Franklin Templeton has expanded its liquid alternatives range with the launch of the Franklin K2 ActusRay European Alpha Ucits Fund.
The firm said that the fund is registered for distribution in Spain, Germany, and France, with plans underway for the UK and Switzerland in coming weeks.
Franklin Templeton said 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. Its 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 at K2 Advisors, said: “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.”
The firm said that 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 minimise exposure to risk factors and maximise 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.”
