497 1 tortoise-water_497c.htm DEFINITIVE MATERIALS


 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
January 31, 2017
 
Neither the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this Prospectus.  Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
 
 

 
Tortoise Water Fund
A series of Managed Portfolio Series (the “Trust”)

 
Table of Contents
 
 
 
Fund Summary

Tortoise Water Fund

Investment Objective
The Tortoise Water Fund (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond (before fees and expenses) generally to the price and distribution rate (total return) performance of the Tortoise Water IndexSM (the “Underlying Index”).
 
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. This table and the Example below do not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay on their purchases and sales of shares.
 
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
None
   
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
 
Management Fees
0.40%
Distribution and Service (Rule 12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.40%
 
Example
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds.  The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell 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.  Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
 
 
1 Year
3 Years
$41
$128
 
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 at the shareholder level.  These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example above, affect the Fund’s performance.  Information on fund portfolio turnover will be noted once the fund has an operating history.
 
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund is an exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) and employs a “passive management” – or indexing – investment approach designed to track the performance of the Underlying Index. The Underlying Index, the Tortoise Water Index (TBLUE), is a proprietary rules-based, modified capitalization weighted, float adjusted index designed to track the overall performance of equity securities of Water Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, or Toronto Stock Exchange. The Fund will normally invest at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in the types of securities suggested by its name (i.e., Water Companies)  A Water Company is defined as a company that derives significant gross revenues from either water infrastructure or water management.  Water infrastructure companies are those whose principal business is providing public water distribution or supporting/enhancing water distribution infrastructure via equipment, engineering and/or consulting.  Water management companies provide technologies or products that manage or facilitate the management of water distribution and usage, including the fields of water efficiency, water treatment, and irrigation.
 
To be included in the Underlying Index, a company must be a Water Company that is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, or Toronto Stock Exchange. The Underlying Index may include small and medium capitalization companies.  Eligible constituents must also have a total float adjusted equity market capitalization of at least $200 million USD at the time of inclusion in the Underlying Index. In order to remain in the Underlying Index, a company must maintain an average float adjusted equity market capitalization of at least $150 million USD for a minimum of 20 trading days prior to the rebalance of the Underlying Index.
 
Many companies that are engaged in the water industry also derive substantial revenues from non-water related activities.  Some such companies, including some in the Underlying Index, derive less than half of overall company revenues from water industry activities.  In some instances, these companies may have market caps that are substantial relative to the size of the industry.  While Tortoise Index Solutions, LLC (the “Adviser”) believes including such companies in the Underlying Index is important, equally important is the Adviser’s prerequisite that the Underlying Index derives a significant portion of its revenue from water related activities. In an effort to create an index that does both, the Adviser has implemented a “revenue weighting” methodology.
 
Revenues from all potential index companies are collected annually from company 10-Ks or equivalents.  The inclusion criteria is then applied.  Water Companies are divided into two segments.  Those companies with at least 50% of their gross revenues derived from water related activities comprise the “direct water exposure” segment (“direct segment”).  The direct segment will be weighted to represent a minimum of 70% of the total float adjusted market cap of the Underlying Index.
 
Water Companies that derive significant, but less than a majority of, gross revenues from water related activities will comprise the “indirect water exposure” segment (“indirect segment”).  Initially, the indirect segment will be weighted to represent a maximum of 30% of the total float adjusted market cap of the Underlying Index.  Constituents in the indirect segment will be equally weighted and no security in this segment will have a weight higher than 4% of the float adjusted aggregate market cap of the Underlying Index.  It is possible, therefore, that the resulting sum of weights in the indirect segment is less than 30% due to the 4% limitation on individual securities.  In that event, the excess available market cap will be redistributed to the direct segment.  For the Underlying Index as a whole, no individual security may be more than 7.5% of the total float adjusted market cap of the Underlying Index.

In seeking to achieve its objective as an index fund, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (excluding any collateral held from securities lending) in common stocks and American depository receipts (“ADRs”) that comprise the Underlying Index. ADRs are negotiable receipts issued by a U.S. bank or trust company that evidence ownership of securities in a foreign company which have been deposited with such bank or trust company’s office or agent in a foreign country. The Fund may also invest in Global Depositary Receipts (“GDRs”), European Depositary Receipts (“EDRs”), and International Depositary Receipts (“IDRs”) (collectively, with ADRs, “Depositary Receipts”). Under normal conditions, the Fund generally will invest in substantially all of the securities that comprise the Underlying Index in proportion to their weightings in the Underlying Index; however, under various circumstances, it may not be possible or practicable to purchase all of the securities in the Underlying Index in those weightings. In those circumstances, the Fund may purchase a sample of the securities in the Underlying Index or utilize various combinations of other available investment techniques in seeking performance that corresponds to the performance of the Underlying Index.  The Fund may invest up to 20% of its assets in certain index futures, options, options on index futures, swap contracts or other derivatives related to the Underlying Index and its components, cash and cash equivalents, other investment companies, as well as in securities and other instruments not included in the Underlying Index but which the Adviser believes will help the Fund track the Underlying Index.
 
As of the December 16, 2016 rebalance, the Underlying Index was comprised of 34 constituents. No constituents will be added to the Underlying Index between rebalance dates, which take place on a quarterly basis in March, June, September and December. Constituents are reviewed annually, at the December rebalance, to determine that they continue to meet the definition of a Water Company under the Underlying Index methodology. Constituents in the Underlying Index may be deleted from the Underlying Index due to corporate events such as mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcies, takeovers, or delistings. Standard rebalances take place on a quarterly basis. Special rebalances are triggered by corporate actions and will be implemented as practically as possible on a case-by-case basis. Index constituent changes and updates as well as any changes to the methodology will be posted to www.tortoiseindexsolutions.com. The Underlying Index was established in 2016 and is owned by the Adviser.

The Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the Underlying Index concentrates in an industry or group of industries. The Underlying Index and the Fund will be concentrated in the water industry.

The Fund has elected to be, and intends to qualify each year for treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) under subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”).
 
Principal Risks
As with all funds, a shareholder of the Fund is subject to the risk that his or her investment could lose money.  The principal risks affecting shareholders’ investments in the Fund are set forth below.  An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the FDIC or any government agency.
 
General Market Risk.  The Fund is subject to the risk that it will not achieve its investment objective and that the value of an investment in its securities could decline substantially and cause you to lose some or all of your investment.  The Fund’s net asset value and investment return will fluctuate based upon changes in the value of its portfolio securities.  Certain securities in the Fund’s portfolio may be worth less than the price originally paid for them, or less than they were worth at an earlier time.
 
Water Industry Risk. Any adverse developments in the water infrastructure and management industry may significantly affect the value of the shares of the fund.  Companies in the water industry are subject to environmental considerations, taxes, government regulation, price and supply fluctuations, competition and water conservation influences.
 
New Fund and New Advisor Risk. As of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and there can be no assurance that the Fund will grow to, or maintain, an economically viable size, in which case the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of Managed Portfolio Series (the “Trust”) may determine to liquidate the Fund.  In addition, the Adviser is a recently registered investment adviser and currently manages one other fund, having done so since June 29, 2015.
 
Depository Receipt Risk.  Investing in Depository Receipts may be subject to certain risks associated with direct investments in the securities of foreign companies, such as currency, political, economic and market risks.  Depository Receipts may be less liquid than the underlying shares in the primary trading market.  Depository Receipts may not track the price of their underlying foreign securities on which they are based, may have limited voting rights, and may have a distribution subject to a fee charged by the depository.  As a result, equity shares of the underlying issuer may trade at a discount or premium to the market price of the depository receipts.
 
Concentration Risk. Because the Fund’s assets will be concentrated in the water industry, the Fund is subject to loss due to adverse occurrences that may affect that industry. The Fund’s focus in this industry presents more risk than if it were broadly diversified over numerous industries and sectors of the economy. An inherent risk associated with any investment focus is that the Fund may be adversely affected if a small number of its investments perform poorly
 
Equity Securities Risk.  Equity securities are susceptible to general stock market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value.  The equity securities held by the Fund may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value.  This may occur because of factors affecting securities markets generally, the equity securities of water companies in particular, or a particular company.
 
Non-U.S. Securities Risk. Investments in securities of non-U.S. issuers involve risks not ordinarily associated with investments in securities and instruments of U.S. issuers, including risks relating to political, social and economic developments abroad, differences between U.S. and foreign regulatory and accounting requirements, tax risks, and market practices, as well as fluctuations in foreign currencies.
 
Mid-Cap and Small-Cap Companies Risk. Companies defined as small and mid-cap securities may involve greater risk than is normally associated with large cap companies, and as a result  may be more volatile and less liquid than the securities of large-cap companies, and may have returns that vary substantially from the overall securities markets.
 
RIC Compliance Risk.  The Fund has elected to be, and intends to qualify each year for treatment as, a RIC under the Code.  To maintain the Fund’s qualification for federal income tax treatment as a RIC, the Fund must meet certain source-of-income, asset diversification and annual distribution requirements.  If for any taxable year the Fund fails to qualify for the special federal income tax treatment afforded to RICs, all of the Fund’s taxable income will be subject to federal income tax at regular corporate rates (without any deduction for distributions to its shareholders) and its income available for distribution will be reduced.
 
Liquidity Risk. The Fund may be exposed to liquidity risk when trading volume, lack of a market maker, or legal restrictions impair the Fund’s ability to sell particular securities or close derivative positions at an advantageous price or in a timely manner. Illiquid or restricted securities cannot be sold immediately because of statutory and contractual restrictions on resale.
 
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and therefore the Fund generally will not sell a security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry or sector, unless that security is removed from the Underlying Index or the selling of the security is otherwise required upon a rebalancing of the Underlying Index.
 
Tracking Error Risk.  There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation to the Underlying Index and therefore achieve its investment objective.  The Fund’s return may not match the return of its Underlying Index for a number of reasons, including differences between the securities held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences, transaction costs, the Fund’s holding of cash, differences in timing of the accrual of distributions, changes to the Underlying Index or the need to meet various new or existing regulatory requirements.  Consequently, the performance of the Fund may diverge from that of its Underlying Index.  This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions, or due to delays of the Fund in purchasing and selling securities.  Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not.
 
Derivatives Risk.  Derivatives are financial contracts whose value depend on, or are derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or index. The use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Certain derivative instruments can lose more than the principal amount invested. Derivatives may involve significant risks.  Derivatives could result in Fund losses if the underlying references do not perform as anticipated. Derivatives may expose the Fund to additional risks, including the risk of loss due to a derivative position that is imperfectly correlated with the underlying reference it is intended to hedge or replicate (correlation risk), the risk that a counterparty will fail to perform as agreed (counterparty risk), the risk that a hedging strategy may fail to mitigate losses, and may offset gains (hedging risk), the risk that losses may be greater than the amount invested (leverage risk), the risk that the Fund may be unable to sell an investment at an advantageous time or price (liquidity risk), the risk that the investment may be difficult to value (pricing risk), and the risk that the price or value of the investment fluctuates significantly over short periods of time (volatility risk).
 
Non-Diversification Risk.  The Fund is classified as “non-diversified,” which means the Fund may invest a larger percentage of its assets in the securities of a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.  Investments in securities of a limited number of issuers exposes the Fund to greater market risk and potential losses than if its assets were diversified among the securities of a greater number of issuers.
 
Absence of Active Trading Market Risk.  Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained.  There can be no assurance that the requirements necessary to maintain the listing or trading of Fund shares will continue to be met or will remain unchanged.
 
Shares May Trade at Prices Different than Net Asset Value Per Share (“NAV”).  Disruptions to creations and redemptions, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares of the Fund may result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV.  If a shareholder purchases shares when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.
 
Trading Risks.  The Fund faces numerous trading risks, including disruption in the creation/redemption process of the Fund and losses from trading in the secondary markets.  Secondary market trading in Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or other reasons or due to extraordinary market volatility pursuant to “circuit breaker” rules on the exchange or market.  Additionally, an exchange or market may also close or issue trading halts on specific securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments may be restricted, which may result in the Fund being unable to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments.  In such circumstances, the Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be unable to accurately price its investments and/or may incur substantial trading losses.
 
Legal and Regulatory Change Risks.  The regulatory environment for investment companies is evolving, and changes in regulation may adversely affect the value of the Fund’s investments and its ability to pursue its trading strategy.  The effect of any future regulatory change on the Fund could be substantial and adverse.
 
Performance Information
The Fund has no performance history. Once the Fund has completed a full calendar year of operations, a bar chart and table will be included that will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by comparing the Fund’s return to a broad measure of market performance. Updated performance information for the Fund will be available on the Fund’s website — etp.tortoiseindexsolutions.com/tblu/performance/ — or by calling 844-TR-INDEX (844-874-6339)
 
Investment Adviser
Tortoise Index Solutions, LLC serves as the investment adviser to the Fund.  The Adviser also serves as index provider to the Fund.
 
Portfolio Manager
Matthew Weglarz, CFA has served as portfolio manager for the Fund since its inception in February 2017.
 
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund will issue (or redeem) shares to certain institutional investors (typically market makers or other broker-dealers) only in large blocks of at least 50,000 shares known as “Creation Units.”  Creation Unit transactions are typically conducted in exchange for the deposit or delivery of in-kind securities and/or cash constituting a substantial replication, or a representation, of the securities included in the relevant benchmark index.  Individual shares may only be purchased and sold on a national securities exchange through a broker-dealer.  You can purchase and sell individual shares of the Fund throughout the trading day like any publicly traded security.  The Fund’s shares are expected to be listed on the Bats BZX Exchange.  The price of the Fund’s shares is based on market price, and because exchange-traded fund shares trade at market prices rather than net asset value (“NAV”), the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (premium) or less than NAV (discount).  Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Fund’s shares are not redeemable securities.
 
Tax Information
Distributions made by the Fund may be taxable as ordinary income, or capital gains, unless you are a tax-exempt organization or are investing through a tax-advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or individual retirement account.  Any withdrawals made from such tax-advantaged arrangement generally will be taxable to you as ordinary income.
 
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of 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 shares and related services.  These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment.  Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s web site for more information.

Index Provider/Trademark License/Disclaimer
The Adviser provides the Underlying Index to the Fund.  The Adviser created and is responsible for maintaining and applying the rules-based methodology of the Underlying Index.

The Underlying Index is the exclusive property of the Adviser, which has contracted with S&P Opco, LLC (a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC) to calculate and maintain the Underlying Index.  The Underlying Index is not sponsored by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC or its affiliates or its third party licensors, including Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC (collectively, “S&P Dow Jones Indices”). S&P Dow Jones Indices will not be liable for any errors or omissions in calculating the Underlying Index. “Calculated by S&P Dow Jones Indices” and the related stylized mark(s) are service marks of S&P Dow Jones Indices and have been licensed for use by the Adviser and its affiliates. S&P® is a registered trademark of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC, and Dow Jones® is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC.

The Fund based on the Underlying Index is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by S&P Dow Jones Indices.  S&P Dow Jones Indices does not make any representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the Fund particularly or the ability of the Underlying Index to track general market performance.  S&P Dow Jones Indices’ only relationship to the Adviser with respect to the Underlying Index is the licensing of certain trademarks, service marks and trade names of S&P Dow Jones Indices and the provision of the calculation services related to the Underlying Index.  S&P Dow Jones Indices is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the prices and amount of the Fund or the timing of the issuance or sale of the Fund or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the Fund may be converted into cash or other redemption mechanics.  S&P Dow Jones Indices has no obligation or liability in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Fund.  S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC is not an investment advisor. Inclusion of a security within the Underlying Index is not a recommendation by S&P Dow Jones Indices to buy, sell, or hold such security, nor is it investment advice.

S&P DOW JONES INDICES DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ADEQUACY, ACCURACY, TIMELINESS AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF THE UNDERLYING INDEX OR ANY DATA RELATED THERETO OR ANY COMMUNICATION WITH RESPECT THERETO, INCLUDING ORAL, WRITTEN OR ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS.  S&P DOW JONES INDICES SHALL NOT BE SUBJECT TO ANY DAMAGES OR LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS, OR DELAYS THEREIN.  S&P DOW JONES INDICES MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE OR AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY THE ADVISER, OWNERS OF THE FUND, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE UNDERLYING INDEX OR WITH RESPECT TO ANY DATA RELATED THERETO.  WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT WHATSOEVER SHALL S&P DOW JONES INDICES BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF PROFITS, TRADING LOSSES, LOST TIME OR GOODWILL, EVEN IF THEY HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE.

Additional Fund Information
 
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks investment results that correspond (before fees and expenses) generally to the price and distribution rate (total return) performance of the Underlying Index.  The Fund may change its investment objective and Underlying Index without shareholder approval.  The Fund’s other investment strategies and policies may be changed from time to time without shareholder approval, unless specifically stated otherwise in this Prospectus or the SAI.
 
Additional Investment Strategies
The Fund will normally invest at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in the types of securities suggested by its name (i.e.Water Companies).  If the Fund changes this 80% policy, it will provide Fund shareholders with 60 days’ notice in advance of such change.  The Fund anticipates meeting this 80% policy because, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its total assets will be invested in component securities of its Underlying Index.
 
The Fund, using an “indexing” investment approach, seeks to track the investment results, before fees and expenses, of the Underlying Index.  A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high correlation with its Underlying Index, including Fund expenses, differences between the securities held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, the timing or magnitude of changes to the composition of its Underlying Index, regulatory policies, and high portfolio turnover rate.  There can be no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation with the Underlying Index.
 
The Adviser may sell securities that are represented in the Underlying Index or purchase securities not yet represented in the Underlying Index, in anticipation of their removal from or addition to the Underlying Index.  There may also be instances in which the Adviser may choose to overweight or underweight securities represented in the Underlying Index.  Additionally, the Adviser may purchase or sell securities not in the Underlying Index if the Adviser believes such securities are appropriate to substitute for certain securities in the Fund’s Underlying Index.  The Adviser may utilize various combinations of other available investment techniques in seeking to track the Underlying Index.
 
The Fund may invest in, or enter into, derivatives such as forward contacts, options, futures contracts, options on futures contracts and swap agreements.  The Fund may engage in such derivatives transactions to gain exposure to, for example, certain securities, markets or asset classes, or to hedge the Fund’s positions in or exposure to securities, currencies or other instruments.
 
As a result of its investments, the Fund’s distributions for any taxable year may exceed its earnings and profits, as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes.  For a given taxable year, fund distributions, if any, that exceed earnings and profits may be treated as a return of capital to shareholders.
 
Additional Principal Risk Information
The following section provides additional information regarding certain of the principal risks identified under “Principal Risks” in the Fund’s summary along with additional risk information.
 
General Market Risk.  The Fund is subject to all of the business risks and uncertainties associated with any business, including the risk that it will not achieve its investment objective and that the value of an investment in its securities could decline substantially and cause you to lose some or all of your investment.  U.S. and international markets have, and may continue to, experience volatility, which may increase risks associated with an investment in the Fund.  Changes in the value of the Fund’s portfolio securities may be rapid or unpredictable and cause the net asset value of the Fund and its investment return to fluctuation.  These fluctuations may cause a security to be worth less than the price originally paid for it, or less than it was worth at an earlier time.  Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry, sector of the economy or the market as a whole.  The market value of securities in which the Fund invests is based upon the market’s perception of value and is not necessarily an objective measure of the securities’ value.  In some cases, for example, the stock prices of individual companies have been negatively impacted even though there may be little or no apparent degradation in the financial condition or prospects of the issuers.  Similarly, the debt markets have experienced substantially lower valuations, reduced liquidity, price volatility, credit downgrades, increased likelihood of default, and valuation difficulties.
 
Water Industry Risk. Any adverse developments in the water infrastructure and management industry may significantly affect the value of the shares of the fund.  Water Companies are subject to environmental considerations, taxes, government regulation, price and supply fluctuations, competition and water conservation influences.
 
Water Companies may be significantly affected by events relating to international, political and economic developments, water conservation, the success of exploration projects, commodity prices, tax and other government regulations. There are substantial differences between the water-related, environmental and other regulatory practices and policies in various jurisdictions, and any given regulatory agency may make major shifts in policy from time to time. Other economic and market developments that may significantly affect companies in the water-related resource sector include, without limitation, inflation, rising interest rates, raw material costs and other operating costs, and competition from new entrants into the sector.
 
Water Companies are susceptible to changes in investment in water purification technology globally, and a slackening in the pace of new infrastructure projects in developing or developed countries may constrain such companies’ ability to grow in global markets. Other reductions in demand for clean water, such as increased availability of potable water in arid regions, may reduce demand for certain products and services provided by Water Companies.
 
New Fund and New Advisor Risk. The Fund has a limited operating history and there can be no assurance that the Fund will grow to, or maintain, an economically viable size, in which case the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of Managed Portfolio Series (the “Trust”) may determine to liquidate the Fund.  In addition, the Adviser is a recently registered investment adviser and currently manages one other fund, having done so since June 29, 2015.
 
Depository Receipt Risk.  Investing in Depository Receipts may be subject to certain risks associated with direct investments in the securities of foreign companies, such as currency, political, economic and market risks.  Depository Receipts may be less liquid than the underlying shares in the primary trading market.  Depository Receipts may not track the price of their underlying foreign securities on which they are based, may have limited voting rights, and may have a distribution subject to a fee charged by the depository.  As a result, equity shares of the underlying issuer may trade at a discount or premium to the market price of the depository receipts.
 
Concentration Risk.  Because the Fund’s assets will be concentrated in the water industry, the Fund is subject to loss due to adverse occurrences that may affect that industry.  The Fund’s strategy of focusing on the water industry means that the performance of the Fund will be closely tied to the performance of this industry or such segment.  The Fund’s focus in these investments may present more risk than if it were broadly diversified over numerous industries and sectors of the economy.  A downturn in these investments would have a greater impact on the Fund than on a fund that does not focus in such investments.  At times, the performance of these investments may lag the performance of other industries or the market as a whole.  An inherent risk associated with a concentrated investment focus is that the Fund may be adversely affected if a small number of its investments perform poorly.
 
Equity Securities Risk.  Equity securities can be affected by macroeconomic and other factors affecting the stock market in general, expectations about changes in interest rates, investor sentiment towards equities, changes in a particular issuer’s or industry’s financial condition, or unfavorable or unanticipated poor performance of a particular issuer or industry.  Prices of equity securities of individual entities also can be affected by fundamentals unique to the company or partnership, including earnings power and coverage ratios.  An adverse event, such as an unfavorable earnings report, may depress the value of a particular common stock held by the Fund.  In addition, prices of common stocks are sensitive to general movements in the stock market and a drop in the stock market may depress the price of common stocks to which the Fund has exposure.  Common stock prices may fluctuate for several reasons including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant stock market, or the occurrence of political or economic events that affect the issuers.  In addition, common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, which increases borrowing costs and the costs of capital.  Water Companies’ equity prices are influenced by dividend and distribution growth rates.  Any of the foregoing risks could substantially impact the ability of such an entity to grow its dividends or distributions.
 
Non-U.S. Securities Risk.  Investments in securities of non-U.S. issuers involve risks not ordinarily associated with investments in securities and instruments of U.S. issuers.  For example, non-U.S. companies are not generally subject to uniform accounting, auditing and financial standards and requirements comparable to those applicable to U.S. companies.  Non-U.S. securities exchanges, brokers and companies may be subject to less government supervision and regulation than exists in the U.S.  Dividend and interest income may be subject to withholding and other non-U.S. taxes, which may adversely affect the net return on such investments.  There may be difficulty in obtaining or enforcing a court judgment abroad. In addition, it may be difficult to effect repatriation of capital invested in certain countries.  In addition, with respect to certain countries, there are risks of expropriation, confiscatory taxation, political or social instability or diplomatic developments that could affect the Fund’s assets held in non-U.S. countries.  There may be less publicly available information about a non-U.S. company than there is regarding a U.S. company.  Non-U.S. securities markets may have substantially less volume than U.S. securities markets and some non-U.S. company securities are less liquid than securities of otherwise comparable U.S. companies.  Non-U.S. markets also have different clearance and settlement procedures that could cause the Fund to encounter difficulties in purchasing and selling securities on such markets and may result in the Fund missing attractive investment opportunities or experiencing a loss.  In addition, a portfolio that includes securities issued by non-U.S. issuers can expect to have a higher expense ratio because of the increased transaction costs in non-U.S. markets and the increased costs of maintaining the custody of such non-U.S. securities.  When investing in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers, there is also the risk that the value of such an investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates.  The Fund may, but does not currently intend to, hedge its exposure to non-U.S. currencies.
 
Mid-Cap and Small-Cap Companies Risk.  The Fund’s investment in mid-cap and small-cap companies may not have the management experience, financial resources, product diversification and competitive strengths of large-cap companies.  Therefore, their securities may be more volatile and less liquid than the securities of larger, more established companies.  Mid-cap and small-cap company stocks may also be bought and sold less often and in smaller amounts than larger company stocks.  Because of this, if the Adviser needs to sell a large quantity of a mid-cap or small-cap company stock, in accordance with the Underlying Index methodology, it may have to sell at a lower price than it might prefer, or it may have to sell in smaller than desired quantities over a period of time.  Analysts and other investors may follow these companies less actively and therefore information about these companies may not be as readily available as that for large-cap companies.
 
RIC Compliance Risk.  The Fund has elected to be, and intends to qualify each year for treatment as, a RIC under the Code.  To maintain the Fund’s qualification for federal income tax treatment as a RIC, the Fund must meet certain source-of-income, asset diversification and annual distribution requirements.  If for any taxable year the Fund fails to qualify for the special federal income tax treatment afforded to RICs, all of the Fund’s taxable income will be subject to federal income tax at regular corporate rates (without any deduction for distributions to its shareholders) and its income available for distribution will be reduced.  Under certain circumstances, the Fund could cure a failure to qualify as a RIC, but in order to do so, the Fund could incur significant Fund-level taxes and could be forced to dispose of certain assets.
 
Liquidity Risk.  The Fund may invest in securities of any market capitalization and may be exposed to liquidity risk when trading volume, lack of a market maker, or legal restrictions impair the Fund’s ability to sell particular securities or close derivative positions at an advantageous price or a timely manner.  In the event certain securities experience limited trading volumes, the prices of such securities may display abrupt or erratic movements at times.  In addition, it may be more difficult for the Fund to buy and sell significant amounts of such securities without an unfavorable impact on prevailing market prices.
 
Passive Investment Risk.  The Fund is not actively managed.  Therefore, unless a specific security is removed from the Fund’s Underlying Index, or the selling of shares of that security is otherwise required upon a rebalancing of the Underlying Index as addressed in the Underlying Index methodology, the Fund generally will not sell a security because the security’s issuer was in financial trouble.  If a specific security is removed from the Fund’s Underlying Index, the Fund may be forced to sell such security at an inopportune time or for a price discount to the security’s current market value.  The Fund anticipates that the value of its shares will decline, more or less, in correspondence with any decline in value of its Underlying Index.  The Fund’s Underlying Index may not contain the appropriate mix of securities for any particular point in the business cycle of the overall economy, particular economic sectors, or narrow industries within which the commercial activities of the companies comprising the portfolio securities holdings of the Fund are conducted, and the timing of movements from one type of security to another in seeking to replicate the Underlying Index could have a negative effect on the Fund.  Unlike the manager of an actively managed fund, the Adviser does not use techniques or defensive strategies designed to lessen the effects of market volatility or to reduce the impact of periods of market decline.  This means that, based on market and economic conditions, the Fund’s performance could be lower than other types of funds that may actively shift their portfolio assets to take advantage of market opportunities or to lessen the impact of a market decline.
 
Tracking Error Risk.  There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation to the Underlying Index and therefore achieve its investment objective.  The Fund’s return may not match the return of its Underlying Index for a number of reasons.  For example, the Fund incurs a number of fees and operating expenses not applicable to the Underlying Index and incurs costs associated with buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s securities holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Underlying Index and if it needs to raise cash to meet redemptions or deploy cash in connection with newly created Creation Units.  Imperfect correlation between the Fund’s portfolio securities and those in the Underlying Index, changes to the Index and regulatory requirements may cause tracking error, the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of its Underlying Index.  This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions.  In addition, the Fund may not be able to invest in certain securities and other instruments included in the Underlying Index, or invest in them in the exact proportions represented in the Underlying Index.  Moreover, the Fund may be delayed in purchasing or selling securities and other instruments included in the Underlying Index.  To the extent the Fund calculates its NAV based on fair value prices, the Fund’s ability to track the Underlying Index may be adversely affected.
 
Derivatives Risk.  Derivatives are financial contracts whose value depend on, or are derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or index. The use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Certain derivative instruments can lose more than the principal amount invested. Derivatives may involve significant risks.  Derivatives could result in Fund losses if the underlying references do not perform as anticipated. Use of derivatives is a highly specialized activity that can involve investment techniques, risks, and tax planning different from those associated with more traditional investment instruments. The Fund’s derivatives strategy may not be successful and use of certain derivatives could result in substantial, potentially unlimited, losses to the Fund regardless of the Fund’s actual investment. A relatively small movement in the price, rate or other economic indicator associated with the underlying reference may result in substantial loss for the Fund. Derivatives may be more volatile than other types of investments.
 
Derivatives can increase the Fund’s risk exposure to underlying references and their attendant risks, including the risk of an adverse credit event associated with the underlying reference (credit risk), the risk of adverse movement in the value, price or rate of the underlying reference (market risk), the risk of adverse movement in the value of underlying currencies (foreign currency risk) and the risk of adverse movement in underlying interest rates (interest rate risk). Derivatives may expose the Fund to additional risks, including the risk of loss due to a derivative position that is imperfectly correlated with the underlying reference it is intended to hedge or replicate (correlation risk), the risk that a counterparty will fail to perform as agreed (counterparty risk), the risk that a hedging strategy may fail to mitigate losses, and may offset gains (hedging risk), the risk that losses may be greater than the amount invested (leverage risk), the risk that the Fund may be unable to sell an investment at an advantageous time or price (liquidity risk), the risk that the investment may be difficult to value (pricing risk), and the risk that the price or value of the investment fluctuates significantly over short periods of time (volatility risk).
 
The market for many derivatives is, or suddenly can become, illiquid. Changes in liquidity may result in significant, rapid and unpredictable changes in the prices for derivatives.  The value of derivatives may also be influenced by a variety of other factors, including national and international political and economic developments. Potential changes to the regulation of the derivatives markets may make derivatives more costly, may limit the market for derivatives, or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives.
 
