N-CSR 1 d868036dncsr.htm ALLIANZ VARIABLE INSURANCE PRODUCTS TRUST ANNUAL REPORT ALLIANZ Variable Insurance Products Trust Annual Report

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM N-CSR

 

 

CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF REGISTERED

MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES

Investment Company Act file number 811-09491

 

 

Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust

(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)

 

 

5701 Golden Hills Drive, Minneapolis,

MN 55416-1297

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

 

 

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.,

4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200, Columbus,

OH 43219-8000

(Name and address of agent for service)

 

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: 800-624-0197

Date of fiscal year end: December 31

Date of reporting period: December 31, 2019

 

 

 


Item 1. Reports to Stockholders.


AZL® DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 9

Statement of Operations

Page 9

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 10

Financial Highlights

Page 11

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 12

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 18

Other Information

Page 19

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 20

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 23

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund and Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund (the “Fund”) returned 3.50%. That compared to a 3.86% total return for its benchmark, the FTSE World Government Bond Index, 1-5 Years, Currency-Hedged in USD Terms1.

Global fixed income returns were generally positive for 2019. Non-U.S. yield curves exhibited currency-hedged expected returns equal to or greater than those in the U.S. Yield curves in markets eligible for inclusion in the Fund generally flattened, suggesting smaller expected term premiums by the end of the year. Realized term premiums were positive for the year, with longer-term bonds generally outperforming shorter-term bonds.*

The Fund underperformed its benchmark during the 12-month period. An overweight position in Norwegian krone-denominated bonds detracted from the Fund’s relative performance during the period, as Norwegian bonds underperformed. The Fund’s focus on higher-quality securities meant it had a below-benchmark exposure to lower-rated bond markets, such as Italy, which outperformed during the period. This reduced exposure to strongly-performing markets dragged on the Fund’s relative performance.*

By contrast, underweight positions in Japanese yen-denominated bonds and short-term U.S. dollar-denominated bonds boosted relative returns, as these issues underperformed in the period. An overweight position in intermediate-term euro-denominated bonds, which produced strong performance relative to the overall benchmark, also improved the Fund’s performance during the period.*

The Fund used currency forward contracts to hedge its foreign currency exposure during the period. Given that the Fund’s benchmark index is also currency hedged, this strategy did not affect the Fund’s relative performance.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

*

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

 

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmark please refer to page 2 of this report.

 
 

 

1


AZL® DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

The Fund’s investment objective is to seek to provide a market rate of return for a fixed income portfolio with low relative volatility of returns, and seeks to focus the eligible universe on securities with relatively less expected upward or downward movement in market value. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets in fixed income securities that mature within five years from the date of settlement.

Investment Concerns

Bonds offer a relatively stable level of income, although bond prices will fluctuate, providing the potential for principal gain or loss. Intermediate-term, higher-quality bonds generally offer less risk than longer-term bonds and a lower rate of return.

International investing may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuations in currency values, from differences in generally accepted accounting principles or from economic or political instability in other nations.

Debt securities held by the Fund may decline in value due to rising interest rates.

Investing in derivatives instruments involves risks that may be different from or greater than the risk associated with investing directly in securities or other traditional instruments.

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmark and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

     1
Year
    3
Year
    Since
Inception
(4/27/15)
 

AZL® DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

     3.50     2.07     1.40

FTSE World Government Bond Index, 1-5 Years, Currency-Hedged in USD Terms

     3.86     2.37     1.89

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratio

   Gross  

AZL® DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

     0.91

The above expense ratio is based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.50% on all assets. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense), to 0.95% through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratio can be found in the Financial Highlights.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the FTSE World Government Bond Index, 1-5 Years, Currency-Hedged in USD Terms, an unmanaged index that is designed to measure the performance of fixed-rate; local currency, investment-grade sovereign bonds, and currently comprises sovereign debt from over 20 countries. This index follows the same inclusion criteria and methodology as the FTSE (Non-USD) World Government Bond Index, which is a market capitalization-weighted index that tracks 10 government bond indexes, excluding the U.S. (“WGBI”), but only includes the securities from the WGBI with a weighted average life of greater than or equal to 1 and less than 5 years. The index does not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

 

2


AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
 

Ending

Account Value
12/31/19

  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,007.00     $ 4.10       0.81 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,021.12     $ 4.13       0.81 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

Foreign Bonds

      85.9 %

Corporate Bonds

      5.7

Yankee Dollars

      2.8

Commercial Paper

      2.8

U.S. Treasury Obligations

      2.6

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

      1.0
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      100.8

Net other assets (liabilities)

      (0.8 )
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

3


AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds (5.7%):  
Communications Equipment (0.3%):  
$ 1,339,000      Cisco Systems, Inc., 1.85%, 9/20/21, Callable 8/20/21 @ 100    $ 1,340,391  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (0.6%):  
  2,000,000      Toyota Motor Credit Corp., 2.16% (US0003M+15 bps), 10/9/20, MTN      2,000,802  
  200,000      Toyota Motor Credit Corp., 0.75%, 7/21/22      229,617  
  257,000      Toyota Motor Credit Corp., 2.38%, 2/1/23      310,056  
     

 

 

 
        2,540,475  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (0.5%):  
  1,900,000      Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., 0.63%, 1/17/23, Callable 11/17/22 @ 100      2,172,646  
     

 

 

 
Food & Staples Retailing (0.3%):  
  1,000,000      Walmart, Inc., 1.90%, 4/8/22, Callable 1/8/22 @ 100      1,170,865  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (1.3%):  
  4,700,000      Procter & Gamble Co. (The), 2.00%, 8/16/22      5,575,234  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (0.5%):  
  1,850,000      3M Co., 0.38%, 2/15/22, Callable 11/15/21 @ 100      2,097,814  
  200,000      3M Co., Series E, 0.95%, 5/15/23      232,127  
     

 

 

 
        2,329,941  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (1.3%):  
  750,000      Johnson & Johnson, 0.25%, 1/20/22, Callable 12/20/21 @ 100      849,245  
  4,521,000      Pfizer, Inc., 0.25%, 3/6/22, Callable 2/6/22 @ 100      5,113,723  
     

 

 

 
        5,962,968  
     

 

 

 
Software (0.2%):  
  250,000      Oracle Corp., Series E, 2.25%, 1/10/21, MTN      287,577  
  491,000      Oracle Corp., 2.50%, 5/15/22, Callable 3/15/22 @ 100      498,130  
     

 

 

 
        785,707  
     

 

 

 
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals (0.7%):  
  500,000      Apple, Inc., 3.04% (US0003M+113 bps), 2/23/21      505,646  
  2,000,000      Apple, Inc., 1.00%, 11/10/22      2,317,414  
     

 

 

 
        2,823,060  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Corporate Bonds (Cost $25,648,660)

     24,701,287  
     

 

 

 
Foreign Bonds (85.9%):  
Banks (24.2%):  
  16,000,000      Bank of Montreal, 1.88%, 3/31/21+      12,291,313  
  1,000,000      Bank of Montreal, 1.61%, 10/28/21+      763,355  
  7,000,000      Bank of Nova Scotia, 2.13%, 6/15/20+      5,397,666  
  6,500,000      Bank of Nova Scotia, 3.27%, 1/11/21+      5,068,138  
  500,000      Bank of Nova Scotia, 0.38%, 4/6/22, MTN+      565,406  
  3,000,000      Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, 1.85%, 7/14/20+      2,310,421  
  3,200,000      Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, 1.90%, 4/26/21+      2,461,072  
  450,000      Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, 0.75%, 3/22/23+      517,037  
  1,000,000      Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Series E, 0.50%, 7/11/22+      1,137,251  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Foreign Bonds, continued  
Banks, continued  
$ 2,389,000      Cooperatieve Rabobank UA, Series E, 4.75%, 6/6/22+    $ 2,996,338  
  2,093,000      Cooperatieve Rabobank UA, 0.50%, 12/6/22+      2,386,088  
  4,350,000      Dexia Credit Local SA, 0.25%, 6/2/22+      4,942,796  
  1,800,000      Dexia Credit Local SA, Series E, 1.13%, 6/15/22+      2,390,973  
  5,200,000      Dexia Credit Local SA, 0.25%, 6/1/23, MTN+      5,920,469  
  405,000      International Bank for Reconstruction & Development, 1.00%, 12/19/22+      538,489  
  6,123,000      Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau, 2.13%, 8/15/23+      7,481,751  
  3,000,000      National Australia Bank, Ltd., Series G, 0.88%, 1/20/22+      3,432,109  
  500,000      National Australia Bank, Ltd., 0.35%, 9/7/22+      566,702  
  10,930,000      Nordic Investment Bank, 1.38%, 7/15/20, MTN+      1,242,660  
  1,164,000      Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG, Series E, 0.75%, 3/7/22+      1,536,111  
  5,500,000      Royal Bank of Canada, 1.92%, 7/17/20+      4,235,729  
  3,500,000      Royal Bank of Canada, 2.03%, 3/15/21+      2,695,302  
  7,700,000      Royal Bank of Canada, Series DPNT, 1.97%, 3/2/22+      5,907,010  
  1,190,000      Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, 1.25%, 8/5/22+      1,578,303  
  250,000      State of North Rhine-Westphalia Germany, 1.25%, 3/13/20+      281,296  
  2,700,000      State of North Rhine-Westphalia Germany, 0.00%, 12/5/22+      3,054,527  
  3,167,000      State of North Rhine-Westphalia Germany, 0.38%, 2/16/23+      3,624,407  
  475,000      State of North Rhine-Westphalia Germany, 0.13%, 3/16/23+      539,725  
  1,000,000      State of North Rhine-Westphalia Germany, 0.20%, 4/17/23+      1,139,258  
  2,318,000      Svenska Handelsbanken AB, Series E, 0.25%, 2/28/22+      2,618,365  
  1,000,000      Svenska Handelsbanken AB, 2.63%, 8/23/22+      1,199,017  
  1,100,000      Svenska Handelsbanken AB, 1.13%, 12/14/22+      1,273,640  
  2,000,000      Toronto-Dominion Bank (The), 2.56%, 6/24/20+      1,544,116  
  4,000,000      Toronto-Dominion Bank (The), Series DPNT, 2.62%, 12/22/21+      3,110,598  
  10,300,000      Toronto-Dominion Bank (The), Series DPNT, 1.99%, 3/23/22+      7,911,977  
  300,000      Westpac Banking Corp., Series E, 0.25%, 1/17/22+      338,423  
     

 

 

 
     104,997,838  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (1.1%):  
  4,000,000      Canada Housing Trust, 1.45%, 6/15/20+(a)      3,076,741  
  300,000      FMS Wertmanagement, 1.13%, 9/7/23+      400,272  
  1,000,000      International Finance Corp., 0.96% (SONIA+25bps), 1/18/22+      1,324,941  
     

 

 

 
     4,801,954  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (2.4%):  
  1,000,000      Toyota Credit Canada, Inc., 2.20%, 2/25/21+      771,041  
  1,500,000      Toyota Credit Canada, Inc., 2.02%, 2/28/22+      1,150,786  
  5,368,000      Toyota Finance Australia, Ltd., 0.00%, 4/9/21, MTN+      6,030,766  
  1,355,000      Toyota Finance Australia, Ltd., Series E, 0.50%, 4/6/23, MTN+      1,545,154  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Foreign Bonds, continued  
Consumer Finance, continued  
$ 905,000      Toyota Motor Finance Netherlands BV, Series E, 0.25%, 1/10/22, MTN+    $ 1,023,832  
     

 

 

 
     10,521,579  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (32.6%):  
  1,000,000      Agence Francaise de Developpement, 0.13%, 4/30/22+      1,133,123  
  1,500,000      Agence Francaise de Developpement, 0.50%, 10/25/22+      1,718,932  
  5,700,000      ASB Finance, Ltd., Series E, 0.50%, 6/10/22+      6,482,649  
  11,248,000      Asian Development Bank, 0.20%, 5/25/23+      12,847,558  
  400,000      Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten NV, Series E, 1.00%, 3/15/22+      530,612  
  1,600,000      Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten NV, 0.25%, 2/22/23+      1,824,698  
  399,000      BNG Bank NV, 1.50%, 4/15/20+      449,968  
  6,334,000      BNG Bank NV, 0.05%, 7/11/23, MTN+      7,185,728  
  300,000      Caisse d’Amortissement de la Dette Sociale, 0.13%, 11/25/22+      341,603  
  400,000      Caisse d’Amortissement de la Dette Sociale, Series E, 0.50%, 5/25/23, MTN+      461,747  
  5,600,000      Caisse d’Amortissement de la Dette Sociale, 0.13%, 10/25/23+      6,387,195  
  700,000      Caisse des Depots et Consignations, Series E, 1.00%, 1/25/21, MTN+      927,635  
  403,000      Council Of Europe Development Bank, 0.38%, 10/27/22+      461,368  
  750,000      Council Of Europe Development Bank, 0.13%, 5/25/23, MTN+      854,133  
  4,498,000      European Bank for Reconstruction & Development, Series G, 1.01% (SONIO/N+30bps), 2/28/24, MTN+      5,957,798  
  11,400,000      European Financial Stability Facility, 0.13%, 10/17/23, MTN+      12,988,313  
  183,000      European Investment Bank, 1.04% (BP0003M+25bps), 2/17/20, MTN+      242,457  
  2,000,000      European Investment Bank, Series E, 0.99% (SONIO/N+28bps), 1/10/22, MTN+      2,654,888  
  85,000,000      European Investment Bank, Series E, 1.50%, 5/12/22, MTN+      9,648,274  
  143,000      European Investment Bank, 0.00%, 10/16/23+      162,389  
  8,586,000      European Stability Mechanism, 0.10%, 7/31/23+      9,768,865  
  400,000      Kommunalbanken AS, 1.13%, 11/30/22+      532,318  
  846,000      Kommunekredit, 0.13%, 8/28/23, MTN+      962,124  
  97,000,000      Kommuninvest I Sverige AB, 0.25%, 6/1/22+      10,386,627  
  24,000,000      Kommuninvest I Sverige AB, 0.75%, 2/22/23+      2,605,669  
  3,000,000      Kommuninvest I Sverige AB, Series 2311, 1.00%, 11/13/23, MTN+      328,919  
  4,253,000      Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau, 0.00%, 9/15/23+      4,828,713  
  200,000      Landeskreditbank Baden-Wuerttemberg Foerderbank, Series E, 0.88%, 3/7/22+      264,729  
  5,250,000      Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank, 0.05%, 6/12/23, MTN+      5,966,915  
  1,466,000      Municipality Finance plc, 1.25%, 12/7/22+      1,956,809  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Foreign Bonds, continued  
Diversified Financial Services, continued  
$ 3,091,000      Nederlandse Waterschapsbank NV, 0.13%, 9/25/23, MTN+    $ 3,519,853  
  500,000      Nestle Finance International, Ltd., Series E, 0.75%, 11/8/21, MTN+      570,930  
  500,000      Nestle Finance International, Ltd., 1.75%, 9/12/22+      589,964  
  1,100,000      NRW.Bank, 0.00%, 11/11/22+      1,244,104  
  4,500,000      NRW.Bank, 0.13%, 3/10/23+      5,115,660  
  5,850,000      NRW.Bank, 0.13%, 7/7/23+      6,649,964  
  4,680,000      OP Corporate Bank plc, Series E, 0.75%, 3/3/22+      5,344,747  
  700,000      Roche Finance Europe BV, 0.50%, 2/27/23, Callable 11/27/22 @ 100+      799,381  
  1,140,000      Shell International Finance BV, 1.63%, 3/24/21, MTN+      1,308,344  
  500,000      Temasek Financial I, Ltd., Series E, 0.50%, 3/1/22+      568,771  
  800,000      Temasek Financial I, Ltd., Series G, 4.63%, 7/26/22+      1,157,598  
  1,300,000      Total Capital Canada, Ltd., 1.88%, 7/9/20, MTN+      1,474,591  
  600,000      Total Capital Canada, Ltd., Series E, 1.13%, 3/18/22+      692,243  
  500,000      Total Capital International SA, Series E, 0.00% (EUR003M+30bps), 3/19/20, MTN+      561,172  
  900,000      Total Capital International SA, 0.25%, 7/12/23+      1,019,942  
     

 

 

 
     141,480,020  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (0.9%):  
  600,000      UNEDIC ASSEO, 0.13%, 5/25/22+      680,473  
  2,600,000      UNEDIC ASSEO, 0.88%, 10/25/22+      3,016,896  
     

 

 

 
     3,697,369  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (1.2%):  
  500,000      Equinor ASA, Series E, 2.00%, 9/10/20, MTN+      569,635  
  1,925,000      Shell International Finance BV, Series E, 1.25%, 3/15/22+      2,228,179  
  900,000      Shell International Finance BV, Series E, 1.00%, 4/6/22+      1,036,245  
  1,300,000      Statoil ASA, 0.88%, 2/17/23, Callable 11/17/22 @ 100+      1,495,048  
     

 

 

 
     5,329,107  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (3.8%):  
  750,000      Novartis Finance SA, 0.75%, 11/9/21+      856,808  
  2,000,000      Novartis Finance SA, 0.50%, 8/14/23, Callable 5/14/23 @ 100+      2,286,121  
  1,200,000      Sanofi, 0.00%, 1/13/20, MTN+      1,345,979  
  300,000      Sanofi, 0.00% (EUR003M+15bps), 3/21/20, MTN+      336,710  
  500,000      Sanofi, 1.13%, 3/10/22, Callable 12/10/21 @ 100+      575,933  
  300,000      Sanofi, Series E, 0.00%, 3/21/22, Callable 2/21/22 @ 100, MTN+      338,288  
  1,100,000      Sanofi, 0.00%, 9/13/22, Callable 6/13/22 @ 100+      1,239,218  
  8,300,000      Sanofi, 0.50%, 3/21/23, Callable 12/21/22 @ 100+      9,483,400  
     

 

 

 
     16,462,457  
     

 

 

 
Road & Rail (0.2%):  
  667,000      Transport For London, 2.25%, 8/9/22, MTN+      913,444  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Foreign Bonds, continued  
Sovereign Bond (19.3%):  
$ 300,000      Bpifrance Financement SA, Series E, 0.10%, 2/19/21+    $ 338,298  
  10,000,000      Canadian Government Bond, 1.50%, 3/1/20+      7,701,555  
  81,000,000      Denmark Government Bond, 1.50%, 11/15/23+      13,122,415  
  4,000,000      European Investment Bank, Series E, 3.50%, 1/14/21+      441,630  
  200,000      European Investment Bank, 0.05%, 12/15/23, MTN+      227,724  
  500,000      European Stability Mechanism Bill, 0.00%, 1/23/20+(b)      560,954  
  1,000,000      European Stability Mechanism Bill, 0.00%, 3/5/20+(b)      1,122,580  
  1,000,000      Export Development Canada, Series E, 1.02% (SONIO/N+31bps), 5/29/24+      1,323,868  
  4,615,000      Finland Government Bond, 0.00%, 9/15/23+(a)      5,266,166  
  1,700,000      French Republic Discount Bill, 0.00%, 2/12/20+(b)      1,908,101  
  3,150,000      International Bank for Reconstruction & Development, 1.13%, 3/11/20+      2,423,588  
  4,568,000      International Bank for Reconstruction & Development, 0.98% (SONIO/N+27bps), 5/15/24+      6,044,889  
  500,000      Kommunalbanken AS, Series E, 0.88%, 12/8/20, MTN+      661,994  
  500,000      Kommunalbanken AS, Series E, 1.50%, 12/15/23, MTN+      675,151  
  6,000,000      Monetary Authority of Singapore Bill, Series 84, 1.71%, 1/31/20+(b)      4,455,734  
  7,000,000      Monetary Authority of Singapore Bill, Series 84, 1.76%, 3/20/20+(b)      5,185,758  
  450,000      Province of Manitoba, 1.50%, 12/15/22+      603,441  
  5,000,000      Province of Ontario, 4.20%, 6/2/20+      3,888,979  
  950,000      Province of Quebec, 0.88%, 5/24/22+      1,253,825  
  3,033,000      Republic of Austria Government Bond, 0.00%, 7/15/23+(a)      3,458,296  
  500,000      Swedish Export Credit AB, Series E, 1.38%, 12/15/23, MTN+      671,178  
  105,000,000      Swedish Government Bond, Series 1047, 5.00%, 12/1/20+      11,756,739  
  2,500,000      United Kingdom Government Bill, 0.72%, 3/2/20+(b)      3,306,923  
  6,000,000      United Kingdom Government Bill, 0.76%, 3/23/20+(b)      7,932,481  
     

 

 

 
     84,332,267  
     

 

 

 
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Foreign Bonds, continued  
Transportation Infrastructure (0.2%):  
$ 693,000      Oebb-Infrastruktur AG, Series E, 3.50%, 10/19/20, MTN+    $ 801,585  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Foreign Bonds (Cost $377,428,604)

     373,337,620  
     

 

 

 
Yankee Dollars (2.8%):  
Banks (0.5%):  
  1,250,000      Bank of Nova Scotia, Series B, 2.41% (US0003M+44 bps), 4/20/21      1,253,100  
  512,000      Bank of Nova Scotia, 2.70%, 3/7/22      520,446  
  400,000      The Toronto-Dominion Bank, 3.04% (US0003M+100 bps), 4/7/21, MTN      403,978  
     

 

 

 
     2,177,524  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (1.9%):  
  600,000      Caisse des Depots et Consignations, 2.18% (US0003M+9 bps), 10/2/20, MTN      600,444  
  1,000,000      EUROFIMA, 2.00% (US0003M+9 bps), 11/15/21      999,760  
  800,000      EUROFIMA, 1.99% (US0003M+10 bps), 3/11/22, MTN      799,616  
  2,000,000      Kommunalbanken AS, 2.04% (US0003M+4 bps), 4/15/21      1,999,288  
  3,000,000      Landeskreditbank Baden-Wuerttemberg Foerderbank, Series E, 2.07% (US0003M+12 bps), 9/27/21, MTN      3,002,820  
  650,000      Total Capital International SA, 2.88%, 2/17/22      663,355  
     

 

 

 
     8,065,283  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (0.2%):  
  910,000      Shell International Finance BV, 2.38%, 8/21/22      921,980  
     

 

 

 
Sovereign Bond (0.2%):  
  1,000,000      Swedish Export Credit AB, Series E, 2.01% (US0003M+12 bps), 12/13/21, MTN      1,000,330  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Yankee Dollars (Cost $12,113,411)

     12,165,117  
     

 

 

 
U.S. Treasury Obligations (2.6%):  
U.S. Treasury Notes (2.6%):  
  11,500,000      1.75% (USBMMY3M+22bps), 7/31/21      11,499,779  
     

 

 

 
 

Total U.S. Treasury Obligations (Cost $11,497,086)

     11,499,779  
     

 

 

 
Commercial Paper (2.8%):  
  4,000,000      DBS Bank, Ltd., 1.88%(a)(b)      3,979,860  
  5,000,000      DBS Bank, Ltd., 1.83%(a)(b)      4,984,275  
  3,000,000      Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., Ltd., 2.00%(a)      3,000,423  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Commercial Paper (Cost $11,963,915)

     11,964,558  
     

 

 

 
Unaffiliated Investment Companies (1.0%):  
Money Markets (1.0%):  
  4,252,122      Dreyfus Treasury Securities Cash Management Fund, Institutional Shares, 1.44%(b)      4,252,122  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Unaffiliated Investment Companies (Cost $4,252,122)

     4,252,122  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities (Cost $442,903,798)—100.8%(c)

     437,920,483  
 

Net other assets (liabilities)—(0.8)%

     (3,636,919
  

 

 

 
 

Net Assets—100.0%

   $ 434,283,564  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

BP0003M—3 Month GBP LIBOR

EUR003M—3 Month EUR LIBOR

LIBOR—London Interbank Offered Rate

MTN—Medium Term Note

SONIA—Sterling Overnight Interbank Average Rate

US0003M—3 Month US Dollar LIBOR

USBMMY3M—3 Month Treasury Bill Rate

 

+

The principal amount is disclosed in local currency and the fair value is disclosed in U.S. Dollars.

 

(a)

Rule 144A, Section 4(2) or other security which is restricted to resale to institutional investors. The sub-adviser has deemed these securities to be liquid based on procedures approved by the Board of Trustees.

 

(b)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(c)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

The following represents the concentrations by country of risk (based on the domicile of the security issuer) relative to the total fair value of investments as of December 31, 2019:

(Unaudited)

 

Country   Percentage  

Australia

    3.0

Austria

    1.3

Canada

    18.0

Denmark

    3.2

Finland

    2.9

France

    10.6

Germany

    10.0

Luxembourg

    3.9

Netherlands

    6.0

New Zealand

    1.5

Norway

    1.4

Singapore

    5.3

Supernational

    13.3

Sweden

    7.6

United Kingdom

    2.8

United States

    9.2
 

 

 

 
    100.0
 

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Forward Currency Contracts

At December 31, 2019, the Fund’s open forward currency contracts were as follows:

 

Currency Purchased                Currency Sold              Counterparty        Settlement
Date
       Net Unrealized
Appreciation/
(Depreciation)
 

Danish Krone

       896,670          U.S. Dollar        132,642        Bank of America          1/2/20        $ 1,975  

Danish Krone

       88,110,958          U.S. Dollar        13,160,691        State Street          1/2/20          67,395  

European Euro

       1,195,657          U.S. Dollar        1,330,060        Bank of America          1/8/20          11,670  

European Euro

       1,025,970          U.S. Dollar        1,139,989        Bank of America          1/8/20          11,323  

European Euro

       821,549          U.S. Dollar        916,838        Bank of America          1/8/20          5,079  

European Euro

       583,571          U.S. Dollar        645,306        State Street          1/8/20          9,559  

European Euro

       1,030,460          U.S. Dollar        1,145,730        Bank of America          1/9/20          10,693  

European Euro

       1,671,234          U.S. Dollar        1,860,952        BNY Mellon          1/9/20          14,572  

European Euro

       436,434          U.S. Dollar        487,337        BNY Mellon          1/9/20          2,447  

European Euro

       10,358          U.S. Dollar        11,559        BNY Mellon          1/9/20          65  

British Pound

       1,507,659          U.S. Dollar        1,952,845        Bank of America          1/24/20          45,208  

Canadian Dollar

       6,768,038          U.S. Dollar        5,091,993        Bank of America          1/28/20          121,580  

Canadian Dollar

       8,664,062          U.S. Dollar        6,577,881        Bank of America          1/28/20          96,243  

Canadian Dollar

       4,160,953          U.S. Dollar        3,173,986        Bank of America          1/28/20          31,290  
                         

 

 

 
                          $ 429,099  
                         

 

 

 

U.S. Dollar

       13,126,354          Danish Krone        89,007,628        Bank of America          1/2/20        $ (236,349

U.S. Dollar

       74,192,564          European Euro        67,058,602        Bank of America          1/8/20          (1,058,519

U.S. Dollar

       429,812          European Euro        387,810        BNY Mellon          1/8/20          (5,377

U.S. Dollar

       1,127,063          European Euro        1,017,389        Bank of America          1/9/20          (14,692

U.S. Dollar

       73,877,034          European Euro        66,852,991        Bank of America          1/9/20          (1,148,037

U.S. Dollar

       1,333,010          British Pound        1,023,528        BNY Mellon          1/9/20          (22,883

U.S. Dollar

       630,961          British Pound        484,939        State Street          1/9/20          (11,450

U.S. Dollar

       3,305,372          British Pound        2,503,553        State Street          1/9/20          (11,146

U.S. Dollar

       3,807,335          British Pound        2,923,585        State Street          1/9/20          (65,610

U.S. Dollar

       2,250,471          Swedish Krona        21,135,968        Bank of America          1/21/20          (9,327

U.S. Dollar

       1,680,269          Swedish Krona        15,776,779        Barclays Bank          1/21/20          (6,540

U.S. Dollar

       7,858,942          Swedish Krona        73,536,087        State Street          1/21/20          (3,328

U.S. Dollar

       13,615,313          Swedish Krona        129,982,248        State Street          1/21/20          (282,020

U.S. Dollar

       1,005,685          European Euro        904,707        Bank of America          1/24/20          (10,571

U.S. Dollar

       865,831          European Euro        782,565        State Street          1/24/20          (13,223

U.S. Dollar

       70,927,684          European Euro        63,508,950        State Street          1/24/20          (411,810

U.S. Dollar

       37,525,808          British Pound        28,945,660        State Street          1/24/20          (834,972

U.S. Dollar

       10,439,738          Norwegian Krone        96,709,246        Bank of America          1/28/20          (582,275

U.S. Dollar

       3,077,707          Canadian Dollar        4,045,052        Bank of America          1/28/20          (38,288

U.S. Dollar

       84,630,211          Canadian Dollar        110,454,587        Barclays Bank          1/28/20          (455,459

U.S. Dollar

       5,153,386          Singapore Dollar        6,982,400        Bank of America          2/5/20          (41,489

U.S. Dollar

       4,403,935          Singapore Dollar        5,977,320        Citigroup          2/5/20          (43,165

U.S. Dollar

       13,183,786          Danish Krone        87,926,231        State Street          2/26/20          (71,167
                         

 

 

 
                          $ (5,377,697
                         

 

 

 

Total Net Forward Currency Contracts

 

                     $ (4,948,598
                         

 

 

 

Balances Reported in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities for Forward Currency Contracts

 

     

Unrealized

Appreciation

     Unrealized
Depreciation
 

Forward currency contracts

   $ 429,099      $ (5,377,697

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investment securities, at cost

    $ 442,903,798
   

 

 

 

Investment securities, at value

    $ 437,920,483

Interest and dividends receivable

      1,411,983

Foreign currency, at value (cost $2,625)

      2,668

Unrealized appreciation on forward currency contracts

      429,099

Receivable for capital shares issued

      229,190

Prepaid expenses

      1,491
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      439,994,914
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Unrealized depreciation on forward currency contracts

      5,377,697

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      24,580

Manager fees payable

      184,230

Administration fees payable

      4,667

Distribution fees payable

      92,114

Custodian fees payable

      11,506

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      1,541

Transfer agent fees payable

      959

Trustee fees payable

      379

Other accrued liabilities

      13,677
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      5,711,350
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 434,283,564
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 440,934,712

Total distributable earnings

      (6,651,148 )
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 434,283,564
   

 

 

 

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      44,228,532

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 9.82
   

 

 

 

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Interest

    $ 4,084,633

Dividends

      81,120

Income from securities lending

      6,599
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      4,172,352
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      2,683,087

Administration fees

      145,218

Distribution fees

      1,117,947

Custodian fees

      64,441

Administrative and compliance services fees

      8,076

Transfer agent fees

      5,859

Trustee fees

      25,942

Professional fees

      22,177

Shareholder reports

      6,286

Other expenses

      13,900
   

 

 

 

Total expenses before reductions

      4,092,933

Less expenses voluntarily waived/reimbursed by the Manager

      (447,176 )
   

 

 

 

Net expenses

      3,645,757
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      526,595
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities and foreign currencies

      (6,434,387 )

Net realized gains/(losses) on forward currency contracts

      20,646,243

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities and foreign currencies

      8,013,097

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on forward currency contracts

      (7,026,059 )
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      15,198,894
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 15,725,489
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 526,595     $ 2,230,317

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      14,211,856       12,519,470

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      987,038       (9,544,124 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      15,725,489       5,205,663
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Distributions

      (24,665,739 )       (2,736,651 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (24,665,739 )       (2,736,651 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      12,381,360       23,263,345

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      24,665,739       2,736,651

Value of shares redeemed

      (54,717,556 )       (73,662,691 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      (17,670,457 )       (47,662,695 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      (26,610,707 )       (45,193,683 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      460,894,271       506,087,954
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 434,283,564     $ 460,894,271
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Shares issued

      1,218,558       2,334,447

Dividends reinvested

      2,514,346       275,594

Shares redeemed

      (5,333,251 )       (7,385,373 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      (1,600,347 )       (4,775,332 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

10


AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
2019
  Year Ended
December 31,
2018
  Year Ended
December 31,
2017
  Year Ended
December 31,
2016
 

April 27, 2015

to December 31,

2015(a)

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 10.06     $ 10.00     $ 9.96     $ 9.91     $ 10.00
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.01 (b)       0.06       0.11       0.11       0.06

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      0.34       0.06       0.05       0.02       (0.15 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      0.35       0.12       0.16       0.13       (0.09 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.59 )       (0.06 )       (0.12 )       (0.08 )      
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (0.59 )       (0.06 )       (0.12 )       (0.08 )      
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 9.82     $ 10.06     $ 10.00     $ 9.96     $ 9.91
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(c)

      3.50 %       1.17 %       1.57 %       1.28 %       (0.90 )%(d)

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 434,284     $ 460,894     $ 506,088     $ 482,830     $ 517,049

Net Investment Income/(Loss)(e)

      0.12 %       0.45 %       1.11 %       1.01 %       0.90 %

Expenses Before Reductions(e)(f)

      0.92 %       0.91 %       0.90 %       0.90 %       0.91 %

Expenses Net of Reductions(e)

      0.82 %       0.81 %       0.80 %       0.80 %       0.81 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate

      35 %       69 %       83 %       52 %       127 %(d)

 

(a)

For the period April 27, 2015 (commencement of share class) to December 31, 2015.

 

(b)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(c)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(d)

Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(e)

Annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(f)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

11


AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019 

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services — Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available. Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Fund accrues such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Foreign Currency Translation

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

 

12


AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019 

 

Securities Lending

To generate additional income, the Fund may lend up to 331/3% of its assets pursuant to agreements requiring that the loan be continuously secured by any combination of cash, U.S. government or U.S. government agency securities, equal initially to at least 102% of the fair value plus accrued interest on the securities loaned (105% for foreign securities). The borrower of securities is at all times required to post collateral to the Fund in an amount equal to 100% of the fair value of the securities loaned based on the previous day’s fair value of the securities loaned, marked-to-market daily. Any collateral shortfalls are adjusted the next business day. The Fund bears all of the gains and losses on such investments. The Fund receives payments from borrowers equivalent to the dividends and interest that would have been earned on securities lent while simultaneously seeking to earn income on the investment of cash collateral received. In extremely low interest rate environments, the broker rebate fee may exceed the interest earned or the cash collateral which would result in a loss to the Fund. The investment of cash collateral deposited by the borrower is subject to inherent market risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks that are present in the market, and as such, the value of these investments may not be sufficient, when liquidated, to repay the borrower when the loaned security is returned. There may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. However, loans will be made only to borrowers, such as broker-dealers, banks or institutional borrowers of securities, deemed by the Manager to be of good standing and credit worthy and when in its judgment, the consideration which can be earned currently from such securities loans justifies the attendant risks. Loans are subject to termination by the Trust or the borrower at any time, and are, therefore, not considered to be illiquid investments. Securities on loan at December 31, 2019 are presented on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

Cash collateral received in connection with securities lending is invested on behalf of the Fund in the BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, a money market fund which invests in short-term investments that have a remaining maturity of 397 days or less in accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. The Fund pays the Securities Lending Agent 9% of the gross revenues received from securities lending activities and keeps 91%. The Fund paid securities lending fees of $632 during the year ended December 31, 2019. These fees have been netted against “Income from securities lending” on the Statement of Operations. The Fund had no open securities lending transactions as of December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019, there were no master netting provisions in the securities lending agreement.

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not engage in any Rule 17a-7 transactions under the Rule.

Derivative Instruments

All open derivative positions at period end are reflected on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments. The following is a description of the derivative instruments utilized by the Fund, including the primary underlying risk exposures related to each instrument type.

Forward Currency Contracts

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund entered into forward currency contracts in connections with planned purchases or sales of securities or to hedge the U.S. dollar value of securities denominated in a particular currency. In addition to the foreign currency risk related to the use of these contracts, the Fund could be exposed to risks if the counterparties to the contracts are unable to meet the terms of their contracts and from unanticipated movements in the value of a foreign currency relative to the U.S. dollar. In the event of default by the counterparty to the transaction, the Fund’s maximum amount of loss, as either the buyer or the seller, is the unrealized appreciation of the contract. The forward currency contracts are adjusted by the daily exchange rate of the underlying currency and any gains or losses are recorded for financial statement purposes as unrealized gains or losses until the contract settlement date. When the contract is closed, the Fund records a realized gain or loss equal to the difference between the value at the time it was opened and the value at the time it was closed. For the year ended December 31, 2019, the monthly average notional amount for long contracts was $7.6 million and the monthly average notional amount for short contracts was $394.7 million. Realized gains and losses are reported as “Net realized gains/(losses) on forward currency contracts” on the Statement of Operations.

Summary of Derivative Instruments

The following is a summary of the fair values of derivative instruments on the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities, categorized by risk exposure, as of December 31, 2019:

 

   

Asset Derivatives

   

Liability Derivatives

 
Primary Risk Exposure   Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value
    Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value
 

Foreign Exchange Risk

     
Forward Currency Contracts   Unrealized appreciation on forward currency contracts   $ 429,099     Unrealized depreciation on forward currency contracts   $ 5,377,697  

The following is a summary of the effect of derivative instruments on the Statement of Operations, categorized by risk exposure, for the year ended December 31, 2019:

 

Primary Risk Exposure   Location of Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
   Realized Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
     Change in Net Unrealized
Appreciation/Depreciation on
Derivatives Recognized
 

Foreign Exchange Risk

     
Forward Currency Contracts   Net realized gains/(losses) on forward currency contracts/ Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on forward currency contracts    $ 20,646,243      $ (7,026,059

 

13


AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

The Fund is generally subject to master netting agreements that allow for amounts owed between the Fund and the counterparty to be netted. The party that has the larger payable pays the excess of the larger amount over the smaller amount to the other party. The master netting agreements do not apply to amounts owed to/from different counterparties. The amounts shown in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities do not take into consideration the effects of legally enforceable master netting agreements. The table below presents the gross and net amounts of these assets and liabilities with any offsets to reflect the Fund’s ability to transact net amounts in accordance with the master netting agreements at December 31, 2019. For financial reporting purposes, the Fund does not offset derivative assets and derivative liabilities that are subject to master netting arrangements in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. This table also summarizes the fair values of derivative instruments on the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities, categorized by risk exposure, as of December 31, 2019.

As of December 31, 2019, the Fund’s derivative assets and liabilities by type were as follows:

 

        Assets      Liabilities

Derivative Financial Instruments:

             

Forward currency contracts

       $ 429,099        $ 5,377,697
      

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total derivative assets and liabilities in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities

         429,099          5,377,697

Derivatives not subject to a master netting agreement or similar agreement (“MNA”)

         (17,084 )          (28,260 )
      

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total assets and liabilities subject to a MNA

       $ 412,015        $ 5,349,437
      

 

 

        

 

 

 

The following table presents the Fund’s derivative assets by counterparty net of amounts available for offset under MNA and net of the related collateral received by the Fund as of December 31, 2019:

 

Counterparty    Derivative Assets
Subject to a MNA
by Counterparty
  

Derivatives
Available

for Offset

   Non-cash
Collateral
Received*
   Cash
Collateral
Received*
   Net Amount
of Derivative
Assets

Bank of America

     $ 335,061      $ (335,061 )      $      $      $

State Street

       76,954        (76,954 )                     
    

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

 

Total

     $ 412,015      $ (412,015 )      $      $      $
    

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

 

The following table presents the Fund’s derivative liabilities by counterparty net of amounts available for offset under MNA and net of the related collateral pledged by the Fund as of December 31, 2019:

 

Counterparty    Derivative Liabilities
Subject to a MNA
by Counterparty
   Derivatives
Available
for Offset
  

Non-cash
Collateral

Pledged*

  

Cash
Collateral

Pledged*

   Net Amount
of Derivative
Liabilities

Bank of America

     $ 3,139,547      $ (335,061 )      $      $      $ 2,804,486

Barclays Bank

       461,999                             461,999

Citigroup

       43,165                             43,165

State Street

       1,704,726        (76,954 )                      1,627,772
    

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

 

Total

     $ 5,349,437      $ (412,015 )      $      $      $ 4,937,422
    

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

 

 

*

The actual collateral received or pledged may be in excess of the amounts shown in the table. The table only reflects collateral amounts up to the amount of the financial instrument disclosed on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to a subadvisory agreement with Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (“DFA”), DFA provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate*      Annual Expense Limit

AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

         0.60 %          0.95 %

 

*

The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.50% on all assets. The manager reserves the right to increase the management fee to the amount shown in the table at any time.

 

14


AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations.

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $3,376 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy.

Debt and other fixed income securities are generally valued at an evaluated bid price provided by an independent pricing source approved by the Trustees. To value debt securities, pricing services may use various pricing techniques which take into account appropriate factors such as market activity, yield, quality, coupon rate, maturity, type of issue, trading characteristics, call features, credit ratings and other data, as well as broker quotes. Short-term securities of sufficient credit quality with sixty days or less remaining until maturity may be valued at amortized cost, which approximates fair value. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

Forward currency contracts are generally valued at the forward foreign currency exchange rate as of the close of the NYSE and are typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

 

15


AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total
                             

Corporate Bonds+

       $        $ 24,701,287        $        $ 24,701,287

Foreign Bonds+

                  373,337,620                   373,337,620

Yankee Dollars+

                  12,165,117                   12,165,117

U.S. Treasury Obligations

                  11,499,779                   11,499,779

Commercial Paper

                  11,964,558                   11,964,558

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

         4,252,122                            4,252,122
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

         4,252,122          433,668,361                   437,920,483
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Other Financial Instruments:*

                           

Forward Currency Contracts

                  (4,948,598 )                   (4,948,598 )
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $ 4,252,122        $ 428,719,763        $        $ 432,971,885
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

*

Other Financial Instruments would include any derivative instruments, such as forward currency contracts. These investments are generally recorded in the financial statements at the unrealized gain or loss on the investment.

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

       $ 143,770,889        $ 234,907,752

For the year ended December 31, 2019, purchases and sales of long-term U.S. government securities were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

       $ 39,181,258        $ 27,693,589

6. Investment Risks

Derivatives Risk: The Fund may invest in derivatives as a principal strategy. A derivative is a financial contract whose value depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or risk. Use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Derivatives are subject to a number of other risks, such as liquidity risk, interest rate risk, market risk, credit risk, and selection risk. Derivatives also involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate, or index. Using derivatives may result in losses, possibly in excess of the principal amount invested. Also, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances. The counterparty to a derivatives contract could default. As required by applicable law, a Fund that invests in derivatives segregates cash or liquid securities, or both, to the extent that its obligations under the instrument are not covered through ownership of the underlying security, financial instrument, or currency.

Emerging Markets Risk: Emerging markets may have less developed trading markets and exchanges which may make it more difficult to sell securities at an acceptable price and their prices may be more volatile than securities of companies in more developed markets. Settlements of trades may be subject to greater delays so that the Fund may not receive the proceeds of a sale of a security on a timely basis. Emerging countries may also have less developed legal and accounting systems and investments may be subject to greater risks of government restrictions, nationalization, or confiscation.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Investments in securities of foreign issuers carry certain risks not ordinarily associated with investments in securities of domestic issuers. Such risks include future political and economic developments, and the possible imposition of exchange controls or other foreign governmental laws and restrictions. In addition, with respect to certain countries, there is the possibility of expropriation of assets, confiscatory taxation, political or social instability or diplomatic developments which could adversely affect investments in those securities.

London Interbank Offering Rate (“LIBOR”) Risk: Certain investments held by the Fund may pay or receive interest at floating rates based on LIBOR. The United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority expects the use of LIBOR will be phased out by the end of 2021. Currently, there are no definitive details regarding the future utilization of LIBOR or of any particular replacement floating rate of interest. Abandonment of or modifications to LIBOR could lead to market uncertainty and instability. To the extent that the Fund’s investments have maturities which extend beyond 2021, the applicable interest rates might be subject to change if there is a transition from the LIBOR reference rate. These risks may also apply with respect to changes in connection with other interbank offering rates (e.g., Euribor) and a wide range of other index levels, rates and values that are treated as “benchmarks” and are the subject of recent regulatory reform.

7. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

 

16


AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $442,904,981. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 2,788,293  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (7,772,791
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ (4,984,498
 

 

 

 

As of the end of its tax year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund has capital loss carry forwards (“CLCFs”) as summarized in the table below. The Board does not intend to authorize a distribution of any realized gain for the Fund until any applicable CLCF has been offset.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund utilized $99,873 in CLCFs to offset capital gains.

CLCF’s not subject to expiration:

 

                        Short-Term
Amount
     Long-Term
Amount
     Total Amount

AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

                     $ 3,436,105        $ 5,579,865        $ 9,015,970

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

                        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

                     $ 24,665,739        $        $ 24,665,739

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

                        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

                     $ 2,736,651        $        $ 2,736,651

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
    

Unrealized

Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)

    

Total
Accumulated

Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

       $ 9,025,087        $        $ (9,015,970 )        $ (5,288,537 )        $ (5,279,420 )

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales, mark-to-market of currency contracts and straddles.

8. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had an individual shareholder account which is affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 85% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

9. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

17


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL DFA Five-Year Global Fixed Income Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

18


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

19


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and

 

20


expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available

 

21


and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

22


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

23


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

24


LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL® DFA International Core Equity Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO

 


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 36

Statement of Operations

Page 36

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 37

Financial Highlights

Page 38

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 39

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 44

Other Federal Income Tax Information

Page 45

Other Information

Page 46

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 47

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 50

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® DFA International Core Equity Fund (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® DFA International Core Equity Fund and Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® DFA International Core Equity Fund (the “Fund”) returned 20.72%. That compared to a 22.66% and 23.16% total return for its benchmarks, the MSCI EAFE Index1 and the MSCI World Ex-USA Index1 respectively, each gross of withholding taxes.

Developed market equities outside the United States posted strong returns for the period. They trailed U.S. equities, but outperformed equities in emerging markets. Currency movements in developed markets were mixed, with the Canadian dollar and Israeli new shekel appreciating relative to the U.S. dollar, while the Swedish krona and Danish krone depreciated. Currency movements produced little overall impact on returns in U.S. dollar-denominated terms.

Within the developed ex-U.S. equity universe, small-cap stocks outperformed large-cap and mid-cap stocks during the period. Mid-cap stocks also outperformed large-cap stocks. Among large-cap equities, higher profitability stocks outperformed lower profitability stocks. However, higher profitability stocks in the small-cap universe underperformed their lower profitability counterparts. Growth stocks outperformed value stocks across all market cap sizes.

The Fund’s performance trailed that of both of its benchmarks during the 12-month period. The Fund’s bias toward value stocks dragged on relative results as growth stocks outperformed value stocks. The Fund’s tilt toward small-cap stocks offset some of this negative impact, due to strong performance among small-cap companies relative to their mid-cap and large-cap counterparts.*

The Fund also includes results from Canada, a country that is not covered by the MSCI EAFE Index. Canada outperformed the overall benchmark for the period, boosting relative returns.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

* 

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmarks please refer to page 2 of this report.

 
 

 

1


AZL® DFA International Core Equity Fund (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities.

Investment Concerns

Equity securities (stocks) are more volatile and carry more risk than other forms of investments, including investments in high-grade fixed income securities. The net asset value per share of this Fund will fluctuate as the value of the securities in the portfolio changes.

International investing may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuations in currency values, from differences in generally accepted accounting principles or from economic or political instability in other nations.

Small- to mid-capitalization companies typically have a higher risk of failure and historically have experienced a greater degree of volatility.

Value-based investments are subject to the risk that the broad market may not recognize their intrinsic value.

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmarks and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

     1
Year
    3
Year
    Since
Inception
(4/27/15)
 

AZL® DFA International Core Equity Fund

      20.72 %      7.82     3.36

MSCI EAFE Index (gross of withholding taxes)

     22.66     10.11     4.27

MSCI EAFE Index (net of withholding taxes)

     22.01     9.56     3.78

MSCI World Ex-USA Index (gross of withholding taxes)

     23.16     9.91     4.22

MSCI World Ex-USA Index (net of withholding taxes)

     22.49     9.34     3.69

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratio

   Gross  

AZL® DFA International Core Equity Fund

     1.38

The above expense ratio is based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.75% on all assets. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense), to 1.39% through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratio can be found in the Financial Highlights.

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Morgan Stanley Capital International, Europe, Australasia and Far East (“MSCI EAFE”) Index and the Morgan Stanley Capital International World Ex-USA (“MSCI World Ex-USA”) Index. The MSCI EAFE Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed markets, excluding the U.S. & Canada. The MSCI World Ex-USA Index captures a large- and mid-capitalization representation across 22 of 23 developed markets countries, excluding the United States. The Indexes are unmanaged and do not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The Index noted as “gross of withholding taxes” reflects the maximum possible reinvestment of dividends with no adjustment for withholding tax deductions or tax credits. The Index noted as “net of withholding taxes” reflects the reinvestment of dividends after the deduction of withholding taxes, using (for international indexes) a tax rate applicable to non-resident institutional investors who do not benefit from double taxation treaties. The Fund’s performance reflects the deduction of fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

 

2


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,075.10     $ 5.75       1.10 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,019.66     $ 5.60       1.10 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

Industrials

      19.2 %

Financials

      15.7

Consumer Discretionary

      14.4

Materials

      11.0

Consumer Staples

      7.5

Health Care

      7.0

Energy

      6.5

Information Technology

      6.5

Communication Services

      5.6

Utilities

      3.0

Real Estate

      2.7
   

 

 

 

Total Common and Preferred Stocks

      99.1

Warrants

        

Rights

        

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

      0.5

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

      0.4
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      100.0

Net other assets (liabilities)

        
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

3


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks (98.7%):  
Aerospace & Defense (1.2%):  
  4,047      Airbus SE    $ 593,716  
  15,989      Austal, Ltd.      43,021  
  982      Avon Rubber plc      27,296  
  44,779      BAE Systems plc      335,459  
  5,900      Bombardier, Inc., Class B*      8,770  
  6,187      CAE, Inc.      163,824  
  3,081      Chemring Group plc      9,830  
  50,056      Cobham plc      108,930  
  15      Dassault Aviation SA      19,755  
  504      Elbit Systems, Ltd.      78,510  
  89      Facc AG      1,112  
  401      FMS Enterprises Migun, Ltd.      14,881  
  2,535      Heroux-Devtek, Inc.*      37,291  
  9,452      Leonardo SpA      110,760  
  1,132      LISI      38,171  
  24,328      Meggitt plc      211,961  
  2,059      MTU Aero Engines AG      587,911  
  19,005      QinetiQ Group plc      90,051  
  25,323      Rolls-Royce Holdings plc      229,268  
  1,420      Saab AB      47,569  
  1,223      Safran SA      189,566  
  20,156      Senior plc      46,135  
  25,500      Singapore Technologies Engineering, Ltd.      74,796  
  1,426      Thales SA      148,348  
  4,563      Ultra Electronics Holdings plc      128,024  
     

 

 

 
        3,344,955  
     

 

 

 
Air Freight & Logistics (0.4%):  
  13,896      Bollore, Inc.      60,648  
  6,117      BPOST SA      70,882  
  1,400      Chuo Warehouse Co., Ltd.      15,720  
  2,399      Cia de Distribucion Integral Logista Holdings SA      54,193  
  6,355      CTT-Correios de Portugal SA      22,782  
  10,513      Deutsche Post AG      401,348  
  5,804      Freightways, Ltd.      33,208  
  73      ID Logistics Group*      14,772  
  37,500      Kerry Network, Ltd.      64,474  
  2,300      Kintetsu World Express, Inc.      39,926  
  1,800      Konoike Transport Co., Ltd.      27,434  
  1,284      Mainfreight, Ltd.      36,738  
  1,800      Mitsui-Soko Holdings Co., Ltd.      33,821  
  1,146      Oesterreichische Post AG      43,687  
  27,139      PostNL NV      61,216  
  23,649      Royal Mail plc      70,947  
  900      SBS Holdings, Inc.      15,606  
  27,700      Singapore Post, Ltd.      19,264  
  36      XPO Logistics Europe SADIR      10,454  
  2,000      Yamato Holdings Co., Ltd.      34,207  
  1,600      Yasuda Logistics Corp.      15,290  
     

 

 

 
        1,146,617  
     

 

 

 
Airlines (0.3%):  
  2,930      Air Canada*      109,468  
  13,467      Air France-KLM*      149,910  
  26,921      Air New Zealand, Ltd.      53,148  
  1,200      ANA Holdings, Inc.      40,154  
  1,046      Cathay Pacific Airways, Ltd.      1,548  
  6,945      Dart Group plc      155,735  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Airlines, continued  
  9,717      Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Registered Shares    $ 178,805  
  2,130      easyJet plc      40,511  
  28,658      El Al Israel Airlines*      7,994  
  1,728      Exchange Income Corp.      59,477  
  13,156      International Consolidated Airlines Group SA      109,234  
  1,700      Japan Airlines Co., Ltd.      53,057  
  24,091      Qantas Airways, Ltd.      120,336  
  18,011      SAS AB*      29,377  
  21,400      Singapore Airlines, Ltd.      144,015  
     

 

 

 
        1,252,769  
     

 

 

 
Auto Components (2.3%):  
  1,000      Aisan Industry Co., Ltd.      7,208  
  4,300      Aisin Sieki Co., Ltd.      159,059  
  7,300      Akebono Brake Industry Co., Ltd.*      16,390  
  1,027      Akwel      23,256  
  2,314      Arb Corp., Ltd.      30,520  
  266      Autoneum Holding AG      31,972  
  8,806      Brembo SpA      109,347  
  12,900      Bridgestone Corp.      479,210  
  1,647      Bulten AB      13,876  
  11      Burelle SA      10,099  
  3,874      CIE Automotive SA      91,761  
  5,225      Compagnie Generale des Establissements Michelin SCA, Class B      640,865  
  2,623      Continental AG      340,590  
  2,800      Daido Metal Co., Ltd.      19,508  
  2,400      Daikyonishikawa Corp.      18,661  
  3,400      Denso Corp.      153,394  
  10,709      Dometic Group AB(a)      108,027  
  1,800      Eagle Industry Co., Ltd.      18,618  
  673      Edag Engineering Group AG      7,625  
  1,724      ElringKlinger AG*      15,865  
  1,700      Exedy Corp.      38,369  
  3,076      Faurecia SA      166,767  
  2,300      FCC Co., Ltd.      49,701  
  1,000      F-Tech, Inc.      7,294  
  4,000      Futaba Industrial Co., Ltd.      28,002  
  1,400      G-Tekt Corp.      22,218  
  3,860      Gud Holdings, Ltd.      30,119  
  2,186      Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA      120,978  
  1,600      Hi-Lex Corp.      29,444  
  700      H-One Co., Ltd.      5,405  
  1,200      Imasen Electric Industrial      10,712  
  1,800      Kasai Kogyo Co., Ltd.      14,100  
  2,500      Keihin Corp.      58,661  
  1,600      Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      74,063  
  31,203      Kongsberg Automotive ASA*      21,796  
  1,400      KYB Corp.*      41,451  
  2,493      Leoni AG*^      29,143  
  3,233      Linamar Corp.      122,333  
  11,703      Magna International, Inc.      641,793  
  350      Magna Internationl, Inc.      19,193  
  6,366      Martinrea International, Inc.      70,161  
  2,000      Mitsuba Corp.      13,570  
  3,200      Musashi Seimitsu Industry Co., Ltd.      43,782  
  3,300      NGK Spark Plug Co., Ltd.      64,024  
  6,600      NHK SPRING Co., Ltd.      59,701  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Auto Components, continued  
  600      Nichirin Co., Ltd.    $ 10,712  
  3,600      Nifco, Inc.      98,483  
  3,300      Nippon Seiki Co., Ltd.      53,954  
  1,400      Nissin Kogyo Co., Ltd.      28,536  
  2,700      NOK Corp.      40,209  
  5,985      Nokian Renkaat OYJ      172,494  
  800      Ohashi Technica, Inc.      11,002  
  2,600      Pacific Industrial Co., Ltd.      35,376  
  1,800      Piolax, Inc.      34,725  
  6,511      Pirelli & C SpA(a)      37,527  
  2,839      Plastic Omnium SA      79,578  
  6,300      Press Kogyo Co., Ltd.      25,038  
  3,582      PWR Holdings, Ltd.      12,066  
  400      Riken Corp.      15,233  
  4,208      Saf-Holland SA      34,898  
  1,600      Sanden Holdings Corp.*      12,362  
  1,900      Sanoh Industrial Co., Ltd.      21,827  
  2,535      Schaeffler AG      27,522  
  600      Shoei Co., Ltd.      28,447  
  4,000      Showa Corp.      83,420  
  2,500      Stanley Electric Co., Ltd.      72,289  
  11,800      Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.      177,073  
  2,900      Sumitomo Riko Co., Ltd.      26,144  
  9,500      Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.      115,588  
  300      T RAD Co., Ltd.      5,636  
  1,400      Tachi-S Co., Ltd.      18,302  
  800      Taiho Kogyo Co., Ltd.      6,377  
  3,900      Tokai Rika Co., Ltd.      75,931  
  2,500      Topre Corp.      40,303  
  7,500      Toyo Tire Corp.      107,574  
  3,400      Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.      84,864  
  3,500      Toyota Boshoku Corp.      56,143  
  1,200      Toyota Industries Corp.      69,161  
  1,500      TPR Co., Ltd.      29,430  
  2,100      TS Tech Co., Ltd.      65,144  
  2,000      Unipres Corp.      28,073  
  2,847      Valeo SA      100,796  
  104,000      Xinyi Glass Holdings, Ltd.      137,818  
  6,500      Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. (The)      125,798  
  600      Yorozu Corp.      8,037  
     

 

 

 
        6,292,521  
     

 

 

 
Automobiles (2.7%):  
  7,641      Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW)      628,965  
  17,987      Daimler AG, Registered Shares      997,172  
  1,253      Ferrari NV      207,422  
  36,310      Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV      537,715  
  21,000      Honda Motor Co., Ltd.      592,433  
  24,135      IMMSI SpA*      15,220  
  10,900      Isuzu Motors, Ltd.      128,429  
  11,700      Mazda Motor Corp.      99,593  
  16,200      Mitsubishi Motors Corp.      67,444  
  33,900      Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.      197,047  
  2,700      Nissan Shatai Co., Ltd.      25,724  
  14,678      Piaggio & C SpA      45,262  
  27,636      PSA Peugeot Citroen SA      661,808  
  3,686      Renault SA      174,848  
  4,600      Subaru Corp.      113,753  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Automobiles, continued  
  4,400      Suzuki Motor Corp.    $ 184,327  
  36,824      Toyota Motor Corp.      2,593,127  
  794      Volkswagen AG      154,291  
  8,800      Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.      175,929  
     

 

 

 
        7,600,509  
     

 

 

 
Banks (8.0%):  
  3,000      77th Bank      49,868  
  5,948      ABN AMRO Group NV(a)      108,632  
  15,084      AIB Group plc      52,824  
  500      Aichi Bank, Ltd. (The)      17,132  
  1,500      Akita Bank, Ltd. (The)      30,388  
  3,329      Aktia Bank OYJ      34,900  
  1,200      Aomori Bank, Ltd. (The)      32,063  
  3,300      Aozora Bank, Ltd.      87,175  
  22,170      Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, Ltd.      384,004  
  2,000      Awa Bank, Ltd. (The)      44,595  
  21,166      Banca Popolare di Sondrio SCPA      50,061  
  44,344      Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA      249,878  
  75,804      Banco Bpm SpA*      172,554  
  106,975      Banco Comercial Portugues SA, Class R      24,392  
  118,137      Banco de Sabadell SA      138,368  
  158,428      Banco Santander SA      668,893  
  11,673      Bank Hapoalim BM      97,003  
  15,385      Bank Leumi Le-Israel Corp.      112,164  
  24,138      Bank of East Asia, Ltd. (The)      53,939  
  2,674      Bank of Georgia Group plc      57,674  
  39,409      Bank of Ireland Group plc      217,298  
  900      Bank of Iwate, Ltd. (The)      23,804  
  1,900      Bank of Kyoto, Ltd. (The)      81,012  
  15,317      Bank of Montreal      1,187,069  
  500      Bank of Nagoya, Ltd. (The)      15,550  
  9,618      Bank of Nova Scotia      543,321  
  820      Bank of Okinawa, Ltd. (The)      27,532  
  16,478      Bank of Queensland, Ltd.      83,973  
  1,100      Bank of Saga, Ltd. (The)      17,583  
  2,000      Bank of The Ryukyus, Ltd.      21,905  
  23,866      Bankia SA      51,083  
  11,373      Bankinter SA      83,611  
  71      Banque Cantonale de Geneve      14,278  
  142      Banque Cantonale Vaudoise,Registered Shares      115,918  
  32,117      Barclays plc, ADR      305,754  
  14,732      Bendigo & Adelaide Bank, Ltd.      101,288  
  209      Berner Kantonalbank AG      47,939  
  9,054      BNP Paribas SA      538,914  
  57,542      BOC Hong Kong Holdings, Ltd.      200,394  
  20,218      BPER Banca      101,741  
  41,307      CaixaBank SA      130,255  
  5,889      Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce      489,965  
  4,227      Canadian Western Bank      103,819  
  9,400      Chiba Bank, Ltd. (The)      54,056  
  4,300      Chiba Kogyo Bank, Ltd. (The)      15,546  
  6,200      Chugoku Bank, Ltd. (The)      62,888  
  700      Chukyo Bank, Ltd. (The)      14,325  
  1,097      Comdirect Bank AG      15,994  
  19,952      Commerzbank AG      123,540  
  11,410      Commonwealth Bank of Australia      641,322  
  19,900      Concordia Financial Group, Ltd.      81,640  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Banks, continued  
  9,126      Credit Agricole SA    $ 132,945  
  5,165      Credito Emiliano SpA      30,095  
  348,864      Credito Valtellinese SpA*      27,877  
  16,000      Dah Sing Banking Group, Ltd.      21,384  
  5,600      Dah Sing Financial Holdings, Ltd.      22,087  
  1,900      Daishi Hokuetsu Financial Group, Inc.      52,697  
  4,743      Danske Bank A/S      76,717  
  10,500      DBS Group Holdings, Ltd.      202,444  
  8,411      DNB ASA      157,675  
  3,100      Ehime Bank, Ltd. (The)      33,401  
  3,500      Erste Group Bank AG      131,630  
  6,500      Fidea Holdings Co., Ltd.      8,265  
  13,601      Finecobank Banca Fineco SpA      163,242  
  3,600      First Bank of Toyama, Ltd. (The)      11,378  
  1,816      First International Bank of Israel      52,610  
  1,000      Fukui Bank, Ltd. (The)      18,027  
  5,100      Fukuoka Financial Group, Inc.      97,364  
  2,200      Fukushima Bank, Ltd. (The)      5,604  
  11,100      Gunma Bank, Ltd. (The)      38,946  
  15,800      Hachijuni Bank, Ltd. (The)      68,813  
  9,105      Hang Seng Bank, Ltd.      188,429  
  26,855      Heartland Group Holdings Npv      33,484  
  11,800      Hiroshima Bank, Ltd. (The)      57,435  
  1,000      Hokkoku Bank, Ltd. (The)      31,976  
  6,000      Hokuhoku Financial Group, Inc.      62,890  
  29,691      HSBC Holdings plc, ADR      1,160,621  
  9,400      Hyakugo Bank, Ltd. (The)      29,795  
  1,000      Hyakujushi Bank, Ltd. (The)      19,752  
  31,633      ING Groep NV      380,134  
  116,122      Intesa Sanpaolo SpA      306,088  
  20,917      Isreal Discount Bank      97,114  
  9,500      Iyo Bank, Ltd. (The)      53,605  
  6,200      Jimoto Holdings, Inc.      6,503  
  1,200      Juroku Bank, Ltd. (The)      28,131  
  2,965      Jyske Bank A/S      108,314  
  1,742      Kansai Mirai Financial Group,Inc.      11,198  
  2,805      KBC Group NV      211,494  
  5,800      Keiyo Bank, Ltd. (The)      33,403  
  400      Kita-Nippon Bank, Ltd. (The)      8,278  
  3,800      Kiyo Bank, Ltd. (The)      57,443  
  13,590      Kyushu Financial Group, Inc.      58,464  
  2,296      Laurentian Bank of Canada      78,567  
  120,273      Liberbank SA      45,311  
  562      Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG      36,222  
  513,763      Lloyds Banking Group plc      428,735  
  78,144      Lloyds TSB Group plc, ADR      258,657  
  162      Luzerner Kantonalbank AG      70,257  
  24,670      Mebuki Financial Group, Inc.      62,952  
  9,651      Mediobanca SpA      106,296  
  700      Michinoku Bank, Ltd. (The)      9,641  
  95,500      Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc.      516,211  
  800      Miyazaki Bank, Ltd. (The)      19,936  
  3,605      Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, Ltd.      96,173  
  183,400      Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.      282,101  
  1,300      Musashino Bank, Ltd. (The)      22,299  
  800      Nagano Bank, Ltd. (The)      12,149  
  1,300      Nanto Bank, Ltd. (The)      32,964  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Banks, continued  
  19,757      National Australia Bank, Ltd.    $ 342,264  
  9,441      National Bank of Canada      524,112  
  7,200      Nishi-Nippon Holdings, Inc.      56,065  
  14,794      Nordea Bank AB      119,710  
  17,400      North Pacific Bank, Ltd.      38,779  
  4,701      Norwegian Finans Holding ASA*      51,048  
  1,800      Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank, Ltd. (The)      39,120  
  1,000      Oita Bank, Ltd. (The)      25,447  
  23,586      Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., Ltd.      192,906  
  28,000      Public Financial Holdings, Ltd.      11,428  
  5,943      Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG      149,066  
  33,600      Resona Holdings, Inc.      146,529  
  1,604      Ringkjoebing Landbobank A/S      124,056  
  1,041      Royal Bank of Canada      82,380  
  12,263      Royal Bank of Canada      971,230  
  19,782      Royal Bank of Scotland, ADR^      127,396  
  1,190      San Ju San Financial Group, Inc.      18,834  
  6,200      San-In Godo Bank, Ltd. (The)      37,806  
  1,475      Sbanken ASA(a)      12,543  
  11,600      Senshu Ikeda Holdings, Inc.      22,043  
  24,500      Seven Bank, Ltd.      80,528  
  2,300      Shiga Bank, Ltd. (The)      58,305  
  1,000      Shikoku Bank, Ltd. (The)      9,494  
  400      Shimizu Bank, Ltd. (The)      7,967  
  3,300      Shinsei Bank, Ltd.      50,382  
  7,400      Shizuoka Bank, Ltd. (The)      55,097  
  13,992      Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, Class A      131,665  
  8,737      Societe Generale      305,251  
  4,543      Spar Nord Bank A/S      44,119  
  4,203      Sparebank 1 Sr-Bank ASA      47,891  
  147      St. Galler Kantonalbank AG      68,481  
  37,160      Standard Chartered plc      350,909  
  10,600      Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc.      390,263  
  2,900      Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings, Inc.      114,456  
  1,500      Suruga Bank, Ltd.*      6,809  
  11,527      Svenska Handelsbanken AB, Class A      124,154  
  7,319      Swedbank AB, Class A      109,187  
  3,208      Sydbank A/S      67,290  
  1,200      Taiko Bank, Ltd. (The)      18,743  
  8,700      Tochigi Bank, Ltd. (The)      18,696  
  6,500      Toho Bank, Ltd. (The)      16,154  
  1,100      Tokyo Kiraboshi Financial Group, Inc.      15,295  
  7,500      Tomony Holdings, Inc.      28,404  
  12,432      Toronto-Dominion Bank (The)      697,808  
  2,100      Towa Bank, Ltd. (The)      16,688  
  6,200      Tsukuba Bank, Ltd.      13,571  
  13,966      Unicaja Banco SA(a)      15,186  
  17,111      Unicredit SpA      250,146  
  48,370      Unione di Banche Italiane SpA      157,922  
  9,727      United Overseas Bank, Ltd.      191,379  
  682      Valiant Holding AG      69,339  
  764      Van Lanschot Kempen NV      17,234  
  34,734      Virgin Money UK plc      87,779  
  582      Walliser Kantonalbank, Registered Shares      67,973  
  25,126      Westpac Banking Corp.      428,085  
  1,600      Yamagata Bank, Ltd. (The)      23,543  
  7,200      Yamaguchi Financial Group, Inc.      48,715  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Banks, continued  
  1,800      Yamanashi Chuo Bank, Ltd. (The)    $ 19,193  
  6      Zuger Kantonalbank AG      39,192  
     

 

 

 
        21,712,102  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (1.3%):  
  3,371      A.G. Barr plc      25,914  
  8,852      Anheuser-Busch InBev NV      725,815  
  3,600      Asahi Breweries, Ltd.      164,470  
  10,973      Britvic plc      131,672  
  11,716      C&C Group plc      62,969  
  1,071      Carlsberg A/S, Class B      159,790  
  11,116      Coca-Cola Amatil, Ltd.      86,415  
  2,200      Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Holdings, Inc.      56,499  
  3,897      Coca-Cola European Partners plc      195,596  
  3,906      Coca-Cola HBC AG      133,200  
  5,750      Cott Corp.      78,562  
  5,510      Davide Campari – Milano SpA      50,317  
  4,082      Diageo plc, ADR      687,491  
  4,304      Fevertree Drinks plc      119,679  
  2,618      Heineken NV      279,242  
  900      ITO EN, Ltd.      45,364  
  7,900      Kirin Holdings Co., Ltd.      172,328  
  109      Laurent-Perrier      10,684  
  938      Olvi OYJ      43,369  
  207      Pernod Ricard SA      37,051  
  2,807      Royal Unibrew A/S      257,367  
  4,000      Sapporo Breweries, Ltd.      94,313  
  3,457      Stock Spirits Group plc      9,472  
  1,000      Suntory Beverage & Food, Ltd.      41,824  
  2,119      Treasury Wine Estates, Ltd.      24,210  
     

 

 

 
        3,693,613  
     

 

 

 
Biotechnology (0.4%):  
  195      Argenx SE*      31,375  
  986      Bavarian Nordic A/S*      25,368  
  906      Biogaia AB      41,093  
  486      Biotest AG      11,181  
  3,023      CSL, Ltd.      586,553  
  225      Galapagos NV*      46,828  
  275      Genmab A/S*      61,219  
  634      Genus plc      26,777  
  2,522      Grifols SA      89,040  
  5,747      Knight Therapeutics, Inc.*      33,551  
  29,311      Mesoblast, Ltd.*      42,755  
  1,400      Peptidream, Inc.*      71,695  
  1,008      Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB*      16,657  
  1,188      Vitrolife AB      25,074  
  1,155      Zealand Pharma A/S*      40,778  
     

 

 

 
        1,149,944  
     

 

 

 
Building Products (1.1%):  
  4,300      AGC, Inc.      153,457  
  1,100      AICA Kogyo Co., Ltd.      36,383  
  2,028      Arbonia AG      26,403  
  1,735      ASSA Abloy AB, Class B      40,556  
  20      Belimo Holding AG, Registered Shares      150,826  
  2,400      Bunka Shutter Co., Ltd.      21,143  
  1,800      Central Glass Co., Ltd.      43,956  
  631      Centrotec Sustainable AG      11,664  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Building Products, continued  
  11,276      Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA    $ 463,287  
  1,300      Daikin Industries, Ltd.      182,844  
  153      dorma kaba Holding AG      109,500  
  512      Geberit AG, Registered Shares      287,489  
  12,489      Gwa Group, Ltd.      29,125  
  2,938      Inwido AB      22,624  
  8,338      Kingspan Group plc      513,482  
  4,912      Lindab International AB      62,767  
  3,600      Lixil Group Corp.      62,054  
  600      Maeda Kosen Co., Ltd.      11,926  
  2,617      Nibe Industrier AB, Class B      45,397  
  4,000      Nichias Corp.      101,207  
  1,500      Nichiha Corp.      36,666  
  1,600      Nippon Hume Corp.      12,589  
  4,100      Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd.      25,864  
  1,400      Nitto Boseki Co., Ltd.      59,329  
  2,401      Nordic Waterproofing Holding AS(a)      24,684  
  1,500      Noritz Corp.      20,095  
  1,400      Okabe Co., Ltd.      11,788  
  5,784      Polypipe Group plc      41,393  
  22      Rockwool International A/S      4,754  
  353      Rockwool International A/S      83,579  
  1,900      Sankyo Tateyama, Inc.      21,281  
  7,800      Sanwa Holdings Corp.      87,397  
  55      Schweiter Technologies AG      69,712  
  2,100      Sekisui Jushi Corp.      44,309  
  900      Shin Nippon Air Technologies Co., Ltd.      17,912  
  1,800      Takara Standard Co., Ltd.      32,411  
  2,310      Tarkett SA      37,413  
  900      TOTO, Ltd.      37,934  
  2,597      Tyman plc      9,361  
  3,400      Uponor OYJ      44,445  
  638      Zehnder Group AG      30,082  
     

 

 

 
        3,129,088  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (2.9%):  
  10,501      3i Group plc      153,030  
  24,792      ABG Sundal Collier Holding ASA      11,273  
  3,200      AGF Management, Ltd.      15,872  
  1,600      Aizawa Securities Co., Ltd.      10,426  
  2,800      Alaris Royalty Corp.      47,292  
  1,655      Altamir      30,967  
  817      Amundi SA(a)      64,218  
  11,464      Anima Holding SpA(a)      59,210  
  4,796      Ashmore Group plc      32,994  
  1,066      ASX, Ltd.      58,777  
  4,255      Avanza Bank Holding AB      44,479  
  6,343      Azimut Holding SpA      151,501  
  2,819      Banca Generali SpA      91,549  
  521      Bellevue Group AG      12,868  
  4,346      Bolsas y Mercados Espanoles      167,770  
  16,646      Brewin Dolphin Holdings plc      82,478  
  86,000      Bright Smart Securities & Commodities Group, Ltd.      15,501  
  1,119      Brookfield Asset Management, Inc., Class A      64,678  
  2,865      Bure Equity AB      64,845  
  4,759      Burford Capital, Ltd.      45,245  
  2,497      Canaccord Genuity Group, Inc.      9,308  
  7,682      CI Financial Corp.      128,447  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Capital Markets, continued  
  115      CIE Financiere Tradition SA    $ 12,557  
  6,760      Close Brothers Group plc      143,398  
  66,000      Cosmopolitan International Holdings, Ltd.*      14,925  
  20,849      Credit Suisse Group AG      282,999  
  29,100      Daiwa Securities Group, Inc.      147,644  
  4,462      Dea Capital SpA      7,311  
  10,467      Deutsche Bank AG, Registered Shares      81,433  
  23,069      Deutsche Bank AG, Registered Shares      178,951  
  2,050      Deutsche Boerse AG      322,373  
  1,252      Eastnine AB      18,382  
  5,622      EFG International AG      37,100  
  258,000      Emperor Capital Group, Ltd.      6,264  
  2,588      Euronext NV(a)      211,166  
  2,000      Fiera Capital Corp.      18,038  
  3,097      Flow Traders(a)      74,824  
  10,649      GAM Holding AG*      30,840  
  2,674      Georgia Capital plc*      32,692  
  969      Gimv NV      59,626  
  2,400      GMO Financial Holdings, Inc.      13,076  
  1,675      Guardian Capital Group, Ltd., Class A      34,638  
  142,000      Guotai Junan International Hol      25,197  
  135,243      Haitong International Securities      41,155  
  5,422      Hargreaves Lansdown plc      139,588  
  8,576      Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing, Ltd.      277,980  
  4,000      Ichiyoshi Securities Co., Ltd.      23,490  
  11,954      IG Group Holdings plc      110,197  
  632      IGM Financial, Inc.      18,146  
  3,744      Intermediate Capital Group plc      80,034  
  22,533      Investec plc      132,677  
  15,236      IOOF Holdings, Ltd.      84,065  
  29,231      IP Group plc*      27,580  
  1,700      IwaiCosmo Holdings, Inc.      20,280  
  1,400      Jafco Co., Ltd.      54,854  
  7,200      Japan Exchange Group, Inc.      126,759  
  4,092      Julius Baer Group, Ltd.      211,372  
  25,444      Jupiter Fund Management plc      138,390  
  138,000      Kingston Financial Group, Ltd.      14,177  
  800      Kyokuto Securities Co., Ltd.      5,427  
  3,928      London Stock Exchange Group plc      405,670  
  3,452      Macquarie Group, Ltd.      334,748  
  3,866      Magellan Financial Group, Ltd.      155,099  
  63,034      Man Group PLC/Jersey      132,103  
  2,300      Marusan Securities Co., Ltd.      10,315  
  1,180,000      Mason Group Holdings, Ltd.      9,389  
  2,000      Matsui Securities Co., Ltd.      15,827  
  3,000      Mercuria Investment Co., Ltd.      20,825  
  2,900      Mito Securities Co., Ltd.      5,874  
  3,035      MLP SE      19,088  
  7,700      Monex Group, Inc.      18,828  
  12,339      Natixis      54,989  
  4,265      Navigator Global Investments, Ltd.      8,470  
  29,100      Nomura Holdings, Inc.      149,499  
  9,500      Okasan Securities Group, Inc.      34,011  
  2,586      Pacific Current Group, Ltd.      11,438  
  276      Partners Group Holding AG      252,998  
  8,321      Pendal Group, Ltd.      50,297  
  2,749      Perpetual, Ltd.      79,512  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Capital Markets, continued  
  11,593      Platinum Asset Management, Ltd.    $ 36,865  
  2,595      Polar Capital Holdings plc      18,947  
  3,710      Premier Miton Group plc      9,270  
  92,552      Quilter plc(a)      197,918  
  565      Rathbone Brothers plc      15,996  
  9,785      Ratos AB, Class B      34,978  
  1,124      Rothschild & Co.      32,311  
  3,700      SBI Holdings, Inc.      77,950  
  965      Schroders plc      42,907  
  11,400      Singapore Exchange, Ltd.      75,220  
  4,300      Sprott, Inc.      9,869  
  14,023      St. James Place plc      216,952  
  700      Strike Co., Ltd.      35,157  
  900      Swissquote Group Holding SA      45,183  
  2,584      Tamburi Investment Partners SP      19,771  
  1,131      TMX Group, Ltd.      97,952  
  8,500      Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings, Inc.      25,277  
  4,000      Toyo Securities Co., Ltd.      5,472  
  25,317      TP ICAP plc      137,353  
  29,721      UBS Group AG      375,183  
  1,161      Vontobel Holding AG      83,025  
  245      Vp Bank AG, Registered Shares      39,234  
  77      VZ Holding AG      23,750  
     

 

 

 
        8,047,853  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (4.0%):  
  900      Achilles Corp.      14,959  
  3,300      Adeka Corp.      49,661  
  4,658      Air Liquide SA      661,969  
  6,000      Air Water, Inc.      88,476  
  1,618      Akzo Nobel NV      164,954  
  700      Arakawa Chemical Industries, Ltd.      10,488  
  4,466      Arkema SA      476,328  
  19,200      Asahi Kasei Corp.      215,465  
  1,100      ASAHI YUKIZAI Corp.      18,041  
  4,458      BASF SE      338,050  
  3,760      Borregaard ASA      40,705  
  2,300      Carlit Holdings Co., Ltd.      13,304  
  52,400      China Sunsine Chemical Holdings, Ltd.      20,101  
  600      Christian Hansen Holding A/S      47,671  
  2,100      Chugoku Marine Paints, Ltd.      20,008  
  1,600      CI Takiron Corp.      10,761  
  2,563      Clariant AG      57,364  
  3,032      Corbion NV      95,469  
  3,597      Covestro AG(a)      167,196  
  2,733      Croda International plc      185,594  
  1,000      Dai Nippon Toryo Co., Ltd.      10,721  
  9,800      Daicel Corp.      93,497  
  2,600      Daiichi Kigenso Kagaku-Kogyo Co., Ltd.      21,455  
  900      Dainichiseika Color & Chemical      25,937  
  5,100      Dainippon Ink & Chemicals, Inc.      140,664  
  5,600      Denka Co., Ltd.      166,369  
  500      DKS Co., Ltd.      20,286  
  18,377      Elementis plc      43,680  
  132      EMS-Chemie Holding AG      86,886  
  8,516      Ercros SA      24,536  
  9,485      Essentra plc      54,866  
  60,321      Evolva Holding SA*      13,651  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Chemicals, continued  
  3,245      Evonik Industries AG    $ 99,457  
  2,601      Fuchs Petrolub AG      129,393  
  679      FUCHS Petrolub SE      30,557  
  1,100      Fujimori Kogyo Co., Ltd.      34,843  
  1,400      Fuso Chemical Co., Ltd.      41,548  
  100      Givaudan SA, Registered Shares      313,037  
  29      Gurit Holding AG      44,881  
  835      H&R GMBH & Co. KGAA*      5,007  
  1,900      Harima Chemicals Group, Inc.      20,858  
  4,570      Hexpol AB      44,783  
  600      Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.      25,116  
  700      Hodogaya Chemical Co., Ltd.      27,150  
  43,710      Incitec Pivot, Ltd.      97,775  
  1,500      Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha, Ltd.      14,264  
  10,087      Israel Chemicals, Ltd.      47,609  
  1,700      JCU Corp.      50,525  
  1,479      Johnson Matthey plc      58,838  
  700      Jsp Corp.      12,585  
  3,500      JSR Corp.      63,980  
  8,586      K+S AG, Registered Shares      107,090  
  2,000      Kaneka Corp.      63,958  
  1,100      Kansai Paint Co., Ltd.      26,888  
  5,000      Kanto Denka Kogyo Co., Ltd.      46,603  
  7,358      Kemira OYJ      109,404  
  800      Kh Neochem Co., Ltd.      17,047  
  1,500      Koatsu Gas Kogyo Co., Ltd.      12,147  
  3,055      Koninklijke DSM NV      398,755  
  1,000      Konishi Co., Ltd.      14,111  
  3,200      Kumiai Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.      29,274  
  7,800      Kuraray Co., Ltd.      95,665  
  800      Kureha Corp.      47,993  
  4,531      Lanxess AG      304,446  
  671      Lenzing AG      62,282  
  1,300      Lintec Corp.      28,921  
  2,350      Methanex Corp.      90,781  
  46,900      Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp.      349,465  
  4,800      Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co., Inc.      72,952  
  4,400      Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.      106,957  
  800      Nihon Kagaku Sangyo Co., Ltd.      7,594  
  2,300      Nihon Nohyaku Co., Ltd.      12,205  
  3,600      Nihon Parkerizing Co., Ltd.      38,376  
  600      Nippon Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd.      17,469  
  1,400      Nippon Fine Chemical Co., Ltd.      16,506  
  3,300      Nippon Kayaku Co., Ltd.      40,739  
  600      Nippon Paint Holdings Co., Ltd.      31,046  
  1,400      Nippon Pillar Packing Co., Ltd.      19,346  
  700      Nippon Shokubai Co., Ltd.      43,273  
  800      Nippon Soda Co., Ltd.      21,553  
  2,400      Nissan Chemical Corp.      100,346  
  2,700      Nitto Denko Corp.      151,505  
  1,400      NOF Corp.      46,448  
  3,539      Novozymes A/S, Class B      173,294  
  6,786      Nufarm, Ltd.*      27,581  
  4,481      Nutrien, Ltd.^      214,684  
  1,600      OCI NV*      33,832  
  500      Okamoto Industries, Inc.      18,508  
  600      Okura Industrial Co., Ltd.      11,010  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Chemicals, continued  
  8,136      Orica, Ltd.    $ 125,718  
  1,000      Osaka Organic Chemical Industry, Ltd.      14,607  
  964      Plastivaloire      7,492  
  1,600      Rasa Industries, Ltd.      23,164  
  2,613      Recticel SA      24,405  
  2,800      Riken Technos Corp.      13,715  
  500      Sakai Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.      11,389  
  2,400      Sakata Inx Corp.      25,927  
  700      Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd.      34,551  
  900      Sekisui Plastics Co., Ltd.      6,809  
  1,100      Shikoku Chemicals Corp.      13,820  
  2,500      Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.      274,127  
  1,800      Shin-Etsu Polymer Co., Ltd.      18,256  
  3,900      Showa Denko K.K.      102,744  
  1,873      Sika AG      352,795  
  1,754      SOL SpA      20,659  
  2,035      Solvay SA      236,626  
  400      Stella Chemifa Corp.      11,706  
  1,500      Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd.      56,125  
  38,000      Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.      172,244  
  300      Sumitomo Seika Chemicals Co. Ltd.      9,752  
  2,206      Symrise AG      232,060  
  18,622      Synthomer plc      87,468  
  2,000      T Hasegawa Co., Ltd.      38,920  
  1,200      T&K Toka Co., Ltd.      11,141  
  900      Taiyo Holdings Co., Ltd.      36,502  
  3,000      Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp.      66,469  
  600      Takasago International Corp.      13,957  
  600      Tayca Corp.      10,585  
  9,600      Teijin, Ltd.      179,152  
  500      Tenma Corp.      9,200  
  1,223      Tessenderlo Group SA*      43,113  
  2,007      Tikkurila OYJ      32,280  
  4,900      Toagosei Co., Ltd.      56,531  
  5,400      Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd.      53,798  
  4,100      Tokuyama Corp.      106,268  
  600      Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd.      23,375  
  12,900      Toray Industries, Inc.      88,146  
  13,500      Tosoh Corp.      207,789  
  1,200      Toyo Ink SC Holdings Co., Ltd.      29,112  
  5,000      Toyobo Co., Ltd.      75,911  
  7,200      Ube Industries, Ltd.      155,916  
  3,116      Umicore SA      151,899  
  3,635      Victrex plc      120,347  
  329      Wacker Chemie AG      25,058  
  997      Yara International ASA      41,558  
  4,800      Zeon Corp.      59,648  
     

 

 

 
        11,084,206  
     

 

 

 
Commercial Services & Supplies (1.7%):  
  800      AEON Delight Co., Ltd.      28,657  
  17,026      Aggreko plc      187,920  
  25,551      Babcock International Group plc      213,489  
  1,800      Bell System24 Holdings, Inc.      28,295  
  13,069      Biffa plc(a)      47,459  
  13,431      Bingo Industries, Ltd.      26,821  
  1,670      Black Diamond Group, Ltd.*      2,765  
  14,490      Brambles, Ltd.      119,410  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Commercial Services & Supplies, continued  
  3,225      Bravida Holding AB(a)    $ 31,330  
  300      Central Security Patrols Co., Ltd.      17,249  
  432      Cewe Stiftung & Co. KGAA      51,271  
  49,900      CITIC Envirotech, Ltd.      20,178  
  46,000      Cleanaway Waste Management, Ltd.      65,067  
  10,948      Collection House, Ltd.      8,562  
  1,829      Coor Service Management Holding AB(a)      16,096  
  3,600      CTS Co., Ltd.      25,518  
  3,300      Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd.      89,573  
  1,000      Daiseki Co., Ltd.      28,732  
  4,203      De La Rue plc      7,933  
  20,752      Downer EDI, Ltd.      119,238  
  1,100      Duskin Co., Ltd.      30,551  
  5,961      Edenred      308,425  
  1,700      EF-ON, Inc.      11,611  
  9,528      Elis SA      197,902  
  79,627      G4S plc      231,533  
  435      GL Events      11,737  
  18,123      HomeServe plc      303,525  
  10,900      Horizon North Logistics, Inc.      10,326  
  900      Inaba Seisakusho Co., Ltd.      11,853  
  2,297      Intrum AB      68,543  
  5,989      ISS A/S      143,837  
  1,800      Itoki Corp.      8,822  
  42,602      IWG plc      246,033  
  400      Japan Elevator Service Holdings Co., Ltd.      10,084  
  3,300      Kokuyo Co., Ltd.      49,233  
  400      Kyodo Printing Co., Ltd.      10,928  
  2,302      Lassila & Tikanoja OYJ      40,642  
  4,748      Loomis AB      196,752  
  700      Matsuda Sangyo Co., Ltd.      10,360  
  5,449      Mears Group plc      21,225  
  22,737      Mitie Group plc      43,696  
  1,400      NAC Co., Ltd.      13,022  
  15,900      Nippon Parking Development Co., Ltd.      22,656  
  1,600      Okamura Corp.      16,248  
  1,100      Oyo Corp.      15,343  
  2,700      Park24 Co., Ltd.      66,149  
  2,696      PayPoint plc      36,190  
  1,400      Pilot Corp.      56,298  
  2,400      Prestige International, Inc.      21,688  
  13,654      Prosegur Cia de Seguridad SA      56,406  
  2,400      Relia, Inc.      30,417  
  11,583      Renewi plc      5,567  
  58,477      Rentokil Initial plc      351,977  
  3,299      RPS Group plc      7,458  
  900      Sato Holdings Corp.      28,187  
  700      SECOM Co., Ltd.      62,477  
  6,430      Securitas AB, Class B      110,978  
  3,267      Smartgroup Corp., Ltd.      15,911  
  1,201      Societe BIC SA      83,631  
  700      Sohgo Security Services Co., Ltd.      37,915  
  5,537      Spie SA      112,859  
  1,300      Takeei Corp.      15,124  
  2,256      Tomra Systems ASA      71,570  
  2,600      Toppan Forms Co., Ltd.      29,167  
  4,780      Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.      98,554  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Commercial Services & Supplies, continued  
  4,470      Transcontinental, Inc.    $ 54,636  
  980      Waste Connections, Inc.      88,974  
  290      Waste Connections, Inc.      26,344  
     

 

 

 
        4,638,927  
     

 

 

 
Communications Equipment (0.2%):  
  2,792      Adva Optical Networking Se*      25,455  
  700      Aiphone Co., Ltd.      11,826  
  1,000      Audiocodes, Ltd.      25,690  
  700      Denki Kogyo Co., Ltd.      20,973  
  991      Evs Broadcast Equipment SA      24,222  
  500      Icom, Inc.      12,446  
  18,706      Nokia OYJ      69,390  
  10,200      Quarterhill, Inc.      13,119  
  2,600      Sierra Wireless, Inc.*      24,811  
  26,263      Spirent Communications plc      87,421  
  3,280      Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Class B      28,749  
  9,300      VTech Holdings, Ltd.      91,981  
     

 

 

 
        436,083  
     

 

 

 
Construction & Engineering (2.1%):  
  4,227      ACS Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA      169,432  
  3,143      Adapteo OYJ*      38,585  
  3,353      Aecon Group, Inc.      45,244  
  783      AF Gruppen ASA      15,701  
  3,103      Arcadis NV      72,381  
  300      Asanuma Corp.      13,028  
  2,110      Badger Daylighting, Ltd.      57,105  
  14,080      Balfour Beatty plc      48,872  
  375      Bauer AG      6,362  
  4,556      Boskalis Westminster      116,933  
  16,800      Boustead Singapore, Ltd.      9,430  
  7,647      Bouygues SA      325,510  
  209      Burkhalter Holding AG      16,441  
  14,759      Cardno, Ltd.*      4,921  
  1,700      Chudenko Corp.      39,259  
  589      CIE d’Entreprises CFE SA      64,458  
  2,026      Cimic Group, Ltd.      47,259  
  621      ComSys Holdings Corp.      17,806  
  6,098      Costain Group plc      12,901  
  500      Dai-Dan Co., Ltd.      12,805  
  1,200      Daiho Corp.      31,718  
  800      Daiichi Kensetsu Corp.      12,893  
  4,435      Eiffage SA      508,158  
  2,783      Elecnor SA      34,167  
  44      Electra, Ltd./Israel      19,559  
  7,737      Eltel AB*(a)      15,725  
  37,002      Empresas ICA SAB de C.V.*      79  
  2,944      Ferrovial SA      89,304  
  1,664      FLSmidth & Co. A/S      66,397  
  1,845      Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA      22,581  
  440      Fudo Tetra Corp.      6,960  
  200      Fukuda Corp.      8,968  
  4,363      Galliford Try plc      49,763  
  6,000      Hazama Ando Corp.      52,062  
  1,713      Heijmans NV*      14,408  
  600      Hibiya Engineering, Ltd.      10,880  
  373      Hochtief AG      47,737  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

10


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Construction & Engineering, continued  
  600      Ichiken Co., Ltd.    $ 9,912  
  1,093      Implenia AG      44,329  
  14,759      Intega Group, Ltd.*      4,948  
  5,200      JGC Holdings Corp.      83,689  
  9,988      John Laing Group plc(a)      50,335  
  7,500      Kajima Corp.      100,244  
  3,000      Kandenko Co., Ltd.      28,716  
  400      Kawada Technologies, Inc.      24,562  
  5,690      Keller Group plc      56,577  
  3,564      Kier Group plc      4,530  
  3,500      Kinden Corp.      54,190  
  15,900      Koninklijke BAM Groep NV      48,138  
  1,600      Kumagai Gumi Co., Ltd.      48,632  
  1,300      Kyowa Exeo Corp.      32,868  
  1,300      Kyudenko Corp.      38,353  
  7,400      Lian Beng Group, Ltd.      2,862  
  5,300      Maeda Corp.      51,551  
  3,000      Maeda Road Construction Co., Ltd.      73,415  
  9,546      Maire Tecnimont SpA^      26,508  
  3,300      Mirait Holdings Corp.      50,013  
  5,179      Monadelphous Group, Ltd.      60,715  
  1,922      Morgan Sindall Group plc      41,469  
  1,000      Nichireki Co., Ltd.      12,482  
  1,900      Nippo Corp.      40,792  
  1,600      Nippon Densetsu Kogyo Co., Ltd.      32,957  
  700      Nippon Koei Co., Ltd.      23,815  
  200      Nippon Road Co., Ltd. (The)      12,506  
  1,500      Nishimatsu Construction Co., Ltd.      33,772  
  30,510      NRW Holdings, Ltd.      69,323  
  11,600      Obayashi Corp.      128,636  
  4,863      Obrascon Huarte Lain SA*      5,804  
  1,100      Okumura Corp.      30,213  
  8,600      OSJB Holdings Corp.      21,389  
  12,582      Peab AB      126,054  
  18,100      Penta-Ocean Construction Co., Ltd.      111,759  
  1,318      Per Aarsleff Holding A/S      42,445  
  2,500      Raito Kogyo Co., Ltd.      36,119  
  21,104      Sacyr SA      61,696  
  1,900      Sanki Engineering Co., Ltd.      26,768  
  1,700      Seikitokyu Kogyo Co., Ltd.      14,151  
  26,757      Service Stream, Ltd.      50,003  
  3,211      Shapir Engineering And Indus      19,610  
  11,913      Shikun & Binui, Ltd.      54,921  
  8,500      Shimizu Corp.      86,491  
  1,500      Shinnihon Corp.      12,907  
  5,521      Skanska AB, Class B      124,881  
  2,500      SNC-Lavalin Group, Inc.      57,667  
  881      Strabag Se      30,632  
  1,000      Sumitomo Densetsu Co., Ltd.      26,855  
  12,380      Sumitomo Mitsui Construction      71,671  
  2,479      Sweco AB-B Shs      95,638  
  700      Taihei Dengyo Kaisha, Ltd.      14,795  
  800      Taikisha, Ltd.      28,340  
  3,500      Taisei Corp.      144,927  
  1,400      Takamatsu Construction Group C      36,210  
  400      Tekken Corp.      10,312  
  900      TOA Corp.      13,547  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Construction & Engineering, continued  
  400      TOA Road Corp.    $ 13,084  
  1,630      Tobishima Corp.      22,329  
  4,700      Toda Corp.      30,984  
  400      Toenec Corp.      14,189  
  1,000      Tokyo Energy & Systems, Inc.      8,361  
  5,100      Tokyu Construction Co., Ltd.      36,349  
  1,100      Totetsu Kogyo Co., Ltd.      31,860  
  4,300      Toyo Construction Co., Ltd.      20,636  
  2,100      Toyo Engineering Corp.*      13,672  
  3,109      Veidekke ASA      42,373  
  4,816      Vinci SA      534,990  
  1,400      Wakachiku Construction Co., Ltd.      22,499  
  1,700      Yahagi Construction Co., Ltd.      12,858  
  7,664      YIT OYJ      51,227  
  1,200      Yokogawa Bridge Holdings Corp.      21,878  
  1,200      Yurtec Corp.      7,561  
     

 

 

 
        5,657,286  
     

 

 

 
Construction Materials (0.8%):  
  13,883      Adelaide Brighton, Ltd.      33,782  
  1,800      Asia Pile Holdings Corp.      9,945  
  34,094      Boral, Ltd.      107,502  
  3,157      Brickworks, Ltd.      41,451  
  1,408      Buzzi Unicem SpA      35,481  
  2,602      CRH plc      104,363  
  14,374      CRH plc, ADR      579,702  
  22,791      CSR, Ltd.      72,795  
  14,576      Fletcher Building, Ltd.      49,997  
  1,160      H+H International A/S, Class B*      21,782  
  2,326      HeidelbergCement AG      169,528  
  13,005      Ibstock plc(a)      54,737  
  1,410      Imerys SA      59,749  
  5,016      James Hardie Industries SE      98,320  
  400      Krosaki Harima Corp.      23,465  
  3,983      LafargeHolcim, Ltd., Registered Shares      220,910  
  13,487      Marshalls PLC      154,385  
  2,500      Nippon Concrete Industries Co., Ltd.      6,531  
  500      Shinagawa Refractories Co., Ltd.      16,169  
  123      STO SE & Co KGaA      15,770  
  1,500      Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co., Ltd.      65,385  
  7,200      Taiheiyo Cement Corp.      210,690  
  2,600      TYK Corp.      8,104  
  998      Vicat      45,205  
     

 

 

 
        2,205,748  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (0.3%):  
  3,600      AEON Financial Service Co., Ltd.      56,632  
  15,300      Aiful Corp.*      35,432  
  96,000      Allied Properties HK, Ltd.      19,092  
  9,830      Arrow Global Group plc      33,576  
  6,358      Axactor SE*      13,766  
  982      Cembra Money Bank AG      107,721  
  2,046      Credit Corp. Group, Ltd.      44,335  
  3,900      Credit Saison Co., Ltd.      67,607  
  18,226      Eclipx Group, Ltd.*      18,566  
  18,254      Flexigroup, Ltd.      23,574  
  1,185      Gruppo MutuiOnline SpA      26,656  
  2,616      H&T Group Plc      11,657  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

11


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Consumer Finance, continued  
  4,100      Hitachi Capital Corp.    $ 107,620  
  5,740      Hoist Finance AB*(a)      30,630  
  17,800      Hong Leong Finance, Ltd.      35,361  
  14,415      International Personal Finance      30,927  
  4,300      J Trust Co., Ltd.      16,950  
  1,800      Jaccs Co., Ltd.      46,017  
  8,490      Money3 Corp., Ltd.      13,586  
  15,200      Orient Corp.      22,831  
  213,600      Oshidori International Holdings, Ltd.      26,620  
  4,742      Provident Financial plc      28,753  
  4,452      Resurs Holding AB(a)      28,607  
  38,000      Sun Hung Kai & Co., Ltd.      18,067  
     

 

 

 
        864,583  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (0.6%):  
  8,372      BillerudKorsnas AB^      98,884  
  4,231      Cascades, Inc.      36,529  
  1,780      CCL Industries, Inc.      75,839  
  28,862      DS Smith plc      147,256  
  800      FP Corp.      47,468  
  1,900      Fuji Seal International, Inc.      42,301  
  1,000      Hokkan Holdings, Ltd.      19,133  
  5,634      Huhtamaki OYJ      261,641  
  3,327      Intertape Polymer Group, Inc.      42,587  
  187      Mayr Melnhof Karton AG      25,096  
  59,022      Orora, Ltd.      131,698  
  6,607      Pact Group Holdings, Ltd.*      12,612  
  8,600      Rengo Co., Ltd.      65,503  
  8,689      Smurfit Kappa Group plc      334,670  
  500      Taisei Lamick Co., Ltd.      13,562  
  600      Tomoku Co., Ltd.      10,419  
  3,400      Toyo Seikan Group Holdings, Ltd.      58,947  
  15      Vetropack Holding AG      47,116  
  887      Vidrala SA      93,512  
  300      Winpak, Ltd.      10,855  
     

 

 

 
        1,575,628  
     

 

 

 
Distributors (0.2%):  
  10,053      Bapcor, Ltd.      45,252  
  1,900      Canon Marketing Japan, Inc.      44,020  
  500      Chori Co., Ltd.      10,129  
  5,572      Connect Group plc*      2,676  
  1,438      D’ieteren SA/NV      101,063  
  1,000      Doshisha Co., Ltd.      16,577  
  1,600      Happinet Corp.      20,655  
  4,313      Headlam Group plc      30,636  
  29,210      Inchcape plc      273,083  
  1,000      Jardine Cycle & Carriage, Ltd.      22,386  
  7,157      John Menzies plc      44,913  
  400      Paltac Corp.      19,116  
  3,025      Uni-Select, Inc.      26,536  
     

 

 

 
        657,042  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Consumer Services (0.1%):  
  23,128      AA plc      17,874  
  1,811      Academedia AB(a)      10,655  
  1,100      Benesse Holdings, Inc.      28,927  
  32,000      China New Higher Education Group Limited(a)      12,460  
  10,000      Cross-Harbour Holdings, Ltd. (The)      15,543  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Diversified Consumer Services, continued  
  4,259      Dignity plc    $ 32,969  
  23,577      G8 Education, Ltd.      31,544  
  1,700      IBJ, Inc.      19,338  
  5,459      IDP Education, Ltd.      65,918  
  6,281      InvoCare, Ltd.      58,149  
  1,800      Japan Best Rescue System Co., Ltd.      18,647  
  300      PIA Corp.      13,210  
  2,600      Riso Kyoiku Co., Ltd.      9,195  
  700      Studio Alice Co., Ltd.      12,185  
  1,300      Take And Give Needs Co., Ltd.      14,829  
     

 

 

 
        361,443  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (0.7%):  
  1,042      Ackermans & Van Haaren NV      163,476  
  376      Aker ASA      23,287  
  77,201      AMP, Ltd.      103,781  
  3,396      Banca Farmafactoring SpA(a)      20,356  
  1,140      Banca Ifis SpA      17,915  
  3,032      Banca Mediolanum SpA      30,141  
  6,216      Cerved Group SpA      60,646  
  5,648      Challenger, Ltd.      32,162  
  14,100      Ecn Capital Corp.      52,017  
  2,300      eGuarantee, Inc.      26,619  
  20,244      Element Fleet Management Corp.      172,910  
  3,300      Financial Products Group Co., Ltd.      31,919  
  108,669      First Pacific Co., Ltd.      36,910  
  1,200      Fuyo General Lease Co., Ltd.      80,644  
  1,236,000      G-Resources Group, Ltd.*      9,202  
  7,214      IMF Bentham, Ltd.*      22,647  
  800      Japan Investment Adviser Co., Ltd.      11,114  
  4,600      Japan Securities Finance Co., Ltd.      21,932  
  23,000      Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Co., Ltd.      148,049  
  1,800      Mizuho Leasing Co., Ltd.      56,224  
  900      NEC Capital Solutions, Ltd.      20,606  
  16,085      Ofx Group, Ltd.      15,768  
  597      Onex Corp.      37,781  
  23,500      ORIX Corp.      391,221  
  4,352      Pioneer Credit, Ltd.      5,481  
  1,100      Ricoh Leasing Co., Ltd.      41,492  
  14,676      Standard Life Aberdeen plc      63,938  
  1,900      Tokyo Century Corp.      102,032  
  2,800      Zenkoku Hosho Co., Ltd.      119,665  
     

 

 

 
        1,919,935  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (2.1%):  
  26,000      APT Satellite Holdings, Ltd.      9,744  
  644      BCE, Inc.      29,839  
  974      BCE, Inc.      45,145  
  36,348      Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Corp., Ltd. (The)*      29,256  
  105,351      BT Group plc      269,953  
  3,250      Cellnex Telecom SAU(a)      140,061  
  25,395      Chorus, Ltd.      105,686  
  155,000      CITIC Telecom International Holdings, Ltd.      56,507  
  67,539      Deutsche Telekom AG, Registered Shares      1,103,599  
  4,161      Elisa OYJ      229,907  
  4,460      Euskaltel SA(a)      44,973  
  34,000      HKBN, Ltd.      57,002  
  82,295      HKT Trust & HKT, Ltd.      116,025  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

12


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Diversified Telecommunication Services, continued  
  1,538      Iliad SA    $ 199,549  
  2,100      Internet Initiative Japan, Inc.      56,537  
  61,309      Koninklijke KPN NV      181,132  
  2,835      Masmovil Ibercom SA*      64,855  
  6,000      Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp.      152,000  
  40,490      Orange SA      594,923  
  275,553      PCCW, Ltd.      162,709  
  5,067      Proximus SADP      145,091  
  9,797      QSC AG^      11,564  
  48,100      Singapore Telecommunications, Ltd.      120,652  
  34,736      Spark New Zealand, Ltd.      101,292  
  13,084      Speedcast International, Ltd.      8,636  
  2,262      Sunrise Communications Group(a)      177,772  
  9,426      Superloop, Ltd.*      6,418  
  723      Swisscom AG, Registered Shares^      382,967  
  29,050      Talktalk Telecom Group plc      44,732  
  207,283      Telecom Italia SpA*      129,331  
  19,343      Telefonica Deutschland Holding AG      56,059  
  47,197      Telefonica SA      329,844  
  4,768      Telekom Austria AG      38,873  
  5,872      Telenor ASA      105,353  
  28,747      Telia Co AB      123,524  
  41,906      Telstra Corp., Ltd.      104,378  
  14,183      TPG Telecom, Ltd.      66,900  
  6,450      United Internet AG, Registered Shares      211,951  
  1,800      Vision, Inc.*      29,814  
  28,323      Vocus Group, Ltd.*      57,025  
     

 

 

 
        5,901,578  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (1.4%):  
  2,033      Acciona SA      214,100  
  53,654      AusNet Services      63,966  
  452      BKW AG      33,354  
  3,200      Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc.      45,143  
  2,800      Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc. (The)      36,929  
  7,000      CK Infrastructure Holdings, Ltd.      49,926  
  8,064      CLP Holdings, Ltd.      84,917  
  5,549      Contact Energy, Ltd.      26,634  
  18,599      Electricite de France      207,461  
  633      Elia System Operator SA/NV      56,223  
  4,746      Endesa SA      126,698  
  76,385      Enel SpA      607,622  
  3,198      EVN AG      62,029  
  2,853      Fortis, Inc.      118,457  
  8,437      Fortum OYJ      208,119  
  18,530      Genesis Energy, Ltd.      37,745  
  30,000      HK Electric Investments, Ltd.      29,568  
  7,700      Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Inc.      37,337  
  3,500      Hokuriku Electric Power Co.*      25,486  
  3,000      Hydro One, Ltd.(a)      57,948  
  72,781      Iberdrola SA      749,510  
  27,751      Infratil, Ltd.      93,947  
  3,500      Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. (The)      40,478  
  3,800      Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc.      32,831  
  9,445      Mercury NZ, Ltd.      32,116  
  1,325      Okinawa Electric Power Co., Inc.      24,930  
  673      Orsted A/S(a)      69,736  
  9,500      Power Assets Holdings, Ltd.      69,466  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Electric Utilities, continued  
  4,360      Red Electrica Corp SA    $ 87,695  
  11      Romande Energie Holding SA, Registered Shares      13,646  
  11,301      Scottish & Southern Energy plc      216,493  
  3,300      Shikoku Electric Power Co., Inc.      32,805  
  13,794      Terna SpA      92,287  
  3,900      Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc.      38,579  
  13,100      Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings, Inc.*      55,946  
  284      Verbund AG, Class A      14,260  
     

 

 

 
        3,794,387  
     

 

 

 
Electrical Equipment (1.2%):  
  10,462      ABB, Ltd.      252,613  
  600      Chiyoda Integre Co., Ltd.      12,577  
  1,200      Daihen Corp.      39,520  
  1,300      Denyo Co., Ltd.      24,627  
  2,400      Fuji Electric Co., Ltd.      73,352  
  6,900      Fujikura, Ltd.      28,293  
  4,000      Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. (The)      102,534  
  1,200      Futaba Corp.      14,845  
  38      Gavazzi Carlo Holding AG      10,210  
  4,600      GS Yuasa Corp.      99,172  
  400      Hirakawa Hewtech Corp.      5,878  
  815      Huber & Suhner AG      64,635  
  29,500      Johnson Electric Holdings, Ltd.      67,176  
  254      Kendrion NV      5,974  
  3,563      Legrand SA      290,692  
  400      Mabuchi Motor Co., Ltd.      15,118  
  91,010      Melrose Industries plc      290,857  
  346      Mersen      13,278  
  12,700      Mitsubishi Electric Corp.      172,708  
  1,976      Nexans SA      96,571  
  400      Nidec Corp.      54,649  
  500      Nippon Carbon Co., Ltd.      18,713  
  2,700      Nissin Electric Co., Ltd.      33,418  
  2,100      Nitto Kogyo Corp.      48,633  
  821      NKT A/S*      19,931  
  4,617      Nordex Se*      62,543  
  3,659      OSRAM Licht AG*      166,415  
  17      Phoenix Mecano AG      8,404  
  6,311      PNE AG*      28,172  
  574      Prysmian SpA      13,831  
  400      Sanyo Denki Co., Ltd.      19,728  
  3,972      Schneider Electric SA      408,557  
  200      SEC Carbon, Ltd.      17,396  
  2,150      SGL Carbon SE*      11,426  
  1,735      Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy      30,485  
  4,485      Signify NV(a)      140,236  
  1,000      Sinfonia Technology Co., Ltd.      12,567  
  190      Somfy SA      18,659  
  2,200      SwCC Showa Holdings Co., Ltd.      29,974  
  900      Takaoka Toko Co., Ltd.      9,848  
  4,000      Tatsuta Electric Wire And Cable Co., Ltd.      22,111  
  2,597      TKH Group NV      145,615  
  600      Toyo Tanso Co., Ltd.      12,429  
  4,400      Ushio, Inc.      65,606  
  1,461      Vestas Wind Systems A/S      147,723  
  920      XP Power, Ltd.      37,733  
     

 

 

 
        3,265,432  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

13


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (2.0%):  
  1,300      Ai Holdings Corp.    $ 23,049  
  4,460      Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.      100,761  
  506      ALSO Holding AG, Registered Shares      85,399  
  1,300      Amano Corp.      39,566  
  3,800      Arisawa Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      35,110  
  3,172      Austria Technologie & Systemte      71,417  
  1,000      Azbil Corp.      28,153  
  333      Barco NV      81,948  
  225      Basler AG      13,724  
  900      Canon Electronics, Inc.      17,282  
  5,004      Celestica, Inc.*      41,507  
  157      Cicor Technologies, Ltd.      9,642  
  13,600      Citizen Watch Co., Ltd.      73,803  
  3,400      CMK Corp.      21,047  
  1,300      Conexio Corp.      19,286  
  46,000      Cowell e Holdings, Inc.      11,124  
  400      Dai-ichi Seiko Co., Ltd.      9,716  
  1,000      Daiwabo Holdings Co., Ltd.      61,826  
  545      Datalogic SpA      10,310  
  3,500      Dexerials Corp.      35,164  
  21,950      Electrocomponents plc      197,266  
  1,100      Elematec Corp.      11,587  
  1,300      Espec Corp.      26,623  
  700      Evertz Technologies, Ltd.      9,629  
  148,000      FIH Mobile, Ltd.*      28,694  
  7,452      Fingerprint Cards AB*^      15,053  
  2,100      Furuno Electric Co., Ltd.      25,878  
  400      Hagiwara Electric Co., Ltd.      10,466  
  500      Hakuto Co., Ltd.      6,224  
  12,033      Halma plc      337,758  
  400      Hamamatsu Photonics KK      16,392  
  1,034      Hexagon AB, Class B      57,952  
  200      Hirose Electric Co., Ltd.      25,572  
  600      Hitachi High-Technologies Corp.      42,405  
  6,700      Hitachi, Ltd.      282,257  
  1,200      Hochiki Corp.      19,275  
  400      Horiba, Ltd.      26,686  
  2,600      Hosiden Corp.      32,811  
  3,500      IBIDEN Co., Ltd.      83,048  
  91      Inficon Holding AG      72,263  
  2,871      Ingenico Group      312,098  
  500      Iriso Electronics Co., Ltd.      22,185  
  4,000      Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Ltd.      80,593  
  1,100      Japan Cash Machine Co., Ltd.      9,098  
  21,200      Japan Display, Inc.*      15,552  
  1,679      Jenoptik AG      47,977  
  1,000      Kaga Electronics Co., Ltd.      22,920  
  400      Keyence Corp.      141,601  
  1,200      Koa Corp.      14,902  
  2,388      Kudelski SA      14,184  
  2,000      Kyocera Corp.      136,312  
  3,500      Kyosan Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      19,929  
  1,835      Lagercrantz Group AB, Class B      28,728  
  26      Lem Holding SA, Registered Shares      38,268  
  2,200      Macnica Fuji Electronics Holdings      37,973  
  700      Maruwa Co., Ltd./Aichi      54,160  
  2,000      Meiko Electronics Co., Ltd.      45,207  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components, continued  
  2,366      Micronic Mydata AB    $ 46,763  
  160      Midwich Group plc      1,170  
  4,600      Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      284,434  
  1,500      Nagano Keiki Co., Ltd.      12,599  
  267      Nederland Apparatenfabriek      14,532  
  2,800      Nichicon Corp.      29,139  
  600      Nippon Chemi-Con Corp.      11,565  
  2,900      Nippon Electric Glass Co., Ltd.      64,247  
  3,400      Nippon Signal Co., Ltd.      45,352  
  1,800      Nissha Co., Ltd.      18,379  
  600      Nohmi Bosai, Ltd.      13,435  
  3,600      OKI Electric Industry Co., Ltd.      49,919  
  700      Omron Corp.      40,785  
  1,200      Optex Group Co., Ltd.      18,210  
  13,505      Opus Group AB      12,124  
  3,000      Osaki Electric Co., Ltd.      18,876  
  3,519      Oxford Instruments plc      72,030  
  8,300      Pricer AB      16,590  
  1,053      Renishaw plc      53,050  
  1,100      Restar Holdings Corp.      20,341  
  1,400      Ryoden Corp.      21,197  
  1,100      Ryosan Co., Ltd.      28,258  
  600      Ryoyo Electro Corp.      11,121  
  900      Sanshin Electronics Co., Ltd.      14,707  
  700      Shibaura Electronics Co., Ltd.      20,548  
  900      Shimadzu Corp.      28,152  
  1,200      Shinko Shoji Co., Ltd.      9,717  
  2,000      Siix Corp.      27,674  
  2,172      Spectris plc      83,848  
  6,120      Strix Group plc      15,892  
  2,000      Sumida Corp.      23,455  
  700      Tachibana Eletech Co., Ltd.      11,908  
  8,000      Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd.      245,395  
  2,500      Tamura Corp.      16,414  
  3,700      TDK Corp.      415,915  
  1,800      Terilogy Co., Ltd.*      14,846  
  5,000      Topcon Corp.      64,440  
  1,300      Toyo Corp.      16,193  
  7,103      TT Electronics plc      23,611  
  400      V Technology Co., Ltd.      20,211  
  312      Vaisala OYJ, Class A      11,101  
  7,400      Venture Corp., Ltd.      89,312  
  74,000      Vstecs Holdings, Ltd.      38,034  
  3,200      Yaskawa Electric Corp.      120,767  
  2,200      Yokogawa Electric Corp.      38,971  
  1,100      Yokowo Co., Ltd.      32,611  
     

 

 

 
        5,447,198  
     

 

 

 
Energy Equipment & Services (0.6%):  
  7,314      Akastor ASA*      8,284  
  5,393      Aker Solutions ASA*      15,192  
  1,137      Bonheur ASA      25,810  
  2,991      BW Offshore, Ltd.*^      22,590  
  5,101      Calfrac Well Services, Ltd.*^      4,911  
  5,874      Ces Energy Solutions Corp.      10,541  
  29,491      CGG SA*      96,405  
  4,726      Computer Modelling Group, Ltd.      29,920  
  6,058      Enerflex, Ltd.      57,063  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

14


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Energy Equipment & Services, continued  
  8,606      Ensign Energy Services, Inc.    $ 18,890  
  106,730      Ezion Holdings, Ltd.*      1,278  
  4,488      Fugro NV*      50,447  
  6,704      Hunting plc      37,245  
  22,482      John Wood Group plc      119,032  
  8,257      Lamprell plc*      4,280  
  1,000      Modec, Inc.      24,527  
  4,500      Mullen Group, Ltd.      32,128  
  2,400      North American Construction Group, Ltd.      29,094  
  3,324      Ocean Yield ASA      18,181  
  7,269      Odfjell Drilling, Ltd.*      27,103  
  2,900      Pason Systems, Inc.      29,281  
  6,196      Petrofac, Ltd.      31,553  
  18,993      Petroleum Geo-Services ASA*      37,226  
  16,362      Precision Drilling Corp.*      22,809  
  2,400      Raiznext Corp.      29,232  
  15,278      Saipem SpA*      74,697  
  8,829      SBM Offshore NV      164,922  
  174      Schoeller-Blackman Oilfield Equipment AG      9,817  
  8,377      Secure Energy Services, Inc.      32,646  
  3,900      ShawCor, Ltd.      37,636  
  5,204      Subsea 7 SA      62,415  
  1,938      Tenaris SA      21,915  
  5,241      TGS NOPEC Geophysical Co. ASA      159,527  
  421      The Drilling Co of 1972 A/S*      27,837  
  900      Total Energy Services, Inc.      4,450  
  400      Toyo Kanetsu KK      8,819  
  13,311      Trican Well Service, Inc.*      11,687  
  10,731      Vallourec SA*      34,049  
  10,270      Worley, Ltd.      110,773  
     

 

 

 
        1,544,212  
     

 

 

 
Entertainment (0.5%):  
  1,400      Ateam, Inc.      14,010  
  2,500      Avex, Inc.      28,864  
  3,818      Borussia Dortmund GMBH & Co. KGaA      37,690  
  2,600      Capcom Co., Ltd.      72,223  
  4,665      Cineplex, Inc.      121,619  
  50,738      Cineworld Group plc      147,312  
  2,160      CTS Eventim AG & Co. KGaA      135,778  
  1,600      Daiichikosho Co., Ltd.      83,860  
  3,000      DeNA Co., Ltd.      48,264  
  4,107      Event Hospitality And Entertainment, Ltd.      39,186  
  1,590      Gungho Online Enetertainment, Inc.      33,833  
  38,000      IGG, Inc.      28,104  
  594      Kinepolis Group NV      39,452  
  1,100      Konami Holdings Corp.      45,363  
  1,700      Marvelous, Inc.      11,334  
  2,100      Nexon Co., Ltd.*      27,780  
  200      Nintendo Co., Ltd.      80,740  
  200      Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.      9,994  
  13,788      Technicolor SA*      10,591  
  400      Toei Animation Co., Ltd.      20,623  
  200      Toei Co., Ltd.      29,862  
  1,000      Toho Co., Ltd.      41,646  
  2,851      UbiSoft Entertainment SA*      197,206  
  2,219      Vivendi Universal SA      64,312  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Entertainment, continued  
  5,570      WildBrain, Ltd.*    $ 6,735  
     

 

 

 
        1,376,381  
     

 

 

 
Food & Staples Retailing (2.0%):  
  5,600      AEON Co., Ltd.      115,383  
  500      Ain Holdings, Inc.      31,886  
  800      Albis Co., Ltd.      16,607  
  3,200      Alcanna, Inc.*      10,967  
  5,772      Alimentation Couche-Tard, Inc.      183,198  
  1,309      Amsterdam Commodities NV      30,461  
  2,400      Arcs Co., Ltd.      50,490  
  1,537      Axfood AB      34,213  
  1,200      Axial Retailing, Inc.      41,727  
  600      Belc Co., Ltd.      30,482  
  12,484      Carrefour SA      209,690  
  2,135      Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA^      100,076  
  1,100      Cawachi, Ltd.      22,256  
  400      Cocokara Fine, Inc.      23,221  
  14,148      Coles Group, Ltd.      147,734  
  2,636      Colruyt SA      137,582  
  400      Cosmos Pharmaceutical Corp.      83,060  
  1,300      Create SD Holdings Co., Ltd.      33,218  
  500      Daikokutenbussan Co., Ltd.      14,757  
  3,700      Dairy Farm International Holdings, Ltd.      21,105  
  800      Eco’s Co., Ltd.      12,576  
  3,691      Empire Co., Ltd., Class A      86,590  
  1,600      Heiwado Co., Ltd.      30,258  
  1,367      ICA Gruppen AB      63,861  
  200      Itochu-Shokuhin Co., Ltd.      9,591  
  34,091      J Sainsbury plc      104,491  
  600      Japan Meat Co., Ltd.      12,498  
  580      Kesko OYJ, Class A      38,248  
  761      Kesko OYJ, Class B      53,838  
  1,200      Kobe Bussan Co., Ltd.      41,232  
  35,101      Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize NV      879,621  
  400      Kusuri NO Aoki Holdings Co., Ltd.      25,179  
  400      LAWSON, Inc.      22,656  
  800      Life Corp.      18,999  
  1,111      Loblaw Cos., Ltd.      57,330  
  1,430      Marr SpA      32,641  
  54,594      Metcash, Ltd.      98,487  
  10,912      METRO AG      175,878  
  1,817      Metro, Inc.      74,995  
  600      Ministop Co., Ltd.      8,072  
  900      Mitsubishi Shokuhin Co., Ltd.      25,451  
  600      Nihon Chouzai Co., Ltd.      21,065  
  1,801      North West Co., Inc.      37,909  
  2,000      Okuwa Co., Ltd.      26,755  
  9,500      Olam International, Ltd.      12,790  
  1,200      Qol Holdings Co., Ltd.      16,738  
  1,094      Rallye SA      12,440  
  337      Rami Levy Chain Stores Hashikm      19,397  
  1,000      Retail Partners Co., Ltd.      8,235  
  600      San-A Co., Ltd.      26,693  
  8,900      Seven & I Holdings Co., Ltd.      325,686  
  28,900      Sheng Siong Group, Ltd.      26,655  
  6,398      Shufersal, Ltd.      40,771  
  1,454      Sligro Food Group NV      39,189  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

15


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Food & Staples Retailing, continued  
  600      Sogo Medical Holdings Co., Ltd.    $ 11,054  
  38,447      Sonae SGPS SA      39,297  
  500      Sugi Holdings Co., Ltd.      26,372  
  1,300      Sundrug Co., Ltd.      46,988  
  73,670      Tesco plc      249,520  
  400      Tsuruha Holdings, Inc.      51,326  
  3,100      United Supermarkets Holdings      27,283  
  2,200      Valor Holdings Co., Ltd.      42,929  
  700      Watahan & Co., Ltd.      12,240  
  1,000      Welcia Holdings Co., Ltd.      63,707  
  11,809      Wesfarmers, Ltd.      343,969  
  1,793      Weston (George), Ltd.      142,263  
  68,290      William Morrison Supermarkets plc      181,771  
  9,081      Woolworths Group, Ltd.      231,014  
  800      YAKUODO Holdings Co., Ltd.      17,958  
  700      Yamatane Corp.      10,430  
  700      Yaoko Co., Ltd.      35,745  
  2,800      Yokohama Reito Co., Ltd.      25,722  
     

 

 

 
        5,384,516  
     

 

 

 
Food Products (2.7%):  
  3,191      A2 Milk Co., Ltd.*      32,290  
  3,258      AAK AB      61,946  
  364      Agrana Beteiligungs AG      7,585  
  2,600      Ajinomoto Co., Inc.      43,233  
  44,180      Aryzta AG*      49,471  
  4,032      Associated British Foods plc      139,658  
  772      Atria OYJ      8,692  
  4,083      Austevoll Seafood ASA      41,922  
  23,247      Australian Agricultural Co., Ltd.*      17,946  
  363      Bakkafrost P/F      26,886  
  33      Barry Callebaut AG, Registered Shares      72,968  
  6,130      Bega Cheese, Ltd.      18,601  
  125      Bell AG      33,854  
  854      Bonduelle S.C.A.      22,331  
  1,100      Calbee, Inc.      35,780  
  1      Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Spruengli AG      88,368  
  800      Chubu Shiryo Co., Ltd.      11,804  
  12,278      Cloetta AB      41,582  
  13,015      Costa Group Holdings, Ltd.      22,646  
  2,420      Cranswick plc      108,783  
  6,062      Danone SA      503,125  
  1,700      Delfi, Ltd.      1,259  
  16,123      Devro plc      38,111  
  500      DyDo Group Holdings, Inc.      21,070  
  2,372      Ebro Foods SA      51,335  
  7,504      Elders, Ltd.      34,127  
  80      Emmi AG      69,626  
  16,300      First Resources, Ltd.      23,066  
  1,616      Forfarmers NV      10,424  
  9,500      Fraser & Neave, Ltd.      12,154  
  3,739      Freedom Foods Group, Ltd.      13,395  
  1,000      Fuji Oil Holdings, Inc.      26,975  
  700      Fujicco Co., Ltd.      12,505  
  260,400      Golden Agri-Resources, Ltd.      45,583  
  11,957      GrainCorp, Ltd.*      63,796  
  17,127      Greencore Group plc      60,820  
  3,373      Grieg Seafood ASA      53,940  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Food Products, continued  
  1,119      Hilton Food Group plc    $ 16,462  
  1,600      Hokuto Corp.      29,095  
  700      House Foods Group, Inc.      23,875  
  15,498      Inghams Group, Ltd.      36,624  
  6,700      Itoham Yonekyu Holdings, Inc.      43,153  
  300      Iwatsuka Confectionery Co., Ltd.      11,559  
  47,400      Japfa, Ltd.      20,468  
  300      J-Oil Mills, Inc.      11,874  
  800      Kagome Co., Ltd.      19,139  
  400      Kameda Seika Co., Ltd.      18,286  
  700      Kenko Mayonnaise Co., Ltd.      15,782  
  706      Kerry Group plc, Class A      87,891  
  1,100      Kewpie Corp.      24,773  
  400      Kikkoman Corp.      19,571  
  900      Kotobuki Spirits Co., Ltd.      66,573  
  295      KWS Saat SE      19,107  
  500      Kyokuyo Co., Ltd.      13,175  
  147      Lassonde Industries, Inc.      17,602  
  3,154      Leroy Seafood Group ASA      20,979  
  5      Lotus Bakeries      14,539  
  2,049      Maple Leaf Foods, Inc.      40,841  
  1,200      Marudai Food Co., Ltd.      25,110  
  2,600      Maruha Nichiro Corp.      66,745  
  2,400      Megmilk Snow Brand Co., Ltd.      54,678  
  41      Mehadrin, Ltd.*      1,627  
  1,100      Meiji Holdings Co., Ltd.      74,303  
  800      Mitsui Sugar Co., Ltd.      16,677  
  700      Morinaga & Co., Ltd.      33,758  
  3,000      Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Ltd.      122,311  
  3,528      Mowi ASA      91,791  
  300      Nakamuraya Co., Ltd.      12,039  
  25,220      Nestle SA, Registered Shares      2,732,812  
  1,200      NH Foods, Ltd.      49,713  
  4,900      Nichirei Corp.      114,217  
  800      Nippon Beet Sugar Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      14,913  
  2,800      Nippon Flour Mills Co., Ltd.      43,280  
  20,100      Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd.      120,202  
  1,200      Nisshin Oillio Group, Ltd. (The)      41,460  
  900      Nisshin Seifun Group, Inc.      15,688  
  900      Nissin Sugar Co., Ltd.      16,571  
  993      Norway Royal Salmon ASA      27,090  
  326      Orior AG      30,148  
  2,710      Orkla ASA, Class A      27,475  
  51,099      Premier Foods plc*      25,697  
  988      Premium Brands Holdings Corp.      69,215  
  2,000      Prima Meat Packers, Ltd.      46,400  
  33,700      PT Tiga Pilar Sejahtera Food Tbk*      76  
  3,268      Raisio Oyj, Class V      12,458  
  11,598      Ridley Corp., Ltd.      8,547  
  1,000      Rock Field Co., Ltd.      14,071  
  5,300      Rogers Sugar, Inc.      20,083  
  600      S Foods, Inc.      15,653  
  1,029      Salmar ASA      52,760  
  2,346      Sanford, Ltd.      12,553  
  2,323      Saputo, Inc.      71,923  
  127      Savencia SA      8,749  
  3,496      Scales Corp., Ltd.      11,789  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

16


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Food Products, continued  
  3,767      Scandi Standard AB    $ 29,933  
  786      Schouw & Co.      66,096  
  2,304      Select Harvests, Ltd.      13,559  
  800      Showa Sangyo Co., Ltd.      22,856  
  306      Sipef SA      18,820  
  300      Starzen Co., Ltd.      12,154  
  1,353      Strauss Group, Ltd.      41,521  
  3,754      Suedzucker AG      68,977  
  2,371      Synlait Milk, Ltd.*      14,201  
  11,335      Tassal Group, Ltd.      33,094  
  9,755      Tate & Lyle plc      98,308  
  700      Toyo Suisan Kaisha, Ltd.      29,777  
  58      United International Enterprises      11,758  
  475      Vilmorin & CIE SA      25,718  
  1,955      Viscofan SA      103,389  
  22,000      Vitasoy International Holdings, Ltd.      79,798  
  400      Warabeya Nichiyo Holdings Co., Ltd.      6,409  
  238,612      WH Group, Ltd.(a)      247,253  
  200      Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd.      11,011  
  2,000      Yamazaki Baking Co., Ltd.      35,741  
     

 

 

 
        7,571,980  
     

 

 

 
Gas Utilities (0.4%):  
  5,937      AltaGas, Ltd.      90,445  
  12,578      APA Group      98,212  
  7,633      Gas Natural SDG SA      192,137  
  40,948      Hong Kong & China Gas Co., Ltd.      80,012  
  16,993      Italgas SpA      103,925  
  800      K&O Energy Group, Inc.      11,938  
  2,400      Nippon Gas Co., Ltd.      76,820  
  2,100      Osaka Gas Co., Ltd.      40,130  
  1,382      Rubis SCA      85,101  
  1,300      Saibu Gas Co., Ltd.      30,165  
  3,700      Shizuoka Gas Co. Ltd.      32,078  
  10,212      Superior Plus Corp.      98,785  
  800      Toho Gas Co., Ltd.      32,578  
  2,200      Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd.      53,382  
     

 

 

 
        1,025,708  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (1.5%):  
  5,549      Alcon, Inc.*      314,414  
  2,602      Ambu A/S      43,608  
  2,532      Ansell, Ltd.      51,676  
  11,514      Arjo AB, Class B      55,476  
  3,200      Asahi Intecc Co., Ltd.      94,232  
  838      BioMerieux      74,643  
  792      Cochlear, Ltd.      125,170  
  1,014      Coloplast A/S, Class B      126,081  
  251      Coltene Holding AG      23,031  
  1,992      Consort Medical plc      27,025  
  11,124      Convatec Group plc(a)      29,318  
  3,137      Demant A/S*      98,867  
  781      DiaSorin SpA      101,130  
  509      Draegerwerk AG & Co. KGaA      31,796  
  238      Draegerwerk AG & Co. KGaA      10,575  
  185      Eckert & Ziegler AG      39,642  
  2,223      Elekta AB, Class B      29,296  
  633      EssilorLuxottica SA      96,688  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Health Care Equipment & Supplies, continued  
  4,164      Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corp., Ltd.    $ 62,467  
  5,004      Getinge AB, Class B      92,948  
  7,376      GN Store Nord A/S      347,295  
  405      Guerbet      18,764  
  800      Hogy Medical Co., Ltd.      26,142  
  3,200      HOYA Corp.      305,580  
  1,300      Jeol, Ltd.      39,314  
  3,877      Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV, NYS      189,197  
  3,471      Koninklijke Philips NV      169,680  
  1,500      Mani, Inc.      42,892  
  500      Menicon Co., Ltd.      20,950  
  1,200      Nakanishi, Inc.      22,851  
  1,500      Nihon Kohden Corp.      41,728  
  2,300      Nikkiso Co., Ltd.      30,162  
  8,900      Nipro Corp.      107,135  
  14,000      Olympus Corp.      215,618  
  900      Paramount Bed Holdings Co., Ltd.      37,441  
  457      Revenio Group OYJ      13,466  
  1,192      Sartorius AG      255,171  
  1,077      Sectra AB, Class B*      44,974  
  900      Shofu, Inc.      14,825  
  6,142      Smith & Nephew plc      148,347  
  411      Sonova Holding AG, Registered Shares      94,050  
  360      Stratec Se      24,627  
  184      Straumann Holding AG, Registered Shares      180,642  
  1,200      Sysmex Corp.      81,577  
  5,000      Terumo Corp.      176,672  
     

 

 

 
        4,177,183  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (0.8%):  
  500      Alfresa Holdings Corp.      10,210  
  3,876      Amplifon SpA      111,513  
  300      As One Corp.      28,097  
  18,377      Australian Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.      17,306  
  700      BML, Inc.      20,097  
  3,715      CareTech Holdings plc      21,928  
  6,200      CRH Medical Corp.*      21,488  
  4,243      Ebos Group, Ltd.      69,279  
  1,500      Elan Corp.      22,067  
  14,050      Estia Health, Ltd.      24,080  
  4,012      Extendicare, Inc.      26,079  
  2,001      Fagron      43,456  
  1,000      FALCO Holdings Co., Ltd.      16,953  
  6,326      Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co., KGaA      469,147  
  2,812      Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA      158,713  
  27,126      Healius, Ltd.      52,661  
  2,000      Japan Lifeline Co., Ltd.      27,377  
  1,000      Japan Medical Dynamic Marketing, Inc.      21,440  
  16,930      Japara Healthcare, Ltd.      11,729  
  1,912      Korian SA      90,119  
  225      Lna Sante      12,525  
  3,204      Medical Facilities Corp.      11,845  
  6,037      Mediclinic International plc      32,972  
  2,000      Medipal Holdings Corp.      44,124  
  7,584      Metlifecare, Ltd.      34,861  
  2,800      Miraca Holdings, Inc.      68,544  
  1,800      N Field Co., Ltd.      11,060  
  2,200      Nichiigakkan Co., Ltd.      33,292  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

17


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Health Care Providers & Services, continued  
  1,110      NMC Health plc    $ 26,054  
  18,405      Oceania Healthcare, Ltd.      16,357  
  11,311      Oriola Corp.      25,689  
  1,060      Orpea      136,069  
  23,400      Raffles Medical Group, Ltd.      17,405  
  1,806      Ramsay Health Care, Ltd.      92,127  
  873      Rhoen-Klinikum AG      17,127  
  3,746      Ryman Healthcare, Ltd.      41,239  
  2,200      Ship Healthcare Holdings, Inc.      101,940  
  800      Sienna Senior Living, Inc.      11,251  
  59,044      Sigma Healthcare, Ltd.      24,058  
  1,900      Solasto Corp.      22,304  
  3,129      Sonic Healthcare, Ltd.      63,249  
  8,887      Spire Healthcare Group plc(a)      16,757  
  10,895      Summerset Group Holdings, Ltd.      65,282  
  400      Suzuken Co., Ltd.      16,280  
  1,800      Toho Holdings Co., Ltd.      39,928  
  5,100      Tsukui Corp.      27,570  
  3,435      Virtus Health, Ltd.      11,286  
  2,800      Vital Ksk Holdings, Inc.      26,894  
     

 

 

 
        2,311,828  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Technology (0.1%):  
  14,160      AGFA-Gevaert NV*      73,363  
  2,052      Ascom Holding AG      22,304  
  857      Compugroup Medical Se      61,302  
  2,389      Emis Group plc      35,102  
  4,200      M3, Inc.      126,848  
  800      Nnit A/S(a)      13,393  
  1,258      Pro Medicus, Ltd.      19,738  
  1,213      Raysearch Laboratories AB*      13,897  
     

 

 

 
        365,947  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (2.3%):  
  2,563      Accor SA      120,306  
  36,400      Accordia Golf Trust      18,133  
  600      AEON Fantasy Co., Ltd.      16,079  
  1,000      Arcland Service Holdings Co., Ltd.      17,250  
  23,206      Ardent Leisure Group, Ltd.*      21,236  
  7,016      Aristocrat Leisure, Ltd.      166,361  
  4,300      Atom Corp.      40,140  
  7,557      Autogrill SpA      79,070  
  1,707      Basic-Fit NV*(a)      64,923  
  3,095      Betsson AB*      14,447  
  20,000      Cafe de Coral Holdings, Ltd.      47,390  
  1,533      Carnival plc, ADR      73,829  
  700      Central Sports Co., Ltd.      20,502  
  72,000      Century City International Holdings, Ltd.      5,360  
  485      CIE des Alpes      16,236  
  9,479      Collins Foods, Ltd.      59,377  
  2,000      Colowide Co., Ltd.      41,403  
  9,783      Compass Group plc      245,035  
  2,200      Corporate Travel Management, Ltd.      31,706  
  2,000      Create Restaurants Holdings In      34,325  
  4,576      Crown Resorts, Ltd.      38,619  
  151      Do & Co. AG      14,543  
  1,951      Domino’s Pizza Enterprises, Ltd.      71,687  
  23,341      Domino’s Pizza Group plc      99,165  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure, continued  
  1,600      Doutor Nichires Holdings Co., Ltd.    $ 31,741  
  29,990      EI Group plc*      112,735  
  4,906      Elior Group^(a)      72,164  
  6,500      Fairwood Holdings, Ltd.      16,587  
  2,425      Flight Centre Travel Group, Ltd.      74,996  
  1,016      Flutter Entertainment plc      124,272  
  2,258      Flutter Entertainment plc      275,724  
  800      Fuji Kyuko Co., Ltd.      30,931  
  600      Fujita Kanko, Inc.      15,576  
  557      Fuller Smith & Turner plc, Class A      7,090  
  19,010      Galaxy Entertainment Group, Ltd.      140,128  
  1,491      Gamesys Group plc*      13,974  
  200      Genki Sushi Co., Ltd.      5,488  
  50,200      Genting Singapore, Ltd.      34,376  
  36,100      GL Limited      21,635  
  2,773      Great Canadian Gaming Corp.*      91,921  
  8,283      Greggs plc      252,295  
  16,772      GVC Holdings plc      196,664  
  660      Hiday Hidaka Corp.      12,195  
  1,700      HIS Co., Ltd.      48,802  
  18,000      Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels (The)      19,295  
  11,300      Hotel Grand Central, Ltd.      10,766  
  400      Ichibanya Co., Ltd.      21,170  
  1,639      InterContinental Hotels Group plc, ADR      112,550  
  900      Intertain Group, Ltd. (The)*      8,304  
  7,041      JD Wetherspoon plc      155,402  
  868      Jumbo Interactive, Ltd.      9,106  
  6,856      Kindred Group plc      42,046  
  1,700      Komeda Holdings Co., Ltd.      33,143  
  1,900      Koshidaka Holdings Co., Ltd.      28,782  
  900      Kourakuen Holdings Corp.      17,127  
  400      Kura Sushi, Inc.      19,885  
  1,100      Kyoritsu Maintenance Co., Ltd.      52,310  
  70,000      Macau Legend Development, Ltd.*      9,797  
  33,812      Marston’s plc      57,263  
  200      Matsuya Foods Co., Ltd.      8,317  
  500      McDonald’s Holdings Co., Ltd.      24,099  
  36,000      Melco International Development Ltd.      101,332  
  5,571      Melia Hotels International SA      49,219  
  15,327      MGM China Holdings, Ltd.      25,121  
  14,000      Miramar Hotel & Investment      28,213  
  10,745      Mitchells & Butlers plc*      65,429  
  410      Mty Food Group, Inc.      17,522  
  72,000      NagaCorp, Ltd.      125,714  
  4,629      NetEnt AB*      12,802  
  400      Ohsho Food Service Corp.      23,834  
  1,223      Orascom Development Holding AG*      19,316  
  200      Oriental Land Co., Ltd.      27,300  
  2,702      Pandox AB      61,217  
  900      Pizza Pizza Royalty Corp.      6,772  
  10,182      PlayTech plc      53,616  
  12,439      Rank Group plc      45,691  
  600      Renaissance, Inc.      9,616  
  4,200      Resorttrust, Inc.      71,283  
  1,657      Restaurant Brands International, Inc.      105,643  
  392      Restaurant Brands International, Inc.      24,998  
  1,129      Restaurant Brands New Zealand, Ltd.*      10,599  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

18


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure, continued  
  33,738      Restaurant Group plc (The)    $ 73,214  
  800      Ringer Hut Co., Ltd.      18,496  
  3,200      Round One Corp.      31,169  
  1,300      Royal Holdings Co., Ltd.^      29,395  
  1,200      Saint Marc Holdings Co., Ltd.      25,620  
  400      Saizeriya Co., Ltd.      9,762  
  16,988      Sands China, Ltd.      91,105  
  2,943      Scandic Hotels Group AB(a)      32,813  
  44,000      Shangri-La Asia, Ltd.      46,028  
  56,868      SJM Holdings, Ltd.      64,919  
  1,360      SkiStar AB      17,266  
  25,292      Sky City Entertainment Group, Ltd.      67,597  
  4,600      Skylark Holdings Co., Ltd.      90,060  
  1,707      Sodexo SA      202,441  
  20,846      SSP Group Plc      179,625  
  27,388      Star Entertainment Group, Ltd. (The)      88,570  
  5,813      Stars Group, Inc. (The)*      151,727  
  500      Sushiro Global Holdings, Ltd.      43,078  
  28,365      Tabcorp Holdings, Ltd.      90,287  
  581      The Gym Group plc(a)      2,230  
  50,634      Thomas Cook Group plc*(b)       
  4,500      Tokyo Dome Corp.      44,952  
  1,100      Toridoll Holding Corp.      28,462  
  400      Tosho Co., Ltd.      9,191  
  7,082      TUI AG      89,524  
  1,475      Whitbread plc      94,906  
  41,297      William Hill plc      103,213  
  26,430      Wynn Macau, Ltd.      65,382  
  3,500      Zensho Holdings Co., Ltd.      79,192  
     

 

 

 
        6,321,239  
     

 

 

 
Household Durables (2.0%):  
  5,875      Azorim-Investment Development & Construction Co., Ltd.*      11,922  
  1,604      Bang & Olufsen A/S*      8,419  
  19,424      Barratt Developments plc      192,503  
  5,753      Bellway plc      290,642  
  2,271      Berkeley Group Holdings plc (The)      147,242  
  1,566      Bigben Interactive      28,179  
  3,728      Bonava AB      39,612  
  4,205      Bovis Homes Group plc      76,146  
  3,865      Breville Group, Ltd.      47,466  
  2,200      Casio Computer Co., Ltd.      44,215  
  600      Chofu Seisakusho Co., Ltd.      13,521  
  1,800      Cleanup Corp.      11,859  
  1,800      Corona Corp.      17,092  
  9,695      Countryside Properties plc(a)      58,944  
  11,005      Crest Nicholson Holdings plc      63,394  
  1,076      De’Longhi      22,781  
  7,507      DFS Furniture plc      28,881  
  1,000      Dorel Industries, Inc.      4,606  
  2,152      Duni AB      29,720  
  4,630      Electrolux AB, Series B, Class B      113,668  
  2,700      Es-Con Japan, Ltd.      23,231  
  800      Eslead Corp.      16,056  
  2,053      Fiskars OYJ Abp      25,924  
  2,700      FJ Next Co., Ltd.      28,370  
  87      Forbo Holding AG      148,077  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Household Durables, continued  
  1,600      Foster Electric Co., Ltd.    $ 28,074  
  1,400      France Bed Holdings Co., Ltd.      12,382  
  1,600      Fuji Corp., Ltd.      10,352  
  900      Fujitsu General, Ltd.      20,213  
  14,200      Haseko Corp.      190,359  
  700      Hoosiers Holdings      4,598  
  187      Hunter Douglas NV      12,188  
  10,452      Husqvarna AB, Class B      83,720  
  3,200      Iida Group Holdings Co., Ltd.      56,021  
  3,817      JM AB      113,051  
  10,600      Jvc Kenwood Corp.      26,510  
  958      Kaufman & Broad SA      39,761  
  1,300      LEC, Inc.      15,880  
  540      Leifheit AG      14,347  
  62,400      Man Wah Holdings, Ltd.      44,555  
  18,466      McCarthy & Stone plc(a)      36,508  
  10      Metall Zug AG      22,522  
  4,500      Nikon Corp.      55,012  
  9,589      Nobia AB      71,554  
  39,400      Panasonic Corp.      369,595  
  5,699      Persimmon plc      205,270  
  3,200      Pressance Corp.      39,402  
  13,354      Redrow plc      131,923  
  1,000      Rinnai Corp.      78,105  
  500      Sangetsu Corp.      9,441  
  1,048      SEB SA      155,857  
  13,000      Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.      225,057  
  4,500      Sekisui House, Ltd.      96,116  
  3,000      Sharp Corp.      45,849  
  13,600      Sony Corp.      925,835  
  2,500      Space Value Holdings Co., Ltd.      12,250  
  2,200      Starts Corp., Inc.      56,023  
  6,900      Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd.      101,584  
  328      Surteco Group SE      8,330  
  1,100      Tamron Co., Ltd.      25,444  
  171,627      Taylor Wimpey plc      444,101  
  20,687      Techtronic Industries Co., Ltd.      169,288  
  805      The Vitec Group plc      11,723  
  1,000      TOA Corp.      10,490  
  400      Token Corp.      27,017  
  3,468      TomTom NV      36,704  
     

 

 

 
        5,535,481  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (0.2%):  
  4,672      Essity AB, Class B      150,664  
  407      Henkel AG & Co. KGaA      38,321  
  1,700      Lion Corp.      33,186  
  14,255      Mcbride plc      16,756  
  1,600      Pigeon Corp.      59,003  
  5,635      PZ Cussons plc      15,548  
  2,279      Reckitt Benckiser Group plc      185,041  
  2,600      Unicharm Corp.      87,833  
     

 

 

 
        586,352  
     

 

 

 
Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers (0.4%):  
  2,002      Albioma SA      58,485  
  4,859      Boralex, Inc., Class A      91,537  
  1,700      Capital Power Corp.      45,027  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

19


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers, continued  
  17,378      Drax Group plc    $ 72,186  
  5,259      EDP Renovaveis SA      61,948  
  1,300      Electric Power Development Co., Ltd.      31,596  
  1,162      ERG SpA      25,058  
  9,297      Falck Renewables SpA      49,665  
  54,874      Infigen Energy      25,056  
  3,741      Innergex Renewable Energy, Inc.      48,578  
  1,207      Kenon Holdings, Ltd.      25,799  
  10,105      Meridian Energy, Ltd.      34,019  
  15,630      New Energy Solar, Ltd.      14,798  
  4,661      Northland Power, Inc.      97,643  
  2,000      Polaris Infrastructure, Inc.      18,869  
  1,917      Scatec Solar ASA(a)      27,171  
  16,748      Transalta Corp.      119,701  
  1,200      Transalta Renewables, Inc.      14,344  
  3,710      Uniper SE      122,782  
     

 

 

 
        984,262  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (0.6%):  
  8,000      Chevalier International Holdings Ltd.      11,807  
  26,645      Cir-Compagnie Industriali Riun      32,511  
  20,430      CK Hutchison Holdings, Ltd.      195,229  
  615      DCC plc      53,525  
  2,000      Guoco Group, Ltd.      33,892  
  1,269      Indus Holding AG      55,545  
  515      Italmobiliare SpA      13,953  
  1,500      Katakura Industries Co., Ltd.      18,687  
  1,800      Keihan Holdings Co., Ltd.      87,629  
  23,700      Keppel Corp., Ltd.      119,440  
  1,284      Lifco AB-B Shs      78,521  
  5,400      Nisshinbo Holdings, Inc.      51,318  
  1,487      Nolato AB      87,366  
  23,000      NWS Holdings, Ltd.      32,285  
  2,675      Rheinmetall AG      307,588  
  2,400      Seibu Holdings, Inc.      39,598  
  57,400      SembCorp Industries, Ltd.      97,913  
  70,000      Shun Tak Holdings, Ltd.      33,429  
  1,907      Siemens AG, Registered Shares      249,262  
  2,723      Smiths Group plc      60,870  
  5,400      Tokai Holdings Corp.      54,301  
     

 

 

 
        1,714,669  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (3.6%):  
  5,489      Admiral Group plc      168,072  
  31,128      AEGON NV      142,472  
  3,360      Ageas NV      198,757  
  49,040      AIA Group, Ltd.      516,015  
  4,109      Alm Brand A/S      36,578  
  5,560      ASR Nederland NV      208,456  
  6,744      Assicurazioni Generali SpA      139,205  
  1,203      AUB Group, Ltd.      10,134  
  60,373      Aviva plc      336,744  
  15,366      AXA SA      433,477  
  1,671      Baloise Holding AG, Registered Shares      302,071  
  3,798      Beazley plc      28,013  
  7,384      Chesnara plc      31,177  
  2,213      Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings, Ltd.*      33,299  
  2,983      CNP Assurances SA      59,428  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Insurance, continued  
  5,028      Coface SA    $ 61,938  
  8,500      Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Inc.      140,005  
  51,629      Direct Line Insurance Group plc      215,087  
  82      E-L Financial Corp., Ltd.      52,352  
  398      Fairfax Financial Holdings, Ltd.      186,904  
  1,054      FBD Holdings plc      10,319  
  1,983      Gjensidige Forsikring ASA      41,683  
  1,400      Great-West Lifeco, Inc.      35,863  
  578      Grupo Catalana Occidente SA      20,227  
  478      Hannover Rueck SE      92,408  
  5,987      Harel Insurance Investments &      46,800  
  15,099      Hastings Group Holdings, Ltd.(a)      35,854  
  1,674      Helvetia Holding AG      236,584  
  4,798      Hiscox, Ltd.      90,729  
  4,219      IA Financial Corp., Inc.      231,779  
  506      IDI Insurance Co., Ltd.      18,461  
  22,509      Insurance Australia Group, Ltd.      121,238  
  400      Intact Financial Corp.      43,259  
  12,300      Japan Post Holdings Co., Ltd.      115,537  
  33,275      Just Group plc*      34,870  
  7,487      Lancashire Holdings, Ltd.      76,081  
  102,780      Legal & General Group plc      414,014  
  13,895      Manulife Financial Corp.      281,930  
  4,750      Manulife Financial Corp.      96,434  
  13,386      Mapfre SA      35,605  
  26,388      Medibank Private, Ltd.      58,540  
  1,055      Menora Mivtachim Holdings, Ltd.      15,467  
  16,641      Migdal Insurance & Financial Holding, Ltd.      15,732  
  3,700      MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, Inc.      121,844  
  1,100      Muenchener Rueckversicherungs-Gesellschaft AG      324,488  
  20,116      NIB Holdings, Ltd.      88,714  
  4,578      NN Group NV      174,064  
  19,541      Phoenix Group Holdings plc      194,290  
  7,577      Phoenix Holdings, Ltd. (The)      45,883  
  5,245      Poste Italiane SpA(a)      59,524  
  2,480      Prudential plc, ADR      94,463  
  14,630      QBE Insurance Group, Ltd.      132,568  
  11,387      RSA Insurance Group plc      85,941  
  57,341      Saga plc      40,539  
  5,023      Sampo Oyj, Class A      219,138  
  5,232      SCOR SA      219,791  
  8,029      Societa Cattolica di Assicuraz      65,518  
  3,200      Sompo Holdings, Inc.      125,407  
  14,257      Storebrand ASA      112,129  
  3,597      Sun Life Financial, Inc.      163,915  
  554      Swiss Life Holding AG, Registered Shares      278,000  
  2,344      Swiss Re AG      263,506  
  10,600      T&D Holdings, Inc.      133,808  
  995      Talanx AG      49,396  
  3,600      Tokio Marine Holdings, Inc.      201,036  
  1,981      Topdanmark A/S      97,805  
  23      Trisura Group, Ltd.*      713  
  2,610      Tryg A/S      77,380  
  21,980      Unipol Gruppo Finanziario SpA      125,996  
  22,967      UnipolSai SpA      66,770  
  6,313      Uniqa Insurance Group AG      64,200  
  54      Vaudoise Assurances Holding SA      31,931  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

20


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Insurance, continued  
  2,033      Vienna Insurance Group AG Wiener Versicherung Gruppe    $ 57,722  
  1,796      Wuestenrot & Wuerttembergische AG      39,068  
  1,771      Zurich Insurance Group AG      726,508  
     

 

 

 
        9,951,653  
     

 

 

 
Interactive Media & Services (0.4%):  
  1,083      Adevinta ASA, Class B*      12,836  
  22,069      Auto Trader Group plc(a)      174,386  
  600      Bengo4.com, Inc.*      31,753  
  9,425      Carsales.com, Ltd.      110,198  
  1,200      Dip Corp.      35,463  
  5,600      Gree, Inc.      25,384  
  3,100      Gurunavi, Inc.      27,721  
  800      Itokuro, Inc.*      10,416  
  3,100      Kakaku.com, Inc.      79,704  
  2,000      mixi, Inc.      37,935  
  135      New Work SE      44,217  
  1,012      REA Group, Ltd.      73,764  
  29,220      Rightmove plc      245,686  
  1,046      Scout24 AG(a)      69,189  
  12,657      Solocal Group*      7,858  
  15,200      Z Holdings Corp.      63,692  
  1,700      Zigexn Co., Ltd.      8,429  
     

 

 

 
        1,058,631  
     

 

 

 
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail (0.2%):  
  1,900      Belluna Co., Ltd.      12,406  
  18,446      Boohoo Group plc*      72,916  
  3,809      Dustin Group AB(a)      30,593  
  2,462      eDreams ODIGEO SA*      11,799  
  2,400      Enigmo, Inc.*      19,587  
  22,749      Moneysupermarket.com Group plc      99,857  
  6,515      N Brown Group plc      14,070  
  1,472      Ocado Group plc*      24,990  
  7,306      On The Beach Group plc(a)      47,355  
  800      Open Door, Inc.*      11,524  
  9,400      Rakuten, Inc.      80,636  
  3,182      Rocket Internet SE*(a)      78,863  
  1,817      Takkt AG      25,717  
  2,580      Webjet, Ltd.^      23,650  
  1,200      ZOZO, Inc.      22,961  
     

 

 

 
        576,924  
     

 

 

 
IT Services (1.4%):  
  1,366      AddNode Group AB      26,045  
  370      Allgeier SE      14,099  
  974      Alten SA      123,302  
  9,025      Altran Technologies SA      143,447  
  3,748      Amadeus IT Group SA      307,073  
  2,621      Appen, Ltd.      41,359  
  5,372      ARQ Group, Ltd.      1,430  
  3,853      Atea ASA      56,636  
  2,079      Atos SE      173,814  
  1,266      Bechtle AG      177,636  
  1,900      CAC Holdings Corp.      27,381  
  2,722      Cancom SE      161,075  
  1,420      Capgemini SA      173,931  
  2,893      CGI, Inc.*      242,173  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
IT Services, continued  
  4,933      Columbus A/S    $ 7,129  
  5,725      Computacenter plc      133,841  
  6,694      Computershare, Ltd.      78,888  
  1,600      Comture Corp.      34,391  
  500      Densan System Co., Ltd.      13,947  
  317      Devoteam SA      33,642  
  1,400      DTS Corp.      32,555  
  8,624      Econocom Group SA/NV      23,575  
  1,000      E-Guardian, Inc.      18,647  
  6,228      Equiniti Group plc(a)      17,119  
  3,891      Fdm Group Holdings plc      53,627  
  457      Formula Systems 1985, Ltd.      31,135  
  700      Fujitsu, Ltd.      66,063  
  800      Future Corp.      13,263  
  6,665      Global Dominion Access SA*(a)      27,319  
  3,000      GMO Internet, Inc.      57,299  
  400      GMO Payment Gateway, Inc.      27,522  
  287      Groupe Open      3,515  
  2,320      HIQ International AB*      12,817  
  800      ID Holdings Corp.      11,152  
  6,538      Indra Sistemas SA*      75,219  
  1,200      Infocom Corp.      29,443  
  700      Information Services Internati      27,817  
  2,776      Iomart Group plc      13,751  
  1,100      Itochu Techno-Solutions Corp.      31,059  
  400      Kanematsu Electronics, Ltd.      13,369  
  1,915      Knowit AB      42,636  
  19,141      Link Administration Holdings, Ltd.      78,864  
  2,100      Mamezou Holdings Co., Ltd.      28,240  
  896      Matrix It, Ltd.      18,042  
  300      Mitsubishi Research Institute      11,846  
  9,872      NCC Group plc      29,406  
  700      NEC Networks & System Integrat      24,892  
  3,000      Nihon Unisys, Ltd.      94,287  
  2,556      Nomura Research Institute, Ltd.      55,002  
  800      NS Solutions Corp.      26,297  
  2,200      Nsd Co., Ltd.      36,344  
  5,500      NTT Data Corp.      73,535  
  200      OBIC Co., Ltd.      27,020  
  4,539      Ordina NV      10,372  
  1,400      Otsuka Corp.      55,923  
  1,200      Poletowin Pitcrew Holdings, Inc.      10,662  
  663      Reply SpA      51,654  
  800      SCSK Corp.      41,724  
  159      Shopify, Inc., Class A*      63,215  
  800      Softbank Technology Corp.      14,781  
  2,531      Softcat plc      38,702  
  700      Sopra Steria Group      112,782  
  16,000      Sunevision Holdings, Ltd.      10,825  
  1,200      TDC Soft, Inc.      11,825  
  1,400      TechMatrix Corp.      30,226  
  2,503      The Citadel Group, Ltd.      8,644  
  3,261      Tieto OYJ      101,497  
  1,500      TIS, Inc.      88,678  
  1,140      Wirecard AG      137,727  
  402      Worldline SA*(a)      28,529  
     

 

 

 
        3,921,682  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

21


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Leisure Products (0.3%):  
  1,179      Accell Group    $ 34,131  
  2,900      Bandai Namco Holdings, Inc.      175,996  
  406      BRP, Inc.      18,499  
  1,319      Games Workshop Group plc      106,722  
  800      Globeride, Inc.      20,018  
  72,000      Goodbaby International Holdings, Ltd.*      15,992  
  1,200      Heiwa Corp.      25,106  
  700      Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      25,136  
  500      Mars Group Holdings Corp.      9,358  
  2,702      Maytronics, Ltd.      22,604  
  800      Mizuno Corp.      20,188  
  26,132      Photo-Me International plc      33,612  
  1,200      Sankyo Co., Ltd.      39,780  
  3,600      Sega Sammy Holdings, Inc.      52,442  
  1,337      Spin Master Corp.*(a)      40,715  
  1,169      Technogym SpA(a)      15,204  
  1,995      Thule Group AB (The)(a)      46,052  
  4,700      Tomy Co., Ltd.      60,803  
  385      Trigano SA      40,690  
  700      Universal Entertainment Corp.      23,831  
  500      Yamaha Corp.      27,566  
     

 

 

 
        854,445  
     

 

 

 
Life Sciences Tools & Services (0.5%):  
  2,607      Biotage AB      34,546  
  600      Cmic Holdings Co., Ltd.      10,136  
  1,200      Eps Holdings, Inc.      15,270  
  478      Eurofins Scientific SE      265,430  
  2,098      Evotec SE*      54,417  
  1,626      Gerresheimer AG      126,068  
  1,600      Linical Co., Ltd.      16,536  
  1,329      Lonza Group AG, Registered Shares      484,806  
  1,322      Qiagen NV*      44,684  
  876      Sartorius Stedim Biotech      145,235  
  1,600      Shin Nippon Biomedical Laborat      9,264  
  185      Siegfried Holding AG      89,690  
     

 

 

 
        1,296,082  
     

 

 

 
Machinery (3.9%):  
  6,065      Aalberts NV      272,828  
  1,100      AG Growth International, Inc.      39,344  
  2,600      Aichi Corp.      17,668  
  2,100      Aida Engineering, Ltd.      18,777  
  4,185      Alfa Laval AB      105,466  
  1,607      Alimak Group AB(a)      23,978  
  900      Alinco, Inc.      10,620  
  789      Alstom SA      37,374  
  5,000      Amada Holdings Co., Ltd.      56,792  
  2,790      Andritz AG      120,108  
  2,000      Anest Iwata Corp.      19,256  
  2,700      Asahi Diamond Industrial Co., Ltd.      15,869  
  2,774      Atlas Copco AB      96,275  
  4,706      Atlas Copco AB, Class A      187,652  
  1,149      Ats Automation Tooling Systems, Inc.*      18,964  
  1,300      Bando Chemical Industries, Ltd.      10,963  
  2,296      Beijer Alma AB, Class B      38,423  
  506      Bobst Group SA      29,486  
  10,601      Bodycote plc      133,912  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Machinery, continued  
  267      Bucher Industries AG    $ 93,817  
  1,623      Cargotec OYJ      55,002  
  500      Chugai Ro Co., Ltd.      8,338  
  1,000      CKD Corp.      16,808  
  17,805      CNH Industrial NV      195,436  
  2,050      Concentric AB      34,845  
  1,110      Construcc y Aux de Ferrocarr SA      51,011  
  68      Conzzeta AG      81,239  
  234      Daetwyler Holding AG      45,050  
  900      Daifuku Co., Ltd.      54,431  
  1,900      Daihatsu Diesel Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      12,382  
  2,100      Daiwa Industries, Ltd.      23,246  
  7,304      Deutz AG      45,653  
  3,500      DMG Mori Co., Ltd.      53,579  
  2,668      Duerr AG      90,998  
  3,400      Ebara Corp.      102,742  
  2,774      Epiroc AB      32,935  
  3,946      Epiroc AB, Class A      48,240  
  1,500      Exco Technologies, Ltd.      9,161  
  300      FANUC Corp.      55,414  
  114      Feintool International Holding AG      7,282  
  19,282      Fincantieri SpA^      19,929  
  1,579      Fluidra SA*      21,608  
  2,000      Fuji Corp.      36,581  
  700      Fukushima Galilei Co., Ltd.      26,203  
  1,700      Furukawa Co., Ltd.      22,397  
  4,784      GEA Group AG      158,163  
  140      Georg Fischer AG      142,351  
  2,000      Glory, Ltd.      60,374  
  2,253      Haldex AB      12,289  
  26,103      Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG*      33,788  
  9,700      Hino Motors, Ltd.      102,506  
  1,200      Hisaka Works, Ltd.      11,059  
  2,600      Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.      77,365  
  12,300      Hitachi Zosen Corp.      46,510  
  400      Hoshizaki Corp.      35,621  
  500      Hosokawa Micron Corp.      21,403  
  2,700      IHI Corp.      63,288  
  14,403      IMI plc      225,345  
  755      Industria Macchine Automatiche      54,305  
  1,933      Interpump Group SpA      61,234  
  27      Interroll Holding AG, Registered Shares      60,730  
  1,300      Iseki & Co., Ltd.      19,772  
  3,200      Japan Steel Works, Ltd. (The)      62,535  
  8,700      JTEKT Corp.      102,630  
  2,600      Juki Corp.      20,854  
  3,751      Jungheinrich AG      90,966  
  609      Kardex AG      102,705  
  900      Kato Works Co., Ltd.      13,503  
  5,400      Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.      118,075  
  2,997      Kion Group AG      206,919  
  400      Kitagawa Iron Works Co., Ltd.      8,809  
  1,400      Kito Corp.      21,973  
  5,100      Kitz Corp.      35,928  
  572      Koenig & Bauer AG      18,022  
  13,400      Komatsu, Ltd.      321,313  
  184      Komax Holding AG      44,987  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

22


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Machinery, continued  
  2,900      Komori Corp.    $ 30,027  
  2,802      Kone OYJ, Class B      183,169  
  1,994      Konecranes OYJ      61,246  
  354      Krones AG      26,914  
  3,100      Kubota Corp.      48,571  
  1,800      Kurita Water Industries, Ltd.      53,337  
  1,000      Kyokuto Kaihatsu Kogyo Co., Ltd.      14,654  
  600      Maezawa Kyuso Industries Co., Ltd.      12,228  
  700      Makino Milling Machine Co., Ltd.      31,828  
  600      Makita Corp.      20,774  
  586      Manitou Bf SA      14,170  
  800      Max Co., Ltd.      16,015  
  2,600      Meidensha Corp.      57,317  
  400      Metawater Co., Ltd.      15,996  
  5,870      Metso Oyj      231,727  
  8,632      MINEBEA MITSUMI, Inc.      178,158  
  1,700      Misumi Group, Inc.      42,045  
  2,000      Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.      77,361  
  1,000      Mitsubishi Logisnext Co., Ltd.      12,641  
  700      Mitsuboshi Belting Co., Ltd.      13,405  
  2,900      Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.*      23,462  
  700      Miura Co., Ltd.      24,186  
  19,488      Morgan Advanced Materials plc      82,037  
  1,500      Morita Holdings Corp.      24,893  
  2,100      Nabtesco Corp.      61,975  
  1,100      Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp.      48,026  
  2,000      Namura Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.      4,892  
  2,956      NFI Group, Inc.      60,673  
  4,300      NGK Insulators, Ltd.      74,603  
  1,569      Nilfisk Holding A/S*      34,352  
  3,900      Nippon Thompson Co., Ltd.      18,399  
  800      Nitta Corp.      23,665  
  500      Nitto Kohki Co., Ltd.      10,707  
  1,900      Nitto Seiko Co., Ltd.      11,127  
  300      Noritake Co., Ltd.      12,820  
  2,186      Norma Group SE      93,162  
  1,000      NS Tool Co., Ltd.      24,643  
  7,000      NSK, Ltd.      66,028  
  34,000      NTN Corp.      106,276  
  700      Obara Group, Inc.      23,571  
  7,984      OC Oerlikon Corp. AG      93,666  
  1,700      Oiles Corp.      25,810  
  500      Okuma Corp.      26,270  
  400      Organo Corp.      24,693  
  3,000      OSG Corp.      57,132  
  2,177      Outotec OYJ*      14,046  
  1,045      Palfinger AG      34,264  
  330      Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology AG      58,899  
  4,300      Punch Industry Co., Ltd.      19,625  
  118      Rational AG      94,895  
  70      Rieter Holding AG      9,985  
  40,796      Rotork plc      181,410  
  1,800      Ryobi, Ltd.      31,958  
  18,878      Sandvik AB      369,080  
  332      Schindler Holding AG, Registered Shares      81,357  
  18,300      SembCorp Marine, Ltd.*      17,993  
  757      SFS Group AG      72,798  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Machinery, continued  
  1,200      Shima Seiki Manufacturing, Ltd.    $ 27,876  
  4,000      Shinmaywa Industries, Ltd.      54,430  
  78,000      Singamas Container Holdings, Ltd.      8,609  
  2,200      Sintokogio, Ltd.      21,238  
  3,528      Skellerup Holdings, Ltd.      5,691  
  7,796      SKF AB, Class B      157,996  
  200      SMC Corp.      91,434  
  2,300      Sodick Co., Ltd.      20,347  
  2,119      Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc      250,883  
  891      Stabilus SA      60,607  
  1,600      Star Micronics Co., Ltd.      22,933  
  849      Sulzer AG, Registered Shares      94,710  
  3,200      Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd.      90,723  
  14,200      Sunningdale Tech, Ltd.      14,048  
  3,900      Tadano, Ltd.      35,478  
  2,200      Takeuchi Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      32,919  
  3,400      Takuma Co., Ltd.      40,947  
  5,654      Talgo SA*(a)      38,680  
  478      Technotrans SE      10,030  
  800      Teikoku Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      10,596  
  4,200      THK Co., Ltd.      112,745  
  5,700      Tocalo Co., Ltd.      58,262  
  1,200      Tokyo Keiki, Inc.      11,290  
  1,400      Torishima Pump Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      11,783  
  1,000      Toshiba Machine Co., Ltd.      26,949  
  3,695      Trelleborg AB      66,480  
  1,098      Troax Group AB      14,169  
  2,700      Tsubaki Nakashima Co., Ltd.      39,607  
  1,400      Tsubakimoto Chain Co.      49,275  
  4,900      Tsugami Corp.      49,617  
  1,200      Tsukishima Kikai Co., Ltd.      18,177  
  600      Tsurumi Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      11,220  
  6,727      Valmet Corp.      161,177  
  957      Vat Group AG(a)      161,937  
  6,262      Vesuvius plc      41,827  
  5,758      Volvo AB, Class A      97,460  
  27,562      Volvo AB, Class B      462,677  
  689      Vossloh AG      28,589  
  1,416      Wacker Neuson SE      27,189  
  7,232      Wartsila OYJ Abp, Class B      79,852  
  560      Washtec AG      33,857  
  1,192      Weir Group plc (The)      23,848  
  3,000      Yamabiko Corp.      32,708  
  84,100      Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings, Ltd.      70,283  
  5,060      Zardoya Otis SA      39,865  
     

 

 

 
        10,859,383  
     

 

 

 
Marine (0.4%):  
  32      A.P. Moeller – Maersk A/S, Class A      43,393  
  40      A.P. Moeller – Maersk A/S, Class B      57,726  
  3,578      American Shipping Co. ASA      13,400  
  556      Clarkson plc      22,329  
  1,333      D/S Norden A/S      21,339  
  1,307      DFDS A/S      64,090  
  1,192      Hapag-Lloyd AG(a)      102,665  
  3,300      Iino Kaiun Kaisha, Ltd.      11,185  
  9,940      Irish Continental Group      54,546  
  2,300      Japan Transcity Corp.      11,547  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

23


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Marine, continued  
  3,000      Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd.*    $ 50,613  
  894      Kuehne & Nagel International AG, Registered Shares      150,730  
  3,600      Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd.      98,874  
  102,930      MMA Offshore, Ltd.*      12,683  
  3,900      Nippon Yusen KK      70,275  
  600      NS United Kaiun Kaisha, Ltd.      12,308  
  246,000      Pacific Basin Shipping, Ltd.      51,677  
  89,000      Sitc International Holdings Co., Ltd.      108,535  
  1,962      Stolt-Nielsen, Ltd.      25,487  
     

 

 

 
        983,402  
     

 

 

 
Media (1.4%):  
  1,267      4imprint Group plc      58,482  
  5,715      Aimia, Inc.*      15,846  
  18,743      Altice Europe NV, Class A*      121,112  
  1,460      Altice Europe NV, Class B*      9,349  
  65      APG SGA SA      19,082  
  14,475      Arnoldo Mondadori Editore SpA*      33,464  
  2,124      Ascential plc(a)      11,045  
  4,886      Atresmedia Corp. de Medios de Comuicacion SA      19,102  
  1,891      Bloomsbury Publishing plc      7,272  
  6,744      Cairo Communication SpA      20,552  
  1,001      Cogeco Communications, Inc.      87,271  
  400      Cogeco, Inc.      32,067  
  5,394      Corus Entertainment, Inc.      22,101  
  1,600      Cyberagent, Inc.      55,711  
  3,302      Daily Mail & General Trust plc      36,292  
  1,300      Dentsu Group, Inc.      44,770  
  3,391      Euromoney Institutional Investor plc      58,512  
  8,672      Eutelsat Communications SA      141,047  
  1,700      F@n Communications, Inc.      7,491  
  800      Fuji Media Holdings, Inc.      11,356  
  4,000      Hakuhodo DY Holdings, Inc.      64,343  
  8,376      HT&E, Ltd.      9,961  
  26,999      Hyve Group plc      36,510  
  12,641      Informa plc      143,673  
  2,000      Intage Holdings, Inc.      17,107  
  1,711      Ipsos      55,585  
  78,966      ITV plc      158,473  
  9,582      Ive Group, Ltd.      16,278  
  1,344      JCDecaux SA      41,474  
  2,300      Kadokawa Corp.      44,142  
  2,312      Kin And Carta plc      3,056  
  7,566      Lagardere SCA      165,159  
  3,548      Liberty Global plc, Series C*      77,329  
  1,449      Liberty Global plc, Class A*      32,950  
  1,664      M6 Metropole Television SA      31,327  
  1,300      Macromill, Inc.      12,456  
  8,183      Mediaset Espana Comunicacion SA      52,036  
  24,075      Mediaset SpA*^      71,861  
  70,711      Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings, Ltd.      88,980  
  15,502      NOS SGPS SA      83,525  
  1,307      NRJ Group      9,826  
  8,170      Ooh!media, Ltd.      20,909  
  6,014      Otello Corp. ASA*      10,968  
  7,451      Pearson plc      63,019  
  3,968      Pearson plc, ADR^      33,450  
  13,544      Promotora de Informaciones SA*      21,895  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Media, continued  
  6,106      Publicis Groupe SA    $ 276,447  
  7,521      QMS Media, Ltd.      6,335  
  4,026      Quebecor, Inc., Class B      102,759  
  13,261      Reach plc      23,954  
  1,406      RTL Group      69,337  
  4,177      Sanoma OYJ      44,268  
  641      Schibsted ASA, Class A      19,386  
  435      Schibsted ASA, Class B      12,486  
  16,754      SES Global, Class A      235,545  
  60,999      Seven West Media, Ltd.*      14,069  
  7,456      Shaw Communications, Inc.      151,282  
  44,700      Singapore Press Holdings, Ltd.      72,496  
  18,618      Sky Network Television, Ltd.      8,904  
  7,900      SKY Perfect JSAT Holdings, Inc.      35,004  
  4,175      Societe Television Francaise 1      34,761  
  500      SoldOut, Inc.      9,205  
  44,663      Southern Cross Media Group, Ltd.      26,058  
  1,167      Stroeer SE & Co. KGaA      94,412  
  232      Tamedia AG, Registered Shares      22,463  
  1,586      Telenet Group Holding NV      71,434  
  15,000      Television Broadcasts, Ltd.      23,590  
  1,900      Tokyo Broadcasting System Hold      32,305  
  1,400      TV Asahi Holdings Corp.      25,900  
  500      TV Tokyo Holdings Corp.      11,174  
  1,000      ValueCommerce Co., Ltd.      21,471  
  500      Wowow, Inc.      12,720  
  27,313      WPP Aunz, Ltd.      10,447  
  18,270      WPP plc      257,083  
  700      Zenrin Co., Ltd.      11,629  
     

 

 

 
        3,915,140  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (5.0%):  
  3,860      Acerinox SA      43,611  
  1,911      Agnico Eagle Mines, Ltd.      117,737  
  400      Aichi Steel Corp.      13,991  
  16,681      Alacer Gold Corp.*      88,647  
  17,361      Alamos Gold, Inc., Class A      104,695  
  2,200      Altius Minerals Corp.      20,265  
  12,599      Alumina, Ltd.      20,344  
  723      Amg Advanced Metallurgical Group N.V.      17,754  
  34,264      Anglo American plc      988,773  
  6,845      Antofagasta plc      83,388  
  1,971      Aperam SA      63,321  
  11,577      ArcelorMittal      204,482  
  12,400      Argonaut Gold, Inc.*      18,623  
  1,100      Asahi Holdings, Inc.      27,254  
  8,215      Asanko Gold, Inc.*      7,782  
  63,720      Aurelia Metals, Ltd.      19,454  
  1,731      Aurubis AG      106,244  
  58,345      B2Gold Corp.      234,117  
  9,184      Barrick Gold Corp.      170,609  
  1,875      Bekaert NV      55,930  
  35,937      BHP Group, Ltd.      984,120  
  10,342      Billiton plc, ADR      486,177  
  25,458      BlueScope Steel, Ltd.      269,690  
  9,186      Boliden AB      244,413  
  17,700      Capstone Mining Corp.*      10,360  
  3,059      Castile Resources Pty, Ltd.*       
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

24


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Metals & Mining, continued  
  73,572      Centamin plc    $ 123,327  
  11,600      Centerra Gold, Inc.*      92,289  
  4,374      Central Asia Metals plc      12,686  
  16,254      China Gold International Resources Corp., Ltd.*      14,772  
  5,800      Continental Gold, Inc.*      23,899  
  700      Daido Steel Co., Ltd.      30,608  
  2,700      Daiki Aluminium Industry Co., Ltd.      18,761  
  9,900      Detour Gold Corp.*      191,687  
  2,600      DOWA Mining Co.      96,499  
  10,500      Dundee Precious Metals, Inc.*      45,125  
  7,762      Eldorado Gold Corp.*      62,352  
  3,600      Endeavour Mining Corp.*      68,013  
  539      Eramet      27,772  
  40,854      Evolution Mining, Ltd.      108,560  
  16,814      EVRAZ plc      90,231  
  22,438      Ferrexpo plc      47,432  
  3,209      First Majestic Silver Corp.*      39,371  
  8,602      First Quantum Minerals, Ltd.      87,252  
  86,302      Fortescue Metals Group, Ltd.      650,327  
  5,947      Fortuna Silver Mines, Inc.*      24,230  
  327      Franco Nevada Corp.      33,779  
  3,312      Fresnillo plc      28,068  
  129,412      Glencore plc      404,600  
  1,100      Godo Steel, Ltd.      28,314  
  4,758      Granges AB      50,337  
  5,096      Guyana Goldfields, Inc.*      2,747  
  18,140      Highland Gold Mining, Ltd.      47,029  
  4,214      Hill & Smith Holdings plc      82,388  
  3,000      Hitachi Metals, Ltd.      44,080  
  15,125      Hochschild Mining plc      36,705  
  18,195      Hudbay Minerals, Inc.      75,392  
  15,631      IAMGOLD Corp.*      58,388  
  5,323      Iluka Resources, Ltd.      34,802  
  14,498      Imdex, Ltd.      15,031  
  17,091      Independence Group NL      74,979  
  23,446      Ivanhoe Mines, Ltd., Class A*      76,745  
  9,400      JFE Holdings, Inc.      120,436  
  50,009      Jupiter Mines, Ltd.      9,836  
  14,214      KAZ Minerals plc      100,372  
  84,792      Kinross Gold Corp.*      402,279  
  4,744      Kirkland Lake Gold, Ltd.      209,139  
  10,600      Kobe Steel, Ltd.      56,811  
  1,800      Kyoei Steel, Ltd.      35,066  
  800      Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corp.      15,169  
  4,400      Leagold Mining Corp.*      10,946  
  14,207      Lucara Diamond Corp.      9,301  
  29,301      Lundin Mining Corp.      175,120  
  24,310      Lynas Corp., Ltd.*      39,872  
  11,288      MACA, Ltd.      8,316  
  48,387      Macmahon Holdings, Ltd.      9,678  
  4,545      Major Drilling Group International, Inc.*      19,848  
  176,000      Midas Holdings, Ltd.*      4,712  
  10,123      Mineral Resources, Ltd.      117,627  
  4,300      Mitsubishi Materials Corp.      116,610  
  500      Mitsubishi Steel Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      4,927  
  4,200      Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd.      111,528  
  25,100      Mount Gibson Iron, Ltd.      16,823  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Metals & Mining, continued  
  2,200      Neturen Co., Ltd.    $ 17,985  
  27,410      New Gold, Inc.*      24,277  
  4,822      Newcrest Mining, Ltd.      102,053  
  6,200      Nippon Denko Co., Ltd.*      9,833  
  37,000      Nippon Light Metal Holdings Co.      79,529  
  8,595      Nippon Steel Corp.      129,330  
  930      Nippon Yakin Kogyo Co., Ltd.      19,755  
  200      Nittetsu Mining Co., Ltd.      9,221  
  22,184      Norsk Hydro ASA      82,847  
  28,664      Northern Star Resources, Ltd.      226,705  
  22,428      OceanaGold Corp.      44,048  
  21,175      OM Holdings, Ltd.      7,465  
  500      Osaka Steel Co., Ltd.      6,792  
  3,154      Osisko Gold Royalties, Ltd.      30,656  
  18,826      Outokumpu OYJ      59,198  
  15,777      OZ Minerals, Ltd.      117,281  
  900      Pacific Metals Co., Ltd.      20,971  
  1,752      Pan American Silver Corp.      41,505  
  8,517      Pan American Silver Corp.      201,774  
  31,662      Perenti Global, Ltd.      36,072  
  73,744      Perseus Mining, Ltd.*      60,060  
  57,911      Petra Diamonds, Ltd.*      6,797  
  176,214      Petropavlovsk plc*      29,701  
  9,700      Premier Gold Mines, Ltd.*      14,717  
  5,733      Pretium Resources, Inc.*      63,803  
  23,878      Ramelius Resources, Ltd.      20,636  
  25,382      Regis Resources, Ltd.      77,011  
  45,534      Resolute Mining, Ltd.*      40,174  
  550      Rio Tinto plc      32,674  
  11,161      Rio Tinto plc, Registered Shares, ADR      662,518  
  5,809      Rio Tinto, Ltd.      410,737  
  6,000      Sabina Gold & Silver Corp.*      8,872  
  2,148      Salzgitter AG      47,641  
  11,858      Sandfire Resources NL      49,915  
  4,142      Sandstorm Gold, Ltd.*      30,912  
  1,600      Sanyo Special Steel Co., Ltd.      23,288  
  38,220      Saracen Mineral Holdings, Ltd.*      88,719  
  21,718      Schmolz + Bickenbach AG*      6,302  
  16,210      Semafo, Inc.*      33,708  
  32,896      Silver Lake Resources, Ltd.*      30,908  
  7,261      Sims Metal Management, Ltd.      54,396  
  71,970      South32, Ltd.      136,990  
  4,092      SSAB AB, Class A^      14,386  
  15,312      SSAB AB, Class B      50,015  
  4,935      SSR Mining, Inc.*      94,983  
  43,997      St. Barbara, Ltd.      83,917  
  11,400      Straits Trading Co., Ltd.      17,973  
  4,200      Sumitomo Metal & Mining Co., Ltd.      135,484  
  17,269      Syrah Resources, Ltd.*      5,715  
  10,787      Teck Cominco, Ltd., Class B      187,094  
  1,985      Teck Resources, Ltd., Class B      34,479  
  9,775      Teranga Gold Corp.*      52,850  
  3,912      ThyssenKrupp AG      52,819  
  1,900      Toho Titanium Co., Ltd.      16,227  
  700      Toho Zinc Co., Ltd.      13,182  
  1,100      Tokyo Rope Manufacturing Co. Ltd.      13,084  
  1,500      Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      10,815  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

25


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Metals & Mining, continued  
  1,300      Topy Industries, Ltd.    $ 23,909  
  4,685      Torex Gold Resources, Inc.*      74,042  
  9,694      Trevali Mining Corp.*      1,717  
  33,241      Turquoise Hill Resources, Ltd.*      24,321  
  1,500      UACJ Corp.      34,121  
  6,344      Voestalpine AG      176,762  
  14,139      Western Areas, Ltd.      30,144  
  12,239      Westgold Resources, Ltd.*      19,676  
  2,702      Wheaton Precious Metals Corp.      80,385  
  2,310      Wheaton Precious Metals Corp.      68,745  
  42,447      Yamana Gold, Inc.      168,036  
  1,600      Yamato Kogyo Co., Ltd.      39,984  
  800      Yodogawa Steel Works, Ltd.      14,857  
     

 

 

 
        13,682,272  
     

 

 

 
Multiline Retail (0.6%):  
  40,020      B&M European Value Retail SA      218,123  
  1,147      Canadian Tire Corp., Class A      123,455  
  53,885      Debenhams plc*       
  2,909      Dollarama, Inc.      99,991  
  15,946      Europris ASA(a)      62,688  
  500      Fuji Co., Ltd./Ehime      8,889  
  3,300      H2O Retailing Corp.      36,873  
  24,471      Harvey Norman Holdings, Ltd.      70,009  
  10,400      Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, Ltd.      93,528  
  900      Izumi Co., Ltd.      32,354  
  4,300      J. Front Retailing Co., Ltd.      59,985  
  400      Kintetsu Department Store Co., Ltd.      14,174  
  24,500      Lifestyle International Holdings, Ltd.      28,128  
  73,250      Marks & Spencer Group plc      207,698  
  1,300      Marui Group Co., Ltd.      31,649  
  30,000      Metro Holdings, Ltd.      20,864  
  47,139      Myer Holdings, Ltd.*      15,881  
  1,643      Next plc      152,957  
  5,600      Pan Pacific International Holdings Corp.      92,961  
  2,100      Parco Co., Ltd.      35,586  
  5,000      Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd.      116,637  
  600      Sanyo Electric Railway Co., Ltd.      12,051  
  1,000      Seria Co., Ltd.      27,283  
  6,000      Takashimaya Co., Ltd.      67,284  
  3,557      Tokmanni Group Corp.      50,397  
  4,000      Wing On Company International, Ltd.      11,098  
     

 

 

 
        1,690,543  
     

 

 

 
Multi-Utilities (0.8%):  
  3,187      Acea SpA      65,909  
  3,186      AGL Energy, Ltd.      45,979  
  4,330      Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.      61,262  
  905      Atco, Ltd.      34,690  
  1,466      Canadian Utilities, Ltd., Class A      44,226  
  93,709      Centrica plc      111,667  
  40,123      E.ON SE      429,075  
  17,405      Engie Group      281,241  
  8,483      Hera SpA      37,186  
  23,167      Iren SpA      71,867  
  41,584      ITL AEM SpA      77,972  
  2,700      Just Energy Group, Inc.      4,533  
  110,123      Keppel Infrastructure Trust      44,235  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Multi-Utilities, continued  
  3,070      National Grid plc, ADR    $ 192,397  
  11,914      Ren – Redes Energeticas Nacion      36,359  
  8,682      RWE AG      266,725  
  7,455      Suez      112,818  
  3,114      Telecom Plus plc      62,019  
  6,009      Vector, Ltd.      15,085  
  4,208      Veolia Environnement SA      112,079  
     

 

 

 
        2,107,324  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (6.0%):  
  9,181      Advantage Oil & Gas, Ltd.*      19,445  
  24,155      Africa Oil Corp.*      21,766  
  145,000      Agritrade Resources, Ltd.      10,791  
  2,005      Aker BP ASA      65,802  
  7,200      Anglo Pacific Group plc      18,324  
  18,944      ARC Resources, Ltd.      119,348  
  18,809      Athabasca Oil Corp.*      8,547  
  2,064      Baytex Energy Corp.*      2,993  
  25,572      Baytex Energy Corp.*      36,830  
  103,499      Beach Energy, Ltd.      183,080  
  17,741      Birchcliff Energy, Ltd.      35,389  
  15,440      Bonavista Energy Corp.      7,254  
  1,208      Bonterra Energy Corp.      3,666  
  32,835      BP plc      206,085  
  50,100      BP plc, ADR      1,890,775  
  173,000      Brightoil Petroleum Holdings, Ltd.*      24,978  
  2,656      BW LPG, Ltd.(a)      22,352  
  26,063      Cairn Energy plc*      71,106  
  12,816      Caltex Australia, Ltd.      306,072  
  5,227      Cameco Corp.      46,520  
  9,946      Cameco Corp.      88,399  
  10,058      Canadian Natural Resources, Ltd.      325,351  
  16,028      Canadian Natural Resources, Ltd.      518,507  
  3,012      Cardinal Energy, Ltd.      6,031  
  11,375      Cenovus Energy, Inc.      115,456  
  7,600      Cenovus Energy, Inc.      77,264  
  13,100      China Aviation Oil Singapore Corp., Ltd.      12,379  
  40,015      Cooper Energy, Ltd.*      17,048  
  3,700      Cosmo Energy Holdings Co., Ltd.      85,439  
  8,781      Crescent Point Energy      39,251  
  7,561      Crescent Point Energy Corp.      33,717  
  8,223      Crew Energy, Inc.*      3,610  
  854      CropEnergies AG      10,542  
  252      Delek Group, Ltd.      38,290  
  39,162      DNO ASA      51,655  
  9,137      Enagas SA      233,396  
  8,022      Enbridge, Inc.      318,989  
  13,160      EnCana Corp.      61,624  
  1,055      EnCana Corp.      4,948  
  17,700      Enerplus Corp.      126,098  
  43,854      ENI SpA      681,381  
  114,028      EnQuest plc*      32,617  
  21,115      Equinor ASA      422,414  
  1,004      Equital, Ltd.*      29,807  
  1,390      Etablissements Maurel et Prom SA      4,405  
  9,112      Euronav NV      112,374  
  1,579      Exmar NV*      9,350  
  1,267      FLEX LNG, Ltd.      13,127  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

26


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued  
  3,700      Freehold Royalties, Ltd.    $ 20,774  
  1,400      Frontera Energy Corp.      10,567  
  3,784      Frontline, Ltd.      47,816  
  3,100      Fuji Oil Co., Ltd.      6,955  
  7,147      Galp Energia SGPS SA      119,525  
  734      Gaztransport et Technigaz SA      70,557  
  6,249      Genel Energy plc      15,713  
  5,650      Gibson Energy, Inc.      115,707  
  19,607      Gran Tierra Energy, Inc.*      25,521  
  18,883      Gulf Keystone Petroleum, Ltd.      53,207  
  4,281      Hoegh Lng Holdings, Ltd.      16,348  
  11,767      Husky Energy, Inc.      94,433  
  4,700      Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.      130,775  
  2,500      Imperial Oil, Ltd.      66,139  
  1,542      Imperial Oil, Ltd.      40,817  
  13,700      INPEX Corp.      142,930  
  6,882      Inter Pipeline, Ltd.      119,470  
  2,244      International Petroleum Corp.*      9,886  
  3,600      Itochu Enex Co., Ltd.      30,317  
  1,000      Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd.      27,130  
  41,000      JXTG Holdings, Inc.      187,501  
  24,713      Karoon Energy, Ltd.*      20,084  
  7,300      Kelt Exploration, Ltd.*      27,381  
  7,446      Keyera Corp.      195,096  
  2,385      Koninklijke Vopak NV      129,468  
  2,011      Lundin Petroleum AB      68,366  
  10,707      MEG Energy Corp.*      60,940  
  1,700      Mitsuuroko Holdings Co., Ltd.      20,099  
  1,502      Naphtha Israel Petroleum Corp.      8,977  
  11,451      Neste Oyj      398,415  
  14,065      New Hope Corp., Ltd.      20,339  
  7,392      New Zealand Refining Co., Ltd. (The)      9,353  
  64,000      NewOcean Energy Holdings, Ltd.*      9,695  
  21,200      Nippon Coke & Engineering Co., Ltd.      15,751  
  7,654      Nuvista Energy, Ltd.*      18,805  
  4,687      Obsidian Energy, Ltd.*      3,357  
  104,047      Oil Refineries, Ltd.      52,303  
  21,604      Oil Search, Ltd.      110,186  
  2,596      OMV AG      145,824  
  29,853      Origin Energy, Ltd.      177,414  
  7,550      Painted Pony Energy, Ltd.*      4,419  
  1,307      Paramount Resouces, Ltd., Class A*      7,590  
  9,663      Parex Resources, Inc.*      179,730  
  5,800      Parkland Fuel Corp.      213,122  
  587      Paz Oil Co., Ltd.      83,233  
  1,584      Pembina Pipeline Corp.      58,703  
  183      Pembina Pipeline Corp.      6,784  
  6,660      Peyto Exploration & Development Corp.      19,492  
  12,892      Pharos Energy plc      8,934  
  5,032      Prairiesky Royalty, Ltd.      59,024  
  61,033      Premier Oil plc*      79,719  
  9,112      Repsol SA      142,931  
  17,670      Royal Dutch Shell plc, Class A, ADR      1,042,177  
  16,231      Royal Dutch Shell plc, Class B, ADR      973,373  
  1,600      Sala Corp.      9,346  
  4,000      San-Ai Oil Co., Ltd.      43,390  
  35,592      Santos, Ltd.      204,805  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued  
  27,521      Saras SpA    $ 44,281  
  36,000      Savannah Petroleum plc*      10,258  
  59,700      Senex Energy, Ltd.*      14,520  
  13,762      Seven Generations Energy*      89,775  
  400      Sinanen Holdings Co., Ltd.      7,433  
  12,876      Snam SpA      67,839  
  12,179      Stobart Group, Ltd.      17,406  
  18,111      Suncor Energy, Inc.      594,042  
  9,784      Suncor Energy, Inc.      320,708  
  384      Sundance Energy, Inc.*      7,283  
  16,600      Tamarack Valley Energy, Ltd.*      25,570  
  3,152      TC Energy Corp.      168,033  
  13,400      Tidewater Midstream and Infrastructure, Ltd.      12,075  
  8,990      Torc Oil & Gas, Ltd.      31,088  
  1,559      Torm plc*      17,422  
  31,435      Total SA      1,737,021  
  11,630      Tourmaline Oil Corp.      136,328  
  6,518      TransGlobe Energy Corp.      9,086  
  103,509      Tullow Oil plc      88,579  
  3,072      Verbio Vereinigte Bioenergie AG      40,430  
  5,883      Vermilion Energy, Inc.      96,192  
  12,328      Whitecap Resources, Inc.      52,696  
  48,191      Whitehaven Coal, Ltd.      89,494  
  9,290      Woodside Petroleum, Ltd.      224,616  
  8,000      Yangarra Resources, Ltd.*      8,503  
  10,083      Z Energy, Ltd.      29,661  
     

 

 

 
        16,495,644  
     

 

 

 
Paper & Forest Products (0.6%):  
  1,344      Ahlstrom-Munksjo OYJ      21,609  
  2,718      Altri SGPS SA      17,349  
  5,029      Canfor Corp.*      47,021  
  2,751      Canfor Pulp Products, Inc.      17,713  
  1,300      Chuetsu Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd.      19,824  
  600      Daiken Corp.      10,862  
  6,000      Daio Paper Corp.      81,838  
  11,027      Ence Energia y Celulosa S.A      45,520  
  6,700      Hokuetsu Kishu Paper Co., Ltd.      34,486  
  2,821      Holmen AB, Class B      86,017  
  4,627      Interfor Corp.*      52,278  
  5,272      Metsa Board OYJ^      35,430  
  6,301      Mondi plc      148,722  
  5,731      Navigator Co. SA (The)      23,093  
  3,200      Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd.      54,019  
  1,721      Norbord, Inc.      46,034  
  25,900      Oji Holdings Corp.      139,803  
  1,598      Semapa-Sociedade de Investimento E Gestao      24,655  
  898      Stella-Jones, Inc.      25,950  
  11,332      Stora Enso OYJ, Registered Shares, Class R      164,662  
  10,437      Svenska Cellulosa AB, Class B      105,849  
  600      Tokushu Tokai Paper Co., Ltd.      22,264  
  13,480      UPM-Kymmene OYJ      467,143  
  1,416      West Fraser Timber Co., Ltd.      62,467  
  24,618      Western Forest Products, Inc.      23,132  
     

 

 

 
        1,777,740  
     

 

 

 
Personal Products (0.8%):  
  18,108      Asaleo Care, Ltd.*      13,469  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

27


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Personal Products, continued  
  458      Beiersdorf AG    $ 54,799  
  16,000      Best World International, Ltd.      6,015  
  498      Blackmores, Ltd.      29,686  
  800      Fancl Corp.      21,386  
  300      HABA Laboratories, Inc.      19,550  
  1,514      Jamieson Wellness, Inc.      30,026  
  3,900      Kao Corp.      321,709  
  300      Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      25,408  
  400      Kose Corp.      58,470  
  778      L’Oreal SA      231,026  
  400      Milbon Co., Ltd.      22,780  
  1,000      Noevir Holdings Co., Ltd.      53,841  
  3,305      Ontex Group NV      69,714  
  1,400      Pola Orbis Holdings, Inc.      33,450  
  3,000      Shiseido Co., Ltd.      214,543  
  9,464      Unilever NV, NYS      543,801  
  958      Unilever NV      55,115  
  366      Unilever plc      20,950  
  4,976      Unilever plc, ADR      284,478  
  1,300      Ya-Man, Ltd.      8,757  
     

 

 

 
        2,118,973  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (3.6%):  
  172      Alk-Abello A/S*      42,314  
  15,687      Alliance Pharma plc      17,432  
  1,867      Almirall SA      30,784  
  1,900      Aska Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      21,961  
  16,400      Astellas Pharma, Inc.      280,182  
  15,563      AstraZeneca plc, ADR      775,971  
  5,900      Aurora Cannabis, Inc.*      12,678  
  8,600      Bausch Health Cos., Inc.*      257,457  
  1,145      Bausch Health Cos., Inc.*      34,258  
  8,705      Bayer AG, Registered Shares      711,486  
  693      Boiron SA      28,235  
  400      Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      36,847  
  600      Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd.      39,625  
  700      Eisai Co., Ltd.      52,144  
  20,341      Faes Farma SA      114,406  
  700      Fuji Pharma Co., Ltd.      8,569  
  500      Fuso Pharmaceutical Industries. Ltd.      9,402  
  11,369      GlaxoSmithKline plc, ADR      534,229  
  3,801      GlaxoSmithKline plc      89,408  
  1,126      H. Lundbeck A/S      43,168  
  6,300      Haw Par Corp., Ltd.      59,959  
  4,811      Hikma Pharmaceuticals plc      127,425  
  500      Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Co., Inc.      24,327  
  26,202      Indivior plc*      13,562  
  701      Ipsen SA      62,107  
  98,000      Jacobson Pharma Corp., Ltd.      21,666  
  1,000      Kaken Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      55,140  
  1,000      Kissei Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      28,384  
  1,700      Kyorin Holdings, Inc.      29,613  
  1,100      Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd.      25,849  
  98,378      Mayne Pharma Group, Ltd.*      30,107  
  468      Merck KGaA      55,377  
  4,400      Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp.      81,158  
  3,200      Nichi-Iko Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      39,758  
  300      Nippon Shinyaku Co., Ltd.      26,092  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Pharmaceuticals, continued  
  15,903      Novartis AG, Registered Shares    $ 1,506,999  
  13,371      Novo Nordisk A/S, Class B      775,625  
  1,000      Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      22,839  
  1,037      Orion OYJ      47,639  
  4,471      Orion OYJ, Class B      206,914  
  800      Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd.      35,583  
  1,732      Recipharm AB      27,587  
  3,141      Recordati SpA      132,423  
  216      Roche Holding AG      68,628  
  5,605      Roche Holding AG      1,817,843  
  600      Rohto Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      18,166  
  5,527      Sanofi      555,069  
  1,600      Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      30,511  
  1,200      Sawai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      76,018  
  1,300      Seikagaku Corp.      14,610  
  1,400      Shionogi & Co., Ltd.      86,508  
  1,600      Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd.      31,220  
  400      Taisho Pharmaceutical Holdings Co., Ltd.      29,560  
  3,500      Takeda Pharmacuetical Co., Ltd.      138,682  
  3,519      Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.*      34,552  
  800      Torii Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      22,430  
  1,200      Towa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      31,188  
  1,400      Tsumura & Co.      41,006  
  1,144      UCB SA      91,022  
  46,000      United Laboratories International Holdings, Ltd.^      33,384  
  34,791      Vectura Group plc      42,795  
  1,353      Vifor Pharma AG      247,204  
  116      Virbac SA*      30,840  
     

 

 

 
        10,017,925  
     

 

 

 
Professional Services (2.2%):  
  5,976      Adecco SA, Registered Shares      377,882  
  2,215      AF Poyry AB      51,752  
  1,162      Akka Technologies SA      85,544  
  7,788      ALS, Ltd.      50,179  
  770      Altech Corp.      13,916  
  80      Amadeus Fire AG      13,286  
  9,096      Applus Services SA      116,498  
  1,000      Baycurrent Consulting, Inc.      51,270  
  3,600      Benefit One, Inc.      74,305  
  372      Bertrandt AG      23,525  
  7,058      Bureau Veritas SA      184,416  
  26,624      Capita plc*      57,964  
  180      Danel Adir Yeoshua, Ltd.      16,762  
  1,100      DKSH Holding, Ltd.      59,860  
  900      EN-Japan, Inc.      39,382  
  11,350      Experian plc      383,828  
  1,200      FULLCAST Holdings Co., Ltd.      27,361  
  900      Funai Soken Holdings, Inc.      20,500  
  175      Groupe Crit      14,442  
  76,397      Hays plc      184,148  
  2,680      Intertek Group plc      207,969  
  2,270      Intertrust NV(a)      44,103  
  5,691      IPH, Ltd.      32,807  
  800      IR Japan Holdings, Ltd.      35,509  
  1,000      Jac Recruitment Co., Ltd.      17,829  
  5,154      McMillan Shakespeare, Ltd.      47,463  
  1,100      Meitec Corp.      61,761  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

28


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Professional Services, continued  
  2,597      Morneau Shepell, Inc.    $ 67,585  
  700      Nexyz Group Corp.      11,482  
  2,500      Nihon M&A Center, Inc.      86,365  
  3,600      Nomura Co., Ltd.      47,688  
  3,000      Outsourcing, Inc.      31,762  
  18,606      Pagegroup plc      129,036  
  2,000      Pasona Group, Inc.      29,322  
  1,700      Persol Holdings Co., Ltd.      31,958  
  5,320      Randstad NV      325,757  
  8,900      Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd.      334,955  
  7,938      RELX plc      200,223  
  5,236      RELX plc, ADR      132,314  
  2,833      Ricardo plc      28,628  
  6,390      Robert Walters plc      47,236  
  2,992      Seek, Ltd.      47,466  
  80      SGS SA, Registered Shares      219,041  
  2,100      SIGMAXYZ, Inc.      39,850  
  2,400      SMS Co., Ltd.      66,399  
  2,421      Stantec, Inc.      68,514  
  1,400      Stantec, Inc.      39,572  
  7,669      SThree plc      38,544  
  1,100      Tanseisha Co., Ltd.      13,284  
  1,200      Technopro Holdings, Inc.      84,240  
  2,255      Teleperformance      550,927  
  2,878      Thomson Reuters Corp.      206,065  
  1,800      Trust Tech, Inc.      21,005  
  1,100      UT Group Co., Ltd.      32,796  
  800      Weathernews, Inc.      25,791  
  10,253      Wolters Kluwer NV      749,360  
  600      YAMADA Consulting Group Co., Ltd.      8,938  
  3,100      Yumeshin Holdings Co., Ltd.      25,163  
     

 

 

 
        6,035,527  
     

 

 

 
Real Estate Management & Development (2.7%):  
  1,963      Adler Real Estate AG*^      30,309  
  902      ADO Properties SA(a)      32,512  
  1,200      AEON Mall Co., Ltd.      21,276  
  3,164      Airport City, Ltd.*      59,425  
  2,300      Airport Facilities Co., Ltd.      11,697  
  656      Allreal Holding AG      130,416  
  1,972      Alony Hetz Properties & Invest      31,217  
  492      Alrov Properties And Lodgings, Ltd.      22,539  
  2,393      Amot Investments, Ltd.      17,388  
  7,650      Aroundtown SA      68,501  
  2,512      Ashtrom Properties, Ltd.      16,089  
  46,000      Asia Standard International Group, Ltd.      7,549  
  2,076      Atrium Ljungberg AB, Class B      50,004  
  443      Azrieli Group      32,419  
  45      Bayside Land Corp.      34,604  
  210      Big Shopping Centers, Ltd.      20,421  
  3,700      Bukit Sembawang Estates, Ltd.      12,885  
  844      CA Immobilien Anlagen AG      35,461  
  19,711      Capital & Counties Properties plc      68,651  
  38,900      CapitaLand, Ltd.      108,526  
  2,300      Castellum AB      54,061  
  1,571      Catena AB      69,400  
  2,794      Cedar Woods Properties, Ltd.      15,396  
  18,000      Chinese Estates Holdings, Ltd.      14,256  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Real Estate Management & Development, continued  
  41,300      Chip Eng Seng Corp., Ltd.    $ 19,047  
  52,000      Chuang’s Consortium International, Ltd.      9,739  
  7,300      City Developments, Ltd.      59,547  
  1,684      Citycon OYJ      17,686  
  16,430      CK Asset Holdings, Ltd.      119,081  
  3,803      CLS Holdings plc      15,293  
  72,500      Cnqc International Holdings, Ltd.      10,343  
  1,625      Colliers International Group      126,701  
  741      Corestate Capital Holding SA      31,169  
  231      Countrywide plc*      1,060  
  340,000      CSI Properties, Ltd.      12,237  
  168      Daejan Holdings plc      12,076  
  1,700      Daibiru Corp.      20,404  
  900      Daito Trust Construction Co., Ltd.      111,481  
  10,300      Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd.      319,155  
  887      Deutsche Euroshop AG      26,286  
  3,980      Deutsche Wohnen SE      162,635  
  2,618      Dic Asset AG      46,645  
  2,900      Dream Unlimited Corp.      26,132  
  34,000      Emperor International Holdings      7,551  
  2,667      Entra ASA(a)      44,093  
  1,853      Fabege AB      30,828  
  68,000      Far East Consortium International, Ltd.      33,307  
  1,175      Fastighets AB Balder*      54,387  
  3,800      First Capital Real Estate Investment Trust      60,494  
  1,529      FirstService Corp.      142,259  
  11,092      Foxtons Group PLC*      13,025  
  16,000      Frasers Property, Ltd.      20,116  
  1,100      Goldcrest Co., Ltd.      20,967  
  9,690      Grainger plc      40,223  
  2,575      Grand City Properties SA      61,753  
  10,000      Great Eagle Holdings, Ltd.      33,732  
  17,100      GuocoLand, Ltd.      24,929  
  28,000      Hang Lung Group, Ltd.      69,114  
  33,984      Hang Lung Properties, Ltd.      74,299  
  1,200      Heiwa Real Estate Co., Ltd.      33,096  
  5,154      Helical plc      32,443  
  4,837      Hemfosa Fastigheter AB      62,595  
  16,706      Henderson Land Development Co., Ltd.      82,045  
  37,840      HKR International, Ltd.      15,733  
  9,400      Ho Bee Land, Ltd.      16,854  
  18,500      Hong Fok Corp., Ltd.      10,871  
  9,000      Hongkong Land Holdings, Ltd.      51,793  
  2,049      Hufvudstaden AB      40,521  
  3,000      Hulic Co., Ltd.      36,117  
  11,000      Hysan Development Co., Ltd.      43,283  
  12,900      Ichigo, Inc.      54,311  
  836      IMMOFINANZ AG      22,393  
  9,306      Industrial Buildings Corp., Ltd.*      25,436  
  29      Intershop Holdings AG      16,991  
  2,000      Invesque, Inc.      13,460  
  1,400      Keihanshin Building Co., Ltd.      18,345  
  8,200      Kenedix, Inc.      42,687  
  22,225      Kerry Properties, Ltd.      70,831  
  21,647      Klovern AB      53,146  
  26,000      Kowloon Development Co., Ltd.      32,616  
  7,162      Kungsleden AB      75,280  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

29


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Real Estate Management & Development, continued  
  11,400      Lai Sun Development Co., Ltd.    $ 15,125  
  112,800      Landing International Development, Ltd.*      12,761  
  44,500      Langham Hospitality Investment      13,489  
  1,358      LEG Immobilien AG      160,825  
  11,224      Lend Lease Group      138,881  
  14,300      Leopalace21 Corp.*      46,898  
  8,000      Liu Chong Hing Investment, Ltd.      10,935  
  4,644      LSL Property Services plc      16,868  
  578      Melisron, Ltd.      36,970  
  59,000      Mingfa Group International Co., Ltd.*      426  
  4,200      Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd.      80,303  
  4,100      Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd.      100,152  
  338      Mobimo Holding AG, Registered Shares      100,763  
  100      Morguard Corp.      15,481  
  102,351      New World Development Co., Ltd.      140,379  
  2,193      Nexity SA      110,220  
  800      Nippon Commercial Development Co., Ltd.      12,265  
  1,700      Nisshin Fudosan Co.      8,589  
  3,200      Nomura Real Estate Holdings, Inc.      77,016  
  2,400      Open House Co., Ltd.      68,699  
  17,900      Oue, Ltd.      19,833  
  49,550      Oxley Holdings, Ltd.      13,095  
  1,449      PATRIZIA AG      32,283  
  94      Plazza AG      27,395  
  2,600      Polytec Asset Holdings, Ltd.      334  
  31,000      Prospect Co., Ltd.*      8,254  
  638      PSP Swiss Property AG      88,127  
  700      Raysum Co., Ltd.      6,891  
  2,300      Relo Group, Inc.      64,161  
  2,615      S Immo AG      65,441  
  1,200      SAMTY Co., Ltd.      24,685  
  9,123      Savills plc      137,270  
  1,875      Selvaag Bolig ASA      15,861  
  7,103      Servcorp, Ltd.      20,996  
  2,600      Shinoken Group Co., Ltd.      30,849  
  100,800      Sinarmas Land, Ltd.      18,752  
  46,825      Sino Land Co., Ltd.      68,228  
  5,000      Soundwill Holdings, Ltd.      6,356  
  8,938      St. Modwen Properties plc      59,027  
  2,900      Sumitomo Realty & Development Co., Ltd.      101,163  
  1,493      Summit Real Estate Holdings, Ltd.      19,943  
  1,800      Sun Frontier Fudousan Co., Ltd.      21,543  
  11,421      Sun Hung Kai Properties, Ltd.      175,200  
  7,146      Swire Pacific, Ltd., Class A      66,604  
  17,500      Swire Pacific, Ltd., Class B      26,224  
  5,800      Swire Properties, Ltd.      19,275  
  2,643      Swiss Prime Site AG      306,451  
  3,756      TAG Immobilien AG      93,345  
  21,000      TAI Cheung Holdings, Ltd.      17,170  
  4,200      Takara Leben Co., Ltd.      19,486  
  21,324      The Wharf Holdings, Ltd.      54,254  
  2,606      TLG Immobilien AG      83,164  
  4,500      Toc Co., Ltd.      36,980  
  6,400      Tokyo Tatemono Co., Ltd.      99,863  
  17,000      Tokyu Fudosan Holdings Corp.      117,397  
  2,400      Tosei Corp.      32,742  
  2,676      Tricon Capital Group, Inc.      21,908  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Real Estate Management & Development, continued  
  6,860      U & I Group plc    $ 16,117  
  213      UBM Development AG      11,279  
  22,100      United Engineers, Ltd.      44,278  
  1,200      Unizo Holdings Co., Ltd.      56,335  
  9,300      UOL Group, Ltd.      57,613  
  2,129      Vonovia SE      114,607  
  3,228      Wallenstam AB      39,041  
  10,000      Wharf Real Estate Investment Co., Ltd.      61,323  
  12,829      Wheelock & Co., Ltd.      85,556  
  2,034      Wihlborgs Fastigheter AB      37,477  
  20,700      Wing Tai Holdings, Ltd.      31,098  
  16,000      Wing Tai Properties, Ltd.      10,549  
  17      Zug Estates Holding AG      40,943  
     

 

 

 
        7,487,454  
     

 

 

 
Road & Rail (1.5%):  
  8,566      A2B Australia, Ltd.      8,986  
  43,226      Aurizon Holdings, Ltd.      158,987  
  400      Canadian National Railway Co.      36,189  
  5,353      Canadian National Railway Co.      484,179  
  1,009      Canadian Pacific Railway, Ltd.      257,245  
  600      Central Japan Railway Co.      120,588  
  1,200      Chilled & Frozen Logistics Holdings Co., Ltd.      15,844  
  44,100      ComfortDelGro Corp., Ltd.      78,131  
  1,441      DSV PANALPINA A/S      166,832  
  1,400      East Japan Railway Co.      126,387  
  8,727      Europcar Mobility Group^(a)      42,458  
  64,976      FirstGroup plc*      107,929  
  900      Fukuyama Transporting Co., Ltd.      32,661  
  4,083      Go-Ahead Group plc      119,443  
  1,000      Hamakyorex Co., Ltd.      32,893  
  3,000      Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, Inc.      128,307  
  2,200      Hitachi Transport System, Ltd.      61,867  
  1,100      Ichinen Holdings Co., Ltd.      16,254  
  206      Jungfraubahn Holding AG, Registered Shares      35,130  
  2,500      Keikyu Corp.      48,192  
  700      Keio Corp.      42,298  
  900      Keisei Electric Railway Co., Ltd.      34,908  
  1,500      Kintetsu Group Holdings Co., Ltd.      81,300  
  400      Maruzen Showa Unyu Co., Ltd.      11,705  
  7,515      MTR Corp., Ltd.      44,550  
  2,700      Nagoya Railroad Co., Ltd.      83,809  
  2,400      Nankai Electric Railway Co., Ltd.      65,140  
  29,502      National Express Group plc      183,749  
  3,300      Nikkon Holdings Co., Ltd.      82,371  
  1,100      Nippon Express Co., Ltd.      64,369  
  2,100      Nishi-Nippon Railroad Co., Ltd.      48,354  
  5,199      Nobina AB(a)      35,784  
  8,429      Northgate plc      34,863  
  2,800      Odakyu Electric Railway Co., Ltd.      65,314  
  13,948      Redde plc      19,742  
  500      Sakai Moving Service Co., Ltd.      31,860  
  2,300      Sankyu, Inc.      115,838  
  4,000      Seino Holdings Co., Ltd.      53,953  
  11,100      Senko Group Holdings Co., Ltd.      94,518  
  823      Sixt Leasing Se      10,450  
  1,659      Sixt SE      121,512  
  1,209      Sixt SE      121,980  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

30


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Road & Rail, continued  
  2,000      Sotetsu Holdings, Inc.    $ 54,216  
  31,768      Stagecoach Group plc      67,912  
  278      Stef S.A.      25,084  
  5,661      Tfi International, Inc.      190,836  
  2,000      Tobu Railway Co., Ltd.      72,693  
  1,800      Tokyu Corp.      33,263  
  300      Tonami Holdings Co., Ltd.      14,849  
  3,913      Tourism Holdings, Ltd.      9,090  
  600      Trancom Co., Ltd.      45,583  
  20,000      Transport International Holdings, Ltd.      51,824  
  700      West Japan Railway Co.      60,454  
     

 

 

 
        4,152,673  
     

 

 

 
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (1.4%):  
  2,600      Advantest Corp.      147,124  
  1,000      Aixtron SE*      9,577  
  2,386      ASM International NV      269,649  
  14,619      ASM Pacific Technology, Ltd.      203,250  
  2,381      ASML Holding NV, NYS      704,634  
  4,404      BE Semiconductor Industries NV      171,020  
  3,163      Dialog Semiconductor plc*      160,248  
  100      Disco Corp.      23,806  
  839      Elmos Semiconductor AG      26,799  
  2,300      Ferrotec Holdings Corp.      19,535  
  438      First Sensor AG      18,590  
  17,569      Infineon Technologies AG      402,855  
  2,200      Japan Material Co., Ltd.      36,556  
  1,600      Lasertec Corp.      81,491  
  1,200      Megachips Corp.      20,661  
  1,090      Melexis NV      82,125  
  800      Mimasu Semiconductor Industry      16,011  
  1,700      Mitsui High-Tec, Inc.      26,841  
  12,100      Renesas Electronics Corp.*      83,331  
  1,100      ROHM Co., Ltd.      88,674  
  1,600      Sanken Electric Co., Ltd.      49,320  
  400      Screen Holdings Co., Ltd.      27,380  
  700      Shibaura Mechatronics Corp.      25,513  
  300      Shindengen Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      10,444  
  4,800      Shinko Electric Industries Co., Ltd.      56,879  
  992      Siltronic AG      99,859  
  285      SMA Solar Technology AG*      11,043  
  474      Soitec*      50,028  
  8,416      STMicroelectronics NV      227,123  
  1,086      SUESS MicroTec SE*      14,665  
  5,400      SUMCO Corp.      90,459  
  1,100      Tokyo Electron, Ltd.      241,762  
  800      Tokyo Seimitsu Co., Ltd.      31,288  
  2,300      Towa Corp.      24,719  
  2,312      Tower Semiconductor, Ltd.*      55,627  
  300      Tri Chemical Laboratories, Inc.      23,609  
  386      U-Blox AG      38,997  
  1,800      Ulvac, Inc.      71,670  
  1,200      Yamaichi Electronics Co., Ltd.      18,639  
     

 

 

 
        3,761,801  
     

 

 

 
Software (1.1%):  
  1,800      Access Co., Ltd.      15,728  
  4,557      Altium, Ltd.      111,357  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Software, continued  
  585      AVEVA Group plc    $ 36,159  
  14,854      BlackBerry, Ltd.*      95,526  
  7,787      Bravura Solutions, Ltd.      28,436  
  500      Computer Engineering & Consulting, Ltd.      9,466  
  301      Constellation Software, Inc.      292,367  
  700      Cresco, Ltd.      23,357  
  1,200      Cybozu, Inc.      16,362  
  323      Dassault Systemes SA      53,273  
  764      Descartes Systems Group, Inc.*      32,638  
  300      Digital Arts, Inc.      15,381  
  1,200      Enghouse Systems, Ltd.      44,529  
  900      Fukui Computer Holdings, Inc.      29,163  
  900      Gunosy, Inc.*      12,233  
  8,509      Hansen Technology, Ltd.      22,707  
  916      Hilan, Ltd.      36,925  
  8,800      Infomart Corp.      79,676  
  13,965      Infomedia, Ltd.      20,473  
  6,854      IRESS, Ltd.      62,870  
  9,063      Isentia Group, Ltd.*      1,812  
  400      Kinaxis, Inc.*      30,813  
  1,361      Lectra      34,153  
  172      Linedata Services      5,157  
  1,195      Magic Software Enterprises, Ltd.      11,636  
  8,235      Micro Focus International plc, ADR      115,537  
  500      Miroku Jyoho Service Co., Ltd.      15,112  
  2,085      Nemetschek Se      137,489  
  546      NICE Systems, Ltd.*      84,674  
  3,485      Open Text Corp.      153,584  
  700      Oracle Corp.      63,649  
  1,053      Rib Software Se      26,687  
  16,033      Sage Group plc      159,286  
  2,059      SAP SE      277,468  
  2,151      SimCorp A/S      244,448  
  998      Software AG      34,943  
  500      SRA Holdings      12,285  
  2,800      Systena Corp.      45,722  
  8,525      Technology One, Ltd.      49,679  
  1,610      Temenos AG      254,597  
  1,900      Trend Micro, Inc.      97,241  
  8,732      Vista Group International, Ltd.      21,163  
     

 

 

 
        2,915,761  
     

 

 

 
Specialty Retail (1.5%):  
  400      ABC-Mart, Inc.      27,270  
  16,866      Accent Group, Ltd.      22,089  
  10,400      Adairs, Ltd.      16,726  
  1,300      Adastria Co., Ltd.      29,589  
  900      Alpen Co., Ltd.      14,639  
  34,842      AMA Group, Ltd.      21,925  
  2,600      Aoki Holdings, Inc.      26,887  
  2,800      Aoyama Trading Co., Ltd.      39,517  
  3,236      AP Eagers, Ltd.      23,239  
  1,900      Arcland Sakamoto Co., Ltd.      21,638  
  700      Autobacs Seven Co., Ltd.      11,034  
  1,813      Autocanada, Inc.      17,301  
  2,300      BIC Camera, Inc.      26,190  
  6,038      Bilia AB, Class A      68,585  
  3,245      Byggmax Group AB*      9,158  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

31


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Specialty Retail, continued  
  2,292      Carasso Motors, Ltd.    $ 10,298  
  16,294      Card Factory PLC      32,064  
  3,919      Ceconomy AG*      23,865  
  800      Chiyoda Co., Ltd.      11,853  
  18,000      Chow Sang Sang Holdings International, Ltd.      22,401  
  31,200      Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, Ltd.      29,831  
  4,700      DCM Holdings Co., Ltd.      45,764  
  39,375      Dixons Carphone plc      75,518  
  1,884      Dufry AG, Registered Shares      186,806  
  5,850      Dunelm Group plc      89,737  
  4,900      Edion Corp.      54,337  
  230,000      Emperor Watch & Jewellery, Ltd.      4,636  
  77,300      Esprit Holdings, Ltd.*      15,597  
  400      Fast Retailing Co., Ltd.      237,128  
  104      Fenix Outdoor International AG      12,977  
  811      Fielmann AG      65,612  
  878      Fnac Darty SA*      52,095  
  9,000      Frasers Group plc*      54,700  
  2,300      Geo Holdings Corp.      28,376  
  130,000      Giordano International, Ltd.      39,205  
  1,946      Grandvision BV(a)      59,860  
  13,359      Halfords Group plc      29,976  
  5,546      Hennes & Mauritz AB, Class B      112,773  
  300      Hikari Tsushin, Inc.      75,320  
  483      Hornbach Baumarkt AG      12,763  
  721      Hornbach Holding AG & Co. KGaA      52,244  
  22,000      I.T, Ltd.      5,281  
  5,100      Idom, Inc.      29,361  
  5,629      Industria de Diseno Textil SA      199,379  
  5,883      JB Hi-Fi, Ltd.      155,784  
  27,079      JD Sports Fashion plc      302,403  
  700      JINS Holdings, Inc.      47,292  
  1,500      Joshin Denki Co., Ltd.      35,695  
  11,030      Kathmandu Holdings, Ltd.      24,804  
  1,700      Keiyo Co., Ltd.      8,940  
  71,499      Kingfisher plc      207,320  
  900      Kohnan Shoji Co., Ltd.      21,135  
  5,100      Kojima Co., Ltd.      24,558  
  1,600      Komeri Co., Ltd.      34,334  
  6,600      K’s Holding Corp.      86,328  
  2,366      Leon’s Furniture, Ltd.      30,377  
  300      Lixil Viva Corp.      5,382  
  20,250      L’occitane International SA      47,961  
  19,046      Lookers plc      13,862  
  20,000      Luk Fook Holdings International, Ltd.      57,637  
  2,347      Matas A/S      19,403  
  1,681      Mekonomen AB*^      16,723  
  2,955      Mobilezone Holding AG      33,184  
  3,966      Nick Scali, Ltd.      19,310  
  1,900      Nishimatsuya Chain Co., Ltd.      16,304  
  400      Nitori Co., Ltd.      63,214  
  2,300      Nojima Corp.      48,201  
  40,000      Oriental Watch Holdings      10,622  
  700      Pal Group Holdings Co., Ltd.      24,427  
  76,677      Pendragon plc      13,153  
  19,618      Pets At Home Group plc      72,720  
  2,736      Premier Investments, Ltd.      36,109  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Specialty Retail, continued  
  61,088      SA SA International Holdings, Ltd.    $ 13,871  
  1,800      Shimachu Co., Ltd.      49,045  
  800      Shimamura Co., Ltd.      61,056  
  2,900      Sleep Country Canada Holdings, Inc.(a)      45,139  
  8,650      Super Retail Group, Ltd.      61,596  
  3,968      Superdry plc      26,441  
  900      T-Gaia Corp.      21,894  
  1,300      United Arrows, Ltd.      36,822  
  2,400      USS Co., Ltd.      45,328  
  240      Valora Holding AG      66,958  
  8,200      VT Holdings Co., Ltd.      36,406  
  4,080      WHSmith plc      140,751  
  300      Workman Co., Ltd.      28,021  
  700      Xebio Holdings Co., Ltd.      8,439  
  1,990      XXL ASA*(a)      3,800  
  10,200      Yamada Denki Co., Ltd.      53,996  
  800      Yellow Hat, Ltd.      14,357  
     

 

 

 
        4,236,646  
     

 

 

 
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals (0.5%):  
  6,400      Brother Industries, Ltd.      131,798  
  3,200      Canon, Inc.      87,279  
  700      EIZO Corp.      25,027  
  900      Elecom Co., Ltd.      36,436  
  2,200      FUJIFILM Holdings Corp.      104,915  
  14,600      Konica Minolta, Inc.      95,570  
  4,546      Logitech International SA, ADR      214,389  
  1,900      Maxell Holdings, Ltd.      25,784  
  4,900      Mcj Co., Ltd.      37,628  
  2,500      NEC Corp.      103,893  
  1,300      Noritsu Koki Co., Ltd.      18,057  
  1,935      Quadient      46,863  
  13,100      Ricoh Co., Ltd.      141,972  
  600      Roland Dg Corp.      12,031  
  2,197      S&T AG      52,491  
  7,600      Seiko Epson Corp.      114,759  
  1,800      Toshiba Tec Corp.      74,380  
  4,400      Wacom Co., Ltd.      17,768  
     

 

 

 
        1,341,040  
     

 

 

 
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods (1.6%):  
  1,248      Adidas AG      405,574  
  1,537      Aritzia, Inc.*      22,551  
  1,500      Asics Corp.      24,952  
  1,700      Atsugi Co., Ltd.      13,257  
  287      Bijou Brigitte AG      15,593  
  1,383      Brunello Cucinelli SpA      48,981  
  6,313      Burberry Group plc      184,727  
  364      Calida Holding AG      13,838  
  408      Canada Goose Holdings, Inc.*      14,786  
  3,896      Cie Financiere Richemont SA      305,889  
  485      Delta-Galil Industries, Ltd.      13,240  
  800      Descente, Ltd.      15,079  
  829      Fox Wizel, Ltd.      37,802  
  900      Fujibo Holdings, Inc.      29,105  
  2,382      Gildan Activewear, Inc.      70,340  
  28,000      Global Brands Group Holding, Ltd.      2,302  
  400      Goldwin, Inc.      29,386  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

32


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods, continued  
  900      Gunze, Ltd.    $ 40,185  
  189      Hermes International SA      141,425  
  2,775      Hugo Boss AG      134,636  
  2,800      Japan Wool Textile Co., Ltd. (The)      28,843  
  420      Kering      276,660  
  1,500      Komatsu Matere Co., Ltd.      11,182  
  700      Kurabo Industries, Ltd.      16,215  
  399,238      Li & Fung, Ltd.      43,651  
  2,443      LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA      1,137,684  
  5,170      Moncler SpA      232,516  
  3,560      New Wave Group AB      22,748  
  5,000      Onward Holdings Co., Ltd.      30,005  
  9,893      Ovs SpA*(a)      22,278  
  44,000      Pacific Textiles Holdings, Ltd.      30,214  
  2,465      Pandora A/S      107,242  
  12,900      Prada SpA      53,412  
  990      Puma SE      75,901  
  1,469      Salvatore Ferragamo Italia SpA      30,912  
  73,200      Samsonite International SA(a)      175,377  
  2,100      Sankyo Seiko Co., Ltd.      11,505  
  500      Sanyo Shokai, Ltd.      6,364  
  1,800      Seiko Holdings Corp.      48,022  
  2,500      Seiren Co., Ltd.      35,880  
  17,500      Stella International Holdings, Ltd.      28,024  
  244      Swatch Group AG (The), Class B      68,028  
  953      Swatch Group AG (The), Registered Shares      50,331  
  1,909      Ted Baker plc      10,297  
  60,000      Texwinca Holdings, Ltd.      14,869  
  404      Tod’s SpA      18,682  
  3,200      Tsi Holdings Co., Ltd.      16,165  
  5,500      Unitika, Ltd.*      18,886  
  2,000      Wacoal Holdings Corp.      53,573  
  45,514      Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings, Ltd.      134,562  
     

 

 

 
        4,373,676  
     

 

 

 
Thrifts & Mortgage Finance (0.2%):  
  2,831      Aareal Bank AG      96,057  
  6,165      Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG(a)      100,970  
  615      Equitable Group, Inc.      51,795  
  1,100      Firm Capital Mortgage Investment Corp.      12,471  
  2,026      Genworth MI Canada, Inc.      88,661  
  16,190      Genworth Mortgage Insurance AU      41,529  
  3,512      Home Capital Group, Inc.*      89,152  
  3,730      MyState, Ltd.      12,974  
  15,593      Onesavings Bank plc      89,651  
  7,191      Paragon Banking Group plc      51,369  
  3,600      Timbercreek Financial Corp.      27,532  
     

 

 

 
        662,161  
     

 

 

 
Tobacco (0.5%):  
  17,152      British American Tobacco plc      730,654  
  8,782      Imperial Brands plc, Class A      217,571  
  13,100      Japan Tobacco, Inc.      292,080  
  3,118      Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S(a)      38,056  
  2,105      Swedish Match AB, Class B      108,555  
     

 

 

 
        1,386,916  
     

 

 

 
Trading Companies & Distributors (1.9%):  
  2,637      AddTech AB, Class B      85,301  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Trading Companies & Distributors, continued  
  1,000      Alconix Corp.    $ 13,096  
  14,372      Ashtead Group plc      459,842  
  1,271      B&b Tools AB      10,974  
  653      BayWa AG      20,696  
  2,337      Beijer Ref AB      68,647  
  12,500      BOC Aviation, Ltd.(a)      126,994  
  537      Bossard Holding AG      97,010  
  5,520      Brenntag AG      300,119  
  4,067      Bunzl plc      111,258  
  4,000      CanWel Building Materials Group, Ltd.      16,513  
  70,000      China Strategic Holdings, Ltd.*      314  
  3,143      Cramo OYJ      46,674  
  400      Daiichi Jitsugyo Co., Ltd.      14,022  
  5,850      Diploma plc      156,809  
  3,513      Ferguson plc      319,131  
  1,100      Finning International, Inc.      21,434  
  1,200      Furusato Industries, Ltd.      19,558  
  7,815      Grafton Group plc      90,246  
  1,700      Hanwa Co., Ltd.      44,472  
  32,140      Howden Joinery Group plc      288,024  
  1,598      Imcd Group NV      139,854  
  1,800      Inaba Denki Sangyo Co., Ltd.      45,693  
  1,800      Inabata & Co., Ltd.      26,871  
  3,231      Indutrade AB      115,820  
  7,900      Itochu Corp.      182,977  
  2,600      Iwatani Corp.      88,414  
  616      Jacquet Metal Service      10,662  
  500      Japan Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd.      19,168  
  700      Kamei Corp.      8,565  
  900      Kanaden Corp.      11,247  
  1,700      Kanamoto Co., Ltd.      43,777  
  4,800      Kanematsu Corp.      64,469  
  5,365      Kloeckner & Co. SE      37,784  
  14,200      Marubeni Corp.      104,944  
  900      Maruka Corp.      19,241  
  900      Mitani Corp.      51,933  
  10,700      Mitsubishi Corp.      283,907  
  13,100      Mitsui & Co., Ltd.      232,976  
  1,271      Momentum Group AB, Class B      15,836  
  1,800      MonotaRo Co., Ltd.      48,256  
  4,300      Nagase & Co., Ltd.      63,800  
  600      Nichiden Corp.      11,425  
  1,100      Nippon Steel Trading Corp.      53,198  
  1,200      Nishio Rent All Co., Ltd.      34,094  
  700      Onoken Co., Ltd.      9,090  
  4,501      Reece, Ltd.      36,219  
  10,309      Rexel SA      137,277  
  3,492      Richelieu Hardware, Ltd.      72,965  
  2,804      Russel Metals, Inc.      47,878  
  1,200      Seika Corp.      14,783  
  600      Senshu Electric Co., Ltd.      18,827  
  4,146      Seven Group Holdings, Ltd.      56,771  
  21,100      Sojitz Corp.      67,919  
  409      Solar A/S      18,391  
  17,864      Speedy Hire plc      18,295  
  800      Sugimoto & Co., Ltd.      15,375  
  10,200      Sumitomo Corp.      152,093  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

33


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Trading Companies & Distributors, continued  
  600      Tomoe Engineering Co., Ltd.    $ 12,496  
  2,572      Toromont Industries, Ltd.      139,831  
  1,400      Toyota Tsushu Corp.      49,078  
  9,061      Travis Perkins plc      193,822  
  1,000      Trusco Nakayama Corp.      25,593  
  800      Wajax Corp.      9,119  
  2,700      Wakita & Co., Ltd.      27,482  
  2,700      Yamazen Corp.      26,924  
  800      Yuasa Trading Co., Ltd.      26,944  
     

 

 

 
        5,203,217  
     

 

 

 
Transportation Infrastructure (0.6%):  
  833      Aena SME SA(a)      159,822  
  496      Aeroports de Paris      98,167  
  3,735      Atlantia SpA      87,119  
  15,506      Atlas Arteria, Ltd.      85,238  
  6,897      Auckland International Airport, Ltd.      40,622  
  4,570      Enav SpA(a)      27,274  
  671      Flughafen Zuerich AG      122,507  
  1,452      Fraport AG      123,402  
  3,270      Getlink SE      56,903  
  2,440      Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG      67,152  
  182,200      Hutchison Port Holdings Trust      31,366  
  2,770      James Fisher & Sons plc      74,363  
  400      Japan Airport Terminal Co., Ltd.      22,140  
  1,500      Kamigumi Co., Ltd.      32,869  
  2,100      Mitsubishi Logistics Corp.      54,563  
  400      Nissin Corp.      6,925  
  47,661      Qube Holdings, Ltd.      110,248  
  15,500      SATS, Ltd.      58,396  
  1,641      SIAS SpA      27,502  
  17,118      Signature Aviation plc      72,057  
  3,800      Sumitomo Warehouse Co., Ltd. (The)      50,949  
  9,817      Sydney Airport      59,800  
  8,991      Transurban Group      94,255  
  2,729      Westshore Terminals Investment Corp.      39,829  
     

 

 

 
        1,603,468  
     

 

 

 
Water Utilities (0.2%):  
  15,034      Pennon Group plc      204,613  
  5,341      Severn Trent plc      178,221  
  45,000      Siic Environment Holdings, Ltd.      8,869  
  10,525      United Utilities Group plc      132,181  
     

 

 

 
        523,884  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (1.2%):  
  1,292      1&1 Drillisch AG      33,185  
  3,670      Cellcom Israel, Ltd.*      11,691  
  7,390      Freenet AG      169,424  
  88,000      Hutchison Telecommunications Holdings, Ltd.      17,757  
  27,900      KDDI Corp.      830,134  
  3,522      Millicom International Cellular SA, SDR      168,861  
  12,900      NTT DoCoMo, Inc.      360,545  
  1,000      Okinawa Cellular Telephone Co.      39,194  
  2,104      Orange Belgium SA      48,864  
  5,106      Partner Communications Co.*      22,754  
  1,708      Rogers Communications, Inc., Class B      84,836  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Wireless Telecommunication Services, continued  
  35,000      Smartone Telecommunications Ho    $ 26,991  
  20,900      SoftBank Group Corp.      910,039  
  21,800      StarHub, Ltd.      23,029  
  2,667      Tele2 AB      38,699  
  229,560      Vodafone Group plc      445,593  
     

 

 

 
        3,231,596  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Common Stocks (Cost $246,862,450)

     272,302,788  
  

 

 

 
Preferred Stocks (0.4%):  
Automobiles (0.4%):  
  1,600      Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), 6.39%, 5/15/20      98,787  
  2,667      Porsche Automobil Holding SE, 3.31%, 5/20/20      199,488  
  4,515      Volkswagen AG, 2.76%, 5/8/20      892,458  
     

 

 

 
        1,190,733  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (0.0%):  
  638      Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, 2.01%, 4/21/20      65,972  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Preferred Stocks (Cost $1,327,911)

     1,256,705  
  

 

 

 
Warrant (0.0%):  
Energy Equipment & Services (0.0%):  
  64,038      Ezion Holdings, Ltd.       
     

 

 

 
 

Total Warrant (Cost $—)

      
  

 

 

 
Rights (0.0%):  
Aerospace & Defense (0.0%):  
  1,164,858      Rolls-Royce Holdings plc, Expires on 1/6/20*      1,543  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (0.0%):  
  3,059      Castile Resources, Expires on 1/20/20*       
  5,574      Tahoe Resources, Inc. - CVR, Expires on 12/31/49*      1,969  
  9,084      Tahoe Resources, Inc. - CVR, Expires on 12/31/49*      3,209  
     

 

 

 
        5,178  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (0.0%):  
  9,112      Repsol SA, Expires on 1/8/20*      4,323  
     

 

 

 
Specialty Retail (0.0%):  
  218      XXL ASA, Expires on 12/31/49*      43  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Rights (Cost $5,814)

     11,087  
  

 

 

 
Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan (0.5%):  
  1,263,528      BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, 2.00%(c)(d)      1,263,528  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for
Securities on Loan (Cost $1,263,528)

     1,263,528  
     

 

 

 
Unaffiliated Investment Companies (0.4%):       
Money Markets (0.4%):       
  975,207      Dreyfus Treasury Securities Cash Management Fund, Institutional Shares,
1.44%(d)
     975,207  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Unaffiliated Investment Companies (Cost $975,207)

     975,207  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities
(Cost $250,434,910) — 100.0%(e)

     275,809,315  
  

Net other assets (liabilities) — 0.0%

     76,966  
     

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 275,886,281  
  

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

34


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

ADR—American Depository Receipt

CVR—Contingency Valued Rights

NYS—New York Shares

SDR—Swedish Depository Receipt

 

*

Non-income producing security.

