Advantus Capital Management's Strategic Dividend Income Fund Reaches Five-Year Milestone

ST. PAUL, Minn.--()--Building off its long history of real estate expertise, Advantus Capital Management launched its Strategic Dividend Income (SDI) Fund (VSDIX) in September 2012. Now celebrating its five-year anniversary, Advantus believes the SDI Fund is well positioned to meet the needs of investors seeking an above average current income real asset investment solution.

The SDI Fund invests primarily in dividend-paying securities issued by real estate investment trusts (REITs), utilities, oil and gas and other dividend-paying companies. The Fund also selects instruments and securities that are intended to help manage volatility and inflation, or that provide exposure to certain sectors of the market.

Investors increasingly look for opportunities to add yield to their portfolio, and they are looking for solutions that go beyond traditional equity and fixed income products,” said Steve Moen, Advantus Capital Management’s senior vice president of business development and investment solutions. “Our SDI Fund seeks to deliver above-average income and long-term growth of capital by investing in a low-correlated base of real assets, with the potential for lower volatility.”

Joseph Betlej, CFA, Lowell Bolken, CFA, and Craig Stapleton, CFA, FRM, are the portfolio managers for the SDI Fund. These investment professionals have demonstrated expertise and results leading real estate and managed volatility strategies at Advantus.

For more information about Advantus Funds, visit www.advantusfunds.com.

Advantus Capital Management, Inc. is an institutional asset manager that specializes in public and private fixed income, managed volatility, real estate securities and other income‐oriented equity strategies. Its investment approach is founded on thorough fundamental research insights derived from collaboration among investment specialists across diverse strategies, with risk management embedded throughout the process. Advantus is a subsidiary of Securian Financial Group, Inc.

The Funds’ investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses must be considered carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other important information about the investment company, and it may be obtained by calling 1.800.665.6005 x51495. Read it carefully before investing.

Mutual fund investing involves risk. Principal loss is possible. Investors should be aware of the risks involved with investing in a fund concentrating in a specific industry such as REITs or real estate securities. These include risks such as declines in the value of real estate and increased susceptibility to adverse economic or regulatory developments. Investing in small and medium-sized companies involves greater risks than those associated with investing in large company stocks, such as business risk, significant stock price fluctuations and illiquidity. The Fund may invest in smaller or medium sized companies, which involve additional risks such as limited liquidity and greater volatility than large companies. The Fund may invest in foreign securities which involve political, economic and currency risks, greater volatility and differences in accounting methods. The Fund may invest in ETFs and ETNs, which are subject to additional risks that do not apply to conventional mutual funds, including the risks that the market price of the shares may trade at a discount to its net asset value ("NAV"), an active secondary trading market may not develop or be maintained, or trading may be halted by the exchange in which they trade, which may impact a Fund's ability to sell its shares. MLPs are subject to certain risks inherent in the structure of MLPs, including complex tax structure risks, the limited ability for election or removal of management, limited voting rights, potential dependence on parent companies or sponsors for revenues to satisfy obligations, and potential conflicts of interest between partners, members and affiliates. The fund may also use options and future contracts, which have the risks of unlimited losses of the underlying holdings due to unanticipated market movements and failure to correctly predict the direction of securities prices, interest rates and currency exchange rates. Diversification does not assure a profit or protect against a loss in a declining market.

The Adviser may be unsuccessful in managing volatility and the Funds may experience a high level of volatility in their returns. The securities used in the strategy are subject to price volatility, and the strategy may not result in less volatile returns for the Funds relative to the market as a whole, and they could be more volatile. In connection with establishing a short position in an instrument, the Funds are subject to the risk that they may not always be able to borrow the instrument, or to close out a short position at a particular time or at an acceptable price. Covered calls may limit the upside potential of the underlying security. Interest payments on TIPS are unpredictable and will fluctuate as the principal and corresponding interest payments are adjusted for inflation. There can be no assurance that the CPI will accurately measure the real rate of inflation in the prices of goods and services. Target allocations are subject to change.

Correlation is a statistical measure that determines how assets move in relation to each other.

The Advantus Strategic Dividend Income Fund is distributed by Quasar Distributors, LLC, and Advantus Capital Management, Inc. is the investment advisor. Securian Financial Group is not affiliated with Quasar Distributors, LLC.

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Contacts

Securian Financial Group
Jeff Bakken, 651-665-7558
Media Relations
jeff.bakken@securian.com

Contacts

Securian Financial Group
Jeff Bakken, 651-665-7558
Media Relations
jeff.bakken@securian.com