Products November 17, 2008

Putnam Merges Six Equity Offerings

November 17, 2008 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Putnam Investments announced Monday that it is merging half a dozen equity funds to remove product redundancies.
Reported by

A Putnam news release said in each case, the acquiring fund is the larger of the two funds and shareholders in funds to be merged are generally expected to benefit from reduced expense ratios.

Putnam said the mergers of these funds have been approved by the funds’ Board of Trustees and are expected to be completed over the next approximately 30 to 60 days.  Shareholder approval is not required because of the similarity of the combining funds.

Putnam, on Monday, also announced a restructuring of its equity teams (See Putnam Announces Equity Restructuring ) as well some personnel reductions (See  Putnam Axes a Dozen Portfolio Managers ).

Fund to be merged/  Acquiring fund/   Fund manager(s) for both funds, effective November 17, 2008:         

  • Putnam Capital Appreciation Fund/      Putnam Investors Fund/   Gerard Sullivan and Robert Brookby     
  • Putnam Classic Equity Fund/    The Putnam Fund for Growth and Income/      Robert Ewing   
  • Putnam Discovery Growth Fund/    Putnam New Opportunities Fund/       Gerry Moore    
  • Putnam New Value Fund/    Putnam Equity Income Fund/     Bart Geer    
  • Putnam OTC & Emerging Growth Fund/     Putnam Vista Fund/   Ray Haddad      
  • Putnam Tax Smart Equity Fund/  Putnam Investors Fund/   Gerard Sullivan and Robert Brookby 

Source: Putnam Investments

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