Delaware Ivy Crossover Credit Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in bonds (for this purpose, “bonds” includes any debt security with an initial maturity greater than one year).

The Fund invests primarily in corporate debt fixed-income securities, which can include both investment grade and non-investment grade rated bonds. Investment grade bonds include bonds rated BBB- or higher by S&P Global Ratings, a division of S&P Global Inc. (S&P), or comparably rated by another nationally recognized statistical rating organization (NRSRO) or, if unrated, determined by the Manager to be of comparable quality. By contrast, non-investment grade debt securities, commonly called “high yield” or “junk” bonds, include bonds rated BB+ or lower by S&P, or comparably rated by another NRSRO or, if unrated, determined by the Manager to be of comparable quality.

“Crossover” debt generally refers to bonds rated at or near the point where the lower end of investment grade debt and the higher end of high yield debt meet. Such bonds are on the verge of losing or regaining investment-grade status (i.e., they are on the verge of “crossing over,” falling to junk status or rising to investment grade status). In addition, crossover bonds include those that have been rated below investment grade since issuance, but may be close to achieving investment grade status (i.e., so-called “rising stars”), or those that at one time were considered to be investment grade and now are categorized as “junk” bonds due to a reduction in the issuer’s credit rating (i.e., so-called “fallen angels”). Depending on the current Fund composition and market conditions, the Manager expects that a majority of the crossover bonds will be rated either BBB or BB by S&P, or comparably rated by another NRSRO or, if unrated, determined by the Manager to be of comparable quality.

Except as noted above, the Fund has no limitations regarding the maturity, duration or dollar-weighted average of its holdings, may invest in debt securities with varying maturities and can invest in debt securities issued by companies of any size, in a variety of sectors and industries. The Fund will primarily invest in debt securities issued by domestic companies, but also may invest up to 40% of its total assets in debt securities issued by foreign companies, including foreign securities that are denominated in US dollars or foreign currencies. Many of the companies in which the Fund may invest have diverse operations, with products or services in foreign markets. Therefore, the Fund may have indirect exposure to various foreign markets through investments in these companies, even if the Fund is not invested directly in such markets. The Fund typically will not invest more than 35% of its total assets in non-investment grade securities.

In selecting debt securities for the Fund, the Manager looks at a number of factors, including both a top-down (assessing the market environment) and a bottom-up (researching individual issuers) analysis. The top-down analysis looks at broad economic and financial trends in an effort to anticipate their impact on the fixed-income market and seeks to identify certain criteria that contribute to the overall target portfolio characteristics such as duration, spread, ratings and liquidity. The bottom-up analysis seeks to identify securities that the Manager believes have favorable risk/reward characteristics and targets those securities for overweight positioning. From the sector level, the Manager identifies companies that have positive attributes and considers the issuer’s past, present and estimated future: financial strength, cash flow, management, borrowing requirements, balance sheet policy and relative safety. Additional factors considered include leverage, interest coverage, revenue and margin stability, competition and industry trends, as well as relative value and liquidity.

Generally, in determining whether to sell a security, the Manager uses the same type of analysis that it uses in buying securities, including a review of the risk and reward potential for a specific issuer. The Manager also may sell a security if, in the Manager’s opinion, the price of the security has risen to fully reflect the company’s improved creditworthiness. The Manager also may sell a security to take advantage of what it believes are more attractive investment opportunities, to reduce the Fund’s holding in that security or to raise cash.

The Manager may seek investment advice and recommendations from its affiliates: Macquarie Investment Management Austria Kapitalanlage AG (MIMAK), Macquarie Investment Management Europe Limited (MIMEL), and Macquarie Investment Management Global Limited (MIMGL) (together, the “Affiliated Sub-Advisors”). The Manager may also permit these Affiliated Sub-Advisors to execute Fund security trades on behalf of the Manager and exercise investment discretion for securities in certain markets where the Manager believes it will be beneficial to utilize an Affiliated Sub-Advisor’s specialized market knowledge.