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Feb. 28, 2021
Salt High truBeta US Market ETF
Pacer Salt High truBetaTM US Market ETF
Investment Objective
The Pacer Salt High truBeta US Market ETF (the “Fund”) is an exchange traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Salt High truBeta US Market Index (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). 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 (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees0.60%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) FeesNone
Other Expenses0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses0.60%
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:
1 Year3 Years5 Years10 Years
$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. During the fiscal period from January 1, 2020 to October 31, 2020, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 157% 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 is based on a proprietary methodology developed by Salt Financial Indices LLC (the “Index Provider”).
The Index
The Index uses an objective, rules-based methodology to measure the performance of an equal-weighted portfolio of approximately 100 large- and mid-capitalization U.S.-listed stocks with the highest forecasted systematic risk relative to the market (known as “beta”). Construction of the Index begins with the constituents of the Solactive US Large & Mid Cap Index (the “Equity Universe”), generally the 1,000 largest U.S.-listed common stocks and real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). Companies in the Equity Universe are then screened to keep only the 500 stocks with the highest average daily traded value over the past 30 days. Those 500 stocks are then analyzed using a proprietary algorithm developed by the Index Provider to calculate each stock’s truBeta forecast, i.e., its projected beta for the subsequent quarter, and to eliminate stocks whose performance is weakly correlated with the broader U.S. equity market (the remaining securities are referred to as the “Index Universe”). 
A stock’s truBeta forecast is calculated using a machine learning process (i.e., a quantitative model that is automatically adjusted based on past results to improve accuracy) that compares the stock’s historical long-, medium-, and short-term risk and returns to those of the broader U.S. equity market (using the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) as a market proxy). A stock with a truBeta of 1.00 would be expected to demonstrate a risk and return profile identical to that of the broader U.S. equity market. A stock with a truBeta of more than 1.00 would be expected to be more volatile than the broader U.S. equity market and consequently, exhibit outsized reactions to market events (i.e., outperform the market in a rising market and underperform the market in a declining market). As of October 31, 2020, the Index had an average truBeta of approximately 1.14. Consequently, the Index is expected to be more volatile than the broader U.S. equity market.
At the time of each rebalance of the Index, the Index is constructed of the 100 stocks in the Index Universe with the highest truBeta, equally weighted and subject to a maximum 30% of the number of constituents in the Index being from a single sector. If more than 30% of the constituents would be from a single sector, the stock with the lowest truBeta score in such sector will be removed from the Index and replaced with the stock with the next highest truBeta forecast not already included in the Index. This process is repeated until each sector complies with the sector concentration constraint. 
As of October 31, 2020, a significant portion of the Index was comprised of companies in the information technology, consumer discretionary, and communication services sectors. The sectors most significantly represented in the Index may change over time. The Index is rebalanced quarterly on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December (each, an “Effective Date”) based on truBeta forecasts utilizing data as of five business days prior to the Effective Date of the applicable rebalance month. Each rebalance of the Index utilizes constituent prices at the close of trading five business days prior to the Effective Date for weighting purposes.
The Fund’s Investment Strategy
The Fund attempts to invest all, or substantially all, of its assets in the component securities that make up the Index. 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 in the same approximate proportion as in the Index.
To the extent the Index concentrates (i.e., holds more than 25% of its total assets) in the securities of a particular industry or group of related industries, the Fund will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Index. As of October 31, 2020, the Index was not concentrated in any industry or group of industries. The Fund is non-diversified and therefore may invest a larger percentage of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or small number of issuers than diversified funds.
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.” The principal risks are presented in alphabetical order to facilitate finding particular risks and comparing them with other funds. Each risk summarized below is considered a “principal risk” of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears.
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 (as defined below) 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. If the Index concentrates in an industry or group of industries, the Fund’s investments may be concentrated accordingly. In such event, 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, an industry or group of industries in which the Fund is concentrated 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. The Fund’s NAV and market price may fluctuate significantly in response to these and other factors. As a result, an investor could lose money over short or long periods of time.
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 Cboe BZX Exchange, 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.
Index Risk. Because the Index includes the securities in the Index Universe with the highest truBeta, the Index, and consequently the Fund, can be expected to be significantly more volatile than the broader U.S. equity market. As a result, the Index, and consequently the Fund, may significantly underperform the broader U.S. equity market over short or long periods of time. Additionally, the calculation of a security’s truBeta is based on past performance and may not be indicative of the extent to which the security will demonstrate a similar risk and return profile relative to the broader U.S. equity market in the future. Consequently, there can be no guarantee that the Index, or the Fund, will perform in the future the way the average truBeta suggests it would.
Limited Operating History. The Fund is a recently organized management investment company with limited operating history. As a result, prospective investors have a limited track record on which to base their investment decision. An investment in the Fund may therefore involve greater uncertainty than an investment in a fund with a more established record of performance.
Models and Data Risk. The composition of the Index is heavily dependent on proprietary quantitative models as well as information and data supplied by third parties (“Models and Data”). When Models and Data prove to be incorrect or incomplete, any decisions made in reliance thereon may lead to securities being included in or excluded from the Index that would have been excluded or included had the Models and Data been correct and complete. If the composition of the Index reflects such errors, the Fund’s portfolio can be expected to reflect the errors, too.
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 are 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.
Sector Risk. To the extent the Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors of the economy, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors.
Consumer Discretionary Sector Risk. The Fund may invest in companies in the consumer discretionary sector, and therefore the performance of the Fund could be negatively impacted by events affecting this sector. The success of consumer product manufacturers and retailers is tied closely to the performance of domestic and international economies, interest rates, exchange rates, competition, consumer confidence, changes in demographics and consumer preferences. Companies in the consumer discretionary sector depend heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending, and may be strongly affected by social trends and marketing campaigns. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability.
Energy Sector Risk. The Fund may invest in companies in the energy sector, and therefore the performance of the Fund could be negatively impacted by events affecting this sector. The profitability of companies in the energy sector is related to worldwide energy prices, exploration, and production spending. The value of securities issued by companies in the energy sector may decline for many reasons, including, among others, changes in energy prices, government regulations, energy conservation efforts, natural disasters, and potential civil liabilities. Such companies are also subject to risks changes in economic conditions, as well as market and political risks of the countries where energy companies are located or do business.
Financial Sector Risk. This sector can be significantly affected by changes in interest rates, government regulation, the rate of defaults on corporate, consumer, and government debt, the availability and cost of capital, and fallout from the housing and sub-prime mortgage crisis. Insurance companies, in particular, may be significantly affected by changes in interest rates, catastrophic events, price and market competition, the imposition of premium rate caps, or other changes in government regulation or tax law and/or rate regulation, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability. In recent years, cyber attacks and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent in this sector and have caused significant losses.
Industrials Sector Risk. The Fund may invest in companies in the industrials sector, and therefore the performance of the Fund could be negatively impacted by events affecting this sector. The industrials sector may be affected by changes in the supply of and demand for products and services, product obsolescence, claims for environmental damage or product liability and general economic conditions, among other factors.
Information Technology Sector Risk. Market or economic factors impacting information technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technological advances could have a significant effect on the value of the Fund’s investments. The value of stocks of information technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technology is particularly vulnerable to rapid changes in technology product cycles, rapid product obsolescence, government regulation and competition, both domestically and internationally, including competition from foreign competitors with lower production costs. Stocks of information technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technology, especially those of smaller, less-seasoned companies, tend to be more volatile than the overall market. Information technology companies are heavily dependent on patent and intellectual property rights, the loss or impairment of which may adversely affect profitability.
Tracking Error Risk. As with all index funds, the performance of the Fund and its Index may differ from each other for a variety of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs operating expenses and portfolio transaction costs not incurred by the Index. In addition, the Fund may not be fully invested in the securities of the Index at all times or may hold securities not included in the Index.
