
PROSPECTUS
VIRTUS OPPORTUNITIES TRUST

September 28, 2023


TICKER SYMBOL BY CLASS
FUND	A	I

Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund (formerly, Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Corporate Debt Fund)	VSHAX	SHCDX

Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund	VSHBX	SHADX

Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund (formerly, Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Fund)	VSHCX	SHMDX

Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund	VSHDX	SHHYX
Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund	VSHEX	SHLMX
Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund	VSHFX	SHSIX

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense. This prospectus contains important information that you should know before investing in Virtus Mutual Funds. Please read it carefully and retain it for future reference.

Not FDIC Insured • No Bank Guarantee • May Lose Value

Virtus Mutual Funds

Table of Contents

FUND SUMMARIES


Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund	1
Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund	5
Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund	10
Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund	14
Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund	18
Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund	23
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT FUND EXPENSES	28
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES AND PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES	28
Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund	29
Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund	30
Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund	32
Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund	33
Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund	34
Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund	35
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT RISKS RELATED TO PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES	36
MANAGEMENT OF THE FUNDS	42
ADDITIONAL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH INVESTMENT TECHNIQUES AND FUND OPERATIONS	44
PRICING OF FUND SHARES	45
SALES CHARGES	47
YOUR ACCOUNT	51
HOW TO BUY SHARES	52
HOW TO SELL SHARES	52
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW WHEN SELLING SHARES	53
ACCOUNT POLICIES	54
COST BASIS REPORTING	56
INVESTOR SERVICES AND OTHER INFORMATION	56
TAX STATUS OF DISTRIBUTIONS	57
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS	58
APPENDIX A—Intermediary Sales Charge Discounts and Waivers	62

This Prospectus provides information concerning the funds that you should consider in determining whether to purchase shares of the funds. None of this Prospectus, the statement of additional information (“SAI”) or any contract that is an exhibit to the funds’ registration statement is intended to give rise to any agreement or contract between the funds and any investor, or give rise to any contract or other rights in any individual shareholder, group of shareholders or other person other than any rights conferred explicitly by federal or state securities laws that may not be waived.

Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund (formerly, Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Corporate Debt Fund)

Investment Objective

The fund has an investment objective of seeking to maximize total return, which consists of income on its investments and capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses

The tables below illustrate the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below. You may qualify for sales charge discounts in Class A Shares if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Virtus Funds. More information on these and other discounts is available: (i) from your financial professional or other financial intermediary; (ii) under “Sales Charges” on page 47 of the fund’s prospectus; (iii) with respect to purchase of shares through specific intermediaries, in Appendix A to the fund’s prospectus, entitled “Intermediary Sales Charge Discounts and Waivers;” and (iv) under “Alternative Purchase Arrangements” on page 95 of the fund’s SAI.

The Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund, a series of Virtus Opportunities Trust, is the successor of the Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Corporate Debt Fund, formerly a series of Stone Harbor Investment Funds (“Predecessor Fund”), resulting from a reorganization of the Predecessor Fund with and into the fund on April 8, 2022.


Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)	Class A	Class I
Maximum Sales Charge (load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	3.75%	None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (load) (as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds)	None	None

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)	Class A	Class I
Management Fees	0.85%	0.85%
Distribution and Shareholder Servicing (12b-1) Fees	0.25%	None
Other Expenses^(a)	1.15%	1.36%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	2.25%	2.21%
Less: Expense Reimbursement^(b)	(1.00)%	(1.21)%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement^(b)(c)	1.25%	1.00%


(a)	Restated to reflect current fees and expenses.
(b)	Virtus Alternative Investment Advisers, Inc. (“VAIA”), the fund’s investment adviser, has contractually agreed to limit the fund’s total operating expenses (excluding certain expenses, such as front-end or contingent deferred sales charges, taxes, leverage and borrowing expenses (such as commitment, amendment and renewal expenses on credit or redemption facilities), interest, brokerage commissions, expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization, unusual or infrequently occurring expenses (such as litigation), acquired fund fees and expenses and dividend expenses, if any) so that such expenses do not exceed 1.25% for Class A Shares and 1.00% for Class I Shares through September 30, 2024. Following the contractual period, VAIA may discontinue these expense reimbursement arrangements at any time. Under certain conditions, VAIA may recapture operating expenses reimbursed and/or fees waived under these arrangements for a period of three years following the date such waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided that the recapture does not cause the fund to exceed its expense limit in effect at the time of the waiver or reimbursement, and any in effect at the time of recapture, after repayment is taken into account. The expense limitation agreement is terminable by mutual agreement of the Board of Trustees of Virtus Opportunities Trust and VAIA.
(c)	Not included in the table are extraordinary proxy expenses. If such amounts were reflected in this table, the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reduction/Reimbursement would have been 1.26% for Class A Shares and 1.01% for Class I Shares.

Example

This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods or continued to hold them. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year, that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same and that the expense reimbursement agreement remains in place for the contractual period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:


	Share Status	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Class A	Sold or Held	$498	$959	$1,447	$2,788
Class I	Sold or Held	$102	$575	$1,074	$2,449

Portfolio Turnover

The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the fund’s (including the Predecessor Fund’s) portfolio turnover rate was 31% of the average value of its portfolio.


Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund	1

Investments, Risks and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings made for investment purposes) in Emerging Markets Corporate Debt Investments. “Emerging Markets Corporate Debt Investments” are debt instruments, including loans, issued by corporations or other business organizations that are economically tied to an emerging market country. A corporation or other business organization is economically tied to an emerging market country if it issues securities that are principally traded on the country’s securities markets or if it is organized or principally operates in the country, derives a majority of its income from its operations within the country or has a majority of its assets within the country. Emerging Markets Corporate Debt Investments also include derivative instruments used for hedging purposes or to otherwise gain or reduce long or short exposure to Emerging Markets Corporate Debt Investments. For example, the fund may utilize futures or other derivatives whose return is based on specific Emerging Markets Corporate Debt Investments or indices of such investments. Although the fund is not limited in the types of derivatives it can use, the fund currently expects that its derivatives investments will consist primarily of the following instruments and transactions: futures, options, swaps, credit linked notes and credit default swaps. The fund may use derivatives to a significant extent. The fund may also invest in sovereign debt securities. The fund’s investments may be denominated in non-U.S. currencies or in the U.S. dollar.

The fund considers “emerging market countries” to include countries identified by the World Bank Group as being “low income economies” or which are included in a JPMorgan emerging market bond index. It is anticipated that the fund will focus most of its investments in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and/or the developing countries of Europe. The fund’s investments may include, among other things, corporate debt securities, sovereign debt securities, structured notes, convertible securities, securities issued by supranational organizations, fixed and floating rate commercial loans, loan participations and assignments, private placements, Rule 144A securities, non-U.S. currencies, forward currency contracts and other foreign currency transactions and derivatives related to the types of investments listed herein. The fund seeks capital appreciation through country selection, issuer selection, industry selection, security selection and currency selection.

Credit Quality. The fund may invest in securities of any credit rating (including unrated securities) and may invest without limit in higher risk, below-investment grade debt securities, commonly referred to as “high yield” securities or “junk bonds.” Such securities may include those that are in default with respect to the payment of principal or interest.

Maturity and Duration. The subadviser normally maintains an average portfolio duration of between 2 and 7 years. However, the fund’s average duration may be outside this range, and the fund may invest in securities of any duration and maturity.

Principal Risks

The fund may not achieve its objective(s), and it is not intended to be a complete investment program. The value of the fund’s investments that supports your share value may decrease. If between the time you purchase shares and the time you sell shares the value of the fund’s investments decreases, you will lose money. Investment values can decrease for a number of reasons. Conditions affecting the overall economy, specific industries or companies in which the fund invests can be worse than expected, and investments may fail to perform as the subadviser expects. As a result, the value of your shares may decrease. Purchase and redemption activities by fund shareholders may impact the management of the fund and its ability to achieve its investment objective(s). The principal risks of investing in the fund are identified below.

> Emerging Market Risk: Emerging markets securities may be more volatile, or more greatly affected by negative conditions, than those of their counterparts in more established foreign markets.

> Foreign Investing Risk: Investing in foreign securities subjects the fund to additional risks such as increased volatility; currency fluctuations; less liquidity; less publicly available information about the foreign investment; and political, regulatory, economic, and market risk.

> Credit Risk: If the issuer of a debt instrument fails to pay interest or principal in a timely manner, or negative perceptions exist in the market of the issuer’s ability to make such payments, the price of the security may decline.

> Interest Rate Risk: The values of debt instruments may rise or fall in response to changes in interest rates, and this risk may be enhanced for securities with longer maturities.

> Counterparty Risk: There is risk that a party upon whom the fund relies to complete a transaction will default.

> Currency Rate Risk: Fluctuations in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies may negatively affect the value of the fund’s shares.

> Derivatives Risk: Derivatives and other similar instruments (collectively referred to in this section as “derivatives”) may include, among other things, futures, options, forwards and swap agreements and may be used in order to hedge portfolio risks, create leverage or attempt to increase returns. Investments in derivatives may result in increased volatility and the fund may incur a loss greater than its principal investment.

> High-Yield/High-Risk Fixed Income Securities (Junk Bonds) Risk: There is a greater risk of issuer default, less liquidity, and increased price volatility related to high-yield/high-risk securities than investment grade securities.

> Liquidity Risk: Certain instruments may be difficult or impossible to sell at a time and price beneficial to the fund.

> Income Risk: Income received from the fund may vary widely over the short- and long-term and/or be less than anticipated if the proceeds from maturing securities in the fund are reinvested in lower-yielding securities.

> Market Volatility Risk: The value of the securities in the fund may go up or down in response to the prospects of individual companies and/or general economic conditions. Price changes may be short- or long-term. Local, regional or global events such as war or military conflict (e.g. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine), acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issue, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the fund and its investments, including hampering the ability of the fund’s portfolio manager(s) to invest the fund’s assets as intended.


2	Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund

> Bank Loan Risk: In addition to the risks typically associated with high-yield/high-risk fixed income securities, bank loans may be unsecured or not fully collateralized, may be subject to restrictions on resale, may be less liquid and may trade infrequently on the secondary market. Bank loans settle on a delayed basis; thus, sale proceeds may not be available to meet redemptions for a substantial period of time after the sale of the loan.

> Prepayment/Call Risk: Issuers may prepay or call their fixed rate obligations when interest rates fall, forcing the fund to reinvest in obligations with lower interest rates and the fund may not benefit fully from the increase in value that other fixed income investments experience when interest rates decline.

> Redemption Risk: One or more large shareholders or groups of shareholders may redeem their holdings in the fund, resulting in an adverse impact on remaining shareholders in the fund by causing the fund to take actions it would not otherwise have taken.

> RIC Compliance Risk: If the fund fails to qualify as a “regulated investment company” under the Internal Revenue Code, the fund’s expenses could increase, reducing its investment performance.

> Short-Term Investments Risk: The fund’s short-term investments may not provide the liquidity or protection intended or may prevent the fund from experiencing positive movements in the fund’s principal investment strategies.

Performance Information

The bar chart and table below provide some indication of the risks of investing in the fund. The fund’s past performance, before and after taxes, is not necessarily an indication of how the fund will perform in the future.

The bar chart shows changes in the fund’s and Predecessor Fund’s performance from year to year over a 10-year period. The table shows how the fund’s and Predecessor Fund’s average annual returns compare to those of a broad-based securities market index. Updated performance information is available at virtus.com or by calling 800-243-1574.

Class A Shares have not had a full calendar year of operations; therefore, performance information is not shown here. Updated performance information is available at virtus.com or by calling 800-243-1574.

Calendar year total returns for Class I Shares

Returns do not reflect sales charges applicable to other share classes and would be lower if they did.

PerformanceBarChartData(2013:-1.89,2014:4.29,2015:0.17,2016:10.46,2017:9.28,2018:-4.69,2019:13.93,2020:7.75,2021:1.95,2022:-11.76)


Best Quarter:	2020, Q2:	20.05%	Worst Quarter:	2020, Q1:	-20.12%	Year to Date (6/30/2023):	3.42%

Average Annual Total Returns (for the periods ended December 31, 2022; includes returns of a predecessor fund)

Returns reflect deduction of maximum sales charges and full redemption at end of periods shown.




		1 Year	5 Years	10 Years
Class I Shares
	Return Before Taxes	-11.76%	1.03%	2.68%
	Return After Taxes on Distributions	-13.66%	-1.04%	0.56%
	Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares	-6.96%	-0.05%	1.11%
JPMorgan CEMBI Broad Diversified Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)		-12.26%	1.08%	2.81%

The J.P. Morgan CEMBI Broad Diversified Index tracks total returns for U.S. dollar denominated debt instruments issued by corporate entities in emerging markets countries. The benchmark limits the current face amount allocations of the bonds in the CEMBI Broad by constraining the total face amount outstanding for countries with larger debt stocks. Qualifying corporate bonds have a face amount greater than USD 300 million, maturity greater than 5 years, verifiable prices and cash flows, and from countries with Asia ex Japan, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa. The index is calculated on a total-return basis with dividends reinvested. The index is unmanaged and not available for direct investment.


Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund	3

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. After-tax returns are shown only for Class I Shares; after-tax returns for other classes will vary. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold fund shares in tax-deferred accounts or to shares held by non-taxable entities. In certain cases, the Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares for a period may be higher than other return figures for the same period. This will occur when a capital loss is realized upon the sale of fund shares and provides an assumed tax benefit that increases the return.

Management

The fund’s investment adviser is Virtus Alternative Investment Advisers, Inc. (“VAIA”).

The fund’s subadviser is Stone Harbor Investment Partners (“Stone Harbor”), an operating division of Virtus Fixed Income Advisers, LLC (“VFIA”), an affiliate of VAIA.

Portfolio Management

> Darin Batchman, Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Mr. Batchman has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund and a member of the fund’s management team since September 2023.

> James E. Craige, CFA, Co-Chief Investment Officer of Stone Harbor. Mr. Craige has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund or the Predecessor Fund and a member of the fund’s management team since 2011.

> Kumaran Damodaran, PhD, Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Mr. Damodaran has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund or the Predecessor Fund and a member of the fund’s management team since 2015.

