Franklin to liquidate DVAL, down to $71 million from $181 million at its 2022 conversion

Franklin Templeton is liquidating BrandywineGLOBAL-Dynamic US Large Cap Value ETF CDVAL, the quantitative large-cap U.S. value fund it converted from a mutual fund four years ago. The shares returned 15.8% over the past year, distributions included. The strategy held about $181 million on September 30, 2022. As of Tuesday it holds $70.88 million.

The Tuesday filing also dissolves two other funds. BrandywineGLOBAL - U.S. Fixed Income ETF DUSFI, an actively managed book of U.S. investment-grade bonds, holds $9.65 million. Franklin Multisector Income ETF CMULT, which seeks current income across bond sectors, holds $9.91 million. In March, Franklin said it would liquidate seven Putnam ETFs, with that wind-up anticipated on or about June 16.

The trustees of Franklin Templeton ETF Trust voted on September 3 to dissolve the three funds. The prospectus supplement that reached the SEC on Tuesday is a calendar: when creations stop, when Nasdaq goes dark, and when the cash shows up. It does not cite assets, fees, or demand.

October 27 is the last day to sell

Each liquidation is anticipated on or about November 3. The mechanics are the same for all three funds.

Creations stop after the close on October 6. Shareholders may sell on Nasdaq through the close on October 27, paying ordinary brokerage commissions. Trading is scheduled to halt before the open on October 28; the shares will not trade after the October 27 close and will then be delisted. If you still hold shares after that close, the fund redeems them individually for cash equal to net asset value, including any capital gains and dividends, on or about November 3. No dollar amount per share has been set.

The filing is explicit about what happens inside the portfolio before then. Liquidation of holdings is anticipated to begin before October 28. During that stretch the funds may hold cash and securities that do not match their stated goals. Remaining holders keep a ticker, not the strategy, for some of those last sessions.

For taxable accounts, the supplement says liquidation proceeds should generally be treated as received in exchange for the shares, producing a gain or loss, and that a fund may also declare taxable distributions of income or capital gain. The dates are anticipated, not locked.

The practical constraint is liquidity, and it is not the same across the three.

DUSFI printed 100 shares on eight of the 10 sessions. CMULT never traded more than 300 shares. For anyone holding more than a token position in the bond funds, the exchange is not a reliable exit. The NAV cash-out is.

Assets as of Tuesday, September 8. Expense ratios as of the August 1, 2026 prospectus. CDVAL’s date is the predecessor mutual fund’s inception; it listed on Nasdaq on October 31, 2022.

CDVAL converted. It did not gather assets.

CDVAL opened as BrandywineGLOBAL - Dynamic US Large Cap Value Fund on December 27, 2006, a quantitative screen of large U.S. stocks. Franklin reorganized it into an ETF effective October 28, 2022, and listed it three days later. The investment goal and the process came across with the wrapper.

It charges 0.49%. Vanguard Morningstar Value ETF AVTV, a $256.5 billion fund of large U.S. value stocks, charges 0.03%. Franklin is not mapping CDVAL holders into it or any other product. The payout is cash.

DUSFI and CMULT never left the pad

DUSFI listed on July 25, 2023, promising total return from U.S. investment-grade debt. Three years on it holds $9.65 million. Franklin already runs a larger, cheaper core bond ETF in the same complex: Franklin U.S. Core Bond ETF AFLCB holds $3.07 billion and charges 0.15%. DUSFI returned 1.98% over the past year, distributions included.

CMULT is younger and no larger. Franklin listed it on August 26, 2025, with a mandate to maximize current income across bond sectors and a secondary aim of capital appreciation. A year later it holds $9.91 million, charges 0.39%, and has returned 1.89% over the past year. Capital Group U.S. Multi-Sector Income ETF ACGMS does similar work at the same 0.39% fee with $5.43 billion behind it.

Tuesday’s supplement does not tie these three dissolutions to the Putnam round. The three funds fit the ordinary pattern: too small, for too long, in categories where the surviving products are already large.

Holders who want the exposure after November 3 will have to buy it. Franklin is not converting these shares into AFLCB or anything else. The funds will be redeemed for cash, the tickers will come off Nasdaq, and a quantitative value strategy that spent 16 years as a mutual fund and four as an ETF will end the way most small ETFs end: with a check, on or about a Tuesday in November.