Franklin Templeton has launched a Sharia mutual fund into the Indonesian marketplace with an new collaboration with fund manager PT Bahana TCW Investment Management.
The Bahana US Opportunity Sharia Equity USD - which which will use ESG investing principles - will also be the first Sharia mutual fund in Indonesia with exposure primarily to US companies, the company said in a statement.
Technology, healthcare, financials and consumer discretionary the key sectors of the fund. ClearBridge Investments, Franklin Templeton's specialist manager arm, will manage the product. The fund will be distributed by Bank DBS Indonesi.
Dora Seow, regional head for Southeast Asia (ex-Malaysia), said: "This launch provides a strong foundation for us to establish a competitive advantage in the hugely important Indonesian market, and we look forward to expanding our product offering for clients in Indonesia."
Franklin Templeton and ClearBridge are the investment and sub-investment advisers respectively to PT Bahana TCW.
Rukmi Proborini, president director of Bahana TCW, added that the firm is seeing growing interest from Indonesian investors to invest in global technology and healthcare companies.
"We are enabling investors' access to such investments by collaborating with Franklin Templeton," he added.