Fund Performance
The Fund is the successor to the Salt High truBeta US Market ETF, a series of ETF Series Solutions (the “Predecessor Fund”), as a result of the reorganization of the Predecessor Fund into the Fund at the close of business on October 2, 2020. Accordingly, any performance information for periods prior to October 5, 2020 is that of the Predecessor Fund. The Predecessor Fund commenced operations on May 15, 2018.
The following performance information indicates some of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows the Fund’s performance for the calendar years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020. The table illustrates how the Fund’s average annual returns for the 1‑year and since inception periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance and the Index. The Fund’s past performance, before and after taxes, does not necessarily indicate how it will perform in the future. Updated performance information is also available on the Fund’s website at www.PacerETFs.com.
Calendar Year Total Return
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During the period of time shown in the bar chart, the Fund’s highest quarterly return was 39.58% for the quarter ended June 30, 2020 and the lowest quarterly return was -34.29% for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.
Average Annual Total Returns For the Periods Ended December 31, 2020
Pacer Salt High truBeta US Market ETF
1 Year
Since Inception
(5/15/18)
Return Before Taxes31.09%16.62%
Return After Taxes on Distributions30.56%16.26%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares18.78%12.97%
Salt High truBeta US Market Index
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
31.64%17.19%
S&P 500® Index
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
18.40%15.40%
After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates during the period covered by the table above and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as an individual retirement account (“IRA”) or other tax-advantaged accounts.
Salt Low truBeta US Market ETF
Pacer Salt Low truBetaTM US Market ETF
Investment Objective
The Pacer Salt Low truBeta US Market ETF (the “Fund”) is an exchange traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Salt Low truBeta US Market Index (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). 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 (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees0.60%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) FeesNone
Other Expenses0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses0.60%
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:
1 Year3 Years5 Years10 Years
$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. During the fiscal period from January 1, 2020 to October 31, 2020, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 39% 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 is based on a proprietary methodology developed by Salt Financial Indices LLC (the “Index Provider”).

The Index
The Index uses an objective, rules-based methodology to measure the performance of an equal-weighted portfolio of approximately 100 large and mid-capitalization U.S.-listed stocks with the lowest levels of variability in their historical beta calculations (“Beta Variability”) and forecasted beta of less than 1.00. “Beta” is a calculation of an investment’s systematic risk relative to the market.
Construction of the Index begins with the constituents of the Solactive US Large & Mid Cap Index (the “Equity Universe”), generally the 1,000 largest U.S.-listed common stocks and real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). Companies in the Equity Universe are then screened to keep only the 500 stocks with the highest average daily traded value over the past 30 days. The remaining stocks (the “Index Universe”) are analyzed using a proprietary algorithm developed by the Index Provider to calculate each stock’s truBeta forecast, i.e., its projected beta for the subsequent quarter.
A stock’s truBeta forecast is calculated based on a stock’s historical long-, medium-, and short-term performance, combined with machine learning (i.e., a quantitative modeling process that is automatically adjusted based on past results in an attempt to improve accuracy), to evaluate and compare its risk and return to those of the broader U.S. equity market. A stock with a truBeta of 1.00 would be expected to demonstrate a risk and return profile equivalent with the broader U.S. equity market (i.e., the stock’s price will move proportionately with levels of the broader market). A stock with a truBeta of less than 1.00 would be expected to be less volatile than the broader U.S. equity market and consequently, outperform the market in a declining market and underperform the market in a rising market.
The Index Universe is then further screened to keep only stocks with a truBeta score of less than 1.00. A Beta Variability score is calculated for the remaining stocks (the “Eligible Components”) based on the absolute difference between the short-term and medium-term data points used to generate the truBeta estimate. A lower score indicates less variability in beta over time.
The Index is initially constructed of the 100 Eligible Components with the lowest Beta Variability score, equally-weighted, and subject to a maximum 30% of the number of constituents in the Index being from a single sector. If more than 30% of the constituents would be from a single sector, the Eligible Component with the next lowest Beta Variability score not from the sector is selected instead of the Eligible Component that would have caused the Index to exceed the 30% limit.
As of October 31, 2020, a significant portion of the Index is comprised of companies in the consumer staples, utilities, and health care sectors. The sectors most significantly represented in the Index may change over time. The Index is rebalanced quarterly on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December (each, an “Effective Date”) based on truBeta forecasts and Beta Variability scores utilizing data as of five business days prior to the Effective Date of the applicable rebalance month (each, a “Selection Date”). Each rebalance of the Index utilizes constituent prices at the close of trading on the Selection Date for weighting purposes.
To minimize turnover at each quarterly rebalance, stocks remain in the Index unless their truBeta score on the Selection Date is 1.00 or higher, regardless of their Beta Variability score. Additions to the Index at each rebalance are selected using the same process as the initial selection, ranking the Eligible Components not already in the Index by their Beta Variability score and selecting Eligible Components starting with the lowest Beta Variability score to arrive at a total of 100 components.
As of October 31, 2020, the Index had an average truBeta of approximately 0.70. Consequently, the Index is expected to be less volatile than the broader U.S. equity market.
The Fund’s Investment Strategy
The Fund attempts to invest all, or substantially all, of its assets in the component securities that make up the Index. 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 in the same approximate proportion as in the Index.
To the extent the Index concentrates (i.e., holds more than 25% of its total assets) in the securities of a particular industry or group of related industries, the Fund will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Index. As of October 31, 2020, the Index was not concentrated in any industry or group of industries. The Fund is non-diversified and therefore may invest a larger percentage of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or small number of issuers than diversified funds.
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 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.” The principal risks are presented in alphabetical order to facilitate finding particular risks and comparing them with other funds. Each risk summarized below is considered a “principal risk” of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears.
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 (as defined below) 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. If the Index concentrates in an industry or group of industries, the Fund’s investments may be concentrated accordingly. In such event, 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, an industry or group of industries in which the Fund is concentrated 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. The Fund’s NAV and market price may fluctuate significantly in response to these and other factors. As a result, an investor could lose money over short or long periods of time.
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 Cboe BZX Exchange, 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.
Index Risk. Because the Index includes the securities in the Index Universe with the lowest truBeta, the Index, and consequently the Fund, can be expected to be significantly less volatile than the broader U.S. equity market. As a result, the Index, and consequently the Fund, may significantly underperform the broader U.S. equity market over short or long periods of time. Additionally, the calculation of a security’s truBeta is based on past performance and may not be indicative of the extent to which the security will demonstrate a similar risk and return profile relative to the broader
U.S. equity market in the future. Consequently, there can be no guarantee that the Index, or the Fund, will perform in the future the way the average truBeta suggests it would.
Limited Operating History. The Fund is a recently organized management investment company with limited operating history. As a result, prospective investors have a limited track record on which to base their investment decision. An investment in the Fund may therefore involve greater uncertainty than an investment in a fund with a more established record of performance.
Models and Data Risk. The composition of the Index is heavily dependent on proprietary quantitative models as well as information and data supplied by third parties (“Models and Data”). When Models and Data prove to be incorrect or incomplete, any decisions made in reliance thereon may lead to securities being included in or excluded from the Index that would have been excluded or included had the Models and Data been correct and complete. If the composition of the Index reflects such errors, the Fund’s portfolio can be expected to reflect the errors, too.
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 are 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.
Sector Risk. To the extent the Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors of the economy, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors.
Consumer Staples Sector Risk. The permissibility of using various food additives and production methods, fads, marketing campaigns, and other factors affecting consumer demand is tied closely to the performance of companies in this sector. In particular, tobacco companies may be adversely affected by new laws, regulations,
and litigation. The consumer staples sector may also be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices, which may be influenced or characterized by unpredictable factors.
Health Care Sector Risk. Companies in the health care sector are subject to extensive government regulation and their profitability can be significantly affected by restrictions on government reimbursement for medical expenses, rising costs of medical products and services, pricing pressure (including price discounting), limited product lines and an increased emphasis on the delivery of healthcare through outpatient services.
Utilities Sector Risk. Utility companies are affected by supply and demand, operating costs, government regulation, environmental factors, liabilities for environmental damage and general civil liabilities, and rate caps or rate changes. Although rate changes of a regulated utility usually fluctuate in approximate correlation with financing costs, due to political and regulatory factors rate changes ordinarily occur only following a delay after the changes in financing costs. This factor will tend to favorably affect a regulated utility company’s earnings and dividends in times of decreasing costs, but conversely, will tend to adversely affect earnings and dividends when costs are rising. The value of regulated utility equity securities may tend to have an inverse relationship to the movement of interest rates. Certain utility companies have experienced full or partial deregulation in recent years. These utility companies are frequently more similar to industrial companies in that they are subject to greater competition and have been permitted by regulators to diversify outside of their original geographic regions and their traditional lines of business. These opportunities may permit certain utility companies to earn more than their traditional regulated rates of return. Some companies, however, may be forced to defend their core business and may be less profitable. In addition, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, government intervention or other factors may render a utility company’s equipment unusable or obsolete and negatively impact profitability.
Tracking Error Risk. As with all index funds, the performance of the Fund and its Index may differ from each other for a variety of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs operating expenses and portfolio transaction costs not incurred by the Index. In addition, the Fund may not be fully invested in the securities of the Index at all times or may hold securities not included in the Index.
Fund Performance
The Fund is the successor to the Salt Low truBeta US Market ETF, a series of ETF Series Solutions, as a result of the reorganization of the Salt Low truBeta US Market ETF into the Fund at the close of business on October 2, 2020. In addition, the Salt Low truBeta US Market ETF was the successor to the investment performance of Salt Low truBeta US Market ETF, a series of Salt Funds Trust, as a result of the reorganization of the series of Salt Funds Trust into a series of ETF Series Solutions that occurred on December 16, 2019 (together, the “Predecessor Fund”). The Predecessor Fund commenced operations on March 12, 2019.
Accordingly, any performance information for periods prior to October 5, 2020 is that of the series of ETF Series Solutions; any performance for periods prior to December 16, 2019 is that of the series of Salt Funds Trust. The Predecessor Fund had the same investment objective, strategies, and policies as the Fund since the Predecessor Fund’s inception.
The following performance information indicates some of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows the Fund’s performance for the calendar year ended 2020. The table illustrates how the Fund’s average annual returns for the 1‑year and since inception periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance and the Index. The Fund’s past performance, before and after taxes, does not necessarily indicate how it will perform in the future. Updated performance information is also available on the Fund’s website at www.PacerETFs.com.
Calendar Year Total Return
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During the period of time shown in the bar chart, the Fund’s highest quarterly return was 12.13% for the quarter ended June 30, 2020 and the lowest quarterly return was -18.83% for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.
Average Annual Total Returns For the Periods Ended December 31, 2020
Pacer Salt Low truBeta US Market ETF
1 Year
Since Inception
(3/12/2019)
Return Before Taxes3.45%10.68%
Return After Taxes on Distributions2.79%10.03%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares2.34%8.08%
Salt Low truBeta US Market Index
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
3.62%10.84%
S&P 500® Index
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
18.40%20.11%
After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates during the period covered by the table above and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as an individual retirement account (“IRA”) or other tax-advantaged accounts.
Pacer American Energy Independence ETF
Pacer American Energy Independence ETF
Investment Objective
The Pacer American Energy Independence ETF (the “Fund”) is an exchange traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to track the performance, before fees and expenses, of the American Energy Independence Index (the “Index”).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). 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 (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees0.75%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) FeesNone
Other ExpensesNone
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses0.75%
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:
1 Year3 Years5 Years10 Years
$77$240$417$930
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the fiscal period from December 1, 2019 to October 31, 2020, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 41% 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 is based on a proprietary methodology developed by SL Advisors, LLC, the Fund’s Index Provider (the “Index Provider”) and the investment adviser to the Predecessor Fund (as defined below), which is not affiliated with the Fund, its distributor, or Pacer Advisors, Inc., the Fund’s investment adviser (the “Adviser”).
