Schroders, the London-based fund manager founded more than 200 years ago, this week toured the Island?s investment firms to raise awareness of an opportunity some may have lost sight of.

Christopher Wyke, a London-based Schroders emerging market debt and commodities product manager, has been the one doing the rounds. The pitch? A fund Mr. Wyke says gives investors access to something all too often overlooked: ?real things? from corn to copper.

Schroders, which has $211 billion in assets under management through various operations around the world including in Bermuda, spent some time looking at setting up a commodities fund. It took the plunge last November, and has already attracted $40 million into the fund.

?People are over-exposed to financial (investments) and under-exposed to real assets,? Mr. Wyke said, in an interview. And he predicts now is a good time to buy in to commodities. ?We think we are in the early stages of a commodities bull market.?

Beyond his bullish outlook, Mr. Wyke said investors are wise to have a portion of their investments in commodities as a diversification tool. Schroders? fund is invested in various metal, agriculture and energy futures and equities. Of the 98 it could be invested in, it maintains between 30 and 50 positions at any one time, Mr. Wyke said.

?We think commodities are cheap compared to equities,? said Mr. Wyke, and said being invested in real assets like gold, wheat and oil can provide returns in times of crisis. High inflation rates, hurricanes and political unrest carry the potential to push commodity prices higher, he added.

Mr. Wyck said it is fairly straightforward to research commodities. ?Demand and supply drive pricing,? he said, and cited several areas that are currently good investment picks because of constrained production.

For example, demand for oil is putting increasing pressure on supply. And the situation shows no sign of letting up, especially once the growing demand from China is factored. in. But it won?t last forever, Mr. Wyke said. Schroders research predicts oil could be a solid investment for up to ten years. At the same time, the firm is researching, and investing in some of the fuel alternatives coming to market.

The Schroder?s commodities fund, four months in, has already outperformed some other major commodities indices. For example, its 7.73 percent performance over the period compared to a negative 7.23 percent performance being lodged by Goldman Sach?s commodity index. Its rate of volatility was also lower, according to independent data cited in the fund?s investor materials.

Mr. Wyke cautions that only so much can be read into a four-month track record, but he is also confident that Schroder?s active management and research focus will keep the fund in good stead.

?Certainly we think the fund is lower risk (than a commodities index investment) and over time that we will outperform the indices,? he said. The fund isn?t trying to outdo any particular index, he points out. ?We just want to make money.?

The fund already has Bermudian investors, and Mr. Wyck hopes participation will grow. His meetings with investment intermediaries on the Island could see the fund offered as an individual investment to clients, or incorporated into fund of funds products.