Whether the Putnam Premier Income Trust will open-end will go before shareholders early next year. The closed end fund has been trading at a discount of more than 10 percent over the past 12 weeks. That discount triggered the vote.

Shareholders will vote on the matter no latter than January, 2007, the date for the fund's next shareholder meeting. A vote could be set for an earlier date. The trustees for the fund are recommend that the fund remain closed end.

This is the third time that the issue has come before shareholders this decade. In 2001, 2005 and 2006 they voted to retain the closed-end nature of the fund. In each of those cases 17 percent or fewer of the shares voted in favor of an open ending of the fund. In other cases in which Putnam closed end fund structures were put to a shareholder vote, the open-ending also failed to achaive a majority of the vote.  

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