Eaton Vance Opens Tokyo Office

Global asset manager Eaton Vance has opened a Tokyo office to strengthen the distribution of its funds in Japan, the firm's largest market outside the U.S., according to Robert White, president of Eaton Vance Management International Asia.

Tetsuo Kushiya will head the new office and manage client and distribution partner relationships, according to a Feb. 27 statement by theBoston-based firm. Kushiya joined Eaton Vance in January from Mizuho Securities, where he was director of the alternative fund promotion department.

“We’ve had a long, successful time in Japan for about 15 years, working with key partners,” saysWhite, who is based in Singapore. Among Japanese investors, Eaton Vance has seen “the most success with floating-rate bank loan strategies, as well as high-yield, multi-asset bank loans, and customized solutions,” he says.

With the Bank of Japan currently holding steady a negative interest rate, White says providing income ideas for Japanese investors, who can’t expect to see a return by simply putting money in the bank, will be important. Eaton Vance’s macro fund and absolute return strategies are also gaining interest in Japan, he says.

Eaton Vance, which had $363.7 billion of assets under management at the end of January, last year began offering a new type of fund called NextShares, which is an exchange-traded fund that is managed like a mutual fund. While the firm does not have plans to bring the concept to Japan, White says he could seeNextSharesas a cost-effective way for U.S. investors to access markets in Japan.