Macquarie Asset Management

 

 Optimum Fixed Income Fund

Overview

Key features

The objective of Optimum Fixed Income Fund is to seek a high level of income, and it may also seek growth of capital.

Pacific Investment Management Company, LLC (PIMCO) selects securities by developing an outlook for interest rates, currency exchange rates and the economy; analyzing credit and call risks, and utilizing other security selection techniques.

Delaware Management Company's investment process emphasizes bottom-up, fundamental research coupled with top-down macroeconomic analysis.

Benchmark and peer group

Bloomberg US Aggregate Index

The Bloomberg US Aggregate Index is a broad-based benchmark that measures the investment grade, US dollar-denominated, fixed rate taxable bond market.

Lipper Core Plus Bond Funds Average

The Lipper Core Plus Bond Funds Average compares funds that invest at least 65% in domestic investment grade debt issues (rated in the top four grades) with any remaining investment in nonbenchmark sectors such as high yield, global, and emerging market debt. These funds maintain dollar-weighted average maturities of 5 to 10 years.

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Performance

The performance quoted represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance quoted.

Total returns may reflect waivers and/or expense reimbursements by the manager and/or distributor for some or all of the periods shown. Performance would have been lower without such waivers and reimbursements.

Returns for less than one year are not annualized.

Performance at NAV assumes that no front-end sales charge applied. Performance at max offer price assumes that a front-end sales charge applied.

Class A shares have a maximum up-front sales charge of 4.50% and are subject to an annual distribution fee.

Index performance returns do not reflect any management fees, transaction costs, or expenses. Indices are unmanaged and one cannot invest directly in an index.

Returns for less than one year are not annualized.

Performance at NAV assumes that no contingent deferred sales charge applied or the investment was not redeemed. Performance at max offer price assumes that a contingent deferred sales charge applied to the extent applicable.

Class C shares redeemed within one year of purchase are subject to a 1.00% contingent deferred sales charge (CDSC). Class C shares are eligible to automatically convert to Class A shares with a lower 12b-1 fee approximately eight years after you buy Class C shares.

Index performance returns do not reflect any management fees, transaction costs, or expenses. Indices are unmanaged and one cannot invest directly in an index.

Returns for less than one year are not annualized.

Index performance returns do not reflect any management fees, transaction costs, or expenses. Indices are unmanaged and one cannot invest directly in an index.

Standard deviation measures historical volatility of returns.

SEC 30-day yield shows the rate of return (dividends and interest, less expenses) on a fund's offering price over a trailing 30-day period. 

Lipper fund data for all time periods shown are as of the date shown. Although a Fund may outperform peers when compared to Lipper peer groups, the returns for that period may still be negative. Rankings shown are provided by Lipper, Inc., a leading independent analysis service. Rankings and performance for other time periods are available from Lipper.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

The Fund offers other share classes, and their performance and rankings may be lower than those of the class shown.

Lipper rankings reflect a fund's historical total return performance, excluding sales charges as applicable, relative to peers as of the above date. The ratings are subject to change every month and are based on equal-rated average of percentile ranks for the total return metrics over 1-, 3-, 5-, and 10-year periods, if applicable. Lipper rankings are not intended to predict future results, and Lipper does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Expense waivers may have been in effect for some or all of the periods shown. Performance would have been lower if waivers did not apply or if sales charges were included. Lipper rankings may have been lower if waivers did not apply or if sales charges were included.

Management

Investment manager

Delaware Management Company

Janaki Rao Managing Director, Head of US Multisector Start date on the fund: May 2024 Years of industry experience: 30

view bio

Andrew Vonthethoff Managing Director, Senior Portfolio Manager Start date on the fund: May 2024 Years of industry experience: 16

view bio

Sub-advisors
Pacific Investment Management Company, LLC (PIMCO)
Marc P. Seidner
CIO Non-traditional Strategies, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager
Start date on the fund: January 2015

Mr. Seidner is CIO Non-traditional Strategies, a managing director and head of portfolio management in the New York office. He is also a generalist portfolio manager and a member of the Investment Committee. He rejoined PIMCO in November 2014 after serving as head of fixed income at GMO LLC, and previously he was a PIMCO managing director, generalist portfolio manager and member of the Investment Committee until January 2014. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2009, he was a managing director and domestic fixed income portfolio manager at Harvard Management Company. Previously, he was director of active core strategies at Standish Mellon Asset Management and a senior portfolio manager at Fidelity Management and Research. He has 31 years of investment experience and holds an undergraduate degree in economics from Boston College. He has held his Fund responsibilities since January 2015.