 

^

This security or a partial position of this security was on loan as of December 31, 2019. The total value of securities on loan as of December 31, 2019 was $1,210,692.

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

(a)

Rule 144A, Section 4(2) or other security which is restricted to resale to institutional investors. The sub-adviser has deemed these securities to be liquid based on procedures approved by the Board of Trustees.

 

(b)

Security was valued using unobservable inputs in good faith pursuant to procedures approved by the Board of Trustees as of December 31, 2019. The total of all such securities represent 0.00% of the net assets of the fund.

 

(c)

Purchased with cash collateral held from securities lending. The value of the collateral could include collateral held for securities that were sold on or before December 31, 2019.

 

(d)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(e)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

Amounts shown as “—” are either $0 or rounds to less than $1.

The following represents the concentrations by country of risk (based on the domicile of the security issuer) relative to the total fair value of investments as of December 31, 2019:

(Unaudited)

 

Country    Percentage  

Australia

     6.1

Austria

     0.5

Belgium

     1.2

Bermuda

     0.1

Cambodia

      % 

Canada

     8.9

Cayman Islands

      % 

China

     0.1

Colombia

      % 

Denmark

     1.6

Egypt

      % 

European Community

      % 

Faroe Islands

      % 

Finland

     1.5

France

     7.7

Germany

     7.3

Hong Kong

     2.3

Indonesia

      % 

Ireland

     1.2

Isle of Man

     0.1

Israel

     0.7

Italy

     2.6
Country    Percentage  

Japan

     23.6

Jersey

      % 

Liechtenstein

      % 

Luxembourg

     0.5

Macau

      % 

Malta

      % 

Mexico

      % 

Monaco

      % 

Netherlands

     3.4

New Zealand

     0.4

Norway

     0.9

Peru

      % 

Portugal

     0.1

Russian Federation

      % 

Singapore

     1.0

Spain

     2.4

Sweden

     2.8

Switzerland

     7.3

United Arab Emirates

      % 

United Kingdom

     14.5

United States

     1.2
  

 

 

 
     100.0
  

 

 

 
 

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

35


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investment securities, at cost

    $ 250,434,910
   

 

 

 

Investment securities, at value(a)

    $ 275,809,315

Cash

      2,933

Interest and dividends receivable

      256,889

Foreign currency, at value (cost $312,404)

      314,068

Receivable for investments sold

      48,867

Reclaims receivable

      1,038,910

Prepaid expenses

      952
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      277,471,934
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      72,238

Payable for collateral received on loaned securities

      1,263,528

Manager fees payable

      174,633

Administration fees payable

      4,335

Distribution fees payable

      58,211

Custodian fees payable

      5,540

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      557

Transfer agent fees payable

      527

Trustee fees payable

      137

Other accrued liabilities

      5,947
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      1,585,653
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 275,886,281
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 245,803,640

Total distributable earnings

      30,082,641
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 275,886,281
   

 

 

 

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      26,087,484

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 10.58
   

 

 

 

 

(a)

Includes securities on loan of $1,210,692.

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Dividends

    $ 9,565,867

Interest

      5,382

Income from securities lending

      52,142

Foreign withholding tax

      (882,681 )
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      8,740,710
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      2,579,467

Administration fees

      140,551

Distribution fees

      678,806

Custodian fees

      74,327

Administrative and compliance services fees

      5,755

Transfer agent fees

      9,644

Trustee fees

      17,805

Professional fees

      18,112

Shareholder reports

      4,386

Other expenses

      81,297
   

 

 

 

Total expenses before reductions

      3,610,150

Less expenses voluntarily waived/reimbursed by the Manager

      (543,050 )
   

 

 

 

Net expenses

      3,067,100
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      5,673,610
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities and foreign currencies

      (689,954 )

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities and foreign currencies

      45,781,004
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      45,091,050
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 50,764,660
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

36


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 5,673,610     $ 3,941,035

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      (689,954 )       9,116,493

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      45,781,004       (59,004,774 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      50,764,660       (45,947,246 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Distributions

      (12,489,056 )       (5,579,837 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (12,489,056 )       (5,579,837 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      2,153,591       59,206,671

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      12,489,056       5,579,836

Value of shares redeemed

      (30,075,836 )       (19,174,409 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      (15,433,189 )       45,612,098
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      22,842,415       (5,914,985 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      253,043,866       258,958,851
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 275,886,281     $ 253,043,866
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Shares issued

      216,549       6,025,192

Dividends reinvested

      1,303,659       543,844

Shares redeemed

      (2,929,634 )       (1,661,236 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      (1,409,426 )       4,907,800
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

37


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
2019
  Year Ended
December 31,
2018
  Year Ended
December 31,
2017
  Year Ended
December 31,
2016
  April 27, 2015
to December 31,
2015(a)

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 9.20     $ 11.46     $ 9.21     $ 9.03     $ 10.00
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.21 (b)       0.17       0.19       0.11       0.08

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      1.65       (2.16 )       2.21       0.17       (1.05 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      1.86       (1.99 )       2.40       0.28       (0.97 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.15 )       (0.21 )       (0.15 )       (0.10 )      

Net Realized Gains

      (0.33 )       (0.06 )                  
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (0.48 )       (0.27 )       (0.15 )       (0.10 )      
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 10.58     $ 9.20     $ 11.46     $ 9.21     $ 9.03
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(c)

      20.72 %       (17.65 )%       26.09 %       3.17 %       (9.70 )%(d)

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 275,886     $ 253,044     $ 258,959     $ 252,697     $ 170,273

Net Investment Income/(Loss)(e)

      2.09 %       1.63 %       1.48 %       1.62 %       1.19 %

Expenses Before Reductions(e)(f)

      1.33 %       1.38 %       1.41 %       1.39 %       1.39 %

Expenses Net of Reductions(e)

      1.13 %       1.18 %       1.21 %       1.19 %       1.19 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate

      6 %       20 %       4 %       11 %       4 %(d)

 

(a)

For the period April 27, 2015 (commencement of share class) to December 31, 2015.

 

(b)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(c)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(d)

Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(e)

Annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(f)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

38


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services — Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Foreign Currency Translation and Withholding Taxes

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding and other income or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Funds accrue such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance Products and

 

39


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

Securities Lending

To generate additional income, the Fund may lend up to 33 1/3% of its assets pursuant to agreements requiring that the loan be continuously secured by any combination of cash, U.S. government or U.S. government agency securities, equal initially to at least 102% of the fair value plus accrued interest on the securities loaned (105% for foreign securities). The borrower of securities is at all times required to post collateral to the Fund in an amount equal to 100% of the fair value of the securities loaned based on the previous day’s fair value of the securities loaned, marked-to-market daily. Any collateral shortfalls are adjusted the next business day. The Fund bears all of the gains and losses on such investments. The Fund receives payments from borrowers equivalent to the dividends and interest that would have been earned on securities lent while simultaneously seeking to earn income on the investment of cash collateral received. In extremely low interest rate environments, the broker rebate fee may exceed the interest earned or the cash collateral which would result in a loss to the Fund. The investment of cash collateral deposited by the borrower is subject to inherent market risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks that are present in the market, and as such, the value of these investments may not be sufficient, when liquidated, to repay the borrower when the loaned security is returned. There may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. However, loans will be made only to borrowers, such as broker-dealers, banks or institutional borrowers of securities, deemed by the Manager to be of good standing and credit worthy and when in its judgment, the consideration which can be earned currently from such securities loans justifies the attendant risks. Loans are subject to termination by the Trust or the borrower at any time, and are, therefore, not considered to be illiquid investments. Securities on loan at December 31, 2019 are presented on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

Cash collateral received in connection with securities lending is invested on behalf of the Fund in the BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, a money market fund which invests in short-term investments that have a remaining maturity of 397 days or less in accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. The Fund pays the Securities Lending Agent 9% of the gross revenues received from securities lending activities and keeps 91%. The Fund paid securities lending fees of $5,149 during the year ended December 31, 2019. These fees have been netted against “Income from securities lending” on the Statement of Operations. The Fund had securities lending transactions of $1,263,528 accounted for as secured borrowings with cash collateral of overnight and continuous maturities as of December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019, there were no master netting provisions in the securities lending agreement.

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not engage in any Rule 17a-7 transactions under the Rule.

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to a subadvisory agreement with Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (“DFA”), DFA provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate*      Annual Expense Limit

AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

         0.95 %          1.39 %

 

*

The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.75% on all assets. The manager reserves the right to increase the management fee to the amount shown in the table at any time.

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations.

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

 

40


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $2,036 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. The independent third party pricing service may also use systematic valuations models or provide evaluated bid or mean prices. These valuations are considered as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy.

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total

Common Stocks+

       $ 38,276,567        $ 234,026,221        $ #        $ 272,302,788

Preferred Stocks+

                  1,256,705                   1,256,705

Warrants+

                  #                  

Rights+

                  11,087                   11,087

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

         1,263,528                            1,263,528

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

         975,207                            975,207
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $ 40,515,302        $ 235,294,013        $        $ 275,809,315
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

#

Represents the interest in securities that were determined to have a value of zero at December 31, 2019.

 

41


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

       $ 15,340,631        $ 38,178,617

6. Investment Risks

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Investments in securities of foreign issuers carry certain risks not ordinarily associated with investments in securities of domestic issuers. Such risks include future political and economic developments, and the possible imposition of exchange controls or other foreign governmental laws and restrictions. In addition, with respect to certain countries, there is the possibility of expropriation of assets, confiscatory taxation, political or social instability or diplomatic developments which could adversely affect investments in those securities.

7. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $251,163,724. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 51,251,250  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (26,605,659
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 24,645,591  
 

 

 

 

As of the end of its tax year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund has capital loss carry forwards (“CLCFs”) as summarized in the table below. The Board does not intend to authorize a distribution of any realized gain for the Fund until any applicable CLCF has been offset.

CLCF’s not subject to expiration:

 

        Short-Term
Amount
     Long-Term
Amount
     Total Amount

AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

       $        $ 801,699        $ 801,699

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
     Net
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

       $ 4,021,220        $ 8,467,836        $ 12,489,056

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
     Net
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

       $ 5,579,837        $        $ 5,579,837

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

 

42


AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
     Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
     Total
Accumulated
Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

       $ 6,243,461        $        $ (801,699 )        $ 24,640,878        $ 30,082,640

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales, mark-to-market of passive foreign investment companies and mark-to-market of futures contracts.

8. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had multiple shareholder accounts which are affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 80% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

9. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

43


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL DFA International Core Equity Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

44


Other Federal Income Tax Information (Unaudited)

For the year ended December 31, 2019, 0.08% of the total ordinary income dividends paid by the Fund qualify for the corporate dividends received deductions available to corporate shareholders.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net short-term capital gain distributions of $188,209.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net long-term capital gain distributions of $8,467,836.

 

45


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

46


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for

 

47


the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

 

48


The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

49


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

50


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

51


LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.   
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL® DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 25

Statement of Operations

Page 25

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 26

Financial Highlights

Page 27

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 28

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 33

Other Federal Income Tax Information

Page 34

Other Information

Page 35

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 36

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 39

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund and Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund (the “Fund”) returned 29.36%. That compared to a 31.02% total return for its benchmark, the Russell 3000® Index1.

U.S. stocks began 2019 rebounding from the significant losses experienced at the end of 2018. The Federal Reserve Board’s (the Fed) announcement in January that it would halt interest rate hikes for the near future boosted both stocks and bonds. Market volatility returned in the second quarter on worries about U.S. trade relations. The Fed cut rates in July and September, offsetting the negative effects of the U.S.-China trade war, weak global growth and signs of weakness in the U.S. manufacturing and consumer sectors. In August, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield briefly fell below the yields on 2-year and 1-year notes, sparking recession fears. Improving prospects for a U.S.-China trade deal in the fourth quarter, increased investors’ appetites for risk, and third rate cut by the Fed in October combined with strong economic growth to buoy markets through the end of the year.

Large-cap stocks outperformed small-cap stocks for the period. Growth stocks outperformed value stocks across all market cap sizes. In the large-cap universe, stocks with lower-relative prices and higher profitability outperformed stocks with higher relative prices and lower profitability. In the small-cap universe, however, stocks with lower relative prices and higher profitability underperformed stocks with higher-relative prices and lower profitability.

The Fund underperformed its benchmark for the 12-month period. The Fund’s emphasis on stocks with smaller market capitalizations detracted from its relative performance; as such, stocks underperformed their larger-cap peers for the

year. The Fund’s bias toward value stocks also detracted from relative returns as value stocks underperformed growth stocks during the period.*

Conversely, the Fund’s general lack of exposure to real estate investment trusts2 (REITs) offset some of these negative impacts, as REITs underperformed the overall benchmark.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

*

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmark please refer to page 2 of this report.

2 

The performance of investments in real estate depends on the overall strength of the real estate market, the management of real estate investments trusts (REITs), real estate operating companies (REOCs), and foreign real estate companies, and property management, all of which can be affected by a variety of factors, including national and regional economic conditions.

 
 

 

1


AZL® DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of U.S. companies.

Investment Concerns

Equity securities (stocks) are more volatile and carry more risk than other forms of investments, including investments in high-grade fixed income securities. The net asset value per share of this Fund will fluctuate as the value of the securities in the portfolio changes.

Small- to mid-capitalization companies typically have a higher risk of failure and historically have experienced a greater degree of volatility.

Value-based investments are subject to the risk that the broad market may not recognize their intrinsic value.

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmarks and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

     1
Year
    3
Year
    Since
Inception
(4/27/15)
 

AZL® DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

      29.36 %      12.95     9.99

Russell 3000® Index

     31.02     14.57     11.22

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratio

   Gross  

AZL® DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

     1.10

The above expense ratio is based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.54% on all assets. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense), to 1.20% through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratio can be found in the Financial Highlights.

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Russell 3000® Index, which is an unmanaged broad capitalization index of the top 3,000 U.S. stocks by market capitalization and covers 98% of the U.S. equity investable universe. The index does not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

2


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,099.40     $ 4.44       0.84 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,020.97     $ 4.28       0.84 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

Information Technology

      21.1 %

Financials

      15.3

Industrials

      12.9

Health Care

      11.8

Consumer Discretionary

      11.8

Communication Services

      8.6

Consumer Staples

      6.3

Energy

      4.5

Materials

      3.9

Utilities

      3.1

Real Estate

      0.3
   

 

 

 

Total Common Stocks

      99.6

Rights

        

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

      0.6

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

      0.3
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      100.5

Net other assets (liabilities)

      (0.5 )
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

3


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks (99.6%):  
Aerospace & Defense (2.2%):  
  1,810      AAR Corp.    $ 81,631  
  3,216      Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc.*      146,843  
  1,163      AeroVironment, Inc.*      71,804  
  7,585      Arconic, Inc.      233,390  
  712      Astronics Corp.*      19,900  
  415      Astronics Corp., Class B*      11,558  
  1,481      Axon Enterprise, Inc.*      108,528  
  5,814      Boeing Co. (The)      1,893,968  
  2,197      BWX Technologies, Inc.      136,390  
  685      CPI Aerostructures, Inc.*      4,610  
  1,202      Cubic Corp.      76,411  
  1,891      Curtiss-Wright Corp.      266,423  
  625      Ducommun, Inc.*      31,581  
  3,113      General Dynamics Corp.      548,978  
  1,087      HEICO Corp.      124,081  
  1,407      HEICO Corp., Class A      125,969  
  3,113      Hexcel Corp.      228,214  
  934      Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.      234,322  
  4,471      Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc.*      80,523  
  2,203      L3harris Technologies, Inc.      435,908  
  3,632      Lockheed Martin Corp.      1,414,228  
  1,378      Mercury Systems, Inc.*      95,234  
  913      Moog, Inc., Class A      77,906  
  343      National Presto Industries, Inc.      30,318  
  2,196      Northrop Grumman Corp.      755,358  
  953      Park Aerospace Corp., Class C      15,505  
  4,443      Raytheon Co.      976,305  
  2,910      Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc., Class A      212,081  
  597      Teledyne Technologies, Inc.*      206,884  
  6,294      Textron, Inc.      280,712  
  521      TransDigm Group, Inc.      291,760  
  2,166      Triumph Group, Inc.      54,735  
  10,499      United Technologies Corp.      1,572,329  
  741      Vectrus, Inc.*      37,984  
  6,897      WESCO Aircraft Holdings, Inc.*      76,005  
     

 

 

 
        10,958,376  
     

 

 

 
Air Freight & Logistics (0.6%):  
  3,741      Air Transport Services Group, Inc.*      87,764  
  1,400      Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc.*      38,598  
  3,518      C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.      275,108  
  1,026      Echo Global Logistics, Inc.*      21,238  
  3,621      Expeditors International of Washington, Inc.      282,510  
  4,109      FedEx Corp.      621,322  
  1,079      Forward Air Corp.      75,476  
  1,993      Hub Group, Inc., Class A*      102,221  
  3,266      Radiant Logistics, Inc.*      18,192  
  10,010      United Parcel Service, Inc., Class B      1,171,771  
  4,309      XPO Logistics, Inc.*      343,427  
     

 

 

 
        3,037,627  
     

 

 

 
Airlines (0.7%):  
  5,679      Alaska Air Group, Inc.      384,752  
  858      Allegiant Travel Co.      149,326  
  6,467      American Airlines Group, Inc.      185,474  
  1,140      Copa Holdings SA, Class A      123,211  
  11,193      Delta Air Lines, Inc.      654,566  
  2,644      Hawaiian Holdings, Inc.      77,443  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Airlines, continued  
  7,697      JetBlue Airways Corp.*    $ 144,088  
  2,917      SkyWest, Inc.      188,526  
  8,851      Southwest Airlines Co.      477,777  
  3,618      Spirit Airlines, Inc.*      145,842  
  8,909      United Airlines Holdings, Inc.*      784,793  
     

 

 

 
        3,315,798  
     

 

 

 
Auto Components (0.6%):  
  2,780      Adient plc*      59,075  
  8,138      American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc.*      87,565  
  5,014      Aptiv plc      476,180  
  3,249      Autoliv, Inc.      274,248  
  6,472      BorgWarner, Inc.      280,755  
  2,411      Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.      69,316  
  1,256      Cooper-Standard Holding, Inc.*      41,649  
  8,752      Dana, Inc.      159,286  
  2,123      Delphi Technologies plc*      27,238  
  1,395      Dorman Products, Inc.*      105,629  
  1,599      Fox Factory Holding Corp.*      111,242  
  1,259      Garrett Motion, Inc.*      12,577  
  9,029      Gentex Corp.      261,660  
  1,620      Gentherm, Inc.*      71,912  
  10,334      Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.      160,745  
  1,365      Horizon Global Corp.*      4,764  
  1,015      LCI Industries      108,737  
  2,642      Lear Corp.      362,483  
  3,637      Modine Manufacturing Co.*      28,005  
  1,190      Motorcar Parts of America, Inc.*      26,216  
  1,436      Standard Motor Products, Inc.      76,424  
  1,582      Stoneridge, Inc.*      46,384  
  275      Strattec Security Corp.      6,108  
  3,917      Tenneco, Inc.      51,313  
  3,249      Veoneer, Inc.*^      50,749  
  986      Visteon Corp.*      85,378  
  1,621      VOXX International Corp.*      7,100  
     

 

 

 
        3,052,738  
     

 

 

 
Automobiles (0.5%):  
  72,805      Ford Motor Co.      677,087  
  31,998      General Motors Co.      1,171,126  
  7,220      Harley-Davidson, Inc.      268,512  
  429      Tesla, Inc.*      179,464  
  1,652      Winnebago Industries, Inc.      87,523  
     

 

 

 
        2,383,712  
     

 

 

 
Banks (7.1%):  
  1,278      1st Source Corp.      66,303  
  504      ACNB Corp.      19,061  
  954      Allegiance Bancshares, Inc.*      35,870  
  661      American National Bankshares, Inc.      26,156  
  587      American River Bankshares      8,729  
  2,629      Ameris Bancorp      111,838  
  704      Ames National Corp.      19,754  
  958      Arrow Financial Corp.      36,212  
  5,524      Associated Banc-Corp.      121,749  
  1,160      Atlantic Capital Bancshares, Inc.*      21,286  
  4,019      Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp.      150,913  
  2,876      Banc of California, Inc.      49,410  
  1,639      BancFirst Corp.      102,339  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Banks, continued  
  2,831      Bancorp, Inc. (The)*    $ 36,718  
  2,523      BancorpSouth Bank      79,247  
  96,505      Bank of America Corp.      3,398,907  
  899      Bank of Commerce Holdings      10,401  
  1,489      Bank of Hawaii Corp.      141,693  
  902      Bank of Marin Bancorp      40,635  
  2,800      Bank of Nt Butterfield & Son, Ltd. (The)      103,656  
  4,810      Bank OZK      146,729  
  2,950      BankUnited, Inc.      107,852  
  1,829      Banner Corp.      103,503  
  1,189      Bar Harbor Bankshares      30,189  
  842      BCB Bancorp, Inc.      11,611  
  2,598      Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc.      85,422  
  1,780      BOK Financial Corp.      155,572  
  5,245      Boston Private Financial Holdings, Inc.      63,097  
  668      Bridge Bancorp, Inc.      22,398  
  5,107      Brookline Bancorp, Inc.      84,061  
  1,162      Bryn Mawr Bank Corp.      47,921  
  977      Byline BanCorp, Inc.      19,120  
  74      C&F Financial Corp.      4,094  
  5,075      Cadence Bancorp      92,010  
  843      Camden National Corp.      38,829  
  1,309      Capital City Bank Group, Inc.      39,925  
  1,092      Carolina Financial Corp.      47,207  
  3,399      Cathay General Bancorp      129,332  
  1,225      CBTX, Inc.      38,122  
  5,698      CenterState Bank Corp.      142,336  
  1,402      Central Pacific Financial Corp.      41,471  
  933      Central Valley Community Bancorp      20,218  
  273      Century Bancorp, Inc.      24,559  
  377      Chemung Financial Corp.      16,023  
  2,299      CIT Group, Inc.      104,903  
  24,885      Citigroup, Inc.      1,988,063  
  943      Citizens & Northern Corp.      26,640  
  5,861      Citizens Financial Group, Inc.      238,015  
  552      Citizens Holding Co.      12,078  
  904      City Holding Co.      74,083  
  938      Civista Bancshares, Inc.      22,512  
  735      CNB Financial Corp.      24,020  
  85      Codorus Valley Bancorp, Inc.      1,958  
  56      Colony Bankcorp, Inc.      924  
  3,326      Columbia Banking System, Inc.      135,318  
  2,543      Comerica, Inc.      182,460  
  3,237      Commerce Bancshares, Inc.^      219,922  
  1,393      Community Bank System, Inc.      98,819  
  1,325      Community Trust Bancorp, Inc.      61,798  
  2,266      ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc.      58,282  
  1,451      Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc.      141,879  
  1,643      Customers Bancorp, Inc.*      39,120  
  5,350      CVB Financial Corp.      115,453  
  1,882      Eagle Bancorp, Inc.      91,522  
  4,316      East West Bancorp, Inc.      210,189  
  1,229      Enterprise Financial Services Corp.      59,250  
  682      Equity Bancshares, Inc.*      21,053  
  312      Evans Bancorp, Inc.      12,511  
  13,238      F.N.B. Corp.      168,123  
  1,329      Farmers National Banc Corp.      21,689  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Banks, continued  
  1,542      FB Financial Corp.    $ 61,048  
  13,546      Fifth Third Bancorp      416,404  
  1,053      Financial Institutions, Inc.      33,801  
  752      First Bancorp      30,012  
  10,711      First Bancorp      113,429  
  814      First Bancorp, Inc.      24,607  
  611      First Bancshares, Inc. (The)      21,703  
  2,931      First Busey Corp.      80,603  
  664      First Business Financial Services, Inc.      17,483  
  365      First Citizens BancShares, Inc., Class A      194,257  
  5,424      First Commonwealth Financial Corp.      78,702  
  1,419      First Community Bankshares      44,017  
  5,037      First Financial Bancorp      128,141  
  4,532      First Financial Bankshares, Inc.      159,073  
  536      First Financial Corp.      24,506  
  733      First Financial Northwest, Inc.      10,951  
  1,996      First Foundation, Inc.      34,730  
  1,512      First Hawaiian, Inc.      43,621  
  11,600      First Horizon National Corp.      192,096  
  1,244      First Interstate BancSystem, Class A      52,148  
  1,606      First Merchants Corp.      66,794  
  660      First Mid Bancshares, Inc.      23,265  
  4,022      First Midwest Bancorp, Inc.      92,747  
  1,573      First of Long Island Corp. (The)      39,451  
  2,517      First Republic Bank      295,622  
  2,253      Flushing Financial Corp.      48,676  
  322      Franklin Financial Network, Inc.      11,054  
  5,044      Fulton Financial Corp.      87,917  
  1,315      German American Bancorp, Inc.      46,840  
  3,017      Glacier Bancorp, Inc.      138,752  
  1,035      Great Southern Bancorp, Inc.      65,536  
  2,353      Great Western Bancorp, Inc.      81,743  
  4,107      Hancock Whitney Corp.      180,215  
  2,408      Hanmi Financial Corp.      48,148  
  3,310      HarborOne BanCorp, Inc.*      36,377  
  41      Hawthorn Bancshares, Inc.      1,046  
  1,853      Heartland Financial USA, Inc.      92,168  
  1,197      Heritage Financial Corp.      33,875  
  2,010      Hertiage Commerce Corp.      25,788  
  5,680      Hilltop Holdings, Inc.      141,602  
  4,922      Home Bancshares, Inc.      96,767  
  1,540      Hometrust Bancshares, Inc.      41,318  
  6,189      Hope BanCorp, Inc.      91,969  
  2,112      Horizon Bancorp      40,128  
  17,399      Huntington Bancshares, Inc.      262,377  
  1,730      IBERIABANK Corp.      129,456  
  929      Independent Bank Corp.      77,339  
  855      Independent Bank Corp.      19,366  
  2,071      Independent Bank Group, Inc.      114,816  
  3,359      International Bancshares Corp.      144,672  
  10,187      Investors Bancorp, Inc.      121,378  
  50,280      JPMorgan Chase & Co.      7,009,033  
  9,622      KeyCorp      194,749  
  2,859      Lakeland Bancorp, Inc.      49,689  
  1,656      Lakeland Financial Corp.      81,028  
  501      Landmark Bancorp, Inc.      12,550  
  712      LCNB Corp.      13,742  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Banks, continued  
  2,207      Live Oak Bancshares, Inc.    $ 41,955  
  2,041      M&T Bank Corp.      346,460  
  2,571      Macatawa Bank Corp.      28,615  
  1,293      Mercantile Bank Corp.      47,156  
  241      Midland States BanCorp, Inc.      6,979  
  638      MidWestone Financial Group, Inc.      23,115  
  570      MutualFirst Financial, Inc.      22,612  
  1,805      National Bank Holdings Corp.      63,572  
  514      National Bankshares, Inc.      23,094  
  2,353      NBT Bancorp, Inc.      95,438  
  373      Nicolet Bankshares, Inc.*      27,546  
  510      Northrim Bancorp, Inc.      19,533  
  511      Norwood Financial Corp.      19,878  
  3,309      OFG Bancorp      78,125  
  440      Ohio Valley Banc Corp.      17,433  
  7,959      Old National Bancorp      145,570  
  2,225      Old Second Bancorp, Inc.      29,971  
  1,951      Opus Bank      50,472  
  550      Origin BanCorp, Inc.      20,812  
  638      Orrstown Financial Services, Inc.      14,432  
  1,205      Pacific Mercantile Bancorp*      9,785  
  3,086      Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc.      100,619  
  2,447      PacWest Bancorp      93,647  
  784      Park National Corp.      80,266  
  1,165      Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corp.      35,999  
  546      Penns Woods Bancorp, Inc.      19,416  
  608      Peoples Bancorp of NC      19,973  
  1,361      Peoples Bancorp, Inc.      47,172  
  11,228      People’s United Financial, Inc.      189,753  
  749      People’s Utah BanCorp      22,560  
  2,297      Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc.      147,008  
  5,024      PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.      801,981  
  2,484      Popular, Inc.      145,936  
  878      Preferred Bank Los Angeles      52,759  
  945      Premier Financial Bancorp, Inc.      17,142  
  3,603      Prosperity Bancshares, Inc.      259,020  
  606      QCR Holdings, Inc.      26,579  
  487      Rbb BanCorp      10,310  
  17,681      Regions Financial Corp.      303,406  
  2,997      Renasant Co.      106,154  
  1,417      Republic Bancorp, Inc., Class A      66,316  
  1,468      S & T Bancorp, Inc.      59,146  
  148      Salisbury Bancorp, Inc.      6,759  
  1,838      Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc.      69,623  
  1,879      Seacoast Banking Corp of Florida*      57,441  
  1,252      Select Bancorp, Inc.*      15,400  
  2,629      ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc.      99,061  
  1,113      Shore Bancshares, Inc.      19,322  
  1,028      Sierra Bancorp      29,935  
  933      Signature Bank      127,457  
  4,534      Simmons First National Corp., Class A      121,466  
  1,131      South State Corp.      98,114  
  2,003      Southern National Bancorp      32,749  
  2,264      Southside Bancshares, Inc.      84,085  
  7,203      Sterling Bancorp      151,839  
  1,432      Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc.      58,798  
  557      Summit Financial Group, Inc.      15,089  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Banks, continued  
  1,390      SVB Financial Group*    $ 348,946  
  5,125      Synovus Financial Corp.      200,900  
  6,322      TCF Financial Corp.      295,870  
  1,633      Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc.*      92,705  
  490      Tompkins Financial Corp.      44,835  
  3,776      TowneBank      105,048  
  1,726      TriCo Bancshares      70,438  
  2,154      Tristate Capital Holdings, Inc.*      56,262  
  1,501      Triumph BanCorp, Inc.*      57,068  
  13,468      Truist Financial Corp.      758,518  
  3,028      Trustmark Corp.      104,496  
  98      Two River Bancorp(a)      2,195  
  17,207      U.S. Bancorp      1,020,203  
  2,075      UMB Financial Corp.      142,428  
  6,312      Umpqua Holdings Corp.      111,722  
  4,048      United Bankshares, Inc.      156,496  
  3,244      United Community Banks, Inc.      100,175  
  1,190      United Security Bancshares      12,769  
  42      Unity Bancorp, Inc.      948  
  1,914      Univest Financial Corp.      51,257  
  13,568      Valley National Bancorp      155,354  
  1,733      Veritex Holdings, Inc.      50,482  
  1,113      Washington Trust Bancorp      59,868  
  2,517      Webster Financial Corp.      134,307  
  64,624      Wells Fargo & Co.      3,476,772  
  2,998      WesBanco, Inc.      113,294  
  1,062      West Bancorp      27,219  
  1,287      Westamerica Bancorp      87,220  
  3,900      Western Alliance Bancorp      222,300  
  2,102      Wintrust Financial Corp.      149,032  
  2,669      Zions Bancorp      138,574  
     

 

 

 
        35,114,941  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (1.4%):       
  185      Boston Beer Co., Inc. (The), Class A*      69,902  
  1,635      Brown-Forman Corp., Class A      102,629  
  4,793      Brown-Forman Corp., Class B      324,007  
  48,017      Coca-Cola Co. (The)      2,657,741  
  285      Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc.      80,954  
  1,620      Constellation Brands, Inc., Class C      307,395  
  787      Craft Brewers Alliance, Inc.*      12,986  
  2,891      Keurig Dr Pepper, Inc.      83,694  
  615      MGP Ingredients, Inc.      29,797  
  3,243      Molson Coors Brewing Co., Class B      174,798  
  4,703      Monster Beverage Corp.*      298,876  
  1,132      National Beverage Corp.*^      57,755  
  19,743      PepsiCo, Inc.      2,698,275  
  876      Primo Water Corp.*      9,833  
     

 

 

 
        6,908,642  
     

 

 

 
Biotechnology (1.9%):       
  16,064      AbbVie, Inc.      1,422,306  
  3,743      Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      22,570  
  3,866      Acorda Therapeutics, Inc.*      7,887  
  3,964      Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc.*      45,665  
  436      Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      20,819  
  7,184      Akebia Therapeutics, Inc.*      45,403  
  3,451      Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      373,226  
  1,012      Alkermes plc*      20,645  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Biotechnology, continued       
  1,987      Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*    $ 228,843  
  2,354      AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*^      28,648  
  9,024      Amgen, Inc.      2,175,415  
  955      Anaptysbio, Inc.*      15,519  
  2,151      Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      97,698  
  1,907      Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc.*      31,408  
  2,471      Audentes Therapeutics, Inc.*      147,865  
  2,548      Biogen, Inc.*      756,067  
  1,108      BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc.*      93,681  
  506      Bluebird Bio, Inc.*      44,402  
  718      Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      6,624  
  1,545      Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      96,161  
  1,534      Denali Therapeutics, Inc.*^      26,722  
  233      Eagle Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      13,999  
  1,249      Emergent Biosolutions, Inc.*      67,384  
  1,013      Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      62,583  
  2,306      Epizyme, Inc.*      56,728  
  785      Exact Sciences Corp.*      72,597  
  6,986      Exelixis, Inc.*      123,093  
  2,400      Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc.*      11,016  
  1,432      G1 Therapeutics, Inc.*      37,848  
  17,621      Gilead Sciences, Inc.      1,145,012  
  1,929      Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc.*      153,336  
  779      Glycomimetics Industries*      4,121  
  966      Incyte Corp.*      84,351  
  953      Insmed, Inc.*      22,758  
  2,177      Intellia Therapeutics, Inc.*      31,937  
  945      Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      57,087  
  2,043      Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc.*      56,550  
  1,605      Karyopharm Therapeutics, Inc.*      30,768  
  1,263      Kura Oncology, Inc.*      17,366  
  526      Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Class B*      54,857  
  1,449      Macrogenics, Inc.*      15,765  
  194      Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      17,675  
  4,868      Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      96,046  
  3,689      Myriad Genetics, Inc.*      100,451  
  1,067      Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc.*      114,692  
  1,522      ObsEva SA*      5,814  
  10,235      OPKO Health, Inc.*^      15,045  
  9,565      PDL BioPharma, Inc.*      31,038  
  1,720      Prothena Corp. plc*      27,228  
  687      Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      257,955  
  1,384      Regenxbio, Inc.*      56,702  
  1,271      Repligen Corp.*      117,568  
  1,882      Retrophin, Inc.*      26,724  
  1,053      Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      24,177  
  2,600      Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      59,176  
  6,888      Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc.*      57,653  
  1,210      Seattle Genetics, Inc.*      138,255  
  2,126      Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      7,739  
  1,559      United Therapeutics Corp.*      137,317  
  2,321      Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      38,088  
  841      Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      184,137  
  2,446      Xencor, Inc.*      84,118  
     

 

 

 
        9,424,328  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Building Products (0.7%):       
  3,264      A.O. Smith Corp.    $ 155,497  
  1,915      AAON, Inc.      94,620  
  2,557      Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc.      99,314  
  1,995      Allegion plc      248,457  
  1,083      American Woodmark Corp.*      113,184  
  1,085      Apogee Enterprises, Inc.      35,263  
  1,778      Armstrong Flooring, Inc.*      7,592  
  734      Armstrong World Industries, Inc.      68,974  
  5,385      Builders FirstSource, Inc.*      136,833  
  2,571      Continental Building Products, Inc.*      93,662  
  3,362      Cornerstone Building Brands, Inc.*      28,611  
  889      Csw Industrials, Inc.      68,453  
  4,434      Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc.      289,718  
  1,576      Gibraltar Industries, Inc.*      79,493  
  2,893      Griffon Corp.      58,815  
  1,209      Insteel Industries, Inc.      25,981  
  4,386      Jeld-Wen Holding, Inc.*      102,676  
  8,866      Johnson Controls International plc      360,934  
  617      Lennox International, Inc.      150,529  
  3,994      Masco Corp.      191,672  
  1,451      Masonite International Corp.*      104,777  
  5,086      Owens Corning, Inc.      331,200  
  1,648      Patrick Industries, Inc.      86,405  
  3,615      PGT Innovations, Inc.*      53,900  
  1,925      Quanex Building Products Corp.      32,879  
  5,228      Resideo Technologies, Inc.*      62,370  
  1,453      Simpson Manufacturing Co., Inc.      116,574  
  1,002      Trex Co., Inc.*      90,060  
  2,820      Universal Forest Products, Inc.      134,514  
     

 

 

 
        3,422,957  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (2.6%):       
  2,645      Affiliated Managers Group, Inc.      224,137  
  2,626      Ameriprise Financial, Inc.      437,439  
  1,834      Ares Management Corp., Class A      65,455  
  2,502      Artisan Partners Asset Management, Inc., Class A      80,865  
  10,085      Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (The)      507,578  
  14,937      BGC Partners, Inc., Class A      88,726  
  1,035      BlackRock, Inc., Class A      520,295  
  2,377      Blucora, Inc.*      62,135  
  3,965      Brightsphere Investment Group, Inc.      40,522  
  1,779      Cboe Global Markets, Inc.      213,480  
  12,920      Charles Schwab Corp. (The)      614,475  
  2,686      CME Group, Inc.      539,134  
  2,934      Cohen & Steers, Inc.      184,138  
  190      Diamond Hill Investment Group      26,687  
  2,917      Donnelley Financial Solutions, Inc.*      30,541  
  5,873      E*TRADE Financial Corp.      266,458  
  3,982      Eaton Vance Corp.      185,920  
  796      FactSet Research Systems, Inc.      213,567  
  4,054      Federated Investors, Inc., Class B      132,120  
  5,534      Franklin Resources, Inc.      143,773  
  3,237      Gain Capital Holdings, Inc.^      12,786  
  388      GAMCO Investors, Inc., Class A      7,562  
  3,627      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.      833,955  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Capital Markets, continued       
  1,743      Greenhill & Co., Inc.    $ 29,770  
  211      Hennessy Advisors, Inc.      2,127  
  1,166      Houlihan Lokey, Inc.      56,982  
  2,679      Interactive Brokers Group, Inc., Class A      124,895  
  4,301      Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.      398,058  
  597      INTL FCStone, Inc.*      29,152  
  13,284      Invesco, Ltd.      238,846  
  4,134      Janus Henderson Group plc      101,076  
  10,552      Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services, Inc.      36,721  
  3,497      Lazard, Ltd., Class A      139,740  
  2,912      Legg Mason, Inc.      104,570  
  3,166      LPL Financial Holdings, Inc.      292,064  
  628      MarketAxess Holdings, Inc.      238,081  
  1,429      Moelis & Co., Class A      45,614  
  2,453      Moody’s Corp.      582,367  
  18,789      Morgan Stanley      960,493  
  1,357      Morningstar, Inc.      205,328  
  1,253      MSCI, Inc.      323,500  
  3,324      Nasdaq, Inc.      356,000  
  3,367      Northern Trust Corp.      357,710  
  1,024      Oppenheimer Holdings, Class A      28,140  
  784      Piper Jaffray Cos., Inc.      62,673  
  940      PJT Partners, Inc.      42,422  
  1,113      Pzena Investment Management, Inc.      9,594  
  3,034      Raymond James Financial, Inc.      271,422  
  3,572      S&P Global, Inc.      975,334  
  3,335      SEI Investments Co.      218,376  
  660      Silvercrest Asset Management Group, Inc., Class A      8,303  
  3,927      State Street Corp.      310,626  
  2,637      Stifel Financial Corp.      159,934  
  4,497      T. Rowe Price Group, Inc.      547,914  
  2,299      TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.      114,260  
  1,429      Virtu Financial, Inc., Class A      22,850  
  438      Virtus Investment Partners, Inc.      53,313  
  5,362      Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc., Class A      89,653  
  425      Westwood Holdings, Inc.      12,589  
  7,874      WisdomTree Investments, Inc.      38,110  
     

 

 

 
        13,020,355  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (2.1%):       
  2,746      AdvanSix, Inc.*      54,810  
  2,624      Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.      616,613  
  4,125      Albemarle Corp.      301,290  
  1,157      American Vanguard Corp.      22,527  
  2,194      Ashland Global Holdings, Inc.      167,907  
  3,752      Axalta Coating Systems, Ltd.*      114,061  
  1,138      Balchem Corp.      115,655  
  2,532      Cabot Corp.      120,321  
  3,318      Celanese Corp., Series A      408,512  
  4,613      CF Industries Holdings, Inc.      220,225  
  733      Chase Corp.      86,846  
  4,033      Chemours Co. (The)      72,957  
  578      Core Molding Technologies, Inc.*      1,879  
  8,214      Corteva, Inc.      242,806  
  10,218      Dow, Inc.      559,231  
  8,214      DuPont de Nemours, Inc.      527,339  
  3,749      Eastman Chemical Co.      297,146  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Chemicals, continued       
  2,888      Ecolab, Inc.    $ 557,355  
  13,216      Element Solutions, Inc.*      154,363  
  5,990      Ferro Corp.*      88,832  
  2,310      FMC Corp.      230,584  
  3,222      Futurefuel Corp.      39,921  
  3,313      GCP Applied Technologies, Inc.*      75,238  
  1,438      H.B. Fuller Co.      74,158  
  9,602      Huntsman Corp.      231,984  
  962      Ingevity Corp.*      84,060  
  1,620      Innophos Holdings, Inc.      51,808  
  571      Innospec, Inc.      59,064  
  1,701      International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc.      219,463  
  14,982      Intrepid Potash, Inc.*      40,601  
  783      Koppers Holdings, Inc.*      29,926  
  2,348      Kraton Corp.*      59,451  
  4,741      Kronos Worldwide, Inc.      63,529  
  4,500      Linde plc      958,050  
  2,160      Livent Corp.*      18,468  
  1,233      LSB Industries, Inc.*      5,179  
  5,319      LyondellBasell Industries NV, Class A      502,539  
  1,816      Minerals Technologies, Inc.      104,656  
  5,492      Mosaic Co. (The)      118,847  
  441      NewMarket Corp.      214,555  
  7,103      Olin Corp.      122,527  
  2,346      Omnova Solutions, Inc.*      23,718  
  3,051      PolyOne Corp.      112,246  
  3,333      PPG Industries, Inc.      444,922  
  1,630      PQ Group Holdings, Inc.*      28,003  
  368      Quaker Chemical Corp.      60,543  
  3,631      Rayonier Advanced Materials, Inc.      13,943  
  2,581      RPM International, Inc.      198,118  
  1,648      Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. (The)      174,985  
  1,975      Sensient Technologies Corp.      130,528  
  1,137      Sherwin Williams Co.      663,484  
  893      Stepan Co.      91,479  
  1,627      Trecora Resources*      11,633  
  1,070      Tredegar Corp.      23,915  
  2,086      Trinseo SA      77,620  
  4,906      Tronox Holdings plc, Class A      56,027  
  6,023      Valvoline, Inc.      128,952  
  4,276      Venator Materials plc*      16,377  
  1,439      W.R. Grace & Co.      100,514  
  1,636      Westlake Chemical Corp.      114,765  
     

 

 

 
        10,507,055  
     

 

 

 
Commercial Services & Supplies (1.1%):       
  2,302      ABM Industries, Inc.      86,808  
  2,927      ACCO Brands Corp.      27,397  
  3,173      Advanced Disposal Services, Inc.*      104,297  
  4,271      ARC Document Solutions, Inc.*      5,937  
  1,844      Brady Corp., Class A      105,587  
  1,144      Brink’s Co. (The)      103,738  
  1,028      Casella Waste Systems, Inc.*      47,319  
  2,003      CECO Environmental Corp.*      15,343  
  912      Cimpress plc*      114,702  
  1,976      Cintas Corp.      531,702  
  5,206      Civeo Corp.*      6,716  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Commercial Services & Supplies, continued       
  2,044      Clean Harbors, Inc.*    $ 175,273  
  4,259      Copart, Inc.*      387,313  
  5,346      Covanta Holding Corp.      79,335  
  859      Deluxe Corp.      42,881  
  1,613      Ennis, Inc.      34,921  
  2,148      Healthcare Services Group, Inc.      52,239  
  1,042      Heritage-Crystal Clean, Inc.*      32,688  
  2,205      Herman Miller, Inc.      91,838  
  2,271      HNI Corp.      85,072  
  4,215      IAA, Inc.*      198,358  
  4,002      Interface, Inc.      66,393  
  5,118      KAR Auction Services, Inc.      111,521  
  2,829      Kimball International, Inc., Class B      58,475  
  2,754      Knoll, Inc.      69,566  
  1,875      Matthews International Corp., Class A      71,569  
  1,011      McGrath Rentcorp      77,382  
  2,162      Mobile Mini, Inc.      81,961  
  1,035      MSA Safety, Inc.      130,783  
  1,552      NL Industries, Inc.*      6,068  
  1,763      PICO Holdings, Inc.*      19,605  
  8,238      Pitney Bowes, Inc.      33,199  
  2,606      Quad Graphics, Inc.      12,170  
  6,273      Republic Services, Inc., Class A      562,249  
  4,020      Rollins, Inc.      133,303  
  2,114      RR Donnelley & Sons Co.      8,350  
  1,467      SP Plus Corp.*      62,245  
  5,403      Steelcase, Inc., Class A      110,545  
  1,563      Stericycle, Inc.*      99,735  
  1,534      Team, Inc.*      24,498  
  1,842      Tetra Tech, Inc.      158,707  
  542      UniFirst Corp.      109,473  
  1,141      US Ecology, Inc.      66,075  
  1,003      Viad Corp.      67,703  
  824      Vse Corp.      31,345  
  7,973      Waste Management, Inc.      908,604  
     

 

 

 
        5,410,988  
     

 

 

 
Communications Equipment (1.1%):       
  1,772      Acacia Communications, Inc.*      120,159  
  2,109      ADTRAN, Inc.      20,858  
  752      Applied Optoelectronics, Inc.*^      8,934  
  976      Arista Networks, Inc.*      198,518  
  1,829      CalAmp Corp.*      17,522  
  2,202      Calix, Inc.*      17,616  
  4,939      Ciena Corp.*      210,846  
  57,588      Cisco Systems, Inc.      2,761,921  
  6,102      CommScope Holding Co., Inc.*      86,587  
  316      Communications Systems, Inc.      1,950  
  1,822      Comtech Telecommunications Corp.      64,663  
  1,262      Digi International, Inc.*      22,363  
  1,548      EchoStar Corp., Class A*      67,044  
  1,189      EMCORE Corp.*      3,615  
  1,678      F5 Networks, Inc.*      234,333  
  7,060      Harmonic, Inc.*      55,068  
  11,833      Infinera Corp.*      93,954  
  1,013      InterDigital, Inc.      55,198  
  7,807      Juniper Networks, Inc.      192,286  
  909      KVH Industries, Inc.*      10,117  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Communications Equipment, continued       
  1,533      Lumentum Holdings, Inc.*    $ 121,567  
  2,594      Motorola Solutions, Inc.      417,997  
  2,444      NETGEAR, Inc.*      59,902  
  3,156      NetScout Systems, Inc.*      75,965  
  360      Palo Alto Networks, Inc.*      83,250  
  807      Plantronics, Inc.      22,063  
  3,679      Ribbon Communications, Inc.*      11,405  
  583      Ubiquiti, Inc.      110,175  
  2,004      ViaSat, Inc.*      146,683  
  6,628      Viavi Solutions, Inc.*      99,420  
     

 

 

 
        5,391,979  
     

 

 

 
Construction & Engineering (0.4%):       
  5,463      AECOM*      235,620  
  800      Aegion Corp.*      17,896  
  2,172      Ameresco, Inc., Class A*      38,010  
  1,719      Arcosa, Inc.      76,581  
  1,245      Argan, Inc.      49,974  
  1,358      Comfort Systems USA, Inc.      67,696  
  2,183      Construction Partners, Inc., Class A*      36,827  
  1,425      Dycom Industries, Inc.*      67,189  
  2,278      EMCOR Group, Inc.      196,591  
  2,848      Fluor Corp.      53,770  
  2,377      Granite Construction, Inc.^      65,772  
  5,343      Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co.*      60,536  
  1,221      IES Holdings, Inc.*      31,331  
  2,447      Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc.      219,814  
  3,504      MasTec, Inc.*      224,818  
  1,578      MYR Group, Inc.*      51,427  
  574      NV5 Global, Inc.*      28,958  
  2,101      Orion Group Holdings, Inc.*      10,904  
  3,094      Primoris Services Corp.      68,811  
  5,039      Quanta Services, Inc.      205,138  
  2,791      Tutor Perini Corp.*      35,892  
  568      Valmont Industries, Inc.      85,075  
  1,311      Williams Industrial Services Group, Inc.*      2,255  
  5,058      Willscot Corp.*      93,522  
     

 

 

 
        2,024,407  
     

 

 

 
Construction Materials (0.2%):       
  961      Eagle Materials, Inc., Class A      87,124  
  1,145      Martin Marietta Materials, Inc.      320,188  
  5,020      Summit Materials, Inc., Class A*      119,978  
  1,308      U.S. Concrete, Inc.*      54,491  
  353      U.S. Lime & Minerals, Inc.      31,876  
  2,021      Vulcan Materials Co.      291,004  
     

 

 

 
        904,661  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (1.0%):       
  8,927      Ally Financial, Inc.      272,809  
  9,821      American Express Co.      1,222,615  
  144      Asta Funding, Inc.*      1,488  
  6,037      Capital One Financial Corp.      621,267  
  1,912      Consumer Portfolio Services, Inc.*      6,443  
  600      Credit Acceptance Corp.*      265,398  
  8,319      Discover Financial Services      705,617  
  2,110      Encore Capital Group, Inc.*      74,610  
  1,910      Enova International, Inc.*      45,955  
  3,948      EZCORP, Inc., Class A*      26,925  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Consumer Finance, continued       
  1,460      Firstcash, Inc.    $ 117,720  
  1,425      Green Dot Corp., Class A*      33,203  
  5,431      LendingClub Corp.*      68,539  
  9,170      Navient Corp.      125,446  
  1,462      Nelnet, Inc., Class A      85,147  
  750      Nicholas Financial, Inc.*      6,180  
  5,999      Onemain Holdings, Inc.      252,858  
  2,661      PRA Group, Inc.*      96,594  
  960      Regional Mgmt Corp.*      28,829  
  10,164      Santander Consumer USA Holdings, Inc.      237,533  
  13,802      SLM Corp.      122,976  
  16,752      Synchrony Financial      603,240  
  505      World Acceptance Corp.*      43,632  
     

 

 

 
        5,065,024  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (0.7%):       
  21,700      Amcor plc      235,228  
  2,245      AptarGroup, Inc.      259,567  
  1,901      Avery Dennison Corp.      248,689  
  6,530      Ball Corp.      422,294  
  4,116      Berry Global Group, Inc.*      195,469  
  3,346      Crown Holdings, Inc.*      242,719  
  14,726      Graphic Packaging Holding Co.      245,188  
  1,930      Greif, Inc., Class A      85,306  
  1,110      Greif, Inc., Class B      57,465  
  8,729      International Paper Co.      401,970  
  2,608      Myers Industries, Inc.      43,501  
  9,463      O-I Glass, Inc.      112,894  
  2,537      Packaging Corp. of America      284,119  
  3,591      Sealed Air Corp.      143,030  
  5,030      Silgan Holdings, Inc.      156,332  
  4,589      Sonoco Products Co.      283,233  
  538      UFP Technologies, Inc.*      26,690  
  4,190      WestRock Co.      179,793  
     

 

 

 
        3,623,487  
     

 

 

 
Distributors (0.2%):       
  2,074      Core Markt Holdngs Co., Inc.      56,392  
  3,288      Genuine Parts Co.      349,284  
  6,871      LKQ Corp.*      245,295  
  973      Pool Corp.      206,646  
  811      Weyco Group, Inc.      21,451  
     

 

 

 
        879,068  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Consumer Services (0.3%):       
  1,744      Adtalem Global Education, Inc.*      60,988  
  1,304      American Public Education, Inc.*      35,717  
  1,375      Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Inc.*      206,648  
  2,522      Career Education Corp.*      46,380  
  1,464      Carriage Services, Inc.      37,478  
  467      Chegg, Inc.*      17,704  
  506      Collectors Universe, Inc.      11,663  
  1,726      Frontdoor, Inc.*      81,847  
  112      Graham Holdings Co., Class B      71,567  
  1,763      Grand Canyon Education, Inc.*      168,878  
  5,239      H&R Block, Inc.      123,012  
  8,803      Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co.*      55,019  
  2,988      K12, Inc.*      60,806  
  3,406      Laureate Education, Inc.*      59,980  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Diversified Consumer Services, continued       
  1,309      Regis Corp.*    $ 23,392  
  6,510      Service Corp. International      299,654  
  3,452      ServiceMaster Global Holdings, Inc.*      133,454  
  925      Strategic Education, Inc.      146,983  
  1,696      Universal Technical Institute, Inc.*      13,076  
  1,419      WW International, Inc.*      54,220  
     

 

 

 
        1,708,466  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (1.1%):       
  22,020      Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., Class B*      4,987,530  
  2,704      Cannae Holdings, Inc.*      100,562  
  6,246      Jefferies Financial Group, Inc.      133,477  
  827      Marlin Business Services, Inc.      18,177  
  4,869      On Deck Capital, Inc.*      20,158  
  2,777      Voya Financial, Inc.      169,341  
     

 

 

 
        5,429,245  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (2.7%):       
  398      Anterix, Inc.*      17,198  
  180,809      AT&T, Inc.      7,066,016  
  1,019      ATN International, Inc.      56,442  
  33,705      CenturyLink, Inc.      445,243  
  3,035      Cincinnati Bell, Inc.*      31,776  
  1,533      Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc.      100,887  
  4,558      Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc.      17,685  
  1,573      Frontier Communications Corp.*      1,399  
  1,994      IDT Corp.*      14,377  
  2,626      Intelsat S.A.*      18,461  
  4,575      Iridium Communications, Inc.*      112,728  
  4,045      Orbcomm, Inc.*      17,029  
  84,538      Verizon Communications, Inc.      5,190,633  
  5,536      Vonage Holdings Corp.*      41,022  
  7,609      Zayo Group Holdings, Inc.*      263,652  
     

 

 

 
        13,394,548  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (1.6%):       
  1,218      ALLETE, Inc.      98,865  
  3,448      Alliant Energy Corp.      188,675  
  5,589      American Electric Power Co., Inc.      528,216  
  1,163      Avangrid, Inc.      59,499  
  8,111      Duke Energy Corp.      739,804  
  4,082      Edison International      307,824  
  1,593      El Paso Electric Co.      108,149  
  2,217      Entergy Corp.      265,597  
  3,485      Evergy, Inc.      226,839  
  4,208      Eversource Energy      357,975  
  10,867      Exelon Corp.      495,427  
  7,887      FirstEnergy Corp.      383,308  
  1,272      Genie Energy, Ltd., Class B      9,833  
  3,281      Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.      153,748  
  1,676      IDA Corp., Inc.      178,997  
  1,426      MGE Energy, Inc.      112,397  
  5,402      NextEra Energy, Inc.      1,308,147  
  3,593      OGE Energy Corp.      159,781  
  1,672      Otter Tail Corp.      85,757  
  1,175      PG&E Corp.*      12,772  
  1,787      Pinnacle West Capital Corp.      160,705  
  2,755      PNM Resources, Inc.      139,706  
  2,522      Portland General Electric Co.      140,702  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

10


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Electric Utilities, continued       
  11,330      PPL Corp.    $ 406,520  
  10,893      Southern Co. (The)      693,884  
  6,176      Xcel Energy, Inc.      392,114  
     

 

 

 
        7,715,241  
     

 

 

 
Electrical Equipment (0.8%):  
  2,009      Acuity Brands, Inc.      277,242  
  926      Allied Motion Technologies, Inc.      44,911  
  4,662      AMETEK, Inc.      464,988  
  2,063      Atkore International Group, Inc.*      83,469  
  1,175      AZZ, Inc.      53,991  
  4,820      Eaton Corp. plc      456,550  
  8,538      Emerson Electric Co.      651,108  
  1,159      Encore Wire Corp.      66,527  
  1,495      EnerSys      111,871  
  2,333      Generac Holdings, Inc.*      234,676  
  1,858      Hubbell, Inc.      274,650  
  1,831      LSI Industries, Inc.      11,078  
  5,836      nVent Electric plc      149,285  
  606      Powell Industries, Inc.      29,688  
  400      Preformed Line Products Co.      24,140  
  1,766      Regal-Beloit Corp.      151,187  
  2,197      Rockwell Automation, Inc.      445,266  
  5,452      Sensata Technologies Holding plc*      293,699  
  4,883      Sunrun, Inc.*      67,434  
  1,298      Thermon Group Holdings, Inc.*      34,786  
  1,704      Tpi Composites, Inc.*      31,541  
     

 

 

 
        3,958,087  
     

 

 

 
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (1.4%):  
  3,911      Amphenol Corp., Class A      423,287  
  1,693      Anixter International, Inc.*      155,925  
  2,582      Arlo Technologies, Inc.*      10,870  
  2,934      Arrow Electronics, Inc.*      248,627  
  2,249      Avnet, Inc.      95,448  
  6,994      AVX Corp.      143,167  
  1,234      Badger Meter, Inc.      80,124  
  550      Bel Fuse, Inc., Class B      11,275  
  2,425      Belden, Inc.      133,375  
  1,721      Benchmark Electronics, Inc.      59,134  
  3,072      CDW Corp.      438,803  
  1,759      Cognex Corp.      98,574  
  687      Coherent, Inc.*      114,282  
  13,544      Corning, Inc.      394,266  
  1,576      CTS Corp.      47,296  
  2,838      Daktronics, Inc.      17,283  
  1,977      Dolby Laboratories, Inc., Class A      136,018  
  876      ePlus, Inc.*      73,838  
  1,526      Fabrinet*      98,946  
  1,007      FARO Technologies, Inc.*      50,702  
  10,405      Fitbit, Inc., Class A*      68,361  
  21,372      Flex, Ltd.*      269,715  
  2,876      FLIR Systems, Inc.      149,753  
  640      Frequency Electronics, Inc.*      6,534  
  3,837      II-VI, Inc.*      129,192  
  1,676      Insight Enterprises, Inc.*      117,806  
  1,107      IPG Photonics Corp.*      160,426  
  1,749      Itron, Inc.*      146,829  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components, continued  
  8,429      Jabil, Inc.    $ 348,371  
  3,410      KEMET Corp.      92,241  
  2,507      Keysight Technologies, Inc.*      257,293  
  1,603      Kimball Electronics, Inc.*      28,133  
  4,037      Knowles Corp.*      85,383  
  725      Littlelfuse, Inc.      138,693  
  2,290      Methode Electronics, Inc., Class A      90,112  
  915      MTS Systems Corp.      43,947  
  1,715      National Instruments Corp.      72,613  
  1,323      Novanta, Inc.*      117,006  
  594      OSI Systems, Inc.*      59,840  
  1,445      PC Connection, Inc.      71,759  
  1,291      Plexus Corp.*      99,330  
  793      Rogers Corp.*      98,911  
  2,240      Sanmina Corp.*      76,698  
  1,757      ScanSource, Inc.*      64,921  
  1,596      SYNNEX Corp.      205,565  
  4,966      TE Connectivity, Ltd.      475,941  
  1,453      Tech Data Corp.*      208,651  
  2,596      Trimble, Inc.*      108,227  
  6,321      TTM Technologies, Inc.*      95,131  
  6,420      Vishay Intertechnology, Inc.      136,682  
  1,035      Zebra Technologies Corp., Class A*      264,380  
     

 

 

 
        7,119,684  
     

 

 

 
Energy Equipment & Services (0.6%):       
  2,515      Apergy Corp.*      84,957  
  7,479      Archrock, Inc.      75,089  
  3,651      Baker Hughes Co.      93,575  
  1,347      Core Laboratories NV      50,741  
  10,172      Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc.*^      73,137  
  2,169      Dril-Quip, Inc.*      101,748  
  1,558      Era Group, Inc.*      15,845  
  2,010      Exterran Corp.*      15,738  
  6,125      Forum Energy Technologies, Inc.*      10,290  
  13,037      Frank’s International NV*      67,401  
  760      Geospace Technologies Corp.*      12,745  
  1,086      Gulf Island Fabrication, Inc.*      5,506  
  11,888      Halliburton Co.      290,898  
  7,826      Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc.*      75,364  
  2,727      Helmerich & Payne, Inc.      123,888  
  892      KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc.*      5,744  
  2,181      Liberty Oilfield Services, Inc., Class A      24,253  
  1,436      Mammoth Energy Services, Inc.      3,159  
  1,750      Matrix Service Co.*      40,040  
  6,284      McDermott International, Inc.*^      4,252  
  17,995      Nabors Industries, Ltd.      51,826  
  8,395      National-Oilwell Varco, Inc.      210,295  
  935      Natural Gas Services Group*      11,463  
  4,799      Newpark Resources, Inc.*      30,090  
  12,646      NexTier Oilfield Solutions, Inc.*      84,728  
  12,057      Noble Corp. plc*      14,710  
  4,818      Oceaneering International, Inc.*      71,836  
  3,066      Oil States International, Inc.*      50,006  
  6,531      Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc.      68,576  
  6,172      Propetro Holding Corp.*      69,435  
  4,475      RPC, Inc.      23,449  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

11


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Energy Equipment & Services, continued       
  11,144      Schlumberger, Ltd.    $ 447,990  
  1,291      SEACOR Holdings, Inc.*      55,707  
  493      SEACOR Marine Holdings, Inc.*      6,798  
  3,974      Select Energy Services, Inc.*      36,879  
  7,361      Technipfmc plc      157,819  
  4,086      TETRA Technologies, Inc.*      8,009  
  2,510      Tidewater, Inc.*      48,393  
  14,584      Transocean, Ltd.*      100,338  
  4,546      U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc.      27,958  
  2,800      Unit Corp.*      1,948  
  9,435      Valaris plc^      61,894  
     

 

 

 
        2,814,517  
     

 

 

 
Entertainment (1.1%):  
  11,312      Activision Blizzard, Inc.      672,159  
  3,433      AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc., Class A^      24,855  
  4,383      Cinemark Holdings, Inc.      148,365  
  2,474      Electronic Arts, Inc.*      265,980  
  1,834      Eros International plc*^      6,217  
  2,858      Imax Corp.*      58,389  
  247      Liberty Braves Group, Class A*      7,324  
  527      Liberty Braves Group, Class C*      15,568  
  619      Liberty Media Corp-Liberty Formula One, Class A*      27,100  
  3,302      Liberty Media Corp-Liberty Formula One, Class C*      151,776  
  2,111      Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., Class A*      22,503  
  2,411      Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., Class B*      23,941  
  2,762      Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.*      197,400  
  540      Madison Square Garden Co. (The), Class A*      158,863  
  1,459      Marcus Corp.      46,352  
  2,535      Netflix, Inc.*      820,250  
  1,419      Reading International, Inc., Class A*      15,879  
  294      Rosetta Stone, Inc.*      5,333  
  1,231      Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.*      150,711  
  14,586      Walt Disney Co. (The)      2,109,572  
  1,208      World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., Class A^      78,363  
  31,714      Zynga, Inc.*      194,090  
     

 

 

 
        5,200,990  
     

 

 

 
Food & Staples Retailing (1.4%):  
  500      BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc.*      11,370  
  1,222      Casey’s General Stores, Inc.      194,286  
  5,792      Costco Wholesale Corp.      1,702,385  
  1,267      Ingles Markets, Inc., Class A      60,195  
  27,024      Kroger Co. (The)      783,426  
  1,720      Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc.      16,976  
  1,409      Performance Food Group Co.*      72,535  
  884      PriceSmart, Inc.      62,782  
  1,864      Rite Aid Corp.*^      28,836  
  3,281      SpartanNash Co.      46,721  
  4,494      Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc.*      86,959  
  7,069      Sysco Corp.      604,682  
  1,610      The Andersons, Inc.      40,701  
  1,143      The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc.*      43,560  
  3,347      United Natural Foods, Inc.*      29,320  
  3,790      US Foods Holding Corp.*      158,763  
  738      Village Super Market, Inc., Class A      17,122  
  10,994      Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.      648,206  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Food & Staples Retailing, continued  
  19,566      Walmart, Inc.    $ 2,325,223  
  2,107      Weis Markets, Inc.      85,312  
     

 

 

 
        7,019,360  
     

 

 

 
Food Products (1.5%):  
  8,183      Archer-Daniels-Midland Co.      379,282  
  3,898      B&G Foods, Inc.^      69,891  
  4,805      Bunge, Ltd.      276,528  
  808      Calavo Growers, Inc.      73,197  
  1,477      Cal-Maine Foods, Inc.      63,142  
  5,711      Campbell Soup Co.      282,238  
  7,343      Conagra Brands, Inc.      251,424  
  4,717      Darling Ingredients, Inc.*      132,453  
  5,447      Dean Foods Co.*      327  
  1,004      Farmer Brothers Co.*      15,120  
  7,961      Flowers Foods, Inc.      173,072  
  2,396      Fresh Del Monte Produce, Inc.      83,812  
  7,635      General Mills, Inc.      408,931  
  3,802      Hain Celestial Group, Inc.*      98,681  
  2,287      Hershey Co. (The)      336,143  
  6,832      Hormel Foods Corp.      308,192  
  6,244      Hostess Brands, Inc.*      90,788  
  2,764      Ingredion, Inc.      256,914  
  576      J & J Snack Foods Corp.      106,140  
  2,443      JM Smucker Co. (The)      254,390  
  300      John B Sanfilippo And Son, Inc.      27,384  
  5,585      Kellogg Co.      386,259  
  6,403      Kraft Heinz Co. (The)      205,728  
  2,371      Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc.      203,977  
  902      Lancaster Colony Corp.      144,410  
  1,028      Landec Corp.*      11,627  
  1,858      McCormick & Co.      315,358  
  389      McCormick & Co., Inc.      66,546  
  11,410      Mondelez International, Inc., Class A      628,462  
  4,222      Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.*      138,123  
  3,404      Post Holdings, Inc.*      371,376  
  954      Sanderson Farms, Inc.      168,114  
  29      Seaboard Corp.      123,266  
  677      Seneca Foods Corp., Class A*      27,615  
  3,045      Simply Good Foods Co. (The)*      86,904  
  1,842      Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc.^      62,886  
  2,341      TreeHouse Foods, Inc.*      113,539  
  4,611      Tyson Foods, Inc., Class A      419,784  
     

 

 

 
        7,162,023  
     

 

 

 
Gas Utilities (0.3%):  
  1,751      Atmos Energy Corp.      195,866  
  900      Chesapeake Utilities Corp.      86,247  
  2,716      National Fuel Gas Co.      126,403  
  3,160      New Jersey Resources Corp.      140,841  
  1,115      Northwest Natural Holding Co.      82,209  
  1,624      ONE Gas, Inc.      151,958  
  232      RGC Resources, Inc.      6,631  
  2,958      South Jersey Industries, Inc.      97,555  
  1,754      Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc.      133,251  
  1,545      Spire, Inc.      128,714  
  3,695      UGI Corp.      166,866  
     

 

 

 
        1,316,541  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

12


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (2.3%):  
  15,845      Abbott Laboratories    $ 1,376,296  
  771      ABIOMED, Inc.*      131,525  
  2,269      Accuray, Inc.*      6,399  
  1,170      Align Technology, Inc.*      326,477  
  2,726      AngioDynamics, Inc.*      43,643  
  955      Anika Therapeutics, Inc.*      49,517  
  66      Atrion Corp.      49,599  
  1,897      Avanos Medical, Inc.*      63,929  
  4,834      Baxter International, Inc.      404,219  
  1,987      Becton Dickinson & Co.      540,403  
  7,099      Boston Scientific Corp.*      321,017  
  1,208      Cantel Medical Corp.      85,647  
  1,289      CONMED Corp.      144,149  
  716      Cooper Cos., Inc. (The)      230,044  
  1,619      CryoLife, Inc.*      43,859  
  4,107      Danaher Corp.      630,341  
  4,082      Dentsply Sirona, Inc.      231,000  
  693      DexCom, Inc.*      151,587  
  1,586      Edwards Lifesciences Corp.*      369,998  
  1,790      Envista Holdings Corp.*      53,056  
  1,966      Globus Medical, Inc., Class A*      115,758  
  1,463      Haemonetics Corp.*      168,099  
  392      Heska Corp.*      37,608  
  1,867      Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc.      211,961  
  5,682      Hologic, Inc.*      296,657  
  508      ICU Medical, Inc.*      95,057  
  1,650      IDEXX Laboratories, Inc.*      430,865  
  433      Inogen, Inc.*      29,587  
  489      Insulet Corp.*      83,717  
  1,457      Integer Holdings Corp.*      117,187  
  1,042      Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp.*      60,728  
  891      Intuitive Surgical, Inc.*      526,715  
  2,327      Invacare Corp.      20,990  
  1,705      Lantheus Holdings, Inc.*      34,970  
  809      LeMaitre Vascular, Inc.      29,084  
  1,168      LivaNova plc*      88,102  
  1,479      Masimo Corp.*      233,771  
  9,563      Medtronic plc      1,084,921  
  3,164      Meridian Bioscience, Inc.      30,912  
  1,466      Merit Medical Systems, Inc.*      45,769  
  1,935      Natus Medical, Inc.*      63,836  
  804      Neogen Corp.*      52,469  
  1,366      NuVasive, Inc.*      105,646  
  481      Nuvectra Corp.*      46  
  2,205      OraSure Technologies, Inc.*      17,706  
  1,074      Orthofix Medical, Inc.*      49,597  
  285      Penumbra, Inc.*      46,817  
  700      Quidel Corp.*      52,521  
  2,826      ResMed, Inc.      437,945  
  3,310      RTI Surgical, Inc.*      9,069  
  624      SeaSpine Holdings Corp.*      7,494  
  1,207      Steris plc      183,971  
  2,573      Stryker Corp.      540,176  
  750      Teleflex, Inc.      282,330  
  227      Utah Medical Products, Inc.      24,493  
  1,961      Varex Imaging Corp.*      58,457  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Health Care Equipment & Supplies, continued  
  1,458      Varian Medical Systems, Inc.*    $ 207,051  
  1,157      West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.      173,932  
  1,714      Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.      256,552  
     

 

 

 
        11,565,271  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (2.8%):       
  3,551      Acadia Healthcare Co., Inc.*      117,964  
  634      Addus HomeCare Corp.*      61,637  
  801      Amedisys, Inc.*      133,703  
  2,339      AmerisourceBergen Corp.      198,862  
  1,394      AMN Healthcare Services, Inc.*      86,860  
  2,880      Anthem, Inc.      869,846  
  724      BioTelemetry, Inc.*      33,521  
  9,264      Brookdale Senior Living, Inc.*      67,349  
  5,903      Cardinal Health, Inc.      298,574  
  5,646      Centene Corp.*      354,964  
  497      Chemed Corp.      218,312  
  6,310      Cigna Corp.      1,290,333  
  7,171      Community Health Systems, Inc.*      20,796  
  922      CorVel Corp.*      80,546  
  1,589      Covetrus, Inc.*^      20,975  
  1,177      Cross Country Healthcare, Inc.*      13,677  
  18,367      CVS Health Corp.      1,364,485  
  5,046      DaVita, Inc.*      378,601  
  4,148      Diplomat Pharmacy, Inc.*      16,592  
  3,452      Encompass Health Corp.      239,120  
  1,585      Ensign Group, Inc. (The)      71,911  
  78      Five Star Senior Living, Inc.*      289  
  1,531      Hanger, Inc.*      42,271  
  3,078      HCA Healthcare, Inc.      454,959  
  1,272      HealthEquity, Inc.*      94,217  
  2,772      Henry Schein, Inc.*      184,948  
  1,947      Humana, Inc.      713,614  
  2,629      InfuSystems Holdings, Inc.*      22,425  
  1,959      Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings*      331,404  
  925      LHC Group, Inc.*      127,428  
  1,471      Magellan Health, Inc.*      115,106  
  3,805      McKesson Corp.      526,308  
  3,346      MEDNAX, Inc.*      92,985  
  1,417      Molina Healthcare, Inc.*      192,273  
  1,075      National Healthcare Corp.      92,912  
  1,219      National Research Corp.      80,381  
  4,172      Owens & Minor, Inc.      21,569  
  4,695      Patterson Cos., Inc.      96,154  
  629      Petiq, Inc.*^      15,756  
  2,269      Premier, Inc., Class A*      85,950  
  835      Providence Service Corp.*      49,415  
  2,544      Quest Diagnostics, Inc.      271,674  
  2,518      RadNet, Inc.*      51,115  
  2,778      Select Medical Holdings Corp.*      64,839  
  2,133      Surgery Partners, Inc.*      33,392  
  3,992      Tenet Healthcare Corp.*      151,816  
  792      The Pennant Group, Inc.*      26,191  
  2,390      Tivity Health, Inc.*      48,625  
  1,303      Triple-S Management Corp., Class B*      24,092  
  577      U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc.      65,980  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

13


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Health Care Providers & Services, continued       
  11,374      UnitedHealth Group, Inc.    $ 3,343,730  
  2,273      Universal Health Services, Inc., Class B      326,085  
  969      WellCare Health Plans, Inc.*      319,973  
     

 

 

 
        14,006,504  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Technology (0.2%):       
  8,903      Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc.*      87,383  
  5,606      Cerner Corp.      411,425  
  339      Computer Programs & Systems, Inc.      8,950  
  4,037      Evolent Health, Inc., Class A*      36,535  
  1,357      HealthStream, Inc.*      36,910  
  3,154      HMS Holdings Corp.*      93,358  
  2,464      NextGen Healthcare, Inc.*      39,596  
  1,095      Omnicell, Inc.*      89,483  
  1,047      Simulations Plus, Inc.      30,436  
  1,142      Veeva Systems, Inc., Class A*      160,634  
     

 

 

 
        994,710  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (2.2%):       
  7,296      Aramark      316,646  
  2,451      BBX Capital Corp.      11,691  
  6      Biglari Holdings, Inc., Class A*      3,600  
  67      Biglari Holdings, Inc., Class B*      7,666  
  813      BJ’s Restaurants, Inc.      30,861  
  3,499      Bloomin’ Brands, Inc.      77,223  
  1,968      Brinker International, Inc.      82,656  
  7,300      Caesars Entertainment Corp.*      99,280  
  6,877      Carnival Corp., Class A      349,558  
  2,943      Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc.*      20,748  
  1,723      Century Casinos, Inc.*      13,646  
  2,158      Cheesecake Factory, Inc. (The)      83,860  
  140      Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.*      117,195  
  1,693      Choice Hotels International, Inc.^      175,107  
  582      Churchill Downs, Inc.      79,850  
  1,178      Chuy’s Holdings, Inc.*      30,534  
  1,026      Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc.      157,737  
  2,832      Darden Restaurants, Inc.      308,716  
  1,410      Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc.      56,640  
  2,144      Del Taco Restaurants, Inc.*      16,948  
  2,291      Denny’s Corp.*      45,545  
  684      Dine Brands Global, Inc.      57,128  
  693      Domino’s Pizza, Inc.      203,590  
  2,246      Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc.      169,663  
  1,288      El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc.*      19,500  
  1,112      Eldorado Resorts, Inc.*^      66,320  
  1,277      Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc.*      12,630  
  624      Habit Restaurants, Inc. (The), Class A*      6,508  
  2,724      Hilton Grand Vacations, Inc.*      93,678  
  3,183      Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc.      353,027  
  1,051      Hyatt Hotels Corp., Class A      94,285  
  6,233      International Game Technology plc      93,308  
  721      Jack in the Box, Inc.      56,260  
  6,925      Las Vegas Sands Corp.      478,102  
  2,136      Luby’s, Inc.*      4,699  
  3,634      Marriott International, Inc., Class A      550,297  
  1,381      Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corp.      177,818  
  8,276      McDonald’s Corp.      1,635,420  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure, continued       
  10,392      MGM Resorts International    $ 345,742  
  341      Nathans Famous, Inc.      24,170  
  5,162      Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Ltd.*      301,512  
  1,596      Papa John’s International, Inc.      100,787  
  2,376      Penn National Gaming, Inc.*      60,731  
  2,093      Planet Fitness, Inc.*      156,305  
  3,664      Playa Hotels & Resorts NV*      30,778  
  763      Potbelly Corp.*      3,220  
  1,501      Red Lion Hotels Corp.*      5,599  
  878      Red Robin Gourmet Burgers*      28,992  
  1,400      Red Rock Resorts, Inc.      33,530  
  2,548      Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.      340,183  
  2,527      Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc.      55,000  
  3,394      Scientific Games Corp., Class A*      90,891  
  2,359      SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc.*      74,804  
  1,629      Six Flags Entertainment Corp.      73,484  
  13,021      Starbucks Corp.      1,144,806  
  2,721      Texas Roadhouse, Inc., Class A      153,247  
  1,604      Town Sports International Holdings, Inc.*      2,743  
  633      Vail Resorts, Inc.      151,812  
  8,057      Wendy’s Co. (The)      178,946  
  898      Wingstop, Inc.      77,435  
  3,177      Wyndham Destinations, Inc.      164,219  
  3,177      Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc.      199,547  
  2,056      Wynn Resorts, Ltd.      285,517  
  3,672      Yum! Brands, Inc.      369,881  
     

 

 

 
        10,611,821  
     

 

 

 
Household Durables (0.9%):       
  1,886      Beazer Homes USA, Inc.*      26,649  
  511      Cavco Industries, Inc.*      99,839  
  1,523      Century Communities, Inc.*      41,654  
  6,885      D.R. Horton, Inc.      363,183  
  1,137      Dixie Group, Inc. (The)*      1,296  
  1,910      Ethan Allen Interiors, Inc.      36,405  
  431      Flexsteel Industries, Inc.      8,586  
  2,780      Garmin, Ltd.      271,217  
  2,761      GoPro, Inc., Class A*^      11,983  
  2,219      Green Brick Partners, Inc.*      25,474  
  911      Helen of Troy, Ltd.*      163,789  
  500      Hooker Furniture Corp.      12,845  
  1,333      Installed Building Products, Inc.*      91,804  
  931      iRobot Corp.*^      47,137  
  4,456      KB Home      152,707  
  2,231      La-Z-Boy, Inc.      70,232  
  4,024      Leggett & Platt, Inc.      204,540  
  3,994      Lennar Corp., Class A      222,825  
  119      Lennar Corp., Class B      5,319  
  1,206      LGI Homes, Inc.*      85,204  
  1,627      Libbey, Inc.*      2,359  
  1,017      Lifetime Brands, Inc.      7,068  
  2,531      M.D.C. Holdings, Inc.      96,583  
  1,880      M/I Homes, Inc.*      73,978  
  3,168      Meritage Corp.*      193,596  
  1,447      Mohawk Industries, Inc.*      197,342  
  2,791      Newell Brands, Inc.      53,643  
  69      NVR, Inc.*      262,780  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

14


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Household Durables, continued       
  7,610      PulteGroup, Inc.    $ 295,268  
  2,933      Skyline Champion Corp.*      92,976  
  5,496      Taylor Morrison Home Corp., Class A*      120,143  
  1,501      Tempur Sealy International, Inc.*      130,677  
  2,183      Toll Brothers, Inc.      86,250  
  2,208      TopBuild Corp.*      227,601  
  4,276      TRI Pointe Group, Inc.*      66,620  
  2,153      Tupperware Brands Corp.      18,473  
  718      Universal Electronics, Inc.*      37,523  
  1,966      Whirlpool Corp.      290,044  
  2,147      William Lyon Homes, Class A*      42,897  
  1,918      Zagg, Inc.*^      15,555  
     

 

 

 
        4,254,064  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (1.1%):       
  2,899      Central Garden & Pet Co., Class A*      85,115  
  3,967      Church & Dwight Co., Inc.      279,039  
  2,408      Clorox Co. (The)      369,724  
  9,432      Colgate-Palmolive Co.      649,299  
  3,853      Kimberly-Clark Corp.      529,980  
  333      Oil-Dri Corp of America      12,071  
  27,268      Procter & Gamble Co. (The)      3,405,774  
  2,129      Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.      136,873  
  295      WD-40 Co.      57,271  
     

 

 

 
        5,525,146  
     

 

 

 
Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers (0.2%):  
  11,888      AES Corp. (The)      236,571  
  5,810      Atlantic Power Corp.*      13,537  
  4,440      Atlantica Yield plc      117,172  
  1,323      Clearway Energy, Inc., Class A      25,296  
  2,753      Clearway Energy, Inc., Class C      54,922  
  3,849      NRG Energy, Inc.      152,998  
  2,058      Ormat Technologies, Inc.      153,362  
  3,788      Pattern Energy Group, Inc.      101,348  
  10,243      Vistra Energy Corp.      235,487  
     

 

 

 
        1,090,693  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (0.9%):       
  9,625      3M Co.      1,698,042  
  1,602      Carlisle Cos., Inc.      259,268  
  53,601      General Electric Co.      598,187  
  8,521      Honeywell International, Inc.      1,508,217  
  1,736      Raven Industries, Inc.      59,823  
  876      Roper Technologies, Inc.      310,305  
     

 

 

 
        4,433,842  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (2.9%):       
  8,732      Aflac, Inc.      461,923  
  275      Alleghany Corp.*      219,882  
  5,169      Allstate Corp. (The)      581,254  
  2,395      AMBAC Financial Group, Inc.*      51,660  
  3,511      American Equity Investment Life Holding Co.      105,084  
  1,597      American Financial Group, Inc.      175,111  
  9,027      American International Group, Inc.      463,356  
  409      American National Insurance Co.      48,131  
  907      Amerisafe, Inc.      59,889  
  3,137      Aon plc      653,407  
  5,730      Arch Capital Group, Ltd.*      245,760  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Insurance, continued       
  1,501      Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd.    $ 98,691  
  3,560      Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.      339,019  
  1,955      Assurant, Inc.      256,261  
  3,247      Assured Guaranty, Ltd.      159,168  
  1,196      Athene Holding, Ltd.*      56,248  
  2,351      Axis Capital Holdings, Ltd.      139,743  
  1,029      Brighthouse Financial, Inc.*      40,368  
  5,788      Brown & Brown, Inc.      228,510  
  4,915      Chubb, Ltd.      765,070  
  2,852      Cincinnati Financial Corp.      299,888  
  2,176      Citizens, Inc.*      14,688  
  1,199      CNA Financial Corp.      53,727  
  2,354      Crawford & Co.      23,893  
  2,915      Crawford & Co., Class A      33,435  
  1,631      Donegal Group, Inc., Class A      24,171  
  800      eHealth, Inc.*      76,864  
  1,993      Employers Holdings, Inc.      83,208  
  447      Enstar Group, Ltd.*      92,466  
  664      Erie Indemnity Co., Class A      110,224  
  748      Everest Re Group, Ltd.      207,076  
  1,025      FBL Financial Group, Inc., Class A      60,403  
  1,054      FedNat Holding Co.      17,528  
  4,594      First American Financial Corp.      267,922  
  5,437      FNF Group      246,568  
  21,335      Genworth Financial, Inc., Class A*      93,874  
  695      Global Indemnity, Ltd.      20,593  
  1,775      Globe Life, Inc.      186,819  
  2,383      Greenlight Capital Re, Ltd.*      24,092  
  1,469      Hallmark Financial Services, Inc.*      25,810  
  1,263      Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (The)      172,614  
  7,229      Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The)      439,306  
  397      HCI Group, Inc.      18,123  
  387      Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc.      5,128  
  2,388      Horace Mann Educators Corp.      104,260  
  1,317      Independence Holding Co.      55,419  
  153      Investors Title Co.      24,358  
  1,283      James River Group Holdings      52,872  
  2,246      Kemper Corp.      174,065  
  3,599      Lincoln National Corp.      212,377  
  5,372      Loews Corp.      281,976  
  5,556      Maiden Holdings, Ltd.*      4,167  
  281      Markel Corp.*      321,231  
  5,780      Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc.      643,950  
  1,688      Mercury General Corp.      82,256  
  8,570      MetLife, Inc.      436,813  
  4,959      National General Holdings Corp.      109,594  
  162      National Western Life Group, Inc., Class A      47,123  
  9,717      Old Republic International Corp.      217,369  
  1,995      Primerica, Inc.      260,467  
  5,300      Principal Financial Group, Inc.      291,500  
  2,111      ProAssurance Corp.      76,292  
  6,434      Progressive Corp. (The)      465,757  
  4,383      Prudential Financial, Inc.      410,862  
  1,023      Reinsurance Group of America, Inc.      166,810  
  1,433      RenaissanceRe Holdings, Ltd.      280,898  
  1,252      RLI Corp.      112,705  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

15


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Insurance, continued       
  854      Safety Insurance Group, Inc.    $ 79,021  
  2,198      Selective Insurance Group, Inc.      143,288  
  2,664      State Auto Financial Corp.      82,637  
  1,761      Stewart Information Services Corp.      71,831  
  5,145      Third Point Reinsurance, Ltd.*      54,125  
  1,767      Tiptree, Inc., Class A      14,383  
  5,063      Travelers Cos., Inc. (The)      693,379  
  1,438      United Fire Group, Inc.      62,884  
  2,794      United Insurance Holdings Co.      35,232  
  1,869      Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc.      52,313  
  3,102      Unum Group      90,454  
  140      White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd.      156,171  
  911      Willis Towers Watson plc      183,967  
  3,121      WR Berkley Corp.      215,661  
     

 

 

 
        14,515,422  
     

 

 

 
Interactive Media & Services (2.7%):       
  2,399      Alphabet, Inc., Class A*      3,213,197  
  2,477      Alphabet, Inc., Class C*      3,311,798  
  1,229      Cargurus, Inc.*      43,236  
  3,783      Cars.com, Inc.*      46,228  
  2,881      DHI Group, Inc.*      8,672  
  28,959      Facebook, Inc., Class A*      5,943,834  
  583      IAC/InterActiveCorp.*      145,231  
  5,384      Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc., Class A*      39,572  
  1,146      Match Group, Inc.*^      94,098  
  1,563      QuinStreet, Inc.*      23,930  
  2,297      The Meet Group, Inc. (The)*      11,508  
  1,344      Travelzoo, Inc.*      14,381  
  2,514      TripAdvisor, Inc.      76,375  
  6,966      TrueCar, Inc.*      33,089  
  6,535      Twitter, Inc.*      209,447  
  2,068      Yelp, Inc.*      72,028  
  664      Zedge, Inc., Class B*      1,023  
  1,125      Zillow Group, Inc., Class A*      51,458  
  2,298      Zillow Group, Inc., Class C*^      105,570  
     

 

 

 
        13,444,675  
     

 

 

 
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail (2.6%):       
  2,093      1-800 Flowers.com, Inc., Class A*      30,349  
  5,634      Amazon.com, Inc.*      10,410,731  
  593      Booking Holdings, Inc.*      1,217,862  
  13,047      eBay, Inc.      471,127  
  800      Etsy, Inc.*      35,440  
  2,413      Expedia Group, Inc.      260,942  
  4,200      Groupon, Inc.*      10,038  
  1,546      Grubhub, Inc.*^      75,197  
  2,242      Lands’ End, Inc.*      37,666  
  1,546      Leaf Group, Ltd.*      6,184  
  1,736      Liquidity Services, Inc.*      10,347  
  1,164      PetMed Express, Inc.^      27,377  
  4,088      Quotient Technology, Inc.*      40,308  
  8,810      Qurate Retail, Inc., Class A*      74,268  
  981      Shutterstock, Inc.*      42,065  
  585      Stamps.com, Inc.*      48,859  
  1,006      Wayfair, Inc., Class A*^      90,912  
     

 

 

 
        12,889,672  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
IT Services (4.5%):       
  8,224      Accenture plc, Class C    $ 1,731,728  
  3,427      Akamai Technologies, Inc.*      296,024  
  2,523      Alliance Data Systems Corp.      283,081  
  2,873      Amdocs, Ltd.      207,402  
  6,220      Automatic Data Processing, Inc.      1,060,510  
  3,092      Black Knight, Inc.*      199,372  
  3,165      Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp.      225,126  
  2,371      Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.      292,913  
  843      CACI International, Inc., Class A*      210,742  
  2,591      Cardtronics plc*      115,688  
  687      Cass Information Systems, Inc.      39,667  
  5,920      Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Class A      367,158  
  6,347      Conduent, Inc.*      39,351  
  2,751      CoreLogic, Inc.*      120,246  
  1,424      CSG Systems International, Inc.      73,735  
  5,461      DXC Technology Co.      205,279  
  513      Endurance International Group Holdings, Inc.*      2,411  
  577      Epam Systems, Inc.*      122,416  
  1,953      Euronet Worldwide, Inc.*      307,715  
  2,060      Evertec, Inc.      70,122  
  1,320      Exlservice Holdings, Inc.*      91,687  
  5,231      Fidelity National Information Services, Inc.      727,580  
  4,710      Fiserv, Inc.*      544,617  
  1,288      FleetCor Technologies, Inc.*      370,583  
  609      Gartner, Inc.*      93,847  
  6,266      Genpact, Ltd.      264,237  
  2,507      Global Payments, Inc.      457,678  
  2,153      GoDaddy, Inc., Class A*      146,232  
  2,548      GTT Communications, Inc.*^      28,920  
  1,357      Hackett Group, Inc. (The)      21,902  
  821      Internap Corp.*      903  
  16,183      International Business Machines Corp.      2,169,169  
  1,269      Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.      184,855  
  5,179      KBR, Inc.      157,960  
  3,050      Leidos Holdings, Inc.      298,565  
  2,160      Limelight Networks, Inc.*      8,813  
  1,817      LiveRamp Holdings, Inc.*      87,343  
  1,140      ManTech International Corp., Class A      91,063  
  12,605      MasterCard, Inc., Class A      3,763,728  
  2,057      Maximus, Inc.      153,020  
  403      MongoDB, Inc.*      53,039  
  3,759      NIC, Inc.      84,014  
  839      Okta, Inc.*      96,795  
  4,250      Paychex, Inc.      361,505  
  8,338      PayPal Holdings, Inc.*      901,921  
  2,322      Perficient, Inc.*      106,975  
  1,985      Perspecta, Inc.      52,483  
  840      PFSweb, Inc.*      3,209  
  6,698      Sabre Corp.      150,303  
  1,873      Science Applications International Corp.      162,988  
  3,035      Servicesource International, Inc.*      5,068  
  3,966      Steel Connect, Inc.*      5,790  
  2,283      Sykes Enterprises, Inc.*      84,448  
  3,331      Teradata Corp.*      89,171  
  2,575      TTEC Holdings, Inc.      102,022  
  3,021      Unisys Corp.*      35,829  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

16


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
IT Services, continued       
  1,735      VeriSign, Inc.*    $ 334,300  
  1,675      Virtusa Corp.*      75,928  
  20,184      Visa, Inc., Class A      3,792,575  
  9,515      Western Union Co.      254,812  
  662      WEX, Inc.*      138,663  
     

 

 

 
        22,525,226  
     

 

 

 
Leisure Products (0.2%):       
  3,430      Acushnet Holdings Corp.      111,475  
  3,582      American Outdoor Brands Corp.*      33,241  
  2,964      Brunswick Corp.      177,781  
  3,826      Callaway Golf Co.      81,111  
  658      Escalade, Inc.      6,468  
  1,907      Hasbro, Inc.      201,398  
  503      Johnson Outdoors, Inc., Class A      38,580  
  531      Malibu Boats, Inc.*      21,744  
  662      Marine Products Corp.      9,533  
  6,035      Mattel, Inc.*^      81,774  
  1,932      Nautilus Group, Inc.*      3,381  
  2,101      Polaris, Inc.      213,673  
  2,859      Vista Outdoor, Inc.*      21,385  
     

 

 

 
        1,001,544  
     

 

 

 
Life Sciences Tools & Services (0.9%):       
  4,857      Agilent Technologies, Inc.      414,351  
  427      Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Class A*      158,003  
  954      Bio-Techne Corp.      209,413  
  5,159      Bruker Corp.      262,954  
  1,808      Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.*      276,190  
  1,979      Harvard Bioscience, Inc.*      6,036  
  1,139      Illumina, Inc.*      377,852  
  2,504      IQVIA Holdings, Inc.*      386,893  
  2,457      Luminex Corp.      56,904  
  1,150      Medpace Holdings, Inc.*      96,669  
  465      Mettler-Toledo International, Inc.*      368,875  
  1,400      Neogenomics, Inc.*      40,950  
  1,490      PerkinElmer, Inc.      144,679  
  1,655      PRA Health Sciences, Inc.*      183,953  
  2,622      Syneos Health, Inc.*      155,943  
  3,326      Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.      1,080,517  
  1,230      Waters Corp.*      287,390  
     

 

 

 
        4,507,572  
     

 

 

 
Machinery (3.0%):       
  2,898      Actuant Corp., Class A      75,435  
  4,145      AGCO Corp.      320,201  
  228      Alamo Group, Inc.      28,625  
  737      Albany International Corp., Class A      55,953  
  4,381      Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc.      211,690  
  2,614      Altra Industrial Motion Corp.      94,653  
  929      Astec Industries, Inc.      39,018  
  1,993      Barnes Group, Inc.      123,486  
  837      Blue Bird Corp.*      19,184  
  2,517      Briggs & Stratton Corp.      16,763  
  10,638      Caterpillar, Inc.      1,571,019  
  1,019      Chart Industries, Inc.*      68,772  
  1,284      CIRCOR International, Inc.*      59,372  
  4,064      Colfax Corp.*      147,848  
  1,526      Columbus McKinnon Corp.      61,086  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Machinery, continued       
  2,706      Commercial Vehicle Group, Inc.*    $ 17,183  
  1,945      Crane Co.      168,009  
  3,972      Cummins, Inc.      710,828  
  4,084      Deere & Co.      707,594  
  562      DMC Global, Inc.^      25,256  
  4,360      Donaldson Co., Inc.      251,223  
  1,324      Douglas Dynamics, Inc.      72,820  
  2,877      Dover Corp.      331,603  
  1,120      EnPro Industries, Inc.      74,906  
  951      ESCO Technologies, Inc.      87,968  
  2,959      Federal Signal Corp.      95,428  
  3,108      Flowserve Corp.      154,685  
  3,574      Fortive Corp.      273,018  
  1,521      Franklin Electric Co., Inc.      87,184  
  694      FreightCar America, Inc.*      1,437  
  2,740      Gardner Denver Holdings, Inc.*      100,503  
  889      Gencor Industries, Inc.*      10,375  
  1,617      Gorman-Rupp Co. (The)      60,638  
  4,423      Graco, Inc.      229,996  
  2,503      Harsco Corp.*      57,594  
  1,370      Helios Technologies, Inc.      63,335  
  4,005      Hillenbrand, Inc.      133,407  
  490      Hurco Cos, Inc.      18,796  
  896      Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc., Class A      52,828  
  1,615      IDEX Corp.      277,780  
  4,695      Illinois Tool Works, Inc.      843,362  
  2,925      Ingersoll-Rand plc      388,791  
  3,590      ITT, Inc.      265,337  
  1,157      John Bean Technologies Corp.      130,348  
  598      Kadant, Inc.      62,993  
  2,960      Kennametal, Inc.      109,194  
  787      L.B. Foster Co., Class A*      15,252  
  1,806      Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc.      174,694  
  539      Lindsay Corp.      51,739  
  774      Lydall, Inc.*      15,882  
  1,213      Manitex International, Inc.*      7,217  
  2,529      Manitowoc Co., Inc. (The)*      44,258  
  4,260      Meritor, Inc.*      111,569  
  1,601      Middleby Corp. (The)*      175,342  
  2,406      Mueller Industries, Inc.      76,391  
  7,183      Mueller Water Products, Inc., Class A      86,052  
  2,868      Navistar International Corp.*      83,000  
  1,258      NN, Inc.      11,637  
  1,155      Nordson Corp.      188,080  
  158      Omega Flex, Inc.      16,952  
  2,269      Oshkosh Corp.      214,761  
  8,569      PACCAR, Inc.      677,808  
  2,496      Parker Hannifin Corp.      513,727  
  1,058      Park-Ohio Holdings Corp.      35,602  
  5,836      Pentair plc      267,697  
  976      Proto Labs, Inc.*      99,113  
  660      RBC Bearings, Inc.*      104,504  
  5,687      REV Group, Inc.      69,552  
  5,156      Rexnord Corp.*      168,189  
  1,567      Snap-On, Inc.      265,450  
  612      Spartan Motors, Inc.      11,065  
  1,562      SPX Corp.*      79,475  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

17


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Machinery, continued       
  2,004      SPX FLOW, Inc.*    $ 97,935  
  775      Standex International Corp.      61,496  
  1,547      Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.      256,400  
  793      Tennant Co.      61,791  
  3,523      Terex Corp.      104,915  
  1,612      The Greenbrier Cos., Inc.      52,277  
  3,355      Timken Co.      188,920  
  3,046      Titan International, Inc.      11,027  
  3,651      Toro Co.      290,875  
  2,213      TriMas Corp.*      69,510  
  5,158      Trinity Industries, Inc.      114,250  
  4,006      Wabash National Corp.      58,848  
  1,380      WABCO Holdings, Inc.*      186,990  
  2,490      Wabtec Corp.      193,722  
  960      Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Class A      95,770  
  4,275      Welbilt, Inc.*      66,733  
  2,272      Woodward, Inc.      269,096  
  3,852      Xylem, Inc.      303,499  
     

 

 

 
        14,806,586  
     

 

 

 
Marine (0.1%):       
  7,028      Costamare, Inc.      66,977  
  1,680      Eagle Bulk Shipping, Inc.*^      7,728  
  1,300      Genco Shipping & Trading, Ltd.      13,806  
  1,331      Golden Ocean Group, Ltd.      7,733  
  1,948      Kirby Corp.*      174,404  
  1,541      Matson, Inc.      62,873  
  1,478      Scorpio Bulkers, Inc.      9,415  
     

 

 

 
        342,936  
     

 

 

 
Media (2.0%):       
  1,468      A.H. Belo Corp., Class A      4,140  
  5,437      Altice USA, Inc., Class A*      148,648  
  2,029      AMC Networks, Inc., Class A*      80,146  
  270      Cable One, Inc.      401,887  
  2,157      Charter Communications, Inc., Class A*      1,046,317  
  1,661      Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.*      4,750  
  65,295      Comcast Corp., Class A      2,936,315  
  2,952      comScore, Inc.*      14,583  
  9,189      Discovery Communications, Inc., Class C*      280,173  
  4,071      Discovery, Inc., Class A*^      133,285  
  5,909      DISH Network Corp., Class A*      209,592  
  4,131      E.W. Scripps Co. (The), Class A      64,898  
  4,691      Emerald Expositions Events, Inc.      49,490  
  8,164      Entercom Communications Corp.      37,881  
  4,792      Entravision Communications Corp., Class A      12,555  
  6,577      Fox Corp., Class A      243,809  
  4,728      Fox Corp., Class B      172,099  
  7,573      Gannett Co, Inc.      48,316  
  3,660      GCI Liberty, Inc., Class A*      259,311  
  4,886      Gray Television, Inc.*      104,756  
  13,729      Interpublic Group of Cos., Inc. (The)      317,140  
  1,262      John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Class A      61,232  
  192      John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Class B      8,911  
  563      Liberty Broadband Corp., Class A*      70,127  
  2,655      Liberty Broadband Corp., Class C*      333,866  
  1,489      Liberty Latin America, Ltd.*      28,738  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Media, continued       
  3,100      Liberty Latin America, Ltd., Class C*    $ 60,326  
  2,477      Liberty SiriusXM Group, Class A*      119,738  
  4,373      Liberty SiriusXM Group, Class C*      210,516  
  143      Loral Space & Communications*      4,622  
  2,502      Marchex, Inc., Class B*      9,458  
  1,649      Meredith Corp.      53,543  
  3,759      MSG Networks, Inc., Class A*      65,407  
  3,726      National CineMedia, Inc.      27,163  
  3,530      New York Times Co. (The), Class A      113,560  
  9,481      News Corp., Class A      134,061  
  2,563      News Corp., Class B      37,189  
  2,115      Nexstar Media Group, Inc., Class A      247,984  
  5,196      Omnicom Group, Inc.      420,980  
  1,853      Scholastic Corp.      71,248  
  5,191      Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., Class A      173,068  
  17,733      Sirius XM Holdings, Inc.      126,791  
  1,895      TechTarget, Inc.*      49,460  
  8,978      Tegna, Inc.      149,843  
  933      Tribune Publishing Co.      12,278  
  16,141      ViacomCBS, Inc., B      677,437  
  445      ViacomCBS, Inc., Class A^      19,967  
     

 

 

 
        9,857,604  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (0.7%):       
  16,272      AK Steel Holding Corp.*      53,535  
  6,163      Alcoa Corp.*      132,566  
  4,528      Allegheny Technologies, Inc.*      93,548  
  799      Ampco-Pittsburgh Corp.*      2,405  
  2,296      Carpenter Technology Corp.      114,295  
  4,968      Century Aluminum Co.*      37,335  
  6,542      Cleveland-Cliffs, Inc.^      54,953  
  12,366      Coeur Mining, Inc.*      99,917  
  6,147      Commercial Metals Co.      136,894  
  1,713      Compass Minerals International, Inc.      104,424  
  7,323      Ferroglobe plc*      6,884  
  9,823      Ferroglobe Unit*(a)       
  25,395      Freeport-McMoRan, Inc.      333,182  
  2,945      Gold Resource Corp.      16,315  
  943      Haynes International, Inc.      33,741  
  23,972      Hecla Mining Co.      81,265  
  151      Kaiser Aluminum Corp.      16,744  
  1,359      Materion Corp.      80,793  
  12,309      McEwen Mining, Inc.      15,632  
  9,007      Newmont Goldcorp Corp.      391,353  
  6,254      Nucor Corp.      351,975  
  700      Olympic Steel, Inc.      12,544  
  2,353      Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.      281,795  
  2,119      Royal Gold, Inc.      259,048  
  1,500      Ryerson Holding Corp.*      17,745  
  1,365      Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc., Class A      29,593  
  1,772      Southern Copper Corp.      75,275  
  11,019      Steel Dynamics, Inc.      375,087  
  3,673      SunCoke Energy, Inc.      22,883  
  701      Synalloy Corp.*      9,050  
  2,052      TimkenSteel Corp.*      16,129  
  7,131      United States Steel Corp.^      81,365  
  548      Universal Stainless & Alloy Products, Inc.*      8,165  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

18


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Metals & Mining, continued       
  4,099      Warrior Met Coal, Inc.    $ 86,612  
  2,198      Worthington Industries, Inc.      92,712  
     

 

 

 
        3,525,759  
     

 

 

 
Multiline Retail (0.7%):       
  2,583      Big Lots, Inc.      74,184  
  1,248      Dillard’s, Inc., Class A^      91,703  
  3,091      Dollar General Corp.      482,134  
  4,739      Dollar Tree, Inc.*      445,703  
  18,758      J.C. Penney Co., Inc.*      21,009  
  6,791      Kohl’s Corp.      346,001  
  15,105      Macy’s, Inc.^      256,785  
  5,858      Nordstrom, Inc.^      239,768  
  2,055      Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc.*      134,212  
  9,357      Target Corp.      1,199,661  
     

 

 

 
        3,291,160  
     

 

 

 
Multi-Utilities (0.8%):       
  3,944      Ameren Corp.      302,899  
  1,884      Avista Corp.      90,602  
  1,784      Black Hills Corp.      140,115  
  7,105      CenterPoint Energy, Inc.      193,753  
  4,589      CMS Energy Corp.      288,373  
  3,650      Consolidated Edison, Inc.      330,216  
  9,272      Dominion Energy, Inc.      767,906  
  2,856      DTE Energy Co.      370,909  
  7,317      MDU Resources Group, Inc.      217,388  
  6,403      NiSource, Inc.      178,260  
  1,765      NorthWestern Corp.      126,498  
  5,413      Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc.      319,638  
  2,131      Sempra Energy      322,804  
  844      Unitil Corp.      52,176  
  4,178      WEC Energy Group, Inc.      385,336  
     

 

 

 
        4,086,873  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (3.9%):       
  7,900      Abraxas Petroleum Corp.*      2,774  
  332      Adams Resources & Energy, Inc.      12,639  
  7,652      Antero Resources Corp.*      21,808  
  8,444      Apache Corp.      216,082  
  1,256      Arch Coal, Inc.      90,105  
  1,988      Berry Petroleum Corp.      18,747  
  1,149      Bonanza Creek Energy, Inc.*      26,818  
  7,819      Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.      136,129  
  275      California Resources Corp.*^      2,483  
  28,192      Callon Petroleum Co.*      136,167  
  6,243      Centennial Resource Development, Inc., Class A*      28,843  
  3,933      Cheniere Energy, Inc.*      240,188  
  40,762      Chesapeake Energy Corp.*      33,653  
  30,418      Chevron Corp.      3,665,672  
  1,737      Cimarex Energy Co.      91,175  
  7,534      Clean Energy Fuel Corp.*      17,630  
  10,708      CNX Resources Corp.*      94,766  
  3,437      Concho Resources, Inc.      300,978  
  17,974      ConocoPhillips Co.      1,168,848  
  1,846      CONSOL Energy, Inc.*      26,785  
  1,423      Contango Oil & Gas Co.*^      5,222  
  1,170      Continental Resources, Inc.      40,131  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
  3,223      CVR Energy, Inc.    $ 130,306  
  4,054      Delek US Holdings, Inc.      135,931  
  35,565      Denbury Resources, Inc.*      50,147  
  7,602      Devon Energy Corp.      197,424  
  8,860      DHT Holdings, Inc.      73,361  
  3,063      Diamondback Energy, Inc.      284,430  
  107      Dorian LPG, Ltd.*      1,656  
  2,885      Energy Transfer LP      37,015  
  5,391      Enlink Midstream LLC      33,047  
  7,578      EOG Resources, Inc.      634,732  
  3,515      EQT Corp.      38,314  
  2,812      Equitrans Midstream Corp.      37,568  
  5,493      Extraction Oil & Gas, Inc.*^      11,645  
  60,879      Exxon Mobil Corp.      4,248,136  
  4,505      Gaslog, Ltd.      44,104  
  2,514      Green Plains, Inc.      38,791  
  8,600      Gulfport Energy Corp.*      26,144  
  2,222      Hallador Energy Co.      6,599  
  5,198      Hess Corp.      347,278  
  10,617      HighPoint Resources Corp.*      17,943  
  5,967      HollyFrontier Corp.      302,587  
  1,180      International Seaways, Inc.*      35,117  
  3,393      Jagged Peak Energy, Inc.*      28,807  
  23,531      Kinder Morgan, Inc.      498,151  
  17,233      Kosmos Energy, Ltd.      98,228  
  12,195      Laredo Petroleum, Inc.*      35,000  
  17,859      Marathon Oil Corp.      242,525  
  8,975      Marathon Petroleum Corp.      540,744  
  6,316      Matador Resources Co.*      113,499  
  1,037      Montage Resources Corp.*^      8,234  
  6,993      Murphy Oil Corp.      187,412  
  7,953      Noble Energy, Inc.      197,553  
  10,234      Northern Oil & Gas, Inc.*      23,948  
  11,184      Oasis Petroleum, Inc.*      36,460  
  13,641      Occidental Petroleum Corp.      562,146  
  5,286      ONEOK, Inc.      399,992  
  2,263      Pacific Ethanol, Inc.*      1,471  
  1,401      Panhandle Oil & Gas, Inc., Class A      15,705  
  2,936      PAR Pacific Holdings, Inc.*      68,233  
  5,375      Parsley Energy, Inc., Class A      101,641  
  5,640      PBF Energy, Inc., Class A      176,927  
  3,182      PDC Energy, Inc.*      83,273  
  4,173      Peabody Energy Corp.      38,058  
  787      Penn Virginia Corp.*      23,885  
  5,076      Phillips 66      565,517  
  2,116      Pioneer Natural Resources Co.      320,299  
  6      PrimeEnergy Resources Corp.*      908  
  11,578      QEP Resources, Inc.      52,101  
  4,715      Range Resources Corp.^      22,868  
  3,344      Renewable Energy Group, Inc.*      90,121  
  374      REX American Resources Corp.*      30,653  
  1,820      Ring Energy, Inc.*      4,805  
  3,448      Scorpio Tankers, Inc.      135,644  
  6,460      SFL Corp., Ltd.      93,929  
  6,397      SM Energy Co.      71,902  
  22,197      Southwestern Energy Co.*      53,717  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

19


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
  14,755      SRC Energy, Inc.*    $ 60,791  
  3,310      Talos Energy, Inc.*      99,797  
  4,483      Targa Resources Corp.      183,041  
  6,407      Teekay Shipping Corp.^      34,085  
  1,031      Teekay Tankers, Ltd., Class A*      24,713  
  4,967      Valero Energy Corp.      465,160  
  6,207      Whiting Petroleum Corp.*      45,559  
  8,914      Williams Cos., Inc.      211,440  
  3,515      World Fuel Services Corp.      152,621  
  13,673      WPX Energy, Inc.*      187,867  
     

 

 

 
        19,499,348  
     

 

 

 
Paper & Forest Products (0.1%):       
  2,511      Boise Cascade Co.      91,727  
  1,659      Clearwater Paper Corp.*      35,436  
  3,283      Domtar Corp.      125,542  
  4,940      Louisiana-Pacific Corp.      146,569  
  5,575      Mercer International, Inc.      68,573  
  617      Neenah, Inc.      43,455  
  2,520      P.H. Glatfelter Co.      46,116  
  5,870      Resolute Forest Products*      24,654  
  1,565      Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc.      65,714  
  2,251      Verso Corp.*      40,586  
     

 

 

 
        688,372  
     

 

 

 
Personal Products (0.3%):       
  22,998      Avon Products, Inc.      129,709  
  5,561      Coty, Inc., Class A      62,561  
  1,562      e.l.f. Beauty, Inc.*      25,195  
  2,453      Edgewell Personal Care Co.*      75,945  
  2,824      Estee Lauder Co., Inc. (The), Class A      583,270  
  4,410      Herbalife Nutrition, Ltd.*      210,225  
  1,355      Inter Parfums, Inc.      98,522  
  609      Medifast, Inc.^      66,734  
  1,236      Natures Sunshine Products, Inc.*      11,037  
  2,377      Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc., Class A      97,409  
  340      United-Guardian, Inc.      6,681  
  864      Usana Health Sciences, Inc.*      67,867  
     

 

 

 
        1,435,155  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (3.6%):       
  4,368      Akorn, Inc.*      6,552  
  3,430      Allergan plc      655,713  
  2,003      Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      38,638  
  900      ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      55,503  
  885      Assembly Biosciences, Inc.*      18,107  
  32,815      Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.      2,106,395  
  5,044      Catalent, Inc.*      283,977  
  4,376      Corcept Therapeutics, Inc.*      52,950  
  1,468      Cumberland Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      7,560  
  1,054      Cymabay Therapeutics, Inc.*      2,066  
  6,012      Elanco Animal Health, Inc.*      177,053  
  10,978      Eli Lilly & Co.      1,442,839  
  8,827      Endo International plc*      41,398  
  5,527      Horizon Therapeutics plc*      200,077  
  3,292      Innoviva, Inc.*      46,615  
  2,219      Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc.*      76,134  
  1,011      Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc*      150,922  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Pharmaceuticals, continued       
  35,929      Johnson & Johnson Co.    $ 5,240,964  
  2,281      Lannett Co., Inc.*^      20,118  
  4,828      Mallinckrodt plc*^      16,850  
  32,001      Merck & Co., Inc.      2,910,491  
  7,562      Mylan NV*      151,996  
  1,317      Otonomy, Inc.*      5,044  
  3,223      Perrigo Co. plc      166,500  
  75,996      Pfizer, Inc.      2,977,523  
  793      Phibro Animal Health Corp., Class A      19,690  
  2,480      Prestige Consumer Healthcare, Inc.*      100,440  
  1,463      Revance Therapeutics, Inc.*      23,744  
  1,789      Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      42,435  
  923      Taro Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.*      81,159  
  6,923      Zoetis, Inc.      916,259  
  1,297      Zogenix, Inc.*      67,613  
     

 

 

 
        18,103,325  
     

 

 

 
Professional Services (0.6%):       
  2,183      ASGN, Inc.*      154,928  
  494      Barrett Business Services, Inc.      44,687  
  3,154      CBIZ, Inc.*      85,032  
  304      CoStar Group, Inc.*      181,883  
  456      CRA International, Inc.      24,838  
  1,275      Equifax, Inc.      178,653  
  1,075      Exponent, Inc.      74,186  
  825      Forrester Research, Inc.*      34,403  
  1,382      FTI Consulting, Inc.*      152,932  
  1,205      Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.      39,163  
  466      Hill International, Inc.*      1,473  
  1,313      Huron Consulting Group, Inc.*      90,229  
  795      ICF International, Inc.      72,838  
  3,095      InnerWorkings, Inc.*      17,053  
  740      Insperity, Inc.      63,670  
  2,223      Kelly Services, Inc., Class A      50,195  
  1,154      Kforce, Inc.      45,814  
  2,258      Korn Ferry      95,739  
  2,677      ManpowerGroup, Inc.      259,937  
  659      Mistras Group, Inc.*      9,404  
  7,090      Nielsen Holdings plc      143,927  
  2,125      Resources Connection, Inc.      34,701  
  3,340      Robert Half International, Inc.      210,921  
  2,853      TransUnion      244,245  
  2,194      TriNet Group, Inc.*      124,202  
  2,213      Trueblue, Inc.*      53,245  
  2,920      Verisk Analytics, Inc.      436,072  
  840      Volt Information Sciences, Inc.*      2,083  
  633      Willdan Group, Inc.*      20,117  
     

 

 

 
        2,946,570  
     

 

 

 
Real Estate Management & Development (0.3%):       
  400      Altisource Portfolio Solutions*^      7,732  
  9,333      CBRE Group, Inc., Class A*      572,021  
  339      Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co.      20,448  
  279      Forestar Group, Inc.*      5,817  
  232      FRP Holdings, Inc.*      11,556  
  318      Griffin Industrial Realty, Inc.      12,577  
  1,280      Howard Hughes Corp. (The)*      162,304  
  1,691      Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.      294,386  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

20


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Real Estate Management & Development, continued       
  5,360      Kennedy-Wilson Holdings, Inc.    $ 119,528  
  2,112      Marcus & Millichap, Inc.*      78,672  
  6,929      Newmark Group, Inc.      93,230  
  997      Rafael Holdings, Inc., Class B*      17,786  
  910      RE/MAX Holdings, Inc., Class A      35,026  
  7,526      Realogy Holdings Corp.^      72,852  
  1,447      Tejon Ranch Co.*      23,123  
  1,038      The RMR Group, Inc., Class A      47,374  
  3,157      The St Joe Co.*^      62,603  
     

 

 

 
        1,637,035  
     

 

 

 
Road & Rail (1.1%):       
  566      AMERCO, Inc.      212,714  
  1,475      ArcBest Corp.      40,710  
  2,770      Avis Budget Group, Inc.*      89,305  
  1,699      Covenant Transportation Group, Inc., Class A*      21,960  
  10,582      CSX Corp.      765,713  
  4,179      Heartland Express, Inc.      87,968  
  8,317      Hertz Global Holdings, Inc.*      130,993  
  3,215      J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc.      375,448  
  2,263      Kansas City Southern      346,601  
  3,490      Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, Inc.      125,082  
  1,359      Landstar System, Inc.      154,749  
  3,359      Marten Transport, Ltd.      72,185  
  3,691      Norfolk Southern Corp.      716,534  
  2,241      Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.      425,297  
  400      P.A.M. Transportation SVCS*      23,084  
  1,902      Ryder System, Inc.      103,298  
  1,512      Saia, Inc.*      140,797  
  9,046      Union Pacific Corp.      1,635,425  
  2,010      Universal Logistics Holdings, Inc.      38,110  
  1,023      USA Truck, Inc.*      7,621  
  3,284      Werner Enterprises, Inc.      119,505  
  1,829      YRC Worldwide, Inc.*^      4,664  
     

 

 

 
        5,637,763  
     

 

 

 
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (4.3%):       
  1,056      Advanced Energy Industries, Inc.*      75,187  
  6,699      Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.*      307,216  
  2,031      Alpha & Omega Semiconductor, Ltd.*      27,662  
  1,392      Ambarella, Inc.*      84,300  
  12,824      Amkor Technology, Inc.*      166,712  
  2,339      Analog Devices, Inc.      277,967  
  15,126      Applied Materials, Inc.      923,291  
  1,615      Axcelis Technologies, Inc.*      38,913  
  1,701      AXT, Inc.*      7,399  
  4,273      Broadcom, Inc.      1,350,353  
  3,367      Brooks Automation, Inc.      141,279  
  297      Cabot Microelectronics Corp.      42,863  
  437      CEVA, Inc.*      11,782  
  1,665      Cirrus Logic, Inc.*      137,213  
  2,261      Cohu, Inc.      51,664  
  3,350      Cree, Inc.*      154,603  
  9,588      Cypress Semiconductor Corp.      223,688  
  2,201      Diodes, Inc.*      124,070  
  5,453      Entegris, Inc.      273,141  
  3,383      First Solar, Inc.*      189,313  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment, continued       
  3,971      FormFactor, Inc.*    $ 103,127  
  1,314      GSI Technology, Inc.*      9,316  
  948      Ichor Holdings, Ltd.*      31,540  
  975      Inphi Corp.*      72,170  
  78,572      Intel Corp.      4,702,533  
  3,658      KLA Corp.      651,746  
  2,537      Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc.      69,006  
  2,315      Lam Research Corp.      676,906  
  4,922      Lattice Semiconductor Corp.*      94,207  
  2,991      MA-COM Technology Solutions Holdings, Inc.*      79,561  
  11,227      Marvell Technology Group, Ltd.      298,189  
  5,015      Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.      308,473  
  3,353      MaxLinear, Inc., Class A*      71,151  
  3,257      Microchip Technology, Inc.      341,073  
  27,536      Micron Technology, Inc.*      1,480,886  
  1,905      MKS Instruments, Inc.      209,569  
  793      Monolithic Power Systems, Inc.      141,170  
  1,500      Neophotonics Corp.*      13,230  
  150      NVE Corp.      10,710  
  5,537      NVIDIA Corp.      1,302,856  
  11,695      ON Semiconductor Corp.*      285,124  
  2,597      Onto Innovation, Inc.*      94,894  
  1,438      PDF Solutions, Inc.*      24,288  
  5,010      Photronics, Inc.*      78,958  
  760      Power Integrations, Inc.      75,172  
  1,918      Qorvo, Inc.*      222,929  
  15,194      Qualcomm, Inc.      1,340,567  
  5,880      Rambus, Inc.*      80,997  
  2,464      Semtech Corp.*      130,346  
  867      Silicon Laboratories, Inc.*      100,555  
  3,982      Skyworks Solutions, Inc.      481,344  
  1,751      SMART Global Holdings, Inc.*      66,433  
  2,652      SolarEdge Technologies, Inc.*      252,180  
  1,129      Synaptics, Inc.*      74,254  
  4,497      Teradyne, Inc.      306,650  
  13,222      Texas Instruments, Inc.      1,696,249  
  1,678      Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc.*      39,383  
  516      Universal Display Corp.      106,332  
  3,598      Veeco Instruments, Inc.*      52,837  
  3,913      Xilinx, Inc.      382,574  
  3,667      Xperi Corp.      67,840  
     

 

 

 
        21,235,941  
     

 

 

 
Software (5.2%):       
  2,452      ACI Worldwide, Inc.*      92,894  
  5,752      Adobe, Inc.*      1,897,067  
  627      Alarm.com Holding, Inc.*      26,942  
  1,009      American Software, Inc., Class A      15,014  
  988      ANSYS, Inc.*      254,321  
  1,609      Aspen Technology, Inc.*      194,576  
  1,764      Autodesk, Inc.*      323,623  
  5,114      Avaya Holdings Corp.*      69,039  
  2,272      Aware, Inc.*      7,634  
  1,088      Blackbaud, Inc.      86,605  
  794      Bottomline Technologies, Inc.*      42,558  
  4,885      Cadence Design Systems, Inc.*      338,824  
  3,648      CDK Global, Inc.      199,473  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

21


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Software, continued       
  1,053      Cerence, Inc.*    $ 23,829  
  2,507      Cision, Ltd.*      24,995  
  2,502      Citrix Systems, Inc.      277,472  
  505      CommVault Systems, Inc.*      22,543  
  533      Coupa Software, Inc.*      77,951  
  1,380      Ebix, Inc.      46,106  
  990      Envestnet, Inc.*      68,934  
  573      Fair Isaac Corp.*      214,692  
  1,784      FireEye, Inc.*      29,490  
  1,944      Fortinet, Inc.*      207,541  
  977      Globant SA*      103,611  
  1,126      Guidewire Software, Inc.*      123,601  
  385      HubSpot, Inc.*      61,023  
  3,002      Intuit, Inc.      786,314  
  1,711      J2 Global, Inc.      160,338  
  1,431      LogMeIn, Inc.      122,694  
  1,805      Manhattan Associates, Inc.*      143,949  
  92,844      Microsoft Corp.      14,641,498  
  430      MicroStrategy, Inc., Class A*      61,331  
  600      New Relic, Inc.*      39,426  
  2,577      NortonLifeLock, Inc.      65,765  
  5,919      Nuance Communications, Inc.*      105,536  
  1,722      OneSpan, Inc.*      29,481  
  40,545      Oracle Corp.      2,148,074  
  1,051      Paycom Software, Inc.*      278,263  
  237      Paylocity Holding Corp.*      28,634  
  963      Pegasystems, Inc.      76,703  
  1,395      Progress Software Corp.      57,962  
  400      Proofpoint, Inc.*      45,912  
  393      PTC, Inc.*      29,432  
  1,224      Qualys, Inc.*      102,045  
  2,745      RealNetworks, Inc.*      3,294  
  1,867      RealPage, Inc.*      100,351  
  737      Rubicon Project, Inc.*      6,014  
  3,484      Salesforce.com, Inc.*      566,638  
  1,200      Sapiens International Corp. NV      27,600  
  2,393      SeaChange International, Inc.*      10,027  
  574      ServiceNow, Inc.*      162,052  
  967      Splunk, Inc.*      144,828  
  4,418      SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc.      271,265  
  2,279      Synchronoss Technologies, Inc.*^      10,825  
  1,545      Synopsys, Inc.*      215,064  
  3,390      Telaria, Inc.*      29,866  
  454      The Trade Desk, Inc.*      117,940  
  7,428      TiVo Corp.      62,989  
  409      Tyler Technologies, Inc.*      122,708  
  2,230      Verint Systems, Inc.*      123,453  
  742      VMware, Inc., Class A*      112,628  
  494      Workday, Inc., Class A*      81,238  
     

 

 

 
        25,922,495  
     

 

 

 
Specialty Retail (2.6%):       
  2,187      Aaron’s, Inc.      124,900  
  4,015      Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Class A      69,419  
  1,285      Advance Auto Parts, Inc.      205,806  
  7,096      American Eagle Outfitters, Inc.      104,311  
  492      America’s Car Mart, Inc.*      53,953  
  1,333      Asbury Automotive Group, Inc.*      149,016  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Specialty Retail, continued       
  462      Ascena Retail Group, Inc.*^    $ 3,541  
  3,229      At Home Group, Inc.*      17,760  
  4,080      AutoNation, Inc.*      198,410  
  351      AutoZone, Inc.*      418,150  
  3,164      Barnes & Noble Education, Inc.*      13,510  
  5,744      Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc.^      99,371  
  5,789      Best Buy Co, Inc.      508,274  
  1,657      Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp.      4,971  
  1,519      Boot Barn Holdings, Inc.*      67,641  
  583      Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc.*      1,889  
  1,337      Burlington Stores, Inc.*      304,876  
  2,280      Caleres, Inc.      54,150  
  3,534      CarMax, Inc.*      309,826  
  1,987      Cato Corp., Class A      34,574  
  7,822      Chico’s FAS, Inc.      29,802  
  881      Citi Trends, Inc.      20,369  
  1,572      Conn’s, Inc.*      19,477  
  3,425      Designer Brands, Inc., Class A      53,910  
  2,864      Destination XL Group, Inc.*      3,666  
  2,768      Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc.      136,988  
  6,313      Express, Inc.*      30,744  
  976      Five Below, Inc.*      124,791  
  4,013      Foot Locker, Inc.      156,467  
  199      Francesca’s Holdings Corp.*^      2,066  
  6,630      GameStop Corp., Class A^      40,310  
  16,270      Gap, Inc. (The)      287,654  
  1,571      Genesco, Inc.*      75,282  
  1,200      Group 1 Automotive, Inc.      120,000  
  4,368      Guess?, Inc.      97,756  
  1,166      Haverty Furniture Cos., Inc.      23,507  
  1,874      Hibbett Sports, Inc.*      52,547  
  11,850      Home Depot, Inc. (The)      2,587,802  
  1,293      Hudson, Ltd., Class A*      19,835  
  1,036      Kirkland’s, Inc.*^      1,285  
  4,361      L Brands, Inc.      79,021  
  1,177      Lithia Motors, Inc., Class A      173,019  
  11,080      Lowe’s Cos., Inc.      1,326,940  
  1,427      MarineMax, Inc.*      23,817  
  7,372      Michaels Cos., Inc. (The)*      59,639  
  1,401      Monro, Inc.      109,558  
  1,654      Murphy U.S.A., Inc.*      193,518  
  1,200      National Vision Holdings, Inc.*      38,916  
  25,774      Office Depot, Inc.      70,621  
  1,161      O’Reilly Automotive, Inc.*      508,820  
  5,666      Party City Holdco, Inc.*^      13,258  
  3,939      Penske Automotive Group, Inc.      197,817  
  8      Pier 1 Imports, Inc.*^      51  
  1,792      Rent-A-Center, Inc.      51,681  
  622      RH*      132,797  
  5,323      Ross Stores, Inc.      619,704  
  4,842      RTW Retailwinds, Inc.*      3,878  
  5,608      Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc.*      102,346  
  600      Shoe Carnival, Inc.^      22,368  
  1,393      Signet Jewelers, Ltd.^      30,283  
  1,230      Sleep Number Corp.*      60,565  
  3,293      Sonic Automotive, Inc., Class A      102,083  
  1,606      Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings, Inc.*      12,896  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

22


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Specialty Retail, continued       
  289      Tandy Leather Factory, Inc.*    $ 1,650  
  848      The Buckle, Inc.      22,930  
  988      The Children’s Place, Inc.      61,770  
  2,708      Tiffany & Co.      361,924  
  854      Tilly’s, Inc.      10,462  
  17,310      TJX Cos., Inc. (The)      1,056,949  
  2,828      Tractor Supply Co.      264,248  
  1,178      Ulta Beauty, Inc.*      298,199  
  5,535      Urban Outfitters, Inc.*      153,707  
  2,949      Williams-Sonoma, Inc.      216,575  
  285      Winmark Corp.      56,516  
  2,204      Zumiez, Inc.*      76,126  
     

 

 

 
        13,143,258  
     

 

 

 
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals (4.5%):       
  6,315      3D Systems Corp.*      55,256  
  67,371      Apple, Inc.      19,783,495  
  728      AstroNova, Inc.      9,988  
  2,354      Avid Technology, Inc.*      20,197  
  2,642      Dell Technologies, Inc., Class C*      135,772  
  17,049      Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.      270,397  
  20,929      HP, Inc.      430,092  
  5,127      NCR Corp.*      180,265  
  4,382      NetApp, Inc.      272,780  
  2,304      Pure Storage, Inc., Class A*      39,421  
  6,799      Seagate Technology plc      404,541  
  2,522      Stratasys, Ltd.*      51,007  
  1,472      Super Micro Computer, Inc.*      35,357  
  6,313      Western Digital Corp.      400,687  
  7,974      Xerox Holdings Corp.      294,002  
     

 

 

 
        22,383,257  
     

 

 

 
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods (1.0%):       
  5,725      Capri Holdings, Ltd.*      218,409  
  1,710      Carter’s, Inc.      186,971  
  1,828      Columbia Sportswear Co.      183,147  
  2,493      Crocs, Inc.*      104,432  
  810      Culp, Inc.      11,032  
  1,141      Deckers Outdoor Corp.*      192,669  
  3,440      Fossil Group, Inc.*      27,107  
  2,480      G-III Apparel Group, Ltd.*      83,080  
  11,489      Hanesbrands, Inc.      170,612  
  795      Kontoor Brands, Inc.      33,382  
  2,320      Lululemon Athletica, Inc.*      537,475  
  1,551      Movado Group, Inc.      33,719  
  15,610      Nike, Inc., Class B      1,581,448  
  1,259      Oxford Industries, Inc.      94,954  
  1,797      PVH Corp.      188,955  
  1,477      Ralph Lauren Corp.      173,134  
  570      Rocky Brands, Inc.      16,775  
  5,498      Skechers U.S.A., Inc., Class A*      237,459  
  2,686      Steven Madden, Ltd.      115,525  
  700      Superior Group of Cos., Inc.      9,478  
  8,939      Tapestry, Inc.      241,085  
  3,746      Under Armour, Inc., Class C*      71,848  
  1,027      Unifi, Inc.*      25,942  
  802      Vera Bradley, Inc.*      9,464  
  4,448      VF Corp.      443,288  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods, continued       
  3,237      Wolverine World Wide, Inc.    $ 109,216  
     

 

 

 
        5,100,606  
     

 

 

 
Thrifts & Mortgage Finance (0.6%):       
  3,384      Axos Financial, Inc.*      102,468  
  1,591      BankFinancial Corp.      20,810  
  7,721      Capitol Federal Financial, Inc.      106,009  
  2,223      Columbia Financial, Inc.*      37,658  
  2,791      Dime Community Bancshares, Inc.      58,304  
  855      ESSA Bancorp, Inc.      14,492  
  3,469      Essent Group, Ltd.      180,353  
  403      Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp.      33,651  
  408      First Capital, Inc.      29,784  
  1,544      First Defiance Financial Corp.      48,621  
  2,446      Flagstar Bancorp, Inc.      93,560  
  8      Greene County Bancorp, Inc.      230  
  155      Hingham Institution for Savings      32,581  
  1,670      HomeStreet, Inc.*      56,780  
  413      IF Bancorp, Inc.      9,507  
  966      Impac Mortgage Holdings, Inc.*      5,081  
  5,948      Kearny Financial Corp.      82,261  
  1,249      Kentucky First Federal Bancorp      9,680  
  750      Lake Shore Bancorp, Inc.      11,438  
  194      LendingTree, Inc.*      58,867  
  3,570      Meridian Bancorp, Inc.      71,721  
  2,468      Meta Financial Group, Inc.      90,107  
  14,868      MGIC Investment Corp.      210,679  
  4,623      Mr Cooper Group, Inc.*      57,834  
  7,598      New York Community Bancorp, Inc.      91,328  
  3,378      NMI Holdings, Inc., Class A*      112,082  
  2,984      Northfield Bancorp, Inc.      50,609  
  5,417      Northwest Bancshares, Inc.      90,085  
  3,167      Oceanfirst Financial Corp.      80,885  
  503      Oconee Federal Financial Corp.      13,133  
  6,975      Ocwen Financial Corp.*      9,556  
  2,417      PennyMac Financial Services, Inc.      82,275  
  679      Provident Financial Holdings, Inc.      14,870  
  3,181      Provident Financial Services, Inc.      78,412  
  6,456      Radian Group, Inc.      162,432  
  420      Riverview Bancorp, Inc.      3,448  
  561      Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc.      21,520  
  1,764      Sterling Bancorp, Inc.      14,288  
  733      Territorial Bancorp, Inc.      22,679  
  5,881      TFS Financial Corp.      115,738  
  7,273      TrustCo Bank Corp NY      63,057  
  2,800      United Community Financial Corp.      32,648  
  3,136      Washington Federal, Inc.      114,934  
  2,036      Waterstone Financial, Inc.      38,745  
  1,846      Wawlker & Dunlop, Inc.      119,399  
  1,498      Western New England BanCorp, Inc.      14,426  
  2,825      WSFS Financial Corp.      124,272  
     

 

 

 
        2,893,297  
     

 

 

 
Tobacco (0.7%):       
  33,963      Altria Group, Inc.      1,695,094  
  17,037      Philip Morris International, Inc.      1,449,678  
  1,284      Universal Corp.      73,265  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

23


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Tobacco, continued       
  8,474      Vector Group, Ltd.    $ 113,467  
     

 

 

 
        3,331,504  
     

 

 

 
Trading Companies & Distributors (0.8%):       
  7,096      Air Lease Corp.      337,202  
  4,508      Aircastle, Ltd.      144,301  
  1,994      Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc.      132,980  
  2,840      Beacon Roofing Supply, Inc.*      90,823  
  3,866      BMC Stock Holdings, Inc.*      110,916  
  1,592      CAI International, Inc.*      46,136  
  644      DXP Enterprises, Inc.*      25,638  
  11,185      Fastenal Co.      413,286  
  876      GATX Corp.      72,577  
  2,334      GMS, Inc.*      63,205  
  1,700      H&E Equipment Services, Inc.      56,831  
  6,084      HD Supply Holdings, Inc.*      244,698  
  1,767      Herc Holdings, Inc.*      86,477  
  1,307      Huttig Building Products, Inc.*      2,013  
  870      Kaman Corp., Class A      57,350  
  5,217      MRC Global, Inc.*      71,160  
  2,233      MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc., Class A      175,224  
  5,453      NOW, Inc.*      61,292  
  1,902      Rush Enterprises, Inc., Class A      88,443  
  2,034      Systemax, Inc.      51,175  
  2,654      Textainer Group Holdings, Ltd.*^      28,424  
  651      Titan Machinery, Inc.*      9,622  
  1,007      Transcat, Inc.*      32,083  
  3,334      Triton International, Ltd.      134,027  
  2,958      United Rentals, Inc.*      493,305  
  5,820      Univar Solutions, Inc.*      141,077  
  1,184      Veritiv Corp.*      23,289  
  1,254      W.W. Grainger, Inc.      424,504  
  902      Watsco, Inc.      162,495  
  84      Watsco, Inc., Class B      15,004  
  2,155      WESCO International, Inc.*      127,985  
     

 

 

 
        3,923,542  
     

 

 

 
Transportation Infrastructure (0.0%):       
  2,859      Macquarie Infrastructure Corp.      122,480  
     

 

 

 
Water Utilities (0.2%):       
  1,327      American States Water Co.      114,971  
  2,774      American Water Works Co., Inc.      340,786  
  3,102      Aqua America, Inc.      145,608  
  1,620      AquaVenture Holdings, Ltd.*      43,934  
  491      Artesian Resources Corp.      18,270  
  1,743      California Water Service Group      89,869  
  979      Middlesex Water Co.      62,235  
  669      Pure Cycle Corp.*      8,423  
  1,234      SJW Group      87,688  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued  
Water Utilities, continued       
  772      York Water Co. (The)    $ 35,597  
     

 

 

 
        947,381  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.2%):       
  2,055      Boingo Wireless, Inc.*      22,502  
  2,603      Shenandoah Telecommunications Co.      108,311  
  1,649      Spok Holdings, Inc.      20,167  
  15,850      Sprint Corp.*      82,579  
  4,354      Telephone & Data Systems, Inc.      110,722  
  6,513      T-Mobile US, Inc.*      510,749  
  1,695      United States Cellular Corp.*      61,410  
     

 

 

 
        916,440  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Common Stocks (Cost $354,940,623)

     494,429,694  
  

 

 

 
Rights (0.0%):       
Chemicals (0.0%):       
  2,215      Schulman, Inc. CVR, Expires on
12/31/49*(a)
      
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (0.0%):       
  2,411      NewStar Financial, Inc. CVR, Expires on 12/31/49*      1,739  
     

 

 

 
Media (0.0%):       
  9,820      Media General, Inc. CVR, Expires on 12/31/49*      928  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (0.0%):       
  14,276      Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. CVR, Expires on 12/31/21*      42,970  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Rights (Cost $37,180)

     45,637  
  

 

 

 
Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for       
Securities on Loan (0.6%):       
  3,040,005      BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, 2.00%(b)(c)      3,040,005  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on
Loan (Cost $3,040,005)

     3,040,005  
  

 

 

 
Unaffiliated Investment Companies (0.3%):       
Money Markets (0.3%):       
  1,309,836      Dreyfus Treasury Securities Cash Management Fund, Institutional Shares, 1.44%(c)      1,309,836  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Unaffiliated Investment Companies (Cost $1,309,836)

     1,309,836  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities

  
 

(Cost $359,327,644) — 100.5%(d)

     498,825,172  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — (0.5)%

     (2,506,994
  

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 496,318,178  
  

 

 

 
 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

CVR—Contingency Valued Rights

 

*

Non-income producing security.

 

^

This security or a partial position of this security was on loan as of December 31, 2019. The total value of securities on loan as of December 31, 2019 was $2,947,972.

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

(a)

Security was valued using unobservable inputs in good faith pursuant to procedures approved by the Board of Trustees as of December 31, 2019. The total of all such securities represent 0.00% of the net assets of the fund.

 

(b)

Purchased with cash collateral held from securities lending. The value of the collateral could include collateral held for securities that were sold on or before December 31, 2019.

 

(c)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(d)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

Amounts shown as “—” are either $0 or rounds to less than $1.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

24


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investment securities, at cost

    $ 359,327,644
   

 

 

 

Investment securities, at value(a)

    $ 498,825,172

Cash

      180,102

Interest and dividends receivable

      433,414

Receivable for investments sold

      282,164

Reclaims receivable

      4,866

Prepaid expenses

      1,709
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      499,727,427
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      9,699

Payable for collateral received on loaned securities

      3,040,005

Manager fees payable

      226,620

Administration fees payable

      5,166

Distribution fees payable

      104,917

Custodian fees payable

      3,564

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      1,801

Transfer agent fees payable

      987

Trustee fees payable

      443

Other accrued liabilities

      16,047
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      3,409,249
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 496,318,178
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 319,148,027

Total distributable earnings

      177,170,151
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 496,318,178
   

 

 

 

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      36,683,360

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 13.53
   

 

 

 

 

(a)

Includes securities on loan of $2,947,972.

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Dividends

    $ 9,169,471

Income from securities lending

      71,131

Foreign tax reclaims received

      566
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      9,241,168
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      3,963,770

Administration fees

      159,266

Distribution fees

      1,238,676

Custodian fees

      20,599

Administrative and compliance services fees

      9,040

Transfer agent fees

      5,933

Trustee fees

      28,204

Professional fees

      25,123

Shareholder reports

      6,863

Other expenses

      18,472
   

 

 

 

Total expenses before reductions

      5,475,946

Less expenses voluntarily waived/reimbursed by the Manager

      (1,288,228 )
   

 

 

 

Net expenses

      4,187,718
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      5,053,450
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities

      32,472,338

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities

      90,102,485
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      122,574,823
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 127,628,273
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

25


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 5,053,450     $ 5,485,762

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      32,472,338       30,756,695

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      90,102,485       (69,335,803 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      127,628,273       (33,093,346 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Distributions

      (36,227,548 )       (21,156,078 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (36,227,548 )       (21,156,078 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      2,050,767       9,663,472

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      36,227,548       21,156,078

Value of shares redeemed

      (96,897,568 )       (97,254,403 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      (58,619,253 )       (66,434,853 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      32,781,472       (120,684,277 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      463,536,706       584,220,983
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 496,318,178     $ 463,536,706
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Shares issued

      163,172       753,910

Dividends reinvested

      2,969,471       1,661,907

Shares redeemed

      (7,394,237 )       (7,270,508 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      (4,261,594 )       (4,854,691 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

26


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
2019
  Year Ended
December 31,
2018
  Year Ended
December 31,
2017
  Year Ended
December 31,
2016
  April 27, 2015
to December 31,
2015(a)

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 11.32     $ 12.76     $ 10.74     $ 9.49     $ 10.00
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.13 (b)       0.16       0.15       0.13       0.08

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      3.08       (1.06 )       2.04       1.21       (0.59 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      3.21       (0.90 )       2.19       1.34       (0.51 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.15 )       (0.15 )       (0.14 )       (0.09 )      

Net Realized Gains

      (0.85 )       (0.39 )       (0.03 )            
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (1.00 )       (0.54 )       (0.17 )       (0.09 )      
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 13.53     $ 11.32     $ 12.76     $ 10.74     $ 9.49
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(c)

      29.36 %       (7.52 )%       20.45 %       14.25 %       (5.10 )%(d)

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 496,318     $ 463,537     $ 584,221     $ 582,088     $ 557,576

Net Investment Income/(Loss)(e)

      1.03 %       1.00 %       1.02 %       1.24 %       1.12 %

Expenses Before Reductions(e)(f)

      1.10 %       1.10 %       1.10 %       1.10 %       1.12 %

Expenses Net of Reductions(e)

      0.84 %       0.84 %       0.84 %       0.84 %       0.86 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate

      4 %       4 %       2 %       10 %       12 %(d)

 

(a)

For the period April 27, 2015 (commencement of share class) to December 31, 2015.

 

(b)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(c)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(d)

Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(e)

Annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(f)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

27


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services — Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Foreign Currency Translation and Withholding Taxes

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding and other income or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Funds accrue such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

 

28


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Securities Lending

To generate additional income, the Fund may lend up to 33 1/3% of its assets pursuant to agreements requiring that the loan be continuously secured by any combination of cash, U.S. government or U.S. government agency securities, equal initially to at least 102% of the fair value plus accrued interest on the securities loaned (105% for foreign securities). The borrower of securities is at all times required to post collateral to the Fund in an amount equal to 100% of the fair value of the securities loaned based on the previous day’s fair value of the securities loaned, marked-to-market daily. Any collateral shortfalls are adjusted the next business day. The Fund bears all of the gains and losses on such investments. The Fund receives payments from borrowers equivalent to the dividends and interest that would have been earned on securities lent while simultaneously seeking to earn income on the investment of cash collateral received. In extremely low interest rate environments, the broker rebate fee may exceed the interest earned or the cash collateral which would result in a loss to the Fund. The investment of cash collateral deposited by the borrower is subject to inherent market risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks that are present in the market, and as such, the value of these investments may not be sufficient, when liquidated, to repay the borrower when the loaned security is returned. There may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. However, loans will be made only to borrowers, such as broker-dealers, banks or institutional borrowers of securities, deemed by the Manager to be of good standing and credit worthy and when in its judgment, the consideration which can be earned currently from such securities loans justifies the attendant risks. Loans are subject to termination by the Trust or the borrower at any time, and are, therefore, not considered to be illiquid investments. Securities on loan at December 31, 2019 are presented on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

Cash collateral received in connection with securities lending is invested on behalf of the Fund in the BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, a money market fund which invests in short-term investments that have a remaining maturity of 397 days or less in accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. The Fund pays the Securities Lending Agent 9% of the gross revenues received from securities lending activities and keeps 91%. The Fund paid securities lending fees of $6,966 during the year ended December 31, 2019. These fees have been netted against “Income from securities lending” on the Statement of Operations. The Fund had securities lending transactions of $3,040,005 accounted for as secured borrowings with cash collateral of overnight and continuous maturities as of December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019, there were no master netting provisions in the securities lending agreement.

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not engage in any Rule 17a-7 transactions under the Rule.

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to a subadvisory agreement with Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (“DFA”), DFA provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate*      Annual Expense Limit

AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

         0.80 %          1.20 %

 

*

The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.54% on all assets. The manager reserves the right to increase the management fee to the amount shown in the table at any time.

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations.

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum

 

29


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $3,734 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy.

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total

Common Stocks+

       $ 494,427,499        $        $ 2,195        $ 494,429,694

Rights

         42,970          2,667          #          45,637

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

         3,040,005                            3,040,005

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

         1,309,836                            1,309,836
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $ 498,820,310        $ 2,667        $ 2,195        $ 498,825,172
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

#

Represents the interest in securities that were determined to have a value of zero at December 31, 2019.

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

       $ 20,467,568        $ 108,507,847

 

30


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

6. Investment Risks

Derivatives Risk: The Fund may invest in derivatives as a principal strategy. A derivative is a financial contract whose value depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or risk. Use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Derivatives are subject to a number of other risks, such as liquidity risk, interest rate risk, market risk, credit risk, and selection risk. Derivatives also involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate, or index. Using derivatives may result in losses, possibly in excess of the principal amount invested. Also, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances. The counterparty to a derivatives contract could default. As required by applicable law, a Fund that invests in derivatives segregates cash or liquid securities, or both, to the extent that its obligations under the instrument are not covered through ownership of the underlying security, financial instrument, or currency.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Investments in securities of foreign issuers carry certain risks not ordinarily associated with investments in securities of domestic issuers. Such risks include future political and economic developments, and the possible imposition of exchange controls or other foreign governmental laws and restrictions. In addition, with respect to certain countries, there is the possibility of expropriation of assets, confiscatory taxation, political or social instability or diplomatic developments which could adversely affect investments in those securities.

7. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $359,308,347. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 175,683,818  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (36,166,993
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 139,516,825  
 

 

 

 

 

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

       $ 5,481,514        $ 30,746,034        $ 36,227,548

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

       $ 6,370,472        $ 14,785,606        $ 21,156,078

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

 

31


AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
     Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
    

Total
Accumulated
Earnings/

(Deficit)

AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

       $ 5,364,452        $ 32,288,876        $        $ 139,516,825        $ 177,170,153

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales, mark-to-market of passive foreign investment companies, and other miscellaneous differences.

8. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had an individual shareholder account which is affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 75% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

9. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

32


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL DFA U.S. Core Equity Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

33


Other Federal Income Tax Information (Unaudited)

For the year ended December 31, 2019, 100.00% of the total ordinary income dividends paid by the Fund qualify for the corporate dividends received deductions available to corporate shareholders.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net short-term capital gain distributions of $93,963.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net long-term capital gain distributions of $30,746,034.

 

34


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

35


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for

 

36


the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

 

37


The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

38


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

39


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

40


LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.   
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL® DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 21

Statement of Operations

Page 21

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 22

Financial Highlights

Page 23

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 24

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 29

Other Federal Income Tax Information

Page 30

Other Information

Page 31

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 32

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 35

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund and Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 

 

 

   

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund (the “Fund”) returned 21.10%. That compared to a 25.52% total return for its benchmark, the Russell 2000® Index1.

U.S. stocks began 2019 rebounding from the significant losses experienced at the end of 2018. The Federal Reserve Board’s (the Fed) announcement in January that it would halt interest rate hikes for the near future boosted both stocks and bonds. Market volatility returned in the second quarter on worries about U.S. trade relations. The Fed cut rates in July and September, offsetting the negative effects of the U.S.-China trade war, weak global growth and signs of weakness in the U.S. manufacturing and consumer sectors. In August, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield briefly fell below the yields on 2-year and 1-year notes, sparking recession fears. Improving prospects for a U.S.-China trade deal in the fourth quarter, increased investors’ appetites for risk, and a third rate cut by the Fed in October combined with strong economic growth to buoy markets through the end of the year.

Large-cap stocks outperformed small-cap stocks for the period. Growth stocks outperformed value stocks across all market cap sizes. In the large-cap universe, stocks with lower relative prices and higher profitability outperformed stocks with higher relative prices and lower profitability. In the small-cap universe, however, stocks with lower-relative prices and higher profitability underperformed stocks with higher-relative prices and lower profitability.

The Fund’s underperformance relative to its benchmark was primarily driven by its lack of exposure to stocks with the lowest profitability and highest-relative price. These stocks were among the best performers during the period. The Fund’s lack of exposure to the largest stocks held by the benchmark also detracted from relative performance, as those stocks outperformed the smaller-cap stocks in the Fund’s portfolio.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

*

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmark please refer to page 2 of this report.

 

 

1


AZL® DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

 

     
The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of small-capitalization U.S. companies.      

 

Investment Concerns

 

     

Equity securities (stocks) are more volatile and carry more risk than other forms of investments, including investments in high-grade fixed income securities. The net asset value per share of this Fund will fluctuate as the value of the securities in the portfolio changes.

 

     

Small- to mid-capitalization companies typically have a higher risk of failure and historically have experienced a greater degree of volatility.

 

     

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 

 

     

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmark and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

                 Since  
     1     3     Inception  
     Year     Year     (4/27/15)  

AZL® DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

      21.10 %      5.43     6.57

Russell 2000® Index

     25.52     8.59     7.83

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratio

   Gross  

AZL® DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

     1.16

The above expense ratio is based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.70% on all assets. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense), to 1.35% through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratio can be found in the Financial Highlights.

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Russell 2000® Index, which is an unmanaged market capitalization-weighted index comprised of the 2,000 smallest companies listed in the Russell 3000® Index, which contains the 3,000 largest companies in the U.S. based on market capitalization. The index does not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

2


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
 

Expenses Paid
During Period

7/1/19 - 12/31/19*

 

Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period

7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,061.10     $ 5.30       1.02 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
 

Expenses Paid

During Period

7/1/19 - 12/31/19*

 

Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period

7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,020.06     $ 5.19       1.02 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

Financials

      21.0 %

Industrials

      20.4

Consumer Discretionary

      14.4

Information Technology

      13.5

Health Care

      8.6

Materials

      5.7

Utilities

      4.3

Energy

      4.1

Consumer Staples

      4.0

Communication Services

      3.3

Real Estate

      0.5
   

 

 

 

Total Common and Preferred Stocks

      99.8

Rights

        

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

      1.8

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

      0.3
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      101.9

Net other assets (liabilities)

      (1.9 )
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

3


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks (99.8%):       
Aerospace & Defense (1.4%):       
  1,397      AAR Corp.    $ 63,005  
  9,389      Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc.*      428,703  
  2,231      AeroVironment, Inc.*      137,742  
  2,615      Astronics Corp.*      73,089  
  392      Astronics Corp., Class B*      10,917  
  3,730      Axon Enterprise, Inc.*      273,334  
  685      CPI Aerostructures, Inc.*      4,610  
  3,061      Cubic Corp.      194,588  
  766      Ducommun, Inc.*      38,706  
  3,376      Innovative Solutions & Support, Inc.*      19,716  
  11,071      Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc.*      199,389  
  4,348      Mercury Systems, Inc.*      300,490  
  4,062      Moog, Inc., Class A      346,610  
  947      National Presto Industries, Inc.      83,705  
  2,564      Park Aerospace Corp., Class C      41,716  
  621      Triumph Group, Inc.      15,693  
  459      Vectrus, Inc.*      23,528  
  12,220      WESCO Aircraft Holdings, Inc.*      134,664  
     

 

 

 
        2,390,205  
     

 

 

 
Air Freight & Logistics (0.5%):       
  738      Air T, Inc.*      14,871  
  7,991      Air Transport Services Group, Inc.*      187,469  
  1,862      Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc.*      51,335  
  3,555      Echo Global Logistics, Inc.*      73,589  
  3,628      Forward Air Corp.      253,778  
  4,675      Hub Group, Inc., Class A*      239,781  
  5,212      Radiant Logistics, Inc.*      29,031  
     

 

 

 
        849,854  
     

 

 

 
Airlines (0.6%):       
  2,064      Allegiant Travel Co.      359,218  
  455      Copa Holdings SA, Class A      49,176  
  6,365      Hawaiian Holdings, Inc.      186,431  
  2,689      SkyWest, Inc.      173,790  
  4,325      Spirit Airlines, Inc.*      174,341  
     

 

 

 
        942,956  
     

 

 

 
Auto Components (1.6%):       
  3,195      Adient plc*      67,894  
  12,952      American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc.*      139,364  
  7,311      Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.      210,191  
  2,216      Cooper-Standard Holding, Inc.*      73,483  
  11,599      Dana, Inc.      211,102  
  2,148      Delphi Technologies plc*      27,559  
  4,102      Dorman Products, Inc.*      310,603  
  4,852      Fox Factory Holding Corp.*      337,553  
  1,200      Garrett Motion, Inc.*      11,988  
  4,614      Gentherm, Inc.*      204,815  
  6,906      Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.      107,423  
  1,680      Horizon Global Corp.*      5,863  
  3,045      LCI Industries      326,210  
  7,745      Modine Manufacturing Co.*      59,637  
  2,866      Motorcar Parts of America, Inc.*      63,138  
  1,992      Shiloh Industries, Inc.*      7,092  
  3,444      Standard Motor Products, Inc.      183,290  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Auto Components, continued       
  3,162      Stoneridge, Inc.*    $ 92,710  
  733      Strattec Security Corp.      16,280  
  3,266      Tenneco, Inc.      42,785  
  472      Veoneer, Inc.*^      7,373  
  3,073      Visteon Corp.*      266,091  
  4,313      VOXX International Corp.*      18,891  
     

 

 

 
        2,791,335  
     

 

 

 
Automobiles (0.2%):       
  1,980      Thor Industries, Inc.      147,094  
  4,607      Winnebago Industries, Inc.      244,079  
     

 

 

 
        391,173  
     

 

 

 
Banks (12.9%):       
  1,584      1st Constitution Bancorp      35,054  
  3,659      1st Source Corp.      189,829  
  410      ACNB Corp.      15,506  
  704      Allegiance Bancshares, Inc.*      26,470  
  1,339      American National Bankshares, Inc.      52,984  
  346      American River Bankshares      5,145  
  6,800      Ameris Bancorp      289,272  
  1,649      Ames National Corp.      46,271  
  1,809      Arrow Financial Corp.      68,380  
  8,706      Associated Banc-Corp.      191,880  
  1,465      Atlantic Capital Bancshares, Inc.*      26,883  
  7,824      Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp.      293,791  
  13      Auburn National Bancorp, Inc.      689  
  5,894      Banc of California, Inc.      101,259  
  4,614      BancFirst Corp.      288,098  
  810      Bancorp of New Jersey, Inc.*      14,491  
  8,252      Bancorp, Inc. (The)*      107,028  
  10,148      BancorpSouth Bank      318,749  
  2,653      Bank of Commerce Holdings      30,695  
  3,143      Bank of Hawaii Corp.      299,088  
  1,669      Bank of Marin Bancorp      75,188  
  997      Bank of Nt Butterfield & Son, Ltd. (The)      36,909  
  485      Bank of South Carolina Corp.      9,108  
  4,212      Bank OZK      128,487  
  4,568      BankUnited, Inc.      167,006  
  3,430      Banner Corp.      194,104  
  2,449      Bar Harbor Bankshares      62,180  
  595      BCB Bancorp, Inc.      8,205  
  5,543      Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc.      182,254  
  9,350      Boston Private Financial Holdings, Inc.      112,481  
  2,206      Bridge Bancorp, Inc.      73,967  
  8,918      Brookline Bancorp, Inc.      146,790  
  2,266      Bryn Mawr Bank Corp.      93,450  
  1,380      Byline BanCorp, Inc.      27,007  
  227      C&F Financial Corp.      12,560  
  6,024      Cadence Bancorp      109,215  
  1,274      California First National Bancorp      21,212  
  2,359      Camden National Corp.      108,656  
  2,242      Capital City Bank Group, Inc.      68,381  
  1,218      Carolina Financial Corp.      52,654  
  7,813      Cathay General Bancorp      297,285  
  279      CBTX, Inc.      8,682  
  11,385      CenterState Bank Corp.      284,397  
  3,786      Central Pacific Financial Corp.      111,990  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Banks, continued       
  1,141      Central Valley Community Bancorp    $ 24,725  
  511      Century Bancorp, Inc.      45,970  
  668      Chemung Financial Corp.      28,390  
  2,009      Citizens & Northern Corp.      56,754  
  718      Citizens Holding Co.      15,710  
  1,550      City Holding Co.      127,023  
  822      Civista Bancshares, Inc.      19,728  
  2,720      CNB Financial Corp.      88,890  
  85      Codorus Valley Bancorp, Inc.      1,958  
  56      Colony Bankcorp, Inc.      924  
  7,176      Columbia Banking System, Inc.      291,956  
  5,057      Community Bank System, Inc.      358,744  
  3,296      Community Bankers Trust Corp.      29,268  
  2,232      Community Trust Bancorp, Inc.      104,100  
  525      Community West Bancshares      5,828  
  4,062      ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc.      104,475  
  4,048      Customers Bancorp, Inc.*      96,383  
  13,574      CVB Financial Corp.      292,927  
  609      Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc.      13,027  
  4,678      Eagle Bancorp, Inc.      227,491  
  2,893      Enterprise Financial Services Corp.      139,472  
  924      Equity Bancshares, Inc.*      28,524  
  534      Evans Bancorp, Inc.      21,413  
  13,654      F.N.B. Corp.      173,406  
  2,582      Farmers National Banc Corp.      42,138  
  242      Fauquier Bankshares, Inc.      5,140  
  1,909      Financial Institutions, Inc.      61,279  
  22,183      First Bancorp      234,918  
  2,793      First Bancorp      111,469  
  2,165      First Bancorp, Inc.      65,448  
  965      First Bancshares, Inc. (The)      34,277  
  5,271      First Busey Corp.      144,953  
  940      First Business Financial Services, Inc.      24,750  
  3,144      First Commonwealth Financial Corp.      45,619  
  2,206      First Community Bankshares      68,430  
  10,114      First Financial Bancorp      257,300  
  9,472      First Financial Bankshares, Inc.      332,467  
  2,044      First Financial Corp.      93,452  
  1,717      First Financial Northwest, Inc.      25,652  
  2,578      First Foundation, Inc.      44,857  
  5,182      First Hawaiian, Inc.      149,501  
  402      First Internet BanCorp      9,531  
  3,985      First Interstate BancSystem, Class A      167,051  
  5,921      First Merchants Corp.      246,254  
  320      First Mid Bancshares, Inc.      11,280  
  10,291      First Midwest Bancorp, Inc.      237,310  
  3,897      First of Long Island Corp. (The)      97,737  
  28      First Savings Financial Group      1,879  
  234      First United Corp.      5,637  
  908      First US Bancshares, Inc.      10,542  
  3,766      Flushing Financial Corp.      81,364  
  601      Franklin Financial Network, Inc.      20,632  
  18,304      Fulton Financial Corp.      319,039  
  3,443      German American Bancorp, Inc.      122,640  
  8,403      Glacier Bancorp, Inc.      386,454  
  1,738      Great Southern Bancorp, Inc.      110,050  
  2,715      Great Western Bancorp, Inc.      94,319  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Banks, continued       
  3,930      Hancock Whitney Corp.    $ 172,448  
  4,853      Hanmi Financial Corp.      97,036  
  1,518      HarborOne BanCorp, Inc.*      16,683  
  41      Hawthorn Bancshares, Inc.      1,046  
  3,598      Heartland Financial USA, Inc.      178,965  
  3,957      Heritage Financial Corp.      111,983  
  5,806      Hertiage Commerce Corp.      74,491  
  15,083      Hilltop Holdings, Inc.      376,019  
  7,449      Home Bancshares, Inc.      146,447  
  2,818      Hometrust Bancshares, Inc.      75,607  
  13,353      Hope BanCorp, Inc.      198,426  
  4,456      Horizon Bancorp      84,664  
  2,493      IBERIABANK Corp.      186,551  
  3,317      Independent Bank Corp.      276,140  
  4,315      Independent Bank Group, Inc.      239,224  
  6,452      International Bancshares Corp.      277,888  
  12,112      Investors Bancorp, Inc.      144,314  
  6,091      Lakeland Bancorp, Inc.      105,862  
  3,599      Lakeland Financial Corp.      176,099  
  862      Landmark Bancorp, Inc.      21,593  
  1,512      LCNB Corp.      29,182  
  1,000      Limestone Bancorp, Inc.*      18,000  
  1,383      Live Oak Bancshares, Inc.      26,291  
  5,225      Macatawa Bank Corp.      58,154  
  1,048      Mackinac Financial Corp.      18,298  
  2,659      Mercantile Bank Corp.      96,974  
  974      Midland States BanCorp, Inc.      28,207  
  1,441      MidWestone Financial Group, Inc.      52,207  
  892      MutualFirst Financial, Inc.      35,386  
  3,525      National Bank Holdings Corp.      124,151  
  1,069      National Bankshares, Inc.      48,030  
  4,368      NBT Bancorp, Inc.      177,166  
  378      Nicolet Bankshares, Inc.*      27,915  
  1,136      Northeast Bank      24,981  
  657      Northrim Bancorp, Inc.      25,163  
  609      Norwood Financial Corp.      23,690  
  6,426      OFG Bancorp      151,718  
  183      Ohio Valley Banc Corp.      7,250  
  16,444      Old National Bancorp      300,761  
  1,004      Old Point Financial Corp.      27,600  
  3,314      Old Second Bancorp, Inc.      44,640  
  1,805      Opus Bank      46,695  
  1,765      Orrstown Financial Services, Inc.      39,924  
  1,718      Pacific Mercantile Bancorp*      13,950  
  4,430      Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc.      144,440  
  598      PacWest Bancorp      22,885  
  1,807      Park National Corp.      185,001  
  1,488      Parke Bancorp, Inc.      37,780  
  2,884      Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corp.      89,116  
  1,452      Penns Woods Bancorp, Inc.      51,633  
  434      Peoples Bancorp of NC      14,257  
  2,394      Peoples Bancorp, Inc.      82,976  
  1,015      People’s United Financial, Inc.      17,154  
  452      People’s Utah BanCorp      13,614  
  997      Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc.      63,808  
  2,285      Preferred Bank Los Angeles      137,306  
  1,193      Premier Financial Bancorp, Inc.      21,641  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Banks, continued       
  880      Prosperity Bancshares, Inc.    $ 63,263  
  1,118      QCR Holdings, Inc.      49,035  
  351      Rbb BanCorp      7,431  
  5,547      Renasant Co.      196,475  
  1,882      Republic Bancorp, Inc., Class A      88,078  
  6,466      Republic First Bancorp, Inc.*      27,028  
  3,577      S & T Bancorp, Inc.      144,117  
  320      Salisbury Bancorp, Inc.      14,614  
  3,392      Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc.      128,489  
  552      SB Financial Group, Inc.      10,869  
  625      SB One BanCorp      15,575  
  4,737      Seacoast Banking Corp of Florida*      144,810  
  1,252      Select Bancorp, Inc.*      15,400  
  3,209      ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc.      120,915  
  2,325      Shore Bancshares, Inc.      40,362  
  2,333      Sierra Bancorp      67,937  
  9,879      Simmons First National Corp., Class A      264,658  
  4,213      South State Corp.      365,478  
  562      Southern First Bancshares, Inc.*      23,879  
  2,309      Southern National Bancorp      37,752  
  3,194      Southside Bancshares, Inc.      118,625  
  88      Southwest Georgia Financial Corp.      3,089  
  13,176      Sterling Bancorp      277,750  
  3,509      Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc.      144,080  
  682      Summit Financial Group, Inc.      18,475  
  1,203      Summit State Bank      15,597  
  8,055      TCF Financial Corp.      376,974  
  2,140      Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc.*      121,488  
  2,166      Tompkins Financial Corp.      198,189  
  7,005      TowneBank      194,879  
  3,566      TriCo Bancshares      145,528  
  3,463      Tristate Capital Holdings, Inc.*      90,454  
  969      Triumph BanCorp, Inc.*      36,841  
  6,836      Trustmark Corp.      235,910  
  98      Two River Bancorp      2,195  
  3,397      UMB Financial Corp.      233,170  
  4,425      Umpqua Holdings Corp.      78,323  
  249      Union Bankshares, Inc.      9,029  
  450      United Bancshares, Inc.      10,220  
  5,557      United Bankshares, Inc.      214,834  
  3,612      United Community Banks, Inc.      111,539  
  916      United Security Bancshares      9,829  
  42      Unity Bancorp, Inc.      948  
  3,568      Univest Financial Corp.      95,551  
  25,614      Valley National Bancorp      293,280  
  2,264      Veritex Holdings, Inc.      65,950  
  2,567      Washington Trust Bancorp      138,079  
  830      Webster Financial Corp.      44,289  
  127      Wellesley Bank      5,716  
  7,260      WesBanco, Inc.      274,355  
  2,380      West Bancorp      60,999  
  3,781      Westamerica Bancorp      256,238  
  256      Western Alliance Bancorp      14,592  
  2,797      Wintrust Financial Corp.      198,307  
     

 

 

 
        21,965,102  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Beverages (0.4%):       
  547      Boston Beer Co., Inc. (The), Class A*    $ 206,684  
  1,011      Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc.      287,175  
  1,920      Craft Brewers Alliance, Inc.*      31,680  
  2,640      MGP Ingredients, Inc.      127,908  
  634      National Beverage Corp.*^      32,347  
  1,846      Primo Water Corp.*      20,721  
  985      Willamette Valley Vineyards, Inc.*      6,826  
     

 

 

 
        713,341  
     

 

 

 
Biotechnology (1.7%):       
  838      Abeona Therapeutics, Inc.*      2,740  
  8,857      Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      53,408  
  4,449      Acorda Therapeutics, Inc.*      9,076  
  1,123      Aduro Biotech, Inc.*      1,325  
  3,308      Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc.*      38,108  
  1,728      Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      82,512  
  1,550      Akebia Therapeutics, Inc.*      9,796  
  473      Albireo Pharma, Inc.*      12,024  
  2,647      Alkermes plc*      53,999  
  1,397      AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*^      17,001  
  6,621      Amicus Therapeutics, Inc.*      64,489  
  1,103      Applied Genetic Technologies Corp.*      4,986  
  3,101      Ardelyx, Inc.*      23,273  
  1,538      Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      69,856  
  1,412      Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc.*      23,256  
  1,202      Audentes Therapeutics, Inc.*      71,928  
  804      Avrobio, Inc.*      16,185  
  1,280      Biospecifics Technologies Corp.*      72,883  
  221      Bluebird Bio, Inc.*      19,393  
  4,360      Calithera Biosciences, Inc.*      24,896  
  1,053      Catalyst Biosciences, Inc.*      7,171  
  2,202      ChemoCentryx, Inc.*      87,089  
  10,291      Chimerix, Inc.*      20,891  
  1,046      Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      9,649  
  1,877      CRISPR Therapeutics AG*      114,319  
  992      Cytomx Therapeutics, Inc.*      8,244  
  577      Eagle Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      34,666  
  3,366      Emergent Biosolutions, Inc.*      181,595  
  2,302      Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      142,218  
  2,852      Fibrogen, Inc.*      122,322  
  2,224      Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc.*      10,208  
  1,199      Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc.*      95,309  
  1,738      Glycomimetics Industries*      9,194  
  592      ImmuCell Corp.*      3,049  
  2,155      Intellia Therapeutics, Inc.*      31,614  
  1,649      Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc.*      45,644  
  956      Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      12,724  
  3,800      Jounce Therapeutics, Inc.*      33,174  
  2,769      Kindred Biosciences, Inc.*      23,481  
  2,093      Kura Oncology, Inc.*      28,779  
  742      Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Class B*      77,383  
  1,612      Macrogenics, Inc.*      17,539  
  900      MediciNova, Inc.*      6,066  
  1,300      Minerva Neurosciences, Inc.*      9,243  
  514      Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      10,141  
  7,827      Myriad Genetics, Inc.*      213,128  
  687      ObsEva SA*      2,624  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Biotechnology, continued       
  19,735      OPKO Health, Inc.*^    $ 29,010  
  14,857      PDL BioPharma, Inc.*      48,211  
  1,429      Pfenex, Inc.*      15,690  
  4,400      Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      22,396  
  2,626      Prothena Corp. plc*      41,570  
  580      PTC Therapeutics, Inc.*      27,857  
  1,892      Repligen Corp.*      175,009  
  3,247      Retrophin, Inc.*      46,107  
  506      Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      11,618  
  1,925      Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      4,120  
  853      Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      19,414  
  2,359      Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc.*      19,745  
  1,670      Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      6,079  
  1,000      Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      8,780  
  905      Syros Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      6,254  
  2,094      Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical, Inc.*      89,435  
  2,009      United Therapeutics Corp.*      176,952  
  889      Vericel Corp.*      15,469  
  1,909      Xencor, Inc.*      65,651  
     

 

 

 
        2,857,965  
     

 

 

 
Building Products (2.0%):       
  6,894      AAON, Inc.      340,633  
  5,005      Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc.      194,394  
  2,371      American Woodmark Corp.*      247,793  
  3,577      Apogee Enterprises, Inc.      116,253  
  3,226      Armstrong Flooring, Inc.*      13,775  
  4,820      Armstrong World Industries, Inc.      452,936  
  14,981      Builders FirstSource, Inc.*      380,667  
  1,725      Continental Building Products, Inc.*      62,842  
  308      Continental Materials Corp.*      2,421  
  3,446      Cornerstone Building Brands, Inc.*      29,325  
  815      Csw Industrials, Inc.      62,755  
  1,117      Gibraltar Industries, Inc.*      56,341  
  2,794      Insteel Industries, Inc.      60,043  
  3,571      Patrick Industries, Inc.      187,228  
  7,162      PGT Innovations, Inc.*      106,785  
  4,793      Quanex Building Products Corp.      81,864  
  1,305      Resideo Technologies, Inc.*      15,569  
  5,332      Simpson Manufacturing Co., Inc.      427,787  
  4,263      Trex Co., Inc.*      383,158  
  2,113      Universal Forest Products, Inc.      100,790  
     

 

 

 
        3,323,359  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (1.7%):       
  2,080      Affiliated Managers Group, Inc.      176,259  
  3,202      Artisan Partners Asset Management, Inc., Class A      103,489  
  3,253      BGC Partners, Inc., Class A      19,323  
  1,300      Blucora, Inc.*      33,982  
  5,851      Brightsphere Investment Group, Inc.      59,797  
  6,403      Cohen & Steers, Inc.      401,853  
  473      Diamond Hill Investment Group      66,438  
  2,638      Donnelley Financial Solutions, Inc.*      27,620  
  834      Eaton Vance Corp.      38,939  
  7,007      Federated Investors, Inc., Class B      228,358  
  8,015      Gain Capital Holdings, Inc.^      31,659  
  1,776      GAMCO Investors, Inc., Class A      34,614  
  3,795      Greenhill & Co., Inc.      64,819  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Capital Markets, continued       
  537      Hamilton Lane, Inc.    $ 32,005  
  211      Hennessy Advisors, Inc.      2,127  
  1,116      Houlihan Lokey, Inc.      54,539  
  2,999      Interactive Brokers Group, Inc., Class A      139,813  
  2,101      INTL FCStone, Inc.*      102,592  
  4,175      Janus Henderson Group plc      102,079  
  18,721      Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services, Inc.      65,149  
  4,777      Lazard, Ltd., Class A      190,889  
  3,606      Legg Mason, Inc.      129,491  
  2,775      Manning & Napier, Inc.      4,829  
  2,069      Moelis & Co., Class A      66,042  
  1,741      Oppenheimer Holdings, Class A      47,843  
  284      Piper Jaffray Cos., Inc.      22,703  
  1,718      PJT Partners, Inc.      77,533  
  2,624      Pzena Investment Management, Inc.      22,619  
  3,824      Safeguard Scientifics, Inc.      41,988  
  1,619      Silvercrest Asset Management Group, Inc., Class A      20,367  
  3,787      Stifel Financial Corp.      229,682  
  207      Value Line, Inc.      5,984  
  4,653      Virtu Financial, Inc., Class A      74,401  
  493      Virtus Investment Partners, Inc.      60,008  
  1,478      Westwood Holdings, Inc.      43,778  
  14,884      WisdomTree Investments, Inc.      72,039  
     

 

 

 
        2,895,650  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (2.8%):       
  1,064      Advanced Emmissions Solutions^      11,172  
  3,852      AdvanSix, Inc.*      76,886  
  1,429      Agrofresh Solutions, Inc.*      3,687  
  4,305      American Vanguard Corp.      83,818  
  1,186      Ashland Global Holdings, Inc.      90,765  
  3,963      Balchem Corp.      402,761  
  3,659      Cabot Corp.      173,876  
  1,192      Chase Corp.      141,228  
  5,193      Chemours Co. (The)      93,941  
  1,403      Core Molding Technologies, Inc.*      4,560  
  18,384      Element Solutions, Inc.*      214,725  
  2,886      Ferro Corp.*      42,799  
  2,318      Flotek Industries, Inc.*      4,636  
  7,277      Futurefuel Corp.      90,162  
  3,321      GCP Applied Technologies, Inc.*      75,420  
  5,688      H.B. Fuller Co.      293,330  
  1,335      Hawkins, Inc.      61,156  
  3,581      Huntsman Corp.      86,517  
  1,769      Ingevity Corp.*      154,575  
  2,429      Innophos Holdings, Inc.      77,679  
  3,040      Innospec, Inc.      314,459  
  14,475      Intrepid Potash, Inc.*      39,227  
  1,147      Koppers Holdings, Inc.*      43,838  
  4,651      Kraton Corp.*      117,763  
  6,883      Kronos Worldwide, Inc.      92,232  
  4,373      LSB Industries, Inc.*      18,367  
  4,709      Minerals Technologies, Inc.      271,380  
  1,786      Northern Technologies International Corp.      25,111  
  9,710      Olin Corp.      167,498  
  6,607      Omnova Solutions, Inc.*      66,797  
  3,797      PolyOne Corp.      139,692  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Chemicals, continued       
  1,916      PQ Group Holdings, Inc.*    $ 32,917  
  339      Quaker Chemical Corp.      55,772  
  5,893      Rayonier Advanced Materials, Inc.      22,629  
  1,058      Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. (The)      112,338  
  1,833      Sensient Technologies Corp.      121,143  
  2,776      Stepan Co.      284,373  
  3,421      Trecora Resources*      24,460  
  1,788      Tredegar Corp.      39,962  
  2,135      Trinseo SA      79,443  
  10,917      Tronox Holdings plc, Class A      124,672  
  10,237      Valvoline, Inc.      219,174  
  2,972      Venator Materials plc*      11,383  
  3,305      W.R. Grace & Co.      230,854  
     

 

 

 
        4,839,177  
     

 

 

 
Commercial Services & Supplies (3.5%):       
  6,854      ABM Industries, Inc.      258,464  
  11,413      ACCO Brands Corp.      106,826  
  675      Acme United Corp.      16,058  
  462      Advanced Disposal Services, Inc.*      15,186  
  1,580      AMREP Corp.*      9,448  
  8,754      ARC Document Solutions, Inc.*      12,168  
  6,288      Brady Corp., Class A      360,051  
  4,155      Brink’s Co. (The)      376,775  
  6,301      Casella Waste Systems, Inc.*      290,035  
  5,965      CECO Environmental Corp.*      45,692  
  2,582      Cimpress plc*      324,737  
  5,239      Civeo Corp.*      6,758  
  2,332      Clean Harbors, Inc.*      199,969  
  325      CompX International, Inc.      4,742  
  17,319      Covanta Holding Corp.      257,014  
  1,356      Deluxe Corp.      67,692  
  535      Ecology and Environment, Inc., Class A      8,293  
  1,100      Ennis, Inc.      23,815  
  3,351      Healthcare Services Group, Inc.      81,496  
  7,474      Herman Miller, Inc.      311,292  
  5,553      HNI Corp.      208,015  
  8,025      Interface, Inc.      133,135  
  5,879      Kimball International, Inc., Class B      121,519  
  6,368      Knoll, Inc.      160,856  
  4,144      Matthews International Corp., Class A      158,176  
  3,355      McGrath Rentcorp      256,792  
  5,478      Mobile Mini, Inc.      207,671  
  2,856      MSA Safety, Inc.      360,884  
  2,566      NL Industries, Inc.*      10,033  
  2,198      Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc.*      20,002  
  3,566      PICO Holdings, Inc.*      39,654  
  4,293      Pitney Bowes, Inc.      17,301  
  5,379      Quad Graphics, Inc.      25,120  
  8,004      RR Donnelley & Sons Co.      31,616  
  3,028      SP Plus Corp.*      128,478  
  11,600      Steelcase, Inc., Class A      237,336  
  1,542      Stericycle, Inc.*      98,395  
  5,115      Team, Inc.*      81,687  
  5,737      Tetra Tech, Inc.      494,299  
  1,723      UniFirst Corp.      348,012  
  3,000      US Ecology, Inc.      173,730  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Commercial Services & Supplies, continued       
  3,364      Virco Manufacturing Co.*    $ 14,263  
  1,477      Vse Corp.      56,185  
     

 

 

 
        6,159,670  
     

 

 

 
Communications Equipment (1.0%):       
  620      Acacia Communications, Inc.*      42,042  
  5,938      ADTRAN, Inc.      58,727  
  1,444      Applied Optoelectronics, Inc.*^      17,155  
  900      BK Technologies Corp.      2,790  
  4,095      CalAmp Corp.*      39,230  
  7,919      Calix, Inc.*      63,352  
  3,508      Casa Systems, Inc.*      14,348  
  980      Clearfield, Inc.*      13,661  
  3,616      ClearOne, Inc.*      6,003  
  1,300      CommScope Holding Co., Inc.*      18,447  
  316      Communications Systems, Inc.      1,950  
  2,902      Comtech Telecommunications Corp.      102,992  
  2,559      Digi International, Inc.*      45,345  
  1,076      EchoStar Corp., Class A*      46,602  
  6,028      EMCORE Corp.*      18,325  
  5,946      Extreme Networks, Inc.*      43,822  
  12,360      Harmonic, Inc.*      96,408  
  6,890      Infinera Corp.*      54,707  
  3,253      InterDigital, Inc.      177,256  
  3,225      KVH Industries, Inc.*      35,894  
  2,394      Lumentum Holdings, Inc.*      189,843  
  3,305      NETGEAR, Inc.*      81,006  
  7,359      NetScout Systems, Inc.*      177,131  
  2,391      Network-1 Technologies, Inc.      5,212  
  131      Optical Cable Corp.*      426  
  300      Plantronics, Inc.      8,202  
  7,260      Ribbon Communications, Inc.*      22,506  
  1,633      ViaSat, Inc.*      119,527  
  8,844      Viavi Solutions, Inc.*      132,660  
     

 

 

 
        1,635,569  
     

 

 

 
Construction & Engineering (1.1%):  
  524      Aegion Corp.*      11,722  
  4,275      Ameresco, Inc., Class A*      74,813  
  1,970      Argan, Inc.      79,076  
  5,217      Comfort Systems USA, Inc.      260,067  
  4,203      Dycom Industries, Inc.*      198,171  
  1,499      EMCOR Group, Inc.      129,364  
  4,959      Granite Construction, Inc.^      137,216  
  2,621      Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co.*      29,696  
  1,979      IES Holdings, Inc.*      50,781  
  2,037      MasTec, Inc.*      130,694  
  2,719      MYR Group, Inc.*      88,612  
  1,479      Northwest Pipe Co.*      49,265  
  1,180      NV5 Global, Inc.*      59,531  
  5,203      Orion Group Holdings, Inc.*      27,004  
  1,563      Primoris Services Corp.      34,761  
  3,151      Sterling Construction Co., Inc.*      44,366  
  4,317      The Goldfield Corp.*      15,325  
  1,290      Tutor Perini Corp.*      16,589  
  2,416      Valmont Industries, Inc.      361,869  
     

 

 

 
        1,798,922  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Construction Materials (0.2%):  
  1,180      Eagle Materials, Inc., Class A    $ 106,978  
  4,132      Summit Materials, Inc., Class A*      98,755  
  2,142      U.S. Concrete, Inc.*      89,236  
  720      U.S. Lime & Minerals, Inc.      65,016  
     

 

 

 
        359,985  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (1.0%):  
  195      Asta Funding, Inc.*      2,014  
  2,191      Atlanticus Holdings Corp.*      19,741  
  5,088      Consumer Portfolio Services, Inc.*      17,147  
  1,481      Curo Group Holdings Corp.*      18,039  
  3,868      Encore Capital Group, Inc.*      136,772  
  5,261      Enova International, Inc.*      126,580  
  8,075      EZCORP, Inc., Class A*      55,072  
  5,168      Firstcash, Inc.      416,695  
  3,061      Green Dot Corp., Class A*      71,321  
  2,159      LendingClub Corp.*      27,247  
  14,462      Navient Corp.      197,840  
  3,433      Nelnet, Inc., Class A      199,938  
  1,556      Nicholas Financial, Inc.*      12,821  
  1,671      Onemain Holdings, Inc.      70,433  
  5,326      PRA Group, Inc.*      193,334  
  1,376      Regional Mgmt Corp.*      41,321  
  1,278      SLM Corp.      11,387  
  1,276      World Acceptance Corp.*      110,246  
     

 

 

 
        1,727,948  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (0.5%):  
  11,072      Graphic Packaging Holding Co.      184,349  
  3,300      Greif, Inc., Class A      145,860  
  1,290      Greif, Inc., Class B      66,783  
  5,009      Myers Industries, Inc.      83,550  
  7,172      O-I Glass, Inc.      85,562  
  4,885      Silgan Holdings, Inc.      151,826  
  1,332      UFP Technologies, Inc.*      66,081  
     

 

 

 
        784,011  
     

 

 

 
Distributors (0.1%):  
  12      AMCON Distributing Co.      864  
  4,993      Core Markt Holdngs Co., Inc.      135,759  
  1,626      Educational Development Corp.      10,049  
  1,655      Weyco Group, Inc.      43,775  
     

 

 

 
        190,447  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Consumer Services (0.9%):  
  5,521      Adtalem Global Education, Inc.*      193,069  
  2,153      American Public Education, Inc.*      58,971  
  8,806      Career Education Corp.*      161,942  
  2,338      Carriage Services, Inc.      59,853  
  1,667      Collectors Universe, Inc.      38,424  
  3,371      Frontdoor, Inc.*      159,853  
  271      Graham Holdings Co., Class B      173,166  
  624      Grand Canyon Education, Inc.*      59,773  
  6,370      Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co.*      39,813  
  5,615      K12, Inc.*      114,265  
  1,977      Laureate Education, Inc.*      34,815  
  2,561      Regis Corp.*      45,765  
  496      ServiceMaster Global Holdings, Inc.*      19,175  
  1,112      Strategic Education, Inc.      176,697  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Diversified Consumer Services, continued  
  5,156      Universal Technical Institute, Inc.*    $ 39,753  
  2,647      WW International, Inc.*      101,142  
  3,362      Zovio, Inc.*      6,926  
     

 

 

 
        1,483,402  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (0.1%):  
  1,727      Cannae Holdings, Inc.*      64,227  
  1,617      Marlin Business Services, Inc.      35,542  
  3,296      On Deck Capital, Inc.*      13,645  
     

 

 

 
        113,414  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (0.7%):  
  679      Anterix, Inc.*      29,340  
  1,599      ATN International, Inc.      88,569  
  8,538      Cincinnati Bell, Inc.*      89,393  
  5,915      Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc.      389,266  
  5,491      Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc.      21,305  
  4,115      IDT Corp.*      29,669  
  6,073      Intelsat S.A.*      42,693  
  13,452      Iridium Communications, Inc.*      331,457  
  8,713      Orbcomm, Inc.*      36,682  
  13,169      Vonage Holdings Corp.*      97,582  
     

 

 

 
        1,155,956  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (1.2%):  
  3,264      ALLETE, Inc.      264,939  
  5,690      El Paso Electric Co.      386,293  
  3,043      Genie Energy, Ltd., Class B      23,522  
  4,044      Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.      189,502  
  191      IDA Corp., Inc.      20,399  
  4,330      MGE Energy, Inc.      341,291  
  5,364      Otter Tail Corp.      275,120  
  7,610      PNM Resources, Inc.      385,903  
  2,371      Portland General Electric Co.      132,278  
     

 

 

 
        2,019,247  
     

 

 

 
Electrical Equipment (1.1%):       
  1,259      Allied Motion Technologies, Inc.      61,062  
  634      Atkore International Group, Inc.*      25,652  
  2,918      AZZ, Inc.      134,082  
  2,210      Encore Wire Corp.      126,854  
  5,188      EnerSys      388,218  
  5,430      Enphase Energy, Inc.*^      141,886  
  411      Espey Manufacturing & Electronics Corp.      8,878  
  2,346      Generac Holdings, Inc.*      235,984  
  7,970      GrafTech International, Ltd.      92,611  
  4,534      LSI Industries, Inc.      27,431  
  515      nVent Electric plc      13,174  
  53      Pioneer Power Solutions, Inc.      120  
  569      Powell Industries, Inc.      27,875  
  864      Preformed Line Products Co.      52,142  
  3,194      Regal-Beloit Corp.      273,438  
  75      Servotronics, Inc.      755  
  5,025      Thermon Group Holdings, Inc.*      134,670  
  3,104      Ultralife Corp.*      22,939  
  320      Vicor Corp.*      14,950  
  5,942      Vivint Solar, Inc.*^      43,139  
     

 

 

 
        1,825,860  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (3.5%):       
  2,011      ADDvantage Technologies Group, Inc.*    $ 4,947  
  3,997      Anixter International, Inc.*      368,124  
  6,544      Arlo Technologies, Inc.*      27,550  
  373      Avnet, Inc.      15,830  
  12,822      AVX Corp.      262,466  
  3,861      Badger Meter, Inc.      250,695  
  254      Bel Fuse, Inc., Class A      4,064  
  1,595      Bel Fuse, Inc., Class B      32,698  
  1,972      Belden, Inc.      108,460  
  896      Benchmark Electronics, Inc.      30,787  
  807      Coherent, Inc.*      134,244  
  6,442      Daktronics, Inc.      39,232  
  1,365      Data I/O Corp.*      5,719  
  4,550      Fabrinet*      295,021  
  1,853      FARO Technologies, Inc.*      93,299  
  5,586      Fitbit, Inc., Class A*      36,700  
  640      Frequency Electronics, Inc.*      6,534  
  646      IEC Electronics Corp.*      5,872  
  6,190      II-VI, Inc.*      208,417  
  1,303      Insight Enterprises, Inc.*      91,588  
  3,899      Itron, Inc.*      327,321  
  3,461      Jabil, Inc.      143,043  
  8,386      KEMET Corp.      226,841  
  2,556      Kimball Electronics, Inc.*      44,858  
  10,286      Knowles Corp.*      217,549  
  187      Littlelfuse, Inc.      35,773  
  450      Mesa Labs, Inc.      112,230  
  4,775      Methode Electronics, Inc., Class A      187,896  
  2,201      MTS Systems Corp.      105,714  
  2,608      Napco Security Technologies, Inc.*      76,649  
  4,365      Novanta, Inc.*      386,040  
  2,432      OSI Systems, Inc.*      245,000  
  1,908      PAR Technology Corp.*^      58,652  
  400      PC Connection, Inc.      19,864  
  1,875      Perceptron, Inc.*      10,313  
     

 

 

 
  3,488      Plexus Corp.*      268,367  
     

 

 

 
  1,727      RF Industries, Ltd.      11,675  
  2,291      Rogers Corp.*      285,756  
  8,103      Sanmina Corp.*      277,447  
  3,045      ScanSource, Inc.*      112,513  
  1,494      SYNNEX Corp.      192,427  
  1,738      Tech Data Corp.*      249,577  
  12,240      TTM Technologies, Inc.*      184,212  
  7,410      Vishay Intertechnology, Inc.      157,759  
  989      Wayside Technology Group, Inc.      16,022  
  3,952      Wireless Telecom Group, Inc.*      5,651  
     

 

 

 
        5,981,396  
     

 

 

 
Energy Equipment & Services (1.3%):       
  3,788      Apergy Corp.*      127,959  
  5,088      Archrock, Inc.      51,084  
  1,261      Basic Energy Services, Inc.*      334  
  2,978      Cactus, Inc., Class A      102,205  
  1,217      Core Laboratories NV      45,844  
  1,457      Dawson Geophysical Co.*      3,497  
  4,461      Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc.*^      32,075  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Energy Equipment & Services, continued       
  3,587      Dril-Quip, Inc.*    $ 168,265  
  3,837      Era Group, Inc.*      39,022  
  4,307      Exterran Corp.*      33,724  
  12,451      Forum Energy Technologies, Inc.*      20,918  
  3,592      Frank’s International NV*      18,571  
  2,906      FTS International, Inc.*      3,022  
  1,260      Geospace Technologies Corp.*      21,130  
  2,641      Gulf Island Fabrication, Inc.*      13,390  
  7,520      Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc.*      72,418  
  4,571      Helmerich & Payne, Inc.      207,660  
  749      Ion Geophysical*      6,501  
  2,658      KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc.*      17,118  
  595      Mammoth Energy Services, Inc.      1,309  
  4,480      Matrix Service Co.*      102,502  
  12,642      McDermott International, Inc.*^      8,554  
  24,731      Nabors Industries, Ltd.      71,225  
  2,316      Natural Gas Services Group*      28,394  
  11,883      Newpark Resources, Inc.*      74,506  
  6,877      NexTier Oilfield Solutions, Inc.*      46,076  
  885      Nine Energy Service, Inc.*      6,921  
  18,346      Noble Corp. plc*      22,382  
  10,150      Oceaneering International, Inc.*      151,337  
  3,039      Oil States International, Inc.*      49,566  
  14,429      Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc.      151,504  
  2,252      Propetro Holding Corp.*      25,335  
  1,757      Rignet, Inc.*      11,596  
  4,432      RPC, Inc.^      23,224  
  1,148      SEACOR Holdings, Inc.*      49,536  
  1,598      SEACOR Marine Holdings, Inc.*      22,036  
  1,229      Select Energy Services, Inc.*      11,405  
  1,537      Solaris Oilfield Infrastructure, Inc.      21,518  
  5,480      TETRA Technologies, Inc.*      10,741  
  1,075      Tidewater, Inc.*      20,726  
  20,620      Transocean, Ltd.*      141,866  
  5,730      U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc.      35,240  
  3,954      Unit Corp.*      2,750  
  16,905      Valaris plc^      110,896  
     

 

 

 
        2,185,882  
     

 

 

 
Entertainment (0.4%):       
  3,922      AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc., Class A^      28,395  
  2,527      Ballantyne Strong, Inc.*      8,187  
  2,242      Eros International plc*^      7,600  
  4,000      Glu Mobile, Inc.*      24,200  
  1,045      Imax Corp.*      21,349  
  783      Liberty Braves Group, Class A*      23,216  
  1,784      Liberty Braves Group, Class C*      52,699  
  3,297      Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., Class A*      35,146  
  5,341      Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., Class B*      53,036  
  870      Marcus Corp.      27,640  
  2,715      Reading International, Inc., Class A*      30,381  
  700      Rosetta Stone, Inc.*      12,698  
  951      World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., Class A^      61,692  
  49,054      Zynga, Inc.*      300,211  
     

 

 

 
        686,450  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

10


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Food & Staples Retailing (0.7%):  
  5,839      BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc.*    $ 132,780  
  224      Casey’s General Stores, Inc.      35,614  
  1,910      Ingles Markets, Inc., Class A      90,744  
  4,259      Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc.      42,036  
  4,226      Performance Food Group Co.*      217,555  
  4,174      PriceSmart, Inc.      296,438  
  305      Rite Aid Corp.*^      4,718  
  2,176      SpartanNash Co.      30,986  
  3,641      Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc.*      70,453  
  1,576      The Andersons, Inc.      39,841  
  3,260      The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc.*      124,239  
  3,444      United Natural Foods, Inc.*      30,169  
  1,832      Village Super Market, Inc., Class A      42,502  
  2,676      Weis Markets, Inc.      108,351  
     

 

 

 
        1,266,426  
     

 

 

 
Food Products (1.6%):  
  8,875      B&G Foods, Inc.^      159,129  
  2,290      Calavo Growers, Inc.      207,451  
  3,684      Cal-Maine Foods, Inc.      157,491  
  1,318      Coffee Holding Co., Inc.*      6,063  
  11,242      Darling Ingredients, Inc.*      315,675  
  13,942      Dean Foods Co.*      837  
  2,411      Farmer Brothers Co.*      36,310  
  2,122      Flowers Foods, Inc.      46,132  
  1,800      Fresh Del Monte Produce, Inc.      62,964  
  300      Freshpet, Inc.*      17,727  
  4,577      Hostess Brands, Inc.*      66,550  
  1,810      J & J Snack Foods Corp.      333,529  
  470      John B Sanfilippo And Son, Inc.      42,902  
  1,773      Lancaster Colony Corp.      283,857  
  2,754      Landec Corp.*      31,148  
  2,175      Limoneira Co.      41,825  
  1,220      Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Inc.      11,261  
  2,474      Sanderson Farms, Inc.      435,967  
  927      Seneca Foods Corp., Class A*      37,812  
  12      Seneca Foods Corp., Class B*      492  
  1,600      Simply Good Foods Co. (The)*      45,664  
  4,416      Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc.^      150,762  
  3,670      TreeHouse Foods, Inc.*      177,995  
     

 

 

 
        2,669,543  
     

 

 

 
Gas Utilities (1.0%):  
  2,159      Chesapeake Utilities Corp.      206,897  
  3,578      National Fuel Gas Co.      166,520  
  5,705      New Jersey Resources Corp.      254,272  
  2,904      Northwest Natural Holding Co.      214,112  
  1,560      ONE Gas, Inc.      145,969  
  118      RGC Resources, Inc.      3,372  
  7,843      South Jersey Industries, Inc.      258,662  
  1,833      Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc.      139,253  
  4,117      Spire, Inc.      342,988  
     

 

 

 
        1,732,045  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (2.2%):  
  6,691      Accuray, Inc.*      18,869  
  5,021      AngioDynamics, Inc.*      80,386  
  1,709      Anika Therapeutics, Inc.*      88,612  
  263      Atrion Corp.      197,645  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Health Care Equipment & Supplies, continued  
  4,568      Avanos Medical, Inc.*    $ 153,942  
  1,300      Axogen, Inc.*      23,257  
  2,329      Cantel Medical Corp.      165,126  
  1,804      CONMED Corp.      201,740  
  3,805      CryoLife, Inc.*      103,077  
  1,118      Elctromed, Inc.*      9,671  
  427      Fonar Corp.*      8,408  
  2,687      Globus Medical, Inc., Class A*      158,211  
  420      Haemonetics Corp.*      48,258  
  608      Heska Corp.*      58,332  
  439      ICU Medical, Inc.*      82,146  
  1,629      Inogen, Inc.*      111,310  
  3,276      Integer Holdings Corp.*      263,488  
  1,200      Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp.*      69,936  
  199      IntriCon Corp.*      3,582  
  4,509      Invacare Corp.      40,671  
  850      iRadimed Corp.*      19,873  
  2,006      IRIDEX Corp.*      4,493  
  249      Kewaunee Scientific CP      3,349  
  3,514      Lantheus Holdings, Inc.*      72,072  
  2,690      LeMaitre Vascular, Inc.      96,706  
  1,108      LivaNova plc*      83,576  
  6,577      Meridian Bioscience, Inc.      64,257  
  5,338      Merit Medical Systems, Inc.*      166,652  
  3,498      Natus Medical, Inc.*      115,399  
  2,746      Neogen Corp.*      179,204  
  4,707      NuVasive, Inc.*      364,038  
  3,020      Nuvectra Corp.*      287  
  6,333      OraSure Technologies, Inc.*      50,854  
  1,884      Orthofix Medical, Inc.*      87,003  
  574      Orthopediatrics Corp.*      26,972  
  1,629      Quidel Corp.*      122,224  
  10,930      RTI Surgical, Inc.*      29,948  
  2,363      SeaSpine Holdings Corp.*      28,380  
  2,000      Sientra, Inc.*      17,880  
  1,450      Surmodics, Inc.*      60,074  
  277      TransEnterix, Inc.*      407  
  554      Utah Medical Products, Inc.      59,777  
  626      Varex Imaging Corp.*      18,661  
  7,300      Wright Medical Group NV*      222,504  
     

 

 

 
        3,781,257  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (2.8%):  
  6,333      Acadia Healthcare Co., Inc.*      210,382  
  1,470      Addus HomeCare Corp.*      142,913  
  2,954      Amedisys, Inc.*      493,083  
  1,150      American Renal Associates Holdings, Inc.*      11,926  
  5,781      AMN Healthcare Services, Inc.*      360,214  
  3,573      BioTelemetry, Inc.*      165,430  
  12,012      Brookdale Senior Living, Inc.*      87,327  
  3,946      Capital Senior Living Corp.*      12,193  
  5,249      Community Health Systems, Inc.*      15,222  
  2,726      CorVel Corp.*      238,143  
  1,032      Covetrus, Inc.*^      13,622  
  2,958      Cross Country Healthcare, Inc.*      34,372  
  2,588      Diplomat Pharmacy, Inc.*      10,352  
  6,408      Ensign Group, Inc. (The)      290,731  
  190      Five Star Senior Living, Inc.*      705  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

11


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Health Care Providers & Services, continued  
  1,259      Hanger, Inc.*    $ 34,761  
  1,605      HealthEquity, Inc.*      118,882  
  3,529      InfuSystems Holdings, Inc.*      30,102  
  3,061      LHC Group, Inc.*      421,684  
  2,287      Magellan Health, Inc.*      178,958  
  6,017      MEDNAX, Inc.*      167,212  
  1,646      National Healthcare Corp.      142,264  
  2,600      National Research Corp.      171,444  
  5,327      Option Care Health, Inc.*      19,870  
  7,794      Owens & Minor, Inc.      40,295  
  3,316      Patterson Cos., Inc.      67,912  
  1,065      Petiq, Inc.*^      26,678  
  1,671      Providence Service Corp.*      98,890  
  1,080      Psychemedics Corp.      9,882  
  6,913      RadNet, Inc.*      140,334  
  18,186      Select Medical Holdings Corp.*      424,462  
  1,331      Surgery Partners, Inc.*      20,837  
  5,780      Tenet Healthcare Corp.*      219,813  
  3,204      The Pennant Group, Inc.*      105,956  
  1,697      Tivity Health, Inc.*      34,525  
  3,562      Triple-S Management Corp., Class B*      65,861  
  1,714      U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc.      195,996  
     

 

 

 
        4,823,233  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Technology (0.6%):       
  15,998      Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc.*      157,020  
  3,434      Castlight Health, Inc., Class B*      4,567  
  2,108      Computer Programs & Systems, Inc.      55,651  
  564      Evolent Health, Inc., Class A*      5,104  
  2,627      HealthStream, Inc.*      71,454  
  5,891      HMS Holdings Corp.*      174,374  
  1,027      Inovalon Holdings, Inc., Class A*      19,328  
  558      Micron Solutions, Inc.*      1,334  
  8,396      NextGen Healthcare, Inc.*      134,924  
  3,783      Omnicell, Inc.*      309,147  
  2,026      Simulations Plus, Inc.      58,896  
  364      Teladoc Health, Inc.*^      30,474  
  1,266      Vocera Communications, Inc.*      26,282  
     

 

 

 
        1,048,555  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (2.9%):       
  1,724      BBQ Holdings, Inc.*      6,775  
  4,748      BBX Capital Corp.      22,648  
  3      Biglari Holdings, Inc., Class A*      1,800  
  168      Biglari Holdings, Inc., Class B*      19,223  
  2,915      BJ’s Restaurants, Inc.      110,653  
  12,557      Bloomin’ Brands, Inc.      277,133  
  2,784      Brinker International, Inc.      116,928  
  4,497      Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc.*      31,704  
  4,585      Century Casinos, Inc.*      36,313  
  6,259      Cheesecake Factory, Inc. (The)      243,225  
  1,550      Choice Hotels International, Inc.^      160,317  
  1,082      Churchill Downs, Inc.      148,450  
  2,799      Chuy’s Holdings, Inc.*      72,550  
  1,266      Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc.      194,635  
  3,275      Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc.      131,557  
  2,980      Del Taco Restaurants, Inc.*      23,557  
  7,674      Denny’s Corp.*      152,559  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure, continued       
  495      Dine Brands Global, Inc.    $ 41,342  
  3,712      Dover Motorsports, Inc.      6,904  
  3,973      Drive Shack, Inc.*      14,541  
  2,394      El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc.*      36,245  
  2,468      Eldorado Resorts, Inc.*      147,192  
  1,759      Extended Stay America, Inc.      26,139  
  4,357      Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc.*      43,091  
  378      Flanigan’s Enterprises, Inc.      8,369  
  608      Habit Restaurants, Inc. (The), Class A*      6,341  
  2,816      Hilton Grand Vacations, Inc.*      96,842  
  4,444      International Game Technology plc      66,527  
  3,548      Jack in the Box, Inc.      276,850  
  2,108      Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc.*      34,466  
  5,681      Luby’s, Inc.*      12,498  
  2,755      Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corp.      354,735  
  597      Nathans Famous, Inc.      42,315  
  1,669      Noodles & Co.*      9,246  
  4,423      Papa John’s International, Inc.      279,312  
  4,883      Penn National Gaming, Inc.*      124,809  
  1,446      Playa Hotels & Resorts NV*      12,146  
  1,540      Playags, Inc.*      18,680  
  3,185      Potbelly Corp.*      13,441  
  3,634      Red Lion Hotels Corp.*      13,555  
  2,030      Red Robin Gourmet Burgers*      67,031  
  662      Red Rock Resorts, Inc.      15,855  
  4,652      Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc.      101,251  
  3,369      Scientific Games Corp., Class A*      90,222  
  3,059      SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc.*      97,001  
  788      Shake Shack, Inc., Class A*      46,941  
  3,391      Six Flags Entertainment Corp.      152,968  
  4,120      Texas Roadhouse, Inc., Class A      232,038  
  4,346      Town Sports International Holdings, Inc.*      7,432  
  9,899      Wendy’s Co. (The)      219,857  
  2,153      Wingstop, Inc.      185,653  
  3,977      Wyndham Destinations, Inc.      205,571  
     

 

 

 
        4,857,433  
     

 

 

 
Household Durables (2.3%):       
  608      Bassett Furniture Industries, Inc.      10,141  
  899      Cavco Industries, Inc.*      175,647  
  2,144      Century Communities, Inc.*      58,638  
  3,024      Dixie Group, Inc. (The)*      3,447  
  4,218      Ethan Allen Interiors, Inc.      80,395  
  820      Flexsteel Industries, Inc.      16,334  
  3,002      Helen of Troy, Ltd.*      539,730  
  670      Hooker Furniture Corp.      17,212  
  2,905      Installed Building Products, Inc.*      200,067  
  3,858      iRobot Corp.*^      195,331  
  9,957      KB Home      341,226  
  1,138      Koss Corp.*      1,753  
  6,113      La-Z-Boy, Inc.      192,437  
  924      LGI Homes, Inc.*      65,281  
  2,522      Lifetime Brands, Inc.      17,528  
  7,014      M.D.C. Holdings, Inc.      267,654  
  4,157      M/I Homes, Inc.*      163,578  
  6,186      Meritage Corp.*      378,026  
  723      P & F Industries, Inc., Class A      4,960  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

12


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Household Durables, continued       
  1,301      Skyline Champion Corp.*    $ 41,242  
  5,672      Taylor Morrison Home Corp., Class A*      123,990  
  2,725      Tempur Sealy International, Inc.*      237,239  
  2,041      TopBuild Corp.*      210,386  
  15,629      TRI Pointe Group, Inc.*      243,500  
  4,563      Tupperware Brands Corp.      39,151  
  1,860      Universal Electronics, Inc.*      97,204  
  4,639      William Lyon Homes, Class A*      92,687  
  4,044      Zagg, Inc.*^      32,797  
     

 

 

 
        3,847,581  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (0.4%):       
  1,115      Central Garden & Pet Co.*      34,643  
  3,036      Central Garden & Pet Co., Class A*      89,137  
  799      Energizer Holdings, Inc.      40,126  
  1,767      Ocean Bio-Chem, Inc.      5,849  
  940      Oil-Dri Corp of America      34,075  
  1,701      Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.      109,357  
  1,660      WD-40 Co.      322,272  
     

 

 

 
        635,459  
     

 

 

 
Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers (0.6%):  
  22,978      Atlantic Power Corp.*      53,539  
  3,027      Atlantica Yield plc      79,883  
  3,724      Clearway Energy, Inc., Class A      71,203  
  5,480      Clearway Energy, Inc., Class C      109,326  
  6,324      Ormat Technologies, Inc.      471,264  
  9,283      Pattern Energy Group, Inc.      248,367  
  4,607      TerraForm Power, Inc., Class A      70,902  
     

 

 

 
        1,104,484  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (0.1%):       
  4,605      Raven Industries, Inc.      158,688  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (2.8%):       
  6,708      AMBAC Financial Group, Inc.*      144,692  
  9,054      American Equity Investment Life Holding Co.      270,985  
  1,653      American National Insurance Co.      194,525  
  2,876      Amerisafe, Inc.      189,902  
  3,498      Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd.      229,994  
  1,079      Assured Guaranty, Ltd.      52,893  
  1,304      Brighthouse Financial, Inc.*      51,156  
  8,209      Citizens, Inc.*      55,411  
  3,445      Crawford & Co.      34,967  
  4,636      Crawford & Co., Class A      53,175  
  2,691      Donegal Group, Inc., Class A      39,881  
  2,004      eHealth, Inc.*      192,544  
  3,106      Employers Holdings, Inc.      129,676  
  797      Enstar Group, Ltd.*      164,867  
  2,839      FBL Financial Group, Inc., Class A      167,302  
  2,111      FedNat Holding Co.      35,106  
  10,826      Genworth Financial, Inc., Class A*      47,634  
  1,050      Global Indemnity, Ltd.      31,112  
  301      Goosehead Insurance, Inc.^      12,762  
  3,055      Greenlight Capital Re, Ltd.*      30,886  
  1,752      Hallmark Financial Services, Inc.*      30,783  
  1,470      HCI Group, Inc.      67,106  
  569      Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc.      7,539  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Insurance, continued       
  1,214      Horace Mann Educators Corp.    $ 53,003  
  2,328      Independence Holding Co.      97,962  
  253      Investors Title Co.      40,278  
  941      James River Group Holdings      38,779  
  790      Kemper Corp.      61,225  
  1,473      Kingstone Co., Inc.      11,416  
  1,000      Kinsale Capital Group, Inc.      101,660  
  12,677      Maiden Holdings, Ltd.*      9,508  
  2,967      Mercury General Corp.      144,582  
  4,498      National General Holdings Corp.      99,406  
  386      National Western Life Group, Inc., Class A      112,280  
  927      Primerica, Inc.      121,029  
  5,649      ProAssurance Corp.      204,155  
  180      Protective Insurance Corp.^      2,808  
  4,238      RLI Corp.      381,504  
  513      Safety Insurance Group, Inc.      47,468  
  3,533      Selective Insurance Group, Inc.      230,315  
  4,915      State Auto Financial Corp.      152,463  
  3,277      Stewart Information Services Corp.      133,669  
  204      The National Security Group, Inc.      3,042  
  2,083      Third Point Reinsurance, Ltd.*      21,913  
  2,849      Tiptree, Inc., Class A      23,191  
  748      United Fire Group, Inc.      32,710  
  4,002      United Insurance Holdings Co.      50,465  
  4,549      Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc.      127,327  
  161      White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd.      179,597  
     

 

 

 
        4,716,653  
     

 

 

 
Interactive Media & Services (0.4%):       
  1,722      Care.com, Inc.*      25,882  
  4,376      Cargurus, Inc.*      153,947  
  3,666      Cars.com, Inc.*      44,799  
  6,181      DHI Group, Inc.*      18,605  
  7,846      Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc., Class A*      57,668  
  7,450      QuinStreet, Inc.*      114,060  
  7,131      The Meet Group, Inc. (The)*      35,726  
  2,073      Travelzoo, Inc.*      22,181  
  1,127      TripAdvisor, Inc.      34,238  
  2,459      TrueCar, Inc.*      11,680  
  2,489      Yelp, Inc.*      86,692  
  1,473      Zedge, Inc., Class B*      2,268  
     

 

 

 
        607,746  
     

 

 

 
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail (0.4%):       
  4,886      1-800 Flowers.com, Inc., Class A*      70,847  
  11,534      Groupon, Inc.*      27,566  
  905      Grubhub, Inc.*^      44,019  
  1,300      Lands’ End, Inc.*      21,840  
  3,938      Leaf Group, Ltd.*      15,752  
  3,018      Liquidity Services, Inc.*      17,987  
  3,081      PetMed Express, Inc.^      72,465  
  1,050      Quotient Technology, Inc.*      10,353  
  4,378      Qurate Retail, Inc., Class A*      36,907  
  4,549      Shutterstock, Inc.*      195,061  
  1,086      Stamps.com, Inc.*      90,703  
     

 

 

 
        603,500  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

13


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
IT Services (2.7%):       
  1,081      CACI International, Inc., Class A*    $ 270,239  
  5,955      Cardtronics plc*      265,890  
  1,886      Cass Information Systems, Inc.      108,898  
  11,403      Conduent, Inc.*      70,699  
  4,018      CoreLogic, Inc.*      175,627  
  4,402      CSG Systems International, Inc.      227,936  
  758      CSP, Inc.      9,892  
  4,290      Endurance International Group Holdings, Inc.*      20,163  
  3,668      Evertec, Inc.      124,859  
  3,658      Exlservice Holdings, Inc.*      254,085  
  1,053      Greensky, Inc.*      9,372  
  4,964      GTT Communications, Inc.*^      56,341  
  4,599      Hackett Group, Inc. (The)      74,228  
  439      I3 Verticals, Inc.*      12,402  
  1,786      Internap Corp.*      1,965  
  16,780      KBR, Inc.      511,789  
  18,673      Limelight Networks, Inc.*      76,186  
  6,459      LiveRamp Holdings, Inc.*      310,484  
  2,747      ManTech International Corp., Class A      219,430  
  500      Maximus, Inc.      37,195  
  8,730      NIC, Inc.      195,116  
  862      Paysign, Inc.*^      8,749  
  4,334      Perficient, Inc.*      199,667  
  6,302      Perspecta, Inc.      166,625  
  3,168      PFSweb, Inc.*      12,102  
  4,370      Science Applications International Corp.      380,276  
  8,429      Servicesource International, Inc.*      14,076  
  1,555      StarTek, Inc.*      12,409  
  10,553      Steel Connect, Inc.*      15,407  
  4,608      Sykes Enterprises, Inc.*      170,450  
  4,172      Teradata Corp.*      111,684  
  5,956      TTEC Holdings, Inc.      235,977  
  7,332      Unisys Corp.*      86,958  
  3,309      Virtusa Corp.*      149,997  
     

 

 

 
        4,597,173  
     

 

 

 
Leisure Products (0.3%):       
  1,742      Acushnet Holdings Corp.      56,615  
  8,017      American Outdoor Brands Corp.*      74,398  
  7,292      Callaway Golf Co.      154,589  
  2,916      Escalade, Inc.      28,664  
  2,447      Jakks Pacific, Inc.*      2,520  
  361      Johnson Outdoors, Inc., Class A      27,689  
  1,830      Malibu Boats, Inc.*      74,938  
  2,419      Marine Products Corp.      34,834  
  850      Mastercraft Boat Holdings, Inc.*      13,388  
  4,982      Nautilus Group, Inc.*      8,719  
  7,141      Vista Outdoor, Inc.*      53,415  
     

 

 

 
        529,769  
     

 

 

 
Life Sciences Tools & Services (0.3%):       
  671      Codexis, Inc.*      10,729  
  7,407      Enzo Biochem, Inc.*      19,480  
  7,018      Harvard Bioscience, Inc.*      21,405  
  4,475      Luminex Corp.      103,641  
  1,361      Medpace Holdings, Inc.*      114,406  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Life Sciences Tools & Services, continued       
  4,427      Neogenomics, Inc.*    $ 129,490  
  1,449      Syneos Health, Inc.*      86,179  
     

 

 

 
        485,330  
     

 

 

 
Machinery (5.5%):       
  6,598      Actuant Corp., Class A      171,746  
  1,154      Alamo Group, Inc.      144,885  
  3,730      Albany International Corp., Class A      283,182  
  1,386      Altra Industrial Motion Corp.      50,187  
  806      Art’s-Way Manufacturing Co.*      1,435  
  2,880      Astec Industries, Inc.      120,960  
  6,349      Barnes Group, Inc.      393,383  
  1,115      Blue Bird Corp.*      25,556  
  2,245      Briggs & Stratton Corp.      14,952  
  3,812      Chart Industries, Inc.*      257,272  
  2,359      CIRCOR International, Inc.*      109,080  
  6,302      Colfax Corp.*      229,267  
  3,105      Columbus McKinnon Corp.      124,293  
  5,525      Commercial Vehicle Group, Inc.*      35,084  
  1,676      DMC Global, Inc.      75,319  
  3,020      Douglas Dynamics, Inc.      166,100  
  500      Eastern Co. (The)      15,265  
  2,433      EnPro Industries, Inc.      162,719  
  3,185      ESCO Technologies, Inc.      294,613  
  8,469      Federal Signal Corp.      273,125  
  5,946      Franklin Electric Co., Inc.      340,824  
  2,281      FreightCar America, Inc.*      4,722  
  1,555      Gates Industrial Corp. plc*      21,397  
  1,765      Gencor Industries, Inc.*      20,598  
  3,372      Gorman-Rupp Co. (The)      126,450  
  459      Graham Corp.      10,043  
  10,550      Harsco Corp.*      242,756  
  3,615      Helios Technologies, Inc.      167,121  
  4,010      Hillenbrand, Inc.      133,573  
  785      Hurco Cos, Inc.      30,113  
  1,314      Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc., Class A      77,473  
  3,679      John Bean Technologies Corp.      414,475  
  9,594      Kennametal, Inc.      353,922  
  1,529      L.B. Foster Co., Class A*      29,632  
  1,368      Lindsay Corp.      131,314  
  829      Lydall, Inc.*      17,011  
  3,228      Manitex International, Inc.*      19,207  
  4,498      Manitowoc Co., Inc. (The)*      78,715  
  11,063      Meritor, Inc.*      289,740  
  7,214      Mueller Industries, Inc.      229,045  
  22,037      Mueller Water Products, Inc., Class A      264,003  
  5,988      Navistar International Corp.*      173,293  
  3,562      NN, Inc.      32,949  
  738      Omega Flex, Inc.      79,180  
  2,028      Park-Ohio Holdings Corp.      68,242  
  1,756      Proto Labs, Inc.*      178,322  
  2,358      RBC Bearings, Inc.*      373,365  
  12,642      Rexnord Corp.*      412,381  
  5,735      Spartan Motors, Inc.      103,689  
  1,692      SPX Corp.*      86,089  
  1,085      SPX FLOW, Inc.*      53,024  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

14


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Machinery, continued       
  1,636      Standex International Corp.    $  129,817  
  466      Taylor Devices, Inc.*      4,898  
  1,866      Tennant Co.      145,399  
  9,270      Terex Corp.      276,061  
  800      The Exone Co.*^      5,968  
  3,586      The Greenbrier Cos., Inc.      116,294  
  2,794      Timken Co.      157,330  
  7,930      Titan International, Inc.      28,707  
  5,970      TriMas Corp.*      187,518  
  6,206      Trinity Industries, Inc.      137,463  
  1,747      Twin Disc, Inc.*      19,252  
  7,530      Wabash National Corp.      110,616  
  3,369      Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Class A      336,091  
  18,293      Welbilt, Inc.*      285,554  
     

 

 

 
        9,452,059  
     

 

 

 
Marine (0.2%):       
  1,689      Costamare, Inc.      16,096  
  4,337      Genco Shipping & Trading, Ltd.      46,059  
  848      Kirby Corp.*      75,921  
  5,648      Matson, Inc.      230,439  
  3,151      Scorpio Bulkers, Inc.      20,072  
     

 

 

 
        388,587  
     

 

 

 
Media (1.5%):       
  3,904      A.H. Belo Corp., Class A      11,009  
  2,250      AMC Networks, Inc., Class A*      88,875  
  478      Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc., Class A      1,477  
  41      Cable One, Inc.      61,027  
  23,234      Central Eurpoean Media Enterprises*      105,250  
  4,066      Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.*      11,629  
  229      Daily Journal Corp.*      66,506  
  7,889      E.W. Scripps Co. (The), Class A      123,936  
  3,323      Emerald Expositions Events, Inc.      35,058  
  6,123      Entercom Communications Corp.      28,411  
  11,865      Entravision Communications Corp., Class A      31,086  
  5,880      Gannett Co, Inc.      37,514  
  8,641      Gray Television, Inc.*      185,263  
  2,892      Hemisphere Media Group*      42,946  
  4,052      John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Class A      196,603  
  10,454      Lee Enterprises, Inc.*      14,845  
  3,964      Liberty Latin America, Ltd.*      76,505  
  7,609      Liberty Latin America, Ltd., Class C*      148,071  
  6,655      Marchex, Inc., Class B*      25,156  
  4,388      Meredith Corp.      142,478  
  3,571      MSG Networks, Inc., Class A*      62,135  
  10,941      National CineMedia, Inc.      79,760  
  4,149      New York Times Co. (The), Class A      133,473  
  2,788      Nexstar Media Group, Inc., Class A      326,894  
  1,017      Scholastic Corp.      39,104  
  3,843      Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., Class A      128,126  
  3,708      TechTarget, Inc.*      96,779  
  10,206      Tegna, Inc.      170,338  
  2,169      Tribune Publishing Co.      28,544  
  8,158      Urban One, Inc.*      15,500  
     

 

 

 
        2,514,298  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Metals & Mining (1.4%):       
  23,109      AK Steel Holding Corp.*    $ 76,029  
  7,273      Alcoa Corp.*      156,442  
  7,802      Allegheny Technologies, Inc.*      161,189  
  2,124      Ampco-Pittsburgh Corp.*      6,393  
  5,867      Carpenter Technology Corp.      292,060  
  3,100      Century Aluminum Co.*      23,297  
  21,148      Cleveland-Cliffs, Inc.^      177,643  
  7,283      Coeur Mining, Inc.*      58,847  
  12,903      Commercial Metals Co.      287,350  
  4,543      Compass Minerals International, Inc.      276,941  
  13,641      Ferroglobe plc*      12,823  
  13,641      Ferroglobe Unit*(a)      —    
  1,805      Gold Resource Corp.      10,000  
  1,557      Haynes International, Inc.      55,709  
  42,581      Hecla Mining Co.      144,350  
  931      Kaiser Aluminum Corp.      103,239  
  2,285      Materion Corp.      135,843  
  9,373      McEwen Mining, Inc.      11,904  
  2,868      Ryerson Holding Corp.*      33,928  
  1,487      Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc., Class A      32,238  
  3,318      SunCoke Energy, Inc.      20,671  
  1,789      Synalloy Corp.*      23,096  
  4,467      TimkenSteel Corp.*      35,111  
  6,784      United States Steel Corp.^      77,405  
  1,458      Universal Stainless & Alloy Products, Inc.*      21,724  
  684      Warrior Met Coal, Inc.      14,453  
  2,441      Worthington Industries, Inc.      102,961  
     

 

 

 
        2,351,646  
     

 

 

 
Multiline Retail (0.4%):       
  5,705      Big Lots, Inc.      163,848  
  654      Dillard’s, Inc., Class A^      48,056  
  27,998      J.C. Penney Co., Inc.*^      31,358  
  3,428      Macy’s, Inc.^      58,276  
  3,797      Nordstrom, Inc.^      155,411  
  2,928      Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc.*      191,227  
  5,314      Tuesday Morning Corp.*      9,831  
     

 

 

 
        658,007  
     

 

 

 
Multi-Utilities (0.6%):       
  8,048      Avista Corp.      387,028  
  2,541      Black Hills Corp.      199,570  
  4,953      NorthWestern Corp.      354,982  
  2,144      Unitil Corp.      132,542  
     

 

 

 
        1,074,122  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (2.8%):       
  4,107      Abraxas Petroleum Corp.*      1,442  
  816      Adams Resources & Energy, Inc.      31,065  
  1,538      Amplify Energy Corp.      10,166  
  2,307      Antero Resources Corp.*      6,575  
  1,638      Arch Coal, Inc.      117,510  
  1,954      Ardmore Shipping Corp.*      17,684  
  2,422      Bonanza Creek Energy, Inc.*      56,529  
  2,193      California Resources Corp.*^      19,803  
  23,301      Callon Petroleum Co.*      112,544  
  3,036      Centennial Resource Development, Inc., Class A*      14,026  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

15


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
  32,742      Chesapeake Energy Corp.*    $ 27,032  
  3,046      Cimarex Energy Co.      159,885  
  16,914      Clean Energy Fuel Corp.*      39,579  
  19,397      CNX Resources Corp.*      171,663  
  2,015      CONSOL Energy, Inc.*      29,238  
  1,914      Contango Oil & Gas Co.*^      7,024  
  4,234      CVR Energy, Inc.      171,181  
  7,363      Delek US Holdings, Inc.      246,881  
  39,156      Denbury Resources, Inc.*      55,210  
  16,266      DHT Holdings, Inc.      134,682  
  4,012      Dorian LPG, Ltd.*      62,106  
  416      Earthstone Energy, Inc.*      2,633  
  2,142      Energy Transfer LP      27,482  
  17,427      Enlink Midstream LLC      106,828  
  8,624      EQT Corp.      94,002  
  9,259      Equitrans Midstream Corp.      123,700  
  2,943      Evolution Petroleum Corp.      16,098  
  5,664      Extraction Oil & Gas, Inc.*^      12,008  
  10,643      Gaslog, Ltd.      104,195  
  1,561      Green Plains, Inc.      24,086  
  9,417      Gulfport Energy Corp.*      28,628  
  5,504      Hallador Energy Co.      16,347  
  9,079      HighPoint Resources Corp.*      15,344  
  2,520      International Seaways, Inc.*      74,995  
  6,317      Jagged Peak Energy, Inc.*      53,631  
  34,496      Kosmos Energy, Ltd.      196,627  
  14,513      Laredo Petroleum, Inc.*      41,652  
  2,082      Lonestar Resources US, Inc.*      5,434  
  9,030      Matador Resources Co.*      162,269  
  290      Montage Resources Corp.*^      2,303  
  6,183      Murphy Oil Corp.      165,704  
  12,361      Nordic American Tankers, Ltd.      60,816  
  3,092      Northern Oil & Gas, Inc.*      7,235  
  18,805      Oasis Petroleum, Inc.*      61,304  
  5,300      Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc.*      12,190  
  2,410      Panhandle Oil & Gas, Inc., Class A      27,016  
  1,648      PAR Pacific Holdings, Inc.*      38,300  
  6,480      PBF Energy, Inc., Class A      203,278  
  3,470      PDC Energy, Inc.*      90,810  
  5,636      Peabody Energy Corp.      51,400  
  523      Penn Virginia Corp.*      15,873  
  6      PrimeEnergy Resources Corp.*      908  
  12,864      QEP Resources, Inc.      57,888  
  12,188      Range Resources Corp.^      59,112  
  5,239      Renewable Energy Group, Inc.*      141,191  
  3,561      Ring Energy, Inc.*      9,401  
  1,533      SandRidge Energy, Inc.*      6,500  
  2,911      Scorpio Tankers, Inc.      114,519  
  12,619      SFL Corp., Ltd.      183,480  
  7,278      SM Energy Co.      81,805  
  32,445      Southwestern Energy Co.*      78,517  
  23,009      SRC Energy, Inc.*      94,797  
  1,352      Talos Energy, Inc.*      40,763  
  1,980      Teekay Shipping Corp.^      10,534  
  2,363      Teekay Tankers, Ltd., Class A*      56,641  
  8,709      W&T Offshore, Inc.*      48,422  
  7,070      Whiting Petroleum Corp.*      51,894  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
  3,407      World Fuel Services Corp.    $ 147,932  
  19,806      WPX Energy, Inc.*      272,134  
     

 

 

 
        4,790,451  
     

 

 

 
Paper & Forest Products (0.8%):       
  5,866      Boise Cascade Co.      214,285  
  2,174      Clearwater Paper Corp.*      46,437  
  7,194      Domtar Corp.      275,099  
  6,293      Louisiana-Pacific Corp.      186,713  
  8,641      Mercer International, Inc.      106,284  
  2,510      Neenah, Inc.      176,779  
  1,455      P.H. Glatfelter Co.      26,627  
  12,394      Resolute Forest Products*      52,055  
  4,054      Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc.      170,227  
  1,313      Verso Corp.*      23,673  
     

 

 

 
        1,278,179  
     

 

 

 
Personal Products (0.7%):       
  27,730      Avon Products, Inc.      156,397  
  2,048      e.l.f. Beauty, Inc.*      33,034  
  2,807      Edgewell Personal Care Co.*      86,905  
  4,010      Inter Parfums, Inc.      291,568  
  900      Lifevantage Corp.*      14,049  
  537      Mannatech, Inc.      8,409  
  1,346      Medifast, Inc.^      147,495  
  1,387      Natural Alternatives International, Inc.*      11,068  
  369      Natural Health Trends Corp.      1,985  
  2,857      Natures Sunshine Products, Inc.*      25,513  
  2,622      Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc., Class A      107,450  
  340      United-Guardian, Inc.      6,681  
  3,195      Usana Health Sciences, Inc.*      250,967  
     

 

 

 
        1,141,521  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (0.9%):       
  5,270      Akorn, Inc.*      7,905  
  3,129      Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      60,358  
  1,566      ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      96,575  
  1,496      Aratana Therapeutics- CVR*(a)       
  961      Assembly Biosciences, Inc.*      19,662  
  4,744      Assertio Therapeutics, Inc.*      5,930  
  2,200      BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc.*      13,904  
  1,154      Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc.*      23,749  
  3,245      Corcept Therapeutics, Inc.*      39,265  
  3,415      Cumberland Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      17,587  
  1,891      Cymabay Therapeutics, Inc.*      3,706  
  1,500      Dermira, Inc.*      22,740  
  7,597      Endo International plc*      35,630  
  7,355      Horizon Therapeutics plc*      266,252  
  6,525      Innoviva, Inc.*      92,394  
  2,755      Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc.*      94,524  
  1,144      Kala Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*^      4,221  
  6,034      Lannett Co., Inc.*      53,220  
  3,492      Mallinckrodt plc*^      12,187  
  1,475      Nektar Therapeutics*      31,838  
  2,308      Otonomy, Inc.*      8,840  
  1,324      Pacira BioSciences, Inc.*      59,977  
  859      Phibro Animal Health Corp., Class A      21,329  
  5,702      Prestige Consumer Healthcare, Inc.*      230,932  
  1,980      Revance Therapeutics, Inc.*      32,135  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

16


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Pharmaceuticals, continued       
  1,800      SIGA Technologies, Inc.*    $ 8,586  
  5,788      Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      137,291  
  1,155      Taro Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.*      101,559  
  1,478      Zogenix, Inc.*      77,048  
     

 

 

 
        1,579,344  
     

 

 

 
Professional Services (1.9%):       
  1,888      Acacia Research Corp.*      5,022  
  5,362      ASGN, Inc.*      380,541  
  1,199      Barrett Business Services, Inc.      108,462  
  6,714      CBIZ, Inc.*      181,009  
  490      CRA International, Inc.      26,690  
  5,032      Exponent, Inc.      347,258  
  2,512      Forrester Research, Inc.*      104,750  
  2,195      Franklin Covey Co.*      70,745  
  4,532      FTI Consulting, Inc.*      501,511  
  2,202      GP Strategies Corp.*      29,132  
  2,274      Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.      73,905  
  2,544      Huron Consulting Group, Inc.*      174,824  
  2,071      ICF International, Inc.      189,745  
  5,892      InnerWorkings, Inc.*      32,465  
  1,529      Insperity, Inc.      131,555  
  1,000      Kelly Services, Inc., Class A      22,580  
  3,344      Kforce, Inc.      132,757  
  5,647      Korn Ferry      239,433  
  1,332      Mastech Digital, Inc.*      14,745  
  3,943      Mistras Group, Inc.*      56,267  
  4,033      Resources Connection, Inc.      65,859  
  3,165      TriNet Group, Inc.*      179,171  
  6,167      Trueblue, Inc.*      148,378  
  4,212      Volt Information Sciences, Inc.*      10,446  
  505      Willdan Group, Inc.*      16,049  
     

 

 

 
        3,243,299  
     

 

 

 
Real Estate Management & Development (0.5%):       
  2,400      Altisource Portfolio Solutions*^      46,392  
  395      CKX Lands, Inc.*^      3,681  
  920      Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co.      55,494  
  692      Forestar Group, Inc.*      14,428  
  504      FRP Holdings, Inc.*      25,104  
  376      Griffin Industrial Realty, Inc.      14,871  
  10      J.W. Mays, Inc.*      303  
  6,324      Kennedy-Wilson Holdings, Inc.      141,024  
  5,387      Marcus & Millichap, Inc.*      200,665  
  1,035      Maui Land & Pineapple Co.*      11,644  
  3,298      Newmark Group, Inc.      44,375  
  2,057      Rafael Holdings, Inc., Class B*      36,697  
  702      RE/MAX Holdings, Inc., Class A      27,020  
  8,369      Realogy Holdings Corp.^      81,012  
  308      Stratus Properties, Inc.*      9,542  
  3,421      Tejon Ranch Co.*      54,668  
  1,076      The RMR Group, Inc., Class A      49,109  
  2,700      The St Joe Co.*^      53,541  
     

 

 

 
        869,570  
     

 

 

 
Road & Rail (0.9%):       
  1,803      ArcBest Corp.      49,763  
  9,143      Avis Budget Group, Inc.*      294,770  
  2,278      Covenant Transportation Group, Inc., Class A*      29,443  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Road & Rail, continued       
  10,920      Heartland Express, Inc.    $ 229,866  
  5,530      Hertz Global Holdings, Inc.*      87,098  
  875      Landstar System, Inc.      99,636  
  1,700      Marten Transport, Ltd.      36,533  
  598      Ryder System, Inc.      32,477  
  3,297      Saia, Inc.*      307,017  
  646      Schneider National, Inc.      14,096  
  3,855      Universal Logistics Holdings, Inc.      73,091  
  988      USA Truck, Inc.*      7,361  
  8,985      Werner Enterprises, Inc.      326,964  
  4,526      YRC Worldwide, Inc.*^      11,541  
     

 

 

 
        1,599,656  
     

 

 

 
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (3.5%):       
  4,922      Advanced Energy Industries, Inc.*      350,446  
  3,814      Alpha & Omega Semiconductor, Ltd.*      51,947  
  1,056      Ambarella, Inc.*      63,951  
  30,273      Amkor Technology, Inc.*      393,548  
  1,301      Amtech Systems, Inc.*      9,315  
  4,245      Axcelis Technologies, Inc.*      102,283  
  2,777      AXT, Inc.*      12,080  
  2,714      Brooks Automation, Inc.      113,879  
  2,508      Cabot Microelectronics Corp.      361,955  
  1,462      CEVA, Inc.*      39,416  
  5,549      Cirrus Logic, Inc.*      457,292  
  4,450      Cohu, Inc.      101,683  
  1,905      Cree, Inc.*      87,916  
  522      Cyberoptics Corp.*      9,594  
  6,488      Diodes, Inc.*      365,728  
  3,285      DSP Group, Inc.*      51,706  
  3,718      Entegris, Inc.      186,235  
  8,247      FormFactor, Inc.*      214,175  
  4,679      GSI Technology, Inc.*      33,174  
  1,254      Ichor Holdings, Ltd.*      41,721  
  1,471      Inphi Corp.*      108,883  
  1,349      inTest Corp.*      8,027  
  7,339      Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc.      199,621  
  12,204      Lattice Semiconductor Corp.*      233,585  
  1,636      MagnaChip Semiconductor Corp.*^      18,994  
  4,333      MaxLinear, Inc., Class A*      91,946  
  700      MKS Instruments, Inc.      77,007  
  6,163      Neophotonics Corp.*      54,358  
  807      NVE Corp.      57,620  
  6,903      Onto Innovation, Inc.*      252,236  
  4,804      PDF Solutions, Inc.*      81,140  
  9,112      Photronics, Inc.*      143,605  
  2,109      Pixelworks, Inc.*      8,267  
  2,975      Power Integrations, Inc.      294,257  
  11,907      Rambus, Inc.*      164,019  
  2,943      Semtech Corp.*      155,685  
  2,126      Silicon Laboratories, Inc.*      246,573  
  1,208      SMART Global Holdings, Inc.*      45,832  
  1,698      SolarEdge Technologies, Inc.*      161,463  
  2,469      Synaptics, Inc.*      162,386  
  5,213      Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc.*      122,349  
  6,109      Veeco Instruments, Inc.*      89,711  
  5,605      Xperi Corp.      103,693  
     

 

 

 
        5,929,301  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

17


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Software (2.6%):       
  3,492      A10 Networks, Inc.*    $ 23,990  
  12,450      ACI Worldwide, Inc.*      471,667  
  994      Agilysys, Inc.*      25,258  
  2,538      Alarm.com Holding, Inc.*      109,058  
  966      Altair Engineering, Inc.*      34,689  
  4,794      American Software, Inc., Class A      71,335  
  752      Appfolio, Inc.*      82,682  
  935      Asure Software, Inc.*^      7,648  
  2,595      Avaya Holdings Corp.*      35,033  
  2,785      Aware, Inc.*      9,358  
  2,658      Blackbaud, Inc.      211,577  
  620      Blackline, Inc.*      31,967  
  2,196      Bottomline Technologies, Inc.*      117,706  
  2,350      BSQUARE Corp.*      3,267  
  900      ChannelAdvisor Corp.*      8,136  
  3,451      Cision, Ltd.*      34,406  
  2,037      CommVault Systems, Inc.*      90,932  
  2,686      Cornerstone OnDemand, Inc.*      157,265  
  3,185      Digital Turbine, Inc.*      22,709  
  3,842      Ebix, Inc.      128,361  
  2,301      Envestnet, Inc.*      160,219  
  5,614      Finjan Holdings, Inc.*      11,284  
  3,423      FireEye, Inc.*      56,582  
  4,113      GlobalSCAPE, Inc.      40,431  
  1,820      Globant SA*      193,011  
  2,398      J2 Global, Inc.      224,717  
  1,662      LogMeIn, Inc.      142,500  
  2,555      Manhattan Associates, Inc.*      203,761  
  562      MicroStrategy, Inc., Class A*      80,158  
  2,468      Mimecast, Ltd.*      107,062  
  856      New Relic, Inc.*      56,248  
  5,507      OneSpan, Inc.*      94,280  
  1,348      Paylocity Holding Corp.*      162,865  
  5,762      Progress Software Corp.      239,410  
  1,864      QAD, Inc.      94,934  
  2,008      Qualys, Inc.*      167,407  
  7,302      RealNetworks, Inc.*      8,762  
  2,886      Rubicon Project, Inc.*      23,550  
  4,036      SailPoint Technologies Holding, Inc.*      95,250  
  769      Sapiens International Corp. NV      17,687  
  6,367      SeaChange International, Inc.*      26,678  
  539      Shotspotter, Inc.*      13,745  
  684      Sps Commerce, Inc.*      37,907  
  5,449      Synacor, Inc.*      8,282  
  3,280      Synchronoss Technologies, Inc.*^      15,580  
  5,185      Telaria, Inc.*      45,680  
  7,906      Telenav, Inc.*      38,423  
  16,342      TiVo Corp.      138,580  
  870      Upland Software, Inc.*      31,068  
  3,726      Verint Systems, Inc.*      206,271  
  1,895      Zix Corp.*      12,848  
     

 

 

 
        4,432,224  
     

 

 

 
Specialty Retail (3.9%):       
  7,069      Aaron’s, Inc.      403,712  
  3,905      Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Class A      67,517  
  13,115      American Eagle Outfitters, Inc.      192,791  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Specialty Retail, continued       
  996      America’s Car Mart, Inc.*    $ 109,221  
  2,646      Asbury Automotive Group, Inc.*      295,796  
  660      Ascena Retail Group, Inc.*^      5,059  
  3,093      At Home Group, Inc.*      17,012  
  4,741      AutoNation, Inc.*      230,555  
  7,305      Barnes & Noble Education, Inc.*      31,192  
  7,174      Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc.^      124,110  
  4,102      Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp.      12,306  
  3,574      Boot Barn Holdings, Inc.*      159,150  
  1,732      Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc.*      5,612  
  3,926      Caleres, Inc.      93,243  
  3,499      Cato Corp., Class A      60,883  
  16,720      Chico’s FAS, Inc.      63,703  
  1,594      Citi Trends, Inc.      36,853  
  3,051      Conn’s, Inc.*      37,802  
  7,160      Designer Brands, Inc., Class A      112,698  
  10,159      Destination XL Group, Inc.*      13,004  
  5,615      Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc.      277,886  
  11,002      Express, Inc.*      53,580  
  4,493      Floor & Decor Holdings, Inc., Class A*      228,289  
  2,914      Foot Locker, Inc.      113,617  
  367      Francesca’s Holdings Corp.*^      3,809  
  5,741      GameStop Corp., Class A^      34,905  
  2,011      Genesco, Inc.*      96,367  
  693      Group 1 Automotive, Inc.      69,300  
  7,980      Guess?, Inc.      178,592  
  2,764      Haverty Furniture Cos., Inc.      55,722  
  2,944      Hibbett Sports, Inc.*      82,550  
  2,388      J. Jill, Inc.^      2,698  
  1,806      Kirkland’s, Inc.*^      2,239  
  6,135      L Brands, Inc.      111,166  
  2,739      Lithia Motors, Inc., Class A      402,634  
  1,529      Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc.*^      14,938  
  3,059      MarineMax, Inc.*      51,055  
  8,315      Michaels Cos., Inc. (The)*      67,268  
  4,052      Monro, Inc.      316,866  
  4,397      Murphy U.S.A., Inc.*      514,450  
  1,671      National Vision Holdings, Inc.*      54,191  
  42,056      Office Depot, Inc.      115,233  
  5,416      Party City Holdco, Inc.*^      12,673  
  5,392      Penske Automotive Group, Inc.      270,786  
  577      Pier 1 Imports, Inc.*^      3,693  
  1,537      Rent-A-Center, Inc.      44,327  
  805      RH*      171,868  
  11,726      RTW Retailwinds, Inc.*      9,393  
  7,968      Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc.*      145,416  
  4,149      Signet Jewelers, Ltd.      90,199  
  4,304      Sleep Number Corp.*      211,929  
  4,654      Sonic Automotive, Inc., Class A      144,274  
  2,363      Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings, Inc.*      18,975  
  1,752      Tailored Brands, Inc.^      7,253  
  289      Tandy Leather Factory, Inc.*      1,650  
  6,734      The Buckle, Inc.      182,087  
  2,162      The Children’s Place, Inc.      135,168  
  6,893      The Container Store Group, Inc.*^      29,088  
  2,271      Tilly’s, Inc.      27,820  
  4,285      Urban Outfitters, Inc.*      118,994  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

18


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Specialty Retail, continued       
  672      Winmark Corp.    $ 133,258  
  3,700      Zumiez, Inc.*      127,798  
     

 

 

 
        6,806,223  
     

 

 

 
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals (0.3%):       
  3,723      3D Systems Corp.*      32,576  
  1,308      AstroNova, Inc.      17,946  
  7,288      Avid Technology, Inc.*      62,531  
  1,901      CCUR Holdings, Inc.*      8,269  
  6,091      NCR Corp.*      214,160  
  2,458      Stratasys, Ltd.*      49,713  
  2,001      Super Micro Computer, Inc.*      48,064  
  1,590      TransAct Technologies, Inc.      17,442  
     

 

 

 
        450,701  
     

 

 

 
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods (1.4%):       
  2,413      Capri Holdings, Ltd.*      92,056  
  920      Carter’s, Inc.      100,593  
  8,448      Crocs, Inc.*      353,887  
  2,291      Culp, Inc.      31,203  
  3,005      Deckers Outdoor Corp.*      507,424  
  1,291      Fossil Group, Inc.*      10,173  
  6,596      G-III Apparel Group, Ltd.*      220,966  
  849      Kontoor Brands, Inc.      35,650  
  816      Lakeland Industries, Inc.*      8,813  
  2,340      Oxford Industries, Inc.      176,483  
  1,515      Rocky Brands, Inc.      44,586  
  10,289      Steven Madden, Ltd.      442,530  
  957      Unifi, Inc.*      24,174  
  1,916      Vera Bradley, Inc.*      22,609  
  10,479      Wolverine World Wide, Inc.      353,561  
     

 

 

 
        2,424,708  
     

 

 

 
Thrifts & Mortgage Finance (2.5%):       
  8,516      Axos Financial, Inc.*      257,864  
  2,838      BankFinancial Corp.      37,121  
  15,045      Capitol Federal Financial, Inc.      206,568  
  280      Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc.      3,422  
  4,896      Dime Community Bancshares, Inc.      102,277  
  1,537      ESSA Bancorp, Inc.      26,052  
  3,103      Essent Group, Ltd.      161,325  
  696      Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp.      58,116  
  242      First Capital, Inc.      17,666  
  1,180      First Defiance Financial Corp.      37,158  
  6,849      Flagstar Bancorp, Inc.      261,974  
  659      FS Bancorp, Inc.      42,038  
  195      Guaranty Federal Bankshares, Inc.      4,914  
  301      Hingham Institution for Savings      63,270  
  629      HMN Financial, Inc.*      13,215  
  973      Home Bancorp, Inc.      38,132  
  43      Home Federal Bancorp, Inc.      1,537  
  3,414      HomeStreet, Inc.*      116,076  
  869      IF Bancorp, Inc.      20,004  
  865      Impac Mortgage Holdings, Inc.*      4,550  
  8,131      Kearny Financial Corp.      112,452  
  390      Kentucky First Federal Bancorp      3,023  
  955      LendingTree, Inc.*      289,785  
  940      Malvern Bancorp, Inc.*      21,705  
  5,312      Meridian Bancorp, Inc.      106,718  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Thrifts & Mortgage Finance, continued       
  3,591      Meta Financial Group, Inc.    $ 131,107  
  3,964      Mr Cooper Group, Inc.*      49,590  
  676      MSB Financial Corp.      12,168  
  3,627      NMI Holdings, Inc., Class A*      120,344  
  6,978      Northfield Bancorp, Inc.      118,347  
  10,868      Northwest Bancshares, Inc.      180,735  
  4,848      Oceanfirst Financial Corp.      123,818  
  198      Oconee Federal Financial Corp.      5,170  
  16,927      Ocwen Financial Corp.*      23,190  
  600      PCSB Financial Corp.      12,150  
  4,022      PennyMac Financial Services, Inc.      136,909  
  1,677      Provident Financial Holdings, Inc.      36,726  
  2,873      Provident Financial Services, Inc.      70,819  
  1,685      Prudential Bancorp, Inc.      31,223  
  1,982      Riverview Bancorp, Inc.      16,272  
  3,025      Security National Financial Corp., Class A*      17,696  
  671      Severn Bancorp, Inc.      6,247  
  707      Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc.      27,121  
  1,053      Sterling Bancorp, Inc.      8,529  
  1,815      Territorial Bancorp, Inc.      56,156  
  12,547      TrustCo Bank Corp NY      108,782  
  7,757      United Community Financial Corp.      90,447  
  8,174      Washington Federal, Inc.      299,578  
  3,389      Waterstone Financial, Inc.      64,493  
  4,268      Wawlker & Dunlop, Inc.      276,054  
  3,601      Western New England BanCorp, Inc.      34,678  
  5,569      WSFS Financial Corp.      244,980  
  35      WVS Financial Corp.      576  
     

 

 

 
        4,310,867  
     

 

 

 
Tobacco (0.2%):       
  1,419      Pyxus International, Inc.*^      12,686  
  491      Turning Point Brands, Inc.^      14,043  
  975      Universal Corp.      55,634  
  19,769      Vector Group, Ltd.      264,706  
     

 

 

 
        347,069  
     

 

 

 
Trading Companies & Distributors (1.5%):       
  311      AeroCentury Corp.*      1,400  
  2,151      Air Lease Corp.      102,216  
  3,318      Aircastle, Ltd.      106,209  
  4,868      Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc.      324,646  
  8,168      Beacon Roofing Supply, Inc.*      261,213  
  2,473      BMC Stock Holdings, Inc.*      70,950  
  1,906      CAI International, Inc.*      55,236  
  2,504      DXP Enterprises, Inc.*      99,684  
  1,463      EVI Industries, Inc.*^      39,560  
  1,904      GATX Corp.      157,746  
  120      GMS, Inc.*      3,250  
  1,239      H&E Equipment Services, Inc.      41,420  
  1,116      Herc Holdings, Inc.*      54,617  
  4,781      Huttig Building Products, Inc.*      7,363  
  3,562      Kaman Corp., Class A      234,807  
  373      Lawson Products, Inc.*      19,433  
  4,569      MRC Global, Inc.*      62,321  
  4,852      NOW, Inc.*      54,536  
  2,681      Rush Enterprises, Inc., Class A      124,667  
  2,017      Systemax, Inc.      50,748  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

19


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Trading Companies & Distributors, continued       
  7,847      Textainer Group Holdings, Ltd.*^    $ 84,041  
  2,765      Titan Machinery, Inc.*      40,867  
  577      Transcat, Inc.*      18,383  
  5,731      Triton International, Ltd.      230,386  
  2,679      Univar Solutions, Inc.*      64,939  
  2,676      Veritiv Corp.*      52,637  
  3,460      WESCO International, Inc.*      205,489  
     

 

 

 
        2,568,764  
     

 

 

 
Transportation Infrastructure (0.1%):       
  3,917      Macquarie Infrastructure Corp.      167,804  
     

 

 

 
Water Utilities (0.8%):       
  4,757      American States Water Co.      412,146  
  1,695      AquaVenture Holdings, Ltd.*      45,968  
  1,221      Artesian Resources Corp.      45,433  
  6,345      California Water Service Group      327,148  
  2,756      Consolidated Water Co., Ltd.      44,923  
  2,508      Middlesex Water Co.      159,434  
  669      Pure Cycle Corp.*      8,423  
  2,763      SJW Group      196,339  
  1,642      York Water Co. (The)      75,713  
     

 

 

 
        1,315,527  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.4%):       
  6,783      Boingo Wireless, Inc.*      74,274  
  6,918      Shenandoah Telecommunications Co.      287,858  
  2,722      Spok Holdings, Inc.      33,290  
  9,308      Telephone & Data Systems, Inc.      236,702  
  1,352      United States Cellular Corp.*      48,983  
     

 

 

 
        681,107  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Common Stocks (Cost $145,630,070)

     169,908,185  
  

 

 

 
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
Shares
           Fair Value  
Preferred Stocks (0.0%):       
Air Freight & Logistics (0.0%):       
  389      Air T Funding    $ 961  
     

 

 

 
Media (0.0%):       
  430      GCI Liberty, Inc., Series A, 6.61%      11,386  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Preferred Stocks (Cost $4,038)

     12,347  
  

 

 

 
Rights (0.0%):       
Chemicals (0.0%):       
  4,314      Schulman, Inc. CVR, Expires on 12/31/49*(a)       
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (0.0%):       
  6,056      NewStar Financial, Inc. CVR, Expires on 12/31/49*      4,367  
     

 

 

 
Media (0.0%):       
  21,894      Media General, Inc. CVR, Expires on 12/31/49*      2,069  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Rights (Cost $10,055)

     6,436  
  

 

 

 
Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on
Loan (1.8%):
      
  3,077,235      BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, 2.00%(b)(c)      3,077,235  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on
Loan (Cost $3,077,235)

     3,077,235  
  

 

 

 
Unaffiliated Investment Companies (0.3%):       
Money Markets (0.3%):       
  512,537      Dreyfus Treasury Securities Cash Management Fund, Institutional Shares, 1.44%(c)      512,537  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Unaffiliated Investment Companies (Cost $512,537)

     512,537  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities (Cost $149,233,935) — 101.9%(d)

     173,516,740  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — (1.9)%

     (3,180,805
     

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 170,335,935  
  

 

 

 
 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

 

CVR—Contingency

Valued Rights

 

*

Non-income producing security.

