companies (as defined below), which may include companies located or operating in established or emerging markets, that meet Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management, LLC’s (the “Advisor”) definition of value. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 40% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in the equity securities of companies located outside of the U.S. If the Advisor deems market conditions and/or company valuations less favorable for companies located outside the U.S., the Fund could invest less than 40%, but would invest at least 30% of its net assets in equity securities of companies located outside the U.S. The Advisor determines where a company is located, and thus whether a company is located outside the U.S. or in an emerging market, by referring to: its primary stock exchange listing; where it is registered, organized or incorporated; where its headquarters are located; where it derives at least 50% of its revenues or profits from goods produced or sold, investments made, or services performed; or where at least 50% of its assets are located. The Fund will allocate its assets among various regions and countries (but in no less than three different countries). In constructing the portfolio, the Advisor seeks to maintain exposure to a variety of non‑U.S. countries by evaluating each issuer’s primary economic ties (as described above) and allocating investments across multiple countries and regions based on relative value opportunities, market conditions, and diversification considerations, rather than concentrating the Fund’s non‑U.S. investments in a single country or region (except where the Advisor determines such concentration is warranted based on these considerations). From time to time, a substantial portion of the Fund’s assets may be invested in companies located in a single country. The Fund invests in companies of any size market capitalization.
The Advisor believes value companies to be companies that are undervalued in the marketplace. The Advisor considers traditional and other measures of value, such as (1) whether the company is included in a third-party value benchmark; (2) whether the company falls below the relevant equity market index average for any “value” metric, such as price-to-earnings ratio; price-to-book value ratio; price-to-cash flow ratio; price-to-sales ratio; or enterprise value-to-EBITDA, among others; or (3) the Advisor determines, based on a reasonable, consistently applied investment process, that the company exhibits characteristics commonly associated with value investments, even if it does not satisfy one or more of the specific metrics described above. In making this determination, the Advisor generally considers whether the company’s market price appears to undervalue its intrinsic value, including due to factors such as temporary business or market dislocation, cyclical pressures, or the company being out of favor with investors. For example, the Advisor may determine that a company constitutes a value investment where its current market price is below the Advisor’s assessment of intrinsic value, as derived from a discounted cash flow analysis or comparable company valuation multiples; provided that such determination is supported by fundamental or valuation-based analysis and one or more valuation or financial indicators (which may include, among others, earnings, cash flow, asset values, or comparable company analysis), as applied within the Advisor’s investment process.
In addition to purchasing equity securities on exchanges where the companies are located, the Fund may purchase equity securities on exchanges other than where their companies are domiciled (often traded as dual listed securities) or in the form of Depositary Receipts, which include American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”), Global Depositary Receipts (“GDRs”) or similar securities. The Fund will invest primarily in
companies located in developed countries, but may invest up to 20% of its assets in emerging markets.
The Fund may enter into currency contracts (such as spot, forward and futures) to hedge foreign currency exposure.
The Fund seeks to invest in companies whose future prospects are misunderstood or not fully recognized by the market. The Fund employs a fundamental value investing approach which seeks to exploit market inefficiencies created by irrational investor behavior, such as investment decisions driven by emotions, biases, or cognitive errors. To identify these investment opportunities, the Fund employs a disciplined, bottom-up investment process highlighted by rigorous, internally-generated fundamental research. With the exception of diversification guidelines, the Fund does not employ predetermined rules for sales; rather, the Fund evaluates each sell candidate based on the candidate’s specific risk and return characteristics which include: 1) relative valuation; 2) fundamental operating trends; 3) deterioration of fundamentals; and 4) portfolio diversification. Relative valuation involves selling an investment when a company’s valuation metrics become high relative to comparable companies, the market, or its historical levels. Fundamental operating trends involves selling an investment when there is evidence of a decline in a company’s underlying business performance or industry conditions. Deterioration of fundamentals involves selling an investment when a company’s underlying business or industry fundamentals, such as revenue or earnings, weaken. Portfolio diversification refers to selling holdings to maintain balance, manage risk, and optimize returns.
As of the date of this Prospectus, the top sectors represented by the Fund’s underlying investments were financials and information technology. The Fund’s investments in various sectors may change over time.
Principal Investment Risks. As with any mutual fund, the value of the Fund’s investments, and therefore the value of its shares, may go down and you could lose all or a portion of your investment in the Fund. Many factors can affect those values. The factors that are most likely to have a material effect on the Fund’s portfolio as a whole are called “principal risks.” The principal risks of investing in the Fund are described in this section.
Market Risk. Market risk is the risk that the market price of securities owned by the Fund may go down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to factors affecting securities markets generally or particular industries represented in the securities markets. These factors include general domestic or foreign economic, political or financial market conditions, rates of economic growth and employment, trade and monetary policy, interest rates, inflation, and currency rates. Natural disasters, public health emergencies (including pandemics and epidemics), global conflict and war, military conflict, climate change, terrorism and other unforeseeable events that adversely affect individual companies, industries, sectors, and/or segments of the market, may lead to instability in world economies and markets and may have negative long-term effects. Any of such factors could have a materially negative impact on the value of the Fund’s shares or the liquidity of an investment and may result in increased market volatility. Financial markets also may be adversely affected by concerns regarding government debt levels, fiscal deficits, sovereign borrowing needs, and the sustainability of fiscal