Putnam Taps Co Investment Heads

Putnam announced that it had hired Charles Haldeman and promoted Steve Oristaglio to be co-heads of investment, Reuters reported. Oristaglio is now deputy investment head.

Former investment head Tim Ferguson will stay with Putnam and focus on strategic initiatives and alternative investments, according to the Reuters story.

The move comes as Putnam, which oversees $260 billion in assets, is grappling with the effects of declining stocks and other staff changes, according to Reuters.

Investment management revenue tumbled 17% in the second quarter, Putnam said. Industry analysts estimate that investors pulled more than $10 billion from the firm’s funds in the first eight months of the year.

High-profile fund managers, including Colin Moore who was Putnam’s chief investment officer for global and international equities, quit for other jobs this summer at the same time the firm was making another round of layoffs.

Haldeman, who earned law and business degrees from Harvard University, was most recently president and chief executive officer at Delaware Investments and Lincoln National Investment Companies. Before that he worked at United Asset Management Corp., Putnam said.