 

^

This security or a partial position of this security was on loan as of December 31, 2019. The total value of securities on loan as of December 31, 2019 was $2,994,816.

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

(a)

Security was valued using unobservable inputs in good faith pursuant to procedures approved by the Board of Trustees as of December 31, 2019. The total of all such securities represent 0.00% of the net assets of the fund.

 

(b)

Purchased with cash collateral held from securities lending. The value of the collateral could include collateral held for securities that were sold on or before December 31, 2019.

 

(c)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(d)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

Amounts shown as “—” are either $0 or rounds to less than $1.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

20


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investment securities, at cost

    $ 149,233,935
   

 

 

 

Investment securities, at value(a)

    $ 173,516,740

Interest and dividends receivable

      125,449

Receivable for investments sold

      48,741

Reclaims receivable

      466

Prepaid expenses

      545
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      173,691,941
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Cash overdraft

      10,770

Payable for investments purchased

      117,026

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      1,417

Payable for collateral received on loaned securities

      3,077,235

Manager fees payable

      100,755

Administration fees payable

      3,400

Distribution fees payable

      35,984

Custodian fees payable

      1,712

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      659

Transfer agent fees payable

      979

Trustee fees payable

      162

Other accrued liabilities

      5,907
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      3,356,006
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 170,335,935
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 140,270,513

Total distributable earnings

      30,065,422
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 170,335,935
   

 

 

 

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      15,034,204

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 11.33
   

 

 

 

 

(a)

Includes securities on loan of $2,994,816.

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Dividends

    $ 2,382,892

Income from securities lending

      75,555

Foreign withholding tax

      (770 )
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      2,457,677
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      1,409,816

Administration fees

      71,502

Distribution fees

      414,650

Custodian fees

      10,117

Administrative and compliance services fees

      2,960

Transfer agent fees

      5,410

Trustee fees

      9,185

Professional fees

      8,368

Shareholder reports

      2,264

Other expenses

      7,146
   

 

 

 

Total expenses before reductions

      1,941,418

Less expenses voluntarily waived/reimbursed by the Manager

      (248,791 )
   

 

 

 

Net expenses

      1,692,627
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      765,050
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities

      4,811,949

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities

      25,654,285
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      30,466,234
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 31,231,284
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

21


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

    

For the

Year Ended

December 31, 2019

 

For the

Year Ended

December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 765,050     $ 885,455

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      4,811,949       12,151,134

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      25,654,285       (33,614,615 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      31,231,284       (20,578,026 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Distributions

      (12,961,906 )       (10,343,723 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (12,961,906 )       (10,343,723 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      1,104,883       2,337,294

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      12,961,906       10,343,723

Value of shares redeemed

      (11,873,146 )       (30,305,676 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      2,193,643       (17,624,659 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      20,463,021       (48,546,408 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      149,872,914       198,419,322
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 170,335,935     $ 149,872,914
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Shares issued

      99,170       186,349

Dividends reinvested

      1,270,775       869,951

Shares redeemed

      (1,040,928 )       (2,349,735 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      329,017       (1,293,435 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

22


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

    

Year Ended

December 31,
2019

 

Year Ended

December 31,
2018

 

Year Ended

December 31,
2017

 

Year Ended

December 31,
2016

  April 27, 2015 to
December 31,
2015(a)

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 10.19     $ 12.40     $ 11.42     $ 9.20     $ 10.00
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.05 (b)       0.07       0.07       0.07       0.03

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      2.00       (1.53 )       1.16       2.21       (0.83 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      2.05       (1.46 )       1.23       2.28       (0.80 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.06 )       (0.07 )       (0.07 )       (0.04 )      

Net Realized Gains

      (0.85 )       (0.68 )       (0.18 )       (0.02 )      
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (0.91 )       (0.75 )       (0.25 )       (0.06 )      
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 11.33     $ 10.19     $ 12.40     $ 11.42     $ 9.20
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(c)

      21.10 %       (12.64 )%       10.87 %       24.90 %       (8.00 )%(d)

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 170,336     $ 149,873     $ 198,419     $ 208,012     $ 208,531

Net Investment Income/(Loss)(e)

      0.46 %       0.48 %       0.55 %       0.56 %       0.50 %

Expenses Before Reductions(e)(f)

      1.17 %       1.16 %       1.16 %       1.14 %       1.18 %

Expenses Net of Reductions(e)

      1.02 %       1.01 %       1.01 %       0.99 %       1.03 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate

      10 %       9 %       9 %       9 %       10 %(d)

 

(a)

For the period April 27, 2015 (commencement of share class) to December 31, 2015.

 

(b)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(c)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(d)

Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(e)

Annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(f)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

23


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services - Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Foreign Currency Translation and Withholding Taxes

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies. Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding and other income or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Funds accrue such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

 

24


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Securities Lending

To generate additional income, the Fund may lend up to 33 1/3% of its assets pursuant to agreements requiring that the loan be continuously secured by any combination of cash, U.S. government or U.S. government agency securities, equal initially to at least 102% of the fair value plus accrued interest on the securities loaned (105% for foreign securities). The borrower of securities is at all times required to post collateral to the Fund in an amount equal to 100% of the fair value of the securities loaned based on the previous day’s fair value of the securities loaned, marked-to-market daily. Any collateral shortfalls are adjusted the next business day. The Fund bears all of the gains and losses on such investments. The Fund receives payments from borrowers equivalent to the dividends and interest that would have been earned on securities lent while simultaneously seeking to earn income on the investment of cash collateral received. In extremely low interest rate environments, the broker rebate fee may exceed the interest earned or the cash collateral which would result in a loss to the Fund. The investment of cash collateral deposited by the borrower is subject to inherent market risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks that are present in the market, and as such, the value of these investments may not be sufficient, when liquidated, to repay the borrower when the loaned security is returned. There may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. However, loans will be made only to borrowers, such as broker-dealers, banks or institutional borrowers of securities, deemed by the Manager to be of good standing and credit worthy and when in its judgment, the consideration which can be earned currently from such securities loans justifies the attendant risks. Loans are subject to termination by the Trust or the borrower at any time, and are, therefore, not considered to be illiquid investments. Securities on loan at December 31, 2019 are presented on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

Cash collateral received in connection with securities lending is invested on behalf of the Fund in the BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, a money market fund which invests in short-term investments that have a remaining maturity of 397 days or less in accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. The Fund pays the Securities Lending Agent 9% of the gross revenues received from securities lending activities and keeps 91%. The Fund paid securities lending fees of $7,420 during the year ended December 31, 2019. These fees have been netted against “Income from securities lending” on the Statement of Operations. The Fund had securities lending transactions of $3,077,235 accounted for as secured borrowings with cash collateral of overnight and continuous maturities as of December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019, there were no master netting provisions in the securities lending agreement.

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not engage in any Rule 17a-7 transactions under the Rule.

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to a subadvisory agreement with Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (“DFA”), DFA provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate*      Annual Expense Limit

AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

         0.85 %          1.35 %

 

*

The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.70% on all assets. The manager reserves the right to increase the management fee to the amount shown in the table at any time.

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations.

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum

 

25


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $1,245 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy.

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total
                             

Common Stocks+

       $ 169,897,697        $ 8,293        $ 2,195        $ 169,908,185

Preferred Stocks

         12,347                            12,347

Rights

                  6,436          #          6,436

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

         3,077,235                            3,077,235

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

         512,537                            512,537
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $ 173,499,816        $ 14,729        $ 2,195        $ 173,516,740
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

#

Represents the interest in securities that were determined to have a value of zero at December 31, 2019.

 

26


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

       $ 16,112,418        $ 25,366,049

6. Investment Risks

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Investments in securities of foreign issuers carry certain risks not ordinarily associated with investments in securities of domestic issuers. Such risks include future political and economic developments, and the possible imposition of exchange controls or other foreign governmental laws and restrictions. In addition, with respect to certain countries, there is the possibility of expropriation of assets, confiscatory taxation, political or social instability or diplomatic developments which could adversely affect investments in those securities.

7. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $149,074,208. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 47,750,730  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (23,308,198
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 24,442,532  
 

 

 

 

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

       $ 1,347,790        $ 11,614,116        $ 12,961,906

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

       $ 1,260,088        $ 9,083,635        $ 10,343,723

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

 

27


AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
     Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
     Total
Accumulated
Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

       $ 1,086,122        $ 4,536,785        $        $ 24,442,515        $ 30,065,422

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales, mark-to-market of passive foreign investment companies and other miscellaneous differences.

8. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had multiple shareholder accounts which are affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 85% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

9. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

28


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL DFA U.S. Small Cap Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

29


Other Federal Income Tax Information (Unaudited)

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net short-term capital gain distributions of $559,109.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net long-term capital gain distributions of $11,614,116.

 

30


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

31


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and

 

32


expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

 

33


The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

34


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

35


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

36


LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL® Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 35

Statement of Operations

Page 35

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 36

Financial Highlights

Page 37

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 38

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 46

Other Information

Page 47

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 48

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 51

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® Enhanced Bond Index Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® Enhanced Bond Index Fund and BlackRock Financial Management, Inc. serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® Enhanced Bond Index Fund (the “Fund”) had a total return of 8.38%. That compared to a 8.72% total return for its benchmark, the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index1.

As the 12-month period began, the Federal Reserve Board (the Fed) shifted to a more dovish stance than it demonstrated in 2018. The Fed ultimately cut interest rates three times in 2019 after raising rates four times in 2018. Other central banks took similar approaches, with the European Central Bank announcing a substantial new quantitative easing package and the Bank of Japan communicating a more dovish message as well. Geopolitical tensions—namely, the U.S.-China trade war and Brexit—triggered bouts of uncertainty throughout the year, although those tensions eased late in the period. Signs of slower global growth also raised concerns in the middle of 2019. However, central bank policies drove the markets, and interest rates declined even as spreads tightened. As the year came to a close, the U.S. and China agreed to phase one of a trade deal and the U.K. moved closer to an orderly Brexit, both of which helped reduce uncertainty in the market.

The Fund underperformed its benchmark due in large part to duration positioning. Interest rates fell due to geopolitical tensions, weaker global growth, and the Fed’s rate cuts. In this environment, the Fund’s underweight duration positioning (meaning it held bonds that were generally less sensitive to changes in interest rates) weighed on relative return, as lower interest rates lead to higher bond prices.*

The Fund’s relative performance benefited from its overweight position and security selection within investment-grade credit, particularly during the first quarter as credit spreads tightened by more than 30 basis points

(0.30%). Security selection within agency mortgage-backed securities also added to relative results, as did the Fund’s strategy of holding an underweight position in this asset class early in the year and moving to an overweight position later in the year. The Fund’s general above-benchmark exposure to the front of the yield curve, along with other strategic positioning and tactical trading, added to relative results.*

The Fund held derivatives in the form of foreign currency forward contracts to hedge the portfolio’s currency exposure to non-dollar bonds. The portfolio also held Treasury futures to manage duration and yield curve exposures. The derivative positions benefited the portfolio by giving managers the ability to more precisely manage duration and yield curve risk during a period in which yields proved volatile.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

*

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmark please refer to page 2 of this report.

 
 

 

1


AZL® Enhanced Bond Index Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

The Fund’s investment objective is to exceed the total return of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets in investment-grade debt securities (those of medium and high quality) of all types and repurchase agreements for those securities.

Investment Concerns

Bonds offer a relatively stable level of income, although bond prices will fluctuate, providing the potential for principal gain or loss. Intermediate-term, higher-quality bonds generally offer less risk than longer-term bonds and a lower rate of return.

Emerging market investing may be subject to additional economic, political, liquidity, and currency risks not associated with more developed countries.

International investing may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuations in currency values, from differences in generally accepted accounting principles or from economic or political instability in other nations.

The performance of the Fund is expected to be lower than that of the Index because of Fund fees and expenses. Securities in which the Fund will invest may involve substantial risk and may be subject to sudden severe price declines.

Mortgage-backed investments involve risk of loss due to prepayments and, like any bond, due to default. Because of the sensitivity of mortgage-related securities to changes in interest rates, the Fund’s performance may be more volatile than if it did not hold these securities.

Debt securities held by the Fund may decline in value due to rising interest rates.

Investing in derivatives instruments involves risks that may be different from or greater than the risk associated with investing directly in securities or other traditional instruments.

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmark and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

     1
Year
    3
Year
    5
Year
    10
Year
 

AZL® Enhanced Bond Index Fund

     8.38     3.54     2.62     3.29

Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index

     8.72     4.03     3.05     3.75

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratio

   Gross  

AZL® Enhanced Bond Index Fund

     0.65

The above expense ratio is based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense), to 0.70% through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratio can be found in the Financial Highlights.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, which is an unmanaged market value-weighted performance benchmark for investment-grade fixed-rate debt issues, including government, corporate, asset-backed, and mortgage-backed securities, with maturities of at least one year. The index does not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The Fund’s performance reflects the deduction of fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

2


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,023.80     $ 3.32       0.65 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,021.93     $ 3.31       0.65 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

 

Portfolio Composition    

(Unaudited)

 

   
Investments   Percent of Net Assets

U.S. Government Agency Mortgages

      30.8 %

U.S. Treasury Obligations

      29.5

Corporate Bonds

      22.9

Yankee Dollars

      6.3

Collateralized Mortgage Obligations

      5.4

Commercial Paper

      4.0

Asset Backed Securities

      3.2

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

      3.1

Foreign Bonds

      2.2

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

      1.6

Municipal Bonds

      0.6
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      109.6

Net other assets (liabilities)

      (9.6 )
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

3


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Asset Backed Securities (3.2%):       
$ 2,399,996      American Homes 4 Rent LLC, Class A, Series 2014-SFR3, 3.68%, 12/17/36(a)    $ 2,492,420  
  2,220,000      Benchmark Mortgage Trust, Class A4, Series 2018-B7, 4.51%, 11/15/51      2,538,304  
  5,159,207      Chesapeake Funding II LLC, Class A1, Series 2018-1A, 3.04%, 4/15/30(a)      5,213,855  
  1,174,000      Citibank Credit Card Issuance Trust, Class A7, Series 2018-A7, 3.96%, 10/15/30      1,304,893  
  2,210,000      Citibank Credit Card Issuance Trust, Class A1, Series 2014-A1, 2.88%, 1/23/23      2,232,273  
  4,730,000      Credit Acceptance Auto Loan Trust, Class A, Series 2018-3A, 3.55%, 8/15/27, Callable 10/15/21 @ 100(a)      4,817,480  
  3,760,000      Credit Acceptance Auto Loan Trust, Class A, Series 2019-3, 2.38%, 11/15/28(a)      3,754,848  
  3,925,000      Ford Credit Auto Owner Trust, Class A3, Series 2019-B, 2.23%, 10/15/23, Callable 4/15/23 @ 100      3,939,943  
  4,810,000      Ford Credit Floorplan Master Owner Trust, Class A, Series 2019-4, 2.44%, 9/15/26      4,822,105  
  4,830,000      Ford Credit Floorplan Master Owner Trust, Class A, Series 2019-2, 3.06%, 4/15/26      4,990,843  
  3,830,000      GM Financial Consumer Automobile Receivables Trust, Class A3, Series 2019-1, 2.97%, 11/16/23, Callable 11/16/22 @ 100      3,881,749  
  3,400,000      LoanCore Issuer, Ltd., Class A, Series 2018-CRE1, 2.87%(US0001M+113bps), 5/15/28, Callable 5/15/20 @ 100(a)      3,401,625  
  940,096      Navient Student Loan Trust, Class A2A, Series 2016-AA, 3.91%, 12/15/45, Callable 10/15/30 @ 100(a)      975,089  
  103,891      Navient Student Loan Trust, Class A, Series 2014-CTA, 2.44%(US0001M+70bps), 9/16/24, Callable 5/15/21 @ 100(a)      103,912  
  2,550,000      Navient Student Loan Trust, Class A2B, Series 2019-D, 2.79%(US0001M+105bps), 12/15/59, Callable 4/15/30 @ 100(a)      2,558,916  
  461,000      Navient Student Loan Trust, Class A2, Series 2018-EA, 4.00%, 12/15/59, Callable 9/15/26 @ 100(a)      478,893  
  2,440,000      Nissan Master Owner Trust Receivables, Class A, Series 2019-B, 2.17%(US0001M+43bps), 11/15/23      2,443,699  
  3,770,000      Nissan Master Owner Trust Receivables, Class A, Series 2019-A, 2.30%(US0001M+56bps), 2/15/24      3,784,274  
  151,067      SMB Private Education Loan Trust, Class A2A, Series 2016-A, 2.70%, 5/15/31(a)(b)      151,884  
  273,530      SMB Private Education Loan Trust, Class A2A, Series 2015-B, 2.98%, 7/15/27, Callable 7/15/27 @ 100(a)      275,062  
  1,331,323      SMB Private Education Loan Trust, Class A2A, Series 2017-B, 2.82%, 10/15/35(a)      1,345,711  
  798,794      SMB Private Education Loan Trust, Class A2B, Series 2017-B, 2.49%(US0001M+75bps), 10/15/35(a)      799,969  
  3,710,000      SMB Private Education Loan Trust, Class A2A, Series 2018-B, 3.60%, 1/15/37(a)      3,836,445  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Asset Backed Securities, continued       
$ 1,759,310      SMB Private Education Loan Trust, Class A2A, Series 2017-A, 2.88%, 9/15/34(a)    $ 1,777,592  
  438,755      SoFi Professional Loan Program, Class A2, Series 2015-C, 2.51%, 8/25/33, Callable 7/25/22 @ 100(a)      438,307  
  81,536      SoFi Professional Loan Program, Class A2B, Series 2016-D, 2.34%, 4/25/33, Callable 8/25/25 @ 100(a)      81,539  
  1,360,915      SoFi Professional Loan Program, Class A2, Series 2015-d, 2.72%, 10/27/36, Callable 8/25/23 @ 100(a)      1,372,662  
  5,850,000      SoFi Professional Loan Program, Class A2FX, Series 2017-F, 2.84%, 1/25/41, Callable 9/25/26 @ 100(a)      5,903,133  
  1,170,000      SoFi Professional Loan Program, Class A2FX, Series 2019-B, 3.09%, 8/17/48, Callable 4/15/28 @ 100(a)      1,181,625  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Asset Backed Securities (Cost $69,711,687)

     70,899,050  
  

 

 

 
Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (5.4%):       
  1,971,000      BANK, Class A3, Series 2019-BNK24, 2.96%, 11/15/62      2,020,038  
  4,840,000      Barclays Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A, Series 2018-TALL, 2.46%(US0001M+72bps), 3/15/37(a)      4,810,814  
  2,697,000      Barclays Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A4, Series 2019-C5, 3.06%, 11/15/52      2,760,164  
  668,000      Benchmark Mortgage Trust, Class C, Series 2019-B15, 3.84%, 12/15/72      673,277  
  1,250,000      Benchmark Mortgage Trust, Class B, Series 2019-B15, 3.56%, 12/15/72      1,265,413  
  1,954,000      Benchmark Mortgage Trust, Class A5, Series 2019-B14, 3.05%, 12/15/61      2,017,544  
  551,000      BX Trust, Class D, Series 2019-OC11, 4.08%, 12/9/41(a)      560,375  
  1,242,000      BX Trust, Class A, Series 2019-OC11, 3.20%, 12/9/41(a)      1,273,293  
  2,611,000      BX Trust, Class A, Series 2019-XL, 2.66%(US0001M+92bps), 10/15/36(a)      2,612,384  
  603,000      Cantor Commercial Real Estate Lending, Class B, Series 2019-CF3, 3.50%, 1/15/53(b)      615,834  
  1,863,000      Cantor Commercial Real Estate Lending, Class A4, Series 2019-CF3, 3.01%, 1/15/53      1,911,514  
  1,463,771      Chase Home Lending Mortgage Trust, Class A11, Series 2019-ATR2, 2.69%(US0001M+90bps), 7/25/49, Callable 7/25/25 @ 100(a)      1,457,521  
  3,928,638      CIM Trust, Class A11, Series 2019-INV3, 2.66%(US0001M+100bps), 8/25/49, Callable 1/25/32 @ 100(a)      3,920,310  
  3,030,000      Citigroup Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A5, Series 2014-GC21, 3.86%, 5/10/47      3,204,346  
  2,001,000      Citigroup Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A4, Series 2019-C7, 3.10%, 12/15/72      2,069,430  
  3,360,000      Cityline Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A, Series 2016-CLNE, 2.78%, 11/10/31(a)(b)      3,422,160  
  667,000      Commercial Mortgage Loan Trust, Class A5, Series 2015-CR24, 3.70%, 8/10/48      707,514  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Collateralized Mortgage Obligations, continued       
$ 1,279,058      Commercial Mortgage Loan Trust, Class AM, Series 2013-CR7, 3.31%, 3/10/46, Callable 4/6/23 @ 100(a)    $ 1,306,711  
  1,015,000      Commercial Mortgage Loan Trust, Class D, Series 2013-WWP, 3.90%, 3/10/31(a)      1,072,358  
  3,075,000      Commercial Mortgage Loan Trust, Class A4, Series 2015-CCRE26, 3.63%, 10/10/48      3,253,012  
  3,870,000      Cosmopolitan Hotel Trust, Class A, Series 2017-CSMO, 2.67%(US0001M+93bps), 11/15/36(a)      3,857,384  
  2,152,000      CSAIL Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A5, Series 2019-C17, 3.02%, 9/15/52      2,204,939  
  2,760,000      CSAIL Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A5, Series 2018-CX11, 4.03%, 4/15/51(b)      3,028,327  
  1,580,000      CSAIL Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A4, Series 2019-C15, 4.05%, 3/15/52      1,737,099  
  2,700,977      Flagstar Mortgage Trust, Class A11, Series 2019-1, 2.74%(US0001M+95bps), 10/25/49, Callable 4/25/29 @ 100(a)      2,700,819  
  1,398,224      FRESB Multifamily Mortgage Pass Through, Class A10H, Series 2019-SB60, 3.50%(US0001M+350bps), 1/25/39, Callable 12/1/28 @ 100      1,460,683  
  2,462,000      GS Mortgage Securities Trust, Class A4, Series 2019-GSA1, 3.05%, 11/10/52      2,519,685  
  1,525,000      IMT Trust, Class BFX, Series 2017-APTS, 3.50%, 6/15/34(a)(b)      1,568,463  
  3,081,981      JP Morgan Mortgage Trust, Class A11, Series 2019-INV2, 2.69%(US0001M+90bps), 2/25/50, Callable 3/25/29 @ 100(a)      3,075,572  
  1,280,330      JP Morgan Mortgage Trust, Class A11, Series 2019-7, 2.69%(US0001M+90bps), 2/25/50(a)      1,276,436  
  2,210,404      JP Morgan Mortgage Trust, Class A6, Series 2017-4, 3.00%, 11/25/48, Callable 2/25/25 @ 100(a)(b)      2,237,587  
  3,221,883      JP Morgan Mortgage Trust, Class A11, Series 2019-LTV3, 2.56%(US0001M+85bps), 2/25/50, Callable 2/25/32 @ 100(a)      3,201,992  
  1,120,000      JP Morgan Mortgage Trust, Class A5, Series 2019-LTV3, 3.50%, 2/25/50, Callable 2/25/32 @ 100(a)(b)      1,130,403  
  2,040,000      JP Morgan Mortgage Trust, Class A11, Series 2019-INV3, 2.74%(US0001M+100bps), 5/25/50, Callable 4/25/32 @ 100(a)      2,037,183  
  3,049,951      JP Morgan Mortgage Trust, Class A4, Series 2017-1, 3.50%, 1/25/47, Callable 1/25/28 @ 100(a)(b)      3,124,926  
  2,245,127      JP Morgan Mortgage Trust, Class A6, Series 2017-2, 3.00%, 5/25/47, Callable 12/25/27 @ 100(a)(b)      2,281,231  
  2,058,000      JPMDB Commercial Mortgage Securities Trust, Class A4, Series 2019-COR6, 3.06%, 11/13/52      2,121,406  
  2,985,000      JPMDB Commercial Mortgage Securities Trust, Class A5, Series 2017-C5, 3.69%, 3/15/50      3,200,607  
  235,081      JPMorgan Chase Commercial Mortgage Securities Corp., Class A, Series 2012-WLDN, 3.91%, 5/5/30(a)      241,087  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Collateralized Mortgage Obligations, continued       
$ 4,884,415      JPMorgan Chase Commercial Mortgage Securities Corp., Class A4FX, Series 2012-CBX, 3.48%, 6/15/45(a)    $ 4,979,172  
  2,904,000      KNDL Mortgage Trust, Class A, Series 2019-KNSQ, 2.54%(US0001M+80bps), 5/15/36(a)      2,901,938  
  149,299      Latitude Management Real Estate Capital, Class A, Series 2016-CRE2, 3.48%(US0001M+170bps), 11/24/31(a)      149,853  
  1,300,000      Morgan Stanley Bank of America Merrill Lynch Trust, Class A3, Series 2015-C24, 3.48%, 5/15/48      1,362,621  
  1,540,000      Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, Class A4, Series 2016-BNK2, 3.05%, 11/15/49      1,594,901  
  1,170,000      Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, Class A4, Series 2019-L3, 3.13%, 11/15/29      1,207,814  
  864,757      Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, Class A4, Series 2019-H6, 3.42%, 6/15/52      912,336  
  1,740,000      Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, Class A, Series 2014-MP, 3.47%, 8/11/33(a)      1,774,052  
  1,563,000      Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, Class A, Series 2019-NUGS, 2.70%(US0001M+95bps), 12/15/36(a)      1,563,000  
  3,942,313      One Lincoln Street Commercial Mortgage, Class A1, Series 2004-C3, 5.72%, 10/15/30(a)(b)      4,298,106  
  1,458,859      Seasoned Credit Risk Transfer Trust, Class MA, Series 2018-2, 3.50%, 11/25/57, Callable 9/25/41 @ 100      1,496,680  
  2,835,509      Seasoned Credit Risk Transfer Trust, Class MA, Series 2019-2, 3.50%, 8/25/58      2,935,086  
  125,000      SG Commercial Mortgage Securities Trust, Class A4, Series 2016-C5, 3.06%, 10/10/48      128,379  
  208,981      SMB Private Education Loan Trust, Class A2A, Series 2016-B, 2.43%, 2/17/32(a)(b)      208,884  
  388,839      Tharaldson Hotel Portfolio Trust, Class A, Series 2018-THL, 2.46%(US0001M+75bps), 11/11/34(a)      388,457  
  1,857,000      UBS Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A4, Series 2019-C18, 3.04%, 12/15/52      1,904,694  
  1,460,000      VNO Mortgage Trust, Class A, Series 2013-PENN, 3.81%, 12/13/29(a)      1,475,870  
  1,853,000      Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A4, Series 2019-C53, 3.04%, 10/15/52      1,904,687  
  1,147,000      Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A4, Series 2019-C54, 3.15%, 12/15/52      1,188,403  
  940,000      Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A4, Series 2018-C46, 4.15%, 8/15/51      1,043,409  
  1,635,000      Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A4, Series 2015-NXS4, 3.72%, 12/15/48      1,745,755  
  975,000      Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A4, Series 2015-C28, 3.54%, 5/15/48      1,029,932  
  10,253,647      Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class XA, Series 2016-LC25, 0.99%, 12/15/59(b)      474,129  
  1,250,000      Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class AS, Series 2015-NXS1, 3.41%, 5/15/48      1,297,763  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (Cost $121,463,235)

     121,905,762  
  

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds (22.9%):       
Aerospace & Defense (1.2%):       
$ 1,315,000      BAE Systems Holdings, Inc., 2.85%, 12/15/20, Callable 11/15/20 @ 100(a)    $ 1,321,973  
  1,135,000      BAE Systems Holdings, Inc., 3.80%, 10/7/24(a)      1,194,314  
  245,000      BAE Systems Holdings, Inc., 3.85%, 12/15/25, Callable 9/15/25 @ 100(a)      259,471  
  134,000      Boeing Co. (The), 3.25%, 2/1/35, Callable 11/1/34 @ 100      136,680  
  135,000      General Dynamics Corp., 3.75%, 5/15/28, Callable 2/15/28 @ 100      148,788  
  129,000      Harris Corp., 3.83%, 4/27/25, Callable 1/27/25 @ 100      137,295  
  2,091,000      Harris Corp., 4.40%, 6/15/28, Callable 3/15/28 @ 100      2,329,046  
  1,057,000      Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc., 5.00%, 11/15/25, Callable 11/15/20 @ 102.5(a)      1,104,565  
  1,247,000      Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc., 3.48%, 12/1/27, Callable 9/1/27 @ 100      1,299,998  
  2,050,000      L3Harris Technologies, Inc., 3.85%, 6/15/23, Callable 5/15/23 @ 100(a)      2,158,640  
  267,000      L3Harris Technologies, Inc., 3.95%, 5/28/24, Callable 2/28/24 @ 100(a)      283,284  
  1,715,000      L3Harris Technologies, Inc., 3.85%, 12/15/26, Callable 9/15/26 @ 100(a)      1,844,045  
  90,000      L3Harris Technologies, Inc., 4.40%, 6/15/28, Callable 3/15/28 @ 100(a)      100,332  
  1,347,000      Lockheed Martin Corp., 2.90%, 3/1/25, Callable 12/1/24 @ 100      1,400,196  
  338,000      Lockheed Martin Corp., 3.60%, 3/1/35, Callable 9/1/34 @ 100      370,510  
  628,000      Lockheed Martin Corp., 4.07%, 12/15/42      719,802  
  398,000      Northrop Grumman Corp., 2.08%, 10/15/20      398,248  
  30,000      Northrop Grumman Corp., 2.55%, 10/15/22, Callable 9/15/22 @ 100      30,453  
  3,892,000      Northrop Grumman Corp., 2.93%, 1/15/25, Callable 11/15/24 @ 100      4,011,596  
  704,000      Northrop Grumman Corp., 3.25%, 1/15/28, Callable 10/15/27 @ 100      734,040  
  280,000      Raytheon Co., 7.20%, 8/15/27      366,348  
  115,000      Raytheon Co., 7.00%, 11/1/28      152,605  
  10,000      Raytheon Co., 4.70%, 12/15/41      12,451  
  415,000      Raytheon Co., 4.20%, 12/15/44, Callable 6/15/44 @ 100      487,336  
  805,000      Rockwell Collins, Inc., 2.80%, 3/15/22, Callable 2/15/22 @ 100      818,941  
  280,000      Rockwell Collins, Inc., 3.20%, 3/15/24, Callable 1/15/24 @ 100      291,516  
  90,000      Textron, Inc., 3.65%, 3/15/27, Callable 12/15/26 @ 100      94,169  
  882,000      Textron, Inc., 3.90%, 9/17/29, Callable 6/17/29 @ 100      941,592  
  25,000      United Technolgies Group, 5.70%, 4/15/40      33,488  
  620,000      United Technologies Corp., 1.13%, 12/15/21, Callable 9/15/21 @ 100      708,322  
  685,000      United Technologies Corp., 1.25%, 5/22/23, Callable 2/22/23 @ 100      794,790  
  168,000      United Technologies Corp., 6.13%, 7/15/38      232,644  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Aerospace & Defense, continued       
$ 31,000      United Technologies Corp., 4.45%, 11/16/38, Callable 5/16/38 @ 100    $ 36,444  
  624,000      United Technologies Corp., 4.50%, 6/1/42      748,434  
  4,000      United Technologies Corp., 4.15%, 5/15/45, Callable 11/16/44 @ 100      4,590  
  110,000      United Technologies Corp., 4.05%, 5/4/47, Callable 11/4/46 @ 100      125,075  
     

 

 

 
        25,832,021  
     

 

 

 
Air Freight & Logistics (0.1%):       
  296,000      FedEx Corp., 3.88%, 8/1/42      284,977  
  463,000      FedEx Corp., 5.10%, 1/15/44      507,501  
  85,000      FedEx Corp., 4.75%, 11/15/45, Callable 5/15/45 @ 100      89,621  
  13,000      FedEx Corp., 4.55%, 4/1/46, Callable 10/1/45 @ 100      13,308  
  5,000      FedEx Corp., 4.40%, 1/15/47, Callable 7/15/46 @ 100      5,034  
  6,000      United Parcel Service, Inc., 2.35%, 5/16/22, Callable 4/16/22 @ 100      6,068  
  87,000      United Parcel Service, Inc., 2.50%, 4/1/23, Callable 3/1/23 @ 100      88,409  
  695,000      United Parcel Service, Inc., 0.38%, 11/15/23, Callable 8/15/23 @ 100      788,371  
  57,000      United Parcel Service, Inc., 3.40%, 3/15/29, Callable 12/15/28 @ 100      61,073  
  528,000      United Parcel Service, Inc., 2.50%, 9/1/29, Callable 6/1/29 @ 100      527,112  
  40,000      United Parcel Service, Inc., 3.40%, 9/1/49, Callable 3/1/49 @ 100      40,605  
     

 

 

 
        2,412,079  
     

 

 

 
Airlines (0.5%):       
  8,923      American Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class B, Series 2014-1, 4.38%, 10/1/22      9,161  
  1,053,766      American Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class B, Series 2015-2, 4.40%, 3/22/25      1,089,840  
  317,002      American Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class B, Series 2016-1, 5.25%, 7/15/25      335,132  
  96,801      American Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class B, Series 2017-1, 4.95%, 8/15/26      101,844  
  10,702      American Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class B, Series 2016-3, 3.75%, 4/15/27      10,829  
  212,085      American Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class B, Series 2017-2, 3.70%, 4/15/27      212,502  
  553,098      American Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class AA, Series 2015-2, 3.60%, 3/22/29      580,691  
  795,000      American Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class B, Series 2019-1, 3.85%, 8/15/29      807,911  
  231,570      American Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class AA, Series 2016-2, 3.20%, 12/15/29      238,767  
  464,702      American Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class AA, Series 2016-3, 3.00%, 4/15/30      473,031  
  190,146      American Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class AA, Series 2017-1, 3.65%, 8/15/30      199,328  
  332,612      American Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class AA, Series 2017-2, 3.35%, 4/15/31      339,111  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Airlines, continued       
$ 735,000      American Airlines Pass Through Trust, Series 2019-1, 3.15%, 8/15/33    $ 746,550  
  1,934,000      British Airways Pass Through Trust, Class A, Series 2019-1, 3.35%, 12/15/30(a)      1,975,099  
  1,074,865      British Airways Pass Through Trust, Class AA, Series 2019-1, 3.30%, 6/15/34(a)      1,116,517  
  71,000      Delta Airlines Pass Through Trust, 3.63%, 3/15/22, Callable 2/15/22 @ 100      72,739  
  505,000      Delta Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class AA, Series 2019-1, 3.20%, 10/25/25      524,812  
  396,000      Southwest Airlines Co., 2.75%, 11/16/22, Callable 10/16/22 @ 100      401,714  
  11,795      United Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class B, Series 2014-1, 4.75%, 10/11/23      12,135  
  63,289      United Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class B, Series 2014-2, 4.63%, 3/3/24      65,282  
  8,287      United Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class B, Series 2016-2, 3.65%, 4/7/27      8,403  
  61,007      United Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class B, Series 2016-1, 3.65%, 7/7/27      61,475  
  339,968      United Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class B, Series 2018-1, 4.60%, 9/1/27      350,786  
  12,461      United Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class AA, Series 2015-1, 3.45%, 6/1/29      12,857  
  462,000      United Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class B, Series 2019-2, 3.50%, 11/1/29      465,292  
  51,879      United Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class AA, Series 2016-2, 3.10%, 1/7/30      53,016  
  201,212      United Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class AA, Series 2019-2, 2.88%, 4/7/30      203,903  
  239,452      United Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class AA, Series 2018-1, 3.50%, 9/1/31      247,348  
  381,290      United Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class AA, Series 2016-1, 4.15%, 2/25/33      411,824  
  505,000      United Airlines Pass Through Trust, Class AA, Series 2019-2, 2.70%, 11/1/33      504,999  
  20,226      US Airways Pass Through Trust, Class B, Series 2012-2, 6.75%, 12/3/22      21,187  
  64,629      US Airways Pass Through Trust, Class B, Series 2013-1, 5.38%, 5/15/23      67,309  
     

 

 

 
        11,721,394  
     

 

 

 
Auto Components (0.0%):       
  55,000      Aptiv plc, 5.40%, 3/15/49, Callable 9/15/48 @ 100      62,098  
  45,000      Lear Corp., 5.25%, 5/15/49, Callable 11/15/48 @ 100      46,843  
     

 

 

 
        108,941  
     

 

 

 
Automobiles (0.3%):       
  2,575,000      Daimler Finance North America LLC, 2.70%, 8/3/20(a)      2,584,970  
  335,000      Daimler Finance North America LLC, 3.75%, 11/5/21(a)      344,284  
  29,000      General Motors Co., 4.00%, 4/1/25      30,203  
  1,400,000      Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp., 3.15%, 3/15/21(a)      1,412,789  
  1,390,000      Volkswagen Group of America Finance LLC, 2.40%, 5/22/20(a)      1,391,575  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Automobiles, continued       
$ 520,000      Volkswagen Group of America Finance LLC, 2.50%, 9/24/21(a)    $ 523,698  
  650,000      Volkswagen Group of America Finance LLC, 2.70%, 9/26/22(a)      657,415  
     

 

 

 
        6,944,934  
     

 

 

 
Banks (3.6%):       
  7,430,000      Bank of America Corp., Series G, 2.37%(US0003M+66bps), 7/21/21, Callable 7/21/20 @ 100      7,445,729  
  140,000      Bank of America Corp., 3.50%(US0003M+63bps), 5/17/22, Callable 5/17/21 @ 100, MTN      142,617  
  357,000      Bank of America Corp., 4.10%, 7/24/23      380,334  
  2,000      Bank of America Corp., 3.00%(US0003M+79bps), 12/20/23, Callable 12/20/22 @ 100      2,045  
  64,000      Bank of America Corp., 4.13%, 1/22/24, MTN      68,875  
  4,108,000      Bank of America Corp., 3.55%(US0003M+78bps), 3/5/24, Callable 3/5/23 @ 100      4,251,357  
  10,000      Bank of America Corp., 4.00%, 4/1/24      10,708  
  1,371,000      Bank of America Corp., 3.86%(US0003M+94bps), 7/23/24, Callable 7/23/23 @ 100      1,443,163  
  452,000      Bank of America Corp., 4.20%, 8/26/24, MTN      485,117  
  304,000      Bank of America Corp., 4.00%, 1/22/25, MTN      323,307  
  3,934,000      Bank of America Corp., 3.46%(US0003M+97bps), 3/15/25, Callable 3/15/24 @ 100, MTN      4,096,903  
  382,000      Bank of America Corp., Series L, 3.95%, 4/21/25      406,864  
  28,000      Bank of America Corp., 3.88%, 8/1/25, MTN      30,030  
  71,000      Bank of America Corp., 3.09%(US0003M+109bps), 10/1/25, Callable 10/1/24 @ 100      73,175  
  270,000      Bank of America Corp., 2.46%(US0003M+87bps), 10/22/25, Callable 10/22/24 @ 100, MTN      271,039  
  1,156,000      Bank of America Corp., Series G, 4.45%, 3/3/26      1,267,124  
  2,523,000      Bank of America Corp., 3.56%(US0003M+106bps), 4/23/27, Callable 4/23/26 @ 100, MTN      2,661,593  
  3,034,000      Bank of America Corp., 3.82%(US0003M+158bps), 1/20/28, Callable 1/20/27 @ 100, MTN      3,254,793  
  3,177,000      Bank of America Corp., 3.71%(US0003M+151bps), 4/24/28, Callable 4/24/27 @ 100      3,392,922  
  918,000      Bank of America Corp., 3.42%(US0003M+104bps), 12/20/28, Callable 12/20/27 @ 100      962,172  
  842,000      Bank of America Corp., 3.97%(US0003M+107bps), 3/5/29, Callable 3/5/28 @ 100, MTN      916,180  
  203,000      Bank of America Corp., 4.27%(US0003M+131bps), 7/23/29, Callable 7/23/28 @ 100      224,979  
  817,000      Bank of America Corp., 3.97%(US0003M+121bps), 2/7/30, Callable 2/7/29 @ 100, MTN      889,906  
  20,000      Bank of America Corp., 4.24%(US0003M+181bps), 4/24/38, Callable 4/24/37 @ 100, MTN      22,975  
  7,000      Bank of America Corp., 4.75%, 4/21/45      8,525  
  685,000      Bank of America Corp., 5.88%(US0003M+293bps), 12/31/99, Callable 3/15/28 @ 100      761,206  
  1,100,000      Citibank NA, Series B, 2.10%, 6/12/20, Callable 5/12/20 @ 100      1,101,357  
  1,030,000      Citigroup, Inc., 2.65%, 10/26/20      1,035,164  
  4,000      Citigroup, Inc., 2.75%, 4/25/22, Callable 3/25/22 @ 100      4,065  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Banks, continued       
$ 265,000      Citigroup, Inc., 2.88%(US0003M+95bps), 7/24/23, Callable 7/24/22 @ 100    $ 269,619  
  3,000      Citigroup, Inc., 4.04%(US0003M+102bps), 6/1/24, Callable 6/1/23 @ 100      3,177  
  859,000      Citigroup, Inc., 4.40%, 6/10/25      933,523  
  10,000      Citigroup, Inc., 5.50%, 9/13/25      11,423  
  40,000      Citigroup, Inc., 4.45%, 9/29/27      44,017  
  306,000      Citigroup, Inc., 3.89%(US0003M+156bps), 1/10/28, Callable 1/10/27 @ 100      328,183  
  675,000      Citigroup, Inc., 3.67%(US0003M+139bps), 7/24/28, Callable 7/24/27 @ 100      717,330  
  531,000      Citigroup, Inc., 3.52%(US0003M), 10/27/28, Callable 10/27/27 @ 100      557,991  
  965,000      Citizens Bank NA, 2.20%, 5/26/20, Callable 4/26/20 @ 100      964,982  
  250,000      Citizens Bank NA, 2.55%, 5/13/21, Callable 4/13/21 @ 100      251,580  
  38,000      Citizens Financial Group, Inc., 2.38%, 7/28/21, Callable 6/28/21 @ 100      38,084  
  435,000      HSBC USA, Inc., 5.00%, 9/27/20      443,658  
  470,000      Huntington National Bank (The), 2.40%, 4/1/20, Callable 3/1/20 @ 100      470,032  
  23,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 4.63%, 5/10/21      23,818  
  3,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 2.40%, 6/7/21, Callable 5/7/21 @ 100      3,019  
  861,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 2.30%, 8/15/21, Callable 8/15/20 @ 100      862,558  
  360,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 3.51%(US0003M+61bps), 6/18/22, Callable 6/18/21 @ 100      367,724  
  100,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 3.21%(US0003M+70bps), 4/1/23, Callable 4/1/22 @ 100      102,173  
  2,769,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 2.78%(US0003M+94bps), 4/25/23, Callable 4/25/22 @ 100      2,803,097  
  3,374,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 3.56%(US0003M+73bps), 4/23/24, Callable 4/23/23 @ 100      3,518,127  
  101,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 4.02%(US0003M+100bps), 12/5/24, Callable 12/5/23 @ 100      107,657  
  1,366,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 3.22%(US0003M+116bps), 3/1/25, Callable 3/1/24 @ 100      1,411,772  
  5,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 2.30%(SOFR+116bps), 10/15/25, Callable 10/15/24 @ 100      4,994  
  144,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 3.20%, 6/15/26, Callable 3/15/26 @ 100      150,003  
  427,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 3.96%(US0003M+125bps), 1/29/27, Callable 1/29/26 @ 100      462,398  
  4,673,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 3.78%(US0003M+134bps), 2/1/28, Callable 2/1/27 @ 100      5,022,452  
  3,214,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 3.54%(US0003M+138bps), 5/1/28, Callable 5/1/27 @ 100      3,406,814  
  1,480,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 3.51%(US0003M+95bps), 1/23/29, Callable 1/23/28 @ 100      1,569,756  
  70,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 4.00%(US0003M+112bps), 4/23/29, Callable 4/23/28 @ 100      76,678  
  404,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 4.20%(US0003M+126bps), 7/23/29, Callable 7/23/28 @ 100      450,140  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Banks, continued       
$ 1,872,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 3.70%(US0003M+116bps), 5/6/30, Callable 5/6/29 @ 100    $ 2,011,852  
  1,014,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 2.74%(SOFR+151bps), 10/15/30, Callable 10/15/29 @ 100      1,012,733  
  250,000      KeyBank NA, Series B, 3.35%, 6/15/21      255,182  
  500,000      KeyBank NA, Series B, 2.40%, 6/9/22      505,552  
  200,000      KeyCorp, 2.90%, 9/15/20      201,195  
  6,000      SunTrust Bank, 3.53%(US0003M+50bps), 10/26/21, Callable 10/26/20 @ 100      6,067  
  356,000      Synovus Financial Corp., 3.13%, 11/1/22, Callable 10/1/22 @ 100      360,587  
  370,000      Truist Bank, 2.80%, 5/17/22, Callable 4/17/22 @ 100      376,618  
  300,000      Truist Bank, 3.50%(US0003M+59bps), 8/2/22, Callable 8/2/21 @ 100      306,367  
  10,000      Truist Bank, 3.20%, 4/1/24, Callable 3/1/24 @ 100      10,386  
  10,000      Truist Bank, 3.69%(US0003M+74bps), 8/2/24, Callable 8/2/23 @ 100      10,475  
  204,000      US Bancorp, 2.35%, 1/29/21, Callable 12/29/20 @ 100, MTN      204,877  
  75,000      US BanCorp, 3.10%, 4/27/26, Callable 3/27/26 @ 100      78,118  
  180,000      Wells Fargo & Co., 2.50%, 3/4/21      181,241  
  900,000      Wells Fargo & Co., 1.13%, 10/29/21, MTN      1,032,126  
  6,000      Wells Fargo & Co., 3.50%, 3/8/22      6,185  
  566,000      Wells Fargo & Co., 2.63%, 7/22/22, MTN      573,779  
  2,225,000      Wells Fargo & Co., 3.75%, 1/24/24, Callable 12/24/23 @ 100, MTN      2,344,683  
  391,000      Wells Fargo & Co., 3.00%, 2/19/25      403,437  
  222,000      Wells Fargo & Co., 3.55%, 9/29/25, MTN      234,671  
  8,000      Wells Fargo & Co., 2.41%(US0003M+83bps), 10/30/25, Callable 10/30/24 @ 100, MTN      7,980  
  2,619,000      Wells Fargo & Co., 3.00%, 4/22/26      2,695,514  
  64,000      Wells Fargo & Co., 4.10%, 6/3/26      68,840  
  704,000      Wells Fargo & Co., 3.00%, 10/23/26      720,079  
  57,000      Wells Fargo & Co., Series G, 4.30%, 7/22/27, MTN      62,252  
  2,315,000      Wells Fargo & Co., 3.58%(US0003M+131bps), 5/22/28, Callable 5/22/27 @ 100, MTN      2,456,389  
  173,000      Wells Fargo & Co., 2.88%(US0003M+117bps), 10/30/30, Callable 10/30/29 @ 100, MTN      174,168  
  14,000      Wells Fargo & Co., 5.61%, 1/15/44      18,543  
  280,000      Wells Fargo Bank NA, 3.63%, 10/22/21, Callable 9/21/21 @ 100      288,084  
  320,000      Wells Fargo Bank NA, 2.08%(US0003M+65bps), 9/9/22, Callable 9/9/21 @ 100      320,133  
  330,000      Zions Bancorp NA, 3.50%, 8/27/21      336,255  
     

 

 

 
        78,575,371  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (0.5%):       
  5,126,000      Anheuser-Busch Cos LLC/Anheuser-Busch InBev Worldwide, Inc., 4.70%, 2/1/36, Callable 8/1/35 @ 100      5,918,167  
  884,000      Anheuser-Busch Cos LLC/Anheuser-Busch InBev Worldwide, Inc., 4.90%, 2/1/46, Callable 8/1/45 @ 100      1,048,617  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Beverages, continued       
$ 243,000      Anheuser-Busch InBev Worldwide, Inc., 5.45%, 1/23/39, Callable 7/23/38 @ 100    $ 305,918  
  31,000      Coca-Cola Co. (The), 2.20%, 5/25/22      31,305  
  1,710,000      Coca-Cola Co. (The), 1.13%, 9/22/22      1,982,118  
  1,235,000      Coca-Cola Co. (The), 0.75%, 3/9/23, Callable 12/9/22 @ 100      1,416,473  
  420,000      Coca-Cola Co. (The), 2.13%, 9/6/29      408,631  
  20,000      Keurig Dr Pepper, Inc., 3.55%, 5/25/21      20,410  
  780,000      Molson Coors Brewing Co., 2.10%, 7/15/21, Callable 6/15/21 @ 100      779,848  
  10,000      PepsiCo, Inc., 2.63%, 7/29/29, Callable 4/29/29 @ 100      10,188  
     

 

 

 
        11,921,675  
     

 

 

 
Biotechnology (0.3%):       
  36,000      Abbvie, Inc., 3.20%, 11/6/22, Callable 9/6/22 @ 100      37,025  
  112,000      AbbVie, Inc., 2.30%, 5/14/21, Callable 4/14/21 @ 100      112,330  
  167,000      AbbVie, Inc., 3.38%, 11/14/21      171,159  
  17,000      AbbVie, Inc., 3.75%, 11/14/23, Callable 10/14/23 @ 100      17,892  
  300,000      AbbVie, Inc., 1.38%, 5/17/24, Callable 2/17/24 @ 100      354,130  
  440,000      AbbVie, Inc., 3.60%, 5/14/25, Callable 2/14/25 @ 100      464,615  
  110,000      AbbVie, Inc., 3.20%, 5/14/26, Callable 2/14/26 @ 100      113,845  
  780,000      AbbVie, Inc., 2.95%, 11/21/26, Callable 9/21/26 @ 100(a)      791,439  
  2,228,000      AbbVie, Inc., 4.50%, 5/14/35, Callable 11/14/34 @ 100      2,507,169  
  8,000      AbbVie, Inc., 4.45%, 5/14/46, Callable 11/14/45 @ 100      8,627  
  187,000      Amgen, Inc., 3.88%, 11/15/21, Callable 8/15/21 @ 100      192,916  
  49,000      Amgen, Inc., 2.25%, 8/19/23, Callable 6/19/23 @ 100      49,441  
  205,000      Amgen, Inc., 4.95%, 10/1/41      243,804  
  196,000      Amgen, Inc., 5.15%, 11/15/41, Callable 5/15/41 @ 100      237,403  
  94,000      Amgen, Inc., 5.65%, 6/15/42, Callable 12/15/41 @ 100      116,564  
  666,000      Amgen, Inc., 4.40%, 5/1/45, Callable 11/1/44 @ 100      747,812  
  2,000      Amgen, Inc., 4.56%, 6/15/48, Callable 12/15/47 @ 100      2,312  
  204,000      Gilead Sciences, Inc., 3.70%, 4/1/24, Callable 1/1/24 @ 100      216,666  
  225,000      Gilead Sciences, Inc., 3.65%, 3/1/26, Callable 12/1/25 @ 100      242,015  
  40,000      Gilead Sciences, Inc., 4.60%, 9/1/35, Callable 3/1/35 @ 100      47,879  
  951,000      Gilead Sciences, Inc., 4.80%, 4/1/44, Callable 10/1/43 @ 100      1,139,157  
     

 

 

 
        7,814,200  
     

 

 

 
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Building Products (0.0%):       
$ 36,000      Owens Corning, 4.30%, 7/15/47, Callable 1/15/47 @ 100    $ 34,211  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (1.2%):       
  1,710,000      Ares Capital Corp., 4.25%, 3/1/25, Callable 1/1/25 @ 100      1,785,498  
  118,000      Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (The), 3.44%(US0003M+107bps), 2/7/28, Callable 2/7/27 @ 100, MTN      124,707  
  805,000      Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (The), 4.62%(US0003M+313bps), 12/29/49, Callable 9/20/26 @ 100      845,451  
  93,000      Charles Schwab Corp. (The), 3.20%, 1/25/28, Callable 10/25/27 @ 100      97,267  
  1,435,000      Charles Schwab Corp. (The), Series E, 4.62%(US0003M+332bps), 12/29/49, Callable 3/1/22 @ 100      1,476,256  
  60,000      E*TRADE Financial Corp., 3.80%, 8/24/27, Callable 5/24/27 @ 100      62,655  
  109,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 5.25%, 7/27/21      114,273  
  170,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 5.75%, 1/24/22      181,972  
  1,700,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 3.00%, 4/26/22, Callable 4/26/21 @ 100      1,721,966  
  355,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 2.71%(US0003M+78bps), 10/31/22, Callable 10/31/21 @ 100      357,229  
  19,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 3.63%, 1/22/23      19,734  
  13,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 2.91%(US0003M+105bps), 6/5/23, Callable 6/5/22 @ 100      13,209  
  82,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 2.90%(US0003M+99bps), 7/24/23, Callable 7/24/22 @ 100      83,269  
  170,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 3.63%, 2/20/24, Callable 1/20/24 @ 100      178,512  
  319,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 4.00%, 3/3/24      338,890  
  2,027,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 3.50%, 1/23/25, Callable 10/23/24 @ 100      2,128,713  
  69,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 3.75%, 5/22/25, Callable 2/22/25 @ 100      73,063  
  130,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 3.27%(US0003M+120bps), 9/29/25, Callable 9/29/24 @ 100      134,162  
  942,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 3.75%, 2/25/26, Callable 11/25/25 @ 100      998,468  
  425,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 3.08%(US0003M+117bps), 5/15/26, Callable 5/15/25 @ 100      430,991  
  2,585,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 3.50%, 11/16/26, Callable 11/16/25 @ 100      2,698,074  
  169,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 3.85%, 1/26/27, Callable 1/26/26 @ 100      179,784  
  694,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 3.69%(US0003M+151bps), 6/5/28, Callable 6/5/27 @ 100      736,678  
  35,000      Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., 3.75%, 9/21/28, Callable 6/21/28 @ 100      38,218  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Capital Markets, continued       
$ 670,000      Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., 4.25%, 9/21/48, Callable 3/21/48 @ 100    $ 793,011  
  305,000      Moody’s Corp., 4.25%, 2/1/29, Callable 11/1/28 @ 100      344,752  
  155,000      Morgan Stanley, 2.63%, 11/17/21      156,758  
  431,000      Morgan Stanley, 3.75%, 2/25/23      450,348  
  12,000      Morgan Stanley, 3.74%(US0003M+85bps), 4/24/24, Callable 4/24/23 @ 100      12,496  
  1,142,000      Morgan Stanley, Series G, 3.70%, 10/23/24, MTN      1,210,256  
  37,000      Morgan Stanley, 2.72%(SOFR+115bps), 7/22/25, Callable 7/22/24 @ 100, MTN      37,368  
  140,000      Morgan Stanley, Series G, 3.88%, 1/27/26      150,255  
  40,000      Morgan Stanley, 3.13%, 7/27/26, MTN      41,201  
  3,903,000      Morgan Stanley, 3.63%, 1/20/27      4,147,247  
  1,760,000      Morgan Stanley, 3.77%(US0003M+114bps), 1/24/29, Callable 1/24/28 @ 100      1,891,995  
  666,000      State Street Corp., Series F, 5.25%(US0003M+360bps), 12/31/49, Callable 9/15/20 @ 100      682,650  
  1,510,000      State Street Corp., Series H, 5.62%(US0003M+254bps), 12/31/99, Callable 12/15/23 @ 100      1,600,600  
     

 

 

 
        26,337,976  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (0.4%):       
  70,000      Dow Chemical Co. (The), 3.00%, 11/15/22, Callable 8/15/22 @ 100      71,663  
  15,000      Dow Chemical Co. (The), 3.15%, 5/15/24, Callable 4/15/24 @ 100      15,483  
  226,000      Dow Chemical Co. (The), 4.55%, 11/30/25, Callable 9/30/25 @ 100      248,889  
  1,594,000      Dow Chemical Co. (The), 3.63%, 5/15/26, Callable 3/15/26 @ 100      1,676,412  
  53,000      Dow Chemical Co. (The), 5.25%, 11/15/41, Callable 5/15/41 @ 100      61,496  
  753,000      Dow Chemical Co. (The), 4.38%, 11/15/42, Callable 5/15/42 @ 100      804,410  
  1,770,000      DowDuPont, Inc., 4.49%, 11/15/25, Callable 9/15/25 @ 100      1,946,645  
  670,000      DowDuPont, Inc., 5.42%, 11/15/48, Callable 5/15/48 @ 100      826,468  
  20,000      DuPont de Nemours, Inc., 5.32%, 11/15/38, Callable 5/15/38 @ 100      23,793  
  265,000      Eastman Chemical Co., 3.50%, 12/1/21      271,891  
  330,000      Eastman Chemical Co., 3.80%, 3/15/25, Callable 12/15/24 @ 100      348,144  
  80,000      Ecolab, Inc., 4.35%, 12/8/21      83,706  
  562,000      Ecolab, Inc., 4.35%, 12/8/21      588,032  
  460,000      Ecolab, Inc., 2.38%, 8/10/22, Callable 7/10/22 @ 100      464,350  
  2,000      Ecolab, Inc., 2.70%, 11/1/26, Callable 8/1/26 @ 100      2,055  
  42,000      LYB International Finance BV, 4.88%, 3/15/44, Callable 9/15/43 @ 100      47,331  
  190,000      LYB International Finance III LLC, 4.20%, 10/15/49, Callable 4/15/49 @ 100      197,680  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Chemicals, continued       
$ 220,000      RPM International, Inc., 3.75%, 3/15/27, Callable 12/15/26 @ 100    $ 226,344  
  145,000      Sherwin-Williams Co. (The), 4.00%, 12/15/42, Callable 6/15/42 @ 100      149,082  
  153,000      Sherwin-Williams Co. (The), 4.50%, 6/1/47, Callable 12/1/46 @ 100      174,026  
  10,000      Sherwin-Williams Co. (The), 3.80%, 8/15/49, Callable 2/15/49 @ 100      10,194  
     

 

 

 
        8,238,094  
     

 

 

 
Commercial Services & Supplies (0.2%):       
  32,000      Republic Services, Inc., 3.55%, 6/1/22, Callable 3/1/22 @ 100      33,071  
  90,000      Republic Services, Inc., 4.75%, 5/15/23, Callable 2/15/23 @ 100      96,953  
  31,000      Republic Services, Inc., 2.50%, 8/15/24, Callable 7/15/24 @ 100      31,422  
  205,000      Republic Services, Inc., 2.90%, 7/1/26, Callable 4/1/26 @ 100      208,996  
  859,000      Republic Services, Inc., 3.38%, 11/15/27, Callable 8/15/27 @ 100      906,865  
  820,000      Republic Services, Inc., 3.95%, 5/15/28, Callable 2/15/28 @ 100      901,810  
  17,000      Waste Management, Inc., 2.95%, 6/15/24, Callable 5/15/24 @ 100      17,542  
  295,000      Waste Management, Inc., 3.13%, 3/1/25, Callable 12/1/24 @ 100      308,393  
  114,000      Waste Management, Inc., 3.20%, 6/15/26, Callable 4/15/26 @ 100      119,502  
  198,000      Waste Management, Inc., 3.45%, 6/15/29, Callable 3/15/29 @ 100      211,627  
  571,000      Waste Management, Inc., 4.00%, 7/15/39, Callable 1/15/39 @ 100      638,641  
  865,000      Waste Management, Inc., 4.15%, 7/15/49, Callable 1/15/49 @ 100      987,169  
     

 

 

 
        4,461,991  
     

 

 

 
Communications Equipment (0.1%):       
  93,000      Juniper Networks, Inc., 4.50%, 3/15/24      100,587  
  48,000      Juniper Networks, Inc., 4.35%, 6/15/25, Callable 3/15/25 @ 100      51,102  
  190,000      Motorola Solutions, Inc., 4.00%, 9/1/24      201,063  
  447,000      Motorola Solutions, Inc., 4.60%, 2/23/28, Callable 11/23/27 @ 100      484,892  
  1,458,000      Motorola Solutions, Inc., 4.60%, 5/23/29, Callable 2/23/29 @ 100      1,602,001  
  122,000      Motorola Solutions, Inc., 5.50%, 9/1/44      134,098  
     

 

 

 
        2,573,743  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (1.0%):       
  160,000      American Express Co., 2.20%, 10/30/20, Callable 9/29/20 @ 100      160,228  
  55,000      American Express Co., 3.00%, 2/22/21, Callable 1/22/21 @ 100      55,561  
  69,000      American Express Co., 3.38%, 5/17/21, Callable 4/17/21 @ 100      70,260  
  38,000      American Express Co., 3.70%, 11/5/21, Callable 10/5/21 @ 100      39,140  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

10


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Consumer Finance, continued       
$ 635,000      American Express Co., 2.75%, 5/20/22, Callable 4/20/22 @ 100    $ 645,659  
  170,000      American Express Co., 2.50%, 8/1/22, Callable 7/1/22 @ 100      171,944  
  35,000      American Express Co., 3.40%, 2/27/23, Callable 1/27/23 @ 100      36,277  
  400,000      American Express Co., 3.70%, 8/3/23, Callable 7/3/23 @ 100      421,171  
  345,000      American Express Co., 3.40%, 2/22/24, Callable 1/22/24 @ 100      360,555  
  2,101,000      American Express Co., 2.50%, 7/30/24, Callable 6/30/24 @ 100      2,123,827  
  101,000      American Express Co., 3.00%, 10/30/24, Callable 9/29/24 @ 100      104,285  
  7,000      American Express Co., 3.13%, 5/20/26, Callable 4/20/26 @ 100      7,267  
  387,000      American Express Credit Corp., 2.25%, 5/5/21, Callable 4/4/21 @ 100      388,777  
  740,000      American Honda Finance Corp., 1.38%, 11/10/22      861,269  
  3,000      American Honda Finance Corp., 2.60%, 11/16/22, MTN      3,059  
  110,000      American Honda Finance Corp., 0.55%, 3/17/23      125,269  
  455,000      American Honda Finance Corp., 2.90%, 2/16/24, MTN      468,378  
  75,000      American Honda Finance Corp., 2.40%, 6/27/24, MTN      75,911  
  9,000      American Honda Finance Corp., 2.30%, 9/9/26      8,978  
  500,000      Discover Bank, 3.20%, 8/9/21, Callable 7/9/21 @ 100      508,016  
  205,000      Discover Financial Services, 3.75%, 3/4/25, Callable 12/4/24 @ 100      216,464  
  270,000      Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, 3.16%, 8/4/20      271,011  
  323,000      Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, Series G, 4.39%, 1/8/26      328,331  
  160,000      General Motors Financial Co, Inc., 3.15%, 6/30/22, Callable 5/30/22 @ 100      162,989  
  2,269,000      General Motors Financial Co., Inc., 3.20%, 7/13/20, Callable 6/13/20 @ 100      2,278,950  
  2,060,000      General Motors Financial Co., Inc., 2.45%, 11/6/20      2,064,005  
  468,000      General Motors Financial Co., Inc., 4.38%, 9/25/21      484,665  
  635,000      General Motors Financial Co., Inc., 3.45%, 4/10/22, Callable 2/10/22 @ 100      649,623  
  199,000      General Motors Financial Co., Inc., 4.00%, 1/15/25, Callable 10/15/24 @ 100      209,199  
  3,000      General Motors Financial Co., Inc., 4.35%, 4/9/25, Callable 2/9/25 @ 100      3,211  
  430,000      General Motors Financial Co., Inc., 5.25%, 3/1/26, Callable 12/1/25 @ 100      477,038  
  1,176,000      General Motors Financial Co., Inc., 4.35%, 1/17/27, Callable 10/17/26 @ 100      1,238,955  
  945,000      Hyundai Capital America, 2.55%, 4/3/20(a)      945,644  
  588,000      Hyundai Capital America, 3.00%, 10/30/20(a)      591,055  
  1,420,000      Hyundai Capital America, 3.95%, 2/1/22(a)      1,462,353  
  2,250,000      Synchrony Financial, 2.70%, 2/3/20      2,250,167  
  10,000      Synchrony Financial, 4.38%, 3/19/24, Callable 2/19/24 @ 100      10,634  
  7,000      Synchrony Financial, 4.25%, 8/15/24, Callable 5/15/24 @ 100      7,472  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Consumer Finance, continued       
$ 940,000      Toyota Motor Credit Corp., 7/21/21    $ 1,057,144  
  663,000      Toyota Motor Credit Corp., 2.63%, 1/10/23, MTN      676,111  
  30,000      Toyota Motor Credit Corp., 2.00%, 10/7/24, MTN      29,900  
  521,000      Toyota Motor Credit Corp., 3.20%, 1/11/27      551,178  
     

 

 

 
        22,601,930  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (0.0%):       
  10,000      International Paper Co., 6.00%, 11/15/41, Callable 5/15/41 @ 100      12,437  
  28,000      International Paper Co., 4.40%, 8/15/47, Callable 2/15/47 @ 100      29,742  
  516,000      International Paper Co., 4.35%, 8/15/48, Callable 2/15/48 @ 100      549,145  
     

 

 

 
        591,324  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Consumer Services (0.1%):       
  145,000      California Institute of Technology, 4.32%, 8/1/45      173,325  
  360,000      Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 4.68%, 7/1/14      465,673  
  114,000      Pres & Fellows of Harvar, 3.15%, 7/15/46, Callable 1/15/46 @ 100      115,890  
  575,000      Pres & Fellows of Harvar, 3.30%, 7/15/56, Callable 1/15/56 @ 100      592,730  
     

 

 

 
        1,347,618  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (0.1%):       
  666,000      AXA Equitable Holdings, Inc., 3.90%, 4/20/23, Callable 3/20/23 @ 100      697,753  
  625,000      BP Capital Markets America, Inc., 3.41%, 2/11/26, Callable 12/11/25 @ 100      664,039  
  10,000      BP Capital Markets America, Inc., 3.12%, 5/4/26, Callable 2/4/26 @ 100      10,427  
     

 

 

 
        1,372,219  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (1.0%):       
  467,000      AT&T, Inc., 2.80%, 2/17/21, Callable 1/17/21 @ 100      470,750  
  2,000,000      AT&T, Inc., 2.28%, 11/27/22(a)(c)      1,874,098  
  1,719,000      AT&T, Inc., 3.80%, 2/15/27, Callable 11/15/26 @ 100      1,834,006  
  1,104,000      AT&T, Inc., 4.25%, 3/1/27,
Callable 12/1/26 @ 100
     1,211,012  
  4,000      AT&T, Inc., 4.10%, 2/15/28, Callable 11/15/27 @ 100      4,345  
  1,826,000      AT&T, Inc., 4.30%, 2/15/30, Callable 11/15/29 @ 100      2,030,709  
  1,971,000      AT&T, Inc., 4.50%, 5/15/35, Callable 11/15/34 @ 100      2,194,017  
  50,000      AT&T, Inc., 5.25%, 3/1/37,
Callable 9/1/36 @ 100
     59,781  
  23,000      AT&T, Inc., 4.90%, 8/15/37, Callable 2/14/37 @ 100      26,415  
  143,000      AT&T, Inc., 6.00%, 8/15/40, Callable 5/15/40 @ 100      181,691  
  1,146,000      AT&T, Inc., 5.15%, 3/15/42      1,337,313  
  156,000      AT&T, Inc., 4.80%, 6/15/44, Callable 12/15/43 @ 100      177,538  
  3,000      AT&T, Inc., 4.75%, 5/15/46, Callable 11/15/45 @ 100      3,374  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

11


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Diversified Telecommunication Services, continued       
$ 502,000      AT&T, Inc., 5.15%, 11/15/46, Callable 5/15/46 @ 100    $ 598,629  
  3,000      AT&T, Inc., 5.45%, 3/1/47, Callable 9/1/46 @ 100      3,708  
  495,000      Verizon Communications, Inc., 0.50%, 6/2/22      562,156  
  2,594,000      Verizon Communications, Inc., 4.13%, 3/16/27      2,870,136  
  1,311,000      Verizon Communications, Inc., 4.50%, 8/10/33      1,523,294  
  46,000      Verizon Communications, Inc., 4.40%, 11/1/34, Callable 5/1/34 @ 100      53,265  
  3,868,000      Verizon Communications, Inc., 4.27%, 1/15/36      4,363,410  
     

 

 

 
        21,379,647  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (2.0%):       
  430,000      AEP Texas, Inc., 2.40%, 10/1/22, Callable 9/1/22 @ 100      433,276  
  824,000      AEP Texas, Inc., Class H, Series H, 3.45%, 1/15/50, Callable 7/15/49 @ 100      825,005  
  640,000      AEP Transmission Co. LLC, 3.75%, 12/1/47, Callable 6/1/47 @ 100      687,210  
  281,000      AEP Transmission Co. LLC, 4.25%, 9/15/48, Callable 3/15/48 @ 100      322,861  
  20,000      AEP Transmission Co. LLC, 3.80%, 6/15/49, Callable 12/15/48 @ 100      21,452  
  585,000      AEP Transmission Co. LLC, 3.15%, 9/15/49, Callable 3/15/49 @ 100      567,885  
  21,000      Alabama Power Co., 6.00%, 3/1/39      29,161  
  168,000      Alabama Power Co., Series 2011-C, 5.20%, 6/1/41      206,248  
  284,000      Alabama Power Co., 3.85%, 12/1/42      302,481  
  450,000      Alabama Power Co., 4.15%, 8/15/44, Callable 2/15/44 @ 100      500,791  
  285,000      Alabama Power Co., 3.75%, 3/1/45, Callable 9/1/44 @ 100      299,426  
  151,000      Alabama Power Co., Series A, 4.30%, 7/15/48, Callable 1/15/48 @ 100      174,303  
  561,000      Alabama Power Co., 3.45%, 10/1/49, Callable 4/1/49 @ 100      575,309  
  430,000      Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., 2.80%, 8/15/22, Callable 5/15/22 @ 100      437,054  
  35,000      Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., 2.40%, 8/15/26, Callable 5/15/26 @ 100      35,127  
  505,000      Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., 3.50%, 8/15/46, Callable 2/15/46 @ 100      516,720  
  900,000      Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., 3.75%, 8/15/47, Callable 2/15/47 @ 100      961,615  
  90,000      Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., 4.25%, 9/15/48, Callable 3/15/48 @ 100      104,392  
  216,000      Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., 3.20%, 9/15/49, Callable 3/15/49 @ 100      211,794  
  85,000      Commonwealth Edison Co., 4.60%, 8/15/43, Callable 2/15/43 @ 100      101,137  
  816,000      Dayton Power & Light Co. (The), 3.95%, 6/15/49, Callable 12/15/48 @ 100(a)      840,691  
  250,000      DTE Electric Co., Series A, 4.05%, 5/15/48, Callable 11/15/47 @ 100      287,271  
  869,000      DTE Electric Co., 3.95%, 3/1/49, Callable 9/1/48 @ 100      994,700  
  118,000      Duke Energy Carolinas LLC, 3.75%, 6/1/45, Callable 12/1/44 @ 100      126,174  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Electric Utilities, continued       
$ 544,000      Duke Energy Carolinas LLC, 3.95%, 3/15/48, Callable 9/15/47 @ 100    $ 602,357  
  725,000      Duke Energy Carolinas LLC, 3.20%, 8/15/49, Callable 2/15/49 @ 100      716,579  
  76,000      Duke Energy Florida LLC, 3.20%, 1/15/27, Callable 10/15/26 @ 100      79,107  
  29,000      Duke Energy Florida LLC, 3.80%, 7/15/28, Callable 4/15/28 @ 100      31,577  
  1,414,000      Duke Energy Florida LLC, 2.50%, 12/1/29, Callable 9/1/29 @ 100      1,410,580  
  465,000      Duke Energy Florida LLC, 6.40%, 6/15/38      662,431  
  754,000      Duke Energy Florida LLC, 3.40%, 10/1/46, Callable 4/1/46 @ 100      764,996  
  555,000      Duke Energy Ohio, Inc., 3.65%, 2/1/29, Callable 11/1/28 @ 100      602,607  
  645,000      Duke Energy Ohio, Inc., 3.70%, 6/15/46, Callable 12/15/45 @ 100      681,198  
  49,000      Duke Energy Progress LLC, 3.25%, 8/15/25, Callable 5/15/25 @ 100      51,453  
  215,000      Duke Energy Progress LLC, 3.45%, 3/15/29, Callable 12/15/28 @ 100      230,402  
  606,000      Duke Energy Progress LLC, 4.20%, 8/15/45, Callable 2/15/45 @ 100      686,443  
  170,000      Duke Energy Progress LLC, 3.70%, 10/15/46, Callable 4/15/46 @ 100      179,371  
  255,000      Duke Energy Progress, Inc., 3.00%, 9/15/21, Callable 6/15/21 @ 100      259,705  
  220,000      Duke Energy Progress, Inc., 5.70%, 4/1/35      273,028  
  25,000      Duke Energy Progress, Inc., 4.10%, 5/15/42, Callable 11/15/41 @ 100      27,820  
  635,000      Duke Energy Progress, Inc., 4.10%, 3/15/43, Callable 9/15/42 @ 100      708,397  
  10,000      Duke Energy Progress, Inc., 4.15%, 12/1/44, Callable 6/1/44 @ 100      11,222  
  127,000      Edison International, 2.40%, 9/15/22, Callable 8/15/22 @ 100      126,097  
  8,000      Edison International, 3.13%, 11/15/22, Callable 10/15/22 @ 100      8,106  
  161,000      Edison International, 3.55%, 11/15/24, Callable 10/15/24 @ 100      164,988  
  60,000      Entergy Arkansas LLC, 3.70%, 6/1/24, Callable 3/1/24 @ 100      63,611  
  7,000      Entergy Arkansas LLC, 3.50%, 4/1/26, Callable 1/1/26 @ 100      7,363  
  41,000      Entergy Gulf States Louisiana LLC, 5.59%, 10/1/24      47,000  
  220,000      Entergy Louisiana LLC, 5.40%, 11/1/24      251,345  
  6,000      Entergy Louisiana LLC, 2.40%, 10/1/26, Callable 7/1/26 @ 100      5,959  
  805,000      Entergy Louisiana LLC, 4.00%, 3/15/33, Callable 12/15/32 @ 100      904,508  
  437,000      Entergy Louisiana LLC, 4.20%, 4/1/50, Callable 10/1/49 @ 100      508,446  
  165,000      Entergy Texas, Inc., 4.00%, 3/30/29, Callable 12/30/28 @ 100      179,731  
  357,000      Eversource Energy, Series L, 2.90%, 10/1/24, Callable 8/1/24 @ 100      364,235  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

12


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Electric Utilities, continued       
$ 135,000      Exelon Corp., 2.85%, 6/15/20, Callable 5/15/20 @ 100    $ 135,336  
  15,000      Exelon Corp., 2.45%, 4/15/21, Callable 3/15/21 @ 100      15,081  
  272,000      Exelon Corp., 4.95%, 6/15/35, Callable 12/15/34 @ 100      313,805  
  138,000      Exelon Corp., 5.63%, 6/15/35      170,508  
  329,000      FirstEnergy Transmission LLC, 4.35%, 1/15/25, Callable 10/15/24 @ 100(a)      352,230  
  192,000      FirstEnergy Transmission LLC, 5.45%, 7/15/44, Callable 1/15/44 @ 100(a)      239,283  
  990,000      FirstEnergy Transmission LLC, 4.55%, 4/1/49, Callable 10/1/48 @ 100(a)      1,129,395  
  4,815,000      Florida Power & Light Co., 2.31%(US0003M+40bps), 5/6/22, Callable 1/21/20 @ 100      4,817,591  
  390,000      Florida Power & Light Co., 3.13%, 12/1/25, Callable 6/1/25 @ 100      408,818  
  129,000      Florida Power & Light Co., 4.13%, 2/1/42, Callable 8/1/41 @ 100      146,684  
  310,000      Florida Power & Light Co., 4.05%, 6/1/42, Callable 12/1/41 @ 100      349,611  
  120,000      Florida Power & Light Co., 3.80%, 12/15/42, Callable 6/15/42 @ 100      132,112  
  97,000      Florida Power & Light Co., 3.70%, 12/1/47, Callable 6/1/47 @ 100      107,017  
  590,000      Florida Power & Light Co., 3.95%, 3/1/48, Callable 9/1/47 @ 100      668,461  
  655,000      Florida Power & Light Co., 3.15%, 10/1/49, Callable 4/1/49 @ 100      654,074  
  568,000      Georgia Power Co., 2.00%, 3/30/20      568,094  
  130,000      ITC Holdings Corp., 2.70%, 11/15/22, Callable 10/15/22 @ 100      131,641  
  150,000      ITC Holdings Corp., 3.25%, 6/30/26, Callable 3/30/26 @ 100      154,629  
  633,000      MidAmerican Energy Co., 3.10%, 5/1/27, Callable 2/1/27 @ 100      657,823  
  1,535,000      MidAmerican Energy Co., 3.65%, 4/15/29, Callable 1/15/29 @ 100      1,674,688  
  399,000      MidAmerican Energy Co., 3.15%, 4/15/50, Callable 10/15/49 @ 100      394,591  
  295,000      Northern States Power Co., 3.60%, 9/15/47, Callable 3/15/47 @ 100      312,271  
  685,000      Northern States Power Co., 2.90%, 3/1/50, Callable 9/1/49 @ 100      654,747  
  330,000      NSTAR Electric Co., 3.20%, 5/15/27, Callable 2/15/27 @ 100      344,759  
  275,000      Ohio Power Co., Series G, 6.60%, 2/15/33      375,199  
  120,000      Ohio Power Co., 4.15%, 4/1/48, Callable 10/1/47 @ 100      137,030  
  530,000      Ohio Power Co., 4.00%, 6/1/49, Callable 12/1/48 @ 100      596,632  
  25,000      Oncor Electric Delivery Co. LLC, 7.00%, 9/1/22      28,194  
  1,729,000      Oncor Electric Delivery Co. LLC, 3.70%, 11/15/28, Callable 8/15/28 @ 100      1,887,106  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Electric Utilities, continued       
$ 220,000      Oncor Electric Delivery Co. LLC, 5.75%, 3/15/29, Callable 12/15/28 @ 100    $ 274,729  
  271,000      Oncor Electric Delivery Co. LLC, 3.80%, 9/30/47, Callable 3/30/47 @ 100      298,756  
  270,000      Oncor Electric Delivery Co. LLC, 3.10%, 9/15/49, Callable 3/15/49 @ 100      263,158  
  64,000      PacifiCorp., 3.60%, 4/1/24, Callable 1/1/24 @ 100      67,439  
  215,000      PECO Energy Co., 3.00%, 9/15/49, Callable 3/15/49 @ 100      205,071  
  535,000      Public Service Electric & Gas Co., 3.65%, 9/1/28, Callable 6/1/28 @ 100      583,629  
  29,000      Public Service Electric & Gas Co., 3.20%, 5/15/29, Callable 2/15/29 @ 100, MTN      30,627  
  177,000      Public Service Electric & Gas Co., 3.85%, 5/1/49, Callable 11/1/48 @ 100, MTN      197,227  
  560,000      Tampa Electric Co., 2.60%, 9/15/22, Callable 6/15/22 @ 100      566,507  
  420,000      Tampa Electric Co., 4.35%, 5/15/44, Callable 11/15/43 @ 100      476,170  
  295,000      Tampa Electric Co., 4.30%, 6/15/48, Callable 12/15/47 @ 100      342,327  
  3,000      Tampa Electric Co., 4.45%, 6/15/49, Callable 12/15/48 @ 100      3,561  
  510,000      Virginia Electric & Power Co., 3.45%, 9/1/22, Callable 6/1/22 @ 100      527,426  
  632,000      Virginia Electric & Power Co., Series C, 2.75%, 3/15/23, Callable 12/15/22 @ 100      642,408  
  194,000      Virginia Electric & Power Co., Series A, 3.15%, 1/15/26, Callable 10/15/25 @ 100      202,566  
  379,000      Virginia Electric & Power Co., Series A, 3.80%, 4/1/28, Callable 1/1/28 @ 100      409,857  
  575,000      Virginia Electric & Power Co., Series B, 6.00%, 1/15/36      752,137  
  355,000      Virginia Electric & Power Co., Series A, 6.00%, 5/15/37      471,008  
  25,000      Virginia Electric & Power Co., 6.35%, 11/30/37      34,636  
  1,200,000      Virginia Electric & Power Co., 4.00%, 1/15/43, Callable 7/15/42 @ 100      1,306,760  
  17,000      Virginia Electric & Power Co., 3.30%, 12/1/49, Callable 6/1/49 @ 100      17,168  
  50,000      Vistra Operations Co. LLC, 4.30%, 7/15/29, Callable 4/15/29 @ 100(a)      50,750  
     

 

 

 
        45,454,072  
     

 

 

 
Electrical Equipment (0.0%):       
  62,000      Eaton Corp., 2.75%, 11/2/22      63,272  
     

 

 

 
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (0.0%):       
  97,000      Amphenol Corp., 2.80%, 2/15/30, Callable 11/15/29 @ 100      95,582  
  38,000      Avnet, Inc., 4.63%, 4/15/26, Callable 1/15/26 @ 100      40,293  
  125,000      Corning, Inc., 3.70%, 11/15/23, Callable 8/15/23 @ 100      130,162  
  255,000      Corning, Inc., 4.38%, 11/15/57, Callable 5/15/57 @ 100      257,298  
     

 

 

 
        523,335  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

13


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Entertainment (0.2%):       
$ 2,170,000      Activision Blizzard, Inc., 3.40%, 9/15/26, Callable 6/15/26 @ 100    $ 2,275,577  
  171,000      Activision Blizzard, Inc., 3.40%, 6/15/27, Callable 3/15/27 @ 100      178,243  
  1,165,000      Electronic Arts, Inc., 4.80%, 3/1/26, Callable 12/1/25 @ 100      1,311,904  
  170,000      Viacom, Inc., 6.88%, 4/30/36      227,796  
  475,000      ViacomCBS, Inc., 4.38%, 3/15/43      503,624  
  96,000      ViacomCBS, Inc., 5.85%, 9/1/43, Callable 3/1/43 @ 100      120,468  
  10,000      Walt Disney Co. (The), 3.00%, 2/13/26      10,526  
  125,000      Walt Disney Co. (The), 2.00%, 9/1/29, Callable 6/1/29 @ 100      121,243  
  278,000      Walt Disney Co. (The), 6.20%, 12/15/34      388,106  
  151,000      Walt Disney Co. (The), 6.40%, 12/15/35      216,118  
  128,000      Walt Disney Co. (The), 6.65%, 11/15/37      190,398  
     

 

 

 
        5,544,003  
     

 

 

 
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (0.3%):       
  26,000      American Tower Corp., 3.13%, 1/15/27, Callable 10/15/26 @ 100      26,524  
  406,000      American Tower Corp., 3.95%, 3/15/29, Callable 12/15/28 @ 100      437,121  
  24,000      Boston Properties LP, 3.20%, 1/15/25, Callable 10/15/24 @ 100      24,874  
  61,000      Boston Properties LP, 3.65%, 2/1/26, Callable 11/3/25 @ 100      64,592  
  10,000      Boston Properties LP, 4.50%, 12/1/28, Callable 9/1/28 @ 100      11,265  
  200,000      Boston Properties LP, 2.90%, 3/15/30, Callable 12/15/29 @ 100      199,220  
  33,000      Crown Castle International Corp., 3.40%, 2/15/21, Callable 1/15/21 @ 100      33,488  
  120,000      Crown Castle International Corp., 2.25%, 9/1/21, Callable 8/1/21 @ 100      120,118  
  105,000      Crown Castle International Corp., 4.88%, 4/15/22      111,068  
  669,000      Crown Castle International Corp., 5.25%, 1/15/23      725,552  
  10,000      Crown Castle International Corp., 3.20%, 9/1/24, Callable 7/1/24 @ 100      10,300  
  545,000      Crown Castle International Corp., 4.45%, 2/15/26, Callable 11/15/25 @ 100      595,112  
  623,000      Crown Castle International Corp., 3.70%, 6/15/26, Callable 3/15/26 @ 100      658,923  
  20,000      Crown Castle International Corp., 3.65%, 9/1/27, Callable 6/1/27 @ 100      21,088  
  80,000      Crown Castle International Corp., 3.80%, 2/15/28, Callable 11/15/27 @ 100      85,066  
  110,000      Crown Castle International Corp., 4.30%, 2/15/29, Callable 11/15/28 @ 100      121,488  
  2,233,000      Crown Castle International Corp., 3.10%, 11/15/29, Callable 8/15/29 @ 100      2,248,018  
  20,000      Crown Castle International Corp., 4.75%, 5/15/47, Callable 11/15/46 @ 100      23,076  
  20,000      Crown Castle International Corp., 4.00%, 11/15/49, Callable 5/15/49 @ 100      20,757  
  38,000      GLP Capital LP/GLP Financing II, Inc., 5.38%, 4/15/26, Callable 1/15/26 @ 100      41,561  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts, continued       
$ 500,000      Prologis Euro Finance LLC, 1.50%, 9/10/49, Callable 3/10/49 @ 100    $ 511,564  
  277,000      Realty Income Corp., 3.00%, 1/15/27, Callable 10/15/26 @ 100      285,511  
  120,000      Realty Income Corp., 3.25%, 6/15/29, Callable 3/15/29 @ 100      127,222  
     

 

 

 
        6,503,508  
     

 

 

 
Food & Staples Retailing (0.1%):       
  24,000      Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., 4.50%, 11/18/34, Callable 5/18/34 @ 100      24,729  
  44,000      Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 4.30%, 4/22/44, Callable 10/22/43 @ 100      52,669  
  276,000      Walmart, Inc., 3.70%, 6/26/28, Callable 3/26/28 @ 100      304,079  
  1,177,000      Walmart, Inc., 3.25%, 7/8/29, Callable 4/8/29 @ 100      1,262,900  
     

 

 

 
        1,644,377  
     

 

 

 
Food Products (0.0%):       
  117,000      Conagra Brands, Inc., 3.80%, 10/22/21      120,566  
  105,000      Tyson Foods, Inc., 3.90%, 9/28/23, Callable 8/28/23 @ 100      111,387  
  69,000      Tyson Foods, Inc., 4.00%, 3/1/26, Callable 1/1/26 @ 100      74,755  
  260,000      Tyson Foods, Inc., 5.15%, 8/15/44, Callable 2/15/44 @ 100      315,055  
  106,000      Tyson Foods, Inc., 4.55%, 6/2/47, Callable 12/2/46 @ 100      120,386  
     

 

 

 
        742,149  
     

 

 

 
Gas Utilities (0.0%):       
  300,000      Atmos Energy Corp., 3.38%, 9/15/49, Callable 3/15/49 @ 100      303,479  
  90,000      ONE Gas, Inc., 4.50%, 11/1/48, Callable 5/1/48 @ 100      107,407  
  97,000      Piedmont Natural Gas Co, Inc., 3.50%, 6/1/29, Callable 3/1/29 @ 100      103,354  
     

 

 

 
        514,240  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (0.2%):       
  719,000      Abbott Laboratories, 3.40%, 11/30/23, Callable 9/30/23 @ 100      755,477  
  713,000      Baxter International, Inc., 1.70%, 8/15/21, Callable 7/15/21 @ 100      711,776  
  24,000      Becton Dickinson & Co., 3.36%, 6/6/24, Callable 4/6/24 @ 100      24,957  
  525,000      Becton Dickinson and Co., 1.40%, 5/24/23, Callable 4/24/23 @ 100      608,792  
  500,000      DH Europe Finance II Sarl, 1.80%, 9/18/49, Callable 3/18/49 @ 100      541,516  
  400,000      Medtronic Global Holdings SCA, 1.75%, 7/2/49, Callable 1/2/49 @ 100      437,847  
  910,000      Stryker Corp., 0.25%, 12/3/24, Callable 11/3/24 @ 100      1,019,120  
     

 

 

 
        4,099,485  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (0.8%):       
  6,000      Aetna, Inc., 6.75%, 12/15/37      8,066  
  80,000      Aetna, Inc., 4.50%, 5/15/42, Callable 11/15/41 @ 100      85,516  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

14


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Health Care Providers & Services, continued       
$ 153,000      Aetna, Inc., 4.13%, 11/15/42, Callable 5/15/42 @ 100    $ 156,818  
  46,000      Anthem, Inc., 3.50%, 8/15/24, Callable 5/15/24 @ 100      48,195  
  22,000      Anthem, Inc., 3.65%, 12/1/27, Callable 9/1/27 @ 100      23,218  
  380,000      Cigna Corp., 3.25%, 4/15/25, Callable 1/15/25 @ 100(a)      391,074  
  350,000      CVS Caremark Corp., 3.38%, 8/12/24, Callable 5/12/24 @ 100      364,517  
  695,000      CVS Health Corp., 3.35%, 3/9/21      705,236  
  780,000      CVS Health Corp., 3.70%, 3/9/23, Callable 2/9/23 @ 100      812,127  
  656,000      CVS Health Corp., 2.63%, 8/15/24, Callable 7/15/24 @ 100      662,191  
  1,319,000      CVS Health Corp., 4.10%, 3/25/25, Callable 1/25/25 @ 100      1,414,365  
  3,228,000      CVS Health Corp., 4.30%, 3/25/28, Callable 12/25/27 @ 100      3,520,682  
  103,000      CVS Health Corp., 4.78%, 3/25/38, Callable 9/25/37 @ 100      116,598  
  20,000      CVS Health Corp., 5.30%, 12/5/43, Callable 6/5/43 @ 100      23,743  
  688,000      CVS Health Corp., 5.13%, 7/20/45, Callable 1/20/45 @ 100      811,466  
  375,000      HCA, Inc., 4.75%, 5/1/23      401,250  
  390,000      HCA, Inc., 5.00%, 3/15/24      425,588  
  717,000      HCA, Inc., 5.25%, 4/15/25      801,248  
  1,245,000      HCA, Inc., 5.25%, 6/15/26, Callable 12/15/25 @ 100      1,394,400  
  258,000      HCA, Inc., 4.50%, 2/15/27, Callable 8/15/26 @ 100      278,318  
  924,000      HCA, Inc., 4.13%, 6/15/29, Callable 3/15/29 @ 100      979,440  
  937,000      The New York and Presbyterian Hospital, Series 2019, 3.95%, 8/1/19, Callable 2/1/19 @ 100      938,599  
  59,000      UnitedHealth Group, Inc., 3.50%, 2/15/24      62,155  
  79,000      UnitedHealth Group, Inc., 2.38%, 8/15/24      80,071  
  650,000      UnitedHealth Group, Inc., 3.70%, 12/15/25      701,298  
  352,000      UnitedHealth Group, Inc., 3.10%, 3/15/26      367,373  
  7,000      UnitedHealth Group, Inc., 3.85%, 6/15/28      7,671  
  21,000      UnitedHealth Group, Inc., 3.88%, 12/15/28      23,177  
  8,000      UnitedHealth Group, Inc., 2.88%, 8/15/29      8,189  
  40,000      UnitedHealth Group, Inc., 4.63%, 7/15/35      48,425  
  504,000      UnitedHealth Group, Inc., 3.50%, 8/15/39, Callable 2/15/39 @ 100      527,545  
  90,000      UnitedHealth Group, Inc., 4.63%, 11/15/41, Callable 5/15/41 @ 100      106,902  
  1,367,000      UnitedHealth Group, Inc., 4.75%, 7/15/45      1,672,268  
  120,000      UnitedHealth Group, Inc., 4.45%, 12/15/48, Callable 6/15/48 @ 100      142,976  
     

 

 

 
        18,110,705  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (0.2%):       
  10,000      McDonald’s Corp., 2.75%, 12/9/20, Callable 11/9/20 @ 100      10,063  
  1,100,000      McDonald’s Corp., Series G, 1.00%, 11/15/23, MTN      1,276,514  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure, continued       
$ 909,000      McDonald’s Corp., 3.70%, 1/30/26, Callable 10/30/25 @ 100, MTN    $ 976,009  
  74,000      McDonald’s Corp., 4.70%, 12/9/35, Callable 6/9/35 @ 100      88,045  
  37,000      McDonald’s Corp., 6.30%, 3/1/38      50,406  
  4,000      McDonald’s Corp., 3.70%, 2/15/42, MTN      4,085  
  37,000      McDonald’s Corp., 3.63%, 5/1/43      37,118  
  165,000      McDonald’s Corp., 4.88%, 12/9/45, Callable 6/9/45 @ 100, MTN      199,341  
  893,000      McDonald’s Corp., 4.45%, 3/1/47, Callable 9/1/46 @ 100, MTN      1,025,167  
  150,000      McDonald’s Corp., 4.45%, 9/1/48, Callable 3/1/48 @ 100, MTN      171,183  
  1,061,000      McDonald’s Corp., 3.63%, 9/1/49, Callable 3/1/49 @ 100, MTN      1,079,136  
  320,000      Starbucks Corp., 3.80%, 8/15/25, Callable 6/15/25 @ 100      344,819  
  2,000      Starbucks Corp., 3.75%, 12/1/47, Callable 6/1/47 @ 100      2,052  
  46,000      Starbucks Corp., 4.50%, 11/15/48, Callable 5/15/48 @ 100      52,914  
  4,000      Starbucks Corp., 4.45%, 8/15/49, Callable 2/15/49 @ 100      4,621  
     

 

 

 
        5,321,473  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (0.0%):       
  85,000      Clorox Co. (The), 3.10%, 10/1/27, Callable 7/1/27 @ 100^      88,309  
  255,000      Procter & Gamble Co. (The), 0.63%, 10/30/24      294,718  
     

 

 

 
        383,027  
     

 

 

 
Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers (0.0%):  
  80,000      NRG Energy, Inc., 3.75%, 6/15/24, Callable 5/15/24 @ 100(a)      82,649  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (0.3%):       
  785,000      3M Co., Series E, 0.95%, 5/15/23      911,099  
  590,000      3M Co., 3.38%, 3/1/29, Callable 12/1/28 @ 100, MTN      625,999  
  550,000      3M Co., 2.38%, 8/26/29, Callable 5/26/29 @ 100      540,376  
  565,000      General Electric Capital Corp., Series A, 5.55%, 5/4/20, MTN      571,057  
  150,000      General Electric Capital Corp., 5.88%, 1/14/38, MTN      181,015  
  90,000      General Electric Co., Series G, 3.45%, 5/15/24, Callable 2/13/24 @ 100, MTN      93,400  
  62,000      General Electric Co., 5.55%, 1/5/26, MTN      70,483  
  112,000      General Electric Co., Series G, 6.15%, 8/7/37, MTN      138,432  
  68,000      General Electric Co., Series G, 6.88%, 1/10/39, MTN      90,739  
  304,000      Georgia-Pacific LLC, 5.40%, 11/1/20(a)      312,267  
  674,000      Georgia-Pacific LLC, 3.73%, 7/15/23, Callable 4/15/23 @ 100(a)      705,685  
  894,000      Georgia-Pacific LLC, 3.60%, 3/1/25, Callable 12/1/24 @ 100(a)      943,249  
  1,580,000      Honeywell International, Inc., 1.30%, 2/22/23      1,838,714  
     

 

 

 
        7,022,515  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

15


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Insurance (0.3%):       
$ 209,000      ACE INA Holdings, Inc., 3.35%, 5/15/24    $ 219,761  
  522,000      Aon Corp., 4.50%, 12/15/28, Callable 9/15/28 @ 100      585,454  
  333,000      Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The), 4.30%, 4/15/43      371,007  
  145,000      Loews Corp., 3.75%, 4/1/26, Callable 1/1/26 @ 100      155,565  
  2,153,000      Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc., 3.50%, 6/3/24, Callable 3/3/24 @ 100      2,258,076  
  105,000      Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc., 4.38%, 3/15/29, Callable 12/15/28 @ 100      119,686  
  301,000      Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc., 4.35%, 1/30/47, Callable 7/30/46 @ 100      341,237  
  426,000      Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc., 4.20%, 3/1/48, Callable 9/1/47 @ 100      481,062  
  640,000      Metropolitan Life Global Funding I, 1.25%, 9/17/21      734,121  
  290,000      Metropolitan Life Global Funding I, 0.05%, 9/23/22      324,787  
  30,000      Nuveen LLC, 4.00%, 11/1/28, Callable 8/1/28 @ 100(a)      33,330  
  76,000      Principal Financial Group, Inc., 3.10%, 11/15/26, Callable 8/15/26 @ 100      78,702  
  12,000      Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America, 6.85%, 12/16/39(a)      17,658  
  443,000      Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America, 4.90%, 9/15/44(a)      547,276  
  44,000      Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America, 4.27%, 5/15/47, Callable 11/15/46 @ 100(a)      50,112  
  13,000      Travelers Cos., Inc. (The), 6.25%, 6/15/37      17,990  
  42,000      Willis North America, Inc., 3.60%, 5/15/24, Callable 3/15/24 @ 100      43,863  
  366,000      Willis North America, Inc., 4.50%, 9/15/28, Callable 6/15/28 @ 100      401,742  
  15,000      Willis North America, Inc., 3.88%, 9/15/49, Callable 3/15/49 @ 100      14,983  
     

 

 

 
        6,796,412  
     

 

 

 
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail (0.1%):       
  39,000      Amazon.com, Inc., 2.50%, 11/29/22, Callable 8/29/22 @ 100      39,764  
  20,000      Amazon.com, Inc., 2.40%, 2/22/23, Callable 1/22/23 @ 100      20,301  
  395,000      Amazon.com, Inc., 4.80%, 12/5/34, Callable 6/5/34 @ 100      498,133  
  118,000      Amazon.com, Inc., 3.88%, 8/22/37, Callable 2/22/37 @ 100      134,234  
  77,000      Amazon.com, Inc., 4.95%, 12/5/44, Callable 6/5/44 @ 100      100,906  
  30,000      eBay, Inc., 4.00%, 7/15/42, Callable 1/15/42 @ 100      29,613  
  594,000      Expedia Group, Inc., 3.80%, 2/15/28, Callable 11/15/27 @ 100      605,940  
  1,485,000      Expedia Group, Inc., 3.25%, 2/15/30, Callable 11/15/29 @ 100(a)      1,428,740  
     

 

 

 
        2,857,631  
     

 

 

 
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
IT Services (1.2%):       
$ 450,000      Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., 0.13%, 12/3/22, Callable 11/3/22 @ 100    $ 505,464  
  1,300,000      Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., 0.75%, 5/21/23, Callable 4/21/23 @ 100      1,486,737  
  979,000      Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., 3.00%, 8/15/26, Callable 5/15/26 @ 100      1,011,563  
  783,000      Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., 3.75%, 5/21/29, Callable 2/21/29 @ 100      855,425  
  1,780,000      Fiserv, Inc., 2.75%, 7/1/24, Callable 6/1/24 @ 100      1,811,502  
  7,000      Fiserv, Inc., 3.85%, 6/1/25, Callable 3/1/25 @ 100      7,451  
  1,104,000      Fiserv, Inc., 3.20%, 7/1/26, Callable 5/1/26 @ 100      1,143,737  
  615,000      Fiserv, Inc., 4.20%, 10/1/28, Callable 7/1/28 @ 100      678,450  
  2,151,000      Fiserv, Inc., 3.50%, 7/1/29, Callable 4/1/29 @ 100      2,263,052  
  305,000      Global Payments, Inc., 2.65%, 2/15/25, Callable 1/15/25 @ 100      306,674  
  1,715,000      Global Payments, Inc., 3.20%, 8/15/29, Callable 5/15/29 @ 100      1,746,902  
  409,000      IBM Corp., 2.25%, 2/19/21      410,735  
  200,000      IBM Corp., 2.50%, 1/27/22      202,397  
  1,810,000      International Business Machines Corp., 0.50%, 9/7/21      2,051,603  
  200,000      International Business Machines Corp., 2.90%, 11/1/21      203,711  
  770,000      International Business Machines Corp., 2.85%, 5/13/22      786,819  
  420,000      International Business Machines Corp., 2.88%, 11/9/22      430,914  
  3,533,000      International Business Machines Corp., 3.30%, 5/15/26      3,724,281  
  1,725,000      Mastercard, Inc., 1.10%, 12/1/22, Callable 9/1/22 @ 100      1,994,881  
  10,000      Mastercard, Inc., 2.95%, 11/21/26, Callable 8/21/26 @ 100      10,437  
  1,424,000      Mastercard, Inc., 2.95%, 6/1/29, Callable 3/1/29 @ 100      1,485,488  
  268,000      Mastercard, Inc., 3.65%, 6/1/49, Callable 12/1/48 @ 100      296,002  
  20,000      PayPal Holdings, Inc., 2.20%, 9/26/22      20,120  
  842,000      PayPal Holdings, Inc., 2.40%, 10/1/24, Callable 9/1/24 @ 100      850,588  
  1,840,000      PayPal Holdings, Inc., 2.65%, 10/1/26, Callable 8/1/26 @ 100      1,865,618  
  70,000      PayPal Holdings, Inc., 2.85%, 10/1/29, Callable 7/1/29 @ 100      70,195  
  300,000      Total System Services, Inc., 3.80%, 4/1/21, Callable 3/1/21 @ 100      305,576  
  65,000      Total System Services, Inc., 3.75%, 6/1/23, Callable 3/1/23 @ 100      67,874  
  28,000      Total System Services, Inc., 4.00%, 6/1/23, Callable 5/1/23 @ 100      29,485  
  10,000      Visa, Inc., 4.30%, 12/14/45, Callable 6/14/45 @ 100      12,337  
     

 

 

 
        26,636,018  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

16


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Leisure Products (0.0%):       
$ 389,000      Hasbro, Inc., 2.60%, 11/19/22    $ 391,361  
  215,000      Hasbro, Inc., 3.90%, 11/19/29, Callable 8/19/29 @ 100      216,473  
     

 

 

 
        607,834  
     

 

 

 
Life Sciences Tools & Services (0.1%):       
  95,000      Agilent Technologies, Inc., 3.05%, 9/22/26, Callable 6/22/26 @ 100      96,923  
  1,000,000      Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Series E, 1.88%, 10/1/49, Callable 4/1/49 @ 100, MTN      1,035,791  
     

 

 

 
        1,132,714  
     

 

 

 
Machinery (0.1%):       
  1,435,000      Parker-Hannifin Corp., 2.70%, 6/14/24, Callable 5/14/24 @ 100      1,455,000  
  40,000      Parker-Hannifin Corp., 3.25%, 6/14/29, Callable 3/14/29 @ 100      41,590  
     

 

 

 
        1,496,590  
     

 

 

 
Media (0.9%):       
  177,000      Comcast Corp., 2.35%, 1/15/27, Callable 10/15/26 @ 100      176,609  
  280,000      Comcast Corp., 3.15%, 2/15/28, Callable 11/15/27 @ 100      293,295  
  1,012,000      Comcast Corp., 4.15%, 10/15/28, Callable 7/15/28 @ 100      1,139,777  
  239,000      Comcast Corp., 2.65%, 2/1/30, Callable 11/1/29 @ 100      239,372  
  530,000      Comcast Corp., 4.25%, 1/15/33      608,092  
  7,000      Comcast Corp., 4.20%, 8/15/34, Callable 2/15/34 @ 100      7,993  
  520,000      Comcast Corp., 6.50%, 11/15/35      733,346  
  613,000      Comcast Corp., 3.20%, 7/15/36, Callable 1/15/36 @ 100      624,629  
  373,000      Comcast Corp., 4.60%, 10/15/38, Callable 4/15/38 @ 100      443,158  
  160,000      Comcast Corp., 4.65%, 7/15/42      190,490  
  60,000      Comcast Corp., 4.60%, 8/15/45, Callable 2/15/45 @ 100      71,683  
  1,464,000      Comcast Corp., 3.40%, 7/15/46, Callable 1/15/46 @ 100      1,472,834  
  78,000      Comcast Corp., 3.97%, 11/1/47, Callable 5/1/47 @ 100      85,282  
  338,000      COX Communications, Inc., 3.25%, 12/15/22(a)      347,473  
  1,688,000      COX Communications, Inc., 3.15%, 8/15/24, Callable 6/15/24 @ 100(a)      1,734,829  
  120,000      COX Communications, Inc., 3.35%, 9/15/26, Callable 6/15/26 @ 100(a)      123,910  
  669,000      Discovery Communications, 5.00%, 9/20/37, Callable 3/20/37 @ 100      755,969  
  430,000      Discovery Communications, 5.20%, 9/20/47, Callable 3/20/47 @ 100      498,841  
  240,000      Fox Corp., 4.03%, 1/25/24, Callable 12/25/23 @ 100(a)      255,716  
  295,000      Fox Corp., 5.48%, 1/25/39, Callable 7/25/38 @ 100(a)      359,130  
  265,000      Interpublic Group of Cos., Inc., 3.50%, 10/1/20      267,630  
  425,000      Interpublic Group of Cos., Inc., 3.75%, 10/1/21      435,968  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Media, continued       
$ 5,730,000      NBCUniversal Enterprise, Inc., 5.25%, 12/31/99, Callable 3/19/21 @ 100(a)    $ 5,913,598  
  1,297,000      NBCUniversal Media LLC, 5.95%, 4/1/41      1,785,249  
  590,000      Time Warner Cable, Inc., 5.00%, 2/1/20      591,249  
     

 

 

 
        19,156,122  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (0.0%):       
  50,000      Newmont Goldcorp Corp., 2.80%, 10/1/29, Callable 7/1/29 @ 100      49,523  
  106,000      Newmont Mining Corp., 4.88%, 3/15/42, Callable 9/15/41 @ 100      123,744  
  432,000      Nucor Corp., 3.95%, 5/1/28, Callable 2/1/28 @ 100      468,858  
     

 

 

 
        642,125  
     

 

 

 
Multiline Retail (0.0%):       
  60,000      Dollar General Corp., 3.88%, 4/15/27, Callable 1/15/27 @ 100      64,345  
  25,000      Dollar General Corp., 4.13%, 5/1/28, Callable 2/1/28 @ 100      27,376  
     

 

 

 
        91,721  
     

 

 

 
Multi-Utilities (0.2%):       
  290,000      Ameren Illinois Co., 3.80%, 5/15/28, Callable 2/15/28 @ 100      316,227  
  5,000      Ameren Illinois Co., 4.15%, 3/15/46, Callable 9/15/45 @ 100      5,697  
  785,000      Ameren Illinois Co., 3.25%, 3/15/50, Callable 9/15/49 @ 100      794,532  
  130,000      CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric LLC, 3.55%, 8/1/42, Callable 2/1/42 @ 100      134,297  
  176,000      CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric LLC, 3.95%, 3/1/48, Callable 9/1/47 @ 100      195,589  
  62,000      CMS Energy Corp., 3.00%, 5/15/26, Callable 2/15/26 @ 100      63,043  
  11,000      Consumers Energy Co., 3.38%, 8/15/23, Callable 5/15/23 @ 100      11,480  
  301,000      Consumers Energy Co., 3.80%, 11/15/28, Callable 8/15/28 @ 100      332,181  
  597,000      Consumers Energy Co., 3.75%, 2/15/50, Callable 8/15/49 @ 100      659,275  
  930,000      Consumers Energy Co., 3.10%, 8/15/50, Callable 2/15/50 @ 100      934,183  
  318,000      Dominion Energy Gas Holdings LLC, 4.80%, 11/1/43, Callable 5/1/43 @ 100      353,330  
  255,000      Dominion Energy, Inc., 2.58%, 7/1/20      255,644  
     

 

 

 
        4,055,478  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (1.9%):       
  90,000      Boardwalk Pipelines, LP, 4.80%, 5/3/29, Callable 2/3/29 @ 100      95,843  
  810,000      Cameron LNG LLC, 3.30%, 1/15/35, Callable 9/15/34 @ 100(a)      818,797  
  890,000      Cameron LNG LLC, 3.40%, 1/15/38, Callable 7/15/37 @ 100(a)      893,910  
  20,000      Chevron Corp., 2.50%, 3/3/22, Callable 2/3/22 @ 100      20,335  
  170,000      Chevron Corp., 3.19%, 6/24/23, Callable 3/24/23 @ 100      176,891  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

17


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
$ 223,000      Cimarex Energy Co., 4.38%, 6/1/24, Callable 3/1/24 @ 100    $ 234,949  
  22,000      Cimarex Energy Co., 4.38%, 3/15/29, Callable 12/15/28 @ 100      23,235  
  166,000      Concho Resources, Inc., 3.75%, 10/1/27, Callable 7/1/27 @ 100      174,093  
  160,000      Continental Resources, Inc., 3.80%, 6/1/24, Callable 3/1/24 @ 100      165,400  
  710,000      Energy Transfer Operating LP, 5.50%, 6/1/27, Callable 3/1/27 @ 100      797,898  
  290,000      Energy Transfer Partners LP, 3.60%, 2/1/23, Callable 11/1/22 @ 100      297,119  
  730,000      Energy Transfer Partners LP, 4.75%, 1/15/26, Callable 10/15/25 @ 100      786,767  
  6,000      Energy Transfer Partners LP, 4.20%, 4/15/27, Callable 1/15/27 @ 100      6,280  
  409,000      Energy Transfer Partners LP, 5.80%, 6/15/38, Callable 12/15/37 @ 100      462,094  
  10,000      Energy Transfer Partners LP, 5.15%, 3/15/45, Callable 9/15/44 @ 100      10,526  
  883,000      Energy Transfer Partners LP, 6.13%, 12/15/45, Callable 6/15/45 @ 100      1,022,842  
  30,000      Energy Transfer Partners LP, 5.30%, 4/15/47, Callable 10/15/46 @ 100      32,091  
  420,000      Enterprise Products Operating LLC, 4.45%, 2/15/43, Callable 8/15/42 @ 100      459,707  
  24,000      Enterprise Products Operating LLC, 4.85%, 3/15/44, Callable 9/15/43 @ 100      27,727  
  514,000      Enterprise Products Operating LLC, 5.10%, 2/15/45, Callable 8/15/44 @ 100      616,239  
  9,000      Enterprise Products Operating LLC, 4.25%, 2/15/48, Callable 8/15/47 @ 100      9,724  
  753,000      Enterprise Products Operating LLC, Series E, 5.25%(US0003M+303bps), 8/16/77, Callable 8/16/27 @ 100      752,267  
  167,000      EOG Resources, Inc., 4.15%, 1/15/26, Callable 10/15/25 @ 100      183,777  
  427,000      Exxon Mobil Corp., 3.04%, 3/1/26, Callable 12/1/25 @ 100      448,228  
  1,813,000      Exxon Mobil Corp., 2.28%, 8/16/26, Callable 6/16/26 @ 100      1,818,744  
  191,000      Exxon Mobil Corp., 3.00%, 8/16/39, Callable 2/16/39 @ 100      191,646  
  107,000      Exxon Mobil Corp., 3.57%, 3/6/45, Callable 9/6/44 @ 100      114,700  
  39,000      Exxon Mobil Corp., 4.11%, 3/1/46, Callable 9/1/45 @ 100      45,729  
  366,000      Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, 5.50%, 3/1/44, Callable 9/1/43 @ 100      422,281  
  391,000      Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, 5.40%, 9/1/44, Callable 3/1/44 @ 100      445,805  
  28,000      Kinder Morgan, Inc., 5.30%, 12/1/34, Callable 6/1/34 @ 100      32,893  
  727,000      Kinder Morgan, Inc., 5.55%, 6/1/45, Callable 12/1/44 @ 100      864,706  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
$ 124,000      Marathon Petroleum Corp., 4.75%, 12/15/23, Callable 10/15/23 @ 100    $ 134,643  
  10,000      Marathon Petroleum Corp., 5.13%, 12/15/26, Callable 9/15/26 @ 100      11,303  
  358,000      Marathon Petroleum Corp., 6.50%, 3/1/41, Callable 9/1/40 @ 100      464,092  
  584,000      MPLX LP, 4.88%, 12/1/24, Callable 9/1/24 @ 100      633,619  
  252,000      MPLX LP, 5.25%, 1/15/25, Callable 1/15/21 @ 102.63(a)      264,387  
  850,000      MPLX LP, 4.00%, 2/15/25, Callable 11/15/24 @ 100      886,997  
  1,682,000      MPLX LP, 4.13%, 3/1/27, Callable 12/1/26 @ 100      1,761,148  
  45,000      MPLX LP, 4.25%, 12/1/27, Callable 9/1/27 @ 100(a)      47,245  
  25,000      MPLX LP, 4.50%, 4/15/38, Callable 10/15/37 @ 100      25,456  
  1,984,000      NGPL PipeCo LLC, 4.38%, 8/15/22, Callable 5/15/22 @ 100(a)      2,058,399  
  370,000      NGPL PipeCo. LLC, 4.88%, 8/15/27, Callable 2/15/27 @ 100(a)      393,588  
  1,060,000      Northern Natural Gas Co., 4.30%, 1/15/49, Callable 7/15/48 @ 100(a)      1,184,097  
  1,710,000      Northwest Pipeline LLC, 4.00%, 4/1/27, Callable 1/1/27 @ 100      1,796,456  
  40,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 2.60%, 8/13/21      40,243  
  1,424,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 2.70%, 8/15/22      1,439,980  
  40,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 3.20%, 8/15/26, Callable 6/15/26 @ 100      40,461  
  3,300,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 5.98%, 10/10/36(c)      1,635,140  
  14,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 4.30%, 8/15/39, Callable 2/15/39 @ 100      14,214  
  90,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 4.63%, 6/15/45, Callable 12/15/44 @ 100      92,188  
  28,000      Plains All American Pipeline LP, 3.65%, 6/1/22, Callable 3/1/22 @ 100      28,739  
  100,000      Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC, 5.75%, 5/15/24, Callable 2/15/24 @ 100      111,550  
  2,051,000      Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC, 5.63%, 3/1/25, Callable 12/1/24 @ 100      2,304,810  
  1,546,000      Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC, 5.00%, 3/15/27, Callable 9/15/26 @ 100      1,702,533  
  1,427,000      Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC, 4.20%, 3/15/28, Callable 9/15/27 @ 100      1,510,908  
  55,000      Spectra Energy Partners LP, 3.50%, 3/15/25, Callable 12/15/24 @ 100      57,476  
  41,000      Sunoco Logistics Partners LP, 5.30%, 4/1/44, Callable 10/1/43 @ 100      43,273  
  220,000      Texas Eastern Transmission LP, 2.80%, 10/15/22, Callable 7/15/22 @ 100(a)      222,251  
  901,000      Texas Eastern Transmission LP, 3.50%, 1/15/28, Callable 10/15/27 @ 100(a)      922,549  
  1,364,000      Texas Eastern Transmission LP, 4.15%, 1/15/48, Callable 7/15/47 @ 100(a)      1,449,708  
  2,857,000      Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC, 7.85%, 2/1/26, Callable 11/1/25 @ 100      3,641,534  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

18


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
$ 1,820,000      Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC, 4.00%, 3/15/28, Callable 12/15/27 @ 100    $ 1,936,320  
  518,000      Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC, 4.60%, 3/15/48, Callable 9/15/47 @ 100      553,070  
  442,000      Western Midstream Operating LP, 4.00%, 7/1/22, Callable 4/1/22 @ 100      451,454  
  780,000      Williams Cos., Inc., 5.25%, 3/15/20      784,661  
  47,000      Williams Cos., Inc., 7.88%, 9/1/21      51,195  
  240,000      Williams Cos., Inc., Series A, 7.50%, 1/15/31      316,347  
  30,000      Williams Cos., Inc., 5.75%, 6/24/44, Callable 12/24/43 @ 100      35,423  
  204,000      Williams Partners LP, 4.13%, 11/15/20, Callable 8/15/20 @ 100      206,479  
  10,000      Williams Partners LP, 4.00%, 11/15/21, Callable 8/15/21 @ 100      10,283  
  33,000      Williams Partners LP, 3.90%, 1/15/25, Callable 10/15/24 @ 100      34,571  
  97,000      Williams Partners, LP, 3.75%, 6/15/27, Callable 3/15/27 @ 100      100,858  
     

 

 

 
        41,852,891  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (0.2%):       
  90,000      Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., 3.95%, 10/15/20(a)      91,214  
  25,000      Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.,
3.55%, 8/15/22(a)
     25,839  
  420,000      Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.
, 3.25%, 8/15/22(a)
     433,072  
  512,000      Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., 3.88%, 8/15/25, Callable 5/15/25 @ 100(a)      553,182  
  1,309,000      Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., 3.20%, 6/15/26, Callable 4/15/26 @ 100(a)      1,372,253  
  220,000      Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., 3.90%, 2/20/28, Callable 11/20/27 @ 100(a)      239,939  
  490,000      Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., 4.13%, 6/15/39, Callable 12/15/38 @ 100(a)      565,823  
  400,000      Eli Lilly & Co., 1.70%, 11/1/49, Callable 5/1/49 @ 100      445,183  
  44,000      Forest Laboratories, Inc., 5.00%, 12/15/21, Callable 9/16/21 @ 100(a)      45,976  
  10,000      Johnson & Johnson, 3.40%, 1/15/38, Callable 7/15/37 @ 100      10,713  
  95,000      Merck & Co., Inc., 3.60%, 9/15/42, Callable 3/15/42 @ 100      102,619  
  17,000      Novartis Capital Corp., 3.40%, 5/6/24      17,998  
  102,000      Pfizer, Inc., 3.00%, 9/15/21      103,960  
  160,000      Pfizer, Inc., 7.20%, 3/15/39      250,985  
  14,000      Pfizer, Inc., 4.40%, 5/15/44      16,740  
  279,000      Pfizer, Inc., 4.13%, 12/15/46      322,431  
  79,000      Pfizer, Inc., 4.20%, 9/15/48, Callable 3/15/48 @ 100      92,691  
  150,000      Wyeth LLC, 5.95%, 4/1/37      204,491  
     

 

 

 
        4,895,109  
     

 

 

 
Professional Services (0.1%):       
  120,000      Equifax, Inc., 2.30%, 6/1/21, Callable 5/1/21 @ 100      120,353  
  235,000      RELX Capital, Inc., 3.13%, 10/15/22      243,071  
  2,329,000      RELX Capital, Inc., 3.50%, 3/16/23, Callable 2/16/23 @ 100      2,421,024  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Professional Services, continued       
$ 323,000      RELX Capital, Inc., 4.00%, 3/18/29, Callable 12/18/28 @ 100    $ 350,116  
     

 

 

 
        3,134,564  
     

 

 

 
Real Estate Management & Development (0.2%):       
  3,985,000      CC Holdings GS V LLC, 3.85%, 4/15/23      4,173,291  
  915,000      Northwest Florida Timber Finance LLC, 4.75%, 3/4/29(a)      934,712  
     

 

 

 
        5,108,003  
     

 

 

 
Road & Rail (0.6%):       
  74,000      Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC, 5.05%, 3/1/41, Callable 9/1/40 @ 100      92,045  
  85,000      Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC, 4.95%, 9/15/41, Callable 3/15/41 @ 100      104,130  
  686,000      Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC, 4.55%, 9/1/44, Callable 3/1/44 @ 100      819,195  
  1,532,000      CSX Corp., 2.60%, 11/1/26, Callable 8/1/26 @ 100      1,555,556  
  631,000      CSX Corp., 3.25%, 6/1/27, Callable 3/1/27 @ 100      662,363  
  454,000      CSX Corp., 3.80%, 3/1/28, Callable 12/1/27 @ 100      494,231  
  617,000      CSX Corp., 4.25%, 3/15/29, Callable 12/15/28 @ 100      693,232  
  349,000      CSX Corp., 4.30%, 3/1/48, Callable 9/1/47 @ 100      393,043  
  363,000      CSX Corp., 4.75%, 11/15/48, Callable 5/15/48 @ 100      439,630  
  135,000      CSX Corp., 4.50%, 3/15/49, Callable 9/15/48 @ 100      156,741  
  162,000      CSX Corp., 3.95%, 5/1/50, Callable 11/1/49 @ 100      175,164  
  217,000      Norfolk Southern Corp., 2.90%, 2/15/23, Callable 11/15/22 @ 100      221,800  
  185,000      Norfolk Southern Corp., 3.65%, 8/1/25, Callable 6/1/25 @ 100      197,360  
  832,000      Norfolk Southern Corp., 2.90%, 6/15/26, Callable 3/15/26 @ 100      855,858  
  910,000      Norfolk Southern Corp., 2.55%, 11/1/29, Callable 8/1/29 @ 100      904,167  
  135,000      Norfolk Southern Corp., 4.45%, 6/15/45, Callable 12/15/44 @ 100      154,998  
  95,000      Norfolk Southern Corp., 3.94%, 11/1/47, Callable 5/1/47 @ 100      101,958  
  355,000      Norfolk Southern Corp., 3.40%, 11/1/49, Callable 5/1/49 @ 100      351,686  
  65,000      Norfolk Southern Corp., 4.05%, 8/15/52, Callable 2/15/52 @ 100      71,473  
  1,090,000      Ryder System, Inc., 2.65%, 3/2/20, Callable 2/10/20 @ 100, MTN      1,090,509  
  320,000      Ryder System, Inc., 2.80%, 3/1/22, Callable 2/1/22 @ 100      325,046  
  7,000      Union Pacific Corp., 3.50%, 6/8/23, Callable 5/8/23 @ 100      7,328  
  345,000      Union Pacific Corp., 2.75%, 3/1/26, Callable 12/1/25 @ 100      352,526  
  330,000      Union Pacific Corp., 3.95%, 9/10/28, Callable 6/10/28 @ 100      363,943  
  10,000      Union Pacific Corp., 4.05%, 11/15/45, Callable 5/15/45 @ 100      10,813  
  1,445,000      Union Pacific Corp., 4.10%, 9/15/67, Callable 3/15/67 @ 100      1,492,218  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

19


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Road & Rail, continued       
$ 418,141      Union Pacific Railroad Co., Series 2014-1, 3.23%, 5/14/26    $ 432,914  
     

 

 

 
        12,519,927  
     

 

 

 
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (0.7%):       
  50,000      Analog Devices, Inc., 4.50%, 12/5/36, Callable 6/5/36 @ 100      53,756  
  7,000      Analog Devices, Inc., 5.30%, 12/15/45, Callable 6/15/45 @ 100      8,537  
  253,000      Applied Materials, Inc., 3.90%, 10/1/25, Callable 7/1/25 @ 100      275,572  
  1,306,000      Applied Materials, Inc., 3.30%, 4/1/27, Callable 1/1/27 @ 100      1,386,689  
  45,000      Applied Materials, Inc., 5.85%, 6/15/41      61,464  
  292,000      Applied Materials, Inc., 4.35%, 4/1/47, Callable 10/1/46 @ 100      352,982  
  61,000      Broadcom Corp./Broadcom Cayman Finance, Ltd., 3.13%, 1/15/25, Callable 11/15/24 @ 100      61,749  
  2,782,000      Broadcom Corp./Broadcom Cayman Finance, Ltd., 3.88%, 1/15/27, Callable 10/15/26 @ 100      2,887,629  
  1,945,000      Broadcom, Inc., 3.13%, 4/15/21(a)      1,967,983  
  865,000      Broadcom, Inc., 3.13%, 10/15/22(a)      880,364  
  150,000      Broadcom, Inc., 4.25%, 4/15/26, Callable 2/15/26 @ 100(a)      159,330  
  331,000      Intel Corp., 4.10%, 5/19/46, Callable 11/19/45 @ 100      381,225  
  19,000      KLA-Tencor Corp., 4.65%, 11/1/24, Callable 8/1/24 @ 100      20,834  
  841,000      KLA-Tencor Corp., 4.10%, 3/15/29, Callable 12/15/28 @ 100      921,428  
  279,000      KLA-Tencor Corp., 5.00%, 3/15/49, Callable 9/15/48 @ 100      341,945  
  645,000      Lam Research Corp., 2.75%, 3/15/20, Callable 2/15/20 @ 100      645,655  
  302,000      Lam Research Corp., 2.80%, 6/15/21, Callable 5/15/21 @ 100      305,319  
  675,000      Lam Research Corp., 3.75%, 3/15/26, Callable 1/15/26 @ 100      723,411  
  405,000      Lam Research Corp., 4.88%, 3/15/49, Callable 9/15/48 @ 100      506,186  
  1,845,000      NVIDIA Corp., 3.20%, 9/16/26, Callable 6/16/26 @ 100      1,930,280  
  14,000      QUALCOMM, Inc., 4.65%, 5/20/35, Callable 11/20/34 @ 100      16,583  
  320,000      QUALCOMM, Inc., 4.80%, 5/20/45, Callable 11/20/44 @ 100      391,875  
  45,000      QUALCOMM, Inc., 4.30%, 5/20/47, Callable 11/20/46 @ 100      51,722  
  20,000      Texas Instruments, Inc., 2.90%, 11/3/27, Callable 8/3/27 @ 100      20,902  
  665,000      Texas Instruments, Inc., 2.25%, 9/4/29, Callable 6/4/29 @ 100      655,326  
  494,000      Texas Instruments, Inc., 3.88%, 3/15/39, Callable 9/15/38 @ 100      556,091  
  80,000      Texas Instruments, Inc., 4.15%, 5/15/48, Callable 11/15/47 @ 100      94,727  
     

 

 

 
        15,659,564  
     

 

 

 
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Software (0.4%):       
$ 990,000      Autodesk, Inc., 3.13%, 6/15/20, Callable 5/15/20 @ 100    $ 994,625  
  48,000      Microsoft Corp., 2.00%, 8/8/23, Callable 6/8/23 @ 100      48,290  
  5,000      Microsoft Corp., 3.13%, 11/3/25, Callable 8/3/25 @ 100      5,288  
  688,000      Microsoft Corp., 3.30%, 2/6/27, Callable 11/6/26 @ 100      734,951  
  385,000      Microsoft Corp., 3.50%, 2/12/35, Callable 8/12/34 @ 100      423,967  
  1,232,000      Microsoft Corp., 4.20%, 11/3/35, Callable 5/3/35 @ 100      1,454,845  
  678,000      Microsoft Corp., 3.45%, 8/8/36, Callable 2/8/36 @ 100      742,175  
  180,000      Microsoft Corp., 4.45%, 11/3/45, Callable 5/3/45 @ 100      224,631  
  619,000      Microsoft Corp., 3.70%, 8/8/46, Callable 2/8/46 @ 100      699,857  
  247,000      Oracle Corp., 2.40%, 9/15/23, Callable 7/15/23 @ 100      251,087  
  1,667,000      Oracle Corp., 3.90%, 5/15/35, Callable 11/15/34 @ 100      1,856,301  
  17,000      Oracle Corp., 4.13%, 5/15/45, Callable 11/15/44 @ 100      19,139  
  483,000      Oracle Corp., 4.00%, 7/15/46, Callable 1/15/46 @ 100      536,685  
     

 

 

 
        7,991,841  
     

 

 

 
Specialty Retail (0.1%):       
  260,000      Home Depot, Inc. (The), 3.00%, 4/1/26, Callable 1/1/26 @ 100      271,624  
  681,000      Home Depot, Inc. (The), 2.95%, 6/15/29, Callable 3/15/29 @ 100      707,759  
  316,000      Home Depot, Inc. (The), 5.88%, 12/16/36      435,479  
  113,000      Lowe’s Cos., Inc., 2.50%, 4/15/26, Callable 1/15/26 @ 100      113,855  
  275,000      Lowe’s Cos., Inc., 3.70%, 4/15/46, Callable 10/15/45 @ 100      280,035  
  325,000      Lowe’s Cos., Inc., 4.05%, 5/3/47, Callable 11/3/46 @ 100      351,123  
  15,000      The Home Depot, Inc., 3.75%, 2/15/24, Callable 11/15/23 @ 100      16,037  
     

 

 

 
        2,175,912  
     

 

 

 
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals (0.2%):       
  1,255,000      Apple, Inc., 1.00%, 11/10/22      1,454,177  
  2,396,000      Apple, Inc., 3.85%, 5/4/43      2,681,048  
  870,000      Dell International LLC/EMC Corp., 8.10%, 7/15/36, Callable 1/15/36 @ 100(a)      1,142,112  
  35,000      Dell International LLC/EMC Corp., 8.35%, 7/15/46, Callable 1/15/46 @ 100(a)      48,036  
  40,000      Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., 4.40%, 10/15/22, Callable 8/15/22 @ 100      42,234  
  35,000      Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., 6.35%, 10/15/45, Callable 4/15/45 @ 100      42,242  
  5,000      HP Enterprise Co., 3.60%, 10/15/20, Callable 9/15/20 @ 100      5,054  
  165,000      HP, Inc., 6.00%, 9/15/41      182,137  
     

 

 

 
        5,597,040  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

20


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Tobacco (0.5%):       
$ 143,000      Altria Group, Inc., 4.40%, 2/14/26, Callable 12/14/25 @ 100    $ 155,392  
  2,011,000      Altria Group, Inc., 4.80%, 2/14/29, Callable 11/14/28 @ 100      2,234,690  
  1,929,000      Altria Group, Inc., 5.80%, 2/14/39, Callable 8/14/38 @ 100      2,258,430  
  40,000      Altria Group, Inc., 6.20%, 2/14/59, Callable 8/14/58 @ 100      47,366  
  385,000      BAT Capital Corp., 2.76%, 8/15/22, Callable 7/15/22 @ 100      390,415  
  190,000      BAT Capital Corp., 3.22%, 8/15/24, Callable 6/15/24 @ 100      194,179  
  710,000      BAT Capital Corp., 3.22%, 9/6/26, Callable 7/6/26 @ 100      713,967  
  1,529,000      BAT Capital Corp., 3.56%, 8/15/27, Callable 5/15/27 @ 100      1,557,834  
  13,000      BAT Capital Corp., 4.39%, 8/15/37, Callable 2/15/37 @ 100      13,194  
  185,000      BAT Capital Corp., 4.54%, 8/15/47, Callable 2/15/47 @ 100      185,293  
  14,000      Philip Morris International, Inc., 2.50%, 8/22/22      14,136  
  79,000      Philip Morris International, Inc., 2.88%, 5/1/24, Callable 4/1/24 @ 100      81,214  
  92,000      Reynolds American, Inc., 3.25%, 6/12/20      92,491  
  878,000      Reynolds American, Inc., 4.45%, 6/12/25, Callable 3/12/25 @ 100      944,404  
  76,000      Reynolds American, Inc., 5.70%, 8/15/35, Callable 2/15/35 @ 100      87,738  
  1,233,000      Reynolds American, Inc., 5.85%, 8/15/45, Callable 2/15/45 @ 100      1,413,865  
  955,000      RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co., 6.88%, 5/1/20      968,763  
     

 

 

 
        11,353,371  
     

 

 

 
Trading Companies & Distributors (0.0%):       
  215,000      Air Lease Corp., 3.88%, 7/3/23, Callable 6/3/23 @ 100      225,962  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.4%):       
  9,043,125      Sprint Spectrum Co. LLC, 3.36%, 3/20/23(a)      9,115,303  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Corporate Bonds (Cost $493,916,514)

     513,380,310  
  

 

 

 
Foreign Bonds (2.2%):       
Aerospace & Defense (0.0%):       
  545,000      Rolls-Royce plc, Series E, 2.13%, 6/18/21+      629,478  
     

 

 

 
Automobiles (0.1%):       
  995,000      Daimler International Finance BV, Series E, 0.25%, 8/9/21+      1,121,610  
  310,000      Daimler International Finance BV, Series E, 0.25%, 11/6/23+      347,280  
  710,000      Volkswagen Financial Services AG, Series E, 0.75%, 10/14/21+      806,596  
     

 

 

 
        2,275,486  
     

 

 

 
Banks (0.4%):       
  1,100,000      Banque Federative du Credit Mutuel SA, Series E, 0.13%, 8/30/21+      1,238,613  
  600,000      Banque Federative du Credit Mutuel SA, Series E, 0.75%, 6/15/23+      688,158  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Foreign Bonds, continued       
Banks, continued       
$ 1,400,000      Credit Agricole SA, Series E, 0.75%, 12/1/22+    $ 1,606,676  
  1,000,000      ING Bank NV, Series G, 4/8/22+      1,123,500  
  400,000      KBC Group NV, Series E, 1.13%, 1/25/24+      464,263  
  440,000      Mizuho Financial Group, Inc., Series E, 0.52%, 6/10/24+      497,414  
  435,000      Simon International Finance SCA, 1.38%, 11/18/22, Callable 8/18/22 @ 100+      504,233  
  1,000,000      Toronto-Dominion Bank (The), Series E, 0.38%, 4/25/24+      1,130,353  
     

 

 

 
        7,253,210  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (0.0%):       
  600,000      Pernod Ricard SA, 0.04%, 10/24/23, Callable 9/24/23 @ 100+      671,899  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (0.0%):       
  800,000      Air Liquide Finance SA, Series E, 0.38%, 4/18/22, Callable 1/18/22 @ 100+      907,827  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (0.0%):       
  570,000      Toyota Motor Finance Netherlands BV, Series E, 0.25%, 1/10/22+      644,845  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (0.4%):       
  305,000      BAT International Finance plc, Series E, 0.88%, 10/13/23, Callable 7/13/23 @ 100+      347,874  
  1,035,000      BP Capital Markets plc, Series E, 1.37%, 3/3/22+      1,197,137  
  640,000      BP Capital Markets plc, Series E, 1.11%, 2/16/23+      741,673  
  330,000      Enel Finance International NV, Series E, 0.24%, 6/17/24, Callable 5/17/24 @ 100+      366,158  
  400,000      Total Capital International SA, Series E, 2.13%, 11/19/21+      468,077  
  400,000      Total Capital International SA, Series E, 2.13%, 3/15/23+      480,419  
  1,200,000      Volvo Treasury AB, Series E, 0.26%(EUR003M+65bps), 9/13/21+      1,354,068  
  1,500,000      Vonovia Finance BV, Series E, 0.13%, 4/6/23, Callable 3/6/23 @ 100+      1,676,400  
     

 

 

 
        6,631,806  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (0.3%):       
  900,000      Orange SA, Series E, 0.50%, 1/15/22, Callable 12/15/21 @ 100+      1,020,709  
  200,000      Orange SA, Series E, 0.75%, 9/11/23, Callable 6/11/23 @ 100+      229,211  
  540,000      Telenor ASA, Series E, 0.06%, 9/25/23, Callable 6/25/23 @ 100+      604,273  
  1,705,000      Telstra Corp., Ltd., Series E, 3.50%, 9/21/22+      2,097,641  
     

 

 

 
        3,951,834  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (0.1%):       
  500,000      Iberdrola International BV, Series E, 3.50%, 2/1/21+      582,887  
  500,000      RTE Reseau de Transport d’Electricite, Series E, 1.63%, 10/8/24, Callable 7/8/24 @ 100+      598,926  
     

 

 

 
        1,181,813  
     

 

 

 
Electrical Equipment (0.1%):       
  1,565,000      Eaton Capital Unlimited Co., 0.02%, 5/14/21, Callable 4/14/21 @ 100+      1,757,628  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

21


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Foreign Bonds, continued       
Electrical Equipment, continued       
$ 400,000      Schneider Electric SE, Series E, 0.25%, 9/9/24, Callable 6/9/24 @ 100+    $ 451,917  
     

 

 

 
        2,209,545  
     

 

 

 
Energy Equipment & Services (0.0%):       
  440,000      Schlumberger Finance BV, 0.13%, 10/15/24, Callable 7/15/24 @ 100+      490,545  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (0.1%):       
  730,000      DH Europe Finance II Sarl, 0.20%, 3/18/26, Callable 12/18/25 @ 100+      808,590  
  1,970,000      Medtronic Global Holdings SCA, 12/2/22, Callable 11/2/22 @ 100+      2,211,659  
     

 

 

 
        3,020,249  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (0.2%):       
  2,215,000      Siemens Financieringsmaatschappij NV, Series E, 9/5/21+      2,495,856  
  1,100,000      Siemens Financieringsmaatschappij NV, Series E(EUR003M+70bps), 12/17/21+      1,245,979  
     

 

 

 
        3,741,835  
     

 

 

 
Media (0.0%):       
  495,000      Sky, Ltd., Series E, 1.50%, 9/15/21+      570,479  
     

 

 

 
Multi-Utilities (0.2%):       
  1,300,000      E.ON SE, Series E, 0.03%, 10/24/22, Callable 9/24/22 @ 100+      1,457,036  
  1,400,000      Engie SA, Series E, 0.38%, 2/28/23, Callable 11/28/22 @ 100+      1,587,550  
  395,000      ESB Finance DAC, Series E, 3.49%, 1/12/24+      502,480  
  280,000      Innogy Finance BV, Series E, 0.75%, 11/30/22, Callable 8/30/22 @ 100+      319,586  
  1,300,000      Veolia Environnement SA, Series E, 0.67%, 3/30/22, Callable 12/30/21 @ 100+      1,477,726  
     

 

 

 
        5,344,378  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (0.0%):       
  735,000      Shell International Finance BV, Series E, 1.25%, 3/15/22+      850,759  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (0.2%):       
  475,000      Abbott Ireland Financing DAC, 0.88%, 9/27/23, Callable 8/27/23 @ 100+      549,667  
  490,000      Abbott Ireland Financing DAC, 0.10%, 11/19/24, Callable 10/19/24 @ 100+      548,712  
  2,200,000      Merck Financial Services GmbH, Series E, 12/15/23, Callable 9/15/23 @ 100+      2,454,821  
  740,000      Novartis Finance SA, 0.50%, 8/14/23, Callable 5/14/23 @ 100+      845,865  
  880,000      Novartis Finance SA, 0.13%, 9/20/23+      995,125  
     

 

 

 
        5,394,190  
     

 

 

 
Software (0.1%):       
  2,200,000      Dassault Systemes SE, 9/16/22, Callable 8/16/22 @ 100+      2,470,417  
  700,000      SAP SE, 0.25%, 3/10/22, Callable 2/10/22 @ 100+      791,907  
     

 

 

 
        3,262,324  
     

 

 

 
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods (0.0%):       
  200,000      LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, Series E, 2/28/21+      224,870  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Foreign Bonds, continued       
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods, continued       
$ 690,000      LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, Series E, 0.38%, 5/26/22, Callable 2/26/22 @ 100+    $ 782,258  
     

 

 

 
        1,007,128  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Foreign Bonds (Cost $49,752,990)

     50,039,630  
  

 

 

 
Yankee Dollars (6.3%):       
Airlines (0.0%):       
  235,666      Air Canada Pass Through Trust, Class B, Series 2015-2, 5.00%, 6/15/25(a)      245,687  
  317,848      Air Canada Pass Through Trust, Class A, Series 2017-1, 3.30%, 7/15/31(a)      323,639  
     

 

 

 
        569,326  
     

 

 

 
Automobiles (0.1%):       
  1,300,000      Volkswagen International Finance NV, 4.00%, 8/12/20(a)      1,313,153  
     

 

 

 
Banks (2.0%):       
  1,200,000      ABN AMRO Bank NV, 3.40%, 8/27/21(a)      1,225,559  
  1,165,000      Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, Ltd., 2.25%, 11/9/20      1,168,459  
  1,400,000      Banco Santander SA, 2.71%, 6/27/24      1,418,794  
  1,000,000      Banco Santander SA, 3.31%, 6/27/29      1,030,022  
  80,000      Bank of Nova Scotia, 2.35%, 10/21/20      80,234  
  160,000      Bank of Nova Scotia, 2.50%, 1/8/21      160,811  
  90,000      Bank of Nova Scotia, 2.45%, 3/22/21      90,507  
  190,000      Bank of Nova Scotia, 3.13%, 4/20/21      192,751  
  1,118,000      Banque Federative du Credit Mutuel SA, 2.75%, 10/15/20(a)      1,125,069  
  1,608,000      Barclays plc, 5.14%, 10/14/20      1,643,087  
  2,532,000      Barclays plc, 3.25%, 1/12/21      2,549,464  
  1,712,000      Barclays plc, 4.34%(US0003M+136bps), 5/16/24, Callable 5/16/23 @ 100      1,796,420  
  10,000      BNP Paribas SA, 5.00%, 1/15/21      10,292  
  1,005,000      BNP Paribas SA, 3.38%, 1/9/25(a)      1,040,637  
  1,100,000      BNP Paribas SA, 4.71%(US0003M+224bps), 1/10/25, Callable 1/10/24 @ 100(a)      1,191,612  
  470,000      BPCE SA, 3.00%, 5/22/22(a)      478,095  
  1,509,000      BPCE SA, 2.70%, 10/1/29(a)      1,496,464  
  1,207,000      Danske Bank A/S, 5.00%, 1/12/22(a)      1,266,407  
  250,000      Danske Bank A/S, 3.00%(US0003M+125bps), 9/20/22, Callable 9/20/21 @ 100(a)      252,220  
  580,000      Danske Bank A/S, 3.88%, 9/12/23(a)      601,381  
  1,100,000      Danske Bank A/S, 5.38%, 1/12/24(a)      1,207,202  
  200,000      Danske Bank A/S, 3.24%(US0003M+159bps), 12/20/25, Callable 12/20/24 @ 100(a)      201,990  
  400,000      HSBC Holdings plc, 3.40%, 3/8/21      405,926  
  90,000      HSBC Holdings plc, 5.10%, 4/5/21      93,238  
  732,000      HSBC Holdings plc, 2.95%, 5/25/21      740,841  
  590,000      HSBC Holdings plc, 2.65%, 1/5/22      596,532  
  2,053,000      HSBC Holdings plc, 3.26%(US0003M+106bps), 3/13/23, Callable 3/13/22 @ 100      2,098,642  
  200,000      HSBC Holdings plc, 3.95%(US0003M+99bps), 5/18/24, Callable 5/18/23 @ 100      209,830  
  210,000      HSBC Holdings plc, 4.58%(US0003M+153bps), 6/19/29, Callable 6/19/28 @ 100      234,451  
  560,000      ING Bank NV, 5.00%, 6/9/21(a)      583,743  
  205,000      ING Groep NV, 4.63%, 1/6/26(a)      226,210  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

22


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Yankee Dollars, continued       
Banks, continued       
$ 370,000      ING Groep NV, 3.95%, 3/29/27    $ 398,135  
  274,000      Lloyds Banking Group plc, 2.70%, 8/17/20      275,164  
  208,000      Lloyds Banking Group plc, 3.00%, 1/11/22      211,194  
  435,000      Lloyds Banking Group plc, 4.05%, 8/16/23      459,229  
  300,000      Lloyds Banking Group plc, 2.91%(US0003M+81bps), 11/7/23, Callable 11/7/22 @ 100      304,493  
  280,000      Lloyds Banking Group plc, 3.90%, 3/12/24      295,177  
  1,041,000      Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc., 2.95%, 3/1/21      1,051,196  
  3,125,000      Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc., 3.20%, 7/18/29      3,233,374  
  200,000      Mizuho Financial Group, Inc., 2.27%, 9/13/21      200,544  
  210,000      Mizuho Financial Group, Inc., 2.95%, 2/28/22      213,631  
  220,000      Mizuho Financial Group, Inc., 3.92%(US0003M+100bps), 9/11/24, Callable 9/11/23 @ 100      230,778  
  2,395,000      Mizuho Financial Group, Inc., 2.84%(US0003M+98bps), 7/16/25, Callable 7/16/24 @ 100      2,415,378  
  1,015,000      Mizuho Financial Group, Inc., 2.56%(US0003M+110bps), 9/13/25, Callable 9/13/24 @ 100      1,012,904  
  364,000      Mizuho Financial Group, Inc., 2.87%(US0003M+131bps), 9/13/30, Callable 9/13/29 @ 100      366,618  
  570,000      Rabobank Nederland NY, Series G, 2.50%, 1/19/21      572,616  
  58,000      Royal Bank of Canada, Series G, 3.70%, 10/5/23, MTN      61,186  
  180,000      Royal Bank of Canada, Series G, 2.55%, 7/16/24      182,769  
  50,000      Santander UK Group Holdings plc, 3.13%, 1/8/21      50,409  
  760,000      Santander UK plc, 5.00%, 11/7/23(a)      823,497  
  755,000      Societe Generale SA,
2.63%, 9/16/20^(a)
     757,951  
  1,375,000      Standard Chartered plc, 2.25%, 4/17/20(a)      1,376,269  
  210,000      Standard Chartered plc, 3.95%, 1/11/23(a)      216,425  
  199,000      Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc., 3.10%, 1/17/23      203,621  
  200,000      Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc., 2.45%, 9/27/24      200,399  
  288,000      Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc., 2.63%, 7/14/26      288,606  
  325,000      Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc., 3.45%, 1/11/27      340,309  
  355,000      Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc., 3.04%, 7/16/29      361,743  
  360,000      Svenska Handelsbanken AB, 1.88%, 9/7/21      359,208  
     

 

 

 
        41,879,713  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (0.1%):       
  3,050,000      Suntory Holdings, Ltd., 2.25%, 10/16/24, Callable 9/16/24 @ 100(a)      3,031,965  
     

 

 

 
Biotechnology (0.1%):       
  962,000      Shire Acquisitions Investments, 2.40%, 9/23/21, Callable 8/23/21 @ 100      967,049  
  1,734,000      Shire Acquisitions Investments, 3.20%, 9/23/26, Callable 6/23/26 @ 100      1,786,158  
     

 

 

 
        2,753,207  
     

 

 

 
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Yankee Dollars, continued       
Building Products (0.0%):       
$ 19,000      Johnson Controls International plc, 3.90%, 2/14/26, Callable 11/14/25 @ 100    $ 20,185  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (0.7%):       
  352,000      Credit Suisse Group AG, 3.87%(US0003M+141bps), 1/12/29, Callable 1/12/28 @ 100(a)      374,054  
  1,775,000      Credit Suisse Group Fun, Ltd., 2.75%, 3/26/20      1,778,326  
  250,000      Credit Suisse Group Fun, Ltd., 3.45%, 4/16/21      253,721  
  180,000      Deutsche Bank AG, 2.95%, 8/20/20      180,329  
  206,000      Deutsche Bank AG, 4.10%, 1/13/26      210,228  
  2,000      Macquarie Group, Ltd., 4.65%(US0003M+173bps), 3/27/29, Callable 3/27/28 @ 100(a)      2,213  
  7,000      Macquarie Group, Ltd., 5.03%(US0003M+175bps), 1/15/30, Callable 1/15/29 @ 100(a)      7,924  
  1,980,000      UBS AG, 2.20%, 6/8/20, Callable 5/8/20 @ 100(a)      1,982,465  
  1,135,000      UBS AG, 2.45%, 12/1/20, Callable 11/1/20 @ 100(a)      1,138,607  
  400,000      UBS Group AG, 3.00%, 4/15/21(a)      404,809  
  4,825,000      UBS Group AG, 2.86%(US0003M+95bps), 8/15/23, Callable 8/15/22 @ 100(a)      4,886,306  
  395,000      UBS Group AG, 4.13%, 9/24/25(a)      427,593  
  2,027,000      UBS Group Funding, 2.65%, 2/1/22(a)      2,048,962  
     

 

 

 
        13,695,537  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (0.0%):       
  250,000      Air Liquide Finance SA, 1.75%, 9/27/21, Callable 8/27/21 @ 100(a)      249,077  
  220,000      LYB International Finance BV, 4.00%, 7/15/23      234,623  
  240,000      Methanex Corp., 5.25%, 12/15/29, Callable 9/15/29 @ 100      247,931  
     

 

 

 
        731,631  
     

 

 

 
Communications Equipment (0.0%):       
  125,000      Tyco Electronics Group SA, 3.45%, 8/1/24, Callable 5/1/24 @ 100      130,359  
  6,000      Tyco Electronics Group SA, 3.13%, 8/15/27, Callable 5/15/27 @ 100      6,156  
     

 

 

 
        136,515  
     

 

 

 
Construction & Engineering (0.1%):       
  1,695,000      Vinci SA, 3.75%, 4/10/29, Callable 1/30/29 @ 100(a)      1,843,162  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (0.1%):       
  1,675,000      Hyundai Capital Services, Inc., 3.00%, 8/29/22(a)      1,695,720  
  1,390,000      Hyundai Capital Services, Inc., 3.75%, 3/5/23(a)      1,434,452  
     

 

 

 
        3,130,172  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (0.7%):       
  159,000      BP Capital Markets plc, 3.81%, 2/10/24      169,751  
  245,000      Corp. Financiera de Desarrollo SA, 4.75%, 7/15/25(a)      267,969  
  1,789,000      GE Capital International Funding, 4.42%, 11/15/35      1,902,514  
  1,425,000      Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp., 2.65%, 10/19/20(a)      1,431,458  
  349,000      Nvent Finance Sarl, 4.55%, 4/15/28, Callable 1/15/28 @ 100      361,892  
  1,500,000      NXP BV/NXP Funding LLC, 4.13%, 6/1/21(a)      1,537,500  
  1,396,000      NXP BV/NXP Funding LLC, 4.63%, 6/1/23(a)      1,491,975  
  267,000      NXP BV/NXP Funding LLC, 4.88%, 3/1/24, Callable 2/1/24 @ 100(a)      290,029  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

23


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Yankee Dollars, continued       
Diversified Financial Services, continued       
$ 393,000      NXP BV/NXP Funding LLC/NXP USA, Inc., 4.30%, 6/18/29, Callable 3/18/29 @ 100(a)    $ 424,440  
  2,676,000      ORIX Corp., 2.90%, 7/18/22      2,721,227  
  79,000      ORIX Corp., 4.05%, 1/16/24      83,909  
  90,000      ORIX Corp., 3.25%, 12/4/24      93,375  
  2,740,000      Shell International Finance BV, 3.25%, 5/11/25      2,896,655  
  160,000      Shell International Finance BV, 2.50%, 9/12/26      162,436  
  22,000      Shell International Finance BV, 4.55%, 8/12/43      26,594  
  20,000      Total Capital Canada, Ltd., 2.75%, 7/15/23      20,476  
  140,000      Total Capital International SA, 2.75%, 6/19/21      141,826  
  80,000      Total Capital International SA, 2.88%, 2/17/22      81,644  
  112,000      Total Capital International SA, 3.70%, 1/15/24      118,912  
  210,000      Total Capital International SA, 3.75%, 4/10/24      224,300  
  495,000      Total Capital International SA, 2.43%, 1/10/25, Callable 10/10/24 @ 100      500,804  
     

 

 

 
        14,949,686  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (0.0%):       
  305,000      Deutsche Telekom International Finance BV, 2.82%, 1/19/22, Callable 12/19/21 @ 100(a)      309,427  
     

 

 

 
Food & Staples Retailing (0.0%):       
  850,000      Seven & I Holdings Co., Ltd., 3.35%, 9/17/21(a)      866,385  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (0.1%):       
  19,000      Aon plc, 3.88%, 12/15/25, Callable 9/15/25 @ 100      20,391  
  81,000      Aon plc, 4.45%, 5/24/43, Callable 2/24/43 @ 100      87,014  
  839,000      Aon plc, 4.60%, 6/14/44, Callable 3/14/44 @ 100      953,837  
  75,000      Aon plc, 4.75%, 5/15/45, Callable 11/15/44 @ 100      87,813  
  175,000      Trinity Acquistion plc, 4.40%, 3/15/26, Callable 12/15/25 @ 100      189,374  
     

 

 

 
        1,338,429  
     

 

 

 
Interactive Media & Services (0.1%):       
  490,000      Baidu, Inc., 4.38%, 5/14/24, Callable 4/14/24 @ 100      522,278  
  475,000      Baidu, Inc., 4.38%, 3/29/28, Callable 12/29/27 @ 100^      515,105  
  1,511,000      Tencent Holdings, Ltd., 2.99%, 1/19/23, Callable 12/19/22 @ 100(a)      1,530,739  
  515,000      Tencent Holdings, Ltd., 3.60%, 1/19/28, Callable 10/19/27 @ 100(a)      538,829  
     

 

 

 
        3,106,951  
     

 

 

 
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail (0.0%):       
  320,000      Alibaba Group Holding, Ltd., 2.80%, 6/6/23, Callable 5/6/23 @ 100      325,093  
  460,000      Alibaba Group Holding, Ltd., 4.40%, 12/6/57, Callable 6/6/57 @ 100      526,675  
     

 

 

 
        851,768  
     

 

 

 
Machinery (0.0%):       
  19,000      CNH Industrial NV, 4.50%, 8/15/23      20,253  
  110,000      CNH Industrial NV, 3.85%, 11/15/27, Callable 8/15/27 @ 100      114,606  
  560,000      Ingersoll-Rand Luxembourg Finance SA, 3.50%, 3/21/26, Callable 1/21/26 @ 100      585,917  
     

 

 

 
        720,776  
     

 

 

 
Media (0.0%):       
  460,000      Sky, Ltd., 3.75%, 9/16/24(a)      492,288  
     

 

 

 
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Yankee Dollars, continued       
Metals & Mining (0.1%):       
$ 755,000      Anglo American Capital plc, 3.63%, 9/11/24(a)    $ 784,256  
  1,610,000      Anglo American Capital plc, 4.88%, 5/14/25(a)      1,764,963  
  105,000      ArcelorMittal, 3.60%, 7/16/24      107,543  
  35,000      ArcelorMittal, 6.13%, 6/1/25      40,284  
  321,000      ArcelorMittal, 4.55%, 3/11/26      340,613  
  226,000      Teck Resources, Ltd., 6.13%, 10/1/35      263,538  
  5,000      Teck Resources, Ltd., 6.00%, 8/15/40, Callable 2/15/40 @ 100      5,578  
  25,000      Teck Resources, Ltd., 6.25%, 7/15/41, Callable 1/15/41 @ 100      28,598  
     

 

 

 
        3,335,373  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (0.4%):       
  555,000      Ecopetrol SA, 4.13%, 1/16/25      583,444  
  4,155,000      Petroleos Mexicanos, 6.50%, 3/13/27      4,399,663  
  883,000      Petroleos Mexicanos, 5.63%, 1/23/46      794,879  
  37,000      Shell International Finance BV, 2.38%, 8/21/22      37,487  
  788,000      Shell International Finance BV, 4.13%, 5/11/35      920,736  
  68,000      Shell International Finance BV, 6.38%, 12/15/38      99,344  
  289,000      Suncor Energy, Inc., 5.95%, 12/1/34      376,969  
  60,000      Suncor Energy, Inc., 6.80%, 5/15/38      85,586  
  208,000      Suncor Energy, Inc., 6.50%, 6/15/38      289,123  
  24,000      TransCanada PipeLines, Ltd., 3.75%, 10/16/23, Callable 7/16/23 @ 100      25,161  
  898,000      TransCanada PipeLines, Ltd., 4.88%, 1/15/26, Callable 10/15/25 @ 100      1,003,919  
  416,000      TransCanada PipeLines, Ltd., 4.25%, 5/15/28, Callable 2/15/28 @ 100      460,529  
  85,000      TransCanada PipeLines, Ltd., 4.63%, 3/1/34, Callable 12/1/33 @ 100      97,224  
  136,000      TransCanada PipeLines, Ltd., 5.85%, 3/15/36      164,918  
  245,000      TransCanada PipeLines, Ltd., 6.10%, 6/1/40      318,443  
     

 

 

 
        9,657,425  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (0.3%):       
  1,346,000      Actavis Funding SCS, 3.45%, 3/15/22, Callable 1/15/22 @ 100      1,377,110  
  137,000      Actavis Funding SCS, 3.80%, 3/15/25, Callable 12/15/24 @ 100      143,591  
  1,240,000      Actavis Funding SCS, 4.55%, 3/15/35, Callable 9/15/34 @ 100      1,318,429  
  118,000      Allergan Funding SCS, 3.85%, 6/15/24, Callable 3/15/24 @ 100      123,683  
  1,840,000      Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., 5.00%, 11/26/28, Callable 8/26/28 @ 100      2,142,555  
     

 

 

 
        5,105,368  
     

 

 

 
Professional Services (0.0%):       
  62,000      IHS Markit, Ltd., 4.00%, 3/1/26, Callable 12/1/25 @ 100(a)      65,255  
     

 

 

 
Real Estate Management & Development (0.0%):       
  250,000      Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd., 2.95%, 1/23/23, Callable 12/23/22 @ 100(a)      253,438  
     

 

 

 
Sovereign Bond (1.3%):       
  3,516,000      Colombia Government International Bond, 3.88%, 4/25/27, Callable 1/25/27 @ 100      3,716,348  
  275,000      Colombia Government International Bond, 4.50%, 3/15/29, Callable 12/15/28 @ 100      304,432  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

24


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Yankee Dollars, continued       
Sovereign Bond, continued       
$ 5,119,000      Mexico Government International Bond, 4.15%, 3/28/27    $ 5,474,608  
  910,000      Mexico Government International Bond, 3.75%, 1/11/28      943,922  
  589,561      Oriental Republic of Uruguay, 4.50%, 8/14/24^      637,588  
  2,175,000      Oriental Republic of Uruguay, 4.38%, 10/27/27      2,400,657  
  420,000      Panama Government International Bond, 3.88%, 3/17/28, Callable 12/17/27 @ 100      456,750  
  689,000      Province of Manitoba, 3.05%, 5/14/24      719,252  
  704,000      Republic of Chile, 3.24%, 2/6/28, Callable 11/6/27 @ 100      738,402  
  595,000      Republic of Colombia, 4.50%, 1/28/26, Callable 10/28/25 @ 100      647,461  
  581,000      Republic of Indonesia, 4.10%, 4/24/28      631,144  
  575,000      Republic of Panama, 4.00%, 9/22/24, Callable 6/22/24 @ 100      614,531  
  540,000      Republic of Panama, 4.50%, 5/15/47      642,600  
  980,000      Republic of Peru, 4.13%, 8/25/27      1,096,644  
  281,000      Republic of Peru, 5.63%, 11/18/50      408,513  
  3,200,000      Republic of Philippines, 3.00%, 2/1/28      3,325,750  
  2,506,000      United Mexican States, 4.13%, 1/21/26      2,669,153  
  3,263,000      United Mexican States, 4.50%, 4/22/29      3,578,287  
     

 

 

 
        29,006,042  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.1%):       
  60,000      Vodafone Group plc, 3.75%, 1/16/24      63,308  
  645,000      Vodafone Group plc, 4.13%, 5/30/25      697,248  
  109,000      Vodafone Group plc, 4.38%, 5/30/28      120,604  
  33,000      Vodafone Group plc, 5.00%, 5/30/38      38,497  
  406,000      Vodafone Group plc, 4.38%, 2/19/43      437,965  
  1,233,000      Vodafone Group plc, 5.25%, 5/30/48      1,492,439  
  3,000      Vodafone Group plc, 5.13%, 6/19/59      3,529  
     

 

 

 
        2,853,590  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Yankee Dollars (Cost $136,543,893)

         142,016,767  
  

 

 

 
Municipal Bonds (0.6%):       
Ohio (0.0%):  
  490,000      City of Cleveland Airport System Revenue, 2.88%, 1/1/31      483,351  
     

 

 

 
Massachusetts (0.2%):  
  1,265,000      Commonwealth of Massachusetts, GO, 2.90%, 9/1/49      1,197,512  
  1,260,000      Massachusetts School Building Authority Revenue, 3.40%, 10/15/40, Continuously Callable @ 100      1,262,040  
  450,000      Massachusetts School Building Authority Revenue, Series B, 5.00%, 10/15/41, Pre-refunded 10/15/21 @ 100      481,514  
  1,780,000      Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Revenue, 3.10%, 8/1/39, Continuously Callable @ 100      1,716,471  
     

 

 

 
        4,657,537  
     

 

 

 
Florida (0.0%):  
  140,000      County of Miami-Dade FL Aviation Revenue, 3.28%, 10/1/29      146,278  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Municipal Bonds, continued       
Florida, continued  
$ 520,000      County of Miami-Dade FL Water & Sewer System Revenue, 3.49%, 10/1/42, Continuously Callable @ 100    $ 521,560  
     

 

 

 
        667,838  
     

 

 

 
New Jersey (0.1%):  
  575,000      New Jersey State Transportation Authority Revenue, 6.56%, 12/15/40      783,156  
  800,000      New Jersey State Transportation Trust Fund Authority Revenue, Series AA, 5.00%, 6/15/36, Continuously Callable @ 100      859,640  
  270,000      New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority Revenue, 4.13%, 6/15/42      268,431  
  350,000      Rutgers The State University of New Jersey Revenue, 3.27%, 5/1/43      346,434  
     

 

 

 
        2,257,661  
     

 

 

 
New York (0.1%):  
  885,000      New York State Thruway Authority Revenue, 2.90%, 1/1/35      883,080  
     

 

 

 
California (0.1%):  
  1,055,000      San Diego Community College District, GO, 3.34%, 8/1/43, Continuously Callable @100      1,045,442  
  160,000      State of California, GO, 7.63%, 3/1/40      256,141  
  347,000      University of California Revenue, 4.77%, 5/15/15      418,978  
  50,000      University of California Revenue, 4.86%, 5/15/12      61,196  
     

 

 

 
        1,781,757  
     

 

 

 
Oregon (0.0%):  
  635,000      State of Oregon Department of Transportation Revenue, 3.17%, 11/15/38, Continuously Callable @100      634,625  
     

 

 

 
Nebraska (0.1%):  
  1,175,000      University of Nebraska Facilities Corp. Revenue, 3.04%, 10/1/49      1,119,058  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Municipal Bonds (Cost $12,453,978)

     12,484,907  
  

 

 

 
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages (30.8%):  
Federal Home Loan Bank (0.2%)  
  4,080,000      3.56%, 5/16/33      4,593,444  
     

 

 

 
        4,593,444  
     

 

 

 
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (5.6%)  
  765,105      2.50%, 2/1/24, Pool #G14989      772,498  
  3,650,000      Class A2, Series KC02, 3.37%, 7/25/25      3,805,527  
  1,161,638      Class A1, 2.75%, 3/25/27      1,186,613  
  246,623      3.00%, 9/1/27, Pool #U70060      253,860  
  3,185,000      Class A2, Series K076, 3.90%, 4/25/28      3,519,871  
  11,000      Class A2, Series K078, 3.85%, 6/25/28      12,106  
  129,872      3.00%, 7/1/28, Pool #U79018      133,250  
  1,800,000      Class A2, Series K083, 4.05%, 9/25/28      2,009,376  
  591,000      2.63%, 9/15/29(c)      469,305  
  44,640      3.00%, 1/1/30, Pool #V60696      45,979  
  58,835      3.00%, 1/1/30, Pool #V60724      60,591  
  90,436      2.50%, 3/1/30, Pool #V60770      91,763  
  207,060      3.00%, 5/1/30, Pool #J31689      212,283  
  148,247      2.50%, 5/1/30, Pool #V60796      150,508  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

25


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, continued  
$ 222,513      2.50%, 5/1/30, Pool #J31728    $ 226,667  
  103,318      2.50%, 5/1/30, Pool #J31418      105,287  
  393,150      3.00%, 6/1/30, Pool #V60840      404,922  
  37,038      2.50%, 7/1/30, Pool #J32209      37,745  
  9,953      2.50%, 7/1/30, Pool #V60905      10,102  
  9,922      2.50%, 7/1/30, Pool #J32491      10,108  
  188,352      3.00%, 7/1/30, Pool #G15520      193,638  
  38,916      2.50%, 7/1/30, Pool #J32204      39,429  
  21,649      3.00%, 7/1/30, Pool #J32181      22,197  
  165,665      2.50%, 8/1/30, Pool #V60886      168,830  
  39,571      3.00%, 8/1/30, Pool #V60909      40,752  
  25,181      3.00%, 8/1/30, Pool #J32436      25,882  
  131,733      2.50%, 8/1/30, Pool #V60902      134,253  
  409,668      2.50%, 9/1/30, Pool #V60904      414,112  
  127,397      2.50%, 9/1/30, Pool #V60903      129,080  
  190,000      6.75%, 3/15/31      274,934  
  197,000      2.88%, 3/15/31(c)      148,362  
  652,025      2.50%, 4/1/31, Pool #G16186      661,783  
  126,105      5.50%, 2/1/35, Pool #G04692      141,982  
  189,878      6.00%, 4/1/39, Pool #G07613      218,712  
  37,389      4.50%, 12/1/39, Pool #A90196      40,719  
  32,740      4.50%, 7/1/40, Pool #A93010      35,542  
  45,091      4.00%, 8/1/40, Pool #A93534      48,432  
  254,301      4.00%, 9/1/40, Pool #A93851      275,830  
  695,387      4.50%, 9/1/40, Pool #A93700      750,857  
  44,000      4.00%, 10/1/40, Pool #A95923      46,721  
  41,295      4.00%, 11/1/40, Pool #A95144      43,837  
  36,268      4.00%, 11/1/40, Pool #A94977      38,500  
  36,367      4.00%, 11/1/40, Pool #A94779      38,592  
  2,586      4.00%, 4/1/41, Pool #Q00093      2,763  
  104,879      4.50%, 5/1/41, Pool #Q00804      113,680  
  118,221      4.50%, 5/1/41, Pool #Q00959      128,141  
  469,826      Class FL, Series 4248, 2.19%(US0001M+45bps), 5/15/41      468,678  
  525,357      5.50%, 6/1/41, Pool #G07553      585,640  
  588,704      3.50%, 10/1/41, Pool #G08462      618,175  
  36,399      4.00%, 10/1/41, Pool #Q03841      38,683  
  116,423      5.00%, 10/1/41, Pool #G07642      129,704  
  70,494      4.00%, 10/1/41, Pool #Q04022      74,913  
  249,644      3.50%, 4/1/42, Pool #Q07417      264,665  
  283,100      3.50%, 4/1/42, Pool #C03811      297,364  
  15,306      3.50%, 5/1/42, Pool #Q07896      16,067  
  8,169      3.50%, 5/1/42, Pool #Q08306      8,614  
  26,611      3.50%, 5/1/42, Pool #Q08239      28,062  
  400,639      3.50%, 8/1/42, Pool #Q10724      420,516  
  236,911      3.50%, 8/1/42, Pool #G07106      251,163  
  33,383      3.50%, 8/1/42, Pool #Q12162      35,380  
  20,131      3.50%, 10/1/42, Pool #Q11909      21,340  
  35,655      3.50%, 10/1/42, Pool #Q11750      37,022  
  461,100      3.50%, 11/1/42, Pool #Q13134      484,797  
  274,850      3.00%, 12/1/42, Pool #C04320      284,847  
  324,187      3.00%, 1/1/43, Pool #Q14866      331,623  
  395,707      3.00%, 3/1/43, Pool #Q16567      408,835  
  201,943      3.00%, 3/1/43, Pool #Q16403      205,946  
  297,002      3.00%, 3/1/43, Pool #Q16673      302,053  
  101,439      3.00%, 4/1/43, Pool #Q17095      104,266  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, continued  
$ 139,162      3.50%, 6/1/43, Pool #Q18718    $ 148,430  
  221,099      3.50%, 7/1/43, Pool #Q20206      236,286  
  1,144,864      3.00%, 8/1/43, Pool #G07550      1,182,718  
  122,936      3.50%, 8/1/43, Pool #Q21320      129,347  
  3,333,485      3.00%, 9/1/43, Pool #G60675      3,438,756  
  97,240      4.00%, 9/1/43, Pool #Q21579      105,385  
  282,841      3.00%, 10/1/43, Pool #G60037      293,178  
  256,812      4.50%, 12/1/43, Pool #G60018      272,731  
  3,985,379      3.50%, 12/1/43, Pool #G60270      4,225,571  
  308,421      4.50%, 12/1/43, Pool #Q23779      331,942  
  11,640,407      3.50%, 1/1/44, Pool #G07922      12,388,964  
  25,164      3.50%, 1/1/44, Pool #Q24368      26,893  
  5,988,857      3.50%, 1/1/44, Pool #G60271      6,325,699  
  899,805      Class XZ, Series 4316, 4.50%, 3/15/44      1,065,820  
  16,438      3.50%, 4/1/44, Pool #Q25812      17,314  
  138,712      4.00%, 4/1/44, Pool #Q25643      149,466  
  991,990      3.50%, 4/1/44, Pool #G07848      1,059,817  
  1,320,358      Class ZX, Series 4352, 4.00%, 4/15/44      1,474,298  
  48,880      3.50%, 5/1/44, Pool #Q26362      51,478  
  26,879      3.50%, 5/1/44, Pool #Q26218      28,645  
  18,420      3.50%, 5/1/44, Pool #Q25988      19,403  
  20,481      3.50%, 5/1/44, Pool #Q26452      21,574  
  122,884      3.50%, 6/1/44, Pool #Q28764      130,281  
  23,382      3.50%, 6/1/44, Pool #Q26707      24,621  
  175,057      4.00%, 7/1/44, Pool #G60901      186,335  
  24,711      3.50%, 7/1/44, Pool #Q27319      26,342  
  516,233      4.00%, 8/1/44, Pool #G07786      559,891  
  91,111      3.50%, 8/1/44, Pool #Q27843      95,948  
  19,554      3.50%, 9/1/44, Pool #Q28763      20,521  
  111,530      3.50%, 9/1/44, Pool #Q28605      117,484  
  42,513      3.50%, 9/1/44, Pool #Q28604      45,325  
  2,909      3.50%, 11/1/44, Pool #Q29911      3,051  
  8,021      3.50%, 11/1/44, Pool #Q29697      8,413  
  31,807      3.50%, 1/1/45, Pool #Q31122      33,510  
  47,171      3.50%, 1/1/45, Pool #Q30876      49,490  
  35,316      4.00%, 2/1/45, Pool #Q31338      38,125  
  15,168      4.00%, 2/1/45, Pool #Q31128      16,377  
  104,536      3.50%, 5/1/45, Pool #Q33606      110,114  
  14,373      3.50%, 5/1/45, Pool #Q33131      15,146  
  102,459      3.50%, 6/1/45, Pool #Q34176      107,915  
  2,868      3.50%, 7/1/45, Pool #Q34960      3,021  
  3,379,195      3.50%, 8/1/45, Pool #G60138      3,584,832  
  28,652      3.50%, 9/1/45, Pool #Q36302      30,520  
  266,108      4.00%, 10/1/45, Pool #Q36972      282,307  
  11,274      3.50%, 10/1/45, Pool #V81932      11,830  
  36,652      4.00%, 12/1/45, Pool #Q37955      39,577  
  42,996      4.00%, 12/1/45, Pool #Q37957      46,177  
  453,875      3.50%, 1/1/46, Pool #G60393      479,358  
  33,993      3.50%, 2/1/46, Pool #V82209      35,679  
  324,946      3.50%, 3/1/46, Pool #Q39250      342,628  
  382,283      3.50%, 5/1/46, Pool #G60561      402,728  
  1,427,873      3.00%, 6/1/46, Pool #Q41070      1,464,042  
  3,784,962      3.50%, 7/1/46, Pool #G60658      4,009,664  
  605,942      4.00%, 7/1/46, Pool #V82528      641,400  
  314,880      4.00%, 8/1/46, Pool #V82553      333,149  
  8,833,818      3.00%, 8/1/46, Pool #G60717      9,077,767  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

26


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, continued  
$ 702,081      Class FB, Series 4606, 2.24%(US0001M+50bps), 8/15/46    $ 704,132  
  518,072      3.00%, 9/1/46, Pool #G60718      529,980  
  47,086      4.00%, 9/1/46, Pool #G60729      49,835  
  1,430,180      3.00%, 9/1/46, Pool #Q42979      1,462,784  
  3,177,334      3.00%, 9/1/46, Pool #Q43104      3,264,901  
  99,773      4.00%, 10/1/46, Pool #V82661      105,618  
  1,711,348      3.00%, 12/1/46, Pool #V82781      1,740,064  
  551,794      3.00%, 12/1/46, Pool #Q44853      567,051  
  522,684      3.00%, 12/1/46, Pool #Q45064      534,675  
  128,128      3.00%, 12/1/46, Pool #Q45083      132,617  
  259,380      3.00%, 12/1/46, Pool #Q45080      264,275  
  212,291      3.00%, 12/1/46, Pool #Q45079      218,243  
  2,138,045      4.00%, 2/1/47, Pool #V82929      2,281,199  
  953,998      3.50%, 3/1/47, Pool #G60968      988,516  
  2,343,681      4.50%, 7/1/47, Pool #G61047      2,541,897  
  170,035      3.50%, 7/1/47, Pool #Q53113      180,158  
  631,619      3.50%, 10/1/47, Pool #G61178      670,782  
  815,518      3.50%, 12/1/47, Pool #G61208      866,100  
  11,787,335      3.50%, 12/1/47, Pool #G67706      12,395,932  
  189,221      3.50%, 1/1/48, Pool #Q53648      197,106  
  1,991,343      3.50%, 1/1/48, Pool #Q53747      2,067,206  
  94,170      3.50%, 1/1/48, Pool #Q53630      100,013  
  2,781,895      4.50%, 8/1/48, Pool #G67715      3,026,908  
  31,999      2.50%, 11/1/49, Pool #SD8023      31,734  
  11,999,998      2.50%, 12/1/49, Pool #SD8029      11,869,706  
     

 

 

 
        125,272,989  
     

 

 

 
Federal National Mortgage Association (18.1%)  
  5,630,000      4.50%, 2/25/25, TBA      5,933,492  
  118,199      2.50%, 9/1/27, Pool #AP5205      119,783  
  181,161      2.50%, 9/1/27, Pool #AB6194      183,631  
  41,936      2.50%, 2/1/28, Pool #AB8446      42,461  
  61,122      3.00%, 4/1/28, Pool #AT3121      63,327  
  90,495      2.50%, 4/1/28, Pool #AB8870      91,686  
  64,341      3.00%, 5/1/28, Pool #AT6033      66,637  
  248,474      2.50%, 8/1/28, Pool #AS0190      251,734  
  1,289,000      Class A2, Series 2018-M14, 3.58%, 8/25/28, Pool #A2      1,395,252  
  1,122,572      3.50%, 9/1/28, Pool #AL4245      1,170,179  
  137,560      3.00%, 10/1/28, Pool #AU8774      142,513  
  300,943      3.50%, 10/1/28, Pool #AV0198      313,697  
  15,235      3.00%, 10/1/28, Pool #AQ4132      15,576  
  474,226      3.50%, 11/1/28, Pool #AV1360      494,387  
  16,482      3.00%, 11/1/28, Pool #AV0298      16,851  
  383,198      3.00%, 4/1/29, Pool #AW0937      395,135  
  257,077      3.00%, 5/1/29, Pool #AW2544      266,925  
  532,523      3.00%, 6/1/29, Pool #AS2676      549,099  
  135,692      3.00%, 7/1/29, Pool #AW1281      140,018  
  622,399      3.00%, 7/1/29, Pool #AW4229      646,254  
  1,069,863      3.00%, 9/1/29, Pool #AL6897      1,110,907  
  359,629      3.50%, 9/1/29, Pool #AL5806      374,057  
  337,159      3.00%, 9/1/29, Pool #AS3220      347,641  
  160,517      3.50%, 9/1/29, Pool #AX0105      166,949  
  192,561      3.00%, 10/1/29, Pool #AS3594      199,941  
  45,341      3.50%, 10/1/29, Pool #AX2741      47,157  
  257,434      3.50%, 12/1/29, Pool #AS3988      267,756  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal National Mortgage Association, continued  
$ 732,945      3.00%, 1/1/30, Pool #AL6144    $ 755,796  
  2,605,000      2.68%, 1/15/30(c)      2,046,178  
  27,737      2.50%, 2/1/30, Pool #AS4485      28,211  
  31,469      2.50%, 2/1/30, Pool #AS4488      31,876  
  104,260      2.50%, 2/1/30, Pool #BM3403      105,696  
  400,000      3.50%, 2/25/30, TBA      411,344  
  144,981      3.00%, 3/1/30, Pool #AL6583      150,536  
  206,517      2.50%, 3/1/30, Pool #AS4688      210,159  
  96,233      2.50%, 4/1/30, Pool #AY3416      97,935  
  117,339      3.00%, 4/1/30, Pool #AL6584      121,065  
  71,854      3.00%, 5/1/30, Pool #AL6761      74,620  
  45,098      2.50%, 5/1/30, Pool #AY0828      45,890  
  3,901,000      2.71%, 5/15/30(c)      3,036,574  
  391,529      3.00%, 6/1/30, Pool #AL9381      406,570  
  159,206      2.50%, 7/1/30, Pool #AS5403      161,217  
  95,732      3.00%, 7/1/30, Pool #AL7139      98,772  
  27,326      2.50%, 7/1/30, Pool #AS5405      27,709  
  28,270      3.00%, 7/1/30, Pool #AX9700      29,119  
  115,883      3.00%, 7/1/30, Pool #AX9701      119,568  
  16,169      3.00%, 7/1/30, Pool #AZ2297      16,662  
  43,630      2.50%, 7/1/30, Pool #AZ2170      44,402  
  22,156      3.50%, 8/1/30, Pool #AS5707      23,265  
  13,885      3.00%, 8/1/30, Pool #AZ8597      14,308  
  103,856      3.50%, 8/1/30, Pool #AS5708      108,088  
  26,219      3.00%, 8/1/30, Pool #AZ7833      27,014  
  102,246      2.50%, 8/1/30, Pool #AS5614      104,056  
  143,503      3.00%, 8/1/30, Pool #AS5623      148,472  
  126,220      3.00%, 8/1/30, Pool #AS5622      130,230  
  24,144      3.00%, 8/1/30, Pool #AX3298      24,878  
  77,119      2.50%, 8/1/30, Pool #AS5548      78,094  
  160,019      3.00%, 8/1/30, Pool #AL7227      165,542  
  313,395      2.50%, 8/1/30, Pool #BM3552      317,423  
  182,085      3.00%, 8/1/30, Pool #AL7225      187,876  
  192,341      2.50%, 8/1/30, Pool #AS5616      195,645  
  786,759      3.50%, 8/1/30, Pool #AL7430      818,256  
  51,142      3.00%, 9/1/30, Pool #AZ5719      52,689  
  34,223      3.00%, 9/1/30, Pool #AL7320      35,536  
  99,377      3.00%, 9/1/30, Pool #AS5714      102,542  
  115,061      2.50%, 9/1/30, Pool #AS5872      117,096  
  89,835      2.50%, 9/1/30, Pool #AS5786      90,969  
  130,495      3.00%, 9/1/30, Pool #AS5728      134,463  
  101,196      2.50%, 11/1/30, Pool #AS6115      102,929  
  109,978      2.50%, 11/1/30, Pool #AS6141      111,916  
  101,958      2.50%, 11/1/30, Pool #AS6142      103,249  
  15,300      2.50%, 11/1/30, Pool #AL7800      15,562  
  106,997      2.50%, 11/1/30, Pool #AS6116      108,491  
  2,108,027      3.00%, 1/1/31, Pool #BM3537      2,169,468  
  177,563      2.50%, 3/1/31, Pool #BM1595      180,009  
  172,665      2.50%, 6/1/31, Pool #AS7320      174,725  
  308,079      2.50%, 7/1/31, Pool #AS7617      311,750  
  270,895      2.50%, 7/1/31, Pool #AS7605      274,125  
  61,765      4.00%, 8/1/31, Pool #AY4707      64,779  
  13,274      2.50%, 8/1/31, Pool #BC2777      13,432  
  44,163      4.00%, 8/1/31, Pool #AY4688      46,058  
  2,204,199      3.00%, 8/1/31, Pool #AL9376      2,288,863  
  190,629      3.00%, 9/1/31, Pool #AL9378      196,172  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

27


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal National Mortgage Association, continued  
$ 1,239,795      2.50%, 10/1/31, Pool #AS8195    $ 1,258,933  
  675,124      2.50%, 10/1/31, Pool #AS8208      683,182  
  521,828      2.50%, 10/1/31, Pool #AS8193      528,566  
  113,455      2.00%, 10/1/31, Pool #MA2774      113,526  
  383,503      2.50%, 10/1/31, Pool #AS8009      388,451  
  2,510,706      2.50%, 10/1/31, Pool #BC4773      2,549,463  
  360,877      2.50%, 11/1/31, Pool #BC2631      367,074  
  670,148      2.00%, 11/1/31, Pool #BM3054      670,568  
  535,986      2.00%, 11/1/31, Pool #AS8251      536,324  
  178,474      2.00%, 11/1/31, Pool #BC9040      178,585  
  34,660      2.00%, 11/1/31, Pool #AS8291      34,681  
  419,085      2.50%, 11/1/31, Pool #AS8240      424,086  
  274,480      2.50%, 11/1/31, Pool #AS8241      278,007  
  179,893      2.50%, 11/1/31, Pool #BC2629      182,045  
  195,005      2.50%, 11/1/31, Pool #BC2628      198,020  
  200,199      2.50%, 11/1/31, Pool #AS8245      203,295  
  152,084      2.00%, 12/1/31, Pool #MA2845      152,180  
  37,077      2.50%, 2/1/32, Pool #BM1036      37,703  
  20,796      3.00%, 2/1/32, Pool #BE5670      21,507  
  1,176,101      3.50%, 2/1/32, Pool #AS8885      1,226,153  
  644,310      3.00%, 3/1/32, Pool #AS9327      666,350  
  585,461      2.50%, 3/1/32, Pool #AS9321      590,925  
  625,342      2.50%, 3/1/32, Pool #AS9318      632,618  
  672,768      2.50%, 3/1/32, Pool #AS9319      682,109  
  341,779      2.50%, 3/1/32, Pool #AS9317      345,756  
  404,502      2.50%, 3/1/32, Pool #AS9316      409,048  
  905,848      2.00%, 3/1/32, Pool #BM3061      906,417  
  2,722,099      3.50%, 4/1/32, Pool #BM3503      2,873,616  
  1,954,908      3.50%, 5/1/32, Pool #BM1602      2,036,612  
  2,914,620      3.00%, 6/1/32, Pool #BM1791      3,012,432  
  908,705      2.50%, 8/1/32, Pool #BM3578      921,797  
  356,220      3.00%, 9/1/32, Pool #BM3240      369,140  
  97,678      3.50%, 11/1/32, Pool #BJ2054      103,123  
  119,720      5.50%, 1/1/33, Pool #676661      134,686  
  65,484      3.50%, 1/1/33, Pool #BJ2096      69,011  
  1,787,956      2.50%, 2/1/33, Pool #BM3793      1,806,597  
  81,814      5.50%, 5/1/33, Pool #555424      91,439  
  135,031      4.00%, 9/1/33, Pool #BK7642      143,241  
  533,600      4.00%, 10/1/33, Pool #CA2406      562,021  
  384,663      4.00%, 10/1/33, Pool #CA2528      407,093  
  387,507      4.00%, 10/1/33, Pool #CA2527      405,483  
  742,123      4.00%, 10/1/33, Pool #CA2404      786,262  
  405,038      4.00%, 11/1/33, Pool #CA2555      428,785  
  2,356,652      4.00%, 11/1/33, Pool #CA2557      2,483,860  
  1,900,000      5.00%, 1/25/35, TBA      1,991,141  
  200,000      4.50%, 1/25/35, TBA      205,563  
  642,766      5.00%, 2/1/35, Pool #735226      716,555  
  195,523      5.50%, 2/1/35, Pool #735989      221,275  
  48,879      5.00%, 3/1/35, Pool #735288      54,379  
  17,736      6.00%, 4/1/35, Pool #735504      20,261  
  91,462      5.00%, 9/1/35, Pool #889974      102,048  
  194,190      4.00%, 1/1/36, Pool #AB0686      208,239  
  453,476      5.50%, 9/1/36, Pool #995113      512,257  
  50,331      3.00%, 10/1/36, Pool #AL9227      51,350  
  374,607      3.00%, 11/1/36, Pool #AS8348      387,103  
  151,028      3.00%, 11/1/36, Pool #AS8349      155,636  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal National Mortgage Association, continued  
$ 439,473      3.00%, 12/1/36, Pool #AS8553    $ 453,408  
  338,441      3.00%, 12/1/36, Pool #BE1896      350,120  
  21,482      5.50%, 2/1/38, Pool #961545      23,900  
  14,275      6.00%, 3/1/38, Pool #889529      16,481  
  79,315      5.50%, 5/1/38, Pool #889441      88,403  
  105,913      5.50%, 5/1/38, Pool #889692      119,244  
  46,402      6.00%, 5/1/38, Pool #889466      53,573  
  70,824      5.50%, 6/1/38, Pool #995018      79,631  
  20,612      5.50%, 9/1/38, Pool #889995      23,117  
  48,293      6.00%, 10/1/38, Pool #889983      55,145  
  253,467      5.50%, 1/1/39, Pool #AB0200      291,260  
  111,825      4.50%, 4/1/39, Pool #930922      121,781  
  118,726      4.50%, 5/1/39, Pool #AL1472      129,261  
  1,124,529      5.00%, 6/1/39, Pool #AL7521      1,254,574  
  725,236      6.00%, 7/1/39, Pool #BF0056      825,088  
  54,659      5.50%, 10/1/39, Pool #AD0362      61,340  
  1,807,398      3.00%, 11/1/39, Pool # MA3831      1,850,740  
  50,724      5.50%, 12/1/39, Pool #AD0571      56,620  
  334,752      5.50%, 12/1/39, Pool #AC6680      383,774  
  6,941,977      4.50%, 1/1/40, Pool #AC8568      7,553,295  
  44,222      5.50%, 3/1/40, Pool #AL5304      49,176  
  41,302      4.50%, 4/1/40, Pool #AD4038      44,816  
  324,977      6.00%, 4/1/40, Pool #AL4141      371,223  
  60,810      6.50%, 5/1/40, Pool #AL1704      70,230  
  97,997      4.50%, 7/1/40, Pool #AD7127      103,460  
  168,265      4.00%, 7/1/40, Pool #AE0113      179,646  
  89,579      4.50%, 7/1/40, Pool #AB1226      97,236  
  4,144      4.00%, 8/1/40, Pool #AD9136      4,444  
  300,273      4.00%, 8/1/40, Pool #AE0216      322,059  
  36,861      6.00%, 9/1/40, Pool #AE0823      41,525  
  328,295      4.00%, 10/1/40, Pool #AE7535      352,052  
  817,001      4.00%, 10/1/40, Pool #AB1614      876,281  
  54,362      4.00%, 11/1/40, Pool #AE8407      58,316  
  36,472      4.00%, 12/1/40, Pool #AH0006      39,114  
  244,705      4.00%, 12/1/40, Pool #AH0946      262,459  
  2,680,000      Class CY, Series 2010-136, 4.00%, 12/25/40      2,971,830  
  68,644      4.00%, 1/1/41, Pool #AL7167      71,493  
  9,238,683      Class ZA, Series 2011-8, 4.00%, 2/25/41, Callable 10/25/28 @ 100      9,830,003  
  548,017      4.00%, 4/1/41, Pool #AI1186      587,579  
  79,082      6.00%, 6/1/41, Pool #AL4142      90,091  
  775,478      5.00%, 7/1/41, Pool #AL7524      859,153  
  49,408      4.50%, 7/1/41, Pool #AB3314      53,533  
  634,783      4.00%, 9/1/41, Pool #AJ1541      680,577  
  945,506      5.50%, 9/1/41, Pool #AL8430      1,062,015  
  57,748      4.00%, 9/1/41, Pool #AI5228      61,937  
  48,320      4.50%, 9/1/41, Pool #AI8961      52,379  
  44,520      4.00%, 10/1/41, Pool #AC9312      47,742  
  2,863,421      4.00%, 11/1/41, Pool #AJ4701      3,070,616  
  47,500      4.00%, 12/1/41, Pool #AJ7684      50,929  
  145,370      4.00%, 12/1/41, Pool #AB4054      155,849  
  1,257,369      4.00%, 1/1/42, Pool #AB4307      1,347,939  
  302,738      3.50%, 1/1/42, Pool #AW8154      318,755  
  43,682      3.50%, 1/1/42, Pool #AK2073      45,981  
  148,055      4.00%, 2/1/42, Pool #AB4530      158,851  
  138,760      3.50%, 4/1/42, Pool #AO0777      142,744  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

28


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal National Mortgage Association, continued  
$ 49,198      3.50%, 4/1/42, Pool #AK7510    $ 51,720  
  258,916      4.00%, 5/1/42, Pool #AO2961      277,679  
  22,471      3.50%, 5/1/42, Pool #AO2881      23,639  
  93,809      4.00%, 5/1/42, Pool #A02114      100,640  
  82,770      4.00%, 5/1/42, Pool #AT6144      88,744  
  83,815      4.00%, 6/1/42, Pool #AL2003      89,938  
  38,459      3.50%, 6/1/42, Pool #AL2168      40,446  
  44,428      3.50%, 6/1/42, Pool #AO3107      46,728  
  23,122      3.50%, 6/1/42, Pool #AO3048      24,319  
  36,242      3.50%, 6/1/42, Pool #AK9225      38,116  
  56,969      4.00%, 7/1/42, Pool #AL2607      61,091  
  3,081,181      4.00%, 7/1/42, Pool #AL2160      3,307,234  
  53,272      3.50%, 7/1/42, Pool #AO9707      56,034  
  184,162      4.00%, 7/1/42, Pool #AL4244      197,558  
  1,042,003      4.00%, 8/1/42, Pool #AL2242      1,118,220  
  85,851      3.50%, 8/1/42, Pool #AO7152      90,295  
  45,279      4.00%, 9/1/42, Pool #AX3706      48,548  
  283,293      4.50%, 9/1/42, Pool #AL2482      308,502  
  91,001      4.00%, 9/1/42, Pool #AL2901      97,671  
  407,113      3.50%, 10/1/42, Pool #AB6512      419,218  
  125,160      3.00%, 10/1/42, Pool #AP9726      129,155  
  212,396      3.00%, 12/1/42, Pool #AB7271      219,171  
  100,045      3.50%, 12/1/42, Pool #AQ7127      104,760  
  216,910      4.00%, 12/1/42, Pool #AL6055      232,744  
  407,806      3.50%, 12/1/42, Pool #AL8045      431,223  
  780,576      3.00%, 12/1/42, Pool #AB7269      805,466  
  174,710      3.00%, 12/1/42, Pool #AB7425      177,464  
  535,066      3.00%, 1/1/43, Pool #AB7458      552,146  
  523,210      3.00%, 1/1/43, Pool #AB7497      539,932  
  556,441      3.00%, 1/1/43, Pool #AB7567      574,154  
  1,870,935      4.50%, 1/1/43, Pool #AL8206      2,036,297  
  360,481      3.00%, 1/1/43, Pool #AB7755      370,565  
  288,349      3.00%, 1/1/43, Pool #AB7565      297,542  
  141,156      4.00%, 1/1/43, Pool #AL7369      151,662  
  217,141      3.50%, 2/1/43, Pool #AL2935      228,343  
  195,885      3.00%, 2/1/43, Pool #AB7762      201,349  
  198,839      3.00%, 2/1/43, Pool #AB8558      204,409  
  127,417      3.00%, 3/1/43, Pool #AR9218      129,237  
  31,306      3.50%, 3/1/43, Pool #AR8128      32,437  
  577,223      3.50%, 3/1/43, Pool #AL3409      597,871  
  99,920      3.00%, 3/1/43, Pool #AR7576      101,350  
  87,749      3.00%, 3/1/43, Pool #AR7568      89,002  
  384,370      3.00%, 3/1/43, Pool #AR9194      395,118  
  370,976      3.00%, 3/1/43, Pool #AB8701      381,348  
  48,670      3.00%, 3/1/43, Pool #AB8712      50,032  
  125,702      3.00%, 3/1/43, Pool #AB8830      129,209  
  43,201      3.50%, 3/1/43, Pool #AR9203      45,289  
  223,766      4.00%, 3/1/43, Pool #AL3300      240,150  
  17,662      3.50%, 3/1/43, Pool #AT0310      18,300  
  15,103      3.50%, 3/1/43, Pool #AR6909      15,651  
  179,099      3.00%, 4/1/43, Pool #AT2040      181,655  
  105,688      3.00%, 4/1/43, Pool #AT2043      107,203  
  48,438      3.00%, 4/1/43, Pool #AB9033      49,789  
  138,950      3.00%, 4/1/43, Pool #AR8630      140,920  
  21,397      3.50%, 4/1/43, Pool #AT3019      22,174  
  356,337      3.00%, 4/1/43, Pool #AB9016      366,287  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal National Mortgage Association, continued  
$ 110,139      3.00%, 4/1/43, Pool #AB8923    $ 111,718  
  95,186      3.00%, 4/1/43, Pool #AB8924      96,545  
  55,292      3.00%, 4/1/43, Pool #AT2037      56,080  
  91,406      3.50%, 5/1/43, Pool #AB9255      95,818  
  32,975      3.50%, 5/1/43, Pool #MA1440      34,568  
  186,017      3.00%, 5/1/43, Pool #AB9462      191,221  
  141,624      3.00%, 5/1/43, Pool #AL3759      145,582  
  375,810      3.00%, 5/1/43, Pool #AT2719      386,321  
  141,305      3.00%, 5/1/43, Pool #AT6654      145,261  
  258,174      3.00%, 5/1/43, Pool #AB9173      265,399  
  22,641      3.50%, 6/1/43, Pool #AB9567      23,737  
  205,613      3.00%, 6/1/43, Pool #AB9662      211,360  
  78,491      3.00%, 6/1/43, Pool #AT7676      80,689  
  14,272      3.00%, 6/1/43, Pool #AB9564      14,672  
  392,537      3.50%, 7/1/43, Pool #AT9667      411,532  
  589,887      3.00%, 7/1/43, Pool #AL5778      606,390  
  147,659      3.50%, 7/1/43, Pool #AR7145      154,721  
  2,624,481      3.00%, 7/1/43, Pool #AB9940      2,697,957  
  581,104      3.50%, 7/1/43, Pool #AU0918      609,249  
  63,740      3.50%, 7/1/43, Pool #AT3906      66,806  
  194,710      3.50%, 7/1/43, Pool #AT8464      203,452  
  413,275      3.50%, 7/1/43, Pool #AL4010      433,259  
  465,978      3.50%, 8/1/43, Pool #AS0209      488,491  
  114,904      3.50%, 8/1/43, Pool #AU0570      120,472  
  97,669      3.50%, 8/1/43, Pool #AU0613      102,400  
  47,985      3.50%, 8/1/43, Pool #AU3270      50,310  
  12,536      3.50%, 8/1/43, Pool #AT7333      13,140  
  477,538      3.00%, 8/1/43, Pool #AS0331      490,903  
  14,270      3.50%, 8/1/43, Pool #AU3032      14,964  
  16,166      3.50%, 9/1/43, Pool #AT7267      16,950  
  1,541,984      4.00%, 10/1/43, Pool #BM1502      1,651,056  
  104,316      4.00%, 10/1/43, Pool #AL7577      112,126  
  1,022,007      3.50%, 11/1/43, Pool #AL9745      1,079,082  
  1,210,379      5.00%, 12/1/43, Pool #AL7777      1,335,247  
  89,743      3.50%, 1/1/44, Pool #AS1703      95,522  
  94,868      3.50%, 1/1/44, Pool #AS1539      100,984  
  116,436      4.00%, 3/1/44, Pool #AV6577      124,578  
  3,298,647      3.50%, 5/1/44, Pool #BM5002      3,458,529  
  9,876      3.50%, 6/1/44, Pool #AS2591      10,389  
  22,294      3.50%, 6/1/44, Pool #AW6405      23,462  
  23,133      4.00%, 7/1/44, Pool #AW7055      24,779  
  1,461,988      4.00%, 8/1/44, Pool #AL5601      1,581,720  
  861,371      4.00%, 8/1/44, Pool #890629      931,818  
  658,985      5.00%, 11/1/44, Pool #AL8878      724,365  
  16,054      4.00%, 12/1/44, Pool #AY0299      17,295  
  193,958      4.00%, 12/1/44, Pool #AX9372      207,694  
  15,708      4.00%, 12/1/44, Pool #AX6255      16,922  
  610,636      4.00%, 1/1/45, Pool #AS4083      653,875  
  170,058      4.00%, 1/1/45, Pool #AY0367      182,092  
  64,561      4.00%, 1/1/45, Pool #AX8713      69,177  
  450,343      3.50%, 2/1/45, Pool #BM1100      472,125  
  27,239      4.00%, 2/1/45, Pool #AY1866      29,994  
  99,847      4.00%, 2/1/45, Pool #AY2693      109,860  
  157,112      4.00%, 2/1/45, Pool #AS4308      169,442  
  22,748      4.00%, 5/1/45, Pool #AY8218      24,361  
  686,753      4.00%, 5/1/45, Pool #AS5017      755,917  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

29


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal National Mortgage Association, continued  
$ 61,283      4.00%, 5/1/45, Pool #AY9770    $ 67,482  
  353,837      5.00%, 6/1/45, Pool #BM3784      388,731  
  413,928      3.50%, 7/1/45, Pool #AS5459      440,917  
  1,064,604      3.50%, 7/1/45, Pool #AS5453      1,122,067  
  55,451      3.50%, 8/1/45, Pool #AS5640      58,448  
  211,730      4.50%, 9/1/45, Pool #AL7936      232,467  
  39,601      4.00%, 10/1/45, Pool #AZ9244      42,405  
  501,214      3.50%, 10/1/45, Pool #MA2414      525,347  
  37,304      4.00%, 10/1/45, Pool #BA2878      39,942  
  41,908      4.00%, 10/1/45, Pool #BA2879      45,211  
  38,368      4.00%, 10/1/45, Pool #AZ9243      42,242  
  92,230      4.00%, 10/1/45, Pool #AL7442      101,528  
  41,305      4.00%, 10/1/45, Pool #BA2877      45,436  
  125,208      4.00%, 10/1/45, Pool #AL7443      134,105  
  10,460      4.50%, 11/1/45, Pool #AS6233      11,077  
  187,623      4.00%, 11/1/45, Pool #BA2905      200,968  
  1,509,980      3.50%, 11/1/45, Pool #BM1124      1,605,393  
  93,139      3.50%, 11/1/45, Pool #AS6195      99,220  
  130,094      4.00%, 11/1/45, Pool #BA2904      143,193  
  109,922      4.50%, 11/1/45, Pool #AL9501      120,347  
  417,635      4.00%, 12/1/45, Pool #AS6347      450,443  
  57,549      4.00%, 12/1/45, Pool #BA2924      62,073  
  110,414      4.00%, 12/1/45, Pool #BA4736      121,545  
  336,465      4.50%, 12/1/45, Pool #BM1756      359,862  
  122,377      4.00%, 12/1/45, Pool #BA4737      131,065  
  387,485      3.50%, 12/1/45, Pool #AL9635      408,098  
  147,503      4.00%, 1/1/46, Pool #BA4781      159,047  
  258,383      4.00%, 2/1/46, Pool #AS6662      275,200  
  482,087      3.50%, 3/1/46, Pool #AS6823      507,424  
  408,392      3.50%, 4/1/46, Pool #AS7015      426,303  
  192,919      3.50%, 4/1/46, Pool #AL8521      201,867  
  5,126,920      3.50%, 4/1/46, Pool #BC5981      5,363,493  
  299,173      3.50%, 5/1/46, Pool #AL8570      315,343  
  125,456      3.00%, 6/1/46, Pool #AS7370      130,163  
  63,156      3.50%, 6/1/46, Pool #BC1154      67,130  
  1,595,386      3.50%, 6/1/46, Pool #AS7383      1,679,289  
  1,694,430      4.00%, 6/1/46, Pool #AL9093      1,805,739  
  1,316,133      3.50%, 6/1/46, Pool #AS7353      1,385,479  
  28,005      3.00%, 6/1/46, Pool #AS7365      28,517  
  224,002      3.00%, 6/1/46, Pool #AS7362      229,204  
  3,111,023      3.00%, 7/1/46, Pool #BC1450      3,180,522  
  4,284,014      4.00%, 7/1/46, Pool #AL8857      4,590,189  
  861,470      4.50%, 7/1/46, Pool #BM1920      944,226  
  3,468,147      3.50%, 7/1/46, Pool #BA7748      3,586,531  
  599,466      4.50%, 7/1/46, Pool #BM3053      662,417  
  50,267      4.00%, 8/1/46, Pool #BD4900      54,206  
  34,976      4.00%, 8/1/46, Pool #BD3933      37,715  
  705,924      3.50%, 8/1/46, Pool #AL8952      743,038  
  33,187      3.00%, 8/1/46, Pool #AL9031      34,420  
  3,291,660      3.00%, 8/1/46, Pool #BC1486      3,365,154  
  1,143,785      Class UF, Series 2016-48, 2.19%(US0001M+40bps), 8/25/46      1,139,571  
  27,018      4.00%, 9/1/46, Pool #BD7826      29,122  
  2,079,830      3.00%, 9/1/46, Pool #BD1469      2,124,342  
  741,512      3.00%, 9/1/46, Pool #AL9214      758,060  
  20,061      3.50%, 9/1/46, Pool #BE0547      21,124  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal National Mortgage Association, continued  
$ 2,734,163      3.00%, 9/1/46, Pool #AS7847    $ 2,795,203  
  181,898      3.00%, 9/1/46, Pool #AS7889      188,711  
  648,254      3.50%, 9/1/46, Pool #AL9511      679,631  
  339,059      3.00%, 9/1/46, Pool #AS7878      346,927  
  261,402      3.00%, 9/1/46, Pool #AL9045      266,196  
  105,151      4.00%, 9/1/46, Pool #BD1481      113,427  
  749,047      3.00%, 10/1/46, Pool #AL9215      769,421  
  556,001      3.00%, 10/1/46, Pool #AL9266      568,407  
  902,055      3.00%, 10/1/46, Pool #BD8925      922,961  
  4,430,713      3.00%, 10/1/46, Pool #BD3309      4,533,467  
  256,488      3.00%, 11/1/46, Pool #AL9481      262,451  
  40,045      3.50%, 11/1/46, Pool #BE1932      42,138  
  5,805,518      4.00%, 11/1/46, Pool #AS8374      6,183,095  
  1,531,926      4.00%, 11/1/46, Pool #AS8379      1,652,036  
  502,162      3.50%, 11/1/46, Pool #BM1938      525,498  
  265,594      3.00%, 11/1/46, Pool #BD9643      272,825  
  695,200      3.00%, 11/1/46, Pool #BD9644      714,160  
  642,830      3.00%, 11/1/46, Pool #BD8962      657,684  
  389,244      3.00%, 11/1/46, Pool #BD9645      397,982  
  295,112      4.00%, 11/1/46, Pool #BC9012      318,244  
  33,083      3.50%, 11/1/46, Pool #BC7299      34,836  
  94,459      3.50%, 11/1/46, Pool #BD8477      99,463  
  297,140      3.00%, 11/1/46, Pool #BD9641      304,054  
  949,708      3.50%, 11/1/46, Pool #BD8970      995,557  
  823,149      3.00%, 11/1/46, Pool #AL9325      845,522  
  4,393,942      3.50%, 11/1/46, Pool #AL9424      4,625,818  
  648,168      3.50%, 11/1/46, Pool #AS8371      688,943  
  1,275,633      3.50%, 12/1/46, Pool #AS8493      1,346,622  
  1,654,894      3.00%, 12/1/46, Pool #AS8486      1,690,368  
  113,984      3.50%, 12/1/46, Pool #AL9593      119,524  
  638,410      3.50%, 12/1/46, Pool #BC9084      667,978  
  184,458      3.00%, 1/1/47, Pool #AS8589      188,024  
  433,891      4.00%, 1/1/47, Pool #BD2439      472,638  
  229,573      3.50%, 1/1/47, Pool #BD8531      242,473  
  742,246      3.50%, 1/1/47, Pool #AS8653      778,726  
  288,777      3.50%, 1/1/47, Pool #AL9774      307,622  
  112,642      3.50%, 1/1/47, Pool #BE4913      117,440  
  1,907,267      3.50%, 1/1/47, Pool #AL9725      2,031,755  
  94,642      3.00%, 2/1/47, Pool #BD5056      96,966  
  372,972      3.00%, 2/1/47, Pool #BD5049      381,998  
  931,804      3.50%, 2/1/47, Pool #BM3792      982,350  
  306,907      3.50%, 2/1/47, Pool #BE3188      324,650  
  2,015,017      4.00%, 3/1/47, Pool #890824      2,180,572  
  2,846,736      4.00%, 3/1/47, Pool #BM1155      3,033,849  
  810,381      3.00%, 3/1/47, Pool #AS8925      836,350  
  658,689      3.00%, 3/1/47, Pool #AS8936      668,239  
  184,865      3.50%, 5/1/47, Pool #BM1937      196,944  
  726,732      3.50%, 5/1/47, Pool #BM1174      767,243  
  770,214      4.00%, 5/1/47, Pool #BH0398      822,304  
  594,968      3.50%, 6/1/47, Pool #BM1902      628,056  
  633,202      4.00%, 7/1/47, Pool #BH3401      675,674  
  410,600      3.50%, 7/1/47, Pool #BM1571      433,793  
  854,890      4.00%, 8/1/47, Pool #BM1619      912,893  
  95,150      3.50%, 9/1/47, Pool #BH8295      100,457  
  252,251      3.50%, 9/1/47, Pool #BM1822      263,133  
  399,025      4.50%, 10/1/47, Pool #BM3052      439,240  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

30


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal National Mortgage Association, continued  
$ 543,234      3.50%, 10/1/47, Pool #BM1952    $ 571,433  
  102,525      3.50%, 11/1/47, Pool #CA0681      107,848  
  636,927      3.50%, 11/1/47, Pool #CA0689      668,282  
  773,178      3.50%, 12/1/47, Pool #BM3282      820,721  
  486,203      4.50%, 12/1/47, Pool #BH7067      523,273  
  49,374      3.50%, 12/1/47, Pool #BM3327      52,227  
  509,951      4.00%, 12/1/47, Pool #BM3261      555,519  
  3,421,861      3.50%, 12/1/47, Pool #BH7060      3,615,655  
  683,004      3.50%, 12/1/47, Pool #BM3326      706,518  
  1,266,174      3.50%, 1/1/48, Pool #CA0993      1,336,994  
  1,401,749      3.50%, 1/1/48, Pool #CA1058      1,449,936  
  261,431      3.50%, 1/1/48, Pool #BJ5879      272,921  
  49,928      3.50%, 1/1/48, Pool #BJ8650      52,132  
  132,181      3.50%, 1/1/48, Pool #BJ8120      140,303  
  79,808      3.50%, 1/1/48, Pool #BJ8126      84,298  
  213,807      4.00%, 2/1/48, Pool #BJ9057      228,212  
  1,068,195      4.00%, 2/1/48, Pool #CA1199      1,129,686  
  224,040      4.00%, 2/1/48, Pool #BJ9058      238,542  
  1,577,886      4.00%, 2/1/48, Pool #CA1255      1,668,823  
  1,687,497      4.00%, 3/1/48, Pool #CA1372      1,801,828  
  181,691      4.00%, 4/1/48, Pool #BM3762      197,971  
  3,578,504      4.00%, 4/1/48, Pool #CA1541      3,831,856  
  683,684      4.00%, 4/1/48, Pool #CA1549      741,257  
  193,521      4.00%, 4/1/48, Pool #BM3763      208,605  
  5,250,440      4.00%, 4/1/48, Pool #CA1545      5,552,723  
  296,303      4.50%, 4/1/48, Pool #BM3846      327,534  
  6,371,150      4.50%, 5/1/48, Pool #CA1704      6,911,441  
  650,570      5.00%, 6/1/48, Pool #CA2317      697,403  
  165,929      4.50%, 7/1/48, Pool #BK6113      182,922  
  31,371      4.50%, 7/1/48, Pool #BK4471      34,029  
  3,500,456      5.00%, 9/1/48, Pool #MA3472      3,741,467  
  343,361      5.00%, 10/1/48, Pool #MA3501      367,002  
  572,402      5.00%, 10/1/48, Pool #BK7881      613,610  
  514,865      5.00%, 11/1/48, Pool #MA3527      549,851  
  179,529      5.00%, 12/1/48, Pool #BN4404      190,982  
  420,684      5.00%, 1/1/49, Pool #BN4430      447,522  
  511,445      5.00%, 1/1/49, Pool #BN3949      546,521  
  14,984,000      4.50%, 1/25/49, TBA      15,773,000  
  66,449,000      4.00%, 1/25/49, TBA      69,106,959  
  7,186,095      4.00%, 8/1/49, Pool #CA3944      7,611,925  
  251,950      4.00%, 8/1/49, Pool #CA3972      271,785  
  64,000      5.00%, 1/25/50, TBA      68,420  
  4,823,000      6.00%, 1/25/50, TBA      5,371,805  
  500,055      3.50%, 1/25/50, TBA      514,353  
  1,700,000      5.50%, 1/25/50, TBA      1,829,625  
  24,670,000      4.00%, 2/25/50, TBA      25,668,363  
     

 

 

 
        404,599,468  
     

 

 

 
Government National Mortgage Association (6.9%)  
  19,419      4.50%, 9/15/33, Pool #615516      20,916  
  67,189      5.00%, 12/15/33, Pool #783571      71,134  
  19,758      6.50%, 8/20/38, Pool #4223      23,255  
  15,927      6.50%, 10/15/38, Pool #673213      17,412  
  10,760      6.50%, 11/20/38, Pool #4292      12,664  
  20,077      6.50%, 12/15/38, Pool #782510      22,068  
  225,424      5.00%, 1/15/39, Pool #782557      240,558  
  150,984      5.00%, 4/15/39, Pool #782619      168,425  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Government National Mortgage Association, continued  
$ 103,303      5.00%, 4/15/39, Pool #711939    $ 114,608  
  17,414      4.00%, 4/20/39, Pool #4422      18,202  
  14,458      5.00%, 6/15/39, Pool #782696      16,127  
  59,111      4.00%, 7/20/39, Pool #4494      62,733  
  95,503      5.00%, 10/20/39, Pool #4559      105,102  
  11,097      4.50%, 12/20/39, Pool #G24598      12,177  
  30,382      4.50%, 1/15/40, Pool #728627      32,810  
  13,912      4.50%, 1/20/40, Pool #4617      15,267  
  10,996      4.50%, 2/20/40, Pool #G24636      12,068  
  76,409      5.00%, 5/15/40, Pool #782958      83,357  
  749      4.50%, 5/20/40, Pool #G24696      820  
  66,717      5.00%, 6/15/40, Pool #697862      74,089  
  71,409      4.50%, 7/15/40, Pool #745793      76,608  
  650,595      4.50%, 7/15/40, Pool #733795      702,208  
  28,371      4.50%, 7/20/40, Pool #4746      31,078  
  53,645      4.50%, 8/20/40, Pool #4771      58,759  
  16,391      4.00%, 9/20/40, Pool #G24800      17,398  
  26,119      4.50%, 9/20/40, Pool #748948      27,525  
  132,281      4.50%, 10/15/40, Pool #783609      144,450  
  418,417      4.00%, 10/20/40, Pool #G24833      444,111  
  48,548      4.50%, 10/20/40, Pool #4834      53,181  
  772,733      4.00%, 11/20/40, Pool #4853      820,149  
  378,521      4.00%, 12/20/40, Pool #G24882      401,765  
  162,860      4.00%, 1/15/41, Pool #759138      172,830  
  334,687      4.00%, 1/20/41, Pool #4922      355,244  
  40,405      4.50%, 2/15/41, Pool #738019      44,040  
  1,299,936      4.00%, 2/20/41, Pool #742887      1,400,351  
  5,664      4.00%, 2/20/41, Pool #4945      6,029  
  108,742      4.00%, 3/15/41, Pool #762838      115,368  
  7,709      5.00%, 4/20/41, Pool #5018      8,524  
  16,762      5.00%, 6/20/41, Pool #5083      18,536  
  127,052      4.50%, 6/20/41, Pool #783590      134,514  
  53,572      4.50%, 7/20/41, Pool #754367      55,927  
  294,385      4.50%, 7/20/41, Pool #5115      322,516  
  8,472      5.00%, 7/20/41, Pool #5116      9,180  
  411,096      4.00%, 7/20/41, Pool #742895      440,235  
  87,349      4.50%, 7/20/41, Pool #783584      92,482  
  96,221      4.50%, 11/15/41, Pool #783610      105,084  
  258,082      3.50%, 1/15/42, Pool #553461      271,388  
  350,982      4.00%, 4/20/42, Pool #MA0023      373,633  
  138,346      5.00%, 7/20/42, Pool #MA0223      148,203  
  436,490      3.50%, 4/15/43, Pool #AD2334      454,063  
  663,723      3.50%, 4/20/43, Pool #MA0934      697,890  
  370,966      3.50%, 5/20/43, Pool #MA1012      390,073  
  31,238      4.00%, 7/20/43, Pool #MA1158      33,254  
  1,321,724      4.50%, 6/20/44, Pool #MA1997      1,424,063  
  25,650      4.00%, 8/20/44, Pool #AJ2723      27,493  
  19,348      4.00%, 8/20/44, Pool #AJ4687      20,765  
  12,295      4.00%, 8/20/44, Pool #AI4166      12,749  
  27,770      4.00%, 8/20/44, Pool #AI4167      29,798  
  1,164,409      4.00%, 8/20/44, Pool #MA2149      1,213,375  
  577,000      5.00%, 12/20/44, Pool #MA2448      625,181  
  71,205      3.00%, 12/20/44, Pool #MA2444      73,623  
  1,588,107      Class ZD, Series 2015-3, 4.00%, 1/20/45      1,815,846  
  579,699      3.00%, 2/15/45, Pool #784439      602,206  
  1,351,666      3.00%, 4/20/45, Pool #MA2753      1,395,985  
  3,110,781      3.50%, 4/20/45, Pool #MA2754      3,241,374  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

31


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Government National Mortgage Association, continued  
$ 3,760,933      3.50%, 5/20/45, Pool #MA2826    $ 3,918,867  
  72,653      3.00%, 6/20/45, Pool #MA2891      75,212  
  218,862      3.00%, 7/20/45, Pool #MA2960      226,573  
  72,269      3.00%, 8/20/45, Pool #MA3033      74,444  
  442,935      3.00%, 10/20/45, Pool #MA3172      458,537  
  337,803      5.00%, 12/20/45, Pool #MA3313      375,540  
  19,150,257      3.50%, 3/20/46, Pool #MA3521      19,921,088  
  11,845,133      3.50%, 4/20/46, Pool #MA3597      12,281,945  
  8,076,831      3.00%, 4/20/46, Pool #MA3596      8,331,637  
  3,754,019      3.50%, 5/20/46, Pool #MA3663      3,910,990  
  57,381      3.00%, 5/20/46, Pool #MA3662      59,263  
  7,883,497      3.50%, 6/20/46, Pool #MA3736      8,242,279  
  1,301,357      3.00%, 6/20/46, Pool #MA3735      1,344,030  
  2,563,441      3.00%, 7/20/46, Pool #MA3802      2,647,512  
  1,301,144      3.50%, 7/20/46, Pool #MA3803      1,353,985  
  11,989,724      3.00%, 8/20/46, Pool #MA3873      12,382,922  
  5,025,668      3.50%, 9/20/46, Pool #MA3937      5,224,397  
  5,323,264      3.00%, 9/20/46, Pool #MA3936      5,497,930  
  149,532      3.50%, 10/20/46, Pool #AX4342      154,347  
  26,201      4.00%, 10/20/46, Pool #AQ0542      27,424  
  138,849      3.50%, 10/20/46, Pool #AX4341      146,794  
  118,111      3.50%, 10/20/46, Pool #AX4343      121,657  
  325,239      3.50%, 10/20/46, Pool #AX4344      341,166  
  250,436      3.50%, 10/20/46, Pool #AX4345      260,134  
  139,489      3.00%, 11/20/46, Pool #MA4068      144,065  
  403,498      3.00%, 12/20/46, Pool #MA4126      416,526  
  154,257      4.50%, 3/15/47, Pool #AZ8560      165,643  
  159,991      4.50%, 4/15/47, Pool #AZ8597      171,796  
  234,164      4.50%, 4/15/47, Pool #AZ8596      255,201  
  126,836      4.50%, 5/15/47, Pool #BA7888      138,124  
  5,958,538      4.00%, 6/20/47, Pool #MA4511      6,231,338  
  23,986      4.00%, 9/15/47, Pool #BC5919      25,116  
  33,246      4.00%, 10/15/47, Pool #BD3187      34,761  
  30,834      4.00%, 10/15/47, Pool #BE1031      32,287  
  24,082      4.00%, 11/15/47, Pool #BE1030      25,239  
  4,720,974      4.00%, 11/20/47, Pool #MA4838      4,942,692  
  34,548      4.00%, 12/15/47, Pool #BE4664      36,171  
  2,350,814      4.00%, 12/20/47, Pool #MA4901      2,461,220  
  26,170      4.00%, 1/15/48, Pool #BE0204      27,431  
  37,220      4.00%, 1/15/48, Pool #BE0143      38,957  
  742,194      4.50%, 9/20/48, Pool #BD0560      779,315  
  3,168,958      4.50%, 3/20/49, Pool #MA5818      3,311,959  
  355,000      5.00%, 1/15/50, TBA      379,018  
  13,140,000      4.00%, 1/20/50, TBA      13,597,847  
  645,000      5.00%, 1/20/50, TBA      678,258  
  2,247,000      4.50%, 1/20/50, TBA      2,348,466  
  4,780,000      4.00%, 2/20/50, TBA      4,951,034  
  6,507,797      3.50%, 2/20/50, TBA      6,709,386  
     

 

 

 
        155,313,369  
     

 

 

 
 

Total U.S. Government Agency Mortgages (Cost $677,111,272)

     689,779,270  
  

 

 

 
U.S. Treasury Obligations (29.5%):       
U.S. Treasury Bonds (8.1%):  
  2,480,000      5.38%, 2/15/31      3,330,175  
  20,525,000      4.75%, 2/15/37      28,273,188  
  31,340,000      3.13%, 11/15/41      35,614,972  
  11,080,000      3.63%, 8/15/43      13,616,281  
  1,205,000      3.13%, 8/15/44      1,373,700  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Treasury Obligations, continued       
U.S. Treasury Bonds, continued  
$ 15,000      2.50%, 2/15/45    $ 15,342  
  955,000      3.00%, 5/15/45      1,068,555  
  1,770,000      2.88%, 8/15/45      1,938,980  
  1,543,000      3.00%, 2/15/47      1,738,045  
  5,645,000      3.00%, 2/15/48      6,360,327  
  34,590,000      3.13%, 5/15/48(d)      39,924,427  
  4,420,000      3.38%, 11/15/48      5,346,128  
  8,700,000      3.00%, 2/15/49      9,837,797  
  33,500,000      2.38%, 11/15/49      33,484,297  
     

 

 

 
        181,922,214  
     

 

 

 
U.S. Treasury Inflation Index Bonds (0.5%):  
  8,728,961      1.00%, 2/15/48      9,668,066  
  1,886,734      1.00%, 2/15/49      2,097,366  
     

 

 

 
        11,765,432  
     

 

 

 
U.S. Treasury Inflation Index Notes (1.1%):  
  20,174,480      0.63%, 4/15/23      20,481,831  
  4,004,638      0.50%, 4/15/24      4,068,156  
     

 

 

 
        24,549,987  
     

 

 

 
U.S. Treasury Notes (19.8%):  
  1,735,000      2.25%, 4/30/21      1,749,639  
  2,949,000      1.38%, 5/31/21      2,939,784  
  30,000      2.75%, 8/15/21      30,548  
  13,940,000      2.75%, 9/15/21      14,205,731  
  7,865,000      1.50%, 9/30/21      7,852,711  
  2,370,000      1.50%, 10/31/21      2,366,667  
  6,035,000      2.88%, 11/15/21      6,176,445  
  28,340,000      1.50%, 11/30/21^      28,300,147  
  7,950,000      1.63%, 12/31/21      7,974,844  
  5,570,000      2.00%, 5/31/24      5,646,588  
  30,095,000      1.75%, 7/31/24      30,189,047  
  14,345,000      1.25%, 8/31/24      14,069,307  
  32,537,000      2.13%, 9/30/24      33,182,656  
  24,480,000      1.50%, 9/30/24      24,273,450  
  32,190,000      1.50%, 10/31/24^      31,918,397  
  6,230,000      1.50%, 11/30/24^      6,178,408  
  5,615,000      1.75%, 12/31/24      5,632,547  
  890,000      3.00%, 10/31/25      951,048  
  1,550,000      2.88%, 11/30/25      1,646,391  
  14,555,000      2.25%, 3/31/26      14,955,263  
  2,435,000      2.38%, 4/30/26      2,520,225  
  1,520,000      2.13%, 5/31/26      1,550,400  
  2,407,000      1.88%, 6/30/26      2,418,283  
  2,430,000      1.88%, 7/31/26      2,440,631  
  30,225,000      1.38%, 8/31/26      29,403,258  
  10,190,000      1.63%, 9/30/26      10,067,402  
  50,196,000      1.63%, 10/31/26      49,568,549  
  47,745,000      1.63%, 11/30/26      47,140,726  
  9,260,000      1.75%, 12/31/26      9,215,147  
  12,505,000      2.88%, 8/15/28      13,485,861  
  1,445,000      3.13%, 11/15/28      1,589,952  
  2,690,000      2.38%, 5/15/29      2,797,600  
  6,650,000      1.63%, 8/15/29      6,483,750  
  24,630,000      1.75%, 11/15/29^      24,275,944  
     

 

 

 
        443,197,346  
     

 

 

 
 

Total U.S. Treasury Obligations (Cost $644,659,169)

     661,434,979  
  

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

32


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Commercial Paper (4.0%):       
$ 12,250,000      Boeing Co., 2.12%(c)    $ 12,204,026  
  9,000,000      CNH Industrial Capital LLC, 2.33%(c)      8,927,712  
  13,500,000      ETP Legacy LP, 2.32%(c)      13,494,789  
  17,250,000      Ford Motor Credit Co., 2.74%(c)      17,015,382  
  10,750,000      Ford Motor Credit Co., 2.92%(c)      10,539,870  
  16,250,000      General Electric Co., 2.31%(c)      16,138,216  
  6,500,000      Jabil, Inc., 2.37%(c)      6,476,529  
  5,500,000      Southern California Edison Co., 2.12%(c)      5,499,351  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Commercial Paper (Cost $90,252,189)

     90,295,875  
  

 

 

 
Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan (3.1%):  
  69,465,625      BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, 2.00%(c)(e)      69,465,625  
     

 

 

 
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan, continued  
 

Total Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on
Loan (Cost $69,465,625)

   $ 69,465,625  
  

 

 

 
Unaffiliated Investment Companies (1.6%):       
Money Markets (1.6%):       
$ 35,385,974      Dreyfus Treasury Securities Cash Management Fund, Institutional Shares, 1.44%(c)    $ 35,385,974  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Unaffiliated Investment Companies (Cost $35,385,974)

     35,385,974  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities
(Cost $2,400,716,526) — 109.6%(f)

     2,457,088,149  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — (9.6)%

     (217,531,125
  

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 2,239,557,024  
  

 

 

 
 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

EUR003M—3 Month EUR LIBOR

GO—General Obligation

LIBOR—London Interbank Offered Rate

MTN—Medium Term Note

SOFR—Secured Overnight Financing Rate

TBA—To Be Announced Security

US0001M—1 Month US Dollar LIBOR

US0003M—3 Month US Dollar LIBOR

 

^

This security or a partial position of this security was on loan as of December 31, 2019. The total value of securities on loan as of December 31, 2019 was $67,844,093.

 

+

The principal amount is disclosed in local currency and the fair value is disclosed in U.S. Dollars.

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

(a)

Rule 144A, Section 4(2) or other security which is restricted to resale to institutional investors. The sub-adviser has deemed these securities to be liquid based on procedures approved by the Board of Trustees.

 

(b)

The rate for certain asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities may vary based on factors relating to the pool of assets underlying the security. The rate presented is the rate in effect at December 31, 2019.

 

(c)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(d)

All or a portion of this security has been pledged as collateral for open derivative positions.

 

(e)

Purchased with cash collateral held from securities lending. The value of the collateral could include collateral held for securities that were sold on or before December 31, 2019.

 

(f)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

Securities Sold Short (-11.4%):

At December 31, 2019, the Fund’s securities sold short were as follows:

 

Security Description    Coupon
Rate
    Maturity
Date
     Par
Amount
     Proceeds
Received
     Fair
Value
 

U.S. Government Agency Mortgages

             

Federal National Mortgage Association

 

Federal National Mortgage Association, TBA

     4.00%       1/25/34      $ (3,926,000    $ (4,087,948    $ (4,091,628

Federal National Mortgage Association, TBA

     2.50%       2/25/35        (8,261,000      (8,313,387      (8,331,993

Federal National Mortgage Association, TBA

     3.00%       2/25/35        (628,000      (642,055      (643,234

Federal National Mortgage Association, TBA

     3.50%       2/25/35        (8,704,766      (9,014,572      (9,022,354

Federal National Mortgage Association, TBA

     3.00%       1/25/49        (6,752,168      (6,861,099      (6,847,120

Federal National Mortgage Association, TBA

     2.50%       1/25/50        (7,161,000      (7,056,662      (7,081,558

Government National Mortgage Association

 

Government National Mortgage Association, TBA

     3.00%       1/20/49        (11,791,500      (12,099,184      (12,110,239
          

 

 

    

 

 

 
        $ (48,074,907    $ (48,128,126
       

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

33


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Futures Contracts

At December 31, 2019, the Fund’s open futures contracts were as follows:

Short Futures

 

Description    Expiration
Date
   Number of
Contracts
   Notional
Amount
     Value and
Unrealized
Appreciation/
(Depreciation)
 

Euro Buxl 30-Year Bond March Future (Euro)

   3/6/20    15    $ (3,337,558    $ 93,630  

Euro Schatz Index March Future (Euro)

   3/6/20    195      (24,475,061      17,220  

Euro-Bobl March Futures (Euro)

   3/6/20    203      (30,425,638      156,195  

Euro-Bund March Futures (Euro)

   3/6/20    118      (22,564,234      296,096  

U.S. Treasury 10-Year Note March Futures (U.S. Dollar)

   3/20/20    172      (24,200,938      313,695  

U.S. Treasury 10-Year Note March Futures (U.S. Dollar)

   3/20/20    605      (77,695,234      755,984  

U.S. Treasury 5-Year Note March Futures (U.S. Dollar)

   3/31/20    956      (113,390,563      412,105  
           

 

 

 
            $ 2,044,925  
           

 

 

 

Long Futures

 

Description    Expiration
Date
   Number of
Contracts
   Notional
Amount
     Value and
Unrealized
Appreciation/
(Depreciation)
 

U.S. Treasury 2-Year Note March Futures (U.S. Dollar)

   3/31/20    1,070    $ 230,585,000      $ (72,277

U.S. Treasury 30-Year Bond March Futures (U.S. Dollar)

   3/20/20    62      9,666,188        (216,588

Ultra Long Term U.S. Treasury Bond March Future (U.S. Dollar)

   3/20/20    68      12,352,625        (424,828
           

 

 

 
            $ (713,693
           

 

 

 

Total Net Futures Contracts

            $ 1,331,232  
           

 

 

 

Forward Currency Contracts

At December 31, 2019, the Fund’s open forward currency contracts were as follows:

 

Currency Purchased   

Currency Sold

  

Counterparty

   Settlement
Date
     Net Unrealized
Appreciation/
(Depreciation)
 

U.S. Dollar

   1,019,171    Euro      910,000      Bank National Paribas      2/5/20      $ (3,780

U.S. Dollar

   153,664    Euro      139,000      CIBC      2/5/20        (2,589

U.S. Dollar

   3,273,848    Euro      2,945,000      CIBC      2/5/20        (36,690

U.S. Dollar

   233,829    Euro      210,000      CIBC      2/5/20        (2,236

U.S. Dollar

   57,820,196    Euro      52,329,000      Citigroup      2/5/20        (1,003,957

U.S. Dollar

   540,361    Euro      488,000      HSBC      2/5/20        (8,211

U.S. Dollar

   28,766    Euro      26,000      Toronto Dominion Bank      2/5/20        (461

U.S. Dollar

   9,282,497    Euro      8,318,000      Toronto Dominion Bank      2/5/20        (67,946

U.S. Dollar

   464,190    Euro      419,000      Standard Charter Bank      2/5/20        (6,817

U.S. Dollar

   787,011    Euro      712,000      UBS Warburg      2/5/20        (13,364

U.S. Dollar

   207,992    Euro      188,000      Westpac Banking Corp.      2/5/20        (3,343

U.S. Dollar

   973,493    Euro      870,000      Westpac Banking Corp.      2/5/20        (4,493
                 

 

 

 

Total Net Forward Currency Contracts

 

         $ (1,153,887
        

 

 

 

Balances Reported in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities for Forward Currency Contracts

 

      Unrealized
Depreciation

Forward Currency Contracts

   $(1,153,887)

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

34


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investment securities, at cost

    $ 2,400,716,526
   

 

 

 

Investment securities, at value(a)

    $ 2,457,088,149

Segregated cash for collateral for TBA commitments

      10,000

Interest and dividends receivable

      11,561,950

Foreign currency, at value (cost $1,794,445)

      1,811,926

Receivable for capital shares issued

      15,639

Receivable for investments sold

      21,744,883

Receivable for TBA investments sold

      152,579,395

Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts

      68,354

Prepaid expenses

      7,692
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      2,644,887,988
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Cash overdraft

      266

Unrealized depreciation on forward currency contracts

      1,153,887

Payable for investments purchased

      25,127,777

Payable for TBA investments purchased

      260,124,521

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      88,894

Payable for collateral received on loaned securities

      69,465,625

Securities sold short (Proceeds received $48,074,907)

      48,128,126

Manager fees payable

      653,509

Administration fees payable

      23,412

Distribution fees payable

      466,793

Custodian fees payable

      15,965

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      7,814

Transfer agent fees payable

      1,265

Trustee fees payable

      1,922

Other accrued liabilities

      71,188
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      405,330,964
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 2,239,557,024
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 2,161,596,254

Total distributable earnings

      77,960,770
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 2,239,557,024
   

 

 

 

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      199,817,469

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 11.21
   

 

 

 

 

(a)

Includes securities on loan of $67,844,093.

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Interest

    $ 59,743,473

Dividends

      410,942

Income from securities lending

      180,750
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      60,335,165
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      7,193,474

Administration fees

      668,922

Distribution fees

      5,138,207

Custodian fees

      79,591

Administrative and compliance services fees

      35,120

Transfer agent fees

      7,373

Trustee fees

      110,642

Professional fees

      102,781

Shareholder reports

      29,532

Other expenses

      57,335
   

 

 

 

Total expenses

      13,422,977
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      46,912,188
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities and foreign currencies

      29,115,852

Net realized gains/(losses) on forward currency contracts

      1,097,152

Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts

      (3,128,216 )

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities held short

      7,113,130

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities and foreign currencies

      82,789,123

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on forward currency contracts

      (1,164,040 )

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts

      715,895

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities held short

      1,671,244
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      118,210,140
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 165,122,328
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

35


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 46,912,188     $ 48,297,697

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      34,197,918       (35,356,910 )

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      84,012,222       (26,304,630 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      165,122,328       (13,363,843 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Distributions

      (48,427,627 )       (43,264,943 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (48,427,627 )       (43,264,943 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      365,053,905       93,845,414

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      48,427,627       43,264,943

Value of shares redeemed

      (226,936,952 )       (192,843,088 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      186,544,580       (55,732,731 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      303,239,281       (112,361,517 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      1,936,317,743       2,048,679,260
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 2,239,557,024     $ 1,936,317,743
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Shares issued

      33,064,820       8,778,364

Dividends reinvested

      4,323,895       4,180,188

Shares redeemed

      (20,402,903 )       (18,255,752 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      16,985,812       (5,297,200 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

36


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

    Year Ended December 31,
     2019   2018   2017   2016   2015

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 10.59     $ 10.89     $ 10.67     $ 10.78     $ 11.13
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.25 (a)       0.28       0.20       0.09       0.27

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      0.64       (0.35 )       0.12       0.16       (0.24 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      0.89       (0.07 )       0.32       0.25       0.03
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.27 )       (0.23 )       (0.10 )       (0.22 )       (0.24 )

Net Realized Gains

                        (0.14 )       (0.14 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (0.27 )       (0.23 )       (0.10 )       (0.36 )       (0.38 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 11.21     $ 10.59     $ 10.89     $ 10.67     $ 10.78
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(b)

      8.38 %       (0.58 )%       3.01 %       2.28 %       0.23 %

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 2,239,557     $ 1,936,318     $ 2,048,679     $ 2,009,721     $ 682,269

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      2.28 %       2.41 %       1.87 %       1.93 %       1.65 %

Expenses Before Reductions(c)

      0.65 %       0.65 %       0.65 %       0.67 %       0.66 %

Expenses Net of Reductions

      0.65 %       0.65 %       0.65 %       0.67 %       0.66 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate

      119 %       144 %       214 %       288 %       342 %

 

(a)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(b)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(c)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

37


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services—Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available. Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Fund accrues such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Foreign Currency Translation

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Securities Purchased on a When-Issued Basis

The Fund may purchase securities on a when-issued basis. When-issued securities are securities purchased for delivery beyond the normal settlement date at a stated price and yield and thereby involve risk that the yield obtained in the transaction will be less than that available in the market when the delivery takes place. A Fund will not pay for such securities or start earning interest on them until they are received. When a Fund agrees to purchase securities on a when-issued basis, the Fund will segregate or designate cash or liquid assets equal to the amount of the commitment. Securities purchased on a when-issued basis are recorded as an asset and are subject to changes in the value based upon changes in the general level of interest rates. A Fund may sell when-issued securities before they are delivered, which may result in a capital gain or loss.

Short Sales

The Fund may engage in short sales against the box (i.e., where the Fund owns or has an unconditional right to acquire at no additional cost a security substantially similar to the security sold short) for hedging purposes to limit exposure to a possible market decline in the value of its portfolio securities. In a short sale, the Fund sells a borrowed security and has a corresponding obligation to the lender to return the identical security. The Fund may also incur an interest expense if a security that has been sold short has an interest payment. When the Fund engages in a short sale, the Fund records a liability for securities sold short and records an asset equal to the proceeds received. The amount of the liability is subsequently marked to market to reflect the market value of the securities sold short. To borrow the security, the Fund also may be required to pay a premium, which would increase the cost of the security sold.

 

38


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

Securities Lending

To generate additional income, the Fund may lend up to 33 1/3% of its assets pursuant to agreements requiring that the loan be continuously secured by any combination of cash, U.S. government or U.S. government agency securities, equal initially to at least 102% of the fair value plus accrued interest on the securities loaned (105% for foreign securities). The borrower of securities is at all times required to post collateral to the Fund in an amount equal to 100% of the fair value of the securities loaned based on the previous day’s fair value of the securities loaned, marked-to-market daily. Any collateral shortfalls are adjusted the next business day. The Fund bears all of the gains and losses on such investments. The Fund receives payments from borrowers equivalent to the dividends and interest that would have been earned on securities lent while simultaneously seeking to earn income on the investment of cash collateral received. In extremely low interest rate environments, the broker rebate fee may exceed the interest earned or the cash collateral which would result in a loss to the Fund. The investment of cash collateral deposited by the borrower is subject to inherent market risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks that are present in the market, and as such, the value of these investments may not be sufficient, when liquidated, to repay the borrower when the loaned security is returned. There may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. However, loans will be made only to borrowers, such as broker-dealers, banks or institutional borrowers of securities, deemed by the Manager to be of good standing and credit worthy and when in its judgment, the consideration which can be earned currently from such securities loans justifies the attendant risks. Loans are subject to termination by the Trust or the borrower at any time, and are, therefore, not considered to be illiquid investments. Securities on loan at December 31, 2019 are presented on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

Cash collateral received in connection with securities lending is invested on behalf of the Fund in the BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, a money market fund which invests in short-term investments that have a remaining maturity of 397 days or less in accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. The Fund pays the Securities Lending Agent 9% of the gross revenues received from securities lending activities and keeps 91%. The Fund paid securities lending fees of $18,100 during the year ended December 31, 2019. These fees have been netted against “Income from securities lending” on the Statement of Operations. The Fund had securities lending transactions of $69,465,625 accounted for as secured borrowings with cash collateral of overnight and continuous maturities as of December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019, there were no master netting provisions in the securities lending agreement.

TBA Purchase and Sale Commitments

The Fund may enter into to-be-announced (TBA) purchase or sale commitments, pursuant to which it agrees to purchase or sell, respectively, mortgage-backed securities for a fixed unit price, with payment and delivery at a scheduled future date beyond the customary settlement period for such securities. With TBA transactions, the particular securities to be delivered are not identified at the trade date; however, delivered securities must meet specified terms, including issuer, rate, and mortgage term, and be within industry-accepted “good delivery” standards. The Fund may enter into TBA purchase transactions with the intention of taking possession of the underlying securities, may elect to extend the settlement by “rolling” the transaction, and/or may use TBAs to gain interim exposure to underlying securities. Until settlement, the Fund maintains liquid assets sufficient to settle its TBA commitments.

To mitigate counterparty risk, the Fund has entered into agreements with TBA counterparties that provide for collateral and the right to offset amounts due to or from those counterparties under specified conditions. Subject to minimum transfer amounts, collateral requirements are determined and transfers made based on the net aggregate unrealized gain or loss on all TBA commitments with a particular counterparty. At any time, the Fund’s risk of loss from a particular counterparty related to its TBA commitments is the aggregate unrealized gain on appreciated TBAs in excess of unrealized loss on depreciated TBAs and collateral held, if any, by such counterparty. As of December 31, 2019, collateral of $10,000 had been posted by the Fund to counterparties for TBAs.

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund participated in the following cross-trade transactions:

 

        Purchases      Sales     

Realized

Gain/(Loss)

AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

       $        $ 685,805        $ 27,276

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In March 2017, FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2017-08 (“ASU 2017-08”), “Receivables—Nonrefundable Fees and Other Costs (Subtopic 310-20): Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities”. ASU 2017-08 changed the amortization period for non-contingently callable debt securities held at a premium. Specifically, it required the premium

 

39


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

to be amortized to the earliest call date. ASU 2017-08 does not require an accounting change for securities held at a discount, which continues to accrete to maturity. The Fund has adopted ASU 2017-08 on a modified retrospective basis as of January 1, 2019. The adoption of ASU 2017-08 did not have a significant impact on the amortized cost of investments as of January 1, 2019, and had no impact on beginning net assets, the current period results from operations, or any prior period information presented in the financial statements.

Derivative Instruments

All open derivative positions at period end are reflected on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments. The following is a description of the derivative instruments utilized by the Fund, including the primary underlying risk exposures related to each instrument type.

Forward Currency Contracts

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund entered into forward currency contracts as an economic hedge against either specific transactions or portfolio instruments or to obtain exposure to foreign currencies. In addition to the foreign currency risk related to the use of these contracts, the Fund could be exposed to risks if the counterparties to the contracts are unable to meet the terms of their contracts and from unanticipated movements in the value of a foreign currency relative to the U.S. dollar. In the event of default by the counterparty to the transaction, the Fund’s maximum amount of loss, as either the buyer or the seller, is the unrealized appreciation of the contract. The forward currency contracts are adjusted by the daily exchange rate of the underlying currency and any gains or losses are recorded for financial statement purposes as unrealized gains or losses until the contract settlement date. When the contract is closed, the Fund records a realized gain or loss equal to the difference between the value at the time it was opened and the value at the time it was closed. For the year ended December 31, 2019, the monthly average notional amount for long contracts was $0.4 million, the monthly average notional amount for short contracts was $35.4 million. Realized gains and losses are reported as “Net realized gains/(losses) on forward currency contracts” on the Statement of Operations.

Futures Contracts

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund used futures contracts to provide market exposure on the Fund’s cash balances. Futures contracts are valued based upon their quoted daily settlement prices. Upon entering into a futures contract, the Fund is required to segregate liquid assets in accordance with the initial margin requirements of the broker or exchange. Futures contracts are marked to market daily and a payable or receivable for the change in value (“variation margin”) is recorded by the Fund. Gains or losses are recognized but not considered realized until the contracts expire or are closed. Futures contracts involve, to varying degrees, elements of market risk (generally equity price risk related to stock futures, interest rate risk related to bond futures, and foreign currency risk related to currency futures) and exposure to loss in excess of the variation margin disclosed in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are the imperfect correlation between the change in fair value of the underlying securities and the prices of futures contracts, the possibility of an illiquid market, and the inability of the counterparty to meet the terms of the contract. The monthly average notional amount for long contracts was $312.8 million and the monthly average notional amount for short contracts was $219.10 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Realized gains and losses are reported as “Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts” on the Statement of Operations.

Summary of Derivative Instruments

The following is a summary of the fair values of derivative instruments on the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities, categorized by risk exposure, as of December 31, 2019:

 

   

Asset Derivatives

   

Liability Derivatives

 
Primary Risk Exposure   Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
    Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
 

Interest Rate Risk

       
Futures Contracts   Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $ 2,044,925     Payable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $ 713,693  

Foreign Exchange Risk

       
Forward Currency Contracts   Unrealized appreciation on forward currency contracts         Unrealized depreciation on forward currency contracts     1,153,887

 

*

For futures contracts, the amounts represent the cumulative appreciation/depreciation of these futures contracts as reported in the Schedule of Portfolio Investments. Only the current day’s variation margin is reported within the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as Variation margin on futures contracts.

The following is a summary of the effect of derivative instruments on the Statement of Operations, categorized by risk exposure, for the year ended December 31, 2019:

 

Primary Risk Exposure   Location of Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
   Realized Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
     Change in Net Unrealized
Appreciation/Depreciation on
Derivatives Recognized
 

Interest Rate Risk

       
Futures Contracts   Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts/ Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts    $ (3,128,216    $ 715,895  

Foreign Exchange Risk

       
Forward Currency Contracts   Net realized gains/(losses) on forward currency contracts/ Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts      1,097,152      (1,164,040

The Fund is generally subject to master netting agreements that allow for amounts owed between the Fund and the counterparty to be netted. The party that has the larger payable pays the excess of the larger amount over the smaller amount to the other party. The master netting agreements do not apply to amounts owed to/from different counterparties. The amounts shown in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities do not take into consideration the effects of legally enforceable master netting agreements. The table below presents the

 

40


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

gross and net amounts of these assets and liabilities with any offsets to reflect the Fund’s ability to transact net amounts in accordance with the master netting agreements at December 31, 2019. For financial reporting purposes, the Fund does not offset derivative assets and derivative liabilities that are subject to master netting arrangements in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. This table also summarizes the fair values of derivative instruments on the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities, categorized by risk exposure, as of December 31, 2019.

As of December 31, 2019, the Fund’s derivative assets and liabilities by type were as follows:

 

        Assets      Liabilities

Derivative Financial Instruments:

             

Forward currency contracts

       $        $ 1,153,887

Futures contracts

         68,354         
      

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total derivative assets and liabilities in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities

         68,354          1,153,887

Derivatives not subject to a master netting agreement or similar agreement (“MNA”)

         (68,354 )         
      

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total assets and liabilities subject to a MNA

       $        $ 1,153,887
      

 

 

        

 

 

 

The following table presents the Fund’s derivative liabilities by counterparty net of amounts available for offset under MNA and net of the related collateral received by the Fund as of December 31, 2019:

 

Counterparty    Derivative Liabilities
Subject to a MNA
by Counterparty
   Derivatives
Available
for Offset
   Non-cash
Collateral
Pledged*
   Cash
Collateral
Pledged*
   Net Amount
of Derivative
Liabilities

Bank National Paribas

     $ 3,780      $      $      $      $ 3,780

CIBC

       41,515                             41,515

Citigroup

       1,003,957                             1,003,957

HSBC

       8,211                             8,211

Standard Charter Bank

       6,817                             6,817

Toronto Dominion Bank

       68,407                             68,407

UBS Warburg

       13,364                             13,364

Westpac Banking Corp.

       7,836                             7,836
    

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

 

Total

     $ 1,153,887      $      $      $      $ 1,153,887
    

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

 

 

*

The actual collateral received or pledged may be in excess of the amounts shown in the table. The table only reflects collateral amounts up to the amount of the financial instrument disclosed on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to a subadvisory agreement with BlackRock Financial Management, Inc. (“BlackRock Financial”), BlackRock Financial provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate      Annual Expense Limit

AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

         0.35 %          0.70 %

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations. During the year ended December 31, 2019, there were no voluntary waivers.

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

 

41


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $15,148 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Futures contracts are valued at the last sales price as of the close of the primary exchange and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy.

Debt and other fixed income securities are generally valued at an evaluated bid price provided by an independent pricing source approved by the Trustees. To value debt securities, pricing services may use various pricing techniques which take into account appropriate factors such as market activity, yield, quality, coupon rate, maturity, type of issue, trading characteristics, call features, credit ratings and other data, as well as broker quotes. Short-term securities of sufficient credit quality with sixty days or less remaining until maturity may be valued at amortized cost, which approximates fair value. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

Forward currency contracts are generally valued at the forward foreign currency exchange rate as of the close of the NYSE and are typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

 

42


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total
                             

Asset Backed Securities

       $                   —        $ 70,899,050        $     —        $ 70,899,050

Collateralized Mortgage Obligations

                      121,905,762                       121,905,762

Corporate Bonds+

                  513,380,310                   513,380,310

Foreign Bonds+

                  50,039,630                   50,039,630

Yankee Dollars+

                  142,016,767                   142,016,767

Municipal Bonds

                  12,484,907              —              12,484,907

U.S. Government Agency Mortgages

                  689,779,270                   689,779,270

U.S. Treasury Obligations

                  661,434,979                   661,434,979

Commercial Paper

                  90,295,875                   90,295,875

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

         69,465,625                            69,465,625

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

         35,385,974                            35,385,974
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

         104,851,599          2,352,236,550                   2,457,088,149
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Securities Sold Short

                  (48,128,126 )                   (48,128,126 )

Other Financial Instruments:*

                           

Futures Contracts

         1,331,232                            1,331,232

Forward Currency Contracts

                  (1,153,887 )                   (1,153,887 )
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $     106,182,831        $     2,302,954,537        $        $     2,409,137,368
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

*

Other Financial Instruments would include any derivative instruments, such as futures contracts and forward currency contracts. These investments are generally presented in the financial statements at variation margin for futures contracts or at unrealized gain or loss on forward currency contracts.

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

       $ 2,470,132,557        $ 2,338,036,479

For the year ended December 31, 2019, purchases and sales of long-term U.S. government securities were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

       $ 1,660,980,871        $ 1,570,236,135

6. Investment Risks

Derivatives Risk: The Fund may invest in derivatives as a principal strategy. A derivative is a financial contract whose value depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or risk. Use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Derivatives are subject to a number of other risks, such as liquidity risk, interest rate risk, market risk, credit risk, and selection risk. Derivatives also involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate, or index. Using derivatives may result in losses, possibly in excess of the principal amount invested. Also, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances. The counterparty to a derivatives contract could default. As required by applicable law, a Fund that invests in derivatives segregates cash or liquid securities, or both, to the extent that its obligations under the instrument are not covered through ownership of the underlying security, financial instrument, or currency.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Investments in securities of foreign issuers carry certain risks not ordinarily associated with investments in securities of domestic issuers. Such risks include future political and economic developments, and the possible imposition of exchange controls or other foreign governmental laws and restrictions. In addition, with respect to certain countries, there is the possibility of expropriation of assets, confiscatory taxation, political or social instability or diplomatic developments which could adversely affect investments in those securities.

London Interbank Offering Rate (“LIBOR”) Risk: Certain investments held by the Fund may pay or receive interest at floating rates based on LIBOR. The United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority expects the use of LIBOR will be phased out by the end of 2021. Currently, there are no definitive details regarding the future utilization of LIBOR or of any particular replacement floating rate of interest. Abandonment of or modifications to LIBOR could lead to market uncertainty and instability. To the extent that the Fund’s investments have maturities which extend beyond 2021, the applicable interest rates might be subject to change if there is a transition from the LIBOR reference rate. These risks may also apply with respect to changes in connection with other interbank offering rates (e.g., Euribor) and a wide range of other index levels, rates and values that are treated as “benchmarks” and are the subject of recent regulatory reform.

Mortgage-Related and Other Asset-Backed Risk: The Fund may invest in a variety of mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities, which are subject to certain additional risks. Generally, rising interest rates tend to extend the duration of fixed rate mortgage-related securities, making them more sensitive to changes in interest rates. As a result, in a period of rising interest rates, a Fund that holds mortgage-related securities may exhibit additional volatility. This is known as extension risk. In addition, adjustable and fixed rate mortgage-related securities are subject to call risk. When interest rates decline, borrowers may pay off their mortgages sooner than expected. This can reduce the returns of a Fund because the Fund will have to reinvest that money at the lower prevailing interest rates. If a Fund purchases mortgage-backed or asset-backed securities that are subordinated to other interests in the same mortgage pool, the Fund may receive payments only after the pool’s obligations to other investors have been satisfied. An unexpectedly high rate of defaults on the mortgages held by a mortgage pool may limit substantially the pool’s ability to make payments of principal or interest to the Fund as a holder of such subordinated securities, reducing the values of those securities or in some cases rendering them worthless. An unexpectedly high or low rate of prepayments on a pool’s underlying mortgages

 

43


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

may have a similar effect on subordinated securities. A mortgage pool may issue securities subject to various levels of subordination. The risk of non-payment affects securities at each level, although the risk is greater in the case of more highly subordinated securities. A Fund’s investments in other asset-backed securities are subject to risks similar to those associated with mortgage-related securities, as well as additional risks associated with the nature of the assets and the servicing of those assets.

Short Sale Risk: The Fund may engage in short sales, which are transactions in which the Fund sells securities borrowed from others with the expectation that the price of the security will fall before the Fund must purchase the security to return it to the lender. The Fund may make short sales of securities, either as a hedge against potential declines in value of a portfolio security or to realize appreciation when a security that the Fund does not own declines in value. Because making short sales in securities that it does not own exposes the Fund to the risks associated with those securities, such short sales involve speculative exposure risk. The Fund will incur a loss as a result of a short sale if the price of the security increases between the date of the short sale and the date on which the Fund replaces the security sold short. The Fund will realize a gain if the security declines in price between those dates. As a result, if the Fund makes short sales in securities that increase in value, it will likely underperform similar funds that do not make short sales in securities they do not own. There can be no assurance that the Fund will be able to close out a short sale position at any particular time or at an acceptable price. Although the Fund’s gain is limited to the amount at which it sold a security short, its potential loss is limited only by the maximum attainable price of the security, less the price at which the security was sold. The Fund may also pay transaction costs and borrowing fees in connection with short sales.

7. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $2,354,193,838. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 58,949,952  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (4,183,767
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 54,766,185  
 

 

 

 

As of the end of its tax year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund has capital loss carry forwards (“CLCFs”) as summarized in the table below. The Board does not intend to authorize a distribution of any realized gain for the Fund until any applicable CLCF has been offset.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund utilized $35,210,515 in CLCFs to offset capital gains.

CLCF’s not subject to expiration:

 

        Short-Term
Amount
     Long-Term
Amount
     Total Amount

AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

       $ 7,187,227        $ 12,605,150        $ 19,792,377

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
     Net
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

       $ 48,427,627        $        $ 48,427,627

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
     Net
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

       $ 43,264,943        $        $ 43,264,943

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
     Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
     Total
Accumulated
Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

       $ 46,897,343        $        $ (19,792,376 )        $ 54,786,182        $ 81,891,149

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales, mark-to-market of futures contracts and straddles.

 

44


AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

8. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had an individual shareholder account which is affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 25% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

9. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

45


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of

AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

46


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

47


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources

 

48


believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of

 

49


expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

50


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

51


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

52


LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.   
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL® Fidelity Institutional Asset Management®

Multi-Strategy Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 22

Statement of Operations

Page 22

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 23

Financial Highlights

Page 24

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 25

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 32

Other Federal Income Tax Information

Page 33

Other Information

Page  34

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 35

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 38

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® Fidelity Institutional Asset Management® Multi-Strategy Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® Fidelity Institutional Asset Management® Multi-Strategy Fund. FIAM LLC and Geode Capital Management, LLC serve as the Subadviser and Sub-Subadviser, respectively, to the Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Fixed-Income Strategy and Geode Equity Strategy, respectively.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® Fidelity Institutional Asset Management® Multi-Strategy Fund (Class 2 Shares) (the “Fund”) returned 17.27%. That compared to a 31.49%, 8.72% and 17.55% total return for its benchmarks, the S&P 500 Index1, the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index1, and the Income & Growth Composite Index1, respectively.

Approximately 60% of the Fund’s underlying assets are managed by its subadviser, FIAM, LLC, investing primarily in investment-grade fixed-income securities, and approximately 40% of the Fund’s underlying assets are managed by another subadviser, Geode Capital Management, LLC, investing primarily in large-cap common stocks.*

U.S. equity markets made a strong recovery in early 2019 following a challenging fourth quarter of 2018. The first quarter of 2019 saw U.S. equities return 13.65% (S&P 500), boosted by relatively strong corporate earnings and the Federal Reserve Board’s (the Fed) shift to a more dovish stance. Despite international trade tensions and sluggish global growth, equity gains persisted for the remaining three quarters for the 12-month period under review, as the Fed cut interest rates three times and the domestic economy continued to grow. The S&P 500 Index of large-cap stocks returned 31.49% for the year, while the S&P 400 Index2 returned 26.20% and the S&P 6003 Index returned 22.78%.

The U.S. bond market also benefitted from the Fed’s dovish shift, bouncing back from the heightened volatility it experienced in late 2018. Falling yields boosted fixed-income returns. In particular, September saw 10-year Treasury yields fall to levels last seen in July 2016. Although the Treasury yield curve was partially inverted at the beginning of the year, generating fears of an imminent recession, the curve flattened during the period and steepened in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, a reduction in credit spreads led corporate bonds and other credit-sensitive bonds to outperform U.S. Government bonds, as investors aimed for higher returns from relatively riskier securities.

The Fund underperformed its composite benchmark during the 12-month period under review, and the Fund’s equity component underperformed the equity benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. Both risk- and growth-oriented stocks performed well during the period compared to stocks displaying attractive valuation. This environment hurt relative results, as the Fund favors value-oriented stocks and generally avoids large overweight positions in more expensive and riskier companies. As such, stock selection was a leading detractor from relative returns, particularly in the healthcare, consumer discretionary and industrials sectors. In contrast, stock selection in materials contributed to relative returns, as did sector allocation, particularly an underweight position in the underperforming energy sector and an overweight to the outperforming communication sector.*

Benefiting from the recovery in risk assets, the Fund’s fixed-income component outperformed its fixed income benchmark, the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. Overweight positions in high-yield bonds and investment-grade corporate bonds helped boost the Fund’s relative returns. Both categories saw meaningful reductions in spread as fear of an imminent recession subsided. Within investment-grade corporate bonds, the Fund’s relative results benefited from an overweight position in financials and strong selection among U.S. and European banks, real estate investment trusts4 (REITs) and industrials.*

The Fund held futures to equitize its cash positions during the period. The exposure to this form of derivatives did not materially impact the Fund’s performance.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

*

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmarks please refer to page 2 of this report.

2 

The Standard & Poor’s MidCap 400 Index (“S&P 400”) is the most widely used index for mid-sized companies. The S&P 400 covers 7% of the U.S. equities market, and is part of a series of S&P U.S. indexes that can be used as building blocks for portfolio composition.

3 

The Standard & Poor’s SmallCap 600 Index (“S&P 600”) covers approximately 3% of the domestic equities market. Measuring the small-cap segment of the market that is typically renowned for poor trading liquidity and financial instability, the index is designed to be an efficient portfolio of companies that meet specific inclusion criteria to ensure that they are investable and financially viable.

4 

The performance of investments in real estate depends on the overall strength of the real estate market, the management of real estate investments trusts (REITs), real estate operating companies (REOCs), and foreign real estate companies, and property management, all of which can be affected by a variety of factors, including national and regional economic conditions.

The indexes defined above are unmanaged. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 
 

 

1


AZL® Fidelity Institutional Asset Management® Multi-Strategy Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

The Fund’s investment objective is to seek a high level of current income while maintaining prospects for capital appreciation. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing in a combination of subportfolios or strategies.

Investment Concerns

Equity securities (stocks) are more volatile and carry more risk than other forms of investments, including investments in high-grade fixed income securities. The net asset value per share of this Fund will fluctuate as the value of the securities in the portfolio changes.

Emerging market investing may be subject to additional economic, political, liquidity, and currency risks not associated with more developed countries.

International investing may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuations in currency values, from differences in generally accepted accounting principles or from economic or political instability in other nations.

Bonds offer a relatively stable level of income, although bond prices will fluctuate, providing the potential for principal gain or loss. Intermediate-term, higher-quality bonds generally offer less risk than longer-term bonds and a lower rate of return.

Mortgage-backed investments involve risk of loss due to prepayments and, like any bond, due to default. Because of the sensitivity of mortgage-related securities to changes in interest rates, the Fund’s performance may be more volatile than if it did not hold these securities.

The performance of investments in real estate depends on the overall strength of the real estate market, the management of real estate investments trusts (REITs), real estate operating companies (REOCs), and foreign real estate companies, and property management, all of which can be affected by a variety of factors, including national and regional economic conditions.

High-yield bonds have a higher risk of default or other adverse credit events, but have the potential to pay higher earnings over investment-grade bonds. The higher risk of default, or the inability of the creditor to repay its debt, is the primary reason for the higher interest rates on high-yield bonds.

Debt securities held by the Fund may decline in value due to rising interest rates.

Investing in derivatives instruments involves risks that may be different from or greater than the risk associated with investing directly in securities or other traditional instruments.

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmarks and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

     1
Year
    3
Year
    5
Year
    10
Year
 

AZL® Fidelity Institutional Asset Management® Multi-Strategy Fund (Class 2 Shares)

     17.27     8.48     5.15     6.76

S&P 500 Index

     31.49     15.27     11.70     13.56

Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index

     8.72     4.03     3.05     3.75

Income & Growth Composite Index

     17.55     8.64     6.62     7.84

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratio

   Gross  

AZL® Fidelity Institutional Asset Management® Multi-Strategy Fund (Class 2 Shares)

     1.01

The above expense ratio is based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.45% on all assets. The Manager and the Funds have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense), to 0.71% for Class 2 Shares through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratio can be found in the Financial Highlights.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index (“S&P 500”) and the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The S&P 500 is representative of 500 selected common stocks, most of which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and is a measure of the U.S. Stock market as a whole. The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is a market value-weighted performance benchmark for investment-grade fixed-rate debt issues, including government, corporate, asset-backed, and mortgage-backed securities, with maturities of at least one year. The Income & Growth Composite Index is a blended index comprised of (40%) of the S&P 500 and (60%) of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. These indexes are unmanaged and do not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The Fund’s performance reflects the deduction of fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

2


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,059.50     $ 3.69       0.71 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,021.63     $ 3.62       0.71 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

Common Stocks

      40.4 %

Corporate Bonds

      18.1

U.S. Treasury Obligations

      15.0

U.S. Government Agency Mortgages

      13.8

Yankee Dollars

      7.6

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

      2.8

Collateralized Mortgage Obligations

      2.3

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

      1.4

Asset Backed Securities

      1.1

Municipal Bonds

      0.8

Rights

        

Foreign Bonds

        

Warrants

        
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      103.3

Net other assets (liabilities)

      (3.3 )
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

3


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks (40.4%):       
Aerospace & Defense (1.0%):       
  1,078      Boeing Co. (The)    $ 351,169  
  7,459      L3harris Technologies, Inc.      1,475,912  
  1,181      Lockheed Martin Corp.      459,858  
  12,128      Moog, Inc., Class A      1,034,882  
  4,374      Northrop Grumman Corp.      1,504,525  
  10,594      Parson Corp.*      437,320  
  1,144      Raytheon Co.      251,383  
  1,467      United Technologies Corp.      219,698  
     

 

 

 
        5,734,747  
     

 

 

 
Airlines (0.0%):       
  1,454      Southwest Airlines Co.      78,487  
     

 

 

 
Auto Components (0.0%):       
  4,276      BorgWarner, Inc.      185,493  
     

 

 

 
Automobiles (0.2%):       
  139,152      Ford Motor Co.      1,294,114  
     

 

 

 
Banks (2.3%):       
  64,986      Bank of America Corp.      2,288,807  
  33,251      Citigroup, Inc.      2,656,422  
  34,721      JPMorgan Chase & Co.      4,840,107  
  54,087      Wells Fargo & Co.      2,909,881  
     

 

 

 
        12,695,217  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (0.4%):       
  11,504      Coca-Cola Co. (The)      636,746  
  2,755      Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc.      782,558  
  4,221      PepsiCo, Inc.      576,884  
     

 

 

 
        1,996,188  
     

 

 

 
Biotechnology (1.2%):       
  25,793      AbbVie, Inc.      2,283,713  
  8,385      Amgen, Inc.      2,021,372  
  5,377      Biogen, Inc.*      1,595,517  
  5,881      Gilead Sciences, Inc.      382,147  
  1,542      Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      578,990  
     

 

 

 
        6,861,739  
     

 

 

 
Building Products (0.0%):       
  2,142      Simpson Manufacturing Co., Inc.      171,853  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (1.1%):       
  2,198      Affiliated Managers Group, Inc.      186,259  
  1,174      Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (The)      59,087  
  11,022      Invesco, Ltd.      198,176  
  3,083      MarketAxess Holdings, Inc.      1,168,796  
  298      Moody’s Corp.      70,748  
  34,118      Morgan Stanley      1,744,112  
  2,292      MSCI, Inc.      591,749  
  2,507      S&P Global, Inc.      684,536  
  10,127      State Street Corp.      801,046  
  4,297      T. Rowe Price Group, Inc.      523,546  
     

 

 

 
        6,028,055  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (0.5%):       
  8,872      CF Industries Holdings, Inc.      423,549  
  15,174      Eastman Chemical Co.      1,202,691  
  34,580      Huntsman Corp.      835,453  
  301      Sherwin Williams Co.      175,646  
     

 

 

 
        2,637,339  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Commercial Services & Supplies (0.5%):       
  4,587      Cintas Corp.    $ 1,234,270  
  11,531      Herman Miller, Inc.      480,266  
  5,783      KAR Auction Services, Inc.      126,012  
  7,925      Republic Services, Inc., Class A      710,318  
  1,734      UniFirst Corp.      350,233  
  431      Waste Management, Inc.      49,117  
     

 

 

 
        2,950,216  
     

 

 

 
Communications Equipment (0.7%):       
  26,979      Ciena Corp.*      1,151,734  
  60,316      Cisco Systems, Inc.      2,892,755  
     

 

 

 
        4,044,489  
     

 

 

 
Construction & Engineering (0.2%):       
  12,560      EMCOR Group, Inc.      1,083,928  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (0.4%):       
  15,427      Discover Financial Services      1,308,518  
  18,955      Synchrony Financial      682,570  
     

 

 

 
        1,991,088  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Consumer Services (0.1%):       
  19,817      Frontdoor, Inc.*      939,722  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (0.3%):       
  11,080      Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., Class B*      2,509,620  
  2,943      Cannae Holdings, Inc.*      109,450  
  18,390      Jefferies Financial Group, Inc.      392,994  
     

 

 

 
        3,012,064  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (1.2%):       
  90,304      AT&T, Inc.      3,529,080  
  53,092      Verizon Communications, Inc.      3,259,849  
     

 

 

 
        6,788,929  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (0.5%):       
  29,273      Exelon Corp.      1,334,555  
  1,082      IDA Corp., Inc.      115,558  
  17,983      Portland General Electric Co.      1,003,272  
  5,777      PPL Corp.      207,279  
     

 

 

 
        2,660,664  
     

 

 

 
Electrical Equipment (0.0%):       
  241      AMETEK, Inc.      24,037  
     

 

 

 
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (0.1%):       
  2,979      Itron, Inc.*      250,087  
  3,365      Keysight Technologies, Inc.*      345,350  
  2,556      National Instruments Corp.      108,221  
     

 

 

 
        703,658  
     

 

 

 
Energy Equipment & Services (0.0%):       
  2,305      Schlumberger, Ltd.      92,661  
  4,950      Weatherford International plc*      138,353  
     

 

 

 
        231,014  
     

 

 

 
Entertainment (0.4%):       
  8,960      Electronic Arts, Inc.*      963,290  
  81      Netflix, Inc.*      26,209  
  7,152      Walt Disney Co. (The)      1,034,394  
     

 

 

 
        2,023,893  
     

 

 

 
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (1.0%):       
  7,326      American Tower Corp.      1,683,662  
  688      Corecivic, Inc.      11,957  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts, continued       
  11,451      Crown Castle International Corp.    $ 1,627,760  
  8,216      Douglas Emmett, Inc.      360,682  
  1,044      Essex Property Trust, Inc.      314,098  
  2,888      Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc.      124,328  
  16,684      Realty Income Corp.      1,228,443  
  1,407      VICI Properties, Inc.      35,949  
     

 

 

 
        5,386,879  
     

 

 

 
Food & Staples Retailing (0.7%):       
  1,956      Costco Wholesale Corp.      574,908  
  31,327      Kroger Co. (The)      908,170  
  1,352      US Foods Holding Corp.*      56,635  
  21,053      Walmart, Inc.      2,501,938  
     

 

 

 
        4,041,651  
     

 

 

 
Food Products (0.3%):       
  8,648      General Mills, Inc.      463,187  
  1,303      Hershey Co. (The)      191,515  
  3,690      Kraft Heinz Co. (The)      118,560  
  7,284      Tyson Foods, Inc., Class A      663,135  
     

 

 

 
        1,436,397  
     

 

 

 
Gas Utilities (0.0%):       
  1,276      UGI Corp.      57,624  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (1.6%):       
  27,561      Abbott Laboratories      2,393,949  
  6,200      Boston Scientific Corp.*      280,364  
  12,011      Danaher Corp.      1,843,448  
  5,241      Edwards Lifesciences Corp.*      1,222,673  
  1,209      Envista Holdings Corp.*      35,835  
  23,469      Hologic, Inc.*      1,225,316  
  16,224      Medtronic plc      1,840,613  
     

 

 

 
        8,842,198  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (1.1%):       
  5,510      Anthem, Inc.      1,664,185  
  14,613      CVS Health Corp.      1,085,600  
  524      HCA Healthcare, Inc.      77,452  
  11,835      UnitedHealth Group, Inc.      3,479,254  
     

 

 

 
        6,306,491  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Technology (0.3%):       
  4,025      Cerner Corp.      295,395  
  7,933      Veeva Systems, Inc., Class A*      1,115,856  
     

 

 

 
        1,411,251  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (0.8%):       
  1,360      Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.*      1,138,470  
  61,727      Extended Stay America, Inc.      917,263  
  3,098      McDonald’s Corp.      612,196  
  38,662      MGM Resorts International      1,286,285  
  980      Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Ltd.*      57,242  
  22,957      Scientific Games Corp., Class A*      614,788  
     

 

 

 
        4,626,244  
     

 

 

 
Household Durables (0.6%):       
  22,792      D.R. Horton, Inc.      1,202,278  
  4,902      Garmin, Ltd.      478,239  
  4,879      Leggett & Platt, Inc.      248,000  
  8,639      Lennar Corp., Class A      481,970  
  315      NVR, Inc.*      1,199,649  
     

 

 

 
        3,610,136  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Household Products (0.8%):       
  7,379      Kimberly-Clark Corp.    $ 1,014,981  
  29,862      Procter & Gamble Co. (The)      3,729,764  
     

 

 

 
        4,744,745  
     

 

 

 
Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers (0.2%):  
  68,066      AES Corp. (The)      1,354,513  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (0.0%):       
  106      Honeywell International, Inc.      18,762  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (1.0%):       
  5,489      Allstate Corp. (The)      617,238  
  4,442      CNA Financial Corp.      199,046  
  18,098      First American Financial Corp.      1,055,475  
  2,252      FNF Group      102,128  
  12,377      Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The)      752,150  
  6,924      Primerica, Inc.      903,997  
  17,010      Progressive Corp. (The)      1,231,355  
  766      Selective Insurance Group, Inc.      49,936  
  4,606      Unum Group      134,311  
  5,139      WR Berkley Corp.      355,105  
     

 

 

 
        5,400,741  
     

 

 

 
Interactive Media & Services (2.4%):       
  2,514      Alphabet, Inc., Class A*      3,367,226  
  3,384      Alphabet, Inc., Class C*      4,524,476  
  25,731      Facebook, Inc., Class A*      5,281,287  
     

 

 

 
        13,172,989  
     

 

 

 
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail (1.5%):       
  3,986      Amazon.com, Inc.*      7,365,490  
  31,436      eBay, Inc.      1,135,154  
     

 

 

 
        8,500,644  
     

 

 

 
IT Services (2.0%):       
  15,897      Amdocs, Ltd.      1,147,604  
  1,879      Automatic Data Processing, Inc.      320,370  
  3,714      Fiserv, Inc.*      429,450  
  15,742      International Business Machines Corp.      2,110,058  
  11,238      MasterCard, Inc., Class A      3,355,554  
  1,984      VeriSign, Inc.*      382,277  
  17,528      Visa, Inc., Class A      3,293,511  
     

 

 

 
        11,038,824  
     

 

 

 
Machinery (0.7%):       
  10,932      AGCO Corp.      844,497  
  3,029      Caterpillar, Inc.      447,323  
  7,561      Cummins, Inc.      1,353,116  
  11,096      Dover Corp.      1,278,925  
  4,503      Rexnord Corp.*      146,888  
     

 

 

 
        4,070,749  
     

 

 

 
Media (0.6%):       
  42,827      Comcast Corp., Class A      1,925,930  
  33,494      DISH Network Corp., Class A*      1,188,032  
     

 

 

 
        3,113,962  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (0.2%):       
  9,556      Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.      1,144,427  
     

 

 

 
Multiline Retail (0.3%):       
  11,919      Target Corp.      1,528,135  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

+Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Multi-Utilities (0.0%):       
  2,673      Dominion Energy, Inc.    $ 221,378  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (1.3%):       
  25,347      Chevron Corp.      3,054,567  
  28,037      ConocoPhillips Co.      1,823,246  
  33,082      Exxon Mobil Corp.      2,308,462  
     

 

 

 
        7,186,275  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (2.3%):       
  947      Allergan plc      181,038  
  37,045      Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.      2,377,919  
  14,880      Eli Lilly & Co.      1,955,678  
  27,898      Johnson & Johnson Co.      4,069,480  
  34,162      Merck & Co., Inc.      3,107,034  
  22,138      Mylan NV*      444,974  
  16,758      Pfizer, Inc.      656,578  
     

 

 

 
        12,792,701  
     

 

 

 
Professional Services (0.2%):       
  19,037      Robert Half International, Inc.      1,202,187  
     

 

 

 
Real Estate Management & Development (0.0%):       
  2,823      Newmark Group, Inc.      37,983  
     

 

 

 
Road & Rail (0.6%):       
  21,111      CSX Corp.      1,527,592  
  9,554      Union Pacific Corp.      1,727,268  
     

 

 

 
        3,254,860  
     

 

 

 
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (2.1%):       
  2,810      Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.*      128,867  
  21,056      Amkor Technology, Inc.*      273,728  
  27,233      Applied Materials, Inc.      1,662,302  
  3,512      Cirrus Logic, Inc.*      289,424  
  56,542      Intel Corp.      3,384,039  
  343      KLA Corp.      61,112  
  5,270      Lam Research Corp.      1,540,948  
  3,992      NVIDIA Corp.      939,318  
  3,467      ON Semiconductor Corp.*      84,525  
  9,091      Qorvo, Inc.*      1,056,647  
  22,960      Qualcomm, Inc.      2,025,761  
     

 

 

 
        11,446,671  
     

 

 

 
Software (3.3%):       
  572      Adobe, Inc.*      188,651  
  18,887      Cadence Design Systems, Inc.*      1,310,002  
  980      DocuSign, Inc.*      72,628  
  688      Fair Isaac Corp.*      257,780  
  2,240      Intuit, Inc.      586,723  
  71,100      Microsoft Corp.      11,212,471  
  27,557      Nuance Communications, Inc.*      491,341  
  22,577      Oracle Corp.      1,196,129  
  10,008      Salesforce.com, Inc.*      1,627,701  
  9,501      Synopsys, Inc.*      1,322,539  
  2,373      Verint Systems, Inc.*      131,369  
     

 

 

 
        18,397,334  
     

 

 

 
Specialty Retail (0.6%):       
  319      AutoNation, Inc.*      15,513  
  515      AutoZone, Inc.*      613,525  
  7,160      Best Buy Co, Inc.      628,648  
  9,637      Home Depot, Inc. (The)      2,104,528  
     

 

 

 
        3,362,214  
     

 

 

 
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals (1.9%):       
  31,572      Apple, Inc.    $ 9,271,118  
  1,602      HP, Inc.      32,921  
  27,705      Xerox Holdings Corp.      1,021,483  
     

 

 

 
        10,325,522  
     

 

 

 
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods (0.4%):       
  10,914      Nike, Inc., Class B      1,105,698  
  8,506      Ralph Lauren Corp.      997,073  
     

 

 

 
        2,102,771  
     

 

 

 
Thrifts & Mortgage Finance (0.0%):       
  2,139      Essent Group, Ltd.      111,207  
     

 

 

 
Tobacco (0.2%):       
  14,058      Philip Morris International, Inc.      1,196,195  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Common Stocks (Cost $177,663,089)

     225,581,594  
  

 

 

 
Warrant (0.0%):       
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.0%):       
  400,000      T Mobile Escrow Shares, 4/15/25       
     

 

 

 
 

Total Warrant (Cost $—)

      
  

 

 

 
Right (0.0%):       
Pharmaceuticals (0.0%):       
  3,820      Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. CVR, Expires on 12/31/21*      11,498  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Right (Cost $8,786)

     11,498  
  

 

 

 
Asset Backed Securities (1.1%):       
$ 1,064,856      Aaset Trust, Class A, Series 2017-1A, 3.97%, 5/16/42(b)      1,073,579  
  208,340      Aaset Trust, Class A, Series 2019-1, 3.84%, 5/15/39(b)      209,747  
  308,649      Aaset Trust, Class A, Series 2019-2, 3.38%, 10/16/39(b)      305,888  
  210,399      Aaset Trust, Class A, Series 2018-1A, 3.84%, 1/16/38(b)      210,971  
  158,854      Blackbird Capital Aircraft, Class AA, Series 2016-1A, 2.49%, 12/16/41, Callable 12/15/24 @ 100(b)(c)      158,321  
  634,542      Blackbird Capital Aircraft, Class A, Series 2016-1A, 4.21%, 12/16/41, Callable 12/15/24 @ 100(b)(c)      647,970  
  235,079      Castlelake Aircraft Structured Trust, Class B, Series 2019-1, 5.10%, 4/15/39(b)      236,967  
  316,886      Castlelake Aircraft Structured Trust, Class A, Series 2019-1, 3.97%, 4/15/39(b)      321,151  
  342,005      Castlelake Aircraft Structured Trust, Class A, Series 2018-1A, 4.13%, 6/15/43(b)      347,659  
  215,600      DB Master Finance LLC, Class A2I, Series 2017-1A, 3.63%, 11/20/47, Callable 11/20/21 @ 100(b)      218,381  
  360,640      DB Master Finance LLC, Class A2II, Series 2017-1A, 4.03%, 11/20/47, Callable 11/20/23 @ 100(b)      370,806  
  227,527      Horizon Aircraft Finance, Ltd., Class A, Series 2018-1, 4.46%, 12/15/38(b)      233,581  
  241,987      Horizon Aircraft Finance, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-1, 3.72%, 7/15/39(b)      241,689  
  220,000      Planet Fitness Master Issuer LLC, Class A2, Series 1A, 3.86%, 12/5/49, Callable 12/5/25 @ 100(b)      217,956  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Asset Backed Securities, continued       
$ 260,378      Project Silver, Class A, Series 2019-1, 3.97%, 7/15/44(b)    $ 262,903  
  290,191      Thunderbolt Aircraft Lease, Ltd., Class A, Series 2017-A, 4.21%, 5/17/32, Callable 4/15/24 @ 100(b)(c)      296,021  
  366,107      Thunderbolt Aircraft Lease, Ltd., Class A, Series 2018, 4.15%, 9/15/38(b)(c)      371,243  
  365,810      Thunderbolt Aircraft Lease, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-1, 3.67%, 11/15/39(b)      363,797  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Asset Backed Securities (Cost $6,026,851)

     6,088,630  
  

 

 

 
Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (2.3%):       
  324,000      AIMCO CLO, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-10A, 3.62%(US0003M+132bps), 7/22/32, Callable 7/22/21 @ 100(b)      323,451  
  250,000      Allegany Park CLO, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-1A(US0003M+133bps), 1/20/33(b)      250,000  
  256,000      Ares CLO, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-54A, 3.17%(US0003M+132bps), 10/15/32, Callable 10/15/21 @ 100(b)      256,035  
  344,000      Ares CLO, Ltd., Class AR, Series 2016-41A, 3.20%(US0003M+120bps), 1/15/29, Callable 7/15/20 @ 100(b)      343,878  
  177,000      BAMLL Commercial Mortgage Securities Trust, Class ANM, Series 2019-BPR, 3.11%, 11/5/32(b)      180,821  
  250,000      Beechwood Park CLO, Ltd., Class A1, Series 2019-1A, 3.23%(US0003M+133bps), 1/17/33, Callable 1/17/22 @ 100(b)      250,000  
  308,000      Benchmark Mortgage Trust, Class A5, Series 2018-B8, 4.23%, 1/15/52      346,152  
  364,000      BX Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class E, Series 2019-XL, 3.54%(US0001M+180bps), 10/15/36(b)      364,317  
  183,000      BX Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class C, Series 2019-XL, 2.99%(US0001M+125bps), 10/15/36(b)      183,225  
  146,000      BX Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class B, Series 2019-XL, 2.82%(US0001M+108bps), 10/15/36(b)      146,180  
  94,500      BX Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class F, Series 2018-IND, 3.54%(US0001M+180bps), 11/15/35(b)      94,534  
  259,000      BX Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class D, Series 2019-XL, 3.19%(US0001M+145bps), 10/15/36(b)      259,319  
  119,000      BX Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class D, Series 2019-IMC, 3.64%(US0001M+190bps), 4/15/34(b)      118,952  
  113,000      BX Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class C, Series 2019-IMC, 3.34%(US0001M+160bps), 4/15/34(b)      113,000  
  298,000      BX Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A, Series 2019-IMC, 2.74%(US0001M+100bps), 4/15/34(b)      298,183  
  172,000      BX Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class B, Series 2019-IMC, 3.04%(US0001M+130bps), 4/15/34(b)      171,846  
  98,905      BX Trust, Class D, Series 2018-EXCL, 4.36%(US0001M+263bps), 9/15/20(b)      98,779  
  250,000      Cedar Funding CLO, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-10A, 3.47%(US0003M+134bps), 10/20/32, Callable 10/20/21 @ 100(b)      250,247  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Collateralized Mortgage Obligations, continued       
$ 250,000      Cedar Funding CLO, Ltd., Class A1A, Series 2019-11A, 3.26%(US0003M+135bps), 5/29/32, Callable 5/29/21 @ 100(b)    $ 249,981  
  100,000      CHC Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class B, Series 2019-CHC, 3.24%(US0001M+150bps), 6/15/34(b)      99,749  
  100,000      CHC Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class C, Series 2019-CHC, 3.49%(US0001M+175bps), 6/15/34(b)      99,750  
  406,000      CHC Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A, Series 2019-CHC, 2.86%(US0001M+112bps), 6/15/34(b)      405,511  
  58,000      Citigroup Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A4, Series 2018-C6, 4.41%, 11/10/51      65,351  
  153,000      CSAIL Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A4, Series 2018-C14, 4.42%, 11/15/51      171,868  
  860,000      CSMC Trust, Class D, Series 2017-PFHP, 3.99%(US0001M+225bps), 12/15/30(b)      859,801  
  100,000      CSMC Trust, Class D, Series 2018, 4.78%, 4/15/36(b)      103,129  
  100,000      CSMC Trust, Class C, Series 2018, 4.78%, 4/15/36(b)      104,720  
  100,000      CSMC Trust, Class B, Series 2018, 4.53%, 4/15/36(b)      105,009  
  205,000      CSMC Trust, Class A, Series 2018, 4.28%, 4/15/36(b)      215,395  
  392,000      Dryden CLO, Ltd., Class AR2, Series 2014-36A, 3.28%(US0003M+128bps), 4/15/29, Callable 4/15/20 @ 100(b)      392,042  
  275,000      Dryden CLO, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-72A, 3.24%(US0003M+133bps), 5/15/32, Callable 5/15/21 @ 100(b)      275,395  
  286,000      Flatiron CLO, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-1A, 3.21%(US0003M+132bps), 11/16/32, Callable 11/16/21 @ 100(b)      285,989  
  87,000      J.P. Morgan Chase Commercial Mortgage Securities Trust, Class EFX, Series 2018-WPT, 5.54%, 7/5/23(b)      91,961  
  64,000      J.P. Morgan Chase Commercial Mortgage Securities Trust, Class DFX, Series 2018-WPT, 5.35%, 7/5/23(b)      68,156  
  41,000      J.P. Morgan Chase Commercial Mortgage Securities Trust, Class CFX, Series 2018-WPT, 4.95%, 7/5/23(b)      43,661  
  250,000      Madison Park Funding, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-33A, 3.17%(US0003M+133bps), 10/15/32, Callable 1/15/22 @ 100(b)      250,091  
  324,000      Madison Park Funding, Ltd., Class A1, Series 2019-37A, 3.60%(US0003M+130bps), 7/15/32, Callable 7/15/21 @ 100(b)      324,963  
  250,000      Madison Park Funding, Ltd., Class AR2, Series 2012-101, 3.19%(US0003M+122bps), 1/20/29, Callable 7/20/20 @ 100(b)      250,233  
  302,000      Magnetite, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-21A, 3.25%(US0003M+128bps), 4/20/30, Callable 4/20/20 @ 100(b)      302,154  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Collateralized Mortgage Obligations, continued       
$ 250,000      Magnetite, Ltd., Class A, Series 24, 3.24%(US0003M+133bps), 1/15/33, Callable 1/15/22 @ 100(b)    $ 249,996  
  56,000      Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, Class B, Series 2019-Mead, 3.18%, 11/10/36(b)      56,578  
  53,000      Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, Class C, Series 2019-Mead, 3.18%, 11/10/36(b)      52,814  
  589,000      Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, Class C, Series 2018-BOP, 3.24%(US0001M+150bps), 6/15/35(b)      589,000  
  245,000      Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, Class B, Series 2018-BOP, 2.99%(US0001M+125bps), 6/15/35(b)      245,000  
  385,000      Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, Class A, Series 2019-Mead, 3.17%, 11/10/36(b)      397,497  
  515,000      Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, Class A4, Series 2018-H4, 4.31%, 12/15/51      575,975  
  124,100      MSCG Trust, Class B, Series 2016-SNR, 4.18%, 11/15/34(b)      125,340  
  87,550      MSCG Trust, Class C, Series 2016-SNR, 5.21%, 11/15/34(b)      89,290  
  35,239      MSCG Trust, Class A, Series 2016-SNR, 3.35%, 11/15/34(b)(c)      35,235  
  324,000      Niagara Park CLO, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-1A, 3.30%(US0003M+130bps), 7/17/32, Callable 7/17/21 @ 100(b)      323,645  
  261,000      RETL, Class C, Series 2019-RVP, 3.84%(US0001M+210bps), 3/15/36(b)      260,345  
  332,000      VERDE CLO, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-1A, 3.35%(US0003M+135bps), 4/15/32, Callable 4/15/21 @ 100(b)      331,647  
  335,000      Voya CLO, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-2, 3.52%(US0003M+127bps), 7/20/32, Callable 7/20/21 @ 100(b)      335,145  
  367,000      Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A5, Series 2018-C48, 4.30%, 1/15/52      412,749  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (Cost $12,736,839)

     12,894,084  
  

 

 

 
Corporate Bonds (18.1%):       
Aerospace & Defense (0.2%):       
  235,000      BBA US Holdings, Inc., 5.38%, 5/1/26, Callable 5/1/21 @ 102.69(b)      247,338  
  210,000      BWX Technologies, Inc., 5.38%, 7/15/26, Callable 7/15/21 @ 102.69(b)      222,600  
  15,000      Moog, Inc., 4.25%, 12/15/27, Callable 12/15/22 @ 103.19(b)      15,263  
  255,000      TransDigm, Inc., 6.50%, 7/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.25      263,287  
  230,000      TransDigm, Inc., 6.25%, 3/15/26, Callable 3/15/22 @ 103.13(b)      248,975  
     

 

 

 
        997,463  
     

 

 

 
Banks (1.3%):       
  346,000      Bank of America Corp., 3.00% (US0003M+79 bps), 12/20/23, Callable 12/20/22 @ 100      353,729  
  640,000      Bank of America Corp., 4.20%, 8/26/24, MTN      686,892  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Banks, continued       
$ 410,000      Bank of America Corp., Series L, 3.95%, 4/21/25    $ 436,686  
  151,000      Bank of America Corp., Series G, 4.45%, 3/3/26      165,515  
  170,000      Bank of America Corp., Series AA, 6.10% (US0003M+390 bps), Callable 3/17/25 @ 100      188,488  
  50,000      Bank of America Corp., Series X, 6.25% (US0003M+371 bps), 12/31/49, Callable 9/5/24 @ 100      55,625  
  165,000      CIT Group, Inc., 6.13%, 3/9/28      194,700  
  730,000      Citigroup, Inc., 4.05%, 7/30/22      762,870  
  255,000      Citigroup, Inc., 3.35% (US0003M+90 bps), 4/24/25, Callable 4/24/24 @ 100      265,338  
  1,098,000      Citigroup, Inc., 4.30%, 11/20/26      1,194,008  
  250,000      Citizens Bank NA, 2.55%, 5/13/21, Callable 4/13/21 @ 100      251,580  
  2,005,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 3.88%, 9/10/24      2,145,343  
  305,000      Wells Fargo & Co., Series S, 5.90% (US0003M+311 bps), Callable 6/15/24 @ 100      330,925  
     

 

 

 
        7,031,699  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (0.2%):       
  333,000      Anheuser-Busch InBev Worldwide, Inc., 4.75%, 4/15/58, Callable 10/15/57 @ 100      389,598  
  345,000      Anheuser-Busch InBev Worldwide, Inc., 5.80%, 1/23/59, Callable 7/23/58 @ 100      471,230  
     

 

 

 
        860,828  
     

 

 

 
Building Products (0.0%):       
  205,000      Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc., 5.00%, 9/30/27, Callable 9/30/22 @ 102.5(b)      211,150  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (1.2%):       
  457,000      Ares Capital Corp., 4.20%, 6/10/24, Callable 5/10/24 @ 100      480,169  
  399,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The), 2.88% (US0003M+82 bps), 10/31/22, Callable 10/31/21 @ 100      403,977  
  128,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The), 6.75%, 10/1/37      178,570  
  154,000      Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., 2.75%, 12/1/20, Callable 11/1/20 @ 100      154,961  
  148,000      Moody’s Corp., 4.88%, 2/15/24, Callable 11/15/23 @ 100      162,866  
  4,600,000      Morgan Stanley, 3.74% (US0003M+85 bps), 4/24/24, Callable 4/24/23 @ 100      4,790,100  
  145,000      MSCI, Inc., 4.75%, 8/1/26, Callable 8/1/21 @ 102.38(b)      151,888  
  296,000      Pine Street Trust I, 4.57%, 2/15/29, Callable 11/15/28 @ 100(b)      317,233  
  300,000      Pine Street Trust II, 5.57%, 2/15/49, Callable 8/15/48 @ 100(b)      333,911  
     

 

 

 
        6,973,675  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (0.1%):       
  65,000      Chemours Co., 7.00%, 5/15/25, Callable 5/15/20 @ 103.5^      65,163  
  120,000      Chemours Co., 5.38%, 5/15/27, Callable 2/15/27 @ 100      106,050  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Chemicals, continued       
$ 245,000      Platform Specialty Products Corp., 5.88%, 12/1/25, Callable 12/1/20 @ 102.94(b)    $ 255,412  
  130,000      Valvoline, Inc., 4.38%, 8/15/25, Callable 8/15/20 @ 103.28      133,575  
  200,000      W R Grace & Co., 5.63%, 10/1/24(b)      221,000  
     

 

 

 
        781,200  
     

 

 

 
Commercial Services & Supplies (0.1%):       
  200,000      ADT Corp., 4.88%, 7/15/32(b)      183,500  
  200,000      Aramark Services, Inc., 5.00%, 4/1/25, Callable 4/1/20 @ 103.75(b)      208,500  
  200,000      Tempo Finance, Corp., 6.75%, 6/1/25, Callable 6/1/20 @ 103.38(b)      206,750  
     

 

 

 
        598,750  
     

 

 

 
Construction & Engineering (0.2%):       
  250,000      AECOM, 5.88%, 10/15/24, Callable 7/15/24 @ 100      276,250  
  270,000      AECOM, 5.13%, 3/15/27, Callable 12/15/26 @ 100      289,913  
  150,000      Brand Industrial Services, Inc., 8.50%, 7/15/25, Callable 7/15/20 @ 106.34(b)      153,375  
  15,000      Summit Midstream Holdings LLC, 5.50%, 8/15/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.38      13,275  
  240,000      Summit Midstream Holdings LLC, 5.75%, 4/15/25, Callable 4/15/20 @ 104.31      183,000  
     

 

 

 
        915,813  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (1.9%):       
  75,000      Ally Financial, Inc., 3.88%, 5/21/24, Callable 4/21/24 @ 100      78,375  
  417,000      Ally Financial, Inc., 5.75%, 11/20/25, Callable 10/21/25 @ 100      466,519  
  343,000      Capital One Financial Corp., 3.80%, 1/31/28, Callable 12/31/27 @ 100      368,716  
  534,000      Capital One NA, Series B, 2.95%, 7/23/21, Callable 6/23/21 @ 100      541,471  
  250,000      Capital One NA, 2.15%, 9/6/22, Callable 8/6/22 @ 100      250,299  
  1,000,000      Discover Bank, 3.20%, 8/9/21, Callable 7/9/21 @ 100      1,016,030  
  250,000      Discover Bank, Series B, 4.68% (USSW5+173 bps), 8/9/28, Callable 8/9/23 @ 100      260,852  
  1,000,000      Discover Financial Services, 5.20%, 4/27/22      1,065,923  
  253,000      Discover Financial Services, 4.50%, 1/30/26, Callable 11/30/25 @ 100      276,871  
  200,000      Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, 5.09%, 1/7/21      204,357  
  313,000      Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, 5.60%, 1/7/22      329,422  
  329,000      Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, 5.58%, 3/18/24, Callable 2/18/24 @ 100      354,993  
  968,000      Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, 4.06%, 11/1/24, Callable 10/1/24 @ 100      987,617  
  70,000      General Motors Acceptance Corp., 8.00%, 11/1/31      96,688  
  500,000      General Motors Financial Co., Inc., 4.20%, 3/1/21, Callable 2/1/21 @ 100      510,479  
  20,000      Navient Corp., 7.25%, 1/25/22, MTN      21,750  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Consumer Finance, continued       
$ 170,000      Navient Corp., 6.50%, 6/15/22    $ 184,450  
  30,000      Navient Corp., 5.50%, 1/25/23      31,950  
  420,000      Navient Corp., 7.25%, 9/25/23      475,650  
  45,000      Navient Corp., 6.13%, 3/25/24, MTN^      48,825  
  15,000      Navient Corp., 5.88%, 10/25/24      16,088  
  110,000      Navient Corp., 6.75%, 6/15/26      121,000  
  180,000      Springleaf Finance Corp., 6.88%, 3/15/25      204,525  
  70,000      Springleaf Finance Corp., 7.13%, 3/15/26      80,938  
  271,000      Synchrony Bank, Series B, 3.65%, 5/24/21, Callable 4/24/21 @ 100      276,333  
  510,000      Synchrony Financial, 3.75%, 8/15/21, Callable 6/15/21 @ 100      521,417  
  76,000      Synchrony Financial, 2.85%, 7/25/22, Callable 6/25/22 @ 100      77,023  
  120,000      Synchrony Financial, 4.38%, 3/19/24, Callable 2/19/24 @ 100      127,606  
  610,000      Synchrony Financial, 4.25%, 8/15/24, Callable 5/15/24 @ 100      651,110  
  405,000      Synchrony Financial, 3.95%, 12/1/27, Callable 9/1/27 @ 100      425,447  
  345,000      Synchrony Financial, 5.15%, 3/19/29, Callable 12/19/28 @ 100      392,073  
     

 

 

 
        10,464,797  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (0.1%):       
  100,000      Berry Global Escrow Corp., 4.88%, 7/15/26, Callable 7/15/22 @ 102.44(b)      106,139  
  80,000      Crown Americas LLC, 4.75%, 2/1/26, Callable 2/1/21 @ 103.56      84,400  
  65,000      Crown Americas LLC, 4.25%, 9/30/26, Callable 3/31/26 @ 100      67,763  
  50,000      Crown Cork & Seal Co., Inc., 7.38%, 12/15/26      59,563  
  200,000      Reynolds Group Issuer, Inc., 5.13%, 7/15/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.56(b)      204,750  
  35,000      Reynolds Group Issuer, Inc., 7.00%, 7/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.5(b)      36,225  
  115,000      Silgan Holdings, Inc., 4.75%, 3/15/25, Callable 3/15/20 @ 102.38      117,731  
     

 

 

 
        676,571  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Consumer Services (0.2%):       
  105,000      APX Group, Inc., 7.88%, 12/1/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.97      105,919  
  215,000      APX Group, Inc., 7.63%, 9/1/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 105.72^      203,175  
  130,000      Ascend Learning LLC, 6.88%, 8/1/25, Callable 8/1/20 @ 103.44(b)      136,500  
  125,000      Ascend Learning LLC, 6.88%, 8/1/25, Callable 8/1/20 @ 103.44(b)      131,250  
  80,000      Frontdoor, Inc., 6.75%, 8/15/26, Callable 8/15/21 @ 105.06(b)      87,400  
  460,000      Laureate Education, Inc., 8.25%, 5/1/25, Callable 5/1/20 @ 106.19(b)      496,224  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Diversified Consumer Services, continued       
$ 70,000      Service Corp International, 5.13%, 6/1/29, Callable 6/1/24 @ 102.56    $ 74,113  
     

 

 

 
        1,234,581  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (0.4%):       
  60,000      AXA Equitable Holdings, Inc., 3.90%, 4/20/23, Callable 3/20/23 @ 100      62,861  
  210,000      Banff Merger Sub, Inc., 9.75%, 9/1/26, Callable 9/1/21 @ 104.88(b)      213,150  
  145,000      Camelot Finance SA, 4.50%, 11/1/26, Callable 11/1/22 @ 102.25(b)      148,806  
  85,000      EP Energy LLC/Everest Acquisition Finance, Inc., 7.75%, 5/15/26, Callable 5/15/21 @ 105.81(b)(d)      59,500  
  210,000      Flex Acquisition Co., Inc., 6.88%, 1/15/25, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.44(b)      211,313  
  76,000      Flex Acquisition Co., Inc., 7.88%, 7/15/26, Callable 7/15/21 @ 103.94(b)      76,570  
  555,000      Level 3 Financing, Inc., 5.38%, 1/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.34      563,324  
  200,000      Level 3 Financing, Inc., 5.38%, 5/1/25, Callable 5/1/20 @ 102.69      206,750  
  500,000      Peachtree Funding Trust, 3.98%, 2/15/25(b)      527,554  
  185,000      Voya Financial, Inc., 3.13%, 7/15/24, Callable 5/15/24 @ 100      190,096  
     

 

 

 
        2,259,924  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (0.5%):       
  322,000      AT&T, Inc., 2.45%, 6/30/20, Callable 5/30/20 @ 100      322,890  
  580,000      AT&T, Inc., 3.60%, 2/17/23, Callable 12/17/22 @ 100      605,415  
  28,000      AT&T, Inc., 4.45%, 4/1/24, Callable 1/1/24 @ 100      30,329  
  138,000      AT&T, Inc., 4.30%, 2/15/30, Callable 11/15/29 @ 100      153,471  
  400,000      AT&T, Inc., 5.15%, 11/15/46, Callable 5/15/46 @ 100      476,995  
  200,000      AT&T, Inc., 4.50%, 3/9/48, Callable 9/9/47 @ 100      220,115  
  120,000      CenturyLink, Inc., 5.13%, 12/15/26, Callable 12/15/22 @ 102.56(b)      121,800  
  345,000      Frontier Communications Corp., 7.05%, 10/1/46      157,838  
  130,000      Qwest Corp., 7.25%, 9/15/25      149,161  
  500,000      Zayo Group LLC/Zayo Capital, Inc., 6.38%, 5/15/25, Callable 5/15/20 @ 103.19      515,000  
     

 

 

 
        2,753,014  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (0.6%):       
  200,000      Alliant Holdings Intermediate LLC/Alliant Holdings Co-Issuer, 6.75%, 10/15/27, Callable 10/15/22 @ 103.38(b)      214,000  
  165,000      Cleco Corporate Holdings LLC, 3.38%, 9/15/29, Callable 6/11/29 @ 100(b)      163,706  
  790,000      Edison International, 5.75%, 6/15/27, Callable 4/15/27 @ 100      885,434  
  109,000      Emera US Finance LP, 2.70%, 6/15/21, Callable 5/15/21 @ 100      109,833  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Electric Utilities, continued       
$ 174,000      Emera US Finance LP, 3.55%, 6/15/26, Callable 3/15/26 @ 100    $ 180,524  
  500,000      IPALCO Enterprises, Inc., 3.45%, 7/15/20, Callable 6/15/20 @ 100      501,250  
  136,000      IPALCO Enterprises, Inc., 3.70%, 9/1/24, Callable 7/1/24 @ 100      140,420  
  115,000      NextEra Energy Operating Partners LP, 4.25%, 9/15/24, Callable 7/15/24 @ 100(b)      119,600  
  152,022      NSG Holdings LLC/NSG Holdings, Inc., 7.75%, 12/15/25(b)      167,985  
  117,000      NV Energy, Inc., 6.25%, 11/15/20      121,192  
  390,000      Vistra Operations Co. LLC, 5.50%, 9/1/26, Callable 9/1/21 @ 102.75(b)      412,425  
  90,000      Vistra Operations Co. LLC, 5.00%, 7/31/27, Callable 7/31/22 @ 102.5(b)      93,825  
     

 

 

 
        3,110,194  
     

 

 

 
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (0.0%):       
  255,000      TTM Technologies, Inc., 5.63%, 10/1/25, Callable 10/1/20 @ 102.81(b)      263,606  
     

 

 

 
Energy Equipment & Services (0.1%):       
  70,000      Archrock Partners LP/Finance Corp., 6.88%, 4/1/27, Callable 4/1/22 @ 105.16(b)      73,850  
  110,000      Nabors Industries, Inc., 5.50%, 1/15/23, Callable 11/15/22 @ 100^      106,150  
  99,000      Weatherford International, Ltd., 11.00%, 12/1/24, Callable 12/1/21 @ 105.5(b)      107,044  
     

 

 

 
        287,044  
     

 

 

 
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (2.0%):       
  1,039,000      Brandywine Operating Partners LP, 4.10%, 10/1/24, Callable 7/1/24 @ 100      1,095,058  
  265,000      Brandywine Operating Partners LP, 3.95%, 11/15/27, Callable 8/15/27 @ 100      277,769  
  62,000      Brandywine Operating Partners LP, 4.55%, 10/1/29, Callable 7/1/29 @ 100      67,491  
  355,000      Brixmor Operating Partners LP, 3.85%, 2/1/25, Callable 11/1/24 @ 100      372,275  
  528,000      Brixmor Operating Partnership LP, 3.25%, 9/15/23, Callable 7/15/23 @ 100      544,051  
  252,000      Brixmor Operating Partnership LP, 4.13%, 5/15/29, Callable 2/15/29 @ 100      270,067  
  45,000      Corecivic, Inc., 4.13%, 4/1/20      45,000  
  717,000      Corporate Office Properties LP, 5.25%, 2/15/24, Callable 11/15/23 @ 100      770,823  
  130,000      Corrections Corp. of America, 5.00%, 10/15/22, Callable 7/15/22 @ 100      130,488  
  10,000      Corrections Corp. of America, 4.63%, 5/1/23, Callable 2/1/23 @ 100      9,900  
  244,000      DDR Corp., 4.63%, 7/15/22, Callable 4/15/22 @ 100^      254,740  
  183,000      Duke Realty LP, 3.63%, 4/15/23, Callable 1/15/23 @ 100      190,124  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

10


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts, continued       
$ 30,000      Geo Group, Inc. (The), 5.88%, 10/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.94    $ 27,300  
  160,000      GLP Capital LP, 5.25%, 6/1/25, Callable 3/1/25 @ 100      174,515  
  29,000      HCP, Inc., 3.25%, 7/15/26, Callable 5/15/26 @ 100      30,022  
  34,000      HCP, Inc., 3.50%, 7/15/29, Callable 4/15/29 @ 100      35,399  
  66,000      Healthcare Trust of America Holdings LP, 3.50%, 8/1/26, Callable 5/1/26 @ 100      68,872  
  63,000      Healthcare Trust of America Holdings LP, 3.10%, 2/15/30, Callable 11/15/29 @ 100      62,554  
  400,000      Hudson Pacific Properties LP, 4.65%, 4/1/29, Callable 1/1/29 @ 100      439,334  
  735,000      Lexington Realty Trust, 4.40%, 6/15/24, Callable 3/15/24 @ 100      764,303  
  430,000      MGM Growth Properties LLC, 4.50%, 9/1/26, Callable 6/1/26 @ 100      452,575  
  45,000      MGM Growth Properties LLC, 5.75%, 2/1/27, Callable 11/1/26 @ 100(b)      50,231  
  200,000      MPT Operating Partnership LP/MPT Finance Corp., 5.25%, 8/1/26, Callable 8/1/21 @ 102.63      211,500  
  549,000      Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc., 4.38%, 8/1/23, Callable 6/1/23 @ 100      583,497  
  101,000      Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc., 4.50%, 1/15/25, Callable 10/15/24 @ 100      107,930  
  1,278,000      Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc., 4.50%, 4/1/27, Callable 1/1/27 @ 100      1,380,528  
  282,000      Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc., 3.63%, 10/1/29, Callable 7/1/29 @ 100      283,329  
  297,000      SBA Tower Trust, 2.84%, 1/15/25(b)      298,778  
  96,000      STORE Capital Corp., 4.63%, 3/15/29, Callable 12/15/28 @ 100      106,015  
  700,000      Tanger Properties LP, 3.88%, 12/1/23, Callable 9/1/23 @ 100      718,406  
  302,000      Tanger Properties LP, 3.75%, 12/1/24, Callable 9/1/24 @ 100      308,873  
  75,000      The Geo Group, Inc., 6.00%, 4/15/26, Callable 4/15/21 @ 103      66,563  
  118,000      Ventas Realty LP, 3.13%, 6/15/23, Callable 3/15/23 @ 100      120,798  
  131,000      Ventas Realty LP, 4.00%, 3/1/28, Callable 12/1/27 @ 100      140,118  
  367,000      Ventas Realty LP, 3.00%, 1/15/30, Callable 10/15/29 @ 100      363,877  
  85,000      Vici Properties, 4.25%, 12/1/26, Callable 12/1/22 @ 102.13(b)      87,444  
  400,000      WP Carey, Inc., 4.60%, 4/1/24, Callable 1/1/24 @ 100      428,535  
  66,000      WP Carey, Inc., 3.85%, 7/15/29, Callable 4/15/29 @ 100      69,910  
     

 

 

 
        11,408,992  
     

 

 

 
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Food & Staples Retailing (0.1%):       
$ 65,000      US Foods, Inc., 5.88%, 6/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.94(b)    $ 66,950  
  271,000      Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., 3.30%, 11/18/21, Callable 9/18/21 @ 100      276,092  
     

 

 

 
        343,042  
     

 

 

 
Food Products (0.3%):       
  58,000      Conagra Brands, Inc., 3.80%, 10/22/21      59,768  
  321,000      JBS USA Finance, Inc., 5.88%, 7/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.94(b)      330,630  
  675,000      JBS USA Finance, Inc., 5.75%, 6/15/25, Callable 6/15/20 @ 102.88(b)      698,625  
  50,000      JBS USA Finance, Inc., 6.75%, 2/15/28, Callable 2/15/23 @ 103.38(b)      55,125  
  275,000      JBS USA Finance, Inc., 6.50%, 4/15/29, Callable 4/15/24 @ 103.25(b)      305,250  
  180,000      JBS USA Finance, Inc., 5.50%, 1/15/30, Callable 1/15/25 @ 102.75(b)      192,600  
  200,000      Post Holding, Inc., 5.00%, 8/15/26, Callable 8/15/21 @ 102.5(b)      211,000  
     

 

 

 
        1,852,998  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (0.1%):       
  162,000      Becton Dickinson & Co., 2.40%, 6/5/20      162,147  
  125,000      Teleflex, Inc., 4.88%, 6/1/26, Callable 6/1/21 @ 102.44      130,781  
     

 

 

 
        292,928  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (1.3%):       
  210,000      Centene Corp., 4.75%, 1/15/25, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.56(b)      218,138  
  310,000      Centene Corp., 4.25%, 12/15/27, Callable 12/15/22 @ 102.13(b)      319,300  
  410,000      Centene Corp., 4.63%, 12/15/29, Callable 12/15/24 @ 102.31(b)      431,525  
  273,000      Cigna Corp., 3.75%, 7/15/23, Callable 6/15/23 @ 100      284,961  
  193,000      Cigna Corp., 4.13%, 11/15/25, Callable 9/15/25 @ 100      208,961  
  341,000      Cigna Corp., 4.38%, 10/15/28, Callable 7/15/28 @ 100      377,707  
  440,000      Community Health Systems, Inc., 6.25%, 3/31/23, Callable 3/31/20 @ 103.13      445,500  
  120,000      Community Health Systems, Inc., 8.63%, 1/15/24, Callable 1/15/21 @ 104.31(b)      126,900  
  340,000      Community Health Systems, Inc., 8.00%, 3/15/26, Callable 3/15/22 @ 104(b)      352,750  
  300,000      CVS Health Corp., 3.70%, 3/9/23, Callable 2/9/23 @ 100      312,356  
  38,000      CVS Health Corp., 2.63%, 8/15/24, Callable 7/15/24 @ 100      38,359  
  670,000      CVS Health Corp., 4.10%, 3/25/25, Callable 1/25/25 @ 100      718,442  
  779,000      CVS Health Corp., 4.30%, 3/25/28, Callable 12/25/27 @ 100      849,632  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

11


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Health Care Providers & Services, continued       
$ 347,000      CVS Health Corp., 4.78%, 3/25/38, Callable 9/25/37 @ 100    $ 392,810  
  20,000      HCA, Inc., 4.75%, 5/1/23      21,400  
  300,000      HCA, Inc., 5.38%, 2/1/25      331,500  
  180,000      MPH Acquisition Holdings, 7.13%, 6/1/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 105.34(b)      174,600  
  665,000      Tenet Healthcare Corp., 8.13%, 4/1/22      735,656  
  230,000      Tenet Healthcare Corp., 6.75%, 6/15/23      253,000  
  150,000      Tenet Healthcare Corp., 7.00%, 8/1/25, Callable 8/1/20 @ 103.5^      158,250  
  85,000      Tenet Healthcare Corp., 6.25%, 2/1/27, Callable 2/1/22 @ 103.13(b)      91,588  
  117,000      Toledo Hospital (The), Series B, 5.33%, 11/15/28      125,665  
  216,000      Toledo Hospital (The), 6.02%, 11/15/48      244,122  
  15,000      Vizient, Inc., 6.25%, 5/15/27, Callable 5/15/22 @ 103.13(b)      16,125  
     

 

 

 
        7,229,247  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (0.3%):       
  325,000      Caesars Resort Collection LLC, 5.25%, 10/15/25, Callable 10/15/20 @ 102.63(b)      335,562  
  95,000      Eldorado Resorts, Inc., 7.00%, 8/1/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.5      99,038  
  20,000      Eldorado Resorts, Inc., 6.00%, 9/15/26, Callable 9/15/21 @ 104.5      22,025  
  235,000      Golden Entertainment, Inc., 7.63%, 4/15/26, Callable 4/15/22 @ 103.81(b)      249,394  
  200,000      Golden Nugget, Inc., 6.75%, 10/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.38(b)      206,750  
  100,000      Penn National Gaming, Inc., 5.63%, 1/15/27, Callable 1/15/22 @ 102.81(b)      105,875  
  115,000      Scientific Games International, Inc., 5.00%, 10/15/25, Callable 10/15/20 @ 103.75(b)      120,175  
  95,000      Station Casinos LLC, 5.00%, 10/1/25, Callable 10/1/20 @ 102.5(b)      96,781  
  105,000      Twin River Worldwide Holdings, Inc., 6.75%, 6/1/27, Callable 6/1/22 @ 105.06(b)      110,644  
  115,000      Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc., 5.38%, 4/15/26, Callable 4/15/21 @ 102.69(b)      121,325  
  100,000      Wynn Las Vegas LLC, 5.50%, 3/1/25, Callable 12/1/24 @ 100(b)      107,125  
     

 

 

 
        1,574,694  
     

 

 

 
Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers (0.1%):  
  75,000      Clearway Energy Operating LLC, 5.75%, 10/15/25, Callable 10/15/21 @ 102.88      79,125  
  30,000      Clearway Energy Operating LLC, 4.75%, 3/15/28, Callable 3/15/23 @ 103.56(b)      30,450  
  90,000      NRG Energy, Inc., 5.25%, 6/15/29, Callable 6/15/24 @ 102.63^(b)      97,425  
  155,000      Talen Energy Supply LLC, 10.50%, 1/15/26, Callable 1/15/22 @ 105.25(b)      147,250  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers,
continued
      
$ 20,000      TerraForm Power Operating LLC, 4.25%, 1/31/23, Callable 10/31/22 @ 100(b)    $ 20,550  
  15,000      TerraForm Power Operating LLC, 5.00%, 1/31/28, Callable 7/31/27 @ 100(b)      15,806  
     

 

 

 
        390,606  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (0.1%):       
  260,000      Icahn Enterprises LP/Icahn Enterprises Finance Corp., 6.75%, 2/1/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.38      269,425  
  110,000      Icahn Enterprises LP/Icahn Enterprises Finance Corp., 6.25%, 5/15/26, Callable 5/15/22 @ 103.13      117,150  
     

 

 

 
        386,575  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (0.8%):       
  809,000      American International Group, Inc., 3.75%, 7/10/25, Callable 4/10/25 @ 100      865,697  
  190,000      AmWINS Group, Inc., 7.75%, 7/1/26, Callable 7/1/21 @ 105.81(b)      209,950  
  1,415,000      Metropolitan Life Global Funding I, 2.03% (SOFR+50 bps), 5/28/21(b)      1,417,348  
  436,000      Pacific Lifecorp, 5.13%, 1/30/43(b)      507,373  
  227,000      Unum Group, 4.00%, 6/15/29, Callable 3/15/29 @ 100      239,507  
  1,042,000      Unum Group, 5.75%, 8/15/42      1,150,515  
  130,000      USIS Merger Sub, Inc., 6.88%, 5/1/25, Callable 5/1/20 @ 103.44(b)      132,275  
     

 

 

 
        4,522,665  
     

 

 

 
Interactive Media & Services (0.0%):       
  195,000      Rackspace Hosting, Inc., 8.63%, 11/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 106.47^(b)      190,613  
     

 

 

 
Leisure Products (0.1%):       
  89,000      Hasbro, Inc., 2.60%, 11/19/22      89,540  
  202,000      Hasbro, Inc., 3.00%, 11/19/24, Callable 10/19/24 @ 100      202,906  
  130,000      Mattel, Inc., 6.75%, 12/31/25, Callable 12/31/20 @ 105.06(b)      139,588  
     

 

 

 
        432,034  
     

 

 

 
Life Sciences Tools & Services (0.1%):       
  90,000      Charles River Laboratories International, Inc., 5.50%, 4/1/26, Callable 4/1/21 @ 104.13(b)      96,863  
  15,000      Charles River Laboratories International, Inc., 4.25%, 5/1/28, Callable 5/1/23 @ 102.13(b)      15,300  
  200,000      IMS Health, Inc., 5.00%, 10/15/26, Callable 10/15/21 @ 102.5(b)      211,000  
  215,000      IQVIA, Inc., 5.00%, 5/15/27, Callable 5/15/22 @ 102.5(b)      227,362  
     

 

 

 
        550,525  
     

 

 

 
Media (1.5%):       
  320,000      CCO Holdings LLC, 5.88%, 4/1/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 104.41(b)      330,800  
  430,000      CCO Holdings LLC, 5.75%, 2/15/26, Callable 2/15/21 @ 102.88(b)      452,038  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

12


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Media, continued       
$ 270,000      CCO Holdings LLC, 5.50%, 5/1/26, Callable 5/1/21 @ 102.75(b)    $ 284,175  
  400,000      CCO Holdings LLC, 5.88%, 5/1/27, Callable 5/1/21 @ 102.94(b)      422,000  
  300,000      CSC Holdings LLC, 5.38%, 7/15/23, Callable 1/21/20 @ 102.69(b)      307,500  
  265,000      CSC Holdings LLC, 7.75%, 7/15/25, Callable 7/15/20 @ 103.88(b)      281,894  
  105,000      CSC Holdings LLC, 7.50%, 4/1/28, Callable 4/1/23 @ 103.75(b)      118,519  
  200,000      DISH DBS Corp., 5.88%, 11/15/24      203,750  
  290,000      DISH Network Corp., 3.38%, 8/15/26      280,432  
  37,000      Fox Corp., 3.67%, 1/25/22(b)      38,217  
  65,000      Fox Corp., 4.03%, 1/25/24, Callable 12/25/23 @ 100(b)      69,256  
  94,000      Fox Corp., 4.71%, 1/25/29, Callable 10/25/28 @ 100(b)      106,924  
  93,000      Fox Corp., 5.48%, 1/25/39, Callable 7/25/38 @ 100(b)      113,217  
  62,000      Fox Corp., 5.58%, 1/25/49, Callable 7/25/48 @ 100(b)      78,170  
  700,000      Neptune Finco Corp., 6.63%, 10/15/25, Callable 10/15/20 @ 103.31(b)      742,874  
  470,000      Radiate Holdco LLC/Radiate Finance, Inc., 6.63%, 2/15/25, Callable 2/15/20 @ 103.31(b)      474,700  
  200,000      Sirius XM Radio, Inc., 4.63%, 5/15/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.54(b)      203,250  
  65,000      Sirius XM Radio, Inc., 4.63%, 7/15/24, Callable 7/15/21 @ 102.31(b)      67,925  
  495,000      Sirius XM Radio, Inc., 5.38%, 4/15/25, Callable 4/15/20 @ 102.69(b)      511,087  
  130,000      Sirius XM Radio, Inc., 5.38%, 7/15/26, Callable 7/15/21 @ 102.69(b)      137,963  
  623,000      Time Warner Cable, Inc., 4.00%, 9/1/21, Callable 6/1/21 @ 100      637,821  
  239,000      Time Warner Cable, Inc., 6.55%, 5/1/37      293,201  
  280,000      Time Warner Cable, Inc., 7.30%, 7/1/38      366,744  
  1,500,000      Time Warner Cable, Inc., 6.75%, 6/15/39      1,895,383  
  69,000      Time Warner Cable, Inc., 5.50%, 9/1/41, Callable 3/1/41 @ 100      77,092  
     

 

 

 
        8,494,932  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (0.0%):       
  198,000      Freeport-McMoRan, Inc., 3.55%, 3/1/22, Callable 12/1/21 @ 100      200,475  
     

 

 

 
Mortgage Real Estate Investment Trusts (0.0%):       
  45,000      Starwood Property Trust, Inc., 4.75%, 3/15/25, Callable 9/15/24 @ 100      47,475  
     

 

 

 
Multi-Utilities (0.1%):       
  339,000      Sempra Energy, 6.00%, 10/15/39      440,817  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (2.8%):       
  440,000      California Resources Corp., 8.00%, 12/15/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102^(b)      193,600  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
$ 415,000      Cheniere Corpus Christi Holdings LLC, 7.00%, 6/30/24, Callable 1/1/24 @ 100    $ 478,288  
  690,000      Cheniere Energy Partners LP, 5.25%, 10/1/25, Callable 10/1/20 @ 102.63      718,462  
  300,000      Cheniere Energy Partners LP, 5.63%, 10/1/26, Callable 10/1/21 @ 102.81      317,250  
  75,000      Chesapeake Energy Corp., 7.00%, 10/1/24, Callable 4/1/21 @ 103.5      45,188  
  300,000      Chesapeake Energy Corp., 8.00%, 1/15/25, Callable 2/10/20 @ 106      177,000  
  226,000      Chesapeake Energy Corp., 8.00%, 6/15/27, Callable 6/15/22 @ 104^      133,340  
  50,000      Citgo Holding, Inc., 9.25%, 8/1/24, Callable 8/1/21 @ 104.63(b)      53,625  
  205,000      Citgo Petroleum Corp., 6.25%, 8/15/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.56(b)      207,819  
  132,000      Columbia Pipeline Group, 4.50%, 6/1/25, Callable 3/1/25 @ 100      144,206  
  190,000      Comstock Resources, Inc., 9.75%, 8/15/26, Callable 8/15/21 @ 107.31      171,950  
  195,000      Crestwood Midstream Partners LP, 6.25%, 4/1/23, Callable 1/24/20 @ 103.13      198,900  
  100,000      Crestwood Midstream Partners LP, 5.75%, 4/1/25, Callable 4/1/20 @ 104.31      102,000  
  100,000      CVR Refining LLC/Coffeyville Finance, Inc., 6.50%, 11/1/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.08      101,625  
  125,000      DCP Midstream Operating LP, 5.38%, 7/15/25, Callable 4/15/25 @ 100      135,938  
  700,000      DCP Midstream Operating LP, 5.85% (US0003M+385 bps), 5/21/43, Callable 5/21/23 @ 100(b)      649,249  
  377,000      Denbury Resources, Inc., 9.25%, 3/31/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 109.25(b)      354,380  
  150,000      Denbury Resources, Inc., 7.75%, 2/15/24, Callable 8/15/20 @ 103.88(b)      130,125  
  124,000      Enable Midstream Partners LP, 3.90%, 5/15/24, Callable 2/15/24 @ 100      126,167  
  52,000      Energy Transfer Operating LP, 4.25%, 3/15/23, Callable 12/15/22 @ 100      54,330  
  65,000      Energy Transfer Operating LP, 4.50%, 4/15/24, Callable 3/15/24 @ 100      69,022  
  106,000      Energy Transfer Operating LP, 5.25%, 4/15/29, Callable 1/15/29 @ 100      118,910  
  73,000      Energy Transfer Operating LP, 6.25%, 4/15/49, Callable 10/15/48 @ 100      88,005  
  67,000      Energy Transfer Partners LP, 4.20%, 9/15/23, Callable 8/15/23 @ 100      70,280  
  229,000      Energy Transfer Partners LP, 4.95%, 6/15/28, Callable 3/15/28 @ 100      250,583  
  128,000      Energy Transfer Partners LP, 5.80%, 6/15/38, Callable 12/15/37 @ 100      144,616  
  83,000      Energy Transfer Partners LP, 6.00%, 6/15/48, Callable 12/15/47 @ 100      96,462  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

13


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
$ 250,000      EQT Corp., 3.90%, 10/1/27, Callable 7/1/27 @ 100^    $ 232,557  
  200,000      Global Partners LP/GLP Finance Corp., 7.00%, 8/1/27, Callable 8/1/22 @ 103.5^(b)      212,500  
  40,000      Hess Corp., 4.30%, 4/1/27, Callable 1/1/27 @ 100      42,635  
  71,000      Hess Corp., 7.30%, 8/15/31      89,854  
  50,000      Hess Corp., 7.13%, 3/15/33      63,365  
  69,000      Hess Corp., 5.60%, 2/15/41      80,697  
  166,000      Hess Corp., 5.80%, 4/1/47, Callable 10/1/46 @ 100      202,399  
  275,000      Hess Midstream Operations LP, 5.63%, 2/15/26, Callable 2/15/21 @ 104.22(b)      286,000  
  55,000      Hess Midstream Operations LP, 5.13%, 6/15/28, Callable 6/15/23 @ 102.56(b)      55,688  
  105,000      Hilcorp Energy LP, 5.00%, 12/1/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.5(b)      101,588  
  195,000      Jonah Energy LLC/Jonah Energy Finance Corp., 7.25%, 10/15/25, Callable 10/15/20 @ 105.44(b)      57,525  
  97,000      Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, 3.45%, 2/15/23, Callable 11/15/22 @ 100      99,922  
  42,000      Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, 6.55%, 9/15/40      53,359  
  479,000      Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, 5.50%, 3/1/44, Callable 9/1/43 @ 100      552,656  
  125,000      Kinder Morgan, Inc., 5.55%, 6/1/45, Callable 12/1/44 @ 100      148,677  
  112,000      Kinder Morgan, Inc., 5.05%, 2/15/46, Callable 8/15/45 @ 100      125,485  
  77,000      MPLX LP, 2.79% (US0003M+90 bps), 9/9/21, Callable 9/9/20 @ 100      77,189  
  115,000      MPLX LP, 2.99% (US0003M+110 bps), 9/9/22, Callable 9/9/20 @ 100      115,325  
  113,000      MPLX LP, 4.50%, 7/15/23, Callable 4/15/23 @ 100      119,987  
  159,000      MPLX LP, 4.88%, 12/1/24, Callable 9/1/24 @ 100      172,509  
  63,000      MPLX LP, 4.80%, 2/15/29, Callable 11/15/28 @ 100      69,004  
  188,000      MPLX LP, 5.50%, 2/15/49, Callable 8/15/48 @ 100      213,353  
  149,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 4.85%, 3/15/21, Callable 2/15/21 @ 100      153,321  
  77,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 2.60%, 8/13/21      77,467  
  68,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 2.70%, 8/15/22      68,763  
  224,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 2.90%, 8/15/24, Callable 7/15/24 @ 100      227,631  
  406,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 5.55%, 3/15/26, Callable 12/15/25 @ 100      460,280  
  30,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 3.20%, 8/15/26, Callable 6/15/26 @ 100      30,346  
  96,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 3.50%, 8/15/29, Callable 5/15/29 @ 100      97,959  
  779,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 7.50%, 5/1/31      1,011,775  
  78,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 6.45%, 9/15/36      95,098  
  14,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 4.30%, 8/15/39, Callable 2/15/39 @ 100      14,214  
  410,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 6.60%, 3/15/46, Callable 9/15/45 @ 100      532,461  
  14,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 4.40%, 8/15/49, Callable 2/15/49 @ 100      14,439  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
$ 45,000      Parsley Energy LLC, 5.38%, 1/15/25, Callable 2/10/20 @ 104.03(b)    $ 46,238  
  190,000      Parsley Energy LLC, 5.25%, 8/15/25, Callable 8/15/20 @ 103.94(b)      195,225  
  72,000      Plains All Amer Pipeline, 3.60%, 11/1/24, Callable 8/1/24 @ 100      73,894  
  62,000      Plains All Amer Pipeline, 3.55%, 12/15/29, Callable 9/15/29 @ 100      60,971  
  40,000      Range Resources Corp., 5.00%, 3/15/23, Callable 12/15/22 @ 100^      36,800  
  95,000      Range Resources Corp., 4.88%, 5/15/25, Callable 2/15/25 @ 100^      81,938  
  100,000      Regency Energy Partners LP/Regency Energy Finance Corp., 5.88%, 3/1/22, Callable 12/1/21 @ 100      106,200  
  136,374      Sanchez Energy Corp., 0.00%, 5/11/20      136,544  
  310,000      Sanchez Energy Corp., 7.25%, 2/15/23, Callable 2/15/20 @ 103.63^(b)(d)      201,500  
  233,000      Southwestern Energy Co., 6.20%, 1/23/25, Callable 10/23/24 @ 100      215,525  
  621,000      Sunoco Logistics Partners Operations LP, 5.40%, 10/1/47, Callable 4/1/47 @ 100      671,783  
  120,000      Sunoco LP/Sunoco Finance Corp., 5.50%, 2/15/26, Callable 2/15/21 @ 102.75      124,800  
  30,000      Targa Resources Partners LP, 5.25%, 5/1/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 100.88      30,300  
  110,000      Targa Resources Partners LP, 4.25%, 11/15/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.42      111,100  
  130,000      Targa Resources Partners LP, 5.13%, 2/1/25, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.84      134,550  
  125,000      Targa Resources Partners LP, 5.88%, 4/15/26, Callable 4/15/21 @ 104.41      132,813  
  130,000      Targa Resources Partners LP, 5.38%, 2/1/27, Callable 2/1/22 @ 102.69      134,875  
  100,000      Viper Energy Partners, LP, 5.38%, 11/1/27, Callable 11/1/22 @ 102.69(b)      104,250  
  40,000      Western Gas Partners LP, 3.95%, 6/1/25, Callable 3/1/25 @ 100      40,029  
  127,000      Western Gas Partners LP, 4.65%, 7/1/26, Callable 4/1/26 @ 100      130,394  
  1,000,000      Western Gas Partners LP, 4.50%, 3/1/28, Callable 12/1/27 @ 100      959,699  
  66,000      Western Gas Partners LP, 4.75%, 8/15/28, Callable 5/15/28 @ 100      65,488  
  239,000      Williams Partners LP, 3.60%, 3/15/22, Callable 1/15/22 @ 100      245,634  
  162,000      Williams Partners LP, 4.50%, 11/15/23, Callable 8/15/23 @ 100      172,981  
  285,000      Williams Partners LP, 4.30%, 3/4/24, Callable 12/4/23 @ 100      302,890  
     

 

 

 
        15,803,769  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

14


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Pharmaceuticals (0.1%):       
$ 110,000      Bausch Health Americas, Inc., 9.25%, 4/1/26, Callable 4/1/22 @ 104.63(b)    $ 126,500  
  115,000      Catalent Pharma Solutions, Inc., 4.88%, 1/15/26, Callable 10/15/20 @ 102.44(b)      119,025  
  57,000      Elanco Animal Health, Inc., 3.91%, 8/27/21      58,416  
  180,000      Elanco Animal Health, Inc., 4.27%, 8/28/23, Callable 7/28/23 @ 100      190,213  
  76,000      Elanco Animal Health, Inc., 4.90%, 8/28/28, Callable 5/28/28 @ 100      82,691  
     

 

 

 
        576,845  
     

 

 

 
Real Estate Management & Development (0.0%):       
  200,000      Howard Hughes Corp. (The), 5.38%, 3/15/25, Callable 3/15/20 @ 104.03(b)      208,500  
     

 

 

 
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (0.0%):       
  90,000      Qorvo, Inc., 5.50%, 7/15/26, Callable 7/15/21 @ 102.75      95,625  
     

 

 

 
Software (0.3%):       
  155,000      CDK Global, Inc., 5.88%, 6/15/26, Callable 6/15/21 @ 102.94      165,463  
  20,000      CDK Global, Inc., 5.25%, 5/15/29, Callable 5/15/24 @ 102.63(b)      21,350  
  135,000      Fair Isaac Corp., 5.25%, 5/15/26, Callable 2/15/26 @ 100(b)      147,488  
  90,000      Nuance Communications, Inc., 5.63%, 12/15/26, Callable 12/15/21 @ 102.81      95,850  
  340,000      Solera LLC, 10.50%, 3/1/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 107.88(b)      360,399  
  250,000      Sophia LP/Finance, Inc., 9.00%, 9/30/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.25(b)      256,875  
  205,000      SS&C Technologies, Inc., 5.50%, 9/30/27, Callable 3/30/22 @ 104.13(b)      218,838  
  270,000      Symantec Corp., 5.00%, 4/15/25, Callable 4/15/20 @ 102.5(b)      274,725  
     

 

 

 
        1,540,988  
     

 

 

 
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals (0.1%):       
  200,000      Dell International LLC/EMC Corp., 5.45%, 6/15/23, Callable 4/15/23 @ 100(b)      216,771  
  83,000      Dell International LLC/EMC Corp., 6.02%, 6/15/26, Callable 3/15/26 @ 100(b)      95,586  
     

 

 

 
        312,357  
     

 

 

 
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods (0.0%):       
  125,000      USA Compression Partners LP/USA Compression Finance Corp., 6.88%, 4/1/26, Callable 4/1/21 @ 105.16      131,250  
  40,000      USA Compression Partners LP/USA Compression Finance Corp., 6.88%, 9/1/27, Callable 9/1/22 @ 105.16      41,650  
  80,000      William Carter Co., 5.63%, 3/15/27, Callable 3/15/22 @ 102.81(b)      86,000  
     

 

 

 
        258,900  
     

 

 

 
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Thrifts & Mortgage Finance (0.0%):       
$ 235,000      Quicken Loans, Inc., 5.25%, 1/15/28, Callable 1/15/23 @ 102.63(b)    $ 243,441  
     

 

 

 
Tobacco (0.5%):       
  212,000      Altria Group, Inc., 4.00%, 1/31/24      224,667  
  266,000      Altria Group, Inc., 4.80%, 2/14/29, Callable 11/14/28 @ 100      295,588  
  294,000      Altria Group, Inc., 4.25%, 8/9/42      292,819  
  191,000      Altria Group, Inc., 4.50%, 5/2/43      194,186  
  347,000      Altria Group, Inc., 5.38%, 1/31/44      391,352  
  240,000      Altria Group, Inc., 3.88%, 9/16/46, Callable 3/16/46 @ 100      222,003  
  200,000      Altria Group, Inc., 5.95%, 2/14/49, Callable 8/14/48 @ 100      242,235  
  94,000      Reynolds American, Inc., 3.25%, 6/12/20      94,501  
  320,000      Reynolds American, Inc., 4.00%, 6/12/22      332,975  
  232,000      Reynolds American, Inc., 4.45%, 6/12/25, Callable 3/12/25 @ 100      249,546  
  120,000      Reynolds American, Inc., 5.70%, 8/15/35, Callable 2/15/35 @ 100      138,534  
  185,000      Vector Group, Ltd., 6.13%, 2/1/25, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.06(b)      181,994  
     

 

 

 
        2,860,400  
     

 

 

 
Trading Companies & Distributors (0.1%):       
  255,000      AerCap Ireland Capital DAC/AerCap Global Aviation Trust, 6.50% (US0003M+430 bps), 6/15/45, Callable 6/15/25 @ 100(b)      281,138  
  63,000      Air Lease Corp., 2.25%, 1/15/23      63,011  
  295,000      Air Lease Corp., 4.25%, 2/1/24, Callable 1/1/24 @ 100      316,085  
     

 

 

 
        660,234  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.2%):       
  65,000      Sprint Communications, Inc., 6.00%, 11/15/22      68,088  
  545,000      Sprint Corp., 7.88%, 9/15/23      601,543  
  280,000      Sprint Corp., 7.13%, 6/15/24      301,700  
     

 

 

 
        971,331  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Corporate Bonds (Cost $97,667,447)

     101,311,317  
  

 

 

 
Foreign Bond (0.0%):       
Sovereign Bond (0.0%):       
  50,000      Korea Treasury Bond, Series 2103, 2.00%, 3/10/21+      44  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Foreign Bond (Cost $43)

     44  
  

 

 

 
Yankee Dollars (7.6%):       
Aerospace & Defense (0.3%):       
  81,000      Avolon Holdings Funding, Ltd., 3.63%, 5/1/22, Callable 4/1/22 @ 100(b)      83,079  
  125,000      Avolon Holdings Funding, Ltd., 5.50%, 1/15/23, Callable 12/15/22 @ 100(b)      134,688  
  270,000      Avolon Holdings Funding, Ltd., 5.13%, 10/1/23, Callable 9/1/23 @ 100(b)      290,587  
  199,000      Avolon Holdings Funding, Ltd., 5.25%, 5/15/24, Callable 4/15/24 @ 100(b)      217,159  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

15


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Yankee Dollars, continued       
Aerospace & Defense, continued       
$ 108,000      Avolon Holdings Funding, Ltd., 3.95%, 7/1/24, Callable 6/1/24 @ 100(b)    $ 112,540  
  132,000      Avolon Holdings Funding, Ltd., 4.38%, 5/1/26, Callable 3/1/26 @ 100(b)      139,772  
  140,000      Bombardier, Inc., 6.00%, 10/15/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101(b)      140,350  
  210,000      Bombardier, Inc., 6.13%, 1/15/23(b)      214,724  
  180,000      Bombardier, Inc., 7.50%, 12/1/24, Callable 12/1/20 @ 105.63(b)      189,000  
  150,000      Bombardier, Inc., 7.88%, 4/15/27, Callable 4/15/22 @ 103.94(b)      154,313  
     

 

 

 
        1,676,212  
     

 

 

 
Banks (1.5%):       
  430,000      Barclays plc, 3.25%, 1/12/21      432,966  
  585,000      Barclays plc, 4.38%, 1/12/26      633,747  
  377,000      Barclays plc, 5.09% (US0003M+305 bps), 6/20/30, Callable 6/20/29 @ 100      416,952  
  135,000      Barclays plc, 7.88% (USSW5+677 bps), Callable 3/15/22 @ 100(b)      146,813  
  200,000      Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 3.61%, 9/12/34, Callable 9/12/29 @ 100(b)      200,500  
  530,000      Cooperatieve Rabobank UA, 4.38%, 8/4/25      573,569  
  205,000      HSBC Holdings plc, 4.25%, 3/14/24      217,660  
  200,000      Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, 5.02%, 6/26/24(b)      208,750  
  656,000      Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, 5.71%, 1/15/26(b)      708,480  
  2,550,000      Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, 6.13%, 12/15/22      2,790,606  
  547,000      Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, 6.10%, 6/10/23      601,313  
  125,000      Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, 6.00%, 12/19/23      139,005  
  95,000      Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, 7.50% (USSW5+580 bps), 12/29/49, Callable 8/10/20 @ 100      97,494  
  350,000      UniCredit SpA, 6.57%, 1/14/22(b)      375,217  
  186,000      Westpac Banking Corp., 4.11% (H15T5Y+200 bps), 7/24/34, Callable 7/24/29 @ 100      193,816  
     

 

 

 
        7,736,888  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (0.0%):       
  80,000      Cott Corp., 5.50%, 4/1/25, Callable 4/1/20 @ 104.13(b)      83,400  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (1.0%):       
  509,000      Credit Suisse Group AG, 2.59% (SOFR+156 bps), 9/11/25, Callable 9/11/24 @ 100(b)      510,049  
  670,000      Credit Suisse Group Fun, Ltd., 3.80%, 9/15/22      696,610  
  787,000      Credit Suisse Group Fun, Ltd., 3.80%, 6/9/23      823,703  
  470,000      Credit Suisse Group Fun, Ltd., 3.75%, 3/26/25      496,945  
  487,000      Deutsche Bank AG, 5.00%, 2/14/22      508,471  
  860,000      Deutsche Bank AG, 3.30%, 11/16/22      868,757  
  979,000      Deutsche Bank AG, 4.50%, 4/1/25      974,964  
  491,000      UBS Group AG, 4.13%, 9/24/25(b)      531,514  
     

 

 

 
        5,411,013  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (0.1%):       
  170,000      Nufarm Australia, Ltd., 5.75%, 4/30/26, Callable 4/30/21 @ 102.88(b)      166,812  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Yankee Dollars, continued       
Chemicals, continued       
$ 150,000      OCI NV, 6.63%, 4/15/23, Callable 4/15/20 @ 103.31(b)    $ 155,813  
     

 

 

 
        322,625  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (0.1%):       
  270,000      Ardagh Packaging Finance plc/Ardagh Holdings USA, Inc., 6.00%, 2/15/25, Callable 2/15/20 @ 104.5(b)      283,163  
  190,000      Trivium Packaging Finance BV, 5.50%, 8/15/26, Callable 8/15/22 @ 102.75(b)      201,162  
  25,000      Trivium Packaging Finance BV, 8.50%, 8/15/27, Callable 8/15/22 @ 104.25(b)      27,813  
     

 

 

 
        512,138  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Consumer Services (0.1%):       
  315,000      GEMS MENASA Cayman, Ltd., 7.13%, 7/31/26, Callable 7/31/22 @ 103.56(b)      331,931  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (0.7%):       
  470,000      Altice Financing SA, 7.50%, 5/15/26, Callable 5/15/21 @ 103.75(b)      505,249  
  200,000      Altice Finco SA, 8.13%, 1/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.71(b)      205,000  
  395,000      C&W Senior Financing Dac, 7.50%, 10/15/26, Callable 10/15/21 @ 103.75(b)      426,600  
  280,000      C&W Senior Financing Dac, 6.88%, 9/15/27, Callable 9/15/22 @ 103.44(b)      298,550  
  155,000      Intelsat Jackson Holdings SA, 8.50%, 10/15/24, Callable 10/15/20 @ 106.38(b)      141,438  
  315,000      Nielsen Co. Luxembourg SARL (The), 5.00%, 2/1/25, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.75^(b)      324,056  
  75,000      Park Aerospace Holdings, 4.50%, 3/15/23, Callable 2/15/23 @ 100(b)      78,656  
  1,355,000      Park Aerospace Holdings, 5.50%, 2/15/24(b)      1,488,278  
  200,000      Telenet Finance Lux Note, 5.50%, 3/1/28, Callable 12/1/22 @ 102.75(b)      213,750  
     

 

 

 
        3,681,577  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (0.2%):       
  265,000      Altice France SA, 7.38%, 5/1/26, Callable 5/1/21 @ 103.69(b)      283,881  
  310,000      Altice France SA, 8.13%, 2/1/27, Callable 2/1/22 @ 106.09(b)      351,075  
  30,000      Telecom Italia Capital, 6.38%, 11/15/33      33,225  
  255,000      Telecom Italia SpA, 5.30%, 5/30/24(b)      274,871  
  55,000      Telecom Italia SpA, 6.00%, 9/30/34      58,713  
     

 

 

 
        1,001,765  
     

 

 

 
Energy Equipment & Services (0.0%):       
  130,000      Noble Holding International, Ltd., 7.88%, 2/1/26, Callable 2/1/21 @ 105.91(b)      94,413  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (0.1%):       
  115,000      1011778 BC ULC New Red Finance, Inc., 4.25%, 5/15/24, Callable 5/15/20 @ 102.13(b)      117,875  
  345,000      Stars Group Holdings BV, 7.00%, 7/15/26, Callable 7/15/21 @ 103.5(b)      372,169  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

16


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Yankee Dollars, continued       
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure, continued       
$ 190,000      Wynn Macau, Ltd., 4.88%, 10/1/24, Callable 10/1/20 @ 102.44(b)    $ 193,325  
  125,000      Wynn Macau, Ltd., 5.50%, 10/1/27, Callable 10/1/22 @ 102.75(b)      130,000  
     

 

 

 
        813,369  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (0.0%):       
  200,000      Swiss Re Finance Luxembourg SA, 5.00% (H15T5Y+358 bps), 4/2/49, Callable 4/2/29 @ 100(b)      223,500  
     

 

 

 
Media (0.1%):       
  90,000      MDC Partners, Inc., 6.50%, 5/1/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 104.88(b)      81,450  
  415,000      Ziggo Bond Finance BV, 5.88%, 1/15/25, Callable 1/20/20 @ 102.94(b)      424,856  
  120,000      Ziggo BV, 5.50%, 1/15/27, Callable 1/15/22 @ 102.75(b)      126,750  
     

 

 

 
        633,056  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (0.2%):       
  456,000      BHP Billiton Finance USA, Ltd., 6.75% (USSW5+509 bps), 10/19/75, Callable 10/20/25 @ 100(b)      534,660  
  200,000      BHP Billiton Finance USA, Ltd., 6.25% (USSW5+497 bps), 10/19/75, Callable 10/19/20 @ 100(b)      205,750  
  200,000      First Quantum Minerals, Ltd., 7.25%, 5/15/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.81(b)      201,500  
     

 

 

 
        941,910  
     

 

 

 
Multi-Utilities (0.0%):       
  243,000      InterGen NV, 7.00%, 6/30/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.33(b)      235,710  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (1.8%):       
  28,000      Canadian Natural Resources, Ltd., 5.85%, 2/1/35      34,461  
  402,000      Cenovus Energy, Inc., 4.25%, 4/15/27, Callable 1/15/27 @ 100      424,231  
  145,000      Enbridge, Inc., 4.00%, 10/1/23, Callable 7/1/23 @ 100      153,101  
  135,000      Enbridge, Inc., 4.25%, 12/1/26, Callable 9/1/26 @ 100      148,393  
  230,000      LBC Tank Terminals Holding Netherlands BV, 6.88%, 5/15/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.29(b)      232,300  
  100,000      Meg Energy Corp., 7.00%, 3/31/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.33^(b)      100,750  
  108,000      Petrobras Global Finance BV, 5.09%, 1/15/30(b)      116,100  
  1,793,000      Petrobras Global Finance BV, 7.25%, 3/17/44      2,174,012  
  694,000      Petroleos Mexicanos, 4.50%, 1/23/26      689,390  
  566,000      Petroleos Mexicanos, 6.50%, 3/13/27      599,328  
  1,196,000      Petroleos Mexicanos, 6.84%, 1/23/30, Callable 10/23/29 @ 100(b)      1,281,467  
  363,000      Petroleos Mexicanos, 5.63%, 1/23/46      326,774  
  2,228,000      Petroleos Mexicanos, 6.75%, 9/21/47      2,232,684  
  1,386,000      Petroleos Mexicanos, 7.69%, 1/23/50, Callable 7/23/49 @ 100(b)      1,515,153  
     

 

 

 
        10,028,144  
     

 

 

 
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Yankee Dollars, continued       
Pharmaceuticals (0.4%):       
$ 1,050,000      Actavis Funding SCS, 3.45%, 3/15/22, Callable 1/15/22 @ 100    $ 1,074,268  
  24,000      Bausch Health Cos., Inc., 5.50%, 3/1/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.38(b)      24,090  
  265,000      Bausch Health Cos., Inc., 7.00%, 3/15/24, Callable 3/15/20 @ 103.5(b)      275,600  
  459,000      Mylan NV, 3.15%, 6/15/21, Callable 5/15/21 @ 100      463,777  
  226,000      Mylan NV, 3.95%, 6/15/26, Callable 3/15/26 @ 100      234,596  
  84,000      Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, Ltd., 2.20%, 7/21/21      81,375  
  127,000      Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, Ltd., 2.80%, 7/21/23      117,793  
  195,000      VRX Escrow Corp., 6.13%, 4/15/25, Callable 4/15/20 @ 103.06(b)      201,338  
     

 

 

 
        2,472,837  
     

 

 

 
Software (0.0%):       
  225,000      Open Text Corp., 5.88%, 6/1/26, Callable 6/1/21 @ 102.94(b)      240,188  
     

 

 

 
Sovereign Bond (0.3%):       
  900,000      Dominican Republic, 5.50%, 1/27/25(b)      967,500  
  150,000      Dominican Republic, 6.00%, 7/19/28(b)      166,688  
  1,000,000      Republic of Argentina, 5.88%, 1/11/28      470,000  
     

 

 

 
        1,604,188  
     

 

 

 
Thrifts & Mortgage Finance (0.1%):       
  200,000      Corp. Nacional del Cobre de Chile, 3.63%, 8/1/27, Callable 5/1/27 @ 100(b)      208,407  
  200,000      Corp. Nacional del Cobre de Chile, 4.50%, 8/1/47, Callable 2/1/47 @ 100(b)      217,766  
     

 

 

 
        426,173  
     

 

 

 
Tobacco (0.2%):       
  462,000      Imperial Tobacco Finance, 3.75%, 7/21/22, Callable 5/21/22 @ 100(b)      475,688  
  700,000      Imperial Tobacco Finance, 4.25%, 7/21/25, Callable 4/21/25 @ 100(b)      735,839  
     

 

 

 
        1,211,527  
     

 

 

 
Trading Companies & Distributors (0.3%):       
  195,000      Aercap Holdings NV, 5.87% (H15T5Y+454 bps), 10/10/79, Callable 10/10/24 @ 100      208,650  
  152,000      AerCap Ireland Capital DAC/AerCap Global Aviation Trust, 4.45%, 12/16/21, Callable 11/16/21 @ 100      158,080  
  320,000      AerCap Ireland Capital DAC/AerCap Global Aviation Trust, 4.88%, 1/16/24, Callable 12/16/23 @ 100      346,799  
  297,000      AerCap Ireland Capital DAC/AerCap Global Aviation Trust, 2.88%, 8/14/24, Callable 7/14/24 @ 100      299,599  
  163,000      AerCap Ireland Capital DAC/AerCap Global Aviation Trust, 4.45%, 4/3/26, Callable 2/3/26 @ 100      174,614  
  100,000      Fly Leasing, Ltd., 6.38%, 10/15/21, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.59      102,000  
  270,000      Fly Leasing, Ltd., 5.25%, 10/15/24, Callable 10/15/20 @ 102.63      281,475  
     

 

 

 
        1,571,217  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

17


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Yankee Dollars, continued       
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.2%):       
$ 330,000      Empresa Nacional del Pet, 4.38%, 10/30/24(b)    $ 348,150  
  270,000      Millicom International Cellular SA, 6.63%, 10/15/26, Callable 10/15/21 @ 104.97(b)      295,313  
  500,000      Millicom International Cellular SA, 6.25%, 3/25/29, Callable 3/25/24 @ 103.13(b)      549,375  
     

 

 

 
        1,192,838  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Yankee Dollars (Cost $40,787,194)

     42,446,619  
  

 

 

 
Municipal Bonds (0.8%):       
Illinois (0.7%):       
  105,000      Chicago Illinois, Taxable Project, Build America Bonds, GO, Series B, 5.43%, 1/1/42      106,200  
  3,235,000      Illinois State, Build America Bonds, GO, 5.10%, 6/1/33      3,488,980  
  109,091      Illinois State, Build America Bonds, GO, 4.95%, 6/1/23      114,425  
     

 

 

 
     3,709,605  
  

 

 

 
California (0.1%):       
  400,000      California State, Build America Bonds, GO, 7.50%, 4/1/34      602,296  
  140,000      California State, Build America Bonds, GO, 7.55%, 4/1/39      224,144  
  10,000      California State, Build America Bonds, GO, 7.35%, 11/1/39      15,235  
     

 

 

 
     841,675  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Municipal Bonds (Cost $4,082,253)

     4,551,280  
  

 

 

 
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages (13.8%):       
Government National Mortgage Association (4.5%)  
  44,583      4.00%, 10/20/40, Pool #G24833      47,321  
  130,093      4.00%, 1/20/41, Pool #4922      138,083  
  119,803      4.00%, 8/15/41, Pool #430354      130,360  
  1,402,636      4.00%, 1/20/42, Pool #5280      1,492,840  
  177,373      4.00%, 11/20/42, Pool #MA0535      188,804  
  24,412      4.00%, 11/20/42, Pool #AB9233      26,127  
  345,427      3.00%, 12/20/42, Pool #AA5872      356,577  
  3,024,064      3.50%, 1/20/43, Pool #MA0699      3,185,766  
  226,671      3.00%, 3/20/43, Pool #AA6146      234,148  
  52,099      3.50%, 3/20/43, Pool #AD8884      54,242  
  93,446      3.00%, 3/20/43, Pool #AD8812      95,996  
  55,780      3.50%, 4/20/43, Pool #AD9075      57,749  
  19,403      3.50%, 4/20/43, Pool #AB9891      20,197  
  207,905      3.50%, 5/20/46, Pool #MA3663      216,598  
  160,875      4.00%, 5/20/46, Pool #MA3664      169,441  
  280,695      3.50%, 6/20/46, Pool #MA3736      293,469  
  72,136      3.50%, 7/20/46, Pool #MA3803      75,066  
  861,287      3.00%, 12/20/46, Pool #MA4126      889,094  
  240,804      4.00%, 1/15/47, Pool #AX5831      251,658  
  228,514      4.00%, 1/15/47, Pool #AX5857      238,814  
  1,763,906      3.00%, 1/20/47, Pool #MA4195      1,820,565  
  211,209      3.00%, 2/20/47, Pool #MA4261      217,531  
  633,259      4.00%, 3/20/47, Pool #MA4322      663,035  
  171,621      4.00%, 4/20/47, Pool #784303      178,133  
  841,797      4.50%, 4/20/47, Pool #MA4384      884,184  
  110,894      4.00%, 4/20/47, Pool #MA4383      115,909  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued       
Government National Mortgage Association, continued  
$ 185,675      4.00%, 4/20/47, Pool #784304    $ 192,690  
  120,022      4.00%, 5/20/47, Pool #MA4452      125,661  
  1,133,103      4.50%, 6/20/47, Pool #MA4512      1,190,140  
  38,904      3.50%, 7/20/47, Pool #MA4586      40,466  
  3,663,768      3.50%, 9/20/47, Pool #MA4719      3,795,775  
  197,412      3.50%, 1/20/48, Pool #MA4962      205,324  
  56,793      4.00%, 4/20/48, Pool #BG7744      59,453  
  80,734      4.00%, 4/20/48, Pool #BG3507      84,510  
  415,923      4.00%, 4/20/48, Pool #MA5137      432,187  
  2,615,338      4.00%, 5/20/48, Pool #MA5192      2,705,407  
  874,877      4.00%, 6/20/48, Pool #MA5264      904,982  
  2,500,000      3.00%, 1/20/49, TBA      2,567,579  
  350,000      3.50%, 1/20/50, TBA      360,664  
  250,000      3.50%, 2/20/50, TBA      257,744  
     

 

 

 
        24,964,289  
     

 

 

 
Federal National Mortgage Association (6.1%)  
  69,515      2.50%, 5/1/31, Pool #BC0919      70,549  
  93,585      2.50%, 8/1/31, Pool #BC2778      94,977  
  68,007      2.50%, 10/1/31, Pool #AS8010      69,174  
  528,855      2.50%, 1/1/32, Pool #BE3032      536,023  
  302,461      3.00%, 9/1/32, Pool #BM5110      311,669  
  108,083      2.50%, 9/1/32, Pool #MA3124      109,454  
  173,139      3.00%, 12/1/32, Pool #BM5109      178,729  
  1,143,653      3.00%, 2/1/33, Pool #BM5108      1,179,478  
  718,375      3.00%, 2/1/33, Pool #MA3283      741,093  
  40,653      3.00%, 3/1/33, Pool #BM4614      41,968  
  36,013      3.00%, 5/1/33, Pool #AT3000      37,164  
  39,667      3.00%, 6/1/33, Pool #AT6090      40,938  
  196,279      3.00%, 7/1/33, Pool #MA1490      202,557  
  188,902      2.50%, 5/1/34, Pool #BN6321      190,789  
  93,869      3.00%, 6/1/34, Pool #CA3585      97,324  
  719,044      3.50%, 9/1/34, Pool #FM1577      753,733  
  1,600,000      2.50%, 1/25/35, TBA      1,614,500  
  660,388      6.00%, 5/1/36, Pool #745512      752,597  
  37,476      3.50%, 12/1/40, Pool #AH1556      39,629  
  17,070      3.50%, 6/1/42, Pool #AO6387      17,945  
  415,505      3.00%, 10/1/42, Pool #AB6509      428,788  
  620,330      3.00%, 10/1/42, Pool #AB6504      637,667  
  35,284      3.50%, 11/1/42, Pool #MA1236      37,107  
  712,450      3.00%, 11/1/42, Pool #AB6976      735,234  
  1,585,100      3.50%, 11/1/42, Pool #AL2866      1,665,579  
  277,948      3.00%, 12/1/42, Pool #AB7282      286,829  
  1,258,280      3.00%, 1/1/43, Pool #AB7586      1,298,555  
  315,789      3.00%, 2/1/43, Pool #AT0223      324,615  
  17,704      3.50%, 3/1/43, Pool #AB8733      18,589  
  17,726      3.50%, 3/1/43, Pool #AR4461      18,368  
  50,361      3.50%, 7/1/43, Pool #AT8975      52,808  
  75,911      4.00%, 10/1/43, Pool #BM1167      81,476  
  68,306      3.50%, 11/1/43, Pool #AL9612      72,083  
  655,897      4.50%, 3/1/44, Pool #AV0957      702,304  
  955,179      4.50%, 7/1/44, Pool #AS3062      1,022,024  
  279,543      4.50%, 10/1/44, Pool #AV8856      298,789  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

18


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued       
Federal National Mortgage Association, continued  
$ 322,841      4.50%, 12/1/44, Pool #AS4176    $ 347,238  
  104,199      3.50%, 2/1/45, Pool #BM1014      109,221  
  131,130      4.00%, 5/1/45, Pool #AZ1207      138,777  
  163,173      4.00%, 6/1/45, Pool #AY8126      172,547  
  387,043      4.00%, 6/1/45, Pool #AY8096      409,277  
  617,991      3.50%, 7/1/45, Pool #AZ0814      645,086  
  410,796      3.50%, 8/1/45, Pool #AY8424      428,821  
  537,214      4.50%, 12/1/45, Pool #BA6997      569,866  
  72,975      4.00%, 12/1/45, Pool #AS6352      77,088  
  22,465      4.50%, 1/1/46, Pool #AY3890      23,717  
  237,862      4.00%, 2/1/46, Pool #BC1578      250,927  
  269,882      3.50%, 3/1/46, Pool #BM4621      284,796  
  9,712      4.50%, 3/1/46, Pool #BC0287      10,480  
  62,039      4.00%, 4/1/46, Pool #AS7024      65,361  
  530,952      4.00%, 4/1/46, Pool #AL8468      566,427  
  497,404      4.00%, 6/1/46, Pool #AL9282      524,843  
  127,692      4.50%, 6/1/46, Pool #BD1238      136,248  
  547,303      3.50%, 7/1/46, Pool #AL9515      566,113  
  197,594      4.00%, 7/1/46, Pool #BC1443      210,590  
  27,056      3.50%, 8/1/46, Pool #BD5247      28,489  
  208,992      4.00%, 9/1/46, Pool #BC2843      222,715  
  82,365      4.00%, 9/1/46, Pool #BD1489      86,895  
  16,983      3.50%, 9/1/46, Pool #BD0711      17,883  
  38,443      3.50%, 9/1/46, Pool #BD7792      40,464  
  185,459      4.00%, 10/1/46, Pool #BC4754      197,677  
  1,552,643      3.50%, 10/1/46, Pool #BC4760      1,634,764  
  248,087      3.50%, 10/1/46, Pool #AL9285      255,199  
  66,154      4.50%, 10/1/46, Pool #BE1671      70,608  
  28,537      4.00%, 10/1/46, Pool #BD7599      30,098  
  237,890      3.00%, 11/1/46, Pool #BM3627      244,811  
  72,664      4.50%, 11/1/46, Pool #BE2386      78,415  
  564,864      3.50%, 12/1/46, Pool #BC9077      589,494  
  38,546      3.50%, 12/1/46, Pool #BE5877      40,420  
  966,835      3.50%, 12/1/46, Pool #BD8504      1,017,733  
  12,199      4.50%, 12/1/46, Pool #BC9079      13,153  
  141,499      4.50%, 12/1/46, Pool #BE4488      152,699  
  25,995      3.50%, 1/1/47, Pool #BE7834      27,259  
  423,874      3.50%, 1/1/47, Pool #BE1526      442,190  
  90,090      4.50%, 1/1/47, Pool #BE6506      96,682  
  337,728      3.50%, 1/1/47, Pool #AL9776      349,321  
  90,559      4.50%, 1/1/47, Pool #BE7087      97,038  
  81,602      4.50%, 2/1/47, Pool #BE8498      87,757  
  770,119      4.00%, 2/1/47, Pool #AL9779      814,745  
  122,963      4.00%, 5/1/47, Pool #BM1277      130,975  
  16,094      4.00%, 6/1/47, Pool #BH4269      17,143  
  39,428      4.50%, 6/1/47, Pool #BH0561      42,092  
  20,777      4.50%, 6/1/47, Pool #BE9387      22,286  
  120,607      4.50%, 6/1/47, Pool #BE3663      129,216  
  105,916      4.50%, 7/1/47, Pool #BE3749      113,478  
  78,068      4.00%, 7/1/47, Pool #AS9968      82,516  
  21,219      4.00%, 12/1/47, Pool #BJ4279      22,606  
  21,393      4.00%, 12/1/47, Pool #BJ2132      22,788  
  360,955      3.50%, 12/1/47, Pool #CA0854      378,722  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued       
Federal National Mortgage Association, continued  
$ 19,233      4.00%, 4/1/48, Pool #BJ8805    $ 20,343  
  21,982      4.00%, 4/1/48, Pool #BK2485      23,256  
  19,206      4.00%, 4/1/48, Pool #BK4838      20,309  
  580,180      4.00%, 4/1/48, Pool #BJ9939      610,835  
  95,165      4.50%, 4/1/48, Pool #BJ5454      101,535  
  27,620      4.00%, 4/1/48, Pool #CA1545      29,210  
  141,544      4.00%, 4/1/48, Pool #BM3700      150,747  
  22,415      4.00%, 5/1/48, Pool #BK2527      23,689  
  31,211      4.50%, 5/1/48, Pool #BJ5507      33,331  
  73,005      4.00%, 5/1/48, Pool #BM3877      77,202  
  165,772      4.50%, 10/25/48, Pool #BM4548      180,268  
  45,416      4.00%, 12/1/48, Pool #MA3536      47,276  
  571,149      4.50%, 9/1/49, Pool #FM1534      613,484  
  431,607      3.00%, 9/1/49, Pool #CA4142      440,752  
  363,377      3.00%, 9/1/49, Pool #FM1459      368,662  
  432,433      3.00%, 10/1/49, Pool #CA4406      443,756  
  432,562      3.00%, 10/1/49, Pool #CA4421      441,476  
  99,600      3.50%, 11/1/49, Pool #CA4557      103,873  
  654,545      4.00%, 11/1/49, Pool #CA4628      689,531  
  1,000,000      2.50%, 12/1/49, Pool #BO6208      991,731  
  600,000      3.50%, 1/25/50, TBA      617,156  
     

 

 

 
        33,925,281  
     

 

 

 
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (3.2%)  
  51,949      2.50%, 6/1/31, Pool #J34501      52,750  
  53,590      2.50%, 6/1/31, Pool #G18604      54,193  
  79,686      2.50%, 7/1/31, Pool #V61246      80,915  
  138,163      2.50%, 8/1/31, Pool #V61273      140,539  
  399,314      3.50%, 3/1/32, Pool #C91403      416,920  
  1,059,692      3.50%, 7/1/32, Pool #C91467      1,106,416  
  360,881      2.50%, 12/1/32, Pool #G18669      367,167  
  90,158      2.50%, 3/1/33, Pool #G18680      91,036  
  425,139      3.00%, 4/1/33, Pool #G18684      436,710  
  42,046      3.00%, 4/1/33, Pool #K90336      43,370  
  129,179      3.00%, 5/1/33, Pool #G16550      133,254  
  44,257      3.00%, 6/1/33, Pool #C91709      45,651  
  105,199      3.00%, 6/1/33, Pool #K90632      108,516  
  87,853      3.00%, 6/1/33, Pool #K90806      90,619  
  58,521      3.00%, 6/1/33, Pool #K90684      60,359  
  201,505      3.00%, 7/1/33, Pool #C91714      207,852  
  274,172      2.50%, 7/1/33, Pool #G16661      278,700  
  294,236      3.50%, 11/1/33, Pool #G16677      307,180  
  250,066      3.50%, 2/1/34, Pool #G16752      260,547  
  86,877      3.00%, 4/1/34, Pool #G16829      89,354  
  354,236      3.50%, 10/1/34, Pool #C91793      369,280  
  975,867      4.00%, 5/1/37, Pool #C91938      1,026,974  
  319,843      5.00%, 2/1/38, Pool #G60365      356,572  
  417,549      4.00%, 11/1/40, Pool #A95150      438,646  
  883,779      3.50%, 1/1/44, Pool #G07922      940,612  
  439,275      3.50%, 1/1/44, Pool #G60271      463,982  
  146,130      4.00%, 2/1/45, Pool #G07949      155,612  
  134,959      3.50%, 11/1/45, Pool #Q37467      142,164  
  40,441      4.00%, 4/1/46, Pool #V82292      42,805  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

19


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued       
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, continued  
$ 13,018      4.00%, 4/1/46, Pool #Q39975    $ 13,912  
  266,321      3.50%, 9/1/46, Pool #Q43257      280,837  
  15,780      4.50%, 12/1/46, Pool #Q45028      17,003  
  392,143      3.00%, 12/1/46, Pool #G60989      401,117  
  17,507      4.50%, 1/1/47, Pool #Q45635      18,881  
  35,968      4.50%, 2/1/47, Pool #Q46222      38,622  
  77,421      4.50%, 5/1/47, Pool #Q48095      83,163  
  82,418      4.50%, 5/1/47, Pool #Q47935      88,480  
  32,858      4.50%, 5/1/47, Pool #Q47942      35,286  
  689,281      4.00%, 6/1/47, Pool #Q48877      738,084  
  90,907      4.50%, 6/1/47, Pool #Q48759      97,614  
  545,204      4.00%, 6/1/47, Pool #G08767      572,784  
  731,202      4.00%, 7/1/47, Pool #G08771      771,314  
  68,831      4.50%, 7/1/47, Pool #Q49393      73,911  
  408,107      3.50%, 11/1/47, Pool #Q52086      421,824  
  171,886      4.50%, 12/1/47, Pool #Q53017      183,581  
  271,269      4.00%, 12/1/47, Pool #G61305      284,602  
  15,472      4.50%, 1/1/48, Pool #Q53730      16,529  
  60,587      4.00%, 1/1/48, Pool #V83906      63,537  
  16,450      4.00%, 2/1/48, Pool #Q54499      17,413  
  56,643      4.00%, 2/1/48, Pool #V83994      59,271  
  71,835      4.00%, 2/1/48, Pool #G61343      75,525  
  115,772      4.50%, 4/1/48, Pool #Q55500      123,859  
  136,995      4.50%, 4/1/48, Pool #Q55660      146,459  
  171,029      4.50%, 4/1/48, Pool #Q55724      182,904  
  413,649      4.00%, 5/1/48, Pool #ZA5379      437,527  
  226,913      4.50%, 5/1/48, Pool #Q55839      242,590  
  368,800      4.00%, 5/1/48, Pool #Q55992      390,906  
  442,395      4.00%, 6/1/48, Pool #G67713      473,296  
  140,894      4.00%, 7/1/48, Pool #Q59935      149,149  
  382,113      4.00%, 8/1/48, Pool #ZS4785      398,518  
  72,361      4.50%, 10/1/48, Pool #G67716      77,844  
  50,280      4.00%, 10/1/48, Pool #ZT0712      52,339  
  762,672      3.50%, 5/1/49, Pool #Q63646      795,255  
  1,000,001      3.00%, 6/1/49, Pool #ZT2090      1,011,190  
  950,000      3.00%, 12/1/49, Pool #RA1865      963,812  
     

 

 

 
        18,107,633  
     

 

 

 
 

Total U.S. Government Agency Mortgages (Cost $75,895,729)

     76,997,203  
  

 

 

 
U.S. Treasury Obligations (15.0%):       
U.S. Treasury Inflation Index Notes (1.9%):  
  1,825,219      0.25%, 1/15/25      1,841,040  
  5,157,103      0.63%, 1/15/26      5,314,626  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Treasury Obligations, continued       
U.S. Treasury Inflation Index Notes, continued  
$ 2,179,266      0.13%, 7/15/26    $ 2,186,239  
  1,335,034      0.88%, 1/15/29      1,417,529  
     

 

 

 
        10,759,434  
     

 

 

 
U.S. Treasury Inflation Index Bonds (0.5%):  
  2,215,045      0.75%, 2/15/45      2,300,008  
  83,515      1.00%, 2/15/46      91,925  
  480,631      1.00%, 2/15/49      534,288  
     

 

 

 
        2,926,221  
     

 

 

 
U.S. Treasury Notes (9.6%):  
  1,906,000      1.88%, 7/31/22      1,919,699  
  3,900,000      2.50%, 1/31/24      4,028,578  
  2,961,000      2.13%, 3/31/24      3,015,593  
  3,490,000      1.75%, 6/30/24      3,500,906  
  3,555,000      2.13%, 7/31/24      3,623,878  
  5,588,000      2.50%, 2/28/26      5,821,998  
  4,682,000      1.63%, 9/30/26      4,625,670  
  1,600,000      1.63%, 11/30/26      1,579,750  
  6,146,000      3.13%, 11/15/28      6,762,521  
  5,603,000      1.63%, 8/15/29      5,462,925  
  13,738,000      1.75%, 11/15/29^      13,540,516  
     

 

 

 
        53,882,034  
     

 

 

 
U.S. Treasury Bonds (3.0%):  
  277,000      2.75%, 11/15/47      297,732  
  11,629,000      3.00%, 2/15/49      13,149,855  
  3,127,000      2.88%, 5/15/49      3,455,335  
     

 

 

 
        16,902,922  
     

 

 

 
 

Total U.S. Treasury Obligations (Cost $82,156,790)

     84,470,611  
  

 

 

 
Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on
Loan (2.8%):
      
  15,614,616      BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, 2.00%(e)(f)      15,614,616  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on
Loan (Cost $15,614,616)

     15,614,616  
  

 

 

 
Unaffiliated Investment Companies (1.4%):       
Money Markets (1.4%):       
  7,905,819      Dreyfus Treasury Securities Cash Management Fund, Institutional Shares, 1.44%(e)      7,905,819  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Unaffiliated Investment Companies (Cost $7,905,819)

     7,905,819  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities (Cost $520,545,456) — 103.3%(g)

     577,873,315  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — (3.3)%

     (18,846,494
  

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 559,026,821  
  

 

 

 
 

 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

CVR—Contingency Valued Rights

GO—General Obligation

H15T5Y—5 Year Treasury Constant Maturity Rate

LIBOR—London Interbank Offered Rate

MTN—Medium Term Note

SOFR—Secured Overnight Financing Rate

TBA—To Be Announced Security

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

20


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

US0001M—1 Month US Dollar LIBOR

US0003M—3 Month US Dollar LIBOR

USSW5—USD 5 Year Swap Rate

 

*

Non-income producing security.

 

^

This security or a partial position of this security was on loan as of December 31, 2019. The total value of securities on loan as of December 31, 2019 was $15,188,935.

 

+

The principal amount is disclosed in local currency and the fair value is disclosed in U.S. Dollars.

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

(a)

Security was valued using unobservable inputs in good faith pursuant to procedures approved by the Board of Trustees as of December 31, 2019. The total of all such securities represent 0.00% of the net assets of the fund.

 

(b)

Rule 144A, Section 4(2) or other security which is restricted to resale to institutional investors. The sub-adviser has deemed these securities to be liquid based on procedures approved by the Board of Trustees.

 

(c)

The rate for certain asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities may vary based on factors relating to the pool of assets underlying the security. The rate presented is the rate in effect at December 31, 2019.

 

(d)

Defaulted bond.

 

(e)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(f)

Purchased with cash collateral held from securities lending. The value of the collateral could include collateral held for securities that were sold on or before December 31, 2019.

 

(g)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

Amounts shown as “—” are either $0 or rounds to less than $1.

Futures Contracts

Cash of $88,200 has been segregated to cover margin requirements for the following open contracts as of December 31, 2019:

Long Futures

 

Description    Expiration
Date
     Number of
Contracts
     Notional
Amount
     Value and
Unrealized
Appreciation/
(Depreciation)
 

S&P 500 Index E-Mini March Futures (U.S. Dollar)

     3/20/20        13      $ 2,100,215      $ 31,929  
           

 

 

 
            $ 31,929  
           

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

21


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investment securities, at cost

    $ 520,545,456
   

 

 

 

Investment securities, at value(a)

    $ 577,873,315

Segregated cash for collateral for futures contracts

      88,200

Interest and dividends receivable

      2,892,933

Foreign currency, at value (cost $1,686)

      1,686

Receivable for TBA investments sold

      26,162,779

Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts

      4,658

Reclaims receivable

      154,722

Prepaid expenses

      1,965
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      607,180,258
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Cash overdraft

      1,682

Payable for investments purchased

      347,428

Payable for TBA investments purchased

      31,635,517

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      202,013

Payable for collateral received on loaned securities

      15,614,616

Manager fees payable

      192,178

Administration fees payable

      10,070

Distribution fees payable

      118,389

Custodian fees payable

      5,497

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      2,012

Transfer agent fees payable

      994

Trustee fees payable

      495

Other accrued liabilities

      22,546
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      48,153,437
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 559,026,821
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 474,829,871

Total distributable earnings

      84,196,950
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 559,026,821
   

 

 

 

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      41,548,495

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 13.45
   

 

 

 

 

(a)

Includes securities on loan of $15,188,935.

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Interest

    $ 11,871,983

Dividends

      5,019,140

Income from securities lending

      138,526

Foreign tax reclaims received

      37,748
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      17,067,397
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      3,901,045

Administration fees

      224,867

Distribution fees

      1,393,226

Custodian fees

      34,292

Administrative and compliance services fees

      10,470

Transfer agent fees

      6,209

Trustee fees

      33,064

Professional fees

      29,171

Shareholder reports

      19,123

Other expenses

      18,515
   

 

 

 

Total expenses before reductions

      5,669,982

Less expenses voluntarily waived/reimbursed by the Manager

      (1,393,226 )

Less expense contractually waived/reimbursed by the Manager

      (328,039 )
   

 

 

 

Net expenses

      3,948,717
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      13,118,680
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities and foreign currencies

      14,282,449

Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts

      818,127

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities held short

      (79,141 )

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities and foreign currencies

      60,252,802

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts

      145,087

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities held short

      27,072
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      75,446,396
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 88,565,076
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

22


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 13,118,680     $ 13,219,288

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      15,021,435       21,563,531

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      60,424,961       (45,165,722 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      88,565,076       (10,382,903 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Distributions

      (35,430,519 )       (35,700,076 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (35,430,519 )       (35,700,076 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      9,032,090       12,053,647

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      35,430,518       35,700,076

Value of shares redeemed

      (77,925,529 )       (89,690,641 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      (33,462,921 )       (41,936,918 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      19,671,636       (88,019,897 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      539,355,185       627,375,082
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 559,026,821     $ 539,355,185
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Shares issued

      678,904       913,011

Dividends reinvested

      2,759,386       2,826,609

Shares redeemed

      (5,869,044 )       (6,745,825 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      (2,430,754 )       (3,006,205 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

23


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

    Year Ended December 31,
     2019   2018   2017   2016   2015

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 12.26     $ 13.35     $ 12.43     $ 12.06     $ 13.72
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.31 (a)       0.34       0.28       0.34       0.32

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      1.76       (0.58 )       1.09       0.44       (1.07 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      2.07       (0.24 )       1.37       0.78       (0.75 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.33 )       (0.32 )             (0.18 )       (0.56 )

Net Realized Gains

      (0.55 )       (0.53 )       (0.45 )       (0.23 )       (0.35 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (0.88 )       (0.85 )       (0.45 )       (0.41 )       (0.91 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 13.45     $ 12.26     $ 13.35     $ 12.43     $ 12.06
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(b)

      17.27 %       (2.02 )%       11.12 %       6.52 %       (5.46 )%

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 559,027     $ 539,355     $ 627,375     $ 657,727     $ 735,431

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      2.35 %       2.24 %       2.06 %       2.48 %       2.31 %

Expenses Before Reductions(c)

      1.02 %       1.01 %       1.00 %       1.04 %       1.04 %

Expenses Net of Reductions

      0.71 %       0.71 %       0.71 %       0.97 %       1.04 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate

      77 %       66 %       82 %       148 %(d)       35 %

 

(a)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(b)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(c)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

(d)

Effective October 14, 2016, the investment strategy of the Fund changed. Costs of purchases and proceeds from sales of portfolio securities associated with the changes in investment strategy contributed to higher portfolio turnover rate for the period ended December 31, 2016 as compared to prior years.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

24


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services — Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available. Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Fund accrues such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Foreign Currency Translation and Withholding Taxes

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding and other income or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Funds accrue such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Structured Notes

The Fund may invest in structured notes, the values of which are based on the price movements of a reference security or index. Structured notes are derivative debt securities, the interest rate or principal of which is determined by an unrelated indicator. The terms of the structured notes may provide that in certain circumstances no principal is due at maturity and therefore, may result in a loss of invested capital. Structured notes may be positively or negatively indexed, so that appreciation of the reference may produce an increase or a decrease in the interest rate or the value of the structured note at maturity may be calculated as a specified multiple of the change in the value of the reference; therefore, the value of such security may be very volatile. Structured notes may entail a greater degree of market risk than other types of debt securities because the investor bears the risk of the reference. Structured notes may also be more volatile, less liquid, and more difficult to accurately price than less complex securities or more traditional debt securities.

 

25


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Securities Purchased on a When-Issued Basis

The Fund may purchase securities on a when-issued basis. When-issued securities are securities purchased for delivery beyond the normal settlement date at a stated price and yield and thereby involve risk that the yield obtained in the transaction will be less than that available in the market when the delivery takes place. A Fund will not pay for such securities or start earning interest on them until they are received. When a Fund agrees to purchase securities on a when-issued basis, the Fund will segregate or designate cash or liquid assets equal to the amount of the commitment. Securities purchased on a when-issued basis are recorded as an asset and are subject to changes in the value based upon changes in the general level of interest rates. A Fund may sell when-issued securities before they are delivered, which may result in a capital gain or loss.

Short Sales

The Fund may engage in short sales against the box (i.e., where the Fund owns or has an unconditional right to acquire at no additional cost a security substantially similar to the security sold short) for hedging purposes to limit exposure to a possible market decline in the value of its portfolio securities. In a short sale, the Fund sells a borrowed security and has a corresponding obligation to the lender to return the identical security. The Fund may also incur an interest expense if a security that has been sold short has an interest payment. When the Fund engages in a short sale, the Fund records a liability for securities sold short and records an asset equal to the proceeds received. The amount of the liability is subsequently marked to market to reflect the market value of the securities sold short. To borrow the security, the Fund also may be required to pay a premium, which would increase the cost of the security sold.

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

Bank Loans

The Fund may invest in bank loans, which generally have interest rates which are reset periodically by reference to a base lending rate plus a premium. These base rates are primarily the London-Interbank Offered Rate and, secondarily, the prime rate offered by one or more major U.S. banks and the certificate of deposit rate or other base lending rates used by commercial lenders. Bank loans often require prepayments from excess cash flows or allow the borrower to repay at its election. The rate at which the borrower repays cannot be predicted with accuracy. Therefore, the anticipated or actual maturity may be considerably earlier than the stated maturity shown in the Schedule of Portfolio of Investments. All or a portion of any bank loans may be unfunded. The portfolio is obligated to fund any commitments at the borrower’s discretion. Therefore, the portfolio must have funds sufficient to cover its contractual obligation.

Securities Lending

To generate additional income, the Fund may lend up to 33 1/3% of its assets pursuant to agreements requiring that the loan be continuously secured by any combination of cash, U.S. government or U.S. government agency securities, equal initially to at least 102% of the fair value plus accrued interest on the securities loaned (105% for foreign securities). The borrower of securities is at all times required to post collateral to the Fund in an amount equal to 100% of the fair value of the securities loaned based on the previous day’s fair value of the securities loaned, marked-to-market daily. Any collateral shortfalls are adjusted the next business day. The Fund bears all of the gains and losses on such investments. The Fund receives payments from borrowers equivalent to the dividends and interest that would have been earned on securities lent while simultaneously seeking to earn income on the investment of cash collateral received. In extremely low interest rate environments, the broker rebate fee may exceed the interest earned or the cash collateral which would result in a loss to the Fund. The investment of cash collateral deposited by the borrower is subject to inherent market risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks that are present in the market, and as such, the value of these investments may not be sufficient, when liquidated, to repay the borrower when the loaned security is returned. There may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. However, loans will be made only to borrowers, such as broker-dealers, banks or institutional borrowers of securities, deemed by the Manager to be of good standing and credit worthy and when in its judgment, the consideration which can be earned currently from such securities loans justifies the attendant risks. Loans are subject to termination by the Trust or the borrower at any time, and are, therefore, not considered to be illiquid investments. Securities on loan at December 31, 2019 are presented on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

Cash collateral received in connection with securities lending is invested on behalf of the Fund in the BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, a money market fund which invests in short-term investments that have a remaining maturity of 397 days or less in accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. The Fund pays the Securities Lending Agent 9% of the gross revenues received from securities lending activities and keeps 91%. The Fund paid securities lending fees of $13,695 during the year ended December 31, 2019. These fees have been netted against “Income from securities lending” on the Statement of Operations. The Fund had securities lending transactions of $15,614,616 accounted for as secured borrowings with cash collateral of overnight and continuous maturities as of December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019, there were no master netting provisions in the securities lending agreement.

 

26


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

TBA Purchase and Sale Commitments

The Fund may enter into to-be-announced (TBA) purchase or sale commitments, pursuant to which it agrees to purchase or sell, respectively, mortgage-backed securities for a fixed unit price, with payment and delivery at a scheduled future date beyond the customary settlement period for such securities. With TBA transactions, the particular securities to be delivered are not identified at the trade date; however, delivered securities must meet specified terms, including issuer, rate, and mortgage term, and be within industry-accepted “good delivery” standards. The Fund may enter into TBA purchase transactions with the intention of taking possession of the underlying securities, may elect to extend the settlement by “rolling” the transaction, and/or may use TBAs to gain interim exposure to underlying securities. Until settlement, the Fund maintains liquid assets sufficient to settle its TBA commitments.

To mitigate counterparty risk, the Fund has entered into agreements with TBA counterparties that provide for collateral and the right to offset amounts due to or from those counterparties under specified conditions. Subject to minimum transfer amounts, collateral requirements are determined and transfers made based on the net aggregate unrealized gain or loss on all TBA commitments with a particular counterparty. At any time, the Fund’s risk of loss from a particular counterparty related to its TBA commitments is the aggregate unrealized gain on appreciated TBAs in excess of unrealized loss on depreciated TBAs and collateral held, if any, by such counterparty. As of December 31, 2019, no collateral had been posted by the Fund to counterparties for TBAs.

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not engage in any Rule 17a-7 transactions under the Rule.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In March 2017, FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2017-08 (“ASU 2017-08”), “Receivables — Nonrefundable Fees and Other Costs (Subtopic 310-20): Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities”. ASU 2017-08 changed the amortization period for non-contingently callable debt securities held at a premium. Specifically, it required the premium to be amortized to the earliest call date. ASU 2017-08 does not require an accounting change for securities held at a discount, which continues to accrete to maturity. The Fund has adopted ASU 2017-08 on a modified retrospective basis as of January 1, 2019. The adoption of ASU 2017-08 did not have a significant impact on the amortized cost of investments as of January 1, 2019, and had no impact on beginning net assets, the current period results from operations, or any prior period information presented in the financial statements.

Derivative Instruments

All open derivative positions at period end are reflected on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments. The following is a description of the derivative instruments utilized by the Fund, including the primary underlying risk exposures related to each instrument type.

Futures Contracts

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund used futures contracts to manage its exposure to the securities markets or to movements in market conditions or foreign exchange rates. Futures contracts are valued based upon their quoted daily settlement prices. Upon entering into a futures contract, the Fund is required to segregate liquid assets in accordance with the initial margin requirements of the broker or exchange. Futures contracts are marked to market daily and a payable or receivable for the change in value (“variation margin”) is recorded by the Fund. Gains or losses are recognized but not considered realized until the contracts expire or are closed. Futures contracts involve, to varying degrees, elements of market risk (generally equity price risk related to stock futures, interest rate risk related to bond futures, and foreign currency risk related to currency futures) and exposure to loss in excess of the variation margin disclosed in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are the imperfect correlation between the change in fair value of the underlying securities and the prices of futures contracts, the possibility of an illiquid market, and the inability of the counterparty to meet the terms of the contract. The monthly average notional amount for long contracts was $2.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Realized gains and losses are reported as “Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts” on the Statement of Operations.

Summary of Derivative Instruments

The following is a summary of the fair values of derivative instruments on the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities, categorized by risk exposure, as of December 31, 2019:

 

   

Asset Derivatives

   

Liability Derivatives

 
Primary Risk Exposure   Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
    Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
 

Equity Risk

     
Equity Contracts   Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $ 31,929     Payable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $  

 

*

For futures contracts, the amounts represent the cumulative appreciation/depreciation of these futures contracts as reported in the Schedule of Portfolio Investments. Only the current day’s variation margin is reported within the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as Variation margin on futures contracts.

 

27


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

The following is a summary of the effect of derivative instruments on the Statement of Operations, categorized by risk exposure, for the year ended December 31, 2019:

 

Primary Risk Exposure   Location of Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
   Realized Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
     Change in Net Unrealized
Appreciation/Depreciation on
Derivatives Recognized
 

Equity Risk

     
Equity Contracts  

Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts/

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts

   $ 818,127      $ 145,087  

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained two independent money management organizations (the “Subadviser”), FIAM LLC (“FIAM”) and Geode Capital Management, LLC (“Geode”) to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to subadvisory agreements with the Manager and FIAM, and the Manager and Geode provide investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate*      Annual Expense Limit

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

         0.70 %          0.71 %

 

*

The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.45% on all assets. The manager reserves the right to increase the management fee to the amount shown in the table at any time.

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.”

At December 31, 2019, the contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years were as follows:

 

        Expires
12/31/2020
     Expires
12/31/2021
     Expires
12/31/2022
     Total

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

       $ 268,430        $ 287,302        $ 328,039        $ 883,771

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations.

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $4,180 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

 

28


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Futures contracts are valued at the last sales price as of the close of the primary exchange and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy.

Debt and other fixed income securities are generally valued at an evaluated bid price provided by an independent pricing source approved by the Trustees. To value debt securities, pricing services may use various pricing techniques which take into account appropriate factors such as market activity, yield, quality, coupon rate, maturity, type of issue, trading characteristics, call features, credit ratings and other data, as well as broker quotes. Short-term securities of sufficient credit quality with sixty days or less remaining until maturity may be valued at amortized cost, which approximates fair value. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total
                             

Common Stocks+

       $ 225,581,594        $        $        $ 225,581,594

Warrants

                           #         

Rights

         11,498                            11,498

Asset Backed Securities

                  6,088,630                   6,088,630

Collateralized Mortgage Obligations

                  12,894,084                   12,894,084

Corporate Bonds+

                  101,311,317                   101,311,317

Foreign Bonds+

                  44                   44

Yankee Dollars+

                  42,446,619                   42,446,619

Municipal Bonds

                  4,551,280                   4,551,280

U.S. Government Agency Mortgages

                  76,997,203                   76,997,203

U.S. Treasury Obligations

                  84,470,611                   84,470,611

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

         15,614,616                            15,614,616

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

         7,905,819                            7,905,819
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

         249,113,527          328,759,788                   577,873,315
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Other Financial Instruments:*

                           

Futures Contracts

         31,929                            31,929
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $ 249,145,456        $ 328,759,788        $        $ 577,905,244
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

#

Represents the interest in securities that were determined to have a value of zero at December 31, 2019.

 

*

Other Financial Instruments would include any derivative instruments, such as futures contracts. These investments are generally presented in the financial statements at variation margin.

 

29


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

       $ 421,581,220        $ 478,370,122

For the year ended December 31, 2019, purchases and sales of long-term U.S. government securities were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

       $ 186,898,016        $ 198,607,934

6. Investment Risks

Derivatives Risk: The Fund may invest in derivatives as a principal strategy. A derivative is a financial contract whose value depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or risk. Use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Derivatives are subject to a number of other risks, such as liquidity risk, interest rate risk, market risk, credit risk, and selection risk. Derivatives also involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate, or index. Using derivatives may result in losses, possibly in excess of the principal amount invested. Also, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances. The counterparty to a derivatives contract could default. As required by applicable law, a Fund that invests in derivatives segregates cash or liquid securities, or both, to the extent that its obligations under the instrument are not covered through ownership of the underlying security, financial instrument, or currency.

Emerging Markets Risk: Emerging markets may have less developed trading markets and exchanges which may make it more difficult to sell securities at an acceptable price and their prices may be more volatile than securities of companies in more developed markets. Settlements of trades may be subject to greater delays so that the Fund may not receive the proceeds of a sale of a security on a timely basis. Emerging countries may also have less developed legal and accounting systems and investments may be subject to greater risks of government restrictions, nationalization, or confiscation.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Investments in securities of foreign issuers carry certain risks not ordinarily associated with investments in securities of domestic issuers. Such risks include future political and economic developments, and the possible imposition of exchange controls or other foreign governmental laws and restrictions. In addition, with respect to certain countries, there is the possibility of expropriation of assets, confiscatory taxation, political or social instability or diplomatic developments which could adversely affect investments in those securities.

London Interbank Offering Rate (“LIBOR”) Risk: Certain investments held by the Fund may pay or receive interest at floating rates based on LIBOR. The United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority expects the use of LIBOR will be phased out by the end of 2021. Currently, there are no definitive details regarding the future utilization of LIBOR or of any particular replacement floating rate of interest. Abandonment of or modifications to LIBOR could lead to market uncertainty and instability. To the extent that the Fund’s investments have maturities which extend beyond 2021, the applicable interest rates might be subject to change if there is a transition from the LIBOR reference rate. These risks may also apply with respect to changes in connection with other interbank offering rates (e.g., Euribor) and a wide range of other index levels, rates and values that are treated as “benchmarks” and are the subject of recent regulatory reform.

Mortgage-Related and Other Asset-Backed Risk: The Fund may invest in a variety of mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities, which are subject to certain additional risks. Generally, rising interest rates tend to extend the duration of fixed rate mortgage-related securities, making them more sensitive to changes in interest rates. As a result, in a period of rising interest rates, a Fund that holds mortgage-related securities may exhibit additional volatility. This is known as extension risk. In addition, adjustable and fixed rate mortgage-related securities are subject to call risk. When interest rates decline, borrowers may pay off their mortgages sooner than expected. This can reduce the returns of a Fund because the Fund will have to reinvest that money at the lower prevailing interest rates. If a Fund purchases mortgage-backed or asset-backed securities that are subordinated to other interests in the same mortgage pool, the Fund may receive payments only after the pool’s obligations to other investors have been satisfied. An unexpectedly high rate of defaults on the mortgages held by a mortgage pool may limit substantially the pool’s ability to make payments of principal or interest to the Fund as a holder of such subordinated securities, reducing the values of those securities or in some cases rendering them worthless. An unexpectedly high or low rate of prepayments on a pool’s underlying mortgages may have a similar effect on subordinated securities. A mortgage pool may issue securities subject to various levels of subordination. The risk of non-payment affects securities at each level, although the risk is greater in the case of more highly subordinated securities. A Fund’s investments in other asset-backed securities are subject to risks similar to those associated with mortgage-related securities, as well as additional risks associated with the nature of the assets and the servicing of those assets.

Short Sale Risk: The Fund may engage in short sales, which are transactions in which the Fund sells securities borrowed from others with the expectation that the price of the security will fall before the Fund must purchase the security to return it to the lender. The Fund may make short sales of securities, either as a hedge against potential declines in value of a portfolio security or to realize appreciation when a security that the Fund does not own declines in value. Because making short sales in securities that it does not own exposes the Fund to the risks associated with those securities, such short sales involve speculative exposure risk. The Fund will incur a loss as a result of a short sale if the price of the security increases between the date of the short sale and the date on which the Fund replaces the security sold short. The Fund will realize a gain if the security declines in price between those dates. As a result, if the Fund makes short sales in securities that increase in value, it will likely underperform similar funds that do not make short sales in securities they do not own. There can be no assurance that the Fund will be able to close out a short sale position at any particular time or at an acceptable price. Although the Fund’s gain is limited to the amount at which it sold a security short, its potential loss is limited only by the maximum attainable price of the security, less the price at which the security was sold. The Fund may also pay transaction costs and borrowing fees in connection with short sales.

7. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

 

30


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $522,510,796. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 58,548,018  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (3,185,499
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 55,362,519  
 

 

 

 

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

       $ 15,313,364        $ 20,117,155        $ 35,430,519

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

       $ 24,240,658        $ 11,459,418        $ 35,700,076

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
     Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
     Total
Accumulated
Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

       $ 15,184,809        $ 13,637,221        $        $ 55,374,920        $ 84,196,950

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales and mark-to-market of futures contracts.

8. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had multiple shareholder accounts which are affiliated with the Investment Adviser representing ownership in excess of 95% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

9. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

31


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Multi-Strategy Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

32


Other Federal Income Tax Information (Unaudited)

For the year ended December 31, 2019, 29.03% of the total ordinary income dividends paid by the Fund qualify for the corporate dividends received deductions available to corporate shareholders.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net short-term capital gain distributions of $2,021,810.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net long-term capital gain distributions of $20,117,155.

 

33


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

34


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for

 

35


the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

 

 

36


The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

37


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

38


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

39


 

LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.   
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL® Fidelity Institutional Asset Management®

Total Bond Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 21

Statement of Operations

Page 21

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 22

Financial Highlights

Page 23

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 24

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 30

Other Information

Page 31

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 32

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 35

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® Fidelity Institutional Asset Management® Total Bond Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® Fidelity Institutional Asset Management® Total Bond Fund and FIAM LLC serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 

 

 

 

   

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® Fidelity Institutional Asset Management® Total Bond Fund (Class 2 Shares) (the “Fund”) returned 10.28%. That compared to a 8.72% total return for its benchmark, the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index1.

The U.S. bond market benefitted from the Federal Reserve Board’s dovish shift during the period, recovering from the heightened volatility it experienced in late 2018. Falling yields boosted fixed-income returns. In particular, September saw 10-year Treasury yields fall to levels last seen in July 2016. The Treasury yield curve was partially inverted at the beginning of the year, generating fears of an imminent recession, but the curve flattened during the period and steepened in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, a reduction in credit spreads led corporate bonds and other credit-sensitive bonds to outperform U.S. Government bonds, as investors aimed for higher returns from relatively riskier securities.

The two largest contributors to the Fund’s absolute returns were its positions in investment-grade corporate bonds and high-yield bonds. Both experienced meaningful spread reductions as fear of an imminent recession subsided. Within investment-grade corporate bonds, real estate investment trusts2 (REITs) and the banking, communications, consumer non-cyclicals and energy sectors were the biggest contributors to absolute returns. The Fund’s banking exposure benefitted from generally benign economic conditions. Meanwhile, mortgage-backed securities and Treasuries were also positive contributors on an absolute basis.*

 

The Fund outperformed its benchmark, benefiting from strong security selection and strong sector allocation. Overweight positions in high-yield bonds and investment-grade corporate bonds boosted relative returns. Within investment-grade corporate bonds, an overweight position in financials contributed to relative performance, as did strong selection among U.S. and European banks, REITs and industrials.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

*

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmark please refer to page 2 of this report.

2 

The performance of investments in real estate depends on the overall strength of the real estate market, the management of real estate investments trusts (REITs), real estate operating companies (REOCs), and foreign real estate companies, and property management, all of which can be affected by a variety of factors, including national and regional economic conditions.

 

 

1


AZL® Fidelity Institutional Asset Management® Total Bond Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

 

     
The Fund’s investment objective is to seek a high level of current income. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets in investment-grade debt securities (those of medium and high quality) of all types and repurchase agreements for those securities.      

 

Investment Concerns

 

     

Bonds offer a relatively stable level of income, although bond prices will fluctuate, providing the potential for principal gain or loss. Intermediate-term, higher-quality bonds generally offer less risk than longer-term bonds and a lower rate of return.

 

     

Emerging market investing may be subject to additional economic, political, liquidity, and currency risks not associated with more developed countries.

 

     

International investing may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuations in currency values, from differences in generally accepted accounting principles or from economic or political instability in other nations.

 

     

Mortgage-backed investments involve risk of loss due to prepayments and, like any bond, due to default. Because of the sensitivity of mortgage-related securities to changes in interest rates, the Fund’s performance may be more volatile than if it did not hold these securities.

 

     

The performance of investments in real estate depends on the overall strength of the real estate market, the management of real estate investments trusts (REITs), real estate operating companies (REOCs), and foreign real estate companies, and property management, all of which can be affected by a variety of factors, including national and regional economic conditions.

 

     

High-yield bonds have a higher risk of default or other adverse credit events, but have the potential to pay higher earnings over investment-grade bonds. The higher risk of default, or the inability of the creditor to repay its debt, is the primary reason for the higher interest rates on high-yield bonds.

 

     

Debt securities held by the Fund may decline in value due to rising interest rates.

 

     

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 

     

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmark and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

     Inception      1     3     5     Since  
     Date      Year     Year     Year     Inception  

AZL® Fidelity Institutional Asset Management® Total Bond Fund (Class 1 Shares)

     10/28/16        10.57     4.60     —         3.58

AZL® Fidelity Institutional Asset Management® Total Bond Fund (Class 2 Shares)

     9/5/12        10.28     4.33     3.49     2.88

Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index

     9/5/12        8.72     4.03     3.05     2.65

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratios

   Gross  

AZL® Fidelity Institutional Asset Management® Total Bond Fund (Class 1 Shares)

     0.56

AZL® Fidelity Institutional Asset Management® Total Bond Fund (Class 2 Shares)

     0.81

The above expense ratios are based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses such as interest expense to 0.70% for Class 1 Shares and 0.95% for Class 2 Shares through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratios can be found in the Financial Highlights.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, which is an unmanaged market value-weighted performance benchmark for investment-grade fixed-rate debt issues, including government, corporate, asset-backed, and mortgage-backed securities, with maturities of at least one year. The index does not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The Fund’s performance reflects the deduction of fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

 

2


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund, Class 1

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,031.10     $ 2.87       0.56 %

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,029.40     $ 4.14       0.81 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund, Class 1

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,022.38     $ 2.85       0.56 %

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,021.12     $ 4.13       0.81 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

 

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

Corporate Bonds

      32.9 %

U.S. Government Agency Mortgages

      23.7

U.S. Treasury Obligations

      22.9

Yankee Dollars

      13.0

Collateralized Mortgage Obligations

      3.9

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

      1.7

Asset Backed Securities

      1.7

Municipal Bonds

      1.2

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

      0.6

Common Stocks

        

Warrants

        
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      101.6

Net other assets (liabilities)

      (1.6 )
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

    

 

 

3


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares or

Principal

Amount

           Fair Value  
Common Stocks (0.0%):       
Energy Equipment & Services (0.0%):       
  7,612      Weatherford International plc*    $ 212,756  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (0.0%):       
  22      Amplify Energy Corp., 6.05%      145  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Common Stocks (Cost $178,882)

     212,901  
  

 

 

 
Warrants (0.0%):       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (0.0%):       
  3,930      Amplify Energy Corp., 4/21/20       
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.0%):       
  600,000      T Mobile Escrow Shares, 4/15/25(a)       
     

 

 

 
 

Total Warrants (Cost $8,435)

      
  

 

 

 
Asset Backed Securities (1.7%):       
$ 327,952      Aaset Trust, Class A, Series 2018-1A, 3.84%, 1/16/38(b)      328,844  
  1,583,152      Aaset Trust, Class A, Series 2017-1A, 3.97%, 5/16/42(b)      1,596,122  
  474,314      Aaset Trust, Class A, Series 2019-2, 3.38%, 10/16/39(b)      470,070  
  321,033      Aaset Trust, Class A, Series 2019-1, 3.84%, 5/15/39(b)      323,201  
  158,854      Blackbird Capital Aircraft, Class AA, Series 2016-1A, 2.49%, 12/16/41, Callable 12/15/24 @ 100(b)(c)      158,321  
  663,161      Blackbird Capital Aircraft, Class A, Series 2016-1A, 4.21%, 12/16/41, Callable 12/15/24 @ 100(b)(c)      677,195  
  521,431      Castlelake Aircraft Structured Trust, Class A, Series 2018-1A, 4.13%, 6/15/43(b)      530,051  
  488,964      Castlelake Aircraft Structured Trust, Class A, Series 2019-1, 3.97%, 4/15/39(b)      495,544  
  235,079      Castlelake Aircraft Structured Trust, Class B, Series 2019-1, 5.10%, 4/15/39(b)      236,967  
  334,180      DB Master Finance LLC, Class A2I, Series 2017-1A, 3.63%, 11/20/47, Callable 11/20/21 @ 100(b)      338,491  
  561,540      DB Master Finance LLC, Class A2II, Series 2017-1A, 4.03%, 11/20/47, Callable 11/20/23 @ 100(b)      577,369  
  232,987      Horizon Aircraft Finance, Ltd., Class A, Series 2018-1, 4.46%, 12/15/38(b)      239,187  
  241,987      Horizon Aircraft Finance, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-1, 3.72%, 7/15/39(b)      241,689  
  337,000      Planet Fitness Master Issuer LLC, Class A2, Series 1A, 3.86%, 12/5/49, Callable 12/5/25 @ 100(b)      333,869  
  402,667      Project Silver, Class A, Series 2019-1, 3.97%, 7/15/44(b)      406,572  
  558,268      Thunderbolt Aircraft Lease, Ltd., Class A, Series 2018, 4.15%, 9/15/38(b)(c)      566,100  
  439,493      Thunderbolt Aircraft Lease, Ltd., Class A, Series 2017-A, 4.21%, 5/17/32, Callable 4/15/24 @ 100(b)(c)      448,322  
  562,631      Thunderbolt Aircraft Lease, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-1, 3.67%, 11/15/39(b)      559,536  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Asset Backed Securities (Cost $8,443,735)

     8,527,450  
  

 

 

 
Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (3.9%):       
  500,000      AIMCO CLO, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-10A, 3.62%(US0003M+132bps), 7/22/32, Callable 7/22/21 @ 100(b)      499,154  

Principal

Amount

           Fair Value  
Asset Backed Securities, continued       
Collateralized Mortgage Obligations, continued       
$ 250,000      Allegany Park CLO, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-1A(US0003M+133bps), 1/20/33(b)    $ 250,000  
  534,000      Ares CLO, Ltd., Class AR, Series 2016-41A, 3.20%(US0003M+120bps), 1/15/29, Callable 7/15/20 @ 100(b)      533,810  
  393,000      Ares CLO, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-54A, 3.17%(US0003M+132bps), 10/15/32, Callable 10/15/21 @ 100(b)      393,054  
  273,000      BAMLL Commercial Mortgage Securities Trust, Class ANM, Series 2019-BPR, 3.11%, 11/5/32(b)      278,893  
  100,000      BAMLL Commercial Mortgage Securities Trust, Class BNM, Series 2019-BPR, 3.47%, 11/5/32(b)      102,233  
  250,000      Beechwood Park CLO, Ltd., Class A1, Series 2019-1A, 3.23%(US0003M+133bps), 1/17/33, Callable 1/17/22 @ 100(b)      250,000  
  467,000      Benchmark Mortgage Trust, Class A5, Series 2018-B8, 4.23%, 1/15/52      524,847  
  146,300      BX Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class F, Series 2018-IND, 3.54%(US0001M+180bps), 11/15/35(b)      146,353  
  560,000      BX Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class E, Series 2019-XL, 3.54%(US0001M+180bps), 10/15/36(b)      560,487  
  400,000      BX Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A, Series 2019-IMC, 2.74%(US0001M+100bps), 4/15/34(b)      400,246  
  266,000      BX Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class B, Series 2019-IMC, 3.04%(US0001M+130bps), 4/15/34(b)      265,761  
  176,000      BX Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class C, Series 2019-IMC, 3.34%(US0001M+160bps), 4/15/34(b)      176,000  
  185,000      BX Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class D, Series 2019-IMC, 3.64%(US0001M+190bps), 4/15/34(b)      184,926  
  224,000      BX Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class B, Series 2019-XL, 2.82%(US0001M+108bps), 10/15/36(b)      224,276  
  281,000      BX Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class C, Series 2019-XL, 2.99%(US0001M+125bps), 10/15/36(b)      281,346  
  399,000      BX Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class D, Series 2019-XL, 3.19%(US0001M+145bps), 10/15/36(b)      399,491  
  154,256      BX Trust, Class D, Series 2018-EXCL, 4.36%(US0001M+263bps), 9/15/20(b)      154,058  
  261,000      Cedar Funding CLO, Ltd., Class A1A, Series 2019-11A, 3.26%(US0003M+135bps), 5/29/32, Callable 5/29/21 @ 100(b)      260,980  
  346,000      Cedar Funding CLO, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-10A, 3.47%(US0003M+134bps), 10/20/32, Callable 10/20/21 @ 100(b)      346,341  
  627,000      CHC Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A, Series 2019-CHC, 2.86%(US0001M+112bps), 6/15/34(b)      626,246  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Asset Backed Securities, continued       
Collateralized Mortgage Obligations, continued       
$ 123,000      CHC Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class B, Series 2019-CHC, 3.24%(US0001M+150bps), 6/15/34(b)    $ 122,691  
  139,000      CHC Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class C, Series 2019-CHC, 3.49%(US0001M+175bps), 6/15/34(b)      138,652  
  89,000      Citigroup Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A4, Series 2018-C6, 4.41%, 11/10/51      100,280  
  232,000      CSAIL Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A4, Series 2018-C14, 4.42%, 11/15/51      260,610  
  1,384,000      CSMC Trust, Class D, Series 2017-PFHP, 3.99%(US0001M+225bps), 12/15/30(b)      1,383,681  
  309,000      CSMC Trust, Class A, Series 2018, 4.28%, 4/15/36(b)      324,669  
  100,000      CSMC Trust, Class B, Series 2018, 4.53%, 4/15/36(b)      105,009  
  100,000      CSMC Trust, Class C, Series 2018, 4.78%, 4/15/36(b)      104,720  
  128,000      CSMC Trust, Class D, Series 2018, 4.78%, 4/15/36(b)      132,005  
  427,000      Dryden CLO, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-72A, 3.24%(US0003M+133bps), 5/15/32, Callable 5/15/21 @ 100(b)      427,614  
  250,000      Dryden CLO, Ltd., Class A1, Series 2019-76A, 3.26%(US0003M+133bps), 10/20/32, Callable 10/20/21 @ 100(b)      250,251  
  604,000      Dryden CLO, Ltd., Class AR2, Series 2014-36A, 3.28%(US0003M+128bps), 4/15/29, Callable 4/15/20 @ 100(b)      604,065  
  438,000      Flatiron CLO, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-1A, 3.21%(US0003M+132bps), 11/16/32, Callable 11/16/21 @ 100(b)      437,982  
  63,000      J.P. Morgan Chase Commercial Mortgage Securities Trust, Class CFX, Series 2018-WPT, 4.95%, 7/5/23(b)      67,089  
  97,000      J.P. Morgan Chase Commercial Mortgage Securities Trust, Class DFX, Series 2018-WPT, 5.35%, 7/5/23(b)      103,298  
  133,000      J.P. Morgan Chase Commercial Mortgage Securities Trust, Class EFX, Series 2018-WPT, 5.54%, 7/5/23(b)      140,584  
  500,000      Madison Park Funding, Ltd., Class A1, Series 2019-37A, 3.60%(US0003M+130bps), 7/15/32, Callable 7/15/21 @ 100(b)      501,486  
  250,000      Madison Park Funding, Ltd., Class AR2, Series 2012-101, 3.19%(US0003M+122bps), 1/20/29, Callable 7/20/20 @ 100(b)      250,233  
  250,000      Madison Park Funding, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-33A, 3.17%(US0003M+133bps), 10/15/32, Callable 1/15/22 @ 100(b)      250,091  
  284,000      Magnetite, Ltd., Class A, Series 24, 3.24%(US0003M+133bps), 1/15/33, Callable 1/15/22 @ 100(b)      283,995  
  461,000      Magnetite, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-21A, 3.25%(US0003M+128bps), 4/20/30, Callable 4/20/20 @ 100(b)      461,234  
  904,000      Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, Class C, Series 2018-BOP, 3.24%(US0001M+150bps), 6/15/35(b)      904,000  
  375,000      Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, Class B, Series 2018-BOP, 2.99%(US0001M+125bps), 6/15/35(b)      375,000  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Asset Backed Securities, continued       
Collateralized Mortgage Obligations, continued       
$ 777,000      Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, Class A4, Series 2018-H4, 4.31%, 12/15/51    $ 868,996  
  82,000      Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, Class C, Series 2019-Mead, 3.18%, 11/10/36(b)      81,712  
  86,000      Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, Class B, Series 2019-Mead, 3.18%, 11/10/36(b)      86,887  
  593,000      Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, Class A, Series 2019-Mead, 3.17%, 11/10/36(b)      612,250  
  56,775      MSCG Trust, Class A, Series 2016-SNR, 3.35%, 11/15/34(b)(c)      56,767  
  199,750      MSCG Trust, Class B, Series 2016-SNR, 4.18%, 11/15/34(b)      201,746  
  140,250      MSCG Trust, Class C, Series 2016-SNR, 5.21%, 11/15/34(b)      143,038  
  500,000      Niagara Park CLO, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-1A, 3.30%(US0003M+130bps), 7/17/32, Callable 7/17/21 @ 100(b)      499,453  
  401,000      RETL, Class C, Series 2019-RVP, 3.84%(US0001M+210bps), 3/15/36(b)      399,993  
  509,000      VERDE CLO, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-1A, 3.35%(US0003M+135bps), 4/15/32, Callable 4/15/21 @ 100(b)      508,459  
  516,000      Voya CLO, Ltd., Class A, Series 2019-2, 3.52%(US0003M+127bps), 7/20/32, Callable 7/20/21 @ 100(b)      516,223  
  555,000      Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A5, Series 2018-C48, 4.30%, 1/15/52      624,186  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (Cost $18,954,265)

     19,187,451  
  

 

 

 
Corporate Bonds (32.9%):       
Aerospace & Defense (0.4%):       
  365,000      BBA US Holdings, Inc., 5.38%, 5/1/26, Callable 5/1/21 @ 102.69(b)      384,163  
  315,000      BWX Technologies, Inc., 5.38%, 7/15/26, Callable 7/15/21 @ 102.69(b)      333,900  
  20,000      Moog, Inc., 4.25%, 12/15/27, Callable 12/15/22 @ 103.19(b)      20,350  
  585,000      TransDigm, Inc., 6.50%, 7/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.25      604,012  
  365,000      TransDigm, Inc., 6.25%, 3/15/26, Callable 3/15/22 @ 103.13(b)      395,113  
     

 

 

 
        1,737,538  
     

 

 

 
Banks (2.2%):       
  534,000      Bank of America Corp., 3.00%(US0003M+79bps), 12/20/23, Callable 12/20/22 @ 100      545,929  
  656,000      Bank of America Corp., 4.20%, 8/26/24, MTN      704,064  
  612,000      Bank of America Corp., Series L, 3.95%, 4/21/25      651,834  
  128,000      Bank of America Corp., Series G, 4.45%, 3/3/26      140,304  
  250,000      Bank of America Corp., Series AA, 6.10%(US0003M+390bps), 12/29/49, Callable 3/17/25 @ 100      277,188  
  75,000      Bank of America Corp., Series X, 6.25%(US0003M+371bps), 12/31/49, Callable 9/5/24 @ 100      83,438  
  245,000      CIT Group, Inc., 6.13%, 3/9/28      289,100  
  1,090,000      Citigroup, Inc., 4.05%, 7/30/22      1,139,079  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Banks, continued       
$ 393,000      Citigroup, Inc., 3.35%(US0003M+90bps), 4/24/25, Callable 4/24/24 @ 100    $ 408,932  
  1,642,000      Citigroup, Inc., 4.30%, 11/20/26      1,785,575  
  250,000      Citizens Bank NA, 2.55%, 5/13/21, Callable 4/13/21 @ 100      251,580  
  2,994,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 3.88%, 9/10/24      3,203,571  
  500,000      Regions Bank, 6.45%, 6/26/37      642,821  
  470,000      Wells Fargo & Co., Series S, 5.90%(US0003M+311bps), 12/31/49, Callable 6/15/24 @ 100      509,950  
     

 

 

 
        10,633,365  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (0.3%):       
  509,000      Anheuser-Busch InBev Worldwide, Inc., 4.75%, 4/15/58, Callable 10/15/57 @ 100      595,512  
  523,000      Anheuser-Busch InBev Worldwide, Inc., 5.80%, 1/23/59, Callable 7/23/58 @ 100      714,357  
     

 

 

 
        1,309,869  
     

 

 

 
Building Products (0.1%):       
  255,000      Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc., 5.00%, 9/30/27, Callable 9/30/22 @ 102.5(b)      262,650  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (2.3%):       
  282,000      Affiliated Managers Group, Inc., 4.25%, 2/15/24      300,401  
  572,000      Affiliated Managers Group, Inc., 3.50%, 8/1/25      597,586  
  706,000      Ares Capital Corp., 4.20%, 6/10/24, Callable 5/10/24 @ 100      741,793  
  596,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The), 2.88%(US0003M+82bps), 10/31/22, Callable 10/31/21 @ 100      603,435  
  194,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The), 6.75%, 10/1/37      270,645  
  230,000      Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., 2.75%, 12/1/20, Callable 11/1/20 @ 100      231,435  
  227,000      Moody’s Corp., 4.88%, 2/15/24, Callable 11/15/23 @ 100      249,801  
  7,000,000      Morgan Stanley, 3.74%(US0003M+85bps), 4/24/24, Callable 4/24/23 @ 100      7,289,282  
  220,000      MSCI, Inc., 4.75%, 8/1/26, Callable 8/1/21 @ 102.38(b)      230,450  
  457,000      Pine Street Trust I, 4.57%, 2/15/29, Callable 11/15/28 @ 100(b)      489,782  
  500,000      Pine Street Trust II, 5.57%, 2/15/49, Callable 8/15/48 @ 100(b)      556,519  
     

 

 

 
        11,561,129  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (0.2%):       
  110,000      Chemours Co., 7.00%, 5/15/25, Callable 5/15/20 @ 103.5      110,275  
  200,000      Chemours Co., 5.38%, 5/15/27, Callable 2/15/27 @ 100      176,750  
  370,000      Platform Specialty Products Corp., 5.88%, 12/1/25, Callable 12/1/20 @ 102.94(b)      385,725  
  200,000      Valvoline, Inc., 4.38%, 8/15/25, Callable 8/15/20 @ 103.28      205,500  
  300,000      W R Grace & Co., 5.63%, 10/1/24(b)      331,500  
     

 

 

 
        1,209,750  
     

 

 

 
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Commercial Services & Supplies (0.2%):       
$ 280,000      ADT Corp., 4.88%, 7/15/32(b)    $ 256,900  
  300,000      Aramark Services, Inc., 5.00%, 4/1/25, Callable 4/1/20 @ 103.75(b)      312,750  
  300,000      Tempo Finance, Corp., 6.75%, 6/1/25, Callable 6/1/20 @ 103.38(b)      310,125  
     

 

 

 
        879,775  
     

 

 

 
Construction & Engineering (0.3%):       
  375,000      AECOM, 5.88%, 10/15/24, Callable 7/15/24 @ 100      414,375  
  405,000      AECOM, 5.13%, 3/15/27, Callable 12/15/26 @ 100      434,868  
  220,000      Brand Industrial Services, Inc., 8.50%, 7/15/25, Callable 7/15/20 @ 106.34(b)      224,950  
  20,000      Summit Midstream Holdings LLC, 5.50%, 8/15/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.38      17,700  
  465,000      Summit Midstream Holdings LLC, 5.75%, 4/15/25, Callable 4/15/20 @ 104.31      354,563  
     

 

 

 
        1,446,456  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (2.9%):       
  115,000      Ally Financial, Inc., 3.88%, 5/21/24, Callable 4/21/24 @ 100      120,175  
  645,000      Ally Financial, Inc., 5.75%, 11/20/25, Callable 10/21/25 @ 100      721,594  
  534,000      Capital One Financial Corp., 3.80%, 1/31/28, Callable 12/31/27 @ 100      574,036  
  797,000      Capital One NA, Series B, 2.95%, 7/23/21, Callable 6/23/21 @ 100      808,150  
  292,000      Capital One NA, 2.15%, 9/6/22, Callable 8/6/22 @ 100      292,350  
  250,000      Discover Bank, 7.00%, 4/15/20      253,460  
  644,000      Discover Bank, 3.20%, 8/9/21, Callable 7/9/21 @ 100      654,324  
  250,000      Discover Bank, Series B, 4.68%(USSW5+173bps), 8/9/28, Callable 8/9/23 @ 100      260,852  
  1,000,000      Discover Financial Services, 5.20%, 4/27/22      1,065,923  
  383,000      Discover Financial Services, 4.50%, 1/30/26, Callable 11/30/25 @ 100      419,136  
  457,000      Discover Financial Services, 4.10%, 2/9/27, Callable 11/9/26 @ 100      490,214  
  240,000      Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, 5.09%, 1/7/21      245,229  
  496,000      Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, 5.60%, 1/7/22      522,023  
  504,000      Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, 5.58%, 3/18/24, Callable 2/18/24 @ 100      543,819  
  1,490,000      Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, 4.06%, 11/1/24, Callable 10/1/24 @ 100      1,520,197  
  105,000      General Motors Acceptance Corp., 8.00%, 11/1/31      145,031  
  747,000      General Motors Financial Co., Inc., 4.20%, 3/1/21, Callable 2/1/21 @ 100      762,655  
  210,000      Navient Corp., 6.63%, 7/26/21      221,813  
  30,000      Navient Corp., 7.25%, 1/25/22, MTN      32,625  
  275,000      Navient Corp., 6.50%, 6/15/22      298,375  
  50,000      Navient Corp., 5.50%, 1/25/23      53,250  
  575,000      Navient Corp., 7.25%, 9/25/23      651,188  
  65,000      Navient Corp., 6.13%, 3/25/24, MTN      70,525  
  25,000      Navient Corp., 5.88%, 10/25/24      26,813  
  175,000      Navient Corp., 6.75%, 6/15/26      192,500  
  290,000      Springleaf Finance Corp., 6.88%, 3/15/25      329,513  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Consumer Finance, continued       
$ 100,000      Springleaf Finance Corp., 7.13%, 3/15/26    $ 115,625  
  415,000      Synchrony Bank, Series B, 3.65%, 5/24/21, Callable 4/24/21 @ 100      423,167  
  510,000      Synchrony Financial, 3.75%, 8/15/21, Callable 6/15/21 @ 100      521,417  
  119,000      Synchrony Financial, 2.85%, 7/25/22, Callable 6/25/22 @ 100      120,601  
  184,000      Synchrony Financial, 4.38%, 3/19/24, Callable 2/19/24 @ 100      195,662  
  314,000      Synchrony Financial, 4.25%, 8/15/24, Callable 5/15/24 @ 100      335,161  
  663,000      Synchrony Financial, 3.95%, 12/1/27, Callable 9/1/27 @ 100      696,473  
  529,000      Synchrony Financial, 5.15%, 3/19/29, Callable 12/19/28 @ 100      601,179  
     

 

 

 
        14,285,055  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (0.2%):       
  150,000      Berry Global Escrow Corp., 4.88%, 7/15/26, Callable 7/15/22 @ 102.44(b)      159,209  
  125,000      Crown Americas LLC, 4.75%, 2/1/26, Callable 2/1/21 @ 103.56      131,875  
  100,000      Crown Americas LLC, 4.25%, 9/30/26, Callable 3/31/26 @ 100      104,250  
  80,000      Crown Cork & Seal Co., Inc., 7.38%, 12/15/26      95,300  
  300,000      Reynolds Group Issuer, Inc., 5.13%, 7/15/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.56(b)      307,125  
  160,000      Reynolds Group Issuer, Inc., 7.00%, 7/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.5(b)      165,600  
  170,000      Silgan Holdings, Inc., 4.75%, 3/15/25, Callable 3/15/20 @ 102.38      174,038  
     

 

 

 
        1,137,397  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Consumer Services (0.4%):       
  170,000      APX Group, Inc., 7.88%, 12/1/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.97      171,488  
  340,000      APX Group, Inc., 7.63%, 9/1/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 105.72^      321,300  
  200,000      Ascend Learning LLC, 6.88%, 8/1/25, Callable 8/1/20 @ 103.44(b)      210,000  
  200,000      Ascend Learning LLC, 6.88%, 8/1/25, Callable 8/1/20 @ 103.44(b)      210,000  
  120,000      Frontdoor, Inc., 6.75%, 8/15/26, Callable 8/15/21 @ 105.06(b)      131,100  
  690,000      Laureate Education, Inc., 8.25%, 5/1/25, Callable 5/1/20 @ 106.19(b)      744,337  
  100,000      Service Corp International, 5.13%, 6/1/29, Callable 6/1/24 @ 102.56      105,875  
     

 

 

 
        1,894,100  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (0.6%):       
  91,000      AXA Equitable Holdings, Inc., 3.90%, 4/20/23, Callable 3/20/23 @ 100      95,339  
  270,000      Banff Merger Sub, Inc., 9.75%, 9/1/26, Callable 9/1/21 @ 104.88(b)      274,050  
  165,000      Camelot Finance SA, 4.50%, 11/1/26, Callable 11/1/22 @ 102.25(b)      169,331  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Diversified Financial Services, continued       
$ 140,000      EP Energy LLC/Everest Acquisition Finance, Inc., 7.75%, 5/15/26, Callable 5/15/21 @ 105.81(b)(d)    $ 98,000  
  290,000      Flex Acquisition Co., Inc., 6.88%, 1/15/25, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.44(b)      291,813  
  125,000      Flex Acquisition Co., Inc., 7.88%, 7/15/26, Callable 7/15/21 @ 103.94(b)      125,938  
  830,000      Level 3 Financing, Inc., 5.38%, 1/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.34      842,449  
  300,000      Level 3 Financing, Inc., 5.38%, 5/1/25, Callable 5/1/20 @ 102.69      310,125  
  500,000      Peachtree Funding Trust, 3.98%, 2/15/25(b)      527,553  
  285,000      Voya Financial, Inc., 3.13%, 7/15/24, Callable 5/15/24 @ 100      292,851  
     

 

 

 
        3,027,449  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (0.8%):       
  481,000      AT&T, Inc., 2.45%, 6/30/20, Callable 5/30/20 @ 100      482,329  
  867,000      AT&T, Inc., 3.60%, 2/17/23, Callable 12/17/22 @ 100      904,992  
  42,000      AT&T, Inc., 4.45%, 4/1/24, Callable 1/1/24 @ 100      45,493  
  215,000      AT&T, Inc., 4.30%, 2/15/30, Callable 11/15/29 @ 100      239,103  
  500,000      AT&T, Inc., 5.15%, 11/15/46, Callable 5/15/46 @ 100      596,244  
  300,000      AT&T, Inc., 4.50%, 3/9/48, Callable 9/9/47 @ 100      330,172  
  185,000      CenturyLink, Inc., 5.13%, 12/15/26, Callable 12/15/22 @ 102.56(b)      187,775  
  530,000      Frontier Communications Corp., 7.05%, 10/1/46      242,475  
  200,000      Qwest Corp., 7.25%, 9/15/25      229,479  
  747,000      Zayo Group LLC/Zayo Capital, Inc., 6.38%, 5/15/25, Callable 5/15/20 @ 103.19      769,410  
     

 

 

 
        4,027,472  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (1.4%):       
  270,000      Alliant Holdings Intermediate LLC/Alliant Holdings Co-Issuer, 6.75%, 10/15/27, Callable 10/15/22 @ 103.38(b)      288,900  
  255,000      Cleco Corporate Holdings LLC, 3.38%, 9/15/29, Callable 6/11/29 @ 100(b)      253,001  
  1,217,000      Edison International, 5.75%, 6/15/27, Callable 4/15/27 @ 100      1,364,017  
  163,000      Emera US Finance LP, 2.70%, 6/15/21, Callable 5/15/21 @ 100      164,245  
  260,000      Emera US Finance LP, 3.55%, 6/15/26, Callable 3/15/26 @ 100      269,748  
  2,306,000      FirstEnergy, Inc., Series B, 4.25%, 3/15/23, Callable 12/15/22 @ 100      2,431,878  
  763,000      IPALCO Enterprises, Inc., 3.45%, 7/15/20, Callable 6/15/20 @ 100      764,908  
  211,000      IPALCO Enterprises, Inc., 3.70%, 9/1/24, Callable 7/1/24 @ 100      217,858  
  175,000      NextEra Energy Operating Partners LP, 4.25%, 9/15/24, Callable 7/15/24 @ 100(b)      182,000  
  226,344      NSG Holdings LLC/NSG Holdings, Inc., 7.75%, 12/15/25(b)      250,110  
  175,000      NV Energy, Inc., 6.25%, 11/15/20      181,270  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Electric Utilities, continued       
$ 600,000      Vistra Operations Co. LLC, 5.50%, 9/1/26, Callable 9/1/21 @ 102.75(b)    $ 634,500  
  140,000      Vistra Operations Co. LLC, 5.00%, 7/31/27, Callable 7/31/22 @ 102.5(b)      145,950  
     

 

 

 
        7,148,385  
     

 

 

 
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (0.1%):       
  380,000      TTM Technologies, Inc., 5.63%, 10/1/25, Callable 10/1/20 @ 102.81(b)      392,825  
     

 

 

 
Energy Equipment & Services (0.1%):       
  115,000      Archrock Partners LP/Finance Corp., 6.88%, 4/1/27, Callable 4/1/22 @ 105.16(b)      121,325  
  170,000      Nabors Industries, Inc., 5.50%, 1/15/23, Callable 11/15/22 @ 100^      164,050  
  154,000      Weatherford International, Ltd., 11.00%, 12/1/24, Callable 12/1/21 @ 105.5(b)      166,513  
     

 

 

 
        451,888  
     

 

 

 
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (3.6%):       
  152,000      American Campus Communities, Inc., 3.75%, 4/15/23, Callable 1/15/23 @ 100      158,269  
  161,000      AvalonBay Communities, Inc., 3.63%, 10/1/20, Callable 7/1/20 @ 100      162,310  
  454,000      Brandywine Operating Partners LP, 4.10%, 10/1/24, Callable 7/1/24 @ 100      478,496  
  421,000      Brandywine Operating Partners LP, 3.95%, 11/15/27, Callable 8/15/27 @ 100      441,286  
  522,000      Brandywine Operating Partners LP, 4.55%, 10/1/29, Callable 7/1/29 @ 100      568,230  
  489,000      Brandywine Realty Trust, 3.95%, 2/15/23, Callable 11/15/22 @ 100      507,967  
  514,000      Brixmor Operating Partnership LP, 3.88%, 8/15/22, Callable 6/15/22 @ 100      535,336  
  788,000      Brixmor Operating Partnership LP, 3.25%, 9/15/23, Callable 7/15/23 @ 100      811,954  
  393,000      Brixmor Operating Partnership LP, 4.13%, 5/15/29, Callable 2/15/29 @ 100      421,177  
  134,000      Camden Property Trust, 2.95%, 12/15/22, Callable 9/15/22 @ 100      136,653  
  70,000      Corecivic, Inc., 4.13%, 4/1/20      70,000  
  381,000      Corporate Office Properties Trust, 3.70%, 6/15/21, Callable 4/15/21 @ 100      385,341  
  414,000      Corporate Office Properties Trust, 5.00%, 7/1/25, Callable 4/1/25 @ 100      446,201  
  205,000      Corrections Corp. of America, 5.00%, 10/15/22, Callable 7/15/22 @ 100      205,769  
  35,000      Corrections Corp. of America, 4.63%, 5/1/23, Callable 2/1/23 @ 100      34,650  
  350,000      DDR Corp., 4.63%, 7/15/22, Callable 4/15/22 @ 100      365,406  
  256,000      Duke Realty LP, 3.88%, 10/15/22, Callable 7/15/22 @ 100      266,647  
  273,000      Duke Realty LP, 3.63%, 4/15/23, Callable 1/15/23 @ 100      283,627  
  146,000      Duke Realty LP, 3.75%, 12/1/24, Callable 9/1/24 @ 100      154,560  
  500,000      Equity One, Inc., 3.75%, 11/15/22, Callable 8/15/22 @ 100      518,831  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts, continued       
$ 40,000      Geo Group, Inc. (The), 5.88%, 10/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.94    $ 36,400  
  240,000      GLP Capital LP, 5.25%, 6/1/25, Callable 3/1/25 @ 100      261,772  
  45,000      HCP, Inc., 3.25%, 7/15/26, Callable 5/15/26 @ 100      46,585  
  52,000      HCP, Inc., 3.50%, 7/15/29, Callable 4/15/29 @ 100      54,139  
  102,000      Healthcare Trust of America Holdings LP, 3.50%, 8/1/26, Callable 5/1/26 @ 100      106,439  
  98,000      Healthcare Trust of America Holdings LP, 3.10%, 2/15/30, Callable 11/15/29 @ 100      97,306  
  615,000      Hudson Pacific Properties LP, 4.65%, 4/1/29, Callable 1/1/29 @ 100      675,475  
  135,000      Lexington Realty Trust, 4.40%, 6/15/24, Callable 3/15/24 @ 100      140,382  
  500,000      Mack-Cali Realty LP, 4.50%, 4/18/22, Callable 1/18/22 @ 100      506,792  
  401,000      Mack-Cali Realty LP, 3.15%, 5/15/23, Callable 2/15/23 @ 100      393,481  
  595,000      MGM Growth Properties LLC, 4.50%, 9/1/26, Callable 6/1/26 @ 100      626,238  
  75,000      MGM Growth Properties LLC, 5.75%, 2/1/27, Callable 11/1/26 @ 100(b)      83,719  
  300,000      MPT Operating Partnership LP/MPT Finance Corp., 5.25%, 8/1/26, Callable 8/1/21 @ 102.63      317,250  
  820,000      Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc., 4.38%, 8/1/23, Callable 6/1/23 @ 100      871,526  
  126,000      Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc., 4.95%, 4/1/24, Callable 1/1/24 @ 100      137,887  
  281,000      Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc., 4.50%, 1/15/25, Callable 10/15/24 @ 100      300,279  
  1,931,000      Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc., 4.50%, 4/1/27, Callable 1/1/27 @ 100      2,085,917  
  435,000      Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc., 3.63%, 10/1/29, Callable 7/1/29 @ 100      437,050  
  70,000      Post Apartment Homes LP, 3.38%, 12/1/22, Callable 9/1/22 @ 100      72,124  
  68,000      Retail Opportunity Investments Corp., 5.00%, 12/15/23, Callable 9/15/23 @ 100      70,706  
  104,000      Retail Opportunity Investments Corp., 4.00%, 12/15/24, Callable 9/15/24 @ 100      105,743  
  458,000      SBA Tower Trust, 2.84%, 1/15/25(b)      460,741  
  147,000      STORE Capital Corp., 4.63%, 3/15/29, Callable 12/15/28 @ 100      162,336  
  161,000      Tanger Properties LP, 3.88%, 12/1/23, Callable 9/1/23 @ 100      165,233  
  452,000      Tanger Properties LP, 3.75%, 12/1/24, Callable 9/1/24 @ 100      462,286  
  387,000      Tanger Properties LP, 3.13%, 9/1/26, Callable 6/1/26 @ 100      384,332  
  85,000      The Geo Group, Inc., 6.00%, 4/15/26, Callable 4/15/21 @ 103      75,438  
  118,000      Ventas Realty LP, 3.13%, 6/15/23, Callable 3/15/23 @ 100      120,798  
  199,000      Ventas Realty LP, 4.00%, 3/1/28, Callable 12/1/27 @ 100      212,851  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts, continued       
$ 569,000      Ventas Realty LP, 3.00%, 1/15/30, Callable 10/15/29 @ 100    $ 564,158  
  130,000      Vici Properties, 4.25%, 12/1/26, Callable 12/1/22 @ 102.13(b)      133,738  
  67,000      Weingarten Realty Investors, 3.38%, 10/15/22, Callable 7/15/22 @ 100      68,526  
  814,000      WP Carey, Inc., 4.00%, 2/1/25, Callable 11/1/24 @ 100      854,625  
  101,000      WP Carey, Inc., 3.85%, 7/15/29, Callable 4/15/29 @ 100      106,983  
     

 

 

 
        18,151,965  
     

 

 

 
Food & Staples Retailing (0.1%):       
  100,000      US Foods, Inc., 5.88%, 6/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.94(b)      103,000  
  405,000      Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., 3.30%, 11/18/21, Callable 9/18/21 @ 100      412,609  
     

 

 

 
        515,609  
     

 

 

 
Food Products (0.6%):       
  88,000      Conagra Brands, Inc., 3.80%, 10/22/21      90,682  
  550,000      JBS USA Finance, Inc., 5.88%, 7/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.94(b)      566,500  
  1,030,000      JBS USA Finance, Inc., 5.75%, 6/15/25, Callable 6/15/20 @ 102.88(b)      1,066,050  
  83,000      JBS USA Finance, Inc., 6.75%, 2/15/28, Callable 2/15/23 @ 103.38(b)      91,508  
  400,000      JBS USA Finance, Inc., 6.50%, 4/15/29, Callable 4/15/24 @ 103.25(b)      444,000  
  225,000      JBS USA Finance, Inc., 5.50%, 1/15/30, Callable 1/15/25 @ 102.75(b)      240,750  
  300,000      Post Holding, Inc., 5.00%, 8/15/26, Callable 8/15/21 @ 102.5(b)      316,500  
     

 

 

 
        2,815,990  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (0.1%):       
  249,000      Becton Dickinson & Co., 2.40%, 6/5/20      249,225  
  190,000      Teleflex, Inc., 4.88%, 6/1/26, Callable 6/1/21 @ 102.44      198,788  
     

 

 

 
        448,013  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (2.3%):       
  325,000      Centene Corp., 4.75%, 1/15/25, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.56(b)      337,594  
  475,000      Centene Corp., 4.25%, 12/15/27, Callable 12/15/22 @ 102.13(b)      489,250  
  630,000      Centene Corp., 4.63%, 12/15/29, Callable 12/15/24 @ 102.31(b)      663,075  
  421,000      Cigna Corp., 3.75%, 7/15/23, Callable 6/15/23 @ 100      439,446  
  299,000      Cigna Corp., 4.13%, 11/15/25, Callable 9/15/25 @ 100      323,726  
  526,000      Cigna Corp., 4.38%, 10/15/28, Callable 7/15/28 @ 100      582,622  
  620,000      Community Health Systems, Inc., 6.25%, 3/31/23, Callable 3/31/20 @ 103.13      627,750  
  185,000      Community Health Systems, Inc., 8.63%, 1/15/24, Callable 1/15/21 @ 104.31(b)      195,638  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Health Care Providers & Services, continued       
$ 600,000      Community Health Systems, Inc., 8.00%, 3/15/26, Callable 3/15/22 @ 104(b)    $ 622,500  
  400,000      CVS Health Corp., 3.70%, 3/9/23, Callable 2/9/23 @ 100      416,475  
  59,000      CVS Health Corp., 2.63%, 8/15/24, Callable 7/15/24 @ 100      59,557  
  1,017,000      CVS Health Corp., 4.10%, 3/25/25, Callable 1/25/25 @ 100      1,090,531  
  1,181,000      CVS Health Corp., 4.30%, 3/25/28, Callable 12/25/27 @ 100      1,288,081  
  526,000      CVS Health Corp., 4.78%, 3/25/38, Callable 9/25/37 @ 100      595,441  
  30,000      HCA, Inc., 4.75%, 5/1/23      32,100  
  500,000      HCA, Inc., 5.38%, 2/1/25      552,500  
  280,000      MPH Acquisition Holdings, 7.13%, 6/1/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 105.34(b)      271,600  
  1,042,000      Tenet Healthcare Corp., 8.13%, 4/1/22      1,152,713  
  355,000      Tenet Healthcare Corp., 6.75%, 6/15/23      390,500  
  235,000      Tenet Healthcare Corp., 7.00%, 8/1/25, Callable 8/1/20 @ 103.5^      247,925  
  130,000      Tenet Healthcare Corp., 6.25%, 2/1/27, Callable 2/1/22 @ 103.13(b)      140,075  
  181,000      Toledo Hospital (The), Series B, 5.33%, 11/15/28      194,405  
  407,000      Toledo Hospital (The), 6.02%, 11/15/48      459,989  
  20,000      Vizient, Inc., 6.25%, 5/15/27, Callable 5/15/22 @ 103.13(b)      21,500  
     

 

 

 
        11,194,993  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (0.5%):       
  495,000      Caesars Resort Collection LLC, 5.25%, 10/15/25, Callable 10/15/20 @ 102.63(b)      511,087  
  145,000      Eldorado Resorts, Inc., 7.00%, 8/1/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.5      151,163  
  30,000      Eldorado Resorts, Inc., 6.00%, 9/15/26, Callable 9/15/21 @ 104.5      33,038  
  360,000      Golden Entertainment, Inc., 7.63%, 4/15/26, Callable 4/15/22 @ 103.81(b)      382,049  
  300,000      Golden Nugget, Inc., 6.75%, 10/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.38(b)      310,125  
  150,000      Penn National Gaming, Inc., 5.63%, 1/15/27, Callable 1/15/22 @ 102.81(b)      158,813  
  180,000      Scientific Games International, Inc., 5.00%, 10/15/25, Callable 10/15/20 @ 103.75(b)      188,100  
  145,000      Station Casinos LLC, 5.00%, 10/1/25, Callable 10/1/20 @ 102.5(b)      147,719  
  160,000      Twin River Worldwide Holdings, Inc., 6.75%, 6/1/27, Callable 6/1/22 @ 105.06(b)      168,600  
  170,000      Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc., 5.38%, 4/15/26, Callable 4/15/21 @ 102.69(b)      179,350  
  155,000      Wynn Las Vegas LLC, 5.50%, 3/1/25, Callable 12/1/24 @ 100(b)      166,044  
     

 

 

 
        2,396,088  
     

 

 

 
Independent Power and Renewable Electricity
Producers (0.1%):
      
  115,000      Clearway Energy Operating LLC, 5.75%, 10/15/25, Callable 10/15/21 @ 102.88      121,325  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers, continued  
$ 45,000      Clearway Energy Operating LLC, 4.75%, 3/15/28, Callable 3/15/23 @ 103.56(b)    $ 45,675  
  150,000      NRG Energy, Inc., 5.25%, 6/15/29, Callable 6/15/24 @ 102.63(b)      162,375  
  260,000      Talen Energy Supply LLC, 10.50%, 1/15/26, Callable 1/15/22 @ 105.25(b)      247,000  
  35,000      TerraForm Power Operating LLC, 4.25%, 1/31/23, Callable 10/31/22 @ 100(b)      35,963  
  40,000      TerraForm Power Operating LLC, 5.00%, 1/31/28, Callable 7/31/27 @ 100(b)      42,150  
     

 

 

 
        654,488  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (0.1%):       
  395,000      Icahn Enterprises LP/Icahn Enterprises Finance Corp., 6.75%, 2/1/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.38      409,319  
  165,000      Icahn Enterprises LP/Icahn Enterprises Finance Corp., 6.25%, 5/15/26, Callable 5/15/22 @ 103.13      175,725  
     

 

 

 
        585,044  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (1.6%):       
  1,208,000      American International Group, Inc., 3.75%, 7/10/25, Callable 4/10/25 @ 100      1,292,660  
  290,000      AmWINS Group, Inc., 7.75%, 7/1/26, Callable 7/1/21 @ 105.81(b)      320,450  
  40,000      Liberty Mutual Group, Inc., 4.25%, 6/15/23(b)      42,502  
  140,000      Liberty Mutual Group, Inc., 4.57%, 2/1/29(b)      156,682  
  2,184,000      Metropolitan Life Global Funding I, 2.03%(SOFR+50bps), 5/28/21(b)      2,187,622  
  651,000      Pacific Lifecorp, 5.13%, 1/30/43(b)      757,568  
  165,000      Tiaa Asset Management Finance LLC, 4.13%, 11/1/24(b)      178,430  
  463,000      Unum Group, 3.88%, 11/5/25      485,362  
  349,000      Unum Group, 4.00%, 6/15/29, Callable 3/15/29 @ 100      368,230  
  1,556,000      Unum Group, 5.75%, 8/15/42      1,718,043  
  195,000      USIS Merger Sub, Inc., 6.88%, 5/1/25, Callable 5/1/20 @ 103.44(b)      198,413  
     

 

 

 
        7,705,962  
     

 

 

 
Interactive Media & Services (0.1%):       
  290,000      Rackspace Hosting, Inc., 8.63%, 11/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 106.47^(b)      283,475  
     

 

 

 
Leisure Products (0.1%):       
  137,000      Hasbro, Inc., 2.60%, 11/19/22      137,831  
  311,000      Hasbro, Inc., 3.00%, 11/19/24, Callable 10/19/24 @ 100      312,396  
  195,000      Mattel, Inc., 6.75%, 12/31/25, Callable 12/31/20 @ 105.06(b)      209,381  
     

 

 

 
        659,608  
     

 

 

 
Life Sciences Tools & Services (0.1%):       
  145,000      Charles River Laboratories International, Inc., 5.50%, 4/1/26, Callable 4/1/21 @ 104.13(b)      156,056  
  20,000      Charles River Laboratories International, Inc., 4.25%, 5/1/28, Callable 5/1/23 @ 102.13(b)      20,400  
  300,000      IMS Health, Inc., 5.00%, 10/15/26, Callable 10/15/21 @ 102.5(b)      316,500  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Life Sciences Tools & Services, continued       
$ 225,000      IQVIA, Inc., 5.00%, 5/15/27, Callable 5/15/22 @ 102.5(b)    $ 237,938  
     

 

 

 
        730,894  
     

 

 

 
Media (2.6%):       
  1,237,000      CCO Holdings LLC, 5.88%, 4/1/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 104.41(b)      1,278,749  
  300,000      CCO Holdings LLC, 5.50%, 5/1/26, Callable 5/1/21 @ 102.75(b)      315,750  
  700,000      CCO Holdings LLC, 5.88%, 5/1/27, Callable 5/1/21 @ 102.94(b)      738,500  
  347,000      CSC Holdings LLC, 5.38%, 7/15/23, Callable 1/21/20 @ 102.69(b)      355,675  
  420,000      CSC Holdings LLC, 7.75%, 7/15/25, Callable 7/15/20 @ 103.88(b)      446,775  
  160,000      CSC Holdings LLC, 7.50%, 4/1/28, Callable 4/1/23 @ 103.75(b)      180,600  
  300,000      DISH DBS Corp., 5.88%, 11/15/24      305,625  
  410,000      DISH Network Corp., 3.38%, 8/15/26      396,473  
  59,000      Fox Corp., 3.67%, 1/25/22(b)      60,940  
  103,000      Fox Corp., 4.03%, 1/25/24, Callable 12/25/23 @ 100(b)      109,745  
  149,000      Fox Corp., 4.71%, 1/25/29, Callable 10/25/28 @ 100(b)      169,485  
  147,000      Fox Corp., 5.48%, 1/25/39, Callable 7/25/38 @ 100(b)      178,956  
  98,000      Fox Corp., 5.58%, 1/25/49, Callable 7/25/48 @ 100(b)      123,558  
  1,000,000      Neptune Finco Corp., 6.63%, 10/15/25, Callable 10/15/20 @ 103.31(b)      1,061,250  
  710,000      Radiate Holdco LLC/Radiate Finance, Inc., 6.63%, 2/15/25, Callable 2/15/20 @ 103.31(b)      717,100  
  300,000      Sirius XM Radio, Inc., 4.63%, 5/15/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.54(b)      304,875  
  105,000      Sirius XM Radio, Inc., 4.63%, 7/15/24, Callable 7/15/21 @ 102.31(b)      109,725  
  792,000      Sirius XM Radio, Inc., 5.38%, 4/15/25, Callable 4/15/20 @ 102.69(b)      817,740  
  195,000      Sirius XM Radio, Inc., 5.38%, 7/15/26, Callable 7/15/21 @ 102.69(b)      206,944  
  930,000      Time Warner Cable, Inc., 4.00%, 9/1/21, Callable 6/1/21 @ 100      952,126  
  359,000      Time Warner Cable, Inc., 6.55%, 5/1/37      440,415  
  418,000      Time Warner Cable, Inc., 7.30%, 7/1/38      547,497  
  2,240,000      Time Warner Cable, Inc., 6.75%, 6/15/39      2,830,440  
  103,000      Time Warner Cable, Inc., 5.50%, 9/1/41, Callable 3/1/41 @ 100      115,079  
     

 

 

 
        12,764,022  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (0.1%):       
  297,000      Freeport-McMoRan, Inc., 3.55%, 3/1/22, Callable 12/1/21 @ 100      300,713  
     

 

 

 
Mortgage Real Estate Investment Trusts (0.0%):       
  65,000      Starwood Property Trust, Inc., 4.75%, 3/15/25, Callable 9/15/24 @ 100      68,575  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

10


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Multi-Utilities (0.4%):       
$ 1,371,000      Dominion Resources, Inc., Series 06-B, 4.26%(US0003M+230bps), 9/30/66, Callable 1/29/20 @ 100    $ 1,271,602  
  49,000      Puget Energy, Inc., 6.00%, 9/1/21      51,944  
  506,000      Sempra Energy, 6.00%, 10/15/39      657,974  
     

 

 

 
        1,981,520  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (5.0%):       
  695,000      California Resources Corp., 8.00%, 12/15/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102^(b)      305,800  
  640,000      Cheniere Corpus Christi Holdings LLC, 7.00%, 6/30/24, Callable 1/1/24 @ 100      737,599  
  1,075,000      Cheniere Energy Partners LP, 5.25%, 10/1/25, Callable 10/1/20 @ 102.63      1,119,343  
  475,000      Cheniere Energy Partners LP, 5.63%, 10/1/26, Callable 10/1/21 @ 102.81      502,313  
  120,000      Chesapeake Energy Corp., 7.00%, 10/1/24, Callable 4/1/21 @ 103.5      72,300  
  450,000      Chesapeake Energy Corp., 8.00%, 1/15/25, Callable 2/10/20 @ 106      265,500  
  340,000      Chesapeake Energy Corp., 8.00%, 6/15/27, Callable 6/15/22 @ 104^      200,600  
  75,000      Citgo Holding, Inc., 9.25%, 8/1/24, Callable 8/1/21 @ 104.63(b)      80,438  
  320,000      Citgo Petroleum Corp., 6.25%, 8/15/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.56(b)      324,400  
  434,000      Columbia Pipeline Group, 3.30%, 6/1/20, Callable 5/1/20 @ 100      435,624  
  197,000      Columbia Pipeline Group, 4.50%, 6/1/25, Callable 3/1/25 @ 100      215,217  
  290,000      Comstock Resources, Inc., 9.75%, 8/15/26, Callable 8/15/21 @ 107.31      262,450  
  290,000      Crestwood Midstream Partners LP, 6.25%, 4/1/23, Callable 1/24/20 @ 103.13      295,800  
  150,000      Crestwood Midstream Partners LP, 5.75%, 4/1/25, Callable 4/1/20 @ 104.31      153,000  
  150,000      CVR Refining LLC/Coffeyville Finance, Inc., 6.50%, 11/1/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.08      152,438  
  163,000      DCP Midstream Operating LLC, 3.88%, 3/15/23, Callable 12/15/22 @ 100      166,668  
  185,000      DCP Midstream Operating LLC, 5.60%, 4/1/44, Callable 10/1/43 @ 100      178,988  
  200,000      DCP Midstream Operating LP, 5.38%, 7/15/25, Callable 4/15/25 @ 100      217,500  
  750,000      DCP Midstream Operating LP, 5.85%(US0003M+385bps), 5/21/43, Callable 5/21/23 @ 100(b)      695,624  
  565,000      Denbury Resources, Inc., 9.25%, 3/31/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 109.25(b)      531,100  
  245,000      Denbury Resources, Inc., 7.75%, 2/15/24, Callable 8/15/20 @ 103.88(b)      212,538  
  124,000      Enable Midstream Partners LP, 3.90%, 5/15/24, Callable 2/15/24 @ 100      126,167  
  81,000      Energy Transfer Operating LP, 4.25%, 3/15/23, Callable 12/15/22 @ 100      84,630  
  103,000      Energy Transfer Operating LP, 4.50%, 4/15/24, Callable 3/15/24 @ 100      109,374  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
$ 167,000      Energy Transfer Operating LP, 5.25%, 4/15/29, Callable 1/15/29 @ 100    $ 187,340  
  115,000      Energy Transfer Operating LP, 6.25%, 4/15/49, Callable 10/15/48 @ 100      138,638  
  103,000      Energy Transfer Partners LP, 4.20%, 9/15/23, Callable 8/15/23 @ 100      108,042  
  350,000      Energy Transfer Partners LP, 4.95%, 6/15/28, Callable 3/15/28 @ 100      382,986  
  195,000      Energy Transfer Partners LP, 5.80%, 6/15/38, Callable 12/15/37 @ 100      220,314  
  127,000      Energy Transfer Partners LP, 6.00%, 6/15/48, Callable 12/15/47 @ 100      147,598  
  300,000      EQT Corp., 3.90%, 10/1/27, Callable 7/1/27 @ 100^      279,068  
  200,000      Global Partners LP/GLP Finance Corp., 7.00%, 8/1/27, Callable 8/1/22 @ 103.5^(b)      212,500  
  61,000      Hess Corp., 4.30%, 4/1/27, Callable 1/1/27 @ 100      65,019  
  109,000      Hess Corp., 7.30%, 8/15/31      137,945  
  78,000      Hess Corp., 7.13%, 3/15/33      98,849  
  107,000      Hess Corp., 5.60%, 2/15/41      125,138  
  302,000      Hess Corp., 5.80%, 4/1/47, Callable 10/1/46 @ 100      368,220  
  430,000      Hess Midstream Operations LP, 5.63%, 2/15/26, Callable 2/15/21 @ 104.22(b)      447,200  
  85,000      Hess Midstream Operations LP, 5.13%, 6/15/28, Callable 6/15/23 @ 102.56(b)      86,063  
  165,000      Hilcorp Energy LP, 5.00%, 12/1/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.5(b)      159,638  
  295,000      Jonah Energy LLC/Jonah Energy Finance Corp., 7.25%, 10/15/25, Callable 10/15/20 @ 105.44(b)      87,025  
  150,000      Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, 3.45%, 2/15/23, Callable 11/15/22 @ 100      154,519  
  63,000      Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, 6.55%, 9/15/40      80,039  
  712,000      Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, 5.50%, 3/1/44, Callable 9/1/43 @ 100      821,485  
  198,000      Kinder Morgan, Inc., 5.55%, 6/1/45, Callable 12/1/44 @ 100      235,505  
  167,000      Kinder Morgan, Inc., 5.05%, 2/15/46, Callable 8/15/45 @ 100      187,107  
  119,000      MPLX LP, 2.79%(US0003M+90bps), 9/9/21, Callable 9/9/20 @ 100      119,293  
  179,000      MPLX LP, 2.99%(US0003M+110bps), 9/9/22, Callable 9/9/20 @ 100      179,507  
  172,000      MPLX LP, 4.50%, 7/15/23, Callable 4/15/23 @ 100      182,635  
  242,000      MPLX LP, 4.88%, 12/1/24, Callable 9/1/24 @ 100      262,561  
  95,000      MPLX LP, 4.80%, 2/15/29, Callable 11/15/28 @ 100      104,054  
  285,000      MPLX LP, 5.50%, 2/15/49, Callable 8/15/48 @ 100      323,434  
  222,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 4.85%, 3/15/21, Callable 2/15/21 @ 100      228,438  
  119,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 2.60%, 8/13/21      119,722  
  106,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 2.70%, 8/15/22      107,190  
  349,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 2.90%, 8/15/24, Callable 7/15/24 @ 100      354,657  
  609,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 5.55%, 3/15/26, Callable 12/15/25 @ 100      690,419  
  47,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 3.20%, 8/15/26, Callable 6/15/26 @ 100      47,542  
  147,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 3.50%, 8/15/29, Callable 5/15/29 @ 100      150,000  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

11


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
$ 787,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 7.50%, 5/1/31    $ 1,022,166  
  422,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 6.45%, 9/15/36      514,503  
  22,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 4.30%, 8/15/39, Callable 2/15/39 @ 100      22,336  
  712,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 6.60%, 3/15/46, Callable 9/15/45 @ 100      924,663  
  22,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 4.40%, 8/15/49, Callable 2/15/49 @ 100      22,690  
  70,000      Parsley Energy LLC, 5.38%, 1/15/25, Callable 2/10/20 @ 104.03(b)      71,925  
  290,000      Parsley Energy LLC, 5.25%, 8/15/25, Callable 8/15/20 @ 103.94(b)      297,975  
  110,000      Plains All Amer Pipeline, 3.60%, 11/1/24, Callable 8/1/24 @ 100      112,893  
  95,000      Plains All Amer Pipeline, 3.55%, 12/15/29, Callable 9/15/29 @ 100      93,423  
  70,000      Range Resources Corp., 5.00%, 3/15/23, Callable 12/15/22 @ 100^      64,400  
  150,000      Range Resources Corp., 4.88%, 5/15/25, Callable 2/15/25 @ 100^      129,375  
  162,000      Regency Energy Partners LP/Regency Energy Finance Corp., 5.88%, 3/1/22, Callable 12/1/21 @ 100      172,044  
  200,162      Sanchez Energy Corp., 5/11/20      200,412  
  455,000      Sanchez Energy Corp., 7.25%, 2/15/23, Callable 2/15/20 @ 103.63^(b)(d)      295,750  
  346,000      Southeast Supply Header LLC, 4.25%, 6/15/24, Callable 3/15/24 @ 100(b)      351,036  
  348,000      Southwestern Energy Co., 6.20%, 1/23/25, Callable 10/23/24 @ 100      321,900  
  958,000      Sunoco Logistics Partners Operations LP, 5.40%, 10/1/47, Callable 4/1/47 @ 100      1,036,341  
  180,000      Sunoco LP/Sunoco Finance Corp., 5.50%, 2/15/26, Callable 2/15/21 @ 102.75      187,200  
  45,000      Targa Resources Partners LP, 5.25%, 5/1/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 100.88      45,450  
  170,000      Targa Resources Partners LP, 4.25%, 11/15/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.42      171,700  
  195,000      Targa Resources Partners LP, 5.13%, 2/1/25, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.84      201,825  
  195,000      Targa Resources Partners LP, 5.88%, 4/15/26, Callable 4/15/21 @ 104.41      207,188  
  195,000      Targa Resources Partners LP, 5.38%, 2/1/27, Callable 2/1/22 @ 102.69      202,313  
  200,000      Viper Energy Partners, LP, 5.38%, 11/1/27, Callable 11/1/22 @ 102.69(b)      208,500  
  574,000      Western Gas Partners LP, 5.38%, 6/1/21, Callable 3/1/21 @ 100      589,516  
  62,000      Western Gas Partners LP, 3.95%, 6/1/25, Callable 3/1/25 @ 100      62,045  
  192,000      Western Gas Partners LP, 4.65%, 7/1/26, Callable 4/1/26 @ 100      197,131  
  900,000      Western Gas Partners LP, 4.50%, 3/1/28, Callable 12/1/27 @ 100      863,729  
  101,000      Western Gas Partners LP, 4.75%, 8/15/28, Callable 5/15/28 @ 100      100,217  
  271,000      Williams Partners LP, 4.00%, 11/15/21, Callable 8/15/21 @ 100      278,657  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
$ 357,000      Williams Partners LP, 3.60%, 3/15/22, Callable 1/15/22 @ 100    $ 366,909  
  242,000      Williams Partners LP, 4.50%, 11/15/23, Callable 8/15/23 @ 100      258,403  
  426,000      Williams Partners LP, 4.30%, 3/4/24, Callable 12/4/23 @ 100      452,741  
     

 

 

 
        25,092,457  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (0.2%):       
  165,000      Bausch Health Americas, Inc., 9.25%, 4/1/26, Callable 4/1/22 @ 104.63(b)      189,750  
  200,000      Bayer US Finance II LLC, 4.25%, 12/15/25, Callable 10/15/25 @ 100(b)      215,447  
  175,000      Catalent Pharma Solutions, Inc., 4.88%, 1/15/26, Callable 10/15/20 @ 102.44(b)      181,125  
  87,000      Elanco Animal Health, Inc., 3.91%, 8/27/21      89,162  
  275,000      Elanco Animal Health, Inc., 4.27%, 8/28/23, Callable 7/28/23 @ 100      290,602  
  116,000      Elanco Animal Health, Inc., 4.90%, 8/28/28, Callable 5/28/28 @ 100      126,213  
     

 

 

 
        1,092,299  
     

 

 

 
Real Estate Management & Development (0.1%):       
  300,000      Howard Hughes Corp. (The), 5.38%, 3/15/25, Callable 3/15/20 @ 104.03(b)      312,750  
     

 

 

 
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (0.0%):       
  140,000      Qorvo, Inc., 5.50%, 7/15/26, Callable 7/15/21 @ 102.75      148,750  
     

 

 

 
Software (0.5%):       
  245,000      CDK Global, Inc., 5.88%, 6/15/26, Callable 6/15/21 @ 102.94      261,538  
  35,000      CDK Global, Inc., 5.25%, 5/15/29, Callable 5/15/24 @ 102.63(b)      37,363  
  195,000      Fair Isaac Corp., 5.25%, 5/15/26, Callable 2/15/26 @ 100(b)      213,038  
  140,000      Nuance Communications, Inc., 5.63%, 12/15/26, Callable 12/15/21 @ 102.81      149,100  
  565,000      Solera LLC, 10.50%, 3/1/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 107.88(b)      598,899  
  437,000      Sophia LP/Finance, Inc., 9.00%, 9/30/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.25(b)      449,017  
  270,000      SS&C Technologies, Inc., 5.50%, 9/30/27, Callable 3/30/22 @ 104.13(b)      288,225  
  440,000      Symantec Corp., 5.00%, 4/15/25, Callable 4/15/20 @ 102.5(b)      447,700  
     

 

 

 
        2,444,880  
     

 

 

 
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals (0.1%):       
  400,000      Dell International LLC/EMC Corp., 5.45%, 6/15/23, Callable 4/15/23 @ 100(b)      433,542  
  129,000      Dell International LLC/EMC Corp., 6.02%, 6/15/26, Callable 3/15/26 @ 100(b)      148,561  
     

 

 

 
        582,103  
     

 

 

 
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods (0.1%):       
  190,000      USA Compression Partners LP/USA Compression Finance Corp., 6.88%, 4/1/26, Callable 4/1/21 @ 105.16      199,500  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

12


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods, continued       
$ 65,000      USA Compression Partners LP/USA Compression Finance Corp., 6.88%, 9/1/27, Callable 9/1/22 @ 105.16    $ 67,681  
  130,000      William Carter Co., 5.63%, 3/15/27, Callable 3/15/22 @ 102.81(b)      139,750  
     

 

 

 
        406,931  
     

 

 

 
Thrifts & Mortgage Finance (0.1%):       
  355,000      Quicken Loans, Inc., 5.25%, 1/15/28, Callable 1/15/23 @ 102.63(b)      367,751  
     

 

 

 
Tobacco (1.1%):       
  317,000      Altria Group, Inc., 4.00%, 1/31/24      335,941  
  453,000      Altria Group, Inc., 4.80%, 2/14/29, Callable 11/14/28 @ 100      503,389  
  452,000      Altria Group, Inc., 4.25%, 8/9/42      450,184  
  302,000      Altria Group, Inc., 4.50%, 5/2/43      307,038  
  520,000      Altria Group, Inc., 5.38%, 1/31/44      586,464  
  470,000      Altria Group, Inc., 3.88%, 9/16/46, Callable 3/16/46 @ 100      434,756  
  300,000      Altria Group, Inc., 5.95%, 2/14/49, Callable 8/14/48 @ 100      363,353  
  140,000      Reynolds American, Inc., 3.25%, 6/12/20      140,746  
  478,000      Reynolds American, Inc., 4.00%, 6/12/22      497,381  
  346,000      Reynolds American, Inc., 4.45%, 6/12/25, Callable 3/12/25 @ 100      372,168  
  179,000      Reynolds American, Inc., 5.70%, 8/15/35, Callable 2/15/35 @ 100      206,647  
  600,000      Reynolds American, Inc., 7.25%, 6/15/37      770,515  
  285,000      Vector Group, Ltd., 6.13%, 2/1/25, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.06(b)      280,369  
     

 

 

 
        5,248,951  
     

 

 

 
Trading Companies & Distributors (0.5%):       
  385,000      AerCap Ireland Capital DAC/AerCap Global Aviation Trust, 6.50%(US0003M+430bps), 6/15/45, Callable 6/15/25 @ 100(b)      424,463  
  499,000      Air Lease Corp., 4.75%, 3/1/20      501,144  
  297,000      Air Lease Corp., 3.88%, 4/1/21, Callable 3/1/21 @ 100      302,836  
  348,000      Air Lease Corp., 3.38%, 6/1/21, Callable 5/1/21 @ 100      353,167  
  98,000      Air Lease Corp., 2.25%, 1/15/23      98,016  
  82,000      Air Lease Corp., 3.00%, 9/15/23, Callable 7/15/23 @ 100      83,953  
  467,000      Air Lease Corp., 4.25%, 2/1/24, Callable 1/1/24 @ 100      500,380  
     

 

 

 
        2,263,959  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.3%):       
  100,000      Sprint Communications, Inc., 6.00%, 11/15/22      104,750  
  835,000      Sprint Corp., 7.88%, 9/15/23      921,631  
  420,000      Sprint Corp., 7.13%, 6/15/24      452,550  
     

 

 

 
        1,478,931  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Corporate Bonds (Cost $155,010,268)

     162,101,824  
  

 

 

 
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Yankee Dollars (13.0%):       
Aerospace & Defense (0.4%):       
$ 126,000      Avolon Holdings Funding, Ltd., 3.63%, 5/1/22, Callable 4/1/22 @ 100(b)    $ 129,235  
  115,000      Avolon Holdings Funding, Ltd., 5.50%, 1/15/23, Callable 12/15/22 @ 100(b)      123,913  
  430,000      Avolon Holdings Funding, Ltd., 5.13%, 10/1/23, Callable 9/1/23 @ 100(b)      462,787  
  305,000      Avolon Holdings Funding, Ltd., 5.25%, 5/15/24, Callable 4/15/24 @ 100(b)      332,830  
  167,000      Avolon Holdings Funding, Ltd., 3.95%, 7/1/24, Callable 6/1/24 @ 100(b)      174,021  
  204,000      Avolon Holdings Funding, Ltd., 4.38%, 5/1/26, Callable 3/1/26 @ 100(b)      216,011  
  215,000      Bombardier, Inc., 6.00%, 10/15/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101(b)      215,538  
  320,000      Bombardier, Inc., 6.13%, 1/15/23(b)      327,199  
  290,000      Bombardier, Inc., 7.50%, 12/1/24, Callable 12/1/20 @ 105.63(b)      304,500  
  240,000      Bombardier, Inc., 7.88%, 4/15/27, Callable 4/15/22 @ 103.94(b)      246,900  
     

 

 

 
        2,532,934  
     

 

 

