Franklin Templeton Canada is introducing a new fund based on Western Asset’s global fixed income strategy.
The Franklin Western Asset Core Plus Bond Fund is available as of Jan. 11 to Canadian clients, the firm said Tuesday, and an ETF version is scheduled to start trading Jan. 24 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The products, which have a risk rating of low to medium, invest primarily in investment-grade debt instruments around the world, a release from Franklin Templeton Canada said.
The fund looks to capitalize on undervalued securities and sectors, stated Ken Leech, chief investment officer at Western Asset, Franklin Templeton’s in-house global fixed-income specialist.
“This strategy is designed to benefit from the long but, we believe, successful slog toward a less Covid-ridden and more ‘normal’ economic environment,” Leech said in the release.
“In this vein, the benefit of thoughtfully selected higher-yielding fixed-income securities should outperform U.S. Treasury and [developed market] sovereign bonds.”
The Franklin Western Asset Core Plus Bond is intended to give clients a multi-sector fixed income portfolio, a portfolio ballast for riskier assets, a diversifier to Canadian core fixed income and exposure to global fixed income with a tilt towards U.S. markets, the firm said.
Investment grade securities make up a minimum 70% of holdings, and no more than 20% can be invested in non-U.S. denominated securities.