497K 1 c497k.htm
        
  

SUMMARY PROSPECTUS

   
    
  

BRANDYWINEGLOBAL – U.S. FIXED INCOME ETF

 
    
  

Franklin Templeton ETF Trust

 
  

July 25, 2023

 
    
  

 
    
     
      
  

Ticker:

Exchange:

USFI

The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC

Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund’s prospectus, statement of additional information, reports to shareholders and other information about the Fund online at www.franklintempleton.com/prospectus. You can also get this information at no cost by calling (800) DIAL BEN/342-5236 or by sending an e-mail request to prospectus@franklintempleton.com. The Fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information, both dated July 25, 2023, as may be supplemented, are all incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus.


BRANDYWINEGLOBAL – U.S. FIXED INCOME ETF
SUMMARY PROSPECTUS

Fund Summary

Investment Goal

Total return.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may also incur other fees, such as usual and customary brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and the Example that follows.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

   

 

 

 

Management fees

 

0.39%

Distribution and service (12b-1) fees

 

None

Other expenses1

 

None

Total annual Fund operating expenses

 

0.39%

1. Other expenses are based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

      

 

 

 

1 Year

 

3 Years

BrandywineGLOBAL– U.S. Fixed Income ETF

 

$40

 

$126

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when shares are held in a

   
 

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BRANDYWINEGLOBAL – U.S. FIXED INCOME ETF
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taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. The Fund is newly offered; therefore, it does not have a turnover rate to report for the most recent fiscal year.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in U.S. fixed income securities, and in derivatives and other instruments that have economic characteristics and provide investment exposure similar to U.S. fixed income securities. U.S. fixed income securities include debt securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities and political sub-divisions (including inflation index linked securities and municipal bonds); U.S. corporate debt securities, including debentures, bonds (including zero coupon bonds), bankers acceptances (issued by industrial, utility, finance, commercial banking or bank holding company organizations), convertible and non-convertible notes, commercial paper, certificates of deposits, and freely transferable promissory notes; mortgage-backed securities; and asset-backed securities. U.S. fixed income securities also include securities included in the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Index.

The Fund invests in U.S. dollar denominated investment grade fixed income securities. Investment grade fixed income securities are securities that are rated at the time of purchase in the top four ratings categories by one or more independent rating organizations such as S&P® Global Ratings (S&P®) (rated BBB- or better) or Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s) (rated Baa3 or higher) or, if unrated, are determined to be of comparable quality by the sub-advisor. The Fund may invest in variable and floating rate securities. The Fund may also invest a portion of its assets in cash or cash equivalents.

The sub-advisor intends to take an active approach to duration management and does not track the duration of the Fund’s benchmark index. The Fund may invest in securities of any maturity or duration. Under normal conditions, the portfolio managers typically seek to maintain a dollar-weighted average effective duration for the Fund’s portfolio, including derivatives, of 1 to 10 years. The dollar-weighted average effective duration of the Fund’s portfolio may, however, exceed this range materially from time to time depending on the sub-advisor’s valuation analysis and macro-economic outlook.

A mortgage-backed security is an interest in a pool of mortgage loans made by and packaged or “pooled” together by banks, mortgage lenders, various governmental agencies and other financial institutions for sale to investors to finance purchases of homes, commercial buildings and other real estate. The Fund’s investments in mortgage-backed securities include securities that are issued or guaranteed by the

   
 

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BRANDYWINEGLOBAL – U.S. FIXED INCOME ETF
SUMMARY PROSPECTUS

U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities, which include mortgage pass-through securities representing interests in “pools” of mortgage loans issued or guaranteed by the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae), the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). Securities issued by different government agencies or instrumentalities have different levels of credit support. The Fund may also invest in other types of mortgage securities that may be issued or guaranteed by private issuers including commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) and collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs).

The Fund may purchase or sell mortgage-backed securities on a delayed delivery or forward commitment basis through the “to-be-announced” (TBA) market. With TBA transactions, the particular securities to be delivered must meet specified terms and conditions. The Fund may also invest in restricted securities including Rule 144A securities.

An asset-backed security is a security backed by loans, leases, and other receivables. The Fund may invest in collateralized loan obligations (CLOs).

For purposes of pursuing its investment goal, the Fund may enter into various interest rate and credit-related derivatives, principally U.S. Treasury futures and credit default swaps (including credit default index swaps). The use of these derivative transactions may allow the Fund to obtain exposures to select interest rates, durations or credit risks. These derivatives may be used to enhance Fund returns, increase liquidity, gain exposure to certain instruments or markets in a more efficient or less expensive way and/or hedge risks associated with its other portfolio investments. Derivatives that have economic characteristics and provide investment exposure similar to U.S. fixed income securities will be counted towards the Fund’s 80% investment policy.

