KraneShares Trust

 

Prospectus

 

August 1, 2023

 

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF (Formerly, KFA Mount Lucas Index Strategy ETF) - (KMLM)
KFA Value Line® Dynamic Core Equity Index ETF - (KVLE)

Fund shares are not individually redeemable. Fund shares are listed on NYSE Arca, Inc. (“Exchange”).

 

These securities have not been approved or disapproved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) or the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), nor have the SEC or CFTC passed upon the adequacy of this Prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

 

 

 

KraneShares Trust

 

 

Table of Contents

 

Fund Summary    
KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF   1
KFA Value Line® Dynamic Core Equity Index ETF   13
Additional Information About the Funds   22
Underlying Indexes   22
Management   45
Investment Adviser   45
Investment Sub-Advisers   47
Portfolio Managers   47
Shareholder Information   49
Calculating NAV   49
Buying and Selling Fund Shares   51
Active Investors and Market Timing   52
Investments by Registered Investment Companies   52
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries   53
Distribution Plan   53
Dividends and Distributions   53
Additional Tax Information   54
Index Provider Information and Disclaimers   57
Additional Disclaimers   58
Financial Highlights   60
Additional Information   63

 

i

 

 

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF (formerly, KFA Mount Lucas Index Strategy ETF)

 

 

Investment Objective

The KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to provide investment results that, before fees and expenses, track the price performance of the KFA MLM Index (“Index”).

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

The following table describes the fees and expenses 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.

 

Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)

None

Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees 0.89%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees* 0.00%
Other Expenses 0.01%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 0.90%

 

* Pursuant to a Distribution Plan, the Fund may bear a Rule 12b-1 fee not to exceed 0.25% per year of the Fund’s average daily net assets. However, no such fee is currently paid by the Fund, and the Board of Trustees has not currently approved the commencement of any payments under the Distribution Plan.

 

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, whether you do or do not sell your shares, your costs would be:

 

1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years
$92 $287 $498 $1,108

 

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 the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 251% of the average value of its portfolio.

 

1 KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures
Index Strategy ETF

 

 

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund seeks to achieve its goal by investing in commodity, currency, and global fixed income futures contracts traded on U.S. and foreign exchanges that are the same as or similar to those included in the Index.

 

The Index is a modified version of the MLM Index, which is an index that measures the performance of a portfolio of commodity, currency, and global fixed income futures contracts traded on U.S. and foreign exchanges using a trend following methodology. The Index determines weightings of these three types of futures contracts by the relative historical volatility of each type of futures contract as determined by the MLM Index Committee. Within each type of futures contract, the underlying constituent markets are equal dollar weighted.

 

The Index will roll futures contracts forward on a market by market basis as each constituent market nears expiration. The selection of the constituent markets occurs annually. The constituent markets of the futures contracts for the Index currently consist of the following commodities (corn, crude oil, copper, gold, heating oil, cattle, natural gas, soybeans, sugar, wheat and gasoline), currencies (British pound, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Euro, Japanese Yen, and Swiss francs), and global bond markets (Canadian government bond, Euro bund, Japanese government bond, Long gilt and Ten-year Treasuries). Constituent markets are traded both long and short based on each market’s trading signals.

 

The Index evaluates market trading signals on a daily basis and rebalances on the first day of the month. In addition, the Index has a target average annualized volatility of 15% over time.

 

The Fund invests in futures contracts on commodities, currencies and global bond markets. The Fund utilizes a subsidiary (the “Subsidiary”) for purposes of investing in futures contracts on commodities. The Subsidiary is a corporation operating under Cayman Islands law that is wholly-owned and controlled by the Fund. The Subsidiary is advised by the Fund’s investment adviser, Krane Funds Advisors, LLC (“Krane” or “Adviser”) and is sub-advised by Mount Lucas Index Advisers LLC, the Fund’s sub-adviser (“MLIA” or “Sub-Adviser”). The Fund’s investment in the Subsidiary may not exceed 25% of the value of its total assets (ignoring any subsequent market appreciation in the Subsidiary’s value), which limitation is imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and is measured at the end of the quarter. The Subsidiary has the same investment objective as the Fund and follows the same investment policies and restrictions as the Fund. Except as noted, for purposes of this Prospectus, references to the Fund’s investment strategies and risks include those of its Subsidiary, and references to the Fund include the Subsidiary. While the Fund generally seeks to maintain exposure to the same futures contracts as those included in the Index, the Fund and Subsidiary may not replicate the Index. For example, the Fund may invest in futures with different maturity dates, the Fund may weigh the futures differently than the Index, or the Fund may purchase futures on different dates than the rebalancing date for the Index. Fund assets not invested in futures contracts or the Subsidiary generally will be invested in debt instruments, exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”), cash or cash equivalent instruments, or money market mutual funds.

 

The Fund may also invest directly and indirectly in certain debt instruments. The debt instruments in which the Fund intends to invest include government securities and corporate or other non-government fixed-income securities with maturities of up to 12 months. The Fund may invest in debt instruments indirectly through short-term bond funds and ETFs. The Fund may also invest in cash and cash equivalents, including money market funds. Currently, the Fund expects to invest in ETFs to gain exposure to debt instruments.

 

2

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures

Index Strategy ETF

 

 

The Fund may also invest in instruments that are not included in the Index. These investments may include equity securities, derivative instruments (including swaps, futures, forwards, structured notes and options), other investment companies (including ETFs) and cash or cash equivalents (including money market funds). The other investment companies in which the Fund may invest may be advised, sponsored or otherwise serviced by Krane and/or its affiliates.

 

The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) has adopted certain requirements that subject registered investment companies and their advisers to regulation by the CFTC if a registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of its net assets in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps, or if a registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund’s use of CFTC-regulated futures and swaps above CFTC Rule 4.5 limits, the Fund is considered a “commodity pool” under the Commodity Exchange Act.

 

The Fund is non-diversified. To the extent the Index is concentrated in a particular industry, the Fund is expected to be concentrated in that industry. As of May 31, 2023 the Index was invested in the futures contracts of the 11 commodities, 6 currencies, and 5 global bond markets listed above.

 

The Index is provided by Fuzzy Logix, Inc. (doing business as “FastINDX”) (“Index Provider”).

 

Principal Risks

As with all exchange traded funds (“ETFs”), a shareholder of the Fund is subject to the risk that his or her investment could lose money. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective and an investment in the Fund is not by itself a complete or balanced investment program. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit with a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. An investment in the Fund involves the risk of total loss. In addition to these risks, the Fund is subject to a number of additional principal risks that may affect the Fund’s performance, net asset value (“NAV”) and trading price, including:

 

Futures Strategy Risk. Successful use of futures contracts draws upon the Adviser’s or Sub-Adviser’s skill and experience with respect to such instruments and is subject to special risk considerations. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts include: (a) an imperfect correlation between the change in market value of the reference asset and the price of the futures contract; (b) possible lack of a liquid secondary market for a futures contract and the resulting inability to close a futures contract when desired; (c) losses caused by unanticipated market movements, which are potentially unlimited; (d) the inability to predict correctly the direction of market prices, interest rates, currency exchange rates and other economic factors; and (e) if the Fund has insufficient cash, it may have to sell securities or financial instruments from its portfolio to meet daily variation margin requirements, which may lead to the Fund selling securities or financial instruments at a loss.

 

As a futures contract the Fund owns approaches its settlement date, the Fund may sell that futures contract and reinvest the proceeds in a similar contract with a more distant settlement date. This process is referred to as “rolling” a futures contract. The successful use of such a strategy depends upon the Adviser’s or Sub-Adviser’s skill and experience. Although the Fund will attempt to roll from an expiring futures contract to another contract that the Adviser or Sub-Adviser believes will generate the greatest yield for the Fund, the Fund nevertheless may incur a cost to “roll” the contract. In a commodity futures market where current month expiring contracts trade at a lower price than next month’s contract, a situation referred to as “contango,” then, absent the impact of the overall movement in commodity prices, the Fund may experience an adverse impact because it would be selling less expensive contracts and buying more expense contracts. In the event of a prolonged period of contango, and absent the impact of rising or falling commodity prices, there could be a significant negative impact on the Fund when it “rolls” its futures contract positions.

 

3

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures

Index Strategy ETF

 

 

Commodity Risk. The Fund’s and the Subsidiary’s significant investment exposure to the commodities markets and/or a particular sector of the commodities markets may subject the Fund and the Subsidiary to greater volatility than investments in traditional securities. The commodities markets are impacted by a variety of factors, including market movements, resource availability, commodity price volatility, speculation in the commodities markets, domestic and foreign political and economic events and policies, trade policies and tariffs, war, acts of terrorism, changes in domestic or foreign interest rates and/or investor expectations concerning interest rates, domestic and foreign inflation rates and investment and trading activities in commodities.

 

Prices of various commodities may also be affected by factors such as drought, floods, weather, livestock disease, embargoes, tariffs and other regulatory developments. The prices of commodities can also fluctuate widely due to supply and demand disruptions in major producing or consuming regions. To the extent the Fund focuses its investments in a particular commodity in the commodities market, the Fund will be more susceptible to risks associated with the particular commodity. No active trading market may exist for certain commodities investments. Because the Fund’s and the Subsidiary’s performance is linked to the performance of potentially volatile commodities, investors should be willing to assume the risks of significant fluctuations in the value of the Fund’s shares.

 

Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk. The value of a commodity-linked derivative investment typically is based upon the price movements of a physical commodity and may be affected by changes in overall market movements, volatility of an index, changes in interest rates, or factors affecting a particular industry or commodity, such as drought, floods, weather, embargoes, tariffs and international economic, political and regulatory developments. Investments in commodity-linked derivatives may be subject to greater volatility than non-derivative based investments. Commodity-linked derivatives also may be subject to credit and interest rate risks that in general affect the values of debt securities.

 

Fixed Income Securities Risk. Fixed income securities are subject to credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer of a security will not make timely interest payments or repay the principal of the debt issued (i.e., default on its obligations). A downgrade or default on securities held by the Fund could adversely affect the Fund’s performance. Generally, the longer the maturity and the lower the credit quality of a security, the more sensitive it is to credit risk. Interest rate risk refers to fluctuations in the value of a debt resulting from changes in the level of interest rates. When interest rates go up, the prices of most debt instruments generally go down; and when interest rates go down, the prices of most debt instruments generally go up. Debt instruments with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, typically making them more volatile. Interest rates have recently increased and may continue increasing, thereby heightening the risks associated with rising interest rates.

 

Currency Risk. To the extent that the Fund is exposed directly or indirectly to foreign currencies, including through its investments, or invests in securities or other instruments denominated in or indexed to foreign currencies, changes in currency exchange rates could adversely impact investment gains or add to investment losses. Currency exchange rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time and can be affected unpredictably by intervention, or failure to intervene, by U.S. or foreign governments or central banks or by currency controls or political developments in the U.S. or abroad. The Fund may also be subject to delays in converting or transferring U.S. dollars to foreign currencies and vice versa. This may adversely affect the Fund’s performance.

 

4

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures

Index Strategy ETF

 

 

Commodity Pool Registration Risk. Under regulations promulgated by the CFTC, the Fund and the Subsidiary are considered commodity pools, and therefore each is subject to regulation under the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC rules. Krane and MLIA are registered as a commodity pool operator and commodity trading adviser, respectively, and manages the Fund and the Subsidiary in accordance with CFTC rules, as well as the rules that apply to registered investment companies. Commodity pools are subject to additional laws, regulations and enforcement policies, all of which may potentially increase compliance costs and may affect the operations and financial performance of the Fund and the Subsidiary. Additionally, positions in futures and other contracts may have to be liquidated at disadvantageous times or prices to prevent the Fund from exceeding any applicable position limits established by the CFTC. Such actions may subject the Fund to substantial losses.

 

Regulatory Risk. The Fund is subject to the risk that a change in U.S. law and related regulations will impact the way the Fund operates, increase the particular costs of the Fund’s operations and/or change the competitive landscape. Additional legislative or regulatory changes could occur that may materially and adversely affect the Fund.

 

Subsidiary Investment Risk. By investing in the Subsidiary, the Fund is indirectly exposed to the risks associated with the Subsidiary’s investments. Since the Subsidiary is organized under the law of the Cayman Islands and is not registered with the SEC under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), the Fund will not receive all of the protections offered to shareholders of registered investment companies. Changes in the laws of the United States and/or the Cayman Islands could result in the inability of the Fund and/or the Subsidiary to operate as intended, which may negatively affect the Fund and its shareholders.

 

Derivatives Risk. The use of derivatives (including swaps, futures, forwards, structured notes and options) may involve leverage, which includes risks that are different from, and greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in a reference asset, because a small investment in a derivative can result in a large impact on the Fund and may cause the Fund to be more volatile. Derivatives may at times be highly illiquid, and the Fund may not be able to close out or sell a derivative at a particular time or at an anticipated price. Derivatives can be difficult to value and valuation may be more difficult in times of market turmoil. There may be imperfect correlation between the derivative and that of the reference asset, resulting in unexpected returns that could materially adversely affect the Fund. Certain derivatives (such as swaps and options) are bi-lateral agreements that expose the Fund to counterparty risk, which is the risk of loss in the event that the counterparty to an agreement fails to make required payments or otherwise comply with the terms of derivative. In that case, the Fund may suffer losses potentially equal to, or greater than, the full value of the derivative if the counterparty fails to perform its obligations. That risk is generally thought to be greater with over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives than with derivatives that are exchange traded or centrally cleared. Counterparty risks are compounded by the fact that there are only a limited number of ways available to invest in certain reference assets and, therefore, there may be few counterparties to swaps or options based on those reference assets.

 

Geographic Focus Risk. The Fund’s investments are expected to be focused in a particular country, countries, or region to approximately the same degree as the Index and, therefore the Fund may be susceptible to adverse market, political, regulatory, and geographic events affecting that country, countries or region. Such geographic focus also may subject the Fund to a higher degree of volatility than a more geographically diversified fund.

 

5

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures

Index Strategy ETF

 

 

European Union Risk. The economies of the European Union are dependent to a significant extent on those of certain key trading partners, including China, the United States, and other European countries. A reduction in spending on products and services exported from the European Union, or volatility in the financial markets of member countries, may have an adverse impact on the broader European Union economy and could adversely affect the Fund. Separately, the European Union faces issues involving its membership, structure, procedures and policies. The United Kingdom (UK) officially withdrew from the European Union on January 31, 2020. Upon the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, the European Union and the UK entered into a transition phase, which concluded on December 31, 2020, and the UK and the European Union agreed upon a Trade and Cooperation Agreement that became fully effective on May 1, 2021. The UK, European Union and broader global economy may still experience volatility in foreign exchange markets as a result of these events. The UK’s withdrawal may also destabilize some or all of the other European Union member countries and/or the Eurozone. The exit of additional member states from the European Union would subject its currency and banking system to increased risk and would likely result in increased volatility, illiquidity and potentially lower economic growth in the affected markets. Additionally, the reintroduction of national currencies in one or more European Union countries or the abandonment of the Euro as a currency could adversely affect the Fund.

 

Foreign Investments Risk. Investments in securities of non-U.S. issuers may be less liquid than investments in U.S. issuers, may have less governmental regulation and oversight, and are typically subject to different investor protection standards than U.S. issuers. Investments in non-U.S. securities entail the risk of loss due to foreign currency fluctuations, political or economic instability, less complete financial information about the issuers, the possible imposition of withholding or confiscatory taxes, the possible seizure or nationalization of foreign holdings, and the possible establishment of exchange controls or freezes on the convertibility of currency. Foreign market trading hours, clearance and settlement procedures, and holiday schedules may limit the Fund’s ability to buy and sell securities. Additionally, foreign issuers may be subject to different accounting, auditing, recordkeeping, and financial reporting requirements. Securities of issuers traded on foreign exchanges may be suspended, either by the issuers themselves, by an exchange or by governmental authorities. If the Fund holds positions in such suspended securities, the Fund may be adversely impacted. Certain countries in which the Fund may invest may be subject to extended settlement delays and/or foreign holidays, during which the Fund will unlikely be able to convert holdings to cash. All of these factors could result in a loss to the Fund.

 

Concentration Risk. The Fund’s assets are expected to be concentrated in an industry or group of industries to the extent that the Index concentrates in a particular industry or group of industries. The securities of companies in an industry or group of industries could react similarly to market developments. Thus, the Fund is subject to loss due to adverse occurrences that may affect that industry or group of industries or sector.

 

Short Sale Risk. Short sales, at least theoretically, present a risk of unlimited loss on an individual security basis, since the Fund may be required to buy the security sold short at a time when the security has appreciated in value, and there is potentially no limit to the amount of such appreciation. Because the Fund may invest the proceeds of a short sale, another effect of short selling on the Fund is leverage, in that it amplifies changes in the Fund’s net asset value since it increases the exposure of the Fund to the market. The Fund may not always be able to close out a short position at a favorable time or price. If the Fund covers its short sale at an unfavorable price, the cover transaction is likely to reduce or eliminate any gain, or cause a loss to the Fund. When the Fund is selling a security short, it must maintain a segregated account of cash or high-grade securities equal to the margin requirement. As a result, the Fund may maintain high levels of cash or other liquid assets (such as U.S. Treasury bills, money market instruments, certificates of deposit, high quality commercial paper and long equity positions). The Fund may utilize the collateral obtained from securities lending for this cash. The need to maintain cash or other liquid assets in segregated accounts could limit the Fund’s ability to pursue other opportunities as they arise.

 

6

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures

Index Strategy ETF

 

 

Non-Diversified Fund Risk. Because the Fund is non-diversified and may invest a greater portion of its assets in fewer issuers than a diversified fund, changes in the market value of a single portfolio holding could cause greater fluctuations in the Fund’s share price than would occur in a diversified fund. This may increase the Fund’s volatility and cause the performance of a single portfolio holding or a relatively small number of portfolio holdings to have a greater impact on the Fund’s performance.

 

ETF Risk. As an ETF, the Fund is subject to the following risks:

 

Authorized Participants Concentration Risk. The Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that may act as Authorized Participants. To the extent they exit the business or are otherwise unable to proceed in creation and redemption transactions with the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, shares of the Fund may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened for ETFs, such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that have lower trading volumes.

 

Cash Transactions Risk. Like other ETFs, the Fund sells and redeems its shares only in large blocks called Creation Units and only to “Authorized Participants.” Unlike many other ETFs, however, the Fund expects to effect its creations and redemptions at least partially or fully for cash, rather than in-kind securities. Thus, an investment in the Fund may be less tax-efficient than an investment in other ETFs as the Fund may recognize a capital gain that it could have avoided by making redemptions in-kind. As a result, the Fund may pay out higher capital gains distributions than ETFs that redeem in-kind. Further, paying redemption proceeds in cash rather than through in-kind delivery of portfolio securities may require the Fund to dispose of or sell portfolio investments to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds at an inopportune time.

