Risk Table - The Merger Fund

Risk [Text Block]

The fund may not achieve its objective(s), and it is not intended to be a complete investment program. The value of the fund’s investments that supports your share value may decrease. If between the time you purchase shares and the time you sell shares the value of the fund’s investments decreases, you will lose money. Investment values can decrease for a number of reasons. Conditions affecting the overall economy, specific industries or companies in which the fund invests can be worse than expected, and investments may fail to perform as the subadviser expects. As a result, the value of your shares may decrease. Purchase and redemption activities by fund shareholders may impact the management of the fund and its ability to achieve its investment objective(s). The principal risks of investing in the fund are identified below.

Risk Lose Money [Member]

If between the time you purchase shares and the time you sell shares the value of the fund’s investments decreases, you will lose money.

Merger-Arbitrage and Event-Driven Risk

> Merger-Arbitrage and Event-Driven Risk: Merger-arbitrage and event-driven investing involves the risk that the subadviser’s evaluation of the outcome of a proposed event, whether it be a merger, reorganization, regulatory issue or other event, will prove incorrect and that the fund’s return on the investment will be negative, or that the expected event may be delayed or completed on terms other than those originally proposed, which may cause the fund to lose money or fail to achieve a desired rate of return.

Short Sales Risk

> Short Sales Risk: Generally, to the extent the price of a security sold short increases between the time of the short sale and the time the fund covers its short position, the fund will incur a loss. The amount of a potential loss on an uncovered short sale transaction is theoretically unlimited.

Special Purpose Acquisition Companies Risk

> Special Purpose Acquisition Companies Risk: The fund may invest in stock of, warrants to purchase stock of, and other interests in special purpose acquisition companies or similar special purpose entities that pool funds to seek potential acquisition opportunities (collectively, “SPACs”). SPACs are in essence blank check companies without operating history or ongoing business other than seeking acquisitions. The value of a SPAC’s securities is particularly dependent on the ability of its management to identify and complete a profitable acquisition. There is no guarantee that the SPACs in which the Fund invests will complete an acquisition or that any acquisitions completed by the SPACs in which the fund invests will be profitable. The values of investments in SPACs may be highly volatile and these investments may also have little or no liquidity.

Foreign Investing Risk

> Foreign Investing Risk: Investing in foreign securities subjects the fund to additional risks such as increased volatility; currency fluctuations; less liquidity; less publicly available information about the foreign investment; and political, regulatory, economic, and market risk.

Portfolio Turnover Risk

> Portfolio Turnover Risk: The frequency of the fund’s transactions will vary from year to year, though merger-arbitrage portfolios typically have higher turnover rates than portfolios of typical long-only funds. Increased portfolio turnover will result in higher brokerage commissions, dealer mark-ups and other transaction costs and may result in increased distributions of taxable capital gains to fund shareholders, including short-term capital gains taxable to shareholders at ordinary income rates, when fund shares are held in a taxable account. Higher costs associated with increased portfolio turnover reduce the fund’s performance. The fund normally expects to engage in active and frequent trading and expects to have a high rate (over 100%) of portfolio turnover.

Credit Risk

> Credit Risk: If the issuer of a debt instrument fails to pay interest or principal in a timely manner, or negative perceptions exist in the market of the issuer’s ability to make such payments, the price of the security may decline.

Interest Rate Risk

> Interest Rate Risk: The values of debt instruments may rise or fall in response to changes in interest rates, and this risk may be enhanced for securities with longer maturities.

Derivatives Risk

> Derivatives Risk: Derivatives and other similar instruments (collectively referred to in this section as “derivatives”) may include, among other things, futures, options, forwards and swap agreements and may be used in order to hedge portfolio risks, create leverage or attempt to increase returns. Investments in derivatives may result in increased volatility and the fund may incur a loss greater than its principal investment.

Hedging Transactions Risk

> Hedging Transactions Risk: The subadviser may not correctly assess the degree of correlation between the performance of the instruments used in the hedging strategy and the performance of the investments in the portfolio being hedged, which may prevent the fund from achieving the intended hedge or expose the fund to risk of loss. Hedging transactions also limit the opportunity for gain if the value of a hedged portfolio position should increase.

