Macquarie/First Trust Global Infrastructure/Utilities Dividend
& Income Fund (the "Fund") (NYSE: MFD) has declared the Fund's
regularly scheduled quarterly distribution of $0.20 per share. The
distribution will be payable on February 29, 2024, to shareholders
of record as of February 23, 2024. The ex-dividend date is expected
to be February 22, 2024. The quarterly distribution information for
the Fund appears below.
Macquarie/First
Trust Global Infrastructure/Utilities Dividend & Income
Fund (MFD):
Distribution per share:
$0.20
Distribution Rate based on the February 9,
2024 NAV of $8.52:
9.39%
Distribution Rate based on the February 9,
2024 closing market price of $7.41:
10.80%
A portion of the distribution may be treated as paid from
sources other than net investment income, including short-term
capital gain, long-term capital gain and return of capital. The
final determination of the source and tax status of all
distributions paid in 2024 will be made after the end of 2024 and
will be provided on Form 1099-DIV.
The Fund is a diversified, closed-end management investment
company that seeks a high level of current return consisting of
dividends, interest and other similar income while attempting to
preserve capital. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment
objective by investing predominantly in the securities of companies
that are involved in the management, ownership and/or operation of
infrastructure and utility assets and are expected to offer
reasonably predictable income and attractive yields.
First Trust Advisors L.P. ("FTA") is a federally registered
investment advisor and serves as the Fund's investment advisor. FTA
and its affiliate First Trust Portfolios L.P. ("FTP"), a FINRA
registered broker-dealer, are privately-held companies that provide
a variety of investment services. FTA has collective assets under
management or supervision of approximately $211 billion as of
January 31, 2024 through unit investment trusts, exchange-traded
funds, closed-end funds, mutual funds and separate managed
accounts. FTA is the supervisor of the First Trust unit investment
trusts, while FTP is the sponsor. FTP is also a distributor of
mutual fund shares and exchange-traded fund creation units. FTA and
FTP are based in Wheaton, Illinois.
Delaware Investments Fund Advisers ("DIFA") is the Fund's
investment sub-advisor. DIFA operates within Macquarie Asset
Management ("MAM"). MAM is a large scale, global asset manager,
providing clients with access to a diverse range of capabilities
and products across infrastructure, real estate, natural resources,
private credit, fixed income, equities, multi-asset and liquid
alternatives. The Fund's Core Component, which consists primarily
of equity securities and equity-like securities issued by
infrastructure issuers, is managed by the Global Listed
Infrastructure team, which started operations in 2004 and manages
approximately $2.4 billion in assets as of September 30, 2023. The
Fund's Senior Loan Component continues to be managed by Adam Brown
who joined MAM from Four Corners in 2008 and manages approximately
$1.3 billion in assets under management as of December 31,
2023.
Principal Risk Factors: Risks are inherent in all investing.
Certain risks applicable to the Fund are identified below, which
includes the risk that you could lose some or all of your
investment in the Fund. The principal risks of investing in the
Fund are spelled out in the Fund's annual shareholder reports. The
order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance
of any particular risk factor. The Fund also files reports, proxy
statements and other information that is available for
review.
Past performance is no assurance of future results. Investment
return and market value of an investment in the Fund will
fluctuate. Shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their
original cost. There can be no assurance that the Fund's investment
objectives will be achieved. The Fund may not be appropriate for
all investors.
Market risk is the risk that a particular investment, or shares
of a fund in general may fall in value. Investments held by the
Fund are subject to market fluctuations caused by real or perceived
adverse economic conditions, political events, regulatory factors
or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived
trends in securities prices. Shares of a fund could decline in
value or underperform other investments as a result. In addition,
local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism,
market manipulation, government defaults, government shutdowns,
regulatory actions, political changes, diplomatic developments, the
imposition of sanctions and other similar measures, spread of
infectious disease or other public health issues, recessions,
natural disasters or other events could have significant negative
impact on a fund and its investments.
Current market conditions risk is the risk that a particular
investment, or shares of the fund in general, may fall in value due
to current market conditions. As a means to fight inflation, the
Federal Reserve and certain foreign central banks have raised
interest rates and expect to continue to do so, and the Federal
Reserve has announced that it intends to reverse previously
implemented quantitative easing. Recent and potential future bank
failures could result in disruption to the broader banking industry
or markets generally and reduce confidence in financial
institutions and the economy as a whole, which may also heighten
market volatility and reduce liquidity. Ongoing armed conflicts
between Russia and Ukraine in Europe and among Israel, Hamas and
other militant groups in the Middle East, have caused and could
continue to cause significant market disruptions and volatility
within the markets in Russia, Europe, the Middle East and the
United States. The hostilities and sanctions resulting from those
hostilities have and could continue to have a significant impact on
certain fund investments as well as fund performance and liquidity.
The COVID-19 global pandemic, or any future public health crisis,
and the ensuing policies enacted by governments and central banks
have caused and may continue to cause significant volatility and
uncertainty in global financial markets, negatively impacting
global growth prospects.
The fund is subject to risks arising from various operational
factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and
communication errors, errors of a fund's service providers,
counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate
processes and technology or systems failures. Although the fund and
the Advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls
and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such
risks.
The Fund principally invests in a global portfolio of
infrastructure stocks in a range of currencies and senior secured
loans. Accordingly, the Fund's NAV will fluctuate with changes in
the value of the Fund's holdings. Investment in infrastructure and
utilities issuers are subject to various risks including
governmental regulations, high-interest costs associated with
capital construction programs, costs associated with environmental
regulation, the effects of economic slowdown and surplus capacity,
competition from other providers of services and other factors.
