Common stocks generally represent the riskiest investment in a company and dividend payments (if declared) to preferred stockholders generally rank junior to payments due to a company’s debtholders. If the prices of the equity securities held by a Fund fall, the value of your investment in the Fund will be adversely affected. A Fund may lose a substantial part, or even all, of its investment in a company’s stock.
A Fund’s investment in securities offered through initial public offerings (“IPOs”) may have a magnified performance impact, either positive or negative, on the Fund, particularly if the Fund has a small asset base. There is no guarantee that as a Fund’s assets grow, it will continue to experience substantially similar performance by investing in IPOs. A Fund’s investments in IPOs may make it subject to more erratic price movements than the overall equity market.
–Certain debt instruments, including mortgage- and other asset-backed securities, are subject to the risk that payments on principal may occur at a slower rate or later than expected. In this event, the expected maturity could lengthen as short or intermediate-term instruments become longer-term instruments, which would make the investment more sensitive to changes in interest rates. The likelihood that payments on principal will occur at a slower rate or later than expected is heightened under the current conditions. In addition, a Fund’s investment may sharply decrease in value and the Fund’s income from the investment may quickly decline. These types of instruments are particularly subject to extension risk, and offer less potential for gains, during periods of rising interest rates. In
addition, a Fund may be delayed in its ability to reinvest income or proceeds from these instruments in potentially higher yielding investments, which would adversely affect the Fund to the extent its investments are in lower interest rate debt instruments. Thus, changes in interest rates may cause volatility in the value of and income received from these types of debt instruments.
Foreign Securities and Currency Risk
–Investing in foreign investments, including investing in foreign securities through American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) and Global Depositary Receipts (“GDRs”), involves certain special or additional risks, including, but not limited to: (i) unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates; (ii) unfavorable changes in applicable regulations; (iii) adverse political and economic developments; (iv) unreliable or untimely information; (v) limited legal recourse; (vi) limited markets; (vii) higher operational expenses; and (viii) illiquidity. These investments are subject to additional risks, including: differing reporting, accounting, and auditing standards; nationalization, expropriation, or confiscatory taxation; foreign currency fluctuations, currency blockage, or replacement; potential for default on sovereign debt; or other diplomatic developments, which may include the imposition of economic or trade sanctions or other measures by the U.S. or other governments and supranational organizations or changes in trade policies. These risks are heightened under the current conditions and may even be higher in underdeveloped or emerging markets. The less developed a country’s securities market is, the greater the level of risks. A Fund considers a security to be a foreign security if the issuer is organized under the laws of a foreign country or is a foreign government, or a
sub-division
or agency of such government, or the security is traded in markets outside the United States.
Foreign fixed-income securities may also be negatively affected by rising interest rates, which may cause an increase in funding costs for foreign issuers and make it more difficult for them to service their debt. Rising interest rates, in addition to widening credit spreads, may cause a decline in market liquidity. Foreign investments are normally issued and traded in foreign currencies. As a result, their values may be affected by changes in the exchange rates between particular foreign currencies and the U.S. dollar. Foreign investments may be subject to the risks of seizure or other involvement by a foreign government, imposition of restrictions on the exchange or transport of foreign currency, and tax increases. There may also be less information publicly available about a foreign company than about most U.S. companies, and foreign companies are usually not subject to accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards and practices comparable to those in the United States. The legal remedies for investors in foreign investments may be more limited than those available in the United States and a Fund may have limited or no legal recourse with respect to foreign securities. Certain foreign investments may be less liquid (harder to buy and sell) and more volatile than domestic investments, which means a Fund may at times be unable to sell its foreign investments at desirable prices. For the same reason, a Fund may at times find it difficult to value its foreign investments. Brokerage commissions and other fees are generally higher for foreign investments than for domestic investments. The procedures and rules for settling foreign transactions may also involve delays in payment, delivery or recovery of money or investments. Foreign withholding taxes may reduce the amount of income available to distribute to shareholders of a Fund.
–A Fund that invests a significant portion of its assets in one country or geographic region will be more vulnerable to the risks of volatile economic cycles and/or conditions and developments that may be particular to that country or region than a fund that invests its assets more broadly. Such developments may include: adverse securities markets; adverse exchange rates; social, political, regulatory, financial, economic or environmental developments; or natural disasters. Such conditions or developments may have a significant impact on a Fund’s investment performance causing such performance to be more volatile than the investment performance of a more geographically diversified fund. A Fund’s investment performance may be particularly susceptible to such conditions and developments if the Fund emphasizes its investments in an emerging market country or region with a number of emerging market countries.
An Investment Manager’s allocation of a Fund’s assets among geographic regions or countries may vary significantly from time to time. Please refer to a Fund’s most recent annual or semi-annual report to shareholders for portfolio holdings information as of the end of a recent fiscal period.
–A Fund may, but is not required to, engage in various investments or transactions that are designed to hedge a position that the Fund holds. A hedge is an investment, transaction or strategy designed to reduce the risk and impact of adverse market movements or changes in the price or value of a portfolio security or other investment. Hedging may be ineffective as a result of unexpected changes in the market, changes in the prices or values of the related instrument, or changes in the correlation of the instrument and the Fund’s hedging investment or transaction. Hedging investments or transactions involve costs and may reduce gains or result in losses, which may adversely affect a Fund.
High Yield and Unrated Securities Risk
–High yield debt securities in the lower rating (higher risk) categories of the recognized rating services are commonly referred to as “junk bonds.” High yield securities are debt securities that have been determined by a rating agency to have a lower probability of being paid and have a credit rating of “BB” category or lower by Standard & Poor’s Corporation and Fitch Investors Service, Inc. or “Ba” category or lower by Moody’s Investors Service or have been determined by an Investment Manager to be of comparable quality. The total return and yield of junk bonds can be expected to fluctuate more than the total return and yield of higher-quality bonds. Junk bonds (those rated below investment grade or in default, or unrated securities determined by the Investment Manager to be of comparable quality) are regarded as predominantly speculative with respect to the issuer’s continuing ability to meet principal and interest payments. Accordingly, the performance of a Fund that invests in such securities and a shareholder’s investment in the Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer is unable to pay interest and repay principal, either on time or at all. High yield securities may be subject to greater levels of credit risk and tend to be less liquid, and therefore more difficult to value accurately and sell at an advantageous price or time and may involve greater transactions costs and wider bid/ask spreads, than higher-quality bonds. Generally, the risks associated with high yield securities are heightened during times of weakening economic conditions or rising interest rates (particularly for issuers that are highly leveraged) and are therefore heightened under current conditions. Based on its investment strategies, a significant portion of a Fund’s investments can be comprised of high yield and unrated securities and thus particularly prone to the foregoing risks, which may result in substantial losses to the Fund.
Successful investment in lower-medium and lower-rated debt securities involves greater investment risk and is highly dependent on the Investment Manager’s credit analysis. The value of high yield securities is particularly vulnerable to changes in interest rates and a real or perceived economic downturn or higher interest rates could cause a decline in high-yield bond prices by lessening the ability of issuers to make principal and interest payments. These securities are often thinly traded or subject to irregular trading and can be more difficult to sell and value accurately than higher-quality securities because there tends to be less public information available about these securities. Because objective pricing data may be less available, judgment may play a greater role in the valuation process. In addition, the entire high yield security market can experience sudden and sharp price swings due to a variety of factors, including changes in economic forecasts, stock market activity, large or sustained sales by major investors, a high-profile default, or a change in the market’s psychology regarding high yield investments. High yield securities may be more sensitive to adverse specific corporate or general market developments than higher-quality bonds. This type of volatility is usually associated more with stocks than bonds.
Increasing Government and other Public Debt
–Government and other public debt, including municipal obligations in which a Fund invests, can be adversely affected by large and sudden changes in local and global economic conditions that result in increased debt levels. Although high levels of government and other public debt do not necessarily indicate or cause economic problems, high levels of debt may create certain systemic risks if sound debt management practices are not implemented. A
high debt level may increase market pressures to meet an issuer’s funding needs, which may increase borrowing costs and cause a government or public or municipal entity to issue additional debt, thereby increasing the risk of refinancing. A high debt level also raises concerns that the issuer may be unable or unwilling to repay the principal or interest on its debt, which may adversely impact instruments held by a Fund that rely on such payments. Extraordinary governmental and quasi-governmental responses to the currently distressed economic, market, labor and public health conditions are significantly increasing government and other public debt, which heighten these risks and the long term consequences of these actions are not known. Unsustainable debt levels can decline the valuation of currencies, and can prevent a government from implementing effective counter-cyclical fiscal policy during economic downturns or can lead to increases in inflation or generate or contribute to an economic downturn. The foregoing developments and the associated risks can adversely impact a broad range of instruments and assets in which a Fund invests, including those that are not directly related to governmental or municipal issuers.
–Fixed-income and other debt instruments are subject to the possibility that interest rates could change (or are expected to change). Changes in interest rates may adversely affect the Fund’s investments in these instruments, such as the value or liquidity of, and income generated by, the investments. The value of a debt instrument with a longer duration will generally be more sensitive to interest rate changes than a similar instrument with a shorter duration. Similarly, the longer the average duration (whether positive or negative) of these instruments held by a Fund or to which a Fund is exposed (i.e., the longer the average portfolio duration of a Fund), the more a Fund’s share price will likely fluctuate in response to interest rate changes. Duration is a measure used to determine the sensitivity of a security’s price to changes in interest rates that incorporates a security’s yield, coupon, final maturity and call features, among other characteristics. For example, the NAV per share of a bond fund with an average duration of eight years would be expected to fall approximately 8% if interest rates rose by one percentage point.
However, measures such as duration may not accurately reflect the true interest rate sensitivity of instruments held by a Fund and, in turn, the Fund’s susceptibility to changes in interest rates. Certain fixed-income and debt instruments are subject to the risk that the issuer may exercise its right to redeem (or call) the instrument earlier than anticipated. Although an issuer may call an instrument for a variety of reasons, if an issuer does so during a time of declining interest rates, a Fund might have to reinvest the proceeds in an investment offering a lower yield or other less favorable features, and therefore might not benefit from any increase in value as a result of declining interest rates. Interest only or principal only securities and inverse floaters are particularly sensitive to changes in interest rates, which may impact the income generated by the security and other features of the security.
Instruments with variable or floating interest rates, such as syndicated bank loans, generally are less sensitive to interest rate changes, but may decline in value if their interest rates do not rise as much or as fast as interest rates in general. Conversely, in a decreasing interest rate environment, these instruments will generally not increase in value and a Fund’s investment in instruments with floating interest rates may prevent the Fund from taking full advantage of decreasing interest rates in a timely manner. In addition, the income received from such instruments will likely be adversely affected by a decrease in interest rates.
Adjustable rate securities also react to interest rate changes in a similar manner as fixed-rate securities but generally to a lesser degree depending on the characteristics of the security, in particular its reset terms (i.e., the index chosen, frequency of reset and reset caps or floors). During periods of rising interest rates, because changes in interest rates on adjustable rate securities may lag behind changes in market rates, the value of such securities may decline until their interest rates reset to market rates. These securities also may be subject to limits on the maximum increase in interest rates. During periods of declining interest rates, because the interest rates on adjustable rate securities generally reset downward, their market value is unlikely to rise to the same extent as the value of comparable fixed rate securities. These securities may not be subject to limits on downward adjustments of interest rates.
During periods of rising interest rates, issuers of debt securities or asset-backed securities may pay principal later or more slowly than expected, which may reduce the value of a Fund’s investment in such securities and may prevent the Fund from receiving higher interest rates on proceeds reinvested in other instruments. Please refer to “Extension Risk” for additional information. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of debt securities or asset-backed securities may pay off debts more quickly or earlier than expected, which could cause a Fund to be unable to recoup the full amount of its initial investment and/or cause a Fund to reinvest in lower-yielding securities, thereby reducing the Fund’s yield or otherwise adversely impacting the Fund. Please refer to “Prepayment Risk” for additional information.
Certain debt instruments, such as instruments with a negative duration or inverse instruments, are also subject to interest rate risk, although such instruments generally react differently to changes in interest rates than instruments with positive durations. A Fund’s investments in these instruments also may be adversely affected by changes in interest rates. For example, the value of instruments with negative durations, such as inverse floaters, generally decrease if interest rates decline.
Changing Fixed-Income Market Conditions
–There is a risk that interest rates across the financial system may change, sometimes unpredictably, as a result of a variety of factors, such as central bank monetary policies, inflation rates and general economic conditions. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify a Fund’s susceptibility to interest rate risk and diminish yield and performance (e.g., during periods of very low or negative interest rates, a Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns).
Changes in fixed-income or related market conditions, including the potential for changes to interest rates and negative interest rates, may expose fixed-income or related markets to heightened volatility and reduced liquidity for Fund investments, which may be difficult to sell at favorable times or prices, causing the value of a Fund’s investments and NAV per share to decline. A rise in general interest rates may also result in increased redemptions from a Fund. Very low, negative or changing interest rates may also have unpredictable effects on securities markets in general, and may cause economic and financial instability, which would likely directly or indirectly impact a Fund’s investments, yield and performance.
Current Fixed-Income and Debt Market Conditions
–Fixed-income and debt market conditions are highly unpredictable and some parts of the market are subject to dislocations. In response to the economic crisis initially caused by the outbreak of
COVID-19,
as with other serious economic disruptions, governmental authorities and regulators have enacted and are enacting significant fiscal and monetary policy changes, including providing direct capital infusions into companies, creating new monetary programs and lowering interest rates considerably. These actions present heightened risks, particularly to fixed-income and debt instruments, and such risks could be even further heightened if these actions are unexpectedly or suddenly discontinued, disrupted, reversed or are ineffective in achieving their desired outcomes or lead to increases in inflation. In light of these actions and current conditions, interest rates and bond yields in the United States and many other countries are at or near historic lows. Certain countries have experienced negative interest rates on certain debt securities and have pursued negative interest rate policies and others may do so in the future. A negative interest rate policy is an unconventional central bank monetary policy tool where nominal target interest rates are set with negative value intended to create self-sustaining growth in the local economy. To the extent a Fund holds a debt instrument with a negative interest rate, the Fund would generate a negative return on that investment. If negative interest rates become more prevalent in the market, market participants may seek to reallocate their investments to other income-producing assets, which could further reduce the value of instruments held by a Fund with a negative yield. The current very low or negative interest rates are magnifying a Fund’s susceptibility to interest rate risk and may diminish yield and impact performance. Certain economic conditions and market environments will expose fixed-income and debt instruments to heightened volatility and reduced liquidity, which can impact a Fund’s investments.
–Certain of the Funds’ investments are subject to inflation risk, which is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the purchasing power and value of money (i.e., as inflation increases, the values of a Fund’s assets can decline). Inflation rates may change frequently and significantly as a result of various factors, including unexpected shifts in the domestic or global economy and changes in monetary or economic policies (or expectations that these policies may change), and a Fund’s investments may not keep pace with inflation, which would adversely affect a Fund. This risk is greater for fixed-income instruments with longer maturities. In addition, this risk is significantly elevated compared to normal conditions because of recent monetary policy measures and the current low interest rate environment.
A Fund that invests in derivatives tied to fixed-income or related markets may be more substantially exposed to these risks than a fund that does not invest in such derivatives. To the extent a Fund experiences high redemptions because of changes in interest rates, the Fund may experience increased portfolio turnover, which will increase the costs that the Fund incurs and may lower the Fund’s performance. The liquidity levels of a Fund’s portfolio may also be affected and the Fund could be required to sell holdings at disadvantageous times or prices in order to meet redemption obligations or other liquidity needs.
Investments by Investing Funds and Other Large Shareholders
–Shares of each Fund are offered as an investment to certain other investment companies (including those advised by the Investment Manager and its affiliates) and may be offered to large retirement plans and other large investors. Such investors may comprise a significant portion of a Fund’s shareholders. A Fund is subject to the risk that one or more large investors purchase or redeem a large percentage of Fund shares at any time, the risk of which is particularly acute under current conditions. To meet large redemption requests, a Fund may have to hold large uninvested cash positions or sell investments to raise the cash needed to satisfy redemption requests at times when it would not otherwise do so. In turn, a Fund’s performance may suffer and a Fund can incur high turnover, incur brokerage costs, realize gains or losses at inopportune times, lose money, hold a less liquid portfolio or experience other adverse consequences. Similarly, large Fund share purchases may adversely affect a Fund’s performance to the extent that a Fund is delayed in investing new cash and is required to maintain a larger cash position than it ordinarily would. A Fund may also experience adverse tax consequences as a result of a large shareholder transaction. Under certain circumstances, a Fund may also experience frequent large shareholder transactions.
Investment in Investment Vehicles Risk
–Investments in investment companies or other investment vehicles may include index-based unit investment trusts such as Standard & Poor’s Depositary Receipts or other index funds and securities of investment companies that are not index-based, including
closed-end
funds, mutual funds, affiliated short-term funds or ETFs and other investment vehicles. Index-based investments sometimes hold substantially all of their assets in securities representing a specific index. A Fund may use index-based investments (including ETFs designed to track an index) as a way of managing its cash position, or to maintain liquidity while gaining exposure to the equity, commodities or fixed-income markets, or a particular sector of such markets, or to seek to avoid losses in declining market conditions. A Fund may invest in index-based investment vehicles for a variety of other reasons, including to obtain exposure to a specific asset class or investment strategy or to seek to enhance return or yield. In addition, an index-based investment vehicle in which a Fund invests may not replicate exactly the composition or performance of the index it seeks to track for a number of reasons, such as operating expenses, transaction costs and imperfect correlation of holdings relative to the index.
A Fund and its shareholders may incur its pro rata share of the expenses of the underlying investment companies or vehicles in which the Fund invests, such as investment advisory and other management expenses, and shareholders will incur the operating expenses of these investment vehicles. In addition, the Fund will be subject to those risks affecting the investment vehicle, including the effects of
business and regulatory developments that affect an underlying investment company or vehicle or the investment company industry generally as well as the possibility that the value of the underlying securities held by the investment vehicle could decrease or the portfolio becomes illiquid. Shares of investment vehicles that trade on an exchange may trade at a discount or premium from their net asset value. The purchase of shares of some investment companies (such as
closed-end
investment companies and ETFs) may require the payment of substantial premiums above the value of such companies’ portfolio securities or NAVs.
The Funds may, from time to time, invest a portion of their assets in investment companies advised by the Investment Manager, or an affiliate of the Investment Manager, that invest in short-term fixed-income or floating rate securities. Investments by the Funds in these investment companies significantly increase the Funds’ exposure to one or more of the following asset categories: (i) a broad range of high yield, high risk debt securities rated below the top four long-term rating categories by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization (also known as “junk bonds”) or, if unrated, determined by the Investment Manager, to be of comparable quality; (ii) collateralized loan obligations (“CLOs”), other asset-backed securities and similarly structured debt investments; and (iii) other short-term fixed or floating rate debt securities. Such investments expose the Funds to the risks of these asset categories and decreases in the value of these investments may cause the Funds to deviate from their investment objective. These investment companies are registered open-end investment companies primarily available only to other investment companies and separately managed accounts managed by the Investment Manager and its affiliates. The subscription and redemption activities of these large investors can have a significant adverse effect on these investment companies and thus the Funds. For example, the liquidity of the investment companies can be limited as a result of large redemptions.
An underlying investment vehicle may buy the same securities that another underlying investment vehicle sells. If this happens, an investor in a Fund would indirectly bear the costs of these trades without accomplishing any investment purpose. In addition, certain of the underlying investment vehicles may hold common portfolio positions, thereby reducing the diversification benefits of an asset allocation style. The underlying investment vehicles may engage in investment strategies or invest in specific investments in which a Fund would not engage or invest directly.
The performance of those underlying investment vehicles, in turn, depends upon the performance of the securities in which they invest.
The underlying investment companies or other investment vehicles in which a Fund invests are often institutional funds owned by a small number of shareholders and are thus also subject to the risk that shareholders redeem their shares rapidly, which may adversely affect the performance and liquidity of the underlying investment vehicles and the Fund.
An investment by a Fund in ETFs generally presents the same primary risks as an investment in a mutual fund. In addition, an investment in an ETF may be subject to additional risk, including: the ETF’s shares may trade at a discount or premium relative to the net asset value of the shares; an active trading market may not develop for the ETF’s shares; the listing exchange may halt trading of the ETF’s shares; the ETF may fail to correctly track the referenced asset (if any); and the ETF may hold troubled securities in the referenced index or basket of investments.
–Loans, such as syndicated bank loans and other direct lending opportunities, senior floating rate loans, secured and unsecured loans, second lien or more junior loans, bridge loans, revolving credit facilities, unfunded commitments, loan assignments or loan participations, may incur some of the same risks as other debt securities, such as prepayment risk, extension risk, credit risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk and risks associated with high yield securities, which are heightened under current conditions. The terms of certain loan agreements may cause certain loans to be particularly sensitive to changes in benchmark interest rates. Although some loans are secured by collateral, the collateral may be difficult to liquidate and the value of the collateral can
decline or be insufficient or unavailable to lower the borrower’s obligations should the borrower default. In the event that a Fund becomes the owner of the collateral, the Fund would bear the risks, costs and liabilities associated with owning and disposing of the collateral.
