Deals & People January 29, 2008

Putnam Announces Fund Manager Shifts

Putnam Investments has announced its Global Asset Allocation (GAA) Team will assume responsibility on an interim basis for Putnam Voyager Fund and Putnam Growth Opportunities Fund.
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Jeffrey Knight, chief investment officer for GAA, and Robert Schoen, portfolio manager of GAA, become co-portfolio leaders for these funds, in addition to their current responsibilities, the company said.

Knight and Schoen are replacing Robert Ginsberg and Kelly Morgan, former co-portfolio leaders for Putnam Voyager Fund and Putnam Growth Opportunities Fund, who will leave Putnam at the end of January.

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Ginsberg responsibilities with the Putnam Discovery Growth Fund will be assumed by the portfolio team now in place, which includes portfolio leader Richard Weed and portfolio member Raymond Haddad. Knight and Schoen will be added as portfolio members.

Knight, deputy head of investments, has 18 years of investment experience, 14 of them with Putnam, and Schoen has 17 years of investment experience, 11 of which were at Putnam.

The Markets January 29, 2008

Domestic Equity Funds Take In $47B in December

Stock and bond mutual funds experienced net inflows of $47.2 billion in December and $376.3 billion for the year, according to data from the Financial Research Corporation (FRC).
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Domestic Equity offerings led the way with $29.1 billion in December inflows ($74.4 billion year to date), the FRC data showed.

International/Global funds followed Domestic Equity offerings with a $17.1 billion December advance ($208.6 billion year to date). Government funds had a $2.4 billion inflow ($6 billion year to date), while corporate funds had a $2.1 billion December asset increase ($79.8 billion year to date). Tax-Free Bond funds were hit with a $3.6 billion asset drain ($7.2 billion year to date).

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By Morningstar category, Large Blend was the winner in December with $25 billion in inflows ($63.2 billion year to date), followed by Large Growth at $5.1 billion ($1.6 billion year to date), and Intermediate Term Bond at $4.9 billion ($69.8 billion year to date).

State Street Global Advisors topped all funds families in December with $26.1 billion of net inflows ($49.2 billion year to date), while Barclays Global Investors came in second with $8.4 billion ($58.1 billion year to date), and American Funds posted $7.1 billion in net inflows ($74.6 billion year to date).

State Street Global Advisors’ SPDR Trust collected $21.6 billion to lead the December fund sales charts. iShares MSCI EAFE Idx was second at $3.4 billion.

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