Investment in non-U.S. securities is subject to the risk of
currency fluctuations and to economic and political risks
associated with such foreign countries.
The Senior Loans in which the Fund invests are generally
considered to be "high-yield securities". High-yield securities are
subject to greater market fluctuations and risk of loss than
securities with higher ratings. The Fund's portfolio is also
subject to credit risk and interest rate risk. Interest rate risk
is the risk that fixed-income securities will decline in value
because of changes in market interest rates. Credit risk is the
risk of nonpayment of scheduled contractual repayments whether
interest and/or principal payments or payments for services and
that the value of a security may decline as a result.
Use of leverage can result in additional risk and cost, and can
magnify the effect of any losses. There can be no assurance as to
what portion of the distributions paid to the Fund's common
shareholders will consist of tax-advantaged qualified dividend
income.
To the extent a fund invests in floating or variable rate
obligations that use the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") as
a reference interest rate, it is subject to LIBOR Risk. LIBOR has
ceased to be made available as a reference rate and there is no
assurance that any alternative reference rate, including the
Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR"), will be similar to or
produce the same value or economic equivalence as LIBOR. The
unavailability or replacement of LIBOR may affect the value,
liquidity or return on certain fund investments and may result in
costs incurred in connection with closing out positions and
entering into new trades. Any potential effects of the transition
away from LIBOR on a fund or on certain instruments in which a fund
invests is difficult to predict and could result in losses to the
fund.
As a result of the Fund's significant exposure to MLPs, a
downturn in one or more industries within the energy sector,
material declines in energy-related commodity prices, adverse
political, legislative or regulatory developments or other events
could have a larger impact on the Fund than on an investment
company that does not invest significantly in the group of
industries that are part of the energy sector. Certain risks
inherent in investing in MLPs include: commodity pricing risk,
commodity supply and demand risk, lack of diversification of and
reliance on MLP customers and suppliers risk, commodity depletion
and exploration risk, energy sector and energy utility industry
regulatory risk, interest rate risk, risk of lack of acquisition or
reinvestment opportunities for MLPs, risk of lacking of funding for
MLPs, dependency on MLP affiliate risk, weather risk, catastrophe
risk, terrorism and MLP market disruption risk, and technology
risk.
Companies that own interstate pipelines are subject to
regulation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with
respect to the tariff rates that they may charge to their
customers. In March 2018, FERC changed its tax allowance policy to
no longer permit such companies to include in their cost of service
an income tax allowance to the extent that their owners have an
actual or potential tax liability on the income generated by them.
This has had a negative impact on the performance of some energy
companies affected by this decision.
Other factors which may reduce the amount of cash an MLP has
available to pay its debt and equity holders include increased
operating costs, maintenance capital expenditures, acquisition
costs, expansion or construction costs and borrowing costs
(including increased borrowing costs as a result of additional
collateral requirements as a result of ratings downgrades by credit
agencies).
The Fund is subject to certain risks specifically associated
with investments in the securities of United Kingdom issuers.
Investments in British issuers may subject the Fund to regulatory,
political, currency, security, and economic risk specific to the
United Kingdom. The United Kingdom has one of the largest economies
in Europe, and the United States and other European countries are
substantial trading partners of the United Kingdom. As a result,
the British economy may be impacted by changes to the economic
health of the United States and other European countries. Political
or economic disruptions in European countries, even in countries in
which a fund is not invested, may adversely affect security values
and thus the fund's holdings. A significant number of countries in
Europe are member states in the European Union, and the member
states no longer control their own monetary policies. In these
member states, the authority to direct monetary policies, including
money supply and official interest rates for the Euro, is exercised
by the European Central Bank. The implications of the United
Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union are difficult to gauge
and cannot yet be fully known.
The senior loan market has seen a significant increase in loans
with weaker lender protections including, but not limited to,
limited financial maintenance covenants or, in some cases, no
financial maintenance covenants (i.e., "covenant-lite loans") that
would typically be included in a traditional loan agreement and
general weakening of other restrictive covenants applicable to the
borrower such as limitations on incurrence of additional debt,
restrictions on payments of junior debt or restrictions on
dividends and distributions. Weaker lender protections such as the
absence of financial maintenance covenants in a loan agreement and
the inclusion of "borrower-favorable" terms may impact recovery
values and/or trading levels of senior loans in the future. The
absence of financial maintenance covenants in a loan agreement
generally means that the lender may not be able to declare a
default if financial performance deteriorates. This may hinder the
Fund's ability to reprice credit risk associated with a particular
borrower and reduce the Fund's ability to restructure a problematic
loan and mitigate potential loss. As a result, the Fund's exposure
to losses on investments in senior loans may be increased,
especially during a downturn in the credit cycle or changes in
market or economic conditions.
The risks of investing in the Fund are spelled out in the
shareholder report and other regulatory filings.
The information presented is not intended to constitute an
investment recommendation for, or advice to, any specific person.
By providing this information, First Trust is not undertaking to
give advice in any fiduciary capacity within the meaning of ERISA,
the Internal Revenue Code or any other regulatory framework.
Financial professionals are responsible for evaluating investment
risks independently and for exercising independent judgment in
determining whether investments are appropriate for their
clients.
The Fund’s daily closing New York Stock Exchange price and net
asset value per share as well as other information can be found at
https://www.ftportfolios.com or by calling 1-800-988-5891.
Source: Macquarie/First Trust Global Infrastructure/Utilities
Dividend & Income Fund
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