Strategy. Under normal market conditions, the Fund seeks its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity investments in emerging and frontier market countries (80% Policy). In complying with its 80% Policy, the Fund will be substantially invested in both emerging and frontier market countries. An equity investment is considered to be in an emerging or frontier country if it is tied economically to that country. The investment adviser considers a number of factors to determine whether an investment is tied economically to a particular country, including: the primary trading market; the issuers domicile, sources of revenue, and location of assets; whether the investment is included in … Show more… Under normal market conditions, the Fund seeks its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity investments in emerging and frontier market countries (80% Policy). In complying with its 80% Policy, the Fund will be substantially invested in both emerging and frontier market countries. An equity investment is considered to be in an emerging or frontier country if it is tied economically to that country. The investment adviser considers a number of factors to determine whether an investment is tied economically to a particular country, including: the primary trading market; the issuers domicile, sources of revenue, and location of assets; whether the investment is included in an index representative of a particular country; the source of government guarantees (if any); and whether the investment is exposed to the economic fortunes and risks of a particular country. Emerging market countries are countries represented in the ?MSCI Emerging Markets Index (the Index). Frontier market countries include any country that is outside of the Index or the MSCI All Country World Index; and may include any country that is currently included in the MSCI Frontier Markets Index, Russell Frontier Index, S&P Frontier Broad Market Index (BMI), or similar market indices. Frontier markets are among the smallest and least mature markets. The Fund may have significant investment in a geographic region or country and normally invests in multiple countries and geographic regions. The Fund also may invest up to 20% of its net assets in developed countries. Equity investments include common stocks, preferred stocks, private equity securities and other instruments that provide exposure to equity securities or markets. The Fund may invest in securities issued by companies with a broad range of market capitalization, including smaller companies. The Funds equity investments also include investments in depositary receipts, such as American Depositary Receipts, which are either sponsored or unsponsored and Global Depositary Receipts, and real estate investment trusts (REITs), as well as exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a type of pooled investment vehicle, in order to manage cash positions or seek exposure to certain markets or market sectors. The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its net assets in income investments of any maturity, duration or credit rating, including without limit those rated below investment grade (often referred to as junk bonds). Income investments are corporate bonds and other debt securities, loans, securities issued or guaranteed by the ?U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities, obligations of other sovereign nations, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, inflation and credit-linked debt securities, exchange-traded notes (ETNs), convertible and other hybrid securities, stripped securities, and other non-equity investments. The Fund may purchase and sell derivative instruments. The Fund expects to achieve certain exposures through derivative transactions, including (but not limited to) forward foreign currency exchange contracts; futures on securities, indices, currencies, swaps and other investments; options; equity-linked securities; and interest rate swaps, cross-currency swaps, total return swaps and credit default swaps, which may create economic leverage in the Fund. The Fund may engage in derivative transactions to seek to enhance total return; to hedge against fluctuations in securities prices, interest rates or currency exchange rates; to manage certain investment risks; for speculation purposes to gain certain types of exposures; and/or as a substitute for the purchase or sale of securities or currencies. Except as required by applicable regulation, there is no stated limit on the Funds use of derivatives for such purposes. The Fund may engage in repurchase agreements, forward commitments and short selling. The Fund may engage in securities lending. The Fund may invest 25% or more of its total assets (i.e., concentrate) in an industry under certain circumstances. Generally, the Fund will not purchase a security if, after such purchase, more than 25% of its total assets would be invested in any one industry, except that the Fund may purchase the securities of any issuer, if as a result, no more than 35% of the Funds total assets would be invested in any industry that accounts for more than 20% of a benchmark index of the Fund. In making this determination, the Fund currently uses its blended benchmark index, which is comprised of 50% MSCI Emerging Markets Equal Country Weighted Index and 50% MSCI Frontier Markets Index (the Blended Index). The Fund does not consider the use of the Blended Index for this purpose to be a fundamental policy, and therefore the Fund may, in the future, choose to use a different index or blend of indices for this purpose without shareholder approval. In order to determine whether an industry constitutes 20% or more of the Blended Index, the Fund will average (i) the percentage of the MSCI Emerging Markets Equal Country Weighted Index that is represented by that industry, and (ii) the percentage of the MSCI Frontier Markets Index that is represented by that industry, each as of the most recent month end. As of January 31, 2026, the banking industry represented 35.2% of the Blended Index and 31.2% of the Funds total assets were invested in the banking industry. The Fund seeks to employ a top-down investment process that emphasizes broad exposure among countries, economic sectors and issuers. In managing the Fund, the investment adviser seeks to gain exposures to countries whose macro indicators are expected to strengthen. Based on the investment advisers global ?macroeconomic and political analysis, the investment adviser attempts to identify countries it believes have potential to outperform investments in other countries, and to anticipate changes in global economies, markets, political conditions and other factors for this purpose. The investment adviser invests in equity investments and index derivatives to construct country-level and sector equity exposures while attempting to minimize the structural or behavioral characteristic risks of individual securities. For the Fund, the investment adviser does not set particular investment or exposure levels to any index. The investment adviser considers the relative risk/return characteristics of prospective investments (whether securities, currencies, derivatives or other instruments) in determining the most efficient means for achieving desired exposures. When deemed by the investment sub-adviser to be relevant to its evaluation of a countrys financial performance and when applicable information is available, the investment sub-adviser considers financially material environmental, social and/or governance issues (referred to as ESG) which may impact the prospects of an issuer or long-term stock price performance of a company. When considered, one or more ESG issues are taken into account alongside other factors in the investment decision-making process and are not the sole determinant of whether an investment can be made or will remain in the Funds portfolio. The Fund currently invests substantially all of its assets in the Portfolio, a separate registered investment company with substantially similar investment objective, policies and risks as the Fund. References to the Funds investments include investments held indirectly through the Portfolio in which the Fund invests. Show less