Occasionally, this publication looks at investment themes and ideas that might be of interest to clients. The trend that is known as "frontier market" investing is such an area, as is the continued focus on agricultural commodities.

Pakistan, a country that frequently attracts negative headlines due to the conflicts in the region, is attracting a very different kind of attention from venture capitalists who have recently boosted investment into an agribusiness project in the country.

Agroventures, founded last year and designed to finance and manage food and agriculture projects in Pakistan, has announced that its original investors aim to put in an additional $20 million over the next 12 to 18 months. Agroventures says in its marketing literature that it aims to earn multiples of five times over a three-year horizon. It has already received $5 million in seed capital.

Although the financial crisis has knocked some commodity price rallies, a number of wealth management firms and asset managers have continued to exploit what they see is a strong, long-run bull market for commodities and agricultural products, citing factors such as greater use of biofuels, rising affluence in emerging markets and supply bottlenecks. For example, in March, BlackRock, the giant US money manager, rolled out a new agriculture fund; Lumix Capital took the same course in January. Other firms that have funds which play to "agriculture" themes of food demand and biofuels include the Swiss private banks, Sarasin and Pictet.

Since last summer, Pakistan has been included in the Morgan Stanley Capital International Frontiers Market Index, a move that underscores how the country, while troubled by ethnic conflicts and concerns about religious extremism, is also regarded as a potential economic growth story.

Agroventures was founded by Aamer Sarfraz, also a director of Tigris Financial Group, a private investor in natural resources. Its chairman is Ali Erfan, who has been a partner at 3i Group, the investment firm, while a leading investor is Baron Lorne Thyssen-Bornemisza, who has investments in sectors including energy, technology and private equity.

The firm says its investment case is based upon Pakistan’s large natural resources base and government backing for increased production and exports. Agriculture accounts for 24 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product and accounts for 70 per cent of foreign exchange earnings.