Due to Templeton Scandal
Samsung Active Asset Management, a subsidiary of Samsung Asset Management, said on July 12 that it temporarily delayed the planned merger with Seoul-based Franklin Templeton Investment Trust.
The two companies had originally planned to gain approval from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and complete the merger by August. 1
Market watchers say that the delay might have been affected by the Templeton’s recent bank-loan fund scandal, in which a US-based company defaulted on a money market loan which was included in a Templeton’s bank-loan fund, causing losses to the investors who had joined the fund.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is looking into the case to determine whether it constitutes a problem impeding the merger. Templeton was also criticized for its failure to immediately notify their investors of the default, which occurred in October last year.
According to a person familiar with the matter, Samsung Active AM delayed the merger possibly because the bank-loan fund scandal has not yet been completely resolved and therefore, it can hardly win the financial authorities’ approval of the merger.
Samsung Active Asset Management held a board of directors meeting in March of this year and decided to merge with Franklin Templeton Investment Trust to establish Samsung-Franklin Templeton Asset Management. The swap ratio between Samsung Active AM and Templeton was 1: 0.2326696.