Derivatives may be purchased on established exchanges or through privately negotiated transactions referred to as over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives.  Exchange-traded derivatives generally are guaranteed by the clearing agency that is the issuer or counterparty to such derivatives.  Each party to an OTC derivative bears the risk that the counterparty will default. OTC derivatives are less liquid than exchange-traded derivatives since the other party to the transaction may be the only investor with sufficient understanding of the derivative to be interested in bidding for it.
 
Certain standardized swaps must be transacted through a futures commission merchant (FCM) and cleared through a clearinghouse that serves as a central counterparty (cleared swaps).  Other swaps may be negotiated bilaterally and traded OTC between two parties (uncleared swaps).  Central clearing is intended to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity, but central clearing does not eliminate these risks and may involve additional costs and risks not involved with uncleared swaps.
 
In addition, changes in government regulation of derivatives could affect the character, timing and amount of the Fund’s taxable income or gains.  The Fund’s use of derivatives may be limited by the requirements for taxation of the Fund as a RIC.
 
Non-Diversification Risk.  The Fund is classified as “non-diversified,” which means the Fund may invest a larger percentage of its assets in the securities of a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.  Investments in securities of a limited number of issuers exposes the Fund to greater market risk and potential losses than if its assets were diversified among the securities of a greater number of issuers.
 
Absence of Active Trading Market Risk.  Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained.  There can be no assurance that the requirements necessary to maintain the listing or trading of Fund shares will continue to be met or will remain unchanged.
 
Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV.  Shares of the Fund may trade at, above or below their NAV.  The NAV of the Fund will fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings.  The trading prices of shares will fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s NAV as well as market supply and demand.  Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related to, but not identical to, the same forces influencing the prices of the securities of the Underlying Index trading individually or in the aggregate at any point in time.  The market prices of Fund shares may deviate significantly from the NAV of the shares during periods of market volatility or when there is a lack of an active trading market for shares of the Fund.  While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it likely that shares of the Fund normally will trade close to the Fund’s NAV, disruptions to creations and redemptions may result in trading prices that differ significantly from NAV.  Investors purchasing and selling shares in the secondary market may not experience investment results consistent with those experienced by those creating and redeeming directly with the Fund.  If a shareholder purchases shares when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.
 
Trading Risks.  The Fund faces numerous trading risks, including disruption in the creation/redemption process of the Fund and losses from trading in the secondary markets.  Secondary market trading in Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or other reasons.  In addition, trading in Fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to “circuit breaker” rules on the exchange or market.  Additionally, an exchange or market may close or issue trading halts on specific securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments may be restricted, which may result in the Fund being unable to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments.  In such circumstances, the Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be unable to accurately price its investments and/or may incur substantial trading losses.
 
Legal and Regulatory Change Risks.  The regulatory environment for investment companies is evolving, and changes in regulation may adversely affect the value of the Fund’s investments and its ability to pursue its trading strategy.  In addition, the securities markets are subject to comprehensive statutes and regulations.  The SEC, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, other regulators and self-regulatory organizations and exchanges are authorized to take extraordinary actions in the event of market emergencies.  The effect of any future regulatory change on the Fund could be substantial and adverse.
 
Exclusion of Adviser from Commodity Pool Operator Definition.
If required by the Fund’s utilization of certain derivative instruments, an exclusion from the definition of “commodity pool operator” (“CPO”) under the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) and the rules of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) will be claimed with respect to the Fund, and, therefore, the Adviser is not subject to CFTC registration or regulation as a CPO with respect to the Fund.  In addition, the Adviser will rely upon an exemption from the definition of “commodity trading advisor” (“CTA”) under the CEA and the rules of the CFTC.
 
Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings
The Fund’s entire portfolio holdings are publicly disseminated each day the Fund is open for business through the Fund’s website and may be made available through financial reporting and news services or any other medium, including publicly available internet web sites.  Additional information regarding the Fund’s policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio securities is available in the Fund’s SAI.

Investment Management
 
Investment Adviser
Tortoise Index Solutions, LLC serves as the investment adviser to the Fund.  The Adviser provides research-driven, investible indices, exchange-traded products and thought leadership in the universe of essential assets.  Its indices are intended to fill a void in the market and provide benchmarks for use by investment professionals, research analysts and industry executives to analyze relative performance as well as to provide a basis for passively managed exchange-traded products. The Adviser and Palmer Square Capital Management LLC, a registered investment adviser, are affiliated entities that are under common control.
 
The Adviser is a Delaware limited liability company and a registered investment adviser.  The Adviser was formed in 2015 and, therefore, has limited investment management experience.  The Adviser is affiliated with Tortoise Capital Advisors, L.L.C. (“Tortoise Capital”), a registered investment adviser specializing in actively managed listed energy investing, with approximately $16.4 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2016 and Tortoise Credit Strategies, LLC (“Tortoise Credit”), a registered investment adviser specializing on fixed income strategies, with approximately $4.1 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2016.  Tortoise Capital and Tortoise Credit serve as investment advisers to other series of the Trust.  The principal business address of the Adviser is 11550 Ash Street, Suite 300, Leawood, Kansas 66211.  The telephone number for the Adviser is 1-844-TR-INDEX (1-844- 874-6339) and the Adviser’s website is www.tortoiseindexsolutions.com.
 
For the services it provides to the Fund, the Fund pays the Adviser a fee, which is calculated daily and paid monthly, at the annual rate of 0.40% of the average daily net assets of the Fund.  Under the investment advisory agreement, the Adviser has agreed to pay all expenses incurred by the Fund except for the advisory fee, interest, taxes, brokerage expenses and other fees, charges, taxes, levies or expenses (such as stamp taxes) incurred in connection with the execution of portfolio transactions or in connection with creation and redemption transactions (including without limitation any fees, charges, taxes, levies or expenses related to the purchase or sale of an amount of any currency, or the patriation or repatriation of any security or other asset, related to the execution of portfolio transactions or any creation or redemption transactions), legal fees or expenses in connection with any arbitration, litigation or pending or threatened arbitration or litigation, acquired fund fees and expenses, any fees and expenses related to the provision of securities lending services, extraordinary expenses, and distribution fees and expenses paid by the Trust under any distribution plan adopted pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act.
 
A discussion regarding the basis for the Board’s approval of the Investment Advisory Agreement with the Adviser will be available in the Fund’s Semi-Annual Report to Shareholders dated May 31, 2017.

Portfolio Manager
Matthew Weglarz is primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and has served as portfolio manager for the Fund since its inception in February 2017.  Mr. Weglarz has also served as portfolio manager of another exchange traded fund since its inception on June 29, 2015.  Previously, Mr. Weglarz served as Vice President and Trader for Tortoise Capital Advisors from January 2014 through the Fund’s inception and as Trader from October 2008 through January 2014.  Mr. Weglarz graduated from the Missouri State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in finance and earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Notre Dame.  He is a CFA charterholder.
 
Additional information about the portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio manager, and the portfolio manager’s ownership of securities in the Fund is available in the SAI.
 
Buying and Selling Fund Shares
Shares are expected to be listed for secondary trading on the Bats BZX Exchange.  When you buy or sell shares on the secondary market, you will pay or receive the market price.  The Fund’s shares will trade on the Bats BZX Exchange at prices that may differ to varying degrees from the daily NAV of the Fund’s shares.  A “Business Day” with respect to the Fund is any day on which the Bats BZX Exchange is open for business.  The Bats BZX Exchange is generally open Monday through Friday and is closed weekends and the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
 
NAV per share for the Fund is computed by dividing the value of the net assets of the Fund (i.e., the value of its total assets less total liabilities) by the total number of shares of the Fund outstanding.  Expenses and fees, including management and distribution fees, if any, are accrued daily and taken into account for purposes of determining NAV.  NAV is determined each business day, normally as of the close of regular trading of the Bats BZX Exchange (ordinarily 4:00 p.m., Eastern time).
 
You may incur customary brokerage commissions and charges and may pay some or all of the spread between the bid and the offered price in the secondary market on each leg of a round trip (purchase and sale) transaction.  Investors buying or selling shares in the secondary market will pay brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by brokers as determined by that broker.  Brokerage commissions are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell relatively small amounts of shares.  In addition, secondary market investors will also incur the cost of the difference between the price that an investor is willing to pay for shares (the “bid” price) and the price at which an investor is willing to sell shares (the “ask” price).  This difference in bid and ask prices is often referred to as the “spread” or “bid/ask spread.”  The bid/ask spread varies over time for shares based on trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund’s shares have more trading volume and market liquidity and higher if the Fund’s shares have little trading volume and market liquidity.  Further, increased market volatility may cause increased bid/ask spreads.  Due to the costs of buying or selling shares, including bid/ask spreads, frequent trading of shares may significantly reduce investment results and an investment in shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments.
 
The NYSE Arca (or market data vendors or other information providers) will disseminate, every fifteen seconds during the regular trading day, an intraday value of shares of the Fund, also known as the “indicative optimized portfolio value,” or IOPV.  The IOPV calculations are estimates of the value of the Fund’s NAV per share based on the creation basket constituents, which represents the current market value of the securities and/or cash required to be deposited in exchange for a Creation Unit.  Premiums and discounts between the IOPV and the market price may occur.  The IOPV does not necessarily reflect the precise composition of the current portfolio of securities held by the Fund at a particular point in time or the best possible valuation of the current portfolio.  Therefore, it should not be viewed as a “real-time” update of the NAV per share of the Fund, which is calculated only once a day.  The quotations of certain holdings of the Fund may not be updated during U.S. trading hours if such holdings do not trade in the United States.  In such instances, a stale price representing the last trading price for such securities will be used in the IOPV calculation.  We do not believe there are any other elements that might adversely affect the use of the IOPV as an indicator of the Funds current market value.  Neither the Fund, the Adviser, nor any of their affiliates are involved in, or responsible for, the calculation or dissemination of such IOPVs and make no warranty as to their accuracy.
 
The Fund’s portfolio securities generally are valued at market price.  Securities are valued at fair value when market quotations are not readily available.  The Board has adopted procedures to be followed when the Fund must utilize fair value pricing, including when reliable market quotations are not readily available, when the Fund’s pricing service does not provide a valuation (or provides a valuation that, in the judgment of the Adviser, does not represent the security’s fair value), or when, in the judgment of the Adviser, events have rendered the market value unreliable (see, for example, the discussion of fair value pricing of foreign securities in the paragraph below).  Valuing securities at fair value involves reliance on the judgment of the Adviser and the Board (or a committee thereof), and may result in a different price being used in the calculation of the Fund’s NAV from quoted or published prices for the same securities.  Fair value determinations are made in good faith in accordance with procedures adopted by the Board.  There can be no assurance that the Fund will obtain the fair value assigned to a security if it sells the security.
 
In certain circumstances, the Fund may employ fair value pricing to ensure greater accuracy in determining daily NAV.  Fair value pricing may be applied to foreign securities held by the Fund upon the occurrence of an event after the close of trading on non-U.S. markets but before the close of trading on the Bats BZX Exchange when the Fund’s NAV is determined.  If the event may result in a material adjustment to the price of the Fund’s foreign securities once non-U.S. markets open on the following business day (such as, for example, a significant surge or decline in the U.S. market), the Fund may value such foreign securities at fair value, taking into account the effect of such event, in order to calculate the Fund’s NAV.
 
Other types of portfolio securities that the Fund may fair value include, but are not limited to: (1) investments that are illiquid or traded infrequently, including “restricted” securities and private placements for which there is no public market; (2) investments for which, in the judgment of the Adviser, the market price is stale; and (3) securities for which trading has been halted or suspended.
 
Fair value pricing involves subjective judgments and it is possible that a fair value determination for a security will materially differ from the value that could be realized upon the sale of the security.  In addition, fair value pricing could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund’s NAV and the prices used by the Fund’s Underlying Index.  This may result in a difference between the Fund’s performance and the performance of the Fund’s Underlying Index.
 
Frequent Purchases and Redemptions of Fund Shares
 
The Fund does not impose any restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of Creation Units; however, the Fund reserves the right to reject or limit purchases at any time as described in the SAI.  When considering that no restriction or policy was necessary, the Board evaluated the risks posed by arbitrage and market timing activities, such as whether frequent purchases and redemptions would interfere with the efficient implementation of the Fund’s investment strategy, or whether they would cause the Fund to experience increased transaction costs.  The Board considered that, unlike traditional mutual funds, shares are issued and redeemed only in large quantities of shares known as Creation Units available only from the Fund directly to a few institutional investors (“Authorized Participants”), and that most trading in the Fund occurs on the Exchange at prevailing market prices and does not involve the Fund directly.  Given this structure, the Board determined that it is unlikely that trading due to arbitrage opportunities or market timing by shareholders would result in negative impact to the Fund or its shareholders.  In addition, frequent trading of shares by Authorized Participants and arbitrageurs is critical to helping the market price remain at or close to NAV.
 
Other Considerations
 
Distribution and Service Plan.  The Fund has adopted a Distribution and Service Plan in accordance with Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act pursuant to which payments of up to 0.25% per annum of the Fund’s average daily net assets may be made for the sale and distribution of its Fund shares or for providing or arranging for others to provide shareholder services and for the maintenance of shareholder accounts.   The Fund does not presently intend to make any payments pursuant to the Distribution and Service Plan for the fiscal year ending November 30, 2017.  Thereafter, 12b-1 fees may only be imposed after approval by the Board.  Any forgone 12b-1 fees during the initial twelve months will not be recoverable during any subsequent period.  Because these fees would be paid out of the Fund’s assets on an on-going basis, if payments are made in the future, these fees will increase the cost of your investment and may cost you more than paying other types of sales charges.
 
Payments to Financial Intermediaries.  The Adviser, out of its own resources and without additional cost to the Fund or its shareholders, may pay intermediaries, including affiliates of the Adviser, for the sale of Fund shares and related services, including participation in activities that are designed to make intermediaries more knowledgeable about exchange traded products.  Payments are generally made to intermediaries that provide shareholder servicing, marketing and related sales support, educational training or support, or access to sales meetings, sales representatives and management representatives of the intermediary.  Payments may also be made to intermediaries for making shares of the Fund available to their customers generally and in investment programs.  The Adviser may also reimburse expenses or make payments from its own resources to intermediaries in consideration of services or other activities the Adviser believes may facilitate investment in the Fund.
 
The possibility of receiving, or the receipt of, the payments described above may provide intermediaries or their salespersons with an incentive to favor sales of shares of the Fund, and other funds whose affiliates make similar compensation available, over other investments that do not make such payments.  Investors may wish to take such payment arrangements into account when considering and evaluating any recommendations relating to the Fund and other ETFs.
 
Additional Information.  The Fund enters into contractual arrangements with various parties, including among others the Fund’s investment adviser, who provide services to the Fund.  Shareholders are not parties to, or intended (or “third party”) beneficiaries of, those contractual arrangements.
 
The Prospectus and the SAI provide information concerning the Fund that you should consider in determining whether to purchase shares of the Fund.  The Fund may make changes to this information from time to time.  Neither this Prospectus nor the SAI is intended to give rise to any contract rights or other rights in any shareholder, other than any rights conferred explicitly by federal or state securities laws that may not be waived.
 
Dividends, Distributions and Taxes
 
Fund Distributions
The Fund pays out dividends from its net investment income and distributes its net capital gains, if any, to investors at least annually.
 
Dividend Reinvestment Service
Brokers may make the Depository Trust Company book-entry dividend reinvestment service available to their customers who own shares.  If this service is available and used, dividend distributions of both income and capital gains will automatically be reinvested in additional whole shares of the Fund purchased on the secondary market.  Without this service, investors would receive their distributions in cash. In order to achieve the maximum total return on their investments, investors are encouraged to use the dividend reinvestment service.  To determine whether the dividend reinvestment service is available and whether there is a commission or other charge for using this service, consult your broker.  Brokers may require the Fund’s shareholders to adhere to specific procedures and timetables.
 
Tax Information
The following is a summary of some important tax issues that affect the Fund and its shareholders.  The summary is based on current tax laws, which may be changed by legislative, judicial or administrative action.  You should not consider this summary to be a comprehensive explanation of the tax treatment of the Fund, or the tax consequences of an investment in the Fund.  More information about taxes is located in the SAI.  You are urged to consult your tax adviser regarding specific questions as to federal, state and local income taxes.
 
Tax Status of the Fund
The Fund is treated as a separate entity for federal income tax purposes, and intends to qualify for the special tax treatment afforded to RICs under the Code.  As long as the Fund qualifies for treatment as a RIC, it pays no federal income tax on the earnings it distributes to shareholders.
 
Tax Status of Distributions
 
·
The Fund will distribute each year substantially all of its net investment income and net capital gains income.
 
·
Dividends and distributions are generally taxable to you whether you receive them in cash or reinvest them in additional shares.
 
·
The dividends you receive from the Fund will generally be taxed as either ordinary income or “qualified dividend income.”  Dividends that are reported by the Fund as qualified dividend income are generally taxable to noncorporate shareholders at tax rates of up to 20% (lower rates apply to individuals in lower tax brackets).  Qualified dividend income generally is income derived from dividends paid to the Fund by U.S. corporations or certain foreign corporations that are either incorporated in a U.S. possession or eligible for tax benefits under certain U.S. income tax treaties.  In addition, dividends that the Fund receives in respect of stock of certain foreign corporations may be qualified dividend income if that stock is readily tradable on an established U.S. securities market.  For dividends to be taxed as qualified dividend income to a non-corporate shareholder, the Fund must satisfy certain holding period requirements with respect to the underlying stock and the non-corporate shareholder must satisfy holding period requirements with respect to his or her ownership of the Fund’s shares.  Holding periods may be suspended for these purposes for stock that is hedged.
 
·
Distributions from the Fund’s short-term capital gains are generally taxable as ordinary income.  Distributions from the Fund’s net capital gain (the excess of the Fund’s net long- term capital gains over its net short-term capital losses) are taxable as long-term capital gains regardless of how long you have owned your shares.  For noncorporate shareholders, long-term capital gains are generally taxable at tax rates of up to 20% (lower rates apply to individuals in lower tax brackets).
 
·
Distributions in excess of the Fund’s earnings and profits will, as to each shareholder, constitute a return of capital to the extent of the shareholder’s basis in Fund shares and will be treated as a gain from the sale or exchange of shares to the extent in excess of the shareholder’s basis.
 
·
All other Fund distributions are generally taxable as ordinary income.
 
·
U.S. individuals with income exceeding specified thresholds are subject to a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on all or a portion of their “net investment income,” which includes interest, dividends, and certain capital gains (including certain capital gain distributions and capital gains realized on the sale of shares of the Fund).  This 3.8% tax also applies to all or a portion of the undistributed net investment income of certain shareholders that are estates and trusts.
 
·
Corporate shareholders may be entitled to a dividends-received deduction for the portion of dividends they receive from the Fund that are attributable to dividends received by the Fund from U.S. corporations, subject to certain limitations.  The Fund’s trading strategies may significantly limit its ability to distribute dividends eligible for the dividends- received deduction for corporations.
 
·
Distributions paid in January but declared by the Fund in October, November or December of the previous year payable to shareholders of record in such a month may be taxable to you in the previous year.
 
·
The Fund will inform you of the amount of your ordinary income dividends, qualified dividend income, and net capital gain distributions shortly after the close of each calendar year.
 
·
If you hold your shares in a tax-qualified retirement account, you generally will not be subject to federal taxation on Fund distributions until you begin receiving distributions from your retirement account.  You should consult your tax adviser regarding the tax rules that apply to your retirement account.
 
Tax Status of Share Transactions.  Each sale of Fund shares or redemption of Creation Units will generally be a taxable event for the selling or redeeming shareholder.  A shareholder who sells Fund shares will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the shareholder’s basis in the Fund shares and the amount of cash received in the sale.  A person who redeems Creation Units will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the exchanger’s basis in the Creation Units and the aggregate market value of any securities and the amount of cash received.
 
Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares (including as part of a redemption of Creation Units) is generally treated as a long-term gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year, and otherwise as short-term gain or loss.  Any capital loss on the sale of shares held for six months or less (including as part of a redemption of Creation Units) is treated as long-term capital loss to the extent distributions of net capital gain were paid (or treated as paid) with respect to such shares.  Any loss realized on a sale of shares (including as part of a redemption of Creation Units) will be disallowed to the extent shares of the Fund are acquired, including through reinvestment of dividends, within a 61-day period beginning 30 days before and ending 30 days after the disposition of Fund shares.
 
A person who exchanges securities for Creation Units generally will recognize gain or loss from the exchange.  The gain or loss will generally equal the difference between the market value of the Creation Units at the time of the exchange and the exchanger’s aggregate basis in the securities surrendered plus any cash paid for the Creation Units.
 
Backup Withholding.  The Fund will be required in certain cases to withhold at applicable withholding rates (currently 28%) and remit to the United States Treasury the amount withheld on amounts payable to any shareholder who (1) has provided the Fund either an incorrect tax identification number or no number at all, (2) is subject to backup withholding by the Internal Revenue Service for failure to properly report payments of interest or dividends, (3) has failed to certify to the Fund that such shareholder is not subject to backup withholding, or (4) has not certified that such shareholder is a U.S. person (including a U.S. resident alien).
 
Non-U.S. Investors.  If you are a nonresident alien individual or a foreign corporation, trust or estate, (i) the Fund’s taxable dividends will generally be subject to a 30% U.S. withholding tax, unless a lower treaty rate applies or unless such income is effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business, but (ii) gains from the sale or other disposition of shares of the Fund (including as part of a redemption of Creation Units) generally are not subject to U.S. taxation, unless you are a nonresident alien individual who is physically present in the U.S. for 183 days or more per year.  The 30% withholding tax also will not apply to dividends that the Fund reports as (a) interest-related dividends, to the extent such dividends are derived from the Fund’s “qualified net interest income,” or (b) short-term capital gain dividends, to the extent such dividends are derived from the Fund’s “qualified short-term gain.”  “Qualified net interest income” is the Fund’s net income derived from U.S.-source interest and original issue discount, subject to certain exceptions and limitations.  “Qualified short-term gain” generally means the excess of the net short-term capital gain of the Fund for the taxable year over its net long-term capital loss, if any.  Different tax consequences may result if you are a foreign shareholder engaged in a trade or business within the United States or if you are a foreign shareholder entitled to claim the benefits of a tax treaty.  Backup withholding will not be applied to payments that have been subject to the 30% withholding tax described in this paragraph.
 
If you are a foreign entity, you may be subject to a 30% withholding tax on ordinary income, Fund distributions and, after December 31, 2018, redemptions and certain capital gain dividends unless you comply with applicable requirements with respect to persons investing in or holding accounts with you.
 
The foregoing discussion summarizes some of the consequences under current federal tax law of an investment in the Fund. It is not a substitute for personal tax advice.  Consult your personal tax advisor about the potential tax consequences of an investment in the Fund under all applicable tax laws.
 
Additional Information
 
Other Information
For purposes of the 1940 Act, the Fund is treated as a registered investment company.  Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act restricts investments by investment companies in the securities of other investment companies, including shares of the Fund.  The SEC has issued an exemptive order on which the Fund relies permitting registered investment companies to invest in exchange-traded funds offered by the Adviser beyond the limits of Section 12(d)(1) subject to certain terms and conditions, including that such registered investment companies enter into an agreement with the Trust.
 
Continuous Offering
The method by which Creation Units are purchased and traded may raise certain issues under applicable securities laws.  Because new Creation Units are issued and sold by the Fund on an ongoing basis, at any point a “distribution,” as such term is used in the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), may occur.  Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner which could render them statutory underwriters and subject them to the Prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the Securities Act.
 
For example, a broker-dealer firm or its client may be deemed a statutory underwriter if it takes Creation Units after placing an order with the Distributor, breaks them down into individual shares, and sells such shares directly to customers, or if it chooses to couple the creation of a supply of new shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for shares.  A determination of whether one is an underwriter for purposes of the Securities Act must take into account all the facts and circumstances pertaining to the activities of the broker-dealer or its client in the particular case, and the examples mentioned above should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could lead to categorization as an underwriter.
 
Broker-dealer firms should also note that dealers who are not “underwriters” but are effecting transactions in shares, whether or not participating in the distribution of shares, are generally required to deliver a prospectus.  This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(a)(3) of the Securities Act is not available with respect to such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the 1940 Act.  As a result, broker dealer-firms should note that dealers who are not underwriters but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted with ordinary secondary market transactions) and thus dealing with shares that are part of an over-allotment within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(a) of the Securities Act would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the Securities Act.  Firms that incur a prospectus delivery obligation with respect to shares of the Fund are reminded that under Rule 153 of the Securities Act, a prospectus delivery obligation under Section 5(b)(2) of the Securities Act owed to an exchange member in connection with a sale on the Bats BZX Exchange is satisfied by the fact that such Fund’s Prospectus is available on the SEC’s electronic filing system.  The prospectus delivery mechanism provided in Rule 153 is only available with respect to transactions on an exchange.
 
Premium/Discount Information
Information regarding how often the shares of the Fund traded on the Bats BZX Exchange at a price above (i.e. at a premium) or below (i.e. at a discount) the NAV of the Fund is available at www.tortoiseindexsolutions.com.
 
Index Descriptions
 
Please note that you cannot invest directly in an index, although you may invest in the underlying securities represented in the index.  Index returns are adjusted to reflect the reinvestment of dividends on securities in the index, but do not reflect the expenses of the Fund.
 
The Tortoise Water IndexSM is a float-adjusted, modified market capitalization-weighted index comprised of water infrastructure and water management companies that are materially engaged in the water infrastructure or water management industries. They are listed and traded on the New York, NASDAQ or Toronto stock exchanges.
 
Financial Highlights
 
Because the Fund has recently commenced operations, there are no financial highlights available at this time.
 


INVESTMENT ADVISER
Tortoise Index Solutions, LLC.
11550 Ash Street, Suite 300
Leawood, Kansas 66211


INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
Ernst & Young, LLP
220 South Sixth Street, Suite 1400
Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55402

LEGAL COUNSEL
Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young
2005 Market Street, Suite 2600
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

CUSTODIAN
U.S. Bank N.A.
Custody Operations
1555 North Rivercenter Drive, Suite 302
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53212


TRANSFER AGENT, FUND ACCOUNTANT AND FUND ADMINISTRATOR
U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC
615 East Michigan Street
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202


DISTRIBUTOR
Quasar Distributors, LLC
615 East Michigan Street
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202

PRIVACY NOTICE

The Fund collects only relevant information about you that the law allows or requires them to have in order to conduct their business and properly service you.  The Fund collects financial and personal information about you (“Personal Information”) directly (e.g., information on account applications and other forms, such as your name, address, and social security number, and information provided to access account information or conduct account transactions online, such as password, account number, e-mail address, and alternate telephone number), and indirectly (e.g., information about your transactions with us, such as transaction amounts, account balance and account holdings).

The Fund does not disclose any non-public personal information about their shareholders or former shareholders other than for everyday business purposes such as to process a transaction, service an account, respond to court orders and legal investigations or as otherwise permitted by law.  Third parties that may receive this information include companies that provide transfer agency, technology and administrative services to the Fund, as well as the Fund’s investment adviser who is an affiliate of the Fund.  If you maintain a retirement/educational custodial account directly with the Fund, we may also disclose your Personal Information to the custodian for that account for shareholder servicing purposes.  The Fund limits access to your Personal Information provided to unaffiliated third parties to information necessary to carry out their assigned responsibilities to the Fund.  All shareholder records will be disposed of in accordance with applicable law.  The Fund maintains physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your Personal Information and requires their third party service providers with access to such information to treat your Personal Information with the same high degree of confidentiality.

In the event that you hold shares of the Fund through a financial intermediary, including, but not limited to, a broker-dealer, bank, credit union or trust company, the privacy policy of your financial intermediary governs how your non-public personal information is shared with unaffiliated third parties.


Tortoise Water Fund
A series of Managed Portfolio Series

FOR MORE INFORMATION

You can find more information about the Fund in the following documents:

Statement of Additional Information
Please refer to the SAI for additional information on the Fund.  The SAI provides additional details about the investments and techniques of the Fund and certain other additional information.  A current SAI is on file with the SEC and is incorporated into this Prospectus by reference.  This means that the SAI is legally considered a part of this Prospectus even though it is not physically within this Prospectus.

Annual and Semi-Annual Reports
The Fund’s annual and semi-annual reports will provide additional information about the Fund’s investments when they become available.  The annual reports will contain a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that affected the Fund’s performance during the Fund’s prior fiscal period.

You will be able to obtain a free copy of these documents and the SAI, request other information, or make general inquiries about the Fund by calling the Fund (toll-free) at 844-874-6339, by visiting the Adviser’s website at www.tortoiseindexsolutions.com or by writing to:

Tortoise Water Fund
c/o U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC
P.O. Box 701
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201-0701

You can review and copy information, including the Fund’s reports and SAI, at the SEC’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C.  You can obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling (202) 551-8090.  Reports and other information about the Fund is also available:

·
Free of charge from the SEC’s EDGAR database on the SEC’s Internet website at http://www.sec.gov;
·
For a fee, by writing to the SEC’s Public Reference Room, 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549-1520; or
·
For a fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov.


 
(The Trust’s SEC Investment Company Act of 1940 file number is 811-22525)
 
 





 
STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
 

 
 
TORTOISE WATER FUND
 
TICKER SYMBOL: TBLU


(the “Fund”)
 
 
January 31, 2017
 
Principal Listing Exchange for the Fund: Bats BZX Exchange
 
This Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”) provides general information about the Tortoise Water Fund, (the “Fund”), a series of Managed Portfolio Series (the “Trust”).  This SAI is not a prospectus and should be read in conjunction with the Fund’s current prospectus dated January 31, 2017 (the “Prospectus”), as supplemented and amended from time to time, which is incorporated herein by reference.  Capitalized terms used herein that are not defined have the same meaning as in the Prospectus, unless otherwise noted.  To obtain a copy of the Prospectus and/or the Fund’s Annual Report when it becomes available, free of charge, please write or call the Fund at the address or toll-free telephone number below, or visit the Adviser’s website at www.tortoiseindexsolutions.com.


