The Funds may utilize leverage to seek to enhance the yield and NAV. However, these objectives cannot be achieved in all interest rate environments.

The Funds may utilize leverage through borrowings or issuance of short-term debt. In general, the concept of leveraging is based on the premise that the cost of assets to be obtained from leverage will be based on short-term interest rates, which normally will be lower than the income earned by each Fund on its longer-term portfolio investments. To the extent that the total assets of each Fund (including the assets obtained from leverage) are invested in higher-yielding portfolio investments, each Fund’s shareholders will benefit from the incremental net income.

The interest earned on securities purchased with the proceeds from leverage is paid to shareholders in the form of dividends, and the value of these portfolio holdings is reflected in the per share NAV. However, in order to benefit shareholders, the yield curve must be positively sloped; that is, short-term interest rates must be lower than long-term interest rates. If the yield curve becomes negatively sloped, meaning short-term interest rates exceed long-term interest rates, income to shareholders will be lower than if the Funds had not used leverage.

To illustrate these concepts, assume a Fund’s capitalization is $100 million and it issues debt securities for an additional $30 million, creating a total value of $130 million available for investment in long-term securities. If prevailing short-term interest rates are 3% and long-term interest rates are 6%, the yield curve has a strongly positive slope. In this case, the Fund pays interest expense on the $30 million of debt securities based on the lower short-term interest rates. At the same time, the securities purchased by the Fund with assets received from the debt securities issuance earn the income based on long-term interest rates. In this case, the interest expense of the debt securities is significantly lower than the income earned on the Fund’s long-term investments, and therefore the shareholders are the beneficiaries of the incremental net income.

If short-term interest rates rise, narrowing the differential between short-term and long-term interest rates, the incremental net income pickup will be reduced or eliminated completely. Furthermore, if prevailing short-term interest rates rise above long-term interest rates of 6%, the yield curve has a negative slope. In this case, the Fund pays interest expense on the higher short-term interest rates whereas the Fund’s total portfolio earns income based on lower long-term interest rates.

Furthermore, the value of the Fund’s portfolio investments generally varies inversely with the direction of long-term interest rates, although other factors can influence the value of portfolio investments. In contrast, the redemption value of the Fund’s debt securities do not fluctuate in relation to interest rates. As a result, changes in interest rates can influence the Fund’s NAV positively or negatively in addition to the impact on Fund performance from leverage from debt securities.

The use of leverage may enhance opportunities for increased income to the Funds and shareholders, but as described above, it also creates risks as short- or long-term interest rates fluctuate. Leverage also will generally cause greater changes in each Fund’s NAV, market price and dividend rate than a comparable portfolio without leverage. If the income derived from securities purchased with assets received from leverage exceeds the cost of leverage, each Fund’s net income will be greater than if leverage had not been used. Conversely, if the income from the securities purchased is not sufficient to cover the cost of leverage, each Fund’s net income will be less than if leverage had not been used, and therefore the amount available for distribution to shareholders will be reduced. A Fund may be required to sell portfolio securities at inopportune times at distressed values in order to comply with regulatory requirements applicable to the use of leverage or as required by the terms of leverage instruments which may cause a Fund to incur losses. The use of leverage may limit a Fund’s ability to invest in certain types of securities or use certain types of hedging strategies. A Fund will incur expenses in connection with the use of leverage, all of which are borne by the shareholders and may reduce income.

Under the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Funds are permitted to borrow through a credit facility and the issuance of short-term debt securities up to 33¹/₃% of their total managed assets. As of August 31, 2009, the Funds had outstanding leverage from credit facility borrowings as a percentage of total managed assets as follows:

The Funds may invest in various derivative instruments, including swap agreements, foreign currency exchange contracts and options, as specified in Note 2 of the Notes to Financial Statements, which constitute forms of economic leverage. Such instruments are used to obtain exposure to a market without owning or taking physical custody of securities or to hedge market and/or interest rate risks. Such derivative instruments involve risks, including the imperfect correlation between the value of a derivative instrument and the underlying asset, possible default of the counterparty to the transaction and illiquidity of the derivative instrument. A Fund’s ability to successfully use a derivative instrument depends on the investment advisor’s ability to accurately predict pertinent market movements, which cannot be assured. The use of derivative instruments may result in losses greater than if they had not been used, may require the Funds to sell or purchase portfolio securities at inopportune times or for distressed values, may limit the amount of appreciation the Funds can realize on an investment or may cause the Funds to hold a security that they might otherwise sell. The Funds’ investments in these instruments are discussed in detail in the Notes to Financial Statements.