XML 137 R355.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v2.4.1.9
Transamerica Developing Markets Equity
TRANSAMERICA DEVELOPING MARKETS EQUITY
Investment Objective:
Seeks 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.
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Shareholder Fees
Transamerica Developing Markets Equity
I2
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price) none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load) (as a percentage of purchase price or redemption proceeds, whichever is lower) none
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
Transamerica Developing Markets Equity
I2
Management fees 1.10%rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees none
Other expenses 0.22%rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets
Total annual fund operating expenses 1.32%rr_ExpensesOverAssets
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 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all shares at the end of those periods. 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:
Expense Example (USD $)
1 year
3 years
5 years
10 years
Transamerica Developing Markets Equity I2
134 418 723 1,590
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 for the fund was 57% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies:
The fund’s sub-adviser, OppenheimerFunds, Inc. (the “sub-adviser”), mainly invests in common stocks of issuers in developing and emerging markets throughout the world. The sub-adviser invests, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the fund’s net assets (plus the amount of borrowings, if any, for investment purposes) in equity securities of issuers that are economically tied to one or more emerging market countries. The fund will normally invest in at least three different emerging market countries. The fund can (but is not required to) invest up to 100% of its total assets in foreign securities. The fund focuses on companies with above-average earnings growth.

In selecting investments for the fund, the sub-adviser evaluates investment opportunities on a company-by-company basis. This approach includes fundamental analysis of a company's financial statements, management record, and capital structure, operations, product development, and competitive position in its industry. The sub-adviser also looks for newer or established businesses that are entering into a growth cycle, have the potential for accelerating earnings growth or cash flow, and possess reasonable valuations. The sub-adviser considers the effect of worldwide trends on the growth of particular business sectors and looks for companies that may benefit from those trends and seeks a diverse mix of industries and countries to help reduce the risks of foreign investing, such as currency fluctuations and stock market volatility. The sub-adviser may invest in growth companies of different capitalization ranges in any developing market country. This may include small, unseasoned companies. The sub-adviser monitors individual issuers for changes in the factors above, which may trigger a decision to sell a security.

In general, countries may be considered developing or emerging markets if they are included in any one of the MSCI emerging markets indices, classified as a developing or emerging market, or classified under a similar or corresponding classification, by organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, or have economies, industries and stock markets with similar characteristics. For purposes of the fund’s investments, a determination that an issuer is economically tied to a developing market country is based on factors including, but not limited to, geographic location of its primary trading markets, location of its assets, its domicile or its principal offices, or whether it receives revenues from a developing market. Such a determination can also be based, in whole or in part, on inclusion of an issuer or its securities in an Index representative of developing or emerging markets.

The growing inter-relationship of global economies and financial markets has increased the effect of conditions in one country or region on issuers of securities in a different country or region. In particular, the adoption or prolongation of protectionist trade policies by one or more countries, changes in economic or monetary policy in the United States or abroad, or a slowdown in the U.S. economy, could lead to a decrease in demand for products and reduced flows of capital and income to companies in other countries. Those events might particularly affect companies in emerging and developing market countries.

