EDF Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Income Fund

STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

VIRTUS STONE HARBOR EMERGING MARKETS INCOME FUND

[     , 2024]

101 Munson Street

Greenfield, MA 01301-9683

This Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”) provides additional information regarding the Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Income Fund’s (the “Fund”) prospectus, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and dated [•, 2024] (the “Prospectus”), which is incorporated herein by reference. This SAI is not a prospectus and should only be read in conjunction with the Prospectus as may be supplemented from time to time. You may obtain a copy of the Fund’s Prospectus and other information without charge by calling (866) 270-7788 or by writing to Virtus Funds, 101 Munson Street, Greenfield, MA 01301-9683. You may also obtain a copy of the Prospectus on the SEC’s website (http://www.sec.gov). The audited financial statements appear in the Fund’s annual report for the period ending November 30, 2023. Unaudited financial statements appear in the Fund’s semiannual report for the period ending May 31, 2024. Shareholders may obtain a copy of the Fund’s annual and semiannual reports, without charge, by calling (866) 270-7788 or by visiting virtus.com.

Capitalized terms used but not defined in this SAI have the meanings ascribed to them in the Fund’s Prospectus.

GLOSSARY

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GENERAL

Prior to April 11, 2022, Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Income Fund was known as Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Income Fund.

ADDITIONAL INVESTMENT ACTIVITIES AND RESTRICTIONS

The Fund’s primary investment objective is to maximize total return, which consists of income on its investments and capital appreciation. The Fund is non-diversified under the 1940 Act. The Fund’s primary investment strategies are described in its Prospectus. The following is a description of the various investment policies in which the Fund may engage, whether as a primary or secondary strategy, and a summary of certain attendant risks. The Fund’s subadviser may, but is not required to, buy any of the following instruments or use any of the following techniques, and would do so only if it believes that doing so will help to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. The following is not meant to be an exclusive list of all the securities and instruments in which the Fund may invest or investment strategies in which it may engage, and the Fund may invest in instruments and securities and engage in strategies other than those listed below.

Fundamental Restrictions

The following investment restrictions of the Fund are designated as fundamental policies and as such cannot be changed without the approval of the holders of a majority of the Fund’s outstanding common shares, which, as used in this SAI, means the lesser of (a) 67% of the shares of the Fund present or represented by proxy at a meeting if the holders of more than 50% of the outstanding shares are present or represented at the meeting or (b) more than 50% of outstanding shares of the Fund. As a matter of fundamental policy, the Fund may not:

(1) Purchase any security (other than U.S. government securities) if, as a result, more than 25% of the Fund’s total assets (taken at current value) would be invested in any one industry. For purposes of this restriction, telephone, gas and electric public utilities are each regarded as separate industries, finance companies whose financing activities are related primarily to the activities of their parent companies are classified in the industry of their parents, and each non-U.S. country’s government (together with subdivisions thereof) will be considered to be a separate industry. For purposes of this restriction with regard to bank obligations, bank obligations are considered to be one industry, and asset-backed securities are not considered to be bank obligations;

(2) Make short sales of securities or maintain a short position, except that the Fund may make any short sales or maintain any short positions where the short sales or short positions would not constitute “senior securities” under the 1940 Act;

(3) Borrow money, except to the extent permitted under the 1940 Act;

(4) Make loans, except that the Fund may purchase or hold debt instruments in accordance with its investment objectives and policies; provided however, this restriction does not apply to repurchase agreements or loans of portfolio securities;

(5) Act as an underwriter of securities of other issuers except that, in the disposition of portfolio securities, it may be deemed to be an underwriter under the federal securities laws;

(6) Purchase or sell real estate, although the Fund may purchase securities of issuers which deal in real estate, securities which are secured by interests in real estate, and securities which represent interests in real estate, and the Fund may acquire and dispose of real estate or interests in real estate acquired through the exercise of its rights as a holder of debt obligations secured by real estate or interests therein;

(7) Purchase or sell commodities, except that the Fund may purchase and sell futures contracts and options, may enter into foreign exchange contracts and may enter into swap agreements and other financial transactions not requiring the delivery of physical commodities; or

(8) Issue senior securities, except for permitted borrowings, the issuance of preferred shares or as otherwise permitted under the 1940 Act.

Restrictions (2) and (8) shall be interpreted based upon no-action letters and other pronouncements of the staff of the SEC.

Whenever an investment policy or investment restriction set forth in the Prospectus or this SAI states a maximum or minimum percentage of assets that may be invested in any security or other assets or describes a policy regarding quality standards, such percentage limitation or standard shall be determined immediately after and as a result of the Fund’s acquisition of such security or asset.

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Accordingly, any later increase or decrease resulting from a change in values or assets, from other circumstances, or from any subsequent rating change made by a rating service (or as determined by the Fund’s subadviser if the security is not rated by a rating agency) will not compel the Fund to dispose of such security or other asset. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Fund must always be in compliance with the borrowing policies set forth above.

Under the 1940 Act, a “senior security” does not include any promissory note or evidence of indebtedness where such loan is for temporary purposes only and in an amount not exceeding 5% of the value of the total assets of the issuer at the time the loan is made. A loan is presumed to be for temporary purposes if it is repaid within sixty days and is not extended or renewed.

The Fund would be deemed to “concentrate” its investments in a particular industry if it invested more than 25% of its total assets in that industry. The Fund’s industry concentration policy does not preclude it from focusing investments in issuers in a group of related industrial sectors (such as different types of utilities). The Fund interprets its industry concentration policy to apply to direct investments in the securities of issuers in a particular industry, as defined by the Fund. For purposes of this restriction, each non-U.S. country’s government is considered to be a separate industry. Currency positions are not considered to be an investment in a foreign government for industry concentration purposes. Securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies or instrumentalities are not subject to the Fund’s industry concentration restrictions. Similarly, municipal bonds issued by states, municipalities and other political subdivisions, agencies, authorities and instrumentalities of states and multi-state agencies and authorities are not subject to the Fund’s industry concentration restrictions.

If the Fund determines to issue preferred shares, it intends to apply for ratings for such preferred shares from Moody’s, S&P, and/or Fitch. To obtain and maintain such required ratings, the Fund may be required to comply with investment quality, and other guidelines established by Moody’s, S&P, and/or Fitch. Such guidelines will likely be more restrictive than the restrictions set forth above. The Fund does not anticipate that any such guidelines would have a material adverse effect on common shareholders or its ability to achieve its investment objective. No minimum rating is required for the issuance of preferred shares by the Fund. Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch receive fees in connection with their ratings issuances.

Temporary Borrowings

The Fund may borrow money as a temporary measure for extraordinary or emergency purposes, including the payment of dividends and the settlement of securities transactions which otherwise might require untimely dispositions of Fund securities.

Portfolio Turnover

A change in the securities held by the Fund is known as “portfolio turnover.” The Subadviser manages the Fund without regard generally to restrictions on portfolio turnover. Trading in fixed income securities does not generally involve the payment of brokerage commissions but does involve indirect transaction costs such as dealer mark-ups and mark-downs. The use of futures contracts may involve the payment of commissions to futures commission merchants. High portfolio turnover (e.g., greater than 100%) involves correspondingly greater expenses to the Fund, including brokerage commissions or dealer mark-ups and other transaction costs on the sale of securities and reinvestments in other securities. The higher the rate of portfolio turnover of the Fund, the higher these transaction costs borne by the Fund generally will be. Such sales may result in realization of taxable capital gains, including short-term capital gains (which are generally taxed as ordinary income upon distribution in the form of dividends to shareholders at ordinary income tax rates).

The portfolio turnover rate of the Fund is calculated by dividing (a) the lesser of purchases or sales of portfolio securities for the particular fiscal year by (b) the monthly average of the value of the portfolio securities owned by the Fund during the particular fiscal year. In calculating the rate of portfolio turnover, there is excluded from both (a) and (b) all securities, including options, whose maturities or expiration dates at the time of acquisition were one year or less. Proceeds from short sales and assets used to cover short positions undertaken are included in the amounts of securities sold and purchased, respectively, during the year.

Debt Investing

The Fund may invest in debt, or fixed income, instruments. Debt, or fixed income, instruments (which include corporate bonds, commercial paper, debentures, notes, government securities, municipal obligations, state- or state agency-issued obligations, obligations of foreign issuers, asset- or mortgage-backed securities, and other obligations) are used by issuers to borrow money and thus are debt obligations of the issuer. Holders of debt instruments are creditors of the issuer, normally ranking ahead of holders of both common and preferred stock as to dividends or upon liquidation. The issuer usually pays a fixed, variable, or floating rate of interest and must repay the amount borrowed at the instrument’s maturity. Some debt instruments, such as zero-coupon bonds (discussed below), do not pay interest but may be sold at a deep discount from their face value.

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Yields on debt instruments depend on a variety of factors, including the general conditions of the money, bond, and note markets, the size of a particular offering, the maturity date of the obligation, and the rating of the issue. Debt instruments with longer maturities tend to produce higher yields and are generally subject to greater price fluctuations in response to changes in market conditions than obligations with shorter maturities. An increase in interest rates generally will reduce the market value of portfolio debt instruments, while a decline in interest rates generally will increase the value of the same instruments. The achievement of the Fund’s investment objective depends in part on the continuing ability of the issuers of the debt instruments in which the Fund invests to meet their obligations for the payment of principal and interest when due. Obligations of issuers of debt instruments are subject to the provisions of bankruptcy, insolvency, sovereign immunity, and other laws that affect the rights and remedies of creditors. There is also the possibility that, as a result of litigation or other conditions, the ability of an issuer to pay, when due, the principal of and interest on its debt instruments may be materially affected.

Collateralized Debt Obligations

The Fund may invest in collateralized debt obligations (“CDOs”) which include collateralized bond obligations (“CBOs”), collateralized loan obligations (“CLOs”), and other similarly structured securities. CBOs and CLOs are types of asset-backed securities. A CBO is a trust that is backed by a diversified pool of high risk, below investment grade fixed income securities. A CLO is a trust typically collateralized by a pool of loans, which may include, among others, domestic and foreign senior secured loans, senior unsecured loans and subordinate corporate loans, including loans that may be rated below investment grade or equivalent unrated loans. CDOs may charge management fees and administrative expenses.

For both CBOs and CLOs, the cash flows from the trust are split into two or more portions, called tranches, varying in risk and yield. The riskiest portion is the “equity” tranche which bears the bulk of defaults from the bonds or loans in the trust and serves to protect the other, more senior tranches from default. Since it is partially protected from defaults, a senior tranche from a CBO trust or CLO trust typically has higher ratings and lower yields than its underlying securities, and may be rated investment grade. Despite the protection from the equity tranche, CBO or CLO tranches can experience substantial losses due to actual defaults, increased sensitivity to defaults due to collateral default and disappearance of protecting tranches, market anticipation of defaults, as well as aversion to CBO or CLO securities as a class.

The risks of an investment in a CDO depend largely on the type of the collateral securities and the class of the CDO in which the Fund invests. Normally, CBOs, CLOs and other CDOs are privately offered and sold, and thus, are not registered under the securities laws. As a result, investments in CDOs may be characterized by the Fund as illiquid securities, however an active dealer market may exist for CDOs allowing a CDO to qualify for Rule 144A transactions. In addition to the normal risks associated with fixed income securities discussed elsewhere in this SAI and the Fund’s Prospectus (e.g., interest rate risk and default risk), CDOs carry additional risks including, but not limited to: (i) the possibility that distributions from collateral securities will not be adequate to make interest or other payments; (ii) the quality of the collateral may decline in value or default; (iii) the Fund may invest in classes of CDO securities that are subordinate to other classes; and (iv) the complex structure of the security may not be fully understood at the time of investment and may produce disputes with the issuer or unexpected investment results.

Convertible Securities

A convertible security is a bond, debenture, note, or other security that entitles the holder to acquire common stock or other equity securities of the same or a different issuer within a particular period of time at a specific price or formula. It generally entitles the holder to receive interest paid or accrued until the security matures or is redeemed, converted, or exchanged. Convertible securities may have several unique investment characteristics such as (1) higher yields than common stocks, but lower yields than comparable nonconvertible securities, (2) a lesser degree of fluctuation in value than the underlying stock since they have fixed income characteristics and (3) the potential for capital appreciation if the market price of the underlying common stock increases.

Before conversion, convertible securities have characteristics similar to nonconvertible debt securities. Convertible securities often rank senior to common stock in a corporation’s capital structure and, therefore, are often viewed as entailing less risk than the corporation’s common stock, although the extent to which this is true depends in large measure on the degree to which the convertible security sells above its value as a fixed income security. However, because convertible securities are often viewed by the issuer as future common stock, they are often subordinated to other senior securities and therefore are rated one category lower than the issuer’s nonconvertible debt obligations or preferred stock.

A convertible security may be subject to redemption or conversion at the option of the issuer at a predetermined price. If a convertible security held by the Fund is called for redemption, the Fund could be required to permit the issuer to redeem the security and convert it to the underlying common stock. The Fund generally would invest in convertible securities for their favorable price characteristics and total return potential, and would normally not exercise an option to convert. The Fund might be more willing to convert such securities to common stock.

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The Fund’s subadviser will select only those convertible securities for which it believes (a) the underlying common stock is an appropriate investment for the Fund and (b) a greater potential for total return exists by purchasing the convertible security because of its higher yield and/or favorable market valuation. However, the Fund may invest in convertible debt securities rated less than investment grade.

Debt securities rated less than investment grade are commonly referred to as “junk bonds.” (For information about debt securities rated less than investment grade, see “High-Yield Fixed Income Securities (Junk Bonds)” under “Debt Investing” in this section of the SAI; for additional information about ratings on debt obligations, see Appendix A to this SAI.)

Corporate Debt Securities

The Fund may invest in debt securities issued by corporations, limited partnerships and other similar entities. The Fund’s investments in debt securities of domestic or foreign corporate issuers include bonds, debentures, notes and other similar corporate debt instruments, including convertible securities that meet the Fund’s minimum ratings criteria or if unrated are, in the Fund’s subadviser’s opinion, comparable in quality to corporate debt securities that meet those criteria. The rate of return or return of principal on some debt obligations may be linked or indexed to the level of exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and a foreign currency or currencies or to the value of commodities, such as gold.

Dollar-denominated Foreign Debt Securities (“Yankee Bonds”)

The Fund may invest in “Yankee Bonds,” which are dollar-denominated instruments issued in the U.S. market by foreign branches of U.S. banks and U.S. branches of foreign banks. Since these instruments are dollar-denominated, they are not affected by variations in currency exchange rates. They are influenced primarily by interest rate levels in the United States and by the financial condition of the issuer, or of the issuer’s foreign parent. However, investing in these instruments may present a greater degree of risk than investing in domestic securities, due to factors that may impact the issuer or the issuer’s foreign parent such as access to publicly available information, less securities regulation, war, or expropriation. Special considerations may include higher brokerage costs and thinner trading markets. Investments in foreign countries could be affected by other factors including extended settlement periods. (See “Foreign Investing” in this section of the SAI for additional information about investing in foreign countries.)

Duration

Duration is a time measure of a bond’s interest-rate sensitivity, based on the weighted average of the time periods over which a bond’s cash flows accrue to the bondholder. Time periods are weighted by multiplying by the present value of its cash flow divided by the bond’s price. (A bond’s cash flows consist of coupon payments and repayment of capital.) A bond’s duration will almost always be shorter than its maturity, with the exception of zero-coupon bonds, for which maturity and duration are equal.

High-Yield Fixed Income Securities (“Junk Bonds”)

Investments in securities rated “BB” or below by S&P or Fitch, or “Ba” or below by Moody’s generally provide greater income (leading to the name “high-yield” securities) and opportunity for capital appreciation than investments in higher quality securities, but they also typically entail greater price volatility, liquidity, and principal and income risk. These securities are regarded as predominantly speculative as to the issuer’s continuing ability to meet principal and interest payment obligations. Analysis of the creditworthiness of issuers of lower-quality debt securities may be more complex than for issuers of higher-quality debt securities.

Interest-bearing securities typically experience appreciation when interest rates decline and depreciation when interest rates rise. The market values of low-rated securities tend to reflect individual corporate developments to a greater extent than do higher-rated securities, which react primarily to fluctuations in the general level of interest rates. Low-rated securities also tend to be more sensitive to economic conditions than higher-rated securities. As a result, they generally involve more credit risks than securities in the higher-rated categories. During an economic downturn or a sustained period of rising interest rates, highly leveraged issuers of low-rated securities may experience financial stress and may not have sufficient revenues to meet their payment obligations. The issuer’s ability to service its debt obligations may also be adversely affected by specific corporate developments, the issuer’s inability to meet specific projected business forecasts or the unavailability of additional financing. The risk of loss due to default by an issuer of low-rated securities is generally considered to be significantly greater than issuers of higher- rated securities because such securities are usually unsecured and are often subordinated to other creditors. Further, if the issuer of a low-rated security defaulted, the Fund might incur additional expenses in seeking recovery. Periods of economic uncertainty and changes would also generally result in increased volatility in the market prices of low-rated securities and thus in the Fund’s NAV.

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Low-rated securities often contain redemption, call, or prepayment provisions which permit the issuer of the securities containing such provisions to, at its discretion, redeem the securities. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of low-rated securities are likely to redeem or prepay the securities and refinance them with debt securities with a lower interest rate. To the extent an issuer is able to refinance the securities or otherwise redeem them, the Fund may have to replace the securities with a lower yielding security which would result in lower returns for the Fund.

The Fund may have difficulty disposing of certain low-rated securities because there may be a thin trading market for such securities. Because not all dealers maintain markets in all low-rated securities, there is no established retail secondary market for many of these securities. The Fund anticipates that such securities could be sold only to a limited number of dealers or institutional investors. To the extent a secondary trading market does exist, it is generally not as liquid as the secondary market for higher-rated securities. The lack of a liquid secondary market may have an adverse impact on the market price of the security, and accordingly, the NAV of a particular Fund and its ability to dispose of particular securities when necessary to meet its liquidity needs, or in response to a specific economic event, or an event such as a deterioration in the creditworthiness of the issuer. The lack of a liquid secondary market for certain securities may also make it more difficult for the Fund to obtain accurate market quotations for purposes of valuing its respective portfolio. Market quotations are generally available on many low-rated issues only from a limited number of dealers and may not necessarily represent firm bids of such dealers or prices for actual sales. During periods of thin trading, the spread between bid and asked prices is likely to increase significantly. In addition, adverse publicity and investor perceptions, whether or not based on fundamental analysis, may decrease the values and liquidity of low-rated securities, especially in a thinly-traded market. Due to the limited liquidity of low-rated securities, to the extent the Fund needs to liquidate these types of securities the Fund may be forced to do so at a substantial discount. Any such liquidation could result in a reduced rate of return for the Fund.

Interest Rate Environment Risk

Changing interest rates, may have unpredictable effects on markets, may result in heightened market volatility and may detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. A low interest rate environment may have an adverse impact on the Fund’s ability to provide a positive yield to its shareholders and pay expenses out of Fund assets because of the low yields from the Fund’s portfolio investments. Alternatively, a general rise in interest rates has the potential to cause investors to move out of fixed-income securities on a large scale. To the extent the Fund needs to sell assets at such a time, this could cause the Fund to sell assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value and could hurt the Fund’s performance.

Further, Federal Reserve policy changes may expose fixed-income and related markets to heightened volatility and may reduce liquidity for certain Fund investments, which could cause the value of the Fund’s investments and the Fund’s share price to decline or create difficulties for the Fund in disposing of investments. The Fund that invests in derivatives tied to fixed-income markets may be more substantially exposed to these risks than the Fund that does not invest in derivatives.

The Fund could also be forced to liquidate its investments at disadvantageous times or prices, thereby adversely affecting the Fund.

Inverse Floating Rate Obligations

Certain variable rate securities pay interest at a rate that varies inversely to prevailing short-term interest rates (sometimes referred to as inverse floaters). For example, upon reset the interest rate payable on a security may go down when the underlying index has risen. During periods when short-term interest rates are relatively low as compared to long-term interest rates, the Fund may attempt to enhance its yield by purchasing inverse floaters. Certain inverse floaters may have an interest rate reset mechanism that multiplies the effects of changes in the underlying index. While this form of leverage may increase the security’s yield, it may also increase the volatility of the security’s market value.

Similar to other variable and floating rate obligations, effective use of inverse floaters requires skills different from those needed to select most portfolio securities. If movements in interest rates are incorrectly anticipated, the Fund holding these instruments could lose money and its NAV could decline.

Letters of Credit

Debt obligations, including municipal obligations, certificates of participation, commercial paper and other short-term obligations, may be backed by an irrevocable letter of credit of a bank that assumes the obligation for payment of principal and interest in the event of default by the issuer. Only banks that, in the opinion of the Fund’s subadviser, are of investment quality comparable to other permitted investments of the Fund may be used for Letter of Credit-backed investments.

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Loan and Debt Participations and Assignments

A loan participation agreement involves the purchase of a share of a loan made by a bank to a company in return for a corresponding share of the borrower’s principal and interest payments. Loan participations of the type in which the Fund may invest include interests in both secured and unsecured corporate loans. When the Fund purchases loan assignments from lenders, it will acquire direct rights against the borrower, but these rights and the Fund’s obligations may differ from, and be more limited than, those held by the assignment lender. The principal credit risk associated with acquiring loan participation and assignment interests is the credit risk associated with the underlying corporate borrower. There is also a risk that there may not be a readily available market for participation loan interests and, in some cases, this could result in the Fund disposing of such securities at a substantial discount from face value or holding such securities until maturity.

There is typically a limited amount of public information available about loans because loans normally are not registered with the SEC or any state securities commission or listed on any securities exchange. Certain of the loans in which the Fund may invest may not be considered “securities,” and therefore the Fund may not be entitled to rely on the anti-fraud protections of the federal securities laws with respect to those loans in the event of fraud or misrepresentation by a borrower. The Fund may come into possession of material, non- public information about a borrower as a result of the Fund’s ownership of a loan or other floating-rate instrument of the borrower. Because of prohibitions on trading in securities of issuers while in possession of material, non-public information, the Fund might be unable to enter into a transaction in a publicly-traded security of the borrower when it would otherwise be advantageous to do so.

Loans trade in an unregulated inter-dealer or inter-bank secondary market. Purchases and sales of loans are generally subject to contractual restrictions that must be satisfied before a loan can be bought or sold. These restrictions may (i) impede the Fund’s ability to buy or sell loans; (ii) negatively affect the transaction price; affect the counterparty credit risk borne by the Fund; (iv) impede the Fund’s ability to timely vote or otherwise act with respect to loans; and (v) expose the Fund to adverse tax or regulatory consequences.

In the event that a corporate borrower failed to pay its scheduled interest or principal payments on participations held by the Fund, the market value of the affected participation would decline, resulting in a loss of value of such investment to the Fund. Accordingly, such participations are speculative and may result in the income level and net assets of the Fund being reduced. Moreover, loan participation agreements generally limit the right of a participant to resell its interest in the loan to a third party and, as a result, loan participations may be deemed by the Fund to be illiquid investments. The Fund will invest only in participations with respect to borrowers whose creditworthiness is, or is determined by the Fund’s subadviser to be, substantially equivalent to that of issuers whose senior unsubordinated debt securities are rated B or higher by Moody’s or S&P. For the purposes of diversification and/or concentration calculations, both the borrower and issuer will be considered an “issuer.”

The Fund may purchase from banks participation interests in all or part of specific holdings of debt obligations. Each participation interest is backed by an irrevocable letter of credit or guarantee of the selling bank that the Fund’s subadviser has determined meets the prescribed quality standards of the Fund. Thus, even if the credit of the issuer of the debt obligation does not meet the quality standards of the Fund, the credit of the selling bank will.

Loan participations and assignments may be illiquid.

Large loans to corporations or governments may be shared or syndicated among several lenders, usually banks. The Fund may participate in such syndicates, or can buy part of a loan, becoming a direct lender. Participations and assignments involve special types of risk, including liquidity risk and the risks of being a lender. If the Fund purchases a participation, it may only be able to enforce its rights through the lender, and may assume the credit risk of the lender in addition to the borrower. With respect to assignments, the Funds’ rights against the borrower may be more limited than those held by the original lender.

The Fund may have invested significantly in floating rate loans that have interest rate provisions which were previously linked to LIBOR or otherwise continue to reference synthetic LIBOR. LIBOR was used extensively in the U.S. and globally as a “benchmark.” As a result of benchmark reforms, publication of most LIBOR settings has ceased. Some LIBOR settings continue to be published but only on a temporary, synthetic and non-representative basis. Regulated entities have generally ceased entering into new LIBOR contracts in connection with regulatory guidance or prohibitions.

Public and private sector actors have worked to establish new or alternative reference rates to be used in place of LIBOR. Replacement rates that have been identified include the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”), which replaced U.S. dollar LIBOR and measures the cost of overnight borrowings through repurchase agreement transactions collateralized with U.S. Treasury securities, and the Sterling Overnight Index Average Rate (“SONIA”), which replaced GBP LIBOR and measures the overnight interest rate paid by banks for unsecured transactions in the sterling market, although other replacement rates could be adopted by market participants. There is no single replacement rate which will act as LIBOR’s successor. It is uncertain what effect divergent benchmark rates will have on the price and liquidity of certain equity and debt securities in which the Fund may invest.

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The elimination of LIBOR, changes to other reference rates or any other changes or reforms to the determination or supervision of reference rates could have an adverse impact on the market for, or value of, any securities or payments linked to those reference rates, which may adversely affect the Fund’s performance and/or NAV.

The shift from LIBOR to alternative reference rates like SOFR also brings pricing challenges for borrowers and loan issuers, who prefer exposure to credit benchmarks that will adjust to shifts in credit market conditions. SOFR is based on the U.S. repurchase agreement market, which has no credit risk and may fall during times of stress. LIBOR, by contrast, measures bank borrowing costs and generally rose during periods of stress. Lenders are adapting by pricing loans with a spread to SOFR. However, there are risks that this spread could underprice risks if there are unexpected periods of credit stress.

Alteration of the terms of a debt instrument or a modification of the terms of other types of contracts to replace LIBOR or another interbank offered rate (“IBOR”) with a new reference rate could result in a taxable exchange and the realization of income and gain/loss for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The IRS has issued regulations regarding the tax consequences of the transition from IBOR to a new reference rate in debt instruments and non-debt contracts. Under the regulations, alteration or modification of the terms of a debt instrument to replace an operative rate that uses a discontinued IBOR with a qualified rate (as defined in the regulations) including true up payments equalizing the fair market value of contracts before and after such IBOR transition, to add a qualified rate as a fallback rate to a contract whose operative rate uses a discontinued IBOR or to replace a fallback rate that uses a discontinued IBOR with a qualified rate would not be taxable. The IRS may provide additional guidance, with potential retroactive effect.

While the Fund does not invest in securities to exercise control over the securities’ issuers, the Fund may, from time to time, participate on committees formed by creditors to negotiate with the management of financially troubled issuers of securities held by the Fund. Such participation may subject the Fund to expenses such as legal fees and may deem the Fund an “insider” of the issuer for purposes of the Federal securities laws, and expose the Fund to material non- public information of the issuer, and therefore may restrict the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell a particular security when it might otherwise desire to do so. Participation by the Fund on such committees also may expose the Fund to potential liabilities under the federal bankruptcy laws or other laws governing the rights of creditors and debtors. The Fund will participate on such committees only when the Fund’s subadviser believes that such participation is necessary or desirable to enforce the Fund’s rights as a creditor or to protect the value of securities held by the Fund.

Payable in Kind (“PIK”) Bonds

PIK bonds are obligations which provide that the issuer thereof may, at its option, pay interest on such bonds in cash or “in kind,” which means in the form of additional debt securities. Such securities benefit the issuer by mitigating its need for cash to meet debt service, but also require a higher rate of return to attract investors who are willing to defer receipt of such cash. The Fund will accrue income on such investments for tax and accounting purposes, which is distributable to shareholders and which, because no cash is received at the time of accrual, may require the liquidation of other portfolio securities to satisfy the Fund’s distribution obligations. The market prices of PIK bonds generally are more volatile than the market prices of securities that pay interest periodically, and they are likely to respond to changes in interest rates to a greater degree than similar bonds on which regular cash payments of interest are being made.

Ratings

The rating or quality of a debt security refers to a rating agency’s assessment of the issuer’s creditworthiness, i.e., its ability to pay principal and interest when due. Higher ratings indicate better credit quality, as rated by independent rating organizations such as Moody’s, S&P or Fitch, which publish their ratings on a regular basis. Appendix A provides a description of the various ratings provided for bonds (including convertible bonds), municipal bonds, and commercial paper.

