Putnam to Launch Alternative Strategies Funds

Putnam Investments will release several mutual funds that adhere to three alternative strategies aiming to provide advisers and their clients with portfolio construction tools designed to help them navigate varying market conditions. These funds will be sub-advised by PanAgora Asset Management and are expected to be available in the marketplace in the third quarter of this year.

The Putnam PanAgora Risk Parity Fund seeks total return under varying economic conditions through strategic allocation across asset classes. It is a multi-asset solution seeking to balance the fund’s portfolio risks and generate more stable returns and greater downside protection than more traditional multi-asset approaches. The fund allocates to equities to preserve capital during economic contraction by allocating to nominal fixed income, and to protect from inflation with commodities and inflation-linked bonds.

The Putnam PanAgora Market Neutral Fund pursues uncorrelated alpha by investing in long/short equity strategies. It is a systematic long/short global equity market neutral strategy that seeks to generate attractive absolute returns that are uncorrelated to general equity markets by identifying and exploiting multiple inefficiencies that exist in global markets. The fund will pursue a similar approach as the PanAgora Diversified Arbitrage strategy, which was incepted in 2010 for the institutional marketplace. 

The Putnam PanAgora Managed Futures Fund seeks absolute return through a managed futures strategy that is designed to provide meaningful diversification to traditional asset classes. It seeks absolute return through a managed futures strategy that is designed to provide meaningful diversification to traditional asset classes. The fund utilizes systematic long/short exposure to liquid futures and forwards across commodities, equities, fixed income and currencies.

“We have entered an era when the marketplace increasingly understands the need for innovative investment approaches,” says Robert L. Reynolds, president and CEO, Putnam Investments. “These three new products will give mutual fund investors and their advisers access to strategies that have been used successfully by the institutional market for many years. In broadening its slate of alternative offerings, Putnam will be bringing the specialized investment capabilities of our affiliate, PanAgora Asset Management, to our clients.”