Risks and Other Considerations
As with all investments, you may lose some or all of your investment in the Trust. No assurance can be given that the Trust’s investment objective will be achieved. The Trust also might not perform as well as you expect. This can happen for reasons such as these:
- Securities prices can be volatile. The value of your investment may fall over time. Market value fluctuates in response to various factors. These can include stock market movements, purchases or sales of securities by the Trust, government policies, litigation, and changes in interest rates, inflation, the financial condition of the securities’ issuer or even perceptions of the issuer. Changes in legal, political, regulatory, tax and economic conditions may cause fluctuations in markets and securities prices, which could negatively impact the value of the Trust. Additionally, events such war, terrorism, natural and environmental disasters and the spread of infectious illnesses or other public health emergencies may adversely affect the economy, various markets and issuers. An outbreak of a novel form of coronavirus disease (“COVID-19”) was first detected in December 2019 and rapidly spread around the globe leading the World Health Organization to declare the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic in March 2020 and resulting in major disruptions to economies and markets around the world. The complete economic impacts of COVID-19 are not yet fully known. The COVID-19 pandemic, or any future public health crisis, is impossible to predict and could result in adverse market conditions which may negatively impact the performance of the trust and the trust's ability to achieve its investment objectives. Units of the Trust are not deposits of any bank and are not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
- Share prices or dividend rates on the securities in the Trust may decline during the life of the Trust. There is no guarantee that share prices of the securities in the Trust will not decline and that the issuers of the securities will declare dividends in the future and, if declared, whether they will remain at current levels or increase over time.
- The Trust includes Closed-End Funds. Closed-End Funds are actively managed investment companies that invest in various types of securities. Closed-End Funds issue common shares that are traded on a securities exchange. Closed-End Funds are subject to various risks, including management’s ability to meet the Closed-End Fund’s investment objective and to manage the Closed- End Fund’s portfolio during periods of market turmoil and as investors’ perceptions regarding Closed-End Funds or their underlying investments change. Closed-End Funds are not redeemable at the option of the shareholder and they may trade in the market at a discount to their net asset value. Closed-End Funds may also employ the use of leverage which increases risk and volatility.
- The Closed-End Funds are subject to annual fees and expenses, including a management fee. Unitholders of the Trust will bear these fees in addition to the fees and expenses of the Trust. See “Fees and Expenses” for additional information.
- The value of the fixed-income securities in the Closed-End Funds will generally fall if interest rates, in general, rise. Typically, fixed-income securities with longer periods before maturity are more sensitive to interest rate changes. The Trust may be subject to greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the current period of historically low rates.
- A Closed-End Fund or an issuer of securities held by a Closed-End Fund may be unwilling or unable to make principal payments and/or to declare distributions in the future, may call a security before its stated maturity, or may reduce the level of distributions declared. Issuers may suspend dividends during the life of the Trust. This may result in a reduction in the value of your units.
- Economic conditions may lead to limited liquidity and greater volatility. The markets for fixed-income securities, such as those held by certain Closed-End Funds, may experience periods of illiquidity and volatility. General market uncertainty and consequent repricing risk have led to market imbalances of sellers and buyers, which in turn have resulted in significant valuation uncertainties in a variety of fixed-income securities. These conditions resulted, and in many cases continue to result in, greater volatility, less liquidity, widening credit spreads and a lack of price transparency, with many debt securities remaining illiquid and of uncertain value. These market conditions may make valuation of some of the securities held by a Closed-End Fund uncertain and/or result in sudden and significant valuation increases or declines in its holdings.
- The financial condition of a Closed- End Fund or an issuer of securities held by a Closed-End Fund may worsen, resulting in a reduction in the value of your units. This may occur at any point in time, including during the primary offering period.
- Certain Closed-End Funds held by the Trust invest in securities that are rated below investment-grade and are considered to be “junk” securities. Below investment-grade obligations are considered to be primarily speculative with respect to the issuer’s ability to make principal and interest payments and may be more volatile than higher rated securities of similar maturity. Additionally, they are subject to greater market, credit and liquidity risks than investment-grade securities. Accordingly, the risk of non-payment or default is higher than with investment-grade securities. In addition, such securities may be more sensitive to interest rate changes and more likely to receive early returns of principal in falling rate environments.
