New Franklin Bissett Canada Plus Equity Fund provides Canadians with North American Sector Diversification

TORONTO, July 17, 2017 /CNW/ - Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. today introduced Franklin Bissett Canada Plus Equity Fund for Canadian investors who seek diversification beyond Canada with a multi-layered, risk reduction approach.

"Canadian investors often have a domestic home bias when investing in equities, but it is essential that they diversify beyond their market to help reduce risk in a portfolio," said Duane Green, president and CEO, Franklin Templeton Investments Canada. "With access to a broader investment set beyond the Canadian sector allocation, the portfolio managers can take advantage of potential growth opportunities in US equities to provide investors further diversification."

Franklin Bissett Canada Plus Equity Fund can invest up to 49 per cent of the fund's assets in foreign securities, with a focus on US equities, along with using equity put option strategies to help reduce overall volatility. Stocks are carefully selected based on Calgary-based Franklin Bissett Investment Management's fundamental investment philosophy of growth-at-a-reasonable-price (GARP). 

Franklin Bissett Canada Plus Equity Fund will be co-managed with a Canadian perspective by: Garey Aitken, CIO and portfolio manager, and Tim Caulfield, director of equity research and portfolio manager, Franklin Bissett Investment Management. These managers have 24 and 18 years of industry experience, respectively, and have an average of 14 years with Franklin Bissett Investment Management.

"We focus on investing in equity securities of high quality businesses with long-term profitability and growth profiles," said Aitken. "Taking a high conviction approach to portfolio construction, we will invest in Canadian and US equities to offer alpha and diversification in this fund, while using strategies to seek to reduce the impact of market volatility."

About Franklin Bissett Investment Management
Franklin Bissett Investment Management, part of Franklin Templeton Investments Corp., has delivered attractive absolute, relative and risk-adjusted returns to investors throughout its 35-year history, by applying a disciplined team approach to managing equity, fixed income and balanced portfolios for Canadian retail and institutional investors. Franklin Bissett is supported by Franklin Templeton Investments' global platform of trading, risk management and reporting, and compliance.

About Franklin Templeton Investments                                 
Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. (known as Franklin Templeton Investments Canada) is a subsidiary of Franklin Resources, Inc. BEN.  Franklin Resources, Inc. is a global investment management organization operating as Franklin Templeton Investments, which provides global and domestic investment management to retail, institutional and sovereign wealth clients in over 170 countries. Through specialized teams, the company has expertise across all asset classes – including equity, fixed income, alternative and custom solutions. The company's more than 650 investment professionals are supported by its integrated, worldwide team of risk management professionals and global trading desk network. With offices in over 30 countries, the California-based company has 70 years of investment experience and approximately US$742 billion (C$962 billion) in assets under management as of June 30, 2017. For more information, please visit franklintempleton.ca.

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SOURCE Franklin Templeton Investments Corp.

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