Virtus Newfleet Multi-Sector Short Term Bond Fund

Virtus Newfleet Multi-Sector Short Term Bond Fund

Investment Objective

The fund has an investment objective of providing high current income while attempting to limit changes in the fund's net asset value per share caused by interest rate changes.

Fees and Expenses

The tables below illustrate all fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts in Class A Shares if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Virtus Funds. More information on these and other discounts is available: (i) from your financial advisor or other financial intermediary; (ii) under “Sales Charges” on page 176 of the fund’s prospectus; (iii) with respect to purchase of shares through specific intermediaries, in Appendix A to the fund’s prospectus, entitled “Intermediary Sales Charge Discounts and Waivers;” and (iv) under “Alternative Purchase Arrangements” on page 114 of the fund’s statement of additional information.

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees - Virtus Newfleet Multi-Sector Short Term Bond Fund	Class A	Class C	Class C1		Class I	Class R6
Maximum Sales Charge (load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	2.25%	none	none		none	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (load) (as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds)	none	none	1.00%	[1]	none	none

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses - Virtus Newfleet Multi-Sector Short Term Bond Fund		Class A	Class C	Class C1	Class I	Class R6
Management Fees		0.47%	0.47%	0.47%	0.47%	0.47%
Distribution and Shareholder Servicing (12b-1) fees		0.25%	0.50%	1.00%	none	none
Other Expenses		0.26%	0.24%	0.24%	0.24%	0.18%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses		0.01%	0.01%	0.01%	0.01%	0.01%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	[1]	0.99%	1.22%	1.72%	0.72%	0.66%
Less: Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement	[2]	none	none	none	none	(0.10%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement	[1],[2]	0.99%	1.22%	1.72%	0.72%	0.56%

Example

This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year, that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same and that the expense reimbursement agreement remains in place for the contractual period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example - Virtus Newfleet Multi-Sector Short Term Bond Fund - USD ($)	Share Status	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Class A	Sold	324	533	760	1,411
Class C	Sold	124	387	670	1,477
Class C1	Sold	275	542	933	2,030
Class I	Sold	74	230	401	894
Class R6	Sold	57	201	358	813

Expense Example, No Redemption - Virtus Newfleet Multi-Sector Short Term Bond Fund - USD ($)	Share Status	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Class A	Held	324	533	760	1,411
Class C	Held	124	387	670	1,477
Class C1	Held	175	542	933	2,030
Class I	Held	74	230	401	894
Class R6	Held	57	201	358	813

Portfolio Turnover

The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the fund's portfolio turnover rate was 55% of the average value of its portfolio.

Investments, Risks and Performance Principal Investment Strategies

The fund seeks current income with an emphasis on maintaining low volatility and overall short duration by investing primarily in higher quality, more liquid securities across 14 bond market sectors. The fund utilizes a value-oriented, research driven approach that seeks to strategically overweight undervalued sectors while applying strict risk controls.

Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its assets in bonds, which are fixed income debt obligations of various types of issuers. The fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing in a diversified portfolio of primarily short-term fixed income securities having an expected dollar-weighted average maturity of three years or less and that are in one of the following market sectors:

•    Securities issued or guaranteed as to principal and interest by the U.S. Government, its agencies, authorities or instrumentalities;

•    Collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs), real estate mortgage investment conduits (REMICs), and other pass-through securities, including those issued or guaranteed as to principal and interest by the U.S. Government, its agencies, authorities or instrumentalities;

•    Debt securities issued by foreign issuers, including foreign governments and their political subdivisions, and issuers located in emerging markets;

•    Investment-grade securities (primarily of U.S. issuers, secondarily of non-U.S. issuers), which are securities with credit ratings within the four highest rating categories of a nationally recognized statistical rating organization, including short-term securities; and

•    High-yield/high-risk debt instruments (so-called "junk bonds"), including bank loans (which are generally floating-rate).

The fund may invest in all or some of these sectors.

Principal Risks

The fund may not achieve its objective(s), and it is not intended to be a complete investment program. The value of the fund’s investments that supports your share value may decrease. If between the time you purchase shares and the time you sell shares the value of the fund’s investments decreases, you will lose money. Investment values can decrease for a number of reasons. Conditions affecting the overall economy, specific industries or companies in which the fund invests can be worse than expected, and investments may fail to perform as the subadviser expects. As a result, the value of your shares may decrease. Purchase and redemption activities by fund shareholders may impact the management of the fund and its ability to achieve its investment objective(s). The principal risks of investing in the fund are:

>      Call Risk.  The risk that issuers will prepay fixed rate obligations when interest rates fall, forcing the fund to reinvest in obligations with lower interest rates than the original obligations and otherwise not benefit fully from the increase in value that other fixed income securities experience when interest rates decline.

>      Credit Risk.   The risk that the issuer of a security will fail to pay interest or principal in a timely manner, or that negative perceptions of the issuer's ability to make such payments will cause the price of the security to decline.

>      Emerging Market Investing Risk.  The risk that prices of emerging markets securities will be more volatile, or will be more greatly affected by negative conditions, than those of their counterparts in more established foreign markets.

>      Foreign Investing Risk.  The risk that the prices of foreign securities in the fund's portfolio will be more volatile than those of domestic securities, or will be negatively affected by currency fluctuations, less regulated or liquid securities markets, or economic, political or other developments.

>      High-Yield/High-Risk Fixed Income Securities (Junk Bonds) Risk.  The risk that the issuers of high-yield/​high-risk securities in the fund's portfolio will default, that the prices of such securities will be volatile, and that the securities will not be liquid.

