PUTNAM VISTA FUND
Prospectus Supplement dated August 1, 1996 to
Class A shares Prospectus dated December 1, 1995
At a meeting held on July 31, 1996, shareholders of the fund
recently approved a number of changes to the fundamental
investment restrictions of the fund, including the elimination of
certain restrictions. The fund may now:
o acquire more than 10% of the voting securities of any
issuer with respect to 25% of its total assets without
restriction based on class;
o invest more than 5% of its total assets in securities
of any one issuer with respect to 25% of its total
assets (Investments in obligations issued or guaranteed
as to interest or principal by the U.S. government or
its agencies or instrumentalities are not subject to
any limitation); and
o invest more than 5% of its assets in equity securities
for which market quotations are not readily available.
The first two policies set forth above are fundamental and may
not be changed without shareholder approval. See the Statement
of Additional Information of the fund for the full text of these
policies as well as the fund's other fundamental policies, some
of which were also changed by vote of shareholders.
In addition, the fund's restriction with respect to investments
in securities to restrictions on resale was eliminated, although
the fund will remain subject to the non-fundamental restriction
which prohibits the fund fro minvestming more than 15% of its net
assets in any combination of (a) securities which n ot readily
marketable, (b) securities as to resale, and (c) repurchase
agreements maturing in more than seven days.
Also, the fund's restriction with respect to investing up to 5%
of its net assets in companies that, together with any
predecessots, have been in operation for less than three years is
now nonfundamental, meaning that it could be changed in the
future without shareholder approval.
To the extent the fund invests a significant portion of its
assets in the securities of a particular issuer, the fund will be
subject to an increased risk of loss if the market value of such
issuer's securities declines.
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The following text replaces the fifth sentence of the first
paragraph under the heading "How to buy shares":
In order to be eligible to purchase shares at net asset
value, a defined contribution plan must either initially
invest at least $20 million in Putnam funds and other
investments managed by Putnam Management or its affiliates
or, if the dealer of record waives its commission with
respect to such investment, initially invest at least $1
million in the fund.
The following text replaces the first four sentences of the
second paragraph under the heading "How to buy shares":
On sales
of shares at
net asset value to defined
contribution plans initially investing at least $20 million
in Putnam funds and other investments managed by Putnam
Management or its affiliates, Putnam Mutual Funds pays
commissions on
the shares
initially purchased
and on
subsequent net quarterly sales at the rate of 0.15%.
27269 8/96
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