DSM - BNY Mellon Strategic Municipal Bond Fund

What this means for you

Bank of America Corp. and Saba have told the regulator it may push for changes at this fund. That usually means asking the fund to buy back shares at close to the full value of its holdings, to change who runs it, or to close down and pay holders out.

Nothing is required of you now. If the fund itself announces a buy-back or a vote, it appears in the box above with the date by which you would need to act.

Large investors can also sell down and walk away. We show every notice they file, the day it is filed.

Email me if this changes

What happened, and when

1. Oct 30, 2026

   First Trust Portfolios L.P. sold down below 5% and stopped reporting.

   Original document →

2. Oct 2, 2026

   Sit Investment now owns 6%, as a passive investor.

   Original document →

3. April 29, 2026

   Saba started a fight over the shareholder vote. The meeting is on June 11, 2026.

   Original document →

4. April 15, 2026

   Saba started a fight over the shareholder vote. The meeting is on June 11, 2026.

   Original document →

5. Feb 13, 2026

   Bulldog raised its stake to 6.7% (from 5.1%), as a passive investor.

   Original document →

About this fund

• Run by BNY Mellon Investment Adviser, Inc. Part of the BNY Mellon Family of Funds fund family. As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
• Size: about $311 million of holdings, as of Aug 31, 2026. As of Aug 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Borrowing: the fund borrows about 35% on top of its own money, as of Aug 31, 2026. Borrowed money makes gains and losses bigger. About 29% of that is money the fund has borrowed by selling preferred shares. As of Aug 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Costs: 0.6% a year in management fees; 2.7% a year in total, including interest on borrowed money. Fiscal year ended Nov 30, 2025. As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
  Among the 76 funds we follow that invest in tax-free municipal bonds, 20 charge a lower management fee and 26 charge less in total, at their last yearly reports. Both numbers are measured against the fund's own money, not the money it borrows on top, so a fund that borrows more shows higher costs on both counts.
• Payouts: last fiscal year (ended Nov 30, 2025) the fund paid $0.25 a share, all of it income. Most funds announce their monthly or quarterly payout on their own website, not in a filing with the regulator, so a cut or a raise there does not show up here until the next yearly report. A few funds do file a notice about a fixed payout; those appear under What happened, and when. As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Value of holdings per share at the last fiscal year end (Nov 30, 2025): $6.55. The shares traded at $5.89, about 10.1% below that. As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
• How the holdings did: down 2.6% over the last three months we have (June-Aug 2026), before the share price is taken into account. As of Aug 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• First reported to the regulator in 1994.

How this has changed

• Payouts per share: $0.25 in the fiscal year ended Nov 30, 2025; $0.22 in the year ended Nov 30, 2024; $0.25 in the year ended Nov 30, 2023.As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• None of those payouts was your own money back; all of it was income or gains.As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Costs, including interest on borrowed money: 2.85% a year in the fiscal year ended Nov 30, 2025; 2.99% a year in the year ended Nov 30, 2024; 2.58% a year in the year ended Nov 30, 2023.As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Size of the holdings: about $324 million at Nov 30, 2025; $341 million at Nov 30, 2024. From the fund's quarterly holdings reports. Original documents: Nov 30, 2025 →, Nov 30, 2024 →.
• Borrowing: about 35% on top of its own money at Nov 30, 2025; 35% at Nov 30, 2024. From the fund's quarterly holdings reports. Original documents: Nov 30, 2025 →, Nov 30, 2024 →.
• The fund had about 49.4 million shares at Nov 30, 2025, about the same as at Nov 30, 2023.As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →

What these lines mean: a payout that is your own money back, what a fund costs, borrowing.

What a holder made

• The year ended Nov 30, 2025: the shares returned +0.1%, counting payouts. As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Nov 30, 2024: the shares returned +17.7%, counting payouts. As of Nov 30, 2024, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Nov 30, 2023: the shares returned -4.5%, counting payouts. As of Nov 30, 2023, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Nov 30, 2022: the shares returned -24.2%, counting payouts. As of Nov 30, 2022, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Nov 30, 2021: the shares returned +12.5%, counting payouts. As of Nov 30, 2021, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Those five years together: the shares returned -4.1%. $10,000 of shares bought at the start (Dec 1, 2020) would have become about $9,590 by Nov 30, 2025, with every payout counted, before tax. As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The holdings over the last twelve months we have, to Aug 31, 2026: +2.8%. The quarterly reports carry no share price, so this is the holdings alone. As of Aug 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Of the 50 funds that invest in tax-free municipal bonds with a fiscal year ending within six months of this one, 42 reported a higher share return for that year and 7 a lower one. As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• A past year says nothing about the next one. All figures are the fund's own, from its reports to the regulator.

Why the shares and the holdings can differ: the gap between price and value. Why payouts count: a payout that is your own money back.

What the fund holds

All tax-free municipal bonds (100%). All of it issued in the U.S.

0.6% of holdings are in default.

1. Chicago Ill, IL Chiutl 5.25 01/01/2058 (Tobs) - 3.5%
2. South Carolina Pub Svc Auth, Obligs 2024B (Tobs) - 3.3%
3. Black Belt Energy Gas District (AL) - 2.9%
4. Oklahoma St Wtr Res Brd, Bds 2023 B (Tobs) - 2.9%
5. New York N Y City Transitional Fin Auth, Future Tax Secd Sub Bds Fiscal 2021 Sub E-1 (Tobs) - 2.8%
6. Pennsylvania St Tpk Commn, PA Pastrn 4 12/01/2051 (Tobs) - 2.8%
7. Trans Fund Bds 2018 A, Hampton Rds VA Transn Accountability Commn (Tobs) - 2.5%
8. Miami-Dade (FL), County of, FL Miautl 4 10/01/2049 (Tobs) - 2.1%
9. Buckeye Tobacco Settlement Financing Authority (OH), OH Bucgen 5 06/01/2055 - 2%
10. Massachusetts St Transn Fd, Comwlth Bds 2023 A (Tobs) - 2%

As of Aug 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →