Power Financial Corp. in Montreal announced today that it will buy fund company Putnam Investments from insurance behemoth Marsh & McLennan for $3.9 billion; the deal is set to close the middle of this year. For Marsh, the sale marks the end of its campaign to sell the beleaguered fund company that suffered from a now-famous fund-trading scandal and, in recent years, the underperformance of many of its mutual funds.

In announcing the agreement, both Power Financial and Putnam also announced that Putnam's senior management team will remain in its place.

As the owner of Canada's largest mutual fund company, Power Financial declared that its newest acquisition allows the company to expand its mutual fund presence in the U.S market. "Power Financial Corp. has wanted for some time to expand the presence of its financial services group in the United States," the company said in a statement.

Putnam had $192 billion in assets under management at the end of 2006, with $118 billion of those funds in retail mutual fund assets. Power Financial was not the only bidder for Boston-based Putnam and speculation about its eventual suitor had percolated for some time.