 

International Closed Market Trading Risk. To the extent the Fund’s investments trade in markets that are closed when the Fund and Exchange are open, there are likely to be deviations between current pricing of an underlying security and the prices at which the underlying securities are valued for purposes of the Fund’s NAV. As a result, Shares may appear to trade at a significant discount or premium to NAV greater than those incurred by other ETFs. In addition, shareholders may not be able to purchase or redeem their shares of the Fund, or purchase or sell shares of the Fund on the Exchange, on days when the NAV of the Fund could be significantly affected by events in the relevant non-U.S. markets.

 

Premium/Discount Risk. There may be times when the market price of the Fund’s shares is more than the NAV intra-day (at a premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (at a discount). As a result, shareholders of the Fund may pay more than NAV when purchasing shares and receive less than NAV when selling Fund shares. This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines. In such market conditions, market or stop loss orders to sell Fund shares may be executed at prices well below NAV.

 

7

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures

Index Strategy ETF

 

 

Secondary Market Trading Risk. Investors buying or selling shares in the secondary market will normally pay brokerage commissions, which are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors buying or selling relatively small amounts of shares. Secondary market trading is subject to bid-ask spreads and trading in Fund shares may be halted by the Exchange because of market conditions or other reasons. If a trading halt occurs, a shareholder may temporarily be unable to purchase or sell shares of the Fund. In addition, although the Fund’s shares are listed on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for shares will develop or be maintained or that the Fund’s shares will continue to be listed.

 

Liquidity Risk. The Fund’s investments are subject to liquidity risk, which exists when an investment is or becomes difficult or impossible to purchase or sell at an advantageous time and price. If a transaction is particularly large or if the relevant market is or becomes illiquid, it may not be possible to initiate a transaction or liquidate a position, which may cause the Fund to suffer significant losses and difficulties in meeting redemptions. Liquidity risk may be the result of, among other things, market turmoil, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants, or the lack of an active trading market. Markets for securities or financial instruments could be disrupted by a number of events, including, but not limited to, an economic crisis, natural disasters, new legislation or regulatory changes inside or outside the U.S. Liquid investments may become less liquid after being purchased by the Fund, particularly during periods of market stress. In addition, if a number of securities held by the Fund stop trading, it may have a cascading effect and cause the Fund to halt trading. Volatility in market prices will increase the risk of the Fund being subject to a trading halt.

 

Tracking Error Risk. The Fund’s return may not match or achieve a high degree of correlation with the return of the Index. This may be due to, among other factors, the Fund holding cash under certain circumstances in lieu of Index investments, such as when the Fund is subject to delays converting U.S. dollars into a foreign currency to purchase foreign investments and unable to invest in certain constituents of the Index due to regulatory constraints, trading suspensions, and legal restrictions imposed by foreign governments. To the extent that the Fund employs a representative sampling strategy or calculates its NAV based on fair value prices and the value of the Index is based on investment’s closing prices on local foreign markets, the Fund’s ability to track the Index may be adversely affected.

 

Passive Investment Risk. There is no guarantee that the Index will create the desired exposure and the Fund is not actively managed. It does not seek to “beat” the Index or take temporary defensive positions when markets decline. Therefore, the Fund may purchase or hold securities with current or projected underperformance.

 

Management Risk. The Fund may not fully replicate the Index and may hold less than the total number of investments in the Index. Therefore, the Fund is subject to the risk that the Sub-Adviser’s investment selection process may not produce the intended results.

 

8

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures

Index Strategy ETF

 

 

Market Risk. The values of the Fund’s holdings could decline generally or could underperform other investments. In addition, there is a risk that policy changes by the U.S. Government, Federal Reserve, and/or other government actors could cause volatility in global financial markets and negative sentiment, which could have a negative impact on the Fund and could result in losses. Geopolitical and other risks, including environmental and public health risks may add to instability in world economies and markets generally. Changes in value may be temporary or may last for extended periods. Further, the Fund is susceptible to the risk that certain investments may be difficult or impossible to sell at a favorable time or price. Market developments may also cause the Fund’s investments to become less liquid and subject to erratic price movements.

 

High Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover rates, which may increase the Fund’s brokerage commission costs and negatively impact the Fund’s performance. Such portfolio turnover also may generate net short-term capital gains.

 

Valuation Risk. Independent market quotations for certain investments held by the Fund may not be readily available, and such investments may be fair valued or valued by a pricing service at an evaluated price. These valuations involve subjectivity and different market participants may assign different prices to the same investment. As a result, there is a risk that the Fund may not be able to sell an investment at the price assigned to the investment by the Fund. In addition, the securities in which the Fund invests may trade on days that the Fund does not price its shares; as a result, the value of Fund shares may change on days when investors cannot purchase or sell their Fund holdings.

 

Large Shareholder Risk. To the extent a large number of shares of the Fund is held by a single shareholder or a small group of shareholders, the Fund is subject to the risk that redemption by those shareholders of all or a large portion of their shares will adversely affect the Fund’s performance by forcing the Fund to sell securities, potentially at disadvantageous prices, to raise the cash needed to satisfy such redemption requests. This risk may be heightened during periods of declining or illiquid markets, or to the extent that such large shareholders have short investment horizons or unpredictable cash flow needs. Such redemptions may also increase transaction costs and/or have adverse tax consequences for remaining shareholders.

 

Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, the Fund must satisfy certain income, asset diversification and distribution requirements each year. If the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income, which would adversely affect the Fund’s performance.

 

The Fund intends to treat its income from the Subsidiary as qualifying income. The tax treatment of the Fund’s investment in the Subsidiary may be adversely affected by future legislation, court decisions, Treasury Regulations and/or guidance issued by the IRS that could affect whether income derived from such investments is “qualifying income” under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, or otherwise affect the character, timing and/or amount of the Fund’s taxable income or any gains or distributions made by the Fund.

 

U.S. Government Obligations Risk. Obligations of U.S. Government agencies and authorities receive varying levels of support and may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government, which could affect the Fund’s ability to recover should they default. No assurance can be given that the U.S. Government will provide financial support to its agencies and authorities if it is not obligated by law to do so. Additionally, market prices and yields of securities supported by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government may decline or be negative for short or long periods of time.

 

9

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures

Index Strategy ETF

 

 

Investments in Investment Companies Risk. The Fund may invest in other investment companies, including those advised, sponsored or otherwise serviced by Krane, a sub-adviser, and/or their affiliates. The Fund will indirectly be exposed to the risks of investments by such funds and will incur its pro rata share of the underlying fund’s expenses. Additionally, investments in ETFs are subject to ETF Risk. Krane and a sub-adviser are subject to conflicts of interest in allocating Fund assets to investment companies that are advised, sponsored or otherwise serviced by Krane, a sub-adviser and/or their affiliates. To the extent that the Fund invests in investment companies or other pooled investment vehicles that are not registered pursuant to the 1940 Act, it will not enjoy the protections of the U.S. law.

 

Cash and Cash Equivalents Risk. The Fund may hold cash or cash equivalents. Generally, such positions offer less potential for gain than other investments. Holding cash or cash equivalents, even strategically, may lead to missed investment opportunities. This is particularly true when the market for other investments in which the Fund may invest is rapidly rising. If the Fund holds cash uninvested it will be subject to the credit risk of the depositing institution holding the cash.

 

Performance Information

The following bar chart and table illustrate the variability of the Fund’s returns and indicate the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. All returns include the reinvestment of dividends and distributions. As always, please note that the Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how it will perform in the future. Prior to April 1, 2022, the Fund was actively managed and sought to outperform the Index through investments in debt instruments. Updated performance information is available at no cost by visiting www.kfafunds.com.

 Total Annual Returns For Calender Years Ended December 31

 

Years

As of June 30, 2023, the Fund’s calendar year-to-date total return was -0.43%.

 

10

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures

Index Strategy ETF

 

 

Best and Worst Quarter Returns (for the period reflected in the bar chart above)

  Return Quarter
Ended/Year
Highest Return 18.95% 03/31/2022
Lowest Return -9.23% 12/31/2022

 

Average Annual Total Returns for the periods ended December 31, 2022

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF 1 year Since Inception
(12-1-2020)
Return Before Taxes 30.52% 20.63%
Return After Taxes on Distributions 25.54% 16.92%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares 19.29% 14.69%
KFA MLM Index (Reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) 36.68% 24.24%

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser and Sub-Adviser

Krane Funds Advisors, LLC (“Krane” or “Adviser”) serves as the investment adviser to the Fund. Mount Lucas Index Advisers LLC (“MLIA” or “Sub-Adviser”) serves as the investment sub-adviser to the Fund.

 

Portfolio Managers

Timothy J. Rudderow Sr., Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of MLIA; Gerald L. Prior, III, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Portfolio Manager of MLIA; and David Aspell, Portfolio Manager of MLIA are the Fund’s Portfolio Managers and are jointly and primarily responsible for the day to day management of the Fund’s portfolio. Messrs. Rudderow, Prior, and Aspell have served as portfolio manager of the Fund since its inception.

 

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Shares may be purchased and redeemed from the Fund only in “Creation Units” of 50,000 shares, or multiples thereof. As a practical matter, only institutions and large investors, such as market makers or other large broker-dealers, purchase or redeem Creation Units. Most investors will buy and sell shares of the Fund on the Exchange. Individual shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like other publicly traded securities through a broker-dealer on the Exchange. These transactions do not involve the Fund. The price of an individual Fund share is based on market prices, which may be different from its NAV. As a result, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than the NAV (at a premium) or less than the NAV (at a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Most investors will incur customary brokerage commissions and charges when buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer.

 

Recent information regarding the Fund, including its NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid ask spreads, are available on the Fund’s website at www.kfafunds.com.

 

11

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures

Index Strategy ETF

 

 

Tax Information

Fund distributions are generally taxable as ordinary income, qualified dividend income or capital gains (or a combination), unless your investment is in an IRA or other tax-advantaged retirement account, which may be taxable upon withdrawal.

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase Fund shares 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 sales person to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your sales person or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

12

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures

Index Strategy ETF

 

 

KFA Value Line® Dynamic Core Equity Index ETF

 

 

Investment Objective

The KFA Value Line® Dynamic Core Equity Index ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to provide investment results that, before fees and expenses, track the price and yield performance of a specific equity securities index. The Fund’s current index is the 3D/L Value Line® Dynamic Core Equity Index (the “Underlying Index”).

 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

The following table describes the fees and expenses 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.

 

Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)

None

Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 
Management Fees 0.55%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees* 0.00%
Other Expenses 0.01%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 0.56%

 

* Pursuant to a Distribution Plan, the Fund may bear a Rule 12b-1 fee not to exceed 0.25% per year of the Fund’s average daily net assets. However, no such fee is currently paid by the Fund, and the Board of Trustees has not currently approved the commencement of any payments under the Distribution Plan.

 

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, whether you do or do not sell your shares, your costs would be:

 

1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years
$57 $179 $313 $701

 

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 the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 155% of the average value of its portfolio.

 

13

KFA Value Line® Dynamic

Core Equity Index ETF

 

 

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings for investment purposes) in instruments in its Underlying Index or in instruments that have economic characteristics similar to those in the Underlying Index.

 

The Underlying Index begins with the universe of stocks that Value Line® ranks. All companies with an equity market capitalization of less than $1 billion, registered investment companies, limited partnerships and foreign securities not listed in the U.S. are eliminated from this universe. From this investable universe, the Underlying Index establishes: (1) a dividend target, which is the trailing 12-month dividend yield of stocks in the top quartile in this universe; and (2) a beta target of 0.8 to 1 versus the S&P 500 Index based on forecasting models. Beta is a measure of the expected return of the Underlying Index relative to market movements. Each company in the investable universe is assigned a score based on its Safety Rank and Timeliness Rank.

 

The Value Line® SafetyRanking System measures the total risk of a company relative to others in the universe based on Value Line’s ranking of the company’s price stability and financial strength. Companies with high Safety ranks may be larger and more financially sound and may have lower growth prospects.

 

The Value Line® Timeliness Ranking System ranks companies relative to each other in the universe for price performance during the next six to 12 months by using components such as historical stock-price performance, financial results, and earnings surprises.

 

Each Ranking System ranks companies on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the highest rank and 5 being the lowest rank. The Underlying Index assigns the highest scores to Rank 1 companies and the lower scores, progressively, to Rank 2 through 5 companies.

 

The Underlying Index optimizes the weighting of companies using the score assigned to them to maximize the overall score for the Underlying Index while seeking a yield that will be no less than the dividend target and a beta within 0.03 of the beta target. The weighting of a company can be zero and no individual company will be weighted more than 1.5% greater than its weighting in the broad-based large cap equity index. The Underlying Index is rebalanced during the first full week of each calendar month.

 

The Fund may invest up to 20% of its assets in instruments that are not included in the Underlying Index, but that Fund’s adviser, Krane Funds Advisors, LLC (“Krane” or “Adviser”), believes will help the Fund track the Underlying Index. These investments may include equity securities of issuers whose securities are not components of the Underlying Index, derivative instruments (including swaps, futures, forwards, structured notes and options), other investment companies (including ETFs) and cash or cash equivalents (including money market funds). The other investment companies in which the Fund may invest may be advised, sponsored or otherwise serviced by Krane Funds Advisors, LLC (“Krane” or “Adviser”), 3D/L Capital Management, LLC (“3D/L”) and/or its affiliates.

 

Although the Fund expects to replicate (or hold all components of) the Underlying Index, the Fund reserves the right to use representative sampling to track the Underlying Index. “Representative sampling” is a strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to the Underlying Index.

 

14

KFA Value Line® Dynamic

Core Equity Index ETF

 

 

As of May 31, 2023, the Underlying Index included 60 securities of companies with a market capitalization range of approximately $0.65 billion to $2.79 trillion and had an average market capitalization of approximately $182 billion. The Underlying Index is rebalanced and reconstituted monthly.

 

The Fund is non-diversified. To the extent the Underlying Index is concentrated in a particular industry, the Fund is expected to be concentrated in that industry. As of May 31, 2023, issuers in the Information Technology sector (23.9%) and Utilities sector (20.4%) each represented a significant portion of the Underlying Index.

 

The Underlying Index is provided by Fuzzy Logix, Inc. (doing business as “FastINDX”) (“Index Provider”).

 

The Fund may engage in securities lending.

 

Principal Risks

As with all exchange traded funds (“ETFs”), a shareholder of the Fund is subject to the risk that his or her investment could lose money. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective and an investment in the Fund is not by itself a complete or balanced investment program. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit with a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. An investment in the Fund involves the risk of total loss. In addition to these risks, the Fund is subject to a number of additional principal risks that may affect the Fund’s performance, net asset value (“NAV”) and trading price, including:

 

Equity Securities Risk. The values of equity securities are subject to factors such as market fluctuations, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in stock prices. Equity securities are subject to volatile changes in value and their values may be more volatile than other asset classes. In the event of liquidation, equity securities are generally subordinate in rank to debt and other securities of the same issuer.

 

Dividend Risk. There is no guarantee that issuers of the stocks held by the Fund will declare dividends in the future or that, if declared, such dividends will remain at current levels or increase over time.

 

Ranking Risk. The Fund uses the Value Line® Timeliness and Safety Ranking Systems in selecting securities. This is subject to the risk that the rankings may not be accurate and that the performance of these companies may not continue. The returns on these securities may be less than returns on other companies or the overall stock market. In addition, there may be periods when companies highly ranked by Value Line® are out of favor and during which the investment performance of the Fund may suffer.

 

Market Risk. The values of the Fund’s holdings could decline generally or could underperform other investments. In addition, there is a risk that policy changes by the U.S. Government, Federal Reserve, and/or other government actors could cause volatility in global financial markets, negative sentiment and higher levels of Fund redemptions, which could have a negative impact on the Fund and could result in losses. Geopolitical and other risks, including environmental and public health risks may add to instability in world economies and markets generally. Changes in value may be temporary or may last for extended periods. Further, the Fund is susceptible to the risk that certain investments may be difficult or impossible to sell at a favorable time or price. Market developments may also cause the Fund’s investments to become less liquid and subject to erratic price movements.

 

15

KFA Value Line® Dynamic

Core Equity Index ETF

 

 

Large Capitalization Company Risk. Investments in large capitalization companies may go in and out of favor based on market and economic conditions and may underperform other market segments. Some large capitalization companies may be unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges and attain the high growth rate of successful smaller companies, especially during extended periods of economic expansion. As such, returns on investments in stocks of large capitalization companies could trail the returns on investments in stocks of small and mid-capitalization companies.

 

Concentration Risk. Because the Fund’s assets are expected to be concentrated in an industry or group of industries to the extent that the Underlying Index concentrates in a particular industry or group of industries, the Fund is subject to loss due to adverse occurrences that may affect that industry or group of industries or sector. Market conditions, interest rates, and economic, regulatory, or financial developments could significantly affect a single industry or a group of related industries, and the securities of companies in that industry or group of industries could react similarly to these or other developments. From time to time, the Fund may invest a significant percentage of its assets in issuers in a single industry (or the same group of industries) or sector of the economy. While the Fund’s sector and industry exposure is expected to vary over time based on the composition of the Underlying Index, the Fund is currently subject to the principal risks described below. The Fund may have significant exposure to other industries or sectors over time.

 

Information Technology Sector Risk. Market or economic factors impacting information technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technology advances could have a major effect on the value of stocks in the information technology sector. The value of stocks of technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technology is particularly vulnerable to rapid changes in technology product cycles, rapid product obsolescence, government regulation and competition, both domestically and internationally, including competition from competitors with lower production costs. Information technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technology, especially those of smaller, less-seasoned companies, tend to be more volatile than the overall market. Information technology companies are heavily dependent on patent and intellectual property rights, the loss or impairment of which may adversely affect profitability. Additionally, companies in the information technology sector may face dramatic and often unpredictable changes in growth rates and competition for the services of qualified personnel.

 

Utilities Sector Risk. The utilities sector is subject to significant government regulation and oversight. Companies in the utilities sector may be adversely affected due to increases in commodity and operating costs, rising costs of financing capital construction and the cost of complying with government regulations, among other factors.

 

ETF Risk. As an ETF, the Fund is subject to the following risks:

 

Authorized Participants Concentration Risk. The Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that may act as Authorized Participants. To the extent they exit the business or are otherwise unable to proceed in creation and redemption transactions with the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, shares of the Fund may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.

 

16

KFA Value Line® Dynamic

Core Equity Index ETF

 

 

Premium/Discount Risk. There may be times when the market price of the Fund’s shares is more than the NAV intra-day (at a premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (at a discount). As a result, shareholders of the Fund may pay more than NAV when purchasing shares and receive less than NAV when selling Fund shares. This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines. In such market conditions, market or stop loss orders to sell Fund shares may be executed at prices well below NAV.

