responsible for satisfying the shortfall but only to the extent that the shortfall is not due to any of the fund’s losses on the reinvested cash collateral. Although the risk of the loss of the securities is mitigated by receiving collateral from the Borrower or proceeds from the Reverse Repo counterparty and through SSB indemnification, the fund could experience a delay in recovering securities or could experience a lower than expected return if the Borrower or Reverse Repo counterparty fails to return the securities on a timely basis.
Interest charged is at the rate of overnight bank funding rate (OBFR) plus 0.700% and is payable monthly on the aggregate balance of the drawdowns outstanding under the LA. As of April 30, 2024, the fund had an aggregate balance of $91,300,000 at an interest rate of 6.02%, which is reflected in the Liquidity agreement on the Statement of assets and liabilities. During the six months ended April 30, 2024, the average balance of the LA and the effective average annual interest rate were $91,300,000 and 6.12%, respectively.
The fund may terminate the LA with 60 days’ notice. If certain asset coverage and collateral requirements, or other covenants are not met, the LA could be deemed in default and result in termination. Absent a default or facility termination event, SSB is required to provide the fund with 360 days’ notice prior to terminating the LA.
Note 9—LIBOR Discontinuation Risk
Certain debt securities, derivatives and other financial instruments have traditionally utilized LIBOR as the reference or benchmark rate for interest rate calculations. However, following allegations of manipulation and concerns regarding liquidity, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (UK FCA) announced that LIBOR would be discontinued as of June 30, 2023. The UK FCA elected to require the ICE Benchmark Administration Limited, the administrator of LIBOR, to continue publishing a subset of LIBOR settings on a “synthetic” basis. The synthetic publication of the one-, three and six-month U.S. dollar LIBOR will continue until September 30, 2024.
Although the transition process away from LIBOR has become increasingly well-defined in advance of the discontinuation dates, the impact on certain debt securities, derivatives and other financial instruments remains uncertain. Market participants have adopted alternative rates such as Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) or otherwise amended financial instruments referencing LIBOR to include fallback provisions and other measures that contemplated the discontinuation of LIBOR or other similar market disruption events, but neither the effect of the transition process nor the viability of such measures is known. To facilitate the transition of legacy derivatives contracts referencing LIBOR, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. launched a protocol to incorporate fallback provisions. However, there are obstacles to converting certain longer term securities and transactions to a new benchmark or benchmarks and the effectiveness of one alternative reference rate versus multiple alternative reference rates in new or existing financial instruments and products has not been determined. Certain proposed replacement rates to LIBOR, such as SOFR, which is a broad measure of secured overnight U.S. Treasury repo rates, are materially different from LIBOR, and changes in the applicable spread for financial instruments transitioning away from LIBOR will need to be made to accommodate the differences.
The utilization of an alternative reference rate, or the transition process to an alternative reference rate, may adversely affect the fund’s performance.
Note 10—Purchase and sale of securities
Purchases and sales of securities, other than short-term investments and U.S. Treasury obligations, amounted to $39,254,446 and $36,204,355, respectively, for the six months ended April 30, 2024. Purchases and sales of U.S. Treasury obligations aggregated $58,590,789 and $62,902,145, respectively, for the six months ended April 30, 2024.
Note 11—Investment in affiliated underlying funds
The fund may invest in affiliated underlying funds that are managed by the Advisor and its affiliates. Information regarding the fund’s fiscal year to date purchases and sales of the affiliated underlying funds as well as income and capital gains earned by the fund, if any, is as follows: