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Pacer Benchmark Hotel & Lodging Real Estate SCTR ETF
Pacer Benchmark Hotel & Lodging Real Estate SCTRSM ETF
Investment Objective
The Pacer Benchmark Hotel & Lodging Real Estate SCTRSM ETF (the “Fund”) is an exchange traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Benchmark Hotel & Lodging Real Estate SCTRSM Index (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. The fees are expressed as a percentage of the Fund’s average net assets. This table and the Example below do not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay on their purchases and sales of Fund shares.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - Benchmark
Pacer Benchmark Hotel & Lodging Real Estate SCTR ETF
Pacer Benchmark Hotel & Lodging Real Estate SCTR ETF
Management Fees (as a percentage of Assets) 0.60%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees none
Other Expenses (as a percentage of Assets): none [1]
Expenses (as a percentage of Assets) 0.60%
[1] Estimated for the current fiscal year.
Example
The following example is intended to help retail investors compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that such investors would incur over various periods if they were to invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of the shares at the end of those periods. This example assumes that the Fund provides a return of 5% a year and that operating expenses remain the same.
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
Expense Example - Benchmark
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years
Pacer Benchmark Hotel & Lodging Real Estate SCTR ETF | Pacer Benchmark Hotel & Lodging Real Estate SCTR ETF | USD ($) 61 192
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. Because the Fund had not commenced operations as of the date of this Prospectus, portfolio turnover information is not yet available.
Principal Investment Strategies of the Fund
The Fund employs a “passive management” (or indexing) investment approach designed to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Index. The Index was developed by Benchmark Investments, LLC (the “Index Provider”), and measures the performance of the hotel, motel, and lodging real estate sectors of the U.S. equity market.
The Index
The Index is generally composed of the U.S.-listed equity securities of companies that derive at least 85% of their earnings or revenues from real estate operations in the hotel, motel, and lodging real estate sectors (“Eligible Companies”). At the time of each reconstitution of the Index, Eligible Companies with a market capitalization of more than $200 million and average daily traded volume of at least 10,000 shares are included in the Index (the “Index Constituents”). A significant portion of the Index is expected to be composed of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). The real estate companies included in the Index may utilize leverage, and some may be highly leveraged. Additionally, such companies may include significant business operations outside of the United States. As of November 30, 2017, the Index consisted of 27 securities, the three largest of which and their weights were Marriott International Inc. (15.00%), Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (15.00%), and Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (10.30%).
The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced (i.e., companies are added or deleted and weights are reset based on Index rules) quarterly as of the close of business on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December. Index Constituents are weighted based on their free-float market capitalization (i.e., market capitalization based on the number of shares available to the public), subject to the following constraints as of the time of each reconstitution of the Index. Each Index Constituent’s weight is capped at 15% and the sum of Index Constituents with weights greater than 4.5% cannot exceed 45% of the total Index weight. If the foregoing limits would be exceeded at the time of a reconstitution of the Index, the excess weight is proportionally redistributed to all Index Constituents with weights below such limits.
The Fund’s Investment Strategy
Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s total assets (exclusive of collateral held from securities lending) will be invested in the component securities of the Index. Pacer Advisors, Inc. (the “Adviser”) expects that, over time, the correlation between the Fund’s performance and that of the Index, before fees and expenses, will be 95% or better.
The Fund will generally use a “replication” strategy to achieve its investment objective, meaning it will invest in all of the component securities of the Index.
The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its assets in cash and cash equivalents, other investment companies, as well as securities and other instruments not included in the Index but which the Adviser believes will help the Fund track the Index.
The Fund is considered to be non-diversified, which means that it may invest more of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it were a diversified fund.
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund
You can lose money on your investment in the Fund. The Fund is subject to the risks summarized below. Some or all of these risks may adversely affect the Fund’s net asset value per share (“NAV”), trading price, yield, total return and/or ability to meet its objectives. For more information about the risks of investing in the Fund, see the section in the Fund’s prospectus entitled “Additional Information about the Principal Risks of Investing in the Funds.”
Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index relies directly or indirectly on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund, the Index Provider, or the Adviser can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or a correct valuation of securities, nor can they guarantee the availability or timeliness of the production of the Index.
Concentration Risk. The Index, and consequently the Fund, is expected to concentrate its investments (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets) in real estate companies. As a result, the value of the Fund’s shares may rise and fall more than the value of shares of a fund that invests in securities of companies in a broader range of industries. In addition, at times, the real estate industry may be out of favor and underperform other industries or groups of industries.
Equity Market Risk. The equity securities held in the Fund’s portfolio may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value. This may occur because of factors that affect securities markets generally or factors affecting specific industries, sectors or companies in which the Fund invests. Common stocks are susceptible to general stock market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value as market confidence in and perceptions of their issuers change.
ETF Risks. The Fund is an ETF and, as a result of an ETF’s structure, is exposed to the following risks:
Authorized Participants (“APs”), Market Makers, and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. The Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that may act as APs. In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, shares of the Fund may trade at a material discount to NAV and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions.
Costs of Buying or Selling Shares of the Fund. Due to the costs of buying or selling shares of the Fund, including brokerage commissions imposed by brokers and bid/ask spreads, frequent trading of shares of the Fund may significantly reduce investment results and an investment in shares of the Fund may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments.
Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. As with all ETFs, shares of the Fund may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. The price of shares of the Fund, like the price of all traded securities, will be subject to factors such as supply and demand, as well as the current value of the Fund’s portfolio holdings. Although it is expected that the market price of the shares of the Fund will approximate the Fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price of the shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility, periods of steep market declines, and periods when there is limited trading activity for shares in the secondary market, in which case such premiums or discounts may be significant.
Trading. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on a national securities exchange, such as NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “Exchange”), and may be traded on U.S. exchanges other than the Exchange, there can be no assurance that shares of the Fund will trade with any volume, or at all, on any stock exchange. In stressed market conditions, the liquidity of shares of the Fund may begin to mirror the liquidity of the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which can be significantly less liquid than shares of the Fund.
High Portfolio Turnover Risk. At times, the Fund may have a portfolio turnover rate substantially greater than 100%. A high portfolio turnover rate would result in correspondingly greater transaction expenses, including brokerage commissions, dealer mark ups and other transaction costs, on the sale of securities and on reinvestment in other securities and may result in reduced performance and the distribution to shareholders of additional capital gains for tax purposes. These factors may negatively affect the Fund’s performance.
International Operations Risk. Investments in companies with significant business operations outside of the United States may involve certain risks that may not be present with investments in U.S. companies. For example, international operations may be subject to risk of loss due to foreign currency fluctuations; changes in foreign political and economic environments, regionally, nationally, and locally; challenges of complying with a wide variety of foreign laws, including corporate governance, operations, taxes, and litigation; differing lending practices; differences in cultures; changes in applicable laws and regulations in the United States that affect international operations; changes in applicable laws and regulations in foreign jurisdictions; difficulties in managing international operations; and obstacles to the repatriation of earnings and cash. These and other factors can make an investment in the Fund more volatile than other types of investments.
Large-Capitalization Investing Risk. The Fund may invest in the securities of large-capitalization companies. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of large-capitalization companies underperform securities of smaller-capitalization companies or the market as a whole. The securities of large-capitalization companies may be relatively mature compared to smaller companies and therefore subject to slower growth during times of economic expansion.
Mid-Capitalization Investing Risk. The Fund may invest in the securities of mid-capitalization companies. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of mid-capitalization companies underperform securities of other capitalization ranges or the market as a whole. Securities of smaller companies trade in smaller volumes and are often more vulnerable to market volatility than securities of larger companies.
New Fund Risk. The Fund is new with no operating history. As a result, there can be no assurance that the Fund will grow to or maintain an economically viable size, in which case it may experience greater tracking error to its Index than it otherwise would at higher asset levels, or it could ultimately liquidate. The Fund’s distributor does not maintain a secondary market in Fund shares.
Non-Diversification Risk. Although the Fund intends to invest in a variety of securities and instruments, the Fund is considered to be non-diversified, which means that it may invest more of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it were a diversified fund. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to the risks associated with and developments affecting an individual issuer or a smaller number of issuers than a fund that invests more widely. This may increase the Fund’s volatility and cause the performance of a relatively smaller number of issuers to have a greater impact on the Fund’s performance.
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and the Adviser would not sell a security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry or sector, unless that security is removed from the Index or the selling of shares of that security is otherwise required upon a reconstitution of the Index in accordance with the Index methodology. The Fund invests in securities included in the Index, regardless of their investment merits. The Fund does not take defensive positions under any market conditions, including conditions that may prove to be adverse to the performance of the Fund.
Real Estate Companies Risk. The Fund invests in real estate companies, including REITs and real estate holdings companies, which will expose investors to the risks of owning real estate directly, as well as to the risks that relate specifically to the way in which such companies are organized and operated. Real estate is highly sensitive to general and local economic conditions and developments. The U.S. real estate market may, in the future, experience and has, in the past, experienced a decline in value, with certain regions experiencing significant losses in property values. Many real estate companies, including REITs, utilize leverage (and some may be highly leveraged), which increases investment risk and the risk normally associated with debt financing, and could potentially increase the Fund’s volatility and losses. Exposure to such real estate may adversely affect Fund performance.
In addition to the foregoing risks common to most real estate companies, companies in certain real estate sectors may have additional unique risks.
Risks of Investing in the Hotel & Lodging Real Estate Sector. Companies in the Hotel & Lodging Real Estate sector may be affected by unique supply and demand factors that do not apply to other real estate sectors. Weak economic conditions in some parts of the world, changes in oil prices and currency values, political instability in some areas, and the uncertainty over how long any of these conditions will continue, could continue to have a negative impact on the lodging industry. As a result of such current economic conditions and uncertainty, the lodging industry may continue to experience weakened demand for occupancy in some markets.
REIT Investment Risk. Investments in REITs involve unique risks. REITs may have limited financial resources, may trade less frequently and in limited volume, and may be more volatile than other securities. In addition, to the extent the Fund holds interests in REITs, it is expected that investors in the Fund will bear two layers of asset-based management fees and expenses (directly at the Fund level and indirectly at the REIT level). The risks of investing in REITs include certain risks associated with the direct ownership of real estate and the real estate industry in general. These include risks related to general, regional and local economic conditions; fluctuations in interest rates and property tax rates; shifts in zoning laws, environmental regulations and other governmental action such as the exercise of eminent domain; cash flow dependency; increased operating expenses; lack of availability of mortgage funds; losses due to natural disasters; overbuilding; losses due to casualty or condemnation; changes in property values and rental rates; and other factors.
In addition to these risks, REITs are dependent upon management skills and generally may not be diversified. REITs are also subject to heavy cash flow dependency, defaults by borrowers and self-liquidation. In addition, REITs could possibly fail to qualify for the beneficial tax treatment available to REITs under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or to maintain their exemptions from registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). The Fund expects that dividends received from a REIT and distributed to Fund shareholders generally will be taxable to the shareholder as ordinary income, but may be taxable as return of capital. In the event of a default by a borrower or lessee, the REIT may experience delays in enforcing its rights as a mortgagee or lessor and may incur substantial costs associated with protecting investments.
Small-Capitalization Companies Risk. The equity securities of small-capitalization companies have historically been subject to greater investment risk than securities of larger companies. The prices of equity securities of small-capitalization companies tend to be more volatile and less liquid than the prices of equity securities of larger companies.
Tax Risk. To qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets or (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. While the weighting of the Index is not inconsistent with these rules, given the concentration of the Index in a relatively small number of securities, it may not always be possible for the Fund to fully implement a replication strategy or a representative sampling strategy while satisfying these diversification requirements. The Fund’s efforts to satisfy the diversification requirements may affect the Fund’s execution of its investment strategy and may cause the Fund’s return to deviate from that of the Index, and the Fund’s efforts to replicate or represent the Index may cause it inadvertently to fail to satisfy the diversification requirements. If the Fund were to fail to satisfy the diversification requirements, it could incur penalty taxes and be forced to dispose of certain assets, or it could fail to qualify as a regulated investment company. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.
Tracking Risk. The Fund’s return may not track the return of the Index for a number of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs a number of operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and incurs costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s securities holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. Additionally, the Fund’s return may not track the return of the Index if the Fund is not able to replicate the holdings of the Index due to the diversification requirements described above under “Tax Risk”, which apply to the Fund but not the Index.
Fund Performance
Performance information for the Fund is not included because the Fund did not commence operations prior to the date of this Prospectus. In the future, performance information for the Fund will be presented in this section. Updated performance information will be available on the Fund’s website at www.paceretfs.com or by calling the Fund toll-free at 1-877-337-0500.
Pacer Benchmark Apartments & Residential Real Estate SCTR ETF
Pacer Benchmark Apartments & Residential Real Estate SCTRSM ETF
Investment Objective
The Pacer Benchmark Apartments & Residential Real Estate SCTRSM ETF (the “Fund”) is an exchange traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Benchmark Apartments & Residential Real Estate SCTRSM Index (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. The fees are expressed as a percentage of the Fund’s average net assets. This table and the Example below do not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay on their purchases and sales of Fund shares.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - Benchmark
Pacer Benchmark Apartments & Residential Real Estate SCTR ETF
Pacer Benchmark Apartments & Residential Real Estate SCTR ETF
Management Fees (as a percentage of Assets) 0.60%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees none
Other Expenses (as a percentage of Assets): none [1]
Expenses (as a percentage of Assets) 0.60%
[1] Estimated for the current fiscal year.
Example
The following example is intended to help retail investors compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that such investors would incur over various periods if they were to invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of the shares at the end of those periods. This example assumes that the Fund provides a return of 5% a year and that operating expenses remain the same.
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
Expense Example - Benchmark
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years
Pacer Benchmark Apartments & Residential Real Estate SCTR ETF | Pacer Benchmark Apartments & Residential Real Estate SCTR ETF | USD ($) 61 192
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. Because the Fund had not commenced operations as of the date of this Prospectus, portfolio turnover information is not yet available.
Principal Investment Strategies of the Fund
The Fund employs a “passive management” (or indexing) investment approach designed to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Index. The Index was developed by Benchmark Investments, LLC (the “Index Provider”), and measures the performance of the apartment, student housing, and residential rental real estate sectors of the U.S. equity market.
The Index
The Index is generally composed of the U.S.-listed equity securities of companies that derive at least 85% of their earnings or revenues from real estate operations in the apartment, student housing, and residential rental real estate sectors (“Eligible Companies”). At the time of each reconstitution of the Index, Eligible Companies with a market capitalization of more than $200 million and average daily traded volume of at least 10,000 shares are included in the Index (the “Index Constituents”). A significant portion of the Index is expected to be composed of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). The real estate companies included in the Index may utilize leverage, and some may be highly leveraged. Additionally, such companies may include significant business operations outside of the United States. As of November 30, 2017, the Index consisted of 20 securities, the three largest of which and their weights were AvalonBay Communities Inc. (15.00%), Equity Residential (15.00%), and Essex Property Trust Inc. (12.16%).
The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced (i.e., companies are added or deleted and weights are reset based on Index rules) quarterly as of the close of business on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December. Index Constituents are weighted based on their free-float market capitalization (i.e., market capitalization based on the number of shares available to the public), subject to the following constraints as of the time of each reconstitution of the Index. Each Index Constituent’s weight is capped at 15% and the sum of Index Constituents with weights greater than 4.5% cannot exceed 45% of the total Index weight. If the foregoing limits would be exceeded at the time of a reconstitution of the Index, the excess weight is proportionally redistributed to all Index Constituents with weights below such limits.
The Fund’s Investment Strategy
Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s total assets (exclusive of collateral held from securities lending) will be invested in the component securities of the Index. Pacer Advisors, Inc. (the “Adviser”) expects that, over time, the correlation between the Fund’s performance and that of the Index, before fees and expenses, will be 95% or better.
The Fund will generally use a “replication” strategy to achieve its investment objective, meaning it will invest in all of the component securities of the Index.
The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its assets in cash and cash equivalents, other investment companies, as well as securities and other instruments not included in the Index but which the Adviser believes will help the Fund track the Index.
The Fund is considered to be non-diversified, which means that it may invest more of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it were a diversified fund.
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund
You can lose money on your investment in the Fund. The Fund is subject to the risks summarized below. Some or all of these risks may adversely affect the Fund’s net asset value per share (“NAV”), trading price, yield, total return and/or ability to meet its objectives. For more information about the risks of investing in the Fund, see the section in the Fund’s prospectus entitled “Additional Information about the Principal Risks of Investing in the Funds.”
Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index relies directly or indirectly on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund, the Index Provider, or the Adviser can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or a correct valuation of securities, nor can they guarantee the availability or timeliness of the production of the Index.
Concentration Risk. The Index, and consequently the Fund, is expected to concentrate its investments (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets) in real estate companies. As a result, the value of the Fund’s shares may rise and fall more than the value of shares of a fund that invests in securities of companies in a broader range of industries. In addition, at times, the real estate industry may be out of favor and underperform other industries or groups of industries.
Equity Market Risk. The equity securities held in the Fund’s portfolio may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value. This may occur because of factors that affect securities markets generally or factors affecting specific industries, sectors or companies in which the Fund invests. Common stocks are susceptible to general stock market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value as market confidence in and perceptions of their issuers change.
ETF Risks. The Fund is an ETF and, as a result of an ETF’s structure, is exposed to the following risks:
Authorized Participants (“APs”), Market Makers, and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. The Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that may act as APs. In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, shares of the Fund may trade at a material discount to NAV and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions.
Costs of Buying or Selling Shares of the Fund. Due to the costs of buying or selling shares of the Fund, including brokerage commissions imposed by brokers and bid/ask spreads, frequent trading of shares of the Fund may significantly reduce investment results and an investment in shares of the Fund may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments.
Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. As with all ETFs, shares of the Fund may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. The price of shares of the Fund, like the price of all traded securities, will be subject to factors such as supply and demand, as well as the current value of the Fund’s portfolio holdings. Although it is expected that the market price of the shares of the Fund will approximate the Fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price of the shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility, periods of steep market declines, and periods when there is limited trading activity for shares in the secondary market, in which case such premiums or discounts may be significant.
Trading. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on a national securities exchange, such as NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “Exchange”), and may be traded on U.S. exchanges other than the Exchange, there can be no assurance that shares of the Fund will trade with any volume, or at all, on any stock exchange. In stressed market conditions, the liquidity of shares of the Fund may begin to mirror the liquidity of the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which can be significantly less liquid than shares of the Fund.
High Portfolio Turnover Risk. At times, the Fund may have a portfolio turnover rate substantially greater than 100%. A high portfolio turnover rate would result in correspondingly greater transaction expenses, including brokerage commissions, dealer mark ups and other transaction costs, on the sale of securities and on reinvestment in other securities and may result in reduced performance and the distribution to shareholders of additional capital gains for tax purposes. These factors may negatively affect the Fund’s performance.
International Operations Risk. Investments in companies with significant business operations outside of the United States may involve certain risks that may not be present with investments in U.S. companies. For example, international operations may be subject to risk of loss due to foreign currency fluctuations; changes in foreign political and economic environments, regionally, nationally, and locally; challenges of complying with a wide variety of foreign laws, including corporate governance, operations, taxes, and litigation; differing lending practices; differences in cultures; changes in applicable laws and regulations in the United States that affect international operations; changes in applicable laws and regulations in foreign jurisdictions; difficulties in managing international operations; and obstacles to the repatriation of earnings and cash. These and other factors can make an investment in the Fund more volatile than other types of investments.
Large-Capitalization Investing Risk. The Fund may invest in the securities of large-capitalization companies. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of large-capitalization companies underperform securities of smaller-capitalization companies or the market as a whole. The securities of large-capitalization companies may be relatively mature compared to smaller companies and therefore subject to slower growth during times of economic expansion.
Mid-Capitalization Investing Risk. The Fund may invest in the securities of mid-capitalization companies. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of mid-capitalization companies underperform securities of other capitalization ranges or the market as a whole. Securities of smaller companies trade in smaller volumes and are often more vulnerable to market volatility than securities of larger companies.
New Fund Risk. The Fund is new with no operating history. As a result, there can be no assurance that the Fund will grow to or maintain an economically viable size, in which case it may experience greater tracking error to its Index than it otherwise would at higher asset levels, or it could ultimately liquidate. The Fund’s distributor does not maintain a secondary market in Fund shares.
Non-Diversification Risk. Although the Fund intends to invest in a variety of securities and instruments, the Fund is considered to be non-diversified, which means that it may invest more of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it were a diversified fund. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to the risks associated with and developments affecting an individual issuer or a smaller number of issuers than a fund that invests more widely. This may increase the Fund’s volatility and cause the performance of a relatively smaller number of issuers to have a greater impact on the Fund’s performance.
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and the Adviser would not sell a security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry or sector, unless that security is removed from the Index or the selling of shares of that security is otherwise required upon a reconstitution of the Index in accordance with the Index methodology. The Fund invests in securities included in the Index, regardless of their investment merits. The Fund does not take defensive positions under any market conditions, including conditions that may prove to be adverse to the performance of the Fund.
Real Estate Companies Risk. The Fund invests in real estate companies, including REITs and real estate holdings companies, which will expose investors to the risks of owning real estate directly, as well as to the risks that relate specifically to the way in which such companies are organized and operated. Real estate is highly sensitive to general and local economic conditions and developments. The U.S. real estate market may, in the future, experience and has, in the past, experienced a decline in value, with certain regions experiencing significant losses in property values. Many real estate companies, including REITs, utilize leverage (and some may be highly leveraged), which increases investment risk and the risk normally associated with debt financing, and could potentially increase the Fund’s volatility and losses. Exposure to such real estate may adversely affect Fund performance.
In addition to the foregoing risks common to most real estate companies, companies in certain real estate sectors may have additional unique risks.
Risks of Investing in the Apartments & Residential Real Estate Sector. Companies in the Apartments & Residential Real Estate sector may be affected by unique supply and demand factors that do not apply to other real estate sectors. Residential real estate development is particularly subject to changes in financing costs, occupancy rates, the ability to obtain zoning or other permits or government approvals, labor costs, and scheduling delays. Additionally, such companies may face significant costs associated with compliance (or failure to comply with) the accessibility provisions of federal, state or local requirements.
REIT Investment Risk. Investments in REITs involve unique risks. REITs may have limited financial resources, may trade less frequently and in limited volume, and may be more volatile than other securities. In addition, to the extent the Fund holds interests in REITs, it is expected that investors in the Fund will bear two layers of asset-based management fees and expenses (directly at the Fund level and indirectly at the REIT level). The risks of investing in REITs include certain risks associated with the direct ownership of real estate and the real estate industry in general. These include risks related to general, regional and local economic conditions; fluctuations in interest rates and property tax rates; shifts in zoning laws, environmental regulations and other governmental action such as the exercise of eminent domain; cash flow dependency; increased operating expenses; lack of availability of mortgage funds; losses due to natural disasters; overbuilding; losses due to casualty or condemnation; changes in property values, vacancy, and rental rates; and other factors.
In addition to these risks, REITs are dependent upon management skills and generally may not be diversified. REITs are also subject to heavy cash flow dependency, defaults by borrowers and self-liquidation. In addition, REITs could possibly fail to qualify for the beneficial tax treatment available to REITs under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or to maintain their exemptions from registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). The Fund expects that dividends received from a REIT and distributed to Fund shareholders generally will be taxable to the shareholder as ordinary income, but may be taxable as return of capital. In the event of a default by a borrower or lessee, the REIT may experience delays in enforcing its rights as a mortgagee or lessor and may incur substantial costs associated with protecting investments.
Small-Capitalization Companies Risk. The equity securities of small-capitalization companies have historically been subject to greater investment risk than securities of larger companies. The prices of equity securities of small-capitalization companies tend to be more volatile and less liquid than the prices of equity securities of larger companies.
Tax Risk. To qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets or (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. While the weighting of the Index is not inconsistent with these rules, given the concentration of the Index in a relatively small number of securities, it may not always be possible for the Fund to fully implement a replication strategy or a representative sampling strategy while satisfying these diversification requirements. The Fund’s efforts to satisfy the diversification requirements may affect the Fund’s execution of its investment strategy and may cause the Fund’s return to deviate from that of the Index, and the Fund’s efforts to replicate or represent the Index may cause it inadvertently to fail to satisfy the diversification requirements. If the Fund were to fail to satisfy the diversification requirements, it could incur penalty taxes and be forced to dispose of certain assets, or it could fail to qualify as a regulated investment company. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.
Tracking Risk. The Fund’s return may not track the return of the Index for a number of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs a number of operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and incurs costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s securities holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. Additionally, the Fund’s return may not track the return of the Index if the Fund is not able to replicate the holdings of the Index due to the diversification requirements described above under “Tax Risk”, which apply to the Fund but not the Index.
Fund Performance
Performance information for the Fund is not included because the Fund did not commence operations prior to the date of this Prospectus. In the future, performance information for the Fund will be presented in this section. Updated performance information will be available on the Fund’s website at www.paceretfs.com or by calling the Fund toll-free at 1-877-337-0500.
Pacer Benchmark Office Real Estate SCTR ETF
Pacer Benchmark Office Real Estate SCTRSM ETF
Investment Objective
The Pacer Benchmark Office Real Estate SCTRSM ETF (the “Fund”) is an exchange traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Benchmark Office Real Estate SCTRSM Index (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. The fees are expressed as a percentage of the Fund’s average net assets. This table and the Example below do not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay on their purchases and sales of Fund shares.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - Benchmark
Pacer Benchmark Office Real Estate SCTR ETF
Pacer Benchmark Office Real Estate SCTR ETF
Management Fees (as a percentage of Assets) 0.60%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees none
Other Expenses (as a percentage of Assets): none [1]
Expenses (as a percentage of Assets) 0.60%
[1] Estimated for the current fiscal year.
Example
The following example is intended to help retail investors compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that such investors would incur over various periods if they were to invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of the shares at the end of those periods. This example assumes that the Fund provides a return of 5% a year and that operating expenses remain the same.
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
Expense Example - Benchmark
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years
Pacer Benchmark Office Real Estate SCTR ETF | Pacer Benchmark Office Real Estate SCTR ETF | USD ($) 61 192
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. Because the Fund had not commenced operations as of the date of this Prospectus, portfolio turnover information is not yet available.
Principal Investment Strategies of the Fund
The Fund employs a “passive management” (or indexing) investment approach designed to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Index. The Index was developed by Benchmark Investments, LLC, the index provider (the “Index Provider”), and measures the performance of the office real estate sectors of the U.S. equity market.
The Index
The Index is generally composed of the U.S.-listed equity securities of companies that derive at least 85% of their earnings or revenues from real estate operations in the office real estate sector (“Eligible Companies”). At the time of each reconstitution of the Index, Eligible Companies with a market capitalization of more than $200 million and average daily traded volume of at least 10,000 shares are included in the Index (the “Index Constituents”). A significant portion of the Index is expected to be composed of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). The real estate companies included in the Index may utilize leverage, and some may be highly leveraged. Additionally, such companies may include significant business operations outside of the United States. As of November 30, 2017, the Index consisted of 26 securities, the three largest of which and their weights were Boston Properties Inc. (15.00%), Vornado Realty Trust (13.05%), and SL Green Realty Corp. (9.81%).
The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced (i.e., companies are added or deleted and weights are reset based on Index rules) quarterly as of the close of business on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December. Index Constituents are weighted based on their free-float market capitalization (i.e., market capitalization based on the number of shares available to the public), subject to the following constraints as of the time of each reconstitution of the Index. Each Index Constituent’s weight is capped at 15% and the sum of Index Constituents with weights greater than 4.5% cannot exceed 45% of the total Index weight. If the foregoing limits would be exceeded at the time of a reconstitution of the Index, the excess weight is proportionally redistributed to all Index Constituents with weights below such limits.
The Fund’s Investment Strategy
Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s total assets (exclusive of collateral held from securities lending) will be invested in the component securities of the Index. Pacer Advisors, Inc. (the “Adviser”) expects that, over time, the correlation between the Fund’s performance and that of the Index, before fees and expenses, will be 95% or better.
The Fund will generally use a “replication” strategy to achieve its investment objective, meaning it will invest in all of the component securities of the Index.
The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its assets in cash and cash equivalents, other investment companies, as well as securities and other instruments not included in the Index but which the Adviser believes will help the Fund track the Index.
The Fund is considered to be non-diversified, which means that it may invest more of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it were a diversified fund.
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund
You can lose money on your investment in the Fund. The Fund is subject to the risks summarized below. Some or all of these risks may adversely affect the Fund’s net asset value per share (“NAV”), trading price, yield, total return and/or ability to meet its objectives. For more information about the risks of investing in the Fund, see the section in the Fund’s prospectus entitled “Additional Information about the Principal Risks of Investing in the Funds.”
Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index relies directly or indirectly on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund, the Index Provider, or the Adviser can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or a correct valuation of securities, nor can they guarantee the availability or timeliness of the production of the Index.
Concentration Risk. The Index, and consequently the Fund, is expected to concentrate its investments (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets) in real estate companies. As a result, the value of the Fund’s shares may rise and fall more than the value of shares of a fund that invests in securities of companies in a broader range of industries. In addition, at times, the real estate industry may be out of favor and underperform other industries or groups of industries.
Equity Market Risk. The equity securities held in the Fund’s portfolio may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value. This may occur because of factors that affect securities markets generally or factors affecting specific industries, sectors or companies in which the Fund invests. Common stocks are susceptible to general stock market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value as market confidence in and perceptions of their issuers change.
ETF Risks. The Fund is an ETF and, as a result of an ETF’s structure, is exposed to the following risks:
Authorized Participants (“APs”), Market Makers, and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. The Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that may act as APs. In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, shares of the Fund may trade at a material discount to NAV and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions.
Costs of Buying or Selling Shares of the Fund. Due to the costs of buying or selling shares of the Fund, including brokerage commissions imposed by brokers and bid/ask spreads, frequent trading of shares of the Fund may significantly reduce investment results and an investment in shares of the Fund may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments.
Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. As with all ETFs, shares of the Fund may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. The price of shares o the Fund, like the price of all traded securities, will be subject to factors such as supply and demand, as well as the current value of the Fund’s portfolio holdings. Although it is expected that the market price of the shares of the Fund will approximate the Fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price of the shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility, periods of steep market declines, and periods when there is limited trading activity for shares in the secondary market, in which case such premiums or discounts may be significant.
Trading. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on a national securities exchange, such as NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “Exchange”), and may be traded on U.S. exchanges other than the Exchange, there can be no assurance that shares of the Fund will trade with any volume, or at all, on any stock exchange. In stressed market conditions, the liquidity of shares of the Fund may begin to mirror the liquidity of the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which can be significantly less liquid than shares of the Fund.
High Portfolio Turnover Risk. At times, the Fund may have a portfolio turnover rate substantially greater than 100%. A high portfolio turnover rate would result in correspondingly greater transaction expenses, including brokerage commissions, dealer mark ups and other transaction costs, on the sale of securities and on reinvestment in other securities and may result in reduced performance and the distribution to shareholders of additional capital gains for tax purposes. These factors may negatively affect the Fund’s performance.
International Operations Risk. Investments in companies with significant business operations outside of the United States may involve certain risks that may not be present with investments in U.S. companies. For example, international operations may be subject to risk of loss due to foreign currency fluctuations; changes in foreign political and economic environments, regionally, nationally, and locally; challenges of complying with a wide variety of foreign laws, including corporate governance, operations, taxes, and litigation; differing lending practices; differences in cultures; changes in applicable laws and regulations in the United States that affect international operations; changes in applicable laws and regulations in foreign jurisdictions; difficulties in managing international operations; and obstacles to the repatriation of earnings and cash. These and other factors can make an investment in the Fund more volatile than other types of investments.
Large-Capitalization Investing Risk. The Fund may invest in the securities of large-capitalization companies. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of large-capitalization companies underperform securities of smaller-capitalization companies or the market as a whole. The securities of large-capitalization companies may be relatively mature compared to smaller companies and therefore subject to slower growth during times of economic expansion.
Mid-Capitalization Investing Risk. The Fund may invest in the securities of mid-capitalization companies. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of mid-capitalization companies underperform securities of other capitalization ranges or the market as a whole. Securities of smaller companies trade in smaller volumes and are often more vulnerable to market volatility than securities of larger companies.
New Fund Risk. The Fund is new with no operating history. As a result, there can be no assurance that the Fund will grow to or maintain an economically viable size, in which case it may experience greater tracking error to its Index than it otherwise would at higher asset levels, or it could ultimately liquidate. The Fund’s distributor does not maintain a secondary market in Fund shares.
Non-Diversification Risk. Although the Fund intends to invest in a variety of securities and instruments, the Fund is considered to be non-diversified, which means that it may invest more of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it were a diversified fund. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to the risks associated with and developments affecting an individual issuer or a smaller number of issuers than a fund that invests more widely. This may increase the Fund’s volatility and cause the performance of a relatively smaller number of issuers to have a greater impact on the Fund’s performance.
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and the Adviser would not sell a security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry or sector, unless that security is removed from the Index or the selling of shares of that security is otherwise required upon a reconstitution of the Index in accordance with the Index methodology. The Fund invests in securities included in the Index, regardless of their investment merits. The Fund does not take defensive positions under any market conditions, including conditions that may prove to be adverse to the performance of the Fund.
Real Estate Companies Risk. The Fund invests in real estate companies, including REITs and real estate holdings companies, which will expose investors to the risks of owning real estate directly, as well as to the risks that relate specifically to the way in which such companies are organized and operated. Real estate is highly sensitive to general and local economic conditions and developments. The U.S. real estate market may, in the future, experience and has, in the past, experienced a decline in value, with certain regions experiencing significant losses in property values. Many real estate companies, including REITs, utilize leverage (and some may be highly leveraged), which increases investment risk and the risk normally associated with debt financing, and could potentially increase the Fund’s volatility and losses. Exposure to such real estate may adversely affect Fund performance.
In addition to the foregoing risks common to most real estate companies, companies in certain real estate sectors may have additional unique risks.
Risks of Investing in the Office Real Estate Sector. Companies in the Office Real Estate sector may be affected by unique supply and demand factors that do not apply to other real estate sectors. For example, office real estate may be more susceptible to changes in macroeconomic factors, business capital expenditures, tax regulations, and employment trends than other real estate sectors. Office real estate companies are particularly subject to changes in financing costs, economic conditions, vacancies, changes in market rental rates, the costs of repairing or renovating space, insurance and utility expenses, and the risks of a tenant defaulting. Office real estate companies may have properties concentrated in key geographic markets, and changes to the economic condition of one or more such markets may significantly affect such companies’ profitability.
REIT Investment Risk. Investments in REITs involve unique risks. REITs may have limited financial resources, may trade less frequently and in limited volume, and may be more volatile than other securities. In addition, to the extent the Fund holds interests in REITs, it is expected that investors in the Fund will bear two layers of asset-based management fees and expenses (directly at the Fund level and indirectly at the REIT level). The risks of investing in REITs include certain risks associated with the direct ownership of real estate and the real estate industry in general. These include risks related to general, regional and local economic conditions; fluctuations in interest rates and property tax rates; shifts in zoning laws, environmental regulations and other governmental action such as the exercise of eminent domain; cash flow dependency; increased operating expenses; lack of availability of mortgage funds; losses due to natural disasters; overbuilding; losses due to casualty or condemnation; changes in property values and rental rates; and other factors.
In addition to these risks, REITs are dependent upon management skills and generally may not be diversified. REITs are also subject to heavy cash flow dependency, defaults by borrowers and self-liquidation. In addition, REITs could possibly fail to qualify for the beneficial tax treatment available to REITs under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or to maintain their exemptions from registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). The Fund expects that dividends received from a REIT and distributed to Fund shareholders generally will be taxable to the shareholder as ordinary income, but may be taxable as return of capital. In the event of a default by a borrower or lessee, the REIT may experience delays in enforcing its rights as a mortgagee or lessor and may incur substantial costs associated with protecting investments.
Small-Capitalization Companies Risk. The equity securities of small-capitalization companies have historically been subject to greater investment risk than securities of larger companies. The prices of equity securities of small-capitalization companies tend to be more volatile and less liquid than the prices of equity securities of larger companies.
Tax Risk. To qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets or (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. While the weighting of the Index is not inconsistent with these rules, given the concentration of the Index in a relatively small number of securities, it may not always be possible for the Fund to fully implement a replication strategy or a representative sampling strategy while satisfying these diversification requirements. The Fund’s efforts to satisfy the diversification requirements may affect the Fund’s execution of its investment strategy and may cause the Fund’s return to deviate from that of the Index, and the Fund’s efforts to replicate or represent the Index may cause it inadvertently to fail to satisfy the diversification requirements. If the Fund were to fail to satisfy the diversification requirements, it could incur penalty taxes and be forced to dispose of certain assets, or it could fail to qualify as a regulated investment company. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.
Tracking Risk. The Fund’s return may not track the return of the Index for a number of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs a number of operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and incurs costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s securities holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. Additionally, the Fund’s return may not track the return of the Index if the Fund is not able to replicate the holdings of the Index due to the diversification requirements described above under “Tax Risk”, which apply to the Fund but not the Index.
Fund Performance
Performance information for the Fund is not included because the Fund did not commence operations prior to the date of this Prospectus. In the future, performance information for the Fund will be presented in this section. Updated performance information will be available on the Fund’s website at www.paceretfs.com or by calling the Fund toll-free at 1-877-337-0500.
Pacer Benchmark Retail Real Estate SCTR ETF
Pacer Benchmark Retail Real Estate SCTRSM ETF
Investment Objective
The Pacer Benchmark Retail Real Estate SCTRSM ETF (the “Fund”) is an exchange traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Benchmark Retail Real Estate SCTRSM Index (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. The fees are expressed as a percentage of the Fund’s average net assets. This table and the Example below do not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay on their purchases and sales of Fund shares.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - Benchmark
Pacer Benchmark Retail Real Estate SCTR ETF
Pacer Benchmark Retail Real Estate SCTR ETF
Management Fees (as a percentage of Assets) 0.60%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees none
Other Expenses (as a percentage of Assets): none
Expenses (as a percentage of Assets) 0.60%
Example
The following example is intended to help retail investors compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that such investors would incur over various periods if they were to invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of the shares at the end of those periods. This example assumes that the Fund provides a return of 5% a year and that operating expenses remain the same.
