TORONTO, April 23, 2013 /CNW/ - Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. today announced that securityholders of Bissett Focus Balanced Fund and Bissett Focus Balanced Corporate Class have approved changes to broaden the funds' investment objectives, which were voted on at special meetings of securityholders held on April 22, 2013 in Toronto.
Bissett Focus Balanced Fund, which will be renamed Franklin Bissett Canadian All Cap Balanced Fund, will seek a balance of current income and long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of Canadian equity and fixed income securities, and to a lesser degree, in fixed income securities issued around the world. This marks a broadening of the fund's objective to a multi-cap, multi-sector approach.
Bissett Focus Balanced Corporate Class, which will be renamed Franklin Bissett Canadian All Cap Balanced Corporate Class, will seek a balance of current income and long-term capital appreciation by investing substantially all of its assets in units of Franklin Bissett Canadian All Cap Balanced Fund.
Coincident with the investment objective changes, both funds' management fees for Series A, F, I and T units and shares of the funds will be reduced.
All of these changes will be implemented on or about May 13, 2013.
Franklin Templeton's Calgary-based Bissett Investment Management team provides investors with strong expertise across market capitalizations and the yield spectrum. The balanced fund mandate will be co-managed by four of Bissett's Canadian equity and fixed income experts. Garey Aitken, chief investment officer and co-lead manager of Bissett Canadian Equity Fund, and Ralph Lindenblatt, co-lead manager of Bissett Small Cap Fund, will oversee the funds' equity holdings; while Tom O'Gorman, director of fixed income and co-lead manager of Bissett Bond Fund, and Darcy Briggs, co-lead manager of Bissett Canadian Short Term Bond Fund, will be in charge of the funds' fixed income holdings.
Bissett Focus Balanced Corporate Class is part of Franklin Templeton's Corporate Class structure, which allows investors to switch between funds and portfolios while deferring any taxable dispositions until they redeem from the structure.
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$823 billion (over C$836 billion) in assets under management as of March 31, 2013. For more information, please visit http://www.franklintempleton.ca.
SOURCE: Franklin Templeton Investments Corp.
Media contact:
Sarah Kingdon, Corporate Communications, Franklin Templeton Investments, 416.957.6191
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