The Index
The Index uses a proprietary, rules-based methodology to measure the performance of a portfolio of U.S. and Canadian exchange-listed equity securities of companies that generate a majority of their cash flow from certain qualifying “midstream” energy infrastructure activities. The companies in the Index are expected to benefit from regulatory policies favoring and industry trends toward American energy independence (i.e., a reduced or eliminated need for the United States to import fuels, such as coal, crude oil, or natural gas).
Midstream energy infrastructure refers to the processing, storage, transportation, and distribution of crude oil, natural gas, refined products, and their related products, as well as the transmission or storage of renewable energy. The following activity segments are considered qualifying midstream energy infrastructure activities: gathering & processing, compression, fractionation, logistics, midstream services, pipeline transportation, storage and terminaling of oil, gas, natural gas liquids, and refined products, as well as operating liquid natural gas facilities.  The following activity segments
are not qualifying activities: refining, shipping, exploration, production, retail distribution, or oil services. The Index may include small-, mid-, and large-capitalization companies.
The Index includes securities across the following categories of midstream companies. Such categories and the “weight” (defined as the percentage of the total Index) assigned to each category at the time of each rebalance of the Index are as follows:
U.S. & Canadian Midstream Companies (80%)
U.S.- or Canadian-listed companies that (i) have their principal place of business in the United States or Canada, (ii) elect to be treated as a corporation for U.S. or Canadian federal income tax purposes, and (iii) generate a majority of their cash flow or revenue from midstream energy infrastructure related activities.
U.S. Midstream MLPs* (20%)
U.S.-listed Midstream MLPs that (i) have their principal place of business in the United States, (ii) elect to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, (iii) do not pay incentive distribution rights (“IDRs”), and (iv) are not affiliates of MLP GPs that are owned in the Index.
* If an MLP that would be included in the Index has a tracking stock that is a corporation or elects to be taxed as a corporation, then such tracking stock will be included in the Index in place of the MLP and will use the MLP’s adjusted market capitalization for calculating its weight.
MLPs are publicly traded partnerships that receive at least 90% of their income from certain qualifying sources, such as natural resource-based midstream energy infrastructure activities. The equity interests, or units, of an MLP trade on public securities exchanges exactly like the shares of a corporation, without entity level taxation. An MLP typically consists of a general partner and limited partners. The operations and management of the MLP are controlled by the general partner, and the general partner typically has an ownership stake in the MLP and may have certain preferential rights to income from the MLP, such as IDRs. IDRs provide their owner with a larger share of the aggregate cash distributions made by a company once such distributions increase to certain specified levels and are designed to provide the holder of the IDRs with a strong incentive to increase the MLP’s aggregate cash distributions. 
At the time of each quarterly rebalance of the Index, each company meeting the Index’s criteria for the above categories is included in the Index, provided that the company has a minimum market capitalization of $500 million.
The Index is rebalanced quarterly, effective on the last trading day of each calendar quarter. Within each of the above categories, 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 rebalance. Each individual Index constituent is limited to a weight of 7.25%, and any excess weight is redistributed equally among the other companies in the same category first and then to the remaining companies as needed.
Additionally, the aggregate weight of companies with individual weights greater than 5% (“5% Companies”) may not exceed 45% as of the time of each rebalance. If the aggregate weight of the 5% Companies would exceed 45%, the excess weight will be redistributed proportionally to companies with a weight of less than 4.25%. If at the time of a rebalance a company’s weight would be between 4.25% and 5%, the company’s weight will be reduced to 4.25% and the excess redistributed to companies in the same category with a weight of less than 4.25%.
As of January 31, 2021, the Index included securities of 33 companies. The Index was developed by the Index Provider in 2017 in anticipation of the commencement of operations of the Predecessor Fund (as defined below).
The Fund’s Investment Strategy
The Fund attempts to invest all, or substantially all, of its assets in the component securities that make up the Index. 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 in the same approximate proportion as in the Index. The Fund is non-diversified and therefore may invest a larger percentage of its assets in the securities of a single company than diversified funds. 
To the extent the Index concentrates (i.e., holds more than 25% of its total assets) in the securities of a particular industry or group of related industries, the Fund will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Index.
