Marsh & McLennan, a US professional services group, is to pay $105m (€82m) in severance costs as it cuts 750 jobs.

Last month the group said it would make the redundancies to save about $350m by the end of 2008. Marsh, its insurance subsidiary, and its Mercer human resource consulting arm will be affected most by the losses. In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission last week, Marsh & McLennan detailed the types and estimated amounts of net charges relating to the cost cutting, which it expects to result in net cash outflows of $175m. Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus, a US boutique, said : "While we concede significant cost-cutting opportunities exist in a company of March & McLennan's size, we are sceptical about management's savings projections. Despite undergoing two big restructurings over the past two years, margins remain unimpressive. Selling non-synergistic business units would go further in unlocking shareholder value." Last week the group said it is seeking offers for its $181bn money manager Putnam Investments, through Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch. Putnam's revenues declined in the first half, falling 10% to $339m compared with the same period last year. Assets fell $9bn to $180bn in the second quarter, its lowest level in nine years. Alain Karaoglan, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, estimated Putnam's value at between $3bn and $4.5bn based on the highest and lowest price/earnings multiples for publicly traded peers. The Stifel analysts estimated Putman could be worth $2.8bn to $3.6bn. Marsh & McLennan was unavailable for comment.