Tortoise Water Fund
c/o U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC
P.O. Box 701
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201-0701
1-844-874-6339
 

 
 
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The Trust and the Fund
The Trust is a Delaware statutory trust organized on January 27, 2011, and is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) as an open-end management investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, (the “1940 Act”) and the offering of the Fund’s shares is registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”).  This Statement of Additional Information relates to one series of the Trust: the Tortoise Water Fund (the “Fund”).

History of the Fund.  The Fund is a series of the Trust.  The Fund is managed, by Tortoise Index Solutions, LLC (the “Adviser”).  The Adviser is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund.

Shares of other series of the Trust are offered in separate prospectuses and SAIs.  The Fund’s Prospectus and this SAI are a part of the Trust’s Registration Statement filed with the SEC.  Copies of the Trust’s complete Registration Statement may be obtained from the SEC upon payment of the prescribed fee, or may be accessed free of charge at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.  As permitted by Delaware law, the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) may create additional series (and classes thereof) of the Trust and offer shares of these series and classes under the Trust at any time without the vote of shareholders.

All shares of a series shall represent an equal proportionate interest in the assets held with respect to that series (subject to the liabilities held with respect to that series and such rights and preferences as may have been established and designated with respect to classes of shares of such series), and each share of a series shall be equal to each other share of that series.

Shares are voted in the aggregate and not by series or class, except in matters where a separate vote is required by the 1940 Act, or when the matters affect only the interest of a particular series or class.  When matters are submitted to shareholders for a vote, each shareholder is entitled to one vote for each full share owned and fractional votes for fractional shares owned.

The Trust does not normally hold annual meetings of shareholders.  Meetings of the shareholders shall be called by any member of the Board upon written request of shareholders holding, in the aggregate, not less than 10% of the shares, such request specifying the purpose or purposes for which such meeting is to be called.

The Board has the authority from time to time to divide or combine the shares of any series into a greater or lesser number of shares of that series without materially changing the proportionate beneficial interest of the shares of that series in the assets belonging to that series or materially affecting the rights of shares of any other series.  In case of the liquidation of a series, the holders of shares of the series being liquidated are entitled to receive a distribution out of the assets, net of the liabilities, belonging to that series.  Expenses attributable to any series (or class thereof) are borne by that series (or class).  Any general expenses of the Trust not readily identifiable as belonging to a particular series are allocated by, or under the direction of, the Board to all applicable series (and classes thereof) in such manner and on such basis as the Board in its sole discretion deems fair and equitable.  No shareholder is liable to further calls for the payment of any sum of money or assessment whatsoever with respect to the Trust or any series of the Trust without his or her express consent.
 

All consideration received by the Trust for the issue or sale of the Fund’s shares, together with all assets in which such consideration is invested or reinvested, and all income, earnings, profits and proceeds thereof, including any proceeds derived from the sale, exchange or liquidation of such assets, and any funds or payments derived from any reinvestment of such proceeds, subject only to the rights of creditors, shall constitute the underlying assets of the Fund.
 
The Adviser serves as investment adviser to the Fund.  The Fund seeks to track the investment results (before fees and expenses) of the Tortoise Water IndexSM (the “Underlying Index”), which is a float-adjusted, modified market capitalization-weighted index comprised of water infrastructure and water management companies that are materially engaged in the water infrastructure or water management industries (“Water Companies”).  A Water Company is defined as a company that derives significant gross revenues from either water infrastructure or water management.    Water infrastructure companies are companies whose principal business is providing public water distribution or supporting/enhancing the infrastructure of water distribution.  Water management companies provide technologies or products that manage or facilitate the management of water distribution and usage.
 
The Fund offers and issues shares at its net asset value per share (“NAV”) only in aggregations of a specified number of shares (each a “Creation Unit”).  The Fund generally offers and issues Shares in exchange for a basket of securities included in the Underlying Index (“Deposit Securities”) together with the deposit of a specified cash payment (“Cash Component”).  The Trust reserves the right to permit or require the substitution of a “cash in lieu” amount (“Deposit Cash”) to be added to the Cash Component to replace any Deposit Security.  The shares are listed on the Bats BZX Exchange (the “Exchange”) and trade on the Exchange at market prices.  These prices may differ from the shares’ NAVs.  The shares are also redeemable only in Creation Unit aggregations, and generally in exchange for portfolio securities and a specified cash payment.  A Creation Unit of the Fund consists of at least 50,000 Shares.
 
Shares may be issued in advance of receipt of Deposit Securities subject to various conditions including a requirement to maintain on deposit with the Trust cash at least equal to a specified percentage of the market value of the missing Deposit Securities as set forth in the Participant Agreement (as defined below).  The Trust may impose a transaction fee for each creation or redemption (the “Transaction Fee”).  In all cases, such fees will be limited in accordance with the requirements of the SEC applicable to management investment companies offering redeemable securities.  The Fund may charge, either in lieu or in addition to the fixed creation or redemption Transaction Fee, a variable fee for creations and redemptions in order to cover certain brokerage, tax, foreign exchange, execution, market impact and other costs and expenses related to the execution of trades resulting from such transaction, up to a maximum of 2.00% of the NAV per Creation Unit, inclusive of any Transaction Fees charged (if applicable).
 
Investment Objective, Policies, Strategies and Associated Risks
The following discussion supplements the description of the Fund’s investment objective and principal investment strategies set forth in the Prospectus.  Except for the fundamental investment limitations listed below (see “Fundamental and Non-Fundamental Investment Limitations”), the Fund’s investment objective, strategies and policies are not fundamental and may be changed by sole action of the Board, without shareholder approval.  The Fund will only invest in any of the following instruments or engage in any of the following investment practices if such investment or activity is consistent with the Fund’s investment objective and permitted by the Fund’s stated investment policies.
Investment Objective
The investment objective of the Fund is set forth under the “Summary Section” in the Fund’s Prospectus.

Diversification
The Fund is classified as a non-diversified investment company under the 1940 Act.  A “non-diversified” classification means that the Fund is not limited by the 1940 Act with regard to the percentage of its assets that may be invested in the securities of a single issuer.  This means that the Fund may invest a greater portion of its assets in the securities of a single issuer than a diversified fund.  The securities of a particular issuer may constitute a greater portion of the Fund’s Underlying Index and, therefore, the securities may constitute a greater portion of the Fund’s portfolio.  This may have an adverse effect on the Fund’s performance or subject the Fund’s shares to greater price volatility than more diversified investment companies.  Moreover, in pursuing its objective, the Fund may hold the securities of a single issuer in an amount exceeding 10% of the outstanding voting securities of the issuer, subject to restrictions imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Internal Revenue Code”).  In particular, as the Fund’s size grows and its assets increase, it will be more likely to hold more than 10% of the voting securities of a single issuer if the issuer has a relatively small public float as compared to other components in its Underlying Index.
 
Concentration
The Fund concentrates its investments in a particular industry or group of industries, as described in the Prospectus.  The securities of issuers in particular industries may dominate the Underlying Index of the Fund and consequently the Fund’s investment portfolio.  This may adversely affect the Fund’s performance or subject its shares to greater price volatility than that experienced by less concentrated investment companies.
 
Equity Securities
Equity securities represent ownership interests in a company.  Investments in equity securities in general are subject to market risks that may cause their prices to fluctuate over time.  Fluctuations in the value of equity securities in which the Fund invests will cause the NAV of the Fund to fluctuate.
 
Types of equity securities in which the Fund may invest:
 
Common Stocks.  Common stock represents an equity ownership interest in the profits and losses of a corporation, after payment of amounts owed to bondholders, other debt holders, and holders of preferred stock.  Holders of common stock generally have voting rights, but the Fund does not expect to have voting control in any of the companies in which they invest.  In addition to the general risks set forth above, investments in common stocks are subject to the risk that in the event a company in which the Fund invests is liquidated, the holders of preferred stock and creditors of that company will be paid in full before any payments are made to the Fund as holders of common stock.  It is possible that all assets of that company will be exhausted before any payments are made to the holders of common stock.
 
Master Limited Partnerships. The Fund may purchase securities issued by master limited partnerships (“MLPs”) or limited partnerships (“LPs”).  An MLP is a business enterprise structured as a publicly-traded state law limited partnership, limited liability company, or state law trust.  MLP securities may be issued by an MLP directly or by an operating subsidiary of the MLP.  An LP is similar, except that its equity is not traded publicly.  The MLP structure is common in the U.S. midstream energy industry, which focuses on energy infrastructure (e.g., oil and gas pipelines and storage).
 
 
The risks associated with MLPs and LPs are very similar to those associated with other types of corporate debt, including credit risk, interest rate risk, and liquidity risk, as well as any risks associated with the business operations of the issuer.
 
Risks of Investing in Equity Securities:
 
General Risks of Investing in Stocks.  While investing in stocks allows investors to participate in the benefits of owning a company, such investors must accept the risks of ownership.  Unlike bondholders, who have preference to a company’s earnings and cash flow, preferred stockholders, followed by common stockholders in order of priority, are entitled only to the residual amount after a company meets its other obligations.  For this reason, the value of a company’s stock will usually react more strongly to actual or perceived changes in the company’s financial condition or prospects than its debt obligations.  Stockholders of a company that fares poorly can lose money.
 
Stock markets tend to move in cycles with short or extended periods of rising and falling stock prices.  The value of a company’s stock may fall because of:
 
·
Factors that directly relate to that company, such as decisions made by its management or lower demand for the company’s products or services;
·
Factors affecting an entire industry, such as increases in production costs; and
·
Changes in general financial market conditions that are relatively unrelated to the company or its industry, such as changes in interest rates, currency exchange rates or inflation rates.
 
Small- and Medium-Sized Companies.  Investors in small- and medium-sized companies typically take on greater risk and price volatility than they would by investing in larger, more established companies.  This increased risk may be due to the greater business risks of their small or medium size, limited markets and financial resources, narrow product lines and frequent lack of management depth.  The securities of small- and medium-sized companies are often traded in the over-the-counter market and might not be traded in volumes typical of securities traded on a national securities exchange.  Thus, the securities of small and medium capitalization companies are likely to be less liquid, and subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements, than securities of larger, more established companies.
 
Foreign Investments and Currencies
The Fund may invest in securities of non-U.S. issuers.  Investments in the securities of foreign issuers and other non-U.S. investments may involve risks in addition to those normally associated with investments in the securities of U.S. issuers or other U.S. investments.  All foreign investments are subject to risks of foreign political and economic instability, adverse movements in foreign exchange rates, and the imposition or tightening of exchange controls and limitations on the repatriation of foreign capital.  Other risks stem from potential changes in governmental attitude or policy toward private investment, which in turn raises the risk of nationalization, increased taxation or confiscation of foreign investors’ assets.
 
 
The financial problems in global economies over the past several years may continue to cause high volatility in global financial markets.  In addition, global economies are increasingly interconnected, which increases the possibilities that conditions in one country or region might adversely impact a different country or region.  The severity or duration of these conditions may also be affected if one or more countries leave the euro currency or by other policy changes made by governments or quasi-governmental organizations.
 
Additional non-U.S. taxes and expenses may also adversely affect the Fund’s performance, including foreign withholding taxes on foreign securities’ dividends.  Brokerage commissions and other transaction costs on foreign securities exchanges are generally higher than in the United States.  Foreign companies may be subject to different accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards.  To the extent the foreign securities held by the Fund are not registered with the SEC or with any other U.S. regulator, the issuers thereof will not be subject to the reporting requirements of the SEC or any other U.S. regulator.  Accordingly, less information may be available about foreign companies and other investments than is generally available on issuers of comparable securities and other investments in the United States.  Foreign securities and other investments may also trade less frequently and with lower volume and may exhibit greater price volatility than U.S. securities and other investments.
 
Changes in foreign exchange rates will affect the value in U.S. dollars of all foreign currency-denominated securities and other investments held by the Fund.  Exchange rates are influenced generally by the forces of supply and demand in the foreign currency markets and by numerous other political and economic events occurring outside the United States, many of which may be difficult, if not impossible, to predict.
 
Income from foreign securities and other investments will be received and realized in foreign currencies, and the Fund is required to compute and distribute income in U.S. dollars.  Accordingly, a decline in the value of a particular foreign currency against the U.S. dollar occurring after the Fund’s income has been earned and computed in U.S. dollars may require the Fund to liquidate portfolio securities and other investments to acquire sufficient U.S. dollars to make a distribution.  Similarly, if the exchange rate declines between the time the Fund incurs expenses in U.S. dollars and the time such expenses are paid, the Fund may be required to liquidate additional portfolio securities and other investments to purchase the U.S. dollars required to meet such expenses.
 
American Depositary Receipts.  American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) are negotiable receipts issued by a U.S. bank or trust company that evidence ownership of securities in a foreign company which have been deposited with such bank or trust company’s office or agent in a foreign country.  Investing in ADRs presents risks that may not be equal to the risk inherent in holding the equivalent shares of the same companies that are traded in the local markets even though the Fund will purchase, sell and be paid dividends on ADRs in U.S. Dollars.  These risks include fluctuations in currency exchange rates, which are affected by international balances of payments and other economic and financial conditions; government intervention; speculation; and other factors.  With respect to certain foreign countries, there is the possibility of expropriation or nationalization of assets, confiscatory taxation, political and social upheaval, and economic instability.  The Fund may be required to pay foreign withholding or other taxes on certain ADRs that it owns.  The Fund may also invest in Global Depositary Receipts (“GDRs”), European Depositary Receipts (“EDRs”), and International Depositary Receipts (“IDRs”) (collectively, with ADRs, “Depositary Receipts”).  GDRs, EDRs and IDRs are similar to ADRs in that they are certificates evidencing ownership of shares of a foreign issuer, however, GDRs, EDRs, and IDRs may be issued in bearer form and denominated in other currencies, and are generally designed for use in specific or multiple securities markets outside the U.S. Depositary receipts will not necessarily be denominated in the same currency as their underlying securities.
 
 
Depositary Receipts may be sponsored by foreign issuers or may be unsponsored.  There is generally less publicly available information with respect to unsponsored Depositary Receipts and there may not be a correlation between such information and the market value of the Depositary Receipts.  Unsponsored ADRs are organized independently and without the cooperation of the foreign issuer of the underlying securities.  While readily exchangeable with stock in local markets, unsponsored ADRs may be less liquid than sponsored ADRs.  The use of Depositary Receipts may increase tracking error relative to the Underlying Index.
 
Derivatives
The Fund may utilize futures contracts, options contracts and swap agreements.  Futures contracts generally provide for the future sale by one party and purchase by another party of a specified commodity or security at a specified future time and at a specified price.  Index futures contracts are settled daily with a payment by one party to the other of a cash amount based on the difference between the level of the index specified in the contract from one day to the next.  Futures contracts are standardized as to maturity date and underlying instrument.  They are traded on futures exchanges and must be executed through a futures commission merchant (“FCM”), which is a brokerage firm that is a member of the relevant exchanges.
 
When the Fund enters into a futures contract, it must deliver to an account controlled by the FCM an amount referred to as “initial margin” that is typically calculated as an amount equal to the volatility in market value of a contract over a fixed period. Initial margin requirements are determined by the respective exchanges on which the futures contracts are traded and the FCM.  Thereafter, a “variation margin” amount may be required to be paid by the Fund or received by the Fund in accordance with margin controls set for such accounts, depending upon changes in the marked-to-market value of the futures contract.
 
Closing out an open futures position is done by taking an opposite position (“buying” a contract which has previously been “sold,” or “selling” a contract previously “purchased”) in an identical contract to terminate the position.  When the futures contract is closed out, if the Fund has a loss equal to or greater than the margin amount, the margin amount is paid to the FCM along with any loss in excess of the margin amount. If the Fund has a loss of less than the margin amount, the excess margin is returned to the Fund. If the Fund has a gain, the full margin amount and the amount of the gain is paid to the Fund.  Brokerage commissions are incurred when a futures contract position is opened or closed.
 
The Fund’s use of futures contracts is subject to the risks associated with derivative instruments generally. In addition, a purchase or sale of a futures contract may result in losses to the Fund in excess of the amount that the Fund delivered as initial margin. Because of the relatively low margin deposits required, futures trading involves a high degree of leverage; as a result, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in immediate and substantial loss, or gain, to the Fund.
 
 
There is a risk of loss by the Fund of its initial and variation margin deposits in the event of bankruptcy of the FCM with which the Fund has an open position in a futures contract. The assets of the Fund may not be fully protected in the event of the bankruptcy of the FCM or central counterparty because the Fund might be limited to recovering only a pro rata share of all available funds and margin segregated on behalf of an FCM’s customers. If the FCM does not provide accurate reporting, the Fund is also subject to the risk that the FCM could use the Fund’s assets, which are held in an omnibus account with assets belonging to the FCM’s other customers, to satisfy its own financial obligations or the payment obligations of another customer.
 
The Fund may purchase and sell put and call options.  A call option gives a holder the right to purchase a specific security or an index at a specified price (“exercise price”) within a specified period of time.  A put option gives a holder the right to sell a specific security or an index at a specified price within a specified period of time.  The initial purchaser of a call option pays the “writer,” i.e., the party selling the option, a premium which is paid at the time of purchase and is retained by the writer whether or not such option is exercised.  The Fund may purchase put options to hedge their portfolios against the risk of a decline in the market value of securities held and may purchase call options to hedge against an increase in the price of securities it is committed to purchase.  The Fund may write put and call options along with a long position in options to increase their ability to hedge against a change in the market value of the securities they hold or are committed to purchase.
 
Options may relate to particular securities and may or may not be listed on a national securities exchange and issued by the Options Clearing Corporation.  Options trading is a highly specialized activity that entails greater than ordinary investment risk.  Options on particular securities may be more volatile than the underlying securities, and therefore, on a percentage basis, an investment in options may be subject to greater fluctuation than an investment in the underlying securities themselves.  Because options premiums paid or received by the Fund are small in relation to the market value of the investments underlying the options, buying and selling put and call options can be more speculative than investing directly in securities.
 
The Fund may effectively terminate its right or obligation under an option by entering into a closing transaction.  For example, the Fund may terminate an obligation under a call option or put option that it has written by purchasing an identical call option or put option.  This is known as a closing purchase transaction.  Conversely, the Fund may terminate a position in a put or call option it had purchased by writing an identical put or call option.  This is known as a closing sale transaction.  Closing transactions permit the Fund to realize profits or limit losses on an option position prior to its exercise or expiration.
 
The Fund may enter into swap agreements, including interest rate, index, and total return swap agreements.  Swap agreements are contracts between parties in which one party agrees to make periodic payments to the other party based on the change in market value or level of a specified rate, index or asset.  In return, the other party agrees to make payments to the first party based on the return of a different specified rate, index or asset.  A swap agreement may be negotiated bilaterally and traded OTC between the two parties (for an uncleared swap) or, in some instances, must be transacted through  an FCM and cleared through a clearinghouse that serves as a central counterparty (for a cleared swap).  The notional amount is the set dollar or other value selected by the parties to use as the basis on which to calculate the obligations that the parties to a swap agreement have agreed to exchange. The parties typically do not actually exchange the notional amount. Instead they agree to exchange the returns that would be earned or realized if the notional amount were invested in given investments or at given rates.
 
 
Swap agreements will usually be done on a net basis, i.e., where the two parties make net payments with the Fund receiving or paying, as the case may be, only the net amount of the two payments.  The net amount of the excess, if any, of the Fund’s obligations over its entitlements with respect to each swap is accrued on a daily basis and an amount of cash or equivalents having an aggregate value at least equal to the accrued excess is maintained by the Fund.
 
In a total return swap transaction, one party agrees to pay the other party an amount equal to the total return on a defined underlying asset or a non-asset reference during a specified period of time.  The underlying asset might be a security or basket of securities, and the non-asset reference could be a securities index.  In return, the other party would make periodic payments based on a fixed or variable interest rate or on the total return from a different underlying asset or non-asset reference.  The payments of the two parties could be made on a net basis.
 
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) and related regulatory developments have imposed comprehensive new regulatory requirements on swaps and swap market participants. The new regulatory framework includes: (1) registration and regulation of swap dealers and major swap participants; (2) requiring central clearing and execution of standardized swaps; (3) imposing margin requirements on swap transactions; (4) regulating and monitoring swap transactions through position limits and large trader reporting requirements; and (5) imposing record keeping and centralized and public reporting requirements, on an anonymous basis, for most swaps. The CFTC is responsible for the regulation of most swaps, and has completed most of its rules implementing the Dodd-Frank Act swap regulations. The SEC has jurisdiction over a small segment of the market referred to as “security-based swaps,” which includes swaps on single securities or credits, or narrow-based indices of securities or credits, but has not yet completed its rulemaking.

The use of swaps is subject to the risks associated with derivative instruments generally.  In addition, because uncleared swaps are typically executed bilaterally with a swap dealer rather than traded on exchanges, uncleared swap participants may not be as protected as participants on organized exchanges.  Performance of an uncleared swap agreement is the responsibility only of the swap counterparty and not of any exchange or clearinghouse. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that a counterparty will be unable or will refuse to perform under such agreement, including because of the counterparty’s bankruptcy or insolvency.

As noted above, under recent financial reforms, certain types of swaps are, and others eventually are expected to be, required to be cleared through a central counterparty, which may affect counterparty risk and other risks faced by the Fund.  Central clearing is designed to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity compared to uncleared swaps because central clearing interposes the central clearinghouse as the counterparty to each participant’s swap, but it does not eliminate those risks completely. The Fund is also subject to the risk that, after entering into a cleared swap with an executing broker, no FCM or central counterparty is willing or able to clear the transaction. In such an event, the Fund may be required to break the trade and make an early termination payment to the executing broker.
 

With respect to cleared swaps, there is also a risk of loss by the Fund of its initial and variation margin deposits in the event of bankruptcy of the FCM with which the Fund has an open position, or the central counterparty in a swap contract. The assets of the Fund may not be fully protected in the event of the bankruptcy of the FCM or central counterparty because the Fund might be limited to recovering only a pro rata share of all available funds and margin segregated on behalf of an FCM’s customers. If the FCM does not provide accurate reporting, the Fund is also subject to the risk that the FCM could use the Fund’s assets, which are held in an omnibus account with assets belonging to the FCM’s other customers, to satisfy its own financial obligations or the payment obligations of another customer to the central counterparty. Credit risk of cleared swap participants is concentrated in a few clearinghouses, and the consequences of insolvency of a clearinghouse are not clear.

Exclusion of Adviser from Commodity Pool Operator Definition.  Investments in certain derivative instruments may subject the Fund to regulation as a commodity pool.  To the extent the Fund invests in such derivative instruments, an exclusion from the definition of “commodity pool operator” (“CPO”) under the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) and the rules of the CFTC will be claimed with respect to the Fund, and, therefore, the Adviser is not subject to CFTC registration or regulation as a CPO with respect to the Fund.  In addition, the Adviser will rely upon an exemption from the definition of “commodity trading advisor” (“CTA”) under the CEA and the rules of the CFTC.

The terms of the CPO exclusion would require the Fund, among other things, to adhere to certain limits on its investments in “commodity interests.” Commodity interests include commodity futures, commodity options and swaps, which in turn include non-deliverable currency forward contracts, as further described below. Because the Adviser and the Fund intend to comply with the terms of the CPO exclusion, if necessary, the Fund may, in the future, need to adjust its investment strategies, consistent with its investment goal, to limit its investments in these types of instruments. The Fund is not intended as a vehicle for trading in the commodity futures, commodity options or swaps markets. The CFTC has neither reviewed nor approved the Fund’s and the Adviser’s reliance on this exclusion and exemption, respectively, or the Fund, its investment strategies or this SAI.

Generally, the exclusion from CPO regulation requires the Fund to meet one of the following tests for its commodity interest positions, other than positions entered into for bona fide hedging purposes (as defined in the rules of the CFTC): either (1) the aggregate initial margin and premiums required to establish the Fund’s positions in commodity interests may not exceed 5% of the liquidation value of the Fund’s portfolio (after taking into account unrealized profits and unrealized losses on any such positions); or (2) the aggregate net notional value of the Fund’s commodity interest positions, determined at the time the most recent such position was established, may not exceed 100% of the liquidation value of the Fund’s portfolio (after taking into account unrealized profits and unrealized losses on any such positions). In addition to meeting one of these trading limitations, the Fund may not be marketed as a commodity pool or otherwise as a vehicle for trading in the commodity futures, commodity options or swaps markets. If, in the future, the Fund can no longer satisfy these requirements, the notice claiming an exclusion from the definition of a CPO would be withdrawn, and the Adviser would be subject to registration and regulation as a CPO with respect to the Fund, in accordance with CFTC rules that apply to CPOs of registered investment companies. Generally, these rules allow for substituted compliance with CFTC disclosure and shareholder reporting requirements, based on the Adviser’s compliance with comparable SEC requirements. However, as a result of CFTC regulation with respect to the Fund, the Fund may incur additional compliance and other expenses.
 

Risks of Potential Government Regulation of Derivatives.  Risks of Potential Government Regulation of Derivatives.  It is possible that additional government regulation of various types of derivative instruments, including futures, options, and swap contracts, may limit or prevent the Fund from using such instruments as part of its investment strategy, and could ultimately prevent the Fund from being able to achieve its investment objective.  It is impossible to fully predict the effects of past, present or future legislation and regulation in this area, but the effects could be substantial and adverse.  It is possible that legislative and regulatory activity could limit or restrict the ability of the Fund to use certain instruments as part of its investment strategy.  Limits or restrictions applicable to the counterparties with which the Fund engages in derivative transactions could also prevent the Fund from using certain instruments. Other Investment Strategies, Policies and Risks.
 
Other Equity Securities
 
Real Estate Investment Trusts.  The real estate securities in which the Fund may invest consist of securities issued by Real Estate Investment Trusts (“REITs”) and/or Real Estate Operating Companies (“REOCs”) that are listed on a securities exchange or traded over-the-counter.   A REIT is a corporation or trust that invests in fee or leasehold ownership of real estate, mortgages or shares issued by other REITs and receives favorable tax treatment provided it meets certain conditions.  REITs may be characterized as equity REITs (i.e., REITs that primarily invest in fee ownership and leasehold ownership of land), mortgage REITs (i.e., REITs that primarily invest in mortgages on real estate and other real estate debt) or hybrid REITs which invest in both fee and leasehold ownership of land and mortgages.  A REIT that meets the applicable requirements of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 may deduct dividends paid to shareholders, effectively eliminating any corporate level federal tax.  As a result, REITs are able to distribute a larger portion of their earnings to investors than other corporate entities subject to the federal corporate tax.  There is the risk that a REIT held by the Fund will fail to qualify for this tax-free pass-through treatment of its income.  By investing in REITs indirectly through the Fund, in addition to bearing a proportionate share of the expenses of the Fund, investors will also indirectly bear similar expenses of the REITs in which the Fund invests.  A REOC is typically structured as a “C” corporation under the tax code and is not required to distribute any portion of its income.  A REOC, therefore, does not receive the same favorable tax treatment that is accorded a REIT.  In addition, the value of the Fund’s securities issued by REOCs may be adversely affected by income streams derived from businesses other than real estate ownership.
 
Preferred Stocks.  Preferred stocks are also units of ownership in a company.  Preferred stocks normally have preference over common stock in the payment of dividends and the liquidation of the company.  However, in all other respects, preferred stocks are subordinated to the liabilities of the issuer.  Unlike common stocks, preferred stocks are generally not entitled to vote on corporate matters.  Types of preferred stocks include adjustable-rate preferred stock, fixed dividend preferred stock, perpetual preferred stock, and sinking fund preferred stock.  Generally, the market values of preferred stock with a fixed dividend rate and no conversion element vary inversely with interest rates and perceived credit risk.
 
Rights and Warrants.  A right is a privilege granted to existing shareholders of a corporation to subscribe to shares of a new issue of common stock before it is issued.  Rights normally have a short life of usually two to four weeks, are freely transferable and entitle the holder to buy the new common stock at a lower price than the public offering price.  Warrants are securities that are usually issued together with a debt security or preferred stock and that give the holder the right to buy proportionate amount of common stock at a specified price.  Warrants are freely transferable and are traded on major exchanges.  Unlike rights, warrants normally have a life that is measured in years and entitles the holder to buy common stock of a company at a price that is usually higher than the market price at the time the warrant is issued.  Corporations often issue warrants to make the accompanying debt security more attractive.
 
 
An investment in warrants and rights may entail greater risks than certain other types of investments.  Generally, rights and warrants do not carry the right to receive dividends or exercise voting rights with respect to the underlying securities, and they do not represent any rights in the assets of the issuer.  In addition, their value does not necessarily change with the value of the underlying securities, and they cease to have value if they are not exercised on or before their expiration date.  Investing in rights and warrants increases the potential profit or loss to be realized from the investment as compared with investing the same amount in the underlying securities.
 
When-Issued Securities.  A when-issued security is one whose terms are available and for which a market exists, but which has not been issued.  When the Fund engages in when-issued transactions, it relies on the other party to consummate the sale.  If the other party fails to complete the sale, the Fund may miss the opportunity to obtain the security at a favorable price or yield.
 
When purchasing a security on a when-issued basis, the Fund assumes the rights and risks of ownership of the security, including the risk of price and yield changes.  At the time of settlement, the market value of the security may be more or less than the purchase price.  The yield available in the market when the delivery takes place also may be higher than those obtained in the transaction itself.  Because the Fund does not pay for the security until the delivery date, these risks are in addition to the risks associated with its other investments.
 
Decisions to enter into “when-issued” transactions will be considered on a case-by-case basis when necessary to maintain continuity in a company’s index membership.  The Fund will segregate cash or liquid securities equal in value to commitments for the when-issued transactions.  The Fund will segregate additional liquid assets daily so that the value of such assets is equal to the amount of the commitments.
 
Debt Securities
The Fund may invest in a wide range of debt securities, which may include investment grade debt securities and below investment grade debt securities (commonly known as “junk bonds” or “high yield bonds”).  Investment grade corporate bonds are those rated BBB- or better by Standard & Poor’s Rating Service, Inc.  (“S&P”) or Baa3 or better by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) each of which are considered a nationally recognized statistical rating organization (“NRSRO”).  To the extent that the Fund invests in below investment grade debt securities, such securities will be rated, at the time of investment, at least B- by S&P or B3 by Moody’s or a comparable rating by at least one other rating agency or, if unrated, determined by the Adviser to be of comparable quality.  The Fund may hold a debt security rated below investment grade if a downgrade occurs after the security has been purchased.  See Appendix A for a description of corporate bond ratings.
 