The Index, and consequently the Fund, is expected to generally be concentrated in midstream energy infrastructure companies.
Principal Investment Risks
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 Fund.” The principal risks are presented in alphabetical order to facilitate finding particular risks and comparing them with other funds. Each risk summarized below is considered a “principal risk” of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears.
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 (as defined below) 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 in the Energy Infrastructure Industry Risk. The Fund’s investments will be concentrated in an industry or group of industries to the extent the Index is so concentrated, and the Index is expected to be concentrated in midstream energy infrastructure companies. When the Fund focuses its investments in the energy infrastructure industry, financial, economic, business, and other developments affecting issuers in that industry, market, or economic sector will have a greater effect on the Fund than if it had not done so.
Companies in the energy infrastructure industry are subject to many risks that can negatively impact the revenues and viability of companies in this industry, including, but not limited to, risks associated with companies owning and/or operating pipelines, gathering and processing assets, power infrastructure, propane assets, as well as capital markets, terrorism, natural disasters, climate change, operating, regulatory, environmental, supply and demand, and price volatility risks.  The volatility of energy commodity prices can significantly affect energy companies due to the impact of prices on the volume of commodities developed, produced, gathered, and processed. Historically, energy commodity prices have been cyclical and exhibited significant volatility, which may adversely impact the value, operations, cash flows, and financial performance of energy companies. The volatility of energy commodity prices can also indirectly affect certain entities that operate in the midstream segment of the energy industry due to the impact of prices on the volume of commodities transported, processed, stored, or distributed.
Currency Exchange Rate Risk. The Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in investments denominated in Canadian dollars or in securities that provide exposure to such currency. Changes in currency exchange rates and the relative value of the Canadian dollar to the U.S. dollar will affect the value of the Fund’s investment and the value of your Shares. Currency exchange rates can be very volatile and can change quickly and unpredictably. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning and you may lose money.
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.
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.
Foreign Securities Risk. Investments in non-U.S. securities involve certain risks that may not be present with investments in U.S. securities. For example, investments in non-U.S. securities may be subject to risk of loss due to foreign currency fluctuations or to political or economic instability. Investments in non-U.S. securities also may be subject to withholding or other taxes and may be subject to additional trading, settlement, custodial, and operational risks. These and other factors can make investments in the Fund more volatile and potentially less liquid than other types of investments.
Geographic Investment Risk. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in the securities of companies of a single country or region, it is more likely to be impacted by events or conditions affecting that country or region.
Canada-Specific Risk. The Canadian economy is reliant on the sale of natural resources and commodities, which can pose risks such as the fluctuation of prices and the variability of demand for exportation of such products. Changes in spending on Canadian products by the economies of other countries or changes in any of these economies may cause a significant impact on the Canadian economy.
MLP Risk. MLP investment returns are enhanced during periods of declining or low interest rates and tend to be negatively influenced when interest rates are rising. In addition, most MLPs are fairly leveraged and typically carry a portion of a “floating” rate debt. As such, a significant upward swing in interest rates would also drive interest expense higher. Furthermore, most MLPs grow by acquisitions partly financed by debt, and higher interest rates could make it more difficult to make acquisitions. MLP investments also entail many of the general tax risks of investing in a partnership. Limited partners in an MLP typically have limited control and limited or no rights to vote on matters affecting the partnership. Additionally, there is always the risk that an MLP will fail to qualify for favorable tax treatment.
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 are adverse to the performance of the Fund.
Small and Mid-Sized Company Stock Risk. The Fund may invest in equity securities of small- or mid-sized (based on market capitalization) companies. Small to mid-sized company securities have historically been subject to greater investment risk than large company securities. The prices of small- to mid-sized company securities tend to be more volatile and less liquid than large company securities.
Tax Risk. The Fund intends to qualify for treatment as a “regulated investment company” (a “RIC”) under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), by meeting certain source-of-income, asset diversification and annual distribution 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. Additionally, to qualify for treatment as a RIC the Fund may not invest more than 25% of its total assets in the securities of entities treated as qualified publicly traded partnerships (“QPTPs”) for U.S. federal income tax purposes, including certain MLPs. 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.
If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a RIC, the Fund would be subject to tax on its taxable income at corporate rates, and distributions from earnings and profits would generally be taxable to Fund shareholders as ordinary income. The Fund is also subject to the risk that MLPs in which the Fund invest will be classified as corporations rather than as partnerships for federal income tax purposes, which may reduce the Fund’s return and negatively affect the Fund’s net asset value. There is a risk of changes in tax laws or regulations, or interpretations thereof, which could adversely affect the Fund or the MLPs in which the Fund invests.
MLP Tax Risk. Depreciation or other cost recovery deductions passed through to the Fund from investments in MLPs in a given year will generally reduce the Fund’s taxable income, but those deductions may be recaptured in the Fund’s income in one or more subsequent years. When recognized and distributed, recapture income will generally be taxable to shareholders at the time of the distribution at ordinary income tax rates, even though those shareholders might not have held Shares at the time the deductions were taken by the Fund, and even though those shareholders will not have corresponding economic gain on their Shares at the time of the recapture. To distribute recapture income or to fund redemption requests, the Fund may need to liquidate investments. MLPs taxed as partnerships have historically made cash distributions to limited partners that exceed the amount of taxable income allocable to limited partners or members, due to a variety of factors, including significant non-cash deductions such as depreciation and depletion. These excess cash distributions would not be treated as income to the Fund but rather would be treated as a return of capital to the extent of the Fund’s basis in the MLP. As a consequence, the Fund may make distributions that exceed its earnings and profits, which would be recharacterized as a return of capital to shareholders. A return of capital distribution will generally not be taxable but will reduce each shareholder’s cost basis in Shares and result in a higher capital gain or lower capital loss when the Shares are sold. After a shareholder’s basis in Shares has been reduced to zero, distributions in excess of earnings and profits in respect of those Shares will be treated as gain from the sale of the Shares.
Tracking Error Risk. As with all index funds, the performance of the Fund and its Index may differ from each other for a variety of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs operating expenses and portfolio transaction costs not incurred by the Index. In addition, the Fund may not be fully invested in the securities of the Index at all times or may hold securities not included in the Index.
Fund Performance
The Fund is the successor to the investment performance of the American Energy Independence ETF, a series of ETF Series Solutions (the “Predecessor Fund”), as a result of the reorganization of the Predecessor Fund into the Fund at the close of business on December 13, 2019. Accordingly, any performance information for periods prior to December 16, 2019 is that of the Predecessor Fund. The Predecessor Fund was managed by SL Advisors, LLC and sub-advised by Penserra Capital Management LLC and had the same investment objective, strategies, and policies as the Fund since the Predecessor Fund’s inception in December 2017.
The following performance information indicates some of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows the Predecessor Fund’s performance for the calendar years ended December 31, 2018, 2019, and 2020. The table illustrates how the Predecessor Fund’s average annual returns for the 1‑year and since inception periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance and the Index. The Fund’s past performance, before and after taxes, does not necessarily indicate how it will perform in the future. Updated performance information is also available on the Fund’s website at www.PacerETFs.com.
Calendar Year Total Return
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During the period of time shown in the bar chart, the Fund’s highest quarterly return was 46.88% for the quarter ended June 30, 2020 and the lowest quarterly return was -51.58% for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.
Average Annual Total Returns For the Period Ended December 31, 2020
Pacer American Energy Independence ETF1 Year
Since Inception
(12/12/17)
Return Before Taxes
-15.03%-3.80%
Return After Taxes on Distributions
-15.67%-4.48%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Shares
-8.53%-2.85%
American Energy Independence Total Return Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
-13.84%-2.61%
S&P 500® Total Return
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
18.40%14.08%
After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates during the period covered by the table above and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. In certain cases, the figure representing “Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Shares” may be higher than the other return figures for the same period. A higher after-tax return results when a capital loss occurs upon redemption and provides an assumed tax deduction that benefits the investor. After-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund Shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as an individual retirement account (“IRA”) or other tax-advantaged accounts.