StonePine Asset Management Inc., the Fund’s sub-adviser (the “Sub-Adviser”), subject to the oversight of the Adviser, seeks to achieve the Fund’s investment objective by investing in a portfolio of international equities.  The Fund may invest in issuers with market capitalizations of any size, though it generally expects to focus on issuers with market capitalization in excess of $1 billion.

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (including the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity securities of companies located in at least three countries other than the United States, including emerging market countries.  For these purposes, a company is considered located in a country outside the United States if: (i) the company’s securities are principally traded on such country’s exchange or (ii) the company’s securities are included in the MSCI World Ex-US Index.  In addition, the Fund considers countries represented in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index to be emerging market countries.  From time to time, the Fund may focus its investments in certain countries or geographic areas, including Europe.  Equity securities include common stock, preferred stock, convertible securities and depositary receipts.

The Fund may from time to time emphasize one or more sectors in selecting its investments, including the consumer non-cyclical and industrials sectors.

In addition, the Fund may enter into forward currency contracts to hedge the currency exposure associated with some or all of the Fund’s securities, to shift investment exposure from one currency to another, to shift U.S. dollar exposure to achieve a representative weighted mix of major currencies in its benchmark, or to adjust an underweight country exposure in its portfolio.  The Fund may also invest in securities issued by other investment companies.

In pursuing the Fund’s investment objective, the Sub-Adviser employs a bottom-up stock selection approach which results in a portfolio generally ranging from 25 to 45 companies.  A bottom-up stock selection approach focuses on the analysis of individual stocks (microeconomic factors) as opposed to the significance of economic cycles and market cycles (macroeconomic factors). 

The Sub-Adviser looks for companies that have growth potential that are believed to be trading at attractive valuations.  In doing so, the Sub-Adviser focuses on companies believed by the portfolio management team to have the following characteristics, among others:

In evaluating whether to sell a security, the Sub-Adviser considers, among other factors, whether in its view the company no longer continues to meet the standards described above and/or the Sub-Adviser believes there are more attractive opportunities available for investment by the Fund.