497 1 d941171d497.htm NATIXIS ETF TRUST II Natixis ETF Trust II

Prospectus
September 11, 2020

 


Natixis ETFs
Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF 
Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF
Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF

NYSE Arca:
EQOP
VNSE
VNMC

THESE ETFs ARE DIFFERENT FROM TRADITIONAL ETFs

Traditional ETFs tell the public what assets they hold each day. These ETFs will not. This may create additional risks for your investment. For example: 

 

  • You may have to pay more money to trade these ETFs’ shares. These ETFs will provide less information to traders, who tend to charge more for trades when they have less information. 

 

  • The price you pay to buy ETF shares on an exchange may not match the value of the ETF’s portfolio. The same is true when you sell shares. These price differences may be greater for these ETFs compared to other ETFs because they provides less information to traders. 

 

  • These additional risks may be even greater in bad or uncertain market conditions. 

 

  • These ETFs will publish on their websites each day a Proxy Portfolio (“Proxy Portfolio”) designed to help trading in shares of the ETFs. While the Proxy Portfolio includes some of these ETFs’ holdings, it is not the ETFs’ Actual Portfolio (“Actual Portfolio”).
 

The differences between these ETFs and other ETFs may also have advantages. By keeping certain information about the ETFs secret, these ETFs may face less risk that other traders can predict or copy its investment strategy. This may improve the ETFs’ performance. If other traders are able to copy or predict the ETFs’ investment strategy, however, this may hurt the ETFs’ performance. 

For additional information regarding the unique attributes and risks of these ETFs, see the later discussion on the Proxy Portfolio and the ”Proxy Portfolio Structure Risk,” “Authorized Participant Concentration Risk,” “Predatory Trading Practices Risk,” “Premium/Discount Risk,” and “Trading Issues Risk” below.

Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the SEC, paper copies of shareholder reports will no longer be sent by mail, unless you specifically request paper copies of the reports from the Fund or from your financial intermediary, such as a broker-dealer or bank. Instead, the reports will be made available on the Funds’ website, and you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted and provided with a website link to access the report. If you wish to continue receiving paper copies of your shareholder reports after January 1, 2021, you can inform the Fund at any time by calling 1-800-458-7452. If you hold your account with a financial intermediary and you wish to continue receiving paper copies after January 1, 2021, you should call your financial intermediary directly. Paper copies are provided free of charge, and your election to receive reports in paper will apply to all funds held with the Natixis Funds complex. If you have already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and you need not take any action. You currently may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the Fund or your financial intermediary electronically at www.icsdelivery.com/natixisfunds.

The SEC has not approved or disapproved the Funds’ shares or determined whether this Prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a crime.


 


 

Fund Summary

1

Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF

1

Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF

6

Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF

11

Investment Goals, Strategies and Risks

16

More About Goals and Strategies

16

Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF

16

Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF

17

Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF

17

More About Risks

18

Differences Between a Traditional ETF and a Non-Transparent ETF

22

Differences Between Investing in an ETF and a Mutual Fund

24

More Information About the Funds' Strategies

24

Management Team

25

Meet the Funds' Investment Adviser and Subadvisers

25

Meet the Funds' Portfolio Managers

26

Other Service Providers

26

Additional Information

27

Shareholder Information

28

Buying and Selling Shares

28

Investments by Registered Investment Companies

28

Frequent Purchases and Redemptions of Fund Shares

28

Payment to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

29

Share Prices

29

Net Asset Value

29

Distributions

30

Book Entry

30

Creations and Redemptions

30

Taxation

31

Other Information

32

Premium/Discount Information

32

Proxy Portfolio and Proxy Overlap

32

Continuous Offering

32

Conflicts of Interest

33

Prior Performance of Subadvisers' Similarly Managed Accounts

34

Financial Performance

36

Fund shares are not bank deposits and are not guaranteed, endorsed or insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, and are subject to investment risks, including possible loss of the principal invested.


 


 

Fund Summary 


 

Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF

Investment Goal

The Fund seeks long-term growth of capital.

Fund Fees & Expenses

The following table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table. If such expenses were reflected, the expenses set forth below would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

ETF

Management fees

0.75%

Distribution and/or service (12b-1) fees

0.00%

Other expenses

2.39%

Total annual fund operating expenses

3.14%

Fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement1

2.24%

Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement

0.90%

1 Natixis Advisors, L.P. (“Natixis Advisors” or the “Adviser”) has given a binding contractual undertaking to the Fund to limit the amount of the Fund’s total annual fund operating expenses to 0.90% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, exclusive of brokerage expenses, interest expense, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses, organizational and extraordinary expenses, such as litigation and indemnification expenses. This undertaking is in effect through April 30, 2023 and may be terminated before then only with the consent of the Fund’s Board of Trustees. The Adviser will be permitted to recover management fees waived and/or expenses reimbursed to the extent that expenses in later periods fall below both (1) the expense limitation ratio in place at the time such amounts were waived/reimbursed and (2) the Fund’s current applicable expense limitation ratio. The Fund will not be obligated to repay any such waived/reimbursed fees and expenses more than one year after the end of the fiscal year in which the fees or expenses were waived/reimbursed.

Example

This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated (whether or not shares are redeemed), and also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same, except that the example is based on the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement assuming that such waiver and/or reimbursement will only be in place through the date noted above and on the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses for the remaining periods. The example does not take into account brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries that you may pay on your purchases and sales of shares of the Fund. It also does not include the transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of creation units (“Creation Units”), because those fees will not be imposed on retail investors. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be (based on estimated Fund expenses):

If shares are redeemed:

1 year

3 years

ETF

$

92

$

381

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 for you if your 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 is newly-organized, portfolio turnover information is not available as of the date of this Prospectus.

Investments, Risks and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund ordinarily invests at least 80% of its assets in equity securities, including exchange-traded common stocks and exchange-traded preferred stocks. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in securities of U.S. issuers. The Fund’s approach to equity investing combines the styles of two subadvisers in selecting securities for each of the Fund’s segments. The segments and their subadvisers are listed below.

 

Harris Associates - Large Cap Value segment - Under normal circumstances, the Large Cap Value segment of the Fund managed by Harris Associates L.P. (“Harris Associates”) will invest primarily in the exchange-traded common stocks of larger- capitalization companies that Harris Associates believes are
 


 

1 


 

Fund Summary 


 

 

trading at a substantial discount to the company’s “intrinsic value.” By “intrinsic value,” Harris Associates means its estimate of the price a knowledgeable buyer would pay to acquire the entire business. Harris Associates believes that investing in securities priced significantly below what Harris Associates believes is a company’s intrinsic value presents the best opportunity to achieve the Fund’s investment objectives. Harris Associates usually sells a security when the price approaches its estimated value and monitors each holding and adjusts its price targets as warranted to reflect changes in the issuer’s fundamentals.  In determining whether an issuer is a U.S. or foreign issuer for the Harris Associates – Large Cap Value segment, Harris Associates considers various factors, including its country of domicile, the primary stock exchange on which it trades, the location from which the majority of its revenue comes, and its reporting currency.

 

Loomis Sayles - All Cap Growth segment - Under normal circumstances, the All Cap Growth segment of the Fund, managed by Loomis, Sayles & Company, L.P. (“Loomis Sayles”), will invest primarily in equity securities, including exchange-traded common stocks and exchange-traded preferred stocks. This segment may invest in companies of any size. The segment normally invests across a wide range of sectors and industries. The segment’s portfolio manager employs a growth style of equity management that emphasizes companies with sustainable competitive advantages, long-term structural growth drivers, attractive cash flow returns on invested capital, and management teams focused on creating long-term value for shareholders. The segment’s portfolio manager aims to invest in companies when they trade at a significant discount to the estimate of intrinsic value. The segment will consider selling a portfolio investment when the portfolio manager believes an unfavorable structural change occurs within a given business or the markets in which it operates, a critical underlying investment assumption is flawed, when a more attractive reward-to-risk opportunity becomes available, when the portfolio manager believes the current price fully reflects intrinsic value, or for other investment reasons which the portfolio manager deems appropriate.  Although certain equity securities purchased by the Loomis Sayles – All Cap Growth segment of the Fund may be issued by domestic companies incorporated outside of the United States, Loomis Sayles does not consider these securities to be foreign if they are included in the U.S. equity indices published by S&P Global Ratings or Russell Investments or if the security’s country of risk defined by Bloomberg is the United States.
 

Subject to the allocation policy adopted by the Fund’s Board of Trustees, Natixis Advisors, L.P. (“Natixis Advisors”) generally allocates capital invested in the Fund equally (i.e., 50%) between its two segments. Under the allocation policy, Natixis Advisors may also allocate capital away from or towards each segment from time to time and may reallocate capital between the segments. Each subadviser manages its segment of the Fund’s assets in accordance with its distinct investment style and strategy.

Non-Transparent ETF with Proxy Portfolio Structure. The Fund is a type of exchange traded fund (“ETF”). Unlike traditional ETFs, however, which generally publish their portfolio holdings on a daily basis, the Fund discloses a portfolio transparency substitute—the “Proxy Portfolio”—and certain related information about the relative performance of the Proxy Portfolio and the Fund’s actual portfolio (“Actual Portfolio”) holdings (the “Proxy Portfolio Disclosures”), which are intended to help keep the market price of the Fund’s shares trading at or close to the underlying net asset value (“NAV”) per share of the Fund. While the Proxy Portfolio includes some of the Fund’s holdings, it is not the Fund’s Actual Portfolio, and the Fund will not disclose the daily holdings of the Actual Portfolio. Although the Fund seeks to benefit from keeping its portfolio information secret, market participants may attempt to use the Proxy Portfolio to identify the Fund’s trading strategy, which if successful, could result in such market participants engaging in certain predatory trading practices that may have the potential to harm the Fund and its shareholders. The Fund’s exemptive relief limits the types of securities in which the Fund can invest, which may constrain the Fund’s ability to implement its investment strategies. The Fund is actively-managed and does not intend to track an index.

Principal Investment Risks

The principal risks of investing in the Fund are summarized below. The Fund does not represent a complete investment program. You may lose money by investing in the Fund. 

The significance of any specific risk to an investment in the Fund will vary over time, depending on the composition of the Fund’s portfolio, market conditions, and other factors. You should read all of the risk information presented below carefully, because any one or more of these risks may result in losses to the Fund.

Proxy Portfolio Structure Risk: Unlike traditional ETFs that provide daily disclosure of their portfolio holdings, the Fund does not disclose the daily holdings of the Actual Portfolio. Instead, the Fund discloses a Proxy Portfolio that is designed to reflect the economic exposure and risk characteristics of the Fund’s Actual Portfolio on any given trading day. Although the Proxy Portfolio and Proxy Portfolio Disclosures are intended to provide Authorized Participants and other market participants with enough information to allow them to engage in effective arbitrage transactions that will keep the market price of the Fund’s shares trading at or close to the underlying NAV per share of the Fund, while at the same time enabling them to establish cost-effective hedging strategies to reduce risk, there is a risk that market prices will vary significantly from the underlying NAV of the Fund. See “Premium/Discount Risk.” Similarly, shares of the Fund may trade at a wider bid/ask spread than shares of traditional ETFs, and may therefore be more costly for investors to trade. See “Trading Issues Risk.” Also, the Fund will incur expenses to license the Proxy Portfolio mechanism, which may impact shareholder returns. Additionally, the proxy mechanism itself may result in additional trading costs, which also may negatively impact shareholder returns. In addition, although the Proxy Portfolio is designed to protect the Fund from predatory practices such as front-running and free-riding, market participants may nevertheless be able to use the Proxy Portfolio and Proxy Portfolio Disclosures to engage in trading practices that disadvantage the Fund. See “Predatory Trading Practices Risk.” The Fund will monitor on an ongoing basis the premium/discount between the market price and the NAV of the Fund’s shares, but there can be no assurance that the Proxy Portfolio methodology will operate as intended. The Proxy Portfolio methodology is novel and not yet proven as an effective arbitrage mechanism. The effectiveness of the Proxy Portfolio methodology as an arbitrage mechanism is contingent upon, among other things, the effectiveness of the Fund’s Factor Model analysis in creating a Proxy Portfolio that performs in a manner substantially identical to the performance of the Fund’s Actual Portfolio and the willingness of Authorized Participants and other market participants to trade based on the Proxy Portfolio. In the event that the Proxy Portfolio methodology does not result in effective


 

2 


 

Fund Summary 


 

arbitrage opportunities in the Fund shares, the Fund may exhibit wider premiums/discounts, bid/ask spreads and tracking error. At certain thresholds for such premiums/discounts, bid/ask spreads and tracking error, the Fund’s Board of Trustees will consider possible remedial measures, which may include liquidation or conversion to a fully-transparent, active ETF or a mutual fund.

 

Premium/Discount Risk: Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “NYSE Arca”) and are bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices that may differ from their most recent NAV. The market value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate, in some cases materially, in response to changes in the Fund’s NAV, the intraday value of the Fund’s holdings, and the relative supply and demand for the Fund’s shares on the exchange. Although the Proxy Portfolio is intended to provide investors with enough information to allow for an effective arbitrage mechanism that will keep the market price of the Fund at or close to the Fund’s NAV, there is a risk (which may increase during periods of market disruption or volatility) that market prices for Fund shares will vary significantly from the Fund’s NAV. This risk may be greater for the Fund than for traditional ETFs that disclose their full portfolio holdings on a daily basis because the publication of the Proxy Portfolio does not provide the same level of transparency as the publication of the full portfolio by a fully transparent active ETF. This could cause the Fund’s shares to have wider bid/ask spreads and larger premiums/discounts than fully transparent ETFs using the same investment strategies. Disruptions to creations and redemptions, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares may result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV and/or in a reduced liquidity of your investment. During such periods, you may be unable to sell your shares or may incur significant losses if you sell your shares. There are various methods by which investors can purchase and sell shares and various types of orders that may be placed. Investors should consult their financial intermediary before purchasing or selling shares of the Fund. If a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk:  Only an authorized participant (“Authorized Participant”) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as Authorized Participants, none of which are or will be obligated to engage in creation or redemption transactions. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. The Fund’s novel structure may affect the number of entities willing to act as Authorized Participants, and this risk may be exacerbated during times of market stress.

 

Predatory Trading Practices Risk: Although the Fund seeks to benefit from keeping its portfolio holdings information secret, market participants may attempt to use the Proxy Portfolio and related Proxy Portfolio Disclosures to identify the Fund’s holdings and trading strategy. If successful, this could result in such market participants engaging in predatory trading practices that could harm the Fund and its shareholders. The Proxy Portfolio and related Proxy Portfolio Disclosures have been designed to minimize the risk that market participants could “reverse engineer” the Fund’s portfolio and investment strategy, but they may not be successful in this regard.

 

Trading Issues Risk: Trading in Fund shares on the NYSE Arca may be halted in certain circumstances. If 10% or more of the Fund’s Actual Portfolio does not have readily available market quotations, the Fund will promptly request that the NYSE Arca halt trading in the Fund’s shares. Such trading halts may have a greater impact on the Fund compared to other ETFs due to its lack of transparency. If the trading of a security held in the Fund’s Actual Portfolio is halted or otherwise does not have readily available market quotations and the Adviser believes that the lack of any such readily available market quotations may affect the reliability of the Proxy Portfolio as an arbitrage vehicle or otherwise determines it is in the best interest of the Fund, the Adviser promptly will disclose on the Fund’s website the identity and weighting of such security for so long as such security’s trading is halted or otherwise does not have readily available market quotations and remains in the Actual Portfolio.There can be no assurance that the requirements of the NYSE Arca necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met. Because the Fund trades on the basis of a published Proxy Portfolio, it may trade at a wider bid/ask spread and may experience a wider premium/discount than traditional ETFs that publish their portfolios on a daily basis, and therefore, may cost investors more to trade especially during periods of market disruption or volatility.

 

Tracking Error Risk: Although the Proxy Portfolio is designed to reflect the economic exposure and risk characteristics of the Fund’s Actual Portfolio on any given trading day, there is a risk that the performance of the Proxy Portfolio will diverge from the performance of the Actual Portfolio, potentially materially.
 

Allocation Risk: The Fund’s investment performance depends on how its assets are allocated. The allocation, as set forth above, may not be optimal in every market condition. You could lose money on your investment in the Fund as a result of this allocation.

Equity Securities Risk: The value of the Fund’s investments in equity securities could be subject to unpredictable declines in the value of individual securities and periods of below-average performance in individual securities or in the equity market as a whole. Growth stocks are generally more sensitive to market movements than other types of stocks primarily because their stock prices are based heavily on future expectations. If a subadviser’s assessment of the prospects for a company’s growth is wrong, or if a subadviser’s judgment of how other investors will value the company’s growth is wrong, then the price of the company’s stock may fall or not approach the value that the subadviser has placed on it. Value stocks can perform differently from the market as a whole and from other types of stocks. Value stocks also present the risk that their lower valuations fairly reflect their business prospects and that investors will not agree that the stocks represent favorable investment opportunities, and they may fall out of favor with investors and underperform growth stocks during any given period. In the event an issuer is liquidated or declares bankruptcy, the claims of owners of the issuer’s bonds generally take precedence over the claims of those who own preferred stock or common stock. Securities of real estate-related companies and exchange-traded REITs in which the Fund may invest may be considered equity securities, thus subjecting the Fund to the risks of investing in equity securities generally.


 

3 


 

Fund Summary 


 

Foreign Securities Risk: Investments in foreign securities may be subject to greater political, economic, environmental, credit/counterparty and information risks. The Fund’s investments in foreign securities also are subject to foreign currency fluctuations and other foreign currency-related risks. Foreign securities may be subject to higher volatility than U.S. securities, varying degrees of regulation and limited liquidity.

Liquidity Risk: Liquidity risk is the risk that the Fund may be unable to find a buyer for its investments when it seeks to sell them or to receive the price it expects. Decreases in the number of financial institutions willing to make markets in the Fund’s investments or in their capacity or willingness to transact may increase the Fund’s exposure to this risk. Events that may lead to increased redemptions, such as market disruptions or increases in interest rates, may also negatively impact the liquidity of the Fund’s investments when it needs to dispose of them. If the Fund is forced to sell its investments at an unfavorable time and/or under adverse conditions in order to meet redemption requests, such sales could negatively affect the Fund. Liquidity issues may also make it difficult to value the Fund’s investments.

Management Risk: A strategy used by the Fund’s portfolio managers may fail to produce the intended result.  

Market/Issuer Risk: The market value of the Fund’s investments will move up and down, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, based upon overall market and economic conditions, as well as a number of reasons that directly relate to the issuers of the Fund’s investments, such as management performance, financial condition and demand for the issuers’ goods and services.

Cybersecurity and Technology Risk: The Fund, its service providers, market makers, listing exchange, Authorized Participants and other market participants increasingly depend on complex information technology and communications systems, which are subject to a number of different threats and risks that could adversely affect the Fund and its shareholders. Cybersecurity and other operational and technology issues may result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders.

REITs Risk:  Investments in the real estate industry, including REITs, are particularly sensitive to economic downturns and are sensitive to factors such as changes in real estate values, property taxes and tax laws, interest rates, cash flow of underlying real estate assets, occupancy rates, government regulations affecting zoning, land use and rents and the management skill and creditworthiness of the issuer. Companies in the real estate industry also may be subject to liabilities under environmental and hazardous waste laws. In addition, the value of a REIT is affected by changes in the value of the properties owned by the REIT or mortgage loans held by the REIT. REITs are also subject to default and prepayment risk. Many REITs are highly leveraged, increasing their risk. The Fund will indirectly bear its proportionate share of expenses, including management fees, paid by each REIT in which it invests in addition to the expenses of the Fund.

Secondary Market Trading Risk:  Investors buying or selling shares of the Fund in the secondary market will pay brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by broker-dealers as determined by that broker. Brokerage commissions are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell relatively small amounts of shares.

Small- and Mid-Capitalization Companies Risk: Compared to large-capitalization companies, small- and mid-capitalization companies are more likely to have limited product lines, markets or financial resources. Stocks of these companies often trade less frequently and in limited volume and their prices may fluctuate more than stocks of large-capitalization companies. As a result, it may be relatively more difficult for the Fund to buy and sell securities of small- and mid-capitalization companies.

New and Smaller Sized Fund Risk: The Fund is relatively new and has a limited operating history for investors to evaluate and may not be successful in implementing its investment strategies. The Fund may fail to attract sufficient assets to achieve or maintain economies of scale, which could result in the Fund being liquidated at any time without shareholder approval and at a time that may not be favorable for all shareholders. Smaller ETFs will have a lower public float and lower trading volumes, leading to wider bid/ask spreads.

Operational Risk: The Fund is exposed to operational risk arising from a number of factors, including but not limited to human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, market makers, listing exchange, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or with which they do business, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures.

Risk/Return Bar Chart and Table

Because the Fund has not yet completed a full calendar year, information related to Fund performance, including a bar chart showing annual returns, has not been included in this Prospectus. The performance information provided by the Fund in the future will give some indication of the risks of an investment in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual returns compare against those of a broad measure of market performance.

Management

Investment Adviser

Natixis Advisors, L.P. (“Natixis Advisors”)

Subadvisers

Harris Associates L.P. (“Harris Associates”)

Loomis, Sayles & Company, L.P. (“Loomis Sayles”)


 

4 


 

Fund Summary 


 

Portfolio Managers

Harris Associates

William C. Nygren, CFA®, Vice President, Chief Investment Officer, U.S. Equity and portfolio manager of Harris Associates, has served as co-manager of the Harris Associates Large Cap Value segment of the Fund since 2020.

Kevin G. Grant, CFA®, Co-Chairman, portfolio manager and analyst of Harris Associates, has served as co-manager of the Harris Associates Large Cap Value segment of the Fund since 2020.

M. Colin Hudson, CFA®, Vice President, portfolio manager and analyst of Harris Associates, has served as co-manager of the Harris Associates Large Cap Value segment of the Fund since 2020.

Michael J. Mangan, CFA®, CPA, portfolio manager of Harris Associates, served as co-manager of the Harris Associates Large Cap Value segment of the Fund since 2020.

Michael A. Nicolas, CFA®, portfolio manager and analyst of Harris Associates, has served as co-manager of the Harris Associates Large Cap Value segment of the Fund since 2020.

Loomis Sayles

Aziz V. Hamzaogullari, CFA®, Chief Investment Officer of the Growth Equities Strategies Team, Executive Vice President and Director at Loomis Sayles, has served as a manager of the Loomis Sayles All Cap Growth segment of the Fund since 2020.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Fund will issue and redeem shares at NAV only in large blocks of shares, typically 10,000 shares, called “Creation Units.” Only a few financial institutions that are Authorized Participants are authorized to purchase and redeem Creation Units directly with the Fund. Creation Units are typically issued and redeemed in exchange for cash and/or the deposit or delivery of a basket of securities specified each day by the Fund as the securities in exchange for which the Fund will issue or redeem shares. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold in secondary market transactions through broker-dealers. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca, and because shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares of the Fund may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount).

You may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (“the bid/ask spread”). For more information, including recent information (when available) regarding the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid/ask spreads, please visit the Fund’s website at im.natixis.com. However, because the Fund is newly-organized, trading data and related costs are not available as of the date of this Prospectus.

Tax Information

Fund distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, except for distributions to retirement plans and other investors that qualify for tax-advantaged treatment under U.S. federal income tax law generally. Investments in such tax-advantaged plans will generally be taxed only upon withdrawal of monies from the tax-advantaged arrangement.

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of the Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.


 

5 


 

Fund Summary 


 

Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF

Investment Goal

The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

Fund Fees & Expenses

The following table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table. If such expenses were reflected, the expenses set forth below would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

ETF

Management fees

0.75%

Distribution and/or service (12b-1) fees

0.00%

Other expenses

4.84%

Total annual fund operating expenses

5.59%

Fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement1

4.74%

Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement

0.85%

1 Natixis Advisors, L.P. (“Natixis Advisors” or the “Adviser”) has given a binding contractual undertaking to the Fund to limit the amount of the Fund’s total annual fund operating expenses to 0.85% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, exclusive of brokerage expenses, interest expense, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses, organizational and extraordinary expenses, such as litigation and indemnification expenses. This undertaking is in effect through April 30, 2023 and may be terminated before then only with the consent of the Fund’s Board of Trustees. The Adviser will be permitted to recover management fees waived and/or expenses reimbursed to the extent that expenses in later periods fall below both (1) the expense limitation ratio in place at the time such amounts were waived/reimbursed and (2) the Fund’s current applicable expense limitation ratio. The Fund will not be obligated to repay any such waived/reimbursed fees and expenses more than one year after the end of the fiscal year in which the fees or expenses were waived/reimbursed.

Example

This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated (whether or not shares are redeemed), and also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same, except that the example is based on the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement assuming that such waiver and/or reimbursement will only be in place through the date noted above and on the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses for the remaining periods. The example does not take into account brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries that you may pay on your purchases and sales of shares of the Fund. It also does not include the transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of creation units (“Creation Units”), because those fees will not be imposed on retail investors. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be (based on estimated Fund expenses):

If shares are redeemed:

1 year

3 years

ETF

$

87

$

468

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 for you if your 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 is newly-organized, portfolio turnover information is not available as of the date of this Prospectus.

Investments, Risks and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund, under normal market conditions, will invest primarily in equity securities, including exchange-traded common stocks, exchange-traded preferred stocks and exchange-traded real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). The Fund is non-diversified, which means that it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a particular issuer and may invest in fewer issuers than a diversified fund. Typically, the Fund’s portfolio will generally hold 20 to 40 securities. The Fund may invest in companies with any market capitalization, although, it will typically focus its investments in mid- to large- capitalization companies. A company will be considered to be a mid- to large-capitalization company if its capitalization is $5 billion or higher.


 

6 


 

Fund Summary 


 

Vaughan Nelson invests in companies of all market capitalizations with a focus on those companies meeting Vaughan Nelson’s return expectations.

Vaughan Nelson uses a bottom-up value oriented investment process in constructing the Fund’s portfolio. Vaughan Nelson seeks companies with the following characteristics, although not all of the companies selected will have these attributes:

 

Companies earning a positive return on capital with stable-to-improving returns.

 

Companies valued at discount to their asset value.

 

Companies with an attractive and sustainable dividend level.
 

In selecting investments for the Fund, Vaughan Nelson generally employs the following strategies:

 

Vaughan Nelson employs a value-driven investment philosophy that selects securities selling at a relatively low value based on discounted cash flow models. Vaughan Nelson selects companies that it believes are out-of-favor or misunderstood.

 

Vaughan Nelson starts with the entire U.S. exchange-traded equity investment universe. Vaughan Nelson then narrows the investment universe by using fundamental analysis to construct a portfolio of generally 20 to 40 securities.

 

Vaughan Nelson uses fundamental analysis to construct a portfolio that, in the opinion of Vaughan Nelson, is made up of quality companies with the potential to provide significant increases in share price over a three year period.

 

Vaughan Nelson will generally sell a security when it reaches Vaughan Nelson’s price target or when the issuer shows a change in financial condition, competitive pressures, poor management decisions or internal or external forces reducing future expected returns from the investment thesis.
 

Non-Transparent ETF with Proxy Portfolio Structure. The Fund is a type of exchange traded fund (“ETF”). Unlike traditional ETFs, however, which generally publish their portfolio holdings on a daily basis, the Fund discloses a portfolio transparency substitute—the “Proxy Portfolio”—and certain related information about the relative performance of the Proxy Portfolio and the Fund’s actual portfolio (“Actual Portfolio”) holdings (the “Proxy Portfolio Disclosures”), which are intended to help keep the market price of the Fund’s shares trading at or close to the underlying net asset value (“NAV”) per share of the Fund. While the Proxy Portfolio includes some of the Fund’s holdings, it is not the Fund’s Actual Portfolio, and the Fund will not disclose the daily holdings of the Actual Portfolio. Although the Fund seeks to benefit from keeping its portfolio information secret, market participants may attempt to use the Proxy Portfolio to identify the Fund’s trading strategy, which if successful, could result in such market participants engaging in certain predatory trading practices that may have the potential to harm the Fund and its shareholders. The Fund’s exemptive relief limits the types of securities in which the Fund can invest, which may constrain the Fund’s ability to implement its investment strategies. The Fund is actively-managed and does not intend to track an index.

Principal Investment Risks

The principal risks of investing in the Fund are summarized below. The Fund does not represent a complete investment program. You may lose money by investing in the Fund. 

The significance of any specific risk to an investment in the Fund will vary over time, depending on the composition of the Fund’s portfolio, market conditions, and other factors. You should read all of the risk information presented below carefully, because any one or more of these risks may result in losses to the Fund.

Proxy Portfolio Structure Risk: Unlike traditional ETFs that provide daily disclosure of their portfolio holdings, the Fund does not disclose the daily holdings of the Actual Portfolio. Instead, the Fund discloses a Proxy Portfolio that is designed to reflect the economic exposure and risk characteristics of the Fund’s Actual Portfolio on any given trading day. Although the Proxy Portfolio and Proxy Portfolio Disclosures are intended to provide Authorized Participants and other market participants with enough information to allow them to engage in effective arbitrage transactions that will keep the market price of the Fund’s shares trading at or close to the underlying NAV per share of the Fund, while at the same time enabling them to establish cost-effective hedging strategies to reduce risk, there is a risk that market prices will vary significantly from the underlying NAV of the Fund. See “Premium/Discount Risk.” Similarly, shares of the Fund may trade at a wider bid/ask spread than shares of traditional ETFs, and may therefore be more costly for investors to trade. See “Trading Issues Risk.” Also, the Fund will incur expenses to license the Proxy Portfolio mechanism, which may impact shareholder returns. Additionally, the proxy mechanism itself may result in additional trading costs, which also may negatively impact shareholder returns. In addition, although the Proxy Portfolio is designed to protect the Fund from predatory practices such as front-running and free-riding, market participants may nevertheless be able to use the Proxy Portfolio and Proxy Portfolio Disclosures to engage in trading practices that disadvantage the Fund. See “Predatory Trading Practices Risk.” The Fund will monitor on an ongoing basis the premium/discount between the market price and the NAV of the Fund’s shares, but there can be no assurance that the Proxy Portfolio methodology will operate as intended. The Proxy Portfolio methodology is novel and not yet proven as an effective arbitrage mechanism. The effectiveness of the Proxy Portfolio methodology as an arbitrage mechanism is contingent upon, among other things, the effectiveness of the Fund’s Factor Model analysis in creating a Proxy Portfolio that performs in a manner substantially identical to the performance of the Fund’s Actual Portfolio and the willingness of Authorized Participants and other market participants to trade based on the Proxy Portfolio. In the event that the Proxy Portfolio methodology does not result in effective arbitrage opportunities in the Fund shares, the Fund may exhibit wider premiums/discounts, bid/ask spreads and tracking error. At certain thresholds for such premiums/discounts, bid/ask spreads and tracking error, the Fund’s Board of Trustees will consider possible remedial measures, which may include liquidation or conversion to a fully-transparent, active ETF or a mutual fund.

 

Premium/Discount Risk: Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “NYSE Arca”) and are bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices that may differ from their most recent NAV. The market value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate, in some cases materially, in response to changes in the Fund’s NAV, the intraday value of the Fund’s holdings, and the relative supply and demand for the Fund’s shares on the exchange. Although the Proxy Portfolio is intended to provide investors with enough information to allow for an effective arbitrage mechanism that will
 


 

7 


 

Fund Summary 


 

 

keep the market price of the Fund at or close to the Fund’s NAV, there is a risk (which may increase during periods of market disruption or volatility) that market prices for Fund shares will vary significantly from the Fund’s NAV. This risk may be greater for the Fund than for traditional ETFs that disclose their full portfolio holdings on a daily basis because the publication of the Proxy Portfolio does not provide the same level of transparency as the publication of the full portfolio by a fully transparent active ETF. This could cause the Fund’s shares to have wider bid/ask spreads and larger premiums/discounts than fully transparent ETFs using the same investment strategies. Disruptions to creations and redemptions, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares may result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV and/or in a reduced liquidity of your investment. During such periods, you may be unable to sell your shares or may incur significant losses if you sell your shares. There are various methods by which investors can purchase and sell shares and various types of orders that may be placed. Investors should consult their financial intermediary before purchasing or selling shares of the Fund. If a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk:  Only an authorized participant (“Authorized Participant”) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as Authorized Participants, none of which are or will be obligated to engage in creation or redemption transactions. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. The Fund’s novel structure may affect the number of entities willing to act as Authorized Participants, and this risk may be exacerbated during times of market stress.

 

Predatory Trading Practices Risk: Although the Fund seeks to benefit from keeping its portfolio holdings information secret, market participants may attempt to use the Proxy Portfolio and related Proxy Portfolio Disclosures to identify the Fund’s holdings and trading strategy. If successful, this could result in such market participants engaging in predatory trading practices that could harm the Fund and its shareholders. The Proxy Portfolio and related Proxy Portfolio Disclosures have been designed to minimize the risk that market participants could “reverse engineer” the Fund’s portfolio and investment strategy, but they may not be successful in this regard.

 

Trading Issues Risk: Trading in Fund shares on the NYSE Arca may be halted in certain circumstances. If 10% or more of the Fund’s Actual Portfolio does not have readily available market quotations, the Fund will promptly request that the NYSE Arca halt trading in the Fund’s shares. Such trading halts may have a greater impact on the Fund compared to other ETFs due to its lack of transparency. If the trading of a security held in the Fund’s Actual Portfolio is halted or otherwise does not have readily available market quotations and the Adviser believes that the lack of any such readily available market quotations may affect the reliability of the Proxy Portfolio as an arbitrage vehicle or otherwise determines it is in the best interest of the Fund, the Adviser promptly will disclose on the Fund’s website the identity and weighting of such security for so long as such security’s trading is halted or otherwise does not have readily available market quotations and remains in the Actual Portfolio.There can be no assurance that the requirements of the NYSE Arca necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met. Because the Fund trades on the basis of a published Proxy Portfolio, it may trade at a wider bid/ask spread and may experience a wider premium/discount than traditional ETFs that publish their portfolios on a daily basis, and therefore, may cost investors more to trade especially during periods of market disruption or volatility.

 

Tracking Error Risk: Although the Proxy Portfolio is designed to reflect the economic exposure and risk characteristics of the Fund’s Actual Portfolio on any given trading day, there is a risk that the performance of the Proxy Portfolio will diverge from the performance of the Actual Portfolio, potentially materially.
 

Equity Securities Risk: The value of the Fund’s investments in equity securities could be subject to unpredictable declines in the value of individual securities and periods of below-average performance in individual securities or in the equity market as a whole.  In the event an issuer is liquidated or declares bankruptcy, the claims of owners of the issuer’s bonds generally take precedence over the claims of those who own preferred stock or common stock. Securities of real estate-related companies and exchange-traded REITs in which the Fund may invest may be considered equity securities, thus subjecting the Fund to the risks of investing in equity securities generally.

Non-Diversification Risk: Compared with other mutual funds, the Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a particular issuer and may invest in fewer issuers. Therefore, the Fund may have more risk because changes in the value of a single security or the impact of a single economic, political or regulatory occurrence may have a greater adverse impact on the Fund’s net asset value.

Market/Issuer Risk: The market value of the Fund’s investments will move up and down, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, based upon overall market and economic conditions, as well as a number of reasons that directly relate to the issuers of the Fund’s investments, such as management performance, financial condition and demand for the issuers’ goods and services.

Management Risk: A strategy used by the Fund’s portfolio managers may fail to produce the intended result.  

Liquidity Risk: Liquidity risk is the risk that the Fund may be unable to find a buyer for its investments when it seeks to sell them or to receive the price it expects. Decreases in the number of financial institutions willing to make markets in the Fund’s investments or in their capacity or willingness to transact may increase the Fund’s exposure to this risk. Events that may lead to increased redemptions, such as market disruptions or increases in interest rates, may also negatively impact the liquidity of the Fund’s investments when it needs to dispose of them. If the Fund is forced to sell its investments at an unfavorable time and/or under adverse conditions in order to meet redemption requests, such sales could negatively affect the Fund. Liquidity issues may also make it difficult to value the Fund’s investments.

Cybersecurity and Technology Risk: The Fund, its service providers, market makers, listing exchange, Authorized Participants and other market participants increasingly depend on complex information technology and communications systems, which are subject to a number of different threats and


 

8 


 

Fund Summary 


 

risks that could adversely affect the Fund and its shareholders. Cybersecurity and other operational and technology issues may result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders.

Foreign Securities Risk: Investments in foreign securities may be subject to greater political, economic, environmental, credit/counterparty and information risks. The Fund’s investments in foreign securities also are subject to foreign currency fluctuations and other foreign currency-related risks. Foreign securities may be subject to higher volatility than U.S. securities, varying degrees of regulation and limited liquidity.

New and Smaller Sized Fund Risk: The Fund is relatively new and has a limited operating history for investors to evaluate and may not be successful in implementing its investment strategies. The Fund may fail to attract sufficient assets to achieve or maintain economies of scale, which could result in the Fund being liquidated at any time without shareholder approval and at a time that may not be favorable for all shareholders. Smaller ETFs will have a lower public float and lower trading volumes, leading to wider bid/ask spreads.

Operational Risk: The Fund is exposed to operational risk arising from a number of factors, including but not limited to human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, market makers, listing exchange, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or with which they do business, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures.

REITs Risk:  Investments in the real estate industry, including REITs, are particularly sensitive to economic downturns and are sensitive to factors such as changes in real estate values, property taxes and tax laws, interest rates, cash flow of underlying real estate assets, occupancy rates, government regulations affecting zoning, land use and rents and the management skill and creditworthiness of the issuer. Companies in the real estate industry also may be subject to liabilities under environmental and hazardous waste laws. In addition, the value of a REIT is affected by changes in the value of the properties owned by the REIT or mortgage loans held by the REIT. REITs are also subject to default and prepayment risk. Many REITs are highly leveraged, increasing their risk. The Fund will indirectly bear its proportionate share of expenses, including management fees, paid by each REIT in which it invests in addition to the expenses of the Fund.

Secondary Market Trading Risk:  Investors buying or selling shares of the Fund in the secondary market will pay brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by broker-dealers as determined by that broker. Brokerage commissions are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell relatively small amounts of shares.

Risk/Return Bar Chart and Table

Because the Fund has not yet completed a full calendar year, information related to Fund performance, including a bar chart showing annual returns, has not been included in this Prospectus. The performance information provided by the Fund in the future will give some indication of the risks of an investment in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual returns compare against those of a broad measure of market performance.

Management

Investment Adviser

Natixis Advisors, L.P. (“Natixis Advisors”)

Subadviser

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management, L.P. (“Vaughan Nelson”)

Portfolio Managers

Scott J. Weber, CFA®, Lead Senior Portfolio Manager of Vaughan Nelson, has served as co-manager of the Fund since 2020.

Chris D. Wallis, CFA®, Chief Executive Officer and Lead Senior Portfolio Manager of Vaughan Nelson, has served as co-manager of the Fund since 2020.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Fund will issue and redeem shares at NAV only in large blocks of shares, typically 10,000 shares, called “Creation Units.” Only a few financial institutions that are Authorized Participants are authorized to purchase and redeem Creation Units directly with the Fund. Creation Units are typically issued and redeemed in exchange for cash and/or the deposit or delivery of a basket of securities specified each day by the Fund as the securities in exchange for which the Fund will issue or redeem shares. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold in secondary market transactions through broker-dealers. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca, and because shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares of the Fund may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount).

You may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (“the bid/ask spread”). For more information, including recent information (when available) regarding the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid/ask spreads, please visit the Fund’s website at im.natixis.com. However, because the Fund is newly-organized, trading data and related costs are not available as of the date of this Prospectus.


 

9 


 

Fund Summary 


 

Tax Information

Fund distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, except for distributions to retirement plans and other investors that qualify for tax-advantaged treatment under U.S. federal income tax law generally. Investments in such tax-advantaged plans will generally be taxed only upon withdrawal of monies from the tax-advantaged arrangement.

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of the Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.


 

10 


 

Fund Summary 


 

Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF

Investment Goal

The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

Fund Fees & Expenses

The following table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table. If such expenses were reflected, the expenses set forth below would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

ETF

Management fees

0.80%

Distribution and/or service (12b-1) fees

0.00%

Other expenses

4.84%

Total annual fund operating expenses

5.64%

Fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement1

4.74%

Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement

0.90%

1 Natixis Advisors, L.P. (“Natixis Advisors” or the “Adviser”) has given a binding contractual undertaking to the Fund to limit the amount of the Fund’s total annual fund operating expenses to 0.90% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, exclusive of brokerage expenses, interest expense, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses, organizational and extraordinary expenses, such as litigation and indemnification expenses. This undertaking is in effect through April 30, 2023 and may be terminated before then only with the consent of the Fund’s Board of Trustees. The Adviser will be permitted to recover management fees waived and/or expenses reimbursed to the extent that expenses in later periods fall below both (1) the expense limitation ratio in place at the time such amounts were waived/reimbursed and (2) the Fund’s current applicable expense limitation ratio. The Fund will not be obligated to repay any such waived/reimbursed fees and expenses more than one year after the end of the fiscal year in which the fees or expenses were waived/reimbursed.

Example

This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated (whether or not shares are redeemed), and also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same, except that the example is based on the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement assuming that such waiver and/or reimbursement will only be in place through the date noted above and on the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses for the remaining periods. The example does not take into account brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries that you may pay on your purchases and sales of shares of the Fund. It also does not include the transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of creation units (“Creation Units”), because those fees will not be imposed on retail investors. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be (based on estimated Fund expenses):

If shares are redeemed:

1 year

3 years

ETF

$

92

$

484

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 for you if your 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 is newly-organized, portfolio turnover information is not available as of the date of this Prospectus.

Investments, Risks and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in companies that, at the time of purchase, have market capitalizations either within the capitalization range of the Russell Midcap® Value Index or of $15 billion or less. The Russell Midcap® Value Index is an unmanaged index that measures the performance of companies with lower price to book ratios and lower forecasted growth values within the broader Russell Midcap Index®. While the market capitalization range for the Russell Midcap® Value Index fluctuates, at March 31, 2020, it was $72.6 million to $39.1 billion. However, the


 

11 


 

Fund Summary 


 

Fund may invest up tp 20% of its assets in companies with smaller or larger capitalizations. Equity securities may take the form of exchange-traded stock (e.g., common and preferred exchange-traded stocks) in corporations and exchange-traded real estate investment trusts (“REITs”).

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management, L.P. (“Vaughan Nelson”) invests in medium-capitalization companies with a focus on those companies meeting Vaughan Nelson’s return expectations. Vaughan Nelson uses a bottom-up value oriented investment process in constructing the Fund’s portfolio. Vaughan Nelson seeks companies with the following characteristics, although not all of the companies selected will have these attributes:

 

Companies earning a positive return on capital with stable-to-improving returns.

 

Companies valued at a discount to their asset value.

 

Companies with an attractive and sustainable dividend level.
 

In selecting investments for the Fund, Vaughan Nelson generally employs the following strategies:

 

Vaughan Nelson employs a value-driven investment philosophy that selects stocks selling at a relatively low value based on business fundamentals, economic margin analysis and discounted cash flow models. Vaughan Nelson selects companies that it believes are out of favor or misunderstood.

 

Vaughan Nelson narrows the investment universe by using value-driven screens to create a research universe of companies with market capitalizations between $1 billion and $20 billion.

 

Vaughan Nelson uses fundamental analysis to construct a portfolio that, in the opinion of Vaughan Nelson, is made up of quality companies with the potential to provide significant increases in share price over a three year period.

 

Vaughan Nelson will generally sell a security when it reaches Vaughan Nelson’s price target or when the issuer shows a change in financial condition, competitive pressures, poor management decisions or internal or external forces reducing future expected returns from those expected at the time of investment.
 

Non-Transparent ETF with Proxy Portfolio Structure. The Fund is a type of exchange traded fund (“ETF”). Unlike traditional ETFs, however, which generally publish their portfolio holdings on a daily basis, the Fund discloses a portfolio transparency substitute—the “Proxy Portfolio”—and certain related information about the relative performance of the Proxy Portfolio and the Fund’s actual portfolio (“Actual Portfolio”) holdings (the “Proxy Portfolio Disclosures”), which are intended to help keep the market price of the Fund’s shares trading at or close to the underlying net asset value (“NAV”) per share of the Fund. While the Proxy Portfolio includes some of the Fund’s holdings, it is not the Fund’s Actual Portfolio, and the Fund will not disclose the daily holdings of the Actual Portfolio. Although the Fund seeks to benefit from keeping its portfolio information secret, market participants may attempt to use the Proxy Portfolio to identify the Fund’s trading strategy, which if successful, could result in such market participants engaging in certain predatory trading practices that may have the potential to harm the Fund and its shareholders. The Fund’s exemptive relief limits the types of securities in which the Fund can invest, which may constrain the Fund’s ability to implement its investment strategies. The Fund is actively-managed and does not intend to track an index.

Principal Investment Risks

The principal risks of investing in the Fund are summarized below. The Fund does not represent a complete investment program. You may lose money by investing in the Fund. 

The significance of any specific risk to an investment in the Fund will vary over time, depending on the composition of the Fund’s portfolio, market conditions, and other factors. You should read all of the risk information presented below carefully, because any one or more of these risks may result in losses to the Fund.

Proxy Portfolio Structure Risk: Unlike traditional ETFs that provide daily disclosure of their portfolio holdings, the Fund does not disclose the daily holdings of the Actual Portfolio. Instead, the Fund discloses a Proxy Portfolio that is designed to reflect the economic exposure and risk characteristics of the Fund’s Actual Portfolio on any given trading day. Although the Proxy Portfolio and Proxy Portfolio Disclosures are intended to provide Authorized Participants and other market participants with enough information to allow them to engage in effective arbitrage transactions that will keep the market price of the Fund’s shares trading at or close to the underlying NAV per share of the Fund, while at the same time enabling them to establish cost-effective hedging strategies to reduce risk, there is a risk that market prices will vary significantly from the underlying NAV of the Fund. See “Premium/Discount Risk.” Similarly, shares of the Fund may trade at a wider bid/ask spread than shares of traditional ETFs, and may therefore be more costly for investors to trade. See “Trading Issues Risk.” Also, the Fund will incur expenses to license the Proxy Portfolio mechanism, which may impact shareholder returns. Additionally, the proxy mechanism itself may result in additional trading costs, which also may negatively impact shareholder returns. In addition, although the Proxy Portfolio is designed to protect the Fund from predatory practices such as front-running and free-riding, market participants may nevertheless be able to use the Proxy Portfolio and Proxy Portfolio Disclosures to engage in trading practices that disadvantage the Fund. See “Predatory Trading Practices Risk.” The Fund will monitor on an ongoing basis the premium/discount between the market price and the NAV of the Fund’s shares, but there can be no assurance that the Proxy Portfolio methodology will operate as intended. The Proxy Portfolio methodology is novel and not yet proven as an effective arbitrage mechanism. The effectiveness of the Proxy Portfolio methodology as an arbitrage mechanism is contingent upon, among other things, the effectiveness of the Fund’s Factor Model analysis in creating a Proxy Portfolio that performs in a manner substantially identical to the performance of the Fund’s Actual Portfolio and the willingness of Authorized Participants and other market participants to trade based on the Proxy Portfolio. In the event that the Proxy Portfolio methodology does not result in effective arbitrage opportunities in the Fund shares, the Fund may exhibit wider premiums/discounts, bid/ask spreads and tracking error. At certain thresholds for such premiums/discounts, bid/ask spreads and tracking error, the Fund’s Board of Trustees will consider possible remedial measures, which may include liquidation or conversion to a fully-transparent, active ETF or a mutual fund.

 

Premium/Discount Risk: Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “NYSE Arca”) and are bought and sold in the secondary
 


 

12 


 

Fund Summary 


 

 

market at market prices that may differ from their most recent NAV. The market value of the Fund’s shares will fluctuate, in some cases materially, in response to changes in the Fund’s NAV, the intraday value of the Fund’s holdings, and the relative supply and demand for the Fund’s shares on the exchange. Although the Proxy Portfolio is intended to provide investors with enough information to allow for an effective arbitrage mechanism that will keep the market price of the Fund at or close to the Fund’s NAV, there is a risk (which may increase during periods of market disruption or volatility) that market prices for Fund shares will vary significantly from the Fund’s NAV. This risk may be greater for the Fund than for traditional ETFs that disclose their full portfolio holdings on a daily basis because the publication of the Proxy Portfolio does not provide the same level of transparency as the publication of the full portfolio by a fully transparent active ETF. This could cause the Fund’s shares to have wider bid/ask spreads and larger premiums/discounts than fully transparent ETFs using the same investment strategies. Disruptions to creations and redemptions, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares may result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV and/or in a reduced liquidity of your investment. During such periods, you may be unable to sell your shares or may incur significant losses if you sell your shares. There are various methods by which investors can purchase and sell shares and various types of orders that may be placed. Investors should consult their financial intermediary before purchasing or selling shares of the Fund. If a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk:  Only an authorized participant (“Authorized Participant”) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as Authorized Participants, none of which are or will be obligated to engage in creation or redemption transactions. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. The Fund’s novel structure may affect the number of entities willing to act as Authorized Participants, and this risk may be exacerbated during times of market stress.

 

Predatory Trading Practices Risk: Although the Fund seeks to benefit from keeping its portfolio holdings information secret, market participants may attempt to use the Proxy Portfolio and related Proxy Portfolio Disclosures to identify the Fund’s holdings and trading strategy. If successful, this could result in such market participants engaging in predatory trading practices that could harm the Fund and its shareholders. The Proxy Portfolio and related Proxy Portfolio Disclosures have been designed to minimize the risk that market participants could “reverse engineer” the Fund’s portfolio and investment strategy, but they may not be successful in this regard.

 

Trading Issues Risk: Trading in Fund shares on the NYSE Arca may be halted in certain circumstances. If 10% or more of the Fund’s Actual Portfolio does not have readily available market quotations, the Fund will promptly request that the NYSE Arca halt trading in the Fund’s shares. Such trading halts may have a greater impact on the Fund compared to other ETFs due to its lack of transparency. If the trading of a security held in the Fund’s Actual Portfolio is halted or otherwise does not have readily available market quotations and the Adviser believes that the lack of any such readily available market quotations may affect the reliability of the Proxy Portfolio as an arbitrage vehicle or otherwise determines it is in the best interest of the Fund, the Adviser promptly will disclose on the Fund’s website the identity and weighting of such security for so long as such security’s trading is halted or otherwise does not have readily available market quotations and remains in the Actual Portfolio.There can be no assurance that the requirements of the NYSE Arca necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met. Because the Fund trades on the basis of a published Proxy Portfolio, it may trade at a wider bid/ask spread and may experience a wider premium/discount than traditional ETFs that publish their portfolios on a daily basis, and therefore, may cost investors more to trade especially during periods of market disruption or volatility.

 

Tracking Error Risk: Although the Proxy Portfolio is designed to reflect the economic exposure and risk characteristics of the Fund’s Actual Portfolio on any given trading day, there is a risk that the performance of the Proxy Portfolio will diverge from the performance of the Actual Portfolio, potentially materially.
 

Equity Securities Risk: The value of the Fund’s investments in equity securities could be subject to unpredictable declines in the value of individual securities and periods of below-average performance in individual securities or in the equity market as a whole. Value stocks can perform differently from the market as a whole and from other types of stocks. Value stocks also present the risk that their lower valuations fairly reflect their business prospects and that investors will not agree that the stocks represent favorable investment opportunities, and they may fall out of favor with investors and underperform growth stocks during any given period. In the event an issuer is liquidated or declares bankruptcy, the claims of owners of the issuer’s bonds generally take precedence over the claims of those who own preferred stock or common stock. Securities of real estate-related companies and exchange-traded REITs in which the Fund may invest may be considered equity securities, thus subjecting the Fund to the risks of investing in equity securities generally.

Market/Issuer Risk: The market value of the Fund’s investments will move up and down, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, based upon overall market and economic conditions, as well as a number of reasons that directly relate to the issuers of the Fund’s investments, such as management performance, financial condition and demand for the issuers’ goods and services.

Management Risk: A strategy used by the Fund’s portfolio managers may fail to produce the intended result.  

Small- and Mid-Capitalization Companies Risk: Compared to large-capitalization companies, small- and mid-capitalization companies are more likely to have limited product lines, markets or financial resources. Stocks of these companies often trade less frequently and in limited volume and their prices may fluctuate more than stocks of large-capitalization companies. As a result, it may be relatively more difficult for the Fund to buy and sell securities of small- and mid-capitalization companies.

Liquidity Risk: Liquidity risk is the risk that the Fund may be unable to find a buyer for its investments when it seeks to sell them or to receive the price it expects. Decreases in the number of financial institutions willing to make markets in the Fund’s investments or in their capacity or willingness to transact may increase the Fund’s exposure to this risk. Events that may lead to increased redemptions, such as market disruptions or increases in interest rates, may also


 

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Fund Summary 


 

negatively impact the liquidity of the Fund’s investments when it needs to dispose of them. If the Fund is forced to sell its investments at an unfavorable time and/or under adverse conditions in order to meet redemption requests, such sales could negatively affect the Fund. Liquidity issues may also make it difficult to value the Fund’s investments.

Cybersecurity and Technology Risk: The Fund, its service providers, market makers, listing exchange, Authorized Participants and other market participants increasingly depend on complex information technology and communications systems, which are subject to a number of different threats and risks that could adversely affect the Fund and its shareholders. Cybersecurity and other operational and technology issues may result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders.

Foreign Securities Risk: Investments in foreign securities may be subject to greater political, economic, environmental, credit/counterparty and information risks. The Fund’s investments in foreign securities also are subject to foreign currency fluctuations and other foreign currency-related risks. Foreign securities may be subject to higher volatility than U.S. securities, varying degrees of regulation and limited liquidity.

Investments in Other Investment Companies Risk: The Fund will indirectly bear the management, service and other fees of any other investment companies, including exchange-traded funds, in which it invests in addition to its own expenses.

New and Smaller Sized Fund Risk: The Fund is relatively new and has a limited operating history for investors to evaluate and may not be successful in implementing its investment strategies. The Fund may fail to attract sufficient assets to achieve or maintain economies of scale, which could result in the Fund being liquidated at any time without shareholder approval and at a time that may not be favorable for all shareholders. Smaller ETFs will have a lower public float and lower trading volumes, leading to wider bid/ask spreads.

Operational Risk: The Fund is exposed to operational risk arising from a number of factors, including but not limited to human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, market makers, listing exchange, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests or with which they do business, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures.

REITs Risk:  Investments in the real estate industry, including REITs, are particularly sensitive to economic downturns and are sensitive to factors such as changes in real estate values, property taxes and tax laws, interest rates, cash flow of underlying real estate assets, occupancy rates, government regulations affecting zoning, land use and rents and the management skill and creditworthiness of the issuer. Companies in the real estate industry also may be subject to liabilities under environmental and hazardous waste laws. In addition, the value of a REIT is affected by changes in the value of the properties owned by the REIT or mortgage loans held by the REIT. REITs are also subject to default and prepayment risk. Many REITs are highly leveraged, increasing their risk. The Fund will indirectly bear its proportionate share of expenses, including management fees, paid by each REIT in which it invests in addition to the expenses of the Fund.

Secondary Market Trading Risk:  Investors buying or selling shares of the Fund in the secondary market will pay brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by broker-dealers as determined by that broker. Brokerage commissions are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell relatively small amounts of shares.

Risk/Return Bar Chart and Table

Because the Fund has not yet completed a full calendar year, information related to Fund performance, including a bar chart showing annual returns, has not been included in this Prospectus. The performance information provided by the Fund in the future will give some indication of the risks of an investment in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual returns compare against those of a broad measure of market performance.

Management

Investment Adviser

Natixis Advisors, L.P. (“Natixis Advisors”)

Subadviser

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management, L.P.

Portfolio Managers

Dennis G. Alff, CFA®, Senior Portfolio Manager of Vaughan Nelson, has served as co-manager of the Fund since 2020.

Chad D. Fargason, Senior Portfolio Manager of Vaughan Nelson, has served as co-manager of the Fund since 2020.

Chris D. Wallis, CFA®, Chief Executive Officer and Senior Portfolio Manager of Vaughan Nelson, has served as co-manager of the Fund since 2020.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Fund will issue and redeem shares at NAV only in large blocks of shares, typically 10,000 shares, called “Creation Units.” Only a few financial institutions that are Authorized Participants are authorized to purchase and redeem Creation Units directly with the Fund. Creation Units are typically issued and


 

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Fund Summary 


 

redeemed in exchange for cash and/or the deposit or delivery of a basket of securities specified each day by the Fund as the securities in exchange for which the Fund will issue or redeem shares. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.

Individual shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold in secondary market transactions through broker-dealers. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca, and because shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares of the Fund may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount).

You may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (“the bid/ask spread”). For more information, including recent information (when available) regarding the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid/ask spreads, please visit the Fund’s website at im.natixis.com. However, because the Fund is newly-organized, trading data and related costs are not available as of the date of this Prospectus.

Tax Information

Fund distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, except for distributions to retirement plans and other investors that qualify for tax-advantaged treatment under U.S. federal income tax law generally. Investments in such tax-advantaged plans will generally be taxed only upon withdrawal of monies from the tax-advantaged arrangement.

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of the Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.


 

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Investment Goals, Strategies and Risks 


 

More About Goals and Strategies

Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF

Investment Goal

The Fund seeks long-term growth of capital. The Fund’s investment goal may be changed without shareholder approval. The Fund will provide 60 days’ prior written notice to shareholders before changing the investment goal.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund ordinarily invests at least 80% of its assets in equity securities, including exchange-traded common stocks and exchange-traded preferred stocks. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in securities of U.S. issuers. The Fund’s approach to equity investing combines the styles of two subadvisers in selecting securities for each of the Fund’s segments. The segments and their subadvisers are listed below.

 

Harris Associates - Large Cap Value segment - Under normal circumstances, the Large Cap Value segment of the Fund managed by Harris Associates L.P. (“Harris Associates”) will invest primarily in the exchange-traded common stocks of larger- capitalization companies that Harris Associates believes are trading at a substantial discount to the company’s “intrinsic value.” By “intrinsic value,” Harris Associates means its estimate of the price a knowledgeable buyer would pay to acquire the entire business. Harris Associates believes that investing in securities priced significantly below what Harris Associates believes is a company’s intrinsic value presents the best opportunity to achieve the Fund’s investment objectives. Harris Associates usually sells a security when the price approaches its estimated value and monitors each holding and adjusts its price targets as warranted to reflect changes in the issuer’s fundamentals.  In determining whether an issuer is a U.S. or foreign issuer for the Harris Associates – Large Cap Value segment, Harris Associates considers various factors, including its country of domicile, the primary stock exchange on which it trades, the location from which the majority of its revenue comes, and its reporting currency.

 

Loomis Sayles - All Cap Growth segment - Under normal circumstances, the All Cap Growth segment of the Fund, managed by Loomis, Sayles & Company, L.P. (“Loomis Sayles”), will invest primarily in equity securities, including exchange-traded common stocks and exchange-traded preferred stocks. This segment may invest in companies of any size. The segment normally invests across a wide range of sectors and industries. The segment’s portfolio manager employs a growth style of equity management that emphasizes companies with sustainable competitive advantages, long-term structural growth drivers, attractive cash flow returns on invested capital, and management teams focused on creating long-term value for shareholders. The segment’s portfolio manager aims to invest in companies when they trade at a significant discount to the estimate of intrinsic value. The segment will consider selling a portfolio investment when the portfolio manager believes an unfavorable structural change occurs within a given business or the markets in which it operates, a critical underlying investment assumption is flawed, when a more attractive reward-to-risk opportunity becomes available, when the portfolio manager believes the current price fully reflects intrinsic value, or for other investment reasons which the portfolio manager deems appropriate.  Although certain equity securities purchased by the Loomis Sayles – All Cap Growth segment of the Fund may be issued by domestic companies incorporated outside of the United States, Loomis Sayles does not consider these securities to be foreign if they are included in the U.S. equity indices published by S&P Global Ratings or Russell Investments or if the security’s country of risk defined by Bloomberg is the United States.
 

Subject to the allocation policy adopted by the Fund’s Board of Trustees, Natixis Advisors, L.P. (“Natixis Advisors”) generally allocates capital invested in the Fund equally (i.e., 50%) between its two segments. Under the allocation policy, Natixis Advisors may also allocate capital away from or towards each segment from time to time and may reallocate capital between the segments. Each subadviser manages its segment of the Fund’s assets in accordance with its distinct investment style and strategy.

The Fund may also:

 

Invest in exchange-traded real estate investment trusts (“REITs”).

 

Invest in common stocks listed on a foreign exchange that trade on such exchange contemporaneously with the shares of the Fund.

 

Invest in exchange-traded American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”).
 

Non-Transparent ETF with Proxy Portfolio Structure. The Fund is a type of exchange traded fund (“ETF”). Unlike traditional ETFs, however, which generally publish their portfolio holdings on a daily basis, the Fund discloses a portfolio transparency substitute—the “Proxy Portfolio”—and certain related information about the relative performance of the Proxy Portfolio and the Fund’s actual portfolio (“Actual Portfolio”) holdings (the “Proxy Portfolio Disclosures”), which are intended to help keep the market price of the Fund’s shares trading at or close to the underlying net asset value (“NAV”) per share of the Fund. While the Proxy Portfolio includes some of the Fund’s holdings, it is not the Fund’s Actual Portfolio. The Fund will not disclose the daily holdings of the Actual Portfolio and will not require a minimum overlap of holdings between the Proxy Portfolio and Actual Portfolio. Although the Fund seeks to benefit from keeping its portfolio information secret, market participants may attempt to use the Proxy Portfolio to identify the Fund’s trading strategy, which if successful, could result in such market participants engaging in certain predatory trading practices that may have the potential to harm the Fund and its shareholders. The Fund’s exemptive relief limits the types of securities in which the Fund can invest, which may constrain the Fund’s ability to implement its investment strategies. The Fund is actively-managed and does not intend to track an index.


