Friends First e-commerce fund

Friends First has developed a unit-linked e-commerce fund that offers investors a shareholding in a rapidly expanding international sector. Investors in the e-Fund may invest in a number of different areas of the sector such as: infrastructure designer Cisco Systems, Internet portal Yahoo and computer hardware manufacturer IBM. "We will select those companies that we believe have a maintainable competitive edge in the industry where their technological and/or strategic expertise will ensure that their business will flourish," said Mr Prahmit Ghose, head of Friends First asset management. Initially, most of the investments are expected to be in US-based companies. This is a high-risk investment due to the volatility of the sector.