497K 1 t1600123.htm VIRTUS MULTI-SECTOR INTERMEDIATE BOND FUND
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Summary Prospectus January 28, 2016
Virtus Multi-Sector Intermediate Bond Fund
A: NAMFX
B: NBMFX
C: NCMFX
I: VMFIX
R6: VMFRX
Before you invest, you may want to review the fund’s prospectus, which contains more information about the fund and its risks. You can find the fund’s prospectus, statement of additional information (SAI), annual report and other information about the fund online at virtus.com/products/prospectuses.
You can also get this information at no cost by calling 800-243-1574 or by sending an e-mail to: virtus.investment.partners@virtus.com. If you purchase shares of the fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the prospectus and other information will also be available from your financial intermediary.
The fund’s prospectus and SAI, both dated January 28, 2016, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus.
Investment Objective
The fund has an investment objective of maximizing current income while preserving capital.
Fees and Expenses
The tables below illustrate the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Virtus Mutual Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial advisor and under “Sales Charges” on page 201 of the fund’s prospectus and “Alternative Purchase Arrangements” on page 105 of the fund’s statement of additional information.
 
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Class A
Class B
Class C
Class I
Class R6
Maximum Sales Charge (load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
3.75%
None
None
None
None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (load) (as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds)
None
5.00%(a)
1.00%(a)
None
None
 
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Class A
Class B
Class C
Class I
Class R6
Management Fees
0.55%
0.55%
0.55%
0.55%
0.55%
Distribution and Shareholder Servicing (12b-1) fees
0.25%
1.00%
1.00%
None
None
Other Expenses
0.30%
0.30%
0.30%
0.30%
0.23%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses
0.01%
0.01%
0.01%
0.01%
0.01%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(b)
1.11%
1.86%
1.86%
0.86%
0.79%
(a)
  • The maximum deferred sales charge is imposed on Class B Shares redeemed during the first year; thereafter, it decreases 1% annually to 2% during the fourth and fifth years and to 0% after the fifth year. The deferred sales charge is imposed on Class C Shares redeemed during the first year only.
(b)
  • 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.
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 and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same. In the case of Class B Shares, it assumes that your shares are converted to Class A Shares after eight years. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
 
Share Status
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Class A
Sold or Held
$484
$715
$964
$1,676
Class B
Sold
$589
$785
$1,006
$1,984
Held
$189
$585
$1,006
$1,984
Class C
Sold
$289
$585
$1,006
$2,180
Held
$189
$585
$1,006
$2,180
Class I
Sold or Held
$88
$274
$477
$1,061
Class R6
Sold or Held
$81
$252
$439
$978
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 66% of the average value of its portfolio.

