The Fund’s Sub-Adviser seeks to achieve the Fund’s investment objective by investing primarily in domestic, value-oriented, small-capitalization or “small cap” equity securities (common stock) of companies traded on U.S. stock exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. The Fund normally invests at least 80% of its assets in small cap companies. The Fund defines small capitalization companies as those companies whose market capitalizations are equal to or less than the largest company in the Russell 2000® Index during the most recent 12-month period. For the most recent annual reconstitution published as of June 2025, the maximum market capitalization of companies in the Russell 2000® Index was approximately $15.7 billion. The Sub-Adviser uses a value approach to select the Fund’s investments. Using this investment style, the Adviser seeks securities selling at substantial discounts to their underlying values and then holds these securities until the market values reflect what the Sub-Adviser believes to be their intrinsic values.

The Sub-Adviser employs a bottom-up strategy, focusing on undervalued industries that the Sub-Adviser believes are experiencing positive change. The Sub-Adviser then uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to assess a security’s potential value. The Sub-Adviser seeks to identify companies with increasing returns on capital in their core businesses which are selling at attractive valuations.

The Sub-Adviser will sell a stock when it no longer meets one or more investment criteria, either through obtaining target value or due to an adverse change in fundamentals or business momentum. Each holding has a target valuation established at purchase, which the Sub-Adviser constantly monitors and adjusts as appropriate.

The Fund may also engage in securities lending.