The portfolio managers’ investment process is top-down, macro-economic driven and value oriented. Their buy discipline is highlighted by patience and conviction. The portfolio managers develop a viewpoint on the business cycle in conjunction with a value-based analysis of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade fixed income securities to determine the Fund’s strategy duration, sector and quality exposures over time. Security selection is determined through analysis of both top-down, macroeconomic conditions as well as bottom-up, fundamental analysis within the context of their value-oriented framework.

In analyzing macroeconomic conditions, the portfolio managers take into account things such as geopolitical and demographic factors that might impact the overall economy. This framework informs the broad investment themes of the portfolio and helps the portfolio managers determine duration and sector allocations. Bottom-up, fundamental analysis is utilized to help identify specific securities or issues that

   
 

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BRANDYWINEGLOBAL – U.S. FIXED INCOME ETF
SUMMARY PROSPECTUS

might be invested in or should be avoided. The portfolio managers focus their investments on a limited number of securities that they believe represent attractive value, rather than invest the portfolio across a large spectrum of securities in attempt to replicate an index-like distribution. If they do not find value in a particular sector, industry or security, they will not invest in it. The portfolio managers utilize both qualitative and quantitative criteria (including proprietary quantitative models) as part of the portfolio construction process, including in determining that an investment represents an attractive value. An investment offers an attractive value if the portfolio managers, through their analysis, have determined that the investment is mispriced and trading below what current or expected economic conditions warrant. Quantitative models are proprietary systems that rely on mathematical computations to identify investment opportunities.

The portfolio managers sell fixed income securities or sectors when they no longer meet their value criteria. This could be due to the impact of the business cycle or fundamental changes affecting yield, spread or price. For example, they typically sell corporate bonds and mortgage-backed securities when spreads narrow significantly or when changing fundamentals introduce risks outweighing potential rewards. In some cases, they may modify the characteristics or risk profile of a sector instead of completely eliminating exposure, such as by shortening duration.

The Fund anticipates engaging in active and frequent trading to achieve its investment goal.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. ETF shares are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank, and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency of the U.S. government. The Fund is subject to the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund’s net asset value (NAV), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment goal. Unlike many ETFs, the Fund is not an index-based ETF.

Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.

The global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19 and its subsequent variants, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. The long-term impact on

   
 

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economies, markets, industries and individual issuers is not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Interest Rate When interest rates rise, debt security prices generally fall. The opposite is also generally true: debt security prices rise when interest rates fall. Interest rate changes are influenced by a number of factors, including government policy, monetary policy, inflation expectations, perceptions of risk, and supply of and demand for bonds. In general, securities with longer maturities or durations are more sensitive to interest rate changes.

Credit An issuer of debt securities may fail to make interest payments or repay principal when due, in whole or in part. Changes in an issuer's financial strength or in a security's or government's credit rating may affect a security's value. Mortgage-backed securities that are not issued by U.S. government agencies may have a greater risk of default because neither the U.S. government nor an agency or instrumentality have guaranteed or provided credit support to them. The credit quality of most asset-backed securities depends primarily on the credit quality of the underlying assets and the amount of credit support (if any) provided to the securities. While securities issued by Ginnie Mae are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, not all securities of the various U.S. government agencies are, including those of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Also, guarantees of principal and interest payments do not apply to market prices, yields or the Fund’s share price. While the U.S. government has, in the past, provided financial support to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the U.S. government is not obligated by law to do so and no assurance can be given that the U.S. government will do so in the future.

Mortgage Securities and Asset-Backed Securities Mortgage securities differ from conventional debt securities because principal is paid back periodically over the life of the security rather than at maturity. The Fund may receive unscheduled payments of principal due to voluntary prepayments, refinancings or foreclosures on the underlying mortgage loans. Because of prepayments, mortgage securities may be less effective than some other types of debt securities as a means of "locking in" long-term interest rates and may have less potential for capital appreciation during periods of falling interest rates. A reduction in the anticipated rate of principal prepayments, especially during periods of rising interest rates, may increase or extend the effective maturity and duration of mortgage securities, making them more sensitive to interest rate changes, subject to greater price volatility, and more susceptible than some other debt securities to a decline in market value when interest rates rise.

   
 

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BRANDYWINEGLOBAL – U.S. FIXED INCOME ETF
SUMMARY PROSPECTUS

Issuers of asset-backed securities may have limited ability to enforce the security interest in the underlying assets, and credit enhancements provided to support the securities, if any, may be inadequate to protect investors in the event of default. Like mortgage securities, asset-backed securities are subject to prepayment and extension risks.

