Continuing a trend of fund launches with the theme of investing in the Indian sub-continent, a UK investment house is launching a portfolio of Pakistan-based assets.

The Melchior Selected Trust Pakistan Opportunities Fund will be launched on 19 June and will be managed by Dalton Strategic Partnership, a UK firm, and will be advised by KASB Funds in Karachi, Pakistan.

The fund will be a Luxembourg-registered UCITS fund, the first such fund of its type to be holding Pakistan equities, Dalton Strategic Partnership said.

As so-called frontier markets garner investor interest, Pakistan warrants particular attention given its sustainable economic growth of 7 per cent per year that is being fuelled by its strategic geographic position as a trade corridor between the Middle East, Central Asia, China and India, Dalton said.

"In looking at the Pakistan market today, we see many similarities with  the Indian economy and stock market of five years ago before it enjoyed its strong rally. The Pakistan market has been described as buying India at half the price" said David Graham, partner of Dalton Strategic Partnership.

The free float of the Karachi stock market is only $22 billion today. However, there are over 600 listed companies and this is expected to grow, the firm said.

The minimum investment into the fund is $10,000.