 

Secondary Market Trading Risk. Investors buying or selling shares in the secondary market will normally pay brokerage commissions, which are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors buying or selling relatively small amounts of shares. Secondary market trading is subject to bid-ask spreads and trading in Fund shares may be halted by the Exchange because of market conditions or other reasons. If a trading halt occurs, a shareholder may temporarily be unable to purchase or sell shares of the Fund. In addition, although the Fund’s shares are listed on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for shares will develop or be maintained or that the Fund’s shares will continue to be listed.

 

Small Fund Risk. The Fund is small and does not yet have a significant number of shares outstanding. Small funds are at greater risk than larger funds of wider bid-ask spreads for its shares, trading at a greater premium or discount to NAV, liquidation and/or a stop to trading.

 

Tracking Error Risk. The Fund’s return may not match or achieve a high degree of correlation with the return of the Underlying Index. This may be due to, among other factors, the Fund holding cash under certain circumstances in lieu of Underlying Index securities, the use of representative sampling strategy, if applicable, asset valuation differences, tax considerations, the unavailability of securities in the Underlying Index from time to time and other liquidity constraints.

 

Management Risk. The Fund may not fully replicate the Underlying Index and may hold less than the total number of securities in the Underlying Index. Therefore, the Fund is subject to the risk that Krane’s security selection process may not produce the intended results.

 

Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed, does not seek to “beat” the Underlying Index and does not take temporary defensive positions when markets decline. Therefore, the Fund may not sell a security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry or sector. There is no guarantee that the Underlying Index will create the desired exposure. The Underlying Index may not contain an appropriate mix of securities, but the Fund’s investment objective and principal investment strategies impose limits on the Fund’s ability to invest in securities not included in the Underlying Index.

 

Non-Diversified Fund Risk. Because the Fund is non-diversified and may invest a greater portion of its assets in fewer issuers than a diversified fund, changes in the market value of a single portfolio holding could cause greater fluctuations in the Fund’s share price than would occur in a diversified fund. This may increase the Fund’s volatility and cause the performance of a single portfolio holding or a relatively small number of portfolio holdings to have a greater impact on the Fund’s performance.

 

17

KFA Value Line® Dynamic

Core Equity Index ETF

 

 

Investments in Investment Companies Risk. The Fund may invest in other investment companies, including those advised, sponsored or otherwise serviced by Krane and/or its affiliates. The Fund will indirectly be exposed to the risks of investments by such funds and will incur its pro rata share of the underlying fund’s expenses. Additionally, investments in ETFs are subject to ETF Risk. Krane is subject to conflicts of interest in allocating Fund assets to investment companies that are advised, sponsored or otherwise serviced by Krane and/or its affiliates. To the extent that the Fund invests in investment companies or other pooled investment vehicles that are not registered pursuant to the 1940 Act, it will not enjoy the protections of the U.S. law.

 

Securities Lending Risk. To the extent the Fund lends its securities, it may be subject to the following risks: (1) borrowers of the Fund’s securities typically provide collateral in the form of cash that is reinvested in securities; (2) the securities in which the collateral is invested may not perform sufficiently to cover the return collateral payments owed to borrowers; (3) delays may occur in the recovery of securities from borrowers, which could interfere with the Fund’s ability to vote proxies or to settle transactions; and (4) there is the risk of possible loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower fail financially.

 

Sector Risk. From time to time, based on market or economic conditions, the Fund may have significant positions in one or more sectors of the market. To the extent the Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors. Individual sectors may be more volatile, and may perform differently, than the broader market. The industries that constitute a sector may all react in the same way to economic, political or regulatory events.

 

High Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover rates, which may increase the Fund’s brokerage commission costs and negatively impact the Fund’s performance. Such portfolio turnover also may generate net short-term capital gains.

 

Derivatives Risk. The use of derivatives (including swaps, futures, forwards, structured notes and options) may involve leverage, which includes risks that are different from, and greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in a reference asset, because a small investment in a derivative can result in a large impact on the Fund and may cause the Fund to be more volatile. Derivatives may at times be highly illiquid, and the Fund may not be able to close out or sell a derivative at a particular time or at an anticipated price. Derivatives can be difficult to value and valuation may be more difficult in times of market turmoil. There may be imperfect correlation between the derivative and that of the reference asset, resulting in unexpected returns that could materially adversely affect the Fund. Certain derivatives (such as swaps and options) are bi-lateral agreements that expose the Fund to counterparty risk, which is the risk of loss in the event that the counterparty to an agreement fails to make required payments or otherwise comply with the terms of derivative. In that case, the Fund may suffer losses potentially equal to, or greater than, the full value of the derivative if the counterparty fails to perform its obligations. That risk is generally thought to be greater with over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives than with derivatives that are exchange traded or centrally cleared. Counterparty risks are compounded by the fact that there are only a limited number of ways available to invest in certain reference assets and, therefore, there may be few counterparties to swaps or options based on those reference assets.

 

Valuation Risk. Independent market quotations for certain investments held by the Fund may not be readily available, and such investments may be fair valued or valued by a pricing service at an evaluated price. These valuations involve subjectivity and different market participants may assign different prices to the same investment. As a result, there is a risk that the Fund may not be able to sell an investment at the price assigned to the investment by the Fund.

 

18

KFA Value Line® Dynamic

Core Equity Index ETF

 

 

Large Shareholder Risk. To the extent a large number of shares of the Fund is held by a single shareholder or a small group of shareholders, the Fund is subject to the risk that redemption by those shareholders of all or a large portion of their shares will adversely affect the Fund’s performance by forcing the Fund to sell securities, potentially at disadvantageous prices, to raise the cash needed to satisfy such redemption requests. This risk may be heightened during periods of declining or illiquid markets, or to the extent that such large shareholders have short investment horizons or unpredictable cash flow needs. Such redemptions may also increase transaction costs and/or have adverse tax consequences for remaining shareholders.

 

Cash and Cash Equivalents Risk. The Fund may hold cash or cash equivalents. Generally, such positions offer less potential for gain than other investments. Holding cash or cash equivalents, even strategically, may lead to missed investment opportunities. This is particularly true when the market for other investments in which the Fund may invest is rapidly rising. If the Fund holds cash uninvested it will be subject to the credit risk of the depositing institution holding the cash.

 

Performance Information

The following bar chart and table illustrate the variability of the Fund’s returns and indicate the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. All returns include the reinvestment of dividends and distributions. As always, please note that the Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how it will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at no cost by visiting www.kfafunds.com.

 Total Annual Returns For Calender Years Ended December 31

 

Years

As of June 30, 2023, the Fund’s calendar year-to-date total return was 6.60%.

 

19

KFA Value Line® Dynamic

Core Equity Index ETF

 

 

Best and Worst Quarter Returns (for the period reflected in the bar chart above)

  Return Quarter
Ended/Year
Highest Return 12.93% 12/31/2022
Lowest Return -7.91% 09/30/2022

 

Average Annual Total Returns for the periods ended December 31, 2022

KFA Value Line® Dynamic Core Equity Index ETF 1 year Since Inception
(11-23-2020)
Return Before Taxes -5.88% 11.09%
Return After Taxes on Distributions -7.31% 8.49%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares -2.79% 7.83%
3D/L Value Line Dynamic Core Equity Index (Reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) -6.10% 10.82%
S&P 500 Index (Reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) -18.11% 5.01%

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser and Sub-Adviser

Krane Funds Advisors, LLC serves as the investment adviser to the Fund.

 

3D/L Capital Management, LLC serves as the non-discretionary investment sub-adviser to the Fund.

 

Portfolio Managers

James Maund, Head of Capital Markets at the Adviser, has served as lead portfolio manager for the Fund since its inception in 2020. Jonathan Shelon, Chief Operating Officer of the Adviser, also serves as a portfolio manager of the Fund. Mr. Shelon supports Mr. Maund and Krane’s investment team for the Fund and has been a portfolio manager of the Fund since its inception in 2020.

 

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Shares may be purchased and redeemed from the Fund only in “Creation Units” of 50,000 shares, or multiples thereof. As a practical matter, only institutions and large investors, such as market makers or other large broker-dealers, purchase or redeem Creation Units. Most investors will buy and sell shares of the Fund on the Exchange. Individual shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like other publicly traded securities through a broker-dealer on the Exchange. These transactions do not involve the Fund. The price of an individual Fund share is based on market prices, which may be different from its NAV. As a result, the Fund’s shares may trade at a price greater than the NAV (at a premium) or less than the NAV (at a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Most investors will incur customary brokerage commissions and charges when buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer.

 

Recent information regarding the Fund, including its NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid ask spreads, are available on the Fund’s website at www.kraneshares.com.

 

20

KFA Value Line® Dynamic

Core Equity Index ETF

 

 

Tax Information

Fund distributions are generally taxable as ordinary income, qualified dividend income or capital gains (or a combination), unless your investment is in an IRA or other tax-advantaged retirement account, which may be taxable upon withdrawal.

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase Fund shares 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 sales person to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your sales person or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

21

KFA Value Line® Dynamic

Core Equity Index ETF

 

 

Additional Information About the Funds

 

Each of the policies described in this Prospectus, including each Fund’s investment objective, is a non-fundamental policy that may be changed by the Board of Trustees of the Trust without shareholder approval. Certain fundamental policies of the Funds are set forth in the SAI.

 

Underlying Indexes

 

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF (“KMLM”)

The Index is a modified version of the MLM Index, which is an index that measures the performance of a portfolio of commodity, currency, and global fixed income futures contracts traded on U.S. and foreign exchanges using a trend following methodology. The Index determines weightings of these three types of futures contracts by the relative historical volatility of each type of futures contract as determined by the MLM Index Committee. Within each type of futures contract, the underlying constituent markets are equal dollar weighted. The Index will roll futures contracts forward on a market by market basis as each constituent market nears expiration.

 

Futures markets (or exchanges) are public marketplaces where futures are contracted for purchase or sale at an agreed upon price for delivery at a specified date. The Index generally consists of the largest, most liquid (as defined by total open interest) U.S. and foreign futures markets. The Index participates in the following futures markets and exchanges: CME Group, COMEX, NYMEX, ICE, Montreal Exchange, EUREX, and Osaka Exchange. The selection of the constituent markets occurs annually and, except in unusual circumstances, markets are not added to or deleted from the Index during a year. The constituent markets of the futures contracts for the Index currently consist of the following commodities (corn, crude oil, copper, gold, heating oil, cattle, natural gas, soybeans, sugar, wheat and gasoline), currencies (British pound, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Euro, Japanese Yen, and Swiss francs), and global bond markets (Canadian government bond, Euro bund, Japanese government bond, Long gilt and Ten-year Treasuries). Constituent markets are traded both long and short based on each market’s trading signals.

 

The Index evaluates market trading signals on a daily basis and rebalances on the first day of the month. In addition, the Index has a target average annualized volatility of 15% over time.

 

As of May 31, 2023 the Index was invested in the futures contracts of the 11 commodities, 6 currencies, and 5 global bond markets listed above.

 

The Index is provided by Fuzzy Logix, Inc. (doing business as “FastINDX”) (“Index Provider”). The Index Provider determines the components and the relative weightings of the component securities in the Index. The Index Provider is not affiliated with the Fund, Krane or MLIA. Additional information about the Index is available on FastINDX’s website, https://www.fastindx.com/.

 

22

 

 

KFA Value Line® Dynamic Core Equity Index ETF

The Underlying Index begins with the universe of stocks that Value Line® ranks. All companies with an equity market capitalization of less than $1 billion, registered investment companies, limited partnerships and foreign securities not listed in the U.S. are eliminated from this universe. From this investable universe, the Underlying Index establishes: (1) a dividend target, which is the trailing 12-month dividend yield of stocks in the top quartile in this universe; and (2) a beta target of 0.8 to 1 versus the S&P 500 Index based on forecasting models. Beta is a measure of the expected return of the Underlying Index relative to market movements. Each company in the investable universe is assigned a score based on its Safety Rank and Timeliness Rank.

 

The Value Line® SafetyRanking System measures the total risk of a company relative to others in the universe based on Value Line’s ranking of the company’s price stability and financial strength. Companies with high Safety ranks may be larger and more financially sound and may have lower growth prospects.

 

The Value Line® Timeliness Ranking System ranks companies relative to each other in the universe for price performance during the next six to 12 months by using components such as historical stock-price performance, financial results, and earnings surprises.

 

Each Ranking System ranks companies on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the highest rank and 5 being the lowest rank. The Underlying Index assigns the highest scores to Rank 1 companies and the lower scores, progressively, to Rank 2 through 5 companies.

 

The Underlying Index optimizes the weighting of companies using the score assigned to them to maximize the overall score for the Underlying Index while seeking a yield that will be no less than the dividend target and a beta within 0.03 of the beta target. The weighting of a company can be zero and no individual company will be weighted more than 1.5% greater than its weighting in the broad-based large cap equity index. The Underlying Index is rebalanced during the first full week of each calendar month.

 

To the extent the Underlying Index is concentrated in a particular industry, the Fund is expected to be concentrated in that industry. As of May 31, 2023, the Underlying Index included 60 securities of companies with a market capitalization range of approximately $0.65 billion to $2.79 trillion and had an average market capitalization of approximately $182 billion. As of May 31, 2023, issuers in the Information Technology sector (23.9%) and Utilities sector (20.4%) each represented a significant portion of the Underlying Index. The Underlying Index was launched on June 15, 2009 with a base date of December 7, 2009 and a base value of 1000. The Underlying Index is rebalanced and reconstituted monthly.

 

The Underlying Index is provided by Fuzzy Logix, Inc. (doing business as “FastINDX”) (“Index Provider”). The Index Provider is not affiliated with the Fund or Krane. The Index Provider determines the components and the relative weightings of the component securities in the Underlying Index. Additional information about the Underlying Index is available on the Index Provider’s website, www.valueline.com.

 

23

 

 

Investment Risks

The following section provides additional information regarding certain of the risks of investing in a Fund. An investment in a Fund is not a deposit with a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. An investment in a Fund involves a risk of a total loss. There is no guarantee that a Fund will meet its investment objective.

 

“X” denotes a principal investment risk.

 

Risk KVLE KMLM
Cash and Cash Equivalents Risk X X
Commodity Risk   X
Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk   X
Commodity Pool Registration Risk   X
Concentration Risk X X
Currency Risk   X
Derivatives Risk X X
Dividend Risk X  
Equity Securities Risk X  
ETF Risk X X
ETF Risk - Cash Transactions Risk   X
ETF Risk - Small Fund Risk X  
Fixed Income Securities Risk   X
Foreign Investments Risk   X
Futures Strategy Risk   X
Geographic Focus Risk   X
Geographic Focus Risk- European Union Risk   X
High Portfolio Turnover Risk X X
Information Technology Sector Risk X  
Investments in Investment Companies Risk X X
Large Capitalization Company Risk X  
Large Shareholder Risk X X
Liquidity Risk   X
Management Risk X X
Market Risk X X

 

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Risk KVLE KMLM
Non-Diversified Fund Risk X X
Operational and Cybersecurity Risk X X
Passive Investment Risk X X
Ranking Risk X  
Regulatory Risk   X
Sector Risk X  
Securities Lending Risk X  
Short Sale Risk   X
Subsidiary Investment Risk   X
Tax Risk   X
Tracking Error Risk X X
U.S. Government Obligations Risk   X
Utilities Sector Risk X  
Valuation Risk X X

 

Cash and Cash Equivalents Risk. The Fund may hold cash or cash equivalents. Generally, such positions offer less potential for gain than other investments. Holding cash or cash equivalents, even strategically, may lead to missed investment opportunities. This is particularly true when the market for other investments in which the Fund may invest is rapidly rising. If the Fund holds cash uninvested it will be subject to the credit risk of the depositing institution holding the cash.

 

Commodity Risk. The Fund’s and the Subsidiary’s investment exposure to the commodities markets and/or a particular sector of the commodities markets may subject the Fund and the Subsidiary to greater volatility than investments in traditional securities. The commodities markets are impacted by a variety of factors, including market movements, resource availability, commodity price volatility, speculation in the commodities markets, domestic and foreign political and economic events and policies, trade policies and tariffs, war, acts of terrorism, changes in domestic or foreign interest rates and/or investor expectations concerning interest rates, domestic and foreign inflation rates and investment and trading activities in commodities. Prices of various commodities may also be affected by factors such as drought, floods, weather, livestock disease, embargoes, tariffs and other regulatory developments. The frequency, duration and magnitude of such changes often cannot be predicted. The prices of commodities can also fluctuate widely due to supply and demand disruptions in major producing or consuming regions. Certain commodities may be produced in a limited number of countries and may be controlled by a small number of producers or groups of producers. As a result, political, economic and supply related events in such countries could have a disproportionate impact on the prices of such commodities. No active trading market may exist for certain commodities investments, which may impair the ability of the Fund to sell or to realize the full value of such investments in the event of the need to liquidate such investments. In addition, adverse market conditions may impair the liquidity of commodities investments. Because the Fund’s and the Subsidiary’s performance is linked to the performance of potentially volatile commodities, investors should be willing to assume the risks of significant fluctuations in the value of the Fund’s shares.

 

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Agricultural and Soft Commodities Sector Risk.

Risks of investing in agricultural sector commodities include, in addition to other risks, the impact of government policies on planting of certain crops and possible alternative uses of agricultural resources, the location and size of crop production, trading of unprocessed or processed commodity products, and the volume and types of imports and exports. Climate change may severely impact the viability of certain crops in certain regions. Trade wars have introduced considerable uncertainty into some previously established international markets for agricultural products and could produce abrupt and substantial price changes.

 

Energy Sector Risk.

Risks of investing in energy sector commodities include, in addition to other risks, price fluctuation caused by real and perceived inflationary trends and political developments, the cost assumed in complying with environmental and other safety regulations, supply of and demand for energy fuels, energy conservation efforts, capital expenditures on and the success of exploration and production projects, increased competition and technological advances, tax and other government regulations, and policies of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and oil importing nations. In addition, companies in the energy sector are at risk of liability from accidents resulting in pollution or other environmental damage claims and at risk of loss from terrorism, natural disasters, fires and explosions. There is growing political pressure to reduce the use of fossil fuels, which could begin to impact the securities of companies in that industry and the prices of related commodities.

 

Industrial Metals Sector Risk.

Risks of investing in industrial metals sector commodities include, in addition to other risks, substantial price fluctuations over short periods of time, imposition of import controls, increased competition and changes in industrial, governmental, and commercial demand for industrial metals.

 

Precious Metals Sector Risk.

Risks of investing in precious metals sector commodities include, in addition to other risks, changes in the level of the production and sale of precious metals by governments or central banks or other large holders.

