San Mateo, CA-based Franklin Templeton Investments has launched its first multi-manager, multi-strategy mutual fund, Franklin K2 Alternative Strategies Fund, focused on alternative investment strategies for US investors.

San Mateo, CA-based Franklin Templeton Investments has launched its first multi-manager, multi-strategy mutual fund, Franklin K2 Alternative Strategies Fund, focused on alternative investment strategies for US investors.

Building upon Franklin Templeton’s acquisition of hedge fund solutions provider K2 Advisors in 2012, this US-registered fund provides access to alternative investment strategies managed by institutional-quality hedge fund managers. The fund seeks to provide investors with lower correlations to traditional asset classes, reduced portfolio volatility and attractive risk-adjusted returns, while offering daily liquidity, the firm said. 

As the fund’s investment manager, K2 Advisors will allocate assets across multiple managers and alternative strategies including event-driven, global macro, long/short equity and relative value. Franklin Templeton said that K2 Advisors will adjust the allocations to these strategies to reflect the team’s top-down market views with the goal of providing capital appreciation and lower volatility relative to the broad equity markets. 

K2 was co-founded in 1994 by William Douglass and David Saunders and is based in Stamford, CT.