RaboDirect Launches Two New Investment Funds

Global Natural Resources and Emerging Stars Equities

RaboDirect, Europe's largest online bank, has launched two new investment funds, the JPMorgan Global Natural Resources Fund and the Robeco Emerging Stars Equities Fund.    

Commenting at the launch, Greg McAweeney, General Manager, RaboDirect, said "We are delighted to broaden our range of funds to reflect the demand by RaboDirect investors for funds investing in emerging markets and the natural resources sector. These two new funds offer investors an opportunity to diversify across our most popular investment sectors and to benefit from strong growth potential without the risk of investment in one specific industry or country."

The JPMorgan Global Natural Resources Fund is a high risk fund with an AA rating from Standard & Poor's. The fund has achieved a discrete year performance figure of 26.14%(1) to the end of December 2006 and a year-to-date performance of 31.60%. The Robeco Emerging Stars Equities Fund is a high risk fund and has an AA rating from Standard & Poor's. The fund, which was launched in November 2006, has a year-to-date performance of 42.7%(2). 

Launched in December 2004, the JPMorgan Global Natural Resources Fund seeks long-term capital growth by investing primarily in the securities of companies engaged in the exploration for and the development, refinement, production and marketing of natural resources and their secondary products globally. The largest portion of the fund is invested in Base Metal and Diversified holdings (35.1%) followed by Energy (27.7%) and Gold and Precious Metals (27.2%).

The Robeco Emerging Stars Equities Fund focuses on the most attractive emerging countries. It invests in a concentrated portfolio of about 30-35 stocks and is not restricted to investing in a specific number of countries. The largest proportion of the fund is invested in Brazil (26.5%), followed by South Korea (23.6%), China (13.5%) and Taiwan (13.3%).

As with all RaboDirect investment funds, the minimum investment is only €100 with the fund providers' management fee of 1.5% per annum for each fund included in the daily fund price. Entry fees and exit fees are 0.75% and investors can exit the fund partially or in full any time they like, as there are no additional early encashment penalties or switching costs.