NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Board of Trustees (“the Board”) of Voya Global Equity Dividend and Premium Opportunity Fund (the “Fund”) (NYSE: IGD) has approved changes to the Fund’s principal investment strategies and primary benchmark (from MSCI World IndexSM to the MSCI World Value IndexSM). The proposed changes to the Fund’s principal investment strategies better describe the security selection process resulting from the change in benchmark. Each of the foregoing changes will be effective on or about December 31, 2020.

Information regarding the investor call details can be found later in this press release.

Investment Strategies

The Fund will maintain its current, primary investment objective of providing a high level of income, and its secondary objective of capital appreciation. The Fund will continue to utilize an integrated option strategy. A description of the revised portions of the Fund’s equity investment strategies are included below:

The Fund seeks to invest in a portfolio of equity securities included in the MSCI World Value IndexSM (the “Index”) and will select securities based upon quantitative analysis. The Sub-Adviser creates a target universe that consists of dividend paying securities by screening for companies that exhibit stable dividend yields within each industry sector. Once the Sub-Adviser creates this target universe, the Sub-Adviser seeks to identify the most attractive securities within various geographic regions and sectors by ranking each security relative to other securities within its region or sector, as applicable, using proprietary fundamental sector-specific models. The Sub-Adviser then uses optimization techniques to seek to achieve the portfolio’s target dividend yield, which is expected to be higher than the Index in aggregate, manage target beta, determine active weights, and neutralize region and sector exposures in order to create a portfolio that the Sub-Adviser believes will provide the potential for maximum total return consistent with maintaining lower volatility than the Index. Under certain market conditions, the Fund will likely earn a lower level of total return than it would in the absence of its strategy of maintaining a relatively lower level of volatility.

Portfolio Management

The Fund is managed by Paul Zemsky, CFA, Vincent Costa, CFA, Peg DiOrio, CFA, and Steve Wetter, Voya Investment Management Co. LLC (“VIM”) — the Sub-Adviser.

Upcoming Webcast

Voya Investment Management, the asset management business of Voya Financial, Inc., will host a webcast for Voya Global Equity Dividend and Premium Opportunity Fund on Thursday, December 17, 2020 from 5:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. ET.

Hosted by Vinnie Costa, Portfolio Manager, the conference call will provide:

  • A review of the strategy and benchmark changes
  • A review of the markets that the funds invest in

To register for the webcast, please visit www.voyainvestments.com/CEF. The investment team will also address investor questions. To submit questions in advance, please email VoyaIMClosedEndFunds@voya.com by Wednesday, December 16th.

A replay will be made available on our website for those who cannot attend.

About Voya Investment Management

A leading, active asset management firm, Voya Investment Management manages, as of September 30, 2020, over $238 billion for affiliated and external institutions as well as individual investors. With more than 40 years of history in asset management, Voya Investment Management has the experience and resources to provide clients with investment solutions with an emphasis on equities, fixed income, and multi-asset strategies and solutions. Voya Investment Management was named in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 as a “Best Places to Work” by Pensions and Investments magazine. For more information, visit voyainvestments.com. Follow Voya Investment Management on Twitter @VoyaInvestments.

Contacts

SHAREHOLDER INQUIRIES: Shareholder Services at (800) 992-0180; voyainvestments.com

CONTACT: Kris Kagel, (212) 309-6568