Summary Prospectus April 29, 2024

 

Virtus SGA International Growth Fund

A: SCIIX

C: VSGEX

I: STITX

R6: SCIZX

 
 

Before you invest, you may want to review the fund’s prospectus, which contains more information about the fund and its risks. You can find the fund’s prospectus, shareholder reports, statement of additional information (“SAI”), and other information about the fund online at www.virtus.com/investor-resources/mutual-fund-documents.

You can also get this information at no cost by calling 800-243-1574 or by sending an e-mail to: virtus.investment.partners@virtus.com. If you purchase shares of the fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary such as a bank, the prospectus and other information will also be available from your financial intermediary.

The fund’s prospectus and SAI both dated April 29, 2024, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus.

Investment Objective

The fund has an investment objective of seeking to provide long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses

The tables below illustrate 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. You may qualify for sales charge discounts in Class A Shares if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Virtus Funds. More information on these and other discounts is available: (i) from your financial professional or other financial intermediary; (ii) under “Sales Charges” on page 95 of the fund’s prospectus; (iii) with respect to purchase of shares through specific intermediaries, in Appendix A to the fund’s prospectus, entitled “Intermediary Sales Charge Discounts and Waivers;” and (iv) under “Alternative Purchase Arrangements” on page 114 of the fund’s SAI.

The Virtus SGA International Growth Fund, a series of Virtus Asset Trust, is the successor of the RidgeWorth International Equity Fund, a series of RidgeWorth Funds (“Predecessor Fund”), resulting from a reorganization of the Predecessor Fund with and into the fund.

      

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Class A

Class C

 Class I

Class R6

Maximum Sales Charge (load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)

5.50%

None

None

None

Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (load) (as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds) 

None

1.00%(a)

None

None

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Class A

Class C

 Class I

Class R6

Management Fees

0.85%

0.85%

0.85%

0.85%

Distribution and Shareholder Servicing (12b-1) Fees

0.25%

1.00%

None

None

Other Expenses

0.47%

0.47%(b)

0.47%

0.33%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

1.57%

2.32%

1.32%

1.18%

Less: Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement(c)

(0.27)%

(0.27)%

(0.27)%

(0.23)%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement(c)

1.30%

2.05%

1.05%

0.95%

 

  

(a)

The deferred sales charge is imposed on Class C Shares redeemed during the first year only.

(b)

Estimated for current fiscal year, as annualized.

(c)

The fund’s investment adviser has contractually agreed to limit the fund’s total operating expenses (excluding certain expenses, such as front-end or contingent deferred sales charges, taxes, leverage and borrowing expenses (such as commitment, amendment and renewal expenses on credit or redemption facilities), interest, brokerage commissions, expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization, unusual or infrequently occurring expenses (such as litigation), acquired fund fees and expenses, and dividend expenses, if any) so that such expenses do not exceed 1.30% for Class A Shares, 2.05% for Class C Shares, 1.05% for Class I Shares and 0.95% for Class R6 Shares through April 30, 2025. Prior to April 30, 2025, only the fund’s Board may modify or terminate the expense limitation agreement. Following the contractual period, the adviser may discontinue these expense reimbursement arrangements at any time. Under certain conditions, the adviser may recapture operating expenses reimbursed and/or fees waived under these arrangements for a period of three years following the date such waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided that the recapture does not cause the fund to exceed its expense limit in effect at the time of the waiver or reimbursement, and any in effect at the time of recapture, after repayment is taken into account.

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 or continued to hold them. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year, that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same and that the expense reimbursement agreement remains in place for the contractual period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:


          

 

Share Status

1 Year

3 Years

5 Years

10 Years

Class A

Sold or Held

$675

 

$993

 

$1,334

 

$2,293

 

Class C

Sold

$308

 

$699

 

$1,216

 

$2,635

 

 

Held

$208

 

$699

 

$1,216

 

$2,635

 

Class I

Sold or Held

$107

 

$392

 

$698

 

$1,567

 

Class R6

Sold or Held

$97

 

$352

 

$627

 

$1,411

 

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 10% of the average value of its portfolio.

Investments, Risks and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies

The fund will invest in securities of issuers located throughout the world. Under normal circumstances, the fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in equity securities of issuers organized, headquartered or doing a substantial amount of business outside the U.S.

As of the date of this prospectus, the fund’s subadviser, Sustainable Growth Advisers, LP (“SGA”), considers an issuer that has at least 50% of its assets or derives at least 50% of its revenue from business outside the U.S. as doing a substantial amount of business outside the U.S. SGA uses an investment process to identify companies that it believes have a high degree of predictability, strong profitability and above average earnings and cash flow growth. SGA selects investments for the fund’s portfolio that it believes have superior long-term earnings prospects and attractive valuation. The fund’s equity investments may include common stocks, preferred stocks, securities convertible into or exchangeable for common stocks, and depositary receipts. The fund may invest in companies of all market capitalizations. The fund will allocate its assets among various regions and countries, including emerging markets. From time to time, the fund may have a significant portion of its assets invested in the securities of companies in only a few countries or regions. Although the fund seeks investments across a number of sectors, from time to time, the fund may have significant positions in particular sectors.

SGA will sell a portfolio holding when it believes the security’s fundamentals deteriorate, its valuation is no longer attractive, or a better investment opportunity arises.

Principal Risks

The fund may not achieve its objective(s), and it is not intended to be a complete investment program. The value of the fund’s investments that supports your share value may decrease. If between the time you purchase shares and the time you sell shares the value of the fund’s investments decreases, you will lose money. Investment values can decrease for a number of reasons. Conditions affecting the overall economy, specific industries or companies in which the fund invests can be worse than expected, and investments may fail to perform as the subadviser expects. As a result, the value of your shares may decrease. Purchase and redemption activities by fund shareholders may impact the management of the fund and its ability to achieve its investment objective(s). The principal risks of investing in the fund are identified below.

> Equity Securities Risk: The value of the stocks held by the fund may be negatively affected by the financial market, industries in which the fund invests, or issuer-specific events. Focus on a particular style or in small or medium-sized companies may enhance that risk.

> Foreign Investing Risk: Investing in foreign securities subjects the fund to additional risks such as increased volatility; currency fluctuations; less liquidity; less publicly available information about the foreign investment; and political, regulatory, economic, and market risk.

> Emerging Market Risk: Emerging markets securities may be more volatile, or more greatly affected by negative conditions, than those of their counterparts in more established foreign markets.

> Market Volatility Risk: The value of the securities in the fund may go up or down in response to the prospects of individual companies and/or general economic conditions. Price changes may be short- or long-term. Local, regional or global events such as war or military conflict (e.g., Russia’s invasion of Ukraine), acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issue, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the fund and its investments, including hampering the ability of the fund’s portfolio manager(s) to invest the fund’s assets as intended.

> Currency Rate Risk: Fluctuations in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies may negatively affect the value of the fund’s shares.

> Depositary Receipts Risk: Investments in foreign companies through depositary receipts may expose the fund to the same risks as direct investments in securities of foreign issuers.

> Convertible Securities Risk: The value of a convertible security may decline as interest rates rise and/or vary with fluctuations in the market value of the underlying securities. The security may be called for redemption at a time and/or price unfavorable to the fund.

> Geographic Concentration Risk: A fund that focuses its investments in a particular geographic location will be sensitive to financial, economic, political and other events negatively affecting that location and may cause the value of the fund to decrease, perhaps significantly.

> Growth Stocks Risk: The fund’s investments in growth stocks may be more volatile than investments in other types of stocks, or may perform differently from the market as a whole and from other types of stocks.

  
 

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> Large Market Capitalization Companies Risk: The value of investments in larger companies may not rise as much as smaller companies, or larger companies may be unable to respond quickly to competitive challenges, such as changes in technology and consumer tastes.

> Preferred Stocks Risk: Preferred stocks may decline in price, fail to pay dividends when expected, or be illiquid.

> Redemption Risk: One or more large shareholders or groups of shareholders may redeem their holdings in the fund, resulting in an adverse impact on remaining shareholders in the fund by causing the fund to take actions it would not otherwise have taken.

> Sector Focused Investing Risk: Events negatively affecting a particular market sector in which the fund focuses its investments may cause the value of the fund’s shares to decrease, perhaps significantly.

> Small and Medium Market Capitalization Companies Risk: The fund’s investments in small and medium market capitalization companies may increase the volatility and risk of loss to the fund, as compared with investments in larger, more established companies.

Performance Information

The fund has adopted the past performance of the Predecessor Fund as its own. The Predecessor Fund and the fund have identical investment objectives and strategies. The bar chart and table below provide some indication of the potential risks of investing in the fund. The fund’s past performance, before and after taxes, is not necessarily an indication of how the fund will perform in the future.

The bar chart shows changes in the fund’s and Predecessor Fund’s performance from year to year over a 10-year period. The table shows how the fund’s and Predecessor Fund’s average annual returns compare to those of a broad-based securities market index. Updated performance information is available at virtus.com or by calling 800-243-1574.

Performance for Class C Shares is not shown here as Class C Shares did not begin operations until March 11, 2024 and therefore had no performance for the periods shown.

 

Calendar year total returns for Class I Shares (includes returns of the Predecessor Fund)

Returns do not reflect sales charges applicable to other share classes and would be lower if they did.

PerformanceBarChartData(2014:-7.73,2015:3.03,2016:0.02,2017:31.58,2018:-7.69,2019:28.61,2020:23.17,2021:8.59,2022:-18.19,2023:17.25)

        

Best Quarter:

2020, Q2:

20.17%

Worst Quarter:

2020, Q1:

-16.51%

Year to Date (3/28/2024):

-1.33%

Average Annual Total Returns (for the periods ended 12/31/23; includes returns of the Predecessor Fund)

Returns reflect deduction of maximum sales charges and full redemption at end of periods shown.

      

 

 

 

 

 

Since
Inception

 

 

 

 

 

Class R6

 

1 Year

5 Years

10 Years

(9/1/2015)

Class I Shares

 

 

 

 

 

Return Before Taxes

17.25%

10.54%

6.66%

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions

17.27%

7.27%

4.80%

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares

10.38%

7.68%

5.09%

Class A Shares

 

 

 

 

 

Return Before Taxes

10.61%

9.04%

5.83%

Class R6 Shares

 

 

 

 

 

Return Before Taxes

17.53%

10.66%

9.66%

MSCI All Country World ex USA Index (net) (reflects no deduction for fees or expenses)

15.62%

7.08%

3.83%

5.95%

 

 

 

 

 

 

The MSCI All Country World ex USA Index (net) is a free float-adjusted market capitalization-weighted index that measures equity performance of developed and emerging markets, excluding the United States. The index is calculated on a total return basis with net dividends reinvested. The index is unmanaged and not available for direct investment.

  
 

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After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. After-tax returns are shown only for Class I Shares; after-tax returns for other classes will vary. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold fund shares in tax-deferred accounts or to shares held by non-taxable entities. In certain cases, the Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares for a period may be higher than other return figures for the same period. This will occur when a capital loss is realized upon the sale of fund shares and provides an assumed tax benefit that increases the return.

Management

The fund’s investment adviser is Virtus Fund Advisers, LLC (“VFA”).

The fund’s subadviser is Sustainable Growth Advisers, LP (“SGA”).

Portfolio Management

> Tucker Brown, Portfolio Manager and Principal of SGA. Mr. Brown has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund since June 2019.

> Alexandra Lee, Portfolio Manager and Principal of SGA. Ms. Lee has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund since June 2019.

> Kishore Rao, Portfolio Manager and Principal of SGA. Mr. Rao has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund since June 2022.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Minimum initial investments applicable to Class A Shares:

 $2,500, generally

 $100 for Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), systematic purchase or exchange accounts

 No minimum for defined contribution plans, asset-based fee programs, profit-sharing plans or employee benefit plans.

Minimum additional investments applicable to Class A Shares:

 $100, generally

 No minimum for defined contribution plans, asset-based fee programs, profit-sharing plans or employee benefit plans.

For Class I Shares, the minimum initial purchase is $100,000; there is no minimum for additional purchases.

Class R6 Shares are offered without a minimum initial investment to the following investors in plan level or omnibus accounts only (provided that they do not require or receive any compensation, administrative payments, sub-transfer agency payments or service payments with respect to Class R6 Shares): (i) qualified retirement plans, including, but not limited to, 401(k) plans, 457 plans, employer sponsored 403(b) plans, and defined benefit plans; (ii) banks and trust companies; (iii) insurance companies; (iv) financial intermediaries utilizing such shares in fee-based investment advisory programs; (v) registered investment companies; (vi) 529 portfolios that are advised or sub-advised by Virtus affiliates; and (vii) non-qualified deferred compensation plans. Other institutional investors may be permitted to purchase Class R6 Shares subject to the fund’s determination of eligibility and may be subject to a $2,500,000 minimum initial investment requirement.

In general, you may buy or sell shares of the fund by mail or telephone on any business day. You also may buy and sell shares through a financial professional, broker-dealer or other financial intermediary.

Taxes

The fund’s distributions are taxable to you as either ordinary income or capital gains, except when your investment is through a tax-deferred arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account. Such tax-deferred arrangements may be taxed later upon withdrawal of monies from those arrangements.

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase the fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your financial professional to recommend the fund over another investment.

No compensation, administrative payments, sub-transfer agency payments or service payments are paid to brokers or other entities from fund assets or the Distributor’s or an affiliate’s resources on sales of or investments in Class R6 Shares. Class R6 Shares do not carry sales commissions or pay Rule 12b-1 fees, or make payments to brokers or other entities to assist in, or in connection with, the sale of the fund’s shares. Ask your financial professional or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

  
 

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Virtus Mutual Funds
P.O. Box 534470

Pittsburgh, PA 15253-4470

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  
  

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