Eaton Vance's new closed-end municipal fund raises $275 million in IPO

By Angela McDaniels

Tacoma, Wash., May 27 - Eaton Vance Corp. said the initial public offering of common shares of its new closed-end fund, Eaton Vance National Municipal Opportunities Trust, raised $275 million.

The shares were slated to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "EOT" on Wednesday, according to a company news release.

The trust's primary investment objective is to provide current income exempt from federal income tax, and it will invest primarily in investment-grade municipal obligations. Its secondary investment objective is to achieve capital appreciation.

Eaton Vance said the trust intends to make distributions of tax-exempt income on a monthly basis.

In the IPO, the trust issued 13.75 million shares at an initial price of $20 apiece. There is a greenshoe for about 2.1 million shares.

Eaton Vance said that according to industry sources, this is the largest IPO of a listed closed-end fund in the United States since 2007.

The underwriting syndicate was led by UBS Investment Bank and included Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc., Morgan Stanley and Wachovia Securities LLC.

Eaton Vance is an investment management firm based in Boston.

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