 
Banks (2.4%):       
  642,000      Barclays plc, 3.25%, 1/12/21      646,428  
  874,000      Barclays plc, 4.38%, 1/12/26      946,830  
  580,000      Barclays plc, 5.09%(US0003M+305bps), 6/20/30, Callable 6/20/29 @ 100      641,464  
  210,000      Barclays plc, 7.88%(USSW5+677bps), 12/31/99, Callable 3/15/22 @ 100(b)      228,375  
  200,000      Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 3.61%, 9/12/34, Callable 9/12/29 @ 100(b)      200,500  
  791,000      Cooperatieve Rabobank UA, 4.38%, 8/4/25      856,024  
  205,000      HSBC Holdings plc, 4.25%, 3/14/24      217,660  
  200,000      Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, 5.02%, 6/26/24(b)      208,750  
  1,180,000      Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, 5.71%, 1/15/26(b)      1,274,400  
  200,000      RBS Citizens Financial Group, Inc., 4.15%, 9/28/22(b)      206,575  
  3,808,000      Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, 6.13%, 12/15/22      4,167,304  
  826,000      Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, 6.10%, 6/10/23      908,016  
  347,000      Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, 6.00%, 12/19/23      385,878  
  145,000      Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, 7.50%(USSW5+580bps), 12/29/49, Callable 8/10/20 @ 100      148,806  
  454,000      UniCredit SpA, 6.57%, 1/14/22(b)      486,710  
  289,000      Westpac Banking Corp., 4.11%(H15T5Y+200bps), 7/24/34, Callable 7/24/29 @ 100      301,145  
     

 

 

 
        11,824,865  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (0.0%):       
  125,000      Cott Corp., 5.50%, 4/1/25, Callable 4/1/20 @ 104.13(b)      130,313  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (1.9%):       
  788,000      Credit Suisse Group AG, 2.59%(SOFR+156bps), 9/11/25, Callable 9/11/24 @ 100(b)      789,624  
  720,000      Credit Suisse Group Fun, Ltd., 2.75%, 3/26/20      721,349  
  1,000,000      Credit Suisse Group Fun, Ltd., 3.80%, 9/15/22      1,039,716  
  1,175,000      Credit Suisse Group Fun, Ltd., 3.80%, 6/9/23      1,229,798  
  720,000      Credit Suisse Group Fun, Ltd., 3.75%, 3/26/25      761,278  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

13


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Yankee Dollars, continued       
Capital Markets, continued       
$ 742,000      Deutsche Bank AG, 5.00%, 2/14/22    $ 774,713  
  1,284,000      Deutsche Bank AG, 3.30%, 11/16/22      1,297,074  
  1,462,000      Deutsche Bank AG, 4.50%, 4/1/25      1,455,974  
  733,000      UBS Group AG, 4.13%, 9/24/25(b)      793,482  
     

 

 

 
        8,863,008  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (0.1%):       
  265,000      Nufarm Australia, Ltd., 5.75%, 4/30/26, Callable 4/30/21 @ 102.88(b)      260,031  
  210,000      OCI NV, 6.63%, 4/15/23, Callable 4/15/20 @ 103.31(b)      218,138  
     

 

 

 
        478,169  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (0.2%):       
  405,000      Ardagh Packaging Finance plc/Ardagh Holdings USA, Inc., 6.00%, 2/15/25, Callable 2/15/20 @ 104.5(b)      424,744  
  255,000      Trivium Packaging Finance BV, 5.50%, 8/15/26, Callable 8/15/22 @ 102.75(b)      269,981  
  45,000      Trivium Packaging Finance BV, 8.50%, 8/15/27, Callable 8/15/22 @ 104.25(b)      50,063  
     

 

 

 
        744,788  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Consumer Services (0.1%):       
  320,000      GEMS MENASA Cayman, Ltd., 7.13%, 7/31/26, Callable 7/31/22 @ 103.56(b)      337,200  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (1.1%):       
  705,000      Altice Financing SA, 7.50%, 5/15/26, Callable 5/15/21 @ 103.75(b)      757,874  
  300,000      Altice Finco SA, 8.13%, 1/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.71(b)      307,500  
  531,000      C&W Senior Financing Dac, 7.50%, 10/15/26, Callable 10/15/21 @ 103.75(b)      573,480  
  495,000      C&W Senior Financing Dac, 6.88%, 9/15/27, Callable 9/15/22 @ 103.44(b)      527,794  
  240,000      Intelsat Jackson Holdings SA, 8.50%, 10/15/24, Callable 10/15/20 @ 106.38(b)      219,000  
  435,000      Nielsen Co. Luxembourg SARL (The), 5.00%, 2/1/25, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.75^(b)      447,506  
  85,000      Park Aerospace Holdings, 4.50%, 3/15/23, Callable 2/15/23 @ 100(b)      89,144  
  2,052,000      Park Aerospace Holdings, 5.50%, 2/15/24(b)      2,253,835  
  200,000      Telenet Finance Lux Note, 5.50%, 3/1/28, Callable 12/1/22 @ 102.75(b)      213,750  
     

 

 

 
        5,389,883  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (0.3%):       
  505,000      Altice France SA, 7.38%, 5/1/26, Callable 5/1/21 @ 103.69(b)      540,981  
  370,000      Altice France SA, 8.13%, 2/1/27, Callable 2/1/22 @ 106.09(b)      419,025  
  45,000      Telecom Italia Capital, 6.38%, 11/15/33      49,838  
  400,000      Telecom Italia SpA, 5.30%, 5/30/24(b)      431,170  
  80,000      Telecom Italia SpA, 6.00%, 9/30/34      85,400  
     

 

 

 
        1,526,414  
     

 

 

 
Energy Equipment & Services (0.0%):       
  195,000      Noble Holding International, Ltd., 7.88%, 2/1/26, Callable 2/1/21 @ 105.91(b)      141,619  
     

 

 

 
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Yankee Dollars, continued       
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (0.3%):       
$ 175,000      1011778 BC ULC New Red Finance, Inc., 4.25%, 5/15/24, Callable 5/15/20 @ 102.13(b)    $ 179,375  
  550,000      Stars Group Holdings BV, 7.00%, 7/15/26, Callable 7/15/21 @ 103.5(b)      593,313  
  330,000      Wynn Macau, Ltd., 4.88%, 10/1/24, Callable 10/1/20 @ 102.44(b)      335,775  
  205,000      Wynn Macau, Ltd., 5.50%, 10/1/27, Callable 10/1/22 @ 102.75(b)      213,200  
     

 

 

 
        1,321,663  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (0.0%):       
  200,000      Swiss Re Finance Luxembourg SA, 5.00%(H15T5Y+358bps), 4/2/49, Callable 4/2/29 @ 100(b)      223,500  
     

 

 

 
Machinery (0.0%):       
  107,000      Ingersoll-Rand Lux Financial Holding, 2.63%, 5/1/20, Callable 4/1/20 @ 100      107,142  
     

 

 

 
Media (0.2%):       
  215,000      MDC Partners, Inc., 6.50%, 5/1/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 104.88(b)      194,575  
  640,000      Ziggo Bond Finance BV, 5.88%, 1/15/25, Callable 1/20/20 @ 102.94(b)      655,200  
  180,000      Ziggo BV, 5.50%, 1/15/27, Callable 1/15/22 @ 102.75(b)      190,125  
     

 

 

 
        1,039,900  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (0.3%):       
  400,000      BHP Billiton Finance USA, Ltd., 6.25%(USSW5+497bps), 10/19/75, Callable 10/19/20 @ 100(b)      411,500  
  681,000      BHP Billiton Finance USA, Ltd., 6.75%(USSW5+509bps), 10/19/75, Callable 10/20/25 @ 100(b)      798,472  
  300,000      First Quantum Minerals, Ltd., 7.25%, 5/15/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.81(b)      302,250  
     

 

 

 
        1,512,222  
     

 

 

 
Multi-Utilities (0.1%):       
  355,000      InterGen NV, 7.00%, 6/30/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.33(b)      344,350  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (3.1%):       
  309,000      Canadian Natural Resources, Ltd., 5.85%, 2/1/35      380,301  
  619,000      Cenovus Energy, Inc., 4.25%, 4/15/27, Callable 1/15/27 @ 100      653,232  
  223,000      Enbridge, Inc., 4.00%, 10/1/23, Callable 7/1/23 @ 100      235,459  
  218,000      Enbridge, Inc., 4.25%, 12/1/26, Callable 9/1/26 @ 100      239,627  
  340,000      LBC Tank Terminals Holding Netherlands BV, 6.88%, 5/15/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.29(b)      343,400  
  155,000      Meg Energy Corp., 7.00%, 3/31/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.33^(b)      156,163  
  163,000      Petrobras Global Finance BV, 5.09%, 1/15/30(b)      175,225  
  2,677,000      Petrobras Global Finance BV, 7.25%, 3/17/44      3,245,862  
  1,036,000      Petroleos Mexicanos, 4.50%, 1/23/26      1,029,119  
  1,700,000      Petroleos Mexicanos, 6.50%, 3/13/27      1,800,103  
  1,505,000      Petroleos Mexicanos, 6.84%, 1/23/30, Callable 10/23/29 @ 100(b)      1,612,549  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

14


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Yankee Dollars, continued       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
$ 542,000      Petroleos Mexicanos, 5.63%, 1/23/46    $ 487,910  
  2,762,000      Petroleos Mexicanos, 6.75%, 9/21/47      2,767,805  
  2,070,000      Petroleos Mexicanos, 7.69%, 1/23/50, Callable 7/23/49 @ 100(b)      2,262,890  
     

 

 

 
        15,389,645  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (0.7%):       
  1,489,000      Actavis Funding SCS, 3.45%, 3/15/22, Callable 1/15/22 @ 100      1,523,415  
  37,000      Bausch Health Cos., Inc., 5.50%, 3/1/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.38(b)      37,139  
  405,000      Bausch Health Cos., Inc., 7.00%, 3/15/24, Callable 3/15/20 @ 103.5(b)      421,200  
  685,000      Mylan NV, 3.15%, 6/15/21, Callable 5/15/21 @ 100      692,130  
  337,000      Mylan NV, 3.95%, 6/15/26, Callable 3/15/26 @ 100      349,817  
  126,000      Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, Ltd., 2.20%, 7/21/21      122,063  
  191,000      Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, Ltd., 2.80%, 7/21/23      177,153  
  202,000      VRX Escrow Corp., 6.13%, 4/15/25, Callable 4/15/20 @ 103.06(b)      208,565  
     

 

 

 
        3,531,482  
     

 

 

 
Software (0.1%):       
  355,000      Open Text Corp., 5.88%, 6/1/26, Callable 6/1/21 @ 102.94(b)      378,963  
     

 

 

 
Sovereign Bond (0.5%):       
  1,344,000      Dominican Republic, 5.50%, 1/27/25(b)      1,444,800  
  250,000      Dominican Republic, 6.00%, 7/19/28(b)      277,813  
  1,500,000      Republic of Argentina, 5.88%, 1/11/28      705,000  
     

 

 

 
        2,427,613  
     

 

 

 
Thrifts & Mortgage Finance (0.1%):       
  200,000      Corp. Nacional del Cobre de Chile, 3.63%, 8/1/27, Callable 5/1/27 @ 100(b)      208,407  
  200,000      Corp. Nacional del Cobre de Chile, 4.50%, 8/1/47, Callable 2/1/47 @ 100(b)      217,766  
     

 

 

 
        426,173  
     

 

 

 
Tobacco (0.3%):       
  690,000      Imperial Tobacco Finance, 3.75%, 7/21/22, Callable 5/21/22 @ 100(b)      710,443  
  690,000      Imperial Tobacco Finance, 4.25%, 7/21/25, Callable 4/21/25 @ 100(b)      725,328  
     

 

 

 
        1,435,771  
     

 

 

 
Trading Companies & Distributors (0.5%):       
  400,000      Aercap Holdings NV, 5.87%(H15T5Y+454bps), 10/10/79, Callable 10/10/24 @ 100^      428,000  
  240,000      AerCap Ireland Capital DAC/AerCap Global Aviation Trust, 4.45%, 12/16/21, Callable 11/16/21 @ 100      249,600  
  412,000      AerCap Ireland Capital DAC/AerCap Global Aviation Trust, 4.88%, 1/16/24, Callable 12/16/23 @ 100      446,505  
  463,000      AerCap Ireland Capital DAC/AerCap Global Aviation Trust, 2.88%, 8/14/24, Callable 7/14/24 @ 100      467,051  
  251,000      AerCap Ireland Capital DAC/AerCap Global Aviation Trust, 4.45%, 4/3/26, Callable 2/3/26 @ 100      268,884  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Yankee Dollars, continued       
Trading Companies & Distributors, continued       
$ 147,000      Fly Leasing, Ltd., 6.38%, 10/15/21, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.59    $ 149,940  
  405,000      Fly Leasing, Ltd., 5.25%, 10/15/24, Callable 10/15/20 @ 102.63      422,213  
     

 

 

 
        2,432,193  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.3%):       
  330,000      Empresa Nacional del Pet, 4.38%, 10/30/24(b)      348,150  
  30,000      Millicom International Cellular SA, 6.00%, 3/15/25, Callable 3/15/20 @ 103(b)      30,788  
  335,000      Millicom International Cellular SA, 6.63%, 10/15/26, Callable 10/15/21 @ 104.97(b)      366,406  
  700,000      Millicom International Cellular SA, 6.25%, 3/25/29, Callable 3/25/24 @ 103.13(b)      769,125  
     

 

 

 
        1,514,469  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Yankee Dollars (Cost $61,503,590)

     64,054,279  
  

 

 

 
Municipal Bonds (1.2%):       
California (0.3%):  
  400,000      California State, Build America Bonds, GO, 7.50%, 4/1/34      602,296  
  10,000      California State, Build America Bonds, GO, 7.35%, 11/1/39      15,235  
  460,000      California State, Build America Bonds, GO, 7.30%, 10/1/39      702,452  
     

 

 

 
        1,319,983  
     

 

 

 
Illinois (0.9%):  
  105,000      Chicago Illinois, Taxable Project, Build America Bonds, GO, Series B, 5.43%, 1/1/42      106,200  
  310,000      Chicago Illinois, Taxable Project, Build America Bonds, GO, Series C1, 7.78%, 1/1/35      379,524  
  55,000      Chicago Illinois, Taxable Project, Build America Bonds, GO, Series B, 5.63%, 1/1/22      56,387  
  295,000      Illinois State, Build America Bonds, GO, 5.10%, 6/1/33      318,160  
  420,000      Illinois State, Build America Bonds, GO, 4.00%, 12/1/20      422,772  
  109,091      Illinois State, Build America Bonds, GO, 4.95%, 6/1/23      114,425  
  88,000      Illinois State, Build America Bonds, GO, 6.20%, 7/1/21      90,422  
  315,000      Illinois State, Build America Bonds, GO, 6.63%, 2/1/35      369,309  
  425,000      Illinois State, Build America Bonds, GO, Series 3, 6.73%, 4/1/35      497,577  
  1,935,000      Illinois State, Build America Bonds, GO, 7.35%, 7/1/35      2,352,264  
     

 

 

 
        4,707,040  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Municipal Bonds (Cost $5,527,049)

     6,027,023  
  

 

 

 
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages (23.7%):  
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (5.3%):  
  53,590      2.50%, 6/1/31, Pool #G18604      54,193  
  79,686      2.50%, 7/1/31, Pool #V61246      80,915  
  138,163      2.50%, 8/1/31, Pool #V61273      140,539  
  544,519      3.50%, 3/1/32, Pool #C91403      568,528  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

15


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, continued  
$ 1,445,034      3.50%, 7/1/32, Pool #C91467    $ 1,508,749  
  17,884      2.50%, 8/1/32, Pool #G18654      18,196  
  18,553      2.50%, 11/1/32, Pool # G18665      18,876  
  541,322      2.50%, 12/1/32, Pool #G18669      550,750  
  90,158      2.50%, 3/1/33, Pool #G18680      91,036  
  251,295      3.00%, 4/1/33, Pool #G18684      258,135  
  32,944      2.50%, 4/1/33, Pool # G18683      33,265  
  60,733      3.00%, 4/1/33, Pool #K90336      62,646  
  20,283      2.50%, 5/1/33, Pool # G18687      20,480  
  126,898      3.00%, 6/1/33, Pool #K90806      130,894  
  151,955      3.00%, 6/1/33, Pool #K90632      156,745  
  84,531      3.00%, 6/1/33, Pool #K90684      87,185  
  243,015      4.00%, 6/1/33, Pool #G30718      258,114  
  63,926      3.00%, 6/1/33, Pool #C91709      65,940  
  365,565      2.50%, 7/1/33, Pool #G16661      371,601  
  291,062      3.00%, 7/1/33, Pool #C91714      300,230  
  546,438      3.50%, 11/1/33, Pool #G16677      570,478  
  541,810      3.50%, 2/1/34, Pool #G16752      564,517  
  86,877      3.00%, 4/1/34, Pool #G16829      89,354  
  619,912      3.50%, 10/1/34, Pool #C91793      646,239  
  1,219,835      4.00%, 5/1/37, Pool #C91938      1,283,718  
  1,652,514      5.00%, 2/1/38, Pool #G60365      1,842,280  
  85,851      3.50%, 4/1/40, Pool #V81744      89,473  
  104,490      3.50%, 5/1/40, Pool #V81750      108,882  
  183,004      3.50%, 6/1/40, Pool #V81792      190,700  
  77,678      3.50%, 8/1/40, Pool #V81886      80,925  
  70,251      3.50%, 9/1/40, Pool #V81958      73,201  
  68,133      4.50%, 1/1/41, Pool #A96051      72,546  
  700,874      4.00%, 1/1/41, Pool #A96413      748,997  
  571,661      4.00%, 2/1/41, Pool #A96807      610,906  
  66,056      4.50%, 3/1/41, Pool #A97673      71,600  
  112,019      4.50%, 4/1/41, Pool #A97942      121,445  
  312,096      5.00%, 6/1/41, Pool #G06596      350,233  
  1,446,379      4.50%, 1/1/42, Pool #G60517      1,537,163  
  49,862      3.50%, 8/1/42, Pool #Q10164      52,330  
  55,584      3.50%, 8/1/42, Pool #Q10434      58,336  
  61,561      3.50%, 8/1/42, Pool #Q10047      64,619  
  45,760      3.50%, 8/1/42, Pool #Q10392      48,031  
  68,267      3.50%, 9/1/42, Pool #Q11244      71,667  
  38,814      3.50%, 11/1/42, Pool #G07231      40,671  
  51,873      4.00%, 11/1/42, Pool #Q13121      54,636  
  137,898      3.00%, 12/1/42, Pool #C04320      142,914  
  538,868      3.50%, 4/1/43, Pool #G07921      568,219  
  455,289      3.50%, 4/1/43, Pool #Q17209      475,894  
  86,300      4.00%, 5/1/43, Pool #Q18481      91,027  
  44,714      4.00%, 7/1/43, Pool #Q19597      47,159  
  51,153      4.00%, 10/1/43, Pool #Q22499      53,935  
  596,740      3.00%, 10/1/43, Pool #G08553      616,484  
  164,726      3.50%, 1/1/44, Pool #G60271      173,991  
  331,419      3.50%, 1/1/44, Pool #G07922      352,732  
  103,129      4.00%, 1/1/44, Pool #V80950      107,950  
  312,982      4.00%, 1/1/45, Pool #Q30720      331,580  
  219,195      4.00%, 2/1/45, Pool #G07949      233,418  
  50,325      3.50%, 3/1/45, Pool #Q32328      53,003  
  110,256      3.50%, 3/1/45, Pool #Q32008      116,117  
  58,484      3.50%, 3/1/45, Pool #Q31974      61,626  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, continued  
$ 36,390      3.00%, 5/1/45, Pool #Q33468    $ 36,945  
  299,122      3.50%, 5/1/45, Pool #Q33547      309,353  
  360,866      3.50%, 6/1/45, Pool #Q34164      373,204  
  244,093      3.00%, 6/1/45, Pool #Q34156      247,808  
  361,191      3.50%, 6/1/45, Pool #Q34311      380,487  
  58,192      3.50%, 6/1/45, Pool #Q33791      60,191  
  60,998      3.00%, 7/1/45, Pool #Q34759      62,583  
  19,239      3.00%, 7/1/45, Pool #Q34979      19,618  
  112,924      4.00%, 8/1/45, Pool #Q35845      117,695  
  22,560      4.00%, 9/1/45, Pool #Q37853      23,880  
  404,849      3.50%, 11/1/45, Pool #Q37467      426,462  
  14,924      4.00%, 11/1/45, Pool #Q38812      15,659  
  9,473      4.00%, 2/1/46, Pool #Q38879      10,125  
  21,243      4.00%, 2/1/46, Pool #Q38782      22,703  
  27,315      4.00%, 2/1/46, Pool #Q38783      28,955  
  75,720      4.00%, 4/1/46, Pool #V82292      80,147  
  13,017      4.00%, 4/1/46, Pool #Q39975      13,912  
  136,704      3.50%, 5/1/46, Pool #G60603      144,135  
  144,676      3.50%, 5/1/46, Pool #Q40647      149,212  
  440,588      3.50%, 5/1/46, Pool #G60553      463,767  
  399,480      3.50%, 9/1/46, Pool #Q43257      421,255  
  21,927      4.00%, 9/1/47, Pool #Q50433      23,381  
  22,264      4.00%, 10/1/47, Pool #Q51189      23,606  
  244,864      3.50%, 11/1/47, Pool #Q52086      253,094  
  21,138      4.00%, 2/1/48, Pool #Q54192      22,386  
  667,867      3.50%, 2/1/48, Pool #Q54334      693,959  
  50,343      3.50%, 2/1/48, Pool #G61896      52,227  
  307,660      3.50%, 3/1/48, Pool #G67710      318,877  
  597,492      4.00%, 5/1/48, Pool #ZA5379      631,983  
  454,170      4.00%, 5/1/48, Pool #Q55992      481,394  
  1,150,228      4.00%, 6/1/48, Pool #G67713      1,230,570  
  140,894      4.00%, 7/1/48, Pool #Q59935      149,149  
  305,067      3.50%, 5/1/49, Pool #Q63646      318,101  
  887,153      3.00%, 5/1/49, Pool #ZT1955      897,015  
  100,000      3.00%, 9/1/49, Pool #RA1355      102,460  
     

 

 

 
        26,252,311  
     

 

 

 
Federal National Mortgage Association (10.6%):  
  302,048      2.50%, 6/1/29, Pool #MA3734      306,280  
  120,913      2.50%, 9/1/31, Pool #AS8012      122,453  
  448,983      3.00%, 4/1/32, Pool #BD9809      463,728  
  259,252      3.00%, 9/1/32, Pool #BM5110      267,145  
  259,708      3.00%, 12/1/32, Pool #BM5109      268,093  
  762,552      3.00%, 12/1/32, Pool #BM5345      787,898  
  821,699      2.50%, 12/1/32, Pool #CA3748      832,098  
  1,992,094      3.00%, 2/1/33, Pool #BM5108      2,054,497  
  40,653      3.00%, 3/1/33, Pool #BM4614      41,968  
  52,019      3.00%, 5/1/33, Pool #AT3000      53,682  
  57,297      3.00%, 6/1/33, Pool #AT6090      59,133  
  6,325      4.50%, 7/1/33, Pool #729327      6,915  
  283,514      3.00%, 7/1/33, Pool #MA1490      292,583  
  2,962      4.50%, 7/1/33, Pool #720240      3,240  
  6,381      4.50%, 8/1/33, Pool #723124      6,980  
  14,887      4.50%, 8/1/33, Pool #726928      16,270  
  5,684      4.50%, 8/1/33, Pool #727029      6,217  
  34,877      4.50%, 8/1/33, Pool #729380      38,107  
  6,480      4.50%, 8/1/33, Pool #729713      7,074  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

16


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal National Mortgage Association, continued  
$ 7,328      4.50%, 8/1/33, Pool #727160    $ 8,011  
  12,155      4.50%, 8/1/33, Pool #726956      13,295  
  27,595      4.50%, 9/1/33, Pool #727147      30,162  
  11,160      4.50%, 9/1/33, Pool #734922      12,198  
  1,617,557      3.00%, 11/1/33, Pool #BM5111      1,672,826  
  42,151      4.50%, 12/1/33, Pool #AL5321      46,107  
  42,661      3.50%, 1/1/34, Pool #AS1406      44,244  
  127,289      3.50%, 1/1/34, Pool #AS1611      131,991  
  85,264      3.50%, 1/1/34, Pool #AS1612      88,418  
  17,216      3.50%, 1/1/34, Pool #AS1614      17,855  
  765,901      2.50%, 6/1/34, Pool #BN7572      774,798  
  93,869      3.00%, 6/1/34, Pool #CA3585      97,324  
  821,904      3.50%, 9/1/34, Pool #FM1577      861,554  
  32,554      6.00%, 10/1/34, Pool #AL2130      37,414  
  1,850,000      2.50%, 1/25/35, TBA      1,866,766  
  69,897      4.50%, 9/1/35, Pool #AB8198      76,598  
  660,388      6.00%, 5/1/36, Pool #745512      752,597  
  332,575      6.00%, 1/1/37, Pool #932030      381,665  
  59,704      6.00%, 3/1/37, Pool #889506      68,366  
  83,068      6.00%, 1/1/38, Pool #889371      96,877  
  248,980      5.00%, 2/1/38, Pool #310165      277,110  
  28,347      6.00%, 3/1/38, Pool #889219      32,970  
  17,158      6.00%, 7/1/38, Pool #889733      20,010  
  99,520      4.50%, 3/1/39, Pool #AB0051      108,829  
  466,483      4.50%, 4/1/39, Pool #AB0043      511,222  
  436,545      5.00%, 6/1/39, Pool #AL7521      487,028  
  164,077      5.00%, 6/1/39, Pool #AL7550      183,065  
  48,279      4.50%, 11/1/39, Pool #AC5442      52,562  
  113,187      6.00%, 5/1/40, Pool #AL2129      131,967  
  68,197      4.00%, 12/1/40, Pool #AA4757      73,122  
  62,237      4.50%, 2/1/41, Pool #AH5580      67,451  
  8,819      6.00%, 1/1/42, Pool #AL2128      9,962  
  88,791      3.50%, 9/1/42, Pool #AP4100      92,978  
  2,553,772      3.50%, 11/1/42, Pool #AL2866      2,683,432  
  17,779      3.50%, 12/1/42, Pool #AQ9054      18,621  
  681,754      3.00%, 1/1/43, Pool #AL3181      703,461  
  112,719      3.50%, 1/1/43, Pool #AQ9328      118,536  
  304,894      2.50%, 2/1/43, Pool #AB8465      304,466  
  227,148      3.00%, 2/1/43, Pool #AB7846      233,501  
  22,564      3.50%, 2/1/43, Pool #AR1797      23,570  
  684,210      3.00%, 2/1/43, Pool #AT0223      703,334  
  75,912      3.50%, 3/1/43, Pool #AL3409      78,628  
  29,196      3.50%, 3/1/43, Pool #AR7567      30,498  
  29,501      3.50%, 3/1/43, Pool #AR6751      30,827  
  139,506      3.50%, 8/1/43, Pool #AL7261      146,717  
  321,132      3.00%, 9/1/43, Pool #AL5059      331,364  
  75,911      4.00%, 10/1/43, Pool #BM1167      81,476  
  363,509      4.50%, 3/1/44, Pool #AL5082      389,491  
  397,032      3.00%, 6/1/44, Pool #AL7195      410,163  
  350,870      5.00%, 11/1/44, Pool #AL7307      391,473  
  160,768      4.00%, 12/1/44, Pool #AX8459      171,509  
  31,959      4.00%, 12/1/44, Pool #AW9502      33,955  
  20,212      4.00%, 12/1/44, Pool #AY0045      21,489  
  256,879      4.00%, 3/1/45, Pool #AL6541      274,066  
  77,514      3.50%, 3/1/45, Pool #AY5352      81,671  
  93,795      3.00%, 5/1/45, Pool #AS4972      95,502  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal National Mortgage Association, continued  
$ 55,562      4.00%, 5/1/45, Pool #AZ1876    $ 58,757  
  93,491      3.50%, 5/1/45, Pool #AY9074      98,544  
  107,526      4.00%, 5/1/45, Pool #AZ1207      113,797  
  43,225      4.00%, 6/1/45, Pool #AZ2719      45,672  
  989,874      3.50%, 6/1/45, Pool #AY5622      1,043,427  
  317,375      4.00%, 6/1/45, Pool #AY8096      335,607  
  133,802      4.00%, 6/1/45, Pool #AY8126      141,489  
  36,846      5.00%, 6/1/45, Pool #AZ3448      40,106  
  58,413      4.00%, 6/1/45, Pool #AZ3341      61,753  
  265,769      4.00%, 7/1/45, Pool #AZ0833      280,942  
  232,417      4.00%, 7/1/45, Pool #AZ1783      245,879  
  644,622      3.50%, 7/1/45, Pool #AZ0814      672,884  
  223,408      3.00%, 8/1/45, Pool #AS5634      227,471  
  34,066      3.00%, 8/1/45, Pool #AZ3728      34,678  
  87,553      3.00%, 8/1/45, Pool #AZ8288      89,141  
  127,159      4.00%, 10/1/45, Pool #AL7413      135,248  
  632,365      4.00%, 10/1/45, Pool #AL7593      672,594  
  43,424      4.00%, 11/1/45, Pool #AZ0560      45,919  
  50,654      4.00%, 12/1/45, Pool #AS6350      53,882  
  82,857      4.00%, 12/1/45, Pool #BA6404      87,645  
  25,811      4.00%, 12/1/45, Pool #BC0997      27,317  
  1,127,633      4.00%, 2/1/46, Pool #BC1578      1,189,574  
  70,070      4.50%, 2/1/46, Pool #BM5199      76,213  
  45,060      4.00%, 4/1/46, Pool # BC3920      47,546  
  39,289      4.00%, 4/1/46, Pool #BC7809      41,423  
  18,368      4.00%, 5/1/46, Pool #BC2276      19,442  
  597,680      3.50%, 5/1/46, Pool #BC0880      618,123  
  380,094      4.00%, 6/1/46, Pool #BC0960      401,042  
  559,579      4.00%, 6/1/46, Pool #AL9282      590,448  
  82,542      4.00%, 7/1/46, Pool #BC6148      87,142  
  211,848      4.00%, 7/1/46, Pool #BC1443      225,782  
  615,715      3.50%, 7/1/46, Pool #AL9515      636,877  
  80,641      4.00%, 8/1/46, Pool #BD1451      85,051  
  40,583      3.50%, 8/1/46, Pool #BD5247      42,733  
  207,299      3.50%, 8/1/46, Pool #AL8990      218,214  
  91,056      4.50%, 8/1/46, Pool #AL9111      97,865  
  111,380      3.50%, 8/1/46, Pool #AL8970      117,232  
  57,665      3.50%, 9/1/46, Pool #BD7792      60,696  
  102,957      4.00%, 9/1/46, Pool #BD1489      108,618  
  224,043      4.00%, 9/1/46, Pool #BC2843      238,754  
  23,128      3.50%, 9/1/46, Pool #BD0711      24,353  
  248,087      3.50%, 10/1/46, Pool #AL9285      255,199  
  35,479      4.00%, 10/1/46, Pool #BD7599      37,419  
  352,874      3.50%, 10/1/46, Pool #BC4760      371,538  
  198,707      4.00%, 10/1/46, Pool #BC4754      211,797  
  142,759      3.50%, 11/1/46, Pool #BC9014      150,275  
  1,487,439      3.50%, 12/1/46, Pool #BD8504      1,565,743  
  706,078      3.50%, 12/1/46, Pool #BC9077      736,865  
  57,819      3.50%, 12/1/46, Pool #BE5877      60,630  
  38,993      3.50%, 1/1/47, Pool #BE7834      40,889  
  607,911      3.50%, 1/1/47, Pool #AL9776      628,778  
  1,204,226      4.50%, 2/1/47, Pool #AL9846      1,302,106  
  2,374,532      4.00%, 2/1/47, Pool #AL9779      2,512,130  
  145,495      3.50%, 2/1/47, Pool #BE5696      152,849  
  182,011      4.00%, 5/1/47, Pool #BM1277      193,872  
  16,094      4.00%, 6/1/47, Pool #BH4269      17,143  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

17


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal National Mortgage Association, continued  
$ 110,684      4.00%, 7/1/47, Pool #BE3774    $ 116,002  
  127,087      4.00%, 7/1/47, Pool #AS9968      134,329  
  21,470      4.00%, 12/1/47, Pool #BJ4279      22,873  
  36,391      4.00%, 12/1/47, Pool #BJ2132      38,765  
  20,339      4.00%, 2/1/48, Pool #CA1199      21,510  
  893,441      3.50%, 2/1/48, Pool #BJ3436      919,188  
  19,970      4.00%, 3/1/48, Pool #BK1867      21,120  
  24,276      4.00%, 3/1/48, Pool #BK3214      25,686  
  21,982      4.00%, 4/1/48, Pool #BK2485      23,256  
  184,927      4.00%, 4/1/48, Pool #BM3700      196,950  
  19,206      4.00%, 4/1/48, Pool #BK4838      20,309  
  92,404      4.00%, 4/1/48, Pool #CA1545      97,724  
  50,132      4.00%, 4/1/48, Pool #BK3836      53,079  
  19,233      4.00%, 4/1/48, Pool #BJ8805      20,343  
  782,654      4.00%, 5/1/48, Pool #BJ2731      827,667  
  119,629      4.00%, 5/1/48, Pool #BM3877      126,507  
  22,415      4.00%, 5/1/48, Pool #BK2527      23,689  
  73,914      3.00%, 8/1/49, Pool #CA4017      75,097  
  237,077      3.00%, 9/1/49, Pool #BN7756      241,284  
  975,808      3.00%, 9/1/49, Pool #CA4142      996,482  
  1,014,959      4.50%, 9/1/49, Pool #FM1534      1,090,191  
  1,895,052      3.00%, 9/1/49, Pool #FM1459      1,922,614  
  38,933      3.00%, 9/1/49, Pool #MA3774      39,500  
  288,142      3.50%, 9/1/49, Pool# FM1449      296,659  
  977,967      3.00%, 10/1/49, Pool #CA4421      998,119  
  887,787      3.00%, 10/1/49, Pool# FM1675      900,695  
  977,674      3.00%, 10/1/49, Pool #CA4406      1,003,275  
  199,200      3.50%, 11/1/49, Pool #CA4557      207,746  
  1,011,570      4.00%, 11/1/49, Pool #CA4628      1,065,639  
  850,000      2.50%, 12/1/49, Pool #BO6208      842,971  
     

 

 

 
        52,165,835  
     

 

 

 
Government National Mortgage Association (7.8%):  
  13,102      5.00%, 6/15/34, Pool #629493      14,445  
  7,469      5.00%, 3/15/38, Pool #676766      8,337  
  3,015      5.00%, 4/15/38, Pool #672672      3,364  
  12,281      5.00%, 8/15/38, Pool #687818      13,700  
  92,975      5.00%, 1/15/39, Pool #705997      103,130  
  211,455      5.00%, 3/15/39, Pool #646746      234,724  
  1,284      5.00%, 3/15/39, Pool #697946      1,423  
  224,498      4.00%, 10/15/40, Pool #783143      236,006  
  66,875      4.00%, 10/20/40, Pool #G24833      70,981  
  195,140      4.00%, 1/20/41, Pool #4922      207,125  
  522,478      4.50%, 3/20/41, Pool #4978      572,384  
  378,945      4.00%, 5/20/41, Pool #5054      403,306  
  184,369      4.50%, 5/20/41, Pool #005055      201,972  
  159,560      4.50%, 6/15/41, Pool #366975      175,097  
  119,563      4.50%, 6/20/41, Pool #005082      130,982  
  430,442      4.00%, 10/20/41, Pool #5203      458,121  
  476,615      3.50%, 12/20/41, Pool #5258      499,864  
  828,834      4.00%, 1/20/42, Pool #5280      882,137  
  569,937      3.50%, 10/20/42, Pool #MA0462      600,401  
  53,707      4.00%, 11/20/42, Pool #AB9233      57,481  
  286,107      3.00%, 12/20/42, Pool # MA0624      296,233  
  345,427      3.00%, 12/20/42, Pool #AA5872      356,577  
  2,761,102      3.50%, 1/20/43, Pool #MA0699      2,908,741  
  50,918      3.00%, 1/20/43, Pool #MA0698      52,719  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Government National Mortgage Association, continued  
$ 618,064      3.50%, 2/20/43, Pool #MA0783    $ 649,912  
  78,149      3.50%, 3/20/43, Pool #AD8884      81,363  
  226,671      3.00%, 3/20/43, Pool #AA6146      234,148  
  93,446      3.00%, 3/20/43, Pool #AD8812      95,996  
  514,692      3.50%, 4/20/43, Pool #783976      537,712  
  83,670      3.50%, 4/20/43, Pool #AD9075      86,623  
  29,104      3.50%, 4/20/43, Pool #AB9891      30,295  
  599,102      4.00%, 10/20/43, Pool# MA1376      633,158  
  8,329      4.00%, 7/20/44, Pool #MA2074      8,786  
  123,152      4.00%, 5/20/45, Pool #MA2893      129,955  
  206,783      4.00%, 8/20/45, Pool #MA3035      218,187  
  7,990      4.00%, 9/20/45, Pool #MA3106      8,431  
  8,225      4.00%, 10/20/45, Pool #MA3174      8,678  
  9,132      4.00%, 12/20/45, Pool #MA3311      9,636  
  9,040      4.00%, 1/20/46, Pool # MA3377      9,538  
  338,586      4.00%, 4/15/46, Pool #784232      360,836  
  563,065      4.00%, 5/20/46, Pool #MA3664      593,046  
  415,810      3.50%, 5/20/46, Pool #MA3663      433,196  
  31,800      3.50%, 5/20/46, Pool #AR9028      33,357  
  24,626      3.50%, 5/20/46, Pool #AR9166      25,832  
  32,203      3.50%, 5/20/46, Pool #AS4272      33,783  
  124,070      3.50%, 6/20/46, Pool #AT4139      130,147  
  29,482      3.50%, 6/20/46, Pool #AT4134      30,927  
  36,770      3.50%, 6/20/46, Pool #AS4285      38,563  
  390,181      3.50%, 6/20/46, Pool #MA3736      407,938  
  42,883      3.50%, 7/20/46, Pool #784391      44,972  
  216,409      3.50%, 7/20/46, Pool #MA3803      225,198  
  45,396      3.50%, 9/20/46, Pool #MA3937      47,191  
  39,454      3.00%, 10/20/46, Pool #MA4003      40,748  
  2,564,293      3.00%, 12/20/46, Pool #MA4126      2,647,081  
  331,106      4.00%, 1/15/47, Pool #AX5831      346,029  
  314,207      4.00%, 1/15/47, Pool #AX5857      328,369  
  629,136      3.00%, 1/20/47, Pool #MA4195      649,345  
  352,014      3.00%, 2/20/47, Pool #MA4261      362,551  
  90,466      4.00%, 3/20/47, Pool #MA4322      94,719  
  92,975      4.00%, 4/20/47, Pool #MA4383      97,179  
  1,319,203      4.50%, 4/20/47, Pool #MA4384      1,385,629  
  408,484      4.00%, 4/20/47, Pool #784304      423,918  
  377,569      4.00%, 4/20/47, Pool #784303      391,895  
  60,011      4.00%, 5/20/47, Pool #MA4452      62,831  
  830,940      4.50%, 6/20/47, Pool #MA4512      872,767  
  251,597      4.00%, 6/20/47, Pool #MA4511      263,116  
  3,889,535      3.50%, 9/20/47, Pool #MA4719      4,029,674  
  1,534,275      3.50%, 1/20/48, Pool #MA4962      1,595,764  
  373,264      4.00%, 4/20/48, Pool #MA5137      387,860  
  227,172      4.00%, 4/20/48, Pool #BG7744      237,812  
  322,936      4.00%, 4/20/48, Pool #BG3507      338,042  
  2,347,099      4.00%, 5/20/48, Pool #MA5192      2,427,929  
  785,147      4.00%, 6/20/48, Pool #MA5264      812,164  
  5,715,000      3.00%, 1/20/49, TBA      5,869,483  
  1,199,900      3.50%, 4/20/49, Pool #MA5875      1,236,477  
  87,262      Class JA, Series 2015-H21, 2.50%, 6/20/65, Callable 5/20/21 @ 100      87,196  
     

 

 

 
        38,625,232  
     

 

 

 
 

Total U.S. Government Agency Mortgages (Cost $115,485,734)

     117,043,378  
  

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

18


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Treasury Obligations (22.9%):       
U.S. Treasury Bonds (5.3%):  
$ 2,785,000      2.50%, 2/15/46    $ 2,849,838  
  15,337,000      3.00%, 2/15/49      17,342,792  
  5,382,000      2.88%, 5/15/49      5,947,110  
     

 

 

 
        26,139,740  
     

 

 

 
U.S. Treasury Inflation Index Bonds (0.9%):  
  3,422,556      0.75%, 2/15/45      3,553,836  
  86,121      1.00%, 2/15/46      94,794  
  736,286      1.00%, 2/15/49      818,484  
     

 

 

 
        4,467,114  
     

 

 

 
U.S. Treasury Inflation Index Notes (3.4%):  
  2,042,507      0.25%, 1/15/25      2,060,212  
  8,012,895      0.63%, 1/15/26      8,257,648  
  4,264,061      0.13%, 7/15/26      4,277,705  
  2,058,602      0.88%, 1/15/29      2,185,807  
     

 

 

 
        16,781,372  
     

 

 

 
U.S. Treasury Notes (13.3%):  
  8,034,000      2.13%, 7/31/24      8,189,659  
  6,658,000      2.25%, 12/31/24      6,834,853  
  7,087,000      2.50%, 2/28/26      7,383,768  
  9,926,000      1.63%, 9/30/26      9,806,578  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Treasury Obligations, continued       
U.S. Treasury Notes, continued  
$ 9,035,000      3.13%, 11/15/28    $ 9,941,323  
  11,402,000      1.63%, 8/15/29      11,116,950  
  12,361,000      1.75%, 11/15/29      12,183,311  
     

 

 

 
        65,456,442  
     

 

 

 
 

Total U.S. Treasury Obligations (Cost $109,362,601)

     112,844,668  
  

 

 

 
Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on
Loan (0.6%):
      
  3,088,784      BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, 2.00%(e)(f)      3,088,784  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on
Loan (Cost $3,088,784)

     3,088,784  
  

 

 

 
Unaffiliated Investment Companies (1.7%):       
Money Markets (1.7%):       
  8,559,485      Dreyfus Treasury Securities Cash Management Fund, Institutional Shares, 1.44%(f)      8,559,485  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Unaffiliated Investment Companies (Cost $8,559,485)

     8,559,485  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities (Cost $486,122,828) — 101.6%(g)

     501,647,243  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — (1.6)%

     (7,960,532
  

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 493,686,711  
  

 

 

 
 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

GO—General Obligation

H15T5Y—5 Year Treasury Constant Maturity Rate

LIBOR—London Interbank Offered Rate

MTN—Medium Term Note

SOFR—Secured Overnight Financing Rate

TBA—To Be Announced Security

US0001M—1 Month US Dollar LIBOR

US0003M—3 Month US Dollar LIBOR

USSW5—USD 5 Year Swap Rate

 

*

Non-income producing security.

 

^

This security or a partial position of this security was on loan as of December 31, 2019. The total value of securities on loan as of December 31, 2019 was $2,957,573.

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

(a)

Security was valued using unobservable inputs in good faith pursuant to procedures approved by the Board of Trustees as of December 31, 2019. The total of all such securities represent 0.00% of the net assets of the fund.

 

(b)

Rule 144A, Section 4(2) or other security which is restricted to resale to institutional investors. The sub-adviser has deemed these securities to be liquid based on procedures approved by the Board of Trustees.

 

(c)

The rate for certain asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities may vary based on factors relating to the pool of assets underlying the security. The rate presented is the rate in effect at December 31, 2019.

 

(d)

Defaulted bond.

 

(e)

Purchased with cash collateral held from securities lending. The value of the collateral could include collateral held for securities that were sold on or before December 31, 2019.

 

(f)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(g)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

Amounts shown as “—” are either $0 or rounds to less than $1.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

19


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

The following represents the concentrations by country of risk (based on the domicile of the security issuer) relative to the total fair value of investments as of December 31, 2019:

(Unaudited)

 

Country    Percentage  

Argentina

     0.1

Australia

     0.4

Bermuda

     0.1

Brazil

      % 

Canada

     0.9

Cayman Islands

     0.9

Chile

     0.2

Dominican Republic

     0.3

France

     0.2

Germany

     0.7

Guernsey

     0.7
Country    Percentage  

Ireland

     0.7

Italy

     0.5

Jersey

     0.2

Luxembourg

     1.0

Mexico

     2.1

Netherlands

     1.6

Switzerland

     0.2

United Arab Emirates

     0.1

United Kingdom

     2.0

United States

     87.1
  

 

 

 
     100.0
  

 

 

 
 

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

Securities Sold Short (-0.1%):

At December 31, 2019, the Fund’s securities sold short were as follows:

 

Security Description    Coupon
Rate
    Maturity
Date
    

Par

Amount

     Proceeds
Received
     Fair Value  

U.S. Government Agency Mortgages

             

Federal National Mortgage Association

 

Federal National Mortgage Association, TBA

     3.50     1/25/50      $ (300,000    $ (307,793    $ (308,578
          

 

 

    

 

 

 
        $ (307,793    $ (308,578
       

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

20


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investment securities, at cost

    $ 486,122,828
   

 

 

 

Investment securities, at value(a)

    $ 501,647,243

Interest and dividends receivable

      4,141,625

Receivable for capital shares issued

      406

Receivable for TBA investments sold

      25,747,046

Prepaid expenses

      1,775
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      531,538,095
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Cash overdraft

      2,011

Payable for investments purchased

      392,973

Payable for TBA investments purchased

      33,229,368

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      481,653

Payable for collateral received on loaned securities

      3,088,784

Securities sold short (Proceeds received $307,793)

      308,578

Interest payable on securities sold short

      379

Manager fees payable

      210,311

Administration fees payable

      9,248

Distribution fees payable

      100,301

Custodian fees payable

      3,125

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      1,752

Transfer agent fees payable

      1,836

Trustee fees payable

      431

Other accrued liabilities

      20,634
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      37,851,384
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 493,686,711
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 471,615,856

Total distributable earnings

      22,070,855
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 493,686,711
   

 

 

 

Class 1

   

Net Assets

    $ 22,823,106

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      2,238,174

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 10.20
   

 

 

 

Class 2

   

Net Assets

    $ 470,863,605

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      44,841,976

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 10.50
   

 

 

 

 

(a)

Includes securities on loan of $2,957,573.

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Interest

    $ 18,536,880

Dividends

      203,623

Income from securities lending

      122,231
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      18,862,734
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      2,521,423

Administration fees

      221,185

Distribution fees — Class 2

      1,203,924

Custodian fees

      18,328

Administrative and compliance services fees

      9,443

Transfer agent fees

      11,634

Trustee fees

      30,193

Professional fees

      26,058

Shareholder reports

      19,311

Other expenses

      16,208
   

 

 

 

Total expenses

      4,077,707
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      14,785,027
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities

      4,717,925

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities held short

      88,778

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities

      29,992,104

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities held short

      46,191
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      34,844,998
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 49,630,025
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

21


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 14,785,027     $ 14,770,014

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      4,806,703       (4,619,768 )

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      30,038,295       (18,013,951 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      49,630,025       (7,863,705 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Class 1

      (762,762 )       (707,681 )

Class 2

      (14,007,289 )       (14,621,912 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (14,770,051 )       (15,329,593 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Class 1

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      2,473,032       907,880

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      762,762       707,681

Value of shares redeemed

      (3,389,231 )       (3,245,300 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 1 Shares

      (153,437 )       (1,629,739 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Class 2

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      14,141,674       10,368,064

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      14,007,289       14,621,912

Value of shares redeemed

      (69,635,789 )       (76,454,314 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 2 Shares

      (41,486,826 )       (51,464,338 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      (41,640,263 )       (53,094,077 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      (6,780,289 )       (76,287,375 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      500,467,000       576,754,375
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 493,686,711     $ 500,467,000
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Class 1

       

Shares issued

      246,124       93,143

Dividends reinvested

      75,446       75,046

Shares redeemed

      (335,189 )       (333,055 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 1 Shares

      (13,619 )       (164,866 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Class 2

       

Shares issued

      1,364,347       1,034,907

Dividends reinvested

      1,345,561       1,505,861

Shares redeemed

      (6,698,382 )       (7,711,888 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 2 Shares

      (3,988,474 )       (5,171,120 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      (4,002,093 )       (5,335,986 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

22


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

    Year Ended December 31,
     2019   2018   2017   2016^   2015

Class 1

                   

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 9.54     $ 9.96     $ 9.77     $ 10.00    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.32 (a)       0.32       0.23       0.24    

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      0.69       (0.42 )       0.21       (0.47 )    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total from Investment Activities

      1.01       (0.10 )       0.44       (0.23 )    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.35 )       (0.32 )       (0.25 )          
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total Dividends

      (0.35 )       (0.32 )       (0.25 )          
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 10.20     $ 9.54     $ 9.96     $ 9.77    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total Return(b)

      10.57 %       (1.00 )%       4.55 %       (2.30 )%(c)    

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 22,823     $ 21,476     $ 24,077     $ 25,981    

Net Investment Income/(Loss)(d)

      3.17 %       2.96 %       2.23 %       3.03 %    

Expenses Before Reductions(d)(e)

      0.57 %       0.56 %       0.56 %       0.59 %    

Expenses Net of Reductions(d)

      0.57 %       0.56 %       0.56 %       0.59 %    

Portfolio Turnover Rate(f)

      68 %       38 %       81 %       119 %    

Class 2

                   

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 9.81     $ 10.23     $ 10.05     $ 9.85     $ 10.14
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.30 (a)       0.31       0.22       0.26       0.31

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      0.71       (0.44 )       0.21       0.29       (0.40 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      1.01       (0.13 )       0.43       0.55       (0.09 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.32 )       (0.29 )       (0.25 )       (0.34 )       (0.20 )

Net Realized Gains

                        (0.01 )      
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (0.32 )       (0.29 )       (0.25 )       (0.35 )       (0.20 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 10.50     $ 9.81     $ 10.23     $ 10.05     $ 9.85
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(b)

      10.28 %       (1.25 )%       4.28 %       5.51 %       (0.89 )%

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 470,864     $ 478,991     $ 552,678     $ 568,216     $ 433,205

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      2.92 %       2.71 %       1.98 %       3.06 %       2.93 %

Expenses Before Reductions(e)

      0.82 %       0.81 %       0.81 %       0.83 %       0.82 %

Expenses Net of Reductions

      0.82 %       0.81 %       0.81 %       0.83 %       0.82 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate(f)

      68 %       38 %       81 %       119 %       123 %

 

^

Class 1 activity is for the period October 17, 2016 (commencement of operations) to December 31, 2016.

 

(a)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(b)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(c)

Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(d)

Annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(e)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

(f)

Portfolio turnover rate is calculated on the basis of the Fund as a whole without distinguishing between classes of shares issued. Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

23


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services — Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available. Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Fund accrues such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Foreign Currency Translation

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Securities Purchased on a When-Issued Basis

The Fund may purchase securities on a when-issued basis. When-issued securities are securities purchased for delivery beyond the normal settlement date at a stated price and yield and thereby involve risk that the yield obtained in the transaction will be less than that available in the market when the delivery takes place. A Fund will not pay for such securities or start earning interest on them until they are received. When a Fund agrees to purchase securities on a when-issued basis, the Fund will segregate or designate cash or liquid assets equal to the amount of the commitment. Securities purchased on a when-issued basis are recorded as an asset and are subject to changes in the value based upon changes in the general level of interest rates. A Fund may sell when-issued securities before they are delivered, which may result in a capital gain or loss.

Short Sales

The Fund may engage in short sales against the box (i.e., where the Fund owns or has an unconditional right to acquire at no additional cost a security substantially similar to the security sold short) for hedging purposes to limit exposure to a possible market decline in the value of its portfolio securities. In a short sale, the Fund sells a borrowed security and has a corresponding obligation to the lender to return the identical security. The Fund may also incur an interest expense if a security that has been sold short has an interest payment. When the Fund engages in a short sale, the Fund records a liability for securities sold short and records an asset equal to the proceeds received. The amount of the liability is subsequently marked to market to reflect the market value of the securities sold short. To borrow the security, the Fund also may be required to pay a premium, which would increase the cost of the security sold.

 

24


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Each class of shares bears its pro-rata portion of expenses attributable to its series, except that each class separately bears expenses related specifically to that class, such as distribution fees. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

Class Allocation

The investment income, expenses (other than class specific expenses charged to a class), realized and unrealized gains and losses on investments of the Fund are allocated to each class of shares based upon relative net assets on the date income is earned or expenses and realized and unrealized gains and losses are incurred.

Bank Loans

The Fund may invest in bank loans, which generally have interest rates which are reset periodically by reference to a base lending rate plus a premium. These base rates are primarily the London-Interbank Offered Rate and, secondarily, the prime rate offered by one or more major U.S. banks and the certificate of deposit rate or other base lending rates used by commercial lenders. Bank loans often require prepayments from excess cash flows or allow the borrower to repay at its election. The rate at which the borrower repays cannot be predicted with accuracy. Therefore, the anticipated or actual maturity may be considerably earlier than the stated maturity shown in the Schedule of Portfolio of Investments. All or a portion of any bank loans may be unfunded. The portfolio is obligated to fund any commitments at the borrower’s discretion. Therefore, the portfolio must have funds sufficient to cover its contractual obligation.

Securities Lending

To generate additional income, the Fund may lend up to 33 1/3% of its assets pursuant to agreements requiring that the loan be continuously secured by any combination of cash, U.S. government or U.S. government agency securities, equal initially to at least 102% of the fair value plus accrued interest on the securities loaned (105% for foreign securities). The borrower of securities is at all times required to post collateral to the Fund in an amount equal to 100% of the fair value of the securities loaned based on the previous day’s fair value of the securities loaned, marked-to-market daily. Any collateral shortfalls are adjusted the next business day. The Fund bears all of the gains and losses on such investments. The Fund receives payments from borrowers equivalent to the dividends and interest that would have been earned on securities lent while simultaneously seeking to earn income on the investment of cash collateral received. In extremely low interest rate environments, the broker rebate fee may exceed the interest earned or the cash collateral which would result in a loss to the Fund. The investment of cash collateral deposited by the borrower is subject to inherent market risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks that are present in the market, and as such, the value of these investments may not be sufficient, when liquidated, to repay the borrower when the loaned security is returned. There may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. However, loans will be made only to borrowers, such as broker-dealers, banks or institutional borrowers of securities, deemed by the Manager to be of good standing and credit worthy and when in its judgment, the consideration which can be earned currently from such securities loans justifies the attendant risks. Loans are subject to termination by the Trust or the borrower at any time, and are, therefore, not considered to be illiquid investments. Securities on loan at December 31, 2019 are presented on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

Cash collateral received in connection with securities lending is invested on behalf of the Fund in the BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, a money market fund which invests in short-term investments that have a remaining maturity of 397 days or less in accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. The Fund pays the Securities Lending Agent 9% of the gross revenues received from securities lending activities and keeps 91%. The Fund paid securities lending fees of $12,040 during the year ended December 31, 2019. These fees have been netted against “Income from securities lending” on the Statement of Operations. The Fund had securities lending transactions of $3,088,784 accounted for as secured borrowings with cash collateral of overnight and continuous maturities as of December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019, there were no master netting provisions in the securities lending agreement.

TBA Purchase and Sale Commitments

The Fund may enter into to-be-announced (TBA) purchase or sale commitments, pursuant to which it agrees to purchase or sell, respectively, mortgage-backed securities for a fixed unit price, with payment and delivery at a scheduled future date beyond the customary settlement period for such securities. With TBA transactions, the particular securities to be delivered are not identified at the trade date; however, delivered securities must meet specified terms, including issuer, rate, and mortgage term, and be within industry-accepted “good delivery” standards. The Fund may enter into TBA purchase transactions with the intention of taking possession of the underlying securities, may elect to extend the settlement by “rolling” the transaction, and/or may use TBAs to gain interim exposure to underlying securities. Until settlement, the Fund maintains liquid assets sufficient to settle its TBA commitments.

To mitigate counterparty risk, the Fund has entered into agreements with TBA counterparties that provide for collateral and the right to offset amounts due to or from those counterparties under specified conditions. Subject to minimum transfer amounts, collateral requirements are determined and transfers made based on the net aggregate unrealized gain or loss on all TBA commitments with a particular counterparty. At any time, the Fund’s risk of loss from a particular counterparty related to its TBA commitments is the aggregate unrealized gain on appreciated TBAs in excess of unrealized loss on depreciated TBAs and collateral held, if any, by such counterparty. As of December 31, 2019, no collateral had been posted by the Fund to counterparties for TBAs.

 

25


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not engage in any Rule 17a-7 transactions under the Rule.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In March 2017, FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2017-08 (“ASU 2017-08”), “Receivables — Nonrefundable Fees and Other Costs (Subtopic 310-20): Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities”. ASU 2017-08 changed the amortization period for non-contingently callable debt securities held at a premium. Specifically, it required the premium to be amortized to the earliest call date. ASU 2017-08 does not require an accounting change for securities held at a discount, which continues to accrete to maturity. The Fund has adopted ASU 2017-08 on a modified retrospective basis as of January 1, 2019. The adoption of ASU 2017-08 did not have a significant impact on the amortized cost of investments as of January 1, 2019, and had no impact on beginning net assets, the current period results from operations, or any prior period information presented in the financial statements.

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to a subadvisory agreement with FIAM LLC (“FIAM”), FIAM provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate      Annual Expense Limit

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund Class 1

         0.50 %          0.70 %

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund Class 2

         0.50 %          0.95 %

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations. During the year ended December 31, 2019, there were no voluntary waivers.

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the average daily net assets attributable of Class 2 shares, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $3,788 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

 

26


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy.

Debt and other fixed income securities are generally valued at an evaluated bid price provided by an independent pricing source approved by the Trustees. To value debt securities, pricing services may use various pricing techniques which take into account appropriate factors such as market activity, yield, quality, coupon rate, maturity, type of issue, trading characteristics, call features, credit ratings and other data, as well as broker quotes. Short-term securities of sufficient credit quality with sixty days or less remaining until maturity may be valued at amortized cost, which approximates fair value. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total
                             

Common Stocks+

       $ 212,901        $        $        $ 212,901

Warrants+

                  #                  

Asset Backed Securities

                  8,527,450                   8,527,450

Collateralized Mortgage Obligations

                  19,187,451                   19,187,451

Corporate Bonds+

                  162,101,824                   162,101,824

Yankee Dollars+

                  64,054,279                   64,054,279

Municipal Bonds

                  6,027,023                   6,027,023

U.S. Government Agency Mortgages

                  117,043,378                   117,043,378

U.S. Treasury Obligations

                  112,844,668                   112,844,668

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

         3,088,784                            3,088,784

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

         8,559,485                            8,559,485
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

         11,861,170          489,786,073                   501,647,243
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Securities Sold Short

                  (308,578 )                   (308,578 )
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $ 11,861,170        $ 489,477,495        $        $ 501,338,665
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

#

Represents the interest in securities that were determined to have a value of zero at December 31, 2019.

 

27


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

       $ 334,140,446        $ 383,719,574

For the year ended December 31, 2019, purchases and sales of long-term U.S. government securities were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

       $ 248,019,145        $ 297,948,169

6. Investment Risks

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Investments in securities of foreign issuers carry certain risks not ordinarily associated with investments in securities of domestic issuers. Such risks include future political and economic developments, and the possible imposition of exchange controls or other foreign governmental laws and restrictions. In addition, with respect to certain countries, there is the possibility of expropriation of assets, confiscatory taxation, political or social instability or diplomatic developments which could adversely affect investments in those securities.

London Interbank Offering Rate (“LIBOR”) Risk: Certain investments held by the Fund may pay or receive interest at floating rates based on LIBOR. The United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority expects the use of LIBOR will be phased out by the end of 2021. Currently, there are no definitive details regarding the future utilization of LIBOR or of any particular replacement floating rate of interest. Abandonment of or modifications to LIBOR could lead to market uncertainty and instability. To the extent that the Fund’s investments have maturities which extend beyond 2021, the applicable interest rates might be subject to change if there is a transition from the LIBOR reference rate. These risks may also apply with respect to changes in connection with other interbank offering rates (e.g., Euribor) and a wide range of other index levels, rates and values that are treated as “benchmarks” and are the subject of recent regulatory reform.

Mortgage-Related and Other Asset-Backed Risk: The Fund may invest in a variety of mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities, which are subject to certain additional risks. Generally, rising interest rates tend to extend the duration of fixed rate mortgage-related securities, making them more sensitive to changes in interest rates. As a result, in a period of rising interest rates, a Fund that holds mortgage-related securities may exhibit additional volatility. This is known as extension risk. In addition, adjustable and fixed rate mortgage-related securities are subject to call risk. When interest rates decline, borrowers may pay off their mortgages sooner than expected. This can reduce the returns of a Fund because the Fund will have to reinvest that money at the lower prevailing interest rates. If a Fund purchases mortgage-backed or asset-backed securities that are subordinated to other interests in the same mortgage pool, the Fund may receive payments only after the pool’s obligations to other investors have been satisfied. An unexpectedly high rate of defaults on the mortgages held by a mortgage pool may limit substantially the pool’s ability to make payments of principal or interest to the Fund as a holder of such subordinated securities, reducing the values of those securities or in some cases rendering them worthless. An unexpectedly high or low rate of prepayments on a pool’s underlying mortgages may have a similar effect on subordinated securities. A mortgage pool may issue securities subject to various levels of subordination. The risk of non-payment affects securities at each level, although the risk is greater in the case of more highly subordinated securities. A Fund’s investments in other asset-backed securities are subject to risks similar to those associated with mortgage-related securities, as well as additional risks associated with the nature of the assets and the servicing of those assets.

Short Sale Risk: The Fund may engage in short sales, which are transactions in which the Fund sells securities borrowed from others with the expectation that the price of the security will fall before the Fund must purchase the security to return it to the lender. The Fund may make short sales of securities, either as a hedge against potential declines in value of a portfolio security or to realize appreciation when a security that the Fund does not own declines in value. Because making short sales in securities that it does not own exposes the Fund to the risks associated with those securities, such short sales involve speculative exposure risk. The Fund will incur a loss as a result of a short sale if the price of the security increases between the date of the short sale and the date on which the Fund replaces the security sold short. The Fund will realize a gain if the security declines in price between those dates. As a result, if the Fund makes short sales in securities that increase in value, it will likely underperform similar funds that do not make short sales in securities they do not own. There can be no assurance that the Fund will be able to close out a short sale position at any particular time or at an acceptable price. Although the Fund’s gain is limited to the amount at which it sold a security short, its potential loss is limited only by the maximum attainable price of the security, less the price at which the security was sold. The Fund may also pay transaction costs and borrowing fees in connection with short sales.

7. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $485,871,006. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 18,766,710  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (3,299,051
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 15,467,659  
 

 

 

 

As of the end of its tax year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund has capital loss carry forwards (“CLCFs”) as summarized in the table below. The Board does not intend to authorize a distribution of any realized gain for the Fund until any applicable CLCF has been offset.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund utilized $4,675,284 in CLCFs to offset capital gains.

 

28


AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

CLCF’s not subject to expiration:

 

        Short-Term
Amount
     Long-Term
Amount
     Total
Amount

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

       $ 4,247,444        $ 3,934,341        $ 8,181,785

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

       $ 14,770,051        $        $ 14,770,051

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

       $ 15,329,593        $        $ 15,329,593

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
     Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
     Total
Accumulated
Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

       $ 14,784,981        $        $ (8,181,785 )        $ 15,467,659        $ 22,070,855

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales.

8. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had multiple shareholder accounts which are affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 70% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

9. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

29


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Total Bond Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

30


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

31


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for

 

32


the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

 

33


The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

34


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

35


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

36


LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL® Gateway Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 10

Statement of Operations

Page 10

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 11

Financial Highlights

Page 12

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 13

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 18

Other Federal Income Tax Information

Page 19

Other Information

Page 20

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 21

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 24

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® Gateway Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® Gateway Fund and Gateway Investment Advisers, LLC serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® Gateway Fund (the “Fund”) returned 10.82%. That compared to a 31.49% total return for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index1. The Fund’s performance reflects its low-volatility equity strategy, which seeks to reduce fluctuations in the portfolio’s value that may be caused by equity market volatility. In achieving its low-volatility objective, the Fund’s annualized standard deviation of daily returns for the year was 5.45% compared to 12.47% for the S&P 500 Index. The Fund exhibited a beta2 to the S&P 500 Index of 0.41 for the year.

The Fund seeks to capture the majority of the long-term returns expected with equity market investments while also providing less risk. To accomplish this, the Fund invests in a diversified portfolio of common stocks. In addition, the Fund sells index call options in order to lower volatility and generate cash flow; the Fund then uses a portion of this cash flow to purchase index put options, which helps mitigate any sharp, sudden price declines in the equity portfolio.*

Early in the year, the Federal Reserve Board (the Fed) announced a shift to a more dovish monetary policy with fewer interest rate increases. The news provided a boost to equities, and ultimately the Fed cut rates three times in 2019, starting in July. The policy shift came amid signs of weaker global growth, geopolitical tensions, and positive domestic economic indicators, such as a low unemployment rate and better-than-expected, albeit stagnant, growth in corporate earnings. In particular, unease over trade tensions between the U.S. and China and the U.S. and Mexico contributed to a decline in equities throughout May, with additional volatility and a second drawdown at the end of July and into mid-August. A phase one-trade agreement between the U.S. and China was announced in the fourth quarter, which helped provide a boost to equities to close out the 12-month period.

The Fund underperformed its primary benchmark for the year, as expected when the benchmark posts a strong above-average advance combined with below-average volatility levels. As measured by the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index3 (the VIX), implied volatility averaged 15.39 for 2019, falling below its historical average of 19.15. The highest close of the VIX in 2019 was on January 3, as equity markets recovered from near-bear market territory at the end of 2018.

The Fund’s two-part option strategy helped it participate in equity gains during market advances while also mitigating losses during market declines. However, this strategy prevented it from fully participating in the well-above-average gains of the first and fourth quarters of 2019. The Fund returned 5.02% and 3.48% during these quarters, lagging the benchmark’s gains of 13.65% and 9.07%, respectively.

The market advance was choppy and more moderate in the second and third quarters. The Fund ultimately lagged its benchmark during these quarters but not to the same extent, posting returns of 0.84% and 1.13%, respectively, compared to the benchmark’s returns of 4.30% and 1.70%. However, the low-volatility strategy provided significant downside protection during the brief, sharp market declines in May and July. During these two downturns, the Fund returned -3.60% and -2.75%, respectively, outperforming the benchmark’s returns of -6.62% and -5.99%.

The Fund employs equity index options as part of its low-volatility strategy, and those derivatives, along with the overall strategy, worked as designed, however they had an overall negative impact on the Fund’s performance during the period.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

*

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmark please refer to page 2 of this report.

2 

Beta is a measure of the volatility, or systematic risk, of a security or a portfolio in comparison to the market as a whole, beta is used in the capital asset pricing model, which calculates the expected return of an asset based on its beta and expected market returns.

3 

Chicago Board Options Exchange Market Volatility Index® (VIX®) is a key measure of market expectations of near-term volatility conveyed by the S&P 500 Index options.

 

 

1


AZL® Gateway Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

 

     
The Fund’s investment objective is to seek to capture the majority of the returns associated with equity market investments, while exposing investors to less risk than other equity investments. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing in a broadly diversified portfolio of common stocks, while also selling index call options.      

 

Investment Concerns

 

     

Equity securities (stocks) are more volatile and carry more risk than other forms of investments, including investments in high-grade fixed income securities. The net asset value per share of this Fund will fluctuate as the value of the securities in the portfolio changes.

 

     

International investing may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuations in currency values, from differences in generally accepted accounting principles or from economic or political instability in other nations.

 

     

The performance of investments in real estate depends on the overall strength of the real estate market, the management of real estate investments trusts (REITs), real estate operating companies (REOCs), and foreign real estate companies, and property management, all of which can be affected by a variety of factors, including national and regional economic conditions. Investing in derivatives instruments involves risks that may be different from or greater than the risk associated with investing directly in securities or other traditional instruments.

 

     

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 

     

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmark and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

                       Since  
     1     3     5     Inception  
     Year     Year     Year     (4/30/10)  

AZL® Gateway Fund

     10.82     4.97     4.34     4.38

S&P 500 Index

     31.49     15.27     11.70     13.25

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratio

   Gross  

AZL® Gateway Fund

     1.10

The above expense ratio is based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense), to 1.25% through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratio can be found in the Financial Highlights.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, an unmanaged index that is representative of 500 selected common stocks, most of which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, which is a measure of the U.S. Stock market as a whole. The index does not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The Fund’s performance reflects the deduction of fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

2


AZL Gateway Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL Gateway Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Gateway Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,046.50     $ 5.73       1.11 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Gateway Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,019.61     $ 5.65       1.11 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

Information Technology

      22.9 %

Health Care

      14.1

Financials

      13.0

Communication Services

      10.8

Consumer Discretionary

      9.9

Industrials

      9.4

Consumer Staples

      6.8

Energy

      4.3

Utilities

      3.3

Real Estate

      2.9

Materials

      2.5
   

 

 

 

Total Common Stocks

      99.9

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

      2.4

Purchased Put Options

      0.4
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      102.7

Net other assets (liabilities)

      (2.7 )
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

3


AZL Gateway Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks+ (100%):       
Aerospace & Defense (2.2%):       
  3,482      Boeing Co. (The)    $ 1,134,296  
  107      HEICO Corp.      12,214  
  766      Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.      192,174  
  2,659      Raytheon Co.      584,289  
  643      TransDigm Group, Inc.      360,080  
  7,107      United Technologies Corp.      1,064,344  
     

 

 

 
        3,347,397  
     

 

 

 
Air Freight & Logistics (0.4%):       
  5,249      United Parcel Service, Inc., Class B      614,448  
  671      XPO Logistics, Inc.*      53,479  
     

 

 

 
        667,927  
     

 

 

 
Airlines (0.3%):       
  1,780      Alaska Air Group, Inc.      120,595  
  3,552      JetBlue Airways Corp.*      66,493  
  3,618      United Airlines Holdings, Inc.*      318,710  
     

 

 

 
        505,798  
     

 

 

 
Auto Components (0.2%):       
  2,289      Autoliv, Inc.      193,214  
  2,113      Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.      60,749  
  2,253      Veoneer, Inc.*      35,192  
     

 

 

 
        289,155  
     

 

 

 
Automobiles (0.1%):       
  281      Tesla, Inc.*      117,551  
     

 

 

 
Banks (6.1%):       
  2,673      Associated Banc-Corp.      58,913  
  62,793      Bank of America Corp.      2,211,569  
  17,829      Citigroup, Inc.      1,424,359  
  2,308      First Republic Bank      271,075  
  18,930      Huntington Bancshares, Inc.      285,464  
  22,505      JPMorgan Chase & Co.      3,137,197  
  1,566      Old National Bancorp      28,642  
  615      Signature Bank      84,015  
  802      SVB Financial Group*      201,334  
  27,662      Wells Fargo & Co.      1,488,216  
     

 

 

 
        9,190,784  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (2.0%):       
  26,465      Coca-Cola Co. (The)      1,464,837  
  3,214      Monster Beverage Corp.*      204,250  
  9,740      PepsiCo, Inc.      1,331,166  
     

 

 

 
        3,000,253  
     

 

 

 
Biotechnology (2.5%):       
  9,311      AbbVie, Inc.      824,396  
  4,437      Amgen, Inc.      1,069,628  
  1,654      Biogen, Inc.*      490,791  
  151      Exact Sciences Corp.*      13,964  
  10,329      Gilead Sciences, Inc.      671,178  
  681      Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      41,139  
  614      Seattle Genetics, Inc.*      70,156  
  2,546      Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      557,447  
     

 

 

 
        3,738,699  
     

 

 

 
Building Products (0.3%):       
  7,737      Johnson Controls International plc      314,973  
  332      Lennox International, Inc.      80,998  
     

 

 

 
        395,971  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks+, continued       
Capital Markets (2.5%):       
  8,735      Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (The)    $ 439,633  
  9,283      Charles Schwab Corp. (The)      441,499  
  2,951      Eaton Vance Corp.      137,782  
  724      FactSet Research Systems, Inc.      194,249  
  2,988      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.      687,030  
  5,941      Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.      549,840  
  2,002      Legg Mason, Inc.      71,892  
  244      MarketAxess Holdings, Inc.      92,503  
  13,248      Morgan Stanley      677,238  
  1,280      MSCI, Inc.      330,470  
  3,305      TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.      164,259  
     

 

 

 
        3,786,395  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (1.7%):       
  1,562      Ashland Global Holdings, Inc.      119,540  
  2,266      Celanese Corp., Series A      278,990  
  7,851      Corteva, Inc.      232,076  
  6,722      Dow, Inc.      367,895  
  6,301      DuPont de Nemours, Inc.      404,524  
  3,821      Eastman Chemical Co.      302,852  
  571      Ingevity Corp.*      49,894  
  5,525      LyondellBasell Industries NV, Class A      522,002  
  4,251      Olin Corp.      73,330  
  1,811      RPM International, Inc.      139,012  
  5,919      Valvoline, Inc.      126,726  
     

 

 

 
        2,616,841  
     

 

 

 
Commercial Services & Supplies (0.5%):       
  1,769      Copart, Inc.*      160,873  
  981      Waste Connections, Inc.      89,065  
  4,539      Waste Management, Inc.      517,264  
     

 

 

 
        767,202  
     

 

 

 
Communications Equipment (1.1%):       
  455      Arista Networks, Inc.*      92,547  
  28,946      Cisco Systems, Inc.      1,388,250  
  1,575      Motorola Solutions, Inc.      253,796  
     

 

 

 
        1,734,593  
     

 

 

 
Construction Materials (0.2%):       
  946      Martin Marietta Materials, Inc.      264,539  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (0.3%):       
  2,419      Ally Financial, Inc.      73,925  
  4,234      Discover Financial Services      359,128  
     

 

 

 
        433,053  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (0.3%):       
  1,349      Avery Dennison Corp.      176,477  
  1,386      Crown Holdings, Inc.*      100,540  
  1,010      Sonoco Products Co.      62,337  
  2,591      WestRock Co.      111,180  
     

 

 

 
        450,534  
     

 

 

 
Distributors (0.2%):       
  2,428      Genuine Parts Co.      257,926  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Consumer Services (0.0%):       
  1,240      Service Corp. International      57,077  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (2.1%):       
  13,116      Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., Class B*      2,970,774  
  2,486      Voya Financial, Inc.      151,596  
     

 

 

 
        3,122,370  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL Gateway Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks+, continued       
Diversified Telecommunication Services (2.2%):       
  45,122      AT&T, Inc.    $ 1,763,368  
  24,802      Verizon Communications, Inc.      1,522,843  
     

 

 

 
        3,286,211  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (1.6%):       
  7,496      Alliant Energy Corp.      410,181  
  8,029      American Electric Power Co., Inc.      758,820  
  7,767      Duke Energy Corp.      708,428  
  2,914      Edison International      219,745  
  3,608      Evergy, Inc.      234,845  
  476      Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.      22,305  
  2,999      OGE Energy Corp.      133,366  
     

 

 

 
        2,487,690  
     

 

 

 
Electrical Equipment (0.7%):       
  5,097      Eaton Corp. plc      482,788  
  6,724      Emerson Electric Co.      512,772  
  457      Hubbell, Inc.      67,554  
     

 

 

 
        1,063,114  
     

 

 

 
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (0.5%):       
  2,393      CDW Corp.      341,816  
  8,240      Corning, Inc.      239,866  
  2,369      Trimble, Inc.*      98,764  
  412      Zebra Technologies Corp., Class A*      105,241  
     

 

 

 
        785,687  
     

 

 

 
Energy Equipment & Services (0.3%):       
  21,107      Halliburton Co.      516,488  
     

 

 

 
Entertainment (2.2%):       
  5,431      Activision Blizzard, Inc.      322,710  
  2,173      Electronic Arts, Inc.*      233,619  
  1,116      Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.*      79,761  
  2,804      Netflix, Inc.*      907,290  
  886      Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.*      108,473  
  11,717      Walt Disney Co. (The)      1,694,630  
     

 

 

 
        3,346,483  
     

 

 

 
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (2.9%):       
  6,887      American Homes 4 Rent, Class A      180,508  
  2,672      Camden Property Trust      283,500  
  3,807      CubeSmart      119,844  
  2,279      Digital Realty Trust, Inc.      272,887  
  11,008      Duke Realty Corp.      381,648  
  2,501      Extra Space Storage, Inc.      264,156  
  4,885      Healthcare Realty Trust, Inc.      163,012  
  7,904      Invitation Homes, Inc.      236,883  
  2,737      Kilroy Realty Corp.      229,634  
  4,589      Liberty Property Trust      275,569  
  979      Mack-Cali Realty Corp.      22,644  
  7,721      Medical Properties Trust, Inc.      162,990  
  4,833      National Retail Properties, Inc.      259,145  
  214      Parks Hotels & Resorts, Inc.      5,536  
  3,907      Regency Centers Corp.      246,493  
  2,739      Sabra Health Care REIT, Inc.      58,450  
  2,059      Sun Communities, Inc.      309,057  
  10,580      UDR, Inc.      494,087  
  4,353      Ventas, Inc.      251,342  
  1,451      WP Carey, Inc.      116,138  
     

 

 

 
        4,333,523  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks+, continued       
Food & Staples Retailing (1.1%):       
  492      Casey’s General Stores, Inc.    $ 78,223  
  3,570      US Foods Holding Corp.*      149,547  
  11,859      Walmart, Inc.      1,409,324  
     

 

 

 
        1,637,094  
     

 

 

 
Food Products (0.8%):       
  1,071      Bunge, Ltd.      61,636  
  758      Ingredion, Inc.      70,456  
  1,829      Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc.      157,349  
  15,580      Mondelez International, Inc., Class A      858,147  
  773      Post Holdings, Inc.*      84,334  
     

 

 

 
        1,231,922  
     

 

 

 
Gas Utilities (0.1%):       
  193      Atmos Energy Corp.      21,589  
  1,421      National Fuel Gas Co.      66,134  
  15      UGI Corp.      677  
     

 

 

 
        88,400  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (3.4%):       
  14,085      Abbott Laboratories      1,223,422  
  600      Align Technology, Inc.*      167,424  
  4,716      Baxter International, Inc.      394,352  
  12,530      Boston Scientific Corp.*      566,607  
  195      DexCom, Inc.*      42,654  
  1,569      Edwards Lifesciences Corp.*      366,032  
  4,843      Hologic, Inc.*      252,853  
  967      Intuitive Surgical, Inc.*      571,642  
  7,970      Medtronic plc      904,197  
  1,933      ResMed, Inc.      299,557  
  998      Steris plc      152,115  
  502      Teleflex, Inc.      188,973  
     

 

 

 
        5,129,828  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (3.0%):       
  2,165      Anthem, Inc.      653,895  
  2,484      Cigna Corp.      507,953  
  9,081      CVS Health Corp.      674,627  
  2,265      HCA Healthcare, Inc.      334,790  
  114      Molina Healthcare, Inc.*      15,469  
  1,601      Quest Diagnostics, Inc.      170,971  
  6,632      UnitedHealth Group, Inc.      1,949,675  
  1,221      Universal Health Services, Inc., Class B      175,165  
     

 

 

 
        4,482,545  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Technology (0.1%):       
  640      Veeva Systems, Inc., Class A*      90,022  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (1.8%):       
  1,782      Aramark      77,339  
  334      Domino’s Pizza, Inc.      98,123  
  2,112      Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc.      159,540  
  960      Hilton Grand Vacations, Inc.*      33,014  
  3,538      Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc.      392,400  
  4,129      Las Vegas Sands Corp.      285,066  
  6,402      McDonald’s Corp.      1,265,100  
  1,249      Melco Resorts & Entertainment, Ltd., ADR      30,188  
  6,653      MGM Resorts International      221,345  
  1,451      Restaurant Brands International, Inc.      92,509  
  77      Vail Resorts, Inc.      18,467  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL Gateway Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks+, continued       
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure, continued       
  3,839      Wendy’s Co. (The)    $ 85,264  
     

 

 

 
        2,758,355  
     

 

 

 
Household Durables (0.2%):       
  58      NVR, Inc.*      220,887  
  203      Roku, Inc.*      27,182  
  3,235      Toll Brothers, Inc.      127,815  
     

 

 

 
        375,884  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (1.8%):       
  7,854      Colgate-Palmolive Co.      540,669  
  17,030      Procter & Gamble Co. (The)      2,127,047  
     

 

 

 
        2,667,716  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (1.6%):       
  3,853      3M Co.      679,746  
  57,842      General Electric Co.      645,517  
  6,225      Honeywell International, Inc.      1,101,825  
     

 

 

 
        2,427,088  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (2.0%):       
  8,326      Aflac, Inc.      440,445  
  211      Alleghany Corp.*      168,709  
  3,970      Allstate Corp. (The)      446,427  
  449      American Financial Group, Inc.      49,233  
  7,894      American International Group, Inc.      405,199  
  2,779      Aon plc      578,838  
  2,472      Arch Capital Group, Ltd.*      106,025  
  4,628      Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.      440,724  
  1,014      FNF Group      45,985  
  3,769      Lincoln National Corp.      222,409  
  422      RenaissanceRe Holdings, Ltd.      82,720  
     

 

 

 
        2,986,714  
     

 

 

 
Interactive Media & Services (5.1%):       
  1,393      Alphabet, Inc., Class A*      1,865,770  
  2,057      Alphabet, Inc., Class C*      2,750,250  
  438      Baidu, Inc., ADR*      55,363  
  14,534      Facebook, Inc., Class A*      2,983,103  
  441      Zillow Group, Inc., Class C*      20,260  
     

 

 

 
        7,674,746  
     

 

 

 
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail (3.6%):       
  2,465      Amazon.com, Inc.*      4,554,925  
  294      Booking Holdings, Inc.*      603,797  
  5,983      eBay, Inc.      216,046  
  73      MercadoLibre, Inc.*      41,752  
     

 

 

 
        5,416,520  
     

 

 

 
IT Services (5.0%):       
  3,404      Automatic Data Processing, Inc.      580,382  
  693      Black Knight, Inc.*      44,685  
  1,293      Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.      159,737  
  4,665      Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Class A      289,323  
  5,613      Fidelity National Information Services, Inc.      780,712  
  933      FleetCor Technologies, Inc.*      268,443  
  4,935      International Business Machines Corp.      661,487  
  1,097      Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.      159,800  
  1,670      Leidos Holdings, Inc.      163,476  
  3,979      Paychex, Inc.      338,454  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks+, continued       
IT Services, continued       
  8,612      PayPal Holdings, Inc.*    $ 931,560  
  343      Twilio, Inc., Series A*      33,710  
  1,941      VeriSign, Inc.*      373,992  
  13,593      Visa, Inc., Class A      2,554,125  
  6,434      Western Union Co.      172,303  
     

 

 

 
        7,512,189  
     

 

 

 
Leisure Products (0.0%):       
  547      Polaris, Inc.      55,630  
     

 

 

 
Life Sciences Tools & Services (0.3%):       
  1,269      Illumina, Inc.*      420,978  
  546      PRA Health Sciences, Inc.*      60,688  
     

 

 

 
        481,666  
     

 

 

 
Machinery (1.7%):       
  4,367      Caterpillar, Inc.      644,920  
  1,981      Cummins, Inc.      354,520  
  2,489      Deere & Co.      431,244  
  1,486      IDEX Corp.      255,592  
  1,637      Parker Hannifin Corp.      336,927  
  3,855      Pentair plc      176,829  
  756      Snap-On, Inc.      128,066  
  1,171      Timken Co.      65,939  
  935      Woodward, Inc.      110,741  
     

 

 

 
        2,504,778  
     

 

 

 
Media (1.2%):       
  29,799      Comcast Corp., Class A      1,340,062  
  491      Liberty Broadband Corp., Class C*      61,743  
  2,081      Liberty Global plc, Series C*      45,355  
  1,209      Liberty Latin America, Ltd., Class C*      23,527  
  4,197      News Corp., Class B      60,898  
  2,067      Omnicom Group, Inc.      167,468  
  10,940      Sirius XM Holdings, Inc.      78,221  
     

 

 

 
        1,777,274  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (0.3%):       
  4,306      Southern Copper Corp.      182,918  
  4,467      Steel Dynamics, Inc.      152,057  
  1,505      Worthington Industries, Inc.      63,481  
     

 

 

 
        398,456  
     

 

 

 
Mortgage Real Estate Investment Trusts (0.1%):       
  4,060      AGNC Investment Corp.      71,781  
  6,440      Annaly Capital Management, Inc.      60,665  
     

 

 

 
        132,446  
     

 

 

 
Multiline Retail (0.4%):       
  2,357      Nordstrom, Inc.      96,472  
  4,322      Target Corp.      554,124  
     

 

 

 
        650,596  
     

 

 

 
Multi-Utilities (1.5%):       
  4,802      Ameren Corp.      368,794  
  5,652      CenterPoint Energy, Inc.      154,130  
  4,541      Consolidated Edison, Inc.      410,824  
  5,960      Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc.      351,938  
  2,659      Sempra Energy      402,785  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL Gateway Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks+, continued       
Multi-Utilities, continued       
  6,901      WEC Energy Group, Inc.    $ 636,479  
     

 

 

 
        2,324,950  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (3.9%):       
  1,571      Cheniere Energy, Inc.*      95,941  
  13,273      Chevron Corp.      1,599,529  
  13,206      ConocoPhillips Co.      858,786  
  7,809      Continental Resources, Inc.      267,849  
  27,941      Exxon Mobil Corp.      1,949,724  
  1,606      HollyFrontier Corp.      81,440  
  3,917      ONEOK, Inc.      296,399  
  3,793      Phillips 66      422,578  
  1,603      Targa Resources Corp.      65,450  
  3,423      Valero Energy Corp.      320,564  
     

 

 

 
        5,958,260  
     

 

 

 
Personal Products (0.3%):       
  1,832      Estee Lauder Co., Inc. (The), Class A      378,381  
  555      Herbalife Nutrition, Ltd.*      26,457  
     

 

 

 
        404,838  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (4.9%):       
  14,925      Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.      958,036  
  6,532      Eli Lilly & Co.      858,501  
  460      Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc*      68,669  
  16,369      Johnson & Johnson Co.      2,387,745  
  18,270      Merck & Co., Inc.      1,661,657  
  35,715      Pfizer, Inc.      1,399,314  
     

 

 

 
        7,333,922  
     

 

 

 
Professional Services (0.5%):       
  290      CoStar Group, Inc.*      173,507  
  605      ManpowerGroup, Inc.      58,746  
  993      TransUnion      85,011  
  3,243      Verisk Analytics, Inc.      484,309  
     

 

 

 
        801,573  
     

 

 

 
Road & Rail (1.1%):       
  327      Canadian Pacific Railway, Ltd.      83,369  
  5,774      CSX Corp.      417,807  
  85      Lyft, Inc., Class A*      3,657  
  472      Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.      89,576  
  1,517      Uber Technologies, Inc.*      45,116  
  5,319      Union Pacific Corp.      961,621  
     

 

 

 
        1,601,146  
     

 

 

 
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (4.4%):       
  7,591      Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.*      348,123  
  3,890      Analog Devices, Inc.      462,288  
  2,241      Broadcom, Inc.      708,201  
  27,851      Intel Corp.      1,666,882  
  4,097      Marvell Technology Group, Ltd.      108,816  
  2,367      Microchip Technology, Inc.      247,872  
  4,049      NVIDIA Corp.      952,730  
  7,834      Qualcomm, Inc.      691,194  
  1,729      Skyworks Solutions, Inc.      209,002  
  4,297      Teradyne, Inc.      293,012  
  7,432      Texas Instruments, Inc.      953,451  
     

 

 

 
        6,641,571  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks+, continued       
Software (7.1%):       
  3,815      Adobe, Inc.*    $ 1,258,225  
  1,092      ANSYS, Inc.*      281,092  
  3,450      Cadence Design Systems, Inc.*      239,292  
  658      Check Point Software Technologies, Ltd.*      73,012  
  1,503      Fortinet, Inc.*      160,460  
  46,019      Microsoft Corp.      7,257,196  
  4,876      NortonLifeLock, Inc.      124,436  
  2,002      Nuance Communications, Inc.*      35,696  
  16,820      Oracle Corp.      891,124  
  292      Palo Alto Networks, Inc.*      67,525  
  8      Paycom Software, Inc.*      2,118  
  737      PTC, Inc.*      55,194  
  588      ServiceNow, Inc.*      166,004  
  669      SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc.      41,077  
  357      VMware, Inc., Class A*      54,189  
  655      Workday, Inc., Class A*      107,715  
  425      Zoom Video Communications, Inc.*      28,917  
     

 

 

 
        10,843,272  
     

 

 

 
Specialty Retail (2.5%):       
  1,764      American Eagle Outfitters, Inc.      25,931  
  236      AutoZone, Inc.*      281,149  
  332      Burlington Stores, Inc.*      75,706  
  288      Five Below, Inc.*      36,824  
  707      Foot Locker, Inc.      27,566  
  8,117      Home Depot, Inc. (The)      1,772,590  
  5,567      Lowe’s Cos., Inc.      666,704  
  1,459      Tiffany & Co.      194,995  
  10,831      TJX Cos., Inc. (The)      661,341  
     

 

 

 
        3,742,806  
     

 

 

 
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals (4.9%):       
  24,843      Apple, Inc.      7,295,147  
  696      Dell Technologies, Inc., Class C*      35,767  
     

 

 

 
        7,330,914  
     

 

 

 
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods (0.8%):       
  640      Lululemon Athletica, Inc.*      148,269  
  9,078      Nike, Inc., Class B      919,692  
  1,179      PVH Corp.      123,972  
     

 

 

 
        1,191,933  
     

 

 

 
Tobacco (0.8%):       
  10,039      Altria Group, Inc.      501,046  
  8,692      Philip Morris International, Inc.      739,603  
     

 

 

 
        1,240,649  
     

 

 

 
Trading Companies & Distributors (0.1%):       
  564      GATX Corp.      46,727  
  2,772      HD Supply Holdings, Inc.*      111,490  
     

 

 

 
        158,217  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.1%):       
  3,950      Sprint Corp.*      20,580  
  2,336      T-Mobile US, Inc.*      183,189  
     

 

 

 
        203,769  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Common Stocks (Cost $76,812,857)

     150,820,950  
  

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL Gateway Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Purchased Options (0.4%):       
 

Total Purchased Options (Cost $1,056,148)

   $ 564,330  
  

 

 

 
Unaffiliated Investment Companies (2.4%):       
Money Markets (2.4%):       
  3,693,098      Dreyfus Treasury Securities Cash Management Fund, Institutional Shares, 1.44%(a)      3,693,098  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Unaffiliated Investment Companies (Cost $3,693,098)

     3,693,098  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities (Cost $81,562,103) — 102.7%(b)

     155,078,378  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — (2.7)%

     (4,117,525
  

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 150,960,853  
  

 

 

 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

ADR—American Depository Receipt

 

*

Non-income producing security.

 

+

All or a portion of each common stock has been pledged as collateral for outstanding call options written.

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

(a)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(b)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

 

 

At December 31, 2019, the Fund’s exchange traded options purchased were as follows:

 

Description    Put/
Call
   Strike
Price
   Expiration
Date
     Contracts      Notional
Amount(a)
     Fair Value  

S&P 500 Index

   Put    2800.00 USD      1/17/20        58      $ 162,400      $ 5,945  

S&P 500 Index

   Put    2850.00 USD      2/21/20        57        162,450        37,335  

S&P 500 Index

   Put    2875.00 USD      2/21/20        59        169,625        44,250  

S&P 500 Index

   Put    2900.00 USD      2/21/20        58        168,200        49,590  

S&P 500 Index

   Put    2950.00 USD      2/21/20        58        171,100        64,380  

S&P 500 Index

   Put    2900.00 USD      3/20/20        58        168,200        100,630  

S&P 500 Index

   Put    2950.00 USD      3/20/20        57        168,150        123,975  

S&P 500 Index

   Put    2975.00 USD      3/20/20        57        169,575        138,225  
                 

 

 

 

Total (Cost $1,056,148)

               $ 564,330  
              

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL Gateway Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

At December 31, 2019, the Fund’s exchange traded options written were as follows:

 

Description    Put/
Call
   Strike
Price
   Expiration
Date
     Contracts      Notional
Amount(a)
     Fair Value  

S&P 500 Index

   Call    3150.00 USD      1/17/20        52      $ 163,800      $ (496,340

S&P 500 Index

   Call    3125.00 USD      2/21/20        51        159,375        (707,880

S&P 500 Index

   Call    3150.00 USD      2/21/20        51        160,650        (603,840

S&P 500 Index

   Call    3200.00 USD      2/21/20        52        166,400        (415,740

S&P 500 Index

   Call    3225.00 USD      2/21/20        52        167,700        (324,480

S&P 500 Index

   Call    3275.00 USD      2/21/20        51        167,025        (168,300

S&P 500 Index

   Call    3175.00 USD      3/20/20        52        165,100        (613,860

S&P 500 Index

   Call    3225.00 USD      3/20/20        51        164,475        (423,810

S&P 500 Index

   Call    3275.00 USD      3/20/20        50        163,750        (266,000
                 

 

 

 

Total (Premiums $2,559,737)

               $ (4,020,250
              

 

 

 

 

(a)

Notional amount is expressed as the number of contracts multiplied by the strike price of the underlying asset.

Balances Reported in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities for Options Written

      Value

Options Written

   $(4,020,250)

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL Gateway Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investment securities, at cost

    $ 81,562,103
   

 

 

 

Investment securities, at value

    $ 155,078,378

Cash

      37,763

Interest and dividends receivable

      144,609

Receivable for capital shares issued

      22,854

Receivable for investments sold

      387,447

Reclaims receivable

      2,159

Prepaid expenses

      512
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      155,673,722
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Payable for investments purchased

      544,961

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      297

Written Options (Premiums received $2,559,737)

      4,020,250

Manager fees payable

      102,898

Administration fees payable

      2,521

Distribution fees payable

      32,156

Custodian fees payable

      1,213

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      574

Transfer agent fees payable

      960

Trustee fees payable

      141

Other accrued liabilities

      6,898
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      4,712,869
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 150,960,853
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 103,164,683

Total distributable earnings

      47,796,170
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 150,960,853
   

 

 

 

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      10,972,472

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 13.76
   

 

 

 

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

    

Dividends

     $ 3,234,635

Foreign withholding tax

       (792 )
    

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

       3,233,843

Expenses:

    

Manager fees

       1,217,802

Administration fees

       56,791

Distribution fees

       380,563

Custodian fees

       7,170

Administrative and compliance services fees

       2,750

Transfer agent fees

       5,485

Trustee fees

       8,730

Professional fees

       7,645

Shareholder reports

       4,891

Other expenses

       5,681
    

 

 

 

Total expenses

       1,697,508
    

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

       1,536,335
    

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

    

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities

       (2,077,891 )

Net realized gains/(losses) on written options contracts

       (14,118,593 )

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities

       32,042,623

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on written options contracts

       (1,869,110 )
    

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

       13,977,029
    

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

     $ 15,513,364
    

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

10


AZL Gateway Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 1,536,335     $ 1,567,484

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      (16,196,484 )       24,072,901

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      30,173,513       (32,459,533 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      15,513,364       (6,819,148 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Distributions

      (1,477,781 )       (2,023,443 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (1,477,781 )       (2,023,443 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      4,817,499       6,489,248

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      1,477,781       2,023,443

Value of shares redeemed

      (17,161,872 )       (65,173,439 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      (10,866,592 )       (56,660,748 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      3,168,991       (65,503,339 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      147,791,862       213,295,201
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 150,960,853     $ 147,791,862
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Shares issued

      366,473       488,214

Dividends reinvested

      111,784       152,713

Shares redeemed

      (1,289,868 )       (4,871,885 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      (811,611 )       (4,230,958 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

11


AZL Gateway Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

    Year Ended December 31,
     2019   2018   2017   2016   2015

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 12.54     $ 13.32     $ 12.29     $ 11.96     $ 11.87
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.13 (a)       0.18       0.12       0.17       0.15

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      1.22       (0.79 )       1.04       0.40       0.08
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      1.35       (0.61 )       1.16       0.57       0.23
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.13 )       (0.17 )       (0.13 )       (0.24 )       (0.14 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (0.13 )       (0.17 )       (0.13 )       (0.24 )       (0.14 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 13.76     $ 12.54     $ 13.32     $ 12.29     $ 11.96
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(b)

      10.82 %       (4.65 )%       9.46 %       4.84 %       1.98 %

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 150,961     $ 147,792     $ 213,295     $ 178,951     $ 200,708

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      1.01 %       0.93 %       1.06 %       1.19 %       1.11 %

Expenses Before Reductions(c)

      1.11 %       1.10 %       1.10 %       1.10 %       1.10 %

Expenses Net of Reductions

      1.11 %       1.10 %       1.10 %       1.10 %       1.10 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate

      19 %       9 %       24 %       20 %       5 %

 

(a)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(b)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(c)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

12


AZL Gateway Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services—Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL Gateway Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Foreign Currency Translation and Withholding Taxes

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding and other income or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Funds accrue such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

 

13


AZL Gateway Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not engage in any Rule 17a-7 transactions under the Rule.

Derivative Instruments

All open derivative positions at period end are reflected on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments. The following is a description of the derivative instruments utilized by the Fund, including the primary underlying risk exposures related to each instrument type.

Options Contracts

The Fund may purchase or write put and call options on a security or an index of securities. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund purchased and wrote call and put options to increase or decrease its exposure to underlying instruments (including equity risk, interest rate risk and/or foreign currency exchange rate risk) and/or, in the case of options written, to generate gains from options premiums.

Purchased Options Contracts — The Fund pays a premium which is included in “Investments, at value” on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities and marked to market to reflect the current value of the option. Premiums paid for purchasing options that expire are treated as realized losses. When a put option is exercised or closed, premiums paid for purchasing options are offset against proceeds to determine the realized gain/loss on the transaction. The Fund bears the risk of loss of the premium and change in value should the counterparty not perform under the contract.

Written Options Contracts — The Fund receives a premium which is recorded as a liability and is subsequently adjusted to the current value of the options written. Premiums received from writing options that expire are treated as realized gains. Premiums received from writing options that are either exercised or closed are offset against the proceeds received or the amount paid on the transaction to determine realized gains or losses. The risk associated with writing an option is that the Fund bears the market risk of an unfavorable change in the price of an underlying asset and is required to buy or sell an underlying asset under the contractual terms of the option at a price different from the current value.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the monthly average notional amount for written options contracts was $1.5 million. Realized gains and losses are reported as “Net realized gains/(losses) on written options contracts” on the Statement of Operations.

Summary of Derivative Instruments

The following is a summary of the fair values of derivative instruments on the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities, categorized by risk exposure, as of December 31, 2019:

 

   

Asset Derivatives

   

Liability Derivatives

 
Primary Risk Exposure  

Statement of Assets

and Liabilities Location

  Total Fair
Value
   

Statement of Assets

and Liabilities Location

  Total Fair
Value
 

Equity Risk

       
Options Contracts       Written Options Contracts   $ 4,020,250  

The following is a summary of the effect of derivative instruments on the Statement of Operations, categorized by risk exposure, for the year ended December 31, 2019:

 

Primary Risk Exposure   Location of Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
   Realized Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
     Change in Net Unrealized
Appreciation/Depreciation on
Derivatives Recognized
 

Equity Risk

     
Options Contracts   Net realized gains/(losses) on written options contracts/Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on written options contracts    $ (14,118,593    $ (1,869,110

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to a subadvisory agreement with Gateway Investment Advisers, LLC (“Gateway”), Gateway provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate      Annual Expense Limit

AZL Gateway Fund

         0.80 %          1.25 %

 

14


AZL Gateway Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations. During the year ended December 31, 2019, there were no voluntary waivers.

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $1,141 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy.

Options are generally valued at the average of the closing bid and ask quotations on the principal exchange on which the option is traded, which are then typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. For options where market quotations are not readily available, fair value procedures as described below may be applied.

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by

 

15


AZL Gateway Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total

Common Stocks+

       $ 150,820,950        $        $        $ 150,820,950

Purchased Options

         564,330                            564,330

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

         3,693,098                            3,693,098
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

         155,078,378                            155,078,378
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Other Financial Instruments:*

                           

Written Options

         (4,020,250 )                            (4,020,250 )
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $ 151,058,128        $        $        $ 151,058,128
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

*

Other Financial Instruments would include any derivative instruments, such as written options.

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL Gateway Fund

       $ 28,714,956        $ 55,610,936

6. Investment Risks

Derivatives Risk: The Fund may invest in derivatives as a principal strategy. A derivative is a financial contract whose value depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or risk. Use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Derivatives are subject to a number of other risks, such as liquidity risk, interest rate risk, market risk, credit risk, and selection risk. Derivatives also involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate, or index. Using derivatives may result in losses, possibly in excess of the principal amount invested. Also, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances. The counterparty to a derivatives contract could default. As required by applicable law, a Fund that invests in derivatives segregates cash or liquid securities, or both, to the extent that its obligations under the instrument are not covered through ownership of the underlying security, financial instrument, or currency.

7. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $79,910,604. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 73,732,494  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (2,584,970
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 71,147,524  
 

 

 

 

As of the end of its tax year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund has capital loss carry forwards (“CLCFs”) as summarized in the table below. The Board does not intend to authorize a distribution of any realized gain for the Fund until any applicable CLCF has been offset.

CLCF’s not subject to expiration:

 

        Short-Term
Amount
     Long-Term
Amount
     Total
Amount

AZL Gateway Fund

       $ 17,537,382        $ 9,257,421        $ 26,794,803

 

16


AZL Gateway Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

   Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Gateway Fund

       $ 1,477,781        $      $ 1,477,781

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

   Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Gateway Fund

       $ 2,023,443        $      $ 2,023,443

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

      Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
   Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
   Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
   Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
     Total
Accumulated
Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL Gateway Fund

     $ 1,491,118      $      $ (26,794,804 )      $ 73,099,856        $ 47,796,170

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales, mark-to-market of options contracts and other miscellaneous differences.

8. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had multiple shareholder accounts which are affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 80% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

9. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

17


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL Gateway Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL Gateway Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

18


Other Federal Income Tax Information (Unaudited)

For the year ended December 31, 2019, 100.00% of the total ordinary income dividends paid by the Fund qualify for the corporate dividends received deductions available to corporate shareholders.

 

19


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

20


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for

 

21


the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

 

 

22


The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

23


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

24


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

25


LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL® Government Money Market Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 6

Statement of Operations

Page 6

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 7

Financial Highlights

Page 8

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 9

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 13

Other Federal Income Tax Information

Page 14

Other Information

Page 15

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 16

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 19

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® Government Money Market Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® Government Money Market Fund and BlackRock Advisors, LLC serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® Government Money Market Fund (the “Fund”) returned 1.39%. That compared to a 2.06% total return for its benchmark, the Three-Month U.S. Treasury Bill Index1.

One of the main drivers of fixed-income markets in 2019 was the shift in the Federal Reserve Board’s (the Fed) monetary policy from hawkish to dovish at the start of the year. Rather than continuing its cycle of interest rate increases, the Fed cut interest rates three times during the year, in July, September, and October. This policy shift stemmed from concerns over slowing global growth, the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, and muted inflation. A temporary bout of volatility in the repurchase agreement, or “repo,” market in mid-September led the Fed to inject additional liquidity into the financial system later in the year.

In the context of these and other factors, the slope of the U.S. Treasury yield curve between three months and 10 years inverted periodically throughout the year, leading to concerns about the possibility of a recession. However, a strong labor market and rising consumer spending—along with the Fed’s more accommodative policy—helped keep the economic expansion intact.

Investors maintained a strong interest in money market mutual funds and short-duration bond funds as indicated by positive cash flows throughout the year, while primary market investment-grade bonds experienced a decline in demand. These technical factors helped maintain spreads in credit instruments during the 12-month period.

In this environment, the Fund maintained a competitive yield throughout the 12-month period. The Fund benefited from an overweight exposure to U.S. government agency securities and an opportunistic allocation to floating rate notes. The Fund’s exposure to the repo market, particularly to tri-party repos, also added to relative results. These holdings were diversified across the largest, most systematically important banking organizations in their respective regions, and the Fund’s relatively large allocation benefited performance due to the liquidity benefits and competitive rates available in this asset class. Meanwhile, the Fund’s duration exposure lengthened during the first quarter as the markets responded to the change in the Fed’s tone. This longer duration position benefited the Fund as interest rates declined.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

*

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

 

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmark please refer to page 2 of this report.

 
 

 

1


AZL® Government Money Market Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

The Fund’s investment objective is to seek current income consistent with stability of principal. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing in a broad range of short-term, high-quality U.S. dollar-denominated money market instruments, including government, U.S. and foreign bank, commercial and other obligations.

Investment Concerns

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Although the Fund seeks to preserve the value of your investment at $1.00 per share, it cannot guarantee it will do so. An investment in the Fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The Fund’s sponsor has no legal obligation to provide financial support to the Fund, and you should not expect that the sponsor will provide financial support to the Fund at any time. Past performance is not predictive of future performance as yields on money market funds fluctuate daily.

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmark and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

     1
Year
    3
Year
    5
Year
    10
Years
 

AZL® Government Money Market Fund

     1.39     0.82     0.49     0.25

Three-Month U.S. Treasury Bill Index

     2.06     1.64     1.06     0.56

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratio

   Gross  

AZL® Government Money Market Fund

     0.88

The above expense ratio is based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.34% on all assets. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense), to 0.87% through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratio can be found in the Financial Highlights.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

Yield as of December 31, 2019

 

     7 Day
Average
    7 Day
Effective
    30 Day
Average
 

AZL® Government Money Market Fund

     0.83     0.83     0.84

Prior to the year ended December 31, 2016, the Manager voluntarily agreed to waive, reimburse, or pay Fund expenses to the extent necessary in order to maintain a minimum daily net investment income for the Fund of 0.00% during such periods. The Distributor was also permitted to waive its Rule 12b-1 fees during such periods. Amounts waived, reimbursed or paid by the Manager and/or the Distributor are subject to repayment to the Manager and/or the Distributor, subject to certain limitations as further described in Note 3 of the Notes to Financial Statements. The repayment of amounts previously waived, reimbursed or paid during 2018 served to reduce the Fund’s yield during the period.

The 7-day yield quotation is as of December 31, 2019 and more closely reflects the current earnings of the Fund than the total return quotation.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Three-Month U.S. Treasury Bill Index, which is an unmanaged index and does not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The Fund’s performance reflects the deduction of fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

2


AZL Government Money Market Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL Government Money Market Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Government Money Market Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,005.90     $ 4.40       0.87 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Government Money Market Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,020.82     $ 4.43       0.87 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net assets

U.S. Government Agency Mortgages

      51.5 %

Repurchase Agreements

      33.9

U.S. Treasury Obligations

      14.4
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      99.8

Net other assets (liabilities)

      0.2
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

3


AZL Government Money Market Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages (51.5%):  
Federal Farm Credit Bank (12.0%):  
$ 3,125,000      2.28%, 1/17/20(a)    $ 3,121,639  
  960,000      1.99%, 1/23/20(a)      958,780  
  5,515,000      1.82%(US0003M-12bps), 1/27/20      5,515,134  
  670,000      2.01%, 1/29/20(a)      668,916  
  1,925,000      2.31%, 2/4/20(a)      1,920,691  
  5,305,000      1.66%(US0001M-5bps), 2/7/20      5,304,994  
  1,960,000      2.31%, 2/21/20(a)      1,953,475  
  1,675,000      1.99%, 3/3/20(a)      1,669,173  
  3,480,000      2.27%, 3/10/20(a)      3,464,726  
  2,825,000      2.29%, 3/24/20(a)      2,809,955  
  865,000      1.58%(USBMMY3M+5bps), 4/30/20      864,995  
  85,000      1.79%, 5/14/20(a)      84,434  
  120,000      1.78%, 6/12/20(a)      119,033  
  525,000      1.74%(US0001M-1bps), 6/18/20      524,995  
  4,000,000      1.76%(US0001M), 6/19/20      4,000,868  
  4,370,000      1.85%, 6/26/20(a)      4,330,466  
  1,555,000      1.82%, 6/30/20(a)      1,540,849  
  85,000      1.77%, 7/7/20(a)      84,219  
  1,850,000      1.61%, 8/14/20(a)      1,831,418  
  1,555,000      1.69%(US0001M-5bps), 8/17/20      1,555,000  
  2,180,000      1.80%(US0001M-4bps), 9/11/20      2,179,955  
  1,060,000      1.61%, 9/28/20(a)      1,047,233  
  2,325,000      1.76%(US0001M+3bps), 12/14/20      2,324,910  
  2,000,000      1.64%(SOFR+11bps), 1/15/21      2,000,000  
  1,270,000      1.76%(US0001M), 3/17/21      1,269,903  
  1,785,000      1.79%(USBMMY3M+26bps), 6/17/21      1,784,742  
  1,500,000      1.87%(US0001M+16bps), 7/1/21      1,500,000  
  990,000      1.91%(USBMMY3M+23bps), 7/8/21      990,000  
  480,000      1.82%(US0001M+11bps), 7/9/21      480,000  
  370,000      1.84%(US0001M+13bps), 10/8/21      370,000  
  535,000      1.85%(US0001M+11bps), 11/12/21      535,000  
  880,000      1.73%(SOFR+19bps), 11/18/21      880,000  
     

 

 

 
        57,685,503  
     

 

 

 
Federal Home Loan Bank (36.9%):  
  3,555,000      1.13%, 1/3/20(a)      3,554,666  
  5,885,000      1.66%, 1/8/20(a)      5,882,833  
  2,095,000      1.51%, 1/10/20(a)      2,094,120  
  1,200,000      1.71%(US0001M-4bps), 1/14/20      1,200,000  
  4,010,000      1.57%, 1/15/20(a)      4,007,380  
  225,000      1.59%(SOFR+5bps), 1/17/20      225,000  
  1,715,000      1.55%(SOFR+1bps), 1/17/20      1,715,000  
  1,830,000      1.59%(SOFR+5bps), 1/17/20      1,830,000  
  360,000      1.48%, 1/17/20(a)      359,749  
  8,750,000      1.68%, 1/22/20(a)      8,741,012  
  3,345,000      1.56%, 1/22/20(a)      3,341,806  
  1,710,000      1.55%(SOFR+1bps), 1/24/20      1,710,000  
  1,070,000      1.58%, 1/24/20(a)      1,068,873  
  2,695,000      1.52%, 1/31/20(a)      2,691,485  
  3,255,000      1.50%, 2/5/20(a)      3,250,118  
  2,490,000      1.54%, 2/6/20(a)      2,486,066  
  5,985,000      1.62%, 2/7/20(a)      5,974,798  
  870,000      1.79%, 2/13/20(a)      868,104  
  1,505,000      1.54%, 2/19/20(a)      1,501,786  
  1,020,000      1.55%(SOFR+1bps), 2/21/20      1,020,000  
  555,000      1.54%, 2/21/20(a)      553,765  
  4,045,000      1.72%(US0001M-6bps), 2/24/20      4,045,000  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal Home Loan Bank, continued  
$ 1,930,000      1.75%(US0001M-4bps), 2/25/20    $ 1,930,000  
  2,615,000      1.57%, 3/4/20(a)      2,607,742  
  8,665,000      1.56%, 3/11/20(a)      8,638,370  
  2,550,000      1.84%, 3/13/20(a)      2,540,534  
  3,820,000      1.62%, 3/18/20(a)      3,806,666  
  5,455,000      1.87%, 3/20/20(a)      5,432,375  
  2,255,000      1.86%, 3/25/20(a)      2,245,119  
  560,000      1.56%, 4/3/20(a)      557,722  
  1,455,000      1.58%, 4/6/20(a)      1,448,831  
  3,210,000      1.68%, 4/8/20(a)      3,195,276  
  2,835,000      1.63%, 4/15/20(a)      2,821,456  
  9,400,000      1.70%(US0001M-4bps), 4/17/20      9,399,547  
  2,765,000      1.83%(US0003M-14bps), 4/20/20      2,765,000  
  1,465,000      1.61%, 4/24/20(a)      1,457,494  
  2,870,000      1.61%, 5/1/20      2,869,495  
  8,605,000      1.57%, 5/6/20(a)      8,557,745  
  530,000      1.76%(US0001M+5bps), 5/8/20      530,000  
  1,430,000      1.81%(US0001M+5bps), 5/8/20      1,430,000  
  4,270,000      1.56%, 5/13/20(a)      4,245,343  
  1,800,000      1.61%, 5/13/20      1,799,950  
  1,260,000      1.61%, 5/14/20      1,259,895  
  990,000      1.56%(SOFR+2bps), 5/22/20      990,000  
  2,340,000      1.58%, 6/3/20(a)      2,324,144  
  2,615,000      1.56%, 6/5/20(a)      2,597,334  
  895,000      1.58%(SOFR+4bps), 6/19/20      895,000  
  1,845,000      1.57%, 6/25/20(a)      1,830,839  
  340,000      1.60%, 6/26/20(a)      337,334  
  730,000      1.59%, 7/6/20(a)      723,990  
  3,620,000      1.72%(US0001M+1bps), 7/10/20      3,620,000  
  600,000      1.62%(SOFR+8bps), 7/24/20      600,000  
  1,290,000      1.66%(US0001M-3bps), 8/4/20      1,290,000  
  2,860,000      1.60%, 8/14/20(a)      2,831,452  
  530,000      1.57%(SOFR+3bps), 8/21/20      530,000  
  1,170,000      1.65%, 10/1/20      1,178,437  
  2,100,000      1.64%(SOFR+11bps), 10/1/20      2,100,000  
  1,295,000      1.66%, 10/7/20      1,295,000  
  10,100,000      1.67%(SOFR+13bps), 10/16/20      10,100,000  
  2,935,000      1.80%(US0003M-13bps), 12/21/20      2,935,000  
  3,000,000      1.64%(SOFR+10bps), 12/23/20      3,000,000  
  670,000      1.92%(SOFR+5bps), 1/22/21      670,000  
  665,000      1.58%(SOFR+4bps), 2/9/21      665,000  
  1,915,000      1.65%(SOFR+12bps), 3/12/21      1,915,000  
  2,090,000      1.71%(SOFR+17bps), 4/9/21      2,090,000  
  1,420,000      1.62%(SOFR+8bps), 7/8/21      1,420,000  
  945,000      1.62%(SOFR+8bps), 7/23/21      945,000  
  3,230,000      1.63%(SOFR+9bps), 9/10/21      3,230,000  
     

 

 

 
        177,773,651  
     

 

 

 
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (2.4%):  
  735,000      1.76%, 1/17/20(a)      734,389  
  1,500,000      1.53%, 3/10/20(a)      1,495,544  
  6,830,000      1.62%, 3/18/20(a)      6,806,042  
  1,050,000      1.58%(SOFR+4bps), 4/3/20      1,050,000  
  1,535,000      1.54%, 5/19/20(a)      1,525,873  
     

 

 

 
        11,611,848  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL Government Money Market Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal National Mortgage Association (0.3%):  
$ 1,630,000      1.47%, 1/24/20(a)    $ 1,628,407  
     

 

 

 
 

Total U.S. Government Agency Mortgages (Cost $248,699,409)

     248,699,409  
  

 

 

 
U.S. Treasury Obligations (14.4%):  
U.S. Treasury Notes (4.5%):  
  850,000      2.05%, 3/31/20      850,410  
  1,805,000      2.38%, 4/30/20      1,808,036  
  2,845,000      3.50%, 5/15/20      2,862,434  
  895,000      2.02%, 5/15/20      893,271  
  855,000      1.50%, 5/31/20      853,773  
  105,000      1.86%, 6/30/20      104,879  
  1,090,000      1.57%(USBMMY3M+4bps), 7/31/20      1,089,337  
  5,000,000      1.57%(USBMMY3M+5bps), 10/31/20      4,995,611  
  1,280,000      2.63%, 11/15/20      1,290,799  
  305,000      1.66%, 11/30/20      305,933  
  515,000      1.67%, 11/30/20      514,811  
  370,000      1.66%(USBMMY3M+14bps), 4/30/21      369,597  
  4,000,000      1.75%(USBMMY3M+22bps), 7/31/21      4,000,000  
  1,410,000      1.83%, 10/31/21      1,411,535  
     

 

 

 
        21,350,426  
     

 

 

 
U.S. Treasury Bills (9.9%):  
  5,000,000      1.02%, 1/2/20(a)      4,999,717  
  8,610,000      1.92%, 1/23/20(a)      8,599,468  
  11,390,000      1.70%, 2/13/20(a)      11,366,378  
  250,000      1.82%, 2/20/20(a)      249,358  
  4,830,000      1.98%, 2/27/20(a)      4,814,612  
  3,270,000      1.67%, 4/9/20(a)      3,254,857  
  7,085,000      2.36%, 4/23/20(a)      7,032,516  
  3,780,000      1.53%, 5/7/20(a)      3,759,531  
  2,685,000      1.57%, 5/28/20(a)      2,667,637  
  1,020,000      1.75%, 9/10/20(a)      1,007,527  
     

 

 

 
        47,751,601  
     

 

 

 
 

Total U.S. Treasury Obligations (Cost $69,102,027)

     69,102,027  
  

 

 

 
Repurchase Agreements (33.9%):  
  29,000,000      Bank of Nova Scotia, 1.55%, 1/2/20, (Purchased on 12/31/19, proceeds at maturity $29,002,497, Collateralized by U.S. Treasury Obligations, 0.13% – 6.88%, 4/15/22 – 8/15/47, fair value of $29,582,566)      29,000,000  
  7,000,000      BNP Paribas, 1.58%, 1/2/20, (Purchased on 12/31/19, proceeds at maturity $7,000,614, Collateralized by U.S. Government Agency Obligations, 0.00% – 3.88%, 2/27/20 – 12/20/45, fair value of $7,140,001)      7,000,000  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Repurchase Agreements, continued  
$ 5,000,000      Citigroup Global Markets, 1.57%, 1/2/20, (Purchased on 12/31/19, proceeds at maturity $5,000,436, Collateralized by U.S. Government Agency Obligations, 0.00% – 7.00%, 1/30/20 – 9/15/60, fair value of $5,100,051)    $ 5,000,000  
  20,000,000      HSBC Securities (USA), Inc., 1.57%, 1/2/20, (Purchased on 12/31/19, proceeds at maturity $20,001,744, Collateralized by U.S. Treasury Obligations, 1.63% – 3.00%, 11/30/26 – 2/15/47, fair value of $20,400,051)      20,000,000  
  30,000,000      Mitsubishi UFJ Securities USA, Inc., 1.55%, 1/2/20, (Purchased on 12/31/19, proceeds at maturity $30,002,583, Collateralized by U.S. Treasury Obligations, 0.00% – 3.75%, 11/30/20 – 2/15/48, fair value of $30,600,001)      30,000,000  
  20,000,000      Natixis S.A., 1.57%, 1/2/20, (Purchased on 12/31/19, proceeds at maturity $20,001,744, Collateralized by U.S. Government Agency Obligations, 0.00% – 6.63%, 5/15/20 – 11/20/49, fair value of $20,400,000)      20,000,000  
  25,000,000      Natixis S.A., 1.55%, 1/2/20, (Purchased on 12/31/19, proceeds at maturity $25,002,153, Collateralized by U.S. Treasury Obligations, 1.75% – 3.13%, 5/15/21 – 11/15/41, fair value of $25,500,034)      25,000,000  
  17,000,000      Toronto Dominion Bank NY, 1.55%, 1/2/20, (Purchased on 12/31/19, proceeds at maturity $17,001,464, Collateralized by U.S. Treasury Note, 2.38%, 3/15/22, fair value of $17,340,087)      17,000,000  
  10,000,000      Toronto Dominion Bank NY, 1.57%, 1/2/20, (Purchased on 12/31/19, proceeds at maturity $10,000,872, Collateralized by U.S. Government Agency Obligation, 3.00%, 11/1/49, fair value of $10,300,001)      10,000,000  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Repurchase Agreements (Cost $163,000,000)

     163,000,000  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities (Cost $480,801,436) — 99.8%

     480,801,436  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — 0.2%

     722,543  
  

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 481,523,979  
  

 

 

 
 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

LIBOR—London Interbank Offered Rate

SOFR—Secured Overnight Financing Rate

US0001M—1 Month US Dollar LIBOR

US0003M—3 Month US Dollar LIBOR

USBMMY3M—3 Month Treasury Bill Rate

 

(a)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL Government Money Market Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investment securities, at cost

    $ 317,801,436
   

 

 

 

Investment securities, at value

    $ 317,801,436

Repurchase agreements, at value/cost

      163,000,000

Cash

      791,308

Interest and dividends receivable

      286,099

Receivable for capital shares issued

      333,719

Prepaid expenses

      1,446
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      482,214,008
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Distributions payable

      333,717

Manager fees payable

      231,004

Administration fees payable

      2,738

Distribution fees payable

      99,136

Custodian fees payable

      757

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      1,634

Transfer agent fees payable

      956

Trustee fees payable

      402

Other accrued liabilities

      19,685
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      690,029
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 481,523,979
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 481,522,107

Total distributable earnings

      1,872
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 481,523,979
   

 

 

 

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      481,522,231

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 1.00
   

 

 

 

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Interest

    $ 10,027,221
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      10,027,221
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      1,564,615

Administration fees

      118,017

Distribution fees

      1,117,585

Custodian fees

      3,436

Administrative and compliance services fees

      8,222

Transfer agent fees

      5,993

Trustee fees

      26,519

Professional fees

      23,484

Shareholder reports

      17,402

Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the manager

      1,034,304

Other expenses

      14,347
   

 

 

 

Total expenses before reductions

      3,933,924

Less expenses voluntarily waived/reimbursed by the Manager

      (44,709 )
   

 

 

 

Net expenses

      3,889,215
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      6,138,006
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities

      1,873
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      1,873
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 6,139,879
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL Government Money Market Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 6,138,006     $ 4,582,293

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      1,873       909
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      6,139,879       4,583,202
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Distributions

      (6,138,916 )       (4,583,703 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (6,138,916 )       (4,583,703 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      514,742,474       339,952,364

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      6,138,917       4,583,703

Value of shares redeemed

      (492,533,087 )       (381,992,986 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      28,348,304       (37,456,919 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      28,349,267       (37,457,420 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      453,174,712       490,632,132
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 481,523,979     $ 453,174,712
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Shares issued

      514,742,475       339,952,364

Dividends reinvested

      6,138,917       4,583,703

Shares redeemed

      (492,533,087 )       (381,992,986 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      28,348,305       (37,456,919 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL Government Money Market Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

    Year Ended December 31,
     2019   2018   2017   2016   2015

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 1.00     $ 1.00     $ 1.00     $ 1.00     $ 1.00
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.01 (a)       0.01       (b)       (b)       (b)

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      (b)       (b)       (b)       (b)       (b)
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      0.01       0.01                  
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.01 )       (0.01 )       (b)            

Net Realized Gains

                  (b)       (b)       (b)
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (0.01 )       (0.01 )       (b)       (b)       (b)
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 1.00     $ 1.00     $ 1.00     $ 1.00     $ 1.00
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(c)

      1.39 %       1.01 %       0.05 %       0.01 %       0.01 %

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 481,524     $ 453,175     $ 490,632     $ 663,004     $ 687,635

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      1.37 %       1.00 %       0.04 %            

Expenses Before Reductions(d)

      0.88 %       0.87 %       0.87 %       0.65 %       0.65 %

Expenses Net of Reductions

      0.87 %       0.87 %       0.87 %       0.44 %(e)       0.26 %(e)

 

(a)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(b)

Represents less than $0.005.

 

(c)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(d)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

(e)

The expense ratio for the period reflects the reduction of certain expenses to maintain a certain minimum yield.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL Government Money Market Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services — Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL Government Money Market Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below. Investments of the Fund are valued, in accordance with Rule 2a-7 of the 1940 Act, at amortized cost, which approximates fair value. Under the amortized cost method, discounts or premiums are amortized on a constant basis to the maturity of the security.

Repurchase Agreements

The Fund may invest in repurchase agreements with financial institutions such as member banks of the Federal Reserve System or from registered broker/dealers that the adviser deems creditworthy under guidelines approved by the Board, subject to the seller’s agreement to repurchase such securities at a mutually agreed-upon date and price. The repurchase price generally equals the price paid by the Fund plus interest negotiated on the basis of current short-term rates. The seller under a repurchase agreement is required to maintain the value of collateral held pursuant to the agreement at not less than the repurchase price (including accrued interest). Securities subject to repurchase agreements are held by the Fund’s custodian, another qualified sub-custodian, or in the Federal Reserve book-entry system. Master Repurchase Agreements (“MRA”) permit the Fund, under certain circumstances, including an event of default (such as bankruptcy or insolvency), to offset receivables under the MRA with collateral posted by the counterparty and create one net payment due to or from the Fund. However, bankruptcy or insolvency laws of a particular jurisdiction may impose restrictions on or prohibitions against such a right of offset in the event of the MRA counterparty’s bankruptcy or insolvency. Pursuant to the terms of the MRA, the Fund receives securities as collateral with a market value in excess of the repurchase price to be received by the Fund upon the maturity of the transaction. Upon a bankruptcy or insolvency of the MRA counterparty, the Fund would recognize a liability with respect to such excess collateral to reflect the Fund’s obligation under bankruptcy law to return the excess to the counterparty.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts.

Distributions to Shareholders

Dividends from net investment income are declared daily and paid monthly from the Fund. The net realized gains, if any, are declared and paid at least annually by the Fund. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

 

9


AZL Government Money Market Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not engage in any Rule 17a-7 transactions under the Rule.

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to a subadvisory agreement with BlackRock Advisors, LLC (“BlackRock Advisors”), BlackRock Advisors provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate*      Annual Expense Limit

AZL Government Money Market Fund

         0.35 %          0.87 %

 

*

The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.34% on all assets. The manager reserves the right to increase the management fee to the amount shown in the table at any time.

The Manager has voluntarily agreed to waive, reimburse, or pay Fund expenses to the extent necessary in order to maintain a minimum daily yield for the Fund of 0.00%. The Distributor may waive its Rule 12b-1 fees. The amount waived, reimbursed, or paid by the Manager and/or the Distributor will be repaid to the Manager and/or the Distributor subject to the following limitations:

 

1.

The repayments will not cause the Fund’s net investment income to fall below 0.00%.

2.

The repayments must be made no later than three years after the end of the fiscal year in which the waiver, reimbursement, or payment took place.

3.

Any expense recovery paid by the Fund will not cause its expense ratio to exceed 0.87%.

The ability of the Manager and/or Distributor to receive such payments could negatively affect the Fund’s future yield. Amounts waived under this agreement during the year ended December 31, 2019 are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Expenses voluntarily waived/reimbursed by the Manager.”

Any amounts waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations.

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

 

10


AZL Government Money Market Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $3,305 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

The Fund, which operates as a government money market fund, is eligible and has elected to use the amortized cost method of valuation pursuant to Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. This involves valuing an instrument at its cost initially and thereafter assuming a constant accretion or amortization to maturity of any discount or premium, respectively, regardless of the impact of fluctuating interest rates on the market value of the instrument. This method may result in periods during which value, as determined by amortized cost, is higher or lower than the price the Fund would receive if it sold the investment.

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total
                             

U.S. Government Agency Mortgages

       $        $ 248,699,409        $        $ 248,699,409

U.S. Treasury Obligations

                  69,102,027                   69,102,027

Repurchase Agreements

                  163,000,000                   163,000,000
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $        $ 480,801,436        $        $ 480,801,436
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

5. Investment Risks

Repurchase Agreement Risk: The Fund may invest in repurchase agreements as a principal strategy. There is a potential for loss to the Fund if the seller defaults and the Fund is delayed or prevented from exercising its rights to dispose of the collateral securities. It is possible the fair value of the collateral securities could decline in value during the period in which the Fund seeks to assert its rights.

6. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $480,801,436. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $  

Unrealized (depreciation)

     
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $  
 

 

 

 

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Government Money Market Fund

       $ 6,138,916        $        $ 6,138,916

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

 

11


AZL Government Money Market Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019 

 

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

                  Ordinary
Income
  

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

   Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Government Money Market Fund

           $ 4,583,703      $      $ 4,583,703

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

      Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
   Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
   Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
   Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
   Accumulated
Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL Government Money Market Fund

     $ 1,872      $      $      $      $ 1,872

7. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had an individual shareholder account which is affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 90% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

8. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

12


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL Government Money Market Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL Government Money Market Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

13


Other Federal Income Tax Information (Unaudited)

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net short-term capital gain distributions of $910.

 

14


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

15


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for

 

16


the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

 

17


The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

18


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

19


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

20


 

LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.   
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL ® International Index Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 15

Statement of Operations

Page 15

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 16

Financial Highlights

Page 17

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 18

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 24

Other Federal Income Tax Information

Page 25

Other Information

Page 26

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 27

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 30

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® International Index Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® International Index Fund and BlackRock Investment Management, LLC serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® International Index Fund (Class 2 Shares) (the “Fund”) returned 21.44%. That compared to a 22.66% total return for its benchmark, the MSCI EAFE Index1.

The Fund seeks investment results, before fees, expenses, and fair value adjustments to its portfolio at the close of the New York Stock Exchange, that correspond to the performance of the MSCI EAFE Index. The Fund takes positions in securities that, in combination, should have similar return characteristics as the return of the Index. The Index is designed to provide a comprehensive measure of international equity markets. It is an unmanaged, market capitalization-weighted index comprising stocks of large- and mid-cap stocks across developed markets in Europe, Australasia, and the Far East.*

In the first quarter, while every eurozone equity market advanced, they did so to varying degrees as they rebounded from low investor sentiment in 2018. The European Central Bank’s accommodative policies also helped offset slowing economic activity across the region. For instance, Germany underperformed amid continued weakness in the manufacturing and export sectors and a negative yield on the 10-year German bund. Meanwhile, Italy outperformed on positive trends in its macroeconomic outlook, despite contraction in gross domestic product2 (GDP) growth and ongoing political uncertainty. Uncertainty around U.S. trade protectionism, an upcoming sales tax hike, and slower growth weighed on Japanese equities.

In the second quarter, European markets gained on better-than-expected GDP growth and increased expectations of further stimulus and accommodative policies. Elsewhere, Australian markets outperformed despite declining economic growth, as the Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates.

In the third quarter, Japanese equities outperformed other non-U.S. developed markets due to a limited trade agreement with the U.S., which helped markets despite Japan’s deteriorating economic conditions. Meanwhile, Hong Kong markets underperformed amid mounting political unrest. Eurozone economic activity showed signs of slowing, notably in manufacturing, and the European Central Bank responded with an aggressive stimulus package. U.K. markets declined over a volatile quarter due to continued Brexit uncertainty and the release of second-quarter data showing the first quarterly contraction in GDP in seven years.

By the fourth quarter, developed markets largely regained momentum. In the U.K., the election of Prime Minister Boris Johnson provided greater clarity to the Brexit process and helped the value of the sterling rebound, while economic activity in Europe improved on the perception of improving U.S.-China trade relations.

 

All sectors of the MSCI EAFE generated positive returns for the year, even as international equities generally underperformed the S&P 500 Index3. The information technology, healthcare, and industrial sectors were the top contributing sectors for the year, while energy, communication services, and real estate added the least.

The Fund underperformed its benchmark primarily due to the impacts of fair value pricing and expenses incurred by the Fund.*

The Fund uses derivatives for the purpose of efficient portfolio management. Derivatives did not have a significant impact on the Fund’s return in 2019. Futures are not used for speculative or leveraged positions in the portfolio and we keep cash to cover all outstanding futures positions fully. The Fund uses futures contracts to access immediate market exposure proportionate to cash accruals and investable cash within the portfolio. Skillful cash management and cash equitization are critical to minimizing the potential impact of cash drag and ensure tight tracking to the benchmark.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

* 

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmark please refer to page 2 of this report.

2 

Gross domestic product (GDP) is the measure of the market value of the goods and services produced in a period of time.

3 

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is unmanaged and is representative of 500 selected common stocks, most of which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and is a measure of the U.S. Stock market as a whole. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 
 

 

1


AZL® International Index Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

The Fund’s investment objective is to seek to match the performance of the Morgan Stanley Capital International Europe, Australasia and Far East Index (“MSCI EAFE® Index”) as closely as possible. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets in a statistically selected sampling of equity securities of companies included in the MSCI EAFE Index and in derivative instruments linked to the MSCI EAFE Index, primarily futures contracts.

Investment Concerns

Equity securities (stocks) are more volatile and carry more risk than other forms of investments, including investments in high-grade fixed income securities. The net asset value per share of this Fund will fluctuate as the value of the securities in the portfolio changes.

International investing may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuations in currency values, from differences in generally accepted accounting principles or from economic or political instability in other nations.

The performance of the Fund is expected to be lower than that of the Index because of Fund fees and expenses. Securities in which the Fund will invest may involve substantial risk and may be subject to sudden severe price declines.

Investing in derivatives instruments involves risks that may be different from or greater than the risk associated with investing directly in securities or other traditional instruments.

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmark and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

     Inception
Date
     1
Year
    3
Year
    5
Year
    10
Year
    Since
Inception
 

AZL® International Index Fund (Class 1 Shares)

     10/14/16         21.67 %      9.48     —         —         9.06

AZL® International Index Fund (Class 2 Shares)

     5/1/09         21.44 %      9.21     5.21     4.93     7.46

MSCI EAFE Index (gross of withholding taxes)

     5/1/09        22.66     10.11     6.18     6.00     8.70

MSCI EAFE Index (net of withholding taxes)

     5/1/09        22.01     9.56     5.67     5.50     8.20

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratios

   Gross  

AZL® International Index Fund (Class 1 Shares)

     0.45

AZL® International Index Fund (Class 2 Shares)

     0.70

The above expense ratios are based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense), to 0.52% for Class 1 Shares and 0.77% for Class 2 Shares through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratios can be found in the Financial Highlights.

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Morgan Stanley Capital International, Europe, Australasia and Far East (MSCI EAFE) Index, which is an unmanaged free float-adjusted market capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed markets, excluding the U.S. & Canada. The Index does not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The Index noted as “gross of withholding taxes” reflects the maximum possible reinvestment of dividends with no adjustment for withholding tax deductions or tax credits. The Index noted as “net of withholding taxes” reflects the reinvestment of dividends after the deduction of withholding taxes, using (for international indexes) a tax rate applicable to non-resident institutional investors who do not benefit from double taxation treaties. The Fund’s performance reflects the deduction of fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

2


AZL International Index Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL International Index Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL International Index Fund, Class 1

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,066.50     $ 2.24       0.43 %

AZL International Index Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,065.60     $ 3.54       0.68 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL International Index Fund, Class 1

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,023.04     $ 2.19       0.43 %

AZL International Index Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,021.78     $ 3.47       0.68 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

Japan

      23.9 %

United Kingdom

      15.7

France

      10.4

Switzerland

      9.4

Germany

      8.5

Australia

      6.9

Netherlands

      4.1

Hong Kong

      3.3

Spain

      2.8

Sweden

      2.4

All other countries

      10.5
   

 

 

 

Total Common and Preferred Stocks

      97.9

Rights

        

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

      0.4
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      98.3

Net other assets (liabilities)

      1.7
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

3


AZL International Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks (97.4%):       
Aerospace & Defense (1.5%):       
  65,305      Airbus SE    $ 9,580,583  
  357,262      BAE Systems plc      2,676,411  
  260      Dassault Aviation SA      342,421  
  2,648      Elbit Systems, Ltd.      412,490  
  46,044      Leonardo SpA      539,551  
  83,817      Meggitt plc      730,266  
  5,978      MTU Aero Engines AG      1,706,911  
  192,963      Rolls-Royce Holdings plc      1,747,046  
  36,626      Safran SA      5,677,072  
  180,000      Singapore Technologies Engineering, Ltd.      527,974  
  11,599      Thales SA      1,206,655  
     

 

 

 
        25,147,380  
     

 

 

 
Air Freight & Logistics (0.3%):       
  102,392      Bollore, Inc.      446,888  
  110,697      Deutsche Post AG      4,226,004  
  17,200      SG Holdings Co., Ltd.      388,298  
  33,000      Yamato Holdings Co., Ltd.      564,415  
     

 

 

 
        5,625,605  
     

 

 

 
Airlines (0.1%):       
  13,800      ANA Holdings, Inc.      461,776  
  24,510      Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Registered Shares      451,015  
  19,944      easyJet plc      379,316  
  11,770      Japan Airlines Co., Ltd.      367,339  
  83,673      Qantas Airways, Ltd.      417,951  
  62,300      Singapore Airlines, Ltd.      419,259  
     

 

 

 
        2,496,656  
     

 

 

 
Auto Components (0.9%):       
  17,400      Aisin Sieki Co., Ltd.      643,628  
  62,800      Bridgestone Corp.      2,332,891  
  19,351      Compagnie Generale des Establissements Michelin SCA, Class B      2,373,470  
  12,286      Continental AG      1,595,305  
  48,900      Denso Corp.      2,206,148  
  8,952      Faurecia SA      485,337  
  12,000      Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      555,476  
  19,700      NGK Spark Plug Co., Ltd.      382,205  
  14,129      Nokian Renkaat OYJ      407,213  
  49,051      Pirelli & C SpA      282,710  
  15,200      Stanley Electric Co., Ltd.      439,517  
  82,300      Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.      1,235,000  
  19,400      Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.      236,044  
  7,200      Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.      179,713  
  16,200      Toyota Industries Corp.      933,673  
  27,737      Valeo SA      982,009  
  14,700      Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. (The)      284,498  
     

 

 

 
        15,554,837  
     

 

 

 
Automobiles (2.7%):       
  37,239      Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW)      3,065,308  
  101,593      Daimler AG, Registered Shares      5,632,158  
  13,296      Ferrari NV      2,205,176  
  122,317      Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV      1,811,389  
  182,400      Honda Motor Co., Ltd.      5,145,701  
  58,400      Isuzu Motors, Ltd.      688,096  
  65,600      Mazda Motor Corp.      558,402  
  79,200      Mitsubishi Motors Corp.      329,725  
  256,300      Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.      1,489,766  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Automobiles, continued       
  67,218      PSA Peugeot Citroen SA    $ 1,609,690  
  20,695      Renault SA      981,682  
  69,400      Subaru Corp.      1,716,183  
  42,200      Suzuki Motor Corp.      1,767,861  
  255,566      Toyota Motor Corp.      17,996,830  
  3,517      Volkswagen AG      683,429  
  33,300      Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.      665,733  
     

 

 

 
        46,347,129  
     

 

 

 
Banks (9.5%):       
  45,500      ABN AMRO Group NV      830,993  
  97,448      AIB Group plc      341,264  
  13,500      Aozora Bank, Ltd.      356,626  
  317,205      Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, Ltd.      5,494,278  
  750,348      Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA      4,228,197  
  609,210      Banco de Sabadell SA      713,536  
  1,859,656      Banco Santander SA      7,851,581  
  131,342      Bank Hapoalim BM      1,091,459  
  162,413      Bank Leumi Le-Israel Corp.      1,184,078  
  153,800      Bank of East Asia, Ltd. (The)      343,681  
  103,156      Bank of Ireland Group plc      568,793  
  6,800      Bank of Kyoto, Ltd. (The)      289,937  
  115,532      Bankia SA      247,284  
  80,402      Bankinter SA      591,091  
  1,921,265      Barclays plc      4,587,385  
  60,506      Bendigo & Adelaide Bank, Ltd.      416,003  
  125,873      BNP Paribas SA      7,492,229  
  416,000      BOC Hong Kong Holdings, Ltd.      1,448,751  
  401,681      CaixaBank SA      1,266,638  
  62,300      Chiba Bank, Ltd. (The)      358,263  
  106,365      Commerzbank AG      658,595  
  198,099      Commonwealth Bank of Australia      11,134,537  
  113,100      Concordia Financial Group, Ltd.      463,997  
  130,024      Credit Agricole SA      1,894,158  
  70,823      Danske Bank A/S      1,145,541  
  203,700      DBS Group Holdings, Ltd.      3,927,392  
  104,877      DNB ASA      1,966,064  
  33,865      Erste Group Bank AG      1,273,623  
  70,938      Finecobank Banca Fineco SpA      851,411  
  20,600      Fukuoka Financial Group, Inc.      393,273  
  86,900      Hang Seng Bank, Ltd.      1,798,405  
  2,259,335      HSBC Holdings plc      17,740,191  
  436,037      ING Groep NV      5,239,864  
  1,664,402      Intesa Sanpaolo SpA      4,387,210  
  139,296      Isreal Discount Bank      646,725  
  46,700      Japan Post Bank Co., Ltd.      447,635  
  27,559      KBC Group NV      2,077,924  
  7,846,223      Lloyds Banking Group plc      6,547,672  
  101,160      Mebuki Financial Group, Inc.      258,138  
  70,527      Mediobanca SpA      776,786  
  1,376,500      Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc.      7,440,463  
  15,515      Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, Ltd.      413,905  
  2,697,239      Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.      4,148,824  
  320,985      National Australia Bank, Ltd.      5,560,644  
  361,068      Nordea Bank AB      2,921,682  
  364,499      Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., Ltd.      2,981,180  
  17,372      Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG      435,737  
  230,187      Resona Holdings, Inc.      1,003,841  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL International Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Banks, continued       
  538,641      Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc    $ 1,726,165  
  57,800      Seven Bank, Ltd.      189,981  
  20,000      Shinsei Bank, Ltd.      305,348  
  51,800      Shizuoka Bank, Ltd. (The)      385,682  
  183,239      Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, Class A      1,724,289  
  90,536      Societe Generale      3,163,123  
  300,748      Standard Chartered plc      2,840,018  
  148,769      Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc.      5,477,269  
  37,303      Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings, Inc.      1,472,255  
  171,890      Svenska Handelsbanken AB, Class A      1,851,377  
  102,078      Swedbank AB, Class A      1,522,827  
  224,226      Unicredit SpA      3,277,970  
  141,073      United Overseas Bank, Ltd.      2,775,617  
  390,542      Westpac Banking Corp.      6,653,872  
     

 

 

 
            161,603,277  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (2.3%):       
  85,267      Anheuser-Busch InBev NV      6,991,427  
  40,500      Asahi Breweries, Ltd.      1,850,283  
  139,500      Budweiser Brewing Co. APAC, Ltd.*      471,034  
  12,141      Carlsberg A/S, Class B      1,811,402  
  60,261      Coca-Cola Amatil, Ltd.      468,463  
  14,800      Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Holdings, Inc.      380,087  
  25,860      Coca-Cola European Partners plc      1,297,950  
  21,268      Coca-Cola HBC AG      725,270  
  66,376      Davide Campari — Milano SpA      606,136  
  264,710      Diageo plc      11,153,092  
  12,778      Heineken Holding NV      1,240,598  
  29,006      Heineken NV      3,093,850  
  93,500      Kirin Holdings Co., Ltd.      2,039,583  
  23,513      Pernod Ricard SA      4,208,597  
  2,726      Remy Cointreau SA      335,243  
  16,100      Suntory Beverage & Food, Ltd.      673,371  
  80,195      Treasury Wine Estates, Ltd.      916,251  
     

 

 

 
        38,262,637  
     

 

 

 
Biotechnology (0.9%):       
  3,935      BeiGene, Ltd., ADR*      652,265  
  50,722      CSL, Ltd.      9,841,596  
  4,974      Galapagos NV*^      1,035,212  
  7,312      Genmab A/S*      1,627,757  
  33,227      Grifols SA^      1,173,085  
  11,100      Peptidream, Inc.*      568,437  
     

 

 

 
        14,898,352  
     

 

 

 
Building Products (0.8%):       
  21,000      AGC, Inc.      749,447  
  112,041      ASSA Abloy AB, Class B      2,618,982  
  55,455      Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA      2,278,430  
  27,900      Daikin Industries, Ltd.      3,924,135  
  4,232      Geberit AG, Registered Shares      2,376,281  
  16,916      Kingspan Group plc      1,041,744  
  28,100      Lixil Group Corp.      484,364  
  15,400      TOTO, Ltd.      649,090  
     

 

 

 
        14,122,473  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (2.4%):       
  107,219      3i Group plc      1,562,491  
  6,908      Amundi SA      542,987  
  21,533      ASX, Ltd.      1,187,283  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Capital Markets, continued       
  285,301      Credit Suisse Group AG    $ 3,872,609  
  162,500      Daiwa Securities Group, Inc.      824,476  
  222,057      Deutsche Bank AG, Registered Shares      1,722,540  
  21,528      Deutsche Boerse AG      3,385,381  
  32,983      Hargreaves Lansdown plc      849,140  
  133,793      Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing, Ltd.      4,336,717  
  56,300      Japan Exchange Group, Inc.      991,181  
  24,523      Julius Baer Group, Ltd.      1,266,736  
  34,914      London Stock Exchange Group plc      3,605,792  
  36,186      Macquarie Group, Ltd.      3,509,033  
  14,655      Magellan Financial Group, Ltd.      587,939  
  114,848      Natixis      511,822  
  378,800      Nomura Holdings, Inc.      1,946,063  
  2,130      Partners Group Holding AG      1,952,481  
  28,290      SBI Holdings, Inc.      596,002  
  14,781      Schroders plc      657,210  
  94,500      Singapore Exchange, Ltd.      623,538  
  56,837      St. James Place plc      879,334  
  430,857      UBS Group AG      5,438,906  
     

 

 

 
        40,849,661  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (3.3%):       
  52,786      Air Liquide SA      7,501,656  
  16,500      Air Water, Inc.      243,310  
  25,421      Akzo Nobel NV      2,591,659  
  7,589      Arkema SA      809,416  
  140,600      Asahi Kasei Corp.      1,577,832  
  102,783      BASF SE      7,794,056  
  11,558      Christian Hansen Holding A/S      918,300  
  24,423      Clariant AG      546,624  
  19,222      Covestro AG      893,477  
  14,754      Croda International plc      1,001,922  
  30,000      Daicel Corp.      286,216  
  870      EMS-Chemie Holding AG      572,656  
  19,549      Evonik Industries AG      599,163  
  8,204      Fuchs Petrolub AG      408,126  
  1,025      Givaudan SA, Registered Shares      3,208,631  
  11,300      Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.      473,016  
  168,575      Incitec Pivot, Ltd.      377,086  
  71,434      Israel Chemicals, Ltd.      337,155  
  22,625      Johnson Matthey plc      900,078  
  22,300      JSR Corp.      407,641  
  18,300      Kansai Paint Co., Ltd.      447,324  
  20,506      Koninklijke DSM NV      2,676,552  
  39,200      Kuraray Co., Ltd.      480,780  
  9,160      Lanxess AG      615,477  
  139,500      Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp.      1,039,456  
  17,500      Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co., Inc.      265,972  
  19,500      Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.      474,013  
  17,100      Nippon Paint Holdings Co., Ltd.      884,814  
  13,400      Nissan Chemical Corp.      560,268  
  17,200      Nitto Denko Corp.      965,140  
  24,032      Novozymes A/S, Class B      1,176,775  
  40,711      Orica, Ltd.      629,066  
  40,400      Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.      4,429,895  
  16,500      Showa Denko K.K.      434,685  
  14,205      Sika AG      2,675,625  
  7,988      Solvay SA      928,830  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL International Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Chemicals, continued       
  171,600      Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.    $ 777,818  
  14,811      Symrise AG      1,558,040  
  12,400      Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp.      274,740  
  20,600      Teijin, Ltd.      384,431  
  160,800      Toray Industries, Inc.      1,098,756  
  27,300      Tosoh Corp.      420,195  
  22,549      Umicore SA^      1,099,223  
  18,907      Yara International ASA      788,099  
     

 

 

 
        56,533,994  
     

 

 

 
Commercial Services & Supplies (0.6%):       
  179,653      Brambles, Ltd.      1,480,487  
  26,700      Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd.      724,734  
  26,202      Edenred      1,355,706  
  189,889      G4S plc      552,144  
  18,886      ISS A/S      453,581  
  13,800      Park24 Co., Ltd.      338,094  
  207,274      Rentokil Initial plc      1,247,596  
  23,000      SECOM Co., Ltd.      2,052,828  
  37,221      Securitas AB, Class B      642,410  
  7,800      Sohgo Security Services Co., Ltd.      422,484  
  30,500      Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.      628,855  
     

 

 

 
        9,898,919  
     

 

 

 
Communications Equipment (0.3%):       
  627,819      Nokia OYJ      2,328,913  
  341,324      Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Class B      2,991,730  
     

 

 

 
        5,320,643  
     

 

 

 
Construction & Engineering (1.0%):       
  30,329      ACS Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA      1,215,676  
  24,946      Bouygues SA      1,061,877  
  11,842      Cimic Group, Ltd.      276,232  
  8,408      Eiffage SA      963,380  
  55,919      Ferrovial SA      1,696,266  
  2,965      Hochtief AG      379,459  
  23,600      JGC Holdings Corp.      379,820  
  49,100      Kajima Corp.      656,267  
  74,200      Obayashi Corp.      822,834  
  67,700      Shimizu Corp.      688,878  
  36,530      Skanska AB, Class B      826,280  
  22,200      Taisei Corp.      919,259  
  57,042      Vinci SA      6,336,563  
     

 

 

 
        16,222,791  
     

 

 

 
Construction Materials (0.6%):       
  138,414      Boral, Ltd.      436,437  
  89,195      CRH plc      3,577,488  
  96,309      Fletcher Building, Ltd.      330,352  
  16,756      HeidelbergCement AG      1,221,244  
  48,835      James Hardie Industries SE      957,223  
  55,211      LafargeHolcim, Ltd., Registered Shares      3,062,180  
  14,000      Taiheiyo Cement Corp.      409,676  
     

 

 

 
        9,994,600  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (0.0%):       
  53,700      ACOM Co., Ltd.      243,780  
  13,000      AEON Financial Service Co., Ltd.      204,504  
  18,100      Credit Saison Co., Ltd.      313,766  
     

 

 

 
        762,050  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Containers & Packaging (0.1%):       
  26,095      Smurfit Kappa Group plc    $ 1,005,088  
  13,700      Toyo Seikan Group Holdings, Ltd.      237,519  
     

 

 

 
        1,242,607  
     

 

 

 
Distributors (0.0%):       
  10,588      Jardine Cycle & Carriage, Ltd.      237,028  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Consumer Services (0.0%):       
  9,400      Benesse Holdings, Inc.      247,201  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (0.8%):       
  339,548      AMP, Ltd.      456,456  
  69,162      Challenger, Ltd.      393,831  
  4,807      Eurazeo Se      329,486  
  11,831      EXOR NV      917,445  
  8,823      Groupe Bruxelles Lambert SA      930,751  
  18,686      Industrivarden AB, Class C      451,394  
  50,971      Investor AB, Class B      2,785,757  
  28,149      Kinnevik AB, Class B      689,045  
  7,951      L E Lundbergforetagen AB      349,395  
  296,385      M&G plc*      932,399  
  39,200      Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Co., Ltd.      252,328  
  147,000      ORIX Corp.      2,447,206  
  4,432      Pargesa Holding SA      368,270  
  264,559      Standard Life Aberdeen plc      1,152,588  
  5,200      Tokyo Century Corp.      279,245  
  3,280      Wendel      436,510  
     

 

 

 
        13,172,106  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (2.0%):       
  937,015      BT Group plc      2,401,028  
  28,078      Cellnex Telecom SAU      1,210,041  
  371,007      Deutsche Telekom AG, Registered Shares      6,062,319  
  16,628      Elisa OYJ      918,745  
  442,525      HKT Trust & HKT, Ltd.      623,900  
  2,695      Iliad SA      349,666  
  409,316      Koninklijke KPN NV      1,209,290  
  142,304      Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp.      3,605,032  
  223,256      Orange SA      3,280,315  
  471,000      PCCW, Ltd.      278,118  
  17,673      Proximus SADP      506,056  
  916,900      Singapore Telecommunications, Ltd.      2,299,921  
  218,334      Spark New Zealand, Ltd.      636,672  
  2,929      Swisscom AG, Registered Shares^      1,551,466  
  956,612      Telecom Italia SpA*      596,862  
      724,011      Telecom Italia SpA      443,149  
  84,244      Telefonica Deutschland Holding AG      244,151  
  522,925      Telefonica SA      3,654,544  
  78,775      Telenor ASA      1,413,354  
  314,124      Telia Co AB      1,349,768  
  456,643      Telstra Corp., Ltd.      1,137,395  
  45,014      TPG Telecom, Ltd.      212,328  
  14,595      United Internet AG, Registered Shares      479,601  
     

 

 

 
        34,463,721  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (2.0%):       
  193,004      AusNet Services      230,098  
  74,000      Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc.      1,043,933  
  32,100      Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc. (The)      423,366  
  78,570      CK Infrastructure Holdings, Ltd.      560,379  
  184,500      CLP Holdings, Ltd.      1,942,847  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL International Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Electric Utilities, continued       
  297,895      EDP — Energias de Portugal SA    $ 1,291,295  
  69,785      Electricite de France      778,410  
  34,357      Endesa SA^      917,188  
  910,165      Enel SpA      7,240,114  
  48,796      Fortum OYJ      1,203,674  
  283,500      HK Electric Investments, Ltd.      279,421  
  676,352      Iberdrola SA      6,965,182  
  76,300      Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. (The)      882,413  
  44,400      Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc.      383,601  
  59,258      Mercury NZ, Ltd.      201,498  
  21,377      Orsted A/S      2,215,089  
  151,500      Power Assets Holdings, Ltd.      1,107,800  
  48,684      Red Electrica Corp SA      979,206  
  113,918      Scottish & Southern Energy plc      2,182,328  
  152,252      Terna SpA      1,018,627  
  45,200      Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc.      447,118  
  172,000      Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings, Inc.*      734,570  
  8,213      Verbund AG, Class A      412,384  
     

 

 

 
        33,440,541  
     

 

 

 
Electrical Equipment (1.5%):       
  206,233      ABB, Ltd.      4,979,677  
  13,400      Fuji Electric Co., Ltd.      409,547  
  30,241      Legrand SA      2,467,253  
  536,267      Melrose Industries plc      1,713,844  
  202,000      Mitsubishi Electric Corp.      2,747,009  
  25,000      Nidec Corp.      3,415,575  
  27,397      Prysmian SpA      660,141  
  61,871      Schneider Electric SA      6,364,010  
  28,762      Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy      505,373  
  20,955      Vestas Wind Systems A/S      2,118,774  
     

 

 

 
        25,381,203  
     

 

 

 
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (1.7%):       
  20,600      Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.      465,399  
  43,405      Halma plc      1,218,350  
  15,300      Hamamatsu Photonics KK      627,007  
  29,470      Hexagon AB, Class B      1,651,682  
  3,914      Hirose Electric Co., Ltd.      500,443  
  7,800      Hitachi High-Technologies Corp.      551,261  
  108,220      Hitachi, Ltd.      4,559,076  
  6,865      Ingenico Group      746,275  
  20,380      Keyence Corp.      7,214,562  
  35,600      Kyocera Corp.      2,426,351  
  64,300      Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      3,975,895  
  21,700      Omron Corp.      1,264,345  
  24,400      Shimadzu Corp.      763,225  
  14,500      TDK Corp.      1,629,936  
  33,500      Venture Corp., Ltd.      404,320  
  28,000      Yaskawa Electric Corp.      1,056,711  
  26,600      Yokogawa Electric Corp.      471,194  
     

 

 

 
        29,526,032  
     

 

 

 
Energy Equipment & Services (0.1%):       
  50,094      Tenaris SA      566,473  
  38,726      Worley, Ltd.      417,703  
     

 

 

 
        984,176  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Entertainment (0.6%):       
  9,600      Konami Holdings Corp.    $ 395,898  
  54,700      Nexon Co., Ltd.*      723,614  
  12,500      Nintendo Co., Ltd.      5,046,275  
  10,500      Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.      524,689  
  12,800      Toho Co., Ltd.      533,074  
  9,595      UbiSoft Entertainment SA*      663,693  
  95,003      Vivendi Universal SA      2,753,436  
     

 

 

 
        10,640,679  
     

 

 

 
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (1.6%):       
  345,427      Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust      763,348  
  97,460      British Land Co. plc      829,685  
  269,218      CapitaLand Commercial Trust      398,703  
  299,900      CapitaLand Mall Trust      548,789  
  5,451      Covivio      619,111  
  223      Daiwahouse Residential Investment Corp.      582,655  
  123,857      Dexus      1,018,959  
  5,326      Gecina SA      954,588  
  185,740      Goodman Group      1,745,622  
  222,060      GPT Group      873,951  
  3,568      Icade      388,944  
  87      Japan Prime Realty Investment Corp.      382,157  
  152      Japan Real Estate Investment Corp.      1,008,542  
  311      Japan Retail Fund Investment Corp.      668,721  
  22,974      Klepierre      873,229  
  77,715      Land Securities Group plc      1,021,045  
  239,500      Link REIT (The)      2,542,797  
  230,900      Mapletree Commercial Trust      410,467  
  426,093      Mirvac Group      952,788  
  145      Nippon Building Fund, Inc.      1,062,656  
  208      Nippon Prologis REIT, Inc.      529,965  
  433      Nomura Real Estate Master Fund, Inc.      740,075  
  301      Orix JREIT, Inc.      652,751  
  582,055      Scentre Group      1,566,688  
  119,881      SERGO plc      1,430,779  
  254,807      Stockland      827,502  
  224,500      Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust      307,335  
  15,343      Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield      2,423,890  
  347      United Urban Investment Corp.      651,216  
  337,565      Vicinity Centres      590,816  
     

 

 

 
        27,367,774  
     

 

 

 
Food & Staples Retailing (1.6%):       
  74,200      AEON Co., Ltd.      1,528,825  
  69,391      Carrefour SA      1,165,539  
  6,499      Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA^      304,635  
  125,305      Coles Group, Ltd.      1,308,442  
  6,698      Colruyt SA      349,591  
  41,500      Dairy Farm International Holdings, Ltd.      236,716  
  26,800      FamilyMart Co., Ltd.      641,985  
  10,375      ICA Gruppen AB      484,682  
  201,493      J Sainsbury plc      617,586  
  29,931      Jeronimo Martins SGPS SA      492,922  
  132,465      Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize NV      3,319,537  
  5,100      LAWSON, Inc.      288,866  
  22,671      METRO AG      365,407  
  84,100      Seven & I Holdings Co., Ltd.      3,077,539  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL International Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Food & Staples Retailing, continued       
  8,500      Sundrug Co., Ltd.    $ 307,231  
  1,091,935      Tesco plc      3,698,386  
  4,200      Tsuruha Holdings, Inc.      538,924  
  5,700      Welcia Holdings Co., Ltd.      363,129  
  126,883      Wesfarmers, Ltd.      3,695,814  
  272,382      William Morrison Supermarkets plc      725,015  
  139,772      Woolworths Group, Ltd.      3,555,692  
     

 

 

 
        27,066,463  
     

 

 

 
Food Products (3.4%):       
  84,391      A2 Milk Co., Ltd.*      853,955  
  50,700      Ajinomoto Co., Inc.      843,052  
  39,506      Associated British Foods plc      1,368,396  
  347      Barry Callebaut AG, Registered Shares      767,272  
  8,800      Calbee, Inc.      286,242  
  11      Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Spruengli AG      972,044  
  69,101      Danone SA      5,735,145  
  17,944      Kerry Group plc, Class A      2,233,857  
  16,800      Kikkoman Corp.      821,987  
  117      Lindt & Spruengli AG      908,450  
  12,452      Meiji Holdings Co., Ltd.      841,112  
  50,692      Mowi ASA      1,318,883  
  333,030      Nestle SA, Registered Shares      36,086,776  
  8,300      NH Foods, Ltd.      343,845  
  23,345      Nisshin Seifun Group, Inc.      406,938  
  6,500      Nissin Foods Holdings Co., Ltd.      482,552  
  82,673      Orkla ASA, Class A      838,171  
  10,100      Toyo Suisan Kaisha, Ltd.      429,635  
  88,000      Vitasoy International Holdings, Ltd.      319,193  
  1,058,388      WH Group, Ltd.      1,096,715  
  213,000      Wilmar International, Ltd.      653,435  
  12,900      Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd.      710,180  
  13,600      Yamazaki Baking Co., Ltd.      243,036  
     

 

 

 
        58,560,871  
     

 

 

 
Gas Utilities (0.4%):       
  138,653      APA Group      1,082,632  
  32,681      Gas Natural SDG SA      822,644  
  1,150,477      Hong Kong & China Gas Co., Ltd.      2,248,034  
  41,600      Osaka Gas Co., Ltd.      794,962  
  8,300      Toho Gas Co., Ltd.      337,995  
  41,400      Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd.      1,004,559  
     

 

 

 
        6,290,826  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (2.0%):       
  46,271      Alcon, Inc.*      2,621,781  
  20,600      Asahi Intecc Co., Ltd.      606,621  
  4,660      BioMerieux      415,082  
  4,816      Carl Zeiss Meditec AG      614,179  
  6,716      Cochlear, Ltd.      1,061,417  
  13,204      Coloplast A/S, Class B      1,641,793  
  12,129      Demant A/S*^      382,264  
  31,719      EssilorLuxottica SA      4,844,906  
  65,199      Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corp., Ltd.      978,092  
  42,700      HOYA Corp.      4,077,565  
  101,305      Koninklijke Philips NV      4,952,295  
  131,500      Olympus Corp.      2,025,269  
  3,930      Sartorius AG      841,295  
  17,297      Siemens Healthineers AG      830,516  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Health Care Equipment & Supplies, continued       
  97,004      Smith & Nephew plc    $ 2,342,926  
  6,131      Sonova Holding AG, Registered Shares      1,402,976  
  1,141      Straumann Holding AG, Registered Shares      1,120,176  
  18,400      Sysmex Corp.      1,250,846  
  73,000      Terumo Corp.      2,579,414  
     

 

 

 
        34,589,413  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (0.5%):       
  21,700      Alfresa Holdings Corp.      443,103  
  24,312      Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co., KGaA      1,803,017  
  45,974      Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA      2,594,834  
  20,100      Medipal Holdings Corp.      443,447  
  11,212      NMC Health plc      263,166  
  17,336      Ramsay Health Care, Ltd.      884,331  
  44,167      Ryman Healthcare, Ltd.      486,228  
  52,054      Sonic Healthcare, Ltd.      1,052,194  
  8,570      Suzuken Co., Ltd.      348,790  
     

 

 

 
        8,319,110  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Technology (0.1%):       
  49,800      M3, Inc.      1,504,055  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (1.4%):       
  19,564      Accor SA      918,324  
  65,400      Aristocrat Leisure, Ltd.      1,550,735  
  17,779      Carnival plc      848,859  
  177,526      Compass Group plc      4,446,501  
  42,677      Crown Resorts, Ltd.      360,175  
  6,425      Flight Centre Travel Group, Ltd.      198,700  
  8,595      Flutter Entertainment plc      1,049,532  
  246,000      Galaxy Entertainment Group, Ltd.      1,813,336  
  635,657      Genting Singapore, Ltd.      435,291  
  62,988      GVC Holdings plc      738,585  
  19,118      InterContinental Hotels Group plc      1,316,726  
  7,129      McDonald’s Holdings Co., Ltd.^      343,603  
  24,767      Melco Resorts & Entertainment, Ltd., ADR      598,618  
  22,400      Oriental Land Co., Ltd.      3,057,607  
  273,132      Sands China, Ltd.      1,464,787  
  220,987      SJM Holdings, Ltd.      252,272  
  9,852      Sodexo SA      1,168,393  
  226,584      Tabcorp Holdings, Ltd.      721,230  
  50,001      TUI AG      632,069  
  14,662      Whitbread plc      943,397  
  156,400      Wynn Macau, Ltd.      386,902  
     

 

 

 
        23,245,642  
     

 

 

 
Household Durables (1.3%):       
  111,766      Barratt Developments plc      1,107,667  
  12,890      Berkeley Group Holdings plc (The)      835,733  
  19,600      Casio Computer Co., Ltd.      393,913  
  23,949      Electrolux AB, Series B, Class B      587,953  
  49,568      Husqvarna AB, Class B      397,037  
  16,200      Iida Group Holdings Co., Ltd.      283,605  
  36,700      Nikon Corp.      448,651  
  250,400      Panasonic Corp.      2,348,907  
  35,262      Persimmon plc      1,270,088  
  3,700      Rinnai Corp.      288,988  
  2,674      SEB SA      397,674  
  42,100      Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.      728,842  
  70,200      Sekisui House, Ltd.      1,499,405  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL International Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Household Durables, continued       
  25,700      Sharp Corp.    $ 392,772  
  142,300      Sony Corp.      9,687,241  
  358,199      Taylor Wimpey plc      926,873  
  151,500      Techtronic Industries Co., Ltd.      1,239,774  
     

 

 

 
        22,835,123  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (0.7%):       
  67,925      Essity AB, Class B      2,190,463  
  11,363      Henkel AG & Co. KGaA      1,069,869  
  25,400      Lion Corp.      495,833  
  11,700      Pigeon Corp.      431,458  
  79,377      Reckitt Benckiser Group plc      6,444,906  
  46,000      Unicharm Corp.      1,553,982  
     

 

 

 
        12,186,511  
     

 

 

 
Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers (0.1%):  
  16,500      Electric Power Development Co., Ltd.      401,023  
  146,817      Meridian Energy, Ltd.      494,265  
  23,752      Uniper SE      786,073  
     

 

 

 
        1,681,361  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (1.3%):       
  306,244      CK Hutchison Holdings, Ltd.      2,926,454  
  11,295      DCC plc      983,028  
  24,500      Jardine Matheson Holdings, Ltd.      1,362,333  
  23,200      Jardine Strategic Holdings, Ltd.      711,327  
  10,900      Keihan Holdings Co., Ltd.      530,641  
  154,500      Keppel Corp., Ltd.      778,621  
  173,834      NWS Holdings, Ltd.      244,012  
  24,600      Seibu Holdings, Inc.      405,875  
  89,100      SembCorp Industries, Ltd.      151,987  
  85,608      Siemens AG, Registered Shares      11,189,715  
  43,341      Smiths Group plc      968,840  
  56,200      Toshiba Corp.      1,904,227  
     

 

 

 
        22,157,060  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (5.5%):       
  21,768      Admiral Group plc      666,532  
  191,375      AEGON NV      875,919  
  19,592      Ageas NV      1,158,945  
  1,352,800      AIA Group, Ltd.      14,234,608  
  47,499      Allianz SE, Registered Shares+      11,646,273  
  124,525      Assicurazioni Generali SpA      2,570,371  
  433,421      Aviva plc      2,417,502  
  216,218      AXA SA      6,099,536  
  5,562      Baloise Holding AG, Registered Shares      1,005,458  
  20,161      CNP Assurances SA      401,651  
  123,000      Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Inc.      2,025,961  
  142,533      Direct Line Insurance Group plc      593,794  
  22,933      Gjensidige Forsikring ASA      482,052  
  6,727      Hannover Rueck SE      1,300,482  
  254,535      Insurance Australia Group, Ltd.      1,370,976  
  178,400      Japan Post Holdings Co., Ltd.      1,675,757  
  25,800      Japan Post Insurance Co., Ltd.      441,681  
  671,923      Legal & General Group plc      2,706,610  
  124,272      Mapfre SA      330,549  
  298,241      Medibank Private, Ltd.      661,627  
  53,111      MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, Inc.      1,748,982  
  16,092      Muenchener Rueckversicherungs-Gesellschaft AG      4,746,968  
  33,248      NN Group NV      1,264,150  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Insurance, continued       
  57,201      Poste Italiane SpA    $ 649,155  
  290,932      Prudential plc      5,597,097  
  145,004      QBE Insurance Group, Ltd.      1,313,933  
  122,220      RSA Insurance Group plc      922,432  
  48,756      Sampo Oyj, Class A      2,127,072  
  17,331      SCOR SA      728,059  
  38,525      Sompo Holdings, Inc.      1,509,783  
  17,300      Sony Financial Holdings, Inc.      414,159  
  142,401      Suncorp Group, Ltd.      1,297,180  
  3,824      Swiss Life Holding AG, Registered Shares      1,918,902  
  32,975      Swiss Re AG      3,706,961  
  58,236      T&D Holdings, Inc.      735,133  
  71,500      Tokio Marine Holdings, Inc.      3,992,813  
  14,463      Tryg A/S      428,794  
  16,742      Zurich Insurance Group AG      6,867,985  
     

 

 

 
        92,635,842  
     

 

 

 
Interactive Media & Services (0.2%):       
  106,399      Auto Trader Group plc      840,749  
  16,000      Kakaku.com, Inc.      411,369  
  7,200      Line Corp.*      354,176  
  6,156      REA Group, Ltd.      448,708  
  297,900      Z Holdings Corp.      1,248,284  
     

 

 

 
        3,303,286  
     

 

 

 
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail (0.5%):       
  12,315      Delivery Hero AG*      974,633  
  8,900      Mercari, Inc.*      182,772  
  49,298      Ocado Group plc*      836,914  
  55,163      Prosus NV*      4,127,346  
  100,700      Rakuten, Inc.      863,827  
  15,859      Zalando SE*      803,510  
  10,400      ZOZO, Inc.      198,995  
     

 

 

 
        7,987,997  
     

 

 

 
IT Services (1.0%):       
  1,131      Adyen NV*      930,567  
  47,834      Amadeus IT Group SA      3,919,032  
  10,532      Atos SE      880,524  
  17,886      Capgemini SA      2,190,801  
  54,245      Computershare, Ltd.      639,272  
  22,300      Fujitsu, Ltd.      2,104,583  
  4,900      GMO Payment Gateway, Inc.      337,149  
  11,500      Itochu Techno-Solutions Corp.      324,707  
  37,638      Nomura Research Institute, Ltd.      809,922  
  73,200      NTT Data Corp.      978,680  
  6,900      OBIC Co., Ltd.      932,198  
  12,400      Otsuka Corp.      495,319  
  13,353      Wirecard AG^      1,613,223  
  5,248      Wix.com, Ltd.*      642,250  
  11,507      Worldline SA*      816,612  
     

 

 

 
        17,614,839  
     

 

 

 
Leisure Products (0.2%):       
  22,000      Bandai Namco Holdings, Inc.      1,335,151  
  6,300      Sankyo Co., Ltd.      208,843  
  18,400      Sega Sammy Holdings, Inc.      268,036  
  8,400      Shimano, Inc.      1,364,013  
  16,500      Yamaha Corp.      909,668  
     

 

 

 
        4,085,711  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL International Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Life Sciences Tools & Services (0.3%):       
  1,232      Eurofins Scientific SE^    $ 684,119  
  8,238      Lonza Group AG, Registered Shares      3,005,143  
  24,572      Qiagen NV*      839,934  
  3,335      Sartorius Stedim Biotech      552,922  
     

 

 

 
        5,082,118  
     

 

 

 
Machinery (2.7%):       
  34,262      Alfa Laval AB      863,434  
  20,709      Alstom SA      980,966  
  40,500      Amada Holdings Co., Ltd.      460,015  
  7,942      Andritz AG      341,898  
  43,280      Atlas Copco AB      1,502,086  
  74,583      Atlas Copco AB, Class A      2,974,007  
  112,687      CNH Industrial NV      1,236,903  
  10,800      Daifuku Co., Ltd.      653,172  
  41,260      Epiroc AB      489,874  
  77,275      Epiroc AB, Class A      944,682  
  21,400      FANUC Corp.      3,952,872  
  18,423      GEA Group AG      609,079  
  29,600      Hino Motors, Ltd.      312,803  
  12,300      Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.      365,995  
  6,200      Hoshizaki Corp.      552,127  
  18,100      IHI Corp.      424,267  
  23,100      JTEKT Corp.      272,500  
  17,100      Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.      373,908  
  7,772      Kion Group AG      536,596  
  5,787      Knorr-Bremse AG      588,991  
  102,400      Komatsu, Ltd.      2,455,417  
  37,639      Kone OYJ, Class B      2,460,489  
  120,000      Kubota Corp.      1,880,159  
  9,900      Kurita Water Industries, Ltd.      293,352  
  26,100      Makita Corp.      903,682  
  11,910      Metso Oyj      470,164  
  39,400      MINEBEA MITSUMI, Inc.      813,192  
  32,900      Misumi Group, Inc.      813,686  
  36,600      Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.      1,415,708  
  10,900      Nabtesco Corp.      321,679  
  30,200      NGK Insulators, Ltd.      523,955  
  42,400      NSK, Ltd.      399,944  
  125,375      Sandvik AB      2,451,183  
  4,418      Schindler Holding AG      1,124,322  
  2,413      Schindler Holding AG, Registered Shares      591,308  
  41,858      SKF AB, Class B      848,309  
  6,400      SMC Corp.      2,925,897  
  7,969      Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc      943,502  
  13,500      Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd.      382,737  
  12,100      THK Co., Ltd.      324,815  
  165,543      Volvo AB, Class B      2,778,934  
  53,665      Wartsila OYJ Abp, Class B      592,544  
  27,770      Weir Group plc (The)      555,593  
  306,850      Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings, Ltd.      256,437  
     

 

 

 
        44,963,183  
     

 

 

 
Marine (0.2%):       
  381      A.P. Moeller — Maersk A/S, Class A      516,650  
  726      A.P. Moeller — Maersk A/S, Class B      1,047,731  
  5,987      Kuehne & Nagel International AG, Registered Shares      1,009,420  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Marine, continued       
  13,700      Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd.    $ 376,273  
  17,000      Nippon Yusen KK      306,327  
     

 

 

 
        3,256,401  
     

 

 

 
Media (0.6%):       
  77,350      Altice Europe NV, Class A*      499,816  
  10,000      Cyberagent, Inc.      348,196  
  23,477      Dentsu Group, Inc.      808,502  
  19,566      Eutelsat Communications SA      318,233  
  23,800      Hakuhodo DY Holdings, Inc.      382,843  
  138,611      Informa plc      1,575,399  
  390,353      ITV plc      783,386  
  8,903      JCDecaux SA      274,737  
  91,786      Pearson plc      776,304  
  24,874      Publicis Groupe SA      1,126,165  
  11,652      Schibsted ASA, Class B      334,454  
  40,089      SES Global, Class A      563,609  
  126,768      Singapore Press Holdings, Ltd.      205,597  
  5,630      Telenet Group Holding NV      253,576  
  141,236      WPP plc      1,987,376  
     

 

 

 
        10,238,193  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (2.7%):       
  293,204      Alumina, Ltd.      473,446  
  117,134      Anglo American plc      3,380,188  
  44,246      Antofagasta plc      539,022  
  73,727      ArcelorMittal      1,302,227  
  236,137      BHP Group plc      5,576,691  
  329,657      BHP Group, Ltd.      9,027,534  
  61,180      BlueScope Steel, Ltd.      648,112  
  31,794      Boliden AB      845,944  
  60,439      EVRAZ plc      324,341  
  157,884      Fortescue Metals Group, Ltd.      1,189,733  
  1,223,317      Glencore plc      3,824,639  
  23,000      Hitachi Metals, Ltd.      337,946  
  53,100      JFE Holdings, Inc.      680,333  
  7,500      Maruichi Steel Tube, Ltd.      210,399  
  12,800      Mitsubishi Materials Corp.      347,118  
  86,736      Newcrest Mining, Ltd.      1,835,685  
  90,948      Nippon Steel Corp.      1,368,509  
  139,087      Norsk Hydro ASA      519,427  
  126,453      Rio Tinto plc      7,512,310  
  40,932      Rio Tinto, Ltd.      2,894,179  
  556,728      South32, Ltd.      1,059,692  
  25,900      Sumitomo Metal & Mining Co., Ltd.      835,478  
  42,248      ThyssenKrupp AG      570,428  
  14,170      Voestalpine AG      394,816  
     

 

 

 
        45,698,197  
     

 

 

 
Multiline Retail (0.3%):       
  63,114      Harvey Norman Holdings, Ltd.      180,562  
  37,900      Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, Ltd.^      340,836  
  27,000      J. Front Retailing Co., Ltd.      376,653  
  223,612      Marks & Spencer Group plc      634,043  
  20,200      Marui Group Co., Ltd.      491,772  
  14,906      Next plc      1,387,695  
  51,700      Pan Pacific International Holdings Corp.      858,230  
  25,400      Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd.      592,517  
     

 

 

 
        4,862,308  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

10


AZL International Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Multi-Utilities (1.0%):       
  72,811      AGL Energy, Ltd.    $ 1,050,766  
  681,724      Centrica plc      812,368  
  250,903      E.ON SE      2,683,151  
  203,978      Engie Group      3,296,002  
  389,482      National Grid plc      4,893,850  
  64,133      RWE AG      1,970,271  
  35,451      Suez      536,486  
  60,656      Veolia Environnement SA      1,615,559  
     

 

 

 
        16,858,453  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (4.8%):       
  13,248      Aker BP ASA      434,789  
  2,279,688      BP plc      14,308,213  
  29,171      Caltex Australia, Ltd.      696,662  
  22,895      Enagas SA      584,831  
  284,679      ENI SpA      4,423,199  
  114,178      Equinor ASA      2,284,168  
  55,758      Galp Energia SGPS SA      932,493  
  22,887      Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.      636,822  
  112,800      INPEX Corp.      1,176,830  
  346,520      JXTG Holdings, Inc.      1,584,713  
  8,360      Koninklijke Vopak NV      453,817  
  20,139      Lundin Petroleum AB      684,642  
  46,397      Neste Oyj      1,614,294  
  160,365      Oil Search, Ltd.      817,905  
  15,669      OMV AG      880,167  
  191,223      Origin Energy, Ltd.      1,136,426  
  161,728      Repsol SA      2,536,869  
  478,799      Royal Dutch Shell plc, Class A      14,229,892  
  418,054      Royal Dutch Shell plc, Class B      12,455,099  
  191,220      Santos, Ltd.      1,100,327  
  222,790      Snam SpA      1,173,795  
  268,579      Total SA      14,841,015  
  12,993      Washington H. Soul Pattinson & Co., Ltd.      196,540  
  104,136      Woodside Petroleum, Ltd.      2,517,832  
     

 

 

 
        81,701,340  
     

 

 

 
Paper & Forest Products (0.3%):       
  54,128      Mondi plc      1,277,581  
  87,300      Oji Holdings Corp.      471,229  
  67,076      Stora Enso OYJ, Registered Shares, Class R      974,662  
  60,225      UPM-Kymmene OYJ      2,087,067  
     

 

 

 
        4,810,539  
     

 

 

 
Personal Products (2.1%):       
  11,047      Beiersdorf AG      1,321,752  
  53,600      Kao Corp.      4,421,429  
  6,000      Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      508,153  
  3,600      Kose Corp.      526,233  
  28,278      L’Oreal SA      8,397,113  
  10,700      Pola Orbis Holdings, Inc.      255,652  
  44,300      Shiseido Co., Ltd.      3,168,081  
  164,220      Unilever NV      9,447,776  
  124,197      Unilever plc      7,109,103  
     

 

 

 
        35,155,292  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (8.4%):       
  211,400      Astellas Pharma, Inc.      3,611,614  
  146,807      AstraZeneca plc      14,685,599  
  104,358      Bayer AG, Registered Shares      8,529,495  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Pharmaceuticals, continued       
  25,100      Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.    $ 2,312,131  
  64,000      Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd.      4,226,687  
  27,700      Eisai Co., Ltd.      2,063,431  
  558,245      GlaxoSmithKline plc      13,131,158  
  7,816      H. Lundbeck A/S      299,648  
  6,300      Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Co., Inc.      306,515  
  4,528      Ipsen SA      401,170  
  25,300      Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd.      594,532  
  14,371      Merck KGaA      1,700,469  
  22,400      Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp.      413,170  
  5,200      Nippon Shinyaku Co., Ltd.      452,260  
  240,403      Novartis AG, Registered Shares      22,781,057  
  198,009      Novo Nordisk A/S, Class B      11,486,097  
  40,900      Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      934,121  
  12,002      Orion OYJ, Class B      555,441  
  44,300      Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd.      1,970,391  
  11,679      Recordati SpA      492,381  
  78,621      Roche Holding AG      25,498,761  
  126,102      Sanofi      12,664,250  
  41,500      Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      791,387  
  30,700      Shionogi & Co., Ltd.      1,897,006  
  17,800      Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd.      347,323  
  3,300      Taisho Pharmaceutical Holdings Co., Ltd.      243,867  
  167,573      Takeda Pharmacuetical Co., Ltd.      6,639,800  
  120,195      Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd., ADR*      1,177,911  
  13,991      UCB SA      1,113,188  
  5,368      Vifor Pharma AG      980,775  
     

 

 

 
        142,301,635  
     

 

 

 
Professional Services (1.5%):       
  17,109      Adecco SA, Registered Shares      1,081,857  
  31,529      Bureau Veritas SA      823,808  
  101,762      Experian plc      3,441,333  
  17,966      Intertek Group plc      1,394,178  
  21,200      Persol Holdings Co., Ltd.      398,534  
  13,659      Randstad NV      836,375  
  151,800      Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd.      5,713,073  
  217,542      RELX plc      5,487,134  
  39,701      Seek, Ltd.      629,827  
  591      SGS SA, Registered Shares      1,618,168  
  6,586      Teleperformance      1,609,049  
  31,007      Wolters Kluwer NV      2,266,206  
     

 

 

 
        25,299,542  
     

 

 

 
Real Estate Management & Development (1.8%):       
  10,760      AEON Mall Co., Ltd.      190,775  
  95,627      Aroundtown SA      856,285  
  5,609      Azrieli Group      410,471  
  74,028      BGP Holdings plc*(a)      108  
  296,300      CapitaLand, Ltd.      826,633  
  47,400      City Developments, Ltd.      386,649  
  290,744      CK Asset Holdings, Ltd.      2,107,257  
  7,700      Daito Trust Construction Co., Ltd.      953,783  
  64,500      Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd.      1,998,584  
  40,463      Deutsche Wohnen SE      1,653,440  
  235,000      Hang Lung Properties, Ltd.      513,776  
  152,956      Henderson Land Development Co., Ltd.      751,180  
  126,900      Hongkong Land Holdings, Ltd.      730,281  
  32,500      Hulic Co., Ltd.      391,265  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

11


AZL International Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Real Estate Management & Development, continued       
  75,775      Kerry Properties, Ltd.    $ 241,493  
  60,898      Lend Lease Group      753,528  
  131,700      Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd.      2,518,085  
  99,500      Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd.      2,430,517  
  670,623      New World Development Co., Ltd.      919,799  
  12,600      Nomura Real Estate Holdings, Inc.      303,251  
  364,601      Sino Land Co., Ltd.      531,256  
  37,600      Sumitomo Realty & Development Co., Ltd.      1,311,634  
  180,500      Sun Hung Kai Properties, Ltd.      2,768,909  
  57,964      Swire Pacific, Ltd., Class A      540,247  
  120,400      Swire Properties, Ltd.      400,115  
  8,817      Swiss Prime Site AG      1,022,316  
  73,400      Tokyu Fudosan Holdings Corp.      506,879  
  51,296      UOL Group, Ltd.      317,778  
  57,426      Vonovia SE      3,091,328  
  130,300      Wharf Real Estate Investment Co., Ltd.      799,036  
  95,897      Wheelock & Co., Ltd.      639,541  
     

 

 

 
        30,866,199  
     

 

 

 
Road & Rail (1.2%):       
  214,136      Aurizon Holdings, Ltd.      787,602  
  16,000      Central Japan Railway Co.      3,215,683  
  243,600      ComfortDelGro Corp., Ltd.      431,582  
  24,057      DSV PANALPINA A/S      2,785,201  
  34,213      East Japan Railway Co.      3,088,625  
  25,700      Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, Inc.      1,099,159  
  22,500      Keikyu Corp.      433,725  
  11,100      Keio Corp.      670,725  
  13,700      Keisei Electric Railway Co., Ltd.      531,372  
  19,800      Kintetsu Group Holdings Co., Ltd.      1,073,164  
  18,800      Kyushu Railway Co.      630,376  
  163,494      MTR Corp., Ltd.      969,213  
  21,400      Nagoya Railroad Co., Ltd.      664,261  
  9,500      Nippon Express Co., Ltd.      555,917  
  34,200      Odakyu Electric Railway Co., Ltd.      797,759  
  22,000      Tobu Railway Co., Ltd.      799,628  
  54,800      Tokyu Corp.      1,012,682  
  18,200      West Japan Railway Co.      1,571,805  
     

 

 

 
        21,118,479  
     

 

 

 
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (1.9%):       
  22,200      Advantest Corp.      1,256,211  
  35,900      ASM Pacific Technology, Ltd.      499,123  
  47,634      ASML Holding NV      14,184,681  
  3,100      Disco Corp.      738,001  
  139,377      Infineon Technologies AG      3,195,904  
  31,194      NXP Semiconductors NV      3,969,748  
  81,500      Renesas Electronics Corp.*      561,278  
  10,200      ROHM Co., Ltd.      822,253  
  76,903      STMicroelectronics NV      2,075,385  
  27,200      SUMCO Corp.      455,644  
  17,500      Tokyo Electron, Ltd.      3,846,206  
     

 

 

 
        31,604,434  
     

 

 

 
Software (1.5%):       
  7,404      AVEVA Group plc      457,644  
  13,580      Check Point Software Technologies, Ltd.*      1,506,837  
  4,451      CyberArk Software, Ltd.*      518,898  
  14,552      Dassault Systemes SA      2,400,080  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Software, continued       
  41,003      Micro Focus International plc    $ 578,851  
  6,869      NICE Systems, Ltd.*      1,065,245  
  4,600      Oracle Corp.      418,266  
  118,344      Sage Group plc      1,175,735  
  109,981      SAP SE      14,820,854  
  7,241      Temenos AG      1,145,052  
  14,300      Trend Micro, Inc.      731,877  
  16,409      WiseTech Global, Ltd.      269,332  
     

 

 

 
        25,088,671  
     

 

 

 
Specialty Retail (0.9%):       
  3,700      ABC-Mart, Inc.      252,250  
  4,318      Dufry AG, Registered Shares      428,144  
  6,400      Fast Retailing Co., Ltd.      3,794,048  
  92,277      Hennes & Mauritz AB, Class B      1,876,376  
  2,400      Hikari Tsushin, Inc.      602,559  
  122,979      Industria de Diseno Textil SA      4,355,907  
  50,176      JD Sports Fashion plc      560,339  
  225,729      Kingfisher plc      654,529  
  9,200      Nitori Co., Ltd.      1,453,911  
  2,400      Shimamura Co., Ltd.      183,168  
  24,400      USS Co., Ltd.      460,832  
  69,100      Yamada Denki Co., Ltd.      365,794  
     

 

 

 
        14,987,857  
     

 

 

 
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals (0.5%):       
  26,700      Brother Industries, Ltd.      549,844  
  110,300      Canon, Inc.      3,008,410  
  39,400      FUJIFILM Holdings Corp.      1,878,931  
  54,700      Konica Minolta, Inc.      358,062  
  26,900      NEC Corp.      1,117,887  
  77,200      Ricoh Co., Ltd.      836,659  
  33,400      Seiko Epson Corp.      504,335  
     

 

 

 
        8,254,128  
     

 

 

 
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods (2.3%):       
  20,185      Adidas AG      6,559,705  
  45,682      Burberry Group plc      1,336,712  
  58,072      Cie Financiere Richemont SA      4,559,448  
  3,521      Hermes International SA      2,634,693  
  8,476      Kering      5,583,271  
  31,108      LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA      14,486,728  
  20,784      Moncler SpA      934,745  
  11,747      Pandora A/S      511,065  
  9,070      Puma SE      695,375  
  3,207      Swatch Group AG (The), Class B      894,121  
  6,517      Swatch Group AG (The), Registered Shares      344,181  
  74,486      Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings, Ltd.      220,217  
     

 

 

 
        38,760,261  
     

 

 

 
Tobacco (1.0%):       
  256,690      British American Tobacco plc      10,934,671  
  108,887      Imperial Brands plc, Class A      2,697,641  
  133,700      Japan Tobacco, Inc.      2,980,999  
  18,890      Swedish Match AB, Class B      974,158  
     

 

 

 
        17,587,469  
     

 

 

 
Trading Companies & Distributors (1.3%):       
  13,353      AerCap Holdings NV*      820,809  
  52,000      Ashtead Group plc      1,663,779  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

12


AZL International Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Trading Companies & Distributors, continued       
  17,044      Brenntag AG    $ 926,673  
  38,813      Bunzl plc      1,061,782  
  26,085      Ferguson plc      2,369,632  
  149,200      Itochu Corp.      3,455,708  
  174,100      Marubeni Corp.      1,286,677  
  151,200      Mitsubishi Corp.      4,011,862  
  187,300      Mitsui & Co., Ltd.      3,331,026  
  15,100      MonotaRo Co., Ltd.      404,810  
  133,600      Sumitomo Corp.      1,992,117  
  23,400      Toyota Tsushu Corp.      820,299  
     

 

 

 
        22,145,174  
     

 

 

 
Transportation Infrastructure (0.6%):       
  7,610      Aena SME SA      1,460,082  
  3,180      Aeroports de Paris      629,378  
  56,368      Atlantia SpA      1,314,789  
  107,595      Auckland International Airport, Ltd.      633,715  
  4,779      Fraport AG      406,157  
  47,764      Getlink SE      831,160  
  5,100      Japan Airport Terminal Co., Ltd.      282,286  
  12,000      Kamigumi Co., Ltd.      262,949  
  74,000      SATS, Ltd.      278,797  
  131,398      Sydney Airport      800,412  
  303,036      Transurban Group      3,176,795  
     

 

 

 
        10,076,520  
     

 

 

 
Water Utilities (0.1%):       
  27,491      Severn Trent plc      917,333  
  74,252      United Utilities Group plc      932,513  
     

 

 

 
        1,849,846  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (1.6%):       
  197,700      KDDI Corp.      5,882,346  
  11,503      Millicom International Cellular SA, SDR      551,508  
  150,500      NTT DoCoMo, Inc.      4,206,356  
  184,400      Softbank Corp.      2,471,496  
  175,400      SoftBank Group Corp.      7,637,360  
  53,082      Tele2 AB      770,240  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Wireless Telecommunication Services, continued       
  2,995,512      Vodafone Group plc    $ 5,814,517  
     

 

 

 
        27,333,823  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Common Stocks (Cost $1,258,924,414)

     1,654,308,244  
  

 

 

 
Preferred Stocks (0.5%):  
Automobiles (0.4%):  
  6,667      Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW),
6.39%, 5/15/20
     411,635  
  17,033      Porsche Automobil Holding SE, 3.31%, 5/20/20      1,274,047  
  20,768      Volkswagen AG, 2.76%, 5/8/20      4,105,106  
     

 

 

 
        5,790,788  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (0.1%):       
  20,150      Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, 2.01%, 4/21/20      2,083,586  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Preferred Stocks (Cost $5,842,484)

     7,874,374  
  

 

 

 
Rights (0.0%):       
Aerospace & Defense (0.0%):       
  9,287,952      Rolls-Royce Holdings plc, Expires on 1/6/20*      12,301  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (0.0%):       
  161,728      Repsol SA, Expires on 1/8/20*      76,730  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Rights (Cost $88,453)

     89,031  
  

 

 

 
Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan (0.4%):  
  7,283,334      BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, 2.00%(b)(c)      7,283,334  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on
Loan (Cost $7,283,334)

     7,283,334  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities

  
 

(Cost $1,272,138,685) — 98.3%(d)

     1,669,554,983  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — 1.7%

     28,334,938  
  

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 1,697,889,921  
  

 

 

 
 

 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

ADR—American Depository Receipt

SDR—Swedish Depository Receipt

 

*

Non-income producing security.

 

^

This security or a partial position of this security was on loan as of December 31, 2019. The total value of securities on loan as of December 31, 2019 was $6,906,243.

 

+

Affiliated Securities

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

(a)

Security was valued using unobservable inputs in good faith pursuant to procedures approved by the Board of Trustees as of December 31, 2019. The total of all such securities represent 0.00% of the net assets of the fund.

 

(b)

Purchased with cash collateral held from securities lending. The value of the collateral could include collateral held for securities that were sold on or before December 31, 2019.

 

(c)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(d)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

13


AZL International Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

The following represents the concentrations by country of risk (based on the domicile of the security issuer) relative to the total fair value of investments as of December 31, 2019:

(Unaudited)

 

Country   Percentage  

Australia

    7.1

Austria

    0.2

Belgium

    1.0

Bermuda

    0.1

China

    0.1

Denmark

    1.8

Finland

    1.1

France

    10.6

Germany

    8.6

Hong Kong

    3.3

Ireland

    1.0

Isle of Man

     % 

Israel

    0.6

Italy

    2.2

Japan

    24.2

Luxembourg

    0.2

Netherlands

    4.2

New Zealand

    0.3

Norway

    0.6

Portugal

    0.2

Singapore

    1.3

Spain

    2.8

Sweden

    2.5

Switzerland

    9.6

United Arab Emirates

     % 

United Kingdom

    16.0

United States

    0.4
 

 

 

 
    100.0
 

 

 

 

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

Futures Contracts

Cash of $1,787,364 has been segregated to cover margin requirements for the following open contracts as of December 31, 2019:

Long Futures

 

Description    Expiration
Date
     Number of
Contracts
     Notional
Amount
     Value and
Unrealized
Appreciation/
(Depreciation)
 

ASX SPI 200 Index March Futures (Australian Dollar)

     3/19/20        31      $ 3,590,324      $ (87,383

DJ EURO STOXX 50 March Futures (Euro)

     3/20/20        336        14,053,074        (17,730

FTSE 100 Index March Futures (British Pounds)

     3/20/20        83        8,243,279        (13,999

SGX Nikkei 225 Index March Futures (Japanese Yen)

     3/12/20        55        5,916,904        (73,708
           

 

 

 
            $ (192,820
           

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

14


AZL International Index Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investments in non-affiliates, at cost

    $ 1,265,581,271

Investments in affiliates, at cost

      6,557,414
   

 

 

 

Investments in non-affiliates, at value(a)

    $ 1,657,908,710

Investments in affiliates, at value

      11,646,273

Segregated cash for collateral for futures contracts

      1,787,364

Interest and dividends receivable

      1,594,612

Foreign currency, at value (cost $28,457,142)

      28,834,249

Receivable for investments sold

      849,200

Reclaims receivable

      5,926,605

Prepaid expenses

      6,036
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      1,708,553,049
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Cash overdraft

      688,442

Payable for investments purchased

      849,481

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      527,461

Payable for collateral received on loaned securities

      7,283,334

Payable for variation margin on futures contracts

      227,326

Manager fees payable

      501,541

Administration fees payable

      7,913

Distribution fees payable

      335,817

Custodian fees payable

      37,590

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      5,833

Transfer agent fees payable

      2,001

Trustee fees payable

      1,435

Other accrued liabilities

      194,954
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      10,663,128
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 1,697,889,921
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 1,288,610,352

Total distributable earnings

      409,279,569
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 1,697,889,921
   

 

 

 

Class 1

   

Net Assets

    $ 106,657,180

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      9,248,335

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 11.53
   

 

 

 

Class 2

   

Net Assets

    $ 1,591,232,741

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      94,769,421

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 16.79
   

 

 

 

 

(a)

Includes securities on loan of $6,906,243.

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Dividends

    $ 58,863,848

Dividends from affiliates

      513,853

Income from securities lending

      429,879

Foreign withholding tax

      (4,942,091 )
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      54,865,489
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      5,769,442

Administration fees

      451,320

Distribution fees — Class 2

      3,861,094

Custodian fees

      231,592

Administrative and compliance services fees

      27,612

Transfer agent fees

      11,642

Trustee fees

      86,005

Professional fees

      77,843

Licensing fees

      513,611

Shareholder reports

      46,720

Other expenses

      62,906
   

 

 

 

Total expenses

      11,139,787
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      43,725,702
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities and foreign currencies

      3,789,332

Net realized gains/(losses) on affiliated transactions

      391,652

Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts

      2,836,424

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities and foreign currencies

      263,540,738

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on affiliated transactions

      1,854,039

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts

      21,937
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      272,434,122
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 316,159,824
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

15


AZL International Index Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 43,725,702     $ 43,172,322

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      7,017,408       14,028,068

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      265,416,714       (308,519,079 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      316,159,824       (251,318,689 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Class 1

      (4,671,747 )       (6,939,175 )

Class 2

      (45,310,584 )       (66,270,138 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (49,982,331 )       (73,209,313 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Class 1

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      277,487       126,848

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      4,671,747       6,939,175

Value of shares redeemed

      (12,887,802 )       (17,191,782 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 1 Shares

      (7,938,568 )       (10,125,759 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Class 2

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      45,976,347       39,282,271

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      45,310,584       66,270,138

Value of shares redeemed

      (173,248,705 )       (244,059,352 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 2 Shares

      (81,961,774 )       (138,506,943 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      (89,900,342 )       (148,632,702 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      176,277,151       (473,160,704 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      1,521,612,770       1,994,773,474
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 1,697,889,921     $ 1,521,612,770
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Class 1

       

Shares issued

      24,903       10,697

Dividends reinvested

      441,564       643,708

Shares redeemed

      (1,169,990 )       (1,460,097 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 1 Shares

      (703,523 )       (805,692 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Class 2

       

Shares issued

      2,878,245       2,427,714

Dividends reinvested

      2,940,336       4,283,784

Shares redeemed

      (10,864,598 )       (14,584,666 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 2 Shares

      (5,046,017 )       (7,873,168 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      (5,749,540 )       (8,678,860 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

16


AZL International Index Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

    Year Ended December 31,
     2019   2018   2017   2016^   2015

Class 1

                   

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 9.94     $ 12.30     $ 10.07     $ 10.00    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.32 (a)       0.36       0.37       0.12    

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      1.79       (2.00 )       2.15       (0.05 )    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total from Investment Activities

      2.11       (1.64 )       2.52       0.07    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.42 )       (0.50 )       (0.16 )          

Net Realized Gains

      (0.10 )       (0.22 )       (0.13 )          
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total Dividends

      (0.52 )       (0.72 )       (0.29 )          
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 11.53     $ 9.94     $ 12.30     $ 10.07    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total Return(b)

      21.67 %       (13.80 )%       25.12 %       0.70 %(c)    

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 106,657     $ 98,902     $ 132,265     $ 123,158    

Net Investment Income/(Loss)(d)

      2.89 %       2.62 %       2.48 %       1.19 %    

Expenses Before Reductions(d)(e)

      0.44 %       0.45 %       0.48 %       0.40 %    

Expenses Net of Reductions(d)

      0.44 %       0.45 %       0.48 %       0.40 %    

Portfolio Turnover Rate(f)

      4 %       2 %       8 %       55 %(g)    

Class 2

                   

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 14.25     $ 17.30     $ 14.10     $ 14.42     $ 15.28
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.42 (a)       0.43       0.36       0.15       0.58

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      2.60       (2.81 )       3.12       (0.10 )       (0.79 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      3.02       (2.38 )       3.48       0.05       (0.21 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.38 )       (0.45 )       (0.15 )       (0.37 )       (0.65 )

Net Realized Gains

      (0.10 )       (0.22 )       (0.13 )            
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (0.48 )       (0.67 )       (0.28 )       (0.37 )       (0.65 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 16.79     $ 14.25     $ 17.30     $ 14.10     $ 14.42
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(b)

      21.44 %       (14.04 )%       24.77 %       0.37 %       (1.39 )%

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 1,591,233     $ 1,422,711     $ 1,862,508     $ 1,605,552     $ 576,330

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      2.64 %       2.36 %       2.21 %       2.11 %       2.16 %

Expenses Before Reductions(e)

      0.69 %       0.70 %       0.73 %       0.71 %       0.75 %

Expenses Net of Reductions

      0.69 %       0.70 %       0.73 %       0.71 %       0.74 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate(f)

      4 %       2 %       8 %       55 %(g)       13 %

 

^

Class 1 activity is for the period October 17, 2016 (commencement of operations) to December 31, 2016.

 

(a)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(b)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(c)

Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(d)

Annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(e)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

(f)

Portfolio turnover rate is calculated on the basis of the Fund as a whole without distinguishing between classes of shares issued. Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(g)

Cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of portfolio securities incurred to realign the Fund’s portfolio after the fund merger are excluded from the portfolio turnover rate. If such amounts had not been excluded, the portfolio turnover rate would have been 55%.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

17


AZL International Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services—Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL International Index Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Foreign Currency Translation and Withholding Taxes

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding and other income or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Funds accrue such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Each class of shares bears its pro-rata portion of expenses attributable to its series, except that each class separately bears expenses related specifically to that class, such as distribution fees. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

 

18


AZL International Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Class Allocation

The investment income, expenses (other than class specific expenses charged to a class), realized and unrealized gains and losses on investments of the Fund are allocated to each class of shares based upon relative net assets on the date income is earned or expenses and realized and unrealized gains and losses are incurred.

Securities Lending

To generate additional income, the Fund may lend up to 33 1/3% of its assets pursuant to agreements requiring that the loan be continuously secured by any combination of cash, U.S. government or U.S. government agency securities, equal initially to at least 102% of the fair value plus accrued interest on the securities loaned (105% for foreign securities). The borrower of securities is at all times required to post collateral to the Fund in an amount equal to 100% of the fair value of the securities loaned based on the previous day’s fair value of the securities loaned, marked-to-market daily. Any collateral shortfalls are adjusted the next business day. The Fund bears all of the gains and losses on such investments. The Fund receives payments from borrowers equivalent to the dividends and interest that would have been earned on securities lent while simultaneously seeking to earn income on the investment of cash collateral received. In extremely low interest rate environments, the broker rebate fee may exceed the interest earned or the cash collateral which would result in a loss to the Fund. The investment of cash collateral deposited by the borrower is subject to inherent market risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks that are present in the market, and as such, the value of these investments may not be sufficient, when liquidated, to repay the borrower when the loaned security is returned. There may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. However, loans will be made only to borrowers, such as broker-dealers, banks or institutional borrowers of securities, deemed by the Manager to be of good standing and credit worthy and when in its judgment, the consideration which can be earned currently from such securities loans justifies the attendant risks. Loans are subject to termination by the Trust or the borrower at any time, and are, therefore, not considered to be illiquid investments. Securities on loan at December 31, 2019 are presented on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

Cash collateral received in connection with securities lending is invested on behalf of the Fund in the BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, a money market fund which invests in short-term investments that have a remaining maturity of 397 days or less in accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. The Fund pays the Securities Lending Agent 9% of the gross revenues received from securities lending activities and keeps 91%. The Fund paid securities lending fees of $42,119 during the year ended December 31, 2019. These fees have been netted against “Income from securities lending” on the Statement of Operations. The Fund had securities lending transactions of $7,283,334 accounted for as secured borrowings with cash collateral of overnight and continuous maturities as of December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019, there were no master netting provisions in the securities lending agreement.

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not engage in any Rule 17a-7 transactions under the Rule.

Derivative Instruments

All open derivative positions at period end are reflected on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments. The following is a description of the derivative instruments utilized by the Fund, including the primary underlying risk exposures related to each instrument type.

Futures Contracts

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund used futures contracts to provide market exposure on the Fund’s cash balances. Futures contracts are valued based upon their quoted daily settlement prices. Upon entering into a futures contract, the Fund is required to segregate liquid assets in accordance with the initial margin requirements of the broker or exchange. Futures contracts are marked to market daily and a payable or receivable for the change in value (“variation margin”) is recorded by the Fund. Gains or losses are recognized but not considered realized until the contracts expire or are closed. Futures contracts involve, to varying degrees, elements of market risk (generally equity price risk related to stock futures, interest rate risk related to bond futures, and foreign currency risk related to currency futures) and exposure to loss in excess of the variation margin disclosed in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are the imperfect correlation between the change in fair value of the underlying securities and the prices of futures contracts, the possibility of an illiquid market, and the inability of the counterparty to meet the terms of the contract. The monthly average notional amount for long contracts was $20.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Realized gains and losses are reported as “Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts” on the Statement of Operations.

Summary of Derivative Instruments

The following is a summary of the fair values of derivative instruments on the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities, categorized by risk exposure, as of December 31, 2019:

 

   

Asset Derivatives

   

Liability Derivatives

 
Primary Risk Exposure   Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
    Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
 

Equity Risk

     
Equity Contracts   Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $     Payable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $ 192,820  

 

*

For futures contracts, the amounts represent the cumulative appreciation/depreciation of these futures contracts as reported in the Schedule of Portfolio Investments. Only the current day’s variation margin is reported within the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as Variation margin on futures contracts.

 

19


AZL International Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

The following is a summary of the effect of derivative instruments on the Statement of Operations, categorized by risk exposure, for the year ended December 31, 2019:

 

Primary Risk Exposure   Location of Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
   Realized Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
     Change in Net Unrealized
Appreciation/Depreciation on
Derivatives Recognized
 

Equity Risk

     
Equity Contracts  

Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts/Change in net unrealized

appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts

   $ 2,836,424      $ 21,937  

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to a subadvisory agreement with BlackRock Investment Management, LLC (“BlackRock Investment”), BlackRock Investment provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate      Annual Expense Limit

AZL International Index Fund Class 1

         0.35 %          0.52 %

AZL International Index Fund Class 2

 

         0.35 %          0.77 %

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations. During the year ended December 31, 2019, there were no voluntary waivers.

At December 31, 2019, the following investments are noted as Affiliated Securities in the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

      Fair Value
12/31/2018
   Purchases
at Cost
   Proceeds from
Sales
   Net
Realized
Gain(Loss)
   Net Change in
Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation
   Fair Value
12/31/2019
   Shares as of
12/31/2019
   Dividend
Income

Allianz SE, Registered Shares

     $ 10,402,532      $ 186,844      $ (1,188,795 )      $ 391,652      $ 1,854,040      $ 11,646,273        47,499      $ 513,853
    

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

 
     $ 10,402,532      $ 186,844      $ (1,188,795 )      $ 391,652      $ 1,854,040      $ 11,646,273        47,499      $ 513,853
    

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

 

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

 

20


AZL International Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the average daily net assets attributable of Class 2 shares, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $12,298 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. The independent third party pricing service may also use systematic valuations models or provide evaluated bid or mean prices. These valuations are considered as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Futures contracts are valued at the last sales price as of the close of the primary exchange and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy.

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total
                             

Common Stocks+

       $ 9,887,336        $ 1,644,420,800        $ 108        $ 1,654,308,244

Preferred Stocks

                  7,874,374                   7,874,374

Rights

                  89,031                   89,031

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

         7,283,334                            7,283,334
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

         17,170,670          1,652,384,205          108          1,669,554,983
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Other Financial Instruments:*

                           

Futures Contracts

         (192,820 )                            (192,820 )
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $ 16,977,850        $ 1,652,384,205        $ 108        $ 1,669,362,163
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

*

Other Financial Instruments would include any derivative instruments, such as futures contracts. These investments are generally presented in the financial statements at variation margin.

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL International Index Fund

       $ 61,631,835        $ 169,216,884

 

21


AZL International Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

6. Investment Risks

Derivatives Risk: The Fund may invest in derivatives as a principal strategy. A derivative is a financial contract whose value depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or risk. Use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Derivatives are subject to a number of other risks, such as liquidity risk, interest rate risk, market risk, credit risk, and selection risk. Derivatives also involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate, or index. Using derivatives may result in losses, possibly in excess of the principal amount invested. Also, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances. The counterparty to a derivatives contract could default. As required by applicable law, a Fund that invests in derivatives segregates cash or liquid securities, or both, to the extent that its obligations under the instrument are not covered through ownership of the underlying security, financial instrument, or currency.

Emerging Markets Risk: Emerging markets may have less developed trading markets and exchanges which may make it more difficult to sell securities at an acceptable price and their prices may be more volatile than securities of companies in more developed markets. Settlements of trades may be subject to greater delays so that the Fund may not receive the proceeds of a sale of a security on a timely basis. Emerging countries may also have less developed legal and accounting systems and investments may be subject to greater risks of government restrictions, nationalization, or confiscation.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Investments in securities of foreign issuers carry certain risks not ordinarily associated with investments in securities of domestic issuers. Such risks include future political and economic developments, and the possible imposition of exchange controls or other foreign governmental laws and restrictions. In addition, with respect to certain countries, there is the possibility of expropriation of assets, confiscatory taxation, political or social instability or diplomatic developments which could adversely affect investments in those securities.

7. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $1,311,386,440. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 413,829,267  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (55,660,724
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 358,168,543  
 

 

 

 

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL International Index Fund

       $ 39,883,140        $ 10,099,191        $ 49,982,331

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL International Index Fund

       $ 53,411,357        $ 19,797,956        $ 73,209,313

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
     Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
     Total
Accumulated
Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL International Index Fund

       $ 49,683,624        $ 1,147,318        $        $ 358,448,627        $ 409,279,569

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales, mark-to-market of passive foreign investment companies and mark-to-market of futures contracts and other miscellaneous differences.

 

22


AZL International Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

8. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had multiple shareholder accounts which are affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 60% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

9. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

23


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL International Index Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL International Index Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

24


Other Federal Income Tax Information (Unaudited)

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net long-term capital gain distributions of $10,099,191.

 

25


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

26


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for

 

27


the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

 

28


The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

29


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

30


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

31


 

LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.   
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL® MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 12

Statement of Operations

Page 12

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 13

Financial Highlights

Page 14

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 15

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 23

Other Information

Page 24

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 25

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 28

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® MetWest Total Return Bond Fund (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® MetWest Total Return Bond Fund and Metropolitan West Asset Management, LLC serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® MetWest Total Return Bond Fund (the “Fund”) returned 8.49%. That compared to a 8.72% total return for its benchmark, the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index1 (“Index”).

Interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve drove strong gains among fixed income securities in 2019. Falling rates on U.S. Treasury securities generated rising demand for investment-grade and high-yield corporate bonds, as investors sought greater returns from relatively riskier securities. Securitized debt products, such as non-agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS), collateralized mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities, also performed well in the period’s risk-on environment.

The Fund held underweight positions in investment-grade credit securities and securities from non-U.S. markets, both of which detracted from returns relative to the Index. An overweight position in student loans also detracted slightly from relative returns, as the sector’s performance trailed that of broader fixed income markets.*

 

In contrast, security selection in corporate credit drove significant returns during the period, particularly among the Fund’s higher-conviction allocations among consumer non-cyclicals, communications, capital goods and autos. In addition, an overweight position in non-agency MBS also benefited relative performance during the period.*

The Fund held derivatives in the form of futures and currency swaps during the 12-month period. Neither of these holdings materially affected performance.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

*

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

 

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmark please refer to page 2 of this report.

 
 

 

1


AZL® MetWest Total Return Bond Fund (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

The Fund’s investment objective is to maximize long-term total return. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets in investment-grade fixed income securities or unrated securities that are determined by the Subadvisor to be of similar quality.

Investment Concerns

Bonds offer a relatively stable level of income, although bond prices will fluctuate, providing the potential for principal gain or loss. Intermediate-term, higher-quality bonds generally offer less risk than longer-term bonds and a lower rate of return.

Emerging market investing may be subject to additional economic, political, liquidity, and currency risks not associated with more developed countries.

International investing may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuations in currency values, from differences in generally accepted accounting principles or from economic or political instability in other nations.

Mortgage-backed investments involve risk of loss due to prepayments and, like any bond, due to default. Because of the sensitivity of mortgage-related securities to changes in interest rates, the Fund’s performance may be more volatile than if it did not hold these securities.

High-yield bonds have a higher risk of default or other adverse credit events, but have the potential to pay higher earnings over investment-grade bonds. The higher risk of default, or the inability of the creditor to repay its debt, is the primary reason for the higher interest rates on high-yield bonds.

Debt securities held by the Fund may decline in value due to rising interest rates.

Investing in derivatives instruments involves risks that may be different from or greater than the risk associated with investing directly in securities or other traditional instruments.

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmark and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

     1
Year
    3
Year
    5
Year
    Since
Inception
(11/17/14)
 

AZL® MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

     8.49     3.74     2.65     2.73

Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index

     8.72     4.03     3.05     3.13

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratio

   Gross  

AZL® MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

     0.91

The above expense ratio is based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.50% on all assets. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense), to 0.91% through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratio can be found in the Financial Highlights.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, which is an unmanaged market value-weighted performance benchmark for investment-grade fixed-rate debt issues, including government, corporate, asset-backed, and mortgage-backed securities, with maturities of at least one year. The index does not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The Fund’s performance reflects the deduction of fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

2


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,024.30     $ 4.08       0.80 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,021.17     $ 4.08       0.80 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

U.S. Government Agency Mortgages

      32.9 %

U.S. Treasury Obligations

      29.4

Corporate Bonds

      17.2

Collateralized Mortgage Obligations

      9.2

Asset Backed Securities

      5.3

Yankee Dollars

      4.2

Foreign Bonds

      1.5

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

      1.2

Municipal Bonds

      0.5

Commercial Paper

      0.3

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

      0.1
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      101.8

Net other assets (liabilities)

      (1.8 )
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

3


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Asset Backed Securities (5.3%):       
$ 1,487,057      Ajax Mortgage Loan Trust, Class A1, Series 2019-F, 2.86%, 7/25/59, Callable 11/25/22 @ 100(a)(b)    $ 1,482,998  
  551,951      Navient Student Loan Trust, Class A, Series 2014-2, 2.43%(US0001M+64bps), 3/25/83, Callable 8/25/33 @ 100      537,137  
  950,000      Navient Student Loan Trust, Class A3, Series 2017-3A, 2.84%(US0001M+105bps), 7/26/66, Callable 6/25/34 @ 100(a)      947,951  
  965,000      Navient Student Loan Trust, Class A3, Series 2016-2, 3.29%(US0001M+150bps), 6/25/65, Callable 8/25/31 @ 100(a)      987,612  
  796,146      Nelnet Student Loan Trust, Class A, Series 2019-4A, 2.66%(US0001M+87bps), 9/26/67, Callable 7/25/32 @ 100(a)      794,948  
  996,479      SLC Student Loan Trust, Class 2A3, Series 2008-1, 3.49%(US0003M+160bps), 12/15/32, Callable 12/15/27 @ 100      1,016,661  
  2,615,000      SLC Student Loan Trust, Class 2A3, Series 2006-1, 2.05%(US0003M+16bps), 3/15/55, Callable 9/15/30 @ 100      2,449,205  
  399,480      SLM Student Loan Trust, Class A, Series 2008-9, 3.44%(US0003M+150bps), 4/25/23, Callable 4/25/22 @ 100      400,393  
  618,357      SLM Student Loan Trust, Class 2A3, Series 2003-7, 2.46%(US0003M+57bps), 9/15/39, Callable 12/15/28 @ 100      585,621  
  940,000      SLM Student Loan Trust, Class A6A, Series 2004-3A, 2.49%(US0003M+55bps), 10/25/64, Callable 4/25/29 @ 100(a)      927,814  
  691,448      SLM Student Loan Trust, Class A3, Series 2012-1, 2.74%(US0001M+95bps), 9/25/28, Callable 5/25/27 @ 100      683,565  
  1,220,000      SLM Student Loan Trust, Class 2A3, Series 2008-5, 3.79%(US0003M+185bps), 7/25/73, Callable 4/25/22 @ 100      1,197,012  
  240,000      SLM Student Loan Trust, Class 2A3, Series 2008-9, 4.19%(US0003M+225bps), 10/25/83, Callable 4/25/22 @ 100      241,855  
  1,233,162      SLM Student Loan Trust, Class A, Series 2009-3, 2.54%(US0001M+75bps), 1/25/45, Callable 2/25/34 @ 100(a)      1,210,730  
  1,045,046      SLM Student Loan Trust, Class A4, Series 2008-6, 3.04%(US0003M+110bps), 7/25/23, Callable 1/25/24 @ 100      1,040,439  
  684,400      SLM Student Loan Trust, Class A4, Series 2007-7, 2.27%(US0003M+33bps), 1/25/22, Callable 1/25/23 @ 100      664,821  
  1,831,722      Wachovia Student Loan Trust, Class 2A3, Series 2006-1, 2.11%(US0003M+17bps), 4/25/40, Callable 1/25/26 @ 100(a)      1,757,156  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Asset Backed Securities (Cost $16,916,037)

     16,925,918  
  

 

 

 
Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (9.2%):       
  850,000      AIMCO CLO, Class AR, Series 2015-AA, 2.85%(US0003M+85bps), 1/15/28, Callable 1/15/20 @ 100(a)      849,993  
  1,457,686      Alternative Loan Trust, Class 4A1, Series 2005-56, 2.10%(US0001M+31bps), 11/25/35, Callable 1/25/20 @ 100      1,363,285  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Collateralized Mortgage Obligations, continued       
$ 936,416      America Home Mortgage Investment Trust, Class 6A, Series 2005-1, 3.89%(US0006M+200bps), 6/25/45, Callable 1/25/20 @ 100    $ 954,091  
  23,958      Ameriquest Mortgage Securities, Inc., Class M2, Series 2005-R5, 2.48%(US0001M+46bps), 7/25/35, Callable 1/25/20 @ 100      23,961  
  515,000      Bank of America Merrill Lynch Large Loan, Inc., Class A, Series 2018-PARK, 4.09%, 8/10/38(a)(b)      566,830  
  381,012      Bank of America Mortgage Securities, Inc., Class 2A3, Series 2005-F, 4.34%, 7/25/35, Callable 1/25/20 @ 100(b)      379,805  
  340,000      Barclays Commercial Mortgages Securities, Class A2, Series 2013-TYSNC, 3.76%, 9/5/32(a)      342,370  
  155,000      BX Trust, Class A, Series 2019-OC11, 3.20%, 12/9/41(a)      158,905  
  355,000      CALI Mortgage Trust, Class A, Series 2019-101C, 3.96%, 3/10/39(a)      387,085  
  938,008      Citigroup Mortgage Loan Trust, Inc., Class 1A1A, Series 2007-AR5, 4.44%, 4/25/37, Callable 11/25/24 @ 100(b)      960,343  
  500,000      Cityline Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A, Series 2016-CLNE, 2.78%, 11/10/31(a)(b)      509,250  
  390,000      Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A, Series 2014-277P, 3.61%, 8/10/49(a)(b)      411,618  
  360,000      Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A1, Series 2013-300P, 4.35%, 8/10/30(a)      384,397  
  365,000      Commercial Mortgage Trust, Class A, Series 2016-787S, 3.55%, 2/10/36(a)(b)      384,400  
  300,000      CPT Mortgage Trust, Class A, Series 2019-CPT, 2.87%, 11/13/39(a)      301,113  
  958,810      Credit Suisse Mortgage Capital Certificates, Class A2E, Series 2007-CB2, 3.96%, 2/25/37, Callable 2/25/23 @ 100(b)      744,007  
  325,000      DC Office Trust, Class A, Series 2019-MTC, 2.97%, 9/15/45(a)      329,348  
  353,327      First Franklin Mortgage Loan Trust, Class M1, Series 2005-FF8, 2.53%(US0001M+49bps), 9/25/35, Callable 1/25/20 @ 100      350,332  
  897,552      First Horizon Alternative Mortgage Securities Trust, Class 1A1, Series 2006-AA1, 4.13%, 3/25/36, Callable 1/25/20 @ 100(b)      792,749  
  763,233      First Horizon Alternative Mortgage Securities Trust, Class 2A1, Series 2006-AA1, 3.91%, 4/25/36, Callable 1/25/20 @ 100(b)      712,396  
  689,986      First Horizon Alternative Mortgage Securities Trust, Class 2A1, Series 2005-AA12, 3.88%, 2/25/36, Callable 1/25/20 @ 100(b)      602,410  
  389,769      First Horizon Alternative Mortgage Securities Trust, Class 2A1, Series 2005-AR3, 4.66%, 8/25/35, Callable 1/25/20 @ 100(b)      325,308  
  761,772      GMAC Mortgage Corp. Loan Trust, Class 1A1, Series 2006-AR1, 4.16%, 4/19/36, Callable 1/19/20 @ 100(b)      707,335  
  611,777      GMAC Mortgage Corp. Loan Trust, Class 3A1, Series 2005-AR5, 3.98%, 9/19/35, Callable 1/19/20 @ 100(b)      577,832  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Collateralized Mortgage Obligations, continued       
$ 850,000      GoldenTree Loan Opportunities IX, Ltd., Class AR2, Series 2014-9A, 3.04%(US0003M+111bps), 10/29/29, Callable 10/29/20 @ 100(a)    $ 847,776  
  1,438,986      GreenPoint Mortgage Funding Trust, Class A1A, Series 2006-AR1, 2.37%(US0001M+58bps), 2/25/36, Callable 1/25/20 @ 100      1,391,399  
  147,500      GS Mortgage Securities Trust, Class A, Series 2012-ALOH, 3.55%, 4/10/34(a)      151,817  
  1,531,580      HarborView Mortgage Loan Trust, Class 1A1A, Series 2006-10, 1.96%(US0001M+20bps), 11/19/36, Callable 11/19/22 @ 100      1,330,333  
  325,000      Hudson Yards Mortgage Trust, Class A, Series 2019-55HY, 3.04%, 12/10/41(a)      330,161  
  330,000      Hudson Yards Mortgage Trust, Class A, Series 2019-30HY, 3.23%, 6/10/37(a)      339,943  
  325,000      J.P. Morgan Chase Commercial Mortgage Securities Trust, Class A, Series 2019-OSB, 3.40%, 6/5/39(a)      340,009  
  820,000      LCM LP, Class ARR, Series 13A, 3.11%(US0003M+114bps), 7/19/27, Callable 7/19/20 @ 100(a)      818,094  
  860,363      Merrill Lynch First Franklin Mortgage Loan Trust, Class 2A2, Series 2007-4, 1.91%(US0001M+12bps), 7/25/37, Callable 6/25/22 @ 100      558,794  
  529,925      Morgan Stanley Resecuritization Trust, Class 3A, Series 2014-R8, 2.74%(12MTA+75bps), 6/26/47(a)      522,389  
  475,698      MortgageIT Trust, Class 2A3, Series 2005-2, 3.36%(US0001M+165bps), 5/25/35, Callable 1/25/20 @ 100      464,680  
  470,465      Nomura Asset Acceptance Corp., Class 3A1, Series 2005-AR3, 5.69%, 7/25/35, Callable 1/25/20 @ 100(b)      464,804  
  768,278      Nomura Resecuritization Trust, Class 2A3, Series 2014-7R, 1.91%(US0001M+20bps), 12/26/35(a)      765,163  
  210,000      Octagon Investment Partners 25, Class AR, Series 2015-1A, 2.77%(US0003M+80bps), 10/20/26, Callable 1/20/20 @ 100(a)      209,751  
  415,000      One Bryant Park Trust, Class A, Series 2019-OBP, 2.52%, 9/13/49(a)      402,861  
  385,000      RBSCF Trust, Class A, Series 2013-GSP, 3.83%, 1/13/32(a)(b)      404,158  
  696,672      Recette Clo, Ltd., Class AR, Series 2015-1A, 2.89%(US0003M+92bps), 10/20/27, Callable 1/20/20 @ 100(a)      696,460  
  1,346,678      Residential Accredit Loans, Inc., Class A2, Series 2006-QA10, 1.97%(US0001M+18bps), 12/25/36, Callable 3/25/26 @ 100      1,210,865  
  1,499,095      Structured Asset Mortgage Investments II Trust, Class 3A1, Series 2006-AR1, 2.02%(US0001M+23bps), 2/25/36, Callable 1/25/20 @ 100      1,321,202  
  550,000      TCI-Flatiron CLO, Ltd., Class AR, Series 2016-1, 3.22%(US0003M+122bps), 7/17/28, Callable 4/17/20 @ 100(a)      549,012  
  821,778      WaMu Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Class 2A1A, Series 2005-AR8, 2.37%(US0001M+29bps), 7/25/45, Callable 1/25/20 @ 100      822,665  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Collateralized Mortgage Obligations, continued       
$ 631,373      WaMu Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Class A2, Series 2005-AR3, 4.42%, 3/25/35, Callable 1/25/20 @ 100(b)    $ 622,872  
  296,476      WaMu Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Class A1A, Series 2004-AR10, 2.23%(US0001M+44bps), 7/25/44, Callable 1/25/20 @ 100      294,030  
  687,410      WaMu Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Class 2A1A, Series 2005-AR6, 2.25%(US0001M+23bps), 4/25/45, Callable 1/25/20 @ 100      680,597  
  526,303      Wells Fargo Mortgage Backed Securities Trust, Class 1A1, Series 2006-AR12, 4.72%, 9/25/36, Callable 1/25/20 @ 100(b)      519,942  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (Cost $28,718,622)

     29,178,940  
  

 

 

 
Corporate Bonds (17.2%):       
Airlines (0.3%):       
  110,980      U.S. Airways Group, Inc., Series 2001-1G PTT, 7.08%, 9/20/22      115,468  
  631,746      U.S. Airways Group, Inc., Series 2010-1A, 6.25%, 10/22/24      687,483  
     

 

 

 
        802,951  
     

 

 

 
Banks (0.9%):       
  910,000      Bank of America Corp., 2.74%(US0003M+37bps), 1/23/22, Callable 1/23/21 @ 100      916,679  
  165,000      Bank of America Corp., 3.00%(US0003M+79bps), 12/20/23, Callable 12/20/22 @ 100      168,686  
  730,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., 4.02%(US0003M+100bps), 12/5/24, Callable 12/5/23 @ 100      778,116  
  265,000      Wells Fargo & Co., 2.41%(US0003M+83bps), 10/30/25, Callable 10/30/24 @ 100, MTN      264,338  
  410,000      Wells Fargo & Co., 3.00%, 4/22/26      421,978  
  165,000      Wells Fargo Bank NA, 2.08%(US0003M+65bps), 9/9/22, Callable 9/9/21 @ 100      165,069  
     

 

 

 
        2,714,866  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (0.1%):       
  320,000      Anheuser-Busch Cos LLC/Anheuser-Busch InBev Worldwide, Inc., 4.90%, 2/1/46, Callable 8/1/45 @ 100      379,590  
     

 

 

 
Biotechnology (0.4%):       
  300,000      AbbVie, Inc., 4.45%, 5/14/46, Callable 11/14/45 @ 100      323,528  
  150,000      AbbVie, Inc., 4.88%, 11/14/48, Callable 5/14/48 @ 100      172,547  
  665,000      AbbVie, Inc., 4.25%, 11/21/49, Callable 5/21/49 @ 100(a)      701,458  
     

 

 

 
        1,197,533  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (0.5%):       
  950,000      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 3.27%(US0003M+120bps), 9/29/25, Callable 9/29/24 @ 100      980,417  
  255,000      Raymond James Financial, 4.95%, 7/15/46      302,771  
  250,000      SL Green Operating Partnership LP, 3.25%, 10/15/22, Callable 9/15/22 @ 100      255,667  
     

 

 

 
        1,538,855  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Chemicals (0.2%):       
$ 475,000      International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc., 5.00%, 9/26/48, Callable 3/26/48 @ 100    $ 532,756  
     

 

 

 
Commercial Services & Supplies (0.1%):       
  267,000      Clean Harbors, Inc., 5.13%, 7/15/29, Callable 7/15/24 @ 102.56(a)      286,024  
  100,000      Matthews International Corp., 5.25%, 12/1/25, Callable 12/1/20 @ 103.94(a)      100,000  
     

 

 

 
        386,024  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (1.3%):       
  200,000      Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, 8.13%, 1/15/20      200,379  
  310,000      Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, 2.43%, 6/12/20      309,617  
  650,000      Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, 3.20%, 1/15/21      652,228  
  295,000      Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, 5.88%, 8/2/21      308,466  
  255,000      Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, 3.81%, 10/12/21      259,269  
  150,000      Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, 2.88%(US0003M+88bps), 10/12/21      148,516  
  1,246,000      Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, 5.60%, 1/7/22      1,311,372  
  455,000      Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC, 3.34%, 3/28/22, Callable 2/28/22 @ 100      458,711  
  465,000      General Motors Financial Co, Inc., 4.20%, 11/6/21      480,843  
     

 

 

 
        4,129,401  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (0.3%):       
  200,000      Ball Corp., 4.00%, 11/15/23      210,250  
  70,000      Berry Global Escrow Corp., 4.88%, 7/15/26, Callable 7/15/22 @ 102.44(a)      74,298  
  110,000      Graphic Packaging International LLC, 4.75%, 7/15/27, Callable 4/15/27 @ 100(a)      118,250  
  494,245      Reynolds Group Issuer, Inc., 5.75%, 10/15/20, Callable 2/10/20 @ 100      494,245  
     

 

 

 
        897,043  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (0.2%):       
  600,000      Amcor Finance USA, Inc., 3.63%, 4/28/26, Callable 1/28/26 @ 100(a)      618,526  
  35,000      Level 3 Financing, Inc., 5.38%, 1/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.34      35,525  
  66,000      Level 3 Financing, Inc., 4.63%, 9/15/27, Callable 9/15/22 @ 102.31(a)      67,568  
     

 

 

 
        721,619  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (0.8%):       
  375,000      AT&T, Inc., 3.07%(US0003M+118bps), 6/12/24      381,129  
  700,000      AT&T, Inc., 4.30%, 2/15/30, Callable 11/15/29 @ 100      778,476  
  255,000      AT&T, Inc., 4.30%, 12/15/42, Callable 6/15/42 @ 100      272,996  
  390,000      AT&T, Inc., 4.80%, 6/15/44, Callable 12/15/43 @ 100      443,846  
  500,000      AT&T, Inc., 5.15%, 11/15/46, Callable 5/15/46 @ 100      596,244  
  175,000      Qwest Corp., 7.25%, 9/15/25      200,794  
     

 

 

 
        2,673,485  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (1.9%):       
  280,000      American Transmission Systems, Inc., 5.00%, 9/1/44, Callable 3/1/44 @ 100(a)      349,541  
  500,000      Appalachian Power Co., Series H, 5.95%, 5/15/33      631,674  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Electric Utilities, continued       
$ 400,000      Cleco Power LLC, 6.00%, 12/1/40    $ 504,896  
  1,000,000      Duke Energy Progress, Inc., 4.15%, 12/1/44, Callable 6/1/44 @ 100      1,122,227  
  936,000      Duquesne Light Holdings, Inc., 6.40%, 9/15/20(a)      961,703  
  750,000      Jersey Central Power & Light Co., 6.40%, 5/15/36      961,758  
  1,250,000      NextEra Energy Capital Holdings, Inc., 2.46%(US0003M+55bps), 8/28/21, Callable 2/10/20 @ 100      1,247,733  
  700,000      Public Service Oklahoma, 4.40%, 2/1/21      716,211  
     

 

 

 
        6,495,743  
     

 

 

 
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (1.4%):       
  590,000      American Campus Communities Operating Partnership LP, 3.63%, 11/15/27, Callable 8/15/27 @ 100      613,954  
  205,000      GLP Capital LP, 5.25%, 6/1/25, Callable 3/1/25 @ 100      223,597  
  105,000      GLP Capital LP, 5.75%, 6/1/28, Callable 3/3/28 @ 100      118,726  
  290,000      GLP Capital LP, 5.30%, 1/15/29, Callable 10/15/28 @ 100      323,313  
  245,000      GLP Capital LP, 4.00%, 1/15/30, Callable 10/15/29 @ 100      249,602  
  440,000      GLP Capital LP/GLP Financing II, Inc., 5.38%, 4/15/26, Callable 1/15/26 @ 100      481,229  
  411,000      HCP, Inc., 4.25%, 11/15/23, Callable 8/15/23 @ 100      438,680  
  265,000      HCP, Inc., 3.88%, 8/15/24, Callable 5/17/24 @ 100      281,653  
  100,000      MGM Growth/MGM Finance, 5.63%, 5/1/24, Callable 2/1/24 @ 100      109,125  
  112,000      SBA Communications Corp., 4.88%, 9/1/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.66      116,480  
  1,440,000      Welltower, Inc., 3.75%, 3/15/23, Callable 12/15/22 @ 100      1,499,294  
     

 

 

 
        4,455,653  
     

 

 

 
Food & Staples Retailing (0.5%):       
  322,000      Rite Aid Corp., 6.13%, 4/1/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.06(a)      295,435  
  190,000      The Kroger Co., 5.40%, 1/15/49, Callable 7/15/48 @ 100      231,083  
  790,000      Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., 3.80%, 11/18/24, Callable 8/18/24 @ 100      822,339  
  300,000      Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., 4.80%, 11/18/44, Callable 5/18/44 @ 100      305,748  
     

 

 

 
        1,654,605  
     

 

 

 
Food Products (0.6%):       
  415,000      Kraft Heinz Foods Co., 5.20%, 7/15/45, Callable 1/15/45 @ 100      448,827  
  375,000      Kraft Heinz Foods Co., 4.38%, 6/1/46, Callable 12/1/45 @ 100      369,813  
  820,000      Kraft Heinz Foods Co., 4.88%, 10/1/49, Callable 4/1/49 @ 100(a)      855,433  
  199,000      Post Holdings, Inc., 5.50%, 12/15/29, Callable 12/15/24 @ 102.75(a)      212,184  
     

 

 

 
        1,886,257  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (0.3%):       
$ 360,000      Becton Dickinson & Co., 2.40%, 6/5/20    $ 360,325  
  375,000      Becton Dickinson & Co., 2.84%(US0003M+88bps), 12/29/20, Callable 2/10/20 @ 100      375,434  
  92,000      Teleflex, Inc., 4.63%, 11/15/27, Callable 11/15/22 @ 102.31      97,520  
     

 

 

 
        833,279  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (1.9%):       
  200,000      Aetna, Inc., 3.50%, 11/15/24, Callable 8/15/24 @ 100      208,951  
  500,000      Anthem, Inc., 3.50%, 8/15/24, Callable 5/15/24 @ 100      523,858  
  1,300,000      Cigna Corp., 4.13%, 11/15/25, Callable 9/15/25 @ 100      1,407,505  
  500,000      Cigna Corp., 3.05%, 10/15/27, Callable 7/15/27 @ 100(a)      502,478  
  50,000      Community Health Systems, Inc., 8.63%, 1/15/24, Callable 1/15/21 @ 104.31(a)      52,875  
  69,000      Community Health Systems, Inc., 8.00%, 3/15/26, Callable 3/15/22 @ 104(a)      71,588  
  1,250,000      CVS Health Corp., 5.05%, 3/25/48, Callable 9/25/47 @ 100      1,480,994  
  164,000      Encompass Health Corp., 4.75%, 2/1/30, Callable 2/1/25 @ 102.38      170,150  
  93,000      HCA, Inc., 5.25%, 4/15/25      103,928  
  160,000      HCA, Inc., 5.88%, 2/1/29, Callable 8/1/28 @ 100      184,800  
  320,000      HCA, Inc., 5.13%, 6/15/39, Callable 12/15/38 @ 100      354,400  
  145,000      HCA, Inc., 5.25%, 6/15/49, Callable 12/15/48 @ 100      163,125  
  75,000      Humana, Inc., 4.95%, 10/1/44, Callable 4/1/44 @ 100      88,782  
  300,000      Humana, Inc., 3.95%, 8/15/49, Callable 2/15/49 @ 100      315,567  
  170,000      Molina Healthcare, Inc., 5.38%, 11/15/22, Callable 8/15/22 @ 100      181,050  
  156,000      Tenet Healthcare Corp., 4.63%, 7/15/24, Callable 7/15/20 @ 102.31      160,290  
  30,000      Tenet Healthcare Corp., 5.13%, 11/1/27, Callable 11/1/22 @ 102.56(a)      31,575  
     

 

 

 
        6,001,916  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (0.1%):       
  137,000      Churchill Downs, Inc., 5.50%, 4/1/27, Callable 4/1/22 @ 102.75(a)      144,878  
  100,000      Churchill Downs, Inc., 4.75%, 1/15/28, Callable 1/15/23 @ 102.38(a)      103,250  
     

 

 

 
        248,128  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (0.1%):       
  200,000      Spectrum Brands, Inc., 5.75%, 7/15/25, Callable 7/15/20 @ 102.88      209,000  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (0.6%):       
  735,000      General Electric Capital Corp., 5.50%, 1/8/20, MTN      735,348  
  150,000      General Electric Capital Corp., 4.65%, 10/17/21      156,284  
  190,000      General Electric Capital Corp., Series A, 6.75%, 3/15/32, MTN      243,595  
  273,000      General Electric Capital Corp., 5.88%, 1/14/38, MTN      329,447  
  300,000      General Electric Co., 4.63%, 1/7/21, MTN      306,859  
  150,000      General Electric Co., 4.13%, 10/9/42      155,483  
     

 

 

 
        1,927,016  
     

 

 

 
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Insurance (0.5%):       
$ 900,000      Farmers Exchange Capital III, 5.45%(US0003M+345bps), 10/15/54, Callable 10/15/34 @ 100(a)    $ 1,016,540  
  670,000      Farmers Insurance Exchange, 4.75%(US0003M+323bps), 11/1/57, Callable 11/1/37 @ 100(a)      679,647  
     

 

 

 
        1,696,187  
     

 

 

 
Life Sciences Tools & Services (0.1%):       
  200,000      IQVIA, Inc., 5.00%, 5/15/27, Callable 5/15/22 @ 102.5(a)      211,500  
     

 

 

 
Media (0.3%):       
  125,000      CCO Holdings LLC, 5.38%, 6/1/29, Callable 6/1/24 @ 102.69(a)      133,438  
  250,000      Charter Communications Operating LLC, 6.48%, 10/23/45, Callable 4/23/45 @ 100      312,054  
  200,000      CSC Holdings LLC, 5.50%, 5/15/26, Callable 5/15/21 @ 102.75(a)      211,500  
  290,000      Time Warner Cable, Inc., 5.88%, 11/15/40, Callable 5/15/40 @ 100      332,662  
     

 

 

 
        989,654  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (1.4%):       
  146,000      Antero Resources Corp., 5.13%, 12/1/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.28      130,670  
  40,000      Antero Resources Corp., 5.63%, 6/1/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.81      32,100  
  304,000      Antero Resources Corp., 5.00%, 3/1/25, Callable 3/1/20 @ 103.75      229,520  
  35,000      Endeavor Energy Resources LP, 5.75%, 1/30/28, Callable 1/30/23 @ 102.88(a)      36,750  
  500,000      Energy Transfer Operating LP, 5.88%, 1/15/24, Callable 10/15/23 @ 100      553,534  
  210,000      Energy Transfer Operating LP, 5.50%, 6/1/27, Callable 3/1/27 @ 100      235,998  
  700,000      Energy Transfer Partners LP, 5.95%, 10/1/43, Callable 4/1/43 @ 100      776,751  
  160,000      EQT Corp., 3.90%, 10/1/27, Callable 7/1/27 @ 100^      148,836  
  400,000      Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, 5.80%, 3/15/35      474,082  
  60,000      Matador Resources Co., 5.88%, 9/15/26, Callable 9/15/21 @ 104.41      60,300  
  200,000      Occidental Petroleum Corp., 4.50%, 7/15/44, Callable 1/15/44 @ 100      200,214  
  70,000      Parsley Energy LLC, 5.38%, 1/15/25, Callable 2/10/20 @ 104.03(a)      71,925  
  150,000      Plains All American Pipeline LP, 4.65%, 10/15/25, Callable 7/15/25 @ 100      160,522  
  154,000      Range Resources Corp., 4.88%, 5/15/25, Callable 2/15/25 @ 100^      132,825  
  200,000      Rockies Express Pipeline LLC, 5.63%, 4/15/20(a)      201,500  
  250,000      Rockies Express Pipeline LLC, 4.95%, 7/15/29, Callable 4/15/29 @ 100(a)      249,375  
  60,000      Targa Resources Partners LP/Targa Resources Partners Finance Corp., 6.88%, 1/15/29, Callable 1/15/24 @ 103.44(a)      66,450  
  600,000      TC PipeLines LP, 3.90%, 5/25/27, Callable 2/25/27 @ 100      626,557  
  350,000      Williams Partners LP, 6.30%, 4/15/40      434,425  
     

 

 

 
        4,822,334  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Pharmaceuticals (0.8%):       
$ 64,000      Bausch Health Cos., Inc., 5.75%, 8/15/27, Callable 8/15/22 @ 102.88(a)    $ 69,520  
  830,000      Bayer US Finance II LLC, 4.38%, 12/15/28, Callable 9/15/28 @ 100(a)      905,377  
  410,000      Bayer US Finance II LLC, 4.63%, 6/25/38, Callable 12/25/37 @ 100(a)      449,031  
  680,000      Bayer US Finance II LLC, 4.88%, 6/25/48, Callable 12/25/47 @ 100(a)      777,092  
  200,000      Catalent Pharma Solutions, Inc., 4.88%, 1/15/26, Callable 10/15/20 @ 102.44(a)      207,000  
     

 

 

 
        2,408,020  
     

 

 

 
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (0.3%):       
  880,000      Broadcom Cayman Finance, Ltd., 3.00%, 1/15/22, Callable 12/15/21 @ 100      893,997  
     

 

 

 
Software (0.0%):       
  91,000      SS&C Technologies, Inc., 5.50%, 9/30/27, Callable 3/30/22 @ 104.13(a)      97,143  
     

 

 

 
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods (0.0%):       
  81,000      USA Compression Partners LP/USA Compression Finance Corp., 6.88%, 9/1/27, Callable 9/1/22 @ 105.16      84,341  
     

 

 

 
Tobacco (0.4%):       
  615,000      BAT Capital Corp., 4.54%, 8/15/47, Callable 2/15/47 @ 100      615,974  
  580,000      Reynolds American, Inc., 5.85%, 8/15/45, Callable 2/15/45 @ 100      665,079  
     

 

 

 
        1,281,053  
     

 

 

 
Trading Companies & Distributors (0.4%):       
  545,000      Air Lease Corp., 4.75%, 3/1/20      547,342  
  655,000      Air Lease Corp., 3.50%, 1/15/22      671,527  
     

 

 

 
        1,218,869  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.5%):       
  220,000      Sprint Nextel Corp., 7.00%, 3/1/20(a)      221,100  
  453,250      Sprint Spectrum Co. LLC, 3.36%, 3/20/23(a)      456,868  
  715,000      Sprint Spectrum Co. LLC, 4.74%, 3/20/25(a)      756,104  
     

 

 

 
        1,434,072  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Corporate Bonds (Cost $51,889,490)

     54,822,890  
  

 

 

 
Foreign Bonds (1.5%):       
Sovereign Bond (1.5%):       
  170,000,000      Japan Treasury Discount Bill, 1/14/20+(c)      1,564,856  
  175,000,000      Japan Treasury Discount Bill, 1/20/20+(c)      1,610,923  
  175,000,000      Japan Treasury Discount Bill, 1/27/20+(c)      1,610,973  
     

 

 

 
        4,786,752  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Foreign Bonds (Cost $4,819,257)

     4,786,752  
  

 

 

 
Yankee Dollars (4.2%):       
Banks (0.4%):       
  485,000      Lloyds Banking Group plc, 2.86%(US0003M+125bps), 3/17/23, Callable 3/17/22 @ 100      489,851  
  425,000      Lloyds Banking Group plc, 2.91%(US0003M+81bps), 11/7/23, Callable 11/7/22 @ 100      431,365  
  500,000      Santander UK Group Holdings plc, 2.88%, 8/5/21      504,850  
     

 

 

 
        1,426,066  
     

 

 

 
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Yankee Dollars, continued       
Beverages (0.1%):       
$ 165,000      Bacardi, Ltd., 4.70%, 5/15/28, Callable 2/15/28 @ 100(a)    $ 179,616  
  175,000      Bacardi, Ltd., 5.30%, 5/15/48, Callable 11/15/47 @ 100(a)      201,396  
     

 

 

 
        381,012  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (0.1%):       
  200,000      Trivium Packaging Finance BV, 5.50%, 8/15/26, Callable 8/15/22 @ 102.75(a)      211,750  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (1.3%):       
  625,000      GE Capital International Funding, 2.34%, 11/15/20      625,776  
  1,631,000      GE Capital International Funding, 4.42%, 11/15/35      1,734,488  
  111,000      Intelsat Jackson Holdings SA, 8.50%, 10/15/24, Callable 10/15/20 @ 106.38(a)      101,288  
  540,000      Intelsat Jackson Holdings SA, 9.75%, 7/15/25, Callable 7/15/21 @ 104.88(a)      499,499  
  200,000      NXP BV/NXP Funding LLC, 4.13%, 6/1/21(a)      205,000  
  29,000      OI European Group BV, 4.00%, 3/15/23, Callable 12/15/22 @ 100(a)      29,218  
  325,000      Park Aerospace Holdings, 5.25%, 8/15/22, Callable 7/15/22 @ 100(a)      346,034  
  150,000      Park Aerospace Holdings, 4.50%, 3/15/23, Callable 2/15/23 @ 100(a)      157,313  
  150,000      Park Aerospace Holdings, 5.50%, 2/15/24(a)      164,754  
  175,000      Virgin Media Secured Finance plc, 5.50%, 5/15/29, Callable 5/15/24 @ 102.75(a)      185,281  
     

 

 

 
        4,048,651  
     

 

 

 
Energy Equipment & Services (0.1%):       
  67,900      Transocean Phoenix 2, Ltd., 7.75%, 10/15/24, Callable 10/15/20 @ 103.88(a)      71,974  
  134,390      Transocean Pontus, Ltd., 6.13%, 8/1/25, Callable 8/1/21 @ 104.59(a)      138,086  
  121,000      Transocean Poseidon, Ltd., 6.88%, 2/1/27, Callable 2/1/22 @ 105.16(a)      127,958  
  48,300      Transocean Proteus, Ltd., 6.25%, 12/1/24, Callable 12/1/20 @ 103.13(a)      49,809  
     

 

 

 
        387,827  
     

 

 

 
Food & Staples Retailing (0.2%):       
  475,000      Alimentation Couche-Tard, Inc., 3.55%, 7/26/27, Callable 4/26/27 @ 100(a)      487,034  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (0.1%):       
  465,000      Siemens Financieringsmat, 1.70%, 9/15/21(a)      464,134  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (0.1%):       
  200,000      Indonesia Asahan Aluminium Persero PT, 6.53%, 11/15/28(a)      245,750  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (0.5%):       
  151,000      Petrobras Global Finance BV, 5.09%, 1/15/30(a)      162,325  
  135,000      Petroleos Mexicanos, 6.50%, 1/23/29      141,656  
  365,000      Petroleos Mexicanos, 6.63%, 6/15/35      371,290  
  710,000      Petroleos Mexicanos, 6.75%, 9/21/47      711,493  
  255,000      Petroleos Mexicanos, 7.69%, 1/23/50, Callable 7/23/49 @ 100(a)      278,762  
     

 

 

 
        1,665,526  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Yankee Dollars, continued       
Pharmaceuticals (0.2%):       
$ 428,000      Actavis Funding SCS, 4.55%, 3/15/35, Callable 9/15/34 @ 100    $ 455,071  
  215,000      Bausch Health Cos., Inc., 7.00%, 3/15/24, Callable 3/15/20 @ 103.5(a)      223,600  
     

 

 

 
        678,671  
     

 

 

 
Professional Services (0.2%):       
  121,000      IHS Markit, Ltd., 5.00%, 11/1/22, Callable 8/1/22 @ 100(a)      128,411  
  125,000      IHS Markit, Ltd., 4.75%, 2/15/25, Callable 11/15/24 @ 100(a)      135,938  
  104,000      IHS Markit, Ltd., 4.00%, 3/1/26, Callable 12/1/25 @ 100(a)      109,460  
  295,000      IHS Markit, Ltd., 4.75%, 8/1/28, Callable 5/1/28 @ 100      328,188  
     

 

 

 
        701,997  
     

 

 

 
Sovereign Bond (0.1%):       
  200,000      Oman Government International Bond, 5.63%, 1/17/28(a)      206,990  
  200,000      Russian Federation, 4.75%, 5/27/26      223,290  
     

 

 

 
        430,280  
     

 

 

 
Thrifts & Mortgage Finance (0.1%):       
  230,000      Nationwide Building Society, 3.62%(US0003M+118bps), 4/26/23, Callable 4/26/22 @ 100(a)      236,325  
     

 

 

 
Trading Companies & Distributors (0.4%):       
  530,000      AerCap Ireland Capital DAC/AerCap Global Aviation Trust, 4.50%, 5/15/21      546,563  
  555,000      AerCap Ireland Capital DAC/AerCap Global Aviation Trust, 3.95%, 2/1/22, Callable 1/1/22 @ 100      573,037  
     

 

 

 
        1,119,600  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.3%):       
  868,000      Vodafone Group plc, 4.88%, 6/19/49      1,000,762  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Yankee Dollars (Cost $12,823,286)

     13,485,385  
  

 

 

 
Municipal Bonds (0.5%):       
California (0.5%):  
  800,000      California State, Build America Bonds, GO, 7.95%, 3/1/36, Continuously Callable @100      807,584  
  700,000      Los Angeles Unified School District, Build America Bonds, GO, 5.76%, 7/1/29      847,357  
     

 

 

 
        1,654,941  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Municipal Bonds (Cost $1,646,924)

     1,654,941  
  

 

 

 
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages (32.9%):  
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (14.8%):  
  860,000      Class A3, Series K151, 3.51%, 4/25/30      916,554  
  458,026      3.00%, 3/1/31, Pool #G18592      471,563  
  1,019,460      2.50%, 12/1/31, Pool #G16598      1,035,191  
  531,808      2.50%, 7/1/32, Pool #G16660      540,756  
  665,000      Class A3, Series K158, 3.90%, 10/25/33      745,152  
  1,402,566      3.50%, 1/1/34, Pool #G16756      1,465,641  
  1,580,441      3.50%, 4/1/44, Pool #G07848      1,688,502  
  2,253,571      3.50%, 4/1/45, Pool #G60023      2,387,425  
  1,990,065      4.00%, 12/1/45, Pool #G60344      2,133,837  
  1,903,655      3.50%, 6/1/46, Pool #G08711      1,995,652  
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, continued  
$ 2,159,673      3.00%, 6/1/46, Pool #G08710    $ 2,211,728  
  1,065,288      3.00%, 8/1/46, Pool #G08715      1,090,957  
  1,293,886      3.50%, 8/1/46, Pool #G08716      1,356,464  
  508,093      3.50%, 9/1/46, Pool #G08722      532,651  
  284,292      3.00%, 9/1/46, Pool #G08721      291,141  
  1,415,222      3.00%, 10/1/46, Pool #G08726      1,449,318  
  1,540,518      3.00%, 11/1/46, Pool #G08732      1,577,652  
  1,789,843      3.00%, 1/1/47, Pool #G08741      1,834,451  
  1,277,412      3.50%, 4/1/47, Pool #G67703      1,348,785  
  693,781      Class PA, Series 4846, 4.00%, 6/15/47      748,555  
  548,515      3.00%, 12/1/47, Pool #G08791      563,801  
  1,038,031      3.50%, 12/1/47, Pool #G08792      1,076,717  
  1,778,976      3.50%, 12/1/47, Pool #G67706      1,870,827  
  2,889,645      3.50%, 1/1/48, Pool #G67707      3,077,589  
  1,276,213      3.50%, 2/1/48, Pool #G08800      1,325,914  
  1,807,574      4.00%, 3/1/48, Pool #G67711      1,934,103  
  1,000,365      3.50%, 3/1/48, Pool #G67710      1,036,838  
  3,346,832      3.50%, 3/1/48, Pool #G67708      3,507,666  
  345,621      Class CA, Series 4818, 3.00%, 4/15/48      351,772  
  1,588,695      3.50%, 6/1/48, Pool #G08816      1,650,342  
  642,201      4.00%, 6/1/48, Pool #G67713      687,059  
  330,625      5.00%, 7/1/48, Pool #G08833      353,638  
  957,001      4.50%, 10/1/48, Pool #G08843      1,012,619  
  1,371,867      4.00%, 1/1/49, Pool #G67718      1,456,029  
  1,260,106      Class HZ, Series 4639, 3.25%, 4/15/53      1,327,600  
     

 

 

 
        47,054,489  
     

 

 

 
Federal National Mortgage Association (10.9%):  
  1,245,000      3.06%, 5/1/22, Pool #471258      1,273,700  
  1,820,000      Class A2, Series 2018-M1, 2.99%, 12/25/27      1,899,752  
  1,000,000      Class A2, Series 2018-M14, 3.58%, 8/25/28, Pool #A2      1,082,430  
  1,050,000      3.85%, 7/1/30, Pool #AN9776      1,161,418  
  850,000      3.82%, 11/1/30, Pool #BL0242      939,982  
  682,304      3.53%, 12/1/30, Pool #AN0475      737,166  
  722,194      3.17%, 5/1/31, Pool #AN6553      760,539  
  796,536      3.50%, 1/1/32, Pool #AB4262      831,279  
  149,998      3.00%, 7/1/32, Pool #MA3060      154,638  
  534,910      3.00%, 10/1/33, Pool #MA1676      552,036  
  3,235,000      2.50%, 12/1/34, Pool #MA3896      3,264,882  
  3,044,860      2.50%, 12/1/34, Pool #MA3864      3,072,986  
  847,822      3.21%, 11/1/37, Pool #AN7345      899,076  
  66,565      4.00%, 8/1/42, Pool #MA1146      70,455  
  1,110,312      3.50%, 4/1/43, Pool #MA1404      1,167,604  
  673,383      4.50%, 2/1/46, Pool #AL9106      725,556  
  510,677      Class QA, Series 2018-57, 3.50%, 5/25/46      535,238  
  1,344,617      Class PA, Series 2018-55, 3.50%, 1/25/47      1,414,632  
  786,417      4.00%, 6/1/47, Pool #AS9830      825,532  
  676,283      4.00%, 7/1/47, Pool #AS9972      709,920  
  37,950      4.00%, 8/1/47, Pool #MA3088      39,768  
  1,717,860      3.50%, 1/1/48, Pool #CA0996      1,791,589  
  133,126      3.50%, 1/1/48, Pool # MA3238      138,169  
  1,585,846      4.50%, 5/1/48, Pool #CA1710      1,683,965  
  144,283      4.50%, 5/1/48, Pool #CA1711      153,210  
  1,473,110      Class CT, Series 2018-43, 3.00%, 6/25/48      1,487,823  
  1,083,413      4.50%, 8/1/48, Pool #CA2208      1,144,286  
  2,025,000      3.00%, 1/25/49, TBA      2,053,477  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Government Agency Mortgages, continued  
Federal National Mortgage Association, continued  
$ 1,587,971      3.00%, 10/1/49, Pool# MA3811    $ 1,598,507  
  470,000      3.00%, 1/1/50, Pool #MA3905      476,781  
  700,000      2.50%, 1/25/50, TBA      692,234  
  1,275,000      5.00%, 1/25/50, TBA      1,363,055  
     

 

 

 
        34,701,685  
     

 

 

 
Government National Mortgage Association (7.2%):  
  776,300      3.50%, 3/20/46, Pool #MA3521      807,547  
  807,880      3.50%, 4/20/46, Pool #MA3597      837,672  
  156,417      3.50%, 5/20/46, Pool #MA3663      162,958  
  331,209      3.50%, 9/20/46, Pool #MA3937      344,306  
  1,815,260      3.00%, 12/20/46, Pool #MA4126      1,873,866  
  1,383,465      3.50%, 1/20/47, Pool #MA4196      1,438,525  
  220,989      5.00%, 3/20/47, Pool #MA4324      239,492  
  314,903      3.50%, 6/20/47, Pool #MA4510      327,542  
  568,474      5.00%, 6/20/47, Pool #MA4513      602,054  
  882,332      4.00%, 9/20/47, Pool #MA4720      923,770  
  419,077      5.00%, 9/20/47, Pool #MA4722      450,932  
  609,732      4.00%, 11/20/47, Pool #MA4838      638,368  
  374,332      3.50%, 11/20/47, Pool #MA4837      389,345  
  1,530,411      3.00%, 11/20/47, Pool #MA4836      1,573,575  
  293,934      4.00%, 12/20/47, Pool #MA4901      307,739  
  3,135,069      3.50%, 12/20/47, Pool #MA4900      3,260,785  
  1,115,984      4.00%, 3/20/48, Pool #MA5078      1,159,623  
  2,317,768      4.50%, 8/20/48, Pool #MA5399      2,439,681  
  623,887      4.00%, 9/20/48, Pool #MA5466      646,961  
  615,176      Class NW, Series 2018-124, 3.50%, 9/20/48      654,419  
  2,100,000      3.00%, 1/20/49, TBA      2,156,766  
  1,578,143      3.00%, 10/20/49, Pool# MA6209      1,597,051  
     

 

 

 
        22,832,977  
     

 

 

 
 

Total U.S. Government Agency Mortgages (Cost $102,208,576)

     104,589,151  
  

 

 

 
U.S. Treasury Obligations (29.4%):       
U.S. Treasury Bills (0.1%):  
  405,000      1.45%, 3/19/20(c)(d)      403,718  
     

 

 

 
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
U.S. Treasury Obligations, continued       
U.S. Treasury Bonds (5.5%):  
$ 17,430,000      2.38%, 11/15/49    $ 17,421,830  
     

 

 

 
U.S. Treasury Inflation Index Bonds (1.2%):  
  3,456,456      1.00%, 2/15/49      3,842,329  
     

 

 

 
U.S. Treasury Inflation Index Notes (2.1%):  
  466,004      0.13%, 7/15/24      468,805  
  2,768,197      0.13%, 10/15/24      2,783,097  
  3,540,079      0.25%, 7/15/29      3,573,551  
     

 

 

 
        6,825,453  
     

 

 

 
U.S. Treasury Notes (20.5%):  
  6,586,000      1.50%, 10/31/21      6,576,738  
  6,435,000      1.50%, 11/30/21      6,425,951  
  14,252,000      1.50%, 10/31/24      14,131,750  
  30,370,000      1.50%, 11/30/24      30,118,499  
  7,970,000      1.75%, 11/15/29      7,855,431  
     

 

 

 
        65,108,369  
     

 

 

 
 

Total U.S. Treasury Obligations (Cost $93,901,835)

     93,601,699  
  

 

 

 
Commercial Paper (0.3%):       
  1,035,000      Ford Motor Credit Co., 3.02%(a)(c)(d)      1,011,110  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Commercial Paper (Cost $1,009,956)

     1,011,110  
  

 

 

 
Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan (0.1%):  
  289,338      BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, 2.00%(d)(e)      289,338  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities
on Loan (Cost $289,338)

     289,338  
  

 

 

 
Unaffiliated Investment Companies (1.2%):       
Money Markets (1.2%):       
  3,861,731      Dreyfus Treasury Securities Cash Management Fund, Institutional Shares, 1.44%(d)      3,861,731  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Unaffiliated Investment Companies (Cost $3,861,731)

     3,861,731  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities (Cost $318,085,052) — 101.8%(f)

     324,207,855  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — (1.8)%

     (5,800,856
  

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 318,406,999  
  

 

 

 
 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

12MTA—12 Month Treasury Average

GO—General Obligation

LIBOR—London Interbank Offered Rate

MTN—Medium Term Note

TBA—To Be Announced Security

US0001M—1 Month US Dollar LIBOR

US0003M—3 Month US Dollar LIBOR

US0006M—6 Month US Dollar LIBOR

 

^

This security or a partial position of this security was on loan as of December 31, 2019. The total value of securities on loan as of December 31, 2019 was $278,845.

