Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. today introduced three new Corporate Class funds: Franklin Global Real Estate Corporate Class; Bissett U.S. Focus Corporate Class; and Franklin Templeton U.S. Short-Term Yield Class.

The Corporate Class structure allows investors to switch between funds while deferring taxes until they redeem from the structure.

The new Franklin Global Real Estate Corporate Class fund seeks capital appreciation and income by indirectly investing in real estate sectors in countries around the world from old Europe to emerging markets. To reduce foreign currency risk, the strategy incorporates currency hedging for the non-Canadian dollar holdings in the fund.

“Real estate markets around the world have low correlation to one another because the economic situation is vastly different across countries and cities,” says Jack Foster, managing director and head of global real estate of Franklin Templeton Real Estate Advisors. “With real estate being a local asset class, we take the time to conduct our global research locally around the world for the funds we manage.”

The fund will be managed by Franklin Templeton Institutional, LLC, in New York who have been investing in real estate securities since 1984. Co-managers on the new fund will be Jack Foster, Boris Pialloux and David Levy, who also manage the U.S.-based Franklin Global Real Estate Fund.

Jason Hornett and Garey Aitken will co-manage the new Bissett U.S. Focus Corporate Class fund, following the success of their $510 million Bissett All Canadian Focus Fund.

The fund will indirectly invest in U.S. securities that are selected based on a quantitative approach to produce long-term capital appreciation with moderate investment risk.

Bissett Investment Management has designed a pre-determined quantitative screening model that identifies equities based on selection criteria, while incorporating a mix of historical and projected financial and stock market data.

The Franklin Templeton U.S. Short Term Yield Class fund uses forward contracts to provide a return similar to its reference fund — Franklin Templeton U.S. Money Market Fund — and the earnings are treated as capital gains for tax purposes.

By entering into forward contracts that are tied to the performance of the reference fund, the new fund is positioned to increase after-tax yield. This U.S. Short Term Yield Class fund is suitable for investors who want the stability of income and the tax-efficiency of capital gains.