BlackRock New York Municipal Bond Trust Declares Special Distribution Before Merger and Announces Trading Halt in Advance of Merger

BlackRock Advisors, LLC today announced the declaration of a special distribution for BlackRock New York Municipal Bond Trust (NYSE:BQH, CUSIP: 09249P106) in relation to the previously announced merger with BlackRock New York Municipal Opportunities Fund (“MENKX” and together with BQH, the “Funds”) an open-end mutual fund and a series of BlackRock Multi-State Municipal Series Trust, with MENKX being the surviving Fund (the “Merger”).

The special distribution declared today represents BQH’s regular monthly distribution plus any undistributed net investment income earned through the effective date of the Merger. In order to maintain status as a regulated investment company and to avoid the imposition of a corporate level income tax, BQH is required to declare a distribution of all net investment income prior to the consummation of the Merger as described below. Other than the special distribution announced today, BQH will declare no further distributions prior to or following the Merger. As this special distribution includes all net investment income earned by BQH in earlier periods and not previously distributed, it is not indicative of the amount of MENKX’s future monthly distributions.

BQH is declaring a special distribution that will be payable on October 19, 2020. The ex-dividend date for the distribution is October 9, 2020, and the record date is October 13, 2020. Accordingly, persons who are holders of record of BQH common shares on October 13, 2020 should expect to receive the distribution. The distribution payable to shareholders of BQH will be paid in cash and will not be eligible for dividend reinvestment. Common shares of BQH acquired after October 8, 2020 will not be entitled to the distribution.

It is currently expected that the Merger will be effective with the open for business of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) on October 26, 2020, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and the prior redemption of all of BQH’s outstanding variable rate demand preferred shares. To facilitate the Merger, all shares of BQH will cease trading on the NYSE as of market close on Monday, October 19, 2020. On Monday, October 26, 2020, common shareholders of BQH who become shareholders of MENKX in the Merger will hold MENKX. Common shareholders of BQH who become shareholders of MENKX will receive newly issued Investor A Shares of MENKX in the Merger.