After the Fund purchases a debt security, the rating of that security may be reduced below the minimum rating acceptable for purchase by the Fund. A subsequent downgrade does not require the sale of the security, but the Fund’s subadviser will consider such an event in determining whether to continue to hold the obligation. To the extent that ratings established by Moody’s or S&P may change as a result of changes in such organizations or their rating systems, the Fund will invest in securities which are deemed by the Fund’s subadviser to be of comparable quality to securities whose current ratings render them eligible for purchase by the Fund.

Credit ratings issued by credit rating agencies evaluate the safety of principal and interest payments of rated securities. They do not, however, evaluate the market-value risk and therefore may not fully reflect the true risks of an investment. In addition, credit rating agencies may or may not make timely changes in a rating to reflect changes in the economy or in the condition of the issuer that affect the market value of the security. Consequently, credit ratings are used only as a preliminary indicator of investment quality.

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Sovereign Debt

The Fund may invest in “sovereign debt,” which is issued or guaranteed by foreign governments (including countries, provinces and municipalities) or their agencies and instrumentalities. Sovereign debt may trade at a substantial discount from face value. The Fund may hold and trade sovereign debt of foreign countries in appropriate circumstances to participate in debt conversion programs. Emerging market country sovereign debt involves a higher degree of risk than that of developed markets, is generally lower-quality debt, and is considered speculative in nature due, in part, to the extreme and volatile nature of debt burdens in such countries and because emerging market governments can be relatively unstable. The issuer or governmental authorities that control sovereign-debt repayment (“sovereign debtors”) may be unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due in accordance with the terms of the debt. A sovereign debtor’s willingness or ability to repay principal and interest due in a timely manner may be affected by, among other factors, its cash-flow situation, the extent of its foreign reserves, the availability of sufficient foreign exchange on the date a payment is due, the relative size of the debt service burden to the economy as a whole, the sovereign debtor’s policy towards the IMF, and the political constraints to which the sovereign debtor may be subject. Sovereign debtors may also be dependent on expected disbursements from foreign governments, multilateral agencies and others abroad to reduce principal and interest arrearage on their debt. The commitment of these third parties to make such disbursements may be conditioned on the sovereign debtor’s implementation of economic reforms or economic performance and the timely service of the debtor’s obligations. The sovereign debtor’s failure to meet these conditions may cause these third parties to cancel their commitments to provide funds to the sovereign debtor, which may further impair the debtor’s ability or willingness to timely service its debts. In certain instances, the Fund may invest in sovereign debt that is in default as to payments of principal or interest. In the event that the Fund holds non-performing sovereign debt, the Fund may incur additional expenses in connection with any restructuring of the issuer’s obligations or in otherwise enforcing their rights thereunder.

Brady Bonds

The Fund may invest a portion of its assets in certain sovereign debt obligations known as “Brady Bonds.” Brady Bonds are issued under the framework of the Brady Plan, an initiative announced by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady in 1989 as a mechanism for debtor nations to restructure their outstanding external indebtedness. The Brady Plan contemplates, among other things, the debtor nation’s adoption of certain economic reforms and the exchange of commercial bank debt for newly issued bonds. In restructuring its external debt under the Brady Plan framework, a debtor nation negotiates with its existing bank lenders as well as the World Bank or the IMF. The World Bank or IMF supports the restructuring by providing funds pursuant to loan agreements or other arrangements that enable the debtor nation to collateralize the new Brady Bonds or to replenish reserves used to reduce outstanding bank debt. Under these loan agreements or other arrangements with the World Bank or IMF, debtor nations have been required to agree to implement certain domestic monetary and fiscal reforms. The Brady Plan sets forth only general guiding principles for economic reform and debt reduction, emphasizing that solutions must be negotiated on a case-by-case basis between debtor nations and their creditors.

Brady Bonds are often viewed as having three or four valuation components: (i) the collateralized repayment of principal at final maturity; (ii) the collateralized interest payments; (iii) the uncollateralized interest payments; and (iv) any uncollateralized repayment of principal at maturity (these uncollateralized amounts constitute the “residual risk”). In light of the residual risk of Brady Bonds and, among other factors, the history of defaults with respect to commercial bank loans by public and private entities of countries issuing Brady Bonds, investments in Brady Bonds can be viewed as speculative.

Stand-by Commitments

The Fund may purchase securities together with the right to resell them to the seller or a third party at an agreed-upon price or yield within specified periods prior to their maturity dates. Such a right to resell is commonly known as a stand-by commitment, and the aggregate price which the Fund pays for securities with a stand-by commitment may increase the cost, and thereby reduce the yield, of the security. The primary purpose of this practice is to permit the Fund to be as fully invested as practicable in municipal securities while preserving the desired flexibility and liquidity. Standby commitments acquired by the Fund are valued at zero in determining the Fund’s NAV. Stand-by commitments involve certain expenses and risks, including the inability of the issuer of the commitment to pay for the securities at the time the commitment is exercised, non-marketability of the commitment, and differences between the maturity of the underlying security and the maturity of the commitment.

Strip Bonds

Strip bonds are debt securities that are stripped of their interest (usually by a financial intermediary) after the securities are issued. The market value of these securities generally fluctuates more in response to changes in interest rates than interest-paying securities of comparable maturity.

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Tender Option Bonds

Tender option bonds are relatively long-term bonds that are coupled with the option to tender the securities to a bank, broker-dealer or other financial institution at periodic intervals and receive the face value of the bond. This investment structure is commonly used as a means of enhancing a security’s liquidity.

Variable and Floating Rate Obligations

The Fund may purchase securities having a floating or variable rate of interest. These securities pay interest at rates that are adjusted periodically according to a specific formula, usually with reference to some interest rate index or market interest rate (the “underlying index”). The floating rate tends to decrease the security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates. These securities may carry demand features permitting the holder to demand payment of principal at any time or at specified intervals prior to maturity. Accordingly, as interest rates decrease or increase, the potential for capital appreciation or depreciation is less than for fixed-rate obligations.

The floating and variable rate obligations that the Fund may purchase include variable rate demand securities. Variable rate demand securities are variable rate securities that have demand features entitling the purchaser to resell the securities to the issuer at an amount approximately equal to amortized cost or the principal amount thereof plus accrued interest, which may be more or less than the price that the Fund paid for them. The interest rate on variable rate demand securities also varies either according to some objective standard, such as an index of short-term, tax-exempt rates, or according to rates set by or on behalf of the issuer.

When the Fund purchases a floating or variable rate demand instrument, the Fund’s subadviser will monitor, on an ongoing basis, the ability of the issuer to pay principal and interest on demand. The Fund’s right to obtain payment at par on a demand instrument could be affected by events occurring between the date the Fund elects to demand payment and the date payment is due that may affect the ability of the issuer of the instrument to make payment when due, except when such demand instrument permits same day settlement. To facilitate settlement, these same day demand instruments may be held in book entry form at a bank other than the Fund’s custodian subject to a sub-custodian agreement between the bank and the Fund’s custodian.

The floating and variable rate obligations that the Fund may purchase also include certificates of participation in such obligations purchased from banks. A certificate of participation gives the Fund an undivided interest in the underlying obligations in the proportion that the Fund’s interest bears to the total principal amount of the obligation. Certain certificates of participation may carry a demand feature that would permit the holder to tender them back to the issuer prior to maturity.

The income received on certificates of participation in tax-exempt municipal obligations constitutes interest from tax-exempt obligations.

The Fund will limit its purchases of floating and variable rate obligations to those of the same quality as it otherwise is allowed to purchase. Similar to fixed rate debt instruments, variable and floating rate instruments are subject to changes in value based on changes in prevailing market interest rates or changes in the issuer’s creditworthiness.

Zero and Deferred Coupon Debt Securities

The Fund may invest in debt obligations that do not make any interest payments for a specified period of time prior to maturity (“deferred coupon” bonds) or until maturity (“zero coupon” bonds). The nonpayment of interest on a current basis may result from the bond’s having no stated interest rate, in which case the bond pays only principal at maturity and is normally initially issued at a discount from face value. Alternatively, the bond may provide for a stated rate of interest, but provide that such interest is not payable until maturity, in which case the bond may initially be issued at par. The value to the investor of these types of bonds is represented by the economic accretion either of the difference between the purchase price and the nominal principal amount (if no interest is stated to accrue) or of accrued, unpaid interest during the bond’s life or payment deferral period.

Because deferred and zero coupon bonds do not make interest payments for a certain period of time, they are generally purchased by the Fund at a deep discount and their value fluctuates more in response to interest rate changes than does the value of debt obligations that make current interest payments. The degree of fluctuation with interest rate changes is greater when the deferred period is longer. Therefore, when the Fund invests in zero or deferred coupon bonds, there is a risk that the value of the Fund’s shares may decline more as a result of an increase in interest rates than would be the case if the Fund did not invest in such bonds.

Even though zero and deferred coupon bonds may not pay current interest in cash, the Fund is required to accrue interest income on such investments and to distribute such amounts to shareholders. Thus, the Fund would not be able to purchase income-producing securities to the extent cash is used to pay such distributions, and, therefore, the Fund’s current income could be less than it otherwise would have been. Instead of using cash, the Fund might liquidate investments in order to satisfy these distribution requirements.

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Derivative Instruments and Other Leveraged Transactions

The Fund may invest in various types of derivatives or other leveraged transactions, which may at times result in significant exposure. A derivative is a financial instrument whose performance is derived from the performance of another asset. The Fund may invest in derivative instruments including, but not limited to: futures contracts, put options, call options, options on future contracts, options on foreign currencies, swaps, forward contracts, structured investments, and other equity- linked derivatives.

The Fund may use derivative instruments for hedging (to offset risks associated with an investment, currency exposure, or market conditions) or in pursuit of its investment objective(s) and policies (to seek to enhance returns). When the Fund invests in a derivative and other leveraged transactions, the risks of loss of that derivative may be greater than the derivative’s cost. The Fund may not use any derivative to gain exposure to an asset or class of assets that it would be prohibited by its investment restrictions from purchasing directly. In addition to other considerations, the Fund’s ability to use derivative instruments may be limited by tax considerations.

Investments in derivatives and other leveraged transactions may subject the Fund to special risks in addition to normal market fluctuations and other risks inherent in investment in securities. Investments in derivatives in general are subject to market risks that may cause their prices to fluctuate over time. The risks of investing in derivatives and other leveraged transactions include leverage, liquidity, interest rate, market, counterparty (including credit), operational, legal and management risks, and valuation complexity. Investments in derivatives may not directly correlate with the price movements of the underlying instrument. As a result, the use of derivatives may expose the Fund to additional risks that it would not be subject to if it invested directly in the securities underlying those derivatives. The use of derivatives may result in larger losses or smaller gains than otherwise would be the case.

SEC Rule 18f-4 (“Rule 18f-4”) regulates the ability of the Fund to enter derivative transactions and other leveraged transactions. Under Rule 18f-4, the Fund is required to trade derivatives and other transactions that potentially create senior securities (except reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions) subject to a value-at-risk (“VaR”) leverage limit, certain other testing and derivatives risk management program requirements and requirements related to board reporting. These requirements apply unless the Fund qualifies as a “limited derivatives user,” as defined in Rule 18f-4. Reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions continue to be subject to the asset coverage requirements, and a fund trading reverse repurchase agreements needs to aggregate the amount of indebtedness associated with the reverse repurchase agreements or similar financing transactions with the aggregate amount of any other senior securities representing indebtedness when calculating the fund’s asset coverage ratio (unless the fund treats such agreements and transactions as derivatives for all purposes under the rule). In addition, under Rule 18f-4, the Fund is permitted to invest in a security on a when-issued or forward-settling basis, or with a nonstandard settlement cycle, and the transaction will be deemed not to involve a “senior security,” provided that (i) the Fund intends to physically settle the transaction and (ii) the transaction will settle within 35 days of its trade date. The Fund may otherwise engage in such transactions that do not meet these conditions so long as the Fund treats any such transaction as a “derivatives transaction” for purposes of compliance with Rule 18f-4. Furthermore, under Rule 18f-4, the Fund will be permitted to enter into an unfunded commitment agreement, and such unfunded commitment agreement will not be subject to the limits on borrowings as described in the “Leverage” section of the Prospectus, if the Fund reasonably believes, at the time it enters into such agreement, that it will have sufficient cash and cash equivalents to meet its obligations with respect to all such agreements as they come due.

Commodity Interests

Certain of the derivative investment types permitted for the Fund may be considered commodity interests for purposes of the CEA and regulations approved by the CFTC. Investing in commodity interests, outside of certain conditions required to qualify for exemption or exclusion, will cause the Fund to be deemed a commodity pool, thereby subjecting the Fund to regulation under the CEA and CFTC rules. In that event, the Adviser will be registered as a Commodity Pool Operator, the Fund’s subadviser will be registered as a Commodity Trading Adviser, and the Fund will be operated in accordance with CFTC rules. Because of the applicable registration requirements and rules, investing the Fund’s assets in commodity interests could cause the Fund to incur additional expenses. Alternatively, to the extent that the Fund limits its exposure to commodity interests in order to qualify for exemption from being considered a commodity pool, the Fund’s use of investment techniques described in its Prospectus and this SAI may be limited or restricted. However, as of the date of this SAI, the Fund intends to limit the use of such investment types as required to qualify for exclusion or exemption from being considered a “commodity pool” or otherwise as a vehicle for trading in commodity interests under such regulations. As a result, the Adviser has filed a notice of exclusion under CFTC Regulation 4.5 or exemption under another CFTC regulation.

Credit-linked Notes

Credit-linked notes are derivative instruments used to transfer credit risk. The performance of the notes is linked to the performance of the underlying reference obligation or reference portfolio (“reference entities”). The notes are usually issued by a special purpose vehicle that sells credit protection through a credit default swap agreement in return for a premium and an obligation to pay the transaction

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sponsor should a reference entity experience a credit event, such as bankruptcy. The special purpose vehicle invests the proceeds from the notes to cover its contingent obligation. Revenue from the investments and the money received as premium are used to pay interest to note holders. The main risk of credit linked notes is the risk of default to the reference obligation of the credit default swap. Should a default occur, the special purpose vehicle would have to pay the transaction sponsor, subordinating payments to the note holders. Credit linked notes also may not be liquid and may be subject to currency and interest rate risks as well.

Equity-linked Derivatives

The Fund may invest in equity-linked derivative products, the performance of which is designed to correspond generally to the performance of a specified stock index or “basket” of stocks, or to a single stock. Investments in equity-linked derivatives involve the same risks associated with a direct investment in the types of securities such products are designed to track. There can be no assurance that the trading price of the equity-linked derivatives will equal the underlying value of the securities purchased to replicate a particular investment or that such basket will replicate the investment.

Investments in equity-linked derivatives may constitute investments in other investment companies. (See “Other Investment Companies” in this section of the SAI for information regarding the implications of the Fund investing in other investment companies.)

Foreign Currency Forward Contracts, Futures and Options

The Fund may engage in certain derivative foreign currency exchange and option transactions involving investment risks and transaction costs to which the Fund would not be subject absent the use of these strategies. If the Fund’s subadviser’s predictions of movements in the direction of securities prices or currency exchange rates are inaccurate, the Fund may experience adverse consequences, leaving it in a worse position than if it had not used such strategies. Risks inherent in the use of option and foreign currency forward and futures contracts include: (1) dependence on the Fund’s subadviser’s ability to correctly predict movements in the direction of securities prices and currency exchange rates; (2) imperfect correlation between the price of options and futures contracts and movements in the prices of the securities or currencies being hedged; (3) the fact that the skills needed to use these strategies are different from those needed to select portfolio securities; (4) the possible absence of a liquid secondary market for any particular instrument at any time; and (5) the possible need to defer closing out certain hedged positions to avoid adverse tax consequences. The Fund’s ability to enter into futures contracts is also limited by the requirements of the Code for qualification as a regulated investment company.

The Fund may engage in currency exchange transactions to protect against uncertainty in the level of future currency exchange rates. In addition, the Fund may write covered put and call options on foreign currencies for the purpose of increasing its return.

The Fund may enter into contracts to purchase or sell foreign currencies at a future date (“forward contracts”) and purchase and sell foreign currency futures contracts. For certain hedging purposes, the Fund may also purchase exchange-listed and over-the-counter put and call options on foreign currency futures contracts and on foreign currencies. A put option on a futures contract gives the Fund the right to assume a short position in the futures contract until the expiration of the option. A put option on a currency gives the Fund the right to sell the currency at an exercise price until the expiration of the option. A call option on a futures contract gives the Fund the right to assume a long position in the futures contract until the expiration of the option. A call option on a currency gives the Fund the right to purchase the currency at the exercise price until the expiration of the option.

When engaging in position hedging, the Fund enters into foreign currency exchange transactions to protect against a decline in the values of the foreign currencies in which its portfolio securities are denominated (or an increase in the values of currency for securities which the Fund expects to purchase, when the Fund holds cash or short-term investments). In connection with position hedging, the Fund may purchase put or call options on foreign currency and on foreign currency futures contracts and buy or sell forward contracts and foreign currency futures contracts. (The Fund may also purchase or sell foreign currency on a spot basis, as discussed in “Foreign Currency Transactions” under “Foreign Investing” in this section of the SAI.)

The precise matching of the amounts of foreign currency exchange transactions and the value of the portfolio securities involved will not generally be possible since the future value of such securities in foreign currencies will change as a consequence of market movements in the value of those securities between the dates the currency exchange transactions are entered into and the dates they mature. It is also impossible to forecast with precision the market value of portfolio securities at the expiration or maturity of a forward or futures contract. Accordingly, it may be necessary for the Fund to purchase additional foreign currency on the spot market (and bear the expense of such purchase) if the market value of the security or securities being hedged is less than the amount of foreign currency the Fund is obligated to deliver and a decision is made to sell the security or securities and make delivery of the foreign currency. Conversely, it may be necessary to sell on the spot market some of the foreign currency received upon the sale of the portfolio security or securities if the market value of such security or securities exceeds the amount of foreign currency the Fund is obligated to deliver.

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Hedging techniques do not eliminate fluctuations in the underlying prices of the securities which the Fund owns or intends to purchase or sell. They simply establish a rate of exchange which one can achieve at some future point in time. Additionally, although these techniques tend to minimize the risk of loss due to a decline in the value of the hedged currency, they also tend to limit any potential gain which might result from the increase in value of such currency.

The Fund may seek to increase its return or to offset some of the costs of hedging against fluctuations in currency exchange rates by writing covered put options and covered call options on foreign currencies. In that case, the Fund receives a premium from writing a put or call option, which increases the Fund’s current return if the option expires unexercised or is closed out at a net profit. The Fund may terminate an option that it has written prior to its expiration by entering into a closing purchase transaction in which it purchases an option having the same terms as the option written.

The Fund’s currency hedging transactions may call for the delivery of one foreign currency in exchange for another foreign currency and may at times not involve currencies in which its portfolio securities are then denominated. The Fund’s subadviser will engage in such “cross hedging” activities when it believes that such transactions provide significant hedging opportunities for the Fund. Cross hedging transactions by the Fund involve the risk of imperfect correlation between changes in the values of the currencies to which such transactions relate and changes in the value of the currency or other asset or liability which is the subject of the hedge.

Foreign currency forward contracts, futures and options may be traded on foreign exchanges. Such transactions may not be regulated as effectively as similar transactions in the United States; may not involve a clearing mechanism and related guarantees; and are subject to the risk of governmental actions affecting trading in, or the prices of, foreign securities. The value of such positions also could be adversely affected by (i) other complex foreign political, legal and economic factors, (ii) lesser availability than in the United States of data on which to make trading decisions, (iii) delays in the Fund’s ability to act upon economic events occurring in foreign markets during non- business hours in the United States, (iv) the imposition of different exercise and settlement terms and procedures and margin requirements than in the United States, and (v) lesser trading volume.

The types of derivative foreign currency exchange transactions most commonly employed by the Fund are discussed below, although the Fund is also permitted to engage in other similar transactions to the extent consistent with the Fund’s investment limitations and restrictions.

Foreign Currency Forward Contracts

A foreign currency forward contract involves an obligation to purchase or sell a specific currency at a future date, which may be any fixed number of days (“term”) from the date of the contract agreed upon by the parties, at a price set at the time of the contract. These contracts are traded directly between currency traders (usually large commercial banks) and their customers.

Foreign Currency Futures Transactions

The Fund may use foreign currency futures contracts and options on such futures contracts. Through the purchase or sale of such contracts, the Fund may be able to achieve many of the same objectives attainable through the use of foreign currency forward contracts, but more effectively and possibly at a lower cost.

Unlike forward foreign currency exchange contracts, foreign currency futures contracts and options on foreign currency futures contracts are standardized as to amount and delivery period and are traded on boards of trade and commodities exchanges. It is anticipated that such contracts may provide greater liquidity and lower cost than forward foreign currency exchange contracts.

Purchasers and sellers of foreign currency futures contracts are subject to the same risks that apply to the buying and selling of futures generally. In addition, there are risks associated with foreign currency futures contracts similar to those associated with options on foreign currencies. (See “Foreign Currency Options” and “Futures Contracts and Options on Futures Contracts,” each in this sub-section of the SAI.) The Fund must accept or make delivery of the underlying foreign currency, through banking arrangements, in accordance with any U.S. or foreign restrictions or regulations regarding the maintenance of foreign banking arrangements by U.S. residents and may be required to pay any fees, taxes or charges associated with such delivery which are assessed in the issuing country.

Futures contracts are designed by boards of trade which are designated “contracts markets” by the CFTC. Futures contracts trade on contracts markets in a manner that is similar to the way a stock trades on a stock exchange and the boards of trade, through their clearing corporations, guarantee performance of the contracts.

Foreign Currency Options

A foreign currency option provides the option buyer with the right to buy or sell a stated amount of foreign currency at the exercise price at a specified date or during the option period. A call option gives its owner the right, but not the obligation, to buy the currency, while a put option gives its owner the right, but not the obligation, to sell the currency. The option seller (writer) is obligated to fulfill the terms of the option sold if it is exercised. However, either seller or buyer may close its position during the option period for such options any time prior to expiration.

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A call rises in value if the underlying currency appreciates. Conversely, a put rises in value if the underlying currency depreciates. While purchasing a foreign currency option can protect the Fund against an adverse movement in the value of a foreign currency, it does not limit the gain which might result from a favorable movement in the value of such currency. For example, if the Fund were holding securities denominated in an appreciating foreign currency and had purchased a foreign currency put to hedge against a decline in the value of the currency, it would not have to exercise its put. Similarly, if the Fund had entered into a contract to purchase a security denominated in a foreign currency and had purchased a foreign currency call to hedge against a rise in the value of the currency but instead the currency had depreciated in value between the date of purchase and the settlement date, the Fund would not have to exercise its call but could acquire in the spot market the amount of foreign currency needed for settlement.

The value of a foreign currency option depends upon the value of the underlying currency relative to the other referenced currency. As a result, the price of the option position may vary with changes in the value of either or both currencies and have no relationship to the investment merits of a foreign security, including foreign securities held in a “hedged” investment portfolio. Because foreign currency transactions occurring in the interbank market involve substantially larger amounts than those that may be involved in the use of foreign currency options, the Fund may be disadvantaged by having to deal in an odd lot market (generally consisting of transactions of less than $1 million) for the underlying foreign currencies at prices that are less favorable than for round lots.

As in the case of other kinds of options, the use of foreign currency options constitutes only a partial hedge, and the Fund could be required to purchase or sell foreign currencies at disadvantageous exchange rates, thereby incurring losses. The purchase of an option on a foreign currency may not necessarily constitute an effective hedge against fluctuations in exchange rates and, in the event of rate movements adverse to the Fund’s position, the Fund may forfeit the entire amount of the premium plus related transaction costs.

Options on foreign currencies written or purchased by the Fund may be traded on U.S. or foreign exchanges or over the counter. There is no systematic reporting of last sale information for foreign currencies traded over the counter or any regulatory requirement that quotations available through dealers or other market sources be firm or revised on a timely basis. Quotation information available is generally representative of very large transactions in the interbank market and thus may not reflect relatively smaller transactions (i.e., less than $1 million) where rates may be less favorable. The interbank market in foreign currencies is a global, around-the-clock market. To the extent that the options markets are closed while the markets for the underlying currencies remain open, significant price and rate movements may take place in the underlying markets that are not reflected in the options market.

For additional information about options transactions, see “Options” in this section of the SAI.

Foreign Currency Warrants

Foreign currency warrants such as currency exchange warrants are warrants that entitle the holder to receive from the issuer an amount of cash (generally, for warrants issued in the United States, in U.S. dollars) that is calculated pursuant to a predetermined formula and based on the exchange rate between two specified currencies as of the exercise date of the warrant. Foreign currency warrants generally are exercisable upon their issuance and expire as of a specified date and time.

Foreign currency warrants may be used to reduce the currency exchange risk assumed by purchasers of a security by, for example, providing for a supplemental payment in the event the U.S. dollar depreciates against the value of a major foreign currency such as the Japanese Yen or Euro. The formula used to determine the amount payable upon exercise of a foreign currency warrant may make the warrant worthless unless the applicable foreign currency exchange rate moves in a particular direction (e.g., unless the U.S. dollar appreciates or depreciates against the particular foreign currency to which the warrant is linked or indexed).

Foreign currency warrants are severable from the debt obligations with which they may be offered, and may be listed on exchanges. Foreign currency warrants may be exercisable only in certain minimum amounts, and an investor wishing to exercise warrants who possesses less than the minimum number required for exercise may be required either to sell the warrants or to purchase additional warrants, thereby incurring additional transaction costs. Upon exercise of warrants, there may be a delay between the time the holder gives instructions to exercise and the time the exchange rate relating to exercise is determined, thereby affecting both the market and cash settlement values of the warrants being exercised. The expiration date of the warrants may be accelerated if the warrants should be delisted from an exchange or if their trading should be suspended permanently, which would result in the loss of any remaining “time value” of the warrants (i.e., the difference between the current market value and the exercise value of the warrants), and, if the warrants were “out-of-the-money,” in a total loss of the purchase price of the warrants.

Warrants are generally unsecured obligations of their issuers and are not standardized foreign currency options issued by the OCC. Unlike foreign currency options issued by OCC, the terms of foreign exchange warrants generally will not be amended in the event of governmental or regulatory actions affecting exchange rates or in the event of the imposition of other regulatory controls affecting the

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international currency markets. The initial public offering price of foreign currency warrants could be considerably in excess of the price that a commercial user of foreign currencies might pay in the interbank market for a comparable option involving larger amounts of foreign currencies. Foreign currency warrants are subject to significant foreign exchange risk, including risks arising from complex political or economic factors.

Performance Indexed Paper

Performance indexed paper is commercial paper the yield of which is linked to certain currency exchange rate movements. The yield to the investor on performance indexed paper is established at maturity as a function of spot exchange rates between the designated currencies as of or about the time (generally, the index maturity two days prior to maturity). The yield to the investor will be within a range stipulated at the time of purchase of the obligation, generally with a guaranteed minimum rate of return that is below, and a potential maximum rate of return that is above, market yields on commercial paper, with both the minimum and maximum rates of return on the investment corresponding to the minimum and maximum values of the spot exchange rate two business days prior to maturity.

Principal Exchange Rate Linked Securities (“PERLS”)

PERLS are debt obligations the principal on which is payable at maturity in an amount that may vary based on the exchange rate between the particular currencies at or about that time. The return on “standard” principal exchange rate linked securities is enhanced if the currency to which the security is linked appreciates against the base currency, and is adversely affected by increases in the exchange value of the base currency. “Reverse” PERLS are like the “standard” securities, except that their return is enhanced by increases in the value of the base currency and adversely impacted by increases in the value of other currency. Interest payments on the securities are generally made at rates that reflect the degree of currency risk assumed or given up by the purchaser of the notes (i.e., at relatively higher interest rates if the purchaser has assumed some of the currency exchange risk, or relatively lower interest rates if the issuer has assumed some of the currency exchange risk, based on the expectations of the current market). PERLS may in limited cases be subject to acceleration of maturity (generally, not without the consent of the holders of the securities), which may have an adverse impact on the value of the principal payment to be made at maturity.

Future Contracts and Options on Futures Contracts

The Fund may use interest rate, foreign currency, dividend, volatility or index futures contracts. An interest rate, foreign currency, dividend, volatility or index futures contract provides for the future sale by one party and purchase by another party of a specified quantity of a financial instrument, foreign currency, dividend basket or the cash value of an index at a specified price and time. A futures contract on an index is an agreement pursuant to which two parties agree to take or make delivery of an amount of cash equal to the difference between the value of the index at the close of the last trading day of the contract and the price at which the index contract was originally written. Although the value of an index might be a function of the value of certain specified securities, no physical delivery of these securities is made. A public market exists in futures contracts covering several indexes as well as a number of financial instruments and foreign currencies, and it is expected that other futures contracts will be developed and traded in the future.

