The Bull Case For Franklin Resources (BEN) Could Change Following New Morningstar Public/Private Portfolio Partnership

June 20, 2026 - 17:14

Morningstar Wealth has announced a partnership with Apollo Global Management, Franklin Resources, and J.P. Morgan Asset Management to launch a new investment offering called the Morningstar Public/Private Select Series. This suite of model portfolios is designed for financial advisors and blends exchange-traded funds with interval funds, combining public equities, private credit, and real estate into a single strategy.

The collaboration pairs Franklin Resources' expertise in both public and private market strategies with Morningstar's established asset allocation and due diligence framework. By integrating these elements, the portfolios aim to give advisors a structured way to include private assets in client accounts without the complexity of building such allocations from scratch.

For Franklin Resources, known by its ticker BEN, this deal could mark a shift in the bull case for the asset manager. The firm has been working to expand beyond its traditional mutual fund business, and this partnership signals a deeper push into the model portfolio space alongside major players like Apollo and J.P. Morgan. If the Morningstar series gains traction with advisors, it could provide Franklin with a new distribution channel for its interval funds and ETF strategies, potentially driving fee income and assets under management growth.

The move also reflects a broader trend in wealth management, where advisors are increasingly looking for packaged solutions that offer exposure to private markets. By embedding Franklin's products into Morningstar's trusted framework, the partnership may help the firm capture a larger share of this growing demand. For investors watching BEN, the question is whether this collaboration will translate into meaningful revenue or if it remains a small piece of a larger turnaround story.