How we manage the Funds

The Manager takes a disciplined approach to investing, combining investment strategies and risk-management techniques that it believes can help shareholders meet their goals.

Our principal investment strategies

The Manager analyzes economic and market conditions, seeking to identify the securities or market sectors that it believes are the best investments for the Funds. The following are descriptions of how the portfolio management team pursues the Funds' investment goals.

The Funds strive to provide shareholders with total return through a combination of income and capital appreciation from the bonds in their portfolios. The Manager invests primarily in corporate bonds, with a strong emphasis on those that have investment grade credit ratings from an NRSRO. The Manager may also invest up to 20% of each Fund's net assets in high yielding, lower-quality corporate bonds (also called “junk bonds”). These may involve greater risk because the companies issuing the bonds have lower credit ratings and may have difficulty making interest and principal payments. The Manager may invest up to 40% of each Fund's total assets in foreign securities, but each Fund's total non-US-dollar currency exposure will be limited, in the aggregate, to no more than 25% of net assets. Foreign securities are also subject to certain risks such as political and economic instability, currency fluctuations, and less stringent regulatory standards.

In selecting bonds, the Manager conducts a careful analysis of economic factors, industry-related information, and the underlying financial stability of the company issuing the bond.

In addition, the Manager may seek investment advice and recommendations from its 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 the Manager believes it will be beneficial to utilize an Affiliated Sub-Advisor's specialized market knowledge.

Choosing between Delaware Corporate Bond Fund and Delaware Extended Duration Bond Fund
The Manager manages both Delaware Corporate Bond Fund and Delaware Extended Duration Bond Fund using the same fundamental strategy. The main difference between the two Funds is in their return potential and the corresponding risk associated with each Fund. Delaware Corporate Bond Fund is the more conservative of the two Funds and might be appropriate for investors who desire less potential for fluctuation of their share price. Delaware Corporate Bond Fund's average portfolio duration generally varies within two years (plus or minus) of the current average duration of the Bloomberg US Corporate Investment Grade Index. Delaware Extended Duration Bond Fund's average portfolio duration generally varies within two years (plus or minus) of the current average duration of the Bloomberg Long US Corporate Index. This longer duration gives Delaware Extended Duration Bond Fund greater income potential as well as greater appreciation potential when interest rates decline.

Each Fund's investment objective and 80% policy are nonfundamental. This means that a Fund's Board of Trustees (Board) may change the objective without obtaining shareholder approval. If the objective or the 80% policy were changed, a Fund would notify shareholders at least 60 days before the change became effective.

The securities in which the Funds typically invest

Fixed income securities offer the potential for greater income payments than stocks, and also may provide capital appreciation. Please see the Funds' SAI for additional information about certain of the securities described below as well as other securities in which the Funds may invest.

Corporate bonds are bonds, notes, or debentures issued by corporations and other business organizations, including real estate investment trusts (REITs), and other business trusts. A REIT is a company that owns or finances income-producing real estate.

How the Funds use them: Under normal circumstances, each Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets in corporate bonds.

High yield corporate bonds are debt obligations issued by a corporation and rated below investment grade (lower than BBB- by S&P and lower than Baa3 by Moody's or similarly rated by another NRSRO). High yield bonds, also known as “junk bonds,” are issued by corporations that have lower credit quality and may have difficulty repaying principal and interest.

How the Funds use them: Each Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in high yield corporate bonds.

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How we manage the Funds

The Manager carefully evaluates an individual company's financial situation, its management, the prospects for its industry, and the technical factors related to its bond offering. The Manager's goal is to identify those companies that it believes will be able to repay their debt obligations in spite of poor ratings. Each Fund may invest in unrated bonds if the Manager believes their credit quality is comparable to the rated bonds in which a Fund is permitted to invest. Unrated bonds may be more speculative in nature than rated bonds.

US government securities are direct US obligations that include bills, notes, and bonds, as well as other debt securities, issued by the US Treasury, and securities of US government agencies or instrumentalities. US Treasury securities are backed by the “full faith and credit” of the United States. Securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and US government-sponsored instrumentalities may or may not be backed by the “full faith and credit” of the US. In the case of securities not backed by the “full faith and credit” of the US, investors in such securities look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the obligation for ultimate repayment.

How the Funds use them: Each Fund may invest in direct US government securities; however, these securities will typically represent a smaller percentage of the portfolio because they generally do not offer as high a level of current income as other fixed income securities in which the Funds may invest.

Foreign corporate and government securities are securities issued by a non-US company or a government or by an agency, instrumentality, or political subdivision of such government.

How the Funds use them: Each Fund may invest up to 40% of its total assets in securities of issuers domiciled in foreign countries including both established countries and those with emerging markets, but each Fund's total non-US-dollar currency exposure will be limited, in the aggregate, to no more than 25% of the Fund's net assets.

These instruments include: (1) time deposits, certificates of deposit, and banker's acceptances issued by US banks; (2) time deposits and certificates of deposit issued by foreign banks; (3) commercial paper with the highest quality rating; (4) short-term debt obligations with the highest quality rating; (5) US government securities; and (6) repurchase agreements collateralized by those instruments.

How the Funds use them: Each Fund may invest in these instruments either as a means to achieve its investment objective or, more commonly, as temporary defensive instruments or as a pending investment in the Fund's principal investment securities. When investing all or a significant portion of a Fund's assets in these instruments, the Fund may not be able to achieve its investment objective.

A repurchase agreement is an agreement between a buyer of securities, such as a fund, and a seller of securities, in which the seller agrees to buy the securities back within a specified time at the same price the buyer paid for them, plus an amount equal to an agreed-upon interest rate. Repurchase agreements are often viewed as equivalent to cash.

How the Funds use them: Typically, each Fund uses repurchase agreements as short-term investments for its cash position. In order to enter into these repurchase agreements, a Fund must have collateral of at least 102% of the repurchase price. A Fund will only enter into repurchase agreements in which the collateral is composed of US government securities. At the Manager's discretion, a Fund may invest overnight cash balances in short-term discount notes issued or guaranteed by the US government, its agencies or instrumentalities, or government-sponsored corporations.

Restricted securities are privately placed securities whose resale is restricted under US securities laws.

How the Funds use them: Each Fund may invest in privately placed securities, including those that are eligible for resale only among certain institutional buyers without registration, which are commonly known as “Rule 144A Securities.” Restricted securities that are determined to be illiquid may not exceed a Fund's limit on investments in illiquid investments.

In an interest rate swap, a fund receives payments from another party based on a variable or floating interest rate, in return for making payments based on a fixed interest rate. An interest rate swap can also work in reverse with a fund receiving payments based on a fixed interest rate and making payments based on a variable or floating interest rate.

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In an index swap, a fund receives gains or incurs losses based on the total return of a specified index, in exchange for making interest payments to another party. An index swap can also work in reverse with a fund receiving interest payments from another party in exchange for movements in the total return of a specified index.

In a credit default swap, a fund may transfer the financial risk of a credit event occurring (a bond default, bankruptcy, or restructuring, for example) on a particular security or basket of securities to another party by paying that party a periodic premium; likewise, a fund may assume the financial risk of a credit event occurring on a particular security or basket of securities in exchange for receiving premium payments from another party.

Interest rate swaps, index swaps, and credit default swaps may be considered illiquid.

How the Funds use them: Each Fund may use interest rate swaps to adjust its sensitivity to interest rates or to hedge against changes in interest rates. Index swaps may be used to gain exposure to markets that these Funds invest in, such as the corporate bond market. Each Fund may also use index swaps as a substitute for futures or options contracts if such contracts are not directly available to a Fund on favorable terms. The Funds may enter into credit default swaps in order to hedge against a credit event, to enhance total return, or to gain exposure to certain securities or markets.

At times when the Manager anticipates adverse conditions, the Manager may want to protect gains on securities without actually selling them. The Manager might use swaps to seek to neutralize the effect of any price declines without selling a bond or bonds. Use of these strategies can increase the operating costs of the Funds and can lead to loss of principal.

Options represent a right to buy or sell a swap agreement, a futures contract, or a security or a group of securities at an agreed upon price at a future date. The purchaser of an option may or may not choose to go through with the transaction. The seller of an option, however, must go through with the transaction if the purchaser exercises the option. Certain options may be considered illiquid.

How the Funds use them: At times when the Manager anticipates adverse conditions, it may want to protect gains on securities or swap agreements for a Fund without actually selling them. The Manager might use options to seek to neutralize the effect of any price declines, without selling a security or swap agreement, or as a hedge against changes in interest rates. The Manager may also sell an option contract (often referred to as “writing” an option) to earn additional income for the Funds. Each Fund may purchase and write call and put options and may engage in option strategies for hedging and/or speculative purposes.

Use of these strategies can increase the operating costs of the Funds and can lead to loss of principal.

Futures contracts are agreements for the purchase or sale of a security or a group of securities at a specified price, on a specified date. Unlike purchasing an option, a futures contract must be executed unless it is sold before the settlement date.

Options on futures contracts represent a right to buy or sell a futures contract at an agreed-upon price at a future date. The purchaser of an option may or may not choose to go through with the transaction. The seller of an option, however, must go through with the transaction if the purchaser exercises the option.

Certain futures and options on futures contracts may be considered illiquid.

How the Funds use them: Each Fund may invest in futures, options on futures contracts, and closing transactions related thereto. These activities will be entered into primarily for managing duration and to facilitate the ability to quickly deploy into the market a Fund's cash, short-term debt securities, and other money market instruments at times when its assets are not fully invested. The Manager may only enter into futures transactions for hedging purposes if they are consistent with a Fund's investment objective and policies. Each Fund currently intends to limit its investments in futures contracts and options thereon to the extent that not more than 5% of its assets are required as future contract margin deposits and premiums on options and only to the extent that obligations and/ or notional values under such contracts and transactions represent not more than 40% of net assets.

Use of these strategies can increase the operating costs of the Fund and can lead to loss of principal.

Short sales are transactions in which a fund sells a security it does not own and, at the time the short sale is effected, the fund incurs an obligation to replace the security borrowed no matter what its price may be at the time the fund delivers it to the lender.

How the Funds use them: The Manager may establish short positions in exchange traded funds in an attempt to isolate, manage, or reduce the risk of individual securities positions held by a Fund, of a decline in a particular market sector to which the Fund has significant exposure, or of the exposure to

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How we manage the Funds

securities owned by the Fund in the aggregate. Such short sales may also be implemented in an attempt to manage the duration of a Fund's holdings. There is no assurance that any such short sales will achieve their intended objective(s). The Manager will not engage in short sales for speculative purposes.

A bank loan represents an interest in a loan or other direct indebtedness, such as an assignment, that entitles the acquiror of such interest to payments of interest, principal, and/or other amounts due under the structure of the loan or other direct indebtedness. In addition to being structured as secured or unsecured loans, such investments could be structured as novations or assignments or represent trade or other claims owed by a company to a supplier.

How the Funds use them: Each Fund may invest without restriction in bank loans that meet the credit standards established by the Manager. The Manager performs its own independent credit analysis on each borrower and on the collateral securing each loan, and considers the nature of the industry in which the borrower operates, the nature of the borrower's assets, and the general quality and creditworthiness of the borrower. Each Fund may invest in bank loans in order to enhance total return, to effect diversification, or to earn additional income. Each Fund will not use bank loans for reasons inconsistent with its investment objective. It might take longer than 7 days for investments in leveraged loans to settle. Each Fund intends to meet short term liquidity needs if certain bank loans need longer settlement through regular monitoring in conjunction with its Liquidity Risk Management Program.

A fund may invest in securities of foreign issuers and may hold foreign currency. In addition, a fund may enter into contracts to purchase or sell foreign currencies at a future date (a “forward foreign currency” contract or “forward” contract). A forward contract involves an obligation to purchase or sell a specific currency at a future date, which may be any fixed number of days from the date of the contract, agreed upon by the parties, at a price set at the time of the contract.

How the Funds use them: Although the Manager values each Fund's assets daily in US dollars, it does not intend to convert a Fund's holdings of foreign currencies into US dollars on a daily basis. Each Fund is permitted to, however, from time to time, purchase or sell foreign currencies and/or engage in forward foreign currency contracts in order to facilitate or expedite settlement of Fund transactions and to minimize currency value fluctuations.

Illiquid investments are any investment that a fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without the sale or disposition significantly changing the market value of the investment.

How the Funds use them: Each Fund may invest up to 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments.

Other investment strategies

Each Fund may borrow money from banks as a temporary measure for extraordinary or emergency purposes or to facilitate redemptions. A Fund will be required to pay interest to the lending banks on the amount borrowed. As a result, borrowing money could result in a Fund being unable to meet its investment objective. Each Fund will not borrow money in excess of one-third of the value of its total assets.

Each Fund may buy or sell securities on a when-issued or delayed-delivery basis (i.e., paying for securities before delivery or taking delivery at a later date).

In response to unfavorable market conditions, a Fund may make temporary investments in cash or cash equivalents or other high-quality, short-term instruments. These investments may not be consistent with a Fund's investment objective. To the extent that a Fund holds such instruments, it may be unable to achieve its investment objective.

The risks of investing in the Funds

Investing in any mutual fund involves risk, including the risk that you may receive little or no return on your investment, and the risk that you may lose part or all of the money you invest. Before you invest in the Funds, you should carefully evaluate the risks. Because of the nature of the Funds, you should consider your investment to be a long-term investment that typically provides the best results when held for a number of years. The information below describes the principal risks you assume when investing in the Funds. Please see the SAI for a further discussion of these risks and other risks not discussed here.

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Market risk is the risk that all or a majority of the securities in a certain market — such as the stock or bond market — will decline in value because of factors such as adverse political or economic conditions, future expectations, investor confidence, or heavy institutional selling.

Index swaps are subject to the same market risks as the investment market or sector that the index represents. Depending on the actual movements of the index and how well the Manager forecasts those movements, a fund could experience a higher or lower return than anticipated.

How the Funds strive to manage it: The Manager maintains a long-term investment approach and focuses on individual bonds that the Manager believes can provide a steady stream of income regardless of interim fluctuations in the bond market. Generally, the Manager does not buy and sell securities for short-term purposes.

In evaluating the use of an index swap for a Fund, the Manager carefully considers how market changes could affect the swap and how that compares to us investing directly in the market the swap is intended to represent. When selecting counterparties with whom the Manager would make interest rate or index swap agreements for a Fund, the Manager does careful credit analysis of the counterparty before engaging in the transaction.

Interest rate risk is the risk that the prices of bonds and other fixed income securities will increase as interest rates fall and decrease as interest rates rise. Interest rate changes are influenced by a number of factors, such as government policy, monetary policy, inflation expectations, and the supply and demand of bonds. Bonds and other fixed income securities with longer maturities or duration generally are more sensitive to interest rate changes. A fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates when interest rates are low or inflation rates are high or rising.

Swaps may be particularly sensitive to interest rate changes. Depending on the actual movements of interest rates and how well the portfolio manager anticipates them, a fund could experience a higher or lower return than anticipated. For example, if a fund holds interest rate swaps and is required to make payments based on variable interest rates, it will have to make interest payments if interest rates rise, which will not necessarily be off-set by the fixed-rate payments it is entitled to receive under the swap agreement.

How the Funds strive to manage it: Interest rate risk is a significant risk for these Funds. In striving to manage this risk, the Manager monitors economic conditions and the interest rate environment and may adjust each Fund's duration or average maturity as a defensive measure against interest rate risk.

By investing in swaps, a Fund is subject to additional interest rate risk.

High yield corporate bonds (commonly known as “junk” bonds), while generally having higher yields, are subject to reduced creditworthiness of issuers, increased risks of default, and a more limited and less liquid secondary market than higher rated securities. These securities are subject to greater price volatility and risk of loss of income and principal than are higher rated securities because they are rated below investment grade. Lower rated and unrated fixed income securities tend to reflect short-term corporate and market developments to a greater extent than higher rated fixed income securities, which react primarily to fluctuations in the general level of interest rates. Fixed income securities of this type are considered to be of poor standing and primarily speculative. Such securities are subject to a substantial degree of credit risk.

How the Funds strive to manage it: Each Fund limits investments in high yield corporate bonds to 20% of its net assets. The Manager also attempts to reduce the risk associated with investment in high yield debt securities through portfolio diversification, credit analysis, and attention to trends in the economy, industries, and financial markets.

Credit risk is the risk that an issuer of a debt security, including a governmental issuer or an entity that insures the bond, may be unable to make interest payments and/or repay principal in a timely manner. Changes in an issuer's financial strength or in a security's credit rating may affect a security's value, which would impact fund performance.

Investing in so-called “junk” or “high yield” bonds entails the risk of principal loss because they are rated below investment grade, which may be greater than the risk involved in investment grade bonds. High yield bonds are sometimes issued by companies whose earnings at the time the bond is issued are less than the projected debt payments on the bonds. A protracted economic downturn may severely disrupt the market for high yield bonds, adversely affect the value of outstanding bonds, and adversely affect the ability of high yield issuers to repay principal and interest. Investment by a fund in defaulted securities poses additional risk of loss should nonpayment of principal and interest continue in respect of such securities. Even if such securities are held to maturity, recovery by a fund of its initial investment and any anticipated income or appreciation may be uncertain. A fund also may incur additional expenses in seeking recovery on defaulted securities. Defaulted securities may be considered illiquid.

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How we manage the Funds

How the Funds strive to manage it: The Funds strive to minimize credit risk by investing primarily in higher-quality, investment grade corporate bonds.

Any portion of a portfolio that is invested in high yielding, lower-quality corporate bonds is subject to greater credit risk. The Manager strives to manage that risk through careful bond selection, by limiting the percentage of the portfolio that can be invested in lower quality bonds and by maintaining a diversified portfolio of bonds representing a variety of industries and issuers.

It is likely that protracted periods of economic uncertainty would cause increased volatility in the market prices of high yield bonds, an increase in the number of high yield bond defaults, and corresponding volatility in a Fund's NAV.

When selecting dealers with whom the Manager would make interest rate or index swap agreements, the Manager focuses on those with high quality ratings and does careful credit analysis before investing.

Loans and other indebtedness risk is the risk that a fund will not receive payment of principal, interest, and other amounts due in connection with these investments and will depend primarily on the financial condition of the borrower. Loans that are fully secured offer a fund more protection than unsecured loans in the event of nonpayment of scheduled interest or principal, although there is no assurance that the liquidation of collateral from a secured loan would satisfy the corporate borrower's obligation, or that the collateral can be liquidated. Some loans or claims may be in default at the time of purchase. Certain of the loans and the other indebtedness acquired by a fund may involve revolving credit facilities or other standby financing commitments that obligate a fund to pay additional cash on a certain date or on demand. These commitments may require a fund to increase its investment in a company at a time when that fund might not otherwise decide to do so (including at a time when the company's financial condition makes it unlikely that such amounts will be repaid).

As a fund may be required to rely upon another lending institution to collect and pass on to the fund amounts payable with respect to the loan and to enforce the fund's rights under the loan and other indebtedness, an insolvency, bankruptcy, or reorganization of the lending institution may delay or prevent the fund from receiving such amounts. The highly leveraged nature of many such loans and other indebtedness may make them especially vulnerable to adverse changes in economic or market conditions. Investments in such loans and other indebtedness may involve additional risk to the fund.

A fund's ability to sell its loans or to realize their full value upon sale may also be impaired due to the lack of an active trading market, irregular trading activity, wide bid/ask spreads, contractual restrictions, and extended trade settlement periods. Extended trade settlement periods may result in cash not being immediately available to a fund. As a result of these factors, a fund may have to sell other investments or engage in borrowing transactions to raise cash to meet its obligations.

Federal securities laws provide protections against fraud and misrepresentation in connection with the offering and sale of a “security.” Loans in which a fund may invest may not be deemed to be “securities” for purposes of such anti-fraud protections. A fund may therefore not have the protection of the anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws in the event of fraud or misrepresentation by a borrower. However, a fund in such a scenario may be able to rely on contractual provisions in the loan documents for alternative protections, or use common-law fraud protections under applicable state law.

How the Funds strive to manage it: This risk may not be completely eliminated, but the Manager will attempt to reduce this risk through portfolio diversification, credit analysis and attention to trends in the economy, industries, and financial markets. Should the Manager determine that any of these investments are illiquid, the investments would be subject to each Fund's restrictions on illiquid investments.

Foreign risk is the risk that foreign securities (particularly in emerging markets) may be adversely affected by political instability, changes in currency exchange rates, inefficient markets and higher transaction costs, foreign economic or government conditions, the imposition of economic and/or trade sanctions, inadequate or different regulatory and accounting standards, and the possibility that significant events in foreign markets, including broad market moves, may affect the value of fund shares.

How the Funds strive to manage it: The Manager carefully evaluates the reward and risk associated with each foreign security that it considers. In addition, each Fund may frequently value many foreign equity securities using fair value prices based on third-party vendor modeling tools, to the extent available, to account for significant market events that may occur after the close of a foreign market but before the Fund's shares are priced.

Each Fund may invest up to 40% of its total assets in securities of foreign issuers, but each Fund's total non-US-dollar currency exposure will be limited, in the aggregate, to no more than 25% of net assets.

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Emerging markets risk is the possibility that the risks associated with international investing will be greater in emerging markets than in more developed foreign markets because, among other things, emerging markets may have less stable political and economic environments. In addition, in many emerging markets there is substantially less publicly available information about issuers and the information that is available tends to be of a lesser quality. Economic markets and structures tend to be less mature and diverse and the securities markets, which are subject to less government regulation or supervision, may also be smaller, less liquid, and subject to greater price volatility.

How the Funds strive to manage it: Each Fund may invest a portion of its assets in securities of issuers located in emerging markets. The Funds cannot eliminate this risk but the Manager will attempt to reduce this risk through portfolio diversification, credit analysis, and attention to trends in the economy, industries and financial markets, and other relevant factors.

Currency risk is the risk that the value of a fund's investments may be negatively affected by changes in foreign currency exchange rates. Adverse changes in exchange rates may reduce or eliminate any gains produced by investments that are denominated in foreign currencies and may increase any losses.

How the Funds strive to manage it: The Funds, which have exposure to global and international investments, may be affected by changes in currency rates and exchange control regulations and may incur costs in connection with conversions between currencies. To hedge this currency risk associated with investments in non-US-dollar-denominated securities, the Manager may invest in forward foreign currency contracts, and foreign currency options and futures transactions. These activities pose special risks that do not typically arise in connection with investments in US securities.

Short positions in securities may be more risky than long positions (purchases). If a fund has a short position in a security issued by an exchange traded fund or otherwise and the price of such security increases, the fund will lose money on its short position. Furthermore, during the time when a fund has a short position in such security, the fund must borrow that security in order to make delivery on the short sale, which raises the cost to the fund of entering into the transaction. A fund is therefore subject to the risk that a third party may fail to honor the terms of its contract with the fund related to the securities borrowing. Short sales also involve the risk of an unlimited increase in the market price of the security sold short, which would result in a theoretically unlimited loss. Moreover, although the trading price of a share of an exchange traded fund normally tracks the net asset value of such a share, in times of market stress, this value relationship will not necessarily prevail. Any deviation between the net asset value per share of such exchange traded fund and its trading price could create other risks for a fund if it held a short position in the securities of such an exchange traded fund. Such other risks include the possibility of a larger loss on the short position than would otherwise be the case, the reduced likelihood that the intended benefit of the short position will achieve its objective(s), and the increased likelihood of a demand to replace the borrowed security at a time when obtaining such replacement security may be difficult or impossible at a reasonable price.

Short sale strategies are often categorized as a form of leveraging. Please refer to “Leveraging risk” for more information.

How the Funds strive to manage it: The Manager will not engage in short sales for speculative purposes.

Leveraging risk is the risk that certain fund transactions, such as reverse repurchase agreements, short sales, loans of portfolio securities, and the use of when-issued, delayed delivery or forward commitment transactions, or derivatives instruments, may give rise to leverage, causing a fund to be more volatile than if it had not been leveraged. While it is anticipated that leverage may increase profitability, it may also accentuate the consequences of adverse price movements, resulting in increased losses.

How the Funds strive to manage it: Each Fund will, consistent with industry practice, designate and mark-to-market daily cash or other liquid assets having an aggregate market value at least equal to the exposure created by these transactions.

The risk that changes related to the use of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) or similar interbank offered rates (“IBORs,” such as the Euro Overnight Index Average (EONIA)) could have adverse impacts on financial instruments that reference such rates. While some instruments may contemplate a scenario where LIBOR or a similar rate is no longer available by providing for an alternative rate setting methodology, not all instruments have such fallback provisions and the effectiveness of replacement rates is uncertain. The abandonment of LIBOR and similar rates could affect the value and liquidity of instruments that reference such rates, especially those that do not have fallback provisions. The use of alternative reference rate products may impact investment strategy performance.

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How we manage the Funds

How the Funds strives to manage it: Due to uncertainty regarding the future use of LIBOR or similar rates (such as the Euro Overnight Index Average (EONIA)), the impact of the abandonment of such rates on the Funds or the financial instruments in which the Funds invest cannot yet be determined. However, the Funds try to address such risk by monitoring the economic, political and regulatory climate in jurisdictions relevant to the Funds and the financial instruments in which the Funds invest in order to minimize any potential impact on the Funds. In addition, the Funds typically invest in a number of different securities in a variety of sectors in order to minimize the impact to the Funds of any legislative or regulatory development affecting particular countries, issuers, or market sectors.

Liquidity risk is the possibility that investments cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without the sale or disposition significantly changing the market value of the investment. Illiquid investments may trade at a discount from comparable, more liquid investments, and may be subject to wide fluctuations in market value. A fund also may not be able to dispose of illiquid investments at a favorable time or price during periods of infrequent trading of an illiquid investment.

There is generally no established retail secondary market for high yield securities. As a result, the secondary market for high yield securities is more limited and less liquid than other secondary securities markets. The high yield secondary market is particularly susceptible to liquidity problems when institutional investors, such as mutual funds, and certain other financial institutions, temporarily stop buying bonds for regulatory, financial, or other reasons.

Adverse publicity and investor perceptions may also disrupt the secondary market for high yield securities.

How the Funds strive to manage it: Each Fund limits its exposure to illiquid investments to no more than 15% of its net assets.

Derivatives risk is the possibility that a fund may experience a significant loss if it employs a derivatives strategy (including a strategy involving equity-linked securities, futures, options, forward foreign currency contracts, or swaps such as interest rate swaps, index swaps, or credit default swaps) related to a security, index, reference rate, or other asset or market factor (collectively, a “reference instrument”) and that reference instrument moves in the opposite direction from what the Manager had anticipated. If a market or markets, or prices of particular classes of investments, move in an unexpected manner, a fund may not achieve the anticipated benefits of the transaction and it may realize losses. Derivatives also involve additional expenses, which could reduce any benefit or increase any loss to a fund from using the strategy. In addition, changes in government regulation of derivatives could affect the character, timing, and amount of a fund's taxable income or gains. A fund's transactions in derivatives may be subject to one or more special tax rules. These rules may: (i) affect whether gains and losses recognized by a fund are treated as ordinary or capital or as short-term or long-term, (ii) accelerate the recognition of income or gains to the fund, (iii) defer losses to the fund, and (iv) cause adjustments in the holding periods of the fund's securities. A fund's use of derivatives may be limited by the requirements for taxation of the fund as a regulated investment company.

Investing in derivatives may subject a fund to counterparty risk. Please refer to “Counterparty risk” for more information. Other risks include illiquidity, mispricing or improper valuation of the derivatives contract, and imperfect correlation between the value of the derivatives instrument and the underlying reference instrument so that the fund may not realize the intended benefits. In addition, since there can be no assurance that a liquid secondary market will exist for any derivatives instrument purchased or sold, a fund may be required to hold a derivatives instrument to maturity and take or make delivery of an underlying reference instrument that the Manager would have otherwise attempted to avoid, which could result in losses. When used for hedging, the change in value of the derivatives instrument may also not correlate specifically with the currency, rate, or other risk being hedged, in which case a fund may not realize the intended benefits.

How the Funds strive to manage it: While the Funds may use derivatives for defensive purposes, such as to protect gains or hedge against potential losses in the portfolio without actually selling a security, to neutralize the impact of interest rate changes, or to effect diversification, the Funds will use derivatives to manage duration, to earn additional income, or to gain exposure to a market (or segment of a market). They will not use derivatives for reasons inconsistent with their respective investment objectives.

The Manager has claimed an exclusion from the definition of the term “commodity pool operator” with respect to each Fund under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and, therefore, is not subject to registration or regulation as a commodity pool operator under the CEA.

Counterparty risk is the risk that if a fund enters into a derivatives contract (such as a futures, options, or swap contract) or a repurchase agreement, the counterparty to such a contract or agreement may fail to perform its obligations under the contract or agreement due to, among other reasons, financial difficulties (such as a bankruptcy or reorganization). As a result, a fund may experience significant delays in obtaining any recovery, may obtain only a limited recovery, or may obtain no recovery at all.

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How the Funds strive to manage it: The Manager seeks to minimize this risk by considering the creditworthiness of all counterparties before a Fund enters into transactions with them. A Fund will hold collateral from counterparties consistent with applicable regulations.

Governments or regulatory authorities may take actions that could adversely affect various sectors of the securities markets and affect fund performance. Government involvement in the private sector may, in some cases, include government investment in, or ownership of, companies in certain commercial business sectors; wage and price controls; or imposition of trade barriers and other protectionist measures. For example, an economic or political crisis may lead to price controls, forced mergers of companies, expropriation, the creation of government monopolies, foreign exchange controls, the introduction of new currencies (and the redenomination of financial obligations into those currencies), or other measures that could be detrimental to the investments of a fund.

How the Funds strive to manage them: The Manager evaluates the economic and political climate in the relevant jurisdictions before selecting securities for each Fund. The Manager typically diversifies a Fund's assets among a number of different securities in a variety of sectors in order to minimize the impact to the Fund of any legislative or regulatory development affecting particular countries, issuers, or market sectors.

Natural disaster and epidemic risk is the risk that the value of a fund's investments may be negatively affected by natural disasters, epidemics, or similar events. Natural or environmental disasters, such as earthquakes, fires, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, and other severe weather-related phenomena generally, and widespread disease, including pandemics and epidemics, have been and can be highly disruptive to economies and markets, adversely impacting individual companies, sectors, industries, markets, currencies, interest and inflation rates, credit ratings, investor sentiment, and other factors affecting the value of a fund's investments. Given the increasing interdependence among global economies and markets, conditions in one country, market, or region are increasingly likely to adversely affect markets, issuers, and/or foreign exchange rates in other countries. These disruptions could prevent a fund from executing advantageous investment decisions in a timely manner and could negatively impact the fund's ability to achieve its investment objective.

How the Funds strive to manage it: The Funds maintain a long-term investment approach. Generally, the portfolio managers do not try to predict overall market movements, but the portfolio managers do note trends in the economy, industries, and financial markets. Although the Funds may hold securities for any amount of time, they generally do not trade for short-term purposes.

Disclosure of portfolio holdings information

A description of the Funds' policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of their portfolio securities is available in the SAI.

