Franklin Templeton Investments Recognized for FundGrade™ A+ Awards

TORONTO, Jan. 25, 2016 /CNW/ - Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. received two FundGrade™ A+ rating awards at Fundata Canada's fourth annual 'Evening of Excellence' in Toronto last week. Templeton Global Balanced Fund and Franklin Bissett All Canadian Focus Fund were honoured for exceptional performance in 2015. Fundata presents these awards each year to investment funds in Canada that have outperformed their peers on a risk-adjusted basis.

"We are proud to have two of our funds selected by Fundata to receive this highly competitive and esteemed FundGrade A+ rating award," said Duane Green, managing director, Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. "In our view, receiving these two awards exemplifies the value that our actively-managed funds bring to our investors—in this case, those looking for exemplary global and Canadian core holdings."

Templeton Global Balanced Fund
Templeton Global Balanced Fund balances the goal of investment income with the additional goal of maintaining prospects for capital appreciation, thus focusing on total return. The fund invests primarily in debt and equity securities issued around the world. Managed by Heather Arnold, director of research for Templeton Global Equity Group, and Michael Hasenstab, chief investment officer of Templeton Global Macro, the fund employs a value-oriented bottom-up approach to stock selection, seeking to uncover the best equity bargains worldwide, and a contrarian fixed income approach to capitalize on three potential sources of return: interest rates, exchange rates and yield spreads. The fund's dynamic, bottom-up asset allocation allows the fund's managers to adjust for market risks and inefficiencies as they endeavour to capture what they believe are the most compelling investment opportunities around the globe.

Franklin Bissett All Canadian Focus Fund
Franklin Bissett All Canadian Focus Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in a diversified portfolio of Canadian equities. The fund's portfolio managers, Garey Aitken, chief investment officer, and Jason Hornett, vice president and portfolio manager, both of Franklin Bissett Investment Management, leverage a proprietary screening model to identify and rank equities based on a disciplined and unbiased investment process that focuses on measurable factors. The fund is managed to produce attractive long-term capital appreciation with moderate risk by investing in high quality and profitable businesses.

Methodology
In order to qualify for a FundGrade A+ rating, a fund must demonstrate strength in three key ratios within the same measurement period using the fund classification standards that have been defined by the Canadian Investment Funds Standards Committee. According to Fundata, these ratings are calculated separately for three distinct groups of funds: 1) Mutual Funds and ETFs, 2) Segregated Funds, and 3) Pooled Funds. Fee-based and institutional series are excluded from the calculation.

The Fundata FundGrade rating system evaluates funds based on their risk-adjusted performance, measured by Sharpe Ratio, Sortino Ratio, and Information Ratio. The score for each ratio is calculated individually, covering all time periods from two to 10 years. The scores are then weighted equally in calculating a fund's grade. In order to receive a high overall score, a fund must be able to demonstrate strength in all three ratios within the same measurement period.

About Franklin Templeton Investments
Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management organization operating as Franklin Templeton Investments. Franklin Templeton Investments provides global and domestic investment management to retail, institutional and sovereign wealth clients in over 150 countries. Through specialized teams, the company has expertise across all asset classes—including equity, fixed income, alternative and custom solutions. The company's more than 600 investment professionals are supported by its integrated, worldwide team of risk management professionals and global trading desk network. With offices in 35 countries, the California–based company has more than 65 years of investment experience and over US$763 billion (C$1,056) in assets under management as of December 31, 2015.

For more information, please visit franklintempleton.ca or connect with Franklin Templeton on Twitter (@FTI_Global) and read the Beyond Bulls & Bears blog featuring perspectives from Franklin Templeton investment professionals around the world.

Copyright © 2016. Franklin Templeton Investments. All rights reserved.

SOURCE Franklin Templeton Investments Corp.

For further information: Media Contact: Amie Lauder, Corporate Communications - Canada, Franklin Templeton Investments, 416.957.6560, [e-mail]