 

Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk. The value of a commodity-linked derivative investment is typically based upon the price movements of a physical commodity (such as heating oil, precious metals, livestock, or agricultural products), a commodity futures contract or commodity index, or some other readily measurable economic variable. Commodity-linked derivatives provide exposure, which may include long and/or short exposure, to the investment returns of physical commodities that trade in the commodities markets without investing directly in physical commodities. The value of commodity-linked derivative instruments may be affected by changes in overall market movements, volatility of an index, changes in interest rates, or factors affecting a particular industry or commodity, such as drought, floods, weather, livestock disease, embargoes, tariffs and international economic, political and regulatory developments. The value of commodity-linked derivatives will rise or fall in response to changes in the underlying commodity or related index. Investments in commodity-linked derivatives may be subject to greater volatility than non-derivative based investments. A highly liquid secondary market may not exist for certain commodity-linked derivatives, and there can be no assurance that one will develop.

 

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Commodity Pool Registration Risk. Under regulations promulgated by the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), the Fund and the Subsidiary are considered commodity pools, and therefore each is subject to regulation under the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC rules. The Adviser is registered as a commodity pool operator and manages the Fund and the Subsidiary in accordance with CFTC rules, as well as the rules that apply to registered investment companies. Commodity pools are subject to additional laws, regulations and enforcement policies, all of which may potentially increase compliance costs and may affect the operations and financial performance of the Fund and the Subsidiary. Additionally, positions in futures and other derivative contracts may have to be liquidated at disadvantageous times or prices to prevent the Fund from exceeding any applicable position limits established by the CFTC. Such actions may subject the Fund to substantial losses.

 

Concentration Risk. Because the Fund’s assets are expected to be concentrated in an industry or group of industries, to the extent that the Index/Underlying Index concentrates in a particular industry or group of industries, the Fund is subject to loss due to adverse occurrences that may affect that industry or group of industries. Market conditions, interest rates, and economic, regulatory, or financial developments could significantly affect a single industry or a group of related industries, and the securities of companies in that industry or group of industries could react similarly to these or other developments.

 

Currency Risk. To the extent that the Fund is exposed directly or indirectly to foreign currencies, including through its investments, or invests in securities or other instruments denominated in or indexed to foreign currencies, changes in currency exchange rates could adversely impact investment gains or add to investment losses. Domestic issuers that hold substantial foreign assets may be similarly affected. Currency exchange rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time and can be affected unpredictably by intervention, or failure to intervene, by U.S. or foreign governments or central banks or by currency controls or political developments in the U.S. or abroad. To the extent the Fund invests or hedges based on the perceived relationship between two currencies, there is a risk that the correlation between those currencies may not behave as anticipated.

 

Any gain or loss attributable to fluctuations in exchange rates between the time the Fund accrues income or gain and the time the Fund converts such income or gain from a foreign currency to the dollar is generally treated as ordinary income or loss. Therefore, if the value of a foreign currency increases relative to the U.S. dollar between the accrual of income and the time at which the Fund converts the foreign currency to U.S. dollars, the Fund will recognize ordinary income upon conversion. In such circumstances, if the Fund has insufficient cash in U.S. dollars to meet distribution requirements under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), the Fund may be required to liquidate certain positions in order to make distributions. The liquidation of investments, if required, may also have an adverse impact on the Fund’s performance. The Fund may incur costs in connection with conversions between U.S. dollars and foreign currencies.

 

The use of foreign currency exchange transactions could result in the Fund’s incurring losses as a result of the imposition of exchange controls, exchange rate regulation, suspension of settlements or the inability to deliver or receive a specified currency. Delays in converting or transferring U.S. dollars to foreign currencies for the purpose of purchasing foreign securities could leave the Fund with uninvested cash, may adversely affect the Fund’s performance, since any delay could result in the Fund missing an investment opportunity and purchasing securities at a higher price than originally intended, and cause the Fund to incur cash drag. Delays in converting or transferring foreign currencies to U.S. dollars could also inhibit the Fund’s ability to meet redemptions or make distributions.

 

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Derivatives Risk. Derivatives are financial instruments, such as swaps, futures, forwards, structured notes and options, whose values are based on the value of one or more reference assets, such as a security, asset, currency, interest rate or index. Derivatives involve risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other more traditional investments. For example, derivatives involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the reference asset(s). Derivative transactions can create investment leverage, may be highly volatile and the Fund could lose more than the amount it invests.

 

Many derivative transactions are entered into “over-the-counter” (not on an exchange or contract market); as a result, the value of such a derivative transaction will depend on the ability and the willingness of the Fund’s counterparty to perform its obligations under the transaction. If a counterparty were to default on its obligations, the Fund’s contractual remedies against such counterparty may be subject to bankruptcy and insolvency laws, which could affect the Fund’s rights as a creditor (e.g., the Fund may not receive the net amount of payments that it is contractually entitled to receive). A liquid secondary market may not always exist for the Fund’s derivative positions at any time. If a derivative transaction is centrally cleared, it will be subject to the rules of the clearing exchange and subject to risks associated with the exchange.

 

Derivatives can be illiquid and imperfectly correlate with the reference asset(s), resulting in unexpected returns that could materially adversely affect the Fund. Some derivatives can have the potential for unlimited loss. It is possible that developments in the derivatives market, including ongoing or potential government regulation, could adversely affect the Fund’s ability to enter into new derivatives agreements, terminate existing derivative agreements or to realize amounts to be received under such instruments.

 

Counterparty Risk. Because many derivatives are an obligation of the counterparty rather than a direct investment in the reference asset, the Fund may suffer losses potentially equal to, or greater than, the full value of the derivative if the counterparty fails to perform its obligations under the derivative agreement as a result of bankruptcy or otherwise. Any loss would result in a reduction in the NAV of the Fund and will likely impair the Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective. The counterparty risk associated with the Fund’s investments will be greater if the Fund uses only a limited number of counterparties. If there are only a few potential counterparties, the Fund, subject to applicable law, may enter into transactions with as few as one counterparty at any time.

 

Forward Currency Contracts Risk. A forward foreign currency contract involves a negotiated obligation to purchase or sell a specific currency at a future date (with or without delivery required), which may be any fixed number of days from the date of the contract agreed upon by the parties, at a price set at the time of the contract. Forward foreign currency contracts are not traded on exchanges; rather, a bank or dealer will act as agent or as principal in order to make or take future delivery, exposing the Fund to counterparty risk.

 

Futures Risk. In addition to the above, risks associated with the use of futures contracts include the following: (i) an imperfect correlation between movements in prices of futures contracts and movements in the value of the reference asset(s) it is designed to simulate; and (ii) the possibility of an illiquid secondary market for a futures contract and the resulting inability to close a position prior to its maturity date. When the Fund purchases or sells a futures contract, it is subject to daily variation margin calls that could be substantial. If the Fund has insufficient cash to meet daily variation margin requirements, it might need to sell securities at a time when such sales are disadvantageous.

 

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Leveraging Risk. The Fund’s investment in derivative instruments provide leveraged exposure. The Fund’s investment in these instruments generally requires a small investment relative to the amount of investment exposure assumed. As a result, such investments may give rise to losses that exceed the amount invested in those instruments. The use of derivatives may expose the Fund to potentially dramatic losses (or gains) in the value of a derivative or other financial instrument and, thus, in the value the Fund’s portfolio.

 

Options Risk. An option is a contract that gives the purchaser (holder) of the option, in return for a premium, the right to buy from (call) or sell to (put) the seller (writer) of the option the security or currency underlying the option at a specified exercise price at any time during the term of the option (normally not exceeding nine months). The writer of an option has the obligation upon exercise of the option to deliver the underlying security or currency upon payment of the exercise price or to pay the exercise price upon delivery of the underlying security or currency. Options are derivatives, which, as described above, can be illiquid and can imperfectly correlate with the reference asset(s).

 

Options on Futures Contracts Risk. An option on a futures contract provides the holder with the right to enter into a “long” position in the underlying futures contract, in the case of a call option, or a “short” position in the underlying futures contract in the case of a put option, at a fixed exercise price to a stated expiration date. Upon exercise of the option by the holder, the contract market clearing house establishes a corresponding short position for the writer of the option, in the case of a call option, or a corresponding long position, in the case of a put option. Options are derivatives, which, as described above, can be illiquid and can imperfectly correlate with the reference asset(s).

 

Swaps Risk. Swap transactions generally do not involve delivery of reference instruments or payment of the notional amount of the contract. Accordingly, the risk of loss with respect to swaps generally is limited to the net amount of payments that the Fund is contractually obligated to make or, in the case of the other party to a swap defaulting, the net amount of payments that the Fund is contractually entitled to receive. Swaps are of limited duration and there is no guarantee that swaps entered into with a counterparty will continue indefinitely. Accordingly, the duration of a swap depends on, among other things, the ability of the Fund to renew the expiration period of the relevant swap at agreed upon terms.

 

Dividend Risk. Companies that issue dividend-yielding securities are not required to continue to pay dividends on such securities. There is no guarantee that issuers of the securities held by the Fund will declare dividends in the future or that, if declared, such dividends will remain at current levels or increase over time.

 

Equity Securities Risk. Equity securities are subject to volatile changes in value that may be attributable to market perception of a particular issuer or to general stock market fluctuations that affect all issuers. Investments in equity securities are subject to volatile changes in market value and their values may be more volatile than investments in other asset classes. In the event of liquidation, equity securities are generally subordinate in rank to debt and other securities of the same issuer.

 

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ETF Risk. As an ETF, the Fund is subject to the following risks:

 

Authorized Participants Concentration Risk. The Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that may act as Authorized Participants. To the extent they exit the business or are otherwise unable to proceed in creation and redemption transactions with the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, shares of the Fund may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.

 

International Closed Market Trading Risk. To the extent the Fund’s investments trade in markets that are closed when the Fund and Exchange are open, there are likely to be deviations between current pricing of an underlying security and the prices at which the underlying securities are valued for purposes of the Fund’s NAV. As a result, Shares may appear to trade at a significant discount or premium to NAV greater than those incurred by other ETFs. In addition, shareholders may not be able to purchase or redeem their shares of the Fund, or purchase or sell shares of the Fund on the Exchange, on days when the NAV of the Fund could be significantly affected by events in the relevant non-U.S. markets.

 

Premium/Discount Risk. The NAV of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund’s securities holdings. The market prices of Fund shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the Fund’s NAV and supply and demand of shares on the secondary market. It cannot be predicted whether Fund shares will trade below (at a discount), at or above (at a premium) their NAV. As a result, shareholders of the Fund may pay more than NAV when purchasing shares and receive less than NAV when selling Fund shares. This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines. In such market conditions, market or stop-loss orders to sell Fund shares may be executed at market prices that are significantly below NAV. Price differences may be due, in part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares may be closely related to, but not identical to, the same forces influencing the prices of the securities of the Fund trading individually. The market prices of Fund shares may deviate significantly from the NAV of the shares during periods of market volatility or if the Fund’s holdings are or become more illiquid. Disruptions to creations and redemptions may result in trading prices that differ significantly from the Fund’s NAV. In addition, market prices of Fund shares may deviate significantly from the NAV if the number of Fund shares outstanding is smaller or if there is less active trading in Fund shares. Investors purchasing and selling Fund shares in the secondary market may not experience investment results consistent with those experienced by those creating and redeeming directly with the Fund.

 

Secondary Market Trading Risk. Investors buying or selling shares in the secondary market will normally pay brokerage commissions, which are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors buying or selling relatively small amounts of shares. In addition, secondary market investors will incur the cost of the difference between the price that an investor is willing to pay for shares (the bid price) and the price at which an investor is willing to sell shares (the ask price). This difference in bid and ask prices is often referred to as the “spread” or “bid-ask spread.” The bid-ask spread, which increases the cost of purchasing and selling Fund shares, varies over time for shares based on trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund’s shares have more trading volume and market liquidity and higher if the Fund’s shares have little trading volume and market liquidity. Increased market volatility may cause increased bid-ask spreads.

 

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Although Fund shares are listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained or that the Fund’s shares will continue to be listed. Trading in Fund shares may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in shares is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to Exchange “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of any Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged or that the shares will trade with any volume, or at all.

 

ETF Risk – Cash Transactions Risk. Like other ETFs, the Fund sells and redeems its shares only in large blocks called Creation Units and only to Authorized Participants. Unlike most other ETFs, however, the Fund expects to effect its creations and redemptions at least partially or fully for cash, rather than in-kind securities.

 

Other ETFs generally are able to make in-kind redemptions and avoid realizing gains in connection with redemption requests. Effecting redemptions for cash may cause the Fund to sell portfolio securities in order to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds. Such dispositions may occur at an inopportune time, resulting in potential losses to the Fund or difficulties in meeting shareholder redemptions, and involve transaction costs. If the Fund recognizes gain on these sales, this generally will cause the Fund to recognize gain it might not otherwise have recognized if it were to distribute portfolio securities in-kind or to recognize such gain sooner than would otherwise have been required. The Fund generally intends to distribute these gains to shareholders to avoid being taxed on this gain at the Fund level and otherwise comply with the special tax rules that apply to it. This strategy may cause shareholders to be subject to tax on gains they would not otherwise be subject to, or at an earlier date than, if they had made an investment in another ETF.

 

In addition, cash transactions may have to be carried out over several days if the securities market in which the Fund is trading is less liquid and may involve considerable transaction expenses and taxes. These brokerage fees and taxes, which will be higher than if the Fund sold and redeemed its shares principally in-kind, may be passed on to purchasers and redeemers of Creation Units in the form of creation and redemption transaction fees. However, the Fund has capped the total fees that may be charged in connection with the redemption of Creation Units at 2% of the value of the Creation Units redeemed. To the extent transaction and other costs associated with a redemption exceed that cap, those transaction costs will be borne by the Fund’s remaining shareholders. These factors may result in wider spreads between the bid and the offered prices of the Fund’s shares than for other ETFs.

 

ETF Risk - Small Fund Risk. The Fund is small and does not yet have a significant number of shares outstanding. Small funds are at greater risk than larger funds of wider bid-ask spreads for its shares, trading at a greater premium or discount to NAV, liquidation and/or a trading halt. The Fund also is subject to the continued listing standards of the Exchange, with which the Fund must comply in order to continue being listed on the Exchange. Among other requirements, the continued listing standards require a minimum number of shareholders.

 

Fixed Income Securities Risk. The value of the Fund’s investments in fixed income securities will fluctuate with changes in interest rates. Typically, a rise in interest rates causes a decline in the value of fixed income securities owned indirectly by the Fund. On the other hand, if rates fall, the value of the fixed income securities generally increases. Below are several specific risks associated with investments in fixed income securities.

 

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Call Risk. If interest rates fall, it is possible that issuers of callable securities with high interest coupons will “call” (or prepay) their bonds before their maturity date. If an issuer exercised such a call during a period of declining interest rates, the Fund may have to replace such called security with a lower yielding security. If that were to happen, the Fund’s net investment income could fall.

 

Credit Risk. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer of a security will not be able to make payments of interest and principal when due. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also affect the value of an investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on both the financial condition of the issuer and the terms of the obligation.

 

Event Risk. Event risk is the risk that an unexpected event could interfere with an issuer’s ability to make timely interest or principal payments or that causes market speculation about the issuer’s ability to make such payments. As a result, the credit quality and market value of an issuer’s bonds and/or other debt securities may decline significantly.

 

Income Risk. The Fund’s income may decline due to falling interest rates. During a period of falling interest rates, income risk is generally higher for short term bond funds, moderate for intermediate term bond funds and low for long term bond funds. Therefore, investors should expect a Fund’s income to fluctuate accordingly.

 

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline in value because of increases in market interest rates. Fixed income securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to changes in interest rates, usually making them more volatile than debt securities with shorter durations. Duration is a measure of a fixed income security’s sensitivity to changes in interest rates. For every 1% change in interest rates, a bond’s price generally changes approximately 1% in the opposite direction for every year of duration. For example, if a portfolio of fixed income securities has an average weighted duration of three years, its value can be expected to fall about 3% if interest rates rise by 1%. Conversely, the portfolio’s value can be expected to rise approximately 3% if interest rates fall by 1%. Unlike maturity, which considers only the date on which the final repayment of principal will be made, duration takes account of interim payments made during the life of the security. Duration is typically not equal to maturity. Interest rates have recently been historically low but have recently increased and may continue to increase, potentially quickly and significantly, thereby heightening the Fund’s exposure to the risks associated with rising rates.

 

Issuer Risk. There may be economic or political changes that impact the ability of issuers to repay principal and to make interest payments on securities. Changes to the financial condition or credit rating of issuers may also adversely affect the value of the Fund’s securities.

 

Maturity Risk. The value of the Fund’s fixed income investments is also dependent on their maturity. Generally, the longer the maturity of a fixed income security, the greater its sensitivity to changes in interest rates.

 

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Pay-In-Kind and Step-Up Coupon Securities Risk. A pay-in-kind security pays no interest in cash to its holder during its life. Similarly, a step-up coupon security is a debt security that may not pay interest for a specified period of time and then, after the initial period, may pay interest at a series of different rates. Accordingly, pay-in kind and step-up coupon securities will be subject to greater fluctuations in market value in response to changing interest rates than debt obligations of comparable maturities that make current, periodic distribution of interest in cash.

 

Perpetual Bonds Risk. Perpetual bonds offer a fixed return with no maturity date. Because they never mature, perpetual bonds can be more volatile than other types of bonds that have a maturity date and may be more sensitive to changes in interest rates. If market interest rates rise significantly, the interest rate paid by a perpetual bond may be much lower than the prevailing interest rate. Perpetual bonds are also subject to credit risk with respect to the issuer. In addition, because perpetual bonds may be callable after a set period of time, there is the risk that the issuer may recall the bond, which may require the Fund to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities.

 

Reinvestment Risk. The Fund’s performance may be adversely impacted when interest rates fall because the Fund must invest in lower-yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature.

 

Subordinated Obligations Risk. Payments under some debt may be structurally subordinated to other existing and future liabilities and obligations of an issuer of debt. Claims of creditors of subordinated debt will have less priority as to the assets of the issuer and its creditors who seek to enforce the terms of the debt. Certain debt may not contain any restrictions on the ability of the issuers to incur additional unsecured indebtedness.

 

Variable and Floating Rate Securities Risk. During periods of increasing interest rates, changes in the coupon rates of variable or floating rate securities may lag behind the changes in market rates or may have limits on the maximum increases in coupon rates. Alternatively, during periods of declining interest rates, the coupon rates on such securities will typically readjust downward resulting in a lower yield. Floating rate notes are generally subject to legal or contractual restrictions on resale, may trade infrequently, and their value may be impaired when the Fund needs to liquidate such securities.

 

Foreign Investments Risk. Investments in securities of non-U.S. issuers may be less liquid than investments in U.S. issuers, may have less governmental regulation and oversight, and are typically subject to different investor protection standards than U.S. issuers. Investments in non-U.S. securities entail the risk of loss due to foreign currency fluctuations, political or economic instability, less complete financial information about the issuers, the possible imposition of withholding or confiscatory taxes, the possible seizure or nationalization of foreign holdings, and the possible establishment of exchange controls or freezes on the convertibility of currency. Foreign market trading hours, clearance and settlement procedures, and holiday schedules may limit the Fund’s ability to buy and sell securities. Additionally, foreign issuers may be subject to different accounting, auditing, recordkeeping, and financial reporting requirements. Securities of issuers traded on foreign exchanges may be suspended, either by the issuers themselves, by an exchange or by governmental authorities. If the Fund holds positions in such suspended securities, the Fund may be adversely impacted. All of these factors could result in a loss to the Fund.

 

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Income from non-U.S. investments, including gains on the sale of such investments, may be subject to foreign taxes. Even if the Fund qualifies to pass these taxes through to shareholders, the ability to claim a credit for such taxes may be limited, particularly in the case of taxes on capital gains.

 

Foreign markets may have clearance and settlement procedures that make it difficult for the Fund to buy and sell its investments. This could result in a loss to the Fund by causing the Fund to be unable to dispose of an investment or to miss an attractive investment opportunity, or by causing the Fund’s assets to be uninvested for some period of time, or cause the Fund to face delays or difficulties in meeting redemptions.

 

Foreign investment risks may be greater in developing and emerging markets than in developed markets.

 

From time to time, certain of the issuers of investments purchased by a Fund may operate in, or have dealings with, countries that may become subject to sanctions or embargoes imposed by the U.S. Government and the United Nations and/or countries identified by the U.S. Government as state sponsors of terrorism. An issuer may suffer damage to its reputation and value if it is identified as such an issuer. Any Fund investment in such issuers will be indirectly subject to those risks.

 

Futures Strategy Risk. Successful use of futures contracts draws upon the Adviser’s skill and experience with respect to such instruments and is subject to special risk considerations. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts include: (a) an imperfect correlation between the change in market value of the reference asset and the price of the futures contract; (b) possible lack of a liquid secondary market for a futures contract and the resulting inability to close a futures contract when desired; (c) losses caused by unanticipated market movements, which are potentially unlimited; (d) the inability to predict correctly the direction of market prices, interest rates, currency exchange rates and other economic factors; and (e) if the Fund has insufficient cash, it may have to sell securities from its portfolio to meet daily variation margin requirements, and the Fund may have to sell securities at a loss.

 

As a futures contract the Fund owns approaches its settlement date, the Fund may sell that futures contract and reinvest the proceeds in a similar contract with a more distant settlement date. This process is referred to as “rolling” a futures contract. The successful use of such a strategy depends upon the Adviser’s skill and experience. Although the Fund will attempt to roll from an expiring futures contract to another contract that the Adviser believes will generate the greatest yield for the Fund, the Fund nevertheless may incur a cost to “roll” the contract. In a commodity futures market where current month expiring contracts trade at a lower price than next month’s contract, a situation referred to as “contango,” absent the impact of the overall movement in commodity prices, the Fund may experience an adverse impact because it would be selling less expensive contracts and buying more expense contracts. In the event of a prolonged period of contango, and absent the impact of rising or falling commodity prices, there could be a significant negative impact on the Fund when it “rolls” its futures contract positions.

 

Investment in exchange-traded futures contracts may expose the Fund to the risks of a clearing broker (or a futures commission merchant (“FCM”)). Under current regulations, a clearing broker or FCM maintains customers’ assets in a bulk segregated account. There is a risk that Fund assets deposited with the clearing broker to serve as margin may be used to satisfy the broker’s own obligations or the losses of the broker’s other clients. In the event of default, the Fund could experience lengthy delays in recovering some or all of its assets and may not see any recovery at all.

 

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Geographic Focus Risk. The Fund’s investments are expected to be focused in a particular country, countries, or region to approximately the same degree as the Index and, therefore the Fund may be susceptible to adverse market, political, regulatory, and geographic events affecting that country, countries or region. Such geographic focus also may subject the Fund to a higher degree of volatility than a more geographically diversified fund.

 

European Union Risk. The economies of the European Union are dependent to a significant extent on those of certain key trading partners, including China, the United States, and other European countries. A reduction in spending on products and services exported from the European Union, or volatility in the financial markets of member countries, may have an adverse impact on the broader European Union economy and could adversely affect the Fund. Separately, the European Union faces issues involving its membership, structure, procedures and policies. The United Kingdom (UK) officially withdrew from the European Union on January 31, 2020. Upon the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, the European Union and the UK entered into a transition phase, which concluded on December 31, 2020, and the UK and the European Union agreed upon a Trade and Cooperation Agreement that became fully effective on May 1, 2021. The UK, European Union and broader global economy may still experience volatility in foreign exchange markets as a result of these events. The UK’s withdrawal may also destabilize some or all of the other European Union member countries and/or the Eurozone. The exit of additional member states from the European Union would subject its currency and banking system to increased risk and would likely result in increased volatility, illiquidity and potentially lower economic growth in the affected markets. Additionally, the reintroduction of national currencies in one or more European Union countries or the abandonment of the Euro as a currency could adversely affect the Fund.

 

High Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may incur high portfolio turnover rates. This may increase the Fund’s brokerage commission costs. The performance of the Fund could be negatively impacted by the increased brokerage commission costs incurred by the Fund. Rapid portfolio turnover also exposes shareholders to a higher current realization of net short-term capital gains, distributions of which would generally be taxed to you as ordinary income and thus cause you to pay higher taxes.

 

Information Technology Sector Risk. Market or economic factors impacting information technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technology advances could have a major effect on the value of stocks in the information technology sector. The value of stocks of technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technology is particularly vulnerable to rapid changes in technology product cycles, rapid product obsolescence, government regulation and competition, both domestically and internationally, including competition from competitors with lower production costs. Information technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technology, especially those of smaller, less-seasoned companies, tend to be more volatile than the overall market. Information technology companies are heavily dependent on patent and intellectual property rights, the loss or impairment of which may adversely affect profitability. Additionally, companies in the information technology sector may face dramatic and often unpredictable changes in growth rates and competition for the services of qualified personnel.

 

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Investments in Investment Companies Risk. The Fund may purchase shares of investment companies, such as ETFs, unit investment trusts, closed-end investment companies and foreign investment companies, including those that are advised, sponsored or otherwise serviced by Krane, a sub-adviser (as applicable), or their affiliates, to gain exposure to particular investments or when such investments present a more cost efficient alternative to investing directly in securities. When the Fund invests in an investment company, in addition to directly bearing the expenses associated with its own operations, it will bear a pro rata portion of the underlying investment company’s expenses. An investor in the Fund may receive taxable gains as a result of an underlying fund’s portfolio transactions in addition to the taxable gains attributable to the Fund’s transactions in shares of the underlying fund. Further, in part because of these additional expenses, the performance of an investment company may differ from the performance the Fund would achieve if it invested directly in the underlying investments of the investment company. In addition, while the risks of owning shares of an investment company generally reflect the risks of owning the underlying investments of the investment company, the Fund may be subject to additional or different risks than if the Fund had invested directly in the underlying investments. For example, shares of an ETF are traded at market prices, which may vary from the NAV of its underlying investments. Also, the lack of liquidity in an ETF can contribute to the increased volatility of its value in comparison to the value of the underlying portfolio securities. To the extent that the Fund invests in investment companies or other pooled investment vehicles that are not registered pursuant to the 1940 Act, including foreign investment companies, it will not enjoy the protections of the 1940 Act. In addition, to the extent the Fund invests in other investment companies, including ETFs, sponsored, advised or otherwise serviced by Krane, a sub-adviser (as applicable), or their affiliates, they may be subject to conflicts of interest in allocating Fund assets, particularly if they are paid an advisory fee both by the Fund and the fund in which the Fund invests.

 

Large Capitalization Company Risk. Investments in large capitalization companies may go in and out of favor based on market and economic conditions and may underperform other market segments. Some large capitalization companies may be unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges and attain the high growth rate of successful smaller companies, especially during extended periods of economic expansion. As such, returns on investments in stocks of large capitalization companies could trail the returns on investments in stocks of small and mid capitalization companies.

 

Large Shareholder Risk. To the extent a large number of shares of the Fund is held by a single shareholder or a small group of shareholders, the Fund is subject to the risk that redemption by those shareholders of all or a large portion of their shares will adversely affect the Fund’s performance by forcing the Fund to sell securities, potentially at disadvantageous prices, to raise the cash needed to satisfy such redemption requests. This risk may be heightened during periods of declining or illiquid markets, or to the extent that such large shareholders have short investment horizons or unpredictable cash flow needs. Such redemptions may also increase transaction costs and/or have adverse tax consequences for remaining shareholders.

 

Liquidity Risk. The Fund’s investments are subject to liquidity risk, which exists when an investment is or becomes difficult to purchase or sell at a reasonable time and price. If a transaction is particularly large or if the relevant market is or becomes illiquid, it may reduce the potential returns of the Fund because it may be unable to sell the illiquid securities at an advantageous time or price, which may cause the Fund to suffer significant losses and difficulties in meeting redemptions. This is especially true given the limited number of market participants in certain markets in which the Fund may invest. Certain countries in which the Fund may invest may be subject to extended settlement delays and/or foreign holidays, during which the Fund will unlikely be able to convert such holdings to cash and may make it additionally difficult for the Fund to meet redemptions in a timely fashion.

 

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Market developments may cause the Fund’s investments to become less liquid and subject to erratic price movements, and may also cause the Fund to encounter difficulties in timely honoring redemptions, especially if market events cause an increased incidence of shareholder redemptions. If a number of investments held by the Fund stop trading or become illiquid, such as due to an exchange’s limit up, limit down rules, it may have a cascading effect and cause the Fund to halt trading. Volatility in market prices will increase the risk of the Fund being subject to a trading halt. To the extent that an investment is deemed to be an illiquid investment or a less liquid investment, the Fund can expect to be exposed to greater liquidity risk.

 

Management Risk. To the extent the Fund may not fully replicate the Underlying Index and may hold less than the total number of investments in the Underlying Index, the Fund is subject to management risk. This is the risk that the investment selection process, which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results. Alternatively, to the extent the Fund is managed to replicate the Underlying Index, it is likely to experience higher portfolio turnover and brokerage costs, which erode performance.

 

Market Risk. The values of the Fund’s holdings could decline generally or could underperform other investments. Market fluctuations could be caused by such factors as economic and political developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Recent developments in relations between the United States and its trading partners have heightened concerns of increased tariffs and restrictions on trade between the U.S. and other countries. An increase in tariffs or trade restrictions, or even the threat of such developments, could lead to a significant reduction in international trade, which could have a negative impact on the world’s export industry and a commensurately negative impact on financial markets. Different types of securities tend to go through cycles of outperformance and under-performance in comparison to the general securities markets. In addition, securities may decline in value due to factors affecting a specific issuer, market or securities markets generally. Therefore, the Fund is susceptible to the risk that certain holdings may be difficult or impossible to sell at a favorable time or price.

 

Turbulence in the financial markets and reduced liquidity in equity, credit and fixed-income markets may negatively affect issuers worldwide, which could have an adverse effect on the Fund. The Federal Reserve and other domestic and foreign government agencies may attempt to stabilize the global economy. These actions may expose markets to heightened volatility and may reduce liquidity for certain Fund investments, causing the value of the Fund’s investments and share price to decline. To the extent that the Fund experiences high redemptions because of these actions, the Fund may experience increased portfolio turnover, which will increase the costs that the Fund incurs and will lower the Fund’s performance.

 

Geopolitical risks, including terrorism, tensions or open conflict between nations, or political or economic dysfunction within some nations that are major players on the world stage or major producers of oil, may lead to overall instability in world economies and markets generally and have led, and may in the future lead, to increased market volatility and may have adverse long-term effects. Similarly, environmental and public health risks, such as natural disasters or pandemics/epidemics, or widespread fear that such events may occur, may impact markets adversely and cause market volatility in both the short- and long-term.

 

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Certain illnesses spread rapidly and have the potential to significantly and adversely affect the global economy. Epidemics and/or pandemics have and may further result in, among other things, closing borders, enhanced health screenings, healthcare service preparation and delivery, quarantines, cancellations, disruptions to supply chains and customer activity, as well as general concern and uncertainty. The impact of such epidemics and/or pandemics that may arise in the future, have the potential to affect the economies of many nations, individual companies and the global securities and commodities markets, including liquidity, in ways that cannot necessarily be foreseen at the present time. The impact of infectious diseases in developing or emerging market countries may be greater due to less established health care systems. Health crises caused by the recent coronavirus outbreak may exacerbate other preexisting political, social and economic risks in certain countries. The impact of the outbreak may be short term or may last for an extended period of time and may have material adverse impacts on a Fund.

 

Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, and corresponding events in late February 2022, have had, and could continue to have, severe adverse effects on regional and global economic markets for securities and commodities. Following Russia’s actions, various governments, including the United States, have issued broad-ranging economic sanctions against Russia, including, among other actions, a prohibition on doing business with certain Russian companies, large financial institutions, officials and oligarchs; the removal by certain countries and the European Union of selected Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (“SWIFT”), the electronic banking network that connects banks globally; and restrictive measures to prevent the Russian Central Bank from undermining the impact of the sanctions. The current events, including sanctions and the potential for future sanctions, including any impacting Russia’s energy sector, and other actions, and Russia’s retaliatory responses to those sanctions and actions, may continue to adversely impact the Russian economy and may result in the further decline of the value and liquidity of Russian securities, a continued weakening of the ruble and continued exchange closures, and may have other adverse consequences on the Russian economy that could impact the value of Russian investments and impair the ability of the Fund to buy, sell, receive or deliver those securities. Moreover, those events have, and could continue to have, an adverse effect on global markets performance and liquidity, thereby negatively affecting the value of the Fund’s investments beyond any direct exposure to Russian issuers. The duration of ongoing hostilities and the vast array of sanctions and related events cannot be predicted. Those events present material uncertainty and risk with respect to markets globally and the performance of the Fund and its investments or operations could be negatively impacted.

 

Non-Diversified Fund Risk. Because the Fund is non-diversified and may invest a greater portion of its assets in fewer issuers than a diversified fund, changes in the market value of a single portfolio holding could cause greater fluctuations in the Fund’s share price than would occur in a diversified fund. This may increase the Fund’s volatility and cause the performance of a single portfolio holding or a relatively small number of portfolio holdings to have a greater impact on the Fund’s performance.

 

Operational and Cybersecurity Risk. A Fund, Krane, sub-adviser, if applicable, and their service providers and your ability to transact with a Fund may be negatively impacted due to operational matters arising from, among other problems, human errors, systems and technology disruptions or failures, or cybersecurity incidents. Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to fund assets, customer data, or proprietary information, or cause a Fund or its service providers, as well as the securities trading venues and their service provides, to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality. It is not possible for Krane or the other Fund service providers to identify all of the cybersecurity or other operational risks that may affect a Fund or to develop processes and controls to completely eliminate or mitigate their occurrence or effects.

 

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Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed, does not seek to “beat” the Underlying Index, and does not take temporary positions when markets decline. Therefore, the Fund may not sell a security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry or sector. If a specific security is removed from the Underlying Index, the Fund may be forced to sell such security at an inopportune time or for a price other than the security’s current market value. It is expected that the value of Fund shares will decline, more or less, in correspondence with any decline in value of the Underlying Index. The Underlying Index may not contain the appropriate mix of securities for any particular economic cycle, and the timing of movements from one type of security to another in seeking to track the Underlying Index could have a negative effect on the Fund. However, the Fund’s investment objective and principal investment strategies impose limits on the Fund’s ability to invest in securities not included in the Underlying Index. There is no guarantee that the Underlying Index will create the desired exposure.

 

Unlike an actively managed fund, the Fund does not use techniques or defensive strategies designed to lessen the effects of market volatility or to reduce the impact of periods of market decline. This means that, based on market and economic conditions, the Fund’s performance could be lower than other types of registered investment companies that may actively shift their portfolio assets to take advantage of market opportunities or to lessen the impact of a market decline. To the extent the Fund employs a representative sampling approach, it will hold a smaller number of securities than are in the Underlying Index. As a result, an adverse development to an issuer of securities that the Fund holds could result in a greater decline in NAV than would be the case if the Fund held more of the securities in the Underlying Index.

 

Ranking Risk. The Fund uses Value Line®’s Safety ranking system in selecting securities. This is subject to the risk that the rankings may not be accurate and that the performance of these companies may not continue. The returns on these securities may be less than returns on other companies or the overall stock market. In addition, there may be periods when companies highly ranked by Value Line® are out of favor and during which the investment performance of the Fund may suffer.

 

Regulatory Risk. The Fund is subject to the risk that a change in U.S. law and related regulations will impact the way the Fund operates, increase the particular costs of the Fund’s operations and/or change the competitive landscape. Additional legislative or regulatory changes could occur that may materially and adversely affect the Fund. For example, the regulatory environment for derivative instruments in which the Fund may invest is evolving, and changes in the regulation or taxation of derivative instruments may materially and adversely affect the ability of the Fund to pursue its investment objective or strategies. Such legislative or regulatory changes could pose additional risks and result in material adverse consequences to the Fund.

 

Sector Risk. From time to time, based on market or economic conditions, the Fund may have significant positions in one or more sectors of the market. To the extent the Fund invests more heavily in one sector, industry, or sub-sector of the market, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors, industries, or sub-sectors. An individual sector, industry, or sub-sector of the market may be more volatile, and may perform differently, than the broader market. The industries that constitute a sector may all react in the same way to economic, political or regulatory events. The Fund’s performance could also be affected if the sectors, industries, or sub-sectors do not perform as expected. Alternatively, the lack of exposure to one or more sectors or industries may adversely affect performance. For a summary of the Fund’s recent sector allocations, see its most recent shareholder report. (The information in the report is as of the date of the report and may have changed.) For information about the risks of investing in particular sectors, see the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information.

 

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Securities Lending Risk. The Fund may lend its portfolio securities to brokers, dealers and financial institutions to seek income. There is a risk that a borrower may default on its obligations to return loaned securities. There is a risk that the assets of the Fund’s securities lending agent may be insufficient to satisfy any contractual indemnification requirements to that Fund. Borrowers of the Fund’s securities typically provide collateral in the form of cash that is reinvested. The Fund will be responsible for the risks associated with the investment of cash collateral, including any collateral invested in a money market fund. The Fund may lose money on its investment of cash collateral or may fail to earn sufficient income on its investment to meet obligations to the borrower. In addition, delays may occur in the recovery of securities from borrowers, which could interfere with the Fund’s ability to vote proxies or to settle transactions and there is the risk of possible loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower fail financially. Krane and its sub-adviser, if applicable, are subject to potential conflicts of interest because the compensation paid to them increases in connection with any net income received by the Fund from a securities lending program.

