The Fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal market circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in a combination of first- and second-lien senior floating rate loans. These loans are made by banks and other large financial institutions to various companies and are senior in the borrowing companies’ capital structure.

Coupon rates are generally floating, not fixed, and are tied to a benchmark lending rate, such as the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) or the prime rate, or are set at a specified floor, whichever is higher. In selecting investments for the Fund, Seix Investment Advisors (“Seix”), a division of Virtus Fixed Income Advisers, LLC, the Fund’s sub-adviser, will emphasize loans rated below investment grade or unrated loans that Seix believes are of comparable quality.

Although loan investments are generally subject to certain restrictive covenants in favor of the investor, many of the loans in which the Fund will invest may be issued or offered as “covenant lite” loans, which have no financial maintenance covenants. Although covenant lite loans contain no financial maintenance covenants, information necessary to monitor a borrower’s financial performance may be available without covenants to lenders and the public alike, and can be used to detect such early warning signs as deterioration of a borrower’s financial condition or results. When such information is available, the portfolio managers will seek to take appropriate actions without the help of covenants in the loans.

The Fund may also invest in any combination of (i) junior debt securities or securities with a lien on collateral that is lower than a senior claim on collateral, and (ii) debt securities that are rated below investment grade (sometimes referred to as “junk bonds”) by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) and S&P Global Ratings (“S&P”) or in comparable unrated securities as determined by Seix, such as high yield fixed-rate bonds. The Fund may also invest a portion of its assets in securities that are restricted as to resale (e.g., Rule 144A securities).

The Fund may invest up to 20% of its total assets in senior loans made to non-U.S. borrowers, including those located in emerging markets countries (i.e., those that are in the early stages of their economic development), although the Fund intends to invest in only U.S. dollar- denominated loans. There are no limits on the Fund’s average-weighted maturity or on the remaining maturities of individual securities in which the Fund may invest.

Some types of senior loans in which the Fund may invest require that an open loan for a specific amount be continually offered to a borrower. These types of senior loans are commonly referred to as revolvers. Because revolvers contractually obligate the lender (and therefore those with an interest in the loan) to fund the revolving portion of the loan at the borrower’s discretion, the Fund must have assets sufficient to cover its contractual obligation. Therefore, the Fund will maintain, on a daily basis, high-quality, liquid assets in an amount at least equal in value to its contractual obligation to fulfill the revolving senior loan. The Fund will not encumber any assets that are otherwise encumbered. The Fund will limit its investments in revolvers to no more than 10% of the Fund’s total assets.

In addition, to implement its investment strategy, the Fund may buy or sell derivative instruments (such as swaps, including credit default swaps, futures, credit linked notes, and options) to gain exposure to an asset class or a particular issuer, or to hedge or adjust its exposure to other risks, such as interest rate or credit risk. The Fund may count the value of certain derivative instruments with economic characteristics similar to senior floating rate loans towards its 80% policy discussed above.​

In order to meet short-term liquidity needs, the Fund employs a variety of techniques, such as investing in highly liquid fixed income securities and holding a portion of its assets in cash. Although not a principal investment strategy, the Fund may, under certain market conditions, borrow from banks an amount up to 33 1/3% of its total assets (including the amount borrowed) for investment purposes, to raise cash to meet its obligations, and for temporary, extraordinary or emergency purposes.

The Fund is non-diversified, which means that it can invest a greater percentage of its assets in any one issuer than a diversified fund can. In attempting to meet its investment objective, the Fund may engage in active and frequent trading of portfolio securities.

In addition, from time to time the Fund may focus its investments (i.e., invest more than 15% of its total assets) in one or more particular sectors. As of July 31, 2024, the Fund focused its investments in the consumer cyclical and communications sectors.