
Ongoing cost, determined from the filings1.01%
Ongoing cost is 1.01% a year. The manager takes about 0.36% on managed assets, and directors, administration, audit, legal, transfer agent, custody and listing costs add roughly 0.65% on about $97 million of net assets. Borrowing cost of 0.09% is excluded because the borrowed money buys assets. The latest half year annualizes slightly higher at 1.04%.
Sales loadnone
Total drag per year1.01%
This is the cost for common Stock, single class (NYSE: JEQ).
Based on Annual: fiscal year ended October 31, 2024 (ratio stated as annual in the annual report's Financial Highlights). Cross-checked against the six months .
This fund's cost was determined by reading its filings in full, because the figures in its expense table do not decompose cleanly.
Drag is the fixed cost of ownership: paid regardless of performance. How this is calculated
Against all funds
Total drag
10th pctile · cheaper than most
1Y return
97th pctile · ahead of most
Gray mark is the peer median. The drag comparison uses the same 3-year hold for every fund.
Every figure below was read from this fund's filing. Hover any number to see the sentence it came from. Figures cover Annual: fiscal year ended October 31, 2024 (ratio stated as annual in the annual report's Financial Highlights). Cross-checked against the six months ended April 30, 2025, whose ratios the filing states are already annualized (1.16% net, 1.04% excluding interest); no persisting fee-schedule change, so the annual figure is used..
Open the filing on sec.gov (0001104659-25-066103)
Size and leverage
Net assets$102.3M?
Borrowings$10.7M?
Leveragedebt to equity0.10x?
Asset coverage1060.00%?
Started1992-07-24?
What the manager charges
Management feeof gross assets0.60%?
The same fee against your equitybecause it is charged on borrowed assets too0.66%
Adviser is subsidising costsNo?
Getting your money back
Repurchase offersOpen market discount management program at adviser discretion; no periodic tender obligation?
Share of the fund offered10.00%?
Last offer filled in fullYes?
Where distributions come from
Distribution rate6.50%?
Paid out of income16.00%?
Return of your own capital84.00%?
Distributions were larger than the income the fund earned, so part of what was paid out came from capital or borrowing.
What it holds
Largest position5.30%?
Top ten35.80%?
Priced by the managerno market price available0.00%?
MostlyIndustrials?
Who is involved
Adviserabrdn Asia Limited?
AuditorKPMG LLP?
ValuedDaily, as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE?
Independent valuation agentNo?
Deals with affiliatesYes?
Also worth knowing
  • Boards approved reorganization of JEQ into abrdn Global Infrastructure Income Fund (ASGI), with a JEQ shareholder vote targeted for July 27, 2025 and completion expected in the third quarter of 2025.
  • Contingent on reorganization approval, JEQ will conduct a cash tender offer for up to 50% of outstanding shares at 98% of NAV per share.
  • The Board suspended the managed distribution policy after the March 31, 2025 quarterly distribution to avoid disrupting the tender offer timing.
  • Chern-Yeh Kwok left Aberdeen in March 2025 and ceased serving on the Fund's portfolio management team.
  • Proposed reorganization into ASGI: Shareholder vote targeted July 27, 2025; completion expected Q3 2025 (Holders will end up owning a different fund with a different strategy and fee structure, so JEQ's own cost and mandate may cease to apply within months.)
  • Conditional cash tender offer: Up to 50% of shares at 98% of NAV (Offers a near-NAV exit for half of the outstanding shares, a large liquidity event for a fund that traded at a double digit discount, and will shrink the asset base that fixed costs are spread over.)
  • Managed distribution policy suspended: Suspended after the March 31, 2025 payment (Income seeking holders lose the 6.5% annualized quarterly payout, and the payout had been the main reason for the fund's yield profile.)
  • Return of capital share of distributions: 84% of FY2024 distributions; 78% of distributions through March 31, 2025 percent (Most of the cash paid out was not earned income, so the payout was eroding capital rather than being funded by portfolio yield.)
  • Cost of borrowing rising: 0.90% average weighted rate in FY2024 versus 1.18% in the six months to April 30, 2025 percent (Interest is excluded from drag but it reduces net return; a higher yen borrowing rate against a roughly 9% to 10% leverage position cuts the benefit of leverage.)
  • Credit facility size and collateral: $20,000,000 committed prime brokerage facility, secured by pledged Fund assets (Leverage capacity and the fact that portfolio assets are pledged determine flexibility in a drawdown and what a lender could force in a default.)
  • Discount narrowing: -7.05% at April 30, 2025 versus -16.52% at October 31, 2024 percent (The market price gain of 19.98% over the half year came largely from discount narrowing on the reorganization and tender news, not portfolio return of 7.76%.)
  • Capital loss carryforward: 5,154,708 USD (Shelters future realized gains from taxable distribution, which matters to how gains would be distributed and to the tax profile carried into any reorganization.)
No annual shareholder report since 2025-01-10.
Every value links to the SEC filing it came from. A chip marks a change against the prior filing of the same type; hover a green-dotted value for what changed and why, as stated in the filing.
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Data from public SEC filings. Argus is not a broker-dealer. Nothing here is an offer or investment advice. Every value shows the filing it came from and the date of that filing. Peer percentiles describe where a value sits in the comparison set, never fund quality. "Not stated in filings" is a fact about a document, never a verdict about this fund.