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A and C Shares | STERLING CAPITAL SMID OPPORTUNITIES FUND

Summary Sterling Capital SMID Opportunities Fund

Investment Objective

The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

Fee Table

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 or waivers if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Sterling Capital Funds. More information about these and other sales charge discounts and waivers is available from your financial professional, in “Distribution Arrangements/Sales Charges” on page 195 of the Fund’s prospectus, in the Appendix: Sales Charge Discounts and Waivers Available from Certain Financial Intermediaries (the “Appendix”) and in “Sales Charges” on page 56 of the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”).

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees - A and C Shares - STERLING CAPITAL SMID OPPORTUNITIES FUND - USD ($)	Class A Shares	Class C Shares
Maximum Sales Charge (load) on Purchases (as a % of offering price)	5.75%	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (load) (as a % of the lesser of the cost of your shares or their net asset value at the time of redemption)	none	1.00%
Redemption Fee	none	none

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

Annual Fund Operating Expenses - A and C Shares - STERLING CAPITAL SMID OPPORTUNITIES FUND		Class A Shares	Class C Shares
Management Fees		0.70%	0.70%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees		0.25%	1.00%
Other Expenses		0.50%	0.50%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	[1]	0.01%	0.01%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	[1]	1.46%	2.21%
Fee Waiver or Expense Reimbursement	[2]	(0.41%)	(0.41%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver or Expense Reimbursement	[1],[2]	1.05%	1.80%

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 of your 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, except for the expiration of the current contractual expense limitation on January 31, 2021. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example - A and C Shares - STERLING CAPITAL SMID OPPORTUNITIES FUND - USD ($)	One Year	Three Years	Five Years	Ten Years
Class A Shares	676	972	1,290	2,188
Class C Shares	183	652	1,147	2,512

You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your shares:

Expense Example, No Redemption - A and C Shares - STERLING CAPITAL SMID OPPORTUNITIES FUND - USD ($)	One Year	Three Years	Five Years	Ten Years
Class A Shares	676	972	1,290	2,188
Class C Shares	183	652	1,147	2,512

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 45.11% of the average value of its portfolio.

Strategy, Risks and Performance Principal Strategy

To pursue its investment objective, the Fund normally invests principally in equity securities and will invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets plus borrowings for investment purposes in the securities of small or middle capitalization companies (commonly referred to collectively as “smid” companies). Small or middle capitalization companies are generally defined as companies with market capitalizations within the range of those companies in the Russell 2500™ Index or the Russell Midcap^® Index at the time of purchase. As of December 31, 2019, the capitalization range of the Russell 2500™ Index was between $12.74 million and $20.01 billion and the capitalization range of the Russell Midcap^® Index was between $823.69 million and $78.72 billion. The Fund may invest in common stock, Real Estate Investment Trusts (“REITs”), other investment companies, and American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”). The Fund invests, under normal market conditions, primarily in domestically traded U.S. common stocks and U.S. traded equity stocks of foreign companies, including ADRs. The Fund uses a multi-style approach, meaning that it not only invests across different capitalization levels but may target both value- and growth-oriented companies.

The portfolio managers look for companies experiencing above-average revenue and profit growth as well as out-of-favor stocks that may be depressed due to what the portfolio managers believe to be temporary economic circumstances. In choosing individual stocks, the portfolio managers perform fundamental analysis to examine valuation and growth characteristics of a particular issuer.

The portfolio managers may consider selling a stock owned by the Fund when the factors that induced the portfolio managers to buy the stock have changed, the company faces earnings growth risk or has issued substantial new debt, or to reduce the Fund’s position in a particular stock if the stock represents a disproportionately large position within the Fund’s portfolio.

Principal Risks

All investments carry a certain amount of risk and the Fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit or obligation of any bank, is not endorsed or guaranteed by any bank and is not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) or any other government agency. You may lose money by investing in the Fund. Below are all of the principal risks of investing in the Fund.

Market Risk: The possibility that the Fund’s stock holdings will decline in price because of a broad stock market decline. Markets generally move in cycles, with periods of rising prices followed by periods of falling prices. The value of your investment will tend to increase or decrease in response to these movements.

Interest Rate Risk: The possibility that the value of the Fund’s investments will decline due to an increase in interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally higher for longer-term debt instruments and lower for shorter-term debt instruments.

Investment Style Risk: The possibility that the market segment on which this Fund is primarily invested in, whether growth or value; large-, mid- or small-cap; could underperform other kinds of investments or market averages that include style-focused investments.

Small Capitalization Company Risk: Investing in smaller, lesser-known companies involves greater risk than investing in those that are more established. A small company’s financial well-being may, for example, depend heavily on just a few products or services. In addition, small company stocks tend to trade less frequently and in lesser quantities, and their market prices often fluctuate more, than those of larger firms.

Mid Capitalization Company Risk: Investments in middle capitalization companies may be riskier, more volatile and more vulnerable to economic, market and industry changes than investments in larger, more established companies. As a result, share price changes may be more sudden or erratic than the prices of other equity securities, especially over the short term.

Company-Specific Risk: The possibility that a particular stock may lose value due to factors specific to the company itself, including deterioration of its fundamental characteristics, an occurrence of adverse events at the company, or a downturn in its business prospects.

Foreign Investment Risk: Foreign securities involve risks not typically associated with investing in U.S. securities. Foreign securities may be adversely affected by various factors, including currency fluctuations and social, economic or political instability.

Real Estate-Related Investment and REIT Risk: Real estate-related investments may decline in value as a result of factors affecting the real estate industry. Risks associated with investments in securities of companies in the real estate industry include decline in the value of the underlying real estate, default, prepayment, changes in value resulting from changes in interest rates and demand for real and rental property, and the management skill and creditworthiness of REIT issuers. The Fund will indirectly bear its proportionate share of expenses, including management fees, paid by each REIT in which the Fund invests.

Investment Company Risk: Investing in another investment company or pooled vehicle, including ETFs, subjects the Fund to that company’s risks, including the risk that the investment company will not perform as expected. As a shareholder in an investment company or pooled vehicle, the Fund, and indirectly the Fund’s shareholders, would bear its ratable share of the investment company’s or pooled vehicle’s expenses, including advisory and administrative fees, and the Fund would at the same time continue to pay its own fees and expenses. Investments in other investment companies may be subject to investment or redemption limitations or special charges, such as redemption fees. To the extent the Fund invests in other investment companies, it is exposed to the risk that the other investment companies or pooled vehicles do not perform as expected.

Operational and Technology Risk: Cyber-attacks, disruptions, or failures that affect the Fund’s service providers, counterparties, market participants, or issuers of securities held by the Fund may adversely affect the Fund and its shareholders, including by causing losses for the Fund or impairing Fund operations.

Focused Investment Risk: A fund that invests in the securities of a small number of issuers has greater exposure to adverse developments affecting those issuers and to a decline in the market price of particular securities than funds investing in the securities of a larger number of issuers. Securities, sectors, or companies that share common characteristics are often subject to similar business risks and regulatory burdens, and often react similarly to specific economic, market, political or other developments.

Limited Operating History Risk: The risk that a newly formed fund has no or a limited operating history to evaluate and may not attract sufficient assets to achieve or maximize investment and operational efficiencies.

Management Risk: The risk that an investment technique used by the Fund’s portfolio manager may fail to produce the intended result.

For more information about the Fund’s risks, please see the “Additional Investment Strategies and Risks” section in this Prospectus.

Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows the annual total return for the Fund. The table shows how the Fund’s average annual returns for 1 year and since the Fund’s inception compared with those of a broad measure of market performance. 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 no cost by visiting www.sterlingcapitalfunds.com or by calling 1-800-228-1872.

Sales charges are not reflected in the bar chart, and if those charges were included, returns would be less than those shown.

Class A Shares Annual Total Return for years ended 12/31

Best quarter:	15.43%	03/31/2019
Worst quarter:	-16.64%	12/31/2018

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2019

Average Annual Total Returns - A and C Shares - STERLING CAPITAL SMID OPPORTUNITIES FUND	1 Year	Since Inception	Inception Date
Class A Shares	28.60%	9.96%	Sep. 30, 2016
Class A Shares | After Taxes on Distributions	27.22%	9.33%	Sep. 30, 2016
Class A Shares | After Taxes on Distributions and Sales	17.89%	7.64%	Sep. 30, 2016
Class C Shares	35.30%	11.14%	Sep. 30, 2016
Russell 2500® Index (reflects no deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes)	27.77%	11.82%	Sep. 30, 2016

After-tax returns are shown only for Class A Shares and are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-advantaged arrangements such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. After-tax returns for Class C Shares will vary.

[1] The Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses in the table above include fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of its investment in other investment companies. To the extent that the Fund invests in acquired funds, Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses will not correlate to the ratio of expenses to average net assets in the Fund's Financial Highlights since the Financial Highlights reflect actual operating expenses of the Fund and do not include Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses.

[2] The Fund's adviser has contractually agreed to waive its fees, pay Fund operating expenses, and/or reimburse the Fund to the extent that Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (other than acquired fund fees and expenses, interest, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) for the Fund's Class A Shares, exceed 1.04% of the Class A Shares' average daily net assets and, for the Fund's Class C Shares, exceed 1.79% of the Class C Shares' average daily net assets for the period from February 1, 2020 through January 31, 2021. This contractual limitation may be terminated during this period only by the Fund's Board of Trustees, and will automatically terminate upon termination of the Investment Advisory Agreement between the Fund and Sterling Capital Management LLC ("Sterling Capital").