Sensitivity to interest rate and economic changes.  Debt securities may be sensitive to economic changes, political and corporate developments, and interest rate changes.   In addition, during an economic downturn or periods of rising interest rates, issuers that are highly leveraged may experience increased financial stress that could adversely affect their ability to meet projected business goals, obtain additional financing, and service their principal and interest payment obligations.   Furthermore, periods of economic change and uncertainty can be expected to result in increased volatility of market prices and yields of certain debt securities.   For example, prices of these securities can be affected by financial contracts held by the issuer or third parties (such as derivatives) related to the security or other assets or indices.
 

Liquidity.  Bond markets have consistently grown over the past three decades while the capacity for traditional dealer counterparties to engage in fixed income trading has not kept pace and in some cases has decreased.  As a result, dealer inventories of corporate bonds, which provide a core indication of the ability of financial intermediaries to "make markets," are at or near historic lows in relation to market size.  Because market makers provide stability to a market through their intermediary services, the significant reduction in dealer inventories could potentially lead to decreased liquidity and increased volatility in the fixed income markets.  Such issues may be exacerbated during periods of economic uncertainty.

Liquidity risk may result from the lack of an active market, reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in fixed income securities, and may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances causing increased supply in the market due to selling activity.  Further, fixed income securities with longer durations until maturity face heightened levels of liquidity risk as compared to fixed income securities with shorter durations until maturity.  Finally, liquidity risk also refers to the risk of unusually high redemption requests or other unusual market conditions that may make it difficult for the Fund to fully honor redemption requests within the allowable time period.  Meeting such redemption requests could require the Fund to sell securities at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions, which would reduce the value of the Fund.  It may also be the case that other market participants may be attempting to liquidate holdings at the same time as the Fund, causing increased supply in the market and contributing to liquidity risk and downward pricing pressure.

Changing Fixed Income Market Conditions.  Following the financial crisis that began in 2007, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve”) has attempted to stabilize the U.S. economy and support the U.S. economic recovery by keeping the federal funds rate at or near zero percent.  In addition, the Federal Reserve has purchased large quantities of securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities on the open market (“Quantitative Easing”).  As the Federal Reserve “tapers” or reduces Quantitative Easing, and when the Federal Reserve raises the federal funds rate, there is a risk that interest rates across the U.S. financial system will rise.  These policy changes may expose fixed-income and related markets to heightened volatility and may reduce liquidity for certain fixed income investments, which could cause the value of such investments to decline.  In addition, decreases since 2007 in fixed income dealer market-making capacity may persist in the future, potentially leading to decreased liquidity and increased volatility in the fixed income markets.
 
Below Investment Grade Debt Securities.  Below investment grade debt securities generally offer a higher current yield than that available for investment grade issues.  However, below investment grade debt securities involve higher risks, in that they are especially subject to adverse changes in general economic conditions and in the industries in which the issuers are engaged, to changes in the financial condition of the issuers and to price fluctuations in response to changes in interest rates.  During periods of economic downturn or rising interest rates, highly leveraged issuers may experience financial stress that could adversely affect their ability to make payments of interest and principal and increase the possibility of default.  At times in recent years, the prices of many below investment grade debt securities declined substantially, reflecting an expectation that many issuers of such securities might experience financial difficulties.  As a result, the yields on below investment grade debt securities rose dramatically, reflecting the risk that holders of such securities could lose a substantial portion of their value as a result of the issuers’ financial restructuring or default.  There can be no assurance that such price declines will not recur.  The market for below investment grade debt issues generally is thinner and less active than that for higher quality securities, which may limit the Fund’s ability to sell such securities at fair value in response to changes in the economy or financial markets.  Adverse publicity and investor perceptions, whether or not based on fundamental analysis, may also decrease the values and liquidity of below investment grade debt securities, especially in a thinly traded market.  Changes by recognized rating services in their rating of a debt security may affect the value of these investments.  The Fund will not necessarily dispose of a security when its rating is reduced below its rating at the time of purchase.  However, the Adviser will monitor the investment to determine whether continued investment in the security will assist in meeting the Fund’s investment objective.
 
 
Corporate Debt Securities.  Corporate debt securities are fixed-income securities issued by businesses to finance their operations, although corporate debt instruments may also include bank loans to companies.  Notes, bonds, debentures and commercial paper are the most common types of corporate debt securities, with the primary difference being their maturities and secured or un-secured status.  Commercial paper has the shortest term and is usually unsecured.
 
The broad category of corporate debt securities includes debt issued by domestic or foreign companies of all kinds, including those with small-, mid- and large-capitalizations.  Corporate debt may be rated investment grade or below investment grade and may carry variable or floating rates of interest.
 
Because of the wide range of types and maturities of corporate debt securities, as well as the range of creditworthiness of its issuers, corporate debt securities have widely varying potentials for return and risk profiles.  For example, commercial paper issued by a large established domestic corporation that is rated investment grade may have a modest return on principal, but carries relatively limited risk.  On the other hand, a long-term corporate note issued by a small foreign corporation from an emerging market country that has not been rated may have the potential for relatively large returns on principal, but carries a relatively high degree of risk.
 
Corporate debt securities carry credit risk, interest rate risk and prepayment risk.  Credit risk is the risk that a fund could lose money if the issuer of a corporate debt security is unable to pay interest or repay principal when it is due.  Some corporate debt securities that are rated below investment grade are generally considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities.  The credit risk of a particular issuer’s debt security may vary based on its priority for repayment.  For example, higher ranking (senior) debt securities have a higher priority than lower ranking (subordinated) securities.  This means that the issuer might not make payments on subordinated securities while continuing to make payments on senior securities.  In addition, in the event of bankruptcy, holders of higher-ranking senior securities may receive amounts otherwise payable to the holders of more junior securities.
 
 
Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of certain corporate debt securities will tend to fall when interest rates rise.  In general, corporate debt securities with longer terms tend to fall more in value when interest rates rise than corporate debt securities with shorter terms.  Prepayment risk occurs when issuers may prepay fixed rate debt securities when interest rates fall, forcing the Fund to invest in securities with lower interest rates.  Issuers of debt securities are also subject to the provisions of bankruptcy, insolvency and other laws affecting the rights and remedies of creditors that may restrict the ability of the issuer to pay, when due, the principal of and interest on its debt securities.  The possibility exists therefore, that, as a result of bankruptcy, litigation or other conditions, the ability of an issuer to pay, when due, the principal of and interest on its debt securities may become impaired.
 
Convertible Securities.  Convertible securities are securities that may be exchanged for, converted into, or exercised to acquire a predetermined number of shares of the issuer’s common stock at the Fund’s option during a specified time period (such as convertible preferred stocks, convertible debt, convertible debentures and warrants).  A convertible security is generally a fixed income security that is senior to common stock in an issuer’s capital structure, but is usually subordinated to similar non-convertible fixed income securities.  In exchange for the conversion feature, many corporations will pay a lower rate of interest on convertible securities than debt securities of the same corporation.  In general, the market value of a convertible security is at least the higher of its “investment value” (i.e., its value as a fixed income security) or its “conversion value” (i.e., its value upon conversion into its underlying common stock).
 
Convertible securities are subject to the same risks as similar securities without the convertible feature.  The price of a convertible security is more volatile during times of steady interest rates than other types of debt securities.  The price of a convertible security tends to increase as the market value of the underlying stock rises, whereas it tends to decrease as the market value of the underlying common stock declines.
 
Zero-Coupon Securities.  Zero-coupon securities make no periodic interest payments, but are sold at a deep discount from their face value.  The buyer recognizes a rate of return determined by the gradual appreciation of the security, which is redeemed at face value on a specified maturity date.  The discount varies depending on the time remaining until maturity, as well as market interest rates, liquidity of the security, and the issuer’s perceived credit quality.  If the issuer defaults, the holder may not receive any return on its investment.  Because zero-coupon securities bear no interest, their price fluctuates more than other types of bonds.  Since zero-coupon bondholders do not receive interest payments, when interest rates rise, zero-coupon securities fall more dramatically in value than bonds paying interest on a current basis.  When interest rates fall, zero-coupon securities rise more rapidly in value because the bonds reflect a fixed rate of return.  An investment in zero- coupon may cause the Fund to recognize income and make distributions to shareholders before it receives any cash payments on its investment.
 
Unrated Debt Securities.  The Fund may also invest in unrated debt securities.  Unrated debt, while not necessarily lower in quality than rated securities, may not have as broad a market.  Because of the size and perceived demand for the issue, among other factors, certain issuers may decide not to pay the cost of getting a rating for their bonds.  The creditworthiness of the issuer, as well as any financial institution or other party responsible for payments on the security, will be analyzed to determine whether to purchase unrated bonds.
 
 
Yankee Bonds.  The Fund may invest in Yankee bonds.  Yankee bonds are U.S. dollar denominated bonds typically issued in the U.S. by foreign governments and their agencies and foreign banks and corporations.  The Fund may also invest in Yankee Certificates of Deposit (“Yankee CDs”).  Yankee CDs are U.S. dollar- denominated certificates of deposit issued by a U.S. branch of a foreign bank and held in the U.S.  These investments involve risks that are different from investments in securities issued by U.S. issuers, including potential unfavorable political and economic developments, foreign withholding or other taxes, seizure of foreign deposits, currency controls, interest limitations or other governmental restrictions which might affect and create increased risk relative to payment of principal or interest.
 
Variable and Floating Rate Securities.  Variable and floating rate securities provide for a periodic adjustment in the interest rate paid on the obligations.  The terms of such obligations must provide that interest rates are adjusted periodically based upon an interest rate adjustment index as provided in the respective obligations.  The adjustment intervals may be regular, and range from daily up to annually, or may be event based, such as based on a change in the prime rate.  The Fund may invest in floating rate debt instruments (“floaters”) and engage in credit spread trades.  The interest rate on a floater is a variable rate which is tied to another interest rate, such as a money-market index or Treasury bill rate.  The interest rate on a floater resets periodically, typically every six months.  While, because of the interest rate reset feature, floaters provide the Fund with a certain degree of protection against rises in interest rates, the Fund will participate in any declines in interest rates as well.  A credit spread trade is an investment position relating to a difference in the prices or interest rates of two securities or currencies, where the value of the investment position is determined by movements in the difference between the prices or interest rates, as the case may be, of the respective securities or currencies.  The Fund also may invest in inverse floating rate debt instruments (“inverse floaters”).  The interest rate on an inverse floater resets in the opposite direction from the market rate of interest to which the inverse floater is indexed.  An inverse floating rate security may exhibit greater price volatility than a fixed rate obligation of similar credit quality.
 
U.S. Government Obligations
The Fund may invest in U.S. government obligations.  U.S. government obligations include securities issued or guaranteed as to principal and interest by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities.  Treasury bills, the most frequently issued marketable government securities, have a maturity of up to one year and are issued on a discount basis.  U.S. government obligations include securities issued or guaranteed by government- sponsored enterprises.
 
Payment of principal and interest on U.S. government obligations may be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States or may be backed solely by the issuing or guaranteeing agency or instrumentality itself.  In the latter case, the investor must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the obligation for ultimate repayment, which agency or instrumentality may be privately owned.  There can be no assurance that the U.S. government would provide financial support to its agencies or instrumentalities, including government-sponsored enterprises, where it is not obligated to do so (see “Agency Obligations,” below).  In addition, U.S. government obligations are subject to fluctuations in market value due to fluctuations in market interest rates.  As a general matter, the value of debt instruments, including U.S. government obligations, declines when market interest rates increase and rises when market interest rates decrease.  Certain types of U.S. government obligations are subject to fluctuations in yield or value due to their structure or contract terms.
 
 
Investment Company Securities
The Fund may invest in the securities of other investment companies, subject to applicable limitations under Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act.  Pursuant to Section 12(d)(1), the Fund may invest in the securities of another investment company (the “acquired company”) provided that the Fund, immediately after such purchase or acquisition, does not own in the aggregate: (i) more than 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of the acquired company; (ii) securities issued by the acquired company having an aggregate value in excess of 5% of the value of the total assets of the Fund; or (iii) securities issued by the acquired company and all other investment companies (other than Treasury stock of the Fund) having an aggregate value in excess of 10% of the value of the total assets of the Fund.  To the extent allowed by law, regulation or SEC order, the Fund may invest its assets in securities of investment companies, including money market funds, in excess of the limits discussed above.
 
If the Fund invests in and, thus, is a shareholder of, another investment company, the Fund’s shareholders will indirectly bear the Fund’s proportionate share of the fees and expenses paid by such other investment company, including advisory fees, in addition to both the management fees payable directly by the Fund to the Fund’s own investment adviser and the other expenses that the Fund bears directly in connection with the Fund’s own operations.
 
Exchange Traded Notes (“ETNs”)
An investment in an ETN involves risks, including possible loss of principal.  ETNs are unsecured debt securities issued by a bank that are linked to the total return of a market index.  Risks of investing in ETNs also include limited portfolio diversification, uncertain principal payment, and illiquidity.  Additionally, the investor fee will reduce the amount of return on maturity or at redemption, and as a result the investor may receive less than the principal amount at maturity or upon redemption, even if the value of the relevant index has increased.  An investment in an ETN may not be suitable for all investors.
 
Short-Term Investments
Bank Certificates of Deposit, Bankers’ Acceptances and Time Deposits.  The Fund may acquire certificates of deposit, bankers’ acceptances and time deposits in U.S. dollar or foreign currencies.  Certificates of deposit are negotiable certificates issued against monies deposited in a commercial bank for a definite period of time and earning a specified return.  Bankers’ acceptances are negotiable drafts or bills of exchange, normally drawn by an importer or exporter to pay for specific merchandise, which are “accepted” by a bank, meaning in effect that the bank unconditionally agrees to pay the face value of the instrument on maturity.  These short-term instruments which the Fund may acquire must, at the time of purchase, have capital, surplus and undivided profits in excess of $100 million (including assets of both domestic and foreign branches), based on latest published reports, or less than $100 million if the principal amount of such bank obligations are fully insured by the U.S. Government.  If the Fund holds instruments of foreign banks or financial institutions, it may be subject to additional investment risks that are different in some respects from those incurred if the Fund invests only in debt obligations of U.S. domestic issuers.  See “Foreign Investments” above.  Such risks include future political and economic developments, the possible imposition of withholding taxes by the particular country in which the issuer is located, the possible confiscation or nationalization of foreign deposits, the possible establishment of exchange controls, or the adoption of other foreign governmental restrictions which may adversely affect the payment of principal and interest on these securities.
 
 
Domestic banks and foreign banks are subject to different governmental regulations with respect to the amount and types of loans that may be made and interest rates that may be charged.  In addition, the profitability of the banking industry depends largely upon the availability and cost of Fund and the interest income generated from lending operations.  General economic conditions and the quality of loan portfolios affect the banking industry.
 
As a result of federal and state laws and regulations, domestic banks are required to maintain specified levels of reserves, limited in the amount that they can loan to a single borrower, and are subject to regulations designed to promote financial soundness.  However, such laws and regulations may not necessarily apply to foreign banks, thereby affecting the risk involved in bank obligations that the Fund may acquire.
 
In addition to purchasing certificates of deposit and bankers’ acceptances, to the extent permitted under its investment strategies and policies stated above and in the Prospectus, the Fund may invest in interest-bearing time deposits or other interest-bearing deposits in commercial or savings banks.  Time deposits are non- negotiable deposits maintained at a banking institution for a specified period of time at a specified interest rate.
 
Savings Association Obligations.  The Fund may invest in certificates of deposit (interest-bearing time deposits) issued by savings banks or savings and loan associations that have capital, surplus and undivided profits in excess of $100 million, based on latest published reports, or less than $100 million if the principal amount of such obligations is fully insured by the U.S. government.
 
Commercial Paper, Short-Term Notes and Other Corporate Obligations.  The Fund may invest a portion of its assets in commercial paper and short-term notes.  Commercial paper consists of unsecured promissory notes issued by corporations.  Issues of commercial paper and short-term notes will normally have maturities of less than nine months and fixed rates of return, although such instruments may have maturities of up to one year.
 
The Fund’s investment in commercial paper and short-term notes will consist of issues rated at the time of purchase “A-2” or higher by S&P, “Prime-1” or “Prime-2” by Moody’s, or similarly rated by another nationally recognized statistical rating organization or, if unrated, will be determined by the Adviser to be of comparable quality.  These rating symbols are described in Appendix A.
 
Corporate debt obligations are subject to the risk, among others, of an issuer’s inability to meet principal and interest payments on the obligations, i.e., credit risk.
 
Money Market Mutual Funds.  Generally, money market mutual funds seek to earn income consistent with the preservation of capital and maintenance of liquidity.  They primarily invest in high quality money market obligations, including U.S. government obligations, bank obligations and high-grade corporate instruments.  These investments generally mature within 397 days from the date of purchase.  An investment in a money market mutual fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any government agency.
 
To the extent that the Fund invests in money market funds, a shareholder’s cost of investing in the Fund will generally be higher since the shareholder will indirectly bear fees and expenses charged by the underlying money market mutual funds in addition to the Fund’s direct fees and expenses.  Furthermore, investing in money market funds could affect the timing, amount and character of distributions to a shareholder and therefore may increase the amount of taxes payable by the shareholder.
 
 
Repurchase Agreements
The Fund may enter into repurchase agreements.  Under such agreements, the Fund agrees to purchase U.S. government obligations from a counterparty and the counterparty agrees to repurchase the securities at a mutually agreed upon time and price.  The repurchase price may be higher than the purchase price, the difference being income to the Fund, or the purchase and repurchase prices may be the same, with interest at a stated rate due to the Fund together with the repurchase price on repurchase.  In either case, the income to the Fund is unrelated to the interest rate on the security itself.  Such repurchase agreements will be made only with banks with assets of $500 million or more that are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or with government securities dealers recognized by the Federal Reserve Board and registered as broker-dealers with the SEC or exempt from such registration.  The Fund will generally enter into repurchase agreements of short durations, from overnight to one week, although the underlying securities generally have longer maturities.  The Fund may not enter into a repurchase agreement with more than seven days to maturity if, as a result, more than 15% of the value of the Fund’s net assets would be invested in illiquid securities including such repurchase agreements.  To the extent necessary to facilitate compliance with Section 12(d)(3) of the 1940 Act and Rule 12d3-1 promulgated thereunder, the Fund will ensure that repurchase agreements will be collateralized fully to the extent required by Rule 5b-3.

For purposes of the 1940 Act, a repurchase agreement is deemed to be a loan from the Fund to the seller of the U.S. government obligations that are subject to the repurchase agreement.  It is not clear whether a court would consider the U.S. government obligations to be acquired by the Fund subject to a repurchase agreement as being owned by the Fund or as being collateral for a loan by the Fund to the seller.  In the event of the commencement of bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings with respect to the seller of the U.S. government obligations before its repurchase under a repurchase agreement, the Fund could encounter delays and incur costs before being able to sell the underlying U.S. government obligations.  Delays may involve loss of interest or a decline in price of the U.S. government obligations.  If a court characterizes the transaction as a loan and the Fund has not perfected a security interest in the U.S. government obligations, the Fund may be required to return the securities to the seller’s estate and be treated as an unsecured creditor of the seller.  As an unsecured creditor, the Fund would be at the risk of losing some or all of the principal and income involved in the transaction.  As with any unsecured debt instrument purchased for the Fund, the Adviser seeks to minimize the risk of loss through repurchase agreements by analyzing the creditworthiness of the other party, in this case the seller of the U.S. government security.

Apart from the risk of bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings, there is also the risk that the seller may fail to repurchase the U.S. government obligations.  However, the Fund will always receive as collateral for any repurchase agreement to which it is a party securities acceptable to the Adviser, the market value of which is equal to at least 100% of the repurchase price, and the Fund will make payment against such securities only upon physical delivery or evidence of book entry transfer to the account of its Custodian.  If the market value of the U.S. government obligations subject to the repurchase agreement become less than the repurchase price (including interest), the Fund will direct the seller of the U.S. government obligations to deliver additional securities so that the market value of all securities subject to the repurchase agreement will equal or exceed the repurchase price.  It is possible that the Fund could be unsuccessful in seeking to enforce on the seller a contractual obligation to deliver additional securities.
 
 
Reverse Repurchase Agreements
The Fund may enter into reverse repurchase agreements for temporary purposes with banks and securities dealers if the creditworthiness of the bank or securities dealer has been determined by the Adviser to be satisfactory.  A reverse repurchase agreement is a repurchase agreement in which the Fund is the seller of, rather than the investor in, securities and agrees to repurchase them at an agreed-upon time and price.  Use of a reverse repurchase agreement may be preferable to a regular sale and later repurchase of securities because it avoids certain market risks and transaction costs.

At the time when the Fund enters into a reverse repurchase agreement, liquid assets (such as cash, U.S. government securities or other “high-grade” debt obligations) of the Fund’s having a value at least as great as the purchase price of the securities to be purchased will be segregated on the Fund’s books and held by the Custodian throughout the period of the obligation.  Reverse repurchase agreements are considered a form of borrowing and the use of reverse repurchase agreements by the Fund creates leverage which increases its investment risk.  If the income and gains on securities purchased with the proceeds of these transactions exceed the cost, the Fund’s earnings or net asset value will increase faster than otherwise would be the case; conversely, if the income and gains fail to exceed the cost, earnings or net asset value would decline faster than otherwise would be the case.  The Fund intend to enter into reverse repurchase agreements only if the income from the investment of the proceeds is expected to be greater than the expense of the transaction, because the proceeds are invested for a period no longer than the term of the reverse repurchase agreement.
 
Borrowing
While the Fund has no present intention to do so, it may engage in borrowing.  Borrowing creates an opportunity for increased return, but, at the same time, creates special risks.  Furthermore, if the Fund were to engage in borrowing, an increase in interest rates could reduce the value of the Fund’s shares by increasing the Fund’s interest expense.  Subject to the limitations described under “Investment Limitations” below, the Fund may be permitted to borrow for temporary purposes and/or for investment purposes.  Such a practice will result in leveraging of the Fund’s assets and may cause the Fund to liquidate portfolio positions when it would not be advantageous to do so.  This borrowing may be secured or unsecured.  Provisions of the 1940 Act require the Fund to maintain continuous asset coverage (that is, total assets including borrowings, less liabilities exclusive of borrowings) of 300% of the amount borrowed, with an exception for borrowings not in excess of 5% of the Fund’s total assets made for temporary purposes.  Any borrowings for temporary purposes in excess of 5% of the Fund’s total assets will count against this asset coverage requirement.  If the 300% asset coverage should decline as a result of market fluctuations or other reasons, the Fund may be required to sell some of its portfolio holdings within three days to reduce the debt and restore the 300% asset coverage, even though it may be disadvantageous from an investment standpoint if the Fund sells securities at that time.  Borrowing will tend to exaggerate the effect on net asset value of any increase or decrease in the market value of the Fund’s portfolio.  Money borrowed will be subject to interest costs which may or may not be recovered by appreciation of the securities purchased, if any.  The Fund also may be required to maintain minimum average balances in connection with such borrowings or to pay a commitment or other fee to maintain a line of credit; either of these requirements would increase the cost of borrowing over the stated interest rate.
 
Illiquid and Restricted Securities
The Fund may invest up to 15% of its net assets in illiquid securities, including (i) securities for which there is no readily available market; (ii) securities in which the disposition would be subject to legal restrictions (so called “restricted securities”); and (iii) repurchase agreements having more than seven days to maturity.  However, the Fund will not acquire illiquid securities if, as a result, such securities would comprise more than 15% of the value of the Fund’s net assets.  The Board or its delegate has the ultimate authority to determine, to the extent permissible under the federal securities laws, which securities are liquid or illiquid for purposes of this 15% limitation.  The Board has delegated to the Adviser the day-to-day determination of the illiquidity of any security held by the Fund, although it has retained oversight and ultimate responsibility for such determinations.  Although no definitive liquidity criteria are used, the Board has directed the Adviser to consider such factors as (a) frequency of trading and availability of quotations; (b) the number of dealers willing to purchase or sell the security and the availability of buyers; (c) the willingness of dealers to be market makers in the security; and (d) the nature of trading activity including (i) the time needed to dispose of a position or part of a position and (ii) offer and solicitation methods.  A considerable period of time may elapse between the Fund’s decision to sell such securities and the time when the Fund is able to sell them, during which time the value of the securities could decline.  Illiquid securities will usually be priced at fair value as determined in good faith by the Board or its delegate.  If, through the appreciation of illiquid securities or the depreciation of liquid securities, more than 15% of the value of the Fund’s net assets is invested in illiquid securities, including restricted securities which are not readily marketable, the Fund will take such steps as is deemed advisable, if any, to protect liquidity.
 
 
Restricted securities may be sold only in privately negotiated transactions or in a public offering with respect to which a registration statement is in effect under the Securities Act.  Where registration is required, the Fund may be obligated to pay all or part of the registration expenses and a considerable period may elapse between the time of the decision to sell and the time the Fund may be permitted to sell a security under an effective registration statement.  If, during such a period, adverse market conditions were to develop, the Fund might obtain a less favorable price than that which prevailed when it decided to sell.  Restricted securities issued pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act that have a readily available market usually are not deemed illiquid for purposes of this limitation by the Fund.  However, investing in Rule 144A securities could result in increasing the level of the Fund’s illiquidity if qualified institutional buyers become, for a time, uninterested in purchasing these securities.
 
Cyber Security Risk
Investment companies, such as the Fund, and its service providers may be subject to operational and information security risks resulting from cyber attacks.  Cyber attacks include, among other behaviors, stealing or corrupting data maintained online or digitally, denial of service attacks on websites, the unauthorized release of confidential information or various other forms of cyber security breaches.  Cyber attacks affecting the Fund or the Adviser, the Fund’s custodian or transfer agent, or intermediaries or other third-party service providers may adversely impact the Fund.  For instance, cyber attacks may interfere with the processing of shareholder transactions, impact the Fund’s ability to calculate its net asset value, cause the release of private shareholder information or confidential company information, impede trading, subject the Fund to regulatory fines or financial losses, and cause reputational damage.  The Fund may also incur additional costs for cyber security risk management purposes.  While the Fund and its service providers have established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to prevent or reduce the impact of cybersecurity attacks, such plans and systems have inherent limitations due in part to the ever-changing nature of technology and cybersecurity attack tactics, and there is a possibility that certain risks have not been adequately identified or prepared for.  Furthermore, the Fund cannot control any cybersecurity plans or systems implemented by its service providers.
 
 
Similar types of cyber security risks are also present for issuers of securities in which the Fund invests, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers, and may cause the Fund’s investment in such portfolio companies to lose value.
 
Fundamental and Non-Fundamental Investment Limitations
 
The Trust has adopted the following investment restrictions as fundamental policies with respect to the Fund.  These restrictions cannot be changed with respect to the Fund without the approval of the holders of a majority of the Fund’s outstanding voting securities.  For these purposes, a “majority of the outstanding voting securities” of the Fund means the vote of the lesser of: (1) 67% or more of the voting securities of the Fund present at the meeting if the holders of more than 50% of the Fund’s outstanding voting securities are present or represented by proxy; or (2) more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund.  Except with the approval of a majority of its outstanding voting securities, the Fund may not:
 
1.
Concentrate its investments in an industry or group of industries (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets in the securities of companies in a particular industry or group of industries), except to the extent that the Underlying Index concentrates in a particular industry or group of industries.  For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities), repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities and tax-exempt securities of state or municipal governments and their political subdivisions are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.
 
2.
Borrow money or issue senior securities (as defined under the 1940 Act), except to the extent permitted under the 1940 Act, the rules and regulations thereunder or any exemption therefrom, as such statute, rules or regulations may be amended or interpreted from time to time.
 
3.
Make loans, except to the extent permitted under the 1940 Act, the rules and regulations thereunder or any exemption therefrom, as such statute, rules or regulations may be amended or interpreted from time to time.
 
4.
Purchase or sell physical commodities except to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act or other governing statute, by the rules thereunder, or by the SEC or other regulatory agency with authority over the Fund.
 
5.
Underwrite securities issued by other persons, except to the extent permitted under the 1940 Act, the rules and regulations thereunder or any exemption therefrom, as such statute, rules or regulations may be amended or interpreted from time to time.
 
6.
Purchase or sell real estate, except that the Fund may purchase marketable securities issued by companies which own or invest in real estate (including REITs).
 
In addition to the investment restrictions adopted as fundamental policies as set forth above, the Fund observes the following non-fundamental restrictions, which may be changed without a shareholder vote.
 
1.
The Fund will not invest less than 80% of its total assets (excluding securities lending collateral) in securities that comprise its Underlying Index.
 
2.
The Fund will not hold illiquid assets in excess of 15% of its net assets.
 
Percentage Limitations
If a percentage limitation is adhered to at the time of investment or contract, a later increase or decrease in percentage resulting from any change in value or total or net assets will not result in a violation of such restriction, except that the percentage limitations with respect to the borrowing of money and illiquid securities will be observed continuously.  If the percentage of the Fund’s net assets invested in illiquid securities exceeds 15% due to market activity or changes in the Fund’s portfolio, the Fund will take appropriate measures to reduce its holdings of illiquid securities.
 
The following descriptions of certain provisions of the 1940 Act may assist investors in understanding the above policies and restrictions:
 
Concentration.  The SEC has defined concentration as investing 25% or more of the Fund’s total assets in an industry or group of industries, with certain exceptions.
 
Borrowing.  The 1940 Act presently allows the Fund to borrow from any bank (including pledging, mortgaging or hypothecating assets) in an amount up to 33 1/3% of its total assets (not including temporary borrowings up to 5% of its total assets).
 
Senior Securities.  Senior securities may include any obligation or instrument issued by the Fund evidencing indebtedness.  The 1940 Act generally prohibits Fund from issuing senior securities, although it does not treat certain transactions as senior securities, such as certain borrowings, short sales, reverse repurchase agreements, firm commitment agreements and standby commitments, with appropriate earmarking or segregation of assets to cover such obligation.
 
Lending.  Under the 1940 Act, the Fund may only make loans if expressly permitted by its investment policies.  The Fund’s current investment policy on lending is that the Fund may not make loans if, as a result, more than 33 1/3% of its total assets would be lent to other parties, except that the Fund may: (i) purchase or hold debt instruments in accordance with its investment objective and policies; (ii) enter into repurchase agreements; and (iii) engage in securities lending as described in this SAI.
 