 

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Investment Goals, Strategies and Risks 


 

Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF

Investment Goal

The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation. The Fund’s investment goal may be changed without shareholder approval. The Fund will provide 60 days’ prior notice to shareholders before changing the investment goal.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund, under normal market conditions, will invest primarily in equity securities, including exchange-traded common stocks, exchange-traded preferred stocks and exchange-traded real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). The Fund is non-diversified, which means that it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a particular issuer and may invest in fewer issuers than a diversified fund. Typically, the Fund’s portfolio will generally hold 20 to 40 securities. The Fund may invest in companies with any market capitalization, although, it will typically focus its investments in mid- to large- capitalization companies. A company will be considered to be a mid- to large-capitalization company if its capitalization is $5 billion or higher.

Vaughan Nelson invests in companies of all market capitalizations with a focus on those companies meeting Vaughan Nelson’s return expectations.

Vaughan Nelson uses a bottom-up value oriented investment process in constructing the Fund’s portfolio. Vaughan Nelson seeks companies with the following characteristics, although not all of the companies selected will have these attributes:

 

Companies earning a positive return on capital with stable-to-improving returns.

 

Companies valued at discount to their asset value.

 

Companies with an attractive and sustainable dividend level.
 

In selecting investments for the Fund, Vaughan Nelson generally employs the following strategies:

 

Vaughan Nelson employs a value-driven investment philosophy that selects securities selling at a relatively low value based on discounted cash flow models. Vaughan Nelson selects companies that it believes are out-of-favor or misunderstood.

 

Vaughan Nelson starts with the entire U.S. exchange-traded equity investment universe. Vaughan Nelson then narrows the investment universe by using fundamental analysis to construct a portfolio of generally 20 to 40 securities.

 

Vaughan Nelson uses fundamental analysis to construct a portfolio that, in the opinion of Vaughan Nelson, is made up of quality companies with the potential to provide significant increases in share price over a three year period.

 

Vaughan Nelson will generally sell a security when it reaches Vaughan Nelson’s price target or when the issuer shows a change in financial condition, competitive pressures, poor management decisions or internal or external forces reducing future expected returns from the investment thesis.
 

The Fund also may:

 

Invest in common stocks listed on a foreign exchange that trade on such exchange contemporaneously with the shares of the Fund.

 

Invest in exchange-traded REITs.

 

Invest in exchange-traded American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”).
 

Non-Transparent ETF with Proxy Portfolio Structure. The Fund is a type of exchange traded fund (“ETF”). Unlike traditional ETFs, however, which generally publish their portfolio holdings on a daily basis, the Fund discloses a portfolio transparency substitute—the “Proxy Portfolio”—and certain related information about the relative performance of the Proxy Portfolio and the Fund’s actual portfolio (“Actual Portfolio”) holdings (the “Proxy Portfolio Disclosures”), which are intended to help keep the market price of the Fund’s shares trading at or close to the underlying net asset value (“NAV”) per share of the Fund. While the Proxy Portfolio includes some of the Fund’s holdings, it is not the Fund’s Actual Portfolio. The Fund will not disclose the daily holdings of the Actual Portfolio and will not require a minimum overlap of holdings between the Proxy Portfolio and Actual Portfolio. Although the Fund seeks to benefit from keeping its portfolio information secret, market participants may attempt to use the Proxy Portfolio to identify the Fund’s trading strategy, which if successful, could result in such market participants engaging in certain predatory trading practices that may have the potential to harm the Fund and its shareholders. The Fund’s exemptive relief limits the types of securities in which the Fund can invest, which may constrain the Fund’s ability to implement its investment strategies. The Fund is actively-managed and does not intend to track an index.

Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF

Investment Goal

The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation. The Fund’s investment goal may be changed without shareholder approval. The Fund will provide 60 days’ prior written notice to shareholders before changing the investment goal.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in companies that, at the time of purchase, have market capitalizations either within the capitalization range of the Russell Midcap® Value Index or of $15 billion or less. The Russell Midcap® Value Index is an unmanaged index that measures the performance of companies with lower price to book ratios and lower forecasted growth values within the broader Russell Midcap Index®. While the market capitalization range for the Russell Midcap® Value Index fluctuates, at March 31, 2020, it was $72.6 million to $39.1 billion. However, the


 

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Investment Goals, Strategies and Risks 


 

Fund may invest up tp 20% of its assets in companies with smaller or larger capitalizations. Equity securities may take the form of exchange-traded stock (e.g., common and preferred exchange-traded stocks) in corporations and exchange-traded real estate investment trusts (“REITs”).

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management, L.P. (“Vaughan Nelson”) invests in medium-capitalization companies with a focus on those companies meeting Vaughan Nelson’s return expectations. Vaughan Nelson uses a bottom-up value oriented investment process in constructing the Fund’s portfolio. Vaughan Nelson seeks companies with the following characteristics, although not all of the companies selected will have these attributes:

 

Companies earning a positive return on capital with stable-to-improving returns.

 

Companies valued at a discount to their asset value.

 

Companies with an attractive and sustainable dividend level.
 

In selecting investments for the Fund, Vaughan Nelson generally employs the following strategies:

 

Vaughan Nelson employs a value-driven investment philosophy that selects stocks selling at a relatively low value based on business fundamentals, economic margin analysis and discounted cash flow models. Vaughan Nelson selects companies that it believes are out of favor or misunderstood.

 

Vaughan Nelson narrows the investment universe by using value-driven screens to create a research universe of companies with market capitalizations between $1 billion and $20 billion.

 

Vaughan Nelson uses fundamental analysis to construct a portfolio that, in the opinion of Vaughan Nelson, is made up of quality companies with the potential to provide significant increases in share price over a three year period.

 

Vaughan Nelson will generally sell a security when it reaches Vaughan Nelson’s price target or when the issuer shows a change in financial condition, competitive pressures, poor management decisions or internal or external forces reducing future expected returns from those expected at the time of investment.
 

The Fund may also:

 

Invest in exchange-traded preferred stock.

 

Invest in common stocks listed on a foreign exchange that trade on such exchange contemporaneously with the shares of the Fund.

 

Invest in other investment companies, to the extent permitted by the Investment Company Act of 1940.
 

Non-Transparent ETF with Proxy Portfolio Structure. The Fund is a type of exchange traded fund (“ETF”). Unlike traditional ETFs, however, which generally publish their portfolio holdings on a daily basis, the Fund discloses a portfolio transparency substitute—the “Proxy Portfolio”—and certain related information about the relative performance of the Proxy Portfolio and the Fund’s actual portfolio (“Actual Portfolio”) holdings (the “Proxy Portfolio Disclosures”), which are intended to help keep the market price of the Fund’s shares trading at or close to the underlying net asset value (“NAV”) per share of the Fund. While the Proxy Portfolio includes some of the Fund’s holdings, it is not the Fund’s Actual Portfolio. The Fund will not disclose the daily holdings of the Actual Portfolio and will not require a minimum overlap of holdings between the Proxy Portfolio and Actual Portfolio. Although the Fund seeks to benefit from keeping its portfolio information secret, market participants may attempt to use the Proxy Portfolio to identify the Fund’s trading strategy, which if successful, could result in such market participants engaging in certain predatory trading practices that may have the potential to harm the Fund and its shareholders. The Fund’s exemptive relief limits the types of securities in which the Fund can invest, which may constrain the Fund’s ability to implement its investment strategies. The Fund is actively-managed and does not intend to track an index.

More About Risks

Principal Investment Risks

A Fund has principal investment strategies that come with inherent risks. The principal risks of investing in a Fund are summarized in the Fund Summary under “Principal Investment Risks.” A Fund does not represent a complete investment program. The following provides more information about some of the risks to which a Fund may be subject because of its investments in various types of securities and other instruments or engagement in various practices. The significance of any specific risk to an investment in the Fund will vary over time, depending on the composition of the Fund’s portfolio, market conditions, and other factors. You should read all of the risk information presented below carefully, because any one or more of these risks may result in losses to the Fund.

Proxy Portfolio Structure Risk

Unlike traditional ETFs that provide daily disclosure of their portfolio holdings, the Funds do not disclose the daily holdings of the Actual Portfolio. Instead, a Fund discloses a Proxy Portfolio that is designed to reflect the economic exposure and risk characteristics of the Fund’s Actual Portfolio on any given trading day. Although the Proxy Portfolio and Proxy Portfolio Disclosures are intended to provide Authorized Participants and other market participants with enough information to allow them to engage in effective arbitrage transactions that will keep the market price of a Fund’s shares trading at or close to the underlying NAV per share of the Fund, while at the same time enabling them to establish cost-effective hedging strategies to reduce risk, there is a risk that market prices will vary significantly from the underlying NAV of the Fund. See “Premium/Discount Risk.” Similarly, shares of the Fund may trade at a wider bid/ask spread than shares of traditional ETFs, and may therefore be more costly for investors to trade. See “Trading Issues Risk.” Also, the Fund will incur expenses to license the Proxy Portfolio mechanism, which may impact shareholder returns. Additionally, the proxy mechanism itself may result in additional trading costs, which also may negatively impact shareholder returns. In addition, although the Proxy Portfolio is designed to protect a Fund from predatory practices such as front-running and free-riding, market participants may nevertheless be able to use the Proxy Portfolio and Proxy Portfolio Disclosures to engage in


 

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Investment Goals, Strategies and Risks 


 

trading practices that disadvantage the Fund. See “Predatory Trading Practices Risk.” A Fund will monitor on an ongoing basis the premium/discount between the market price and the NAV of the Fund’s shares, but there can be no assurance that the Proxy Portfolio methodology will operate as intended. The Proxy Portfolio methodology is novel and not yet proven as an effective arbitrage mechanism. The effectiveness of the Proxy Portfolio methodology as an arbitrage mechanism is contingent upon, among other things, the effectiveness of the Fund’s Factor Model analysis in creating a Proxy Portfolio that performs in a manner substantially identical to the performance of the Fund’s Actual Portfolio and the willingness of Authorized Participants and other market participants to trade based on the Proxy Portfolio. In the event that the Proxy Portfolio methodology does not result in effective arbitrage opportunities in a Fund’s shares, the Fund may exhibit wider premiums/discounts, bid/ask spreads and tracking error. At certain thresholds for such premiums/discounts, bid/ask spreads and tracking error, the Fund’s Board of Trustees will consider possible remedial measures, which may include liquidation or conversion to a fully-transparent, active ETF or a mutual fund.

 

Premium/Discount Risk

 

  Shares of the Funds are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca and are bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices that may differ from their most recent NAV. The NAV of a Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings. The market value of a Fund’s shares will fluctuate, in some cases materially, in response to changes in the Fund’s NAV, the intraday value of the Fund’s holdings, and the relative supply and demand for the Fund’s shares on the exchange. Although the disclosure of the Proxy Portfolio and Proxy Portfolio Disclosure is intended to provide investors with enough information to allow for an effective arbitrage mechanism that will keep the market price of a Fund at or close to the Fund’s NAV, there is a risk (which may increase during periods of market disruption or volatility) that market prices for Fund shares will vary significantly from the Fund’s NAV. This risk may be greater for a Fund than for traditional ETFs that disclose their full portfolio holdings on a daily basis because publication of the Proxy Portfolio does not provide the same level of transparency as the publication of the full portfolio by a fully transparent active ETF. This could cause the Fund’s shares to have wider bid/ask spreads and larger premiums/discounts than fully transparent active ETFs using the same investment strategies. The Adviser and Subadvisers cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their NAV. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related to, but not identical to, the same forces influencing the prices of the securities held by the Fund. While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it more likely that a Fund’s shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the Fund’s next calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with the Fund’s NAV due to timing reasons, supply and demand imbalances and other factors. Disruptions to creations and redemptions, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares may result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV and/or in a reduced liquidity of your investment. During such periods, you may be unable to sell your shares or may incur significant losses if you sell your shares. There are various methods by which investors can purchase and sell shares and various types of orders that may be placed. Investors should consult their financial intermediary before purchasing or selling shares of a Fund. If a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.

 

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk

 

  Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with a Fund. A Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as Authorized Participants, none of which are or will be obligated to engage in creation or redemption transactions. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, the Fund’s shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. The Funds’ novel structure may affect the number of entities willing to act as Authorized Participants, and this risk may be exacerbated during times of market stress.

 

Predatory Trading Practices Risk

 

  Although a Fund seeks tobenefit from keeping its portfolio information secret, market participants may attempt to use the Proxy Portfolio and related Proxy Portfolio Disclosures to identify the Fund’s holdings and trading strategy. If successful, this could result in such market participants engaging in predatory trading practices that could harm a Fund and its shareholders. The Proxy Portfolio and related Proxy Portfolio Disclosures have been designed to minimize the risk that market participants could “reverse engineer” a Fund’s portfolio and investment strategy, but they may not be successful in this regard.

 

Trading Issues Risk

 

  Although a Fund’s shares are listed on the NYSE Arca, there can be no assurance that an active or liquid trading market for them will develop or be maintained. Trading in Fund shares on the NYSE Arca may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the NYSE Arca, make trading in shares inadvisable. If 10% or more of a Fund’s Actual Portfolio does not have readily available market quotations, the Fund will promptly request that the Exchange halt trading in the Fund’s shares. Such trading halts may have a greater impact on the Fund compared to other ETFs due to a Fund’s lack of transparency. In addition, trading in shares on the NYSE Arca is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the NYSE Arca’s “circuit breaker” rules (rules that require a halt in trading in a specific period of time when market prices decline by a specified percentage during the course of a trading day). If the trading of a security held in a Fund’s Actual Portfolio is halted or otherwise does not have readily available market quotations and the Adviser believes that the lack of any such readily available market quotations may affect the reliability of the Proxy Portfolio as an arbitrage vehicle or otherwise determines it is in the best interest of the Fund, the Adviser promptly will disclose on the Fund’s website the identity and weighting of such security for so long as such security’s trading is halted or otherwise does not have readily available market quotations and remains in the Actual Portfolio. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the NYSE Arca necessary to maintain the listing of a Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged. In addition, an exchange or market may close or issue trading halts on specific securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments may be restricted, which may result in a Fund being unable to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments. In
 


 

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Investment Goals, Strategies and Risks 


 

 

  such circumstances, the Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be unable to accurately price its investments and/or may incur substantial trading losses. Because the Funds trade on the basis of published Proxy Portfolios, they may trade at a wider bid/ask spread and may experience a wider premium/discount than traditional ETFs that publish their portfolios on a daily basis, and therefore, the Funds may cost investors more to trade especially during periods of market volatility.

 

Tracking Error Risk

 

  Although the Proxy Portfolio is designed to reflect the economic exposure and risk characteristics of a Fund’s Actual Portfolio on any given trading day, there is a risk that the performance of the Proxy Portfolio will diverge from the performance of the Actual Portfolio, potentially materially.
 

Allocation Risk

A Fund’s investment performance depends on how its assets are allocated. The allocation may not be optimal in every market condition. You could lose money on your investment in the Fund as a result of this allocation.

Cybersecurity and Technology Risk

The Funds, their service providers, and other market participants increasingly depend on complex information technology and communications systems, which are subject to a number of different threats and risks that could adversely affect the Funds and their shareholders. These risks include, among others, theft, misuse, and improper release of confidential or highly sensitive information relating to the Funds and their shareholders, as well as compromises or failures to systems, networks, devices and applications relating to the operations of the Funds and their service providers. Power outages, natural disasters, equipment malfunctions and processing errors that threaten these systems, as well as market events that occur at a pace that overloads these systems, may also disrupt business operations or impact critical data. Cybersecurity and other operational and technology issues may result in financial losses to the Funds and their shareholders, impede business transactions, violate privacy and other laws, subject the Funds to certain regulatory penalties and reputational damage, and increase compliance costs and expenses. Although the Funds have developed processes, risk management systems and business continuity plans designed to reduce these risks, the Funds do not directly control the cybersecurity defenses, operational and technology plans and systems of their service providers, financial intermediaries and companies in which they invest or with which they do business. The Funds and their shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result. Similar types of cybersecurity risks also are present for issuers of securities in which the Funds invest, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers, and may cause the Fund’s investment in such securities to lose value.

Equity Securities Risk

The value of your investment in a Fund is based on the market value (or price) of the securities the Fund holds. You may lose money on your investment due to unpredictable declines in the value of individual securities and/or periods of below-average performance in individual securities, industries or in the equity market as a whole. This may impact a Fund’s performance and may result in higher portfolio turnover, which may increase the tax liability to taxable shareholders and the expenses incurred by the Fund. The market value of a security can change daily due to political, economic and other events that affect the securities markets generally, as well as those that affect particular companies or governments. These price movements, sometimes called volatility, will vary depending on the types of securities a Fund owns and the markets in which they trade. Historically, the equity markets have moved in cycles, and the value of a Fund’s equity securities may fluctuate drastically from day to day. Individual companies may report poor results or be negatively affected by industry and/or economic trends and developments. The prices of securities issued by such companies may suffer a decline in response to such trends and developments. Small-capitalization and emerging growth companies may be subject to more abrupt price movements, limited markets and less liquidity than larger, more established companies, which could adversely affect the value of the Fund’s portfolio. Growth stocks are generally more sensitive to market movements than other types of stocks primarily because their stock prices are based heavily on future expectations. If the Adviser’s assessment of the prospects for a company’s growth is wrong, or if the Adviser’s judgment of how other investors will value the company’s growth is wrong, then the price of the company’s stock may fall or not approach the value that a Subadviser has placed on it. Value stocks can perform differently from the market as a whole and from other types of stocks. Value stocks also present the risk that their lower valuations fairly reflect their business prospects and that investors will not agree that the stocks represent favorable investment opportunities, and they may fall out of favor with investors and underperform growth stocks during any given period. Common stocks represent an equity or ownership interest in an issuer. In the event an issuer is liquidated or declares bankruptcy, the claims of owners of the issuer’s bonds generally take precedence over the claims of those who own preferred stock or common stock.

Foreign Securities Risk

Foreign securities risk is the risk associated with investments in issuers located in foreign countries. A Fund’s investments in foreign securities may experience more rapid and extreme changes in value than investments in securities of U.S. issuers. The securities markets of many foreign countries are relatively small, with a limited number of issuers and a small number of securities. In addition, foreign companies often are not subject to the same degree of regulation as U.S. companies. Reporting, accounting and auditing standards of foreign countries differ, in some cases significantly, from U.S. standards. Many countries, including developed nations and emerging markets, are faced with concerns about high government debt levels, credit rating downgrades, the future of the euro as a common currency, possible government debt restructuring and related issues, all of which may cause the value of a Fund’s non-U.S. investments to decline. Nationalization, expropriation or confiscatory taxation, currency blockage, the imposition of sanctions by other countries (such as the United States), political changes or diplomatic developments may also cause the value of a Fund’s non-U.S. investments to decline. When imposed, foreign withholding or other taxes reduce a Fund’s return on foreign securities. In the event of nationalization, expropriation or other confiscation, a Fund could lose its entire foreign investment. Investments in emerging markets may be subject to these risks to a greater extent than those in more developed markets and securities of developed market companies that conduct substantial business in emerging markets may also be subject to greater risk. These risks also apply


 

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to securities of foreign issuers traded in the United States or through depositary receipt programs such as American Depositary Receipts. To the extent a Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a specific geographic region, the Fund may have more exposure to regional political, economic, environmental, credit/counterparty and information risks. In addition, foreign securities may be subject to increased credit/counterparty risk because of the potential difficulties of requiring foreign entities to honor their contractual commitments.

Investments in Other Investment Companies Risk

A Fund will indirectly bear the management, service and other fees of any other investment companies, including ETFs, in which it invests in addition to its own expenses. A Fund is also indirectly exposed to the same risks as the underlying funds in proportion to the allocation of the Fund’s assets among the underlying funds. In addition, investments in ETFs have unique characteristics, including, but not limited to, the expense structure and additional expenses associated with investing in ETFs.

Liquidity Risk

Liquidity risk is the risk that a Fund may be unable to find a buyer for its investments when it seeks to sell them or to receive the price it expects. Decreases in the number of financial institutions willing to make markets in a Fund’s investments or in their capacity or willingness to transact may increase the Fund’s exposure to this risk. Events that may lead to increased redemptions, such as market disruptions or increases in interest rates, may also negatively impact the liquidity of a Fund’s investments when it needs to dispose of them. If a Fund is forced to sell its investments at an unfavorable time and/or under adverse conditions in order to meet redemption requests, such sales could negatively affect the Fund. Liquidity issues may also make it difficult to value a Fund’s investments. In some cases, especially during periods of market turmoil, a redemption may dilute the interest of the remaining shareholders. 

Management Risk

Management risk is the risk that the portfolio managers’ investment techniques could fail to achieve a Fund’s objective and could cause your investment in a Fund to lose value. Each Fund is subject to management risk because each Fund is actively managed. The portfolio managers will apply their investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Funds, but there can be no guarantee that such decisions will produce the desired results. For example, securities that the portfolio managers expect to appreciate in value may, in fact, decline. Similarly, in some cases, derivative and other investment techniques may be unavailable or the portfolio managers may determine not to use them, even under market conditions where their use could have benefited the Funds.

Market/Issuer Risk

The market value of a Fund’s investments will move up and down, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, based upon political, regulatory, market, economic, and social conditions, as well as developments that impact specific economic sectors, industries, or segments of the market, including conditions that directly relate to the issuers of a Fund’s investments, such as management performance, financial condition, and demand for the issuers’ goods and services. A Fund is subject to the risk that geopolitical events will adversely affect global economies and markets. War, terrorism, and related geopolitical events have led, and in the future may lead, to increased short-term market volatility and may have adverse long-term effects on global economies and markets. Likewise, natural and environmental disasters and epidemics or pandemics may be highly disruptive to economies and markets.

New and Smaller Sized Fund Risk

Funds that are relatively new or relatively small are subject to additional risks. A Fund that is relatively new has a limited operating history for investors to evaluate and may not be successful in implementing its investment strategies. A Fund that is relatively small may fail to attract sufficient assets to achieve or maintain economies of scale, which could result in the Fund being liquidated at any time without shareholder approval and at a time that may not be favorable for all shareholders. In addition, a Fund that is relatively small may not be successful in implementing its investment strategies after the Fund’s assets grow beyond a certain size, which could adversely affect the Fund’s performance. Smaller ETFs will have a lower public float and lower trading volumes, leading to wider bid/ask spreads.

Non-Diversification Risk

Compared with diversified mutual funds, a non-diversified Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a particular issuer and may invest in fewer issuers. Therefore, a non-diversified Fund may have more risk because changes in the value of a single security or the impact of a single economic, political or regulatory occurrence may have a greater adverse impact on the Fund’s net asset value.

Operational Risk

A Fund is exposed to operational risk arising from a number of factors, including but not limited to human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, market makers, listing exchange, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which a Fund invests or with which it does business, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. A Fund seeks to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate for those risks that they are intended to address.

Recent Market Events Risk

An outbreak of respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus designated as COVID-19 was first detected in China in December 2019 and subsequently spread internationally. The transmission of COVID-19 and efforts to contain its spread have resulted in, among other things, border closings and other significant travel restrictions and disruptions; significant disruptions to business operations, supply chains and customer activity; lower consumer demand for


 

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Investment Goals, Strategies and Risks 


 

goods and services; significant job losses and increasing unemployment; event cancellations and restrictions; service cancellations, reductions and other changes; significant challenges in healthcare service preparation and delivery; prolonged quarantines; as well as general concern and uncertainty that has negatively affected the economic environment. The impact of this outbreak and any other epidemic or pandemic that may arise in the future could adversely affect the economies of many nations or the entire global economy and the financial performance of individual issuers, sectors, industries, asset classes, and markets in significant and unforeseen ways. Although the Federal Reserve has taken a number of actions to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on U.S. markets and institutions, including decreasing interest rates and implementing a variety of emergency stimulus measures, these actions may not succeed or have the intended effect. This crisis or other public health crises may also exacerbate other pre-existing political, social, economic, market and financial risks. The effects of this outbreak or any future outbreak in developing or emerging market countries may be greater due to less established health care systems. The duration of the COVID-19 outbreak and its effects cannot be determined with certainty. The foregoing could result in significant market volatility, exchange trading suspensions and closures, declines in global financial markets, higher default rates and a substantial economic downturn or recession. Such impacts could impair a Fund’s ability to maintain operational standards (such as with respect to satisfying redemption requests), disrupt the operations of a Fund’s service providers, adversely affect the value and liquidity of a Fund’s investments and negatively impact a Fund’s performance and your investment in the Fund.

REITs Risk

The performance of a Fund that invests in REITs may be dependent in part on the performance of the real estate market and the real estate industry in general. The real estate industry is particularly sensitive to economic downturns. Securities of companies in the real estate industry, including REITs, are sensitive to factors such as changes in real estate values, property taxes and tax laws, interest rates, cash flow of underlying real estate assets, occupancy rates, government regulations affecting zoning, land use and rents, and the management skill and creditworthiness of the issuer. Companies in the real estate industry also may be subject to liabilities under environmental and hazardous waste laws. In addition, the value of a REIT is affected by changes in the value of the properties owned by the REIT or the mortgage loans held by the REIT. REITs also are subject to default and prepayment risk. REITs are dependent upon cash flow from their investments to repay financing costs and also on the ability of the REITs’ managers. A Fund will indirectly bear its proportionate share of expenses, including management fees, paid by each REIT in which it invests in addition to the expenses of the Fund.

Secondary Market Trading Risk

A Fund is subject to a number of secondary market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation and redemption process, any of which may lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount. Investors buying or selling shares of a Fund in the secondary market will pay brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by and determined by the broker-dealers, which may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell relatively small amounts of shares. In addition, secondary market investors will also incur the cost of the difference between the price that an investor is willing to pay for shares (the “bid” price) and the price at which an investor is willing to sell shares (the “ask” price). This difference in bid and ask prices is often referred to as the “spread” or “bid/ask spread.” The bid/ask spread varies over time for shares based on trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if a Fund’s shares have more trading volume and market liquidity and higher if a Fund’s shares have little trading volume and market liquidity. Further, increased market volatility may cause increased bid/ask spreads. Shares of a Fund may trade at a wider bid/ask spread than shares of traditional ETFs, and may therefore be more costly for investors to trade. Due to the costs of buying or selling shares, including bid/ask spreads, frequent trading of shares may significantly reduce investment results and an investment in shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments. Shares of a Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases associated with being sold short.

Small- and Mid-Capitalization Companies Risk

Compared to companies with large market capitalization, small- and mid-capitalization companies are more likely to have limited product lines, markets or financial resources, or to depend on a small, inexperienced management group. Securities of these companies often trade less frequently and in limited volume and their prices may fluctuate more than stocks of large-capitalization companies. Securities of small- and mid-capitalization companies may therefore be more vulnerable to adverse developments than those of large-capitalization companies. As a result, it may be relatively more difficult for a Fund to buy and sell securities of small- and mid-capitalization companies.

Differences Between a Traditional ETF and a Non-Transparent ETF

Proxy Portfolio Methodology 
Unlike a traditional ETF, a Fund does not disclose its portfolio holdings daily. Rather, a Fund discloses a portfolio transparency substitute—the “Proxy Portfolio”—and certain related information about the relative performance of the Proxy Portfolio and a Fund’s Actual Portfolio holdings, which are designed to facilitate an effective arbitrage mechanism for a Fund’s shares while protecting the identity of a Fund’s full portfolio holdings. A Fund believes that daily disclosure of its full portfolio holdings could enable market participants to predict a Fund’s trading strategy and trade ahead of a Fund’s portfolio trades (a practice known as “front-running”), or to copy a Fund’s investment strategy (a practice known as “free riding”). The purpose of the proxy portfolio methodology, as described below (the “Proxy Portfolio Methodology”) is to protect a Fund and its shareholders against such practices. Although a Fund does not publish its full portfolio holdings daily, the Proxy Portfolio Methodology is designed to allow Authorized Participants and other market makers to assess the intraday value and associated risk characteristics of a Fund’s then-current portfolio holdings (the “Actual Portfolio”). 


 

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An important feature of the Proxy Portfolio Methodology is the daily disclosure of a basket of cash and securities—the Proxy Portfolio—that is designed and constructed to closely track the daily performance of a Fund’s Actual Portfolio. In addition to the Proxy Portfolio, a Fund will disclose daily the percentage weight overlap between the holdings of the Proxy Portfolio and the Actual Portfolio that formed the basis for a Fund’s calculation of NAV at the end of the prior Business Day (the “Proxy Overlap”). Daily disclosure of the Proxy Portfolio, the Proxy Overlap and the other related Proxy Portfolio Disclosures is designed to enable Authorized Participants and other market participants to accurately assess the profitability of arbitrage trades in shares of a Fund and to effectively hedge their risks associated with arbitrage and market making activities, thereby helping to ensure that investors can purchase and sell Fund shares in the secondary market at prices that are at or close to the underlying NAV per share of a Fund.

Proxy Portfolio
The goal of the Proxy Portfolio Methodology is to permit a Fund’s Proxy Portfolio, during all market conditions, to track closely the daily performance of a Fund’s Actual Portfolio and to minimize intra-day misalignment between the performance of the Proxy Portfolio and the performance of the Actual Portfolio. The Proxy Portfolio is designed to reflect the economic exposures and the risk characteristics of the Actual Portfolio on any given trading day. 

Construction of a Proxy Portfolio that replicates the daily performance of the Actual Portfolio is achieved by performing a factor model analysis of a Fund’s Actual Portfolio. The factor model is comprised of three sets of factors or analytical metrics: market-based factors, fundamental factors, and industry/sector factors. Each Fund will have a universe of securities (the “Model Universe”) that will be used to generate the Fund’s Proxy Portfolio. The Model Universe will be comprised of securities that the Fund can purchase and will be a financial index or stated portfolio of securities from which Fund investments will be selected. The results of the factor model analysis of a Fund’s Actual Portfolio are then applied to a Fund’s model universe of securities, resulting in the generation of a Proxy Portfolio, which consists of a small subset of the securities in the Model Universe. The Proxy Portfolio is designed to perform in a manner substantially identical to the performance of the Actual Portfolio. The Proxy Portfolio will only include securities and investments in which a Fund may invest. However, while the Proxy Portfolio and the Actual Portfolio will likely hold some or many of the same securities, the Proxy Portfolio and a Fund’s Actual Portfolio will not include identical securities. The Proxy Portfolio will be reconstituted daily.

