Legg Mason swings to loss on asset writedowns

Feb 1 (Reuters) - Asset manager Legg Mason Inc said on Friday it swung to a quarterly loss due to charges for impaired assets.

For the three months ended Dec. 31, its third fiscal quarter, Legg Mason reported a net loss of $453.9 million, or $3.45 per share, compared with net income of $28.1 million, or 20 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

As it had forecast, Legg Mason's results included pretax charges of $734 million, or $508 million after taxes, to account for writing down the value of assets like fund management contracts and uncertainties such as its ongoing search for a new chief executive.