Managed High Yield Plus Fund Inc.—Dividend declaration, fund commentary, and updated price and yield information

Managed High Yield Plus Fund Inc. (the "Fund") (NYSE: HYF), a closed-end management investment company, today announced that the Fund’s Board of Directors has declared a dividend from net investment income of $0.0195 per share. The dividend is payable on March 31, 2010 to shareholders of record as of March 25, 2010. The ex-dividend date is March 23, 2010. Managed High Yield Plus Fund Inc. seeks high income and, secondarily, capital appreciation, primarily through investments in lower-rated, income producing debt and related equity securities.

Fund Commentary for the month of February 2010 from UBS Global Asset Management (Americas) Inc. (“UBS Global AM”), the Fund’s investment advisor

While the weakness in the US High Yield market continued into February, the market rallied from its lows near mid-month, as the anxiety surrounding the possible Greek default dissipated. The Greek government took active steps to resolve their own fiscal issues, and the stronger EU countries lent support to these programs. The situation in Europe highlighted the interconnectivity of global financial markets, as most investors feared the potentially negative impacts of a weakened European Monetary Union.

The high yield market was also jolted during the month with approximately $2.3 billion in high yield mutual fund redemptions, the largest outflow since 2005. The significance of this event was short-lived as the market began to slowly tighten after the third week’s report showed that the outflows had ceased. In addition, as financial results from the full year of 2009 began to trickle in, most companies beat their estimates and investors took comfort in a relatively positive outlook provided by the issuers.

As investors became more risk aware, CCC and B rated securities underperformed, while BB rated issues outperformed. Sectors with large CCC rated security exposure such as gaming, printing/publishing and electric all underperformed, while the general industrials, capital goods, packaging and healthcare outperformed. Defaults, as measured by the rolling last-twelve-months, fell again to 7.4% from 8.1% in the previous month (as measured by JP Morgan).

The new issue market remained consistent, in spite of the slight weakness in the market, with $16.2 billion of new deals priced, matching January’s total. We expect this above average trend in new issuance to continue due to looming debt maturities.

Performance attribution

We underperformed the Merrill Lynch High Yield Cash Pay Constrained Index for the month, primarily due to our overweight positions to B and CCC rated issuers. (Which, as we indicated above, underperformed during the month.)

Overall, security selection helped relative performance. However, positive results from an overweight position in financials and an underweight position in building materials were not enough to offset the negative impact of our overweight positions to gaming, B and CCC rated issues.

Disclaimers Regarding Fund Commentary - The Fund Commentary is intended to assist shareholders in understanding how the Fund performed during the month noted. Views and opinions were current as of the date of this press release. They are not guarantees of performance or investment results and should not be taken as investment advice. Investment decisions reflect a variety of factors, and the Fund and UBS Global AM reserve the right to change views about individual securities, sectors and markets at any time. As a result, the views expressed should not be relied upon as a forecast of the Fund’s future investment intent.

Characteristics as of February 28, 2010*

    
      
        
          Net Asset Value per share
        
        
           
        
        
          $2.10
        
      
      
        
          Market Price per share
        
        
        
        
          $2.16
        
      
      
        
          NAV Yield
        
        
        
        
          11.14%
        
      
      
        
          Market Yield
        
        
        
        
          10.83%
        
      
    
    

* Net asset value (NAV), market price and yields will fluctuate. NAV yield is calculated by multiplying the current month’s dividend by 12 and dividing by the month-end net asset value. Market yield is calculated by multiplying the current month’s dividend by 12 and dividing by the month-end market price.