Company: PIM
Filing Date: 2025-12-01
Form Type: N-CSR
Source: 0001133228-25-012988
Chunk: 241

Company: PUTNAM MASTER INTERMEDIATE INCOME TRUST
Filing Date: 2025-12-01
Form: N-CSR
Chunk 241
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 process. Cumulative voting allows shareholders to cast all of their votes for a single nominee for the board of directors, or to
allocate their votes among nominees in any other way. In contrast, in “regular” voting, shareholders may not give more than
one vote per share to any single nominee. Cumulative voting can help to strengthen the ability of minority shareholders to elect a director.

Singapore

| Ø | Putnam will vote against from the entire board of directors if |

| • | in the case of a board with an independent director serving as chair, fewer than one-third of the directors are independent directors; 
 or, in the case of a board not chaired by an independent director, fewer than half of the directors are independent directors,         |

| • | the board has not established audit and compensation committees, each with an independent director serving as chair, with at least 
 a majority of the members being independent directors, and with all of the directors being non-executive directors, or             |

| • | the board has not established a nominating committee, with an independent director serving as chair, and with at least a majority 
 of the members being independent directors.                                                                                       |

United Kingdom, Ireland

Application of guidelines: Although the Combined Code has adopted
the “comply and explain” approach to corporate governance, Putnam believes that the guidelines discussed above with respect
to board independence standards are integral to the protection of investors in UK companies. As a result, these guidelines will be applied
in a prescriptive manner.

Definition of independence: For the purposes of these guidelines,
a non-executive director shall be considered independent if the director meets the independence standards in section A.3.1 of the Combined
Code (i.e., no material business or employment relationships with the company, no remuneration from the company for non-board services,
no close family ties with senior employees or directors of the company, etc.), except that Putnam does not view service on the board for
more than nine years as affecting a director’s independence.

Smaller companies: A smaller company is one that is below the FTSE
350 throughout the year immediately prior to the reporting year.

| Ø | Putnam will withhold votes from the entire board of directors if: |

| • | the board, excluding the Non-Executive Chair, is not comprised of at least half independent non-executive directors, |

| • | the board has not established a Nomination committee composed of a majority of independent non-executive directors, excluding the 
 Non