NEW YORK, Oct. 24, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Wolf Popper LLP announces that a class action securities lawsuit was filed yesterday, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Case No. 03 Civ. 8407, charging improper trading practices regarding certain of the Putnam family of mutual funds. Wolf Popper LLP has also filed class action securities lawsuits on behalf of various investor clients, based on similarly improper trading practices, against Alliance Capital Management Holding LP (NYSE:AC) ("Alliance Holding"), Bank One Corp. (NYSE:ONE), Janus Capital Group., Inc. (NYSE:JNS), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC), and Strong Financial Corp.
The Complaint is brought on behalf of persons who acquired, redeemed or owned mutual fund shares of one or more of certain of the Putnam family of mutual funds, between November 1, 1998 and September 3, 2003, for violations of Sections 11 and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933, and the common law for breach of fiduciary duty. This suit names, as defendants, the companies which control the Putnam family of mutual funds ("Putnam Companies"), along with the individual Putnam mutual funds ("Individual Putnam Funds").
The Complaint alleges that during the Class Period, both the Putnam Companies and the Individual Putnam Funds permitted or otherwise disregarded various trading practices, known as "market timing," by certain institutional traders which caused financial injury to the shareholders of the subject mutual funds in order to reap substantial fees and other income for themselves and their affiliates. Market timing is an investment technique involving short-term, "in and out" trading of mutual fund shares, designed to exploit inefficiencies in the way mutual fund companies price their shares. It has been acknowledged by the defendants and others that "timing" inures to the detriment of long-term shareholders. Nonetheless, in order to encourage investments from certain hedge funds and other traders that would increase fund managers' fees, defendants permitted, or otherwise failed to prevent, certain of Putnam's institutional investors from "timing" their funds, despite statements in the funds' registration statements and prospectuses that indicated that defendants prohibited and prevented such market timing transactions from occurring. The Complaint alleges that individuals at both the Putnam Companies and the Individual Putnam Funds allowed the mutual funds to be timed by institutional traders to the detriment of the other shareholders of the funds.
Class members who desire to be appointed lead plaintiff in this action must file a motion with the Court no later than December 22, 2003. A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of other members of the class in directing the lawsuit. If you bought, redeemed or owned shares of Putnam mutual funds noted above, are interested in serving as a lead plaintiff in this action, or would like to discuss this action, or if you have any questions concerning this Notice or your rights as a potential Class member, you may call or write:
Wolf Popper LLP -- Michael A. Schwartz, Esq., Chet B. Waldman, Esq. -- Andrew E. Lencyk, Esq., or Mark Marino, Esq. -- 845 Third Avenue -- New York -- NY 10022 -- Tel.: 212.759.4600 or 877.370.7703 (toll free) -- Fax: 212.486.2093 or 877.370.7704 (toll free)
Wolf Popper LLP ("Wolf Popper" or "the Firm") is a nationally recognized firm with expertise in the field of securities and consumer class actions and securities derivative actions. Since the Firm was founded in 1945, Wolf Popper has been a leader in efforts to protect the interests of defrauded investors and consumers, prosecuting hundreds of actions under federal and state laws throughout the United States. The Firm's efforts have resulted in the recovery of over billions of dollars for aggrieved parties.
Email: mschwartz@wolfpopper.com; cwaldman@wolfpopper.com;
alencyk@wolfpopper.com; mmarino@wolfpopper.com; irrep@wolfpopper.com;
website: www.wolfpopper.com
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca