Putnam Investments and the Board of Trustees of the Putnam Funds
today announced that IVS Associates, Inc., the independent
inspector of election at the April 8, 2010 meeting of shareholders
of Putnam Municipal Opportunities Trust (NYSE: PMO), has certified
the voting results of the meeting.
The certified results show that shareholders solidly voted to
re-elect independent fund Trustees Ravi Akhoury, Jameson A. Baxter,
Charles B. Curtis, Robert J. Darretta, Myra R. Drucker, Paul L.
Joskow, Elizabeth T. Kennan, Kenneth R. Leibler, George Putnam,
III, W. Thomas Stephens, and Richard B. Worley, as well as fund
Trustee Robert L. Reynolds. Due to the lack of a quorum of
preferred shares, no action was taken to elect the two Trustees
reserved for election solely by the preferred shareholders; as a
result, independent fund Trustees John A. Hill and Robert E.
Patterson remain in office and continue to serve as Trustees.
In addition, the certified voting results show that a
shareholder proposal urging consideration of the conversion of the
fund to an open-end fund was rejected. The shareholder proposal was
submitted by Karpus Management, Inc. (“Karpus”), a dissident
institutional investor which specializes in taking positions in
closed-end funds when discounts are large and then seeking
short-term profits by pressing for conversion of such funds to
open-end form or other liquidity events.
A quorum was reached on those two matters—electing 12 Trustees
of the fund and considering the shareholder proposal—considered by
the fund’s common and preferred shareholders voting together as a
single class. Twelve of the fund’s current Trustees were re-elected
by the common and preferred shareholders voting together as a
single class. However, a quorum was not reached on the sole
matter—election of two Trustees—to be considered only by the
preferred shareholders voting separately.
“We are pleased that shareholders have re-elected the fund’s
Trustees and have rejected the shareholder proposal relating to
open-ending the fund. By doing so, the fund’s shareholders have
reaffirmed their support for the fund’s current strategic
direction,” said John A. Hill, independent Chairman of the Board of
Trustees of the Putnam Funds. Shareholders of record at the close
of business on January 11, 2010 were entitled to be present and to
vote at the meeting.
With respect to those candidates for election by the common and
preferred shareholders voting together as a single class, Karpus
had notified the fund of its intention to nominate a slate of eight
individuals, all of whom were defeated by the fund’s shareholders.
In addition, Karpus sought to nominate two of these individuals for
election by preferred shareholders voting as a separate class.
These nominations were ruled out of order at the meeting because
notice of such nominations was not submitted to the fund in
accordance with the fund’s bylaws. Prior to the meeting, Karpus had
sought injunctive relief in Massachusetts Superior Court ordering
the fund to recognize Karpus’s two purported nominees for Trustee
positions reserved for election solely by the preferred
shareholders. The court denied Karpus its desired relief.
Discussing the defeat of Karpus’s proposal urging consideration
of the conversion of the fund to an open-end fund, Mr. Hill added,
“We remain mindful that, under certain circumstances, it might be
appropriate to merge or convert the fund into an open-end fund.
However, we believe that the merits of maintaining a closed-end
fund structure at this time are especially compelling in light of
the current market circumstances, narrow trading price discount,
advantageous preferred share leverage, and significant
outperformance by the fund relative to a comparable open-end
investment strategy. We will periodically review this conclusion as
market conditions change, as part of our ongoing work representing
the best interests of the fund’s shareholders.”
The details of the certified voting results are appended to this
press release (as Appendix
A). The results also will be communicated to shareholders in
the fund’s annual report for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2010,
which will be transmitted to shareholders and filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission on or about June 30, 2010.
About Putnam Investments
Founded in 1937, Putnam Investments is a leading global money
management firm with over 70 years of investment experience. The
firm was recently ranked #1 out of 61 fund families based on its
funds’ performance during 2009 in a Lipper/Barron’s Fund Families
Survey and named “Mutual Fund Manager of the Year” by Institutional
Investor. At the end of March 2010, Putnam had $118 billion in
assets under management. Putnam has offices in Boston, London,
Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Singapore, and Sydney. For more
information, visit putnam.com.
Appendix A: Voting Results of Meeting of
Shareholders of Putnam Municipal Opportunities Trust
1. Fixing the number of Trustees at 14 and electing
nominees for Trustees
The nominees for Trustee for election by the common and
preferred shareholders, voting as a single class, received the
following votes. The twelve nominees who received the most “Votes
for” were elected:
Nominee
Votes for
Votes withheld
Fund’s Nominees: *Ravi Akhoury
17,560,156 1,438,073 *Jameson A. Baxter 17,586,776
1,411,453 *Charles B. Curtis 17,597,191
1,401,038 *Robert J. Darretta 17,588,276 1,409,953
*Myra R. Drucker 17,590,398 1,407,831 *Paul L. Joskow
17,598,257 1,399,972 *Elizabeth T. Kennan
17,566,320 1,431,909 *Kenneth R. Leibler 17,589,564
1,408,665 *George Putnam, III 17,584,976
1,413,253 *Robert L. Reynolds 17,603,718 1,394,511
*W. Thomas Stephens 17,591,723 1,406,506 *Richard B.
Worley 17,598,862 1,399,367 Karpus’s Nominees:
Walter S. Baer 11,496,196
1,004,625 Donald Chapman 11,500,787 1,000,034 Richard
W. Cohen 6,053,133 -0- Phillip Goldstein
6,053,133 -0- Robert Hoyt 11,494,812 1,006,009
Jeffrey P. Lessard 11,492,572 1,008,249 Brad Orvieto
11,494,997 1,005,824 Arthur Charles Regan
11,489,799 1,011,022
* Denotes nominee who was elected as a Trustee at the
meeting.
Due to the lack of a quorum of preferred shares, preferred
shareholders did not transact business as a separate class with
respect to the two nominees, John A. Hill and Robert E. Patterson,
for election solely by the preferred shareholders.
2. Shareholder proposal recommending that the Trustees
consider converting the fund to an open-end format
The fund’s common and preferred shareholders voted together as a
single class on a shareholder proposal requesting that the Board of
Trustees promptly consider converting the Fund from a closed-end
fund format. The proposal was defeated as follows:
Votes for
Votes against
Abstentions
14,226,749 16,549,467 722,827
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