497K 1 d699717d497k.htm AB VARIABLE PRODUCTS SERIES FUND, INC. - INTERNATIONAL GROWTH PORT - CLASS B AB Variable Products Series Fund, Inc. - International Growth Port - Class B
LOGO    SUMMARY PROSPECTUS    May 1, 2019

AB Variable Products Series Fund, Inc.

International Growth Portfolio—Class B

 

Before you invest, you may want to review the Portfolio’s Prospectus, which contains more information about the Portfolio and its risks. The Portfolio’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, both dated May 1, 2019, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus. For free paper or electronic copies of the Portfolio’s Prospectus, reports to shareholders and other information about the Portfolio, go to www.abfunds.com/go/prospectus, email a request to prorequest@alliancebernstein.com, call (800) 227-4618, or ask any insurance company that offers shares of the Portfolio.

 

Beginning on May 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, you may not be receiving paper copies of the Portfolio’s shareholder reports from the insurance company that offers your contract unless you specifically request paper copies from the insurance company or from your financial intermediary. Instead of delivering paper copies of the reports, the insurance company may choose to make the reports available on a website, and will notify you by mail each time a report is posted and provide you with a website link to access the report. Instructions for requesting paper copies will be provided by your insurance company.

If you already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and you need not take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the insurance company or your financial intermediary electronically by following the instructions provided by the insurance company or by contacting your financial intermediary.

You may elect to receive all future reports in paper free of charge from the insurance company. You can inform the insurance company or your financial intermediary that you wish to continue receiving paper copies of your shareholder reports by following the instructions provided by the insurance company or by contacting your financial intermediary. Your election to receive reports in paper will apply to all portfolio companies available under your contract with the insurance company.

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE

The Portfolio’s investment objective is long-term growth of capital.

FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE PORTFOLIO

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Portfolio. Because the information does not reflect deductions at the separate account level or contract level for any charges that may be incurred under a contract, Contractholders that invest in the Portfolio should refer to the variable contract prospectus for a description of fees and expenses that apply to Contractholders. Inclusion of these charges would increase the fees and expenses provided below.

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

N/A

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

 

   

Management Fees

     .75%  

Distribution (12b-1) Fees

     .25%  

Other Expenses:

  

Transfer Agent

     .01%  

Other Expenses

     .53%  
  

 

 

 

Total Other Expenses

     .54%  
  

 

 

 

Total Portfolio Operating Expenses

     1.54%  
  

 

 

 

Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement(a)

     (.05)%  
  

 

 

 

Total Portfolio Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement(b)

     1.49%  
  

 

 

 
   

 

(a)

The Adviser has contractually agreed to waive its management fee and/or to bear expenses of the Portfolio in order to reduce total Portfolio operating expenses, on an annualized basis, by .05% of the Portfolio’s average daily net assets. The fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement agreement will remain in effect until May 1, 2020 and will be automatically extended for one-year terms unless the Adviser provides notice of termination at least 60 days prior to the end of the period.

 

(b)

Restated to reflect current fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement.

 

 

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Examples

The Examples are intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Examples assume that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Examples also assume that your investment has a 5% return each year, that the Portfolio’s operating expenses stay the same and that any fee waiver and/or expense limitation is in effect for only the first year. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

   

After 1 Year

  $ 152  

After 3 Years

  $ 482  

After 5 Years

  $ 835  
After 10 Years   $ 1,830  

Portfolio Turnover

The Portfolio pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys or sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These transaction costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses or in the Examples, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio’s portfolio turnover rate was 33% of the average value of its portfolio.

PRINCIPAL STRATEGIES

The Portfolio invests primarily in an international portfolio of equity securities of companies selected by the Adviser for their growth potential within various market sectors. Examples of the types of market sectors in which the Portfolio may invest include, but are not limited to, information technology (which includes telecommunications), health care, financial services, infrastructure, energy and natural resources, and consumer groups. The Adviser’s growth analysts seek to identify companies or industries for which other investors have underestimated earnings potential—for example, some hidden earnings driver (including, but not limited to, reduced competition, market share gain, better margin trend, increased customer base, or similar factors) that would cause a company to grow faster than market forecasts.

The Adviser allocates the Portfolio’s investments among broad sector groups utilizing the fundamental company research conducted by the Adviser’s internal research staff, assessing the current and forecasted investment opportunities and conditions, as well as diversification and risk considerations. The Adviser may vary the percentage allocations among market sectors and may change the market sectors in which the Portfolio invests as companies’ potential for growth within a sector matures and new trends for growth emerge.

The Portfolio invests, under normal circumstances, in the equity securities of companies located in at least three countries (and normally substantially more) other than the United States. The Portfolio invests in securities of companies in both developed and emerging market countries. Geographic distribution of the Portfolio’s investments among countries or regions also will be a product of the stock selection process rather than a pre-determined allocation.

The Portfolio may also invest in synthetic foreign equity securities, which are various types of warrants used internationally that entitle a holder to buy or sell underlying securities. The Adviser expects that normally the Portfolio’s portfolio will tend to emphasize investments in larger capitalization companies, although the Portfolio may invest in smaller or medium capitalization companies.

The Portfolio may, at times, invest in shares of exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, in lieu of making direct investments in equity securities. ETFs may provide more efficient and economical exposure to the type of companies and geographic locations in which the Portfolio seeks to invest than direct investments.

