
Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund has come out with a new open-end equity fund called Franklin Asian Equity Fund. It will be open for subscription from November 19, 2007 to December 18, 2007.Going by the name, the fund would primarily invest in companies which are operating in the Asian region or in any way related to Asian markets except Japan.
It offers growth and dividend options and the minimum investment amount required to invest would be Rs.5000.The fund would charge an entry load of 2.25% for investment upto Rs.5 crores. While an exit load of 0.50% would be levied for investment less than Rs.5 crores if redeemed within 1 year and 1% for investment equals to or greater than Rs.5 crores if redemption is made within 6 months. The fund's performance would be benchmarked against MSCI Asia (ex-Japan) Standard Index. The designated fund manager for the scheme is Sukumar Rajah who will be assisted by Roshi Jain.