The Fund may purchase and write call and put options on futures. Futures options possess many of the same characteristics as options on securities and indexes discussed above. A futures option gives the holder the right, in return for the premium paid, to assume a long position (call) or short position (put) in a futures contract at a specified exercise price at any time during the period of option. Upon exercise of a call option, the holder acquires a long position in the futures contract and the writer is assigned the opposite short position. In the case of a put option, the opposite is true.

Except as otherwise described in this SAI, the Fund will limit their use of futures contracts and futures options to hedging transactions and in an attempt to increase total return, in accordance with Federal regulations. The costs of, and possible losses incurred from, futures contracts and options thereon may reduce the Fund’s current income and involve a loss of principal. Any incremental return earned by the Fund resulting from these transactions would be expected to offset anticipated losses or a portion thereof.

The Fund will only enter into futures contracts and futures options which are standardized and traded on a U.S. or foreign exchange, board of trade, or similar entity, or quoted on an automated quotation system.

When a purchase or sale of a futures contract is made by the Fund, the Fund is required to deposit with its custodian (or broker, if legally permitted) a specified amount of cash or U.S. Government securities (“initial margin”). The margin required for a futures contract is set by the exchange on which the contract is traded and may be modified during the term of the contract. The initial margin is in the nature of a performance bond or good faith deposit on the futures contract which is returned to the Fund upon termination of the contract, assuming all contractual obligations have been satisfied. The Fund expect to earn interest income on their initial margin deposits. A futures contract held by the Fund is valued daily at the official settlement price of the exchange on which it is traded. Each day the Fund

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pays or receives cash, called “variation margin,” equal to the daily change in value of the futures contract. This process is known as “marking to market.” Variation margin does not represent a borrowing or loan by the Fund but is instead a settlement between the Fund and the broker of the amount one would owe the other if the futures contract expired. In computing daily NAV, the Fund will mark to market its open futures positions.

The Fund are also required to deposit and maintain margin with respect to put and call options on futures contracts written by them. Such margin deposits will vary depending on the nature of the underlying futures contract (and the related initial margin requirements), the current market value of the option, and other futures positions held by the Fund.

Futures contracts are designed by boards of trade which are designated “contracts markets” by the CFTC. Futures contracts trade on contracts markets in a manner that is similar to the way a stock trades on a stock exchange and the boards of trade, through their clearing corporations, guarantee performance of the contracts.

The requirements of the Code for qualification as a regulated investment company also may limit the extent to which the Fund may enter into futures, futures options or forward contracts.

Although some futures contracts call for making or taking delivery of the underlying securities, generally these obligations are closed out prior to delivery by offsetting purchases or sales of matching futures contracts (same exchange, underlying security or index, and delivery month). If an offsetting purchase price is less than the original sale price, the Fund realizes a capital gain, or if it is more, the Fund realizes a capital loss. Conversely, if an offsetting sales price is more than the original purchase price, the Fund realizes a capital gain, or if it is less, the Fund realizes a capital loss. The transaction costs must also be included in these calculations.

Positions in futures contracts and related options may be closed out only on an exchange which provides a secondary market for such contracts or options. The Fund will enter into an option or futures position only if there appears to be a liquid secondary market. However, there can be no assurance that a liquid secondary market will exist for any particular option or futures contract at any specific time. Thus, it may not be possible to close out a futures or related option position. In the case of a futures position, in the event of adverse price movements the Fund would continue to be required to make daily margin payments. In this situation, if the Fund has insufficient cash to meet daily margin requirements it may have to sell portfolio securities to meet its margin obligations at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so. In addition, the Fund may be required to take or make delivery of the securities underlying the futures contracts it holds. The inability to close out futures positions also could have an adverse impact on the Fund’s ability to hedge its portfolio effectively.

There are several risks in connection with the use of futures contracts as a hedging device. While hedging can provide protection against an adverse movement in market prices, it can also limit a hedger’s opportunity to benefit fully from a favorable market movement. In addition, investing in futures contracts and options on futures contracts will cause the Fund to incur additional brokerage commissions and may cause an increase in the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate.

The successful use of futures contracts and related options may also depend on the ability of the Fund’s subadviser to forecast correctly the direction and extent of market movements, interest rates and other market factors within a given time frame. To the extent market prices remain stable during the period a futures contract or option is held by the Fund or such prices move in a direction opposite to that anticipated, the Fund may realize a loss on the transaction which is not offset by an increase in the value of its portfolio securities. Options and futures may also fail as a hedging technique in cases where the movements of the securities underlying the options and futures do not follow the price movements of the hedged portfolio securities. As a result, the Fund’s total return for the period may be less than if it had not engaged in the hedging transaction. The loss from investing in futures transactions is potentially unlimited.

Utilization of futures contracts by the Fund involves the risk of imperfect correlation in movements in the price of futures contracts and movements in the price of the securities which are being hedged. If the price of the futures contract moves more or less than the price of the securities being hedged, the Fund will experience a gain or loss which will not be completely offset by movements in the price of the securities. It is possible that, where the Fund has sold futures contracts to hedge its portfolio against a decline in the market, the market may advance and the value of securities held in the Fund’s portfolio may decline. If this occurred, the Fund would lose money on the futures contract and would also experience a decline in value in its portfolio securities. Where futures are purchased to hedge against a possible increase in the prices of securities before the Fund is able to invest its cash (or cash equivalents) in securities (or options) in an orderly fashion, it is possible that the market may decline; if the Fund then determines not to invest in securities (or options) at that time because of concern as to possible further market decline or for other reasons, the Fund will realize a loss on the futures that would not be offset by a reduction in the price of the securities purchased.

The market prices of futures contracts may be affected if participants in the futures market elect to close out their contracts through off- setting transactions rather than to meet margin deposit requirements. In such case, distortions in the normal relationship between the cash and futures markets could result. Price distortions could also result if investors in futures contracts opt to make or take delivery of

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the underlying securities rather than to engage in closing transactions because such action would reduce the liquidity of the futures market. In addition, from the point of view of speculators, because the deposit requirements in the futures markets are less onerous than margin requirements in the cash market, increased participation by speculators in the futures market could cause temporary price distortions. Due to the possibility of price distortions in the futures market and because of the imperfect correlation between movements in the prices of securities and movements in the prices of futures contracts, a correct forecast of market trends may still not result in a successful hedging transaction.

Compared to the purchase or sale of futures contracts, the purchase of put or call options on futures contracts involves less potential risk for the Fund because the maximum amount at risk is the premium paid for the options plus transaction costs. However, there may be circumstances when the purchase of an option on a futures contract would result in a loss to the Fund while the purchase or sale of the futures contract would not have resulted in a loss, such as when there is no movement in the price of the underlying securities.

For additional information about options transactions, see “Options” in this section of the SAI.

Mortgage-Related and Other Asset-Backed Securities

The Fund may purchase mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities, which collectively are securities backed by mortgages, installment contracts, credit card receivables or other financial assets. Asset-backed securities represent interests in “pools” of assets in which payments of both interest and principal on the securities are made periodically, thus in effect “passing through” such payments made by the individual borrowers on the assets that underlie the securities, net of any fees paid to the issuer or guarantor of the securities. The average life of asset-backed securities varies with the maturities of the underlying instruments, and the average life of a mortgage-backed instrument, in particular, is likely to be less than the original maturity of the mortgage pools underlying the securities as a result of mortgage prepayments, where applicable. For this and other reasons, an asset-backed security’s stated maturity may be different, and the security’s total return may be difficult to predict precisely.

If an asset-backed security is purchased at a premium, a prepayment rate that is faster than expected will reduce yield to maturity, while a prepayment rate that is slower than expected will have the opposite effect of increasing yield to maturity. Conversely, if an asset-backed security is purchased at a discount, faster than expected prepayments will increase yield to maturity, while slower than expected prepayments will decrease yield to maturity.

Prepayments of principal of mortgage-related securities by mortgagors or mortgage foreclosures affect the average life of the mortgage-related securities in the Fund’s portfolio. Mortgage prepayments are affected by the level of interest rates and other factors, including general economic conditions and the underlying location and age of the mortgage. In periods of rising interest rates, the prepayment rate tends to decrease, lengthening the average life of a pool of mortgage-related securities. The longer the remaining maturity of a security the greater the effect of interest rate changes will be. Changes in the ability of an issuer to make payments of interest and principal and in the market’s perception of its creditworthiness also affect the market value of that issuer’s debt securities.

In periods of falling interest rates, the prepayment rate tends to increase, shortening the average life of a pool. Because prepayments of principal generally occur when interest rates are declining, it is likely that the Fund, to the extent that it retains the same percentage of debt securities, may have to reinvest the proceeds of prepayments at lower interest rates than those of its previous investments. If this occurs, that Fund’s yield will correspondingly decline. Thus, mortgage-related securities may have less potential for capital appreciation in periods of falling interest rates than other fixed income securities of comparable duration, although they may have a comparable risk of decline in market value in periods of rising interest rates. To the extent that the Fund purchases mortgage-related securities at a premium, unscheduled prepayments, which are made at par, result in a loss equal to any unamortized premium.

Duration is one of the fundamental tools used by the Fund’s subadviser in managing interest rate risks including prepayment risks. Traditionally, a debt security’s “term to maturity” characterizes a security’s sensitivity to changes in interest rates. “Term to maturity,” however, measures only the time until a debt security provides its final payment, taking no account of prematurity payments. Most debt securities provide interest (“coupon”) payments in addition to a final (“par”) payment at maturity, and some securities have call provisions allowing the issuer to repay the instrument in full before maturity date, each of which affect the security’s response to interest rate changes. “Duration” therefore is generally considered a more precise measure of interest rate risk than “term to maturity.” Determining duration may involve the Subadviser’s estimates of future economic parameters, which may vary from actual future values. Generally fixed income securities with longer effective durations are more responsive to interest rate fluctuations than those with shorter effective durations. For example, if interest rates rise by 1%, the value of securities having an effective duration of three years will generally decrease by approximately 3%.

Descriptions of some of the different types of mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities most commonly acquired by the Fund are provided below. In addition to those shown, other types of mortgage-related and asset-backed investments are, or may become, available for investment by the Fund.

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Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (“CMOs”)

CMOs are hybrid instruments with characteristics of both mortgage-backed and mortgage pass-through securities. Interest and prepaid principal on a CMO are paid, in most cases, monthly. CMOs may be collateralized by whole mortgage loans but are more typically collateralized by portfolios of mortgage pass-through securities guaranteed by entities such as GNMA, FHLMC, or FNMA, and their income streams.

CMOs are typically structured in multiple classes, each bearing a different stated maturity. Actual maturity and average life will depend upon the prepayment experience of the collateral. CMOs provide for a modified form of call protection through a de facto breakdown of the underlying pool of mortgages according to how quickly the loans are repaid. Monthly payment of principal received from the pool of underlying mortgages, including prepayments, is first returned to investors holding the shortest maturity class. Investors holding the longer maturity classes typically receive principal only after the first class has been retired. An investor may be partially guarded against a sooner than desired return of principal because of the sequential payments.

FHLMC CMOs are debt obligations of FHLMC issued in multiple classes having different maturity dates and are secured by the pledge of a pool of conventional mortgage loans purchased by FHLMC. The amount of principal payable on each monthly payment date is determined in accordance with FHLMC’s mandatory sinking fund schedule. Sinking fund payments in the CMOs are allocated to the retirement of the individual classes of bonds in the order of their stated maturities. Payments of principal on the mortgage loans in the collateral pool in excess of the amount of FHLMC’s minimum sinking fund obligation for any payment date are paid to the holders of the CMOs as additional sinking-fund payments. Because of the “pass- through” nature of all principal payments received on the collateral pool in excess of FHLMC’s minimum sinking fund requirement, the rate at which principal of the CMOs is actually repaid is likely to be such that each class of bonds will be retired in advance of its scheduled maturity date. If collection of principal (including prepayments) on the mortgage loans during any semiannual payment period is not sufficient to meet FHLMC’s minimum sinking fund obligation on the next sinking fund payment date, FHLMC agrees to make up the deficiency from its general funds.

CMO Residuals

CMO residuals are derivative mortgage securities issued by agencies or instrumentalities of the U.S. Government or by private originators of, or investors in, mortgage loans. As described above, the cash flow generated by the mortgage assets underlying a series of CMOs is applied first to make required payments of principal and interest on the CMOs and second to pay the related administrative expenses of the issuer. The “residual” in a CMO structure generally represents the interest in any excess cash flow remaining after making the foregoing payments. Each payment of such excess cash flow to a holder of the related CMO residual represents income and/or a return of capital. The amount of residual cash flow resulting from a CMO will depend on, among other things, the characteristics of the mortgage assets, the coupon rate of each class of CMO, prevailing interest rates, the amount of administrative expenses and, in particular, the prepayment experience on the mortgage assets. In addition, if a series of a CMO includes a class that bears interest at an adjustable rate, the yield to maturity on the related CMO residual will also be extremely sensitive to changes in the level of the index upon which interest rate adjustments are based. In certain circumstances the Fund may fail to recoup fully its initial investment in a CMO residual.

CMO residuals are generally purchased and sold by institutional investors through several investment banking firms acting as brokers or dealers. The CMO residual market currently may not have the liquidity of other more established securities trading in other markets. CMO residuals may be subject to certain restrictions on transferability, may be deemed illiquid.

Mortgage Pass-through Securities

Mortgage pass-through securities are interests in pools of mortgage loans, assembled and issued by various governmental, government- related, and private organizations. Unlike other forms of debt securities, which normally provide for periodic payment of interest in fixed amounts with principal payments at maturity or specified call dates, these securities provide a monthly payment consisting of both interest and principal payments. In effect, these payments are a “pass- through” of the monthly payments made by the individual borrowers on their residential or commercial mortgage loans, net of any fees paid to the issuer or guarantor of such securities. Additional payments are caused by repayments of principal resulting from the sale of the underlying property, refinancing or foreclosure, net of fees or costs. “Modified pass-through” securities (such as securities issued by GNMA) entitle the holder to receive all interest and principal payments owed on the mortgage pool, net of certain fees, at the scheduled payment dates regardless of whether or not the mortgagor actually makes the payment.

The principal governmental guarantor of U.S. mortgage-related securities is GNMA. GNMA is authorized to guarantee, with the full faith and credit of the United States Government, the timely payment of principal and interest on securities issued by institutions approved by GNMA (such as savings and loan institutions, commercial banks and mortgage bankers) and backed by pools of Federal Housing Administration insured or Veterans Administration guaranteed mortgages. Government-related guarantors whose obligations

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are not backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government include FNMA and FHLMC. FNMA purchases conventional (i.e., not insured or guaranteed by any government agency) residential mortgages from a list of approved seller/servicers which include state and federally chartered savings and loan associations, mutual savings banks, commercial banks and credit unions and mortgage bankers. FHLMC issues Participation Certificates that represent interests in conventional mortgages from FHLMC’s national portfolio. FNMA and FHLMC guarantee the timely payment of interest and ultimate collection of principal on securities they issue, but the securities they issue are neither issued nor guaranteed by the United States Government.

Commercial banks, savings and loan institutions, private mortgage insurance companies, mortgage bankers and other secondary market issuers also create pass-through pools of conventional residential mortgage loans. Such issuers may, in addition, be the originators and/ or servicers of the underlying mortgage loans as well as the guarantors of the mortgage-related securities. Pools created by such non-governmental issuers generally offer a higher rate of interest than government and government-related pools because there are no direct or indirect government or agency guarantees of payments for such securities. However, timely payment of interest and principal of these pools may be supported by various forms of insurance or guarantees, including individual loan, title, pool and hazard insurance and letters of credit. The insurance and guarantees are issued by governmental entities, private insurers and the mortgage poolers. Such insurance and guarantees and the creditworthiness of the issuers thereof will be considered in determining whether a mortgage- related security meets the Fund’s investment quality standards. There can be no assurance that the private insurers or guarantors can meet their obligations under the insurance policies or guarantee arrangements. The Fund may buy mortgage-related securities without insurance or guarantees if, through an examination of the loan experience and practices of the originator/servicers and poolers, the Fund’s subadviser determines that the securities meet the Fund’s quality standards. Securities issued by certain private organizations may not be readily marketable.

Mortgage-backed securities that are issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies or instrumentalities, are not subject to the Fund’s industry concentration restrictions set forth in the “Investment Restrictions” section of this SAI by virtue of the exclusion from the test available to all U.S. Government securities. The assets underlying such securities may be represented by a portfolio of first lien residential mortgages (including both whole mortgage loans and mortgage participation interests) or portfolios of mortgage pass- through securities issued or guaranteed by GNMA, FNMA or FHLMC. Mortgage loans underlying a mortgage-related security may in turn be insured or guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration or the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Fund will consider the assets underlying privately-issued, mortgage-related securities, and other asset-backed securities, when determining the industry of such securities for purposes of the Fund’s industry concentration restrictions set forth in the “Investment Restrictions” section of this SAI, and as a result such securities may not be deemed by the Fund to represent the same industry or group of industries. In the case of private issue mortgage-related securities whose underlying assets are neither U.S. Government securities nor U.S. Government-insured mortgages, to the extent that real properties securing such assets may be located in the same geographical region, the security may be subject to a greater risk of default than other comparable securities in the event of adverse economic, political or business developments that may affect such region and, ultimately, the ability of residential homeowners to make payments of principal and interest on the underlying mortgages.

It is possible that the availability and the marketability (that is, liquidity) of the securities discussed in this section could be adversely affected by the actions of the U.S. Government to tighten the availability of its credit. On September 7, 2008, the FHFA, an agency of the U.S. Government, placed FNMA and FHLMC into conservatorship, a statutory process with the objective of returning the entities to normal business operations. FHFA will act as the conservator to operate FNMA and FHLMC until they are stabilized. The conservatorship is still in effect as of the date of this SAI and has no specified termination date. There can be no assurance as to when or how the conservatorship will be terminated or whether FNMA or FHLMC will continue to exist following the conservatorship or what their respective business structures will be during or following the conservatorship. FHFA, as conservator, has the power to repudiate any contract entered into by FNMA or FHLMC prior to its appointment if it determines that performance of the contract is burdensome and repudiation of the contract promotes the orderly administration of FNMA’s or FHLMC’s affairs. Furthermore, FHFA has the right to transfer or sell any asset or liability of FNMA or FHLMC without any approval, assignment or consent. If FHFA were to transfer any such guarantee obligation to another party, holders of FNMA or FHLMC mortgage-backed securities would have to rely on that party for satisfaction of the guarantee obligation and would be exposed to the credit risk of that party.

Other Asset-Backed Securities

Through trusts and other special purpose entities, various types of securities based on financial assets other than mortgage loans are increasingly available, in both pass-through structures similar to mortgage pass-through securities described above and in other structures more like CMOs. As with mortgage-related securities, these asset-backed securities are often backed by a pool of financial assets representing the obligations of a number of different parties. They often include credit-enhancement features similar to mortgage-related securities.

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Financial assets on which these securities are based include automobile receivables; credit card receivables; loans to finance boats, recreational vehicles, and mobile homes; computer, copier, railcar, and medical equipment leases; and trade, healthcare, and franchise receivables. In general, the obligations supporting these asset-backed securities are of shorter maturities than mortgage loans and are less likely to experience substantial prepayments. However, obligations such as credit card receivables are generally unsecured and the obligors are often entitled to protection under a number of consumer credit laws granting, among other things, rights to set off certain amounts owed on the credit cards, thus reducing the balance due. Other obligations that are secured, such as automobile receivables, may present issuers with difficulties in perfecting and executing on the security interests, particularly where the issuer allows the servicers of the receivables to retain possession of the underlying obligations, thus increasing the risk that recoveries on defaulted obligations may not be adequate to support payments on the securities.

Stripped Mortgage-backed Securities (“SMBS”)

SMBS are derivative multi-class mortgage securities. They may be issued by agencies or instrumentalities of the U.S. Government, or by private originators of, or investors in, mortgage loans. SMBS are usually structured with two classes that receive different proportions of the interest and principal distributions on a pool of mortgage assets. A common type of SMBS will have one class receiving some of the interest and most of the principal from the mortgage assets, while the other class will receive most of the interest and the remainder of the principal. In the most extreme case, one class will receive all of the interest (the interest-only or “IO” class), while the other class will receive all of the principal (the principal-only or “PO” class). The yield to maturity on an IO class security is extremely sensitive to the rate of principal payments (including prepayments) on the related underlying mortgage assets, and a rapid rate of principal payments may have a material adverse effect on the Fund’s yield to maturity from these securities. If the underlying mortgage assets experience greater than anticipated prepayments of principal, the Fund may fail to recoup fully its initial investment in these securities even if the security is in one of the highest rating categories. The market value of the PO class generally is unusually volatile in response to changes in interest rates.

Although SMBS are purchased and sold by institutional investors through several investment banking firms acting as brokers or dealers, these securities were only recently developed. As a result, established trading markets have not yet developed and, accordingly, these securities may be deemed illiquid.

The Fund may invest in other mortgage-related securities with features similar to those described above, to the extent consistent with the Fund’s investment objectives and policies.

Options

The Fund may purchase or sell put and call options on securities, indices and other financial instruments. Options may relate to particular securities, foreign and domestic securities indices, financial instruments, volatility, credit default, foreign currencies or the yield differential between two securities. Such options may or may not be listed on a domestic or foreign securities exchange and may or may not be issued by the OCC.

A call option for a particular security gives the purchaser of the option the right to buy, and a writer the obligation to sell, the underlying security at the stated exercise price before the expiration of the option, regardless of the market price of the security. A premium is paid to the writer by the purchaser in consideration for undertaking the obligation under the option contract. A put option for a particular security gives the purchaser the right to sell and a writer the obligation to buy the security at the stated exercise price before the expiration date of the option, regardless of the market price of the security.

If the only derivatives in which the Fund invests are covered options, options written by the Fund will be covered and will remain covered as long as the Fund is obligated as a writer. A call option is “covered” if the Fund owns the underlying security or its equivalent covered by the call or has an absolute and immediate right to acquire that security without additional cash consideration (or for additional cash consideration if such cash is segregated) upon conversion or exchange of other securities held in its portfolio. A call option is also covered if the Fund holds on a share-for-share or equal principal amount basis a call on the same security as the call written where the exercise price of the call held is equal to or less than the exercise price of the call written or greater than the exercise price of the call written if appropriate liquid assets representing the difference are segregated by the Fund. A put option is “covered” if the Fund maintains appropriate liquid securities with a value equal to the exercise price, or owns on a share-for-share or equal principal amount basis a put on the same security as the put written where the exercise price of the put held is equal to or greater than the exercise price of the put written.

The Fund’s obligation to sell an instrument subject to a covered call option written by it, or to purchase an instrument subject to a secured put option written by it, may be terminated before the expiration of the option by the Fund’s execution of a closing purchase transaction. This means that the Fund buys an option of the same series (i.e., same underlying instrument, exercise price and expiration date) as the option previously written. Such a purchase does not result in the ownership of an option. A closing purchase transaction will ordinarily

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be effected to realize a profit on an outstanding option, to prevent an underlying instrument from being called, to permit the sale of the underlying instrument or to permit the writing of a new option containing different terms on such underlying instrument. The cost of such a closing purchase plus related transaction costs may be greater than the premium received upon the original option, in which event the Fund will experience a loss. There is no assurance that a liquid secondary market will exist for any particular option. If the Fund that has written an option and is unable to effect a closing purchase transaction it will not be able to sell the underlying instrument (in the case of a covered call option) or liquidate the segregated assets (in the case of a secured put option) until the option expires or the optioned instrument is delivered upon exercise. The Fund will be subject to the risk of market decline or appreciation in the instrument during such period.

Options purchased are recorded as an asset and written options are recorded as liabilities to the extent of premiums paid or received. The amount of this asset or liability will be subsequently marked-to-market to reflect the current value of the option purchased or written. The current value of the traded option is the last sale price or, in the absence of a sale, the current bid price. If an option purchased by the Fund expires unexercised, the Fund will realize a loss equal to the premium paid. If the Fund enters into a closing sale transaction on an option purchased by it, the Fund will realize a gain if the premium received by the Fund on the closing transaction is more than the premium paid to purchase the option, or a loss if it is less. If an option written by the Fund expires on the stipulated expiration date or if the Fund enters into a closing purchase transaction, it will realize a gain (or loss if the cost of a closing purchase transaction exceeds the net premium received when the option is sold), and the liability related to such option will be eliminated. If an option written by the Fund is exercised, the proceeds of the sale will be increased by the net premium originally received and the Fund will realize a gain or loss.

Options trading is a highly specialized activity that entails more complex and potentially greater than ordinary investment risk. Options may be more volatile than the underlying instruments and, therefore, on a percentage basis, an investment in options may be subject to greater fluctuation than an investment in the underlying instruments themselves.

There are several other risks associated with options. For example, there are significant differences among the securities, currency, volatility, credit default and options markets that could result in an imperfect correlation among these markets, causing a given transaction not to achieve its objectives. In addition, a liquid secondary market for particular options, whether traded over-the- counter or on an exchange, may be absent for reasons that include the following: there may be insufficient trading interest in certain options; restrictions may be imposed by an exchange on opening transactions or closing transactions or both; trading halts, suspensions or other restrictions may be imposed with respect to particular classes or series of options or underlying securities or currencies; unusual or unforeseen circumstances may interrupt normal operations on an exchange; the facilities of an exchange or the OCC may not at all times be adequate to handle current trading value; or one or more exchanges could, for economic or other reasons, decide or be compelled at some future date to discontinue the trading of options (or a particular class or series of options), in which event the secondary market on that exchange (or in that class or series of options) would cease to exist, although outstanding options that had been issued by the OCC as a result of trades on that exchange would continue to be exercisable in accordance with their terms.

Options on Indexes and “Yield Curve” Options

The Fund may enter into options on indexes or options on the “spread,” or yield differential, between two fixed income securities, in transactions referred to as “yield curve” options. Options on indexes and yield curve options provide the holder with the right to make or receive a cash settlement upon exercise of the option. With respect to options on indexes, the amount of the settlement will equal the difference between the closing price of the index at the time of exercise and the exercise price of the option expressed in dollars, times a specified multiple. With respect to yield curve options, the amount of the settlement will equal the difference between the yields of designated securities.

With respect to yield curve options, a call or put option is covered if the Fund holds another call or put, respectively, on the spread between the same two securities and maintains in a segregated account liquid assets sufficient to cover the Fund’s net liability under the two options. Therefore, the Fund’s liability for such a covered option is generally limited to the difference between the amount of the Fund’s liability under the option it wrote less the value of the option it holds. The Fund may also cover yield curve options in such other manner as may be in accordance with the requirements of the counterparty with which the option is traded and applicable laws and regulations.

The trading of these types of options is subject to all of the risks associated with the trading of other types of options. In addition, however, yield curve options present risk of loss even if the yield of one of the underlying securities remains constant, if the spread moves in a direction or to an extent which was not anticipated.

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Reset Options

In certain instances, the Fund may purchase or write options on U.S. Treasury securities, which provide for periodic adjustment of the strike price and may also provide for the periodic adjustment of the premium during the term of each such option. Like other types of options, these transactions, which may be referred to as “reset” options or “adjustable strike” options grant the purchaser the right to purchase (in the case of a call) or sell (in the case of a put), a specified type of U.S. Treasury security at any time up to a stated expiration date (or, in certain instances, on such date). In contrast to other types of options, however, the price at which the underlying security may be purchased or sold under a “reset” option is determined at various intervals during the term of the option, and such price fluctuates from interval to interval based on changes in the market value of the underlying security. As a result, the strike price of a “reset” option, at the time of exercise, may be less advantageous than if the strike price had been fixed at the initiation of the option. In addition, the premium paid for the purchase of the option may be determined at the termination, rather than the initiation, of the option. If the premium for a reset option written by the Fund is paid at termination, the Fund assumes the risk that (i) the premium may be less than the premium which would otherwise have been received at the initiation of the option because of such factors as the volatility in yield of the underlying Treasury security over the term of the option and adjustments made to the strike price of the option, and (ii) the option purchaser may default on its obligation to pay the premium at the termination of the option. Conversely, where the Fund purchases a reset option, it could be required to pay a higher premium than would have been the case at the initiation of the option.