Certain Funds invest in or are exposed to, including through investment in underlying funds, loans and other similar debt obligations that are sometimes referred to as “covenant-lite” loans or obligations (“covenant-lite obligations”), which are loans or other similar debt obligations that lack financial maintenance covenants or possess fewer or contingent financial maintenance covenants and other financial protections for lenders and investors. Exposure may also be obtained to covenant lite obligations through investment in securitization vehicles and other structured products. In current market conditions, many new, restructured or reissued loans and similar debt obligations do not feature traditional financial maintenance covenants, which are intended to protect lenders and investors by imposing certain restrictions and other limitations on a borrower’s operations or assets and by providing certain information and consent rights to lenders. Covenant-lite obligations generally allow borrowers to exercise more flexibility with respect to certain activities that may otherwise be limited or prohibited under similar loan obligations that are not covenant-lite. In addition, a Fund may receive less or less frequent financial reporting from a borrower under a covenant-lite obligation, which may result in more limited access to financial information, difficulty evaluating the borrower’s financial performance over time and delays in exercising rights and remedies in the event of a significant financial decline. As a result, investments in or exposure to covenant-lite obligations are generally subject to more risk than investments that contain traditional financial maintenance covenants and financial reporting requirements. A Fund’s interest in a particular loan and/or in particular collateral securing a loan may be subordinate to the interests of other creditors of the obligor. As a result, a loan may not be fully collateralized (and may be uncollateralized) and can decline significantly in value, which may result in the Fund not receiving payments to which it is entitled on a timely basis or at all. In addition, the Fund may have limited rights to exercise remedies against collateral or against an obligor when payments are delayed or missed.
Loans may offer a fixed rate or floating rate of interest. Loans may decline in value if their interest rates do not rise as much or as fast as interest rates in general. In addition, to the extent a Fund holds a loan through a financial intermediary, or relies on a financial intermediary to administer the loan, the Fund’s investment, including receipt of principal and interest relating to the loan, will be subject to the credit risk of the intermediary.
Loans are subject to the risk that the scheduled interest or principal payments will not be paid, which is particularly acute under current conditions. Lower-rated loans and debt securities (those of less than investment grade quality) involve greater risk of default on interest and principal payments than higher-rated loans and securities. In the event that a
non-payment
occurs, the value of that obligation likely will decline. Loans and other debt instruments rated below “BBB” category by S&P or “Baa” category by Moody’s or unrated but assessed by an Investment Manager to be of similar quality are considered to have speculative characteristics and are commonly referred to as “junk bonds.” Junk bonds entail greater default and other risks than those associated with higher-rated securities. In addition, loans that have a lower priority for repayment in a borrower’s capital structure may involve a higher degree of overall risk, and be subject to greater price and payment volatility, than more senior loans of the same borrower. For example, in the event of a default, second lien secured loans will generally be paid only if the value of the collateral exceeds the amount of the borrower’s obligations to the first lien secured lenders, and the remaining collateral may be insufficient to cover the full amount owed on the second lien loan in which the Fund has an interest.
Loans are especially vulnerable to the financial health, or perceived financial health, of the borrower but are also particularly susceptible to economic and market sentiment such that changes in these conditions or the occurrence of other economic or market events may reduce the demand for loans and cause their value to decline rapidly and unpredictably. Many loans and loan interests are subject to legal or contractual restrictions on transfer, resale or assignment that may limit the ability of a Fund to
sell its interest in a loan at an advantageous time or price. The resale, or secondary, market for loans is currently growing, but may become more limited or more difficult to access, and such changes may be sudden and unpredictable. There is no organized exchange or board of trade on which loans are traded. Loans often trade in large denominations (typically $1 million and higher), and trades can be infrequent. The market has limited transparency and information about actual trades may be difficult to obtain. Accordingly, some of the loans in which a Fund may invest will be relatively illiquid and difficult to value. A Fund may have difficulty in disposing of loans in a favorable or timely fashion, which could result in losses to the Fund. Transactions in loans are often subject to long settlement periods (in excess of the standard T+2 days settlement cycle for most securities and often longer than seven days). As a result, sale proceeds potentially will not be available to a Fund to make additional investments or to use proceeds to meet its current redemption obligations. A Fund thus is subject to the risk of selling other investments at disadvantageous times or prices or taking other actions necessary to raise cash to meet its redemption obligations such as borrowing from a bank or holding additional cash, particularly during periods of significant redemption activity, unusual market or economic conditions or financial stress.
Loans may be issued in connection with highly leveraged transactions, such as restructurings, leveraged buyouts, leveraged recapitalizations and acquisition financing. In such highly leveraged transactions, the borrower assumes large amounts of debt in order to have the financial resources to attempt to achieve its business objectives. Accordingly, loans that are part of highly leveraged transactions involve a significant risk that the borrower may default or go into bankruptcy or become insolvent. The risk of a borrower’s default or bankruptcy is heightened under current conditions. In addition, there may be limited public information about the issuer or the loan. Bankruptcy or other court proceedings may delay, limit or negate a Fund’s ability to collect payments on its loan investments or otherwise adversely affect a Fund’s rights in collateral relating to the loan, such as invalidating the loan, the lien on any collateral or the priority status of the loan (or otherwise subordinating the Fund’s interest). Thus, a Fund may need to retain legal counsel or other advisors to help in seeking to enforce or protect its rights. As a result, a Fund may incur the costs associated with retaining such counsel or other advisors. In addition, if a Fund holds certain loans, the Fund may be required to exercise its rights collectively with other creditors or through an agent or other intermediary acting on behalf of multiple creditors, and the value of the Fund’s investment may decline or otherwise be adversely affected by delays or other risks associated with such collective procedures.
Each Fund values its assets on each Business Day (as defined below). However, because the secondary market for loans is limited, trading in loans (or certain types of loans) may be irregular and opportunities to invest in loans (or certain types of loans) may be limited. In addition, loans may be difficult to value accurately as market quotations may not be readily available for some loans or may be volatile and/or subject to large spreads between bid and ask prices, and valuation may require more research than for other securities. A default or expected default on a loan could also make it more difficult for a Fund to dispose of the investment at a price approximating the value placed on the investment by the Fund. In addition, elements of judgment may play a greater role in valuation than for securities with a more active secondary market, because there is less reliable, objective market value data available.
An increase in the demand for loans may provide improved liquidity and resale prices but it may also adversely affect the rate of interest payable on loans and/or the rights provided to lenders or buyers, such as the Funds, and increase the price of loans in the secondary market. A decrease in the demand for loans and instances of broader market events (such as turmoil in the loan market or significant sales of loans) may adversely affect the liquidity and value of loans in a Fund’s portfolio.
In certain circumstances, the Investment Manager or its affiliates (including on behalf of clients other than a Fund) or a Fund may be in possession of material
non-public
information about a borrower as a result of its ownership of a loan and/or corporate debt security of a borrower. Because U.S. laws and regulations generally prohibit trading in securities of issuers while in possession of material,
non-public
information, a Fund might be unable (potentially for a substantial period of time) to trade securities or other instruments issued by the borrower when it would otherwise be advantageous to do so and, as such, could incur a loss. In circumstances when the Investment Manager or a Fund determines to avoid or to not receive
non-public
information about a borrower for loan investments being considered for acquisition by the Fund or held by the Fund, the Fund may be disadvantaged relative to other investors that do receive such information, and the Fund may not be able to take advantage of other investment opportunities that it may otherwise have. In addition, loans and other similar instruments may not be considered “securities” and, as a result, a Fund may not be entitled to rely on the anti-fraud protections under the federal securities laws and instead may have to resort to state law and direct claims.