 

Short Sale Risk. Short sales involve selling a security the Fund does not own in anticipation that the security’s price will decline. To complete the transaction, the Fund must borrow the security to make delivery to the buyer. The Fund is then obligated to replace the security borrowed by purchasing the security at the market price at the time of replacement. The price at such time may be higher or lower than the price at which the security was sold by the Fund. If the underlying security goes up in price during the period during which the short position is outstanding, the Fund will realize a loss on the transaction.

 

Short sales, at least theoretically, present a risk of unlimited loss on an individual security basis, since the Fund may be required to buy the security sold short at a time when the security has appreciated in value, and there is potentially no limit to the amount of such appreciation. Because the Fund may invest the proceeds of a short sale, another effect of short selling on the Fund is leverage, in that it amplifies changes in the Fund’s net asset value since it increases the exposure of the Fund to the market and may increase losses and the volatility of returns.

 

The Fund may not always be able to close out a short position at a favorable time or price. A lender may request that borrowed securities be returned to it on short notice, and the Fund may have to buy the borrowed securities at an unfavorable price, which will potentially reduce or eliminate any gain or cause a loss to the Fund. The Fund incurs expenses for borrowing securities that may include fees paid to the lender and amounts equal to dividends or interest paid by the borrowed security.

 

When the Fund is selling a security short, it must maintain a segregated account of cash or high-grade securities equal to the margin requirement. (Margin posted with the broker, not including the proceeds of the short sale, counts toward this requirement.) As a result, the Fund may maintain high levels of cash or other liquid assets (such as U.S. Treasury bills, money market instruments, certificates of deposit, high quality commercial paper and long equity positions) or may utilize the collateral obtained from securities lending for this cash. The need to maintain cash or other liquid assets in segregated accounts could limit the Fund’s ability to pursue other opportunities as they arise.

 

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Subsidiary Investment Risk. Investment in the Subsidiary will not exceed 25% of the value of the Fund’s total assets (ignoring any subsequent market appreciation in the Subsidiary’s value). This limitation is set pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and is measured at each taxable year quarter-end. The Subsidiary, which is organized under the laws of the Cayman Islands, is wholly-owned and controlled by the Fund. The Fund will invest in the Subsidiary in order to gain exposure to the investment returns of the commodities markets within the limitations of the federal tax law requirements applicable to regulated investment companies. The Subsidiary will invest principally in commodity futures, options and swap contracts, as well as certain fixed-income investments intended to serve as margin or collateral for the Subsidiary’s derivatives positions. Unlike the Fund, the Subsidiary may invest without limitation in commodity-linked derivatives, though the Subsidiary will comply with the same 1940 Act asset coverage requirements with respect to its investments in commodity-linked derivatives that apply to the Fund’s transactions in these instruments. To the extent applicable, the Subsidiary otherwise is subject to the same fundamental and non-fundamental investment restrictions as the Fund, and, in particular, to the same requirements relating to portfolio leverage, liquidity, and the timing and method of valuation of portfolio investments and Fund shares, described elsewhere in this Prospectus and in the SAI. By investing in the Subsidiary, the Fund is indirectly exposed to the risks associated with the Subsidiary’s commodity-linked derivatives investments.

 

The Subsidiary is not registered with the SEC as an investment company under the 1940 Act, and is not subject to the investor protections of the 1940 Act. As an investor in the Subsidiary, the Fund does not have the same protections offered to shareholders of registered investment companies.

 

The Fund and the Subsidiary may not be able to operate as described in this Prospectus in the event of changes to the laws of the United States and/or the Cayman Islands. If the laws of the Cayman Islands required the Subsidiary to pay taxes to a governmental authority, the Fund would be likely to suffer decreased returns.

 

Tax Risk. In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies, a Fund must satisfy certain income and distribution requirements each year and certain asset diversification requirements at the end of each quarter of its taxable year. With respect to the latter, a Fund generally may not acquire a security if, as a result of the acquisition, at the end of a quarter the Fund would not satisfy the following requirements: (a) that at least 50% of the value of its total assets be represented by (i) cash, cash items, Government Securities and securities of other regulated investment companies, and (ii) other securities limited in respect of any of the security to an amount not greater than 5% of the Fund’s total assets and to not more than 10% of the voting securities of such issuer; and (b) not more than 25% of the total value of the Fund’s assets can be invested in the securities (other than Government Securities or the securities of other regulated investment companies) of any one issuer, the securities of two or more issuers that the Fund controls and are engaged in the same or similar (or related) trades or businesses, or the securities of one or more qualified publically traded partnerships. If a Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation, and distributions to its shareholders would not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income, which would adversely affect its performance.

 

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In order to qualify for the favorable tax treatment generally available to regulated investment companies and avoid Fund-level taxes, a Fund must also satisfy certain distribution requirements. If a Fund fails to satisfy the distribution requirement necessary to qualify for treatment as a regulated investment company for any taxable year, the Fund would be treated as a corporation subject to U.S. federal income tax, thereby subjecting any income earned by the Fund to tax at the corporate level. If a Fund fails to satisfy a separate distribution requirement, it will be subject to a Fund-level excise tax. These Fund-level taxes will apply in addition to taxes payable at the shareholder level on distributions.

 

To the extent a Fund does not distribute to shareholders all of its investment company taxable income and net capital gain in a given year, it will be required to pay U.S. federal income tax on the retained income and gains, thereby reducing the Fund’s return. A Fund may elect to treat its net capital gain as having been distributed to shareholders. In that case, shareholders of record on the last day of the Fund’s taxable year will be required to include their attributable share of the retained gain in income for the year as a long-term capital gain despite not actually receiving the dividend, and will be entitled to a tax credit or refund for the tax deemed paid on their behalf by the Fund as well as an increase in the basis of their shares to reflect the difference between their attributable share of the gain and the related credit or refund.

 

Investments in swaps and other derivatives may be subject to special U.S. federal income tax rules that could adversely affect the character, timing and amount of income earned by a Fund (e.g., by causing amounts that would be capital gain to be taxed as ordinary income or to be taken into income earlier than would otherwise be necessary). Also, a Fund may be required to periodically adjust its positions in its swaps and derivatives to comply with certain regulatory requirements which may further cause these investments to be less efficient than a direct investment in the securities themselves. For example, swaps in which a Fund may invest may need to be reset on a regular basis in order to maintain compliance with the 1940 Act, which may increase the likelihood that the Fund will generate short-term capital gains. In addition, because the application of these special rules may be uncertain, it is possible that the manner in which they are applied by a Fund may be determined to be incorrect. In that event, the Fund may be found to have failed to maintain its qualification as a RIC or to be subject to additional U.S. tax liability. Moreover, a Fund may make investments, both directly and through swaps or other derivative positions, in companies classified as passive foreign investment companies for U.S. federal income tax purposes (“PFICs”). Investments in PFICs are subject to special tax rules which may result in adverse tax consequences to the Fund and its shareholders.

 

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF intends to treat its income from the Subsidiary as qualifying income. The tax treatment of the Fund’s investment in the Subsidiary may be adversely affected by future legislation, court decisions, Treasury Regulations and/or guidance issued by the IRS that could affect whether income derived from such investments is “qualifying income” under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, or otherwise affect the character, timing and/or amount of the Fund’s taxable income or any gains or distributions made by the Fund.

 

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Tracking Error Risk. Tracking error refers to the risk that the Fund’s performance may not match or correlate to that of its Underlying Index, either on a daily or aggregate basis. Tracking error may cause the Fund’s performance to be less than expected. There are a number of factors that may contribute to the Fund’s tracking error, such as Fund expenses, imperfect correlation between the Fund’s investments and those of the Underlying Index, the use of representative sampling strategy, if applicable, asset valuation differences, tax considerations, the unavailability of securities in the Underlying Index from time to time, holding cash and cash equivalents, and other liquidity constraints. In addition, securities included in the Underlying Index may be suspended from trading. To the extent the Fund calculates its NAV based on fair value prices and the value of the Underlying Index is based on securities’ closing prices on local foreign markets, the Fund’s ability to track the Underlying Index may be adversely affected. Mathematical compounding may prevent the Fund from correlating with the monthly, quarterly, annual or other period performance of its Underlying Index. In addition, the Fund may not invest in certain securities and other instruments included in the Underlying Index, or invest in them in the exact proportions they represent of the Underlying Index, including due to legal restrictions or limitations imposed by a foreign government or a lack of liquidity in certain securities. Moreover, the Fund may be delayed in purchasing or selling securities and other instruments included in the Underlying Index. Any issues the Fund encounters with regard to currency convertibility (including the cost of borrowing funds, if any) and repatriation may also increase the Fund’s tracking error.

 

U.S. Government Obligations Risk. The Fund may invest in securities issued by the U.S. government. The total public debt of the United States as a percentage of gross domestic product has grown rapidly since the beginning of the 2008–2009 financial downturn. Although high debt levels do not necessarily indicate or cause economic problems, they may create certain systemic risks if sound debt management practices are not implemented. A high national debt can raise concerns that the U.S. government will not be able to make principal or interest payments when they are due. This increase has also necessitated the need for the U.S. Congress to negotiate adjustments to the statutory debt limit to increase the cap on the amount the U.S. government is permitted to borrow to meet its existing obligations and finance current budget deficits. In August 2011, S&P lowered its long term sovereign credit rating on the U.S. In explaining the downgrade at that time, S&P cited, among other reasons, controversy over raising the statutory debt limit and growth in public spending. Any controversy or ongoing uncertainty regarding the statutory debt ceiling negotiations may impact the U.S. long-term sovereign credit rating and may cause market uncertainty. As a result, market prices and yields of securities supported by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government may be adversely affected.

 

Utilities Sector Risk. Companies in the utilities industry may have difficulty obtaining an adequate return on invested capital, raising capital, and financing large construction programs during periods of inflation or unsettled capital markets; face restrictions on operations and increased cost and delays attributable to environmental considerations and regulation; find that existing plants, equipment or products have been rendered obsolete by technological innovations; and be subject to increased costs because of the scarcity of certain fuels or the effects of man-made disasters. Deregulation is subjecting utility companies to greater competition and may adversely affect profitability. As deregulation allows utility companies to diversify outside of their original geographic regions and their traditional lines of business, utility companies may engage in riskier ventures. Government regulators monitor and control utility operations, revenues and costs, and therefore may limit utility profits. Regulatory authorities may also restrict utility companies’ access to new markets, thereby diminishing these companies’ long-term prospects. Energy conservation and changes in climate policy may have a significant adverse impact on the revenues and expenses of utility companies.

 

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Valuation Risk. Financial information about the Fund’s portfolio holdings may not always be reliable, which may make it difficult to obtain a current price for the investments held by the Fund. Independent market quotations for such investments may not be readily available, such as on days during which a security does not trade or a foreign holiday, and securities may be fair valued or valued by a pricing service at an evaluated price. These valuations are subjective and different funds may assign different fair values to the same investment. Such valuations also may be different from what would be produced if the security had been valued using market quotations. As a result, there is a risk that the Fund may not be able to sell an investment at the price assigned to the investment by the Fund. Additionally, Fund securities that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” securities, may be subject to greater fluctuations in their value from one day to the next. Because securities in which the Fund invests may trade on days when the Fund does not price its shares, the value of the securities in the Fund’s portfolio may change on days when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund’s shares.

 

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Management

 

Investment Adviser

Krane Funds Advisors, LLC (“Krane” or “Adviser”), which is a UN PRI signatory*, is a registered investment adviser located at 280 Park Avenue, 32nd Floor, New York, NY 10017 and serves as investment adviser of each Fund. Krane has served as the investment adviser of each Fund since its inception.

 

Under the Investment Advisory Agreement between the Trust and Krane, Krane is responsible for reviewing, supervising and administering each Fund’s investment program and the general management and administration of the Trust. In this regard, among other things, Krane arranges for transfer agency, custody, fund administration and accounting, and other non-distribution related services necessary for each Fund to operate. Krane may engage a subadviser to assist it in managing a Fund’s investments, but will be responsible for overseeing any subadvisers. Krane manages each Fund’s business affairs, provides office facilities and equipment and certain clerical, bookkeeping and administrative services, and permits its officers and employees to serve as officers or Trustees of the Trust. Under the Investment Advisory Agreement, Krane bears all of its own costs associated with providing advisory services to the Funds. In addition, Krane has contractually agreed to pay all operating expenses of each Fund, except (i) interest and taxes (including, but not limited to, income, excise, transaction, transfer and withholding taxes); (ii) expenses of the Fund incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions and short sale dividend or interest expense; (iii) expenses incurred in connection with any distribution plan adopted by the Trust in compliance with Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act, including distribution fees; (iv) Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses; (v) litigation expenses; (vi) the compensation payable to the Adviser under the investment advisory agreement; (vii) compensation and expenses of the Independent Trustees (including any Trustees’ counsel fees); and (viii) any expenses determined to be extraordinary expenses by the Board. Nevertheless, there exists a risk that a Trust service provider will seek recourse against the Trust if is not timely paid by Krane for the fees and expenses for which it is responsible, which could materially adversely affect a Fund.

 

Under the Investment Advisory Agreement, each Fund pays Krane the fee shown in the table below (in addition to the securities lending compensation Krane receives under the Agreement discussed below), which is calculated daily and paid monthly, at an annual rate based on a percentage of the average daily net assets of the Fund.

 

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF (formerly, KFA Mount Lucas Index Strategy ETF) 0.89%
KFA Value Line® Dynamic Core Equity Index ETF 0.55%

 

For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, the Adviser received the fees (in addition to the securities lending compensation Krane receives under the Agreement discussed below), as a percentage of average daily net assets of each Fund, as set forth below, which is net of any fees waived or expenses reimbursed:

 

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF (formerly, KFA Mount Lucas Index Strategy ETF) 0.89%
KFA Value Line® Dynamic Core Equity Index ETF 0.55%

 

 
* UN PRI is an abbreviation for ‘United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment,’ a UN-supported network of investors that works to promote sustainable investment through the incorporation of environmental, social and governance factors into investment decision-making. PRI signatories publicly commit to adopt and implement the network’s six ESG principles, which are voluntary and aspirational, where consistent with their fiduciary duties.

 

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In addition to the above-described services, to the extent a Fund engages in securities lending, Krane will: (i) determine which securities are available for loan and notify the securities lending agent for the Fund (the “Agent”), (ii) monitor the Agent’s activities to ensure that securities loans are effected in accordance with Krane’s instructions and in accordance with applicable procedures and guidelines adopted by the Board, (iii) make recommendations to the Board regarding the Fund’s participation in securities lending; (iv) prepare appropriate periodic reports for, and seek appropriate periodic approvals from, the Board with respect to securities lending activities, (v) respond to Agent inquiries concerning Agent’s activities, and (vi) such other related duties as Krane deems necessary or appropriate.

 

Under the agreement, while the fees and expenses related to a Fund’s securities lending-related activities reduce the revenues and income of the Fund from such activities, they are not fees and expenses for which Krane is responsible. Further, as compensation for the services provided by Krane in connection with any securities lending-related activities, each Fund pays Krane 10% of the monthly investment income received from the investment of cash collateral and loan fees received from borrowers in respect of securities loans (net of any amounts paid to the custodian and/or securities lending agent or rebated to borrowers). For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, Krane did not receive any revenue from the Funds related to securities lending activities.

 

The Investment Advisory Agreement has been approved by the Board of Trustees and shareholders of each Fund (in this regard, Krane as the sole initial shareholder of a Fund approved various matters and agreements, including the Investment Advisory Agreement for the Fund prior to its public offering). A discussion regarding the basis for the Board’s approval of the investment advisory agreement with Krane with respect to the KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF and KFA Value Line® Dynamic Core Equity Index ETF is available in the Funds’ Semi-Annual Report to Shareholders dated September 30, 2022.

 

China International Capital Corporation (USA) Holdings Inc., a wholly-owned, indirect subsidiary of China International Capital Corporation Limited owns a majority stake in Krane. As of March 31, 2023, Central Huijin Investment Limited, a mainland Chinese-domiciled entity, and HKSCC Nominees Limited, held approximately 40.11% and 39.42%, respectively, of the shares of China International Capital Corporation Limited. Central Huijin Investment Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Investment Corporation, which is a mainland Chinese sovereign wealth fund. KFA One Holdings, LLC, located at 280 Park Avenue, 32nd Floor, New York, New York 10017, holds the remaining equity interests in Krane and Jonathan Krane, through his equity interests in KFA One Holdings, LLC, beneficially owns more than 10% of the equity interests in Krane.

 

Krane has received “manager of managers” exemptive relief from the SEC that permits Krane, subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees, to appoint a “wholly-owned” or unaffiliated sub-adviser, as defined in the exemptive relief, or to change the terms of a sub-advisory agreement with a “wholly-owned” or unaffiliated sub-adviser without first obtaining shareholder approval. The exemptive order further permits Krane to add or to change a “wholly-owned” or unaffiliated sub-adviser or to change the fees paid to such parties from time to time without the expense and delays associated with obtaining shareholder approval of the change and to disclose sub-advisers’ fees only in the aggregate in its registration statement. Any increase in the aggregate advisory fee paid by any Fund remains subject to shareholder approval. Krane continues to have ultimate responsibility (subject to oversight by the Board of Trustees) to oversee the sub-advisers and recommend their hiring, termination, and replacement. The Fund will notify shareholders of any change of a Fund sub-adviser.

 

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Investment Sub-Advisers

 

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF

Mount Lucas Index Advisers LLC (“MLIA”), located at 405 South State Street, Newtown, Pennsylvania, 18940, serves as sub-adviser to the Fund. MLIA is responsible for the day-to-day investment management of the Fund, subject to the supervision of Krane and the Board of Trustees.

 

A discussion regarding the basis for the Board’s approval of the Fund’s investment sub-advisory agreement is available in the Fund’s Semi-Annual Report to Shareholders dated September 30, 2022.

 

MLIA was established in 2010 as a Delaware limited liability company and is registered with the SEC as a registered investment advisor under the Investment Advisors Act of 1940. MLIA provides portfolio management and advisory services for investment companies.

 

KFA Value Line® Dynamic Core Equity Index ETF

3D/L Capital Management, LLC (“3D/L”), located at 100 Constitution Plaza, Suite 700, Hartford CT 06103, serves as the non-discretionary investment sub-adviser of the Fund. 3D/L provides non-discretionary sub-advisory services to the Fund, which includes research and portfolio modeling services related to the Fund’s investments and the monitoring of such investments.

 

A discussion regarding the basis for the Board’s approval of the Fund’s sub-advisory agreement with 3D/L is available in the Fund’s Semi-Annual Report to Shareholders dated September 30, 2022.