>      Income Risk.  The risk that income received from the fund will vary widely over the short- and/or long-term and/or be less than anticipated if the proceeds from maturing securities in the fund are reinvested in lower-yielding securities.

>      Interest Rate Risk.  The risk that when interest rates rise, the values of the fund's debt securities, especially those with longer maturities, will fall.

>      Loan Risk.  The risks that, in addition to the risks typically associated with high-yield/high-risk fixed income securities, loans (including floating rate loans) in which the fund invests may be unsecured or not fully collateralized, may be subject to restrictions on resale, and/or some loans may trade infrequently on the secondary market. Loans settle on a delayed basis, potentially leading to the sale proceeds of loans not being available to meet redemptions for a substantial period of time after the sale of the loans.

>      Market Volatility Risk.  The risk that the value of the securities in which the fund invests may go up or down in response to the prospects of individual issuers and/or general economic conditions. Such price changes may be temporary or may last for extended periods.

>      Mortgage-Backed and Asset-Backed Securities Risk.  The risk that changes in interest rates will cause both extension and prepayment risks for mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities in which the fund invests, or that an impairment of the value of collateral underlying such securities will cause the value of the securities to decrease.

>      Redemption Risk.  The risk that redemption by one or more large shareholders or groups of shareholders of their holdings in the fund has an adverse impact on the remaining shareholders in the fund by causing the fund to take actions it would not otherwise take at a given time.

>      U.S. Government Securities Risk.  The risk that U.S. Government securities in the fund's portfolio will be subject to price fluctuations, or that an agency or instrumentality will default on an obligation not backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.

Performance Information

The bar chart and table below provide some indication of the potential risks of investing in the fund. The fund’s past performance, before and after taxes, is not necessarily an indication of how the fund will perform in the future.

The bar chart shows changes in the fund’s performance from year to year over a 10-year period. The table shows how the fund’s average annual returns compare to those of a broad-based securities market index. Updated performance information is available at virtus.com or by calling 800-243-1574.

Calendar year total returns for Class I Shares (includes returns of a predecessor fund)

Returns do not reflect sales charges and would be lower if they did.

Annual Return (%)

Best Quarter: Q2/2009: 10.85% Worst Quarter: Q3/2011: -2.66%

Average Annual Total Returns (for the periods ended 12/31/18; includes returns of a predecessor fund)

Returns reflect deduction of maximum sales charges and full redemption at end of periods shown.

Average Annual Total Returns - Virtus Newfleet Multi-Sector Short Term Bond Fund	Label	1 Year	5 Years	10 Years	Since Inception	Inception Date
Class I	Return Before Taxes	(0.51%)	2.07%	6.27%
Class I | Return After Taxes on Distributions	Return After Taxes on Distributions	(1.72%)	0.74%	4.63%
Class I | Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares	Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares	(0.30%)	0.98%	4.27%
Class A	Return Before Taxes	(3.01%)	1.31%	5.75%
Class C	Return Before Taxes	(1.20%)	1.54%	5.73%
Class C1	Return Before Taxes	(1.49%)	1.04%	5.22%
Class R6	Return Before Taxes	0.45%			1.49%	Nov. 03, 2016
Class R6 | BofA Merrill Lynch 1-3 Year A-BBB US Corporate Index	BofA Merrill Lynch 1-3 Year A-BBB US Corporate Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)				1.53%	Nov. 03, 2016
BofA Merrill Lynch 1-3 Year A-BBB US Corporate Index	BofA Merrill Lynch 1-3 Year A-BBB US Corporate Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)	1.60%	1.68%	3.80%

The BofA Merrill Lynch 1-3 Year A-BBB US Corporate Index measures performance of U.S. corporate bond issues rated A1 through BBB3, inclusive (based on an average of Moody's, S&P and Fitch), with a remaining term to final maturity less than 3 years. The index is calculated on a total return basis. The index is unmanaged and not available for direct investment.

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. After-tax returns are shown only for Class I Shares; after-tax returns for other classes will vary. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold fund shares in tax-deferred accounts or to shares held by non-taxable entities. In certain cases, the Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares for a period may be higher than other return figures for the same period. This will occur when a capital loss is realized upon the sale of fund shares and provides an assumed tax benefit that increases the return.

[1] The deferred sales charge is imposed on Class C1 Shares redeemed during the first year only.

[1] The Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses do not correlate to the ratio of expenses to average net assets appearing in the Financial Highlights tables, which tables reflect only the operating expenses of the fund and do not include acquired fund fees and expenses.

[2] The fund's investment adviser has contractually agreed to limit the fund's total operating expenses (excluding certain expenses, such as front-end or contingent deferred sales charges, taxes, leverage expenses, interest, brokerage commissions, expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization, unusual or infrequently occurring expenses (such as litigation), acquired fund fees and expenses, and dividend expenses, if any) so that such expenses do not exceed 1.10% for Class A Shares, 1.35% for Class C Shares, 1.85% for Class C1 Shares, 0.85% for Class I Shares and 0.55% for Class R6 Shares through January 31, 2020. Following the contractual period, the adviser may discontinue these expense reimbursement arrangements at any time. Under certain conditions, the adviser may recapture operating expenses reimbursed and/or fees waived under these arrangements for a period of three years following the date such waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided that the recapture does not cause the fund to exceed its expense limit in effect at the time of the waiver or reimbursement, or at the time of recapture.