Toronto-based Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. Wednesday 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 new 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.”

The fund has a flexible investment strategy, allowing it to invest in a wide array of instruments with no set proportions for its allocations, including:

  • 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.

Active security selection, driven by bottom-up fundamental research, allows the portfolio manager tto identify the best opportunities that offer the most compelling risk-reward profiles to meet the fund’s objective as market conditions change.

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, which 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.

Income distributions to unitholders in all series will be made monthly using a semi-variable distribution rate.

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.