Currencies can have a dramatic impact on equity returns, significantly adding to returns in some years and greatly diminishing them in others. Currency and equity positions are evaluated separately. The Adviser may seek to hedge the currency exposure resulting from securities positions when it finds the currency exposure unattractive. To hedge all or a portion of its currency risk, the Portfolio may, from time to time, invest in currency-related derivatives, including forward currency exchange contracts, futures contracts, options on futures contracts, swaps and options. The Adviser may also seek investment opportunities by taking long or short positions in currencies through the use of currency-related derivatives.

The Portfolio may enter into other derivatives transactions, such as options, futures contracts, forwards and swaps. The Portfolio may use options strategies involving the purchase and/or writing of various combinations of call and/or put options, including on individual securities and stock indices, futures contracts (including futures contracts on individual securities and stock indices) or shares of ETFs. These transactions may be used, for example, in an effort to earn extra income, to adjust exposure to individual securities or markets, or to protect all or a portion of the Portfolio’s portfolio from a decline in value, sometimes within certain ranges.

 

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PRINCIPAL RISKS

 

Market Risk: The value of the Portfolio’s assets will fluctuate as the stock or bond market fluctuates. The value of its investments may decline, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, simply because of economic changes or other events that affect large portions of the market. It includes the risk that a particular style of investing, such as the Portfolio’s growth approach, may underperform the market generally.

 

 

Foreign (Non-U.S.) Risk: Investments in securities of non-U.S. issuers may involve more risk than those of U.S. issuers. These securities may fluctuate more widely in price and may be more difficult to trade or dispose of due to adverse market, economic, political, regulatory or other factors.

 

 

Emerging Market Risk: Investments in emerging market countries may have more risk because the markets are less developed and less liquid, and because these investments may be subject to increased economic, political, regulatory or other uncertainties.

 

 

Currency Risk: Fluctuations in currency exchange rates may negatively affect the value of the Portfolio’s investments or reduce its returns.

 

 

Capitalization Risk: Investments in small- and mid-capitalization companies may be more volatile than investments in large-capitalization companies. Investments in small-capitalization companies may have additional risks because these companies have limited product lines, markets or financial resources.

 

 

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives may be difficult to price or unwind and leveraged so that small changes may produce disproportionate losses for the Portfolio. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk to a greater degree than more traditional investments.

 

 

Leverage Risk: To the extent the Portfolio uses leveraging techniques, its net asset value may be more volatile because leverage tends to exaggerate the effect of changes in interest rates and any increase or decrease in the value of the Portfolio’s investments.

 

 

Management Risk: The Portfolio is subject to management risk because it is an actively-managed investment fund. The Adviser will apply its investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Portfolio, but there is no guarantee that its techniques will produce the intended results.

As with all investments, you may lose money by investing in the Portfolio.

BAR CHART AND PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

The bar chart and performance information provide an indication of the historical risk of an investment in the Portfolio by showing:

 

 

how the Portfolio’s performance changed from year to year over ten years; and

 

 

how the Portfolio’s average annual returns for one, five and ten years compare to those of a broad-based securities market index.

The performance information does not take into account separate account charges. If separate account charges were included, an investor’s return would be lower. The Portfolio’s past performance, of course, does not necessarily indicate how it will perform in the future.

Bar Chart

 

LOGO

During the period shown in the bar chart, the Portfolio’s:

Best Quarter was up 24.40%, 2nd quarter, 2009; and Worst Quarter was down -22.98%, 3rd quarter, 2011.

 

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Performance Table

Average Annual Total Returns

(For the periods ended December 31, 2018)

 

        1 Year        5 Years        10 Years  

Portfolio

       -17.60%          -0.11%          5.51%  

MSCI World Index (ex. U.S.)

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes except the reinvestment of dividends net of

non-U.S. withholding taxes)

       -14.09%          0.34%          6.24%  

MSCI AC World Index (ex. U.S.)*

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes except the reinvestment of dividends net of

non-U.S. withholding taxes)

       -14.20%          0.68%          6.57%  

 

*

The information for the MSCI AC World Index (ex. U.S.) is presented to show how the Portfolio’s performance compares with the returns of an index of securities similar to those in which the Portfolio invests.

INVESTMENT ADVISER

AllianceBernstein L.P. is the investment adviser for the Portfolio.

PORTFOLIO MANAGER

The following table lists the person responsible for day-to-day management of the Portfolio’s portfolio:

 

Employee    Length of Service    Title
Daniel C. Roarty    Since 2012    Senior Vice President of the Adviser

PURCHASE AND SALE OF PORTFOLIO SHARES

The Portfolio offers its shares through the separate accounts of participating life insurance companies (“Insurers”). You may only purchase and sell shares through these separate accounts. See the prospectus of the separate account of the Insurer for information on the purchase and sale of the Portfolio shares.

TAX INFORMATION

The Portfolio may pay income dividends or make capital gains distributions. The income and capital gains distributions are expected to be made in shares of the Portfolio. See the prospectus of the separate account of the Insurer for federal income tax information.

PAYMENTS TO INSURERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES

If you purchase shares of the Portfolio through an Insurer or other financial intermediary, the Portfolio and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Portfolio shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the Insurer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

    LOGO  

 

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