Franklin Templeton completes purchase of majority stake in fund of hedge funds specialist K2 Advisor

Franklin Resources, which operates as Franklin Templeton Investments, has completed the acquisition of a majority stake in fund of hedge funds manager K2 Advisors Holdings LLC.

The proceeds of this transaction by Franklin Templeton will be used by K2 to purchase all of the equity currently held by TA Associates and to retire all of K2’s debt obligations. The current management of K2 has not sold any of its interests and has not received any up-front consideration in this transaction. Franklin Templeton will acquire the remainder of K2 over a multi-year period.
 
William Yun, CFA, executive vice president, Franklin Templeton Alternative Strategies, says: “The continued development of our alternatives platform has been a core strategic initiative for Franklin Templeton, and to that end, we’ve focused on creating new investment strategies and broadening our distribution capabilities across multiple channels. K2 is an important addition to those capabilities, particularly as institutional investors continue to shift allocations towards the hedge fund and fund of hedge funds space and to look for multi-asset solutions providers.”