Putnam not looking to make acquisitions, says CEO

Putnam Investments isn’t interested in acquiring other investment management companies, according to the head of the Boston-based mutual fund company that Great-West Lifeco Inc. of Winnipeg, Manitoba, is acquiring from Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. of New York.
With most major asset classes already represented within its investment management team, the acquisition of an outside investment manager would likely send the wrong signal to the firm’s existing money managers, said Charles “Ed” Haldeman Jr., Putnam chief executive.
“I don’t think we’ll be doing a lot of acquisitions,” Mr. Haldeman said Thursday at the Tiburon Strategic Advisors CEO Summit XII in San Francisco. “They are disruptive to the very very fragile fabric you are trying to build in one of these asset classes.”
The $3.9 billion deal is expected to close on May 31.