The Fund invests primarily in fixed-income securities rated below investment grade (commonly referred to as “junk”), including floating-rate loans and convertible securities. The Fund invests in securities rated Baa or below by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) or BBB and below by S&P Global Ratings (“S&P”) or Fitch Ratings (“Fitch”) and comparable rated securities, including securities rated below Caa1 by Moody’s, CCC+ by S&P or CCC by Fitch Ratings at time of purchase or are unrated and of comparable quality as determined by the investment adviser. The Fund intends to maintain a dollar-weighted average duration of three years or less. Bonds rated BBB and Baa have speculative characteristics, while lower rated bonds are predominantly speculative. The Fund may invest in securities in any ratings category, including securities rated investment grade. The Fund may invest in fixed-income securities of any maturity. The Fund may also purchase securities that make “in-kind” interest payments (“PIK”), bonds not paying current income and bonds that do not make regular interest payments. The Fund may invest in foreign and emerging market securities, which are predominantly U.S. dollar denominated and in non-U.S. dollar denominated investments. The Fund may invest in municipal obligations, senior and subordinated (“junior”) floating rate loans (“loans”) and money market instruments.

The Fund may engage in derivative transactions to enhance total return, to seek to hedge against fluctuations in securities prices, interest rates or currency exchange rates, to manage certain investment risks and/or as a substitute for the purchase or sale of securities or currencies.  Transactions in derivative instruments may include: the purchase or sale of futures contracts on securities, swaps, indices or other financial instruments or currencies; options on futures contracts; options on securities, indices, currencies and other instruments; interest rate, credit default and inflation swaps; and forward rate contracts as well as instruments that have a greater or lesser credit risk than the security underlying that instrument.  Except as required by applicable regulation, there is no stated limit on the Fund’s use of derivatives for such purposes.

The Fund’s investments are actively managed and securities may be bought and sold on a daily basis.  Preservation of capital is considered when consistent with the Fund’s investment objective. The investment adviser’s staff monitors the credit quality of securities held by the Fund and other securities available to the Fund.  Although the investment adviser considers security ratings when making investment decisions, it performs its own credit and investment analysis utilizing various methodologies including “bottom up/top down” analysis and consideration of macroeconomic and technical factors, and does not rely primarily on the ratings assigned by the rating services.  The portfolio managers attempt to provide income and preserve principal value through timely trading.  The portfolio managers also consider the relative value of securities in the marketplace in making investment decisions. When deemed by the investment adviser to be relevant to its evaluation of creditworthiness and when applicable information is available, the investment adviser considers environmental, social and/or governance issues (referred to as ESG) which may impact the prospects of an issuer (or obligor) or financial performance of an obligation. When considered, one or more ESG issues are taken into account alongside other factors in the investment decision-making process and are not the sole determinant of whether an investment can be made or will remain in the Fund’s portfolio.