The fund seeks total return in the long term by investing in companies across any size outside the United States.
The fund manages assets with the help of seven sub-advisers. The fund prefers a multi-manager investing approach with the aim of reducing volatility and downside risk.
The sub-advisers are AQR Capital Management, LLC, Copper Rock Capital Partners LLC, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, Janus Capital Management LLC, Mondrian Investment Partners Limited, Parametric Portfolio Associates LLC, and William Blair Investment Management, LLC.
The sub-advisers’ investment process starts with a list of companies in the benchmark index and the research team utilizes quantitative techniques and fundamental analysis to identify investment opportunities.
Next, the research team invests in securities of companies that are located in emerging markets, other investments that are tied economically to emerging markets, as well as in American, European, and Global Depositary Receipts.
In determining if a security is economically tied to an emerging market country, the team focuses on factors, such as an issuer’s country of domicile, where the majority of an issuer’s revenues are generated or where an issuer’s primary exchange is located.
In addition, the team may invest in securities of companies that are located in frontier markets countries and other investments that are tied economically to frontier markets countries.
Frontier markets countries include all countries represented by the MSCI Frontier Markets Index.
Then the manager constructs a portfolio of stocks from a list of companies favored by the research team and allocates capital based on its conviction level.
The fund may invest in derivative instruments, such as exchange-listed equity futures contracts, swaps, and currency forwards to gain market exposure on cash balances or to reduce market exposure in anticipation of liquidity needs.
