| Class S Prospectus | Mercer US Large Cap Equity Fund | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mercer US Large Cap Equity Fund | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Investment Objective | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The investment objective of the Fund is to provide long-term total return, which includes capital appreciation and income. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fees and Expenses | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
These tables summarize the fees and expenses that you may pay if you invest in the Class S Shares of the Fund. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Example | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The example below is intended to help you compare the costs of investing in the Class S Shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Class S Shares of the Fund for the time periods shown, that your investment has a 5% return each year, and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same as shown above. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 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 increase 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 64% of the average value of its portfolio. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Principal Investment Strategies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Fund invests principally in equity securities (such as common stock) issued by large capitalization U.S. companies. The Fund employs a “core equity” investment strategy that seeks to meet the Fund’s investment objective by investing in both growth- and value-oriented equity securities. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings for investment purposes, if any) in the equity securities of large capitalization U.S. companies. (If the Fund changes this investment policy, the Fund will notify shareholders at least 60 days in advance of the change.) For purposes of the 80% test, equity securities include securities such as common stock, preferred stock, and other securities that are not debt securities, cash or cash equivalents. For purposes of this investment policy, the Fund considers “large capitalization U.S. companies” to be U.S. companies with market capitalizations greater than $4 billion at the time of investment. The Fund may invest in derivative instruments, such as exchange-listed equity futures contracts, to gain market exposure on cash balances or to reduce market exposure in anticipation of liquidity needs. Investments in derivatives may be applied toward meeting a requirement to invest in a particular kind of investment if the derivatives have economic characteristics similar to that investment. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Principal Risk Factors | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The principal risks that could adversely affect the value of the Fund’s shares and the total return on your investment include the following, which appear in alphabetical order, not in order of importance or likelihood of occurrence. Loss of money is a risk of investing in the Fund. Custody Risk. There are risks involved in dealing with the custodians or brokers who settle Fund trades. Securities and other assets deposited with custodians or brokers may not be clearly or constantly identified as being assets of the Fund, and hence the Fund may be exposed to a credit risk with regard to such parties. The Fund may be an unsecured creditor of its broker in the event of bankruptcy or administration of such broker. Further, there may be practical or time problems associated with enforcing the Fund’s rights to its assets in the case of an insolvency of any such party. Derivatives Risk. The Fund may engage in a variety of transactions involving derivatives, such as options, futures, forwards, swap agreements, and mortgage- and asset-backed securities. Derivatives are financial instruments, the values of which depend upon, or are derived from, the value of something else, such as one or more underlying investments, pools of investments, indices, or currencies. A subadvisor may use derivatives both for hedging and non-hedging purposes, although it is anticipated that the use of derivatives by the Fund will generally be limited to maintaining exposure to certain market segments or asset classes, or facilitating certain portfolio transactions. A subadvisor may also use derivatives such as exchange-listed equity futures contracts, swaps and currency forwards to equitize cash held in the portfolio. Investments in derivatives may be applied toward meeting a requirement to invest in a particular kind of investment if the derivatives have economic characteristics similar to that investment. Derivatives involve special risks and may result in losses. The successful use of derivatives depends on the ability of a subadvisor to manage these sophisticated instruments. The prices of derivatives may move in unexpected ways due to the use of leverage or other factors, especially in unusual market conditions, and may result in increased volatility of the Fund’s share price. Certain derivatives are subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party to the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligations, and risks arising from margin requirements, which include the risk that the Fund will be required to pay additional margin or set aside additional collateral to maintain open derivative positions. Certain derivatives are subject to mandatory central clearing. Central clearing is intended to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity, but central clearing does not make derivatives transactions risk-free. Some derivatives are more sensitive to interest rate changes and market movements than other instruments. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund to value accurately. Certain derivative instruments provide the economic effect of financial leverage by creating additional investment exposure, as well as the potential for greater loss. If a subadvisor uses leverage through purchasing derivative instruments, the Fund has the risk of capital losses that exceed the net assets of the allocable portion of the Fund managed by that subadvisor. The net asset value of the Fund employing leverage will be more volatile and sensitive to market movements. Leverage may involve the creation of a liability that requires the Fund to pay interest. Equity Securities Risk. The value of a company’s equity securities is subject to changes in the company’s financial condition, and overall market and economic conditions. U.S. and global stock markets have experienced periods of substantial price volatility in the past and may do so in the future. Growth Stock Risk. The value of a company’s equity securities is subject to changes in the company’s financial condition, and overall market and economic conditions. Companies with strong growth potential (both domestic and foreign) tend to have higher than average price-to-earnings ratios, meaning that these stocks are more expensive than average relative to the companies’ earnings. The market prices of equity securities of growth companies are often quite volatile, since the prices may be particularly sensitive to economic, market, or company developments and may present a greater degree of risk of loss. Issuer Risk. The issuer of a security may perform poorly and the value of its stocks or bonds may decline as a result. An issuer of securities held by the Fund could become bankrupt or could default on its issued debt or have its credit rating downgraded. Large Capitalization Stock Risk. Large-capitalization stocks as a group could fall out of favor with the market, causing the Fund to underperform investments that focus on small- or medium-capitalization stocks. Larger, more established companies may be slow to respond to challenges and may grow more slowly than smaller companies. Management Techniques Risk. The investment strategies, techniques, and risk analyses employed by the subadvisors, while designed to enhance potential returns, may not produce the desired results or expected returns, which may cause the Fund to not meet its investments objective, or underperform its benchmark index or funds with similar investment objectives and strategies. The subadvisors may be incorrect in their assessments of the values of securities or their assessments of market trends, which can result in losses to the Fund. Market Risk. The value of the securities in which the Fund invests may be adversely affected by fluctuations in the financial markets, regardless of how well the companies in which the Fund invests perform. The market as a whole may not favor the types of investments the Fund makes. Also, there is the risk that the price(s) of one or more of the securities or other instruments in the Fund’s portfolio will fall, or will fail to rise. Many factors can adversely affect a security’s performance, including both general financial market conditions and factors related to a specific company, government, industry, country, or geographic region. Value Stock Risk. The value of a company’s equity securities is subject to changes in the company’s financial condition, and overall market and economic conditions. Value stocks represent companies that tend to have lower than average price to earnings ratios and are therefore cheaper than average relative to the companies’ earnings. These companies may have relatively weak balance sheets and, during economic downturns, these companies may have insufficient cash flow to pay their debt obligations and difficulty finding additional financing needed for their operations. A particular value stock may not increase in price, as anticipated by a subadvisor, if other investors fail to recognize the stock’s value or the catalyst that the subadvisor believes will increase the price of the stock does not affect the price of the stock in the manner or to the degree that the subadvisor anticipates. Also, cyclical stocks tend to increase in value more quickly during economic upturns than non-cyclical stocks, but also tend to lose value more quickly in economic downturns. The Fund is not intended to serve as a complete investment program. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Performance of the Fund | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The following bar chart and table give some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the performance of the Fund’s Class Y-3 shares from year to year and comparing the Fund’s average annual returns over time with a broad-based securities market index, the Russell 1000® Index. Class S Shares of the Fund had not commenced operations as of the date of this prospectus. The returns of the Class S Shares would have been substantially similar to the returns of Class Y-3 shares; however, because the Class S Shares are subject to a 12b-1 fee, a sub-transfer agent payment and an internal administrative fee, while the Class Y-3 shares are not subject to any of these fees or payments, the returns of the Class S Shares would have been lower than those shown for Class Y-3 shares. The Fund’s past performance, before and after taxes, is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. This may be particularly true given that other subadvisors were responsible for managing portions of the Fund’s portfolio during previous periods. Effective June 27, 2016, the Fund changed certain of its subadvisors and revised its principal investment strategies. For periods prior to June 27, 2016, the Fund’s past performance in the bar chart and table reflects the Fund’s prior subadvisor lineup and principal investment strategies. AJO, LP assumed responsibility for managing a portion of the Fund’s portfolio on July 1, 2016. Brandywine Global Investment Management, LLC assumed responsibility for managing a portion of the Fund’s portfolio on October 21, 2011. Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC assumed responsibility for managing a portion of the Fund’s portfolio on April 2, 2014. HS Management Partners, LLC assumed responsibility for managing a portion of the Fund’s portfolio on April 2, 2014. O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, LLC assumed responsibility for managing a portion of the Fund’s assets on October 20, 2010. Parametric Portfolio Associates LLC assumed responsibility for managing a portion of the Fund’s portfolio on February 25, 2015. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Fund’s calendar year-to-date return as of June 30, 2018 was 1.64%. The Fund’s highest return for a quarter during the periods shown above was 18.17%, for the quarter ended March 31, 2012. The Fund’s lowest return for a quarter during the periods shown above was -23.66%, for the quarter ended December 31, 2008. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Average Annual Total Returns For the Periods Ended December 31, 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates in effect and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s situation and may differ from those shown. In addition, the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
