Effective May 6, 2024, all Franklin Bissett strategies will be renamed. Equity strategy names will change from “Franklin Bissett” to “Franklin ClearBridge”, reflecting the equity team’s recent integration into our specialist investment manager, ClearBridge Investments. Balanced, fixed income and multi-asset strategies will have “Bissett” removed and will be branded “Franklin”.
See a complete list of the name changes in English here.
Why are we doing this?
Franklin Templeton has grown considerably in recent years through acquisitions, notably with Legg Mason and most recently, Putnam Investments. As a firm with more than $2 trillion AUM, greatly expanded asset research and management capabilities, and a growing list of strategies—we are actively taking measures to make it easier for you to do business with us.
In Canada, this process has led to the retirement of the Franklin Bissett brand.
For over a decade, the Franklin Bissett fixed income team has been an integral part of the broader global Franklin Fixed Income team. More recently, the Franklin Bissett equity team was integrated into ClearBridge Investments, one of our largest specialist investment managers. Retiring the Bissett brand is simply a reflection of these developments.
Only the names have changed
The strategy names may be different, but everything else— the strategies, people, investment objectives, risk ratings and fees—has stayed the same.
The equity team continues to be led by Garey Aitken and the fixed income team by Tom O’Gorman. From their offices in Calgary, they and their teams continue to manage Canadian strategies for retail and institutional investors with the same disciplined focus on fundamentals and risk-adjusted return that has been their hallmark since 1982.
Franklin Fixed Income
A global leader in fixed income, this group has an unparalleled breadth and depth of expertise across the sector.
Tom O'Gorman, CFA
Head of Canadian Fixed Income,
Franklin Fixed Income
ClearBridge Investments
A leading fundamental equity manager committed to delivering long-term results through authentic active management across channels, geographies and investment vehicles, including Canadian equities.
Garey J. Aitken, MBA, CFA
Head of Canadian Equities
ClearBridge Investments
Featured products
Franklin Clearbridge Canadian Equity Fund
The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of mid- to large-cap Canadian equities.
Franklin Canadian Core Plus Bond Fund
The fund seeks a high current income and some long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in Canadian federal and provincial government and corporate bonds, debentures and short-term notes. The fund maintains an overweighted position in high-quality corporate and provincial issues, and an underweighted position in Canadian federal bonds. The fund may invest in foreign securities.
Franklin Canadian Ultra Short Bond Fund
Seeks to provide income and prioritizes preservation of capital by investing primarily in high-quality Canadian debt securities.
FAQ
Effective May 6, 2024, the Franklin Bissett brand will be retired and all Franklin Bissett strategies will be renamed.
Equity strategy names will change from “Franklin Bissett” to “Franklin ClearBridge”, reflecting the equity team’s recent integration into our specialist investment manager, ClearBridge Investments. Balanced, fixed income and multi-asset strategies will have “Bissett” removed from the existing name.
There will be no changes to the product investment objectives, strategies, or risk ratings. The equity team continues to be led by Garey Aitken and the fixed income team by Tom O’Gorman. They continue to be based in Calgary and maintain the same focus on managing Canadian strategies for retail and institutional investors.
Franklin Templeton has grown considerably in recent years through acquisitions, notably with Legg Mason and most recently, Putnam Investments. As a firm with more than $2 trillion AUM, greatly expanded asset research and management capabilities, and a growing list of strategies—we are actively taking measures to make it easier for you to do business with us. Most important, we recognize the need to make it easier for advisors and investors to navigate our growing list of strategies.
While we are very proud of Bissett’s 42-year legacy, the current arrangement provides the investment teams with access to the deeper resources and research capabilities of much larger teams.
ClearBridge is one of the specialist investment managers that is wholly owned by Franklin Templeton. Franklin Templeton has serviced Canadian pensions, investors, and advisors since 1954 and remains committed to this market.
There are no changes to client agreements. All of the Franklin Bissett equity team’s clients remain contracted with Franklin Templeton Investment Corp (FTIC). FTIC is the legal entity for all Canadian-domiciled funds, including those currently managed by ClearBridge and Bissett.
ClearBridge Investments is one of Franklin Templeton’s largest specialist investment managers, with over CAD$233.3 billion (USD$176 billion) in AUM and more than 250 people in investment and operational roles. ClearBridge’s U.S., regional and global investment capabilities are complementary to the Bissett Equity Team’s Canadian equity market expertise.
At its core, ClearBridge is a fundamental equity manager with expertise in both global and local markets. They are comprised of independent teams that have different processes and philosophies and specializations including infrastructure, value, growth, and sustainable equities.
As Head of Canadian Equities, Garey Aitken now reports to Scott Glasser, the CIO of ClearBridge. Scott is not involved in day-to-day portfolio management decisions. Similar to his role in overseeing other investment teams as the ClearBridge CIO, Scott ensures the team is appropriately resourced for success, provides oversight to ensure the team is managing its portfolios in line with their investment objectives, and participates in quarterly risk review meetings. Garey and the Canadian equity team retain investment autonomy over all client portfolios.
The Bissett equity team has always managed clients’ assets using a team approach and will continue to do so. To further ensure continuity of leadership and consistent investment performance, all Bissett portfolios are co-managed, with experienced research analysts involved in the investment decision-making process. This addresses the issues of travel, manager availability, in addition to the developmental benefits associated with this joint coverage structure.
The integration with ClearBridge on the equity side has no impact on the Franklin Bissett fixed income team or the strategies they manage. Tom O’Gorman continues to lead the fixed income team as Head of Canadian Fixed Income. He remains Director of LAM Fixed Income on the Franklin Fixed Income Investment Committee.
As with the equity team, all fixed income portfolios are co-managed and supported by locally based investment teams in Calgary.
Franklin Fixed Income manages more than CAD$170 billion (USD$131 billion) in assets. Its managers have navigated market cycles and delivered attractive risk-adjusted performance for individual and institutional investors around the world. The team’s broad global presence helps to connect deeply rooted localized knowledge across a wide range of strategies spanning major sectors and covering benchmark-aware and unconstrained portfolios.
As active fixed income managers, all members of the team pursue alpha by integrating three areas of expertise into their portfolios: top-down macroeconomic analysis, robust bottom-up fundamental sector analysis and quantitative science. In their view, risks should be optimized, not minimized.
The Bissett fixed income team has been an integral part of Franklin Fixed Income since 2013, so the renaming of the strategies simply formalizes a longstanding arrangement. The Calgary-based managers continue to access Franklin’s deep research resources and global perspectives to enhance diversification in their Canadian fixed income portfolios, particularly through exposures to specialty asset classes, off-benchmark opportunities, and non-Canadian currencies.
The multi-asset strategies currently managed by the Bissett equity and Bissett fixed Income teams will continue to be managed by the same portfolio managers. There will be no changes to their investment objectives or investment process. In alignment with other balanced mandates, these will be branded as Franklin.
Effective April 1, 2024, Franklin Bissett Canadian Government Bond Fund will become Franklin Canadian Government Bond Fund. Name changes for all other Bissett strategies will become effective on May 6, 2024.
Our website will be updated to coincide with implementation of the name changes for May 6, 2024. Marketing materials will be updated as of June 30, 2024.
We are asking dealers to update the names of the relevant strategies in their SMA platforms at their convenience over the next 12 months as follows (see Appendix A for a complete list of names):
Bissett Equity Mandates:
• Change the investment team name from Bissett Equity to “ClearBridge Investments.”
Bissett Fixed Income Mandates:
• Change the investment team name for Bissett Fixed Income to “Franklin Fixed Income”
• Update the team descriptor for the fixed income teams (see Appendix B for suggested copy)
Advisors will be notified via email on or around May 6, 2024.
Bissett equity strategies were entered into institutional databases under the ClearBridge name as of 12/31/23. They will run in parallel for a period of time. Once traffic to the legacy entries has slowed down, we will gradually delete the legacy Bissett-branded strategies.
Fund databases will be updated over time. First with the “advisor” and “sub-advisor” and then fund names.