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Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund
Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund
Investment Objective
The investment objective of the Fund is long-term growth of capital and income.
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Fund or in other Nuveen Mutual Funds. More information about these and other discounts, as well as eligibility requirements for each share class, is available from your financial advisor and in “What Share Classes We Offer” on page 33 of the Fund’s prospectus, “How to Reduce Your Sales Charge” on page 36 of the prospectus and “Purchase and Redemption of Fund Shares” on page S-70 of the Fund’s statement of additional information.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Shareholder Fees Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund (USD $)
Class A
Class C
Class R3
Class I
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price) 5.75% none none none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds) [1] none 1.00% none none
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends none none none none
Exchange Fee none none none none
Annual Low Balance Account Fee (for accounts under $1,000) [2] 15 15 none 15
[1] The contingent deferred sales charge on Class C shares applies only to redemptions within 12 months of purchase.
[2] Fee applies to the following types of accounts under $1,000 held directly with the Fund: individual retirement accounts (IRAs), Coverdell Education Savings Accounts and accounts established pursuant to the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) or Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA).
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund
Class A
Class C
Class R3
Class I
Management Fees 0.93% 0.93% 0.93% 0.93%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees 0.25% 1.00% 0.50% none
Other Expenses [1] 0.24% 0.25% 0.22% 0.24%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 1.42% 2.18% 1.65% 1.17%
Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements [2] (0.18%) (0.19%) (0.16%) (0.18%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements 1.24% 1.99% 1.49% 0.99%
[1] Other Expenses have been restated to reflect current contractual fees.
[2] The Fund's investment adviser has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses through April 30, 2014 so that Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding 12b-1 distribution and/or service fees, interest expenses, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses, fees incurred in acquiring and disposing of portfolio securities and extraordinary expenses) do not exceed 1.00% of the average daily net assets of any class of Fund shares. The expense limitation expiring April 30, 2014 may be terminated or modified prior to that date only with the approval of the board of directors of the Fund.
Example
The following 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 either redeem or do not redeem your shares at the end of a period. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year, that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same, and the contractual fee waivers currently in place are not renewed beyond April 30, 2014. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Redemption
Expense Example Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund (USD $)
A
C
R3
I
1 Year 694 202 152 101
3 Years 982 664 505 354
5 Years 1,291 1,152 882 626
10 Years 2,164 2,499 1,941 1,404
No Redemption
Expense Example, No Redemption Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund (USD $)
A
C
R3
I
1 Year 694 202 152 101
3 Years 982 664 505 354
5 Years 1,291 1,152 882 626
10 Years 2,164 2,499 1,941 1,404
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 Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 200% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in equity securities issued by U.S. and non-U.S. infrastructure-related companies. Infrastructure-related companies are defined as companies that derive at least 50% of their revenues or profits from the ownership, development, construction, financing or operation of infrastructure assets, or have at least 50% of the fair market value of their assets invested in infrastructure assets. Infrastructure assets are the physical structures and networks upon which the operation, growth and development of a community depends, which includes water, sewer, and energy utilities; transportation and communication networks; health care facilities, government accommodations, and other public service facilities; and shipping, timber, steel, alternative energy, and other resources and services necessary for the construction and maintenance of these physical structures and networks.

Equity securities in which the Fund invests include common and preferred stocks, publicly-traded units of master limited partnerships (“MLPs”), and real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). The Fund may also invest in exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) and other investment companies (“investment companies”). The Fund may invest in companies of any size, including small- and mid-capitalization companies.

In selecting securities, the Fund’s sub-adviser invests in companies that it believes meet one or more of the following criteria:
  • Attractively valued relative to other companies in the same industry or market.
  • Strong fundamentals, including consistent cash flows or growth and a sound balance sheet.
  • Strong management teams.
  • Long-term contracts to provide infrastructure-based services.
  • An identifiable catalyst that could increase the value of the company’s stock over the next one or two years.
The Fund’s sub-adviser generally will sell a security if any of the following has occurred:
  • The security has hit its price target and the company is no longer attractively valued relative to other companies.
  • The company’s fundamentals have significantly deteriorated.
  • There has been a significant change in the management team.
  • A catalyst that could decrease the value of the stock has been identified, or a previously existing positive catalyst has disappeared.
  • A better alternative exists in the marketplace.
The Fund’s investments include infrastructure-related securities of non-U.S. issuers. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 40% of its net assets in securities of non-U.S. issuers and, in any case, will invest at least 30% of its net assets in such issuers. The Fund considers an issuer to be non-U.S. if its legal residence is in a country other than the United States, its securities principally trade in a non-U.S. market, or it derives a significant portion of either its revenues or pretax income from activities outside the United States.

The Fund diversifies its investments among a number of different countries throughout the world. Up to 25% of the Fund’s total assets may be invested in equity securities of emerging market issuers. A country is considered to be an “emerging market” if it is defined as such by Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc.

The Fund may utilize derivatives, including options, futures contracts, options on futures contracts, and forward foreign currency exchange contracts. The Fund may use these derivatives to manage market or business risk, enhance the Fund’s return, or hedge against adverse movements in currency exchange rates.
Principal Risks
The value of your investment in this Fund will change daily, which means you could lose money. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The principal risks of investing in the Fund include:

Derivatives Risk—The use of options, futures contracts, options on futures contracts and forward foreign currency exchange contracts involves additional risks, such as liquidity, interest rate, counterparty, market, credit and management risks, and transaction costs which could leave the Fund in a worse position than if it had not used these instruments. Derivatives may entail investment exposures that are greater than their cost would suggest. As a result, a small investment in derivatives could have a large impact on performance. Recent legislation requires the development of a new regulatory framework for the derivatives market. The impact of the new regulations is still unknown, but has the potential to increase the costs of using derivatives, may limit the availability of some forms of derivatives or the Fund's ability to use derivatives, and may adversely affect the performance of some derivative instruments used by the Fund as well as the Fund's ability to pursue its investment objective through the use of such instruments.

