Mildred B. Horejsi Trust Requests Injunction Against the Trustees of the Putnam California Investment Grade Municipal Trust
21 Mars 2007 - 11:30PM
PR Newswire (US)
BOULDER, Colo., March 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mildred B. Horejsi
Trust (the "Mildred Trust") announced today that it has filed a
complaint in Massachusetts state court against the trustees of the
Putnam California Investment Grade Municipal Trust ("PCA")
(AMEX:PCA) seeking an injunction to halt's PCA's forced liquidation
plan announced with no warning on Monday. The Mildred Trust also
seeks to stop the PCA trustees from closing PCA's transfer books
and suspending trading in PCA shares. PCA's trustees announced on
Monday that they plan to liquidate PCA, without seeking shareholder
approval of the liquidation, and that they plan on closing PCA's
transfer books and suspending trading of PCA's shares at the close
of business on Monday, March 26, 2007. The Mildred Trust believes
these actions, on such short notice and without PCA shareholder
approval, violate the governing documents of PCA, and are expressly
for the purpose of preventing the Mildred Trust from closing its
current tender offer at $15 per share and purchasing any PCA
shares. These actions will prevent PCA shareholders from having the
opportunity to tender their shares at a price greater than PCA's
current market price or PCA's net asset value. The Mildred Trust
believes that the trustees have violated their duties to
shareholders by taking these actions, to the detriment of PCA's
shareholders. Mr. Stewart Horejsi, spokesperson for the Mildred
Trust, stated that "We believe PCA's trustees have breached their
fiduciary duties by forcing a liquidation plan on shareholders, on
short notice and without a shareholder vote, that will likely
result in shareholders receiving less for their shares than the
price offered by the Mildred Trust in its tender offer. Putnam
already got in trouble with various regulatory agencies before with
their poor management and fiduciary oversight of shareholder
assets; it appears that they are doing it again." Mr. Horejsi added
that, "even if PCA's assets can be sold for their full net asset
value ($14.92 per share as of close of trading on March 20, 2007,
which is 8 cents less per share than the tender offer price of
$15.00 per share), we believe the costs of liquidation will reduce
the amount PCA shareholders will receive to an amount below net
asset value. In addition, shareholders will not receive liquidation
proceeds until sometime in April at the earliest, as opposed to
receiving tender offer proceeds in March under the Mildred Trust's
tender offer. The Mildred Trust does not believe the PCA trustees
can justify their position that a forced liquidation in which
shareholders will receive less than the tender offer price is
somehow in the best interests of PCA shareholders as compared with
the opportunity to participate in the Mildred Trust's tender
offer." Mr. Horejsi noted that "as recently as last fall, the PCA
trustees took the position that it was not in the best interests of
PCA shareholders to open-end, liquidate or merge PCA. Then, early
in 2007 the PCA trustees decided that a merger into an open-end
Putnam was advisable. Now, without submitting any options to PCA
shareholders, the PCA trustees have once again reversed course and
taken steps to liquidate PCA, while at the same time soliciting PCA
shareholders to continue to leave their investment under Putnam's
management. The only thing that these scorched earth steps are
designed to accomplish is to prohibit shareholders from
participating in the Mildred Trust's tender offer." Unless a court
order prohibiting PCA's liquidation plan is obtained, the Mildred
Trust will be unable to close its tender offer, as, among other
things, PCA's shares cannot be transferred after the close of
business on March 26. The Mildred Trust's tender offer is currently
scheduled to expire at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time on March 27. Morrow
& Company is acting as the information agent and The Colbent
Corporation is the depository. Copies of the Offer to Purchase, the
Consent and Letter of Transmittal and related documents may be
obtained at no charge from Morrow & Company at (800) 607-0088
(toll-free) or from the SEC's web site at http://www.sec.gov/. This
news release is not an offer to purchase, nor is it a solicitation
of an offer to sell, any securities. The tender offer may only be
made pursuant to the Offer to Purchase and the accompanying Letter
of Transmittal. Holders of shares of common stock of PCA should
read carefully the Offer to Purchase and related materials because
they contain important information. The Trust has mailed a copy of
the applicable Offer to Purchase, the Letter of Transmittal and
related documents to each of the holders of common stock of PCA.
About the Trust The purchaser in the tender offer will be the
Mildred B. Horejsi Trust, an irrevocable grantor trust domiciled in
Alaska and administered and governed in accordance with Alaska law.
The trust is an estate planning trust established in 1965 by Mrs.
Mildred Horejsi, the mother of Stewart R. Horejsi, primarily for
the benefit of her issue. The Mildred Trust is authorized to hold
property of any kind and owns primarily marketable securities.
Forward Looking Statements Any statements in this press release
that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that
involve risks and uncertainties; actual results may differ from the
forward-looking statements. Sentences or phrases that use such
words as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "may," "hopes," "can,"
"will," "expects," "is designed to," "with the intent," "potential"
and others indicate forward-looking statements, but their absence
does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. The Mildred
Trust undertakes no obligation to publicly release the results of
any revisions to these forward- looking statements that may be made
to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to
reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. DATASOURCE: Mildred
B. Horejsi Trust CONTACT: Stephen C. Miller or Joel Terwilliger,
both of Mildred B. Horejsi Trust, +1-303-442-2156
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