497K 1 c64493_497k.htm Untitled Document
TRANSAMERICA JPMORGAN CORE BOND

Summary Prospectus

March 1, 2011

      

Class

CLASS I2

    

& Ticker

Not Applicable

    

This summary prospectus is designed to provide shareholders with key fund information in a clear and concise format. Before you invest, you may want to review the fund’s prospectus, which contains more information about the fund and its risks. You can find the fund’s prospectus and other information about the fund, including the fund’s statement of additional information and most recent reports to shareholders, online at http://www.transamericafunds.com/prospectus. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 866-414-6349 or by sending an e-mail request to orders@mysummaryprospectus.com, or from your financial professional. The fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information, dated March 1, 2011, as supplemented from time to time, and the independent registered public accounting firm’s report and financial statements in the fund’s annual report to shareholders, dated October 31, 2010, are incorporated by reference into this summary prospectus.

Investment Objective: Seeks total return, consisting of current income and capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses: This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. There are no sales charges (load) or other transaction fees.

  

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

  

Management fees

0.44%

Distribution and service (12b-1) fees

None

Other expenses

0.06%

Total annual fund operating expenses

0.50%

Example: This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

    

1 year

3 years

5 years

10 years

$51

$160

$280

$628

Portfolio Turnover: The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the portfolio turnover rate was 33% of the average value of the fund's portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies: The fund's sub-adviser, J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc. (“JPMorgan”) seeks to achieve the fund's objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the fund's assets in bonds, including (without limitation):

· U.S. government securities, including Treasury obligations and government sponsored enterprises such as Fannie Mae, Ginnie Mae, Freddie Mac and securities issued by other government agencies and instrumentalities

· Medium- to high-quality corporate bonds

· Mortgage-backed securities, including U.S. agency and non-agency pass through and Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (“CMOs”)

· Asset-backed securities

· Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (“CMBS”)

Generally, such bonds will have intermediate to long maturities.

To a lesser extent, it may invest in:

· U.S. dollar-denominated foreign bonds

1


· Short-term securities, including agency discount notes, commercial paper and money market funds

The fund may invest in bonds and other debt securities that are rated in the lowest investment grade category. The fund's average weighted maturity will ordinarily range between four and 12 years. JPMorgan analyzes four major factors in managing and constructing the fund’s portfolio: duration, market sector, maturity concentrations and individual securities. JPMorgan looks for market sectors and individual securities that it believes will perform well over time. JPMorgan is value oriented and selects individual securities after performing a risk/reward analysis that includes an evaluation of interest rate risk, credit risk, and the complex legal and technical structure of the transaction. The fund may use futures contracts, options, swaps and other derivatives as tools in the management of fund assets. The fund may use derivatives as a substitute for various investments, to alter the investment characteristics of the fund, for risk management and/or to increase income or gain to the fund.

The fund may invest its assets in cash, cash equivalent securities or short-term debt securities, repurchase agreements and money market instruments. Under adverse or unstable market, economic or political conditions, the fund may take temporary defensive positions in cash and short-term debt securities without limit.

Principal Risks: Many factors affect the fund's performance. There is no assurance the fund will meet its investment objective. 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. The following is a summary of certain risks (in alphabetical order) of investing in the fund. You may lose money if you invest in this fund.

· Cash Management and Defensive Investing – Money market instruments or short-term debt securities held by the fund for cash management or defensive investing purposes can fluctuate in value. Like other fixed income securities, they are subject to risk, including market, interest rate and credit risk. If the fund holds cash uninvested, the fund will not earn income on the cash and the fund's yield will go down. If a significant amount of the fund's assets are used for cash management or defensive investing purposes, it will be more difficult for the fund to achieve its objective.

· Credit – If an issuer or guarantor of a security held by the fund or a counterparty to a financial contract with the fund defaults or is downgraded, or if the value of the assets underlying a security declines, the value of your investment will decline. Junk bonds have a higher risk of default and are considered speculative. A default or downgrade will have a greater impact on subordinated securities.

