Franklin Templeton Investments – Franklin Templeton Mutual Funds

Franklin Templeton History

Franklin Templeton Investments have become one of the best known and amongst the largest mutual fund managers in the industry.

It was formed in Oct 1992 when Franklin Investments, which was formed in 1947 and given the ticker symbol BEN on the NYSE because of the founders admiration for Benjamin Franklin, merged with (or acquired) Templeton, Galbraith & Hansberger Ltd.

A series of other mergers and acquisitions followed to grow the fund to its current size:

 

Franklin Templeton History

Franklin Templeton Investments have become one of the best known and amongst the largest mutual fund managers in the industry.

It was formed in Oct 1992 when Franklin Investments, which was formed in 1947 and given the ticker symbol BEN on the NYSE because of the founders admiration for Benjamin Franklin, merged with (or acquired) Templeton, Galbraith & Hansberger Ltd.

A series of other mergers and acquisitions followed to grow the fund to its current size:

 

• Heine Securities Corporation – 1996. The
• Bissett Funds – 2000
• Fiduciary Trust Company – 2001

Heine brought in the Mutual Series of funds, while Bissett is a leader in the Canadian market. Both brands remain, with Bissett still being a key set of funds in Canada.

Thanks to all these acquisitions, by 2007 Franklin Templeton was the 7th largest securities company in the US, and ranked number 445 on the Fortune 500.

By 2008 it managed $600 billion in assets worldwide, but the Financial Crisis decimated that number, dropping to the $300-$400 billion range, before picking up to $421 billion in April 2009.

 

Franklin Templeton Mutual Funds

Franklin Templeton manages over 100 open-ended funds and 7 closed-end funds. Funds include:

 

• Mutual Series, including the Mutual Shares Fund
• Bissett (Canada)
• Templeton Growth Fund
• Mutual Discovery Fund
• Templeton Growth (Euro Area) Fund
• Franklin Income Fund
• Franklin Tax-Free Funds

 

Analysts Ratings of Franklin Templeton

MorningStar likes the rigour of the analyst and management processes that Franklin Templeton have built up over the years.

They rate their municipal-bond funds and the Tax-Free structures that they pioneered, particularly the Federal Tax-Free Income and California Tax-Free Income Funds. They also believe that Franklin Foreign is a good choice for conservatively-managed foreign fund.

However they believe that many of the funds have been allowed to grow too large, which is inhibiting their performance. It singles out Franklin Small-Mid Growth for criticism.

It is also worried that key players have been leaving the company in recent years.

 

