Franklin Asian Equity Fund

Franklin Templeton Investments has launched an equity fund called Franklin Asian Equity Fund. This open ended fund will invest in companies in the Asian region, excluding Japan.

The scheme will deploy at least 50 per cent of its assets in foreign equity while the domestic equity can go up to 40 per cent. Overall, equity and equity linked instruments would account for at least 70 per cent of the portfolio while up to 30 per cent may be invested in fixed securities.

One of the problems in this fund is that given that that this equity fund will have less than 65% allocation to domestic share market it will be deprived of the capital gains exemption for long-term gains, lower short-term capital gains tax and tax-free dividend.


Scheme Details
Issue Opens: November 19, 2007
Issue Closes: December 18, 2007
Type: Open-end, equity scheme
Benchmark Index: MSCI Asia (ex-Japan) Standard Index
Minimum Investment: Rs 5,000 and multiples of 1 thereafter
Entry Load: 2.25 per cent for investment of less than Rs 5 crore
Exit Load: For investment of less than Rs 5 crore, an exit load of 0.50 per cent will be charged, if redeemed within one year of allotment. For investment of more than Rs 5 crore, an exit load of 1 per cent will be charged upon redemption within six months from the date of allotment