Underwriting.  Under the 1940 Act, underwriting securities involves the Fund purchasing securities directly from an issuer for the purpose of selling (distributing) them or participating in any such activity either directly or indirectly.
 
Real Estate.  The 1940 Act does not directly restrict the Fund’s ability to invest in real estate, but does require every investment company to have the fundamental investment policy governing such investments.  The Fund will not purchase or sell real estate, except that the Fund may purchase marketable securities issued by companies which own or invest in real estate (including REITs).
 
 
Commodities.  The Fund will not purchase or sell physical commodities or commodities contracts, except that the Fund may purchase: (i) marketable securities issued by companies which own or invest in commodities or commodities contracts; and (ii) commodities contracts relating to financial instruments, such as financial futures contracts and options on such contracts.
 
Exchange Listing and Trading
 
A discussion of exchange listing and trading matters associated with an investment in the Fund is contained in the Prospectus Fund Summary, “Purchasing and Sale of Fund Shares,” and “Buying and Selling Fund Shares.” The discussion below supplements, and should be read in conjunction with, such sections of the Prospectus.
 
The shares of the Fund are approved for listing and trading on the Exchange.  The shares trade on the Exchange at prices that may differ to some degree from their NAV.  There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of shares of either Fund will continue to be met.
 
The Exchange may, but is not required to, remove the shares of the Fund from listing if: (1) following the initial twelve-month period beginning upon the commencement of trading of the Fund, there are fewer than 50 beneficial holders of the shares for 30 or more consecutive trading days; (2) the value of the Fund’s Underlying Index or portfolio of securities on which the Fund is based is no longer calculated or available; or (3) such other event occurs or condition exists that, in the opinion of the Exchange, makes further dealings on the Exchange inadvisable.  In addition, the Exchange will remove the shares of the Fund from listing and trading upon termination of the Trust or the Fund.  If there is an interruption in the availability of the Fund’s “indicative optimized portfolio value” (“IOPV”), the Exchange may halt trading in shares of the Fund during the day in which the interruption occurs.  If such interruption persists beyond the trading day in which it first occurred, the Exchange will halt trading in shares of the Fund at the beginning of the next trading day unless or until such time as the values begin to be disseminated at the required frequency.
 
 
The Exchange (or market data vendors or other information providers) will disseminate, every fifteen seconds during the regular trading day, an IOPV relating to the Fund.  The IOPV calculations are based on the creation basket, and reflect an estimate of the value of the Fund’s NAV based on the current market value of the securities and/or cash required to be deposited in exchange for a Creation Unit.  Premiums and discounts between the IOPV and the market price may occur.  The IOPV does not necessarily reflect the precise composition of the current portfolio of securities held by the Fund at a particular point in time or the best possible valuation of the current portfolio.  Therefore, it should not be viewed as a “real-time” update of the NAV of the Fund, which is calculated only once a day.  The quotations of certain Fund holdings may not be updated during U.S. trading hours if such holdings do not trade in the United States.  In such instances, a stale price representing the last trading price for such securities will be used in the IOPV calculation.  We do not believe there are any other elements that might adversely affect the use of the IOPV as an indicator of the Funds current market value.  Neither the Fund, the Adviser nor any of their affiliates are involved in, or responsible for, the calculation or dissemination of such IOPVs and make no warranty as to their accuracy.
 
The Trust reserves the right to adjust the share price of the Fund in the future to maintain convenient trading ranges for investors.  Any adjustments would be accomplished through stock splits or reverse stock splits, which would have no effect on the net assets of the Fund.
 
As in the case of other publicly traded securities, brokers’ commissions on transactions will be based on negotiated commission rates at customary levels.
 
The base and trading currency of the Fund is the U.S. dollar.  The base currency is the currency in which the Fund’s NAV is calculated and the trading currency is the currency in which shares of the Fund is listed and traded on the Exchange.
 
Management of the Fund
 
Board of Trustees
The management and affairs of the Fund are supervised by the Board of Trustees.  The Board of Trustees consists of four individuals.  The Trustees are fiduciaries and are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware in this regard.  The Board of Trustees establishes policies for the operation of the Fund and appoints the officers who conduct the daily business of the Fund.
 
The Role of the Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees provides oversight of the management and operations of the Trust.  Like all mutual funds, the day-to-day responsibility for the management and operation of the Trust is the responsibility of various service providers to the Trust and its individual series, such as the Adviser, Distributor, Administrator, Custodian, and Transfer Agent, each of whom are discussed in greater detail in this SAI.  The Board approves all significant agreements between the Trust and its service providers, including the agreements with the Adviser, Distributor, Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent.  The Board has appointed various individuals of certain of these service providers as officers of the Trust, with responsibility to monitor and report to the Board on the Trust’s day-to-day operations.  In conducting this oversight, the Board receives regular reports from these officers and service providers regarding the Trust’s operations.  The Board has appointed a Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) who reports directly to the Board and who administers the Trust’s compliance program and regularly reports to the Board as to compliance matters, including an annual compliance review.  Some of these reports are provided as part of formal Board Meetings, which are held four times per year, in person, and such other times as the Board determines is necessary, and involve the Board’s review of recent Trust operations.  From time to time one or more members of the Board may also meet with Trust officers in less formal settings, between formal Board Meetings to discuss various topics.  In all cases, however, the role of the Board and of any individual Trustee is one of oversight and not of management of the day-to-day affairs of the Trust and its oversight role does not make the Board a guarantor of the Trust’s investments, operations or activities.
 
Board Leadership Structure
The Board has structured itself in a manner that it believes allows it to effectively perform its oversight function.  The Board of Trustees is comprised of three Independent Trustees – Messrs. David A. Massart, Leonard M. Rush and David M. Swanson – and one Interested Trustee – Mr. Robert J. Kern.  Accordingly, 75% of the members of the Board are Independent Trustees, who are Trustees that are not affiliated with any investment adviser to the Trust or their respective affiliates or other service providers to the Trust or any Trust series.  The Board of Trustees has established three standing committees, an Audit Committee, a Nominating Committee and a Valuation Committee, which are discussed in greater detail under “Board Committees” below.  Each of the Audit Committee and the Nominating Committee are comprised entirely of Independent Trustees.  The Independent Trustees have engaged independent counsel to advise them on matters relating to their responsibilities in connection with the Trust, as well as the Fund.
 

The Trust’s Chairman, Mr. Kern, is an “interested person” of the Trust, as defined by the 1940 Act, by virtue of the fact that he is a board member (and therefore an interested person) of Quasar Distributors, LLC, which acts as principal underwriter to many of the Trust’s underlying funds.  Mr. Kern also serves as an Executive Vice President of the Administrator.  The Independent Trustees have appointed Leonard M. Rush as a lead Independent Trustee, who coordinates activities of the Independent Trustees, acts as a liaison with the Trust’s service providers, officers, legal counsel, and other Trustees between meetings, helps to set Board meeting agendas, and serves as chair during executive sessions of the Independent Trustees.

In accordance with the fund governance standards prescribed by the SEC under the 1940 Act, the Independent Trustees on the Nominating Committee select and nominate all candidates for Independent Trustee positions.  Each Trustee was appointed to serve on the Board of Trustees because of his experience, qualifications, attributes and skills as set forth in the subsection “Trustee Qualifications” below.

The Board of Trustees reviews its structure regularly in light of the characteristics and circumstances of the Trust, including: the affiliated nature of certain investment advisers in the Trust; the number of funds that comprise the Trust; the variety of asset classes that those funds reflect; the net assets of the Trust; the committee structure of the Trust; and the distribution arrangements of each of the Trust’s underlying funds.

The Board of Trustees has determined that the appointment of a lead Independent Trustee and the function and composition of the Audit Committee and the Nominating Committee are appropriate means to address any potential conflicts of interest that may arise from the Chairman’s status as an Interested Trustee.  In addition, the inclusion of all Independent Trustees as members of the Audit Committee and the Nominating Committee allows all such Trustees to participate in the full range of the Board of Trustees’ oversight duties, including oversight of risk management processes discussed below.  Given the composition of the Board and the function and composition of its various committees as described above, the Trust has determined that the Board of Trustees’ leadership structure is appropriate.
 
Board Oversight of Risk Management
As part of its oversight function, the Board of Trustees receives and reviews various risk management reports and assessments and discusses these matters with appropriate management and other personnel, including personnel of the Trust’s service providers.  Because risk management is a broad concept comprised of many elements (such as, for example, investment risk, issuer and counter-party risk, compliance risk, operational risks, business continuity risks, etc.) the oversight of different types of risks is handled in different ways.  For example, the CCO regularly reports to the Board of Trustees during Board Meetings and meets in executive session with the Independent Trustees and their legal counsel to discuss compliance and operational risks.  In addition, Mr. Rush, the Independent Trustee designated as the Audit Committee’s “audit committee financial expert” meets with the President, Treasurer and the Fund’s independent registered public accounting firm to discuss, among other things, the internal control structure of the Fund’s financial reporting function.  The full Board of Trustees receives reports from the investment advisers to the underlying series as to investment risks.
 
 
Trustees and Officers
The Trustees and officers of the Trust are listed below with their addresses, present positions with the Trust and principal occupations over at least the last five years.

Name, Address and Age
 
Position(s)
Held with
the Trust
 
Term of
Office and
Length of
Time Served
 
Number of
Portfolios in
Trust
Overseen by
Trustee
 
Principal
Occupation(s)
During the Past
Five Years
 
Other
Directorships
Held by Trustee 
During the Past
Five Years
Independent Trustees
           
Leonard M. Rush, CPA
615 E. Michigan St.
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Birth Year: 1946
 
Lead Independent
Trustee and Audit
Committee Chairman
 
Indefinite Term;
Since April 2011
 
37
 
Retired, Chief Financial Officer, Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated (2000-2011).
 
Independent Trustee, ETF Series Solutions (13 Portfolios) (2012-Present); Director, Anchor Bancorp Wisconsin, Inc.  (2011-2013).
David A. Massart
615 E. Michigan St.
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Birth Year: 1967
 
Trustee and
Valuation
Committee
Chairman
 
Indefinite Term;
Since April 2011
 
37
 
Co-Founder and Chief Investment Strategist, Next Generation Wealth Management, Inc.  (2005-present).
 
Independent Trustee, ETF Series Solutions (13 Portfolios) (2012-Present).
David M. Swanson
615 E. Michigan St.
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Birth Year: 1957
 
Trustee
 
Indefinite Term;
Since April 2011
 
37
 
Founder and Managing Partner, SwanDog Strategic Marketing, LLC (2006-present); Executive Vice President, Calamos Investments (2004-2006).
 
Independent Trustee, ALPS Variable Investment Trust (8 Portfolios) (2006-Present);
Independent Trustee, RiverNorth Opportunities Closed-End Fund (2015-Present).
Interested Trustee
           
Robert J. Kern*
615 E. Michigan St.
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Birth Year: 1958
 
Chairperson and Trustee
 
Indefinite Term;
Since January 2011
 
37
 
Executive Vice President, U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC (1994-present).
 
 
None
 
 
Name, Address and Age
 
Position(s)
Held with
the Trust
 
Term of
Office and
Length of
Time Served
 
Number of
Portfolios in
Trust
Overseen by
Trustee
 
Principal
Occupation(s)
During the Past
Five Years
 
Other
Directorships
Held by Trustee 
During the Past
Five Years
Officers
           
James R. Arnold
615 E. Michigan St.
Milwaukee, WI
53202
Birth Year: 1957
 
President and
Principal Executive
Officer
 
Indefinite Term,
Since January 2011
 
N/A
 
Senior Vice President, U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC (2002 -present).
 
N/A
Deborah Ward
615 E. Michigan St.
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Birth Year: 1966
 
Vice President,
Chief Compliance
Officer and Anti-
Money Laundering
Officer
 
Indefinite Term;
Since April 2013
 
N/A
 
Senior Vice President, U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC (2004-present).
 
N/A
Brian R. Wiedmeyer
615 E. Michigan St.
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Birth Year: 1973
 
Treasurer and
Principal Financial
Officer
 
Indefinite Term;
Since January 2011
 
N/A
 
Vice President, U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC (2005-present).
 
N/A
Jeanine M. Bajczyk, Esq.
615 E. Michigan St.
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Birth Year: 1965
 
 
Secretary
 
Indefinite Term;
Since August 2015
 
N/A
 
Senior Vice President and Counsel, U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC (2006-present).
 
N/A
Thomas A. Bausch, Esq.
615 E. Michigan St.
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Birth Year: 1979
 
Assistant
Secretary
 
Indefinite Term;
Since May 2016
 
N/A
 
Assistant Vice President, U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC (2016-present); Associate, Godfrey & Kahn S.C. (2012-2016).
 
N/A
Ryan L. Roell
615 E. Michigan St.
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Birth Year: 1973
 
Assistant
Treasurer
 
Indefinite Term;
Since September 2012
 
N/A
 
Assistant Vice President, U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC (2005-present).
 
N/A
Benjamin Eirich
615 E. Michigan St.
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Birth Year: 1981
 
Assistant
Treasurer
 
Indefinite Term;
Since May 2016
 
N/A
 
Assistant Vice President, U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC (2008-present).
 
N/A
Doug Schafer
615 E. Michigan St.
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Birth Year: 1970
 
Assistant
Treasurer
 
Indefinite Term;
Since May 2016
 
N/A
 
Assistant Vice President, U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC (2002-present)
 
N/A
* Mr. Kern is an “interested person” of the Trust as defined by the 1940 Act by virtue of the fact that he is a board member (and therefore an interested person) of the Fund’s principal underwriter, Quasar Distributors, LLC.
 
Trustee Qualifications
The Board of Trustees believes that each of the Trustees has the qualifications, experience, attributes and skills appropriate to their continued service as Trustees of the Trust in light of the Trust’s business and structure.  The Trustees have substantial business and professional backgrounds that indicate they have the ability to critically review, evaluate and assess information provided to them.  Certain of these business and professional experiences are set forth in detail in the table above.  In addition, the Trustees have substantial board experience and, in their service to the Trust, have gained substantial insight as to the operation of the Trust.  The Board of Trustees annually conducts a “self-assessment” wherein the effectiveness of the Board and the individual Trustees is reviewed.

In addition to the information provided in the table above, below is certain additional information concerning each individual Trustee.  The information provided below, and in the table above, is not all-inclusive.  Many of the Trustees’ qualifications to serve on the Board of Trustees involve intangible elements, such as intelligence, integrity, work ethic, the ability to work together, the ability to communicate effectively, the ability to exercise judgment, the ability to ask incisive questions, and commitment to shareholder interests.

Mr. Kern’s trustee attributes include substantial industry experience, including his 34 years of service with U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC (the fund accountant (“Fund Accountant”), fund administrator, transfer agent (“Transfer Agent”) and custodian to the Trust) where he manages business development and has previously managed the mutual fund transfer agent operation including investor services, account services, legal compliance, document processing and systems support.  He also serves as a board member of U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC and Quasar Distributors, LLC (the principal underwriter to the Trust).  The Board believes Mr. Kern’s experience, qualifications, attributes and skills on an individual basis and in combination with those of the other Trustees lead to the conclusion that he possesses the requisite skills and attributes as a Trustee to carry out oversight responsibilities with respect to the Trust.

Mr. Massart’s trustee attributes include substantial industry experience, including 23 years working with high net worth individuals, families, trusts and retirement accounts to make strategic and tactical asset allocation decisions, evaluate and select investment managers and manage client relationships.  He is currently the Chief Investment Strategist and lead member of the investment management committee of the SEC registered investment advisory firm he co-founded.  Previously, he served as Managing Director of Strong Private Client and as a Manager of Wells Fargo Investments, LLC.  The Board believes Mr. Massart’s experience, qualifications, attributes and skills on an individual basis and in combination with those of the other Trustees lead to the conclusion that he possesses the requisite skills and attributes as a Trustee to carry out oversight responsibilities with respect to the Trust.

Mr. Rush’s trustee attributes include substantial industry experience, including serving in several different senior executive roles at various global financial services firms.  He most recently served as Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated and several other affiliated entities and served as the Treasurer for Baird Funds.  He also served as the Chief Financial Officer for Fidelity Investments’ four broker-dealers and has substantial experience with mutual fund and investment advisory organizations and related businesses, including Vice President and Head of Compliance for Fidelity Investments, a Vice President at Credit Suisse First Boston, a Manager with Goldman Sachs, & Co. and a Senior Manager with Deloitte & Touche.  Mr. Rush has been determined to qualify as an Audit Committee Financial Expert for the Trust.  The Board believes Mr. Rush’s experience, qualifications, attributes and skills on an individual basis and in combination with those of the other Trustees lead to the conclusion that he possesses the requisite skills and attributes as a Trustee and as the lead Independent Trustee to carry out oversight responsibilities with respect to the Trust.
 

Mr. Swanson’s trustee attributes include substantial industry experience, including 35 years of senior management and marketing experience with 29 years dedicated to the financial services industry.  He is currently the Founder and Managing Principal of a marketing strategy boutique serving asset and wealth management businesses.  He has also served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer of Van Kampen Investments, President and Chief Executive Officer of Scudder, Stevens & Clark, Canada, Ltd., Managing Director and Head of Global Investment Products at Morgan Stanley, Director of Marketing for Morgan Stanley Mutual Funds, Director of Marketing for Kemper Funds, and Executive Vice President and Head of Distribution for Calamos Investments.  The Board believes Mr. Swanson’s experience, qualifications, attributes and skills on an individual basis and in combination with those of the other Trustees lead to the conclusion that he possesses the requisite skills and attributes as a Trustee to carry out oversight responsibilities with respect to the Trust.

The discussion of the Trustees’ experience and qualifications is pursuant to SEC requirements, does not constitute holding out the Board of Trustees or any Trustee as having special expertise, and shall not impose any greater responsibility or liability on any such Trustee or the Board of Trustees by reason thereof.
 
Trustee and Management Ownership of Fund Shares
The following table shows the dollar range of Fund shares and shares in other portfolios of the Trust in the same fund family beneficially owned by the Trustees as of the calendar year ended December 31, 2016.

 
Dollar Range of Fund Shares Beneficially Owned
(None, $1-$10,000, $10,001-$50,000, $50,001-$100,000, Over $100,000)
Name
Water Fund
Aggregate Dollar Range of Shares
in all Funds in the Trust in Family of
Investment Companies(1)
Independent Trustees
   
Leonard M. Rush
None
$1-$10,000
David A. Massart
None
None
David M. Swanson
None
$50,001-$100,000
Interested Trustee
   
Robert J. Kern
None
None
(1)
Other funds in family of investment companies are Tortoise MLP & Pipeline Fund, Tortoise North American Energy Independence Fund, Tortoise Select Opportunity Fund, Tortoise VIP MLP & Pipeline Fund, Tortoise Select Income Bond Fund and Tortoise North American Pipeline Fund.

As of December 31, 2016, the Trustees and Officers of the Trust as a group did not own more than 1% of the outstanding shares of the Fund.
 
Board Committees
Audit Committee.  The Trust has an Audit Committee, which is comprised of the Independent Trustees.  The Audit Committee reviews financial statements and other audit-related matters for the Fund.  The Audit Committee also holds discussions with management and with the Fund’s independent registered public accounting firm concerning the scope of the audit and the auditor’s independence.

Nominating Committee.  The Trust has a Nominating Committee, which is comprised of the Independent Trustees.  The Nominating Committee is responsible for seeking and reviewing candidates for consideration as nominees for the position of trustee and meets only as necessary.
 

The Nominating Committee will consider nominees recommended by shareholders for vacancies on the Board of Trustees.  Recommendations for consideration by the Nominating Committee should be sent to the President of the Trust in writing together with the appropriate biographical information concerning each such proposed nominee, and such recommendation must comply with the notice provisions set forth in the Trust’s Bylaws.  In general, to comply with such procedures, such nominations, together with all required information, must be delivered to and received by the President of the Trust at the principal executive office of the Trust not later than 120 days, and no more than 150 days, prior to the shareholder meeting at which any such nominee would be voted on.  Shareholder recommendations for nominations to the Board of Trustees will be accepted on an ongoing basis.  The Nominating Committee’s procedures with respect to reviewing shareholder nominations will be disclosed as required by applicable securities laws.

Valuation Committee.  The Trust has a Valuation Committee.  The Valuation Committee is responsible for the following: (1) monitoring the valuation of Fund securities and other investments; and (2) as required, when the Board of Trustees is not in session, determining the fair value of illiquid securities and other holdings after consideration of all relevant factors, which determinations are reported to the Board of Trustees.  The Valuation Committee is currently comprised of one or more Independent Trustees and the Trust’s Chairman, President, and Treasurer.  The Valuation Committee meets as necessary when a price for a portfolio security is not readily available.
 
Trustee Compensation
The Independent Trustees each receive an annual retainer fee of $87,000 per calendar year, which compensates them for their service to the Trust and attendance at the four regularly scheduled quarterly meetings and one annual meeting, if necessary.  Each Independent Trustee also receives added compensation for each additional meeting attended of $1,500 for an in-person meeting and $1,000 for a telephonic meeting, as well as reimbursement for expenses incurred in connection with attendance at meetings.  The Chairman of the Audit Committee and the Valuation Committee each receive additional compensation of $5,000 per year and the lead Independent Trustee receives additional compensation of $6,000 per year.  The Interested Trustee does not receive any compensation for his service as Trustee.  The following table sets forth the estimated compensation to be received by the Independent Trustees for the Fund’s fiscal year ended November 30, 2017.

Name of Person/Position
Estimated
Aggregate
Compensation
from Fund1
Pension or
Retirement
Benefits
Accrued as
Part of
Fund Expenses
Estimated
Annual
Benefits
Upon
Retirement
Estimated
Total
Compensation
from Fund and
Fund Complex2
Leonard M. Rush, Lead Independent
Trustee and Audit Committee Chairman
$1,986
None
None
$73,500
David A. Massart, Independent Trustee
and Valuation Committee Chairman
$1,865
None
None
$69,000
David M. Swanson, Independent Trustee
$1,764
None
None
$65,250
Robert J. Kern, Interested Trustee
None
None
None
None
1
Trustee fees and expenses are allocated among the Fund and any other series comprising the Trust.
2
The Fund complex includes Tortoise MLP & Pipeline Fund, Tortoise North American Energy Independence Fund, Tortoise Select Opportunity Fund, Tortoise VIP MLP & Pipeline Fund, Tortoise Select Income Bond Fund and Tortoise North American Pipeline Fund.
 
Control Persons and Principal Shareholders
A principal shareholder is any person who owns of record or beneficially 5% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund.  A control person is one who owns beneficially or through controlled companies more than 25% of the voting securities of the Fund or acknowledges the existence of control.  A controlling person possesses the ability to control the outcome of matters submitted for shareholder vote by the Fund.  As of the date of this SAI, there were no principal shareholders or control persons of the Fund.

Investment Adviser
Tortoise Index Solutions, LLC, or the Adviser, is a Delaware limited liability company with its principal offices at 11550 Ash Street, Suite 300, Leawood, KS 66211-7811.  The Trust, on behalf of the Fund, has entered into an investment advisory agreement (the “Investment Advisory Agreement”) with the Adviser.  The Adviser is wholly-owned by Tortoise Investments, LLC, a company that owns essential asset and income-oriented investment advisers. The Adviser is indirectly controlled by the Bicknell Family Holding Company. The Adviser is under common control with Tortoise Capital Advisors, L.L.C. (“TCA”) and Tortoise Credit Solutions, LLC (“TCS”), registered investment advisers that manage other series of the Trust. The Adviser is also under common control with Palmer Square Capital Management, a registered investment adviser.
 
Subject to such policies as the Board of Trustees may determine, the Adviser is ultimately responsible for investment decisions for the Fund.  Pursuant to the terms of the Investment Advisory Agreement, the Adviser provides the Fund with such investment advice as it deems necessary for the proper supervision of the Fund’s investments.  The Adviser also monitors and maintains the Fund’s investment criteria and determines from time to time what securities may be purchased by the Fund.
 
The Investment Advisory Agreement will remain in effect for an initial two-year period.  After the initial two-year period, the Investment Advisory Agreement will continue in effect from year to year only if such continuance is specifically approved at least annually by the Board or by vote of a majority of the Fund’s outstanding voting securities and by a majority of the Trustees who are not parties to the Investment Advisory Agreement or interested persons of any such party, at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on the Investment Advisory Agreement.  The Investment Advisory Agreement is terminable without penalty by the Trust on behalf of the Fund, upon giving the Adviser 60 days’ notice when authorized either by a majority vote of the Fund’s shareholders or by a vote of a majority of the Board, or by the Adviser on 60 days’ written notice, and will automatically terminate in the event of its “assignment” (as defined in the 1940 Act).  The Investment Advisory Agreement provides that the Adviser will not be liable for any error of judgment or mistake of law or for any loss suffered by the Trust in connection with the Investment Advisory Agreement, except for a loss resulting from a breach of fiduciary duty with respect to the receipt of compensation for services, or for a loss resulting from willful misfeasance, bad faith or gross negligence in the performance of its duties, or from reckless disregard by the Adviser of its duties under the Investment Advisory Agreement.
 
 
In consideration of the services to be provided by the Adviser pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, the Adviser is entitled to receive from the Fund an investment advisory fee computed daily and paid monthly, at the annual rate of 0.40% of the average daily net assets of the Fund.  Under the investment advisory agreement, the Adviser has agreed to pay all expenses incurred by the Fund except for the advisory fee, interest, taxes, brokerage expenses and other fees, charges, taxes, levies or expenses (such as stamp taxes) incurred in connection with the execution of portfolio transactions or in connection with creation and redemption transactions (including without limitation any fees, charges, taxes, levies or expenses related to the purchase or sale of an amount of any currency, or the patriation or repatriation of any security or other asset, related to the execution of portfolio transactions or any creation or redemption transactions), legal fees or expenses in connection with any arbitration, litigation or pending or threatened arbitration or litigation, acquired fund fees and expenses, any fees and expenses related to the provision of securities lending services, extraordinary expenses, and distribution fees and expenses paid by the Trust under any distribution plan adopted pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act.
 
Portfolio Manager
Matthew Weglarz, CFA, is primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund (the “Portfolio Manager”) and has managed the Fund since it commenced operations.

The following table provides information regarding other accounts, excluding the Fund, managed by the Portfolio Manager, including information regarding the number of managed accounts that pay a performance fee, as of November 30, 2016:

Name of Manager
Account Category
# of
Accounts
Total Assets
of Accounts
# of Accounts
Paying a
Performance
Fee
Total Assets of
Accounts
Paying a
Performance
Fee
Matthew Weglarz
         
 
Registered investment companies
1
$44.13 million
0
$0
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
0
$0
0
$0
 
Other accounts
0
$0
0
$0
 
Securities Ownership of Portfolio Manager
As of the date of this SAI, the Fund’s portfolio manager did not own any shares of the Fund.
 
Potential Conflicts of Interest Involving the Adviser and Portfolio Manager and Portfolio Manager Compensation
Conflicts of interest may arise because the Adviser and its affiliates generally may provide investment advisory services for other clients and may engage in other business ventures in which the Fund will have no interest.  As a result of these separate business activities, the Adviser and affiliates may have conflicts of interest in allocating management time, services, and functions among the Fund and other business ventures and advisory clients.
 
 
The Adviser manages passive investment products.  The Adviser and TCA and TCS, which provide advisory services to actively managed strategies, have implemented policies and procedures designed to ensure that each entity conducts its trading activities separately and without knowledge or consultation with the other entity.  As a result, investment professionals at TCA or TCS may place trades that are directly or indirectly contrary to investment decisions made on behalf of the Fund, or may make investment decisions that are similar to those made for the Fund, both of which have potential to adversely impact the Fund depending on market conditions.
 
Additionally, the Adviser may in the future provide advice to other clients, including separately managed accounts, commingled funds and additional investment funds, using the same strategy as the Fund or to other funds or accounts which seek to replicate the performance of similar or different indices.  Advisory accounts of the Adviser following the same or similar strategies may experience differences in return or tracking error due to various factors including the size of the account, timing of investments, liquidity needs, and differences in cash inflows and outflows.  The Adviser and its principals, officers, employees, and affiliates may buy and sell securities or other investments for their own accounts and may have actual or potential conflicts of interest with respect to investments made on the Fund’s behalf.  As a result of differing trading and investment strategies or constraints, positions may be taken by principals, officers, employees, and affiliates of the Adviser that are the same as, different from, or made at a different time than positions taken for the Fund.
 
The Adviser serves as the index provider to the Fund.  The Adviser has adopted policies and procedures designed to address potential conflicts that may arise from the advisory activities of the Adviser, TCA and TCS, and the provision of the Index by the Adviser.  For example, such policies and procedures limit the ability of the Adviser’s portfolio management personnel from influencing Adviser personnel who are responsible for maintaining the Underlying Index’s methodology.  In addition, information about changes to the Underlying Index’s methodology and change in constituent components are treated as confidential information and the Adviser has adopted policies and procedures that it believes are reasonably designed to prevent the misuse of such information.  Further, the Adviser has adopted a code of ethics governing the personal trading activity of its personnel.  Finally, the Fund will disclose on a daily basis its entire portfolio holdings.
 
The Portfolio Manager does not receive any direct compensation from the Fund.  Mr. Weglarz is an employee of the Adviser and is motivated and retained through a market based compensation structure, which includes a base salary and annual performance-based bonus.  The bonus pool is based on the company’s financial performance for the year and discretionarily awarded to associates based on individual performance and contribution to the organization.  The Adviser provides a comprehensive employment package which includes excellent benefits and opportunities for professional development.  Mr. Weglarz owns an equity interest in Tortoise Investments, LLC (formerly, Tortoise Holdings, LLC), the sole member of the Adviser, and thus benefits from increases in the net income of the Adviser.
 
Service Providers
U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC (“USBFS”), located at 615 East Michigan Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53202 serves as the Fund’s administrator, transfer agent and index receipt agent (as that term is defined in the rules of the National Securities Clearing Corporation (“NSCC”)).