> Richard Lange, Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Mr. Lange has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund and a member of the fund’s management team since September 2023.

> David A. Oliver, Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Mr. Oliver has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund or the Predecessor Fund and a member of the fund’s management team since 2011.

> Stuart Sclater-Booth, Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Mr. Sclater-Booth has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund and a member of the fund’s management team since 2017.

> Peter J. Wilby, CFA, Co-Chief Investment Officer of Stone Harbor. Mr. Wilby has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund or the Predecessor Fund and a member of the fund’s management team since 2011.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Minimum initial investments applicable to Class A Shares:

 $2,500, generally

 $100 for Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), systematic purchase or exchange accounts

 No minimum for defined contribution plans, asset-based fee programs, profit-sharing plans or employee benefit plans.

Minimum additional investments applicable to Class A Shares:

 $100, generally

 No minimum for defined contribution plans, asset-based fee programs, profit-sharing plans or employee benefit plans.

For Class I Shares, the minimum initial purchase is $100,000; there is no minimum for additional purchases.

In general, you may buy or sell shares of the fund by mail or telephone on any business day. You also may buy and sell shares through a financial professional, broker-dealer or other financial intermediary.

Taxes

The fund’s distributions are taxable to you as either ordinary income or capital gains, except when your investment is through a tax-deferred arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account. Such tax-deferred arrangements may be taxed later upon withdrawal of monies from those arrangements.

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase the fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your financial professional to recommend the fund over another investment. Ask your financial professional or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.


4	Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund

Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund

Investment Objective

The fund has an investment objective of seeking to maximize total return, which consists of income on its investments and capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses

The Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund, a series of Virtus Opportunities Trust, is the successor of the Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund, formerly a series of Stone Harbor Investment Funds (“Predecessor Fund”), resulting from a reorganization of the Predecessor Fund with and into the fund on April 8, 2022.


Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)	Class A	Class I
Maximum Sales Charge (load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	3.75%	None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (load) (as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds)	None	None

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)	Class A	Class I
Management Fees	0.70%	0.70%
Distribution and Shareholder Servicing (12b-1) Fees	0.25%	None
Other Expenses^(a)	1.21%	1.56%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	0.84%	0.84%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses^(b)	3.00%	3.10%
Less: Expense Reimbursement^(c)	(1.90)%	(2.25)%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement^(b)(c)(d)	1.10%	0.85%


(a)	Restated to reflect current fees and expenses.
(b)	The Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses do not correlate to the ratio of expenses to average net assets appearing in the Financial Highlights tables, which tables reflect only the operating expenses of the fund and do not include acquired fund fees and expenses.
(c)	Virtus Alternative Investment Advisers, Inc. (“VAIA”), the fund’s investment adviser, has contractually agreed to limit the fund’s total operating expenses (excluding certain expenses, such as front-end or contingent deferred sales charges, taxes, leverage and borrowing expenses (such as commitment, amendment and renewal expenses on credit or redemption facilities), interest, brokerage commissions, expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization, unusual or infrequently occurring expenses (such as litigation), acquired fund fees and expenses and dividend expenses, if any) so that such expenses do not exceed 1.10% for Class A Shares and 0.85% for Class I Shares through September 30, 2024. Following the contractual period, VAIA may discontinue these expense reimbursement arrangements at any time. Under certain conditions, VAIA may recapture operating expenses reimbursed and/or fees waived under these arrangements for a period of three years following the date such waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided that the recapture does not cause the fund to exceed its expense limit in effect at the time of the waiver or reimbursement, and any in effect at the time of recapture, after repayment is taken into account. The expense limitation agreement is terminable by mutual agreement of the Board of Trustees of Virtus Opportunities Trust and VAIA.
(d)	Not included in the table are extraordinary proxy expenses. If such amounts were reflected in this table, the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reduction/Reimbursement would have been 1.12% for Class A Shares and 0.86% for Class I Shares.

Example


	Share Status	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Class A	Sold or Held	$483	$1,095	$1,732	$3,439
Class I	Sold or Held	$87	$745	$1,428	$3,253

Portfolio Turnover


Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund	5

Investments, Risks and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal circumstances, the fund invests, either directly or through the underlying funds (defined below), at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings made for investment purposes) in Emerging Markets Debt Investments. “Emerging Markets Debt Investments” include fixed income securities and derivative instruments (including, but not limited to, spot and currency contracts, futures, options and swaps) that economically are tied to an emerging market country or whose performance is linked to those countries’ currencies, markets, economies or ability to repay loans. A security or instrument is economically tied to an emerging market country if it is principally traded on the country’s securities markets or the issuer is organized or principally operates in the country, derives a majority of its income from its operations within the country or has a majority of its assets within the country. Emerging Markets Debt Investments may be denominated in the U.S. Dollar or the predominant currency of the local market of an emerging market country (an “Emerging Markets Currency”). Emerging Markets Debt Investments also include Emerging Markets Currencies and derivatives and other instruments used to hedge or gain exposure to emerging securities markets or Emerging Markets Currencies (for example, futures or other derivatives whose return is based on specific emerging markets securities, emerging markets indices or Emerging Markets Currencies). The fund may use derivatives to a significant extent. Derivatives included in the 80% calculation are those that have economic characteristics of emerging markets fixed income securities.

The fund may invest all or a significant portion of its assets in the Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund and Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund (together, the “underlying funds”). The fund expects that under normal circumstances approximately 50% of the fund’s assets will be invested in the Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund and approximately 50% of the fund’s assets will be invested in the Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund. The fund is not required to invest in the underlying funds. The allocations in the underlying funds listed above may vary from time to time depending on market conditions and there may be times the fund is not invested in any underlying fund. The fund will consider the holdings of the underlying funds in which it invests when determining compliance with the 80% policy. In addition to investing in the underlying funds, the fund may invest directly in fixed income securities and other instruments and transactions. References in this Prospectus to the fund may refer to actions undertaken or investments held by the fund or by an underlying fund. The underlying funds listed above are described elsewhere in this Prospectus.

The subadviser has broad discretion to identify and invest in countries that it considers to qualify as emerging securities markets. The subadviser generally considers “emerging market countries” to include countries identified by the World Bank Group as being “low income economies” or which are included in a JPMorgan emerging market bond index. It is anticipated that the fund will focus most of its investments in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and/or the developing countries of Europe. The fund’s investments may include, among other things, sovereign debt securities, corporate debt securities, structured notes, convertible securities, securities issued by supranational organizations, floating rate commercial loans, securitized loan participations, Rule 144A securities, non-U.S. currencies, forward currency contracts and other foreign currency transactions and derivatives related to these types of investments. The fund seeks capital appreciation through country selection, sector selection, security selection and currency selection.

In selecting Emerging Markets Debt Investments for investment, the subadviser will apply a market risk analysis contemplating the assessment of various factors, such as liquidity, volatility, tax implications, interest rate sensitivity, counterparty risks, economic factors, currency exchange rates and technical market conditions.

Principal Risks

> Affiliated Fund Risk: The risk that the subadviser’s authority to select and substitute underlying funds from a variety of affiliated mutual funds may create a conflict of interest.

> Allocation Risk: The risk that the fund’s exposure to equities and fixed income securities, or to different asset classes, may vary from the intended allocation or may not be optimal for market conditions at a given time.

> Fund of Funds Risk: The risk that the fund’s performance will be adversely affected by the assets owned by the other mutual funds and ETFs in which it invests, and that the layering of expenses associated with the fund’s investment in such other funds will cost shareholders more than direct investments would have cost.

The principal risks attributable to the underlying funds in which the fund invests are:

> Emerging Market Risk: Emerging markets securities may be more volatile, or more greatly affected by negative conditions, than those of their counterparts in more established foreign markets.


6	Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund

> Interest Rate Risk: The values of debt instruments may rise or fall in response to changes in interest rates, and this risk may be enhanced for securities with longer maturities.

> Counterparty Risk: There is risk that a party upon whom the fund relies to complete a transaction will default.

> Currency Rate Risk: Fluctuations in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies may negatively affect the value of the fund’s shares.

> Liquidity Risk: Certain instruments may be difficult or impossible to sell at a time and price beneficial to the fund.

> RIC Compliance Risk: If the fund fails to qualify as a “regulated investment company” under the Internal Revenue Code, the fund’s expenses could increase, reducing its investment performance.

Performance Information

The bar chart shows changes in the fund’s and Predecessor Fund’s performance from year to year since its inception. The table shows how the fund’s and Predecessor Fund’s average annual returns compare to those of two broad-based securities market indexes and a blended index. Updated performance information is available at virtus.com or by calling 800-243-1574.

Calendar year total returns for Class I Shares

Returns do not reflect sales charges applicable to other share classes and would be lower if they did.

PerformanceBarChartData(2015:-8.46,2016:10.99,2017:13.35,2018:-9.02,2019:13.86,2020:5.03,2021:-5.56,2022:-16.25)


Best Quarter:	2020, Q2:	15.30%	Worst Quarter:	2020, Q1:	-17.80%	Year to Date (6/30/2023):	5.73%


Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund	7

Average Annual Total Returns (for the periods ended December 31, 2022; includes returns of a predecessor fund)

Returns reflect deduction of maximum sales charges and full redemption at end of periods shown.


				Since
				Inception
		1 Year	5 Years	(10/20/2014)
Class I Shares
	Return Before Taxes	-16.25%	-2.96%	-0.82%
	Return After Taxes on Distributions	-20.30%	-4.87%	-2.63%
	Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares	-9.62%	-2.92%	-1.32%
JPMorgan EMBI Global Diversified Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)		-17.78%	-1.31%	1.52%
JPMorgan GBI-EM Global Diversified Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)		-11.69%	-2.51%	-1.55%
Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund Composite Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)		-14.75%	-1.86%	0.04%

The J.P. Morgan EMBI Global Diversified Index (EMBI Global Diversified) tracks total returns for U.S. dollar-denominated debt instruments issued by emerging markets sovereign and quasi-sovereign entities: Brady bonds, loans, and Eurobonds. The index limits the weights of those index countries with larger debt stocks by only including specified portions of these countries’ eligible current face amounts outstanding. The countries covered in the EMBI Global Diversified are identical to those covered by the J.P. Morgan EMBI Global. The J.P. Morgan GBI-EM Global Diversified Index (GBI-EM Global Diversified) consists of regularly traded, liquid fixed-rate, domestic currency government bonds to which international investors can gain exposure. The weightings among the countries are more evenly distributed within this index. The Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund Composite Index consists of 50% EMBI Global Diversified and 50% GBI-EM Global Diversified.The indexes are calculated on a total-return basis with dividends reinvested, and they are unmanaged and not available for direct investment.

Management

The fund’s investment adviser is Virtus Alternative Investment Advisers, Inc. (“VAIA”).

The fund’s subadviser is Stone Harbor Investment Partners (“Stone Harbor”), an operating division of Virtus Fixed Income Advisers, LLC (“VFIA”), an affiliate of VAIA.

Portfolio Management

> David A. Oliver, Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Mr. Oliver has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund or the Predecessor Fund and a member of the fund’s management team since 2014.

> Stuart Sclater-Booth, Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Mr. Sclater-Booth has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund or the Predecessor Fund and a member of the fund’s management team since 2017.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Minimum initial investments applicable to Class A Shares:

 $2,500, generally

 $100 for Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), systematic purchase or exchange accounts

 No minimum for defined contribution plans, asset-based fee programs, profit-sharing plans or employee benefit plans.

Minimum additional investments applicable to Class A Shares:

 $100, generally

 No minimum for defined contribution plans, asset-based fee programs, profit-sharing plans or employee benefit plans.

For Class I Shares, the minimum initial purchase is $100,000; there is no minimum for additional purchases.


8	Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund

Taxes

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries


Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund	9

Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund (formerly, Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Fund)

Investment Objective

The fund has an investment objective of seeking to maximize total return, which consists of income on its investments and capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses

The Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund, a series of Virtus Opportunities Trust, is the successor of the Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Fund, formerly a series of Stone Harbor Investment Funds (“Predecessor Fund”), resulting from a reorganization of the Predecessor Fund with and into the fund on April 8, 2022.


Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)	Class A	Class I
Maximum Sales Charge (load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	3.75%	None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (load) (as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds)	None	None

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)	Class A	Class I
Management Fees	0.60%	0.60%
Distribution and Shareholder Servicing (12b-1) Fees	0.25%	None
Other Expenses	0.24%	0.20%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	0.02%	0.02%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses^(a)	1.11%	0.82%
Less: Expense Reimbursement^(b)	(0.09)%	(0.08)%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement^(a)(b)(c)	1.02%	0.74%


(a)	The Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses do not correlate to the ratio of expenses to average net assets appearing in the Financial Highlights tables, which tables reflect only the operating expenses of the fund and do not include acquired fund fees and expenses.
(b)	Virtus Alternative Investment Advisers, Inc. (“VAIA”), the fund’s investment adviser, has contractually agreed to limit the fund’s total operating expenses (excluding certain expenses, such as front-end or contingent deferred sales charges, taxes, leverage and borrowing expenses (such as commitment, amendment and renewal expenses on credit or redemption facilities), interest, brokerage commissions, expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization, unusual or infrequently occurring expenses (such as litigation), acquired fund fees and expenses and dividend expenses, if any) so that such expenses do not exceed 1.00% for Class A Shares and 0.72% for Class I Shares through September 30, 2024. Following the contractual period, VAIA may discontinue these expense reimbursement arrangements at any time. Under certain conditions, VAIA may recapture operating expenses reimbursed and/or fees waived under these arrangements for a period of three years following the date such waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided that the recapture does not cause the fund to exceed its expense limit in effect at the time of the waiver or reimbursement, and any in effect at the time of recapture, after repayment is taken into account. The expense limitation agreement is terminable by mutual agreement of the Board of Trustees of Virtus Opportunities Trust and VAIA.
(c)	Not included in the table are extraordinary proxy expenses and/or excise tax expense. If such amounts were reflected in this table, the Total Annual Series Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement would have been 1.04% for Class A Shares and 0.75% for Class I Shares.

