August 4, 2025

 

 

 

Lazard Active ETF Trust
Summary Prospectus

 

 

 

 

 

Before you invest, you may want to review the Portfolio’s Prospectus, which contains more information about the Portfolio and its risks. The Portfolio’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”), both dated August 4, 2025 (as revised or supplemented), are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus. You can find the Portfolio’s Prospectus, SAI and other information about the Portfolio online at https://lazardassetmanagement.com/us/en_us/investment-solutions/how-to-invest/etfs. You can also get this information at no cost by calling (800) 823-6300 or by sending an e-mail request to Contact.US@Lazard.com.

    

Lazard US Systematic Small Cap Equity ETF

Ticker

 

Exchange

SYZ

 

NASDAQ

Investment Objective

The Portfolio seeks long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Portfolio, a series of Lazard Active ETF Trust (the “Trust”). You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and the Example below.

        

 

 

   

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

Management Fees

 

   

 

.60%

 

Other Expenses1, 2

 

   

 

None

  

Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses1

     

.14%

 

Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses3

 

   

 

.74%

 

1 Based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.

2 Pursuant to the Portfolio’s unitary management fee structure, Lazard Asset Management LLC (the “Investment Manager”) will pay all expenses of the Portfolio, except for the fee payment under the investment management agreement, acquired fund fees and expenses, interest expense, offering costs, trading expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Investment Manager has agreed to pay a portion of the Portfolio’s offering costs during the Portfolio’s first year of operations so that offering costs borne by the Portfolio do not amount to .01% of its average net assets.

3 Excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, the Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses are .60% of the Portfolio’s average net assets.

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated and then hold or sell 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 Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same, giving effect to any waiver and/or the expense reimbursement in year one only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

  

1 Year

3 Years

$ 76

$ 237


Portfolio Turnover

The Portfolio 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 Portfolio shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual portfolio operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio’s portfolio turnover rate, which was the portfolio turnover rate of the Portfolio’s predecessor portfolio, Lazard US Systematic Small Cap Equity Portfolio was 111% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Investment Manager seeks to achieve the investment objective through investing in an actively managed, diversified, long-only portfolio comprised primarily of equity securities, principally common stocks, of small capitalization U.S. companies. The Investment Manager considers “small cap companies” to be those companies that, at the time of initial purchase by the Portfolio, have market capitalizations within the range of companies included in the Russell 2000 Index (ranging from approximately $54.5 million to $15.9 billion as of June 30, 2025). The Portfolio typically invests in 200 to 500 companies.

Under normal circumstances, the Portfolio invests at least 80% of its assets in equity securities of small cap U.S. companies. Equity securities also may include depositary receipts, including American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”), Global Depositary Receipts and European Depositary Receipts. The Portfolio may invest up to 20% of its assets in other securities which need not be equity securities of small cap U.S. companies, including investments in larger U.S. companies and in non-U.S. companies.

The Investment Manager actively manages the Portfolio using its proprietary investment strategy that creates and applies fundamental and quantitative techniques into a fully systematic process, which is designed to convert subjective criteria into various quantitative formulas to make investment decisions based upon fundamental market data. The Investment Manager terms this its “Automated Fundamental Analyst” investment framework, which involves steps including the following:

· identification of a fundamental opportunity, a recurring market inefficiency where the Investment Manager believes that investors are not fully incorporating the impact of a company’s changing operating fundamentals and/or attractive valuations;

· converting this market observation into quantified conditions utilizing proprietary process, knowledge and techniques;

· attempting to validate the observation through extensive proprietary testing that includes historical data, minimum targeted return objectives and persistence hurdles;

· through the operation of each Automated Fundamental Analyst, a number of securities are identified; and

· the securities selection process is implemented systematically into automated daily operations.

The Investment Manager selects investments for the Portfolio by applying the foregoing securities selection process to an investable universe of all publicly-traded equity securities, with a focus on small cap companies. However, Automated Fundamental Analysts, which may change over time, may be applied to the broad market or specific to a particular sector or industry. In addition, the selection process described above is not sequential, and certain criteria may be given more importance than others. Target position sizes are determined at the time of investment based on the input of one or more Automated Fundamental Analysts and subsequently monitored on an ongoing basis. To improve tax efficiency, the Portfolio may limit investments that have undesirable tax characteristics and may employ other tax-management techniques, such as adjusting the timing of trades, by relying in part on fundamental research and analytical judgments of the Investment Manager.

Summary Prospectus

2


Principal Investment Risks

The value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, which means you could lose money.

Market Risk: The Portfolio may incur losses due to declines in one or more markets in which it invests. These declines may be the result of, among other things, political, regulatory, market, economic or social developments affecting the relevant market(s). To the extent that such developments impact specific industries, market sectors, countries or geographic regions, the Portfolio’s investments in such industries, market sectors, countries and/or geographic regions can be expected to be particularly affected, especially if such investments are a significant portion of its investment portfolio. In addition, turbulence in financial markets and reduced liquidity in equity, credit and/or fixed income markets may negatively affect many issuers, which could adversely affect the Portfolio. Global economies and financial markets are increasingly interconnected, and conditions and events in one country, region or financial market may adversely impact issuers worldwide. As a result, local, regional or global events such as war or military conflict, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, social unrest, natural disasters, extreme weather, other geological events, man-made disasters, supply chain disruptions, deflation, inflation, government defaults, government shutdowns, the imposition of sanctions or other similar measures, recessions or other events could have a significant negative impact on global economic and market conditions. For example, a public health or other emergency and aggressive responses taken by many governments or voluntarily imposed by private parties, including closing borders, restricting travel and imposing prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, as well as the closure of, or operational changes to, many retail and other businesses, may have severe negative impacts on markets worldwide. Additionally, general market conditions may affect the value of a Portfolio’s securities, including changes in interest rates, currency rates or monetary policies. Furthermore, the imposition of tariffs, trade restrictions, currency restrictions or similar actions (or retaliatory measures taken in response to such actions), or the threat or potential of one or more such events and developments, could lead to price volatility and overall declines in the U.S. and global investment markets.

Issuer Risk: The value of a security may decline for a number of reasons which directly relate to the issuer, such as management performance, financial leverage and reduced demand for the issuer’s goods or services, as well as the historical and prospective earnings of the issuer and the value of its assets or factors unrelated to the issuer’s value, such as investor perception.

Small Cap Companies Risk: Small cap companies carry additional risks because their earnings tend to be less predictable, their share prices more volatile and their securities less liquid than larger, more established companies. The shares of small cap companies tend to trade less frequently than those of larger companies, which can have an adverse effect on the pricing of these securities and on the ability to sell these securities when the Investment Manager deems it appropriate.

Quantitative Model Risk: The success of the Portfolio’s investment strategy depends largely upon the effectiveness of the Investment Manager’s quantitative model. A quantitative model, such as the risk and other models used by the Investment Manager requires adherence to a systematic, disciplined process. The Investment Manager’s ability to monitor and, if necessary, adjust its quantitative model could be adversely affected by various factors including incorrect or outdated market and other data inputs. Factors that affect a security’s value can change over time, and these changes may not be reflected in the quantitative model. In addition, factors used in quantitative analysis and the weight placed on those factors may not be predictive of a security’s value.

Depositary Receipts Risk: ADRs and similar depositary receipts typically will be subject to certain of the risks associated with direct investments in the securities of non-U.S. companies, because their values depend on the performance of the underlying non-U.S. securities. However, currency fluctuations will impact investments in depositary receipts differently than direct investments in non-U.S. dollar-denominated non-U.S. securities, because a depositary receipt will not appreciate in value solely as a result of appreciation in the currency in which the underlying non-U.S. dollar security is denominated.

Non-U.S. Securities Risk: The Portfolio’s performance will be influenced by political, social and economic factors affecting the non-U.S. countries and companies in which the Portfolio invests. Non-U.S. securities carry special risks, such as less developed or less efficient trading markets, political instability, a lack of company information, differing auditing and legal standards, and, potentially, less liquidity. Non-U.S. securities may be subject to economic sanctions or other governmental actions or developments, exchange controls (including repatriation restrictions), confiscations, trade restrictions (including tariffs) or problems related to share registration, trade settlement or asset custody, which

Summary Prospectus

3


could, among other things, effectively restrict or eliminate the Portfolio’s ability to purchase or sell certain foreign securities. To the extent the Portfolio holds securities subject to such actions, the securities may become difficult to value and/or less liquid (or illiquid). In some cases, the securities may become worthless. In addition, investments denominated in currencies other than U.S. dollars may experience a decline in value, in U.S. dollar terms, due solely to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Emerging market countries can generally have economic structures that are less diverse and mature, and political systems that are less stable, than those of developed countries.

Sector Risk: Implementation of the Portfolio’s investment strategy may, during certain periods, result in the investment of a significant portion of the Portfolio’s assets in a particular market sector, such as information technology companies, and the Portfolio would be expected to be affected by developments in that sector. Information technology companies generally operate in intensely competitive markets on a worldwide basis. Also, because technological development in many areas increases at a rapid rate, these companies often produce products with very short life cycles and face the risk of product obsolescence.

