Putnam Shed A Quarter Of Its Assets Or $37 Billion In November-December 2003

Putnam parent Marsh & McLennan said yesterday that Putnam, the first fund manager to be charged with wrong doing in the mutual funds scandal, lost assets worth $37 billion – 23 per cent of the total assets under management – in November and December last year after the scandal broke. By Monday of this week total assets under management at Putnam were worth $240 billion, well down on the $251 billion at the end of 2002, despite the surge in market values since the middle of last year. However, average assets under management during the year – the basis on which the all-important fees are calculated – were actually up to $259 billion in 2003, against $249 billion in 2002.