Derivative Instruments The performance of derivative instruments depends largely on the performance of an underlying instrument, such as a currency, security, interest rate or index, and such instruments often have risks similar to their underlying instrument, in addition to other risks. Derivative instruments involve costs and can create economic leverage in the Fund's portfolio which may result in significant volatility and cause the Fund to participate in losses (as well as gains) in an amount that exceeds the Fund's initial investment. Other risks include illiquidity, mispricing or improper valuation of the derivative instrument, and imperfect correlation between the value of the derivative and the underlying instrument so that the Fund may not realize the intended benefits. When a derivative is used for hedging, the change in value of the derivative may also not correlate specifically with the currency, security, interest rate, index or other risk being hedged. With over-the-counter derivatives, there is the risk that the other party to the transaction will fail to perform.

Credit default swap contracts involve heightened risks and may result in losses to the Fund. When the Fund sells credit protection via a credit default swap, credit risk increases since the Fund has exposure to both the issuer whose credit is the subject of the swap and the counterparty to the swap.

Income The Fund's distributions to shareholders may decline when prevailing interest rates fall, when the Fund experiences defaults on debt securities it holds or when the Fund realizes a loss upon the sale of a debt security.

When-Issued and Delayed Delivery Transactions Mortgage-backed securities may be issued on a when-issued or delayed delivery basis, where payment and delivery take place at a future date. Because the market price of the security may fluctuate during the time before payment and delivery, the Fund assumes the risk that the value of the security at delivery may be more or less than the purchase price.

Liquidity  The trading market for a particular security or type of security or other investments in which the Fund invests may become less liquid or even illiquid. Reduced liquidity will have an adverse impact on the Fund’s ability to sell such securities or other investments when necessary to meet the Fund’s liquidity needs or in response to a specific economic event and will also generally lower the value of a security or other investments. Market prices for such securities or other investments may be volatile.

   
 

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Variable Rate Securities Because changes in interest rates on variable rate securities (including floating rate securities) may lag behind changes in market rates, the value of such securities may decline during periods of rising interest rates until their interest rates reset to market rates. During periods of declining interest rates, because the interest rates on variable rate securities generally reset downward, their market value is unlikely to rise to the same extent as the value of comparable fixed rate securities.

Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLOs) The risks of an investment in a CLO depend largely on the type of collateral held by the special purpose entity (SPE) and the tranche of the CLO in which the Fund invests. CLOs may be deemed to be illiquid and subject to the Fund’s restrictions on investments in illiquid investments. In addition to the normal risks associated with debt securities and loans (e.g., interest rate risk, credit risk and default risk), CLOs carry additional risks including, but not limited to: (i) the possibility that distributions from collateral securities will not be adequate to make interest or other payments; (ii) the quality of the collateral may decline in value or quality or go into default or be downgraded; (iii) the Fund may invest in tranches of a CLO that are subordinate to other classes; and (iv) the complex structure of the security may not be fully understood at the time of investment.

Management The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed ETF. The Fund's sub-advisor applies investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results.

Models The models that may be used by the sub-advisor as part of the Fund's portfolio construction process to identify investment opportunities have been tested on historical price data. These models are based on the assumption that price movements in most markets display similar patterns. There is the risk that market behavior will change and that the patterns upon which the forecasts in the models are based will weaken or disappear, which would reduce the ability of the models to generate an excess return. Further, as market dynamics shift over time, a previously highly successful model may become outdated, perhaps without the sub-advisor recognizing that fact before substantial losses are incurred. Successful operation of a model is also reliant upon the information technology systems of the sub-advisor and its ability to ensure those systems remain operational and that appropriate disaster recovery procedures are in place. There can be no assurance that the sub-advisor will be successful in maintaining effective and operational models and the related hardware and software systems.

   
 

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BRANDYWINEGLOBAL – U.S. FIXED INCOME ETF
SUMMARY PROSPECTUS

Cash/Cash Equivalents To the extent the Fund holds cash or cash equivalents rather than securities in which it primarily invests or uses to manage risk, the Fund may not achieve its investment objectives and may underperform.

Cash Transactions Risk Unlike most other ETFs, the fund may effect its creations and redemptions primarily for cash, rather than in-kind securities. Paying redemption proceeds in cash rather than through in-kind delivery of portfolio securities may require the fund to dispose of or sell portfolio investments at an inopportune time to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds. This may cause the fund to incur certain costs such as brokerage costs, and to recognize gains or losses that it might not have incurred if it had made a redemption in-kind. As a result, the fund may pay out higher or lower annual capital gains distributions than ETFs that redeem in-kind.

Market Trading The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruption in the creation/redemption process of the Fund. Any of these factors, among others, may lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. Thus, you may pay more (or less) than NAV when you buy shares of the Fund in the secondary market, and you may receive less (or more) than NAV when you sell those shares in the secondary market. The sub-advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade above (premium), below (discount) or at NAV.

Authorized Participant Concentration Only an authorized participant (Authorized Participant) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as Authorized Participants. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units (as defined below), Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. This risk may be more pronounced in volatile markets, potentially where there are significant redemptions in ETFs generally.

Small Fund When the Fund's size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid-ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange.

Large Shareholder Certain shareholders, including other funds or accounts advised by the investment manager, sub-advisor or an affiliate of the investment manager or sub-advisor, may from time to time own a substantial amount of the Fund’s shares. In addition, a third-party investor, the investment manager, sub-advisor or an affiliate of the investment manager or sub-advisor, an authorized participant, a lead market maker, or another entity may invest in the Fund and hold

   
 

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BRANDYWINEGLOBAL – U.S. FIXED INCOME ETF
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its investment for a limited period of time solely to facilitate commencement of the Fund or to facilitate the Fund’s achieving a specified size or scale. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder would not redeem its investment, that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels or that the Fund would continue to meet applicable listing requirements. Redemptions by large shareholders could have a significant negative impact on the Fund. In addition, transactions by large shareholders may account for a large percentage of the trading volume on the listing exchange and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the shares.

Portfolio Turnover The sub-advisor will sell a security or enter or close out of a derivative position when it believes it is appropriate to do so, regardless of how long the Fund has held the security. The Fund's portfolio turnover rate may exceed 100% per year because of the anticipated use of certain investment strategies. The rate of portfolio turnover will not be a limiting factor for the sub-advisor in making decisions on when to buy or sell securities. High turnover will increase the Fund's transaction costs and may increase your tax liability if the transactions result in capital gains.

Cybersecurity Cybersecurity incidents, both intentional and unintentional, may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, cause the Fund, the investment manager, the sub-advisor, authorized participants, or index providers (as applicable) and listing exchanges, and/or their service providers (including, but not limited to, Fund accountants, custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality or prevent Fund investors from purchasing, redeeming shares or receiving distributions. The investment manager and the sub-advisor have limited ability to prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents affecting third party service providers, and such third party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Fund, the investment manager or the sub-advisor. Cybersecurity incidents may result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, and substantial costs may be incurred in an effort to prevent or mitigate future cybersecurity incidents. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.

Because technology is frequently changing, new ways to carry out cyber attacks are always developing. Therefore, there is a chance that some risks have not been identified or prepared for, or that an attack may not be detected, which puts limitations on the Fund's ability to plan for or respond to a cyber attack. Like other funds and business enterprises, the Fund, the investment manager, the sub-

   
 

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BRANDYWINEGLOBAL – U.S. FIXED INCOME ETF
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advisor, and their service providers are subject to the risk of cyber incidents occurring from time to time.

Performance

Because the Fund is new, it has no performance history. Once the Fund has commenced operations, you can obtain updated performance information at franklintempleton.com or by calling (800) DIAL BEN/342-5236. The Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.

Investment Manager

Franklin Advisers, Inc. (Advisers or investment manager)

Sub-Advisor

Brandywine Global Investment Management, LLC (Brandywine Global)

Portfolio Managers

Jack P. McIntyre, CFA 
Portfolio Manager of Brandywine Global and portfolio manager of the Fund since inception (2023).

Anujeet Sareen, CFA 
Portfolio Manager of Brandywine Global and portfolio manager of the Fund since inception (2023).

Brian L. Kloss, JD, CPA 
Portfolio Manager of Brandywine Global and portfolio manager of the Fund since inception (2023).

Tracy Chen, CFA, CAIA
Portfolio Manager of Brandywine Global and portfolio manager of the Fund since inception (2023).

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Fund is an ETF. Fund shares may only be purchased and sold on a national securities exchange through a broker-dealer. The price of Fund shares is based on market price, and because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). The Fund issues or redeems shares that have been aggregated into blocks of 50,000 shares or multiples thereof (Creation Units) to Authorized Participants who have entered into agreements with the Fund’s distributor, Franklin Distributors, LLC (Distributors). The Fund will generally issue or redeem Creation

   
 

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BRANDYWINEGLOBAL – U.S. FIXED INCOME ETF
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Units in exchange for a basket of securities (which may include cash in lieu of certain securities) and/or an amount of cash that the Fund specifies each day.

An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including information on the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads is available on the Fund’s website at https://www.franklintempleton.com/investor/investments-and-solutions/investment-options/etfs/.

Taxes

The Fund’s distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case your distributions would generally be taxed when withdrawn from the tax-advantaged account.

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the investment manager or other related companies may pay the intermediary for certain Fund-related activities, including those that are designed to make the intermediary more knowledgeable about exchange traded products, such as the Fund, as well as for marketing, education or other initiatives related to the sale or promotion of Fund shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

   
 

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Franklin Distributors, LLC

One Franklin Parkway

San Mateo, CA 94403-1906

franklintempleton.com

BRANDYWINEGLOBAL – U.S. FIXED INCOME ETF

  
  

Investment Company Act file #811-23124

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