Franklin Templeton Investments has launched a bond fund to take advantage of opportunities which have “expanded dramatically” in emerging debt markets.
The Templeton Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond Fund invests principally in local currency debt.
The fund, which uses a high conviction benchmark-unconstrained approach, is a sub-fund of the Luxembourg-registered Franklin Templeton Investment Funds range.
Its portfolio managers are Michael Hasenstab, the California-based chief investment officer, and Sonal Desai, director of research for Templeton global macro.
Hasenstab said that local currency emerging markets offered “some of the most compelling investment opportunities” across global fixed income.
He added: “The opportunity set in emerging debt markets has expanded dramatically over the last two decades, predominantly driven by a substantially greater issuance of local-currency bonds. Those increased volumes have been largely supported by growing domestic investor bases and strengthening local economies.
“The net effect in many cases has been improved access to capital for countries, reduced costs of capital, improved local market liquidity and lower credit risks for investors.”
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