0000719269
2013-02-28
2013-02-28
0000719269
ck0000719269:S000002638_2Member
ck0000719269:S000002638Member
2013-02-28
2013-02-28
MFS VARIABLE INSURANCE TRUST II
Other
false
0000719269
2013-02-28
2013-02-28
2013-02-28
2012-04-29
MFS International Value Portfolio
<div style="display: block; margin-left: 0pt; text-indent: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt;" align="justify"> <font style="display: inline; font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Times New Roman;">Effective immediately, the sub-sections entitled “Principal Investment Strategies" and "Principal Risks" beneath the main heading "Summary of Key Information" are hereby restated in their entirety as follows:</font> </div>
Principal Investment Strategies
<div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">MFS (Massachusetts Financial Services Company, the fund's investment adviser) normally invests the fund’s assets primarily in foreign equity securities, including emerging market equity securities. Equity securities include common stocks, preferred stocks, securities convertible into stocks, and depositary receipts for those securities.</font> </div> <br/><div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">MFS may invest a large percentage of the fund’s assets in issuers in a single country, a small number of countries, or a particular geographic region.</font> </div> <br/><div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">MFS focuses on investing the fund's assets in the stocks of companies it believes are undervalued compared to their perceived worth (value companies).</font> </div> <br/><div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">MFS may invest the fund’s assets in companies of any size.</font> </div> <br/><div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">While MFS may use derivatives for any investment purpose, to the extent MFS uses derivatives, MFS expects to use derivatives primarily to increase or decrease currency exposure. Derivatives include futures, forward contracts, options, structured securities, inverse floating rate instruments, and swaps.</font> </div> <br/><div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">MFS uses a bottom-up investment approach to buying and selling investments for the fund. Investments are selected primarily based on fundamental analysis of individual issuers. Quantitative models that systematically evaluate issuers may also be considered.</font> </div>
Principal Risks
<div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">As with any mutual fund, the fund may not achieve its objective and/or you could lose money on your investment in the fund. An investment in the fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency.</font> </div> <br/><div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">The principal risks of investing in the fund are:</font> </div> <br/><div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Stock Market/Company Risk:</font> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-STYLE: italic"> </font>Stock markets are volatile and can decline significantly in response to issuer, market, economic, industry, political, regulatory, geopolitical, and other conditions, as well as to investor perceptions of these conditions. The price of an equity security can decrease significantly in response to these conditions, and these conditions can affect a single issuer or type of security, issuers within a broad market sector, industry or geographic region, or the market in general.</font> </div> <br/><div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Value Company Risk:</font> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-STYLE: italic"> </font>The stocks of value companies can continue to be undervalued for long periods of time and not realize their expected value and can be more volatile than the market in general.</font> </div> <br/><div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Foreign and Emerging Markets Risk:</font> Exposure to foreign markets, especially emerging markets, through issuers or currencies can involve additional risks relating to market, economic, political, regulatory, geopolitical, or other conditions. These factors can make foreign investments, especially those in emerging markets, more volatile and less liquid than U.S. investments. In addition, foreign markets can react differently to these conditions than the U.S. market. Emerging markets can have less developed markets and less developed legal, regulatory, and accounting systems, and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets.</font> </div> <br/><div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Currency Risk:</font> The value of foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar fluctuates in response to market, economic, political, regulatory, geopolitical or other conditions, and a decline in the value of a foreign currency versus the U.S. dollar reduces the value in U.S. dollars of investments denominated in that foreign currency.</font> </div> <br/><div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Geographic Concentration Risk:</font> The fund’s performance could be closely tied to the market, currency, economic, political, regulatory, geopolitical, or other conditions in the countries or regions in which the fund invests and could be more volatile than the performance of more geographically-diversified funds.</font> </div> <br/><div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Derivatives Risk:</font> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-STYLE: italic"> </font>Derivatives can be highly volatile and involve risks in addition to the risks of the underlying indicator(s) on which the derivative is based. Gains or losses from derivatives can be substantially greater than the derivatives’ original cost.  Derivatives can involve leverage.</font> </div> <br/><div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Leveraging Risk:</font> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-STYLE: italic"> </font>Leverage involves investment exposure in an amount exceeding the initial investment. Leverage can cause increased volatility by magnifying gains or losses.</font> </div> <br/><div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Investment Selection Risk:</font>  The MFS analysis of an investment can be incorrect and can lead to an investment focus that results in the fund underperforming other funds with similar investment strategies and/or underperforming the markets in which the fund invests.</font> </div> <br/><div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Counterparty and Third Party Risk:</font> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-STYLE: italic"> </font>Transactions involving a counterparty or third party other than the issuer of the instrument are subject to the credit risk of the counterparty or third party, and to the counterparty’s or third party’s ability to perform in accordance with the terms of the transaction.</font> </div> <br/><div style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN-LEFT: 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0pt" align="left"> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Liquidity Risk:</font> <font style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-STYLE: italic"> </font>It may not be possible to sell certain investments, types of investments, and/or segments of the market at any particular time or at an acceptable price.</font> </div>
As with any mutual fund, the fund may not achieve its objective and/or you could lose money on your investment in the fund.
An investment in the fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency.