Strategy. Macquarie VIP Natural Resources Series seeks to achieve its objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of companies with operations throughout the world that own, explore or develop natural resources and other basic commodities or supply goods and services to such companies. For these purposes, natural resources generally includes, but is not limited to: energy (such as electricity and gas utilities, producers/developers, equipment/services, storage/transportation, gas/oil refining and marketing, service/drilling, pipelines and master limited partnerships (MLPs)), alternative energy (such as uranium, coal, nuclear, hydrogen, wind, solar, and fuel cells), industrial products (such as building materials, cement, packaging, chemicals, materials infrastructure, supporting transport and machinery), forest products (such as lumber, plywood, pulp, paper, … Show more… Macquarie VIP Natural Resources Series seeks to achieve its objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of companies with operations throughout the world that own, explore or develop natural resources and other basic commodities or supply goods and services to such companies. For these purposes, natural resources generally includes, but is not limited to: energy (such as electricity and gas utilities, producers/developers, equipment/services, storage/transportation, gas/oil refining and marketing, service/drilling, pipelines and master limited partnerships (MLPs)), alternative energy (such as uranium, coal, nuclear, hydrogen, wind, solar, and fuel cells), industrial products (such as building materials, cement, packaging, chemicals, materials infrastructure, supporting transport and machinery), forest products (such as lumber, plywood, pulp, paper, newsprint, and tissue), base metals (such as aluminum, copper, nickel, zinc, iron ore, and steel), precious metals and minerals (such as gold, silver, platinum, and diamonds), and agricultural products (such as grains and other foods, seeds, fertilizers, and water). The Series also may invest in companies that are not within the energy sector but that are engaged in the development of products and services to enhance energy efficiency in the manufacturing, development, and/or providing of products and services. After conducting a top-down (assessing the market environment) market analysis of the natural resources industry and identifying trends and sectors, the Manager uses a research-oriented, bottom-up (researching individual issuers) investment approach when selecting securities for the Series, focusing on company fundamentals and growth prospects. The Series invests in a blend of value and growth companies across the capitalization spectrum, and emphasizes companies that the Manager believes are strongly managed and can generate above-average capital growth and appreciation. The Manager focuses on companies that it believes are high quality, have the potential for sustainable long-term growth and that are low-cost leaders that possess historically strong-producing assets. The Series typically holds a limited number of stocks (generally 30 to 60). Under normal circumstances, the Manager anticipates that a significant portion of the Series holdings will consist of issuers in the energy and materials sectors. The Series seeks to be diversified internationally, and therefore, the Manager invests in foreign companies and U.S. companies that have principal operations in foreign jurisdictions. While the Manager typically seeks to invest a majority of the Series assets in the U.S., the Series may invest up to 100% of its total assets in foreign securities. Exposure to companies in any one particular foreign country will generally be less than 15% of the Series total assets or two times the weight of the S&P Global Natural Resources Index, whichever is greater. The Series also may have exposure to companies located in, and/or doing business in, emerging markets. An investment in foreign securities presents additional risks such as currency fluctuations and political or economic conditions affecting the foreign country. Many of the companies in which the Series may invest have diverse operations, with products or services in foreign markets. Therefore, the Series may have indirect exposure to various foreign markets through investments in these companies, even if the Series is not invested directly in such markets. The Series may use forward currency contracts in an effort to manage foreign currency exposure. Generally, in determining whether to sell a security, the Manager uses the same type of analysis that it uses in buying securities to determine whether the security has ceased to offer significant growth potential, has sufficiently exceeded its target price, has become overvalued and/or whether the prospects of the issuer have deteriorated. The Manager also will consider the effect of commodity price trends on certain holdings, poor capital management or whether a company has experienced a change or deterioration in its fundamentals, its valuation or its competitive advantage. The Manager also may sell a security to take advantage of what it believes are more attractive investment opportunities, to reduce the Series holding in that security or to raise cash. The Manager may permit its affiliate, Macquarie Investment Management Global Limited (MIMGL), to execute Series security trades on behalf of the Manager. The Manager may also seek quantitative support from MIMGL. Show less