The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective through a flexible investment process that allocates investments across the global fixed-income markets. The Fund, under normal circumstances, invests at least 80% of its assets (net assets plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in a diversified portfolio of debt or debt-related securities such as: debt or debt-related securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. or foreign governments, their agencies or instrumentalities; obligations of international or supranational entities; debt or debt-related securities issued by U.S. or foreign corporate entities; zero coupon bonds; municipal bonds; mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities; loan participation interests; convertible bonds; and variable or floating rate debt securities. The Fund may invest in debt securities that are rated investment grade and below investment grade by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization (“NRSRO”) (such securities rated lower than BBB- and Baa3). Securities that are rated below investment grade by NRSROs are commonly referred to as “high-yield securities” or “junk bonds.” If NRSROs assign different ratings to the same security, the Fund will use the higher rating for purposes of determining the security’s credit quality. The securities may be denominated in U.S. or foreign currencies, and may have fixed, variable, floating or inverse floating rates of interest. The Fund may invest without limitation in securities of foreign issuers, including emerging markets. An issuer of a security is considered to be a U.S. or foreign issuer based on the issuer's "country of risk" (or similar designation) as determined by a third-party such as Bloomberg. The currency exposure of non-U.S. investments may or may not be hedged. The Fund may invest up to 15% of its net assets in equity securities.

The Fund intends to utilize various investment strategies in a broad array of fixed-income sectors to achieve its investment objective. The Fund will not be constrained by portfolio management relative to an index. Because the Fund does not track a fixed-income index, its performance may vary at times and demonstrate low correlation to traditional fixed-income indices. In pursuing its investment objective, the Fund’s investment strategy is subject to market risk and shares may gain or lose value.

The average portfolio duration of the Fund will normally vary from 0 to 7 years. Duration is a measure used to determine the sensitivity of a security’s price to changes in interest rates. The longer a security’s duration, the more sensitive it will be to changes in interest rates.

The Fund may invest in derivatives, such as futures, options, forward commitments and interest rate swap agreements to try to enhance returns or reduce the risk of loss by hedging certain of its holdings or manage duration. The Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in swaps.

The Fund may purchase or sell securities on a when-issued, delayed delivery or forward commitment basis and may engage in short sales. The Fund's short positions, either direct short positions or through credit default swaps or total return swaps, may total up to 20% of the Fund’s net assets. The Fund may, without limitation, seek to obtain market exposure to the securities in which it primarily invests by entering into a series of purchase and sale contracts or by using other investment techniques (such as buy backs or dollar rolls).

Investment Process: MacKay Shields LLC, the Fund’s Subadvisor, seeks to identify investment opportunities through an investment process focused on macroeconomic analysis and bottom-up security selection. The Subadvisor allocates the Fund's investments among the various bond market sectors based on current and projected economic and market conditions. The Fund may invest across bond market sectors, geographies and credit qualities.

The Subadvisor’s investment process includes a risk analysis that gives consideration to a variety of security-specific risks, including but not limited to, environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) risks that may have a material impact on the performance of a security. In addition to proprietary research, the Subadvisor may use screening tools and, to the extent available, third-party data to identify ESG risk factors that may not have been captured through its own research. The Subadvisor’s consideration of ESG risk is weighed against other criteria and no sectors or industries are explicitly excluded from the Fund.

The Subadvisor may sell a security if it believes the security will no longer contribute to meeting the investment objective of the Fund. In considering whether to sell a security, the Subadvisor may evaluate, among other things, the condition of the domestic and foreign economies, and meaningful changes in the issuer's financial condition, including changes in the issuer's credit risk and competitiveness.