Franklin Templeton Investments has introduced a new actively managed international equity ETF to its Franklin LibertyShares platform. Franklin Liberty International Opportunities ETF (FLIO) provides investors with broad and diversified access to international equity markets outside the U.S., spanning developed, developing and frontier markets, and across sectors and market capitalizations. FLIO is being listed on NYSE Arca on January 27, 2017.
“The launch of Franklin Liberty International Opportunities ETF marks our first actively managed international ETF and continuing expansion of our LibertyShares offerings,” said Patrick O’Connor, the firm´s Global Head of ETFs. “With over 75 percent of the world’s GDP coming from countries outside the U.S., investing internationally can provide portfolio diversification, which can reduce overall risk. As we believe successful international investing can benefit from combining a global investment perspective with local presence and insights, we are leveraging fundamental research from our local asset management and emerging markets teams around the world in managing this new ETF.”
The ETF is co-managed by Stephen Dover, CFA, CIO for Franklin Templeton Local Asset Management and Templeton Emerging Markets Group, and Purav Jhaveri, CFA, managing director of investment strategy for the Local Asset Management group. They draw upon the research and perspectives of over 80 investment professionals comprising the firm’s 14 local asset management teams globally, who provide on-the-ground insights on local market conditions, dynamics and valuations and timely perspective on market events, risks and opportunities. The fund’s managers also leverage the expertise of Templeton Emerging Markets Group’s more than 50 investment professionals for further insight into emerging countries, an area of the market that they believe is critical to international equity portfolios, given its importance to future growth potential.
In constructing a diversified portfolio of companies, the fund’s managers focus on key attributes that foster their high conviction, including:
- Focus on quality
- Superior earnings growth
- Low financial leverage
- Strong management track record
Franklin LibertyShares’ actively managed ETFs strive to outperform their benchmarks. Portfolio managers have the flexibility to respond, with discretion, to market events and operate outside the confines of traditional benchmark indices.
“Investors who have embraced the ETF wrapper for its benefits—which may include liquidity, tax efficiency and transparency—want the opportunity to seek better risk-adjusted returns over the long term,” said David Mann, Head of Capital Markets, Global ETFs. “Franklin LibertyShares provides investors with simple and efficient options to help them address their desired outcomes. Our actively managed ETFs, which now include Franklin Liberty International Opportunities ETF, can help investors meet their investment needs by serving as a core or complementary portfolio holding.”
Franklin LibertyShares has more than $545 million in assets under management as of January 24, 2017.