First Islamic China fund launched

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TUNG: The fund has been created in response to demand from investors in the UAE and Pakistan.

Hong Kong-based Mayfair Pacific creates US$300m Shariah compliant mutual fund to capitalise on region's rapid growth.

Rapid growth and economic development make China an attractive destination for investment, but until now it has been extremely difficult to invest there in a Shariah compliant manner.

This is set to become much easier with the launch of the first Islamic mutual fund focused on the Greater China region - covering mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Mayfair Pacific Asset Management, based in Hong Kong, has previous experience of fund management in the Asia Pacific region, and particularly China: its chief investment officer, Vincent Koo, in his previous funds, delivered annualised returns of around 22% between 2001 and 2007.

Mayfair's own funds have also beaten their benchmarks.

Between October 2007 and April 2008, its Asian Strategic Capital Fund outperformed the MSCI World Index by 15%, and the Dow Jones Hedge Fund Balanced Index by 9%.

The Mayfair Islamic Greater China Segregated Portfolio aims to achieve medium to long term capital appreciation through investing primarily in the constituent stocks of the Dow Jones Islamic Market indices, although it may also invest in other securities, subject to the approval of Mayfair's Shariah board.

"We are not going straight to the Shanghai stock exchange," says Christina Tung, managing director, Mayfair Pacific Asset Management.

"We invest into H-shares, which means the Chinese company listed in Hong Kong. For example, the Hang Seng index, in which we are going to invest, comprises the Hong Kong stock and also the China H-shares."

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