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AXS Multi-Strategy Alternatives Fund
SUMMARY SECTION AXS Multi-Strategy Alternatives Fund
Investment Objective

The investment objective of the AXS Multi-Strategy Alternatives Fund (the "Fund") is long-term growth of capital. 

As a secondary goal, the Fund seeks to manage volatility and market risk.

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. Information about waivers and discounts is available from your financial professional and in the section titled "YOUR ACCOUNT WITH THE FUND - Purchase of Shares/Class I Shares" and in "APPENDIX A – Waivers and Discounts Available from Intermediaries" of the Prospectus.

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Shareholder Fees - AXS Multi-Strategy Alternatives Fund - USD ($)
Class R-1 Shares
Class I Shares
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases none none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load) none none
Redemption fee none none
Wire fee $ 20 $ 20
Overnight check delivery fee 25 25
Retirement account fees (annual maintenance fee) $ 15 $ 15
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - AXS Multi-Strategy Alternatives Fund
Class R-1 Shares
Class I Shares
Management fees 1.00% 1.00%
Distribution and service (Rule 12b-1) fees 0.25% none
Other expenses [1] 0.22% 0.22%
Acquired fund fees and expenses [1] 0.01% 0.01%
Total annual fund operating expenses 1.48% 1.23%
[1] "Other expenses" and "acquired fund fees and expenses" have been estimated for the current fiscal year. Actual expenses may differ from estimates.
Example

This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in Class R-1 shares and $250,000 (initial investment minimum) in Class I shares of the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. The example reflects the Fund's contractual fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement only for the term of the contractual fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement.

 

Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example - AXS Multi-Strategy Alternatives Fund - USD ($)
One Year
Three Years
Five Years
Ten Years
Class R-1 Shares 151 468 808 1,768
Class I Shares 3,133 9,758 16,891 37,216
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 may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the portfolio turnover rate of the Fund's predecessor fund, the KCM Macro Trends Fund was 838% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund employs a flexible investment strategy, meaning it has the freedom to invest globally in companies of all sizes and in all sectors, long or short, in equities, fixed income, certain derivatives futures, and cash. It is not restricted to any "style box" (e.g., large cap growth or small cap value). To achieve its investment objective, the Fund invests principally in domestic and foreign equity securities (common stock and depository receipts), exchange traded funds ("ETFs"), swaps, futures and options. The Fund may have investment exposure to a broad range of markets that are economically tied to U.S. and foreign markets (including emerging markets).

 

In selecting securities for the Fund's portfolio, the Fund's sub-advisor, Kerns Capital Management, Inc. ("KCM" or the "Sub-Advisor") focuses on the broad macroeconomic environment – specifically whether the equity market offers the potential for acceptable risk-adjusted returns. If so, the Fund typically invests in equities. If not, the Fund employs a market neutral strategy (a form of hedging that aims to generate returns that are independent or uncorrelated with the direction of the stock market) with respect to its equity holdings and/or invests in asset classes, including but not limited to fixed income securities of any maturity and credit quality, derivatives, and/or cash equivalents, that are not correlated with the stock market. Rules-based, quantitative systems are used to measure market risk and select individual securities.

 

KCM utilizes all or parts of a multi-faceted approach in managing the Fund, including fundamental, technical and quantitative analysis. KCM has developed rules-based quantitative models that apply systematic research to provide buy and sell signals. KCM adjusts the Fund's market exposure depending on how clearly its research reflects the market's direction. KCM then bases its investment decisions quantitatively on a wide array of fundamental and technical factors. Fundamental factors include measures such as earnings growth rates, return on capital and dividend yield. Technical factors include measures such as price performance, volatility and trading volume.

 

The Fund may sell equity securities short in amounts equal to up to 50% of its net assets if KCM believes the value of the equity securities are likely to depreciate in value. In addition, the Fund may purchase and sell futures contracts, and may purchase and sell options on securities, securities indexes, and futures contracts. These types of investments produce economically "leveraged" investment results. To hedge the Fund's short positions, the Fund may buy call options, which gives the Fund the right to buy a stock it has sold short at a predetermined price. Similarly, the Fund may sell futures to hedge a portion of the Fund's long positions.

 

As a part of its investment strategy and during periods in which the Fund has limited market exposure, the Fund may invest in money market funds or other short-term interest-bearing instruments. In pursuing its investment objective, the Fund may engage in frequent trading.

