Putnam New York Investment Grade Municipal Trust (AMEX: PMN)
At the meeting, shareholders of Putnam High Yield Municipal Trust voted
against converting the fund from closed-end to open-end form. The
proposal to convert to open-end form was submitted to the shareholders
of this fund as a result of provisions in the fund’s
Agreement and Declaration of Trust that require that, if the fund’s
shares trade at a certain discount to net asset value during the last 12
weeks of the fund’s fiscal year, a proposal to
convert the fund to open-end form must be presented to shareholders at
the fund’s next annual meeting.
As discussed in the definitive proxy statement filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission on September 14, 2006, the Trustees believe that
Putnam High Yield Municipal Trust is afforded potential investment
advantages as a result of its closed-end status. For this and other
reasons, the Trustees recommended that shareholders of the fund vote to
defeat the proposal. The affirmative vote of more than 50% of the shares
outstanding as of the record date, August 3, 2006, would have been
required to pass the proposal. Fewer than 14% of the fund’s
outstanding shares were voted in favor of the proposal. These results
are consistent with the results of shareholder voting on open-ending
proposals in previous years by this fund and other Putnam closed-end
funds.
At the annual meeting, shareholders of all five funds also elected each
of the 11 nominees for Trustees, who all currently serve as Trustees. A
twelfth Trustee, Kenneth R. Leibler, was appointed to the Board of
Trustees after the proxy statements for the meeting had been mailed.
Two separate shareholder proposals requesting the Trustees to merge
Putnam California Investment Grade Municipal Trust and Putnam New York
Investment Grade Municipal Trust into their respective open-end Putnam
fund counterparts or otherwise enable shareholders to realize the net
asset value of their shares were not voted upon because the shareholder
proponent did not appear at the meeting to present them. As described in
the proxy statement, the Trustees had recommended that shareholders vote
to defeat both shareholder proposals. No further action will be taken
regarding these shareholder proposals.
About Putnam Investments: At Putnam Investments, our top priority
remains prudently managing money for our more than 10 million individual
and institutional investors worldwide. Since 1937, our values have been
rooted in a profound sense of responsibility for the money entrusted to
us. We use a research-driven team approach to seek consistent,
dependable, superior investment results over time, although there is no
guarantee a fund will meet its objectives. We are committed to doing
what's right for investors, including maintaining stringent investor
protections for every Putnam fund.
Founded in 1937, Putnam Investments is one of the nation's oldest and
largest money management firms. As of October 31, 2006, Putnam managed
$187 billion in assets, of which $121 billion is for mutual fund
investors and $66 billion is for institutional accounts. Putnam has
offices in Boston, London and Tokyo. For more information, go to
www.putnam.com.