 

+

The principal amount is disclosed in local currency and the fair value is disclosed in U.S. Dollars.

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

(a)

Rule 144A, Section 4(2) or other security which is restricted to resale to institutional investors. The sub-adviser has deemed these securities to be liquid based on procedures approved by the Board of Trustees.

 

(b)

The rate for certain asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities may vary based on factors relating to the pool of assets underlying the security. The rate presented is the rate in effect at December 31, 2019.

 

(c)

All or a portion of this security has been pledged as collateral for open derivative positions.

 

(d)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(e)

Purchased with cash collateral held from securities lending. The value of the collateral could include collateral held for securities that were sold on or before December 31, 2019.

 

(f)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

10


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Futures Contracts

At December 31, 2019, the Fund’s open futures contracts were as follows:

Short Futures

 

Description    Expiration
Date
     Number of
Contracts
     Notional
Amount
     Value and
Unrealized
Appreciation/
(Depreciation)
 

Euro-Bobl March Futures (Euro)

     3/6/20        44      $ (6,594,719    $ 26,099  
           

 

 

 
            $ 26,099  
           

 

 

 

Long Futures

 

Description    Expiration
Date
     Number of
Contracts
     Notional
Amount
     Value and
Unrealized
Appreciation/
(Depreciation)
 

U.S. Treasury 2-Year Note March Futures (U.S. Dollar)

     3/31/20        101        21,765,500      $ (10,890

U.S. Treasury 5-Year Note March Futures (U.S. Dollar)

     3/31/20        320        37,955,000        (23,093
           

 

 

 
            $ (33,983
           

 

 

 

Total Net Futures Contracts

            $ (7,884
           

 

 

 

Forward Currency Contracts

At December 31, 2019, the Fund’s open forward currency contracts were as follows:

 

Currency Purchased      Currency Sold      Counterparty      Settlement
Date
     Net Unrealized
Appreciation/
(Depreciation)
 

U.S. Dollar

     1,593,917      Japanese Yen      170,000,000        Goldman Sachs        1/14/20      $ 27,806  

U.S. Dollar

     1,637,105      Japanese Yen      175,000,000        Goldman Sachs        1/21/20        24,258  

U.S. Dollar

     1,623,776      Japanese Yen      175,000,000        Bank of America        1/27/20        10,351  
                 

 

 

 
                  $ 62,415  
                 

 

 

 

Total Net Forward Currency Contracts

 

         $ 62,415  
        

 

 

 

Swap Agreements

Cash of $75,099 has been segregated to cover margin requirements for the following open centrally cleared interest rate swap agreements as of December 31, 2019:

 

Paid by the Fund

  Received by the Fund                                         
Rate   Frequency   Rate     Frequency     Expiration
Date
    Notional
Amount
    Upfront
Premiums
Paid/
(Received)
     Value      Unrealized
Appreciation/
(Depreciation)
 

3-Month U.S. Dollar LIBOR

  Quarterly     2.26%       Semi-annually       4/11/22       17,660,000       USD      $      $ 214,679      $ 214,679  

3-Month U.S. Dollar LIBOR

  Quarterly     2.28%       Semi-annually       5/8/22       8,555,000       USD               107,774        107,774  

2.34%

  Semi-annually     3-Month U.S. Dollar LIBOR       Quarterly       4/11/25       7,260,000       USD               (213,917      (213,917

2.37%

  Semi-annually     3-Month U.S. Dollar LIBOR       Quarterly       5/8/25       3,505,000       USD               (108,266      (108,266
                 

 

 

    

 

 

 
                  $ 270      $ 270  
                 

 

 

    

 

 

 

Balances Reported in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities for Forward Currency Contracts and Swap Agreements

 

      Swap
Premiums
Paid
     Swap
Premiums
Received
     Unrealized
Appreciation
     Unrealized
Depreciation
 

Forward currency contracts

   $      $      $ 62,415      $  

Centrally cleared swap agreements(a)

   $      $      $ 322,453      $ (322,183

 

(a)

Includes cumulative unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on these swap agreements as reported in the Schedule of Portfolio Investments. Only current day’s variation margin for centrally cleared swap agreements is reported within the Statement of Assets and Liabilities and is net of any previously paid (received) swap premium amounts.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

11


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investment securities, at cost

    $ 318,085,052
   

 

 

 

Investment securities, at value(a)

    $ 324,207,855

Cash

      28,291

Segregated cash for collateral on centrally cleared swap agreements

      75,099

Interest and dividends receivable

      1,374,032

Unrealized appreciation on forward currency contracts

      62,415

Receivable for capital shares issued

      291

Receivable for investments sold

      80,157

Receivable for TBA investments sold

      4,469,232

Receivable for variation margin on centrally cleared swap agreements

      3,353

Prepaid expenses

      1,132
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      330,301,857
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Payable for investments purchased

      516,223

Payable for TBA investments purchased

      10,768,911

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      93,364

Payable for collateral received on loaned securities

      289,338

Payable for variation margin on futures contracts

      2,776

Manager fees payable

      135,587

Administration fees payable

      4,668

Distribution fees payable

      67,793

Custodian fees payable

      2,819

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      1,181

Transfer agent fees payable

      974

Trustee fees payable

      291

Other accrued liabilities

      10,933
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      11,894,858
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 318,406,999
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 299,700,559

Total distributable earnings

      18,706,440
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 318,406,999
   

 

 

 

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      30,170,818

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 10.55
   

 

 

 

 

(a)

Includes securities on loan of $278,845.

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Interest

    $ 10,135,820

Dividends

      153,822

Income from securities lending

      7,565
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      10,297,207
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      1,941,573

Administration fees

      127,644

Distribution fees

      808,985

Custodian fees

      15,945

Administrative and compliance services fees

      6,077

Transfer agent fees

      5,922

Trustee fees

      19,399

Professional fees

      16,810

Shareholder reports

      5,489

Other expenses

      10,203
   

 

 

 

Total expenses before reductions

      2,958,047

Less expenses voluntarily waived/reimbursed by the Manager

      (323,592 )
   

 

 

 

Net expenses

      2,634,455
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      7,662,752
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities and foreign currencies

      10,060,090

Net realized gains/(losses) on forward currency contracts

      (91,373 )

Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts

      1,784,636

Net realized gains/(losses) on swap agreements

      1,219

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities and foreign currencies

      8,046,697

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on forward currency contracts

      160,237

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts

      (798,293 )

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on swap agreements

      (10,453 )
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      19,152,760
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 26,815,512
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

12


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 7,662,752     $ 7,801,955

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      11,754,572       (6,061,067 )

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      7,398,188       (3,320,936 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      26,815,512       (1,580,048 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Distributions

      (7,861,474 )       (6,944,494 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (7,861,474 )       (6,944,494 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      8,208,805       12,184,164

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      7,861,474       6,944,494

Value of shares redeemed

      (37,961,471 )       (55,834,436 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      (21,891,192 )       (36,705,778 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      (2,937,154 )       (45,230,320 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      321,344,153       366,574,473
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 318,406,999     $ 321,344,153
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Shares issued

      787,407       1,225,472

Dividends reinvested

      745,871       713,720

Shares redeemed

      (3,603,464 )       (5,639,247 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      (2,070,186 )       (3,700,055 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

13


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

    Year Ended December 31,
     2019   2018   2017   2016   2015

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 9.97     $ 10.20     $ 10.07     $ 10.01     $ 10.07
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.25 (a)       0.26       0.17       0.16       0.11

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      0.60       (0.29 )       0.15       0.07       (0.13 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      0.85       (0.03 )       0.32       0.23       (0.02 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.27 )       (0.20 )       (0.16 )       (0.11 )       (0.01 )

Net Realized Gains

                  (0.03 )       (0.06 )       (0.03 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (0.27 )       (0.20 )       (0.19 )       (0.17 )       (0.04 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 10.55     $ 9.97     $ 10.20     $ 10.07     $ 10.01
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(b)

      8.49 %       (0.21 )%       3.14 %       2.30 %       (0.20 )%

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 318,407     $ 321,344     $ 366,574     $ 359,253     $ 392,669

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      2.37 %       2.25 %       1.63 %       1.45 %       1.02 %

Expenses Before Reductions(c)

      0.91 %       0.91 %       0.91 %       0.91 %       0.89 %

Expenses Net of Reductions

      0.81 %       0.85 %       0.86 %       0.86 %       0.84 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate

      203 %       184 %       198 %       185 %       256 %

 

(a)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(b)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(c)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

14


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services — Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available. Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Fund accrues such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Foreign Currency Translation

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

 

15


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Securities Lending

To generate additional income, the Fund may lend up to 33 1/3% of its assets pursuant to agreements requiring that the loan be continuously secured by any combination of cash, U.S. government or U.S. government agency securities, equal initially to at least 102% of the fair value plus accrued interest on the securities loaned (105% for foreign securities). The borrower of securities is at all times required to post collateral to the Fund in an amount equal to 100% of the fair value of the securities loaned based on the previous day’s fair value of the securities loaned, marked-to-market daily. Any collateral shortfalls are adjusted the next business day. The Fund bears all of the gains and losses on such investments. The Fund receives payments from borrowers equivalent to the dividends and interest that would have been earned on securities lent while simultaneously seeking to earn income on the investment of cash collateral received. In extremely low interest rate environments, the broker rebate fee may exceed the interest earned or the cash collateral which would result in a loss to the Fund. The investment of cash collateral deposited by the borrower is subject to inherent market risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks that are present in the market, and as such, the value of these investments may not be sufficient, when liquidated, to repay the borrower when the loaned security is returned. There may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. However, loans will be made only to borrowers, such as broker-dealers, banks or institutional borrowers of securities, deemed by the Manager to be of good standing and credit worthy and when in its judgment, the consideration which can be earned currently from such securities loans justifies the attendant risks. Loans are subject to termination by the Trust or the borrower at any time, and are, therefore, not considered to be illiquid investments. Securities on loan at December 31, 2019 are presented on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

Cash collateral received in connection with securities lending is invested on behalf of the Fund in the BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, a money market fund which invests in short-term investments that have a remaining maturity of 397 days or less in accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. The Fund pays the Securities Lending Agent 9% of the gross revenues received from securities lending activities and keeps 91%. The Fund paid securities lending fees of $748 during the year ended December 31, 2019. These fees have been netted against “Income from securities lending” on the Statement of Operations. The Fund had securities lending transactions of $289,338 accounted for as secured borrowings with cash collateral of overnight and continuous maturities as of December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019, there were no master netting provisions in the securities lending agreement.

TBA Purchase and Sale Commitments

The Fund may enter into to-be-announced (TBA) purchase or sale commitments, pursuant to which it agrees to purchase or sell, respectively, mortgage-backed securities for a fixed unit price, with payment and delivery at a scheduled future date beyond the customary settlement period for such securities. With TBA transactions, the particular securities to be delivered are not identified at the trade date; however, delivered securities must meet specified terms, including issuer, rate, and mortgage term, and be within industry-accepted “good delivery” standards. The Fund may enter into TBA purchase transactions with the intention of taking possession of the underlying securities, may elect to extend the settlement by “rolling” the transaction, and/or may use TBAs to gain interim exposure to underlying securities. Until settlement, the Fund maintains liquid assets sufficient to settle its TBA commitments.

To mitigate counterparty risk, the Fund has entered into agreements with TBA counterparties that provide for collateral and the right to offset amounts due to or from those counterparties under specified conditions. Subject to minimum transfer amounts, collateral requirements are determined and transfers made based on the net aggregate unrealized gain or loss on all TBA commitments with a particular counterparty. At any time, the Fund’s risk of loss from a particular counterparty related to its TBA commitments is the aggregate unrealized gain on appreciated TBAs in excess of unrealized loss on depreciated TBAs and collateral held, if any, by such counterparty. As of December 31, 2019, no collateral had been posted by the Fund to counterparties for TBAs.

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund participated in the following cross-trade transactions:

 

        Purchases      Sales      Realized
Gain/(Loss)

AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

       $ 1,276,800        $        $

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In March 2017, FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2017-08 (“ASU 2017-08”), “Receivables — Nonrefundable Fees and Other Costs (Subtopic 310-20): Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities”. ASU 2017-08 changed the amortization period for non-contingently callable debt securities held at a premium. Specifically, it required the premium to be amortized to the earliest call date. ASU 2017-08 does not require an accounting change for securities held at a discount, which continues to accrete to maturity. The Fund has adopted ASU 2017-08 on a modified retrospective basis as of January 1, 2019. The adoption of ASU 2017-08 did not have a significant impact on the amortized cost of investments as of January 1, 2019, and had no impact on beginning net assets, the current period results from operations, or any prior period information presented in the financial statements.

Derivative Instruments

All open derivative positions at period end are reflected on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments. The following is a description of the derivative instruments utilized by the Fund, including the primary underlying risk exposures related to each instrument type.

 

16


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Forward Currency Contracts

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund entered into forward currency contracts as an economic hedge against either specific transactions or portfolio instruments or to obtain exposure to foreign currencies. In addition to the foreign currency risk related to the use of these contracts, the Fund could be exposed to risks if the counterparties to the contracts are unable to meet the terms of their contracts and from unanticipated movements in the value of a foreign currency relative to the U.S. dollar. In the event of default by the counterparty to the transaction, the Fund’s maximum amount of loss, as either the buyer or the seller, is the unrealized appreciation of the contract. The forward currency contracts are adjusted by the daily exchange rate of the underlying currency and any gains or losses are recorded for financial statement purposes as unrealized gains or losses until the contract settlement date. When the contract is closed, the Fund records a realized gain or loss equal to the difference between the value at the time it was opened and the value at the time it was closed. For the year ended December 31, 2019, the monthly average notional amount for short contracts was $1.4 million. Realized gains and losses are reported as “Net realized gains/(losses) on forward currency contracts” on the Statement of Operations.

Futures Contracts

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund used futures contracts to provide market exposure on the Fund’s cash balances. Futures contracts are valued based upon their quoted daily settlement prices. Upon entering into a futures contract, the Fund is required to segregate liquid assets in accordance with the initial margin requirements of the broker or exchange. Futures contracts are marked to market daily and a payable or receivable for the change in value (“variation margin”) is recorded by the Fund. Gains or losses are recognized but not considered realized until the contracts expire or are closed. Futures contracts involve, to varying degrees, elements of market risk (generally equity price risk related to stock futures, interest rate risk related to bond futures, and foreign currency risk related to currency futures) and exposure to loss in excess of the variation margin disclosed in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are the imperfect correlation between the change in fair value of the underlying securities and the prices of futures contracts, the possibility of an illiquid market, and the inability of the counterparty to meet the terms of the contract. The monthly average notional amount for long contracts was $57.0 million and the monthly average notional amount for short contracts was $7.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Realized gains and losses are reported as “Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts” on the Statement of Operations.

Swap Agreements

The Fund may invest in swap agreements. A swap is an agreement to exchange the return generated by one instrument for the return generated by another instrument. Swap agreements are privately negotiated in the over-the-counter (“OTC”) market and may be entered into as a bilateral contract (“OTC swaps”) or centrally cleared (“centrally cleared swaps”). The Fund may enter into swap agreements to manage its exposure to market, interest rate, foreign currencies and credit risk. The value of swap agreements are equal to the Fund’s obligations (or rights) under swap agreements, which will generally be equal to the net amounts to be paid or received under the agreements based upon the relative values of the positions held by each party to the agreements. In connection with these arrangements, securities may be identified as collateral in accordance with the terms of the swap agreements to provide assets of value and recourse in the event of default or bankruptcy by the counterparty.

Swaps are marked to market daily using pricing sources approved by the Trustees and the change in value, if any, is recorded as unrealized gain or loss. For OTC swaps, payments received or made at the beginning of the measurement period are recorded as realized gain or loss upon termination or maturity of the OTC swap. A liquidation payment received or made at the termination of the OTC swap is recorded as a realized gain or loss. Net periodic payments received or paid by the Fund are included as part of realized gains (losses). Upon entering a centrally cleared swap, the Fund is required to deposit initial margin with the broker in the form of cash or assets determined to be liquid (the amount is subject to the clearing organization that clears the trade). Daily changes in valuation of centrally cleared swaps, if any, are reported as “Payable/Receivable for variation margin on centrally cleared swap agreements” on the Statement of Operations.

Swap agreements involve, to varying degrees, elements of market risk and exposure to loss. The primary risks associated with the use of swap agreements are imperfect correlation between movements in the notional amount and the price of the underlying instruments and the inability of counterparties or clearing house to perform. The counterparty risk for centrally cleared swap agreements is generally lower than for OTC swap agreements because generally a clearing organization becomes substituted for each counterparty to a centrally cleared swap agreement and, in effect, guarantees the parties’ performance under the contract as each party to a trade looks only to a clearing house for performance of financial obligations. However, there can be no assurance that the clearing house, or its members will satisfy its obligations to the Fund.

The notional amounts reflect the extent of the total investment exposure the Fund has under the swap agreement. The Fund bears the risk of loss of the amount expected to be received under a swap agreement (i.e., any unrealized appreciation) in the event of the default or bankruptcy of the swap agreement counterparty. The notional amount and related unrealized appreciation (depreciation) of each swap agreement at period end is disclosed in the swap tables in the Schedule of Portfolio Investments. The Fund is a party to International Swap Dealers Association, Inc. Master Agreements (“ISDA Master Agreements”) with select counterparties that govern transactions, such as OTC swap contracts, entered into by the Fund, and those counterparties. The ISDA Master Agreements maintain provisions for general obligations, representations, agreements, collateral and events of default or termination. Events of termination include conditions that may entitle counterparties to elect to terminate early and cause settlement of all outstanding OTC swap transactions under the applicable ISDA Master Agreement.

Interest rate swaps involve the exchange of commitments to pay and receive interest based on a notional amount and are subject to interest rate risk exposure. Interest rate swaps do not involve the delivery of securities, other underlying assets or principal. Accordingly, the risk of loss with respect to interest rate swaps is limited to the net amount of interest payments that a Fund is contractually obligated to make. If the other party to an interest rate swap defaults, a Fund’s risk of loss consists of the net amount of interest payments that the Fund is contractually entitled to receive. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund entered into OTC and centrally cleared interest rate swap agreements to gain or reduce exposure to interest rates or to manage duration, the yield curve or interest rate risk by economically hedging the value of the fixed rate bonds which may decrease when interest rates rise (interest rate risk). The monthly average gross notional amount for interest rate swaps was $33 million for the year ended December 31, 2019.

 

17


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Summary of Derivative Instruments

The following is a summary of the fair values of derivative instruments on the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities, categorized by risk exposure, as of December 31, 2019:

 

   

Asset Derivatives

   

Liability Derivatives

 
Primary Risk Exposure   Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value
    Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value
 

Interest Rate Risk

       
Futures Contracts   Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $ 26,099     Payable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $ 33,983  
Centrally Cleared Interest Rate Swap Agreements   Receivable for variation margin on centrally cleared swap agreements*     322,453     Payable for variation margin on centrally cleared swap agreements*     322,183  

Foreign Exchange Rate Risk

       
Forward Currency Contracts   Unrealized appreciation on forward currency contracts     62,415     Unrealized depreciation on forward currency contracts      

 

*

Includes cumulative appreciation/depreciation of futures contracts and cumulative unrealized gain (loss) on these swap agreements as reported in the Schedule of Portfolio Investments. Only current day’s variation margin for both futures contracts and these centrally cleared swap agreements are reported within the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.

The following is a summary of the effect of derivative instruments on the Statement of Operations, categorized by risk exposure, for the year ended December 31, 2019:

 

Primary Risk Exposure   Location of Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
   Realized Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
     Change in Net Unrealized
Appreciation/Depreciation
on Derivatives Recognized
 

Interest Rate Risk

       
Futures Contracts   Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts/ Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts    $ 1,784,636      $ (798,293
Centrally Cleared Interest Rate Swap Agreements   Net realized gains/(losses) on swap agreements/ Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on swap agreements      1,219        (10,453

Foreign Exchange Risk

       
Forward Currency Contracts   Net realized gains/(losses) on forward currency contracts/ Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on forward currency contracts      (91,373      160,237  

The Fund is generally subject to master netting agreements that allow for amounts owed between the Fund and the counterparty to be netted. The party that has the larger payable pays the excess of the larger amount over the smaller amount to the other party. The master netting agreements do not apply to amounts owed to/from different counterparties. The amounts shown in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities do not take into consideration the effects of legally enforceable master netting agreements. The table below presents the gross and net amounts of these assets and liabilities with any offsets to reflect the Fund’s ability to transact net amounts in accordance with the master netting agreements at December 31, 2019. For financial reporting purposes, the Fund does not offset derivative assets and derivative liabilities that are subject to master netting arrangements in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. This table also summarizes the fair values of derivative instruments on the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities, categorized by risk exposure, as of December 31, 2019.

As of December 31, 2019, the Fund’s derivative assets and liabilities by type were as follows:

 

        Assets      Liabilities

Derivative Financial Instruments:

             

Forward currency contracts

       $ 62,415        $

Futures contracts

                  2,776

Swap agreements

         3,353         
      

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total derivative assets and liabilities in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities

         65,768          2,776

Derivatives not subject to a master netting agreement or similar agreement (“MNA”)

         (3,353 )          (2,776 )
      

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total assets and liabilities subject to a MNA

       $ 62,415        $
      

 

 

        

 

 

 

The following table presents the Fund’s derivative assets by counterparty net of amounts available for offset under MNA and net of the related collateral received by the Fund as of December 31, 2019:

 

Counterparty    Derivative Assets
Subject to a MNA
by Counterparty
   Derivatives
Available
for Offset
   Non-cash
Collateral
Received*
   Cash
Collateral
Received*
   Net Amount
of Derivative
Assets

Bank of America

     $ 10,351      $      $      $      $ 10,351

Goldman Sachs

       52,064                             52,064
    

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

 

Total

     $ 62,415      $      $      $      $ 62,415
    

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

 

 

*

The actual collateral received or pledged may be in excess of the amounts shown in the table. The table only reflects collateral amounts up to the amount of the financial instrument disclosed on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.

 

18


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to a portfolio management agreement with Metropolitan West Asset Management, LLC (“MetWest”), MetWest provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate*      Annual Expense Limit

AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

         0.60 %          0.91 %

 

*

The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.50% on all assets. The manager reserves the right to increase the management fee to the amount shown in the table at any time.

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations.

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $2,429 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

 

19


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Futures contracts are valued at the last sales price as of the close of the primary exchange and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy.

Debt and other fixed income securities are generally valued at an evaluated bid price provided by an independent pricing source approved by the Trustees. To value debt securities, pricing services may use various pricing techniques which take into account appropriate factors such as market activity, yield, quality, coupon rate, maturity, type of issue, trading characteristics, call features, credit ratings and other data, as well as broker quotes. Short-term securities of sufficient credit quality with sixty days or less remaining until maturity may be valued at amortized cost, which approximates fair value. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

Forward currency contracts are generally valued at the forward foreign currency exchange rate as of the close of the NYSE and are typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total
                             

Asset Backed Securities

       $        $ 16,925,918        $        $ 16,925,918

Collateralized Mortgage Obligations

                  29,178,940                   29,178,940

Corporate Bonds+

                  54,822,890                   54,822,890

Foreign Bonds+

                  4,786,752                   4,786,752

Yankee Dollars+

                  13,485,385                   13,485,385

Municipal Bonds

                  1,654,941                   1,654,941

U.S. Government Agency Mortgages

                  104,589,151                   104,589,151

U.S. Treasury Obligations

                  93,601,699                   93,601,699

Commercial Paper

                  1,011,110                   1,011,110

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

         289,338                            289,338

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

         3,861,731                            3,861,731
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

         4,151,069          320,056,786                   324,207,855
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Other Financial Instruments:*

                           

Futures Contracts

         (7,884 )                            (7,884 )

Forward Currency Contracts

                  62,415                   62,415

Interest Rate Swaps

                  270                   270
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $ 4,143,185        $ 320,119,471        $        $ 324,262,656
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

*

Other Financial Instruments would include any derivative instruments, such as futures contracts, forward currency contracts, and swaps. These investments are generally recorded in the financial statements at the unrealized gain or loss on the investment, except futures contracts and centrally cleared interest rate swaps, which are presented at variation margin.

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

       $ 637,653,831        $ 658,163,734

For the year ended December 31, 2019, purchases and sales of long-term U.S. government securities were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

       $ 592,760,344        $ 563,596,201

 

20


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

6. Investment Risks

Derivatives Risk: The Fund may invest in derivatives as a principal strategy. A derivative is a financial contract whose value depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or risk. Use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Derivatives are subject to a number of other risks, such as liquidity risk, interest rate risk, market risk, credit risk, and selection risk. Derivatives also involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate, or index. Using derivatives may result in losses, possibly in excess of the principal amount invested. Also, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances. The counterparty to a derivatives contract could default. As required by applicable law, a Fund that invests in derivatives segregates cash or liquid securities, or both, to the extent that its obligations under the instrument are not covered through ownership of the underlying security, financial instrument, or currency.

London Interbank Offering Rate (“LIBOR”) Risk: Certain investments held by the Fund may pay or receive interest at floating rates based on LIBOR. The United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority expects the use of LIBOR will be phased out by the end of 2021. Currently, there are no definitive details regarding the future utilization of LIBOR or of any particular replacement floating rate of interest. Abandonment of or modifications to LIBOR could lead to market uncertainty and instability. To the extent that the Fund’s investments have maturities which extend beyond 2021, the applicable interest rates might be subject to change if there is a transition from the LIBOR reference rate. These risks may also apply with respect to changes in connection with other interbank offering rates (e.g., Euribor) and a wide range of other index levels, rates and values that are treated as “benchmarks” and are the subject of recent regulatory reform.

Mortgage-Related and Other Asset-Backed Risk: The Fund may invest in a variety of mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities, which are subject to certain additional risks. Generally, rising interest rates tend to extend the duration of fixed rate mortgage-related securities, making them more sensitive to changes in interest rates. As a result, in a period of rising interest rates, a Fund that holds mortgage-related securities may exhibit additional volatility. This is known as extension risk. In addition, adjustable and fixed rate mortgage-related securities are subject to call risk. When interest rates decline, borrowers may pay off their mortgages sooner than expected. This can reduce the returns of a Fund because the Fund will have to reinvest that money at the lower prevailing interest rates. If a Fund purchases mortgage-backed or asset-backed securities that are subordinated to other interests in the same mortgage pool, the Fund may receive payments only after the pool’s obligations to other investors have been satisfied. An unexpectedly high rate of defaults on the mortgages held by a mortgage pool may limit substantially the pool’s ability to make payments of principal or interest to the Fund as a holder of such subordinated securities, reducing the values of those securities or in some cases rendering them worthless. An unexpectedly high or low rate of prepayments on a pool’s underlying mortgages may have a similar effect on subordinated securities. A mortgage pool may issue securities subject to various levels of subordination. The risk of non-payment affects securities at each level, although the risk is greater in the case of more highly subordinated securities. A Fund’s investments in other asset-backed securities are subject to risks similar to those associated with mortgage-related securities, as well as additional risks associated with the nature of the assets and the servicing of those assets.

7. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $318,146,666. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 7,603,202  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (1,541,743
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 6,061,459  
 

 

 

 

As of the end of its tax year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not have capital loss carry forwards (“CLCFs”).

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund utilized $6,088,635 in CLCFs to offset capital gains.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
     Net
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

       $ 7,861,474        $        $ 7,861,474

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
     Net
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

       $ 6,944,494        $        $ 6,944,494

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

 

21


AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
     Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
     Total
Accumulated
Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

       $ 11,386,474        $ 1,258,505        $        $ 6,061,461        $ 18,706,440

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales and mark-to-market of futures contracts.

8. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had multiple shareholder accounts which are affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 80% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

9. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

22


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL MetWest Total Return Bond Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

23


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

24


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for

 

25


the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

 

26


The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

27


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

28


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

29


LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.   
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL® Mid Cap Index Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 10

Statement of Operations

Page 10

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 11

Financial Highlights

Page 12

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 13

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 19

Other Federal Income Tax Information

Page 20

Other Information

Page 21

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 22

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 25

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


   AZL® Mid Cap Index Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® Mid Cap Index Fund and BlackRock Investment Management, LLC serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® Mid Cap Index Fund (Class 2 Shares) (the “Fund”) returned 25.28%. That compared to a 26.20% total return for its benchmark, the S&P MidCap 400 Index1.

The Fund takes positions in securities that, in combination, should have similar return characteristics as the return of the Index. The Index is designed to provide a comprehensive measure of mid-cap stock performance.*

Equities rebounded in the first quarter as U.S. trade negotiations with China and relatively strong corporate earnings growth helped investor sentiment recover from steep losses at the end of 2018. Stocks and bonds both received a boost from the Federal Reserve Board’s (the Fed) shift to a more dovish tone in January, as it announced it would refrain from interest rate hikes for the near future. Despite a 35-day government shutdown and global economic weakness, the U.S. economy continued to exhibit a tight labor market, low inflation and slowing but stable economic growth.

In the second quarter, the prospect of lower interest rates generally provided a boost to equities. Renewed trade concerns contributed to volatility during the quarter, however, with the S&P 500 Index2 dropping -6.4% after President Trump threatened to increase tariffs against China and Mexico. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield declined 50 basis points (0.50%) to 2%—the lowest level since 2016—and the resulting negative spread between three-month and 10-year yields added to uncertainty.

Trade tensions were a key focus for domestic and global investors in the third quarter. The Fed lowered interest rates again in July and September to offset that potential risk as well as weak global growth. U.S. manufacturing and consumer sectors showed signs of weakness. The closely monitored two-year, 10-year Treasury yield spread inverted for the first time since the global financial crisis, but ended the quarter in positive territory.

In the fourth quarter, expectations of a U.S.-China trade deal, strong economic growth and easy monetary policy boosted investors’ appetite for risk, although there were still signs of weakness, including in manufacturing. Despite the strength of the U.S. economy, the Fed cut federal fund rates by 25 basis points (0.25%) to 1.75%, marking the third rate cut of the year.    

From a sector perspective, the largest positive contributors in the S&P MidCap 400 Index came from the information technology, industrials, and consumer discretionary sectors. The only negative contributor was the energy sector.

The Fund uses derivatives for the purpose of efficient portfolio management, and derivatives did not have a significant impact on the Fund’s return in 2019. Futures are not used for speculative or leveraged positions in the portfolio and we keep cash to fully cover all outstanding futures positions. The Fund’s use of futures contracts provide immediate market exposure proportionate to cash accruals and investable cash within the portfolio. Skillful cash management and cash equitization are critical to minimizing the potential impact of cash drag and ensure tight tracking to the benchmark.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

*

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmark please refer to page 2 of this report.

2 

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is unmanaged and is representative of 500 selected common stocks, most of which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and is a measure of the U.S. Stock market as a whole. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

1


AZL® Mid Cap Index Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

 

The Fund’s investment objective is to seek to match the performance of the Standard & Poor’s MidCap 400 Index (“S&P 400”) as closely as possible. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets in a statistically selected sampling of equity securities of companies included in the S&P 400 and in derivative instruments linked to the S&P 400, primarily futures contracts.

 

Investment Concerns

 

Equity securities (stocks) are more volatile and carry more risk than other forms of investments, including investments in high-grade fixed income securities. The net asset value per share of this Fund will fluctuate as the value of the securities in the portfolio changes.

 

Small- to mid-capitalization companies typically have a higher risk of failure and historically have experienced a greater degree of volatility.

 

The performance of the Fund is expected to be lower than that of the Index because of Fund fees and expenses. Securities in which the Fund will invest may involve substantial risk and may be subject to sudden severe price declines.

 

Investing in derivatives instruments involves risks that may be different from or greater than the risk associated with investing directly in securities or other traditional instruments.

 

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmark and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

    Inception
Date
    1
Year
    3
Year
    5
Year
    10
Year
    Since
Inception
 

AZL® Mid Cap Index Fund (Class 1 Shares)

    10/14/16        25.47 %      9.03     —         —         11.35

AZL® Mid Cap Index Fund (Class 2 Shares)

    5/1/09       25.28     8.76     8.40     11.97     14.02

S&P MidCap 400 Index

    5/1/09       26.20     9.26     9.03     12.72     14.79

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratios

   Gross  

AZL® Mid Cap Index Fund (Class 1 Shares)

     0.31

AZL® Mid Cap Index Fund (Class 2 Shares)

     0.56

The above expense ratios are based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense), to 0.46% for Class 1 Shares and 0.71% for Class 2 Shares through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratios can be found in the Financial Highlights.

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Standard & Poor’s MidCap 400 Index (“S&P 400”), which is the most widely used index for mid-sized companies. The S&P 400 covers 7% of the U.S. equities market, and is part of a series of S&P U.S. indexes that can be used as building blocks for portfolio composition. The index is unmanaged and does not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The Fund’s performance reflects the deduction of fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

 

2


AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL Mid Cap Index Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Mid Cap Index Fund, Class 1

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,065.40     $ 1.61       0.31 %

AZL Mid Cap Index Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,064.50     $ 2.91       0.56 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Mid Cap Index Fund, Class 1

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,023.64     $ 1.58       0.31 %

AZL Mid Cap Index Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,022.38     $ 2.85       0.56 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

Financials

      16.1 %

Information Technology

      15.3

Industrials

      15.2

Consumer Discretionary

      13.9

Real Estate

      10.9

Health Care

      9.4

Materials

      5.9

Utilities

      4.4

Consumer Staples

      2.8

Energy

      2.0

Communication Services

      1.9

Total Common Stocks and Private Placements

      97.8

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

      2.0

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

      1.5
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      101.3

Net other assets (liabilities)

      (1.3 )
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

3


AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares           

    

    

    

    

    

Fair Value

 
Common Stocks (96.9%):       
Aerospace & Defense (1.4%):       
  37,793      Axon Enterprise, Inc.*    $ 2,769,471  
  27,188      Curtiss-Wright Corp.      3,830,517  
  35,371      Mercury Systems, Inc.*      2,444,490  
  23,227      Teledyne Technologies, Inc.*      8,049,085  
     

 

 

 
        17,093,563  
     

 

 

 
Air Freight & Logistics (0.4%):       
  58,785      XPO Logistics, Inc.*      4,685,165  
     

 

 

 
Airlines (0.3%):       
  183,865      JetBlue Airways Corp.*      3,441,953  
     

 

 

 
Auto Components (1.4%):       
  55,440      Adient plc*      1,178,100  
  91,665      Dana, Inc.      1,668,303  
  55,549      Delphi Technologies plc*      712,694  
  161,114      Gentex Corp.      4,669,084  
  148,117      Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.      2,303,960  
  35,046      Lear Corp.      4,808,311  
  17,810      Visteon Corp.*      1,542,168  
     

 

 

 
        16,882,620  
     

 

 

 
Automobiles (0.2%):       
  35,155      Thor Industries, Inc.      2,611,665  
     

 

 

 
Banks (7.0%):       
  101,483      Associated Banc-Corp.      2,236,685  
  60,428      BancorpSouth Bank      1,898,043  
  25,650      Bank of Hawaii Corp.      2,440,854  
  76,990      Bank OZK      2,348,580  
  48,226      Cathay General Bancorp      1,834,999  
  66,051      Commerce Bancshares, Inc.^      4,487,505  
  36,261      Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc.      3,545,601  
  92,746      East West Bancorp, Inc.      4,516,730  
  206,940      F.N.B. Corp.      2,628,138  
  86,518      First Financial Bankshares, Inc.      3,036,782  
  198,186      First Horizon National Corp.      3,281,960  
  104,527      Fulton Financial Corp.      1,821,906  
  55,545      Hancock Whitney Corp.      2,437,315  
  98,818      Home Bancshares, Inc.      1,942,762  
  36,539      International Bancshares Corp.      1,573,735  
  76,305      PacWest Bancorp      2,920,192  
  45,837      Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc.      2,933,568  
  60,125      Prosperity Bancshares, Inc.      4,322,386  
  34,385      Signature Bank      4,697,335  
  128,680      Sterling Bancorp      2,712,574  
  93,332      Synovus Financial Corp.      3,658,614  
  97,703      TCF Financial Corp.      4,572,500  
  32,049      Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc.*      1,819,422  
  40,927      Trustmark Corp.      1,412,391  
  27,514      UMB Financial Corp.      1,888,561  
  140,253      Umpqua Holdings Corp.      2,482,478  
  64,664      United Bankshares, Inc.      2,499,910  
  249,460      Valley National Bancorp      2,856,317  
  58,614      Webster Financial Corp.      3,127,643  
  36,575      Wintrust Financial Corp.      2,593,168  
     

 

 

 
        84,528,654  
     

 

 

 
Shares           

    

    

    

    

    

Fair Value

 
Common Stocks, continued       
Beverages (0.2%):       
  5,870      Boston Beer Co., Inc. (The), Class A*    $ 2,217,980  
     

 

 

 
Biotechnology (1.2%):       
  63,756      Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      4,044,043  
  193,515      Exelixis, Inc.*      3,409,734  
  11,186      Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Class B*      1,166,588  
  29,925      Repligen Corp.*      2,768,063  
  27,947      United Therapeutics Corp.*      2,461,572  
     

 

 

 
        13,850,000  
     

 

 

 
Building Products (1.2%):       
  22,332      Lennox International, Inc.      5,448,337  
  69,285      Owens Corning, Inc.      4,511,839  
  78,221      Resideo Technologies, Inc.*      933,177  
  37,154      Trex Co., Inc.*      3,339,402  
     

 

 

 
        14,232,755  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (2.6%):       
  29,455      Affiliated Managers Group, Inc.      2,496,017  
  72,060      Eaton Vance Corp.      3,364,481  
  24,893      Evercore, Inc., Class A      1,861,001  
  24,167      FactSet Research Systems, Inc.      6,484,005  
  61,188      Federated Investors, Inc., Class B      1,994,117  
  48,880      Interactive Brokers Group, Inc., Class A      2,278,786  
  99,108      Janus Henderson Group plc      2,423,191  
  51,967      Legg Mason, Inc.      1,866,135  
  80,385      SEI Investments Co.      5,263,610  
  43,546      Stifel Financial Corp.      2,641,065  
     

 

 

 
        30,672,408  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (2.5%):       
  38,358      Ashland Global Holdings, Inc.      2,935,538  
  36,288      Cabot Corp.      1,724,406  
  104,131      Chemours Co. (The)      1,883,730  
  26,637      Ingevity Corp.*      2,327,541  
  22,199      Minerals Technologies, Inc.      1,279,328  
  4,703      NewMarket Corp.      2,288,104  
  101,692      Olin Corp.      1,754,187  
  48,986      PolyOne Corp.      1,802,195  
  82,591      RPM International, Inc.      6,339,684  
  25,234      Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. (The)      2,679,346  
  26,952      Sensient Technologies Corp.      1,781,258  
  119,987      Valvoline, Inc.      2,568,922  
     

 

 

 
        29,364,239  
     

 

 

 
Commercial Services & Supplies (1.8%):       
  31,860      Brink’s Co. (The)      2,889,065  
  32,700      Clean Harbors, Inc.*      2,804,025  
  26,814      Deluxe Corp.      1,338,555  
  47,205      Healthcare Services Group, Inc.      1,148,026  
  37,613      Herman Miller, Inc.      1,566,581  
  27,274      HNI Corp.      1,021,684  
  82,014      KAR Auction Services, Inc.      1,787,085  
  22,698      MSA Safety, Inc.      2,868,119  
  58,038      Stericycle, Inc.*      3,703,404  
  34,766      Tetra Tech, Inc.      2,995,439  
     

 

 

 
        22,121,983  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares           

    

    

    

    

    

Fair Value

 
Common Stocks, continued       
Communications Equipment (1.1%):       
  98,524      Ciena Corp.*    $ 4,205,990  
  19,828      InterDigital, Inc.      1,080,428  
  49,168      Lumentum Holdings, Inc.*      3,899,022  
  41,944      NetScout Systems, Inc.*      1,009,592  
  36,730      ViaSat, Inc.*      2,688,452  
     

 

 

 
        12,883,484  
     

 

 

 
Construction & Engineering (1.2%):       
  100,046      AECOM*      4,314,983  
  20,239      Dycom Industries, Inc.*      954,269  
  35,763      EMCOR Group, Inc.      3,086,347  
  89,275      Fluor Corp.      1,685,512  
  38,406      MasTec, Inc.*      2,464,129  
  13,710      Valmont Industries, Inc.      2,053,484  
     

 

 

 
        14,558,724  
     

 

 

 
Construction Materials (0.2%):       
  26,514      Eagle Materials, Inc., Class A      2,403,759  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (0.6%):       
  27,182      Firstcash, Inc.      2,191,685  
  30,467      Green Dot Corp., Class A*      709,881  
  123,882      Navient Corp.      1,694,706  
  268,873      SLM Corp.      2,395,658  
     

 

 

 
        6,991,930  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (1.0%):       
  40,714      AptarGroup, Inc.      4,707,352  
  16,675      Greif, Inc., Class A      737,035  
  99,917      O-I Glass, Inc.      1,192,010  
  49,383      Silgan Holdings, Inc.      1,534,824  
  63,751      Sonoco Products Co.      3,934,712  
     

 

 

 
        12,105,933  
     

 

 

 
Distributors (0.5%):       
  25,500      Pool Corp.      5,415,690  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Consumer Services (1.0%):  
  34,389      Adtalem Global Education, Inc.*      1,202,583  
  2,770      Graham Holdings Co., Class B      1,770,002  
  30,714      Grand Canyon Education, Inc.*      2,942,094  
  116,412      Service Corp. International      5,358,445  
  29,585      WW International, Inc.*      1,130,443  
     

 

 

 
        12,403,567  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (0.3%):  
  160,427      Jefferies Financial Group, Inc.      3,428,325  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (1.5%):       
  32,907      ALLETE, Inc.      2,671,061  
  69,403      Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.      3,252,225  
  32,097      IDA Corp., Inc.      3,427,960  
  127,489      OGE Energy Corp.      5,669,436  
  50,730      PNM Resources, Inc.      2,572,518  
     

 

 

 
        17,593,200  
     

 

 

 
Electrical Equipment (1.3%):  
  25,235      Acuity Brands, Inc.      3,482,430  
  26,931      EnerSys      2,015,247  
Shares           

    

    

    

    

    

Fair Value

 
Common Stocks, continued       
Electrical Equipment, continued  
  34,638      Hubbell, Inc.    $ 5,120,189  
  99,111      nVent Electric plc      2,535,258  
  26,075      Regal-Beloit Corp.      2,232,281  
     

 

 

 
        15,385,405  
     

 

 

 
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (3.7%):  
  51,874      Arrow Electronics, Inc.*      4,395,803  
  64,301      Avnet, Inc.      2,728,934  
  24,609      Belden, Inc.      1,353,495  
  108,842      Cognex Corp.      6,099,506  
  15,382      Coherent, Inc.*      2,558,796  
  55,546      II-VI, Inc.*      1,870,234  
  88,474      Jabil, Inc.      3,656,630  
  15,513      Littlelfuse, Inc.      2,967,637  
  75,123      National Instruments Corp.      3,180,708  
  26,023      SYNNEX Corp.      3,351,762  
  22,560      Tech Data Corp.*      3,239,616  
  158,670      Trimble, Inc.*      6,614,952  
  84,290      Vishay Intertechnology, Inc.      1,794,534  
     

 

 

 
        43,812,607  
     

 

 

 
Energy Equipment & Services (0.5%):       
  49,333      Apergy Corp.*      1,666,468  
  28,262      Core Laboratories NV      1,064,630  
  123,901      Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc.      1,300,961  
  366,305      Transocean, Ltd.*      2,520,178  
     

 

 

 
        6,552,237  
     

 

 

 
Entertainment (0.4%):       
  67,896      Cinemark Holdings, Inc.      2,298,279  
  30,225      World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., Class A^      1,960,696  
     

 

 

 
        4,258,975  
     

 

 

 
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (10.4%):       
  43,259      Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.      906,709  
  87,511      American Campus Communities, Inc.      4,115,642  
  189,694      Brixmor Property Group, Inc.      4,099,287  
  61,671      Camden Property Trust      6,543,293  
  75,850      Corecivic, Inc.      1,318,273  
  23,802      Coresite Realty Corp.      2,668,680  
  71,369      Corporate Office Properties Trust      2,096,821  
  93,471      Cousins Properties, Inc.      3,851,005  
  72,095      Cyrusone, Inc.      4,717,176  
  104,977      Douglas Emmett, Inc.      4,608,490  
  24,215      EastGroup Properties, Inc.      3,212,604  
  50,042      EPR Properties      3,534,967  
  81,584      First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc.      3,386,552  
  78,320      Geo Group, Inc. (The)      1,300,895  
  83,401      Healthcare Realty Trust, Inc.      2,783,091  
  66,073      Highwoods Properties, Inc.      3,231,630  
  75,173      JBG SMITH Properties      2,998,651  
  62,116      Kilroy Realty Corp.      5,211,532  
  54,779      Lamar Advertising Co., Class A      4,889,574  
  100,483      Liberty Property Trust      6,034,004  
  29,711      Life Storage, Inc.      3,217,107  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares           

    

    

    

    

    

Fair Value

 
Common Stocks, continued       
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts, continued       
  57,673      Mack-Cali Realty Corp.    $ 1,333,976  
  329,550      Medical Properties Trust, Inc.      6,956,802  
  109,314      National Retail Properties, Inc.      5,861,417  
  139,730      Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc.      5,917,566  
  152,462      Parks Hotels & Resorts, Inc.      3,944,192  
  83,199      Pebblebrook Hotel Trust      2,230,565  
  42,812      PotlatchDeltic Corp.      1,852,475  
  12,756      PS Business Parks, Inc.      2,103,082  
  82,358      Rayonier, Inc.      2,698,048  
  122,321      Sabra Health Care REIT, Inc.      2,610,330  
  153,500      Senior Housing Properties Trust      1,295,540  
  104,809      Service Properties Trust      2,550,003  
  63,517      Spirit Realty Capital, Inc.      3,123,766  
  59,163      Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc.^      871,471  
  38,990      Taubman Centers, Inc.      1,212,199  
  70,176      The Macerich Co.      1,889,138  
  73,345      Urban Edge Properties      1,406,757  
  77,033      Weingarten Realty Investors      2,406,511  
     

 

 

 
        124,989,821  
     

 

 

 
Food & Staples Retailing (0.6%):       
  77,806      BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc.*      1,769,308  
  23,427      Casey’s General Stores, Inc.      3,724,660  
  75,241      Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc.*      1,455,913  
     

 

 

 
        6,949,881  
     

 

 

 
Food Products (1.7%):       
  122,586      Flowers Foods, Inc.      2,665,020  
  51,166      Hain Celestial Group, Inc.*      1,328,014  
  42,521      Ingredion, Inc.      3,952,326  
  12,603      Lancaster Colony Corp.      2,017,740  
  33,379      Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.*      1,091,994  
  42,330      Post Holdings, Inc.*      4,618,202  
  12,557      Sanderson Farms, Inc.      2,212,795  
  10,686      Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc.      364,820  
  35,801      TreeHouse Foods, Inc.*      1,736,349  
     

 

 

 
        19,987,260  
     

 

 

 
Gas Utilities (1.6%):       
  54,979      National Fuel Gas Co.      2,558,723  
  60,824      New Jersey Resources Corp.      2,710,926  
  33,587      ONE Gas, Inc.      3,142,736  
  34,790      Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc.      2,642,996  
  32,467      Spire, Inc.      2,704,826  
  133,116      UGI Corp.      6,011,518  
     

 

 

 
        19,771,725  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (3.3%):       
  30,807      Avanos Medical, Inc.*      1,038,196  
  23,719      Cantel Medical Corp.      1,681,677  
  49,023      Globus Medical, Inc., Class A*      2,886,474  
  32,279      Haemonetics Corp.*      3,708,857  
  42,520      Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc.      4,827,296  
  12,245      ICU Medical, Inc.*      2,291,284  
  45,390      Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp.*      2,645,329  
Shares           

    

    

    

    

    

Fair Value

 
Common Stocks, continued       
Health Care Equipment & Supplies, continued       
  30,825      LivaNova plc*    $ 2,325,130  
  31,246      Masimo Corp.*      4,938,743  
  33,165      NuVasive, Inc.*      2,564,981  
  20,457      Penumbra, Inc.*      3,360,471  
  47,124      West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.      7,084,152  
     

 

 

 
        39,352,590  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (2.3%):       
  56,409      Acadia Healthcare Co., Inc.*      1,873,907  
  20,543      Amedisys, Inc.*      3,429,038  
  10,196      Chemed Corp.      4,478,695  
  62,797      Encompass Health Corp.      4,349,948  
  45,142      HealthEquity, Inc.*      3,343,668  
  53,688      MEDNAX, Inc.*      1,491,990  
  39,933      Molina Healthcare, Inc.*      5,418,508  
  55,275      Patterson Cos., Inc.      1,132,032  
  66,169      Tenet Healthcare Corp.*      2,516,407  
     

 

 

 
        28,034,193  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Technology (0.1%):       
  103,409      Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc.*      1,014,959  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (4.3%):       
  50,976      Boyd Gaming Corp.      1,526,221  
  23,801      Brinker International, Inc.      999,642  
  355,469      Caesars Entertainment Corp.*      4,834,378  
  26,153      Cheesecake Factory, Inc. (The)      1,016,306  
  20,219      Choice Hotels International, Inc.      2,091,251  
  22,578      Churchill Downs, Inc.      3,097,702  
  15,323      Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc.^      2,355,758  
  26,049      Domino’s Pizza, Inc.      7,652,674  
  52,761      Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc.      3,985,566  
  41,606      Eldorado Resorts, Inc.*      2,481,382  
  15,064      Jack in the Box, Inc.      1,175,444  
  23,831      Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corp.      3,068,480  
  14,031      Papa John’s International, Inc.      886,058  
  69,394      Penn National Gaming, Inc.*      1,773,711  
  34,473      Scientific Games Corp., Class A*      923,187  
  50,064      Six Flags Entertainment Corp.      2,258,387  
  41,553      Texas Roadhouse, Inc., Class A      2,340,265  
  117,211      Wendy’s Co. (The)      2,603,256  
  57,768      Wyndham Destinations, Inc.      2,986,028  
  60,610      Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc.      3,806,914  
     

 

 

 
        51,862,610  
     

 

 

 
Household Durables (1.0%):       
  16,027      Helen of Troy, Ltd.*      2,881,494  
  54,562      KB Home      1,869,840  
  28,937      Tempur Sealy International, Inc.*      2,519,255  
  82,282      Toll Brothers, Inc.      3,250,962  
  88,679      TRI Pointe Group, Inc.*      1,381,619  
     

 

 

 
        11,903,170  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (0.2%):       
  40,974      Energizer Holdings, Inc.      2,057,714  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares           

    

    

    

    

    

Fair Value

 
Common Stocks, continued       
Industrial Conglomerates (0.5%):       
  36,094      Carlisle Cos., Inc.    $ 5,841,453  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (5.0%):       
  9,167      Alleghany Corp.*      7,329,658  
  47,702      American Financial Group, Inc.      5,230,524  
  69,589      Brighthouse Financial, Inc.*      2,729,976  
  148,935      Brown & Brown, Inc.      5,879,954  
  96,259      CNO Financial Group, Inc.      1,745,176  
  71,545      First American Financial Corp.      4,172,504  
  320,553      Genworth Financial, Inc., Class A*      1,410,433  
  25,088      Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (The)      3,428,777  
  39,900      Kemper Corp.      3,092,250  
  17,438      Mercury General Corp.      849,754  
  181,739      Old Republic International Corp.      4,065,501  
  26,342      Primerica, Inc.      3,439,212  
  39,876      Reinsurance Group of America, Inc.      6,502,181  
  28,126      RenaissanceRe Holdings, Ltd.      5,513,259  
  25,414      RLI Corp.      2,287,768  
  37,832      Selective Insurance Group, Inc.      2,466,268  
     

 

 

 
        60,143,195  
     

 

 

 
Interactive Media & Services (0.3%):       
  66,918      TripAdvisor, Inc.      2,032,969  
  40,687      Yelp, Inc.*      1,417,128  
     

 

 

 
        3,450,097  
     

 

 

 
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail (0.5%):       
  75,464      Etsy, Inc.*      3,343,055  
  58,243      Grubhub, Inc.*^      2,832,940  
     

 

 

 
        6,175,995  
     

 

 

 
IT Services (2.6%):       
  15,949      CACI International, Inc., Class A*      3,987,091  
  50,644      CoreLogic, Inc.*      2,213,649  
  90,256      KBR, Inc.      2,752,808  
  43,115      LiveRamp Holdings, Inc.*      2,072,538  
  40,747      Maximus, Inc.      3,031,169  
  87,577      Perspecta, Inc.      2,315,536  
  174,434      Sabre Corp.      3,914,299  
  31,249      Science Applications International Corp.      2,719,288  
  71,650      Teradata Corp.*      1,918,071  
  27,571      WEX, Inc.*      5,775,021  
     

 

 

 
        30,699,470  
     

 

 

 
Leisure Products (0.8%):       
  51,953      Brunswick Corp.      3,116,141  
  220,818      Mattel, Inc.*^      2,992,084  
  36,623      Polaris, Inc.      3,724,559  
     

 

 

 
        9,832,784  
     

 

 

 
Life Sciences Tools & Services (1.8%):       
  13,761      Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Class A*      5,091,983  
  24,273      Bio-Techne Corp.      5,328,167  
  31,105      Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.*      4,751,600  
  40,282      PRA Health Sciences, Inc.*      4,477,344  
  39,664      Syneos Health, Inc.*      2,359,016  
     

 

 

 
        22,008,110  
     

 

 

 
Shares           

    

    

    

    

    

Fair Value

 
Common Stocks, continued       
Machinery (4.3%):       
  39,922      AGCO Corp.    $ 3,083,975  
  53,248      Colfax Corp.*^      1,937,162  
  32,470      Crane Co.      2,804,759  
  80,605      Donaldson Co., Inc.      4,644,460  
  106,220      Graco, Inc.      5,523,441  
  55,855      ITT, Inc.      4,128,243  
  52,770      Kennametal, Inc.      1,946,685  
  38,945      Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc.      3,767,150  
  32,587      Nordson Corp.      5,306,467  
  43,345      Oshkosh Corp.      4,102,604  
  41,777      Terex Corp.      1,244,119  
  43,175      Timken Co.      2,431,184  
  67,893      Toro Co.      5,409,035  
  62,509      Trinity Industries, Inc.      1,384,574  
  35,913      Woodward, Inc.      4,253,536  
     

 

 

 
        51,967,394  
     

 

 

 
Marine (0.3%):       
  38,179      Kirby Corp.*      3,418,166  
     

 

 

 
Media (1.1%):       
  28,070      AMC Networks, Inc., Class A*      1,108,765  
  3,201      Cable One, Inc.      4,764,592  
  27,863      John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Class A      1,351,913  
  25,733      Meredith Corp.      835,551  
  91,555      New York Times Co. (The), Class A      2,945,324  
  138,143      Tegna, Inc.      2,305,607  
     

 

 

 
        13,311,752  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (1.9%):       
  80,302      Allegheny Technologies, Inc.*      1,659,039  
  30,392      Carpenter Technology Corp.      1,512,914  
  75,566      Commercial Metals Co.      1,682,855  
  21,580      Compass Minerals International, Inc.      1,315,517  
  42,453      Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.      5,084,171  
  41,775      Royal Gold, Inc.      5,106,994  
  137,218      Steel Dynamics, Inc.      4,670,901  
  108,295      United States Steel Corp.^      1,235,646  
  23,507      Worthington Industries, Inc.      991,525  
     

 

 

 
        23,259,562  
     

 

 

 
Multiline Retail (0.2%):       
  6,278      Dillard’s, Inc., Class A^      461,307  
  34,829      Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc.*^      2,274,682  
     

 

 

 
        2,735,989  
     

 

 

 
Multi-Utilities (0.8%):       
  39,139      Black Hills Corp.      3,073,977  
  127,622      MDU Resources Group, Inc.      3,791,650  
  32,129      NorthWestern Corp.      2,302,685  
     

 

 

 
        9,168,312  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (1.5%):       
  189,166      Antero Midstream Corp.^      1,435,770  
  725,951      Chesapeake Energy Corp.*      599,345  
  120,705      CNX Resources Corp.*      1,068,239  
  162,815      EQT Corp.      1,774,684  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares           

    

    

    

    

    

Fair Value

 
Common Stocks, continued       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
  129,794      Equitrans Midstream Corp.    $ 1,734,048  
  69,830      Matador Resources Co.*      1,254,845  
  95,131      Murphy Oil Corp.      2,549,511  
  64,878      PBF Energy, Inc., Class A      2,035,223  
  41,647      World Fuel Services Corp.      1,808,313  
  265,416      WPX Energy, Inc.*      3,646,815  
     

 

 

 
        17,906,793  
     

 

 

 
Paper & Forest Products (0.3%):       
  36,476      Domtar Corp.      1,394,842  
  74,804      Louisiana-Pacific Corp.      2,219,435  
     

 

 

 
        3,614,277  
     

 

 

 
Personal Products (0.2%):       
  34,524      Edgewell Personal Care Co.*      1,068,863  
  35,377      Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc., Class A      1,449,750  
     

 

 

 
        2,518,613  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (0.7%):       
  93,182      Catalent, Inc.*      5,246,146  
  112,042      Nektar Therapeutics*      2,418,427  
  31,993      Prestige Consumer Healthcare, Inc.*      1,295,717  
     

 

 

 
        8,960,290  
     

 

 

 
Professional Services (0.9%):       
  33,628      ASGN, Inc.*      2,386,579  
  23,967      FTI Consulting, Inc.*      2,652,188  
  23,946      Insperity, Inc.      2,060,314  
  37,552      ManpowerGroup, Inc.      3,646,299  
     

 

 

 
        10,745,380  
     

 

 

 
Real Estate Management & Development (0.5%):       
  32,822      Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.      5,713,982  
     

 

 

 
Road & Rail (0.8%):       
  36,204      Avis Budget Group, Inc.*      1,167,217  
  78,251      Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, Inc.      2,804,516  
  25,133      Landstar System, Inc.      2,861,894  
  33,941      Ryder System, Inc.      1,843,336  
  28,364      Werner Enterprises, Inc.      1,032,166  
     

 

 

 
        9,709,129  
     

 

 

 
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (4.0%):       
  18,536      Cabot Microelectronics Corp.      2,675,116  
  36,811      Cirrus Logic, Inc.*      3,033,595  
  68,599      Cree, Inc.*      3,165,844  
  235,211      Cypress Semiconductor Corp.      5,487,473  
  48,335      First Solar, Inc.*      2,704,827  
  34,717      MKS Instruments, Inc.      3,819,217  
  25,729      Monolithic Power Systems, Inc.      4,580,277  
  42,191      Semtech Corp.*      2,231,904  
  27,624      Silicon Laboratories, Inc.*      3,203,832  
  30,900      SolarEdge Technologies, Inc.*      2,938,281  
  21,157      Synaptics, Inc.*      1,391,496  
  106,728      Teradyne, Inc.      7,277,781  
  27,004      Universal Display Corp.      5,564,713  
     

 

 

 
        48,074,356  
     

 

 

 
Shares           

    

    

    

    

    

Fair Value

 
Common Stocks, continued       
Software (3.6%):       
  73,623      ACI Worldwide, Inc.*    $ 2,789,207  
  31,326      Blackbaud, Inc.      2,493,550  
  77,317      CDK Global, Inc.      4,227,694  
  63,872      Ceridian HCM Holding, Inc.*      4,335,631  
  26,836      CommVault Systems, Inc.*      1,197,959  
  18,445      Fair Isaac Corp.*      6,910,972  
  29,484      J2 Global, Inc.      2,762,946  
  31,090      LogMeIn, Inc.      2,665,657  
  40,698      Manhattan Associates, Inc.*      3,245,666  
  66,200      PTC, Inc.*      4,957,718  
  24,891      Tyler Technologies, Inc.*      7,467,797  
     

 

 

 
        43,054,797  
     

 

 

 
Specialty Retail (2.2%):       
  42,768      Aaron’s, Inc.      2,442,480  
  101,153      American Eagle Outfitters, Inc.      1,486,949  
  37,500      AutoNation, Inc.*      1,823,625  
  80,608      Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc.      1,394,518  
  40,503      Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc.      2,004,493  
  35,457      Five Below, Inc.*      4,533,533  
  68,172      Foot Locker, Inc.      2,658,026  
  18,415      Murphy U.S.A., Inc.*      2,154,555  
  10,420      RH*      2,224,670  
  74,086      Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc.*      1,352,070  
  44,927      Urban Outfitters, Inc.*      1,247,623  
  49,430      Williams-Sonoma, Inc.      3,630,139  
     

 

 

 
        26,952,681  
     

 

 

 
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals (0.2%):       
  81,267      NCR Corp.*      2,857,348  
     

 

 

 
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods (1.0%):       
  28,117      Carter’s, Inc.      3,074,313  
  18,465      Columbia Sportswear Co.      1,850,008  
  17,818      Deckers Outdoor Corp.*      3,008,747  
  85,288      Skechers U.S.A., Inc., Class A*      3,683,589  
     

 

 

 
        11,616,657  
     

 

 

 
Thrifts & Mortgage Finance (0.6%):       
  4,885      LendingTree, Inc.*      1,482,304  
  297,649      New York Community Bancorp, Inc.      3,577,741  
  49,897      Washington Federal, Inc.      1,828,725  
     

 

 

 
        6,888,770  
     

 

 

 
Trading Companies & Distributors (0.7%):       
  22,355      GATX Corp.      1,852,112  
  28,688      MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc., Class A      2,251,147  
  69,405      NOW, Inc.*      780,112  
  20,793      Watsco, Inc.      3,745,859  
     

 

 

 
        8,629,230  
     

 

 

 
Water Utilities (0.5%):       
  137,466      Aqua America, Inc.      6,452,654  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.1%):       
  62,289      Telephone & Data Systems, Inc.      1,584,009  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Common Stocks (Cost $911,671,123)

     1,162,711,989  
  

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Private Placements (0.9%):       
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail (0.7%):       
  76,914      Airbnb, Inc., Series D, 0.00%(a)(b)    $ 8,952,020  
     

 

 

 
Software (0.2%):       
  229,712      Palantir Technologies, Inc., Series G, 0.00%*(a)(b)      1,359,896  
  67,672      Palantir Technologies, Inc., Series H, 0.00%(a)(b)      400,618  
  67,672      Palantir Technologies, Inc., Series H1, 0.00%(a)(b)      400,618  
     

 

 

 
        2,161,132  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Private Placements (Cost $4,309,378)

     11,113,152  
  

 

 

 
Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan (1.5%):  
  18,299,777      BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, 2.00%(c)(d)      18,299,777  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on
Loan (Cost $18,299,777)

     18,299,777  
  

 

 

 
Unaffiliated Investment Companies (2.0%):       
Money Markets (2.0%):       
   24,067,117      Dreyfus Treasury Securities Cash Management Fund, Institutional Shares, 1.44%(d)      24,067,117  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Unaffiliated Investment Companies (Cost $24,067,117)

     24,067,117  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities (Cost $958,347,395) — 101.3%(e)

     1,216,192,035  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — (1.3)%

     (16,037,743
  

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 1,200,154,292  
  

 

 

 

    

 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

 

*

Non-income producing security.

 

^

This security or a partial position of this security was on loan as of December 31, 2019. The total value of securities on loan as of December 31, 2019 was $17,958,965.

 

(a)

Security was valued using unobservable inputs in good faith pursuant to procedures approved by the Board of Trustees as of December 31, 2019. The total of all such securities represent 0.93% of the net assets of the fund.

 

(b)

Rule 144A, Section 4(2) or other security which is restricted to resale to institutional investors. The sub-adviser has deemed these securities to be illiquid based on procedures approved by the Board of Trustees. As of December 31, 2019, these securities represent 0.93% of the net assets of the fund.

 

(c)

Purchased with cash collateral held from securities lending. The value of the collateral could include collateral held for securities that were sold on or before December 31, 2019.

 

(d)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(e)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

Futures Contracts

Cash of $924,000 has been segregated to cover margin requirements for the following open contracts as of December 31, 2019:

Long Futures

 

Description    Expiration
Date
     Number of
Contracts
     Notional
Amount
     Value and
Unrealized
Appreciation/
(Depreciation)
 

S&P MidCap 400 E-Mini March Futures (U.S Dollar)

     3/20/20        134      $ 27,668,320      $ 45,067  
           

 

 

 
            $ 45,067  
           

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investment securities, at cost

    $ 958,347,395
   

 

 

 

Investment securities, at value(a)

    $ 1,216,192,035

Cash

      4,068,624

Segregated cash for collateral for futures contracts

      924,000

Interest and dividends receivable

      1,346,563

Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts

      24,008

Reclaims receivable

      7,922

Prepaid expenses

      4,178
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      1,222,567,330
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Payable for investments purchased

      2,224,753

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      1,265,581

Payable for collateral received on loaned securities

      18,299,777

Manager fees payable

      252,905

Administration fees payable

      7,411

Distribution fees payable

      242,372

Custodian fees payable

      6,640

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      4,237

Transfer agent fees payable

      1,958

Trustee fees payable

      1,042

Other accrued liabilities

      106,362
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      22,413,038
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 1,200,154,292
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 899,850,272

Total distributable earnings

      300,304,020
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 1,200,154,292
   

 

 

 

Class 1

   

Net Assets

    $ 50,096,550

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      6,049,874

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 8.28
   

 

 

 

Class 2

   

Net Assets

    $ 1,150,057,742

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      52,494,258

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 21.91
   

 

 

 

 

(a)

Includes securities on loan of $17,958,965.

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Dividends

    $ 18,847,776

Interest

      13,254

Income from securities lending

      298,893

Foreign withholding tax

      (5,972 )
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      19,153,951
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      2,946,101

Administration fees

      317,654

Distribution fees — Class 2

      2,823,400

Custodian fees

      35,742

Administrative and compliance services fees

      20,397

Transfer agent fees

      11,473

Trustee fees

      63,489

Professional fees

      57,193

Shareholder reports

      34,548

Other expenses

      267,840
   

 

 

 

Total expenses

      6,577,837
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      12,576,114
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities and foreign currencies

      29,384,338

Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts

      3,499,155

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities

      215,670,335

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts

      125,322
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      248,679,150
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 261,255,264
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

10


AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 12,576,114     $ 13,575,806

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      32,883,493       84,980,232

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      215,795,657       (233,799,508 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      261,255,264       (135,243,470 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Class 1

      (8,975,429 )       (9,683,057 )

Class 2

      (86,015,224 )       (101,907,745 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (94,990,653 )       (111,590,802 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Class 1

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      92,252       21,928

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      8,975,429       9,683,057

Value of shares redeemed

      (5,774,892 )       (5,556,511 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 1 Shares

      3,292,789       4,148,474
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Class 2

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      11,787,126       107,730,060

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      86,015,225       101,907,744

Value of shares redeemed

      (132,133,299 )       (166,722,565 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 2 Shares

      (34,330,948 )       42,915,239
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      (31,038,159 )       47,063,713
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      135,226,452       (199,770,559 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      1,064,927,840       1,264,698,399
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 1,200,154,292     $ 1,064,927,840
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Class 1

       

Shares issued

      10,059       2,559

Dividends reinvested

      1,188,799       1,040,071

Shares redeemed

      (640,518 )       (507,788 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 1 Shares

      558,340       534,842
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Class 2

       

Shares issued

      564,844       4,469,475

Dividends reinvested

      4,305,066       4,694,046

Shares redeemed

      (6,051,749 )       (7,047,273 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 2 Shares

      (1,181,839 )       2,116,248
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      (623,499 )       2,651,090
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

11


AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

    Year Ended December 31,
     2019   2018   2017   2016^   2015

Class 1

                   

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 8.16     $ 11.25     $ 10.90     $ 10.00    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.12 (a)       0.15       0.25       0.12    

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      1.79       (1.13 )       1.41       0.78    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total from Investment Activities

      1.91       (0.98 )       1.66       0.90    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.30 )       (0.28 )       (0.12 )          

Net Realized Gains

      (1.49 )       (1.83 )       (1.19 )          
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total Dividends

      (1.79 )       (2.11 )       (1.31 )          
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 8.28     $ 8.16     $ 11.25     $ 10.90    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total Return(b)

      25.47 %       (11.01 )%       16.08 %       9.00 %(c)    

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 50,096     $ 44,788     $ 55,764     $ 54,300    

Net Investment Income/(Loss)(d)

      1.31 %       1.32 %       1.27 %       1.26 %    

Expenses Before Reductions(d)(e)

      0.32 %       0.31 %       0.31 %       0.31 %    

Expenses Net of Reductions(d)

      0.32 %       0.31 %       0.31 %       0.31 %    

Portfolio Turnover Rate(f)

      14 %       18 %       21 %       86 %(g)    

Class 2

                   

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 19.00     $ 23.45     $ 21.45     $ 21.10     $ 23.49
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.23 (a)       0.25       0.24       0.13       0.30

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      4.41       (2.65 )       3.06       3.67       (0.91 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      4.64       (2.40 )       3.30       3.80       (0.61 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.24 )       (0.22 )       (0.11 )       (0.24 )       (0.27 )

Net Realized Gains

      (1.49 )       (1.83 )       (1.19 )       (3.21 )       (1.51 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (1.73 )       (2.05 )       (1.30 )       (3.45 )       (1.78 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 21.91     $ 19.00     $ 23.45     $ 21.45     $ 21.10
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(b)

      25.28 %       (11.35 )%       15.80 %       19.52 %       (2.67 )%

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 1,150,058     $ 1,020,140     $ 1,208,935     $ 1,222,550     $ 406,092

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      1.06 %       1.08 %       1.02 %       1.14 %       0.95 %

Expenses Before Reductions(e)

      0.57 %       0.56 %       0.56 %       0.57 %       0.57 %

Expenses Net of Reductions

      0.57 %       0.56 %       0.56 %       0.57 %       0.57 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate(f)

      14 %       18 %       21 %       86 %(g)       26 %

 

^

Class 1 activity is for the period October 17, 2016 (commencement of operations) to December 31, 2016.

 

(a)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(b)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(c)

Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(d)

Annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(e)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

(f)

Portfolio turnover rate is calculated on the basis of the Fund as a whole without distinguishing between classes of shares issued. Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(g)

Cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of portfolio securities incurred to realign the Fund’s portfolio after the fund merger are excluded from the portfolio turnover rate. If such amounts had not been excluded, the portfolio turnover rate would have been 86%.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

12


AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services — Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL Mid Cap Index Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Private Placements

The Fund may invest in private placement securities which are securities issued by corporations without registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”), in reliance on a “private placement” exemption. These unregistered securities may be restricted and generally are sold to institutional investors, such as the Fund, who agree that they are purchasing the securities for investment and not with a view to public distribution. Unregistered securities are normally resold to other institutional investors through or with the assistance of the issuer or investment dealers who make a market in such securities.

Foreign Currency Translation and Withholding Taxes

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding and other income or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Funds accrue such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

 

13


AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Each class of shares bears its pro-rata portion of expenses attributable to its series, except that each class separately bears expenses related specifically to that class, such as distribution fees. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

Class Allocation

The investment income, expenses (other than class specific expenses charged to a class), realized and unrealized gains and losses on investments of the Fund are allocated to each class of shares based upon relative net assets on the date income is earned or expenses and realized and unrealized gains and losses are incurred.

Securities Lending

To generate additional income, the Fund may lend up to 331/3% of its assets pursuant to agreements requiring that the loan be continuously secured by any combination of cash, U.S. government or U.S. government agency securities, equal initially to at least 102% of the fair value plus accrued interest on the securities loaned (105% for foreign securities). The borrower of securities is at all times required to post collateral to the Fund in an amount equal to 100% of the fair value of the securities loaned based on the previous day’s fair value of the securities loaned, marked-to-market daily. Any collateral shortfalls are adjusted the next business day. The Fund bears all of the gains and losses on such investments. The Fund receives payments from borrowers equivalent to the dividends and interest that would have been earned on securities lent while simultaneously seeking to earn income on the investment of cash collateral received. In extremely low interest rate environments, the broker rebate fee may exceed the interest earned or the cash collateral which would result in a loss to the Fund. The investment of cash collateral deposited by the borrower is subject to inherent market risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks that are present in the market, and as such, the value of these investments may not be sufficient, when liquidated, to repay the borrower when the loaned security is returned. There may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. However, loans will be made only to borrowers, such as broker-dealers, banks or institutional borrowers of securities, deemed by the Manager to be of good standing and credit worthy and when in its judgment, the consideration which can be earned currently from such securities loans justifies the attendant risks. Loans are subject to termination by the Trust or the borrower at any time, and are, therefore, not considered to be illiquid investments. Securities on loan at December 31, 2019 are presented on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

Cash collateral received in connection with securities lending is invested on behalf of the Fund in the BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, a money market fund which invests in short-term investments that have a remaining maturity of 397 days or less in accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. The Fund pays the Securities Lending Agent 9% of the gross revenues received from securities lending activities and keeps 91%. The Fund paid securities lending fees of $29,383 during the year ended December 31, 2019. These fees have been netted against “Income from securities lending” on the Statement of Operations. The Fund had securities lending transactions of $18,299,777 accounted for as secured borrowings with cash collateral of overnight and continuous maturities as of December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019, there were no master netting provisions in the securities lending agreement.

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not engage in any Rule 17a-7 transactions under the Rule.

Derivative Instruments

All open derivative positions at period end are reflected on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments. The following is a description of the derivative instruments utilized by the Fund, including the primary underlying risk exposures related to each instrument type.

Futures Contracts

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund used futures contracts to provide market exposure on the Fund’s cash balances. Futures contracts are valued based upon their quoted daily settlement prices. Upon entering into a futures contract, the Fund is required to segregate liquid assets in accordance with the initial margin requirements of the broker or exchange. Futures contracts are marked to market daily and a payable or receivable for the change in value (“variation margin”) is recorded by the Fund. Gains or losses are recognized but not considered realized until the contracts expire or are closed. Futures contracts involve, to varying degrees, elements of market risk (generally equity price risk related to stock futures, interest rate risk related to bond futures, and foreign currency risk related to currency futures) and exposure to loss in excess of the variation margin disclosed in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are the imperfect correlation between the change in fair value of the underlying securities and the prices of futures contracts, the possibility of an illiquid market, and the inability of the counterparty to meet the terms of the contract. The monthly average notional amount for long contracts was $17.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Realized gains and losses are reported as “Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts” on the Statement of Operations.

 

14


AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Summary of Derivative Instruments

The following is a summary of the fair values of derivative instruments on the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities, categorized by risk exposure, as of December 31, 2019:

 

   

Asset Derivatives

   

Liability Derivatives

 
Primary Risk Exposure   Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
    Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
 

Equity Risk

       
Equity Contracts   Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $ 45,067     Payable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $  

 

*

For futures contracts, the amounts represent the cumulative appreciation/depreciation of these futures contracts as reported in the Schedule of Portfolio Investments. Only the current day’s variation margin is reported within the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as Variation margin on futures contracts.

The following is a summary of the effect of derivative instruments on the Statement of Operations, categorized by risk exposure, for the year ended December 31, 2019:

 

Primary Risk Exposure   Location of Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
   Realized Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
     Change in Net Unrealized
Appreciation/Depreciation
on Derivatives Recognized
 

Equity Risk

       
Equity Contracts  

Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts/

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts

   $ 3,499,155        $125,322  

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to a subadvisory agreement with BlackRock Investment Management, LLC (“BlackRock Investment”), BlackRock Investment provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate      Annual Expense Limit

AZL Mid Cap Index Fund Class 1

         0.25 %          0.46 %

AZL Mid Cap Index Fund Class 2

         0.25 %          0.71 %

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations. During the year ended December 31, 2019, there were no voluntary waivers.

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

 

15


AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the average daily net assets attributable of Class 2 shares, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $8,854 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Futures contracts are valued at the last sales price as of the close of the primary exchange and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy.

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total

Common Stocks+

       $ 1,162,711,989        $        $        $ 1,162,711,989

Private Placements+

                           11,113,152          11,113,152

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

         18,299,777                            18,299,777

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

         24,067,117                            24,067,117
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

         1,205,078,883                   11,113,152          1,216,192,035
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Other Financial Instruments:*

                           

Futures Contracts

         45,067                            45,067
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $ 1,205,123,950        $        $ 11,113,152        $ 1,216,237,102
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

*

Other Financial Instruments would include any derivative instruments, such as futures contracts. These investments are generally presented in the financial statements at variation margin.

 

16


AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

       $ 163,081,393        $ 288,147,235

6. Restricted Securities

A restricted security is a security which has been purchased through a private offering and cannot be resold to the general public without prior registration under the Securities Act of 1933 (the “1933 Act”) or pursuant to the resale limitations provided by Rule 144A under the 1933 Act, or an exemption from the registration requirements of the 1933 Act. Whether a restricted security is illiquid is determined pursuant to guidelines established by the Trustees. Not all restricted securities are considered illiquid. The illiquid restricted securities held as of December 31, 2019 are identified below.

 

Security      Acquisition
Date(a)
     Acquisition
Cost
     Shares or
Principal
Amount
     Fair
Value
     Percentage of
Net
Assets

Airbnb, Inc., Series D, 0.00%

         4/16/14        $ 3,131,402        $ 76,914        $ 8,952,020          0.76 %

Palantir Technologies, Inc., Series H1, 0.00%

         10/25/13          237,529          67,672          400,618          0.03 %

Palantir Technologies, Inc., Series G, 0.00%

         7/19/12          702,919          229,712          1,359,896          0.11 %

Palantir Technologies, Inc., Series H, 0.00%

         10/25/13          237,529          67,672          400,618          0.03 %

 

(a)

Acquisition date represents the initial purchase date of the security.

7. Investment Risks

Derivatives Risk: The Fund may invest in derivatives as a principal strategy. A derivative is a financial contract whose value depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or risk. Use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Derivatives are subject to a number of other risks, such as liquidity risk, interest rate risk, market risk, credit risk, and selection risk. Derivatives also involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate, or index. Using derivatives may result in losses, possibly in excess of the principal amount invested. Also, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances. The counterparty to a derivatives contract could default. As required by applicable law, a Fund that invests in derivatives segregates cash or liquid securities, or both, to the extent that its obligations under the instrument are not covered through ownership of the underlying security, financial instrument, or currency.

8. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $961,329,223. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 314,976,203  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (60,113,391
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 254,862,812  
 

 

 

 

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

       $ 20,013,506        $ 74,977,147        $ 94,990,653

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

       $ 34,030,891        $ 77,559,911        $ 111,590,802

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

 

17


AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
     Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
     Total
Accumulated
Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

       $ 13,125,873        $ 32,315,337        $        $ 254,862,810        $ 300,304,020

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales, mark-to-market of futures contracts and other miscellaneous differences.

9. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had an individual shareholder account which is affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 40% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

10. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

18


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL Mid Cap Index Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL Mid Cap Index Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

19


Other Federal Income Tax Information (Unaudited)

For the year ended December 31, 2019, 43.43% of the total ordinary income dividends paid by the Fund qualify for the corporate dividends received deductions available to corporate shareholders.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net short-term capital gain distributions of $6,691,892.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net long-term capital gain distributions of $74,977,147.

 

20


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

21


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for

 

22


the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1)The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2)The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3)The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

 

23


The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

24


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

25


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

26


LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL® Moderate Index Strategy Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 5

Statement of Operations

Page 5

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 6

Financial Highlights

Page 7

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 8

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 12

Other Federal Income Tax Information

Page 13

Other Information

Page 14

Approval of Investment Advisory Agreement

Page 15

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 17

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® Moderate Index Strategy Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® Moderate Index Strategy Fund.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® Moderate Index Strategy Fund (the “Fund”) returned 19.33%. That compared to a 31.49%, 8.72% and 22.11% total return for its benchmarks, the S&P 500 Index1, the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index1 and the Moderate Composite Index1, respectively.

The Fund is a fund of funds that pursues broad diversification across four underlying equity portfolios and one fixed income portfolio. The four equity portfolios pursue passive strategies that aim to achieve, before fees, returns similar to the S&P 500 Index (S&P 500), the S&P MidCap 400 Index2, the S&P SmallCap 600 Index3 and the MSCI EAFE4 Index. The fixed-income sub-portfolio is an enhanced bond index strategy that seeks to achieve a return that exceeds that of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. Generally, the Fund allocates 50% to 70% of its assets to the underlying equity portfolios and between 30% and 50% to the underlying fixed income portfolio.*

U.S. equities rebounded strongly in the first quarter of 2019, gaining 13.65% (S&P 500) while reacting positively to the dovish stance taken by the Federal Reserve Board (the Fed). U.S. equities continued to rise throughout the year, gaining in each of the four quarters. U.S. equities reacted favorably to the Fed’s dovish stance and a generally encouraging earnings environment, while mostly shrugging off international trade tensions and stagnating global growth. The S&P 500 Index returned 31.49% for the year, while the S&P 400 Index returned 26.20% and the S&P 600 Index returned 22.78%. Growth stocks continued a longer-term trend, outperforming value stocks for the year.

International developed market equities, as measured by the MSCI EAFE, returned 22.01% for the year. International equities failed to keep pace with U.S. equities, grappling with trade tensions and slowing global growth. U.S. bonds gained during the year, as the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index returned 8.72%. Yields mostly fell throughout the year. In particular, September saw 10-year Treasury yield fall to levels last seen in July 2016. The Fed cut interest rates three times. Although the Treasury yield curve was partially inverted at the beginning of the year, the curve continued to flatten during the first three quarters, with the 2-year Treasury briefly out-yielding the

10-year Treasury in August. The curve steepened in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, credit spreads tightened during the year, leading corporate bonds and other credit-sensitive bonds to outperform U.S. Government bonds.

The Fund, which invests in both U.S. and international markets, underperformed its blended benchmark during the 12-month period. The Fund’s strategic allocation to developed international equities was the primary detractor from relative results, as U.S. equities outperformed

during the year. In addition, a strategic allocation to mid- and small-cap U.S. equities detracted, as these stocks underperformed large-cap equities.*

Within the Fund’s fixed income holdings, an underweight to duration kept the Fund from fully benefiting from the decline in interest rates during the year, which caused the Fund’s fixed income allocation to modestly lag its fixed income benchmark.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

*

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmarks please refer to page 2 of this report.

2 

The Standard & Poor’s MidCap 400 Index (S&P 400) is the most widely used index for mid-sized companies. The S&P 400 covers 7% of the U.S. equities market, and is part of a series of S&P U.S. indexes that can be used as building blocks for portfolio composition.

3 

The Standard & Poor’s SmallCap 600 Index (S&P 600) covers approximately 3% of the domestic equities market. Measuring the small-cap segment of the market that is typically renowned for poor trading liquidity and financial instability, the index is designed to be an efficient portfolio of companies that meet specific inclusion criteria to ensure that they are investable and financially viable.

4 

MSCI EAFE Index (MSCI EAFE) is a free float-adjusted market capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed markets, excluding the U.S. & Canada.

The indexes defined above are unmanaged. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 
 

 

1


AZL® Moderate Index Strategy Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing primarily in a combination of five underlying index funds (the ”Index Strategy Underlying Funds”), allocating 50%–70% of its assets in the underlying equity index funds and 30%–50% of its assets in the underlying bond index fund.

Investment Concerns

The Fund invests in underlying funds, so its investment performance is directly related to the performance of those underlying funds. Before investing, investors should assess the risks associated with and types of investments made by each of the underlying funds in which the Fund invests.

International investing may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuations in currency values, from differences in generally accepted accounting principles or from economic or political instability in other nations.

Stocks are more volatile and carry more risk and return potential than other forms of investments.

Small- to mid-capitalization companies typically have a higher risk of failure and historically have experienced a greater degree of volatility.

The performance of the Fund is expected to be lower than that of the Indexes because of Fund fees and expenses. Securities in which the Fund will invest may involve substantial risk and may be subject to sudden severe price declines.

Investing in a single industry or sector, or concentrating investments in a limited number of industries or sectors, tends to increase the risk that economic, political, or regulatory developments affecting certain industries or sectors will have a large impact on the value of the portfolio.

Debt securities held by the Fund may decline in value due to rising interest rates.

Mortgage-backed investments involve risk of loss due to prepayments and, like any bond, due to default. Because of the sensitivity of mortgage-related securities to changes in interest rates, the Fund’s performance may be more volatile than if it did not hold these securities.

Bonds offer a relatively stable level of income, although bond prices will fluctuate, providing the potential for principal gain or loss.

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmarks and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

     1
Year
    3
Year
    5
Year
    10
Year
 

AZL® Moderate Index Strategy Fund

     19.33     8.63     6.37     8.46

S&P 500 Index

     31.49     15.27     11.70     13.56

Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index

     8.72     4.03     3.05     3.75

Moderate Composite Index

     22.11     10.89     8.35     9.81

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratio

   Gross  

AZL® Moderate Index Strategy Fund

     1.01

The above expense ratio is based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.05% on all assets. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense and acquired fund fees and expenses), to 0.20% through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratio can be found in the Financial Highlights.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

Acquired fund fees and expenses are incurred indirectly by the Fund through the valuation of the Fund’s investments in the Permitted Underlying Funds. Accordingly, acquired fund fees and expenses affect the Fund’s total returns. Because these fees and expenses are not included in the Fund’s financial highlights, the Fund’s total annual fund operating expenses, as shown in the prospectus, do not correlate to the ratios of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights. Without acquired fund fees and expenses the Fund’s gross expense ratio would be 0.42%.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index (“S&P 500”), the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index and the Moderate Composite Index (“Composite”). The S&P 500 is representative of 500 selected common stocks, most of which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and is a measure of the U.S. Stock market as a whole. The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is a market value-weighted performance benchmark for investment-grade fixed-rate debt issues, including government, corporate, asset-backed, and mortgage-backed securities, with maturities of at least one year. The Composite is a blended index comprised of (60%) of the S&P 500 and (40%) of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. These indexes are unmanaged and do not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The Fund’s performance reflects the deduction of fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

 

2


AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,062.80     $ 0.42       0.08 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,024.80     $ 0.41       0.08 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

Domestic Equity Funds

      45.5 %

Fixed Income Funds

      39.3

International Equity Funds

      15.2
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      100.0

Net other assets (liabilities)

     
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

3


AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares

           Fair Value  
Affiliated Investment Companies (100.0%):       
Domestic Equity Funds (45.5%):  
  10,644,430      AZL S&P 500 Index Fund, Class 2    $ 194,154,397  
  2,558,963      AZL Mid Cap Index Fund, Class 2      56,066,872  
  2,141,433      AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund, Class 2      28,331,154  
     

 

 

 
        278,552,423  
     

 

 

 
Fixed Income Funds (39.3%):  
  21,462,737      AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund      240,597,281  
     

 

 

 
        240,597,281  
     

 

 

 
International Equity Funds (15.2%):  
  5,535,451      AZL International Index Fund, Class 2      92,940,215  
     

 

 

 
        92,940,215  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Affiliated Investment Companies (Cost $531,924,028)

     612,089,919  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities
(Cost $531,924,028) — 100.0%(a)

     612,089,919  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — 0.0%†

     (105,722
  

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 611,984,197  
  

 

 

 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

(a)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

    

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investments in affiliates, at cost

    $ 531,924,028
   

 

 

 

Investments in affiliates, at value

    $ 612,089,919

Interest and dividends receivable

      180

Foreign currency, at value (cost $109,648)

      108,895

Receivable for affiliated investments sold

      395,125

Reclaims receivable

      54,363

Prepaid expenses

      2,088
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      612,650,570
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Cash overdraft

      395,125

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      209,539

Manager fees payable

      25,855

Administration fees payable

      5,360

Custodian fees payable

      1,486

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      2,212

Transfer agent fees payable

      1,010

Trustee fees payable

      544

Other accrued liabilities

      25,242
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      666,373
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 611,984,197
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 500,115,308

Total distributable earnings

      111,868,889
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 611,984,197
   

 

 

 

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      45,953,816

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 13.32
   

 

 

 

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Dividends from affiliates

    $ 11,417,845

Dividends from non-affiliates

      153
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      11,417,998
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      2,447,307

Administration fees

      67,089

Custodian fees

      9,605

Administrative and compliance services fees

      11,368

Transfer agent fees

      6,211

Trustee fees

      35,909

Professional fees

      31,604

Shareholder reports

      19,417

Other expenses

      20,039
   

 

 

 

Total expenses before reductions

      2,648,549

Less expenses voluntarily waived/reimbursed by the Manager

      (2,141,386 )
   

 

 

 

Net expenses

      507,163
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      10,910,835
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities and foreign currencies

      180,195

Net realized gains/(losses) on affiliated underlying funds

      8,354,770

Net realized gains distributions from affiliated underlying funds

      12,608,034

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities and foreign currencies

      195

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on affiliated transactions

      75,300,193
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      96,443,387
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 107,354,222
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 10,910,835     $ 11,980,523

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      21,142,999       28,325,365

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      75,300,388       (72,403,125 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      107,354,222       (32,097,237 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Distributions

      (40,584,497 )       (32,709,295 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (40,584,497 )       (32,709,295 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      9,874,464       4,831,098

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      40,584,497       32,709,295

Value of shares redeemed

      (95,336,967 )       (123,600,657 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      (44,878,006 )       (86,060,264 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      21,891,719       (150,866,796 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      590,092,478       740,959,274
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 611,984,197     $ 590,092,478
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Shares issued

      756,832       361,486

Dividends reinvested

      3,228,679       2,589,810

Shares redeemed

      (7,273,028 )       (9,401,786 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      (3,287,517 )       (6,450,490 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

    Year Ended December 31,
     2019   2018   2017   2016   2015

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 11.98     $ 13.30     $ 15.54     $ 15.03     $ 16.50
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.23 (a)       0.26       0.12       0.32       0.19

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      2.03       (0.92 )       1.78       1.00       (0.61 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      2.26       (0.66 )       1.90       1.32       (0.42 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.32 )       (0.13 )       (0.35 )       (0.30 )       (0.36 )

Net Realized Gains

      (0.60 )       (0.53 )       (3.79 )       (0.51 )       (0.69 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (0.92 )       (0.66 )       (4.14 )       (0.81 )       (1.05 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 13.32     $ 11.98     $ 13.30     $ 15.54     $ 15.03
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(b)

      19.33 %       (5.17 )%       13.30 %       8.91 %       (2.47 )%

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 611,984     $ 590,092     $ 740,959     $ 720,934     $ 1,282,506

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      1.78 %       1.75 %       0.77 %       1.25 %       1.22 %

Expenses Before Reductions*(c)

      0.43 %       0.42 %       0.43 %       0.96 %       1.05 %

Expenses Net of Reductions*

      0.08 %       0.07 %       0.08 %       0.83 %       0.96 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate

      5 %       4 %       7 %(d)       190 %       117 %

 

*

The expense ratios exclude the impact of fees/expenses paid by each underlying fund.

 

(a)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(b)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(c)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

(d)

The Fund’s purchase and sales of securities and, accordingly, portfolio turnover ratio decreased during 2017 as a result of a change in the Fund’s investment strategy which became effective October 14, 2016.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services — Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Fund is a “fund of funds,” which means that the Fund invests primarily in other mutual funds (the “Underlying Funds”). Underlying Funds invest in stock, bonds, and other securities and reflect varying amounts of potential investment risk and reward. The Underlying Funds record their investments at fair value. Periodically, the Fund will adjust its asset allocation as it seeks to achieve its investment objective.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available.

Foreign Currency Translation

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not engage in any Rule 17a-7 transactions under the Rule.

 

8


AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2020. Expenses incurred for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.”

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate*      Annual Expense Limit

AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund

         0.40 %          0.20 %

 

*

The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.05% on all assets. The manager reserves the right to increase the management fee to the amount shown in the table at any time.

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations.

The Manager or an affiliate of the Manager serves as the investment adviser of certain underlying funds in which the Fund invests. At December 31, 2019, these underlying funds are noted as Affiliated Investment Companies in the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments. Additional information, including financial statements, about these Funds is available at www.allianzlife.com. The Manager or an affiliate of the Manager is paid a separate fee from the underlying funds for such services. A summary of the Fund’s investments in affiliated investment companies for the year ended December 31, 2019 is as follows:

 

     Fair Value
12/31/2018
  Purchases
at Cost
  Proceeds from
Sales
  Net
Realized
Gains(Losses)
  Change in Net
Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation
  Fair Value
12/31/2019
  Shares as of
12/31/2019
  Dividend
Income
  Net Realized
Gains Distributions
from Affiliated
Underlying Funds

AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund

    $ 244,879,958     $ 12,151,010     $ (30,738,693 )     $ 718,746     $ 13,586,260     $ 240,597,281       21,462,737     $ 5,549,418     $

AZL International Index Fund, Class 2

      88,598,148       2,828,978       (13,774,134 )       851,811       14,435,412       92,940,215       5,535,451       2,127,053       544,060

AZL Mid Cap Index Fund, Class 2

      50,637,521       4,256,098       (6,969,885 )       307,578       7,835,560       56,066,872       2,558,963       579,745       3,636,350

AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund, Class 2

      24,401,994       3,123,407       (1,639,224 )       (129,173 )       2,574,150       28,331,154       2,141,433       261,473       2,661,919

AZL S&P 500 Index Fund, Class 2

      181,690,174       10,409,865       (41,420,261 )       6,605,808       36,868,811       194,154,397       10,644,430       2,900,156       5,765,705
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 
    $ 590,207,795     $ 32,769,358     $ (94,542,197 )     $ 8,354,770     $ 75,300,193     $ 612,089,919       42,343,014     $ 11,417,845     $ 12,608,034
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $4,599 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

 

9


AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Investments in other investment companies are valued at their published net asset value (“NAV”). Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). The investments utilizing Level 1 valuations represent investments in open-end investment companies.

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total

Affiliated Investment Companies+

       $ 612,089,919        $        $        $ 612,089,919
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $ 612,089,919          $—        $        $ 612,089,919
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund

       $ 32,769,358        $ 94,542,196

6. Investment Risks

Fund of Funds Risk: The Fund, as a shareholder of the underlying funds, indirectly bears its proportionate share of any investment management fees and other expenses of the underlying funds. Further due to the fees and expenses paid by the Fund, as well as small variations in the Fund’s actual allocations to the underlying funds and any futures and cash held in the Fund’s portfolio, the performance and income distributions of the Fund will not be the same as the performance and income distributions of the underlying funds.

7. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $ 532,300,814. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 79,789,105  

Unrealized (depreciation)

     
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 79,789,105  
 

 

 

 

 

10


AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund

       $ 14,322,026        $ 26,262,471        $ 40,584,497

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund

       $ 14,303,056        $ 18,406,239        $ 32,709,295

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
     Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
     Total
Accumulated
Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund

       $ 11,245,078        $ 20,833,793        $ —          $ 79,790,018        $ 111,868,889

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales.

8. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had an individual shareholder account which is affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 90% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

9. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

11


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian and transfer agent. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

12


Other Federal Income Tax Information (Unaudited)

For the year ended December 31, 2019, 26.91% of the total ordinary income dividends paid by the Fund qualify for the corporate dividends received deductions available to corporate shareholders.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net short-term capital gain distributions of $793.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net long-term capital gain distributions of $26,262,471.

 

13


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

14


Approval of Investment Advisory Agreement (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of the Fund, which is a series of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Fund by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). The Manager manages the Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of the Fund. For management services, the Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon the Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of the Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Fund is offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Fund is offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager. The Board’s decision to approve this contract reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of the contract, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including its compliance history and the adequacy of its compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Manager. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by employees of the Manager or of affiliates of the Manager and research services received by the Manager from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) payments made by the underlying funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement for the Fund.

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Fund and the Manager. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of the Management Agreement is informed by reports covering such matters as: the Manager’s investment philosophy, personnel and processes, and the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark). In connection with comparing the performance of the Fund versus its benchmark, the Board receives reports on the extent to which the Fund’s performance may be attributed to various applicable factors, such as asset class allocation decisions and volatility management strategies, the performance of the underlying funds, rebalancing decisions, and the impact of cash positions and Fund fees and expenses. The Board also receives reports on the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of any brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Manager and its affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Fund and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Fund and/or the Manager are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Manager, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Manager derives from its relationships with the Fund. These reports cover not only the fees under the Management Agreement, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Fund. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits the Manager or its affiliates may derive from its relationship with the Fund.

The Management Agreement was most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of the Management Agreement was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Management Agreement was approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreement with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreement, in respect of the Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Management Agreement on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to the Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of the investment adviser and the approval of the advisory fee. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers the Fund’s business and other affairs. The Trustees noted that the Manager also provides the Trust and the Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Fund) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Fund. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

 

15


The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager is responsible for maintaining and monitoring its own compliance program, and this compliance program has been continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and the Fund. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to the Fund under the Management Agreement.

(2) The investment performance of the Fund and the Manager. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting and the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, Trustees received extensive information on the performance results of the Fund. However, the Board also considered the fact that prior to October 14, 2016, the Fund was subadvised by Invesco Advisers, Inc., and managed pursuant to a different strategy. Accordingly, the investment performance of the Fund during the period prior to October 14, 2016, was not deemed relevant to the Board’s assessment of the continuance of the Management Agreement in 2019. The performance information considered included performance information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), the contribution to performance of the Manager’s asset class allocation decisions and volatility management strategies, the performance of the underlying funds, and the impact on performance of rebalancing decisions, cash and Fund fees. This included Lipper performance information on the Fund for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, for which period the Fund ranked in the top 40% against peers.

At the Board meeting held September 18, 2019, the Trustees determined that the investment performance of the Fund was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and its affiliates from the relationship with the Fund. The Board considered that the Manager receives an advisory fee from the Fund. The Manager reported that the advisory fee paid by the Fund put it in the 7th percentile of its customized peer group. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) Trustees were provided with information on the total expense ratios of the Fund and other funds in the customized peer groups, and the Manager reported upon the challenges in making peer group comparisons for the Fund.

The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Fund before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to the Fund.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Fund grows, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedule for the Fund does not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels. The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with funds that have substantial assets. The Board found there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Fund, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the Fund. The Board also noted that the total assets in the Fund, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $590 million.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Fund grows larger. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Fund’s advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under the Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Fund.

 

16


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

17


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

18


 

LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.   
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL® Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 7

Statement of Operations

Page 7

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 8

Financial Highlights

Page 9

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 10

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 15

Other Federal Income Tax Information

Page 16

Other Information

Page 17

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 18

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 21

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and Morgan Stanley Investment Management Inc. serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund (Class 2 Shares) (the “Fund”) returned 18.10%. That compared to a 23.06% total return for its benchmark, the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Real Estate Index1.

Despite strong overall returns for global real estate equities, performance varied widely from sector to sector. Growing concern about a potential economic slowdown or recession, coupled with declining bond yields, increased investor demand for equities in market segments that feature predictable cash flows, such as U.S. net lease and health care real estate investment trusts2 (REITs). As a result, investors were willing to pay a premium for securities in these sectors, in some cases pushing their prices more than 50% higher than the actual current value of these equities’ underlying assets. Meanwhile, share prices declined for securities in segments investors see as vulnerable in a slowing economy, such as real estate stocks in the office, retail and hotel segments.

Property stocks in Europe saw the largest gains, led by positive performance in the U.K. due to the strength of the pound and a further extension of the agreed-upon date for the country’s exit from the European Union. U.S. property stocks also rose as strength in data centers and net lease agreements offset weakness in New York City office space and large malls. Property stocks in Asia gained at a moderately slower clip, with strength in Japanese REITs partially offset by investor concerns related to political protests in Hong Kong and the ongoing U.S.-China trade war.

The Fund’s Asian portfolio detracted from relative performance during the period. Strength in Chinese real estate operating companies (REOCs) was more than offset by adverse stock selection in Japan and Hong Kong. An overweight position in Hong Kong and an underweight position in

Singapore also detracted from relative results.*

The Fund’s North American portfolio also weighed on relative performance. Primary detractors included stock selection and an overweight position in the U.S. mall sector, stock selection in the U.S. primary central business district (CBD) office sector, and underweight positions in the U.S. net lease and U.S. industrial sectors. These negative impacts more than offset the benefits from an overweight position in the U.S. primary CBD office sector.*

The European portfolio boosted the Fund’s relative performance, helped by stock selection in Continental retail, an underweight position in the German residential sector, and overweight positions in the London office specialist and U.K. Majors sectors. These gains helped the portfolio overcome the negative impact of an overweight position in Continental retail and underweight positions in Switzerland and the Nordic markets.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

*

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmark please refer to page 2 of this report.

2 

The performance of investments in real estate depends on the overall strength of the real estate market, the management of real estate investments trusts (REITs), real estate operating companies (REOCs), and foreign real estate companies, and property management, all of which can be affected by a variety of factors, including national and regional economic conditions.

 
 

 

1


AZL® Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

The Fund’s investment objective is to seek to provide income and capital appreciation. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing at least 80% of the Fund’s assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, in equity securities of companies in the real estate industry, including real estate investments trusts (REITs), real estate operating companies (REOCs), and foreign real estate companies.

Investment Concerns

Equity securities (stocks) are more volatile and carry more risk than other forms of investments, including investments in high-grade fixed income securities. The net asset value per share of this Fund will fluctuate as the value of the securities in the portfolio changes.

Emerging market investing may be subject to additional economic, political, liquidity, and currency risks not associated with more developed countries.

International investing may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuations in currency values, from differences in generally accepted accounting principles or from economic or political instability in other nations.

Value-based investments are subject to the risk that the broad market may not recognize their intrinsic value.

Small- to mid-capitalization companies typically have a higher risk of failure and historically have experienced a greater degree of volatility.

The performance of investments in real estate depends on the overall strength of the real estate market, the management of real estate investments trusts (REITs), real estate operating companies (REOCs), and foreign real estate companies, and property management, all of which can be affected by a variety of factors, including national and regional economic conditions.

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmark and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

    Inception     1     3     5     10     Since  
    Date     Year     Year     Year     Year     Inception  

AZL® Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund (Class 1 Shares)

    10/14/16       18.53     6.28     —         —         6.02

AZL® Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund (Class 2 Shares)

    5/1/06       18.10     6.01     3.92     7.22     3.93

FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Real Estate Index (gross of withholding taxes)

    5/1/06       23.06     9.31     6.53     9.25     5.40

FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Real Estate Index (net of withholding taxes)

    5/1/06       21.91     8.28     5.56     8.37     4.59

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratios

   Gross  

AZL® Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund (Class 1 Shares)

     1.02

AZL® Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund (Class 2 Shares)

     1.27

The above expense ratios are based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.85% on all assets. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense), to 1.10% for Class 1 Shares and 1.35% for Class 2 Shares through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratios can be found in the Financial Highlights.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Financial Times London Stock Exchange (“FTSE”) European Public Real Estate Association (“EPRA”)/NAREIT Developed Real Estate Index series, which is designed to represent general trends in eligible real estate stocks worldwide. Relevant real estate activities are defined as the ownership, disposal and development of income-producing real estate. The Indexes do not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The Index noted as “gross of withholding taxes” reflects the maximum possible reinvestment of dividends with no adjustment for withholding tax deductions or tax credits. The Index noted as “net of withholding taxes” reflects the reinvestment of dividends after the deduction of withholding taxes, using (for international indexes) a tax rate applicable to non-resident institutional investors who do not benefit from double taxation treaties. The Fund’s performance reflects the deduction of fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

2


AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund, Class 1

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,051.40     $ 5.07       0.98 %

AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,050.80     $ 6.36       1.23 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund, Class 1

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,020.27     $ 4.99       0.98 %

AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,019.00     $ 6.26       1.23 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

United States

      54.3 %

Japan

      10.1

Hong Kong

      7.9

France

      5.4

United Kingdom

      5.2

Germany

      3.2

Australia

      2.8

Canada

      1.9

Singapore

      1.7

Bermuda

      1.3

All other countries

      4.6
   

 

 

 

Total Common Stocks

      98.4

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

      1.4

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

      0.4
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      100.2

Net other assets (liabilities)

      (0.2 )
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

3


AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks (98.4%):       
Diversified Banks (0.1%):       
  180,630      China Merchants Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust*    $ 77,196  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Real Estate Activities (7.1%):       
  20,800      CapitaLand, Ltd.      58,029  
  131,000      Hang Lung Properties, Ltd.      286,403  
  90,811      Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd.      1,736,293  
  68,498      Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd.      1,673,221  
  283,801      New World Development Co., Ltd.      389,250  
  33,631      Sumitomo Realty & Development Co., Ltd.      1,173,179  
  131,971      Sun Hung Kai Properties, Ltd.      2,024,464  
  2,400      Tokyo Tatemono Co., Ltd.      37,449  
  36,315      UOL Group, Ltd.      224,971  
     

 

 

 
        7,603,259  
     

 

 

 
Diversified REITs (6.6%):       
  43      Activia Properties, Inc.      215,667  
  2,783      Covivio      316,086  
  6,213      Gecina SA      1,113,566  
  95,214      GPT Group      374,729  
  9,149      H&R Real Estate Investment Trust      148,678  
  83      Hulic REIT, Inc.      150,650  
  2,117      Icade      230,772  
  18      Kenedix Office Investment Corp.      139,086  
  98,450      Land Securities Group plc      1,293,468  
  21,340      Lexington Realty Trust      226,631  
  7,931      Liberty Property Trust      476,257  
  54,711      Merlin Properties Socimi SA      786,182  
  191,276      Mirvac Group      427,713  
  311      Nomura Real Estate Master Fund, Inc.      531,555  
  62      Premier Investment Corp.      87,738  
  3,938      Stockland      12,789  
  280      United Urban Investment Corp.      525,477  
     

 

 

 
        7,057,044  
     

 

 

 
Health Care REITs (3.2%):       
  44,178      Healthcare Realty Trust, Inc.      1,474,220  
  16,034      Healthcare Trust of America, Inc., Class A      485,510  
  11,288      Healthpeak Properties, Inc.      389,097  
  14,780      Senior Housing Properties Trust      124,743  
  4,290      Ventas, Inc.      247,705  
  8,265      Welltower, Inc.      675,912  
     

 

 

 
        3,397,187  
     

 

 

 
Hotel & Resort REITs (5.6%):       
  137,876      DiamondRock Hospitality Co.      1,527,666  
  153,496      Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc.      2,847,351  
  180      Invincible Investment Corp.      102,553  
  458      Japan Hotel REIT Investment Corp.      342,284  
  80,687      Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc.      1,123,163  
     

 

 

 
        5,943,017  
     

 

 

 
Industrial REITs (5.2%):       
  204,538      Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust      452,001  
  10,370      Duke Realty Corp.      359,528  
  181,600      Frasers Logistics & Industrial Trust      167,490  
  277      GLP J-REIT      344,703  
  10      Industrial & Infrastructure Fund Investment Corp.      15,260  
  96,000      Mapletree Logistics Trust      124,313  
  64      Nippon Prologis REIT, Inc.      163,066  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Industrial REITs, continued       
  40,853      ProLogis, Inc.    $ 3,641,636  
  20,171      SERGO plc      240,741  
     

 

 

 
        5,508,738  
     

 

 

 
Office REITs (21.9%):       
  4,951      Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.      799,983  
  17,951      Alstria Office REIT-AG      337,331  
  28,389      Boston Properties, Inc.      3,913,707  
  205,344      CapitaLand Commercial Trust      304,107  
  20,335      Cousins Properties, Inc.      837,802  
  20      Daiwa Office Investment Corp.      153,657  
  12,134      Derwent Valley Holdings plc      648,002  
  98,901      Dexus      813,648  
  49,576      Great Portland Estates plc      565,352  
  319,810      Hibernia REIT plc      506,691  
  4,650      Highwoods Properties, Inc.      227,432  
  35,547      Hudson Pacific Properties, Inc.      1,338,345  
  33,267      Inmobiliaria Colonial Socimi SA      424,455  
  47      Japan Excellent, Inc.      76,126  
  137      Japan Real Estate Investment Corp.      909,014  
  16,382      JBG SMITH Properties      653,478  
  6,305      Kilroy Realty Corp.      528,990  
  22,101      Mack-Cali Realty Corp.      511,196  
  91      Mori Trust Sogo REIT, Inc.      163,412  
  164      Nippon Building Fund, Inc.      1,201,899  
  4,646      NSI NV      226,408  
  42      Orix JREIT, Inc.      91,082  
  63,456      Paramount Group, Inc.      883,308  
  59,626      SL Green Realty Corp.      5,478,436  
  28,599      Vornado Realty Trust      1,901,834  
     

 

 

 
        23,495,695  
     

 

 

 
Real Estate Development (2.6%):       
  121,925      China Overseas Land & Investment, Ltd.      476,214  
  92,000      China Resources Land, Ltd.      458,435  
  82,540      CK Asset Holdings, Ltd.      598,234  
  87,500      Longfor Group Holdings, Ltd.      410,973  
  23,800      Midea Real Estate Holding, Ltd.      73,079  
  1,600      Poly Property Development Co., Ltd., Class H*      9,600  
  77,073      Sino Land Co., Ltd.      112,302  
  33,598      St. Modwen Properties plc      221,885  
  85,746      Urban & Civic plc      392,025  
     

 

 

 
        2,752,747  
     

 

 

 
Real Estate Operating Companies (9.1%):       
  3,578      ADO Properties SA      128,966  
  19,751      Atrium European Real Estate, Ltd.      76,402  
  7,427      Atrium Ljungberg AB, Class B      178,892  
  2,485,087      BGP Holdings plc*(a)      3,623  
  58,834      Capital & Counties Properties plc      204,912  
  7,446      Carmila      167,580  
  6,104      Castellum AB      143,473  
  26,107      Deutsche Wohnen SE      1,066,810  
  23,236      Entra ASA      384,157  
  5,787      Fabege AB      96,276  
  43,872      First Capital Real Estate Investment Trust      698,424  
  27,311      Grainger plc      113,368  
  235,052      Hongkong Land Holdings, Ltd.      1,352,672  
  19,174      Hufvudstaden AB      379,189  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Real Estate Operating Companies, continued       
  15,256      Hulic Co., Ltd.    $ 183,666  
  27,669      Hysan Development Co., Ltd.      108,873  
  16,110      Kojamo Oyj      293,827  
  8,463      Kungsleden AB      88,955  
  3,294      LEG Immobilien AG      390,101  
  33,959      Norwegian Property ASA      54,147  
  1,878      PSP Swiss Property AG      259,409  
  350,729      Swire Properties, Ltd.      1,165,547  
  27,528      Vonovia SE      1,481,874  
  120,710      Wharf Real Estate Investment Co., Ltd.      740,228  
     

 

 

 
        9,761,371  
     

 

 

 
Residential REITs (11.8%):       
  117      Advance Residence Investment      370,938  
  11,530      American Campus Communities, Inc.      542,256  
  24,291      American Homes 4 Rent, Class A      636,667  
  10,101      Apartment Investment & Management Co.      521,717  
  19,220      AvalonBay Communities, Inc.      4,030,433  
  3,608      Boardwalk REIT      127,631  
  12,875      Camden Property Trust      1,366,038  
  26,062      Equity Residential      2,108,937  
  2,775      Essex Property Trust, Inc.      834,887  
  29,077      Invitation Homes, Inc.      871,438  
  4,916      Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc.      648,224  
  10,982      UDR, Inc.      512,859  
     

 

 

 
        12,572,025  
     

 

 

 
Retail REITs (20.5%):       
  143,180      British Land Co. plc      1,218,903  
  128,152      CapitaLand Mall Trust      234,506  
  13,870      Crombie REIT      170,277  
  15,050      Eurocommercial Properties NV      421,930  
  12      Frontier Real Estate Investment Corp.      50,464  
  130,574      Hammerson plc      538,197  
  58,020      Intu Properties plc*      26,190  
  148      Japan Retail Fund Investment Corp.      318,234  
  50,484      Klepierre      1,918,868  
  189,884      Link REIT (The)      2,016,019  
  115,499      Mapletree Commercial Trust      205,321  
  29,534      Mercialys SA      409,388  
  17,989      Regency Centers Corp.      1,134,926  
  37,399      RioCan REIT      770,793  
Shares or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Retail REITs, continued       
  415,005      Scentre Group    $ 1,117,048  
  8,327      Shaftesbury plc      104,749  
  42,288      Simon Property Group, Inc.      6,299,219  
  4,065      Smart Real Estate Investment Trust      97,712  
  79,301      The Macerich Co.^      2,134,783  
  9,962      Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield      1,573,799  
  157,918      Vicinity Centres      276,393  
  25,630      Weingarten Realty Investors      800,681  
  3,192      Wereldhave NV^      72,115  
     

 

 

 
        21,910,515  
     

 

 

 
Specialized REITs (4.7%):       
  31,112      CubeSmart      979,406  
  11,235      Digital Realty Trust, Inc.      1,345,279  
  5,420      Extra Space Storage, Inc.      572,460  
  13,517      Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc.      581,907  
  2,200      Life Storage, Inc.      238,216  
  5,846      Public Storage, Inc.      1,244,964  
  11      QTS Realty Trust, Inc., Class A      597  
     

 

 

 
        4,962,829  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Common Stocks (Cost $91,410,485)

     105,041,623  
  

 

 

 
Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on
Loan (1.4%):
      
  1,469,742      BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, 2.00%(b)(c)      1,469,742  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on
Loan (Cost $1,469,742)

     1,469,742  
  

 

 

 
Unaffiliated Investment Companies (0.4%):       
Money Markets (0.4%):       
  435,974      Dreyfus Treasury Securities Cash Management Fund, Institutional Shares, 1.44%(c)      435,974  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Unaffiliated Investment Companies (Cost $435,974)

     435,974  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities (Cost $93,316,201) — 100.2%(d)

     106,947,339  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — (0.2)%

     (238,276
  

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 106,709,063  
  

 

 

 
 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

REIT—Real Estate Investment Trust

 

*

Non-income producing security.

 

^

This security or a partial position of this security was on loan as of December 31, 2019. The total value of securities on loan as of December 31, 2019 was $1,468,067.

 

(a)

Security was valued using unobservable inputs in good faith pursuant to procedures approved by the Board of Trustees as of December 31, 2019. The total of all such securities represent 0.00% of the net assets of the fund.

 

(b)

Purchased with cash collateral held from securities lending. The value of the collateral could include collateral held for securities that were sold on or before December 31, 2019.

 

(c)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(d)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

The following represents the concentrations by country of risk (based on the domicile of the security issuer) relative to the total fair value of investments as of December 31, 2019:

(Unaudited)

 

Country   Percentage  

Australia

    2.8

Bermuda

    1.3

Canada

    1.9

China

    0.5

Finland

    0.3

France

    5.4

Germany

    3.2

Hong Kong

    7.9

Ireland

    0.5

Japan

    10.0

Jersey

    0.1

Netherlands

    0.7

Norway

    0.4

Singapore

    1.7

Spain

    1.1

Sweden

    0.8

Switzerland

    0.2

United Kingdom

    5.2

United States

    56.0
 

 

 

 
    100.0
 

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investment securities, at cost

    $ 93,316,201
   

 

 

 

Investment securities, at value(a)

    $ 106,947,339

Interest and dividends receivable

      484,616

Foreign currency, at value (cost $789,504)

      801,390

Receivable for investments sold

      460

Reclaims receivable

      146,715

Prepaid expenses

      347
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      108,380,867
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      84,506

Payable for collateral received on loaned securities

      1,469,742

Manager fees payable

      75,881

Administration fees payable

      2,501

Distribution fees payable

      17,841

Custodian fees payable

      9,293

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      366

Transfer agent fees payable

      1,732

Trustee fees payable

      90

Other accrued liabilities

      9,852
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      1,671,804
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 106,709,063
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 93,009,063

Total distributable earnings

      13,700,000
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 106,709,063
   

 

 

 

Class 1

   

Net Assets

    $ 21,342,052

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      2,323,208

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 9.19
   

 

 

 

Class 2

   

Net Assets

    $ 85,367,011

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      8,598,932

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 9.93
   

 

 

 

 

(a)

Includes securities on loan of $1,468,067.

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Dividends

    $ 3,794,596

Income from securities lending

      16,331

Foreign withholding tax

      (188,441 )
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      3,622,486
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      979,217

Administration fees

      51,945

Distribution fees — Class 2

      217,354

Custodian fees

      57,205

Administrative and compliance services fees

      2,041

Transfer agent fees

      11,095

Trustee fees

      6,443

Professional fees

      5,548

Shareholder reports

      12,497

Other expenses

      6,030
   

 

 

 

Total expenses before reductions

      1,349,375

Less expenses voluntarily waived/reimbursed by the Manager

      (54,402 )
   

 

 

 

Net expenses

      1,294,973
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      2,327,513
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities and foreign currencies

      2,041,825

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities and foreign currencies

      13,722,205
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      15,764,030
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 18,091,543
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 2,327,513     $ 3,010,670

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      2,041,825       936,538

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      13,722,205       (13,639,310 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      18,091,543       (9,692,102 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Class 1

      (682,097 )       (2,324,054 )

Class 2

      (2,244,874 )       (8,873,299 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (2,926,971 )       (11,197,353 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Class 1

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      44,075       34,084

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      682,097       2,324,054

Value of shares redeemed

      (2,827,294 )       (3,513,877 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 1 Shares

      (2,101,122 )       (1,155,739 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Class 2

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      1,121,131       416,028

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      2,244,874       8,873,299

Value of shares redeemed

      (12,924,267 )       (19,760,081 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 2 Shares

      (9,558,262 )       (10,470,754 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      (11,659,384 )       (11,626,493 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      3,505,188       (32,515,948 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      103,203,875       135,719,823
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 106,709,063     $ 103,203,875
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Class 1

       

Shares issued

      4,859       3,531

Dividends reinvested

      77,687       277,997

Shares redeemed

      (315,353 )       (379,772 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 1 Shares

      (232,807 )       (98,244 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Class 2

       

Shares issued

      117,495       42,675

Dividends reinvested

      236,551       983,736

Shares redeemed

      (1,333,969 )       (2,031,552 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 2 Shares

      (979,923 )       (1,005,141 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      (1,212,730 )       (1,103,385 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

    Year Ended December 31,
     2019   2018   2017   2016^   2015

Class 1

                   

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 8.01     $ 9.72     $ 10.05     $ 10.00    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.21 (a)       0.29       0.28       (a)(b)    

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      1.26       (1.02 )       0.67       0.05    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total from Investment Activities

      1.47       (0.73 )       0.95       0.05    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.29 )       (0.42 )       (0.43 )          

Net Realized Gains

            (0.56 )       (0.85 )          
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total Dividends

      (0.29 )       (0.98 )       (1.28 )          
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 9.19     $ 8.01     $ 9.72     $ 10.05    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total Return(c)

      18.53 %       (7.91 )%       10.00 %       0.50 %(d)    

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 21,342     $ 20,484     $ 25,794     $ 27,302    

Net Investment Income/(Loss)(e)

      2.34 %       2.67 %       2.38 %       0.13 %    

Expenses Before Reductions(e)(f)

      1.04 %       1.02 %       1.03 %       1.04 %    

Expenses Net of Reductions(e)

      0.99 %       0.97 %       0.98 %       1.03 %    

Portfolio Turnover Rate(g)

      24 %       34 %       33 %       52 %    

Class 2

                   

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 8.64     $ 10.39     $ 10.68     $ 10.51     $ 11.11
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.20 (a)       0.29       0.27       0.20       0.22

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      1.35       (1.09 )       0.71       0.13       (0.39 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      1.55       (0.80 )       0.98       0.33       (0.17 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.26 )       (0.39 )       (0.42 )       (0.16 )       (0.43 )

Net Realized Gains

            (0.56 )       (0.85 )            
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (0.26 )       (0.95 )       (1.27 )       (0.16 )       (0.43 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 9.93     $ 8.64     $ 10.39     $ 10.68     $ 10.51
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(c)

      18.10 %       (8.07 )%       9.72 %       3.14 %       (1.34 )%

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 85,367     $ 82,720     $ 109,926     $ 115,339     $ 159,821

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      2.09 %       2.41 %       2.17 %       1.84 %       1.70 %

Expenses Before Reductions(f)

      1.29 %       1.27 %       1.28 %       1.29 %       1.29 %

Expenses Net of Reductions

      1.24 %       1.22 %       1.23 %       1.29 %       1.29 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate(g)

      24 %       34 %       33 %       52 %       25 %

 

^

Class 1 activity is for the period October 17, 2016 (commencement of operations) to December 31, 2016.

 

(a)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(b)

Represents less than $0.005.

 

(c)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(d)

Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(e)

Annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(f)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

(g)

Portfolio turnover rate is calculated on the basis of the Fund as a whole without distinguishing between classes of shares issued. Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services — Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available. Income, expenses and realized and unrealized gains and losses are allocated daily to each class based on its relative net assets.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Foreign Currency Translation and Withholding Taxes

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding and other income or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Funds accrue such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Each class of shares bears its pro-rata portion of expenses attributable to its series, except that each class separately bears

 

10


AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

expenses related specifically to that class, such as distribution fees. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

Class Allocation

The investment income, expenses (other than class specific expenses charged to a class), realized and unrealized gains and losses on investments of the Fund are allocated to each class of shares based upon relative net assets on the date income is earned or expenses and realized and unrealized gains and losses are incurred.

Securities Lending

To generate additional income, the Fund may lend up to 33 1/3% of its assets pursuant to agreements requiring that the loan be continuously secured by any combination of cash, U.S. government or U.S. government agency securities, equal initially to at least 102% of the fair value plus accrued interest on the securities loaned (105% for foreign securities). The borrower of securities is at all times required to post collateral to the Fund in an amount equal to 100% of the fair value of the securities loaned based on the previous day’s fair value of the securities loaned, marked-to-market daily. Any collateral shortfalls are adjusted the next business day. The Fund bears all of the gains and losses on such investments. The Fund receives payments from borrowers equivalent to the dividends and interest that would have been earned on securities lent while simultaneously seeking to earn income on the investment of cash collateral received. In extremely low interest rate environments, the broker rebate fee may exceed the interest earned or the cash collateral which would result in a loss to the Fund. The investment of cash collateral deposited by the borrower is subject to inherent market risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks that are present in the market, and as such, the value of these investments may not be sufficient, when liquidated, to repay the borrower when the loaned security is returned. There may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. However, loans will be made only to borrowers, such as broker-dealers, banks or institutional borrowers of securities, deemed by the Manager to be of good standing and credit worthy and when in its judgment, the consideration which can be earned currently from such securities loans justifies the attendant risks. Loans are subject to termination by the Trust or the borrower at any time, and are, therefore, not considered to be illiquid investments. Securities on loan at December 31, 2019 are presented on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

Cash collateral received in connection with securities lending is invested on behalf of the Fund in the BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, a money market fund which invests in short-term investments that have a remaining maturity of 397 days or less in accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. The Fund pays the Securities Lending Agent 9% of the gross revenues received from securities lending activities and keeps 91%. The Fund paid securities lending fees of $1,610 during the year ended December 31, 2019. These fees have been netted against “Income from securities lending” on the Statement of Operations. The Fund had securities lending transactions of $1,469,742 accounted for as secured borrowings with cash collateral of overnight and continuous maturities as of December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019, there were no master netting provisions in the securities lending agreement.

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not engage in any Rule 17a-7 transactions under the Rule.

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to a subadvisory agreement with Morgan Stanley Investment Management Inc. (“MSIM”), MSIM provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate      Annual Expense Limit

AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund Class 1

         0.90 %          1.10 %

AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund Class 2

         0.90 %          1.35 %

 

*

The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.85% on all assets. The manager reserves the right to increase the management fee to the amount shown in the table at any time.

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations.

 

11


AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the average daily net assets attributable of Class 2 shares, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $826 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy.

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

 

12


AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total

Common Stocks+

         60,180,135          44,857,865          3,623          105,041,623

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

         1,469,742                            1,469,742

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

         435,974                            435,974
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $ 62,085,851        $ 44,857,865        $ 3,623        $ 106,947,339
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

       $ 25,763,242        $ 38,050,871

6. Investment Risks

Emerging Markets Risk: Emerging markets may have less developed trading markets and exchanges which may make it more difficult to sell securities at an acceptable price and their prices may be more volatile than securities of companies in more developed markets. Settlements of trades may be subject to greater delays so that the Fund may not receive the proceeds of a sale of a security on a timely basis. Emerging countries may also have less developed legal and accounting systems and investments may be subject to greater risks of government restrictions, nationalization, or confiscation.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Investments in securities of foreign issuers carry certain risks not ordinarily associated with investments in securities of domestic issuers. Such risks include future political and economic developments, and the possible imposition of exchange controls or other foreign governmental laws and restrictions. In addition, with respect to certain countries, there is the possibility of expropriation of assets, confiscatory taxation, political or social instability or diplomatic developments which could adversely affect investments in those securities.

Real Estate Investments Risk: The performance of REITs depends on the strength of real estate markets, REIT management and property management which can be affected by many factors, including national and regional economic conditions.

7. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $96,718,739. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 13,531,808  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (3,303,208
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 10,228,600  
 

 

 

 

As of the end of its tax year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund has capital loss carry forwards (“CLCFs”) as summarized in the table below. The Board does not intend to authorize a distribution of any realized gain for the Fund until any applicable CLCF has been offset.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund utilized $572,504 in CLCFs to offset capital gains.

CLCF’s not subject to expiration:

 

        Short-Term
Amount
     Long-Term
Amount
     Total
Amount

AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

       $        $ 250,198        $ 250,198

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

       $ 2,926,971        $        $ 2,926,971

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

 

13


AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

       $ 4,691,715        $ 6,505,638        $ 11,197,353

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
     Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
     Total
Accumulated
Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

       $ 3,709,438        $        $ (250,198 )        $ 10,240,760        $ 13,700,000

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales, mark-to-market of passive foreign investment companies and other miscellaneous differences.

8. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had an individual shareholder account which is affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 95% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

9. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

14


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

15


Other Federal Income Tax Information (Unaudited)

For the year ended December 31, 2019, 0.02% of the total ordinary income dividends paid by the Fund qualify for the corporate dividends received deductions available to corporate shareholders.

 

16


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

17


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for

 

18


the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

 

19


The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

20


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

21


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

22


LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.   
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL® MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 18

Statement of Operations

Page 18

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 19

Financial Highlights

Page 20

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 21

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 26

Other Federal Income Tax Information

Page 27

Other Information

Page 28

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 29

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 32

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund and BlackRock Investment Management, LLC serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund (Class 2 Shares) (the “Fund”) returned 17.18%. That compared to a 18.90% total return for its benchmark, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index1.

The Fund seeks investment results, before fees, expenses and fair value adjustments to its portfolio at the close of the New York Stock Exchange, that correspond to the performance of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index (“Index”). The Fund takes positions in securities that, in combination, should have similar return characteristics as the return of the Index. The Index is designed to provide a comprehensive measure of emerging markets equities.*

In the first quarter of 2019, all sectors of the benchmark advanced as improved U.S.-China trade relations and relief from tightening financial conditions helped improve investor sentiment. An extended pause in the tariff hikes helped China gain strongly in the quarter, contributing to more than half of the benchmark’s total return for the start of the year. China’s pivot toward stimulus also gave that nation’s equities a boost. Elsewhere, Taiwan and South Korea underperformed other emerging markets equities due to lower exports. In Latin America, Colombian equities outperformed, leading all emerging markets countries in the quarter. However, Colombian stocks were still below their 2012 highs.

A weaker U.S. dollar generally supported the overall Index in the second quarter, with some added volatility provided by global trade tensions. Weakness was particularly evident in the Asia Pacific region, with China and South Korea markets declining over the quarter. Mexico declined 7% in May after the U.S. targeted the country with import tariffs, only to rebound later in the quarter after the administration reneged on its threats. Eastern Europe outperformed other regions for the quarter, and Russia outperformed due to a relatively stable economic backdrop and favourable crude oil conditions.

The third quarter saw an overall decline in emerging markets stocks, with China contributing nearly a third of the Index’s losses. Geopolitical tensions, including escalating trade war rhetoric from President Trump, continued to drive China’s underperformance. A slowing economy and protests in Hong Kong also added to investor unease. Turkey was the Index’s top performer, as investors ignored President Erdogan’s removal of central bank management, focusing instead on his promise to return to fast-growth economic conditions.

By the fourth quarter, investors’ appetite for risk returned due to easing global trade tensions, stable economic growth, and easy monetary policies. Chinese stocks rose on progress in trade deal negotiations with the U.S. Taiwan was the Index’s top gainer for the quarter on a rebound in the semiconductor industry, while Russia posted robust gains on strengthening oil prices.

All sectors of the Index posted positive returns, with the largest gains in the information technology, consumer discretionary, and real estate sectors. The smallest returns were in the healthcare, materials, and industrials sectors.

The Fund underperformed its benchmark primarily due to the impacts of fair value pricing and expenses incurred by the Fund.*

The Fund uses derivatives for the purpose of efficient portfolio management. Derivatives did not have a significant impact on the Fund’s return in 2019. Futures are not used for speculative or leveraged positions in the portfolio and we keep cash to cover all outstanding futures positions fully. The Fund uses futures contracts to access immediate market exposure proportionate to cash accruals and investable cash within the portfolio. Skillful cash management and cash equitization are critical to minimizing the potential impact of cash drag and ensure tight tracking to the benchmark.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

*

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmark please refer to page 2 of this report.

 
 

 

1


AZL® MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

The Fund’s investment objective is to seek to match the performance of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index as closely as possible. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing at least 90% of its assets in the securities of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index (the “Underlying Index”) and in depositary receipts representing securities in its Underlying Index.

Investment Concerns

Equity securities (stocks) are more volatile and carry more risk than other forms of investments, including investments in high-grade fixed income securities. The net asset value per share of this Fund will fluctuate as the value of the securities in the portfolio changes.

Emerging market investing may be subject to additional economic, political, liquidity, and currency risks not associated with more developed countries.

International investing may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuations in currency values, from differences in generally accepted accounting principles or from economic or political instability in other nations.

The performance of the Fund is expected to be lower than that of the Index because of Fund fees and expenses. Securities in which the Fund will invest may involve substantial risk and may be subject to sudden severe price declines.

Investing in a single industry or sector, or concentrating investments in a limited number of industries or sectors, tends to increase the risk that economic, political, or regulatory developments affecting certain industries or sectors will have a large impact on the value of the portfolio.

Investing in derivatives instruments involves risks that may be different from or greater than the risk associated with investing directly in securities or other traditional instruments.

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmark and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

     Inception
Date
     1
Year
    3
Year
    5
Year
    10
Year
 

AZL® MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund (Class 1 Shares)

     5/6/07        17.55     10.89     5.58     3.33

AZL® MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund (Class 2 Shares)

     5/1/06        17.18     10.62     5.32     3.07

MSCI Emerging Markets Index (gross of withholding taxes)

     5/1/06        18.90     11.99     6.01     4.04

MSCI Emerging Markets Index (net of withholding taxes)

     5/1/06        18.42     11.57     5.61     3.68

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratios

   Gross  

AZL® MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund (Class 1 Shares)

     1.03

AZL® MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund (Class 2 Shares)

     1.28

The above expense ratios are based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.45% on all assets. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense), to 0.85% for Class 1 Shares and 1.10% for Class 2 Shares through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratios can be found in the Financial Highlights.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Morgan Stanley Capital International (“MSCI”) Emerging Markets Index, an unmanaged free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure equity performance of emerging markets. The Indexes do not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The Index noted as “gross of withholding taxes” reflects the maximum possible reinvestment of dividends with no adjustment for withholding tax deductions or tax credits. The Index noted as “net of withholding taxes” reflects the reinvestment of dividends after the deduction of withholding taxes, using (for international indexes) a tax rate applicable to non-resident institutional investors who do not benefit from double taxation treaties. The Fund’s performance reflects the deduction of fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

2


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, Class 1

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,065.70     $ 3.91       0.75 %

AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,063.80     $ 5.20       1.00 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, Class 1

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,021.42     $ 3.82       0.75 %

AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,020.16     $ 5.09       1.00 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

Financials

      24.4 %

Information Technology

      15.6

Consumer Discretionary

      12.9

Communication Services

      12.1

Energy

      7.4

Materials

      7.3

Consumer Staples

      6.3

Industrials

      5.2

Real Estate

      3.0

Health Care

      2.8

Utilities

      2.5
   

 

 

 

Total Common and Preferred Stocks

      99.5

Warrants

        

Rights

        

Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

      0.7

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

      0.2
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      100.4

Net other assets (liabilities)

      (0.4 )
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

3


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks (97.5%):       
Aerospace & Defense (0.2%):       
  19,599      Aecc Aviation Power Co., Ltd.    $ 61,006  
  15,085      Aselsan Elektronik Sanayi Ve Ticaret AS      53,220  
  20,300      Avic Aircraft Co., Ltd.      47,751  
  139,000      AviChina Industry & Technology Co., Ltd., Class H      62,690  
  32,295      Embraer SA*      158,424  
  3,628      Korea Aerospace Industries, Ltd.      106,667  
     

 

 

 
        489,758  
     

 

 

 
Air Freight & Logistics (0.2%):       
  9,054      BEST, Inc., ADR*^      50,340  
  1,014      Hyundai Glovis Co., Ltd.      125,132  
  10,500      SF Holding Co., Ltd., Class A      56,080  
  211,000      Sinotrans, Ltd.      71,879  
  10,700      Yunda Holding Co., Ltd., Class A      51,159  
  15,645      ZTO Express Cayman, Inc., ADR      365,312  
     

 

 

 
        719,902  
     

 

 

 
Airlines (0.3%):       
  98,000      Air China, Ltd.      99,836  
  89,500      AirAsia Berhad      37,223  
  200,000      China Airlines, Ltd.      60,460  
  39,299      China Eastern Airlines Corp., Ltd.*      32,795  
  110,000      China Eastern Airlines Corp., Ltd., Class H*      61,006  
  132,000      China Southern Airlines Co., Ltd., Class H      89,072  
  170,676      Eva Airways Corp.      78,349  
  4,189      InterGlobe Aviation, Ltd.      78,398  
  2,231      Korean Air Lines Co., Ltd.      54,865  
  14,767      Latam Airlines Group SA      148,260  
  28,736      Turk Hava Yollari Anonim Ortakligi*      70,012  
     

 

 

 
        810,276  
     

 

 

 
Auto Components (0.5%):       
  10,860      Bharat Forge, Ltd.      73,527  
  395      Bosch, Ltd.      85,019  
  109,000      Cheng Shin Rubber Industry Co., Ltd.      152,031  
  182,000      China First Capital Group, Ltd.*      6,310  
  37,600      Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co., Ltd., Class H      115,272  
  4,407      Hankook Tire & Technology Co., Ltd.      127,520  
  9,990      Hanon Systems      96,228  
  10,400      Huayu Automotive Systems Co., Ltd.      38,816  
  3,398      Hyundai Mobis Co., Ltd.      751,512  
  51,252      Motherson Sumi Systems, Ltd.      105,463  
  45,000      Nexteer Automotive Group, Ltd.      40,849  
     

 

 

 
        1,592,547  
     

 

 

 
Automobiles (1.6%):       
  1,060,900      Astra International Tbk PT      526,997  
  37,800      BAIC BluePark New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., Class A*      31,722  
  91,500      BAIC Motor Corp., Ltd., Class H      51,958  
  4,208      Bajaj Auto, Ltd.      187,811  
  146,000      Brilliance China Automotive Holdings, Ltd.      151,821  
  7,533      BYD Co., Ltd.      51,558  
  28,500      BYD Co., Ltd., Class H^      142,163  
  25,400      Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd., Class A      36,576  
  146,000      Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd., Class H      137,562  
  710      Eicher Motors, Ltd.      224,205  
  2,009      Ford Otomotiv Sanayi AS      23,986  
  265,000      Geely Automobile Holdings, Ltd.      519,786  
  165,500      Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd., Class H      122,663  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Automobiles, continued       
  151,200      Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd.    $ 188,510  
  5,310      Hero MotoCorp, Ltd.      181,896  
  1,155      Hyundai Motor Co., Ltd.      71,599  
  7,765      Hyundai Motor Co., Ltd.      807,515  
  13,113      Kia Motors Corp.      499,555  
  40,951      Mahindra & Mahindra, Ltd.      305,383  
  5,620      Maruti Suzuki India, Ltd.      580,462  
  33,235      NIO, Inc., ADR*^      133,605  
  26,000      SAIC Motor Corp., Ltd.      89,117  
  86,420      Tata Motors, Ltd.*      224,385  
     

 

 

 
        5,290,835  
     

 

 

 
Banks (15.3%):       
  38,057      Absa Group, Ltd.      406,626  
  143,767      Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank      310,107  
  194,200      Agricultural Bank of China, Ltd.      102,950  
  1,582,000      Agricultural Bank of China, Ltd., Class A      697,677  
  139,318      Akbank T.A.S.*      190,388  
  63,193      Al Rajhi Bank      1,102,064  
  40,604      Alinma Bank      274,535  
  66,493      Alpha Bank SA*      143,725  
  89,500      AMMB Holdings Berhad      85,618  
  32,502      Arab National Bank      237,549  
  111,115      Axis Bank, Ltd.      1,175,030  
  63,797      Banco Bradesco SA      540,419  
  2,458,910      Banco de Chile      260,778  
  2,424      Banco de Credito e Inversiones      109,991  
  46,074      Banco do Brasil SA      605,079  
  2,358      Banco Macro SA, ADR      85,478  
  22,408      Banco Santander Brasil SA      275,894  
  2,964,227      Banco Santander Chile      169,610  
  12,806      Bancolombia SA      171,514  
  24,317      Bancolombia SA      339,008  
  19,119      Bandhan Bank, Ltd.      136,241  
  23,500      Bangkok Bank Public Co., Ltd.      125,518  
  18,699      Bank AlBilad      134,260  
  19,448      Bank Al-Jazira      78,016  
  987,400      Bank Mandiri Persero Tbk PT      544,444  
  30,133      Bank Millennium SA*      46,576  
  35,300      Bank of Beijing Co., Ltd., Class A      28,804  
  4,145,000      Bank of China, Ltd.      1,774,980  
  57,900      Bank of China, Ltd., Class A      30,677  
  202,799      Bank of Communications Co., Ltd., Class A      164,007  
  356,000      Bank of Communications Co., Ltd., Class H      253,762  
  55,800      Bank of Jiangsu Co., Ltd.      58,026  
  39,000      Bank of Nanjing Co., Ltd.      49,147  
  17,600      Bank of Ningbo Co., Ltd.      71,100  
  55,170      Bank of Shanghai Co., Ltd., Class A      75,210  
  43,656      Bank of the Philippine Islands      75,775  
  8,099      Bank Pekao SA      214,685  
  26,150      Banque Saudi Fransi      264,369  
  102,044      BDO Unibank, Inc.      318,177  
  15,577      BNK Financial Group, Inc.      102,931  
  2,445      Capitec Bank Holdings, Ltd.      252,803  
  293,090      Chang Hwa Commercial Bank      221,983  
  298,000      China Citic Bank Co., Ltd.      178,998  
  121,100      China Citic Bank Corp., Ltd.      107,349  
  5,042,000      China Construction Bank      4,365,337  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Banks, continued       
  32,600      China Construction Bank Corp.    $ 33,844  
  688,000      China Development Financial Holding Corp.      223,393  
  175,600      China Everbright Bank Co., Ltd.      111,273  
  67,000      China Everbright Bank Co., Ltd., Class H      31,139  
  63,244      China Merchants Bank Co., Ltd.      341,380  
  202,000      China Merchants Bank Co., Ltd.      1,041,238  
  387,800      China Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd.      293,715  
  104,500      China Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd., Class A      94,620  
  125,000      Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank Co., Ltd.      63,825  
  259,100      CIMB Group Holdings Berhad      326,370  
  97,915      Commercial Bank of Qatar Qsc (The)      126,483  
  70,902      Commercial International Bank Egypt SAE      367,894  
  3,434      Credicorp, Ltd.      731,888  
  938,000      CTBC Financial Holding Co., Ltd.      701,470  
  88,063      Dubai Islamic Bank      132,041  
  550,502      E.Sun Financial Holding Co., Ltd.      512,876  
  149,206      Eurobank Ergasias SA*      154,463  
  141,078      First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC      581,559  
  527,417      First Financial Holdings Co., Ltd.      417,081  
  190,023      Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores      84,449  
  138,083      Grupo Financiero Banorte SAB de C.V.      771,746  
  5,271      Grupo Financiero Galicia SA, ADR      85,548  
  116,556      Grupo Financiero Inbursa SAB de C.V., Class O      142,988  
  42,000      Habib Bank, Ltd.      42,693  
  16,035      Hana Financial Holdings Group, Inc.      509,049  
  34,500      Hong Leong Bank Berhad      145,977  
  15,800      Hong Leong Financial Group Berhad      65,310  
  411,160      Hua Nan Financial Holdings Co., Ltd.      301,829  
  26,900      Huaxia Bank Co., Ltd., Class A      29,634  
  250,239      ICICI Bank, Ltd.      1,895,829  
  173,500      Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, Ltd., Class A      146,492  
  3,380,000      Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, Ltd., Class H      2,609,194  
  70,400      Industrial Bank Co., Ltd.      200,198  
  13,164      Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK)      134,306  
  7,398,237      Itau Corpbanca      42,923  
  238,912      Itausa — Investimentos Itau S.A.      836,964  
  71,200      Kasikornbank Public Co., Ltd.      356,894  
  37,100      Kasikornbank Public Co., Ltd.      185,966  
  20,386      KB Financial Group, Inc.      841,871  
  4,795      Komercni Banka AS      175,640  
  186,800      Krung Thai Bank      101,915  
  210,601      Malayan Banking Bhd      445,226  
  195,841      Masraf Al Rayan      213,050  
  792      mBank SA*      81,337  
  5,710      MCB Bank, Ltd.      7,561  
  572,000      Mega Financial Holdings Co., Ltd.      584,322  
  89,092      Metropolitan Bank & Trust      116,296  
  24,321      Moneta Money Bank AS      91,279  
  27,526      National Bank of Greece*      93,490  
  64,284      National Commercial Bank      844,372  
  18,910      Nedcor, Ltd.      289,762  
  11,383      OTP Bank Nyrt      596,388  
  51,000      Ping An Bank Co., Ltd., Class A      120,494  
  423,000      Postal Savings Bank of China Co., Ltd., Class H      287,823  
  47,327      Powszechna Kasa Oszczednosci Bank Polski SA      430,403  
  518,400      PT Bank Central Asia Tbk      1,245,613  
  405,100      PT Bank Negara Indonesia Tbk      228,499  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Banks, continued       
  2,936,500      PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk    $ 926,921  
  159,700      PT Bank Tabungan Negara Tbk      24,302  
  166,000      Public Bank Berhad      789,823  
  36,809      Qatar International Islamic Bank QSC      97,887  
  61,890      Qatar Islamic Bank      261,202  
  234,503      Qatar National Bank      1,326,328  
  84,100      RHB Bank Bhd      118,885  
  59,632      Riyad Bank      381,610  
  52,608      Samba Financial Group      455,336  
  1,858      Santander Bank Polska SA      150,710  
  337,533      Sberbank of Russia      1,388,485  
  56,886      Sberbank of Russia, ADR      932,930  
  15,760      Security Bank Corp.      60,696  
  174,724      Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank, Ltd. (The)      303,337  
  106,500      Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co., Ltd.      188,877  
  23,160      Shinhan Financial Group Co., Ltd.      866,289  
  39,600      Siam Commercial Bank Public Co., Ltd.      160,374  
  572,800      SinoPac Financial Holdings Co., Ltd.      248,478  
  68,923      Standard Bank Group, Ltd.      829,927  
  95,098      State Bank of India*      446,394  
  516,580      Taishin Financial Holding Co., Ltd.      249,884  
  315,863      Taiwan Business Bank      132,796  
  471,876      Taiwan Cooperative Financial Holding Co., Ltd.      326,719  
  38,586      The Saudi British Bank      357,194  
  858,486      TMB Bank PCL      47,825  
  117,261      Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS*      220,130  
  75,100      Turkiye Is Bankasi AS, Class C*      81,107  
  47,619      VTB Bank OJSC, GDR      69,916  
  46,456,639      VTB Bank PJSC      34,433  
  22,157      Woori Financial Group, Inc.*      222,172  
     

 

 

 
        50,328,064  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (1.4%):       
  244,587      Ambev SA Com Npv      1,135,365  
  14,344      Anadolu Efes Biracilik ve Malt Sanayii AS      55,767  
  1,900      Anhui Gujing Distillery Co., Ltd., Class A      37,081  
  4,100      Anhui Kouzi Distillery Co., Ltd., Class A      32,326  
  23,155      Arca Continental SAB de C.V.      122,468  
  3,700      Beijing Shunxin Agriculture Co., Ltd., Class A      27,985  
  78,000      China Resources Beer Holdings Co., Ltd.      432,057  
  200      Chongqing Brewery Co., Ltd., Class A      1,492  
  28,683      Coca-Cola Femsa S.A.B de C.V.      174,315  
  7,901      Compania Cervecerias Unidas SA      77,486  
  29,393      Embotelladora Andina SA      85,226  
  99,964      Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V.      944,843  
  6,500      Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd      55,358  
  7,100      Jiangsu King’s Luck Brewery JSC, Ltd., Class A      33,353  
  4,900      Jiangsu Yanghe Brewery Joint-Stock Co., Ltd., Class A      77,777  
  3,972      Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd.      675,312  
  5,200      Luzhou Laojiao Co., Ltd.      64,711  
  42,900      Osotspa PCL      57,823  
  3,300      Shanxi Xinghuacun Fen Wine Factory Co., Ltd., Class A      42,498  
  22,000      Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd., Class H      147,846  
  15,186      United Spirits, Ltd.*      127,799  
  11,600      Wuliangye Yibin Co., Ltd., Class A      221,537  
     

 

 

 
        4,630,425  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Biotechnology (0.4%):       
  68,000      3SBio, Inc.*^    $ 88,213  
  4,998      Celltrion, Inc.*      776,611  
  5,400      Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products Co., Ltd., Class A      38,503  
  922      Helixmith Co., Ltd.*      73,309  
  9,300      Hualan Biological Engineering, Inc., Class A      46,950  
  42,500      Innovent Biologics, Inc.*      144,983  
  241      Medy-Tox, Inc.      62,579  
  2,500      Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co., Ltd., Class A      31,424  
  8,400      Walvax Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Class A      39,166  
     

 

 

 
        1,301,738  
     

 

 

 
Building Products (0.1%):       
  9,700      Beijing New Building Materials plc, Class A      35,451  
  70,000      China Lesso Group Holdings, Ltd.      89,872  
  310      KCC Corp.      62,949  
     

 

 

 
        188,272  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (1.6%):       
  4,300      Anxin Trust Co., Ltd., Class A*      2,742  
  109,538      B3 SA- Brasil Bolsa Balcao      1,170,275  
  12,108      Banco BTG Pactual SA      229,185  
  410,000      China Cinda Asset Management Co., Ltd., Class H      93,171  
  56,000      China Ding Yi Feng Holdings, Ltd.      575  
  48,000      China Everbright, Ltd.      89,884  
  164,000      China Galaxy Securities Co.      96,831  
  535,000      China Huarong Asset Management Co., Ltd., Class H      84,491  
  77,200      China International Capital Corp., Ltd.      149,295  
  24,800      China Merchants Securities Co., Ltd.      65,233  
  29,100      Citic Securities Co., Ltd., Class A      105,756  
  112,000      Citic Securities Co., Ltd., Class A      256,430  
  8,700      CSC Financial Co., Ltd., Class A      37,984  
  28,200      East Money Information Co., Ltd., Class A      63,883  
  53,600      Founder Securities Co., Ltd., Class A      66,801  
  77,400      GF Securities Co., Ltd.      94,309  
  15,400      GF Securities Co., Ltd., Class A      33,599  
  34,899      Guosen Securities Co., Ltd., Class A      62,968  
  38,000      Guotai Junan Securities Co., Ltd.      67,414  
  30,400      Guotai Junan Securities Co., Ltd.      80,738  
  28,600      Haitong Securities Co., Ltd.      63,597  
  149,200      Haitong Securities Co., Ltd.      176,486  
  1,835      HDFC Asset Management Co., Ltd.      82,391  
  2,100      Hithink RoyalFlush Information Network Co., Ltd., Class A      32,926  
  23,600      Huatai Securities Co., Ltd., Class A      68,850  
  100,800      Huatai Securities Co., Ltd., Class H      178,608  
  15,336      Investec, Ltd.      91,065  
  2,234      Korea Investment Holdings Co., Ltd.      139,579  
  10,139      Meritz Securities Co., Ltd.*      33,187  
  22,454      Mirae Asset Daewoo Co., Ltd.      146,193  
  6,300      Nanjing Securities Co., Ltd., Class A      11,684  
  7,349      NH Investment & Securities Co., Ltd.      80,478  
  1,631      Noah Holdings, Ltd., ADR*^      57,688  
  20,500      Orient Securities Co., Ltd./China      31,678  
  63,900      Pacific Securities Co. Ltd/The, Class A*      34,775  
  8,013      Reinet Investments SCA      158,855  
  3,512      Samsung Securities Co., Ltd.      117,013  
  26,100      SDIC Capital Co., Ltd., Class A      56,822  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Capital Markets, continued       
  129,100      Shenwan Hongyuan Group Co., Ltd.    $ 94,914  
  73,012      The Moscow Exchange      127,040  
  520,000      Yuanta Financial Holding Co., Ltd.      350,522  
     

 

 

 
        4,985,915  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (2.4%):       
  6,959      Advanced Petrochemical Co.      91,655  
  15,321      Asian Paints, Ltd.      383,273  
  9,301      Berger Paints India, Ltd.      67,240  
  185,000      Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp.      540,567  
  235,000      Formosa Plastics Corp.      783,311  
  6,038      Hanwha Chemical Corp.      98,042  
  24,900      Hengli Petrochemical Co., Ltd.      57,524  
  16,379      Hengyi Petrochemical Co., Ltd., Class A      32,763  
  85,200      Indorama Ventures PCL      98,545  
  940      Kumho Petrochemical Co., Ltd.      62,827  
  379      LG Chem, Ltd.      56,598  
  2,435      LG Chem, Ltd.      666,120  
  949      Lotte Chemical Corp.      183,079  
  237,213      Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding Co.      163,473  
  270,000      Nan Ya Plastics Corp.      656,330  
  16,206      National Industrialization Co.*      59,134  
  825      OCI Co., Ltd.      44,740  
  56,129      Orbia Advance Corp SAB de CV      119,722  
  131,000      Petronas Chemicals Group Berhad      235,493  
  6,230      Phosagro OAO, GDR      79,200  
  6,288      Pidilite Industries, Ltd.      122,428  
  1,233,300      PT Barito Pacific Tbk*      134,075  
  120,700      PTT Global Chemical Public Co., Ltd.      228,367  
  37,100      Rongsheng Petro Chemical Co., Ltd., Class A      66,021  
  16,532      Sahara International Petrochemical Co.      79,199  
  29,759      Sasol, Ltd.      647,845  
  8,038      Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Co.      166,150  
  40,483      Saudi Basic Industries Corp.      1,013,648  
  9,924      Saudi Industrial Investment Group      63,536  
  47,991      Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co.*      142,061  
  240,000      Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co., Ltd., Class H      72,445  
  5,640      Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA      150,925  
  9,360      Tianqi Lithium Corp., Class A      40,487  
  28,733      UPL, Ltd.      235,398  
  9,000      Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd.      72,596  
  11,140      Yanbu National Petrochemical Co.      166,084  
  14,800      Zhejiang Longsheng Group Co., Ltd., Class A      30,751  
     

 

 

 
        7,911,652  
     

 

 

 
Commercial Services & Supplies (0.2%):       
  16,500      A-Living Services Co., Ltd., Class H      57,118  
  221,222      China Everbright International, Ltd.      177,660  
  58,000      Country Garden Services Holdings Co., Ltd.      195,691  
  44,000      Greentown Service Group Co., Ltd.      48,069  
  929      S1 Corp.      75,289  
  5,700      Shanghai M&G Stationery, Inc., Class A      39,890  
     

 

 

 
        593,717  
     

 

 

 
Communications Equipment (0.2%):       
  28,000      Accton Technology Corp.      156,986  
  35,000      BYD Electronic International Co., Ltd.      67,267  
  1,175      KMW Co., Ltd.*      51,859  
  4,900      Shenzhen Sunway Communication Co., Ltd., Class A*      31,983  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Communications Equipment, continued       
  3,100      Yealink Network Technology Corp., Ltd., Class A    $ 32,245  
  8,300      ZTE Corp.*      42,187  
  40,400      ZTE Corp., Class H*      123,785  
     

 

 

 
        506,312  
     

 

 

 
Construction & Engineering (0.7%):       
  261,000      China Communications Construction Co., Ltd.      212,770  
  42,098      China Railway Construction Corp., Ltd., Class A      61,303  
  94,000      China Railway Construction Corp., Ltd., Class H      103,067  
  210,000      China Railway Group, Ltd.      129,696  
  85,500      China Railway Group, Ltd., Class A      72,961  
  134,200      China State Construction Engineering Corp., Ltd.      108,303  
  90,000      China State Construction International Holdings, Ltd.      81,976  
  1,453      Daelim Industrial Co., Ltd.      113,350  
  9,015      Daewoo Engineering & Construct*      36,726  
  75,400      Gamuda Berhad      71,928  
  3,761      GS Engineering & Construction Corp.      100,428  
  1,359      HDC Hyundai Development Co.-Engineering & Construction      30,104  
  4,352      Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd.      158,219  
  114,300      IJM Corporation Berhad      60,670  
  25,493      Larsen & Toubro, Ltd.      464,175  
  149,000      Metallurgical Corp of China, Ltd., Class H      33,483  
  71,700      Metallurgical Corp. of China, Ltd.      28,829  
  91,700      Power Construction Corp. of China, Ltd.      57,162  
  8,382      Samsung Engineering Co., Ltd.*      138,829  
  67,500      Sinopec Engineering Group Co., Ltd.      40,433  
     

 

 

 
        2,104,412  
     

 

 

 
Construction Materials (1.1%):       
  31,843      Ambuja Cements, Ltd.      87,656  
  23,700      Anhui Conch Cement Co., Ltd., Class A      186,758  
  52,500      Anhui Conch Cement Co., Ltd., Class H      383,653  
  114,000      Asia Cement Corp.      182,497  
  99,900      BBMG Corp.      53,556  
  113,000      BBMG Corp., Class H      34,725  
  9,100      Beijing Oriental Yuhong Waterproof Technology Co., Ltd., Class A      34,398  
  833,802      Cemex SAB de C.V.      312,292  
  200,000      China National Buildings Material Co., Ltd.      223,444  
  130,000      China Resources Cement Holdings, Ltd.      165,610  
  17,906      Grasim Industries, Ltd.      186,843  
  14,963      Grupo Argos SA      81,072  
  995      POSCO Chemical Co., Ltd.      42,263  
  99,700      PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa Tbk      136,830  
  158,500      PT Semen Indonesia (Persero) Tbk      136,778  
  3,423      Saudi Cement Co.      63,980  
  447      Shree Cement, Ltd.      127,748  
  8,700      Siam Cement PCL      113,430  
  245,925      Taiwan Cement Corp.      358,883  
  30,800      The Siam Cement Public Co., Ltd.      401,568  
  1,679      Titan Cement International SA*      35,962  
  5,328      Ultra Tech Cement, Ltd.      302,146  
     

 

 

 
        3,652,092  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (0.3%):       
  9,199      Bajaj Finance, Ltd.      546,495  
  13,812      Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services      62,571  
  28,300      Muangthai Capital PCL, Class R      60,128  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Consumer Finance, continued       
  6,884      Qudian, Inc., ADR*    $ 32,424  
  1,493      Samsung Card Co., Ltd.      49,801  
  8,554      Shriram Transport Finance      140,360  
  41,700      Srisawad Corp PCL      95,026  
     

 

 

 
        986,805  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (0.1%):       
  35,728      Klabin SA      163,539  
  5,000      Yunnan Energy New Material Co., Ltd.      36,260  
     

 

 

 
        199,799  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Consumer Services (0.6%):       
  19,000      China East Education Holdings, Ltd.*      39,812  
  25,000      China Education Group Holdings, Ltd.^      32,782  
  73,999      Cogna Educacao      210,296  
  7,324      New Oriental Education & Technology Group, Inc., ADR*      888,035  
  19,797      TAL Education Group, ADR*      954,215  
     

 

 

 
        2,125,140  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (1.0%):       
  15,390      Ayala Corp.      238,407  
  63,292      Chailease Holding Co., Ltd.      291,858  
  142,000      Far East Horizon, Ltd.      133,268  
  179,198      FirstRand, Ltd.      806,352  
  356,000      Fubon Financial Holdings Co., Ltd.      551,573  
  12,163      Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana SA      125,879  
  5,763      GT Capital Holdings, Inc.      96,486  
  50,558      Haci Omer Sabanci Holding AS      81,263  
  757,800      Metro Pacific Investments Corp.      51,643  
  8,314      PSG Group, Ltd.      139,123  
  31,853      REC, Ltd.      63,920  
  28,668      Remgro, Ltd.      400,010  
  43,522      RMB Holdings, Ltd.      250,498  
     

 

 

 
        3,230,280  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (1.4%):       
  16,641      Bharti Infratel, Ltd.      58,979  
  132,000      China Communications Services Corp., Ltd.      96,488  
  672,000      China Telecom Corp., Ltd., Class H      275,819  
  2,218,000      China Tower Corp., Ltd., Class H      490,617  
  326,000      China Unicom Hong Kong, Ltd.      307,761  
  190,000      Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd.      697,391  
  91,867      Emirates Telecommunications Group Co. PJSC      408,776  
  14,100      Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA (OTE)      225,517  
  4,921      LG Uplus Corp.      60,377  
  51,410      Ooredoo Qsc      100,002  
  23,636      Orange Polska SA*      44,362  
  2,601,900      PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk      741,380  
  21,370      Saudi Telecom Co.      580,127  
  5,248      Telecom Argentina SA, ADR      59,565  
  23,998      Telefonica Brasil      345,948  
  37,200      Telekom Malaysia Berhad      34,760  
  13,265      Telkom SA SOC, Ltd.^      32,978  
  494,000      True Corp. PCL      75,643  
     

 

 

 
        4,636,490  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (1.0%):       
  8,687      Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A      82,593  
  14,511      Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A      136,379  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Electric Utilities, continued       
  9,117      CEZ AS    $ 205,029  
  52,447      Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais      179,822  
  2,019,012      ENEL Americas SA      448,669  
  1,498,988      ENEL Chile SA      140,624  
  9,765      Energisa SA      129,965  
  44,655      Equatorial Energia SA      253,031  
  2,070,329      Inter Rao Ues PJSC      168,566  
  24,459      Interconexion Electrica SA ESP      145,925  
  13,649      Korea Electric Power Corp., Ltd.*      327,319  
  13,430      Manila Electric Co.      83,904  
  38,674      PGE SA*      81,086  
  98,266      Power Grid Corp. of India, Ltd.      262,159  
  45,490      Saudi Electricity Co.      244,988  
  45,696      Tata Power Co., Ltd.      36,244  
  164,700      Tenega Nasional Berhad      533,954  
     

 

 

 
        3,460,257  
     

 

 

 
Electrical Equipment (0.2%):       
  7,500      Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd., Class A      114,679  
  33,350      Elswedy Cables Holding Co.      23,970  
  4,900      Eve Energy Co., Ltd., Class A*      35,282  
  11,329      Havells India, Ltd.      102,767  
  20,300      Luxshare Precision Industry Co., Ltd.      106,339  
  12,400      Nari Technology Co., Ltd.      37,765  
  272,000      Shanghai Electric Group Co., Ltd., Class H      89,480  
  27,400      Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd.      31,840  
  16,541      Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd.      28,384  
  17,400      Zhejiang Chint Electrics Co., Ltd., Class A      66,980  
  27,100      Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric Co., Ltd., Class H      98,224  
     

 

 

 
        735,710  
     

 

 

 
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (2.3%):       
  39,000      AAC Technologies Holdings, Inc.^      340,687  
  463,000      AU Optronics Corp.      155,502  
  9,200      AVIC Jonhon Optronic Technology Co., Ltd., Class A      51,585  
  10,800      Chaozhou Three-Circle Group Co., Ltd., Class A      34,589  
  54,000      China Railway Signal & Communication Corp., Ltd.      30,192  
  103,000      Delta Electronics, Inc.      520,813  
  20,899      Foxconn Industrial Internet Co., Ltd., Class A      54,840  
  46,000      Foxconn Technology Co., Ltd.      101,717  
  12,300      GoerTek, Inc., Class A      35,168  
  32,700      Hangzhou Hikvision Digital      153,972  
  652,000      Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.      1,976,045  
  428,000      Innolux Corp.      119,154  
  34,500      Kingboard Holdings, Ltd.      109,534  
  55,500      Kingboard Laminates Holdings, Ltd.      69,008  
  5,000      Largan Precision Co., Ltd.      835,503  
  15,100      Lens Technology Co., Ltd., Class A      30,042  
  12,433      LG Display Co., Ltd.*      173,846  
  732      LG Innotek Co., Ltd.      88,346  
  19,600      Lingyi iTech Guangdong Co., Class A*      30,551  
  2,500      NAURA Technology Group Co., Ltd., Class A      31,573  
  15,000      OFILM Group Co., Ltd., Class A*      33,641  
  2,956      Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd., Series L      318,277  
  2,911      Samsung SDI Co., Ltd.      591,901  
  9,500      Shengyi Technology Co., Ltd., Class A      28,540  
  1,300      Shennan Circuits Co., Ltd., Class A      26,537  
  37,700      Sunny Optical Technology Group Co., Ltd.      654,236  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components, continued       
  76,000      Synnex Technology International Corp.    $ 95,183  
  14,000      Tianma Microelectronics Co., Ltd., Class A      32,780  
  11,100      Unisplendour Corp., Ltd., Class A      50,373  
  13,000      Walsin Technology Corp.      103,677  
  69,960      WPG Holdings, Ltd.      91,271  
  8,300      WUS Printed Circuit Kunshan Co., Ltd., Class A      26,492  
  5,600      Wuxi Lead Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd., Class A      36,100  
  13,377      Yageo Corp.      195,221  
  19,900      Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co., Ltd., Class A      56,892  
  26,000      Zhen Ding Technology Holding, Ltd.      124,341  
     

 

 

 
        7,408,129  
     

 

 

 
Energy Equipment & Services (0.1%):       
  74,000      China Oilfield Services, Ltd.      116,182  
  185,100      Dialog Group Berhad      156,201  
     

 

 

 
        272,383  
     

 

 

 
Entertainment (0.7%):       
  700,000      Alibaba Pictures Group, Ltd.*      123,255  
  3,545      CD Projekt SA      261,104  
  2,611      HUYA, Inc., ADR*      46,867  
  6,238      IQIYI, Inc., ADR*      131,684  
  8,100      Mango Excellent Media Co., Ltd., Class A*      40,669  
  873      Ncsoft Corp.      407,104  
  3,674      NetEase, Inc., ADR      1,126,596  
  953      Netmarble Corp.*      75,999  
  281      Pearl Abyss Corp.*      44,997  
  4,700      Perfect World Co., Ltd., Class A      29,782  
  4,452      Tencent Music Entertainment Group, ADR*      52,266  
  10,700      Wuhu Sanqi Interactive Entertainment Network Technology Group Co., Ltd., Class A      41,401  
     

 

 

 
        2,381,724  
     

 

 

 
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (0.2%):       
  158,965      Fibra UNO Amdinistracion SA      246,312  
  65,874      Fortress REIT, Ltd., Class A      90,764  
  147,566      Growthpoint Properties, Ltd.      233,648  
  278,872      Redefine Properties, Ltd.      150,861  
     

 

 

 
        721,585  
     

 

 

 
Food & Staples Retailing (1.5%):       
  21,197      Atacadao Distribuicao Comercio e Industria, Ltd.      123,061  
  6,822      Avenue Supermarts, Ltd.*      175,936  
  51,500      Berli Jucker PCL      71,937  
  376      BGF Retail Co., Ltd.      54,912  
  16,616      Bid Corp., Ltd.      392,148  
  19,206      BIM Birlesik Magazalar AS      150,988  
  71,473      Cencosud SA      94,156  
  8,122      Cia Brasileira de Distribuicao*      179,484  
  13,004      Clicks Group, Ltd.      238,589  
  298,100      CP All PCL      717,067  
  2,270      Dino Polska SA*      86,156  
  1,085      E-Mart Co., Ltd.      119,417  
  1,004      GS Retail Co., Ltd.      34,034  
  19,582      Magnit OJSC, Registered Shares, GDR      236,691  
  19,599      Pickn Pay Stores, Ltd.      89,374  
  31,000      President Chain Store Corp.      314,736  
  12,234      Raia Drogasil SA      339,583  
  25,126      Shoprite Holdings, Ltd.      226,320  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Food & Staples Retailing, continued       
  117,500      Sun Art Retail Group, Ltd.    $ 142,603  
  10,296      The Spar Group, Ltd.      145,456  
  277,598      Wal-Mart de Mexico SAB de C.V.      795,206  
  6,668      X5 Retail Group NV, GDR      230,134  
  2,900      Yifeng Pharmacy Chain Co., Ltd., Class A      30,479  
  25,700      Yonghui Superstores Co., Ltd.      27,823  
     

 

 

 
        5,016,290  
     

 

 

 
Food Products (1.9%):       
  14,779      Almarai Co. JSC      195,083  
  26,946      BRF SA*      235,828  
  2,599      Britannia Industries, Ltd.      110,386  
  217,700      Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Co., Ltd.      199,249  
  86,000      China Agri-Industries Holdings, Ltd.      45,594  
  280,000      China Huishan Dairy Holdings Co., Ltd.*^      539  
  145,000      China Mengniu Dairy Co., Ltd.      587,640  
  461      CJ CheilJedang Corp.      100,259  
  111,500      Dali Foods Group Co., Ltd.      82,447  
  7,700      Foshan Haitian Flavouring & Food Co., Ltd.      118,882  
  15,800      Genting Plantations Berhad      40,900  
  10,900      Gruma, SAB de C.V., Class B      111,940  
  85,224      Grupo Bimbo SAB de C.V., Series A, Class A      155,225  
  9,500      Guangdong Haid Group Co., Ltd., Class A      49,097  
  8,700      Henan Shuanghui Investment & Development Co., Ltd.      36,296  
  17,800      Inner Mongolia Yili Indsutrial Group Co., Ltd.      79,076  
  100,800      IOI Corp. Berhad      113,660  
  58,755      JBS SA      376,897  
  12,700      Jiangxi Zhengbang Technology Co., Ltd., Class A      29,553  
  23,900      Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad      144,888  
  5,500      Muyuan Foodstuff Co., Ltd.      70,115  
  1,155      Nestle India, Ltd.      239,699  
  4,000      Nestle Malaysia Bhd      143,800  
  10,200      New Hope Liuhe Co., Ltd., Class A      29,228  
  1,128      Orion Corp./ Republic of Korea      102,849  
  84      Ottogi Corp.      40,224  
  30,380      PPB Group Berhad      140,069  
  402,600      PT Charoen Pokphand Indonesia Tbk      188,028  
  116,600      PT Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur Tbk      93,715  
  265,500      PT Indofood Sukses Makmur Tbk      151,542  
  34,300      QL Resources Berhad      68,202  
  98,600      Sime Darby Plantation Bhd      131,130  
  17,000      Standard Foods Corp.      39,509  
  169,500      Thai Union Frozen Products PCL      76,074  
  15,268      The Savola Group*      139,998  
  8,059      Tiger Brands, Ltd.      121,242  
  94,000      Tingyi (Caymen Is) Holding Corp.      160,636  
  17,800      Tongwei Co., Ltd., Class A      33,556  
  67,000      Uni-President China Holdings, Ltd.      70,398  
  254,000      Uni-President Enterprises Corp.      628,751  
  45,370      Universal Robina Corp.      130,076  
  268,000      Want Want China Holdings, Ltd.      250,988  
  18,300      Wens Foodstuffs Group Co., Ltd.      88,284  
  23,000      Yihai International Holding, Ltd.      134,737  
     

 

 

 
        6,086,289  
     

 

 

 
Gas Utilities (0.6%):       
  27,000      Beijing Enterprises Holdings, Ltd.      124,048  
  96,600      China Gas Holdings, Ltd.      362,132  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Gas Utilities, continued       
  48,000      China Resources Gas Group, Ltd.    $ 263,853  
  41,500      ENN Energy Holdings, Ltd.      453,776  
  101,101      GAIL India, Ltd.      171,726  
  27,034      Infraestructura Energetica Nova, SAB de C.V.      127,181  
  1,191      Korea Gas Corp.      38,901  
  29,700      Petronas Gas Berhad      120,551  
  548,900      PT Perusahaan Gas Negara Tbk      85,409  
  39,000      Towngas China Co., Ltd.      27,060  
     

 

 

 
        1,774,637  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (0.1%):       
  92,300      Hartalega Holdings Berhad      123,700  
  3,200      Jafron Biomedical Co., Ltd., Class A      33,007  
  7,700      Lepu Medical Technology Beijing Co., Ltd., Class A      36,592  
  4,400      Ovctek China, Inc., Class A      29,902  
  104,000      Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer Co., Ltd., Class H      124,780  
  1,200      Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co., Ltd., Class A      31,266  
  70,800      Top Glove Corp. Berhad      81,419  
     

 

 

 
        460,666  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (0.6%):       
  10,010      Aier Eye Hospital Group Co., Ltd., Class A      56,907  
  505,900      Bangkok Dusit Medical Services Public Co., Ltd.      437,783  
  26,800      Bumrungrad Hospital PCL      131,340  
  2,762      Celltrion Healthcare Co., Ltd.*      125,404  
  11,550      Hapvida Participacoes e Investimentos SA      183,502  
  10,500      Huadong Medicine Co., Ltd., Class A      36,760  
  128,800      IHH Healthcare Berhad      172,283  
  70,595      Life Healthcare Group Holdings Pte, Ltd.      123,930  
  15,300      Meinian Onehealth Healthcare Holdings Co., Ltd., Class A      32,744  
  18,077      Notre Dame Intermedica Participacoes SA      306,752  
  1,900      Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding Co., Ltd.      5,015  
  60,300      Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding Co., Ltd.      117,348  
  64,800      Sinopharm Group Co., Series H      237,028  
  2,100      Topchoice Medical Corp., Class A*      30,917  
     

 

 

 
        1,997,713  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Technology (0.1%):       
  190,000      Alibaba Health Information Technology, Ltd.*      219,570  
  15,000      Ping An Healthcare and Technology Co., Ltd.*      109,561  
     

 

 

 
        329,131  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (0.8%):       
  25,194      Alsea SAB de C.V.*      66,413  
  4,914      AmRest Holdings SE*      56,128  
  7,600      China International Travel Service Corp., Ltd., Class A      97,193  
  114,000      Genting Berhard      168,826  
  167,600      Genting Malaysia Berhad      134,882  
  18,000      Haidilao International Holding, Ltd.      72,326  
  7,102      Huazhu Group, Ltd., ADR      284,578  
  23,260      Jollibee Foods Corp.      99,061  
  5,881      Kangwon Land, Inc.      150,324  
  167,200      Minor International PCL      200,735  
  9,175      OPAP SA      119,351  
  1,987      Saudi Airlines Catering Co.      54,471  
  64,500      Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Town Co., Ltd., Class A      72,155  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure, continued       
  11,300      Songcheng Performance Development Co., Ltd., Class A    $ 50,148  
  19,077      Yum China Holdings, Inc.      915,887  
     

 

 

 
        2,542,478  
     

 

 

 
Household Durables (0.4%):       
  7,079      Arcelik AS*      24,850  
  11,199      Gree Electric Appliances, Inc. of Zhuhai, Class A      105,232  
  67,000      Haier Electronics Group Co., Ltd.      209,699  
  5,768      LG Electronics, Inc.      357,740  
  10,900      Midea Group Co., Ltd., Class A      90,925  
  13,100      NavInfo Co., Ltd., Class A      30,291  
  7,000      Nien Made Enterprise Co., Ltd.      64,770  
  17,100      Qingdao Haier Co., Ltd.      47,955  
  104,000      Tatung Co., Ltd.*      72,901  
  72,600      TCL Corp., Class A      46,606  
  2,799      Woongjin Coway Co., Ltd.      224,912  
  4,700      Zhejiang Supor Co., Ltd., Class A      51,817  
     

 

 

 
        1,327,698  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (0.4%):       
  33,339      Hindustan Unilever, Ltd.      898,434  
  89,529      Kimberl- Clark de Mexico SAB de C.V.      177,607  
  78,100      PT Unilever Indonesia Tbk      236,187  
     

 

 

 
        1,312,228  
     

 

 

 
Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers (0.6%):  
  57,800      Aboitiz Power Corp.      39,169  
  41,700      B Grimm Power PCL      72,876  
  534,000      Cgn Power Co., Ltd., Class H      142,677  
  170,000      China Longyuan Power Group Corp.      107,635  
  41,500      China National Nuclear Power Co., Ltd.      29,800  
  185,000      China Power International Develpoment, Ltd.      39,678  
  90,000      China Resources Power Holdings Co.      126,400  
  71,400      China Yangtze Power Co., Ltd.      188,420  
  415,329      Colbun SA      66,320  
  15,900      Electricity Genera PCL      173,747  
  10,904      Engie Brasil Energia SA      137,723  
  191,500      GD Power Development Co., Ltd.      64,335  
  40,700      Global Power Synergy PCL      116,473  
  25,500      Gulf Energy Development PCL, Class R      140,814  
  56,200      Huadian Power International Corp, Ltd., Class A      29,614  
  84,000      Huadian Power International Corp., Ltd., Class H      31,915  
  226,000      Huaneng Power International, Inc., Class H      114,198  
  256,000      Huaneng Renewables Corp., Ltd.      99,569  
  110,072      NTPC, Ltd.      183,673  
  33,400      Ratch Group PCL      76,488  
  50,900      SDIC Power Holdings Co., Ltd., Class A      67,124  
  21,900      Sichuan Chuantou Energy Co., Ltd., Class A      30,969  
     

 

 

 
        2,079,617  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (1.2%):       
  105,390      Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc.      107,001  
  147,446      Alfa SAB de C.V., Class A      122,305  
  14,751      Bidvest Group, Ltd.      216,069  
  316,000      Citic, Ltd.      423,586  
  713      CJ Corp.      59,514  
  154,000      Far Eastern New Century Corp.      153,513  
  137,000      Fosun International, Ltd.      200,209  
  24,392      Grupo Carso SAB de C.V.      90,093  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Industrial Conglomerates, continued       
  2,181      Hanwha Corp.    $ 47,018  
  28,800      Hap Seng Consolidated Berhad      70,281  
  96,889      Industries Qatar Q.S.C.      273,742  
  153,160      JG Summit Holdings, Inc.      244,617  
  35,708      KOC Holdings AS      122,246  
  5,080      LG Corp.      323,413  
  1,672      Lotte Corp.      56,246  
  4,534      Samsung C&T Corp.      424,607  
  32,000      Shanghai Industrial Holdings, Ltd.      61,617  
  2,872      Siemens, Ltd.      60,255  
  111,900      Sime Darby Berhad      60,801  
  1,878      SK Holdings Co., Ltd.      424,316  
  12,880      SM Investments Corp.      265,174  
     

 

 

 
        3,806,623  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (3.9%):       
  2,066      Bajaj Finserv, Ltd.      272,570  
  38,189      BB Seguridade Participacoes SA      357,963  
  1,459      Bupa Arabia For Cooperative Insurance Co.      39,840  
  420,137      Cathay Financial Holding Co., Ltd.      596,900  
  170,088      China Life Insurance Co., Ltd.*      145,309  
  10,000      China Life Insurance Co., Ltd.      50,057  
  381,000      China Life Insurance Co., Ltd.      1,061,490  
  23,600      China Pacific Insurance Group Co., Ltd., Class A      128,260  
  135,600      China Pacific Insurance Group Co., Ltd., Class H      535,498  
  210,000      China Reinsurance Group Corp.      34,508  
  86,200      China Taiping Insurance Holdings Co., Ltd.      214,367  
  2,649      DB Insurance Co., Ltd.      119,640  
  18,715      Discovery, Ltd.      161,472  
  15,367      Hanwha Life Insurance Co., Ltd.      30,638  
  27,089      HDFC Life Insurance Co., Ltd.      237,669  
  3,542      Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Co., Ltd.      82,443  
  9,682      ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co., Ltd.      188,093  
  14,231      ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co., Ltd.      96,262  
  37,252      IRB Brasil Resseguros SA      360,757  
  7,924      Liberty Holding, Ltd.      62,698  
  50,823      Momentum Metropolitan Holdings      79,073  
  46,600      New China Life Insurance Co., Ltd.      200,850  
  4,500      New China Life Insurance Co., Ltd., Class A      31,763  
  237,809      Old Mutual, Ltd.      333,716  
  1,520      Orange Life Insurance, Ltd.      36,998  
  454,000      People’s Insurance Co. Group of China, Ltd. (The)      189,044  
  364,000      Picc Property & Casuality Co., Ltd., Class H      438,926  
  293,500      Ping An Insurance Group Co. of China, Ltd.      3,477,100  
  33,300      Ping An Insurance Group Co. of China, Ltd.      408,737  
  5,556      Porto Seguro SA      86,669  
  33,349      Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen SA      352,184  
  98,280      Qatar Insurance Co.      85,350  
  52,518      Rand Merchant Investment Holdings, Ltd.      115,579  
  1,536      Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co., Ltd.      323,266  
  3,843      Samsung Life Insurance Co., Ltd.      246,986  
  101,315      Sanlam, Ltd.      573,150  
  18,759      SBI Life Insurance Co., Ltd.      252,514  
  542,991      Shin Kong Financial Holdings Co., Ltd.      187,692  
  15,379      Sul America SA      229,117  
  2,914      The Co. for Cooperative Insurance*      59,625  
  11,700      Zhongan Online P&c Insurance Co., Ltd.*^      42,407  
     

 

 

 
        12,527,180  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

10


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Interactive Media & Services (5.9%):       
  5,106      58.com, Inc., ADR*    $ 330,511  
  2,908      Autohome, Inc., ADR*^      232,669  
  14,475      Baidu, Inc., ADR*      1,829,640  
  3,552      Info Edge India, Ltd.      125,983  
  3,144      JOYY, Inc., ADR*      165,972  
  2,654      Kakao Corp.      351,495  
  7,938      Momo, Inc., ADR      265,923  
  7,240      NAVER Corp.      1,166,465  
  3,404      Sina Corp.*      135,922  
  299,600      Tencent Holdings, Ltd.      14,453,195  
  2,832      Weibo Corp., ADR*^      131,263  
     

 

 

 
        19,189,038  
     

 

 

 
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail (7.0%):       
  88,405      Alibaba Group Holding, Ltd., ADR*      18,750,700  
  11,315      B2W Cia Digital*      176,843  
  2,123      Baozun, Inc., ADR*^      70,314  
  574      CJ ENM Co., Ltd.      79,064  
  38,249      JD.com, Inc., ADR*      1,347,511  
  53,600      Meituan Dianping*      701,978  
  10,245      Pinduoduo, Inc., ADR*      387,466  
  25,003      Trip.com Group, Ltd., ADR*      838,601  
  23,233      Vipshop Holdings, Ltd., ADR*      329,212  
     

 

 

 
        22,681,689  
     

 

 

 
IT Services (1.5%):       
  63,154      Cielo SA      131,427  
  21,500      DHC Software Co., Ltd., Class A      31,869  
  3,409      GDS Holdings, Ltd., ADR*^      175,837  
  57,866      HCL Technologies, Ltd.      460,786  
  178,252      Infosys, Ltd.      1,832,962  
  1,832      Samsung SDS Co., Ltd.      307,685  
  46,909      Tata Consultancy Services, Ltd.      1,420,252  
  24,701      Tech Mahindra, Ltd.      263,979  
  50,000      Travelsky Technology, Ltd., Series H      122,193  
  500      Wangsu Science & Technology Co., Ltd., Class A      684  
  61,036      Wipro, Ltd.      210,320  
     

 

 

 
        4,957,994  
     

 

 

 
Leisure Products (0.1%):       
  14,000      Giant Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      99,458  
  1,777      HLB, Inc.*      175,298  
     

 

 

 
        274,756  
     

 

 

 
Life Sciences Tools & Services (0.3%):       
  4,215      Divi’s Laboratories, Ltd.      109,035  
  44,000      Genscript Biotech Corp.*      100,060  
  3,400      Hangzhou Tigermed Consulting Co., Ltd., Class A      30,838  
  872      Samsung Biologics Co., Ltd.*      325,241  
  5,800      WuXi AppTec Co., Ltd., Class A      76,764  
  7,200      WuXi AppTec Co., Ltd., Class H      89,353  
  29,500      Wuxi Biologics Cayman, Inc.*      374,187  
     

 

 

 
        1,105,478  
     

 

 

 
Machinery (0.8%):       
  7,000      AirTac International Group      109,292  
  56,569      Ashok Leyland, Ltd.      64,717  
  87,000      China Conch Venture Holdings, Ltd.      379,661  
  72,200      China Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd., Class A      54,323  
  82,899      CRRC Corp., Ltd., Class A      84,996  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Machinery, continued       
  241,000      CRRC Corp., Ltd., Class H    $ 175,762  
  1,406      Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd.*      33,792  
  2,359      Doosan Bobcat, Inc.      69,859  
  32,000      Haitian International Holdings, Ltd.      77,591  
  14,482      Hiwin Technologies Corp.      136,002  
  462      Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings Co., Ltd.      134,732  
  5,200      Jiangsu Hengli Hydraulic Co., Ltd., Class A      37,147  
  2,061      Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore*      223,665  
  21,663      Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., Class R*      135,839  
  26,100      Sany Heavy Industry Co., Ltd.      63,947  
  35,500      Sinotruk Hong Kong, Ltd.      75,757  
  44,410      WEG SA      382,708  
  15,600      Weichai Power Co., Ltd., Class A      35,581  
  104,000      Weichai Power Co., Ltd., Class H      220,057  
  19,700      Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls Co., Ltd., Class A      49,063  
  4,800      Zhongji Innolight Co., Ltd., Class A      35,950  
  80,400      Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co., Ltd., Class H      67,502  
     

 

 

 
        2,647,943  
     

 

 

 
Marine (0.1%):       
  134,000      Cosco Shipping Holdings Co., Ltd.*      54,440  
  158,835      Evergreen Marine Corp., Ltd.*      65,731  
  53,100      MISC Berhad      108,793  
  10,292      Pan Ocean Co., Ltd.*      40,379  
     

 

 

 
        269,343  
     

 

 

 
Media (1.4%):       
  3,550      Cheil Worldwide, Inc.      73,812  
  14,200      China Literature, Ltd.*      59,361  
  15,055      Cyfrowy Polsat SA      110,834  
  127,011      Grupo Televisa SAB      298,123  
  13,390      Megacable Holdings SAB de C.V.      54,854  
  23,699      MultiChoice Group, Ltd.*      197,173  
  22,909      Naspers, Ltd.      3,746,527  
  33,057      ZEE Entertainment Enterprises, Ltd.      135,492  
     

 

 

 
        4,676,176  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (3.4%):       
  141,114      Alrosa PAO      192,144  
  312,000      Aluminum Corp. of China, Ltd.*      106,977  
  2,653      Anglo American Platinum, Ltd.      247,862  
  21,810      AngloGold Ashanti, Ltd.      489,071  
  109,900      Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd., Class A      90,582  
  83,500      China Hongqiao Group, Ltd.      50,447  
  58,500      China Molybdenum Co., Ltd., Class A      36,650  
  210,000      China Molybdenum Co., Ltd., Class H      90,216  
  21,400      China Northern Rare Earth Group High-Tech Co., Ltd., Class A      33,302  
  588,000      China Steel Corp.      469,327  
  96,400      China Zhongwang Holdings, Ltd.      38,496  
  12,956      Cia de Minas Buenaventura SA, ADR      195,636  
  33,377      Companhia Siderurgica Nacional SA (CSN)      117,093  
  74,572      Eregli Demir ve Celik Fabrikalari T.A.S.      113,559  
  43,056      Gold Fields      289,476  
  184,317      Grupo Mexico SAB de C.V., Series B, Class B      505,665  
  58,675      Hindalco Industries, Ltd.      178,000  
  4,280      Hyundai Steel Co.      116,569  
  42,293      Impala Platinum Holdings, Ltd.*      434,130  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

11


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Metals & Mining, continued       
  6,828      Industrias Penoles SAB de C.V.    $ 71,595  
  226,900      Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Union Co., Ltd.      43,004  
  29,000      Jiangxi Copper Co., Ltd.      39,974  
  26,000      Jiangxi Copper Co., Ltd., Class A      63,248  
  45,225      JSW Steel, Ltd.      171,205  
  7,548      KGHM Polska Miedz SA*      190,053  
  456      Korea Zinc Co.      167,884  
  3,443      Kumba Iron Ore, Ltd.      102,523  
  64,500      Maanshan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd., Class A      28,431  
  158,384      Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works PJSC      107,294  
  3,216      MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC      992,019  
  18,811      Northam Platinum, Ltd.*      166,082  
  64,536      Novolipetsk Steel PJSC      149,775  
  10,448      Polymetal International plc      163,762  
  1,230      Polyus PJSC      141,097  
  4,127      POSCO      840,951  
  92,100      Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd      104,972  
  23,267      Saudi Arabian Mining Co.*      275,540  
  9,611      Severstal      145,515  
  5,800      Shandong Gold Mining Co., Ltd.      27,060  
  119,193      Sibanye Gold, Ltd.*      301,119  
  4,407      Southern Copper Corp.      187,209  
  16,508      Tata Steel, Ltd.      109,523  
  201,900      Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Co., Ltd., Class A      67,542  
  166,093      Vale SA      2,201,083  
  105,510      Vedanta, Ltd.      225,661  
  48,000      Zhaojin Mining Industry Co., Ltd., Class H      52,937  
  70,100      Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd.      46,215  
  292,000      Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd.      145,613  
     

 

 

 
        11,124,088  
     

 

 

 
Multiline Retail (0.5%):       
  8,526      El Puerto de Liverpool SAb de C.V.      42,361  
  805      Hyundai Department Store Co., Ltd.      57,762  
  42,154      Lojas Renner SA      588,919  
  497      Lotte Shopping Co., Ltd.      58,152  
  38,738      Magazine Luiza SA      459,424  
  18,300      Robinson Department Store Public Co., Ltd.      40,272  
  40,580      S.A.C.I. Falabella      175,010  
  417      Shinsegae Department Store Co.      104,038  
  49,121      Woolworths Holdings, Ltd.      170,625  
     

 

 

 
        1,696,563  
     

 

 

 
Multi-Utilities (0.0%):       
  28,020      Qatar Electricity & Water Co.      123,831  
  131,264      YTL Corporation Berhad      31,476  
     

 

 

 
        155,307  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (7.3%):       
  231,200      Banpu Public Co., Ltd.      91,563  
  34,664      Bharat Pertoleum Corp., Ltd.      239,316  
  135,100      Bukit Asam Tbk PT      25,754  
  78,000      China Coal Energy Co., Ltd., Class H      30,962  
  37,400      China Merchants Energy Shipping Co., Ltd., Class A      44,378  
  30,900      China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., Class A      22,681  
  1,404,000      China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., Class H      846,322  
  10,100      China Shenhua Energy Co., Ltd.      26,484  
  185,000      China Shenhua Energy Co., Ltd.      387,207  
  948,000      CNOOC, Ltd.      1,580,112  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
  68,459      Coal India, Ltd.    $ 202,902  
  9,332      Cosan sa industria e Comercio      161,419  
  65,300      COSCO SHIPPING Energy Transportation Co., Ltd., Class A      59,974  
  259,471      Ecopetrol SA      261,822  
  21,441      Empresas Copec SA      192,584  
  86,000      Energy Absolute Public Co., Ltd.      125,035  
  11,936      Exxaro Resources, Ltd.      111,761  
  66,000      Formosa Petrochemical Corp.      214,911  
  550,673      Gazprom PJSC      2,280,222  
  4,941      Grupa Lotos SA      108,857  
  2,690      GS Holdings      119,616  
  25,893      Hindustan Petroleum Corp., Ltd.      96,002  
  94,230      Indian Oil Corp., Ltd.      165,885  
  56,800      Inner Mongolia Yitai Coal Co., Ltd.      46,033  
  572,300      IRPC PCL      69,930  
  172,000      Kunlun Energy Co., Ltd.      151,798  
  20,574      LUKOIL PJSC      2,049,551  
  23,887      MOL Hungarian Oil And Gas PLC      238,845  
  2,388      Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries SA      55,367  
  4,818      NovaTek OAO, Registered Shares, GDR      978,395  
  46,100      Oil & Gas Development Co., Ltd.      42,393  
  139,854      Oil & Natural Gas Corp., Ltd.      252,927  
  45,900      PetroChina Co., Ltd., Class A      38,432  
  1,114,000      PetroChina Co., Ltd., Class H      559,272  
  157,799      Petroleo Brasileiro SA      1,255,487  
  215,910      Petroleo Brasileiro SA      1,620,129  
  10,500      Petronas Dagangan Berhad      59,312  
  32,190      Petronet LNG, Ltd.      120,972  
  16,175      Polski Koncern Naftowy Orlen SA      365,929  
  88,731      Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA      101,210  
  639,600      PT Adaro Energy Tbk      71,218  
  82,200      PT United Tractors Tbk      126,937  
  75,800      PTT Exploration & Production PCL      313,428  
  616,600      PTT PCL      902,500  
  18,380      Qatar Fuel QSC      115,564  
  10,829      Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Co.*      62,544  
  148,938      Reliance Industries, Ltd.      3,163,957  
  10,376      Rosneft Oil Co. PJSC      75,356  
  49,466      Rosneft Oil Co., Registered Shares, GDR      356,992  
  46,518      Saudi Arabian Oil Co.*      437,176  
  26,100      Shaanxi Coal Industry Co., Ltd.      33,697  
  2,000      Shanxi Meijin Energy Co., Ltd., Class A*      2,710  
  2,940      SK Innovation Co., Ltd.      379,293  
  2,441      S-Oil Corp.      199,910  
  355,190      Surgutneftegas PJSC      289,471  
  398,301      Surgutneftegas Prefernce      242,644  
  81,138      Tatneft PJSC      995,888  
  54,400      Thai Oil Public Co., Ltd.      125,800  
  6,354      Tupras-Turkiye Petrol Rafine      135,722  
  38,971      Ultrapar Participacoes SA      246,887  
  102,000      Yanzhou Coal Mining Co.      91,668  
  8,881      YPF Sociedad Anonima, ADR      102,842  
     

 

 

 
        23,873,955  
     

 

 

 
Paper & Forest Products (0.2%):       
  56,497      Empresas CMPC SA      138,329  
  124,900      Indah Kiat Pulp & Paper Corp Tbk PT      68,919  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

12


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Paper & Forest Products, continued       
  82,000      Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing, Ltd.    $ 62,264  
  91,000      Nine Dragons Paper Holdings, Ltd.      94,833  
  70,200      Pabrik Kertas Tjiwi Kimia Tbk PT      51,790  
  28,968      Suzano SA      285,791  
     

 

 

 
        701,926  
     

 

 

 
Personal Products (0.6%):       
  1,739      Amorepacific Corp.      299,941  
  378      Amorepacific Corp.      29,176  
  1,469      Amorepacific Group      104,947  
  2,395      Colgate-Palmolive India, Ltd.      49,166  
  28,768      Dabur India, Ltd.      184,876  
  18,132      Godrej Consumer Products, Ltd.      174,100  
  40,000      Hengan International Group Co., Ltd.      285,606  
  498      LG Household & Health Care, Ltd.      542,572  
  101      LG Household & Health Care, Ltd.      67,337  
  22,094      Marico, Ltd.      105,797  
  19,188      Natura & Co. Holding SA*      184,485  
     

 

 

 
        2,028,003  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (1.2%):       
  19,303      Aspen Pharmacare Holdings, Ltd.*      164,788  
  14,897      Aurobindo Pharma, Ltd.      95,394  
  3,100      Betta Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., Class A      29,252  
  600      Changchun High & New Technology Industry Group, Inc., Class A      38,539  
  5,600      Chengdu Kanghong Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., Class A      29,701  
  73,000      China Medical System Holdings, Ltd.      105,229  
  234,000      China Pharmaceutical Enterprise & Investment Corp.      558,572  
  80,500      China Resources Pharmaceutical      74,756  
  100,000      China Traditional Chinese Medicine Holdings Co., Ltd.      48,270  
  18,510      Cipla, Ltd.      124,049  
  6,165      Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Ltd.      248,343  
  9,600      Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Holdings Co., Ltd., Class A      49,108  
  395      Hanmi Pharm Co., Ltd.*      101,083  
  22,000      Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd.*      73,225  
  2,844      Hutchison China MediTech, Ltd., ADR*      71,299  
  18,735      Hypera SA      166,249  
  14,080      Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co., Ltd.      177,053  
  11,544      Lupin, Ltd.      123,687  
  61,500      Luye Pharma Group, Ltd.      46,192  
  5,300      Nanjing King-Friend Biochemical Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      31,585  
  5,325      Piramal Enterprises, Ltd.      113,920  
  1,171,200      PT Kalbe Farma Tbk      136,379  
  7,472      Richter Gedeon Nyrt      162,627  
  42,000      Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd.      126,812  
  365,500      Sino Biopharmaceutical, Ltd.      512,043  
  82,000      SSY Group, Ltd.      66,496  
  44,370      Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.      268,952  
  516      Yuhan Corp.*      105,304  
  3,600      Yunnan Baiyao Group Co., Ltd.      46,258  
  2,000      Zhangzhou Pientzehuang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      31,552  
  35,100      Zhejiang Conba Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Class A      31,026  
  300      Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Class A*      744  
  14,500      Zhejiang NHU Co., Ltd., Class A      48,415  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Pharmaceuticals, continued       
  4,700      Zhejiang Wolwo Bio-Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Class A    $ 29,802  
     

 

 

 
        4,036,704  
     

 

 

 
Professional Services (0.0%):       
  1,532      51job, Inc., ADR*      130,067  
     

 

 

 
Real Estate Management & Development (2.8%):       
  74,000      Agile Group Holdings, Ltd.      111,480  
  170,399      Aldar Properties PJSC      100,242  
  364,200      Ayala Land, Inc.      326,680  
  101,480      Barwa Real Estate Co.      98,727  
  45,659      BR Malls Participacoes SA      205,023  
  570,800      Bumi Serpong Damai Tbk PT*      51,476  
  116,000      Central Pattana PCL      239,831  
  59,000      China Aoyuan Group, Ltd.      96,434  
  97,000      China Evergrande Group*      269,884  
  9,500      China Fortune Land Development Co., Ltd.      39,167  
  278,000      China Jinmao Holdings Group, Ltd.      216,789  
  38,700      China Merchants Shekou Industrial Zone Holdings Co., Ltd., Class A      110,447  
  204,000      China Overseas Land & Investment, Ltd.      796,783  
  146,000      China Resources Land, Ltd.      727,516  
  34,300      China Vanke Co., Ltd., Class A      158,513  
  71,800      China Vanke Co., Ltd., Class H      306,524  
  148,000      CIFI Holdings Group Co., Ltd.      125,247  
  400,000      Country Garden Holdings Co., Ltd.      642,795  
  25,313      Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Development Co.*      74,297  
  25,715      DLF, Ltd.      83,243  
  18,917      Emaar Economic City*      48,160  
  100,129      Emaar Malls PJSC      49,863  
  176,570      Emaar Properties PJSC      193,312  
  6,000      Future Land Holdings Co., Ltd.      33,392  
  27,400      Gemdale Corp., Class A      57,054  
  54,400      Greenland Holdings Corp., Ltd.      54,289  
  52,000      Guangzhou R&F Properties Co., Ltd., Class H^      96,017  
  42,000      Highwealth Construction Corp.      64,902  
  31,800      Jinke Properties Group Co., Ltd., Class A      35,104  
  116,000      Kaisa Group Holdings, Ltd.      55,525  
  69,500      KWG Group Holdings, Ltd.      97,601  
  466,300      Land & Houses Public Co., Ltd.      152,376  
  76,000      Logan Property Holdings Co., Ltd.      127,859  
  93,000      Longfor Group Holdings, Ltd.      436,805  
  770,000      Megaworld Corp.      60,618  
  15,106      Multiplan Empreendimentos Imobiliarios SA      124,318  
  18,566      NEPI Rockcastle plc      164,183  
  43,700      Poly Real Estate Group Co., Ltd., Class A      101,534  
  482,400      PT Pakuwon Jati Tbk      19,763  
  61,100      Robinsons Land Corp.      33,253  
  41,040      Ruentex Development Co., Ltd.      61,938  
  78,000      Seazen Group, Ltd.      95,176  
  70,800      Shanghai Lujiazue      68,482  
  156,000      Shenzhen Investment, Ltd.      62,499  
  61,000      Shimao Property Holdings, Ltd.      236,899  
  175,500      Shui On Land, Ltd.      38,526  
  214,000      Sino-Ocean Group Holding, Ltd.      86,104  
  514,800      SM Prime Holdings, Inc.      427,070  
  118,500      Soho China, Ltd.      44,738  
  129,000      Sunac China Holdings, Ltd.      773,116  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

13


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Real Estate Management & Development, continued       
  59,000      The Wharf Holdings, Ltd.    $ 150,111  
  56,700      Xinhu Zhongbao Co., Ltd., Class A      30,788  
  372,000      Yuexiu Property Co., Ltd.      86,081  
  89,000      Yuzhou Properties Co., Ltd.      49,073  
  103,000      Zhenro Properties Group, Ltd.      74,079  
     

 

 

 
        9,071,706  
     

 

 

 
Road & Rail (0.4%):       
  359,600      BTS Group Holdings PCL      158,078  
  417      CJ Logistics Corp.*      55,817  
  10,239      Container Corp. of India, Ltd.      82,183  
  80,999      Daqin Railway Co., Ltd., Class A      95,478  
  31,819      Localiza Rent a Car SA      375,072  
  57,572      Rumo SA*      373,602  
     

 

 

 
        1,140,230  
     

 

 

 
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (6.3%):       
  182,465      ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd.      507,712  
  1,100      Gigadevice Semiconductor Beijing, Inc., Class A      32,366  
  11,000      Globalwafers Co., Ltd.      140,494  
  18,000      Hua Hong Semiconductor, Ltd.      41,077  
  7,800      Longi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd.      27,815  
  78,000      MediaTek, Inc.      1,154,542  
  58,000      Nanya Technology Corp.      161,075  
  31,000      Novatek Microelectronics Corp.      226,474  
  9,000      Phison Electronics Corp.      102,284  
  42,000      Powertech Technology, Inc.      140,084  
  25,000      Realtek Semiconductor Corp.      196,108  
  15,900      Sanan Optoelectronics Co., Ltd., Class A      41,941  
  164,300      Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.*^      251,930  
  1,400      Shenzhen Goodix Technology Co., Ltd., Class A      41,432  
  28,555      SK Hynix, Inc.      2,321,006  
  1,287,000      Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      14,253,795  
  20,900      Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor Co., Ltd., Class A      35,425  
  596,000      United Microelectronics Corp.      327,563  
  48,000      Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp.      127,042  
  2,000      Will Semiconductor, Ltd., Class A      41,140  
  18,000      Win Semiconductors Corp.      176,707  
  146,000      Winbond Electronics Corp.      95,292  
  164,000      Xinyi Solar Holdings, Ltd.      116,790  
     

 

 

 
        20,560,094  
     

 

 

 
Software (0.2%):       
  5,300      Beijing Shiji Information Technology Co., Ltd., Class A      29,683  
  2,700      China National Software & Service Co., Ltd., Class A      27,783  
  1,643      Globant SA*      174,240  
  10,300      Glodon Co., Ltd., Class A      50,279  
  4,300      Hundsun Technologies, Inc.      48,049  
  8,500      Iflytek Co., Ltd.      42,094  
  123,000      Kingdee International Software Group Co., Ltd.      123,081  
  36,000      Kingsoft Corp., Ltd.*      93,374  
  1,500      Sangfor Technologies, Inc., Class A      24,638  
  10,500      Yonyou Network Technology Co., Ltd.      42,876  
     

 

 

 
        656,097  
     

 

 

 
Specialty Retail (0.6%):       
  509,600      Ace Hardware Indonesia Tbk PT      54,855  
  2,316      FF Group*      26  
  651,000      GOME Retail Holdings, Ltd.*^      60,172  
  28,700      HLA Corp., Ltd., Class A      31,648  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Specialty Retail, continued       
  296,700      Home Product Center Public Co., Ltd.    $ 157,147  
  16,000      Hotai Motor Co., Ltd.      364,772  
  1,618      Hotel Shilla Co., Ltd.      126,879  
  3,483      Jarir Marketing Co.      153,797  
  5,135      Jumbo SA      106,874  
  13,097      Mr Price Group, Ltd.      170,947  
  24,851      Pepkor Holdings, Ltd.      32,019  
  35,639      Petrobras Distribuidora SA      266,451  
  17,100      Suning.com Co., Ltd., Class A      24,826  
  12,023      The Foschini Group, Ltd.      128,329  
  29,500      Zhongsheng Group Holdings, Ltd.      119,982  
     

 

 

 
        1,798,724  
     

 

 

 
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals (4.7%):       
  156,000      Acer, Inc.      92,930  
  18,199      Advantech Co., Ltd.      183,642  
  38,000      Asustek Computer, Inc.      293,530  
  135,600      BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd., Class A      88,414  
  35,000      Catcher Technology Co., Ltd.      265,255  
  36,360      Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd.      108,075  
  12,500      China Greatwall Technology Group Co., Ltd., Class A      27,974  
  216,000      Compal Electronics, Inc.      135,968  
  60,599      Focus Media Information Technology Co., Ltd., Class A      54,515  
  6,300      Inspur Electronic Information Industry Co., Ltd., Class A      27,241  
  134,000      Inventec Corp.      102,175  
  17,400      Legend Holdings Corp., Class H      39,497  
  384,000      Lenovo Group, Ltd.      258,349  
  113,000      Lite-On Technology Corp.      186,178  
  31,000      Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.      89,707  
  95,000      Pegatron Corp.      217,241  
  139,000      Quanta Computer, Inc.      298,562  
  250,010      Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.      12,048,127  
  149,863      Wistron Corp.      141,801  
  3,000      Wiwynn Corp.      63,580  
  413,800      Xiaomi Corp., Class B*      573,372  
     

 

 

 
        15,296,133  
     

 

 

 
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods (0.8%):       
  57,000      Anta Sports Products, Ltd.      510,498  
  116,000      Bosideng International Holdings, Ltd.      41,679  
  1,274      CCC SA      36,952  
  8,220      Eclat Textile Co., Ltd.      110,557  
  16,500      Feng Tay Enterprise Co., Ltd.      107,382  
  2,419      Fila Korea, Ltd.      110,629  
  49,000      Formosta Taffeta Co., Ltd.      55,918  
  96,500      Li Ning Co., Ltd.      289,270  
  67      LPP SA      156,052  
  236      Page Industries, Ltd.      77,433  
  129,000      Pou Chen Corp.      168,745  
  12,400      Ruentex Industries, Ltd.      30,414  
  39,000      Shenzhou International Group      570,537  
  16,480      Titan Co., Ltd.      274,861  
     

 

 

 
        2,540,927  
     

 

 

 
Thrifts & Mortgage Finance (0.9%):       
  85,287      Housing Development Finance Corp., Ltd.      2,888,477  
  17,013      LIC Housing Finance, Ltd.      103,814  
     

 

 

 
        2,992,291  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

14


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Tobacco (0.4%):       
  6,500      British American Tobacco Malaysia Berhad    $ 23,991  
  43,949      Eastern Co. SAE      42,797  
  533,100      Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna Tbk PT      80,283  
  183,427      ITC, Ltd.      611,675  
  6,220      KT&G Corp.      504,295  
  23,300      PT Gudang Garam Tbk      88,760  
     

 

 

 
        1,351,801  
     

 

 

 
Trading Companies & Distributors (0.0%):       
  11,100      BOC Aviation, Ltd.      112,771  
  2,050      Posco International Corp.      32,986  
     

 

 

 
        145,757  
     

 

 

 
Transportation Infrastructure (1.0%):       
  33,661      Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, Ltd.      172,719  
  228,000      Airports of Thailand Public Co., Ltd.      563,523  
  398,600      Bangkok Expressway & Metro      144,795  
  106,000      Beijing Capital International Airport Co., Ltd.      102,788  
  64,237      CCR SA      303,137  
  73,228      China Merchants Port Holdings Co., Ltd.      124,070  
  80,000      COSCO SHIPPING Ports, Ltd.      65,600  
  8,874      DP World plc      116,134  
  10,749      Grupo Aeroportuario de Sur      201,319  
  18,458      Grupo Aeroporturaio del Pacifico SAB de C.V.      219,378  
  11,100      Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Co., Ltd., Class A      27,824  
  58,420      International Container Terminal Services, Inc.      148,199  
  64,000      Jiangsu Expressway Co., Ltd., Series H, Class H      87,823  
  54,700      Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad      101,671  
  12,192      Promotora Y Operadora de Infraestructura SAB de CV      124,828  
  79,507      PT Jasa Marga Persero Tbk      29,560  
  3,000      Shanghai International Air      33,936  
  35,399      Shanghai International Port Group Co., Ltd.      29,334  
  44,000      Shenzhen Expressway Co., Ltd., Class H      63,170  
  51,000      Shenzhen International Holdings, Ltd.      112,107  
  112,000      Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp.      143,530  
  11,315      TAV Havalimanlari Holding AS      55,603  
  33,400      Westports Holding Berhad      34,525  
  76,000      Zhejiang Expressway Co., Ltd.      69,370  
     

 

 

 
        3,074,943  
     

 

 

 
Water Utilities (0.2%):       
  130,347      Aguas Andinas SA, Class A      55,330  
  288,000      Beijing Enterprises Water Group, Ltd.      145,779  
  17,048      Cia Saneamento Basico Do Estado de Sao Paulo      256,695  
  154,000      Guangdong Investment, Ltd.      322,631  
     

 

 

 
        780,435  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (2.6%):       
  63,200      Advanced Info Service Public Co., Ltd.      447,394  
  1,744,749      America Movil SAB de C.V., Series L      1,393,718  
  155,700      Axiata Group Berhad      157,653  
  104,168      Bharti Airtel, Ltd.*      665,585  
  323,000      China Mobile, Ltd.      2,727,519  
  98,000      China United Network Communications, Ltd.      82,885  
  160,100      DIGI.com Berhad      174,655  
  8,615      Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones SA*      61,308  
  17,521      Etihad Etisalat Co.*      116,776  
  82,000      Far EasTone Telecommunications Co., Ltd.      197,292  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Wireless Telecommunication Services, continued       
  1,585      Globe Telecom, Inc.    $ 63,148  
  120,900      Intouch Holdings Public Co., Ltd.      230,652  
  125,400      Maxis Berhad      163,161  
  26,186      Mobile TeleSystems PJSC, ADR      265,788  
  90,053      MTN Group, Ltd.^      530,564  
  4,620      PLDT, Inc.      89,775  
  1,086      SK Telecom Co., Ltd.      223,421  
  77,000      Taiwan Mobile Co., Ltd.      287,787  
  38,843      Tim Participacoes SA      151,335  
  36,500      Total Access Communication Public Co., Ltd.      64,803  
  50,484      Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS      117,350  
  33,735      Vodacom Group, Ltd.      278,274  
  145,200      XL Axiata Tbk PT*      32,906  
     

 

 

 
        8,523,749  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Common Stocks (Cost $244,758,685)

     318,006,686  
  

 

 

 
Preferred Stocks (2.0%):       
Automobiles (0.0%):       
  1,950      Hyundai Motor Co., Ltd., 1.26%, 6/29/20      133,881  
     

 

 

 
Banks (1.3%):       
  212,018      Banco Bradesco SA, 5.54%, 1/3/20      1,906,686  
  252,070      Itau Unibanco Holding SA, Series S, 2.81%, 1/5/21      2,325,161  
     

 

 

 
        4,231,847  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (0.0%):       
  8,754      Braskem SA, Class A, 2.81%, 10/7/20      64,969  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (0.1%):       
  57,157      Gerdau SA, 1.40%, 3/6/20      284,222  
     

 

 

 
Multiline Retail (0.1%):       
  39,890      Lojas Americanas SA, 0.94%, 1/11/21      256,974  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (0.0%):       
  26      Transneft PJSC, 6.06%, 7/16/20      74,212  
     

 

 

 
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals (0.5%):       
  42,636      Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., 2.34%, 3/30/20      1,663,630  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Preferred Stocks (Cost $5,275,083)

     6,709,735  
  

 

 

 
Warrants (0.0%):       
Road & Rail (0.0%):       
  35,960      BTS Group Holdings       
     

 

 

 
 

Total Warrants (Cost $—)

      
  

 

 

 
Rights (0.0%):       
Multiline Retail (0.0%):       
  384      Lojas Americanas SA, Expires on 1/9/20*      935  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (0.0%):       
  705      Piramal Enterprises, Ltd., Expires on 1/22/20*      2,207  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Rights (Cost $—)

     3,142  
  

 

 

 
Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan (0.7%):       
  2,234,607      BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, 2.00%(a)(b)      2,234,607  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan
(Cost $2,234,607)

     2,234,607  
  

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

15


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Unaffiliated Investment Companies (0.2%):       
Money Markets (0.2%):       
$ 644,062      Dreyfus Treasury Securities Cash Management Fund, Institutional Shares, 1.44%(b)    $ 644,062  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Unaffiliated Investment Companies (Cost $644,062)

     644,062  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities (Cost $252,912,437) — 100.4%(c)

     327,598,232  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — (0.4)%

     (1,354,932
  

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 326,243,300  
  

 

 

 
 

Amount shown as “—“ are $0 or round to less than $1.

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

ADR—American Depository Receipt

GDR—Global Depositary Receipt

 

*

Non-income producing security.

 

^

This security or a partial position of this security was on loan as of December 31, 2019. The total value of securities on loan as of December 31, 2019 was $2,046,470.

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

(a)

Purchased with cash collateral held from securities lending. The value of the collateral could include collateral held for securities that were sold on or before December 31, 2019.

 

(b)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(c)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

The following represents the concentrations by country of risk (based on the domicile of the security issuer) relative to the total fair value of investments as of December 31, 2019:

(Unaudited)

 

Country    Percentage  

Argentina

     0.1

Belgium

      % 

Bermuda

     0.2

Brazil

     7.4

Cayman Islands

     1.1

Chile

     0.7

China

     27.4

Colombia

     0.4

Czech Republic

     0.1

Egypt

     0.1

Greece

     0.3

Hong Kong

     5.2

Hungary

     0.3

India

     8.6

Indonesia

     1.9

Luxembourg

     0.1

Malaysia

     1.8

Mexico

     2.3

Pakistan

      % 
Country    Percentage  

Peru

     0.1

Philippines

     0.9

Poland

     0.9

Qatar

     0.9

Republic of Korea (South)

     11.5

Romania

     0.1

Russian Federation

     3.9

Saudi Arabia

     2.6

Singapore

      % 

South Africa

     4.6

Spain

      % 

Switzerland

     0.2

Taiwan, Province Of China

     11.5

Thailand

     2.5

Turkey

     0.5

United Arab Emirates

     0.6

United States

     1.2
  

 

 

 
     100.0
  

 

 

 
 

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

16


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Futures Contracts

Cash of $155,000 has been segregated to cover margin requirements for the following open contracts as of December 31, 2019:

Long Futures

 

Description    Expiration
Date
     Number of
Contracts
     Notional
Amount
     Value and
Unrealized
Appreciation/
(Depreciation)
 

Mini MSCI Emerging Markets Index March Futures (U.S. Dollar)

     3/20/20        49      $ 2,744,490      $ 14,578  
           

 

 

 
            $ 14,578  
           

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

17


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investment securities, at cost

    $ 252,912,437
   

 

 

 

Investment securities, at value(a)

    $ 327,598,232

Cash

      30,614

Segregated cash for collateral for futures contracts

      155,000

Interest and dividends receivable

      782,297

Foreign currency, at value (cost $1,403,070)

      1,410,701

Receivable for investments sold

      132,138

Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts

      7,318

Reclaims receivable

      89,263

Prepaid expenses

      781
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      330,206,344
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Payable for investments purchased

      102,422

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      856,340

Payable for collateral received on loaned securities

      2,234,607

Accrued foreign taxes

      393,941

Manager fees payable

      119,085

Administration fees payable

      5,509

Distribution fees payable

      62,446

Custodian fees payable

      31,337

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      1,192

Transfer agent fees payable

      1,841

Trustee fees payable

      293

Other accrued liabilities

      154,031
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      3,963,044
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 326,243,300
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 241,100,421

Total distributable earnings

      85,142,879
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 326,243,300
   

 

 

 

Class 1

   

Net Assets

    $ 17,995,348

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      2,293,013

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 7.85
   

 

 

 

Class 2

   

Net Assets

    $ 308,247,952

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      39,271,771

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 7.85
   

 

 

 

 

(a)

Includes securities on loan of $2,046,470.