The Investment Manager or its affiliates may participate in the primary and secondary market for loans or other transactions with possible borrowers. As a result, a Fund may be legally restricted from acquiring some loans and from participating in a restructuring of a loan or other similar instrument. Further, if a Fund, in combination with other accounts managed by the Investment Manager or its affiliates, acquires a large portion of a loan, the Fund’s valuation of its interests in the loan and the Fund’s ability to dispose of the loan at favorable times or prices may be adversely affected. The Funds are also subject to conflicts of interest that are described in more detail in the SAI.
Investment in the Subsidiary Risk
–The Guggenheim Macro Opportunities Fund currently invests in the Subsidiary in order to gain exposure to commodities markets. The Subsidiary is not a registered investment company under the 1940 Act. Because the Subsidiary is not directly subject to all of the investment protections of the 1940 Act, the Fund may not have all of the protections offered to shareholders of registered investment companies. While the Subsidiary has its own board of directors that is responsible for overseeing the operations of the Subsidiary, the Fund’s Board has oversight responsibility for the investment activities of the Fund, including its investment in the Subsidiary. The Fund is exposed to the risks of the Subsidiary, which is exposed to the risks of investing in the commodities markets and other investments made by the Subsidiary. The Subsidiary is also subject to these risks. Changes in the laws of the United States and/or the Cayman Islands, under which the Fund and the Subsidiary are organized, respectively, could result in the inability of the Fund, the Subsidiary, or both, to operate as intended, which could result in losses to the Fund.
In order to qualify for favorable tax treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), the Fund must derive at least 90% of its gross annual income from qualifying sources under Subchapter M of the Code. Generally, income derived from direct and certain indirect investments in commodities is not considered qualifying income. However, historically, the IRS has issued private letter rulings (“PLRs”) in which the IRS specifically concluded that income from certain commodity-linked notes and from investments in a subsidiary is qualifying income. These PLRs did not require a RIC to receive any distributions attributable to any gross income recognized from such subsidiaries in order for such gross income to be considered qualifying gross income. Based on the principles underlying such rulings, the Fund has sought to gain exposure to the commodity markets through the Subsidiary. However, the IRS indicated in July 2011 that the granting of such PLRs is currently suspended, pending further internal discussion. The Fund has not received such a PLR, and is unable to rely on PLRs issued to other taxpayers.
Moreover, the IRS and the Treasury Department finalized Treasury regulations that generally treat the Fund’s income inclusion with respect to the Subsidiary as qualifying income if there is a distribution out of the earnings and profits of the Subsidiary that is attributable to such inclusion or if the income is related to the Fund’s business of investing in securities. The tax treatment of investments in commodities through the Subsidiary may be adversely affected by future legislation, Treasury regulations and/or guidance issued by the IRS that could affect the character, timing and/or amount of the Fund’s taxable income or any gains and distributions made by the Fund and whether income derived from the Fund’s investments in the Subsidiary is considered qualifying income. If the Fund does not meet the qualifying income test, it may be able to cure such a failure. However, if the Fund attempts to cure the failure of the qualifying income test, significant taxes may be incurred by the Fund and its shareholders.
–The use of derivatives (such as swaps, futures and options), reverse repurchase agreements, unfunded commitments, tender option bonds and borrowings may create leveraging risk. For example, because of the low margin deposits required, futures trading involves an extremely high degree of leverage. As a result, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in an immediate and substantial impact on the net asset value of a Fund. Leveraging may cause a Fund to be more volatile than if it had not been leveraged. Under current regulatory requirements, to mitigate leveraging risk and otherwise comply with regulatory requirements, each Fund must segregate or earmark liquid assets to meet its obligations under, or otherwise cover, the transactions that may give rise to this risk. Applicable law limits each Fund from borrowing in an amount greater than 33 1/3% of its assets.
The Funds are permitted to borrow money for certain purposes. To the extent that a Fund purchases securities while it has outstanding borrowings, it is using leverage, i.e., using borrowed funds for investment. Leveraging will exaggerate the effect on the NAV per share of a Fund of any increase or decrease in the market value of the Fund’s portfolio. Money borrowed for leveraging will be subject to interest and other costs that may or may not be recovered by appreciation of the securities purchased. In addition, if a Fund borrows from a line of credit it will be subject to certain covenants that, if breached, may require the Fund to accelerate its indebtedness and sell portfolio securities or other assets when it otherwise would not do so. If a Fund accesses its line of credit, the Fund would bear the cost of the borrowing through interest expenses and other expenses (e.g., commitment fees) that affect the Fund’s performance. In some cases, such expenses and the resulting adverse effect on the Fund’s performance can be significant. Moreover, if a Fund accesses its line of credit to meet shareholder redemption requests, the Fund’s remaining shareholders would bear such costs of borrowing. Borrowing expenses are excluded from any applicable fee waivers or expense limitation agreements.
In the case of the Guggenheim Municipal Income Fund, the amount of exempt interest dividends payable by the Fund will generally be the amount of gross tax exempt interest reduced by expenses, including expenses of any borrowing and reverse repurchase agreements.
Real estate companies may use leverage (and some may be highly leveraged), which increases investment risk and the risks normally associated with debt financing and could adversely affect a real estate company’s operations and market value in periods of rising interest rates. Financial covenants related to a real estate company’s leveraging may affect the ability of the real estate company to operate effectively. In addition, real property may be subject to the quality of credit extended and defaults by borrowers and tenants. If the properties do not generate sufficient income to meet operating expenses, including, where applicable, debt service, ground lease payments, tenant improvements, third-party leasing commissions and other capital expenditures, the income and ability of a real estate company to make payments of any interest and principal on its debt securities will be adversely affected. These risks are especially applicable in conditions of declining real estate values or as a result of developments adversely affecting the real estate industry.
Liquidity and Valuation Risk
–It may be difficult for a Fund to purchase and sell particular investments within a reasonable time at a favorable price. As a result, a Fund may be unable to achieve its desired level of exposure to certain issuers, asset classes or sectors. The capacity of market makers of fixed-income and other debt instruments has not kept pace with the consistent growth in these markets over the past three decades, which has led to reduced levels in the capacity of these market makers to engage in trading and, as a result, dealer inventories of corporate fixed-income, floating rate and certain other debt instruments are at or near historic lows relative to market size. These factors may apply more to high yield and floating rate debt instruments than higher quality fixed-income instruments. Market makers tend to provide stability and liquidity to debt-securities markets through their intermediary services, and their reduced capacity and number could lead to decreased liquidity and increased volatility in the financial markets. As a result, a Fund potentially will be unable to pay redemption proceeds within the allowable time period because of adverse market conditions, an
unusually high volume of redemption requests or other reasons, unless it sells other portfolio investments under unfavorable conditions, thereby adversely impacting the Fund. A Fund’s ability to sell an instrument under favorable conditions also may be negatively impacted by, among other things, other market participants selling the same or similar instruments at the same time. If a Fund is unable to sell an investment at its desired time, the Fund may miss other investment opportunities while it holds investments it would prefer to sell, which could adversely affect the Fund’s performance. In addition, the liquidity of any Fund investment may change significantly over time as a result of market, economic, trading, issuer-specific and other factors. Dislocations in certain parts of markets are resulting in reduced liquidity for certain investments. It is uncertain when financial markets will improve and economic conditions will stabilize. Liquidity of financial markets may also be affected by government intervention and political, social, public health, economic or market developments.
