In selecting securities for the fund, the Adviser performs a risk/reward analysis that includes an evaluation of credit risk, interest rate risk, prepayment risk, and the legal and technical structure of the security. The Adviser will attempt to take advantage of inefficiencies that it believes exist in the fixed income markets. The Adviser seeks to invest in securities that the Adviser expects to offer attractive prospects for income and/or capital appreciation in relation to the risk borne.
Main Risks
All investments carry a certain amount of risk and the fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective. An investment in the fund is not a deposit or obligation of any bank, is not endorsed or guaranteed by any bank, and is not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or any other government agency. You may lose money by investing in the fund. Below are the main risks of investing in the fund. All of the risks listed below are significant to the fund, regardless of the order in which they appear.
Asset-Backed, Mortgage-Related and Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk The fund may invest in asset-backed, mortgage-related and mortgage-backed securities, including so-called “sub-prime” mortgages that are subject to certain other risks including prepayment and call risks. When mortgages and other obligations are prepaid and when securities are called, the fund may have to reinvest in securities with a lower yield or fail to recover additional amounts (i.e., premiums) paid for securities with higher interest rates, resulting in an unexpected capital loss and/or a decrease in the amount of dividends and yield. In periods of rising interest rates, the fund may be subject to extension risk, and may receive principal later than expected. As a result, in periods of rising interest rates, the fund may exhibit additional volatility. During periods of difficult or frozen credit markets, significant changes in interest rates, or deteriorating economic conditions, such securities may decline in value, face valuation difficulties, become more volatile and/or become illiquid.
Collateralized mortgage obligations (“CMOs”) and stripped mortgage-backed securities, including those structured as interest only (“IOs”) and principal only (“POs”), are more volatile and may be more sensitive to the rate of prepayments than other mortgage-related securities. CMOs are issued in multiple classes, and each class may have its own interest rate and/or final payment date. A class with an earlier final payment date may have certain preferences in receiving principal payments or earning interest. As a result, the value of some classes in which the fund invests may be more volatile and may be subject to higher risk of non-payment. The risk of default, as described under “Credit Risk”, for “sub-prime” mortgages is generally higher than other types of mortgage-backed securities. The structure of some of these securities may be complex and there may be less available information than other types of debt securities.
The values of IO and PO mortgage-backed securities are more volatile than other types of mortgage-related securities. They are very sensitive not only to changes in interest rates, but also to the rate of prepayments. A rapid or unexpected increase in prepayments can significantly depress the price of interest-only securities, while a rapid or unexpected decrease could have the same effect on principal-only securities. In addition, because there may be a drop in trading volume, an inability to find a ready buyer, or the imposition of legal restrictions on the resale of securities, these instruments may
be illiquid. The fund will be exposed to additional risk to the extent that it uses inverse floaters and inverse IOs, which are debt securities with interest rates that reset in the opposite direction from the market rate to which the security is indexed. These securities are more volatile and more sensitive to interest rate changes than other types of debt securities. If interest rates move in a manner not anticipated by the Adviser, the fund could lose all or substantially all of its investment in inverse IOs.
Consumer Loans Risk Investments in consumer loans expose the fund to additional risks beyond those normally associated with more traditional debt instruments. The fund’s ability to receive payments in connection with the loan depends primarily on the financial condition of the borrower and whether or not a loan is secured by collateral, although there is no assurance that the collateral securing a loan will be sufficient to satisfy the loan obligation. In addition, bank loans often have contractual restrictions on resale, which can delay the sale and adversely impact the sale price. Transactions involving bank loans may have significantly longer settlement periods than more traditional investments (settlement can take longer than 7 days) and often involve borrowers whose financial condition is troubled or highly leveraged, which increases the risk that the fund may not receive its proceeds in a timely manner or that the fund may incur losses in order to pay redemption proceeds to its shareholders. In addition, loans are not registered under the federal securities laws like stocks and bonds, so investors in loans have less protection against improper practices than investors in registered securities.
Credit Risk There is a risk that issuers and counterparties will not make payments on securities and repurchase agreements held by a fund. Such default could result in losses to the fund. In addition, the credit quality of securities held by the fund may be lowered if an issuer’s financial condition changes. Lower credit quality may lead to greater volatility in the price of a security and in shares of the fund. Lower credit quality also may affect liquidity and make it difficult for the fund to sell the security.
Fixed Income Risk The fund invests in fixed income securities. These securities will increase or decrease in value based on changes in interest rates. If rates increase, the value of the fund’s fixed income securities generally declines. On the other hand, if rates fall, the value of the fixed income securities generally increases. Your investment will decline in value if the value of the fund’s investments decreases.
Government Securities Risk The fund may invest in securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or its agencies and instrumentalities. These securities may be backed by the credit of the government as a whole or only by the issuing agency. U.S. Treasury bonds, notes, and bills and some agency securities, such as those issued by the Federal Housing Administration and Ginnie Mae, are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government as to payment of principal and interest and are the highest quality government securities. Other securities issued by U.S. government agencies or instrumentalities, such as securities issued by the Federal Home Loan Banks and Freddie Mac, are supported only by the credit of the agency that issued them, and not by the U.S. government. Securities issued by the Federal Farm Credit System, the Federal Land Banks, and Fannie Mae are supported by the agency’s right to borrow money from the U.S. Treasury under certain circumstances, but are not