If you were to ask a veteran investor if there’s a 100% international equity ETF that’s up more than 16% year-to-date in 2025, they’d likely answer with a healthy dose of skepticism and a side of disbelief.
In an exclusive sit-down with Bancreek Capital CEO Andrew Skatoff, one thing became clear: the idea that international equity ETFs are boring, over-diversified and underperforming is in line for a do-over. Skatoff’s fund, the Bancreek International Large Cap ETF BCIL, has flipped that narrative. With a number 1 rank out of 1,053 active and passive ETFs in April, according to Bloomberg, BCIL is demonstrating that a concentrated international portfolio can beat bloated benchmarks and old-school incumbents.
From Niche To Knockout
This ETF’s approach is simple yet successful: target international firms with what Bancreek defines as “institutional endurance”— companies with durability, resilience, longevity and growth. It isn’t buzzword stew, it’s model-based, high-conviction strategy that winnows thousands of developed-market stocks down to the ones that count.
“At any given time, there may only be 50 such businesses in our investable universe,” Bancreek Capital Advisors CEO Andrew Skatoff says. “Through extensive research, we’ve found that 30 positions strike the right balance between long-
term compounding potential and near-term volatility management. Holding significantly more positions in the portfolio dilutes this quality and erodes risk-adjusted returns. That’s our edge — precision over breadth.”
The ETF’s portfolio is surprisingly evenly weighted. Concentrated, yes, but closer to equal-weight than most passive funds. BCIL’s top 10 holdings, for example, account for just about 40% of the fund — scarcely more concentrated than the S&P 500, which has 16x as many names but a 36% top-10 weight.
Why Go International Now?
Let’s face it: for the past decade, international equities have had little appeal — mildly interesting but quickly discarded. But the tide may be turning.
“The global trade landscape is shifting. U.S. policy decisions are increasingly disrupting long-standing trade flows. If the U.S. turns inward, those opportunities will likely be backfilled by regional champions in countries like Japan, the U.K., Canada, and Australia,” Skatoff notes. Add in the valuation gap between U.S. and international markets, and you’ve got a real opportunity for alpha generation.
International developed markets are still discounted to the U.S., even with recent good performance. And with themes such as supply chain regionalization and geopolitical rebalancing gaining traction, BCIL’s timing begins to feel more like a strike and less like a contrarian bet.
The Quant Edge
At the center of Bancreek’s strategy is a proprietary quantitative engine — one that’s been refined by years of basic research but engineered for speed and scale.
“These models were built on years of deep fundamental research and have gone through countless iterations to find the right set of variables to help us identify these structurally advantaged businesses,” Skatoff says. “Now, our models can do it systematically, with speed and consistency — and we can deliver that efficiency to retail investors through our ETFs.”
The model focuses on not only the financial health but also the quality of capital deployment, business model robustness, and scalability — metrics that generally translate well internationally.
What About Diversification?
Critics balk at the 30 stocks in this global fund. But BCIL isn’t quantity, it’s quality with built-in diversification. One of the holdings, for instance, is a software aggregator that owns over 500 companies — a fund within a fund, of sorts.
“We believe in outsourcing diversification to the companies themselves — specifically, to world-class management teams with a proven ability to identify and acquire high-quality businesses,” Skatoff says.
With only 30 names, BCIL has shown less volatility than the FTSE Developed ex-US All Cap Index, which contains over 3,000 stocks, noted Skatoff. Evidence that when it comes to building a portfolio, less can be more — if you choose wisely.
BCUS Vs BCIL
Although BCIL targets established international names, Bancreek also manages a U.S. large-cap strategy, the Bancreek U.S. Large Cap ETF BCUS, based on the same system.
“Both ETFs use the same investment engine — the difference lies in the universe: BCUS draws from U.S. large caps, while BCIL focuses exclusively on developed international names,” said Skatoff.
Though overshadowed by BCIL’s star turn, BCUS has also beaten the S&P 500 in 2025 and navigated volatility with aplomb, especially in a volatile month like April. Together, they form Bancreek’s two-engine style of equity investing: same strategy, alternate hunting grounds.
And for now, the results speak louder than any marketing brochure ever could.
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