Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of issuers located in “emerging market countries." Emerging market countries include those currently considered to be emerging or developing by the United Nations or the countries' authorities or by S&P Dow Jones, Morgan Stanley Capital International or Russell index providers. The Fund considers frontier markets to be a subset of emerging markets and any investments in frontier markets will be counted toward the Fund’s 80% investment policy. These countries typically are located in the Asia-Pacific region (including Hong Kong), Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central and South America, and Africa. The Fund may invest in equity securities of any capitalization and primarily invests in common stock, but may also invest in depositary receipts. The Fund's investable universe typically includes equity securities of companies in the MSCI Emerging Market Equity Index.

The Fund, from time to time, may have significant investments in one or more countries, such as China. Investments in Chinese companies may be made through a special structure known as a variable interest entity (“VIE”) that is designed to provide foreign investors with exposure to Chinese companies that operate in certain sectors in which China restricts or prohibits foreign investments.

The Fund invests in both growth and value stocks, or in stocks with characteristics of both ("core" style of investing). The investment manager employs a multi-factor selection process that includes using a proprietary model to assign a quantitative factor score for each issuer in the Fund’s investible universe based on that issuer’s exposure to quality, value, momentum and alternative factors. Each security is then further analyzed based on the assigned factor scores, but taking into account certain sector weight limits and security weight limit constraints determined by, among others, the portfolio management team.