Fund Description

The fund seeks its objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of net assets (including borrowings) in a diversified portfolio primarily of equity securities, such as common stocks of small-cap issuers identified by the Adviser as having value characteristics. Value is assessed using factors such as price-to-book and price-to-earnings ratios in the context of fundamentals including return on equity, earnings growth and cash flow. The Adviser sets target valuations at purchase and sells when criteria are no longer met. The fund may invest up to 20% in larger-cap companies, up to 25% in non-U.S. dollar-denominated securities, up to 15% in illiquid investments, and may participate in IPOs; it limits industry exposure to 25% and may temporarily hold up to 100% in cash and eligible U.S. dollar money market instruments.