Toronto-based Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. said Tuesday that securityholders of Bissett Focus Balanced Fund and Bissett Focus Balanced Corporate Class have approved changes to broaden the funds’ investment objectives.
The changes were voted on at special meetings of securityholders held on April 22, 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 May 13.
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.