Investments, Risks and Performance
Principal Investment Strategies
The fund seeks to generate high current income and total return while preserving capital by applying extensive credit research and a time-tested approach designed to capitalize on opportunities across undervalued sectors of the bond market. The portfolio seeks diversification among 14 sectors in an effort to increase return potential and reduce risk.
Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its assets in bonds, which are debt securities of various types of issuers. The fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing in a diversified portfolio of primarily intermediate-term bonds having a dollar-weighted average maturity of between three and 10 years 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, including collateralized mortgage obligations, real estate mortgage investment conduits and other pass-through securities;
  • Debt securities issued by foreign issuers, including foreign governments and their political subdivisions and issuers located in emerging markets countries;
  • Investment grade securities of U.S. and non-U.S issuers; and
  • High yield debt instruments, including bank loans (which are generally floating rate), of U.S. and non-U.S. issuers.
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 redemption by one or more large shareholders or groups of shareholders of their holdings in the fund could have an adverse impact on the remaining shareholders in the fund including by accelerating the realization of capital gains and increasing the fund's transaction costs. The principal risks of investing in the fund are:
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  • 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. Debt securities rated below investment-grade are especially susceptible to this risk.
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  • 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.
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  • 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.
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  • 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.
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  • 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.
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  • Loan Risk. The risks that, in addition to the risks typically associated with high-yield/high-risk fixed income securities, 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.
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  • Long-Term Maturities/Durations Risk. The risk of greater price fluctuations than would be associated with securities having shorter maturities or durations.
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  • 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 companies and/or general economic conditions. Price changes may be temporary or may last for extended periods.
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  • 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.
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  • 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 A Shares (includes returns of a predecessor fund)
Returns do not reflect sales charges and would be lower if they did.
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Best Quarter:
Q2/2009:
16.15%
Worst Quarter:
Q4/2008:
-14.37%
Average Annual Total Returns (for the periods ended 12/31/15; includes returns of a predecessor fund)
Returns reflect deduction of maximum sales charges and full redemption at end of periods shown.
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Class I Since Inception (10/1/09)
Class R6 Since Inception (11/12/14)
Class A
Return Before Taxes
-5.45%
2.93%
4.83%
Return After Taxes on Distributions
-7.05%
0.65%
2.51%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
-3.06%
1.40%
2.83%
Class B
Return Before Taxes
-6.27%
2.93%
4.44%
Class C
Return Before Taxes
-2.59%
2.93%
4.45%
Class I
Return Before Taxes
-1.62%
3.98%
5.95%
Class R6
Returns Before Taxes
-1.45%
-3.50%
Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
0.55%
3.25%
4.52%
3.61%
1.27%
The Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index measures the U.S. investment grade fixed rate bond market. 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 A 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.
Management
The fund’s investment adviser is Virtus Investment Advisers, Inc. (“VIA”).
The fund’s subadviser is Newfleet Asset Management, LLC (“Newfleet”), an affiliate of VIA.
Portfolio Management
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  • David L. Albrycht, CFA, President and Chief Investment Officer at Newfleet, is the manager of the fund. Mr. Albrycht has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund since 1995, and co-managed the fund from 1994 to 1995.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
Minimum initial investments applicable to Class A and Class C Shares:
  • $2,500, generally
  • $100 for Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), systematic purchase or exchange accounts
  • No minimum for defined contribution plans, asset-based fee programs, profit-sharing plans or employee benefit plans
Minimum additional investments applicable to Class A and Class C Shares:
  • $100, generally

Virtus Mutual Funds
P.O. Box 9874
Providence, RI 02940-8074
 
8414
1-16
  • No minimum for defined contribution plans, asset-based fee programs, profit-sharing plans or employee benefit plans.
For Class I Shares, the minimum initial purchase is $100,000; there is no minimum for additional purchases.
For Class R6 Shares, there is no minimum initial investment and there is no minimum for additional purchases. R6 Shares are available only to certain employer-sponsored retirement plans, including Section 401(k), 403(b) and 457, profit-sharing, money purchase pension and defined benefit plans and non-qualified deferred compensation plans, in each case provided that plan level or omnibus accounts are held on the books of the fund.
In general, you may buy or sell shares of the fund by mail or telephone on any business day. You also may buy and sell shares through a financial advisor.
NOTE: Class B Shares are no longer available for purchase, except through reinvestment of dividends/capital gain distributions by existing shareholders and exchange of Class B shares of a fund for Class B shares of other Virtus Mutual Funds, as permitted by the existing exchange privileges (as set forth in the fund’s prospectus).
Taxes
The fund’s distributions are taxable to you either as ordinary income or capital gains, except when your investment is through a tax-deferred arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account. Such tax-deferred arrangements may be taxed later upon withdrawal of monies from those arrangements.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase the fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your financial advisor to recommend the fund over another investment.
No compensation, administrative payments, sub-transfer agency payments or service payments are paid to brokers or other entities from fund assets or the Distributor’s or an affiliate’s resources on sales of or investments in Class R6 Shares. Class R6 Shares do not carry sales commissions or pay Rule 12b-1 fees, or make payments to brokers or other entities to assist in, or in connection with, the sale of the fund’s shares. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s Web site for more information.