Franklin Templeton Office Addresses in the US and Worldwide  

Argentina Templeton Asset Management Ltd. Ingeniero Butty 220, 11th Floor (C1001AFB) Buenos Aires, Argentina Phone: 54-11-4313-0848	Australia Franklin Templeton Investments Australia Limited Level 25 360 Collins Street Melbourne Victoria 3000 Australia Phone: 613-9603-1200	Bahamas Templeton Global Holdings Limited, Templeton Global Advisors Limited, & Templeton Capital Advisors Limited Box N-7759 Lyford Cay Nassau, Bahamas Phone: 800-239-3894
Belgium Franklin Templeton France S.A. – Succursale belge Avenue de Tervuren, 93 B-1040 Brussels, Belgium Phone: 00-32-2-743-3200	Brazil Templeton do Brasil Ltda. Rua Lauro Muller 116, Office 3504 Botafogo, Rio De Janeiro Brazil Phone: 55-21-2543-2413	Canada Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. Templeton Heritage Limited One Financial Place 1 Adelaide Street East, Suite 2101 Toronto, Ontario Canada M5C 3B8 Phone: 1-800-387-0830
China Templeton China Research Limited 18 Floor, North Tower Shanghai Stock Exchange Building 528 Pudong S. Road, Pudong District Shanghai 200120 P.R. China Phone: 86-21-68818800 Templeton International, Inc. A-1108, Corporate Square No. 35, Jinrong Street, Xicheng District Beijing, China (100032) Phone: 86-10-8809-1365	France Franklin Templeton France S.A. 16-18 Avenue George V 75008 Paris, France Phone: 33-1-40-73-86-00 Franklin Templeton Asset Management S.A. Phone: 33-1-40-73-86-30	Germany Franklin Templeton Investment Services GmbH Street address: Mainzer Landstr. 16 D-60325 Frankfurt am Main. Germany Mailing address: P.O. Box 11 18 03 D-60053 Frankfurt am Main. Germany Phone: 4969-272-23-0
Holland (The Netherlands) Franklin Templeton Investment Management Ltd. World Trade Center Amsterdam H-toren, 16e verdieping Zuidplein 134 1077 XV Amsterdam Tel: + 31 (0) 20 575 2890 Fax: +31 (0) 20 575 2892	Hong Kong Franklin Templeton Investments (Asia) Limited 17th Floor, Chater House 8 Connaught Road Central Hong Kong Phone: 852-2877-7733	India Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) Private Limited Sakhar Bhavan, 1st Floor 230 Backbay Reclamation Nariman Point Mumbai 400-021 India Phone: 91-22-56325820 Franklin Templeton AMC Limited Century Centre 75 TTK Road Chennai 600-018 India Phone: 91-44-2467-9203-05 Franklin Templeton International Services (India) Pvt. Ltd Quadrants 3 & 4 3rd Floor, Cyber Towers Hitec City, Madhapur Hyderbad 500081
Ireland Franklin Templeton Services Limited The Sweepstakes Centre Block C Ballsbridge Dublin 4 Ireland Phone: 353-1-631-9341	Italy Franklin Templeton Italia S.G.R.p.A. C.so Italia, n.1 20122 Milano Italy Phone: 39-0-2-85459-1	Japan Franklin Templeton Investments Japan Limited Kanematsu Building, 6th Floor 14-1, Kyobashi 2-chome Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0031 Japan Phone: 81-3-3535-1260
Luxembourg Franklin Templeton Management Luxembourg S.A. & Franklin Templeton International Services S.A. Street address: 26 Boulevard Royal L-2449 Luxembourg Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Mailing address: B.P. 169 L-2011 Luxembourg Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Phone: 352-46-66-67-1	Poland Templeton Research Poland SP.z.o.o. ILMET Al. Jana Pawla II 15, 10th Floor 00-828 Warsaw, Poland Phone: 48-22-697-7478	Russia TAML Moscow Representative Office Limited Liability Society Templeton Investments Tverskaya 16 / 2 Actor Gallery, 5th floor 125009 Moscow Russia Phone: 7-095-935-8368
Singapore Templeton Asset Management Ltd. 7 Temasek Boulevard #38-03 Suntec Tower One Singapore 038987 Phone: 65-6-338-7177	South Africa Templeton Asset Management Ltd. Harrow Court 2 Isle of Houghton Boundary Road Parktown, 2193 Johannesburg, South Africa Phone: 27-11-645-6500	South Korea Franklin Templeton Investment Trust Management Co., Ltd. 3rd Floor, CCMM Building 12 Youido-Dong, Youngdungpo-Gu Seoul, South Korea 150-968 Phone: 822-3774-0681
Spain Franklin Templeton Investment Management, Ltd. Calle Jose Ortega y Gasset, 29 – 6a planta 28006 Madrid, Spain Tel: +34 914 263 600 Fax: +34 915 771 857	Sweden Franklin Templeton Investments Stureplan 4C SE 114 35 Stockholm Sweden Phone: 46-8-545-01-230	Switzerland Franklin Templeton Switzerland Ltd. Bahnhofstrasse 22 CH-8022 Zurich Switzerland Phone: 0041 44 217 81 81
Turkey Templeton Asset Management Ltd. Tesvikiye Bostani Sokak Orjin Apt. No. 15 Kat 6 Nisantasi, Istanbul 80200 Turkey Phone: 90-212-291-5222	United Arab Emirates Franklin Templeton Investment Management Ltd. 640-B, Al Ghurair City Office Towers P.O. Box 55311 Dubai, U.A.E. Phone: 9714-2293747	United Kingdom Franklin Templeton Investments Management Ltd. The Adelphi 1 – 11 John Adam Street London WC2N 6HT United Kingdom Phone: 44-20-7208-7000 Franklin Templeton Global Investors Limited Franklin Templeton Investment Management Limited 5 Morrison Street Edinburgh EH3 8BH Phone: 44-131-242-4000