Boston-based fund manager Putnam Investments, which is controlled by Power Financial Corp. [PWF/TSX], looks to have made a good bet on Bear Stearns (BSC). Putnam sold two-thirds of its stake in the troubled investment bank, or 4.43 million of its 6.7 million shares, sometime in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to Reuters.
Putnam was the Wall Street firm’s largest shareholder with a 6% stake of more than 7 million shares at the end of June. But by the end of the year, Putnam fell to tenth spot among Bear Stearns’ institutional shareholders with 2.24 million shares, Reuters reported.
Regardless of when exactly it disposed of these shares, Putnam likely took a loss on Bear Stearns. While the stock has plunged recently in the wake of a potential bankruptcy and the $2 per share buyout proposed by JPMorgan (JPM), Bear Stearns had already declined nearly 40% in the last half of 2007.
