The Martin Currie Latin America Fund is managed by Jeff Casson, formerly lead manager of the Scottish Widows Investment Partnership Latin American OEIC.

The new fund holds between 35 and 55 "best ideas" stocks and will not be limited in terms of country or sector. It will use a multi-cap, growth-oriented, bottom-up strategy, the firm said. Its investment focus is on Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Argentina and its benchmark is the MSCI Latin America 10/40 index.

The minimum investment is £1,000 (around $1,600) for the retail 'A' share class and £1 million for the institutional 'B' share class. The annual management charge is 1.5 per cent for the A share class and 1 per cent for the B share class. The initial charge is 5 per cent.

“I believe that Latin America remains overlooked by investors. It offers a rich and exciting mix of growing economies, natural resources, increasing consumption and positive demographics, and, above all, great companies. I am currently exploiting three key themes through the portfolio's holdings: domestic consumption, financials and infrastructure,” said Casson.

From launch the fund will be available to advisors through 12 UK fund platforms.