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Who manages the Funds

Investment manager

The Manager, located at 100 Independence, 610 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106-2354, is the Funds' investment manager. Together, the Manager and the other subsidiaries of Macquarie Management Holdings, Inc. (MMHI) manage, as of September 30, 2023, approximately $173.7 billion in assets, including mutual funds, separate accounts, and other investment vehicles. The Manager and its predecessors have been managing Delaware Funds since 1938. The Manager is a series of Macquarie Investment Management Business Trust (a Delaware statutory trust), which is a subsidiary of MMHI. MMHI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Macquarie Group Limited. The Manager makes investment decisions for the Funds, manages the Funds' business affairs, and provides daily administrative services. For its services to the Funds, the Manager was paid an aggregate fee, net of fee waivers (if applicable), of 0.38% and 0.32% of average daily net assets of Delaware Corporate Bond Fund and Delaware Extended Duration Bond Fund, respectively, during the last fiscal year.

A discussion of the basis for the Board's approval of the Funds' investment advisory contract is available in the Funds' semiannual report to shareholders for the period ended January 31, 2023.

Sub-advisors

MIMAK, located at Kaerntner Strasse 28, 1010 Vienna, Austria, is an affiliate of the Manager and a part of Macquarie Asset Management (MAM). MAM is the marketing name for certain companies comprising the asset management division of Macquarie Group Limited. MAM is a full-service asset manager offering a diverse range of products across public and private markets including fixed income, equities, multi-asset solutions, private credit, infrastructure, renewables, natural assets, real estate, and asset finance. As of September 30, 2023, MAM managed approximately $573.5 billion in assets for institutional and individual clients. Although the Manager has principal responsibility for the Manager's portion of each Fund, the Manager may seek investment advice and recommendations from MIMAK and the Manager may also permit MIMAK to execute Fund security trades on behalf of the Manager and exercise investment discretion for securities in certain markets where the Manager believes it will be beneficial to utilize MIMAK's specialized market knowledge.

MIMEL, located at 28 Ropemaker Street, London, England, is an affiliate of the Manager and a part of MAM. Although the Manager has principal responsibility for the Manager's portion of each Fund, the Manager may seek investment advice and recommendations from MIMEL and the Manager may also permit MIMEL to execute Fund security trades on behalf of the Manager and exercise investment discretion for securities in certain markets where the Manager believes it will be beneficial to utilize MIMEL's specialized market knowledge.

MIMGL, located at 50 Martin Place, Sydney, Australia, is an affiliate of the Manager and a part of MAM. Although the Manager has principal responsibility for the Manager's portion of each Fund, the Manager may seek investment advice and recommendations from MIMGL and the Manager may also permit MIMGL to execute Fund security trades on behalf of the Manager and exercise investment discretion for securities in certain markets where the Manager believes it will be beneficial to utilize MIMGL's specialized market knowledge.

A discussion of the basis for the Board's approval of the sub-advisory contracts with MIMEL, MIMGL and MIMAK is available in the Funds' semiannual report to shareholders for the period ended January 31, 2023.

Portfolio managers

Michael G. Wildstein and Kashif Ishaq are the lead portfolio managers primarily responsible for the overall day-to-day management of the Funds. When making decisions for the Funds, Messrs. Wildstein and Ishaq regularly consult with other investment professionals.

Michael G. Wildstein, CFA
Senior Managing Director, Head of US Credit and Insurance
Michael G. Wildstein is Head of US Credit and Insurance for Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) Credit, a role he assumed in July 2018. He has managed corporate credit-related portfolios since January 2010. Before joining the team, he was a Senior Corporate Bond Analyst, focused on the telecommunications sector for high-grade and high yield portfolios. Prior to joining Delaware Investments as a Senior Research Analyst, Michael spent five years at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers in various roles that included Portfolio Manager for the Core Bond Team, Corporate Bond Research Analyst, and Corporate Bond Trader. Prior to this, Michael worked in finance, corporate strategy, and business development with several firms including RCN Corporation and AT&T Local Services. He earned an MBA from Drexel University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Tampa.

Kashif Ishaq
Managing Director, Senior Portfolio Manager
Kashif Ishaq is a Senior Portfolio Manager for Fixed Income within Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) Credit, a role he assumed with Delaware Investments in August 2005. He manages corporate bond exposures within the MAM Credit portfolios, which includes performing relative value analysis across different issuers, corporate curves, and capital structures. He is also responsible for risk surveillance and maintains key broker/dealer relationships. His experience in trading and risk systems informs his oversight of the firm's corporate credit traders. He began his career in fixed income as a Portfolio Analyst on Delaware Investments' Insurance Portfolio Management Team and was later promoted to Investment Grade Trader. Previously, Kashif participated in Lincoln Financial Group's Rotational Professional Development Program. He started the program as a Financial Analyst in Lincoln's Hartford office, held a position in information technology, and worked for one year in Delaware Investments' Client Services Department. He received his bachelor's degree in corporate finance and accounting from Bentley College.

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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.

Manager of managers structure

The Funds and the Manager have received an exemptive order from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to operate under a manager of managers structure that permits the Manager, with the approval of the Funds' Board, to appoint and replace both affiliated and unaffiliated sub-advisors, and to enter into and make material amendments to the related sub-advisory contracts on behalf of the Funds without shareholder approval (Manager of Managers Structure). Under the Manager of Managers Structure, the Manager has ultimate responsibility, subject to oversight by the Board, for overseeing the Funds' sub-advisors and recommending to the Board their hiring, termination, or replacement.

The Manager of Managers Structure enables the Funds to operate with greater efficiency and without incurring the expense and delays associated with obtaining shareholder approvals for matters relating to sub-advisors or sub-advisory agreements. The Manager of Managers Structure does not permit an increase in the overall management and advisory fees payable by the Funds without shareholder approval. Shareholders will be notified of the hiring of any new sub-advisor within 90 days of the hiring.

The Funds and the Manager also have an exemptive order from the SEC that allows the approval of a new sub-advisor to be taken at a Board of Trustees meeting held via any means of communication that allows the Trustees to hear each other simultaneously during the meeting. If a new unaffiliated sub-adviser is hired for the Funds, shareholders will receive information about the new sub-advisor within 90 days of the change.

Who's who

Board of trustees: A mutual fund is governed by a board of trustees, which has oversight responsibility for the management of the fund's business affairs. Trustees establish procedures and oversee and review the performance of the fund's service providers.

Investment manager: An investment manager is a company responsible for selecting portfolio investments consistent with the objective and policies stated in the mutual fund's prospectus. A written contract between a mutual fund and its investment manager specifies the services the investment manager performs and the fee the manager is entitled to receive.

Portfolio managers: Portfolio managers make investment decisions for individual portfolios.

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Who manages the Funds

Distributor: Most mutual funds continuously offer new shares to the public through distributors that are regulated as broker/dealers and are subject to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) rules governing mutual fund sales practices.

Service agent: Mutual fund companies employ service agents (sometimes called transfer agents) to maintain records of shareholder accounts, calculate and disburse dividends and capital gains, and prepare and mail shareholder statements and tax information, among other functions. Many service agents also provide administrative services to a fund and oversight of other fund service providers.

Custodian/Fund accountant: Mutual funds are legally required to protect their portfolio securities, and most funds place them with a qualified bank custodian that segregates fund securities from other bank assets. The fund accountant provides services such as calculating a fund's net asset value (NAV) and providing financial reporting information for the fund.

Financial intermediary: Financial professionals provide advice to their clients. They are associated with securities broker/dealers who have entered into selling and/or service arrangements with the distributor. Selling broker/dealers and financial professionals are compensated for their services generally through sales commissions, and through 12b-1 fees and/or service fees deducted from a fund's assets.

Shareholders: Mutual fund shareholders have specific voting rights on matters such as material changes in the terms of a fund's management contract and changes to fundamental investment policies.

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About your account

Investing in the Funds

You can choose from a number of share classes for each Fund. Because each share class has a different combination of sales charges, fees, and other features, you should consult your financial intermediary or your financial professional (hereinafter collectively referred to as the “financial intermediary”) to determine which share class best suits your investment goals and time frame. It is the responsibility of your financial intermediary to assist you in determining the most appropriate share class and to communicate such determination to us.

Information about existing sales charges and sales charge reductions and waivers is available in this Prospectus below and free of charge on the Delaware Funds website at delawarefunds.com. Additional information on sales charges can be found in the SAI, which is available upon request.

Please also see the “Broker-defined sales charge waiver policies” section in this Prospectus for information provided to the Fund by certain financial intermediaries on sales charge discounts and waivers that may be available to you through your financial intermediary. Shareholders purchasing Fund shares through a financial intermediary may also be eligible for sales charge discounts or waivers which may differ from those disclosed elsewhere in this Prospectus or SAI. The availability of certain initial or deferred sales charge waivers and discounts may depend on the particular financial intermediary or type of account through which you purchase or hold Fund shares. It is the responsibility of the financial intermediary to implement any of its proprietary sales charge discounts or waivers listed in “Broker-defined sales charge waiver policies” or otherwise offered by the financial intermediary. Accordingly, you should consult with your financial intermediary to determine whether you qualify for any sales charge discounts or waivers.

Choosing a share class

Each share class may be eligible for purchase through programs sponsored by financial intermediaries that require the purchase of a specific class of shares.

Class A, Class C, and Class R shares have each adopted a separate 12b-1 plan that allows them to pay distribution fees for the sale and distribution of their shares. Because these fees are paid out of a Fund's assets on an ongoing basis, over time these fees will increase the cost of your investment and may cost you more than paying other types of sales charges.

Certain existing investors or programs sponsored by certain intermediaries that were eligible under prior eligibility requirements may continue to invest in a particular share class.

Plan sponsors, plan fiduciaries and other financial intermediaries may choose to impose qualification requirements for investors that differ from a Fund's share class eligibility standards. In certain cases, this could result in the selection of a share class with higher service and distribution-related fees than otherwise would have been charged. The Funds and the Distributor are not responsible for, and have no control over, the decision of any plan sponsor, plan fiduciary or financial intermediary to impose such different requirements. Please consult with your plan sponsor, plan fiduciary or financial intermediary for more information about available share classes as not all share classes may be made available.

Class A sales charges

The table below details your sales charges on purchases of Class A shares. The offering price for Class A shares includes the front-end sales charge. The offering price is determined by dividing the NAV per share by an amount equal to 1 minus the sales charge (expressed in decimals) applicable to the purchase, calculated to two decimal places using standard rounding criteria. The sales charge as a percentage of the net amount invested is the maximum percentage of the amount invested rounded to the nearest hundredth. The actual sales charge that you pay as a percentage of the offering price and as a percentage of the net amount invested will vary depending on the then-current NAV, the percentage rate of the sales charge, and rounding. The number of Fund shares you will be issued will equal the amount invested divided by the applicable offering price for those shares, calculated to three decimal places using standard rounding criteria. Sales charges do not apply to shares purchased through dividend reinvestment.

