AEF - abrdn Emerging Markets ex-China Fund

What this means for you

City of London specializes in closed-end funds trading below the value of their holdings - not a bank or an index fund holding shares for clients - and has told the regulator it is not seeking changes. One other large investor owns more than 5% of this fund and has said the same; that is common for banks, brokers and index funds that hold shares for their clients.

Nothing is required of you. If an investor changes its mind, it must file a new notice within days, and it will show up here.

Email me if this changes

What happened, and when

In the fund's last buy-back (results filed Feb 26, 2025), holders offered 72.4% of all shares and the fund bought about 28 of every 100 shares offered, so holders who took part got only part of what they offered. Results of the last buy-back →

1. Oct 23, 2026

   City of London cut its stake to 24.5% (from 25.8%), as a passive investor.

   Original document →

2. Oct 14, 2026

   First Trust Portfolios L.P. raised its stake to 16.5% (from 14.6%), as a passive investor.

   Original document →

3. Oct 7, 2026

   Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC sold down below 5% and stopped reporting.

   Original document →

4. July 24, 2026

   City of London cut its stake to 25.8% (from 28%), as a passive investor.

   Original document →

5. July 14, 2026

   First Trust Portfolios L.P. raised its stake to 14.6% (from 12.8%), as a passive investor.

   Original document →

About this fund

• Run by abrdn Investments Limited. As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
• Size: about $433 million of holdings, as of June 30, 2026. As of June 30, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Borrowing: the fund borrows about 6% on top of its own money, as of June 30, 2026. Borrowed money makes gains and losses bigger. As of June 30, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• The fund's own example of what borrowing does: in a year in which the holdings returned -10%, a share would return about -13%; at +10%, about +10.8%. As of Dec 31, 2022, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Costs: 0.9% a year in management fees; 1.9% a year in total, including interest on borrowed money. Fiscal year ended Dec 31, 2025. As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
  Among the 13 funds we follow that invest outside the U.S., 6 charge a lower management fee and 10 charge less in total, at their last yearly reports. Both numbers are measured against the fund's own money, not the money it borrows on top, so a fund that borrows more shows higher costs on both counts.
• Payouts: last fiscal year (ended Dec 31, 2025) the fund paid $0.65 a share. $0.05 of that was income; $0.60 was your own money back, not income. Most funds announce their monthly or quarterly payout on their own website, not in a filing with the regulator, so a cut or a raise there does not show up here until the next yearly report. A few funds do file a notice about a fixed payout; those appear under What happened, and when. As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Value of holdings per share at the last fiscal year end (Dec 31, 2025): $7.63. The shares traded at $7.00, about 8.3% below that. As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
  Over the last two years the gap (a "discount" when the price is below the value) ranged from 16% below to 7% below. As of Dec 31, 2022, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• How the holdings did: up 34.9% over the last three months we have (April-June 2026), before the share price is taken into account. As of June 30, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• First reported to the regulator in 1994.

How this has changed

• Payouts per share: $0.65 in the fiscal year ended Dec 31, 2025; $0.39 in the year ended Dec 31, 2024; $0.39 in the year ended Dec 31, 2023.As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Of that, your own money back rather than income: $0.60 in the year ended Dec 31, 2025; $0.37 in the year ended Dec 31, 2024; $0.33 in the year ended Dec 31, 2023.As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Costs, including interest on borrowed money: 1.86% a year in the fiscal year ended Dec 31, 2025; 1.96% a year in the year ended Dec 31, 2024; 2.14% a year in the year ended Dec 31, 2023.As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Size of the holdings: about $310 million at Dec 31, 2025; $302 million at Dec 31, 2024; $303 million at Dec 31, 2023. From the fund's quarterly holdings reports. Original documents: Dec 31, 2025 →, Dec 31, 2024 →, Dec 31, 2023 →.
• Borrowing: about 11% on top of its own money at Dec 31, 2025; 14% at Dec 31, 2024; 12% at Dec 31, 2023. From the fund's quarterly holdings reports. Original documents: Dec 31, 2025 →, Dec 31, 2024 →, Dec 31, 2023 →.
• The fund had about 40.6 million shares at Dec 31, 2025, down 20% from Dec 31, 2023.As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
  In between, the fund bought back shares. Original document →

What these lines mean: a payout that is your own money back, what a fund costs, borrowing.

What a holder made

• The year ended Dec 31, 2025: the shares returned +49.7%, counting payouts; the holdings +42.1%. The holdings figure is what the fund's investments earned, before the share price is taken into account. As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Dec 31, 2024: the shares returned +9.2%, counting payouts; the holdings +7.6%. As of Dec 31, 2024, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Dec 31, 2023: the shares returned +7.1%, counting payouts; the holdings +11.3%. As of Dec 31, 2023, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Dec 31, 2022: the shares returned -29.8%, counting payouts; the holdings -28.2%. As of Dec 31, 2022, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Dec 31, 2021: the shares returned +3.3%, counting payouts; the holdings -1.6%. As of Dec 31, 2021, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Those five years together: the shares returned +27.1%. $10,000 of shares bought at the start (Jan 1, 2021) would have become about $12,700 by Dec 31, 2025, with every payout counted, before tax. As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The holdings over the last twelve months we have, to June 30, 2026: +79%. The quarterly reports carry no share price, so this is the holdings alone. As of June 30, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Of the 10 funds that invest in outside the U.S. with a fiscal year ending within six months of this one, 1 reported a higher share return for that year and 8 a lower one. As of Dec 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• A past year says nothing about the next one. All figures are the fund's own, from its reports to the regulator.

Why the shares and the holdings can differ: the gap between price and value. Why payouts count: a payout that is your own money back.

What the fund holds

Mostly shares (87%), the rest preferred shares. About 1% issued in the U.S.

1. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing - 19.4%
2. Samsung Electronics - 11.7%
3. SK hynix - 11.2%
4. Chroma ATE - 3.5%
5. Delta Electronics - 2.9%
6. ASE Technology Holding - 2.9%
7. HDFC Bank - 2.6%
8. Grupo Mexico SAB de CV - 2.6%
9. MediaTek - 2.5%
10. Accton Technology - 2.1%

As of June 30, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →