Putnam Investments today announced that it will begin to actively seek opportunities to serve the broader college savings market nationwide through offering its advisor-sold investment product lineup, program administration experience, sales infrastructure and industry-recognized customer service standards. Previously Putnam had addressed the 529 college savings needs through financial advisors in an exclusive relationship with the state of Ohio since 2000.

Putnam will be transitioning away from its exclusive work in 529 college savings for the Ohio Tuition Trust Authority (Tuition Trust), managing the Putnam CollegeAdvantage Plan, based on Tuition Trust’s intention to narrow the number of advisor-sold 529 plan options offered. Beginning in October, Putnam will make its bolstered investment organization and 529 experience set available for a host of potential marketplace assignments in the future.

“We appreciate the experience of working in partnership with the Ohio Tuition Trust Authority and financial advisors to help families save for higher education over the last decade, but we see enormous opportunity to bring the full weight and breadth of Putnam’s strengthened investment capabilities, innovative product solutions, and heralded service and distribution teams to bear for the broader college savings marketplace,” commented Robert L. Reynolds, president and chief executive officer, Putnam Investments.

"Putnam's commitment to helping working Americans and others save for their own retirement and for college education for their children and grandchildren is unwavering,” Reynolds continued. “While the challenge for families to gather resources for the important task of funding higher education has never been greater, we believe that our firm has a uniquely strong solution set to offer the college savings marketplace and we plan to develop and improve on it for years to come."

The Putnam announcement comes at a time when Reynolds’ rebuilding efforts, leading to a dramatic turnaround in Putnam’s investment performance, have been broadly acknowledged. Recently, Institutional Investor named Putnam Investments “Mutual Fund Manager of the Year,” and Reynolds, “Fund Leader of the Year.” In February, Putnam earned the #1 ranking in the 2010 Lipper/Barron’s Best Mutual-Fund Families Survey based on dramatic gains by individual funds and advancements across the entire fund complex in 2009.

Putnam Under Reynolds

Since joining Putnam on July 1, 2008, Reynolds has moved aggressively to improve fund performance and strengthen Putnam’s investment unit. He restructured Putnam’s equity investment division to increase individual fund manager accountability and responsibility, and he realigned manager and analyst incentives to reward those who deliver top-quartile results for investors.

Putnam has also recruited a number of distinguished industry veterans in portfolio management, research, and trading during the past 18 months, including Chief Investment Officer Walter Donovan and Portfolio Managers Robert Ewing, David Glancy, and Nick Thakore. The company has also sought to build a first-class, high-talent research team to drive its fundamental investment approach.

Besides turning around the performance of existing funds, Putnam renewed its claim to leadership in mutual fund innovation, having launched 15 new funds since early 2009. The products introduced or enhanced during this period include:

  • Putnam Absolute Return Funds,* which are designed to pursue positive, targeted returns above inflation over three years or more, and with less volatility than more traditional funds. The absolute return strategies were also combined among the underlying investments in the Putnam RetirementReady® Funds, Putnam's unique suite of 10 target-date lifecycle retirement funds, the only suite of lifecycle funds in the industry to integrate these strategies;
  • The Putnam Spectrum Funds, which invest in the securities of leveraged companies, looking to generate returns through investments across their entire capital structure;
  • The actively managed Putnam Global Sector Funds, which target stocks in dynamic sectors across global markets, cover nine sectors across the entire MSCI World Index, and can be combined to create a highly customized portfolio.

About Putnam Investments

Founded in 1937, Putnam Investments is a leading global money management firm with over 70 years of investment experience. As of April 2010, Putnam had nearly $120 billion in assets under management. Putnam has offices in Boston, London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Singapore, and Sydney. For more information, go to putnam.com.

Putnam mutual funds are distributed by Putnam Retail Management.

* Putnam's target Absolute Return Funds are not intended to outperform stocks and bonds during strong market rallies.

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