The Fund invests, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets plus any borrowings for investment purposes in income-producing securities. Such securities may be rated at any level by nationally recognized statistical rating organizations, or they may be unrated. The Fund’s portfolio will typically include a high proportion, up to 100%, of high-yield/high-risk securities rated below investment grade. Such securities are sometimes called “junk bonds.” Junk bonds are considered speculative investments.

The bonds the Fund purchases can be of any maturity, but the average effective weighted maturity of the Fund’s portfolio will normally be within one year of the average maturity of the Bloomberg US Corporate High Yield Total Return Index Value Unhedged. The average maturity of the Index as of December 31, 2025 was 4.76 years. Maturity is the length of time during which the owner of the bond will receive interest payments on the investment. The Sub-Advisor may vary the composition of the Fund’s portfolio to adjust the weighted-average effective maturity, duration, yield curve positioning and overall credit quality rating of the portfolio to reflect its analysis of interest rate trends. Thus, the Sub-Advisor may attempt to shorten the Fund’s weighted-average effective maturity and duration when the Sub-Advisor expects interest rates to rise and to lengthen it when it expects interest rates to fall.

In addition to considering economic factors such as the effect of interest rates on the Fund’s investments, the Fund’s sub-adviser, Smith Group Asset Management, LLC (the “Sub-Advisor”), applies a “bottom up” approach in choosing investments. The Sub-Advisor considers the individual characteristics of each potential investment in an income-producing security to determine if it is an attractive investment opportunity and consistent with the Fund’s investment policies. The Sub-Advisor also employs a relative value analysis (analysis based upon valuations of investments with similar ratings and duration) and fundamental credit research (examining published financial results for improving balance sheets, improving cash flow or interest coverage, improving and/or unexpected earnings growth and management quality) on potential investments in an effort to identify companies with attractive characteristics and/or strong business models (the Sub-Advisor believes strong business models include such things as brand awareness, intellectual property, market position, or having resources others do not). The Sub-Advisor will consider selling a position if: (1) a position becomes a disproportionately large portion of the Fund’s portfolio (more than about 5%); (2) using the same relative value analysis described above, the Sub-Advisor believes it is overpriced; (3) company becomes less attractive using the same relative value analysis described above due to weakening projections for the company’s future performance; or (4) external factors such as market shifts or regulatory changes make the security no longer attractive using the same relative value analysis described above. The Sub-Advisor’s buy and sell decisions typically result in a portfolio turnover rate of 30% to 50% under normal circumstances and a portfolio of 50 to 80 positions.

Within the parameters of the Fund’s specific investment policies, the Fund may invest without limit in foreign debt, including debt of emerging markets issuers. The Fund may also invest in subordinated securities and may hold cash or other short-term investments.