The fund may purchase American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) as part of American Depositary Receipt (“ADR”) issuances, which are negotiable certificates issued by a U.S. bank representing a specified number of shares in a foreign stock traded on a U.S. exchange. They are subject to some of the special considerations and risks that apply to foreign securities traded and held abroad.
Principal Risks:
Risk is inherent in all investing. 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. 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 fund may take temporary defensive positions; in such a case, the fund will not be pursuing its principal investment strategies. The following is a summary description of principal risks (in alphabetical order) of investing in the fund. You may lose money if you invest in this fund.
  • Aggressive Investment – The fund’s investment strategies, techniques and/or portfolio investments differ from those of many other mutual funds and may be considered aggressive. This approach to investing may expose the fund to additional risks, make the fund a more volatile investment than other mutual funds and cause the fund to perform less favorably than other mutual funds under similar market or economic conditions.
  • Currency – The value of investments in securities denominated in foreign currencies increases or decreases as the rates of exchange between those currencies and the U.S. dollar change. Currency conversion costs and currency fluctuations could reduce or eliminate investment gains or add to investment losses. Currency exchange rates can be volatile, and are affected by factors such as general economic conditions, the actions of the U.S. and foreign governments or central banks, the imposition of currency controls, and speculation.
  • Depositary Receipts – Depositary receipts may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market. Any distributions paid to the holders of depositary receipts are usually subject to a fee charged by the depositary. Holders of depositary receipts may have limited voting rights, and investment restrictions in certain countries may adversely impact the value of depositary receipts because such restrictions may limit the ability to convert equity shares into depositary receipts and vice versa. Such restrictions may cause equity shares of the underlying issuer to trade at a discount or premium to the market price of the depositary receipts.
  • Emerging Markets – Investments in the securities of issuers located in or principally doing business in emerging markets are subject to foreign investments risks. These risks are greater for investments in issuers in emerging market countries. Emerging market countries tend to have economic, political and legal systems that are less fully developed and are less stable than those of more developed countries. Emerging market securities are often particularly sensitive to market movements because their market prices tend to reflect speculative expectations. Low trading volumes may result in a lack of liquidity and in extreme price volatility.
  • Equity Securities – Equity securities represent an ownership interest in an issuer, rank junior in a company’s capital structure and consequently may entail greater risk of loss than debt securities. Equity securities include common and preferred stocks. Stock markets are volatile. The price of equity securities fluctuates based on changes in a company’s financial condition and overall market and economic conditions. If the market prices of the equity securities owned by the fund fall, the value of your investment in the fund will decline.
  • Focused Investing – To the extent the fund invests in one or more countries, regions, sectors or industries, or in a limited number of issuers, the fund will be more susceptible to negative events affecting those countries, regions, sectors, industries or issuers. Local events, such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters may disrupt a country’s or region’s securities markets. Geographic risk is especially high in emerging markets.
  • Foreign Investments – Investing in securities of foreign issuers or issuers with significant exposure to foreign markets involves additional risk. Foreign countries in which the fund may invest may have markets that are less liquid, less regulated and more volatile than U.S. markets. The value of the fund’s investments may decline because of factors affecting the particular issuer as well as foreign markets and issuers generally, such as unfavorable government actions, political or financial instability or other adverse economic or political developments. Lack of information and weaker accounting standards also may affect the value of these securities.
  • Growth Stocks – Returns on growth stocks may not move in tandem with returns on other categories of stocks or the market as a whole. Growth stocks may be particularly susceptible to larger price swings or to adverse developments. Growth stocks as a group may be out of favor and underperform the overall equity market for a long period of time, for example, while the market favors “value” stocks.
  • Liquidity – The fund may make investments that are illiquid or that become illiquid after purchase. The liquidity and value of investments can deteriorate rapidly and those investments may be difficult or impossible to sell, particularly during times of market turmoil. These illiquid investments may also be difficult to value. If the fund is forced to sell an illiquid investment to meet redemption requests or other cash needs, the fund may be forced to sell at a loss.
  • Manager – The fund is subject to the risk that the sub-adviser’s judgments and investment decisions, as well as the methods, tools, resources, information and data, and the analyses employed or relied on by the sub-adviser to make those judgments and decisions may be incorrect or otherwise may not produce the desired results. This could cause the fund to lose value or its results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.