Example


	Share Status	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Class A	Sold or Held	$475	$706	$955	$1,668
Class I	Sold or Held	$76	$254	$447	$1,006

Portfolio Turnover


10	Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund

Investments, Risks and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings made for investment purposes) in Emerging Markets Fixed Income Securities. “Emerging Markets Fixed Income Securities” include fixed income securities and derivative instruments (including, but not limited to, spot and currency contracts, futures, options and swaps) that economically are tied to countries with emerging securities markets or whose performance is linked to those countries’ markets, economies or ability to repay loans. Emerging Markets Fixed Income Securities may be denominated in non-U.S. currencies or the U.S. dollar. A security or instrument is economically tied to an emerging market country if it is principally traded on the country’s securities markets or the issuer is organized or principally operates in the country, derives a majority of its income from its operations within the country or has a majority of its assets within the country. Emerging Markets Fixed Income Securities also include derivatives and other instruments used to hedge or gain exposure to emerging securities markets (for example, futures or other derivatives whose return is based on specific emerging markets securities or indices). Although the fund is not limited in the types of derivatives it can use, the fund currently expects that its derivatives investments will consist primarily of the following instruments and transactions: futures, options, swaps, credit linked notes and credit default swaps. The Fund may use derivatives to a significant extent. Derivatives included in the 80% calculation are those that have economic characteristics of emerging markets fixed income securities.

The subadviser has broad discretion to identify and invest in countries that it considers to be emerging securities markets. The fund considers “emerging market countries” to include countries identified by the World Bank Group as being “low income economies” or which are included in a JPMorgan emerging market bond index. It is anticipated that the fund will focus most of its investments in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and/or the developing countries of Europe. Emerging Markets Fixed Income Securities may include, among other things, sovereign debt securities, corporate debt securities, structured notes, convertible securities, securities issued by supranational organizations, floating rate commercial loans, securitized loan participations, Rule 144A securities and derivatives related to these types of securities. The fund seeks capital appreciation through country selection, sector selection and security selection.

Credit Quality. The fund may invest in securities of any credit rating (including unrated securities) and may invest without limit in higher risk, below investment grade debt securities, commonly referred to as “high yield” securities or “junk bonds.”

Principal Risks

> Emerging Market Risk: Emerging markets securities may be more volatile, or more greatly affected by negative conditions, than those of their counterparts in more established foreign markets.

> Interest Rate Risk: The values of debt instruments may rise or fall in response to changes in interest rates, and this risk may be enhanced for securities with longer maturities.

> Counterparty Risk: There is risk that a party upon whom the fund relies to complete a transaction will default.

> Currency Rate Risk: Fluctuations in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies may negatively affect the value of the fund’s shares.

> Liquidity Risk: Certain instruments may be difficult or impossible to sell at a time and price beneficial to the fund.


Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund	11

> Portfolio Turnover Risk: The fund’s principal investment strategies may result in a consistently high portfolio turnover rate. See the “Portfolio Turnover” section above for more information about the impact that portfolio turnover can have on your investment.

> RIC Compliance Risk: If the fund fails to qualify as a “regulated investment company” under the Internal Revenue Code, the fund’s expenses could increase, reducing its investment performance.

Performance Information

Calendar year total returns for Class I Shares

Returns do not reflect sales charges applicable to other share classes and would be lower if they did.

PerformanceBarChartData(2013:-8.77,2014:2.87,2015:-0.9,2016:14.13,2017:11.56,2018:-8.49,2019:15.2,2020:7.05,2021:-2.51,2022:-19.71)


Best Quarter:	2020, Q2:	18.89%	Worst Quarter:	2020, Q1:	-18.76%	Year to Date (6/30/2023):	4.97%

Average Annual Total Returns (for the periods ended December 31, 2022; includes returns of a predecessor fund)

Returns reflect deduction of maximum sales charges and full redemption at end of periods shown.




		1 Year	5 Years	10 Years
Class I Shares
	Return Before Taxes	-19.71%	-2.45%	0.45%
	Return After Taxes on Distributions	-22.92%	-4.92%	-2.06%
	Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares	-11.65%	-2.72%	-0.65%
JPMorgan EMBI Global Diversified Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)		-17.78%	-1.31%	1.59%


12	Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund

may differ from those shown. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold fund shares in tax-deferred accounts or to shares held by non-taxable entities. In certain cases, the Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares for a period may be higher than other return figures for the same period. This will occur when a capital loss is realized upon the sale of fund shares and provides an assumed tax benefit that increases the return.

Management

The fund’s investment adviser is Virtus Alternative Investment Advisers, Inc. (“VAIA”).

The fund’s subadviser is Stone Harbor Investment Partners (“Stone Harbor”), an operating division of Virtus Fixed Income Advisers, LLC (“VFIA”), an affiliate of VAIA.

Portfolio Management

> David A. Oliver, Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Mr. Oliver has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund or the Predecessor Fund and a member of the fund’s management team since 2008.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Minimum initial investments applicable to Class A Shares:

 $2,500, generally

 $100 for Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), systematic purchase or exchange accounts

 No minimum for defined contribution plans, asset-based fee programs, profit-sharing plans or employee benefit plans.

Minimum additional investments applicable to Class A Shares:

 $100, generally

 No minimum for defined contribution plans, asset-based fee programs, profit-sharing plans or employee benefit plans.

For Class I Shares, the minimum initial purchase is $100,000; there is no minimum for additional purchases.

Taxes

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries


Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund	13

Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund

Investment Objective

The fund has an investment objective of seeking to maximize total return, which consists of income on its investments and capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses

The Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund, a series of Virtus Opportunities Trust, is the successor of the Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund, formerly a series of Stone Harbor Investment Funds (“Predecessor Fund”), resulting from a reorganization of the Predecessor Fund with and into the fund on April 8, 2022.


Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)	Class A	Class I
Maximum Sales Charge (load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	3.75%	None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (load) (as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds)	None	None

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)	Class A	Class I
Management Fees	0.50%	0.50%
Distribution and Shareholder Servicing (12b-1) Fees	0.25%	None
Other Expenses^(a)	0.29%	0.25%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	1.04%	0.75%
Less: Expense Reimbursement^(b)	(0.14)%	(0.10)%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement^(b)(c)	0.90%	0.65%


(a)	Restated to reflect current fees and expenses.
(b)	Virtus Alternative Investment Advisers, Inc. (“VAIA”), the fund’s investment adviser, has contractually agreed to limit the fund’s total operating expenses (excluding certain expenses, such as front-end or contingent deferred sales charges, taxes, leverage and borrowing expenses (such as commitment, amendment and renewal expenses on credit or redemption facilities), interest, brokerage commissions, expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization, unusual or infrequently occurring expenses (such as litigation), acquired fund fees and expenses and dividend expenses, if any) so that such expenses do not exceed 0.90% for Class A Shares and 0.65% for Class I Shares through September 30, 2024. Following the contractual period, VAIA may discontinue these expense reimbursement arrangements at any time. Under certain conditions, VAIA may recapture operating expenses reimbursed and/or fees waived under these arrangements for a period of three years following the date such waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided that the recapture does not cause the fund to exceed its expense limit in effect at the time of the waiver or reimbursement, and any in effect at the time of recapture, after repayment is taken into account. The expense limitation agreement is terminable by mutual agreement of the Board of Trustees of Virtus Opportunities Trust and VAIA.
(c)	Not included in the table are extraordinary proxy expenses. If such amounts were reflected in this table, the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reduction/Reimbursement would have been 0.91% for Class A Shares and 0.66% for Class I Shares.

Example


	Share Status	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Class A	Sold or Held	$463	$680	$914	$1,586
Class I	Sold or Held	$66	$230	$407	$921

Portfolio Turnover


14	Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund

Investments, Risks and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings made for investment purposes) in High Yield Debt Securities. “High Yield Debt Securities” include fixed income securities and derivative instruments (including, but not limited to, spot and currency contracts, futures, options and swaps) rated below investment grade (or, if unrated, of comparable quality as determined by the Adviser). These types of securities and debt instruments are commonly referred to as “high yield” securities or “junk bonds” and may include, among other things, bonds, debentures, notes, equipment trust certificates, commercial paper, commercial loans, and other obligations of U.S. and non-U.S. issuers. High Yield Debt Securities also include securities or other instruments whose return is based on the return of high yield securities, including derivative instruments and instruments created to hedge or gain exposure to the high yield markets. The fund may invest in High Yield Debt Securities of any credit rating (including unrated securities). The fund’s investments may include, among other things, asset-backed securities, depositary receipts, mortgage-related securities (including transferable private issuer mortgage-backed securities), non-publicly traded securities, payment-in-kind bonds, securities issued by supranational organizations, structured notes, convertible securities, inflation-protected and other index-linked securities, interest-only securities, step-up securities and zero coupon bonds. Although the fund is not limited in the types of derivatives it can use, the fund currently expects that its derivatives investments will consist primarily of the following instruments and transactions: futures, options, swaps, credit linked notes and credit default swaps. The fund may use derivatives to a significant extent. The fund seeks capital appreciation through industry selection, sector selection and security selection.

Maturity and Duration. The subadviser normally maintains an average portfolio duration of between 3 and 7 years. However, the fund’s average duration may be outside this range, and the fund may invest in securities of any duration and maturity.

Principal Risks

> Interest Rate Risk: The values of debt instruments may rise or fall in response to changes in interest rates, and this risk may be enhanced for securities with longer maturities.

> Counterparty Risk: There is risk that a party upon whom the fund relies to complete a transaction will default.

> Liquidity Risk: Certain instruments may be difficult or impossible to sell at a time and price beneficial to the fund.

> Mortgage-Backed and Asset-Backed Securities Risk: Changes in interest rates may cause both extension and prepayment risks for mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities. These securities are also subject to risks associated with the non-repayment of underlying collateral, including losses to the fund.


Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund	15

> RIC Compliance Risk: If the fund fails to qualify as a “regulated investment company” under the Internal Revenue Code, the fund’s expenses could increase, reducing its investment performance.

Performance Information

Calendar year total returns for Class I Shares

Returns do not reflect sales charges applicable to other share classes and would be lower if they did.

PerformanceBarChartData(2013:7.67,2014:0.64,2015:-4.46,2016:12.56,2017:5.23,2018:-2.72,2019:13.34,2020:7.23,2021:4.38,2022:-12.06)


Best Quarter:	2020, Q2:	8.58%	Worst Quarter:	2022, Q2:	-11.72%	Year to Date (6/30/2023):	5.95%

Average Annual Total Returns (for the periods ended December 31, 2022; includes returns of a predecessor fund)

Returns reflect deduction of maximum sales charges and full redemption at end of periods shown.




		1 Year	5 Years	10 Years
Class I Shares
	Return Before Taxes	-12.06%	1.65%	2.90%
	Return After Taxes on Distributions	-14.04%	-0.50%	0.27%
	Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares	-7.12%	0.39%	1.11%
ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Constrained Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)		-11.21%	2.10%	3.94%

The ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index contains all securities in the US High Yield Index but caps issuer exposure at 2%. Index constituents are capitalization weighted, based on their current amount outstanding, provided the total allocation to an individual issuer does not exceed 2%. Issuers that exceed the limit are reduced to 2% and the face value of each of their bonds is adjusted on a pro rata basis. Similarly, the face values of bonds of all other issuers that fall below the 2% cap are increased on a pro rata basis. In the event there are fewer than 50 issues in the Index, each is equally weighted and the face values of their respective bonds are increased or decreased on a pro rata basis. The index is calculated on a total-return basis with dividends reinvested, and it is unmanaged and not available for direct investment.

Management

The fund’s investment adviser is Virtus Alternative Investment Advisers, Inc. (“VAIA”).


16	Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund

The fund’s subadviser is Stone Harbor Investment Partners (“Stone Harbor”), an operating division of Virtus Fixed Income Advisers, LLC (“VFIA”), an affiliate of VAIA.

Portfolio Management

> Dan Berkery CFA, Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Mr. Berkery has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund or the Predecessor Fund and a member of the fund’s management team since 2010.

> Matthews Kearns, CFA, Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Mr. Kearns has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund or the Predecessor Fund and a member of the fund’s management team since 2018.

> Hunter Schwarz, Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Mr. Schwarz has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund or the Predecessor Fund and a member of the fund’s management team since 2018.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Minimum initial investments applicable to Class A Shares:

 $2,500, generally

 $100 for Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), systematic purchase or exchange accounts

 No minimum for defined contribution plans, asset-based fee programs, profit-sharing plans or employee benefit plans.

Minimum additional investments applicable to Class A Shares:

 $100, generally

 No minimum for defined contribution plans, asset-based fee programs, profit-sharing plans or employee benefit plans.

For Class I Shares, the minimum initial purchase is $100,000; there is no minimum for additional purchases.

Taxes

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries


Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund	17

Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund

Investment Objective

The fund has an investment objective of seeking to maximize total return, which consists of income on its investments and capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses

The Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund, a series of Virtus Opportunities Trust, is the successor of the Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund, formerly a series of Stone Harbor Investment Funds (“Predecessor Fund”), resulting from a reorganization of the Predecessor Fund with and into the fund on April 8, 2022.


Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)	Class A	Class I
Maximum Sales Charge (load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	3.75%	None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (load) (as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds)	None	None

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)	Class A	Class I
Management Fees	0.75%	0.75%
Distribution and Shareholder Servicing (12b-1) Fees	0.25%	None
Other Expenses^(a)	0.65%	0.51%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	1.65%	1.26%
Less: Expense Reimbursement^(b)	(0.40)%	(0.26)%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement^(b)(c)	1.25%	1.00%


(a)	Restated to reflect current fees and expenses.
(b)	Virtus Alternative Investment Advisers, Inc. (“VAIA”), the fund’s investment adviser, has contractually agreed to limit the fund’s total operating expenses (excluding certain expenses, such as front-end or contingent deferred sales charges, taxes, leverage and borrowing expenses (such as commitment, amendment and renewal expenses on credit or redemption facilities), interest, brokerage commissions, expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization, unusual or infrequently occurring expenses (such as litigation), acquired fund fees and expenses and dividend expenses, if any) so that such expenses do not exceed 1.25% for Class A Shares and 1.00% for Class I Shares through September 30, 2024. Following the contractual period, VAIA may discontinue these expense reimbursement arrangements at any time. Under certain conditions, VAIA may recapture operating expenses reimbursed and/or fees waived under these arrangements for a period of three years following the date such waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided that the recapture does not cause the fund to exceed its expense limit in effect at the time of the waiver or reimbursement, and any in effect at the time of recapture, after repayment is taken into account. The expense limitation agreement is terminable by mutual agreement of the Board of Trustees of Virtus Opportunities Trust and VAIA.
(c)	Not included in the table are extraordinary proxy expenses. If such amounts were reflected in this table, the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reduction/Reimbursement would have been 1.26% for Class A Shares and 1.01% for Class I Shares.

