To pursue its goal, the fund normally invests primarily in equity securities of foreign companies located in developed markets, excluding the United States. The fund considers "developed markets" to be countries included in the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Europe, Australasia and Far East (EAFE®) Index and Canada. "Foreign companies" are companies: (i) that are organized under the laws of a foreign country; (ii) whose principal trading market is in a foreign country; or (iii) that have a majority of their assets, or that derive a majority of their revenue or profits from businesses, investments or sales, outside the United States. The fund ordinarily invests in at least three countries and is not geographically limited in its investment selection. The fund invests principally in common stocks, including common stocks listed on foreign exchanges.

The fund may invest in equity securities of companies of any market capitalization. In addition, the fund may, from time to time, invest a significant portion (more than 20%) of its total assets in equity securities of companies in certain sectors or located in particular regions or countries. As of December 31, 2023, the fund invests a significant portion of its assets in equity securities of companies in the healthcare, consumer discretionary, information technology, and industrials sectors. In addition, as of December 31, 2023, the fund has significant exposure to equity securities of companies located in Western Europe, particularly France, and Japan. Although the fund's investments will be focused among developed markets, excluding the United States, the fund may invest up to 20% of its assets in emerging markets. Certain of the fund's investments may be denominated in foreign currencies. It is expected that the currency exposure of the fund's portfolio will be unhedged to the U.S. dollar.

The fund's sub-adviser, Walter Scott & Partners Limited (Walter Scott), an affiliate of the Adviser, seeks investment opportunities in companies with fundamental strengths that indicate the potential for sustainable long-term growth, thereby benefitting from the power of compounding. Walter Scott focuses on individual equity security selection, building the fund's portfolio from the bottom up through extensive fundamental research.

The investment process begins with the screening of reported company financials. Companies that meet certain broad absolute and trend criteria are candidates for more detailed analysis. As part of that analysis, Walter Scott considers all material opportunities and risks with respect to a company, financial and non-financial, and regularly engages with company management teams. Walter Scott first restates the company's income statement, flow of funds, and balance sheet to a cash basis, to understand the cash generating strengths of the company and thereby the company's ability to achieve self-financed growth so far as possible. Walter Scott then conducts a detailed investigation of the company's products, cost and pricing, competition and industry position and outlook. In assessing the valuation of an individual equity security Walter Scott uses various measures, including price-to-earnings ratio versus growth rate, price-to-cash ratio, price-to-book ratio and dividend yield. Walter Scott invests the fund's assets in reasonably valued equity securities of companies exhibiting market leadership and long-term growth prospects, underpinned by strong management and sound operating practices. The fund typically invests in 25 to 30 companies. Geographic, sector and industry allocations, as well as allocations to equity securities of companies with varying market capitalizations, are the result of, not part of, the investment process, because Walter Scott's sole focus is on the analysis of and investment in individual companies.

The fund typically sells an equity security when it no longer possesses the characteristics that caused Walter Scott to purchase the security for the fund's portfolio. An equity security may be a sell candidate when its valuation reaches or exceeds its calculated fair value, or there are deteriorating fundamentals. Walter Scott may reduce the weighting of an equity security held by the fund if it becomes overweighted as determined by Walter Scott.

The fund is non-diversified.