- Certain Closed-End Funds held by the Trust may invest in securities that are rated as investment-grade by only one rating agency. As a result, such splitrated securities may have more speculative characteristics and are subject to a greater risk of default than securities rated as investment-grade by more than one rating agency.
- Certain Closed-End Funds held by the Trust invest in foreign securities. Investment in foreign securities presents additional risk. Foreign risk is the risk that foreign securities will be more volatile than U.S. securities due to such factors as adverse economic, currency, political, social or regulatory developments in a country, including government seizure of assets, excessive taxation, limitations on the use or transfer of assets, the lack of liquidity or regulatory controls with respect to certain industries or differing legal and/or accounting standards.
- Certain Closed-End Funds held by the Trust invest in call options. The call writing portion of the investment strategy of the Closed-End Funds may not be successful in that the Closed-End Funds may not realize the full appreciation of stocks on which the Closed-End Funds have written call options. The ability to successfully implement the Closed-End Fund’s investment strategy depends on the Closed-End Fund’s adviser’s ability to predict pertinent market movements,
which cannot be assured.
- The value of a call option may be adversely affected if the market for the option becomes less liquid or smaller. The value of an option will be affected by changes in the value and dividend rates of the stock subject to the option, an increase in interest rates, a change in the actual and perceived volatility of the stock market and the common stock, and the remaining time to expiration.
- Certain Closed-End Funds held by the Trust invest in securities issued by companies headquartered or incorporated in countries considered to be emerging markets. Because their financial markets may be very small, prices of financial instruments in emerging market countries may be volatile and difficult to determine. Financial instruments of issuers in these countries may have lower overall liquidity than those of issuers in more developed countries. Financial and other reporting by companies and government entities also may be less reliable or difficult to obtain in emerging market countries. In addition, foreign investors are subject to a variety of special restrictions in many emerging market countries. Shareholder claims and regulatory actions that are available in the U.S. may be difficult or impossible to pursue in emerging market countries. Risks of investing in developing or emerging countries also include the possibility of investment and trading limitations, delays and disruptions in settlement transactions, market manipulation concerns, political uncertainties and dependence on international trade and development assistance.
- Certain Closed-End Funds held by the Trust invest in common stocks. Common stocks represent a proportional share of ownership in a company. Common stock prices fluctuate for several reasons including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer, changes in the general condition of the relevant stock market, such as the market volatility recently exhibited, or when political or economic events affect the issuers. Common stock prices may also be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase.
- Certain Closed-End Funds held by the Trust may invest in securities issued by small-capitalization and mid-capitalization companies. These securities customarily involve more investment risk than securities of large-capitalization companies. Small-capitalization and mid-capitalization companies may have limited product lines, markets or financial resources and may be more vulnerable to adverse general market or economic developments.
- The Trust may be susceptible to potential risks through breaches in cybersecurity. A breach in cybersecurity refers to both intentional and unintentional events that may cause the Trust to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity. Such events could cause the Sponsor of the Trust to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss. In addition, cybersecurity breaches of the Trust’s third-party service providers, or issuers in which the Trust invests, can also subject the Trust to many of the same risks associated with direct cybersecurity breaches.
- The Trust is subject to risks arising from various operational factors and their service providers. Operational factors include, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Trust’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. Additionally, the Trust may be subject to the risk that a service provider may not be willing or able to perform their duties as required or contemplated by their agreements with the Trust. Although the Trust seeks to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.
- Inflation may lead to a decrease in the value of assets or income from investments.
- The Sponsor does not actively manage the portfolio. The Trust will generally hold, and may, when creating additional units, continue to buy, the same securities even though a security’s outlook, market value or yield may have changed.
See “Investment Risks” in Part A of the prospectus and “Risk Factors” in Part B of the prospectus for additional information.
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