Securities Selection Risk: Securities and other investments selected by the Investment Manager for the Portfolio may not perform to expectations. This could result in the Portfolio’s underperformance compared to other funds with similar investment objectives or strategies.

High Portfolio Turnover Risk: The Portfolio’s investment strategy may involve high portfolio turnover (such as 100% or more). A portfolio turnover rate of 100%, for example, is equivalent to the Portfolio buying and selling all of its securities once during the course of the year. A high portfolio turnover rate could result in high transaction costs and an increase in taxable capital gains distributions to the Portfolio’s shareholders, which will reduce returns to shareholders.

Authorized Participant Concentration Risk: Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Portfolio. The Portfolio has a limited number of intermediaries that act as authorized participants and none of these authorized participants is or will be obligated to engage in creation or redemption transactions. The Portfolio has a limited number of institutions that may act as authorized participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that these intermediaries exit the business or are unable to or choose not to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Portfolio and no other authorized participant creates or redeems, Shares may trade at a discount to net asset value and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. Authorized participant concentration risk may be heightened for ETFs that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that have lower trading volumes.

Large Shareholder Risk: Certain shareholders, including other funds advised by the Investment Manager, may from time to time own a substantial amount of the Portfolio’s shares. In addition, a third party investor, the Investment Manager or an affiliate of the Investment Manager, an Authorized Participant, a market maker, or another entity may invest in the Portfolio and hold its investment for a limited period of time. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder would not redeem or sell its investment. Redemptions of a large number of Portfolio shares could require the Portfolio to dispose of assets to meet the redemption requests, which can accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or capital gains and cause the Portfolio to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Portfolio otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such year. In some circumstances, the Portfolio may hold a relatively large proportion of its assets in cash in anticipation of large redemptions (to the extent redemptions are effected in cash), diluting its investment returns. These large redemptions may also force the Portfolio to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Portfolio’s net asset value, increase the Portfolio’s brokerage costs and/or have a material effect on the market price of the Portfolio shares.

Market Trading Risk: The net asset value of the Portfolio and the market price of your investment in Portfolio shares may fluctuate. Market prices of Portfolio shares may fluctuate, in some cases significantly, in response to the Portfolio’s net asset value, the intraday value of the Portfolio’s holdings and supply and demand for shares. The Portfolio faces numerous market trading risks, including disruptions to creations and redemptions, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares. Any of these factors, among others, may result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to net asset value, which will be reflected in the intraday bid/ask spreads and/or the closing price of shares as compared to net asset value. In addition, because liquidity in certain underlying securities may fluctuate, shares may trade at a larger premium or discount to net asset value than shares of other kinds of ETFs. If a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the net asset value or sells

Summary Prospectus

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shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the net asset value, the shareholder may pay more for, or receive less than, the underlying value of the shares, respectively. Additionally, in stressed market conditions, the market for shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the markets for the Portfolio’s underlying holdings.

Where all or a portion of the Portfolio’s underlying securities trade in a market that is closed when the market in which the Portfolio’s shares are listed and trading is open, there may be differences between the last quote from the security’s closed foreign market and the value of the security during the Portfolio’s domestic trading day, and liquidity in such securities may also be reduced after the applicable closing times. This in turn could lead to differences between the market price of the Portfolio’s shares and the underlying value of those shares and widened bid-ask spreads or fixing or settlement times.

No Guarantee of Active Trading Market Risk: There can be no assurance that an active trading market for Portfolio shares will develop or be maintained. Further, secondary markets may be subject to irregular trading activity, wide bid/ask spreads and extended trade settlement periods in stressed market conditions because market makers and Authorized Participants may step away from making a market in the shares and in executing creation and redemption orders, which could cause a material deviation in the Portfolio’s market price and its underlying net asset value.

Trading Issues Risk: Trading in Portfolio shares may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the listing exchange, make trading in shares on the listing exchange inadvisable. In addition, trading in shares on the listing exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the listing exchange “circuit breaker” rules. In the event of a trading halt or unanticipated early closing of the listing exchange, a shareholder may be unable to purchase or sell shares of the Portfolio. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the listing exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Portfolio will continue to be met or will remain unchanged.

Limited Operating History Risk: The Portfolio has not commenced operations. As a result, prospective investors would not have a track record or history on which to base their investment decisions. In addition, until the Portfolio achieves a certain size, the performance of certain of its investments may disproportionately impact the performance of the Portfolio, which may be subject to heightened volatility. In addition, there can be no assurance that the Portfolio will grow to or maintain an economically viable size.

Performance Bar Chart and Table
Year-by-Year Total Returns
As of December 31, 2024

It is currently contemplated that before the Portfolio commences operations, the Predecessor Portfolio, Lazard US Systematic Small Cap Equity Portfolio, a series of The Lazard Funds, Inc., will transfer its assets and liabilities to the Portfolio in a tax-free reorganization (the “Reorganization”). The Portfolio and the Predecessor Portfolio have the identical investment objective, fundamental investment policies and investment strategy. However, ETFs, such as the Portfolio, are structurally different from mutual funds, such as the Predecessor Portfolio, in several important aspects, including the ability for ETF shareholders to trade shares intraday on an exchange at market prices, the full daily transparency of the ETF’s portfolio holdings and the potential for increased tax efficiency.

The performance of the Predecessor Portfolio has not been restated to reflect the annual operating expenses of the Portfolio, which are lower than those of the Predecessor Portfolio. Because the Portfolio has different fees and expenses than the Predecessor Portfolio, the Portfolio would also have had different performance results. Additionally, if the Predecessor Portfolio had operated as an ETF, its performance may have differed.

The accompanying bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio. Performance results shown in the bar chart and the performance table below reflect the performance of the Institutional Class shares of the Predecessor Portfolio. The bar chart shows the Predecessor Portfolio’s year-by-year performance and its average annual performance compared to that of a broad measure of market performance. Updated performance information for the Predecessor Portfolio is available at www.lazardassetmanagement.com or by calling (800) 823-6300. The Predecessor Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Portfolio will perform in the future.

Summary Prospectus

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PerformanceBarChartData(2022:-16.33,2023:19.8,2024:12.92)

Calendar Years ended December 31

  

Best Quarter:

2023, Q4

11.79%

 

 

Worst Quarter:

2022, Q2

-13.86%

Average Annual Total Returns
(for the periods ended December 31, 2024)

After-tax returns are shown only for Institutional Shares of the Predecessor Portfolio. After-tax returns of the Predecessor Portfolio’s other share classes may vary. After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

    

 

Inception
Date

1 Year

Life of
Portfolio

Institutional Shares:

10/29/2021

 

 

Returns Before Taxes

 

12.92%

4.90%

Returns After Taxes on Distributions

 

12.08%

12.70%

Returns After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares

 

8.19%

10.17%

Open Shares (Returns Before Taxes)

10/29/2021

12.50%

4.63%

R6 Shares (Returns Before Taxes)

2/22/2023

12.88%

13.19%

Russell 3000 Index

 

23.81%

8.35%

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

 

 

(Institutional
and Open)

 

 

 

23.76%

 

 

 

(R6)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Russell 2000 Index

 

11.54%

0.52%

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

 

 

(Institutional
and Open)

 

 

 

10.83%

 

 

 

(R6)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Russell 3000 Index measures the performance of the largest 3,000 U.S. companies designed to represent approximately 98% of the investable U.S. equity market.

The Russell 2000 Index measures the performance of the small-cap segment of the U.S. equity universe. The Russell 2000 Index is a subset of the Russell 3000 Index which is designed to represent approximately 98% of the investable U.S. equity market. It includes approximately 2,000 of the smallest securities based on a combination of their market cap and current index membership.

Management

Investment Manager

Lazard Asset Management LLC

Portfolio Managers/Analysts

Oren Shiran, portfolio manager/analyst on the Investment Manager’s Baylight team, has been with the Portfolio since inception in 2025.

Stefan T. Tang, portfolio manager/analyst on the Investment Manager’s Baylight team, has been with the Portfolio since inception in 2025.


    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Purchase and Sale of Portfolio Shares

Individual shares of a Portfolio may only be purchased and sold in secondary market transactions through brokers or financial intermediaries. Shares are listed for trading on an exchange, and because shares trade at market prices rather than net asset value ("NAV"), shares of the Portfolio may trade at a price greater than NAV (premium) or less than NAV (discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Portfolio (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the bid-ask spread). Recent information, including information about the Portfolio’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, will be included on the Portfolio’s website at www.lazardassetmanagement.com.

Tax Information

All dividends and short-term capital gains distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income, and long-term capital gains are generally taxable as such, whether you receive the distribution in cash or reinvest it in additional shares.

Financial Intermediary Compensation
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of a Portfolio through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Portfolio and/or the Investment Manager and its affiliates may pay the intermediary for the sale of Portfolio shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

  

00085006

 

Lazard Asset Management LLC • 30 Rockefeller Plaza • New York, NY 10112 • www.lazardassetmanagement.com