Franklin Resources to Buy Fund Manager Edinburgh Partners

Franklin Resources Inc. (BEN) on Wednesday said it has reached a deal to buy Edinburgh Partners Ltd., a fund manager founded by one of its former employees.

Franklin said Sandy Nairn, one of Edinburgh's founders, will become chairman of Templeton Global Equity Group. Mr. Nairn was previously with Franklin from 1990 to 2000, working alongside mutual-find pioneer John Templeton.

As of the end of last year, Edinburgh managed about $10 billion in assets, while Franklin had $753 billion in assets under management.

Franklin didn't disclose terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the first half of the year.

Shares of Franklin Resources rose 0.8% in premarket trading.

Write to Allison Prang at allison.prang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 17, 2018 09:32 ET (14:32 GMT)