 

3D/L (formerly, Lee Capital Management, LP) was established in 2006 and is registered with the SEC as a registered investment advisor under the Investment Advisors Act of 1940. 3D/L provides discretionary investment advisory services to separately managed accounts, pooled investment vehicles including an ERISA qualified collective investment trust and through sub-advisory relationships. 3D/L provides discretionary and non-discretionary investment advisory services to registered investment advisers, corporations, institutions, individuals and other legal entities.

 

Portfolio Managers

 

KFA Value Line® Dynamic Core Equity Index ETF

James Maund, Head of Capital Markets at the Adviser, has served as the lead portfolio manager of the Fund since its inception. He joined the Adviser in 2020 and has over 16 years of experience in the investment management industry. Previously, he was a Vice President in the Institutional ETF Group and a member of the ETF Capital Markets Group at State Street Global Advisors (2010-2019); and an ETF trader at Goldman Sachs & Co (2005-2009). Mr. Maund graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics from Wesleyan University.

 

Jonathan Shelon, Chief Operating Officer of the Adviser, also serves as a portfolio manager of each Fund and supports Mr. Maund and Krane’s investment team with respect to the Fund. Mr. Shelon has been a portfolio manager of the Fund since its inception in June 2019. Mr. Shelon joined Krane in 2015. Mr. Shelon has spent the majority of his career managing investment portfolios and diverse teams at leading asset management organizations. Prior to joining Krane, he was the Chief Investment Officer of a 40-person global Specialized Strategies Team at J.P. Morgan with $40 billion AUM. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Mr. Shelon spent ten years as a portfolio manager at Fidelity Investments where he was responsible for the investment performance, process and evolution of their target-date strategies for retirement savings, college savings and income generation.

 

Additional information about the Portfolio Managers’ compensation, other accounts managed by the Portfolio Managers and the Portfolio Managers’ ownership of Fund shares is available in the SAI.

 

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KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF

Timothy J. Rudderow Sr., is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of MLIA and its managing member, Mount Lucas Management LP. Mr. Rudderow helped to establish Mount Lucas Management Corporation in 1986. Prior to the mergers that took place in October 1999, Mr. Rudderow was also a principal of Little Brook Corporation in New Jersey, which he joined in 1983 as Director of Research and Development, and of CA Partners, Inc., a company he helped form in 1990. From 1984 to 2000, he was registered as a Commodity Trading Advisor in his own name. Prior to joining Little Brook, Mr. Rudderow was employed by Commodities Corporation with responsibilities for the design and management of technical trading systems. Before joining Commodities Corporation, Mr. Rudderow taught Economics at Drexel University. Mr. Rudderow received a B.A. in Mathematics from Rutgers University in 1977 and an M.B.A. in Management Analysis from Drexel University in 1979.

 

Gerald L. Prior, III is Chief Operating Officer and Portfolio Manager of MLIA and its managing member, Mount Lucas Management LP. Mr. Prior joined the predecessor to Mount Lucas Management LP (Mount Lucas Management Corp.) in 1997. He served as portfolio manager for MLM Index™, for MLM Symmetry™ and for custom quantitative derivative products. Previously, he was responsible for maintaining the firm’s investment technology infrastructure and for conducting extensive portfolio research using futures modelling. Mr. Prior’s particular expertise is in the development, implementation, and oversight of the firm’s proprietary models, and their execution through the trading operation. Mr. Prior graduated cum laude in 1997 from Villanova University with a B.S. in Mathematics.

 

David Aspell, Portfolio Manager, joined MLIA’s managing member, Mount Lucas Management LP, in 2011 as the Chief Risk Officer. Prior to joining Mount Lucas, Mr. Aspell spent approximately 6 years at Man Group as a Senior Risk Manager, working in London, New York, and Chicago. Mr. Aspell holds a Masters degree from Nottingham University.

 

Additional information about the Portfolio Managers’ compensation, other accounts managed by the Portfolio Managers and the Portfolio Managers’ ownership of Fund shares is available in the SAI.

 

Other Service Providers

SEI Investments Global Funds Services (“Administrator”) serves as administrator for the Funds. The Administrator provides necessary administrative and accounting services for the maintenance and operations of the Trust and the Funds, and makes available the office space, equipment, personnel and facilities required to provide such services.

 

SEI Investments Distribution Co. (“Distributor”), an affiliate of the Administrator, serves as the Funds’ distributor. Shares in less than Creation Units are not distributed by the Distributor, and the Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in the shares of a Fund.

 

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. (“BBH”) serves as custodian and transfer agent for the Funds. BBH maintains in separate accounts cash, securities and other assets of a Fund, keeps all necessary accounts and records, and provides other services. BBH also serves as the custodian for any Subsidiary.

 

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Shareholder Information

 

Calculating NAV

Each Fund calculates its NAV by:

 

Taking the current market value of its total assets

 

Subtracting any liabilities and withholdings (if any)

 

Dividing that amount by the total number of shares owned by the shareholders

 

Each Fund normally calculates NAV as of the regularly scheduled close of normal trading on each day that the NYSE is scheduled to be open for business (a “Business Day”) (normally, 4:00 p.m., Eastern time). Any assets or liabilities denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are converted into U.S. dollars at the current market rates on the date of valuation as quoted by one or more sources.

 

Securities listed on a securities exchange (i.e. exchange-traded equity securities), market or automated quotation system for which quotations are readily available (except for securities traded on NASDAQ), including securities traded over the counter, are valued by independent pricing agents at the last reported sale price on the primary exchange or market (foreign or domestic) on which they are traded (or at the time as of which the Fund’s NAV is calculated if a security’s exchange is normally open at that time). If there is no such reported sale, such securities are valued at the most recently reported bid price. For securities traded on NASDAQ, the NASDAQ Official Closing Price will be used. If a security price cannot be obtained from an independent, third-party pricing agent, the Fund seeks to obtain bid and ask prices from two broker-dealers who make a market in the portfolio instrument and determines the average of the two.

 

If available, debt securities are priced based upon valuations provided by independent third-party pricing agents. Such values generally reflect the last reported sales price if the security is actively traded. The third-party pricing agents may also value debt securities at an evaluated bid price by employing methodologies that utilize actual market transactions, broker-supplied valuations, or other methodologies designed to identify the market value for such securities. Debt obligations with remaining maturities of sixty days or less may be valued at their amortized cost, which approximates market value.

 

The prices for foreign securities are reported in local currency and converted to U.S. dollars using currency exchange rates. The exchange rates used for valuation are captured as of the close of the London Stock Exchange each day normally at 4:00 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time.

 

The value of a swap contract is equal to the obligation (or rights) under the swap contract, which will generally be equal to the net amounts to be paid or received under the contract based upon the relative values of the positions held by each party to the contract as determined by the applicable independent, third party pricing agent.

 

Exchange-traded options, except as discussed below for FLEX options, are valued at the closing price in the market in which they are principally traded. If no closing price is available, exchange-traded options are valued at the mean of their most recent bid and asked price, if available, and otherwise at their closing bid price. Over-the-counter (“OTC”) options are valued based upon prices determined by the applicable independent, third party pricing agent. FLEX (short for flexible) options are normally valued using a model-based price provided by a third-party pricing vendor. On days when a trade in a FLEX options occurs, the trade price will be used to value such FLEX options in lieu of the model price.

 

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Futures are valued at the settlement price established by the board of trade on which they are traded. Foreign currency forward contracts are valued at the current day’s interpolated foreign exchange rate, as calculated using the current day’s spot rate and the 30-, 60-, 90- and 180-day forward rates provided by an independent pricing agent.

 

On certain days, the settlement price for futures may not be available at the time the Fund calculates its NAV. On such days, the best available price (which is typically the last trade price) may be used to value futures.

 

Investments in open-end investment companies that do not trade on an exchange are valued at the end of day NAV per share. Investments in open-end investment companies that trade on an exchange are valued in the same manner as other exchange-traded equity securities (described above).

 

Investments for which market prices are not “readily available,” or are not deemed to reflect current market values, or are debt securities where no evaluated price is available from third-party pricing agents pursuant to established methodologies, are fair valued in accordance with the Adviser’s valuation policies and procedures approved by the Board. Some of the more common reasons that may necessitate that a security be valued using “fair value” pricing may include, but are not limited to: the security’s trading has been halted or suspended; the security’s primary trading market is temporarily closed; or the security has not been traded for an extended period of time.

 

In addition, a Fund may fair value its securities if an event that may materially affect the value of the Fund’s securities that trade outside of the United States (a “Significant Event”) has occurred between the time of the security’s last close and the time that the Fund calculates its NAV. A Significant Event may relate to a single issuer or to an entire market sector, country or region. Events that may be Significant Events may include: government actions, natural disasters, armed conflict, acts of terrorism and significant market fluctuations. If Krane becomes aware of a Significant Event that has occurred with respect to a portfolio instrument or group of portfolio instruments after the closing of the exchange or market on which the portfolio instrument or portfolio instruments principally trade, but before the time at which the Fund calculates its NAV, it will notify the Administrator and may request that an ad hoc meeting of the Fair Valuation Committee be called.

 

With respect to trade-halted securities, the Adviser typically will fair value a trade-halted security by adjusting the security’s last market close price by the security’s sector performance, as measured by a predetermined index, unless Krane’s Fair Valuation Committee determines to make additional adjustments. Certain foreign securities exchanges have mechanisms in place that confine one day’s price movement in an individual security to a pre-determined price range based on that day’s opening price (“Collared Securities”). Fair value determinations for Collared Securities will generally be capped based on any applicable pre-determined “limit down” or “limit up” prices established by the relevant foreign securities exchange. As an example, China A-Shares can only be plus or minus ten percent in one day of trading in the relevant mainland China equity market. As a result, the fair value price determination on a given day will generally be capped plus or minus ten percent.

 

Fair value pricing involves subjective judgments and it is possible that a fair value determination for a security is materially different than the value that could actually be realized upon the sale of the security or that another fund that uses market quotations or its own fair value procedures to price the same securities.

 

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Trading in securities on many foreign exchanges is normally completed before the close of business on each Business Day. In addition, securities trading in a particular country or countries may not take place on each Business Day or may take place on days that are not Business Days. Changes in valuations on certain securities may occur at times or on days on which a Fund’s NAV is not calculated and on which Fund shares do not trade and sales and redemptions of shares do not occur. As a result, the value of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the net asset value of its shares may change on days when share purchases or sales cannot occur.

 

Buying and Selling Fund Shares

Shares of a Fund may be purchased or redeemed directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof. Only a broker-dealer (“Authorized Participant”) that enters into an Authorized Participant Agreement with the Fund’s distributor, SEI Investments Distribution Co. (the “Distributor”), may engage in creation and redemption transactions directly with the Fund. Purchases and redemptions directly with a Fund must follow the Fund’s procedures, and are subject to transaction fees, which are described in the SAI. Orders for such transactions may be rejected or delayed if they are not submitted in good order and subject to the other conditions set forth in this prospectus and the SAI. Please see the SAI for more information about purchases and redemptions of Creation Units.

 

Once purchased (i.e., created) by an Authorized Participant, shares are listed on the Exchange and trade in the secondary market. When you buy or sell a Fund’s shares in the secondary market, you will pay or receive the market price. The price at which you buy or sell Shares (i.e., the market price) may be more or less than the NAV of the Shares. Unless imposed by your broker, there is no minimum dollar amount you must invest in the Fund and no minimum number of Shares you must buy. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like other publicly traded securities. Most investors will buy and sell shares through a broker and, thus, will incur customary brokerage commissions and charges when buying or selling shares. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, Shares are not redeemable by the Fund.

 

The secondary markets are closed on weekends and also are generally closed on the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day (observed), Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.

 

For more information on how to buy and sell shares of a Fund, call 1.855.857.2638 or visit www.kfafunds.com.

 

Premium/Discount Information

Information showing the number of days the market price of each Fund’s shares was greater than the Fund’s NAV per share (i.e., at a premium) and the number of days it was less than the Fund’s NAV per share (i.e., at a discount) for various time periods is available by visiting the Fund’s website at www.kfafunds.com. The premium and discount information contained on the website represents past performance and cannot be used to predict future results.

 

Portfolio Holdings Information

Each day the Fund is open for business, the Trust publicly disseminates the Fund’s full portfolio holdings as of the close of the previous day through the website. A description of the Funds’ policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of Fund portfolio holdings is available in the Funds’ Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”). The holdings of a Fund can be found on the Funds’ website at www.kfafunds.com.

 

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Active Investors and Market Timing

The Trust’s Board of Trustees has determined not to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of each Fund’s shares because each Fund sells and redeems its shares at NAV only in Creation Units pursuant to the terms of an Authorized Participant Agreement between the Authorized Participant and the Distributor, and such direct trading between the Fund and Authorized Participants is critical to ensuring that the Fund’s shares trade at or close to NAV. Further, the vast majority of trading in Fund shares occurs on the secondary market, which does not involve a Fund directly and therefore does not cause the Fund to experience many of the harmful effects of market timing, such as dilution and disruption of portfolio management. In addition, each Fund imposes a transaction fee on Creation Unit transactions, which is designed to offset transfer and other transaction costs incurred by the Fund in connection with the issuance and redemption of Creation Units and may employ fair valuation pricing to minimize potential dilution from market timing. Each Fund reserves the right to reject any purchase order at any time and reserves the right to impose restrictions on disruptive, excessive, or short-term trading.

 

Investments by Registered Investment Companies

Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act restricts investments by investment companies in the securities of other investment companies, including shares of a Fund. Registered investment companies are permitted to invest in a Fund beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) subject to certain terms and conditions set forth in SEC exemptive relief, including that such investment companies enter into an agreement with a Fund. Each Fund currently intends to limit its investments in other investment companies as required by Section 12(d)(1) and the conditions set forth in SEC exemptive relief so that other investment companies will be permitted to invest in a Fund beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) if they comply with the conditions set forth in SEC exemptive relief. This policy is subject to change.

 

Continuous Offering

The method by which Creation Units of Fund shares are created and traded may raise certain issues under applicable securities laws. Because new Creation Units of shares are issued and sold by each Fund on an ongoing basis, a “distribution,” as such term is used in the Securities Act, may occur at any point. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner which could render them statutory underwriters and subject them to the prospectus delivery requirement and liability provisions of the Securities Act.

 

For example, a broker-dealer firm or its client may be deemed a statutory underwriter if it takes Creation Units after placing an order with the Distributor, breaks them down into constituent shares and sells the shares directly to customers or if it chooses to couple the creation of a supply of new shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for shares. A determination of whether one is an underwriter for purposes of the Securities Act must take into account all the facts and circumstances pertaining to the activities of the broker-dealer or its client in the particular case, and the examples mentioned above should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could lead to a characterization as an underwriter.

 

Broker-dealer firms should also note that dealers who are not “underwriters” but are effecting transactions in shares, whether or not participating in the distribution of shares, are generally required to deliver a prospectus. This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(3) of the Securities Act is not available in respect of such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the 1940 Act. As a result, broker-dealer firms should note that dealers who are not “underwriters” but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted with engaging in ordinary secondary market transactions) and thus dealing with the shares that are part of an overallotment within the meaning of Section 4(3)(C) of the Securities Act, will be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(3) of the Securities Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the Securities Act is only available with respect to transactions on a national exchange.

 

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Dealers effecting transactions in a Fund’s shares, whether or not participating in this distribution, are generally required to deliver a Prospectus. This is in addition to any obligation of dealers to deliver a Prospectus when acting as underwriters.

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of a Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), Krane, a Fund sub-adviser or an affiliate of either may pay the intermediary for marketing activities or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

Distribution Plan

Each Fund has adopted a Distribution Plan (the “Plan”) that allows the Fund to pay distribution fees to the Distributor and other firms that provide distribution services (“Service Providers”). Under the Plan, if a Service Provider provides distribution services, a Fund would pay distribution fees to the Distributor at an annual rate not to exceed 0.25% of average daily net assets, pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. The Distributor would, in turn, pay the Service Provider out of its fees. The Board of Trustees currently has determined not to implement any 12b-1 fees pursuant to the Plan. 12b-1 fees may only be imposed after approval by the Board of Trustees. Because any distribution fees would be paid out of a Fund’s assets on an on-going basis, if payments are made in the future, the distribution fees would increase the cost of your investment and may cost you more than paying other types of sales charges.

 

Householding Policy

To reduce expenses, we mail only one copy of the prospectus or summary prospectus, each annual and semi-annual report, and any proxy statements to each address shared by two or more accounts with the same last name or that the Trust reasonably believes are members of the same family. If you wish to receive individual copies of these documents, please call the Trust at 1.855.857.2638 between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time on days the Fund is open for business or contact your financial institution. We will begin sending you individual copies thirty days after receiving your request. Investors who hold their shares through an intermediary are subject to the intermediary’s policies. Contact your financial intermediary for any questions you may have.

 

Dividends and Distributions

The KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF may pay out net investment income, if any, at least semi-annually in June and December, but may pay such income as frequently as quarterly. The KFA Value Line® Dynamic Core Equity Index ETF typically distributes any net investment income quarterly. The Funds pay out to their shareholders net realized capital gains, if any, once a year (usually in December). Each Fund may make distributions on a more frequent basis. Each Fund reserves the right to declare special distributions, including if, in its reasonable discretion, such action is necessary or advisable to preserve the status of the Fund as a regulated investment company under Subchapter M of the Code, or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income.

 

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Additional Tax Information

 

The following is a summary of some important tax issues that affect each Fund and its shareholders. The summary is based on current tax laws, which may be changed by legislative, judicial or administrative action. You should not consider this summary to be a detailed explanation of the tax treatment of the Funds, or the tax consequences of an investment in a Fund. More information about taxes is located in the SAI. You are urged to consult your tax adviser regarding specific questions as to federal, state and local income taxes.

 

Tax Status of each Fund

Each Fund is treated as a separate entity for federal tax purposes, and intends to qualify for the special tax treatment afforded to regulated investment companies. As long as a Fund qualifies for treatment as a regulated investment company, it pays no federal income tax on the earnings it distributes to shareholders.

 

Tax Status of Distributions

Each Fund will, at least annually, distribute substantially all of its net investment taxable income and net capital gains.

 

The income dividends you receive from a Fund (which include the Fund’s short-term capital gains) will be taxed as either ordinary income or qualified dividend income. For non-corporate shareholders, dividends that are reported as qualified dividend income are generally taxable at reduced maximum tax rates to the extent that the Fund receives qualified dividend income and subject to certain limitations and holding period requirements.

 

Distributions of a Fund’s short-term capital gains are generally taxable as ordinary income. Any distributions of net capital gain (the excess of a Fund’s net long-term capital gains over its net short-term capital losses) are taxable as long-term capital gains regardless of how long you have owned your shares. Long-term capital gains are taxable at reduced maximum tax rates.