Equity Security Risk—Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry, or sector of the market.

ETF Risk—An ETF is subject to the risks of the underlying securities that it holds. In addition, for index-based ETFs, the performance of an ETF may diverge from the performance of such index (commonly known as tracking error). ETFs are subject to fees and expenses (like management fees and operating expenses) that do not apply to an index, and the Fund will indirectly bear its proportionate share of any management fees and other expenses paid by the ETFs in which it invests.

Frequent Trading Risk—Frequent trading of portfolio securities may produce capital gains, which are taxable to shareholders when distributed. Frequent trading may also increase the amount of commissions or mark-ups to broker-dealers that the Fund pays when it buys and sells securities, which may detract from the Fund's performance.

Infrastructure Sector Risk—Because the Fund invests significantly in infrastructure-related securities, the Fund has greater exposure to adverse economic, regulatory, political, legal and other changes affecting the issuers of such securities.

Master Limited Partnership Risk—An investment in an MLP exposes the Fund to the legal and tax risks associated with investing in partnerships. MLPs may have limited financial resources, their securities may be relatively illiquid, and they may be subject to more erratic price movements because of the underlying assets they hold.

Non-U.S./Emerging Markets Risk—Non-U.S. issuers or U.S. issuers with significant non-U.S. operations may be subject to risks in addition to those of issuers located in or that principally operate in the United States as a result of, among other things, political, social and economic developments abroad and different legal, regulatory and tax environments. These additional risks may be heightened for securities of issuers located in, or with significant operations in, emerging market countries. Also, changes in currency exchange rates may affect the Fund's net asset value, the value of dividends and interest earned, and gains and losses realized on the sale of securities.

Other Investment Companies Risk—When the Fund invests in other investment companies, you bear both your proportionate share of Fund expenses and, indirectly, the expenses of the other investment companies.

Preferred Security Risk—Preferred securities are subordinated to bonds and other debt instruments in a company's capital structure and therefore will be subject to greater credit risk than those debt instruments. In addition, preferred securities are subject to other risks, such as having no or limited voting rights, being subject to special redemption rights, having distributions deferred or skipped, having limited liquidity, changing tax treatments and possibly being in heavily regulated industries.

Real Estate Investment Risk—The real estate industry has been subject to substantial fluctuations and declines on a local, regional and national basis in the past and may continue to be in the future. Also, the value of a REIT can be hurt by economic downturns or by changes in real estate values, rents, property taxes, interest rates, tax treatment, regulations, or the legal structure of the REIT.

Smaller Company Risk—Small-cap stocks involve substantial risk. Prices of small-cap stocks may be subject to more abrupt or erratic movements, and to wider fluctuations, than stock prices of larger, more established companies or the market averages in general. It may be difficult to sell small-cap stocks at the desired time and price. While mid-cap stocks may be slightly less volatile than small-cap stocks, they still involve similar risks.
Fund Performance
The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the potential risks of investing in the Fund. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at www.nuveen.com/performance or by calling (800) 257-8787.
Class A Annual Total Return
Bar Chart
The bar chart below shows the variability of the Fund’s performance from year to year for Class A shares. The performance of the other share classes will differ due to their different expense structures. The bar chart and highest/lowest quarterly returns that follow do not reflect sales charges, and if these charges were reflected, the returns would be less than those shown.

During the five-year period ended December 31, 2012, the Fund’s highest and lowest quarterly returns were 20.62% and –17.47%, respectively, for the quarters ended June 30, 2009 and September 30, 2008.
The table below shows the variability of the Fund’s average annual returns and how they compare over the time periods indicated with those of a broad measure of market performance and an index of funds with similar investment objectives. All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. After-tax returns are shown for Class A shares only; after-tax returns for other share classes will vary. Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as IRAs or employer-sponsored retirement plans.

Both the bar chart and the table assume that all distributions have been reinvested. Performance reflects fee waivers, if any, in effect during the periods presented. If any such waivers were not in place, returns would be reduced.
Average Annual Total Returns
for the Periods Ended December 31, 2012
Average Annual Total Returns Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund
Inception Date
1 Year
5 Years
Since Inception
Class A
Dec. 17, 2007 8.93% 0.88% 1.39%
Class A (return after taxes on distributions)
Dec. 17, 2007 8.09% 0.36% 0.88%
Class A (return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares)
Dec. 17, 2007 6.36% 0.68% 1.13%
Class A S&P Global Infrastructure Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
      (1.58%)
Class A Lipper Specialty/Miscellaneous Classification Average (reflects no deduction for taxes or certain expenses)
      0.28%
Class C
Nov. 03, 2008 14.58%    13.65%
Class C S&P Global Infrastructure Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
      9.57%
Class C Lipper Specialty/Miscellaneous Classification Average (reflects no deduction for taxes or certain expenses)
      13.09%
Class R3
Nov. 03, 2008 15.36%    14.11%
Class R3 S&P Global Infrastructure Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
      9.57%
Class R3 Lipper Specialty/Miscellaneous Classification Average (reflects no deduction for taxes or certain expenses)
      13.09%
Class I
Dec. 17, 2007 15.78% 2.33% 2.83%
Class I S&P Global Infrastructure Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
      (1.58%)
Class I Lipper Specialty/Miscellaneous Classification Average (reflects no deduction for taxes or certain expenses)
      0.28%
S&P Global Infrastructure Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
  11.89% (2.06%)  
Lipper Specialty/Miscellaneous Classification Average (reflects no deduction for taxes or certain expenses)
  6.74% (0.12%)