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - Benchmark
Management Fees (as a percentage of Assets)
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees
Other Expenses (as a percentage of Assets):
Expenses (as a percentage of Assets)
Pacer Benchmark Retail Real Estate SCTR ETF | Pacer Benchmark Retail Real Estate SCTR ETF 0.60% none none 0.60%
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. For the fiscal period May 15, 2018 (commencement of operations) through April 30, 2019, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 60% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies of the Fund
The Fund employs a “passive management” (or indexing) investment approach designed to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Index. The Index was developed by Benchmark Investments, LLC (the “Index Provider”), and measures the performance of the retail real estate sectors of the U.S. equity market.
The Index
The Index is generally composed of the U.S.-listed equity securities of companies that derive at least 85% of their earnings or revenues from real estate operations in the retail real estate sector (“Eligible Companies”). At the time of each reconstitution of the Index, Eligible Companies with a market capitalization of more than $200 million and average daily traded volume of at least 10,000 shares are included in the Index (the “Index Constituents”). A significant portion of the Index is expected to be composed of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). The real estate companies included in the Index may utilize leverage, and some may be highly leveraged. Additionally, such companies may include significant business operations outside of the United States. As of June 30, 2019, the Index consisted of 35 securities, the three largest of which and their weights were Simon Property Group Inc. (14.93%), Realty Income Corp. (14.91%), and Regency Centers Corp. (8.76%).
The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced (i.e., companies are added or deleted and weights are reset based on Index rules) quarterly as of the close of business on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December. Index Constituents are weighted based on their free-float market capitalization (i.e., market capitalization based on the number of shares available to the public), subject to the following constraints as of the time of each reconstitution of the Index. Each Index Constituent’s weight is capped at 15% and the sum of Index Constituents with weights greater than 4.5% cannot exceed 45% of the total Index weight. If the foregoing limits would be exceeded at the time of a reconstitution of the Index, the excess weight is proportionally redistributed to all Index Constituents with weights below such limits.
The Fund’s Investment Strategy
Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s total assets (exclusive of collateral held from securities lending) will be invested in the component securities of the Index. Pacer Advisors, Inc. (the “Adviser”) expects that, over time, the correlation between the Fund’s performance and that of the Index, before fees and expenses, will be 95% or better.
The Fund will generally use a “replication” strategy to achieve its investment objective, meaning it will invest in all of the component securities of the Index.
The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its assets in cash and cash equivalents, other investment companies, as well as securities and other instruments not included in the Index but which the Adviser believes will help the Fund track the Index.
The Fund is considered to be non-diversified, which means that it may invest more of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it were a diversified fund.
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund
You can lose money on your investment in the Fund. The Fund is subject to the risks summarized below. Some or all of these risks may adversely affect the Fund’s net asset value per share (“NAV”), trading price, yield, total return and/or ability to meet its objectives. For more information about the risks of investing in the Fund, see the section in the Fund’s prospectus entitled “Additional Information about the Principal Risks of Investing in the Funds.”
Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index relies directly or indirectly on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund, the Index Provider, or the Adviser can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or a correct valuation of securities, nor can they guarantee the availability or timeliness of the production of the Index.
Concentration Risk. The Index, and consequently the Fund, is expected to concentrate its investments (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets) in real estate companies. As a result, the value of the Fund’s shares may rise and fall more than the value of shares of a fund that invests in securities of companies in a broader range of industries. In addition, at times, the real estate industry may be out of favor and underperform other industries or groups of industries.
Equity Market Risk. The equity securities held in the Fund’s portfolio may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value. This may occur because of factors that affect securities markets generally or factors affecting specific industries, sectors or companies in which the Fund invests. Common stocks are susceptible to general stock market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value as market confidence in and perceptions of their issuers change.
ETF Risks. The Fund is an ETF and, as a result of an ETF’s structure, is exposed to the following risks:
Authorized Participants (“APs”), Market Makers, and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. The Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that may act as APs. In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, shares of the Fund may trade at a material discount to NAV and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions.
Costs of Buying or Selling Shares of the Fund. Due to the costs of buying or selling shares of the Fund, including brokerage commissions imposed by brokers and bid/ask spreads, frequent trading of shares of the Fund may significantly reduce investment results and an investment in shares of the Fund may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments.
Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. As with all ETFs, shares of the Fund may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. The price of shares of the Fund, like the price of all traded securities, will be subject to factors such as supply and demand, as well as the current value of the Fund’s portfolio holdings. Although it is expected that the market price of the shares of the Fund will approximate the Fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price of the shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility, periods of steep market declines, and periods when there is limited trading activity for shares in the secondary market, in which case such premiums or discounts may be significant.
Trading. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on a national securities exchange, such as NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “Exchange”), and may be traded on U.S. exchanges other than the Exchange, there can be no assurance that shares of the Fund will trade with any volume, or at all, on any stock exchange. In stressed market conditions, the liquidity of shares of the Fund may begin to mirror the liquidity of the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which can be significantly less liquid than shares of the Fund.
High Portfolio Turnover Risk. At times, the Fund may have a portfolio turnover rate substantially greater than 100%. A high portfolio turnover rate would result in correspondingly greater transaction expenses, including brokerage commissions, dealer mark ups and other transaction costs, on the sale of securities and on reinvestment in other securities and may result in reduced performance and the distribution to shareholders of additional capital gains for tax purposes. These factors may negatively affect the Fund’s performance.
International Operations Risk. Investments in companies with significant business operations outside of the United States may involve certain risks that may not be present with investments in U.S. companies. For example, international operations may be subject to risk of loss due to foreign currency fluctuations; changes in foreign political and economic environments, regionally, nationally, and locally; challenges of complying with a wide variety of foreign laws, including corporate governance, operations, taxes, and litigation; differing lending practices; differences in cultures; changes in applicable laws and regulations in the United States that affect international operations; changes in applicable laws and regulations in foreign jurisdictions; difficulties in managing international operations; and obstacles to the repatriation of earnings and cash. These and other factors can make an investment in the Fund more volatile than other types of investments.
Large-Capitalization Investing Risk. The Fund may invest in the securities of large-capitalization companies. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of large-capitalization companies underperform securities of smaller-capitalization companies or the market as a whole. The securities of large-capitalization companies may be relatively mature compared to smaller companies and therefore subject to slower growth during times of economic expansion.
Mid-Capitalization Investing Risk. The Fund may invest in the securities of mid-capitalization companies. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of mid-capitalization companies underperform securities of other capitalization ranges or the market as a whole. Securities of smaller companies trade in smaller volumes and are often more vulnerable to market volatility than securities of larger companies.
New Fund Risk. The Fund is newer with limited operating history. As a result, there can be no assurance that the Fund will grow to or maintain an economically viable size, in which case it may experience greater tracking error to its Index than it otherwise would at higher asset levels, or it could ultimately liquidate. The Fund’s distributor does not maintain a secondary market in Fund shares.
Non-Diversification Risk. Although the Fund intends to invest in a variety of securities and instruments, the Fund is considered to be non-diversified, which means that it may invest more of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it were a diversified fund. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to the risks associated with and developments affecting an individual issuer or a smaller number of issuers than a fund that invests more widely. This may increase the Fund’s volatility and cause the performance of a relatively smaller number of issuers to have a greater impact on the Fund’s performance.
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and the Adviser would not sell a security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry or sector, unless that security is removed from the Index or the selling of shares of that security is otherwise required upon a reconstitution of the Index in accordance with the Index methodology. The Fund invests in securities included in the Index, regardless of their investment merits. The Fund does not take defensive positions under any market conditions, including conditions that may prove to be adverse to the performance of the Fund.
REIT Investment Risk. Investments in REITs involve unique risks. REITs may have limited financial resources, may trade less frequently and in limited volume, and may be more volatile than other securities. In addition, to the extent the Fund holds interests in REITs, it is expected that investors in the Fund will bear two layers of asset-based management fees and expenses (directly at the Fund level and indirectly at the REIT level). The risks of investing in REITs include certain risks associated with the direct ownership of real estate and the real estate industry in general. These include risks related to general, regional and local economic conditions; fluctuations in interest rates and property tax rates; shifts in zoning laws, environmental regulations and other governmental action such as the exercise of eminent domain; cash flow dependency; increased operating expenses; lack of availability of mortgage funds; losses due to natural disasters; overbuilding; losses due to casualty or condemnation; changes in property values and rental rates; and other factors.
In addition to these risks, REITs are dependent upon management skills and generally may not be diversified. REITs are also subject to heavy cash flow dependency, defaults by borrowers and self-liquidation. In addition, REITs could possibly fail to qualify for the beneficial tax treatment available to REITs under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or to maintain their exemptions from registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). The Fund expects that dividends received from a REIT and distributed to Fund shareholders generally will be taxable to the shareholder as ordinary income, but may be taxable as return of capital. In the event of a default by a borrower or lessee, the REIT may experience delays in enforcing its rights as a mortgagee or lessor and may incur substantial costs associated with protecting investments.
Real Estate Companies Risk. The Fund invests in real estate companies, including REITs and real estate holdings companies, which will expose investors to the risks of owning real estate directly, as well as to the risks that relate specifically to the way in which such companies are organized and operated. Real estate is highly sensitive to general and local economic conditions and developments. The U.S. real estate market may, in the future, experience and has, in the past, experienced a decline in value, with certain regions experiencing significant losses in property values. Many real estate companies, including REITs, utilize leverage (and some may be highly leveraged), which increases investment risk and the risk normally associated with debt financing, and could potentially increase the Fund’s volatility and losses. Exposure to such real estate may adversely affect Fund performance.
In addition to the foregoing risks common to most real estate companies, companies in certain real estate sectors may have additional unique risks.
Risks of Investing in the Retail Real Estate Sector. Companies in the Retail Real Estate sector may be affected by unique supply and demand factors that do not apply to other real estate sectors. Retail companies are particularly subject to changes in international, national, regional, and local economic conditions; tenant bankruptcies; the increasing use of the Internet by retailers and consumers; local real estate conditions; levels of consumer spending, changes in consumer confidence, and fluctuations in seasonal spending; increased operating costs; and perceptions by consumers of the safety, convenience, and attractiveness of retail properties.
Small-Capitalization Companies Risk. The equity securities of small-capitalization companies have historically been subject to greater investment risk than securities of larger companies. The prices of equity securities of small-capitalization companies tend to be more volatile and less liquid than the prices of equity securities of larger companies.
Tax Risk. To qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets or (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. While the weighting of the Index is not inconsistent with these rules, given the concentration of the Index in a relatively small number of securities, it may not always be possible for the Fund to fully implement a replication strategy or a representative sampling strategy while satisfying these diversification requirements. The Fund’s efforts to satisfy the diversification requirements may affect the Fund’s execution of its investment strategy and may cause the Fund’s return to deviate from that of the Index, and the Fund’s efforts to replicate or represent the Index may cause it inadvertently to fail to satisfy the diversification requirements. If the Fund were to fail to satisfy the diversification requirements, it could incur penalty taxes and be forced to dispose of certain assets, or it could fail to qualify as a regulated investment company. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.
Tracking Risk. The Fund’s return may not track the return of the Index for a number of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs a number of operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and incurs costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s securities holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. Additionally, the Fund’s return may not track the return of the Index if the Fund is not able to replicate the holdings of the Index due to the diversification requirements described above under “Tax Risk”, which apply to the Fund but not the Index.
Fund Performance
Performance information for the Fund is not included because the Fund did not have a full calendar year of performance prior to the date of this Prospectus. In the future, performance information for the Fund will be presented in this section. Updated performance information is available on the Fund’s website at www.paceretfs.com or by calling the Fund toll-free at 1-877-337-0500.
Pacer Benchmark Healthcare Real Estate SCTR ETF
Pacer Benchmark Healthcare Real Estate SCTRSM ETF
Investment Objective
The Pacer Benchmark Healthcare Real Estate SCTRSM ETF (the “Fund”) is an exchange traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Benchmark Healthcare Real Estate SCTRSM Index (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. The fees are expressed as a percentage of the Fund’s average net assets. This table and the Example below do not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay on their purchases and sales of Fund shares.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - Benchmark
Pacer Benchmark Healthcare Real Estate SCTR ETF
Pacer Benchmark Healthcare Real Estate SCTR ETF
Management Fees (as a percentage of Assets) 0.60%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees none
Other Expenses (as a percentage of Assets): none [1]
Expenses (as a percentage of Assets) 0.60%
[1] Estimated for the current fiscal year.
