The World Property and Commodity Fund has been launched by Bermuda-based Cooperative Fund Management to allow individual investors to gain access to the potential of the real estate boom in emerging markets worldwide.

The fund has been established in the British Virgin Islands, long known as a business friendly, tax neutral jurisdiction.

The fund will balance its investments in both property and commodity sectors, primarily in emerging markets of Asia and the Middle East.

Terence Cheshire will be the fund's managing director.

His past ventures include a government supported building services and maintenance group that was bought by 3i's in 1999.

The fund will allow individual investor to participation in amounts as small as USD10,000 through a series of feeder funds that invest solely in the parent fund.

The fund will be administered by PricewaterhouseCoopers Accounting Services of Gibraltar.