XML 29 R2.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.21.2
Dec. 08, 2021
PGIM ESG High Yield Fund
<span style="color:#999999;font-family:Arial;font-size:13.58pt;margin-left:0%;">FUND SUMMARY</span>
<span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.70pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0%;text-transform:uppercase;">INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE</span>
The investment objective of the Fund is to seek total return, through a combination of current income and capital appreciation.
<span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.70pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0%;text-transform:uppercase;">FUND FEES AND EXPENSES</span>
The tables below describe the sales charges, 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 tables and examples below. You may be required to pay commissions to a broker for transactions in Class Z shares, which are not reflected in the table or the example below.You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and an eligible group of related investors purchase, or agree to purchase in the future, $100,000 or more in shares of the Fund or other funds in the PGIM Funds family. More information about these discounts as well as other waivers or discounts is available from your financial professional and is explained in Reducing or Waiving Class A's and Class C’s Sales Charges on page 31 of the Fund's Prospectus, Appendix A: Waivers and Discounts Available From Certain Financial Intermediaries on page 48 of the Fund's Prospectus and in Rights of Accumulation on page 54of the Fund's Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”).
<span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:7.76pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0.60%;">Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)</span>
<span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:7.76pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0.60%;">Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)</span>
<span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.70pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0%;">Example. </span>
The following hypothetical example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. It assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then, except as indicated, redeem all your shares at the end of those periods. It assumes a 5% return on your investment each year, that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same (except that fee waivers or reimbursements, if any, are only reflected in the 1-Year figures) and that all dividends and distributions are reinvested. Your actual costs may be higher or lower.
<span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:7.76pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:1.22%;">If Shares Are Redeemed</span>
<span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:7.76pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:1.22%;">If Shares Are Not Redeemed</span>
<span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.70pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0%;">Portfolio Turnover. </span>
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund's performance. The Fund is newly offered; therefore, it does not have a turnover rate for the most recent fiscal year.
<span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.70pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0%;text-transform:uppercase;">INVESTMENTS, RISKS AND PERFORMANCE</span><span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.70pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0%;">Principal Investment Strategies. </span>
The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective while applying an environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) methodology developed by the Fund’s subadviser in the selection of portfolio investments. The Fund invests, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its investable assets in a diversified portfolio of high yield fixed income instruments that, at the time of investment, are included in the investable universe based on the subadviser’s ESG methodology described below. For purposes of this policy, high yield fixed income instruments include fixed income instruments rated Ba or lower by Moody's Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody's”) or BB or lower by S&P Global Ratings (“S&P”), and instruments either rated by another nationally recognized statistical rating organization (“NRSRO”), or considered by the subadviser to be of comparable quality, that is, junk bonds. In selecting the Fund’s portfolio investments, the subadviser incorporates proprietary ESG criteria and employs third-party screening services as described in more detail below. The term “investable assets” refers to the Fund’s net assets plus any borrowings for investment purposes. The Fund’s investable assets will be less than its total assets to the extent that it has borrowed money for non-investment purposes, such as to meet anticipated redemptions.The subadviser’s ESG methodology begins with exclusionary screening, and then applies a proprietary scoring methodology focusing on factors that impact the environment and society, which include governance factors (“ESG Impact Ratings”), to construct the Fund’s portfolio.First, the subadviser will use third-party screening agents to exclude from all potential portfolio investments issuers that do not meet the subadviser’s investment criteria (which may be updated periodically). Such excluded issuers include: (i) those with exposure to controversial weapons (e.g., anti-personnel mines, biological and chemical weapons, cluster weapons, depleted uranium, nuclear weapons, and white phosphorus) and those with revenue above a certain threshold (as determined by the subadviser) from conventional weapons, tobacco, thermal coal generation and extraction, oil sands extraction, artic oil and gas exploration and gambling activities; (ii) issuers that have carbon emissions activities above a certain emission intensity as determined by the subadviser; and (iii) issuers that are non-compliant with UN Global Compact principles. The principles of the UN Global Compact represent a set of values that the UN believes responsible businesses should incorporate into their operations in order to meet fundamental responsibilities in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. To the extent an issuer’s status changes to meet the qualification for exclusion, the subadviser may take steps to divest its holdings of the issuer within a reasonable period of time after the issuer’s change in status. This screening criteria is subject to change over time at the subadviser’s discretion.Next, the subadviser assigns each potential investment an ESG Impact Rating (where possible). The subadviser assesses the type of investment and structure, and the ESG Impact Ratings are developed based on research and due diligence, including review of publicly available information as well as information from alternative data sources (e.g., non-governmental organization (“NGO”) analyses, governmental and inter-governmental studies, etc.) and third-party research and tools. The subadviser may supplement this information and adjust a rating based on direct engagement with the issuer. The ESG Impact Rating is assigned by assessing the impact of the following factors: environmental (e.g., reduction of environmental pollution, waste management, water consumption and climate change mitigation) and social (e.g., human rights, employee rights, health and safety and community relations). Governance factors (e.g., effective management and business conduct) are integrated into the assessment of factors that impact the environment and society. Issuers that score well with respect to these factors generally receive higher ESG Impact Ratings. While the subadviser considers ESG factors when evaluating an issuer, only one or two of these categories may be considered with respect to a particular investment or sector, and categories may be weighted differently according to the type of investment being considered.The subadviser seeks to assign each investment opportunity an ESG Impact Rating on a 100-point scale in 5-point increments, with 0 as the lowest and 100 as the highest ESG Impact Rating. An overall aggregated, or composite, ESG Impact Rating is also calculated, with ESG factors weighted differently depending on the industry. The ESG Impact Ratings are determined prior to purchase and reviewed at least annually. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will not purchase securities of issuers that have ESG Impact Ratings that are below a threshold established by the subadviser by reference to the overall aggregate ESG Impact Rating across the Fund’s investment universe, and will seek to divest within a reasonable period of time from investments for which the ESG Impact Rating falls below such threshold. However, with respect to certain issuers, the subadviser may determine that there is not sufficient information available to assign an ESG Impact Rating. Up to 5% of the Fund’s total assets may normally comprise investments without ESG Impact Ratings. The subadviser may periodically update its ESG Impact Rating methodology.After identifying the relevant investable universe based on its ESG methodology (i.e., screening and application of ESG Impact Ratings), the subadviser then selects securities for the Fund using a combination of top-down economic analysis and bottom-up research in conjunction with proprietary quantitative models and risk management systems. In the top-down economic analysis, the subadviser develops views on economic, policy and market trends. In its bottom-up research, the subadviser develops an internal rating and outlook on issuers. The rating and outlook is determined based on a thorough review of the financial health and trends of the issuer, which include a review of the composition of revenue, profitability, cash flow margin, and leverage, as well as an assessment of the issuer's corporate governance (e.g., ownership structures and board effectiveness). The subadviser may also consider investment factors such as expected total return, yield, spread and potential for price appreciation as well as credit quality, maturity and risk. The Fund may invest in a security based upon the expected total return rather than the yield of such security. When selecting securities for the Fund, the subadviser seeks to ensure that the average ESG Impact Rating of the portfolio as a whole is better than the average ESG Impact Rating of the investable universe.The Fund may invest up to 20% of its investable assets in U.S. currency-denominated fixed income securities of foreign governments and other foreign issuers, including Brady Bonds, which are long-term bonds issued by developing nations, and preferred stock. The Fund may also invest up to 10% of its investable assets in foreign currency-denominated fixed income securities issued by foreign or domestic issuers. Foreign government fixed income securities include securities issued by quasi-governmental entities, governmental agencies, supranational entities and other governmental entities. The Fund's investments in foreign issuers may include issuers located anywhere in the world, including emerging markets. From time to time the Fund’s investments may be concentrated in a geographic region or country.The Fund may use various derivative strategies to try to improve the Fund’s returns. The subadviser may also use hedging techniques to try to protect the Fund’s assets. Although the Fund has the flexibility to make use of derivatives, it may choose not to for a variety of reasons, even under very volatile market conditions.
