Franklin Templeton to reopen Frontier Markets fund

Soft-closed in 2013

Franklin Templeton is set to re-open its $880m Frontier Markets fund to new investors at the end of May, after soft-closing the vehicle in 2013.

The Luxembourg-domiciled Templeton Frontier Markets fund had reached $2.1bn when it soft-closed but assets have now fallen to $880m, according to FE data; a drop Templeton's executive chairman Mark Mobius attributed to redemptions across its institutional client base.  Launched in 2008, the fund is now managed by Carlos Hardenberg, and invests in companies from across the market-cap scale that are incorporated in, or focused upon, frontier markets. At the time, Franklin Templeton said the decision to soft-close was not a market capacity issue but the easiest way to manage flows it was...