Franklin Templeton's Saunders seeks diversification from M&A surge

A rise in global M&A activity could offer investors a new source of diversification in future, according to Franklin Templeton's David Saunders.

Saunders is part of the team which runs the Franklin K2 Alternative Strategies SICAV. The fund offers access to a number of typical hedge fund strategies -  in a portfolio which can be accessed by retail investors. He said the K2 portfolio offers a different source of returns to retail investors via long/short equity funds, event-driven strategies, global macro funds and relative value portfolios. "The retail investor for the first time has access to high quality institutional managers. The return streams you are going to get from the event-driven exposure, for example, are those to w...