Calamos to refinance $939 million of ARPs

NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - Calamos Investments said on Wednesday it intends to refinance $939 million of the outstanding auction rate preferred securities (ARPs) issued by two of its closed-end funds.

The funds are the Calamos Global Total Return Fund CGO.N and the Calamos Strategic Total Return Fund CSQ.N.

"We have worked very hard to structure a solution that makes sense for each fund and all shareholders," said John Calamos, chief executive of Calamos Investments.

"We continue to work toward solutions across our entire closed-end fund complex and hope to have additional announcements in the weeks to come."

Calamos said it has secured an alternative form of borrowing that, based on current market conditions, will enable Calamos Global Total Return Fund to redeem all of its $59 million of outstanding ARPs and Calamos Strategic Total Return Fund to redeem 81.5 percent or $880 million of its outstanding ARPs.

The aggregate $939 million is about 41 percent of the total auction rate preferred outstanding in the five Calamos closed-end funds.

Auction-rate securities are long-term bonds that behave like short-term debt and have long been popular with conservative investors because of their tax-exempt status. Their interest rates are often reset frequently. (Reporting by Mark McSherry; Editing By Ovais Subhani) (mark.mcsherry@reuters.com, 646 223 6094)