Under normal circumstances, the Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings for investment purposes) in fixed income securities of issuers located in the Asia-Pacific region and other instruments that have economic characteristics similar to such securities.

The Fund may invest in fixed income securities, of any credit quality, duration or maturity, issued by corporate, quasi-sovereign (including government-linked agencies, supranational organizations, etc.) and sovereign issuers. The Fund seeks to invest in high income producing instruments and will seek to invest primarily in fixed income securities that are below investment grade (commonly known as “junk bonds”) or unrated. Below investment grade securities are generally defined as those fixed income securities that, at the time of investment, are rated below the four highest categories (i.e., rated Ba1/BB+ or lower) by at least one independent credit rating agency or, if unrated, are determined by Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. or its affiliates (“Nikko, or the “Sub-Adviser”) to be of comparable quality.

The Asia-Pacific region is defined to encompass countries represented in the J.P. Morgan Asia Credit Index or countries classified in Bloomberg’s country of risk from the Asia-Pacific or Central Asia regions, including developed and emerging market countries.

An issuer is considered to be “located” in a country or a region, and a security or instrument is deemed to be an Asia-Pacific (or specific country) security or instrument, if it has substantial ties to that country or region. The Sub-Adviser currently makes that determination based primarily on one or more of the following criteria: (A) with respect to a company or issuer, whether (i) it is organized under the laws of that country or any country in that region; (ii) it derives at least 50% of its revenues or profits from goods produced or sold, investments made, or services performed, or has at least 50% of its assets located, within that country or region; (iii) it has the primary trading markets for its securities in that country or region; (iv) it has its principal place of business in or is otherwise headquartered in that country or region; or (v) it is a governmental entity or an agency, instrumentality or a political subdivision of that country or any country in that region; and (B) with respect to an instrument or issue, whether (i) its issuer is headquartered or organized in that country or region; (ii) it is issued to finance a project with significant assets or operations in that country or region; (iii) it is principally secured or backed by assets located in that country or region; (iv) it is a component of or its issuer is included in a recognized securities index for the country or region; or (v) it is denominated in the currency of an Asia-Pacific country and addresses at least one of the other above criteria. The term “located” and the associated criteria listed above have been defined in such a way that Nikko has latitude in determining whether an issuer should be included within a region or country.

Nikko uses top-down macro research and bottom-up credit research to construct the Fund’s portfolio using a proprietary process that involves, among other factors, a combination of quantitative and qualitative factors to assess an issuer’s credit profile, and Nikko’s assessment of a security’s value and relative value compared to other similar securities. Nikko monitors the Fund’s portfolio securities to ensure that the investment thesis remains valid and will exit a position if its assessment of a security has changed.

The Fund is non-diversified and therefore may invest a larger percentage of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or smaller number of issuers than diversified funds. The Fund also may invest a large percentage of its net assets in issuers in a single region or country within the Asia-Pacific region and may invest in issuers of any market capitalization. The Fund currently expects to invest more than 25% of its assets in the real estate sector. The Fund may invest in other investment companies, including exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”), if the investment companies invest principally in the types of investments in which the Fund may invest directly.

The Fund may also invest in derivative instruments (including swaps, futures, forwards, structured notes and options) as a means of hedging risk and/or for investment purposes, which may include altering the Fund’s exposure to currencies, interest rates, sectors and individual issuers.

The Fund may engage in securities lending.