SOFR Instruments

The Fund may invest in SOFR instruments. instruments. SOFR instruments are dollar-denominated certificates of deposit and time deposits issued outside the U.S. capital markets by foreign branches of U.S. banks and by foreign banks. SOFR futures contracts enable purchasers to obtain a fixed rate for the lending of funds and sellers to obtain a fixed rate for borrowings. The Fund might use SOFR instruments to hedge against changes in interest rates or to enhance returns.

SOFR obligations are subject to the same risks that pertain to domestic issuers, most notably income risk (and, to a lesser extent, credit risk, market risk, and liquidity risk). Additionally, SOFR obligations are subject to certain sovereign risks. One such risk is the possibility that a sovereign country might prevent capital, in the form of dollars, from flowing across its borders. Other risks include adverse political and economic developments, the extent and quality of government regulation of financial markets and institutions, the imposition of foreign withholding taxes, and expropriation or nationalization of foreign issuers. However, SOFR obligations will undergo the same type of credit analysis as domestic issuers in which the Fund invests.

Swaptions

The Fund may enter into swaption contracts, which give the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset or instrument at a specified strike price on or before a specified date. Over-the-counter uncleared swaptions, although providing greater flexibility, may involve greater credit risk than exchange-traded options as they are not backed by the clearing organization of the exchanges where they are traded, and as such, there is a risk that the seller will not settle as agreed. The Fund’s financial liability associated with swaptions is linked to the marked-to-market value of the notional underlying investments. Purchased swaption contracts are exposed to a maximum loss equal to the price paid for the option/swaption (the premium) and no further liability. Written swaptions, however, give the right of potential exercise to a third party, and the maximum loss to the Fund in the case of an uncovered swaption is unlimited.

Swap Agreements

The Fund may enter into swap agreements on, among other things, interest rates, indices, securities and currency exchange rates. The Fund’s subadviser may use swaps in an attempt to obtain for the Fund a particular desired return at a lower cost to the Fund than if the Fund had invested directly in an instrument that yielded that desired return. Uncleared swap agreements are two-party contracts entered into primarily by institutional investors for periods typically ranging from a few weeks to more than one year. In a standard uncleared swap transaction, two parties agree to exchange the returns (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on particular predetermined investments or instruments. The gross returns to be exchanged or “swapped” between the parties are calculated with respect to a “notional amount,” i.e., the return on or increase in value of a particular dollar amount invested at a particular interest rate, in a particular foreign currency, or in a “basket” of securities representing a particular index. The “notional amount” of the swap agreement is only a fictive basis on which to calculate the obligations the parties to a swap agreement have agreed to exchange. The Fund’s obligations (or rights) under a swap agreement will generally be equal only to the amount to be paid or received under the agreement based on the relative values of the positions held by each party to the agreement (the “net amount”).

Because uncleared swap agreements are two-party contracts and may have terms of greater than seven days, they may be considered to be illiquid. Moreover, the Fund bears the risk of loss of the amount expected to be received under a swap agreement in the event of the default or bankruptcy of a swap agreement counterparty. The Fund’s subadviser will cause the Fund to enter into uncleared swap agreements only with counterparties that would be eligible for consideration as repurchase agreement counterparties under the Fund’s

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repurchase agreement guidelines. (See “Repurchase Agreements” in this section of the SAI.) Certain restrictions imposed on the Fund by the Code may limit the Fund’s ability to use swap agreements. The swaps market is a relatively new market and is largely unregulated. It is possible that developments in the swaps market, including potential additional government regulation, could adversely affect the Fund’s ability to terminate existing swap agreements or to realize amounts to be received under such agreements.

CFTC rules dictate that certain swap agreements be considered commodity interests for purposes of the CEA. (See “Commodity Interests” in this section of the SAI for additional information regarding the implications of investments being considered commodity interests under the CEA.) The SEC and the CFTC have developed rules under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to create a comprehensive regulatory framework for swap transactions. Under the regulations, certain swap transactions are required to be executed on a regulated trading platform and cleared through a derivatives clearing organization. Additionally, the regulations impose other requirements on the parties entering into swap transactions, including requirements relating to posting margin, and reporting and documenting swap transactions. The Fund engaging in swap transactions may incur additional expenses as a result of these regulatory requirements.

Credit Default Swap Agreements

The Fund may enter into credit default swap agreements. A credit default swap is a bilateral financial contract in which one party (the protection buyer) pays a periodic fee in return for a contingent payment by the protection seller following a credit event of a reference issuer. The protection buyer must either sell particular obligations issued by the reference issuer for its par value (or some other designated reference or strike price) when a credit event occurs or receive a cash settlement based on the difference between the market price and such reference price. A credit event is commonly defined as bankruptcy, insolvency, receivership, material adverse restructuring of debt, or failure to meet payment obligations when due. The Fund may be either the buyer or seller in the transaction. If the Fund is a buyer and no event of default occurs, the Fund loses its investment and recovers nothing; however, if an event of default occurs, the Fund receives full notional value for a reference obligation that may have little or no value. As a seller, the Fund receives a periodic fee throughout the term of the contract, provided there is no default event; if an event of default occurs, the Fund must pay the buyer the full notional value of the reference obligation. The value of the reference obligation received by the Fund as a seller, coupled with the periodic payments previously received, may be less than the full notional value the Fund pays to the buyer, resulting in a loss of value to the Fund.

Credit default swaps involve greater risks than if the Fund had invested in the reference obligation directly. In addition to general market risks, credit default swaps are subject to illiquidity risk, counterparty risk and credit risks. The Fund will enter into swap agreements only with counterparties deemed creditworthy by the Fund’s subadviser.

Dividend Swap Agreements

A dividend swap agreement is a financial instrument where two parties contract to exchange a set of future cash flows at set dates in the future. One party agrees to pay the other the future dividend flow on a stock or basket of stocks in an index, in return for which the other party gives the first call options. Dividend swaps generally are traded over the counter rather than on an exchange.

Inflation Swap Agreements

Inflation swap agreements are contracts in which one party agrees to pay the cumulative percentage increase in a price index (e.g., the Consumer Price Index with respect to CPI swaps) over the term of the swap (with some lag on the inflation index), while the other pays a compounded fixed rate. Inflation swap agreements may be used by the Fund to hedge the inflation risk associated with non-inflation indexed investments, thereby creating “synthetic” inflation-indexed investments. One factor that may lead to changes in the values of inflation swap agreements is a change in real interest rates, which are tied to the relationship between nominal interest rates and the rate of inflation. If nominal interest rates increase at a faster rate than inflation, real interest rates may rise, which may lead to a decrease in value of an inflation swap agreement.

Total Return Swap Agreements

“Total return swap” is the generic name for any non-traditional swap where one party agrees to pay the other the “total return” of a defined underlying asset, usually in return for receiving a stream of cash flows based upon an agreed rate. A total return swap may be applied to any underlying asset but is most commonly used with equity indices, single stocks, bonds and defined portfolios of loans and mortgages. A total return swap is a mechanism for the user to accept the economic benefits of asset ownership without utilizing the balance sheet. The other leg of the swap, which is often LIBOR, is spread to reflect the non-balance sheet nature of the product. Total return swaps can be designed with any underlying asset agreed between the two parties. No notional amounts are exchanged with total return swaps.

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Variance and Correlation Swap Agreements

Variance swap agreements are contracts in which two parties agree to exchange cash payments based on the difference between the stated level of variance and the actual variance realized on an underlying asset or index. “Actual variance” as used here is defined as the sum of the square of the returns on the reference asset or index (which in effect is a measure of its “volatility”) over the length of the contract term. In other words, the parties to a variance swap can be said to exchange actual volatility for a contractually stated rate of volatility. Correlation swap agreements are contracts in which two parties agree to exchange cash payments based on the differences between the stated and the actual correlation realized on the underlying equity securities within a given equity index. “Correlation” as used here is defined as the weighted average of the correlations between the daily returns of each pair of securities within a given equity index. If two assets are said to be closely correlated, it means that their daily returns vary in similar proportions or along similar trajectories. The Fund may enter into variance or correlation swaps in an attempt to hedge equity market risk or adjust exposure to the equity markets.

Equity Securities

The Fund may invest in equity securities. Equity securities include common stocks, preferred stocks and preference stocks; securities such as bonds, warrants or rights that are convertible into stocks; and depositary receipts for those securities.

Common stockholders are the owners of the company issuing the stock and, accordingly, usually have the right to vote on various corporate governance matters such as mergers. They are not creditors of the company, but rather, in the event of liquidation of the company, would be entitled to their pro rata shares of the company’s assets after creditors (including fixed income security holders) and, if applicable, preferred stockholders are paid. Preferred stock is a class of stock having a preference over common stock as to dividends or upon liquidation. A preferred stockholder is a shareholder in the company and not a creditor of the company as is a holder of the company’s fixed income securities. Dividends paid to common and preferred stockholders are distributions of the earnings or other surplus of the company and not interest payments, which are expenses of the company. Equity securities owned by the Fund may be traded in the over-the-counter market or on a securities exchange and may not be traded every day or in the volume typical of securities traded on a major U.S. national securities exchange. As a result, disposition by the Fund of a portfolio security may require the Fund to sell the security at less than the reported value of the security, to sell during periods when disposition is not desirable, or to make many small sales over a lengthy period of time. The market value of all securities, including equity securities, is based upon the market’s perception of value and not necessarily the book value of an issuer or other objective measure of a company’s worth.

Stock values may fluctuate in response to the activities of an individual company or in response to general market and/or economic conditions. Historically, common stocks have provided greater long- term returns and have entailed greater short-term risks than other types of securities. Smaller or newer issuers may be more likely to realize more substantial growth or suffer more significant losses. Investments in these companies can be both more volatile and more speculative. Fluctuations in the value of equity securities in which the Fund invests will cause the NAV of the Fund to fluctuate.

Equipment Trust Certificates

Equipment trust certificates are debt certificates issued by a company in order to buy mechanical equipment, with the equipment serving as the debt’s collateral.

Foreign Investing

The Fund may invest in a broad range of securities of foreign issuers, including equity, debt and convertible securities and foreign government securities. The Fund may purchase the securities of issuers from various countries, including countries commonly referred to as “emerging markets” or “frontier markets.” The Fund may also invest in domestic securities denominated in foreign currencies.

Investing in the securities of foreign companies involves special risks and considerations not typically associated with investing in U.S. companies. These include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, generally higher commission rates on foreign portfolio transactions, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in foreign countries, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital. Foreign issuers may become subject to sanctions imposed by the United States or another country, which could result in the immediate freeze of the foreign issuers’ assets or securities. The imposition of such sanctions could impair the market value of the securities of such foreign issuers and limit the Fund’s ability to buy, sell, receive or deliver the securities. Additionally, dividends payable on foreign securities may be subject to foreign taxes withheld prior to distribution. Foreign securities often trade with less frequency and volume than domestic securities and therefore may exhibit greater price volatility. Changes in foreign exchange rates will affect the value of those securities which are denominated or quoted in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Many of the foreign securities held by the Fund will not be registered with, nor will the issuers thereof be subject to the reporting requirements of, the SEC.

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Accordingly, there may be less publicly available information about the securities and about the foreign company or government issuing them than is available about a domestic company or government entity. Moreover, individual foreign economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the United States economy in such respects as growth of Gross National Product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self- sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Finally, the Fund may encounter difficulty in obtaining and enforcing judgments against issuers of foreign securities.

Securities of U.S. issuers denominated in foreign currencies may be less liquid and their prices more volatile than securities issued by domestic issuers and denominated in U.S. dollars. In addition, investing in securities denominated in foreign currencies often entails costs not associated with investment in U.S. dollar-denominated securities of U.S. issuers, such as the cost of converting foreign currency to U.S. dollars, higher brokerage commissions, custodial expenses and other fees. Non-U.S. dollar denominated securities may be subject to certain withholding and other taxes of the relevant jurisdiction, which may reduce the yield on the securities to the Fund and which may not be recoverable by the Fund or their investors.

The Fund may use an eligible foreign custodian in connection with its purchases of foreign securities and may maintain cash and cash equivalents in the care of a foreign custodian. The amount of cash or cash equivalents maintained in the care of eligible foreign custodians will be limited to an amount reasonably necessary to effect the Fund’s foreign securities transactions. The use of a foreign custodian invokes considerations which are not ordinarily associated with domestic custodians. These considerations include the possibility of expropriations, restricted access to books and records of the foreign custodian, inability to recover assets that are lost while under the control of the foreign custodian, and the impact of political, social or diplomatic developments.

Settlement procedures relating to the Fund’s investments in foreign securities and to the Fund’s foreign currency exchange transactions may be more complex than settlements with respect to investments in debt or equity securities of U.S. issuers, and may involve certain risks not present in the Fund’s domestic investments. For example, settlement of transactions involving foreign securities or foreign currency may occur within a foreign country, and the Fund may be required to accept or make delivery of the underlying securities or currency in conformity with any applicable U.S. or foreign restrictions or regulations, and may be required to pay any fees, taxes or charges associated with such delivery. Such investments may also involve the risk that an entity involved in the settlement may not meet its obligations. Settlement procedures in many foreign countries are less established than those in the United States, and some foreign country settlement periods can be significantly longer than those in the United States.

To the extent the Fund that has significant exposure to certain countries, it can be expected to be impacted by the political and economic conditions within such countries. There is continuing uncertainty around the future of the euro and the European Union (EU) following the United Kingdom’s vote to exit the EU in June 2016. In March 2017, the United Kingdom invoked a treaty provision that sets out the basics of a withdrawal from the EU and provides that negotiations must be completed within two years, unless all EU member states agree on an extension. The United Kingdom left the EU on January 31, 2020, followed by a transition period during which businesses and others prepared for the new post-Brexit rules that took effect on January 1, 2021. While a limited deal was reached prior to December 31, 2020, many aspects are still to be determined, including those related to financial services. Significant uncertainty remains in the market regarding the ramifications of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, and the range and potential implications of possible political, regulatory, economic and market outcomes are difficult to predict. Continuing Brexit issues and negotiations may cause greater market volatility and illiquidity, currency fluctuations, deterioration in economic activity, a decrease in business confidence, and increased likelihood of a recession in the United Kingdom. While it is not possible to determine the precise impact these events may have on the Fund, during this period and beyond, the impact on the United Kingdom, EU countries, other countries or parties that transact with the United Kingdom and EU, and the broader global economy could be significant and could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments. In addition, if one or more countries were to exit the EU or abandon the use of the euro as a currency, the value of investments tied to those countries or the euro could decline significantly and unpredictably.

Depositary Receipts

The Fund may hold ADRs, ADSs, GDRs and EDRs. ADRs and ADSs typically are issued by an American bank or trust company and evidence ownership of underlying securities issued by a foreign corporation. EDRs, which are sometimes referred to as CDRs, are issued in Europe typically by foreign banks and trust companies and evidence ownership of either foreign or domestic securities. GDRs are similar to EDRs and are designed for use in several international financial markets. Generally, ADRs and ADSs in registered form are designed for use in United States securities markets and EDRs in bearer form are designed for use in European securities markets. For purposes of the Fund’s investment policies, its investments in ADRs, ADSs, GDRs and EDRs will be deemed to be investments in the underlying foreign securities.

Depositary Receipts may be issued pursuant to sponsored or unsponsored programs. In sponsored programs, an issuer has made arrangements to have its securities traded in the form of Depositary Receipts. In unsponsored programs, the issuer may not be directly involved in the creation of the program. Although regulatory requirements with respect to sponsored and unsponsored programs are generally similar, in some cases it may be easier to obtain financial information from an issuer that has participated in the creation of a sponsored program. Accordingly, there may be less information available regarding issuers of securities underlying unsponsored

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programs and there may not be a correlation between such information and the market value of the Depositary Receipts. For purposes of the Fund’s investment policies, investments in Depositary Receipts will be deemed to be investments in the underlying securities. Thus, a Depositary Receipt representing ownership of common stock will be treated as common stock.

Depositary Receipts are generally subject to the same sort of risks as direct investments in a foreign country, such as currency risk, political and economic risk, and market risk, because their values generally depend on the performance of a foreign security denominated in its home currency. (The risks of foreign investing are addressed above in this section of the SAI under the heading “Foreign Investing.”) In addition to risks associated with the underlying portfolio of securities, receipt holders also must consider credit standings of the custodians and broker/dealer sponsors. The receipts are not registered with the SEC and qualify as Rule 144A securities which may make them more difficult and costly to sell. (For information about Rule 144A securities, see “Restricted Securities and Securities with Limited Trading Markets (Rule 144A)” in this section of the SAI.)

Emerging Market Securities

The Fund may invest in countries or regions with relatively low gross national product per capita compared to the world’s major economies, and in countries or regions with the potential for rapid economic growth (emerging markets). Emerging markets will include any country: (i) having an “emerging stock market” as defined by the International Finance Corporation; (ii) with low-to-middle-income economies according to the World Bank; (iii) listed in World Bank publications as developing; or (iv) determined by the Subadviser to be an emerging market as defined above.

Certain emerging market countries are either comparatively underdeveloped or are in the process of becoming developed and may consequently be economically dependent on a relatively few or closely interdependent industries. A high proportion of the securities of many emerging market issuers may also be held by a limited number of large investors trading significant blocks of securities. While the Fund’s subadviser will strive to be sensitive to publicized reversals of economic conditions, political unrest and adverse changes in trading status, unanticipated political and social developments may affect the values of the Fund’s investments in such countries and the availability of additional investments in such countries.

The risks of investing in foreign securities may be intensified in the case of investments in emerging markets. Securities of many issuers in emerging markets may be less liquid and more volatile than securities of comparable domestic issuers. Emerging markets also have different clearance and settlement procedures, and in certain markets there have been times when settlements have been unable to keep pace with the volume of securities transactions, making it difficult to conduct such transactions. Delays in settlement could result in temporary periods when a portion of the assets of the Fund is uninvested and no return is earned thereon. The inability of the Fund to make intended security purchases due to settlement problems could cause the Fund to miss attractive investment opportunities. Inability to dispose of portfolio securities due to settlement problems could result either in losses to the Fund due to subsequent declines in value of portfolio securities or, if the Fund has entered into a contract to sell the security, in possible liability to the purchaser. Securities prices in emerging markets can be significantly more volatile than in the more developed nations of the world, reflecting the greater uncertainties of investing in less established markets and economies. In particular, countries with emerging markets may have relatively unstable governments, present the risk of nationalization of businesses, restrictions on foreign ownership, or prohibitions of repatriation of assets, and may have less protection of property rights than more developed countries.

Certain emerging markets may require governmental approval for the repatriation of investment income, capital or the proceeds of sales of securities by foreign investors. In addition, a country could impose temporary restrictions on foreign capital remittances, whether because deterioration occurs in an emerging market’s balance of payments or for other reasons. The Fund could be adversely affected by delays in, or a refusal to grant, any required governmental approval for repatriation of capital, as well as by the application to the Fund of any restrictions on investments.

Investments in certain foreign emerging market debt obligations may be restricted or controlled to varying degrees. These restrictions or controls may at times preclude investment in certain foreign emerging market debt obligations and increase the expenses of the Fund.

Regulatory regimes outside of the US may not require or enforce corporate governance standards comparable to that of the US, which may result in less protections for investors in such issuers and make such issuers more susceptible to actions not in the best interest of the issuer or its investors.

In December 2020, the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (the “HFCAA”) was signed into law. The HFCAA directs the SEC to prohibit securities of a registrant from being listed on any US stock exchanges if, for three consecutive years, the PCAOB determines it was unable to inspect the auditor of the registrant’s financial statements. The HFCAA also requires a foreign registrant to provide certain disclosures if the registrant files an annual report that includes an audit report from an auditor that was not subject to Public Company Accounting Oversight Board inspection. In December 2021, the SEC adopted final amendments implementing the disclosure and submission requirements of the HFCAA. The potential impact of the HFCAA is unclear at this time, but it may limit the securities in which the Fund may invest.

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China Investment via China Bond Connect

The Fund currently does or is permitted to invest in mainland China. Such investments are or are intended to be made through the China Interbank Bond Market (“CIBM”) by way of Bond Connect. Bond Connect is a bond trading link between China and Hong Kong which allows foreign institutional investors to invest in onshore Chinese bonds and other debt instruments traded on the CIBM. The Fund may invest directly in the instruments traded on the CIBM via the Bond Connect.

China Interbank Bond Market Risk

Investment in the CIBM by the Fund is subject to regulatory risks. The relevant rules and regulations on investments in the CIBM are subject to changes which may have potential retrospective effect. In the event that the relevant Chinese authorities suspend accounts opening or trading in CIBM, the Fund’s ability to invest in CIBM will be limited and, after exhausting other trading alternatives, the Fund may suffer a loss of the investment in the CIBM. In addition, any suspension to trading in CIBM may result in the Fund being unable to dispose of securities and may introduce difficulties in repatriating sales proceeds. In turn, this may increase liquidity risk. Moreover, although there is no quota restriction under the CIBM investment regulations, relevant information about the Fund’s investments (such as the anticipated investment size and investment term) needs to be filed with People’s Bank of China (“PBoC”) and an updating filing will be required is there is any significant change to the filed information. It cannot be predicted whether PBoC will make any comments on or require any changes with respect to such information for the purpose of the filing. If so required, the Fund will need to follow PBoC instructions and make the relevant changes accordingly, which, may not be in the best interests of the Fund and the Shareholders from a commercial perspective.

Market volatility and potential lack of liquidity due to low trading volume of certain instruments in the CIBM may result in prices of such instruments traded on such market fluctuating significantly. In addition, certain instruments may rely on market makers to provide liquidity. The Fund investing in such instruments is therefore subject to liquidity and volatility risks. The bid and offer spreads of the prices of such securities may be large, and the Fund may therefore incur significant trading and realization costs in respect of the investment made in the CIBM and may even suffer losses when disposing of such investments.

Foreign Currency Transactions

When investing in securities denominated in foreign currencies, the Fund will be subject to the additional risk of currency fluctuations. An adverse change in the value of a particular foreign currency as against the U.S. dollar, to the extent that such change is not offset by a gain in other foreign currencies, will result in a decrease in the Fund’s assets. Any such change may also have the effect of decreasing or limiting the income available for distribution. Foreign currencies may be affected by revaluation, adverse political and economic developments, and governmental restrictions. Further, no assurance can be given that currency exchange controls will not be imposed on any particular currency at a later date.

As a result of its investments in foreign securities, the Fund may receive interest or dividend payments, or the proceeds of the sale or redemption of such securities, in the foreign currencies in which such securities are denominated. In that event, the Fund may convert such currencies into dollars at the then current exchange rate. Under certain circumstances, however, such as where the Fund’s subadviser believes that the applicable rate is unfavorable at the time the currencies are received or the Fund’s subadviser anticipates, for any other reason, that the exchange rate will improve, the Fund may hold such currencies for an indefinite period of time.

In addition, the Fund may be required to receive delivery of the foreign currency underlying forward foreign currency contracts it has entered into. This could occur, for example, if an option written by the Fund is exercised or the Fund is unable to close out a forward contract. The Fund may hold foreign currency in anticipation of purchasing foreign securities.

The Fund may also elect to take delivery of the currencies’ underlying options or forward contracts if, in the judgment of the Fund’s subadviser, it is in the best interest of the Fund to do so. In such instances as well, the Fund may convert the foreign currencies to dollars at the then current exchange rate, or may hold such currencies for an indefinite period of time.

While the holding of currencies will permit the Fund to take advantage of favorable movements in the applicable exchange rate, it also exposes the Fund to risk of loss if such rates move in a direction adverse to the Fund’s position. Such losses could reduce any profits or increase any losses sustained by the Fund from the sale or redemption of securities, and could reduce the dollar value of interest or dividend payments received. In addition, the holding of currencies could adversely affect the Fund’s profit or loss on currency options or forward contracts, as well as its hedging strategies.

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When the Fund effects foreign currency exchange transactions on a spot (i.e., cash) basis at the spot rate prevailing in the foreign exchange market, the Fund incurs expenses in converting assets from one currency to another. The Fund may also effect other types of foreign currency exchange transactions, which have their own risks and costs. For information about such transactions, please see “Foreign Currency Forward Contracts, Futures and Options” in this section of the SAI.

Foreign Investment Companies

Some of the countries in which the Fund may invest may not permit, or may place economic restrictions on, direct investment by outside investors. Investments in such countries may be permitted only through foreign government-approved or -authorized investment vehicles, which may include other investment companies. These funds may also invest in other investment companies that invest in foreign securities. Investing through such vehicles may involve frequent or layered fees or expenses and may also be subject to limitation under the 1940 Act. As a shareholder of another investment company, the Fund would bear, along with other shareholders, its pro rata portion of the other investment company’s expenses, including advisory fees. Those expenses would be in addition to the advisory and other expenses that the Fund bears directly in connection with its own operations. For additional information, see “Other Investment Companies” in this section of the SAI.

Privatizations

The governments of some foreign countries have been engaged in programs of selling part or all of their stakes in government owned or controlled enterprises (“privatizations”). Privatizations may offer opportunities for significant capital appreciation. In certain foreign countries, the ability of foreign entities such as the Fund to participate in privatizations may be limited by local law, or the terms on which the Fund may be permitted to participate may be less advantageous than those for local investors. There can be no assurance that foreign governments will continue to sell companies currently owned or controlled by them or that privatization programs will be successful.

Inflation-Protected Securities

The Fund may invest in inflation-protected securities, which are freely transferable securities that are structured to provide protection against inflation. The principal or interest components of inflation-protected securities are adjusted periodically according to the general movements of inflation in the country of issue. U.S. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (“U.S. TIPS”) are freely transferable inflation-indexed debt securities issued by the U.S. Department of Treasury that are structured to provide protection against inflation. The U.S. Treasury Department currently uses the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers, non-seasonally adjusted, as its inflation measure. Inflation-indexed bonds issued by a non-U.S. government are generally adjusted to reflect a comparable inflation index calculated by that government.

Market Volatility Risk

The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. The value of a security or other instrument may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other instrument, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. During a general market downturn, multiple asset classes may be negatively affected. Changes in market conditions and interest rates generally do not have the same impact on all types of securities and instruments.

Social, political, economic and other conditions and events (such as natural disasters, epidemics and pandemics, terrorism, conflicts and social unrest) that occur from time to time will create uncertainty and may have significant impacts on issuers, industries, governments and other systems, including the financial markets, to which the Fund and the issuers in which it invests are exposed. As global systems, economies and financial markets are increasingly interconnected, events that once had only local impact are now more likely to have regional or even global effects. Events that occur in one country, region or financial market will, more frequently, impact issuers in other countries, regions or markets, including in established markets such as the United States. These impacts can be exacerbated by failures of governments and societies to adequately respond to an emerging event or threat.

Uncertainty can result in or coincide with: increased volatility in the global financial markets, including those related to equity and debt securities, loans, credit, derivatives and currency; a decrease in the reliability of market prices and difficulty in valuing assets; greater fluctuations in currency exchange rates; increased risk of default (by both government and private issuers); further social, economic, and political instability; nationalization of private enterprises; greater governmental involvement in the economy or in social factors that impact the economy; greater, less or different governmental regulation and supervision of the securities markets and market participants and increased, decreased or different processes for and approaches to monitoring markets and enforcing rules and regulations by governments or self-regulatory organizations; limited, or limitations on the, activities of investors in such markets; controls or

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restrictions on foreign investment, capital controls and limitations on repatriation of invested capital; inability to purchase and sell assets or otherwise settle transactions (i.e., a market freeze); unavailability of currency hedging techniques; substantial, and in some periods extremely high, rates of inflation, which can last many years and have substantial negative effects on markets as well as the economy as a whole; recessions; and difficulties in obtaining and/or enforcing legal judgments.

For example, an outbreak of infectious respiratory illness caused by a novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 was first detected in China in December 2019 and eventually detected globally. This coronavirus resulted in travel restrictions, closed international borders, enhanced health screenings at ports of entry and elsewhere, disruption of and delays in healthcare service preparation and delivery, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, and lower consumer demand, as well as general concern and uncertainty. The impact of COVID-19 adversely affected the economies of many nations and the entire global economy, individual issuers and capital markets. Future infectious illness outbreaks could affect the economies of many nations or the entire global economy in ways that cannot necessarily be foreseen. In addition, the impact of infectious illnesses in emerging market countries may be greater due to generally less established healthcare systems. Public health crises may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social and economic risks in certain countries or globally.

Although it is impossible to predict the precise nature and consequences of these events, or of any political or policy decisions and regulatory changes occasioned by emerging events or uncertainty on applicable laws or regulations that impact the Fund’s investments, it is clear that these types of events will impact the Fund and the issuers in which each invests. The government response to these events, including emergency health measures, welfare benefit programs, fiscal stimulus, industry support programs, and measures that impact interest rates, among other responses, is also a factor that may impact the financial markets and the value of the Fund’s holdings. The issuers in which the Fund invests could be significantly impacted by emerging events and uncertainty of this type. The Fund will also be negatively affected if the operations and effectiveness of any of its key service providers are compromised or if necessary or beneficial systems and processes are disrupted.