 

If a Fund makes distributions to a shareholder in excess of the Fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits in any taxable year, the excess distribution will be treated as a return of capital to the extent of the shareholder’s tax basis in its shares, and thereafter as capital gain. A return of capital is not taxable, but reduces a shareholder’s tax basis in its shares, thus reducing any loss or increasing any gain on a subsequent taxable disposition by the shareholder of its shares.

 

Each Fund may invest in complex securities. These investments may be subject to numerous special and complex rules. These rules could affect whether gains and losses recognized by a Fund are treated as ordinary income or capital gain, accelerate the recognition of income to the Fund and/or defer the Fund’s ability to recognize losses. In turn, these rules may affect the amount, timing or character of distributions you receive from a Fund.

 

Dividends and distributions are generally taxable to you whether you receive them in cash or in additional shares. Corporate shareholders may be entitled to a dividends-received deduction for the portion of dividends they receive that is attributable to dividends received by the Fund from U.S. corporations, subject to certain limitations.

 

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Distributions paid in January but declared by a Fund in October, November or December of the previous year may be taxable to you in the previous year. Your broker will inform you of the amount of your ordinary income dividends, qualified dividend income, and capital gains distributions shortly after the close of each calendar year.

 

If you lend your Fund shares pursuant to securities lending arrangements, you may lose the ability to treat the Fund’s dividends (paid while the shares are held by the borrower) as qualified dividend income. Consult your financial intermediary or tax adviser.

 

Some foreign governments levy withholding taxes against dividend and interest income. Although in some countries a portion of these withholding taxes is recoverable, the non-recovered portion will reduce the income received from the securities in a Fund. If more than 50% of the total assets of a Fund at the close of a year consist of non-U.S. stocks or securities, then the Fund may elect, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, to treat certain non-U.S. income taxes (including withholding taxes) paid by the Fund as paid by its shareholders. The Fund will provide you with the information necessary to reflect foreign taxes paid on your income tax return if it makes this election.

 

If you hold your shares in a tax-qualified retirement account, you generally will not be subject to federal taxation on income received with respect to the shares (including Fund dividends and distributions, and any gain on the sale of shares), until you begin receiving payments from your retirement account. You should consult your tax adviser regarding the tax rules that apply to your retirement account.

 

Tax Status of Share Transactions

Any capital gain or loss upon a sale of a Fund’s shares is generally treated as a long-term gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year and as a short-term gain or loss if held for one year or less. Any capital loss on the sale of a Fund’s shares held for six months or less is treated as a long-term capital loss to the extent that any capital gain distributions were paid with respect to such shares.

 

Medicare Contribution Tax

U.S. individuals with income exceeding $200,000 ($250,000 if married and filing jointly) are subject to a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on all or a portion of their “net investment income,” including interest, dividends, and certain capital gains (including capital gains realized on the sale or exchange of shares of a Fund). This 3.8% tax also applies to all or a portion of the undistributed net investment income of certain shareholders that are estates and trusts.

 

Back-Up Withholding

A Fund will be required in certain cases to withhold at applicable withholding rates (currently 24%) and remit to the U.S. Treasury the amount withheld on amounts payable to any shareholder who (1) has provided the Fund either an incorrect tax identification number or no number at all, (2) is subject to back-up withholding by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) for failure to properly report payments of interest or dividends, (3) has failed to certify to the Fund that such shareholder is not subject to back-up withholding, or (4) has not certified that such shareholder is a U.S. person (including a U.S. resident alien).

 

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Non-U.S. Investors

If you are not a citizen or permanent resident of the United States or if you are a non-U.S. entity, a Fund’s ordinary income dividends (which include distributions of net short-term capital gains, unless the Fund designates such distributions as short-term capital gain dividends) will generally be subject to a 30% U.S. withholding tax, unless a lower treaty rate applies, provided that withholding tax will generally not apply to any gain or income realized by a non-U.S. shareholder in respect of any distributions of long-term capital gains or upon the sale or other disposition of shares of the Fund (or dividends designated as interest-related dividends or short-term capital gain dividends). You also may potentially be subject to U.S. federal estate taxes.

 

A 30% withholding tax will generally be imposed on dividends paid by a Fund to (i) foreign financial institutions including non-U.S. investment funds unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS, or the tax authorities in their home jurisdictions, information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. A non-U.S. shareholder may be exempt from the withholding described in this paragraph under an intergovernmental agreement between the United States and a foreign government, provided that the shareholder and the applicable foreign government comply with the terms of such agreement. Proposed regulations (which are effective while pending) eliminate the application of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) withholding tax to capital gain dividends and redemption proceeds that was scheduled to take effect in 2019.

 

State Tax Considerations

In addition to federal taxes, distributions by a Fund and ownership of a Fund’s shares may be subject to state and local taxes. You should consult your tax adviser regarding how state and local tax laws affect your investment in the Fund’s shares.

 

Taxes on Creations and Redemptions of Creation Units

A person who purchases a Creation Unit by exchanging securities in-kind generally will recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between (i) the sum of the market value of the Creation Units at the time of the exchange and any net amount of cash received by the Authorized Participant in the exchange and (ii) the sum of the purchaser’s aggregate basis in the securities surrendered and any net amount of cash paid for the Creation Units. A person who redeems Creation Units and receives securities in-kind from a Fund will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the redeemer’s basis in the Creation Units, and the aggregate market value of the securities received and any net cash received. The IRS, however, may assert that a loss realized upon an in-kind exchange of securities for Creation Units or an exchange of Creation Units for securities cannot be deducted currently under the rules governing “wash sales,” or on the basis that there has been no significant change in economic position. Persons effecting in-kind creations or redemptions should consult their own tax adviser with respect to these matters.

 

Each Fund has the right to reject an order for Creation Units if the purchaser (or a group of purchasers) would, upon obtaining the shares so ordered, own 80% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund and if, pursuant to section 351 of the Code, the Fund would have a basis in the deposit securities different from the market value of such securities on the date of deposit. Each Fund also has the right to require information necessary to determine beneficial share ownership for purposes of the 80% determinations.

 

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Index Provider Information and Disclaimers

 

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF

KFA Value Line® Dynamic Core Equity Index ETF

 

FASTINDX is not affiliated with the Trust, Krane, the Trust’s administrator, custodian, transfer agent or Distributor, or any of their respective affiliates. “FASTINDX” is a trademark of Fuzzy Logix, Inc. Krane has entered into a license agreement with FASTINDX to use the relevant Index and FASTINDX marks, and sublicenses such rights to the relevant Fund at no charge. Krane uses the marks for the purpose of promoting and marketing the Funds.

 

The Fund is neither sponsored nor promoted, distributed or in any other manner supported by FASTINDX. The Index is compiled and calculated by FASTINDX. Although FASTINDX shall obtain information for inclusion in or for use in the calculation of certain index(es) from sources that FASTINDX considers reliable, FASTINDX does not warrant or guarantee the originality, accuracy and/or the completeness of any FASTINDX index or any data included therein.

 

FASTINDX will apply all necessary means to ensure the accuracy of the Index. However, FASTINDX shall not be liable (whether in negligence or otherwise) to any person for any error in the Index and FASTINDX shall be under no obligation to advise any person of any error therein.

 

All copyrights in the Index values and constituent lists vest in FASTINDX. Neither the publication of the Index by FASTINDX nor the granting of a license of rights relating to the Index or to the Index Trademark for the utilization in connection with the Fund, represents a recommendation by FASTINDX for a capital investment or contains in any manner a warranty or opinion by FASTINDX with respect to the attractiveness of an investment in the Fund.

 

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Additional Disclaimers

 

Krane and Trust Disclaimer

Neither Krane nor the Trust guarantees the accuracy or the completeness of any Underlying Index or any data included therein and neither shall have any liability for any errors, omissions or interruptions therein. Krane and the Funds further make no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of shares of the Funds or any members of the public as to results to be obtained by the Funds from the use of any Underlying Index, as to any data included therein, or as to the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the Funds particularly. Krane expressly disclaims all warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or use with respect to any Underlying Index or Fund. Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall Krane have any liability for any special, punitive, direct, indirect or consequential damages (including lost profits), even if notified of the possibility of such damages.

 

Value Line Publishing LLC and Value Line, Inc. Disclaimer

Value Line®, the Value Line® Logo, Timeliness™ and Safety™ are trademarks or registered trademarks of Value Line, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries. Used by permission. This Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Value Line Publishing LLC (“VLP”), Value Line, Inc. (“VLI”) or any of their affiliates (collectively, “VL”). VL makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners and advisors of the KFA VALUE LINE® DYNAMIC CORE EQUITY INDEX ETF or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the KFA VALUE LINE® DYNAMIC CORE EQUITY INDEX ETF particularly. VL’s only relationship to Krane Funds Advisors LLC and 3D/L Capital Management, LLC (“Licensees”) in connection with this KFA VALUE LINE® DYNAMIC CORE EQUITY INDEX ETF is Licensees right to license certain VL service marks and trade names and to use authorized advisory and sub-advisory service providers that license the Value Line® Safety™ Ranking System and the Value Line® Timeliness™ Ranking System (the “Ranks”), which are composed by VL without regard to Licensees, this KFA VALUE LINE® DYNAMIC CORE EQUITY INDEX ETF or any investor. VL has no obligation to take the needs of Licensees or any investor in the KFA VALUE LINE® DYNAMIC CORE EQUITY INDEX ETF into consideration in composing the Ranks. The KFA VALUE LINE® DYNAMIC CORE EQUITY INDEX ETF results may differ from the hypothetical or published results of the Ranks. VL is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the prices and composition of the KFA VALUE LINE® DYNAMIC CORE EQUITY INDEX ETF or the timing of the issuance for sale of the KFA VALUE LINE® DYNAMIC CORE EQUITY INDEX ETF or in the calculation of the equations by which the KFA VALUE LINE® DYNAMIC CORE EQUITY INDEX ETF is to be converted into cash. VL MAKES NO WARRANTY AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES CONCERNING THE RANKS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES ARISING FROM USAGE OF TRADE, COURSE OF DEALING OR COURSE OF PERFORMANCE, AND VL MAKES NO WARRANTY AS TO THE POTENTIAL PROFITS OR ANY OTHER BENEFITS THAT MAY BE ACHIEVED BY USING THE RANKS OR ANY INFORMATION OR MATERIALS GENERATED THEREFROM. VL DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE RANKS WILL MEET ANY REQUIREMENTS OR THAT IT WILL BE ACCURATE OR ERROR-FREE. VL ALSO DOES NOT GUARANTEE ANY USES, INFORMATION, DATA OR OTHER RESULTS GENERATED FROM THE RANKS. VLP HAS NO OBLIGATION OR LIABILITY (I) IN CONNECTION WITH THE ADMINISTRATION, MARKETING OR TRADING OF THIS KFA VALUE LINE® DYNAMIC CORE EQUITY INDEX ETF; OR (II) FOR ANY LOSS, DAMAGE, COST OR EXPENSE SUFFERED OR INCURRED BY ANY INVESTOR OR OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY IN CONNECTION WITH THIS KFA VALUE LINE® DYNAMIC CORE EQUITY INDEX ETF, AND IN NO EVENT SHALL VL BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR OTHER CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES IN CONNECTION WITH THIS KFA VALUE LINE® DYNAMIC CORE EQUITY INDEX ETF, EVEN IF IT HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE. THE LICENSING AGREEMENT TO WHICH KRANE FUNDS ADVISORS, LLC AND 3D/L Capital Management, LLC ARE PARTIES (COLLECTIVELY THE “LICENSEES”) IS SOLELY FOR THEIR BENEFIT AND THE BENEFIT OF VL AND EAM, AND NOT FOR THE BENEFIT OF ANY OTHER OWNERS OF THE KFA VALUE LINE® DYNAMIC CORE EQUITY INDEX ETF OR ANY OTHER THIRD PARTIES.”

 

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NYSE Arca, Inc. Disclaimer

Shares of the Funds are not sponsored, endorsed or promoted by NYSE Arca, Inc. (“NYSE Arca”). NYSE Arca makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the shares of the Funds or any member of the public regarding the ability of the Funds to track the total return performance of the Underlying Index or the ability of the Underlying Indexes to track stock market performance. NYSE Arca is not responsible for, nor has it participated in, the determination of the compilation or the calculation of the Underlying Indexes, nor in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Funds to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. NYSE Arca has no obligation or liability to owners of the shares of the Funds in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the shares of the Funds.

 

NYSE Arca does not guarantee the accuracy and/or the completeness of the Underlying Indexes or any data included therein. NYSE Arca makes no warranty, express or implied, as to results to be obtained by the Trust on behalf of the Funds as licensee, licensee’s customers and counterparties, owners of the shares of the Funds, or any other person or entity from the use of the subject index or any data included therein in connection with the rights licensed as described herein or for any other use. NYSE Arca makes no express or implied warranties and hereby expressly disclaims all warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose with respect to the Underlying Indexes or any data included therein. Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall NYSE Arca have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages.

 

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Financial Highlights

 

The table that follows presents the financial highlights for each Fund that was operational as of the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023 for the fiscal periods indicated. The table is intended to help you understand each Fund’s financial performance. Certain information reflects financial results for a single Fund share. The total returns in the table represent the rate that an investor would have earned or lost, on an investment in the Fund (assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions). The information has been derived from financial statements audited by KPMG LLP, the Trust’s independent registered public accounting firm. Their report, along with the financial highlights and financial statements, is included in the annual report to shareholders dated March 31, 2023 (see back cover for information on how to obtain each Fund’s financial statements).

 

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KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF- KMLM

 

Selected Per Share Data & Ratios

For the Years/Periods Ended March 31

For a Share Outstanding Throughout Each Period

 

KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF 2023 2022 2021(1)
Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period ($) 31.51 27.55 25.00
Net Investment Income (Loss) ($)* 0.54 (0.18) (0.06)
Net Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on Investments ($) 1.59 5.98 2.61
Total from Operations ($) 2.13 5.80 2.55
Distribution from Net Investment Income ($) (1.56) (1.77)
Distribution from Capital Gains ($) (2.48) (0.07)
Return of Capital ($)
Total from Distributions ($) (4.04) (1.84)
Net Asset Value, End of Period ($) 29.60 31.51 27.55
Total Return (%)** 6.21 22.21 10.20
Net Assets End of Period ($) (000) 278,274 45,697 28,923
Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets (%) 0.90 0.89 0.89†
Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets (Excluding Waivers, as applicable) (%) 0.90 0.89 0.89†
Ratio of Net Investment Income (Loss) to Average Net Assets (%) 1.61 (0.63) (0.63)†
Portfolio Turnover (%) 251 15 —††

 

* Per share data calculated using average shares method.
** Total return is based on the change in net asset value of a share during the year or period and assumes reinvestment of dividends and distributions at net asset value. Total return is for the period indicated and periods of less than one year have not been annualized. The return shown does not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Excludes effects of standard creation and redemption transaction fees associated with creation units.
Annualized.
Portfolio turnover rate is for the period indicated and periods of less than one year have not been annualized. Excludes effect of in-kind transfers.
(1) The Fund commenced operations on December 1, 2020.

 

Amounts designated as “—” are $0 or have been rounded to $0.

 

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KFA Value Line® Dynamic Core Equity Index ETF- KVLE

 

Selected Per Share Data & Ratios

For the Years/Periods Ended March 31

For a Share Outstanding Throughout Each Period

 

KFA Value Line® Dynamic Core Equity Index ETF 2023 2022 2021(1)
Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period ($) 23.53 23.01 20.00
Net Investment Income (Loss) ($)* 0.56 0.48 0.20
Net Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on Investments ($) (0.59) 2.45 2.88
Total from Operations ($) (0.03) 2.93 3.08
Distribution from Net Investment Income ($) (0.55) (0.58) (0.07)
Distribution from Capital Gains ($) (0.68) (1.83)
Return of Capital ($)
Total from Distributions ($) (1.23) (2.41) (0.07)
Net Asset Value, End of Period ($) 22.27 23.53 23.01
Total Return (%)** 0.19 12.62 15.46
Net Assets End of Period ($) (000) 31,174 30,583 25,315
Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets (%) 0.56 0.55 0.55†
Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets (Excluding Waivers, as applicable) (%) 0.56 0.55 0.55†
Ratio of Net Investment Income (Loss) to Average Net Assets (%) 2.53 1.99 2.68†
Portfolio Turnover (%) 155 164 55††

 

* Per share data calculated using average shares method.
** Total return is based on the change in net asset value of a share during the year or period and assumes reinvestment of dividends and distributions at net asset value. Total return is for the period indicated and periods of less than one year have not been annualized. The return shown does not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Excludes effects of standard creation and redemption transaction fees associated with creation units.
Annualized.
†† Portfolio turnover rate is for the period indicated and periods of less than one year have not been annualized. Excludes effect of in-kind transfers.
(1) The Fund commenced operations on November 23, 2020.

 

Amounts designated as “—” are $0 or have been rounded to $0.

 

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Additional Information

 

Additional and more detailed information about the Funds are included in the SAI dated August 1, 2023. The SAI has been filed with the SEC and is incorporated by reference into this Prospectus and, therefore, legally forms a part of this Prospectus. The SEC maintains the EDGAR database on its website (“http://www.sec.gov”) that contains the SAI, material incorporated by reference, and other information regarding registrants that file electronically with the SEC and copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: [email protected].

 

You may obtain a copy of the SAI or the Annual or Semi-Annual Reports or make inquiries, without charge by calling 1.855.857.2638, visiting www.kfa.com, or writing the Trust at 280 Park Avenue, 32nd Floor, New York, NY 10017. Additional information about the Funds’ investments will be available in the Annual and Semi-Annual Reports. Also, in the Funds’ Annual Report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected a Fund’s performance during its last fiscal year. Each Fund’s fiscal year end is March 31.

 

No one has been authorized to give any information or to make any representations not contained in this Prospectus or in the Funds’ SAI in connection with the offering of Fund shares. Do not rely on any such information or representations as having been authorized by a Fund, Krane or the sub-adviser, as applicable. This Prospectus does not constitute an offering by a Fund in any jurisdiction where such an offering is not lawful.

 

The Trust enters into contractual arrangements with various parties, including among others, the Funds’ investment adviser, sub-adviser(s) (if applicable), distributor, custodian, and transfer agent who provide services to the Funds. Shareholders are not parties to any such contractual arrangements or intended beneficiaries of those contractual arrangements, and those contractual arrangements are not intended to create in any shareholder any right to enforce them against the service providers or to seek any remedy under them against the service providers, either directly or on behalf of the Trust.

 

This prospectus provides information concerning the Funds that you should consider in determining whether to purchase Fund shares. Neither this prospectus nor the SAI is intended, or should be read, to be or give rise to an agreement or contract between the Trust, the Trustees, or the Fund and any investor, or to give rise to any rights in any shareholder or other person other than any rights under federal or state law that may not be waived.

 

The Trust’s Investment Company Act file number is 811-22698.

 

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