Franklin Templeton Canada Launches New Social Impact Equity Fund

Franklin Templeton Canada today announced the launch of Franklin Martin Currie Improving Society Fund, which provides Canadian investors access to socially focused investments that have the potential for long-term capital growth.

"Franklin Martin Currie Improving Society Fund offers Canadian investors a distinct strategy that actively invests in companies whose products and services have a measurable impact on enhancing wellbeing, improving inclusion or supporting a just transition towards a sustainable economy,” said Andrew Ashton, Head of Americas (ex-US) Distribution and Chairman of Franklin Templeton Canada.

“Martin Currie, our in-house specialist investment manager, has been integrating stewardship and sustainability into its investment processes since 2009, so it is a natural progression to launch this new innovative strategy that combines positive social impact with financial performance.”

The fund is managed by a dedicated impact equity investment team that includes Lauran Halpin, portfolio manager, head of Impact Equities, and John Gilmore, portfolio manager, Martin Currie. They have 16 and 19 years of industry experience, respectively.

Halpin added: “This new fund invests in companies that we believe are creating impactful and innovative products that address the unmet societal needs of consumers, businesses and governments. We believe that impact and financial performance are interrelated. Our aim is to maximise long-term returns by finding companies that offer attractive growth opportunities and generate both a positive financial outcome and an intentional and measurable social impact.”

A Diverse Fund Investing in Three Impact Pillars

The fund is a concentrated, high-conviction and long-term portfolio, that invests in approximately 20-35 publicly listed companies whose products or services contribute to one of the following three impact pillars:

• Improve wellbeing: Helping individuals get to the starting line in life – the basic necessities needed to ensure people feel safe and well enough to think about accessing opportunities available to them. Here, we find companies we believe are contributing to positive mental and physical health and wellbeing as well as providing basic human needs such as clean water, reliable sanitation and safe access to food.
• Improve inclusion: Aiming to provide everyone with the tools and resources needed to make the most of their opportunities – education, improved financial equality and access to resources which improve economic circumstances. We believe improving inequalities in modern finance, education and access stimulates economic growth, creates jobs and helps in breaking the vicious cycle of exclusion and poverty.
• Support a just transition: Ensuring that the transition towards a lower-carbon economy happens in a fair way, leaving no one behind. Companies in this pillar, in our view, are helping society adapt to become more resilient – physically and economically – to the uncertainty that lies ahead by re-skilling workers, increasing the efficiency of resource usage, and improving the safety and climate resiliency of communities.