Money Market Instruments

The Fund may invest in money market instruments, which are high- quality short-term investments. The types of money market instruments most commonly acquired by the Fund are discussed below, although the Fund is also permitted to invest in other types of money market instruments to the extent consistent with the Fund’s investment limitations and restrictions.

Banker’s Acceptances

A banker’s acceptance is a time draft drawn on a commercial bank by a borrower usually in connection with an international commercial transaction (to finance the import, export, transfer or storage of goods). The borrower, as well as the bank, is liable for payment, and the bank unconditionally guarantees to pay the draft at its face amount on the maturity date. Most acceptances have maturities of six months or less and are traded in secondary markets prior to maturity.

Certificates of Deposit

Certificates of deposit are generally short-term, interest-bearing negotiable certificates issued by banks or savings and loan associations against funds deposited in the issuing institution. They generally may be withdrawn on demand but may be subject to early withdrawal penalties which could reduce the Fund’s yield.

Commercial Paper

Commercial paper refers to short-term, unsecured promissory notes issued by corporations to finance short-term credit needs. Commercial paper is usually sold on a discount basis and has a maturity at the time of issuance not exceeding nine months.

Obligations of Foreign Banks and Foreign Branches of U.S. Banks

The money market instruments in which the Fund may invest include negotiable certificates of deposit, bankers’ acceptances and time deposits of foreign branches of U.S. banks, foreign banks and their non-U.S. branches (Eurodollars), U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks (Yankee dollars), and wholly-owned banking-related subsidiaries of foreign banks. For the purposes of the Fund’s investment policies with respect to money market instruments, obligations of foreign branches of U.S. banks and of foreign banks are obligations of the issuing bank and may be general obligations of the parent bank. Such obligations, however, may be limited by the terms of a specific obligation and by government regulation. As with investment in non-U.S. securities in general, investments in the obligations of foreign branches of U.S. banks and of foreign banks may subject the Fund to investment risks that are different in some respects from those of investments in obligations of domestic issuers.

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Time Deposits

Time deposits are deposits in a bank or other financial institution for a specified period of time at a fixed interest rate for which a negotiable certificate is not received.

U.S. Government Obligations

Securities issued or guaranteed as to principal and interest by the United States Government include a variety of Treasury securities, which differ only in their interest rates, maturities, and times of issuance. Treasury bills have maturities of one year or less. Treasury notes have maturities of one to ten years, and Treasury bonds generally have maturities of greater than ten years.

Agencies of the United States Government which issue or guarantee obligations include, among others, Export-Import Bank of the United States, Farmers Home Administration, Federal Housing Administration, GNMA, Maritime Administration, Small Business Administration and The Tennessee Valley Authority. Obligations of instrumentalities of the United States Government include securities issued or guaranteed by, among others, FNMA, Federal Home Loan Banks, FHLMC, Federal Intermediate Credit Banks, Banks for Cooperatives, and the U.S. Postal Service. Some of these securities are supported by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government, others are supported by the right of the issuer to borrow from the Treasury, while still others are supported only by the credit of the instrumentality. There is no guarantee that the U.S. Government will provide financial support to its agencies or instrumentalities, now or in the future, if it is not obligated to do so by law. Accordingly, although these securities have historically involved little risk of loss of principal if held to maturity, they may involve more risk than securities backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government because the Fund must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the securities for repayment and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States if the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitment.

Other Investment Companies

The Fund is authorized to invest in the securities of other investment companies subject to the limitations contained in the 1940 Act.

Investment companies in which the Fund may invest may include ETFs. An ETF is an investment company classified as an open-end investment company or unit investment trust that is traded similarly to a publicly traded company. Most ETFs seek to achieve the same return as a particular market index. That type of ETF is similar to an index fund in that it will primarily invest in the securities of companies that are included in a selected market index. An index-based ETF will invest in all of the securities included in the index, a representative sample of the securities included in the index, or other investments expected to produce returns substantially similar to that of the index. Other types of ETFs include leveraged or inverse ETFs, which are ETFs that seek to achieve a daily return that is a multiple or an inverse multiple of the daily return of a securities index. An important characteristic of these ETFs is that they seek to achieve their stated objectives on a daily basis, and their performance over longer periods of time can differ significantly from the multiple or inverse multiple of the index performance over those longer periods of time. ETFs also include actively managed ETFs that pursue active management strategies and publish their portfolio holdings on a frequent basis.

In certain countries, investments by the Fund may only be made through investments in other investment companies that, in turn, are authorized to invest in the securities that are issued in such countries. (See “Foreign Investment Companies” under “Foreign Investing” in this section of the SAI.)

Under the 1940 Act, the Fund generally may not own more than 3% of the outstanding voting stock of an investment company, invest more than 5% of its total assets in any one investment company, or invest more than 10% of its total assets in the securities of investment companies. In some instances, the Fund may invest in an investment company in excess of these limits; for instance, with respect to investments made pursuant to exemptive rules adopted and/or orders granted by the SEC. The SEC has adopted exemptive rules to permit a fund investing in other funds to exceed these limits when complying with certain conditions, which differ depending upon whether the underlying funds in which the fund invests are affiliated or unaffiliated with the fund. The Fund may rely on these exemptive rules and/or orders to invest in affiliated or unaffiliated mutual funds and/or unaffiliated ETFs.

The risks associated with investing in other investment companies generally reflect the risks of owning shares of the underlying securities in which those investment companies invest, although lack of liquidity in an investment company could result in its value being more volatile than the underlying portfolio of securities. For purposes of complying with investment policies requiring the Fund to invest a percentage of its assets in a certain type of investments (e.g., stocks of small capitalization companies), the Fund generally will look through an investment company in which it invests, to categorize the investment company in accordance with the types of investments the investment company holds.

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Certain investment companies in which the Fund may invest may be considered commodity pools under the CEA and applicable CFTC regulations. If the Fund invests in such an investment company, the Fund will be required to treat some or all of its holding of the investment company’s shares as a commodity interest for the purposes of determining whether the Fund is qualified to claim exclusion or exemption from regulation by the CFTC. (See “Commodity Interests” in this section of the SAI for additional information regarding the implications to the Fund of investing in commodity interests.)

Investors in the Fund should recognize that when the Fund invests in another investment company, the Fund will bear its pro rata portion of the other investment company’s expenses, including advisory fees, in addition to the expenses the Fund bears directly in connection with its own operations.

Real Estate Investment Trusts (“REITs”)

The Fund may invest in REITs. REITs pool investors’ funds for investment primarily in income producing commercial real estate or real estate related loans. A REIT is not taxed on income distributed to shareholders if it complies with several requirements relating to its organization, ownership, assets, and income and a requirement that it distribute to its shareholders at least 90% of its taxable income (other than net capital gains) for each taxable year.

REITs can generally be classified as follows:

REITs are structured similarly to closed-end investment companies in that they are essentially holding companies. An investor should realize that by investing in REITs indirectly through the Fund, they will bear not only their proportionate share of the expenses of the Fund, but also, indirectly, similar expenses of the underlying REITs. (See “Mutual Fund Investing” in this section of the SAI.)

Selecting REITs requires an evaluation of the merits of each type of asset a particular REIT owns, as well as regional and local economics. Due to the proliferation of REITs in recent years and the relative lack of sophistication of certain REIT managers, the quality of REIT assets has varied significantly. The risks associated with REITs are similar to those associated with the direct ownership of real estate. These include declines in the value of real estate, risks related to general and local economic conditions, dependence on management skill, cash flow dependence, possible lack of availability of long-term mortgage funds, over-building, extended vacancies of properties, decreased occupancy rates and increased competition, increases in property taxes and operating expenses, changes in neighborhood values and the appeal of the properties to tenants and changes in interest rates.

Equity REITs may be affected by changes in the value of the underlying properties they own, while mortgage REITs may be affected by the quality of any credit extended. Further, equity and mortgage REITs are dependent upon management skills and generally are not diversified. Equity and mortgage REITs are also subject to potential defaults by borrowers, self-liquidation, and the possibility of failing to qualify for tax-free status of income under the Code and failing to maintain exemption from the 1940 Act. In the event of a default by a borrower or lessee, the REIT may experience delays in enforcing its rights as a mortgagee or lessor and may incur substantial costs associated with protecting its investments. In addition, investment in REITs could cause the Fund to possibly fail to qualify as a regulated investment company.

Repurchase Agreements

The Fund may enter into repurchase agreements by which the Fund purchases portfolio securities subject to the seller’s agreement to repurchase them at a mutually agreed-upon time and price. The repurchase price may be higher than the purchase price, the difference being income to the Fund, or the purchase and repurchase price may be the same, with interest payable to the Fund at a stated rate together with the repurchase price on repurchase. In either case, the income to the Fund is unrelated to the interest rate on the security.

A repurchase agreement must be collateralized by obligations that could otherwise be purchased by the Fund (except with respect to maturity). The value of such collateral will be monitored throughout the term of the repurchase agreement in an attempt to ensure that the market value of the collateral always equals or exceeds the repurchase price (including accrued interest). If the value of the collateral dips below such repurchase price, additional collateral will be requested and, when received, added to the account to maintain full collateralization.

Repurchase agreements will be entered into with commercial banks, brokers and dealers considered by the Fund’s subadviser to be creditworthy. However, the use of repurchase agreements involves certain risks such as default by, or insolvency of, the other party to the transaction. The Fund also might incur disposition costs in connection with liquidating the underlying securities or enforcing its rights.

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Typically, repurchase agreements are in effect for one week or less, but they may be in effect for longer periods of time.

A Fund must comply with SEC Rule 18f-4 when engaging in short sales. See “Derivatives Instruments and Other Leveraged Transactions” above.

Restricted Securities and Securities with Limited Trading Markets (Rule 144A)

The Fund may purchase securities for which there is a limited trading market or which are subject to restrictions on resale to the public. If the Fund were to acquire substantial positions in securities with limited trading markets, the activities of the Fund could have an adverse effect upon the liquidity and marketability of such securities and the Fund might not be able to dispose of its holdings in those securities at then current market prices. Circumstances could also exist portfolio securities might have to be sold by the Fund at times which otherwise might be considered to be disadvantageous so that the Fund might receive lower proceeds from such sales than it had expected to realize. Investments in securities which are “restricted” may involve added expenses to the Fund should the Fund be required to bear registration costs with respect to such securities and could involve delays in disposing of such securities which might have an adverse effect upon the price and timing of sales of such securities. Restricted securities and securities for which there is a limited trading market may be significantly more difficult to value due to the unavailability of reliable market quotations for such securities, and investment in such securities may have an adverse impact on NAV. The Fund may purchase Rule 144A securities for which there may be a secondary market of qualified institutional buyers as contemplated by Rule 144A under 1933 Act.

Reverse Repurchase Agreements

Reverse repurchase agreements are transactions in which the Fund sells a security and simultaneously commits to repurchase that security from the buyer, such as a bank or broker-dealer, at an agreed-upon price on an agreed-upon future date. The resale price in a reverse repurchase agreement reflects a market rate of interest that is not related to the coupon rate or maturity of the sold security. For certain demand agreements, there is no agreed-upon repurchase date and interest payments are calculated daily, often based upon the prevailing overnight repurchase rate.

Generally, a reverse repurchase agreement enables the Fund to recover for the term of the reverse repurchase agreement all or most of the cash invested in the portfolio securities sold and to keep the interest income associated with those portfolio securities. Such transactions are only advantageous if the interest cost to the Fund of the reverse repurchase transaction is less than the cost of obtaining the cash otherwise. In addition, interest costs on the money received in a reverse repurchase agreement may exceed the return received on the investments made by the Fund with those monies. Using reverse repurchase agreements to earn additional income involves the risk that the interest earned on the invested proceeds is less than the expense of the reverse repurchase agreement transaction.

The Fund will enter into reverse repurchase agreements only with parties that the Fund’s subadviser deems creditworthy, but such investments are still subject to the risks of leverage discussed above.

Securities Lending

Subject to certain investment restrictions, the Fund may lend securities from its portfolio to brokers, dealers and financial institutions deemed creditworthy and receive, as collateral, cash or cash equivalents which at all times while the loan is outstanding will be maintained in amounts equal to at least 100% of the current market value of the loaned securities. Any cash collateral will be invested in short-term securities that will increase the current income of the Fund lending its securities.

The Fund will have the right to regain record ownership of loaned securities to exercise beneficial rights such as voting rights and subscription rights. While a securities loan is outstanding, the Fund is to receive an amount equal to any dividends, interest or other distributions with respect to the loaned securities. The Fund may pay reasonable fees to persons unaffiliated with the Fund for services in arranging such loans.

Even though securities lending usually does not impose market risks on the lending Fund, as with any extension of credit, there are risks of delay in recovery of the loaned securities and in some cases loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. In addition, the value of the collateral taken as security for the securities loaned may decline in value or may be difficult to convert to cash in the event that the Fund must rely on the collateral to recover the value of the securities. Moreover, if the borrower of the securities is insolvent, under current bankruptcy law, the Fund could be ordered by a court not to liquidate the collateral for an indeterminate period of time. If the borrower is the subject of insolvency proceedings and the collateral held might not be liquidated, the result could be a material adverse impact on the liquidity of the lending Fund.

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The Fund will not lend securities having a value in excess of 33 1/3% of its assets, including collateral received for loaned securities (valued at the time of any loan).

Short Sales

The Fund may sell securities short as part of its overall portfolio management strategies involving the use of derivative instruments and to offset potential declines in long positions in similar securities. A short sale is a transaction in which the Fund sells a security it does not own or have the right to acquire, or that it owns but does not wish to deliver, in anticipation that the market price of that security will decline. A short sale is “against the box” to the extent the Fund contemporaneously owns, or has the right to obtain at no added cost, securities identical to those sold short. All other short sales are commonly referred to as “naked” short sales.

When the Fund makes a short sale, the broker-dealer through which the short sale is made must borrow the security sold short and deliver it to the party purchasing the security. The Fund is required to make a margin deposit in connection with such short sales; the Fund may have to pay a fee to borrow particular securities and will often be obligated to pay over any dividends and accrued interest on borrowed securities. If the price of the security sold short increases between the time of the short sale and the time the Fund covers its short position, the Fund will incur a loss; conversely, if the price declines, the Fund will realize a capital gain. Any gain will be decreased, and any loss increased, by the transaction costs described above. The successful use of short selling may be adversely affected by imperfect correlation between movements in the price of the security sold short and the securities being hedged.

If the Fund sells securities short against the box, it may protect unrealized gains, but will lose the opportunity to profit on such securities if the price rises. If the Fund engages in naked short sales, the Fund’s risk of loss could be as much as the maximum attainable price of the security (which could be limitless) less the price paid by the Fund for the security at the time it was borrowed.

A Fund must comply with SEC Rule 18f-4 when engaging in when-issued and delayed delivery transactions. See “Derivatives Instruments and Other Leveraged Transactions” above.

Special Situations

The Fund may invest in special situations that the Fund’s subadviser believes present opportunities for capital growth. Such situations most typically include corporate restructurings, mergers, and tender offers.

A special situation arises when, in the opinion of the Fund’s subadviser, the securities of a particular company will, within a reasonably estimable period of time, be accorded market recognition at an appreciated value solely by reason of a development particularly or uniquely applicable to that company and regardless of general business conditions or movements of the market as a whole. Developments creating special situations might include, among others, the following: liquidations, reorganizations, recapitalizations, mergers, or tender offers; material litigation or resolution thereof; technological breakthroughs; and new management or management policies. Although large and well-known companies may be involved, special situations often involve much greater risk than is inherent in ordinary investment securities.

Step-Up Securities

Step-up securities are securities which pay no interest initially but eventually begin to pay a coupon rate prior to maturity, which may increase at stated intervals during the life of the security. Step-up securities allow an issuer to avoid or delay the need to generate cash to meet current interest payments and, as a result, may involve greater credit risk than bonds that pay interest currently or in cash.

Structured Notes

Included among the issuers of emerging market country debt securities in which the Fund may invest are entities organized and operated solely for the purpose of restructuring the investment characteristics of various securities. These entities are typically organized by investment banking firms which receive fees in connection with establishing each entity and arranging for the placement of its securities. This type of restructuring involves the deposit with or purchase by an entity, such as a corporation or trust, of specified instruments, such as Brady Bonds (see “Brady Bonds” in this section of the SAI), and the issuance by that entity of one or more classes of securities (“Structured Notes”) backed by, or representing interests in, the underlying instruments. The cash flow on the underlying instruments may be apportioned among the newly issued Structured Notes to create securities with different investment characteristics such as varying maturities, payment priorities or interest rate provisions; the extent of the payments made with respect to Structured Notes is dependent on the extent of the cash flow on the underlying instruments. Because Structured Notes of the type in which the Fund anticipates investing typically involve no credit enhancement, their credit risk will depend upon that of the underlying instruments and the terms of the Structured Note.

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The Fund is permitted to invest in a class of Structured Notes that is either subordinated or unsubordinated to the right of payment of another class. Subordinated Structured Notes typically have higher yields and present greater risks than unsubordinated Structured Notes. Although in some circumstances the Fund’s purchase of subordinated Structured Notes may have a similar economic effect to that of borrowing against the underlying securities, the purchase will not be deemed to be borrowing for purposes of the limitations placed on the extent of the Fund’s assets that may be used for borrowing.

As with any debt obligation, Structured Notes involve the risk that the issuer will become insolvent or otherwise default on its payment obligations. This risk is in addition to the risk that the issuer’s obligations (and thus the value of the Fund’s investment) will be reduced because of adverse changes in the external factor or factors to which the obligations are linked. The value of structured notes will in many cases be more volatile (that is, will change more rapidly or severely) than the value of traditional debt instruments. Volatility will be especially high if the issuer’s obligations are determined by reference to some multiple of the change in the external factor or factors. Many Structured Notes have limited or no liquidity, so that the Fund would be unable to dispose of the investment prior to maturity. As with all investments, successful use of structured notes depends in significant part of the accuracy of the Adviser’s or Subadviser’s analysis of the issuer’s creditworthiness and financial prospects, and of the Adviser’s or Subadviser’s forecast as to changes in relevant economic and financial market conditions and factors. In instances where the issuer of a Structured Investment is a non-U.S. entity, the usual risks associated with investments in non-U.S. securities apply. Structured Notes may be considered derivative securities.

1940 Act Limitations. Certain issuers of Structured Notes may be deemed to be “investment companies” as defined in the 1940 Act. As a result, the Fund’s investment in these Structured Notes may be limited by the restrictions contained in the 1940 Act described under “Other Investment Companies.” Structured Notes are typically sold in private placement transactions, and there currently is no active trading market for Structured Notes.

Supranational Organizations

The Fund may invest in debt securities issued by supranational organizations such as promissory notes, bonds and debentures. Supranational organizations are entities designated or supported by a government or governmental entity to promote economic development, and include, among others, the Asian Development Bank, the European Communities, the European Investment Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. These organizations have no taxing authority and are dependent upon their members for payments of interest and principal. Moreover, the lending activities of such supranational entities are limited to a percentage of their total capital (including “callable capital” contributed by members at an entity’s call), reserves and net income.

Warrants or Rights to Purchase Securities

The Fund may invest in or acquire warrants or rights to purchase equity or fixed income securities at a specified price during a specific period of time. The Fund will make such investments only if the underlying securities are deemed appropriate by the Fund’s subadviser for inclusion in the Fund’s portfolio. Included are warrants and rights whose underlying securities are not traded on principal domestic or foreign exchanges. Warrants and stock rights are almost identical to call options in their nature, use and effect except that they are issued by the issuer of the underlying security, rather than an option writer, and they generally have longer expiration dates than call options. (See “Options” in this section of the SAI for information about call options.)

Bonds with warrants attached to purchase equity securities have many characteristics of convertible bonds and their prices may, to some degree, reflect the performance of the underlying stock. However, unlike convertible securities and preferred stocks, warrants do not pay a fixed dividend. Bonds also may be issued with warrants attached to purchase additional fixed income securities at the same coupon rate. A decline in interest rates would permit the Fund holding such warrants to buy additional bonds at the favorable rate or to sell the warrants at a profit. If interest rates rise, the warrants would generally expire with no value.

The Fund may purchase put warrants and call warrants whose values vary depending on the change in the value of one or more specified securities indices (“index warrants”). Index warrants are generally issued by banks or other financial institutions and give the holder the right, at any time during the term of the warrant, to receive upon exercise of the warrant a cash payment from the issuer based on the value of the underlying index at the time of exercise. In general, if the value of the underlying index rises above the exercise price of the index warrant, the holder of a call warrant will be entitled to receive a cash payment from the issuer upon exercise based on the difference between the value of the index and the exercise price of the warrant; if the value of the underlying index falls, the holder of a put warrant will be entitled to receive a cash payment from the issuer upon exercise based on the difference between the exercise price of the warrant and the value of the index. The holder of a warrant would not be entitled to any payments from the issuer at any time when, in the case of a call warrant, the exercise price is greater than the value of the underlying index or, in the case of a put warrant, the exercise price is less than the value of the underlying index. If the Fund were not to exercise an index warrant prior to its expiration, then the Fund would lose the amount of the purchase price paid by it for the warrant.

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The Fund will normally use index warrants in a manner similar to its use of options on securities indices. The risks of the Fund’s use of index warrants are generally similar to those relating to its use of index options. (See “Options” in this section of the SAI for information about index options.) Unlike most index options, however, index warrants are issued in limited amounts and are not obligations of a regulated clearing agency, but are backed only by the credit of the bank or other institution which issues the warrant. Also, index warrants generally have longer terms than index options. Although the Fund will normally invest only in exchange-listed warrants, index warrants are not likely to be as liquid as certain index options backed by a recognized clearing agency. In addition, the terms of index warrants may limit the Fund’s ability to exercise the warrants at such time, or in such quantities, as the Fund would otherwise wish to do.

When-Issued and Delayed Delivery Transactions

The Fund may purchase securities on a when-issued or forward commitment basis. These transactions are also known as delayed delivery transactions. (The phrase “delayed delivery” is not intended to include purchases where a delay in delivery involves only a brief period required by the selling party solely to locate appropriate certificates and prepare them for submission for clearance and settlement in the customary way.) Delayed delivery transactions involve a commitment by the Fund to purchase or sell securities at a future date (ordinarily up to 90 days later). The price of the underlying securities (usually expressed in terms of yield) and the date when the securities will be delivered and paid for (the settlement date) are fixed at the time the transaction is negotiated. When-issued purchases and forward commitments are negotiated directly with the selling party.

When-issued purchases and forward commitments enable the Fund to lock in what is believed to be an attractive price or yield on a particular security for a period of time, regardless of future changes in interest rates. For example, in periods of rising interest rates and falling bond prices, the Fund might sell debt securities it owns on a forward commitment basis to limit its exposure to falling prices. In periods of falling interest rates and rising prices, the Fund might sell securities it owns and purchase the same or similar securities on a when-issued or forward commitment basis, thereby obtaining the benefit of currently higher yields. The Fund will not enter into such transactions for the purpose of leverage.

The value of securities purchased on a when-issued or forward commitment basis and any subsequent fluctuations in their value will be reflected in the Fund’s NAV starting on the first business day after the date of the agreement to purchase the securities. The Fund will be subject to the rights and risks of ownership of the securities on the agreement date. However, the Fund will not earn interest on securities it has committed to purchase until they are paid for and received. A seller’s failure to deliver securities to the Fund could prevent the Fund from realizing a price or yield considered to be advantageous and could cause the Fund to incur expenses associated with unwinding the transaction.

When the Fund makes a forward commitment to sell securities it owns, the proceeds to be received upon settlement will be included in the Fund’s assets. Fluctuations in the market value of the underlying securities will not be reflected in the Fund’s NAV as long as the commitment to sell remains in effect. Settlement of when-issued purchases and forward commitment transactions generally takes place up to 90 days after the date of the transaction, but the Fund may agree to a longer settlement period.

The Fund will make commitments to purchase securities on a when-issued basis or to purchase or sell securities on a forward commitment basis only with the intention of completing the transaction and actually purchasing or selling the securities. If deemed advisable as a matter of investment strategy, however, the Fund may dispose of or renegotiate a commitment after it is entered into. The Fund also may sell securities it has committed to purchase before those securities are delivered to the Fund on the settlement date. The Fund may realize a capital gain or loss in connection with these transactions.

A Fund must comply with SEC Rule 18f-4 when engaging in reverse repurchase agreements. See “Derivatives Instruments and Other Leveraged Transactions” above.

TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS

The Board is responsible for the overall supervision of the Fund, including establishing the Fund’s policies and general supervision and review of their investment activities, and performs the various duties imposed on Trustees by the 1940 Act and Massachusetts business trust law. The officers, who administer the Fund’s daily operations, are appointed by the Board and generally are employees of the Administrator or one of its affiliates. The current Trustees and officers of the Fund performing a policy-making function and their affiliations and principal occupations for the past five years are set forth below. The Fund has no employees.

Unless otherwise noted, each Trustee of the Fund also serves as a Trustee of other Virtus Funds and the address of each Trustee and officer is c/o the Fund, 101 Munson Street, Suite 104, Greenfield, MA 01301. There is no stated term of office for officers of the Fund. Each Trustee currently serves a one- to three-year term concurrent with the class of Trustees for which they serve.

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Independent Trustees*

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38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

Interested Trustee

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Mr. Aylward is an “interested person” as defined in the 1940 Act, by reason of his position as President and Chief Executive Officer of Virtus, the ultimate parent company of the Adviser, and various positions with its affiliates including the Adviser.

Officers of the Fund Who Are Not Trustees

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Leadership Structure and the Board of Trustees

The Board is currently composed of 12 trustees, including 11 Independent Trustees. In addition to five regularly scheduled meetings per year, the Board holds special meetings either in person or via telephone to discuss specific matters that may require consideration prior to the next regular meeting. As discussed below, the Board has established several standing committees to assist the Board in performing its oversight responsibilities, and each such committee has a chairperson. The Board may also designate working groups or ad hoc committees as it deems appropriate.

The Trustees of the Fund believe that an effective board should have perspectives informed by a range of viewpoints, skills, expertise, experiences and backgrounds. The Trustees endorse a diverse, inclusive and equitable environment for the Board where all members are respected, valued and engaged. As a result, when identifying and recruiting new Trustees and considering Board composition, committee composition and leadership roles, the Governance and Nominating Committee shall consider, among other attributes, diversity of race, ethnicity, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, disability, sexuality, culture, thought and geography, as well as numerous other dimensions of human diversity.

The Board has appointed Mr. McLoughlin, an Independent Trustee, to serve in the role of Chair. The Chair’s primary role is to participate in the preparation of the agenda for meetings of the Board and the identification of information to be presented to the Board with respect to matters to be acted upon by the Board. The Chair also presides at all meetings of the Board and between meetings generally acts as a liaison with the Fund’s service providers, officers, legal counsel, and the other Trustees. The Chair may perform such other functions as may be requested by the Board from time to time. Except for any duties specified herein or pursuant to the Fund’s Declaration of Trust or By-laws, or as assigned by the Board, the designation of Chair does not impose on such Independent Trustee any duties, obligations or liability that is greater than the duties, obligations or liability imposed on such person as a member of the Board, generally.

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The Board believes that this leadership structure is appropriate because it allows the Board to exercise informed and independent judgment over matters under its purview, and it allocates areas of responsibility among committees or working groups of Trustees and the full Board in a manner that enhances effective oversight. Mr. McLoughlin previously served as the Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the company that is now Virtus; however, he is now an Independent Trustee due to (a) the fact that Virtus is no longer affiliated with The Phoenix Companies, Inc. (which was its parent company when Mr. McLoughlin retired) and (b) the passage of time. As a result of this balance, it is believed that Mr. McLoughlin has the ability to provide independent oversight of the Fund’s operations within the context of his detailed understanding of the perspective of the Adviser and the Fund’s other service providers. The Board therefore considers leadership by Mr. McLoughlin as enhancing the Board’s ability to provide effective independent oversight of the Fund’s operations and meaningful representation of the shareholders’ interests.

