Strategy. Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests primarily in equity securities of publicly-traded companies located anywhere in the world, including equity securities in developed and emerging markets. Under normal market conditions, the Fund expects to invest in at least three countries, including the United States, and invest at least 40% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in non-U.S. companies. For purposes of this policy, a company is considered to be a non-U.S. company if: (i) at least 50% of the companys revenues or operating income is generated outside of the United States; (ii) the company is organized or maintains its principal place of business outside of the United States; or (iii) the companys primary … Show more… Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests primarily in equity securities of publicly-traded companies located anywhere in the world, including equity securities in developed and emerging markets. Under normal market conditions, the Fund expects to invest in at least three countries, including the United States, and invest at least 40% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in non-U.S. companies. For purposes of this policy, a company is considered to be a non-U.S. company if: (i) at least 50% of the companys revenues or operating income is generated outside of the United States; (ii) the company is organized or maintains its principal place of business outside of the United States; or (iii) the companys primary trading market is located outside of the United States. From time to time, the Fund may also focus its investments in a particular geographic region, such as Europe, Asia and North America. In making investment decisions for the Fund, Sands Capital Management, LLC (the Adviser) focuses on companies that generate (or that the Adviser expects to generate) above average earnings growth and that, in the Advisers opinion, are leading growth businesses in the marketplace. The Fund typically invests in a portfolio of 30-50 issuers that the Adviser believes represents the best opportunities to achieve the Funds investment objective and, from time to time, may heavily invest in a particular sector. In selecting securities for the Fund, the Adviser utilizes a fundamental, bottom-up, business-focused research approach. This research starts with internal competitive landscape analysis, ongoing participation at industry conferences, review of industry and trade periodicals and quantitative screens to populate an initial universe of publicly traded companies that it expects will generate above average earnings growth. The Adviser then evaluates each company for six key investment criteria: ? sustainable above-average earnings growth; ? leadership position in a promising business space; ? significant competitive advantages; ? clear mission and value-added focus; ? financial strength; and ? rational valuation relative to the market and business prospects. Companies that the Adviser determines may meet all six investment criteria are then screened with in-depth qualitative and quantitative research, including a full competitive analysis and proprietary financial modeling. This additional screening also typically includes identifying the key metrics for a particular business or industry, any specific risks or issues relating to a company, as well as a hypothetical sell case, i.e. evaluating a range of scenarios under which a position in a security would be reduced or sold. The Fund intends to buy and hold securities for the long term and seeks to maintain a low level of portfolio turnover. The portfolio turnover rate of the Fund is expected to be below 50% of the average value of its portfolio. The Adviser employs a sell discipline in which the security of a company is sold if an issue emerges that negatively impacts the Advisers assessment of one or more of the six investment criteria discussed above and the Adviser believes that the issue cannot be resolved within an acceptable time frame. The Adviser may also sell a holding if it becomes materially overvalued versus its underlying business, for risk management purposes, and/or if a more attractive investment opportunity presents itself. While the Fund may invest in equity securities of companies of any size, the Fund will primarily invest in large and mid-capitalization companies given the Advisers focus on what it considers to be established business leaders. As such, the Fund will generally not invest in companies with a market capitalization of less than $2 billion and its total median market capitalization will typically be significantly greater than that of the MSCI Barras (MSCI) All Country World Index, the Funds benchmark. As of December 31, 2025, the total median market capitalization of the MSCI All Country World Index was $17.3 billion. The equity securities in which the Fund invests include common stocks as well as preferred securities. The Fund may also purchase American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), European Depositary Receipts (EDRs) and Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs and, together with ADRs and EDRs, Depositary Receipts), which are certificates typically issued by a bank or trust company that represent ownership interests in securities issued by a foreign or domestic company. From time to time, the Fund may have significant investments in one or more countries. The Fund may invest up to the greater of 30% of its net assets or three times the emerging markets component of the MSCI All Country World Index, in securities of companies located in emerging markets. As of December 31, 2025, the emerging markets component of the MSCI All Country World Index was 11.5% of the total index. The Fund may invest in A-Shares of companies based in China that trade on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange through the Shanghai Hong Kong and Shenzhen Hong Kong Stock Connect programs (Stock Connect). Stock Connect is a mutual stock market access program designed to, among other things, enable foreign investments in China. The Fund may use foreign exchange spot contracts to seek to hedge currency exposure. A foreign exchange spot contract is an agreement to buy or sell a specific currency for immediate delivery (i.e., on the spot) as opposed to at a set date in the future. The Fund may also invest in derivatives, specifically (i) foreign exchange forwards to seek to hedge currency exposure and (ii) market access products, to seek to gain economic exposure to markets where holding an underlying security is not feasible. A market access product is a derivative security that provides market exposure to an underlying foreign issuer. Examples of market access products are low exercise price warrants (LEPWs) and participatory notes (P-notes), both of which allow the holder to gain exposure Show less