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Virtus SGA International Growth Fund
Virtus SGA International Growth Fund
Investment Objective

The fund has an investment objective of seeking to provide long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses

The tables below illustrate the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below. 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 Funds. Information about these and other discounts is available: (i) from your financial professional or other financial intermediary; (ii) under “Sales Charges” on page 124 of the fund’s statutory prospectus; (iii) with respect to purchase of shares through specific intermediaries, in Appendix A to the fund’s statutory prospectus, entitled “Intermediary Sales Charge Discounts and Waivers;” and (iv) under “Alternative Purchase Arrangements” on page 122 of the fund’s statement of additional information.

The Virtus SGA International Growth Fund, a series of Virtus Asset Trust, is the successor of the RidgeWorth International Equity Fund, a series of RidgeWorth Funds (“Predecessor Fund”), resulting from a reorganization of the Predecessor Fund with and into the fund.

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Shareholder Fees - Virtus SGA International Growth Fund
Class A
Class I
Class R6
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of Offering Price) 5.50% none none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (as a percentage of Offering Price) none 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 SGA International Growth Fund
Class A
Class I
Class R6
Management Fees 0.85% 0.85% 0.85%
Distribution and Shareholder Servicing (12b-1) Fees 0.25% none none
Other Expenses 0.45% 0.43% 0.34%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 1.55% 1.28% 1.19%
Less: Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement [1] (0.23%) (0.21%) (0.24%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement [1] 1.32% 1.07% 0.95%
[1]

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 and borrowing expenses (such as commitment, amendment and renewal expenses on credit or redemption facilities), 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 1.32% for Class A Shares, 1.07% for Class I Shares, 0.95% for Class R6 Shares, April 30, 2023. 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.

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 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 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:

Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Expense Example - Virtus SGA International Growth Fund - USD ($)
Class A
Class I
Class R6
1 Year $ 677 $ 109 $ 97
3 Years 991 385 354
5 Years 1,328 682 631
10 Years $ 2,276 $ 1,527 $ 1,422
Expense Example, No Redemption - Virtus SGA International Growth Fund - USD ($)
Class A
Class I
Class R6
1 Year $ 677 $ 109 $ 97
3 Years 991 385 354
5 Years 1,328 682 631
10 Years $ 2,276 $ 1,527 $ 1,422
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 44% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The fund will invest in securities of issuers located throughout the world. Under normal circumstances, the fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in equity securities of issuers organized, headquartered or doing a substantial amount of business outside the U.S.

As of the date of this prospectus, the fund’s subadviser, Sustainable Growth Advisers, LP (“SGA”), considers an issuer that has at least 50% of its assets or derives at least 50% of its revenue from business outside the U.S. as doing a substantial amount of business outside the U.S. SGA uses an investment process to identify companies that it believes have a high degree of predictability, strong profitability and above average earnings and cash flow growth. SGA selects investments for the fund’s portfolio that it believes have superior long-term earnings prospects and attractive valuation. To the extent consistent with the fund’s investment objective and strategies, the subadviser will consider as an element of its investment research and decision making processes for the fund any environmental, social and/or governance (“ESG”) factors that the subadviser believes may influence risks and opportunities of companies under consideration. However, the pursuit of ESG-related goals is not the fund’s investment objective, nor one of its investment strategies. Therefore, ESG factors by themselves are not expected to determine investment decisions for the fund. The fund’s equity investments may include common stocks, preferred stocks, securities convertible into or exchangeable for common stocks, and depositary receipts. The fund may invest in companies of all market capitalizations. The fund will allocate its assets among various regions and countries, including emerging markets. From time to time, the fund may have a significant portion of its assets invested in the securities of companies in only a few countries or regions. Although the fund seeks investments across a number of sectors, from time to time, the fund may have significant positions in particular sectors.

SGA will sell a portfolio holding when it believes the security’s fundamentals deteriorate, its valuation is no longer attractive, or a better investment opportunity arises.

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 identified below.

