Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets (net assets plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity securities or equity-related securities issued by entities in, or tied economically to, emerging markets. The Fund may invest in securities issued by entities with market capitalizations at the time of investment of $500 million or more. These securities may be denominated in U.S. or non-U.S. currencies. The Fund may also invest in exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) to obtain this exposure or for other investment purposes. The Fund may also invest in American Depositary Receipts, Global Depositary Receipts and non-voting Depositary Receipts. An issuer of a security is considered to be a U.S. or foreign issuer based on the issuer’s “country of risk” (or similar designation) as determined by a third-party such as Bloomberg.

Candriam, the Fund’s Subadvisor, defines emerging market countries as those countries that are included in the MSCI Emerging + Frontier Markets Index.

The Subadvisor determines that an investment is tied economically to an emerging market if such investment satisfies either of the following conditions: (i) the issuer’s primary trading market is in an emerging market, or (ii) the investment is included in an index representative of emerging markets, such as MSCI Emerging + Frontier Markets Index.

At times, the Fund might increase the relative exposure to investments in a particular region or country. The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in securities that are not issued by entities in, or tied economically to, emerging markets. These investments may include equity securities, U.S. government and agency securities and short-term investments, such as cash and cash equivalents.

The Fund may also make use of derivative financial instruments for the purpose of hedging or exposure, such as futures, options, swaps, and forwards.

Investment Process: The Subadvisor seeks to create medium to longer-term capital appreciation through investments in emerging market companies that are considered to generate high, and growing, levels of profits by constructing a diversified, conviction based portfolio, aiming for consistent risk-adjusted returns greater than the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.

Investment opportunities are identified via a thematic approach, which seeks to identify and analyze investable longer term structural trends as well as shorter term local and global trends, combined with a bottom-up stock selection methodology based on a proprietary quantitative screening platform to identify companies with attractive profitability levels and sustainable growth trends relative to their country and/or sector. Additionally, this proprietary quantitative screening platform also seeks to limit exposure to industries which do not satisfy the Subadvisor’s environmental, social or governance (“ESG”) criteria such as certain types of extractive industries, tobacco-related industries and industries related to chemical, biological or white phosphorus weapons. By incorporating ESG criteria within the investment process, the Subadvisor identifies other factors that may influence a company's value and competitiveness over the medium- and long-term, which are not always immediately obvious in traditional financial analyses. External factors such as CO2 costs or health and safety standards affect most companies, either positively or negatively, when integrated into their economic model. Some factors offer a new opportunity while others are considered a threat to the business model.

ESG factors are evaluated by the Subadvisor based on data provided by its dedicated and independent ESG research team. The ESG research team conducts an ESG assessment of companies by their potential ability to create value by integrating sustainability into their business activities and the interest of stakeholders within their operating and financial managerial processes. The business activities analysis assesses how companies are exposed to major long-term ESG trends that can strongly influence the environment in which they operate and that may shape their future market challenges and long-term growth. The relationships with stakeholders give rise to opportunities as well as risks, and are therefore determinants of long-term value. The Subadvisor evaluates the extent to which each company incorporates the interests of stakeholders in its long-term strategy.

The ESG assessment is a contributing factor to determine the final assessment of a company, which in turn will determine the weighting of this position in the portfolio.

Finally, the Subadvisor applies a norms-based and controversial activities filter to exclude companies which may represent high risk due to a violation of UN Global Compact principles and exposed to highly controversial activities such as armament, tobacco and thermal coal.

The Subadvisor considers sector, currency, regional and country deviations relative to the MSCI Emerging Markets Index when making investment decisions for the Fund. The Subadvisor seeks to reduce risk by investing in securities of a large number of issuers across markets, sectors and countries.