Mirae Asset Global Investments, the South Korea-headquartered investment manager, has launched its first six mutual funds for US clients.

The Mirae Asset Discover Funds are built on the growing worldwide interest in emerging market economies. The new fund group includes the Global Emerging Markets Sector Leader Fund, the Asia Sector Leader Fund, the China Sector Leader Fund, the Brazil Sector Leader Fund, the Global Emerging Markets Great Consumer Fund, and the Asia Great Consumer Fund.

The Sector Leader funds will invest in firms that Mirae believes to be capable of achieving or maintaining a dominant position in their respective industries, while the Great Consumer funds bank on the market force of the rapidly rising middle class.

"Mirae Asset believes population growth, increasing industrialisation, income expansion and other macro trends will help to sustain the rapid growth of many emerging market economies as their middle classes seek to accumulate wealth and pursue a higher quality of life. In fact, a recent McKinsey & Co report estimated that the emerging middle class currently spends $6.9 trillion annually, and this figure is expected to rise to $20 trillion over the next ten years," the company said in a statement.

The six mutual funds will be managed by Mirae Asset's investment professionals in New York, Hong Kong and Sau Paulo.