| Investment Objective: |
The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective through investments in debt instruments offering attractive levels of yield. This Fund expects to invest primarily in U.S. corporate debt securities, non-U.S. corporate debt securities, convertible corporate securities, collateralized debt obligations and other asset-backed securities, loans and loan participation interests that are rated below investment grade by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization ("NRSRO") (such securities rated lower than BBB- and Baa3), or, if unrated, judged to be of comparable quality by MacKay Shields LLC (the "Subadvisor"). Securities that are rated below investment grade by NRSROs are commonly referred to as "high-yield securities" or "junk bonds." If NRSROs assign different ratings to the same instrument for purposes of determining the security's credit quality, the Fund will use the middle rating when three NRSROs rate the security. For securities where only two NRSROs rate the security, the Fund will use the lower rating. If only one rating is available for a security, the Fund will use that rating. The Fund may invest without limitation in below investment grade securities. |