Principal Risks of Investing

Risk is inherent in all investing and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. A summary description of certain principal risks of investing in the Fund is set forth below. Before you decide whether to invest in the Fund, carefully consider these risk factors associated with investing in the Fund, which may cause investors to lose money. There can be no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective.

 

Market risk. The market price of a security or instrument may decline, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to general market conditions that are not specifically related to a particular company, such as real or perceived adverse economic or political conditions throughout the world, changes in the general outlook for corporate earnings, changes in interest or currency rates or adverse investor sentiment generally. The market value of a security or instrument also may decline because of factors that affect a particular industry or industries, such as labor shortages or increased production costs and competitive conditions within an industry.

 

Equity risk. The value of the equity securities held by the Fund may fall due to general market and economic conditions, perceptions regarding the industries in which the issuers of securities held by the Fund participate, or factors relating to specific companies in which the Fund invests.

 

Derivatives risk. Derivatives include instruments and contracts that are based on and valued in relation to one or more underlying securities, financial benchmarks, indices, or other reference obligations or measures of value. Major types of derivatives include futures, options, swaps and forward contracts. Using derivatives can have a leveraging effect and increase fund volatility. Derivatives transactions can be highly illiquid and difficult to unwind or value, and changes in the value of a derivative held by the Fund may not correlate with the value of the underlying instrument or the Fund's other investments. Many of the risks applicable to trading the instruments underlying derivatives are also applicable to derivatives trading. However, additional risks are associated with derivatives trading that are possibly greater than the risks associated with investing directly in the underlying instruments. These additional risks include, but are not limited to, illiquidity risk and counterparty credit risk. For derivatives that are required to be cleared by a regulated clearinghouse, other risks may arise from the Fund's relationship with a brokerage firm through which it submits derivatives trades for clearing, including in some cases from other clearing customers of the brokerage firm.

 

ETF and mutual fund risk. Investing in ETFs or mutual funds will provide the Fund with exposure to the risks of owning the underlying securities the ETFs or mutual funds hold. Shares of ETFs typically trade on securities exchanges and may at times trade at a premium or discount to their net asset values. In addition, an ETF or a mutual fund, if the mutual fund is an index fund, may not replicate exactly the performance of the benchmark index it seeks to track for a number of reasons, including transaction costs incurred by the ETF or mutual fund, the temporary unavailability of certain index securities in the secondary market, or discrepancies between the ETF or mutual fund and the index with respect to the weighting of securities or the number of securities held. It may be more expensive for the Fund to invest in an ETF or mutual fund than to own the portfolio securities of these investment vehicles directly. Investing in ETFs and mutual funds, which are investment companies, involves duplication of advisory fees and certain other expenses. The Fund will pay brokerage commissions in connection with the purchase and sale of shares of ETFs. In addition, the Fund may invest in underlying funds which invest a larger portion of their assets in one or more sectors than many other mutual funds, and thus will be more susceptible to negative events affecting those sectors.

 

Foreign investment risk. The prices of foreign securities may be more volatile than the prices of securities of U.S. issuers because of economic and social conditions abroad, political developments, and changes in the regulatory environments of foreign countries. In addition, changes in exchange rates and interest rates may adversely affect the values of the Fund's foreign investments. Foreign companies are generally subject to different legal and accounting standards than U.S. companies, and foreign financial intermediaries may be subject to less supervision and regulation than U.S. financial firms. Foreign securities include American Depository Receipts ("ADRs") and Global Depository Receipts ("GDRs"). Unsponsored ADRs and GDRs are organized independently and without the cooperation of the foreign issuer of the underlying securities, and involve additional risks because U.S. reporting requirements do not apply. In addition, the issuing bank may deduct shareholder distribution, custody, foreign currency exchange, and other fees from the payment of dividends. Emerging markets tend to be more volatile than the markets of more mature economies and generally have less diverse and less mature economic structures and less stable political systems than those of developed countries.

 

Fixed income securities risk. The prices of fixed income securities respond to economic developments, particularly interest rate changes, as well as to changes in an issuer's credit rating or market perceptions about the creditworthiness of an issuer. Generally fixed income securities decrease in value if interest rates rise and increase in value if interest rates fall, and longer-term and lower rated securities are more volatile than shorter-term and higher rated securities.

