Franklin Templeton Expands Liquid Alternatives Range with New European Market Neutral Long-Short Equity Fund

Franklin Templeton Expands Liquid Alternatives Range with New European Market Neutral Long-Short Equity Fund

• Innovative fund takes a discretionary, probabilistic approach to investing with its proprietary ActusRay quant base platform and gives greater choice in a relatively nascent market

Luxembourg, 13 December 2022 – Franklin Templeton¹ today announced the launch of the Franklin K2 ActusRay European Alpha UCITS Fund², the latest addition to its Luxembourg-domiciled Franklin Templeton Alternatives Funds (FTAF) ² range. This new fund is registered for distribution in Spain, Germany and France. It will also be registered in the UK and Switzerland in the coming weeks.

Executing a market neutral long-short equity strategy, which takes long positions in stocks expected to appreciate and short positions in stocks expected to decline, the fund seeks to achieve capital appreciation with low to negative correlation to European equity markets by investing in a diversified portfolio of primarily listed European equity and equity-related securities of companies of any market capitalisation across different sectors from countries within the pan-European time zone. The fund’s investable universe ranges as far as the UK in the west, to Turkey to the east, the Nordics in the north and South Africa in the south.

Bill Santos, Senior Managing Director, K2 Advisors, commented: “By partnering with ActusRayPartners, we have brought a distinct strategy to European investors. This fund takes a discretionary, probabilistic approach to investing by leveraging ActusRay’s quant base platform, which synchronises human and machine intelligence to select stocks and generate returns.”

By deploying a quantitative model with a discretionary overlay to correct the ‘blind spots’ of a pure systematic investment process, the Franklin K2 ActusRay European Alpha UCITS Fund can minimize exposure to risk factors and maximize diversification through a larger number of stocks with a balanced portfolio of roughly 400 longs and 400 shorts.

Santos added: “Investing in Europe also has numerous advantages. The continent is less exposed to liquidity distortions and offers more country diversity, lower transaction costs and strong regulatory frameworks.”

Andrew Alexander, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, ActusRayPartners, commented: “At ActusRayPartners, we quantitatively identify potential opportunities and then on a discretionary basis, modulate those we believe are more likely to be actual opportunities, choosing stocks based on quant, behavioural and discretionary bias models. By selecting stocks from playing probabilities rather than big bets, we are more likely to outperform. The ActusRay team has focused on this process for approximately 15 years, and by concentrating on probability instead of perfection we can act with less emotional attachment than typical discretionary managers.”

About K2 Advisors

As one of the pioneers in the development and use of low fee liquid hedge funds, K2 Advisors provides integrated hedge fund and alternative product solutions covering multiple strategies to institutional and high net worth investors as well as liquid alternative fund offerings for retail investors worldwide, and over $10 billion in assets under management as of October 31, 2022. Products and services offered include single investor custom-tailored investment programs, commingled funds of hedge funds, strategic advisory relationships and multi- and single-strategy retail mutual funds. Based in Stamford, Connecticut, K2 Advisors has a global presence with offices in New York, London, Tokyo and Sydney.

The FTAF range was initially launched in October 2019 and offers European investors access to a robust range of liquid alternative strategies in a UCITS format with daily liquidity and transparency through K2 Advisors’ Managed Accounts Platform (MAP).

–  ENDS –

Contacts:

Saira Khan Senior Corporate Communications Manager Franklin Templeton Cannon Place, 78 Cannon Street London EC4N 6HL Tel: 0207 073 8644 Email: [email protected]

Dorine Johnson Head of Corporate Communications EMEA Franklin Templeton Cannon Place, 78 Cannon Street London EC4N 6HL Tel: +44 7919532079 Email: [email protected]

This is a marketing communication. Please refer to the prospectus of the UCITS and to the KIID before making any final investment decisions.

1. Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management organization with subsidiaries operating as Franklin Templeton and serving clients in over 155 countries. Franklin Templeton’s mission is to help clients achieve better outcomes through investment management expertise, wealth management and technology solutions. Through its specialist investment managers, the company offers boutique specialization on a global scale, bringing extensive capabilities in equity, fixed income, multi-asset solutions and alternatives. With offices in more than 30 countries and approximately 1,300 investment professionals, the California-based company has 75 years of investment experience and approximately $1.3 trillion in assets under management as of 31 October, 2022. For more information, please visit www.franklintempleton.co.uk and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

2. Franklin K2 ActusRay European Alpha UCITS Fund is a sub-fund of Franklin Templeton Alternatives Funds (FTAF), a Luxembourg-domiciled SICAV. This document is intended to be of general interest only and does not constitute legal or tax advice nor is it an offer for shares or invitation to apply for shares of the Luxembourg-domiciled SICAV Franklin Templeton Alternatives Funds. Nothing in this document should be construed as investment advice. Opinions expressed are the author’s at publication date and they are subject to change without prior notice. 
   
   Subscriptions to shares of FTAF can only be made on the basis of the current prospectus, and, where available, the relevant Key Information Document, accompanied by the latest available audited annual report and the latest semi-annual report if published thereafter. The value of shares in FTAF and income received from it can go down as well as up, and investors may not get back the full amount invested.
   
   Past performance is not an indicator or a guarantee of future performance. Currency fluctuations may affect the value of overseas investments. When investing in a fund denominated in a foreign currency, your performance may also be affected by currency fluctuations. In emerging markets, the risks can be greater than in developed markets.
   
   An investment in FTAF entails risks, which are described in the FTAF’s prospectus and, where available, the relevant Key Information Document. Investments in derivative instruments entail specific risks that may increase the risk profile of the fund and are more fully described in FTAF’s prospectus and where available in the relevant Key Information Document. References to particular industries, sectors or companies are for general information and are not necessarily indicative of a fund’s holding at any one time.
   
   No shares of FTAF may be directly or indirectly offered or sold to nationals or residents of the United States of America. Shares of FTAF are not available for distribution in all jurisdictions and prospective investors should confirm availability with their local Franklin Templeton Investments representative before making any plans to invest.

Any research and analysis contained in this document has been procured by Franklin Templeton for its own purposes and is provided to you only incidentally.

Please consult your financial advisor before deciding to invest. A copy of the latest prospectus, and, if available for this product, the relevant Key Information Document, the annual report and semi-annual report, if published thereafter can be found, on our website www.ftidocuments.com or can be obtained, free of charge, from Franklin Templeton International Services S.à.r.l. supervised by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier -8A, rue Albert Borschette L-1246 Luxembourg - Tel: +352-46 66 67-1 - Fax: +352-46 66 76.

Issued by Franklin Templeton International Services S.à r.l.

Copyright © 2022. Franklin Templeton. All rights reserved.