The Vulcan Value Partners Small Cap Fund seeks to achieve long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in publicly traded small-cap companies the Fund believes to be both undervalued and possessing a sustainable competitive advantage.

The Fund views equity investments as ownership in a business enterprise and approaches investing as long-term partial ownership of businesses. The Fund seeks to purchase publicly traded companies at significant discounts to intrinsic worth. The Fund seeks to invest for the long term, limiting the selection of qualifying investments to good businesses with identifiable, sustainable competitive advantages to maximize returns and to minimize risk. The Fund generally defines risk as the probability of permanently losing capital over a five-year period.

The Fund generally sells stocks when they approach their appraised value. The Fund seeks to determine business or intrinsic value through disciplined financial analysis. The Fund believes that equities purchased at prices substantially less than their intrinsic worth generally afford capital protection from significant permanent loss and also create the possibility of substantial appreciation if the market recognizes the company’s economic value.

This portfolio strategy invests in companies with smaller market capitalizations. While the Fund does not have any defined cutoffs, the Fund generally uses the Russell 2000® as a guide to define the universe of small capitalization companies, and any small publicly traded company with reasonable economics would be a potential investment in this portfolio. Under normal circumstances, at least eighty percent (80%) of the Vulcan Value Partners Small Cap Fund’s net assets are invested in small-cap companies. As of June 30, 2024, the median market capitalization of the Russell 2000® Index was approximately $0.88 billion, the top of this range was approximately $11.1 billion. The capitalization range of the companies in the Vulcan Value Partners Small Cap Fund will change over time. For purposes of the Fund’s 80% investment policy, the Fund considers small-cap companies to be those companies whose market capitalization at the time of initial purchase is within the market capitalization range of companies in the Russell 2000® Index during the most recent 12-month period. As of June 30, 2024, the latest reconstitution date, this range was approximately $18.1 million to $11.1 billion; however, this capitalization range is expected to change over time.

Once the Fund owns a company, the Fund will not necessarily sell it just because it has grown to a size that the Fund would not consider to be small cap. A core position in the Fund is generally approximately 5% of the Fund’s portfolio, so that theoretically the Fund would seek to hold about 20 companies, spread across various industries. Because it is rare that the Fund would find exactly 20 companies meeting its investment guidelines, allocations will vary with the price to value ratio of specific companies. The Fund may invest in positions as small as less than 1% when price to value ratios are higher. The Fund generally will not invest in any business that is trading above the Fund’s estimate of its fair value. Most of these securities are listed on the major securities exchanges. The Fund may invest up to 30% of net assets in publicly traded foreign securities which may consist in whole or in part of securities of issuers in emerging markets. If investments meeting the Fund’s criteria are not available, the Fund may invest the Fund’s assets temporarily in obligations of the U.S. government and its agencies, or in other money market instruments. The Fund is non-diversified, which means that it may take a more focused approach to investing.