Example


	Share Status	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Class A	Sold or Held	$498	$838	$1,202	$2,224
Class I	Sold or Held	$102	$374	$667	$1,500

Portfolio Turnover


18	Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund

Investments, Risks and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings made for investment purposes) in Emerging Markets Investments. “Emerging Markets Investments” include fixed income securities and derivative instruments (including, but not limited to, spot and currency contracts, futures, options and swaps) that economically are tied to an emerging market country, which are denominated in the predominant currency of the local market of an emerging market country (an “Emerging Markets Currency”) or whose performance is linked to those countries’ currencies, markets, economies or ability to repay loans. Although under normal circumstances a significant portion of the fund’s investments will be denominated in Emerging Markets Currencies, Emerging Markets Investments may be denominated in non-Emerging Markets Currencies, including the U.S. dollar. A security or instrument is economically tied to an emerging market country if it is principally traded on the country’s securities markets or the issuer is organized or principally operates in the country, derives a majority of its income from its operations within the country or has a majority of its assets within the country. Emerging Markets Investments also include Emerging Markets Currencies and derivatives and other instruments used to hedge or gain exposure to emerging securities markets or Emerging Markets Currencies (for example, futures or other derivatives whose return is based on specific emerging markets securities, emerging markets indices or Emerging Markets Currencies). Although the fund is not limited in the types of derivatives it can use, the fund currently expects that its derivatives investments will consist primarily of the following instruments and transactions: futures, options, swaps, including credit default swaps, and credit linked notes. The fund may use derivatives to a significant extent.

The fund considers “emerging market countries” to include countries identified by the World Bank Group as being “low income economies” or which are included in a JPMorgan emerging market bond index. The subadviser has broad discretion as to the specific emerging market countries in which the fund invests, and while the allocation to various markets will vary it is likely that the fund will often have 5% or more of its assets invested in one or more specific emerging markets countries. It is anticipated that the Fund will focus most of its investments in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and/or the developing countries of Europe. Emerging Markets Investments may include, among other things, sovereign debt securities, corporate debt securities, structured notes, convertible securities, securities issued by supranational organizations, floating rate commercial loans, securitized loan participations, Rule 144A securities, non-U.S. currencies, forward currency contracts and other foreign currency transactions and derivatives related to these types of investments. The fund seeks capital appreciation through country selection, sector selection, security selection and currency selection.

In selecting Emerging Markets Investments for investment, the subadviser will apply a market risk analysis contemplating the assessment of various factors, such as liquidity, volatility, tax implications, interest rate sensitivity, counterparty risks, economic factors, currency exchange rates and technical market considerations.

The fund is “non-diversified,” which means that it can invest a higher percentage of its assets in any one issuer or in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.

Principal Risks

> Emerging Market Risk: Emerging markets securities may be more volatile, or more greatly affected by negative conditions, than those of their counterparts in more established foreign markets.

> Interest Rate Risk: The values of debt instruments may rise or fall in response to changes in interest rates, and this risk may be enhanced for securities with longer maturities.

> Counterparty Risk: There is risk that a party upon whom the fund relies to complete a transaction will default.

> Currency Rate Risk: Fluctuations in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies may negatively affect the value of the fund’s shares.

> Liquidity Risk: Certain instruments may be difficult or impossible to sell at a time and price beneficial to the fund.


Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund	19

> Non-Diversification Risk: The fund is not diversified and may be more susceptible to factors negatively impacting its holdings to the extent the fund invests more of its assets in the securities of fewer issuers than would a diversified fund.

> Investing in China Risk: The fund may invest in China, where the government maintains strict currency controls, and where the government plays a major role in the country’s economic policies regarding foreign investments.

> Non-U.S. Government Securities Risk: The governmental entity that controls the repayment of government debt may not be willing or able to repay the principal and/or to pay the interest when it becomes due.

> RIC Compliance Risk: If the fund fails to qualify as a “regulated investment company” under the Internal Revenue Code, the fund’s expenses could increase, reducing its investment performance.

Performance Information

Calendar year total returns for Class I Shares

Returns do not reflect sales charges applicable to other share classes and would be lower if they did.

PerformanceBarChartData(2013:-12.56,2014:-8.55,2015:-15.19,2016:8.95,2017:15.36,2018:-9.84,2019:13.08,2020:1.87,2021:-8.23,2022:-11.67)


Best Quarter:	2020, Q2:	11.02%	Worst Quarter:	2020, Q1:	-16.98%	Year to Date (6/30/2023):	6.81%


20	Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund

Average Annual Total Returns (for the periods ended December 31, 2022; includes returns of a predecessor fund)

Returns reflect deduction of maximum sales charges and full redemption at end of periods shown.




		1 Year	5 Years	10 Years
Class I Shares
	Return Before Taxes	-11.67%	-3.38%	-3.26%
	Return After Taxes on Distributions	-11.67%	-3.50%	-3.55%
	Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares	-6.91%	-2.58%	-2.49%
JPMorgan GBI-EM Global Diversified Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)		-11.69%	-2.51%	-2.03%

The J.P. Morgan GBI-EM Global Diversified Index consists of regularly traded, liquid fixed-rate, domestic currency government bonds to which international investors can gain exposure. The weightings among the countries are more evenly distributed within this index. The index is calculated on a total-return basis with dividends reinvested, and it is unmanaged and not available for direct investment.

Management

The fund’s investment adviser is Virtus Alternative Investment Advisers, Inc. (“VAIA”).

The fund’s subadviser is Stone Harbor Investment Partners (“Stone Harbor”), an operating division of Virtus Fixed Income Advisers, LLC (“VFIA”), an affiliate of VAIA.

Portfolio Management

> David A. Oliver, Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Mr. Oliver has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund or the Predecessor Fund and a member of the fund’s management team since 2010.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Minimum initial investments applicable to Class A Shares:

 $2,500, generally

 $100 for Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), systematic purchase or exchange accounts

 No minimum for defined contribution plans, asset-based fee programs, profit-sharing plans or employee benefit plans.

Minimum additional investments applicable to Class A Shares:

 $100, generally

 No minimum for defined contribution plans, asset-based fee programs, profit-sharing plans or employee benefit plans.

For Class I Shares, the minimum initial purchase is $100,000; there is no minimum for additional purchases.

Taxes


Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund	21

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries


22	Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund

Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund

Investment Objective

The fund has an investment objective of seeking to maximize total return, which consists of income on its investments and capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses

The Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund, a series of Virtus Opportunities Trust, is the successor of the Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund, formerly a series of Stone Harbor Investment Funds (“Predecessor Fund”), resulting from a reorganization of the Predecessor Fund with and into the fund on April 8, 2022.


Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)	Class A	Class I
Maximum Sales Charge (load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	3.75%	None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (load) (as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds)	None	None

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)	Class A	Class I
Management Fees	0.55%	0.55%
Distribution and Shareholder Servicing (12b-1) Fees	0.25%	None
Other Expenses^(a)	0.38%	0.32%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	0.46%	0.46%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses^(b)	1.64%	1.33%
Less: Expense Reimbursement^(c)	(0.69)%	(0.63)%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement^(b)(c)(d)	0.95%	0.70%


(a)	Restated to reflect current fees and expenses.
(b)	The Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses do not correlate to the ratio of expenses to average net assets appearing in the Financial Highlights tables, which tables reflect only the operating expenses of the fund and do not include acquired fund fees and expenses.
(c)	Virtus Alternative Investment Advisers, Inc. (“VAIA”), the fund’s investment adviser, has contractually agreed to limit the fund’s total operating expenses (excluding certain expenses, such as front-end or contingent deferred sales charges, taxes, leverage and borrowing expenses (such as commitment, amendment and renewal expenses on credit or redemption facilities), interest, brokerage commissions, expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization, unusual or infrequently occurring expenses (such as litigation), acquired fund fees and expenses and dividend expenses, if any) so that such expenses do not exceed 0.95% for Class A Shares and 0.70% for Class I Shares through September 30, 2024. Following the contractual period, VAIA may discontinue these expense reimbursement arrangements at any time. Under certain conditions, VAIA may recapture operating expenses reimbursed and/or fees waived under these arrangements for a period of three years following the date such waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided that the recapture does not cause the fund to exceed its expense limit in effect at the time of the waiver or reimbursement, and any in effect at the time of recapture, after repayment is taken into account. The expense limitation agreement is terminable by mutual agreement of the Board of Trustees of Virtus Opportunities Trust and VAIA.
(d)	Not included in the table are extraordinary proxy expenses and/or excise tax expense. If such amounts were reflected in this table, the Total Annual Series Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement would have been 0.98% for Class A Shares and 0.74% for Class I Shares.

Example


	Share Status	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Class A	Sold or Held	$468	$808	$1,171	$2,190
Class I	Sold or Held	$72	$359	$668	$1,546

Portfolio Turnover


Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund	23

Investments, Risks and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies

The fund is intended to provide broad exposure to global credit markets. The fund, either directly or through the underlying funds (defined below), may invest in a broad variety of fixed income and other income producing securities and instruments (including derivatives), and will not be limited in terms of type of instrument, geography, credit rating or duration. The fund may invest all or a significant portion of its assets in Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund, Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund, Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund and Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Debt Fund and/or one or more other affiliated funds managed substantially similarly to these funds (together, the “underlying funds”). The underlying funds listed above are described elsewhere in this Prospectus. The fund is not required to invest in the underlying funds, and from time to time may not be invested in any underlying fund. The fund will consider the holdings of the underlying funds in which it invests when determining compliance with the 80% policy. In addition to investing in the underlying funds, the fund may invest directly in fixed income securities and in other instruments and transactions. References in this Prospectus to the fund may refer to actions undertaken by the Fund or by an underlying fund.

The types of fixed income securities in which the fund may invest include, but are not limited to, government securities; corporate debt securities; mortgage-backed or asset-backed securities issued or guaranteed by various governmental and non-governmental entities; secured and unsecured senior and subordinated loans and loan participations, including mortgages; Rule 144A securities; municipal securities; debentures, notes (including structured notes and promissory notes), and derivatives related to these types of securities. At any given time, the fund may be entirely or significantly invested in a particular type of fixed income security or underlying fund.

The fund may invest in fixed income securities and derivative instruments rated below investment grade (or, if unrated, of comparable quality as determined by the subadviser). These types of securities and debt instruments are commonly referred to as “high yield” securities or “junk bonds” and may include, among other things, bonds, debentures, notes, equipment trust certificates, commercial paper, commercial loans, and other obligations of U.S. and non-U.S. issuers. The fund may also invest in preferred securities.

The fund may invest all or a substantial portion of its assets in securities issued by non-U.S. entities. The fund’s investments may be issued by any U.S. or non-U.S. public- or private-sector entity. The Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in investments that are economically tied to countries with emerging securities markets or whose performance is linked to those countries’ markets, economies or ability to repay loans, such as loans issued by corporations or other business organizations. An investment is economically tied to an emerging market country if it is principally traded on the country’s securities markets or if the issuer is organized or principally operates in the country, derives a majority of its income from its operations within the country or has a majority of its assets within the country. All or a significant portion of the fund’s investments may be denominated in non-U.S. currencies. The fund considers “emerging market countries” to include countries identified by the World Bank Group as being “low income economies” or which are included in a JPMorgan emerging market bond index.

The fund may invest in derivatives and other instruments for hedging purposes or to otherwise gain or reduce long or short exposure to securities, markets or currencies. Although the fund and the underlying funds are not limited in the types of derivatives that may be used, the fund currently expects that its derivatives investments will consist primarily of the following instruments and transactions: futures, options, swaps, including credit default swaps, and credit linked notes. The fund may use derivatives to a significant extent.

Credit Quality. The fund may invest in securities of any credit rating (including unrated securities) and may invest without limit in higher risk, below-investment grade debt securities. Such securities may include those that are in default with respect to the payment of principal or interest.

Maturity and Duration. The subdviser normally maintains an average portfolio duration of between 2 and 7 years. However, the fund’s average duration may be outside this range, and the fund may invest in securities of any duration and maturity.

Principal Risks

> Affiliated Fund Risk: The risk that the subadviser’s authority to select and substitute underlying funds from a variety of affiliated mutual funds may create a conflict of interest.

The principal risks attributable to the underlying funds in which the fund invests are:

> Emerging Market Risk: Emerging markets securities may be more volatile, or more greatly affected by negative conditions, than those of their counterparts in more established foreign markets.


24	Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund

> Interest Rate Risk: The values of debt instruments may rise or fall in response to changes in interest rates, and this risk may be enhanced for securities with longer maturities.

> Counterparty Risk: There is risk that a party upon whom the fund relies to complete a transaction will default.

> Currency Rate Risk: Fluctuations in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies may negatively affect the value of the fund’s shares.

> Liquidity Risk: Certain instruments may be difficult or impossible to sell at a time and price beneficial to the fund.

> U.S. and Non-U.S. Government Securities Risk: U.S. Government securities may be subject to price fluctuations. An agency may default on an obligation not backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. Any guarantee on U.S. government securities does not apply to the value of the fund’s shares. The governmental entity that controls the repayment of non-U.S. government debt may not be willing or able to repay the principal and/or to pay the interest when it becomes due.

> RIC Compliance Risk: If the fund fails to qualify as a “regulated investment company” under the Internal Revenue Code, the fund’s expenses could increase, reducing its investment performance.

Performance Information

The bar chart shows changes in the fund’s and Predecessor Fund’s performance from year to year since its inception. The table shows how the fund’s and Predecessor Fund’s average annual returns compare to those of a broad-based securities market index. Updated performance information is available at virtus.com or by calling 800-243-1574.


Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund	25

Calendar year total returns for Class I Shares

Returns do not reflect sales charges applicable to other share classes and would be lower if they did.

PerformanceBarChartData(2014:4.22,2015:-2.11,2016:8.88,2017:5.34,2018:-2.88,2019:9.45,2020:3.86,2021:0.83,2022:-9.34)


Best Quarter:	2020, Q2:	9.60%	Worst Quarter:	2020, Q1:	-11.83%	Year to Date (6/30/2023):	4.16%

Average Annual Total Returns (for the periods ended December 31, 2022; includes returns of a predecessor fund)

Returns reflect deduction of maximum sales charges and full redemption at end of periods shown.


				Since
				Inception
		1 Year	5 Years	(12/18/2013)
Class I Shares
	Return Before Taxes	-9.34%	0.18%	1.85%
	Return After Taxes on Distributions	-11.52%	-1.43%	0.13%
	Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares	-5.52%	-0.50%	0.69%
Bloomberg Global Credit Index (Hedged USD) (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)		-13.75%	0.53%	2.42%

The Bloomberg Global Credit Hedged USD Index is a subset of the Global Aggregate Index and is subject to the same quality, liquidity and maturity requirements and exclusion rules of the latter. Constituents must be rated investment grade by at least two of the three major ratings agencies. Constituents must have a remaining maturity of at least one year. The index does not include convertibles, floating rate notes, fixed rate perpetuals, warrants, linked bonds and structured products. The index is calculated on a total-return basis with dividends reinvested, and it is unmanaged and not available for direct investment.

Management

The fund’s investment adviser is Virtus Alternative Investment Advisers, Inc. (“VAIA”).

The fund’s subadviser is Stone Harbor Investment Partners (“Stone Harbor”), an operating division of Virtus Fixed Income Advisers, LLC (“VFIA”), an affiliate of VAIA.

Portfolio Management

> David Torchia, Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Mr. Torchia has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund or the Predecessor Fund and a member of the fund’s management team since 2013.

> Roger Lavan, CFA, Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Mr. Lavan has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund or the Predecessor Fund and a member of the fund’s management team since 2013.

> David Scott, Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Mr. Scott has served as a Portfolio Manager of the fund or the Predecessor Fund and a member of the fund’s management team since 2013.


26	Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Minimum initial investments applicable to Class A Shares:

 $2,500, generally

 $100 for Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), systematic purchase or exchange accounts

 No minimum for defined contribution plans, asset-based fee programs, profit-sharing plans or employee benefit plans.

Minimum additional investments applicable to Class A Shares:

 $100, generally

 No minimum for defined contribution plans, asset-based fee programs, profit-sharing plans or employee benefit plans.

For Class I Shares, the minimum initial purchase is $100,000; there is no minimum for additional purchases.

Taxes

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries


Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund	27

More Information About Fund Expenses

Virtus Alternative Investment Advisers, Inc, (“VAIA” or the “Adviser”) has contractually agreed to limit the total operating expenses (excluding certain expenses, such as front-end or contingent deferred sales charges, taxes, leverage and borrowing expenses (such as commitment, amendment and renewal expenses on credit or redemption facilities), interest, brokerage commissions, expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization, unusual or infrequently occurring expenses (such as litigation), acquired fund fees and expenses (other than, with respect to Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund and Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund, those of funds managed by Stone Harbor), and dividend expenses, if any) through September 30, 2024 of the funds listed below, so that such expenses do not exceed, on an annualized basis, the amounts indicated in the following table:


	Class A Shares	Class I Shares
Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund	1.25%	1.00%
Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund	1.10%	0.85%
Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund	1.00%	0.72%
Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund	0.90%	0.65%
Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund	1.25%	1.00%
Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund	0.95%	0.70%

Following the contractual period, VAIA may discontinue these and/or prior arrangements at any time. Under certain conditions, the Adviser may recapture operating expenses reimbursed and/or fees waived under these arrangements for a period of three years following the date such waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided that the recapture does not cause the applicable fund(s) to exceed its expense limit in effect at the time of the waiver or reimbursement, and any in effect at the time of recapture, after repayment is taken into account.

For those funds operating under an expense reimbursement arrangement or fee waiver during the prior fiscal year, total (net) fund operating expenses, (including certain expenses, such as front-end or contingent deferred sales charges, taxes, leverage and borrowing expenses (such as commitment, amendment and renewal expenses on credit or redemption facilities), interest, brokerage commissions, expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization, unusual or infrequently occurring expenses (such as litigation), acquired fund fees and expenses (other than, with respect to Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund and Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund, those of funds managed by Stone Harbor), and dividend expenses, if any), after effect of any expense reimbursement and/or fee waiver were:


	Class A Shares	Class I Shares
Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund	1.25%	1.00%
Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund	1.10%	0.85%
Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund	1.01%	0.73%
Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund	0.90%	0.65%
Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund	1.19%	0.99%
Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund	0.95%	0.70%

More Information About Investment Objectives and Principal Investment Strategies

The investment objectives and principal strategies of each fund are described in this section. Each of the following funds has a non-fundamental investment objective. A non-fundamental investment objective may be changed by the Board of Trustees of that fund without shareholder approval. If a fund’s investment objective is changed, the prospectus will be supplemented to reflect the new investment objective and shareholders will be provided with at least 60 days advance notice of such change. There is no guarantee that a fund will achieve its objective.

Please see the SAI for additional information about the securities and investment strategies described in this prospectus and about additional securities and investment strategies that may be used by the funds.


28	Virtus Mutual Funds

Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund (formerly, Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Corporate Debt Fund)

Non-Fundamental Investment Objectives:

The fund has an investment objective of seeking to maximize total return, which consists of income on its investments and capital appreciation.

Principal Investment Strategies:

 In evaluating an issuer’s creditworthiness, the subadviser uses fundamental analysis and may consider, among other things, the following factors:

 The economic outlook for the country or countries in which the issuer operates;

 The prospects for the industry or industries in which the issuer operates;

 The strength of the issuer’s financial resources and sensitivity to economic conditions and trends;

 The issuer’s operating history; and

 The experience and track record of the issuer’s management.

Individual security selection is driven by the subadviser’s analysis of the issuer’s credit quality paired with an assessment of valuation. The subadviser selects those individual investments that it believes to be most undervalued and to offer the highest potential returns relative to the amount of credit, interest rate, liquidity and other risks presented. The subadviser generally allocates the fund’s investments across a broad range of issuers, industries and countries, which can help to reduce risk.

While not part of the fund’s investment objective or principal investment strategies, the fund’s subadviser engages in fundamental analysis that integrates, among other factors, a review of environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) factors to evaluate the creditworthiness of issuers in which the fund may invest. ESG factors considered by the subadviser will vary by country, industry, issuer and investment opportunity. Examples of environmental factors considered include (but are not limited to): natural resource use, carbon emissions, energy efficiency, pollution/waste and sustainability initiatives. Examples of social factors considered include (but are not limited to): human rights, worker rights, adequate living standards, commitment to health and safety, diversity/opportunity policies, privacy/data security and community programs. Examples of governance factors considered include (but are not limited to): rule of law and corruption, policies that support bondholders’ interests, the character of control persons, ethics, board independence, board diversity and management compensation policy. In evaluating an existing or prospective investment, ESG is just one of several factors considered by the subadviser, and the subadviser may determine that an investment is appropriate notwithstanding its relative ESG characteristics.

Temporary Defensive Strategy: During periods of extreme market fluctuations, the subadviser, at its discretion, may take temporary defensive positions that are inconsistent with its principal investment strategies by investing part or all of the fund’s assets in cash or cash equivalents. When this allocation happens, the fund may not achieve its investment objective.

Please see “More Information About Risks Related to Principal Investment Strategies” for information about the risks of investing in the fund. Please refer to “Additional Risks Associated with Investment Techniques and Fund Operations” for other investment techniques of the fund.


Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund	29

Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund

Non-Fundamental Investment Objectives:

The fund has an investment objective of seeking to maximize total return, which consists of income on its investments and capital appreciation.

Principal Investment Strategies:

The subadviser uses a “top-down” approach and allocates the fund’s investments among various emerging market countries. In allocating among different countries and evaluating sovereign issuers, the following are some of the factors the subadviser may consider:

 Currency, inflation and interest rates and trends;

 Economic outlook and growth rate forecasts;

 Liquidity of a country’s debt markets;

 Fiscal policies;

 Political outlook; and

 Tax environment.

The subadviser then selects those individual investments that the subadviser believes to be most undervalued and to offer the highest potential returns relative to the amount of credit, interest rate, liquidity and other risks presented. The subadviser engages in independent fundamental analysis to evaluate the creditworthiness of corporate and governmental issuers.

When evaluating a corporate issuer’s creditworthiness, the subadviser uses fundamental analysis and may consider, among other things, the following additional factors:

 The economic outlook for the country or countries in which the issuer operates;

 The prospects for the industry or industries in which the issuer operates;

 The strength of the issuer’s financial resources and sensitivity to economic conditions and trends;

 Fiscal policies;

 The issuer’s operating history; and

 The experience and track record of the issuer’s management.

Individual security selection is driven by the subadviser’s analysis of the issuer’s credit quality paired with an assessment of valuation. The subadviser selects those individual investments that it believes to be most undervalued and to offer the highest potential returns relative to the amount of credit, interest rate, liquidity and other risks presented. The subadviser generally allocates each Fund’s investments across a broad range of issuers, industries and countries, which can help to reduce risk.


30	Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund

policies that support bondholders’ interests, the character of control persons, ethics, board independence, board diversity and management compensation policy. In evaluating an existing or prospective investment, ESG is just one of several factors considered by the subadviser, and the subadviser may determine that an investment is appropriate notwithstanding its relative ESG characteristics.


Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund	31

Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund (formerly, Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Fund)

Non-Fundamental Investment Objectives:

The fund has an investment objective of seeking to maximize total return, which consists of income on its investments and capital appreciation.

Principal Investment Strategies:

Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings made for investment purposes) in Emerging Markets Fixed Income Securities. “Emerging Markets Fixed Income Securities” include fixed income securities and derivative instruments (including, but not limited to, spot and currency contracts, futures, options and swaps) that economically are tied to countries with emerging securities markets or whose performance is linked to those countries’ markets, economies or ability to repay loans. Emerging Markets Fixed Income Securities may be denominated in non-U.S. currencies or the U.S. dollar. A security or instrument is economically tied to an emerging market country if it is principally traded on the country’s securities markets or the issuer is organized or principally operates in the country, derives a majority of its income from its operations within the country or has a majority of its assets within the country. Emerging Markets Fixed Income Securities also include derivatives and other instruments used to hedge or gain exposure to emerging securities markets (for example, futures or other derivatives whose return is based on specific emerging markets securities or indices). Although the fund is not limited in the types of derivatives it can use, the fund currently expects that its derivatives investments will consist primarily of the following instruments and transactions: futures, options, swaps, credit linked notes and credit default swaps. The fund may use derivatives to a significant extent. Derivatives included in the 80% calculation are those that have economic characteristics of emerging markets fixed income securities.

The subadviser uses a “top-down” approach and allocates the fund’s investments among various emerging market countries. In allocating among different countries, the following are some of the factors the subadviser may consider:

 Currency, inflation and interest rates and trends;

 Growth rate forecasts;

 Liquidity of a country’s debt markets;

 Fiscal policies;

 Political outlook; and

 Tax environment.


32	Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund

Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund

Non-Fundamental Investment Objectives:

The fund has an investment objective of seeking to maximize total return, which consists of income on its investments and capital appreciation.

Principal Investment Strategies:

Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings made for investment purposes) in High Yield Debt Securities. “High Yield Debt Securities” include fixed income securities and derivative instruments (including, but not limited to, spot and currency contracts, futures, options and swaps) rated below investment grade (or, if unrated, of comparable quality as determined by the fund’s subadviser). These types of securities and debt instruments are commonly referred to as “high yield” securities or “junk bonds” and may include, among other things, bonds, debentures, notes, equipment trust certificates, commercial paper, commercial loans and other obligations of U.S. and non-U.S. issuers. High Yield Debt Securities also include securities or other instruments whose return is based on the return of high yield securities, including derivative instruments and instruments created to hedge or gain exposure to the high yield markets. The fund may invest in High Yield Debt Securities of any credit rating (including unrated securities). The fund’s investments may include, among other things, asset-backed securities, depositary receipts, mortgage-related securities (including transferable private issuer mortgage-backed securities), non-publicly traded securities, payment-in-kind bonds, securities issued by supranational organizations, structured notes, convertible securities, inflation-protected and other index-linked securities, interest-only securities, step-up securities and zero coupon bonds. Although the fund is not limited in the types of derivatives it can use, the fund currently expects that its derivatives investments will consist primarily of the following instruments and transactions: futures, options, swaps, credit linked notes and credit default swaps. The fund may use derivatives to a significant extent. The fund seeks capital appreciation through industry selection, sector selection and security selection.

In evaluating the issuer’s creditworthiness, the fund’s subadviser uses fundamental analysis and may consider, among other things, the following factors:

 The strength of the issuer’s financial resources and sensitivity to economic conditions and trends;

 The issuer’s operating history; and

 The experience and track record of the issuer’s management.


Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund	33

Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund

Non-Fundamental Investment Objectives:

The fund has an investment objective of seeking to maximize total return, which consists of income on its investments and capital appreciation.

Principal Investment Strategies:

 Currency, inflation and interest rates and trends;

 Growth rate forecasts;

 Liquidity of a country’s debt markets;

 Fiscal policies;

 Political and economic outlook; and

 Tax environment.


34	Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund

Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund

Non-Fundamental Investment Objectives:

The fund has an investment objective of seeking to maximize total return, which consists of income on its investments and capital appreciation.

Principal Investment Strategies:

The fund is intended to provide broad exposure to global credit markets. The fund, either directly or through the underlying funds (defined below), may invest in a broad variety of fixed income and other income producing securities and instruments (including derivatives), and will not be limited in terms of type of instrument, geography, credit rating or duration. The fund may invest all or a significant portion of its assets in Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund, Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund, Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund and Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund and/or one or more other affiliated funds managed substantially similarly to these funds (together, the “underlying funds”). The underlying funds listed above are described elsewhere in this Prospectus. The fund is not required to invest in the underlying funds, and from time to time may not be invested in any underlying fund. In addition to investing in the underlying funds, the fund may invest directly in fixed income securities and in other instruments and transactions. References in this Prospectus to the fund may refer to actions undertaken by the fund or by an underlying fund.

In evaluating investment opportunities, the fund’s subadviser uses a “top-down” approach to determine a decision-making framework. Fundamental credit analysis, including bottom-up valuations and cross-market analyses, is performed to determine sector allocation, as well as security selection, position sizing and risk management. In allocating among different sectors, the following are some of the factors the subadviser may consider to make tactical investment decisions:

 The market environment;

 Risk positioning;

 Target return expectations;

 Sources of return; and

 Favored sectors and portfolio characteristics.

Risk tools and analytics are also used to make investment decisions. The subadviser then selects those individual investments that it believes to be most undervalued and to offer the highest potential returns relative to the amount of credit, interest rate, liquidity and other risks presented.

In seeking to achieve its investment objective, the fund may invest all or a significant portion of its assets in the underlying funds. In addition to investing in the underlying funds, the fund may invest all or a significant portion of its assets directly in fixed income securities and in other instruments and transactions. The fund generally will invest in underlying funds, instead of investing directly in fixed income securities and other instruments, when the subadviser determines that such investments offer a cost-efficient method for achieving the desired investment exposure, portfolio diversification and other benefits.


Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund	35

More Information About Risks Related to Principal Investment Strategies

Each fund may not achieve its objective(s), and each fund is not intended to be a complete investment program.

Generally, the value of a fund’s investments that supports your share value may decrease. If between the time you purchase shares and the time you sell shares the value of such fund’s investments decreases, you will lose money.

Investment values can decrease for a number of reasons. Conditions affecting the overall economy, specific industries or companies in which the fund invests can be worse than expected and investments may fail to perform as the adviser or a subadviser expects. As a result, the value of your shares may decrease.

Specific risks of investing in each fund are identified in the below table and described in detail following the table. The risks are listed in alphabetical order, which is not necessarily indicative of importance. For certain funds, the indicated risks apply indirectly through the fund’s investments in other funds.


Risks	Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund	Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund	Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund	Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund	Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund	Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund
Allocation		X				X

Bank Loans	X			X	X	X
Counterparty	X	X	X	X	X	X
Debt Instruments	X	X	X	X	X	X
Credit	X	X	X	X	X	X
Interest Rate	X	X	X	X	X	X
Prepayment/ Call	X	X	X	X	X	X
Depositary Receipts	X	X	X	X	X	X

Derivatives and Other Similar Transactions	X	X	X	X	X	X

Foreign Investing	X	X	X	X	X	X
Currency Rate	X	X	X		X	X
Emerging Market Investing	X	X	X		X	X
Foreign Currency Transactions	X	X	X		X	X
Investing in China					X

Fund of Funds		X				X

High Yield-High Risk Fixed Income Securities (Junk Bonds)	X	X	X	X	X	X
Limited Number of Investments	X	X	X	X	X	X
Liquidity	X	X	X	X	X	X
Market Volatility	X	X	X	X	X	X
Mortgage-Backed and Asset-Backed Securities				X		X
Non-Diversification					X
Non-U.S. Government Securities					X

Portfolio Turnover			X		X

Redemption	X	X	X	X	X	X
RIC Compliance	X	X	X	X	X	X
Sector Focused Investing	X	X	X	X	X	X
Short-Term Investments	X	X	X	X	X	X
U.S. and Non-U.S. Government Securities						X

Allocation

A fund’s investment performance depends, in part, upon how its assets are allocated and reallocated by its adviser. If the fund’s exposure to equities and fixed income securities, or to different asset classes, deviates from the adviser’s intended allocation, or if the fund’s allocation is not optimal for market conditions at a given time, the fund’s performance may suffer. Any given investment strategy may fail to produce the intended results, and a Fund’s portfolio may underperform other comparable funds because of portfolio management decisions related to, among other things, the selection of investments, portfolio construction, risk assessments, and/or the outlook on market trends and opportunities.

Bank Loans

Investing in loans (including floating rate loans, loan assignments, loan participations and other loan instruments) carries certain risks in addition to the risks typically associated with high-yield/high-risk fixed income securities. Loans may be unsecured or not fully collateralized, may be subject to restrictions on resale and sometimes trade infrequently on the secondary market. In the event a borrower defaults, a fund’s access to the collateral may be limited or delayed by


36	Virtus Mutual Funds

bankruptcy or other insolvency laws. There is a risk that the value of the collateral securing the loan may decline after a fund invests and that the collateral may not be sufficient to cover the amount owed to the fund. If the loan is unsecured, there is no specific collateral on which the fund can foreclose. In addition, if a secured loan is foreclosed, a fund may bear the costs and liabilities associated with owning and disposing of the collateral, including the risk that collateral may be difficult to sell.

Transactions in many loans settle on a delayed basis that may take more than seven days. As a result, sale proceeds related to the sale of loans may not be available to make additional investments or to meet the fund’s redemption obligations until potentially a substantial period of time after the sale of the loans. No active trading market may exist for some loans, which may impact the ability of the fund to realize full value in the event of the need to liquidate such assets. Adverse market conditions may impair the liquidity of some actively traded loans. Loans also may be subject to restrictions on resale, which can delay the sale and adversely impact the sale price. Difficulty in selling a loan can result in a loss. Loans made to finance highly leveraged corporate acquisitions may be especially vulnerable to adverse changes in economic or market conditions. Certain loans may not be considered “securities,” and purchasers, such as a fund, therefore may not be entitled to rely on the strong anti-fraud protections of the federal securities laws. With loan participations, a fund may not be able to control the exercise of any remedies that the lender would have under the loan and likely would not have any rights against the borrower directly, so that delays and expense may be greater than those that would be involved if a fund could enforce its rights directly against the borrower.

Counterparty

When a fund engages in investment techniques in which it relies on another party to consummate the transaction, the fund is subject to the risk of default by the other party. To the extent that a fund enters into multiple transactions with a single or limited number of counterparties, the fund will be subject to increased levels of counterparty risk.

Debt Instruments

Debt instruments are subject to various risks, the most prominent of which are credit risk and interest rate risk. These risks can affect an instrument’s price volatility to varying degrees, depending upon the nature of the instrument. Risks associated with investing in debt instruments include the following:

 Credit Risk. There is a risk that the issuer of an instrument will fail to pay interest or principal in a timely manner, or that negative perceptions exist in the market of the issuer’s ability to make such payments will cause the price of the instrument to decline. Debt instruments rated below investment-grade are especially susceptible to this risk.

 Interest Rate Risk. The values of debt instruments usually rise and fall in response to changes in interest rates. Declining interest rates generally increase the value of existing debt instruments, and rising interest rates generally decrease the value of existing debt instruments. Changes in a debt instrument’s value usually will not affect the amount of interest income paid to a fund, but will affect the value of the fund’s shares. Interest rate risk is generally greater for investments with longer maturities. It is difficult to predict the pace at which central banks or monetary authorities may change interest rates or the timing, frequency, or magnitude of such changes. Any such changes could be sudden and could expose debt markets to significant volatility and reduced liquidity for investments.

Certain instruments pay interest at variable or floating rates. Variable rate instruments reset at specified intervals, while floating rate instruments reset whenever there is a change in a specified index rate. In most cases, these reset provisions reduce the effect of changes in market interest rates on the value of the instrument. However, some instruments do not track the underlying index directly, but reset based on formulas that can produce an effect similar to leveraging; others may also provide for interest payments that vary inversely with market rates. The market prices of these instruments may fluctuate significantly when interest rates change.

Some investments give the issuer the option to call or redeem an investment before its maturity date. If an issuer calls or redeems an investment during a time of declining interest rates, a fund might have to reinvest the proceeds in an investment offering a lower yield, and therefore it might not benefit from any increase in value as a result of declining interest rates.

Actions by governmental entities may also impact certain instruments in which the funds invest. For example, certain instruments in which the funds invested may have relied in some fashion upon the London Interbank Offer Rate (“LIBOR”). LIBOR historically had been used extensively in the U.S. and globally as a “benchmark” or “reference rate” for various commercial and financial contracts, including corporate and municipal bonds, bank loans, asset-backed and mortgage-related securities, interest rate swaps and other derivatives. As a result of benchmark reforms, publication of most LIBOR settings has ceased. Some LIBOR settings continue to be published but only on a temporary, synthetic and non-representative basis. Regulated entities have generally ceased entering new LIBOR contracts in connection with regulatory guidance or prohibitions. Public and private sector actors have worked to establish new or alternative reference rates to be used in place of LIBOR. The U.S. Federal Reserve, in conjunction with the Alternative Reference Rates Committee, has recommended an alternative reference rate derived from short-term repurchase agreements backed by Treasury securities, the Secured Overnight Financing Rate. Certain debt instruments in which a fund invests or derivatives contracts of the fund may continue to reference synthetic LIBOR or may have converted from LIBOR to an alternative reference rate. Although the structured transition to alternative reference rates is designed to mitigate the risks of disruption to financial markets, such risks continue to exist. The transition from LIBOR could lead to significant short- and long-term uncertainty and market instability. The risks associated with this discontinuation and transition may be exacerbated if the work necessary to effect an orderly transition to an alternative reference rate is not completed in a timely manner. It remains uncertain the effects such changes will have on the funds on issuers of instruments in which the funds invest, and on the financial markets generally.

 Limited Voting Rights Risk. Debt instruments typically do not provide any voting rights, except in cases when interest payments have not been made and the issuer is in default.

 Liquidity Risk. Certain debt instruments may be substantially less liquid than many other securities, such as U.S. Government securities or common stocks.

 Long-Term Maturities/Durations Risk. Fixed income instruments with longer maturities or durations may be subject to greater price fluctuations due to interest rate, tax law, and general market changes than instruments with shorter maturities or durations.


Virtus Mutual Funds	37

 Prepayment/Call Risk. There is a risk that issuers will prepay fixed rate obligations when interest rates fall. A fund holding callable instruments therefore may be forced to reinvest in obligations with lower interest rates than the original obligations and otherwise may not benefit fully from the increase in value that other fixed income investments experience when rates decline.

 Redemption Risk. Debt instruments sometimes contain provisions that allow for redemption in the event of tax or security law changes, in addition to call features at the option of the issuer. In the event of a redemption, a fund may not be able to reinvest the proceeds at comparable rates of return.

Depositary Receipts

Certain funds may invest in American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) sponsored by U.S. banks, European Depositary Receipts (EDRs), Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), ADRs not sponsored by U.S. banks, other types of depositary receipts (including non-voting depositary receipts), and other similar instruments representing securities of foreign companies. The issuers of Depositary Receipts may discontinue issuing new Depositary Receipts and withdraw existing Depositary Receipts at any time, which may result in costs and delays in the distribution of the underlying assets to the fund and may negatively impact the fund’s performance.

Although certain depositary receipts may reduce or eliminate some of the risks associated with foreign investing, these types of securities generally are subject to many of the same risks as direct investment in securities of foreign issuers.

Derivatives and Other Similar Transactions

Derivative and other similar transactions (collectively referred to in this section as “derivatives” or “derivatives contracts”) are contracts whose value is derived from the value of an underlying asset, index or rate, including futures, options, non-deliverable forwards, foreign currency forward contracts and swap agreements. A fund may use derivatives to hedge against factors that affect the value of its investments, such as interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates. A fund may also utilize derivatives as part of its overall investment technique to gain or lessen exposure to various securities, markets, volatility, dividend payments and currencies.

Derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage which magnifies the potential for gain and the risk of loss. It is generally more difficult to ascertain the risk of, and to properly value, derivative contracts. Many derivatives, and particularly those that are privately negotiated, are complex and often valued subjectively. Improper valuations can result in increased cash payment requirements to counterparties or a loss of value to the fund. The prices of derivatives may move in unexpected ways, especially in abnormal market conditions. Derivatives are usually less liquid than traditional securities and are subject to counterparty risk (the risk that the other party to the contract will default or otherwise not be able to perform its contractual obligations). Changes in the value of a derivative may also create margin delivery or settlement payment obligations for the fund. In addition, some derivatives transactions may involve potentially unlimited losses.

Derivative contracts entered into for hedging purposes may also subject a fund to losses if the contracts do not correlate with the assets, indexes or rates they were designed to hedge. In regard to currency hedging using forward contracts, it is generally not possible to precisely match the foreign currency exposure of such foreign currency forward contracts to the value of the securities involved due to fluctuations in the market values of such securities and cash flows into and out of the fund between the date a foreign currency forward contract is entered into and the date it expires.

Governments, agencies and/or other regulatory bodies may adopt or change laws or regulations that could adversely affect a fund’s ability to invest in derivatives as the fund’s subadviser intends. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”), among other things, grants the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) and SEC broad rulemaking authority to implement various provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act including comprehensive regulation of the over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives market. The implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act could adversely affect a fund by placing limits on derivative transactions, and/or increasing transaction and/or regulatory compliance costs. For example, the CFTC has adopted rules that apply a new aggregation standard for position limit purposes, which may further limit a fund’s ability to trade futures contracts and swaps.

There are also special tax rules applicable to certain types of derivatives, which could affect the amount, timing and character of a fund’s income or loss and hence of its distributions to shareholders by causing holding period adjustments, converting short-term capital losses into long-term capital losses, and accelerating a fund’s income or deferring its losses. A fund’s use of derivatives may also increase the amount of taxes payable by shareholders or the resources required by the fund or its adviser and/or subadviser(s) to comply with particular regulatory requirements.

Foreign Investing

Investing in securities of non-U.S. companies involves special risks and considerations not typically associated with investing in U.S. companies, and the values of non-U.S. securities may be more volatile than those of U.S. securities. The values of non-U.S. securities are subject to economic and political developments in countries and regions where the issuers operate or are domiciled, or where the securities are traded, such as changes in economic or monetary policies, and to changes in currency exchange rates. Values may also be affected by restrictions on receiving the investment proceeds from a non-U.S. country.

The securities markets of many non-U.S. countries are relatively small, with a limited number of issuers and securities. Furthermore, non-U.S. taxes also could detract from performance. Companies based in non-U.S. countries may not be subject to accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards and practices as stringent as those in the United States. Therefore, their financial reports may present an incomplete, untimely or misleading picture of a non-U.S. company, as compared to the financial reports of U.S. companies. Nationalization, expropriation or confiscatory taxation, currency blockage, the implementation of sanctions, political changes or diplomatic developments can cause the value of a fund’s investments in a non-U.S. country to decline. In the event of nationalization, expropriation or other confiscation, a fund could lose its entire investment in that country.

In general, less information is publicly available about non-U.S. companies than about U.S. companies. Non-U.S. companies are generally not subject to the same accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards as are U.S. companies. Certain foreign issuers classified as passive foreign investment companies may be subject to additional taxation risk.

 Currency Rate Risk. Because the foreign securities in which a fund invests generally trade in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, changes in currency exchange rates will affect the fund’s net asset value, the value of dividends and interest earned, and gains and losses realized on the sale of securities. Because the value of each fund’s shares is calculated in U.S. dollars, it is possible for a fund to lose money by investing in a foreign security if the local


38	Virtus Mutual Funds

currency of a foreign market depreciates against the U.S. dollar, even if the local currency value of the fund’s holdings goes up. Generally, a strong U.S. dollar relative to such other currencies will adversely affect the value of the fund’s holdings in foreign securities.

 Emerging Market Risk. The risks of foreign investments are generally greater in countries whose markets are still developing than they are in more developed markets. Emerging market countries typically have economic and political systems that are less fully developed, and can be expected to be less stable than those of more developed countries. For example, the economies of such countries can be subject to rapid and unpredictable rates of inflation or deflation. Since these markets are often small, they may be more likely to suffer sharp and frequent price changes or long-term price depression because of adverse publicity, investor perceptions or the actions of a few large investors. They may also have policies that restrict investment by foreigners, or that prevent foreign investors from withdrawing their money at will. Certain emerging markets may also face other significant internal or external risks, including the risk of war and civil unrest.

Each of these factors can affect the value and liquidity of the assets of a fund.

In addition, the ability of an emerging market government to make timely payments on its debt obligations will depend on the extent of its reserves, interest rate fluctuations and access to international credit and investments. A country with non-diversified exports or that relies on specific imports will be subject to a greater extent to fluctuations in the pricing of those commodities. Failure to generate adequate earnings from foreign trade would make it difficult for an emerging market country to service foreign debt. Disruptions resulting from social and political factors may cause the securities markets of emerging market countries to close. If this were to occur, the liquidity and value of a fund’s assets invested in corporate debt obligations of emerging market companies would decline.

Foreign investment in debt securities of emerging market countries may be restricted or controlled to varying degrees. These restrictions can limit or preclude foreign investment in debt securities of certain emerging market countries. In addition, certain emerging market countries may also restrict investment opportunities in issuers in industries deemed important to national interests.

Emerging market countries may require governmental approval for the repatriation of investment income, capital or proceeds of sale of securities by foreign investors. In addition, if a deterioration occurs in an emerging market country’s balance of payments, the country could impose temporary restrictions on foreign capital remittances. A fund could be adversely affected by delays in, or a refusal to grant, any required governmental approval for repatriation of capital, as well as by the application to the fund of any restrictions on investments. Investing in local markets in emerging market countries may require a fund to adopt special procedures, seek local governmental approvals or take other actions, each of which may involve additional costs to that fund.

The funds will be subject to these risks to an even greater extent, to the extent that a fund invests in issuers exposed to countries defined as “low income” or “lower middle income” by the World Bank or as a “Least Developed Country” by the United Nations. These countries typically confront severe structural impediments to sustainable development and are highly vulnerable to economic and environmental shocks and have low levels of human assets.

For all of these reasons, investments in emerging markets may be considered speculative. To the extent that a fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a particular emerging market, the fund will be more vulnerable to financial, economic, political and other developments in that country, and conditions that negatively impact that country will have a greater impact on the fund as compared with a fund that does not have its holdings concentrated in a particular country.

 Foreign Currency Transactions Risk. A fund may engage in foreign currency transactions, including foreign currency forward contracts, options, swaps and other similar strategic transactions. These transactions may be for the purposes of hedging or efficient portfolio management, or may be for investment purposes, and they may be exchange traded or traded directly with market counterparties. Such transactions may not prove successful or may have the effect of limiting gains from favorable markets movements.

A fund may use derivatives to acquire positions in various currencies, which presents the risk that the fund could lose money on its exposure to a particular currency and also lose money on the derivative. A fund also may take positions in currencies that do not correlate to the currency exposure presented by the fund’s other investments. As a result, the fund’s currency exposure may differ, in some cases significantly, from the currency exposure of its other investments and/or its benchmarks.

 Investing in China Risk. The government of China maintains strict currency controls in order to achieve economic, trade and political objectives and regularly intervenes in the currency market. The Chinese government also plays a major role in the country’s economic policies regarding foreign investments. Foreign investors are subject to the risk of loss from expropriation or nationalization of their investment assets and property, governmental restrictions on foreign investments and the repatriation of capital invested. In addition, the rapid growth rate of the Chinese economy over the past several years may not continue, and the trend toward economic liberalization and disparities in wealth may result in social disorder, including violence and labor unrest. These and other factors could have a negative impact on the fund’s performance and increase the volatility of an investment in the fund. Certain securities issued by companies located or operating in China, such as China A-shares, are also subject to trading restrictions, quota limitations and less market liquidity, which could pose risks to the fund.

The U.S. President signed an executive order that prohibits U.S. persons (which includes individuals and entities like the funds) from purchasing or investing in publicly-traded securities of companies identified by the U.S. government as “Communist Chinese military companies.” In January 2021, the U.S. President signed another executive order that prohibits transactions identified by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce with certain “Chinese connected software applications.” The orders could limit the funds’ ability to invest in certain Chinese companies’ publicly-traded securities.

Furthermore, many Chinese companies have used complex organizational structures to address Chinese restrictions on foreign investment whereby foreign persons, through another entity domiciled outside of China, have limited contractual rights, including economic benefits, with respect to the Chinese company. While these structures are a longstanding practice in China, such arrangements are not formally recognized under Chinese law. There is a risk that the Chinese government may cease to tolerate these structures at any time or impose new restrictions. If Chinese regulators’ tacit acceptance of these arrangements ceases, the value of such holdings would be negatively impacted. Moreover, since such arrangements are not


Virtus Mutual Funds	39

recognized under Chinese law, remedies available to an investor would be limited. Foreign companies listed on US stock exchanges could also face delisting or other ramifications for failure to meet the expectations and/or requirements of the SEC, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or other U.S. regulators. Future regulatory action may prohibit the ability of these organizational structures to receive the economic benefits of a Chinese company, which would cause the market value of such holding to lose substantial value.

Fund of Funds

Achieving the fund’s objective will depend on the performance of the underlying mutual funds, which depends on the particular securities in which the underlying mutual funds invest. Indirectly, the fund is subject to all risks associated with the underlying mutual funds. Since the fund’s performance depends on that of each underlying mutual fund, it may be subject to increased volatility.

Assets invested in other mutual funds incur a layering of expenses, including operating costs, advisory fees and administrative fees that you, as a shareholder in the fund, indirectly bear. Such fees and expenses may exceed the fees and expenses the fund would have incurred if it invested in the underlying fund’s assets directly. As the underlying funds or the fund’s allocations among the underlying funds change from time to time, or to the extent that the expense ratio of the underlying funds changes, the weighted average operating expenses borne by the fund may increase or decrease. If the fund invests in closed-end funds, it may incur added expenses such as additional management fees and trading costs and additional risks associated with trading at a discount to NAV and use of leverage.

The underlying funds may change their investment objective or policies without the approval of the fund, and the fund might be forced to withdraw its investment from the underlying fund at a time that is unfavorable to the fund.

Each underlying fund may be subject to risks other than those described because the types of investments made by an underlying fund can change over time. For further description of the risks associated with the underlying funds, please consult the underlying funds’ prospectus.

High-Yield/High-Risk Fixed Income Securities (“Junk Bonds”)

Securities rated below the four highest rating categories of a nationally recognized statistical rating organization, may be known as “high-yield” securities and commonly referred to as “junk bonds.” The highest of the ratings among these nationally recognized statistical rating organizations is used to determine the security’s classification. Such securities entail greater price volatility and credit and interest rate risk than investment-grade securities. Analysis of the creditworthiness of high-yield/high-risk issuers is more complex than for higher-rated securities, making it more difficult for a fund’s subadviser to accurately predict risk. There is a greater risk with high-yield/high-risk fixed income securities that an issuer will not be able to make principal and interest payments when due. If the fund pursues missed payments, there is a risk that fund expenses could increase. In addition, lower-rated securities may not trade as often and may be less liquid than higher-rated securities, especially during periods of economic uncertainty or change. As a result of all of these factors, these bonds are generally considered to be speculative. In recent years, there has been a broad trend of weaker or less restrictive covenant protections in the high yield market. Among other things, under such weaker or less restrictive covenants, borrowers might be able to exercise more flexibility with respect to certain activities than borrowers who are subject to stronger or more protective covenants. For example, borrowers might be able to incur more debt, including secured debt, return more capital to shareholders, remove or reduce assets that are designated as collateral securing high yield securities, increase the claims against assets that are permitted against collateral securing high yield securities or otherwise manage their business in ways that could impact creditors negatively. In addition, certain privately held borrowers might be permitted to file less frequent, less detailed or less timely financial reporting or other information, which could negatively impact the value of the high yield securities issued by such borrowers. Each of these factors might negatively impact the high yield instruments held by a fund.

Limited Number of Investments

There is a risk that a fund’s portfolio may be more susceptible to factors adversely affecting issuers of securities in the fund’s portfolio than would a fund holding a greater number of securities.

Liquidity

Certain securities in which a fund invests may be difficult to sell at the time and price beneficial to the fund, for example due to low trading volumes or legal restrictions. When there is no willing buyer or a security cannot be readily sold, the fund may have to sell at a lower price or may be unable to sell the security at all. The sale of such securities may also require the fund to incur expenses in addition to those normally associated with the sale of a security.

In addition to this, certain shareholders, including affiliates of a fund’s investment adviser and/or subadviser(s), may from time to time own or control a significant percentage of the fund’s shares. Redemptions by these shareholders of their shares of the fund may increase the fund’s liquidity risk by causing the fund to have to sell securities at an unfavorable time and/or price.

Market Volatility

The value of the securities in which a fund invests may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, in response to the prospects of individual issuers and/or general economic conditions. Such price changes may be temporary or may last for extended periods.

Instability in the financial markets may expose each fund to greater market and liquidity risk and potential difficulty in valuing portfolio instruments that it holds. In response to financial markets that experienced extreme volatility, and in some cases a lack of liquidity, the U.S. Government and other governments have taken a number of unprecedented actions, including acquiring distressed assets from financial institutions and acquiring ownership interests in those institutions. The implications of government ownership and disposition of these assets are unclear. Additional legislation or government regulation may also change the way in which funds themselves are regulated, which could limit or preclude a fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective. In addition, each fund is subject to the risk that geopolitical events, such as political, social or financial instability, civil unrest and acts of terrorism, war (e.g. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine), and other political developments, such as sanctions, tariffs, the imposition of exchange controls or other cross-border trade barriers, may negatively affect the fund’s investment in issuers located in, doing business in, or with assets relating to a market effected by such geopolitical event. Likewise, natural and environmental disasters, widespread disease and virus epidemics such as the recent coronavirus pandemic, and systemic market dislocations may be highly disruptive to economies and markets. These and other factors may lead to increased volatility and reduced liquidity in a Fund’s portfolio holdings.


40	Virtus Mutual Funds

Mortgage-Backed and Asset-Backed Securities

Mortgage-backed securities represent interests in pools of residential mortgage loans purchased from individual lenders by a federal agency or originated and issued by private lenders. Asset-backed securities represent interests in pools of underlying assets such as motor vehicle installment sales or installment loan contracts, leases of various types of real and personal property, and receivables from credit card arrangements. These two types of securities share many of the same risks.

The impairment of the value of collateral or other assets underlying a mortgage-backed or asset-backed security, such as that resulting from non-payment of loans, may result in a reduction in the value of such security and losses to a fund.

Early payoffs in the loans underlying such securities may result in a fund receiving less income than originally anticipated. The variability in prepayments will tend to limit price gains when interest rates drop and exaggerate price declines when interest rates rise. In the event of high prepayments, a fund may be required to invest proceeds at lower interest rates, causing the fund to earn less than if the prepayments had not occurred. Conversely, rising interest rates may cause prepayments to occur at a slower than expected rate, which may effectively change a security that was considered short- or intermediate-term into a long-term security. Due to these risks, asset-backed securities may become more volatile in certain interest rate environments. Due to these risks, asset-backed securities may become more volatile in certain interest rate environments. Long-term securities tend to fluctuate in value more widely in response to changes in interest rates than shorter-term securities.

Non-Diversification

As a non-diversified investment company, the fund is not limited in the proportion of assets that it may invest in the securities of any one issuer. If the fund takes concentrated positions in a small number of issuers, the fund may be more susceptible to the risks associated with those issuers, or to a single economic, political, regulatory or other event affecting those issuers.

Non-U.S. Government Securities

When a fund invests in debt instruments issued by a government outside the U.S., the fund is exposed to the risks that: (a) the governmental entity that controls the repayment of government debt may not be willing or able to repay the principal and/or to pay the interest when it becomes due, due to factors such as political considerations, the relative size of the governmental entity’s debt position in relation to the economy, cash flow problems, insufficient foreign currency reserves, the failure to put in place economic reforms required by the International Monetary Fund or other multilateral agencies, and/or other national economic factors; (b) the issuing government may default on its debt instruments, which may require holders of such securities to participate in debt rescheduling; and (c) there is no legal or bankruptcy process by which defaulted government debt may be collected in whole or in part.