In addition, PIMCO has an Investment Committee, which oversees the setting of investment policy decisions, including duration positioning, yield curve management, sector rotation, credit quality and overall portfolio composition, for all PIMCO portfolios and strategies, including PIMCO's share of the Fund's assets.

The SAI provides additional information about each portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts managed by each portfolio manager, and each portfolio manager’s ownership of Fund shares.

Mike Cudzil
Managing Director and Portfolio Manager
Start date on the fund: July 2023

Mr. Cudzil is a managing director and generalist portfolio manager based in the Newport Beach office. He is a rotating member of the PIMCO Investment Committee and co-chair of the Americas portfolio committee. As a portfolio manager across multi-sector fixed income mandates, Mr. Cudzil also serves as a senior member of the Total Return portfolio management team, co-lead of the liability-driven investment portfolio management team, and co-lead of the agency MBS portfolio management team. Mr. Cudzil is also a member of the steering committee for PIMCO Families, a resource group dedicated to supporting employees in their efforts to successfully manage career and family. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2012, he worked as a managing director and head of pass-through trading at Nomura. Mr. Cudzil previously held similar roles at Bank of America and Lehman Brothers, as well as a senior trading position at Salomon Brothers. He has 26 years of investment experience and holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Mohit Mittal
Managing Director and Portfolio Manager
Start date on the fund: July 2023

Mr. Mittal is a managing director and portfolio manager in the Newport Beach office. He manages multi-sector portfolios and is a senior member of LDI, Total Return, Dynamic Bond, and Credit portfolio management teams. He also serves as executive sponsor and steering committee member for PIMCO Multicultural. Morningstar named him winner of the 2020 U.S. Morningstar Award for Investing Excellence in the Rising Talent category. He is a member of the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee (TBAC), which is an advisory committee governed by federal statute that meets quarterly with the Treasury Department. Mr. Mittal also serves on the board of Orangewood Foundation. He joined PIMCO in 2007 and holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an undergraduate degree in computer science from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi, India.

Fees and expenses

The table below describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table below.

You may qualify for sales-charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $100,000 in Optimum Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial intermediary, in the Fund's Prospectus under the section entitled "About your account," and in the Fund's statement of additional information (SAI) under the section entitled "Purchasing Shares."

The table below describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table below.

You may qualify for sales-charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $100,000 in Optimum Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial intermediary, in the Fund's Prospectus under the section entitled "About your account," and in the Fund's statement of additional information (SAI) under the section entitled "Purchasing Shares."

The table below describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table below.

You may qualify for sales-charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $100,000 in Optimum Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial intermediary, in the Fund's Prospectus under the section entitled "About your account," and in the Fund's statement of additional information (SAI) under the section entitled "Purchasing Shares."

1The Fund’s investment manager, Delaware Management Company (Manager), has contractually agreed to waive all or a portion of its investment advisory fees and/or pay reimburse expenses (excluding any 12b-1 fees, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, interest, short sale dividend and interest expenses, brokerage fees, certain insurance costs, and nonroutine expenses or costs, including, but not limited to, those relating to reorganizations, litigation, conducting shareholder meetings, and liquidations) in order to prevent total annual fund operating expenses from exceeding 0.80% of the Fund’s average daily net assets from July 31, 2024 through July 30, 2025. These waivers and reimbursements may only be terminated by agreement of the Manager and the Fund.

1Class C shares redeemed within one year of purchase are subject to a 1.00% contingent deferred sales charge (CDSC).

2The Fund’s investment manager, Delaware Management Company (Manager), has contractually agreed to waive all or a portion of its investment advisory fees and/or pay reimburse expenses (excluding any 12b-1 fees, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, interest, short sale dividend and interest expenses, brokerage fees, certain insurance costs, and nonroutine expenses or costs, including, but not limited to, those relating to reorganizations, litigation, conducting shareholder meetings, and liquidations) in order to prevent total annual fund operating expenses from exceeding 0.80% of the Fund’s average daily net assets from July 31, 2024 through July 30, 2025. These waivers and reimbursements may only be terminated by agreement of the Manager and the Fund.

