BlackRock Debt Strategies Fund, Inc. (the "Fund") announced
today the adoption of a three-year discount management program (the
"Program") that is expected to end in 2020. The Fund intends to
repurchase its common shares in the Program based on three 3-month
measurement periods (each a "Measurement Period"). If the Fund's
common shares trade at an average daily discount to net asset value
("NAV") of more than 7.5% during a Measurement Period (a "Trigger
Event"), the Fund intends to offer to repurchase 10% of its
outstanding common shares for the First Measurement Period (as
defined below) and, subject to the Board’s approval, at least 5% of
its outstanding common shares for each of the second and third
Measurement Periods.
The Fund's Board of Directors (the "Board") has determined that
the first of the three Measurement Periods under the Program will
begin as of December 1, 2017 and end on February 28, 2018 ("First
Measurement Period"). If the Fund's common shares trade at an
average daily discount to NAV of greater than 7.5% during the First
Measurement Period, the Fund will offer to repurchase 10% of its
outstanding common shares at a price equal to 98% of the Fund's NAV
determined on the trading day after the repurchase expires. The
date of the subsequent Measurement Periods and the size of each
subsequent repurchase and any applicable discount to NAV will be
determined by the Board at a later date and a press release will be
promptly issued after the end of each Measurement Period detailing
the measurement period dates and results.
The Program is intended to enhance long-term shareholder value.
The Board intends to approve repurchases indicated by the
occurrence of a Trigger Event subject to its fiduciary obligations.
There is no guarantee that shareholders will be able to sell all of
the shares that they desire to sell in any particular repurchase
that is executed.
The Fund is of the view that the Program provides sufficient
liquidity to the market for common shareholders. However, there can
be no assurances as to the effect that the Program will have on the
Fund's market discounts.
Important Notice
This press release is for informational purposes only and shall
not constitute an offer or a solicitation to buy any common shares.
Any offer to purchase any Fund common shares in the First
Measurement Period will be made pursuant to an offer on Schedule
TO. COMMON SHAREHOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ ANY TENDER OFFER
MATERIALS RELATED TO THE FIRST MEASUREMENT PERIOD, INCLUDING THE
OFFER TO PURCHASE AND ANY SOLICITATION/RECOMMENDATION STATEMENT
REGARDING THE FIRST MEASUREMENT PERIOD, AS THEY MAY BE AMENDED OR
SUPPLEMENTED FROM TIME TO TIME, BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT
INFORMATION THAT HOLDERS OF COMMON SHARES SHOULD CONSIDER BEFORE
MAKING ANY DECISION REGARDING TENDERING THEIR SHARES. Common
shareholders may obtain a free copy of any of these statements and
other documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (“SEC”) at the website maintained by the SEC at
www.sec.gov or by directing such requests to the Fund.
About the Fund
The Fund is a diversified, closed-end investment company whose
primary investment objective is to seek to provide current income
by investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of U.S.
companies’ debt instruments, including corporate loans, which are
rated in the lower rating categories of the established rating
services (BBB or lower by S&P’s or Baa or lower by Moody’s) or
unrated debt instruments, which are in the judgment of the
investment adviser of equivalent quality, and secondary investment
objective is to provide capital appreciation.
Common shares of closed-end investment companies often trade at
a discount to their NAVs, and the Fund's common shares may also
trade at a discount to their NAV, although it is possible that they
may trade at or at a premium above NAV. The market price of the
Fund's common shares is determined by such factors as relative
demand for and supply of such common shares in the market, the
Fund's NAV, general market and economic conditions and other
factors beyond the control of the Fund. Therefore, the Fund cannot
predict whether its common shares will trade at, below or above
NAV.
About BlackRock
BlackRock helps investors build better financial futures. As a
fiduciary to our clients, we provide the investment and technology
solutions they need when planning for their most important goals.
As of December 31, 2017, the firm managed approximately $6.288
trillion in assets on behalf of investors worldwide. For additional
information on BlackRock, please visit www.blackrock.com | Twitter:
@blackrock | Blog: www.blackrockblog.com | LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/company/blackrock.
Availability of Fund Updates
BlackRock will update performance and certain other data for the
Fund on a monthly basis on its website in the “Closed-end Funds”
section of www.blackrock.com as well as certain other
material information as necessary from time to time. Investors and
others are advised to check the website for updated performance
information and the release of other material information about the
Fund. This reference to BlackRock’s website is intended to allow
investors public access to information regarding the Fund and does
not, and is not intended to, incorporate BlackRock’s website in
this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release, and other statements that BlackRock or a
Fund may make, may contain forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, with
respect to the Fund’s or BlackRock’s future financial or business
performance, strategies or expectations. Forward-looking statements
are typically identified by words or phrases such as “trend,”
“potential,” “opportunity,” “pipeline,” “believe,” “comfortable,”
“expect,” “anticipate,” “current,” “intention,” “estimate,”
“position,” “assume,” “outlook,” “continue,” “remain,” “maintain,”
“sustain,” “seek,” “achieve,” and similar expressions, or future or
conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “may”
or similar expressions.
BlackRock cautions that forward-looking statements are subject
to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over
time. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are
made, and BlackRock assumes no duty to and does not undertake to
update forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ
materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements and
future results could differ materially from historical
performance.
With respect to the Fund, the following factors, among others,
could cause actual events to differ materially from forward-looking
statements or historical performance: (1) changes and volatility in
political, economic or industry conditions, the interest rate
environment, foreign exchange rates or financial and capital
markets, which could result in changes in demand for the Fund or in
the Fund’s net asset value; (2) the relative and absolute
investment performance of the Fund and its investments; (3) the
impact of increased competition; (4) the unfavorable resolution of
any legal proceedings; (5) the extent and timing of any
distributions or share repurchases; (6) the impact, extent and
timing of technological changes; (7) the impact of legislative and
regulatory actions and reforms, including the Dodd-Frank Wall
Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and regulatory,
supervisory or enforcement actions of government agencies relating
to a Fund or BlackRock, as applicable; (8) terrorist activities,
international hostilities and natural disasters, which may
adversely affect the general economy, domestic and local financial
and capital markets, specific industries or BlackRock; (9)
BlackRock’s ability to attract and retain highly talented
professionals; (10) the impact of BlackRock electing to provide
support to its products from time to time; (11) the impact of
problems at other financial institutions or the failure or negative
performance of products at other financial institutions; (12)
continued implementation of the Fund’s discount management program
and board approval of the Fund’s subsequent repurchases pursuant to
the discount management program; and (13) changes to the expected
discount threshold percentage or share repurchase amounts pursuant
to the Fund’s discount management program.
Annual and Semi-Annual Reports and other regulatory filings of
the Fund with the SEC are accessible on the SEC's website
at www.sec.gov and on BlackRock’s website
at www.blackrock.com, and may discuss these or other
factors that affect the Fund. The information contained on
BlackRock’s website is not a part of this press release.
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