0001104659-24-004788.txt : 20240304 0001104659-24-004788.hdr.sgml : 20240304 20240118152532 ACCESSION NUMBER: 0001104659-24-004788 CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE: CORRESP PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT: 1 FILED AS OF DATE: 20240118 FILER: COMPANY DATA: COMPANY CONFORMED NAME: Investment Managers Series Trust III CENTRAL INDEX KEY: 0000924727 ORGANIZATION NAME: IRS NUMBER: 043236699 STATE OF INCORPORATION: DE FISCAL YEAR END: 1231 FILING VALUES: FORM TYPE: CORRESP BUSINESS ADDRESS: STREET 1: 235 W. GALENA STREET CITY: MILWAUKEE STATE: WI ZIP: 53212 BUSINESS PHONE: 626-385-5777 MAIL ADDRESS: STREET 1: 235 W. GALENA STREET CITY: MILWAUKEE STATE: WI ZIP: 53212 FORMER COMPANY: FORMER CONFORMED NAME: FPA FUNDS TRUST DATE OF NAME CHANGE: 20021028 FORMER COMPANY: FORMER CONFORMED NAME: UAM FUNDS TRUST DATE OF NAME CHANGE: 19951101 FORMER COMPANY: FORMER CONFORMED NAME: REGIS FUND II DATE OF NAME CHANGE: 19940606 CORRESP 1 filename1.htm

 

Investment Managers Series Trust III

235 W. Galena Street

Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53212

 

VIA EDGAR

 

January 18, 2024

 

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549

 

Attention: Division of Investment Management

 

Re:Investment Managers Series Trust III (the “Registrant”) on behalf of the FPA Global Equity Fund

 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

This letter summarizes the comments provided to me by Mr. Daniel Greenspan of the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) by telephone on January 5, 2024, regarding Post-Effective Amendment No. 109 to the Registrant’s registration statement filed on Form N-1A (the “Registration Statement”) on November 7, 2023, relating to the FPA Global Equity Fund (the “Fund”), a newly-created series of the Trust.

 

Responses to all of the comments are included below and, as appropriate, will be incorporated into a Post-Effective Amendment filing that will be filed separately. Capitalized terms not otherwise defined in this letter have the meanings assigned to them in the Registration Statement.

 

The Registrant notes that, effective January 10, 2024, the Registrant’s name has changed from FPA Funds Trust to Investment Managers Series Trust III. The Post-Effective Amendment filing will reflect the Trust’s new name.

 

SUMMARY SECTION

 

Investment Objective

 

1.The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term growth of principal and income. Please add disclosure regarding how the Fund’s investment strategy is designed to achieve income, including the advisor’s selection criteria.

 

Response: The Registrant has revised its principal investment strategy disclosure as follows:

 

The equity securities held by the Fund may include common and preferred stocks, and depositary receipts (including those paying dividends).

 

The Advisor manages the Fund’s portfolio according to its Contrarian Value Equity Strategy, which seeks to invest in companies that currently appear out of favor or are undervalued by the stock market, including those mired in bad news according to media headlines, but have a favorable outlook for long-term total return (growth of principal and income) in the Advisor’s estimation over five to ten years. The Advisor conducts deep research into the underlying financial condition and prospects of individual companies, including potential future earnings, cash flow, and dividends to shareholders.

 

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Fees and Expenses

 

2.Please provide the Fund’s completed fee table and example to the Commission for review at least five business days prior to filing the Amendment.

 

Response: The Fund’s completed fee table and example are as follows:

 

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 pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.

 

Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
    
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a % of offering price)    None 
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a % of the lower of purchase price or redemption proceeds)    None 
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and other Distributions    None 
Exchange Fee    None 
      
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
     
Management Fees   0.70%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees   None 
Other Expenses(1)   0.54%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses   1.24%
Fee Waiver and Reimbursement(2)   (0.65)%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses after Fee Waiver and Reimbursement   0.59%

 

(1)

“Other Expenses” are estimates based on expenses the Fund expects to incur for the current fiscal year; actual expenses may vary.

   
(2) The Fund’s investment advisor has contractually agreed to limit Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding any front-end or contingent deferred loads, brokerage fees and commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, borrowing costs (such as interest and dividend expense on securities sold short), taxes, and extraordinary expenses, such as litigation expenses (which may include indemnification of Fund officers and Trustees and contractual indemnification of Fund service providers (other than the advisor))), to 0.59% of the Fund’s average daily net assets for a period of three years from the date the Fund commences operations.  The advisor may recoup any operating expenses in excess of these limits from the Fund within three years if such recoupment can be achieved within the lesser of the foregoing expense limits and the expense limits in place at the time of recoupment. This agreement may only be terminated before its expiration date by the Board of Trustees of Investment Managers Series Trust III.

 

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 operating expenses of the Fund remain same. The Example reflects the Fund’s contractual fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement only for the term of the contractual fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based upon these assumptions your costs would be:

 

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One Year   Three Years 
$60   $189 

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

3.In the third paragraph it states “[i]n seeking a “substantial discount,” the Advisor looks for genuine bargains by seeking securities it believes have a compelling economic risk/reward proposition on an absolute basis.” Please define or explain the term “absolute basis.”

 

Response: The Registrant has revised its principal investment strategy disclosure as follows:

 

In seeking a “substantial discount,” the Advisor looks for genuine bargains by seeking securities it believes have a compelling economic risk/reward proposition on an absolute basis rather than relative to companies in the same industry, or a comparative index or benchmark.

 

Principal Risks

 

4.Under “Emerging Markets Securities Risk,” please add a definition of emerging markets similar to the disclosure contained in the Fund’s SAI under “Emerging Markets.”

 

Response: The Registrant has revised the disclosure as follows:

 

Emerging Market Securities Risk. The Fund may invest in companies organized or doing substantial business in emerging market countries or developing countries as defined by the World Bank, International Financial Corporation, or the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) emerging market indices or other comparable indices. Emerging market countries may have relatively unstable governments, weaker economies, and less-developed legal systems with fewer security holder rights. Emerging market economies may be based on only a few industries and security issuers may be more susceptible to economic weakness and more likely to default. Emerging market securities also tend to be less liquid. There may also be less reliable or publicly-available information about emerging markets due to non-uniform regulatory, auditing or financial recordkeeping standards, which could cause errors in the implementation of the Fund’s investment strategy. The Fund’s performance may depend on issues other than those that affect U.S. companies and may be adversely affected by different rights and remedies associated with emerging market investments, or the lack thereof, compared to those associated with U.S. companies.

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE FUND’S INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES, PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES AND RISKS

 

Principal Investment Strategies and Principal Risks of Investing

 

5.Apply all applicable comments from the summary section for the Fund to Item 9 of Form N-1A.

 

Response: The Registrant confirms that all applicable comments from the summary section have been made to the Item 9 disclosure.

 

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6.The last sentence of the first paragraph under “Principal Investment Strategies” states “[u]nder normal circumstances, the Fund expects to invest at least 40% of its total assets in securities of non-U.S. issuers (i.e., if the issuer is headquartered outside the United States, if at least 50% of its assets are outside the United States, or if at least 50% of its gross income is from non-U.S. sources).” Please clarify that at least 40% of the Fund’s total assets will be invested in the equity securities of non-U.S. issuers.

 

Response: The Registrant has revised the disclosure as follows:

 

Under normal circumstances, the Fund expects to invest at least 40% of its total assets in equity securities of non-U.S. issuers (i.e., if the issuer is headquartered outside the United States, if at least 50% of its assets are outside the United States, or if at least 50% of its gross income is from non-U.S. sources).

 

STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (“SAI”)

 

7.Under “Investment Restrictions” please add “or group of industries” to the Fund’s concentration policy per section 8(b)(1) of the Investment company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), and Item 16 of Form N-1A.

 

Response: The Registrant believes the industry concentration policy as set forth in the Fund’s SAI is appropriate. The Fund does not have a policy to concentrate its investment in a particular industry or group of industries; rather, the Fund’s policy with respect to industry concentration, as disclosed in the SAI, states that the Fund will not concentrate its investment in “any one industry.” With respect to “group of industries,” the Registrant believes Section 8(b)(1)(E) of the 1940 Act, Instruction 4 to Item 9(b)(1) of Form N-1A, and Item 16(c)(iv) of Form N-1A, provide that a fund must disclose its policy with respect to actively concentrating investments in a particular industry or group of industries. The Registrant believes it is not possible for a non-concentrated fund to state it will not concentrate in a “group of industries,” as there will, in almost all cases, be a “group of industries” that, when aggregated, represent more than 25% of a non-concentrated fund’s assets. As a result, the Registrant believes the Fund’s current policy is appropriate.

 

* * * * *

 

The Registrant believes that it has fully responded to each comment. If, however, you have any further questions or require further clarification of any response, please contact me at (626) 385-5777. I may also be reached at diane.drake@mfac-ca.com.

 

Sincerely,  
   
/s/ Diane J. Drake  
Diane J. Drake  
Secretary  

 

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