Institutional Class shares are available only to certain investors. See the prospectus for more information.

1The Fund’s investment manager, Delaware Management Company (Manager), has contractually agreed to waive all or a portion of its investment advisory fees and/or pay reimburse expenses (excluding any 12b-1 fees, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, interest, short sale dividend and interest expenses, brokerage fees, certain insurance costs, and nonroutine expenses or costs, including, but not limited to, those relating to reorganizations, litigation, conducting shareholder meetings, and liquidations) in order to prevent total annual fund operating expenses from exceeding 0.80% of the Fund’s average daily net assets from July 31, 2024 through July 30, 2025. These waivers and reimbursements may only be terminated by agreement of the Manager and the Fund.

 

Allocations

The chart below lists the percentage of the Fund's total assets under management that each sub-advisor manages on behalf of the Fund. The percentages include securities, cash, and any other assets managed by each sub-advisor in its sleeve of the Fund. These percentage allocations should be updated some time after 30 days following a given month end.

 

Total may not equal 100% due to rounding.

Resources 

Fact sheets & commentaries

Prospectuses and reports

Shareholder report - Annual
Institutional Class Class A Class C

 

Shareholder report - Semi-annual
Institutional Class Class A Class C

 

Additional Information 

Nominating and governance committee charter

Audit committee charter

Proxy voting information

 
Significant Fund Event
On May 6, 2024, the portfolio management responsibilities of the Fund changed, and Janaki Rao and Andrew Vonthethoff now serve as portfolio managers of the Fund.
Carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risk factors, charges, and expenses before investing. This and other information can be found in the Fund’s prospectus, which may be obtained by visiting optimummutualfunds.com/literature or calling 800 914-0278. Investors should read the prospectus and, if available, the summary prospectus carefully before investing.
The Fund's investment manager, Delaware Management Company (Manager), may seek investment advice and recommendations from its affiliates: Macquarie Investment Management Europe Limited, Macquarie Investment Management Austria Kapitalanlage AG, and Macquarie Investment Management Global Limited (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 DMC believes it will be beneficial to utilize an Affiliated Sub-Advisor’s specialized market knowledge.
Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal.
Mortgage-backed securities may experience increased prepayments on the underlying mortgages if rates decline, which may require the Fund to reinvest in lower yielding securities.
Fixed income securities and bond funds can lose value, and investors can lose principal, as interest rates rise. They also may be affected by economic conditions that hinder an issuer’s ability to make interest and principal payments on its debt.
The Fund may also be subject to prepayment risk, the risk that the principal of a bond that is held by a portfolio will be prepaid prior to maturity, at the time when interest rates are lower than what the bond was paying. A portfolio may then have to reinvest that money at a lower interest rate.
High yielding, non-investment-grade bonds (junk bonds) involve higher risk than investment grade bonds.
Securities in the lowest of the rating categories considered to be investment grade (that is, Baa or BBB) have some speculative characteristics.
International investments entail risks not ordinarily associated with US investments including fluctuation in currency values, differences in accounting principles, or economic or political instability in other nations.
Diversification may not protect against market risk.
The Fund may invest in derivatives, which may involve additional expenses and are subject to risk, including the risk that an underlying security or securities index moves in the opposite direction from what the portfolio manager anticipated. A derivatives transaction depends upon the counterparties’ ability to fulfill their contractual obligations.
IBOR risk is the risk that changes related to the use of the London interbank offered rate (LIBOR) or similar rates (such as EONIA) could have adverse impacts on financial instruments that reference these rates. The abandonment of these rates and transition to alternative rates could affect the value and liquidity of instruments that reference them and could affect investment strategy performance.
The disruptions caused by natural disasters, pandemics, or similar events could prevent the Fund from executing advantageous investment decisions in a timely manner and could negatively impact the Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective and the value of the Fund’s investments.
All third-party marks cited are the property of their respective owners.
Not FDIC Insured | No Bank Guarantee | May Lose Value
 
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