Pursuant to a Fund Administration Servicing Agreement and Fund Accounting Servicing Agreement between the Trust and USBFS, USBFS provides certain administrative services to the Fund, including, among other responsibilities, portfolio accounting services, tax accounting services and furnishing financial reports, coordinating the negotiation of contracts and fees with, and the monitoring of performance and billing of, the Fund’s independent contractors and agents; preparation for signature by an officer of the Trust of all documents required to be filed for compliance by the Trust and the Fund with applicable laws and regulations; arranging for the computation of performance data, including NAV per share and yield; responding to shareholder inquiries; and arranging for the maintenance of books and records of the Fund, and providing, at its own expense, office facilities, equipment and personnel necessary to carry out its duties.  In this capacity, the Administrator does not have any responsibility or authority for the investment management of the Fund, the determination of investment policy, or for any matter pertaining to the distribution of Fund shares.  As compensation for the administration and accounting services, the Adviser pays USBFS a fee based on the Fund’s average daily net assets, subject to an annual minimum fee.  USBFS also is entitled to certain out-of-pocket expenses.
 

USBFS also acts as transfer agent and dividend disbursing agent under a separate agreement with the Trust.

Pursuant to a custody agreement between the Trust and the Fund, U.S. Bank N.A., an affiliate of USBFS, serves as the custodian of the Fund’s assets (the “Custodian”).  Pursuant to the custody agreement, the Custodian receives an annual fee from the Adviser based on the Fund’s total average daily net assets, subject to a minimum annual fee, and certain settlement charges.  The Custodian also is entitled to certain out-of-pocket expenses.  The Custodian’s address is 1555 North Rivercenter Drive, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53212.  The Custodian does not participate in decisions relating to the purchase and sale of securities by the Fund.
 
Legal Counsel
Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young serves as legal counsel to the Trust and Independent Trustees.
 
Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Ernst & Young, LLP, serves as the independent registered public accounting firm for the Fund.  Its services include auditing the Fund’s financial statements and the performance of related tax services.
 
Distribution of Fund Shares
The Trust has entered into a distribution agreement (the “Distribution Agreement”) with Quasar Distributors, LLC (the “Distributor”), 615 East Michigan Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202, pursuant to which the Distributor acts as the Fund’s principal underwriter and distributes shares.  Shares are continuously offered for sale by the Distributor only in Creation Units.  Each Creation Unit is made up of at least 50,000 shares.  The Distributor will not distribute Shares in amounts less than a Creation Unit.  The Distributor, Administrator and Custodian are affiliated companies.

Under the Distribution Agreement, the Distributor, as agent for the Trust, will receive orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units, provided that any subscriptions and orders will not be binding on the Trust until accepted by the Trust.  The Distributor will deliver prospectuses and, upon request, Statements of Additional Information to persons purchasing Creation Units and will maintain records of orders placed with it.  The Distributor is a broker-dealer registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”).
 

The Distributor may also enter into agreements with securities dealers (“Soliciting Dealers”) who will solicit purchases of Creation Units of Shares.  Such Soliciting Dealers may also be Authorized Participants (as discussed in “Procedures for Creation of Creation Units” below) or DTC participants (as defined below).

The Distribution Agreement has an initial term of up to two years and will continue in effect only if such continuance is specifically approved at least annually by the Board of Trustees or by vote of a majority of the Fund’s outstanding voting securities and, in either case, by a majority of the Independent Trustees.  The Distribution Agreement is terminable without penalty by the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, on 60 days’ written notice when authorized either by a majority vote of the Fund’s shareholders or by vote of a majority of the Board of Trustees, including a majority of the Trustees who are not “interested persons” (as defined under the 1940 Act) of the Trust, or by the Distributor on 60 days’ written notice, and will automatically terminate in the event of its “assignment,” as defined in the 1940 Act.
 
Distribution (Rule 12b-1) Plan
The Trust has adopted a Distribution Plan (the “Plan”) with respect to the Fund in accordance with the provisions of Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act, which regulates circumstances under which an investment company may directly or indirectly bear expenses relating to the distribution of its shares.  The Fund does not presently intend to make any payments pursuant to the Plan through the fiscal year ending November 30, 2017.  Continuance of the Plan with respect to the Fund must be approved annually by a majority of the Trustees of the Trust and by a majority of the Trustees who are not interested persons (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust and have no direct or indirect financial interest in the Plan or in any agreements related to the Plan (“Qualified Trustees”).  The Plan requires that quarterly written reports of amounts spent under the Plan and the purposes of such expenditures be furnished to and reviewed by the Trustees.  The Plan may not be amended to increase materially the amount that may be spent thereunder with respect to the Fund without approval by a majority of the outstanding shares of any class of the Fund that is affected by such increase.  All material amendments of the Plan will require approval by a majority of the Trustees of the Trust and of the Qualified Trustees.
 
The Plan provides that the Fund pay the Distributor an annual fee of up to a maximum of 0.25% per annum of the average daily net assets of the Fund’s shares.  Under the Plan, the Distributor may make payments pursuant to written agreements to financial institutions and intermediaries such as banks, savings and loan associations and insurance companies including, without limit, investment counselors, broker-dealers and the Distributor’s affiliates and subsidiaries (collectively, “Agents”) as compensation for services and reimbursement of expenses incurred in connection with distribution assistance.  The Plan is characterized as a compensation plan since the distribution fee will be paid to the Distributor without regard to the distribution expenses incurred by the Distributor or the amount of payments made to other financial institutions and intermediaries.  The Trust intends to operate the Plan in accordance with its terms and with FINRA rules concerning sales charges.
 
Under the Plan, subject to the limitations of applicable law and regulations, the Fund is authorized to compensate the Distributor up to the maximum amount to finance any activity primarily intended to result in the sale of Creation Units of the Fund or for providing or arranging for others to provide shareholder services and for the maintenance of shareholder accounts.  Such activities may include, but are not limited to: (i) delivering copies of the Fund’s then current reports, prospectuses, notices, and similar materials, to prospective purchasers of Creation Units; (ii) marketing and promotional services, including advertising; (iii) paying the costs of and compensating others, including Authorized Participants with whom the Distributor has entered into written Authorized Participant Agreements, for performing shareholder servicing on behalf of the Fund; (iv) compensating certain Authorized Participants for providing assistance in distributing the Creation Units of the Fund, including the travel and communication expenses and salaries and/or commissions of sales personnel in connection with the distribution of the Creation Units of the Fund; (v) payments to financial institutions and intermediaries such as banks, savings and loan associations, insurance companies and investment counselors, broker-dealers, mutual fund supermarkets and the affiliates and subsidiaries of the Trust’s service providers as compensation for services or reimbursement of expenses incurred in connection with distribution assistance; (vi) facilitating communications with beneficial owners of shares, including the cost of providing (or paying others to provide) services to beneficial owners of shares, including, but not limited to, assistance in answering inquiries related to shareholder accounts, and (vi) such other services and obligations as are set forth in the Distribution Agreement.
 
 
Marketing Support Payments.  The Adviser, out of its own profits and resources and without additional cost to the Fund or its shareholders, may provide cash payments or other compensation (“Support Payments”) to certain financial intermediaries who sell and/or promote the sale of shares of the Fund, including to an affiliated broker-dealer.  Subject to and in accordance with the terms of the Fund’s prospectus and the Plan (as applicable) adopted by resolution of the Trust’s Board of Trustees, and specifically the “Payments to Financial Intermediaries” section of the Fund’s prospectus, the Adviser may make Support Payments to such financial intermediaries related to marketing/distribution support, education training or support, shareholder servicing, sales meetings, inclusion on sales lists (including a preferred or select sales list), participation in sales programs, and for making shares of the Fund available to the intermediaries’ customers generally and in investment programs.
 
Support Payments made by the Adviser to intermediaries may be calculated in different ways, including: (1) as a percentage of net sales; (2) as a percentage of net assets; (3) as a flat fee; and, (4) in the case of payments to an affiliated broker-dealer, an amount equal to production-based compensation due to the broker-dealer’s representatives, and may also include reimbursement of out of pocket expenses incurred by the broker-dealer or its representatives.
 
The possibility of receiving, or the receipt of, such Support Payments as described above may provide such intermediaries and/or their salespersons with an incentive to favor sales of shares of the Fund, and other funds whose affiliates make similar compensation available, over other investments that do not make such payments.  Investors may wish to take such payment arrangements into account when considering and evaluating any recommendations relating to the Fund and other ETFs.
 
Portfolio Transactions and Brokerage
The Adviser is responsible for decisions to buy and sell securities for the Fund, broker-dealer selection, and negotiation of brokerage commission rates.  The Adviser’s primary consideration in effecting a security transaction will be to obtain the best execution.  In selecting a broker-dealer to execute each particular transaction, the Adviser will initially consider their ability to execute transactions at the most favorable prices and lowest overall execution costs, while also taking into consideration other relevant factors, such as, the reliability, integrity and financial condition of the broker-dealer, the size of and difficulty in executing the order, the quality of execution and custodial services, and the provision of valuable research services that can be reasonably expected to enhance the investment return of clients managed by the Adviser.  Research services may include reports on Water Companies, the market, the economy and other general widely distributed research, and may be used by the Adviser in servicing any funds and accounts managed by the Adviser, including the Fund.  Receipt of research is one of a number of factors considered in assigning an overall internal ranking to brokers.  The price to the Fund in any transaction may be less favorable than that available from another broker-dealer if the difference is reasonably justified by other aspects of the execution services offered.
 
 
The Fund may, from time to time, enter into arrangements with placement agents in connection with direct placement transactions.  In evaluating placement agent proposals, the Adviser will consider each broker’s access to issuers of Water Company securities and experience with Water Companies, particularly the direct placement market.  In addition to these factors, the Adviser will consider whether the proposed services are customary, whether the proposed fee schedules are within the range of customary rates, whether any proposal would obligate us to enter into transactions involving a minimum fee, dollar amount or volume of securities, or into any transaction whatsoever, and other terms such as indemnification provisions.
 
The Adviser shall not be deemed to have acted unlawfully or to have breached any duty solely by reason of its having caused the Fund to pay a broker or dealer that provides brokerage and research services to the Adviser an amount of commission for effecting an investment transaction in excess of the amount of commission another broker or dealer would have charged for effecting that transaction, if the Adviser determines in good faith that such amount of commission was reasonable in relation to the value of the brokerage and research services provided by such broker or dealer, viewed in terms of either that particular transaction or the Adviser’s overall responsibilities with respect to the Fund and to other clients of the Adviser as to which the Adviser exercises investment discretion.  The overall reasonableness of brokerage commissions is evaluated by the Adviser based upon its knowledge of available information as to the general level of commissions paid by other institutional investors for comparable services.  The Adviser is further authorized to allocate the orders placed by it on behalf of the Fund to such brokers and dealers who also provide research or statistical material or other services to the Adviser.  Such allocation shall be in such amounts and proportions as the Adviser shall determine and the Adviser will report on said allocations regularly to the Board of Trustees indicating the brokers to whom such allocations have been made and the basis therefor.
 
Portfolio transactions may be placed with broker-dealers who sell shares of the Fund subject to rules adopted by FINRA and the SEC.  Portfolio transactions may also be placed with broker-dealers in which the Adviser has invested on behalf of the Fund and/or client accounts.
 
Brokerage with Fund Affiliates.  The Fund may execute brokerage or other agency transactions through registered broker-dealer affiliates of the Fund, the Adviser or the Distributor for a commission in conformity with the 1940 Act, the Exchange Act and rules promulgated by the SEC.  These rules require that commissions paid to the affiliate by the Fund for exchange transactions not exceed usual and customary” brokerage commissions.  The rules define “usual and customary” commissions to include amounts which are “reasonable and fair compared to the commission, fee or other remuneration received or to be received by other brokers in connection with comparable transactions involving similar securities being purchased or sold on a securities exchange during a comparable period of time.”  The Trustees, including those who are not “interested persons” of the Fund, have adopted procedures for evaluating the reasonableness of commissions paid to affiliates and review these procedures periodically.
 
Securities of “Regular Broker-Dealers.”  The Fund is required to identify any securities of its “regular brokers and dealers” (as such term is defined in the 1940 Act) which it may hold at the close of its most recent fiscal year.  “Regular brokers or dealers” of the Fund is the ten brokers or dealers that, during the most recent fiscal year: (i) received the greatest dollar amounts of brokerage commissions from the Fund’s portfolio transactions; (ii) engaged as principal in the largest dollar amounts of portfolio transactions of the Fund; or (iii) sold the largest dollar amounts of the Fund’s shares.
 

Portfolio Turnover
Portfolio turnover may vary from year to year, as well as within a year.  Portfolio turnover rate is calculated by dividing (1) the lesser of purchases or sales of portfolio securities for the fiscal year by (2) the monthly average of the value of portfolio securities owned during the fiscal year.  A 100% turnover rate would occur if all the securities in the Fund’s portfolio, with the exception of securities whose maturities at the time of acquisition were one year or less, were sold and either repurchased or replaced within one year.  A high rate of portfolio turnover (100% or more) generally leads to above-average transaction costs and could generate capital gains that must be distributed to shareholders as short-term capital gains taxed at ordinary income rates (currently as high as 35%).  To the extent that the Fund experiences an increase in brokerage commissions due to a higher portfolio turnover rate, the performance of the Fund could be negatively impacted by the increased expenses incurred and may result in a greater number of taxable transactions.

Code of Ethics
The Trust and the Adviser each have adopted a code of ethics in accordance with Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act.  These codes of ethics permit the personnel of these entities to invest in securities, including securities that the Fund may purchase or hold.  The codes of ethics are on public file with, and are available from, the SEC.

Proxy Voting Procedures
The Board of Trustees has adopted proxy voting policies and procedures (“Proxy Policies”) wherein the Trust has delegated to the Adviser the responsibility for voting proxies relating to portfolio securities held by the Fund as part of the Adviser’s investment advisory services, subject to the supervision and oversight of the Board of Trustees.  Notwithstanding this delegation of responsibilities, however, the Fund retains the right to vote proxies relating to its portfolio securities.  The fundamental purpose of the Proxy Policies is to ensure that each vote will be in a manner that reflects the best interest of the Fund and its shareholders, taking into account the value of the Fund’s investments.

The actual voting records relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30 is available without charge, upon request, by calling toll-free, (800) SEC-0330 or by accessing the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

The Adviser’s Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures
The Adviser will vote proxies on behalf of the Fund in a manner that it believes is consistent with the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders.  Absent special circumstances, all proxies will be voted consistent with guidelines established and described in the Adviser’s Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures.  A summary of the Adviser’s Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures is as follows:
 
·
Because the Adviser manages index-based products only, it is the policy of the Adviser to vote proxies in accordance with the recommendation of a proxy voting service.
 
·
The Adviser retains the power to vote contrary to the recommendation of a proxy voting service at its discretion, so long as the reasons for doing so are well documented.
 
·
The Adviser may determine not to vote a particular proxy, if the costs and burdens exceed the benefits of voting.
 
·
In certain situations there may be a conflict of interest in the voting of proxies between the interests of the Fund and its shareholders and those of the Adviser as a result of the Adviser’s passive index- based business. The Board of Managers of the Adviser will address any such conflicts on a case-by-case basis.
 
·
All proxies will be voted in accordance with any applicable investment restrictions of the Fund and, to the extent applicable, any resolutions or other instructions approved by the Board of Trustees.
 
Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Program
The Trust has established an Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Program (the “Program”) as required by the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (“USA PATRIOT Act”).  To ensure compliance with this law, the Trust’s Program provides for the development of internal practices, procedures and controls, designation of anti-money laundering compliance officers, an ongoing training program and an independent audit function to determine the effectiveness of the Program.  Ms. Deborah Ward has been designated as the Trust’s Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer.

Procedures to implement the Program include, but are not limited to: determining that the Distributor and the Transfer Agent have established proper anti-money laundering procedures; reporting suspicious and/or fraudulent activity; and a complete and thorough review of all new account applications.  The Fund will not transact business with any person or entity whose identity cannot be adequately verified under the provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act.

As a result of the Program, the Fund may be required to “freeze” the account of a shareholder if the shareholder appears to be involved in suspicious activity or if certain account information matches information on government lists of known terrorists or other suspicious persons, or the Fund may be required to transfer the account or proceeds of the account to a governmental agency.

Portfolio Holdings Information
The Trust, on behalf of the Fund, has adopted portfolio holdings disclosure policies (“Portfolio Holdings Policies”) that govern the timing and circumstances of disclosure of portfolio holdings of the Fund.  The Portfolio Holdings Policies are applicable to service providers of the Fund, including the Adviser.  Information about the Fund’s portfolio holdings will not be distributed to any third party except in accordance with these Portfolio Holdings Policies.  The Board of Trustees considered the circumstances under which the Fund’s portfolio holdings may be disclosed under the Portfolio Holdings Policies.  The Board of Trustees also considered actual and potential material conflicts that could arise in such circumstances between the interests of the Fund’s shareholders and the interests of the Adviser, Distributor or any other affiliated person of the Fund.  After due consideration, the Board of Trustees determined that the Fund has a legitimate business purpose for disclosing portfolio holdings to persons described in the Portfolio Holdings Policies.  The Board of Trustees also authorized its CCO to consider and authorize dissemination of portfolio holdings information to additional parties, after considering the best interests of the Fund’s shareholders and potential conflicts of interest in making such disclosures.
 

The Board of Trustees exercises continuing oversight of the disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio holdings by (1) overseeing the implementation and enforcement of the Portfolio Holdings Policies, codes of ethics and other relevant policies of the Fund and its service providers by the CCO, (2) by considering reports and recommendations by the CCO concerning any material compliance matters (as defined in Rule 38a-1 under the 1940 Act), and (3) by considering whether to approve any amendment to these Portfolio Holdings Policies.  The Board of Trustees reserves the right to amend the Portfolio Holdings Policies at any time without prior notice in its sole discretion.

Disclosure of the Fund’s complete holdings is required to be made quarterly within 60 days of the end of each fiscal quarter, in the annual and semi-annual reports to Fund shareholders, and in the quarterly holdings report on Form N-Q.  These reports will be made available, free of charge, on the EDGAR database on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.  In addition, the Fund’s entire portfolio holdings are publicly disseminated each day the Fund is open for business through the Fund’s website and may be made available through financial reporting and news services or any other medium, including publicly available internet web sites.  In addition, the composition of the Deposit Securities and the Redemption Securities is disseminated daily prior to the opening of the Exchange via the NSCC.

In the event of a conflict between the interests of the Fund and its shareholders and the interests of the Adviser or an affiliated person of the Adviser under the Portfolio Holdings Policy, the CCO of the Adviser, in consultation with the Trust’s CCO, shall make a determination in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders, and shall report such determination to the Board of Trustees at the end of the quarter in which such determination was made.  Any employee of the Adviser who suspects a breach of this obligation must report the matter immediately to the Adviser’s CCO or to his or her supervisor.

In addition, material non-public holdings information may be provided without lag as part of the normal investment activities of the Fund to each of the following entities which, by explicit agreement or by virtue of their respective duties to the Fund, are required to maintain the confidentiality of the information disclosed: the Administrator; the Adviser; the Fund’s Accountant; the Custodian; the Transfer Agent; the Fund’s independent registered public accounting firm; counsel to the Fund or the Board of Trustees (current parties are identified in this SAI); broker-dealers (in connection with the purchase or sale of securities or requests for price quotations or bids on one or more securities); lending agents; and regulatory authorities.  Portfolio holdings information not publicly available with the SEC may only be provided to additional third parties in accordance with the Portfolio Holdings Policies, when the Fund has a legitimate business purpose, and the third party recipient is subject to a confidentiality agreement.  Portfolio holdings information may be separately provided to any person, including rating and ranking organizations such as Lipper and Morningstar, at the same time that it is filed with the SEC or one day after it is first published on the Fund’s website.  Such portfolio holdings disclosure must be approved under the Portfolio Holdings Policies by the Trust’s CCO.

In no event shall the Adviser, its affiliates or employees, or the Fund receive any direct or indirect compensation in connection with the disclosure of information about the Fund’s portfolio holdings.

There can be no assurance that the Portfolio Holdings Policies and these procedures will protect the Fund from potential misuse of that information by individuals or entities to which it is disclosed.
 

 
Book Entry Only System. Depositary Trust Company (“DTC”) acts as securities depositary for the shares.  Shares of the Fund are represented by securities registered in the name of DTC or its nominee, Cede & Co., and deposited with, or on behalf of, DTC.  Except in limited circumstances set forth below, certificates will not be issued for shares.
 
DTC is a limited-purpose trust company that was created to hold securities of its participants (the “DTC Participants”) and to facilitate the clearance and settlement of securities transactions among the DTC Participants in such securities through electronic book-entry changes in accounts of the DTC Participants, thereby eliminating the need for physical movement of securities certificates.  DTC Participants include securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and certain other organizations, some of whom (and/or their representatives) own DTC.  More specifically, DTC is owned by a number of its DTC Participants and by the NYSE and FINRA.  Access to the DTC system is also available to others such as banks, brokers, dealers, and trust companies that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a DTC Participant, either directly or indirectly (the “Indirect Participants”).
 
Beneficial ownership of shares is limited to DTC Participants, Indirect Participants, and persons holding interests through DTC Participants and Indirect Participants.  Ownership of beneficial interests in shares (owners of such beneficial interests are referred to herein as “Beneficial Owners”) is shown on, and the transfer of ownership is effected only through, records maintained by DTC (with respect to DTC Participants) and on the records of DTC Participants (with respect to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners that are not DTC Participants).  Beneficial Owners will receive from or through the DTC Participant a written confirmation relating to their purchase of shares.  The Trust recognizes DTC or its nominee as the record owner of all Shares for all purposes.  Beneficial Owners of shares are not entitled to have Shares registered in their names, and will not receive or be entitled to physical delivery of share certificates.  Each Beneficial Owner must rely on the procedures of DTC and any DTC Participant and/or Indirect Participant through which such Beneficial Owner holds its interests, to exercise any rights of a holder of shares.
 
Conveyance of all notices, statements, and other communications to Beneficial Owners is effected as follows.  DTC will make available to the Trust upon request and for a fee a listing of shares held by each DTC Participant.  The Trust will obtain from each such DTC Participant the number of Beneficial Owners holding shares, directly or indirectly, through such DTC Participant.  The Trust will provide each such DTC Participant with copies of such notice, statement, or other communication, in such form, number and at such place as such DTC Participant may reasonably request, in order that such notice, statement or communication may be transmitted by such DTC Participant, directly or indirectly, to such Beneficial Owners.  In addition, the Trust will pay to each such DTC Participant a fair and reasonable amount as reimbursement for the expenses attendant to such transmittal, all subject to applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.
 
Share distributions will be made to DTC or its nominee, Cede & Co., as the registered holder of all shares.  DTC or its nominee, upon receipt of any such distributions, will credit immediately DTC Participants’ accounts with payments in amounts proportionate to their respective beneficial interests in the Fund as shown on the records of DTC or its nominee.  Payments by DTC Participants to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners of shares held through such DTC Participants will be governed by standing instructions and customary practices, as is now the case with securities held for the accounts of customers in bearer form or registered in a “street name,” and will be the responsibility of such DTC Participants.
 
 
The Trust has no responsibility or liability for any aspect of the records relating to or notices to Beneficial Owners, or payments made on account of beneficial ownership interests in the Fund’s shares, or for maintaining, supervising, or reviewing any records relating to such beneficial ownership interests, or for any other aspect of the relationship between DTC and the DTC Participants or the relationship between such DTC Participants and the Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners owning through such DTC Participants.
 
DTC may determine to discontinue providing its service with respect to the Fund at any time by giving reasonable notice to the Trust and discharging its responsibilities with respect thereto under applicable law.  Under such circumstances, the Fund will take action either to find a replacement for DTC to perform its functions at a comparable cost or, if such replacement is unavailable, to issue and deliver printed certificates representing ownership of shares, unless the Trust makes other arrangements with respect thereto satisfactory to the Exchange.
 
Purchase and Issuance of Shares in Creation Units
The Trust issues and sells shares of the Fund only: (i) in Creation Units on a continuous basis through the Distributor, without a sales load (but subject to transaction fees), at their NAV next determined after receipt of an order, on any Business Day, in proper form pursuant to the terms of the Authorized Participant Agreement (“Participant Agreement”); or (ii) pursuant to the Dividend Reinvestment Service (defined below).  The NAV of the Fund’s shares is calculated each business day as of the close of regular trading on the Exchange, generally 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time.  The Fund will not issue fractional Creation Units.  A Business Day is any day on which the Exchange is open for business.
 
FUND DEPOSIT.  The consideration for purchase of a Creation Unit of the Fund generally consists of the in- kind deposit of a designated portfolio of securities (the “Deposit Securities”) per each Creation Unit, constituting a substantial replication, or a portfolio sampling representation, of the securities included in the Fund’s Underlying Index and the Cash Component (defined below), computed as described below.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Trust reserves the right to permit or require the substitution of a “cash in lieu” amount (“Deposit Cash”) to be added to the Cash Component to replace any Deposit Security.  When accepting purchases of Creation Units for all or a portion of Deposit Cash, the Fund may incur additional costs associated with the acquisition of Deposit Securities that would otherwise be provided by an in-kind purchaser.  These additional costs associated with the acquisition of Deposit Securities (“Non-Standard Charges”) may be recoverable from the purchaser of creation units.
 
Together, the Deposit Securities or Deposit Cash, as applicable, and the Cash Component constitute the “Fund Deposit,” which represents the minimum initial and subsequent investment amount for a Creation Unit of the Fund.  The “Cash Component” is an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of the Shares (per Creation Unit) and the market value of the Deposit Securities or Deposit Cash, as applicable.  If the Cash Component is a positive number (i.e., the NAV per Creation Unit exceeds the market value of the Deposit Securities or Deposit Cash, as applicable), the Cash Component will be such positive amount.  If the Cash Component is a negative number (i.e., the NAV per Creation Unit is less than the market value of the Deposit Securities or Deposit Cash, as applicable), the Cash Component shall be such negative amount and the creator will be entitled to receive cash in an amount equal to the Cash Component.  The Cash Component serves the function of compensating for any differences between the NAV per Creation Unit and the market value of the Deposit Securities or Deposit Cash, as applicable.  Computation of the Cash Component excludes any stamp duty or other similar fees and expenses payable upon transfer of beneficial ownership of the Deposit Securities, if applicable, which will be the sole responsibility of the Authorized Participant (as defined below).
 
 
The Fund, through NSCC, make available on each Business Day, immediately prior to the opening of business on the Exchange (currently 9:30 a.m., Eastern time), the list of the names and the required number of shares of each Deposit Security or the required amount of Deposit Cash, as applicable, to be included in the current Fund Deposit (based on information at the end of the previous Business Day) for the Fund.  Such Fund Deposit is subject to any applicable adjustments as described below, in order to effect purchases of Creation Units of the Fund until such time as the next-announced composition of the Deposit Securities or the required amount of Deposit Cash, as applicable, is made available.
 
The identity and number of shares of the Deposit Securities or the amount of Deposit Cash, as applicable, required for the Fund Deposit for the Fund changes as rebalancing adjustments and corporate action events are reflected from time to time by the Adviser with a view to the investment objective of the Fund.  The composition of the Deposit Securities may also change in response to adjustments to the weighting or composition of the component securities of the Fund’s Underlying Index.
 
The Trust reserves the right to permit or require the substitution of an amount of cash (i.e., a “cash in lieu” amount) to replace any Deposit Security, which will be added to the Deposit Cash, if applicable, and the Cash Component, including, without limitation, in situations where the Deposit Security: (i) may not be available in sufficient quantity for delivery; (ii) may not be eligible for transfer through the systems of DTC for corporate securities and municipal securities; (iii) may not be eligible for trading by an Authorized Participant (as defined below) or the investor for which it is acting; (iv) would be restricted under the securities laws or where the delivery of the Deposit Security to the Authorized Participant would result in the disposition of the Deposit Security by the Authorized Participant becoming restricted under the securities laws; or (v) in certain other situations (collectively, “custom orders”).  The Trust also reserves the right to include or remove Deposit Securities from the basket in anticipation of Underlying Index rebalancing changes.  The adjustments described above will reflect changes, known to the Adviser on the date of announcement to be in effect by the time of delivery of the Fund Deposit, in the composition of the Fund’s Underlying Index or resulting from certain corporate actions.
 
CASH PURCHASE METHOD.  The Trust may at its discretion permit full or partial cash purchases of Creation Units of the Fund in instances permitted by the exemptive relief the Adviser is relying on in offering the Fund.  When full or partial cash purchases of Creation Units are available or specified for the Fund, they will be effected in essentially the same manner as in-kind purchases thereof.  In the case of a full or partial cash purchase, the Authorized Participant must pay the cash equivalent of the Deposit Securities it would otherwise be required to provide through an in-kind purchase, plus the same Cash Component required to be paid by an in-kind purchaser together with a Creation Transaction Fee and Non-Standard Charges, as may be applicable.
 
PROCEDURES FOR PURCHASE OF CREATION UNITS.  To be eligible to place orders with the Distributor to purchase a Creation Unit of the Fund, an entity must be (i) a “Participating Party”, i.e., a broker-dealer or other participant in the clearing process through the Continuous Net Settlement System of the NSCC (the “Clearing Process”), a clearing agency that is registered with the SEC; or (ii) a DTC Participant (see “BOOK ENTRY ONLY SYSTEM”).  In addition, each Participating Party or DTC Participant (each, an “Authorized Participant”) must execute a Participant Agreement that has been agreed to by the Distributor, and that has been accepted by the Transfer Agent and the Trust, with respect to purchases and redemptions of Creation Units.  Each Authorized Participant will agree, pursuant to the terms of a Participant Agreement, on behalf of itself or any investor on whose behalf it will act, to certain conditions, including that it will pay to the Trust an amount of cash sufficient to pay the Cash Component together with the Creation Transaction Fee (defined below) and any other applicable fees and taxes.  The Adviser may retain all or a portion of the Transaction Fee to the extent the Adviser bears the expenses that otherwise would be borne by the Trust in connection with the purchase of a Creation Unit, which the Transaction Fee is designed to cover.
 
 
All orders to purchase shares directly from the Fund must be placed for one or more Creation Units in the manner set forth in the Participant Agreement (the “Cut-Off Time”).  The date on which an order to purchase Creation Units (or an order to redeem Creation Units, as set forth below) is received and accepted is referred to as the “Order Placement Date.”
 
An Authorized Participant may require an investor to make certain representations or enter into agreements with respect to the order (e.g., to provide for payments of cash, when required).  Investors should be aware that their particular broker may not have executed a Participant Agreement and that, therefore, orders to purchase shares directly from the Fund in Creation Units have to be placed by the investor’s broker through an Authorized Participant that has executed a Participant Agreement.  In such cases there may be additional charges to such investor.  At any given time, there may be only a limited number of broker-dealers that have executed a Participant Agreement and only a small number of such Authorized Participants may have international capabilities.
 
