Putnam reopens two funds

Putnam Investments of Boston said today it has reopened two funds to new investors.

The funds are Putnam Small Cap Value Fund and Putnam High Yield Advantage Fund.

Both funds were closed to new investors in an effort to keep asset levels at a manageable level and to preserve each fund's ability to carry out its investment strategy, the firm said, but with changing market conditions, the funds are being reopened.

Though its performance has improved lately, Putnam had $192 billion in assets under management at the end of 2006; at the start of the decade, it managed more than twice as much money.

New kinds of competition such as hedge funds have pressured traditional firms such as Putnam, which was founded in 1937, and Putnam became enmeshed in trading scandals about four years ago, forcing it to settle charges brought by state and federal regulators.

Last week, Putnam's parent, Marsh & McLennan Cos. of New York, agreed to sell Putnam to Power Financial Corp., a Canadian financial-services company, for $3.9 billion.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)