Example
The following example is intended to help retail investors compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that such investors would incur over various periods if they were to invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of the shares at the end of those periods. This example assumes that the Fund provides a return of 5% a year and that operating expenses remain the same.
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
Expense Example - Benchmark
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years
Pacer Benchmark Healthcare Real Estate SCTR ETF | Pacer Benchmark Healthcare Real Estate SCTR ETF | USD ($) 61 192
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. Because the Fund had not commenced operations as of the date of this Prospectus, portfolio turnover information is not yet available.
Principal Investment Strategies of the Fund
The Fund employs a “passive management” (or indexing) investment approach designed to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Index. The Index was developed by Benchmark Investments, LLC (the “Index Provider”), and measures the performance of the healthcare real estate sectors of the U.S. equity market.
The Index
The Index is generally composed of the U.S.-listed equity securities of companies that derive at least 85% of their earnings or revenues from real estate operations in the healthcare real estate sectors (“Eligible Companies”). At the time of each reconstitution of the Index, Eligible Companies with a market capitalization of more than $200 million and average daily traded volume of at least 10,000 shares are included in the Index (the “Index Constituents”). A significant portion of the Index is expected to be composed of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). The real estate companies included in the Index may utilize leverage, and some may be highly leveraged. Additionally, such companies may include significant business operations outside of the United States. As of November 30, 2017, the Index consisted of 20 securities, the three largest of which and their weights were Welltower Inc. (15.00%), Ventas Inc. (15.00%), and HCP Inc. (13.14%).
The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced (i.e., companies are added or deleted and weights are reset based on Index rules) quarterly as of the close of business on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December. Index Constituents are weighted based on their free-float market capitalization (i.e., market capitalization based on the number of shares available to the public), subject to the following constraints as of the time of each reconstitution of the Index. Each Index Constituent’s weight is capped at 15% and the sum of Index Constituents with weights greater than 4.5% cannot exceed 45% of the total Index weight. If the foregoing limits would be exceeded at the time of a reconstitution of the Index, the excess weight is proportionally redistributed to all Index Constituents with weights below such limits.
The Fund’s Investment Strategy
Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s total assets (exclusive of collateral held from securities lending) will be invested in the component securities of the Index. Pacer Advisors, Inc. (the “Adviser”) expects that, over time, the correlation between the Fund’s performance and that of the Index, before fees and expenses, will be 95% or better.
The Fund will generally use a “replication” strategy to achieve its investment objective, meaning it will invest in all of the component securities of the Index.
The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its assets in cash and cash equivalents, other investment companies, as well as securities and other instruments not included in the Index but which the Adviser believes will help the Fund track the Index.
The Fund is considered to be non-diversified, which means that it may invest more of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it were a diversified fund.
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund
You can lose money on your investment in the Fund. The Fund is subject to the risks summarized below. Some or all of these risks may adversely affect the Fund’s net asset value per share (“NAV”), trading price, yield, total return and/or ability to meet its objectives. For more information about the risks of investing in the Fund, see the section in the Fund’s prospectus entitled “Additional Information about the Principal Risks of Investing in the Funds.”
Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index relies directly or indirectly on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund, the Index Provider, or the Adviser can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or a correct valuation of securities, nor can they guarantee the availability or timeliness of the production of the Index.
Concentration Risk. The Index, and consequently the Fund, is expected to concentrate its investments (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets) in real estate companies. As a result, the value of the Fund’s shares may rise and fall more than the value of shares of a fund that invests in securities of companies in a broader range of industries. In addition, at times, the real estate industry may be out of favor and underperform other industries or groups of industries.
Equity Market Risk. The equity securities held in the Fund’s portfolio may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value. This may occur because of factors that affect securities markets generally or factors affecting specific industries, sectors or companies in which the Fund invests. Common stocks are susceptible to general stock market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value as market confidence in and perceptions of their issuers change.
ETF Risks. The Fund is an ETF and, as a result of an ETF’s structure, is exposed to the following risks:
Authorized Participants (“APs”), Market Makers, and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. The Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that may act as APs. In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, shares of the Fund may trade at a material discount to NAV and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions.
Costs of Buying or Selling Shares of the Fund. Due to the costs of buying or selling shares of the Fund, including brokerage commissions imposed by brokers and bid/ask spreads, frequent trading of shares of the Fund may significantly reduce investment results and an investment in shares of the Fund may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments.
Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. As with all ETFs, shares of the Fund may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. The price of shares of the Fund, like the price of all traded securities, will be subject to factors such as supply and demand, as well as the current value of the Fund’s portfolio holdings. Although it is expected that the market price of the shares of the Fund will approximate the Fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price of the shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility, periods of steep market declines, and periods when there is limited trading activity for shares in the secondary market, in which case such premiums or discounts may be significant.
Trading. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on a national securities exchange, such as NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “Exchange”), and may be traded on U.S. exchanges other than the Exchange, there can be no assurance that shares of the Fund will trade with any volume, or at all, on any stock exchange. In stressed market conditions, the liquidity of shares of the Fund may begin to mirror the liquidity of the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which can be significantly less liquid than shares of the Fund.
High Portfolio Turnover Risk. At times, the Fund may have a portfolio turnover rate substantially greater than 100%. A high portfolio turnover rate would result in correspondingly greater transaction expenses, including brokerage commissions, dealer mark ups and other transaction costs, on the sale of securities and on reinvestment in other securities and may result in reduced performance and the distribution to shareholders of additional capital gains for tax purposes. These factors may negatively affect the Fund’s performance.
International Operations Risk. Investments in companies with significant business operations outside of the United States may involve certain risks that may not be present with investments in U.S. companies. For example, international operations may be subject to risk of loss due to foreign currency fluctuations; changes in foreign political and economic environments, regionally, nationally, and locally; challenges of complying with a wide variety of foreign laws, including corporate governance, operations, taxes, and litigation; differing lending practices; differences in cultures; changes in applicable laws and regulations in the United States that affect international operations; changes in applicable laws and regulations in foreign jurisdictions; difficulties in managing international operations; and obstacles to the repatriation of earnings and cash. These and other factors can make an investment in the Fund more volatile than other types of investments.
Large-Capitalization Investing Risk. The Fund may invest in the securities of large-capitalization companies. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of large-capitalization companies underperform securities of smaller-capitalization companies or the market as a whole. The securities of large-capitalization companies may be relatively mature compared to smaller companies and therefore subject to slower growth during times of economic expansion.
Mid-Capitalization Investing Risk. The Fund may invest in the securities of mid-capitalization companies. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of mid-capitalization companies underperform securities of other capitalization ranges or the market as a whole. Securities of smaller companies trade in smaller volumes and are often more vulnerable to market volatility than securities of larger companies.
New Fund Risk. The Fund is new with no operating history. As a result, there can be no assurance that the Fund will grow to or maintain an economically viable size, in which case it may experience greater tracking error to its Index than it otherwise would at higher asset levels, or it could ultimately liquidate. The Fund’s distributor does not maintain a secondary market in Fund shares.
Non-Diversification Risk. Although the Fund intends to invest in a variety of securities and instruments, the Fund is considered to be non-diversified, which means that it may invest more of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it were a diversified fund. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to the risks associated with and developments affecting an individual issuer or a smaller number of issuers than a fund that invests more widely. This may increase the Fund’s volatility and cause the performance of a relatively smaller number of issuers to have a greater impact on the Fund’s performance.
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and the Adviser would not sell a security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry or sector, unless that security is removed from the Index or the selling of shares of that security is otherwise required upon a reconstitution of the Index in accordance with the Index methodology. The Fund invests in securities included in the Index, regardless of their investment merits. The Fund does not take defensive positions under any market conditions, including conditions that may prove to be adverse to the performance of the Fund.
Real Estate Companies Risk. The Fund invests in real estate companies, including REITs and real estate holdings companies, which will expose investors to the risks of owning real estate directly, as well as to the risks that relate specifically to the way in which such companies are organized and operated. Real estate is highly sensitive to general and local economic conditions and developments. The U.S. real estate market may, in the future, experience and has, in the past, experienced a decline in value, with certain regions experiencing significant losses in property values. Many real estate companies, including REITs, utilize leverage (and some may be highly leveraged), which increases investment risk and the risk normally associated with debt financing, and could potentially increase the Fund’s volatility and losses. Exposure to such real estate may adversely affect Fund performance.
In addition to the foregoing risks common to most real estate companies, companies in certain real estate sectors may have additional unique risks.
Risks of Investing in the Healthcare Real Estate Sector. Companies in the Healthcare Real Estate sector may be affected by unique supply and demand factors that do not apply to other real estate sectors. Such companies may be subject to risks related to severe cold and flu seasons, epidemics, or any other widespread illnesses that could affect the occupancy of healthcare properties, including seniors housing. Additionally, healthcare companies may be significantly dependent on one or a small number of long-term management agreements for seniors housing communities, which may subject such companies to the risks affecting such management companies.
REIT Investment Risk. Investments in REITs involve unique risks. REITs may have limited financial resources, may trade less frequently and in limited volume, and may be more volatile than other securities. In addition, to the extent the Fund holds interests in REITs, it is expected that investors in the Fund will bear two layers of asset-based management fees and expenses (directly at the Fund level and indirectly at the REIT level). The risks of investing in REITs include certain risks associated with the direct ownership of real estate and the real estate industry in general. These include risks related to general, regional and local economic conditions; fluctuations in interest rates and property tax rates; shifts in zoning laws, environmental regulations and other governmental action such as the exercise of eminent domain; cash flow dependency; increased operating expenses; lack of availability of mortgage funds; losses due to natural disasters; overbuilding; losses due to casualty or condemnation; changes in property values and rental rates; and other factors.
In addition to these risks, REITs are dependent upon management skills and generally may not be diversified. REITs are also subject to heavy cash flow dependency, defaults by borrowers and self-liquidation. In addition, REITs could possibly fail to qualify for the beneficial tax treatment available to REITs under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or to maintain their exemptions from registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). The Fund expects that dividends received from a REIT and distributed to Fund shareholders generally will be taxable to the shareholder as ordinary income, but may be taxable as return of capital. In the event of a default by a borrower or lessee, the REIT may experience delays in enforcing its rights as a mortgagee or lessor and may incur substantial costs associated with protecting investments.
Small-Capitalization Companies Risk. The equity securities of small-capitalization companies have historically been subject to greater investment risk than securities of larger companies. The prices of equity securities of small-capitalization companies tend to be more volatile and less liquid than the prices of equity securities of larger companies.
Tax Risk. To qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets or (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. While the weighting of the Index is not inconsistent with these rules, given the concentration of the Index in a relatively small number of securities, it may not always be possible for the Fund to fully implement a replication strategy or a representative sampling strategy while satisfying these diversification requirements. The Fund’s efforts to satisfy the diversification requirements may affect the Fund’s execution of its investment strategy and may cause the Fund’s return to deviate from that of the Index, and the Fund’s efforts to replicate or represent the Index may cause it inadvertently to fail to satisfy the diversification requirements. If the Fund were to fail to satisfy the diversification requirements, it could incur penalty taxes and be forced to dispose of certain assets, or it could fail to qualify as a regulated investment company. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.
Tracking Risk. The Fund’s return may not track the return of the Index for a number of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs a number of operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and incurs costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s securities holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. Additionally, the Fund’s return may not track the return of the Index if the Fund is not able to replicate the holdings of the Index due to the diversification requirements described above under “Tax Risk”, which apply to the Fund but not the Index.
Fund Performance
Performance information for the Fund is not included because the Fund did not commence operations prior to the date of this Prospectus. In the future, performance information for the Fund will be presented in this section. Updated performance information will be available on the Fund’s website at www.paceretfs.com or by calling the Fund toll-free at 1-877-337-0500.
Pacer Benchmark Industrial Real Estate SCTR ETF
Pacer Benchmark Industrial Real Estate SCTRSM ETF
Investment Objective
The Pacer Benchmark Industrial Real Estate SCTRSM ETF (the “Fund”) is an exchange traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Benchmark Industrial Real Estate SCTRSM Index (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. The fees are expressed as a percentage of the Fund’s average net assets. This table and the Example below do not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay on their purchases and sales of Fund shares.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - Benchmark
Pacer Benchmark Industrial Real Estate SCTR ETF
Pacer Benchmark Industrial Real Estate SCTR ETF
Management Fees (as a percentage of Assets) 0.60%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees none
Other Expenses (as a percentage of Assets): none
Expenses (as a percentage of Assets) 0.60%
Example
The following example is intended to help retail investors compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that such investors would incur over various periods if they were to invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of the shares at the end of those periods. This example assumes that the Fund provides a return of 5% a year and that operating expenses remain the same.