· Currency – When the fund invests in securities denominated in foreign currencies, the fund may incur currency conversion costs and may be affected favorably or unfavorably by changes in the rates of exchange between those currencies and the U.S. dollar. Currency exchange rates can be volatile and are affected by, among other factors, the general economics of a country, the actions of the U.S. and foreign governments or control banks, the imposition of currency controls, and speculation.

· Derivatives – Using derivatives can increase fund losses and reduce opportunities for gains when market prices, interest rates or the derivative instruments themselves behave in a way not anticipated by the fund. Using derivatives also can have a leveraging effect and increase fund volatility. Derivatives may be difficult to sell, unwind or value, and the counterparty may default on its obligations to the fund. The fund's investments in derivative instruments may involve a small investment relative to the amount of investment exposure assumed and may result in losses exceeding the amounts invested in those instruments. Recent legislation calls for new regulation of the derivatives markets. The extent and impact of the regulation are not yet fully known and may not be for some time. New regulation of derivatives may make them more costly, may limit their availability, or may otherwise adversely affect their value or performance.

· Fixed-Income Securities – The market prices of fixed-income securities may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably due to general market conditions, such as real or perceived adverse economic or political conditions, inflation, changes in interest rates, lack of liquidity in the bond markets or adverse investor sentiment. When market prices fall, the value of your investment will go down. A rise in rates tends to have a greater impact on the prices of longer term or duration securities.

If interest rates rise, repayments of fixed-income securities may occur more slowly than anticipated by the market. This may drive the prices of these securities down because their interest rates are lower than the current interest rate and they remain outstanding longer. This is sometimes referred to as extension risk.

Many issuers have a right to prepay their securities. If interest rates fall, an issuer may exercise this right. If this happens, the fund will be forced to reinvest prepayment proceeds at a time when yields on securities available in the market are lower than the yield on the prepaid security. This is sometimes referred to as prepayment or call risk.

· Foreign Securities – Foreign securities are subject to a number of additional risks, including nationalization or expropriation of assets, imposition of currency controls or restrictions, confiscatory taxation, political or financial instability

2


and other adverse economic or political developments. Lack of information and less market regulation also may affect the value of these securities.

· Increase in Expenses – Your actual costs of investing in the fund may be higher than the expenses shown in “Annual Fund Operating Expenses” 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.

· Interest Rate – Fixed-income securities have varying levels of sensitivity to changes in interest rates. In general, the price of a fixed-income security tends to fall when interest rates rise and can rise when interest rates fall. A change in interest rates will not have the same impact on all fixed-income securities. Generally, the longer the maturity or duration of a fixed-income security, the greater the impact of a rise in interest rates on the security’s value.  In addition, different interest rate measures (such as short- and long-term interest rates and U.S. and foreign interest rates), or interest rates on different types of securities or securities of different issuers, may not necessarily change in the same amount or in the same direction. When interest rates go down, the income received by the fund, and the fund’s yield, may decline.

· Liquidity – Some securities held by the fund may be difficult to sell, or illiquid, particularly during times of market turmoil. Illiquid securities may also be difficult to value. If the fund is forced to sell an illiquid asset to meet redemption requests or other cash needs, the fund may be forced to sell at a loss.

· Market – The market prices of the fund's securities may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to general market conditions, such as real or perceived adverse economic or political conditions, inflation, changes in interest rates or currency rates, lack of liquidity in the markets or adverse investor sentiment. Market prices of securities also may go down due to events or conditions that affect particular sectors or issuers. When market prices fall, the value of your investment will go down. The fund may experience a substantial or complete loss on any individual security. The recent financial crisis has caused a significant decline in the value and liquidity of many securities. In response to the financial crisis, the U.S. and other governments and the Federal Reserve and certain foreign central banks have taken steps to support financial markets. The withdrawal of this support could negatively affect the value and liquidity of certain securities. In addition, legislation recently enacted in the U.S. calls for changes in many aspects of financial regulation. The impact of the legislation on the markets, and the practical implications for market participants, may not be fully known for some time.

