PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today, Delaware Investments Arizona Municipal Income Fund, Inc. , Delaware Investments Colorado Insured Municipal Income Fund, Inc. , Delaware Investments Florida Insured Municipal Income Fund , and Delaware Investments Minnesota Municipal Income Fund II, Inc. , all closed- end management investment companies, announced that they may invest in credit default swaps. The investment authority was approved by the Boards of Directors/Trustees of each fund at a meeting held on August 16, 2007.
In a credit default swap, a fund may transfer to another party the financial risk of a credit event occurring (a bond default, bankruptcy, restructuring, etc.) for a particular security or basket of securities. A fund does this by paying a periodic premium. Likewise, a fund may assume the financial risk of a credit event occurring on a particular security or basket of securities in exchange for receiving premium payments from another party.
A fund may enter credit default swaps (write or purchase) to hedge against a credit event, to enhance total return, to gain exposure to certain securities or markets, or as a tax management tool. Credit default swaps may be considered to be illiquid.
Credit default swap transactions may involve risks of general market decline, illiquidity, counterparty defaults, and adverse credit events. The value of credit default swaps may also be subject to rapid movements in response to news and events affecting the underlying security or securities. When a fund is a seller of protection, the aggregate notional amount (typically, the principal amount of the reference security or securities) of a fund's investments in the credit default swaps will be limited to 15% of its total net assets, marked-to-market daily. As the purchaser or seller of credit default swap protection, a fund is required to segregate cash or other liquid assets to cover its obligations, marked-to-market daily.
The funds may begin to invest in credit default swaps 60 days after the date of this press release.
The investment objectives of the funds will remain unchanged. The investment objective of each fund is to provide current income exempt from federal income tax and from the personal income tax of its state, if any, consistent with the preservation of capital. In addition, each fund utilizes leveraging techniques in an attempt to obtain a higher return for the fund.
About Delaware Investments:
Delaware Investments, an affiliate of Lincoln Financial Group, is a Philadelphia-based diversified asset management firm with more than $164 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2007. Through a broad range of managed accounts and portfolios, mutual funds, retirement accounts, sub- advised funds, education savings plans and other investment products, Delaware Investments provides investment services to individual investors and to institutional investors such as private and public pension funds, foundations, and endowment funds. Delaware Investments is the marketing name for Delaware Management Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries. For more information on Delaware Investments, visit the company at http://www.delawareinvestments.com/. Lincoln Financial Group is the marketing name for Lincoln National Corporation and its affiliates. For more information on Lincoln Financial Group, visit http://www.lfg.com/.