<span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.70pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0%;">Principal Risks. </span>
All investments have risks to some degree. The value of your investment in the Fund, as well as the amount of return you receive on your investment, may fluctuate significantly from day to day and over time.You may lose part or all of your investment in the Fund or your investment may not perform as well as other similar investments.An investment in the Fund is not guaranteed to achieve its investment objective; is not a deposit with a bank; and is not insured, endorsed or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The following is a summary description of principal risks of investing in the Fund.The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.Bond Obligations Risk. As with credit risk, market risk and interest rate risk, the Fund's holdings, share price, yield and total return may fluctuate in response to bond market movements. The value of bonds may decline for issuer-related reasons, including management performance, financial leverage and reduced demand for the issuer’s goods and services. Certain types of fixed income obligations also may be subject to “call and redemption risk,” which is the risk that the issuer may call a bond held by the Fund for redemption before it matures and the Fund may lose income.Credit Risk. This is the risk that the issuer, the guarantor or the insurer of a fixed income security, or the counterparty to a contract, may be unable or unwilling to make timely principal and interest payments, or to otherwise honor its obligations. Additionally, fixed income securities could lose value due to a loss of confidence in the ability of the issuer, guarantor, insurer or counterparty to pay back debt. The lower the credit quality of a bond, the more sensitive it is to credit risk.Derivatives Risk. Derivatives involve special risks and costs and may result in losses to the Fund. The successful use of derivatives requires sophisticated management, and, to the extent that derivatives are used, the Fund will depend on the subadviser’s ability to analyze and manage derivatives transactions. The prices of derivatives may move in unexpected ways, especially in abnormal market conditions. Some derivatives are “leveraged” and therefore may magnify or otherwise increase investment losses to the Fund. The Fund's use of derivatives may also increase the amount of taxes payable by shareholders. Other risks arise from the potential inability to terminate or sell derivatives positions. A liquid secondary market may not always exist for the Fund's derivatives positions. In fact, many over-the-counter derivative instruments will not have liquidity beyond the counterparty to the instrument. Over-the-counter derivative instruments also involve the risk that the other party will not meet its obligations to the Fund.The U.S. Government and foreign governments have adopted (and may adopt further) regulations governing derivatives markets, including mandatory clearing of certain derivatives, margin and reporting requirements and risk exposure limitations. The ultimate impact of the regulations remains unclear. Additional regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, limit their availability or utility, or otherwise adversely affect their performance or disrupt markets.Economic and Market Events Risk. Events in the U.S. and global financial markets, including actions taken by the U.S. Federal Reserve or foreign central banks to stimulate or stabilize economic growth or the functioning of the securities markets, may at times result in unusually high market volatility, which could negatively impact performance. Relatively reduced liquidity in credit and fixed income markets could adversely affect issuers worldwide.Emerging Markets Risk. The risks of foreign investments are greater for investments in or exposed to emerging markets. Emerging market countries typically have economic and political systems that are less fully developed, and can be expected to be less stable, than those of more developed countries. For example, the economies of such countries can be subject to rapid and unpredictable rates of inflation or deflation. Low trading volumes may result in a lack of liquidity and price volatility. Emerging market countries may have policies that restrict investment by non-U.S. investors, or that prevent non-U.S. investors from withdrawing their money at will.The Fund may invest in some emerging markets that subject it to risks such as those associated with illiquidity, custody of assets, different settlement and clearance procedures and asserting legal title under a developing legal and regulatory regime to a greater degree than in developed markets or even in other emerging markets.ESG Methodology Risk. Because the subadviser utilizes screens and other exclusionary tools in its ESG methodology, this may result in the Fund forgoing opportunities to make certain investments when it might otherwise be advantageous to do so, or sell investments based on its ESG methodology criteria when it might be otherwise disadvantageous for it to do so. In evaluating an issuer, the subadviser is dependent upon information and data, including from third party data providers, that may be incomplete, inaccurate, or unavailable, or that may present conflicting information and data with respect to an issuer, which in each case could cause the subadviser to incorrectly assess an issuer’s business practices with respect to ESG. Issuers that are a assigned a higher ESG Impact Rating by the subadviser may underperform similar issuers that have a lower ESG Impact Rating and/or may underperform the market as a whole. As a result, the Fund may underperform funds that do not screen or score companies based on ESG factors or funds that use a different ESG methodology. ESG Impact Ratings are inherently subjective and the subadviser’s assessment of an issuer, based on the issuer’s level of involvement in a particular industry or the issuer’s ESG Impact Ratings may differ from that of other funds or an investor. As a result, the Fund