Proxy Portfolio Disclosures
The composition of the Proxy Portfolio will be published on the Funds’ website at im.natixis.com each Business Day and will include the following information for each portfolio holding in the Proxy Portfolio: (1) ticker symbol; (2) CUSIP or other identifier; (3) description of holding; (4) quantity of each security or other asset held; and (5) percentage weight of the holding in the Proxy Portfolio. The Funds’ website will publish on a daily basis, per share for each Fund, the prior Business Day’s NAV and the Closing Price or Bid/Ask Price (each as defined below), and a calculation of the premium/discount of the Closing Price or Bid/Ask Price against such NAV. The Funds’ website will also publish a variety of other information metrics regarding the relative behavior of the Proxy Portfolio and the Actual Portfolio, including the Proxy Overlap (defined below). Additional information about how the Proxy Portfolio and the Proxy Overlap are calculated can be found in the SAI and on the Funds’ website at im.natixis.com. The website will also include Tracking Error for each Fund and, once a Fund has completed a fiscal year, the median bid/ask spread (expressed as a percentage rounded to the nearest hundredth), will be computed by identifying the Fund’s National Best Bid and Offer as of the end of each ten second interval during each trading day of the last thirty calendar days, dividing the difference between each such bid and offer by the midpoint of the National Best Bid and Offer and identifying the median of these values. Additionally, the Funds are required to disclose on their website a table showing the number of days the Funds’ shares traded at a premium/discount and a line graph showing the Funds’ share premiums or discounts during the most recently completed calendar year and the most recently completed calendar quarters since that year (or the life of the Funds).

The Funds believe that the Proxy Portfolio Disclosures will enable Authorized Participants and other market makers to use the component securities and their weightings of the Proxy Portfolio to calculate intraday values that approximate the value of the securities in the Actual Portfolio and, based thereon, assess whether the market price of a Fund’s shares is higher or lower than the approximate contemporaneous value of the Actual Portfolio. These activities are intended to facilitate an arbitrage mechanism that keeps market prices of a Fund’s shares at or close to a Fund’s NAV. Moreover, the Proxy Portfolio Disclosures generated by the Proxy Portfolio Methodology are intended to facilitate effective hedging activities by market makers, so that share market price bid/ask spreads will be narrow.

Below are some definitions of the defined terms used above:

 

Closing Price – the official closing price of a Fund’s shares on a Fund’s primary listing exchange.

 

Bid/Ask Price – the midpoint of the highest bid and the lowest offer based upon the National Best Bid and Offer as of the time of calculation of a Fund’s NAV. 

 

National Best Bid and Offer – the current national best bid and national best offer as disseminated by the Consolidated Quotation System or UTP Plan Securities Information Processor. 

 

Proxy Overlap – the percentage weight overlap between the holdings of the prior Business Day’s Proxy Portfolio compared to the Actual Portfolio’s holdings that formed the basis for a Fund’s calculation of NAV at the end of the prior Business Day. The Proxy Overlap is calculated based on the Proxy Portfolio and portfolio holdings as of the prior Business Day. The Proxy Overlap is calculated by taking the lesser weight of each asset held in common between the Actual Portfolio and the Proxy Portfolio and adding the totals. Additional information about how the Proxy Overlap is calculated can be found on a Fund’s website at im.natixis.com.

 

Tracking Error - At the end of each trading day, a Fund will calculate its Proxy Overlap and the standard deviation over the past three months of the daily proxy spread (i.e., the difference, in percentage terms, between the Proxy Portfolio per share NAV and that of the Actual Portfolio at the end of the trading day) and publish such information before the opening of Fund share trading each Business Day.
 


 

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Investment Goals, Strategies and Risks 


 

Differences Between Investing in an ETF and a Mutual Fund

Shareholders of a Fund should be aware of certain differences between investing in an ETF and a mutual fund.

Redeemability

Mutual fund shares may be bought from, and redeemed with, the issuing fund for cash at NAV typically calculated once at the end of each business day. Shares of a Fund, by contrast, cannot be purchased from or redeemed with the Fund except by or through Authorized Participants and then typically for an in-kind basket of securities. In contrast, investors who are not Authorized Participants purchase and sell shares generally for cash on a secondary market at the prevailing market price. In addition, a Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis only in large blocks of shares, typically 10,000 shares, called Creation Units.

Exchange Listings

Unlike mutual funds, a Fund’s shares will be listed on an exchange and traded in the secondary market in the same manner as other equity securities and ETFs. Investors can purchase and sell individual shares of a Fund only on the secondary market through a broker-dealer. A Fund’s shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of the market where they or their broker-dealers direct their trades for execution. Certain information (including an updated Proxy Portfolio) available to investors who trade fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient. Secondary market transactions do not occur at NAV, but at market prices that change throughout the day, based on the supply of, and demand for, shares of a Fund.

In-Kind Redemptions – Potential Benefits and Limitations

Unlike shares of many mutual funds that are only bought and sold at closing NAVs, the shares of a Fund are created and redeemed principally in kind in Creation Units at each day’s market close at a Fund’s NAV and tradable in a secondary market on an intraday basis at prevailing market prices. These in kind arrangements will potentially mitigate adverse effects on a Fund’s portfolio that could arise from frequent cash purchase and redemption transactions that continuously affect the NAV of a Fund. These transactions may reduce transaction costs borne by a Fund. Moreover, relative to mutual funds, where frequent redemptions can have an adverse tax impact on taxable shareholders because of the need to sell portfolio securities that, in turn, may generate taxable gain, a Fund’s in-kind redemption mechanism is expected to reduce the need to sell portfolio securities to meet redemption requests, and therefore may lessen the taxable gain generated by such sales of portfolio securities. A Fund may nevertheless be required to sell certain securities from its Actual Portfolio, including to the extent the composition of the Actual Portfolio differs from that of the Proxy Portfolio, prior to effecting an in-kind redemption to ensure it distributes the proper securities to Authorized Participants. Any such sales may generate taxable gain or loss. A Fund cannot predict to what extent, if any, it will redeem its shares in kind rather than in cash; nor can a Fund predict the extent to which any such in kind redemption will reduce the taxable gain recognized in connection therewith. A Fund may still realize gains related to either cash redemptions or rebalancing transactions which may need to be distributed.

More Information About the Funds’ Strategies

Temporary Defensive Measures

Temporary defensive measures may be used by a Fund during adverse economic, market, political or other conditions. In this event, a Fund may hold any portion of its assets in cash (U.S. dollars, foreign currencies or multinational currency units) and/or invest in cash equivalents such as short-term U.S. Treasury securities, government money market funds and repurchase agreements as it deems appropriate. A Fund may miss certain investment opportunities if it uses defensive strategies and thus may not achieve its investment goal.

Percentage Investment Limitations

The percentage limitations set forth in this Prospectus and the SAI apply at the time an investment is made and shall not be considered violated unless an excess or deficiency occurs or exists immediately after and as a result of such investment.

Actual Portfolio Holdings

A description of each Fund’s policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the securities in a Fund’s Actual Portfolio is available in the section “Portfolio Holdings Information” in the SAI. 

A “snapshot” of each Fund’s investments may be found in its annual and semiannual reports. In addition, a list of each Fund’s full portfolio holdings, which is updated monthly after an aging period of at least 15 days for Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF and Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF and quarterly after an aging period of at least 10 business days for Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF is available on the Funds’ website at im.natixis.com/us/funddocuments. These holdings will remain accessible on the website until each Fund files its respective Form N-CSR or Form N-PORT with the SEC for the period that includes the date of the information. In addition, a list of Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF and Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF top 10 holdings as of the month end is generally available within 7 business days after the month end on the Funds’ website at im.natixis.com/holdings (click fund name).


 

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Management Team 


 

Management Team

Meet the Funds’ Investment Adviser and Subadvisers

Adviser

Natixis Advisors, located at 888 Boylston Street, Suite 800, Boston, Massachusetts 02199, serves as the Adviser to the Funds. Natixis Advisors is a subsidiary of Natixis Investment Managers, LLC (“Natixis”), which is part of Natixis Investment Managers, an international asset management group based in Paris, France. Natixis Investment Managers is principally owned by BPCE, France’s second largest banking group. BPCE is owned by banks comprising two autonomous and complementary retail banking networks consisting of the Caisse d’Epargne regional savings banks and the Banque Populaire regional cooperative banks. Natixis has 10 principal subsidiary or affiliated asset management firms that collectively had approximately $540.4 billion in assets under management at December 31, 2019. Natixis Advisors provides certain administrative and oversight services to the Funds. Natixis Advisors does not determine what investments will be purchased or sold by the Funds.

Subadvisers

The Subadvisers have full investment discretion and make all determinations with respect to the investment of the assets of the Funds, subject to the general supervision of the Funds’ Adviser and the Board of Trustees.

Harris Associates, located at 111 S.Wacker Drive, Suite 4600, Chicago, Illinois 60606, serves as a subadviser to the Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF. Harris Associates, managed $120 billion in assets as of December 31, 2019, and, together with its predecessor, has managed investments since 1976. It also manages investments for other mutual funds as well as assets of individuals, trusts, retirement plans, endowments, foundations, and several private partnerships.

Loomis Sayles, located at One Financial Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02111, serves as a subadviser to the Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF. Founded in 1926, Loomis Sayles is one of the oldest investment advisory firms in the United States with over $310.9 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2020.

Vaughan Nelson, located at 600 Travis Street, Suite 3800, Houston, Texas 77002, serves as subadviser to the Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF and Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF. Originally founded in 1970, Vaughan Nelson focuses primarily on managing equity and fixed-income funds for clients who consist of foundations, university endowments, corporate retirement plans and family/individual funds. As of December 31, 2019, Vaughan Nelson had $13.1 billion in assets under management.

The aggregate advisory and subadvisory fees paid by the Fund (after waiver) as a percentage of the Fund’s average daily net assets is 0.75% for the Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF, 0.75% for the Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF and 0.80% of the first $1.5 billion and 0.75% thereafter for the Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF.

A discussion of the factors considered by the Board of Trustees in approving each Fund’s investment advisory and subadvisory contracts will be included in the Fund’s shareholder report covering the period in which the approval occurred.

Subadvisory Agreements

Natixis Advisors and the Natixis Funds have received an exemptive order from the SEC (the “Order”), which permits Natixis Advisors, subject to approval by the Board of Trustees but without shareholder approval, to hire or terminate, and to modify any existing or future subadvisory agreement with, subadvisers that are not affiliated with Natixis Advisors as well as subadvisers that are indirect or direct wholly-owned subsidiaries of Natixis Advisors or of another company that, indirectly or directly, wholly owns Natixis Advisors. Before any Natixis Fund can begin to rely on the exemptions described above, a majority of the shareholders of the Fund must approve the Fund’s ability to rely on the Order. Shareholders of certain Natixis Funds have already approved the Fund’s operation under the manager-of-managers structure contemplated by the Order. If a new subadviser is hired for a Fund, shareholders will receive information about the new subadviser within 90 days of the change.

Portfolio Trades

In placing portfolio trades, Harris Associates, Loomis Sayles and Vaughan Nelson may use brokerage firms that market the Funds’ shares, are Authorized Participants, or are affiliated with Natixis Advisors. In placing trades, Harris Associates, Loomis Sayles and Vaughan Nelson will seek to obtain the best combination of price and execution, which involves a number of subjective factors. Such portfolio trades are subject to applicable regulatory restrictions and related procedures adopted by the Board of Trustees.


 

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Management Team 


 

Meet the Funds’ Portfolio Managers

The following persons have had primary responsibility for the day-to-day management of the applicable Fund’s portfolio since the dates stated below. 

Harris Associates

William C. Nygren, CFA®—William C. Nygren has co-managed the Harris Associates segment of Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF since 2020. Mr. Nygren, Vice President, Chief Investment Officer, U.S. Equity and portfolio manager of Harris Associates, joined the firm in 1983. Mr. Nygren received a B.S. from the University of Minnesota and an M.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Mr. Nygren holds the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst® and has over 38 years of investment experience.

Kevin G. Grant, CFA®—Kevin G. Grant has co-managed  the Harris Associates segment of Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF since 2020. Mr. Grant, co-Chairman, portfolio manager and analyst of Harris Associates, joined the firm in 1988. Mr. Grant received a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.B.A. from the Loyola University-Chicago. Mr. Grant holds the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst® and has over 28 years of investment experience.

M. Colin Hudson, CFA®—M. Colin Hudson has co-managed the Harris Associates segment of Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF since 2020. Mr. Hudson, Vice President, portfolio manager and analyst of Harris Associates, joined the firm in 2005. Mr. Hudson received a B.A. from DePauw University, and an M.S. and an M.B.A. from Indiana University. Mr. Hudson holds the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst® and has over 21 years of investment experience.

Michael J. Mangan, CFA® – Michael J. Mangan has co-managed the Harris Associates segment of Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF since 2020. Mr. Mangan, a portfolio manager of Harris Associates joined the firm in 1997. Mr. Mangan received a B.B.A. from the University of Iowa and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University. Mr. Mangan is a CPA, holds the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst® and has over 30 years of investment experience.

Michael A. Nicolas, CFA® — Michael A. Nicolas has co-managed the Harris Associates segment of Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF since 2020. Mr. Nicolas, portfolio manager and analyst of Harris Associates, joined the firm in 2013. Mr. Nicolas received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Mr. Nicolas holds the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst® and has over 16 years of investment experience.

Loomis Sayles

Aziz V. Hamzaogullari, CFA®— Aziz V. Hamzaogullari is the Chief Investment Officer and Founder of the Growth Equity Strategies Team at Loomis Sayles. He has managed the Loomis Sayles segment of the Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF since 2020. Mr. Hamzaogullari is an Executive Vice President and Director of Loomis Sayles. He received a B.S. in management from Bilkent University in Turkey and an M.B.A. from George Washington University. He holds the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst® and has over 27 years of investment industry experience.

Vaughan Nelson

Dennis G. Alff, CFA®—Dennis G. Alff has co-managed the Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF since 2020. Mr. Alff, a Senior Portfolio Manager of Vaughan Nelson, joined the firm in 2006. Mr. Alff received a B.S. from the United States Military Academy and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Mr. Alff holds the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst® and has over 23 years of investment management and research experience.

Chad D. Fargason—Chad D. Fargason has co-managed the Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF since 2020. Dr. Fargason, Senior Portfolio Manager of Vaughan Nelson, joined the firm in 2013. Prior to joining the firm Dr. Fargason was a Director at KKR & Co. Dr. Fargason received a Ph.D. from Duke University, M.A. from Duke University and a B.A. from Rice University. Dr. Fargason has over 20 years investment management and research experience.

Chris D. Wallis, CFA®—Chris D. Wallis has co-managed the Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF and Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF since 2020. Mr. Wallis, Chief Executive Officer and a Senior Portfolio Manager of Vaughan Nelson, joined the firm in 1999. Mr.Wallis received a B.B.A. from Baylor University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Mr. Wallis holds the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst® and has over 28 years of investment/financial analysis and accounting experience.

Scott J. Weber, CFA®—Scott J. Weber has co-managed the Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF since 2020. Mr. Weber, a Senior Portfolio Manager of Vaughan Nelson, joined the firm in 2003. Mr. Weber received a B.S. from the University of the South and an M.B.A. from Tulane University. He holds the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst® and has over 24 years of investment management and financial analysis experience.

Please see the SAI for information on portfolio manager compensation, other accounts under management by the portfolio managers and the portfolio managers’ ownership of securities in the Funds.

Other Service Providers

Administrator. Natixis Advisors, 888 Boylston Street, Suite 800, Boston, Massachusetts 02199, serves as the Funds’ administrator and performs certain accounting and administrative services for the Funds.

Distributor. ALPS Distributors, Inc. (“ALPS”), 1290 Broadway, Suite 1000, Denver, Colorado 80203, serves as the Distributor of Creation Units for the Funds on an agency basis. The Distributor will deliver a prospectus to Authorized Participants purchasing Shares in Creation Units and will maintain records of both orders placed with it and confirmations of acceptance furnished by it to Authorized Participants. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Funds. The Distributor has no role in determining the investment policies of the Funds or which securities are to be purchased or sold by the


 

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Management Team 


 

Funds. The Adviser has entered into an agreement with ALPS under which it makes payments to ALPS in consideration for its services under the Distribution Agreement. The payments made by the Adviser to ALPS do not represent an additional expense to the Funds or its shareholders.

Custodian. State Street Bank and Trust Company (“State Street Bank”), One Lincoln Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02111, serves as the Custodian for the Funds.

Transfer Agent. State Street Bank, One Lincoln Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02111, acts as shareholder servicing and transfer agent for the Funds.

Primary Listing Exchange. The shares of the Funds are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca, a national securities exchange.

Research Vendor. The NYSE Group, Inc., 11 Wall Street, New York, New York 10005, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NYSE Holdings LLC, which is itself an indirect subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. NYSE Group is the parent company of, among others, entities that are registered national securities exchanges. The NYSE Proxy Portfolio Methodology, the New York Stock Exchange’s proprietary methodology for operating an actively managed, periodically disclosed ETF, is owned by the NYSE Group, Inc. and licensed for use to Natixis Advisors, L.P. The license agreement related to the Funds does not and will not mandate that the ETFs’ shares be listed on an NYSE Group exchange.

Additional Information

The Funds enter into contractual arrangements with various parties, including, among others, the Adviser, the Subadviser, the Authorized Participants, the Distributor and the Funds’ Custodian and Transfer Agent, who provide services to the Funds. Shareholders are not parties to, or intended to be third-party beneficiaries of, any of those contractual arrangements, and those contractual arrangements are not intended to create in any individual shareholder or group of shareholders any right to enforce such arrangements against the service providers or to seek any remedy thereunder against the service providers, either directly or on behalf of a Fund.

This Prospectus provides information concerning the Funds that you should consider in determining whether to purchase shares of a Fund. None of this Prospectus, the SAI or any contract that is an exhibit to the Funds’ registration statement, is intended to, nor does it, give rise to an agreement or contract between a Fund and any investor, or give rise to any contract or other rights in any individual shareholder, group of shareholders or other person other than any rights conferred explicitly by applicable federal or state securities laws that may not be waived.


 

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Shareholder Information 


 

Shareholder Information

Buying and Selling Shares

Shares of a Fund may be acquired or redeemed directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the “Creations and Redemptions” section of this Prospectus. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with a Fund. An Authorized Participant is either a “participating party” (i.e., a broker-dealer or other participant in the clearing process through the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation) or a Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) participant, in either case, who has executed an agreement with the Distributor, and accepted by the Transfer Agent, with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Units. Once created, shares of the Fund generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit.

Most investors will buy and sell shares of a Fund in secondary market transactions through broker-dealers. Shares of a Fund are listed for trading on a national securities exchange during the trading day. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of other publicly traded companies. However, there can be no guarantee that an active trading market will develop or be maintained, or that the Fund shares listing will continue or remain unchanged. A Fund does not impose any minimum investment for shares of a Fund purchased on an exchange. Buying or selling a Fund’s shares involves certain costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of a Fund through a financial intermediary, you may incur a brokerage commission or other charges determined by your financial intermediary. Due to these brokerage costs, if any, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment returns. In addition, you may also incur the cost of the spread (the difference between the bid price and the ask price of a Fund’s shares). The commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant cost for investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of Fund shares. The spread varies over time for shares of a Fund based on its trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally narrower if a Fund has more trading volume and market liquidity and wider if a Fund has less trading volume and market liquidity. The Funds have the potential for wider spreads given their non-transparent structure, especially during periods of market stress or volatility. Shares of the Funds trade on an exchange at prices that may differ to varying degrees from the daily NAV of the shares.

The Funds’ primary listing exchange is the NYSE Arca. The NYSE Arca is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.

A “Business Day” with respect to a Fund is each day a Fund is open and includes any day that a Fund is required to be open under Section 22(e) of the Investment Company Act. Orders from Authorized Participants to create or redeem Creation Units will only be accepted on a Business Day. On days when the NYSE Arca closes earlier than normal, a Fund may require orders to create or redeem Creation Units to be placed earlier in the day. Please see the SAI for more information.

Investments by Registered Investment Companies

Section 12(d)(1) of the Investment Company Act restricts investments by registered investment companies and companies relying on Section 3(c)(1) or Section 3(c)(7) of the Investment Company Act in the securities of other investment companies. Registered investment companies are permitted to invest in a Fund beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) subject to certain terms and conditions set forth in an SEC exemptive order covering a Fund, including that such investment companies enter into an agreement with a Fund.

Frequent Purchases and Redemptions of Fund Shares

The Board of Trustees has not adopted a policy of monitoring for frequent purchases and redemptions of Fund shares (“frequent trading”) that appear to attempt to take advantage of potential arbitrage opportunities presented by a lag between a change in the value of a Fund’s portfolio securities after the close of the primary markets for a Fund’s portfolio securities and the reflection of that change in the Fund’s NAV (“market timing”). A Fund believes this is appropriate because ETFs, such as the Funds, are intended to be attractive to arbitrageurs, as trading activity is critical to ensuring that the market price of Fund shares remains at or close to NAV. Since a Fund issues and redeems Creation Units at NAV plus applicable transaction fees, and a Fund’s shares may be purchased and sold on the NYSE Arca at prevailing market prices, the risks of frequent trading are limited.

Rule 12b-1 Fees

While there are no current plans to charge Rule 12b-1 fees, each Fund has adopted a Rule 12b-1 Plan under which a Fund is authorized to pay distribution and/or service fees to the Funds’ Distributor and other firms that provide distribution and shareholder services. Rule 12b-1 fees that are paid to the Funds’ Distributor may be used by the Distributor for expenses relating to the distribution of, and shareholder or administrative services for holders of, shares, and for the payment of service fees that come within Rule 2341(d) of the Conduct Rules of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Because Rule 12b-1 fees may be paid out of a Fund’s assets on an ongoing basis, over time they may increase the cost of your investment and may cost shareholders more than other types of sales charges. Currently, no Rule 12b-1 fees are charged.


 

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Shareholder Information 


 

Payment to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

The Adviser or its affiliates may make payments to broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks or other intermediaries (together “intermediaries”) related to marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems, or their making shares of the Funds and certain other Natixis funds available to their customers generally and in certain investment programs. Such payments, which may be significant to the intermediary, are not made by a Fund. Rather, such payments are made by the Adviser or its affiliates from their own resources, which come directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the Natixis funds complex. Payments of this type are sometimes referred to as revenue sharing payments. A financial intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it recommends or makes available, or the level of services provided, to its customers based on the payments it is eligible to receive. Therefore, such payments to an intermediary create conflicts of interest between the intermediary and its customers and may cause the intermediary to recommend the Fund or other Natixis funds over another investment. More information regarding these payments is contained in the Funds’ SAI. Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments his or her firm may receive from the Adviser or its affiliates.

Share Prices

The trading prices of a Fund’s shares in the secondary market generally differ from a Fund’s daily NAV and are affected by market forces such as the supply of and demand for shares of a Fund and shares of underlying securities held by a Fund, economic conditions and other factors. It is possible that a Fund will trade with a larger premium/discount because of its non-transparent structure, and this risk may increase during times of market stress or volatility. The quotations of certain Fund holdings may not be updated during U.S. trading hours if such holdings do not trade in the United States.

Net Asset Value

NAV is the price of one share of a Fund without a sales charge, and is calculated each business day using this formula:

The NAV of Fund shares is determined pursuant to policies and procedures approved by the Board of Trustees, as summarized below:

 

A share’s NAV is determined at the close of regular trading on the NYSE on the days the NYSE is open for trading. This is normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time. A Fund’s shares will not be priced on the days on which the NYSE is closed for trading. In addition, a Fund’s shares will not be priced on the holidays listed in the SAI. See the section “Net Asset Value” in the SAI for more details.

 

The price that an Authorized Participant pays for purchasing or redeeming shares in Creation Units will be based upon the NAV next calculated after an order is received by the Transfer Agent “in good order” (meaning that the order is complete and contains all necessary information).

 

Requests received by the Transfer Agent in good order during a trading window that is open after the NYSE closes will be processed based upon the NAV determined at the close of regular trading on the next day that the NYSE is open. If the Transfer Agent receives the order in good order during a trading window that is open prior to the NYSE market close, the shareholder will receive that day’s NAV. See the section “Creations and Redemptions” in the SAI for more details.

 

If a Fund invests in securities that trade on non-U.S. markets, it may experience NAV changes on days when you cannot buy or sell its shares.
 

Fund securities and other investments are valued at market value based on market quotations obtained or determined by independent pricing services recommended by the Adviser and approved by the Board of Trustees. Fund securities and other investments for which market quotations are not readily available, or which are deemed to be unreliable by the Adviser or Subadviser, are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Adviser or Subadviser pursuant to procedures approved by the Board of Trustees, as described below. Market value is determined as follows:

 

Equity securities (including shares of closed-end investment companies and ETFs), exchange traded notes, rights and warrants — listed equity securities are valued at the last sale price quoted on the exchange where they are traded most extensively or, if there is no reported sale during the day, the closing bid quotation as reported by an independent pricing service. Securities traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, NASDAQ Global Market and NASDAQ Capital Market are valued at the NASDAQ Official Closing Price (“NOCP”), or if lacking an NOCP, at the most recent bid quotations on the applicable NASDAQ Market. Unlisted equity securities (except unlisted preferred equity securities discussed below) are valued at the last sale price quoted in the market where they are traded most extensively or, if there is no reported sale during the day, the closing bid quotation as reported by an independent pricing service. If there is no sale price or closing bid quotation available, unlisted equity securities will be valued using evaluated bids furnished by an independent pricing service, if available. In some foreign markets, an official close price and a last sale price may be available from the foreign exchange or market. In those cases, the official close price is used. Valuations based on information from foreign markets may be subject to the Funds’ fair value policies described below. If a right is not traded on any exchange, its value is based on the market value of the underlying security, less the cost to subscribe to the underlying security (e.g., to exercise the right), adjusted for the subscription ratio. If a warrant is not traded on any exchange, a price is obtained from a broker-dealer.

 

Futures — most recent settlement price on the exchange on which the Adviser believes that, over time, they are traded most extensively. Valuations based on information from foreign markets may be subject to the Fund’s fair value policies described below.
 


 

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Shareholder Information 


 

 

Debt securities — evaluated bids furnished to the Fund by an independent pricing service using market information, transactions for comparable securities and various relationships between securities, if available, or bid prices obtained from broker-dealers.
 

Foreign denominated assets and liabilities are translated into U.S. dollars based upon the World Market or “WM-11” foreign exchange rates supplied by an independent pricing service. Fund securities and other investments for which market quotations are not readily available are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the Adviser and Subadviser pursuant to procedures approved by the Board of Trustees. The Fund may also value securities and other investments at fair value in other circumstances such as when extraordinary events occur after the close of a foreign market but prior to the close of the NYSE. This may include situations relating to a single issuer (such as a declaration of bankruptcy or a delisting of the issuer’s security from the primary market on which it has traded) as well as events affecting the securities markets in general (such as market disruptions or closings and significant fluctuations in U.S. and/or foreign markets).

Fair value pricing may require subjective determinations about the value of a security, and fair values used to determine a Fund’s NAV may differ from quoted or published prices, or from prices that are used by others, for the same securities. In addition, the use of fair value pricing may not always result in adjustments to the prices of securities held by a Fund. Valuations for securities traded in the over-the-counter market may be based on factors such as market information, transactions for comparable securities, and various relationships between securities or bid prices obtained from broker-dealers. Evaluated prices from an independent pricing service may require subjective determinations and may be different than actual market prices or prices provided by other pricing services.

Distributions

A Fund pays distributions from its investment income and from net realized capital gains.

Distributions from net investment income and distributions from net capital gains, if any, are declared and paid as follows:

Investment Income Dividends

Capital Gains Distributions

Declared

Paid

Declared and Paid

Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF

Annually

Annually

Annually

Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF

Annually

Annually

Annually

Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF

Annually

Annually

Annually

Dividends and other distributions on shares of a Fund are distributed on a pro rata basis to beneficial owners of such shares. Dividend payments are made through DTC participants and indirect participants (each as described in the “Book Entry” section below) to beneficial owners then of record with proceeds received from a Fund.

No dividend reinvestment service is provided by the Funds. Broker-dealers may make available the DTC book-entry dividend reinvestment service for use by beneficial owners of a Fund for reinvestment of their dividend distributions. Beneficial owners should contact their broker to determine the availability and costs of the service and the details of participation therein. Brokers may require beneficial owners to adhere to specific procedures and timetables. If this service is available and used, dividend distributions of both income and realized gains will be automatically reinvested in additional whole shares of a Fund purchased in the secondary market.

Book Entry

DTC serves as securities depository for the shares. (The shares may be held only in book-entry form; stock certificates will not be issued.) DTC, or its nominee, is the record or registered owner of all outstanding shares. Beneficial ownership of shares will be shown on the records of DTC or its participants (described below). Beneficial owners of shares are not entitled to have shares registered in their names, will not receive or be entitled to receive physical delivery of certificates in definitive form and are not considered the registered holder thereof. Accordingly, to exercise any rights of a holder of shares, each beneficial owner must rely on the procedures of: (i) DTC; (ii) “DTC participants” (i.e., securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and certain other organizations, some of whom (and/or their representatives) own DTC); and (iii) “indirect participants” (i.e., brokers, dealers, banks and trust companies that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a DTC participant), either directly or indirectly, through which such beneficial owner holds its interests. A Fund understands that under existing industry practice, in the event a Fund requests any action of holders of shares, or a beneficial owner desires to take any action that DTC, as the record owner of all outstanding shares, is entitled to take, DTC would authorize the DTC participants to take such action and that the DTC participants would authorize the indirect participants and beneficial owners acting through such DTC participants to take such action and would otherwise act upon the instructions of beneficial owners owning through them. As described above, a Fund recognizes DTC or its nominee as the owner of all shares for all purposes.

Creations and Redemptions

Prior to trading in the secondary market, shares of a Fund are “created” at NAV by market makers, large investors and institutions only in block-size Creation Units of 10,000 shares or multiples thereof. Each “creator” or Authorized Participant enters into an Authorized Participant agreement with the Fund’s Distributor.


 

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Shareholder Information 


 

A creation transaction order, which is subject to acceptance by the Distributor, generally takes place when an Authorized Participant deposits into a Fund a designated portfolio of securities (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted) and a specified amount of cash in exchange for a specified number of Creation Units. The names and quantities of the instruments that constitute basket of securities in exchange for which the Fund issues or redeems shares will be the same as the Fund’s Proxy Portfolio, except to the extent purchases and redemptions are made entirely or in part on a cash basis.

Similarly, shares can be redeemed only in Creation Units, generally for a designated portfolio of securities (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted) and a specified amount of cash. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by a Fund.

The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after a creation or redemption order is received in an acceptable form under the Authorized Participant agreement. These prices may differ from the market price of a Fund’s shares.