On days when the Exchange closes earlier than normal, the Fund may require orders to create Creation Units to be placed earlier in the day.  In addition, if a market or markets on which the Fund’s investments are primarily traded is closed on any day, the Fund will also generally not accept orders on such day.  Orders must be transmitted by an Authorized Participant by telephone or other transmission method acceptable to the Distributor pursuant to procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement and in accordance with the AP Handbook.  With respect to the Fund, the Distributor will notify the Custodian of such order.  The Custodian will then provide such information to the appropriate local sub-custodian(s).  Those placing orders through an Authorized Participant should allow sufficient time to permit proper submission of the purchase order to the Distributor by the Cut-Off Time on the Business Day on which the order is placed.  Economic or market disruptions or changes, or telephone or other communication failure may impede the ability to reach the Distributor or an Authorized Participant.
 
Fund Deposits must be delivered by an Authorized Participant through the Federal Reserve System (for cash) or through DTC (for corporate securities), through a subcustody agent (for foreign securities) and/or through such other arrangements allowed by the Trust or its agents.  With respect to foreign Deposit Securities, the Custodian will cause the subcustodian of such Fund to maintain an account into which the Authorized Participant will deliver, on behalf of itself or the party on whose behalf it is acting, such Deposit Securities (or Deposit Cash for all or a part of such securities, as permitted or required), with any appropriate adjustments as advised by the Trust.  Foreign Deposit Securities must be delivered to an account maintained at the applicable local subcustodian.  The Fund Deposit transfer must be ordered by the Authorized Participant in a timely fashion so as to ensure the delivery of the requisite number of Deposit Securities or Deposit Cash, as applicable, to the account of the Fund or its agents by no later than the Settlement Date.  The “Settlement Date” for the Fund is generally the third Business Day after the Order Placement Date.  All questions as to the number of Deposit Securities or Deposit Cash to be delivered, as applicable, and the validity, form and eligibility (including time of receipt) for the deposit of any tendered securities or cash, as applicable, will be determined by the Trust, whose determination will be final and binding.  The amount of cash represented by the Cash Component must be transferred directly to the Custodian through the Federal Reserve Bank wire transfer system in a timely manner so as to be received by the Custodian no later than the Settlement Date.  If the Cash Component and the Deposit Securities or Deposit Cash, as applicable, are not received in a timely manner by the Settlement Date, the creation order may be cancelled.  Upon written notice to the Distributor, such canceled order may be resubmitted the following Business Day using the Fund Deposit as newly constituted to reflect the then current NAV of the Fund.
 
 
The order will be deemed to be received on the Business Day on which the order is placed provided that the order is placed in proper form prior to the Cut-Off Time and the federal funds in the appropriate amount are deposited by 2:00 p.m., Eastern time, with the Custodian on the Settlement Date.  If the order is not placed in proper form as required, or federal funds in the appropriate amount are not received by 2:00 p.m., Eastern time on the Settlement Date, then the order may be deemed to be rejected and the Authorized Participant will be liable to the Fund for losses, if any, resulting therefrom.  A creation request is considered to be in “proper form” if all procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement, AP Handbook and this SAI are properly followed.
 
ISSUANCE OF A CREATION UNIT.  Except as provided herein, Creation Units will not be issued until the transfer of good title to the Trust of the Deposit Securities or payment of Deposit Cash, as applicable, and the payment of the Cash Component have been completed.  When the subcustodian has confirmed to the Custodian that the required Deposit Securities (or the cash value thereof) have been delivered to the account of the relevant subcustodian or subcustodians, the Distributor and the Adviser will be notified of such delivery, and the Trust will issue and cause the delivery of the Creation Units.  The delivery of Creation Units so created generally will occur no later than the third Business Day following the day on which the purchase order is deemed received by the Distributor.  However, the Fund reserves the right to settle Creation Unit transactions on a basis other than the third Business Day following the day on which the purchase order is deemed received by the Distributor in order to accommodate foreign market holiday schedules, to account for different treatment among foreign and U.S.  markets of dividend record dates and ex-dividend dates (that is the last day the holder of a security can sell the security and still receive dividends payable on the security), and in certain other circumstances.  The Authorized Participant will be liable to the Fund for losses, if any, resulting from unsettled orders.
 
Creation Units may be purchased in advance of receipt by the Trust of all or a portion of the applicable Deposit Securities as described below.  In these circumstances, the initial deposit will have a value greater than the NAV of the Shares on the date the order is placed in proper form since in addition to available Deposit Securities, cash must be deposited in an amount equal to the sum of (i) the Cash Component, plus (ii) an additional amount of cash equal to a percentage of the market value as set forth in the Participant Agreement, of the undelivered Deposit Securities (the “Additional Cash Deposit”), which will be maintained in a separate non-interest bearing collateral account.  An additional amount of cash will be required to be deposited with the Trust, pending delivery of the missing Deposit Securities to the extent necessary to maintain the Additional Cash Deposit with the Trust in an amount at least equal to the applicable percentage, as set forth in the Participant Agreement, of the daily marked to market value of the missing Deposit Securities.  The Participant Agreement will permit the Trust to buy the missing Deposit Securities at any time.  Authorized Participants will be liable to the Trust for the costs incurred by the Trust in connection with any such purchases.  These costs will be deemed to include the amount by which the actual purchase price of the Deposit Securities exceeds the market value of such Deposit Securities on the day the purchase order was deemed received by the Distributor plus the brokerage and related transaction costs associated with such purchases.  The Trust will return any unused portion of the Additional Cash Deposit once all of the missing Deposit Securities have been properly received by the Custodian or purchased by the Trust and deposited into the Trust.  In addition, a Transaction Fee as set forth below under “Creation Transaction Fee” will be charged in all cases, unless otherwise advised by the Fund, and Non- Standard Charges may also apply.  The delivery of Creation Units so created generally will occur no later than the Settlement Date.
 
 
ACCEPTANCE OF ORDERS OF CREATION UNITS.  The Trust reserves the absolute right to reject an order for Creation Units transmitted to it by the Distributor in respect of the Fund including, without limitation, if (a) the order is not in proper form; (b) the Deposit Securities or Deposit Cash, as applicable, delivered by the Participant are not as disseminated through the facilities of the NSCC for that date by the Custodian; (c) the investor(s), upon obtaining the shares ordered, would own 80% or more of the currently outstanding Shares of the Fund; (d) acceptance of the Deposit Securities would have certain adverse tax consequences to the Fund; (e) the acceptance of the Fund Deposit would, in the opinion of counsel, be unlawful; (f) the acceptance of the Fund Deposit would otherwise, in the discretion of the Trust or the Adviser, have an adverse effect on the Trust or the rights of beneficial owners; (g) the acceptance or receipt of the order for a Creation Unit would, in the opinion of counsel to the Trust, be unlawful; or (h) circumstances outside the control of the Trust, the Custodian, the Transfer Agent and/or the Adviser make it for all practical purposes not feasible to process orders for Creation Units.
 
Examples of such circumstances include acts of God or public service or utility problems such as fires, floods, extreme weather conditions and power outages resulting in telephone, telecopy and computer failures; market conditions or activities causing trading halts; systems failures involving computer or other information systems affecting the Trust, the Distributor, the Custodian, a sub-custodian, the Transfer Agent, DTC, NSCC, Federal Reserve System, or any other participant in the creation process, and other extraordinary events.  The Distributor shall notify a prospective creator of a Creation Unit and/or the Authorized Participant acting on behalf of the creator of a Creation Unit of its rejection of the order of such person.  The Trust, the Transfer Agent, the Custodian, any sub-custodian and the Distributor are under no duty, however, to give notification of any defects or irregularities in the delivery of Fund Deposits nor will either of them incur any liability for the failure to give any such notification.  The Trust, the Transfer Agent, the Custodian and the Distributor will not be liable for the rejection of any purchase order for Creation Units.
 
All questions as to the number of shares of each security in the Deposit Securities and the validity, form, eligibility and acceptance for deposit of any securities to be delivered will be determined by the Trust, and the Trust’s determination will be final and binding.
 
CREATION TRANSACTION FEE.  A purchase (i.e., creation) transaction fee is imposed for the transfer and other transaction costs associated with the purchase of Creation Units, and investors will be required to pay a Creation Transaction Fee regardless of the number of Creation Units created in the transaction.  The Fund may adjust the creation transaction fee from time to time based upon actual experience.  In addition, the Fund may impose a Non-Standard Charge of up to 2% of the value of the creation transactions for cash creations, non- standard orders, or partial cash purchases for the Fund.  The Fund may adjust the Non-Standard Charge from time to time based upon actual experience.  Investors who use the services of an Authorized Participant, broker or other such intermediary may be charged a fee for such services, which may include an amount for the Creation Transaction Fee and Non-Standard Charges.  Investors are responsible for the costs of transferring the securities constituting the Deposit Securities to the account of the Trust.  The Adviser may retain all or a portion of the Transaction Fee to the extent the Adviser bears the expenses that otherwise would be borne by the Trust in connection with the purchase of a Creation Unit, which the Transaction Fee is designed to cover.  The standard Creation Transaction Fee for the Fund is $500.
 
 
RISKS OF PURCHASING CREATION UNITS.  There are certain legal risks unique to investors purchasing Creation Units directly from the Fund.  Because the Fund’s shares may be issued on an ongoing basis, a “distribution” of shares could be occurring at any time.  Certain activities that a shareholder performs as a dealer could, depending on the circumstances, result in the shareholder being deemed a participant in the distribution in a manner that could render the shareholder a statutory underwriter and subject to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the Securities Act.  For example, a shareholder could be deemed a statutory underwriter if it purchases Creation Units from the Fund, breaks them down into the constituent shares, and sells those shares directly to customers, or if a shareholder chooses to couple the creation of a supply of new shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary-market demand for shares.  Whether a person is an underwriter depends upon all of the facts and circumstances pertaining to that person’s activities, and the examples mentioned here should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could cause a shareholder to be deemed an underwriter.
 
Dealers who are not “underwriters” but are participating in a distribution (as opposed to engaging in ordinary secondary-market transactions), and thus dealing with the Fund’s shares as part of an “unsold allotment” within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the Securities Act, will be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the Securities Act.
 
REDEMPTION.  Shares may be redeemed only in Creation Units at their NAV next determined after receipt of a redemption request in proper form by the Fund through the Transfer Agent and only on a Business Day.  EXCEPT UPON LIQUIDATION OF THE FUND, THE TRUST WILL NOT REDEEM SHARES IN AMOUNTS LESS THAN CREATION UNITS.  Investors must accumulate enough Shares in the secondary market to constitute a Creation Unit in order to have such Shares redeemed by the Trust.  There can be no assurance, however, that there will be sufficient liquidity in the public trading market at any time to permit assembly of a Creation Unit.  Investors should expect to incur brokerage and other costs in connection with assembling a sufficient number of Shares to constitute a redeemable Creation Unit.
 
With respect to the Fund, the Custodian, through the NSCC, makes available immediately prior to the opening of business on the Exchange (currently 9:30 a.m., Eastern time) on each Business Day, the list of the names and share quantities of the Fund’s portfolio securities that will be applicable (subject to possible amendment or correction) to redemption requests received in proper form (as defined below) on that day (“Fund Securities”).  Fund Securities received on redemption may not be identical to Deposit Securities.
 
 
Redemption proceeds for a Creation Unit are paid either in-kind or in cash, or combination thereof, as determined by the Trust.  With respect to in-kind redemptions of the Fund, redemption proceeds for a Creation Unit will consist of Fund Securities -- as announced by the Custodian on the Business Day of the request for redemption received in proper form -- plus cash in an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of the Shares being redeemed, as next determined after a receipt of a request in proper form, and the value of the Fund Securities (the “Cash Redemption Amount”), less any fixed redemption transaction fee as set forth below and any Non-Standard Charges.  If that the Fund Securities have a value greater than the NAV of the Shares, a compensating cash payment equal to the differential is required to be made by or through an Authorized Participant by the redeeming shareholder.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, at the Trust’s discretion, an Authorized Participant may receive the corresponding cash value of the securities in lieu of the in-kind securities value representing one or more Fund Securities.
 
CASH REDEMPTION METHOD.  Although the Trust does not ordinarily permit full or partial cash redemptions of Creation Units of the Fund, when full or partial cash redemptions of Creation Units are available or specified for the Fund, they will be effected in essentially the same manner as in-kind redemptions thereof.  In the case of full or partial cash redemptions, the Authorized Participant will receive the cash equivalent of the Fund Securities it would otherwise receive through an in-kind redemption, plus the same Cash Amount to be paid to an in-kind redeemer.
 
REDEMPTION TRANSACTION FEES.  A redemption transaction fee may be imposed for the transfer and other transaction costs associated with the redemption of Creation Units, and Authorized Participants will be required to pay a Redemption Transaction Fee regardless of the number of Creation Units created in the transaction.  The redemption transaction fee is the same no matter how many Creation Units are being redeemed pursuant to any one redemption request.  The Fund may adjust the redemption transaction fee from time to time based upon actual experience.  In addition, the Fund may impose a Non-Standard Charge of up to 2% of the value of a redemption transaction for cash redemptions, non-standard orders, or partial cash redemptions for the Fund.  Investors who use the services of an Authorized Participant, broker or other such intermediary may be charged a fee for such services which may include an amount for the Redemption Transaction Fees and Non- Standard Charges.  Investors are responsible for the costs of transferring the securities constituting the Fund Securities to the account of the Trust.  The Non-Standard Charges are payable to the Fund as it incurs costs in connection with the redemption of Creation Units, the receipt of Fund Securities and the Cash Redemption Amount and other transactions costs.  The standard Redemption Transaction Fee for the Fund is $500.
 
PROCEDURES FOR REDEMPTION OF CREATION UNITS.  Orders to redeem Creation Units must be submitted in proper form to the Transfer Agent prior to the time as set forth in the Participant Agreement.  A redemption request is considered to be in “proper form” if (i) an Authorized Participant has transferred or caused to be transferred to the Trust’s Transfer Agent the Creation Unit(s) being redeemed through the book- entry system of DTC so as to be effective by the time as set forth in the Participant Agreement and (ii) a request in form satisfactory to the Trust is received by the Transfer Agent from the Authorized Participant on behalf of itself or another redeeming investor within the time periods specified in the Participant Agreement.  If the Transfer Agent does not receive the investor’s Shares through DTC’s facilities by the times and pursuant to the other terms and conditions set forth in the Participant Agreement, the redemption request will be rejected.
 
 
The Authorized Participant must transmit the request for redemption, in the form required by the Trust, to the Transfer Agent in accordance with procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement.  Investors should be aware that their particular broker may not have executed an Authorized Participant Agreement, and that, therefore, requests to redeem Creation Units may have to be placed by the investor’s broker through an Authorized Participant which has executed an Authorized Participant Agreement.  Investors making a redemption request should be aware that such request must be in the form specified by such Authorized Participant.  Investors making a request to redeem Creation Units should allow sufficient time to permit proper submission of the request by an Authorized Participant and transfer of the Shares to the Trust’s Transfer Agent; such investors should allow for the additional time that may be required to effect redemptions through their banks, brokers or other financial intermediaries if such intermediaries are not Authorized Participants.
 
In connection with taking delivery of shares of Fund Securities upon redemption of Creation Units, a redeeming shareholder or Authorized Participant acting on behalf of such Shareholder must maintain appropriate custody arrangements with a qualified broker-dealer, bank or other custody providers in each jurisdiction in which any of the Fund Securities are customarily traded, to which account such Fund Securities will be delivered.  Deliveries of redemption proceeds generally will be made within three business days of the trade date.
 
ADDITIONAL REDEMPTION PROCEDURES.  In connection with taking delivery of shares of Fund Securities upon redemption of Creation Units, the Authorized Participant must maintain appropriate custody arrangements with a qualified broker-dealer, bank or other custody providers in each jurisdiction in which any of the Fund Securities are customarily traded, to which account such Fund Securities will be delivered.  Deliveries of redemption proceeds generally will be made within three Business Days of the trade date.  However, due to the schedule of holidays in certain countries, the different treatment among foreign and U.S.  markets of dividend record dates and dividend ex-dates (that is the last date the holder of a security can sell the security and still receive dividends payable on the security sold), and in certain other circumstances, the delivery of in-kind redemption proceeds may take longer than three Business Days after the day on which the redemption request is received in proper form.  If neither the redeeming Shareholder nor the Authorized Participant acting on behalf of such redeeming Shareholder has appropriate arrangements to take delivery of the Fund Securities in the applicable foreign jurisdiction and it is not possible to make other such arrangements, or if it is not possible to effect deliveries of the Fund Securities in such jurisdiction, the Trust may, in its discretion, exercise its option to redeem such Shares in cash, and the redeeming shareholder will be required to receive its redemption proceeds in cash.
 
If it is not possible to make other such arrangements, or it is not possible to effect deliveries of the Fund Securities, the Trust may in its discretion exercise its option to redeem such Shares in cash, and the redeeming investor will be required to receive its redemption proceeds in cash.  In addition, an investor may request a redemption in cash that the Fund may, in its sole discretion, permit.  In either case, the investor will receive a cash payment equal to the NAV of its shares based on the NAV of Shares of the relevant Fund next determined after the redemption request is received in proper form (minus a redemption transaction fee and additional charge for requested cash redemptions specified above, to offset the Trust’s brokerage and other transaction costs associated with the disposition of Fund Securities).  The Fund may also, in its sole discretion, upon request of a shareholder, provide such redeemer a portfolio of securities that differs from the exact composition of the Fund Securities but does not differ in NAV.
 
 
Redemptions of shares for Fund Securities will be subject to compliance with applicable federal and state securities laws and the Fund (whether or not it otherwise permits cash redemptions) reserves the right to redeem Creation Units for cash to the extent that the Trust could not lawfully deliver specific Fund Securities upon redemptions or could not do so without first registering the Fund Securities under such laws.  An Authorized Participant or an investor for which it is acting subject to a legal restriction with respect to a particular security included in the Fund Securities applicable to the redemption of Creation Units may be paid an equivalent amount of cash.  The Authorized Participant may request the redeeming investor of the Shares to complete an order form or to enter into agreements with respect to such matters as compensating cash payment.  Further, an Authorized Participant that is not a “qualified institutional buyer,” (“QIB”) as such term is defined under Rule 144A of the Securities Act, will not be able to receive Fund Securities that are restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.  An Authorized Participant may be required by the Trust to provide a written confirmation with respect to QIB status in order to receive Fund Securities.
 
Because the portfolio securities of the Fund may trade on the relevant exchange(s) on days that the Exchange is closed or are otherwise not Business Days for such Fund, shareholders may not be able to redeem their Shares of the Fund, or to purchase or sell Shares of such Fund on the Exchange, on days when the NAV of such Fund could be significantly affecting by events in the relevant foreign markets.
 
The right of redemption may be suspended or the date of payment postponed with respect to the Fund (1) for any period during which the Exchange is closed (other than customary weekend and holiday closings); (2) for any period during which trading on the Exchange is suspended or restricted; (3) for any period during which an emergency exists as a result of which disposal of the Shares of the Fund or determination of the NAV of the Shares is not reasonably practicable; or (4) in such other circumstance as is permitted by the SEC.
 
Determination of Net Asset Value
NAV for the Fund is computed by dividing the value of the net assets of the Fund (i.e., the value of its total assets less total liabilities) by the total number of shares outstanding, rounded to the nearest cent. Expenses and fees, including the management fees, are accrued daily and taken into account for purposes of determining NAV. The NAV of the Fund is calculated by the Custodian and determined at the close of the regular trading session on the New York Stock Exchange (ordinarily 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on each day that such Exchange is open, provided that fixed-income assets may be valued as of the announced closing time for trading in fixed- income instruments on any day that the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (“SIFMA”) announces an early closing time.
 
Generally, the Fund’s investments are valued at market value or, in the absence of a market value, at fair value as determined in good faith by the Adviser and the Trust’s Valuation Committee pursuant to procedures approved by or under the direction of the Board. Pursuant to those procedures, the Board considers, among other things: 1) the last sale price on the securities exchange, if any, on which a security is primarily traded; 2) the mean between the bid and ask prices; 3) price quotations from an approved pricing service, and 4) other factors as necessary to determine a fair value under certain circumstances.
 
The Fund’s securities which are traded on securities exchanges are valued at the last sale price on the exchange on which such securities are traded, as of the close of business on the day the securities are being valued or, lacking any reported sales, at the mean between the last available bid and ask prices.
 
 
Securities traded on a securities exchange for which a last-quoted sales price is readily available will be valued at the last sales price as reported by the primary exchange on which the securities are listed. Securities listed on the Nasdaq National Market System (“Nasdaq”) will be valued at the Nasdaq Official Closing Price, which may differ from the last sales price reported. Securities traded on a securities exchange for which a last-quoted sales price is not readily available will be valued at the last bid, ask or mean between the bid and the ask price, as determined by the Advisor and disclosed in the notes of the annual report. Equity securities traded in the over- the-counter market (“OTC”) market in which no last sales price is available will be valued at the average of the last bid prices obtained from two or more dealers unless there is only one dealer, in which case that dealer’s last bid price is used.
 
Stocks that are “thinly traded” or events occurring when a foreign market is closed but the Exchange is open may create a situation where a market quote would not be readily available. When a market quote is not readily available, the security’s value is based on “fair value” as determined by procedures adopted by the Board. The Board will periodically review the reliability of the Fund’s fair value methodology. The Fund may hold portfolio securities, such as those traded on foreign exchanges that trade on weekends or other days when the Fund’s shares are not priced. Therefore, the value of the Fund’s shares may change on days when shareholders will not be able to purchase or redeem shares.
 
All other assets of the Fund are valued in such manner as the Board in good faith deems appropriate to reflect as their fair value.
Dividends and Distributions
The following information supplements and should be read in conjunction with the section in the Prospectus entitled “Dividends, Distributions and Taxes.”
 
General Policies. Dividends from net investment income, if any, are declared and paid at least annually by the Fund. Distributions of net realized capital gains, if any, generally are declared and paid once a year, but the Fund may make distributions on a more frequent basis for the Fund to improve index tracking or to comply with the distribution requirements of the Internal Revenue Code, in all events in a manner consistent with the provisions of the 1940 Act.
 
Dividends and other distributions on shares are distributed, as described below, on a pro rata basis to Beneficial Owners of such shares. Dividend payments are made through DTC Participants and Indirect Participants to Beneficial Owners then of record with proceeds received from the Fund.
 
The Fund makes additional distributions to the extent necessary (i) to distribute the entire annual taxable income of the Fund, plus any net capital gains and (ii) to avoid imposition of the excise tax imposed by Section 4982 of the Internal Revenue Code. Management of the Trust reserves the right to declare special dividends if, in its reasonable discretion, such action is necessary or advisable to preserve the Fund’s eligibility for treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income.
 
Dividend Reinvestment Service. The Trust will not make the DTC book-entry dividend reinvestment service available for use by Beneficial Owners for reinvestment of their cash proceeds, but certain individual broker- dealers may make available the DTC book-entry Dividend Reinvestment Service for use by Beneficial Owners of the Fund through DTC Participants for reinvestment of their dividend distributions. Investors should contact their brokers to ascertain the availability and description of these services. Beneficial Owners should be aware that each broker may require investors to adhere to specific procedures and timetables in order to participate in the dividend reinvestment service and investors should ascertain from their brokers such necessary details. If this service is available and used, dividend distributions of both income and realized gains will be automatically reinvested in additional whole shares issued by the Trust of the same Fund at NAV. Distributions reinvested in additional shares of the Fund will nevertheless be taxable to Beneficial Owners acquiring such additional shares to the same extent as if such distributions had been received in cash.
 
 
Federal Income Taxes
The following is a summary of certain additional federal income tax considerations generally affecting the Fund and its shareholders that supplements the summary in the Prospectus. No attempt is made to present a comprehensive explanation of the federal, state, local or foreign tax treatment of the Fund or its shareholders, and the discussion here and in the Prospectus is not intended to be a substitute for careful tax planning.
 
The following general discussion of certain federal income tax consequences is based on provisions of the Internal Revenue Code and the regulations issued thereunder as in effect on the date of this SAI. New legislation, as well as administrative changes or court decisions, may significantly change the conclusions expressed herein, and may have a retroactive effect with respect to the transactions contemplated herein.
 
Shareholders are urged to consult their own tax advisers regarding the application of the provisions of tax law described in this SAI in light of the particular tax situations of the shareholders and regarding specific questions as to federal, state, or local taxes.
 
Regulated Investment Company (RIC) Status. The Fund will seek to qualify for treatment as a RIC under the Internal Revenue Code. Provided that for each tax year the Fund: (i) meets the requirements to be treated as a RIC (as discussed below); and (ii) distributes at least an amount equal to the sum of 90% of the Fund’s investment company taxable income for such year (including, for this purpose, the excess of net short-term capital gains over net long-term capital losses), computed without regard to the dividends-paid deduction, and 90% of its net tax-exempt interest income for such year (the “Distribution Requirement”), the Fund itself generally will not be subject to federal income taxes to the extent the Fund’s income, including the Fund’s net capital gain (the excess of the Fund’s net long-term capital gains over its net short-term capital losses), is distributed to the Fund’s shareholders. One of several requirements for RIC qualification is that the Fund must receive at least 90% of the Fund’s gross income each year from dividends, interest, payments with respect to certain securities loans, gains from the sale or other disposition of stock, securities or foreign currencies, or other income derived with respect to the Fund’s business of investing in stock, securities, foreign currencies and net income from interests in qualified publicly traded partnerships, generally including MLPs and certain LLCs (the “90% Test”). A second requirement for qualification as a RIC is that the Fund must diversify its holdings so that, at the end of each quarter of the Fund’s taxable year: (a) at least 50% of the market value of the Fund’s total assets is represented by cash and cash items, U.S. government securities, securities of other RICs, and other securities, with these other securities limited, in respect to any one issuer, to an amount not greater than 5% of the value of the Fund’s total assets or 10% of the outstanding voting securities of such issuer; and (b) not more than 25% of the value of its total assets is invested in the securities (other than U.S. government securities or securities of other RICs) of any one issuer, the securities (other than securities of other RICs) of two or more issuers which the Fund controls and which are engaged in the same, similar, or related trades or businesses, or the securities of one or more qualified publicly traded partnerships, generally including MLPs and certain LLCs (the “Asset Test”).
 
 
For purposes of the 90% Test, the character of income earned by certain entities in which the Fund invests that are not treated as corporations for U.S. federal income tax purposes (e.g., partnerships and LLCs that are not publicly traded partnerships and that have not elected to be classified as corporations under applicable regulations) will generally pass through to the Fund. Consequently, in order to qualify as a RIC, the Fund may be required to limit its equity investments in such entities if they earn income that is nonqualifying income for purposes of the 90% Test.
 
If the Fund fails to satisfy the 90% Test or the Asset Test, the Fund may be eligible for relief provisions if the failures are due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect and if a penalty tax is paid with respect to each failure to satisfy the applicable requirements. Additionally, relief is provided for certain de minimis failures of the Asset Test where the Fund corrects the failure within a specified period of time. In order to be eligible for the relief provisions with respect to a failure to meet the Asset Test, the Fund may be required to dispose of certain assets. If these relief provisions are not available to the Fund and it fails to qualify for treatment as a RIC for a taxable year, all of its taxable income would be subject to tax at regular corporate income tax rates without any deduction for distributions to shareholders, and its distributions (including capital gains distributions) generally would be taxable as ordinary income dividends to its shareholders, subject if certain requirements are met to the dividends-received deduction for corporate shareholders and the lower tax rates on qualified dividend income received by noncorporate shareholders. To requalify for treatment as a RIC in a subsequent taxable year, the Fund would be required to satisfy the RIC qualification requirements for that year and to distribute any earnings and profits from any year in which the Fund failed to qualify for tax treatment as a RIC. If the Fund fails to qualify as a RIC for a period longer than two taxable years, it would generally be required to pay a Fund-level tax on certain net built-in gains recognized with respect to certain of its assets upon a disposition of such assets within ten years of qualifying as a RIC in a subsequent year. The Board reserves the right not to maintain the qualification of the Fund for treatment as a RIC if it determines such course of action to be beneficial to shareholders. If the Fund determines that it will not qualify for treatment as a RIC, the Fund will establish procedures to reflect the anticipated tax liability in the Fund’s NAV.
 
For each year, the Fund intends to distribute to its shareholders substantially all of its investment company taxable income (computed without regard to the dividends-paid deduction) and any realized net capital gain (after taking into account any capital loss carryovers). If the Fund failed to satisfy the distribution requirement for any taxable year, it would be taxed as a regular corporation, with consequences generally similar to those described above.
 
If the Fund meets the Distribution Requirement but retains some or all of its income or gains, it will be subject to federal income tax to the extent any such income or gains are not distributed. The Fund may designate certain amounts retained as undistributed net capital gain in a notice to its shareholders, who (i) will be required to include in income for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as long-term capital gain, their proportionate shares of the undistributed amount so designated, (ii) will be entitled to credit their proportionate shares of the income tax paid by the Fund on that undistributed amount against their federal income tax liabilities and to claim refunds to the extent such credits exceed their liabilities and (iii) will be entitled to increase their tax basis, for federal income tax purposes, in their shares in the Fund by an amount equal to the excess of the amount of undistributed net capital gain included in their respective income over their respective income tax credits.
 
 
The Fund will be subject to a nondeductible 4% federal excise tax on certain undistributed income if it does not distribute (and is not deemed to distribute) to its shareholders in each calendar year an amount at least equal to 98% of its ordinary income for the calendar year plus 98.2% of its capital gain net income for the twelve months ended October 31 of that year, subject to an increase for any shortfall in the prior year’s distribution. For this purpose, any ordinary income or capital gain net income retained by the Fund and subject to corporate income tax will be considered to have been distributed. The Fund intends to declare and distribute dividends and distributions in the amounts and at the times necessary to avoid the application of this 4% excise tax, but can make no assurances that all such tax liability will be eliminated.
 