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Dividends

    $ 8,602,420

Income from securities lending

      50,434

Foreign withholding tax

      (955,942 )
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      7,696,912
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      2,510,676

Administration fees

      118,959

Distribution fees — Class 2

      694,556

Custodian fees

      260,968

Administrative and compliance services fees

      6,359

Transfer agent fees

      12,642

Trustee fees

      19,614

Professional fees

      25,598

Licensing fees

      162,819

Shareholder reports

      23,497

Other expenses

      100,152
   

 

 

 

Total expenses before reductions

      3,935,840

Less expenses voluntarily waived/reimbursed by the Manager

      (1,181,493 )
   

 

 

 

Net expenses

      2,754,347
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      4,942,565
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities and foreign currencies

      8,006,770

Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts

      432,253

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities and foreign currencies

      39,262,956

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts

      27,062

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on foreign taxes

      (223,357 )
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      47,505,684
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 52,448,249
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

18


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 4,942,565     $ 5,374,748

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      8,439,023       5,870,234

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      39,066,661       (62,751,116 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      52,448,249       (51,506,134 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Class 1

      (737,246 )       (1,073,981 )

Class 2

      (10,511,678 )       (15,015,765 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (11,248,924 )       (16,089,746 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Class 1

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      152,178       45,086

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      737,246       1,073,981

Value of shares redeemed

      (2,052,200 )       (2,620,722 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 1 Shares

      (1,162,776 )       (1,501,655 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Class 2

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      41,510,756       50,226,543

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      10,511,678       15,015,765

Value of shares redeemed

      (80,726,885 )       (56,003,214 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 2 Shares

      (28,704,451 )       9,239,094
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      (29,867,227 )       7,737,439
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      11,332,098       (59,858,441 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      314,911,202       374,769,643
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 326,243,300     $ 314,911,202
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Class 1

       

Shares issued

      21,160       5,252

Dividends reinvested

      104,872       152,989

Shares redeemed

      (274,606 )       (324,306 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 1 Shares

      (148,574 )       (166,065 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Class 2

       

Shares issued

      5,610,295       6,909,538

Dividends reinvested

      1,493,136       2,138,998

Shares redeemed

      (10,446,070 )       (6,567,090 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 2 Shares

      (3,342,639 )       2,481,446
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      (3,491,213 )       2,315,381
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

19


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

    Year Ended December 31,
     2019   2018   2017   2016   2015

Class 1

                   

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 6.99     $ 8.78     $ 6.60     $ 6.04     $ 7.35
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.15 (a)       0.16       0.12       0.06       0.07

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      1.04       (1.50 )       2.30       0.56       (1.00 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      1.19       (1.34 )       2.42       0.62       (0.93 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.15 )       (0.16 )       (0.04 )       (0.06 )       (0.10 )

Net Realized Gains

      (0.18 )       (0.29 )       (0.20 )             (0.28 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (0.33 )       (0.45 )       (0.24 )       (0.06 )       (0.38 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 7.85     $ 6.99     $ 8.78     $ 6.60     $ 6.04
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(b)

      17.55 %       (15.31 )%       36.97 %       10.21 %       (12.69 )%

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 17,995     $ 17,072     $ 22,883     $ 19,006     $ 20,505

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      1.97 %       1.89 %       1.56 %       1.05 %       0.86 %

Expenses Before Reductions(c)

      1.10 %       1.03 %       1.11 %       1.41 %       1.49 %

Expenses Net of Reductions

      0.70 %       0.63 %       0.71 %       1.14 %       1.33 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate(d)

      25 %       20 %       19 %       115 %       45 %

Class 2

                   

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 6.99     $ 8.77     $ 6.60     $ 6.04     $ 7.34
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.12 (a)       0.14       0.10       0.04       0.05

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      1.05       (1.49 )       2.30       0.56       (1.00 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      1.17       (1.35 )       2.40       0.60       (0.95 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.13 )       (0.14 )       (0.03 )       (0.04 )       (0.07 )

Net Realized Gains

      (0.18 )       (0.29 )       (0.20 )             (0.28 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (0.31 )       (0.43 )       (0.23 )       (0.04 )       (0.35 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 7.85     $ 6.99     $ 8.77     $ 6.60     $ 6.04
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(b)

      17.18 %       (15.46 )%       36.63 %       9.89 %       (12.88 )%

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 308,248     $ 297,839     $ 351,886     $ 248,872     $ 172,238

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      1.65 %       1.61 %       1.35 %       0.80 %       0.60 %

Expenses Before Reductions(c)

      1.35 %       1.28 %       1.36 %       1.64 %       1.74 %

Expenses Net of Reductions

      0.95 %       0.88 %       0.96 %       1.36 %       1.58 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate(d)

      25 %       20 %       19 %       115 %       45 %

 

(a)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(b)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(c)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

(d)

Portfolio turnover rate is calculated on the basis of the Fund as a whole without distinguishing between classes of shares issued. Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

20


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services — Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Foreign Currency Translation and Withholding Taxes

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding and other income or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Funds accrue such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Each class of shares bears its pro-rata portion of expenses attributable to its series, except that each class separately bears expenses related specifically to that class, such as distribution fees. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance

 

21


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

Class Allocation

The investment income, expenses (other than class specific expenses charged to a class), realized and unrealized gains and losses on investments of the Fund are allocated to each class of shares based upon relative net assets on the date income is earned or expenses and realized and unrealized gains and losses are incurred.

Securities Lending

To generate additional income, the Fund may lend up to 331/3% of its assets pursuant to agreements requiring that the loan be continuously secured by any combination of cash, U.S. government or U.S. government agency securities, equal initially to at least 102% of the fair value plus accrued interest on the securities loaned (105% for foreign securities). The borrower of securities is at all times required to post collateral to the Fund in an amount equal to 100% of the fair value of the securities loaned based on the previous day’s fair value of the securities loaned, marked-to-market daily. Any collateral shortfalls are adjusted the next business day. The Fund bears all of the gains and losses on such investments. The Fund receives payments from borrowers equivalent to the dividends and interest that would have been earned on securities lent while simultaneously seeking to earn income on the investment of cash collateral received. In extremely low interest rate environments, the broker rebate fee may exceed the interest earned or the cash collateral which would result in a loss to the Fund. The investment of cash collateral deposited by the borrower is subject to inherent market risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks that are present in the market, and as such, the value of these investments may not be sufficient, when liquidated, to repay the borrower when the loaned security is returned. There may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. However, loans will be made only to borrowers, such as broker-dealers, banks or institutional borrowers of securities, deemed by the Manager to be of good standing and credit worthy and when in its judgment, the consideration which can be earned currently from such securities loans justifies the attendant risks. Loans are subject to termination by the Trust or the borrower at any time, and are, therefore, not considered to be illiquid investments. Securities on loan at December 31, 2019 are presented on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

Cash collateral received in connection with securities lending is invested on behalf of the Fund in the BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, a money market fund which invests in short-term investments that have a remaining maturity of 397 days or less in accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. The Fund pays the Securities Lending Agent 9% of the gross revenues received from securities lending activities and keeps 91%. The Fund paid securities lending fees of $5,006 during the year ended December 31, 2019. These fees have been netted against “Income from securities lending” on the Statement of Operations. The Fund had securities lending transactions of $2,234,607 accounted for as secured borrowings with cash collateral of overnight and continuous maturities as of December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019, there were no master netting provisions in the securities lending agreement.

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not engage in any Rule 17a-7 transactions under the Rule.

Derivative Instruments

All open derivative positions at period end are reflected on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments. The following is a description of the derivative instruments utilized by the Fund, including the primary underlying risk exposures related to each instrument type.

Futures Contracts

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund invested in futures contracts to reduce volatility and limit the need to decrease or increase allocations to underlying funds. Futures contracts are valued based upon their quoted daily settlement prices. Upon entering into a futures contract, the Fund is required to segregate liquid assets in accordance with the initial margin requirements of the broker or exchange. Futures contracts are marked to market daily and a payable or receivable for the change in value (“variation margin”) is recorded by the Fund. Gains or losses are recognized but not considered realized until the contracts expire or are closed. Futures contracts involve, to varying degrees, elements of market risk (generally equity price risk related to stock futures, interest rate risk related to bond futures, and foreign currency risk related to currency futures) and exposure to loss in excess of the variation margin disclosed in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are the imperfect correlation between the change in fair value of the underlying securities and the prices of futures contracts, the possibility of an illiquid market, and the inability of the counterparty to meet the terms of the contract. The monthly average notional amount for long contracts was $3.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Realized gains and losses are reported as “Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts” on the Statement of Operations.

Summary of Derivative Instruments

The following is a summary of the fair values of derivative instruments on the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities, categorized by risk exposure, as of December 31, 2019:

 

   

Asset Derivatives

   

Liability Derivatives

 
Primary Risk Exposure   Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
    Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
 

Equity Risk

     
Equity Contracts   Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $ 14,578     Payable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $  

 

*

For futures contracts, the amounts represent the cumulative appreciation/depreciation of these futures contracts as reported in the Schedule of Portfolio Investments. Only the current day’s variation margin is reported within the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as Variation margin on futures contracts.

 

22


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

The following is a summary of the effect of derivative instruments on the Statement of Operations, categorized by risk exposure, for the year ended December 31, 2019:

 

Primary Risk Exposure   Location of Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
   Realized Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
     Change in Net Unrealized
Appreciation/Depreciation on
Derivatives Recognized
 

Equity Risk

     
Equity Contracts   Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts/Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts    $ 432,253      $ 27,062  

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to a subadvisory agreement with BlackRock Investment Management, LLC (“BlackRock Investment”), BlackRock Investment provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate*      Annual Expense Limit

AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund Class 1

         0.85 %          0.85 %

AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund Class 2

         0.85 %          1.10 %

 

*

The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.45% on all assets. The Manager reserves the right to increase the management fee to the amount shown in the table above at any time.

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations.

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $2,249 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate

 

23


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. The independent third party pricing service may also use systematic valuations models or provide evaluated bid or mean prices. These valuations are considered as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Futures contracts are valued at the last sales price as of the close of the primary exchange and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total
                             

Common Stocks+

       $ 71,130,001        $ 246,876,685        $        $ 318,006,686

Preferred Stocks+

         4,838,012          1,871,723                   6,709,735

Warrants+

                  #                  

Rights

                  3,142                   3,142

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

         2,234,607                            2,234,607

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

         644,062                            644,062
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

         78,846,682          248,751,550                   327,598,232
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Other Financial Instruments:*

                           

Futures Contracts

         14,578                            14,578
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $ 78,861,260        $ 248,751,550        $        $ 327,612,810
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

*

Other Financial Instruments would include any derivative instruments, such as futures contracts. These investments are generally presented in the financial statements at variation margin.

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

       $ 73,044,317        $ 108,631,628

6. Investment Risks

Derivatives Risk: The Fund may invest in derivatives as a principal strategy. A derivative is a financial contract whose value depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or risk. Use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Derivatives are subject to a number of other risks, such as liquidity risk, interest rate risk, market risk, credit risk, and selection risk. Derivatives

 

24


AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

also involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate, or index. Using derivatives may result in losses, possibly in excess of the principal amount invested. Also, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances. The counterparty to a derivatives contract could default. As required by applicable law, a Fund that invests in derivatives segregates cash or liquid securities, or both, to the extent that its obligations under the instrument are not covered through ownership of the underlying security, financial instrument, or currency.

Emerging Markets Risk: Emerging markets may have less developed trading markets and exchanges which may make it more difficult to sell securities at an acceptable price and their prices may be more volatile than securities of companies in more developed markets. Settlements of trades may be subject to greater delays so that the Fund may not receive the proceeds of a sale of a security on a timely basis. Emerging countries may also have less developed legal and accounting systems and investments may be subject to greater risks of government restrictions, nationalization, or confiscation.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Investments in securities of foreign issuers carry certain risks not ordinarily associated with investments in securities of domestic issuers. Such risks include future political and economic developments, and the possible imposition of exchange controls or other foreign governmental laws and restrictions. In addition, with respect to certain countries, there is the possibility of expropriation of assets, confiscatory taxation, political or social instability or diplomatic developments which could adversely affect investments in those securities.

7. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $258,744,529. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 83,764,344  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (14,910,641
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 68,853,703  
 

 

 

 

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

       $ 4,738,622        $ 6,510,302        $ 11,248,924

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

       $ 6,718,515        $ 9,371,231        $ 16,089,746

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
     Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
     Accumulated
Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

       $ 7,095,741        $ 9,574,688        $        $ 68,472,450        $ 85,142,879

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales, mark-to-market of passive foreign investment companies mark-to-market of futures contracts and other miscellaneous differences.

8. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had multiple shareholder accounts which are affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 70% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

9. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

25


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

26


Other Federal Income Tax Information (Unaudited)

For the year ended December 31, 2019, 0.21% of the total ordinary income dividends paid by the Fund qualify for the corporate dividends received deductions available to corporate shareholders.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net long-term capital gain distributions of $6,510,302.

 

27


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

28


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for

 

29


the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

 

30


The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

31


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

32


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

33


 

LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.   
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL® MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 21

Statement of Operations

Page 21

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 22

Financial Highlights

Page 23

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 24

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 30

Other Federal Income Tax Information

Page 31

Other Information

Page 32

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 33

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 36

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® MSCI Global Equity Index Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® MSCI Global Equity Index Fund and BlackRock Investment Management, LLC serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019 the AZL® MSCI Global Equity Index Fund (the “Fund”) returned 27.25%. That compared to a 28.40% for its benchmark the MSCI World Index1.

The Fund seeks investment results, before fees, expenses and fair value adjustments to its portfolio at the close of the New York Stock Exchange, that correspond to the performance of the MSCI World Index. The Fund takes positions in securities that, in combination, should have similar return characteristics as the return of the Index. The Index is designed to provide a comprehensive measure of global equity markets.*

Global equities posted strong gains over the course of 2019. In the first quarter, while every eurozone equity market advanced, they did so to varying degrees as they rebounded from low investor sentiment in 2018. The European Central Bank’s accommodative policies also helped offset slowing economic activity across the region. For instance, Germany underperformed amid continued weakness in the manufacturing and export sectors and a negative yield on the 10-year German bund. Meanwhile, Italy outperformed on positive trends in its macroeconomic outlook, despite contraction in gross domestic product2 (GDP) growth, ongoing political uncertainty. Uncertainty around U.S. trade protectionism, an upcoming sales tax hike, and slower growth weighed on Japanese equities.

Meanwhile, the U.S. economy rallied to its strongest quarterly gain since 2009. All sectors advanced during the first quarter on positive headlines regarding U.S.-China trade relations, relatively strong corporate earnings growth, and the Federal Reserve Board’s change to a dovish tone as it announced it would hold off on another interest rate hike for the near future.

In the second quarter, European markets gained on better-than-expected GDP growth and increased expectations of further stimulus and accommodative policies. Elsewhere, Australian markets outperformed despite declining economic growth, as the Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates. Meanwhile, U.S. equities experienced intra-quarter volatility (as measured by the S&P 500 Index3) on U.S.-China trade rhetoric, although the prospect of easy monetary policy broadly buoyed stocks. U.S. macroeconomic indicators were mixed, with a slowdown in manufacturing, a drop in overall unemployment, and uncertainty about the yield curve.

In the third quarter, Japanese equities outperformed other non-U.S. developed markets due to a limited trade agreement with the U.S., which helped markets despite Japan’s deteriorating economic conditions. Meanwhile, Hong Kong markets underperformed amid mounting political unrest. Eurozone economic activity showed signs of slowing, notably in manufacturing, and the European Central Bank responded with an aggressive stimulus package. U.K. markets declined over a volatile quarter due

to continued Brexit uncertainty and the release of second-quarter data showing the first quarterly contraction in GDP in seven years. In the U.S., trade tensions with China were a key focus, particularly after a threat of an additional 10% tariff on Chinese imports that were not already subject to the 25% tariff. Continued softening in U.S. macro-economic indicators, such as manufacturing and consumer sentiment, also weighed on equities.

By the fourth quarter, developed markets largely regained momentum. In the U.K., the election of Prime Minister Boris Johnson provided greater clarity to the Brexit process and helped the value of the sterling rebound, while economic activity in Europe improved on the perception of improving U.S.-China trade relations. Improving trade rhetoric, helped by improving macroeconomic indicators, boosted sentiment in the U.S. as well.

All sectors in the MSCI World Index generated positive returns for the period. The information and technology, industrials, and communication services sectors were the top contributors. Energy, utilities, and healthcare were the bottom contributors.

The Fund underperformed its benchmark primarily due to the impacts of fair value pricing and expenses incurred by the Fund.*

The Fund held derivatives in the form of futures contracts, which it used to hedge its cash position. The futures had a negative impact on relative results.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

* 

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmarks please refer to page 2 of this report.

2 

Gross domestic product (GDP) is the measure of the market value of the goods and services produced in a period of time.

3 

Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is unmanaged and is representative of 500 selected common stocks, most of which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and is a measure of the U.S. Stock market as a whole.

 
 

 

1


AZL® MSCI Global Equity Index Review (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

The Fund’s investment objective is to seek to match the performance of the MSCI World Index as closely as possible. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing at least 90% of its assets, plus the amount of any borrowing for investment purposes, in securities of the MSCI World Index (the “Underlying Index”) and in depositary receipts representing securities of the Underlying Index.

Investment Concerns

Equity securities (stocks) are more volatile and carry more risk than other forms of investments, including investments in high-grade fixed income securities. The net asset value per share of this Fund will fluctuate as the value of the securities in the portfolio changes.

International investing may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuations in currency values, from differences in generally accepted accounting principles or from economic or political instability in other nations.

Small- to mid-capitalization companies typically have a higher risk of failure and historically have experienced a greater degree of volatility.

The performance of the Fund is expected to be lower than that of the Index because of Fund fees and expenses. Securities in which the Fund will invest may involve substantial risk and may be subject to sudden severe price declines.

Investing in derivatives instruments involves risks that may be different from or greater than the risk associated with investing directly in securities or other traditional instruments.

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmark and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

     1
Year
    3
Year
    5
Year
    10
Year
 

AZL® MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

      27.25 %      12.29     4.17     4.33

MSCI World Index (gross of withholding taxes)

     28.40     13.20     9.36     10.08

MSCI World Index (net of withholding taxes)

     27.67     12.57     8.74     9.47

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratio

   Gross  

AZL® MSCI Global Equity Index Fund (Class 2 Shares)

     1.14

The above expense ratio is based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.31% on all assets. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense), to 0.80% for Class 2 Shares through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratio can be found in the Financial Highlights.

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Morgan Stanley Capital International World Index (“MSCI World Index”), an unmanaged broad equity benchmark that represents large- and mid-cap equity performance across 23 developed markets countries. The Index noted as “gross of withholding taxes” reflects the maximum possible reinvestment of dividends with no adjustment for withholding tax deductions or tax credits. The Index noted as “net of withholding taxes” reflects the reinvestment of dividends after the deduction of withholding taxes, using (for international indexes) a tax rate applicable to non-resident institutional investors who do not benefit from double taxation treaties. The Fund’s performance reflects the deduction of fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

2


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,089.00     $ 3.95       0.75 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,021.42     $ 3.82       0.75 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

Information Technology

      17.3 %

Financials

      15.7

Health Care

      13.1

Industrials

      10.9

Consumer Discretionary

      10.1

Consumer Staples

      8.3

Communication Services

      8.3

Energy

      4.9

Materials

      4.4

Utilities

      3.4

Real Estate

      3.3
   

 

 

 

Total Common and Preferred Stocks

      99.7

Rights

        

Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

      0.5
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      100.2

Net other assets (liabilities)

      (0.2 )
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

3


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks (99.6%):       
Aerospace & Defense (2.1%):       
  4,323      Airbus SE    $ 634,206  
  2,939      Arconic, Inc.      90,433  
  23,705      BAE Systems plc      177,584  
  3,952      Boeing Co. (The)      1,287,404  
  17,671      Bombardier, Inc., Class B*      26,267  
  1,996      CAE, Inc.      52,852  
  22      Dassault Aviation SA      28,974  
  203      Elbit Systems, Ltd.      31,622  
  1,818      General Dynamics Corp.      320,604  
  333      HEICO Corp.      38,012  
  551      HEICO Corp., Class A      49,331  
  307      Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.      77,020  
  1,654      L3harris Technologies, Inc.      327,277  
  401      Leonardo SpA      4,699  
  1,875      Lockheed Martin Corp.      730,088  
  5,798      Meggitt plc      50,516  
  387      MTU Aero Engines AG      110,501  
  1,188      Northrop Grumman Corp.      408,636  
  2,058      Raytheon Co.      452,225  
  12,899      Rolls-Royce Holdings plc      116,785  
  2,406      Safran SA      372,933  
  13,200      Singapore Technologies Engineering, Ltd.      38,718  
  773      Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc., Class A      56,336  
  281      Teledyne Technologies, Inc.*      97,378  
  1,734      Textron, Inc.      77,336  
  787      Thales SA      81,872  
  357      TransDigm Group, Inc.      199,920  
  6,055      United Technologies Corp.      906,797  
     

 

 

 
        6,846,326  
     

 

 

 
Air Freight & Logistics (0.5%):       
  6,608      Bollore, Inc.      28,840  
  1,012      C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.^      79,138  
  7,335      Deutsche Post AG      280,023  
  1,288      Expeditors International of Washington, Inc.      100,490  
  1,844      FedEx Corp.      278,831  
  1,100      SG Holdings Co., Ltd.      24,833  
  5,163      United Parcel Service, Inc., Class B      604,381  
  691      XPO Logistics, Inc.*      55,073  
  2,400      Yamato Holdings Co., Ltd.      41,048  
     

 

 

 
        1,492,657  
     

 

 

 
Airlines (0.1%):       
  990      Air Canada*      36,988  
  468      American Airlines Group, Inc.^      13,422  
  1,000      ANA Holdings, Inc.      33,462  
  1,221      Delta Air Lines, Inc.      71,404  
  1,823      Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Registered Shares      33,545  
  585      easyJet plc      11,126  
  1,000      Japan Airlines Co., Ltd.      31,210  
  4,700      Singapore Airlines, Ltd.      31,629  
  1,013      Southwest Airlines Co.      54,682  
  503      United Airlines Holdings, Inc.*      44,309  
     

 

 

 
        361,777  
     

 

 

 
Auto Components (0.5%):       
  1,200      Aisin Sieki Co., Ltd.      44,388  
  1,904      Aptiv plc      180,823  
  624      Autoliv, Inc.      52,672  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Auto Components, continued       
  1,542      BorgWarner, Inc.    $ 66,892  
  4,300      Bridgestone Corp.      159,735  
  1,267      Compagnie Generale des Establissements Michelin SCA, Class B      155,403  
  845      Continental AG      109,721  
  3,200      Denso Corp.      144,370  
  608      Faurecia SA      32,963  
  800      Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      37,032  
  442      Lear Corp.      60,642  
  2,242      Magna Internationl, Inc.      122,944  
  700      NGK Spark Plug Co., Ltd.      13,581  
  1,058      Nokian Renkaat OYJ      30,493  
  4,305      Pirelli & C SpA      24,812  
  600      Stanley Electric Co., Ltd.      17,349  
  5,700      Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.      85,535  
  700      Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.      8,517  
  300      Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.      7,488  
  1,100      Toyota Industries Corp.      63,398  
  1,787      Valeo SA      63,267  
  1,100      Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. (The)      21,289  
     

 

 

 
        1,503,314  
     

 

 

 
Automobiles (1.2%):       
  2,659      Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW)      218,874  
  6,786      Daimler AG, Registered Shares      376,205  
  913      Ferrari NV      151,424  
  8,107      Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV      120,056  
  28,710      Ford Motor Co.      267,003  
  9,491      General Motors Co.      347,371  
  1,197      Harley-Davidson, Inc.^      44,516  
  12,000      Honda Motor Co., Ltd.      338,533  
  4,200      Isuzu Motors, Ltd.      49,486  
  4,500      Mazda Motor Corp.      38,305  
  2,700      Mitsubishi Motors Corp.      11,241  
  17,900      Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.      104,045  
  4,372      PSA Peugeot Citroen SA      104,697  
  1,438      Renault SA      68,213  
  4,600      Subaru Corp.      113,753  
  2,700      Suzuki Motor Corp.      113,110  
  996      Tesla, Inc.*      416,657  
  16,800      Toyota Motor Corp.      1,183,047  
  236      Volkswagen AG      45,860  
  2,100      Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.      41,983  
     

 

 

 
        4,154,379  
     

 

 

 
Banks (7.5%):       
  3,369      ABN AMRO Group NV      61,530  
  6,416      AIB Group plc      22,469  
  1,000      Aozora Bank, Ltd.      26,417  
  21,093      Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, Ltd.      365,350  
  51,029      Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA      287,547  
  43,482      Banco de Sabadell SA      50,928  
  124,132      Banco Santander SA      524,093  
  8,123      Bank Hapoalim BM      67,503  
  10,693      Bank Leumi Le-Israel Corp.      77,959  
  65,257      Bank of America Corp.      2,298,352  
  4,800      Bank of East Asia, Ltd. (The)      10,726  
  6,656      Bank of Ireland Group plc      36,700  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Banks, continued       
  200      Bank of Kyoto, Ltd. (The)    $ 8,528  
  4,799      Bank of Montreal      371,974  
  9,063      Bank of Nova Scotia      511,992  
  4,962      Bankia SA      10,621  
  5,419      Bankinter SA      39,839  
  127,630      Barclays plc      304,741  
  4,092      Bendigo & Adelaide Bank, Ltd.      28,134  
  8,271      BNP Paribas SA      492,307  
  28,500      BOC Hong Kong Holdings, Ltd.      99,253  
  27,832      CaixaBank SA      87,764  
  3,344      Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce      278,306  
  5,000      Chiba Bank, Ltd. (The)      28,753  
  16,685      Citigroup, Inc.      1,332,965  
  3,309      Citizens Financial Group, Inc.      134,378  
  1,127      Comerica, Inc.      80,862  
  7,814      Commerzbank AG      48,383  
  13,107      Commonwealth Bank of Australia      736,703  
  8,400      Concordia Financial Group, Ltd.      34,461  
  8,466      Credit Agricole SA      123,331  
  4,961      Danske Bank A/S      80,243  
  13,200      DBS Group Holdings, Ltd.      254,500  
  7,167      DNB ASA      134,355  
  1,112      East West Bancorp, Inc.      54,154  
  2,326      Erste Group Bank AG      87,479  
  5,357      Fifth Third Bancorp      164,674  
  2,040      Finecobank Banca Fineco SpA      24,484  
  1,240      First Republic Bank      145,638  
  1,400      Fukuoka Financial Group, Inc.      26,727  
  5,800      Hang Seng Bank, Ltd.      120,032  
  149,039      HSBC Holdings plc      1,170,248  
  7,393      Huntington Bancshares, Inc.      111,486  
  29,131      ING Groep NV      350,068  
  111,459      Intesa Sanpaolo SpA      293,796  
  7,707      Isreal Discount Bank      35,782  
  3,400      Japan Post Bank Co., Ltd.      32,590  
  23,597      JPMorgan Chase & Co.      3,289,421  
  1,874      KBC Group NV      141,298  
  7,278      KeyCorp      147,307  
  517,992      Lloyds Banking Group plc      432,264  
  942      M&T Bank Corp.      159,905  
  3,600      Mebuki Financial Group, Inc.      9,186  
  4,869      Mediobanca SpA      53,627  
  91,500      Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc.      494,590  
  1,110      Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, Ltd.      29,612  
  180,100      Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.      277,025  
  21,450      National Australia Bank, Ltd.      371,593  
  2,547      National Bank of Canada^      141,395  
  23,853      Nordea Bank AB      193,013  
  23,900      Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., Ltd.      195,474  
  3,096      People’s United Financial, Inc.      52,322  
  3,255      PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.      519,596  
  1,228      Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG      30,802  
  7,243      Regions Financial Corp.      124,290  
  16,000      Resona Holdings, Inc.      69,776  
  10,665      Royal Bank of Canada      843,984  
  35,797      Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc      114,717  
  2,100      Seven Bank, Ltd.      6,902  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Banks, continued       
  1,500      Shinsei Bank, Ltd.    $ 22,901  
  3,700      Shizuoka Bank, Ltd. (The)      27,549  
  416      Signature Bank      56,830  
  12,169      Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, Class A      114,511  
  5,992      Societe Generale      209,347  
  20,235      Standard Chartered plc      191,083  
  9,900      Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc.      364,491  
  2,500      Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings, Inc.      98,669  
  387      SVB Financial Group*      97,152  
  11,379      Svenska Handelsbanken AB, Class A      122,560  
  6,836      Swedbank AB, Class A      101,981  
  13,495      Toronto-Dominion Bank (The)      756,963  
  9,907      Truist Financial Corp.      557,962  
  11,000      U.S. Bancorp      652,190  
  15,035      Unicredit SpA      219,797  
  9,304      United Overseas Bank, Ltd.      183,057  
  30,896      Wells Fargo & Co.      1,662,205  
  25,948      Westpac Banking Corp.      442,090  
  1,310      Zions Bancorp      68,015  
     

 

 

 
        25,316,577  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (1.9%):       
  5,638      Anheuser-Busch InBev NV      462,285  
  2,700      Asahi Breweries, Ltd.      123,352  
  2,273      Brown-Forman Corp., Class B      153,655  
  10,000      Budweiser Brewing Co. APAC, Ltd.*      33,766  
  801      Carlsberg A/S, Class B      119,507  
  3,938      Coca-Cola Amatil, Ltd.      30,614  
  500      Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Holdings, Inc.      12,841  
  29,978      Coca-Cola Co. (The)      1,659,282  
  993      Coca-Cola European Partners plc      50,524  
  782      Coca-Cola European Partners plc      39,250  
  1,353      Coca-Cola HBC AG      46,139  
  1,238      Constellation Brands, Inc., Class C      234,911  
  4,404      Davide Campari — Milano SpA      40,217  
  17,400      Diageo plc      733,118  
  892      Heineken Holding NV      86,603  
  1,915      Heineken NV      204,259  
  6,100      Kirin Holdings Co., Ltd.      133,063  
  1,411      Molson Coors Brewing Co., Class B      76,053  
  3,040      Monster Beverage Corp.*      193,192  
  10,321      PepsiCo, Inc.      1,410,571  
  1,557      Pernod Ricard SA      278,688  
  201      Remy Cointreau SA      24,719  
  1,100      Suntory Beverage & Food, Ltd.      46,007  
  5,399      Treasury Wine Estates, Ltd.      61,685  
     

 

 

 
        6,254,301  
     

 

 

 
Biotechnology (1.7%):       
  10,942      AbbVie, Inc.      968,805  
  1,666      Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      180,178  
  825      Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      95,015  
  4,428      Amgen, Inc.      1,067,458  
  272      BeiGene, Ltd., ADR*      45,086  
  1,365      Biogen, Inc.*      405,036  
  1,348      BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc.*      113,973  
  3,340      CSL, Ltd.      648,061  
  1,091      Exact Sciences Corp.*      100,896  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Biotechnology, continued       
  324      Galapagos NV*^    $ 67,432  
  486      Genmab A/S*      108,191  
  9,338      Gilead Sciences, Inc.      606,783  
  2,239      Grifols SA^      79,048  
  1,359      Incyte Corp.*      118,668  
  994      Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      60,048  
  650      Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc.*      69,869  
  700      Peptidream, Inc.*      35,847  
  600      Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      225,288  
  554      Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.*      71,488  
  877      Seattle Genetics, Inc.*      100,206  
  1,901      Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      416,224  
     

 

 

 
        5,583,600  
     

 

 

 
Building Products (0.5%):       
  1,044      A.O. Smith Corp.      49,736  
  1,400      AGC, Inc.      49,963  
  699      Allegion plc      87,053  
  7,396      ASSA Abloy AB, Class B      172,883  
  3,630      Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA      149,143  
  1,800      Daikin Industries, Ltd.      253,170  
  1,050      Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc.      68,607  
  275      Geberit AG, Registered Shares      154,413  
  5,881      Johnson Controls International plc      239,417  
  963      Kingspan Group plc      59,305  
  259      Lennox International, Inc.      63,188  
  2,000      Lixil Group Corp.      34,474  
  2,171      Masco Corp.      104,186  
  811      Owens Corning, Inc.      52,812  
  1,100      TOTO, Ltd.      46,364  
     

 

 

 
        1,584,714  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (2.8%):       
  7,282      3i Group plc      106,120  
  971      Ameriprise Financial, Inc.      161,749  
  558      Amundi SA      43,861  
  1,497      ASX, Ltd.      82,541  
  6,266      Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (The)      315,368  
  857      BlackRock, Inc., Class A+      430,814  
  6,666      Brookfield Asset Management, Inc., Class A      385,205  
  829      Cboe Global Markets, Inc.      99,480  
  8,699      Charles Schwab Corp. (The)      413,724  
  879      CI Financial Corp.      14,697  
  2,645      CME Group, Inc.      530,904  
  19,090      Credit Suisse Group AG      259,123  
  11,900      Daiwa Securities Group, Inc.      60,377  
  14,957      Deutsche Bank AG, Registered Shares      116,024  
  1,414      Deutsche Boerse AG      222,359  
  1,807      E*TRADE Financial Corp.      81,984  
  874      Eaton Vance Corp.      40,807  
  289      FactSet Research Systems, Inc.      77,539  
  2,272      Franklin Resources, Inc.      59,027  
  2,394      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.      550,451  
  2,126      Hargreaves Lansdown plc      54,733  
  8,800      Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing, Ltd.      285,240  
  310      IGM Financial, Inc.      8,901  
  4,137      Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.      382,879  
  2,923      Invesco, Ltd.      52,556  
  3,800      Japan Exchange Group, Inc.      66,900  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Capital Markets, continued       
  1,701      Julius Baer Group, Ltd.    $ 87,865  
  3,609      KKR & Co., Inc., Class A      105,275  
  2,330      London Stock Exchange Group plc      240,634  
  2,417      Macquarie Group, Ltd.      234,382  
  973      Magellan Financial Group, Ltd.      39,035  
  281      MarketAxess Holdings, Inc.      106,530  
  1,260      Moody’s Corp.      299,137  
  9,143      Morgan Stanley      467,390  
  630      MSCI, Inc.      162,653  
  857      Nasdaq, Inc.      91,785  
  7,385      Natixis      32,911  
  24,800      Nomura Holdings, Inc.      127,409  
  1,514      Northern Trust Corp.      160,847  
  141      Partners Group Holding AG      129,249  
  942      Raymond James Financial, Inc.      84,271  
  1,821      S&P Global, Inc.      497,224  
  1,800      SBI Holdings, Inc.      37,922  
  935      Schroders plc      41,573  
  981      SEI Investments Co.      64,236  
  3,200      Singapore Exchange, Ltd.      21,115  
  3,996      St. James Place plc      61,823  
  2,766      State Street Corp.      218,791  
  1,755      T. Rowe Price Group, Inc.      213,829  
  2,034      TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.      101,090  
  4,908      The Blackstone Group, Inc., Class A      274,554  
  28,856      UBS Group AG      364,263  
     

 

 

 
        9,169,156  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (2.4%):       
  3,425      Air Liquide SA      486,742  
  1,625      Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.      381,858  
  700      Air Water, Inc.      10,322  
  1,686      Akzo Nobel NV      171,887  
  805      Albemarle Corp.^      58,797  
  508      Arkema SA      54,182  
  9,400      Asahi Kasei Corp.      105,488  
  1,522      Axalta Coating Systems, Ltd.*      46,269  
  6,808      BASF SE      516,252  
  917      Celanese Corp., Series A      112,901  
  1,625      CF Industries Holdings, Inc.      77,578  
  796      Christian Hansen Holding A/S      63,243  
  1,528      Clariant AG      34,199  
  5,550      Corteva, Inc.      164,058  
  1,332      Covestro AG      61,914  
  925      Croda International plc      62,815  
  1,000      Daicel Corp.      9,541  
  5,487      Dow, Inc.      300,304  
  5,534      DuPont de Nemours, Inc.      355,283  
  1,034      Eastman Chemical Co.      81,955  
  1,909      Ecolab, Inc.      368,417  
  66      EMS-Chemie Holding AG      43,443  
  1,423      Evonik Industries AG      43,614  
  973      FMC Corp.      97,125  
  638      Fuchs Petrolub AG      31,739  
  68      Givaudan SA, Registered Shares      212,865  
  800      Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.      33,488  
  14,075      Incitec Pivot, Ltd.      31,484  
  753      International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc.      97,130  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Chemicals, continued       
  5,617      Israel Chemicals, Ltd.    $ 26,511  
  1,443      Johnson Matthey plc      57,406  
  800      JSR Corp.      14,624  
  1,300      Kansai Paint Co., Ltd.      31,777  
  1,351      Koninklijke DSM NV      176,340  
  2,600      Kuraray Co., Ltd.      31,888  
  629      Lanxess AG      42,264  
  3,985      Linde plc      848,407  
  1,988      LyondellBasell Industries NV, Class A      187,825  
  244      Methanex Corp.      9,424  
  9,900      Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp.      73,768  
  1,400      Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co., Inc.      21,278  
  1,400      Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.      34,032  
  2,751      Mosaic Co. (The)      59,532  
  1,100      Nippon Paint Holdings Co., Ltd.      56,918  
  1,000      Nissan Chemical Corp.      41,811  
  1,200      Nitto Denko Corp.      67,335  
  1,616      Novozymes A/S, Class B      79,131  
  4,218      Nutrien, Ltd.      201,967  
  2,876      Orica, Ltd.      44,440  
  1,732      PPG Industries, Inc.      231,205  
  960      RPM International, Inc.      73,690  
  613      Sherwin Williams Co.      357,709  
  2,700      Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.      296,056  
  1,100      Showa Denko K.K.      28,979  
  948      Sika AG      178,563  
  574      Solvay SA      66,744  
  11,600      Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.      52,580  
  963      Symrise AG      101,303  
  1,100      Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp.      24,372  
  1,500      Teijin, Ltd.      27,993  
  10,400      Toray Industries, Inc.      71,064  
  2,000      Tosoh Corp.      30,784  
  1,478      Umicore SA^      72,050  
  141      Westlake Chemical Corp.      9,891  
  1,353      Yara International ASA      56,397  
     

 

 

 
        7,900,951  
     

 

 

 
Commercial Services & Supplies (0.5%):       
  11,809      Brambles, Ltd.      97,316  
  648      Cintas Corp.      174,364  
  1,530      Copart, Inc.*      139,138  
  1,800      Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd.      48,858  
  1,794      Edenred      92,823  
  11,921      G4S plc      34,663  
  1,231      ISS A/S      29,565  
  400      Park24 Co., Ltd.      9,800  
  13,647      Rentokil Initial plc      82,142  
  1,618      Republic Services, Inc., Class A      145,021  
  1,110      Rollins, Inc.      36,808  
  1,600      SECOM Co., Ltd.      142,806  
  2,224      Securitas AB, Class B      38,385  
  600      Sohgo Security Services Co., Ltd.      32,499  
  2,100      Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.      43,298  
  2,002      Waste Connections, Inc.      181,762  
  3,111      Waste Management, Inc.      354,530  
     

 

 

 
        1,683,778  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Communications Equipment (0.7%):       
  403      Arista Networks, Inc.*    $ 81,970  
  31,657      Cisco Systems, Inc.      1,518,270  
  467      F5 Networks, Inc.*      65,217  
  2,592      Juniper Networks, Inc.      63,841  
  1,238      Motorola Solutions, Inc.      199,491  
  41,875      Nokia OYJ      155,337  
  715      Palo Alto Networks, Inc.*      165,344  
  22,750      Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Class B      199,405  
     

 

 

 
        2,448,875  
     

 

 

 
Construction & Engineering (0.4%):       
  2,073      ACS Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA      83,092  
  1,662      Bouygues SA      70,746  
  349      Cimic Group, Ltd.      8,141  
  582      Eiffage SA      66,685  
  3,858      Ferrovial SA      117,030  
  206      Hochtief AG      26,364  
  1,024      Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc.      91,986  
  1,800      JGC Holdings Corp.      28,969  
  3,500      Kajima Corp.      46,781  
  4,900      Obayashi Corp.      54,338  
  4,500      Shimizu Corp.      45,790  
  2,540      Skanska AB, Class B      57,453  
  1,500      Taisei Corp.      62,112  
  3,741      Vinci SA      415,573  
  820      WSP Global, Inc.^      55,999  
     

 

 

 
        1,231,059  
     

 

 

 
Construction Materials (0.3%):       
  9,118      Boral, Ltd.      28,750  
  5,510      CRH plc      220,998  
  3,025      Fletcher Building, Ltd.      10,376  
  1,143      HeidelbergCement AG      83,306  
  3,272      James Hardie Industries SE      64,135  
  3,689      LafargeHolcim, Ltd., Registered Shares      204,604  
  465      Martin Marietta Materials, Inc.      130,033  
  1,000      Taiheiyo Cement Corp.      29,263  
  984      Vulcan Materials Co.      141,686  
     

 

 

 
        913,151  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (0.5%):       
  1,300      ACOM Co., Ltd.      5,902  
  400      AEON Financial Service Co., Ltd.      6,292  
  2,899      Ally Financial, Inc.      88,593  
  5,231      American Express Co.      651,208  
  3,508      Capital One Financial Corp.      361,008  
  700      Credit Saison Co., Ltd.      12,135  
  2,378      Discover Financial Services      201,702  
  4,440      Synchrony Financial      159,884  
     

 

 

 
        1,486,724  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (0.3%):       
  11,794      Amcor PLC      127,847  
  635      Avery Dennison Corp.      83,071  
  2,346      Ball Corp.      151,715  
  1,153      CCL Industries, Inc.      49,125  
  1,014      Crown Holdings, Inc.*      73,556  
  2,785      International Paper Co.      128,249  
  733      Packaging Corp. of America      82,089  
  1,174      Sealed Air Corp.      46,760  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Containers & Packaging, continued       
  1,518      Smurfit Kappa Group plc    $ 58,468  
  600      Toyo Seikan Group Holdings, Ltd.      10,402  
  1,959      WestRock Co.      84,061  
     

 

 

 
        895,343  
     

 

 

 
Distributors (0.1%):       
  1,092      Genuine Parts Co.      116,004  
  400      Jardine Cycle & Carriage, Ltd.      8,955  
  2,302      LKQ Corp.*      82,181  
     

 

 

 
        207,140  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Consumer Services (0.0%):       
  200      Benesse Holdings, Inc.      5,260  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (1.0%):       
  25,594      AMP, Ltd.      34,406  
  3,088      AXA Equitable Holdings, Inc.      76,521  
  9,710      Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., Class B*      2,199,315  
  2,251      Challenger, Ltd.      12,818  
  159      Eurazeo Se      10,898  
  818      EXOR NV      63,432  
  612      Groupe Bruxelles Lambert SA      64,561  
  1,380      Industrivarden AB, Class C      33,336  
  3,400      Investor AB, Class B      185,823  
  1,840      Jefferies Financial Group, Inc.      39,321  
  1,817      Kinnevik AB, Class B      44,477  
  342      L E Lundbergforetagen AB      15,029  
  19,143      M&G plc*      60,222  
  1,300      Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Co., Ltd.      8,368  
  662      Onex Corp.      41,895  
  9,900      ORIX Corp.      164,812  
  288      Pargesa Holding SA      23,931  
  17,859      Standard Life Aberdeen plc      77,805  
  200      Tokyo Century Corp.      10,740  
  1,044      Voya Financial, Inc.      63,663  
  105      Wendel      13,974  
     

 

 

 
        3,245,347  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (2.0%):       
  53,946      AT&T, Inc.      2,108,210  
  1,206      BCE, Inc.      55,879  
  62,428      BT Group plc      159,967  
  1,933      Cellnex Telecom SAU      83,304  
  7,272      CenturyLink, Inc.      96,063  
  24,673      Deutsche Telekom AG, Registered Shares      403,162  
  1,031      Elisa OYJ      56,966  
  29,000      HKT Trust & HKT, Ltd.      40,886  
  228      Iliad SA^      29,582  
  26,879      Koninklijke KPN NV      79,412  
  9,400      Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp.      238,133  
  14,615      Orange SA      214,739  
  32,000      PCCW, Ltd.      18,896  
  1,146      Proximus SADP      32,815  
  62,100      Singapore Telecommunications, Ltd.      155,770  
  13,956      Spark New Zealand, Ltd.      40,696  
  193      Swisscom AG, Registered Shares^      102,230  
  48,285      Telecom Italia SpA      29,554  
  64,844      Telecom Italia SpA*      40,458  
  8,284      Telefonica Deutschland Holding AG      24,008  
  34,954      Telefonica SA      244,282  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Diversified Telecommunication Services, continued       
  5,403      Telenor ASA    $ 96,939  
  20,247      Telia Co AB      87,000  
  31,200      Telstra Corp., Ltd.      77,712  
  1,510      TELUS Corp.      58,474  
  838      TPG Telecom, Ltd.      3,953  
  951      United Internet AG, Registered Shares      31,250  
  30,503      Verizon Communications, Inc.      1,872,884  
  1,759      Zayo Group Holdings, Inc.*      60,949  
     

 

 

 
        6,544,173  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (2.0%):       
  1,790      Alliant Energy Corp.      97,949  
  3,635      American Electric Power Co., Inc.      343,544  
  6,654      AusNet Services      7,933  
  5,000      Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc.      70,535  
  2,400      Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc. (The)      31,654  
  5,500      CK Infrastructure Holdings, Ltd.      39,227  
  12,500      CLP Holdings, Ltd.      131,630  
  5,376      Duke Energy Corp.      490,345  
  2,649      Edison International      199,761  
  20,651      EDP — Energias de Portugal SA      89,517  
  4,565      Electricite de France      50,920  
  1,852      Emera, Inc.      79,577  
  2,724      Endesa SA      72,719  
  60,346      Enel SpA      480,035  
  1,488      Entergy Corp.      178,262  
  1,767      Evergy, Inc.      115,014  
  2,389      Eversource Energy      203,232  
  7,151      Exelon Corp.      326,014  
  3,966      FirstEnergy Corp.      192,748  
  3,431      Fortis, Inc.      142,377  
  3,320      Fortum OYJ      81,896  
  7,500      HK Electric Investments, Ltd.      7,392  
  2,309      Hydro One, Ltd.      44,601  
  45,188      Iberdrola SA      465,354  
  5,400      Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. (The)      62,451  
  3,000      Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc.      25,919  
  3,523      NextEra Energy, Inc.      853,129  
  1,470      OGE Energy Corp.      65,371  
  1,421      Orsted A/S      147,244  
  846      Pinnacle West Capital Corp.      76,081  
  10,500      Power Assets Holdings, Ltd.      76,778  
  5,325      PPL Corp.      191,061  
  1,396      Red Electrica Corp SA      28,078  
  7,581      Scottish & Southern Energy plc      145,229  
  7,674      Southern Co. (The)      488,834  
  11,051      Terna SpA      73,936  
  3,500      Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc.      34,622  
  11,600      Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings, Inc.*      49,541  
  561      Verbund AG, Class A      28,168  
  3,784      Xcel Energy, Inc.      240,246  
     

 

 

 
        6,528,924  
     

 

 

 
Electrical Equipment (0.8%):       
  13,587      ABB, Ltd.      328,070  
  307      Acuity Brands, Inc.      42,366  
  1,680      AMETEK, Inc.      167,563  
  3,091      Eaton Corp. plc      292,780  
  4,506      Emerson Electric Co.      343,628  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Electrical Equipment, continued       
  1,000      Fuji Electric Co., Ltd.    $ 30,563  
  1,911      Legrand SA      155,912  
  36,347      Melrose Industries plc      116,161  
  13,500      Mitsubishi Electric Corp.      183,587  
  1,700      Nidec Corp.      232,260  
  1,821      Prysmian SpA      43,878  
  864      Rockwell Automation, Inc.      175,107  
  4,011      Schneider Electric SA      412,568  
  1,223      Sensata Technologies Holding plc*      65,883  
  1,975      Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy      34,702  
  1,400      Vestas Wind Systems A/S      141,555  
     

 

 

 
        2,766,583  
     

 

 

 
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (1.0%):       
  1,600      Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.      36,148  
  2,191      Amphenol Corp., Class A      237,133  
  592      Arrow Electronics, Inc.*      50,166  
  1,082      CDW Corp.      154,553  
  1,272      Cognex Corp.      71,283  
  5,777      Corning, Inc.      168,168  
  3,831      Flex, Ltd.*      48,347  
  1,007      FLIR Systems, Inc.      52,434  
  2,792      Halma plc      78,370  
  1,000      Hamamatsu Photonics KK      40,981  
  1,952      Hexagon AB, Class B      109,402  
  205      Hirose Electric Co., Ltd.      26,211  
  500      Hitachi High-Technologies Corp.      35,337  
  7,100      Hitachi, Ltd.      299,108  
  447      Ingenico Group      48,592  
  287      IPG Photonics Corp.*      41,592  
  1,300      Keyence Corp.      460,203  
  1,398      Keysight Technologies, Inc.*      143,477  
  2,400      Kyocera Corp.      163,574  
  4,300      Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.      265,884  
  1,500      Omron Corp.      87,397  
  1,600      Shimadzu Corp.      50,048  
  1,000      TDK Corp.      112,409  
  2,479      TE Connectivity, Ltd.      237,587  
  1,871      Trimble, Inc.*      78,002  
  2,400      Venture Corp., Ltd.      28,966  
  1,800      Yaskawa Electric Corp.      67,931  
  1,800      Yokogawa Electric Corp.      31,885  
  403      Zebra Technologies Corp., Class A*      102,942  
     

 

 

 
        3,328,130  
     

 

 

 
Energy Equipment & Services (0.3%):       
  4,638      Baker Hughes Co.      118,872  
  6,497      Halliburton Co.      158,982  
  2,885      National-Oilwell Varco, Inc.      72,269  
  10,233      Schlumberger, Ltd.      411,367  
  3,249      Technipfmc plc      69,659  
  3,492      Tenaris SA      39,488  
  2,773      Worley, Ltd.      29,910  
     

 

 

 
        900,547  
     

 

 

 
Entertainment (1.4%):       
  5,681      Activision Blizzard, Inc.      337,565  
  2,188      Electronic Arts, Inc.*      235,232  
  700      Konami Holdings Corp.      28,868  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Entertainment, continued       
  1,491      Liberty Media Corp-Liberty Formula One, Class C*    $ 68,534  
  1,117      Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.*      79,832  
  3,240      Netflix, Inc.*      1,048,367  
  3,700      Nexon Co., Ltd.*      48,946  
  800      Nintendo Co., Ltd.      322,962  
  700      Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.      34,979  
  845      Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.*      103,453  
  900      Toho Co., Ltd.      37,482  
  632      UbiSoft Entertainment SA*      43,716  
  6,293      Vivendi Universal SA      182,388  
  13,311      Walt Disney Co. (The)      1,925,170  
     

 

 

 
        4,497,494  
     

 

 

 
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (2.6%):       
  874      Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.      141,221  
  3,265      American Tower Corp.      750,362  
  27,204      Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust      60,117  
  1,029      AvalonBay Communities, Inc.      215,781  
  1,156      Boston Properties, Inc.      159,366  
  6,602      British Land Co. plc      56,203  
  716      Camden Property Trust      75,968  
  23,100      CapitaLand Commercial Trust      34,210  
  22,600      CapitaLand Mall Trust      41,356  
  316      Covivio      35,891  
  3,067      Crown Castle International Corp.      435,974  
  15      Daiwahouse Residential Investment Corp.      39,192  
  8,284      Dexus      68,152  
  1,549      Digital Realty Trust, Inc.      185,477  
  2,668      Duke Realty Corp.      92,500  
  626      Equinix, Inc.      365,396  
  1,298      Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc.      91,366  
  2,736      Equity Residential      221,397  
  490      Essex Property Trust, Inc.      147,421  
  968      Extra Space Storage, Inc.      102,240  
  570      Federal Realty Investment Trust      73,376  
  330      Gecina SA      59,146  
  12,265      Goodman Group      115,268  
  14,718      GPT Group      57,925  
  290      H&R Real Estate Investment Trust      4,713  
  3,615      Healthpeak Properties, Inc.      124,609  
  5,272      Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc.      97,796  
  246      Icade      26,816  
  3,933      Invitation Homes, Inc.      117,872  
  2,122      Iron Mountain, Inc.      67,628  
  7      Japan Prime Realty Investment Corp.      30,748  
  10      Japan Real Estate Investment Corp.      66,351  
  21      Japan Retail Fund Investment Corp.      45,155  
  3,092      Kimco Realty Corp.      64,035  
  1,471      Klepierre      55,912  
  5,201      Land Securities Group plc      68,332  
  1,168      Liberty Property Trust      70,138  
  15,500      Link REIT (The)      164,565  
  3,728      Medical Properties Trust, Inc.      78,698  
  879      Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc.      115,905  
  29,366      Mirvac Group      65,665  
  1,209      National Retail Properties, Inc.      64,827  
  11      Nippon Building Fund, Inc.      80,615  
  16      Nippon Prologis REIT, Inc.      40,767  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts, continued       
  31      Nomura Real Estate Master Fund, Inc.    $ 52,985  
  1,633      Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc.      69,158  
  22      Orix JREIT, Inc.      47,709  
  4,669      ProLogis, Inc.      416,195  
  1,164      Public Storage, Inc.      247,885  
  2,371      Realty Income Corp.      174,577  
  1,274      Regency Centers Corp.      80,377  
  626      RioCan REIT      12,902  
  835      SBA Communications Corp.      201,227  
  40,088      Scentre Group      107,903  
  7,900      SERGO plc      94,287  
  2,289      Simon Property Group, Inc.      340,969  
  635      SL Green Realty Corp.      58,344  
  240      Smart Real Estate Investment Trust      5,769  
  17,840      Stockland      57,937  
  693      Sun Communities, Inc.      104,019  
  20,700      Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust      28,338  
  2,194      UDR, Inc.      102,460  
  1,022      Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield      161,456  
  24      United Urban Investment Corp.      45,041  
  2,759      Ventas, Inc.      159,305  
  7,239      VEREIT, Inc.      66,888  
  3,403      VICI Properties, Inc.      86,947  
  24,703      Vicinity Centres      43,236  
  1,304      Vornado Realty Trust      86,716  
  3,001      Welltower, Inc.      245,422  
  5,497      Weyerhaeuser Co.      166,009  
  1,297      WP Carey, Inc.      103,812  
     

 

 

 
        8,444,325  
     

 

 

 
Food & Staples Retailing (1.6%):       
  5,000      AEON Co., Ltd.      103,021  
  6,502      Alimentation Couche-Tard, Inc.      206,368  
  4,504      Carrefour SA      75,652  
  240      Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA^      11,250  
  8,604      Coles Group, Ltd.      89,843  
  214      Colruyt SA      11,169  
  3,251      Costco Wholesale Corp.      955,534  
  1,200      Dairy Farm International Holdings, Ltd.      6,845  
  1,286      Empire Co., Ltd., Class A      30,169  
  1,900      FamilyMart Co., Ltd.      45,514  
  686      ICA Gruppen AB      32,047  
  13,541      J Sainsbury plc      41,504  
  1,994      Jeronimo Martins SGPS SA      32,838  
  8,799      Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize NV      220,501  
  5,903      Kroger Co. (The)      171,128  
  200      LAWSON, Inc.      11,328  
  1,424      Loblaw Cos., Ltd.      73,481  
  706      METRO AG      11,379  
  1,955      Metro, Inc.      80,690  
  5,600      Seven & I Holdings Co., Ltd.      204,925  
  600      Sundrug Co., Ltd.      21,687  
  3,600      Sysco Corp.      307,944  
  72,691      Tesco plc      246,204  
  300      Tsuruha Holdings, Inc.      38,495  
  5,696      Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.      335,836  
  10,534      Walmart, Inc.      1,251,861  
  200      Welcia Holdings Co., Ltd.      12,741  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Food & Staples Retailing, continued       
  8,467      Wesfarmers, Ltd.    $ 246,625  
  632      Weston (George), Ltd.      50,145  
  18,535      William Morrison Supermarkets plc      49,336  
  9,415      Woolworths Group, Ltd.      239,510  
     

 

 

 
        5,215,570  
     

 

 

 
Food Products (1.9%):       
  5,472      A2 Milk Co., Ltd.*      55,371  
  3,300      Ajinomoto Co., Inc.      54,873  
  4,127      Archer-Daniels-Midland Co.      191,286  
  2,641      Associated British Foods plc      91,478  
  24      Barry Callebaut AG, Registered Shares      53,068  
  1,070      Bunge, Ltd.      61,579  
  300      Calbee, Inc.      9,758  
  1,241      Campbell Soup Co.      61,330  
  3,606      Conagra Brands, Inc.      123,469  
  4,546      Danone SA      377,302  
  4,468      General Mills, Inc.      239,306  
  1,107      Hershey Co. (The)      162,707  
  2,172      Hormel Foods Corp.      97,979  
  528      Ingredion, Inc.      49,078  
  856      JM Smucker Co. (The)      89,135  
  1,901      Kellogg Co.      131,473  
  1,078      Kerry Group plc, Class A      134,201  
  1,100      Kikkoman Corp.      53,821  
  4,989      Kraft Heinz Co. (The)      160,297  
  1,080      Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc.      92,912  
  15      Lindt & Spruengli AG      116,468  
  916      McCormick & Co.      155,473  
  900      Meiji Holdings Co., Ltd.      60,794  
  10,652      Mondelez International, Inc., Class A      586,713  
  3,323      Mowi ASA      86,457  
  21,987      Nestle SA, Registered Shares      2,382,489  
  700      NH Foods, Ltd.      28,999  
  1,700      Nisshin Seifun Group, Inc.      29,634  
  500      Nissin Foods Holdings Co., Ltd.      37,119  
  5,748      Orkla ASA, Class A      58,275  
  1,784      Saputo, Inc.      55,235  
  700      Toyo Suisan Kaisha, Ltd.      29,777  
  2,183      Tyson Foods, Inc., Class A      198,740  
  72,000      WH Group, Ltd.      74,607  
  15,200      Wilmar International, Ltd.      46,630  
  900      Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd.      49,547  
  500      Yamazaki Baking Co., Ltd.      8,935  
     

 

 

 
        6,296,315  
     

 

 

 
Gas Utilities (0.2%):       
  2,016      AltaGas, Ltd.      30,712  
  8,921      APA Group      69,657  
  922      Atmos Energy Corp.      103,135  
  2,302      Gas Natural SDG SA      57,946  
  75,574      Hong Kong & China Gas Co., Ltd.      147,672  
  2,900      Osaka Gas Co., Ltd.      55,418  
  300      Toho Gas Co., Ltd.      12,217  
  2,900      Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd.      70,367  
  1,581      UGI Corp.      71,398  
     

 

 

 
        618,522  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

10


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (2.9%):       
  13,008      Abbott Laboratories    $ 1,129,874  
  342      ABIOMED, Inc.*      58,342  
  3,097      Alcon, Inc.*      175,480  
  562      Align Technology, Inc.*      156,820  
  1,400      Asahi Intecc Co., Ltd.      41,227  
  3,575      Baxter International, Inc.      298,942  
  1,989      Becton Dickinson & Co.      540,948  
  333      BioMerieux      29,661  
  10,228      Boston Scientific Corp.*      462,510  
  302      Carl Zeiss Meditec AG      38,514  
  426      Cochlear, Ltd.      67,326  
  903      Coloplast A/S, Class B      112,279  
  367      Cooper Cos., Inc. (The)      117,913  
  4,760      Danaher Corp.      730,565  
  896      Demant A/S*      28,239  
  1,659      Dentsply Sirona, Inc.      93,883  
  675      DexCom, Inc.*      147,650  
  1,537      Edwards Lifesciences Corp.*      358,567  
  2,096      EssilorLuxottica SA      320,153  
  4,257      Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corp., Ltd.      63,862  
  1,967      Hologic, Inc.*      102,697  
  2,800      HOYA Corp.      267,381  
  642      IDEXX Laboratories, Inc.*      167,645  
  449      Insulet Corp.*      76,869  
  853      Intuitive Surgical, Inc.*      504,251  
  6,698      Koninklijke Philips NV      327,432  
  9,886      Medtronic plc      1,121,567  
  8,600      Olympus Corp.      132,451  
  1,067      ResMed, Inc.      165,353  
  265      Sartorius AG      56,728  
  1,111      Siemens Healthineers AG      53,345  
  6,444      Smith & Nephew plc      155,641  
  415      Sonova Holding AG, Registered Shares      94,966  
  637      Steris plc      97,092  
  77      Straumann Holding AG, Registered Shares      75,595  
  2,483      Stryker Corp.      521,281  
  1,200      Sysmex Corp.      81,577  
  343      Teleflex, Inc.      129,119  
  4,800      Terumo Corp.      169,605  
  676      Varian Medical Systems, Inc.*      95,999  
  551      West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.      82,832  
  1,511      Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.      226,166  
     

 

 

 
        9,678,347  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (1.9%):       
  1,500      Alfresa Holdings Corp.      30,629  
  1,158      AmerisourceBergen Corp.      98,453  
  1,891      Anthem, Inc.      571,139  
  2,224      Cardinal Health, Inc.      112,490  
  3,072      Centene Corp.*      193,137  
  2,794      Cigna Corp.      571,345  
  9,619      CVS Health Corp.      714,596  
  774      DaVita, Inc.*      58,073  
  1,605      Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co., KGaA      119,029  
  3,115      Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA      175,815  
  2,019      HCA Healthcare, Inc.      298,428  
  1,103      Henry Schein, Inc.*      73,592  
  998      Humana, Inc.      365,787  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Health Care Providers & Services, continued       
  734      Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings*    $ 124,171  
  1,375      McKesson Corp.      190,190  
  1,400      Medipal Holdings Corp.      30,887  
  378      NMC Health plc^      8,872  
  1,008      Quest Diagnostics, Inc.      107,644  
  1,215      Ramsay Health Care, Ltd.      61,979  
  3,006      Ryman Healthcare, Ltd.      33,093  
  3,471      Sonic Healthcare, Ltd.      70,161  
  300      Suzuken Co., Ltd.      12,210  
  7,001      UnitedHealth Group, Inc.      2,058,153  
  606      Universal Health Services, Inc., Class B      86,937  
  374      WellCare Health Plans, Inc.*      123,499  
     

 

 

 
        6,290,309  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Technology (0.1%):       
  2,363      Cerner Corp.      173,421  
  3,300      M3, Inc.      99,666  
  973      Veeva Systems, Inc., Class A*      136,862  
     

 

 

 
        409,949  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (1.7%):       
  1,331      Accor SA      62,476  
  1,845      Aramark      80,073  
  4,307      Aristocrat Leisure, Ltd.      102,125  
  3,095      Carnival Corp., Class A      157,319  
  1,233      Carnival plc      58,870  
  196      Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.*      164,074  
  11,718      Compass Group plc      293,500  
  1,460      Crown Resorts, Ltd.      12,322  
  911      Darden Restaurants, Inc.      99,308  
  293      Domino’s Pizza, Inc.      86,078  
  207      Flight Centre Travel Group, Ltd.      6,402  
  557      Flutter Entertainment plc      68,015  
  16,000      Galaxy Entertainment Group, Ltd.      117,941  
  50,400      Genting Singapore, Ltd.      34,513  
  4,348      GVC Holdings plc      50,984  
  2,021      Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc.      224,149  
  1,299      InterContinental Hotels Group plc      89,467  
  2,583      Las Vegas Sands Corp.      178,330  
  2,074      Marriott International, Inc., Class A      314,066  
  5,607      McDonald’s Corp.      1,107,999  
  600      McDonald’s Holdings Co., Ltd.^      28,919  
  1,773      Melco Resorts & Entertainment, Ltd., ADR      42,853  
  3,693      MGM Resorts International      122,866  
  1,615      Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Ltd.*      94,332  
  1,500      Oriental Land Co., Ltd.      204,750  
  2,031      Restaurant Brands International, Inc.      129,488  
  1,327      Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.      177,168  
  18,400      Sands China, Ltd.      98,678  
  10,000      SJM Holdings, Ltd.      11,416  
  646      Sodexo SA      76,613  
  8,849      Starbucks Corp.      778,004  
  1,721      Stars Group, Inc. (The)*      44,920  
  15,654      Tabcorp Holdings, Ltd.      49,828  
  3,033      TUI AG      38,341  
  304      Vail Resorts, Inc.      72,908  
  987      Whitbread plc      63,507  
  12,400      Wynn Macau, Ltd.      30,675  
  732      Wynn Resorts, Ltd.      101,653  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

11


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure, continued       
  2,251      Yum! Brands, Inc.    $ 226,743  
     

 

 

 
        5,701,673  
     

 

 

 
Household Durables (0.7%):       
  7,598      Barratt Developments plc      75,301  
  898      Berkeley Group Holdings plc (The)      58,223  
  900      Casio Computer Co., Ltd.      18,088  
  2,606      D.R. Horton, Inc.      137,468  
  1,708      Electrolux AB, Series B, Class B      41,932  
  999      Garmin, Ltd.      97,462  
  3,756      Husqvarna AB, Class B      30,085  
  600      Iida Group Holdings Co., Ltd.      10,504  
  986      Leggett & Platt, Inc.      50,118  
  2,112      Lennar Corp., Class A      117,828  
  459      Mohawk Industries, Inc.*      62,598  
  3,000      Newell Brands, Inc.      57,660  
  2,500      Nikon Corp.      30,562  
  26      NVR, Inc.*      99,019  
  16,500      Panasonic Corp.      154,780  
  2,384      Persimmon plc      85,868  
  1,929      PulteGroup, Inc.      74,845  
  300      Rinnai Corp.      23,431  
  635      Roku, Inc.*      85,027  
  92      SEB SA      13,682  
  2,800      Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.      48,474  
  4,700      Sekisui House, Ltd.      100,388  
  1,800      Sharp Corp.      27,509  
  9,400      Sony Corp.      639,916  
  24,626      Taylor Wimpey plc      63,722  
  10,500      Techtronic Industries Co., Ltd.      85,925  
  481      Whirlpool Corp.      70,962  
     

 

 

 
        2,361,377  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (1.3%):       
  1,837      Church & Dwight Co., Inc.      129,215  
  945      Clorox Co. (The)      145,095  
  6,019      Colgate-Palmolive Co.      414,348  
  4,527      Essity AB, Class B      145,988  
  733      Henkel AG & Co. KGaA      69,015  
  2,548      Kimberly-Clark Corp.      350,477  
  1,700      Lion Corp.      33,186  
  900      Pigeon Corp.      33,189  
  18,467      Procter & Gamble Co. (The)      2,306,529  
  5,242      Reckitt Benckiser Group plc      425,617  
  3,100      Unicharm Corp.      104,725  
     

 

 

 
        4,157,384  
     

 

 

 
Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers (0.1%):  
  4,853      AES Corp. (The)      96,575  
  1,200      Electric Power Development Co., Ltd.      29,165  
  9,703      Meridian Energy, Ltd.      32,666  
  1,907      NRG Energy, Inc.      75,803  
  1,518      Uniper SE      50,238  
  2,743      Vistra Energy Corp.      63,062  
     

 

 

 
        347,509  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (1.3%):       
  4,255      3M Co.      750,667  
  20,000      CK Hutchison Holdings, Ltd.      191,119  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Industrial Conglomerates, continued       
  782      DCC plc    $ 68,059  
  64,429      General Electric Co.      719,028  
  5,293      Honeywell International, Inc.      936,861  
  1,700      Jardine Matheson Holdings, Ltd.      94,529  
  1,700      Jardine Strategic Holdings, Ltd.      52,123  
  700      Keihan Holdings Co., Ltd.      34,078  
  11,300      Keppel Corp., Ltd.      56,948  
  5,370      NWS Holdings, Ltd.      7,538  
  770      Roper Technologies, Inc.      272,757  
  1,600      Seibu Holdings, Inc.      26,398  
  3,000      SembCorp Industries, Ltd.      5,117  
  5,648      Siemens AG, Registered Shares      738,243  
  2,929      Smiths Group plc      65,475  
  3,700      Toshiba Corp.      125,368  
     

 

 

 
        4,144,308  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (3.8%):       
  1,398      Admiral Group plc      42,806  
  13,732      AEGON NV      62,851  
  5,419      Aflac, Inc.      286,665  
  1,358      Ageas NV      80,331  
  89,200      AIA Group, Ltd.      938,592  
  107      Alleghany Corp.*      85,554  
  3,131      Allianz SE, Registered Shares+      767,690  
  2,420      Allstate Corp. (The)      272,129  
  572      American Financial Group, Inc.      62,720  
  6,428      American International Group, Inc.      329,949  
  1,739      Aon plc      362,216  
  2,992      Arch Capital Group, Ltd.*      128,326  
  1,387      Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.      132,084  
  8,142      Assicurazioni Generali SpA      168,062  
  457      Assurant, Inc.      59,904  
  1,146      Athene Holding, Ltd.*      53,896  
  29,152      Aviva plc      162,602  
  14,102      AXA SA      397,820  
  364      Baloise Holding AG, Registered Shares      65,801  
  1,048      Brown & Brown, Inc.      41,375  
  3,351      Chubb, Ltd.      521,618  
  1,147      Cincinnati Financial Corp.      120,607  
  1,241      CNP Assurances SA      24,723  
  8,100      Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Inc.      133,417  
  10,156      Direct Line Insurance Group plc      42,310  
  195      Erie Indemnity Co., Class A      32,370  
  307      Everest Re Group, Ltd.      84,990  
  207      Fairfax Financial Holdings, Ltd.      97,209  
  2,017      FNF Group      91,471  
  1,553      Gjensidige Forsikring ASA      32,644  
  776      Globe Life, Inc.      81,674  
  2,031      Great-West Lifeco, Inc.      52,026  
  455      Hannover Rueck SE      87,962  
  2,646      Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The)      160,797  
  826      IA Financial Corp., Inc.      45,378  
  17,468      Insurance Australia Group, Ltd.      94,087  
  1,062      Intact Financial Corp.      114,854  
  11,800      Japan Post Holdings Co., Ltd.      110,840  
  1,700      Japan Post Insurance Co., Ltd.      29,103  
  44,020      Legal & General Group plc      177,319  
  1,508      Lincoln National Corp.      88,987  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

12


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Insurance, continued       
  2,069      Loews Corp.    $ 108,602  
  14,363      Manulife Financial Corp.      291,595  
  9,659      Mapfre SA      25,692  
  104      Markel Corp.*      118,890  
  3,731      Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc.      415,671  
  21,022      Medibank Private, Ltd.      46,636  
  5,853      MetLife, Inc.      298,327  
  3,600      MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, Inc.      118,551  
  1,063      Muenchener Rueckversicherungs-Gesellschaft AG      313,574  
  2,381      NN Group NV      90,530  
  4,357      Poste Italiane SpA      49,446  
  2,174      Power Corp. of Canada      56,008  
  1,950      Power Financial Corp.      52,475  
  2,068      Principal Financial Group, Inc.      113,740  
  4,328      Progressive Corp. (The)      313,304  
  2,980      Prudential Financial, Inc.      279,345  
  19,243      Prudential plc      370,207  
  10,015      QBE Insurance Group, Ltd.      90,749  
  473      Reinsurance Group of America, Inc.      77,127  
  329      RenaissanceRe Holdings, Ltd.      64,491  
  7,571      RSA Insurance Group plc      57,141  
  3,307      Sampo Oyj, Class A      144,274  
  1,146      SCOR SA      48,142  
  2,500      Sompo Holdings, Inc.      97,974  
  1,200      Sony Financial Holdings, Inc.      28,728  
  4,445      Sun Life Financial, Inc.      202,702  
  9,576      Suncorp Group, Ltd.      87,231  
  254      Swiss Life Holding AG, Registered Shares      127,458  
  2,179      Swiss Re AG      244,957  
  4,200      T&D Holdings, Inc.      53,018  
  4,800      Tokio Marine Holdings, Inc.      268,049  
  1,926      Travelers Cos., Inc. (The)      263,766  
  983      Tryg A/S      29,144  
  1,543      Unum Group      44,994  
  954      Willis Towers Watson plc      192,651  
  1,116      WR Berkley Corp.      77,116  
  1,100      Zurich Insurance Group AG      451,247  
     

 

 

 
        12,439,311  
     

 

 

 
Interactive Media & Services (3.2%):       
  2,221      Alphabet, Inc., Class A*      2,974,785  
  2,304      Alphabet, Inc., Class C*      3,080,494  
  6,934      Auto Trader Group plc      54,791  
  17,786      Facebook, Inc., Class A*      3,650,576  
  587      IAC/InterActiveCorp.*      146,228  
  1,100      Kakaku.com, Inc.      28,282  
  500      Line Corp.*      24,596  
  411      REA Group, Ltd.      29,958  
  5,334      Snap, Inc., Class A*      87,104  
  892      TripAdvisor, Inc.      27,099  
  5,443      Twitter, Inc.*      174,448  
  19,900      Z Holdings Corp.      83,386  
  950      Zillow Group, Inc., Class C*^      43,643  
     

 

 

 
        10,405,390  
     

 

 

 
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail (2.3%):  
  3,109      Amazon.com, Inc.*      5,744,935  
  315      Booking Holdings, Inc.*      646,925  
  857      Delivery Hero AG*      67,824  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail, continued  
  5,906      eBay, Inc.    $ 213,266  
  1,044      Expedia Group, Inc.      112,898  
  721      Grubhub, Inc.*^      35,069  
  331      MercadoLibre, Inc.*      189,312  
  3,446      Ocado Group plc*      58,501  
  3,641      Prosus NV*      272,423  
  6,500      Rakuten, Inc.      55,758  
  465      Wayfair, Inc., Class A*^      42,022  
  1,045      Zalando SE*      52,946  
  400      ZOZO, Inc.      7,654  
     

 

 

 
        7,499,533  
     

 

 

 
IT Services (4.0%):       
  4,705      Accenture plc, Class C      990,731  
  78      Adyen NV*      64,177  
  1,247      Akamai Technologies, Inc.*      107,716  
  338      Alliance Data Systems Corp.      37,924  
  3,235      Amadeus IT Group SA      265,043  
  735      Atos SE      61,449  
  3,222      Automatic Data Processing, Inc.      549,351  
  1,131      Black Knight, Inc.*      72,927  
  1,083      Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp.      77,034  
  854      Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.      105,503  
  1,180      Capgemini SA      144,535  
  1,910      CGI, Inc.*      159,858  
  4,105      Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Class A      254,592  
  3,761      Computershare, Ltd.      44,323  
  1,950      DXC Technology Co.      73,301  
  412      Epam Systems, Inc.*      87,410  
  4,540      Fidelity National Information Services, Inc.      631,469  
  4,269      Fiserv, Inc.*      493,624  
  645      FleetCor Technologies, Inc.*      185,579  
  1,500      Fujitsu, Ltd.      141,563  
  676      Gartner, Inc.*      104,172  
  2,231      Global Payments, Inc.      407,291  
  300      GMO Payment Gateway, Inc.      20,642  
  1,342      GoDaddy, Inc., Class A*      91,149  
  6,556      International Business Machines Corp.      878,766  
  582      Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.      84,780  
  1,034      Leidos Holdings, Inc.      101,218  
  6,661      MasterCard, Inc., Class A      1,988,907  
  317      MongoDB, Inc.*^      41,720  
  2,620      Nomura Research Institute, Ltd.      56,379  
  4,700      NTT Data Corp.      62,839  
  500      OBIC Co., Ltd.      67,551  
  800      Okta, Inc.*      92,296  
  800      Otsuka Corp.      31,956  
  2,419      Paychex, Inc.      205,760  
  8,275      PayPal Holdings, Inc.*      895,107  
  2,054      Sabre Corp.      46,092  
  748      Shopify, Inc., Class A*      297,437  
  2,552      Square, Inc., Class A*      159,653  
  869      Twilio, Inc., Series A*      85,405  
  819      VeriSign, Inc.*      157,805  
  12,732      Visa, Inc., Class A      2,392,342  
  3,142      Western Union Co.      84,143  
  874      Wirecard AG^      105,591  
  365      Wix.com, Ltd.*      44,669  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

13


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
IT Services, continued       
  800      Worldline SA*    $ 56,773  
     

 

 

 
        13,108,552  
     

 

 

 
Leisure Products (0.1%):  
  1,500      Bandai Namco Holdings, Inc.      91,033  
  962      Hasbro, Inc.      101,597  
  453      Polaris, Inc.      46,070  
  200      Sankyo Co., Ltd.      6,630  
  800      Sega Sammy Holdings, Inc.      11,654  
  600      Shimano, Inc.      97,429  
  1,100      Yamaha Corp.      60,645  
     

 

 

 
        415,058  
     

 

 

 
Life Sciences Tools & Services (0.7%):       
  2,286      Agilent Technologies, Inc.      195,019  
  170      Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Class A*      62,905  
  89      Eurofins Scientific SE^      49,421  
  1,088      Illumina, Inc.*      360,933  
  1,240      IQVIA Holdings, Inc.*      191,592  
  553      Lonza Group AG, Registered Shares      201,729  
  183      Mettler-Toledo International, Inc.*      145,170  
  829      PerkinElmer, Inc.      80,496  
  1,680      Qiagen NV*      57,427  
  198      Sartorius Stedim Biotech      32,827  
  2,954      Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.      959,667  
  496      Waters Corp.*      115,890  
     

 

 

 
        2,453,076  
     

 

 

 
Machinery (1.9%):       
  2,355      Alfa Laval AB      59,348  
  1,388      Alstom SA      65,748  
  2,700      Amada Holdings Co., Ltd.      30,668  
  291      Andritz AG      12,527  
  2,661      Atlas Copco AB      92,353  
  5,162      Atlas Copco AB, Class A      205,836  
  4,164      Caterpillar, Inc.      614,940  
  7,639      CNH Industrial NV      83,849  
  1,116      Cummins, Inc.      199,719  
  800      Daifuku Co., Ltd.      48,383  
  2,212      Deere & Co.      383,251  
  1,082      Dover Corp.      124,711  
  2,845      Epiroc AB      33,778  
  4,832      Epiroc AB, Class A      59,071  
  1,400      FANUC Corp.      258,600  
  991      Flowserve Corp.      49,322  
  2,242      Fortive Corp.      171,266  
  1,149      GEA Group AG      37,987  
  1,200      Hino Motors, Ltd.      12,681  
  800      Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.      23,805  
  400      Hoshizaki Corp.      35,621  
  567      IDEX Corp.      97,524  
  1,300      IHI Corp.      30,472  
  2,389      Illinois Tool Works, Inc.      429,136  
  1,787      Ingersoll-Rand plc      237,528  
  800      JTEKT Corp.      9,437  
  1,200      Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.      26,239  
  523      Kion Group AG      36,109  
  373      Knorr-Bremse AG      37,963  
  6,900      Komatsu, Ltd.      165,453  
  2,507      Kone OYJ, Class B      163,884  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Machinery, continued       
  7,800      Kubota Corp.    $ 122,210  
  800      Kurita Water Industries, Ltd.      23,705  
  1,700      Makita Corp.      58,861  
  811      Metso Oyj      32,015  
  424      Middleby Corp. (The)*      46,436  
  2,700      MINEBEA MITSUMI, Inc.      55,726  
  2,100      Misumi Group, Inc.      51,937  
  2,400      Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.      92,833  
  900      Nabtesco Corp.      26,561  
  2,000      NGK Insulators, Ltd.      34,699  
  2,800      NSK, Ltd.      26,411  
  2,556      PACCAR, Inc.      202,180  
  955      Parker Hannifin Corp.      196,558  
  1,179      Pentair plc      54,081  
  8,359      Sandvik AB      163,425  
  309      Schindler Holding AG      78,636  
  153      Schindler Holding AG, Registered Shares      37,493  
  2,827      SKF AB, Class B      57,293  
  400      SMC Corp.      182,869  
  417      Snap-On, Inc.      70,640  
  541      Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc      64,053  
  1,132      Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.      187,618  
  1,000      Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd.      28,351  
  1,000      THK Co., Ltd.      26,844  
  11,075      Volvo AB, Class B      185,915  
  383      WABCO Holdings, Inc.*      51,897  
  1,362      Wabtec Corp.      105,964  
  3,440      Wartsila OYJ Abp, Class B      37,983  
  2,017      Weir Group plc (The)      40,354  
  1,346      Xylem, Inc.      106,051  
  8,500      Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings, Ltd.      7,104  
     

 

 

 
        6,293,912  
     

 

 

 
Marine (0.1%):       
  23      A.P. Moeller — Maersk A/S, Class A      31,189  
  54      A.P. Moeller — Maersk A/S, Class B      77,930  
  412      Kuehne & Nagel International AG, Registered Shares      69,464  
  500      Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd.      13,732  
  600      Nippon Yusen KK      10,812  
     

 

 

 
        203,127  
     

 

 

 
Media (1.2%):       
  1,140      Altice USA, Inc., Class A*      31,168  
  1,148      Charter Communications, Inc., Class A*      556,871  
  33,481      Comcast Corp., Class A      1,505,640  
  800      Cyberagent, Inc.      27,856  
  1,600      Dentsu Group, Inc.      55,101  
  2,675      Discovery Communications, Inc., Class C*      81,561  
  1,273      Discovery, Inc., Class A*^      41,678  
  1,860      DISH Network Corp., Class A*      65,974  
  678      Eutelsat Communications SA      11,027  
  2,737      Fox Corp., Class A      101,461  
  1,218      Fox Corp., Class B      44,335  
  1,700      Hakuhodo DY Holdings, Inc.      27,346  
  9,592      Informa plc      109,019  
  2,836      Interpublic Group of Cos., Inc. (The)      65,512  
  27,380      ITV plc      54,948  
  729      JCDecaux SA      22,496  
  825      Liberty Broadband Corp., Class C*      103,744  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

14


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Media, continued       
  2,949      Liberty Global plc, Series C*    $ 64,273  
  1,690      Liberty Global plc, Class A*      38,431  
  654      Liberty SiriusXM Group, Class A*      31,614  
  1,220      Liberty SiriusXM Group, Class C*      58,731  
  2,841      News Corp., Class A      40,172  
  1,621      Omnicom Group, Inc.      131,333  
  5,988      Pearson plc      50,645  
  1,618      Publicis Groupe SA      73,255  
  1,296      Quebecor, Inc., Class B      33,079  
  351      Schibsted ASA, Class B      10,075  
  2,741      SES Global, Class A      38,536  
  3,498      Shaw Communications, Inc., Class B      70,989  
  1,500      Singapore Press Holdings, Ltd.      2,433  
  10,938      Sirius XM Holdings, Inc.^      78,207  
  452      Telenet Group Holding NV      20,358  
  4,209      ViacomCBS, Inc., B      176,652  
  9,366      WPP plc      131,792  
     

 

 

 
        3,956,312  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (1.4%):       
  1,784      Agnico Eagle Mines, Ltd.      109,892  
  20,581      Alumina, Ltd.      33,233  
  7,663      Anglo American plc      221,135  
  2,725      Antofagasta plc      33,197  
  5,066      ArcelorMittal      89,480  
  13,114      Barrick Gold Corp.      243,614  
  15,459      BHP Group plc      365,084  
  21,914      BHP Group, Ltd.      600,106  
  3,893      BlueScope Steel, Ltd.      41,241  
  2,044      Boliden AB      54,385  
  5,056      First Quantum Minerals, Ltd.      51,284  
  10,418      Fortescue Metals Group, Ltd.      78,505  
  1,409      Franco-Nevada Corp.      145,512  
  10,638      Freeport-McMoRan, Inc.      139,571  
  80,599      Glencore plc      251,989  
  1,100      Hitachi Metals, Ltd.      16,163  
  3,900      JFE Holdings, Inc.      49,968  
  8,402      Kinross Gold Corp.*      39,862  
  1,502      Kirkland Lake Gold, Ltd.      66,216  
  4,863      Lundin Mining Corp.      29,064  
  100      Maruichi Steel Tube, Ltd.      2,805  
  400      Mitsubishi Materials Corp.      10,847  
  5,747      Newcrest Mining, Ltd.      121,630  
  6,048      Newmont Goldcorp Corp.      262,786  
  6,400      Nippon Steel Corp.      96,302  
  10,475      Norsk Hydro ASA      39,119  
  2,287      Nucor Corp.      128,712  
  7,842      Rio Tinto plc      465,877  
  3,100      Rio Tinto, Ltd.      219,192  
  37,662      South32, Ltd.      71,687  
  1,636      Steel Dynamics, Inc.      55,689  
  1,800      Sumitomo Metal & Mining Co., Ltd.      58,064  
  3,681      Teck Cominco, Ltd., Class B      63,845  
  3,097      ThyssenKrupp AG      41,815  
  1,012      Voestalpine AG      28,197  
  3,312      Wheaton Precious Metals Corp.      98,564  
     

 

 

 
        4,424,632  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Mortgage Real Estate Investment Trusts (0.1%):       
  3,904      AGNC Investment Corp.    $ 69,023  
  10,341      Annaly Capital Management, Inc.      97,412  
     

 

 

 
        166,435  
     

 

 

 
Multiline Retail (0.5%):       
  466      Canadian Tire Corp., Class A      50,157  
  1,907      Dollar General Corp.      297,454  
  1,756      Dollar Tree, Inc.*      165,152  
  2,254      Dollarama, Inc.      77,477  
  2,114      Harvey Norman Holdings, Ltd.      6,048  
  1,300      Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, Ltd.^      11,691  
  900      J. Front Retailing Co., Ltd.      12,555  
  1,220      Kohl’s Corp.      62,159  
  15,026      Marks & Spencer Group plc      42,606  
  1,500      Marui Group Co., Ltd.      36,518  
  996      Next plc      92,724  
  828      Nordstrom, Inc.^      33,890  
  3,400      Pan Pacific International Holdings Corp.      56,441  
  1,800      Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd.      41,989  
  3,779      Target Corp.      484,505  
     

 

 

 
        1,471,366  
     

 

 

 
Multi-Utilities (1.0%):       
  4,906      AGL Energy, Ltd.      70,801  
  3,383      Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.^      47,863  
  1,844      Ameren Corp.      141,619  
  348      Atco, Ltd.      13,339  
  993      Canadian Utilities, Ltd., Class A      29,957  
  3,724      CenterPoint Energy, Inc.      101,553  
  43,930      Centrica plc      52,349  
  2,091      CMS Energy Corp.      131,398  
  2,457      Consolidated Edison, Inc.      222,285  
  6,070      Dominion Energy, Inc.      502,718  
  1,360      DTE Energy Co.      176,623  
  16,783      E.ON SE      179,477  
  13,429      Engie Group      216,993  
  25,641      National Grid plc      322,179  
  2,700      NiSource, Inc.      75,168  
  3,729      Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc.      220,197  
  4,385      RWE AG      134,714  
  2,029      Sempra Energy      307,354  
  2,567      Suez      38,847  
  3,963      Veolia Environnement SA      105,554  
  2,330      WEC Energy Group, Inc.      214,896  
     

 

 

 
        3,305,884  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (4.5%):       
  972      Aker BP ASA      31,900  
  2,820      Apache Corp.      72,164  
  150,184      BP plc      942,614  
  3,109      Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.      54,128  
  1,849      Caltex Australia, Ltd.      44,158  
  3,160      Cameco Corp.      28,086  
  8,787      Canadian Natural Resources, Ltd.      284,238  
  7,554      Cenovus Energy, Inc.      76,797  
  1,732      Cheniere Energy, Inc.*      105,773  
  14,010      Chevron Corp.      1,688,345  
  1,504      Concho Resources, Inc.      131,705  
  8,189      ConocoPhillips Co.      532,531  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

15


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
  370      Continental Resources, Inc.    $ 12,691  
  3,010      Devon Energy Corp.      78,170  
  1,162      Diamondback Energy, Inc.      107,903  
  595      Enagas SA      15,199  
  14,989      Enbridge, Inc.      596,026  
  8,986      EnCana Corp.      42,079  
  18,797      ENI SpA      292,059  
  4,311      EOG Resources, Inc.      361,089  
  7,537      Equinor ASA      150,781  
  31,230      Exxon Mobil Corp.      2,179,228  
  3,919      Galp Energia SGPS SA      65,541  
  2,044      Hess Corp.      136,560  
  1,179      HollyFrontier Corp.      59,787  
  1,272      Husky Energy, Inc.      10,208  
  1,482      Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.      41,236  
  2,002      Imperial Oil, Ltd.      52,964  
  7,700      INPEX Corp.      80,333  
  3,047      Inter Pipeline, Ltd.^      52,895  
  23,950      JXTG Holdings, Inc.      109,529  
  1,625      Keyera Corp.^      42,577  
  14,919      Kinder Morgan, Inc.      315,835  
  589      Koninklijke Vopak NV      31,974  
  1,394      Lundin Petroleum AB      47,390  
  5,873      Marathon Oil Corp.      79,755  
  4,878      Marathon Petroleum Corp.      293,900  
  3,141      Neste Oyj      109,285  
  3,559      Noble Energy, Inc.      88,406  
  6,660      Occidental Petroleum Corp.      274,459  
  10,558      Oil Search, Ltd.      53,849  
  1,126      OMV AG      63,250  
  3,059      ONEOK, Inc.      231,475  
  13,304      Origin Energy, Ltd.      79,065  
  1,132      Parkland Fuel Corp.      41,596  
  4,009      Pembina Pipeline Corp.      148,608  
  3,317      Phillips 66      369,547  
  1,244      Pioneer Natural Resources Co.      188,304  
  775      Prairiesky Royalty, Ltd.      9,091  
  11,057      Repsol SA      173,440  
  32,063      Royal Dutch Shell plc, Class A      952,910  
  27,131      Royal Dutch Shell plc, Class B      808,315  
  13,592      Santos, Ltd.      78,212  
  15,864      Snam SpA      83,581  
  11,551      Suncor Energy, Inc.      378,628  
  1,783      Targa Resources Corp.      72,800  
  6,941      TC Energy Corp.      369,716  
  17,495      Total SA      966,731  
  3,069      Valero Energy Corp.      287,412  
  386      Washington H. Soul Pattinson & Co., Ltd.      5,839  
  9,014      Williams Cos., Inc.      213,812  
  6,998      Woodside Petroleum, Ltd.      169,199  
     

 

 

 
        15,465,678  
     

 

 

 
Paper & Forest Products (0.1%):       
  3,676      Mondi plc      86,765  
  6,500      Oji Holdings Corp.      35,086  
  4,496      Stora Enso OYJ, Registered Shares, Class R      65,330  
  4,009      UPM-Kymmene OYJ      138,930  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Paper & Forest Products, continued       
  230      West Fraser Timber Co., Ltd.^    $ 10,147  
     

 

 

 
        336,258  
     

 

 

 
Personal Products (0.8%):       
  766      Beiersdorf AG      91,650  
  2,226      Coty, Inc., Class A      25,043  
  1,639      Estee Lauder Co., Inc. (The), Class A      338,519  
  3,600      Kao Corp.      296,961  
  400      Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      33,877  
  300      Kose Corp.      43,853  
  1,861      L’Oreal SA      552,621  
  400      Pola Orbis Holdings, Inc.      9,557  
  3,000      Shiseido Co., Ltd.      214,543  
  11,091      Unilever NV      638,078  
  7,993      Unilever plc      457,524  
     

 

 

 
        2,702,226  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (5.5%):       
  2,427      Allergan plc      463,970  
  14,000      Astellas Pharma, Inc.      239,180  
  9,694      AstraZeneca plc      969,724  
  2,375      Aurora Cannabis, Inc.*^      5,103  
  2,374      Bausch Health Cos., Inc.*      71,070  
  6,907      Bayer AG, Registered Shares      564,530  
  17,346      Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.      1,113,440  
  1,580      Canopy Growth Corp.*^      33,234  
  1,700      Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      156,599  
  647      Cronos Group, Inc.*      4,968  
  4,200      Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd.      277,375  
  1,900      Eisai Co., Ltd.      141,535  
  2,648      Elanco Animal Health, Inc.*      77,984  
  6,417      Eli Lilly & Co.      843,386  
  36,786      GlaxoSmithKline plc      865,288  
  268      H. Lundbeck A/S      10,275  
  200      Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Co., Inc.      9,731  
  283      Ipsen SA      25,073  
  421      Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc*      62,847  
  19,494      Johnson & Johnson Co.      2,843,589  
  1,800      Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd.      42,299  
  18,911      Merck & Co., Inc.      1,719,954  
  969      Merck KGaA      114,658  
  1,800      Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp.      33,201  
  3,851      Mylan NV*      77,405  
  400      Nippon Shinyaku Co., Ltd.      34,789  
  15,866      Novartis AG, Registered Shares      1,503,493  
  13,108      Novo Nordisk A/S, Class B      760,368  
  2,900      Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      66,234  
  791      Orion OYJ, Class B      36,607  
  2,900      Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd.      128,987  
  974      Perrigo Co. plc      50,317  
  40,881      Pfizer, Inc.      1,601,718  
  820      Recordati SpA      34,571  
  5,185      Roche Holding AG      1,681,626  
  8,294      Sanofi      832,955  
  2,700      Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.      51,488  
  2,100      Shionogi & Co., Ltd.      129,763  
  1,300      Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd.      25,366  
  300      Taisho Pharmaceutical Holdings Co., Ltd.      22,170  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

16


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Pharmaceuticals, continued       
  11,050      Takeda Pharmacuetical Co., Ltd.    $ 437,837  
  8,108      Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd., ADR*      79,458  
  960      UCB SA      76,382  
  343      Vifor Pharma AG      62,669  
  3,540      Zoetis, Inc.      468,519  
     

 

 

 
        18,851,735  
     

 

 

 
Professional Services (0.8%):       
  1,182      Adecco SA, Registered Shares      74,742  
  2,096      Bureau Veritas SA      54,766  
  274      CoStar Group, Inc.*      163,934  
  901      Equifax, Inc.      126,248  
  6,680      Experian plc      225,901  
  2,780      IHS Markit, Ltd.*      209,473  
  1,187      Intertek Group plc      92,112  
  453      ManpowerGroup, Inc.      43,986  
  2,656      Nielsen Holdings plc      53,917  
  1,300      Persol Holdings Co., Ltd.      24,438  
  912      Randstad NV      55,844  
  10,000      Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd.      376,356  
  14,283      RELX plc      360,265  
  889      Robert Half International, Inc.      56,140  
  2,550      Seek, Ltd.      40,454  
  39      SGS SA, Registered Shares      106,782  
  423      Teleperformance      103,344  
  1,476      Thomson Reuters Corp.      105,596  
  1,393      TransUnion      119,255  
  1,149      Verisk Analytics, Inc.      171,592  
  2,100      Wolters Kluwer NV      153,483  
     

 

 

 
        2,718,628  
     

 

 

 
Real Estate Management & Development (0.7%):       
  400      AEON Mall Co., Ltd.      7,092  
  7,695      Aroundtown SA      68,904  
  372      Azrieli Group      27,223  
  21,800      CapitaLand, Ltd.      60,819  
  2,368      CBRE Group, Inc., Class A*      145,134  
  3,700      City Developments, Ltd.      30,181  
  19,500      CK Asset Holdings, Ltd.      141,332  
  500      Daito Trust Construction Co., Ltd.      61,934  
  4,200      Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd.      130,140  
  2,681      Deutsche Wohnen SE      109,554  
  338      First Capital Real Estate Investment Trust      5,381  
  16,000      Hang Lung Properties, Ltd.      34,981  
  11,324      Henderson Land Development Co., Ltd.      55,613  
  10,400      Hongkong Land Holdings, Ltd.      59,850  
  2,400      Hulic Co., Ltd.      28,893  
  384      Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.      66,851  
  2,500      Kerry Properties, Ltd.      7,967  
  4,194      Lend Lease Group      51,895  
  8,800      Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd.      168,255  
  6,600      Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd.      161,220  
  47,308      New World Development Co., Ltd.      64,886  
  1,000      Nomura Real Estate Holdings, Inc.      24,068  
  24,117      Sino Land Co., Ltd.      35,141  
  2,500      Sumitomo Realty & Development Co., Ltd.      87,210  
  12,000      Sun Hung Kai Properties, Ltd.      184,082  
  4,000      Swire Pacific, Ltd., Class A      37,282  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Real Estate Management & Development, continued       
  9,800      Swire Properties, Ltd.    $ 32,567  
  556      Swiss Prime Site AG      64,467  
  4,600      Tokyu Fudosan Holdings Corp.      31,766  
  4,569      UOL Group, Ltd.      28,305  
  3,833      Vonovia SE      206,336  
  10,000      Wharf Real Estate Investment Co., Ltd.      61,323  
  6,000      Wheelock & Co., Ltd.      40,014  
     

 

 

 
        2,320,666  
     

 

 

 
Road & Rail (1.3%):       
  68      AMERCO, Inc.      25,556  
  15,355      Aurizon Holdings, Ltd.      56,476  
  5,350      Canadian National Railway Co.      484,030  
  1,037      Canadian Pacific Railway, Ltd., Class 1      264,385  
  1,100      Central Japan Railway Co.      221,079  
  17,900      ComfortDelGro Corp., Ltd.      31,713  
  5,611      CSX Corp.      406,012  
  1,625      DSV PANALPINA A/S      188,134  
  2,200      East Japan Railway Co.      198,608  
  1,700      Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, Inc.      72,707  
  643      J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc.      75,090  
  746      Kansas City Southern      114,257  
  1,700      Keikyu Corp.      32,770  
  800      Keio Corp.      48,341  
  1,000      Keisei Electric Railway Co., Ltd.      38,786  
  1,300      Kintetsu Group Holdings Co., Ltd.      70,460  
  980      Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, Inc.      35,123  
  1,200      Kyushu Railway Co.      40,237  
  11,500      MTR Corp., Ltd.      68,173  
  1,400      Nagoya Railroad Co., Ltd.      43,456  
  600      Nippon Express Co., Ltd.      35,111  
  1,952      Norfolk Southern Corp.      378,942  
  2,200      Odakyu Electric Railway Co., Ltd.      51,318  
  482      Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.      91,474  
  1,500      Tobu Railway Co., Ltd.      54,520  
  3,800      Tokyu Corp.      70,222  
  1,409      Uber Technologies, Inc.*      41,904  
  5,205      Union Pacific Corp.      941,011  
  1,200      West Japan Railway Co.      103,635  
     

 

 

 
        4,283,530  
     

 

 

 
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (3.1%):       
  7,626      Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.*      349,728  
  1,500      Advantest Corp.      84,879  
  2,711      Analog Devices, Inc.      322,175  
  6,811      Applied Materials, Inc.      415,743  
  2,200      ASM Pacific Technology, Ltd.      30,587  
  3,140      ASML Holding NV      935,044  
  2,937      Broadcom, Inc.      928,151  
  200      Disco Corp.      47,613  
  9,247      Infineon Technologies AG      212,033  
  32,699      Intel Corp.      1,957,036  
  1,180      KLA Corp.      210,241  
  1,069      Lam Research Corp.      312,576  
  4,625      Marvell Technology Group, Ltd.      122,840  
  1,997      Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.      122,835  
  1,758      Microchip Technology, Inc.^      184,098  
  8,158      Micron Technology, Inc.*      438,737  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

17


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment, continued       
  4,277      NVIDIA Corp.    $ 1,006,378  
  2,071      NXP Semiconductors NV      263,555  
  2,979      ON Semiconductor Corp.*      72,628  
  871      Qorvo, Inc.*      101,236  
  8,985      Qualcomm, Inc.      792,747  
  5,800      Renesas Electronics Corp.*      39,944  
  700      ROHM Co., Ltd.      56,429  
  1,267      Skyworks Solutions, Inc.      153,155  
  5,222      STMicroelectronics NV      140,926  
  1,900      SUMCO Corp.      31,828  
  1,262      Teradyne, Inc.      86,056  
  6,884      Texas Instruments, Inc.      883,148  
  1,200      Tokyo Electron, Ltd.      263,740  
  1,869      Xilinx, Inc.      182,732  
     

 

 

 
        10,748,818  
     

 

 

 
Software (4.9%):       
  3,595      Adobe, Inc.*      1,185,666  
  633      ANSYS, Inc.*      162,941  
  1,630      Autodesk, Inc.*      299,040  
  1,801      BlackBerry, Ltd.*      11,582  
  2,101      Cadence Design Systems, Inc.*      145,725  
  922      CDK Global, Inc.      50,415  
  920      Check Point Software Technologies, Ltd.*      102,082  
  988      Citrix Systems, Inc.      109,569  
  154      Constellation Software, Inc.      149,584  
  289      CyberArk Software, Ltd.*      33,692  
  975      Dassault Systemes SA      160,808  
  782      DocuSign, Inc.*      57,954  
  1,830      Dropbox, Inc., Class A*      32,775  
  1,081      Fortinet, Inc.*      115,408  
  626      Guidewire Software, Inc.*      68,716  
  1,931      Intuit, Inc.      505,787  
  2,560      Micro Focus International plc      36,140  
  53,589      Microsoft Corp.      8,450,984  
  456      NICE Systems, Ltd.*      70,717  
  4,582      NortonLifeLock, Inc.      116,933  
  2,075      Open Text Corp.      91,444  
  17,251      Oracle Corp.      913,958  
  300      Oracle Corp.      27,278  
  371      Paycom Software, Inc.*      98,226  
  824      PTC, Inc.*      61,709  
  536      RingCentral, Inc., Class A*      90,407  
  8,232      Sage Group plc      81,784  
  6,169      Salesforce.com, Inc.*      1,003,326  
  7,274      SAP SE      980,233  
  1,393      ServiceNow, Inc.*      393,272  
  1,115      Splunk, Inc.*      166,994  
  1,704      SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc.      104,626  
  1,137      Synopsys, Inc.*      158,270  
  496      Temenos AG      78,435  
  1,000      Trend Micro, Inc.      51,180  
  292      Tyler Technologies, Inc.*      87,606  
  611      VMware, Inc., Class A*      92,744  
  1,224      Workday, Inc., Class A*      201,287  
     

 

 

 
        16,549,297  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Specialty Retail (1.7%):       
  100      ABC-Mart, Inc.    $ 6,818  
  538      Advance Auto Parts, Inc.      86,166  
  182      AutoZone, Inc.*      216,818  
  1,789      Best Buy Co, Inc.      157,074  
  494      Burlington Stores, Inc.*      112,647  
  1,237      CarMax, Inc.*      108,448  
  322      Dufry AG, Registered Shares      31,927  
  400      Fast Retailing Co., Ltd.^      237,128  
  1,914      Gap, Inc. (The)      33,840  
  5,968      Hennes & Mauritz AB, Class B      121,354  
  200      Hikari Tsushin, Inc.      50,213  
  8,098      Home Depot, Inc. (The)      1,768,441  
  8,211      Industria de Diseno Textil SA      290,833  
  3,319      JD Sports Fashion plc      37,065  
  16,302      Kingfisher plc      47,270  
  5,738      Lowe’s Cos., Inc.      687,183  
  600      Nitori Co., Ltd.      94,820  
  568      O’Reilly Automotive, Inc.*      248,932  
  2,701      Ross Stores, Inc.      314,450  
  100      Shimamura Co., Ltd.      7,632  
  809      Tiffany & Co.      108,123  
  8,929      TJX Cos., Inc. (The)      545,205  
  902      Tractor Supply Co.      84,283  
  416      Ulta Beauty, Inc.*      105,306  
  1,700      USS Co., Ltd.      32,107  
  5,400      Yamada Denki Co., Ltd.      28,586  
     

 

 

 
        5,562,669  
     

 

 

 
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals (3.2%):       
  33,402      Apple, Inc.      9,808,496  
  1,800      Brother Industries, Ltd.      37,068  
  7,500      Canon, Inc.      204,560  
  1,173      Dell Technologies, Inc., Class C*      60,280  
  2,700      FUJIFILM Holdings Corp.      128,759  
  9,550      Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.      151,463  
  10,922      HP, Inc.      224,447  
  1,800      Konica Minolta, Inc.      11,783  
  1,900      NEC Corp.      78,959  
  1,782      NetApp, Inc.      110,930  
  5,000      Ricoh Co., Ltd.      54,188  
  1,811      Seagate Technology plc      107,755  
  2,200      Seiko Epson Corp.      33,220  
  2,200      Western Digital Corp.      139,634  
  1,488      Xerox Holdings Corp.      54,863  
     

 

 

 
        11,206,405  
     

 

 

 
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods (1.3%):       
  1,338      Adidas AG      434,822  
  3,081      Burberry Group plc      90,153  
  1,144      Capri Holdings, Ltd.*      43,644  
  3,899      Cie Financiere Richemont SA      306,124  
  1,539      Gildan Activewear, Inc.      45,504  
  2,704      Hanesbrands, Inc.      40,154  
  231      Hermes International SA      172,853  
  560      Kering      368,881  
  825      Lululemon Athletica, Inc.*      191,128  
  2,053      LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA      956,064  
  1,454      Moncler SpA      65,393  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

18


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods, continued       
  9,253      Nike, Inc., Class B    $ 937,422  
  779      Pandora A/S      33,891  
  629      Puma SE      48,224  
  567      PVH Corp.      59,620  
  400      Ralph Lauren Corp.      46,888  
  256      Swatch Group AG (The), Class B      71,374  
  210      Swatch Group AG (The), Registered Shares      11,091  
  2,162      Tapestry, Inc.      58,309  
  2,068      Under Armour, Inc., Class A*^      44,669  
  702      Under Armour, Inc., Class C*      13,464  
  2,516      VF Corp.      250,745  
  3,000      Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings, Ltd.      8,869  
     

 

 

 
        4,299,286  
     

 

 

 
Tobacco (0.9%):       
  13,801      Altria Group, Inc.      688,808  
  16,940      British American Tobacco plc      721,623  
  7,073      Imperial Brands plc, Class A      175,231  
  8,900      Japan Tobacco, Inc.      198,436  
  11,499      Philip Morris International, Inc.      978,450  
  1,251      Swedish Match AB, Class B      64,514  
     

 

 

 
        2,827,062  
     

 

 

 
Trading Companies & Distributors (0.6%):       
  941      AerCap Holdings NV*      57,843  
  3,435      Ashtead Group plc      109,905  
  1,146      Brenntag AG      62,307  
  2,478      Bunzl plc      67,789  
  4,254      Fastenal Co.      157,186  
  1,687      Ferguson plc      153,252  
  1,243      HD Supply Holdings, Inc.*      49,993  
  9,900      Itochu Corp.      229,300  
  11,800      Marubeni Corp.      87,207  
  10,000      Mitsubishi Corp.      265,335  
  12,200      Mitsui & Co., Ltd.      216,970  
  1,000      MonotaRo Co., Ltd.      26,809  
  8,900      Sumitomo Corp.      132,708  
  1,600      Toyota Tsushu Corp.      56,089  
  576      United Rentals, Inc.*      96,060  
  345      W.W. Grainger, Inc.      116,789  
     

 

 

 
        1,885,542  
     

 

 

 
Transportation Infrastructure (0.2%):       
  534      Aena SME SA      102,455  
  215      Aeroports de Paris      42,552  
  3,733      Atlantia SpA      87,073  
  7,444      Auckland International Airport, Ltd.      43,844  
  182      Fraport AG      15,468  
  3,224      Getlink SE      56,102  
  400      Japan Airport Terminal Co., Ltd.      22,140  
  500      Kamigumi Co., Ltd.      10,956  
  3,000      SATS, Ltd.      11,303  
  8,491      Sydney Airport      51,723  
  20,297      Transurban Group      212,778  
     

 

 

 
        656,394  
     

 

 

 
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Water Utilities (0.1%):       
  1,339      American Water Works Co., Inc.    $ 164,496  
  1,615      Aqua America, Inc.      75,808  
  1,771      Severn Trent plc      59,096  
  5,043      United Utilities Group plc      63,333  
     

 

 

 
        362,733  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.7%):       
  13,000      KDDI Corp.      386,801  
  769      Millicom International Cellular SA, SDR      36,869  
  9,800      NTT DoCoMo, Inc.      273,902  
  2,731      Rogers Communications, Inc.      135,625  
  12,400      Softbank Corp.      166,196  
  11,600      SoftBank Group Corp.      505,093  
  6,028      Sprint Corp.*      31,406  
  3,627      Tele2 AB      52,629  
  2,519      T-Mobile US, Inc.*      197,540  
  198,131      Vodafone Group plc      384,587  
     

 

 

 
        2,170,648  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Common Stocks (Cost $283,556,747)

     329,606,031  
  

 

 

 
Preferred Stocks (0.1%):       
Automobiles (0.1%):       
  150      Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), 6.39%, 5/15/20      9,261  
  1,199      Porsche Automobil Holding SE, 3.31%, 5/20/20      89,684  
  1,392      Volkswagen AG, 2.76%, 5/8/20      275,150  
     

 

 

 
        374,095  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (0.0%):       
  1,385      Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, 2.01%, 4/21/20      143,214  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Preferred Stocks (Cost $484,209)

     517,309  
  

 

 

 
Rights (0.0%):       
Aerospace & Defense (0.0%):       
  274,620      Rolls-Royce Holdings plc, Expires on 1/6/20*      364  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (0.0%):       
  11,057      Repsol SA, Expires on 1/8/20*      5,246  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Rights (Cost $5,581)

     5,610  
  

 

 

 
Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan (0.5%):       
  1,526,015      BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, 2.00%(a)(b)      1,526,015  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan
(Cost $1,526,015)

     1,526,015  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities (Cost $285,572,552) — 100.2%(c)

     331,654,965  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — (0.2)%

     (516,916
     

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 331,138,049  
  

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

19


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

ADR—American Depository Receipt

SDR—Swedish Depository Receipt

 

*

Non-income producing security.

 

^

This security or a partial position of this security was on loan as of December 31, 2019. The total value of securities on loan as of December 31, 2019 was $1,470,533.

 

+

Affiliated Securities

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

(a)

Purchased with cash collateral held from securities lending. The value of the collateral could include collateral held for securities that were sold on or before December 31, 2019.

 

(b)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(c)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

The following represents the concentrations by country of risk (based on the domicile of the security issuer) relative to the total fair value of investments as of December 31, 2019:

(Unaudited)

 

Country    Percentage  

Argentina

     0.1

Australia

     2.3

Austria

     0.1

Belgium

     0.3

Bermuda

     0.3

Canada

     3.4

China

      % 

Denmark

     0.6

Finland

     0.4

France

     3.5

Germany

     2.9

Hong Kong

     1.1

Ireland

     0.9

Isle of Man

      % 

Israel

     0.2

Italy

     0.7
Country    Percentage  

Japan

     8.1

Liberia

     0.1

Luxembourg

     0.1

Netherlands

     1.6

New Zealand

     0.1

Norway

     0.2

Panama

      % 

Portugal

     0.1

Singapore

     0.4

Spain

     0.9

Sweden

     0.8

Switzerland

     3.4

United Arab Emirates

      % 

United Kingdom

     5.8

United States

     61.6
  

 

 

 
     100.0
  

 

 

 
 

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

Futures Contracts

Cash of $53,846 has been segregated to cover margin requirements for the following open contracts as of December 31, 2019:

Long Futures

 

Description    Expiration
Date
   Number of
Contracts
   Notional
Amount
   Value and
Unrealized
Appreciation/
(Depreciation)

DJ EURO STOXX 50 March Futures (Euro)

       3/20/20        6      $ 250,948      $ (1,096 )

FTSE 100 Index March Futures (British Pounds)

       3/20/20        1        99,316        642

S&P 500 Index E-Mini March Futures (U.S. Dollar)

       3/20/20        4        646,220        6,559

SGX Nikkei 225 Index March Futures (Japanese Yen)

       3/12/20        1        107,580        (22 )
                   

 

 

 
                    $ 6,083
                   

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

20


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investment securities, at cost

    $ 284,579,472

Investments in affiliates, at cost

      993,080
   

 

 

 

Investment securities, at value(a)

    $ 330,456,461

Investments in affiliates, at value

      1,198,504

Segregated cash for collateral for futures contracts

      53,846

Interest and dividends receivable

      316,177

Foreign currency, at value (cost $650,987)

      661,641

Receivable for capital shares issued

      31,232

Reclaims receivable

      180,492

Prepaid expenses

      240
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      332,898,593
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Cash overdraft

      8,500

Payable for investments purchased

      286

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      19

Payable for collateral received on loaned securities

      1,526,015

Payable for variation margin on futures contracts

      1,063

Manager fees payable

      74,300

Administration fees payable

      6,797

Distribution fees payable

      59,919

Custodian fees payable

      4,102

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      1,165

Transfer agent fees payable

      892

Trustee fees payable

      286

Other accrued liabilities

      77,200
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      1,760,544
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 331,138,049
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 291,091,752

Total distributable earnings

      40,046,297
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 331,138,049
   

 

 

 

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      26,394,509

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 12.55
   

 

 

 

 

(a)

Includes securities on loan of $1,470,533.

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Dividends from non-affiliates

    $ 3,817,340

Dividends from affiliates

      20,025

Income from securities lending

      20,666

Foreign withholding tax

      (194,502 )
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      3,663,529
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      1,063,884

Administration fees

      78,504

Distribution fees

      379,958

Custodian fees

      28,145

Administrative and compliance services fees

      3,203

Transfer agent fees

      5,439

Trustee fees

      8,037

Professional fees

      13,061

Licensing fees

      100,781

Shareholder reports

      3,592

Other expenses

      24,162
   

 

 

 

Total expenses before reductions

      1,708,766

Less expenses voluntarily waived/reimbursed by the Manager

      (592,733 )
   

 

 

 

Net expenses

      1,116,033
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      2,547,496
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities and foreign currencies

      1,956,095

Net realized gains/(losses) on affiliated transactions

      7,246

Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts

      285,295

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities and foreign currencies

      33,298,476

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on affiliated transactions

      117,990

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts

      53,431
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      35,718,533
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 38,266,029
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

21


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

      For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
   For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

         

Operations:

         

Net investment income/(loss)

     $ 2,547,496      $ 2,474,901

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

       2,248,636        3,468,483

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

       33,469,897        (18,181,855 )
    

 

 

      

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

       38,266,029        (12,238,471 )
    

 

 

      

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

         

Distributions

       (2,286,543 )        (2,612,915 )
    

 

 

      

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

       (2,286,543 )        (2,612,915 )
    

 

 

      

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

         

Proceeds from shares issued

       183,461,714        4,803,640

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

       2,286,544        2,612,915

Value of shares redeemed

       (18,449,808 )        (18,562,321 )
    

 

 

      

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

       167,298,450        (11,145,766 )
    

 

 

      

 

 

 

Change in net assets

       203,277,936        (25,997,152 )

Net Assets:

         

Beginning of period

       127,860,113        153,857,265
    

 

 

      

 

 

 

End of period

     $ 331,138,049      $ 127,860,113
    

 

 

      

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

         

Shares issued

       15,006,552        427,508

Dividends reinvested

       200,048        236,677

Shares redeemed

       (1,563,140 )        (1,626,064 )
    

 

 

      

 

 

 

Change in shares

       13,643,460        (961,879 )
    

 

 

      

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

22


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

    Year Ended December 31,
     2019   2018   2017   2016   2015

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 10.03     $ 11.22     $ 9.36     $ 9.71     $ 11.51
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.19 (a)       0.21       0.20       0.20       0.23

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      2.52       (1.19 )       1.86       (0.30 )       (1.66 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      2.71       (0.98 )       2.06       (0.10 )       (1.43 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.19 )       (0.21 )       (0.20 )       (0.25 )       (0.31 )

Net Realized Gains

                              (0.06 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (0.19 )       (0.21 )       (0.20 )       (0.25 )       (0.37 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 12.55     $ 10.03     $ 11.22     $ 9.36     $ 9.71
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(b)

      27.25 %       (8.94 )%       22.18 %       (0.93 )%       (12.57 )%

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 331,138     $ 127,860     $ 153,857     $ 147,265     $ 117,211

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      1.68 %       1.67 %       1.62 %       2.75 %       1.80 %

Expenses Before Reductions(c)

      1.12 %       1.14 %       1.16 %       1.20 %       1.24 %

Expenses Net of Reductions

      0.73 %       0.75 %       0.77 %       1.10 %       1.24 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate

      9 %       4 %       4 %       135 %(d)       50 %

 

(a)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(b)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(c)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

(d)

Effective October 14, 2016, the investment strategy of the Fund changed. Costs of purchases and proceeds from sales of portfolio securities associated with the changes in investment strategy contributed to higher portfolio turnover rate for the period ended December 31, 2016 as compared to prior years.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

23


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services — Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Foreign Currency Translation and Withholding Taxes

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding and other income or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Funds accrue such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

 

24


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Securities Lending

To generate additional income, the Fund may lend up to 331/3% of its assets pursuant to agreements requiring that the loan be continuously secured by any combination of cash, U.S. government or U.S. government agency securities, equal initially to at least 102% of the fair value plus accrued interest on the securities loaned (105% for foreign securities). The borrower of securities is at all times required to post collateral to the Fund in an amount equal to 100% of the fair value of the securities loaned based on the previous day’s fair value of the securities loaned, marked-to-market daily. Any collateral shortfalls are adjusted the next business day. The Fund bears all of the gains and losses on such investments. The Fund receives payments from borrowers equivalent to the dividends and interest that would have been earned on securities lent while simultaneously seeking to earn income on the investment of cash collateral received. In extremely low interest rate environments, the broker rebate fee may exceed the interest earned or the cash collateral which would result in a loss to the Fund. The investment of cash collateral deposited by the borrower is subject to inherent market risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks that are present in the market, and as such, the value of these investments may not be sufficient, when liquidated, to repay the borrower when the loaned security is returned. There may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. However, loans will be made only to borrowers, such as broker-dealers, banks or institutional borrowers of securities, deemed by the Manager to be of good standing and credit worthy and when in its judgment, the consideration which can be earned currently from such securities loans justifies the attendant risks. Loans are subject to termination by the Trust or the borrower at any time, and are, therefore, not considered to be illiquid investments. Securities on loan at December 31, 2019 are presented on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

Cash collateral received in connection with securities lending is invested on behalf of the Fund in the BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, a money market fund which invests in short-term investments that have a remaining maturity of 397 days or less in accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. The Fund pays the Securities Lending Agent 9% of the gross revenues received from securities lending activities and keeps 91%. The Fund paid securities lending fees of $2,025 during the year ended December 31, 2019. These fees have been netted against “Income from securities lending” on the Statement of Operations. The Fund had securities lending transactions of $1,526,015 accounted for as secured borrowings with cash collateral of overnight and continuous maturities as of December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019, there were no master netting provisions in the securities lending agreement.

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not engage in any Rule 17a-7 transactions under the Rule.

Derivative Instruments

All open derivative positions at period end are reflected on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments. The following is a description of the derivative instruments utilized by the Fund, including the primary underlying risk exposures related to each instrument type.

Futures Contracts

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund invested in futures contracts to reduce volatility and limit the need to decrease or increase allocations to underlying funds. Futures contracts are valued based upon their quoted daily settlement prices. Upon entering into a futures contract, the Fund is required to segregate liquid assets in accordance with the initial margin requirements of the broker or exchange. Futures contracts are marked to market daily and a payable or receivable for the change in value (“variation margin”) is recorded by the Fund. Gains or losses are recognized but not considered realized until the contracts expire or are closed. Futures contracts involve, to varying degrees, elements of market risk (generally equity price risk related to stock futures, interest rate risk related to bond futures, and foreign currency risk related to currency futures) and exposure to loss in excess of the variation margin disclosed in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are the imperfect correlation between the change in fair value of the underlying securities and the prices of futures contracts, the possibility of an illiquid market, and the inability of the counterparty to meet the terms of the contract. The monthly average notional amount for long contracts was $1.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Realized gains and losses are reported as “Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts” on the Statement of Operations.

Summary of Derivative Instruments

The following is a summary of the fair values of derivative instruments on the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities, categorized by risk exposure, as of December 31, 2019:

 

   

Asset Derivatives

   

Liability Derivatives

 
Primary Risk Exposure   Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
    Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
 

Equity Risk

     
Equity Contracts   Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $ 7,201     Payable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $ 1,118  

 

*

For futures contracts, the amounts represent the cumulative appreciation/depreciation of these futures contracts as reported in the Schedule of Portfolio Investments. Only the current day’s variation margin is reported within the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as Variation margin on futures contracts.

 

25


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

The following is a summary of the effect of derivative instruments on the Statement of Operations, categorized by risk exposure, for the year ended December 31, 2019:

 

Primary Risk Exposure   Location of Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
   Realized Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
     Change in Net Unrealized
Appreciation/Depreciation
on Derivatives Recognized
 

Equity Risk

     
Equity Contracts   Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts/Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts    $ 285,295      $ 53,431  

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to a subadvisory agreement with BlackRock Investment Management, LLC (“BlackRock Investment”), BlackRock Investment provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate*      Annual Expense Limit

AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

         0.70 %          0.80 %

 

*

The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.31% on all assets. The manager reserves the right to increase the management fee to the amount shown in the table at any time.

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations.

At December 31, 2019, the following investments are noted as Affiliated Securities in the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

     Fair Value
12/31/2018
  Purchases
at Cost
  Proceeds
from Sales
  Net
Realized
Gains (Losses)
  Change in Net
Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation
  Fair Value
12/31/2019
  Shares as of
12/31/2019
  Dividend
Income
  Net Realized
Gains Distributions
from Affiliated
Underlying Funds

Allianz SE, Registered Shares

    $ 309,184     $ 413,549     $ (31,371 )     $ 5,779     $ 70,549     $ 767,690       3,131     $ 14,689     $

BlackRock Inc., Class A

      167,734       231,116       (16,944 )       1,467       47,441       430,814       857       5,336      
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 
    $ 476,918     $ 644,665     $ (48,315 )     $ 7,246     $ 117,990     $ 1,198,504       3,988     $ 20,025     $
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

 

26


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $1,047 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. The independent third party pricing service may also use systematic valuations models or provide evaluated bid or mean prices. These valuations are considered as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Futures contracts are valued at the last sales price as of the close of the primary exchange and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy.

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total
       

Common Stocks+

       $ 221,057,181        $ 108,548,850        $        $ 329,606,031

Preferred Stocks+

                  517,309                   517,309

Rights+

                  5,610                   5,610

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

         1,526,015                            1,526,015
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

         222,583,196          109,071,769                   331,654,965
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Other Financial Instruments:*

                           

Futures Contracts

         6,083                            6,083
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $ 222,589,279        $ 109,071,769        $        $ 331,661,048
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

*

Other Financial Instruments would include any derivative instruments, such as futures contracts. These investments are generally presented in the financial statements at variation margin.

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

       $ 182,094,370        $ 13,404,809

 

27


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

6. Investment Risks

Derivatives Risk: The Fund may invest in derivatives as a principal strategy. A derivative is a financial contract whose value depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or risk. Use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Derivatives are subject to a number of other risks, such as liquidity risk, interest rate risk, market risk, credit risk, and selection risk. Derivatives also involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate, or index. Using derivatives may result in losses, possibly in excess of the principal amount invested. Also, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances. The counterparty to a derivatives contract could default. As required by applicable law, a Fund that invests in derivatives segregates cash or liquid securities, or both, to the extent that its obligations under the instrument are not covered through ownership of the underlying security, financial instrument, or currency.

Emerging Markets Risk: Emerging markets may have less developed trading markets and exchanges which may make it more difficult to sell securities at an acceptable price and their prices may be more volatile than securities of companies in more developed markets. Settlements of trades may be subject to greater delays so that the Fund may not receive the proceeds of a sale of a security on a timely basis. Emerging countries may also have less developed legal and accounting systems and investments may be subject to greater risks of government restrictions, nationalization, or confiscation.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Investments in securities of foreign issuers carry certain risks not ordinarily associated with investments in securities of domestic issuers. Such risks include future political and economic developments, and the possible imposition of exchange controls or other foreign governmental laws and restrictions. In addition, with respect to certain countries, there is the possibility of expropriation of assets, confiscatory taxation, political or social instability or diplomatic developments which could adversely affect investments in those securities.

7. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $286,091,150. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 50,143,927  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (4,580,112
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 45,563,815  
 

 

 

 

As of the end of its tax year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund has capital loss carry forwards (“CLCFs”) as summarized in the table below. The Board does not intend to authorize a distribution of any realized gain for the Fund until any applicable CLCF has been offset.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund utilized $2,293,539 in CLCFs to offset capital gains.

CLCF’s not subject to expiration:

 

        Short-Term
Amount
     Long-Term
Amount
    

Total

Amount

AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

       $ 8,203,889        $        $ 8,203,889

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
     Net
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

       $ 2,286,544        $        $ 2,286,544

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
     Net
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

       $ 2,612,915        $        $ 2,612,915

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

 

28


AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
     Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
     Total
Accumulated
Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

       $ 2,672,796        $        $ (8,203,889 )        $ 45,577,390        $ 40,046,297

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales, mark-to-market of passive foreign investment companies, mark-to-market of futures contracts and other miscellaneous differences.

8. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had an individual shareholder account which is affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 95% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

9. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

29


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

30


Other Federal Income Tax Information (Unaudited)

For the year ended December 31, 2019, 68.78% of the total ordinary income dividends paid by the Fund qualify for the corporate dividends received deductions available to corporate shareholders.

 

31


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

32


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for

 

33


the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

 

34


The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

35


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

36


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

37


 

LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.   
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL® Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 11

Statement of Operations

Page 11

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 12

Financial Highlights

Page 13

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 14

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 19

Other Federal Income Tax Information

Page 20

Other Information

Page 21

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 22

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 25

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund and BlackRock Investment Management, LLC serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund (Class 2 Shares) (the “Fund”) returned 35.28%. That compared to a 36.39% total return for its benchmark, the Russell 1000® Growth Index (“Index“)1.

The Fund takes positions in securities that, in combination, should have similar return characteristics as the return of the Index. The Index is designed to provide a comprehensive measure of growth stocks’ performance.*

Equities rebounded in the first quarter as U.S. trade negotiations with China and relatively strong corporate earnings growth helped investor sentiment recover from steep losses at the end of 2018. Stocks and bonds both received a boost from the Federal Reserve Board’s (the Fed) shift to a more dovish tone in January, as it announced it would refrain from interest rate hikes for the near future. Despite a 35-day government shutdown and global economic weakness, the U.S. economy continued to exhibit a tight labor market, low inflation, and slowing but stable economic growth.

In the second quarter, the prospect of lower interest rates generally provided a boost to equities. Renewed trade concerns contributed to volatility during the quarter, however, with the S&P 500 Index2 dropping -6.4% after President Trump threatened to increase tariffs against China and Mexico. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield declined 50 basis points (0.50%) to 2%—the lowest level since 2016—and the resulting negative spread between three-month and 10-year yields added to uncertainty.

Trade tensions were a key focus for domestic and global investors in the third quarter. The Fed lowered interest rates again in July and September to offset that potential risk as well as weak global growth. U.S. manufacturing and consumer sectors showed signs of weakness. The closely monitored two-year, 10-year Treasury yield spread inverted for the first time since the global financial crisis, but ended the quarter in positive territory.

In the fourth quarter, expectations of a U.S.-China trade deal, strong economic growth and easy monetary policy boosted investors’ appetite for risk, although there were still signs of weakness, including in manufacturing. Despite the strength of the U.S. economy, the Fed cut federal fund rates by 25 basis points (0.25%) to 1.75%, marking the third rate cut of the year.

From a sector perspective, all sectors in the Index had positive returns. The largest positive returns came from the information technology, financials, and communications services sectors.

The Fund uses derivatives for the purpose of efficient portfolio management, and derivatives did not have a significant impact on the Fund’s return in 2019. Futures are not used for speculative or leveraged positions in the portfolio and we keep cash to fully cover all outstanding futures positions. The Fund’s use of futures contracts provide immediate market exposure proportionate to cash accruals and investable cash within the portfolio. Skillful cash management and cash equitization are critical to minimizing the potential impact of cash drag and ensure tight tracking to the benchmark.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

* 

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmark please refer to page 2 of this report.

2 

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is unmanaged and is representative of 500 selected common stocks, most of which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and is a measure of the U.S. Stock market as a whole. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 
 

 

1


AZL® Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

The Fund’s investment objective is to match the total return of the Russell 1000® Growth Index. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing in all stocks in the Index in proportion to their weighting in the Index.

Investment Concerns

Equity securities (stocks) are more volatile and carry more risk than other forms of investments, including investments in high-grade fixed income securities. The net asset value per share of this Fund will fluctuate as the value of the securities in the portfolio changes.

Returns on growth stocks may not move in tandem with returns on other categories of stocks or the market as a whole. Growth stocks may be susceptible to rapid price savings or to adverse developments in certain sectors of the market.

The performance of the Fund is expected to be lower than that of the Index because of Fund fees and expenses. Securities in which the Fund will invest may involve substantial risk and may be subject to sudden severe price declines.

Investing in derivatives instruments involves risks that may be different from or greater than the risk associated with investing directly in securities or other traditional instruments.

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmark and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

     Inception
Date
     1
Year
    3
Year
    5
Year
    Since
Inception
 

AZL® Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund (Class 1 Shares )

     10/14/16         35.53 %      19.78           19.37

AZL® Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund (Class 2 Shares)

     4/30/10         35.28 %      19.49     13.75     14.20

Russell 1000® Growth Index

     4/30/10        36.39     20.49     14.63     15.10

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratios

   Gross  

AZL® Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund (Class 1 Shares)

     0.50

AZL® Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund (Class 2 Shares)

     0.75

The above expense ratios are based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.36% on all assets. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense), to 0.59% for Class 1 Shares and 0.84% for Class 2 Shares through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratios can be found in the Financial Highlights.

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Russell 1000® Growth Index, an unmanaged index that measures the performance of the large-cap growth segment of the U.S. equity universe. It includes those Russell 1000 companies with higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth values. The index does not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

2


AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, Class 1

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,117.80     $ 2.24       0.42 %

AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,116.70     $ 3.57       0.67 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, Class 1

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,023.09     $ 2.14       0.42 %

AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,021.83     $ 3.41       0.67 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

Information Technology

      38.4 %

Health Care

      14.4

Consumer Discretionary

      13.6

Communication Services

      11.2

Industrials

      9.1

Consumer Staples

      4.6

Financials

      3.1

Real Estate

      2.3

Materials

      1.3

Energy

      0.3
   

 

 

 

Total Common Stocks and Preferred Stocks

      98.3

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

      1.6

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

      0.4
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      100.3

Net other assets (liabilities)

      (0.3 )
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

3


AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

    
    
    
    
     
Shares
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks (97.8%):       
Aerospace & Defense (2.8%):       
  31,458      Boeing Co. (The)    $ 10,247,758  
  4,284      BWX Technologies, Inc.      265,951  
  1,016      General Dynamics Corp.      179,172  
  2,244      HEICO Corp.      256,153  
  4,454      HEICO Corp., Class A      398,767  
  4,662      Hexcel Corp.      341,771  
  1,905      Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.      477,926  
  6,597      L3harris Technologies, Inc.      1,305,348  
  14,696      Lockheed Martin Corp.      5,722,328  
  9,404      Northrop Grumman Corp.      3,234,694  
  10,304      Raytheon Co.      2,264,201  
  5,439      Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc., Class A      396,394  
  2,371      TransDigm Group, Inc.      1,327,760  
     

 

 

 
        26,418,223  
     

 

 

 
Air Freight & Logistics (0.7%):       
  6,116      C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.^      478,271  
  7,311      Expeditors International of Washington, Inc.      570,404  
  41,499      United Parcel Service, Inc., Class B      4,857,873  
  3,188      XPO Logistics, Inc.*      254,084  
     

 

 

 
        6,160,632  
     

 

 

 
Airlines (0.2%):       
  3,260      Alaska Air Group, Inc.      220,865  
  2,565      American Airlines Group, Inc.^      73,564  
  6,830      Delta Air Lines, Inc.      399,418  
  1,683      JetBlue Airways Corp.*      31,506  
  16,607      Southwest Airlines Co.      896,446  
  2,977      United Airlines Holdings, Inc.*      262,244  
     

 

 

 
        1,884,043  
     

 

 

 
Auto Components (0.0%†):       
  1,117      Aptiv plc      106,081  
     

 

 

 
Automobiles (0.4%):       
  8,448      Tesla, Inc.*      3,534,052  
     

 

 

 
Banks (0.1%):       
  502      CIT Group, Inc.      22,906  
  561      Comerica, Inc.      40,252  
  1,762      First Republic Bank      206,947  
  364      Prosperity Bancshares, Inc.      26,168  
  1,549      Signature Bank      211,609  
  249      SVB Financial Group*      62,509  
  730      Synovus Financial Corp.      28,616  
  663      Western Alliance Bancorp      37,791  
     

 

 

 
        636,798  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (2.2%):       
  2,609      Brown-Forman Corp., Class A      163,767  
  9,649      Brown-Forman Corp., Class B      652,272  
  155,391      Coca-Cola Co. (The)      8,600,892  
  22,690      Monster Beverage Corp.*      1,441,950  
  69,932      PepsiCo, Inc.      9,557,606  
     

 

 

 
        20,416,487  
     

 

 

 
Biotechnology (3.1%):       
  87,890      AbbVie, Inc.      7,781,782  
  480      Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      22,920  
    
    
    
    
     
Shares
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Biotechnology, continued       
  9,571      Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*    $ 1,035,104  
  5,326      Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      613,395  
  32,785      Amgen, Inc.      7,903,481  
  3,668      Biogen, Inc.*      1,088,406  
  10,697      BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc.*      904,431  
  8,290      Exact Sciences Corp.*      766,659  
  6,921      Exelixis, Inc.*      121,948  
  10,947      Gilead Sciences, Inc.      711,336  
  10,464      Incyte Corp.*      913,716  
  7,689      Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      464,492  
  11,407      Moderna, Inc.*^      223,121  
  5,361      Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc.*      576,254  
  980      Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      367,970  
  3,104      Sage Therapeutics, Inc.*^      224,078  
  4,130      Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.*      532,935  
  6,817      Seattle Genetics, Inc.*      778,910  
  15,232      Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      3,335,046  
     

 

 

 
        28,365,984  
     

 

 

 
Building Products (0.2%):       
  1,469      A.O. Smith Corp.      69,983  
  4,187      Allegion plc      521,449  
  2,834      Armstrong World Industries, Inc.      266,311  
  2,600      Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc.      169,884  
  1,896      Lennox International, Inc.      462,567  
     

 

 

 
        1,490,194  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (1.6%):       
  1,074      Ameriprise Financial, Inc.      178,907  
  1,625      Cboe Global Markets, Inc.      195,000  
  40,890      Charles Schwab Corp. (The)      1,944,728  
  2,310      E*TRADE Financial Corp.      104,805  
  702      Evercore, Inc., Class A      52,482  
  2,224      FactSet Research Systems, Inc.      596,699  
  1,273      Interactive Brokers Group, Inc., Class A      59,347  
  12,989      Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.      1,202,132  
  2,117      Lazard, Ltd., Class A      84,595  
  4,851      LPL Financial Holdings, Inc.      447,505  
  2,185      MarketAxess Holdings, Inc.      828,355  
  9,759      Moody’s Corp.      2,316,884  
  1,220      Morningstar, Inc.      184,598  
  4,883      MSCI, Inc., Class A      1,260,693  
  1,697      Raymond James Financial, Inc.      151,814  
  14,616      S&P Global, Inc.      3,990,899  
  3,672      SEI Investments Co.      240,443  
  3,916      T. Rowe Price Group, Inc.      477,125  
  13,756      TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.      683,673  
  1,309      Virtu Financial, Inc., Class A      20,931  
     

 

 

 
        15,021,615  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (0.8%):       
  1,839      Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.      432,147  
  3,509      Axalta Coating Systems, Ltd.*      106,674  
  1,392      CF Industries Holdings, Inc.      66,454  
  14,979      Ecolab, Inc.      2,890,797  
  5,597      Element Solutions, Inc.*      65,373  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

    
    
    
    
     
Shares
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Chemicals, continued       
  366      NewMarket Corp.    $ 178,066  
  4,552      PPG Industries, Inc.      607,646  
  1,296      RPM International, Inc.      99,481  
  2,263      Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. (The)      240,285  
  4,925      Sherwin Williams Co.      2,873,935  
  3,228      W.R. Grace & Co.      225,476  
     

 

 

 
        7,786,334  
     

 

 

 
Commercial Services & Supplies (0.6%):       
  4,967      Cintas Corp.      1,336,520  
  11,930      Copart, Inc.*      1,084,914  
  7,362      IAA, Inc.*      346,456  
  6,707      KAR Auction Services, Inc.      146,146  
  871      Republic Services, Inc., Class A      78,068  
  8,643      Rollins, Inc.      286,602  
  19,736      Waste Management, Inc.      2,249,114  
     

 

 

 
        5,527,820  
     

 

 

 
Communications Equipment (1.7%):       
  3,519      Arista Networks, Inc.*      715,765  
  254,638      Cisco Systems, Inc.      12,212,439  
  3,276      F5 Networks, Inc.*      457,493  
  7,510      Motorola Solutions, Inc.      1,210,161  
  5,625      Palo Alto Networks, Inc.*      1,300,781  
  521      Ubiquiti, Inc.      98,459  
     

 

 

 
        15,995,098  
     

 

 

 
Construction & Engineering (0.0%†):       
  2,095      Quanta Services, Inc.      85,287  
     

 

 

 
Construction Materials (0.2%):       
  2,141      Eagle Materials, Inc., Class A      194,103  
  1,107      Martin Marietta Materials, Inc.      309,561  
  7,142      Vulcan Materials Co.      1,028,377  
     

 

 

 
        1,532,041  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (0.4%):       
  22,228      American Express Co.      2,767,164  
  561      Credit Acceptance Corp.*      248,147  
  6,599      Discover Financial Services      559,727  
  10,518      Synchrony Financial      378,753  
     

 

 

 
        3,953,791  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (0.3%):       
  1,455      AptarGroup, Inc.      168,227  
  4,604      Avery Dennison Corp.      602,295  
  19,165      Ball Corp.      1,239,401  
  2,893      Berry Global Group, Inc.*      137,389  
  4,565      Crown Holdings, Inc.*      331,145  
  734      Sealed Air Corp.      29,235  
     

 

 

 
        2,507,692  
     

 

 

 
Distributors (0.1%):       
  2,783      LKQ Corp.*      99,353  
  2,284      Pool Corp.      485,076  
     

 

 

 
        584,429  
     

 

 

 
    
    
    
    
     
Shares
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Diversified Consumer Services (0.1%):       
  3,408      Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Inc.*    $ 512,188  
  285      Grand Canyon Education, Inc.*      27,300  
  1,799      H&R Block, Inc.      42,241  
  3,530      Service Corp. International      162,486  
  1,393      ServiceMaster Global Holdings, Inc.*      53,853  
     

 

 

 
        798,068  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (0.0%†):       
  672      Voya Financial, Inc.      40,979  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (0.0%†):       
  13,228      Zayo Group Holdings, Inc.*      458,350  
     

 

 

 
Electrical Equipment (0.3%):       
  665      Acuity Brands, Inc.      91,770  
  10,712      AMETEK, Inc.      1,068,415  
  3,072      Emerson Electric Co.      234,271  
  1,799      Hubbell, Inc.      265,928  
  6,831      Rockwell Automation, Inc.      1,384,439  
  3,800      Sensata Technologies Holding plc*      204,706  
     

 

 

 
        3,249,529  
     

 

 

 
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (0.7%):       
  17,311      Amphenol Corp., Class A      1,873,569  
  8,459      CDW Corp.      1,208,283  
  9,795      Cognex Corp.      548,912  
  14,198      Corning, Inc.      413,304  
  532      Dolby Laboratories, Inc., Class A      36,602  
  652      FLIR Systems, Inc.      33,950  
  163      IPG Photonics Corp.*      23,622  
  2,038      Jabil, Inc.      84,231  
  11,130      Keysight Technologies, Inc.*      1,142,272  
  463      National Instruments Corp.      19,603  
  2,738      Trimble, Inc.*      114,147  
  3,172      Zebra Technologies Corp., Class A*      810,256  
     

 

 

 
        6,308,751  
     

 

 

 
Entertainment (1.3%):       
  2,345      Activision Blizzard, Inc.      139,340  
  15,560      Electronic Arts, Inc.*      1,672,856  
  7,670      Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.*      548,175  
  109      Madison Square Garden Co. (The), Class A*      32,067  
  25,033      Netflix, Inc.*      8,099,928  
  7,003      Spotify Technology SA*      1,047,299  
  3,061      Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.*      374,758  
  2,489      World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., Class A      161,461  
  11,768      Zynga, Inc.*      72,020  
     

 

 

 
        12,147,904  
     

 

 

 
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (2.2%):       
  6,321      American Homes 4 Rent, Class A      165,673  
  26,103      American Tower Corp.      5,998,992  
  11,200      Americold Realty Trust      392,672  
  3,579      Brookfield Property REIT, Inc., Class A      66,015  
  246      Colony Capital, Inc.      1,169  
  1,704      Coresite Realty Corp.      191,052  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

    
    
    
    
     
Shares
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts, continued       
  24,634      Crown Castle International Corp.    $ 3,501,724  
  5,050      Equinix, Inc.      2,947,685  
  10,181      Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc.      716,641  
  5,990      Extra Space Storage, Inc.      632,664  
  2,032      Iron Mountain, Inc.      64,760  
  5,044      Lamar Advertising Co., Class A      450,227  
  1,392      Outfront Media, Inc.      37,333  
  6,654      Public Storage, Inc.      1,417,036  
  6,656      SBA Communications Corp.      1,604,029  
  16,172      Simon Property Group, Inc.      2,408,981  
  1,291      Sun Communities, Inc.      193,779  
  942      UDR, Inc.      43,991  
     

 

 

 
        20,834,423  
     

 

 

 
Food & Staples Retailing (1.1%):       
  587      Casey’s General Stores, Inc.      93,327  
  26,115      Costco Wholesale Corp.      7,675,721  
  3,588      Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc.*      69,428  
  28,319      Sysco Corp.      2,422,407  
     

 

 

 
        10,260,883  
     

 

 

 
Food Products (0.3%):       
  5,770      Campbell Soup Co.      285,153  
  7,483      Hershey Co. (The)      1,099,852  
  5,509      Kellogg Co.      381,002  
  2,200      Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc.      189,266  
  4,713      McCormick & Co.      799,937  
  1,200      Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.*      39,258  
  1,807      Post Holdings, Inc.*      197,144  
  597      TreeHouse Foods, Inc.*      28,955  
     

 

 

 
        3,020,567  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (3.3%):       
  44,318      Abbott Laboratories      3,849,461  
  2,598      ABIOMED, Inc.*      443,193  
  4,628      Align Technology, Inc.*      1,291,397  
  13,468      Baxter International, Inc.      1,126,194  
  1,333      Becton Dickinson & Co.      362,536  
  82,496      Boston Scientific Corp.*      3,730,469  
  1,359      Cantel Medical Corp.      96,353  
  371      Cooper Cos., Inc. (The)      119,199  
  1,907      Danaher Corp.      292,686  
  5,373      DexCom, Inc.*      1,175,290  
  12,328      Edwards Lifesciences Corp.*      2,875,999  
  5,648      Envista Holdings Corp.*      167,407  
  2,071      Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc.      235,121  
  12,708      Hologic, Inc.*      663,485  
  379      ICU Medical, Inc.*      70,918  
  5,043      IDEXX Laboratories, Inc.*      1,316,879  
  3,562      Insulet Corp.*      609,814  
  6,807      Intuitive Surgical, Inc.*      4,023,959  
  2,788      Masimo Corp.*      440,671  
  1,835      Penumbra, Inc.*      301,435  
  8,425      ResMed, Inc.      1,305,622  
  310      Steris plc      47,250  
    
    
    
    
     
Shares
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Health Care Equipment & Supplies, continued       
  20,381      Stryker Corp.    $ 4,278,788  
  2,726      Teleflex, Inc.      1,026,175  
  5,353      Varian Medical Systems, Inc.*      760,180  
  3,262      West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.      490,376  
     

 

 

 
        31,100,857  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (2.8%):       
  9,007      AmerisourceBergen Corp.      765,775  
  4,402      Anthem, Inc.      1,329,536  
  20,298      Centene Corp.*      1,276,135  
  922      Chemed Corp.      404,998  
  6,663      Cigna Corp.      1,362,517  
  2,822      Encompass Health Corp.      195,480  
  2,182      Guardant Health, Inc.*      170,501  
  9,568      HCA Healthcare, Inc.      1,414,246  
  1,222      Henry Schein, Inc.*      81,532  
  3,372      Humana, Inc.      1,235,905  
  382      Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings*      64,623  
  1,110      McKesson Corp.      153,535  
  2,875      Molina Healthcare, Inc.*      390,109  
  56,175      UnitedHealth Group, Inc.      16,514,327  
  2,693      WellCare Health Plans, Inc.*      889,256  
     

 

 

 
        26,248,475  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Technology (0.3%):       
  18,547      Cerner Corp.      1,361,164  
  1,543      Change Healthcare, Inc.*^      25,290  
  7,776      Veeva Systems, Inc., Class A*      1,093,772  
     

 

 

 
        2,480,226  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (2.2%):       
  1,518      Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.*      1,270,733  
  939      Choice Hotels International, Inc.^      97,121  
  7,375      Darden Restaurants, Inc.      803,949  
  2,431      Domino’s Pizza, Inc.      714,179  
  4,524      Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc.      341,743  
  809      Hilton Grand Vacations, Inc.*      27,822  
  16,534      Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc.      1,833,786  
  9,574      Las Vegas Sands Corp.      660,989  
  16,297      Marriott International, Inc., Class A      2,467,855  
  7,211      McDonald’s Corp.      1,424,966  
  2,391      MGM Resorts International      79,549  
  2,460      Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Ltd.*      143,689  
  4,887      Planet Fitness, Inc.*      364,961  
  478      Six Flags Entertainment Corp.      21,563  
  70,173      Starbucks Corp.      6,169,609  
  2,130      Vail Resorts, Inc.      510,838  
  10,863      Wendy’s Co. (The)      241,267  
  1,546      Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc.      97,104  
  4,805      Wynn Resorts, Ltd.      667,270  
  17,342      Yum China Holdings, Inc.      832,589  
  15,977      Yum! Brands, Inc.      1,609,363  
     

 

 

 
        20,380,945  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

    
    
    
    
     
Shares
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Household Durables (0.2%):       
  6,671      Lennar Corp., Class A    $ 372,175  
  551      Lennar Corp., Class B      24,630  
  194      NVR, Inc.*      738,831  
  5,061      Roku, Inc.*      677,668  
  2,744      Tempur Sealy International, Inc.*      238,893  
     

 

 

 
        2,052,197  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (0.3%):       
  14,559      Church & Dwight Co., Inc.      1,024,080  
  6,091      Clorox Co. (The)      935,212  
  8,509      Procter & Gamble Co. (The)      1,062,774  
     

 

 

 
        3,022,066  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (1.0%):       
  25,436      3M Co.      4,487,419  
  2,864      Carlisle Cos., Inc.      463,510  
  20,856      Honeywell International, Inc.      3,691,512  
  928      Roper Technologies, Inc.      328,725  
     

 

 

 
        8,971,166  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (0.9%):       
  79      Alleghany Corp.*      63,166  
  13,902      Aon plc      2,895,648  
  2,948      Arch Capital Group, Ltd.*      126,440  
  2,293      Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.      218,362  
  3,528      Athene Holding, Ltd.*      165,922  
  385      Axis Capital Holdings, Ltd.      22,884  
  970      Brown & Brown, Inc.      38,296  
  975      Erie Indemnity Co., Class A      161,850  
  755      Everest Re Group, Ltd.      209,015  
  736      Kemper Corp.      57,040  
  60      Markel Corp.*      68,590  
  26,444      Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc.      2,946,126  
  1,794      Primerica, Inc.      234,225  
  11,429      Progressive Corp. (The)      827,345  
  968      RenaissanceRe Holdings, Ltd.      189,747  
  2,481      Travelers Cos., Inc. (The)      339,773  
     

 

 

 
        8,564,429  
     

 

 

 
Interactive Media & Services (8.5%):       
  17,796      Alphabet, Inc., Class A*      23,835,784  
  17,821      Alphabet, Inc., Class C*      23,827,033  
  142,045      Facebook, Inc., Class A*      29,154,737  
  2,562      IAC/InterActiveCorp.*      638,220  
  3,129      Match Group, Inc.*^      256,922  
  5,687      TripAdvisor, Inc.      172,771  
  45,150      Twitter, Inc.*      1,447,058  
     

 

 

 
        79,332,525  
     

 

 

 
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail (5.8%):       
  24,583      Amazon.com, Inc.*      45,425,452  
  2,482      Booking Holdings, Inc.*      5,097,358  
  45,740      eBay, Inc.      1,651,671  
  7,073      Etsy, Inc.*      313,334  
  7,124      Expedia Group, Inc.      770,389  
    
    
    
    
     
Shares
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail, continued       
  5,541      Grubhub, Inc.*^    $ 269,514  
  3,644      Wayfair, Inc., Class A*^      329,308  
     

 

 

 
        53,857,026  
     

 

 

 
IT Services (9.0%):       
  37,881      Accenture plc, Class C      7,976,602  
  8,563      Akamai Technologies, Inc.*      739,672  
  308      Alliance Data Systems Corp.      34,558  
  25,856      Automatic Data Processing, Inc.      4,408,448  
  8,517      Black Knight, Inc.*      549,176  
  8,088      Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp.      575,299  
  6,748      Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.      833,648  
  2,591      Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Class A      160,694  
  291      CoreLogic, Inc.*      12,720  
  3,115      Epam Systems, Inc.*      660,878  
  2,954      Euronet Worldwide, Inc.*      465,432  
  22,180      Fidelity National Information Services, Inc.      3,085,016  
  33,508      Fiserv, Inc.*      3,874,530  
  5,060      FleetCor Technologies, Inc.*      1,455,863  
  5,184      Gartner, Inc.*      798,854  
  10,901      Genpact, Ltd.      459,695  
  17,703      Global Payments, Inc.      3,231,860  
  10,143      GoDaddy, Inc., Class A*      688,913  
  31,893      International Business Machines Corp.      4,274,938  
  4,081      Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.      594,479  
  52,696      MasterCard, Inc., Class A      15,734,499  
  2,449      MongoDB, Inc.*      322,313  
  6,201      Okta, Inc.*      715,409  
  19,062      Paychex, Inc.      1,621,414  
  69,828      PayPal Holdings, Inc.*      7,553,295  
  3,112      Sabre Corp.      69,833  
  20,401      Square, Inc., Class A*      1,276,287  
  3,937      Switch, Inc., Class A      58,346  
  6,875      Teradata Corp.*      184,044  
  7,233      Twilio, Inc., Series A*      710,859  
  4,227      VeriSign, Inc.*      814,458  
  101,837      Visa, Inc., Class A      19,135,172  
  5,424      Western Union Co.      145,255  
  2,552      WEX, Inc.*      534,542  
     

 

 

 
        83,757,001  
     

 

 

 
Leisure Products (0.1%):       
  7,460      Hasbro, Inc.      787,850  
  13,710      Mattel, Inc.*^      185,771  
  3,118      Polaris, Inc.      317,101  
     

 

 

 
        1,290,722  
     

 

 

 
Life Sciences Tools & Services (1.4%):       
  723      Adaptive Biotechnologies*^      21,632  
  1,730      Agilent Technologies, Inc.      147,586  
  13,477      Avantor, Inc.*      244,608  
  2,212      Bio-Techne Corp.      485,556  
  6,183      Bruker Corp.      315,148  
  2,815      Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.*      430,019  
  8,716      Illumina, Inc.*      2,891,446  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

    
    
    
    
     
Shares
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Life Sciences Tools & Services, continued       
  4,458      IQVIA Holdings, Inc.*    $ 688,806  
  1,425      Mettler-Toledo International, Inc.*      1,130,424  
  1,357      PerkinElmer, Inc.      131,765  
  3,683      PRA Health Sciences, Inc.*      409,365  
  16,138      Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.      5,242,751  
  3,790      Waters Corp.*      885,534  
     

 

 

 
        13,024,640  
     

 

 

 
Machinery (1.3%):       
  6,346      Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc.      306,639  
  2,490      Caterpillar, Inc.      367,723  
  2,050      Deere & Co.      355,183  
  7,567      Donaldson Co., Inc.      436,011  
  3,765      Dover Corp.      433,954  
  1,803      Flowserve Corp.      89,735  
  4,034      Fortive Corp.      308,157  
  9,817      Graco, Inc.      510,484  
  2,232      IDEX Corp.      383,904  
  19,018      Illinois Tool Works, Inc.      3,416,203  
  13,451      Ingersoll-Rand plc      1,787,907  
  3,276      Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc.      316,887  
  3,205      Middleby Corp. (The)*      351,012  
  3,079      Nordson Corp.      501,384  
  6,263      Toro Co.      498,973  
  2,508      WABCO Holdings, Inc.*      339,834  
  2,867      Wabtec Corp.      223,053  
  2,624      Woodward, Inc.      310,787  
  10,726      Xylem, Inc.      845,102  
     

 

 

 
        11,782,932  
     

 

 

 
Media (1.3%):       
  17,596      Altice USA, Inc., Class A*      481,075  
  2,511      AMC Networks, Inc., Class A*      99,185  
  256      Cable One, Inc.      381,048  
  5,362      Charter Communications, Inc., Class A*      2,600,999  
  125,816      Comcast Corp., Class A      5,657,946  
  2,168      Fox Corp., Class A      80,368  
  1,007      Fox Corp., Class B      36,655  
  2,400      Interpublic Group of Cos., Inc. (The)      55,440  
  1,938      New York Times Co. (The), Class A      62,345  
  2,120      Nexstar Media Group, Inc., Class A      248,570  
  6,807      Omnicom Group, Inc.      551,503  
  3,594      Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., Class A      119,824  
  81,195      Sirius XM Holdings, Inc.^      580,544  
  17,684      ViacomCBS, Inc., B      742,197  
     

 

 

 
        11,697,699  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (0.0%†):       
  1,181      Royal Gold, Inc.      144,377  
  3,428      Southern Copper Corp.      145,622  
     

 

 

 
        289,999  
     

 

 

 
Multiline Retail (0.4%):       
  14,479      Dollar General Corp.      2,258,435  
  7,664      Dollar Tree, Inc.*      720,800  
    
    
    
    
     
Shares
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Multiline Retail, continued       
  6,296      Nordstrom, Inc.^    $ 257,695  
  3,079      Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc.*^      201,089  
  1,544      Target Corp.      197,956  
     

 

 

 
        3,635,975  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (0.3%):       
  14,818      Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.      257,981  
  7,978      Cheniere Energy, Inc.*      487,216  
  1,968      Diamondback Energy, Inc.      182,748  
  1,324      Equitrans Midstream Corp.      17,689  
  7,849      ONEOK, Inc.      593,934  
  9,474      Parsley Energy, Inc., Class A      179,153  
  4,163      Pioneer Natural Resources Co.      630,154  
     

 

 

 
        2,348,875  
     

 

 

 
Personal Products (0.3%):       
  12,947      Estee Lauder Co., Inc. (The), Class A      2,674,073  
  888      Herbalife Nutrition, Ltd.*      42,331  
     

 

 

 
        2,716,404  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (3.5%):       
  81,580      Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.      5,236,620  
  50,552      Eli Lilly & Co.      6,644,049  
  1,344      Horizon Therapeutics plc*      48,653  
  2,916      Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc*      435,300  
  23,842      Johnson & Johnson Co.      3,477,833  
  143,521      Merck & Co., Inc.      13,053,235  
  1,661      Nektar Therapeutics*      35,853  
  28,453      Zoetis, Inc.      3,765,755  
     

 

 

 
        32,697,298  
     

 

 

 
Professional Services (0.7%):       
  2,135      CoStar Group, Inc.*      1,277,370  
  6,048      Equifax, Inc.      847,446  
  14,775      IHS Markit, Ltd.*      1,113,296  
  2,830      Nielsen Holdings plc      57,449  
  6,817      Robert Half International, Inc.      430,494  
  11,024      TransUnion      943,765  
  9,473      Verisk Analytics, Inc.      1,414,697  
     

 

 

 
        6,084,517  
     

 

 

 
Real Estate Management & Development (0.1%):       
  7,329      CBRE Group, Inc., Class A*      449,195  
  808      Howard Hughes Corp. (The)*      102,454  
  356      Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.      61,976  
     

 

 

 
        613,625  
     

 

 

 
Road & Rail (1.1%):       
  15,951      CSX Corp.      1,154,214  
  1,564      J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc.      182,644  
  2,040      Landstar System, Inc.      232,295  
  1,208      Lyft, Inc., Class A*      51,968  
  2,076      Norfolk Southern Corp.      403,014  
  1,592      Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.      302,130  
  6,163      Uber Technologies, Inc.*      183,288  
  41,272      Union Pacific Corp.      7,461,564  
     

 

 

 
        9,971,117  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

    
    
    
    
     
Shares
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (4.5%):       
  61,249      Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.*    $ 2,808,879  
  2,905      Analog Devices, Inc.      345,230  
  29,366      Applied Materials, Inc.      1,792,501  
  22,956      Broadcom, Inc.      7,254,555  
  509      Cree, Inc.*      23,490  
  7,810      Entegris, Inc.      391,203  
  9,461      KLA Corp.      1,685,666  
  7,526      Lam Research Corp.      2,200,602  
  6,016      Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.      370,044  
  3,855      Microchip Technology, Inc.^      403,696  
  2,444      Monolithic Power Systems, Inc.      435,081  
  34,678      NVIDIA Corp.      8,159,734  
  67,881      Qualcomm, Inc.      5,989,141  
  558      Skyworks Solutions, Inc.      67,451  
  9,867      Teradyne, Inc.      672,831  
  55,721      Texas Instruments, Inc.      7,148,447  
  2,519      Universal Display Corp.      519,090  
  15,091      Xilinx, Inc.      1,475,447  
     

 

 

 
        41,743,088  
     

 

 

 
Software (13.5%):       
  1,331      2u, Inc.*      31,931  
  28,942      Adobe, Inc.*      9,545,361  
  2,773      Alteryx, Inc.*      277,494  
  5,221      Anaplan, Inc.*      273,580  
  4,961      ANSYS, Inc.*      1,277,011  
  4,107      Aspen Technology, Inc.*      496,660  
  6,964      Atlassian Corp. plc, Class A*      838,048  
  10,101      Autodesk, Inc.*      1,853,129  
  2,703      Avalara, Inc.*      197,995  
  16,509      Cadence Design Systems, Inc.*      1,145,064  
  7,208      CDK Global, Inc.      394,133  
  4,576      Ceridian HCM Holding, Inc.*      310,619  
  6,622      Citrix Systems, Inc.      734,380  
  3,718      Coupa Software, Inc.*      543,758  
  9,173      DocuSign, Inc.*      679,811  
  12,214      Dropbox, Inc., Class A*      218,753  
  3,067      Dynatrace, Inc.*      77,595  
  2,745      Elastic NV*      176,504  
  1,680      Fair Isaac Corp.*      629,462  
  11,583      FireEye, Inc.*      191,467  
  8,495      Fortinet, Inc.*      906,926  
  4,974      Guidewire Software, Inc.*      545,996  
  2,429      HubSpot, Inc.*      384,997  
  14,790      Intuit, Inc.      3,873,945  
  3,731      Manhattan Associates, Inc.*      297,547  
  786      Medallia, Inc.*^      24,452  
  449,569      Microsoft Corp.      70,897,032  
  2,980      New Relic, Inc.*      195,816  
  10,222      Nutanix, Inc., Class A*      319,540  
  122,047      Oracle Corp.      6,466,050  
  2,457      Pagerduty, Inc.*^      57,469  
  2,921      Paycom Software, Inc.*      773,364  
    
    
    
    
     
Shares
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Software, continued       
  2,064      Paylocity Holding Corp.*    $ 249,372  
  2,262      Pegasystems, Inc.      180,168  
  3,963      Pluralsight, Inc., Class A*      68,203  
  3,349      Proofpoint, Inc.*      384,398  
  6,163      PTC, Inc.*      461,547  
  4,782      RealPage, Inc.*      257,033  
  4,413      RingCentral, Inc., Class A*      744,341  
  49,342      Salesforce.com, Inc.*      8,024,983  
  11,068      ServiceNow, Inc.*      3,124,718  
  5,011      Smartsheet, Inc.*      225,094  
  728      SolarWinds Corp.*      13,504  
  9,151      Splunk, Inc.*      1,370,545  
  11,746      SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc.      721,204  
  8,845      Synopsys, Inc.*      1,231,224  
  2,325      The Trade Desk, Inc.*      603,989  
  2,270      Tyler Technologies, Inc.*      681,045  
  4,512      VMware, Inc., Class A*      684,876  
  9,648      Workday, Inc., Class A*      1,586,614  
  6,464      Zendesk, Inc.*      495,336  
  3,912      Zscaler, Inc.*^      181,908  
     

 

 

 
        125,925,991  
     

 

 

 
Specialty Retail (3.0%):       
  926      Advance Auto Parts, Inc.      148,308  
  1,408      AutoZone, Inc.*      1,677,364  
  2,681      Best Buy Co, Inc.      235,392  
  3,878      Burlington Stores, Inc.*      884,300  
  4,599      CarMax, Inc.*      403,194  
  2,764      Carvana Co.*      254,426  
  3,195      Five Below, Inc.*      408,513  
  4,037      Floor & Decor Holdings, Inc., Class A*      205,120  
  37,340      Home Depot, Inc. (The)      8,154,309  
  2,133      L Brands, Inc.      38,650  
  45,908      Lowe’s Cos., Inc.      5,497,942  
  4,424      O’Reilly Automotive, Inc.*      1,938,862  
  21,028      Ross Stores, Inc.      2,448,080  
  72,146      TJX Cos., Inc. (The)      4,405,235  
  6,974      Tractor Supply Co.      651,651  
  3,347      Ulta Beauty, Inc.*      847,260  
  930      Williams-Sonoma, Inc.      68,299  
     

 

 

 
        28,266,905  
     

 

 

 
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals (8.6%):       
  264,227      Apple, Inc.      77,590,259  
  6,655      Dell Technologies, Inc., Class C*      342,000  
  4,126      HP, Inc.      84,789  
  7,634      NCR Corp.*      268,411  
  14,090      NetApp, Inc.      877,103  
  14,254      Pure Storage, Inc., Class A*      243,886  
     

 

 

 
        79,406,448  
     

 

 

 
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods (1.3%):       
  3,346      Capri Holdings, Ltd.*      127,650  
  1,123      Carter’s, Inc.      122,789  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

    
    
    
    
     
Shares
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods, continued       
  1,064      Columbia Sportswear Co.    $ 106,602  
  16,737      Hanesbrands, Inc.      248,544  
  7,005      Lululemon Athletica, Inc.*      1,622,848  
  73,310      Nike, Inc., Class C      7,427,037  
  2,668      Skechers U.S.A., Inc., Class A*      115,231  
  7,633      Under Armour, Inc., Class A*^      164,873  
  7,307      Under Armour, Inc., Class C*      140,148  
  18,264      VF Corp.      1,820,190  
     

 

 

 
        11,895,912  
     

 

 

 
Thrifts & Mortgage Finance (0.0%†):       
  429      LendingTree, Inc.*^      130,176  
     

 

 

 
Tobacco (0.3%):       
  54,263      Altria Group, Inc.      2,708,266  
     

 

 

 
Trading Companies & Distributors (0.3%):       
  280      Air Lease Corp.      13,306  
  30,710      Fastenal Co.      1,134,734  
  3,207      United Rentals, Inc.*      534,831  
  2,551      W.W. Grainger, Inc.      863,565  
     

 

 

 
        2,546,436  
     

 

 

 
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional,
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.1%):       
  9,730      T-Mobile US, Inc.*    $ 763,027  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Common Stocks (Cost $506,677,393)

     908,433,020  
  

 

 

 
Preferred Stock (0.5%):       
Software (0.5%):       
  841,419      Palantir Technologies, Inc., Series I*(a)(b)      4,981,200  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Preferred Stock (Cost $5,157,898)

     4,981,200  
  

 

 

 
Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on
Loan (0.4%):
      
  4,135,249      BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, 2.00%(c)(d)      4,135,249  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on
Loan (Cost $4,135,249)

     4,135,249  
  

 

 

 
Unaffiliated Investment Companies (1.6%):       
Money Markets (1.6%):       
  14,935,039      Dreyfus Treasury Securities Cash Management Fund, Institutional Shares, 1.44%(d)      14,935,039  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Unaffiliated Investment Companies (Cost $14,935,039)

     14,935,039  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities (Cost $530,905,579) — 100.3%(e)

     932,484,508  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — (0.3)%

     (4,008,541
  

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 928,475,967  
  

 

 

 
 

 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

 

*

Non-income producing security.

 

^

This security or a partial position of this security was on loan as of December 31, 2019. The total value of securities on loan as of December 31, 2019 was $4,054,737.

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

(a)

Rule 144A, Section 4(2) or other security which is restricted to resale to institutional investors. The sub-adviser has deemed these securities to be illiquid based on procedures approved by the Board of Trustees. As of December 31, 2019, these securities represent 0.54% of the net assets of the fund.

 

(b)

Security was valued using unobservable inputs in good faith pursuant to procedures approved by the Board of Trustees as of December 31, 2019. The total of all such securities represent 0.54% of the net assets of the fund.

 

(c)

Purchased with cash collateral held from securities lending. The value of the collateral could include collateral held for securities that were sold on or before December 31, 2019.

 

(d)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(e)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

Futures Contracts

Cash of $665,200 has been segregated to cover margin requirements for the following open contracts as of December 31, 2019:

Long Futures

 

Description    Expiration
Date
     Number of
Contracts
     Notional
Amount
     Value and
Unrealized
Appreciation/
(Depreciation)
 

Nasdaq 100 E-Mini March Futures (U.S. Dollar)

     3/20/20        51      $ 8,927,295      $ 58,300  

S&P 500 Index E-Mini March Futures (U.S. Dollar)

     3/20/20        43        6,946,865        39,397  
           

 

 

 
            $ 97,697  
           

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

10


AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investments in non-affiliates, at cost

    $ 530,905,579
   

 

 

 

Investments in non-affiliates, at value(a)

    $ 932,484,508

Cash

      71,542

Segregated cash for collateral for futures contracts

      665,200

Interest and dividends receivable

      488,324

Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts

      34,396

Reclaims receivable

      1,464

Prepaid expenses

      3,205
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      933,748,639
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      573,542

Payable for collateral received on loaned securities

      4,135,249

Manager fees payable

      274,361

Administration fees payable

      4,286

Distribution fees payable

      183,942

Custodian fees payable

      3,811

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      3,378

Transfer agent fees payable

      1,960

Trustee fees payable

      831

Other accrued liabilities

      91,312
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      5,272,672
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 928,475,967
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 473,762,095

Total distributable earnings

      454,713,872
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 928,475,967
   

 

 

 

Class 1

   

Net Assets

    $ 57,430,430

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      5,010,956

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 11.46
   

 

 

 

Class 2

   

Net Assets

    $ 871,045,537

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      54,117,649

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 16.10
   

 

 

 

 

(a)

Includes securities on loan of $4,054,737.

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Dividends

    $ 11,566,066

Interest

      12,643

Income from securities lending

      128,896

Foreign withholding tax

      (2,144 )
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      11,705,461
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      3,983,622

Administration fees

      254,247

Distribution fees — Class 2

      2,127,535

Custodian fees

      29,816

Administrative and compliance services fees

      16,311

Transfer agent fees

      11,597

Trustee fees

      50,842

Professional fees

      45,931

Shareholder reports

      32,894

Other expenses

      214,989
   

 

 

 

Total expenses before reductions

      6,767,784

Less expenses voluntarily waived/reimbursed by the Manager

      (747,161 )
   

 

 

 

Net expenses

      6,020,623
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      5,684,838
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities

      47,747,538

Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts

      3,195,144

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities

      214,625,906

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts

      12,468
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      265,581,056
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 271,265,894
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

11


AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 5,684,838     $ 7,258,773

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      50,942,682       101,140,025

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      214,638,374       (103,967,431 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      271,265,894       4,431,367
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Class 1

      (8,764,900 )       (6,742,081 )

Class 2

      (99,221,220 )       (80,249,124 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (107,986,120 )       (86,991,205 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Class 1

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      149,155       20,832

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      8,764,900       6,742,081

Value of shares redeemed

      (7,700,670 )       (6,120,493 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 1 Shares

      1,213,385       642,420
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Class 2

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      42,366,134       45,892,002

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      99,221,220       80,249,124

Value of shares redeemed

      (201,891,268 )       (321,402,155 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 2 Shares

      (60,303,914 )       (195,261,029 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      (59,090,529 )       (194,618,609 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      104,189,245       (277,178,447 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      824,286,722       1,101,465,169
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 928,475,967     $ 824,286,722
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Class 1

       

Shares issued

      12,270       1,674

Dividends reinvested

      848,490       601,435

Shares redeemed

      (658,639 )       (505,673 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 1 Shares

      202,121       97,436
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Class 2

       

Shares issued

      2,600,227       3,002,476

Dividends reinvested

      6,838,127       5,349,942

Shares redeemed

      (12,630,974 )       (19,834,691 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 2 Shares

      (3,192,620 )       (11,482,273 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      (2,990,499 )       (11,384,837 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

12


AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

    Year Ended December 31,
     2019   2018   2017   2016^   2015

Class 1

                   

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 10.12     $ 11.74     $ 10.28     $ 10.00    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.10 (a)       0.13       0.14       0.03    

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      3.28       (0.20 )       2.73       0.25    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total from Investment Activities

      3.38       (0.07 )       2.87       0.28    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.18 )       (0.20 )       (0.05 )          

Net Realized Gains

      (1.86 )       (1.35 )       (1.36 )          
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total Dividends

      (2.04 )       (1.55 )       (1.41 )          
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 11.46     $ 10.12     $ 11.74     $ 10.28    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total Return(b)

      35.53 %       (1.86 )%       29.19 %       2.80 %(c)    

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 57,430     $ 48,665     $ 55,307     $ 49,297    

Net Investment Income/(Loss)(d)

      0.86 %       0.96 %       1.04 %       1.26 %    

Expenses Before Reductions(d)(e)

      0.51 %       0.50 %       0.50 %       0.50 %    

Expenses Net of Reductions(d)

      0.43 %       0.43 %       0.45 %       0.45 %    

Portfolio Turnover Rate(f)

      15 %       17 %       12 %       158 %(g)    

Class 2

                   

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 13.53     $ 15.21     $ 12.99     $ 15.32     $ 17.11
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.10 (a)       0.15       0.13       0.04       0.19

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      4.46       (0.33 )       3.49       0.84       0.54
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      4.56       (0.18 )       3.62       0.88       0.73
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.13 )       (0.15 )       (0.04 )       (0.16 )       (0.19 )

Net Realized Gains

      (1.86 )       (1.35 )       (1.36 )       (3.05 )       (2.33 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (1.99 )       (1.50 )       (1.40 )       (3.21 )       (2.52 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 16.10     $ 13.53     $ 15.21     $ 12.99     $ 15.32
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(b)

      35.28 %       (2.14 )%       28.89 %       6.43 %       4.86 %

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 871,046     $ 775,621     $ 1,046,158     $ 1,065,322     $ 101,530

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.61 %       0.71 %       0.79 %       0.99 %       0.86 %

Expenses Before Reductions(e)

      0.76 %       0.75 %       0.75 %       0.77 %       0.78 %

Expenses Net of Reductions

      0.68 %       0.68 %       0.70 %       0.72 %       0.78 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate(f)

      15 %       17 %       12 %       158 %(g)       14 %

 

^

Class 1 activity is for the period October 17, 2016 (commencement of operations) to December 31, 2016.

 

(a)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(b)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(c)

Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(d)

Annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(e)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

(f)

Portfolio turnover rate is calculated on the basis of the Fund as a whole without distinguishing between classes of shares issued. Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(g)

Cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of portfolio securities incurred to realign the Fund’s portfolio after the fund merger are excluded from the portfolio turnover rate. If such amounts had not been excluded, the portfolio turnover rate would have been 158%.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

13


AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services — Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Foreign Currency Translation and Withholding Taxes

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding and other income or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Funds accrue such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Each class of shares bears its pro-rata portion of expenses attributable to its series, except that each class separately bears expenses related specifically to that class, such as distribution fees. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance

 

14


AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

Class Allocation

The investment income, expenses (other than class specific expenses charged to a class), realized and unrealized gains and losses on investments of the Fund are allocated to each class of shares based upon relative net assets on the date income is earned or expenses and realized and unrealized gains and losses are incurred.

Securities Lending

To generate additional income, the Fund may lend up to 33 1/3% of its assets pursuant to agreements requiring that the loan be continuously secured by any combination of cash, U.S. government or U.S. government agency securities, equal initially to at least 102% of the fair value plus accrued interest on the securities loaned (105% for foreign securities). The borrower of securities is at all times required to post collateral to the Fund in an amount equal to 100% of the fair value of the securities loaned based on the previous day’s fair value of the securities loaned, marked-to-market daily. Any collateral shortfalls are adjusted the next business day. The Fund bears all of the gains and losses on such investments. The Fund receives payments from borrowers equivalent to the dividends and interest that would have been earned on securities lent while simultaneously seeking to earn income on the investment of cash collateral received. In extremely low interest rate environments, the broker rebate fee may exceed the interest earned or the cash collateral which would result in a loss to the Fund. The investment of cash collateral deposited by the borrower is subject to inherent market risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks that are present in the market, and as such, the value of these investments may not be sufficient, when liquidated, to repay the borrower when the loaned security is returned. There may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. However, loans will be made only to borrowers, such as broker-dealers, banks or institutional borrowers of securities, deemed by the Manager to be of good standing and credit worthy and when in its judgment, the consideration which can be earned currently from such securities loans justifies the attendant risks. Loans are subject to termination by the Trust or the borrower at any time, and are, therefore, not considered to be illiquid investments. Securities on loan at December 31, 2019 are presented on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

Cash collateral received in connection with securities lending is invested on behalf of the Fund in the BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, a money market fund which invests in short-term investments that have a remaining maturity of 397 days or less in accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. The Fund pays the Securities Lending Agent 9% of the gross revenues received from securities lending activities and keeps 91%. The Fund paid securities lending fees of $12,645 during the year ended December 31, 2019. These fees have been netted against “Income from securities lending” on the Statement of Operations. The Fund had securities lending transactions of $4,135,249 accounted for as secured borrowings with cash collateral of overnight and continuous maturities as of December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019, there were no master netting provisions in the securities lending agreement.

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not engage in any Rule 17a-7 transactions under the Rule.

Derivative Instruments

All open derivative positions at period end are reflected on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments. The following is a description of the derivative instruments utilized by the Fund, including the primary underlying risk exposures related to each instrument type.

Futures Contracts

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund used futures contracts to provide market exposure on the Fund’s cash balances. Futures contracts are valued based upon their quoted daily settlement prices. Upon entering into a futures contract, the Fund is required to segregate liquid assets in accordance with the initial margin requirements of the broker or exchange. Futures contracts are marked to market daily and a payable or receivable for the change in value (“variation margin”) is recorded by the Fund. Gains or losses are recognized but not considered realized until the contracts expire or are closed. Futures contracts involve, to varying degrees, elements of market risk (generally equity price risk related to stock futures, interest rate risk related to bond futures, and foreign currency risk related to currency futures) and exposure to loss in excess of the variation margin disclosed in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are the imperfect correlation between the change in fair value of the underlying securities and the prices of futures contracts, the possibility of an illiquid market, and the inability of the counterparty to meet the terms of the contract. The monthly average notional amount for long contracts was $13.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Realized gains and losses are reported as “Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts” on the Statement of Operations.

Summary of Derivative Instruments

The following is a summary of the fair values of derivative instruments on the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities, categorized by risk exposure, as of December 31, 2019:

 

   

Asset Derivatives

   

Liability Derivatives

 
Primary Risk Exposure   Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
    Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
 

Equity Risk

     
Equity Contracts   Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $ 97,697     Payable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $  

 

*

For futures contracts, the amounts represent the cumulative appreciation/depreciation of these futures contracts as reported in the Schedule of Portfolio Investments. Only the current day’s variation margin is reported within the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as Variation margin on futures contracts.

 

15


AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

The following is a summary of the effect of derivative instruments on the Statement of Operations, categorized by risk exposure, for the year ended December 31, 2019:

 

Primary Risk Exposure   Location of Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
   Realized Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
     Change in Net Unrealized
Appreciation/Depreciation on
Derivatives Recognized
 

Equity Risk

     
Equity Contracts  

Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts/

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts

   $ 3,195,144        $12,468  

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to a subadvisory agreement with BlackRock Investment Management, LLC (“BlackRock Investment”), BlackRock Investment provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate*      Annual Expense Limit

AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund Class 1

         0.44 %          0.59 %

AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund Class 2

         0.44 %          0.84 %

 

*

The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.36% on all assets. The manager reserves the right to increase the management fee to the amount shown in the table at any time.

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the average daily net assets attributable of Class 2 shares, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $6,777 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance

 

16


AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Futures contracts are valued at the last sales price as of the close of the primary exchange and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy.

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total
                             

Common Stocks+

       $ 908,433,020        $        $        $ 908,433,020

Preferred Stocks

                           4,981,200          4,981,200

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

         4,135,249                            4,135,249

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

         14,935,039                            14,935,039
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

         927,503,308                   4,981,200          932,484,508
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Other Financial Instruments:*

                           

Futures Contracts

         97,697                            97,697
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $     927,601,005        $     —        $     4,981,200        $     932,582,205
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

*

Other Financial Instruments would include any derivative instruments, such as futures contracts. These investments are generally recorded in the financial statements at variation margin.

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

       $ 130,579,518        $ 281,816,917

6. Restricted Securities

A restricted security is a security which has been purchased through a private offering and cannot be resold to the general public without prior registration under the Securities Act of 1933 (the “1933 Act”) or pursuant to the resale limitations provided by Rule 144A under the 1933 Act, or an exemption from the registration requirements of the 1933 Act. Whether a restricted security is illiquid is determined pursuant to guidelines established by the Trustees. Not all restricted securities are considered illiquid. The illiquid restricted securities held as of December 31, 2019 are identified below.

 

Security      Acquisition
Date(a)
     Acquisition
Cost
     Shares or
Principal
Amount
     Fair
Value
     Percentage of
Net
Assets

Palantir Technologies, Inc., Series I

         2/7/14        $ 5,157,898        $ 841,419        $ 4,981,200          0.54 %

 

(a)

Acquisition date represents the initial purchase date of the security.

 

17


AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

7. Investment Risks

Derivatives Risk: The Fund may invest in derivatives as a principal strategy. A derivative is a financial contract whose value depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or risk. Use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Derivatives are subject to a number of other risks, such as liquidity risk, interest rate risk, market risk, credit risk, and selection risk. Derivatives also involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate, or index. Using derivatives may result in losses, possibly in excess of the principal amount invested. Also, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances. The counterparty to a derivatives contract could default. As required by applicable law, a Fund that invests in derivatives segregates cash or liquid securities, or both, to the extent that its obligations under the instrument are not covered through ownership of the underlying security, financial instrument, or currency.

8. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $533,750,873. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 407,760,611  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (9,026,976
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 398,733,635  
 

 

 

 

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

       $ 10,376,759        $ 97,609,361        $ 107,986,120

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

       $ 18,689,900        $ 68,301,305        $ 86,991,205

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
     Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
     Total
Accumulated
Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

       $ 7,879,922        $ 48,100,316        $        $ 398,733,634        $ 454,713,872

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales, mark-to-market of futures contracts and other miscellaneous differences.

9. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had an individual shareholder account which is affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 70% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

10. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

18


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

19


Other Federal Income Tax Information (Unaudited)

For the year ended December 31, 2019, 100.00% of the total ordinary income dividends paid by the Fund qualify for the corporate dividends received deductions available to corporate shareholders.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net short-term capital gain distributions of $3,231,571.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net long-term capital gain distributions of $97,609,361.

 

20


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

21


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for

 

22


the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

 

23


The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

24


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

25


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

26


LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.   
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL ® Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 13

Statement of Operations

Page 13

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 14

Financial Highlights

Page 15

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 16

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 22

Other Federal Income Tax Information

Page 23

Other Information

Page 24

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 25

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 28

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® Russell 1000 Value Index Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and BlackRock Investment Management, LLC serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® Russell 1000 Value Index Fund (Class 2 Shares) (the “Fund”) returned 25.86%. That compared to a 26.54% total return for its benchmark, the Russell 1000® Value Index (“Index“)1.

The Fund takes positions in securities that, in combination, should have similar return characteristics as the return of the Index. The Index is designed to provide a comprehensive measure of value stocks’ performance.*

Equities rebounded in the first quarter as U.S. trade negotiations with China and relatively strong corporate earnings growth helped investor sentiment recover from steep losses at the end of 2018. Stocks and bonds both received a boost from the Federal Reserve Board’s (the Fed) shift to a more dovish tone in January, as it announced it would refrain from interest rate hikes for the near future. Despite a 35-day government shutdown and global economic weakness, the U.S. economy continued to exhibit a tight labor market, low inflation and slowing but stable economic growth.

In the second quarter, the prospect of lower interest rates generally provided a boost to equities. Renewed trade concerns contributed to volatility during the quarter, however, with the S&P 500 Index2 dropping -6.4% after President Trump threatened to increase tariffs against China and Mexico. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield declined 50 basis points (0.50%) to 2%—the lowest level since 2016—and the resulting negative spread between three-month and

10-year yields added to uncertainty.

Trade tensions were a key focus for domestic and global investors in the third quarter. The Fed lowered interest rates again in July and September to offset that potential risk as well as weak global growth. U.S. manufacturing and consumer sectors showed signs of weakness. The closely monitored two-year, 10-year Treasury yield spread inverted for the first time since the global financial crisis, but ended the quarter in positive territory.

In the fourth quarter, expectations of a U.S.-China trade deal, strong economic growth and easy monetary policy boosted investors’ appetite for risk, although there were still signs of weakness, including in manufacturing. Despite the strength of the U.S. economy, the Fed cut federal fund rates by 25 basis points (0.25%) to 1.75%, marking the third rate cut of the year.

From a sector perspective, all sectors in the Index had positive returns. The largest positive returns came from the information technology, industrials, and financials sectors. The lowest contributors were the energy, healthcare, and materials sectors.

The Fund uses derivatives for the purpose of efficient portfolio management, and derivatives did not have a significant impact on the Fund’s return in 2019. Futures are not used for speculative or leveraged positions in the portfolio and we keep cash to fully cover all outstanding futures positions. The Fund’s use of futures contracts provides immediate market exposure proportionate to cash accruals and investable cash within the portfolio. Skillful cash management and cash equitization are critical to minimizing the potential impact of cash drag and ensure tight tracking to the benchmark.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

* 

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmark please refer to page 2 of this report.

2 

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is unmanaged and is representative of 500 selected common stocks, most of which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and is a measure of the U.S. Stock market as a whole. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

 

 

1


AZL® Russell 1000 Value Index Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

The Fund’s investment objective is to match the total return of the Russell 1000® Value Index. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing in all stocks in the Index in proportion to their weighting in the Index.

Investment Concerns

Equity securities (stocks) are more volatile and carry more risk than other forms of investments, including investments in high-grade fixed income securities. The net asset value per share of this Fund will fluctuate as the value of the securities in the portfolio changes.

Value-based investments are subject to the risk that the broad market may not recognize their intrinsic value.

The performance of the Fund is expected to be lower than that of the Index because of Fund fees and expenses. Securities in which the Fund will invest may involve substantial risk and may be subject to sudden severe price declines.

Investing in derivatives instruments involves risks that may be different from or greater than the risk associated with investing directly in securities or other traditional instruments.

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmark and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

     Inception
Date
     1
Year
    3
Year
    5
Year
    Since
Inception
 

AZL® Russell 1000 Value Index Fund (Class 1 Shares)

     10/14/16         26.13 %      9.38     —         11.33

AZL® Russell 1000 Value Index Fund (Class 2 Shares)

     4/30/10         25.86 %      9.10     7.59     10.40

Russell 1000® Value Index

     4/30/10        26.54     9.68     8.29     11.17

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratios

   Gross  

AZL® Russell 1000 Value Index Fund (Class 1 Shares)

     0.50

AZL® Russell 1000 Value Index Fund (Class 2 Shares)

     0.75

The above expense ratios are based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.36% on all assets. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense), to 0.59% for Class 1

Shares and 0.84% for Class 2 Shares through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratios can be found in the Financial Highlights.

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Russell 1000® Value Index, an unmanaged index that measures the performance of the large-cap value segment of the U.S. equity universe. It includes those Russell 1000 companies with lower price-to-book ratios and lower expected growth values. The index does not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The Fund’s performance reflects the deduction of fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

2


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund, Class 1

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,086.00     $ 2.21       0.42 %

AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,085.50     $ 3.52       0.67 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund, Class 1

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,023.09     $ 2.14       0.42 %

AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,021.83     $ 3.41       0.67 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

Financials

      23.7 %

Health Care

      12.8

Industrials

      9.6

Consumer Staples

      8.7

Energy

      8.1

Communication Services

      8.0

Utilities

      6.5

Information Technology

      6.2

Consumer Discretionary

      5.8

Real Estate

      5.1

Materials

      4.2
   

 

 

 

Total Common Stocks

      98.7

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

      1.2

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

      0.4
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      100.3

Net other assets (liabilities)

      (0.3 )
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

3


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks (98.7%):       
Aerospace & Defense (1.8%):       
  25,206      Arconic, Inc.    $ 775,589  
  1,691      BWX Technologies, Inc.      104,977  
  2,676      Curtiss-Wright Corp.      377,022  
  15,455      General Dynamics Corp.      2,725,490  
  395      Hexcel Corp.      28,957  
  571      Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.      143,252  
  7,143      L3harris Technologies, Inc.      1,413,385  
  6,912      Raytheon Co.      1,518,843  
  715      Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc., Class A      52,109  
  2,362      Teledyne Technologies, Inc.*      818,527  
  14,729      Textron, Inc.      656,913  
  600      TransDigm Group, Inc.      336,000  
  52,970      United Technologies Corp.      7,932,788  
     

 

 

 
        16,883,852  
     

 

 

 
Air Freight & Logistics (0.3%):       
  2,200      C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.^      172,040  
  3,123      Expeditors International of Washington, Inc.      243,656  
  15,677      FedEx Corp.      2,370,520  
  2,557      XPO Logistics, Inc.*      203,793  
     

 

 

 
        2,990,009  
     

 

 

 
Airlines (0.5%):       
  4,142      Alaska Air Group, Inc.      280,621  
  22,841      American Airlines Group, Inc.^      655,080  
  2,077      Copa Holdings SA, Class A      224,482  
  29,904      Delta Air Lines, Inc.      1,748,785  
  17,166      JetBlue Airways Corp.*      321,348  
  12,581      Southwest Airlines Co.      679,122  
  11,839      United Airlines Holdings, Inc.*      1,042,898  
     

 

 

 
        4,952,336  
     

 

 

 
Auto Components (0.3%):       
  15,626      Aptiv plc      1,484,001  
  13,366      BorgWarner, Inc.      579,817  
  16,942      Gentex Corp.      490,979  
  14,914      Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.      231,987  
  3,918      Lear Corp.      537,550  
     

 

 

 
        3,324,334  
     

 

 

 
Automobiles (0.6%):       
  254,285      Ford Motor Co.      2,364,851  
  80,600      General Motors Co.      2,949,959  
  10,119      Harley-Davidson, Inc.      376,326  
  3,520      Thor Industries, Inc.      261,501  
     

 

 

 
        5,952,637  
     

 

 

 
Banks (11.1%):       
  10,719      Associated Banc-Corp.      236,247  
  531,400      Bank of America Corp.      18,715,908  
  2,655      Bank of Hawaii Corp.      252,650  
  7,745      Bank OZK      236,261  
  5,921      BankUnited, Inc.      216,472  
  2,173      BOK Financial Corp.      189,920  
  5,498      CIT Group, Inc.      250,874  
  142,480      Citigroup, Inc.      11,382,727  
  28,413      Citizens Financial Group, Inc.      1,153,852  
  8,843      Comerica, Inc.      634,485  
  6,669      Commerce Bancshares, Inc.^      453,092  
  3,835      Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc.^      374,986  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Banks, continued       
  9,473      East West Bancorp, Inc.    $ 461,335  
  21,392      F.N.B. Corp.      271,678  
  46,366      Fifth Third Bancorp      1,425,291  
  458      First Citizens BancShares, Inc., Class A      243,752  
  9,016      First Hawaiian, Inc.      260,112  
  20,065      First Horizon National Corp.      332,276  
  8,770      First Republic Bank      1,030,037  
  67,324      Huntington Bancshares, Inc.      1,015,246  
  203,615      JPMorgan Chase & Co.      28,383,932  
  64,070      KeyCorp      1,296,777  
  8,655      M&T Bank Corp.      1,469,186  
  8,003      PacWest Bancorp      306,275  
  26,853      People’s United Financial, Inc.      453,816  
  4,833      Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc.      309,312  
  28,578      PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.      4,561,906  
  5,970      Popular, Inc.      350,738  
  5,238      Prosperity Bancshares, Inc.      376,560  
  63,086      Regions Financial Corp.      1,082,556  
  1,753      Signature Bank      239,477  
  12,876      Sterling Bancorp      271,426  
  3,137      SVB Financial Group*      787,512  
  8,447      Synovus Financial Corp.      331,122  
  9,741      TCF Financial Corp.      455,879  
  3,179      Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc.*      180,472  
  87,014      Truist Financial Corp.      4,900,628  
  92,948      U.S. Bancorp      5,510,887  
  14,148      Umpqua Holdings Corp.      250,420  
  5,984      Webster Financial Corp.      319,306  
  248,859      Wells Fargo & Co.      13,388,614  
  5,485      Western Alliance Bancorp      312,645  
  3,601      Wintrust Financial Corp.      255,311  
  10,889      Zions Bancorp      565,357  
     

 

 

 
        105,497,315  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (1.0%):       
  312      Brown-Forman Corp., Class A      19,584  
  604      Brown-Forman Corp., Class B      40,830  
  79,492      Coca-Cola Co. (The)      4,399,882  
  10,326      Constellation Brands, Inc., Class C      1,959,359  
  13,284      Keurig Dr Pepper, Inc.      384,572  
  11,435      Molson Coors Brewing Co., Class B      616,347  
  14,644      PepsiCo, Inc.      2,001,395  
     

 

 

 
        9,421,969  
     

 

 

 
Biotechnology (1.2%):       
  3,597      Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      171,757  
  3,421      Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      369,981  
  9,497      Alkermes plc*      193,739  
  1,176      Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      135,440  
  3,140      Amgen, Inc.      756,960  
  7,717      Biogen, Inc.*      2,289,865  
  3,577      Bluebird Bio, Inc.*      313,882  
  11,222      Exelixis, Inc.*      197,732  
  71,310      Gilead Sciences, Inc.      4,633,723  
  1,256      Moderna, Inc.*^      24,567  
  4,222      Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      1,585,277  
  2,765      United Therapeutics Corp.*      243,541  
     

 

 

 
        10,916,464  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Building Products (0.5%):       
  7,559      A.O. Smith Corp.    $ 360,111  
  1,525      Allegion plc      189,924  
  6,023      Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc.      393,543  
  50,921      Johnson Controls International plc      2,072,993  
  167      Lennox International, Inc.      40,743  
  18,630      Masco Corp.      894,054  
  6,884      Owens Corning, Inc.      448,286  
  8,547      Resideo Technologies, Inc.*      101,966  
     

 

 

 
        4,501,620  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (3.6%):       
  3,126      Affiliated Managers Group, Inc.      264,897  
  7,125      Ameriprise Financial, Inc.      1,186,883  
  53,677      Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (The)      2,701,563  
  19,529      BGC Partners, Inc., Class A      116,002  
  7,699      BlackRock, Inc., Class A+      3,870,287  
  5,336      Cboe Global Markets, Inc.      640,320  
  30,087      Charles Schwab Corp. (The)      1,430,938  
  23,112      CME Group, Inc.      4,639,041  
  12,078      E*TRADE Financial Corp.      547,979  
  7,242      Eaton Vance Corp.      338,129  
  1,572      Evercore, Inc., Class A      117,523  
  18,103      Franklin Resources, Inc.      470,316  
  20,809      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.      4,784,613  
  3,699      Interactive Brokers Group, Inc., Class A      172,447  
  21,556      Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.      1,995,008  
  25,179      Invesco, Ltd.      452,718  
  10,211      Janus Henderson Group plc      249,659  
  4,022      Lazard, Ltd., Class A      160,719  
  5,744      Legg Mason, Inc.      206,267  
  76,087      Morgan Stanley      3,889,567  
  7,390      Nasdaq, Inc.      791,469  
  12,671      Northern Trust Corp.      1,346,167  
  6,271      Raymond James Financial, Inc.      561,004  
  4,307      SEI Investments Co.      282,022  
  23,687      State Street Corp.      1,873,642  
  10,651      T. Rowe Price Group, Inc.      1,297,718  
  2,086      TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.      103,674  
  1,848      Virtu Financial, Inc., Class A      29,550  
     

 

 

 
        34,520,122  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (3.0%):       
  12,280      Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.      2,885,676  
  6,721      Albemarle Corp.^      490,902  
  3,746      Ashland Global Holdings, Inc.      286,681  
  8,809      Axalta Coating Systems, Ltd.*      267,794  
  3,795      Cabot Corp.      180,338  
  7,980      Celanese Corp., Series A      982,498  
  12,981      CF Industries Holdings, Inc.      619,713  
  10,297      Chemours Co. (The)      186,273  
  48,857      Corteva, Inc.      1,444,213  
  48,701      Dow, Inc.      2,665,406  
  48,470      DuPont de Nemours, Inc.      3,111,773  
  8,783      Eastman Chemical Co.      696,141  
  8,646      Element Solutions, Inc.*      100,985  
  8,469      FMC Corp.      845,376  
  14,471      Huntsman Corp.      349,619  
  6,877      International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc.^      887,271  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Chemicals, continued       
  35,117      Linde plc    $ 7,476,409  
  17,269      LyondellBasell Industries NV, Class A      1,631,575  
  22,451      Mosaic Co. (The)      485,840  
  29      NewMarket Corp.      14,109  
  10,836      Olin Corp.      186,921  
  10,338      PPG Industries, Inc.      1,380,020  
  6,943      RPM International, Inc.      532,945  
  12,501      Valvoline, Inc.      267,646  
  2,454      Westlake Chemical Corp.      172,148  
     

 

 

 
        28,148,272  
     

 

 

 
Commercial Services & Supplies (0.3%):       
  8,460      ADT, Inc.^      67,088  
  3,352      Clean Harbors, Inc.*      287,434  
  682      IAA, Inc.*      32,095  
  682      KAR Auction Services, Inc.      14,861  
  12,995      Republic Services, Inc., Class A      1,164,741  
  5,878      Stericycle, Inc.*^      375,075  
  6,056      Waste Management, Inc.      690,142  
     

 

 

 
        2,631,436  
     

 

 

 
Communications Equipment (0.2%):       
  10,175      Ciena Corp.*      434,371  
  12,724      CommScope Holding Co., Inc.*      180,554  
  3,220      EchoStar Corp., Class A*      139,458  
  253      F5 Networks, Inc.*      35,331  
  22,108      Juniper Networks, Inc.      544,520  
  2,857      Motorola Solutions, Inc.      460,377  
  3,607      ViaSat, Inc.*      264,014  
     

 

 

 
        2,058,625  
     

 

 

 
Construction & Engineering (0.2%):       
  9,949      AECOM*      429,100  
  8,737      Fluor Corp.      164,955  
  8,445      Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc.      758,614  
  7,349      Quanta Services, Inc.      299,178  
  1,368      Valmont Industries, Inc.      204,899  
     

 

 

 
        1,856,746  
     

 

 

 
Construction Materials (0.1%):       
  470      Eagle Materials, Inc., Class A      42,610  
  2,853      Martin Marietta Materials, Inc.      797,814  
  754      Vulcan Materials Co.      108,568  
     

 

 

 
        948,992  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (1.0%):       
  25,043      Ally Financial, Inc.      765,314  
  19,358      American Express Co.      2,409,877  
  30,339      Capital One Financial Corp.      3,122,186  
  69      Credit Acceptance Corp.*      30,521  
  13,391      Discover Financial Services      1,135,825  
  12,342      Navient Corp.      168,839  
  4,428      Onemain Holdings, Inc.      186,640  
  6,487      Santander Consumer USA Holdings, Inc.      151,601  
  26,825      SLM Corp.      239,011  
  30,757      Synchrony Financial      1,107,560  
     

 

 

 
        9,317,374  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (0.5%):       
  2,388      AptarGroup, Inc.      276,101  
  1,027      Ardagh Group SA      20,109  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Containers & Packaging, continued       
  340      Avery Dennison Corp.    $ 44,479  
  5,510      Berry Global Group, Inc.*      261,670  
  3,468      Crown Holdings, Inc.*      251,569  
  18,848      Graphic Packaging Holding Co.      313,819  
  25,575      International Paper Co.      1,177,728  
  10,515      O-I Glass, Inc.      125,444  
  6,034      Packaging Corp. of America      675,748  
  9,460      Sealed Air Corp.      376,792  
  5,199      Silgan Holdings, Inc.      161,585  
  6,584      Sonoco Products Co.      406,364  
  16,640      WestRock Co.      714,022  
     

 

 

 
        4,805,430  
     

 

 

 
Distributors (0.2%):       
  9,061      Genuine Parts Co.      962,550  
  16,793      LKQ Corp.*      599,510  
     

 

 

 
        1,562,060  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Consumer Services (0.2%):       
  5,449      Frontdoor, Inc.*      258,392  
  268      Graham Holdings Co., Class B      171,249  
  2,873      Grand Canyon Education, Inc.*      275,205  
  10,796      H&R Block, Inc.      253,490  
  7,410      Service Corp. International      341,082  
  7,577      ServiceMaster Global Holdings, Inc.*      292,927  
     

 

 

 
        1,592,345  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (3.2%):       
  26,820      AXA Equitable Holdings, Inc.      664,600  
  127,719      Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., Class B*      28,928,353  
  17,465      Jefferies Financial Group, Inc.      373,227  
  8,117      Voya Financial, Inc.      494,975  
     

 

 

 
        30,461,155  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (3.8%):       
  476,736      AT&T, Inc.      18,630,843  
  70,186      CenturyLink, Inc.      927,157  
  270,357      Verizon Communications, Inc.      16,599,920  
     

 

 

 
        36,157,920  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (3.9%):       
  15,617      Alliant Energy Corp.      854,562  
  32,290      American Electric Power Co., Inc.      3,051,728  
  3,549      Avangrid, Inc.      181,567  
  47,615      Duke Energy Corp.      4,342,964  
  22,765      Edison International      1,716,709  
  12,930      Entergy Corp.      1,549,014  
  15,227      Evergy, Inc.      991,125  
  21,071      Eversource Energy      1,792,510  
  63,402      Exelon Corp.      2,890,497  
  34,999      FirstEnergy Corp.      1,700,951  
  7,055      Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.      330,597  
  3,298      IDA Corp., Inc.      352,226  
  31,879      NextEra Energy, Inc.      7,719,819  
  12,930      OGE Energy Corp.      574,997  
  34,657      PG&E Corp.*      376,722  
  7,357      Pinnacle West Capital Corp.      661,615  
  46,994      PPL Corp.      1,686,145  
  67,898      Southern Co. (The)      4,325,103  
  34,147      Xcel Energy, Inc.      2,167,993  
     

 

 

 
        37,266,844  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Electrical Equipment (0.8%):       
  1,813      Acuity Brands, Inc.    $ 250,194  
  2,960      AMETEK, Inc.      295,230  
  27,082      Eaton Corp. plc      2,565,206  
  36,372      Emerson Electric Co.      2,773,729  
  4,490      GrafTech International, Ltd.      52,174  
  1,673      Hubbell, Inc.      247,303  
  9,505      nVent Electric plc      243,138  
  2,816      Regal-Beloit Corp.      241,078  
  5,940      Sensata Technologies Holding plc*      319,988  
     

 

 

 
        6,988,040  
     

 

 

 
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (0.5%):       
  5,269      Arrow Electronics, Inc.*      446,495  
  6,379      Avnet, Inc.      270,725  
  1,545      Coherent, Inc.*      257,011  
  34,155      Corning, Inc.      994,252  
  3,624      Dolby Laboratories, Inc., Class A      249,331  
  8,254      FLIR Systems, Inc.      429,786  
  2,122      IPG Photonics Corp.*      307,520  
  7,659      Jabil, Inc.      316,546  
  1,539      Littlelfuse, Inc.      294,411  
  7,991      National Instruments Corp.      338,339  
  2,670      SYNNEX Corp.      343,896  
  13,906      Trimble, Inc.*      579,741  
     

 

 

 
        4,828,053  
     

 

 

 
Energy Equipment & Services (0.8%):       
  5,007      Apergy Corp.*      169,136  
  42,341      Baker Hughes Co.      1,085,200  
  56,377      Halliburton Co.      1,379,545  
  6,950      Helmerich & Payne, Inc.      315,739  
  25,722      National-Oilwell Varco, Inc.      644,336  
  13,309      Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc.      139,745  
  90,379      Schlumberger, Ltd.      3,633,236  
  37,211      Transocean, Ltd.*      256,012  
     

 

 

 
        7,622,949  
     

 

 

 
Entertainment (2.3%):       
  46,656      Activision Blizzard, Inc.      2,772,300  
  7,001      Cinemark Holdings, Inc.      236,984  
  1,808      Electronic Arts, Inc.*      194,378  
  1,716      Liberty Media Corp-Liberty Formula One, Class A*      75,126  
  12,807      Liberty Media Corp-Liberty Formula One, Class C*      588,674  
  3,570      Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., Class A*      38,056  
  6,558      Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., Class B*      65,121  
  1,093      Madison Square Garden Co. (The), Class A*      321,550  
  4,011      Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.*      491,067  
  114,016      Walt Disney Co. (The)      16,490,133  
  45,041      Zynga, Inc.*      275,651  
     

 

 

 
        21,549,040  
     

 

 

 
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (4.9%):       
  7,394      Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.      1,194,723  
  8,719      American Campus Communities, Inc.      410,055  
  9,181      American Homes 4 Rent, Class A      240,634  
  9,550      Apartment Investment & Management Co.      493,258  
  14,261      Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc.      231,741  
  9,033      AvalonBay Communities, Inc.      1,894,220  
  10,052      Boston Properties, Inc.      1,385,769  
  10,946      Brandywine Realty Trust      172,400  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts, continued       
  18,906      Brixmor Property Group, Inc.    $ 408,559  
  6,101      Camden Property Trust      647,316  
  28,433      Colony Capital, Inc.      135,057  
  7,316      Columbia Property Trust, Inc.      152,978  
  560      Coresite Realty Corp.      62,787  
  7,444      Corporate Office Properties Trust      218,705  
  9,524      Cousins Properties, Inc.      392,389  
  12,265      CubeSmart      386,102  
  7,424      Cyrusone, Inc.      485,752  
  13,500      Digital Realty Trust, Inc.      1,616,490  
  10,945      Douglas Emmett, Inc.      480,486  
  23,876      Duke Realty Corp.      827,781  
  10,249      Empire State Realty Trust, Inc., Class A      143,076  
  4,841      EPR Properties      341,968  
  7,616      Equity Commonwealth      250,033  
  23,749      Equity Residential      1,921,769  
  4,256      Essex Property Trust, Inc.      1,280,460  
  1,616      Extra Space Storage, Inc.      170,682  
  4,931      Federal Realty Investment Trust      634,768  
  13,475      Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc.      580,099  
  12,943      Healthcare Trust of America, Inc., Class A      391,914  
  31,947      Healthpeak Properties, Inc.      1,101,213  
  6,796      Highwoods Properties, Inc.      332,392  
  46,512      Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc.      862,798  
  10,255      Hudson Pacific Properties, Inc.      386,101  
  34,701      Invitation Homes, Inc.      1,039,989  
  16,502      Iron Mountain, Inc.      525,919  
  8,265      JBG SMITH Properties      329,691  
  6,727      Kilroy Realty Corp.      564,395  
  26,335      Kimco Realty Corp.      545,398  
  10,110      Liberty Property Trust      607,106  
  3,069      Life Storage, Inc.      332,311  
  33,438      Medical Properties Trust, Inc.      705,876  
  7,355      Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc.      969,830  
  11,081      National Retail Properties, Inc.      594,163  
  14,148      Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc.      599,168  
  8,098      Outfront Media, Inc.      217,188  
  12,807      Paramount Group, Inc.      178,273  
  15,789      Parks Hotels & Resorts, Inc.      408,461  
  40,839      ProLogis, Inc.      3,640,389  
  2,367      Public Storage, Inc.      504,076  
  8,353      Rayonier, Inc.      273,644  
  21,197      Realty Income Corp.      1,560,735  
  10,977      Regency Centers Corp.      692,539  
  13,478      Retail Properties of America, Inc., Class A      180,605  
  10,658      Service Properties Trust      259,309  
  2,288      Simon Property Group, Inc.      340,820  
  9,487      SITE Centers Corp.      133,008  
  5,256      SL Green Realty Corp.      482,921  
  6,428      Spirit Realty Capital, Inc.      316,129  
  13,828      STORE Capital Corp.      514,955  
  4,443      Sun Communities, Inc.      666,894  
  4,058      Taubman Centers, Inc.^      126,163  
  9,648      The Macerich Co.^      259,724  
  17,744      UDR, Inc.      828,645  
  24,191      Ventas, Inc.      1,396,788  
  68,435      VEREIT, Inc.      632,339  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts, continued       
  30,467      VICI Properties, Inc.    $ 778,432  
  11,284      Vornado Realty Trust      750,386  
  8,093      Weingarten Realty Investors      252,825  
  26,319      Welltower, Inc.      2,152,368  
  48,472      Weyerhaeuser Co.      1,463,854  
  11,144      WP Carey, Inc.      891,966  
     

 

 

 
        46,951,757  
     

 

 

 
Food & Staples Retailing (1.7%):       
  1,766      Casey’s General Stores, Inc.      280,776  
  1,721      Grocery Outlet Holding Corp.*      55,846  
  51,652      Kroger Co. (The)      1,497,391  
  4,312      Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc.*      83,437  
  14,159      US Foods Holding Corp.*      593,121  
  49,181      Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.      2,899,712  
  91,645      Walmart, Inc.      10,891,093  
     

 

 

 
        16,301,376  
     

 

 

 
Food Products (2.0%):       
  36,265      Archer-Daniels-Midland Co.      1,680,883  
  3,084      Beyond Meat, Inc.*^      233,150  
  8,957      Bunge, Ltd.      515,475  
  4,939      Campbell Soup Co.      244,085  
  31,595      Conagra Brands, Inc.      1,081,813  
  12,720      Flowers Foods, Inc.      276,533  
  39,006      General Mills, Inc.      2,089,160  
  5,407      Hain Celestial Group, Inc.*      140,339  
  1,273      Hershey Co. (The)      187,106  
  18,254      Hormel Foods Corp.      823,438  
  4,210      Ingredion, Inc.      391,320  
  7,219      JM Smucker Co. (The)      751,714  
  9,860      Kellogg Co.      681,918  
  40,633      Kraft Heinz Co. (The)      1,305,538  
  6,957      Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc.      598,511  
  2,879      McCormick & Co.      488,653  
  92,548      Mondelez International, Inc., Class A      5,097,543  
  2,336      Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.*      76,422  
  2,270      Post Holdings, Inc.*      247,657  
  18      Seaboard Corp.      76,510  
  3,133      TreeHouse Foods, Inc.*      151,951  
  18,715      Tyson Foods, Inc., Class A      1,703,814  
     

 

 

 
        18,843,533  
     

 

 

 
Gas Utilities (0.2%):       
  7,714      Atmos Energy Corp.      862,888  
  5,266      National Fuel Gas Co.      245,080  
  13,703      UGI Corp.      618,827  
     

 

 

 
        1,726,795  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (3.4%):       
  63,520      Abbott Laboratories      5,517,347  
  16,629      Baxter International, Inc.      1,390,517  
  15,937      Becton Dickinson & Co.      4,334,386  
  1,111      Cantel Medical Corp.      78,770  
  2,696      Cooper Cos., Inc. (The)      866,198  
  38,010      Danaher Corp.      5,833,775  
  14,705      Dentsply Sirona, Inc.      832,156  
  5,544      Envista Holdings Corp.*      164,324  
  2,244      Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc.      254,761  
  3,630      Hologic, Inc.*      189,522  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Health Care Equipment & Supplies, continued       
  827      ICU Medical, Inc.*    $ 154,748  
  4,554      Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp.*      265,407  
  87,499      Medtronic plc      9,926,762  
  5,171      Steris plc      788,164  
  1,236      West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.      185,808  
  13,345      Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.      1,997,480  
     

 

 

 
        32,780,125  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (2.5%):       
  5,852      Acadia Healthcare Co., Inc.*      194,403  
  11,724      Anthem, Inc.      3,541,000  
  19,307      Cardinal Health, Inc.      976,548  
  4,214      Centene Corp.*      264,934  
  16,584      Cigna Corp.      3,391,262  
  6,734      Covetrus, Inc.*^      88,889  
  84,710      CVS Health Corp.      6,293,107  
  6,430      DaVita, Inc.*      482,443  
  2,977      Encompass Health Corp.      206,217  
  6,982      HCA Healthcare, Inc.      1,032,009  
  8,271      Henry Schein, Inc.*      551,841  
  4,930      Humana, Inc.      1,806,944  
  5,979      Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings*      1,011,467  
  10,447      McKesson Corp.      1,445,029  
  5,207      MEDNAX, Inc.*      144,703  
  939      Molina Healthcare, Inc.*      127,413  
  4,026      Premier, Inc., Class A*      152,505  
  8,912      Quest Diagnostics, Inc.      951,712  
  5,081      Universal Health Services, Inc., Class B      728,920  
  329      WellCare Health Plans, Inc.*      108,639  
     

 

 

 
        23,499,985  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Technology (0.0%):       
  1,313      Change Healthcare, Inc.*^      21,520  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (1.8%):       
  16,108      Aramark      699,087  
  36,573      Caesars Entertainment Corp.*      497,393  
  25,819      Carnival Corp., Class A      1,312,380  
  1,321      Choice Hotels International, Inc.      136,631  
  11,676      Extended Stay America, Inc.      173,505  
  4,874      Hilton Grand Vacations, Inc.*      167,617  
  2,563      Hyatt Hotels Corp., Class A      229,927  
  6,892      International Game Technology plc      103,173  
  11,669      Las Vegas Sands Corp.      805,628  
  41,351      McDonald’s Corp.      8,171,371  
  29,767      MGM Resorts International      990,348  
  10,824      Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Ltd.*      632,230  
  11,130      Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.      1,485,966  
  4,783      Six Flags Entertainment Corp.      215,761  
  299      Vail Resorts, Inc.      71,709  
  5,923      Wyndham Destinations, Inc.      306,160  
  4,195      Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc.      263,488  
  1,170      Wynn Resorts, Ltd.      162,478  
  4,469      Yum China Holdings, Inc.      214,557  
  2,092      Yum! Brands, Inc.      210,727  
     

 

 

 
        16,850,136  
     

 

 

 
Household Durables (0.6%):       
  21,976      D.R. Horton, Inc.      1,159,234  
  9,407      Garmin, Ltd.      917,747  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Household Durables, continued       
  8,676      Leggett & Platt, Inc.    $ 441,001  
  10,650      Lennar Corp., Class A      594,164  
  523      Lennar Corp., Class B      23,378  
  3,844      Mohawk Industries, Inc.*      524,245  
  24,332      Newell Brands, Inc.      467,661  
  16,290      PulteGroup, Inc.      632,052  
  8,324      Toll Brothers, Inc.      328,881  
  3,981      Whirlpool Corp.      587,317  
     

 

 

 
        5,675,680  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (2.8%):       
  1,494      Clorox Co. (The)      229,389  
  54,918      Colgate-Palmolive Co.      3,780,555  
  3,886      Energizer Holdings, Inc.^      195,155  
  22,202      Kimberly-Clark Corp.      3,053,885  
  152,047      Procter & Gamble Co. (The)      18,990,670  
  2,731      Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.      175,576  
     

 

 

 
        26,425,230  
     

 

 

 
Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers (0.2%):  
  43,701      AES Corp. (The)      869,650  
  16,624      NRG Energy, Inc.      660,804  
  27,763      Vistra Energy Corp.      638,271  
     

 

 

 
        2,168,725  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (1.5%):       
  8,540      3M Co.      1,506,627  
  523      Carlisle Cos., Inc.      84,642  
  564,778      General Electric Co.      6,302,923  
  23,904      Honeywell International, Inc.      4,231,008  
  5,631      Roper Technologies, Inc.      1,994,669  
     

 

 

 
        14,119,869  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (4.3%):       
  47,458      Aflac, Inc.      2,510,528  
  828      Alleghany Corp.*      662,044  
  21,006      Allstate Corp. (The)      2,362,125  
  4,603      American Financial Group, Inc.      504,719  
  56,595      American International Group, Inc.      2,905,020  
  545      American National Insurance Co.      64,136  
  21,304      Arch Capital Group, Ltd.*      913,729  
  9,300      Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.      885,639  
  3,874      Assurant, Inc.      507,804  
  6,232      Assured Guaranty, Ltd.      305,493  
  5,330      Athene Holding, Ltd.*      250,670  
  4,853      Axis Capital Holdings, Ltd.      288,462  
  6,972      Brighthouse Financial, Inc.*      273,512  
  14,920      Brown & Brown, Inc.      589,042  
  29,585      Chubb, Ltd.      4,605,201  
  9,895      Cincinnati Financial Corp.      1,040,459  
  2,066      CNA Financial Corp.      92,577  
  568      Erie Indemnity Co., Class A      94,288  
  1,859      Everest Re Group, Ltd.      514,646  
  6,943      First American Financial Corp.      404,916  
  17,454      FNF Group      791,539  
  7,111      Globe Life, Inc.      748,433  
  2,593      Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (The)      354,385  
  23,374      Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The)      1,420,438  
  3,468      Kemper Corp.      268,770  
  12,825      Lincoln National Corp.      756,803  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Insurance, continued       
  16,835      Loews Corp.    $ 883,669  
  802      Markel Corp.*      916,822  
  4,080      Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc.      454,553  
  1,950      Mercury General Corp.      95,024  
  50,991      MetLife, Inc.      2,599,011  
  17,929      Old Republic International Corp.      401,072  
  814      Primerica, Inc.      106,276  
  17,814      Principal Financial Group, Inc.      979,770  
  25,499      Progressive Corp. (The)      1,845,873  
  26,356      Prudential Financial, Inc.      2,470,611  
  4,119      Reinsurance Group of America, Inc.      671,644  
  1,758      RenaissanceRe Holdings, Ltd.      344,603  
  14,242      Travelers Cos., Inc. (The)      1,950,442  
  13,699      Unum Group      399,463  
  198      White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd.      220,871  
  8,392      Willis Towers Watson plc      1,694,680  
  9,371      WR Berkley Corp.      647,536  
     

 

 

 
        40,797,298  
     

 

 

 
Interactive Media & Services (0.1%):       
  2,064      IAC/InterActiveCorp.*      514,163  
  638      TripAdvisor, Inc.      19,382  
  3,917      Zillow Group, Inc., Class A*      179,164  
  7,843      Zillow Group, Inc., Class C*^      360,307  
     

 

 

 
        1,073,016  
     

 

 

 
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail (0.0%):       
  1,241      Expedia Group, Inc.      134,202  
  24,486      Qurate Retail, Inc., Class A*      206,417  
     

 

 

 
        340,619  
     

 

 

 
IT Services (1.2%):       
  968      Akamai Technologies, Inc.*      83,616  
  2,277      Alliance Data Systems Corp.      255,479  
  8,996      Amdocs, Ltd.      649,421  
  1,611      CACI International, Inc., Class A*      402,734  
  33,006      Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Class A      2,047,032  
  4,612      CoreLogic, Inc.*      201,591  
  16,526      DXC Technology Co.      621,212  
  15,472      Fidelity National Information Services, Inc.      2,152,000  
  22,795      International Business Machines Corp.      3,055,442  
  625      Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.      91,044  
  8,655      Leidos Holdings, Inc.      847,238  
  14,556      Sabre Corp.      326,637  
  2,159      VeriSign, Inc.*      415,996  
  21,250      Western Union Co.      569,075  
     

 

 

 
        11,718,517  
     

 

 

 
Leisure Products (0.0%):       
  5,241      Brunswick Corp.      314,355  
  7,420      Mattel, Inc.*^      100,541  
  369      Polaris, Inc.      37,527  
     

 

 

 
        452,423  
     

 

 

 
Life Sciences Tools & Services (0.7%):       
  18,224      Agilent Technologies, Inc.      1,554,689  
  5,709      Avantor, Inc.*      103,618  
  1,370      Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Class A*      506,941  
  6,658      IQVIA Holdings, Inc.*      1,028,728  
  5,720      PerkinElmer, Inc.      555,412  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Life Sciences Tools & Services, continued       
  14,383      Qiagen NV*    $ 486,145  
  8,279      Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.      2,689,599  
     

 

 

 
        6,925,132  
     

 

 

 
Machinery (2.3%):       
  3,965      AGCO Corp.      306,296  
  32,325      Caterpillar, Inc.      4,773,755  
  6,001      Colfax Corp.*      218,316  
  3,259      Crane Co.      281,512  
  9,836      Cummins, Inc.      1,760,251  
  18,297      Deere & Co.      3,170,138  
  5,180      Dover Corp.      597,047  
  6,643      Flowserve Corp.      330,622  
  14,867      Fortive Corp.      1,135,690  
  8,243      Gardner Denver Holdings, Inc.*      302,353  
  3,502      Gates Industrial Corp. plc*      48,188  
  2,487      IDEX Corp.      427,764  
  988      Ingersoll-Rand plc      131,325  
  5,894      ITT, Inc.      435,626  
  311      Nordson Corp.      50,643  
  4,412      Oshkosh Corp.      417,596  
  22,039      PACCAR, Inc.      1,743,285  
  8,325      Parker Hannifin Corp.      1,713,452  
  10,581      Pentair plc      485,350  
  3,617      Snap-On, Inc.      612,720  
  9,862      Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.      1,634,528  
  4,445      Timken Co.      250,298  
  6,398      Trinity Industries, Inc.^      141,716  
  575      WABCO Holdings, Inc.*      77,913  
  8,488      Wabtec Corp.      660,366  
  692      Woodward, Inc.      81,960  
     

 

 

 
        21,788,710  
     

 

 

 
Marine (0.0%):       
  3,908      Kirby Corp.*      349,883  
     

 

 

 
Media (1.8%):       
  4,133      Charter Communications, Inc., Class A*      2,004,836  
  155,486      Comcast Corp., Class A      6,992,204  
  22,203      Discovery Communications, Inc., Class C*      676,969  
  9,957      Discovery, Inc., Class A*^      325,992  
  16,993      DISH Network Corp., Class A*      602,742  
  20,038      Fox Corp., Class A      742,809  
  10,002      Fox Corp., Class B      364,073  
  6,281      GCI Liberty, Inc., Class A*      445,009  
  22,543      Interpublic Group of Cos., Inc. (The)      520,743  
  2,946      John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Class A      142,940  
  1,810      Liberty Broadband Corp., Class A*      225,454  
  6,632      Liberty Broadband Corp., Class C*      833,974  
  5,448      Liberty SiriusXM Group, Class A*      263,356  
  10,068      Liberty SiriusXM Group, Class C*      484,674  
  8,269      New York Times Co. (The), Class A      266,014  
  25,737      News Corp., Class A      363,921  
  6,593      News Corp., Class B      95,664  
  703      Nexstar Media Group, Inc., Class A      82,427  
  6,643      Omnicom Group, Inc.      538,216  
  15,586      ViacomCBS, Inc., B      654,144  
  519      ViacomCBS, Inc., Class A      23,288  
     

 

 

 
        16,649,449  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Metals & Mining (0.7%):       
  12,114      Alcoa Corp.*    $ 260,572  
  93,774      Freeport-McMoRan, Inc.      1,230,315  
  53,121      Newmont Goldcorp Corp.      2,308,106  
  19,664      Nucor Corp.      1,106,690  
  4,193      Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.      502,154  
  2,838      Royal Gold, Inc.      346,946  
  1,587      Southern Copper Corp.      67,416  
  13,626      Steel Dynamics, Inc.      463,829  
  11,673      United States Steel Corp.^      133,189  
     

 

 

 
        6,419,217  
     

 

 

 
Mortgage Real Estate Investment Trusts (0.3%):       
  35,839      AGNC Investment Corp.      633,634  
  95,992      Annaly Capital Management, Inc.      904,245  
  12,060      Chimera Investment Corp.^      247,954  
  28,148      MFA Financial, Inc.      215,332  
  27,102      New Residential Investment Corp.      436,613  
  17,083      Starwood Property Trust, Inc.      424,683  
  17,949      Two Harbors Investment Corp.      262,414  
     

 

 

 
        3,124,875  
     

 

 

 
Multiline Retail (0.6%):       
  1,083      Dollar General Corp.      168,926  
  7,149      Dollar Tree, Inc.*      672,363  
  10,375      Kohl’s Corp.      528,606  
  19,830      Macy’s, Inc.      337,110  
  30,844      Target Corp.      3,954,510  
     

 

 

 
        5,661,515  
     

 

 

 
Multi-Utilities (2.0%):       
  15,886      Ameren Corp.      1,220,045  
  32,310      CenterPoint Energy, Inc.      881,094  
  18,382      CMS Energy Corp.      1,155,125  
  21,583      Consolidated Edison, Inc.      1,952,614  
  53,661      Dominion Energy, Inc.      4,444,203  
  12,131      DTE Energy Co.      1,575,453  
  12,967      MDU Resources Group, Inc.      385,250  
  24,247      NiSource, Inc.      675,036  
  32,793      Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc.      1,936,427  
  18,364      Sempra Energy      2,781,779  
  20,532      WEC Energy Group, Inc.      1,893,666  
     

 

 

 
        18,900,692  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (7.3%):       
  15,671      Antero Midstream Corp.^      118,943  
  18,347      Antero Resources Corp.*      52,289  
  24,633      Apache Corp.      630,358  
  9,083      Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.      158,135  
  13,812      Centennial Resource Development, Inc., Class A*      63,811  
  6,526      Cheniere Energy, Inc.*      398,543  
  88,352      Chesapeake Energy Corp.*      72,943  
  124,487      Chevron Corp.      15,001,928  
  6,588      Cimarex Energy Co.      345,804  
  13,023      Concho Resources, Inc.      1,140,424  
  71,766      ConocoPhillips Co.      4,666,943  
  5,161      Continental Resources, Inc.      177,022  
  25,187      Devon Energy Corp.      654,106  
  8,275      Diamondback Energy, Inc.      768,417  
  37,708      EOG Resources, Inc.      3,158,422  
  15,769      EQT Corp.      171,882  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
  12,435      Equitrans Midstream Corp.    $ 166,132  
  276,446      Exxon Mobil Corp.      19,290,403  
  17,479      Hess Corp.      1,167,772  
  9,625      HollyFrontier Corp.      488,084  
  126,897      Kinder Morgan, Inc.      2,686,409  
  25,143      Kosmos Energy, Ltd.      143,315  
  52,873      Marathon Oil Corp.      718,015  
  41,970      Marathon Petroleum Corp.      2,528,693  
  9,754      Murphy Oil Corp.      261,407  
  30,649      Noble Energy, Inc.      761,321  
  58,201      Occidental Petroleum Corp.      2,398,463  
  18,203      ONEOK, Inc.      1,377,421  
  7,865      Parsley Energy, Inc., Class A      148,727  
  7,621      PBF Energy, Inc., Class A      239,071  
  29,150      Phillips 66      3,247,602  
  6,138      Pioneer Natural Resources Co.      929,109  
  14,958      Range Resources Corp.^      72,546  
  15,126      Targa Resources Corp.      617,595  
  26,749      Valero Energy Corp.      2,505,044  
  79,015      Williams Cos., Inc.      1,874,236  
  26,689      WPX Energy, Inc.*      366,707  
     

 

 

 
        69,568,042  
     

 

 

 
Paper & Forest Products (0.0%):       
  3,700      Domtar Corp.      141,488  
     

 

 

 
Personal Products (0.1%):       
  19,611      Coty, Inc., Class A      220,624  
  5,490      Herbalife Nutrition, Ltd.*      261,708  
  3,729      Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc., Class A      152,814  
     

 

 

 
        635,146  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (5.0%):       
  21,434      Allergan plc      4,097,538  
  63,125      Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.      4,051,994  
  9,625      Catalent, Inc.*      541,888  
  23,918      Elanco Animal Health, Inc.*      704,385  
  10,448      Horizon Therapeutics plc*      378,218  
  387      Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc*      57,771  
  147,210      Johnson & Johnson Co.      21,473,522  
  8,716      Merck & Co., Inc.      792,720  
  33,859      Mylan NV*      680,566  
  9,010      Nektar Therapeutics*      194,481  
  8,025      Perrigo Co. plc      414,572  
  363,144      Pfizer, Inc.      14,227,982  
     

 

 

 
        47,615,637  
     

 

 

 
Professional Services (0.2%):       
  1,280      Equifax, Inc.      179,354  
  9,512      IHS Markit, Ltd.*      716,729  
  3,749      ManpowerGroup, Inc.      364,028  
  19,745      Nielsen Holdings plc      400,823  
     

 

 

 
        1,660,934  
     

 

 

 
Real Estate Management & Development (0.2%):       
  13,916      CBRE Group, Inc., Class A*      852,912  
  1,873      Howard Hughes Corp. (The)*      237,496  
  2,933      Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.      510,606  
     

 

 

 
        1,601,014  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

10


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Road & Rail (1.0%):       
  604      AMERCO, Inc.    $ 226,995  
  31,223      CSX Corp.      2,259,296  
  3,943      J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc.      460,464  
  6,461      Kansas City Southern      989,567  
  7,918      Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, Inc.      283,781  
  11,003      Lyft, Inc., Class A*      473,349  
  14,769      Norfolk Southern Corp.      2,867,106  
  2,496      Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.      473,691  
  3,446      Ryder System, Inc.      187,152  
  3,160      Schneider National, Inc.      68,951  
  55,051      Uber Technologies, Inc.*      1,637,217  
     

 

 

 
        9,927,569  
     

 

 

 
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (3.4%):       
  20,657      Analog Devices, Inc.      2,454,878  
  27,873      Applied Materials, Inc.      1,701,368  
  6,306      Cree, Inc.*      291,022  
  24,389      Cypress Semiconductor Corp.      568,995  
  5,518      First Solar, Inc.*      308,787  
  284,260      Intel Corp.      17,012,961  
  1,128      Lam Research Corp.      329,827  
  43,297      Marvell Technology Group, Ltd.      1,149,968  
  10,952      Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.      673,658  
  10,832      Microchip Technology, Inc.      1,134,327  
  72,266      Micron Technology, Inc.*      3,886,465  
  3,513      MKS Instruments, Inc.      386,465  
  26,086      ON Semiconductor Corp.*      635,977  
  7,555      Qorvo, Inc.*      878,118  
  10,581      Skyworks Solutions, Inc.      1,279,031  
     

 

 

 
        32,691,847  
     

 

 

 
Software (0.3%):       
  2,445      2u, Inc.*      58,656  
  3,345      Autodesk, Inc.*      613,673  
  2,531      Cerence, Inc.*      57,277  
  1,076      Ceridian HCM Holding, Inc.*      73,039  
  960      Citrix Systems, Inc.      106,464  
  757      Dynatrace, Inc.*      19,152  
  3,069      LogMeIn, Inc.      263,136  
  37,530      NortonLifeLock, Inc.      957,765  
  18,736      Nuance Communications, Inc.*      334,063  
  1,643      SolarWinds Corp.*      30,478  
  1,505      SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc.      92,407  
     

 

 

 
        2,606,110  
     

 

 

 
Specialty Retail (1.2%):       
  3,298      Advance Auto Parts, Inc.      528,208  
  3,507      AutoNation, Inc.*      170,545  
  11,706      Best Buy Co, Inc.      1,027,787  
  5,635      CarMax, Inc.*      494,020  
  4,037      Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc.      199,791  
  7,080      Foot Locker, Inc.      276,049  
  14,377      Gap, Inc. (The)      254,185  
  30,952      Home Depot, Inc. (The)      6,759,299  
  12,149      L Brands, Inc.      220,140  
  2,152      Penske Automotive Group, Inc.      108,073  
  7,889      Tiffany & Co.      1,054,365  
  4,252      Urban Outfitters, Inc.*      118,078  
  3,988      Williams-Sonoma, Inc.      292,879  
     

 

 

 
        11,503,419  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals (0.5%):       
  2,910      Dell Technologies, Inc., Class C*    $ 149,545  
  84,934      Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.      1,347,053  
  91,735      HP, Inc.      1,885,155  
  19,368      Western Digital Corp.      1,229,287  
  11,897      Xerox Holdings Corp.      438,642  
     

 

 

 
        5,049,682  
     

 

 

 
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods (0.2%):       
  5,697      Capri Holdings, Ltd.*      217,341  
  1,535      Carter’s, Inc.      167,837  
  721      Columbia Sportswear Co.      72,237  
  5,597      Hanesbrands, Inc.      83,115  
  4,701      PVH Corp.      494,310  
  3,296      Ralph Lauren Corp.      386,357  
  5,302      Skechers U.S.A., Inc., Class A*      228,993  
  18,366      Tapestry, Inc.      495,332  
  4,477      Under Armour, Inc., Class A*      96,703  
  4,455      Under Armour, Inc., Class C*      85,447  
     

 

 

 
        2,327,672  
     

 

 

 
Thrifts & Mortgage Finance (0.1%):       
  22,867      MGIC Investment Corp.      324,025  
  29,313      New York Community Bancorp, Inc.      352,343  
  3,447      TFS Financial Corp.      67,837  
     

 

 

 
        744,205  
     

 

 

 
Tobacco (1.2%):       
  62,380      Altria Group, Inc.      3,113,386  
  101,459      Philip Morris International, Inc.      8,633,146  
     

 

 

 
        11,746,532  
     

 

 

 
Trading Companies & Distributors (0.2%):       
  5,975      Air Lease Corp.      283,932  
  3,778      Fastenal Co.      139,597  
  10,812      HD Supply Holdings, Inc.*      434,859  
  3,034      MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc., Class A      238,078  
  1,399      United Rentals, Inc.*      233,311  
  11,021      Univar Solutions, Inc.*      267,149  
  2,091      Watsco, Inc.      376,694  
  2,692      WESCO International, Inc.*      159,878  
     

 

 

 
        2,133,498  
     

 

 

 
Transportation Infrastructure (0.0%):       
  4,985      Macquarie Infrastructure Corp.      213,557  
     

 

 

 
Water Utilities (0.2%):       
  11,787      American Water Works Co., Inc.      1,448,033  
  13,850      Aqua America, Inc.      650,119  
     

 

 

 
        2,098,152  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.1%):       
  38,497      Sprint Corp.*      200,569  
  6,710      Telephone & Data Systems, Inc.      170,635  
  9,888      T-Mobile US, Inc.*      775,418  
  870      United States Cellular Corp.*      31,520  
     

 

 

 
        1,178,142  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Common Stocks (Cost $745,474,702)

     939,764,662  
  

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

11


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan (0.4%):  
    4,234,593      BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, 2.00%(a)(b)    $ 4,234,593  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on
Loan (Cost $4,234,593)

     4,234,593  
  

 

 

 
Unaffiliated Investment Companies (1.2%):       
Money Markets (1.2%):       
  11,273,485      Dreyfus Treasury Securities Cash Management Fund, Institutional Shares, 1.44%(b)      11,273,485  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Unaffiliated Investment Companies (Cost $11,273,485)

     11,273,485  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities (Cost $760,982,780) — 100.3%(c)

     955,272,740  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — (0.3)%

     (2,533,155
  

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 952,739,585  
  

 

 

 
 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

 

*

Non-income producing security.

 

^

This security or a partial position of this security was on loan as of December 31, 2019. The total value of securities on loan as of December 31, 2019 was $4,169,476.

 

+

Affiliated Securities

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

(a)

Purchased with cash collateral held from securities lending. The value of the collateral could include collateral held for securities that were sold on or before December 31, 2019.

 

(b)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(c)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

Futures Contracts

Cash of $530,200 has been segregated to cover margin requirements for the following open contracts as of December 31, 2019:

Long Futures

 

Description            Expiration
Date
     Number of
Contracts
     Notional
Amount
     Value and
Unrealized
Appreciation/
(Depreciation)
 

S&P 500 Index E-Mini March Futures (U.S. Dollar)

        3/20/20        82      $ 13,247,510      $ 240,354  
              

 

 

 
               $ 240,354  
              

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

12


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investments in non-affiliates, at cost

    $ 758,573,433

Investments in affiliates, at cost

      2,409,347
   

 

 

 

Investments in non-affiliates, at value(a)

    $ 951,402,453

Investments in affiliates, at value

      3,870,287

Cash

      324,166

Segregated cash for collateral for futures contracts

      530,200

Interest and dividends receivable

      1,571,648

Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts

      30,883

Reclaims receivable

      97,632

Prepaid expenses

      3,306
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      957,830,575
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Payable for investments purchased

      27

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      298,757

Payable for collateral received on loaned securities

      4,234,593

Manager fees payable

      281,618

Administration fees payable

      8,125

Distribution fees payable

      166,324

Custodian fees payable

      5,440

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      3,380

Transfer agent fees payable

      1,921

Trustee fees payable

      831

Other accrued liabilities

      89,974
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      5,090,990
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 952,739,585
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 702,507,955

Total distributable earnings

      250,231,630
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 952,739,585
   

 

 

 

Class 1

   

Net Assets

    $ 165,336,562

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      16,955,260

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 9.75
   

 

 

 

Class 2

   

Net Assets

    $ 787,403,023

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      59,968,245

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 13.13
   

 

 

 

 

(a)

Includes securities on loan of $4,169,476.

