AVSE

About AVSE

The fund invests primarily in a diverse group of companies related to emerging markets across market sectors, industry groups and countries. The fund may invest in companies of all market capitalizations. The portfolio management team limits its investable universe of companies by screening out those that raise concerns based on the team’s evaluation of multiple ESG metrics. The portfolio managers utilize third party commercial data sources and scoring systems (currently, MSCI and Sustainalytics), as well as proprietary evaluations, to decide what securities should be excluded due to ESG concerns. Though the factors considered in the proprietary screening model may change from time to time, currently the fund excludes the following issuers from its investable universe:•companies with significant revenue (e.g., 5% thresholds and up depending on the category) from any of the following: oil and gas production or distribution; manufacture or sale of civilian firearms and ammunition; manufacture of chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons and related systems or components; palm oil production; production or sale of tobacco or cannabis; gambling; or adult entertainment;•companies with more than de minimis revenue from thermal coal;•companies ranking in the bottom 5% in terms of carbon emissions intensity;•companies with low corporate governance scores; •companies engaged in factory farming practices that, in the portfolio management team’s judgment, merit exclusion; and•companies involved in other environmental, social, or governance controversies that, in the portfolio management team’s judgment, merit exclusion.When information used in the fund’s ESG screening model is not provided by the fund’s third party commercial data sources with respect to an issuer, the issuer will be eligible for purchase by the fund if the portfolio managers are not aware of any other ESG concerns related to the issuer that in their judgment would warrant exclusion. The eligibility of a security for inclusion in the fund’s portfolio will be determined at the time of purchase based on available information. In the event of a subsequent change in the ESG characteristics of (or the availability of ESG information about) an issuer, the fund will not be obligated to dispose of that security and may continue to hold the security if otherwise deemed appropriate by the portfolio managers.Within the fund’s investable universe of issuers that have been screened for ESG characteristics, the fund seeks securities of companies that it expects to have higher returns by placing an enhanced emphasis on securities of companies with smaller market capitalizations and securities of companies with higher profitability and value characteristics. Conversely, the fund seeks to underweight or exclude securities it expects to have lower returns, such as securities of larger companies with lower levels of profitability and less attractive value characteristics. To identify small capitalization companies with higher profitability and value characteristics, the portfolio managers use reported and/or estimated company financials and market data including, but not limited to, shares outstanding, book value and its components, cash flows from operations, and accruals. The portfolio managers define “value characteristics” mainly as adjusted book/price ratio (though other price to fundamental ratios may be considered). The portfolio managers define “profitability” mainly as adjusted cash from operations to book value ratio (though other ratios may be considered). The portfolio managers may also consider other factors when selecting a security including, industry classification, the past performance of the security relative to other securities, its liquidity, its float, and tax, governance or cost considerations, among others. When portfolio managers identify securities with the desired capitalization, profitability, value, and past performance characteristics, they seek to include and emphasize these securities in the broadly diversified portfolio. To determine the weight of a security within the portfolio, the portfolio managers use the market capitalization of the security relative to that of other eligible securities as a baseline, then overweight or underweight the security based on the characteristics described above. The portfolio managers may deemphasize or dispose of a security if it no longer has the desired market capitalization, profitability, or value characteristics. When determining whether to deemphasize or dispose of a security, the portfolio managers will also consider, among other things, relative past performance, costs, and taxes. The portfolio managers review the criteria for inclusion in the portfolio on a regular basis to maintain a focus on the desired broad set of emerging markets companies.Under normal market conditions, the fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in equity securities of companies related to emerging market countries. The fund considers an emerging market country to be any country other than a developed country. However, the fund generally intends to focus its investments in a subset of the emerging markets countries that comprise the MSCI Emerging Markets IMI Index. The countries comprising the index will change from time to time, but as of September 30, 2024 include: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and United Arab Emirates. To determine whether a company is related to an emerging market country, the portfolio managers will consider various factors, including where the company is headquartered, where the company’s principal operations are located, where a majority of the company’s revenues are derived, where the principal trading market is located, the country in which the company was legally organized, and whether the company is in the fund’s benchmark, the MSCI Emerging Markets IMI Index. The weight given to each of these factors will vary depending on the circumstances in a given case. The fund may invest in securities that are denominated in foreign currencies and may also invest in foreign securities that are represented in the U.S. and other securities markets by American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), and other similar depositary arrangements. The fund may also engage in securities lending and invest its collateral in eligible securities, such as a government money market fund.The fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) that does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. The portfolio managers continually analyze market and financial data to make buy, sell, and hold decisions. When deciding whether to buy or sell a security, and how and when to implement a trade, the portfolio managers may consider the expected implementation costs and tax consequences of the trade in an attempt to gain trading efficiencies, avoid unnecessary risk, minimize tax impact, and/or enhance fund performance.