MERVX
The Merger Fund VL
Merger Fund VL
Expense ratio1
1.54%
Net assets2
$24.00M
Holdings2
309
Category
US Equity
2025 return3
8.63%

Investment objective & strategy

As of April 22, 2025 · prospectus

Objective. The fund seeks to achieve capital growth by engaging in merger arbitrage.

Strategy. Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 80% of its total assets principally in equity securities of companies which are involved in publicly announced mergers, takeovers, tender offers, leveraged buyouts, spin-offs, liquidations and other corporate reorganizations (merger-arbitrage investments). Merger arbitrage is a highly specialized investment approach generally designed to profit from the successful completion of such transactions. Although a variety of strategies may be employed depending upon the nature of the reorganizations selected for investment, the simplest form of merger-arbitrage activity involves purchasing the shares of an announced acquisition target at a discount to their expected value upon completion of the acquisition. The size of this discount, known as the arbitrage spread, may represent the funds potential profit … Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 80% of its total assets principally in equity securities of companies which are involved in publicly announced mergers, takeovers, tender offers, leveraged buyouts, spin-offs, liquidations and other corporate reorganizations (merger-arbitrage investments). Merger arbitrage is a highly specialized investment approach generally designed to profit from the successful completion of such transactions. Although a variety of strategies may be employed depending upon the nature of the reorganizations selected for investment, the simplest form of merger-arbitrage activity involves purchasing the shares of an announced acquisition target at a discount to their expected value upon completion of the acquisition. The size of this discount, known as the arbitrage spread, may represent the funds potential profit on such an investment. Because the funds subadviser, Westchester Capital Management, LLC, typically seeks to profit from the spread described above upon the completion of a merger, takeover or other reorganization rather than the performance of the market overall or any one issuer, the subadviser believes the merger-arbitrage strategy is designed to provide performance that normally has relatively low correlation with the performance of stock markets. The fund may employ a variety of hedging strategies to seek to protect against issuer-related risk or other risks, including selling short the securities of the company that proposes to acquire the acquisition target and/or the purchase and sale of put and call options. (To sell a security short, the fund may borrow the security from a broker or other counterparty and sell it to a third party. The fund is obligated to return the same number of securities it borrowed from the broker back to the broker at a later date to close out the short position, at which point in time those securities may have a value that is greater or lesser than the price at which the short sale was established.) In addition, the fund may enter into derivative transactions and purchase or sell other instruments of any kind for similar or other hedging purposes, duration management or volatility management purposes, or otherwise to gain, or reduce, long or short exposure to one or more asset classes or issuers. For example, the subadviser may seek to hedge the funds portfolio against a decline in the values of its portfolio securities or a decline in the market generally by purchasing put options or other derivative investments. The fund may invest significantly in the common stock of and other interests (e.g., warrants) in special purpose acquisition companies or similar special purpose entities that pool funds to seek potential acquisition opportunities (collectively, SPACs). A SPAC investment typically represents an investment in a special purpose vehicle that seeks to identify and effect an acquisition of, or merger with, an operating company in a particular industry or sector. During the period when management of the SPAC seeks to identify a potential acquisition or merger target, typically most of the capital raised for that purpose (less a portion retained to cover expenses) is invested in income-producing investments. The fund may invest in SPACs for a variety of investment purposes, including to achieve income. Some SPACs provide the opportunity for common shareholders to have some or all of their shares redeemed by the SPAC at or around the time a proposed merger or acquisition is expected to occur. The fund may sell its investments in SPACs at any time, including before, at or after the time of a merger or acquisition. For purposes of the funds 80% policy discussed above, a SPAC is considered to be a merger-arbitrage investment throughout its life cycle. The fund may also invest in various types of corporate debt obligations, including defaulted securities and obligations of distressed issuers, as part of its merger-arbitrage strategy or for other investment purposes. In pursuing the funds investment objective and strategies, the fund may invest in U.S. and foreign securities without limit and may invest in companies of any market capitalization. The fund engages in active trading and may invest a portion of its assets to seek short-term capital appreciation. The fund may invest in other investment companies, including exchange-traded funds (ETFs), closed-end funds and open-end mutual funds, among others. To the extent that the fund invests in shares of another investment company or ETF, the fund bears its proportionate share of the expenses of the underlying investment company or ETF and is subject to the risks of the underlying investment companys or ETFs investments. In making merger-arbitrage investments for the fund, the subadviser is generally guided by the following considerations: ? securities are purchased only after a reorganization is announced or when one or more publicly disclosed events point toward the possibility of some type of merger or other significant corporate event within a reasonable period of time; ? before an initial position is established, a preliminary analysis is made of the expected transaction to determine the probability and timing of a successful completion; ? in deciding whether or to what extent to invest, the subadviser evaluates, among other things, the credibility, strategic motivation and financial resources of the participants, and the liquidity of the securities involved in the transaction; ? the risk-reward characteristics of each arbitrage position are assessed on an ongoing basis, and the funds holdings may be adjusted at any time; and ? the subadviser may invest the funds assets in both negotiated, or friendly, reorganizations and non-negotiated, or hostile, takeover attempts, but in either case the subadvisers primary considerations include the subadvisers assessments of the likelihood that the transaction will be successfully completed and the investments risk-adjusted profile. The subadviser may sell securities at any time, including if the subadvisers evaluation of the risk/reward ratio is no longer favorable. The fund may hold a significant portion of its assets in cash, money market investments, money market funds or other similar short-term investments for defensive purposes, to preserve the funds ability to capitalize quickly on new market opportunities or for other reasons, such as because the subadviser has determined to obtain investment exposure through derivative instruments instead of direct cash investments. The fund may also hold a significant amount of cash or short-term investments immediately after the closing of a number of transactions in which it has invested; this could occur at any time, including at calendar quarter or year ends. During periods when the fund is so invested, its investment returns may be lower than if it were not so invested, and the fund may not achieve its investment objective.

