Royce Investment Partners (“Royce”), the Fund’s investment adviser, invests the Fund’s assets primarily in equity securities of small-cap companies in an attempt to take advantage of what it believes are opportunistic situations for undervalued securities. Small-cap companies are those that have a market capitalization not greater than that of the largest company in the Russell 2000® Index at the time of its most recent reconstitution.

Such opportunistic situations may include turnarounds, emerging growth companies with interrupted earnings patterns, companies with unrecognized asset values, or undervalued growth companies. Although the Fund focuses on securities of U.S. companies, it may invest up to 10% of its net assets (measured at the time of investment) in securities of companies headquartered in foreign countries.

The Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in securities of small-cap companies, under normal circumstances. The Fund may invest in other investment companies that invest primarily in equity securities. The Fund may sell securities to, among other things, secure gains, limit losses, redeploy assets into what Royce deems to be more promising opportunities, and/or manage cash levels in the Fund’s portfolio.