 

Issuer-specific risk. The value of a specific security can be more volatile than the market as a whole and can perform differently from the value of the market as a whole. The value of securities of smaller issuers can be more volatile than that of larger issuers. The value of certain types of securities can be more volatile due to increased sensitivity to adverse issuer, political, regulatory, market, or economic developments.

 

Leveraging risk. Certain Fund transactions, including taking short positions in financial instruments, may give rise to a form of leverage. Leverage can magnify the effects of changes in the value of the Fund's investments and make the Fund more volatile. Leverage creates a risk of loss of value on a larger pool of assets than the Fund would otherwise have had, potentially resulting in the loss of all assets. The Fund may also have to sell assets at inopportune times to satisfy its obligations in connection with such transactions.

 

Portfolio turnover risk. Active and frequent trading of the Fund's portfolio securities may lead to higher transaction costs and may result in a greater number of taxable transactions than would otherwise be the case, which could negatively affect the Fund's performance. A high rate of portfolio turnover is 100% or more.

 

Short sales risk. In connection with a short sale of a security or other instrument, the Fund is subject to the risk that instead of declining, the price of the security or other instrument sold short will rise. If the price of the security or other instrument sold short increases between the date of the short sale and the date on which the Fund replaces the security or other instrument borrowed to make the short sale, the Fund will experience a loss, which is theoretically unlimited since there is a theoretically unlimited potential for the market price of a security or other instrument sold short to increase. Shorting options or futures may have an imperfect correlation to the assets held by the Fund and may not adequately protect against losses in or may result in greater losses for the Fund's portfolio.

 

Small-cap and mid-cap company risk. The securities of small-capitalization and mid-capitalization companies may be subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements and may have lower trading volumes or more erratic trading than securities of larger, more established companies or market averages in general. In addition, such companies typically are more likely to be adversely affected than large capitalization companies by changes in earning results, business prospects, investor expectations or poor economic or market conditions.

 

Cybersecurity risk. Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Advisor, the Sub-Advisor and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder's ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected.

 

New advisor risk. The Advisor is a newly organized investment advisor and has no operating history or performance track record.

Performance

The Fund acquired the assets and liabilities of the KCM Macro Trends Fund, a series of Northern Lights Fund Trust, (the "Predecessor Fund"), on October 18, 2019. As a result of the acquisition, the Fund is the accounting successor of the Predecessor Fund. Performance results shown in the bar chart and the performance table below.

 

The bar chart and table below provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Predecessor Fund's performance from year to year for Class R-1 shares and by showing how the average annual total returns of each class of the Predecessor Fund compare with the average annual total returns of the HFRX Equity Hedge Index. The bar chart shows the performance of the Predecessor Fund's Class R-1 shares. Performance for classes other than those shown may vary from the performance shown to the extent the expenses for those classes differ. The Predecessor Fund's past performance, before and after taxes, is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at the Fund's website, www.axsinvestments.com or by calling the Fund at 1-833-AXS-ALTS (1-833-297-2587).

Calendar-Year Total Return (before taxes) for Class R-1 Shares For each calendar year at NAV
Bar Chart

The year-to-date return for Class R-1 shares as of September 30, 2019 was 5.47%.

 

Class R-1 Shares
Highest Calendar Quarter Return at NAV 12.25% Quarter Ended 03/31/2012
Lowest Calendar Quarter Return at NAV (17.11)% Quarter Ended 09/30/2011
Average Annual Total Returns (for Periods Ended December 31, 2018)
Average Annual Total Returns - AXS Multi-Strategy Alternatives Fund
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Since Inception
Inception Date
Class R-1 Shares (4.26%) 4.83% 7.25% 5.93% Aug. 04, 2008
Class R-1 Shares | After Taxes on Distributions [1] (10.53%) 1.68% 5.38% 4.12% Aug. 04, 2008
Class R-1 Shares | After Taxes on Distributions and Sales [1] (1.55%) 2.70% 5.25% 4.18% Aug. 04, 2008
Class I Shares (4.03%) none none 6.97% Mar. 20, 2017
HFRX Equity Hedge Index (Reflects No Deductions for Fees, Expenses or Taxes) (9.42%) (0.25%) 1.38% (0.94%) Aug. 04, 2008
[1] After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. After-tax returns are shown for Class R-1 Shares only and after-tax returns for classes other than Class R-1 will vary from returns shown for Class R-1.