PPT Putnam Premier Income Trust

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