Portfolio Turnover

A fund’s investment strategy may result in consistently frequently high turnover rate. A high portfolio turnover rate may result in correspondingly greater brokerage commission expenses and the distribution to shareholders of additional capital gains for tax purposes, some of which may be taxable at ordinary income rates. These factors may negatively affect the fund’s performance.

Redemption

The redemption by one or more large shareholders or groups of shareholders of their holdings in a fund could have an adverse impact on the remaining shareholders in the fund by, for example, accelerating the realization of capital gains and/or increasing the fund’s transaction costs.

RIC Compliance

The fund’s investment in MLPs presents unusual challenges in qualifying each year as a “regulated investment company” (a “RIC”) under the Internal Revenue Code, a designation which allows the fund to avoid paying taxes at regular corporate rates on its income. If for any taxable year the fund fails to qualify as a RIC, the fund’s taxable income will be subject to federal income tax at regular corporate rates. The resulting increase to the fund’s expenses will reduce its performance and its income available for distribution to shareholders.

Sector Focused Investing

The value of the investments of a fund that focuses its investments in a particular market sector will be highly sensitive to financial, economic, political and other developments affecting that market sector, and conditions that negatively impact that market sector will have a greater impact on the fund as compared with a fund that does not have its holdings similarly focused. Events negatively affecting the market sectors in which a fund has invested are therefore likely to cause the value of the fund’s shares to decrease, perhaps significantly.

Short-Term Investments

Short-term investments include money market instruments, repurchase agreements, certificates of deposit and bankers’ acceptances and other short-term instruments that are not U.S. Government securities. These securities generally present less risk than many other investments, but they are generally subject to credit risk and may be subject to other risks as well.

U.S. and Non-U.S. Government Securities

U.S. government securities include securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or by its authorities, agencies or instrumentalities. Non-U.S. government securities include securities issued or guaranteed by non-U.S. governments (including political subdivisions) or their authorities, agencies or instrumentalities, or by supra-national agencies. Different kinds of U.S. government securities and non-U.S. government securities have different kinds of government support. Not all government securities are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States or, in the case of non-U.S. government securities, other national governments. Some are backed only by the credit of the issuing agency or instrumentality. Accordingly, there is at least a chance of default on these U.S. government securities, as well as on non-U.S. government securities in which a fund may invest, so that a fund is subject to credit risk.


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Like other debt securities, the values of U.S. government securities change as interest rates fluctuate, which could affect a fund’s NAV. Since the magnitude of these fluctuations will generally be greater at times when a fund’s average maturity is longer, under certain market conditions a fund may, for temporary defensive purposes, accept lower current income from short-term investments rather than investing in higher yielding long-term securities.

Investments in sovereign debt involve the risk that the governmental entities responsible for repayment may be unable or unwilling to pay interest and repay principal when due. A governmental entity’s willingness or ability to pay interest and repay principal in a timely manner may be affected by a variety of factors, including its cash flow, the size of its reserves, its access to foreign exchange, the relative size of its debt service burden to its economy as a whole, and political constraints. Investments in quasi-sovereign issuers are subject to the additional risk that the issuer may default independently of its sovereign. Sovereign debt risk is greater for emerging market securities.

Management of the Funds

The Adviser

Virtus Alternative Investment Advisers, Inc. (“VAIA” or the “Adviser”) is the investment adviser to the funds and is located at One Financial Plaza, Hartford, CT 06103. VAIA, an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc., a publicly traded multi-manager asset management business, acts as the investment adviser to open- and closed-end funds totaling approximately $3.6 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2023.

Subject to the direction of the funds’ Board of Trustees, VAIA is responsible for managing the funds’ investment programs and for the general operations of the funds, including oversight of the funds’ subadviser, and recommending their hiring, termination and replacement.

VAIA has appointed and oversees the activities of the subadviser for the funds as shown in the table below. The subadviser manages the investments of each fund to conform with its investment policies as described in this prospectus.


Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund	Stone Harbor

Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund	Stone Harbor

Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund	Stone Harbor

Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund	Stone Harbor
Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund	Stone Harbor
Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund	Stone Harbor

Management Fees

Each fund pays VAIA an investment management fee that is accrued daily against the value of the fund’s net assets at the following annual rates:


Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund	0.85%
Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund	0.70%
Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund	0.60%
Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund	0.50%
Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund	0.75%
Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund	0.55%

In its last fiscal year, each fund (including its respective Predecessor Fund) paid fees to Stone Harbor at the same annual rates as those listed above.

Out of its investment management fee, VAIA pays the subadviser a subadvisory fee, which is calculated on the fund’s average daily net assets at the rate of 50% of the net advisory fee for each fund.

The Subadviser

Virtus Fixed Income Advisers, LLC, (“VFIA”) an affiliate of VAIA, is located at One Financial Plaza, Hartford, CT 06103. VFIA operates through its division, Stone Harbor, in subadvising their Funds as described herein. As of June 30, 2023, the three divisions that make up VFIA had approximately $23.8 billion in aggregate assets under management.

The Stone Harbor division of VFIA is a global credit specialist with expertise in emerging and developed markets debt, with three decades of informed experience allocating risk in complex areas of the fixed income markets. As of June 30, 2023, had approximately $11.4 billion in assets under management.

For its services as a subadviser, the Adviser pays Stone Harbor at the rate of 50% of the net advisory fee paid by each Fund for which Stone Harbor acts as subadviser.

A discussion regarding the basis for the Board of Trustees approving the investment advisory and subadvisory agreements for the funds is available in the funds’ annual report covering the period from the reorganizations to May 31, 2022.

The funds operate under a “manager of managers” structure, in which the Adviser provides general management services to the funds, including overall supervisory responsibility for the general management and investment of the funds’ assets, and the Adviser has the ultimate responsibility, subject to oversight by the funds’ Board of Trustees, to oversee the funds’ subadviser and recommend its hiring, termination and replacement.

The funds and the Adviser have received shareholder approval to rely on an exemptive order and additional exemptive relief from SEC that permits the Adviser, subject to certain conditions, and without the approval of shareholders, to: (a) select unaffiliated subadvisers, partially-owned affiliated subadvisers, and wholly-owned affiliated subadvisers, to manage all or a portion of the assets of the fund, and enter into subadvisory agreements with such subadvisers; (b) materially amend subadvisory agreements with such subadvisers; and (c) to continue the employment of existing subadvisers after events that under the 1940 Act and the relevant subadvisory agreements would otherwise cause an automatic termination of the subadvisory agreements. In such circumstances, shareholders would receive notice of such action. In addition, the exemptive relief permits the fund to disclose its advisory fees as follows: (a) advisory fees paid by the fund to the


42	Virtus Mutual Funds

Adviser and the subadvisory fees paid by the Adviser to wholly-owned affiliated subadvisers for the fund may be disclosed on an aggregate basis, rather than disclosing the amounts paid to each individually; and (b) subadvisory fees paid by the Adviser to multiple unaffiliated and partially-owned affiliated subadvisers for the fund may be disclosed on an aggregate basis, rather than disclosing the amounts paid to each such subadviser individually.

Portfolio Management

The following individuals are jointly and primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the funds’ portfolios.

Stone Harbor


Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund	Darin Batchman (since September 2023) James E. Craige (since 2011) Kumaran Damodaran (since 2015) Richard Lange (since September 2023) David A. Oliver (since 2011) Stuart Sclater-Booth (since 2017) Peter J. Wilby (since 2011)
Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund	James E. Craige (since 2014) Kumaran Damodaran (since 2015) David A. Oliver (since 2014) Stuart Sclater-Booth (since 2017) Peter J. Wilby (since 2014)
Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund	James E. Craige (since 2007) Kumaran Damodaran (since 2015) David A. Oliver (since 2008) Stuart Sclater-Booth (since 2017) Peter J. Wilby (since 2007)
Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund	Dan Berkery, CFA (since 2010) James E. Craige (since 2018) Matthew Kearns (since 2018) Hunter Schwartz (since 2018) Peter J. Wilby (since 2007)
Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund	James E. Craige (since 2010) Kumaran Damodaran (since 2015) David A. Oliver (since 2010) Stuart Sclater-Booth (since 2017) Peter J. Wilby (since 2010)
Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund	James E. Craige (since 2013) Roger Lavan (since 2013) David Scott (since 2013) David Torchia (since 2013) Peter J. Wilby (since 2013)

Darin Batchman. Mr. Batchman serves as a Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Prior to joining the predecessor to Stone Harbor in 2011, Mr. Lange served as a Director of Latin America Integrated Credit Trading at Deutsche Bank Securities, an Associate Director of Emerging Markets Fixed Income Research at Bear Stearns & Co. Inc., and a High Yield Research Associate in the Emerging Markets Group at Credit Suisse First Boston/Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Mr. Batchman has 25 years of industry experience.

Dan Berkery, CFA. Mr. Berkery serves as a Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Prior to joining the predecessor to Stone Harbor in 2010, Executive Director, Portfolio Manager for convertible bond securities at UBS O’Conner; Joined UBS O’Conner in 2000.

James E. Craige, CFA. Mr. Craige serves as Co-Chief Investment Officer and a Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Prior to joining the predecessor to Stone Harbor in 2006, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager for emerging markets debt portfolios at Salomon Brothers Asset Management Inc.; Joined Salomon Brothers Asset Management Inc. in 1992.

Kumaran Damodaran, Ph.D. Mr. Damodaran serves as a Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Prior to joining the predecessor to Stone Harbor in 2015, Lead Emerging Markets Macro Portfolio Manager for GLG Partners from 2012 to 2015. From 2008 to 2012, Executive Vice President and Emerging Markets Portfolio Manager at PIMCO. Prior to PIMCO, Senior Vice President and Trader in Latin American Local Market Rate Derivatives at Lehman Brothers for over five years.

Matthew Kearns, CFA. Mr. Kearns serves as a Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. From April 2006 to December 2018, served as a Credit Analyst at the predecessor to Stone Harbor. Prior to joining the predecessor to Stone Harbor in April 2006, Analyst at Citigroup Asset Management.

Richard Lange. Mr. Lange serves as a Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Prior to joining the predecessor to Stone Harbor in 2010, Mr. Lange served as a Trader for Autonomy Capital Group in London and the Director for Latin America Corporate Credit Trading at Deutsche Bank. Mr. Lange has 20 years of industry experience.

Roger Lavan, CFA. Mr. Lavan serves as a Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Prior to joining the predecessor to Stone Harbor in April 2006, Managing Director and senior portfolio manager responsible for directing U.S. governments, mortgages and asset-backed securities at Citigroup Asset Management; Joined Citigroup or its predecessor firms in 1987.

David A. Oliver. Mr. Oliver serves as a Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Prior to joining the predecessor to Stone Harbor in 2008, Managing Director in emerging market sales and trading at Citigroup; Joined Citigroup in 1986.


Virtus Mutual Funds	43

Hunter Schwarz. Mr. Schwarz serves as a Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Prior to joining the predecessor to Stone Harbor in 2018, from 2006 to 2018, Credit Analyst at Stone Harbor; Prior to 2006, Fixed Income Trade Support Analyst for Citigroup Asset Management and prior to that, Associate in the Structured Products Group at Deutsche Bank.

Stuart Sclater-Booth. Mr. Sclater-Booth serves as a Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Prior to joining the predecessor to Stone Harbor in 2014, Managing Director and head of Emerging Markets Debt strategy for Goldman Sachs from 2009-2010 and 2011-2014; Executive Director—Global Head of Emerging Markets Macro Strategy, Executive Directors—Emerging Markets Proprietary Trading, Vice President, Head of Trade Strategy for JP Morgan Chase Securities from 1998-2009 and 2010-2011.

David Scott. Mr. Scott serves as a Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Prior to joining the predecessor to Stone Harbor in 2006, Managing Director, Investment Policy Committee member and Head of the Traditional Investment Group responsible for the traditional bond product at Salomon Brothers Asset Management Limited; Joined Salomon Brothers Asset Management Limited in 1983.

David Torchia. Mr. Torchia is a portfolio manager and head of multi-sector credit strategies/investment grade at Stone Harbor, and Senior Portfolio Manager and Managing Director with Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. Prior to joining the predecessor to Stone Harbor in 2006, Mr. Torchia was a Managing Director and senior portfolio manager responsible for directing investment policy and strategy for all investment grade U.S. fixed income portfolios at Citigroup Asset Management. Previously, he served as a portfolio manager and investment policy committee member at Salomon Brothers Asset Management and as a manager of structured portfolios for the bond portfolio analysis group at Salomon Brothers Inc. Mr. Torchia earned a B.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and an M.B.A in finance from Lehigh University. He began working in the investment industry in 1984.

Peter J. Wilby, CFA. Mr. Wilby serves as Co-Chief Investment Officer and a Portfolio Manager of Stone Harbor. Prior to joining the predecessor to Stone Harbor in 2006, Chief Investment Officer—North American Fixed Income and senior portfolio manager responsible for directing investment policy and strategy for all emerging markets and high yield fixed income portfolios at Citigroup Asset Management; Joined Citigroup or its predecessor firms in 1989.

Additional Risks Associated with Investment Techniques and Fund Operations

In addition to the Principal Investment Strategies and Risks Related to Principal Investment Strategies, each of the funds listed in the chart below may engage in additional investment techniques that present additional risks to a fund. Those additional investment techniques in which a fund is expected to engage as of the date of this prospectus are indicated in the chart below, although other techniques may be utilized from time to time. The information below the chart describes the additional investment techniques and their risks. Many of the additional investment techniques that a fund may use, as well as other investment techniques that are relied upon to a lesser degree, are more fully described in the SAI.


Risks	Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Bond Fund	Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Allocation Fund	Virtus Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Income Fund	Virtus Stone Harbor High Yield Bond Fund	Virtus Stone Harbor Local Markets Fund	Virtus Stone Harbor Strategic Income Fund

Cybersecurity	X	X	X	X	X	X
ESG Consideration	X	X	X	X	X	X
LIBOR	X	X	X	X	X	X

Mutual Fund Investing