Templeton's Hasenstab Winds Down $7 Billion Ukraine Bond Bet
- Ukraine sovereign debt drops to 3% of total portfolio from 5%
- Franklin Templeton became Ukraine’s biggest bondholder in 2013
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Franklin Templeton bond chief Michael Hasenstab is pulling back from one of his most contrarian bets of the past decade.
Holdings in Ukrainian sovereign debt in the flagship $40 billion Templeton Global Bond Fund he manages have dropped by half in the past year to about $1.2 billion, or 3 percent of the total portfolio, according to filings posted on the fund manager’s website. Most of the reduction was in Ukraine’s shortest-dated bonds, maturing before the end of 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.