Evergreen Investments Announces Changes to Product Line, Declares Monthly Dividend for Evergreen Utilities and High Income Fund

July 13, 2007

Press Release

BOSTON – Evergreen Investments announced today that the Board of Trustees of the Evergreen Funds approved the following proposals:

Name, strategy and investment objective change for Evergreen Large Cap Equity Fund (NASDAQ: EVSAX)
Addition of Evergreen International Advisors LLC as sub-advisor to Evergreen Diversified Bond Fund (NASDAQ: EKDLX)
Increase of the monthly dividend of Evergreen Utilities and High Income Fund (AMEX: ERH)
Change in the fiscal year end of Evergreen International Balanced Income Fund (NYSE:EBI) to October 31 from April 30

Evergreen Large Cap Equity Fund¹

To differentiate the Fund more effectively among a crowded category, and to describe more clearly the investment approach used to manage the Fund’s portfolio, the Board approved a proposal to change the Fund’s name to Evergreen Enhanced S&P 500® Fund*.

The Fund’s investment objective will be to seek total return greater than that of the S&P 500® Index. To achieve its objective the Fund will invest, under normal conditions, at least 80 percent of its assets in common stocks of companies included within the S&P 500® Index at time of purchase. Up to 20 percent of the Fund’s assets may be invested in equity securities of companies not included in the S&P 500® Index, including foreign stocks, and in cash or cash equivalents. The Fund’s portfolio manager seeks to outperform the S&P 500® Index by employing a quantitative investment approach to identify companies with favorable investment characteristics in the areas of valuation, sentiment and quality. In the aggregate, this approach seeks to offer risk characteristics similar to the S&P 500® Index, while emphasizing those investment characteristics the portfolio manager considers most likely to lead to performance greater than that of the S&P 500® Index.

These changes will be effective September 30, 2007.

Evergreen Diversified Bond Fund²

In order to achieve greater investment flexibility consistent with Evergreen Diversified Bond Fund’s “core-plus” mandate, the Board approved adding Evergreen International Advisors LLC (EIA) as a sub-advisor to the Fund. EIA manages more than $22 billion (as of March 31, 2007) in a variety of international and global fixed income mandates and is sub-advisor to Evergreen International Bond Fund, Evergreen International Balanced Income Fund and Evergreen Multi-Sector Income Fund. Shareholders of the Fund will have the opportunity to vote on the proposal at a shareholder meeting held at Evergreen Investments’ offices, 200 Berkeley St., Boston, MA, on September 21, 2007. If approved, the addition of EIA will be effective October 1, 2007. As previously announced, the Fund’s name will change to Evergreen Core Plus Bond Fund effective August 1, 2007.

Evergreen Utilities and High Income Fund³

Based on the firm’s analysis of Evergreen Utilities and High Income Fund’s ability to generate income, the Board approved an increase to the monthly dividend rate from $0.20 per share to $0.23 per share, an increase of approximately 15.0 percent. This rate increases the current distribution yield of the Fund, based on yesterday’s closing price of $27.33, to 10.1 percent.

As a result, Evergreen Utilities and High Income Fund today declared the following monthly dividend from ordinary income:

Declaration Date	Ex-dividend Date	Record Date	Payable Date	Dividend Rate/Share
July 13, 2007	August 13, 2007	August 15, 2007	September 4, 2007	$0.23 / share

Evergreen International Balanced Income Fund4

To maximize Evergreen International Balanced Income Fund’s ability to generate net short-term gains within a calendar year, the Board approved changing the Fund’s fiscal year end (FYE) to October 31. The Fund’s option overlay strategy has the ability to generate net short-term losses that can offset the Fund’s ability to generate income from short-term gains. By changing the FYE to October, the portfolio management team has potentially more time to generate the income from short-term gains over the first 10 months of a calendar year.

Mutual funds are not FDIC insured, are not bank guaranteed and may lose value.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

¹Foreign investments may contain more risk due to the inherent risks associated with changing political climates, foreign market instability and foreign currency fluctuations. Mid-cap securities may be subject to special risks associated with narrower product lines and limited financial resources than compared to their large-cap counterparts and, as a result, mid-cap securities may decline significantly in market downturns. The stocks of smaller companies may be more volatile than those of larger companies due to the higher risk of failure.

²Foreign investments may contain more risk due to the inherent risks associated with changing political climates, foreign market instability and foreign currency fluctuations. Asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities are generally subject to higher prepayment risks than other types of debt securities, which can limit the potential for gain in a declining interest rate environment and increase the potential for loss in a rising interest rate environment. Mortgage-backed securities may also be structured so that they are particularly sensitive to interest rates. Derivatives involve additional risks including interest rate risk, credit risk, the risk of improper valuation and the risk of non-correlation to the relevant instruments they are designed to hedge or to closely track. High yield, lower-rated bonds may contain more risk due to the increased possibility of default. The return of principal is not guaranteed due to fluctuation in the fund's NAV caused by changes in the price of individual bonds held by the fund and the buying and selling of bonds by the fund. Bond funds have the same inflation, interest rate and credit risks as individual bonds. Generally, the value of bond funds rise when prevailing interest rates fall, and fall when interest rates rise. U.S. government guarantees apply only to certain securities held in the fund's portfolio and not to the fund's shares.

³Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that investors' shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original costs. The fund has issued preferred shares and, in addition, may borrow, which creates leverage. The use of leverage results in certain risks including, among others, the likelihood of greater volatility of net asset value and the market price of common shares. Foreign investments may contain more risk due to the inherent risks associated with changing political climates, foreign market instability and foreign currency fluctuations. Funds that concentrate their investments in a single industry or sector may face increased risk of price fluctuation over more diversified funds due to adverse developments within that industry or sector. Non-diversified funds may face increased risk of price fluctuation over more diversified funds due to adverse developments within certain sectors. Derivatives involve additional risks including interest rate risk, credit risk, the risk of improper valuation and the risk of non-correlation to the relevant instruments they are designed to hedge or to closely track. High yield, lower-rated bonds may contain more risk due to the increased possibility of default. The return of principal is not guaranteed due to fluctuation in the fund's NAV caused by changes in the price of individual bonds held by the fund and the buying and selling of bonds by the fund. Bond funds have the same inflation, interest rate and credit risks as individual bonds. Generally, the value of bond funds rise when prevailing interest rates fall, and fall when interest rates rise. U.S. government guarantees apply only to certain securities held in the fund's portfolio and not to the fund's shares.

⁴Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that investors' shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original costs. Foreign investments may contain more risk due to the inherent risks associated with changing political climates, foreign market instability and foreign currency fluctuations. Derivatives involve additional risks including interest rate risk, credit risk, the risk of improper valuation and the risk of non-correlation to the relevant instruments they are designed to hedge or to closely track. High yield, lower-rated bonds may contain more risk due to the increased possibility of default. The return of principal is not guaranteed due to fluctuation in the fund's NAV caused by changes in the price of individual bonds held by the fund and the buying and selling of bonds by the fund. Bond funds have the same inflation, interest rate and credit risks as individual bonds. Generally, the value of bond funds rise when prevailing interest rates fall, and fall when interest rates rise. There are numerous risks associated with transactions in options on securities. As the writer of an index call option, the Fund foregoes the opportunity to profit from increases in the values of securities held by the Fund. However, the Fund has retained the risk of loss (net premiums received) should the price of the Fund's portfolio securities decline. Similar risks are involved with writing call options on individual securities held in the Fund's portfolio. This combination of potentially limited appreciation and full depreciation over time may lead to the erosion in the value of the Fund.

*“Standard & Poor’s,” “S&P,” “S&P 500,” “Standard & Poor’s 500” and “500” are trademarks of the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. and have been licensed for use by Evergreen Investment Management Company, LLC. The product is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Standard & Poor’s and Standard & Poor’s makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in the product.

About Evergreen Investments
Evergreen Investments is the brand name under which Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB) conducts its investment management business. Wachovia Global Asset Management is the brand name under which Evergreen Investments conducts sales and distribution business outside of the United States. Combined, the groups serve more than four million individual and institutional investors through a broad range of investment products. Led by more than 300 investment professionals, Evergreen Investments strives to meet client investment objectives through disciplined, team-based asset management. Evergreen Investments manages more than $281.5 billion in assets (as of June 30, 2007). For more information on Evergreen, please visit EvergreenInvestments.com.

Source: Evergreen Investments

Media Inquiries:
Dan Flaherty: 617.210.3887, dflaherty@EvergreenInvestments.com

Shareholder Inquiries: 800.343.2898