Only an Authorized Participant may create or redeem Creation Units directly with a Fund. In the event of a system failure or other interruption, including disruptions at market makers or Authorized Participants, orders to purchase or redeem Creation Units either may not be executed according to a Fund’s instructions or may not be executed at all, or a Fund may not be able to place or change orders.

When a Fund engages in in kind transactions, the Fund intends to comply with the U.S. federal securities laws in accepting securities for deposit and satisfying redemptions with redemption securities by, among other means, assuring that any securities accepted for deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will be sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (“Securities Act”). Further, an Authorized Participant that is not a “qualified institutional buyer,” as such term is defined under Rule 144A of the Securities Act, will not be able to receive restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.

Creations and redemptions must be made through a firm that is either a member of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation or a DTC participant and has executed an agreement with the Distributor with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Unit aggregations. A Fund imposes a creation transaction fee and a redemption transaction fee to offset transfer and other transaction costs associated with the issuance and redemption of Creation Units. Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) and the applicable transaction fees are included in the Funds’ SAI.

Your broker-dealer or agent may charge you a fee to effect transactions in Fund shares.

Taxation

As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in a Fund will be taxed. The tax information below is provided as general information. More tax information is available in the SAI. You should consult your tax advisor about the federal, state, local or foreign tax consequences of your investment in a Fund. Except as otherwise noted, the tax information provided assumes that you are a U.S. citizen or resident.

Unless your investment is through an IRA or other tax-advantaged account, you should carefully consider the possible tax consequences of Fund distributions and the sale of your Fund shares.

Distributions

A Fund contemplates declaring as dividends each year all or substantially all of its taxable income. Distributions you receive from a Fund are generally subject to federal income tax, and may also be subject to state or local taxes. This is true whether you reinvest your distributions in additional Fund shares or receive them in cash. For federal tax purposes, a Fund’s distributions attributable to net investment income and short-term capital gains are taxable to you as ordinary income while distributions of long-term capital gains properly reported by a Fund as capital gain dividends are taxable to you as long-term capital gains, no matter how long you have owned your Fund shares.

A portion of a Fund’s distributions may be eligible to be taxed at the lower rates applicable to “qualified dividend income” in the hands of individual shareholders and may be eligible for dividends-received deduction in the hand of corporate shareholders, provided certain requirements are met. The percentage of dividends eligible for such favorable treatment may be reduced as a result of a Fund’s securities lending activities, hedging activities or high portfolio turnover rate.

Distributions in excess of a Fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits are treated as a tax-free return of your investment to the extent of your basis in your Fund shares, and generally as capital gain thereafter. A return of capital, which for tax purposes is treated as a return of your investment, reduces your basis in your Fund shares, thus reducing any loss or increasing any gain on a subsequent taxable disposition of your Fund shares. A distribution will reduce a Fund’s NAV per share and may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gain even though, from an economic standpoint, the distribution may constitute a return of capital. This is known as “buying a dividend.” The character and tax status of all distributions will be reported to shareholders after the close of each calendar year.

An additional Medicare tax is imposed on the net investment income (including ordinary dividends and capital gain distributions received from a Fund and net gains from sales, redemptions or other taxable dispositions of Fund shares) of certain U.S. individuals, estates and trusts to the extent that such person’s “modified adjusted gross income” (in the case of an individual) or “adjusted gross income” (in the case of an estate or trust) exceeds certain threshold amounts.


 

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Other Information 


 

Although distributions are generally treated as taxable to you in the year they are paid, distributions declared and payable to shareholders of record on a date in October, November or December but paid in January are taxable as if they were paid in December.

A Fund may be subject to foreign withholding or other foreign taxes on income or gain from certain foreign securities. In that case, a Fund’s return on those investments would be decreased. If a Fund meets certain requirements relating to its asset holdings, and the Fund elects to pass through to its shareholders foreign tax credits or deductions, taxable shareholders generally will be entitled to claim a credit or deduction with respect to these foreign taxes.

Sales of Fund Shares

Your sale of Fund shares is a taxable transaction for U.S. federal income tax purposes, and may also be subject to state and local taxes. When you sell your shares, you will generally recognize a capital gain or loss in an amount equal to the difference between your adjusted tax basis in the shares and the amount received. Generally, this capital gain or loss is long-term or short-term depending on whether your holding period exceeds one year, except that any loss realized on shares held for six months or less will be treated as a long-term capital loss to the extent of any capital gain dividends that were received on the shares. Additionally, any loss realized on a sale of shares of a Fund may be disallowed under “wash sale” rules to the extent the shares disposed of are replaced with other shares of the Fund within a period of 61 days beginning 30 days before and ending 30 days after the date of disposition, including pursuant to a dividend reinvestment in shares of the Fund. If disallowed, the loss will be reflected in an adjustment to the basis of the shares acquired.

Other Information

You may be subject to backup withholding with respect to taxable distributions if you do not provide your correct taxpayer identification number, you have under-reported dividend or interest income, or you fail to certify to a Fund that you are not subject to such withholding.

Non-U.S. investors are generally not subject to U.S. withholding tax with respect to capital gain dividends, short-term capital gain dividends and interest-related dividends, as defined in the SAI and subject to limitations set forth in the SAI. With respect to distributions other than capital gain dividends, short-term capital gain dividends and interest-related dividends, non-U.S. shareholders are generally subject to U.S. withholding tax as a rate of 30% (or lower applicable treaty rate). Non-U.S. investors may also be subject to estate tax with respect to their Fund shares.

Legislation passed by Congress requires reporting to you and the Internal Revenue Service annually on Form 1099-B not only of the gross proceeds of Fund shares you sell or redeem but also of their cost basis. Shareholders should contact their intermediaries with respect to reporting of cost basis and available elections with respect to their accounts. You should carefully review the cost basis information provided by the applicable intermediary and make any additional basis holding period or other adjustments that are required when reporting these amounts on your federal income tax returns.

Authorized Participant Taxes on Creations and Redemptions of Created Units

Authorized Participants should consult their tax advisors about the federal, state, local or foreign tax consequences of purchasing and redeeming Creation Units in a Fund. 

Other Information

Premium/Discount Information

Information regarding how often the shares of a Fund traded on the NYSE Arca at a price above (i.e., at a premium) or below (i.e., at a discount) the NAV of the Fund during the most recently completed calendar year, and the most recently completed calendar quarters since that year, as applicable, can be found at im.natixis.com.

Proxy Portfolio and Proxy Overlap

Information regarding the contents of the Proxy Portfolio, and the percentage weight overlap between the holdings of the Proxy Portfolio and a Fund’s Actual Portfolio holdings that formed the basis for its calculation of NAV at the end of the prior Business Day (the Portfolio Overlap), can be found at im.natixis.com.

Continuous Offering

You should be aware of certain legal risks unique to investors purchasing Creation Units directly from a Fund. Because new Creation Units are issued and sold by a Fund on an ongoing basis, a “distribution,” as such term is used in the Securities Act, may occur at any point. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters and subject them to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the Securities Act.

For example, a broker-dealer firm or its client may be deemed a statutory underwriter if it takes Creation Units after placing an order with the Distributor, breaks them down into constituent shares, and sells such shares directly to customers, or if it chooses to couple the creation of a supply of new shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for shares. A determination of whether one is an underwriter for purposes of the Securities Act must take into account all the facts and circumstances pertaining to the activities of the broker-dealer or its client in the particular case, and the examples mentioned above should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could lead to a categorization as an underwriter.


 

32 


 

Other Information 


 

Broker-dealers who are not “underwriters” but are participating in a distribution of shares are generally required to deliver a prospectus. This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(a)(3) of the Securities Act is not available in respect of such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the Investment Company Act. As a result, broker-dealer firms should note that dealers who are not underwriters but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted with ordinary secondary market transactions) and thus dealing with the shares that are part of an overallotment within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(A) of the Securities Act would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the Securities Act. Firms that incur a prospectus delivery obligation with respect to shares are reminded that, under Rule 153 of the Securities Act, a prospectus delivery obligation under Section 5(b)(2) of the Securities Act owed to an exchange member in connection with a sale on the NYSE Arca is satisfied by the fact that the prospectus is available at the NYSE Arca upon request. The prospectus delivery mechanism provided in Rule 153 is only available with respect to transactions on an exchange.

In addition, certain affiliates of the Funds, the Adviser and the Subadvisers may purchase and resell Fund shares pursuant to this Prospectus.

Conflicts of Interest

It is also possible that, from time to time, Natixis Advisors, the Subadvisers or their affiliates (including their directors, partners, trustees, managing members, officers and employees (collectively, the “Affiliates”)) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of a Fund. Increasing a Fund’s assets may enhance liquidity, investment flexibility and diversification. Natixis Advisors and its Affiliates reserve the right, subject to compliance with applicable law, to sell or redeem at any time some or all of the shares of a Fund acquired for their own accounts. A large sale or redemption of shares of a Fund by Natixis Advisors or its Affiliates could significantly reduce the asset size of a Fund, which might have an adverse effect on a Fund’s liquidity, investment flexibility and portfolio diversification. Natixis Advisors seeks to consider the effect of redemptions on a Fund and other shareholders in deciding whether to redeem its shares. For more information about conflicts of interest, see the “Material Conflicts of Interest” section in the SAI.


 

33 


 

Other Information 


 

Prior Performance of Subadvisers’ Similarly Managed Accounts

The following table sets forth historical performance information for all discretionary accounts managed by Harris Associates, Loomis Sayles and Vaughan Nelson that have substantially similar investment objectives, policies, strategies, risks and investment restrictions as the Funds (the “Composites”).

The Composites data is provided to illustrate the past performance of Harris Associates, Loomis Sayles and Vaughan Nelson in managing substantially similar accounts as measured against a specified market index and does not represent the performance of the applicable Fund. The accounts in the Composites are separate and distinct from the Funds; their performance is not intended as a substitute for a Fund’s performance and should not be considered a prediction of the future performance of a Fund or of Harris Associates, Loomis Sayles or Vaughan Nelson.

Each Composite’s returns were calculated on a total return basis, include all dividends and interest, accrued income and realized and unrealized gains and losses, and assume the reinvestment of earnings. All returns reflect the deduction of brokerage commissions and execution costs paid by the accounts, without provision for federal or state income taxes. “Net of Fees” figures include all fees and expenses paid by accounts in the Composite, other than custody expenses, which are not charged by the Subadviser. “Net of Fees” figures also reflect the deduction of the fee rate applicable to each account in the Composite for periods prior to April 1, 2015, and the deduction of the Subadviser’s standard fee rate for all accounts in the Composite (which is the highest fee rate paid by any account in the Composite) for periods since April 1, 2015. The accounts in each Composite are subject to lower expenses than those of the applicable Fund, and the deduction of the Fund’s expenses would lower the “Net of Fees” performance of the Composite. The Composites include all actual discretionary accounts managed by Harris Associates, Loomis Sayles and Vaughan Nelson for at least one full month that have investment objectives, policies, strategies, risks and investment restrictions substantially similar to those of the applicable Fund. The Composites may include both tax-exempt and taxable accounts.

Securities transactions are accounted for on trade date and accrual accounting is utilized. Cash and equivalents are included in performance returns. Monthly returns of the Composite combine the individual accounts’ returns (calculated on a time-weighted rate of return basis that is revalued daily) by asset weighting each account’s asset value as of the beginning of the month. Investors should be aware that the performance information shown below was calculated differently than the methodology mandated by the SEC for registered investment companies.

The accounts that are included in the Composites may not be subject to the diversification requirements, specific tax restrictions and investment limitations imposed on the Funds by the Investment Company Act of 1940 or Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code. Consequently, the performance results for each Composite would have been less favorable had it been regulated as an investment company under the federal securities laws.

The returns set forth below are provided to illustrate the past performance of Harris Associates, Loomis Sayles and Vaughan Nelson in managing substantially similar accounts and should not be interpreted as indicative of the future results that may be achieved by the applicable Fund. Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results. In addition, the results presented below may not necessarily equate with the return experienced by any particular investor as a result of the timing of investments and redemptions, market conditions and other factors. In addition, the effect of taxes on any investor will depend on such person’s tax status, and the results have not been reduced to reflect any income tax that may have been payable.

The table below shows the annual total returns for the Composites, and a broad-based securities market index for periods ended December 31, 2019.

Average Annual Total Returns  (for the periods ended December 31, 2019)

Past 1 Year

Past 3 Years

Past 5 Years

Past 10 Years

Since Inception (7/25/97)

Harris Composite (Net of Fees)

31.55%

12.50%

11.23%

13.38%

8.12%

Harris Composite (Gross of Fees)

32.24%

13.09%

11.81%

13.93%

8.75%

S&P 500 Total Return

31.49%

15.27%

11.70%

13.56%

7.68%

Average Annual Total Returns  (for the periods ended December 31, 2019)

Past 1 Year

Past 3 Years

Past 5 Years

Past 10 Years

Since Inception (7/1/2006)

Loomis Sayles Composite (Net of Fees)

32.00%

20.30%

15.95%

15.74%

13.52%

Loomis Sayles Composite (Gross of Fees)

32.66%

20.90%

16.53%

16.24%

14.07%

Russell 3000 Growth Index

35.85%

19.89%

14.23%

15.05%

11.20%

Average Annual Total Returns  (for the periods ended December 31, 2019)

Past 1 Year

Past 3 Years

Past 5 Years

Past 10 Years

Since Inception (6/30/09)

Vaughan Nelson Select Composite (Net of Fees)

27.9%

15.1%

10.9%

14.7%

15.8%

Vaughan Nelson Select Composite (Gross of Fees)

29.2%

16.2%

12.0%

15.8%

17.0%

S&P 500® Index

31.5%

15.3%

11.7%

13.6%

15.1%


 

34 


 

Other Information 


 

Average Annual Total Returns  (for the periods ended December 31, 2019)

Past 1 Year

Past 3 Years

Past 5 Years

Past 10 Years

Since Inception (6/30/06)

Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap Composite (Net of Fees)

30.9%

7.8%

5.2%

10.7%

8.3%

Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap Composite (Gross of Fees)

32.0%

8.7%

6.1%

11.7%

9.3%

Russell Midcap Value Index

27.1%

8.1%

7.6%

12.4%

8.3%


 

35 


 

Financial Performance 


 

Financial Performance

Each Fund is new and as of the date of this Prospectus, does not have financial information to report. Financial information for each Fund will be available after the Funds have completed a fiscal year of operations.

Disclaimers

Shares of the Funds are not sponsored, endorsed or promoted by the NYSE Arca. The NYSE Arca makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the shares of a Fund or any member of the public regarding the ability of a Fund to achieve its investment objective. The NYSE Arca is not responsible for, nor has it participated in, the determination of a Fund’s investments, nor in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of a Fund to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. The NYSE Arca has no obligation or liability to owners of the shares of a Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the shares of a Fund.

Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall the NYSE Arca have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages.


 

36 


 

If you would like more information about the Funds, the following documents are or will be available free upon request:

Annual and Semiannual Reports—Provide additional information about each Fund’s investments. Each annual report includes a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund’s performance during its last fiscal year.

Statement of Additional Information (SAI)—Provides more detailed information about the Funds and their investment limitations and policies. The SAI has been filed with the SEC and is incorporated into this Prospectus by reference.

For a free copy of a Fund’s annual or semiannual reports or its SAI, to request other information about a Fund, and to make shareholder inquiries generally, contact your financial representative, visit the Funds’ website at im.natixis.com or call the Funds at 800-458-7452.

Important Notice Regarding Delivery of Shareholder Documents:

In our continuing effort to reduce your Fund’s expenses and the amount of mail that you receive from us, we will combine mailings of prospectuses, annual or semiannual reports and proxy statements to your household. If more than one family member in your household owns the same fund or funds described in a single prospectus, report or proxy statement, you will receive one mailing unless you request otherwise. Additional copies of our prospectuses, reports or proxy statements may be obtained at any time by calling 800-458-7452. If you are currently receiving multiple mailings to your household and would like to receive only one mailing or if you wish to receive separate mailings for each member of your household in the future, please call us at the telephone number listed above and we will resume separate mailings within 30 days of your request.

Your financial representative or Natixis ETFs will also be happy to answer your questions or to provide any additional information that you may require.

Text-only copies of the Funds’ reports and SAI are available free from the EDGAR Database on the SEC’s Internet site at: www.sec.gov. Copies of this information may also be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov.

Portfolio Holdings—A description of the Funds’ policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of a Fund’s Actual Portfolio securities is available in the SAI.

Investment Company Act File No. 811-23500

XNTE51-0920


LOGO

STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

            September 11, 2020

NATIXIS ETF TRUST II

 

NATIXIS ETFs   

Principal U.S. Listing Exchange: NYSE Arca, Inc.

Ticker Symbol:

Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF    EQOP
Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF    VNSE
Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF    VNMC
(Each a “Fund” and together the “Funds”)   

This Statement of Additional Information (“Statement”) contains specific information that may be useful to investors but that is not included in the Statutory Prospectus of the Funds. This Statement is not a prospectus and is authorized for distribution only when accompanied or preceded by the Funds’ Summary or Statutory Prospectus, each dated September 11, 2020 (the “Prospectus”), as from time to time revised or supplemented. This Statement should be read together with the Prospectus. Investors may obtain the Prospectus without charge by writing to Natixis ETF Trust II c/o ALPS Distributors, Inc., 1290 Broadway, Suite 1000, Denver, Colorado 80203, by calling Natixis ETFs at 800-458-7452 or by visiting the Funds’ website at im.natixis.com.


Table of Contents

 

 

     PAGE  

INVESTMENT RESTRICTIONS

     3  

FUND CHARGES AND EXPENSES

     5  

OWNERSHIP OF FUND SHARES

     7  

THE TRUST

     7  

EXCHANGE LISTING AND TRADING

     8  

PROXY PORTFOLIO

     9  

INVESTMENT STRATEGIES AND RISKS

     11  

TEMPORARY DEFENSIVE POSITIONS

     29  

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

     29  

PORTFOLIO HOLDINGS INFORMATION

     29  

MANAGEMENT OF THE TRUST

     32  

INVESTMENT ADVISORY AND OTHER SERVICES

     48  

OTHER ARRANGEMENTS

     50  

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

     51  

PORTFOLIO TRANSACTIONS AND BROKERAGE

     55  

DESCRIPTION OF THE TRUST

     61  

VOTING RIGHTS

     62  

SHAREHOLDER AND TRUSTEE LIABILITY

     63  

CREATIONS AND REDEMPTIONS

     63  

BOOK ENTRY ONLY SYSTEM

     70  

SHARE PRICES

     71  

NET ASSET VALUE

     71  

DISTRIBUTIONS

     72  

TAXES

     72  

PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

     85  

THIRD-PARTY INFORMATION

     85  

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

     86  

 

2


INVESTMENT RESTRICTIONS

The following is a description of restrictions on the investments to be made by the Funds. The restrictions marked with an asterisk (*) are fundamental policies that may not be changed without the vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the relevant Fund (as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”)). The other restrictions set forth below are not fundamental policies and may be changed by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”). Except in the case of restrictions marked with a dagger (†) below, the percentages set forth below and the percentage limitations set forth in each Prospectus apply at the time an investment is made and shall not be considered violated unless an excess or deficiency occurs or exists immediately after and as a result of such investment.

Each Fund operates in reliance on an exemptive order from the SEC (the “Order”), which restricts the types of investments a Fund may hold to those listed in the Funds’ application for the Order. These restrictions are non-fundamental and may be changed without a shareholder vote to the extent permitted by the Order.

Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF may not:

 

*(1)

Purchase any security (other than U.S. government securities) if, as a result, more than 25% of the Fund’s total assets (taken at current value) would be invested in any one industry. For purposes of this restriction, telephone, gas and electric public utilities are each regarded as separate industries, finance companies whose financing activities are related primarily to the activities of their parent companies are classified in the industry of their parents and each foreign country’s government (together with all subdivisions thereof) will be considered to be a separate industry). For purposes of this restriction, securities and other obligations of issuers in the banking industry are considered to be one industry, and asset-backed securities are not considered to be bank obligations.

 

*(2)

Make short sales of securities or maintain a short position or purchase securities on margin, except that the Fund may obtain short-term credits as necessary for the clearance of security transactions, and the Fund may make any short sales or maintain any short positions where the short sales or short positions would not constitute “senior securities” under the 1940 Act.

 

*(3)

Borrow money except to the extent permitted under the 1940 Act.

 

*(4)

Make loans, except that the Fund may purchase or hold debt instruments in accordance with its investment objectives and policies, provided however, this restriction does not apply to repurchase agreements or loans of portfolio securities.

 

*(5)

Act as underwriter of securities of other issuers except that, in the disposition of portfolio securities, it may be deemed to be an underwriter under the federal securities laws.

 

*(6)

Purchase or sell real estate, although it may purchase securities of issuers which deal in real estate, securities which are secured by interests in real estate, and securities which represent interests in real estate, and it may acquire and dispose of real estate or interests in real estate acquired through the exercise of its rights as a holder of debt obligations secured by real estate or interests therein.

 

*(7)

Issue senior securities, except for permitted borrowings or as otherwise permitted under the 1940 Act.

The Fund may:

 

*(8)

Purchase and sell commodities to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.

 

3


Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF may not:

 

*(1)

Purchase any security (other than U.S. government securities) if, as a result, more than 25% of the Fund’s total assets (taken at current value) would be invested in any one industry. For purposes of this restriction, telephone, gas and electric public utilities are each regarded as separate industries, finance companies whose financing activities are related primarily to the activities of their parent companies are classified in the industry of their parents and each foreign country’s government (together with all subdivisions thereof) will be considered to be a separate industry). For purposes of this restriction, securities and other obligations of issuers in the banking industry are considered to be one industry, and asset-backed securities are not considered to be bank obligations.

 

*(2)

Make short sales of securities or maintain a short position or purchase securities on margin, except that the Fund may obtain short-term credits as necessary for the clearance of security transactions, and the Fund may make any short sales or maintain any short positions where the short sales or short positions would not constitute “senior securities” under the 1940 Act.

 

*(3)

Borrow money except to the extent permitted under the 1940 Act.

 

*(4)

Make loans, except that the Fund may purchase or hold debt instruments in accordance with its investment objectives and policies, provided however, this restriction does not apply to repurchase agreements or loans of portfolio securities.

 

*(5)

Act as underwriter of securities of other issuers except that, in the disposition of portfolio securities, it may be deemed to be an underwriter under the federal securities laws.

 

*(6)

Purchase or sell real estate, although it may purchase securities of issuers which deal in real estate, securities which are secured by interests in real estate, and securities which represent interests in real estate, and it may acquire and dispose of real estate or interests in real estate acquired through the exercise of its rights as a holder of debt obligations secured by real estate or interests therein.

 

*(7)

Issue senior securities, except for permitted borrowings or as otherwise permitted under the 1940 Act.

The Fund may:

 

*(8)

Purchase and sell commodities to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.

Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF may not:

 

*(1)

Purchase any security (other than U.S. government securities) if, as a result, more than 25% of the Fund’s total assets (taken at current value) would be invested in any one industry. For purposes of this restriction, telephone, gas and electric public utilities are each regarded as separate industries, finance companies whose financing activities are related primarily to the activities of their parent companies are classified in the industry of their parents and each foreign country’s government (together with all subdivisions thereof) will be considered to be a separate industry). For purposes of this restriction, securities and other obligations of issuers in the banking industry are considered to be one industry, and asset-backed securities are not considered to be bank obligations.

 

*(2)

Make short sales of securities or maintain a short position or purchase securities on margin, except that the Fund may obtain short-term credits as necessary for the clearance of security transactions, and the Fund may make any short sales or maintain any short positions where the short sales or short positions would not constitute “senior securities” under the 1940 Act.

 

*(3)

Borrow money except to the extent permitted under the 1940 Act.

 

*(4)

Make loans, except that the Fund may purchase or hold debt instruments in accordance with its investment objectives and policies, provided however, this restriction does not apply to repurchase agreements or loans of portfolio securities.

 

4


*(5)

Act as underwriter of securities of other issuers except that, in the disposition of portfolio securities, it may be deemed to be an underwriter under the federal securities laws.

 

*(6)

Purchase or sell real estate, although it may purchase securities of issuers which deal in real estate, securities which are secured by interests in real estate, and securities which represent interests in real estate, and it may acquire and dispose of real estate or interests in real estate acquired through the exercise of its rights as a holder of debt obligations secured by real estate or interests therein.

 

*(7)

Issue senior securities, except for permitted borrowings or as otherwise permitted under the 1940 Act.

The Fund may:

 

*(8)

Purchase and sell commodities to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.

General Notes on Investment Restrictions

In addition to temporary borrowing, and subject to any stricter restrictions on borrowing applicable to a Fund, a Fund may borrow from any bank, provided that immediately after any such borrowing there is an asset coverage of at least 300% for all borrowings by the Fund and provided further, that in the event that such asset coverage shall at any time fall below 300%, the Fund shall, within three days (not including Sundays and holidays) thereafter or such longer period as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) may prescribe by rules and regulations, reduce the amount of its borrowings to such an extent that the asset coverage of such borrowing shall be at least 300%. With respect to restrictions on borrowing, the 1940 Act limits a Fund’s ability to borrow money on a non-temporary basis if such borrowings constitute “senior securities.” The Funds may also borrow money or engage in economically similar transactions if those transactions do not constitute “senior securities” under the 1940 Act.

Where applicable, the foregoing investment restrictions shall be interpreted based upon no-action letters and other pronouncements of the staff of the SEC. Under current pronouncements, certain positions (e.g., reverse repurchase agreements) are excluded from the definition of “senior security” so long as a Fund maintains adequate cover, segregation of assets or otherwise. Similarly, a short sale will not be considered a senior security if a Fund takes certain steps contemplated by SEC staff pronouncements, such as ensuring the short sale transaction is adequately covered.

A Fund may not purchase any securities that are illiquid investments at the time of purchase. Securities generally will be considered “illiquid” if the Fund reasonably expects the security cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without the sale or disposition significantly changing the market value of the security.

For purposes of the foregoing restrictions, the Funds do not consider a derivative contract on one or more commodities, securities, indices, currencies or interest rates to be a commodity or a commodity contract, nor, consistent with the position of the SEC, do the Funds consider such contracts to involve the issuance of a senior security, provided a Fund designates on its records or segregates with its custodian or otherwise designates liquid assets (marked to market on a daily basis) sufficient to meet its obligations under such contracts.

FUND CHARGES AND EXPENSES

Advisory Fees

Pursuant to separate advisory agreements, Natixis Advisors, L.P., (“Natixis Advisors” or the “Adviser”) has agreed, subject to the supervision of the Board, to manage the investment and reinvestment of the assets of each Fund and to provide a range of administrative services to each Fund.

 

5


For the services described in the advisory agreements, each Fund has agreed to pay Natixis Advisors an advisory fee at the annual rate, based on the average daily net assets of the applicable Fund reduced by the amount of any subadvisory fees payable directly by the Fund to its subadviser pursuant to any subadvisory agreement set forth in the following table:

 

Fund

   Date of Agreement      Advisory Fee Payable by Fund
(as a % of average daily net assets
of the Fund)

Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF

     September 17, 2020      0.75%

Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF

     September 17, 2020      0.75%

Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF

     September 17, 2020      0.80% of the first $1.5 billion;

0.75% thereafter

Natixis Advisors has given a binding contractual undertaking to each Fund to waive its advisory fee and, if necessary, to reimburse certain expenses related to operating each Fund in order to limit the Funds’ expenses, exclusive of acquired fund fees and expenses, brokerage expenses, interest expense, taxes, organizational and extraordinary expenses, such as litigation and indemnification expenses, to the annual rate indicated below. The undertaking is in effect until April 30, 2023 for each Fund and may be modified before then only with the consent of the Board. The undertaking will be reevaluated on an annual basis thereafter, subject to the obligation of the Fund to repay such advisory fees waived and/or expenses reimbursed in later periods to the extent that the total annual Fund operating expenses for a class fall below the expense limit; provided, however, that the Fund is not obligated to repay such waived/reimbursed fees and expenses more than one year after the end of the fiscal year in which the fees or expenses were waived/reimbursed.

 

Fund

   Expense Limit     Date of Undertaking  

Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF

     0.90     September 17, 2020  

Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF

     0.85     September 17, 2020  

Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF

     0.90     September 17, 2020  

Subadvisory Fees

Each investment advisory agreement between Natixis Advisors and a Fund provides that Natixis Advisors may delegate its responsibilities thereunder to other parties. Pursuant to separate subadvisory agreements, Natixis Advisors has delegated its portfolio management responsibilities to one or more subadvisers, as follows: Vaughan Nelson Investment Management, L.P. (“Vaughan Nelson”), in the case of Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF and Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF; and Harris Associates L.P. (“Harris Associates”) and Loomis, Sayles & Company, L.P. (“Loomis Sayles”, and with Vaughan Nelson and Harris Associates, each with respect to its applicable Fund or Funds, a “Subadviser” and collectively, the “Subadvisers”)), in the case of Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF. For the services described in the subadvisory agreements, each Fund has agreed to pay its respective subadviser(s) a subadvisory fee at the annual rate set forth in the following table:

 

Fund

   Subadviser    Date of Subadvisory
Agreement
   Subadvisory fee payable to
Subadviser
(as a % of average daily net
assets of the Fund/Segment)

Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF

   Harris Associates – Large

Cap Value Segment

   September 17, 2020    0.52%
   Loomis Sayles – All Cap
Growth Segment
   September 17, 2020    0.40%

Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF

   Vaughan Nelson    September 17, 2020    0.50%

Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF

   Vaughan Nelson    September 17, 2020    0.50% on the first $1.5
billion; 0.47% thereafter

 

6


Payment of Advisory and Subadvisory Fees

Each Fund is newly formed and thus has not paid any investment advisory or subadvisory fees to Natixis Advisors or any Subadviser as of the date of this Statement.

Each Fund is newly formed and thus has not had reimbursed expenses as of the date of this Statement.

Each Fund is newly formed and thus has not had expenses recovered by Natixis Advisors as of the date of this Statement.

Brokerage Commissions

Each Fund is newly formed and thus has not incurred any brokerage commissions as of the date of this Statement.

For a description of how transactions in portfolio securities are effected and how the Subadvisers select brokers, see the section entitled “Portfolio Transactions and Brokerage” in this Statement.

Affiliated Brokerage Commissions

Each Fund is newly formed and has not incurred any brokerage commissions to an affiliated broker as of the date of this Statement.

Regular Broker-Dealers

Each Fund is newly formed and thus does not have any holdings of its regular broker-dealers as of the date of this Statement.

Distribution and Service (Rule 12b-1) Fees

As explained in this Statement, the Fund may pay ALPS Distributors, Inc. (“ALPS” or the “Distributor”), an unaffiliated distributor, fees under a plan adopted pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act (the “Plan”) in order for the Distributor to compensate certain financial intermediaries that may provide distribution and other services with respect to the Fund. Currently, no Rule 12b-1 fees are charged. Future payments may be made under the Plan without further shareholder approval.

OWNERSHIP OF FUND SHARES

Each Fund is newly formed and has not yet publicly offered shares prior to the date of this Statement.