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About your account

* There is no front-end sales charge when you purchase $1 million or more of Class A shares. However, if Delaware Distributors, L.P. (Distributor) paid your financial intermediary a commission on your purchase of $1 million or more of Class A shares, you will have to pay a Limited CDSC of 1.00% if you redeem these shares within the first 18 months after your purchase, unless a specific waiver of the Limited CDSC applies. The Limited CDSC will be paid to the Distributor and will be assessed on an amount equal to the lesser of: (1) the NAV at the time the Class A shares being redeemed were purchased; or (2) the NAV of such Class A shares at the time of redemption. For purposes of this formula, the “NAV at the time of purchase” will be the NAV at purchase of the Class A shares even if those shares are later exchanged for shares of another Delaware Fund and, in the event of an exchange of Class A shares, the “NAV of such shares at the time of redemption” will be the NAV of the shares acquired in the exchange. In determining whether a Limited CDSC is payable, it will be assumed that shares not subject to the Limited CDSC are the first redeemed followed by other shares held for the longest period of time. See “Dealer compensation” below for a description of the dealer commission that is paid.

Calculation of contingent deferred sales charges — Class C
CDSCs are charged as a percentage of the dollar amount subject to the CDSC. The charge will be assessed on an amount equal to the lesser of the NAV at the time the shares being redeemed were purchased or the NAV of those shares at the time of redemption. No CDSC will be imposed on increases in NAV above the initial purchase price, nor will a CDSC be assessed on redemptions of shares acquired through reinvestment of dividends or capital gains distributions. For purposes of this formula, the “NAV at the time of purchase” will be the NAV at purchase of Class C shares of the Fund, even if those shares are later exchanged for shares of another Delaware Fund. In the event of an exchange of the shares, the “NAV of such shares at the time of redemption” will be the NAV of the shares that were acquired in the exchange.

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About your account

Each Fund reserves the right to modify or waive the above policies at any time without prior notice to shareholders.

Dealer compensation

The financial intermediary who sells you shares of the Funds may be eligible to receive the following amounts as compensation for your investment in the Funds. These amounts are paid by the Distributor to the securities dealer with whom your financial advisor is associated. Institutional Class and Class R6 shares do not have a 12b-1 fee or sales charge so they are not included in the table below.

​1 On sales of Class A shares, the Distributor reallows to your securities dealer a portion of the front-end sales charge depending upon the amount you invested. Your securities dealer may be eligible to receive a 12b-1 fee of up to 0.25% from the date of purchase. On sales of Class A shares where there is no front-end sales charge, the Distributor may pay your securities dealer an upfront commission of up to 1.00%. The upfront commission includes an advance of the first year's 12b-1 fee of up to 0.25%. During the first 12 months, the Distributor will retain the 12b-1 fee to partially offset the upfront commission advanced at the time of purchase. Starting in the 13th month, your securities dealer may be eligible to receive the full 12b-1 fee applicable to Class A shares.

​2 On sales of Class C shares, the Distributor may pay your securities dealer an upfront commission of 1.00%. The upfront commission includes an advance of the first year's 12b-1 service fee of up to 0.25%. During the first 12 months, the Distributor retains the full 1.00% 12b-1 fee to partially offset the upfront commission and the prepaid 0.25% service fee advanced at the time of purchase. Starting in the 13th month, your securities dealer may be eligible to receive the full 1.00% 12b-1 fee applicable to Class C shares. Alternatively, certain intermediaries may not be eligible to receive the upfront commission of 1.00%, but may receive the 12b-1 fee for sales of Class C shares from the date of purchase. After approximately eight years, Class C shares are eligible to automatically convert to Class A shares and dealers may then be eligible to receive the 12b-1 fee applicable to Class A shares.

​3 On sales of Class R shares, the Distributor does not pay your securities dealer an upfront commission. Your securities dealer may be eligible to receive a 12b-1 fee of up to 0.50% from the date of purchase.

Payments to intermediaries

The Distributor and its affiliates may pay additional compensation at their own expense and not as an expense of a Fund to certain affiliated or unaffiliated brokers, dealers, or other financial intermediaries (Financial Intermediaries) in connection with the sale or retention of Fund shares and/or shareholder servicing, including providing the Fund with “shelf space” or a higher profile with the Financial Intermediaries' consultants, salespersons, and customers (distribution assistance). For example, the Distributor or its affiliates may pay additional compensation to Financial Intermediaries for various purposes, including, but not limited to, promoting the sale of Fund shares, maintaining share balances and/or for subaccounting, administrative, or shareholder processing services, marketing, educational support, data, and ticket charges. Such payments are in addition to any distribution fees, service fees, subaccounting fees, and/or transfer agency fees that may be payable by a Fund. The additional payments may be based on factors, including level of sales

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(based on gross or net sales or some specified minimum sales or some other similar criteria related to sales of a Fund and/or some or all other Delaware Funds), amount of assets invested by the Financial Intermediary's customers (which could include current or aged assets of a Fund and/or some or all other Delaware Funds), a Fund's advisory fees, some other agreed-upon amount, or other measures as determined from time to time by the Distributor. The level of payments made to a qualifying Financial Intermediary in any given year may vary. To the extent permitted by SEC and FINRA rules and other applicable laws and regulations, the Distributor may pay, or allow its affiliates to pay, other promotional incentives or payments to Financial Intermediaries.

Sub-transfer agent/recordkeeping payments may be made to third parties (including affiliates of the Manager) that provide sub-transfer agent, recordkeeping, and/or shareholder services with respect to certain shareholder accounts (including omnibus accounts), or to the shareholder account directly to offset the costs of these services, in lieu of the transfer agent providing such services. For Class R6 shares, the Distributor and its affiliates will generally not pay additional compensation to Financial Intermediaries in connection with the sale or retention of Fund shares and/or shareholder servicing (including sub-transfer agent/recordkeeping payments).

If a mutual fund sponsor or distributor makes greater payments for distribution assistance to your Financial Intermediary with respect to distribution of shares of that particular mutual fund than sponsors or distributors of other mutual funds make to your Financial Intermediary with respect to the distribution of the shares of their mutual funds, your Financial Intermediary and its salespersons may have a financial incentive to favor sales of shares of the mutual fund making the higher payments over shares of other mutual funds or over other investment options. In addition, depending on the arrangements in place at any particular time, a Financial Intermediary may also have a financial incentive for recommending a particular share class over other share classes. You should consult with your Financial Intermediary and review carefully any disclosure provided by such Financial Intermediary as to compensation it receives in connection with investment products it recommends or sells to you. A significant purpose of these payments is to increase sales of a Fund's shares. The Manager or its affiliates may benefit from the Distributor's or its affiliates' payment of compensation to Financial Intermediaries through increased fees resulting from additional assets acquired through the sale of Fund shares through Financial Intermediaries. In certain instances, the payments could be significant and may cause a conflict of interest for your Financial Intermediary. Any such payments will not change the NAV or the price of a Fund's shares.

How to reduce your sales charge

We offer a number of ways to reduce or eliminate the front-end sales charge on Class A shares, which may depend on the ability of your financial intermediary or the Funds' transfer agent to support the various ways. Please refer to the “Broker-defined sales charge waiver policies” in this Prospectus and to the SAI for detailed information and eligibility requirements. You can also get additional information from your financial intermediary. You or your financial intermediary must notify us at the time you purchase shares if you are eligible for any of these programs. You may also need to provide information to your financial intermediary or the Funds in order to qualify for a reduction in sales charges. Such information may include your Delaware Funds holdings in any other accounts, including retirement accounts, held indirectly or through an intermediary, and the names of qualifying family members and their holdings. If you participate in a direct deposit purchase plan or an automatic investment program for an account held directly with the Funds' transfer agent and also hold shares of Delaware Funds other than directly with us, generally those holdings will not be aggregated with the assets held with us for purposes of determining rights of accumulation in connection with direct deposit purchase plans and automatic investment program purchases. We reserve the right to determine whether any purchase is entitled, by virtue of the foregoing, to the reduced sales charge. Class R, Institutional Class, and Class R6 shares have no upfront sales charge or CDSC so they are not included in the table below.

Letter of intent and rights of accumulation

Through a letter of intent, you agree to invest a certain amount in Delaware Funds over a 13-month period to qualify for reduced front-end sales charges (as set forth in the SAI). Delaware Funds do not accept retroactive letters of intent.

Upon your request, you can combine your holdings or purchases of Class A and all other classes of Delaware Funds, as well as the holdings and purchases of your spouse — or equivalent, if recognized under local law — and children under the age of 21 to qualify for reduced front-end sales charges. When submitting the letter of intent or requesting rights of accumulation, you must identify which holdings or purchases you are requesting to be combined to your dealer, the Distributor or BNY Mellon at the time of purchase. You can add the value of any share class that you already own to new share purchases in order to qualify for a reduced sales charge. Please note that depending on the financial intermediary holding your account, this policy may differ from those described in this Prospectus.

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About your account

Reinvestment of redeemed shares

Up to 90 days after you redeem shares, you can reinvest the proceeds without paying a sales charge. For purposes of this “right of reinvestment policy,” automatic transactions (including, for example, automatic purchases, withdrawals and payroll deductions) and ongoing retirement plan contributions are not eligible for investment without a sales charge. Investors should consult their financial intermediary for further information.

SIMPLE IRA, SEP, SARSEP, 401(k), SIMPLE 401(k), Profit Sharing, Money Purchase, 403(b)(7), and 457 Retirement Plans

These investment plans may qualify for reduced sales charges by combining the purchases of all members of the group. Members of these groups may also qualify to purchase shares without a front-end sales charge and may qualify for a waiver of any CDSCs on Class A shares.

Buying Class A shares at net asset value

Class A shares of a Fund may be purchased at NAV under the following circumstances, provided that you notify the Fund in advance that the trade qualifies for this privilege. Certain existing investors or programs sponsored by certain intermediaries that were eligible to purchase Class A shares of a Fund at NAV may continue to be eligible to purchase Class A shares at NAV. The Funds reserve the right to modify or terminate these arrangements at any time.

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Waivers of contingent deferred sales charges

Certain sales charges may be based on historical cost. Therefore, you should maintain any records that substantiate these costs because the Funds, their transfer agent, and financial intermediaries may not maintain this information. Please note that you or your financial intermediary will have to notify us at the time of redemption that the trade qualifies for such waiver. Class R, Institutional Class, and Class R6 shares do not have CDSCs so they are not included in the list below. Please also see the “Shareholder fees” table in the Fund summary and “Choosing a share class” for more information about applicable CDSCs. Your financial intermediary may offer waivers for certain account types or programs that may be different than what is noted below. See the “Broker-defined sales charge waiver policies” section or contact your financial intermediary for information on program availability.