Capital losses in excess of capital gains (“net capital losses”) are not permitted to be deducted against a RIC’s net investment income. Instead, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, potentially subject to certain limitations, a RIC may carry net capital losses from any taxable year forward to offset capital gains in future years. The Fund is permitted to carry net capital losses forward indefinitely. To the extent subsequent capital gains are offset by such losses, they will not result in U.S. federal income tax liability to the Fund and may not be distributed as capital gains to shareholders. Generally, the Fund may not carry forward any losses other than net capital losses. Under certain circumstances, the Fund may elect to treat certain losses as though they were incurred on the first day of the taxable year immediately following the taxable year in which they were actually incurred.
 
Taxation of Shareholders. Distributions of net capital gains that the Fund reports to a shareholder as capital gain dividends are taxable as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long the shareholder has owned the shares. Long-term capital gains are generally taxed to noncorporate shareholders at rates of up to 20%. All other dividends of the Fund (including dividends from short-term capital gains) from its current and accumulated earnings and profits are generally subject to tax as ordinary income, subject to the discussion of qualified dividend income below.
 
Subject to certain limitations and requirements, including holding period requirements, dividends reported by the Fund as qualified dividend income will be taxable to noncorporate shareholders at rates of up to 20%. In general, dividends may be reported by the Fund as qualified dividend income if they are paid from dividends received by the Fund on common and preferred stock of U.S. companies or on stock of certain eligible foreign corporations, provided that certain holding period and other requirements are met by the Fund with respect to the dividend-paying stocks in its portfolio. Subject to certain limitations, eligible foreign corporations include those incorporated in possessions of the United States or in certain countries with comprehensive tax treaties with the United States, and other foreign corporations if the stock with respect to which the dividends are paid is readily tradable on an established securities market in the United States. “Passive foreign investment companies” (described below) are not qualified foreign corporations for this purpose. If 95% or more of the Fund’s gross income (calculated without taking into account net capital gain derived from sales or other dispositions of stock or securities) consists of qualified dividend income, the Fund may report all distributions of such income as qualified dividend income. Noncorporate shareholders will only be eligible for the rates of up to 20% on the Fund’s qualified dividend income distributions if the shareholders also meet certain holding period requirements with respect to their shares in the Fund.
 
Certain dividends received by the Fund on stock of U.S. corporations (generally, dividends received by the Fund in respect of any share of stock (1) as to which the Fund has met certain holding period requirements and (2) that is held in an unleveraged position) may be eligible for the dividends-received deduction generally available to corporate shareholders under the Internal Revenue Code, provided such dividends are also appropriately reported as eligible for the dividends-received deduction by the Fund. In order to qualify for the dividends-received deduction, corporate shareholders must also meet minimum holding period requirements with respect to their Fund shares, taking into account any holding period reductions from certain hedging or other transactions or positions that diminish their risk of loss with respect to their Fund shares. The entire dividend, including the otherwise deductible amount, will be included in determining the excess, if any, of a corporation’s adjusted current earnings over its alternative minimum taxable income, which may increase a corporation’s alternative minimum tax liability. Any corporate shareholder should consult its tax adviser regarding the possibility that its tax basis in its shares may be reduced, for federal income tax purposes, by reason of “extraordinary dividends” received with respect to the shares and, to the extent such basis would be reduced below zero, current recognition of income may be required. The Fund’s investment strategies may significantly limit its ability to distribute dividends eligible for the dividends-received deduction for corporations.
 
The Fund’s participation in loans of securities may affect the amount, timing, and character of distributions to Fund shareholders. If the Fund participates in a securities lending transaction and receives a payment in lieu of dividends (a “substitute payment”) with respect to securities on loan in a securities lending transaction, such income generally will not constitute qualified dividend income and thus dividends attributable to such income will not be eligible for taxation at the rates applicable to qualified dividend income. In addition, dividends attributable to such income will not be eligible for the dividends-received deduction for corporate shareholders.
 
Although dividends generally will be treated as distributed when paid, any dividend declared by the Fund in October, November or December and payable to shareholders of record in such a month that is paid during the following January will be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as received by shareholders on December 31 of the calendar year in which it was declared. In addition, certain distributions made after the close of a taxable year of the Fund may be “spilled back” and treated for certain purposes as paid by the Fund during such taxable year. In such case, shareholders generally will be treated as having received such dividends in the taxable year in which the distributions were actually made. For purposes of calculating the amount of a RIC’s undistributed income and gain subject to the 4% excise tax described above, such “spilled back” dividends are treated as paid by the RIC when they are actually paid.
 
Fund distributions, if any, that exceed the Fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits may be treated as a return of capital to shareholders. A return of capital distribution generally will not be taxable but will reduce the shareholder’s cost basis and result in a higher capital gain or lower capital loss when the shares on which the distribution was received are sold. After a shareholder’s basis in the shares has been reduced to zero, distributions in excess of earnings and profits will be treated as gain from the sale of the shareholder’s shares.
 
 
The Fund’s shareholders will be notified annually by the Fund as to the federal tax characterization of all distributions made by the Fund. Distributions may be subject to state and local taxes.
 
U.S. individuals with income exceeding certain threshold amounts ($250,000 if married and filing jointly or if considered a “surviving spouse” for federal income tax purposes, $125,000 if married filing separately and $200,000 in other cases) are subject to a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on all or a portion of their “net investment income,” which generally includes interest, dividends, and capital gains (including capital gains realized on the sale or exchange of shares of the Fund or the redemption of Creation Units). This 3.8% tax also applies to all or a portion of the undistributed net investment income of certain shareholders that are estates and trusts.
 
A taxable shareholder may wish to avoid investing in the Fund shortly before a dividend or other distribution, because the distribution will generally be taxable even though it may economically represent a return of a portion of the shareholder’s investment.
 
Shareholders who have not held Fund shares for a full year should be aware that the Fund may report and distribute to a shareholder, as ordinary dividends or capital gain dividends, a percentage of income that is not equal to the percentage of the Fund’s ordinary income or net capital gain, respectively, actually earned during the shareholder’s period of investment in the Fund.
 
A sale of shares by a shareholder may give rise to a gain or loss. The difference between the selling price and the shareholder’s tax basis for the shares sold generally determines the amount of the gain or loss realized on the sale or exchange of shares. The tax basis of shares acquired by purchase will generally be based on the amount paid for shares and then may be subsequently adjusted for other applicable transactions as required by the Internal Revenue Code. Contact the broker through whom you purchased your shares to obtain information with respect to the available basis reporting methods and elections for your account.
 
In general, any gain or loss realized upon a taxable disposition of shares will be treated as capital gain or loss if the shares are capital assets in the shareholder’s hands, and will be long-term capital gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year, and short-term capital gain or loss if the shares are held for one year or less. Any loss realized upon a taxable disposition of shares held for six months or less will be treated as long-term, rather than short-term, to the extent of any amounts treated as distributions to the shareholder of long-term capital gain with respect to the shares (including any amounts credited to the shareholder as undistributed capital gains). All or a portion of any loss realized upon a taxable disposition of shares will be disallowed if substantially identical shares of the Fund are purchased (through reinvestment of dividends or otherwise) within 30 days before or after the disposition. In such a case, the basis of the newly purchased shares will be adjusted to reflect the disallowed loss.
 
An Authorized Participant who exchanges securities for Creation Units generally will recognize gain or loss from the exchange. The gain or loss will be equal to the difference between the market value of the Creation Units at the time of the exchange and the sum of the Authorized Participant’s aggregate basis in the securities surrendered plus the amount of cash paid for such Creation Units. The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), however, may assert that a loss realized upon an exchange of securities for Creation Units cannot be deducted currently under the rules governing “wash sales,” or on the basis that there has been no significant change in economic position. Any gain or loss realized by an Authorized Participant upon a creation of Creation Units will be treated as capital gain or loss if the Authorized Participant holds the securities exchanged therefor as capital assets, and otherwise will be ordinary income or loss. Any capital gain or loss realized upon the creation of Creation Units will generally be treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the securities exchanged for such Creation Units have been held by the Authorized Participant for more than one year, and otherwise will be short-term capital gain or loss.
 
 
The Trust on behalf of the Fund has the right to reject an order for a purchase of Creation Units if the Authorized Participant (or a group of Authorized Participants) would, upon obtaining the Creation Units so ordered, own 80% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund and if, pursuant to Section 351 of the Internal Revenue Code, the Fund would have a basis in the securities different from the market value of such securities on the date of deposit. The Trust also has the right to require information necessary to determine beneficial share ownership for purposes of the 80% determination. If the Fund does issue Creation Units to an Authorized Participant (or group of Authorized Participants) that would, upon obtaining the Creation Units so ordered, own 80% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund, the Authorized Participant (or group of Authorized Participants) may not recognize gain or loss upon the exchange of securities for Creation Units.
 
An Authorized Participant who redeems Creation Units will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the sum of the aggregate market value of any securities received plus the amount of any cash received for such Creation Units and the Authorized Participant’s basis in the Creation Units. Any gain or loss realized by an Authorized Participant upon a redemption of Creation Units will be treated as capital gain or loss if the Authorized Participant holds the shares comprising the Creation Units as capital assets, and otherwise will be ordinary income or loss. Any capital gain or loss realized upon the redemption of Creation Units will generally be treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the shares comprising the Creation Units have been held by the Authorized Participant for more than one year, and otherwise will generally be short-term capital gain or loss. Any capital loss realized upon a redemption of Creation Units held for six months or less will be treated as a long-term capital loss to the extent of any amounts treated as distributions to the applicable Authorized Participant of long-term capital gains with respect to the Creation Units (including any amounts credited to the Authorized Participant as undistributed capital gains).
 
Persons purchasing or redeeming Creation Units should consult their own tax advisers with respect to the tax treatment of any creation or redemption transaction.
 
Due to the ability of the Authorized Participants to receive a full or partial cash redemption of Creation Units of the Fund, the Fund may be required to execute additional sale or exchange transactions which may increase the taxable income of the Fund and limit the tax efficiency of the Fund.
 
Taxation of Fund Investments. Certain of the Fund’s investments may be subject to complex provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (including provisions relating to hedging transactions, straddles, integrated transactions, foreign currency contracts, forward foreign currency contracts, and notional principal contracts) that, among other things, may affect the character of gains and losses realized by the Fund (e.g., may affect whether gains or losses are ordinary or capital), accelerate recognition of income to the Fund and defer losses. These rules could therefore affect the character, amount and timing of distributions to shareholders. These provisions also may require the Fund to mark to market certain types of positions in its portfolio (i.e., treat them as if they were closed out) which may cause the Fund to recognize income without receiving cash with which to make distributions in amounts necessary to satisfy the RIC distribution requirements for avoiding income and excise taxes. The Fund intends to monitor its transactions, intends to make appropriate tax elections, and intends to make appropriate entries in its books and records in order to mitigate the effect of these rules and preserve its qualification for treatment as a RIC.
 
 
The Fund’s investments in options may be subject to numerous special and complex tax rules. These rules could affect whether gains and losses recognized by the Fund are treated as ordinary income and loss or capital gain and loss or whether capital gains and losses are long-term or short-term in nature, accelerate the recognition of income to the Fund and/or defer the Fund’s ability to recognize losses. In turn, those rules may affect the amount, timing or character of the income distributed by the Fund. It is anticipated that any net gain realized from the lapse or closing out of options contracts will be considered qualifying income for purposes of the 90% requirement.
 
The Fund may be subject to withholding and other taxes imposed by foreign countries, including taxes on interest, dividends and capital gains with respect to any investments in those countries. Any such taxes would, if imposed, reduce the yield on or return from those investments. Tax conventions between certain countries and the U.S. may reduce or eliminate such taxes in some cases. The Fund does not expect to satisfy the requirements for passing through to its shareholders any share of foreign taxes paid by the Fund, with the result that shareholders will not be required to include such taxes in their gross incomes and will not be entitled to a tax deduction or credit for any such taxes on their own tax returns.
 
Backup Withholding. The Fund will be required in certain cases to withhold (as “backup withholding”) at the applicable withholding rate and remit to the U.S. Treasury the withheld amount of taxable dividends paid to any shareholder who (1) fails to provide a correct taxpayer identification number certified under penalty of perjury; (2) is subject to withholding by the IRS for failure to properly report all payments of interest or dividends; (3) fails to provide a certified statement that he or she is not subject to “backup withholding;” or (4) fails to provide a certified statement that he or she is a U.S. person (including a U.S. resident alien). The backup withholding rate is 28%. Backup withholding is not an additional tax and any amounts withheld may be credited against the shareholder’s ultimate U.S. tax liability.
 
Foreign Shareholders. Foreign shareholders (i.e., nonresident alien individuals and foreign corporations, partnerships, trusts and estates) are generally subject to U.S. withholding tax at the rate of 30% (or a lower tax treaty rate) on distributions derived from taxable ordinary income. Gains realized by foreign shareholders from the sale or other disposition of shares of the Fund generally are not subject to U.S. taxation, unless the recipient is an individual who is physically present in the U.S. for 183 days or more per year. Foreign shareholders who fail to provide an applicable IRS form may be subject to backup withholding on certain payments from the Fund. Backup withholding will not be applied to payments that are subject to the 30% (or lower applicable treaty rate) withholding tax described in this paragraph. Different tax consequences may result if the foreign shareholder is engaged in a trade or business within the United States. In addition, the tax consequences to a foreign shareholder entitled to claim the benefits of a tax treaty may be different than those described above.
 
The 30% withholding tax also will not apply to dividends that the Fund reports as (a) interest-related dividends, to the extent such dividends are derived from the Fund’s “qualified net interest income,” or (b) short-term capital gain dividends, to the extent such dividends are derived from the Fund’s “qualified short-term gain.” “Qualified net interest income” is the Fund’s net income derived from U.S.-source interest and original issue discount, subject to certain exceptions and limitations. “Qualified short-term gain” generally means the excess of the net short-term capital gain of the Fund for the taxable year over its net long-term capital loss, if any. In the case of shares held through a broker, the broker may withhold even if the Fund reports a payment as an interest-related dividend or a short-term capital gain dividend. Non-U.S. shareholders should contact their brokers with respect to the application of these rules to their accounts.
 
 
Unless certain non-U.S. entities that hold Fund shares comply with IRS requirements that generally require them to report information regarding U.S. persons investing in, or holding accounts with, such entities, a 30% withholding tax may apply to Fund distributions payable to such entities, and, after December 31, 2018, redemptions and certain capital gain dividends payable to such entities. A non-U.S. shareholder may be exempt from the withholding described in this paragraph under an applicable intergovernmental agreement between the U.S. and a foreign government, provided that the shareholder and the applicable foreign government comply with the terms of the agreement.
 
A beneficial holder of shares who is a foreign person may be subject to foreign, state and local tax and to the U.S. federal estate tax in addition to the federal income tax consequences referred to above. If a shareholder is eligible for the benefits of a tax treaty, any effectively connected income or gain will generally be subject to U.S. federal income tax on a net basis only if it is also attributable to a permanent establishment or fixed base maintained by the shareholder in the United States.
 
Certain Potential Tax Reporting Requirements. Under U.S. Treasury regulations, if a shareholder recognizes a loss of $2 million or more for an individual shareholder or $10 million or more for a corporate shareholder (or certain greater amounts over a combination of years), the shareholder must file with the IRS a disclosure statement on IRS Form 8886. Direct shareholders of portfolio securities are in many cases excepted from this reporting requirement, but under current guidance shareholders of a RIC are not excepted. A shareholder who fails to make the required disclosure to the IRS may be subject to adverse tax consequences, including substantial penalties. The fact that a loss is reportable under these regulations does not affect the legal determination of whether the taxpayer’s treatment of the loss is proper. Shareholders should consult their tax advisers to determine the applicability of these regulations in light of their individual circumstances.
 
Other Issues. The Fund may be subject to tax or taxes in certain states where the Fund does business. Furthermore, in those states which have income tax laws, the tax treatment of the Fund and of Fund shareholders with respect to distributions by the Fund may differ from federal tax treatment.
 
The foregoing discussion is based on federal tax laws and regulations which are in effect on the date of this Statement of Additional Information. Such laws and regulations may be changed by legislative or administrative action. Shareholders are advised to consult their tax advisers concerning their specific situations and the application of federal, state, local and foreign taxes.
 
Financial Statements
As the Fund has recently commenced operations and have not yet reached the end of its first fiscal year, there are no annual financial statements available at this time.  Shareholders of the Fund will be informed of the Fund’s progress through periodic reports when those reports become available.  Financial statements certified by the independent registered public accounting firm will be submitted to shareholders at least annually.

 

 
Appendix A
 


Standard & Poor’s Corporation
 
DESCRIPTION OF CREDIT RATINGS
 
A brief description of the applicable Standard & Poor’s Corporation (“S&P”) rating symbols and their meanings (as published by S&P) follows:
 
Long-Term Debt
 
An S&P corporate or municipal debt rating is a current assessment of the creditworthiness of an obligor with respect to a specific obligation.  This assessment may take into consideration obligors such as guarantors, insurers or lessees.  The debt rating is not a recommendation to purchase, sell or hold a security, inasmuch as it does not comment as to market price or suitability for a particular investor.  The ratings are based on current information furnished by the issuer or obtained by S&P from other sources it considers reliable.  S&P does not perform an audit in connection with any rating and may, on occasion, rely on unaudited financial information.  The ratings may be changed, suspended or withdrawn as a result of changes in, or unavailability of, such information, or based on other circumstances.  The ratings are based, in varying degrees, on the following considerations:
 
1.
Likelihood of default-capacity and willingness of the obligor as to the timely payment of interest and repayment of principal in accordance with the terms of the obligation;
2.
Nature of and provisions of the obligation; and
3.
Protection afforded by, and relative position of, the obligation in the event of bankruptcy, reorganization, or other arrangement under the laws of bankruptcy and other laws affecting creditors’ rights.
 
Investment Grade
 
AAA Debt rated “AAA” has the highest rating assigned by S&P.  Capacity to pay interest and repay principal is extremely strong.
 
AA Debt rated “AA” has a very strong capacity to pay interest and repay principal and differs from the highest rated issues only in small degree.
 
A Debt rated “A” has a strong capacity to pay interest and repay principal although it is somewhat more susceptible to the adverse effects of changes in circumstances and economic conditions than debt in higher rated categories.
 
BBB Debt rated “BBB” is regarded as having an adequate capacity to pay interest and repay principal.  Whereas it normally exhibits adequate protection parameters, adverse economic conditions or changing circumstances are more likely to lead to a weakened capacity to pay interest and repay principal for debt in this category than in higher rated categories.
 
 
Speculative Grade Rating
 
Debt rated “BB”, “B”, “CCC”, “CC” and “C” is regarded as having predominantly speculative characteristics with respect to capacity to pay interest and repay principal.  “BB” indicates the least degree of speculation and “C” the highest.  While such debt will likely have some quality and protective characteristics these are outweighed by major uncertainties or major exposures to adverse conditions.
 
BB Debt rated “BB” has less near-term vulnerability to default than other speculative issues.  However, it faces major ongoing uncertainties or exposure to adverse business, financial, or economic conditions which could lead to inadequate capacity to meet timely interest and principal payments.  The “BB” rating category is also used for debt subordinated to senior debt that is assigned an actual or implied “BBB” rating.
 
B Debt rated “B” has a greater vulnerability to default but currently has the capacity to meet interest payments and principal repayments.  Adverse business, financial, or economic conditions will likely impair capacity or willingness to pay interest and repay principal.  The “B” rating category is also used for debt subordinated to senior debt that is assigned an actual or implied “BB” or “BB” rating.
 
CCC Debt rated “CCC” has a currently identifiable vulnerability to default, and is dependent upon favorable business, financial, and economic conditions to meet timely payment of interest and repayment of principal.  In the event of adverse business, financial, or economic conditions, it is not likely to have the capacity to pay interest and repay principal.  The “CCC” rating category is also used for debt subordinated to senior debt that is assigned an actual or implied “B” or “B” rating.
 
CC The rating “CC” typically is applied to debt subordinated to senior debt that is assigned an actual or implied “CCC” debt rating.
 
100.
C  The rating “C” typically is applied to debt subordinated to senior debt which is assigned an actual or implied “CCC” debt rating.  The “C” rating may be used to cover a situation where a bankruptcy petition has been filed, but debt service payments are continued.
101.
CI  The rating “CI” is reserved for income bonds on which no interest is being paid.
 
D Debt rated “D” is in payment default.  The “D” rating category is used when interest payments or principal payments are not made on the date due even if the applicable grace period has not expired, unless S&P believes that such payments will be made during such grace period.  The “D” rating also will be used upon the filing of a bankruptcy petition if debt service payments are jeopardized.
 
Plus (+) or Minus (-): The ratings from “AA” to “CCC” may be modified by the addition of a plus or minus sign to show relative standing within the major rating categories.
 
Provisional Ratings: The letter “p” indicates that the rating is provisional.  A provisional rating assumes the successful completion of the project financed by the debt being rated and indicates that payment of debt service requirements is largely or entirely dependent upon the successful and timely completion of the project.  This rating, however, while addressing credit quality subsequent to completion of the project, makes no comment on the likelihood of, or the risk of default upon failure of, such completion.  The investor should exercise judgment with respect to such likelihood and risk.
 
 
r The letter “r” is attached to highlight derivative, hybrid, and certain other obligations that S&P believes may experience high volatility or high variability in expected returns due to non-credit risks.  Examples of such obligations are: securities whose principal or interest return is indexed to equities, commodities, or currencies; certain swaps and options; and interest only and principal only mortgage securities.  The absence of an “r” symbol should not be taken as an indication that an obligation will exhibit no volatility or variability in total return.
 
L The letter “L” indicates that the rating pertains to the principal amount of those bonds to the extent that the underlying deposit collateral is Federally insured by the Federal Savings & Loan Insurance Corporation or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation* In the case of certificates of deposit the letter “L” indicates that the deposit, combined with other deposits being held in the same right and capacity will be honored for principal and accrued pre-default interest up to the Federal insurance limits within 30 days after closing of the insured institution or, in the event that the deposit is assumed by a successor insured institution, upon maturity.
 
NR Indicates no rating has been requested, that there is insufficient information on which to base a rating, or that S&P does not rate a particular type of obligation as a matter of policy.
 
Commercial Paper
 
An S&P commercial paper rating is a current assessment of the likelihood of timely payment of debt having an original maturity of no more than 365 days.  Ratings are graded into several categories, ranging from “A-1” for the highest quality obligations to “D” for the lowest.  These categories are as follows:
 
1.
A-1  This highest category indicates that the degree of safety regarding timely payment is strong.  Those issues determined to possess extremely strong safety characteristics are denoted with a plus sign (+) designation.
2.
A-2  Capacity for timely payment on issues with this designation is satisfactory.  However, the relative degree of safety is not as high as for issues designated “A-1.”
 
*Continuance of the rating is contingent upon S&P’s receipt of an executed copy of the escrow agreement or closing documentation confirming investments and cash flow.
 
A-3 Issues carrying this designation have adequate capacity for timely payment.  They are, however, somewhat more vulnerable to the adverse effects of changes in circumstances than obligations carrying the higher designations.
 
1.
B  Issues rated “B” are regarded as having only speculative capacity for timely payment.
2.
C  This rating is assigned to short-term debt obligations with a doubtful capacity for payment.
3.
D  Debt rated “D” is in payment default.  The “D” rating category is used when interest payments or principal Payments are not made on the date due, even if the applicable grace period has not expired, unless S&P believes that such payments will be made during such grace period.
 
A commercial rating is not a recommendation to purchase, sell or hold a security inasmuch as it does not comment as to market price or suitability for a particular investor.  The ratings are based on current information furnished to S&P by the issuer or obtained by S&P from other sources it considers reliable.
 
 
S&P does not perform an audit in connection with any rating and may, on occasion, rely on unaudited financial information.  The ratings may be changed, suspended or withdrawn as a result of changes in or unavailability of such information or based on other circumstances.
 
Preferred Securities
 
AAA This is the highest rating that may be assigned to a preferred stock issue and indicates an extremely strong capacity to pay the preferred stock obligations.
 
AA A preferred stock issue rated AA also qualifies as a high quality fixed income security.  The capacity to pay preferred stock obligations is very strong, although not as overwhelming as for issues rated AAA.
 
A An issue rated A is backed by a sound capacity to pay the preferred stock obligations, although it is somewhat more susceptible to the adverse effects of changes in circumstances and economic conditions.
 
BBB An issue rated BBB is regarded as backed by an adequate capacity to pay preferred stock obligations.  Although it normally exhibits adequate protection parameters, adverse economic conditions or changing circumstances are more likely to lead to a weakened capacity to make payments for preferred stock in this category for issues in the A category.
 
BB As issue rated BB is regarded, on balance, as predominantly speculative with respect to the issuer’s capacity to pay the preferred stock obligation.  While such issues will likely have some quality and protective characteristics, they are outweighed by large uncertainties or major risk exposures to adverse conditions.
 
Moody’s Investors Service, Inc.
 
A brief description of the applicable Moody’s Investors Service, Inc.  (“Moody’s”) rating symbols and their meanings (as published by Moody’s) follows:
 
Long-Term Debt
 
The following summarizes the ratings used by Moody’s for corporate and municipal long-term debt:
 
Aaa Bonds are judged to be of the best quality.  They carry the smallest degree of investment risk and are generally referred to as “gilt edged.” Interest payments are protected by a large or by an exceptionally stable margin and principal is secure.  While the various protective elements are likely to change, such changes as can be visualized are most unlikely to impair the Fundamentally strong position of such issuer.
 
 
Aa Bonds are judged to be of high quality by all standards.  Together with the “Aaa” group they comprise what are generally known as high-grade bonds.  They are rated lower than the best bonds because margins of protection may not be as large as in “Aaa” securities or fluctuation of protective elements may be of greater amplitude or there may be other elements present which make the long-term risks appear somewhat larger than in “Aaa” securities.
 
A Bonds possess many favorable investment attributes and are to be considered as upper medium-grade obligations.  Factors giving security to principal and interest are considered adequate but elements may be present which suggest a susceptibility to impairment sometime in the future.
 
Baa Bonds considered medium-grade obligations, i.e., they are neither highly protected nor poorly secured.  Interest payments and principal security appear adequate for the present but certain protective elements may be lacking or may be characteristically unreliable over any great length of time.  Such bonds lack outstanding investment characteristics and in fact have speculative characteristics as well.
 
Ba, B, Caa, Ca, and C Bonds that possess one of these ratings provide questionable protection of interest and principal (“Ba” indicates some speculative elements; “B” indicates a general lack of characteristics of desirable investment; “Caa” represents a poor standing; “Ca” represents obligations which are speculative in a high degree; and “C” represents the lowest rated class of bonds).  “Caa,” “Ca” and “C” bonds may be in default.
 
Con.  (---) Bonds for which the security depends upon the completion of some act or the fulfillment of some condition are rated conditionally.  These are bonds secured by (a) earnings of projects under construction, (b) earnings of projects unseasoned in operation experience, (c) rentals which begin when facilities are completed, or (d) payments to which some other limiting condition attaches.  Parenthetical rating denotes probable credit stature upon completion of construction or elimination of basis of condition.
 
(P) When applied to forward delivery bonds, indicates that the rating is provisional pending delivery of the bonds.  The rating may be revised prior to delivery if changes occur in the legal documents or the underlying credit quality of the bonds.
 
Note: Those bonds in the Aa, A, Baa, Ba and B groups which Moody’s believes possess the strongest investment attributes are designated by the symbols, Aa1, A1, Ba1 and B1.
 
Short-Term Loans
 
MIG 1/VMIG 1 This designation denotes best quality.  There is present strong protection by established cash flows, superior liquidity support or demonstrated broad based access to the market for refinancing.
 
MIG 2/VMIG 2 This designation denotes high quality.  Margins of protection are ample although not so large as in the preceding group.
 
MIG 3/VMIG 3 This designation denotes favorable quality.  All security elements are accounted for but there is lacking the undeniable strength of the preceding grades.  Liquidity and cash flow protection may be narrow and market access for refinancing is likely to be less well-established.
 
MIG 4/VMIG 4 This designation denotes adequate quality.  Protection commonly regarded as required of an investment security is present and although not distinctly or predominantly speculative, there is specific risk.
 
S.G.  This designation denotes speculative quality.  Debt instruments in this category lack margins of protection.
 
Commercial Paper
 
Issuers rated Prime-1 (or related supporting institutions) have a superior capacity for repayment of short-term promissory obligations.  Prime-1 repayment capacity will normally be evidenced by the following characteristics:
 
·
Leading market positions in well-established industries.
·
High rates of return on Fund employed.
·
Conservative capitalization structures with moderate reliance on debt and ample asset protection.
·
Broad margins in earnings coverage of fixed financial charges and high internal cash generation.
·
Well-established access to a range of financial markets and assured sources of alternate liquidity.
 
Issuers rated Prime-2 (or related supporting institutions) have a strong capacity for repayment of short-term promissory obligations.  This will normally be evidenced by many of the characteristics cited above but to a lesser degree.  Earnings trends and coverage ratios, while sound, will be more subject to variation.  Capitalization characteristics, while still appropriate, may be more affected by external conditions.  Ample alternate liquidity is maintained.  Issuers rated Prime-3 (or related supporting institutions) have an acceptable capacity for repayment of short-term promissory obligations.  The effect of industry characteristics and market composition may be more pronounced.  Variability in earnings and profitability may result in changes in the level of debt protection measurements and the requirement for relatively high financial leverage.  Adequate alternate liquidity is maintained.
 
Issuers rated Not Prime do not fall within any of the Prime rating categories.
 
Preferred Securities Ratings
 
aaa Preferred stocks which are rated “aaa” are considered to be top quality.  This rating indicates good asset protection and the least risk of dividend impairment within the universe of preferred stocks.
 
aa Preferred stocks which are rated “aa” are considered to be high grade.  This rating indicates that there is reasonable assurance that earnings and asset protection will remain relatively well maintained in the foreseeable future.
 
a Preferred stocks which are rated “a” are considered to be upper-medium grade.  While risks are judged to be somewhat greater than in the “aaa” and “aa” classifications, earnings and asset protection are, nevertheless, expected to be maintained at adequate levels.
 

baa Preferred stocks which are rated “baa” are judged lover-medium grade, neither highly protected nor poorly secured.  Earnings and asset protection appear adequate at present but may be questionable over any great length of time.
 
ba Preferred stocks which are rated “ba” are considered to have speculative elements and their future cannot be considered well assured.  Earnings and asset protection may be very moderate and not well safeguarded during adverse periods.  Uncertainty of position characterizes preferred stocks in this class.