The fund, aimed at sophisticated investors who understand the risks of investing in frontier markets, will take advantage of decreasing inflation in African countries such as Nigeria and Ghana. It was launched today. Allsopp explained, ‘The wind of change is blowing across Africa. Inflation has come down - if you exclude Zimbabwe from the sub-Saharan region, inflation is running at roughly ten per cent.’

He added that issues such as decreasing geopolitical risk and more democracies across the region also contributed to the case for investing. ‘Most importantly, China is investing a vast sum of money in the region, which is improving the infrastructure, due to the extraction industry in the sub-Saharan region.’

Allsopp said the fund would focus on profitable companies in liquid markets like Nigeria, Kenya, Botswana, Ghana and Mauritius. As for sectors, the fund will invest in telecommunications, consumer staples and infrastructure.

He continued, ‘The risks aren’t for the everyday retail investor. This fund will have between 40 and 60 holdings in order to diversify the risk away from concentrated stock risk. It will be diversified across countries and sectors.’

New Star will cap the Heart of Africa fund at £100 million. It will have an initial charge of 5.25 per cent, an annual management fee of 1.75 per cent and a performance fee of 20 per cent above the benchmark (LIBOR plus three per cent). The minimum investment is £12,500 and there is a 50p fixed-price offer from Monday 22 October to Friday 9 November 2007.