American Century Investments Launches New York Tax-Free Fund

KANSAS CITY, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In response to growing demand from New York clients and investors, American Century Investments today launched its American Century New York Tax-Free Fund.

New York Tax-Free seeks to maximize total return through high current income that is exempt from New York state and local income taxes. Its managers invest at least 80 percent of the fund’s assets in debt securities issued by cities, countries and other municipalities in New York and U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico, that have interest payments exempt from federal and New York income taxes. It is available in Investor, A and C class shares. It is priced at $10 per share, with a minimum initial investment of $5,000.

New York Tax-Free will be co-managed by Joe Gotelli, Steven Permut and Alan Kruss, all of whom are based in the company’s Mountain View, Calif. office. American Century Investments now has a total of seven distinct municipal bond strategies totaling $3 billion as of May 31, 2009. The seven strategies are Tax-Free Bond, Long-Term Tax-Free, High-Yield Municipal, California Tax-Free Bond, California Long-Term Tax-Free, California High-Yield Municipal and New York Tax-Free.

Joe Gotelli, portfolio manager, has worked in the financial industry since 2001 and joined American Century Investments in 2008. Previously, he was with Franklin Templeton Investments, where he served as an assistant portfolio manager on various long- and short-term municipal bond portfolios. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and received his M.B.A. with a concentration in finance from Santa Clara University.

Steven Permut, senior vice president, senior portfolio manager and director of municipal bond investments, joined the firm in 1987. Prior to that, he was an analyst with Moody’s Investors Service. He holds bachelor’s degrees in business and geography from State University of New York in Oneonta and a master’s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance from Golden Gate University. He is past chairman of the California Society of Municipal Analysts and a former board member of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts.

Alan Kruss, vice president and portfolio manager, has worked in the financial industry since 1997, when he joined American Century Investments. He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from San Francisco State University.

To learn more about American Century New York Tax-Free, call 1-800-378-9878 or visit www.americancentury.com.

American Century Investments is a leading privately-held investment management firm, committed to delivering superior investment performance and building long-term client relationships since 1958. Serving investment professionals, institutions, corporations and individual investors, American Century Investments offers a variety of actively managed investment disciplines through an array of products including mutual funds, institutional separate accounts, commingled trusts and sub-advisory accounts.

The company's 1,300 employees serve clients from offices in New York; London; Hong Kong; Mountain View, Calif. and Kansas City, Mo. James E. Stowers Jr. founded the company and serves as co-chairman of the board. Jonathan S. Thomas is president and chief executive officer and Enrique Chang is chief investment officer. More than 40 percent of American Century Investments’ profits support research to help find cures for genetically-based diseases including cancer, diabetes and dementia.

You should consider the fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before you invest. The fund’s prospectus, which can be obtained by contacting your financial advisor, contains this and other information about the fund, and should be read carefully before investing.

As with all mutual funds, shares may be worth more or less at any given time than the price paid for them. As a result, it is possible to lose money by investing in the fund. Investment income may be subject to certain state and local taxes and, depending on your tax status, the federal alternative minimum tax (AMT). Capital gains are not exempt from state and federal income tax.

The lower rated securities in which the fund invests are subject to greater credit risk, default risk and liquidity risk.