CDSCs for Class A and Class C shares may be waived under the following circumstances, except as noted otherwise:

​1 Qualified plans that are fully redeemed at the direction of the plan's fiduciary may be subject to any applicable CDSC or Limited CDSC, unless the redemption is due to the termination of the plan.

Certain existing investors or programs sponsored by certain intermediaries that were eligible for waivers of CDSCs may continue to be eligible for those waivers of CDSCs.

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About your account

How to buy shares

Your financial intermediary (if applicable) can handle all the details of purchasing shares, including opening an account. Your financial intermediary may charge you a separate fee for this service.

By mail

Complete an investment slip and mail it with your check, made payable to the fund and class of shares you wish to purchase, to Delaware Funds by Macquarie at P.O. Box 534437, Pittsburgh, PA 15253-4437 for investments by regular mail or Delaware Funds by Macquarie Service Center, Attention: 534437, 500 Ross Street, 154-0520, Pittsburgh, PA 15262 for investments by overnight courier service. If you are making an initial purchase by mail, you must include a completed investment application (or an appropriate retirement plan application if you are opening a retirement account) with your check. Purchase orders will not be accepted at any other address.

Please note that purchase orders submitted by mail will not be considered received until such purchase orders arrive at Delaware Funds by Macquarie Service Center, Attention: 534437, 500 Ross Street, 154-0520, Pittsburgh, PA 15262 and are determined to be in good order. For a purchase request to be in “good order,” you must provide the name of the Delaware Fund in which you are investing, your account registration/number (if you are an existing shareholder), and the total number of shares or dollar amount of the shares to be purchased, along with meeting any requirements set forth in applicable forms, this Prospectus, or the SAI. The Funds do not consider the US Postal Service or other independent delivery services to be their agent. Therefore, deposits in the mail or with such services or receipt at the Funds' post office box, of purchase orders, do not constitute receipt by the Funds or their agent. Please note that the Funds reserve the right to reject any purchase.

By wire

Ask your bank to wire the amount you want to invest to The Bank of New York Mellon, ABA #011001234, bank account #000073-6910. Include your account number, the name of the fund, registered account name, and class of shares in which you want to invest. If you are making an initial purchase by wire, you must first call the Delaware Funds by Macquarie Service Center at 800 523-1918 so we can assign you an account number.

By exchange

You may exchange all or part of your investment in one or more Delaware Funds for shares of other Delaware Funds. Please keep in mind, however, that under most circumstances you may exchange between like classes of shares only. To open an account by exchange, call the Delaware Funds by Macquarie Service Center at 800 523-1918.

You may purchase or exchange shares through our automated telephone service (for Class A, Class C, and Class R shares only), or through our website, delawarefunds.com (for Class A and Class C shares only). For more information about how to sign up for these services, call our Delaware Funds by Macquarie Service Center at 800 523-1918.

Calculating share price

The price you pay for shares will depend on when we receive your purchase order. If your order is received by an authorized agent or us before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (normally 4:00pm ET), you will pay that day's closing Fund share price, which is based on the Fund's NAV. If the NYSE has an unscheduled early close, we will continue to accept your order until that day's scheduled close of the NYSE and you will pay that day's closing Fund share price. If your order is received after the scheduled close of regular trading on the NYSE, you will pay the next Business Day's closing Fund share price. We reserve the right to reject any purchase order.

We determine the NAV per share for each class of a Delaware Fund at the close of regular trading on the NYSE on each Business Day (normally 4:00pm ET). A Fund does not calculate its NAV on days the NYSE is closed for trading. If the NYSE has an unscheduled early close, a Fund's closing share price would still be determined as of that day's regularly scheduled close of the NYSE. The NAV per share for each class of a fund is calculated by subtracting the liabilities of each class from its total assets and dividing the resulting number by the number of shares outstanding for that class. We generally price securities and other assets for which market quotations are readily available at their market value. The value of foreign securities may change on days when a shareholder will not be able to purchase or redeem fund shares because foreign markets are open at times and on days when US markets are not.

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We price fixed income securities on the basis of valuations provided to us by an independent pricing service that uses methods approved by the Board. Pricing services generally price fixed income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional "round lot" size. While each Fund does not seek to purchase odd lots as a general rule, each Fund may from time to time trade in smaller "odd lot" sizes. Odd lots typically trade at lower prices than institutional round lot trades. Over certain time periods, such differences could materially impact the performance of a fund that holds odd lots. For all other securities, we use methods approved by the Board that are designed to price securities at their fair market values.

Fair valuation

When the Funds use fair value pricing, they may take into account any factors they deem appropriate. The Funds may determine fair value based upon developments related to a specific security, current valuations of foreign stock indices (as reflected in US futures markets), and/or US sector or broad stock market indices. In determining whether market quotations are readily available or fair valuation will be used, various factors will be taken into consideration, such as market closures or suspension of trading in a security. The prices of securities used by the Funds to calculate their NAVs may differ from quoted or published prices for the same securities. Fair value pricing may involve subjective judgments and it is possible that the fair value determined for a security could be materially different than the value that could be realized upon the sale of that security.

The Funds anticipate using fair value pricing for securities primarily traded on US exchanges only under very limited circumstances, such as the early closing of the exchange on which a security is traded or suspension of trading in the security. The Funds may use fair value pricing more frequently for securities traded primarily in non-US markets because, among other things, most foreign markets close well before the Funds value their securities, normally at 4:00pm ET or the close of the NYSE. The earlier close of these foreign markets gives rise to the possibility that significant events, including broad market moves, may have occurred in the interim. To account for this, the Funds may frequently value many foreign equity securities using fair value prices based on third-party vendor modeling tools to the extent available.

The Board has designated the Manager as the valuation designee, and delegated responsibility for valuing each Fund's assets to the Manager and its Pricing Committee, which operates under the policies and procedures approved by the Board and is subject to the Board's oversight. The Manager, as the valuation designee, is responsible for periodically assessing any material risks associated with the determination of the fair value of each Fund's investments; establishing and applying fair value methodologies; testing the appropriateness of fair value methodologies; and overseeing and evaluating third-party pricing vendors and services. The Manager has a Pricing Committee to assist with its designated responsibilities as valuation designee.

Retirement plans

In addition to being an appropriate investment for your IRA, Roth IRA, and Coverdell Education Savings Account, the Funds may be suitable for group retirement plans. You may establish your IRA account even if you are already a participant in an employer-sponsored retirement plan. For more information on how the Funds can play an important role in your retirement planning or for details about group plans, please consult your financial intermediary, or call the Delaware Funds by Macquarie​® Service Center at 800 523-1918.

Document delivery

To reduce fund expenses, we try to identify related shareholders in a household and send only one copy of a fund's financial reports and prospectus. This process, called “householding,” will continue indefinitely unless you instruct us otherwise. If you prefer not to have these documents householded, please call the Delaware Funds by Macquarie Service Center at 800 523-1918. At any time you may view current prospectuses and financial reports on our website.

Inactive accounts

Please note that if your account is deemed to be unclaimed or abandoned under applicable state law, a Fund may be required to transfer (or “escheat”) the assets in that account to the appropriate state. Some states may sell escheated shares, in which case a shareholder may only be able to recover the amount received when the shares were sold. For shareholders that invest through retirement accounts, the escheatment will be treated as a taxable distribution and federal and any applicable state income tax may be withheld. Each Fund, its Board, and the Fund's transfer agent will not be liable to shareholders for good faith compliance with state unclaimed or abandoned property laws. To avoid these outcomes and protect their property, shareholders that invest in a Fund through an account held directly with the Fund's transfer agent are encouraged to routinely confirm that the mailing address on their account is current and valid and contact the transfer agent at least once a year by mail, by phone at 800 523-1918, or by logging into their account.

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About your account

How to redeem shares

Under normal circumstances, each Fund typically meets redemption requests through its holdings of cash or cash equivalents, the sale of portfolio assets, and/or its ability to redeem in kind (when applicable). During stressed market conditions, the Fund may use lines of credit to meet redemption requests.

Availability of these services may be limited by your financial intermediary and by the way your account is registered with Delaware Funds.

When you send us a completed request in good order to redeem or exchange shares and the request is received by an authorized agent or us before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (normally 4:00pm ET), you will receive the NAV next determined after we receive your request. If we receive your request after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, you will receive the NAV next determined on the next Business Day. If the NYSE has an unscheduled early close, we will continue to accept your order until that day's scheduled close of the NYSE and you will receive that day's closing Fund share price. We will deduct any applicable CDSCs. You may also have to pay taxes on the proceeds from your sale of shares. If you purchased your shares by check, those shares are subject to a 15-day hold to ensure your check has cleared. Redemption requests for shares still subject to the hold may be rejected with instructions to resubmit at the conclusion of the holding period.

If you are required to pay a CDSC when you redeem your shares, the amount subject to the fee will be based on the shares' NAV when you purchased them or their NAV when you redeem them, whichever is less. This arrangement ensures that you will not pay a CDSC on any increase in the value of your shares. You also will not pay the charge on any shares acquired by reinvesting dividends or capital gains. If you exchange shares of one fund for shares of another, you do not pay a CDSC at the time of the exchange. If you later redeem those shares, the purchase price for purposes of the CDSC formula will be the price you paid for the original shares, not the exchange price. The redemption price for purposes of this formula will be the NAV of the shares you are actually redeeming.

If you hold your shares in certificates, you must submit the certificates with your request to sell the shares. We recommend that you send your certificates by certified mail.

Redemption proceeds will be distributed promptly, but not later than seven days after receipt of a redemption request (except as noted above). For direct transactions, redemption proceeds are typically paid the next Business Day after receipt of the redemption request. Redemptions submitted by financial intermediaries typically settle between one and three Business Days after receipt, depending on the settlement cycle requested by the financial intermediary. Settlement could be extended as a result of various factors, including but not limited to redemption amount or other market conditions. Please see the SAI for additional information.

Your financial intermediary (if applicable) can handle all the details of redeeming your shares (selling them back to a Fund). Your financial intermediary may charge you a separate fee for this service.

By mail

You may redeem your shares by mail by writing to: Delaware Funds by Macquarie at P.O. Box 534437, Pittsburgh, PA 15253-4437 for redemption requests by regular mail or Delaware Funds by Macquarie Service Center, Attention: 534437, 500 Ross Street, 154-0520, Pittsburgh, PA 15262 for redemption requests by overnight courier service. Redemption requests will not be accepted at any other address. All owners of the account must sign the request. For redemptions of more than $100,000, you must include a medallion signature guarantee for each owner. Medallion signature guarantees are also required when redemption proceeds are going to an address other than the address of record on the account. Please contact the Delaware Funds by Macquarie Service Center at 800 523-1918 for more information about the medallion signature guarantee requirements.

