TORONTO, Aug. 28, 2013 /CNW/ - Franklin Templeton Investments Corp.
today announced the launch of Templeton Global Bond Fund (Hedged) for
investors looking to minimize the effects of currency fluctuations on
their global fixed income investments.
"Canadians are looking for yield and diversification in their fixed
income portfolios, but want to avoid currency fluctuations that can
impact returns," said Ronice Barlow, head of Strategic Planning &
Business Development - Canada, Franklin Templeton Investments Corp.
"This new hedged version of our award-winning Templeton Global Bond
Fund will provide investors with fixed income exposure across global
and emerging markets, while reducing the currency impact."
Templeton Global Bond Fund (Hedged) is now available as an alternative
to Templeton Global Bond Hedged Yield Class. Recently, Templeton Global
Bond Hedged Yield Class was closed to new investments due to the March
2013 Canadian Federal Budget measures affecting the tax treatment of
funds that employ "character conversion transactions" using forward
contracts to convert income to capital gains.
Investors interested in moving their assets from Templeton Global Bond
Hedged Yield Class into Templeton Global Bond Fund (Hedged) should
discuss this with their investment advisor to determine if such a
transfer is in-line with their goals and longer-term investment plans.
With the new currency-hedged fund and Templeton Global Bond Fund, which
Canadians have been investing in since 1988, Franklin Templeton
continues to offer two global bond fund options for investors. The
portfolio management team endeavours to maximize returns in U.S.
dollars for Templeton Global Bond Fund. With the new Templeton Global
Bond Fund (Hedged), a currency hedge will be added via forward
contracts to reduce the potential impact of exchange rate fluctuations
between Canadian and U.S. dollars.
Templeton Global Bond Fund, which Templeton Global Bond Fund (Hedged)
invests in, is managed by lead portfolio manager Dr. Michael Hasenstab
and portfolio manager Dr. Sonal Desai. The fund managers are supported
by the analysis and insight of Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Group's
global team of over 140 investment professionals with an average
industry experience of more than 14 years.
"Our investment process seeks to take advantage of periods of elevated
short-term volatility by identifying where markets have become
disconnected from longer-term fundamentals and where we might benefit
from positioning our investments when these fundamentals reassert
themselves," said Hasenstab. "This often leads to a contrarian view
where we add to favoured positions while others are selling. Once
volatility subsides and valuations begin to better reflect
fundamentals, this can lead to potential subsequent gains."
Templeton Global Bond Fund (Hedged) is available in Series A, F, I and
O, based in Canadian dollars.
About Franklin Templeton Investments
Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. is a wholly owned subsidiary of
Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE: BEN), a global investment management
organization operating as Franklin Templeton Investments. Franklin
Templeton Investments provides global and domestic investment
management solutions managed by its Franklin, Templeton, Mutual Series,
Bissett, Fiduciary Trust, Darby, Balanced Equity Management and K2
investment teams. The San Mateo, CA-based company has more than 65
years of investment experience and over US$834 billion (C$857 billion)
in assets under management as of July 31, 2013.
For more information, please visit franklintempleton.ca or connect with Franklin Templeton on Twitter (@FTI_Global) and YouTube (FranklinTempletonTV). Read the Beyond Bulls & Bears blog featuring perspectives from Michael Hasenstab and other Franklin
Templeton investment professionals around the world.
SOURCE: Franklin Templeton Investments Corp.
