William Blair Emerging Markets Small Cap Growth Fund Class I (BESIX)

Fund Assets	410.36M
Expense Ratio	1.097%
Min. Investment	$500,000
Turnover	261.00%
Dividend (ttm)	0.25
Dividend Yield	0.98%
Dividend Growth	n/a
Payout Frequency	Annual
Ex-Dividend Date	Dec 18, 2025

Previous Close	25.59
YTD Return	14.14%
1-Year Return	18.14%
5-Year Return	20.42%
52-Week Low	21.54
52-Week High	28.07
Beta (5Y)	0.85
Holdings	186
Inception Date	Oct 24, 2011

About BESIX

The William Blair Emerging Markets Small Cap Growth Fund Class I is a mutual fund focused on investing in small-cap companies within emerging markets. This fund targets a diversified portfolio of approximately 120 to 175 stocks across various regions, industries, and stages of the corporate lifecycle. Its investment style centers on identifying growth opportunities in less covered segments of emerging markets, such as frontier markets and China A-Shares, through deep fundamental research and a disciplined approach. The fund aims to uncover high-quality, under-discovered companies with strong management and unique capabilities. It plays a significant role in providing exposure to the small-cap segment within emerging markets, which are often characterized by inefficiencies that may offer alpha opportunities. With a focus on diversification and growth, the fund addresses risks typical of emerging markets investing, including market, liquidity, and concentration risks. It is managed with a long-term, consistent philosophy backed by over two decades of experience in emerging markets equity investments.

• Fund Family: William Blair
• Category: Diversified Emerging Mkts
• Performance Rating: Average
• Risk Rating: Average
• Stock Exchange: Nasdaq
• Ticker Symbol: BESIX
• Share Class: Class I
• Index: MSCI EM (Emerging Markets) Small Cap NR USD

Performance

BESIX had a total return of 18.14% in the past year, including dividends. Since the fund's inception, the average annual return has been 9.46%.

Other Share Classes

These are alternative share classes of the same fund, from the same provider.

Symbol	Share Class	Expense Ratio
WESJX	Class R6	1.10%
WESNX	Class N	1.40%

Top 10 Holdings

14.40% of assets

Name	Symbol	Weight
Optima bank S.A.	OPTIMA	1.69%
Grupo Cibest SA ADR	CIB1N.MX	1.62%
Lion Finance Group PLC	BGEO	1.60%
Nan Ya Printed Circuit Board Corporation	8046	1.50%
Navin Fluorine International Limited	NAVINFLUOR	1.43%
ITEQ Corporation	6213	1.42%
Sunway Construction Group Berhad	SUNCON	1.39%
Apr Corp/Korea Common Stock Krw100.0	n/a	1.31%
Nippon Life India Asset Management Limited	NAM.INDIA	1.26%
Gek Terna S.A.	GEKTERNA	1.18%

Dividend History

Ex-Dividend	Amount	Pay Date
Dec 18, 2025	$0.24724	Dec 19, 2025
Dec 14, 2023	$0.05091	Dec 15, 2023
Dec 15, 2022	$0.79206	Dec 16, 2022
Dec 16, 2021	$2.02571	Dec 17, 2021
Dec 17, 2020	$0.00966	Dec 18, 2020
Dec 12, 2019	$0.02774	Dec 13, 2019

Data Sources: Tiingo, Financial Modeling Prep, and more

Historical data is provided by Tiingo. Delayed stock pricing data is provided by Financial Modeling Prep. Several fund data points are also provided by Finnhub.

Last checked:

Oct 21, 2026

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