Investment Risks: The Fund is an investment fund. The Fund’s investment portfolio may fall in value due to any of the risk factors below and therefore your investment in the Fund may suffer losses. There is no guarantee of the repayment of principal. Equity Risk: The values of equities fluctuate daily and a Fund investing in equities could incur significant losses. The price of equities can be influenced by many factors at the individual company level, as well as by broader economic and political developments, including changes in investment sentiment, trends in economic growth, inflation and interest rates, issuer-specific factors, corporate earnings reports, demographic trends and catastrophic events. Limited Market Sectors Risks: The Fund’s investments are concentrated in the gold and precious metals sector. This may subject the Fund to greater volatility and more rapid cyclical changes than more broad-based investments. Currency Risks: The Fund may invest in assets denominated in a currency other than the base currency of the Fund. Also, a class of shares may be designated in a currency other than the base currency of the Fund. Changes in exchange rates between such currency and the base currency and changes in exchange rate controls may adversely affect the value of the Fund’s assets. Derivatives Risks: In an adverse situation, if the use of derivatives for hedging and efficient portfolio management becomes ineffective, the Fund may suffer significant losses. Emerging Market Risks: Investment in emerging markets may be subject to a higher than average volatility than more developed markets due to greater political, tax, sustainability related, economic, social, and foreign exchange risks. The size and trading volume of securities markets in emerging markets may be substantially smaller than developed markets. This may subject the Fund to higher liquidity and volatility risks. Custody and registration of assets in emerging markets may be less reliable than in developed markets, which may subject the Fund to higher settlement risk. The Fund may be subject to higher regulatory risks due to low level of regulation, enforcement of regulations and monitoring of investors’ activities in emerging markets. Foreign Investments Restrictions Risks: Some countries prohibit or restrict investment, or the repatriation of income, capital or the proceeds from sale of securities. The Fund may incur higher costs investing in these countries. Such restrictions may delay the investment or repatriation of capital of the Fund. Small Cap Companies Risks: Many small company stocks trade less frequently and in smaller volume, and may be subject to more abrupt or erratic price movements than stocks of large companies. The securities of small companies may also be more sensitive to market changes than the securities of large companies. Liquidity Risks: The size and trading volume of securities in the markets relevant to the Fund may be substantially smaller than developed markets. This may lead to investments in such securities becoming less liquid, making it difficult to dispose of them which may reduce the Fund’s returns/lead to losses for investors. Contingent Convertible Bonds Risks: A contingent convertible bond may be converted into the issuer’s equity or be partly or wholly written off (a “write-down”) if a pre-specified trigger event occurs. Trigger levels differ and the exposure to conversion risk depends on the distance of the capital ratio to the trigger level. In case of conversion into equity, the Fund might be forced to sell these new equity shares. Such a forced sale might have an effect on market liquidity as there may not be sufficient demand for these shares. In the event of a write-down, which may be either temporary or permanent, the Fund may suffer a full, partial or staggered loss of the value of its investment. It might be difficult for the Fund to anticipate the trigger events or how the securities will behave upon conversion. Investment in contingent convertible bonds may suffer a loss of capital. Further, contingent convertible bonds are usually subordinated to comparable non-convertible securities, and thus are subject to higher risks than other debt securities. Coupon payments on certain contingent convertible bonds may be entirely discretionary and may be cancelled by the issuer, in which event the Fund may experience losses. Investment in contingent convertible bonds may also lead to increased industry concentration risk and thus counterparty risk as such securities are issued by a limited number of banks. |