Strategy. The Portfolio employs a passive management or indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Index. Developed by VettaFi LLC (formerly, GKD Index Partners LLC d/b/a Alerian), a leading provider of objective energy infrastructure and master limited partnership (MLP) benchmarks, data and analytics (VettaFi), the Index is intended to give investors a means of tracking the overall performance of North American energy infrastructure companies. The Index is a composite of North American energy infrastructure companies engaged in midstream activities involving energy commodities, including gathering and processing, liquefaction, pipeline transportation, rail terminaling, and storage (also known as midstream energy businesses). Midstream energy companies include midstream master limited partnerships (MLPs) and midstream corporations based in either the United States or … Show more… The Portfolio employs a passive management or indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Index. Developed by VettaFi LLC (formerly, GKD Index Partners LLC d/b/a Alerian), a leading provider of objective energy infrastructure and master limited partnership (MLP) benchmarks, data and analytics (VettaFi), the Index is intended to give investors a means of tracking the overall performance of North American energy infrastructure companies. The Index is a composite of North American energy infrastructure companies engaged in midstream activities involving energy commodities, including gathering and processing, liquefaction, pipeline transportation, rail terminaling, and storage (also known as midstream energy businesses). Midstream energy companies include midstream master limited partnerships (MLPs) and midstream corporations based in either the United States or Canada. The Index is a capped, float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index. MLPs are publicly traded partnerships engaged in, among other things, the transportation, storage and processing of minerals and natural resources, and are treated as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes. By confining their operations to these specific activities, MLP interests, or units, are able to trade on public securities exchanges exactly like the shares of a corporation, but without entity level income taxation. To qualify as an MLP and not be taxed as a corporation for income tax purposes, a partnership must, for any taxable year, receive at least 90% of its income from qualifying sources as set forth in Section 7704(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code). The Portfolio will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets in securities that comprise the Index (or depositary receipts based on such securities) provided that, for the reasons set forth below, the Portfolio will not invest more than 25% of the value of its assets in one or more MLPs. Under normal conditions, the Portfolio generally will invest in all of the securities that comprise the Index in proportion to their weightings in the Index; however, under various circumstances, it may not be possible or practicable to purchase all of the securities in the Index in those weightings. In those circumstances, the Portfolio may purchase a sample of the securities in the Index or utilize various combinations of other available investment techniques in seeking performance which corresponds to the performance of the Index. Pursuant to Section 851(b) of the Code, the Portfolio may invest no more than 25% of the value of its total assets in the securities of one or more qualified publicly traded partnerships, including MLPs that qualify as qualified publicly traded partnerships. Unlike direct investments in MLPs, income and losses from the Alerian Portfolios investments in MLPs will not directly flow through to the personal tax returns of shareholders. The Alerian Portfolio will report distributions from its investments, including MLPs, made to shareholders annually on Form 1099. Shareholders will not, solely by virtue of their status as Alerian Portfolio shareholders, be treated as engaged in the business conducted by underlying MLPs for federal or state income tax purposes or for purposes of the tax on unrelated business income of tax-exempt organizations. Show less