The team at a publicly traded, $1.4-trillion-AUM (as of September 30) asset manager has transformed a seven-year-old fund that has $51.28 million in AUM (as of yesterday).

Patrick H.E. O'Connor Franklin Templeton Global Head of ETFs

Today, Patrick O'Connor, head of global ETFs at Franklin Templeton [profile], and Matt Moberg, senior vice president, confirmed that the San Mateo, California-based firm has officially converted its Franklin Focused Growth Fund into the brand new Franklin Focused Growth ETF (FFOG), as planned. The new ETF listed today on the CBOE, less than 10 months after the Franklin folks officially unveiled the conversion plans.

FFOG is a series of the Franklin Templeton ETF Trust (while the predecessor mutual fund was a series of the Franklin Custodian Funds). Franklin Advisers, Inc. remains the investment advisor, and Moberg, who PMed the actively mutual fund since inception on April 3, 2016, will stay on to PM the active ETF.

In ETF form, the transformed fund now comes with an expense ratio of 55 basis points. That replaces the predecessor fund's five share classes: A shares with a max 550bps load and a 110bps expense ratio; C shares with a max 100bps deferred load and a 135bps expense ratio; R6 shares with a 72bps expense ratio; and Advisor shares with an 85bps expense ratio.

State Street Bank and Trust Company takes over as custodian, dividend-paying agent, sub-administrator, and transfer agent of FFOG. They succeed Bank of New York Mellon's mutual funds division (who served as custodian of the predecessor fund), Franklin Templeton Investor Services, LLC (who served as dividend paying agent and transfer agent), and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (who served as sub-administrator).

FFOG's prospectus does not list who will handle securities lending for the ETF (though State Street, as custodian and more, is potentially well-positioned to serve in that role, too). The predecessor fund's securities lending agents were BNY Mellon and Goldman Sachs Agency Lending.

Moberg describes the converted ETF as living "at the intersection of new ideas and long-term investment opportunities."

"We continue to build our active ETF platform by tapping some of the firm's strongest investment capabilities and high-conviction approaches," O'Connor states.

FFOG's other service providers remain the same as its predecessor funds' providers. Those providers include: Franklin Distributors as distributor; Franklin Templeton Services, LLC (FT Services) as administrator; and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as independent accounting firm. 

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