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Dividends

    $ 24,422,379

Dividends from affiliates

      109,171

Interest

      11,292

Income from securities lending

      165,475

Foreign withholding tax

      (2,611 )
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      24,705,706
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      4,118,839

Administration fees

      262,891

Distribution fees — Class 2

      1,939,809

Custodian fees

      33,501

Administrative and compliance services fees

      16,746

Transfer agent fees

      11,553

Trustee fees

      52,280

Professional fees

      46,877

Shareholder reports

      32,222

Other expenses

      221,810
   

 

 

 

Total expenses before reductions

      6,736,528

Less expenses voluntarily waived/reimbursed by the Manager

      (772,498 )
   

 

 

 

Net expenses

      5,964,030
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      18,741,676
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities

      39,743,270

Net realized gains/(losses) on affiliated transactions

      (52,162 )

Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts

      3,678,485

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities

      150,562,590

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on affiliated transactions

      977,423

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts

      344,544
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      195,254,150
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 213,995,826
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

13


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 18,741,676     $ 20,052,675

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      43,369,593       48,302,278

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      151,884,557       (152,587,636 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      213,995,826       (84,232,683 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Class 1

      (14,937,853 )       (20,762,804 )

Class 2

      (52,687,956 )       (77,533,827 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (67,625,809 )       (98,296,631 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Class 1

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      41,842       55,192

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      14,937,853       20,762,804

Value of shares redeemed

      (20,385,177 )       (23,297,110 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 1 Shares

      (5,405,482 )       (2,479,114 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Class 2

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      8,176,828       121,859,508

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      52,687,956       77,533,827

Value of shares redeemed

      (118,250,607 )       (224,526,648 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 2 Shares

      (57,385,823 )       (25,133,313 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      (62,791,305 )       (27,612,427 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      83,578,712       (210,141,741 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      869,160,873       1,079,302,614
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 952,739,585     $ 869,160,873
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Class 1

       

Shares issued

      4,308       5,211

Dividends reinvested

      1,678,410       2,194,799

Shares redeemed

      (2,129,392 )       (2,254,717 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 1 Shares

      (446,674 )       (54,707 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Class 2

       

Shares issued

      662,245       8,832,225

Dividends reinvested

      4,394,325       6,237,637

Shares redeemed

      (9,270,354 )       (16,752,274 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 2 Shares

      (4,213,784 )       (1,682,412 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      (4,660,458 )       (1,737,119 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

14


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

    Year Ended December 31,
     2019   2018   2017   2016^   2015

Class 1

                   

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 8.55     $ 10.65     $ 10.79     $ 10.00    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.21 (a)       0.24       0.27       0.08    

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      1.94       (1.02 )       1.08       0.71    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total from Investment Activities

      2.15       (0.78 )       1.35       0.79    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.30 )       (0.30 )       (0.10 )          

Net Realized Gains

      (0.65 )       (1.02 )       (1.39 )          
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total Dividends

      (0.95 )       (1.32 )       (1.49 )          
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 9.75     $ 8.55     $ 10.65     $ 10.79    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total Return(b)

      26.13 %       (8.50 )%       13.38 %       7.90 %(c)    

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 165,337     $ 148,796     $ 185,903     $ 187,248    

Net Investment Income/(Loss)(d)

      2.21 %       2.10 %       2.07 %       2.11 %    

Expenses Before Reductions(d)(e)

      0.51 %       0.50 %       0.50 %       0.51 %    

Expenses Net of Reductions(d)

      0.43 %       0.43 %       0.45 %       0.46 %    

Portfolio Turnover Rate(f)

      15 %       22 %       12 %       131 %(g)    

Class 2

                   

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 11.22     $ 13.56     $ 13.39     $ 12.91     $ 14.82
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.25 (a)       0.28       0.24       0.11       0.22

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      2.57       (1.34 )       1.42       1.85       (0.92 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      2.82       (1.06 )       1.66       1.96       (0.70 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.26 )       (0.26 )       (0.10 )       (0.25 )       (0.23 )

Net Realized Gains

      (0.65 )       (1.02 )       (1.39 )       (1.23 )       (0.98 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (0.91 )       (1.28 )       (1.49 )       (1.48 )       (1.21 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 13.13     $ 11.22     $ 13.56     $ 13.39     $ 12.91
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(b)

      25.86 %       (8.72 )%       13.02 %       16.15 %       (4.42 )%

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 787,403     $ 720,365     $ 893,400     $ 991,296     $ 193,094

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      1.96 %       1.85 %       1.81 %       2.05 %       1.54 %

Expenses Before Reductions(e)

      0.76 %       0.75 %       0.75 %       0.77 %       0.77 %

Expenses Net of Reductions

      0.68 %       0.68 %       0.70 %       0.72 %       0.77 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate(f)

      15 %       22 %       12 %       131 %(g)       16 %

 

^

Class 1 activity is for the period October 17, 2016 (commencement of operations) to December 31, 2016.

 

(a)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(b)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(c)

Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(d)

Annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(e)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

(f)

Portfolio turnover rate is calculated on the basis of the Fund as a whole without distinguishing between classes of shares issued. Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(g)

Cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of portfolio securities incurred to realign the Fund’s portfolio after the fund merger are excluded from the portfolio turnover rate. If such amounts had not been excluded, the portfolio turnover rate would have been 131%.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

15


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services — Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Foreign Currency Translation and Withholding Taxes

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding and other income or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Funds accrue such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

 

16


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Each class of shares bears its pro-rata portion of expenses attributable to its series, except that each class separately bears expenses related specifically to that class, such as distribution fees. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

Class Allocation

The investment income, expenses (other than class specific expenses charged to a class), realized and unrealized gains and losses on investments of the Fund are allocated to each class of shares based upon relative net assets on the date income is earned or expenses and realized and unrealized gains and losses are incurred.

Securities Lending

To generate additional income, the Fund may lend up to 331/3% of its assets pursuant to agreements requiring that the loan be continuously secured by any combination of cash, U.S. government or U.S. government agency securities, equal initially to at least 102% of the fair value plus accrued interest on the securities loaned (105% for foreign securities). The borrower of securities is at all times required to post collateral to the Fund in an amount equal to 100% of the fair value of the securities loaned based on the previous day’s fair value of the securities loaned, marked-to-market daily. Any collateral shortfalls are adjusted the next business day. The Fund bears all of the gains and losses on such investments. The Fund receives payments from borrowers equivalent to the dividends and interest that would have been earned on securities lent while simultaneously seeking to earn income on the investment of cash collateral received. In extremely low interest rate environments, the broker rebate fee may exceed the interest earned or the cash collateral which would result in a loss to the Fund. The investment of cash collateral deposited by the borrower is subject to inherent market risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks that are present in the market, and as such, the value of these investments may not be sufficient, when liquidated, to repay the borrower when the loaned security is returned. There may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. However, loans will be made only to borrowers, such as broker-dealers, banks or institutional borrowers of securities, deemed by the Manager to be of good standing and credit worthy and when in its judgment, the consideration which can be earned currently from such securities loans justifies the attendant risks. Loans are subject to termination by the Trust or the borrower at any time, and are, therefore, not considered to be illiquid investments. Securities on loan at December 31, 2019 are presented on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

Cash collateral received in connection with securities lending is invested on behalf of the Fund in the BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, a money market fund which invests in short-term investments that have a remaining maturity of 397 days or less in accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. The Fund pays the Securities Lending Agent 9% of the gross revenues received from securities lending activities and keeps 91%. The Fund paid securities lending fees of $16,250 during the year ended December 31, 2019. These fees have been netted against “Income from securities lending” on the Statement of Operations. The Fund had securities lending transactions of $4,234,593 accounted for as secured borrowings with cash collateral of overnight and continuous maturities as of December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019, there were no master netting provisions in the securities lending agreement.

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not engage in any Rule 17a-7 transactions under the Rule.

Derivative Instruments

All open derivative positions at period end are reflected on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments. The following is a description of the derivative instruments utilized by the Fund, including the primary underlying risk exposures related to each instrument type.

Futures Contracts

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund used futures contracts to provide market exposure on the Fund’s cash balances. Futures contracts are valued based upon their quoted daily settlement prices. Upon entering into a futures contract, the Fund is required to segregate liquid assets in accordance with the initial margin requirements of the broker or exchange. Futures contracts are marked to market daily and a payable or receivable for the change in value (“variation margin”) is recorded by the Fund. Gains or losses are recognized but not considered realized until the contracts expire or are closed. Futures contracts involve, to varying degrees, elements of market risk (generally equity price risk related to stock futures, interest rate risk related to bond futures, and foreign currency risk related to currency futures) and exposure to loss in excess of the variation margin disclosed in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are the imperfect correlation between the change in fair value of the underlying securities and the prices of futures contracts, the possibility of an illiquid market, and the inability of the counterparty to meet the terms of the contract. The monthly average notional amount for long contracts was $12.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Realized gains and losses are reported as “Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts” on the Statement of Operations.

 

17


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Summary of Derivative Instruments

The following is a summary of the fair values of derivative instruments on the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities, categorized by risk exposure, as of December 31, 2019:

 

   

Asset Derivatives

   

Liability Derivatives

 
Primary Risk Exposure   Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
    Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
 

Equity Risk

       
Equity Contracts   Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $ 240,354     Payable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $  

 

*

For futures contracts, the amounts represent the cumulative appreciation/depreciation of these futures contracts as reported in the Schedule of Portfolio Investments. Only the current day’s variation margin is reported within the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as Variation margin on futures contracts.

The following is a summary of the effect of derivative instruments on the Statement of Operations, categorized by risk exposure, for the year ended December 31, 2019:

 

Primary Risk Exposure   Location of Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
   Realized Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
     Change in Net Unrealized
Appreciation/Depreciation on
Derivatives Recognized
 

Equity Risk

       
Equity Contracts   Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts/ Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts    $ 3,678,485      $ 344,544  

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to a subadvisory agreement with BlackRock Investment Management, LLC (“BlackRock Investment”), BlackRock Investment provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate*      Annual Expense Limit

AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund Class 1

         0.44 %          0.59 %

AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund Class 2

         0.44 %          0.84 %

 

*

The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.36% on all assets. The manager reserves the right to increase the management fee to the amount shown in the table at any time.

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations.

At December 31, 2019, the following investments are noted as Affiliated Securities in the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

     Fair Value
12/31/2018
  Purchases
at Cost
  Proceeds from
Sales
 

Net

Realized
Gains(Losses)

  Change in
Net
Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation
  Fair Value
12/31/2019
  Shares as of
12/31/2019
  Dividend
Income
  Net
Realized Gains
Distributions
from Affiliated
Underlying Funds

BlackRock Inc., Class A

    $ 3,490,599     $     $ (545,573 )     $ (52,162 )     $ 977,423     $ 3,870,287       7,699     $ 109,171     $
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 
    $ 3,490,599     $     $ (545,573 )     $ (52,162 )     $ 977,423     $ 3,870,287       7,699     $ 109,171     $
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the

 

18


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the average daily net assets attributable of Class 2 shares, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $7,022 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Futures contracts are valued at the last sales price as of the close of the primary exchange and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy.

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

 

19


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total
                             

Common Stocks+

       $ 939,764,662        $        $        $ 939,764,662

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

         4,234,593                            4,234,593

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

         11,273,485                            11,273,485
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

         955,272,740                            955,272,740
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Other Financial Instruments:*

                           

Futures Contracts

         240,354                            240,354
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $ 955,513,094        $        $        $ 955,513,094
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

*

Other Financial Instruments would include any derivative instruments, such as futures contracts. These investments are generally recorded in the financial statements at variation margin.

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

       $ 141,364,627        $ 246,969,701

6. Investment Risks

Derivatives Risk: The Fund may invest in derivatives as a principal strategy. A derivative is a financial contract whose value depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or risk. Use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Derivatives are subject to a number of other risks, such as liquidity risk, interest rate risk, market risk, credit risk, and selection risk. Derivatives also involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate, or index. Using derivatives may result in losses, possibly in excess of the principal amount invested. Also, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances. The counterparty to a derivatives contract could default. As required by applicable law, a Fund that invests in derivatives segregates cash or liquid securities, or both, to the extent that its obligations under the instrument are not covered through ownership of the underlying security, financial instrument, or currency.

7. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $767,951,311. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 232,083,400  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (44,761,971
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 187,321,429  
 

 

 

 

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

       $ 24,694,840        $ 42,930,969        $ 67,625,809

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

       $ 37,419,832        $ 60,876,799        $ 98,296,631

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

 

20


AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
     Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
     Total
Accumulated
Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

       $ 20,996,388        $ 41,912,650        $        $ 187,322,600        $ 250,231,638

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales, futures contracts, mark-to-market on futures contracts and other miscellaneous differences.

8. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had an individual shareholder account which is affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 60% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

9. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

21


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

22


Other Federal Income Tax Information (Unaudited)

For the year ended December 31, 2019, 51.95% of the total ordinary income dividends paid by the Fund qualify for the corporate dividends received deductions available to corporate shareholders.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net short-term capital gain distributions of $4,991,200.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net long-term capital gain distributions of $42,930,969.

 

23


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

24


ALLIANZ VARIABLE INSURANCE PRODUCTS TRUST

(not including AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund)

***

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements — September 18, 2019 (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

 

25


The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

 

26


The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

27


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

28


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

29


LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL® S&P 500 Index Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 11

Statement of Operations

Page 11

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 12

Financial Highlights

Page 13

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 14

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 19

Other Federal Income Tax Information

Page 20

Other Information

Page 21

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 22

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 25

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® S&P 500 Index Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® S&P 500 Index Fund and BlackRock Investment Management, LLC serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® S&P 500 Index Fund (Class 2 Shares) (the “Fund”) returned 30.89%. That compared to a 31.49% total return for its benchmark, the S&P 500® Index (“Index”)1.

The Fund takes positions in securities that, in combination, should have similar return characteristics as the return of the Index. The Index is designed to provide a comprehensive measure of the U.S. Stock market as a whole.*

Equities rebounded in the first quarter as U.S. trade negotiations with China and relatively strong corporate earnings growth helped investor sentiment recover from steep losses at the end of 2018. Stocks and bonds both received a boost from the Federal Reserve Board’s (the Fed) shift to a more dovish tone in January, as it announced it would refrain from interest rate hikes for the near future. Despite a 35-day government shutdown and global economic weakness, the U.S. economy continued to exhibit a tight labor market, low inflation and slowing but stable economic growth.

In the second quarter, the prospect of lower interest rates generally provided a boost to equities. Renewed trade concerns contributed to volatility during the quarter, however, with the Index dropping -6.4% after President Trump threatened to increase tariffs against China and Mexico. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield declined 50 basis points (0.50%) to 2%—the lowest level since 2016—and the resulting negative spread between three-month and 10-year yields added to uncertainty.

Trade tensions were a key focus for domestic and global investors in the third quarter. The Fed lowered interest rates again in July and September to offset that potential risk as well as weak global growth. U.S. manufacturing and consumer sectors showed signs of weakness. The closely monitored two-year, 10-year Treasury yield spread inverted for the first time since the global financial crisis, but ended the quarter in positive territory.

In the fourth quarter, expectations of a U.S.-China trade deal, strong economic growth and easy monetary policy boosted investors’ appetite for risk, although there were still signs of weakness, including in manufacturing. Despite the strength of the U.S. economy, the Fed cut federal fund rates by 25 basis points (0.25%) to 1.75%, marking the third rate cut of the year.

From a sector perspective, all sectors in the Index had positive returns. The largest positive returns came from the information technology, communication services, and financials sectors. The lowest contributors for the year were the energy, healthcare, and materials sectors.

The Fund uses derivatives for the purpose of efficient portfolio management, and derivatives did not have a significant impact on the Fund’s return in 2019. Futures are not used for speculative or leveraged positions in the portfolio and we keep cash to fully cover all outstanding futures positions. The Fund’s use of futures contracts provides immediate market exposure proportionate to cash accruals and investable cash within the portfolio. Skillful cash management and cash equitization are critical to minimizing the potential impact of cash drag and ensure tight tracking to the benchmark.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

*

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmark please refer to page 2 of this report.

 
 

 

1


AZL® S&P 500 Index Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

The Fund’s investment objective is to seek to match the total return of the Standard & Poor’s 500® Index. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing in all 500 stocks in the Index in proportion to their weighting in the Index.

Investment Concerns

Equity securities (stocks) are more volatile and carry more risk than other forms of investments, including investments in high-grade fixed income securities. The net asset value per share of this Fund will fluctuate as the value of the securities in the portfolio changes.

The performance of the Fund is expected to be lower than that of the Index because of Fund fees and expenses. Securities in which the Fund will invest may involve substantial risk and may be subject to sudden severe price declines.

Investing in a single industry or sector, or concentrating investments in a limited number of industries or sectors, tends to increase the risk that economic, political, or regulatory developments affecting certain industries or sectors will have a large impact on the value of the portfolio.

Investing in derivatives instruments involves risks that may be different from or greater than the risk associated with investing directly in securities or other traditional instruments.

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmark and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

     1     3     5     10  
     Year     Year     Year     Year  

AZL® S&P 500 Index Fund (Class 1 Shares)

      31.27 %      15.04     11.48     13.30

AZL® S&P 500 Index Fund (Class 2 Shares)

      30.89 %      14.77     11.20     13.02

S&P 500® Index

     31.49     15.27     11.70     13.56

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratios

   Gross  

AZL® S&P 500 Index Fund (Class 1 Shares)

     0.23

AZL® S&P 500 Index Fund (Class 2 Shares)

     0.48

The above expense ratios are based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense), to 0.46% for Class 1 Shares and 0.71% for Class 2 Shares through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratios can be found in the Financial Highlights.

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Standard & Poor’s 500® Index (“S&P 500®”), which is an unmanaged index that is representative of 500 selected common stocks, most of which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and is a measure of the U.S. Stock market as a whole. The index does not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The Fund’s performance reflects the deduction of fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

2


AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL S&P 500 Index Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 -  12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 -  12/31/19

AZL S&P 500 Index Fund, Class 1

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,108.00     $ 1.22       0.23 %

AZL S&P 500 Index Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,106.60     $ 2.55       0.48 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 -  12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 -  12/31/19

AZL S&P 500 Index Fund, Class 1

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,024.05     $ 1.17       0.23 %

AZL S&P 500 Index Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,022.79     $ 2.45       0.48 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

Information Technology

      23.0 %

Health Care

      14.1

Financials

      12.9

Communication Services

      10.3

Consumer Discretionary

      9.7

Industrials

      9.0

Consumer Staples

      7.2

Energy

      4.3

Utilities

      3.3

Real Estate

      3.0

Materials

      2.6
   

 

 

 

Total Common Stocks

      99.4

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

      0.6

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

      0.1
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      100.1

Net other assets (liabilities)

      (0.1 )
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

3


AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks (99.4%):       
Aerospace & Defense (2.4%):       
  39,988      Arconic, Inc.    $ 1,230,431  
  55,393      Boeing Co. (The)      18,044,825  
  24,279      General Dynamics Corp.      4,281,602  
  4,192      Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.      1,051,689  
  22,904      L3harris Technologies, Inc.      4,532,014  
  25,717      Lockheed Martin Corp.      10,013,685  
  16,239      Northrop Grumman Corp.      5,585,729  
  28,852      Raytheon Co.      6,339,938  
  23,664      Textron, Inc.      1,055,414  
  5,146      TransDigm Group, Inc.      2,881,760  
  84,057      United Technologies Corp.      12,588,376  
     

 

 

 
        67,605,463  
     

 

 

 
Air Freight & Logistics (0.5%):       
  14,171      C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.^      1,108,172  
  17,683      Expeditors International of Washington, Inc.      1,379,628  
  24,785      FedEx Corp.      3,747,740  
  72,602      United Parcel Service, Inc., Class B      8,498,790  
     

 

 

 
        14,734,330  
     

 

 

 
Airlines (0.4%):       
  12,826      Alaska Air Group, Inc.      868,962  
  40,282      American Airlines Group, Inc.      1,155,288  
  59,636      Delta Air Lines, Inc.      3,487,512  
  48,972      Southwest Airlines Co.      2,643,509  
  22,512      United Airlines Holdings, Inc.*      1,983,082  
     

 

 

 
        10,138,353  
     

 

 

 
Auto Components (0.1%):       
  26,370      Aptiv plc      2,504,359  
  21,626      BorgWarner, Inc.      938,136  
     

 

 

 
        3,442,495  
     

 

 

 
Automobiles (0.3%):       
  403,445      Ford Motor Co.      3,752,039  
  129,985      General Motors Co.      4,757,450  
  16,308      Harley-Davidson, Inc.      606,495  
     

 

 

 
        9,115,984  
     

 

 

 
Banks (5.6%):       
  838,750      Bank of America Corp.      29,540,775  
  226,191      Citigroup, Inc.      18,070,399  
  44,730      Citizens Financial Group, Inc.      1,816,485  
  14,935      Comerica, Inc.      1,071,586  
  73,246      Fifth Third Bancorp      2,251,582  
  17,430      First Republic Bank      2,047,154  
  106,619      Huntington Bancshares, Inc.      1,607,815  
  324,958      JPMorgan Chase & Co.      45,299,144  
  102,047      KeyCorp      2,065,431  
  13,672      M&T Bank Corp.      2,320,822  
  46,395      People’s United Financial, Inc.      784,076  
  45,397      PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.      7,246,723  
  99,166      Regions Financial Corp.      1,701,689  
  5,387      SVB Financial Group*      1,352,352  
  138,942      Truist Financial Corp.      7,825,213  
  147,254      U.S. Bancorp      8,730,690  
  398,749      Wells Fargo & Co.      21,452,696  
  17,661      Zions Bancorp      916,959  
     

 

 

 
        156,101,591  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Beverages (1.8%):       
  18,939      Brown-Forman Corp., Class B    $ 1,280,276  
  399,508      Coca-Cola Co. (The)      22,112,768  
  17,354      Constellation Brands, Inc., Class C      3,292,922  
  19,446      Molson Coors Brewing Co., Class B      1,048,139  
  39,552      Monster Beverage Corp.*      2,513,530  
  144,471      PepsiCo, Inc.      19,744,852  
     

 

 

 
        49,992,487  
     

 

 

 
Biotechnology (2.0%):       
  153,214      AbbVie, Inc.      13,565,568  
  22,865      Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      2,472,850  
  61,561      Amgen, Inc.      14,840,511  
  18,695      Biogen, Inc.*      5,547,367  
  131,076      Gilead Sciences, Inc.      8,517,318  
  18,573      Incyte Corp.*      1,621,794  
  8,267      Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      3,104,093  
  26,642      Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      5,833,266  
     

 

 

 
        55,502,767  
     

 

 

 
Building Products (0.3%):       
  13,847      A.O. Smith Corp.      659,671  
  9,612      Allegion plc      1,197,078  
  14,472      Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc.      945,600  
  79,914      Johnson Controls International plc      3,253,300  
  29,136      Masco Corp.      1,398,237  
     

 

 

 
        7,453,886  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (2.7%):       
  13,070      Ameriprise Financial, Inc.      2,177,201  
  86,946      Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (The)      4,375,992  
  12,219      BlackRock, Inc., Class A+      6,142,491  
  11,592      Cboe Global Markets, Inc.      1,391,040  
  118,450      Charles Schwab Corp. (The)      5,633,482  
  37,128      CME Group, Inc.      7,452,332  
  23,600      E*TRADE Financial Corp.      1,070,732  
  28,731      Franklin Resources, Inc.      746,431  
  33,017      Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.      7,591,600  
  57,693      Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.      5,339,487  
  39,268      Invesco, Ltd.      706,039  
  3,939      MarketAxess Holdings, Inc.      1,493,314  
  16,813      Moody’s Corp.      3,991,574  
  127,449      Morgan Stanley      6,515,193  
  8,820      MSCI, Inc.      2,277,148  
  11,995      Nasdaq, Inc.      1,284,665  
  21,952      Northern Trust Corp.      2,332,180  
  12,851      Raymond James Financial, Inc.      1,149,650  
  25,321      S&P Global, Inc.      6,913,899  
  37,636      State Street Corp.      2,977,008  
  24,210      T. Rowe Price Group, Inc.      2,949,746  
     

 

 

 
        74,511,204  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (1.9%):       
  22,810      Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.      5,360,122  
  11,028      Albemarle Corp.      805,485  
  12,627      Celanese Corp., Series A      1,554,636  
  22,502      CF Industries Holdings, Inc.      1,074,245  
  77,759      Corteva, Inc.      2,298,556  
  76,823      Dow, Inc.      4,204,523  
  76,752      DuPont de Nemours, Inc.      4,927,478  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Chemicals, continued       
  14,083      Eastman Chemical Co.    $ 1,116,219  
  25,981      Ecolab, Inc.      5,014,073  
  13,558      FMC Corp.      1,353,360  
  10,957      International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc.^      1,413,672  
  55,654      Linde plc      11,848,738  
  26,598      LyondellBasell Industries NV, Class A      2,512,979  
  36,525      Mosaic Co. (The)      790,401  
  24,557      PPG Industries, Inc.      3,278,114  
  8,495      Sherwin Williams Co.      4,957,172  
     

 

 

 
        52,509,773  
     

 

 

 
Commercial Services & Supplies (0.4%):       
  8,656      Cintas Corp.      2,329,156  
  21,064      Copart, Inc.*      1,915,560  
  21,823      Republic Services, Inc., Class A      1,955,995  
  14,362      Rollins, Inc.      476,244  
  40,365      Waste Management, Inc.      4,599,996  
     

 

 

 
        11,276,951  
     

 

 

 
Communications Equipment (1.0%):       
  5,669      Arista Networks, Inc.*      1,153,075  
  439,523      Cisco Systems, Inc.      21,079,522  
  6,389      F5 Networks, Inc.*      892,224  
  34,678      Juniper Networks, Inc.      854,119  
  17,726      Motorola Solutions, Inc.      2,856,368  
     

 

 

 
        26,835,308  
     

 

 

 
Construction & Engineering (0.1%):       
  14,099      Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc.      1,266,514  
  14,695      Quanta Services, Inc.      598,233  
     

 

 

 
        1,864,747  
     

 

 

 
Construction Materials (0.1%):       
  6,443      Martin Marietta Materials, Inc.      1,801,721  
  13,693      Vulcan Materials Co.      1,971,655  
     

 

 

 
        3,773,376  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (0.7%):       
  69,518      American Express Co.      8,654,296  
  48,251      Capital One Financial Corp.      4,965,510  
  32,427      Discover Financial Services      2,750,458  
  61,350      Synchrony Financial      2,209,214  
     

 

 

 
        18,579,478  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (0.4%):       
  169,029      Amcor plc      1,832,274  
  8,550      Avery Dennison Corp.      1,118,511  
  33,893      Ball Corp.      2,191,860  
  40,710      International Paper Co.      1,874,696  
  9,779      Packaging Corp. of America      1,095,150  
  15,649      Sealed Air Corp.      623,300  
  26,776      WestRock Co.      1,148,958  
     

 

 

 
        9,884,749  
     

 

 

 
Distributors (0.1%):       
  14,938      Genuine Parts Co.      1,586,864  
  31,774      LKQ Corp.*      1,134,332  
     

 

 

 
        2,721,196  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Consumer Services (0.0%):       
  19,715      H&R Block, Inc.      462,908  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Diversified Financial Services (1.6%):       
  202,657      Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., Class B*    $ 45,901,811  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (2.1%):       
  756,839      AT&T, Inc.      29,577,268  
  101,585      CenturyLink, Inc.      1,341,938  
  428,491      Verizon Communications, Inc.      26,309,347  
     

 

 

 
        57,228,553  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (2.0%):       
  25,108      Alliant Energy Corp.      1,373,910  
  51,087      American Electric Power Co., Inc.      4,828,232  
  75,532      Duke Energy Corp.      6,889,274  
  37,259      Edison International      2,809,701  
  20,734      Entergy Corp.      2,483,933  
  23,808      Evergy, Inc.      1,549,663  
  33,671      Eversource Energy      2,864,392  
  100,484      Exelon Corp.      4,581,066  
  55,979      FirstEnergy Corp.      2,720,579  
  50,640      NextEra Energy, Inc.      12,262,981  
  11,685      Pinnacle West Capital Corp.      1,050,832  
  74,790      PPL Corp.      2,683,465  
  108,655      Southern Co. (The)      6,921,324  
  54,130      Xcel Energy, Inc.      3,436,714  
     

 

 

 
        56,456,066  
     

 

 

 
Electrical Equipment (0.5%):       
  23,557      AMETEK, Inc.      2,349,575  
  42,831      Eaton Corp. plc      4,056,952  
  63,112      Emerson Electric Co.      4,812,921  
  11,971      Rockwell Automation, Inc.      2,426,163  
     

 

 

 
        13,645,611  
     

 

 

 
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (0.6%):       
  30,718      Amphenol Corp., Class A      3,324,609  
  14,886      CDW Corp.      2,126,316  
  79,391      Corning, Inc.      2,311,072  
  14,014      FLIR Systems, Inc.      729,709  
  3,684      IPG Photonics Corp.*      533,885  
  19,402      Keysight Technologies, Inc.*      1,991,227  
  34,651      TE Connectivity, Ltd.      3,320,952  
  5,633      Zebra Technologies Corp., Class A*      1,438,894  
     

 

 

 
        15,776,664  
     

 

 

 
Energy Equipment & Services (0.4%):       
  67,507      Baker Hughes Co.      1,730,204  
  91,066      Halliburton Co.      2,228,385  
  11,329      Helmerich & Payne, Inc.      514,676  
  40,152      National-Oilwell Varco, Inc.      1,005,808  
  143,431      Schlumberger, Ltd.      5,765,927  
  43,669      Technipfmc plc      936,263  
     

 

 

 
        12,181,263  
     

 

 

 
Entertainment (1.9%):       
  79,596      Activision Blizzard, Inc.      4,729,594  
  30,251      Electronic Arts, Inc.*      3,252,285  
  14,721      Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.*      1,052,110  
  45,405      Netflix, Inc.*      14,691,696  
  11,722      Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.*      1,435,124  
  186,739      Walt Disney Co. (The)      27,008,062  
     

 

 

 
        52,168,871  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (2.8%):       
  11,855      Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.    $ 1,915,531  
  45,891      American Tower Corp.      10,546,670  
  15,407      Apartment Investment & Management Co.      795,772  
  14,531      AvalonBay Communities, Inc.      3,047,151  
  14,880      Boston Properties, Inc.      2,051,357  
  43,064      Crown Castle International Corp.      6,121,548  
  21,625      Digital Realty Trust, Inc.      2,589,378  
  38,410      Duke Realty Corp.      1,331,675  
  8,835      Equinix, Inc.      5,156,990  
  36,272      Equity Residential      2,935,130  
  6,828      Essex Property Trust, Inc.      2,054,272  
  13,534      Extra Space Storage, Inc.      1,429,461  
  7,253      Federal Realty Investment Trust      933,679  
  51,248      Healthpeak Properties, Inc.      1,766,519  
  74,304      Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc.      1,378,339  
  29,692      Iron Mountain, Inc.      946,284  
  43,919      Kimco Realty Corp.      909,562  
  11,916      Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc.      1,571,244  
  65,453      ProLogis, Inc.      5,834,480  
  15,564      Public Storage, Inc.      3,314,509  
  33,665      Realty Income Corp.      2,478,754  
  17,504      Regency Centers Corp.      1,104,327  
  11,654      SBA Communications Corp.      2,808,497  
  31,793      Simon Property Group, Inc.      4,735,885  
  8,515      SL Green Realty Corp.      782,358  
  30,470      UDR, Inc.      1,422,949  
  38,508      Ventas, Inc.      2,223,452  
  16,278      Vornado Realty Trust      1,082,487  
  42,039      Welltower, Inc.      3,437,949  
  76,872      Weyerhaeuser Co.      2,321,534  
     

 

 

 
        79,027,743  
     

 

 

 
Food & Staples Retailing (1.5%):       
  45,771      Costco Wholesale Corp.      13,453,012  
  83,241      Kroger Co. (The)      2,413,157  
  52,862      Sysco Corp.      4,521,815  
  77,677      Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.      4,579,836  
  146,974      Walmart, Inc.      17,466,390  
     

 

 

 
        42,434,210  
     

 

 

 
Food Products (1.1%):       
  57,953      Archer-Daniels-Midland Co.      2,686,122  
  17,547      Campbell Soup Co.      867,173  
  50,049      Conagra Brands, Inc.      1,713,678  
  62,619      General Mills, Inc.      3,353,874  
  15,366      Hershey Co. (The)      2,258,495  
  28,891      Hormel Foods Corp.      1,303,273  
  11,897      JM Smucker Co. (The)      1,238,835  
  25,627      Kellogg Co.      1,772,363  
  64,793      Kraft Heinz Co. (The)      2,081,799  
  15,277      Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc.      1,314,280  
  12,744      McCormick & Co.      2,163,039  
  149,174      Mondelez International, Inc., Class A      8,216,503  
  30,560      Tyson Foods, Inc., Class A      2,782,182  
     

 

 

 
        31,751,616  
     

 

 

 
Gas Utilities (0.0%):       
  12,467      Atmos Energy Corp.      1,394,559  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (3.6%):       
  183,112      Abbott Laboratories    $ 15,905,107  
  4,645      ABIOMED, Inc.*      792,391  
  7,390      Align Technology, Inc.*      2,062,106  
  52,896      Baxter International, Inc.      4,423,164  
  28,021      Becton Dickinson & Co.      7,620,871  
  144,408      Boston Scientific Corp.*      6,530,130  
  5,158      Cooper Cos., Inc. (The)      1,657,214  
  66,232      Danaher Corp.      10,165,287  
  22,839      Dentsply Sirona, Inc.      1,292,459  
  21,609      Edwards Lifesciences Corp.*      5,041,164  
  27,533      Hologic, Inc.*      1,437,498  
  8,852      IDEXX Laboratories, Inc.*      2,311,523  
  11,974      Intuitive Surgical, Inc.*      7,078,430  
  138,871      Medtronic plc      15,754,913  
  14,943      ResMed, Inc.      2,315,717  
  8,857      Steris plc      1,349,984  
  33,359      Stryker Corp.      7,003,388  
  4,761      Teleflex, Inc.      1,792,231  
  9,475      Varian Medical Systems, Inc.*      1,345,545  
  21,310      Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.      3,189,681  
     

 

 

 
        99,068,803  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (2.9%):       
  15,430      AmerisourceBergen Corp.      1,311,859  
  26,271      Anthem, Inc.      7,934,630  
  30,303      Cardinal Health, Inc.      1,532,726  
  42,920      Centene Corp.*      2,698,380  
  38,689      Cigna Corp.      7,911,514  
  134,787      CVS Health Corp.      10,013,326  
  9,447      DaVita, Inc.*      708,808  
  27,410      HCA Healthcare, Inc.      4,051,472  
  15,011      Henry Schein, Inc.*      1,001,534  
  13,721      Humana, Inc.      5,029,021  
  10,002      Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings*      1,692,038  
  18,622      McKesson Corp.      2,575,795  
  13,891      Quest Diagnostics, Inc.      1,483,420  
  98,158      UnitedHealth Group, Inc.      28,856,489  
  8,308      Universal Health Services, Inc., Class B      1,191,866  
  5,224      WellCare Health Plans, Inc.*      1,725,017  
     

 

 

 
        79,717,895  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Technology (0.1%):       
  32,542      Cerner Corp.      2,388,257  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (1.9%):       
  41,675      Carnival Corp., Class A      2,118,340  
  2,638      Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.*      2,208,296  
  12,779      Darden Restaurants, Inc.      1,393,039  
  29,227      Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc.      3,241,567  
  35,012      Las Vegas Sands Corp.      2,417,228  
  28,114      Marriott International, Inc., Class A      4,257,303  
  78,025      McDonald’s Corp.      15,418,520  
  53,355      MGM Resorts International      1,775,121  
  21,952      Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Ltd.*      1,282,216  
  17,862      Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.      2,384,756  
  122,358      Starbucks Corp.      10,757,715  
  9,925      Wynn Resorts, Ltd.      1,378,285  
  31,337      Yum! Brands, Inc.      3,156,576  
     

 

 

 
        51,788,962  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Household Durables (0.4%):       
  34,822      D.R. Horton, Inc.    $ 1,836,861  
  14,995      Garmin, Ltd.      1,462,912  
  13,620      Leggett & Platt, Inc.      692,305  
  28,997      Lennar Corp., Class A      1,617,743  
  6,185      Mohawk Industries, Inc.*      843,510  
  38,779      Newell Brands, Inc.      745,332  
  363      NVR, Inc.*      1,382,453  
  26,393      PulteGroup, Inc.      1,024,048  
  6,602      Whirlpool Corp.      973,993  
     

 

 

 
        10,579,157  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (1.7%):       
  25,396      Church & Dwight Co., Inc.      1,786,355  
  13,003      Clorox Co. (The)      1,996,481  
  88,795      Colgate-Palmolive Co.      6,112,648  
  35,517      Kimberly-Clark Corp.      4,885,363  
  258,373      Procter & Gamble Co. (The)      32,270,787  
     

 

 

 
        47,051,634  
     

 

 

 
Independent Power and Renewable Electricity Producers (0.1%):  
  69,073      AES Corp. (The)      1,374,553  
  26,323      NRG Energy, Inc.      1,046,339  
     

 

 

 
        2,420,892  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (1.3%):       
  59,579      3M Co.      10,510,927  
  904,845      General Electric Co.      10,098,070  
  74,030      Honeywell International, Inc.      13,103,310  
  10,742      Roper Technologies, Inc.      3,805,139  
     

 

 

 
        37,517,446  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (2.3%):       
  76,048      Aflac, Inc.      4,022,939  
  33,564      Allstate Corp. (The)      3,774,272  
  90,132      American International Group, Inc.      4,626,476  
  24,258      Aon plc      5,052,699  
  19,458      Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.      1,852,985  
  6,361      Assurant, Inc.      833,800  
  46,954      Chubb, Ltd.      7,308,861  
  15,806      Cincinnati Financial Corp.      1,662,001  
  4,260      Everest Re Group, Ltd.      1,179,338  
  10,184      Globe Life, Inc.      1,071,866  
  37,342      Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The)      2,269,273  
  20,745      Lincoln National Corp.      1,224,162  
  26,502      Loews Corp.      1,391,090  
  52,286      Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc.      5,825,183  
  80,987      MetLife, Inc.      4,127,907  
  26,978      Principal Financial Group, Inc.      1,483,790  
  60,446      Progressive Corp. (The)      4,375,686  
  41,649      Prudential Financial, Inc.      3,904,177  
  26,742      Travelers Cos., Inc. (The)      3,662,317  
  21,708      Unum Group      633,005  
  13,321      Willis Towers Watson plc      2,690,043  
  15,170      WR Berkley Corp.      1,048,247  
     

 

 

 
        64,020,117  
     

 

 

 
Interactive Media & Services (4.9%):       
  31,043      Alphabet, Inc., Class A*      41,578,684  
  30,967      Alphabet, Inc., Class C*      41,403,498  
  249,324      Facebook, Inc., Class A*      51,173,752  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Interactive Media & Services, continued       
  80,274      Twitter, Inc.*    $ 2,572,782  
     

 

 

 
        136,728,716  
     

 

 

 
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail (3.3%):       
  43,149      Amazon.com, Inc.*      79,732,449  
  4,337      Booking Holdings, Inc.*      8,907,027  
  79,121      eBay, Inc.      2,857,059  
  14,551      Expedia Group, Inc.      1,573,545  
     

 

 

 
        93,070,080  
     

 

 

 
IT Services (5.4%):       
  65,796      Accenture plc, Class C      13,854,664  
  16,743      Akamai Technologies, Inc.*      1,446,260  
  4,244      Alliance Data Systems Corp.      476,177  
  44,830      Automatic Data Processing, Inc.      7,643,515  
  11,794      Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.      1,457,031  
  56,731      Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Class A      3,518,457  
  26,656      DXC Technology Co.      1,001,999  
  63,676      Fidelity National Information Services, Inc.      8,856,695  
  59,170      Fiserv, Inc.*      6,841,827  
  9,007      FleetCor Technologies, Inc.*      2,591,494  
  9,198      Gartner, Inc.*      1,417,412  
  31,138      Global Payments, Inc.      5,684,553  
  91,757      International Business Machines Corp.      12,299,108  
  8,012      Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.      1,167,108  
  13,782      Leidos Holdings, Inc.      1,349,120  
  91,974      MasterCard, Inc., Class A      27,462,517  
  32,953      Paychex, Inc.      2,802,982  
  121,653      PayPal Holdings, Inc.*      13,159,205  
  10,705      VeriSign, Inc.*      2,062,639  
  177,356      Visa, Inc., Class A      33,325,192  
  43,109      Western Union Co.      1,154,459  
     

 

 

 
        149,572,414  
     

 

 

 
Leisure Products (0.1%):       
  13,293      Hasbro, Inc.      1,403,874  
     

 

 

 
Life Sciences Tools & Services (1.0%):       
  32,018      Agilent Technologies, Inc.      2,731,456  
  15,211      Illumina, Inc.*      5,046,097  
  18,673      IQVIA Holdings, Inc.*      2,885,165  
  2,509      Mettler-Toledo International, Inc.*      1,990,340  
  11,557      PerkinElmer, Inc.      1,122,185  
  41,545      Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.      13,496,723  
  6,612      Waters Corp.*      1,544,894  
     

 

 

 
        28,816,860  
     

 

 

 
Machinery (1.6%):       
  57,259      Caterpillar, Inc.      8,456,008  
  15,851      Cummins, Inc.      2,836,695  
  32,603      Deere & Co.      5,648,796  
  15,133      Dover Corp.      1,744,230  
  13,648      Flowserve Corp.      679,261  
  30,763      Fortive Corp.      2,349,986  
  7,945      IDEX Corp.      1,366,540  
  30,303      Illinois Tool Works, Inc.      5,443,328  
  24,824      Ingersoll-Rand plc      3,299,606  
  35,835      PACCAR, Inc.      2,834,549  
  13,364      Parker Hannifin Corp.      2,750,578  
  17,093      Pentair plc      784,056  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Machinery, continued       
  5,745      Snap-On, Inc.    $ 973,203  
  15,694      Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.      2,601,124  
  18,920      Wabtec Corp.      1,471,976  
  18,812      Xylem, Inc.      1,482,197  
     

 

 

 
        44,722,133  
     

 

 

 
Media (1.4%):       
  16,244      Charter Communications, Inc., Class A*      7,879,639  
  470,350      Comcast Corp., Class A      21,151,639  
  35,039      Discovery Communications, Inc., Class C*      1,068,339  
  16,444      Discovery, Inc., Class A*^      538,377  
  26,637      DISH Network Corp., Class A*      944,814  
  37,033      Fox Corp., Class A      1,372,813  
  16,894      Fox Corp., Class B      614,942  
  40,171      Interpublic Group of Cos., Inc. (The)      927,950  
  39,647      News Corp., Class A      560,609  
  13,127      News Corp., Class B      190,473  
  22,545      Omnicom Group, Inc.      1,826,596  
  55,799      ViacomCBS, Inc., B      2,341,884  
     

 

 

 
        39,418,075  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (0.3%):       
  149,391      Freeport-McMoRan, Inc.      1,960,010  
  84,634      Newmont Goldcorp Corp.      3,677,347  
  31,415      Nucor Corp.      1,768,036  
     

 

 

 
        7,405,393  
     

 

 

 
Multiline Retail (0.5%):       
  26,378      Dollar General Corp.      4,114,440  
  24,621      Dollar Tree, Inc.*      2,315,605  
  16,142      Kohl’s Corp.      822,435  
  32,142      Macy’s, Inc.      546,414  
  11,220      Nordstrom, Inc.      459,235  
  52,501      Target Corp.      6,731,153  
     

 

 

 
        14,989,282  
     

 

 

 
Multi-Utilities (1.1%):       
  25,420      Ameren Corp.      1,952,256  
  51,626      CenterPoint Energy, Inc.      1,407,841  
  29,411      CMS Energy Corp.      1,848,187  
  34,559      Consolidated Edison, Inc.      3,126,553  
  85,277      Dominion Energy, Inc.      7,062,641  
  19,855      DTE Energy Co.      2,578,569  
  39,022      NiSource, Inc.      1,086,372  
  52,611      Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc.      3,106,680  
  29,206      Sempra Energy      4,424,125  
  32,523      WEC Energy Group, Inc.      2,999,596  
     

 

 

 
        29,592,820  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (3.9%):       
  38,959      Apache Corp.      996,961  
  41,945      Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.      730,262  
  195,905      Chevron Corp.      23,608,512  
  10,557      Cimarex Energy Co.      554,137  
  20,755      Concho Resources, Inc.      1,817,515  
  113,683      ConocoPhillips Co.      7,392,805  
  40,427      Devon Energy Corp.      1,049,889  
  16,654      Diamondback Energy, Inc.      1,546,490  
  60,274      EOG Resources, Inc.      5,048,550  
  438,367      Exxon Mobil Corp.      30,589,250  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
  26,834      Hess Corp.    $ 1,792,780  
  15,275      HollyFrontier Corp.      774,595  
  201,252      Kinder Morgan, Inc.      4,260,505  
  83,660      Marathon Oil Corp.      1,136,103  
  67,273      Marathon Petroleum Corp.      4,053,198  
  49,965      Noble Energy, Inc.      1,241,131  
  92,553      Occidental Petroleum Corp.      3,814,109  
  42,969      ONEOK, Inc.      3,251,464  
  46,038      Phillips 66      5,129,094  
  17,162      Pioneer Natural Resources Co.      2,597,812  
  42,546      Valero Energy Corp.      3,984,433  
  126,110      Williams Cos., Inc.      2,991,329  
     

 

 

 
        108,360,924  
     

 

 

 
Personal Products (0.2%):       
  30,605      Coty, Inc., Class A      344,306  
  23,058      Estee Lauder Co., Inc. (The), Class A      4,762,400  
     

 

 

 
        5,106,706  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (4.6%):       
  34,011      Allergan plc      6,501,883  
  242,871      Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.      15,589,889  
  87,538      Eli Lilly & Co.      11,505,119  
  272,677      Johnson & Johnson Co.      39,775,395  
  263,778      Merck & Co., Inc.      23,990,609  
  53,676      Mylan NV*      1,078,888  
  14,219      Perrigo Co. plc      734,554  
  573,366      Pfizer, Inc.      22,464,480  
  49,347      Zoetis, Inc.      6,531,075  
     

 

 

 
        128,171,892  
     

 

 

 
Professional Services (0.3%):       
  12,566      Equifax, Inc.      1,760,748  
  41,545      IHS Markit, Ltd.*      3,130,416  
  37,008      Nielsen Holdings plc      751,262  
  12,232      Robert Half International, Inc.      772,451  
  17,024      Verisk Analytics, Inc.      2,542,364  
     

 

 

 
        8,957,241  
     

 

 

 
Real Estate Management & Development (0.1%):       
  34,682      CBRE Group, Inc., Class A*      2,125,660  
     

 

 

 
Road & Rail (1.0%):       
  80,568      CSX Corp.      5,829,900  
  8,858      J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc.      1,034,437  
  10,324      Kansas City Southern      1,581,224  
  27,015      Norfolk Southern Corp.      5,244,422  
  6,657      Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.      1,263,365  
  71,923      Union Pacific Corp.      13,002,960  
     

 

 

 
        27,956,308  
     

 

 

 
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (4.2%):       
  115,378      Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.*      5,291,235  
  38,158      Analog Devices, Inc.      4,534,697  
  95,668      Applied Materials, Inc.      5,839,575  
  41,097      Broadcom, Inc.      12,987,474  
  450,685      Intel Corp.      26,973,497  
  16,348      KLA Corp.      2,912,723  
  15,031      Lam Research Corp.      4,395,064  
  28,232      Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.      1,736,550  
  24,651      Microchip Technology, Inc.      2,581,453  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment, continued       
  114,697      Micron Technology, Inc.*    $ 6,168,405  
  63,407      NVIDIA Corp.      14,919,667  
  12,136      Qorvo, Inc.*      1,410,567  
  118,302      Qualcomm, Inc.      10,437,785  
  17,603      Skyworks Solutions, Inc.      2,127,851  
  96,848      Texas Instruments, Inc.      12,424,630  
  26,000      Xilinx, Inc.      2,542,020  
     

 

 

 
        117,283,193  
     

 

 

 
Software (7.0%):       
  50,153      Adobe, Inc.*      16,540,961  
  8,833      ANSYS, Inc.*      2,273,703  
  22,797      Autodesk, Inc.*      4,182,338  
  29,169      Cadence Design Systems, Inc.*      2,023,162  
  12,626      Citrix Systems, Inc.      1,400,223  
  14,678      Fortinet, Inc.*      1,567,023  
  26,969      Intuit, Inc.      7,063,990  
  790,388      Microsoft Corp.      124,644,187  
  59,007      NortonLifeLock, Inc.      1,505,859  
  224,458      Oracle Corp.      11,891,785  
  91,898      Salesforce.com, Inc.*      14,946,291  
  19,540      ServiceNow, Inc.*      5,516,533  
  15,575      Synopsys, Inc.*      2,168,040  
     

 

 

 
        195,724,095  
     

 

 

 
Specialty Retail (2.2%):       
  7,156      Advance Auto Parts, Inc.      1,146,105  
  2,466      AutoZone, Inc.*      2,937,770  
  23,473      Best Buy Co, Inc.      2,060,929  
  16,976      CarMax, Inc.*      1,488,286  
  22,015      Gap, Inc. (The)      389,225  
  113,016      Home Depot, Inc. (The)      24,680,435  
  23,412      L Brands, Inc.      424,225  
  79,411      Lowe’s Cos., Inc.      9,510,262  
  7,839      O’Reilly Automotive, Inc.*      3,435,520  
  37,477      Ross Stores, Inc.      4,363,072  
  11,104      Tiffany & Co.      1,484,050  
  125,639      TJX Cos., Inc. (The)      7,671,517  
  12,376      Tractor Supply Co.      1,156,413  
  5,890      Ulta Beauty, Inc.*      1,490,995  
     

 

 

 
        62,238,804  
     

 

 

 
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals (4.9%):       
  432,727      Apple, Inc.      127,070,284  
  134,066      Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.      2,126,287  
  153,535      HP, Inc.      3,155,144  
  23,841      NetApp, Inc.      1,484,102  
  23,952      Seagate Technology plc      1,425,144  
  30,799      Western Digital Corp.      1,954,813  
  19,535      Xerox Holdings Corp.      720,255  
     

 

 

 
        137,936,029  
     

 

 

 
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods (0.7%):       
  15,772      Capri Holdings, Ltd.*    $ 601,702  
  37,618      Hanesbrands, Inc.      558,627  
  129,096      Nike, Inc., Class B      13,078,716  
  7,715      PVH Corp.      811,232  
  5,195      Ralph Lauren Corp.      608,958  
  28,540      Tapestry, Inc.      769,724  
  18,915      Under Armour, Inc., Class A*      408,564  
  19,502      Under Armour, Inc., Class C*      374,048  
  33,973      VF Corp.      3,385,749  
     

 

 

 
        20,597,320  
     

 

 

 
Tobacco (0.8%):       
  193,549      Altria Group, Inc.      9,660,031  
  161,197      Philip Morris International, Inc.      13,716,252  
     

 

 

 
        23,376,283  
     

 

 

 
Trading Companies & Distributors (0.2%):       
  59,081      Fastenal Co.      2,183,043  
  7,785      United Rentals, Inc.*      1,298,304  
  4,479      W.W. Grainger, Inc.      1,516,231  
     

 

 

 
        4,997,578  
     

 

 

 
Water Utilities (0.1%):       
  18,729      American Water Works Co., Inc.      2,300,858  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.1%):       
  32,895      T-Mobile US, Inc.*      2,579,626  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Common Stocks (Cost $1,326,407,528)

     2,772,459,340  
  

 

 

 
Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan (0.1%):  
    3,011,805      BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, 2.00%(a)(b)      3,011,805  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on
Loan (Cost $3,011,805)

     3,011,805  
  

 

 

 
Unaffiliated Investment Companies (0.6%):       
Money Markets (0.6%):       
  18,012,242      Dreyfus Treasury Securities Cash Management Fund, Institutional Shares, 1.44%(b)      18,012,242  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Unaffiliated Investment Companies (Cost $18,012,242)

     18,012,242  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities (Cost $1,347,431,575) — 100.1%(c)

     2,793,483,387  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — (0.1)%

     (3,453,909
  

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 2,790,029,478  
  

 

 

 
 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

 

*

Non-income producing security.

 

^

This security or a partial position of this security was on loan as of December 31, 2019. The total value of securities on loan as of December 31, 2019 was $2,969,697.

 

+

Affiliated Securities

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

(a)

Purchased with cash collateral held from securities lending. The value of the collateral could include collateral held for securities that were sold on or before December 31, 2019.

 

(b)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(c)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Futures Contracts

Cash of $885,000 has been segregated to cover margin requirements for the following open contracts as of December 31, 2019:

Long Futures

 

Description    Expiration
Date
     Number of
Contracts
     Notional
Amount
     Value and
Unrealized
Appreciation/
(Depreciation)
 

S&P 500 Index E-Mini March Futures (U.S. Dollar)

     3/20/20        129      $ 20,840,595      $ 161,865  
           

 

 

 
            $ 161,865  
           

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

10


AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investments in non-affiliates, at cost

    $ 1,344,901,983

Investments in affiliates, at cost

      2,529,592
   

 

 

 

Investments in non-affiliates, at value(a)

    $ 2,787,340,896

Investments in affiliates, at value

      6,142,491

Cash

      13,476

Segregated cash for collateral for futures contracts

      885,000

Interest and dividends receivable

      2,927,783

Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts

      46,229

Reclaims receivable

      28,713

Prepaid expenses

      10,211
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      2,797,394,799
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      3,099,691

Payable for collateral received on loaned securities

      3,011,805

Manager fees payable

      399,567

Administration fees payable

      16,289

Distribution fees payable

      572,690

Custodian fees payable

      13,257

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      9,881

Transfer agent fees payable

      2,266

Trustee fees payable

      2,430

Other accrued liabilities

      237,445
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      7,365,321
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 2,790,029,478
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 1,231,022,375

Total distributable earnings

      1,559,007,103
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 2,790,029,478
   

 

 

 

Class 1

   

Net Assets

    $ 70,738,132

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      3,847,262

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 18.39
   

 

 

 

Class 2

   

Net Assets

    $ 2,719,291,346

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      149,112,915

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 18.24
   

 

 

 

 

(a)

Includes securities on loan of $2,969,697.

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Dividends

    $ 54,495,842

Dividends from affiliates

      173,435

Interest

      16,837

Income from securities lending

      304,615

Foreign withholding tax

      (188 )
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      54,990,541
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      4,568,807

Administration fees

      704,894

Distribution fees — Class 2

      6,548,609

Custodian fees

      77,494

Administrative and compliance services fees

      45,978

Transfer agent fees

      13,052

Trustee fees

      143,200

Professional fees

      129,965

Shareholder reports

      54,706

Other expenses

      599,311
   

 

 

 

Total expenses

      12,886,016
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      42,104,525
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities

      87,832,994

Net realized gains/(losses) on affiliated transactions

      205,809

Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts

      6,102,406

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities

      579,840,378

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on affiliated transactions

      1,258,953

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts

      107,863
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      675,348,403
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 717,452,928
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

11


AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 42,104,525     $ 41,761,267

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      94,141,209       82,741,138

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      581,207,194       (234,835,380 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      717,452,928       (110,332,975 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Class 1

      (3,214,142 )       (3,603,867 )

Class 2

      (118,738,444 )       (128,336,323 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (121,952,586 )       (131,940,190 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Class 1

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      612,585       21,167

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      3,214,143       3,603,867

Value of shares redeemed

      (10,818,839 )       (10,821,638 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 1 Shares

      (6,992,111 )       (7,196,604 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Class 2

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      43,218,601       34,574,035

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      118,738,443       128,336,323

Value of shares redeemed

      (393,581,816 )       (344,688,784 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 2 Shares

      (231,624,772 )       (181,778,426 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      (238,616,883 )       (188,975,030 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      356,883,459       (431,248,195 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      2,433,146,019       2,864,394,214
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 2,790,029,478     $ 2,433,146,019
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Class 1

       

Shares issued

      35,976       1,308

Dividends reinvested

      192,926       221,232

Shares redeemed

      (633,051 )       (651,499 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 1 Shares

      (404,149 )       (428,959 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Class 2

       

Shares issued

      2,632,549       2,171,613

Dividends reinvested

      7,183,209       7,936,693

Shares redeemed

      (22,984,390 )       (20,741,869 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 2 Shares

      (13,168,632 )       (10,633,563 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      (13,572,781 )       (11,062,522 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

12


AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

    Year Ended December 31,
     2019   2018   2017   2016   2015

Class 1

                   

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 14.72     $ 16.25     $ 14.15     $ 14.31     $ 14.50
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.31 (a)       0.29 (a)       0.28       0.28       0.27

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      4.20       (0.96 )       2.71       1.30       (0.12 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      4.51       (0.67 )       2.99       1.58       0.15
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.31 )       (0.31 )       (0.17 )       (0.31 )       (0.34 )

Net Realized Gains

      (0.53 )       (0.55 )       (0.72 )       (1.43 )      
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (0.84 )       (0.86 )       (0.89 )       (1.74 )       (0.34 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 18.39     $ 14.72     $ 16.25     $ 14.15     $ 14.31
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(b)

      31.27 %       (4.63 )%       21.60 %       11.79 %       1.16 %

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 70,738     $ 62,599     $ 76,049     $ 72,604     $ 20,022

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      1.81 %       1.74 %       1.83 %       1.98 %       1.86 %

Expenses Before Reductions (c)

      0.24 %       0.23 %       0.23 %       0.24 %       0.24 %

Expenses Net of Reductions

      0.24 %       0.23 %       0.23 %       0.24 %       0.24 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate(d)

      3 %       4 %       2 %       23 %       8 %

Class 2

                   

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 14.61     $ 16.13     $ 14.06     $ 14.23     $ 14.40
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.26 (a)       0.25 (a)       0.24       0.24       0.23

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      4.17       (0.95 )       2.70       1.29       (0.11 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      4.43       (0.70 )       2.94       1.53       0.12
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.27 )       (0.27 )       (0.15 )       (0.27 )       (0.29 )

Net Realized Gains

      (0.53 )       (0.55 )       (0.72 )       (1.43 )      
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (0.80 )       (0.82 )       (0.87 )       (1.70 )       (0.29 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 18.24     $ 14.61     $ 16.13     $ 14.06     $ 14.23
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(b)

      30.89 %       (4.84 )%       21.36 %       11.45 %       0.95 %

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 2,719,291     $ 2,370,547     $ 2,788,345     $ 2,562,218     $ 1,223,566

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      1.56 %       1.49 %       1.58 %       1.75 %       1.58 %

Expenses Before Reductions(c)

      0.49 %       0.48 %       0.48 %       0.49 %       0.49 %

Expenses Net of Reductions

      0.49 %       0.48 %       0.48 %       0.49 %       0.49 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate(d)

      3 %       4 %       2 %       23 %       8 %

 

(a)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(b)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(c)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

(d)

Portfolio turnover rate is calculated on the basis of the Fund as a whole without distinguishing between classes of shares issued. Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

13


AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services — Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL S&P 500 Index Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Foreign Currency Translation and Withholding Taxes

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding and other income or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Funds accrue such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Each class of shares bears its pro-rata portion of expenses attributable to its series, except that each class separately bears

 

14


AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements, continued

December 31, 2019

 

expenses related specifically to that class, such as distribution fees. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

Class Allocation

The investment income, expenses (other than class specific expenses charged to a class), realized and unrealized gains and losses on investments of the Fund are allocated to each class of shares based upon relative net assets on the date income is earned or expenses and realized and unrealized gains and losses are incurred.

Securities Lending

To generate additional income, the Fund may lend up to 331/3% of its assets pursuant to agreements requiring that the loan be continuously secured by any combination of cash, U.S. government or U.S. government agency securities, equal initially to at least 102% of the fair value plus accrued interest on the securities loaned (105% for foreign securities). The borrower of securities is at all times required to post collateral to the Fund in an amount equal to 100% of the fair value of the securities loaned based on the previous day’s fair value of the securities loaned, marked-to-market daily. Any collateral shortfalls are adjusted the next business day. The Fund bears all of the gains and losses on such investments. The Fund receives payments from borrowers equivalent to the dividends and interest that would have been earned on securities lent while simultaneously seeking to earn income on the investment of cash collateral received. In extremely low interest rate environments, the broker rebate fee may exceed the interest earned or the cash collateral which would result in a loss to the Fund. The investment of cash collateral deposited by the borrower is subject to inherent market risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks that are present in the market, and as such, the value of these investments may not be sufficient, when liquidated, to repay the borrower when the loaned security is returned. There may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. However, loans will be made only to borrowers, such as broker-dealers, banks or institutional borrowers of securities, deemed by the Manager to be of good standing and credit worthy and when in its judgment, the consideration which can be earned currently from such securities loans justifies the attendant risks. Loans are subject to termination by the Trust or the borrower at any time, and are, therefore, not considered to be illiquid investments. Securities on loan at December 31, 2019 are presented on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

Cash collateral received in connection with securities lending is invested on behalf of the Fund in the BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, a money market fund which invests in short-term investments that have a remaining maturity of 397 days or less in accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. The Fund pays the Securities Lending Agent 9% of the gross revenues received from securities lending activities and keeps 91%. The Fund paid securities lending fees of $29,991 during the year ended December 31, 2019. These fees have been netted against “Income from securities lending” on the Statement of Operations. The Fund had securities lending transactions of $3,011,805 accounted for as secured borrowings with cash collateral of overnight and continuous maturities as of December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019, there were no master netting provisions in the securities lending agreement.

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not engage in any Rule 17a-7 transactions under the Rule.

Derivative Instruments

All open derivative positions at period end are reflected on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments. The following is a description of the derivative instruments utilized by the Fund, including the primary underlying risk exposures related to each instrument type.

Futures Contracts

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund used futures contracts to provide market exposure on the Fund’s cash balances. Futures contracts are valued based upon their quoted daily settlement prices. Upon entering into a futures contract, the Fund is required to segregate liquid assets in accordance with the initial margin requirements of the broker or exchange. Futures contracts are marked to market daily and a payable or receivable for the change in value (“variation margin”) is recorded by the Fund. Gains or losses are recognized but not considered realized until the contracts expire or are closed. Futures contracts involve, to varying degrees, elements of market risk (generally equity price risk related to stock futures, interest rate risk related to bond futures, and foreign currency risk related to currency futures) and exposure to loss in excess of the variation margin disclosed in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are the imperfect correlation between the change in fair value of the underlying securities and the prices of futures contracts, the possibility of an illiquid market, and the inability of the counterparty to meet the terms of the contract. The monthly average notional amount for long contracts was $21.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Realized gains and losses are reported as “Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts” on the Statement of Operations.

Summary of Derivative Instruments

The following is a summary of the fair values of derivative instruments on the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities, categorized by risk exposure, as of December 31, 2019:

 

   

Asset Derivatives

   

Liability Derivatives

 
Primary Risk Exposure   Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
    Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
 

Equity Risk

     
Equity Contracts   Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $ 161,865     Payable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $  

 

*

For futures contracts, the amounts represent the cumulative appreciation/depreciation of these futures contracts as reported in the Schedule of Portfolio Investments. Only the current day’s variation margin is reported within the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as Variation margin on futures contracts.

 

15


AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements, continued

December 31, 2019

 

The following is a summary of the effect of derivative instruments on the Statement of Operations, categorized by risk exposure, for the year ended December 31, 2019:

 

Primary Risk Exposure   Location of Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
   Realized Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
     Change in Net Unrealized
Appreciation/Depreciation on
Derivatives Recognized
 

Equity Risk

     
Equity Contracts   Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts/ Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts    $ 6,102,406      $ 107,863  

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to a subadvisory agreement with BlackRock Investment Management, LLC (“BlackRock Investment”), BlackRock Investment provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate      Annual Expense Limit

AZL S&P 500 Index Fund Class 1

         0.17 %          0.46 %

AZL S&P 500 Index Fund Class 2

         0.17 %          0.71 %

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations. During the year ended December 31, 2019, there were no voluntary waivers.

At December 31, 2019, the following investments are noted as Affiliated Securities in the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

     Fair Value
12/31/2018
  Purchases
at Cost
  Proceeds from
Sales
  Net
Realized
Gains(Losses)
  Change in
Net Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation
  Fair Value
12/31/2019
  Shares as of
12/31/2019
  Dividend
Income
 

Capital Gains
Distributions

BlackRock Inc., Class A

    $ 5,481,410     $ 93,418     $ (897,099 )     $ 205,809     $ 1,258,953     $ 6,142,491       12,219     $ 173,435     $
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 
    $ 5,481,410     $ 93,418     $ (897,099 )     $ 205,809     $ 1,258,953     $ 6,142,491       12,219     $ 173,435     $
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the average daily net assets attributable of Class 2 shares, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

 

16


AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements, continued

December 31, 2019

 

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $20,043 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Futures contracts are valued at the last sales price as of the close of the primary exchange and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total
                             

Common Stocks+

       $ 2,772,459,340        $        $        $ 2,772,459,340

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

         3,011,805                            3,011,805

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

         18,012,242                            18,012,242
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

         2,793,483,387                            2,793,483,387
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Other Financial Instruments:*

                           

Futures Contracts

         161,865                            161,865
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $ 2,793,645,252        $        $        $ 2,793,645,252
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

*

Other Financial Instruments would include any derivative instruments, such as futures contracts. These investments are generally recorded in the financial statements at variation margin.

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

       $ 80,167,140        $ 387,471,721

 

17


AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements, continued

December 31, 2019

 

6. Investment Risks

Derivatives Risk: The Fund may invest in derivatives as a principal strategy. A derivative is a financial contract whose value depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or risk. Use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Derivatives are subject to a number of other risks, such as liquidity risk, interest rate risk, market risk, credit risk, and selection risk. Derivatives also involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate, or index. Using derivatives may result in losses, possibly in excess of the principal amount invested. Also, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances. The counterparty to a derivatives contract could default. As required by applicable law, a Fund that invests in derivatives segregates cash or liquid securities, or both, to the extent that its obligations under the instrument are not covered through ownership of the underlying security, financial instrument, or currency.

7. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $1,369,450,540. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 1,464,064,600  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (40,031,753
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 1,424,032,847  
 

 

 

 

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

       $ 40,928,869        $ 81,023,717        $ 121,952,586

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

       $ 46,594,080        $ 85,346,110        $ 131,940,190

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
     Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
     Total
Accumulated
Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

       $ 44,219,928        $ 90,754,322        $        $ 1,424,032,853        $ 1,559,007,103

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales, futures contracts, mark-to-market on futures contracts, underlying investments and other miscellaneous differences.

8. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had multiple shareholder accounts which are affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 65% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

9. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

18


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL S&P 500 Index Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL S&P 500 Index Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

19


Other Federal Income Tax Information (Unaudited)

For the year ended December 31, 2019, 93.89% of the total ordinary income dividends paid by the Fund qualify for the corporate dividends received deductions available to corporate shareholders.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net long-term capital gain distributions of $81,023,717.

 

20


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

21


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for

 

22


the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

 

23


The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

24


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

25


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

26


LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.   
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL® Small Cap Stock Index Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page 1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page 3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page 4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page 12

Statement of Operations

Page 12

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page 13

Financial Highlights

Page 14

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page 15

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page 20

Other Federal Income Tax Information

Page 21

Other Information

Page 22

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page 23

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 26

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® Small Cap Stock Index Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® Small Cap Stock Index Fund and BlackRock Investment Management, LLC serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® Small Cap Stock Index Fund (Class 2 Shares) (the “Fund”) returned 22.19%. That compared to a 22.78% total return for its benchmark, the S&P SmallCap 600 Index (“Index“)1.

The Fund takes positions in securities that, in combination, should have similar return characteristics as the return of the Index. The Index is designed to provide a comprehensive measure of small-cap stock performance.*

Equities rebounded in the first quarter as U.S. trade negotiations with China and relatively strong corporate earnings growth helped investor sentiment recover from steep losses at the end of 2018. Stocks and bonds both received a boost from the Federal Reserve Board’s (the Fed) shift to a more dovish tone in January, as it announced it would refrain from interest rate hikes for the near future. Despite a 35-day government shutdown and global economic weakness, the U.S. economy continued to exhibit a tight labor market, low inflation and slowing but stable economic growth.

In the second quarter, the prospect of lower interest rates generally provided a boost to equities. Renewed trade concerns contributed to volatility during the quarter, however, with the S&P 500 Index2 dropping -6.4% after President Trump threatened to increase tariffs against China and Mexico. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield declined 50 basis points (0.50%) to 2%—the lowest level since 2016—and the resulting negative spread between three-month and 10-year yields added to uncertainty.

Trade tensions were a key focus for domestic and global investors in the third quarter. The Fed lowered interest rates again in July and September to offset that potential risk as well as weak global growth. U.S. manufacturing and consumer sectors showed signs of weakness. The closely monitored two-year, 10-year Treasury yield spread inverted for the first time since the global financial crisis, but ended the quarter in positive territory.

In the fourth quarter, expectations of a U.S.-China trade deal, strong economic growth and easy monetary policy boosted investors’ appetite for risk, although there were still signs of weakness, including in manufacturing. Despite the strength of the U.S. economy, the Fed cut federal fund rates by 25 basis points (0.25%) to 1.75%, marking the third rate cut of the year.

From a sector perspective, the largest contributions in the Index came from the information technology, industrials, and real estate sectors. The only negative contributor was the energy sector.

The Fund uses derivatives for the purpose of efficient portfolio management, and derivatives did not have a significant impact on the Fund’s return in 2019. Futures are not used for speculative or leveraged positions in the portfolio and we keep cash to fully cover all outstanding futures positions. The Fund’s use of futures contracts provides immediate market exposure proportionate to cash accruals and investable cash within the portfolio. Skillful cash management and cash equitization are critical to minimizing the potential impact of cash drag and ensure tight tracking to the benchmark.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

*

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmark please refer to page 2 of this report.

2 

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is unmanaged and is representative of 500 selected common stocks, most of which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and is a measure of the U.S. Stock market as a whole. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 
 

 

1


AZL® Small Cap Stock Index Fund Review (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

The Fund’s investment objective is to seek to match the performance of the Standard & Poor’s SmallCap 600 Index (“S&P 600”). This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing in all of the stocks in the S&P 600 in proportion to their weighting in the Index.

Investment Concerns

Equity securities (stocks) are more volatile and carry more risk than other forms of investments, including investments in high-grade fixed income securities. The net asset value per share of this Fund will fluctuate as the value of the securities in the portfolio changes.

Small- to mid-capitalization companies typically have a higher risk of failure and historically have experienced a greater degree of volatility.

The performance of the Fund is expected to be lower than that of the Index because of Fund fees and expenses. Securities in which the Fund will invest may involve substantial risk and may be subject to sudden severe price declines.

Investing in derivatives instruments involves risks that may be different from or greater than the risk associated with investing directly in securities or other traditional instruments.

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmark and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

     Inception
Date
     1
Year
    3
Year
    5
Year
    10
Year
    Since
Inception
 

AZL® Small Cap Stock Index Fund (Class 1 Shares)

     10/14/16         22.42 %      8.12     —         —         11.97

AZL® Small Cap Stock Index Fund (Class 2 Shares)

     5/1/07         22.19 %      7.86     8.99     12.74     8.13

S&P SmallCap 600 Index

     5/1/07        22.78     8.36     9.56     13.35     8.62

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratios

   Gross  

AZL® Small Cap Stock Index Fund (Class 1 Shares)

     0.33

AZL® Small Cap Stock Index Fund (Class 2 Shares)

     0.58

The above expense ratios are based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses (such as interest expense), to 0.46% for Class 1 Shares and 0.71% for Class 2 Shares through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratios can be found in the Financial Highlights.

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Standard & Poor’s SmallCap 600 Index, an unmanaged index which covers approximately 3% of the domestic equities market. Measuring the small-cap segment of the market that is typically renowned for poor trading liquidity and financial instability, the index is designed to be an efficient portfolio of companies that meet specific inclusion criteria to ensure that they are investable and financially viable. The index does not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The Fund’s performance reflects the deduction of fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

2


AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund, Class 1

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,078.60     $ 1.73       0.33 %

AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,076.80     $ 3.04       0.58 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund, Class 1

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,023.54     $ 1.68       0.33 %

AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund, Class 2

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,022.28     $ 2.96       0.58 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

Industrials

      17.5 %

Financials

      17.3

Information Technology

      13.8

Consumer Discretionary

      13.4

Health Care

      11.9

Real Estate

      7.3

Materials

      4.9

Consumer Staples

      4.2

Energy

      4.1

Utilities

      2.1

Communication Services

      2.0
   

 

 

 

Total Common Stocks

      98.5

Rights

        

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

      4.3

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

      1.1
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      103.9

Net other assets (liabilities)

      (3.9 )
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

3


AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks (98.5%):       
Aerospace & Defense (1.6%):       
  35,456      AAR Corp.    $ 1,599,066  
  77,520      Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc.*      3,539,563  
  23,143      AeroVironment, Inc.*      1,428,849  
  33,415      Cubic Corp.      2,124,192  
  34,453      Moog, Inc., Class A      2,939,874  
  5,377      National Presto Industries, Inc.^      475,273  
  21,107      Park Aerospace Corp., Class C      343,411  
  53,963      Triumph Group, Inc.      1,363,645  
     

 

 

 
        13,813,873  
     

 

 

 
Air Freight & Logistics (0.6%):       
  27,382      Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc.*      754,922  
  28,398      Echo Global Logistics, Inc.*      587,839  
  30,234      Forward Air Corp.      2,114,868  
  35,590      Hub Group, Inc., Class A*      1,825,411  
     

 

 

 
        5,283,040  
     

 

 

 
Airlines (0.9%):       
  14,161      Allegiant Travel Co.      2,464,580  
  49,585      Hawaiian Holdings, Inc.      1,452,345  
  53,915      SkyWest, Inc.      3,484,527  
     

 

 

 
        7,401,452  
     

 

 

 
Auto Components (1.8%):       
  119,980      American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc.*      1,290,985  
  53,412      Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.      1,535,595  
  17,738      Cooper-Standard Holding, Inc.*      588,192  
  31,174      Dorman Products, Inc.*      2,360,495  
  41,245      Fox Factory Holding Corp.*^      2,869,415  
  78,957      Garrett Motion, Inc.*      788,780  
  34,894      Gentherm, Inc.*      1,548,945  
  26,859      LCI Industries      2,877,404  
  20,545      Motorcar Parts of America, Inc.*^      452,606  
  21,489      Standard Motor Products, Inc.      1,143,645  
     

 

 

 
        15,456,062  
     

 

 

 
Automobiles (0.2%):       
  36,039      Winnebago Industries, Inc.      1,909,346  
     

 

 

 
Banks (9.4%):       
  20,619      Allegiance Bancshares, Inc.*      775,274  
  70,325      Ameris Bancorp      2,991,626  
  48,532      Banc of California, Inc.      833,780  
  34,100      Banner Corp.      1,929,719  
  46,173      Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc.      1,518,168  
  89,267      Boston Private Financial Holdings, Inc.      1,073,882  
  86,315      Brookline Bancorp, Inc.      1,420,745  
  132,423      Cadence Bancorp      2,400,829  
  30,964      Central Pacific Financial Corp.      915,915  
  17,795      City Holding Co.      1,458,300  
  77,360      Columbia Banking System, Inc.      3,147,392  
  55,536      Community Bank System, Inc.      3,939,724  
  31,181      Customers Bancorp, Inc.*      742,420  
  142,336      CVB Financial Corp.      3,071,611  
  35,849      Eagle Bancorp, Inc.      1,743,337  
  233,745      First Bancorp      2,475,360  
  106,970      First Commonwealth Financial Corp.      1,552,135  
  106,976      First Financial Bancorp      2,721,469  
  118,174      First Midwest Bancorp, Inc.      2,725,092  
  14,460      Franklin Financial Network, Inc.      496,412  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Banks, continued       
  91,852      Glacier Bancorp, Inc.    $ 4,224,273  
  60,275      Great Western Bancorp, Inc.      2,093,954  
  33,146      Hanmi Financial Corp.      662,754  
  38,051      Heritage Financial Corp.      1,076,843  
  133,663      Hope BanCorp, Inc.      1,986,232  
  36,893      Independent Bank Corp.      3,071,342  
  32,662      National Bank Holdings Corp.      1,150,356  
  47,510      NBT Bancorp, Inc.      1,927,006  
  53,735      OFG Bancorp      1,268,683  
  182,358      Old National Bancorp      3,335,328  
  23,606      Opus Bank      610,687  
  63,935      Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc.      2,084,601  
  15,087      Preferred Bank Los Angeles      906,578  
  41,547      S & T Bancorp, Inc.      1,673,929  
  55,664      Seacoast Banking Corp of Florida*      1,701,648  
  50,124      ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc.      1,888,672  
  121,846      Simmons First National Corp., Class A      3,264,254  
  34,434      Southside Bancshares, Inc.      1,278,879  
  13,431      Tompkins Financial Corp.^      1,228,937  
  25,527      Triumph BanCorp, Inc.*      970,537  
  85,080      United Community Banks, Inc.      2,627,270  
  51,462      Veritex Holdings, Inc.      1,499,088  
  29,250      Westamerica Bancorp^      1,982,273  
     

 

 

 
        80,447,314  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (0.3%):       
  4,981      Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc.      1,414,852  
  14,079      MGP Ingredients, Inc.^      682,128  
  12,678      National Beverage Corp.*^      646,832  
     

 

 

 
        2,743,812  
     

 

 

 
Biotechnology (1.8%):       
  52,240      Acorda Therapeutics, Inc.*      106,570  
  36,500      AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*^      444,205  
  63,791      Cytokinetics, Inc.*^      676,823  
  10,976      Eagle Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      659,438  
  46,912      Emergent Biosolutions, Inc.*      2,530,901  
  17,250      Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      1,065,705  
  121,529      Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      2,397,767  
  79,252      Myriad Genetics, Inc.*      2,158,032  
  90,755      Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      461,943  
  33,569      Regenxbio, Inc.*      1,375,322  
  120,201      Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      437,532  
  56,706      Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      930,545  
  52,850      Xencor, Inc.*^      1,817,512  
     

 

 

 
        15,062,295  
     

 

 

 
Building Products (2.0%):       
  43,731      AAON, Inc.      2,160,749  
  16,841      American Woodmark Corp.*      1,760,053  
  28,318      Apogee Enterprises, Inc.      920,335  
  34,663      Gibraltar Industries, Inc.*      1,748,402  
  45,998      Griffon Corp.      935,139  
  19,386      Insteel Industries, Inc.      416,605  
  23,955      Patrick Industries, Inc.      1,255,961  
  61,954      PGT Innovations, Inc.*      923,734  
  35,357      Quanex Building Products Corp.      603,898  
  43,240      Simpson Manufacturing Co., Inc.      3,469,144  
  65,807      Universal Forest Products, Inc.      3,138,994  
     

 

 

 
        17,333,014  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Capital Markets (0.8%):       
  52,288      Blucora, Inc.*    $ 1,366,808  
  32,423      Donnelley Financial Solutions, Inc.*      339,469  
  15,747      Greenhill & Co., Inc.      268,959  
  17,400      INTL FCStone, Inc.*      849,642  
  15,703      Piper Jaffray Cos., Inc.      1,255,298  
  7,049      Virtus Investment Partners, Inc.      858,004  
  74,844      Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc., Class A^      1,251,392  
  127,807      WisdomTree Investments, Inc.^      618,586  
     

 

 

 
        6,808,158  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (2.9%):       
  29,244      AdvanSix, Inc.*      583,710  
  28,935      American Vanguard Corp.      563,364  
  34,465      Balchem Corp.      3,502,678  
  87,353      Ferro Corp.*      1,295,445  
  27,086      Futurefuel Corp.      335,596  
  57,296      GCP Applied Technologies, Inc.*      1,301,192  
  54,532      H.B. Fuller Co.^      2,812,215  
  10,292      Hawkins, Inc.      471,477  
  20,847      Innophos Holdings, Inc.      666,687  
  26,383      Innospec, Inc.      2,729,058  
  22,133      Koppers Holdings, Inc.*      845,923  
  33,734      Kraton Corp.*      854,145  
  156,040      Livent Corp.*      1,334,142  
  21,268      LSB Industries, Inc.*      89,326  
  13,833      Quaker Chemical Corp.      2,275,805  
  54,736      Rayonier Advanced Materials, Inc.      210,186  
  21,643      Stepan Co.      2,217,109  
  26,818      Tredegar Corp.      599,382  
  41,716      Trinseo SA      1,552,252  
     

 

 

 
        24,239,692  
     

 

 

 
Commercial Services & Supplies (2.1%):       
  71,209      ABM Industries, Inc.      2,685,291  
  53,355      Brady Corp., Class A      3,055,107  
  62,353      Interface, Inc.      1,034,436  
  33,334      Matthews International Corp., Class A      1,272,359  
  47,114      Mobile Mini, Inc.      1,786,092  
  180,496      Pitney Bowes, Inc.^      727,399  
  77,790      RR Donnelley & Sons Co.      307,271  
  32,285      Team, Inc.*^      515,591  
  16,438      UniFirst Corp.      3,320,147  
  27,190      US Ecology, Inc.      1,574,573  
  22,006      Viad Corp.      1,485,405  
     

 

 

 
        17,763,671  
     

 

 

 
Communications Equipment (1.1%):       
  50,654      ADTRAN, Inc.      500,968  
  19,738      Applied Optoelectronics, Inc.*^      234,487  
  35,599      CalAmp Corp.*      341,038  
  25,985      Comtech Telecommunications Corp.      922,208  
  30,714      Digi International, Inc.*      544,252  
  130,388      Extreme Networks, Inc.*      960,960  
  97,183      Harmonic, Inc.*      758,027  
  32,069      NETGEAR, Inc.*      786,011  
  35,068      Plantronics, Inc.      958,759  
  245,949      Viavi Solutions, Inc.*      3,689,236  
     

 

 

 
        9,695,946  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Construction & Engineering (0.8%):       
  32,840      Aegion Corp.*    $ 734,631  
  51,973      Arcosa, Inc.      2,315,396  
  39,247      Comfort Systems USA, Inc.      1,956,463  
  49,816      Granite Construction, Inc.      1,378,409  
  17,752      MYR Group, Inc.*      578,538  
     

 

 

 
        6,963,437  
     

 

 

 
Construction Materials (0.1%):       
  16,757      U.S. Concrete, Inc.*      698,097  
     

 

 

 
Consumer Finance (0.5%):       
  29,458      Encore Capital Group, Inc.*      1,041,635  
  36,239      Enova International, Inc.*      871,910  
  56,896      EZCORP, Inc., Class A*      388,031  
  48,807      PRA Group, Inc.*      1,771,694  
  5,975      World Acceptance Corp.*      516,240  
     

 

 

 
        4,589,510  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (0.1%):       
  37,493      Myers Industries, Inc.      625,383  
     

 

 

 
Distributors (0.2%):       
  48,676      Core Markt Holdngs Co., Inc.      1,323,500  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Consumer Services (0.7%):       
  16,525      American Public Education, Inc.*      452,620  
  76,297      Career Education Corp.*      1,403,102  
  25,621      Regis Corp.*^      457,847  
  23,587      Strategic Education, Inc.      3,747,974  
     

 

 

 
        6,061,543  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (0.2%):       
  141,741      FGL Holdings      1,509,542  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (1.0%):       
  11,686      ATN International, Inc.      647,288  
  52,974      Cincinnati Bell, Inc.*      554,638  
  44,785      Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc.      2,947,300  
  78,924      Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc.      306,225  
  10,554      Frontier Communications Corp.*^      9,389  
  103,842      Iridium Communications, Inc.*^      2,558,667  
  243,496      Vonage Holdings Corp.*^      1,804,305  
     

 

 

 
        8,827,812  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (0.4%):       
  43,723      El Paso Electric Co.      2,968,354  
     

 

 

 
Electrical Equipment (0.5%):       
  27,907      AZZ, Inc.      1,282,327  
  22,392      Encore Wire Corp.      1,285,300  
  9,641      Powell Industries, Inc.      472,313  
  19,748      Vicor Corp.*      922,627  
     

 

 

 
        3,962,567  
     

 

 

 
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (4.4%):       
  32,250      Anixter International, Inc.*      2,970,225  
  82,334      Arlo Technologies, Inc.*      346,626  
  31,295      Badger Meter, Inc.      2,031,984  
  10,457      Bel Fuse, Inc., Class B      214,369  
  40,344      Benchmark Electronics, Inc.      1,386,220  
  34,817      CTS Corp.      1,044,858  
  37,932      Daktronics, Inc.^      231,006  
  14,453      ePlus, Inc.*      1,218,243  
  39,641      Fabrinet*      2,570,322  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components, continued       
  18,722      FARO Technologies, Inc.*^    $ 942,653  
  38,499      Insight Enterprises, Inc.*      2,706,095  
  37,693      Itron, Inc.*      3,164,328  
  62,062      KEMET Corp.      1,678,777  
  92,483      Knowles Corp.*      1,956,015  
  4,285      Mesa Labs, Inc.      1,068,679  
  40,007      Methode Electronics, Inc., Class A      1,574,275  
  18,970      MTS Systems Corp.      911,129  
  18,340      OSI Systems, Inc.*      1,847,572  
  31,207      Plexus Corp.*      2,401,067  
  19,850      Rogers Corp.*      2,475,891  
  74,592      Sanmina Corp.*      2,554,030  
  27,011      ScanSource, Inc.*      998,056  
  104,580      TTM Technologies, Inc.*      1,573,929  
     

 

 

 
        37,866,349  
     

 

 

 
Energy Equipment & Services (1.8%):       
  135,542      Archrock, Inc.      1,360,842  
  70,235      Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc.*^      504,990  
  38,642      Dril-Quip, Inc.*      1,812,696  
  21,440      Era Group, Inc.*      218,045  
  29,574      Exterran Corp.*      231,564  
  14,748      Geospace Technologies Corp.*      247,324  
  151,661      Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc.*      1,460,495  
  22,840      KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc.*      147,090  
  28,949      Matrix Service Co.*      662,353  
  196,231      McDermott International, Inc.*^      132,770  
  363,829      Nabors Industries, Ltd.      1,047,828  
  94,852      Newpark Resources, Inc.*      594,722  
  265,609      Noble Corp. plc*      324,043  
  105,348      Oceaneering International, Inc.*      1,570,739  
  65,166      Oil States International, Inc.*      1,062,857  
  87,538      Propetro Holding Corp.*      984,803  
  55,988      RPC, Inc.^      293,377  
  18,861      SEACOR Holdings, Inc.*      813,852  
  137,298      TETRA Technologies, Inc.*      269,104  
  79,506      U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc.      488,962  
  2,227      Unit Corp.*      1,549  
  210,661      Valaris plc^      1,381,936  
     

 

 

 
        15,611,941  
     

 

 

 
Entertainment (0.2%):       
  122,623      Glu Mobile, Inc.*      741,869  
  24,361      Marcus Corp.      773,949  
     

 

 

 
        1,515,818  
     

 

 

 
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (6.6%):       
  91,369      Acadia Realty Trust      2,369,198  
  45,546      Agree Realty Corp.      3,195,963  
  51,084      American Assets Trust, Inc.      2,344,756  
  60,876      Armada Hoffler Properties, Inc.      1,117,075  
  102,510      CareTrust REIT, Inc.      2,114,781  
  185,044      CBL & Associates Properties, Inc.^      194,296  
  87,508      Cedar Realty Trust, Inc.      258,149  
  49,273      Chatham Lodging Trust      903,667  
  21,229      Community Healthcare Trust, Inc.      909,875  
  212,662      DiamondRock Hospitality Co.      2,356,295  
  81,017      Easterly Government Properties, Inc.      1,922,533  
  73,567      Four Corners Property Trust, Inc.      2,073,854  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts, continued       
  114,473      Franklin Street Properties Corp.    $ 979,889  
  36,903      Getty Realty Corp.      1,213,002  
  95,806      Global Net Lease, Inc.      1,942,946  
  36,805      Hersha Hospitality Trust      535,513  
  99,776      Independence Realty Trust, Inc.      1,404,846  
  60,442      Industrial Logistics Properties Trust      1,355,110  
  12,713      Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc.^      964,535  
  63,771      iStar, Inc.^      925,317  
  89,873      Kite Realty Group Trust      1,755,220  
  265,001      Lexington Realty Trust      2,814,311  
  42,275      LTC Properties, Inc.      1,892,652  
  63,837      National Storage Affiliates      2,146,200  
  51,593      Office Properties Income Trust      1,658,199  
  62,446      Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust^      332,837  
  122,572      Retail Opportunity Investments Corp.      2,164,622  
  85,708      Rpt Realty      1,289,048  
  13,723      Safehold, Inc.^      553,037  
  12,302      Saul Centers, Inc.      649,300  
  111,498      Summit Hotel Properties, Inc.      1,375,885  
  206,358      Uniti Group, Inc.^      1,694,199  
  13,751      Universal Health Realty Income Trust      1,613,817  
  32,441      Urstadt Biddle Properties, Inc., Class A      805,834  
  195,063      Washington Prime Group, Inc.^      710,029  
  85,997      Washington Real Estate      2,509,392  
  42,783      Whitestone REIT      582,704  
  120,039      Xenia Hotels & Resorts, Inc.      2,594,043  
     

 

 

 
        56,222,929  
     

 

 

 
Food & Staples Retailing (0.6%):       
  23,812      PriceSmart, Inc.      1,691,128  
  39,332      SpartanNash Co.      560,088  
  34,549      The Andersons, Inc.      873,399  
  27,528      The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc.*      1,049,092  
  56,717      United Natural Foods, Inc.*      496,841  
     

 

 

 
        4,670,548  
     

 

 

 
Food Products (1.7%):       
  68,082      B&G Foods, Inc.^      1,220,710  
  17,513      Calavo Growers, Inc.      1,586,503  
  32,322      Cal-Maine Foods, Inc.^      1,381,766  
  175,146      Darling Ingredients, Inc.*      4,918,099  
  32,414      Fresh Del Monte Produce, Inc.      1,133,842  
  16,047      J & J Snack Foods Corp.      2,956,980  
  9,542      John B Sanfilippo And Son, Inc.      870,994  
  7,330      Seneca Foods Corp., Class A*      298,991  
     

 

 

 
        14,367,885  
     

 

 

 
Gas Utilities (0.7%):       
  32,692      Northwest Natural Holding Co.      2,410,381  
  98,887      South Jersey Industries, Inc.      3,261,293  
     

 

 

 
        5,671,674  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (3.2%):       
  39,875      AngioDynamics, Inc.*      638,399  
  15,299      Anika Therapeutics, Inc.*      793,253  
  37,826      Cardiovascular Systems, Inc.*      1,837,965  
  30,526      CONMED Corp.      3,413,722  
  39,931      CryoLife, Inc.*      1,081,731  
  15,122      Cutera, Inc.*      541,519  
  7,609      Heska Corp.*      730,007  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Health Care Equipment & Supplies, continued       
  19,536      Inogen, Inc.*    $ 1,334,895  
  34,934      Integer Holdings Corp.*      2,809,742  
  36,545      Invacare Corp.      329,636  
  42,372      Lantheus Holdings, Inc.*      869,050  
  17,565      LeMaitre Vascular, Inc.      631,462  
  44,601      Meridian Bioscience, Inc.      435,752  
  59,017      Merit Medical Systems, Inc.*      1,842,511  
  36,279      Natus Medical, Inc.*      1,196,844  
  56,106      Neogen Corp.*      3,661,477  
  64,975      OraSure Technologies, Inc.*      521,749  
  20,300      Orthofix Medical, Inc.*      937,454  
  14,414      Surmodics, Inc.*      597,172  
  20,521      Tactile Systems Technology, Inc.*      1,385,373  
  40,774      Varex Imaging Corp.*      1,215,473  
     

 

 

 
        26,805,186  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (3.2%):       
  14,593      Addus HomeCare Corp.*      1,418,731  
  49,890      AMN Healthcare Services, Inc.*      3,108,646  
  36,302      BioTelemetry, Inc.*      1,680,783  
  127,920      Community Health Systems, Inc.*      370,968  
  9,824      CorVel Corp.*      858,225  
  103,929      Covetrus, Inc.*      1,371,863  
  40,344      Cross Country Healthcare, Inc.*      468,797  
  62,487      Diplomat Pharmacy, Inc.*      249,948  
  53,607      Ensign Group, Inc. (The)      2,432,150  
  40,347      Hanger, Inc.*      1,113,981  
  31,699      LHC Group, Inc.*      4,366,853  
  23,223      Magellan Health, Inc.*      1,817,200  
  68,326      Owens & Minor, Inc.      353,245  
  12,060      Providence Service Corp.*      713,711  
  44,903      RadNet, Inc.*      911,531  
  114,825      Select Medical Holdings Corp.*      2,680,016  
  28,138      The Pennant Group, Inc.*      930,524  
  46,485      Tivity Health, Inc.*      945,737  
  13,663      U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc.      1,562,364  
     

 

 

 
        27,355,273  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Technology (1.1%):       
  12,992      Computer Programs & Systems, Inc.      342,989  
  27,756      HealthStream, Inc.*      754,963  
  94,181      HMS Holdings Corp.*      2,787,758  
  51,487      NextGen Healthcare, Inc.*      827,396  
  44,907      Omnicell, Inc.*      3,669,800  
  20,869      Tabula Rasa Healthcare, Inc.*^      1,015,903  
     

 

 

 
        9,398,809  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (1.5%):       
  20,367      BJ’s Restaurants, Inc.      773,131  
  92,971      Bloomin’ Brands, Inc.      2,051,870  
  18,032      Chuy’s Holdings, Inc.*      467,389  
  32,915      Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc.^      1,322,196  
  18,013      Dine Brands Global, Inc.^      1,504,446  
  21,072      El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc.*      319,030  
  23,287      Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc.*      230,308  
  12,929      Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc.*      627,703  
  13,516      Red Robin Gourmet Burgers*      446,298  
  29,117      Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc.      633,732  
  33,165      Shake Shack, Inc., Class A*      1,975,639  
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure, continued       
  31,741      Wingstop, Inc.    $ 2,737,027  
     

 

 

 
        13,088,769  
     

 

 

 
Household Durables (2.4%):       
  9,199      Cavco Industries, Inc.*      1,797,301  
  28,879      Century Communities, Inc.*      789,841  
  25,372      Ethan Allen Interiors, Inc.^      483,590  
  22,863      Installed Building Products, Inc.*      1,574,575  
  30,177      iRobot Corp.*^      1,527,862  
  49,584      La-Z-Boy, Inc.^      1,560,904  
  21,592      LGI Homes, Inc.*      1,525,475  
  53,683      M.D.C. Holdings, Inc.      2,048,543  
  30,326      M/I Homes, Inc.*      1,193,328  
  38,632      Meritage Corp.*      2,360,802  
  36,429      TopBuild Corp.*      3,755,101  
  52,686      Tupperware Brands Corp.      452,046  
  15,047      Universal Electronics, Inc.*      786,356  
  35,529      William Lyon Homes, Class A*      709,869  
     

 

 

 
        20,565,593  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (0.5%):       
  10,256      Central Garden & Pet Co.*      318,654  
  43,231      Central Garden & Pet Co., Class A*      1,269,262  
  14,760      WD-40 Co.      2,865,506  
     

 

 

 
        4,453,422  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (0.2%):       
  38,183      Raven Industries, Inc.      1,315,786  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (2.5%):       
  50,686      AMBAC Financial Group, Inc.*      1,093,297  
  98,104      American Equity Investment Life Holding Co.      2,936,252  
  20,918      Amerisafe, Inc.      1,381,216  
  21,883      eHealth, Inc.*      2,102,519  
  34,636      Employers Holdings, Inc.      1,446,053  
  7,740      HCI Group, Inc.^      353,331  
  44,757      Horace Mann Educators Corp.      1,954,091  
  32,841      James River Group Holdings      1,353,377  
  8,750      Kinsale Capital Group, Inc.      889,525  
  58,453      ProAssurance Corp.      2,112,491  
  15,899      Safety Insurance Group, Inc.      1,471,134  
  25,534      Stewart Information Services Corp.      1,041,532  
  89,782      Third Point Reinsurance, Ltd.*      944,506  
  23,678      United Fire Group, Inc.      1,035,439  
  23,837      United Insurance Holdings Co.      300,585  
  33,597      Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc.      940,380  
     

 

 

 
        21,355,728  
     

 

 

 
Interactive Media & Services (0.1%):       
  29,804      Care.com, Inc.*      447,954  
  49,627      QuinStreet, Inc.*      759,789  
     

 

 

 
        1,207,743  
     

 

 

 
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail (0.4%):       
  29,160      Liquidity Services, Inc.*      173,794  
  21,374      PetMed Express, Inc.^      502,716  
  20,469      Shutterstock, Inc.*^      877,711  
  17,332      Stamps.com, Inc.*^      1,447,568  
     

 

 

 
        3,001,789  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
IT Services (2.2%):       
  38,706      Cardtronics plc*^    $ 1,728,223  
  35,521      CSG Systems International, Inc.      1,839,277  
  64,019      Evertec, Inc.      2,179,207  
  36,706      Exlservice Holdings, Inc.*      2,549,599  
  29,028      ManTech International Corp., Class A      2,318,757  
  72,326      NIC, Inc.      1,616,486  
  35,779      Perficient, Inc.*      1,648,339  
  41,332      Sykes Enterprises, Inc.*      1,528,871  
  18,954      TTEC Holdings, Inc.      750,957  
  55,219      Unisys Corp.*      654,897  
  31,980      Virtusa Corp.*      1,449,653  
     

 

 

 
        18,264,266  
     

 

 

 
Leisure Products (0.4%):       
  101,005      Callaway Golf Co.      2,141,306  
  17,661      Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc.      830,597  
  62,573      Vista Outdoor, Inc.*      468,046  
     

 

 

 
        3,439,949  
     

 

 

 
Life Sciences Tools & Services (0.8%):       
  44,414      Luminex Corp.      1,028,628  
  29,351      Medpace Holdings, Inc.*      2,467,245  
  112,210      Neogenomics, Inc.*      3,282,143  
     

 

 

 
        6,778,016  
     

 

 

 
Machinery (5.8%):       
  57,237      Actuant Corp., Class A      1,489,879  
  10,419      Alamo Group, Inc.      1,308,105  
  32,845      Albany International Corp., Class A      2,493,592  
  24,066      Astec Industries, Inc.      1,010,772  
  50,892      Barnes Group, Inc.      3,153,269  
  46,018      Briggs & Stratton Corp.^      306,480  
  38,245      Chart Industries, Inc.*      2,581,155  
  21,447      CIRCOR International, Inc.*      991,709  
  15,632      DMC Global, Inc.^      702,502  
  22,065      EnPro Industries, Inc.      1,475,707  
  27,962      ESCO Technologies, Inc.      2,586,485  
  65,440      Federal Signal Corp.      2,110,440  
  41,441      Franklin Electric Co., Inc.      2,375,398  
  83,997      Harsco Corp.*      1,932,771  
  78,668      Hillenbrand, Inc.      2,620,431  
  33,915      John Bean Technologies Corp.      3,820,865  
  11,532      Lindsay Corp.      1,106,957  
  18,204      Lydall, Inc.*      373,546  
  60,906      Mueller Industries, Inc.      1,933,766  
  28,597      Proto Labs, Inc.*      2,904,025  
  47,781      SPX Corp.*      2,431,097  
  45,648      SPX FLOW, Inc.*      2,230,818  
  13,274      Standex International Corp.      1,053,292  
  19,687      Tennant Co.      1,534,011  
  34,435      The Greenbrier Cos., Inc.      1,116,727  
  51,332      Titan International, Inc.      185,822  
  57,445      Wabash National Corp.^      843,867  
  29,639      Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Class A      2,956,787  
     

 

 

 
        49,630,275  
     

 

 

 
Marine (0.2%):       
  45,569      Matson, Inc.      1,859,215  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Media (0.4%):       
  58,138      E.W. Scripps Co. (The), Class A    $ 913,348  
  130,321      Gannett Co, Inc.^      831,448  
  32,608      Scholastic Corp.      1,253,777  
  24,937      TechTarget, Inc.*      650,856  
     

 

 

 
        3,649,429  
     

 

 

 
Metals & Mining (1.2%):       
  337,188      AK Steel Holding Corp.*      1,109,349  
  52,650      Century Aluminum Co.*      395,665  
  288,197      Cleveland-Cliffs, Inc.^      2,420,856  
  13,131      Haynes International, Inc.^      469,827  
  16,952      Kaiser Aluminum Corp.      1,879,807  
  21,834      Materion Corp.      1,298,031  
  9,334      Olympic Steel, Inc.      167,265  
  91,576      SunCoke Energy, Inc.      570,518  
  42,676      TimkenSteel Corp.*      335,433  
  54,860      Warrior Met Coal, Inc.      1,159,192  
     

 

 

 
        9,805,943  
     

 

 

 
Mortgage Real Estate Investment Trusts (1.9%):       
  152,712      Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc.      2,793,101  
  62,050      Armour Residential REIT, Inc.      1,108,834  
  100,599      Capstead Mortgage Corp.      796,744  
  59,065      Granite Point Mortgage Trust, Inc.      1,085,615  
  154,834      Invesco Mortgage Capital, Inc.      2,577,986  
  25,280      KKR Real Estate Finance Trust, Inc.      516,218  
  312,937      New York Mortgage Trust, Inc.      1,949,598  
  107,130      Pennymac Mortgage Investment Trust      2,387,928  
  37,060      Ready Capital Corp.      571,465  
  120,798      Redwood Trust, Inc.      1,997,999  
     

 

 

 
        15,785,488  
     

 

 

 
Multiline Retail (0.2%):       
  41,641      Big Lots, Inc.      1,195,929  
  324,632      J.C. Penney Co., Inc.*^      363,588  
     

 

 

 
        1,559,517  
     

 

 

 
Multi-Utilities (0.4%):       
  71,138      Avista Corp.      3,421,026  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (2.3%):       
  20,351      Bonanza Creek Energy, Inc.*      474,992  
  423,100      Callon Petroleum Co.*      2,043,572  
  27,388      CONSOL Energy, Inc.*      397,400  
  525,122      Denbury Resources, Inc.*      740,422  
  35,981      Green Plains, Inc.      555,187  
  157,419      Gulfport Energy Corp.*      478,554  
  118,383      HighPoint Resources Corp.*^      200,067  
  64,889      Jagged Peak Energy, Inc.*^      550,908  
  189,391      Laredo Petroleum, Inc.*      543,552  
  308,207      Oasis Petroleum, Inc.*      1,004,755  
  39,666      PAR Pacific Holdings, Inc.*      921,838  
  62,926      PDC Energy, Inc.*      1,646,773  
  14,619      Penn Virginia Corp.*      443,687  
  252,816      QEP Resources, Inc.      1,137,672  
  225,286      Range Resources Corp.^      1,092,637  
  41,337      Renewable Energy Group, Inc.*      1,114,032  
  5,873      REX American Resources Corp.*      481,351  
  66,821      Ring Energy, Inc.*      176,407  
  113,196      SM Energy Co.      1,272,323  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels, continued       
  576,075      Southwestern Energy Co.*    $ 1,394,102  
  258,515      SRC Energy, Inc.*      1,065,082  
  21,732      Talos Energy, Inc.*      655,220  
  98,091      Whiting Petroleum Corp.*^      719,988  
     

 

 

 
        19,110,521  
     

 

 

 
Paper & Forest Products (0.7%):       
  41,797      Boise Cascade Co.      1,526,845  
  17,458      Clearwater Paper Corp.*      372,903  
  41,842      Mercer International, Inc.      514,657  
  17,936      Neenah, Inc.      1,263,232  
  47,937      P.H. Glatfelter Co.      877,247  
  33,066      Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc.      1,388,441  
     

 

 

 
        5,943,325  
     

 

 

 
Personal Products (0.8%):       
  475,235      Avon Products, Inc.      2,680,325  
  18,902      Inter Parfums, Inc.      1,374,364  
  12,467      Medifast, Inc.^      1,366,134  
  13,432      Usana Health Sciences, Inc.*      1,055,084  
     

 

 

 
        6,475,907  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (1.9%):       
  102,866      Akorn, Inc.*      154,299  
  36,600      Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      706,014  
  10,058      ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*      620,277  
  109,886      Corcept Therapeutics, Inc.*^      1,329,621  
  216,770      Endo International plc*      1,016,651  
  71,292      Innoviva, Inc.*      1,009,495  
  36,440      Lannett Co., Inc.*^      321,401  
  79,546      Medicines Co. (The)*^      6,756,636  
  44,693      Pacira BioSciences, Inc.*      2,024,592  
  21,479      Phibro Animal Health Corp., Class A      533,324  
  55,990      Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*^      1,328,083  
     

 

 

 
        15,800,393  
     

 

 

 
Professional Services (1.2%):       
  55,784      Exponent, Inc.      3,849,654  
  11,493      Forrester Research, Inc.*      479,258  
  20,413      Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.      663,423  
  35,143      Kelly Services, Inc., Class A      793,529  
  59,115      Korn Ferry      2,506,476  
  32,489      Resources Connection, Inc.      530,545  
  41,404      Trueblue, Inc.*      996,180  
     

 

 

 
        9,819,065  
     

 

 

 
Real Estate Management & Development (0.7%):       
  88,162      Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc.      2,187,300  
  25,375      Marcus & Millichap, Inc.*      945,219  
  19,066      RE/MAX Holdings, Inc., Class A^      733,850  
  122,558      Realogy Holdings Corp.^      1,186,361  
  33,765      The St Joe Co.*      669,560  
     

 

 

 
        5,722,290  
     

 

 

 
Road & Rail (0.6%):       
  26,584      ArcBest Corp.      733,718  
  49,672      Heartland Express, Inc.      1,045,596  
  41,856      Marten Transport, Ltd.      899,485  
  27,831      Saia, Inc.*      2,591,623  
     

 

 

 
        5,270,422  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (3.5%):       
  41,086      Advanced Energy Industries, Inc.*    $ 2,925,323  
  34,407      Axcelis Technologies, Inc.*      829,037  
  77,391      Brooks Automation, Inc.      3,247,327  
  23,060      CEVA, Inc.*      621,698  
  44,026      Cohu, Inc.      1,005,994  
  44,293      Diodes, Inc.*      2,496,796  
  24,799      DSP Group, Inc.*      390,336  
  81,297      FormFactor, Inc.*      2,111,283  
  24,336      Ichor Holdings, Ltd.*      809,659  
  67,581      Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc.      1,838,203  
  69,124      MaxLinear, Inc., Class A*      1,466,811  
  52,188      Onto Innovation, Inc.*      1,906,950  
  29,726      PDF Solutions, Inc.*^      502,072  
  71,985      Photronics, Inc.*      1,134,484  
  31,607      Power Integrations, Inc.      3,126,248  
  119,599      Rambus, Inc.*      1,647,476  
  14,090      SMART Global Holdings, Inc.*      534,575  
  42,917      Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc.*      1,007,262  
  52,313      Veeco Instruments, Inc.*      768,216  
  53,124      Xperi Corp.      982,794  
     

 

 

 
        29,352,544  
     

 

 

 
Software (2.3%):       
  107,419      8x8, Inc.*      1,965,768  
  22,028      Agilysys, Inc.*      559,731  
  38,946      Alarm.com Holding, Inc.*      1,673,510  
  40,825      Bottomline Technologies, Inc.*      2,188,220  
  23,888      Ebix, Inc.^      798,098  
  66,365      LivePerson, Inc.*^      2,455,505  
  8,767      MicroStrategy, Inc., Class A*      1,250,437  
  34,536      OneSpan, Inc.*      591,256  
  48,021      Progress Software Corp.      1,995,273  
  35,805      Qualys, Inc.*      2,985,062  
  37,373      Sps Commerce, Inc.*      2,071,212  
  135,583      TiVo Corp.      1,149,744  
     

 

 

 
        19,683,816  
     

 

 

 
Specialty Retail (3.7%):       
  67,022      Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Class A      1,158,810  
  20,809      Asbury Automotive Group, Inc.*      2,326,239  
  39,564      Barnes & Noble Education, Inc.*      168,938  
  31,029      Boot Barn Holdings, Inc.*      1,381,721  
  43,363      Caleres, Inc.      1,029,871  
  23,745      Cato Corp., Class A      413,163  
  127,806      Chico’s FAS, Inc.      486,941  
  20,598      Conn’s, Inc.*      255,209  
  58,430      Designer Brands, Inc., Class A^      919,688  
  72,999      Express, Inc.*      355,505  
  63,181      GameStop Corp., Class A^      384,140  
  15,241      Genesco, Inc.*      730,349  
  18,786      Group 1 Automotive, Inc.      1,878,601  
  45,271      Guess?, Inc.      1,013,165  
  19,728      Haverty Furniture Cos., Inc.      397,716  
  18,805      Hibbett Sports, Inc.*      527,292  
  24,210      Lithia Motors, Inc., Class A^      3,558,871  
  29,850      Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc.*^      291,635  
  22,534      MarineMax, Inc.*      376,092  
  81,089      Michaels Cos., Inc. (The)*^      656,010  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Specialty Retail, continued       
  35,580      Monro, Inc.^    $ 2,782,357  
  581,993      Office Depot, Inc.      1,594,661  
  52,843      Rent-A-Center, Inc.      1,523,992  
  9,605      Shoe Carnival, Inc.^      358,074  
  55,634      Signet Jewelers, Ltd.      1,209,483  
  30,497      Sleep Number Corp.*^      1,501,672  
  25,931      Sonic Automotive, Inc., Class A^      803,861  
  52,242      Tailored Brands, Inc.^      216,282  
  30,956      The Buckle, Inc.^      837,050  
  16,564      The Children’s Place, Inc.^      1,035,581  
  22,020      Zumiez, Inc.*      760,571  
     

 

 

 
        30,933,540  
     

 

 

 
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals (0.2%):       
  126,562      3D Systems Corp.*      1,107,417  
  81,691      Diebold Nixdorf, Inc.*      862,657  
     

 

 

 
        1,970,074  
     

 

 

 
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods (1.9%):       
  73,509      Crocs, Inc.*      3,079,292  
  50,368      Fossil Group, Inc.*      396,900  
  45,933      G-III Apparel Group, Ltd.*      1,538,756  
  49,892      Kontoor Brands, Inc.^      2,094,965  
  17,027      Movado Group, Inc.^      370,167  
  18,169      Oxford Industries, Inc.      1,370,306  
  82,866      Steven Madden, Ltd.^      3,564,066  
  15,279      Unifi, Inc.*      385,948  
  25,651      Vera Bradley, Inc.*      302,682  
  86,306      Wolverine World Wide, Inc.      2,911,964  
     

 

 

 
        16,015,046  
     

 

 

 
Thrifts & Mortgage Finance (1.9%):       
  57,059      Axos Financial, Inc.*      1,727,747  
  33,106      Dime Community Bancshares, Inc.      691,584  
  37,297      Flagstar Bancorp, Inc.      1,426,610  
  26,338      HomeStreet, Inc.*      895,492  
  37,162      Meta Financial Group, Inc.      1,356,785  
  73,502      NMI Holdings, Inc., Class A*      2,438,796  
  46,803      Northfield Bancorp, Inc.      793,779  
  108,244      Northwest Bancshares, Inc.      1,800,098  
  64,467      Provident Financial Services, Inc.      1,589,112  
  105,230      TrustCo Bank Corp NY      912,344  
  31,074      Wawlker & Dunlop, Inc.      2,009,866  
     

 

 

 
        15,642,213  
     

 

 

 
Tobacco (0.4%):       
  26,416      Universal Corp.      1,507,297  
  124,080      Vector Group, Ltd.^      1,661,431  
     

 

 

 
        3,168,728  
     

 

 

 
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
Trading Companies & Distributors (0.9%):       
  41,230      Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc.    $ 2,749,628  
  17,142      DXP Enterprises, Inc.*      682,423  
  18,925      Foundation Building Materials, Inc.*      366,199  
  45,049      GMS, Inc.*      1,219,927  
  29,843      Kaman Corp., Class A      1,967,251  
  13,318      Veritiv Corp.*      261,965  
     

 

 

 
        7,247,393  
     

 

 

 
Water Utilities (0.7%):       
  39,654      American States Water Co.^      3,435,622  
  51,696      California Water Service Group^      2,665,446  
     

 

 

 
        6,101,068  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.2%):       
  43,668      Shenandoah Telecommunications Co.      1,817,026  
  18,505      Spok Holdings, Inc.      226,316  
     

 

 

 
        2,043,342  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Common Stocks (Cost $668,261,495)

     834,455,473  
  

 

 

 
Right (0.0%):       
Chemicals (0.0%):       
  34,578      Schulman, Inc. CVR, Expires on 12/31/49*(a)       
     

 

 

 
 

Total Right (Cost $—)

      
  

 

 

 
Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan (4.3%):  
  36,646,070      BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, 2.00%(b)(c)      36,646,070  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on
Loan (Cost $36,646,070)

     36,646,070  
     

 

 

 
Unaffiliated Investment Companies (1.1%):       
Money Markets (1.1%):       
  9,232,738      Dreyfus Treasury Securities Cash Management Fund, Institutional Shares, 1.44%(c)      9,232,738  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Unaffiliated Investment Companies (Cost $9,232,738)

     9,232,738  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities
(Cost $714,140,303) — 103.9%(d)

     880,334,281  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — (3.9)%

     (32,715,693
     

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 847,618,588  
  

 

 

 
 

 

Amount shown as “—” are $0 or round to less than $1.

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

CVR—Contingency Valued Rights

 

*

Non-income producing security.

 

^

This security or a partial position of this security was on loan as of December 31, 2019. The total value of securities on loan as of December 31, 2019 was $35,820,152.

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

(a)

Security was valued using unobservable inputs in good faith pursuant to procedures approved by the Board of Trustees as of December 31, 2019. The total of all such securities represent 0.00% of the net assets of the fund.

 

(b)

Purchased with cash collateral held from securities lending. The value of the collateral could include collateral held for securities that were sold on or before December 31, 2019.

 

(c)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(d)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

10


AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Futures Contracts

Cash of $367,600 has been segregated to cover margin requirements for the following open contracts as of December 31, 2019:

Long Futures

 

Description    Expiration
Date
     Number of
Contracts
     Notional
Amount
     Value and
Unrealized
Appreciation/
(Depreciation)
 

Russell 2000 Mini Index March Future (U.S. Dollar)

     3/20/20        157      $ 13,114,210      $ 5,088  
           

 

 

 
            $ 5,088  
           

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

11


AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

December 31, 2019

 

Assets:

   

Investment securities, at cost

    $ 714,140,303
   

 

 

 

Investment securities, at value(a)

    $ 880,334,281

Segregated cash for collateral for futures contracts

      367,600

Interest and dividends receivable

      1,162,351

Receivable for investments sold

      3,739,653

Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts

      7,641

Reclaims receivable

      5

Prepaid expenses

      2,798
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      885,614,329
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Payable for investments purchased

      583,554

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      315,906

Payable for collateral received on loaned securities

      36,646,070

Manager fees payable

      185,618

Administration fees payable

      6,446

Distribution fees payable

      169,181

Custodian fees payable

      4,629

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      3,017

Transfer agent fees payable

      1,897

Trustee fees payable

      742

Other accrued liabilities

      78,681
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      37,995,741
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 847,618,588
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 641,054,049

Total distributable earnings

      206,564,539
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 847,618,588
   

 

 

 

Class 1

   

Net Assets

    $ 44,097,737

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      4,569,394

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 9.65
   

 

 

 

Class 2

   

Net Assets

    $ 803,520,851

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      60,729,952

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 13.23
   

 

 

 

 

(a)

Includes securities on loan of $35,820,152.

Statement of Operations

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

Investment Income:

   

Dividends

    $ 12,135,318

Interest

      7,484

Income from securities lending

      574,224

Foreign withholding tax

      (4,796 )
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

      12,712,230
   

 

 

 

Expenses:

   

Manager fees

      2,145,408

Administration fees

      233,412

Distribution fees — Class 2

      1,953,691

Custodian fees

      26,258

Administrative and compliance services fees

      14,334

Transfer agent fees

      11,096

Trustee fees

      44,581

Professional fees

      40,506

Shareholder reports

      31,393

Other expenses

      189,389
   

 

 

 

Total expenses

      4,690,068
   

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      8,022,162
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

   

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities

      37,690,438

Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts

      125,233

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities

      117,062,129

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on affiliated securities

      (148,073 )

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts

      23,813
   

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

      154,753,540
   

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

    $ 162,775,702
   

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

12


AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 8,022,162     $ 8,604,923

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      37,815,671       79,905,096

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      116,937,869       (159,942,782 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      162,775,702       (71,432,763 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Class 1

      (6,106,200 )       (6,592,781 )

Class 2

      (81,746,245 )       (86,898,788 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (87,852,445 )       (93,491,569 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Class 1

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      281,407       20,593

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      6,106,200       6,592,781

Value of shares redeemed

      (6,263,508 )       (8,576,640 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 1 Shares

      124,099       (1,963,266 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Class 2

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      10,475,140       55,470,879

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      81,746,245       86,898,788

Value of shares redeemed

      (74,193,135 )       (144,028,495 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 2 Shares

      18,028,250       (1,658,828 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      18,152,349       (3,622,094 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      93,075,606       (168,546,426 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      754,542,982       923,089,408
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 847,618,588     $ 754,542,982
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Class 1

       

Shares issued

      26,661       1,696

Dividends reinvested

      705,919       611,575

Shares redeemed

      (623,565 )       (716,338 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 1 Shares

      109,015       (103,067 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Class 2

       

Shares issued

      787,490       3,377,911

Dividends reinvested

      6,886,794       6,123,946

Shares redeemed

      (5,537,516 )       (9,375,471 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Class 2 Shares

      2,136,768       126,386
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      2,245,783       23,319
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

13


AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

    Year Ended December 31,
     2019   2018   2017   2016^   2015

Class 1

                   

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 9.26     $ 11.68     $ 11.38     $ 10.00    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.12 (a)       0.16       0.16       0.06    

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      1.78       (0.93 )       1.24       1.32    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total from Investment Activities

      1.90       (0.77 )       1.40       1.38    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.17 )       (0.18 )       (0.08 )          

Net Realized Gains

      (1.34 )       (1.47 )       (1.02 )          
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total Dividends

      (1.51 )       (1.65 )       (1.10 )          
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 9.65     $ 9.26     $ 11.68     $ 11.38    
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

Total Return(b)

      22.42 %       (8.59 )%       12.94 %       13.80 %(c)    

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 44,098     $ 41,285     $ 53,319     $ 54,672    

Net Investment Income/(Loss)(d)

      1.21 %       1.17 %       1.21 %       1.46 %    

Expenses Before Reductions(d)(e)

      0.33 %       0.33 %       0.32 %       0.32 %    

Expenses Net of Reductions(d)

      0.33 %       0.33 %       0.32 %       0.32 %    

Portfolio Turnover Rate(f)

      14 %       19 %       16 %       86 %(g)    

Class 2

                   

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 12.17     $ 14.88     $ 14.23     $ 13.49     $ 15.43
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.13 (a)       0.15       0.15       0.07       0.19

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      2.40       (1.25 )       1.59       3.06       (0.58 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      2.53       (1.10 )       1.74       3.13       (0.39 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.13 )       (0.14 )       (0.07 )       (0.16 )       (0.17 )

Net Realized Gains

      (1.34 )       (1.47 )       (1.02 )       (2.23 )       (1.38 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (1.47 )       (1.61 )       (1.09 )       (2.39 )       (1.55 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 13.23     $ 12.17     $ 14.88     $ 14.23     $ 13.49
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(b)

      22.19 %       (8.93 )%       12.75 %       25.71 %       (2.49 )%

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 803,521     $ 713,258     $ 869,770     $ 909,979     $ 276,006

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.96 %       0.93 %       0.96 %       1.19 %       0.96 %

Expenses Before Reductions(e)

      0.58 %       0.58 %       0.57 %       0.58 %       0.59 %

Expenses Net of Reductions

      0.58 %       0.58 %       0.57 %       0.58 %       0.59 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate(f)

      14 %       19 %       16 %       86 %(g)       16 %

 

^

Class 1 activity is for the period October 17, 2016 (commencement of operations) to December 31, 2016.

 

(a)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(b)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(c)

Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(d)

Annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(e)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

(f)

Portfolio turnover rate is calculated on the basis of the Fund as a whole without distinguishing between classes of shares issued. Not annualized for periods less than one year.

 

(g)

Cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of portfolio securities incurred to realign the Fund’s portfolio after the fund merger are excluded from the portfolio turnover rate. If such amounts had not been excluded, the portfolio turnover rate would have been 86%.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

14


AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services — Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Foreign Currency Translation and Withholding Taxes

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding and other income or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Funds accrue such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Each class of shares bears its pro-rata portion of expenses attributable to its series, except that each class separately bears expenses related specifically to that class, such as distribution fees. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance

 

15


AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

Class Allocation

The investment income, expenses (other than class specific expenses charged to a class), realized and unrealized gains and losses on investments of the Fund are allocated to each class of shares based upon relative net assets on the date income is earned or expenses and realized and unrealized gains and losses are incurred.

Securities Lending

To generate additional income, the Fund may lend up to 331/3% of its assets pursuant to agreements requiring that the loan be continuously secured by any combination of cash, U.S. government or U.S. government agency securities, equal initially to at least 102% of the fair value plus accrued interest on the securities loaned (105% for foreign securities). The borrower of securities is at all times required to post collateral to the Fund in an amount equal to 100% of the fair value of the securities loaned based on the previous day’s fair value of the securities loaned, marked-to-market daily. Any collateral shortfalls are adjusted the next business day. The Fund bears all of the gains and losses on such investments. The Fund receives payments from borrowers equivalent to the dividends and interest that would have been earned on securities lent while simultaneously seeking to earn income on the investment of cash collateral received. In extremely low interest rate environments, the broker rebate fee may exceed the interest earned or the cash collateral which would result in a loss to the Fund. The investment of cash collateral deposited by the borrower is subject to inherent market risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks that are present in the market, and as such, the value of these investments may not be sufficient, when liquidated, to repay the borrower when the loaned security is returned. There may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. However, loans will be made only to borrowers, such as broker-dealers, banks or institutional borrowers of securities, deemed by the Manager to be of good standing and credit worthy and when in its judgment, the consideration which can be earned currently from such securities loans justifies the attendant risks. Loans are subject to termination by the Trust or the borrower at any time, and are, therefore, not considered to be illiquid investments. Securities on loan at December 31, 2019 are presented on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

Cash collateral received in connection with securities lending is invested on behalf of the Fund in the BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, a money market fund which invests in short-term investments that have a remaining maturity of 397 days or less in accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. The Fund pays the Securities Lending Agent 9% of the gross revenues received from securities lending activities and keeps 91%. The Fund paid securities lending fees of $56,656 during the year ended December 31, 2019. These fees have been netted against “Income from securities lending” on the Statement of Operations. The Fund had securities lending transactions of $36,646,070 accounted for as secured borrowings with cash collateral of overnight and continuous maturities as of December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019, there were no master netting provisions in the securities lending agreement.

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund did not engage in any Rule 17a-7 transactions under the Rule.

Derivative Instruments

All open derivative positions at period end are reflected on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments. The following is a description of the derivative instruments utilized by the Fund, including the primary underlying risk exposures related to each instrument type.

Futures Contracts

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund used futures contracts to provide market exposure on the Fund’s cash balances. Futures contracts are valued based upon their quoted daily settlement prices. Upon entering into a futures contract, the Fund is required to segregate liquid assets in accordance with the initial margin requirements of the broker or exchange. Futures contracts are marked to market daily and a payable or receivable for the change in value (“variation margin”) is recorded by the Fund. Gains or losses are recognized but not considered realized until the contracts expire or are closed. Futures contracts involve, to varying degrees, elements of market risk (generally equity price risk related to stock futures, interest rate risk related to bond futures, and foreign currency risk related to currency futures) and exposure to loss in excess of the variation margin disclosed in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are the imperfect correlation between the change in fair value of the underlying securities and the prices of futures contracts, the possibility of an illiquid market, and the inability of the counterparty to meet the terms of the contract. The monthly average notional amount for long contracts was $10.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Realized gains and losses are reported as “Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts” on the Statement of Operations.

Summary of Derivative Instruments

The following is a summary of the fair values of derivative instruments on the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities, categorized by risk exposure, as of December 31, 2019:

 

   

Asset Derivatives

   

Liability Derivatives

 
Primary Risk Exposure   Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
    Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value*
 

Equity Risk

     
Equity Contracts   Receivable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $ 5,088     Payable for variation margin on futures contracts*   $  

 

*

For futures contracts, the amounts represent the cumulative appreciation/depreciation of these futures contracts as reported in the Schedule of Portfolio Investments. Only the current day’s variation margin is reported within the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as Variation margin on futures contracts.

 

16


AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

The following is a summary of the effect of derivative instruments on the Statement of Operations, categorized by risk exposure, for the year ended December 31, 2019:

 

Primary Risk Exposure   Location of Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
   Realized Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
     Change in Net Unrealized
Appreciation/Depreciation on
Derivatives Recognized
 

Equity Risk

     
Equity Contracts   Net realized gains/(losses) on futures contracts/ Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on futures contracts    $ 125,233      $ 23,813  

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to a subadvisory agreement with BlackRock Investment Management, LLC (“BlackRock Investment”), BlackRock Investment provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate      Annual Expense Limit

AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund Class 1

         0.26 %          0.46 %

AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund Class 2

         0.26 %          0.71 %

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations. During the year ended December 31, 2019, there were no voluntary waivers.

At December 31, 2018, the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments included Affiliated Securities valued at $1,271,988. At December 31, 2019 those securities are no longer affiliates to the Fund. The impact incurred by the Fund is reflected on Statement of Operations as “Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on affiliated securities.”

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the average daily net assets attributable of Class 2 shares, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $6,205 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

 

17


AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Futures contracts are valued at the last sales price as of the close of the primary exchange and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy.

Debt and other fixed income securities are generally valued at an evaluated bid price provided by an independent pricing source approved by the Trustees. To value debt securities, pricing services may use various pricing techniques which take into account appropriate factors such as market activity, yield, quality, coupon rate, maturity, type of issue, trading characteristics, call features, credit ratings and other data, as well as broker quotes. Short-term securities of sufficient credit quality with sixty days or less remaining until maturity may be valued at amortized cost, which approximates fair value. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total

Common Stocks+

       $ 834,455,473        $        $        $ 834,455,473

Rights

                           #         

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

         36,646,070                            36,646,070

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

         9,232,738                            9,232,738
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

         880,334,281                            880,334,281
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Other Financial Instruments:*

                           

Futures Contracts

         5,088                            5,088
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $ 880,339,369        $        $        $ 880,339,369
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

#

Represents the interest in securities that were determined to have a value of zero at December 31, 2019.

 

*

Other Financial Instruments would include any derivative instruments, such as futures contracts. These investments are generally recorded in the financial statements at variation margin.

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

       $ 114,701,551        $ 181,136,262

6. Investment Risks

Derivatives Risk: The Fund may invest in derivatives as a principal strategy. A derivative is a financial contract whose value depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or risk. Use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Derivatives are subject to a number of other risks, such as liquidity risk, interest rate risk, market risk, credit risk, and selection risk. Derivatives

 

18


AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

also involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate, or index. Using derivatives may result in losses, possibly in excess of the principal amount invested. Also, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances. The counterparty to a derivatives contract could default. As required by applicable law, a Fund that invests in derivatives segregates cash or liquid securities, or both, to the extent that its obligations under the instrument are not covered through ownership of the underlying security, financial instrument, or currency.

7. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $719,059,883. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 232,582,289  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (71,307,891
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 161,274,398  
 

 

 

 

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
     Net
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

       $ 9,043,377        $ 78,809,068        $ 87,852,445

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
     Net
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

       $ 35,593,192        $ 57,898,377        $ 93,491,569

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
     Unrealized
Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)
     Total
Accumulated
Earnings/
(Deficit)

AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

       $ 11,392,438        $ 33,897,705        $        $ 161,274,398        $ 206,564,541

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales, mark-to-market of futures contracts and other miscellaneous differences.

8. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had an individual shareholder account which is affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 60% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

9. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

19


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL Small Cap Stock Index Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

20


Other Federal Income Tax Information (Unaudited)

For the year ended December 31, 2019, 95.82% of the total ordinary income dividends paid by the Fund qualify for the corporate dividends received deductions available to corporate shareholders.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net short-term capital gain distributions of $1,042,836.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net long-term capital gain distributions of $78,809,068.

 

21


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

22


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for

 

23


the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

 

24


The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

25


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

26


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

27


 

LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.   
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


AZL ® T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

Annual Report

December 31, 2019

 

LOGO


Table of Contents

Management Discussion and Analysis

Page  1

Expense Examples and Portfolio Composition

Page  3

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

Page  4

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Page  11

Statement of Operations

Page  11

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

Page  12

Financial Highlights

Page  13

Notes to the Financial Statements

Page  14

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Page  21

Other Federal Income Tax Information

Page  22

Other Information

Page  23

Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

Page  24

Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers

Page 27

This report is submitted for the general information of the shareholder of the Fund. The report is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors in the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus, which contains details concerning the sales charges and other pertinent information.


AZL® T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund (Unaudited)

 

Allianz Investment Management LLC serves as the Manager for the AZL® T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund and T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. serves as Subadviser to the Fund.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What factors affected the Fund’s performance during the year ended December 31, 2019?

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the AZL® T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund (the “Fund”) returned

24.38%†. That compared to a 31.49%, 8.72% and 22.11% total return for its benchmarks, the S&P 500 Index1, the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index1, and the Moderate Composite Index1, respectively.

U.S. stocks surged in 2019, as equities rebounded strongly from deep losses in the fourth quarter of 2018. Several major indexes hit new all-time highs in the latter part of the year under review. A major driver of U.S. market performance was the Federal Reserve Board’s (the Fed) decision to keep interest rates steady in the first half of the year and then reduce rates three times starting in late July. The Fed described this as a “mid-cycle adjustment” of its monetary policy, which previously included nine rate increases.

U.S.-China trade discussions were another major driver of market sentiment in 2019. At multiple times throughout the year, it appeared the two sides were close to reaching a trade agreement only to have tensions flare up and dampen the optimism. Markets often rose and fell in response. A preliminary “phase-one” trade deal was not officially struck until mid-December. As part of the agreement the U.S. would lower the tariff rate on about $120 billion in Chinese goods from 15% to 7.5%, while canceling the tariffs on $160 billion worth of Chinese goods that were scheduled to take effect. The deal was met with a muted reaction by equity markets to close out the period.

The equity portion of the Fund outperformed the S&P 500 Index while its fixed income holdings posted a positive return during the one-year period, outperforming the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. Within equities, stock selection in the financials and healthcare sectors contributed the most to relative performance. These benefits were partly offset by stock selection in the information technology sector which detracted from relative results.*

The Fund’s above-benchmark exposure to high-yield securities within its fixed income holdings helped drive its outperformance relative to its fixed income benchmark. The portfolio’s underweight position to Treasuries also contributed to relative results.*

Overall, the Fund’s exposure to equities decreased compared to the beginning of the period, as the Fund trimmed stocks in the financials and information technology sectors.*

The Fund’s overall weighting in fixed income decreased during the year, as the subadvisor selectively sold U.S. Treasuries and investment-grade corporate bonds. The cash position increased compared to the beginning of the period because of these shifts.*

The Fund maintained exposure to covered call options—a type of derivative that provided downside protection for the portfolio while offering the benefits of owning a stock, such as dividends and capital appreciation, so long as the stock remains below the option strike price. The covered call strategy for the Fund made a modestly positive contribution to the Funds return.*

 

 

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

*

The Fund’s portfolio composition is subject to change. There is no guarantee that any sectors mentioned will continue to perform well or that securities in such sectors will be held by the Fund in the future. The information contained in this commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell securities in the sector mentioned. The Fund’s holdings and weightings are as of December 31, 2019.

1 

For a complete description of the Fund’s performance benchmarks please refer to page 2 of this report.

 
 

 

1


AZL® T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund (Unaudited)

 

Fund Objective

The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation with preservation of capital as an important intermediate-term objective. This objective may be changed by the Trustees of the Fund without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing at least 50% of its net assets in the common stock of established U.S. Companies that have above-average potential for capital growth. The remaining assets are generally invested in convertible securities, corporate and government debt, bank loans, and foreign securities.

Investment Concerns

Equity securities (stocks) are more volatile and carry more risk than other forms of investments, including investments in high-grade fixed income securities. The net asset value per share of this Fund will fluctuate as the value of the securities in the portfolio changes.

International investing may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuations in currency values, from differences in generally accepted accounting principles or from economic or political instability in other nations.

Small- to mid-capitalization companies typically have a higher risk of failure and historically have experienced a greater degree of volatility.

Value-based investments are subject to the risk that the broad market may not recognize their intrinsic value.

Investing in a single industry or sector, or concentrating investments in a limited number of industries or sectors, tends to increase the risk that economic, political, or regulatory developments affecting certain industries or sectors will have a large impact on the value of the portfolio.

Debt securities held by the Fund may decline in value due to rising interest rates.

Mortgage-backed investments involve risk of loss due to prepayments and, like any bond, due to default. Because of the sensitivity of mortgage-related securities to changes in interest rates, the Fund’s performance may be more volatile than if it did not hold these securities.

High-yield bonds have a higher risk of default or other adverse credit events, but have the potential to pay higher earnings over investment-grade bonds. The higher risk of default, or the inability of the creditor to repay its debt, is the primary reason for the higher interest rates on high-yield bonds.

Investing in derivatives instruments involves risks that may be different from or greater than the risk associated with investing directly in securities or other traditional instruments.

For a complete description of these and other risks associated with investing in a mutual Fund, please refer to the Fund’s prospectus.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Growth of $10,000 Investment

 

LOGO

The chart above represents a comparison of a hypothetical investment in the Fund versus a similar investment in the Fund’s benchmarks and represents the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in the Fund.

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

 

     1
Year
    3
Year
    5
Year
    10
Year
 

AZL® T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

      24.38 %      12.83     10.23     11.04

S&P 500 Index

     31.49     15.27     11.70     13.56

Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index

     8.72     4.03     3.05     3.75

Moderate Composite Index

     22.11     10.89     8.35     9.81

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.Allianzlife.com.

 

Expense Ratio

   Gross  

AZL® T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

     1.06

The above expense ratio is based on the current Fund prospectus dated April 29, 2019. The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.70% on all assets. The Manager and the Fund have entered into a written contract limiting operating expenses, excluding certain expenses such as interest expense and acquired fund fees and expenses, to 1.20% through April 30, 2021. Additional information pertaining to the December 31, 2019 expense ratio can be found in the Financial Highlights.

 

The recent appreciation in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future. Because of ongoing market volatility, fund performance may be subject to substantial short-term changes.

The total return of the Fund does not reflect the effect of any insurance charges, the annual maintenance fee or the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Such charges, fees and tax payments would reduce the performance quoted.

Acquired fund fees and expenses are incurred indirectly by the Fund through the valuation of the Fund’s investments in the other investment companies. Accordingly, acquired fund fees and expenses affect the Fund’s total returns. Because these fees and expenses are not included in the Fund’s financial highlights, the Fund’s total annual fund operating expenses, as shown in the prospectus, do not correlate to the ratios of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights. Without acquired fund fees and expenses the Fund’s gross expense ratio would be 1.05%.

The Fund’s performance is measured against the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index (“S&P 500”), the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index and the Moderate Composite Index (“Composite”). The S&P 500 is representative of 500 selected common stocks, most of which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and is a measure of the U.S. Stock market as a whole. The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is a market value-weighted performance benchmark for investment-grade fixed-rate debt issues, including government, corporate, asset-backed, and mortgage-backed securities, with maturities of at least one year. The Composite is a blended index comprised of (60%) of the S&P 500 and (40%) of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. These indexes are unmanaged and do not reflect the deduction of fees associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The Fund’s performance reflects the deduction of fees for services provided to the Fund. Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

 

 

 

2


AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

Expense Examples

(Unaudited)

 

As a shareholder of the AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund (the “Fund”), you incur ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution fees, and other Fund expenses. These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. Please note that the expenses shown in each table do not reflect expenses that apply to the subaccount or the insurance contract. If the expenses that apply to the subaccount of the insurance contract were included, your costs would have been higher.

These examples are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the periods presented below.

The Actual Expense table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information below, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the table under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During Period” to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
 

Ending

Account Value
12/31/19

 

Expenses Paid

During Period

7/1/19 - 12/31/19*

  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL T Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,060.80     $ 5.19       1.00 %

The Hypothetical Expense table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.

 

     Beginning
Account Value
7/1/19
  Ending
Account Value
12/31/19
  Expenses Paid
During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19*
  Annualized Expense
Ratio During Period
7/1/19 - 12/31/19

AZL T Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

    $ 1,000.00     $ 1,020.16     $ 5.09       1.00 %

 

*

Expenses are equal to the average account value multiplied by the Fund’s annualized expense ratio multiplied by 184/365 (the number of days in the most recent fiscal half-year divided by the number of days in the fiscal year).

Portfolio Composition

(Unaudited)

 

Investments   Percent of Net Assets

Total Common Stocks and Total Preferred Stocks

      67.6 %

Corporate Bonds

      17.0

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

      10.1

Bank Loans

      3.9

Convertible Preferred Stocks

      1.2

Yankee Dollars

      0.7

Asset Backed Securities

      0.4

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

        
   

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

      100.9

Net other assets (liabilities)

      (0.9 )
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

      100.0 %
   

 

 

 

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

3


AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks (63.5%):       
Auto Components (0.6%):       
  79,428      Aptiv plc    $ 7,543,277  
     

 

 

 
Banks (0.3%):       
  21,700      PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.      3,463,971  
     

 

 

 
Beverages (1.1%):       
  497,725      Keurig Dr Pepper, Inc.      14,409,139  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (2.5%):       
  150,235      Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.      13,904,249  
  65,947      S&P Global, Inc.      18,006,829  
     

 

 

 
        31,911,078  
     

 

 

 
Commercial Services & Supplies (1.0%):       
  138,722      Waste Connections, Inc.      12,594,570  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (4.4%):       
  256,836      American Electric Power Co., Inc.      24,273,570  
  66,961      Eversource Energy      5,696,372  
  32,148      NextEra Energy, Inc.      7,784,960  
  306,665      Xcel Energy, Inc.      19,470,161  
     

 

 

 
        57,225,063  
     

 

 

 
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (0.6%):       
  78,307      TE Connectivity, Ltd.      7,504,943  
     

 

 

 
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (0.1%):       
  5,900      American Tower Corp.      1,355,938  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (7.7%):       
  445,113      Alcon, Inc.*      25,220,735  
  115,641      Becton Dickinson & Co.      31,450,884  
  216,065      Danaher Corp.      33,161,657  
  268,007      Envista Holdings Corp.*      7,943,727  
     

 

 

 
        97,777,003  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (1.0%):       
  42,300      UnitedHealth Group, Inc.      12,435,354  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (2.8%):       
  153,831      Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc.      17,061,396  
  20,000      McDonald’s Corp.      3,952,200  
  150,130      Yum! Brands, Inc.      15,122,595  
     

 

 

 
        36,136,191  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (5.7%):       
  4,057,482      General Electric Co.      45,281,500  
  77,476      Roper Technologies, Inc.      27,444,323  
     

 

 

 
        72,725,823  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (3.0%):       
  345,778      Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc.      38,523,127  
     

 

 

 
Interactive Media & Services (4.0%):       
  1,923      Alphabet, Inc., Class A*      2,575,647  
  22,288      Alphabet, Inc., Class C*      29,799,502  
  87,000      Facebook, Inc., Class A*      17,856,750  
     

 

 

 
        50,231,899  
     

 

 

 
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail (2.1%):       
  14,434      Amazon.com, Inc.*      26,671,723  
     

 

 

 
Shares            Fair Value  
Common Stocks, continued       
IT Services (8.5%):       
  348,052      Fiserv, Inc.*    $ 40,245,253  
  116,455      Global Payments, Inc.      21,260,025  
  251,048      Visa, Inc., Class A      47,171,918  
     

 

 

 
        108,677,196  
     

 

 

 
Life Sciences Tools & Services (5.8%):       
  272,030      Avantor, Inc.*      4,937,345  
  415,584      PerkinElmer, Inc.      40,353,205  
  89,798      Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.      29,172,676  
     

 

 

 
        74,463,226  
     

 

 

 
Machinery (2.1%):       
  346,242      Fortive Corp.      26,449,426  
     

 

 

 
Multi-Utilities (1.2%):       
  534,370      NiSource, Inc.      14,876,861  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (0.3%):       
  39,800      Concho Resources, Inc.      3,485,286  
     

 

 

 
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (3.7%):       
  248,693      Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.      15,297,106  
  124,646      NXP Semiconductors NV      15,862,450  
  122,600      Texas Instruments, Inc.      15,728,354  
     

 

 

 
        46,887,910  
     

 

 

 
Software (4.3%):       
  344,900      Microsoft Corp.      54,390,730  
     

 

 

 
Water Utilities (0.7%):       
  74,435      American Water Works Co., Inc.      9,144,340  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Common Stocks (Cost $588,258,258)

     808,884,074  
  

 

 

 
Preferred Stocks (4.1%):       
Banks (1.5%):       
  100,000      JPMorgan Chase & Co., Series D, 5.26%, 10/31/19      2,733,000  
  7,099      U.S. Bancorp, Series F, 6.50%, 9/27/19      196,074  
  40,000      U.S. Bancorp, Series K, 5.50%, 12/30/19      1,096,800  
  10,313      Wells Fargo & Co., Series L, Class A, 5.17%, 11/27/19      14,953,850  
     

 

 

 
        18,979,724  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (0.1%):       
  55,900      Charles Schwab Corp. (The), Series C, 6.00%, 11/14/19      1,453,400  
  3,600      Charles Schwab Corp. (The), Series D, 5.62%, 11/14/19^      95,400  
     

 

 

 
        1,548,800  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (0.5%):       
  30,000      Alabama Power Co., Series A      812,400  
  100,000      Duke Energy Corp., 5.63%, 9/15/78      2,705,000  
  5,180      SCE Trust III, Series H, 5.75%, 12/12/19,
Perpetual Bond
     126,340  
  99,331      SCE Trust IV, Series J, 5.38%, 12/31/49      2,434,603  
  7,868      SCE Trust V, Series K, 5.52%, 12/12/19      194,104  
     

 

 

 
        6,272,447  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (0.8%):       
  151,708      Becton Dickinson & Co., Series A, 4.68%, 9/13/19      9,930,806  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

4


AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Preferred Stocks, continued       
Multi-Utilities (1.2%):       
  150,000      CMS Energy Corp., 5.88%, 10/15/78    $ 4,015,500  
  200,000      CMS Energy Corp., 5.88%, 3/1/79      5,462,000  
  100,000      DTE Energy Co., Series E, 5.25%, 12/1/77      2,644,000  
  100,000      NiSource, Inc., Series B, 6.01%, 11/21/19      2,788,000  
     

 

 

 
        14,909,500  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Preferred Stocks (Cost $45,613,127)

     51,641,277  
  

 

 

 
Convertible Preferred Stocks (1.2%):       
Electric Utilities (0.1%):       
  31,261      American Electric Power Co., Inc., 4.95%, 3/15/22      1,692,158  
     

 

 

 
Life Sciences Tools & Services (0.8%):       
  160,617      Avantor, Inc., Series A, 6.25%, 5/15/22      10,118,871  
     

 

 

 
Machinery (0.3%):       
  3,209      Fortive Corp., Series A, 0.03%, 7/1/21      3,121,587  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Convertible Preferred Stocks (Cost $12,802,900)

     14,932,616  
  

 

 

 
Asset Backed Securities (0.4%):       
$ 1,446,480      Dominos Pizza Master Issuer LLC, Class A23, Series 2018-1A, 4.12%, 7/25/47, Callable 7/25/24 @ 100(a)      1,494,870  
  1,372,625      Dominos Pizza Master Issuer LLC, Class A2I, Series 2018-1A, 4.12%, 7/25/48, Callable 10/25/22 @ 100(a)      1,410,716  
  645,000      Domino’s Pizza Master Issuer LLC, Class A2, Series 2019-1A, 3.67%, 10/25/49, Callable 10/25/26 @ 100(a)      645,110  
  913,360      Wendy’s Funding LLC, Class A2I, Series 2018-1A, 3.57%, 3/15/48, Callable 3/15/22 @ 100(a)      917,575  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Asset Backed Securities (Cost $4,341,282)

     4,468,271  
  

 

 

 
Bank Loans (3.9%):       
Airlines (0.1%):       
  1,250,000      Delta 2 Lux Sarl, 0.00%, 2/1/24      1,254,300  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (1.1%):       
  557,251      H.B. Fuller Co. Term Loan B-1, 3.83% (US0003M), 10/20/24, Callable 2/7/20 @ 100      558,527  
  13,098,281      Kronos, Inc./ M.A. Term Loan B-1, 4.93% (US0003M), 11/1/23, Callable 2/7/20 @ 100      13,156,437  
     

 

 

 
        13,714,964  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (0.2%):       
  691,117      Zayo Group LLC Term Loan B1-1, 3.83% (US0003M), 1/19/21, Callable 2/7/20 @ 100      692,091  
  1,250,000      Zayo Group LLC Term Loan B2-1, 4.08% (US0003M), 1/19/24, Callable 2/7/20 @ 100      1,253,188  
     

 

 

 
        1,945,279  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (0.1%):       
  1,400,638      NVA Holdings, Inc. Term Loan B3-1, 4.65% (US0003M), 2/2/25, Callable 2/7/20 @ 100      1,399,182  
     

 

 

 
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Bank Loans, continued       
Insurance (0.8%):       
$ 355,000      AmWINS Group, Inc., 4.68% (US0003M), 1/25/24, Callable 2/7/20 @ 101    $ 357,485  
  9,715,735      HUB International, Ltd., 4.93% (US0003M), 4/25/25, Callable 2/7/20 @ 100      9,702,910  
     

 

 

 
        10,060,395  
     

 

 

 
IT Services (1.1%):       
  245,034      Gartner, Inc., 3.93% (US0003M), 3/20/22      245,647  
  14,566,833      Refinitiv US Holdings, Inc. Term Loan B-1, 4.93% (US0001M), 10/1/25      14,690,651  
     

 

 

 
        14,936,298  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (0.0%):       
  71,203      Prestige Brands, Inc. Term Loan B5-1, 3.93% (US0003M), 1/26/24, Callable 2/7/20 @ 100      71,613  
     

 

 

 
Software (0.5%):       
  5,772,031      CCC Information Services, Inc. Term Loan B-1, 4.68% (US0003M), 4/29/24, Callable 2/7/20 @ 100      5,779,246  
  503,738      Ultimate Software Term Loan B-1l Bankdebt, 0.00%, 5/3/26      506,649  
     

 

 

 
        6,285,895  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Bank Loans (Cost $49,392,605)

     49,667,926  
  

 

 

 
Corporate Bonds (17.0%):       
Aerospace & Defense (0.1%):       
  50,000      Moog, Inc., 5.25%, 12/1/22, Callable 1/13/20 @ 101.31(a)      50,675  
  1,730,000      Northrop Grumman Corp., 2.55%, 10/15/22, Callable 9/15/22 @ 100      1,756,126  
     

 

 

 
        1,806,801  
     

 

 

 
Airlines (0.0%):       
  241,869      U.S. Airways Group, Inc., Series 2010-1A, 6.25%, 10/22/24      263,208  
     

 

 

 
Banks (0.3%):       
  2,145,000      PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., Series S, 5.00% (US0003M+330 bps), 12/31/49, Callable 11/1/26 @ 100      2,303,194  
  875,000      US BanCorp, 5.30% (US0003M+291 bps), Callable 4/15/27 @ 100      961,406  
     

 

 

 
        3,264,600  
     

 

 

 
Building Products (0.0%):       
  280,000      Lennox International, Inc., 3.00%, 11/15/23, Callable 9/15/23 @ 100      284,828  
     

 

 

 
Capital Markets (0.3%):       
  1,060,000      Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (The), 4.62% (US0003M+313 bps), 12/29/49, Callable 9/20/26 @ 100      1,113,265  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

5


AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Capital Markets, continued       
$ 1,865,000      Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (The), Series E, 4.95% (US0003M+342 bps), Callable 6/20/20 @ 100    $ 1,883,650  
  1,355,000      State Street Corp., Series F, 5.25% (US0003M+360 bps), Callable 9/15/20 @ 100      1,388,875  
     

 

 

 
        4,385,790  
     

 

 

 
Chemicals (0.0%):       
  64,834      USI, Inc., 0.00% (US0003M), 5/16/24, Callable 2/7/20 @ 100      64,769  
     

 

 

 
Containers & Packaging (0.6%):       
  4,807,743      Reynolds Group Issuer, Inc., 5.75%, 10/15/20, Callable 2/10/20 @ 100      4,807,743  
  1,560,000      Reynolds Group Issuer, Inc., 5.50% (US0003M+350 bps), 7/15/21, Callable 2/10/20 @ 100(a)      1,561,950  
  1,230,000      Reynolds Group Issuer, Inc., 5.13%, 7/15/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.56(a)      1,259,213  
     

 

 

 
        7,628,906  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Consumer Services (0.1%):       
  1,075,000      Service Corp. International, 5.38%, 5/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.69      1,107,250  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Financial Services (0.1%):       
  815,000      Level 3 Communications, Inc., 5.38%, 8/15/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 100      818,056  
     

 

 

 
Diversified Telecommunication Services (0.3%):       
  1,225,000      Verizon Communications, 3.13%, 3/16/22      1,255,923  
  1,225,000      Verizon Communications, 2.89% (US0003M+100 bps), 3/16/22      1,245,449  
  1,789,000      Zayo Group LLC /Zayo Capital, Inc., 5.75%, 1/15/27, Callable 1/15/22 @ 102.88(a)      1,818,071  
     

 

 

 
        4,319,443  
     

 

 

 
Electric Utilities (0.2%):       
  230,000      American Electric Power Co., Inc., Series I, 3.65%, 12/1/21      237,065  
  300,000      Edison International, 2.13%, 4/15/20^      299,858  
  750,000      Eversource Energy, 2.75%, 3/15/22, Callable 2/15/22 @ 100      760,378  
  365,000      Eversource Energy, Series N, 3.80%, 12/1/23, Callable 11/1/23 @ 100      381,951  
  690,000      NextEra Energy Capital Holdings, Inc., 2.90%, 4/1/22      701,431  
  600,000      Wisconsin Public Service Corp., 3.35%, 11/21/21      617,210  
     

 

 

 
        2,997,893  
     

 

 

 
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components (0.1%):       
  750,000      Amphenol Corp., 2.20%, 4/1/20      750,554  
     

 

 

 
Entertainment (2.6%):       
  805,000      Netflix, Inc., 5.38%, 2/1/21      829,150  
  590,000      Netflix, Inc., 5.50%, 2/15/22      623,925  
  1,690,000      Netflix, Inc., 5.88%, 2/15/25      1,886,463  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Entertainment, continued       
$ 4,685,000      Netflix, Inc., 4.38%, 11/15/26    $ 4,790,413  
  8,498,000      Netflix, Inc., 4.88%, 4/15/28      8,837,920  
  8,400,000      Netflix, Inc., 5.88%, 11/15/28      9,292,500  
  4,980,000      Netflix, Inc., 6.38%, 5/15/29      5,621,175  
     

 

 

 
        31,881,546  
     

 

 

 
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (1.0%):       
  595,000      American Tower Corp., Series J, 3.30%, 2/15/21, Callable 1/15/21 @ 100      602,288  
  1,530,000      Crown Castle International Corp., 4.88%, 4/15/22      1,618,420  
  3,895,000      Crown Castle International Corp., 5.25%, 1/15/23      4,224,256  
  385,000      Equinix, Inc., 5.38%, 1/1/22      390,294  
  2,495,000      SBA Communications Corp., 4.88%, 7/15/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.22      2,529,306  
  2,007,000      SBA Communications Corp., 4.00%, 10/1/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102      2,044,631  
  891,000      SBA Communications Corp., 4.88%, 9/1/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.66      926,640  
     

 

 

 
        12,335,835  
     

 

 

 
Food Products (0.6%):       
  510,000      Conagra Brands, Inc., 2.70% (US0003M+75 bps), 10/22/20, Callable 1/21/20 @ 100      509,913  
  2,925,000      Conagra Brands, Inc., 3.80%, 10/22/21      3,014,154  
  4,220,000      Nestle Holdings, Inc., 3.10%, 9/24/21, Callable 8/24/21 @ 100(a)      4,304,936  
     

 

 

 
        7,829,003  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Equipment & Supplies (0.7%):       
  1,080,000      Becton Dickinson & Co., 2.92% (US0003M+103 bps), 6/6/22      1,086,610  
  2,455,000      Becton Dickinson & Co., 2.89%, 6/6/22, Callable 5/6/22 @ 100      2,494,930  
  1,690,000      Becton Dickinson & Co., 3.36%, 6/6/24, Callable 4/6/24 @ 100      1,757,355  
  1,340,000      Hologic, Inc., 4.38%, 10/15/25, Callable 10/15/20 @ 102.19(a)      1,383,550  
  1,260,000      Teleflex, Inc., 4.88%, 6/1/26, Callable 6/1/21 @ 102.44      1,318,275  
  1,085,000      Teleflex, Inc., 4.63%, 11/15/27, Callable 11/15/22 @ 102.31      1,150,100  
     

 

 

 
        9,190,820  
     

 

 

 
Health Care Providers & Services (0.3%):       
  305,000      Fresenius Medical Care US Finance, Inc., 5.75%, 2/15/21(a)      316,056  
  530,000      HCA Holdings, Inc., 6.25%, 2/15/21      553,188  
  2,600,000      NVA Holdings, 0.00%, 9/19/22      2,593,500  
     

 

 

 
        3,462,744  
     

 

 

 
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure (2.0%):       
  1,401,000      Cedar Fair, LP /Canada’s Wonderland Co. /Magnum Management Corp., 5.38%, 6/1/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.69      1,437,776  
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

6


AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure, continued       
$ 1,718,000      Cedar Fair, LP /Canada’s Wonderland Co. /Magnum Management Corp., 5.38%, 4/15/27, Callable 4/15/22 @ 102.69    $ 1,840,408  
  690,000      Hilton Domestic Operating Co., Inc., 4.25%, 9/1/24, Callable 1/31/20 @ 102.13      702,075  
  3,280,000      KFC Holding Co. /Pizza Hut Holdings LLC /Taco Bell of America LLC, 5.25%, 6/1/26, Callable 6/1/21 @ 102.63(a)      3,468,600  
  5,178,000      KFC Holding Co. /Pizza Hut Holdings LLC /Taco Bell of America LLC, 4.75%, 6/1/27, Callable 6/1/22 @ 102.38(a)      5,462,789  
  1,770,000      KFC Holding Co. /Pizza Hut Holdings LLC /Taco Bell Of America LLC, 5.00%, 6/1/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.75(a)      1,836,375  
  415,000      Marriott International, Inc., 2.54% (US0003M+65 bps), 3/8/21      416,257  
  525,000      Six Flags Entertainment Corp., 4.88%, 7/31/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 103.66(a)      544,031  
  190,000      Six Flags Entertainment Corp., 5.50%, 4/15/27, Callable 4/15/22 @ 102.75(a)      202,113  
  1,695,000      Yum! Brands, Inc., 3.88%, 11/1/20, Callable 8/1/20 @ 100      1,711,950  
  3,569,000      Yum! Brands, Inc., 3.75%, 11/1/21, Callable 8/1/21 @ 100      3,649,303  
  1,672,000      Yum! Brands, Inc., 3.88%, 11/1/23, Callable 8/1/23 @ 100      1,724,250  
  1,042,000      Yum! Brands, Inc., 6.88%, 11/15/37      1,208,720  
  1,834,000      Yum! Brands, Inc., 5.35%, 11/1/43, Callable 5/1/43 @ 100      1,829,415  
     

 

 

 
        26,034,062  
     

 

 

 
Industrial Conglomerates (0.5%):       
  4,917,000      General Electric Co., Series D, 5.00% (US0003M+333 bps), Callable 1/21/21 @ 100      4,830,952  
  1,220,000      Roper Technologies, Inc., 3.65%, 9/15/23, Callable 8/15/23 @ 100      1,280,678  
     

 

 

 
        6,111,630  
     

 

 

 
Insurance (0.3%):       
  2,765,000      Hub International, Ltd., 0.00% (US0001M), 4/25/25, Callable 2/7/20 @ 101      2,790,383  
  530,000      Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc., 2.35%, 3/6/20, Callable 2/10/20 @ 100      530,409  
  530,000      Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc., 2.75%, 1/30/22, Callable 12/30/21 @ 100      538,471  
  200,000      Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc., 3.30%, 3/14/23, Callable 1/14/23 @ 100      206,549  
     

 

 

 
        4,065,812  
     

 

 

 
IT Services (0.5%):  
  1,190,000      Fiserv, Inc., 2.70%, 6/1/20, Callable 5/1/20 @ 100      1,192,775  
  730,000      Fiserv, Inc., 3.80%, 10/1/23, Callable 9/1/23 @ 100      769,879  
  1,645,000      Refinitiv US Holdings, Inc., 6.25%, 5/15/26, Callable 11/15/21 @ 103.13(a)      1,795,106  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
IT Services, continued  
$ 2,185,000      Refinitiv US Holdings, Inc., 8.25%, 11/15/26, Callable 11/15/21 @ 104.13(a)    $ 2,460,857  
     

 

 

 
        6,218,617  
     

 

 

 
Life Sciences Tools & Services (1.6%):  
  2,830,000      Avantor, Inc., 6.00%, 10/1/24, Callable 10/1/20 @ 104.5(a)      3,013,950  
  11,462,000      Avantor, Inc., 9.00%, 10/1/25, Callable 10/1/20 @ 106.75(a)      12,808,785  
  4,085,000      Sunshine Luxembourg VII SARL, 6.19%, 10/1/26      4,119,273  
     

 

 

 
        19,942,008  
     

 

 

 
Machinery (0.1%):  
  915,000      Manitowoc Foodservice, Inc., 9.50%, 2/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 107.13      969,900  
  200,000      Xylem, Inc., 3.25%, 11/1/26, Callable 8/1/26 @ 100      207,475  
     

 

 

 
        1,177,375  
     

 

 

 
Media (2.3%):  
  2,035,000      CCO Holdings LLC, 5.25%, 9/30/22, Callable 2/10/20 @ 100.88      2,057,894  
  770,000      CCO Holdings LLC, 5.13%, 2/15/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.71      779,625  
  1,605,000      CCO Holdings LLC, 4.00%, 3/1/23, Callable 1/24/20 @ 102(a)      1,627,069  
  2,220,000      CCO Holdings LLC, 5.13%, 5/1/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 102.56(a)      2,261,624  
  970,000      CCO Holdings LLC, 5.75%, 9/1/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.92      983,338  
  129,000      CCO Holdings LLC, 5.75%, 1/15/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.92      131,419  
  1,755,000      CCO Holdings LLC, 5.88%, 4/1/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 104.41(a)      1,814,231  
  5,149,000      CCO Holdings LLC, 5.13%, 5/1/27, Callable 5/1/22 @ 102.56(a)      5,432,194  
  6,921,000      CCO Holdings LLC, 5.00%, 2/1/28, Callable 8/1/22 @ 102.5(a)      7,258,398  
  720,000      Charter Communications Operating LLC, 3.58%, 7/23/20, Callable 6/23/20 @ 100      724,529  
  1,010,000      Comcast Corp., 2.43% (US0003M+33 bps), 10/1/20      1,011,884  
  935,000      Comcast Corp., 3.45%, 10/1/21      961,492  
  795,000      Comcast Corp., 2.54% (US0003M+44 bps), 10/1/21      798,903  
  1,411,000      Sirius XM Radio, Inc., 3.88%, 8/1/22, Callable 8/1/20 @ 101.94(a)      1,440,984  
  1,190,000      Sirius XM Radio, Inc., 4.63%, 5/15/23, Callable 2/10/20 @ 101.54(a)      1,209,338  
     

 

 

 
        28,492,922  
     

 

 

 
Multiline Retail (0.0%):  
  380,000      Dollar Tree, Inc., 2.70% (US0003M+70 bps), 4/17/20, Callable 1/24/20 @ 100      380,073  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

7


AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Multi-Utilities (0.5%):  
$ 1,020,000      Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co., 2.40%, 2/1/20    $ 1,020,132  
  615,000      DTE Energy Co., Series D, 3.70%, 8/1/23, Callable 7/1/23 @ 100      640,516  
  2,060,000      NiSource Finance Corp., 3.49%, 5/15/27, Callable 2/15/27 @ 100      2,163,026  
  945,000      NiSource Finance Corp., 4.38%, 5/15/47, Callable 11/15/46 @ 100      1,056,110  
  1,705,000      NiSource, Inc., 5.65% (H15T5Y+284 bps), 12/31/99, Callable 6/15/23 @ 100      1,752,442  
  

 

 

 
        6,632,226  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (0.1%):  
  1,020,000      Enterprise Products Operating LLC, 3.50%, 2/1/22      1,050,474  
  715,000      Nustar Logistics, LP, 4.80%, 9/1/20      720,363  
     

 

 

 
        1,770,837  
     

 

 

 
Personal Products (0.1%):  
  685,000      Unilever Capital Corp., 3.00%, 3/7/22      701,180  
     

 

 

 
Pharmaceuticals (0.5%):  
  1,910,000      Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., 2.10% (US0003M+20 bps), 11/16/20(a)      1,911,816  
  2,925,000      Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., 2.55%, 5/14/21(a)      2,953,537  
  1,239,000      Elanco Animal Health, Inc., 3.91%, 8/27/21      1,269,788  
     

 

 

 
        6,135,141  
     

 

 

 
Professional Services (0.0%):  
  270,000      Korn Ferry, 4.63%, 12/15/27, Callable 12/15/22 @ 102.31(a)      272,025  
     

 

 

 
Software (0.8%):  
  1,246,875      Emerald Topco, Inc., 0.00% (US0001M), 7/23/26, Callable 1/26/20 @ 100      1,252,723  
  8,530,000      Solera LLC, 10.50%, 3/1/24, Callable 2/10/20 @ 107.88(a)      9,041,800  
     

 

 

 
        10,294,523  
     

 

 

 
Specialty Retail (0.1%):  
  540,000      AutoZone, Inc., 2.50%, 4/15/21, Callable 3/15/21 @ 100      542,559  
  600,000      Home Depot, Inc., 3.25%, 3/1/22      619,765  
  715,000      Home Depot, Inc., 2.22% (US0003M+31 bps), 3/1/22^      717,685  
     

 

 

 
        1,880,009  
     

 

 

 
Tobacco (0.2%):  
  1,000,000      Philip Morris International, Inc., 2.00%, 2/21/20      1,000,219  
  660,000      Philip Morris International, Inc., 2.31% (US0003M+42 bps), 2/21/20      660,352  
Contracts,
Shares,
Notional
Amount or
Principal
Amount
           Fair Value  
Corporate Bonds, continued       
Tobacco, continued  
$ 1,230,000      Philip Morris International, Inc., 2.63%, 2/18/22, Callable 1/18/22 @ 100    $ 1,245,122  
  

 

 

 
        2,905,693  
     

 

 

 
Wireless Telecommunication Services (0.1%):       
  515,000      T-Mobile USA, Inc., 6.00%, 3/1/23, Callable 1/21/20 @ 101.5      523,369  
  240,000      T-Mobile USA, Inc., 6.50%, 1/15/26, Callable 1/15/21 @ 103.25      256,200  
     

 

 

 
        779,569  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Corporate Bonds (Cost $208,237,930)

     216,185,748  
  

 

 

 
Yankee Dollars (0.7%):  
Electrical Equipment (0.3%):  
  745,000      Sensata Technologies BV, 4.88%, 10/15/23(a)      792,494  
  260,000      Sensata Technologies BV, 5.63%, 11/1/24(a)      288,600  
  925,000      Sensata Technologies BV, 5.00%, 10/1/25(a)      1,002,468  
  975,000      Sensata Technologies UK Financing Co. plc, 6.25%, 2/15/26, Callable 2/15/21 @ 103.13(a)      1,053,000  
     

 

 

 
        3,136,562  
     

 

 

 
Household Products (0.3%):  
  1,450,000      Reckitt Benckiser Treasury Services plc, 2.49% (US0003M+56 bps), 6/24/22(a)      1,453,600  
  2,150,000      Reckitt Benckiser Treasury Services plc, 2.38%, 6/24/22, Callable 5/24/22 @ 100(a)      2,159,617  
     

 

 

 
        3,613,217  
     

 

 

 
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (0.1%):  
  1,650,000      Shell International Finance BV, 2.35% (US0003M+45 bps), 5/11/20      1,649,979  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Yankee Dollars (Cost $8,195,240)

     8,399,758  
  

 

 

 
Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan (0.0%):  
  363,830      BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, 2.00%(b)(c)      363,830  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on
Loan (Cost $363,830)

     363,830  
  

 

 

 
Unaffiliated Investment Companies (10.1%):       
Money Markets (10.1%):       
  129,051,484      Dreyfus Treasury Securities Cash Management Fund, Institutional Shares, 1.44%(c)      129,051,484  
     

 

 

 
 

Total Unaffiliated Investment Companies (Cost $129,051,484)

     129,051,484  
  

 

 

 
 

Total Investment Securities (Cost $1,046,256,656) — 100.9%(d)

     1,283,594,984  
 

Net other assets (liabilities) — (0.9)%

     (12,084,695
  

 

 

 
 

Net Assets — 100.0%

   $ 1,271,510,289  
     

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

8


AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Percentages indicated are based on net assets as of December 31, 2019.

H15T5Y—5 Year Treasury Constant Maturity Rate

LIBOR—London Interbank Offered Rate

US0001M—1 Month US Dollar LIBOR

US0003M—3 Month US Dollar LIBOR

 

*

Non-income producing security.

 

^

This security or a partial position of this security was on loan as of December 31, 2019. The total value of securities on loan as of December 31, 2019 was $354,104.

 

Represents less than 0.05%.

 

(a)

Rule 144A, Section 4(2) or other security which is restricted to resale to institutional investors. The sub-adviser has deemed these securities to be liquid based on procedures approved by the Board of Trustees.

 

(b)

Purchased with cash collateral held from securities lending. The value of the collateral could include collateral held for securities that were sold on or before December 31, 2019.

 

(c)

The rate represents the effective yield at December 31, 2019.

 

(d)

See Federal Tax Information listed in the Notes to the Financial Statements.

At December 31, 2019, the Fund’s over-the-counter options written were as follows:     

 

Description    Counterparty    Put/
Call
     Strike Price      Expiration
Date
     Contracts      Notional
Amount(a)
     Fair Value  

Alphabet, Inc.

   Goldman Sachs      Call        1270.00     USD        1/17/20        7      $ 8,890      $ (51,360

Alphabet, Inc.

   Goldman Sachs      Call        1300.00     USD        1/17/20        6        7,800        (28,073

Alphabet, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        1300.00     USD        1/17/20        58        75,400        (258,337

Alphabet, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        1340.00     USD        1/17/20        14        18,760        (24,212

Alphabet, Inc.

   Goldman Sachs      Call        1350.00     USD        1/17/20        6        8,100        (8,374

Alphabet, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        1350.00     USD        1/17/20        18        24,300        (22,794

Alphabet, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        1400.00     USD        1/17/20        14        19,600        (2,497

Alphabet, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        1500.00     USD        1/17/20        14        21,000        (57

Alphabet, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        1500.00     USD        1/15/21        47        70,500        (308,666

Amazon.com, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        1800.00     USD        1/17/20        11        19,800        (69,627

Amazon.com, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        2000.00     USD        1/17/20        4        8,000        (1,379

Amazon.com, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        2025.00     USD        1/17/20        4        8,100        (1,008

Amazon.com, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        2100.00     USD        1/17/20        4        8,400        (463

Amazon.com, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        2300.00     USD        1/17/20        17        39,100        (264

Amazon.com, Inc.

   Credit Suisse First Boston      Call        2500.00     USD        1/17/20        7        17,500        (15

Amazon.com, Inc.

   Credit Suisse First Boston      Call        2600.00     USD        1/17/20        7        18,200        (6

Amazon.com, Inc.

   Credit Suisse First Boston      Call        2700.00     USD        1/17/20        7        18,900        (2

Amazon.com, Inc.

   Credit Suisse First Boston      Call        2200.00     USD        1/15/21        36        79,200        (306,352

American Electric Power Co., Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        85.00     USD        1/17/20        469        39,865        (447,477

American Electric Power Co., Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        85.00     USD        1/17/20        10        850        (9,541

American Electric Power Co., Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        95.00     USD        1/17/20        335        31,825        (23,614

American Electric Power Co., Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        105.00     USD        1/15/21        341        35,805        (62,574

American Tower Corp.

   Citigroup      Call        175.00     USD        1/17/20        59        10,325        (324,458

Becton Dickinson & Co.

   Goldman Sachs      Call        300.00     USD        1/15/21        122        36,600        (146,078

Danaher Corp.

   Citigroup      Call        150.00     USD        1/17/20        57        8,550        (26,764

Facebook, Inc.

   JPMorgan Chase      Call        200.00     USD        1/17/20        166        33,200        (124,538

Facebook, Inc.

   JPMorgan Chase      Call        220.00     USD        1/17/20        283        62,260        (10,840

Facebook, Inc.

   JPMorgan Chase      Call        220.00     USD        1/17/20        11        2,420        (421

General Electric Co.

   JPMorgan Chase      Call        15.00     USD        1/15/21        2,139        32,085        (96,440

McDonald’s Corp.

   Citigroup      Call        195.00     USD        1/17/20        38        7,410        (15,004

McDonald’s Corp.

   Citigroup      Call        200.00     USD        1/17/20        38        7,600        (4,553

McDonald’s Corp.

   Credit Suisse First Boston      Call        200.00     USD        1/17/20        16        3,200        (1,917

McDonald’s Corp.

   Citigroup      Call        200.00     USD        1/17/20        38        7,600        (4,553

McDonald’s Corp.

   Credit Suisse First Boston      Call        195.00     USD        1/17/20        32        6,240        (12,635

McDonald’s Corp.

   Citigroup      Call        195.00     USD        1/17/20        38        7,410        (15,004

Microsoft Corp.

   Citigroup      Call        120.00     USD        1/17/20        157        18,840        (593,763

Microsoft Corp.

   Credit Suisse First Boston      Call        125.00     USD        1/17/20        340        42,500        (1,116,150

Microsoft Corp.

   Citigroup      Call        125.00     USD        1/17/20        278        34,750        (912,617

Microsoft Corp.

   Royal Bank of Canada      Call        130.00     USD        1/17/20        264        34,320        (735,078

Microsoft Corp.

   Citigroup      Call        130.00     USD        1/17/20        278        36,140        (774,059

Microsoft Corp.

   Credit Suisse First Boston      Call        130.00     USD        1/17/20        78        10,140        (217,182

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

9


AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

Schedule of Portfolio Investments

December 31, 2019

 

Description    Counterparty    Put/
Call
     Strike Price      Expiration
Date
     Contracts      Notional
Amount(a)
     Fair Value  

Microsoft Corp.

   Citigroup      Call        135.00     USD        1/17/20        284      $ 38,340      $ (649,619

Microsoft Corp.

   Credit Suisse First Boston      Call        165.00     USD        1/15/21        421        69,465        (482,169

NXP Semiconductors NV

   Credit Suisse First Boston      Call        140.00     USD        1/15/21        267        37,380        (281,048

PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.

   Credit Suisse First Boston      Call        140.00     USD        1/17/20        217        30,380        (430,028

S&P Global, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        220.00     USD        1/17/20        116        25,520        (616,862

S&P Global, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        230.00     USD        1/17/20        115        26,450        (496,781

Texas Instruments, Inc.

   JPMorgan Chase      Call        120.00     USD        1/17/20        118        14,160        (102,741

Texas Instruments, Inc.

   Royal Bank of Canada      Call        125.00     USD        1/17/20        544        68,000        (235,008

Texas Instruments, Inc.

   JPMorgan Chase      Call        130.00     USD        1/17/20        125        16,250        (15,159

Texas Instruments, Inc.

   JPMorgan Chase      Call        130.00     USD        1/17/20        132        17,160        (16,008

Texas Instruments, Inc.

   Goldman Sachs      Call        130.00     USD        1/17/20        24        3,120        (2,911

Texas Instruments, Inc.

   Goldman Sachs      Call        135.00     USD        1/17/20        29        3,915        (470

Texas Instruments, Inc.

   Goldman Sachs      Call        140.00     USD        1/17/20        29        4,060        (71

Texas Instruments, Inc.

   Goldman Sachs      Call        135.00     USD        1/15/21        86        11,610        (79,034

Texas Instruments, Inc.

   Goldman Sachs      Call        140.00     USD        1/15/21        86        12,040        (62,709

Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.

   Royal Bank of Canada      Call        400.00     USD        1/15/21        99        39,600        (78,920

UnitedHealth Group, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        270.00     USD        1/17/20        47        12,690        (116,795

UnitedHealth Group, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        280.00     USD        1/17/20        47        13,160        (75,061

UnitedHealth Group, Inc.

   Goldman Sachs      Call        290.00     USD        1/17/20        28        8,120        (23,972

UnitedHealth Group, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        290.00     USD        1/17/20        56        16,240        (47,944

UnitedHealth Group, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        300.00     USD        1/17/20        60        18,000        (21,438

UnitedHealth Group, Inc.

   Goldman Sachs      Call        310.00     USD        1/17/20        6        1,860        (688

Visa, Inc.

   Credit Suisse First Boston      Call        150.00     USD        1/17/20        98        14,700        (372,757

Visa, Inc.

   Credit Suisse First Boston      Call        155.00     USD        1/17/20        99        15,345        (327,256

Visa, Inc.

   Credit Suisse First Boston      Call        160.00     USD        1/17/20        160        25,600        (449,390

Visa, Inc.

   Credit Suisse First Boston      Call        165.00     USD        1/17/20        136        22,440        (314,604

Visa, Inc.

   Goldman Sachs      Call        170.00     USD        1/17/20        134        22,780        (244,001

Visa, Inc.

   Credit Suisse First Boston      Call        170.00     USD        1/17/20        133        22,610        (242,180

Visa, Inc.

   Credit Suisse First Boston      Call        175.00     USD        1/17/20        133        23,275        (177,652

Visa, Inc.

   Goldman Sachs      Call        175.00     USD        1/17/20        321        56,175        (428,769

Visa, Inc.

   Goldman Sachs      Call        180.00     USD        1/17/20        107        19,260        (92,555

Yum! Brands, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        100.00     USD        1/17/20        152        15,200        (30,299

Yum! Brands, Inc.

   Bank of America      Call        115.00     USD        1/17/20        53        6,095        (415

Yum! Brands, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        115.00     USD        1/17/20        229        26,335        (1,792

Yum! Brands, Inc.

   Citigroup      Call        120.00     USD        1/17/20        229        27,480        (806

Yum! Brands, Inc.

   Bank of America      Call        120.00     USD        1/17/20        54        6,480        (190
                    

 

 

 

Total (Premiums $6,328,455)

 

               $ (13,276,848
  

 

 

 

 

(a)

Notional amount is expressed as the number of contracts multiplied by the strike price of the underlying asset.

Balances Reported in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities for Options Written

 

      Value

Options Written

   $(13,276,848)

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

10


AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

 

Statement of Assets and Liabilities    

December 31, 2019    

 

Assets:

   

Investment securities, at cost

    $ 1,046,256,656
   

 

 

 

Investment securities, at value(a)

    $ 1,283,594,984

Cash

      294,664

Interest and dividends receivable

      3,060,850

Receivable for investments sold

      4,735,598

Reclaims receivable

      221

Prepaid expenses

      4,564
   

 

 

 

Total Assets

      1,291,690,881
   

 

 

 

Liabilities:

   

Payable for investments purchased

      5,311,080

Payable for capital shares redeemed

      133,965

Written Options (Premiums received $6,328,455)

      13,276,848

Payable for collateral received on loaned securities

      363,830

Manager fees payable

      751,089

Administration fees payable

      11,703

Distribution fees payable

      268,246

Custodian fees payable

      7,818

Administrative and compliance services fees payable

      4,532

Transfer agent fees payable

      1,115

Trustee fees payable

      1,115

Other accrued liabilities

      49,251
   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

      20,180,592
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 1,271,510,289
   

 

 

 

Net Assets Consist of:

   

Paid in capital

    $ 945,171,678

Total distributable earnings

      326,338,611
   

 

 

 

Net Assets

    $ 1,271,510,289
   

 

 

 

Shares of beneficial interest (unlimited number of shares authorized, no par value)

      64,690,741

Net Asset Value (offering and redemption price per share)

    $ 19.66
   

 

 

 

 

(a)

Includes securities on loan of $354,104.

Statement of Operations    

For the Year Ended December 31, 2019    

 

Investment Income:

    

Dividends

     $ 14,129,995

Interest

       14,045,153

Income from securities lending

       211,764

Foreign withholding tax

       (32,548 )
    

 

 

 

Total Investment Income

       28,354,364
    

 

 

 

Expenses:

    

Manager fees

       8,998,282

Administration fees

       334,740

Distribution fees

       2,999,427

Custodian fees

       42,977

Administrative and compliance services fees

       20,914

Transfer agent fees

       6,478

Trustee fees

       65,065

Professional fees

       59,823

Shareholder reports

       33,806

Other expenses

       34,318
    

 

 

 

Total expenses before reductions

       12,595,830

Less expenses voluntarily waived/reimbursed by the Manager

       (599,903 )
    

 

 

 

Net expenses

       11,995,927
    

 

 

 

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

       16,358,437
    

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments:

    

Net realized gains/(losses) on securities

       80,585,718

Net realized gains/(losses) on written options contracts

       2,585,810

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on securities

       166,999,850

Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on written options contracts

       (9,847,884 )
    

 

 

 

Net realized and Change in net unrealized gains/losses on investments

       240,323,494
    

 

 

 

Change in Net Assets Resulting From Operations

     $ 256,681,931
    

 

 

 
 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

11


AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

 

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 

     For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2019
  For the
Year Ended
December 31, 2018

Change In Net Assets:

       

Operations:

       

Net investment income/(loss)

    $ 16,358,437     $ 25,857,530

Net realized gains/(losses) on investments

      83,171,528       54,942,451

Change in unrealized appreciation/depreciation on investments

      157,151,966       (75,497,531 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from operations

      256,681,931       5,302,450
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders:

       

Distributions

      (79,892,987 )       (73,943,574 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

      (79,892,987 )       (73,943,574 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Capital Transactions:

       

Proceeds from shares issued

      27,854,993       32,612,882

Proceeds from dividends reinvested

      79,892,987       73,943,574

Value of shares redeemed

      (92,633,961 )       (105,282,159 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets resulting from capital transactions

      15,114,019       1,274,297
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in net assets

      191,902,963       (67,366,827 )

Net Assets:

       

Beginning of period

      1,079,607,326       1,146,974,153
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

End of period

    $ 1,271,510,289     $ 1,079,607,326
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Share Transactions:

       

Shares issued

      1,439,519       1,759,202

Dividends reinvested

      4,332,592       4,227,763

Shares redeemed

      (4,857,076 )       (5,838,367 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

Change in shares

      915,035       148,598
   

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

12


AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

Financial Highlights

(Selected data for a share of beneficial interest outstanding throughout the periods indicated)

 

    Year Ended December 31,
     2019   2018   2017   2016   2015

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

    $ 16.93     $ 18.03     $ 16.48     $ 16.04     $ 15.90
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Investment Activities:

                   

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      0.26 (a)       0.41       0.17       0.21       0.11

Net Realized and Unrealized Gains/(Losses) on Investments

      3.79       (0.31 )       2.28       1.03       0.68
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total from Investment Activities

      4.05       0.10       2.45       1.24       0.79
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Distributions to Shareholders From:

                   

Net Investment Income

      (0.42 )       (0.17 )       (0.24 )       (0.12 )       (0.10 )

Net Realized Gains

      (0.90 )       (1.03 )       (0.66 )       (0.68 )       (0.55 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Dividends

      (1.32 )       (1.20 )       (0.90 )       (0.80 )       (0.65 )
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Net Asset Value, End of Period

    $ 19.66     $ 16.93     $ 18.03     $ 16.48     $ 16.04
   

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

Total Return(b)

      24.38 %       0.38 %       15.04 %       7.84 %       5.07 %

Ratios to Average Net Assets/Supplemental Data:

                   

Net Assets, End of Period (000’s)

    $ 1,271,510     $ 1,079,607     $ 1,146,974     $ 997,346     $ 1,150,906

Net Investment Income/(Loss)

      1.36 %       2.25 %       0.97 %       1.10 %       0.98 %

Expenses Before Reductions(c)

      1.05 %       1.05 %       1.05 %       1.05 %       1.05 %

Expenses Net of Reductions

      1.00 %       1.00 %       1.00 %       1.00 %       1.00 %

Portfolio Turnover Rate

      45 %       70 %       65 %       89 %       73 %

 

(a)

Calculated using the average shares method.

 

(b)

The returns include reinvested dividends and fund level expenses, but exclude insurance contract charges. If these charges were included, the returns would have been lower.

 

(c)

Excludes fee reductions. If such fee reductions had not occurred, the ratios would have been as indicated.

 

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

 

13


AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

1. Organization

The Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”) was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on July 13, 1999. The Trust is a diversified open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) and thus is determined to be an investment company, and follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 946 “Financial Services — Investment Companies.” The Trust consists of 21 separate investment portfolios (individually a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”), of which one is included in this report, the AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund (the “Fund”), and 20 are presented in separate reports.

The Trust is authorized to issue an unlimited number of shares of the Fund without par value. Shares of the Fund are available through the variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered through the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Currently, the Fund only offers its shares to separate accounts of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, affiliates of the Trust and the Manager, as defined below.

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with its vendors and others that provide for general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund. However, based on experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.

2. Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund in the preparation of its financial statements. The policies conform with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Security Valuation

The Fund records its investments at fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants at the measurement date. The valuation techniques used to determine fair value are further described in Note 4 below.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income

Investment transactions are accounted for on trade date. Net realized gains and losses on investments sold and on foreign currency transactions are recorded on the basis of identified cost. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes, where applicable, the amortization of premiums or accretion of discounts. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except in the case of foreign securities, in which case dividends are recorded as soon as such information becomes available.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The Fund may own shares of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) which report information on the source of their distributions annually. Certain distributions received from REITs during the year, which are known to be a return of capital, are recorded as a reduction to the cost of the individual REIT. A REIT may focus on particular types of projects, such as apartment complexes or shopping centers, or on particular geographic regions, or both. An investment in a REIT may be subject to certain risks similar to those associated with direct ownership of real estate, including: declines in the value of real estate; risks related to general and local economic conditions, overbuilding and competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; and variations in rental income.

Foreign Currency Translation and Withholding Taxes

The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currency amounts are translated into U.S. dollars at the current rate of exchange to determine the fair value of investments, assets and liabilities. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are translated at the prevailing rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. The Fund does not isolate that portion of the results of operations resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates on investments from fluctuations arising from changes in market prices of securities held. Such fluctuations are included in the net realized and unrealized gain or loss on investments and foreign currencies.

Income received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding and other income or similar taxes imposed by such countries. The Funds accrue such taxes, as applicable, based on their current interpretation of tax rules in the foreign markets in which they invest.

Distributions to Shareholders

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The Fund distributes its dividends from net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, on an annual basis. The amount of distributions from net investment income and from net realized gains is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. These “book/tax” differences are either temporary or permanent in nature. To the extent these differences are permanent in nature (e.g., return of capital, net operating loss, reclassification of certain market discounts, gain/loss, paydowns, and distributions), such amounts are reclassified within the composition of net assets based on their federal tax-basis treatment; temporary differences (e.g., wash sales and differing treatment on certain investments) do not require reclassification. Distributions to shareholders that exceed net investment income and net realized gains for tax purposes are reported as distributions of capital.

Expense Allocation

Expenses directly attributable to the Fund are charged directly to the Fund, while expenses attributable to more than one Fund are allocated among the respective Funds based upon relative net assets or some other reasonable method. Expenses which are attributable to more than one Trust are allocated across the Allianz Variable Insurance Products and Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trusts based upon relative net assets or another reasonable basis. Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”), serves as the investment manager for the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust.

 

14


AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Bank Loans

The Fund may invest in bank loans, which generally have interest rates which are reset periodically by reference to a base lending rate plus a premium. These base rates are primarily the London-Interbank Offered Rate and, secondarily, the prime rate offered by one or more major U.S. banks and the certificate of deposit rate or other base lending rates used by commercial lenders. Bank loans often require prepayments from excess cash flows or allow the borrower to repay at its election. The rate at which the borrower repays cannot be predicted with accuracy. Therefore, the anticipated or actual maturity may be considerably earlier than the stated maturity shown in the Schedule of Portfolio of Investments. All or a portion of any bank loans may be unfunded. The portfolio is obligated to fund any commitments at the borrower’s discretion. Therefore, the portfolio must have funds sufficient to cover its contractual obligation.

Securities Lending

To generate additional income, the Fund may lend up to 331/3% of its assets pursuant to agreements requiring that the loan be continuously secured by any combination of cash, U.S. government or U.S. government agency securities, equal initially to at least 102% of the fair value plus accrued interest on the securities loaned (105% for foreign securities). The borrower of securities is at all times required to post collateral to the Fund in an amount equal to 100% of the fair value of the securities loaned based on the previous day’s fair value of the securities loaned, marked-to-market daily. Any collateral shortfalls are adjusted the next business day. The Fund bears all of the gains and losses on such investments. The Fund receives payments from borrowers equivalent to the dividends and interest that would have been earned on securities lent while simultaneously seeking to earn income on the investment of cash collateral received. In extremely low interest rate environments, the broker rebate fee may exceed the interest earned or the cash collateral which would result in a loss to the Fund. The investment of cash collateral deposited by the borrower is subject to inherent market risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks that are present in the market, and as such, the value of these investments may not be sufficient, when liquidated, to repay the borrower when the loaned security is returned. There may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially. However, loans will be made only to borrowers, such as broker-dealers, banks or institutional borrowers of securities, deemed by the Manager to be of good standing and credit worthy and when in its judgment, the consideration which can be earned currently from such securities loans justifies the attendant risks. Loans are subject to termination by the Trust or the borrower at any time, and are, therefore, not considered to be illiquid investments. Securities on loan at December 31, 2019 are presented on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

Cash collateral received in connection with securities lending is invested on behalf of the Fund in the BlackRock Liquidity FedFund, Institutional Class, a money market fund which invests in short-term investments that have a remaining maturity of 397 days or less in accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act. The Fund pays the Securities Lending Agent 9% of the gross revenues received from securities lending activities and keeps 91%. The Fund paid securities lending fees of $20,822 during the year ended December 31, 2019. These fees have been netted against “Income from securities lending” on the Statement of Operations. The Fund had securities lending transactions of $363,830 accounted for as secured borrowings with cash collateral of overnight and continuous maturities as of December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2019, there were no master netting provisions in the securities lending agreement.

Affiliated Securities Transactions

Pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act (the “Rule”), the Fund may engage in securities transactions with affiliated investment companies and advisory accounts managed by the Manager and Subadviser. Any such purchase or sale transaction must be effected without a brokerage commission or other remuneration, except for customary transfer fees. The transaction must be effected at the current market price, which is either the security’s last sale price on an exchange or, if there are no transactions in the security that day, at the average of the highest bid and lowest asked price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund participated in the following cross-trade transactions:

 

        Purchases      Sales      Realized
Gain/Loss

AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

       $ 518,774        $ 314,102        $ (27,134 )

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In March 2017, FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2017-08 (“ASU 2017-08”), “Receivables — Nonrefundable Fees and Other Costs (Subtopic 310-20): Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities”. ASU 2017-08 changed the amortization period for non-contingently callable debt securities held at a premium. Specifically, it required the premium to be amortized to the earliest call date. ASU 2017-08 does not require an accounting change for securities held at a discount, which continues to accrete to maturity. The Fund has adopted ASU 2017-08 on a modified retrospective basis as of January 1, 2019. The adoption of ASU 2017-08 did not have a significant impact on the amortized cost of investments as of January 1, 2019, and had no impact on beginning net assets, the current period results from operations, or any prior period information presented in the financial statements.

Derivative Instruments

All open derivative positions at period end are reflected on the Fund’s Schedule of Portfolio Investments. The following is a description of the derivative instruments utilized by the Fund, including the primary underlying risk exposures related to each instrument type.

Options Contracts

The Fund may purchase or write put and call options on a security or an index of securities. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund purchased and wrote call and put options to increase or decrease its exposure to underlying instruments (including equity risk, interest rate risk and/or foreign currency exchange rate risk) and/or, in the case of options written, to generate gains from options premiums.

Purchased Options Contracts — The Fund pays a premium which is included in “Investments, at value” on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities and marked to market to reflect the current value of the option. Premiums paid for purchasing options that expire are treated as realized losses. When a put option is exercised or closed, premiums paid for purchasing options are offset against proceeds to determine the realized gain/loss on the transaction. The Fund bears the risk of loss of the premium and change in value should the counterparty not perform under the contract.

Written Options Contracts — The Fund receives a premium which is recorded as a liability and is subsequently adjusted to the current value of the options written. Premiums received from writing options that expire are treated as realized gains. Premiums received from writing options that are either exercised or closed are offset against the proceeds received or the amount paid on the transaction to determine realized gains or losses. The risk associated with writing an option is that the Fund bears the market risk of an

 

15


AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

unfavorable change in the price of an underlying asset and is required to buy or sell an underlying asset under the contractual terms of the option at a price different from the current value. For the year ended December 31, 2019, the monthly average notional amount for written options contracts was $1.6 million. Realized gains and losses are reported as “Net realized gains/(losses) on written options contracts” on the Statement of Operations.

Summary of Derivative Instruments

The following is a summary of the fair values of derivative instruments on the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities, categorized by risk exposure, as of December 31, 2019:

 

   

Asset Derivatives

   

Liability Derivatives

 
Primary Risk Exposure   Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value
    Statement of Assets and Liabilities Location   Total Fair
Value
 

Equity Risk

     
Equity Contracts     $     Written Options contracts   $ 13,276,848  

The following is a summary of the effect of derivative instruments on the Statement of Operations, categorized by risk exposure, for the year ended December 31, 2019:

 

Primary Risk Exposure  

Location of Gains/(Losses)

on Derivatives

Recognized

   Realized Gains/(Losses)
on Derivatives
Recognized
     Change in Net Unrealized
Appreciation/Depreciation on
Derivatives Recognized
 

Equity Risk

     
Equity Contracts   Net Realized gains/(losses) on written options contracts/ Change in net unrealized appreciation/depreciation on written option contracts    $ 2,585,810      $ (9,847,884

The Fund is generally subject to master netting agreements that allow for amounts owed between the Fund and the counterparty to be netted. The party that has the larger payable pays the excess of the larger amount over the smaller amount to the other party. The master netting agreements do not apply to amounts owed to/from different counterparties. The amounts shown in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities do not take into consideration the effects of legally enforceable master netting agreements. The table below presents the gross and net amounts of these assets and liabilities with any offsets to reflect the Fund’s ability to transact net amounts in accordance with the master netting agreements at December 31, 2019. For financial reporting purposes, the Fund does not offset derivative assets and derivative liabilities that are subject to master netting arrangements in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. This table also summarizes the fair values of derivative instruments on the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities, categorized by risk exposure, as of December 31, 2019.

As of December 31, 2019, the Fund’s derivative assets and liabilities by type were as follows:

 

        Assets      Liabilities

Derivative Financial Instruments:

             

Written option contracts

       $        $ 13,276,848
      

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total derivative assets and liabilities in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities

                  13,276,848

Derivatives not subject to a master netting agreement or similar agreement (“MNA”)

                 
      

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total assets and liabilities subject to a MNA

       $        $ 13,276,848
      

 

 

        

 

 

 

The following table presents the Fund’s derivative liabilities by counterparty net of amounts available for offset under MNA and net of the related collateral pledged by the Fund as of December 31, 2019:

 

Counterparty   

Derivative Liabilities
Subject to a MNA

by Counterparty

   Derivatives
Available
for Offset
  

Non-cash
Collateral

Pledged*

  

Cash
Collateral

Pledged*

  

Net Amount
of Derivative

Liabilities

Bank of America

     $ 605      $      $      $      $ 605

Citigroup

       5,960,682                             5,960,682

Credit Suisse First Boston

       4,731,343                             4,731,343

Goldman Sachs

       1,169,065                             1,169,065

JPMorgan Chase

       366,147                             366,147

Royal Bank of Canada

       1,049,006                             1,049,006
    

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

 

Total

     $ 13,276,848      $      $      $      $ 13,276,848
    

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

 

 

*

The actual collateral received or pledged may be in excess of the amounts shown in the table. The table only reflects collateral amounts up to the amount of the financial instrument disclosed on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.

3. Fees and Transactions with Affiliates and Other Parties

The Manager provides investment advisory and management services for the Fund. The Manager has retained an independent money management organization (the “Subadviser”), to make investment decisions on behalf of the Fund. Pursuant to an amended and restated subadvisory agreement, effective November 15, 2013, with T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. (“T. Rowe Price”), T. Rowe Price provides investment advisory services as the Subadviser for the Fund subject to the general supervision of the Trustees and the Manager. The Manager is entitled to a fee, computed daily and paid monthly, based on the average daily net assets of the Fund. Expenses incurred by the Fund for investment advisory and

 

16


AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

management services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Manager fees.” For its services, the Subadviser is entitled to a fee payable by the Manager. The Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse the Fund to limit the annual expenses, excluding interest expense (e.g., cash overdraft fees), taxes, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, other expenditures that are capitalized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business, based on the daily net assets of the Fund, through April 30, 2021.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the annual rate due to the Manager and the annual expense limit were as follows:

 

        Annual Rate*      Annual Expense Limit

AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

         0.75 %          1.20 %

 

*

The Manager voluntarily reduced the management fee to 0.70% on all assets. The manager reserves the right to increase the management fee to the amount shown in the table at any time.

Any amounts contractually waived or reimbursed by the Manager in a particular fiscal year will be subject to repayment by the Fund to the Manager to the extent that from time to time through the next three fiscal years the repayment will not cause the Fund’s expenses to exceed the lesser of the stated limit at the time of the waiver or the current stated limit. Any amounts recouped by the Manager during the year are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Recoupment of prior expenses reimbursed by the Manager.” At December 31, 2019, there were no contractual reimbursements subject to repayment by the Fund in subsequent years.

In addition, the Manager may voluntarily waive or reimburse additional fees in order to maintain more competitive expense ratios. Any voluntary waivers or reimbursements are not subject to repayment in subsequent years. Information on the total amount waived/reimbursed by the Manager or repaid to the Manager by the Fund during the year can be found on the Statement of Operations.

Pursuant to separate agreements between the Funds and the Manager, the Manager provides a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) and certain compliance oversight and regulatory filing services to the Trust. Under these agreements the Manager is entitled to an amount equal to a portion of the compensation and certain other expenses related to the individuals performing the CCO and compliance oversight services, as well as $100 per hour for time incurred in connection with the preparation and filing of certain documents with the SEC. The fees are paid to the Manager on a quarterly basis. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administrative and compliance services fees.”

Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. (“Citi” or the “Administrator”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc., with which an officer of the Trust is affiliated, serves as the Trust’s administrator and fund accountant, and assists the Trust in all aspects of its administration and operation. The Administrator is entitled to a Trust-wide asset-based fee, which is based on the following schedule: 0.05% of daily average net assets on the first $4 billion, 0.04% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion, 0.02% of daily average net assets on the next $2 billion and 0.01% of daily average net assets over $8 billion. The overall Trust-wide fees are accrued daily and paid monthly and are subject to a minimum annual fee. The Administrator is entitled to an annual fee for each additional class of shares of any Fund, certain annual fees in supporting fair value services, and a Trust-wide annual fee for providing infrastructure and support in implementing the written policies and procedures comprising the Fund’s compliance program. The Administrator is also reimbursed for certain expenses incurred. The total expenses incurred by the Fund for these services are reflected on the Statement of Operations as “Administration fees.”

FIS Investor Services LLC (“FIS”) serves as the Fund’s transfer agent. Under the Transfer Agent Agreement, the Trust pays FIS a fee for its services and reimburses FIS for all of their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in providing these services.

The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon” or the “Custodian”) serves as the Trust’s custodian and securities lending agent. For these services as custodian, the Funds pay BNY Mellon a fee based on a percentage of assets held on behalf of the Funds, plus certain out-of-pocket charges.

Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC (“ALFS”), an affiliate of the Manager, serves as distributor of the Fund. ALFS receives an annual 12b-1 fee in the maximum amount of 0.25% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, plus a Trust-wide annual fee of $42,500 paid by the Manager from its profits and not by the Trust, for recordkeeping and reporting services.

In addition, certain legal fees and expenses are paid to a law firm, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, of which the Secretary of the Fund is Senior Counsel. During the year ended December 31, 2019, $8,869 was paid from the Fund relating to these fees and expenses.

Certain Officers and Trustees of the Trust are affiliated with the Manager or the Administrator. Such Officers (except for the Trust’s CCO as noted above) and Trustees receive no compensation from the Trust for serving in their respective roles. For their service to the Trust and to the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust, each non-interested Trustee receives a $182,500 annual Board retainer, the Lead Director receives an additional $45,625 annually, the Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually and the Chair of the Audit Committee receives an additional $10,000 annually. In addition, the Trustees are reimbursed for certain expenses associated with attending Board meetings. Compensation to the Trustees is allocated between the Trust and the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Fund of Funds Trust in proportion to the assets under management of each trust. During the year ended December 31, 2019, actual Trustee compensation was $1,343,125 in total for both trusts.

4. Investment Valuation Summary

The valuation techniques employed by the Fund, as described below, maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs in determining fair value. The inputs used for valuing the Fund’s investments are summarized in the three broad levels listed below:

 

   

Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets

   

Level 2 — other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayments speeds, credit risk, etc.)

   

Level 3 — significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers in or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy. The inputs or methodology used for valuing investments is not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments.

Security prices are generally provided by an independent third party pricing service approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board” or “Trustees”) as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 pm Eastern Time). Equity securities are valued at the last quoted sale price or, if there is no sale, the last quoted bid price is used for long securities and the last quoted ask price is used for securities sold short. Securities listed on NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) are valued at the official closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as a Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Investments in open-end investment companies are valued at their respective net asset value as reported by such companies and are typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy.

 

17


AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

Options are generally valued at the average of the closing bid and ask quotations on the principal exchange on which the option is traded, which are then typically categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. For options where market quotations are not readily available, fair value procedures as described below may be applied.

Debt and other fixed income securities are generally valued at an evaluated bid price provided by an independent pricing source approved by the Trustees. To value debt securities, pricing services may use various pricing techniques which take into account appropriate factors such as market activity, yield, quality, coupon rate, maturity, type of issue, trading characteristics, call features, credit ratings and other data, as well as broker quotes. Short-term securities of sufficient credit quality with sixty days or less remaining until maturity may be valued at amortized cost, which approximates fair value. In each of these situations, valuations are typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

Other assets and securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or are deemed unreliable are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Trustees or persons acting on the behalf of the Trustees. Fair value pricing may be used for significant events such as securities whose trading has been suspended, whose price has become stale or for which there is no currently available price at the close of the NYSE. Depending on the source and relative significance of valuation inputs, these instruments may be classified as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund utilizes a pricing service to assist in determining the fair value of securities when certain significant events occur that may affect the value of foreign securities.

In accordance with procedures adopted by the Trustees, fair value pricing may be used if events materially affecting the value of foreign securities occur between the time when the exchange on which they are traded closes and the time when the Fund’s net asset value is calculated. Management identifies possible fluctuation in international securities by monitoring the increase or decrease in the value of a designated benchmark index. In the event of an increase or decrease greater than predetermined levels, the Fund may use a systematic valuation model provided by an independent third party to fair value its international equity securities which are then typically categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, there were no Level 3 investments for which significant unobservable inputs were used to determine fair value.

The following is a summary of the valuation inputs used as of December 31, 2019 in valuing the Fund’s investments based upon the three levels defined above:

 

Investment Securities:      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total
                             

Common Stocks+

       $ 783,663,339        $ 25,220,735        $        $ 808,884,074

Preferred Stocks

         51,641,277                            51,641,277

Convertible Preferred Stocks

         14,932,616                            14,932,616

Asset Backed Securities

                  4,468,271                   4,468,271

Bank Loans

                  49,667,926                   49,667,926

Corporate Bonds+

                  216,185,748                   216,185,748

Yankee Dollars+

                  8,399,758                   8,399,758

Short-Term Securities Held as Collateral for Securities on Loan

         363,830                            363,830

Unaffiliated Investment Companies

         129,051,484                            129,051,484
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investment Securities

         979,652,546          303,942,438                   1,283,594,984
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Other Financial Instruments:*

                           

Written Options

         (92,555 )          (13,184,293 )                   (13,276,848 )
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

Total Investments

       $ 979,559,991        $ 290,758,145        $        $ 1,270,318,136
      

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

+

For detailed industry descriptions, see the accompanying Schedule of Portfolio Investments.

 

*

Other Financial Instruments would include any derivative instruments, such as written options.

5. Security Purchases and Sales

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of securities (excluding securities maturing less than one year from acquisition) were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

       $ 502,238,757        $ 657,969,758

For the year ended December 31, 2019, purchases and sales of long-term U.S. government securities were as follows:

 

        Purchases      Sales

AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

       $ 39,425,218        $ 65,441,046

6. Investment Risks

Bank Loan Risk: There are a number of risks associated with an investment in bank loans including credit risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk and prepayment risk. Lack of an active trading market, restrictions on resale, irregular trading activity, wide bid/ask spreads and extended trade settlement periods may impair the Fund’s ability to sell bank loans within its desired time frame or at an acceptable price and its ability to accurately value existing and prospective investments. Extended trade settlement periods may result in cash not being immediately available to the Fund. As a result, the Fund may have to sell other investments or engage in borrowing transactions to raise cash to meet its obligations. The risk of holding bank loans is also directly tied to the risk of insolvency or bankruptcy of the issuing banks. These risks could cause the Fund to lose income or principal on a particular investment, which in turn could affect the Fund’s returns. The value of bank loans can be affected by and sensitive to changes in government regulation and to economic downturns in the United States and abroad. Bank loans generally are floating rate loans, which are subject to interest rate risk as the interest paid on the floating rate loans adjusts periodically based on changes in widely accepted reference rates.

Derivatives Risk: The Fund may invest in derivatives as a principal strategy. A derivative is a financial contract whose value depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or risk. Use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities

 

18


AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019 

 

and other traditional investments. Derivatives are subject to a number of other risks, such as liquidity risk, interest rate risk, market risk, credit risk, and selection risk. Derivatives also involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate, or index. Using derivatives may result in losses, possibly in excess of the principal amount invested. Also, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances. The counterparty to a derivatives contract could default. As required by applicable law, a Fund that invests in derivatives segregates cash or liquid securities, or both, to the extent that its obligations under the instrument are not covered through ownership of the underlying security, financial instrument, or currency.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Investments in securities of foreign issuers carry certain risks not ordinarily associated with investments in securities of domestic issuers. Such risks include future political and economic developments, and the possible imposition of exchange controls or other foreign governmental laws and restrictions. In addition, with respect to certain countries, there is the possibility of expropriation of assets, confiscatory taxation, political or social instability or diplomatic developments which could adversely affect investments in those securities.

London Interbank Offering Rate (“LIBOR”) Risk: Certain investments held by the Fund may pay or receive interest at floating rates based on LIBOR. The United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority expects the use of LIBOR will be phased out by the end of 2021. Currently, there are no definitive details regarding the future utilization of LIBOR or of any particular replacement floating rate of interest. Abandonment of or modifications to LIBOR could lead to market uncertainty and instability. To the extent that the Fund’s investments have maturities which extend beyond 2021, the applicable interest rates might be subject to change if there is a transition from the LIBOR reference rate. These risks may also apply with respect to changes in connection with other interbank offering rates (e.g., Euribor) and a wide range of other index levels, rates and values that are treated as “benchmarks” and are the subject of recent regulatory reform.

Mortgage-Related and Other Asset-Backed Risk: The Fund may invest in a variety of mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities, which are subject to certain additional risks. Generally, rising interest rates tend to extend the duration of fixed rate mortgage-related securities, making them more sensitive to changes in interest rates. As a result, in a period of rising interest rates, a Fund that holds mortgage-related securities may exhibit additional volatility. This is known as extension risk. In addition, adjustable and fixed rate mortgage-related securities are subject to call risk. When interest rates decline, borrowers may pay off their mortgages sooner than expected. This can reduce the returns of a Fund because the Fund will have to reinvest that money at the lower prevailing interest rates. If a Fund purchases mortgage-backed or asset-backed securities that are subordinated to other interests in the same mortgage pool, the Fund may receive payments only after the pool’s obligations to other investors have been satisfied. An unexpectedly high rate of defaults on the mortgages held by a mortgage pool may limit substantially the pool’s ability to make payments of principal or interest to the Fund as a holder of such subordinated securities, reducing the values of those securities or in some cases rendering them worthless. An unexpectedly high or low rate of prepayments on a pool’s underlying mortgages may have a similar effect on subordinated securities. A mortgage pool may issue securities subject to various levels of subordination. The risk of non-payment affects securities at each level, although the risk is greater in the case of more highly subordinated securities. A Fund’s investments in other asset-backed securities are subject to risks similar to those associated with mortgage-related securities, as well as additional risks associated with the nature of the assets and the servicing of those assets.

7. Federal Tax Information

It is the policy of the Fund to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the provisions available to certain investment companies, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to make distributions of net investment income and net realized gains sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provisions for federal income taxes are required in the financial statements.

Management of the Fund has reviewed tax positions taken in tax years that remain subject to examination by all major tax jurisdictions, including federal (i.e., the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then, as applicable). Management believes that there is no tax liability resulting from unrecognized tax benefits related to uncertain tax positions taken.

Cost of securities, including derivatives and short positions as applicable, for federal income tax purposes at December 31, 2019 is $1,047,027,645. The gross unrealized appreciation/(depreciation) on a tax basis is as follows:

 

Unrealized appreciation

  $ 237,494,877  

Unrealized (depreciation)

    (14,204,386
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation/(depreciation)

  $ 223,290,491  
 

 

 

 

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2019 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

       $ 49,574,951        $ 30,318,036        $ 79,892,987

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

The tax character of dividends paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

        Ordinary
Income
    

Net

Long-Term
Capital Gains

     Total
Distributions(a)

AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

       $ 49,574,951        $ 30,318,036        $ 79,892,987

 

(a)

Total distributions paid may differ from the Statements of Changes in Net Assets because dividends are recognized when actually paid for tax purposes.

 

19


AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2019

 

At December 31, 2019, the components of accumulated earnings on a tax basis were as follows:

 

        Undistributed
Ordinary
Income
     Undistributed
Long-Term
Capital Gains
     Accumulated
Capital and
Other Losses
    

Unrealized

Appreciation/
Depreciation(a)

    

Total
Accumulated

Earnings/

(Deficit)

AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

       $ 78,724,092        $ 25,826,432        $        $ 223,290,185        $ 327,840,709

 

(a)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis unrealized appreciation/depreciation is attributable primarily to tax deferral of losses on wash sales and straddles.

8. Ownership and Principal Holders

The beneficial ownership, either directly or indirectly, of more than 25% of the voting securities of a fund creates presumptions of control of the fund, under section 2 (a)(9) of the 1940 Act. As of December 31, 2019, the Fund had multiple shareholder accounts which are affiliated with the Manager representing ownership in excess of 95% of the Fund. Investment activities of these shareholders could have a material impact to the Fund.

9. Subsequent Events

Management of the Fund has evaluated the need for additional disclosures or adjustments resulting from events through the date the financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, there were no subsequent events to report that would have material impact on the Fund’s financial statements.

 

20


REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Trustees of Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust and Shareholders of AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of portfolio investments, of AZL T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund (one of the funds constituting Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust, referred to hereafter as the “Fund”) as of December 31, 2019, the related statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the statements of changes in net assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31, 2019, and the results of its operations for the year ended December 31, 2019, the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The financial statements of the Fund as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the financial highlights for each of the periods ended on or prior to December 31, 2017 (not presented herein, other than the financial highlights) were audited by other auditors whose report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2019 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

New York, New York

February 21, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the Allianz Variable Insurance Products complex since 2018.

 

21


Other Federal Income Tax Information (Unaudited)

For the year ended December 31, 2019, 41.33% of the total ordinary income dividends paid by the Fund qualify for the corporate dividends received deductions available to corporate shareholders.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net short-term capital gain distributions of $24,232,768.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Fund declared net long-term capital gain distributions of $30,318,036.

 

22


Other Information (Unaudited)

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available, without charge, upon request, by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (‘‘Commission’’) website at www.sec.gov, or by calling 800-624-0197.

Information regarding how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30th is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 800-624-0197; (ii) on the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust’s website at https://www.allianzlife.com; and (iii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Fund files complete Schedules of Portfolio Holdings with the Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-PORT. Schedules of Portfolio Holdings for the Fund in this report are available without charge on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov, or may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 800-SEC-0330.

 

23


Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements (Unaudited)

Subject to the general supervision of the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) and in accordance with the investment objectives and restrictions of each separate series (together, the “Funds”) of the Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust (the “Trust”), investment advisory services are provided to the Funds by Allianz Investment Management LLC (the “Manager”). As used in this section, “Fund” refers to any of the Funds other than the AZL Moderate Index Strategy Fund. The Manager manages each Fund pursuant to an investment management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with the Trust in respect of each such Fund. The Management Agreement provides that the Manager, subject to the supervision and approval of the Board, is responsible for the management of each Fund. For management services, each Fund pays the Manager an investment advisory fee based upon each Fund’s average daily net assets. The Manager has contractually agreed to limit the expenses of each Fund by reimbursing the Fund if and when total Fund operating expenses exceed certain amounts until at least April 30, 2021 (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”).

Each Fund is a manager-of-managers fund. That means that the Manager is responsible for monitoring the various Subadvisers that have day-to-day responsibility for the decisions made for each Fund. The Manager also is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to consider recommending for selection as a Subadviser.

In reviewing the services provided by the Manager and the terms of the Management Agreement, the Board receives and reviews information related to the Manager’s experience and expertise in the variable insurance marketplace. Currently, the Funds are offered only through variable annuities and variable life insurance policies, and not in the retail fund market. In addition, the Board receives information regarding the Manager’s expertise with regard to portfolio diversification and asset allocation requirements within variable insurance products issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (“Allianz Life”) and its subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allianz of New York”). Currently, the Funds are offered only through Allianz Life and Allianz of New York variable products.

The Manager has adopted policies and procedures to assist it in the process of analyzing each potential Subadviser with expertise in particular asset classes for purposes of making the recommendation that a specific investment adviser be selected. The Board reviews and considers the information provided by the Manager in deciding which investment advisers to select as a Subadviser. After an investment adviser becomes a Subadviser, a similarly rigorous process is instituted by the Manager to monitor the investment performance and other responsibilities of the Subadviser. The Manager reports to the Board on its analysis at the regular meetings of the Board, which are held at least quarterly. Where warranted, the Manager will add or remove a particular Subadviser from a “watch” list that it maintains. Watch list criteria include, for example: (a) Fund performance over various time periods; (b) Fund risk issues, such as changes in key personnel involved with Fund management, changes in investment philosophy or process, or “capacity” concerns; and (c) organizational risk issues, such as regulatory, compliance or legal concerns, or changes in the ownership of the Subadviser. The Manager may place a Fund on the watch list for other reasons, and if so, will explain its rationale to the Board. Funds which are on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny by the Manager and the Board. Funds may be removed from such watch list, if for example, performance improves or regulatory matters are satisfactorily resolved. However, in some situations where Funds have been on the watch list, the Manager has recommended the retention of a new Subadviser, and the Board has subsequently considered and approved retention of the new Subadviser.

As required by the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the Board has reviewed and approved the Management Agreement with the Manager and portfolio management agreements (the “Subadvisory Agreements”) with the Subadvisers. The Board’s decision to approve these contracts reflects the exercise of its business judgment on whether to approve new arrangements and continue the existing arrangements. During its review of these contracts, the Board considered many factors, among the most material of which are: the Fund’s investment objectives and long-term performance; the Manager’s and Subadvisers’ (collectively, the “Advisory Organizations”) management philosophy, personnel, processes and investment performance, including their compliance history and the adequacy of their compliance processes; the preferences and expectations of Fund shareholders (and underlying contract owners) and their relative sophistication; the continuing state of competition in the mutual fund industry; and comparable fees in the mutual fund industry.

The Board also considered the compensation and benefits received by the Advisory Organizations. This includes fees received for services provided to the Fund by affiliated persons of the Advisory Organizations and research services received by the Advisory Organizations from brokers that execute Fund trades, as well as advisory fees. The Board considered the fact that: (1) the Manager and the Trust are parties to an Administrative Services Agreement and a Compliance Services Agreement, under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for performing certain administrative and compliance services including providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer; and (2) Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Manager, is a registered securities broker-dealer and received (along with its affiliated persons) any payments made by the Funds pursuant to Rule 12b-1.

The Board is aware that various courts have interpreted provisions of the 1940 Act and have indicated in their decisions that the following factors may be relevant to an adviser’s compensation: the nature and quality of the services provided by the adviser, including the performance of the fund; the adviser’s cost of providing the services; the extent to which the adviser may realize “economies of scale” as the fund grows larger; any indirect benefits that may accrue to the adviser and its affiliates as a result of the adviser’s relationship with the fund; performance and expenses of comparable funds; the profitability of acting as adviser to the fund; and the extent to which the independent Board members, who are not “interested persons” of a fund as defined by the 1940 Act, are fully informed about all facts bearing on the adviser’s services and fees. The Board is aware of these factors and takes them into account in its review of the Management Agreement and Subadvisory Agreements (collectively, the “Agreements”).

The Board considered and weighed these circumstances in light of its experience in governing the Trust and working with the Advisory Organizations on matters relating to the Funds, and is assisted in its deliberations by the advice of independent legal counsel to the independent Trustees (“Independent Trustee Counsel”). In this regard, the Board requests and receives a significant amount of information about the Funds and the Advisory Organizations. Some of this information is provided at each regular meeting of the Board; additional information is provided in connection with the particular meetings at which the Board’s formal review of an advisory contract occurs. In between regularly scheduled meetings, the Board may receive information on particular matters as the need arises. Thus, the Board’s evaluation of an advisory contract is informed by reports covering such matters as: an Advisory Organization’s investment philosophy, personnel, and processes; the Fund’s investment performance (in absolute terms as well as in relationship to its benchmark(s), certain competitor or “peer group” funds and similar funds managed by the particular Subadviser), and comments on the reasons for performance; the Fund’s expenses (including the advisory fee itself and the overall expense structure of the Fund, both in absolute terms and relative to similar and/or competing funds, with due regard for the Expense Limitation Agreement and additional voluntary expense limitations); the use and allocation of brokerage commissions derived from trading the Fund’s portfolio securities; the nature and extent of the advisory and other services provided to the Fund by the Advisory Organizations and their affiliates; compliance and audit reports concerning the Funds and the companies that service them; and relevant developments in the mutual fund industry and how the Funds and/or Advisory Organizations are responding to them.

The Board also receives financial information about the Advisory Organizations, including reports on the compensation and benefits the Advisory Organizations derive from their relationships with the Funds. These reports cover not only the fees under the advisory contracts, but also fees, if any, received for providing other services to the Funds. The reports also discuss any indirect or “fall out” benefits an Advisory Organization may derive from its relationship with the Funds.

In assessing the Advisory Organizations performance of their obligations, the Board may also consider whether there has occurred a circumstance or event that would constitute a reason for it to not renew an advisory contract. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the potential disruption of a Fund’s operations and various risks, uncertainties and other effects that could occur as a result of a decision to terminate or not renew a contract.

The Agreements were most recently considered at Board meetings held in the summer and fall of 2019. Information relevant to the approval of such Agreements was considered at in-person Board meetings held June 18, 2019, and September 18, 2019, as well as at various telephonic Board meetings preceding the two in-person meetings. The Agreements were approved at the Board meeting on September 18, 2019. At such meeting the Board also approved the Expense Limitation Agreement between the Manager and the Trust for

 

24


the period ending April 30, 2021. In connection with such meetings, the Trustees requested and evaluated extensive materials from the Manager, including performance and expense information for other investment companies with similar investment objectives derived from data compiled by an independent third party provider and other sources believed to be reliable by the Manager and the Trustees. Prior to voting, the Trustees reviewed the proposed approval/continuance of the Agreements with management and with Independent Trustee Counsel and received a memorandum from such counsel discussing the legal standards for their consideration of the proposed approvals/continuances. The independent Trustees also discussed the proposed approvals/continuances in a private session with Independent Trustee Counsel at which no representatives of the Manager were present. In reaching its determinations relating to the approval and/or continuance of the Agreements, in respect of each Fund, the Board considered all factors it believed relevant. The Board based its decision to approve the Agreements on the totality of the circumstances and relevant factors, and with a view to past and future long-term considerations. Not all of the factors and considerations discussed above and below are necessarily relevant to every Fund, and the Board did not assign relative weights to factors discussed herein or deem any one or group of them to be controlling in and of themselves.

An SEC rule requires that shareholder reports include a discussion of certain factors relating to the selection of investment advisers and the approval of advisory fees. The “factors” enumerated by the SEC are set forth below in italics, as well as the Board’s conclusions regarding such factors:

(1) The nature, extent and quality of services provided by the Manager and Subadvisers. The Trustees noted that the Manager, subject to the control of the Board, administers each Fund’s business and other affairs. Under the Management Agreement, the Manager holds the sole and exclusive responsibility to provide, or arrange for other to provide, the management of the Funds’ assets and the placement of orders for the purchase and sale of the securities of the Funds. As each Fund is a manager of managers fund, the Manager is authorized, under the Management Agreement, to retain one or more Subadvisers for each Fund to handle day-to-day management of the Funds’ investment portfolios; the Manager is responsible for determining, in the first instance, which investment advisers to recommend to the Board for selection as a Subadviser. The Board was aware that, notwithstanding the retention of the Subadvisers to handle day-to-day portfolio management, the Manager remains responsible for substantial other matters, including continuously monitoring compliance by each Subadviser with the investment policies and restrictions of the respective Funds, with such other limitations or directions of the Board, and with all legal requirements under federal or state law or regulation. The Manager also is responsible primarily to provide statistical information and other data to the Board regarding the Funds’ portfolio investments and to make available to the Funds’ administrator such information as is necessary for the conduct of its duties.

The Board also noted that the Manager provides the Trust and each Fund with such administrative and other services (exclusive of, and in addition to, any such services provided by any others retained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds) and executive and other personnel as are necessary for the operation of the Trust and the Funds. Except for the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer and certain compliance staff, the Manager pays all of the compensation of Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates.

The Board considered the scope and quality of services provided by the Manager and the Subadvisers and noted that the scope of such services provided has continued to expand as a result of regulatory and other developments. The Board noted that, for example, the Manager and Subadvisers are responsible for maintaining and monitoring their own compliance programs, and these compliance programs are continuously refined and enhanced in light of new regulatory requirements. The Board considered the capabilities and resources which the Manager has dedicated to performing services on behalf of the Trust and its Funds. The quality of administrative and other services, including the Manager’s role in coordinating the activities of the Trust’s other service providers, also were considered. The Board concluded that, overall, they were satisfied with the nature, extent and quality of services provided (and expected to be provided) to the Trust and to each of the Funds under the Agreements.

(2) The investment performance of the Funds, the Manager and the Subadvisers. In connection with every in-person quarterly Board meeting, as well as the summer and fall 2019 contract review process, the Board receives extensive information on the performance results of each of the Funds. This includes performance information on the Funds for the previous quarter, and previous one-, three- and five-year periods. (For Funds that have been in existence for less than five years, the Board receives performance information on shorter time periods to the extent available.) The performance information considered includes information on absolute total return, performance versus the appropriate benchmark(s), and performance versus peer groups as reported by Lipper. For example, in connection with the Board meetings held June 18 and September 18, 2019, the Manager reported that for the one-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, seven were in the middle 20%, and six were in the bottom 40%, and for the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, ten Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20% and five were in the bottom 40%. The Manager also reported that for the five-year period ended December 31, 2018, seven Funds were in the top 40%, three were in the middle 20%, and three were in the bottom 40%. For Funds which are index funds, the Board each quarter also receives information on the extent, if any, that such Funds deviate from their particular benchmark index (referred to as “index attribution”).

Only two Funds, the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund and the AZL Government Money Market Fund, were in the bottom 40% for all of the one-, three- and five-year periods. The Board met with the portfolio managers of the AZL Government Money Market Fund on September 12, 2018, and the AZL Morgan Stanley Global Real Estate Fund on September 17, 2019, to review the Funds’ current investment strategy, process and outlook. As a result of these discussions, the Board understood that the performance of these Funds was a consequence of headwinds faced by their long-term investment strategies and not a reflection of the nature, extent or quality of services being provided by the respective Subadvisers. The Board also found that the relative performance of the AZL Government Money Market Fund was attributable to the unprecedented period of low short-term interest rates and the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses waived by the Manager during the period; the Fund’s reimbursement of expenses previously waived ended December 31, 2019.

Funds in the bottom 40% for the three- and five-year periods had shown improved relative performance in later periods. Thus, the Board determined that the overall investment performance of the Funds was acceptable.

(3) The costs of services to be provided and profits to be realized by the Manager and the Subadvisers and their affiliates from their relationship with the Funds. The Manager has supplied information to the Board pertaining to the level of investment advisory fees to which the Funds are subject. The Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses at certain levels, and information is provided to the Board setting forth “contractual” advisory fees and “actual” fees after taking expense limits and any temporary fee waivers into account. Based upon the information provided, the “actual” advisory fees payable by the Funds overall are generally comparable to the average level of fees paid by the Funds’ peer groups. For the 20 Funds reviewed by the Board in the summer and fall of 2019, 17 Funds paid “actual” advisory fees in a percentage amount within the 65th percentile or lower for each Fund’s applicable category. (A lower percentile reflects lower fund fees and is better for fund shareholders.) The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of advisory fees because there are variations in the services that are included in the fees paid by other funds. The Board has concluded that the advisory fees to be paid to the Manager by the Funds are not unreasonable.

Based upon the information provided, the management fee ranking in 2018 for the 20 Funds was as follows: (1) 17 of the Funds had management fee rankings at or below the 65th percentile (with 10 Funds at or below the 50th percentile); and (2) for the AZL Enhanced Bond Index Fund, the AZL MSCI Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund, and the AZL MSCI Global Equity Index Fund, it was determined that there was poor (or no) peer group comparability. For the AZL Russell 1000 Value Index Fund and the AZL Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, following discussions with the Board, and although the Funds’ management fee ranked below the 65th percentile, the Manager recommended increasing a temporary management fee waiver by one basis point, which the Board approved. Increasing the temporary management fee waivers by one basis point effectively decreases the management fee paid by a fund by one basis point.

The Manager has also supplied information to the Board pertaining to total Fund expenses (which include advisory fees, the 25 basis point 12b-1 fee paid by the Funds, and other Fund expenses). As noted above, the Manager has agreed to limit Fund expenses at certain levels.

The Manager has committed to providing the Funds with a high quality of service and working to reduce Fund expenses over time, particularly as the Funds grow larger.

 

25


The Manager provided information concerning the profitability of the Manager’s investment advisory activities for the period from 2016 through December 31, 2018. The Board recognized that it is difficult to make comparisons of profitability from investment company advisory agreements because comparative information is not generally publicly available and is affected by numerous factors, including the structure of the particular adviser, the types of funds it manages, its business mix, numerous assumptions regarding allocation of expenses and the adviser’s capital structure and cost of capital. In considering profitability information, the Board considered the possible effect of certain fall-out benefits to the Manager and its affiliates. The Board focused on profitability of the Manager’s relationships with the Funds before taxes and distribution expenses. The Board recognized that the Manager should earn a reasonable level of profits for the services it provides to each Fund.

The Manager, on behalf of the Board, endeavored to obtain information on the profitability of each Subadviser in connection with its relationship with the Fund or Funds which it subadvised. The Manager was unable to obtain consistent profitability information from some of the Subadvisers that would allow the Board to determine the profits derived from the Subadviser’s relationship to the Fund or Funds, rather than its overall level of profitability. The Board recognized the difficulty of allocating costs to multiple advisory accounts and products of a large advisory organization. The Manager assured the Board, however, that the Agreements with the Subadvisers, all of which currently are not affiliated with the Manager, were negotiated on an “arm’s length” basis, which should not result in excessive profits for the Subadvisers.

(4) and (5) The extent to which economies of scale would be realized as the Funds grow, and whether fee levels reflect these economies of scale. The Board noted that the advisory fee schedules for the Funds do not contain breakpoints that reduce the fee rate on assets above specified levels, although certain Subadvisory Agreements have such “breakpoints.” The Board recognized that breakpoints may be an appropriate way for the Manager to share its economies of scale, if any, with Funds that have substantial assets. The Board found that there was no uniform methodology for establishing breakpoints that give effect to Fund-specific services provided by the Manager. The Board noted that in the fund industry as a whole, as well as among funds similar to the Funds, there is no uniformity or pattern in the fees and asset levels at which breakpoints (if any) apply. Depending on the age, size, and other characteristics of a particular fund and its manager’s cost structure, different conclusions can be drawn as to whether there are economies of scale to be realized at any particular level of assets, notwithstanding the intuitive conclusion that such economies exist, or will be realized at some level of total assets. Moreover, because different managers have different cost structures and service models, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the breakpoints that may have been adopted by other funds. The Board also noted that the advisory agreements for many funds do not have breakpoints at all, or if breakpoints exist, they may be at asset levels significantly greater than those of the individual Funds. The Board also noted that the total assets in all of the Funds, as of December 31, 2018, were approximately $14.7 billion, and that no single Fund had assets in excess of $2.9 billion.

The Board noted that the Manager has agreed to temporarily limit Fund expenses under the Expense Limitation Agreement, which has the effect of reducing expenses similar to implementation of advisory fee breakpoints. The Manager has committed to continue to consider the continuation of expense limits and/or advisory fee breakpoints as the Funds grow larger. As noted above, the Manager has agreed to increase the fee waivers for two Funds. The Board receives quarterly reports on the level of Fund assets. The Board expects to continue to consider: (a) the extent to which economies of scale have been realized, and (b) whether the advisory fee should be modified, either in connection with the next renewal of the Agreements or by modifying the Expense Limitation Agreement, to reflect such economies of scale, if any.

Having taken these factors into account, the Board concluded that the absence of breakpoints in the Funds’ advisory fee rate schedules was acceptable under each Fund’s circumstances.

In conclusion, after full consideration of the above factors, as well as such other factors as each member of the Board considered instructive in evaluating the Management Agreement, the Board concluded that the advisory fees were reasonable, and that the continuation of the Management Agreement was in the best interest of the Funds.

 

26


Information about the Board of Trustees and Officers (Unaudited)

The Trust is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware governing business trusts. There are currently seven Trustees, one of whom is an “interested person” of the Trust within the meaning of that term under the 1940 Act. The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, and their addresses, ages, positions held with the Trust, terms of office with the Trust and length of time served, principal occupation(s) during the past five years, the number of portfolios in the Trust they oversee, and other directorships held during the past five years are as follows:

Non-Interested Trustees(1)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Peter R. Burnim (1947)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/07   Consultant/Chair, various companies: Chairman, Emrys Analytics and subsidiaries, July 2015 to present; Chairman, Argus Investment Strategies Fund Ltd., February 2013 to 2017; Managing Director, iQ Venture Advisors, LLC, 2005 to present; Chair, Northstar Group Holdings Ltd. Bermuda, 2011 to present; Chair Sterling Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 to present, and Expert Witness, Massachusetts Department of Revenue, 2011 to 2016.   33  

Argus Group Holdings and Subsidiaries; Northstar Group Holdings; Sterling Trust (Cayman) Ltd.; Sterling Bank & Trust Limited (Bahamas); Emrys Analytics; EGB Insurance.

Sterling National Bank Advisory Board, Stellar Energy Foundation.

Peggy L. Ettestad (1957)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Lead Independent
Trustee
  Since 10/14
(Trustee since 2/07)
  Managing Director, Red Canoe Management Consulting LLC, 2008 to present   33   Luther College
Tamara Lynn Fagely (1958)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Retired; Chief Operations Officer, Hartford Funds, March 2012 to December 2013   33   Diamond Hill Funds
(13 funds)
Richard H. Forde (1953)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 12/17   Member of the Board and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee, Connecticut Water Service, Inc., October 2013 to present; Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, CIGNA, 2004 to 2012   33   Connecticut Water Service, Inc.
Claire R. Leonardi (1955)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Chief Executive Officer, Health eSense Inc., 2015 to Present; CEO, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., 2012 to 2015   33   reSet Social Enterprise Investment Fund
Dickson W. Lewis (1948)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
  Trustee   Since 2/04   Retired; Vice President/General Manager, Yearbooks & Canada-Lifetouch National School Studios, 2006 to 2014   33   None

Interested Trustees(3)

 

Name, Address,
and Year of Birth
  Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
  Term of
Office(2)/Length
of Time Served
  Principal Occupation(s)
During Past 5 Years
  Number of
Portfolios
Overseen for
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
 

Other
Directorships
Held Outside the

AZL Fund Complex
During Past
5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

  Trustee   Since 6/11   President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present   33   None

 

27


Officers

 

Name, Address, and Age    Positions
Held with
Allianz
VIP and VIP
FOF Trust
   Term of
Office(2)/ Length
of Time Served
   Principal Occupation(s) During Past 5 Years

Brian Muench (1970)

5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416

   President    Since 11/10    President, Allianz Investment Management LLC, November 2010 to present; Vice President, Allianz Life, April 2011 to present.
Michael Radmer (1945) 
Dorsey & Whitney LLP,
Suite 1500
50 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402-1498
   Secretary    Since 02/02    Senior Counsel (previously, Partner), Dorsey and Whitney LLP since 1976.
Bashir C. Asad (1963) 
Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
4400 Easton Commons, Suite 200
Columbus, OH 43219
   Treasurer, Principal Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer    Since 06/16    Senior Vice President, Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc.
Chris R. Pheiffer (1968)
5701 Golden Hills Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55416
   Chief Compliance Officer(4) and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer    Since 02/14    Chief Compliance Officer of the VIP Trust and the FOF Trust, February 2014 to present.

 

(1)

Member of the Audit Committee.

 

(2)

Indefinite.

 

(3)

Is an “interested person”, as defined by the 1940 Act, due to employment by Allianz.

 

(4)

The Manager and the Trust are parties to a Chief Compliance Officer Agreement under which the Manager is compensated by the Trust for providing an employee of the Manager or one of its affiliates to act as the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer is not considered a corporate officer or executive employee of the Trust.

 

28


LOGO

 

The Allianz VIP Funds are distributed by Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC.   
These Funds are not FDIC Insured.    ANNRPT1219 2/20


Item 2. Code of Ethics.

 

(a)

The registrant has adopted a code of ethics that applies to the registrant’s principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller, or persons performing similar functions. This code of ethics is included as an Exhibit.

 

(b)

During the period covered by the report, with respect to the registrant’s code of ethics that applies to its principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller, or persons performing similar functions; there have been no amendments to, nor any waivers granted from, a provision that relates to any element of the code of ethics definition enumerated in paragraph (b) of this Item 2.

Item 3. Audit Committee Financial Expert.

 

3(a)(1)

The registrant’s board of directors has determined that the registrant has at least one audit committee financial expert serving on its audit committee.

 

3(a)(2)

The audit committee financial expert is Tamara Lynn Fagely, who is “independent” for purposes of this Item 3 of Form N-CSR.

Item 4. Principal Accountant Fees and Services.

 

          2019      2018  

(a)

   Audit Fees      $335,700        $359,200  

(b)

   Audit-Related Fees      $0        $0  
   Related to the consent on Form N-1A for the annual registration statement.      
        2019        2018  

(c)

   Tax Fees      $129,700        $135,800
  

Services include preparation of the U.S. Corporate Income Tax Return for Regulated Investment Companies, Form 1120 RIC, and extensions for the Funds for the year ended December 31, 2019. We will also prepare the Delaware information return, Form 1902(b), for the funds.

     
        2019        2018  

(d)

   All Other Fees      $0        $0  

4(e)(1)

   The Audit Committee (“Committee”) of the Registrant is responsible for pre-approving all audit and non-audit services performed by the independent auditor in order to assure that the provision of such services does not impair the auditor’s independence. Before the Registrant engages the independent auditor to render a service, the engagement must be either specifically approved by the Committee or entered into pursuant to the pre-approval policy. The Committee may delegate preapproval authority to one or more of its members. The member or members to whom such authority is delegated shall report any pre-approval decisions to the Committee at its next scheduled meeting. The Committee may not delegate to management the Committee’s responsibilities to pre-approve services performed by the independent auditor. The Committee has delegated pre-approval authority to its Chairman for any services not exceeding $10,000.

 

4(e)(2)

   During the previous two fiscal years, the Registrant did not receive any non-audit services pursuant to a waiver from the audit committee approval or pre-approval requirement under paragraph (c)(7)(i)(C) of Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X.

 

4(f)

   Not applicable      

4(g)

   The aggregate fees billed for each of the last two fiscal years for professional services rendered by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP for tax compliance, tax advice, and tax planning were as follows:      2019        2018  

4(h)

   Not applicable      $129,700        $135,800  

Item 5. Audit Committee of Listed Registrants.

Not applicable.

Item 6. Investments.

 

(a)

The Schedule of Investments as of the close of the reporting period are included as part of the report to shareholders filed under Item 1 of the Form N-CSR.

 

(b)

Not applicable.

Item 7. Disclosure of Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures for Closed-End Management Investment Companies.

Not applicable.


Item 8. Portfolio Managers of Closed-End Management Investment Companies.

Not applicable.

Item 9. Purchases of Equity Securities by Closed-End Management Investment Company and Affiliated Purchasers.

Not applicable.

Item 10. Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders.

Not applicable.

Item 11. Controls and Procedures.

 

(a)

The registrant’s principal executive officer and principal financial officer have concluded, based on their evaluation of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures as conducted within 90 days of the filing date of this report, that these disclosure controls and procedures are adequately designed and are operating effectively to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the registrant on Form N-CSR is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and forms.

 

(b)

There were no changes in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 30a-3(d) under the Act (17 CFR 270.30a-3(d)) that occurred during the period covered by this report that have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

Item 12. Disclosure of Securities Lending Activities for Closed-End Management Investment Companies.

Not applicable.

Item 13. Exhibits.

 

(a)(1)

The code of ethics that is the subject of the disclosure required by Item 2 is attached hereto.

 

(a)(2)

Certifications pursuant to Rule 30a-2(a) are furnished herewith.

 

(a)(3)

Not applicable.

 

(a)(4)

Not applicable.

 

(b)

Certifications pursuant to Rule 30a-2(b) are furnished herewith.


SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the registrant

has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

 

(Registrant) Allianz Variable Insurance Products Trust

By (Signature and Title)   

/s/ Brian Muench

 

Brian Muench, Principal Executive Officer

 

Date February 20, 2020

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

 

By (Signature and Title)   

/s/ Brian Muench

 

Brian Muench, Principal Executive Officer

 

Date February 20, 2020

 

 

By (Signature and Title)   

/s/ Bashir C. Asad

 

Bashir C. Asad, Principal Financial Officer & Principal Accounting  Officer

 

Date February 20, 2020