The Board also believes that having a super-majority of Independent Trustees is appropriate and in the best interest of the Fund’s shareholders. Nevertheless, the Board also believes that having an interested person serve on the Board brings corporate and financial viewpoints that are, in the Board’s view, crucial elements in its decision-making process. In addition, the Board believes that Mr. Aylward, who is currently the Chair and President of the Adviser, and the President and Chief Executive Officer of Virtus, and serves in various executive roles with other affiliates of the Adviser who provide services to the Fund, provides the Board with the Adviser’s perspective in managing and sponsoring the Virtus Funds as well as the perspective of other service providers to the Fund. The leadership structure of the Board may be changed at any time and in the discretion of the Board, including in response to changes in circumstances or the characteristics of the Fund.

The Board has established several standing committees to oversee particular aspects of the Fund’s management. The members of each Committee are set forth below:

The Audit Committee

The Audit Committee is responsible for overseeing the Fund’s accounting and auditing policies and practices. The Audit Committee reviews the Fund’s financial reporting procedures, its system of internal control, the independent audit process, and the Fund’s procedures for monitoring compliance with investment restrictions and applicable laws and regulations and with the Code of Ethics. The Audit Committee is composed entirely of Independent Trustees; its members through February 26, 2024 were Connie D. McDaniel, Chair, Donald C. Burke, Deborah A. DeCotis, John R. Mallin and Brian T. Zino. Effective February 27, 2024 through February 29, 2024, its members were Connie D. McDaniel, Chair, Donald C. Burke, Deborah A. DeCotis, John R. Mallin, Geraldine M. McNamara and Brian T. Zino. Effective March 1, 2024, its members are Donald C. Burke, Chair, Deborah A. DeCotis, John R. Mallin, Geraldine M. McNamara and Brian T. Zino. The Audit Committee met six times during the Fund’s last fiscal year.

The Compliance Committee

The Compliance Committee is responsible for overseeing the Fund’s compliance matters. The Compliance Committee oversees and reviews (1) information provided by the Fund’s officers, including the Fund’s CCO, the Fund’s investment adviser and other principal service providers, and others as appropriate; (2) the codes of ethics; (3) whistleblower reports; and (4) distribution programs. The Compliance Committee is composed entirely of Independent Trustees; its members through February 26, 2024 were Sarah E. Cogan, F. Ford Drummond, Sidney E. Harris, Geraldine M. McNamara and R. Keith Walton. Geraldine M. McNamara served as Chair through August 31, 2023; effective September 1, 2023, R. Keith Walton replaced Geraldine M. McNamara as Chair, although Geraldine M. McNamara remained on the Audit Committee as a member through February 26, 2024. Effective February 27, 2024, its members are R. Keith Walton, Chair, Sarah E. Cogan, F. Ford Drummond and Sidney E. Harris. The Compliance Committee met four times during the Fund’s last fiscal year.

The Contracts Committee

The Contracts Committee is responsible for reviewing the contractual arrangements with the Fund’s investment adviser and subadviser and the other Virtus funds service providers affiliated with the Fund’s investment adviser and subadviser. The Contracts Committee is composed entirely of Independent Trustees; its members are Sarah E. Cogan, Chair, Donald C. Burke, Deborah A. DeCotis, F. Ford Drummond, Sidney E. Harris, John R. Mallin, Connie D. McDaniel, Philip R. McLoughlin, Geraldine M. McNamara, R. Keith Walton and Brian T. Zino. The Contracts Committee did not exist until November of the Trust’s last fiscal year and did not meet during the Fund’s last fiscal year.

The Executive Committee

The function of the Executive Committee is to serve as a delegate of the full Board, as well as act on behalf of the Board when it is not in session, subject to limitations as set by the Board. The Executive Committee is composed entirely of Independent Trustees; its members through February 26, 2024 were Philip R. McLoughlin, Chair, Donald C. Burke, Deborah A. DeCotis, Sidney E. Harris and Brian T. Zino. Effective February 27, 2024, its members are Philip R. McLoughlin, Chair, Donald C. Burke, Deborah A. DeCotis, Sidney E. Harris, Connie D. McDaniel and Brian T. Zino. The Executive Committee met four times during the Fund’s last fiscal year.

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The Governance and Nominating Committee

The Governance and Nominating Committee is responsible for developing and maintaining governance principles applicable to the Fund, for nominating individuals to serve as Trustees, including as Independent Trustees, and annually evaluating the Board and Committees. The Governance and Nominating Committee is composed entirely of Independent Trustees; its members through August 31, 2023 were Brian T. Zino, Chair, Sarah E. Cogan, Sidney E. Harris, Philip R. McLoughlin and R. Keith Walton. Effective September 1, 2023, its members are Brian T. Zino, Chair, Sarah E. Cogan, F. Ford Drummond, Sidney E. Harris and Philip R. McLoughlin. The Governance and Nominating Committee met four times during the Fund’s last fiscal year.

The Governance and Nominating Committee considers candidates for trusteeship and makes recommendations to the Board with respect to such candidates. There are no specific required qualifications for trusteeship. The committee considers all relevant qualifications of candidates for trusteeship, such as industry knowledge and experience, financial expertise, current employment and other board memberships, and whether the candidate would be qualified to be considered an Independent Trustee. The Board believes that having among its members a diversity of viewpoints, skills and experience and a variety of complementary skills enhances the effectiveness of the Board in its oversight role. The committee considers the qualifications of candidates for trusteeship in this context.

The Board has adopted a policy for consideration of Trustee nominees recommended by shareholders. With regards to such policy, an individual shareholder or shareholder group submitting a nomination must hold either individually or in the aggregate for at least one full year as of the date of nomination 5% of the shares of a series of the Fund, among other qualifications and restrictions. Shareholders or shareholder groups submitting nominees must comply with all requirements set forth in the Fund’s policy for consideration of Trustee nominees recommended by shareholders and any such submission must be in writing, directed to the attention of the Governance and Nominating Committee in care of the Fund’s Secretary, and should include biographical information, including business experience for the past ten years and a description of the qualifications of the proposed nominee, along with a statement from the proposed nominee that he or she is willing to serve and meets the requirements to be an Independent Trustee, if applicable. Shareholder nominees for Trustee will be given the same consideration as any candidate provided the nominee meets certain minimum requirements.

Information about Each Trustee’s Qualification, Experience, Attributes or Skills

The following provides further information about each Trustee’s specific experience, qualifications, attributes or skills. The information in this section should not be understood to mean that any Trustee is an “expert” within the meaning of the federal securities laws.

George R. Aylward

In addition to his positions with the Fund, Mr. Aylward is a Director and the President and Chief Executive Officer of Virtus, the ultimate parent company of the Adviser. He also holds various executive positions with the Adviser, the Subadviser, the Administrator and various of their affiliates, and previously held such positions with the former parent company of Virtus. He therefore has experience in all aspects of the development and management of registered investment companies, and the handling of various financial, staffing, regulatory and operational issues. Mr. Aylward is a certified public accountant and holds an MBA, and he also serves as an officer and director/trustee of open-end and closed-end funds managed by the Adviser and its affiliates.

Donald C. Burke

Mr. Burke has extensive financial and business experience in the investment management industry. He was employed by BlackRock, Inc. (2006 to 2009) and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (1990 to 2006) where he held a number of roles, including Managing Director and President and Chief Executive Officer of the BlackRock U.S. mutual funds. In this role, Mr. Burke was responsible for the accounting, tax and regulatory reporting requirements for over 300 open- and closed-end funds. He also served as a trustee for numerous global funds that were advised by BlackRock, Inc. Mr. Burke currently serves as a director and Audit Committee Chairman of Avista Corp., a public company involved in the production, transmission and distribution of energy. Mr. Burke started his career at Deloitte & Touche (formerly Deloitte Haskins & Sells) and is a certified public accountant. He has also served on a number of nonprofit boards. He is also a director/trustee of open-end and closed-end funds managed by Virtus affiliates.

Sarah E. Cogan

Ms. Cogan has substantial legal background and experience in the investment management industry. She was a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, a large international law firm, in the corporate department for over 25 years and former head of the registered funds practice. She has extensive experience in oversight of investment company boards through her prior experience as counsel to the Independent Trustees of Virtus Artificial Intelligence & Technology Opportunities Fund, Virtus Convertible & Income 2024 Target Term Fund, Virtus Convertible & Income Fund, Virtus Convertible & Income Fund II, Virtus Diversified Income & Convertible Fund, Virtus Dividend, Interest & Premium Strategy Fund and Virtus Equity & Convertible Income Fund and the series of the trusts now known as Virtus Investment Trust and Virtus Strategy Trust and as counsel to other independent trustees, investment companies and asset management firms. She is also a director/trustee of open-end and closed-end funds managed by Virtus affiliates and closed-end funds managed by PIMCO.

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Deborah A. DeCotis

Ms. DeCotis has substantial senior executive experience in the investment banking industry, having served as a Managing Director for Morgan Stanley. She has extensive board experience and/or experience in oversight of investment management functions through her experience as a trustee of Stanford University and Smith College and as a director of Cadre Holdings Inc., Armor Holdings and The Helena Rubinstein Foundation, Stanford Graduate School of Business. Ms. DeCotis is also a director/trustee of open-end and closed-end funds managed by Virtus affiliates and closed-end funds managed by PIMCO.

F. Ford Drummond

Sidney E. Harris

Dr. Sidney Harris has extensive knowledge of best practices in executive management, familiarity with international business practices and expertise in corporate strategy implementation, risk management, technology, asset management compliance and investments. Dr. Harris is Dean Emeritus and, until recently, was a Professor at the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. He was affiliated with the J. Mack Robinson College of Business from 1997 to 2021, including serving as Professor (2015 to 2021 and 1997 to 2014) and Dean (1997 to 2004). Most recently, Dr. Harris was Professor of Computer Information Systems, Management and International Business. Prior to joining Georgia State University, Dr. Harris was Professor (1987 to 1996) and former Dean (1991 to 1996) of the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University (currently Peter F. Drucker and Masotoshi Ito Graduate School of Management). He served as Independent Trustee of the RidgeWorth Funds Board of Trustees (2004 to 2017) and as Independent Chairman (2007 to 2017). He served as a member of the RidgeWorth Funds Governance and Nominating Committee (2004 to 2017) and Audit Committee (2006 to 2017). Dr. Harris previously served on the Board of Transamerica Investors (1995 to 2005). Dr. Harris previously served as a Director of Total System Services, Inc. (1999 to 2019). He served on the Board of Directors of KIPP Metro Atlanta, served as Chairman of the International University of the Grand-Bassam (“IUGB”) Foundation (2012 to 2017), and serves on the Board of Directors of the IUGB Foundation (since 2012). Dr. Harris also serves as a Trustee of the Mutual Funds Directors Forum (since 2019). He is also a director/trustee of open-end and closed-end funds managed by Virtus affiliates.

John R. Mallin

Mr. Mallin is a real estate partner and former practice group leader for the Real Property Practice Group at McCarter & English LLP. During his career, he has been involved in all aspects of real estate development and financial transactions related to real estate. Mr. Mallin also has oversight and corporate governance experience as a director, including as a chair, of non-profit entities. Mr. Mallin is also a director/trustee of open-end and closed-end funds managed by Virtus affiliates.

Connie D. McDaniel

Ms. McDaniel, currently retired, has extensive domestic and international business experience, particularly with respect to finance, strategic planning, risk management and risk assessment functions. She is retired from The Coca-Cola Company, where she served as Vice President and Chief of Internal Audit, Corporate Audit Department (2009 to 2013), Vice President, Global Finance Transformation (2007 to 2009), Vice President and Controller (1999 to 2007), and held various management positions (1989 to 1999). While at The Coca-Cola Company, Ms. McDaniel chaired that company’s Ethics and Compliance Committee (2009 to 2013) and developed a knowledge of corporate governance matters. Prior to The Coca-Cola Company, she was associated with Ernst & Young (1980 to 1989). Ms. McDaniel served as Independent Trustee of the RidgeWorth Funds Board of Trustees from 2005 to 2017. She was Chairman of the RidgeWorth Funds Audit Committee (2008 to 2017), designated Audit Committee Financial Expert (2007 to 2017) and a member of the RidgeWorth Funds Governance and Nominating Committee (2015 to 2017). Ms. McDaniel also served as a Director of Total System Services, Inc. (2014 to 2019). She currently serves as a Director and Governance and Nominating Committee Chairperson of Global Payments Inc. (since 2019) and as a Director of North Florida Land Trust (since 2021). Ms. McDaniel served as Chair of the Georgia State University Robinson College of Business Board of Advisors (2014 to 2016) and served as a member of the Georgia State University Robinson College of Business Board of Advisors (2011 to 2022). Ms. McDaniel is also a director/trustee of open-end and closed-end funds managed by Virtus affiliates, including serving as the vice chair of the board of many such funds.

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Philip R. McLoughlin

Mr. McLoughlin has an extensive legal, financial and asset management background. In 1971, he joined Phoenix Investment Partners, Ltd. (then, Phoenix Equity Planning Corp.), the predecessor of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc., as Assistant Counsel with responsibility for various compliance and legal functions. During his tenure, Mr. McLoughlin assumed responsibility for most functions in the firm’s advisory, broker-dealer and fund management operations, and eventually ascended to the role of President. Mr. McLoughlin then served as General Counsel, and later Chief Investment Officer, of Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company, the parent company of Phoenix Investment Partners. Among other functions, he served as the senior management liaison to the boards of directors of the insurance company’s mutual funds and closed-end funds, and had direct oversight responsibility for the funds’ portfolio managers. In 1994, Mr. McLoughlin was named Chief Executive Officer of Phoenix Investment Partners, and continued in that position, as well as Chief Investment Officer of Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company, until his retirement in 2002. He is also a director/trustee of open-end and closed-end funds managed by Virtus affiliates, including serving as the chair of the board of many such funds.

Geraldine M. McNamara

Ms. McNamara was an executive at U.S. Trust Company of New York for 24 years, where she rose to the position of Managing Director. Her responsibilities at U.S. Trust included the oversight of U.S. Trust’s personal banking business. In addition to her managerial and banking experience, Ms. McNamara has experience in advising individuals on their personal financial management, which has given her an enhanced understanding of the goals and expectations that individual investors may have. Ms. McNamara is also a director/trustee of open-end and closed-end funds managed by Virtus affiliates.

R. Keith Walton

Mr. Walton’s business and legal background, and his extensive service with other boards, provide valuable insight to the Board and its committees regarding corporate governance and best practices. He is an honors graduate of Yale College and the Harvard Law School. Mr. Walton was a Director of Systematica Investments Limited Funds (2006 to 2019) and a Director of BlueCrest Capital Management Funds (2006 to 2017). He is also the founding Principal and Chief Administrative Officer at Global Infrastructure Partners (since 2006) and Senior Adviser at Brightwood Capital, LLC (since 2022). He served as the Managing Director at Lafayette Square Holding Company LLC (2020 to 2021). Mr. Walton is also a director/trustee of open-end and closed-end funds managed by Virtus affiliates and certain funds advised by Bessemer Investment Management LLC.

Brian T. Zino

Mr. Zino, currently retired, was employed by J. & W. Seligman and Co. Inc., a privately held New York City investment firm managing closed-end investment companies, a family of mutual funds, and institutional accounts and operating a trust company (1982 to 2009). For the last 15 of those years, he served as president and CEO of Seligman. His extensive mutual fund, financial and business background and years of service as a director of a large non-affiliated family of both open- and closed-end funds bring valuable skills and business judgment to the Board and its committees. Mr. Zino is also a certified public accountant and has an extensive background in accounting matters relating to investment companies. He also served as a Director (1998 to 2009), Chairman (2002 to 2004) and Vice Chairman (2000 to 2002) on the board of the ICI Mutual Insurance Company and as a Member of the Board of Governors of ICI (1998 to 2008). Mr. Zino is also a director/trustee of open-end and closed-end funds managed by Virtus affiliates.

Board Oversight of Risk Management

As a registered investment company, the Fund is subject to a variety of risks, including investment risks, financial risks, compliance risks and regulatory risks. As part of its overall activities, the Board oversees the management of the Fund’s risk management structure by the Fund’s Adviser, Subadviser, Administrator, officers and others. The responsibility to manage the Fund’s risk management structure on a day-to-day basis is subsumed within the other responsibilities of these parties.

The Board considers risk management issues as part of its general oversight responsibilities throughout the year at regular meetings of the Board and its committees, and within the context of any ad hoc communications with the Fund’s service providers and officers. The Fund’s Adviser, Subadviser, Administrator, officers and legal counsel prepare regular reports to the Board that address certain investment, valuation, compliance and other matters, and the Board as a whole or its committees may also receive special written reports or presentations on a variety of risk issues at the request of the Board, a committee, the Chair or a senior officer.

The Board receives regular written reports describing and analyzing the investment performance of the Fund. In addition, the portfolio managers of the Fund and senior management of the Fund’s Subadviser meets with the Board periodically to discuss portfolio performance and answer the Board’s questions with respect to portfolio strategies and risks.

The Board receives regular written reports from the Fund’s Chief Financial Officer that enable the Board to monitor the number of fair valued securities in the Fund’s portfolio, the reasons for the fair valuation and the methodology used to arrive at the fair value. The Board and/or the Audit Committee may also review valuation procedures and pricing results with the Fund’s independent auditors in connection with the review of the results of the audit of the Fund’s year-end financial statements.

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The Board also receives regular compliance reports prepared by the compliance staff of the Adviser and meets regularly with the Fund’s CCO to discuss compliance issues, including compliance risks. As required under applicable rules, the Independent Trustees meet regularly in executive session with the CCO, and the CCO prepares and presents an annual written compliance report to the Board. The CCO, as well as the compliance staff of the Adviser and Virtus, provide the Board with reports on their examinations of functions and processes within the Adviser and the Subadviser that affect the Fund. The Board also adopts compliance policies and procedures for the Fund and approves such procedures for the Fund’s service providers. The compliance policies and procedures are specifically designed to detect and prevent violations of the federal securities laws.

In its annual review of the Fund’s advisory, subadvisory and administration agreements, the Board reviews information provided by the Adviser, the Subadviser and the Administrator relating to their operational capabilities, financial conditions and resources. The Board may also discuss particular risks that are not addressed in its regular reports and processes.

The Board recognizes that it is not possible to identify all of the risks that may affect the Fund or to develop processes and controls to eliminate or mitigate their occurrence or effects. The Board periodically reviews the effectiveness of its oversight of the Fund and the other funds in the Virtus Funds family, and the processes and controls in place to limit identified risks. The Board may, at any time and in its discretion, change the manner in which it conducts its risk oversight role.

Trustees’ Fund Holdings as of December 31, 2023

As of December 31, 2023, the Trustees beneficially owned shares of the Fund as set forth in the table below.

Trustee Compensation

Trustees who are not employed by the Adviser or its affiliates receive an annual retainer and fees and expenses for attendance at Board and Committee meetings. Officers and employees of the Adviser of the Fund who are interested persons are compensated for their services by the Adviser of the Fund, or an affiliate of the Adviser, and receive no compensation from the Fund. The Fund does not have any retirement plan for its Trustees.

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For the fiscal year ended November 30, 2023, the current Trustees received the following compensation:

PORTFOLIO TRANSACTIONS

Portfolio Transactions

In effecting transactions for the Fund, the adviser or subadviser (throughout this section, “Subadviser”) adheres to the Fund’s policy of seeking best execution and price, determined as described below, except to the extent it is permitted to pay higher brokerage commissions for “brokerage and research services” as defined herein. The determination of what may constitute best execution and price in the execution of a securities transaction by a broker involves a number of considerations including, without limitation, the overall direct net economic result to the Fund (involving both price paid or received and any commissions and other costs paid), the efficiency with which the transaction is effected, the ability to effect the transaction at all where a large block is involved, availability of the broker to stand ready to execute possibly difficult transactions in the future, the financial strength and stability of the broker and its ability to provide research services. Such considerations are judgmental and are weighed by the Subadviser in determining the overall reasonableness of brokerage commissions paid by the Fund.

The Subadviser may cause the Fund to pay a broker an amount of commission for effecting a securities transaction in excess of the amount of commission which another broker or dealer would have charged for effecting that transaction if the Subadviser determines in good faith that such amount of commission is reasonable in relation to the value of the brokerage and research services provided by such broker. As provided in Section 28(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, “brokerage and research services” include advising as to the value of securities, the advisability of investing in, purchasing or selling securities, the availability of securities or purchasers or sellers of securities; furnishing analyses and reports concerning issuers, industries, securities, economic factors and trends, portfolio strategy and the performance of accounts, and effecting securities transactions and performing functions incidental thereto (such as clearance and settlement). Brokerage and research services provided by brokers to the Fund are considered to be in addition to and not in lieu of services required to be performed by the Subadviser under its contract with the Fund and may benefit the Fund and other accounts of the Subadviser. Conversely, brokerage and research services provided by brokers to other accounts of the Subadviser may benefit the Fund.

If the securities in which the Fund invests are traded primarily in the over-the-counter market, where possible the Fund will deal directly with the dealers who make a market in the securities involved unless better prices and executions are available elsewhere. Such securities may be purchased directly from the issuer. Bonds and money market instruments are generally traded on a net basis and do not normally involve either brokerage commissions or transfer taxes.

The Fund has adopted a policy governing the execution of aggregated advisory client orders (“bunching policy”) in an attempt to lower commission costs on a per-share and per-dollar basis. According to the bunching policy, no Subadviser shall aggregate transactions unless it believes in its sole discretion that such aggregation is consistent with its duty to seek best execution (which shall include the duty to seek best price) for the Fund. No advisory account of the Subadviser is to be favored over any other account and each account that participates in an aggregated order is expected to participate at the average share price for all transactions of the Subadviser in that security on a given business day, with all transaction costs shared pro rata based on the Fund ’s participation in the transaction. If the aggregated order is filled in its entirety, it shall be allocated among the Subadviser’s accounts in accordance with the allocation order, and if the order is partially filled, it shall be allocated pro rata based on the allocation order. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the order may be allocated on a basis different from that specified in the allocation order if good reason for such different allocation is provided and approved in accordance with the Subadviser’s policies and procedures adopted in accordance with the Fund’s policy. The Board will review the bunching policy from time to time as they deem appropriate.

For the fiscal years ended November 30, 2021, November 30, 2022 and November 30, 2023, the Fund did not pay brokerage commissions.

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CONTROL PERSONS AND PRINCIPAL HOLDERS OF SECURITIES

Code of Ethics

The Fund, its Adviser and Subadviser have each adopted a Code of Ethics pursuant to Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act. Personnel subject to the Codes of Ethics may purchase and sell securities for their personal accounts, including securities that may be purchased, sold or held by the Fund, subject to certain restrictions and conditions. Generally, personal securities transactions are subject to preclearance procedures, reporting requirements and holding period rules. The Codes also restrict personal securities transactions in private placements, initial public offerings and securities in which the Fund has a pending order. The Fund has also adopted a Code of Ethics for Chief Executive and Senior Financial Officers as required by Section 406 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. These Codes of Ethics are available on the EDGAR Database on the Commission’s internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and that copies of these codes of ethics may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following email address: publicinfo@sec.gov.

PROXY VOTING POLICIES

The Fund has adopted a Policy Regarding Proxy Voting (the “Policy”) stating the Fund’s intention to exercise stock ownership rights with respect to portfolio securities in a manner that is reasonably anticipated to further the best economic interests of shareholders of the Fund. The Fund or its voting delegates will endeavor to analyze and vote all proxies that are likely to have financial implications, and where appropriate, to participate in corporate governance, shareholder proposals, management communications and legal proceedings. The Fund or its voting delegates must also identify potential or actual conflicts of interest in voting proxies and must address any such conflict of interest in accordance with the Policy.

In the absence of a specific direction to the contrary from the Board, the Adviser or the Subadviser that is managing the Fund is responsible for voting proxies for the fund, or for delegating such responsibility to a qualified, independent organization engaged by the Adviser or respective Subadviser to vote proxies on its behalf. The applicable voting party will vote proxies in accordance with the Policy or its own policies and procedures, which must be reasonably designed to further the best economic interests of the affected fund shareholders. Because the Policy and the applicable voting party’s policies and procedures used to vote proxies for the fund both are designed to further the best economic interests of the affected fund shareholders, they are not expected to conflict with one another although the types of factors considered by the applicable voting party under its own policies and procedures may be in addition to or different from the ones listed below for the Policy.

The Policy specifies the types of factors to be considered when analyzing and voting proxies on certain issues when voting in accordance with the Policy, including, but not limited to:

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The Fund and its voting delegates seek to avoid actual or perceived conflicts of interest of Fund shareholders, on the one hand, and those of the Adviser, Subadviser, other voting delegate, Distributor, or any affiliated person of the Fund, on the other hand.

Depending on the type and materiality, the Board or its delegates may take the following actions, among others, in addressing any material conflicts of interest that arise with respect to voting (or directing voting delegates to vote): (i) rely on the recommendations of an established, independent third party proxy voting vendor; (ii) vote pursuant to the recommendation of the proposing delegate; (iii) abstain; (iv) where two or more delegates provide conflicting requests, vote shares in proportion to the assets under management of each proposing delegate; (v) vote shares in the same proportion as the vote of all other shareholders of such issuer; or (vi) the Adviser may vote proxies where the Subadviser has a direct conflict of interest. The Policy requires each Adviser/Subadviser that is a voting delegate to notify the Chief Compliance Officer of the Fund (or, in the case of a Subadviser, the Chief Compliance Officer of the Adviser) of any actual or potential conflict of interest that is identified, and provide a recommended course of action for protecting the best interests of the affected fund’s shareholders. No Adviser/Subadviser or other voting delegate may waive any conflict of interest or vote any conflicted proxies without the prior written approval of the Board (or the Executive Committee thereof) or the Chief Compliance Officer of the Fund.

The Policy further imposes certain record-keeping and reporting requirements on each Adviser/Subadviser or other voting delegate.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30 will be available, no later than August 31 of each year, free of charge by calling, toll-free, (800) 243-1574, on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

Following is information about the policies and procedures followed by the Subadviser to the Fund in voting proxies for the Fund.

In voting proxies, Stone Harbor is responsible for making investment decisions that seek to add value to its client assets and that are in the best interest of its clients. Stone Harbor has adopted proxy voting policies, general guidelines and procedures. As an adviser that primarily invests in fixed-income securities, Stone Harbor does not frequently have to vote proxies on behalf of its clients. In voting proxies, Stone Harbor is guided by general fiduciary principles. Stone Harbor’s goal is to act prudently, solely in the best interest of the beneficial owners of the accounts it manages. Stone Harbor attempts to consider all factors of its vote that could affect the value of the investment and will vote proxies in the manner that it believes will be consistent with efforts to maximize such value.

It is anticipated that Stone Harbor will generally follow its proxy voting general guidelines. If deemed to be in the best interests of a client, a portfolio manager may override the general guidelines without consultation with Stone Harbor’s Compliance & Risk Committee, unless the situation involves a conflict of interest. All overrides are subject to review by the Stone Harbor Compliance & Risk Committee.

In voting client proxies, Stone Harbor may encounter various potential conflicts of interest, such as when voting proxies pertaining to existing clients, potential clients, existing vendors, or lenders. In any case involving a potential or known conflict of interest, Stone Harbor personnel will consult with the Stone Harbor Compliance & Risk Committee in an attempt to resolve an actual or potential conflict. In addition, the Stone Harbor Compliance & Risk Committee reviews the proxy voting guidelines and portfolio manager overrides on at least an annual basis.

A complete copy of Stone Harbor’s current Proxy Voting Policies, Procedures and Guidelines may be obtained by sending a written request to Stone Harbor Investment Partners, LLC, Attn: Compliance, 31 West 52nd Street, 16th Floor, New York, New York 10019.

INVESTMENT ADVISORY AND OTHER SERVICES

Investment Adviser

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Investment Advisory Agreement and Expense Limitation Agreement

The investment advisory agreement, approved by the Board, provides that the Fund will bear all costs and expenses (other than those specifically referred to as being borne by the Adviser) incurred in the operation of the Fund. Such expenses include, but shall not be limited to, all expenses incurred in the operation of the Fund and public offering of its shares, including, among others, interest, taxes, brokerage fees and commissions, fees of Trustees who are not employees of the Adviser, the Subadviser or any of their affiliated persons, expenses of Trustees’ and shareholders’ meetings including the cost of printing and mailing proxies, expenses of Adviser personnel attending Trustee meetings as required, expenses of insurance premiums for fidelity and other coverage, expenses of repurchase and redemption of shares, expenses of issue and sale of shares (to the extent not borne by its underwriter(s) pursuant to an agreement with the Fund), expenses of printing and mailing share certificates representing shares of the Fund, association membership dues, charges of custodians, transfer agents, dividend disbursing agents and financial agents, bookkeeping, auditing and legal expenses. The Fund will also pay the fees and bear the expense of registering and maintaining the registration of the Fund and its shares with the SEC to the extent required by law, listing its shares on any exchange, and registering or qualifying its shares under state or other securities laws and the expense of preparing and mailing prospectuses and reports to shareholders to the extent required by law. Additionally, if authorized by the Trustees, the Fund shall pay for extraordinary expenses and expenses of a nonrecurring nature which may include, but not be limited to the reasonable and proportionate cost of any reorganization or acquisition of assets and the cost of legal proceedings to which the Fund is a party.

