Would you like a mutual fund with your stockings? That’s what the folks at DuPont want to know.

A wholly owned subsidiary of chemical giant E.I. DuPont de Nemours Company has launched a mutual fund. The folks who gave us Lycra, neoprene, nylon, Teflon, Kevlar and Tyvek will now give us investment products.

Recently launched by DuPont Capital Management Corporation is The DuPont Capital Emerging Markets fund. The fund will invest mainly in equity and equity-like securities such as preferred stocks and convertible bonds. A minimum of 80% of assets will be invested in companies domiciled or traded in emerging markets or that derive at least 50% of their revenue from emerging markets.

Bizarre and seemingly unrelated subsidiaries aren’t new. Honda Motor founded, owns and operates Harmony Agricultural Products – a small company near Marysville, Ohio that produces soybeans for tofu. Sara Lee gives us Ty-D-Bol which might be a form of vertical integration if selling us pound cake means we’ll need to clean our toilets. And then there’s the world famous Acme Corporation that supplies everything from super glue to bombs for Wile E. Coyote’s never-ending attempts to bring an end to The Road Runner. But a mutual fund from DuPont?

It isn’t something to dismiss. Established in 1975 DuPont Capital Management Corporation became a registered investment advisor in 1993 and as of March 31st had about $24.5 billion in assets under management. While this pales in comparison to giants Vanguard, American Funds and Fidelity it puts DuPont’s investment arm squarely in the camp of smaller but equally well known firms like First Eagle, Oakmark and the investment arm of USAA.

Class “A” shares of the fund will have a minimum $5,000 purchase price and a 1.75% expense ratio. Frequent trading will be discouraged via a 2% redemption fee levied against shares held less than 60 days.