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
Expense Example - Benchmark
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years
Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years
Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years
Pacer Benchmark Industrial Real Estate SCTR ETF | Pacer Benchmark Industrial Real Estate SCTR ETF | USD ($) 61 192 335 750
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. For the fiscal period May 14, 2018 (commencement of operations) through April 30, 2019, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 36% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies of the Fund
The Fund employs a “passive management” (or indexing) investment approach designed to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Index. The Index was developed by Benchmark Investments, LLC (the “Index Provider”), and measures the performance of the industrial real estate sector of the U.S. equity market, which includes warehouse and self-storage real estate sub-sectors.
The Index
The Index is generally composed of the U.S.-listed equity securities of companies that derive at least 85% of their earnings or revenues from real estate operations in the industrial real estate sector (“Industrial Companies”), including companies that derive at least 85% of their earnings or revenues from self-storage real estate operations (“Self-Storage Companies”). At the time of each reconstitution of the Index, Industrial Companies with a market capitalization of more than $200 million and average daily traded volume of at least 10,000 shares are included in the Index (the “Index Constituents”). A significant portion of the Index is expected to be composed of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). The real estate companies included in the Index may utilize leverage, and some may be highly leveraged. Additionally, such companies may include significant business operations outside of the United States. As of June 30, 2019, the Index consisted of 16 securities, the three largest of which and their weights were Prologis Inc. (15.26%), Duke Realty Corp. (14.74%), and Liberty Property Trust (11.33%).
The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced (i.e., companies are added or deleted and weights are reset based on Index rules) quarterly as of the close of business on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December. Index Constituents are weighted based on their free-float market capitalization (i.e., market capitalization based on the number of shares available to the public), subject to the following constraints as of the time of each reconstitution of the Index. The sum of all Industrial Companies that are not Self-Storage Companies cannot exceed 80% of the total Index weight, and the remaining weight will be composed of Self-Storage Companies. Additionally, each Index Constituent’s weight is capped at 15% and the sum of Index Constituents with weights greater than 4.5% cannot exceed 45% of the total Index weight. If the foregoing limits would be exceeded at the time of a reconstitution of the Index, the excess weight is proportionally redistributed to all Index Constituents with weights below such limits.
The Fund’s Investment Strategy
Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s total assets (exclusive of collateral held from securities lending) will be invested in the component securities of the Index. Pacer Advisors, Inc. (the “Adviser”) expects that, over time, the correlation between the Fund’s performance and that of the Index, before fees and expenses, will be 95% or better.
The Fund will generally use a “replication” strategy to achieve its investment objective, meaning it will invest in all of the component securities of the Index.
The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its assets in cash and cash equivalents, other investment companies, as well as securities and other instruments not included in the Index but which the Adviser believes will help the Fund track the Index.
The Fund is considered to be non-diversified, which means that it may invest more of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it were a diversified fund.
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund
You can lose money on your investment in the Fund. The Fund is subject to the risks summarized below. Some or all of these risks may adversely affect the Fund’s net asset value per share (“NAV”), trading price, yield, total return and/or ability to meet its objectives. For more information about the risks of investing in the Fund, see the section in the Fund’s prospectus entitled “Additional Information about the Principal Risks of Investing in the Funds.”
Concentration Risk. The Index, and consequently the Fund, is expected to concentrate its investments (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets) in real estate companies. As a result, the value of the Fund’s shares may rise and fall more than the value of shares of a fund that invests in securities of companies in a broader range of industries. In addition, at times, the real estate industry may be out of favor and underperform other industries or groups of industries.
Equity Market Risk. The equity securities held in the Fund’s portfolio may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value. This may occur because of factors that affect securities markets generally or factors affecting specific industries, sectors or companies in which the Fund invests. Common stocks are susceptible to general stock market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value as market confidence in and perceptions of their issuers change.
ETF Risks. The Fund is an ETF and, as a result of an ETF’s structure, is exposed to the following risks:
Authorized Participants (“APs”), Market Makers, and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. The Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that may act as APs. In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, shares of the Fund may trade at a material discount to NAV and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions.
Costs of Buying or Selling Shares of the Fund. Due to the costs of buying or selling shares of the Fund, including brokerage commissions imposed by brokers and bid/ask spreads, frequent trading of shares of the Fund may significantly reduce investment results and an investment in shares of the Fund may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments.
Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. As with all ETFs, shares of the Fund may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. The price of shares of the Fund, like the price of all traded securities, will be subject to factors such as supply and demand, as well as the current value of the Fund’s portfolio holdings. Although it is expected that the market price of the shares of the Fund will approximate the Fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price of the shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility, periods of steep market declines, and periods when there is limited trading activity for shares in the secondary market, in which case such premiums or discounts may be significant.
Trading. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on a national securities exchange, such as NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “Exchange”), and may be traded on U.S. exchanges other than the Exchange, there can be no assurance that shares of the Fund will trade with any volume, or at all, on any stock exchange. In stressed market conditions, the liquidity of shares of the Fund may begin to mirror the liquidity of the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which can be significantly less liquid than shares of the Fund.
High Portfolio Turnover Risk. At times, the Fund may have a portfolio turnover rate substantially greater than 100%. A high portfolio turnover rate would result in correspondingly greater transaction expenses, including brokerage commissions, dealer mark ups and other transaction costs, on the sale of securities and on reinvestment in other securities and may result in reduced performance and the distribution to shareholders of additional capital gains for tax purposes. These factors may negatively affect the Fund’s performance.
International Operations Risk. Investments in companies with significant business operations outside of the United States may involve certain risks that may not be present with investments in U.S. companies. For example, international operations may be subject to risk of loss due to foreign currency fluctuations; changes in foreign political and economic environments, regionally, nationally, and locally; challenges of complying with a wide variety of foreign laws, including corporate governance, operations, taxes, and litigation; differing lending practices; differences in cultures; changes in applicable laws and regulations in the United States that affect international operations; changes in applicable laws and regulations in foreign jurisdictions; difficulties in managing international operations; and obstacles to the repatriation of earnings and cash. These and other factors can make an investment in the Fund more volatile than other types of investments.
Large-Capitalization Investing Risk. The Fund may invest in the securities of large-capitalization companies. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of large-capitalization companies underperform securities of smaller-capitalization companies or the market as a whole. The securities of large-capitalization companies may be relatively mature compared to smaller companies and therefore subject to slower growth during times of economic expansion.
Mid-Capitalization Investing Risk. The Fund may invest in the securities of mid-capitalization companies. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of mid-capitalization companies underperform securities of other capitalization ranges or the market as a whole. Securities of smaller companies trade in smaller volumes and are often more vulnerable to market volatility than securities of larger companies.
New Fund Risk. The Fund is newer with limited operating history. As a result, there can be no assurance that the Fund will grow to or maintain an economically viable size, in which case it may experience greater tracking error to its Index than it otherwise would at higher asset levels, or it could ultimately liquidate. The Fund’s distributor does not maintain a secondary market in Fund shares.
Non-Diversification Risk. Although the Fund intends to invest in a variety of securities and instruments, the Fund is considered to be non-diversified, which means that it may invest more of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it were a diversified fund. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to the risks associated with and developments affecting an individual issuer or a smaller number of issuers than a fund that invests more widely. This may increase the Fund’s volatility and cause the performance of a relatively smaller number of issuers to have a greater impact on the Fund’s performance.
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and the Adviser would not sell a security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry or sector, unless that security is removed from the Index or the selling of shares of that security is otherwise required upon a reconstitution of the Index in accordance with the Index methodology. The Fund invests in securities included in the Index, regardless of their investment merits. The Fund does not take defensive positions under any market conditions, including conditions that may prove to be adverse to the performance of the Fund.
Real Estate Companies Risk. The Fund invests in real estate companies, including REITs and real estate holdings companies, which will expose investors to the risks of owning real estate directly, as well as to the risks that relate specifically to the way in which such companies are organized and operated. Real estate is highly sensitive to general and local economic conditions and developments. The U.S. real estate market may, in the future, experience and has, in the past, experienced a decline in value, with certain regions experiencing significant losses in property values. Many real estate companies, including REITs, utilize leverage (and some may be highly leveraged), which increases investment risk and the risk normally associated with debt financing, and could potentially increase the Fund’s volatility and losses. Exposure to such real estate may adversely affect Fund performance.
In addition to the foregoing risks common to most real estate companies, companies in certain real estate sectors may have additional unique risks.
Risks of Investing in the Industrial Real Estate Sector. Companies in the Industrial Real Estate sector may be affected by unique supply and demand factors that do not apply to other real estate sectors. For example, industrial real estate may be more susceptible to changes in interest rates, macroeconomic trends, government regulation, and tax regulation than other real estate sectors. Industrial real estate may also be concentrated in logistics-related industries, which could expose industrial real estate companies to the risks of a downturn affecting logistics companies.
REIT Investment Risk. Investments in REITs involve unique risks. REITs may have limited financial resources, may trade less frequently and in limited volume, and may be more volatile than other securities. In addition, to the extent the Fund holds interests in REITs, it is expected that investors in the Fund will bear two layers of asset-based management fees and expenses (directly at the Fund level and indirectly at the REIT level). The risks of investing in REITs include certain risks associated with the direct ownership of real estate and the real estate industry in general. These include risks related to general, regional and local economic conditions; fluctuations in interest rates and property tax rates; shifts in zoning laws, environmental regulations and other governmental action such as the exercise of eminent domain; cash flow dependency; increased operating expenses; lack of availability of mortgage funds; losses due to natural disasters; overbuilding; losses due to casualty or condemnation; changes in property values and rental rates; and other factors.
In addition to these risks, REITs are dependent upon management skills and generally may not be diversified. REITs are also subject to heavy cash flow dependency, defaults by borrowers and self-liquidation. In addition, REITs could possibly fail to qualify for the beneficial tax treatment available to REITs under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or to maintain their exemptions from registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). The Fund expects that dividends received from a REIT and distributed to Fund shareholders generally will be taxable to the shareholder as ordinary income, but may be taxable as return of capital. In the event of a default by a borrower or lessee, the REIT may experience delays in enforcing its rights as a mortgagee or lessor and may incur substantial costs associated with protecting investments.
Small-Capitalization Companies Risk. The equity securities of small-capitalization companies have historically been subject to greater investment risk than securities of larger companies. The prices of equity securities of small-capitalization companies tend to be more volatile and less liquid than the prices of equity securities of larger companies.
Tax Risk. To qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets or (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. While the weighting of the Index is not inconsistent with these rules, given the concentration of the Index in a relatively small number of securities, it may not always be possible for the Fund to fully implement a replication strategy or a representative sampling strategy while satisfying these diversification requirements. The Fund’s efforts to satisfy the diversification requirements may affect the Fund’s execution of its investment strategy and may cause the Fund’s return to deviate from that of the Index, and the Fund’s efforts to replicate or represent the Index may cause it inadvertently to fail to satisfy the diversification requirements. If the Fund were to fail to satisfy the diversification requirements, it could incur penalty taxes and be forced to dispose of certain assets, or it could fail to qualify as a regulated investment company. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.
Tracking Risk. The Fund’s return may not track the return of the Index for a number of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs a number of operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and incurs costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s securities holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. Additionally, the Fund’s return may not track the return of the Index if the Fund is not able to replicate the holdings of the Index due to the diversification requirements described above under “Tax Risk”, which apply to the Fund but not the Index.
Fund Performance
Performance information for the Fund is not included because the Fund did not have a full calendar year of performance prior to the date of this Prospectus. In the future, performance information for the Fund will be presented in this section. Updated performance information is available on the Fund’s website at www.paceretfs.com or by calling the Fund toll-free at 1-877-337-0500.
Pacer Benchmark Net Lease Real Estate SCTR ETF
Pacer Benchmark Net Lease Real Estate SCTRSM ETF
Investment Objective
The Pacer Benchmark Net Lease Real Estate SCTRSM ETF (the “Fund”) is an exchange traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Benchmark Net Lease Real Estate SCTRSM Index (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. The fees are expressed as a percentage of the Fund’s average net assets. This table and the Example below do not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay on their purchases and sales of Fund shares.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - Benchmark
Pacer Benchmark Net Lease Real Estate SCTR ETF
Pacer Benchmark Net Lease Real Estate SCTR ETF
Management Fees (as a percentage of Assets) 0.60%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees none
Other Expenses (as a percentage of Assets): none [1]
Expenses (as a percentage of Assets) 0.60%
[1] Estimated for the current fiscal year.
Example
The following example is intended to help retail investors compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that such investors would incur over various periods if they were to invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of the shares at the end of those periods. This example assumes that the Fund provides a return of 5% a year and that operating expenses remain the same.
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
Expense Example - Benchmark
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years
Pacer Benchmark Net Lease Real Estate SCTR ETF | Pacer Benchmark Net Lease Real Estate SCTR ETF | USD ($) 61 192
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. Because the Fund had not commenced operations as of the date of this Prospectus, portfolio turnover information is not yet available.