may invest in issuers that do not reflect the beliefs or values of any particular investor and may not be deemed to exhibit positive or favorable ESG characteristics if different metrics were used to evaluate them.Foreign Securities Risk. Investments in securities of non-U.S. issuers (including those denominated in U.S. dollars) mayinvolve more risk than investing in securities of U.S. issuers. Foreign political, economic and legal systems, especially those in developing and emerging market countries, may be less stable and more volatile than in the United States.Foreign legal systems generally have fewer regulatory requirements than the U.S. legal system, particularly those of emerging markets. In general, less information is publicly available with respect to non-U.S. companies than U.S. companies. Non-U.S. companies generally are not subject to the same accounting, auditing, and financial reporting standards as are U.S. companies. Additionally, the changing value of foreign currencies and changes in exchange rates could also affect the value of the assets the Fund holds and the Fund's performance. Certain foreign countries may impose restrictions on the ability of issuers of foreign securities to make payment of principal and interest or dividends to investors located outside the country, due to blockage of foreign currency exchanges or otherwise. Investments in emerging markets are subject to greater volatility and price declines.In addition, the Fund's investments in non-U.S. securities may be subject to the risks of nationalization or expropriation of assets, imposition of currency exchange controls or restrictions on the repatriation of non-U.S. currency, confiscatory taxation and adverse diplomatic developments. Special U.S. tax considerations may apply.Increase in Expenses Risk. Your actual cost of investing in the Fund may be higher than the expenses shown in the expense table for a variety of reasons. For example, expense ratios may be higher than those shown if average net assets decrease. Net assets are more likely to decrease and Fund expense ratios are more likely to increase when markets are volatile. Active and frequent trading of Fund securities can increase expenses.Interest Rate Risk. The value of your investment may go down when interest rates rise. A rise in rates tends to have a greater impact on the prices of longer term or duration debt securities. For example, a fixed income security with a duration of three years is expected to decrease in value by approximately 3% if interest rates increase by 1%. This is referred to as “duration risk.”When interest rates fall, the issuers of debt obligations may prepay principal more quickly than expected, and the Fund may be required to reinvest the proceeds at a lower interest rate. This is referred to as “prepayment risk.” When interest rates rise, debt obligations may be repaid more slowly than expected, and the value of the Fund's holdings may fall sharply. This is referred to as “extension risk.” The Fund may lose money if short-term or long-term interest rates rise sharply or in a manner not anticipated by the subadviser.Junk Bonds Risk. High-yield, high-risk bonds have predominantly speculative characteristics, including particularly high credit risk. Junk bonds tend to have lower market liquidity than higher-rated securities. The liquidity of particular issuers or industries within a particular investment category may shrink or disappear suddenly and without warning. The non-investment grade bond market can experience sudden and sharp price swings and become illiquid due to a variety of factors, including changes in economic forecasts, stock market activity, large sustained sales by major investors, a high profile default or a change in the market's psychology.Large Shareholder and Large Scale Redemption Risk. Certain individuals, accounts, funds (including funds affiliated with the Manager) or institutions, including the Manager and its affiliates, may from time to time own or control a substantial amount of the Fund’s shares. There is no requirement that these entities maintain their investment in the Fund. There is a risk that such large shareholders or that the Fund’s shareholders generally may redeem all or a substantial portion of their investments in the Fund in a short period of time, which could have a significant negative impact on the Fund’s NAV, liquidity, and brokerage costs. Large redemptions could also result in tax consequences to shareholders and impact the Fund’s ability to implement its investment strategy. The Fund’s ability to pursue its investment objective after one or more large scale redemptions may be impaired and, as a result, the Fund may invest a larger portion of its assets in cash or cash equivalents.LIBOR Risk. Many financial instruments use or may use a floating rate based on the London Interbank Offered Rate, or “LIBOR,” which is the offered rate for short-term Eurodollar deposits between major international banks. Over the course of the last several years, global regulators have indicated an intent to phase out the use of LIBOR and similar interbank offering rates (“IBOR”). There still remains uncertainty regarding the nature of any replacement rates for LIBOR and the other IBORs as well as around fallback approaches for instruments extending beyond the any phase-out of these reference rates. The lack of consensus around replacement rates and the uncertainty of the phase out of LIBOR and other IBORs may result in increased volatility in corporate or governmental debt, bank loans, derivatives and other instruments invested in by the Fund as well as loan facilities used by the Fund.The potential effect of a transition away from LIBOR on the Fund or the financial instruments in which the Fund invests cannot yet be determined. The elimination of LIBOR or changes to other reference rates or any other changes or reforms to the determination or supervision of reference rates could have an adverse impact on the market for, or value of, any securities or payments linked to those reference rates, which may adversely affect the Fund’s performance and/or net asset value. Certain