Mumbai: Deutsche Asset Management Company (AMC), the mutual fund arm ofthe Deutsche Bank has launched its global agri-business offshore fundin India. The fund will invest in overseas businesses focusing onagriculture and allied sectors. The fund will invest in units of itsunderlying fund, the DWS Invest Global Agri-business Fund, which isregistered in Luxemburg.

This is an open-ended overseas fund of funds and is an equity-onlyfund, said Bill Barbour, Director-Investment Specialist at DWSInvestments. The new offer for Indian investors, which opened, willclose on April 30. The minimum application amount is Rs. 5,000 and inmultiples of Re. 1 thereafter. The investors will incur an exit load ofone per cent if redeemed within 12 months of allotment.

The fund is already on offer to its investors abroad and manages assetsworth $3.5 billion. The fund has invested in companies such asSwiss-based life science and chemicals company Syngenta AG, food anddiary producer Nestle, U.S.-based Monsanto Co, U.S. supermarket chainsSUPERVALU and Safeway, and Ukrainian agriculture products companyKernel Holdings. It also has stake in American agriproducts companyBunge.