Sector Focused Investing Risk

> Sector Focused Investing Risk: Events negatively affecting a particular market sector in which the fund focuses its investments may cause the value of the fund’s shares to decrease, perhaps significantly.

Market Volatility Risk

> Market Volatility Risk: The value of the securities in the fund may go up or down in response to the prospects of individual companies and/or general economic conditions. Price changes may be short- or long-term. Local, regional or global events such as war or military conflict (e.g., Russia’s invasion of Ukraine), geopolitical risk, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issue, recessions, tariffs and other restrictions on trade, or the threat or potential of one or more such events and developments, could have a significant impact on the fund and its investments, including hampering the ability of the fund’s portfolio manager(s) to invest the fund’s assets as intended.

Convertible Securities Risk

> Convertible Securities Risk: The value of a convertible security may decline as interest rates rise and/or vary with fluctuations in the market value of the underlying securities. The security may be called for redemption at a time and/or price unfavorable to the fund.

Counterparty Risk

> Counterparty Risk: There is risk that a party upon whom the fund relies to complete a transaction will default.

Distressed Securities Risk

> Distressed Securities Risk: Distressed securities risk refers to the uncertainty of repayment of defaulted securities and obligations of distressed issuers. Because the issuer of such securities is likely to be in a distressed financial condition, repayment of distressed or defaulted securities (including insolvent issuers or issuers in payment or covenant default, in workout or restructuring or in bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings) is subject to significant uncertainties. Insolvency laws and practices in foreign jurisdictions are different than those in the U.S. and the effect of these laws and practices may be less favorable and predictable than in the U.S. Investments in defaulted securities and obligations of distressed issuers are considered highly speculative.

Emerging Market Risk

> Emerging Market Risk: Emerging markets securities may be more volatile, or more greatly affected by negative conditions, than those of their counterparts in more established foreign markets. Such securities may also be subject to Sanctions Risk.

Sanctions Risk

> Sanctions Risk: The imposition of sanctions and other similar measures could cause a decline in the value and/or liquidity of securities issued by or tied to the sanctioned country and increase market volatility and disruption in the sanctioned country and throughout the world. Sanctions and other similar measures could limit or prevent the fund from buying and selling securities (in the sanctioned country and other markets), significantly delay or prevent the settlement of transactions, and negatively impact the fund’s liquidity and performance.

Equity Securities Risk

> Equity Securities Risk: The value of the stocks held by the fund may be negatively affected by the financial market, industries in which the fund invests, or issuer-specific events. Focus on a particular style or in small or medium-sized companies may enhance that risk.

Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) Risk

> Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) Risk: The value of an ETF may be more volatile than the underlying portfolio of securities the ETF is designed to track. The costs to the fund of owning shares of an ETF may exceed the cost of investing directly in the underlying securities.

High-Yield/High-Risk Fixed Income Securities (“Junk Bonds”) Risk

> High-Yield/High-Risk Fixed Income Securities (“Junk Bonds”) Risk: Securities rated below investment-grade (and unrated securities of comparable credit quality), commonly referred to as “high-yield” or “junk” bonds, have speculative characteristics and generally have more credit risk than higher-rated securities. Lower rated issuers are more likely to default and their securities could become worthless.

Large Market Capitalization Companies Risk

> Large Market Capitalization Companies Risk: The value of investments in larger companies may not rise as much as smaller companies, or larger companies may be unable to respond quickly to competitive challenges, such as changes in technology and consumer tastes.

Large Shareholder Risk

> Large Shareholder Risk: Certain account holders, including funds or accounts over which a fund's adviser or subadviser (or one of their affiliates) has investment discretion, may from time to time own or control a significant percentage of the fund’s shares. The fund is subject to the risk that a redemption by large shareholders of all or a portion of their fund shares or a purchase of fund shares in large amounts and/or on a frequent basis, including as a result of asset allocation decisions made by the adviser or subadviser (or one of their affiliates), will adversely affect the fund’s performance if it is forced to sell portfolio securities or invest cash when the fund’s subadviser would not otherwise choose to do so. This risk will be particularly pronounced if one shareholder owns a substantial portion of the fund. Redemptions of a large number of shares may affect the liquidity of the fund’s portfolio, increase the fund’s transaction costs and/or lead to the liquidation of the fund. Such transactions also potentially limit the use of any capital loss carryforwards and certain other losses to offset future realized capital gains (if any). The effects of taxable gains resulting from large redemptions of fund shares would particularly impact non-redeeming shareholders who do not hold their fund shares in a tax-advantaged or tax-exempt vehicle.

