Franklin Templeton launches raft of Sharia-compliant funds

Franklin Templeton Investments has unveiled a trio of Shariah compliant funds for its newly launched Luxembourg-domiciled Shariah Funds range.

The funds are intended to build on its existing Shariah-compliant investment expertise in Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia.

As of December 31 2012, the company said it had $1 billion in Shariah-compliant assets under management.

Franklin Templeton said the three funds, which will be available to international investors on March 25, are intended to further bolster its fund offerings to investors seeking strategies which abide by Islamic investment principles.

The funds include the first ever Ucits compliant Global Sukuk fund, which will be run by Dubai-based Modieddine ‘Dino’ Kronfol, who is CIO for MENA fixed income, and international chief investment officer Stephen Dover.

This strategy will focus on Shariah-compliant bonds issued by government, government-related and corporate entities. It will invest across investment and non-investment grade bonds.

Meanwhile, the two newly-launched equity funds will be the Templeton Shariah Global Equity Fund and the Templeton Shariah Asian Growth Fund.

The Global Equity fund will be run by Alan Chua, portfolio manager and research analyst, and will seek out undervalued opportunities regardless of country, benchmark and style.

The second fund will be overseen by emerging markets veteran Mark Mobius (pictured) and his team, which includes Dennis Lim and Allan Lam.

These three comprise the senior members of Templeton Emerging Markets Group and currently oversee a host of emerging markets funds across a range of territories.

Mobius and his team will invest at least 80% of the fund’s assets in the Asian region, which excludes Japan, Australia and New Zealand.