San Mateo, CA, January 31, 2018 – Franklin Templeton Investments today announced the hire of Manraj S. Sekhon, CFA, as chief investment officer (CIO) of Emerging Markets Equity, overseeing the emerging markets equity teams across the organization. Sekhon will join on February 19, 2018, and will be based in the firm’s Singapore office. He will report to Stephen Dover, head of Equities for Franklin Templeton Investments.
“Manraj Sekhon brings more than two decades of industry experience in emerging markets and is a proven global investment leader,” said Dover. “As part of the next phase in the evolution of our emerging markets teams, we are pleased to bring on a leader who I am confident will best leverage the breadth of our investment talent across emerging markets equities to deliver the high quality investment strategies and performance that our clients expect.”
In the course of his more than 20-year career in global investment, Sekhon has managed portfolios on behalf of pension plans, sovereign wealth, endowments, insurance, family offices and private wealth clients. Prior to joining Franklin Templeton, Sekhon served as the chief executive, CIO and director of Fullerton Fund Management, a Singapore-based asset manager. In that role, he was responsible for driving the strategy and growth of the business globally as well as overseeing all investment capabilities. Prior to that, Sekhon served as director and head of International Equities at Henderson Global Investors, where he led a team managing Global and EAFE (Europe, Australasia & Far East) portfolios for clients around the world.
Sekhon will oversee Franklin Templeton’s more than 80 experienced emerging markets equity investment professionals based in 20 offices around the world and representing over $45 billion in assets under management. The investment philosophies and disciplined approaches of each distinct strategy within the emerging markets equity groups will remain intact.
“As one of the first emerging markets investment managers, Franklin Templeton has a long history of investing in emerging and later frontier markets. Throughout the past 30 years, we have built a global team of true local experts in these countries, where on-the-ground research is paramount. We remain committed to bringing high quality emerging markets investment options to our retail and institutional clients under Manraj’s capable leadership,” said Jenny Johnson, president and COO of Franklin Templeton Investments.
Sekhon added, “Templeton is known as a pioneer in emerging markets investing. I am honored and excited by this opportunity to join the firm to build on the legacy of renowned investors Sir John Templeton and Dr. Mark Mobius. The emerging markets expertise that Franklin Templeton has built, with a deep bench of experienced investment professionals embedded across the countries they research and invest in, is renowned in the industry. I am privileged to be leading this talented group.”
About Franklin Templeton Investments
Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management organization operating as Franklin Templeton Investments. Franklin Templeton Investments provides global and domestic investment management to retail, institutional and sovereign wealth clients in over 170 countries. Through specialized teams, the company has expertise across all asset classes—including equity, fixed income, alternative and custom solutions. The company’s more than 650 investment professionals are supported by its integrated, worldwide team of risk management professionals and global trading desk network. With offices in over 30 countries, the California-based company has 70 years of investment experience and over $753 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2017.
For more information, please visit franklintempleton.com. Connect with Franklin Templeton at @FTI_US or access perspectives from Franklin Templeton emerging markets investment professionals around the world at @FTI_emerging or the Investment Adventures in Emerging Markets blog.