New products from Putnam

Putnam Investments has launched two Australian resident managed investment schemes as part of its strategy to grow its Australian business.

The launch of Putnam Worldwide Income Fund and Putnam Global Concentrated Fund follows announcements by Putnam earlier this year to begin offering a range of investment styles directly to institutional clients and through advisory platforms to retail.

The Putnam Worldwide Income Fund aims to provide investors with current income consistent with capital preservation.

“Current income is an investment objective that resonates strongly with Australian investors,” Putnam senior vice-president and director of retail business Peter Walsh said.

The actively managed, multi-sector debt security fund seeks to capitalise on opportunities in major sectors of the global fixed-income markets, including government and their agencies, corporations, and securitised bonds. It will be managed by William Kohli and Rob Bloemker.

The Putnam Global Concentrated Fund will invest primarily in leading companies in a variety of sectors around the world.

The fund, managed by Shigeki Makino and Bradford Greenleaf, seeks to provide long-term capital growth and a diversified approach to global investing.

Last week Putnam appointed Equity Trustees to provide responsible entity services for its investment funds in Australia, and has said that it intends to add more products to its family of funds over time.

“We plan to continue to diversify our Australian business across a range of innovative and customised solutions — from traditional to quantitative to alternative investment strategies,” Putnam International Business managing director Jeffrey Peters said.