Putnam to launch short-term, intermediate-term municipal funds

By Toni Weeks

San Diego, Dec. 10 - Putnam Funds Trust announced in an N-1A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it will launch two new municipal funds.

The Putnam Short-Term Municipal Income Fund and the Putnam Intermediate-Term Municipal Income Fund both seek as high a level of current income exempt from federal income tax as is consistent with preservation of capital.

The short-term fund will invest mainly in bonds that pay interest that is exempt from federal income tax but may be subject to federal alternative minimum tax. The bonds will mainly be investment grade in quality and have short-term maturities of three years or less. The strategy is the same for the intermediate-term fund, but that fund will target bonds with intermediate-term maturities of three to 10 years.

Susan McCormack, Thalia Meehan and Paul Drury will be the portfolio managers for both funds.

Both funds will launch with class A, class B, class C, class M and class Y shares. Ticker symbols have not yet been set.

Shareholder fees for either fund will consist of a 4% and 3.25% maximum sales charge for class A shares and class M shares, respectively. Class A and class C shares will incur a 1% maximum deferred sales charge, with the fee for class C shares eliminated after one year, while class B's deferred sales charge of 5% will be phased out over six years.

Management fees for the short-term fund are expected to be 0.354%. Although other expenses have not been set, a fee waiver agreement has been established with the investment adviser. Taking this into account, total annual fees are expected to be 0.8% for class A, 1.4% for class B, 1.55% for class C, 1.05% for class M and 0.55% for class Y shares.

Management fees for the intermediate-term fund are expected to be 0.444%. Total annual fees are expected to be 0.85% for class A, 1.45% for class B, 1.6% for class C, 1.1% for class M and 0.6% for class Y shares.

Boston-based Putnam Investment Management, LLC will serve as the funds' investment adviser.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.