The new investment trust managed by Mark Mobius and former colleagues at Franklin Templeton is expected to list on the London Stock Exchange in September.
Mr Mobius was the long-time manager of the £2.3bn Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust (Temit) before retiring as lead fund manager in 2015, and then leaving the company earlier this year.
His successor, Carlos Hardenberg, resigned in February and joined Mr Mobius at his new venture, Mobius Capital Partners.
The new trust, to be called Mobius Investment Trust (MMIT), will focus on emerging market companies where the managers feel they can achieve improvements both in the financial performance of the business and the ethical, social and governance practices of the company.
Mr Mobius said: "Emerging and frontier markets have changed dramatically over the last 30 years. At Mobius Capital Partners we believe our approach to investment must also evolve to stay relevant. That is why we are adopting an innovative and specialised strategy built around actively partnering with our portfolio companies.
"The recent correction across emerging and frontier markets has presented the perfect conditions to be launching MMIT, with currencies at an all-time low and company valuations looking increasingly attractive."
Emerging market equities have performed poorly in 2018 due to a combination of concerns about the impact of tariffs imposed by the US government, and the rise in the value of the dollar.
A stronger dollar is bad for emerging markets both because it leads to the price of commodities rising, meaning demand for the commodities sold by many emerging market economies falls, and because many emerging market economies and countries must borrow in dollars, so a stronger dollar increases the interest costs for emerging markets, reducing the amount of capital left for investment.
Richard Troue, investment trust analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said Mr Mobius and his colleagues had a strong long-term track record as investors in emerging markets.
david.thorpe@ft.com
