Company: GDV-PK
Filing Date: 2025-08-11
Form Type: 40-APP
Source: 0001829126-25-006051
Chunk: 14

Company: GABELLI DIVIDEND & INCOME TRUST
Filing Date: 2025-08-11
Form: 40-APP
Chunk 14
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 (xi) alternatives to the Transaction, such as conducting an underwritten initial public offering for a new fund similar to Preferred Trust or changing the non-fundamental investment policies of Dividend Trust in a manner that would transform it into a fund focused on investment in preferred securities and other income producing securities and would allow it to invest a greater percentage of its total assets in securities of non-U.S. issuers.

The Board of Dividend Trust
and the Board of Preferred Trust each believes that the expense ratio of Preferred Trust, which is expected to be approximately 0.7% higher
than that of Dividend Trust, and the modestly higher combined expenses are appropriate in light of the benefits of having a separate fund
that will allow the holders of Dividend Trust Common Shares to gain greater access to a fund focused on investment in preferred securities
and other income producing securities.

B.

Applicants request that an order be issued pursuant to Section 17(d) of the 1940 Act and Rule 17d-1 thereunder. Rule 17d-1(b) provides that in determining whether to grant such an order, the Commission will consider whether the participation of the investment company in the joint transactions “is consistent with the provisions, policies and purposes of the 1940 Act and the extent to which such participation is on a basis different from or less advantageous than that of other participants.”

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The Boards have determined
that the Transaction meets the standards for an order pursuant to Rule 17d-1 for much the same reasons as discussed above with respect
to the request for exemption from Section 17(a). The Transaction has been proposed in order to benefit the shareholders of Dividend
Trust as well as Preferred Trust. In addition, neither the Adviser nor any other affiliated person of Dividend Trust or Preferred Trust
will receive additional fees solely as a result of the Transaction. In fact, the fee indirectly payable to the Adviser by shareholders
of Preferred Trust will be the same as the fee currently indirectly payable to the Adviser by shareholders of Dividend Trust. Although
it is possible to conclude that the creation of Preferred Trust may also benefit the Adviser by providing it with an additional managed
fund, the Board of Dividend Trust has determined that such result does not supply a benefit that could not have otherwise been achieved
with greater benefit to the Adviser through an initial public offering of a fund investing in preferred securities and other income producing
securities and that such benefit is both hypothetical