THE TRUST

Natixis ETF Trust II (the “Trust”) is registered with the SEC as an open-end management investment company and is organized as a Massachusetts business trust under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by a Declaration of Trust (the “Declaration of Trust”) dated July 7, 2017, and is a “series” company as described in Section 18(f)(2) of the 1940 Act, as amended. The Trust consists of two diversified series, the Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF and Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF, and one non-diversified series, Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF. Each Fund is an exchange-traded fund (“ETF”).

 

7


Unlike a mutual fund, each Fund offers and issues shares at their net asset value (“NAV”) to broker-dealers and other financial intermediaries who are participants in the National Securities Clearing Corporation (“NSCC”) and who have signed an Authorized Participant Agreement with the Distributor (each an “Authorized Participant”), and accepted by the Transfer Agent, only in aggregations of a specified number of shares (“Creation Units”), generally in exchange for a basket of securities and/or instruments (the “Deposit Securities”), together with a deposit of a specified cash payment (the “Cash Component”). Each Fund may, in certain circumstances, issue Creation Units solely in exchange for a specified all-cash payment (“Cash Deposit”). Shares of each Fund are likewise redeemable by the Fund only in Creation Units, generally in exchange for a basket of securities and instruments (“Redemption Securities”), together with a Cash Component. The names and quantities of the securities and instruments that constitute the Deposit Securities and Redemption Securities will be the same as each Fund’s Proxy Portfolio (as described in the “Proxy Portfolio” section below), except to the extent purchases and redemptions are made entirely or partially on a cash basis. As with the offer and sale of Creation Units, each Fund may, in certain circumstances, redeem Creation Units in exchange for a specified all-cash payment. Shares trade in the secondary market and elsewhere at market prices that may be at, above or below NAV.

Each Fund charges creation/redemption transaction fees for each creation and redemption to cover the cost to each Fund of processing the transaction, including the estimated trading costs of converting the Deposit Securities and the Cash Component into the desired portfolio composition, in the case of a creation, and the estimated trading costs of converting each Fund’s actual portfolio (“Actual Portfolio”) holdings into the Redemption Securities and the Cash Component, in the case of a redemption. In all cases, transaction fees will be limited in accordance with the requirements of the SEC applicable to management investment companies offering redeemable securities (see “Creations and Redemptions” below).

EXCHANGE LISTING AND TRADING

A discussion of exchange listing and trading matters associated with an investment in each Fund is contained in the “Shareholder Information” section of the Prospectus. The discussion below supplements, and should be read in conjunction with, such section of the Prospectus.

The shares of each Fund are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “NYSE Arca”). The shares will trade on the NYSE Arca at prices that may differ to some degree from NAV. The price difference may be greater for this Fund than for traditional ETFs that disclose their full portfolio holdings on a daily basis. See “Share Prices” section. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the NYSE Arca necessary to maintain the listing of shares of each Fund will continue to be met.

The NYSE Arca may consider the suspension of trading and will commence delisting proceedings under any of the following circumstances: (i) if any of the continued listing requirements are not continuously maintained, (ii) if following the initial twelve-month period after commencement of trading on the NYSE Arca, there are fewer than 50 beneficial holders of the shares, (iii) if the NYSE ARCA is notified that the Funds are not in compliance with the conditions of any currently applicable exemptive order or no-action relief granted by the SEC, (iv) if any statements or representations regarding the description of the portfolio, limitations on portfolio holdings or the applicability of NYSE Arca listing rules is not continuously maintained, or (v) if such other event shall occur or condition exists that, in the opinion of the NYSE Arca, makes further dealings on the NYSE Arca inadvisable. In addition, the NYSE Arca will remove the shares of each Fund from listing and trading upon termination of each Fund.

As in the case of other publicly-traded securities, when you buy or sell shares through a broker-dealer, you will incur a brokerage commission determined by that broker-dealer.

Each Fund reserves the right to adjust the share prices of each Fund in the future to maintain convenient trading ranges for investors. Any adjustments would be accomplished through stock splits or reverse stock splits, which would have no effect on the net assets of each Fund or an investor’s equity interest in each Fund.

The base and trading currencies of each Fund is the U.S. dollar. The base currency is the currency in which each Fund’s NAV per share is calculated and the trading currency is the currency in which shares of each Fund are listed and traded on the NYSE Arca.

 

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PROXY PORTFOLIO

Proxy Portfolio Methodology

Unlike a traditional ETF, each Fund does not disclose its portfolio holdings daily. Rather, each Fund discloses a portfolio transparency substitute—the “Proxy Portfolio”—and certain related information about the relative performance of the Proxy Portfolio and each Fund’s Actual Portfolio holdings, which are designed to facilitate an effective arbitrage mechanism for each Fund’s shares while protecting the identity of each Fund’s full portfolio holdings. Each Fund believes that daily disclosure of its full portfolio holdings could enable market participants to predict each Fund’s trading strategy and trade ahead of each Fund’s portfolio trades (a practice known as “front-running”), or to copy each Fund’s investment strategy (a practice known as “free riding”). The purpose of the proxy portfolio methodology, as described below (the “Proxy Portfolio Methodology”) is to protect each Fund and its shareholders against such practices. Although each Fund does not publish its full portfolio holdings daily, the Proxy Portfolio Methodology is designed to allow Authorized Participants and other market makers to assess the intraday value and associated risk characteristics of each Fund’s Actual Portfolio.

An important feature of the Proxy Portfolio Methodology is the daily disclosure of a basket of cash and securities—the Proxy Portfolio—that is designed and constructed to closely track the daily performance of each Fund’s Actual Portfolio. In addition to the Proxy Portfolio, each Fund will disclose daily the percentage weight overlap between the holdings of the Proxy Portfolio and the Actual Portfolio that formed the basis for each Fund’s calculation of NAV at the end of the prior Business Day (the “Proxy Overlap”). Daily disclosure of the Proxy Portfolio, the Proxy Overlap and the other related Proxy Portfolio Disclosures is designed to enable Authorized Participants and other market participants to accurately assess the profitability of arbitrage trades in shares of each Fund and to effectively hedge their risks associated with arbitrage and market making activities, thereby helping to ensure that investors can purchase and sell Fund shares in the secondary market at prices that are at or close to the underlying NAV per share of each Fund.

Proxy Portfolio

The goal of the Proxy Portfolio Methodology is to permit each Fund’s Proxy Portfolio, during all market conditions, to track closely the daily performance of each Fund’s Actual Portfolio and to minimize intra-day misalignment between the performance of the Proxy Portfolio and the performance of the Actual Portfolio. The Proxy Portfolio is designed to reflect the economic exposures and the risk characteristics of the Actual Portfolio on any given trading day.

Construction of a Proxy Portfolio that replicates the daily performance of the Actual Portfolio is achieved by performing a factor model analysis of each Fund’s Actual Portfolio. The factor model is comprised of three sets of factors or analytical metrics: market-based factors, fundamental factors, and industry/sector factors. Each Fund will have a universe of securities (the “Model Universe”) that will be used to generate the Fund’s Proxy Portfolio. The Model Universe will be comprised of securities that the Fund can purchase and will be a financial index or stated portfolio of securities from which Fund investments will be selected. The results of the factor model analysis of each Fund’s Actual Portfolio are then applied to each Fund’s model universe of securities, resulting in the generation of a Proxy Portfolio, which consists of a small subset of the securities in the Model Universe. The Proxy Portfolio is designed to perform in a manner substantially identical to the performance of the Actual Portfolio. The Proxy Portfolio will only include securities and investments in which each Fund may invest. However, while the Proxy

Portfolio and the Actual Portfolio will likely hold some or many of the same securities, the Proxy Portfolio and a Fund’s Actual Portfolio may not include identical securities. The Proxy Portfolio will be reconstituted daily.

Proxy Portfolio Disclosures

The composition of the Proxy Portfolio will be published on the Funds’ website at im.natixis.com each Business Day and will include the following information for each portfolio holding in the Proxy Portfolio: (1) ticker symbol; (2) CUSIP or other identifier; (3) description of holding; (4) quantity of each security or other asset held; and (5) percentage weight of the holding in the Proxy Portfolio. The Funds’ website will publish on a daily basis, per share

 

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for each Fund, the prior Business Day’s NAV and the Closing Price or Bid/Ask Price (each as defined below), and a calculation of the premium/discount of the Closing Price or Bid/Ask Price against such NAV. The Funds’ website will also publish a variety of other information metrics regarding the relative behavior of the Proxy Portfolio and the Actual Portfolio, including the Proxy Overlap (defined below). Additional information about how the Proxy Portfolio and the Proxy Overlap are calculated can be found in this Statement and on the Funds’ website at im.natixis.com. The website will also include Tracking Error for each Fund and, once a Fund has completed a fiscal year, the median bid/ask spread (expressed as a percentage rounded to the nearest hundredth), will be computed by identifying the Fund’s National Best Bid and Offer as of the end of each ten second interval during each trading day of the last thirty calendar days, dividing the difference between each such bid and offer by the midpoint of the National Best Bid and Offer and identifying the median of these values. Additionally, the Funds are required to disclose on their website a table showing the number of days the Funds’ shares traded at a premium/discount and a line graph showing the Funds’ share premiums or discounts during the most recently completed calendar year and the most recently completed calendar quarters since that year (or the life of the Funds).

Each Fund believes that the Proxy Portfolio Disclosures will enable Authorized Participants and other market makers to use the component securities and their weightings of the Proxy Portfolio to calculate intraday values that approximate the value of the securities in the Actual Portfolio and, based thereon, assess whether the market price of a Fund’s shares is higher or lower than the approximate contemporaneous value of the Actual Portfolio. These activities are intended to facilitate an arbitrage mechanism that keeps market prices of a Fund’s shares at or close to a Fund’s NAV. Moreover, the Proxy Portfolio Disclosures generated by the Proxy Portfolio Methodology are intended to facilitate effective hedging activities by market makers, so that share market price bid/ask spreads will be narrow. Below are some definitions of the defined terms used above:

 

   

Closing Price – the official closing price of the share on each Fund’s primary listing exchange.

 

   

Bid/Ask Price – the midpoint of the highest bid and the lowest offer based upon the National Best Bid and Offer as of the time of calculation of each Fund’s NAV.

 

   

National Best Bid and Offer – the current national best bid and national best offer as disseminated by the Consolidated Quotation System or UTP Plan Securities Information Processor.

 

   

Proxy Overlap – the percentage weight overlap between the holdings of the prior Business Day’s Proxy Portfolio compared to the Actual Portfolio’s holdings that formed the basis for each Fund’s calculation of NAV at the end of the prior Business Day. The Proxy Overlap is calculated based on the Proxy Portfolio and portfolio holdings as of the prior Business Day. The Proxy Overlap is calculated by taking the lesser weight of each asset held in common between the Actual Portfolio and the Proxy Portfolio and adding the totals. Additional information about how the Proxy Overlap is calculated can be found on the Funds’ website at im.natixis.com.

 

   

Tracking Error – At the end of each trading day, each Fund will calculate its Proxy Overlap and the standard deviation over the past three months of the daily proxy spread (i.e., the difference, in percentage terms, between the Proxy Portfolio per share NAV and that of the Actual Portfolio at the end of the trading day) and publish such information before the opening of Fund share trading each Business Day.

Monitoring of Actual and Proxy Portfolio Securities

A security held in the Actual Portfolio but not in the Proxy Portfolio might not have readily available market quotations, which could be the situation when, for example, each Fund’s primary listing exchange institutes an extended trading halt in a portfolio security, leading to a potential increase in the difference between the value of the Actual Portfolio and Proxy Portfolio. If the trading of a security held in a Fund’s Actual Portfolio is halted or otherwise does not have readily available market quotations and the Adviser or a Subadviser believes that the lack of any such readily available market quotations may affect the reliability of the Proxy Portfolio as an arbitrage vehicle or otherwise determines it is in the best interest of a Fund, the Adviser or a Subadviser promptly will disclose on the Funds’ website the identity and weighting of such security for so long as such security’s trading is halted or otherwise does not have readily available market quotations and remains in the Actual Portfolio. The Adviser and Subadvisers believe that this intraday corrective measure will allow sufficient market information so that market participants can continue to engage in share arbitrage and hedging transactions effectively. If securities representing 10% or more of a Fund’s Actual Portfolio do not have readily available market quotations, the Adviser or a Subadviser would promptly request that the Fund’s primary listing exchange halt trading in a Fund’s shares.

 

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The Adviser and Subadvisers believe that in situations where a security in the Proxy Portfolio does not have a readily available market quotation, the effectiveness of the Proxy Portfolio as an arbitrage vehicle is unlikely to be materially affected given the large number of securities expected to be included in the Proxy Portfolio. If, however, the Adviser or a Subadviser believes that the lack of any such readily available market quotations may affect the reliability of the Proxy Portfolio as an arbitrage vehicle or otherwise determines it is in the best interest of a Fund, the Adviser or a Subadviser will promptly take any remedial steps it believes necessary and appropriate.

Protecting Confidential Information

Because each Fund will not publicly disclose its Actual Portfolio holdings daily, the selective disclosure of material nonpublic information, including information other than portfolio information, would be more likely to provide an unfair advantage to the recipient than in other ETFs. Accordingly, each Fund and each person acting on behalf of a Fund will be required to comply with Regulation Fair Disclosure as if it applied to them (except that the exemptions provided in Rule 100(b)(2)(iii) therein shall not apply). In addition, the Actual Portfolios will be considered material, non-public information under the codes of ethics of each Fund, Adviser, Distributor and each Subadviser and the agreements related to each Fund’s other service providers with, or any other party given, access to the Actual Portfolio, including the custodian, administrator and fund accountant, will include appropriate confidentiality provisions and be generally prohibited from trading based upon this information.

INVESTMENT STRATEGIES AND RISKS

Each Fund operates in reliance on an exemptive order from the SEC (the “Order”), which limits the types of investments a Fund may hold to those listed in the Funds’ application for the Order. Under the terms of the Order, each Fund will invest only in exchange-traded funds, exchange-traded notes, exchange-traded common stocks, common stocks listed on a foreign exchange that trade on such exchange contemporaneously with a Fund’s shares (“foreign common stocks”), exchange-traded preferred stocks, exchange-traded American Depositary Receipts, exchange-traded real estate investment trusts, exchange-traded commodity pools, exchange-traded metal trusts, exchange-traded currency trusts and exchange-traded futures that trade contemporaneously with a Fund’s shares, as well as cash and cash equivalents (which are short-term U.S. Treasury securities, government money market funds, and repurchase agreements).

Investment Strategies

The descriptions below summarize and describe certain investment strategies, including particular types of securities or instruments or specific practices, that may be used by the Subadviser in managing a Fund.

Each Fund’s principal strategies are described in its Prospectus. This Statement describes some of the non-principal strategies that each Fund may use, including related risks, in addition to providing additional information about its principal strategies.

A Fund is not required to engage in a particular transaction or invest in any security or instrument, even if to do so might benefit a Fund. The Subadviser may invest in some securities under a given category as a primary strategy and in other securities under the same category as a secondary strategy. The Prospectus and/or this Statement will be updated if a Fund begins to engage in investment practices that are not described in the Prospectus and/or this Statement.

Debt Securities

Each Fund may invest in short-term U.S. Treasury securities (see “U.S. Government Securities” below) and exchange-traded notes (see “Exchange-Traded Notes” below).

 

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U.S. Government Securities

Each Fund may invest in:

U.S. Treasury Bills – Direct obligations of the U.S. Treasury that are issued in maturities of one year or less. No interest is paid on Treasury bills; instead, they are issued at a discount and repaid at full face value when they mature. They are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

U.S. Treasury Notes and Bonds—Direct obligations of the U.S. Treasury issued in maturities that vary between one and thirty years, with interest normally payable every six months. These obligations are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

U.S. Treasury Floating Rate Notes – Treasury Floating Rate Notes are new instruments authorized by amendments to the U.S. Treasury’s marketable securities auction rules. As with other floating rate securities, at certain intervals the interest payment on a Treasury Floating Rate Note will increase when the applicable index increases, and will decrease when the applicable index decreases. Treasury Floating Rate Notes are a relatively new type of financial instrument. As such, there is no significant trading history of these securities, and there can be no assurance that a liquid market in these securities will develop. Lack of a liquid market may impose the risk of higher transaction costs and the possibility that a Fund may be forced to liquidate positions when it would not be advantageous to do so.

Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (“TIPS”) – Fixed-income securities whose principal value is periodically adjusted according to the rate of inflation. The interest rate on TIPS is fixed at issuance, but over the life of the bond this interest may be paid on an increasing or decreasing principal value that has been adjusted for inflation. Although repayment of the original bond principal upon maturity is guaranteed, the market value of TIPS is not guaranteed, and will fluctuate.

U.S. government securities generally do not involve the credit/counterparty risks associated with investments in other types of fixed-income securities, although, as a result, the yields available from U.S. government securities are generally lower than the yields available from corporate fixed-income securities. Like other debt securities, however, the values of U.S. government securities change as interest rates fluctuate. Fluctuations in the value of portfolio securities will not affect interest income on existing portfolio securities but will be reflected in a Fund’s NAV.

S&P downgraded its long-term sovereign credit rating on the United States from “AAA” to “AA+” on August 5, 2011. The downgrade by S&P and other possible downgrades in the future may result in increased volatility or liquidity risk, higher interest rates and lower prices for U.S. government securities and increased costs for all kinds of debt. The value of the Funds’ shares may be adversely affected by S&P’s downgrade or any future downgrades of the U.S. government’s credit rating given that the Funds may invest in U.S. government securities.

The values of TIPS generally fluctuate in response to changes in real interest rates, which are in turn tied to the relationship between nominal interest rates and the rate of inflation. If inflation were to rise at a faster rate than nominal interest rates, real interest rates might decline, leading to an increase in the value of TIPS. In contrast, if nominal interest rates increased at a faster rate than inflation, real interest rates might rise, leading to a decrease in the value of TIPS. If inflation is lower than expected during the period a Fund holds TIPS, the Fund may earn less on the TIPS than on a conventional bond. If interest rates rise due to reasons other than inflation (for example, due to changes in currency exchange rates), investors in TIPS may not be protected to the extent that the increase is not reflected in the bonds’ inflation measure. There can be no assurance that the inflation index for TIPS will accurately measure the real rate of inflation in the prices of goods and services.

Exchange-Traded Notes

A Fund may invest in exchange-traded notes (“ETNs”). ETNs are generally unsecured debt securities whose returns are linked to the performance of a particular market benchmark or strategy minus applicable fees. ETNs are traded on an exchange (e.g., the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”)) during normal trading hours. However, investors can also hold the ETN until maturity. At maturity, the issuer pays to the investor a cash amount equal to

 

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the principal amount, adjusted to reflect the performance of the relevant benchmark or strategy factor(s). ETNs generally do not make periodic coupon payments or provide principal protection. ETNs are subject to credit/counterparty risk, and the value of the ETN may drop due to a downgrade in the issuer’s credit rating, notwithstanding the performance of the underlying market benchmark or strategy. The value of an ETN may also be influenced by time to maturity, level of supply and demand for the ETN, volatility and lack of liquidity in underlying assets, changes in the applicable interest rates, changes in the issuer’s credit rating, and economic, legal, political, or geographic events that affect the referenced underlying benchmark or strategy. When a Fund invests in ETNs, it will bear its proportionate share of any fees and expenses borne by the ETN. These fees and expenses generally reduce the return realized at maturity or upon redemption from an investment in an ETN; therefore, the value of the index underlying the ETN must increase in order for an investor in an ETN to receive at least the principal amount of the investment at maturity or upon redemption. A Fund’s decision to sell its ETN holdings may be limited by the availability of a secondary market. The market price and return of the ETN may not correspond with that of the underlying benchmark or strategy. As a result, there may be times when an ETN share trades at a premium or discount to its market benchmark or strategy. This difference in price may be due to the fact that the supply and demand in the market for ETN shares at any point in time is not always identical to the supply and demand in the market for the securities or other components underlying the market benchmark or strategy that the ETN seeks to track. An ETN that is tied to a specific market benchmark or strategy may not be able to replicate and maintain exactly the composition and relative weighting of securities, commodities or other components in the applicable market benchmark or strategy. The returns of some ETNs may be leveraged. Leveraged ETNs are subject to the same risk as other instruments that use leverage in any form. ETNs can, at times, be relatively illiquid, and thus they may be difficult to purchase or sell at an advantageous price. ETNs are also subject to tax risk. No assurance can be given that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) will accept, or a court will uphold, how a Fund characterizes and treats ETNs for tax purposes. The tax treatment of income and gains from ETNs is not settled. An adverse determination or future guidance by the IRS (which determination or guidance could be retroactive) may affect a Fund’s ability to qualify for treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”) and to avoid a fund-level tax.

Zero-Coupon Securities

A Fund may invest in zero-coupon securities. Zero-coupon securities are debt obligations that do not entitle the holder to any periodic payments of interest either for the entire life of the obligation or for an initial period after the issuance of the obligations; the holder generally is entitled to receive the par value of the security at maturity. These securities are issued and traded at a discount from their face amounts. The amount of the discount varies depending on such factors as the time remaining until maturity of the securities, prevailing interest rates, the liquidity of the security and the perceived credit quality of the issuer. The market prices of zero-coupon securities generally are more volatile than the market prices of securities that pay interest periodically and are likely to respond to changes in interest rates to a greater degree than are other types of securities having similar maturities and credit quality. A Fund’s investment in zero-coupon securities will require a Fund to accrue income without a corresponding receipt of cash. A Fund may be required to dispose of portfolio securities (including when not otherwise advantageous to do so) in order to obtain sufficient cash to meet its distribution requirements for treatment as a RIC under the Code.

Exchange-Traded Equity Securities

A Fund may invest in exchange-traded equity securities. Common stocks and preferred stocks, together called “equity securities,” are generally volatile and more risky than some other forms of investment. Equity securities of companies with relatively small market capitalizations may be more volatile than the securities of larger, more established companies and than the broad equity market indices generally. Common stock and other equity securities may take the form of stock in corporations, partnership interests, interests in limited liability companies and other direct or indirect interests in business organizations.

Equity securities are securities that represent an ownership interest (or the right to acquire such an interest) in a company and may include common and preferred stocks. Equity securities may take the form of stock in a corporation, depositary receipts, exchange-traded real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) or other trusts and other similar securities. Common stocks represent an equity or ownership interest in an issuer. Preferred stocks represent an equity or ownership interest in an issuer that pays dividends at a specified rate and that has precedence over common stock in the payment of dividends. In the event that an issuer is liquidated or declares bankruptcy, the claims of owners of bonds and other debt securities generally take precedence over holders of preferred stock, whose claims take precedence over the claims of those who own common stock.

 

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While offering greater potential for long-term growth, equity securities generally are more volatile and more risky than some other forms of investment, particularly debt securities. The value of your investment in a fund that invests in equity securities may decrease, potentially by a significant amount. A Fund may invest in equity securities of companies with relatively small market capitalizations. Securities of such companies may be more volatile than the securities of larger, more established companies and the broad equity market indices (see “Market Capitalizations”).

A Fund may invest in growth stocks and value stocks. Growth stocks are those stocks of companies that a Subadviser believes have earnings that will grow faster than the economy as a whole. Growth stocks typically trade at higher multiples of current earnings than other stocks. As a result, the values of growth stocks may be more sensitive to changes in current or expected earnings than the values of other stocks. If a Subadviser’s assessment of the prospects for a company’s earnings growth is wrong, or if its judgment of how other investors will value the company’s earnings growth is wrong, then the price of that company’s stock may fall or may not approach the value that the Subadviser has placed on it.

Value stocks are those stocks of companies that are not expected to experience significant earnings growth, but that a Subadviser believes are undervalued compared to their true worth. These companies may have experienced adverse business developments or may be subject to special risks that have caused their stocks to be out of favor. If a Subadviser’s assessment of a company’s prospects is wrong, or if other investors do not eventually recognize the value of the company, then the price of the company’s stock may fall or may not approach the value that the Subadviser has placed on it. Many stocks may have both “growth” and “value” characteristics, and for some stocks it may be unclear under which category, if any, the stock should be characterized.

Exchange-Traded Commodity Pools and Exchange-Traded Metals Trusts

A Fund may invest in exchange-traded commodity pools and exchange-traded metal trusts. Commodities are assets that have tangible properties, such as oil, metals, livestock or agricultural products. Historically, commodity investments have had a relatively high correlation with changes in inflation and a relatively low correlation to stock and bond returns. The ability of a Fund to invest directly in commodities is subject to significant limitations in order to enable a Fund to maintain its status as a RIC under the Code. See the section “Taxes” below for more information.

A Fund may lose money on its commodity investments.

Investment Companies

A Fund may invest in government money market funds and other exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”). Investment companies, including ETFs, are essentially pools of securities. Investing in other investment companies involves substantially the same risks as investing directly in the underlying securities, but may involve additional expenses at the investment company level, such as investment advisory fees and operating expenses. In some cases, investing in an investment company may involve the payment of a premium over the value of the assets held in that investment company’s portfolio. In other circumstances, the market value of an investment company’s shares may be less than the NAV per share of the investment company. As an investor in another investment company, a Fund will bear its ratable share of the investment company’s expenses, including advisory fees, and a Fund’s shareholders will bear such expenses indirectly, in addition to similar fees and expenses of a Fund. A Fund may also be exposed to the risks associated with the underlying investment company’s investments.

Despite the possibility of greater fees and expenses, investment in other investment companies may be attractive nonetheless for several reasons, especially in connection with foreign investments. Because of restrictions on direct investment by U.S. entities in certain countries, investing indirectly in such countries (by purchasing shares of another fund that is permitted to invest in such countries) may be the most practical and efficient way for a Fund to invest in such countries. In other cases, when the Adviser desires to make only a relatively small investment in a particular country, investing through another fund that holds a diversified portfolio in that country may be more effective than investing directly in issuers in that country. In addition, it may be efficient for a Fund to gain exposure to particular market segments by investing in shares of one or more investment companies.

 

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ETFs. A Fund may invest in shares of ETFs. An ETF is an investment company that is generally registered under the 1940 Act that holds a portfolio of securities designed to track the performance of a particular index. The ETF may be actively managed. ETFs sell and redeem their shares at NAV in large blocks (typically 5,000 of its shares or more) called “creation units.” Shares representing fractional interests in these creation units are listed for trading on national securities exchanges and can be purchased and sold in the secondary market in lots of any size at any time during the trading day. ETFs sometimes also refer to entities that are not registered under the 1940 Act that invest directly in commodities or other assets (e.g., gold bullion). Investments in ETFs involve certain inherent risks generally associated with investments in a broadly-based portfolio of securities, including risks that the general level of stock prices may decline, thereby adversely affecting the value of each unit of the ETF or other instrument. In addition, an ETF may not fully replicate the performance of its benchmark index because of the temporary unavailability of certain index securities in the secondary market or discrepancies between the ETF and the index with respect to the weighting of securities or number of stocks held.

Limitations on Investments in Other Investment Companies. Investments in other investment companies are typically subject to limitations prescribed by the 1940 Act. The 1940 Act limitations currently provide, in part, that, unless an exception applies, a Fund may not purchase shares of an investment company if such a purchase would cause a Fund (a) to own in the aggregate more than 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of the investment company; (b) to have more than 5% of its total assets invested in the aggregate in the investment company; or (c) to have more than 10% of its total assets invested in the aggregate in all investment companies. Investments by a Fund may exceed these limitations, however, if permitted by applicable exemptive or regulatory relief; for example, a Fund may invest in excess of the foregoing limitations in an unaffiliated ETF if the ETF has obtained exemptive relief from the SEC and both the ETF and a Fund adhere to the conditions in the exemptive relief.

Market Capitalizations

A Fund may invest in companies with small, medium or large market capitalizations. Large capitalization companies are generally large companies that have been in existence for a number of years and are well established in their market. Middle market capitalization companies are generally medium-sized companies that are not as established as large capitalization companies, may be more volatile and are subject to many of the same risks as smaller capitalization companies.

Small Capitalization Companies

A Fund may invest in companies with relatively small market capitalizations. Such investments may involve greater risk than is usually associated with more established companies. These companies often have sales and earnings growth rates that exceed those of companies with larger market capitalizations. Such growth rates may in turn be reflected in more rapid share price appreciation. However, companies with smaller market capitalization often have limited product lines, markets or financial resources and may be dependent upon a relatively small management group. These securities may have limited marketability and may be subject to more abrupt or erratic movements in price than securities of companies with larger market capitalization or market averages in general. To the extent that a Fund invests in companies with relatively small market capitalizations, the value of its stock portfolio may fluctuate more widely than broad market averages.

Exchange-Traded Preferred Stock

A Fund may invest in exchange-traded preferred stocks. Preferred stock pays dividends at a specified rate and generally has preference over common stock in the payment of dividends and the liquidation of the issuer’s assets, but is junior to the debt securities of the issuer in those same respects. Unlike interest payments on debt securities, dividends on preferred stock are generally payable at the discretion of the issuer’s board of directors. Shareholders may suffer a loss of value if dividends are not paid. The market prices of preferred stocks are subject to changes in interest rates and are more sensitive to changes in the issuer’s creditworthiness than are the prices of debt securities. Under normal circumstances, preferred stock does not carry voting rights.

 

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Exchange-Traded Real Estate Securities

A Fund may invest in exchange-traded securities of companies in the real estate industry, including exchange-traded REITs, and is, therefore, subject to the special risks associated with the real estate market and the real estate industry in general. Companies in the real estate industry are considered to be those that (i) have principal activity involving the development, ownership, construction, management or sale of real estate; (ii) have significant real estate holdings, such as hospitality companies, supermarkets and mining, lumber and paper companies; and/or (iii) provide products or services related to the real estate industry, such as financial institutions that make and/or service mortgage loans and manufacturers or distributors of building supplies. Securities of companies in the real estate industry are sensitive to factors such as changes in real estate values, property taxes, interest rates, cash flow of underlying real estate assets, occupancy rates, government regulations affecting zoning, land use, and rents, and the management skill and creditworthiness of the issuer. Companies in the real estate industry may also be subject to liabilities under environmental and hazardous waste laws.

Exchange-Traded REITs

A Fund may invest in exchange-traded REITs. REITs are pooled investment vehicles that invest primarily in either real estate or real estate-related loans. REITs involve certain unique risks in addition to those risks associated with investing in the real estate industry in general (such as possible declines in the value of real estate, lack of availability of mortgage funds or extended vacancies of property). Equity REITs may be affected by changes in the value of the underlying property owned by the REITs, while mortgage REITs may be affected by the quality of any credit extended and changes in interest rates. REITs, whose underlying assets are concentrated in properties used by a particular industry, such as health care, are also subject to risks associated with such industry. REITs are dependent upon management skills, are not diversified, and are subject to heavy cash flow dependency, risks of default by borrowers and self-liquidation. REITs are also subject to the possibilities of failing to qualify for the favorable tax treatment available to REITs under the Code, and failing to maintain their exemptions from registration under the 1940 Act.