To the extent that there is not an established liquid market for instruments in which a Fund invests, or there is a reduced number or capacity of market makers with respect to debt instruments, trading in such instruments may be relatively inactive or irregular. In addition, during periods of reduced market liquidity, market turmoil or in the absence of readily available market quotations for particular investments in a Fund’s portfolio, the ability of the Fund to assign an accurate daily value to these investments may be difficult and a Fund’s Investment Manager may be required to fair value the investments. Fair value determinations are inherently subjective and reflect good faith judgments based on available information. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that the determination of a security’s fair value in accordance with the Funds’ valuation procedures will in fact approximate the price at which a Fund could sell that security at that time (i.e., the sale price could differ, sometimes significantly, from the Fund’s last valuation for the security). The Funds (or the Investment Managers) rely on various sources of information to value investments and calculate net asset value. The Funds may obtain pricing information from third parties that are believed to be reliable. In certain cases, this information may be unavailable or this information may be inaccurate because of errors by the third parties, technological issues, absence of current market data, or otherwise. As a result, the Funds’ ability to effectively value investments or calculate net asset value may be adversely affected.
Investors who purchase or redeem shares of a Fund on days when the Fund is holding fair valued securities may receive fewer or more shares or lower or higher redemption proceeds than they would have received if the Fund had not fair valued the securities or had used a different valuation methodology. These risks may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment and Funds that hold a significant percentage of fair valued or otherwise difficult to value securities may be particularly susceptible to the risks associated with valuation. For additional information about valuation determinations, see “Determination of Net Asset Value” and a Fund’s shareholder report. Proportions of a Fund’s investments that are fair valued or difficult to value vary from time to time. Based on its investment strategies, a significant portion of a Fund’s investments can be difficult to value and potentially less liquid and thus particularly prone to the foregoing risks. In addition, during periods of market stress, a large portion of a Fund’s assets could potentially experience significant levels of illiquidity. The Funds’ shareholder reports contain more information about the Funds’ holdings that are fair valued or difficult to value. Investors should consider consulting these reports for additional information.
–Each Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed investment portfolio, which means that investment decisions are made based on investment views. An Investment Manager and each individual portfolio manager will apply investment techniques and risk analysis in making decisions for each Fund, but there is no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results or expected returns, causing a Fund to fail to meet its investment objective or underperform its benchmark index or funds with similar investment objectives and strategies. Additionally, legislative, regulatory or tax restrictions, policies or developments may affect the investment techniques available to an Investment Manager and each individual portfolio manager in connection with managing each Fund and may also adversely affect the ability of each Fund to achieve
its investment objectives. Active and frequent trading that can accompany active management will increase the costs each Fund incurs because of higher brokerage charges or
mark-up
charges, which are passed on to shareholders of a Fund and, as a result, may lower a Fund’s performance. However, a Fund is generally less likely to incur brokerage charges or
mark-up
charges to the extent the Fund invests in fixed-income instruments as opposed to other investments.
An Investment Manager may utilize proprietary quantitative models, algorithms, methods or other similar techniques in connection with making investment or asset allocation decisions for a Fund. These techniques may be used to analyze current or potential future financial or economic conditions or conduct related statistical or other research. There is no guarantee that the use of such techniques, and the investments selected based on such techniques, will perform as expected, produce the desired results or enable a Fund to achieve its investment objective and a Fund may be adversely affected by imperfections, errors or limitations in construction and implementation (for example, limitations in a model, proprietary or third-party data imprecision or unavailability, software or other technology malfunctions, or programming inaccuracies) and an Investment Manager’s ability to monitor and timely adjust the metrics or update the data or features underlying these techniques and related tools. A Fund may also be adversely affected by an Investment Manager’s ability to make accurate qualitative judgments regarding the techniques and related tools’ output or operational complications relating to any techniques and related tools.
–The value of, or income generated by, the investments held by a Fund are subject to the possibility of rapid and unpredictable fluctuation. The value of certain investments (
equity securities) tends to fluctuate more dramatically over the shorter term than do the value of other asset classes. These movements may result from factors affecting individual companies, or from broader influences, including real or perceived changes in prevailing interest rates, changes in inflation or expectations about inflation, investor confidence or economic, political, social or financial market conditions, environmental disasters, governmental actions, public health emergencies (such as the spread of infectious diseases, pandemics and epidemics) and other similar events, each of which may be temporary or last for extended periods. For example, the economic crisis initially caused by the outbreak of
COVID-19
is causing materially reduced consumer demand and economic output, disrupting supply chains, resulting in market closures, travel restrictions and quarantines, and adversely impacting local and global economies. As with other serious economic disruptions, governmental authorities and regulators are responding to this crisis with significant fiscal and monetary policy changes, including by providing direct capital infusions into companies, introducing new monetary programs and considerably lowering interest rates, which, in some cases resulted in, and may in the future result in, negative interest rates. These actions, including their possible unexpected or sudden discontinuance, reversal or potential ineffectiveness (including the perception by investors as unlikely to achieve the desired results), could further increase volatility in securities and other financial markets, reduce market liquidity, heighten investor uncertainty and adversely affect the value of a Fund’s investments and the performance of the Fund. In addition, the impact of the economic and public health crisis in emerging market countries may be greater due to their generally less established healthcare systems and capabilities with respect to fiscal and monetary policies, which may exacerbate other
pre-existing
political, social and economic risks.
Different sectors, industries and security types may react differently to such developments and, when the market performs well, there is no assurance that a Fund’s investments will increase in value along with the broader markets. For example, the value of a Fund’s investments in securities or other instruments may be particularly susceptible to changes in commodity prices. As a result, a change in commodity prices may adversely affect the Fund’s investments. Volatility of financial markets, including potentially extreme volatility caused by the events described above, can expose a Fund to greater market risk than normal, possibly resulting in greatly reduced liquidity. In addition, liquidity challenges can be exacerbated by large Fund redemptions, which often result from or are related to market or other similar disruptions. Moreover, changing economic, political, social or financial market conditions
in one country or geographic region could adversely affect the value, yield and return of the investments held by a Fund in a different country or geographic region because of the increasingly interconnected global economies and financial markets. The Investment Managers potentially will be prevented from considering, managing and executing investment decisions at an advantageous time or price or at all as a result of any domestic or global market or other disruptions, particularly disruptions causing heightened market volatility and reduced market liquidity, such as the current conditions, which have also resulted in impediments to the normal functioning of workforces, including personnel and systems of the Funds’ service providers and market intermediaries.
The current domestic political environment, as well as political and diplomatic events within the United States and abroad, such as the U.S. budget and deficit reduction plan and trade tensions with foreign nations, has in the past resulted, and may in the future result, in developments that present additional risks to a Fund’s investments and operations. For example, additional and/or prolonged U.S. federal government shutdowns or global trade tensions may affect investor and consumer confidence and may adversely impact financial markets and the broader economy, perhaps suddenly and to a significant degree. Any market, economic and other disruption could also prevent a Fund from executing its investment strategies and processes in a timely manner. Changes or disruptions in market conditions also may lead to increased regulation of a Fund and the instruments in which a Fund may invest, which may, in turn, affect the Fund’s ability to pursue its investment objective and the Fund’s performance. In general, the securities or other instruments in which a Fund’s Portfolio Managers believe represent an attractive investment opportunity or in which a Fund seeks to invest may be unavailable entirely or in the specific quantities sought by the Fund. As a result, a Fund may need to obtain the desired exposure through a less advantageous investment, forgo the investment at the time or seek to replicate the desired exposure through a derivative transaction or investment in an investment vehicle. This may adversely affect a Fund.
Municipal Securities Risk
–A Fund’s holdings of municipal securities could be significantly affected by events that affect the municipal bond market, which could include unfavorable legislative or political developments, or adverse changes in the financial conditions of issuers of municipal securities. Income from municipal bonds held by a Fund could be declared taxable because of changes in tax laws or interpretations by taxing authorities, or as a result of
non-compliant
conduct of a municipal issuer. Consequently, a portion of a Fund’s otherwise
tax-exempt
dividends may be taxable to those Fund shareholders subject to the federal alternative minimum tax, or may be fully taxable to all Fund shareholders. To the extent that a Fund invests in municipal securities from a given state or geographic region, its share price and performance could be affected by local, state and regional factors, including erosion of the tax base and changes in the economic climate. Also, municipal securities backed by current or anticipated revenues from a specific project or assets can be negatively affected by the discontinuance of taxation supporting the project or assets or the inability to collect enough revenue. Because many municipal securities are issued to finance similar projects (especially those relating to education, health care, utilities and transportation), conditions in those sectors can affect the overall municipal market, including proposed federal, state or local legislation involving the financing of, or declining markets or needs for, such projects. Certain sectors of the municipal bond market have special risks that can affect them more significantly than the market as a whole. For example, health care can be hurt by rising expenses, dependency on third party reimbursements, legislative changes and reductions in government spending; electric utilities are subject to governmental rate regulation; and private activity bonds rely on project revenues and the creditworthiness of the corporate user as opposed to governmental support. Municipalities and municipal projects that rely directly or indirectly on federal funding mechanisms may be negatively affected by current budgetary constraints of the federal government. Other national governmental actions, such as the elimination of
tax-exempt
status, also could affect performance. In addition, changes in the economic and fiscal condition of an individual municipal issuer can affect the overall municipal market, and market conditions may directly impact the liquidity, marketability and valuation of municipal securities. Also, information related to municipal securities and their risks may be provided by the municipality itself, which may not always be
accurate. Investments in municipal securities can be subject to credit, interest rate, prepayment and liquidity risks and can be more volatile than other investments. In addition, certain of the issuers in which a Fund invests may have recently experienced, or may experience, significant financial difficulties and repeated credit rating downgrades.
Certain municipal securities may be insured by an insurer. Adverse developments affecting a particular insurer or, more generally, banks and financial institutions could have a negative effect on the value of a Fund’s holdings. For example, rating agency downgrades of an insurer, or other events in the credit markets that may affect the insured municipal bond market as a whole, may adversely affect the value of the insured municipal bonds held by a Fund. A Fund’s vulnerability to potential losses associated with such developments may be reduced through investing in municipal securities that feature credit enhancements (such as bond insurance).
Although insurance may reduce the credit risk of a municipal security, it does not protect against fluctuations in the value of a Fund’s shares caused by market changes. It is also important to note that, although insurance may increase the credit safety of investments held by a Fund, it decreases a Fund’s yield as a Fund may pay for the insurance directly or indirectly. In addition, while the obligation of a municipal bond insurance company to pay a claim extends over the life of an insured bond, there is no assurance that insurers will meet their claims. A higher-than-anticipated default rate on municipal bonds (or other insurance the insurer provides) could strain the insurer’s loss reserves and adversely affect its ability to pay claims to bondholders.
Investments in municipal securities are subject to risks associated with the financial health of the issuers of such securities or the revenue associated with underlying projects. For example, the current
COVID-19
pandemic has significantly stressed the financial resources of many municipalities and other issuers of municipal securities, which may impair their ability to meet their financial obligations and may harm the value or liquidity of a Fund’s investments in municipal securities. In particular, responses by municipalities and other governmental authorities to the
COVID-19
pandemic have caused disruptions in business and other activities. These and other effects of the
COVID-19
pandemic, such as increased unemployment levels, have impacted tax and other revenues of municipalities and other issuers of municipal securities and the financial conditions of such issuers. In addition, in response to the
COVID-19
pandemic, governmental authorities and regulators have enacted and are enacting significant fiscal and monetary policy changes, which present heightened risks to municipal securities, and such risks could be even further heightened if these actions are unexpectedly or suddenly discontinued, disrupted, reversed or are ineffective in achieving their desired outcomes or lead to increases in inflation. Furthermore, governmental authorities have proposed various forms of relief for municipal issuers. As a result, there is an increased budgetary and financial pressure on municipalities and other issuers of municipal securities and heightened risk of default or other adverse credit or similar events for issuers of municipal securities, which would adversely impact a Fund’s investments.
Municipal securities also trade rarely and their valuations may be based on assumptions or unobservable inputs. They can be difficult to liquidate quickly and transaction prices in stressed environments may ultimately be less than their valuations, which will hurt fund performance.
From time to time, the Guggenheim Municipal Income Fund may invest a substantial portion of its assets in municipal securities issued by issuers in a particular state or municipality. For example, the Fund invests a substantial amount of its assets in municipal securities of issuers located in California. As a result, the Fund may be affected significantly by economic, regulatory or political developments affecting the ability of California issuers to pay interest or repay principal. An Investment Manager’s allocation of the Fund’s assets among the issuers of municipal securities may vary significantly from time to time. Please refer to the Fund’s most recent annual or semi-annual report to shareholders for portfolio holdings information as of the end of a recent fiscal period.
Preferred Securities Risk
–Preferred stock represents an equity interest in a company that generally entitles the holder to receive, in preference to the holders of other stocks such as common stocks,
dividends and a fixed share of the proceeds resulting from a liquidation of the company. Preferred stocks may pay fixed or adjustable rates of return. Preferred stock is subject to issuer-specific and market risks applicable generally to equity securities. In addition, a company’s preferred stock generally pays dividends (if declared) only after the company makes required payments to holders of its bonds and other debt. For this reason, the value of preferred stock will usually react more strongly than bonds and other debt to actual or perceived changes in the company’s financial condition or prospects.
Preferred stock has properties of both an equity and a debt instrument and is generally considered a hybrid instrument. Preferred stock is senior to common stock, but is subordinate to bonds in terms of claims or rights to their share of the assets of the company.
–Certain debt instruments, including loans and mortgage- and other asset-backed securities, are subject to the risk that payments on principal may occur more quickly or earlier than expected (or an investment is converted or redeemed prior to maturity). For example, an issuer may exercise its right to redeem outstanding debt securities prior to their maturity (known as a “call”) or otherwise pay principal earlier than expected for a number of reasons (e.g., declining interest rates, changes in credit spreads and improvements in the issuer’s credit quality). If an issuer calls or “prepays” a security in which a Fund has invested, the Fund may not recoup the full amount of its initial investment and may be required to reinvest in generally lower-yielding securities, securities with greater credit risks or securities with other, less favorable features or terms than the security in which the Fund initially invested, thus potentially reducing the Fund’s yield. Loans and mortgage- and other asset-backed securities are particularly subject to prepayment risk, and offer less potential for gains, during periods of declining interest rates (or narrower spreads) as issuers of higher interest rate debt instruments pay off debts earlier than expected. In addition, a Fund may lose any premiums paid to acquire the investment. Other factors, such as excess cash flows, may also contribute to prepayment risk. Thus, changes in interest rates may cause volatility in the value of and income received from these types of debt instruments.
