VIRTUS HIGH YIELD FUND

Virtus High Yield Fund

Investment Objective

The fund has a primary investment objective of high current income

and a secondary objective of capital growth.

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 219 of the fund’s prospectus and “Alternative Purchase Arrangements” on page 110 of the fund’s statement of additional information.

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees - VIRTUS HIGH YIELD FUND	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%	[1]	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 HIGH YIELD FUND		Class A	Class B	Class C	Class I	Class R6
Management Fees		0.65%	0.65%	0.65%	0.65%	0.65%
Distribution and Shareholder Servicing (12b-1) fees		0.25%	1.00%	1.00%	none	none
Other Expenses		0.51%	0.51%	0.51%	0.51%	0.45%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses		0.02%	0.02%	0.02%	0.02%	0.02%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	[2]	1.43%	2.18%	2.18%	1.18%	1.12%
Less: Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement	[3]	(0.41%)	(0.41%)	(0.41%)	(0.41%)	(0.41%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement	[2],[3]	1.02%	1.77%	1.77%	0.77%	0.71%

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. It shows your costs if you sold your shares at the end of the period or continued to hold them. 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 arrangement remains in place for the contractual period. 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:

Expense Example - VIRTUS HIGH YIELD FUND - USD ($)	Share Status	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Class A	Sold	475	772	1,090	1,990
Class B	Sold	580	843	1,132	2,291
Class C	Sold	280	643	1,132	2,481
Class I	Sold	79	334	609	1,395
Class R6	Sold	73	315	577	1,326

Expense Example, No Redemption - VIRTUS HIGH YIELD FUND - USD ($)	Share Status	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Class A	Held	475	772	1,090	1,990
Class B	Held	180	643	1,132	2,291
Class C	Held	180	643	1,132	2,481
Class I	Held	79	334	609	1,395
Class R6	Held	73	315	577	1,326

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 81%of the average value of its portfolio.

Investments, Risks and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies

The fund is appropriate for investors seeking diversification and the potential rewards associated with investing in high-yield fixed income securities. High-yield fixed income securities are those that are rated below investment grade. The subadviser uses an investment process that focuses on adding value through issue selection, sector/industry selection and opportunistic trading. The fund will generally overweight those sectors and industries where the subadviser identifies well-valued companies whose business profiles are viewed to be improving. The subadviser attempts to maintain the duration of the fund at a level similar to that of its style benchmark, the Barclay’s U.S. High Yield 2% Issuer Capped Index. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its assets in high yield fixed income securities.

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:

>     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.

>     Industry/Sector Concentration Risk.  The risk that events negatively affecting an industry or market sector in which a fund focuses its investments will cause the value of the fund's shares to decrease, perhaps significantly. To the extent that the fund invests a significant portion of its portfolio in one or more industries (such as communications, consumer cyclicals and consumer non-cyclicals) or sectors, the fund is more vulnerable to conditions that negatively affect such industries or sectors as compared to a fund that is not significantly invested in such industries or sector.

>     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.

>     Long-Term Maturities/Durations Risk.  The risk of greater price fluctuations than would be associated with securities having shorter maturities or durations.

>     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. 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.

>     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.

Annual Return (%)

Best Quarter: Q2/2009: 11.27% Worst Quarter: Q4/2008: -14.67%

Average Annual Total Returns (for the periods ended 12/31/16; 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 HIGH YIELD FUND	Label	1 Year	5 Years	10 Years	Since Inception	Inception Date
Class A	Return Before Taxes	8.80%	5.93%	4.68%
Class A | Return After Taxes on Distributions	Return After Taxes on Distributions	6.43%	3.46%	2.08%
Class A | Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares	Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares	4.91%	3.45%	2.45%
Class B	Return Before Taxes	8.32%	5.90%	4.28%
Class C	Return Before Taxes	12.44%	5.94%	4.29%
Class I	Return Before Taxes	13.31%			5.69%	Aug. 08, 2012
Class I | Bloomberg Barclays U.S. High-Yield 2% Issuer Capped Bond Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)	Bloomberg Barclays U.S. High-Yield 2% Issuer Capped Bond Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)				6.09%	Aug. 08, 2012
Class R6	Return Before Taxes				1.84%	Nov. 03, 2016
Class R6 | Bloomberg Barclays U.S. High-Yield 2% Issuer Capped Bond Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)	Bloomberg Barclays U.S. High-Yield 2% Issuer Capped Bond Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)				2.12%	Nov. 03, 2016
Bloomberg Barclays U.S. High-Yield 2% Issuer Capped Bond Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)	Bloomberg Barclays U.S. High-Yield 2% Issuer Capped Bond Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)	17.13%	7.36%	7.55%

The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. High-Yield 2% Issuer Capped Bond Index is a market capitalization-weighted index that measures fixed rate non-investment grade debt securities of U.S. and non-U.S. corporations. No single issuer accounts for more than 2% of market cap. 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.

[1] 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.

[1] Estimated for current fiscal year, as annualized.

[2] 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.

[3] The fund's investment adviser has contractually agreed to limit the fund's total operating expenses (excluding certain expenses, including dividend and interest expenses, leverage expenses, taxes, brokerage commissions, extraordinary expenses and acquired fund fees and expenses, if any) so that such expenses do not exceed 1.00% for Class A Shares, 1.75% for Class B Shares, 1.75% for Class C Shares, 0.75% for Class I Shares and 0.69% for Class R6 Shares through January 31, 2018. 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 under these arrangements for a period of three years following the time such reimbursement occurred.