Betashares Asia Technology Tigers ETF (ASX: ASIA) could be one of the most interesting exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to think about right now.
It's an ETF that's offered by Betashares, one of the largest providers in Australia. As the name might suggest, it is focused on Asian technology businesses.
Here are a number of factors why it could be a useful consideration:
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Asian exposure
As Betashares points out, this ETF gives exposure to 50 leading technology businesses in Asia. Technology is under-represented in Australia compared to other global share markets.
The ETF can be used to provide a complement for investors that already have an existing allocation to US-listed technology businesses.
This investment gets ASX investors access to different areas such as e-commerce, telecommunications, IT, software, data processing and computer communications industries in Asia, excluding Japan.
According to BetaShares, Asia has a younger and more tech-savvy population which means that its population is leading the way in terms of technological adoption. That's why the Asian tech sector is expected to remain a growth sector.
China is expected to have over 1.1 billion internet users by 2025.
Strong businesses
The businesses in Betashares Asia Technology Tigers ETF's portfolio are some of the strongest in the world at what they do.
Looking at the holdings of this ETF, its biggest 10 positions are: Tencent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Alibaba, Samsung Electronics, Meituan, Pinduoduo, JD.com, Sea, Infosys and Netease.
Alibaba is the world's largest retailer, its online sales and profits reportedly surpassed all US retailers combined in 2015. Tencent is the owner of Wechat, the most popular social app in China. Samsung is one of the world's biggest smartphone manufacturers. Baidu, another holding, is the number one search engine in China with a 55% market share. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturer is the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry with customers like Nvidia and Qualcomm.
Historical returns
Past performance is not an indicator of future performance. But it can show the type of growth and investor excitement that an investment has seen over a given timeframe.
Since inception in September 2018 to 30 April 2021, the Betashares Asia Technology Tigers ETF had delivered a net return of 30.5% per annum. That's including the annual management fee of 0.67% per annum.
The index that the ETF tracks has been around for longer than three years – over the last five years that index has returned an average of 27.2% per annum.