· Mortgage-Related and Asset-Backed Securities – Mortgage-backed securities may be issued by private issuers, by government-sponsored entities such as Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac or by agencies of the U.S. government, such as Ginnie Mae. Mortgage-backed securities represent direct or indirect participations in, or are collateralized by and payable from, mortgage loans secured by real property. Unlike mortgage-related securities issued or guaranteed by agencies of the U.S. government or government-sponsored entities, mortgage-related securities issued by private issuers do not have a government or government-sponsored entity guarantee (but may have other credit enhancement), and may, and frequently do, have less favorable collateral, credit risk or other underwriting characteristics. Mortgage-backed securities are also particularly susceptible to prepayment and extension risks. Asset-backed securities represent participations in, or are secured by and payable from, assets such as installment sales or loan contracts, leases, credit card receivables and other categories of receivables. Certain asset-backed securities present a heightened level of risk because, in the event of default, the liquidation value of the underlying assets may be inadequate to pay any unpaid principal or interest. The value of mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities may be affected by changes in credit quality or value of the mortgage loans or other assets that support the securities.

· Portfolio Selection – The sub-adviser’s judgment about a particular security or issuer, or about the economy or a particular sector, region or market segment, or about an investment strategy, may prove to be incorrect.

· Valuation – The sales price the fund could receive for any particular portfolio investment may differ from the fund's valuation of the investment, particularly for securities that trade in thin or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology.

Performance: The bar chart and the table below provide some indication of the risks of investing in the fund by showing you how the fund’s performance has varied from year to year, and how the fund’s Class I2 average annual total returns for different periods compare to the returns of a broad measure of market performance. The table shows average annual total returns for Class I2 shares of the fund. Absent any limitation of the fund’s expenses, total returns would be lower. As with all mutual funds, past performance (before and after taxes) is not a prediction of future results. Updated performance information is available on our website at www.transamericafunds.com or by calling 1-888-233-4339.

3


Annual Total Returns (calendar years ended December 31)

   
 

Quarter Ended

Return

Best Quarter:

6/30/2010

3.40%

Worst Quarter:

12/31/2010

-1.13%

Average Annual Total Returns (periods ended December 31, 2010)1

    
 

1 Year

5 Years

10 Years or Inception

Class I2 (commenced operations on July 1, 2009)

Return before taxes

6.52%

N/A

5.15%

Return after taxes on distributions2

5.07%

N/A

3.87%

Return after taxes on distributions and sale of fund shares2

4.23%

N/A

3.64%

Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)

6.54%

N/A

7.03%

1 Actual returns may depend on the investor’s individual tax situation. After-tax returns may not be relevant if the investment is made through a tax-exempt or tax-deferred account, such as a 401(k) plan.

2  The after-tax returns are calculated using the historic highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes.

Management:

Investment Adviser: Sub-Adviser:

Transamerica Asset Management, Inc.  J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc.

Portfolio Manager:

Douglas S. Swanson, Portfolio Manager since 2009

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares: Class I2 shares of the fund are currently primarily offered for investment in certain funds of funds (also referred to as “strategic asset allocation funds”). Class I2 shares of the fund are also made available to other investors, including institutional investors such as foreign insurers, domestic insurance companies and their separate accounts, and unaffiliated funds, high net worth individuals, and eligible retirement plans whose recordkeepers or financial service firm intermediaries have entered into agreements with Transamerica Funds or its agents. Investors who received Class I2 shares in connection with the reorganization of a Transamerica Premier Fund into a Transamerica Fund may continue to invest in Class I2 shares of that Transamerica Fund, but may not open new accounts. You buy and redeem shares at the fund’s next-determined net asset value (NAV) after receipt of your request in good order.

Tax Information: Fund distributions may be taxable as ordinary income or capital gains, except when your investment is in an IRA, 401(k) or other tax-advantaged investment plan.

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries: If you purchase the fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary, the fund and/or its affiliates may pay the intermediary for the sale of 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.

MSPAI20311JPMCB

4