Please note that redemption orders submitted by mail will not be considered received until such redemption orders arrive at Delaware Funds by Macquarie Service Center, Attention: 534437, 500 Ross Street, 154-0520, Pittsburgh, PA 15262 and are determined to be in good order. For a redemption request to be in “good order,” you must provide the name of the Delaware Fund whose shares you are redeeming, your account number, account registration, and the total number of shares or dollar amount of the transaction. Redemption requests must be signed by the record owner(s) exactly as the shares are registered, along with meeting any requirements set forth in applicable forms, this Prospectus, or the SAI. The Funds do not consider the US Postal Service or other independent delivery services to be their agent. Therefore, redemption requests placed in the mail or with such services or receipt at the Funds' post office box, of redemption requests, do not constitute receipt by the Funds or the transfer agent.

By telephone

You may redeem up to $100,000 of your shares by telephone. You may have the proceeds sent to you in the following ways:

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Bank information must be on file before you request a wire or ACH redemption. Your bank may charge a fee for these services.

You may redeem shares through our automated telephone service or through our website, delawarefunds.com. For more information about how to sign up for these services, call our Delaware Funds by Macquarie Service Center at 800 523-1918.

The Funds have reserved the right to pay for redemptions with portfolio securities under certain conditions. Subsequent sale by an investor receiving a distribution in kind could result in the payment of brokerage commissions and taxable gains (if such investment was held in a taxable account). Investors bear market risks until securities are sold for cash. See the SAI for more information on redemptions-in-kind.

Low balance accounts

For Class A and Class C shares, if you redeem shares and your account balance falls below the required account minimum of $1,000 ($250 for IRAs, Roth IRAs, Uniform Gifts to Minors Act and Uniform Transfers to Minors Act accounts, or accounts with automatic investment plans, and $500 for Coverdell Education Savings Accounts) for three or more consecutive months, you will have until the end of the current calendar quarter to raise the balance to the minimum.

For Class R, Institutional Class, and Class R6 shares, if you redeem shares and your account balance falls below $500, your shares may be redeemed after 60 days' written notice to you.

If your account is not at the minimum for low balance purposes by the required time, you may be charged a $9 fee for that quarter and each quarter after that until your account reaches the minimum balance, or it may be redeemed after 60 days' written notice to you. Any CDSC that would otherwise be applicable will not apply to such a redemption.

Certain accounts held in omnibus, advisory, or asset-allocation programs or programs offered by certain intermediaries may be opened below the minimum stated account balance and may maintain balances that are below the minimum stated account balance without incurring a service fee or being subject to involuntary redemption.

If the applicable account falls below the minimum due to market fluctuation, a Fund still reserves the right to liquidate the account.

Investor services

To help make investing with us as easy as possible, and to help you build your investments, we offer the investor services described below. Information about the investor services we offer is available free of charge on the Delaware Funds website at delawarefunds.com, including hyperlinks to relevant information in fund offering documents. Availability of these services may be limited by the way your account is registered with Delaware Funds.

Online account access is a password-protected area of the Delaware Funds website that gives you access to your account information and allows you to perform transactions in a secure Internet environment.

With Delaware Funds eDelivery, you can receive your fund documents electronically instead of via US mail. When you sign up for eDelivery, you can access your account statements, shareholder reports, and other fund materials online, in a secure Internet environment at any time.

The automatic investment plan allows you to make regular monthly or quarterly investments directly from your bank account.

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About your account

With direct deposit, you can make additional investments through payroll deductions, recurring government or private payments such as Social Security, or direct transfers from your bank account.

With the systematic exchange option, you can arrange automatic monthly exchanges between your shares in one or more Delaware Funds. These exchanges are subject to the same rules as regular exchanges (see below) and require a minimum monthly exchange of $100 per fund.

Through the dividend reinvestment plan, you can have your distributions reinvested in your account or the same share class in another Delaware Fund. The shares that you purchase through the dividend reinvestment plan are not subject to a front-end sales charge or to a CDSC. Under most circumstances, you may reinvest dividends only into like classes of shares.

You may generally exchange all or part of your shares for shares of the same class of another Delaware Fund without paying a front-end sales charge or a CDSC at the time of the exchange. However, if you exchange shares from a fund that does not have a sales charge, you will pay any applicable sales charge on your new shares. You do not pay sales charges on shares that you acquired through the reinvestment of dividends. You may have to pay taxes on your exchange. When you exchange shares, you are purchasing shares in another fund, so you should be sure to get a copy of the fund's prospectus and read it carefully before buying shares through an exchange. We may refuse the purchase side of any exchange request if, in the Manager's judgment, a fund would be unable to invest effectively in accordance with its investment objective and policies or would otherwise potentially be adversely affected. Please note that depending on the financial intermediary holding your account, this policy may be unavailable or differ from those described in this Prospectus.

The on demand service allows you or your financial advisor to transfer money between your Fund account and your predesignated bank account by telephone request. There is a minimum transfer of $25 and a maximum transfer of $100,000. Macquarie Asset Management does not charge a fee for this service; however, your bank may assess one.

Through the direct deposit service, you can have $25 or more in dividends and distributions deposited directly into your bank account. Macquarie Asset Management does not charge a fee for this service; however, your bank may assess one. This service is not available for retirement plans.

You can arrange a regular monthly or quarterly payment from your account made to you or someone you designate. If the value of your account is $5,000 or more, you can make withdrawals of at least $25 monthly, or $75 quarterly. You may also have your withdrawals deposited directly to your bank account through the direct deposit service.

The applicable Limited CDSC for Class A shares and the CDSC for Class C shares redeemed via a systematic withdrawal plan will be waived if the annual amount withdrawn in each year is less than 12% of the account balance on the date that the plan is established. If the annual amount withdrawn in any year exceeds 12% of the account balance on the date that the systematic withdrawal plan is established, all redemptions under the plan will be subject to the applicable CDSC, including an assessment for previously redeemed amounts under the plan.

To the extent authorized by law, each Fund reserves the right to discontinue offering shares at any time and/or to merge or liquidate a share class, such as in response to shareholder redemptions of substantially or all shares in a class. For any blocked accounts involving a liquidating fund, a shareholder's account may be moved into Delaware Investments Ultrashort Fund if no instruction is given upon receipt of a fund's pending liquidation.

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Frequent trading of Fund shares (market timing and disruptive trading)

The Funds discourage purchases by market timers and purchase orders (including the purchase side of exchange orders) by shareholders identified as market timers may be rejected. The Board has adopted policies and procedures designed to detect, deter, and prevent trading activity detrimental to the Funds and their shareholders, such as market timing and disruptive trading. The Funds will consider anyone who follows a pattern of market timing in any Delaware Fund or the Optimum Fund Trust to be a market timer and may consider anyone who has followed a similar pattern of market timing at an unaffiliated fund family to be a market timer.

Market timing of a fund occurs when investors make consecutive, rapid, short-term “round trips” — that is, purchases into a fund followed quickly by redemptions out of that fund. A short-term round trip is considered any redemption of fund shares within 20 Business Days of a purchase of that fund's shares. If you make a second such short-term round trip in a fund within 90 rolling calendar days of a previous short-term round trip in that fund, you may be considered a market timer. In determining whether market timing has occurred, the Funds consider short-term round trips to include rapid purchases and sales of Fund shares through the exchange privilege. The Funds reserve the right to consider other trading patterns to be market timing.

Your ability to use the Funds' exchange privilege may be limited if you are identified as a market timer. If you are identified as a market timer, the Funds will execute the redemption side of your exchange order but may refuse the purchase side of your exchange order. The Funds reserve the right to restrict or reject, without prior notice, any purchase order or exchange order for any reason, including any purchase order or exchange order accepted by any shareholder's financial intermediary or in any omnibus-type account. Transactions placed in violation of the Funds' market timing policy are not necessarily deemed accepted by the Funds and may be rejected by a Fund on the next Business Day following receipt by a Fund.

Redemptions will continue to be permitted in accordance with the Funds' then-current prospectus. A redemption of shares under these circumstances could be costly to a shareholder if, for example, the shares have declined in value, the shareholder recently paid a front-end sales charge, the shares are subject to a CDSC, or the sale results in adverse tax consequences. To avoid this risk, a shareholder should carefully monitor the purchases, sales, and exchanges of Fund shares and avoid frequent trading in Fund shares.

Each Fund reserves the right to modify this policy at any time without notice, including modifications to a Fund's monitoring procedures and the procedures to close accounts to new purchases. Although the implementation of this policy involves certain judgments that are inherently subjective and may be selectively applied, the Funds seek to make judgments and applications that are consistent with the interests of each Fund's shareholders. While the Funds will take actions designed to detect and prevent market timing, there can be no assurance that such trading activity will be completely eliminated. Moreover, a Fund's market timing policy does not require the Fund to take action in response to frequent trading activity. If a Fund elects not to take any action in response to frequent trading, such frequent trading activity could continue.

Risks of market timing

By realizing profits through short-term trading, shareholders who engage in rapid purchases and sales or exchanges of the Funds' shares dilute the value of shares held by long-term shareholders. Volatility resulting from excessive purchases and sales or exchanges of Fund shares, especially involving large dollar amounts, may disrupt efficient portfolio management. In particular, a Fund may have difficulty implementing its long-term investment strategies if it is forced to maintain a higher level of its assets in cash to accommodate significant short-term trading activity. Excessive purchases and sales or exchanges of a Fund's shares may also force a Fund to sell portfolio securities at inopportune times to raise cash to accommodate short-term trading activity. This could adversely affect a Fund's performance, if, for example, a Fund incurs increased brokerage costs and realization of taxable capital gains without attaining any investment advantage.

Any fund may be subject to disruptive trading activity. However, a fund that invests significantly in foreign securities may be particularly susceptible to short-term trading strategies. This is because foreign securities are typically traded on markets that close well before the time a fund calculates its NAV (normally 4:00pm ET or the close of the NYSE). Developments that occur between the closing of the foreign market and a fund's NAV calculation may affect the value of these foreign securities. The time-zone differences among international stock markets can allow a shareholder engaging in a short-term trading strategy to exploit differences in fund share prices that are based on closing prices of foreign securities established some time before a fund calculates its own share price.

Any fund that invests in securities that are thinly traded, traded infrequently, or relatively illiquid has the risk that the securities prices used to calculate the fund's NAV may not accurately reflect current market values. A shareholder may seek to engage in short-term trading to take advantage of these pricing differences. Funds that may be adversely affected by such arbitrage include, in particular, funds that significantly invest in small-cap securities, technology, and other specific industry sector securities, and in certain fixed income securities, such as high yield bonds, asset-backed securities, or municipal bonds.

