Franklin Templeton Investments Australia has hired Stuart Devlin as a Melbourne-based retail account executive as it seeks to garner more money from individual investors.

“Franklin Templeton is building out its retail team after acquiring Balanced Equity Management,” says Maria Wilton, managing director of Franklin Templeton in Australia.

Andrew Sisson, the founder of Balanced Equity Management, sold his firm to Templeton in June last year after running it as an independent asset manager since September 1988. Balanced Equity Management invests in the 100 largest Australian companies by market value.

About $16 billion of Templeton’s funds are sourced from Australian investors, 90 per cent of who are institutional investors.

Templeton launched an Australian retail fund based on a Balanced Equity Management portfolio last year in the hope of attracting more individual investors. Tina Strukel, usually based in St. Petersburg, Florida for Templeton, is working in Melbourne for the firm for six months to help develop its retail fund business.

Templeton employs 46 people, says Wilton, including 17 who work on investments and 17 who work on distribution. Devlin will report to Jim McKay, head of retail for Templeton in Australia.