Although the Fund will focus its investments in the mezzanine tranches of CLOs, it may also invest in the senior or investment grade tranches of CLOs and may invest its assets in the unrated subordinated or equity tranches of CLOs. The equity tranche ("CLO Equity") is the most junior ownership tranche of a CLO structure that represents a residual claim on the cash flows generated by a diversified pool of leveraged loans, after all senior debt tranches and expenses have been paid. No more than 30% of the Fund's assets may be in CLOs managed by a single collateral manager and the Fund may not invest more than 20% of its assets in any single CLO.
The Fund may also invest in other related securities and instruments that are consistent with its investment objectives, including commercial mortgage-backed securities ("CMBS"), residential mortgage-backed securities ("RMBS"), and asset-backed securities ("ABS"). Investments in RMBS and ABS may span a broad segment of consumer creditworthiness segments, which includes exposure to prime, near-prime and subprime consumers. The Fund may also invest without limit in below investment grade fixed income securities and other income-producing instruments. Those instruments include high yield, high risk bonds, commonly referred to as "junk bonds." Such "junk bonds" also may be considered to possess some speculative characteristics.
The Fund may use leverage as and to the extent permitted by the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act") and expects to obtain leverage, if any, primarily through reverse repurchase agreements. The Fund may invest in money market instruments and U.S. Government securities on a temporary basis for defensive purposes during adverse market conditions or for cash management purposes. The Fund may invest its assets in illiquid or thinly traded securities. The Fund's investments in CLOs, ABS, and other debt instruments may include privately issued debt, including securities that are subject to resale restrictions such as those contained in Rule 144A promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
The Fund is a non-diversified investment company.
Fundamental Research Process.
The Sub-Adviser's fundamental research process combines a bottom-up issuer analysis and top-down market assessment. A bottom-up issuer analysis relies upon the Sub-Adviser's fundamental research analysis of individual issuers. A top-down market assessment provides a framework for portfolio risk positioning and sector allocations. Once this is determined, the Sub-Adviser looks for companies that it believes have sustainable competitive positions, strong management teams and the ability to repay or refinance its debt obligations. The Sub-Adviser performs a credit analysis on each potential issuer and a relative value analysis for each potential investment. When selecting investments, the Sub-Adviser may invest in instruments that it believes have the potential for capital appreciation.
Individual investment selection is based on the Sub-Adviser's fundamental research process. An investment is generally sold when the Sub-Adviser believes that the issue has realized its price appreciation target, the issue no longer offers relative value, or an adverse change in corporate or sector fundamentals has occurred.
Principal Risks
As with any mutual fund, the value of the Fund's investments, and therefore the value of your shares, may go up or down and you could lose money. There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve its investment goal. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Italicized terms refer to separate Principal Risks that are each defined in the Principal Risks section below.
While the Fund may be subject to various risk exposures at any given time depending on market conditions and other factors impacting holdings and investment strategies, the Fund under normal circumstances is subject to the following principal risks:
•Debt Securities Risk: Debt securities and other debt instruments are subject to many risks, including interest rate risk and credit risk, which may affect their value. The market value of a fixed-income security may decline due to general market conditions that are not specifically related to a particular company. The fixed-income securities market can be susceptible to increases in volatility and decreases in liquidity. Federal Reserve policy in response to market conditions may adversely affect the value, volatility and liquidity of debt securities.
•Credit Risk: An issuer or guarantor of a debt instrument might be unable or unwilling to meet its financial obligations and might not make interest or principal payments on an instrument when those payments are due ("default"). The risk of a default is higher for debt instruments that are non-investment grade and lower for debt instruments that are of higher quality. Defaults may potentially reduce the Fund's income or ability to recover amounts due and may reduce the value of the debt instrument, sometimes dramatically.
•Collateralized Loan Obligations Risk: The risks of investing in CLO securities include both the credit risk associated with the underlying loans combined with the risks associated with the CLO structure governing the priority of payments (and any legal and counterparty risk associated with carrying out the priority of payments). CLOs are subject to credit, liquidity and interest rate risks, which are each discussed in greater detail below. CLO Equity may be unrated or non-investment grade. As a holder of CLO Equity, the Fund will have limited remedies available upon the default of the CLO. CLOs often invest in concentrated portfolios of assets. The concentration of an underlying portfolio in any one obligor would subject the related CLOs to a greater degree of risk with respect to defaults by such obligor and the concentration of a portfolio in any one industry would subject the related CLOs to a greater degree of risk with respect to economic downturns relating to such industry.
The value of CLOs generally fluctuates with, among other things, the financial condition of the obligors or issuers of the underlying portfolio of assets of the related CLO ("CLO Collateral"), general economic conditions, the condition of