International Core Equity Portfolio | International Core Equity Portfolio

International Core Equity Portfolio

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE

The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term 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. The table does not reflect the fees and expenses of variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance policies (together, “Variable Contracts”). If such fees and expenses were reflected, expenses shown would be higher.

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

Annual Fund Operating Expenses		International Core Equity Portfolio Class VC
Management Fees		0.75%
Other Expenses		3.06%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		3.81%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement	[1]	(2.94%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement	[1]	0.87%

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 redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year, that dividends and distributions are reinvested, and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same (except that the example takes into account the contractual management fee waiver and expense limitation agreement between the Fund and Lord, Abbett & Co. LLC for the term of the agreement). The example does not reflect variable contract expenses, fees, and charges. If these expenses, fees, and charges were included, your costs would be higher. 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
International Core Equity Portfolio Class VC	89	892	1,714	3,856

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. 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 78.47% of the average value of its portfolio.

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

To pursue its objective, the Fund invests principally in a diversified portfolio of equity securities of large foreign companies that the portfolio managers believe are undervalued. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in equity securities of large companies. For purposes of the Fund’s investment policies, a large company is defined as a company included among the largest 80% of companies in terms of market capitalization in the Morgan Stanley Capital International Europe, Australasia and Far East Index (“MSCI EAFE Index”). The Fund uses a “blend” strategy to gain investment exposure to both growth and value stocks, or to stocks with characteristics of both. Although the Fund will normally diversify its investments among a number of different countries and geographic regions throughout the world and across many industries and sectors, its assets may, from time to time, be overweighted or underweighted to certain countries, regions, industries, and/or sectors relative to its benchmark index. The Fund’s investments primarily include the following types of securities and other financial instruments:

• Equity securities of large companies. The Fund may invest in any security that represents equity ownership in a company. Currently, the Fund invests in equity securities consisting of common stocks, preferred stocks, and equity interests in trusts (including real estate investment trusts), partnerships, joint ventures, and limited liability companies.

• Foreign companies whose securities may be traded on U.S. or non-U.S. securities exchanges, may be denominated in the U.S. dollar or other currencies, and may include American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”). The Fund may, but is not required to, hedge some or all of its exposure to foreign currencies. The Fund may invest up to 15% of its net assets in securities of foreign companies that are traded primarily in emerging markets.

Consistent with its investment objective and policies, the Fund selectively may invest in derivatives. Currently, the Fund expects to invest in derivatives consisting principally of futures, forwards, options, and swaps. The Fund may use derivatives for risk management purposes, including to hedge against a decline in the value of certain investments and to adjust the investment characteristics of its portfolio. The Fund also may invest in derivatives for “speculative” purposes to increase its investment return or income. For example, the Fund may manage cash by investing in futures or other derivatives that provide efficient short-term investment exposure to broad equity markets.

The Fund generally will sell a security when the Fund believes the security is less likely to benefit from the current market and economic environment, shows signs of deteriorating fundamentals, or has reached its valuation target, among other reasons. The Fund seeks to remain fully invested in accordance with its investment objective; however, in response to adverse economic, market or other unfavorable conditions, the Fund may invest its assets in a temporary defensive manner.

PRINCIPAL RISKS

As with any investment in a mutual fund, investing in the Fund involves risk, including the risk that you may receive little or no return on your investment. When you redeem your shares, they may be worth more or less than what you paid for them, which means that you may lose a portion or all of the money you invested in the Fund. The principal risks of investing in the Fund, which could adversely affect its performance, include:

• Portfolio Management Risk: If the strategies used and securities selected by the Fund’s portfolio management fail to produce the intended result, the Fund may suffer losses or underperform other funds with the same investment objective or strategies, even in a rising market.

• Equity Risk: Common stocks and other equity securities, as well as equity-like securities such as convertible bonds, may experience significant volatility. Such securities may fall sharply in response to adverse events affecting overall markets, a particular industry or sector, or an individual company’s financial condition.

• Foreign Company Risk: The Fund’s investments in foreign (including emerging market) companies and in U.S. companies with economic ties to foreign markets generally involve special risks that can increase the likelihood that the Fund will lose money. For example, as compared with companies organized and operated in the U.S., these companies may be more vulnerable to economic, political, and social instability and subject to less government supervision, inadequate regulatory and accounting standards, and foreign taxes. In addition, the securities of foreign companies also may be subject to inadequate exchange control regulations, higher transaction and other costs, reduced liquidity, and delays in settlement to the extent that such securities are traded on non-U.S. exchanges or markets. Emerging market securities generally are more volatile than other foreign securities, and are subject to greater liquidity, regulatory, and political risks.

