UK-based MerchantBridge and Co has launched the Mesopotamia Equity Fund, an Iraq equity fund. The new fund is an open ended fund that is to capitalize on the expected long term growth of the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX). The market capitalization of the exchange, which reopened in 2004, has doubled to $3bn in the past five years and it currently has more than 90 listed companies, mostly untouched by foreign portfolio managers.