European equity fund launched

Franklin Templeton Investments has announced the launch of FTIF Franklin Euroland Core Fund to invest in equity securities of European Union countries.

The fund's managers aim to achieve long-term capital appreciation and endeavour to obtain these objectives with less volatility and downside risk than the overall market, using a bottom-up research process to identify companies with a strong businesses model to support sustainable long-term growth, and are valued at a reasonable price. The fund is managed by the Pan European Equity Management Team, a newly-formed group under the Franklin Global Advisors umbrella.

The managers will strive to provide investors with superior risk-adjusted returns over a long investing time frame by focusing on fundamentally sound companies with a sustainable competitive advantage.

"We intend to combine in-depth long-term analyses of target companies with a disciplined valuation approach," said Uwe Zoellner, who will be managing the fund's portfolio.