Peter Schiff has been busy today. First he officially announced his bid for Senate, and I hope he wins. A little rabble-rousing and fiscal discipline certainly wouldn’t hurt our government.

He also announced the launch of a Chinese Mutual Fund. Schiff won’t be managing it directly (obviously), but will sit on the investment board. It’s a joint venture between Euro Pacific Capital (where Schiff is President) and Halter Financial Investments, who specialize in Chinese equities. The manager is Rusty Hoss. From the announcement email (no link yet):

As most of you know, I feel that the most promising economic growth is taking place in China. With its focus on savings, production, and investment, the Chinese are getting right so many of the things that we are getting wrong. As a result, I have come to believe that Americans must invest more in China if they hope to be part of the global economic expansion.

But for many investors, especially those with limited funds to contribute, it’s not easy building a balanced portfolio of China-focused stocks. To provide a simpler pathway to make these investments, Euro Pacific has combined forces with Halter Financial Investments L.P., a consultancy and money manager with operations in the U.S. and China, to launch the EPH China Fund, a mutual fund designed to give investors access to companies doing business in China. This is the first mutual fund that bears our name, and I have high hopes for it.

Peter notes that most Chinese ETFs are heavily invested in financials, as we noted about in this piece about PGJ when it was almost half what it trades at today (PGJ only holds 5% financials). Schiff promises his fund will avoid this mistake as well:

Unlike many of the popular U.S.-listed Chinese ETFs, which are heavily concentrated in the financial sector, this fund is a broadly diversified portfolio focused on identifying those sectors and companies that we believe will lead when China finally focuses more intently on its domestic consumers.

The mutual fund’s symbol is EPHCX. I don’t think it’s widely available yet, but will be watching this one. My preferred way to play the broad Chinese market PGJ (specifically domestic growth potential). But a well-managed China fund would be tempting. FYI, the fund minimum is $2500, quite reasonable these days.

For more on his Senate Run: SchiffForSenate.com