Franklin Templeton Announces Launch of Sapphire Equity Long-Short SIF – Its First Specialised Investment Fund Strategy

The SIF will aim to generate long-term alpha across market cycles through a proprietary
quantitative long–short equity strategy, investing across a spectrum of large, mid and small cap
companies.
Built on disciplined stock selection, the strategy aims towards dynamic allocation between long
and limited short positions, with risk parameters to manage volatility. The strategy will employ a
factor-based approach aimed at participating in market opportunities while protecting downside.

Franklin Templeton (India) today announced the launch of Sapphire Equity Long‑Short SIF, its first
offering under the Specialised Investment Funds (SIF). It is an Equity Long Short Fund under the SIF
framework, investing across Nifty 500 stocks to enable diversified exposure across large, mid and small-
cap segments. Sapphire Equity Long‑Short SIF aims to seek long-term capital appreciation across market
cycles, through a proprietary, model-driven quantitative strategy, anchored in disciplined stock selection,
dynamic allocation, and robust risk management. The NFO for Sapphire Equity LongShort SIF will be
open for subscription from April 10, 2026, to April 24, 2026.
Speaking on the launch, Avinash Satwalekar, President, Franklin Templeton – India, said, “Investors
today are navigating markets that move through different phases rapidly, making disciplined and flexible
investment strategies increasingly important. SIF is designed for investors with a higher risk appetite,
offering the potential for relatively higher returns while also being tax efficient. What differentiates a SIF
strategy from a conventional mutual fund is that SIFs can potentially take advantage of market shifts by
taking short positions upto 25% of their net assets, which can help reduce downside risk during market
corrections”
He added, “The Sapphire Equity LongShort SIF leverages Franklin Templeton’s decades of experience in
systematic and quantitative investing. Our proprietary, datadriven quantitative approach evaluates stocks
using over 40 factors across Quality, Value, Sentiment and Alternative indicators, with a dedicated
framework for identifying short opportunities. Our SIF is built on a structured, data‑driven quantitative
approach that evaluates opportunities across equities, while managing risk efficiently through a defined
long‑short framework.”
Arihant Jain, Portfolio Manager, Sapphire Equity Long‑Short SIF, said: “The underlying quantitative
model for the strategy is designed to assess stocks using a broad set of leading and lagging indicators,
recognizing that different factors tend to perform differently across market environments. The framework
systematically scores and ranks stocks for both long exposure and selective short positioning, enabling a
more balanced response to shifts in the market. The model is designed to adapt while preserving a strong
emphasis on risk management.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“Portfolio construction follows a disciplined, research-driven process, where the investment team overlays
its judgment with careful consideration of liquidity, sector exposure, size, risk and style characteristics to
manage unintended biases. By applying factor insights in a disciplined way on both the long and short
sides, the strategy is designed to more effectively express relative views and which could protect alpha in
more challenging or down markets. Our differentiator lies in blending dynamic factor insights with
oversight on risk and positioning, helping the strategy capture distinctive opportunity while maintaining
stability through varied market environments.”

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