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2009 Lipper Fund Awards for two state muni funds managed by Western Asset
For the fifth year in a row, mutual funds managed by Legg Mason's affiliates have won Lipper Fund Awards for best consistently strong risk-adjusted performance in their respective Lipper categories. The 2009 awards are for the following two funds over three years ended 12/31/08:
Legg Mason Western Asset New York Municipals Fund, Class I (SNPYX)
Best among 96 New York Municipal Debt Funds for three years as of 12/31/08.
Legg Mason Western Asset Pennsylvania Municipals Fund, Class A (SBPAX)
Best among 48 Pennsylvania Municipal Debt Funds for three years as of 12/31/08.
Read about our awards in previous years since 2005
These latest honors showcase Western Asset's municipal bond expertise and focus on risk management. Western Asset is one of the world's largest and leading fixed-income managers with $485.2 billion in assets under management (as of 6/30/09), including approximately $18.5 billion in municipal securities. With 129 investment professionals worldwide, the firm has emphasized a team approach to portfolio management that combines the unique insights of many different sector specialists. The firm employs a value-oriented investment process that emphasizes intensive credit research to identify what it believes are undervalued securities with the potential to outperform over the long term.
Legg Mason: Access to Specialized Expertise
At a time of tremendous market challenges, the Lipper Awards are another example of how Legg Mason is looking to help investors weather uncertain times and reach their long-term goals. We offer investors access to a broad array of equity, fixed-income and alternative strategies through the expertise of our independent investment management firms.
Interested in learning more about Legg Mason's bond funds?
LM WA New York Municipals Fund*
Product detail page
Fact card
LM WA Pennsylvania Municipals Fund*
Product detail page
Fact card
Find a Legg Mason bond fund
Interactive tool
Western Asset Municipal Defined Opportunity Trust (MTT) – a closed-end fund focusing on investment-grade munis
Fund brochure
* Note the 2009 award was for I shares and A shares, respectively.
LM WA New York Municipals Fund – Class I Shares
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The performance shown represents past performance. Past performance is no guarantee of future results and current performance may be higher or lower than the performance shown. Principal value, investment returns and yields will fluctuate and investors' shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Average annual total returns assume the reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value and the deduction of all Fund expenses. Performance would have been lower if fees had not been waived in various periods. Performance for other share classes will vary due to differences in sales charge structure and class expenses. All classes of shares are not available through all distribution channels. Contact your financial professional for further information. To obtain performance data current to the most recent month-end, please visit our Web site at www.leggmason.com/individualinvestors.
* Gross expenses are the Fund's total annual operating expenses for the share class(es) indicated as of the date of the Fund's most current prospectus and do not reflect fee waivers or reimbursements. These expenses include management fees, 12b-1 distribution and service fees, and other expenses.
** Because the Fund does not currently have fee waivers or reimbursements, gross and net expense ratios are the same.
LM WA New York Municipals Fund – Investment Risks
Keep in mind that the Fund's investments are subject to interest-rate and credit risks. As interest rates rise, bond prices fall, reducing the value of the Fund's share price. As a nondiversified fund, it can invest a larger percentage of its assets in fewer issues than a diversified fund. This may magnify the Fund's losses from events affecting a particular issuer. The Fund may use derivatives, such as options and futures, which can be illiquid, may disproportionately increase losses, and have a potentially large impact on Fund performance.
LM WA Pennsylvania Municipals Fund – Class A Shares
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The performance shown represents past performance. Past performance is no guarantee of future results and current performance may be higher or lower than the performance shown. Principal value and investment returns will fluctuate, and investors' shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than the original cost. For performance data including the effects of sales charges, Class A shares reflect the deduction of a maximum front-end sales charge of 4.25%. Average annual total returns assume the reinvestment of all distributions at net asset value and the deduction of all Fund expenses. Performance would have been lower if fees had not been waived in various periods. Performance for other share classes will vary due to differences in sales charge structure and class expenses. All classes of shares are not available through all distribution channels. Contact your financial professional for further information. To obtain performance data current to the most recent month-end, please visit our web site at www.leggmason.com/individualinvestors.
* Gross expenses are the Fund's total annual operating expenses for the share class(es) indicated as of the date of the Fund's most current prospectus and do not reflect fee waivers or reimbursements. These expenses include management fees, 12b-1 distribution and service fees, and other expenses.
** Because the Fund does not currently have fee waivers or reimbursements, gross and net expense ratios are the same.
LM WA Pennsylvania Municipals Fund – Investment Risks
Keep in mind that the Fund's investments are subject to interest-rate and credit risks. As interest rates rise, bond prices fall, reducing the value of the Fund's share price. As a nondiversified fund, it can invest a larger percentage of its assets in fewer issues than a diversified fund. This may magnify the Fund's losses from events affecting a particular issuer. The Fund may use derivatives, such as options and futures, which can be illiquid, may disproportionately increase losses, and have a potentially large impact on Fund performance.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. The Lipper Fund Awards 2009 winners are selected using the Lipper Leader rating for consistent returns for funds with at least 36 months of performance history as of the end of the evaluation year. Awards are presented for the highest Lipper Leader for Consistent Return within each eligible classification over 3, 5 or 10 years. Lipper ratings for Consistent Return reflect funds' historical risk-adjusted returns, adjusted for volatility, relative to peers. The ratings are subject to change every month, and are based on an equal-weighted average of percentile ranks for the Consistent Return metric over 3-, 5-, and 10-year periods (if applicable). The 2009 awards incorporate risk-adjusted performance data as of 12/31/08. A high Lipper rating does not necessarily imply that a fund had the best total performance or that the fund achieved positive results for that period. Lipper Inc. is a major independent mutual fund tracking organization.
Prior to October 5, 2009, Legg Mason Western Asset New York Municipals Fund was known as Legg Mason Partners New York Municipals Fund, and Legg Mason Western Asset Pennsylvania Municipals Fund was known as Legg Mason Partners Pennsylvania Municipals Fund. The Funds' investment objectives, portfolio managers and investment strategies have not changed. Please see the prospectus for details.
An investor should consider a fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. For a free prospectus, which contains this and other information on any Legg Mason fund, visit www.LeggMason.com/IndividualInvestors. An investor should read the prospectus carefully before investing.
Legg Mason Investor Services, LLC, and Western Asset Management Company are subsidiaries of Legg Mason, Inc.