497K 1 d111545d497k.htm AMG FUNDS I AMG Funds I

Filed pursuant to 497(k)

File Nos. 033-44909 and 811-06520

AMG FUNDS I

AMG Managers Emerging Opportunities Fund

Supplement dated March 19, 2021 to the Summary Prospectus, dated February 1, 2021

The following information supplements and supersedes any information to the contrary relating to AMG Managers Emerging Opportunities Fund (the “Fund”), a series of AMG Funds I (the “Trust”), contained in the Fund’s Summary Prospectus (the “Summary Prospectus”), dated as noted above.

At a meeting held on March 17-18, 2021 (the “Meeting”), the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) approved the appointment of Veritas Asset Management LLP (“Veritas” or the “Subadviser”) as the subadviser to the Fund on an interim basis to replace Next Century Growth Investors LLC, WEDGE Capital Management L.L.P. and RBC Global Asset Management (U.S.) Inc. (each, an “Existing Subadviser” and together, the “Existing Subadvisers”), effective May 21, 2021 (the “Implementation Date”). The appointment of Veritas is pursuant to an interim subadvisory agreement between AMG Funds LLC (“AMGF”) and Veritas (the “Interim Subadvisory Agreement”), to be effective until the earlier of 150 days after the termination of the existing subadvisory agreement between AMGF and each Existing Subadviser with respect to the Fund (each, an “Existing Subadvisory Agreement” and together, the “Existing Subadvisory Agreements”), which will occur on May 21, 2021, or the approval of a new subadvisory agreement between AMGF and Veritas by the Board and Fund shareholders. At the Meeting, the Board also approved the longer-term appointment of Veritas as the subadviser to the Fund, a new subadvisory agreement between AMGF and Veritas (the “New Subadvisory Agreement”), and the submission of the New Subadvisory Agreement to Fund shareholders for approval. The rate of compensation to be received by Veritas under the Interim Subadvisory Agreement approved by the Board is lower than the rate of compensation that each Existing Subadviser receives under the applicable Existing Subadvisory Agreement.

In connection with the hiring of Veritas, effective as of the Implementation Date, the Fund will (i) change its name from AMG Managers Emerging Opportunities Fund to AMG Veritas China Fund, (ii) make changes to its principal investment strategies and principal risks, and (iii) replace its primary benchmark index with the MSCI China Index and remove its secondary benchmark index.

Also in connection with the hiring of Veritas, the Board approved the following fee changes for the Fund, all of which will be implemented upon the effectiveness of the New Subadvisory Agreement and will result in the overall reduction of the Fund’s net expense ratios: (i) the management fee for the Fund will be reduced from 0.74% to 0.71%; and (ii) the Fund’s existing contractual expense limitation agreement with AMGF will be replaced with a new contractual expense limitation agreement with AMGF pursuant to which AMGF will agree, through at least March 1, 2023, to limit total annual operating expenses (exclusive of taxes, interest (including interest incurred in connection with bank and custody overdrafts and in connection with securities sold short), shareholder servicing fees, distribution and service (12b-1) fees, brokerage commissions and other transaction costs, dividends payable with respect to securities sold short, acquired fund fees and expenses, and extraordinary expenses) of the Fund to the annual rate of 0.93% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, subject to later reimbursement by the Fund in certain circumstances. AMGF pays a portion of the management fee to the Fund’s subadviser for its services.

The disposition of Fund securities in connection with the transition of the Fund’s investment objective and strategies is expected to cause the Fund to realize taxable income for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The Fund intends to make a special distribution to shareholders of all or a portion of such income and any other undistributed income for the current taxable year. This distribution will be taxable to shareholders who hold their shares in a taxable account. See “Certain Federal Income Tax Information” for further information.

In addition, effective as of the Implementation Date, the Summary Prospectus is amended as follows:

All references to the name of the Fund shall refer to AMG Veritas China Fund.


The section titled “Principal Investment Strategies” beginning on page 1 is deleted and replaced with the following:

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in securities of issuers located in China (People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) and its Special Administrative Regions, Hong Kong and Macau) or issuers that are not located in China but derive a majority (over 50%) of their income from China. The Fund primarily invests in equity securities. Under normal circumstances, the Fund considers equity securities to include common and preferred stocks, as well as securities with equity characteristics, including, but not limited to, equity-linked notes and participation notes.

The Fund intends to invest in focused equity positions, identified through the bottom-up, stock picking approach of Veritas Asset Management LLP, the subadviser to the Fund (“Veritas” or the “Subadviser”), with a macro overlay. The Subadviser’s macro analysis will focus on identifying long term themes and trends and then proceed to identifying companies within those identified themes and trends that it believes have sound business models, strong management and disciplined financial controls. The Fund seeks to focus on quality companies in sectors that the Subadviser believes show long term structural growth potential with emphasis on industry leaders or emerging leaders with durable competitiveness. The macro themes are identified via a combination of in-house and external research. Asian domestic demand is an example of a theme internal to the Subadviser. In part, the Fund uses this analysis to seek to identify opportunities to invest in Chinese companies whose businesses are benefitting from rising Chinese consumer spending in consumer goods or services.

The Fund intends to gain exposure to equity securities of issuers located in China or issuers that are not located in China but derive a majority (over 50%) of their income from China through direct exposure in the Shanghai and Shenzen stock exchanges or indirect exposure through P-Notes or similar equity linked securities.

The Fund will generally invest in mid- to large-capitalization companies, although the Fund may also invest in small-capitalization companies. The Fund generally invests in companies with market capitalizations greater than $5 billion. The Fund currently expects to hold between 15 and 40 positions at any time.

The Fund may hold assets in cash and cash equivalents, and at times these holdings may be significant. The Fund’s cash level at any point typically relates to the Subadviser’s individual security selection process, and therefore may vary, depending on the Subadviser’s desired security weightings.

The section titled “Principal Risks” on page 2 is revised to remove “Micro-Capitalization Stock Risk” and “Growth Stock Risk” as principal risks of the Fund and to add the following as principal risks of the Fund:

Currency Risk—fluctuations in exchange rates may affect the total loss or gain on a non-U.S. dollar investment when converted back to U.S. dollars and exposure to non-U.S. currencies may subject the Fund to the risk that those currencies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar.

Emerging Markets Risk—investments in emerging markets are subject to the general risks of foreign investments, as well as additional risks which can result in greater price volatility. Such additional risks include the risk that markets in emerging market countries are typically less developed and less liquid than markets in developed countries and such markets are subjected to increased economic, political, or regulatory uncertainties.

Focused Investment Risk—to the extent the Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in a relatively small number of securities or a particular market, industry, group of industries, country, region, group of countries, asset class or sector, it generally will be subject to greater risk than a fund that invests in a more diverse investment portfolio. In addition, the value of the Fund would be more susceptible to any single economic, market, political or regulatory occurrence affecting, for example, that particular market, industry, region or sector.


Foreign Investment Risk—investments in foreign issuers involve additional risks (such as risks arising from less frequent trading, changes in political or social conditions, and less publicly available information about non-U.S. issuers) that differ from those associated with investments in U.S. issuers and may result in greater price volatility.

Geographic Focus Risk—to the extent the Fund focuses its investments in a particular country, group of countries or geographic region, the Fund is particularly susceptible to economic, political, regulatory or other events or conditions affecting such countries or region, and the Fund’s NAV may be more volatile than the NAV of a more geographically diversified fund and may result in losses.

Greater China. The Fund is particularly susceptible to risks in the Greater China region, which consists of Hong Kong, The People’s Republic of China and Taiwan, among other countries. Economies in the Greater China region are dependent on the economies of other countries and can be significantly affected by currency fluctuations and increasing competition from other emerging economies in Asia with lower costs. Adverse events in any one country within the region may impact the other countries in the region or Asia as a whole. Markets in the Greater China region can experience significant volatility due to social, economic, regulatory and political uncertainties. Significant portions of the Chinese securities markets may become rapidly illiquid, as Chinese issuers have the ability to suspend the trading of their equity securities, and have shown a willingness to exercise that option in response to market volatility and other events. U.S. or foreign government restrictions or intervention could negatively affect the implementation of the Fund’s investment strategies, for example by precluding the Fund from making certain investments or causing the Fund to sell investments at disadvantageous times. China has yet to develop comprehensive securities, corporate, or commercial laws, its market is relatively new and less developed, and its economy may be adversely impacted by a slowdown in export growth.

High Cash Balance Risk—when the Fund has a significant cash balance for a sustained period, the benefit to the Fund of any market upswing may likely be reduced, and the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected.

Large-Capitalization Stock Risk—the stocks of large-capitalization companies are generally more mature and may not be able to reach the same levels of growth as the stocks of small- or mid-capitalization companies.

Participatory Notes Risk—an investment in participatory notes is subject to market risk. The performance results of participatory notes may not exactly replicate the performance of the underlying securities. An investment in participatory notes is also subject to counterparty risk, relating to the non-U.S. bank or broker-dealer that issues the participatory notes, and may be subject to liquidity risk.

Political Risk—changes in the general political and social environment of a country can have substantial effects on the value of investments exposed to that country.

PRC Tax Risk—the application of the tax laws and regulations of the PRC to income, including capital gains, derived from certain investments of the Fund remains unclear, and may well continue to evolve, possibly with retroactive effect. Any taxes imposed on the investments of the Fund pursuant to such laws and regulations will reduce the Fund’s overall returns.

Small- and Mid-Capitalization Stock Risk—the stocks of small- and mid-capitalization companies often have greater price volatility, lower trading volume, and less liquidity than the stocks of larger, more established companies.

Stock Connect Risk—trading in China A-Shares through Stock Connect is subject to sudden changes in quota limitations, application of trading suspensions, differences in trading days between the People’s Republic of China and Stock Connect, operational risk, clearing and settlement risk and regulatory and taxation risk.


Valuation Risk—the Fund may not be able to value its investments in a manner that accurately reflects their market values, and the Fund may not be able to sell an investment at a price equal to the valuation ascribed to that investment by the Fund. The valuation of the Fund’s investments involves subjective judgment. Certain securities in which the Fund may invest may be more difficult to value accurately, especially during periods of market disruptions or extreme market volatility. Incorrect valuations of the Fund’s portfolio holdings could result in the Fund’s shareholder transactions being effected at an NAV that does not accurately reflect the underlying value of the Fund’s portfolio, resulting in the dilution of shareholder interests.

Also with respect to the section titled “Principal Risks” on page 2, the principal risks shall appear in the following order: Market Risk; Management Risk; Geographic Focus Risk; Focused Investment Risk; Foreign Investment Risk; Currency Risk; Emerging Markets Risk; High Cash Balance Risk; Large-Capitalization Stock Risk; Liquidity Risk; Participatory Notes Risk; Political Risk; PRC Tax Risk; Small- and Mid-Capitalization Stock Risk; Stock Connect Risk; Valuation Risk and Value Stock Risk.

In the section titled “Performance” beginning on page 2, the following is added after the first paragraph:

As of May 21, 2021, Veritas was appointed as subadviser to the Fund and the Fund changed its name to “AMG Veritas China Fund,” adopted its current investment strategies and began comparing its performance to the MSCI China Index. The Fund’s performance information for periods prior to May 21, 2021 reflects the Fund’s investment strategy that was in effect at that time and may have been different had the Fund’s current investment strategy been in effect.

The Average Annual Total Returns table in the section titled “Performance” beginning on page 2 is deleted and replaced with the following:

Average Annual Total Returns as of 12/31/20

 

AMG Veritas China Fund

   1 Year     5 Years     10 Years     Since
Inception
1
 

Class N

Return Before Taxes

     17.79     15.70     12.74     —    

Class N

Return After Taxes on Distributions

     16.53     13.03     10.04     —    

Class N

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares

     11.42     11.96     9.64     —    

Class I

Return Before Taxes

     18.08     15.99     —         16.45

MSCI China Index2

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

     29.49     15.05     7.61     11.59

Russell Microcap® Index2

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

     20.96     11.89     10.55     14.22

 

1

Class I and Index performance shown reflects performance since the inception date of the Fund’s Class I shares on October 1, 2011.

2 

The MSCI China Index replaced the Russell Microcap® Index as the Fund’s benchmark on May 21, 2021 because the Investment Manager and Subadviser believe the new benchmark is more representative of the Fund’s current investment strategies.


The section titled “Portfolio Management” on page 3 is deleted and replaced with the following:

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

Investment Manager

AMG Funds LLC

Subadviser

Veritas Asset Management LLP

(pursuant to an interim subadvisory agreement in anticipation of shareholder approval of a definitive subadvisory agreement)

Portfolio Manager

Ezra Sun

Head of Asia of Veritas;

Portfolio Manager of the Fund since May 2021.

In addition, effective if and when the New Subadvisory Agreement takes effect, the Summary Prospectus is amended as follows:

The sections titled “Fees and Expenses of the Fund” and “Expense Example” on page 1 are deleted and replaced with the following:

FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE FUND

The table below describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

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

 

     Class N
    Class I
 

Management Fee1

     0.71     0.71

Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees

     None       None  

Other Expenses

     0.52     0.27

Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses

     0.01     0.01
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses2

     1.24     0.99
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursements3

     (0.05 )%      (0.05 )% 
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursements2,3

     1.19     0.94
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

1 

Expense information has been restated to reflect current fees.

2 

The Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses and Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursements do not correlate to the ratios of expenses to average net assets in the Financial Highlights section of this Prospectus, which reflect only the operating expenses of the Fund and do not include fees and expenses of any acquired fund.

3

AMG Funds LLC (the “Investment Manager”) has contractually agreed, through at least March 1, 2023, to waive management fees and/or pay or reimburse the Fund’s expenses in order to limit Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursements (exclusive of taxes, interest (including interest incurred in connection with bank and custody overdrafts and in connection with securities sold short), shareholder servicing fees, distribution and service (12b-1) fees, brokerage commissions and other transaction costs, dividends payable with respect to securities sold short, acquired fund fees and expenses, and extraordinary expenses) of the Fund to the annual rate of 0.93% of the Fund’s average daily net assets (this annual rate or such other annual rate that may be in effect from time to time, the “Expense Cap”), subject to later reimbursement by the Fund in certain circumstances. In general, for a period of up to 36 months after the date any amounts are paid, waived or reimbursed by the Investment Manager, the Investment Manager may recover such amounts from the Fund, provided that such repayment would not cause the Fund’s Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursements


  (exclusive of the items noted in the parenthetical above) to exceed either (i) the Expense Cap in effect at the time such amounts were paid, waived or reimbursed, or (ii) the Expense Cap in effect at the time of such repayment by the Fund. The contractual expense limitation may only be terminated in the event the Investment Manager or a successor ceases to be the investment manager of the Fund or a successor fund, by mutual agreement between the Investment Manager and the AMG Funds I Board of Trustees or in the event of the Fund’s liquidation unless the Fund is reorganized or is a party to a merger in which the surviving entity is successor to the accounting and performance information of the Fund.

EXPENSE EXAMPLE

This Example will help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund to the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example makes certain assumptions. It assumes that you invest $10,000 as an initial investment in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. It also assumes that your investment has a 5% total return each year and the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. The Example includes the Fund’s contractual expense limitation through March 1, 2023. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on the above assumptions, your costs would be:

 

     1 Year
     3 Years
     5 Years
     10 Years
 

Class N

   $ 121      $ 387      $ 674      $ 1,494  

Class I

   $ 96      $ 309      $ 541      $ 1,207  

PLEASE KEEP THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE