Franklin Income Fund introduced for Canadians seeking income through different market cycles

TORONTO, July 24, 2013 /CNW/ - Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. today introduced a balanced fund for Canadian investors who are looking for U.S. equity growth and the stability of income. Franklin Income Fund will provide a diversified portfolio of primarily U.S. dividend-paying stocks, bonds and convertible securities.

"Many Canadians have a home-country bias and continue to be reluctant about getting back into the equity markets due to concerns about volatility," said Ronice Barlow, head of Strategic Planning & Business Development - Canada, Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. "To help investors ease back into the U.S. equity markets in a diversified way with an income component, Franklin Income Fund takes an active approach to investing in dividend-paying stocks and fixed income."

The lead manager of Franklin Income Fund is industry veteran, Ed Perks, who has 20 years of industry experience and has managed the US$74 billion* Franklin Income Fund for U.S. investors from San Mateo, California since 2002. The fund's management team also includes Franklin Equity Group portfolio managers, Alex Peters with 21 years of investment industry experience and Matthew Quinlan with 18 years of experience.

"We take a strategic approach and look for the most attractive investment opportunities that will provide income in today's yield-scarce environment," said Perks, director of portfolio management, Franklin Equity Group. "This fund helps ensure investors are provided a regular stream of income, diversification and stability in uncertain markets."

Two Corporate Class offerings are available for investors who are seeking tax deferral and currency hedging: Franklin Income Corporate Class and Franklin Income Hedged Corporate Class. Franklin Templeton's Corporate Class structure allows investors to switch between funds and portfolios while deferring any taxable dispositions until they redeem from the structure. Franklin Income Hedged Corporate Class seeks to minimize the potential impact of exchange rate fluctuations between the Canadian and U.S. dollars by adding a USD-CAD currency overlay using forward contracts.

Franklin Income Fund may invest in a variety of financial instruments to provide diversification and stability:

• corporate bonds with attractive yields;
• convertible bonds that may participate in equity pricing when markets rebound;
• government bonds which allow for high-quality asset preservation;
• preferred stocks with higher yields and higher status on the capital structure; and
• dividend-paying common stocks.

Franklin Income Fund has a flexible investment strategy, allowing it to invest in a wide array of instruments with no set proportions for its allocations. Active security selection, driven by bottom-up fundamental research, allows the portfolio manager to look across the capital structure to identify the best opportunities that offer the most compelling risk-reward profiles to meet the fund's objective as market conditions change.

Income distributions to Franklin Income Fund unitholders will be made monthly using a variable distribution rate.

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 US$815 billion (over C$856 billion) in assets under management as of June 30, 2013. For more information, please visit franklintempleton.ca.

*The Franklin Income Fund AUM is as of June 30, 2013.

SOURCE: Franklin Templeton Investments Corp.

Media contact: 
Sarah Kingdon, Corporate Communications, Franklin Templeton Investments,
416.957.6191