Public Bank's wholly-owned subsidiary, Public Mutual is launching a new fund, Public Natural Resources Equity Fund (PNREF) on 30 June 2009.

Public Mutual's Chairman Tan Sri Dato' Sri Dr. Teh Hong Piow said PNREF will give investors the opportunity to capitalise on the long-term growth prospects of the natural resources sectors in the domestic and overseas markets. "The region's natural resources sectors are well-positioned to benefit from the revived robust demand for resources materials among fast-growing and heavily populated emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil and Indonesia. This demand is driven by the rapid industrialisation, urbanisation and rising consumerism in these countries," he said.

He added that investors can capitalise on the long-term uptrend in commodity prices due to the favourable demand and supply trends for natural resources. In addition, investing in natural resources companies enables investors to hedge their investments against future inflationary pressures.

PNREF is an equity fund that aims to achieve capital growth over the medium- to long-term period by investing in a portfolio of equities and equity-related securities of companies that are engaged in or are substantially related to the natural resources sectors in the domestic and overseas markets. The resources sectors which PNREF will invest in include energy (oil and gas exploration, extraction, production, transportation and power producers), metals and mining, agriculture, forestry and paper. The equity exposure of PNREF will generally range from 75% to 90% of its net asset value (NAV). The fund will invest in selected foreign markets which include Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and other markets.

Tan Sri Teh said PNREF is suitable for investors with aggressive risk-reward profiles who can withstand extended periods of market volatility in order to achieve their objective of long-term capital growth.

The initial issue price of PNREF is RM0.2500 per unit during the 21-day initial offer period from 30 June 2009 to 20 July 2009. The minimum initial investment for the fund is RM1,000 and the minimum additional investment is RM100.

PNREF is distributed by Public Mutual's unit trust consultants. Interested investors can contact any Public Mutual unit trust consultant or call its Customer Service Hotline at 03-6207 5000 for more details of the fund.

Public Mutual is Malaysia's largest private unit trust company with 69 funds under management. It has over 2,000,000 accountholders serviced by over 43,000 unit trust consultants. As at 5 June 2009, the total net asset value of the funds managed by the company was RM29 billion.