Loans can be acquired directly through the agent,
by assignment from another holder of the loan, or as a participation interest in another holder's portion of the loan.
The Fund has no requirement as to
the maturity or quality of the debt instruments it may buy, or as to the market capitalization of those instruments. The Fund may invest primarily in senior loans that are rated below investment grade or unrated
senior loans of comparable quality at the time of purchase as determined by the Fund’s subadviser. Instruments rated below investment grade are sometimes referred to as “junk bonds.” A description of
security ratings is provided in an Appendix to the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information.
The Fund may invest up to 20% of
its total assets in senior loans that are not secured by any specific collateral. The Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in senior loans made to foreign-domiciled borrowers and other foreign securities,
including securities of issuers located in emerging market countries, which may be denominated in US dollars or non-US currencies.
Principal Risks
All investments have risks to some
degree. An investment in the Fund is not guaranteed to achieve its investment objective; is not a deposit with a bank; is not insured, endorsed or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other
government agency; and is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of your investment. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
Bank Loan Risk. The Fund's ability to receive payments of principal and interest and other amounts in connection with loans (whether through participations, assignments or otherwise) will depend primarily
on the financial condition of the borrower. The failure by the Fund to receive scheduled interest or principal payments on a loan because of a default, bankruptcy or any other reason would adversely affect the income
of the Fund and would likely reduce the value of its assets. Even with loans secured by collateral, there is the risk that the value of the collateral may decline, may be insufficient to meet the obligations of the
borrower, or be difficult to liquidate. In the event of a default, the Fund may have difficulty collecting on any collateral and would not have the ability to collect on any collateral for an uncollateralized loan.
Further, the Fund's access to collateral, if any, may be limited by bankruptcy laws. Due to the nature of the private syndication of senior loans, including, for example, lack of publicly-available information, some
senior loans are not as easily purchased or sold as publicly-traded securities. In addition, loan participations generally are subject to restrictions on transfer, and only limited opportunities may exist to sell loan
participations in secondary markets. As a result, it may be difficult for the Fund to value loans or sell loans at an acceptable price when it wants to sell them. Loans trade in an over-the-counter market, and
confirmation and settlement, which are effected through standardized procedures and documentation, may take significantly longer than seven days to complete. Extended trade settlement periods may, in unusual market
conditions with a high volume of shareholder redemptions, present a risk to shareholders regarding the Fund's ability to pay redemption proceeds in a timely manner. In some instances, loans and loan participations are
not rated by independent credit rating agencies; in such instances, a decision by the Fund to invest in a particular loan or loan participation could depend exclusively on the subadviser's credit analysis of the
borrower, or in the case of a loan participation, of the intermediary holding the portion of the loan that the Fund has purchased. To the extent the Fund invests in loans of non-US issuers, the risks of investing in
non-US issuers are applicable. Loans may not be considered to be “securities” and as a result may not benefit from the protections of the federal securities laws, including anti-fraud protections and those
with respect to the use of material non-public information, so that purchasers, such as the Fund, may not have the benefit of these protections. If the Fund is in possession of material non-public information about a
borrower as a result of its investment in such borrower’s loan, the Fund may not be able to enter into a transaction with respect to a publicly-traded security of the borrower when it would otherwise be
advantageous to do so.
Bond Obligations Risk. As with credit risk, market risk and interest rate risk, the Fund's holdings, share price, yield and total return may fluctuate in response to bond market movements. The value of bonds may
decline for issuer-related reasons, including management performance, financial leverage and reduced demand for the issuer’s goods and services. Certain types of fixed income obligations also may be subject to
“call and redemption risk,” which is the risk that the issuer may call a bond held by the Fund for redemption before it matures and the Fund may lose income.
Credit Risk. This is the risk that the issuer, the guarantor or the insurer of a fixed income security, or the counterparty to a contract, may be unable or unwilling to make timely principal and
interest payments, or to otherwise honor its obligations. Additionally, fixed income securities could lose value due to a loss of confidence in the ability of the issuer, guarantor, insurer or counterparty to pay back
debt. The longer the maturity and the lower the credit quality of a bond, the more sensitive it is to credit risk.
Economic and Market Events Risk. Events in the US and global financial markets, including actions taken by the US Federal Reserve or foreign central banks to stimulate or stabilize economic growth or the functioning of
the securities markets, may at times result in unusually high market volatility, which could negatively impact performance. Relatively reduced liquidity in credit and fixed income markets could adversely affect
issuers worldwide.
Foreign Securities Risk. The Fund’s investments in securities of foreign issuers or issuers with significant exposure to foreign markets involve additional risk. The securities of such issuers may trade in
markets that are less liquid, less regulated and more volatile than US markets. The value of the Fund’s investments may decline because of factors affecting the particular