Wasatch Rolls Out a Frontier Market Fund

Wasatch Funds has launched what it touts as “one of the few no-load open-end mutual funds focused exclusively on frontier and smaller emerging market countries,” including Africa and Southeast Asia.

The Wasatch Frontier Emerging Small Countries Fund (WAFMX) was launched January 31st and will begin a wider roll out on March 5th with the addition of the fund to the Schwab, Fidelity and TD Ameritrade platforms for investors, according to the firm. The fund is managed by Laura Geritz, who is also a portfolio manager of the Wasatch Emerging Markets Small Cap Fund with Roger Edgley, director of international research at Wasatch Advisors.

"We believe equity investing in frontier market countries and the smallest countries within the traditional emerging markets indices represents a vast potential growth opportunity for fundamental investors," stated Edgley.

The fund will also invest in smaller emerging markets, which the firm determines to be any country that individually constitutes no more than 7 percent of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index or the S&P Emerging Markets Broad Market Index.

Hung Tran writes for Money Management Executive.