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VAN KAMPEN AMERICAN CAPITAL U.S. GOVERNMENT FUND
SUPPLEMENT DATED JANUARY 2, 1998
TO THE STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION DATED APRIL 30, 1997, AS PREVIOUSLY
SUPPLEMENTED ON JULY 21, 1997 AND AUGUST 4, 1997
Pursuant to the Fund's Statement of Additional Information, the Fund's Class
A shares may be purchased at net asset value under certain defined circumstances
by certain classes or groups of investors. Certain net asset value categories
described in the section "NAV PURCHASE OPTIONS" under "PURCHASE OF SHARES --
CLASS A SHARES -- OTHER PURCHASE PROGRAMS" have been amended as follows:
(2) Current or retired directors, officers and employees of Morgan Stanley
Group Inc. and any of its subsidiaries, employees of an investment subadviser to
any fund described in (1) above or an affiliate of such subadviser, and such
persons' families and their beneficial accounts.
(3) Directors, officers, employees and registered representatives of
financial institutions that have a selling group agreement with the Distributor
and their spouses and children under 21 years of age when purchasing for any
accounts they beneficially own, or, in the case of any such financial
institution, when purchasing for retirement plans for such institution's
employees; provided that such purchases are otherwise permitted by such
institutions.
(4) Registered investment advisers who charge a fee for their services,
trust companies and bank trust departments investing on their own behalf or on
behalf of their clients. The Distributor may pay Participating Dealers through
which purchases are made an amount up to 0.50% of the amount invested, over a
12-month period.
(5) Trustees and other fiduciaries purchasing shares for retirement plans
which invest in multiple fund families through national wirehouse alliance
programs subject to certain minimum size and operational requirements. The
Distributor has entered into agreements with The Prudential Insurance Company of
America under which the Fund shall be offered pursuant to the PruArray Program
and Merrill Lynch ("Merrill") under which the Fund shall be offered pursuant to
the Merrill Program. Trustees and other fiduciaries of retirement plans seeking
to invest in multiple fund families through broker-dealer retirement plan
alliance programs should contact Prudential or Merrill for further information
concerning the PruArray and Merrill Programs including, but not limited to,
minimum size and operational requirements.
An additional net asset value category, as described below, has been added
as item number 6 and the remaining items shall be renumbered accordingly.
(6) Beneficial owners of shares of Participating Funds held by a retirement
plan or held in a tax-advantaged retirement account who purchase shares of the
Fund with proceeds from distributions from such a plan or retirement account
other than distributions taken to correct an excess contribution.
The Fund reserves the right to amend or terminate the terms of offering
shares of the Fund at net asset value at any time.
The section of the Statement of Additional Information captioned "PURCHASE
OF SHARES -- DEFERRED SALES CHARGE ALTERNATIVES -- CLASS C SHARES" is hereby
supplemented as follows:
A commission or transaction fee of up to 1.00% of the purchase amount will
generally be paid to authorized dealers at the time of purchase. Authorized
dealers also will be paid ongoing commissions and transaction fees of up to
0.75% of the average daily net assets of the Fund's Class C shares generally
annually commencing in the second year after purchase. Additionally, the
Distributor may, from time to time, pay additional promotional incentives, in
the form of cash or other compensation, to authorized dealers that sell Class C
shares of the Fund.
The section of the Statement of Additional Information captioned "PURCHASE
OF SHARES -- DEFERRED SALES CHARGE ALTERNATIVES -- WAIVER OF CONTINGENT DEFERRED
SALES CHARGE" is hereby amended as follows:
The CDSC is waived on redemptions of Class B shares and Class C shares (i)
following the death or disability (as defined in the Code) of a shareholder,
(ii) in connection with required minimum distributions from an IRA or other
retirement plan, (iii) pursuant to the Fund's systematic withdrawal plan but
limited to 12% annually of the initial value of the account; (iv) in
circumstances under which no commission or transaction fee is paid to authorized
dealers at the time of purchase of such shares; and (v) effected pursuant to the
right of the Fund to liquidate a shareholder's account as described herein under
"Redemption of Shares." The CDSC is also waived on redemptions of Class C shares
as it relates to the reinvestment of redemption proceeds in shares of the same
class of the Fund within 180 days after redemption. See "Shareholder Services"
and "Redemptions" for further discussion of waiver provisions.
