The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its assets (net assets plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in municipal bonds. The Fund may invest in municipal bonds rated in any rating category or in unrated municipal bonds.

Municipal bonds include debt obligations issued by or on behalf of a governmental entity or other qualifying entity/issuer that pays interest that is, in the opinion of bond counsel to the issuers, generally excludable from gross income for federal income tax purposes (except that the interest may be includable in taxable income for purposes of the federal alternative minimum tax). Municipal bonds include, among other instruments, general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, industrial revenue bonds, industrial development bonds, private activity bonds, as well as short-term, tax-exempt obligations such as municipal notes and variable rate demand obligations. Issuers may be states, territories and possessions of the U.S. and the District of Columbia and their political subdivisions, agencies and instrumentalities.

Although the Fund may invest in municipal bonds in any rating category, MacKay Shields LLC, the Fund's Subadvisor, intends to invest at least 65% of the Fund's net assets in medium- to low-quality bonds as rated by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization (“NRSRO”) or if unrated, judged to be of comparable quality by the Subadvisor. The Fund may invest up to 10% of its net assets in municipal bonds that are the subject of bankruptcy proceedings, that are in default as to the payment of principal or interest, or that are rated in the lowest rating category by a NRSRO or if unrated, judged to be of comparable quality by the Subadvisor ("distressed securities"). Some obligations rated below investment grade are commonly referred to as "junk bonds." It is possible that the Fund could invest up to 100% of its net assets in these securities. However, the Fund reserves the right to invest less than 65% of its net assets in medium- to low-quality bonds if the Subadvisor determines that there is an insufficient supply of such obligations available that are appropriate for investment or for temporary defensive measures. The Fund will generally invest in municipal bonds that have a maturity of five years or longer at the time of purchase. If NRSROs assign different ratings to the same security, the Fund will use the lower rating for purposes of determining the security's credit quality.

The Fund may also invest more than 25% of its total assets in municipal bonds that are related in such a way that an economic, business or political development or change affecting one such security could also affect the other securities. Some of the Fund's earnings may be subject to federal income tax and most may be subject to state and local taxes.

The Fund may also invest in industrial development bonds. Such bonds are usually revenue bonds issued to pay for facilities with a public purpose operated by private corporations. The credit quality of industrial development bonds is usually directly related to the credit standing of the owner or user of the facilities. Industrial development bonds issued after August 7, 1986, as well as certain other bonds, are now classified as "private activity bonds." Some, but not all, private activity bonds issued after that date qualify to pay tax-exempt interest.

The Fund may invest in derivatives, such as futures, options and swap agreements to seek enhanced returns or to reduce the risk of loss by hedging certain of its holdings.

Investment Process: In choosing investments, the Subadvisor analyzes the credit quality of issuers and considers the yields available on municipal bonds with different maturities.

The Subadvisor uses active management in an effort to identify tax-exempt securities it believes to be mispriced and to build a consistent yield advantage. The Subadvisor focuses on reducing volatility through a disciplined investment process which includes fundamental, "bottom-up" credit research and risk management. In addition, the Subadvisor reviews macroeconomic events, technicals in the municipal market, tax policies and analyzes individual municipal securities and sectors. The Subadvisor’s investment process includes a risk analysis that gives consideration to a variety of security-specific risks, including but not limited to, environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) risks that may have a material impact on the performance of a security. In addition to proprietary research, the Subadvisor may use screening tools and, to the extent available, third party data to identify ESG risk factors that may not have been captured through its own research. The Subadvisor’s consideration of ESG risk is weighed against other criteria and no sectors or industries are explicitly excluded from the Fund.

Generally, the Fund will invest in distressed securities when the Subadvisor believes that such an investment offers significant potential for higher returns or can be exchanged for other securities that offer this potential. However, the Fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve these returns or that an issuer will make an exchange offer or emerge from bankruptcy.

The Subadvisor may sell a security if it no longer believes the security will contribute to meeting the investment objectives of the Fund. In considering whether to sell a security, the Subadvisor may evaluate, among other things, the condition of the economy and meaningful changes in the issuer's financial condition.