Principal Investment Strategies of the Fund
The Fund employs a “passive management” (or indexing) investment approach designed to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Index. The Index was developed by Benchmark Investments, LLC (the “Index Provider”), and measures the performance of the net lease real estate sectors of the U.S. equity market. A “net lease” is an arrangement, typically associated with commercial real estate, that requires the tenant to pay a portion or all of the taxes, fees, and maintenance costs for a property in addition to rent.
The Index
The Index is generally composed of the U.S.-listed equity securities of companies that derive at least 85% of their earnings or revenues from real estate operations in the net lease real estate sector (“Eligible Companies”). At the time of each reconstitution of the Index, Eligible Companies with a market capitalization of more than $200 million and average daily traded volume of at least 10,000 shares are included in the Index (the “Index Constituents”). A significant portion of the Index is expected to be composed of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). The real estate companies included in the Index may utilize leverage, and some may be highly leveraged. Additionally, such companies may include significant business operations outside of the United States. As of November 30, 2017, the Index consisted of 20 securities, the three largest of which and their weights were Realty Income Corp. (15.00%), VEREIT Inc. (10.20%), and WP Carey Inc. (10.11%).
The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced (i.e., companies are added or deleted and weights are reset based on Index rules) quarterly as of the close of business on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December. Index Constituents are weighted based on their free-float market capitalization (i.e., market capitalization based on the number of shares available to the public), subject to the following constraints as of the time of each reconstitution of the Index. Each Index Constituent’s weight is capped at 15% and the sum of Index Constituents with weights greater than 4.5% cannot exceed 45% of the total Index weight. If the foregoing limits would be exceeded at the time of a reconstitution of the Index, the excess weight is proportionally redistributed to all Index Constituents with weights below such limits.
The Fund’s Investment Strategy
Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s total assets (exclusive of collateral held from securities lending) will be invested in the component securities of the Index. Pacer Advisors, Inc. (the “Adviser”) expects that, over time, the correlation between the Fund’s performance and that of the Index, before fees and expenses, will be 95% or better.
The Fund will generally use a “replication” strategy to achieve its investment objective, meaning it will invest in all of the component securities of the Index.
The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its assets in cash and cash equivalents, other investment companies, as well as securities and other instruments not included in the Index but which the Adviser believes will help the Fund track the Index.
The Fund is considered to be non-diversified, which means that it may invest more of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it were a diversified fund.
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund
You can lose money on your investment in the Fund. The Fund is subject to the risks summarized below. Some or all of these risks may adversely affect the Fund’s net asset value per share (“NAV”), trading price, yield, total return and/or ability to meet its objectives. For more information about the risks of investing in the Fund, see the section in the Fund’s prospectus entitled “Additional Information about the Principal Risks of Investing in the Funds.”
Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index relies directly or indirectly on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund, the Index Provider, or the Adviser can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or a correct valuation of securities, nor can they guarantee the availability or timeliness of the production of the Index.
Concentration Risk. The Index, and consequently the Fund, is expected to concentrate its investments (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets) in real estate companies. As a result, the value of the Fund’s shares may rise and fall more than the value of shares of a fund that invests in securities of companies in a broader range of industries. In addition, at times, the real estate industry may be out of favor and underperform other industries or groups of industries.
Equity Market Risk. The equity securities held in the Fund’s portfolio may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value. This may occur because of factors that affect securities markets generally or factors affecting specific industries, sectors or companies in which the Fund invests. Common stocks are susceptible to general stock market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value as market confidence in and perceptions of their issuers change.
ETF Risks. The Fund is an ETF and, as a result of an ETF’s structure, is exposed to the following risks:
Authorized Participants (“APs”), Market Makers, and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. The Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that may act as APs. In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, shares of the Fund may trade at a material discount to NAV and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions.
Costs of Buying or Selling Shares of the Fund. Due to the costs of buying or selling shares of the Fund, including brokerage commissions imposed by brokers and bid/ask spreads, frequent trading of shares of the Fund may significantly reduce investment results and an investment in shares of the Fund may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments.
Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. As with all ETFs, shares of the Fund may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. The price of shares of the Fund, like the price of all traded securities, will be subject to factors such as supply and demand, as well as the current value of the Fund’s portfolio holdings. Although it is expected that the market price of the shares of the Fund will approximate the Fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price of the shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility, periods of steep market declines, and periods when there is limited trading activity for shares in the secondary market, in which case such premiums or discounts may be significant.
Trading. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on a national securities exchange, such as NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “Exchange”), and may be traded on U.S. exchanges other than the Exchange, there can be no assurance that shares of the Fund will trade with any volume, or at all, on any stock exchange. In stressed market conditions, the liquidity of shares of the Fund may begin to mirror the liquidity of the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which can be significantly less liquid than shares of the Fund.
High Portfolio Turnover Risk. At times, the Fund may have a portfolio turnover rate substantially greater than 100%. A high portfolio turnover rate would result in correspondingly greater transaction expenses, including brokerage commissions, dealer mark ups and other transaction costs, on the sale of securities and on reinvestment in other securities and may result in reduced performance and the distribution to shareholders of additional capital gains for tax purposes. These factors may negatively affect the Fund’s performance.
International Operations Risk. Investments in companies with significant business operations outside of the United States may involve certain risks that may not be present with investments in U.S. companies. For example, international operations may be subject to risk of loss due to foreign currency fluctuations; changes in foreign political and economic environments, regionally, nationally, and locally; challenges of complying with a wide variety of foreign laws, including corporate governance, operations, taxes, and litigation; differing lending practices; differences in cultures; changes in applicable laws and regulations in the United States that affect international operations; changes in applicable laws and regulations in foreign jurisdictions; difficulties in managing international operations; and obstacles to the repatriation of earnings and cash. These and other factors can make an investment in the Fund more volatile than other types of investments.
Large-Capitalization Investing Risk. The Fund may invest in the securities of large-capitalization companies. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of large-capitalization companies underperform securities of smaller-capitalization companies or the market as a whole. The securities of large-capitalization companies may be relatively mature compared to smaller companies and therefore subject to slower growth during times of economic expansion.
Mid-Capitalization Investing Risk. The Fund may invest in the securities of mid-capitalization companies. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of mid-capitalization companies underperform securities of other capitalization ranges or the market as a whole. Securities of smaller companies trade in smaller volumes and are often more vulnerable to market volatility than securities of larger companies.
New Fund Risk. The Fund is new with no operating history. As a result, there can be no assurance that the Fund will grow to or maintain an economically viable size, in which case it may experience greater tracking error to its Index than it otherwise would at higher asset levels, or it could ultimately liquidate. The Fund’s distributor does not maintain a secondary market in Fund shares.
Non-Diversification Risk. Although the Fund intends to invest in a variety of securities and instruments, the Fund is considered to be non-diversified, which means that it may invest more of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it were a diversified fund. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to the risks associated with and developments affecting an individual issuer or a smaller number of issuers than a fund that invests more widely. This may increase the Fund’s volatility and cause the performance of a relatively smaller number of issuers to have a greater impact on the Fund’s performance.
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and the Adviser would not sell a security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry or sector, unless that security is removed from the Index or the selling of shares of that security is otherwise required upon a reconstitution of the Index in accordance with the Index methodology. The Fund invests in securities included in the Index, regardless of their investment merits. The Fund does not take defensive positions under any market conditions, including conditions that may prove to be adverse to the performance of the Fund.
Real Estate Companies Risk. The Fund invests in real estate companies, including REITs and real estate holdings companies, which will expose investors to the risks of owning real estate directly, as well as to the risks that relate specifically to the way in which such companies are organized and operated. Real estate is highly sensitive to general and local economic conditions and developments. The U.S. real estate market may, in the future, experience and has, in the past, experienced a decline in value, with certain regions experiencing significant losses in property values. Many real estate companies, including REITs, utilize leverage (and some may be highly leveraged), which increases investment risk and the risk normally associated with debt financing, and could potentially increase the Fund’s volatility and losses. Exposure to such real estate may adversely affect Fund performance.
In addition to the foregoing risks common to most real estate companies, companies in certain real estate sectors may have additional unique risks.
Risks of Investing in the Net Lease Real Estate Sector. Companies in the Net Lease Real Estate sector may be affected by unique supply and demand factors that do not apply to other real estate sectors. Net lease real estate typically involves office, retail, or industrial real estate and consequently may be affected by the risks associated with such real estate sectors.
Risks of Investing in the Industrial Real Estate Sector. Companies in the Industrial Real Estate sector may be affected by unique supply and demand factors that do not apply to other real estate sectors. For example, industrial real estate may be more susceptible to changes in interest rates, macroeconomic trends, government regulation, and tax regulation than other real estate sectors. Industrial real estate may also be concentrated in logistics-related industries, which could expose industrial real estate companies to the risks of a downturn affecting logistics companies.
Risks of Investing in the Office Real Estate Sector. Companies in the Office Real Estate sector may be affected by unique supply and demand factors that do not apply to other real estate sectors. For example, office real estate may be more susceptible to changes in macroeconomic factors, business capital expenditures, tax regulations, and employment trends than other real estate sectors. Office real estate companies are particularly subject to changes in financing costs, economic conditions, vacancies, changes in market rental rates, the costs of repairing or renovating space, insurance and utility expenses, and the risks of a tenant defaulting. Office real estate companies may have properties concentrated in key geographic markets, and changes to the economic condition of one or more such markets may significantly affect such companies’ profitability.
Risks of Investing in the Retail Real Estate Sector. Companies in the Retail Real Estate sector may be affected by unique supply and demand factors that do not apply to other real estate sectors. Retail companies are particularly subject to changes in international, national, regional, and local economic conditions; tenant bankruptcies; the increasing use of the Internet by retailers and consumers; local real estate conditions; levels of consumer spending, changes in consumer confidence, and fluctuations in seasonal spending; increased operating costs; and perceptions by consumers of the safety, convenience, and attractiveness of retail properties.
REIT Investment Risk. Investments in REITs involve unique risks. REITs may have limited financial resources, may trade less frequently and in limited volume, and may be more volatile than other securities. In addition, to the extent the Fund holds interests in REITs, it is expected that investors in the Fund will bear two layers of asset-based management fees and expenses (directly at the Fund level and indirectly at the REIT level). The risks of investing in REITs include certain risks associated with the direct ownership of real estate and the real estate industry in general. These include risks related to general, regional and local economic conditions; fluctuations in interest rates and property tax rates; shifts in zoning laws, environmental regulations and other governmental action such as the exercise of eminent domain; cash flow dependency; increased operating expenses; lack of availability of mortgage funds; losses due to natural disasters; overbuilding; losses due to casualty or condemnation; changes in property values and rental rates; and other factors.
In addition to these risks, REITs are dependent upon management skills and generally may not be diversified. REITs are also subject to heavy cash flow dependency, defaults by borrowers and self-liquidation. In addition, REITs could possibly fail to qualify for the beneficial tax treatment available to REITs under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or to maintain their exemptions from registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). The Fund expects that dividends received from a REIT and distributed to Fund shareholders generally will be taxable to the shareholder as ordinary income, but may be taxable as return of capital. In the event of a default by a borrower or lessee, the REIT may experience delays in enforcing its rights as a mortgagee or lessor and may incur substantial costs associated with protecting investments.
Small-Capitalization Companies Risk. The equity securities of small-capitalization companies have historically been subject to greater investment risk than securities of larger companies. The prices of equity securities of small-capitalization companies tend to be more volatile and less liquid than the prices of equity securities of larger companies.
Tax Risk. To qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets or (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. While the weighting of the Index is not inconsistent with these rules, given the concentration of the Index in a relatively small number of securities, it may not always be possible for the Fund to fully implement a replication strategy or a representative sampling strategy while satisfying these diversification requirements. The Fund’s efforts to satisfy the diversification requirements may affect the Fund’s execution of its investment strategy and may cause the Fund’s return to deviate from that of the Index, and the Fund’s efforts to replicate or represent the Index may cause it inadvertently to fail to satisfy the diversification requirements. If the Fund were to fail to satisfy the diversification requirements, it could incur penalty taxes and be forced to dispose of certain assets, or it could fail to qualify as a regulated investment company. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.
Tracking Risk. The Fund’s return may not track the return of the Index for a number of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs a number of operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and incurs costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s securities holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. Additionally, the Fund’s return may not track the return of the Index if the Fund is not able to replicate the holdings of the Index due to the diversification requirements described above under “Tax Risk”, which apply to the Fund but not the Index.
Fund Performance
Performance information for the Fund is not included because the Fund did not commence operations prior to the date of this Prospectus. In the future, performance information for the Fund will be presented in this section. Updated performance information will be available on the Fund’s website at www.paceretfs.com or by calling the Fund toll-free at 1-877-337-0500.
