Baillie Gifford has introduced its Islamic Global Equities fund for accredited and institutional investors in Singapore and professional investors in Hong Kong.

Managed by Tolibjon Tursunov and Saad Malik, the fund offers Islamic investors access to a high conviction portfolio of exceptional growth companies aligned with Shariah principles, according to the Edinburgh- based asset manager.

The investment team believes Muslims are still faced with a lack of good options. Tolibjon Tursunov, who began developing the fund over 10 years ago, said: “Investing in line with your beliefs should be simple, but for many Islamic investors, it isn’t. Islamic equity funds account for less than one per cent of the global equity universe, and most offer little more than a screened index.”

The top five holdings include Apple, Shopify, Amazon.com, Microsoft and Samsung Electronics.

Baillie Gifford Islamic’s approach is consistent with the firm’s commitment to long-term investing and grounded in fundamental, bottom-up research. The team also works closely with Islamic scholars and index providers to improve industry standards and widen the investible universe.

Tolibjon said: “Before launching, we established strong working relationships with leading scholars within Islamic finance and other industry stakeholders. These efforts have paved the way for dialogue that adds value for clients but also benefits the wider Islamic investment community.”

The $2.79m fund is built for institutional and accredited investors in Singapore, and professional investors in Hong Kong with a long-term horizon of five years or more, according to a statement. It invests in a focused global portfolio of around 50 of the world’s best Shariah-compliant growth companies, and it is a Dublin-domiciled UCITS fund.