Legal and Regulatory Risk

> Legal and Regulatory Risk: Legal, tax and regulatory changes could occur and may adversely affect the fund, its investments and its ability to pursue its investment strategies and/or increase the costs of implementing such strategies. New (or revised) laws or regulations may be imposed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), the SEC, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), the U.S. Federal Reserve or other domestic or foreign governmental regulatory authorities or self-regulatory organizations that could adversely affect the fund. The fund also may be adversely affected by changes in the enforcement or interpretation of existing statutes and rules by governmental regulatory authorities or self-regulatory organizations, such as statutes and regulations governing mergers, takeovers or potential monopolies or anti-competitive practices. Regulators around the globe have increasingly taken measures to seek to increase the stability of the financial markets, including by adopting rules that may curtail the fund’s ability to use derivative and other instruments and that may require the fund to change how it has been managed historically. The fund and its agents continue to evaluate these measures, and there can be no assurance that they will not adversely affect the fund and its performance.

Leverage Risk

> Leverage Risk: When the fund leverages its portfolio by borrowing or by engaging in certain types of transactions or instruments, including derivatives, the fund may be less liquid, may liquidate positions at an unfavorable time, and the volatility of the fund’s value may increase.

Limited Voting Rights Risk

> Limited Voting Rights Risk: Debt instruments typically do not provide any voting rights, except in cases when interest payments have not been made and the issuer is in default.

Liquidity Risk

> Liquidity Risk: Certain instruments may be difficult or impossible to sell at a time and price beneficial to the fund.

Long-Term Maturities/Durations Risk

> Long-Term Maturities/Durations Risk: Debt instruments with longer maturities or durations may experience greater price fluctuations than instruments having shorter maturities or durations.

Management Risk

> Management Risk: The success of any strategy employed by the subadviser will depend upon, among other things, the subadviser’s skill in evaluating the likelihood of the successful completion of a particular catalyst or a related event.

Mutual Fund Investing Risk

> Mutual Fund Investing Risk: The fund’s performance may be adversely affected by the assets owned by the other mutual funds in which it invests, and the layering of expenses associated with the fund’s investment in other funds will cost shareholders more than direct investments would have cost.

Options Risk

> Options Risk: When the fund purchases options, it risks the loss of the cash paid for the options if the options expire unexercised. When the fund sells (writes) covered call options, it forgoes the opportunity to benefit from an increase in the value of the underlying stock above the exercise price, but it continues to bear the risk of a decline in the value of the underlying stock. In addition, the fund may earn premiums from writing call options. For shareholders who hold fund shares in a taxable account, profits from writing call options are generally treated as short-term capital gains for U.S. federal income tax purposes, taxable to shareholders as ordinary income when distributed to them.

Prepayment/Call Risk

> Prepayment/Call Risk: Issuers may prepay or call their fixed rate obligations when interest rates fall, forcing the fund to reinvest in obligations with lower interest rates and the fund may not benefit fully from the increase in value that other fixed income investments experience when interest rates decline.

Redemption Risk

> Redemption Risk: One or more large shareholders or groups of shareholders may redeem their holdings in the fund, resulting in an adverse impact on remaining shareholders in the fund by causing the fund to take actions it would not otherwise have taken. The effects of taxable gains resulting from large redemptions of fund shares would particularly impact non-redeeming shareholders who do not hold their fund shares in a tax-advantaged or tax-exempt vehicle. Such large shareholder redemptions, which may occur rapidly or unexpectedly, may cause a fund to sell portfolio securities at times when it would not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the fund’s NAV and liquidity. In addition, a large redemption could result in the fund’s current expenses being allocated over a smaller asset base, leading to an increase in the fund’s expense ratio.

Small and Medium Market Capitalization Companies Risk

> Small and Medium Market Capitalization Companies Risk: The fund’s investments in small and medium market capitalization companies may increase the volatility and risk of loss to the fund, as compared with investments in larger, more established companies.