The Castlestone Next 11 Emerging Markets Fund is based on a concept devised by Jim O’Neil, an economist who works for Goldman Sachs and who coined the term BRIC in 2001, which identifies those countries which could potentially have a BRIC-like impact in rivalling the G7.
The fund will invest predominantly in the equities of companies within the Next 11 countries which are Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam.
Originally planned for launch on 31 August, the British Virgin Island-domiciled fund will be launched into the retail and institutional markets at the start of the fourth quarter and will be managed by Arrash Zafari.
Castlestone said the countries defined as part of the Next 11 share a number of traits including rapid economic development, large and often growing populations, ongoing urbanisation, strong macro fundamentals and increasing integration with the global economy.
Furthermore, it said the Next 11 countries have outperformed a number of regional and country indices over the past ten years. The countries have acheived an average annualised return of 22% since 2001 which compares favourably with an average BRIC country return of 20%, emerging markets return of 16% and Topix 500 and S&P 500 returns of just 2%.
It will be available to retail investors in US dollar, euro or sterling share classes and will have a minimum investment of £10,000.
