Franklin Templeton Lifts Ukraine Bet by Over $250 Million - Bloomberg

Franklin Templeton Lifts Ukraine Bet by Over $250 Million - Bloomberg:



"Franklin Resources Inc. (BEN)’s biggest funds purchased Ukrainian bonds in the fourth quarter, adding to holdings that made the asset manager the country’s largest debtholder before growing violence spurred unprecedented losses.



The U.S. versions of the Templeton Global Bond Fund and the Templeton Global Total Return Fund (TGTRX), overseen by Michael Hasenstab, increased holdings of Ukrainian international dollar debt by $252 million in face value to about $3.8 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg through Dec. 31. Along with their European counterparts, the funds hold about $6.4 billion, more than a third of the country’s external dollar bonds, their most recent filings show.



Ukrainian securities suffered the worst selloff on record yesterday as concern the country is plunging into civil war escalated after clashes between police and anti-government activists killed at least 25 people. The yield on the government’s $1 billion of notes maturing in June increased 19 percentage points to 42 percent, an all-time high yesterday."



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