Franklin Templeton Asset launches new equity fund

Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) Private Limited, one of the leading fund houses in the country, has announced the launch of a new equity fund called Franklin India Flexi Cap Fund.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Sukumar Rajah, director and chief investment officer (Franklin equity), Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) Private Limited, said, "The fund seeks to provide medium to long term capital appreciation by investing in stocks across the entire market capitalisation range."

The initial issue period of the fund at Rs 10 will be from January 17 to February 9 and the fund will open for ongoing sales from March 7. The minimum investment in the initial public offering (IPO) is Rs 5,000.

Rajah said that up to Rs 5 crore, the entry load is 2.25 per cent and for investments above Rs 5 crore it is 0.5 per cent. There is no exit load up to Rs 5 crore and for above Rs 5 crore it is one per cent if redeemed within one year of allotment.

"Franklin Templeton's current roster of diversified equity funds, which invest in pre-determined market cap ranges, have a good performance track record over the market cycles and that is why the company launched the fund," he said.

According to him, the fund will invest in companies based on a research driven, bottom-up stock selection process, irrespective of their market capitalisation.

Franklin Templeton currently has three equity funds in its product portfolio, which invests in specific market ranges based on market capitalisation. The company as on December 30, 2004, had an asset portfolio of Rs 15,630 crore with an investor base close to nine lakh.