Hong Kong-based fund management company Regent is to make a further foray into the Internet market, announcing yesterday a US$2 million investment to provide on-line betting services. The firm, which is called exchangebet.com, is a joint venture with local Internet entrepreneur Jean-Yves Sireau. The deal is the latest in a series of recent e-commerce moves made by Regent. The firm's Isle of Man-based chairman, Jim Mellon, has become Britain's third-wealthiest Internet investor, with an estimated on-line derived fortune of GBP220 million (about HK$2.82 billion), made largely on the back of an earlier net shopping mall venture, bigsave.com. 'We are looking at a significant expansion in our overall e-commerce business,' Regent's managing director Julian Mayo said. Regent has recently taken a majority stake in local Internet investment banking company techpacific.com, which specialises in hi-tech start-ups in Asia. Regent has also attempted to exploit e-commerce opportunities in South Korea, which has the second biggest on-line broking market in the world after the United States, with turnover of US$1.5 billion a day, or 15 per cent of overall trade on the Seoul stock market. It has established Regent Direct Securities to complement its conventional brokerage in Seoul, Daeyu Regent Securities.