Bob Reynolds is looking to lure investors back with the promise of something shiny and new.
The Putnam [profile] chief hopes to rebuild the Boston-based firms customer based by introducing six new Mutual funds. Bloomberg reported on the launch.
Reporter Christopher Condon notes that this pushes Putnam's new fund count to 26, since Reynolds took the helm in 2008. Prior to that it had been four years since the shop had created new funds.
For more details on Reynold's strategy, check out the original article here.
The company news release is below.
Company Press Release
PUTNAM INVESTMENTS LAUNCHES SIX INVESTMENT PRODUCTS DESIGNED
TO ADDRESS ONGOING VOLATILITY, CHANGING TAX ENVIRONMENT,
AND NEED FOR NEW SOURCES OF INCOME
Firm Introduces a Mix of Traditional and Non-Traditional Offerings
to Help Advisors and Investors Seize Opportunity and Mitigate Risk
BOSTON, March 18, 2013 – Putnam Investments, which has been actively
helping financial advisors and investors recognize and adjust to today’s
dynamic investment era, is launching six new products designed to address
several significant ongoing challenges for the marketplace, including
volatility, the need for new sources of income and adjusting to a changing
tax environment.
In recent years, Putnam has advocated that advisors and their clients build
greater versatility and active risk management into their portfolios, using
a host of investment tools, including benchmark-measured and
benchmark-independent investments, global diversification with embedded
downside protection, strategic use of alternative asset classes, and new
sources of income.
Building on the strong line-up of existing traditional and non-traditional
offerings, Putnam will now be making the following six new products
available for use in portfolio construction:
· Putnam Low Volatility Equity Fund (PLVEX) – seeks returns comparable
to the U.S. equity market with lower volatility.
· Putnam Strategic Volatility Equity Fund (PSVEX) – pursues better
returns than stocks, but with volatility comparable to that of the
market.
· Putnam Global Dividend Fund (PGDEX) – seeks income and growth through
a diversified portfolio of dividend-paying and value stocks from
markets worldwide.
· Putnam Emerging Markets Income Fund (PEMWX) – pursues high current
income and capital appreciation through diverse return opportunities
across the emerging market debt landscape.
· Putnam Short-Term Municipal Income Fund (PSMEX) – a national
portfolio of short-term bonds seeking tax-free income with lower
interest-rate sensitivity.
· Putnam Intermediate-Term Municipal Income Fund (PIMEX) – a portfolio
of intermediate-term municipal bonds seeking high current income
exempt from federal income tax.
“Given all that investors and advisors have experienced over the past five
years, and the multitude of directions that markets could travel over the
next generation, we see a critical need for the investment industry to
think anew about ways to capture opportunity and mitigate risk,” said
Robert L. Reynolds, President and Chief Executive Officer, Putnam
Investments.
Speaking at an industry conference last week, Reynolds cited the lower
returns and increased volatility of core equity and bond markets over the
past decade as the deepest sources of investors’ angst. Moving forward, he
stressed the need for modern investment thinking that could help investors
navigate an era of constrained fixed income returns and
geopolitically-driven anxiety that often roils global equities.
“Advisors and their clients are becoming increasingly aware of the
importance of seeking out new blends of traditional and alternative
strategies to help ease the risk of any one particular asset class,
investment style or approach and to drive potentially more successful
portfolio outcomes,” Reynolds explained. “We think the mix of new Putnam
product offerings will help investors tackle some key ongoing needs,
including less volatile returns, income from diverse sources, and an
ability to withstand rising taxes.”
Awareness-Building Campaign
In February, Putnam announced the launch of an awareness-building campaign,
entitled, “New Ways of Thinking,” to provide insight on the challenges
facing financial advisors and investors. Expected to continue throughout
2013, the effort seeks to encourage the marketplace to consider new ways of
thinking about investing. These include taking a more targeted approach to
desired levels of risk and return; pursuing the best ideas — wherever they
may be; allocating risk — not just assets; and finding new drivers of
return. In addition to new print, direct marketing and online advertising,
the firm will be developing content-rich thought leadership through
business seminars, industry events, and white papers on an array of
investment topics. These will include the integration of traditional and
alternative products, the benefits of Sharpe ratio investing, the relevance
of active risk management, and more.
Recent History of Product Innovation at Putnam
Under Reynolds’s leadership, Putnam has introduced a series of product
innovations designed to help advisors and investors address a new
investment era, including:
· Putnam Absolute Return Funds, the industry’s first complete suite of
absolute return products; designed to seek positive returns above
inflation over a full market cycle regardless of market condition, with
lower volatility.
· Putnam Equity Spectrum and Putnam Capital Spectrum Funds, which
specialize in finding value in the stocks and bonds of undervalued,
leveraged companies by investing across the entire capital structure.
· Putnam Dynamic Risk Allocation Fund, which employs a form of risk
parity, which the firm has managed for a variety of sophisticated
institutional investors for over a half-decade. The fund provides a
different lens on investing by actively and regularly rebalancing
varying sources of portfolio risk within and among multiple asset
classes.
· Putnam Short Duration Income Fund, which strives for a higher rate of
current income than is typical of short-term investments and has a
greater focus on capital preservation than is usually associated with
ultra-short bond funds, with the goal of maintaining liquidity.
· Putnam Retirement Income Lifestyle Funds, a suite of three
income-oriented mutual funds, along with a powerful Retirement Income
Tool (publicly available at www.putnam.com/retirementincome), which may
be used in tandem to confront the unique set of complexities presented
by the savings withdrawal phase of retirement.
· Putnam RetirementReady® Funds, the first lifecycle products that give
fund managers control over all securities chosen for inclusion in a
target-date product.
· Putnam Global Sector Funds, the first series of mutual funds to target
stocks in sectors across the entire MSCI World Index (as well as Putnam
Global Sector Fund, the first fund-of-sector-funds in the global equity
space).
· Putnam Multi-Cap Core, Putnam Multi-Cap Value, and Putnam Multi-Cap
Growth Funds, three multi-cap equity funds with exposure to the full
array of U.S. stocks within the value, core/blend, and growth style
universes.
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