The fund would invest in 50-100 stocks across Asia, excluding Japan, in direct and indirect Internet plays. Senior vice president Mahendran Nathan said 90 per cent of the fund would be invested in traditional firms using Internet-related strategies to reduce costs, raise efficiency and increase shareholder value.

The remaining 10 per cent would be invested in Asian companies created by the Internet revolution. Nathan said the fund was getting good reception, especially from the US investors.

"Because of the market sentiment, we will probably end up with S$50 million before our launch," he said. "Best market scenario, we could do up to S$100 million."

Lead portfolio manager Lim Fang Suan told a news conference the fund was "looking at a target performance of 20 per cent year-on-year." SG Asset Management is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Frenchbank Societe Generale and has S$252 billion worth of assets under its management.

Stability in diversity
SG said the portfolio currently held 40 stocks in five e-business sectors of e-commerce, access, auxillary services, software and content.

The fund must be in at least five countries and across the sectors to reduce volatility. As of end February, Australia comprised 22 per cent of the portfolio, followed by Korea and Singapore at 18 per cent each.

Hong Kong accounted for 16 per cent, Taiwan and India each had 12 per cent, while other Asian countries made up the remaining two per cent.