Putnam Now Expected to Fetch Top Dollar

Although many analysts previously believed that Putnam Investments might be a tough sell for Marsh & McLennan, some analysts now believe it might fetch an attractive price, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The previous skepticism was fueled by the market-timing scandal Putnam got embroiled in and its subsequent steady loss of assets. In 2002, Putnam had $251 billion under management, and today, that’s $187 billion. For the past four years, the firm has lost assets every month; that didn’t end until this past October.

Calling Putnam a “star name,” C. Meyrick Payne, a senior partner with Management Practice, says that at the least, Putnam will attract the benchmark 2% of assets—and possibly as much as 6%. That means the asking price would be somewhere between $3.74 billion and $11.22 billion.