Pacer Benchmark Data & Infrastructure Real Estate SCTR ETF
Pacer Benchmark Data & Infrastructure Real Estate SCTRSM ETF
Investment Objective
The Pacer Benchmark Data & Infrastructure Real Estate SCTRSM ETF (the “Fund”) is an exchange traded fund (“EFT”) that seeks to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Benchmark Data & Infrastructure Real Estate SCTRSM Index (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. The fees are expressed as a percentage of the Fund’s average net assets. This table and the Example below do not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay on their purchases and sales of Fund shares.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - Benchmark
Pacer Benchmark Data & Infrastructure Real Estate SCTR ETF
Pacer Benchmark Data & Infrastructure Real Estate SCTR ETF
Management Fees (as a percentage of Assets) 0.60%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees none
Other Expenses (as a percentage of Assets): none
Expenses (as a percentage of Assets) 0.60%
Example
The following example is intended to help retail investors compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that such investors would incur over various periods if they were to invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of the shares at the end of those periods. This example assumes that the Fund provides a return of 5% a year and that operating expenses remain the same.
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
Expense Example - Benchmark
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years
Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years
Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years
Pacer Benchmark Data & Infrastructure Real Estate SCTR ETF | Pacer Benchmark Data & Infrastructure Real Estate SCTR ETF | USD ($) 61 192 335 750
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. For the fiscal period May 15, 2018 (commencement of operations) through April 30, 2019, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 27% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies of the Fund
The Fund employs a “passive management” (or indexing) investment approach designed to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Index. The Index was developed by Benchmark Investments, LLC (the “Index Provider”), and measures the performance of the data and infrastructure real estate sectors of the U.S. equity market.
The Index
The Index is generally composed of the U.S.-listed equity securities of companies that derive at least 85% of their earnings or revenues from real estate operations in the data and infrastructure real estate sectors (“Eligible Companies”). At the time of each reconstitution of the Index, Eligible Companies with a market capitalization of more than $200 million and average daily traded volume of at least 10,000 shares are included in the Index (the “Index Constituents”). A significant portion of the Index is expected to be composed of real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). The real estate companies included in the Index may utilize leverage, and some may be highly leveraged. Additionally, such companies may include significant business operations outside of the United States. As of June 30, 2019, the Index consisted of 18 securities, the three largest of which and their weights were Equinix, Inc. (15.30%), Crown Castle International Corp. (14.78%), and American Tower Corporation (14.43%).
The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced (i.e., companies are added or deleted and weights are reset based on Index rules) quarterly as of the close of business on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December. Index Constituents are weighted based on their free-float market capitalization (i.e., market capitalization based on the number of shares available to the public), subject to the following constraints as of the time of each reconstitution of the Index. Each Index Constituent’s weight is capped at 15% and the sum of Index Constituents with weights greater than 4.5% cannot exceed 45% of the total Index weight. If the foregoing limits would be exceeded at the time of a reconstitution of the Index, the excess weight is proportionally redistributed to all Index Constituents with weights below such limits.
The Fund’s Investment Strategy
Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s total assets (exclusive of collateral held from securities lending) will be invested in the component securities of the Index. Pacer Advisors, Inc. (the “Adviser”) expects that, over time, the correlation between the Fund’s performance and that of the Index, before fees and expenses, will be 95% or better.
The Fund will generally use a “replication” strategy to achieve its investment objective, meaning it will invest in all of the component securities of the Index.
The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its assets in cash and cash equivalents, other investment companies, as well as securities and other instruments not included in the Index but which the Adviser believes will help the Fund track the Index.
The Fund is considered to be non-diversified, which means that it may invest more of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it were a diversified fund.
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund
You can lose money on your investment in the Fund. The Fund is subject to the risks summarized below. Some or all of these risks may adversely affect the Fund’s net asset value per share (“NAV”), trading price, yield, total return and/or ability to meet its objectives. For more information about the risks of investing in the Fund, see the section in the Fund’s prospectus entitled “Additional Information about the Principal Risks of Investing in the Funds.”
Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index relies directly or indirectly on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund, the Index Provider, or the Adviser can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or a correct valuation of securities, nor can they guarantee the availability or timeliness of the production of the Index.
Concentration Risk. The Index, and consequently the Fund, is expected to concentrate its investments (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets) in real estate companies. As a result, the value of the Fund’s shares may rise and fall more than the value of shares of a fund that invests in securities of companies in a broader range of industries. In addition, at times, the real estate industry may be out of favor and underperform other industries or groups of industries.
Equity Market Risk. The equity securities held in the Fund’s portfolio may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value. This may occur because of factors that affect securities markets generally or factors affecting specific industries, sectors or companies in which the Fund invests. Common stocks are susceptible to general stock market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value as market confidence in and perceptions of their issuers change.
ETF Risks. The Fund is an ETF and, as a result of an ETF’s structure, is exposed to the following risks:
Authorized Participants (“APs”), Market Makers, and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. The Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that may act as APs. In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, shares of the Fund may trade at a material discount to NAV and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions.
Costs of Buying or Selling Shares of the Fund. Due to the costs of buying or selling shares of the Fund, including brokerage commissions imposed by brokers and bid/ask spreads, frequent trading of shares of the Fund may significantly reduce investment results and an investment in shares of the Fund may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments.
Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. As with all ETFs, shares of the Fund may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. The price of shares of the Fund, like the price of all traded securities, will be subject to factors such as supply and demand, as well as the current value of the Fund’s portfolio holdings. Although it is expected that the market price of the shares of the Fund will approximate the Fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price of the shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility, periods of steep market declines, and periods when there is limited trading activity for shares in the secondary market, in which case such premiums or discounts may be significant.
Trading. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on a national securities exchange, such as NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “Exchange”), and may be traded on U.S. exchanges other than the Exchange, there can be no assurance that shares of the Fund will trade with any volume, or at all, on any stock exchange. In stressed market conditions, the liquidity of shares of the Fund may begin to mirror the liquidity of the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings, which can be significantly less liquid than shares of the Fund.
High Portfolio Turnover Risk. At times, the Fund may have a portfolio turnover rate substantially greater than 100%. A high portfolio turnover rate would result in correspondingly greater transaction expenses, including brokerage commissions, dealer mark ups and other transaction costs, on the sale of securities and on reinvestment in other securities and may result in reduced performance and the distribution to shareholders of additional capital gains for tax purposes. These factors may negatively affect the Fund’s performance.
International Operations Risk. Investments in companies with significant business operations outside of the United States may involve certain risks that may not be present with investments in U.S. companies. For example, international operations may be subject to risk of loss due to foreign currency fluctuations; changes in foreign political and economic environments, regionally, nationally, and locally; challenges of complying with a wide variety of foreign laws, including corporate governance, operations, taxes, and litigation; differing lending practices; differences in cultures; changes in applicable laws and regulations in the United States that affect international operations; changes in applicable laws and regulations in foreign jurisdictions; difficulties in managing international operations; and obstacles to the repatriation of earnings and cash. These and other factors can make an investment in the Fund more volatile than other types of investments.
Large-Capitalization Investing Risk. The Fund may invest in the securities of large-capitalization companies. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of large-capitalization companies underperform securities of smaller-capitalization companies or the market as a whole. The securities of large-capitalization companies may be relatively mature compared to smaller companies and therefore subject to slower growth during times of economic expansion.
Mid-Capitalization Investing Risk. The Fund may invest in the securities of mid-capitalization companies. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected if securities of mid-capitalization companies underperform securities of other capitalization ranges or the market as a whole. Securities of smaller companies trade in smaller volumes and are often more vulnerable to market volatility than securities of larger companies.
New Fund Risk. The Fund is newer with limited operating history. As a result, there can be no assurance that the Fund will grow to or maintain an economically viable size, in which case it may experience greater tracking error to its Index than it otherwise would at higher asset levels, or it could ultimately liquidate. The Fund’s distributor does not maintain a secondary market in Fund shares.
Non-Diversification Risk. Although the Fund intends to invest in a variety of securities and instruments, the Fund is considered to be non-diversified, which means that it may invest more of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it were a diversified fund. As a result, the Fund may be more exposed to the risks associated with and developments affecting an individual issuer or a smaller number of issuers than a fund that invests more widely. This may increase the Fund’s volatility and cause the performance of a relatively smaller number of issuers to have a greater impact on the Fund’s performance.
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and the Adviser would not sell a security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry or sector, unless that security is removed from the Index or the selling of shares of that security is otherwise required upon a reconstitution of the Index in accordance with the Index methodology. The Fund invests in securities included in the Index, regardless of their investment merits. The Fund does not take defensive positions under any market conditions, including conditions that may prove to be adverse to the performance of the Fund.
Real Estate Companies Risk. The Fund invests in real estate companies, including REITs and real estate holdings companies, which will expose investors to the risks of owning real estate directly, as well as to the risks that relate specifically to the way in which such companies are organized and operated. Real estate is highly sensitive to general and local economic conditions and developments. The U.S. real estate market may, in the future, experience and has, in the past, experienced a decline in value, with certain regions experiencing significant losses in property values. Many real estate companies, including REITs, utilize leverage (and some may be highly leveraged), which increases investment risk and the risk normally associated with debt financing, and could potentially increase the Fund’s volatility and losses. Exposure to such real estate may adversely affect Fund performance.
In addition to the foregoing risks common to most real estate companies, companies in certain real estate sectors may have additional unique risks.
Risks of Investing in the Data & Infrastructure Real Estate Sector. Companies in the Data & Infrastructure Real Estate sector may be affected by unique supply and demand factors that do not apply to other real estate sectors, such as changes in demand for communications infrastructure, consolidation of tower sites, new technologies that may affect demand for communications towers, and changes in demand for wireless infrastructure and wireless connectivity.
REIT Investment Risk. Investments in REITs involve unique risks. REITs may have limited financial resources, may trade less frequently and in limited volume, and may be more volatile than other securities. In addition, to the extent the Fund holds interests in REITs, it is expected that investors in the Fund will bear two layers of asset-based management fees and expenses (directly at the Fund level and indirectly at the REIT level). The risks of investing in REITs include certain risks associated with the direct ownership of real estate and the real estate industry in general. These include risks related to general, regional and local economic conditions; fluctuations in interest rates and property tax rates; shifts in zoning laws, environmental regulations and other governmental action such as the exercise of eminent domain; cash flow dependency; increased operating expenses; lack of availability of mortgage funds; losses due to natural disasters; overbuilding; losses due to casualty or condemnation; changes in property values and rental rates; and other factors.
In addition to these risks, REITs are dependent upon management skills and generally may not be diversified. REITs are also subject to heavy cash flow dependency, defaults by borrowers and self-liquidation. In addition, REITs could possibly fail to qualify for the beneficial tax treatment available to REITs under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or to maintain their exemptions from registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). The Fund expects that dividends received from a REIT and distributed to Fund shareholders generally will be taxable to the shareholder as ordinary income, but may be taxable as return of capital. In the event of a default by a borrower or lessee, the REIT may experience delays in enforcing its rights as a mortgagee or lessor and may incur substantial costs associated with protecting investments.
Small-Capitalization Companies Risk. The equity securities of small-capitalization companies have historically been subject to greater investment risk than securities of larger companies. The prices of equity securities of small-capitalization companies tend to be more volatile and less liquid than the prices of equity securities of larger companies.
Tax Risk. To qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain diversification requirements. In particular, the Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets would be invested in (a) issuers in which the Fund has, in each case, invested more than 5% of the Fund’s assets or (b) issuers more than 10% of whose outstanding voting securities are owned by the Fund. While the weighting of the Index is not inconsistent with these rules, given the concentration of the Index in a relatively small number of securities, it may not always be possible for the Fund to fully implement a replication strategy or a representative sampling strategy while satisfying these diversification requirements. The Fund’s efforts to satisfy the diversification requirements may affect the Fund’s execution of its investment strategy and may cause the Fund’s return to deviate from that of the Index, and the Fund’s efforts to replicate or represent the Index may cause it inadvertently to fail to satisfy the diversification requirements. If the Fund were to fail to satisfy the diversification requirements, it could incur penalty taxes and be forced to dispose of certain assets, or it could fail to qualify as a regulated investment company. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.
Tracking Risk. The Fund’s return may not track the return of the Index for a number of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs a number of operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and incurs costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s securities holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Index. Additionally, the Fund’s return may not track the return of the Index if the Fund is not able to replicate the holdings of the Index due to the diversification requirements described above under “Tax Risk”, which apply to the Fund but not the Index.
Fund Performance
Performance information for the Fund is not included because the Fund did not have a full calendar year of performance prior to the date of this Prospectus. In the future, performance information for the Fund will be presented in this section. Updated performance information is available on the Fund’s website at www.paceretfs.com or by calling the Fund toll-free at 1-877-337-0500.