  • 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. Adverse market conditions may be prolonged and may not have the same impact on all types of securities. Market prices of securities also may go down due to events or conditions that affect particular sectors, industries 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. Financial markets in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere have experienced increased volatility and decreased liquidity since the global financial crisis began in 2008. Governmental and non-governmental issuers defaulted on, or were forced to restructure, their debts. These market conditions may continue, worsen or spread. The U.S. government and the Federal Reserve, as well as certain foreign governments and their central banks have taken steps to support financial markets, including keeping interest rates at historically low levels. More recently, the Federal Reserve has reduced its market support activities. Further reduction or withdrawal of this support, or other related efforts in response to the crisis could negatively affect financial markets generally and increase market volatility as well as result in higher interest rates and reduce the value and liquidity of certain securities. This environment could make identifying investment risks and opportunities especially difficult for the sub-adviser. Whether or not the fund invests in securities of issuers located in or with significant exposure to countries experiencing economic and financial difficulties, the value and liquidity of the fund's investments may be negatively affected. In addition, policy and legislative changes in the United States and in other countries are affecting many aspects of financial regulation, and in some instances may contribute to decreased liquidity and increased volatility in the financial markets.
  • Portfolio Selection – The value of your investment may decrease if the sub-adviser’s judgment about the quality, relative yield, value or market trends affecting a particular security or issuer, industry, sector, region or market segment, or about the economy or interest rates is incorrect.
  • Russian Securities – In response to recent political and military actions undertaken by Russia, the United States and the European Union have instituted numerous sanctions against certain Russian officials and Bank Rossiya. These sanctions, and other intergovernmental actions that may be undertaken against Russia in the future, may result in the devaluation of Russian currency, a downgrade in the country’s credit rating, and a decline in the value and liquidity of Russian stocks. These sanctions could result in the immediate freeze of Russian securities, including securities in the form of ADRs, impairing the ability of the fund to buy, sell, receive or deliver those securities. Retaliatory action by the Russian government could involve the seizure of U.S. and/or European residents’ assets and any such actions are likely to impair the value and liquidity of such assets. Any or all of these potential results could push Russia’s economy into a recession. These sanctions, and the continued disruption of the Russian economy, could have a negative effect on the performance of funds that have significant exposure to Russia, including the fund.
  • Small and Medium Capitalization Companies – The fund will be exposed to additional risks as a result of its investments in the securities of small or medium capitalization companies. Small or medium capitalization companies may be more at risk than large capitalization companies because, among other things, they may have limited product lines, operating history, market or financial resources, or because they may depend on a limited management group. The prices of securities of small and medium capitalization companies generally are more volatile than those of large capitalization companies and are more likely to be adversely affected than large capitalization companies by changes in earnings results and investor expectations or poor economic or market conditions. Securities of small and medium capitalization companies may underperform large capitalization companies, may be harder to sell at times and at prices the portfolio managers believe appropriate and may offer greater potential for losses.
  • 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, that are priced based upon valuations provided by third-party pricing services that use matrix or evaluated pricing systems, 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. The bar chart shows how the fund’s performance has varied from year to year. The table shows how the fund’s average annual total returns for different periods compare to the returns of a broad measure of market performance.Absent any limitation of the fund’s expenses, total returns would be lower. Index returns are since the inception of the oldest share class.

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.transamerica.com/individual/products/mutual-funds/performance/index.html or by calling 1-888-233-4339.
Annual Total Returns (calendar years ended December 31) - Class I2
Bar Chart
 Quarter EndedReturn
Best Quarter:06/30/200938.39%
Worst Quarter:12/31/2008-28.14%
Average Annual Total Returns (periods ended December 31, 2014)
Average Annual Total Returns Transamerica Developing Markets Equity
1 Year
5 Years
Since Inception
Inception Date
Class I2
(6.49%) 4.49% 7.98% Dec. 06, 2005
Class I2 Return after taxes on distributions
(7.99%) 3.44% 6.66% Dec. 06, 2005
Class I2 Return after taxes on distributions and sale of fund shares
(2.09%) 3.81% 6.56% Dec. 06, 2005
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
(1.82%) 2.11% 6.61%  
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. Actual after-tax returns may depend on the investor’s individual tax situation and may differ from those shown. 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.