Delaware Investments Colorado Insured Municipal Income Fund, Inc. and Delaware Investments Florida Insured Municipal Income Fund
August 15 2007 - 5:29PM
PR Newswire (US)
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Delaware
Investments Colorado Insured Municipal Income Fund, Inc. (ASE:VCF)
and Delaware Investments Florida Insured Municipal Income Fund
(ASE:VFL) (each, a "Fund") today announced the adjournment of the
Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the "Annual Meeting") until
Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 3:00 p.m., local time, at which
time it will be reconvened at the offices of Delaware Investments,
One Commerce Square, 2005 Market Street, 30th Floor Board Room,
Philadelphia, PA. The Annual Meeting was adjourned to give the
Funds additional time to solicit proxies for proposals to change
certain fundamental investment policies for each Fund. Delaware
Investments Colorado Insured Municipal Income Fund, Inc.
Shareholders of Delaware Investments Colorado Insured Municipal
Income Fund, Inc. (the "CO Fund") are being asked to vote on a
proposal to eliminate a fundamental investment policy requiring the
CO Fund to invest primarily in insured Colorado municipal
securities rated AAA, and permitting the CO Fund, as a
non-fundamental investment policy, to invest without limitation in
uninsured, investment grade Colorado municipal securities
(including those rated below AAA). If these changes to the
fundamental investment policy are approved, the CO Fund may invest
up to 20% of its net assets in non-investment grade Colorado
municipal securities as a non-fundamental investment policy. If the
proposed changes are approved by shareholders, the CO Fund will be
renamed the Delaware Investments Colorado Municipal Income Fund,
Inc., consistent with its new, uninsured investment strategy. If
these changes are approved by the CO Fund's shareholders, the
investment objective of the CO Fund, which is non-fundamental, will
continue to be to provide current income exempt from regular
federal income tax and Colorado state income tax, consistent with
the preservation of capital. Under normal circumstances, the CO
Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets in investment grade
quality Colorado municipal bonds. The CO Fund will be able to
invest up to 20% of its net assets in municipal obligations issued
by or on behalf of territories of the United States - such as Guam,
the U.S. Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico - that are exempt from
Colorado and federal income tax, subject to the CO Fund's
fundamental investment policy to invest 80% of its net assets in
Colorado municipal obligations. Additionally, the CO Fund will be
able to invest up to 20% of its net assets in municipal bonds with
an investment rating of Ba/BB or lower, or that are unrated but
judged to be of comparable quality by the CO Fund's investment
adviser. Investment in municipal bonds of below investment grade
quality involves special risks as compared with investment in
higher grade municipal bonds. These risks include greater
sensitivity to economic downturns in Colorado or in the United
States generally. Securities rated below investment grade are
commonly known as "junk bonds." Such securities are regarded as
predominantly speculative with respect to the issuer's ability to
pay interest and repay principal owed. The management of the CO
Fund believe that permitting the CO Fund to invest without
limitation in investment grade Colorado municipal securities (those
rated BBB or above) and up to 20% of its net assets in
non-investment grade municipal securities will allow the portfolio
managers and research analysts to take greater advantage of
investment opportunities that may generate higher current yield for
the CO Fund's shareholders. The management of the CO Fund believe
that broadening the CO Fund's authority to invest in this area will
improve the portfolio managers' flexibility in meeting the CO
Fund's investment objective. Delaware Investments Florida Insured
Municipal Income Fund Florida repealed its intangible personal
property tax effective January 1, 2007, and it has no state income
tax. As a result, the continued appeal of Florida-only municipal
debt funds is limited, as municipal bonds issued by the state of
Florida no longer provide a specific tax advantage to Florida
residents over municipal securities of extrastate issuers.
Shareholders of Delaware Investments Florida Insured Municipal
Income Fund (the "FL Fund") are therefore being asked to vote on a
proposal to eliminate a fundamental investment policy requiring the
FL Fund to invest 80% of its net assets in insured, AAA-rated
municipal bonds issued by the State of Florida. If these changes to
the fundamental investment policy are approved, the FL Fund may, as
a non-fundamental policy, (1) invest without limitation in un-
insured, investment grade municipal securities of states other than
Florida (including those rated below AAA) and (2) invest up to 20%
of its net assets in non-investment grade municipal securities. If
the proposed changes are approved by shareholders, the FL Fund will
be renamed the Delaware Investments National Municipal Income Fund,
consistent with its new, national investment strategy. If these
changes are approved by the FL Fund's shareholders, the FL Fund's
investment objective, which is non-fundamental, will be changed to
provide current income exempt from regular federal income tax,
consistent with the preservation of capital. As a fundamental
policy, under normal circumstances the FL Fund will invest at least
80% of its net assets in securities the income from which is exempt
from federal income taxes. The FL Fund will be able to invest up to
20% of its net assets in municipal bonds with an investment rating
of Ba/BB or lower, or that are unrated but judged to be of
comparable quality by the FL Fund's investment adviser. Investment
in municipal bonds of below investment grade quality involves
special risks as compared with investment in higher grade municipal
bonds. These risks include greater sensitivity to general economic
downturns. Securities rated below investment grade are commonly
known as "junk bonds." Such securities are regarded as
predominantly speculative with respect to the issuer's ability to
pay interest and repay principal owed. It is anticipated that the
FL Fund will transition its portfolio over time to include
municipal bonds from other states and territories. During that
transition period, the FL Fund may have significant investments in
Florida municipal bonds. This could make the FL Fund more sensitive
to economic conditions in Florida than other more geographically
diversified national municipal income funds. Shareholders of the FL
Fund could benefit from the increased diversification offered by a
national municipal bond fund without a single- state mandate. By
converting the FL Fund into a national fund, investors of the FL
Fund would be exposed to less geographical risk, and, as discussed
above, Florida municipal securities no longer offer unique tax
benefits to Florida residents. The FL Fund's management also
believes that shareholders of the FL Fund would benefit from the
increased diversification offered by a municipal securities fund
without an insured mandate. In addition, management believes that
permitting the FL Fund to invest without limitation in investment
grade municipal securities (those rated BBB and above) and up to
20% of its net assets in non-investment grade municipal securities
(those rated below BBB) will improve the portfolio managers'
flexibility in meeting the FL Fund's investment objective. About
Delaware Investments: Delaware Investments, an affiliate of Lincoln
Financial Group, is a Philadelphia-based diversified asset
management firm with more than $164 billion in assets under
management as of June 30, 2007. Through a broad range of managed
accounts and portfolios, mutual funds, retirement accounts, sub-
advised funds, education savings plans and other investment
products, Delaware Investments provides investment services to
individual investors and to institutional investors such as private
and public pension funds, foundations, and endowment funds.
Delaware Investments is the marketing name for Delaware Management
Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries. For more information on
Delaware Investments, visit the company at
http://www.delawareinvestments.com/. Lincoln Financial Group is the
marketing name for Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) and its
affiliates. For more information on Lincoln Financial Group, visit
http://www.lfg.com/. DATASOURCE: Delaware Investments CONTACT:
Ayele Ajavon, +1-215-255-1632, , or Laurel O'Brien,
+1-215-255-1520, , both Corporate Communications of Delaware
Investments Web site: http://www.delawareinvestments.com/
http://www.lfg.com/
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