Top holdings

As of March 31, 2026 · N-PORT
SecurityTickerValue% of fund
Goldman Sachs Trust - Goldman Sachs Financial Square Treasury Instruments Fund FTIXX $2.45M 10.21%
ENDEAVOR GROUP HOLDINGS INC $1.70M 7.07%
ELECTRONIC ARTS INC $1.31M 5.46%
NORFOLK SOUTHERN CORP $1.26M 5.26%
WEBSTER FINL $1.05M 4.38%
CHART INDUSTRIES INC $969.04K 4.04%
UNIFIRST CORP/MA $527.58K 2.20%
CLEARWATER ANALYTICS HOLDINGS INC $504.95K 2.10%
ESCROW ALTEGRITY INC 021ESC01 $469.86K 1.96%
COTERRA ENERGY INC $460.90K 1.92%
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Allocation by sector

As of March 31, 2026 · N-PORT
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Portfolio moves

Dec 31, 2025 → Mar 31, 2026
Opened
93
Exited
55
Increased
21
Decreased
24
Unchanged
188

How many positions this fund opened, exited, grew, trimmed, or left unchanged between its two most recent N-PORT snapshots — net changes between point-in-time reports, not a trade log.

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Similar funds

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Advisers

As of December 31, 2025 · N-CEN
FirmRole
Virtus Investment Advisers, LLC Adviser
Westchester Capital Management, LLC Sub-adviser

Footnotes

  1. Expense ratio as of April 22, 2025, from the fund's prospectus.
  2. Net assets and holdings count as of March 31, 2026, from the fund's N-PORT filing.
  3. Total return for calendar year 2025, before tax and after fund expenses. Computed by compounding the twelve monthly total returns the fund reported in its SEC N-PORT filings for 2025 (the latest prospectus does not yet chart this year).

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