As compensation for its services to the Fund, the Adviser receives a fee at an annual rate of 1.00% of the average daily value of the Fund’s total assets (including any assets attributable to any leverage used) minus the Fund’s accrued liabilities (other than Fund liabilities incurred for any leverage) (“Managed Assets”) provided that the Adviser fee does not exceed 1.50% of the Fund’s net assets.

VAIA has contractually agreed to limit the Fund’s annual operating expenses other than the management fees, subject to the exclusions listed below, so that such expenses do not exceed, on an annualized basis, 0.58% of average daily net assets through April 10, 2025. Following the contractual period, the Adviser may discontinue these expense reimbursement arrangements at any time.

The exclusions include investment advisory fees, interest, any other fees or expenses relating to financial leverage, preferred shares (such as dividends on preferred shares, auction agent fees and commissions and rating agency fees) or borrowing (such as interest, commitment, amendment and renewal expenses on credit or redemption facilities), taxes, extraordinary, unusual or infrequently occurring expenses (such as litigation), costs related to share offerings, brokerage commissions, expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization, underlying fund expenses and dividend expenses, if any (each expressed as a percentage of average daily net assets attributable to common shares).

Under certain conditions, the Adviser may recapture operating expenses reimbursed or fees waived under these arrangements within three years after the date on which such amounts were incurred or waived. The Fund must pay its ordinary operating expenses before the Adviser is entitled to any reimbursement and must remain in compliance with any applicable expense limitations or, if none, the expense limitation in effect at the time of the waiver or reimbursement.

The investment advisory agreement also provides that the Adviser shall not be liable to the Fund or to any shareholder of the Fund for any error of judgment or mistake of law or for any loss suffered by the Fund or by any shareholder of the Fund in connection with the matters to which the agreement relates, except a loss resulting from willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence or reckless disregard on the part of such Adviser in the performance of its duties thereof.

The investment advisory agreement shall remain in effect for a period of two years from the date of the advisory agreement, and continues from year to year with respect to the Fund provided that (1) such continuance is approved at least annually by either the Trustees or by a vote of the majority of the outstanding shares of the Fund and (2) the terms and any continuation of the advisory agreement have been approved by the vote of a majority of the Trustees who are not parties to the agreement or interested persons, as that term is defined in the 1940 Act, of the Fund or the Adviser, cast in person (or otherwise, as consistent with applicable laws, regulations and related guidance and relief) at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on such approval. On sixty days’ written notice to the Adviser and without penalty, the Fund may terminate the agreement by a vote of the majority of the outstanding securities of the Fund. The Adviser may terminate the agreement upon sixty days’ notice to the Fund, without the payment of any penalty. The agreement automatically terminates upon its assignment (within the meaning of the 1940 Act). The agreement provides that upon its termination, or at the request of the Adviser, the Fund will eliminate all reference to Virtus from its name and will not thereafter transact business in a name using the word Virtus.

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Advisory Fees

The following table shows the dollar amount of fees received by the Adviser for services to the Fund, the amount of expenses reimbursed by the Adviser, and the actual fee received by the Adviser, during the fiscal years ended November 30, 2021, 2022 and 2023 pursuant to the investment advisory agreement in effect.

Subadviser and Subadvisory Agreement

The Adviser has entered into a subadvisory agreement with respect to the Fund. The subadvisory agreement provides that the Adviser will delegate to the Subadviser the performance of certain of its investment management services under the Investment Advisory Agreement with respect to the Fund. The Subadviser furnishes at its own expense the office facilities and personnel necessary to perform such services. The Adviser remains responsible for the supervision and oversight of the Subadviser’s performance. The subadvisory agreement is initially scheduled to remain in effect for two years, and will continue in effect from year to year if specifically approved by the Trustees, including a majority of the Independent Trustees. The subadvisory fees are paid by the Adviser out of its advisory fees from the Fund.

Subadvisory Fees

The following table shows the dollar amount of fees payable to the Subadviser for managing the Fund, the amount of expenses reimbursed by the Subadviser, and the actual fee received by the Subadviser during the fiscal years ended November 30, 2022 and 2023 pursuant to the subadvisory agreement in effect. The Fund did not have a subadviser before April 11, 2022 and therefore subadvisory fees were only paid for a portion of the fiscal year ended 2022.

OTHER SERVICE PROVIDERS

Administrator

VFS is the Fund’s administrator. VFS is an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Virtus and an affiliate of the Adviser. For its services as administrator, the Fund pays the administrator an asset-based fee calculated on the Fund’s average daily Managed Assets. This fee is calculated daily and paid monthly.

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The following table shows the dollar amount of fees paid to the Administrator for the fiscal years ended November 30, 2021, 2022 and 2023, for its administrative services.

Custodian

The Bank of New York, 240 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10286, serves as Custodian of the Fund’s assets. The Custodian designated by the Board holds the securities in the Fund’s portfolios and other assets for safe keeping. The Custodian does not and will not participate in making investment decisions for the Fund. The Fund has authorized the Custodian to appoint one or more sub-custodians for the assets of the Fund held outside the United States.

Transfer Agent and Sub-Transfer Agent

Computershare Trust Company, N.A. (“Computershare”) acts as transfer agent for the Fund. Computershare’s business address is P.O. Box 43078, Providence, RI 02940-3078.

Legal Counsel to the Fund

Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

PORTFOLIO MANAGERS

Other Accounts Managed by Portfolio Managers and Potential Conflicts of Interest

There may be certain inherent conflicts of interest that arise in connection with the portfolio managers’ management of the Fund’s investments and the investments of any other accounts they manage. Such conflicts could include the aggregation of orders for all accounts managed by a particular portfolio manager, the allocation of purchases across all such accounts, the allocation of IPOs and any soft dollar arrangements that the Subadviser may have in place that could benefit the Fund and/or such other accounts. The Board has adopted on behalf of the Fund policies and procedures designed to address any such conflicts of interest to ensure that all transactions are executed in the best interest of the Fund’s shareholders. The Subadviser is required to certify its compliance with these procedures to the Board on a quarterly basis. There have been no material compliance issues with respect to any of these policies and procedures during the Fund’s most recent fiscal year. Additionally, any conflicts of interest between the investment strategies of the Fund and the investment strategies of other accounts managed by portfolio managers are not expected to be material since portfolio managers generally manage funds and other accounts having similar investment strategies.

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The following tables provide information as of November 30, 2023, regarding all accounts managed by the portfolio managers and portfolio management team members for the Fund as named in the Prospectus. In the tables, Registered Investment Companies include all open and closed-end mutual funds. Pooled Investment Vehicles include, but are not limited to, securities of issuers exempt from registration under Section 3(c) of the Investment Company Act, such as private placements and hedge funds. Other accounts would include, but are not limited to, individual managed accounts, separate accounts, institutional accounts, pension funds, collateralized bond obligations and collateralized debt obligations. The portfolio managers managing the Fund may also manage or be members of management teams for other Virtus Funds or other similar accounts.

Portfolio Manager Compensation

Virtus, along with certain of its affiliated investment management firms, including Stone Harbor (collectively, “Virtus”), believe that the firm’s compensation program is adequate and competitive to attract and retain high-caliber investment professionals. Investment professionals at Virtus receive a competitive base salary, an incentive bonus opportunity, and a benefits package. Certain professionals who supervise and manage others also participate in a management incentive program reflecting their personal contribution and team performance. Certain key individuals also have the opportunity to take advantage of a long-term incentive compensation program, including potential awards of Virtus restricted stock units (“RSUs”) with multi-year vesting, subject to Virtus board of directors’ approval.

Following is a more detailed description of the compensation structure:

While portfolio managers compensation contains a performance component, this component is adjusted to reward investment personnel for managing within the stated framework and for not taking unnecessary risk. This approach helps ensure that investment management personnel remain focused on managing and acquiring securities that correspond to a fund’s mandate and risk profile and are discouraged from taking on more risk and unnecessary exposure to chase performance for personal gain. Virtus believes it has appropriate controls in place to handle any potential conflicts that may result from a substantial portion of portfolio manager compensation being tied to performance.

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Securities Ownership

CALCULATION OF NET ASSET VALUE

The NAV per share of the Fund generally is determined as of the close of regular trading (normally 4:00 PM Eastern time) on days when the NYSE is open for trading. The Fund will not calculate its NAV per share on days when the NYSE is closed for trading.

The NYSE will be closed on the following observed national holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. Since the Fund does not price securities on weekends or United States national holidays, the NAV of the Fund’s foreign assets may be significantly affected on days when the investor may not be able to purchase or sell shares of the Fund. The NAV per share of the Fund is determined by adding the values of all securities and other assets of the Fund, subtracting liabilities, and dividing by the total number of outstanding shares of the Fund. Assets and liabilities are determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and applicable rules and regulations of the SEC.

A security that is listed or traded on more than one exchange generally is valued at the official closing price on the exchange representing the principal exchange for such security. Because of the need to obtain prices as of the close of trading on various exchanges throughout the world, the calculation of NAV may not take place for the Fund which invests in foreign securities contemporaneously with the determination of the prices of the majority of the portfolio securities of the Fund. The foreign currency exchange rate used to price the currency in which foreign securities are denominated is generally the 4:00 PM Eastern time spot rate. If at any time the Fund has investments where market quotations are not readily available or are determined not to be reliable indicators of the value of the securities priced, such investments are valued at the fair value thereof as determined by the Adviser pursuant to policies and procedures approved by the Board.

Security valuation procedures for the Fund, include nightly price variance as well as back-testing such as bi-weekly unchanged price, monthly secondary source and transaction analysis. The Fund’s Board designated the Adviser as the valuation designee to perform fair valuations pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the 1940 Act. All internally fair valued securities are approved by a valuation committee (the “Valuation Committee”) appointed by the Adviser. The Valuation Committee is comprised of certain Trust officers and/or representatives of the Adviser and/or Administrator. All internally fair valued securities, referred to below, are updated daily and reviewed in detail by the Valuation Committee monthly unless changes occur within the period. The Valuation Committee reviews the validity of any model inputs and any changes to the model when applicable.

The Fund utilizes a fair value hierarchy which prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value into three broad levels.

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The inputs or methodologies used for valuing securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities.

A description of the valuation techniques applied to the Fund’s major categories of assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis is as follows:

Equity securities are valued at the official closing price (typically last sale) on the exchange on which the securities are primarily traded, or if no closing price is available, at the last bid price and are categorized as Level 1 in the hierarchy. Restricted equity securities and private placements that are not widely traded, are illiquid or are internally fair valued by the Valuation Committee, are generally categorized as Level 3 in the hierarchy.

Certain non-U.S. securities may be fair valued in cases where closing prices are not readily available or are deemed not reflective of readily available market prices. For example, significant events (such as movement in the U.S. securities market, or other regional and local developments) may occur between the time that non-U.S. markets close (where the security is principally traded) and the time that the Fund calculates its NAV that may impact the value of securities traded in these non-U.S. markets. In such cases the Fund fair values non-U.S. securities using an independent pricing service which considers the correlation of the trading patterns of the non-U.S. security to the intraday trading in the U.S. markets for investments such as ADRs, financial futures, exchange traded funds, and certain indexes as well as prices for similar securities. Such fair valuations are categorized as Level 2 in the hierarchy. Because the frequency of significant events is not predictable, fair valuation of certain non-U.S. common stocks may occur on a frequent basis.

Debt securities, including convertible bonds and restricted securities, are valued based on evaluated quotations received from independent pricing services or from dealers who make markets in such securities. For most bond types, the pricing service utilizes matrix pricing which considers one or more of the following factors: yield or price of bonds of comparable quality, coupon, maturity, current cash flows, type, activity of the underlying equities, and current day trade information, as well as dealer supplied prices. These valuations are generally categorized as Level 2 in the hierarchy. Structured debt instruments such as mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities may also incorporate collateral analysis and utilize cash flow models for valuation and are generally categorized as Level 2 in the hierarchy. Pricing services do not provide pricing for all securities and therefore indicative bids from dealers are utilized which are based on pricing models used by market makers in the security and are generally categorized as Level 2 in the hierarchy. Debt securities that are internally fair valued by the Valuation Committee are generally categorized as Level 3 in the hierarchy.

Listed derivatives, such as options and futures, that are actively traded are valued at the last posted settlement price from the exchange where they are principally traded and are categorized as Level 1 in the hierarchy. Over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivative contracts, which include forward currency contracts, swaps, swaptions, options and equity linked instruments, are valued based on model prices provided by independent pricing services or from dealer quotes. Depending on the derivative type and the specific terms of the transaction, these models vary and include observable inputs in actively quoted markets including but not limited to: underlying reference entity details, indices, spreads, interest rates, yield curves, dividend and exchange rates. These instruments are generally categorized as Level 2 in the hierarchy. Centrally cleared swaps listed or traded on a bilateral or trade facility platform, such as a registered exchange, are valued at the last posted settlement price determined by the respective exchange. These securities are generally categorized as Level 2 within the hierarchy.

TAXATION

The following discussion is a brief summary of U.S. federal income tax considerations generally applicable to the Fund and the ownership and disposition of the Fund’s common shares. Except as otherwise noted, this discussion assumes you are a taxable U.S. person (as defined for U.S. federal income tax purposes) and that you hold your common shares as capital assets for U.S. federal income tax purposes (generally, assets held for investment).

The tax information set forth in the Prospectus and the information in this section relates solely to Federal income tax law and assumes that the Fund qualifies as a RIC (as discussed below). Such information is only a summary of certain key Federal income tax considerations affecting the Fund and its shareholders and is in addition to the information provided in the Prospectus. No attempt has been made to present a complete explanation of the Federal tax treatment of the Fund or the tax implications to shareholders. The discussions here and in the Prospectus are not intended as substitutes for careful tax planning.

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This “Taxation” section is subject to the qualifications set forth in the Fund’s Prospectus and is based on the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”) and applicable Treasury Regulations (the “Regulations”) in effect on the date of the Fund’s Prospectus. Future legislative or administrative changes or court decisions may significantly change the tax rules applicable to the Fund and its shareholders. Any of these changes or court decisions may have a retroactive effect.

All investors should consult their own tax advisors as to the Federal, state, local and foreign tax consequences of an investment in the Fund.

Qualification as a RIC

The Fund intends, for each tax year, to qualify as a “regulated investment company” (a “RIC”) under the Code.

Federal Income Tax Consequences of Qualification

As a RIC, the Fund will generally not be subject to Federal income tax on the portion of its investment company taxable income (that is, taxable interest, dividends, net short-term capital gains and other taxable ordinary income, net of expenses) and net capital gain (that is, the excess of net long-term capital gains over net short-term capital losses) that it distributes to shareholders. To be subject to tax as a RIC, generally the Fund must satisfy the following requirements:

While the Fund presently intends to make cash distributions (including distributions reinvested in Fund shares) for each tax year in an aggregate amount sufficient to satisfy the Distribution Requirement and eliminate Federal income tax, the Fund may use “equalization accounting” (in lieu of making some or all cash distributions) for those purposes. To the extent that the Fund uses equalization accounting it will allocate a portion of its undistributed investment company taxable income and net capital gain to repurchases of Fund shares and will correspondingly reduce the amount of such income and gain that it distributes in cash. If the IRS determines that the Fund’s allocation is improper and that the Fund has under-distributed its income and gain for any tax year, the Fund may be liable for Federal income and/or excise tax, and, if the Distribution Requirement has not been met, may also be unable to continue to qualify for treatment as a RIC (see discussion below on what happens if the Fund fails to qualify for that treatment).

Failure to Qualify

If for any tax year the Fund does not qualify as a RIC, all of its taxable income (including its net capital gain) will be subject to tax at the regular corporate rate without any deduction for dividends paid to shareholders, and the dividends will generally be taxable to the shareholders as ordinary income to the extent of the Fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits. In addition, the Fund could be required to recognize unrealized gains, pay taxes and make distributions (any of which could be subject to interest charges) before re-qualifying for taxation as a RIC. If the Fund fails to satisfy either the income test or asset diversification test described above, in certain cases, however, the Fund may be able to avoid losing its status as a RIC by timely providing notice of such failure to the IRS, curing such failure and possibly paying an additional tax or penalty.

Failure to qualify as a RIC would thus have a negative impact on the Fund’s income and performance. It is possible that the Fund will not qualify as a RIC in any given tax year.

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Fund Distributions

The Fund anticipates distributing substantially all of its investment company taxable income and net tax-exempt interest (if any) for each tax year. Distributions paid to you out of such income generally would be characterized as ordinary income. A portion of these distributions may qualify for the dividends-received deduction when paid to certain corporate shareholders to the extent of dividends received by the Fund from U.S. corporations, provided that certain holding period and other requirements are met.

A portion of the Fund’s distributions paid to individuals may be treated as “qualified dividend income,” which is subject to a reduced maximum Federal income tax rate. A properly reported distribution is treated as qualified dividend income to the extent that the Fund receives dividend income from taxable domestic corporations and certain qualified foreign corporations, provided that holding period and other requirements are met by the Fund and the shareholder. To the extent the Fund’s distributions are attributable to other sources, such as interest or capital gains, such distributions are not treated as qualified dividend income.

Given the Fund’s investment strategies, it is not expected that a significant portion of the Fund’s dividends will be eligible to be designated as qualified dividend income or the dividends-received deduction.

Certain distributions reported by the Fund as section 163(j) interest dividends may be treated as interest income by shareholders for purposes of the tax rules applicable to interest expense limitations under section 163(j) of the Code. Such treatment by the shareholder is generally subject to holding period requirements and other potential limitations, although the holding period requirements are generally not applicable to dividends declared by money market funds and certain other funds that declare dividends daily and pay such dividends on a monthly or more frequent basis. The amount that the Fund is eligible to report as a section 163(j) dividend for a tax year is generally limited to the excess of the Fund’s business interest income over the sum of the Fund’s (i) business interest expense and (ii) other deductions properly allocable to the Fund’s business interest income.

An additional 3.8% Medicare tax is imposed on certain net investment income (including ordinary dividends and capital gain distributions received from the Fund and net gains from repurchases or other taxable dispositions of Fund shares) of U.S. individuals, estates and trusts to the extent that such person’s “modified adjusted gross income” (in the case of an individual) or “adjusted gross income” (in the case of an estate or trust) exceeds certain threshold amounts.

The Fund anticipates distributing substantially all of its net capital gain for each tax year. These distributions generally are made only once a year, usually in November or December, but the Fund may make additional distributions of net capital gain at any time during the year. These distributions to you generally would be characterized as long-term capital gain, regardless of how long you have held shares. These distributions do not qualify for the dividends-received deduction.

The Fund is generally permitted to carry forward a net capital loss in any taxable year to offset its own capital gains, if any. These amounts are available to be carried forward to offset future capital gains to the extent permitted by the Code and applicable tax regulations. Any such loss carryforwards will retain their character as short-term or long-term. In the event that the Fund were to experience an ownership change as defined under the Code, the capital loss carryforwards and other favorable tax attributes of the Fund, if any, may be subject to limitation.

In determining its net capital gain, including in also connection with determining the amount available to support a capital gain dividend, its taxable income and its earnings and profits, the Fund generally may also elect to treat part or all of any post-October capital loss (defined as any net capital loss attributable to the portion, if any, of the taxable year after October 31 or, if there is no such loss, the net long-term capital loss or net short-term capital loss attributable to any such portion of the taxable year) or late-year ordinary loss (generally, the sum of its (i) net ordinary loss, if any, from the sale, exchange or other taxable disposition of property, attributable to the portion, if any, of the taxable year after October 31, and its (ii) other net ordinary loss, if any, attributable to the portion, if any, of the taxable year after December 31) as if incurred in the succeeding taxable year.

The Fund intends to operate, each year, using a fiscal and taxable year ending November 30.

Distributions by the Fund that do not constitute ordinary income dividends, qualified dividend income or capital gain dividends generally will be treated as a return of capital. Return of capital distributions reduce your tax basis in the shares and are treated as gain from the sale of the shares to the extent your basis would be reduced below zero.

All distributions by the Fund will be treated in the manner described above regardless of whether the distribution is paid in cash or reinvested in additional shares of the Fund (or of another fund). If you receive distributions in the form of additional shares, you will be treated as receiving a distribution in an amount equal to the amount of cash that could have been received instead of shares.

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You may purchase shares with a NAV at the time of purchase that reflects undistributed net investment income or recognized capital gain, or unrealized appreciation in the value of the assets of the Fund. Distributions of these amounts are taxable to you in the manner described above, although the distribution economically constitutes a return of capital to you.

Ordinarily, you are required to take distributions by the Fund into account in the year in which they are made. A distribution declared in October, November or December of any calendar year and payable to shareholders of record on a specified date in those months, however, is deemed to be paid by the Fund and received by you on December 31 of that calendar year if the distribution is actually paid in January of the following year.

The Fund will send you information annually as to the Federal income tax consequences of distributions made (or deemed made) during the year.

The Fund will be treated as a “publicly offered regulated investment company” (within the meaning of Section 67 of the Code) if either (i) shares of the Fund are held by at least 500 persons at all times during a taxable year, (ii) shares of the Fund are treated as regularly traded on an established securities market or (iii) shares of the Fund are continuously offered pursuant to a public offering (within the meaning of section 4 of the 1933 Act). If the Fund is not treated as a publicly offered RIC for any calendar year, for purposes of computing the taxable income of shareholders that are individuals, trusts or estates, (i) the Fund’s earnings will be computed without taking into account such shareholders’ allocable shares of the management fees paid to the Fund’s investment adviser and certain of the Fund’s other expenses, (ii) each such shareholder will be treated as having received or accrued a dividend from the Fund in the amount of such shareholder’s allocable share of these fees and expenses for the calendar year, (iii) each such shareholder will be treated as having paid or incurred such shareholder’s allocable share of these fees and expenses for the calendar year, and (iv) each such shareholder’s allocable share of these fees and expenses will be treated as miscellaneous itemized deductions by such shareholder. Miscellaneous itemized deductions are not deductible for taxable years that begin before January 1, 2026, and thereafter generally (i) will be deductible only to the extent that they exceed 2% of the adjusted gross income of the taxpayer, (ii) will not be deductible for purposes of the alternative minimum tax, and (iii) will be subject to the overall limitation on itemized deductions under Section 68 of the Code.

The IRS requires that a RIC that has two or more classes of stock allocate to each class proportionate amounts of each type of its income (such as ordinary income, capital gains and dividends qualifying for the dividends-received deduction) based upon the percentage of total dividends paid to each class for the tax year. Accordingly, if the Fund issues preferred shares, the Fund will allocate capital gain dividends and dividends qualifying for the dividends-received deduction, if any, between its Common Shares and shares of preferred stock in proportion to the total dividends paid to each class with respect to such tax year.

Although the Fund currently does not intend to do so, the Fund has the ability to declare a large portion of a distribution in shares. The Fund is not subject to restrictions on the circumstances in which it may declare a portion of a distribution in shares but would generally anticipate doing so only in unusual situations such as, for example, if the Fund does not have sufficient cash to meet its RIC distribution requirements under the Code. Generally, were the Fund to declare such a distribution, the Fund would allow shareholders to elect payment in cash and/or shares of equivalent value. Under published IRS guidance, the entire distribution by a publicly offered RIC will generally be treated as a taxable distribution for U.S. federal income tax purposes, and count towards the Fund’s RIC distribution requirements under the Code, if certain conditions are satisfied. Among other things, the aggregate amount of cash available to be distributed to all shareholders is required to be at least 20% of the aggregate declared distribution. If too many shareholders elect to receive cash, the cash available for distribution is required to be allocated among the shareholder electing to receive cash (with the balance of the distribution paid in shares) under a formula provided in the applicable IRS guidance. Each shareholder electing to receive cash could be entitled to receive cash in an amount equal to at least the lesser of (1) the portion of the distribution such shareholder elected to receive in cash and (2) such shareholder’s entire distribution multiplied by the percentage limitation on cash available for distribution. The number of shares distributed would thus depend on the applicable percentage limitation on cash available for distribution, the shareholder’s individual elections to receive cash or stock, and the value of the shares. Each shareholder generally would be treated as having received a taxable distribution on the date the distribution is received in an amount equal to the cash that such shareholder would have received if the entire distribution had been paid in cash, even if the shareholder received all or most of the distribution in shares. This may result in shareholders having to pay tax on such distribution, even if no cash is received.

Certain Tax Rules Applicable to Fund Transactions

For Federal income tax purposes, when put and call options purchased by the Fund expire unexercised, the premiums paid by the Fund give rise to short- or long-term capital losses at the time of expiration (depending on the length of the respective exercise periods for the options). When put and call options written by the Fund expire unexercised, the premiums received by the Fund give rise to short-term capital gains at the time of expiration. When the Fund exercises a call, the purchase price of the underlying security is increased by the amount of the premium paid by the Fund. When the Fund exercises a put, the proceeds from the sale of the underlying security are decreased by the premium paid. When a put or call written by Fund is exercised, the purchase price (selling price in the case of a call) of the underlying security is decreased (increased in the case of a call) for tax purposes by the premium received.

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Some of the debt securities that may be acquired by the Fund may be treated as debt securities that are issued with original issue discount (“OID”). Generally, the amount of the OID is treated as interest income and is included in income over the term of the debt security, even though payment of that amount is not received until a later time, usually when the debt security matures. Additionally, some of the debt securities that may be acquired by the Fund in the secondary market may be treated as having market discount. Generally, any gain recognized on the disposition of, and any partial payment of principal on, a debt security having market discount is treated as ordinary income to the extent the gain, or principal payment, does not exceed the “accrued market discount” on such debt security. The Fund may make one or more of the elections applicable to debt securities having market discount, which could affect the character and timing of recognition of income. The Fund generally will be required to distribute dividends to shareholders representing discount on debt securities that is currently includable in income, even though cash representing such income may not have been received by the Fund. Cash to pay such dividends may be obtained from sales proceeds of securities held by the Fund.

The Fund may invest a portion of its net assets in below investment grade instruments. Investments in these types of instruments may present special tax issues for the Fund. U.S. federal income tax rules are not entirely clear about issues such as when the Fund may cease accruing interest, OID or market discount, when and to what extent deductions may be taken for bad debts or worthless instruments, how payments received on obligations in default should be allocated between principal and income and whether exchanges of debt obligations in a bankruptcy or workout context are taxable. These and other issues will be addressed by the Fund to the extent necessary to seek to ensure that it distributes sufficient income that it does not become subject to U.S. federal income or excise tax.

Certain listed options, regulated futures contracts and forward currency contracts are considered “Section 1256 contracts” for Federal income tax purposes. Section 1256 contracts held by the Fund at the end of each tax year are “marked to market” and treated for Federal income tax purposes as though sold for fair market value on the last business day of the tax year. Gains or losses realized by the Fund on Section 1256 contracts generally are considered 60% long-term and 40% short-term capital gains or losses. The Fund can elect to exempt its Section 1256 contracts that are part of a “mixed straddle” (as described below) from the application of Section 1256 of the Code.

Any option, futures contract or other position entered into or held by the Fund in conjunction with any other position held by the Fund may constitute a “straddle” for Federal income tax purposes. A straddle of which at least one, but not all, the positions are Section 1256 contracts, may constitute a “mixed straddle.” In general, straddles are subject to certain rules that may affect the character and timing of the Fund’s gains and losses with respect to straddle positions by requiring, among other things, that: (1) the loss realized on disposition of one position of a straddle may not be recognized to the extent that the Fund has unrealized gains with respect to the other position in such straddle; (2) the Fund’s holding period in straddle positions being suspended while the straddle exists (possibly resulting in a gain being treated as short-term capital gain rather than long-term capital gain); (3) the losses recognized with respect to certain straddle positions which are part of a mixed straddle and which are non-Section 1256 contracts being treated as 60% long-term and 40% short-term capital loss; (4) losses recognized with respect to certain straddle positions which would otherwise constitute short-term capital losses be treated as long-term capital losses; and (5) the deduction of interest and carrying charges attributable to certain straddle positions may be deferred. Various elections are available to the Fund, which may mitigate the effects of the straddle rules, particularly with respect to mixed straddles. In general, the straddle rules described above do not apply to any straddles held by the Fund if all of the offsetting positions consist of Section 1256 contracts.

