Public Mutual chairman Tan Sri Dr Teh Hong Piow said the region’s natural resources sectors were well-positioned to benefit from the revived robust demand for resources materials among fast-growing and heavily populated emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil and Indonesia.

“This demand is driven by the rapid industrialisation, urbanisation and rising consumerism in these countries,” he said in a statement issued on June 29.

Teh said investors could capitalise on the long-term uptrend in commodity prices due to the favourable demand and supply trends for natural resources.

“In addition, investing in natural resources companies enables investors to hedge their investments against future inflationary pressures,” he added.

PNREF is an equity fund that aims to achieve capital growth over the medium- to long-term period by investing in a portfolio of equities and equity-related securities of companies involved in or are substantially related to the natural resources sectors in the domestic and overseas markets.

PNREF will invest in energy (oil and gas exploration, extraction, production, transportation and power producers), metals and mining, agriculture, forestry and paper.

The fund’s equity exposure will generally range from 75% to 90% of its net asset value (NAV).

The fund will invest in selected foreign markets which include Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and other markets.

Tan Sri Teh said PNREF is suitable for investors with aggressive risk-reward profiles who can withstand extended periods of market volatility in order to achieve their objective of long-term capital growth.

The initial issue price of PNREF is 25 sen per unit during the 21-day initial offer period from June 30 to July 20. The minimum initial investment for the fund is RM1,000 and the minimum additional investment is RM100.