First Trust Strategic High Income Fund II Declares its Monthly Common Share Distribution of $0.09 Per Share for March

First Trust Strategic High Income Fund II (the “Fund”) (NYSE: FHY) has declared the Fund’s regularly scheduled monthly common share distribution in the amount of $0.09 per share payable on March 15, 2017, to shareholders of record as of March 3, 2017. The ex-dividend date is expected to be March 1, 2017. The monthly distribution information for the Fund appears below.

First Trust Strategic High Income Fund II (FHY):

Distribution per share:     $0.09 Distribution Rate based on the February 17, 2017 NAV of $14.23: 7.59% Distribution Rate based on the February 17, 2017 closing market price of $12.80: 8.44%  

A portion of this distribution may come from net investment income, net short-term realized capital gains or return of capital. The final determination of the source of tax status of all 2017 distributions will be made after the end of 2017 and will be provided on Form 1099-DIV.

The Fund is a diversified, closed-end management investment company that seeks to provide a high level of current income. As a secondary objective, the Fund seeks to provide capital growth. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objectives by investing in a diversified portfolio of below-investment grade and investment grade debt securities, and equity securities that the investment sub-advisor believes offer attractive yield and/or capital appreciation potential. The Fund may invest up to 100% of its managed assets in below-investment grade debt securities (commonly referred to as "high-yield" or "junk" bonds).

First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund's investment advisor, along with its affiliate, First Trust Portfolios L.P., are privately-held companies which provide a variety of investment services, including asset management and financial advisory services, with collective assets under management or supervision of approximately $100 billion as of January 31, 2017 through unit investment trusts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, mutual funds and separate managed accounts.

Brookfield Investment Management Inc. ("Brookfield") serves as the Fund's investment sub-advisor. Brookfield is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, a global alternative asset manager with approximately $250 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2016. Brookfield Asset Management has over a 100-year history of owning and operating assets with a focus on property, renewable power, infrastructure and private equity. Brookfield Asset Management's public market activities are conducted by Brookfield, a registered investment advisor, with more than $13 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2016.