Under the Code, gains or losses attributable to fluctuations in exchange rates which occur between the time the Fund accrues interest or other receivables or accrues expenses or other liabilities denominated in a foreign currency and the time the Fund actually collects such receivables or pays such liabilities are treated as ordinary income or ordinary loss. Similarly, gains or losses from the disposition of foreign currencies, from the disposition of debt securities denominated in a foreign currency, or from the disposition of a forward contract, futures contract or similar financial instrument denominated in a foreign currency which are attributable to fluctuations in the value of the foreign currency between the date of acquisition of the asset and the date of disposition also are treated as ordinary income or loss. These gains or losses, referred to under the Code as “Section 988” gains or losses, increase or decrease the amount of the Fund’s investment company taxable income available to be distributed to its shareholders as ordinary income, rather than increasing or decreasing the amount of the Fund’s net capital gain.

The Fund may invest in shares of foreign corporations (including equity interests in certain CLOs) which may be treated as passive foreign investment companies (“PFICs”) under the Code. In general, a foreign corporation is treated as a PFIC if at least one-half of its assets constitute investment-type assets or 75% or more of its gross income is investment-type income. If the Fund receives a so-called “excess distribution” with respect to PFIC stock, the Fund itself may be subject to a tax on a portion of the excess distribution, whether or not the corresponding income is distributed by the Fund to shareholders. In general, under the PFIC rules, an excess distribution is treated as having been realized ratably over the period during which the Fund held the PFIC shares. The Fund itself will be subject to tax on the portion, if any, of an excess distribution that is so allocated to prior Fund tax years and an interest factor will be added to the tax, as if the tax had been payable in such prior tax years. Certain distributions from a PFIC as well as gain from the sale of PFIC shares are treated as excess distributions. Excess distributions are characterized as ordinary income even though, absent application of the PFIC rules, certain excess distributions might have been characterized as capital gain.

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The Fund may be eligible to elect alternative tax treatment with respect to PFIC shares. Under an election that currently is available in some circumstances, the Fund generally would be required to include in its gross income its share of the earnings of a PFIC on a current basis, regardless of whether distributions are received from the PFIC in a given tax year. If this election were made, the special rules, discussed above, relating to the taxation of excess distributions, would not apply.

Alternatively, the Fund may elect to mark-to-market its PFIC shares at the end of each taxable year, with the result that unrealized gains would be treated as though they were realized and reported as ordinary income. Any mark-to-market losses would be deductible as ordinary losses to the extent of any net mark-to-market gains included in income in prior tax years.

Because the application of the PFIC rules may affect, among other things, the character of gains, the amount of gain or loss and the timing of the recognition of income with respect to PFIC shares, as well as subject the Fund itself to tax on certain income from PFIC shares, the amount that must be distributed to shareholders, and which will be taxed to shareholders as ordinary income or long-term capital gain, may be increased or decreased substantially as compared to a fund that did not invest in PFIC shares. Treasury regulations generally would treat the Fund’s income inclusion with respect to a PFIC with respect to which the Fund has made a QEF election as Qualifying RIC Income either if (i) there is a current distribution out of the earnings and profits of the PFIC that are attributable to such income inclusion or (ii) such inclusion is derived with respect to the Fund’s business of investing in stock, securities, or currencies.

If the Fund holds more than 10% of the interests treated as equity for U.S. federal income tax purposes in a foreign corporation that is treated as a controlled foreign corporation (“CFC”) (including equity tranche investments and certain debt tranche investments in a CLO treated as CFC), the Fund may be treated as receiving a deemed distribution (taxable as ordinary income) each tax year from such foreign corporation in an amount equal to the Fund’s pro rata share of the corporation’s income for the tax year (including both ordinary earnings and capital gains), whether or not the corporation makes an actual distribution during such year. In general, a foreign corporation will be classified as a CFC if more than 50% of the shares of the corporation, measured by reference to combined voting power or value, is owned (directly, indirectly or by attribution) by U.S. shareholders. A “U.S. shareholder,” for this purpose, is any U.S. person that possesses (actually or constructively) 10% or more of the combined voting power or value of all classes of shares of a corporation. If the Fund is treated as receiving a deemed distribution from a CFC, the Fund will be required to include such distribution in the Fund’s investment company taxable income regardless of whether the Fund receives any actual distributions from such CFC, and the Fund must distribute such income to satisfy the distribution requirements applicable to RICs. Treasury regulations generally would treat the Fund’s income inclusion with respect to a CFC as Qualifying RIC Income either if (i) there is a distribution out of the earnings and profits of the CFC that are attributable to such income inclusion or (ii) such inclusion is derived with respect to the Fund’s business of investing in stock, securities, or currencies.

The Fund might invest directly or indirectly in residual interests in real estate mortgage investment conduits (“REMICs”) or equity interests in taxable mortgage pools (“TMPs”). Under a notice issued by the IRS in October 2006 and Treasury regulations that have not yet been issued (but may apply with retroactive effect) a portion of the Fund’s income from a REMIC or a TMP, or from real estate investment trust (“REIT”) that is attributable to the REIT’s residual interest in a REMIC or a TMP (referred to in the Code as an “excess inclusion”), will be subject to Federal income tax in all events. This notice also provides, and the regulations are expected to provide, that excess inclusion income of a RIC, such as the Fund, will generally be allocated to shareholders of the RIC in proportion to the dividends received by such shareholders, with the same consequences as if the shareholders held the related REMIC or TMP residual interest directly.

In general, excess inclusion income allocated to shareholders (i) cannot be offset by net operating losses (subject to a limited exception for certain thrift institutions) and (ii) will constitute unrelated business taxable income (“UBTI”) to entities (including a qualified pension plan, an individual retirement account, a 401(k) plan, a Keogh plan or other tax-exempt entity) subject to tax on UBTI, thereby potentially requiring such an entity that is allocated excess inclusion income, and otherwise might not be required to file a tax return, to file a tax return and pay tax on such income. In addition, because the Code provides that excess inclusion income is ineligible for treaty benefits, a RIC must withhold tax on excess inclusions attributable to its foreign shareholders at a 30% rate of withholding, regardless of any treaty benefits for which a shareholder is otherwise eligible.

Federal Excise Tax

A 4% nondeductible excise tax is imposed on a RIC that fails to distribute in each calendar year an amount at least equal to the sum of: (1) 98% of its ordinary taxable income (taking into account certain deferrals and elections) for the calendar year; (2) 98.2% of its capital gain net income (adjusted for certain ordinary losses) for the one-year period ended on October 31 of the calendar year; and (3) all ordinary taxable income and capital gains for previous years that were not distributed or taxed during such years and on which the RIC did not incur any Federal income tax. The balance of the Fund’s income must be distributed during the next calendar year. The Fund will be treated as having distributed any amount on which it is subject to income tax for any tax year ending in the calendar year.

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The Fund intends to make sufficient distributions of its ordinary taxable income and capital gain net income prior to the end of each calendar year to avoid liability for the excise tax. Investors should note, however, that the Fund might in certain circumstances be required to liquidate portfolio investments to make sufficient distributions to avoid the imposition of any excise tax liability.

Sale, Exchange or Repurchase of Shares

In general, you will recognize gain or loss on the sale, exchange or repurchase of Fund shares (including in connection with a termination of the Fund) in an amount equal to the difference between the proceeds of the sale, exchange or repurchase and your adjusted tax basis in the shares. All or a portion of any loss so recognized may be disallowed if you purchase (for example, by reinvesting dividends) shares of the Fund within 30 days before or after the sale, exchange or repurchase (a “wash sale”). If disallowed, the loss will be reflected in an upward adjustment to the basis of the shares purchased. In general, any gain or loss arising from the sale, exchange or repurchase of Fund shares will be considered capital gain or loss and will be long-term capital gain or loss if the shares were held for longer than one year. Any capital loss arising from the sale, exchange or repurchase of shares held for six months or less, however, will be treated as a long-term capital loss to the extent of the amount of distributions of net capital gain received on such shares. In determining the holding period of such shares for this purpose, any period during which your risk of loss is offset by means of options, short sales or similar transactions is not counted. Capital losses in any tax year are deductible only to the extent of capital gains plus, in the case of a non-corporate taxpayer, $3,000 of ordinary income.

Different tax consequences may apply for tendering and non-tendering shareholders in connection with a repurchase offer. For example, if a shareholder does not tender all of his or her shares (including shares deemed owned by shareholders under constructive ownership rules) or does not meet certain other requirements, such repurchase may not be treated as a sale or exchange for U.S. federal income tax purposes (and instead would be treated as a dividend to the extent of the Fund’s earnings and profits), and may result in deemed distributions to non-tendering shareholders. On the other hand, shareholders holding shares as capital assets who tender all of their shares (including shares deemed owned by shareholders under constructive ownership rules) or meet certain other requirements will be treated as having sold their shares and generally will recognize capital gain or loss. The amount of the gain or loss will be equal to the difference between the amount received for the shares and the shareholder’s adjusted tax basis in the relevant shares. Such gain or loss generally will be a long-term capital gain or loss if the shareholder has held such shares as capital assets for more than one year. Otherwise, the gain or loss will be treated as short-term capital gain or loss.

The Fund (or its administrative agent) is required to report to the IRS and furnish to shareholders the cost basis information for sale transactions of shares. Shareholders should consult with their tax advisors to determine the best cost basis method for their tax situation. Shareholders that hold their shares through a financial intermediary should contact such financial intermediary with respect to reporting of cost basis and available elections for their accounts.

Backup Withholding

The Fund will be required in certain cases to withhold and remit to the U.S. Treasury “backup withholding” on taxable distributions and the proceeds of repurchases of shares paid to you if you: (1) have failed to provide your correct taxpayer identification number; (2) are otherwise subject to backup withholding by the IRS for failure to report the receipt of interest or dividend income properly; or (3) have failed to certify to the Fund that you are not subject to backup withholding or that you are a C corporation or other “exempt recipient.” Backup withholding is not an additional tax; rather any amounts so withheld may be credited against your Federal income tax liability or refunded if proper documentation is provided.

State and Local Taxes

The tax rules of the various states of the U.S. and their local jurisdictions with respect to an investment in the Fund can differ from the Federal income taxation rules described above. These state and local rules are not discussed herein. You are urged to consult your tax advisor as to the consequences of state and local tax rules with respect to an investment in the Fund.

Foreign Income Tax

Investment income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries as well as gains or the proceeds from the sale or other disposition of foreign securities may be subject to foreign income taxes withheld at the source. The United States has entered into tax treaties with many foreign countries that may entitle the Fund to a reduced rate of such taxes or exemption from taxes on such income. It is impossible to know the effective rate of foreign tax in advance since the amount of the Fund’s assets to be invested within various countries cannot be determined. If more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s total assets at the close of its tax year consists of stocks or securities of foreign corporations, the Fund will be eligible and intends to file an election with the IRS to pass through to its shareholders the amount of foreign taxes paid by the Fund subject to certain exceptions. However, there can be no assurance that the Fund will be able to do so. Pursuant to this election, you will be required to: (1) include in gross income (in addition to taxable dividends actually

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received) your pro rata share of foreign taxes paid by the Fund; (2) treat your pro rata share of such foreign taxes as having been paid by you and (3) either deduct such pro rata share of foreign taxes in computing your taxable income or treat such foreign taxes as a credit against Federal income taxes. You may be subject to rules which limit or reduce your ability to fully deduct, or claim a credit for, your pro rata share of the foreign taxes paid by the Fund.

Foreign Shareholders

The foregoing discussion relates only to U.S. Federal income tax law as applicable to U.S. persons (i.e., U.S. citizens and residents and U.S. domestic corporations, trusts and estates). shareholders who are not U.S. persons (“foreign shareholders”) should consult their tax advisers regarding U.S. and foreign tax consequences of ownership of shares of the Fund including the likelihood that taxable distributions to them would be subject to withholding of U.S. tax at a rate of 30% (or a lower treaty rate for eligible investors). An investment in the Fund may also be included in determining a foreign shareholder’s U.S. estate tax liability.

Properly reported dividends received by a foreign shareholder from a RIC are generally exempt from U.S. Federal withholding tax when they (i) were paid in respect of the RIC’s “qualified net interest income” (generally, the RIC’s U.S. source interest income, reduced by expenses that are allocable to such income), or (ii) are paid in connection with the RIC’s “qualified short-term capital gains” (generally, the excess of the RIC’s net short-term capital gain over the RIC’s long-term capital loss for such taxable year). There can be no assurance that the Fund may report all, some or none of the Fund’s potentially eligible dividends as derived from such qualified net interest income or as qualified short-term capital gains, and a portion of the Fund’s distributions (e.g., interest from non-U.S. sources or any foreign currency gains) would be ineligible for this potential exemption from withholding. Furthermore, in the case of Fund shares held through an intermediary, the intermediary may have withheld U.S. Federal income tax, even if the Fund report all or a portion of such potentially eligible dividends as having been derived from qualified net interest or income or from qualified short-term capital gains.

If we declare a large portion of a distribution in shares of our stock (as described above), each foreign shareholder generally would be treated as having received a taxable distribution (including for purposes of the application of the withholding tax rules discussed above) on the date the distribution is received in an amount equal to the cash that such foreign shareholder would have received if the entire distribution had been paid in cash, even if such foreign shareholder received all or most of the distribution in shares of our stock. In such a circumstance, all or substantially all of the cash that would otherwise be distributed to a foreign shareholder may be withheld or shares of our stock may be withheld and sold to fund the applicable withholding.

Withholding of U.S. tax (at a 30% rate) is required on payments of taxable dividends made to certain non-U.S. entities that fail to comply (or be deemed compliant) with extensive reporting and withholding requirements designed to inform the U.S. Department of the Treasury of U.S.-owned foreign investment accounts. The information required to be reported includes the identity and taxpayer identification number of each account holder and transaction activity within the holder’s account. Shareholders may be requested to provide additional information to the Fund to enable the Fund to determine whether withholding is required.

OTHER INFORMATION

Shareholder Liability

Under Massachusetts law, shareholders could, in certain circumstances, be held personally liable for the obligations of the Fund. However, the Fund’s Declaration of Trust contains an express disclaimer of shareholder liability for debts or obligations of the Fund and requires that notice of such limited liability be given in each agreement, obligation or instrument entered into or executed by the Fund or the Trustees. The Fund’s Declaration of Trust further provides for indemnification out of the assets and property of the Fund for all loss and expense of any shareholder held personally liable for obligations of the Fund. Thus, the risk of a shareholder incurring financial loss on account of shareholder liability is limited to circumstances in which the Fund would be unable to meet its obligations. The Fund believes that the likelihood of such circumstances is remote.

Anti-Takeover Provisions

The Fund’s Declaration of Trust and the Bylaws include provisions that could limit the ability of other entities or persons to acquire control of the Fund or to convert the Fund to open-end status.

The Fund’s Trustees are divided into three classes. At each annual meeting of shareholders, the term of one class expires and each Trustee elected to that class holds office for a term of three years. The classification of the Board in this manner could delay for an additional year the replacement of a majority of the Board. In addition, the Fund’s Declaration of Trust provides that a Trustee may be removed only for cause and only (i) by action of at least 75% of the outstanding shares of the classes or series of shares entitled to vote for the election of such Trustee, or (ii) by at least 75% of the remaining Trustees.

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The Fund’s Declaration of Trust grants special approval rights with respect to certain matters to members of the Board who qualify as “Continuing Trustees,” which means Trustees who either (i) have been members of the Board for a period of at least thirty-six months, or since the commencement of the Fund’s operations, if less than thirty-six months, or (ii) were nominated to serve as members of the Board by a majority of the Continuing Trustees then members of the Board.

The Fund’s Declaration of Trust requires the affirmative vote or consent of at least 75% of the Trustees and holders of at least 75% of the Fund’s common shares to authorize certain Fund transactions not in the ordinary course of business, including a merger or consolidation, issuance or transfer by the Fund of the Fund’s shares, except as may be pursuant to a public offering, the Fund’s dividend reinvestment plan or upon exercise of any stock subscription rights, a sale, transfer or other disposition of Fund assets, or any shareholder proposal regarding specific investment decisions, unless the transaction is authorized by both a majority of the Trustees and 75% of the Continuing Trustees, in which case no shareholder authorization would be required by the Fund’s Declaration of Trust, but may be required in certain cases under the 1940 Act.

The Fund’s Declaration of Trust also requires the affirmative vote or consent of holders of at least 75% of the Fund’s common shares entitled to vote on the matter to authorize a conversion of the Fund from a closed-end to an open-end investment company, unless the conversion is authorized by both a majority of the Trustees and 75% of the Continuing Trustees, in which case shareholders would have only the minimum voting rights required by the 1940 Act with respect to the conversion. Also, the Fund’s Declaration of Trust provides that the Fund may be terminated at any time by vote or consent of at least 75% of the Fund’s shares or, alternatively, by vote or consent of both a majority of the Trustees and 75% of the Continuing Trustees.

The Trustees may from time to time grant other voting rights to shareholders with respect to these and other matters in the Bylaws, certain of which are required by the 1940 Act.

The overall effect of these provisions is to render more difficult the accomplishment of a merger or the assumption of control by a third party. These provisions also provide, however, the advantage of potentially requiring persons seeking control of the Fund to negotiate with its management regarding the price to be paid and facilitating the continuity of the Fund’s investment objective and policies. The provisions of the Fund’s Declaration of Trust and Bylaws described above could have the effect of discouraging a third party from seeking to obtain control of the Fund in a tender offer or similar transaction. The Board has considered the foregoing anti-takeover provisions and concluded that they are in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders.

The foregoing is intended only as a summary and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the Fund’s Declaration of Trust and the Bylaws, both of which are on file with the SEC.

Liability of Trustees

The Fund’s Declaration of Trust provides that the obligations of the Fund are not binding upon the Trustees of the Fund individually, but only upon the assets and property of the Fund, and that the Trustees shall not be liable for errors of judgment or mistakes of fact or law. Nothing in the Fund’s Declaration of Trust, however, protects a Trustee against any liability to which he would otherwise be subject by reason of willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of his office.

Repurchase of Common Shares; Conversion to Open-End Fund

The Fund is a closed-end investment company and as such common shareholders do not have the right to cause the Fund to redeem their common shares. Instead, the common shares trade in the open market at a price that is a function of several factors, including dividend levels, NAV, call protection, portfolio credit quality, relative demand for and supply of such shares in the market, general market and economic conditions, conditions affecting individual issuers and other factors. Shares of a closed-end investment company may frequently trade at prices lower than NAV. To the extent permitted under applicable law, the Board reserves the right to purchase its common shares on the open market at any time. For example, the Board regularly monitors the relationship between the market price and NAV of the common shares. If the common shares were to trade at a substantial discount to NAV for an extended period of time, the Board may consider the repurchase of its common shares on the open market or in private transactions, the making of a tender offer for such shares, or the conversion of the Fund to an open-end investment company. The Fund cannot assure you that the Board will decide to take or propose any of these actions, or that share repurchases or tender offers will actually reduce market discount.

If the Fund were to convert to an open-end company, it would be required to redeem all preferred shares and other preferred shares then outstanding (requiring in turn that it liquidate a portion of its investment portfolio), and the common shares would no longer be listed on the NYSE. In addition, the Fund may have to close out any credit default swaps that it had written. In contrast to a closed-end investment company, shareholders of an open-end investment company may require the company to redeem their shares at any time (except in certain circumstances as authorized by or under the 1940 Act) at their NAV, less any redemption charge that is in effect at the time of redemption. In addition, if the Fund were to convert to an open-end company, it would not be able to invest more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments, which may necessitate a substantial repositioning of the Fund’s investment portfolio, which may in turn generate substantial transaction costs, which would be borne by common shareholders, and may adversely affect the Fund’s performance and common share dividends.

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Before deciding whether to take any action to convert the Fund to an open-end investment company, the Board would consider all relevant factors, including the extent and duration of the discount, the liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio, the effect of any action that might be taken on the Fund or its shareholders, and market considerations. Based on these considerations, even if the Fund’s common shares should trade at a discount, the Board may determine that, in the interest of the Fund and its shareholders, no action should be taken.

Registration Statement

This SAI and the Prospectus do not contain all the information included in the registration statement filed with the SEC under the 1933 Act with respect to the securities offered hereby. The registration statement, including the exhibits filed therewith, are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov or may be examined at the office of the SEC in Washington, D.C.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION

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APPENDIX A— DESCRIPTION OF RATINGS

A-1 and P-1 Commercial Paper Ratings

Commercial paper rated A-1 by Standard & Poor’s Corporation (“S&P”) has the following characteristics: Liquidity ratios are adequate to meet cash requirements. Long-term senior debt is rated “A” or better. The issuer has access to at least two additional channels of borrowing. Basic earnings and cash flow have an upward trend with allowance made for unusual circumstances. Typically, the issuer’s industry is well established and the issuer has a strong position within the industry. The reliability and quality of management are unquestioned.

The rating P-1 is the highest commercial paper rating assigned by Moody’s. Among the factors considered by Moody’s in assigning ratings are the following: (1) evaluation of the management of the issuer; (2) economic evaluation of the issuer’s industry or industries and an appraisal of speculative-type risks which may be inherent in certain areas; (3) evaluation of the issuer’s products in relation to competition and customer acceptance; (4) liquidity; (5) amount and quality of long-term debt; (6) trend of earnings over a period of ten years; (7) financial strength of a parent company and the relationship which exists with the issuer; and (8) recognition by the management of obligations which may be present or may arise as a result of public interest questions and preparations to meet such obligations.

Moody’s Investors Service, Inc.

Aaa — Bonds which are rated Aaa are judged to be of the best quality. They carry the smallest degree of investment risk and are generally referred to as “gilt-edge.” Interest payments are protected by a large or exceptionally stable margin and principal is secure. While the various protective elements are likely to change, such changes as can be visualized are most unlikely to impair the fundamentally strong position of such issues.

Aa — Bonds which are rated Aa are judged to be of high quality by all standards. Together with the Aaa group, they comprise what are generally known as high grade bonds. They are rated lower than the best bonds because margins of protection may not be as large as in Aaa securities or fluctuations of protective elements may be of greater amplitude or there may be other elements present which make the long-term risks appear somewhat larger than in Aaa securities.

A — Bonds which are rated A possess many favorable investment attributes and are to be considered as upper medium grade obligations. Factors giving security to principal and interest are considered adequate, but elements may be present which suggest a susceptibility to impairment sometime in the future.

Baa — Bonds which are rated Baa are considered as medium grade obligations, i.e., they are neither highly protected nor poorly secured. Interest payments and principal security appear adequate for the present but certain protective elements may be lacking or may be characteristically unreliable over any great length of time. Such bonds lack outstanding investment characteristics and in fact have speculative characteristics as well.

Ba — Bonds which are rated Ba are judged to have speculative elements; their future cannot be considered as well assured. Often the protection of interest and principal payments may be very moderate and thereby not well safeguarded during both good and bad times over the future. Uncertainty of position characterizes bonds in this class.

B — Bonds which are rated B generally lack characteristics of the desirable investment. Assurance of interest and principal payments or of maintenance of other terms of the contract over any long period of time may be small.

Caa — Bonds which are rated Caa are of poor standing. Such issues may be in default or there may be present elements of danger with respect to principal or interest.

Ca — Bonds which are rated Ca represent obligations which are speculative in a high degree. Such issues are often in default or have other marked shortcomings.

C — Bonds which are rated C are the lowest rated class of bonds and issues so rated can be regarded as having extremely poor prospects of ever attaining any real investment standing.

Standard and Poor’s Corporation Corporate Bond Ratings

AAA — Bonds rated AAA have the highest rating assigned by Standard & Poor’s Corporation. Capacity to pay interest and repay principal is extremely strong.

A-1

AA — Bonds rated AA have a very strong capacity to pay interest and repay principal and differ from AAA issues only in small degree.

A — Bonds rated A have a very strong capacity to pay interest and repay principal, although they are somewhat more susceptible to the adverse effects of changes in circumstances and economic conditions than bonds in higher rated categories.

BBB — Bonds rated BBB are regarded as having an adequate capacity to pay interest and repay principal. Whereas they normally exhibit adequate protection parameters, adverse economic conditions or changing circumstances are more likely to lead to a weakened capacity to pay interest and repay principal for bonds in this category than in higher rated categories.

BB, B, CCC, CC — Bonds rated BB, B, CCC and CC are regarded, on balance, as predominantly speculative with respect to issuer’s capacity to pay interest and repay principal in accordance with the terms of the obligation. BB indicates the lowest degree of speculation and CC the highest degree of speculation. While such bonds will likely have some quality and protective characteristics, these are outweighed by large uncertainties or major risk exposures to adverse conditions.

D — Debt rated D is in payment default. The D rating category is used when interest payments or principal payments are not made on the date due even if the applicable grace period has not expired, unless S&P believes that such payments will be made during such grace period. The D rating also will be used upon the filing of a bankruptcy petition if debt service payments are jeopardized.

S&P’s top ratings for municipal notes issued after July 29, 1984 are SP-1 and SP-2. The designation SP-1 indicates a very strong capacity to pay principal and interest. A “+” is added for those issues determined to possess overwhelming safety characteristics. An “SP-2” designation indicates a satisfactory capacity to pay principal and interest.

Commercial paper rated A-2 or better by S&P is described as having a very strong degree of safety regarding timeliness and capacity to repay. Additionally, as a precondition for receiving an S&P commercial paper rating, a bank credit line and/or liquid assets must be present to cover the amount of commercial paper outstanding at all times.

Fitch

Rated entities in a number of sectors, including financial and non-financial corporations, sovereigns and insurance companies, are generally assigned Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs). IDRs opine on an entity’s relative vulnerability to default on financial obligations. The “threshold” default risk addressed by the IDR is generally that of the financial obligations whose non-payment would best reflect the uncured failure of that entity. As such, IDRs also address relative vulnerability to bankruptcy, administrative receivership or similar concepts, although the agency recognizes that issuers may also make pre-emptive and therefore voluntary use of such mechanisms.

In aggregate, IDRs provide an ordinal ranking of issuers based on the agency’s view of their relative vulnerability to default, rather than a prediction of a specific percentage likelihood of default. For historical information on the default experience of Fitch-rated issuers, please consult the transition and default performance studies available from the Fitch Ratings website.

AAA — Bonds rated AAA are considered to be investment grade and of the highest credit quality. The obligor has an exceptionally strong ability to pay interest and repay principal, which is unlikely to be affected by reasonably foreseeable events.

AA — Bonds rated AA are considered to be investment grade and of very high credit quality. The obligor’s ability to pay interest and repay principal is very strong, although not quite as strong as bonds rated AAA. Because bonds rated in the AAA and AA categories are not significantly vulnerable to foreseeable future developments, short-term debt of these issuers is generally rated F-1+.

A — Bonds rated A are considered to be investment grade and of high credit quality. The obligor’s ability to pay interest and repay principal is considered to be strong, but may be more vulnerable to adverse changes in economic conditions and circumstances than bonds with higher ratings.

BBB — Bonds rated BBB are considered to be investment grade and of satisfactory credit quality. The obligor’s ability to pay interest and repay principal is considered to be adequate. Adverse changes in economic conditions and circumstances, however, are more likely to have an adverse impact on these bonds and, therefore, impair timely payment. The likelihood that the ratings of these bonds will fall below investment grade is higher than for bonds with higher ratings.

BB — Bonds rated BB are considered speculative. The obligor’s ability to pay interest and repay principal may be affected over time by adverse economic changes. However, business and financial alternatives can be identified which could assist the obligor in satisfying its debt service requirements.

A-2

B — Bonds rated B are considered highly speculative. While bonds in this class are currently meeting debt service requirements, the probability of continued timely payment of principal and interest reflects the obligor’s limited margin of safety and the need for reasonable business and economic activity throughout the life of the issue.

CCC — Bonds rated CCC have certain identifiable characteristics, which, if not remedied, may lead to default. The ability to meet obligations requires an advantageous business and economic environment.

CC — Bonds rated CC are minimally protected. Default in payment of interest and/or principal seems probable over time.

C — Bonds rated C are in imminent default in payment of interest or principal.

DDD, DD and D — Bonds rated DDD, DD and D are in actual default of interest and/or principal payments. Such bonds are extremely speculative and should be valued on the basis of their ultimate recovery value in liquidation or reorganization of the obligor. DDD represents the highest potential for recovery on these bonds and D represents the lowest potential for recovery.

Plus (+) and minus (–) signs are used with a rating symbol to indicate the relative position of a credit within the rating categories.

A-3

VIRTUS STONE HARBOR EMERGING MARKETS INCOME FUND

PART C

OTHER INFORMATION

Item 25. Exhibits

(1) Financial Statements

(2) Exhibits

C-1

C-2