In a move that reaffirms its bet on offering alts to the wealth channel, asset manager Franklin Templeton has appointed George Stephan to the newly created position of global chief operating officer of wealth management alternatives.
Stephan, who previously spent five years at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. as the head of strategy and business development for the firm’s global client solutions business, will report to Adam Spector, Franklin Templeton’s executive vice president and head of global distribution.
Stephan will oversee alternative investment product development and investor services and assist with business development, management and operations. Stephan will also work with the firm’s distribution leaders worldwide to help drive the overall distribution strategy in addition to advisor education for the alternative investments business in the private wealth channel.
In recent years, Franklin Templeton has acquired or partnered with several specialized investment managers to build a product suite for financial advisors, including limited liquidity vehicles, SMAs and custom portfolios. It has sub-brands such as Clarion Partners, a private real estate investment manager, and Benefit Street Partners, an alternative credit manager, among others.
These are part of a broader trend of high-profile asset managers, including Blackstone, Apollo, BlackRock, KKR and others, that are heavily focused on building products for the wealth space.
Overall, 16% ($264 billion) of Franklin Templeton’s $1.65 trillion in AUM is devoted to alternative investments, according to the firm, although that figure includes institutional investor products as well as those for retail investors.
“With more than 40 years of experience in alternatives and 382 alternative investment professionals around the world, we have been deliberate about building our capabilities in multiple ways— through acquisitions of specialists like Benefit Street Partners, Lexington and Clarion and by onboarding our offerings to key advisor platforms to make them more accessible to investors,” Spector said in a statement. “The result is that Franklin Templeton is one of the few traditional asset managers to build a successful alternatives business spread across a broad range of strategies and geographies.”
Stephan’s additional previous experience includes stints as COO and head of investor relations for KKR’s global wealth solutions business in the Americas. Prior to joining KKR, Stephan spent nine years at Morgan Stanley’s wealth management division.