Eaton Vance Announces Plan for Creation of New Closed-End Fund Liquidity Protected...

Eaton Vance Announces Plan for Creation of New Closed-End Fund Liquidity Protected Preferred Shares and Filing of No-Action Letter

BOSTON--(Business Wire)--
Eaton Vance Management, a subsidiary of Eaton Vance Corp. (NYSE:
EV), announced today that it is developing a new class of securities
for issuance by closed-end funds under its sponsorship, termed
Liquidity Protected Preferred ("LPP") shares, and has filed a
No-Action letter with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC")
addressing various securities law issues associated with the proposed
LPP shares. No-Action letters seek assurance from the SEC staff that
the staff would not recommend enforcement action against the requester
based on the facts and representations described in the letter. If the
request for no action relief is granted, Eaton Vance believes that LPP
shares may provide a cost-effective form of leverage for its
closed-end funds (the "Funds"), including as a replacement for
currently outstanding auction preferred shares ("APS").

As currently conceived, LPP shares are preferred equity securities
that pay a dividend rate that is reset weekly based on a determination
of the market clearing rate by the LPP shares' designated remarketing
agent. It is anticipated that the LPP shares will receive a long-term
preferred stock rating and a short-term debt rating in one of the two
highest rating categories from one or more nationally recognized
statistical rating organizations. Under normal circumstances, the
dividend rate in each remarketing would be set as the lowest rate at
which all LPP shares would be either held or bought after matching up
buy, hold and sell orders. If there is an imbalance of sell orders
over buys, the designated liquidity provider of the LPP shares would
be obligated to purchase all LPP shares not matched with purchase
orders at a price equal to the LPP share liquidation preference, plus
accumulated but unpaid dividends. Different from APS, LPP shares would
be supported by the unconditional purchase obligation of the
designated liquidity provider. It is expected that LPP shares will be
eligible for investment by money market funds (including tax-exempt
money market funds for LPP shares issued by municipal income Funds),
opening up a large new market of potential buyers.

In order to encourage participation of potential liquidity
providers, Eaton Vance may provide a liquidity provider with the right
to put LPP shares it holds to Eaton Vance under certain specified
circumstances (the "EVC Put Agreement"). The EVC Put Agreement is not
expected to be an ongoing feature of the LPP share arrangements, but
rather would be offered for a limited period only in conjunction with
the initial offering of LPP shares by a Fund, in an amount not
expected to exceed $100 million. Eaton Vance believes that, if it is
required to purchase LPP shares from the liquidity provider, it would
likely only be required to hold such shares for a short period and
would earn returns that exceed Eaton Vance's cost of short-term
funding. Eaton Vance does not believe that there should be an ongoing
requirement to offer a put right to liquidity providers once an active
market develops for LPP shares.

Consistent with patterns in the broader market for auction rate
securities, the 29 Eaton Vance-sponsored closed-end funds with then
outstanding APS of approximately $5.0 billion began experiencing
unsuccessful auctions of their APS in mid-February. Since then, Eaton
Vance has been working with other market participants to restore
liquidity to APS holders and to provide alternative sources of
leverage to the Funds. The Funds have redeemed approximately $3.1
billion of APS to date and have announced plans to redeem an
additional approximately $200 million of APS by May 27, 2008.
Replacement financing has been provided through bank and commercial
paper facility borrowings and the creation of tender option bonds by
certain municipal income Funds. None of the Funds has been required to
sell portfolio securities in connection with the refinancing to redeem
APS. In all cases, the cost of the replacement leverage is expected,
over time, to be lower than the total cost of APS based on maximum
applicable rates that apply in the event of unsuccessful auctions.

Eaton Vance hopes that the development of a market for LPP shares
will provide a cost-effective new form of leverage for the Funds that
will facilitate redeeming the balance of the Funds' outstanding APS.
Eaton Vance is in the process of determining the best method of
testing the LPP share concept. It is possible that the initial
issuance of LPP shares will not be used to redeem APS, and that
redemption of APS with LPP shares may not occur until after the new
security has been proven to work effectively as a new financing
vehicle.

In addition to the requested no-action relief from the SEC,
issuance of LPP shares by one or more of the Funds is conditional upon
completion of successful negotiation with a remarketing agent and
liquidity provider, approval by the Funds' Board of Trustees and
rating agencies, and successful placement of the LPP share offering
with money market funds and other institutional investors. There can
be no certainty as to when, or if, LPP shares will be issued or an
associated redemption of APS will occur.

Conference Call

A conference call to discuss the proposed new LPP shares and other
recent closed-end fund developments will take place at 11:00 a.m. EDT
on Wednesday, May 28, 2008. To listen to the call, dial 1-888-562-3356
and use the following access code: 48673244. To submit a question to
be addressed on the conference call, please send in advance of the
call to CEFQuestions@eatonvance.com.

To view a copy of the Funds' APS redemption announcements to date,
see "press releases" on the closed-end fund section of Eaton Vance's
web site, at www.eatonvance.com. To receive a hard copy of this
information, call (800) 225-6265.

Eaton Vance Corp., a Boston based investment management firm, is
listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EV. Through its
subsidiaries, Eaton Vance Corp. manages funds and separate accounts
for individuals and institutional clients.

This news release contains statements that are not historical
facts, referred to as "forward-looking statements." The Company's
actual future results may differ significantly from those stated in
any forward-looking statements, depending on factors such as changes
in securities or financial markets or general economic conditions, the
volume of sales and repurchases of fund shares, the continuation
investment advisory, administration, distribution and service
contracts, and other risks discussed from time to time in the
Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Eaton Vance Corp.
Investor Contact:
Jonathan Isaac, 617-598-8818
or
Media Contact:
Jeanette Harrison-Sullivan, 617-598-8920

Copyright Business Wire 2008