Franklin Templeton, Asia Alternatives to launch fund-of-funds

Holden Mann, AVCJ
11 September 2018

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Franklin Templeton Investment and Asia Alternatives have agreed to form a joint venture that will provide bespoke global private equity funds-of-funds.

The joint venture, called Franklin Templeton Private Equity (FTPE), will be headed by Arthur Wang, previously managing director for private markets at San Francisco Employees' Retirement System (SFERS) and a director of private equity at New York State Common Retirement Fund. Financial details about the joint venture have not been disclosed.

Franklin Templeton will own a majority stake in FTPE, with Asia Alternatives and members of the new firm's management team holding the rest. The partners are targeting investors that hope to diversify their portfolios and improve their growth prospects through greater access to liquid and illiquid asset classes outside of public markets.

"I've experienced firsthand how global private investments can enhance portfolio returns and diversification characteristics," said Wang in a statement, "and our goal is to create customised solutions to provide these benefits to a broad range of institutional investors."

Asia Alternatives had more than $11bn in capital under management as of July 2018. It is currently investing its fifth fund, which closed last year on $1.8bn. The vehicle includes a main fund with a corpus of $1.5bn, with the remainder spread across a handful of separately managed accounts.

The firm invests in fund managers pursuing buyout, growth capital, venture and special situations strategies across the region, with China taking the greatest weight. Commitments from the latest fund include Long Hill Capital and GenBridge Capital.