Equity Security Risk. Stocks and other equity securities fluctuate in price. The value of the Funds’ portfolios may be affected by changes in the equity markets generally. Equity markets may experience significant short-term volatility and may fall sharply at times. Different markets may behave differently from each other and U.S. equity markets may move in the opposite direction from one or more foreign stock markets.

The prices of individual equity securities generally do not all move in the same direction at the same time and a variety of factors can affect the price of a particular company’s securities. These factors may include, but are not limited to, poor earnings reports, a loss of customers, litigation against the company, general unfavorable performance of the company’s sector or industry, or changes in government regulations affecting the company or its industry.

Master Limited Partnerships (“MLPs”). MLPs issue common units that represent an equity ownership interest in a partnership and provide limited voting rights. MLP common units are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), and are freely tradable on securities exchanges such as the NYSE and the NASDAQ Stock Market (“NASDAQ”), or in the over-the-counter (“OTC”) market. An MLP consists of one or more general partners, who conduct the business, and one or more limited partners, who contribute capital. MLP common unit holders have a limited role in the partnership’s operations and management. The Funds, as limited partners, normally would not be liable for the debts of the MLP beyond the amounts the Funds have contributed, but would not be shielded to the same extent that a shareholder of a corporation would be. In certain circumstances creditors of an MLP would have the right to seek return of capital distributed to a limited partner. This right of an MLP’s creditors would continue after the Funds sell their investment in the MLP.

Concentration Risk. Under normal circumstances, the Funds invest at least 80% of their net assets in the equity securities of MLPs. MLPs are subject to certain risks, such as supply and demand risk, depletion and exploration risk, commodity pricing risk, acquisition risk, and the risk associated with the hazards inherent in midstream energy industry activities. A substantial portion of the cash flow received by the Funds is derived from investment in equity securities of MLPs. The amount of cash that a MLP has available for distributions, and the tax character of such distributions, is dependent upon the amount of cash generated by the MLP’s operations.

The Funds calculate the net asset value of their shares as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (the “Exchange”), normally 4:00 P.M. Eastern time, on each day the Exchange is open for trading.

The Funds’ Board of Trustees (the “Board”) has adopted procedures for the valuation of the Funds’ securities and has delegated the day-to-day responsibility for valuation determinations under those procedures to the Adviser. The Adviser has established a Valuation Committee which is responsible for determining a “fair valuation” for any security for which market quotations are not “readily available.” The Valuation Committee’s fair valuation determinations are subject to review, approval and ratification by the Funds' Board at its next regularly scheduled meeting covering the calendar quarter in which the fair valuation was determined.

 

*  February 27, 2015 represents the last business day of the Funds’ reporting period.

Securities are valued using unadjusted quoted market prices, when available, as supplied primarily by third party pricing services or dealers.

The following methodologies are used to determine the market value or the fair value of the types of securities described below:

Securities traded on a registered U.S. securities exchange (including exchange-traded derivatives other than futures and futures options) are valued based on the last sale price of the security reported on the principal exchange on which it is traded, prior to the time when the Funds’ assets are valued. In the absence of a sale, the security is valued at the last sale price on the prior trading day, if it is within the spread of the current day’s closing “bid” and “asked” prices, and if not, at the current day’s closing bid price. A security of a foreign issuer traded on a foreign exchange but not listed on a registered U.S. securities exchange is valued based on the last sale price on the principal exchange on which the security is traded, as identified by the third party pricing service used by the Manager, prior to the time when the Funds’ assets are valued. If the last sale price is unavailable, the security is valued at the most recent official closing price on the principal exchange on which it is traded. If the last sales price or official closing price for a foreign security is not available, the security is valued at the mean between the bid and asked price per the exchange or, if not available from the exchange, obtained from two dealers. If bid and asked prices are not available from either the exchange or two dealers, the security is valued by using one of the following methodologies (listed in order of priority); (1) using a bid from the exchange, (2) the mean between the bid and asked price as provided by a single dealer, or (3) a bid from a single dealer.

Shares of a registered investment company that are not traded on an exchange are valued at that investment company’s net asset value per share.

Corporate and government debt securities (of U.S. or foreign issuers) and municipal debt securities, event-linked bonds, loans, mortgage-backed securities, collateralized mortgage obligations, and asset-backed securities are valued at the mean between the “bid” and “asked” prices utilizing evaluated prices obtained from third party pricing services or broker-dealers who may use matrix pricing methods to determine the evaluated prices.

Short-term money market type debt securities with a remaining maturity of sixty days or less are valued at cost adjusted by the amortization of discount or premium to maturity (amortized cost), which approximates market value. Short-term debt securities with a remaining maturity in excess of sixty days are valued at the mean between the “bid” and “asked” prices utilizing evaluated prices obtained from third party pricing services or broker-dealers.

A description of the standard inputs that may generally be considered by the third party pricing vendors in determining their evaluated prices is provided below.

If a market value or price cannot be determined for a security using the methodologies described above, or if, in the “good faith” opinion of the Manager, the market value or price obtained does not constitute a “readily available market quotation,” or a significant event has occurred that would materially affect the value of the security, the security is fair valued either (i) by a standardized fair valuation methodology applicable to the security type or the significant event as previously approved by the Valuation Committee and the Funds’ Board or (ii) as determined in good faith by the Manager’s Valuation Committee. The Valuation Committee considers all relevant facts that are reasonably available, through either public information or information available to the Manager, when determining the fair value of a security. Fair value determinations by the Manager are subject to review, approval and ratification by the Funds’ Board at its next regularly scheduled meeting covering the calendar quarter in which the fair valuation was determined. Those fair valuation standardized methodologies include, but are not limited to, valuing securities at the last sale price or initially at cost and subsequently adjusting the value based on: changes in company specific fundamentals, changes in an appropriate securities index, or changes in the value of similar securities which may be further adjusted for any discounts related to security-specific resale restrictions. When possible, such methodologies use observable market inputs such as unadjusted quoted prices of similar securities, observable interest rates, currency rates and yield curves. The methodologies used for valuing securities are not necessarily an indication of the risks associated with investing in those securities nor can it be assured that the Funds can obtain the fair value assigned to a security if it were to sell the security.

To assess the continuing appropriateness of security valuations, the Manager, or its third party service provider who is subject to oversight by the Manager, regularly compares prior day prices, prices on comparable securities, and sale prices to the current day prices and challenges those prices exceeding certain tolerance levels with the third party pricing service or broker source. For those securities valued by fair valuations, whether through a standardized fair valuation methodology or a fair valuation determination, the Valuation Committee reviews and affirms the reasonableness of the valuations based on such methodologies and fair valuation determinations on a regular basis after considering all relevant information that is reasonably available.

Each investment asset or liability of the Funds are assigned a level at measurement date based on the significance and source of the inputs to its valuation. Various data inputs are used in determining the value of each of the Funds’ investments as of the reporting period end. These data inputs are categorized in the following hierarchy under applicable financial accounting standards:

The inputs used for valuing securities are not necessarily an indication of the risks associated with investing in those securities.