Franklin Templeton Completes Acquisition of O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, a Leading Custom Indexing Provider Through Its Canvas® Platform

Acquisition Reinforces Franklin Templeton’s Position as a Top Separately Managed Accounts Provider and Enhances Its Tax Management, Factor-Based and ESG Customization Capabilities

Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN], a global investment management organization operating as Franklin Templeton, today announced that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, LLC (“OSAM”), a leading quantitative asset management firm.

Through this acquisition, Franklin Templeton adds to its offerings in the high-growth separately managed account (SMA) industry, in which it is already one of the leading providers with approximately $130 billion in SMA assets under management as of November 30, 2021. OSAM’s capabilities, both as a factor-based investment manager and as a Custom Indexing solution via its flagship Canvas® platform, will serve as an important expansion and enhancement of Franklin Templeton’s existing strengths in SMA and custom solutions capabilities. Launched in late 2019, the Canvas platform has seen strong growth since its inception, doubling its assets in the past year to over $2 billion of OSAM’s total $6.5 billion in assets under management as of November 30, 2021.

“We are very excited to welcome Jim and Patrick O’Shaughnessy and the OSAM team to Franklin Templeton,” said Roger Paradiso, Head of Franklin Templeton Product Solutions. “Custom Indexing is aligned with our commitment to bringing sophisticated customization to a broader investment audience. This partnership enhances our ability to deliver compelling individualized SMA solutions to clients, advisors and firms.”

OSAM’s Canvas platform allows financial advisors to build and manage Custom Indexes in SMAs that are individually tailored to a client’s specific needs, preferences, and objectives. Canvas also provides the opportunity for advisors to efficiently plan, set tax budgets, identify realized and unrealized gains and losses, and systematically sell certain positions to create offsets.

“This is an exciting new chapter for OSAM and the clients we serve,” said Patrick O’Shaughnessy, Chief Executive Officer of OSAM. “Our partnership with Franklin Templeton will be a catalyst for continued innovation, particularly within Custom Indexing, which we believe is an area of significant opportunity and growth.”

OSAM will retain its brand, and its more than 40 team members have joined Franklin Templeton, along with all of the intellectual property, investment management processes, and principal business assets necessary to evolve and grow the business within Franklin Templeton’s Product Solutions division.

About Franklin Templeton

Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management organization with subsidiaries operating as Franklin Templeton and serving clients in over 165 countries. Franklin Templeton’s mission is to help clients achieve better outcomes through investment management expertise, wealth management and technology solutions. Through its specialist investment managers, the company brings extensive capabilities in equity, fixed income, multi-asset solutions and alternatives. With offices in more than 30 countries and approximately 1,300 investment professionals, the California-based company has over 70 years of investment experience and over $1.5 trillion in assets under management as of November 30, 2021. For more information, please visit franklinresources.com.

About OSAM

O’Shaughnessy Asset Management (OSAM), a wholly owned subsidiary of Franklin Templeton, is a quantitative asset management firm based in Stamford, CT. The firm delivers a broad range of equity portfolios to institutional investors, individual investors, and high-net-worth clients of financial advisors. OSAM also serves as the investment advisor for a U.S. mutual fund and as a subadvisor to a family of mutual funds in Canada. The firm’s team has managed client assets since 1996. For more information, please go to www.osam.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

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