Franklin Templeton Investments has launched a Luxembourg-domiciled Ucits fund investing in short-dated fixed and floating-rate debt securities and debt obligations of corporate and sovereign issuers in Europe.
David Zahn, head of European fixed income and lead portfolio manager, will co-manage the Franklin Euro Short Duration Bond Fund with Rod MacPhee, research analyst and portfolio manager.
The duo will focus on investments rated investment grade or, if unrated, comparable quality.
While the main investment universe is the Eurozone, they will have some flexibility to invest outside it and across sectors.
The fund’s mandate permits the purchase of securitised debt and certain financial derivative instruments, including index-based financial derivatives, credit default swaps and currency forwards.
Jamie Hammond, managing director, Europe, says it “will fill a natural product gap” in Franklin Templeton’s European fixed income product range.
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