Marsh & McLennan Cos. chief executive officer Michael Cherkasky said the New York-based insurance brokerage giant may consider acquisitions to bolster its beleaguered Putnam Investments mutual fund unit.
Customers of Boston-based Putnam have withdrawn $143.4 billion more than they've deposited during the past three years as investment returns lagged and fund-trading scandals plagued the company. But Mr. Cherkasky said the outflows will stop by yearend.
"We're big enough and strong enough and have enough cash to do what we need to do for the company," he said in an interview last week. "We can get financed. There is a whole series of things we can do."
Putnam's managed assets fell 25%, to $189 billion, from the end of 2002 through last Dec. 31. It contributed 13% of Marsh & McLennan's revenue last year, down from 21% three years earlier.
The slide has prompted some shareholders to call for a sale of the business. But Mr. Cherkasky said he has no plan to sell. "It wouldn't be in our shareholders' interest to do anything but fix Putnam,'' he said. "We're going to do it this year."