> Equity Securities Risk. The value of the stocks held by the fund may be negatively affected by the financial market, industries in which the fund invests, or issuer-specific events. Focus on a particular style or in small or medium-sized companies may enhance that risk.

> Foreign Investing Risk. Investing in foreign securities subjects the fund to additional risks such as increased volatility; currency fluctuations; less liquidity; less publicly available information about the foreign investment; and political, regulatory, economic, and market risk.

> Emerging Market Risk. Emerging markets securities may be more volatile, or more greatly affected by negative conditions, than those of their counterparts in more established foreign markets.

> Geographic Concentration Risk. A fund that focuses its investments in a particular geographic location will be sensitive to financial, economic, political and other events negatively affecting that location and may cause the value of the fund to decrease, perhaps significantly.

> Market Volatility Risk. The value of the securities in the fund may go up or down in response to the prospects of individual companies and/or general economic conditions. Price changes may be short- or long-term. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issue, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the fund and its investments, including hampering the ability of the fund’s portfolio manager(s) to invest the fund’s assets as intended.

> Convertible Securities Risk. The value of a convertible security may decline as interest rates rise and/or vary with fluctuations in the market value of the underlying securities. The security may be called for redemption at a time and/or price unfavorable to the fund.

> Currency Rate Risk. Fluctuations in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies may negatively affect the value of the fund’s shares.

> Depositary Receipts Risk. Investments in foreign companies through depositary receipts may expose the fund to the same risks as direct investments in securities of foreign issuers.

> ESG Risk. The fund’s consideration of ESG factors may result in the fund declining to buy certain securities when it might otherwise be advantageous to do so, or may choose to sell securities for ESG reasons when it might otherwise be disadvantageous for it to do so.

> Growth Stocks Risk. The fund’s investments in growth stocks may be more volatile than investments in other types of stocks, or may perform differently from the market as a whole and from other types of stocks.

> Large Market Capitalization Companies Risk. The value of investments in larger companies may not rise as much as smaller companies, or larger companies may be unable to respond quickly to competitive challenges, such as changes in technology and consumer tastes.

> Preferred Stocks Risk. Preferred stocks may decline in price, fail to pay dividends when expected, or be illiquid.

> Redemption Risk. One or more large shareholders or groups of shareholders may redeem their holdings in the fund, resulting in an adverse impact on remaining shareholders in the fund by causing the fund to take actions it would not otherwise have taken.

> Sector Focused Investing Risk. Events negatively affecting a particular market sector in which the fund focuses its investments may cause the value of the fund’s shares to decrease, perhaps significantly.

> Small and Medium Market Capitalization Companies Risk. The fund’s investments in small and medium market capitalization companies may increase the volatility and risk of loss to the fund, as compared with investments in larger, more established companies.

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 fund has adopted the past performance of the Predecessor Fund as its own. The Predecessor Fund and the fund have identical investment objectives and strategies.

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)
Bar Chart
        

Best Quarter:

2020, Q2:

20.17%

Worst Quarter:

2020, Q1:

-16.51%

Year to Date (3/31/2022):

-9.54%

Average Annual Total Returns

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

Average Annual Total Returns - Virtus SGA International Growth Fund
Label
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since Inception
Inception Date
Class A Return Before Taxes 2.40% 14.31% 10.45%    
Class I Return Before Taxes 8.59% 15.88% 11.30%    
Class I | After Taxes on Distributions Return After Taxes on Distributions 6.74% 12.80% 8.95%    
Class I | After Taxes on Distributions and Sales Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares 6.43% 12.12% 8.70%    
Class R6 Return Before Taxes 8.74% 15.98%   13.59% Sep. 01, 2015
MSCI All Country World ex USA Index (net) MSCI All Country World ex USA Index (net) (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) 7.82% 9.61% 7.28%    

The MSCI All Country World ex USA Index (net) is a free float-adjusted market capitalization-weighted index that measures equity performance of developed and emerging markets, excluding the United States. The index is calculated on a total return basis with net dividends reinvested. 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.