Friends First has introduced a Consensus Fund for Irish investors. The fund will track the average return of all managed funds and is popular with pension fund trustees who want to ensure their funds achieve returns consistent with the average performance within the sector. The Friends First fund will track the managed pensions funds of the leading Irish investment managers and expects to attract an initial investment of £50 million. Consensus funds are becoming increasingly popular with investors and account for 30 per cent of investment in of the US equity market and 20 per cent of the UK FTSE 100 index. Friends First investment manager, Mr Pramit Ghose, said yesterday the market for consensus funds is growing strongly in Ireland.