REITs (especially mortgage REITs) are also subject to interest rate risks, including prepayment risk. When interest rates decline, the value of a REIT’s investment in fixed rate obligations can be expected to rise. Conversely, when interest rates rise, the value of a REIT’s investment in fixed rate obligations can be expected to decline. If the REIT invests in adjustable rate mortgage loans the interest rates on which are reset periodically, yields on a REIT’s investments in such loans will gradually align themselves to reflect changes in market interest rates. This causes the value of such investments to fluctuate less dramatically in response to interest rate fluctuations than would investments in fixed rate obligations. REITs may have limited financial resources, may trade less frequently and in limited volume and may be subject to more abrupt or erratic price movements than more widely held securities.

A Fund’s investment in a REIT may result in a Fund making distributions that constitute a return of capital to Fund shareholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes. In addition, distributions by a Fund from REITs will not qualify for the corporate dividends-received deduction or, generally, for treatment as qualified dividend income.

Exchange-Traded American Depositary Receipts

A Fund may invest in foreign equity securities by purchasing exchange-traded “depositary receipts.” Depositary receipts are instruments issued by banks that represent an interest in foreign equity securities held by arrangement with the bank. Depositary receipts can be either “sponsored” or “unsponsored.” Sponsored depositary receipts are issued by banks in cooperation with the issuer of the underlying equity securities. Unsponsored depositary receipts are arranged without involvement by the issuer of the underlying equity securities and, therefore, less information about the issuer of the underlying equity securities may be available and the price may be more volatile than in the case of sponsored depositary receipts. American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) are depositary receipts that are

 

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bought and sold in the United States and are typically issued by a U.S. bank or trust company. All depositary receipts, including those denominated in U.S. dollars, will be subject to foreign currency risk. Because the Funds may invest in exchange-traded ADRs, changes in foreign economies and political climates are more likely to affect a Fund than a mutual fund that invests exclusively in U.S. companies. There may also be less government supervision of foreign markets, resulting in non-uniform accounting practices and less publicly available information. If a Fund’s portfolio is over-weighted in a certain geographic region, a negative development affecting that region will have a greater impact on the Fund than a fund that is not over-weighted in that region. See the section “Foreign Common Stocks” for more information.

Foreign Common Stocks

A Fund may invest in common stocks listed on a foreign exchange that trade on such exchange contemporaneously with the share (“foreign common stocks”). Foreign common stocks may include, among other things, securities of issuers organized or headquartered outside the U.S. as well as obligations of supranational entities. Each Fund may define “foreign securities” differently and the examples described in this section should not be considered a definition of “foreign securities.” In addition to the risks associated with investing in securities generally, such investments present additional risks not typically associated with investments in comparable securities of U.S. issuers.

There may be less information publicly available about a foreign corporate or government issuer than about a U.S. issuer, and foreign corporate issuers are not generally subject to accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards and practices comparable to those in the United States. The securities of some foreign issuers are less liquid and at times more volatile than securities of comparable U.S. issuers. Foreign brokerage commissions and securities custody costs are often higher than those in the United States, and judgments against foreign entities may be more difficult to obtain and enforce. With respect to certain foreign countries, there is a possibility of governmental expropriation of assets, confiscatory taxation, political or financial instability and diplomatic developments that could affect the value of investments in those countries. If a Fund’s portfolio is over-weighted in a certain geographic region, any negative development affecting that region will have a greater impact on a Fund than a fund that is not over-weighted in that region. The receipt of interest on foreign government securities may depend on the availability of tax or other revenues to satisfy the issuer’s obligations.

Since most foreign common stocks are denominated in foreign currencies or traded primarily in securities markets in which settlements are made in foreign currencies, the value of these investments and the net investment income available for distribution to shareholders of a Fund may be affected favorably or unfavorably by changes in currency exchange rates or exchange control regulations. To the extent a Fund may purchase securities denominated in foreign currencies, a change in the value of any such currency against the U.S. dollar will result in a change in the U.S. dollar value of a Fund’s assets and a Fund’s income available for distribution.

Furthermore, many emerging and developing market countries have experienced outbreaks of pandemic or contagious diseases from time to time. Because emerging and developing market countries tend to have less established health care systems, the adverse impact of outbreaks may be more severe for these countries. The risks of such outbreaks and resulting social, political, economic and environmental damage cannot be quantified. Such outbreaks can affect the economies of many nations, individual companies and the market in general. The impact may be short term or may last for an extended period of time.

Although a Fund’s income may be received or realized in foreign currencies, a Fund will be required to compute and distribute its income in U.S. dollars. Therefore, if the value of a currency relative to the U.S. dollar declines after a Fund’s income has been earned in that currency, translated into U.S. dollars and declared as a dividend, but before payment of such dividend, a Fund could be required to liquidate portfolio securities to pay such dividend. Similarly, if the value of a currency relative to the U.S. dollar declines between the time a Fund incurs expenses or other obligations in U.S. dollars and the time such expenses or obligations are paid, the amount of such currency required to be converted into U.S. dollars in order to pay such expenses in U.S. dollars will be greater than the equivalent amount in such currency of such expenses at the time they were incurred. Compliance with foreign tax law may reduce a Fund’s net income available for distribution to shareholders.

 

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Foreign withholding or other taxes imposed on a Fund’s investments in foreign common stocks will reduce a Fund’s return on those securities. In certain circumstances, a Fund may be able to elect to permit shareholders to claim a credit or deduction on their income tax returns with respect to foreign taxes paid by a Fund. See the section “Taxes.”

Supranational Entities

A Fund may invest in securities issued by supranational entities, such as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (commonly called the “World Bank”), the Asian Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. The governmental members of these supranational entities are “stockholders” that typically make capital contributions to support or promote such entities’ economic reconstruction or development activities and may be committed to make additional capital contributions if the entity is unable to repay its borrowings. A supranational entity’s lending activities may be limited to a percentage of its total capital, reserves and net income. There can be no assurance that the constituent governments will be able or willing to honor their commitments to those entities, with the result that the entity may be unable to pay interest or repay principal on its debt securities, and a Fund may lose money on such investments. Obligations of supranational entities that are denominated in foreign currencies will also be subject to the risks associated with investments in foreign currencies, as described in the sections “Foreign Common Stocks” and “Exchange-Traded Foreign Currency Transactions.”

U.S. Government Money Market Funds

A Fund may invest in U.S. government money market funds. Money market instruments are high-quality, short-term securities. A Fund’s money market investments at the time of purchase (other than U.S. government securities as defined below and repurchase agreements relating thereto) generally will be rated at the time of purchase in the two highest short-term rating categories as rated by a major credit agency or, if unrated, will be of comparable quality as determined by the Subadviser. A Fund may invest in instruments of lesser quality and does not have any minimum credit quality restriction. Money market instruments maturing in less than one year may yield less than obligations of comparable quality having longer maturities.

Although changes in interest rates can change the market value of a security, a Fund expects those changes to be minimal with respect to these securities, which may be purchased by a Fund for defensive purposes. A Fund’s money market investments may be issued by U.S. banks, foreign banks (including their U.S. branches) or foreign branches and subsidiaries of U.S. banks. Obligations of foreign banks may be subject to foreign economic, political and legal risks. Such risks include foreign economic and political developments, foreign governmental restrictions that may adversely affect payment of principal and interest on the obligations, foreign withholding and other taxes on interest income, difficulties in obtaining and enforcing a judgment against a foreign obligor, exchange control regulations (including currency blockage) and the expropriation or nationalization of assets or deposits. Foreign branches of U.S. banks and foreign banks are not necessarily subject to the same or similar regulatory requirements that apply to domestic banks. For instance, such branches and banks may not be subject to the types of requirements imposed on domestic banks with respect to mandatory reserves, loan limitations, examinations, accounting, auditing, record keeping and the public availability of information. Obligations of such branches or banks will be purchased only when the Subadviser believes the risks are minimal.

A Fund may invest in U.S. government securities that include all securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or its agencies, authorities or instrumentalities (“U.S. government securities”). Some U.S. government securities are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. U.S. government securities that are not backed by the full faith and credit of the United States are considered riskier than those that are. See the section “U.S. Government Securities” for additional information.

Although a Fund may invest in money market instruments, it is not a money market fund and therefore is not subject to the portfolio quality, maturity and NAV requirements applicable to money market funds. A Fund will not seek to maintain a stable NAV. A Fund also will not be required to comply with the rating restrictions applicable to money market funds, and will not necessarily sell an investment in cases where a security’s rating has been downgraded.

 

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Considerations of liquidity, safety and preservation of capital may preclude a Fund from investing in money market instruments paying the highest available yield at a particular time. In addition, a Fund’s ability to trade money market securities may be constrained by the collateral and asset coverage requirements related to a Fund’s other investments. As a result, a Fund may need to buy or sell money market instruments at inopportune times. In addition, even though money market instruments are generally considered to be high-quality and a low-risk investment, recently a number of issuers of money market and money market-type instruments have experienced financial difficulties, leading in some cases to rating downgrades and decreases in the value of their securities. In addition, during the 2008 global financial downturn, many money market instruments that were thought to be highly liquid became illiquid and lost value. If a Fund’s money market instruments become illiquid, a Fund may be unable to satisfy certain of its obligations or may only be able to do so by selling other securities at prices or times that may be disadvantageous to do so.

TYPES OF PRACTICES

Exchange-Traded Derivative Instruments

The Funds may invest in exchange-traded futures. A Fund may, but is not required to, use a number of exchange-traded derivative instruments for risk management purposes or to seek to enhance investment returns. Generally, derivatives are financial contracts whose value depends upon, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate or index, and may relate to stocks, bonds, interest rates, currencies or currency exchange rates, commodities, related indices and other assets. For additional information about the use of derivatives in connection with foreign currency transactions, see the section “Foreign Currency Transactions.” A Fund’s Subadviser may decide not to employ one or more of these strategies and there is no assurance that any derivatives strategy used by a Fund will succeed. In addition, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances and there can be no assurance that a Fund will engage in these transactions to reduce exposure to other risks when that would be beneficial.

Derivatives involve special risks, including credit/counterparty risk, illiquidity, difficulties in valuation, leverage risk and, to the extent the Subadviser’s view as to certain market movements is incorrect, the risk that the use of derivatives could result in significantly greater losses or lower income or gains than if they had not been used. A Fund’s derivative counterparties may experience financial difficulties or otherwise be unwilling or unable to honor their obligations, possibly resulting in losses to a Fund. Losses resulting from the use of derivatives will reduce a Fund’s NAV, and possibly income, and the losses may be significantly greater than if derivatives had not been used. The degree of a Fund’s use of derivatives may be limited by certain provisions of the Code. When used, derivatives may affect the amount, timing and/or character of distributions payable to, and thus taxes payable by, shareholders. See the subsection “Certain Additional Risks of Derivative Instruments” below for additional information about the risks relating to derivative instruments.

Several types of derivative instruments in which a Fund may invest are described in more detail below. However, a Fund may decide not to employ any or all of these strategies.

Asset Segregation and Coverage

A Fund will segregate with its custodian or otherwise designate on its records liquid assets to ensure that it has sufficient liquid assets to meet its obligations under its derivatives contracts and similar transactions, or a Fund may engage in other measures to “cover” its obligations with respect to such transactions. The amounts that are segregated or designated may be based on the notional value of the derivative or on the daily mark-to-market obligation under the derivatives contract and may be reduced by amounts on deposit with the applicable broker or counterparty to the derivatives transaction. In certain circumstances, a Fund may enter into an offsetting position rather than segregating or designating liquid assets (e.g., a Fund may cover a written put option with a purchased put option with the same or higher exercise price). Although a Fund’s Subadviser will attempt to ensure that a Fund has sufficient liquid assets to cover its obligations under its derivatives contracts, it is possible that a Fund’s liquid assets may be insufficient to support such obligations under its derivatives positions. A Fund may modify its asset segregation policies from time to time.

 

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Exchange-Traded Futures Contracts

Exchange-traded futures transactions involve a Fund’s buying or selling futures contracts. A futures contract is an agreement between two parties to buy and sell a particular security, commodity, currency or other asset, or group or index of securities, commodities, currencies or other assets, for a specified price on a specified future date. A futures contract creates an obligation by the seller to deliver and the buyer to take delivery of the type of instrument or cash (depending on whether the contract calls for physical delivery or cash settlement) at the time and in the amount specified in the contract. In the case of futures on an index, the seller and buyer agree to settle in cash, at a future date, based on the difference in value of the contract between the date it is opened and the settlement date. The value of each contract is equal to the value of the index from time to time multiplied by a specified dollar amount. For example, S&P 500® Index futures may trade in contracts with a value equal to $250 multiplied by the price of the S&P 500® Index.

When an investor, such as a Fund, enters into a futures contract, it is required to deposit with (or for the benefit of) its broker as “initial margin” an amount of cash or short-term, high-quality/liquid securities (such as U.S. Treasury bills or high-quality tax-exempt bonds acceptable to the broker) equal to approximately 2% to 5% of the delivery or settlement price of the contract (depending on applicable exchange rules and the terms of a Fund’s contractual arrangement with its broker). Initial margin is held to secure the performance of the holder of the futures contract. As the value of the contract changes, the value of futures contract positions increases or declines. At the end of each trading day, the amount of such increase and decline is received and paid respectively by and to the holders of these positions. The amount received or paid is known as “variation margin.”

The gain or loss on a futures position is equal to the net variation margin received or paid over the time the position is held, plus or minus the amount received or paid when the position is closed, minus brokerage commissions and other transaction costs. Should the value of the assets in the margin account drop below the minimum amount required to be maintained, or “maintenance margin,” a Fund will be required to deposit additional assets to the account.

Although many futures contracts call for the delivery (or acceptance) of the specified instrument, futures are usually cash-settled or closed out before the settlement date through the purchase (or sale) of an offsetting contract. If the price of the sale of the futures contract by a Fund is less than the price of the offsetting purchase, a Fund will realize a loss. A futures sale is closed by purchasing a futures contract for the same aggregate amount of the specific type of financial instrument or commodity and with the same delivery date. Similarly, a futures purchase is closed by the purchaser selling an offsetting futures contract.

Futures contract prices, and the prices of the related contracts in which a Fund may trade, may be highly volatile. Such prices are influenced by, among other things: changing supply and demand relationships; government trade, fiscal, monetary and exchange control programs and policies; national and international political and economic events; and changes in interest rates. In addition, governments from time to time intervene, directly and by regulation, in these markets, with the specific intention of influencing such prices. The effect of such intervention is often heightened by a group of governments acting in concert. However, if futures or options are used to hedge portfolio securities, an increase in the price of the securities, if any, may partially or completely offset losses on the futures contract.

Furthermore, the low margin deposits normally required in futures trading permit an extremely high degree of leverage. Accordingly, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract can result in immediate and substantial losses to the investor. As an added risk in these volatile and highly leveraged markets, it is not always possible to liquidate futures positions to prevent further losses or recognize unrealized gains. Positions in futures contracts may be established or closed out only on an exchange or board of trade. There is no assurance that a liquid market on an exchange or board of trade will exist for any particular contract or at any particular time. Illiquidity can arise due to daily price limits taking effect or to market disruptions. Futures positions may be illiquid because certain commodity exchanges limit fluctuations in certain futures contract prices during a single day through regulations referred to as “daily price fluctuation limits” or “daily limits.” Under such daily limits, during a single trading day no trades may be executed at prices beyond the daily limits. Once the price of a particular futures contract has increased or decreased by an amount equal to the daily limit, positions in that contract can neither be taken nor liquidated unless market participants are willing to effect trades at or within the limit. Futures prices have occasionally moved beyond the daily limits for several consecutive days with little or no trading. If there is not a liquid market at a particular time, it may not be possible to close a futures or options position at such time, and, in

 

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the event of adverse price movements, a Fund would continue to be required to make daily cash payments of variation margin. The potential inability to liquidate futures positions creates the possibility of a Fund being unable to control its losses. If a Fund were to borrow money to use for trading purposes, the effects of such leverage would be magnified. Cash posted as margin in connection with a Fund’s futures contracts will not be available to a Fund for investment or other purposes.

Funds that invest in futures contracts may be subject to risks related to rolling. When investing in futures contracts, a Fund will generally seek to “roll” its futures positions rather than hold them through expiration. In some circumstances, the prices of futures contracts with near-term expirations are lower than the prices of similar futures contracts with longer-term expirations, resulting in a cost to “roll” the futures contracts. The actual realization of a potential roll cost will depend on the difference in prices of futures contracts with near- and longer-term expirations, and the rolling of futures positions may result in losses to a Fund.

Exchange-Traded Commodity Futures Contracts

A Fund may invest in exchange-traded commodity futures contracts. There are additional risks associated with transactions in commodity futures contracts including, but not limited to the following:

Storage. Unlike the financial futures markets, in the commodity futures markets there are costs of physical storage associated with purchasing the underlying commodity. The price of the commodity futures contract will reflect the storage costs of purchasing the physical commodity, including the time value of money invested in the physical commodity. To the extent that the storage costs for an underlying commodity change while a Fund is invested in futures contracts on that commodity, the value of the futures contract may also change (even if a Fund does not intend to physically settle the commodity futures contract). While a Fund typically does not intend to physically settle any commodity futures contracts, physical delivery of commodities can result in temporary illiquidity and a Fund would incur additional charges associated with the holding and safekeeping of any such commodities.

Reinvestment. In the commodity futures markets, producers of the underlying commodity may decide to hedge the price risk of selling the commodity by selling futures contracts today to lock in the price of the commodity at the relevant delivery date. In order to induce speculators to purchase the other side of the same futures contract, the commodity producer generally must sell the futures contract at a lower price than the expected future spot price. Conversely, if most hedgers in the futures market are purchasing futures contracts to hedge against a rise in prices, then speculators will only sell the other side of the futures contract at a higher futures price than the expected future spot price of the commodity. The changing positions and views of the participants in the commodity markets will influence whether futures prices are above or below the expected future spot price, which can have significant implications for a Fund. If the positions and views of the participants in futures markets have shifted when it is time for a Fund to reinvest the proceeds of a maturing contract in a new futures contract, a Fund might reinvest at higher or lower futures prices, or choose to pursue other investments.

Speculative Position Limits

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and domestic exchanges have established (and continue to evaluate and monitor) speculative position limits (“position limits”) on the maximum speculative position which any person, or group of persons acting in concert, may hold or control in particular contracts. Therefore, the trading decisions of the Adviser or a Subadviser may have to be modified and positions held by the Fund liquidated in order to avoid exceeding such limits. A violation of position limits could also lead to regulatory action materially adverse to a Fund’s investment strategy.

Exchange-Traded Index Futures Contracts

In the case of futures on an index, the seller and buyer agree to settle in cash, at a future date, based on the difference in value of the contract between the date it is opened and the settlement date. The value of each contract is equal to the value of the index from time to time multiplied by a specified dollar amount. For example, S&P 500® Index futures may trade in contracts with a value equal to $250 multiplied by the price of the S&P 500® Index. The price of index futures may not correlate perfectly with movement in the relevant index due to certain market distortions.

 

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One such distortion stems from the fact that all participants in the futures market are subject to margin deposit and maintenance requirements. Rather than meeting additional margin deposit requirements, investors may close futures contracts through offsetting transactions, which could distort the normal relationship between the index and futures markets. Another market distortion results from the deposit requirements in the futures market being less onerous than margin requirements in the securities market, and as a result the futures market may attract more speculators than does the securities market. A third distortion is caused by the fact that trading hours for foreign stock index futures may not correspond perfectly to hours of trading on the foreign exchange to which a particular foreign stock index futures contract relates. This may result in a disparity between the price of index futures and the value of the relevant index due to the lack of continuous arbitrage between the index futures price and the value of the underlying index. Finally, hedging transactions using stock indices involve the risk that movements in the price of the index may not correlate with price movements of the particular portfolio securities being hedged.

Credit/Counterparty Risk

A Fund will be exposed to the credit/counterparty risk of the counterparties with which, or the brokers, dealers and exchanges through which it trades, whether it engages in exchange-traded transactions. Transactions entered into by the Funds may be executed on various U.S. and non-U.S. exchanges, and may be cleared and settled through various clearing houses, custodians, depositories and prime brokers throughout the world. There can be no assurance that a failure by any such entity will not lead to a loss to a Fund.

To the extent a Fund engages in cleared derivatives transactions, it will be subject to the credit/counterparty risk of the clearing house and the clearing member through which it holds its cleared position. If a Fund engages in futures transactions, it will also be exposed to the credit/counterparty risk of its futures commissions merchant (“FCM”). If a Fund’s FCM or clearing member (as applicable) becomes bankrupt or insolvent, or otherwise defaults on its obligations to the Fund, the Fund may not receive all amounts owed to it in respect of its trading, even if the clearing house fully discharges all of its obligations. The Commodity Exchange Act (the “CEA”) requires an FCM to segregate all funds received from its customers with respect to regulated futures transactions from such FCM’s proprietary funds. If an FCM were not to do so to the full extent required by law, the assets of an account might not be fully protected in the event of the bankruptcy of an FCM. Furthermore, in the event of an FCM’s bankruptcy, a Fund would be limited to recovering only a pro rata share of all available funds segregated on behalf of an FCM’s combined customer accounts, even if certain property held by an FCM is specifically traceable to the Fund (for example, U.S. Treasury bills deposited by the Fund). It is possible that a Fund would be unable to recover from the FCM’s estate the full amount of its funds on deposit with such FCM and owing to the Fund. Such situations could arise due to various factors, or a combination of factors, including inadequate FCM capitalization, inadequate controls on customer trading and inadequate customer capital. Similar requirements, restrictions and risks apply to clearing members as well. In addition, in the event of the bankruptcy or insolvency of a clearing house, a Fund might experience a loss of funds deposited through its FCM or clearing member (as applicable) as margin with the clearing house, a loss of unrealized profits on its open positions and the loss of funds owed to it as realized profits on closed positions. Such a bankruptcy or insolvency might also cause a substantial delay before the Fund could obtain the return of funds owed to it by an FCM who is a member of such clearing house.

A Fund is subject to the risk that issuers of the instruments in which it invests and trades may default on their obligations under those instruments, and that certain events may occur that have an immediate and significant adverse effect on the value of those instruments and any derivatives whose value is based on such instruments. There can be no assurance that an issuer of an instrument in which a Fund invests will not default, or that an event that has an immediate and significant adverse effect on the value of an instrument will not occur, and that a Fund will not sustain a loss on a transaction as a result.

In the event of a counterparty’s (or its affiliate’s) insolvency, a Fund’s ability to exercise remedies could be stayed or eliminated under new special resolution regimes adopted in the United States, the European Union and various other jurisdictions. Such regimes provide government authorities with broad authority to intervene when a financial institution is experiencing financial difficulty and may prohibit a Fund from exercising termination rights based on the financial institution’s insolvency.

 

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Certain Additional Risks of Derivative Instruments

As described in the Prospectus, certain Funds intend to use derivative instruments, including exchange-traded futures, to seek to enhance investment returns as well as for risk management purposes to the extent permitted under the Order. Although the Subadviser may seek to use these transactions to achieve a Fund’s investment goals, no assurance can be given that the use of these transactions will achieve this result. Any or all of these investment techniques may be used at any time. The ability of a Fund to utilize these derivative instruments successfully will depend on a Subadviser ability to predict pertinent market movements, which cannot be assured. Furthermore, a Fund’s use of certain derivatives may in some cases involve forms of financial leverage, which involves risk and may increase the volatility of a Fund’s NAV. Leveraging may cause a Fund to liquidate portfolio positions to satisfy its obligations or to meet segregation requirements when it may not be advantageous to do so. To the extent that a Fund is not able to close out a leveraged position because of market illiquidity, its liquidity may be impaired to the extent that it has a substantial portion of liquid assets segregated or earmarked to cover obligations. A Fund will comply with applicable regulatory requirements when implementing these strategies, techniques and instruments. Use of derivatives for other than hedging purposes may be considered a speculative activity, involving greater risks than are involved in hedging. A short exposure through a derivative may present additional risks. If the value of the asset, asset class or index on which a Fund has obtained a short exposure increases, a Fund will incur a loss. Moreover, the potential loss from a short exposure is theoretically unlimited.

The value of some derivative instruments in which a Fund invests may be particularly sensitive to changes in prevailing interest rates or other economic factors and the ability of a Fund to successfully utilize these instruments may depend in part upon the ability of a Subadviser to forecast interest rates and other economic factors correctly. If a Subadviser incorrectly forecasts such factors and has taken positions in derivative instruments contrary to prevailing market trends, a Fund could be exposed to the risk of loss. If a Subadviser incorrectly forecasts interest rates, market values or other economic factors in using a derivatives strategy for a Fund, a Fund might have been in a better position if it had not entered into the transaction at all. Also, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances. The use of these strategies involves certain special risks, including a possible imperfect correlation, or even no correlation, between price movements of derivative instruments and price movements of related investments. While some strategies involving derivative instruments can reduce the risk of loss, they can also reduce the opportunity for gain or even result in losses by offsetting favorable price movements in related investments or otherwise, due to the possible inability of a Fund to purchase or sell a portfolio security at a time that otherwise would be favorable or the possible need to sell a portfolio security at a disadvantageous time because a Fund is required to maintain asset coverage or offsetting positions in connection with transactions in derivative instruments, and the possible inability of a Fund to close out or to liquidate its derivatives positions. In addition, a Fund’s use of such instruments may cause a Fund to realize higher amounts of short-term capital gains (generally taxed at ordinary income tax rates) than if it had not used such instruments. To the extent that a Fund gains exposure to an asset class using derivative instruments backed by a collateral portfolio of other securities, changes in the value of those other securities may result in greater or lesser exposure to that asset class than would have resulted from a direct investment in securities comprising that asset class.

Although a Subadviser may seek to use derivatives transactions to achieve a Fund’s investment goals, no assurance can be given that the use of these transactions will achieve this result. One risk arises because of the imperfect correlation between movements in the price of derivatives contracts and movements in the price of the securities, indices or other assets serving as reference instruments for the derivative. A Fund’s derivative strategies will not be fully effective unless a Fund can compensate for such imperfect correlation. There is no assurance that a Fund will be able to effect such compensation. For example, the correlation between the price movement of the derivatives contract and the hedged security may be distorted due to differences in the nature of the relevant markets. If the price of the futures contract moves more than the price of the hedged security, a Fund would experience either a loss or a gain on the derivative that is not completely offset by movements in the price of the hedged securities. For example, in an attempt to compensate for imperfect price movement correlations, a Fund may purchase or sell futures contracts in a greater dollar amount than the hedged securities if the price movement volatility of the hedged securities is historically greater than the volatility of the futures contract. Conversely, a Fund may purchase or sell futures contracts in a smaller dollar amount than the hedged securities if the volatility of the price of hedged securities is historically less than that of the futures contracts. The use of derivatives for other than hedging purposes may be considered a speculative activity, and involves greater risks than are involved in hedging. With respect to certain derivative transactions (e.g. short positions in which a Fund does not hold the instrument to which the short position relates), the potential risk of loss to a Fund is theoretically unlimited.

 

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The price of index futures may not correlate perfectly with movement in the relevant index due to certain market distortions. One such distortion stems from the fact that all participants in the futures market are subject to margin deposit and maintenance requirements. Rather than meeting additional margin deposit requirements, investors may close futures contracts through offsetting transactions, which could distort the normal relationship between the index and futures markets. Another market distortion results from the deposit requirements in the futures market being less onerous than margin requirements in the securities market, and as a result the futures market may attract more speculators than does the securities market. A third distortion is caused by the fact that trading hours for foreign stock index futures may not correspond perfectly to hours of trading on the foreign exchange to which a particular foreign stock index futures contract relates. This may result in a disparity between the price of index futures and the value of the relevant index due to the lack of continuous arbitrage between the index futures price and the value of the underlying index. Finally, hedging transactions using stock indices involve the risk that movements in the price of the index may not correlate with price movements of the particular portfolio securities being hedged.

Price movement correlation in derivative transactions also may be distorted by the illiquidity of the derivatives markets and the participation of speculators in such markets. If an insufficient number of contracts are traded, commercial users may not deal in derivatives because they do not want to assume the risk that they may not be able to close out their positions within a reasonable amount of time. In such instances, derivatives market prices may be driven by different forces than those driving the market in the underlying securities, and price spreads between these markets may widen. The participation of speculators in the market enhances its liquidity. Nonetheless, the presence of speculators may create temporary price distortions unrelated to the market in the underlying securities.

The liquidity of markets in futures contracts and options on futures contracts may be adversely affected by “daily price fluctuation limits” established by commodity exchanges that limit the amount of fluctuation in a futures or options price during a single trading day. Once the daily limit has been reached in a contract, no trades may be entered into at a price beyond the limit, which may prevent the liquidation of open futures or options positions. Futures prices have in the past occasionally exceeded the daily limit for several consecutive trading days with little or no trading. If there is not a liquid market at a particular time, it may not be possible to close a futures or options position at such time, and, in the event of adverse price movements, a Fund would continue to be required to make daily cash payments of variation margin. However, if futures or options are used to hedge portfolio securities, an increase in the price of the securities, if any, may partially or completely offset losses on the futures contract.

The value of a Fund’s derivative instruments may fluctuate based on a variety of market and economic factors. In some cases, the fluctuations may offset (or be offset by) changes in the value of securities or derivatives held in the Fund’s portfolio. All transactions in derivatives involve the possible risk of loss to a Fund of all or a significant part of the value of its investment. In some cases, the risk of loss may exceed the amount of a Fund’s investment. When a Fund sells a futures contract without holding the underlying securities, currencies or futures contracts, its potential loss is unlimited.

The successful use of derivatives will depend in part on a Subadviser’s ability to forecast securities market, currency or other financial market movements correctly. For example, a Fund’s ability to hedge against adverse changes in the value of securities held in its portfolio through options and futures also depends on the degree of correlation between changes in the value of futures or options positions and changes in the values of the portfolio securities. The successful use of certain other derivatives also depends on the availability of a liquid secondary market to enable a Fund to close its positions on a timely basis. There can be no assurance that such a market will exist at any particular time. Furthermore, a Fund’s use of certain derivatives may in some cases involve forms of financial leverage, which involves risk and may increase the volatility of a Fund’s NAV. Leveraging may cause a Fund to liquidate portfolio positions to satisfy its obligations or to meet segregation requirements when it may not be advantageous to do so. To the extent a Fund is not able to close out a leveraged position because of market illiquidity, its liquidity may be impaired to the extent that it has a substantial portion of liquid assets segregated or earmarked to cover obligations.

The derivatives markets of some foreign countries are small compared to those of the United States and consequently are characterized in some cases by less liquidity than U.S. markets. In addition, derivatives that are traded on foreign exchanges may not be regulated as effectively as similar transactions in the United States, may not involve a clearing mechanism and related guarantees, may be subject to less detailed reporting requirements and regulatory controls, and are subject to the risk of governmental actions affecting trading in, or the prices of, foreign

 

24


securities. The value of such positions also could be adversely affected by (i) other complex foreign political, legal and economic factors, (ii) lesser availability than in the United States of data on which to make trading decisions, (iii) delays in a Fund’s ability to act upon economic events occurring in foreign markets during non-business hours in the United States, (iv) the imposition of different exercise and settlement terms and procedures and margin requirements than in the United States, and (v) lesser trading volume. Furthermore, investments in derivatives in markets outside of the United States are subject to many of the same risks as other foreign investments. See the section “Foreign Common Stocks.”

Risk of Government Regulation of Derivatives

It is possible that government regulation of various types of derivative instruments, including futures agreements, may limit or prevent a Fund from using such instruments as part of its investment strategy, and could ultimately prevent a Fund from being able to achieve its investment goals. It is impossible to fully predict the effects of legislation and regulation in this area, but the effects could be substantial and adverse. It is possible that legislative and regulatory activity could limit or completely restrict the ability of a Fund to use these instruments as a part of its investment strategy, increase the costs of using these instruments or make them less effective. Limits or restrictions applicable to the counterparties with which a Fund engages in derivative transactions could also prevent a Fund from using these instruments or affect the pricing or other factors relating to these instruments, or may change the availability of certain investments.

There is a possibility of future regulatory changes altering, perhaps to a material extent, the nature of an investment in a Fund or the ability of a Fund to continue to implement its investment strategy. In particular, the Dodd-Frank Act has and will continue to change the way in which the U.S. financial system is supervised and regulated. The futures markets are subject to comprehensive statutes, regulations, and margin requirements. The SEC, the CFTC and the exchanges are authorized to take extraordinary actions in the event of a market emergency, including, for example, the implementation or reduction of speculative position limits, the implementation of higher margin requirements, the establishment of daily price limits and the suspension of trading. Similar regulations are being adopted in other jurisdictions around the world.

These and other new rules and regulations could, among other things, further restrict a Fund’s ability to engage in, or increase the cost to a Fund of, derivatives transactions, for example, by making some types of derivatives no longer available to a Fund or otherwise limiting liquidity. The costs of derivatives transactions are expected to increase further as clearing members raise their fees to cover the costs of additional capital requirements and other regulatory changes applicable to the clearing members. These rules and regulations are relatively new and evolving, so their potential impact on a Fund and the financial system are not yet known. While the new rules and regulations and central clearing of some derivatives transactions are designed to reduce systemic risk (i.e., the risk that the interdependence of large derivatives dealers could cause them to suffer liquidity, solvency or other challenges simultaneously), there is no assurance that they will achieve that result, and in the meantime, as noted above, central clearing and related requirements expose a Fund to new kinds of costs and risks.

In November 2019, the SEC proposed a new rule that would govern the use of derivatives by mutual funds such as the Funds. If adopted as proposed, the rule would, among other things, require that a fund entering into derivatives transactions comply with an absolute or relative value-at-risk limitation and implement a derivatives risk management program, unless the fund’s derivatives usage is maintained at minimal levels. While the full extent and cost of these regulations is unclear, and proposed regulations may be revised before adoption or may never be adopted, these regulations could, among other things, restrict a Fund’s ability to engage in derivatives transactions and/or increase the cost of such derivatives transactions (through increased margin or capital requirements).

Other Derivatives; Future Developments

The above discussion relates to a Fund’s proposed use of certain types of derivatives currently available. However, a Fund is not limited to the transactions described above. In addition, the relevant markets and related regulations are constantly changing and, in the future, a Fund may use derivatives not currently available or widely in use.

 

25


CFTC Regulations

The Adviser has claimed an exclusion from the definition of commodity pool operator (a “CPO”) pursuant to CFTC Rule 4.5 (the “exclusion”) with respect to its operation of each Fund. Accordingly, the Adviser (with respect to a Fund), is not subject to registration or regulation as a CPO under the CEA. To remain eligible for the exclusion, a Fund will be limited in its ability to use certain financial instruments regulated under the CEA (“commodity interests”), including futures and options on futures. In the event that a Fund’s investments in commodity interests are not within the thresholds set forth in the exclusion, the Adviser may be required to register as a CPO and/or “commodity trading advisor” with the CFTC with respect to that Fund. The Adviser’s eligibility to claim the exclusion with respect to a Fund will be based upon, among other things, the level and scope of a Fund’s investment in commodity interests, the purposes of such investments and the manner in which a Fund holds out its use of commodity interests. A Fund’s ability to invest in commodity interests (including, but not limited to, futures on broad-based securities indexes and interest rates) is limited by the Adviser’s intention to operate a Fund in a manner that would permit the Adviser to continue to claim the exclusion under Rule 4.5, which may adversely affect such Fund’s total return. In the event the Adviser becomes unable to rely on the exclusion in Rule 4.5 and is required to register with the CFTC as a CPO with respect to a Fund, such Fund’s expenses may increase, adversely affecting that Fund’s total return.

Initial Public Offerings (“IPOs”)

A Fund will not purchase equity securities of a company prior to the IPO of those securities. An IPO is a company’s first offering of stock to the public in the primary market, typically to raise additional capital. A Fund may purchase a “hot” IPO (also known as a “hot issue”), which is an IPO that is oversubscribed and, as a result, is an investment opportunity of limited availability. As a consequence, the price at which these IPO shares open in the secondary market may be significantly higher than the original IPO price. IPO securities tend to involve greater risk due, in part, to public perception and the lack of publicly available information and trading history. There is the possibility of losses resulting from the difference between the issue price and potential diminished value of the stock once traded in the secondary market. A Fund’s investment in IPO securities may have a significant impact on a Fund’s performance and may result in significant capital gains.

Repurchase Agreements

A Fund may enter into repurchase agreements, by which the Fund purchases a security and obtains a simultaneous commitment from the seller (a bank or, to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act, a recognized securities dealer) to repurchase the security at an agreed-upon price and date (usually seven days or less from the date of original purchase). The resale price is in excess of the purchase price and reflects an agreed-upon market interest rate unrelated to the coupon rate on the purchased security. Repurchase agreements are economically similar to collateralized loans by a Fund. Such transactions afford a Fund the opportunity to earn a return on temporarily available cash at relatively low market/issuer risk. A Fund does not have percentage limitations on how much of its total assets may be invested in repurchase agreements. A Fund typically uses repurchase agreements for cash management and temporary defensive purposes. A Fund may invest in a repurchase agreement that does not produce a positive return to the Fund if a Subadviser believes it is appropriate to do so under the circumstances (for example, to help protect the Fund’s uninvested cash against the risk of loss during periods of market turmoil). While the underlying security may be a bill, certificate of indebtedness, note or bond issued by an agency, authority or instrumentality of the U.S. government, the obligation of the seller is not guaranteed by the U.S. government and there is a risk that the seller may fail to repurchase the underlying security. In such event, a Fund would attempt to exercise rights with respect to the underlying security, including possible disposition in the market. However, a Fund may be subject to various delays and risks of loss, including (i) possible declines in the value of the underlying security during the period while the Fund seeks to enforce its rights thereto, (ii) possible reduced levels of income and lack of access to income during this period and (iii) inability to enforce rights and the expenses involved in the attempted enforcement, for example, against a counterparty undergoing financial distress.

 

26


Securities Lending

A Fund may lend a portion of its portfolio securities to brokers, dealers financial institutions or other borrowers under contracts calling for the deposit by the borrower with a Fund’s custodian of collateral equal to at least the market value of the securities loaned, marked to market on a daily basis. If a Fund lends portfolio securities, its investment performance will continue to reflect changes in the value of the securities loaned and the Fund will also receive a fee or interest on the collateral, which may include shares of a money market fund subject to any investment restrictions listed in this Statement. These fees or interest are income to the Fund, although the Fund often must share a portion of the income with the securities lending agent and/or the borrower. A Fund will continue to benefit from interest or dividends on the securities loaned (although the payment characteristics may change) and may also earn a return from the collateral, which may include shares of a money market fund subject to any investment restrictions listed in this Statement. Under some securities lending arrangements, a Fund may receive a set fee for keeping its securities available for lending. Any voting rights, or rights to consent, relating to securities loaned, pass to the borrower. However, if a material event (as determined by the adviser) affecting the investment occurs, a Fund may seek to recall the securities so that the securities may be voted by the Fund, although the adviser may not know of such event in time to recall the securities or may be unable to recall the securities in time to vote them. A Fund pays various fees in connection with such loans, including fees to the party arranging the loans, shipping fees and custodian and placement fees approved by the Board or persons acting pursuant to the direction of the Board.

Securities loans must be fully collateralized at all times, but involve some credit/counterparty risk to a Fund if the borrower or the party (if any) guaranteeing the loan should default on its obligation and the Fund is delayed in or prevented from recovering or applying the collateral. In addition, any investment of cash collateral is generally at the sole risk of a Fund. New regulations require certain bank-regulated counterparties and certain of their affiliates to include in certain financial contracts, including many securities lending agreements, terms that delay or restrict the rights of counterparties, such as the Funds, to terminate such agreements, foreclose upon collateral, exercise other default rights or restrict transfers of credit support in the event that the counterparty and/or its affiliates are subject to certain types of resolution or insolvency proceedings. It is possible that these new requirements, as well as potential additional government regulation and other developments in the market, could adversely affect a Fund’s ability to terminate existing securities lending agreements or to realize amounts to be received under such agreements in the event the counterparty or its affiliate becomes subject to a resolution or insolvency proceeding. Any income or gains and losses from investing and reinvesting any cash collateral delivered by a borrower pursuant to a loan generally are at a Fund’s risk, and to the extent any such losses reduce the amount of cash below the amount required to be returned to the borrower upon the termination of any loan, a Fund may be required by the securities lending agent to pay or cause to be paid to such borrower an amount equal to such shortfall in cash, possibly requiring it to liquidate other portfolio securities to satisfy its obligations. A Fund did not have any securities lending activity during its most recently completed fiscal year.

Short-Term Trading

A Fund may, consistent with its investment objectives, engage in portfolio trading in anticipation of, or in response to, changing economic or market conditions and trends. These policies may result in higher turnover rates in a Fund’s portfolio, which may produce higher transaction costs and the realization of taxable capital gains (including short-term gains, which generally are taxed to individuals as ordinary income). Portfolio turnover considerations will not limit the Subadviser’s investment discretion in managing a Fund’s assets. A Fund anticipates that its portfolio turnover rate will vary significantly from time to time depending on the volatility of economic and market conditions.

 

27


When-Issued, Delayed Delivery and Forward Commitment Securities

To reduce the risk of changes in interest rates and securities prices, a Fund may purchase securities on a forward commitment or when-issued or delayed delivery basis, which means delivery and payment take place a number of days after the date of the commitment to purchase. The payment obligation and the interest rate receivable with respect to such purchases are fixed when a Fund enters into the commitment, but a Fund does not make payment until it receives delivery from the counterparty. A Subadviser will commit to purchase such securities only with the intention of actually acquiring the securities, but the Subadviser may sell these securities before the settlement date if it is deemed advisable.

Securities purchased on a forward commitment or when-issued or delayed delivery basis are subject to changes in value, generally changing in the same way, (i.e., appreciating when interest rates decline and depreciating when interest rates rise), based upon the public’s perception of the creditworthiness of the issuer and changes, real or anticipated, in the level of interest rates. Securities so purchased may expose a Fund to risks because they may experience such fluctuations prior to their actual delivery. Purchasing securities on a when-issued or delayed delivery basis can involve the additional risk that the yield available in the market when the delivery takes place actually may be higher than that obtained in the transaction itself. Purchasing securities on a forward commitment or when-issued or delayed delivery basis when a Subadviser is fully or almost fully invested may result in greater potential fluctuation in the value of a Fund’s net assets. In addition, there is a risk that securities purchased on a when-issued or delayed delivery basis may not be delivered and that the purchaser of securities sold by a Fund on a forward commitment basis will not honor its purchase obligation. In such cases, a Fund may incur a loss.

Additional Risks

Cybersecurity, Operational and Technology Risk

A Fund, its service providers, and other market participants increasingly depend on complex information technology and communications systems to conduct business functions. These systems are subject to a number of different threats or risks that could adversely affect a Fund and its shareholders These risks include theft, loss, misuse, improper release, corruption and destruction of, or unauthorized access to, confidential or highly sensitive information relating to a Fund and its shareholders; and compromises or failures to systems, networks, devices and applications relating to the operations of a Fund and its service providers. Power outages, natural disasters, equipment malfunctions and processing errors that threaten these systems, as well as market events that occur at a pace that overloads these systems, may also disrupt business operations or impact critical data. Cybersecurity and other operational and technology issues may result in, among other things, financial losses to a Fund and its shareholders; the inability of a Fund to transact business with its shareholders or to engage in portfolio transactions; delays or mistakes in the calculation of a Fund’s NAV or other materials provided to shareholders; the inability to process transactions with shareholders or other parties; violations of privacy and other laws; regulatory fines, penalties and reputational damage; and compliance and remediation costs, legal fees and other expenses. A Fund’s service providers (including, but not limited to, the Adviser, the Subadvisers, the NYSE Arca, market makers, listing exchange, Authorized Participants, administrator, distributor, transfer agent, and custodian), financial intermediaries, companies in which a Fund invests and parties with which a Fund engages in portfolio or other transactions also may be adversely impacted by cybersecurity and other operational and technology risks, resulting in losses to a Fund or its shareholders. Furthermore, as a result of breaches in cybersecurity or other operational and technology disruptions or failures, an exchange or market may close or issue trading halts on specific securities or the entire market, which may result in a Fund being, among other things, unable to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments or unable to accurately price their investments. A Fund has developed processes, risk management systems and business continuity plans designed to reduce the risks associated with cybersecurity and other operational and technology issues. However, there is no guarantee that those measures will be effective, particularly since a Fund does not directly control the cybersecurity defenses and operational and technology plans and systems of its service providers, financial intermediaries and companies in which it invests or with which it does business, and there are inherent limitations in systems designed to minimize the risk of cyber-attacks through the use of technology, processes and controls. Additionally, such third party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Adviser, the Subadvisers or a Fund. Similar types of cybersecurity risks also are present for issuers of securities in which a Fund invests, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers and may cause a Fund’s investment in such securities to lose value.

 

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TEMPORARY DEFENSIVE POSITIONS

A Fund has the flexibility to respond promptly to changes in market and economic conditions. In the interest of preserving shareholders’ capital, a Subadviser may employ a temporary defensive strategy if it determines such a strategy to be warranted. Pursuant to such a defensive strategy, a Fund temporarily may hold cash (U.S. dollars) and/or invest up to 100% of its assets in cash equivalents (short-term U.S. Treasury securities, government money market funds and repurchase agreements). It is impossible to predict whether, when or for how long a Fund will employ temporary defensive strategies. The use of temporary defensive strategies may prevent a Fund from achieving its goal.

In addition, pending investment of proceeds from new sales of Fund shares or to meet ordinary daily cash needs, a Fund may temporarily hold cash (U.S. dollars) and may invest any portion of its assets in cash equivalents (government money market funds, short-term U.S. Treasury securities and repurchase agreements).

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

A Fund’s portfolio turnover rate for a fiscal year is calculated by dividing the lesser of purchases or sales of portfolio securities for the fiscal year by the monthly average of the value of the portfolio securities owned by a Fund during the fiscal year, in each case excluding securities having maturity dates at acquisition of one year or less. High portfolio turnover involves correspondingly greater brokerage commissions and other transaction costs, which will be borne directly by a Fund, thereby decreasing a Fund’s total return. High portfolio turnover also may give rise to additional taxable income for a Fund’s shareholders, including through realization of short-term capital gains, which are typically taxed to shareholders at ordinary income tax rates, and therefore can result in higher taxes for shareholders that hold their shares in taxable accounts. It is impossible to predict with certainty whether future portfolio turnover rates will be higher or lower than those experienced during past periods. A Fund anticipates that its portfolio turnover rate will vary from time to time depending on the volatility of economic, market and other conditions. The rate of portfolio turnover will not be a limiting factor when a Subadviser believes that portfolio changes are appropriate.

PORTFOLIO HOLDINGS INFORMATION

Actual Portfolio

The Trust’s Board has adopted policies to limit the disclosure of confidential Actual Portfolio holdings information and to ensure equal access to such information, except in certain circumstances as approved by the Board. These policies are summarized below. Generally, Actual Portfolio holdings information will not be disclosed until it is first posted on the Funds’ website at im.natixis.com. Generally, full Actual Portfolio holdings information will not be posted until it is aged for at least 15 days for Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF and Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF and quarterly after an aging period of 10 business days for Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF. A list of the Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF and Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF’s top 10 holdings generally will be available on a monthly basis within 7 business days after month end and 10 business days after quarter end for Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF. Any Actual Portfolio holdings information that is released must clearly indicate the date of the information, and must state that due to active management, a Fund may or may not still invest in the securities listed. Portfolio characteristics, such as industry/sector breakdown, current yield, quality breakdown, duration, average price-earnings ratio and other similar information may be provided on a current basis. However, portfolio characteristics do not include references to specific Actual Portfolio holdings.

The Board has approved exceptions to the general policy on the sharing of Actual Portfolio holdings information as in the best interests of a Fund:

(1) Disclosure of Actual Portfolio holdings posted on the Funds’ website, provided that information is shared no sooner than the next day following the day on which the information is posted;

(2) Disclosure to firms offering industry-wide services, provided that the firm has agreed in writing to maintain the confidentiality of a Fund’s Actual Portfolio holdings;

 

29


(3) Disclosure (subject to a written confidentiality provision) to Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. as part of the proxy voting recordkeeping services provided to a Fund, and to Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. as part of the proxy voting administration and research services, respectively, provided to the Adviser and a Subadviser of a Fund (voteable Actual Portfolio holdings of issuers as of record date for shareholder meetings);

(4) Disclosure to employees of the Adviser (and the Adviser’s participating affiliates, if any), a Subadviser, principal underwriter, administrator, custodian, financial printer, fund accounting agent and independent registered public accounting firm, fund counsel and Independent Trustees’ counsel, as well as to broker-dealers executing and third-party firms analyzing the trading costs of Actual Portfolio transactions for a Fund, provided that such disclosure is made for bona fide business purposes;

(5) Disclosure to Natixis Investment Managers, LLC (“Natixis Investment Managers”), in order to satisfy certain reporting obligations to its parent company and for its own risk management purposes; provided that Natixis Investment Managers agrees to maintain seed capital invested in the Funds for a set period and does not effect a redemption of Fund shares while in possession of information that is not publicly available to other investors in the Fund. Natixis Investment Managers and its parent utilize a third-party service provider, Aptimum Formation Développment (“Aptimum”), to assist with its analysis of risk. Any sharing of Actual Portfolio holdings information with Aptimum is subject to a confidentiality agreement; and

(6) Other disclosures made for non-investment purposes, but only if approved in writing in advance by an officer of a Fund. Such exceptions will be reported to the Board.

With respect to items (2) through (5) above, disclosure is made pursuant to procedures that have been approved by the Board, and may be made by employees of a Fund’s Adviser, Subadviser, administrator or custodian. With respect to (6) above, approval will be granted only when the officer determines that a Fund has a legitimate business reason for sharing the Actual Portfolio holdings information and the recipients are subject to a duty of confidentiality, including a duty not to trade on the information.

As of the date of this Statement, the only entities that receive information pursuant to this exception are Advent Software, Inc. (daily disclosure of full Actual Portfolio holdings) for the purpose of performing certain electronic reconciliations with respect to Natixis Vaughan Nelson Select ETF and Natixis Vaughan Nelson Mid Cap ETF; Charles River Systems, Inc. (daily disclosure of full portfolio holdings) for trade order management services with respect to Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF; Confluence Technologies, Inc. (quarterly, or more frequently as needed, disclosure of full Actual Portfolio holdings) for the purpose of performing certain functions related to quarterly Form N-PORT filings; Donnelley Financial Solutions (quarterly, or more frequently as needed, disclosure of full Actual Portfolio holdings) for the purpose of performing certain functions related to the production of a Fund’s semiannual financial statements, quarterly Form N-PORT filings and other related items; Electra (daily disclosure of full Actual Portfolio holdings) for the purpose of performing certain electronic reconciliations with respect to Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF; Ernst & Young LLP (annually, or more frequently as needed, disclosure of foreign equity securities) for the purpose of performing certain functions related to the production of a Fund’s federal income and excise tax returns; Factset (daily disclosure of full Actual Portfolio holdings, provided the next business day) for the purpose of performing attribution analysis and portfolio analytics; ICE Data Services (daily disclosure of full Actual Portfolio holdings) for the purpose of liquidity classification of investments and facilitating reporting to Natixis Investment Managers as disclosed previously in this section; and Solutions Atlantic, Inc. (daily disclosure of full portfolio holdings) for regulatory reporting services with respect to Natixis U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF. These entities may in turn disclose portfolio holdings information to its affiliates and third parties in connection with the provision of services to the Funds. Although the Trust may enter into written confidentiality agreements, in other circumstances, such as those described in (4) above, the obligation to keep information confidential may be based on common law, professional or statutory duties of confidentiality. Common law, professional or statutory duties of confidentiality, including the duty not to trade on the information, may not be as clearly delineated and may be more difficult to enforce than contractual duties. The Funds’ officers determine on a case-by-case basis whether it is appropriate for the Fund to rely on such common law, professional or statutory duties. The Funds’ Board exercises oversight of the disclosure of a Fund’s Actual Portfolio holdings by, among other things, receiving and reviewing reports from the Funds’ Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) regarding any material issues concerning a Fund’s disclosure of portfolio holdings or from officers of a Fund in connection with proposed new exceptions or new disclosures pursuant to item (6) above. Notwithstanding the above, there is no assurance that a Fund’s policies on the sharing of Actual Portfolio holdings information will protect a Fund from the potential misuse of holdings by individuals or firms in possession of that information.

 

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Other registered investment companies that are advised or subadvised by a Fund’s Adviser or Subadviser may be subject to different portfolio holdings disclosure policies, and neither the Adviser, a Subadviser nor the Trust’s Board exercises control over such policies or disclosure. In addition, separate account clients of the Adviser have access to their portfolio holdings and are not subject to a Fund’s Actual Portfolio holdings disclosure policies. Some of the funds that are advised or subadvised by an adviser and some of the separate accounts managed by an adviser may have investment objectives and strategies that are substantially similar or identical to a Fund’s investment objectives and strategies, and therefore potentially substantially similar, and in certain cases nearly identical, Actual Portfolio holdings as a Fund.

Any disclosures of Actual Portfolio holdings information by a Fund or the Adviser or Subadviser must be consistent with the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws, the Funds’ and the Adviser’s/Subadviser’s fiduciary duty to shareholders, and the Funds’ code of ethics. A Fund’s policies expressly prohibit the sharing of Actual Portfolio holdings information if a Fund, its Adviser, a Subadviser, or any other affiliated party receives compensation or other consideration in connection with such arrangement. The term “consideration” includes any agreement to maintain assets in a Fund or in other funds or accounts managed by a Fund’s Adviser or Subadviser or by any affiliated person of the Adviser or a Subadviser.

In addition, a Fund discloses its complete Actual Portfolio holdings schedule in public filings with the SEC within 70 days of the end of the second and fourth fiscal quarters and within 60 days of the end of the first and third fiscal quarters and will provide such information to shareholders as required by federal securities laws and regulations thereunder. A Fund may, however, voluntarily disclose all or part of its Actual Portfolio holdings in advance of required filings with the SEC, provided that such information is made generally available to all shareholders and other interested parties in a manner that is consistent with the above policy for disclosure of Actual Portfolio holdings information. Such information may be made available through a publicly-available website or other means that make the information available to all likely interested parties contemporaneously.

The Funds’ CCO or the CCO’s delegate may authorize disclosure of Actual Portfolio holdings information pursuant to the above policy and procedures. The Board reviews the policy and procedures for disclosure of Actual Portfolio holdings information at least annually.

Proxy Portfolio

A Fund’s Proxy Portfolio holdings are publicly disseminated each day a Fund is open for business through financial reporting and news services, including publicly accessible Internet web sites. In addition, a basket composition file, which includes the security names and share quantities to deliver in exchange for Creation Units, together with estimates and actual cash components, is publicly disseminated daily prior to the opening of the NYSE Arca via the NSCC, a clearing agency that is registered with the SEC. The names and quantities of the instruments included in the basket composition file will be the same as a Fund’s Proxy Portfolio, subject to cash substitutions.

Each Business Day (as defined below), a Fund’s Proxy Portfolio holdings information is provided to the Distributor or other agent for dissemination through the facilities of the NSCC and/or other fee-based subscription services to NSCC members and/or subscribers to those other fee-based subscription services, including market makers and Authorized Participants, and to entities that publish and/or analyze such information in connection with the process of purchasing or redeeming Creation Units or trading shares of a Fund in the secondary market or evaluating such potential transactions.

A Fund’s Proxy Portfolio is published on the Funds’ website at im.natixis.com each Business Day and includes the following information for each portfolio holding in the Proxy Portfolio: (1) ticker symbol; (2) CUSIP or other identifier; (3) description of holding; (4) quantity of each security or other asset held; and (5) percentage weight of the holding in the Proxy Portfolio.

 

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Proxy Portfolio holdings information made available in connection with the creation/redemption process may be provided to other entities that provide services to a Fund in the ordinary course of business after it has been disseminated to the NSCC. From time to time, information concerning Proxy Portfolio holdings other than Proxy Portfolio holdings information made available in connection with the creation/redemption process, as discussed above, may be provided to other entities that provide services to a Fund, including rating or ranking organizations, in the ordinary course of business, no earlier than one Business Day (as defined below) following the date of the information. A Fund, Adviser, Subadviser, Custodian and Distributor will not disseminate non-public information concerning a Fund, except: (i) to a party for a legitimate business purpose related to the day-to-day operations of a Fund or (ii) to any other party for a legitimate business or regulatory purpose, upon waiver or exception.

MANAGEMENT OF THE TRUST

The Trust is governed by the Board, which is responsible for generally overseeing the conduct of Fund business and for protecting the interests of shareholders. The Trustees meet periodically throughout the year to oversee the Funds’ activities, review contractual arrangements with companies that provide services to the Funds and review the Funds’ performance.

Trustees and Officers

The table below provides certain information regarding the Trustees and officers of the Trust. For the purposes of this table and for purposes of this Statement, the term “Independent Trustee” means those Trustees who are not “interested persons,” as defined in the 1940 Act, of the Trust. In certain circumstances, Trustees are also required to have no direct or indirect financial interest in the approval of a matter being voted on in order to be considered “independent” for the purposes of the requisite approval. For the purposes of this Statement, the term “Interested Trustee” means those Trustees who are “interested persons” as defined in the 1940 Act, of the Trust.

The following table provides information about the members of the Board, including information about their principal occupations during the past five years, information about other directorships held at public companies, and a summary of the experience, qualifications, attributes or skills that led to the conclusion that the Trustee should serve as such. Unless otherwise indicated, the address of all persons below is 888 Boylston Street, Suite 800, Boston, MA 02199-8197.

 

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Name and Year of Birth

  

Position(s) Held

with the Trust,

Length of Time

Served and Term

of Office1

  

Principal

Occupation(s)

During Past

5 Years

  

Number of

Portfolios in Fund
Complex

Overseen2

and Other
Directorships Held
During Past

5 Years

  

Experience,

Qualifications,

Attributes, Skills

for Board

Membership

INDEPENDENT TRUSTEES

Kenneth A. Drucker

(1945)

  

Chairperson of the Board of Trustees since January 2017

 

Trustee since 2020

 

Ex Officio member of the Audit Committee, Contract Review Committee and Governance Committee

   Retired   

54

 

None

   Significant experience on the Board and on the boards of other business organizations (including at investment companies); executive experience (including as treasurer of an aerospace, automotive, and metal manufacturing corporation)

Edmond J. English

(1953)

  

Trustee since 2020

 

Chairperson of the Governance Committee and Audit Committee Member

   Executive Chairman of Bob’s Discount Furniture (retail)   

54

 

Director, Burlington Stores, Inc. (retail)

   Significant experience on the Board and on the boards of other business organizations (including retail companies and a bank); executive experience (including at a retail company)

Richard A. Goglia

(1951)

  

Trustee since 2020

 

Contract Review Committee Member and Governance Committee Member

   Retired; formerly, Vice President and Treasurer of Raytheon Company (defense); Director of Triumph Group (aerospace industry)   

54

 

None

   Significant experience on the Board and executive experience (including his role as vice president and treasurer of a defense company and experience at a financial services company)

 

33


Name and Year of Birth

  

Position(s) Held

with the Trust,

Length of Time

Served and Term

of Office1

  

Principal

Occupation(s)

During Past

5 Years

  

Number of

Portfolios in Fund
Complex

Overseen2

and Other
Directorships Held
During Past

5 Years

  

Experience,

Qualifications,

Attributes, Skills

for Board

Membership

Wendell J. Knox

(1948)

  

Trustee since 2020

 

Chairperson of the Contract Review Committee

   Director of Abt Associates Inc. (research and consulting)   

54

 

Director, The Hanover Insurance Group (property and casualty insurance); formerly, Director, Eastern Bank (bank)

   Significant experience on the Board and on the boards of other business organizations (including at a bank and at a property and casualty insurance firm); executive experience (including roles as president and chief executive officer of a research and consulting company)

Martin T. Meehan

(1956)

  

Trustee since 2020

 

Audit Committee Member

   President, University of Massachusetts; formerly, Chancellor and faculty member, University of Massachusetts Lowell   

54

 

None

   Significant experience on the Board and on the boards of other business organizations; experience as President of the University of Massachusetts; government experience (including as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives); academic experience

Maureen B. Mitchell

(1951)

  

Trustee since 2020

 

Contract Review Committee Member and Governance Committee Member

   Retired; formerly, President, Global Sales and Marketing, GE Asset Management, Inc. (financial services)   

54

 

Director, Sterling Bancorp (bank)

   Experience on the Board; financial services industry and executive experience (including role as president of global sales and marketing at a financial services company)

 

34


Name and Year of Birth

  

Position(s) Held

with the Trust,

Length of Time

Served and Term

of Office1

  

Principal

Occupation(s)

During Past

5 Years

  

Number of

Portfolios in Fund
Complex

Overseen2

and Other
Directorships Held
During Past

5 Years

  

Experience,

Qualifications,

Attributes, Skills

for Board

Membership

James P. Palermo

(1955)

  

Trustee since 2020

 

Contract Review Committee Member

   Founding Partner, Breton Capital Management, LLC (private equity); Partner, STEP Partners, LLC (private equity)   

54

 

Director, Future Fuel.io (chemicals and biofuels)

   Experience on the Board; financial services industry and executive experience (including roles as chief executive officer of client management and asset servicing for a banking and financial services company)

Erik R. Sirri

(1958)

  

Trustee since 2020

 

Audit Committee Member

   Professor of Finance at Babson College   

54

 

None