Variable or floating rate investments may be less vulnerable to prepayment risk. Most floating rate loans (such as syndicated bank loans) and fixed-income securities allow for prepayment of principal without penalty. Accordingly, the potential for the value of a floating rate loan or security to increase in response to interest rate declines is limited. Corporate loans or fixed-income securities purchased to replace a prepaid corporate loan or security may have lower yields than the yield on the prepaid corporate loan or security. Prepayments could also result in tax liability in certain instances.
Real Estate Investments Risk
–A Fund may invest in securities of real estate companies and companies related to the real estate industry, including real estate investment trusts (“REITs”), which are subject to the same risks as direct investments in real estate. These risks include: losses from casualty or condemnation; changes in national, state and local economic conditions (such as the turmoil experienced during 2007 through 2009 in the residential and commercial real estate market); changes in real estate values and rental income, rising interest rates (which could result in higher costs of capital); changes in building, environmental, zoning and other laws; regulatory limitations on rents; property taxes; operating expenses; overbuilding, construction delays and the supply of real estate generally; extended vacancies of properties due to economic conditions and tenant bankruptcies; and catastrophic events such as earthquakes, hurricanes and terrorist acts. Investments in real estate companies and companies related to the real estate industry are also subject to risks associated with the management skill, insurance coverage and credit worthiness of the issuer. Real estate companies tend to have micro-, small- or
mid-capitalization,
making their securities more volatile and less liquid than those of companies with larger-capitalizations. In addition, the real estate industry has historically been cyclical and particularly sensitive to economic downturns and other events that limit demand for real estate, which would adversely impact the value of real estate investments.
Real estate income and values also may be greatly affected by demographic trends, such as population shifts or changing tastes and values, or increasing vacancies or declining rents resulting from legal, cultural, technological, global or local economic developments.
The value or price of real estate company securities may drop because of, among other adverse events, the failure of borrowers to repay their loans and the inability to obtain financing either on favorable terms or at all. If real estate properties do not generate sufficient income to meet operating expenses, including, where applicable, debt service, ground lease payments, tenant improvements, third-party leasing commissions and other capital expenditures, the income and ability (or perceived ability) of a real estate company to make payments of interest and principal on their loans will be adversely affected, which, as a result, may adversely affect a Fund. Many real estate companies utilize leverage, which increases investment risk and could adversely affect a company’s operations and market value in periods of rising interest rates.
REITs are exposed to the risks affecting real estate investments generally in addition to other investment risks. The value of a REIT can depend on the structure of and cash flow generated by the REIT. REITs may invest in a limited number of properties, a narrow geographic area, or a single type of property, which may increase the risk that a Fund could be unfavorably affected by the poor performance of a single investment or investment type. A REIT may be more volatile and/or less liquid than other types of equity securities. Because REITs are pooled investment vehicles that have expenses of their own, a Fund and its shareholders will indirectly bear its proportionate share of expenses paid by each REIT in which it invests. REITs are also subject to unique federal tax requirements. A REIT that fails to comply with federal tax requirements affecting REITs may be subject to federal income taxation, which may affect the value of the REIT and the characterization of the REIT’s distributions, and a REIT that fails to comply with the federal tax requirement that a REIT distribute substantially all of its net income to its shareholders may result in a REIT having insufficient capital for future expenditures. The failure of a company to qualify as a REIT could have adverse consequences for a Fund, including significantly reducing return to the Fund on its investment in such company. In the event of a default of an underlying borrower or lessee, a REIT could experience delays in enforcing its rights as a mortgagee or lessor and may incur substantial costs associated with protecting its investments.
Investments in REIT equity securities may require a Fund to accrue and distribute income not yet received. In order to generate sufficient cash to make the requisite distributions, a Fund may be required to sell securities in its portfolio (including when it is not advantageous to do so) that it otherwise would have continued to hold. A Fund’s investments in REIT equity securities may at other times result in the Fund’s receipt of cash in excess of the REIT’s earnings; if the Fund distributes such amounts, such distribution could constitute a return of capital to Fund shareholders for federal income tax purposes. Dividends received by a Fund from a REIT generally will not constitute qualified dividend income.
REITs often do not provide complete tax information to the funds until after the calendar
year-end.
Consequently, because of the delay, it may be necessary for a Fund to request permission from the IRS to extend the deadline for issuance of Forms
1099-DIV.
Regulatory and Legal Risk
–A Fund’s activities may be limited or restricted because of laws and regulations applicable to the Fund or the Investment Manager. U.S. and
non-U.S.
governmental agencies and other regulators regularly implement additional regulations and legislators pass new laws that affect the investments held by a Fund, the strategies used by a Fund or the level of regulation or taxation applying to a Fund (such as regulations related to investments in derivatives and other transactions). These regulations and laws impact the investment strategies, performance, costs and operations of a Fund, as well as the way investments in, and shareholders of, a Fund are taxed. The SEC’s rules intended to limit, assess and manage liquidity risk may materially affect the securities in which a Fund invests and a Fund’s investment strategies and performance.
Repurchase Agreements and Reverse Repurchase Agreements Risk
–In the event of the insolvency of the counterparty to a repurchase agreement or reverse repurchase agreement, recovery of the repurchase price owed to a Fund or, in the case of a reverse repurchase agreement, the securities or other assets sold by a Fund, may be delayed. In a repurchase agreement, such an insolvency may result in a loss to the extent that the value of the purchased securities or other assets decreases during the delay or that value has otherwise not been maintained at an amount equal to the repurchase price. In a reverse repurchase agreement, the counterparty’s insolvency may result in a loss equal to the amount by which the value of the securities or other assets sold by a Fund exceeds the repurchase price payable by a Fund; if the value of the purchased securities or other assets increases during such a delay, that loss may also be increased. When a Fund enters into a reverse repurchase agreement, any fluctuations in the market value of either the securities or other assets transferred to another party or the securities or other assets in which the proceeds may be invested would affect the market value of a Fund’s assets. As a result, such transactions may increase fluctuations in the net asset value of a Fund’s shares. Because reverse repurchase agreements may be considered to be the practical equivalent of borrowing funds, they constitute a form of leverage. If a Fund reinvests the proceeds of a reverse repurchase agreement at a rate lower than the cost of the agreement, entering into the agreement will lower the Fund’s yield and the amount of exempt-interest dividends that may be paid by the Fund. The credit, liquidity and other risks associated with repurchase agreements are magnified to the extent a repurchase agreement is secured by collateral other than cash, government securities or liquid securities or instruments issued by an issuer that has an exceptionally strong credit quality.
Restricted Securities Risk
–Restricted securities cannot be sold to the public without registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (“1933 Act”). Unless registered for sale, restricted securities can be sold only in privately negotiated transactions or pursuant to an exemption from registration. Restricted securities may be classified as illiquid investments. There is no guarantee that a trading market will exist at any time for a particular restricted security. Thus, a Fund may be unable to sell these securities at an advantageous time or at all.