• Emerging Markets Risk: Investments in emerging markets may be considered speculative and generally are riskier than investments in more developed markets because such markets tend to develop unevenly and may never fully develop. Emerging markets are more likely to experience hyperinflation and currency devaluations. Securities of emerging market companies may have far lower trading volumes and less liquidity than securities of issuers in developed markets. The Fund may invest in securities of companies whose economic fortunes are linked to emerging markets but which principally are traded on a non-emerging market exchange. Such investments do not meet the Fund’s definition of an emerging market security. To the extent the Fund invests in this manner, the percentage of the Fund’s portfolio that is exposed to emerging market risks may be greater than the percentage of the Fund’s assets that the Fund defines as representing emerging market securities.

• Foreign Currency Risk: The Fund may invest in securities denominated in foreign currencies, which are subject to the risk that those currencies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar, or, in the case of hedged positions, that the U.S. dollar will decline relative to the currency being hedged. Currency rates in foreign countries may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time.

• Geographic Concentration Risk: To the extent the Fund focuses its investments in a single country or only a few countries in a particular geographic region, economic, political, regulatory or other conditions affecting such region may have a greater impact on Fund performance relative to a more geographically diversified fund.

• Industry/Sector Risk: To the extent that the Fund emphasizes a particular industry or sector, events affecting that industry or sector (such as government regulations, resource availability or economic developments) will impact the Fund’s performance to a greater degree than events affecting other industries or sectors.

• Large Company Risk: As compared to smaller successful companies, larger companies may be less able to respond quickly to certain market developments and may have slower rates of growth.

• Blend Style Risk: The prices of growth stocks may fall dramatically if, for example, the company fails to meet earnings or revenue projections. The prices of value stocks may lag the market for long periods of time if the market fails to recognize the company’s worth. A portfolio that combines growth and value styles may diversify these risks and lower the volatility, but there is no assurance this strategy will achieve that result.

• Derivatives Risk: Derivatives can increase the Fund’s volatility and/or reduce the Fund’s returns. Derivatives are subject to certain risks, including the risk that the value of the derivative may not correlate with the value of the underlying security, rate, or index in the manner anticipated by portfolio management. Derivatives may be more sensitive to changes in economic or market conditions and may become illiquid. Derivatives are subject to leverage risk, which may increase the Fund’s volatility. Derivatives that are not centrally cleared also are subject to counterparty risk, which means that the counterparty may fail to perform its obligations under the derivative contract.

An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of any bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. For more information on the principal risks of the Fund, please see the “More Information About the Fund – Principal Risks” section in the prospectus.

PERFORMANCE

The bar chart and table below provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by illustrating the variability of the Fund’s returns. Each assumes reinvestment of dividends and distributions. The Fund’s past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.

The bar chart shows changes in the performance of the Fund's Class VC shares from calendar year to calendar year. This chart does not reflect the sales charges or other expenses of Variable Contracts. If those sales charges and expenses were reflected, returns would be lower.

Bar Chart (per calendar year) - Class VC Shares

Best Quarter 1st Q ’12 +10.83% Worst Quarter 3rd Q ’11 -19.79%

Average Annual Total Returns (for the periods ended December 31, 2012)

The table below shows how the Fund’s average annual total returns compare to the returns of securities market indices with investment characteristics similar to those of the Fund.

Average Annual Returns International Core Equity Portfolio	1 Year	Life of Class	Inception Date for Performance
Class VC	15.13%	2.70%	Apr. 30, 2010
MSCI EAFE Index with Gross Dividends (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)	17.90%	4.86%	Apr. 30, 2010
MSCI EAFE Index with Net Dividends (reflects no deduction for fees or expenses, but reflects deduction of withholding taxes)	17.32%	4.38%	Apr. 30, 2010

[1] For the period from May 1, 2013 through April 30, 2014, Lord, Abbett & Co. LLC has contractually agreed to waive its fees and reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to limit total net annual operating expenses to an annual rate of 0.87%. This agreement may be terminated only by the approval of the Fund's Board of Directors.