Funds Copy Buffett!

Fancy the opportunity to invest with international investment gurus such as Warren Buffett, Mark Mobius or Bill Gross? Krung Thai Asset Management wants to give local Thais the chance.

The KTAM Investment Legends Fund (KTIL), the first equity foreign investment fund launched this year, is a feeder fund investing in Warren Buffett's famed investment holding company Berkshire Hathaway, the Templeton Emerging Markets Fund run by Mark Mobius and Pimco's Total Return Bond Fund under Bill Gross.

Somchai Boonnamsiri, the chief executive of KTAM, said the fund will hold its initial public offering from Jan 19-30, with an investment strategy aimed at undervalued stocks worldwide and a projected long-term return of 7 percent per year.

The KTAM fund will invest in the Investment Legends Fund, a subfund investing in Celsius Fund run by Barclays Capital Fund Solutions.

The master fund aito maintain 40 percent of assets in equities, 40 percent in commodities and 20 percent in fixed income. KTIL will invest at least 80 percent of assets, and also structure investments in the Singapore dollar to avoid future weakness in the US dollar.

Somchai said the market volatility of the past year offered a "tremendous opportunity for investors".

He said current low valuations across most asset classes, the solid track record of investors such as Buffett, Mobius and Gross and the diversified structure of KTIL made the fund a solid option for investors.

"This will be the good time to buy high-quality assets at low price. We expect the economy to begin to recover starting in the second half, and equities always rebound faster [than the broad economy]. So investors should begin taking advantage now," Somchai said.

KTAM is co-operating with Citibank to promote the new FIF. Citibank is also serving as a selling agent for the KTIL fund.

Pavin Rodloytuk, retail banking director for Citibank N.A., said the partnership with KTAM reflected the bank's confidence in ample investment opportunities currently in the markets.

Jas Lim, investment and marketing head for Citibank N.A., said the investment outlook for next year would be a year of two halves.

"Following unique turmoil in the global financial system, the world is now in the middle of a slowdown, with major industrial economics expected to contract well into 2009," she said.

Slowing economic growth, tight credit conditions and deleveraging will dominate the first half of the year, resulting in uncertain equity and credit markets.

But some relief was expected in the latter half of 2009, as credit conditions and risk aversion ease.

Lim said Citi recommended investors to consider infrastructure and distressed assets as key investment themes, together with value investing in equities and fixed income.

The bank maintains a global investment portfolio recommendation of 44 percent in developed-market equities, 36 percent government bonds, 9 percent corporate bonds, 6 percent emerging-market equities and 3 percent high-yield bonds.

"From a total wealth portfolio perspective, investor needs to stick with the basic principles of investing like dollar cost averaging," Lim said.

"We remain overweight on equities for numerous reasons, including attractive valuations and fiscal stimulus policies. As seen in past recessions, it is the best time to build and accumulate and one should not miss that a diversified approach to investment will protect you for now and lead to handsome yields once the market eventually recovers."