Transaction monitoring procedures

Each Fund, through its transfer agent, maintains surveillance procedures designed to detect excessive or short-term trading in Fund shares. This monitoring process involves several factors, which include scrutinizing transactions in Fund shares for violations of the Funds' market timing policy or other

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About your account

patterns of short-term or excessive trading. For purposes of these transaction monitoring procedures, the Funds may consider trading activity by multiple accounts under common ownership, control, or influence to be trading by a single entity. Trading activity identified by these factors, or as a result of any other available information, will be evaluated to determine whether such activity might constitute market timing. These procedures may be modified from time to time to help improve the detection of excessive or short-term trading or to address other concerns. Such changes may be necessary or appropriate, for example, to deal with issues specific to certain retirement plans; plan exchange limits; US Department of Labor regulations; certain automated or pre-established exchange, asset-allocation, or dollar-cost-averaging programs; or omnibus account arrangements.

Omnibus account arrangements are common forms of holding shares of the Funds, particularly among certain broker/dealers and other financial intermediaries, including sponsors of retirement plans and variable insurance products. The Funds will attempt to have financial intermediaries apply the Funds' monitoring procedures to these omnibus accounts and to the individual participants in such accounts. However, the Funds' ability to detect frequent trading activities by investors that hold shares through financial intermediaries may be limited by the ability and/or willingness of such intermediaries to monitor for these activities. To the extent that a financial intermediary is not able or willing to monitor or enforce the Funds' frequent trading policy with respect to an omnibus account, the Funds' transfer agent may work with certain intermediaries (such as investment dealers holding shareholder accounts in street name, retirement plan recordkeepers, insurance company separate accounts, and bank trust companies) to apply their own procedures, provided that the Funds' transfer agent believes the intermediary's procedures are reasonably designed to enforce the Funds' frequent trading policies. You should refer to disclosures provided by the intermediaries with which you have an account to determine the specific trading restrictions that apply to you. If the Funds' transfer agent identifies any activity that may constitute frequent trading, it reserves the right to contact the intermediary and request that the intermediary either provide information regarding an account owner's transactions or restrict the account owner's trading. There is no assurance that the information received by the Funds from a financial intermediary will be sufficient to effectively detect or deter excessive trading in omnibus accounts. If the Funds' transfer agent is not satisfied that the intermediary has taken appropriate action, the transfer agent may terminate the intermediary's ability to transact in Fund shares, or restrict individual trading activity as applicable.

Limitations on ability to detect and curtail market timing

Shareholders seeking to engage in market timing may employ a variety of strategies to avoid detection and, despite the efforts of the Funds and their agents to detect market timing in Fund shares, there is no guarantee that the Funds will be able to identify these shareholders or curtail their trading practices. In particular, the Funds may not be able to detect market timing attributable to a particular investor who effects purchase, redemption, and/or exchange activity in Fund shares through omnibus accounts. The difficulty of detecting market timing may be further compounded if these entities utilize multiple tiers or omnibus accounts.

Dividends, distributions, and taxes

Dividends and distributions

Each Fund intends to qualify each year as a regulated investment company under the Internal Revenue Code. As a regulated investment company, a Fund generally pays no federal income tax on the income and gains it distributes to you. Each Fund expects to declare dividends daily and distribute all of its net investment income, if any, to shareholders as dividends monthly. Each Fund will distribute net realized capital gains, if any, at least annually. A Fund may distribute such income dividends and capital gains more frequently, if necessary, in order to reduce or eliminate federal excise or income taxes on the Fund. The amount of any distribution will vary, and there is no guarantee a Fund will pay either an income dividend or a capital gains distribution. We automatically reinvest all dividends and any capital gains, unless you direct us to do otherwise.

Annual statements

Each year, the Funds will send you an annual statement (Form 1099) of your account activity to assist you in completing your federal, state, and local tax returns. Distributions declared in October, November or December to shareholders of record in such month, but paid in January, are taxable as if they were paid in December. Prior to issuing your statement, the Funds make every effort to reduce the number of corrected forms mailed to you. However, if a Fund finds it necessary to reclassify its distributions or adjust the cost basis of any covered shares (defined below) sold or exchanged after you receive your tax statement, the Fund will send you a corrected Form 1099.

Avoid “buying a dividend”

At the time you purchase your Fund shares, a Fund's NAV may reflect undistributed income, undistributed capital gains, or net unrealized appreciation in value of portfolio securities held by the Fund. For taxable investors, a subsequent distribution to you of such amounts, although constituting a return of your investment, would be taxable. Buying shares in a Fund just before it declares an income dividend or capital gains distribution is sometimes known as “buying a dividend.”

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Tax considerations

Fund distributions. Each Fund expects, based on its investment objective and strategies, that its distributions, if any, will be taxable as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both. This is true whether you reinvest your distributions in additional Fund shares or receive them in cash.

For federal income tax purposes, Fund distributions of short-term capital gains are taxable to you as ordinary income. Fund distributions of long-term capital gains are taxable to you as long-term capital gains no matter how long you have owned your shares. Because the income of the Funds is primarily derived from investments earning interest rather than dividend income, generally none or only a small portion of the income dividends paid to you by a Fund is anticipated to be qualified dividend income eligible for taxation by individuals at long-term capital gain tax rates.

The use of derivatives by a Fund may cause the Fund to realize higher amounts of ordinary income or short-term capital gain, distributions from which are taxable to individual shareholders at ordinary income tax rates rather than at the more favorable tax rates for long-term capital gain. Additionally, other rules applicable to derivative contracts may accelerate the recognition of income or gains to the Fund, defer losses to the Fund, and cause adjustments in the holding periods of the Fund's securities. These rules, therefore, could affect the amount, timing and/or character of distributions to shareholders.

Sale or redemption of Fund shares. A sale or redemption of Fund shares is a taxable event and, accordingly, a capital gain or loss may be recognized. For tax purposes, an exchange of your Fund shares for shares of a different Delaware Fund is the same as a sale. The Funds are required to report to you and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) annually on Form 1099-B not only the gross proceeds of Fund shares you sell or redeem but also the cost basis of Fund shares you sell or redeem that were purchased or acquired on or after January 1, 2012 (“covered shares”). Cost basis will be calculated using the Funds' default method, unless you instruct a Fund to use a different calculation method. Shareholders should carefully review the cost basis information provided by the Funds and make any additional basis, holding period or other adjustments that are required when reporting these amounts on their federal income tax returns. If your account is held by your investment representative (financial intermediary or other broker), please contact that representative with respect to reporting of cost basis and available elections for your account. Tax-advantaged retirement accounts will not be affected. Additional information and updates regarding cost basis reporting and available shareholder elections will be on the Delaware Funds website at delawarefunds.com as the information becomes available.

Medicare tax. An additional 3.8% Medicare tax is imposed on certain net investment income (including ordinary dividends and capital gain distributions received from a Fund and net gains from redemptions or other taxable dispositions of Fund shares) of US individuals, estates and trusts to the extent that such person's “modified adjusted gross income” (in the case of an individual) or “adjusted gross income” (in the case of an estate or trust) exceeds a threshold amount. This Medicare tax, if applicable, is reported by you on, and paid with, your federal income tax return.

Backup withholding. By law, if you do not provide a Fund with your proper taxpayer identification number and certain required certifications, you may be subject to backup withholding on any distributions of income, capital gains, or proceeds from the sale of your shares. A Fund also must withhold if the IRS instructs it to do so. When withholding is required, the amount will be 24% of any distributions or proceeds paid.

State and local taxes. Fund distributions and gains from the sale or exchange of your Fund shares generally are subject to state and local taxes.

Non-US investors. Non-US investors may be subject to US withholding tax at a 30% or lower treaty rate and US estate tax and are subject to special US tax certification requirements to avoid backup withholding and claim any treaty benefits. Exemptions from US withholding tax are provided for certain capital gain dividends paid by a Fund from net long-term capital gains, if any, interest-related dividends paid by the Fund from its qualified net interest income from US sources and short-term capital gain dividends, if such amounts are reported by the Fund. However, notwithstanding such exemptions from US withholding at the source, any such dividends and distributions of income and capital gains will be subject to backup withholding at a rate of 24% if you fail to properly certify that you are not a US person.

Other reporting and withholding requirements. Under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), each Fund will be required to withhold a 30% tax on income dividends made by the Fund to certain foreign entities, referred to as foreign financial institutions or nonfinancial foreign entities, that fail to comply (or be deemed compliant) with extensive reporting and withholding requirements designed to inform the US Department of the Treasury of US-owned foreign investment accounts. After December 31, 2018, FATCA withholding would have applied to certain capital gain distributions, return of capital distributions and the proceeds arising from the sale of Fund shares; however, based on proposed regulations issued by the IRS, which can be relied upon currently, such withholding is no longer required unless final regulations provide otherwise (which is not expected). A Fund may disclose the information that it receives from its shareholders to the IRS, non-US taxing authorities or other parties as necessary to comply with FATCA or similar laws. Withholding also may be required if a foreign entity that is a shareholder of a Fund fails to provide the Fund with appropriate certifications or other documentation concerning its status under FATCA.

This discussion of “Dividends, distributions, and taxes” is not intended or written to be used as tax advice. Because everyone's tax situation is unique, you should consult your tax professional about federal, state, local, or foreign tax consequences before making an investment in a Fund.

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About your account

Certain management considerations

Investments by fund of funds and similar investment vehicles

The Funds may accept investments from funds of funds, as well as from similar investment vehicles, such as 529 Plans and asset allocation models. A “529 Plan” is a college savings program that operates under Section 529 of the Code. Asset allocation models include the Delaware Funds by Macquarie​® Premier Advisor Platform, which offers asset allocation models using a mix of Delaware Funds. From time to time, a Fund may experience large investments or redemptions due to allocations or rebalancings by these funds of funds and/or similar investment vehicles. While it is impossible to predict the overall impact of these transactions over time, there could be adverse effects on portfolio management. For example, a Fund may be required to sell securities or invest cash at times when it would not otherwise do so. These transactions could also have tax consequences if sales of securities result in gains, and could also increase transaction costs or portfolio turnover.

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Financial highlights

Delaware Corporate Bond Fund
 

The financial highlights tables are intended to help you understand each Fund's financial performance for the past five years or, if shorter, the period of a Class's operations. Certain information reflects financial results for a single Fund share. The total returns in the table represent the rate that an investor would have earned or lost on an investment in a Fund (assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions). The information has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, whose report, along with the Funds' financial statements, is included in the Funds' annual report, which is available upon request by calling 800 523-1918.

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Financial highlights

Delaware Corporate Bond Fund

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Delaware Corporate Bond Fund

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Financial highlights

Delaware Corporate Bond Fund

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Delaware Corporate Bond Fund