Franklin Taps Local Expertise with World Perspectives Fund

The term global is a tempting buzzword in the minds of investors these days, but Franklin Templeton Distributors is keeping its feet firmly planted on the ground with the Franklin World Perspectives Fund, launched on Monday.

The actively managed, growth equity fund will tap into the expertise of the firm’s global network of local asset management teams. The idea is to develop local portfolios of securities that seek to outperform the relevant markets of each region, and to combine them into a broadly diversified global fund.

The sub-advisors who will construct the fund’s regional sub-portfolios hail from offices in Brazil, India, Japan and South Korea. They also include the heads of the U.S., Canadian and European teams from within the Franklin Equity Group. 

“Our network of portfolio managers, analysts, traders and risk management experts around the world provides us with a unique understanding of local markets,” Stephen H. Dover, CFA, one of the fund’s managers, said in a company statement. “Combining a global investment perspective with local insight and presence can drive successful global investing.”

Dover will work closely with Franklin’s regionally based sub-advisors, along with Purav Jhaveri, also a fund manager.

World Perspectives will use an interactive regional allocation process, which means that exposure to various regions will vary over time, according to the managers’ and sub-advisors’ opinions on local prevailing market conditions. Franklin will benchmark the fund’s performance to the MSCI All Country World Plus Frontier Markets Index.

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