proposed replacement rates to LIBOR, such as the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”), are materially different from LIBOR, and changes in the applicable spread for instruments previously linked to LIBOR will need to be made in order for instruments to pay similar rates. Uncertainty and risk also remain regarding the willingness and ability of issuers and lenders to include revised provisions in new and existing contracts or instruments. Consequently, the transition away from LIBOR to other reference rates may lead to reduced coupons on debt held by the Fund, higher rates required to be paid by the Fund on bank lines of credit due to increases in spreads, increased volatility and illiquidity in markets that are tied to LIBOR, fluctuations in values of LIBOR-related investments or investments in issuers that utilize LIBOR, increased difficulty in borrowing or refinancing and diminished effectiveness of hedging strategies, adversely affecting the Fund’s performance. Furthermore, the risks associated with the expected discontinuation of LIBOR and transition may be exacerbated if the work necessary to effect an orderly transition to an alternative reference rate is not completed in a timely manner. Because the usefulness of LIBOR and the other IBORs as benchmarks could deteriorate during the transition period, these effects could begin to be experienced by the end of 2021 and beyond until the anticipated discontinuance date in 2023 for the majority of the LIBOR rates.Liquidity Risk. Liquidity risk is the risk that the Fund could not meet requests to redeem shares issued by the Fund without significant dilution of remaining investors' interests in the Fund. The Fund may invest in instruments that trade in lower volumes and are more illiquid than other investments. If the Fund is forced to sell these investments to pay redemption proceeds or for other reasons, the Fund may lose money. In addition, when there is no willing buyer and investments cannot be readily sold at the desired time or price, the Fund may have to accept a lower price or may not be able to sell the instrument at all. An inability to sell a portfolio position can adversely affect the Fund's value or prevent the Fund from being able to take advantage of other investment opportunities.Management Risk. The value of your investment may decrease if judgments by the subadviser about the attractiveness, value or market trends affecting a particular security, industry or sector or about market movements are incorrect.Market Disruption and Geopolitical Risks. International wars or conflicts and geopolitical developments in foreign countries, along with instability in regions such as Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East, possible terrorist attacks in the United States or around the world, public health epidemics such as the outbreak of infectious diseases like the outbreak of COVID-19 globally in 2020 or the 2014–2016 outbreak in West Africa of the Ebola virus, and other similar events could adversely affect the U.S. and foreign financial markets, including increases in market volatility, reduced liquidity in the securities markets and government intervention, and may cause further long-term economic uncertainties in the United States and worldwide generally. The coronavirus pandemic and the related governmental and public responses have had and may continue to have an impact on the Fund’s investments and net asset value and have led and may continue to lead to increased market volatility and the potential for illiquidity in certain classes of securities and sectors of the market. Preventative or protective actions that governments may take in respect of pandemic or epidemic diseases may result in periods of business disruption, business closures, inability to obtain raw materials, supplies and component parts, and reduced or disrupted operations for the issuers in which the Fund invests. Government intervention in markets may impact interest rates, market volatility and security pricing. The occurrence, reoccurrence and pendency of such diseases could adversely affect the economies (including through changes in business activity and increased unemployment) and financial markets either in specific countries or worldwide.Market Risk. Securities markets may be volatile and the market prices of the Fund’s securities may decline. Securities fluctuate in price based on changes in an issuer’s financial condition and overall market and economic conditions. If the market prices of the securities owned by the Fund fall, the value of your investment in the Fund will decline.New Fund Risk. The Fund recently commenced operations. As a new and relatively small fund, the Fund's performance may not represent how the Fund is expected to or may perform in the long term if it becomes larger and after it has fully implemented its investment strategies. Investment positions may have a disproportionate impact (negative or positive) on performance in new and smaller funds. New and smaller funds may also require a period of time before they are invested in securities that meet their investment objectives and policies and achieve a representative portfolio composition. Accordingly, investors in the Fund bear the risk that the Fund may not be successful in implementing its investment strategy, and may not employ a successful investment strategy, either of which could result in the Fund being liquidated at any time without shareholder approval and/or at a time that may not be favorable for all shareholders. Such a liquidation could result in transaction costs and have negative tax consequences for shareholders.
<span style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial;font-size:9.70pt;font-weight:bold;margin-left:0%;">Performance.</span>
The Fund has not been in operation for a full calendar year, and hence has no past performance data to present. Once the Fund has a performance record of at least one calendar year, the Fund’s performance will be included in its Prospectus. Updated Fund performance information, including current net asset value, is available online at www.pgim.com/investments.