Franklin Templeton is expanding its liquid alternatives range with these new strategies.

The Franklin K2 Cat Bond UCITS Fund and Franklin K2 Athena Risk Premia UCITS Fund make their debut in the face of growing demand for investment opportunities in the liquid alternatives space. The two strategies from Franklin Templeton offer diversification benefits to European investors because of their substantially less correlation to the traditional asset classes. (HedgeWeek)

The funds would be registered in 11 European countries, including Germany, France, Italy, and the UK.

Franklin K2 Cat Bond UCITS Fund

This fund will invest in natural catastrophe bonds to generate current income and attractive risk-adjusted returns with limited correlation to other asset classes.

Jonathan Malawer, managing director, head of ILS, commodities, and environmental strategies, will run the fund.

Franklin K2 Athena Risk Premia UCITS Fund

This fund will trade a range of risk premia strategies to deliver long-term capital appreciation with lower volatility compared to the equity markets. The strategy is also “substantially less correlated” to the traditional asset classes over a full market cycle.

Paul Fraynt, head of alternative risk premia in New York, will manage the fund. He specializes in alternative investments, including systematic risk premia strategies research, portfolio construction, asset allocation, and risk management.

Franklin Templeton Liquid Alts: Safe harbors in an uncertain environment

“As one of the biggest providers of alternative solutions globally with USD131 billion in AUM, our goal is to provide a choice of differentiated strategies within our cost-effective product range of liquid alternative solutions to European clients,” said Julian Ide, Franklin Templeton’s head of EMEA distribution. “These new funds may be attractive for investors seeking to reduce volatility and improve portfolio returns, especially in today’s uncertain environment.”

K2 Advisors

K2 Advisors is the hedge fund investing unit of Franklin Templeton.

Bill Santos, senior managing director, K2 Advisors, said: “Since the launch of our flagship fund in 2013, we have experienced growing demand for K2 Advisors’ full suite of investment research and management capabilities, along with risk and performance analytics services, in a transparent and liquid UCITS structure.”

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