Ashmore Funds

PROSPECTUS

February 28, 2024

Ashmore Emerging Markets Total Return Fund

(Class A: EMKAX; Class C: EMKCX; Institutional Class: EMKIX)

Ashmore Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond Fund

(Class A: ELBAX; Class C: ELBCX; Institutional Class: ELBIX)

Ashmore Emerging Markets Corporate Income Fund

(Class A: ECDAX; Class C: ECDCX; Institutional Class: EMCIX)

Ashmore Emerging Markets Short Duration Fund

(Class A: ESFAX; Class C: ESFCX; Institutional Class: ESFIX)

Ashmore Emerging Markets Active Equity Fund

(Class A: EMQAX; Class C: EMQCX; Institutional Class: EMQIX)

Ashmore Emerging Markets Small-Cap Equity Fund

(Class A: ESSAX; Class C: ESSCX; Institutional Class: ESCIX)

Ashmore Emerging Markets Frontier Equity Fund

(Class A: EFEAX; Class C: EFECX; Institutional Class: EFEIX)

Ashmore Emerging Markets Equity Fund

(Class A: EMEAX; Class C: EMECX; Institutional Class: EMFIX)

Ashmore Emerging Markets Equity ESG Fund

(Class A: ESAGX; Class C: ESCGX; Institutional Class: ESIGX)

Ashmore Emerging Markets Low Duration Fund

(formerly, Ashmore Emerging Markets Short Duration Select Fund)

(Class A: ESDAX; Class C: ESDCX; Institutional Class: ESDIX)

Ashmore Emerging Markets Debt Fund

(formerly, Ashmore Emerging Markets Investment Grade Income Fund

(Class A: IGAEX; Class C: IGCEX; Institutional Class: IGIEX)

Ashmore Emerging Markets Corporate Income ESG Fund

(Class A: ECAEX; Class C: ECCEX; Institutional Class: ECIEX)

CLASS A, CLASS C and INSTITUTIONAL CLASS SHARES

This Prospectus includes information you should know about the Ashmore Funds (the “Trust”, and each series thereunder a “Fund,” collectively, the “Funds”) before you invest. Please read it carefully. Neither the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this Prospectus is accurate or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Summary Information About The Funds

Ashmore Emerging Markets Total Return Fund			1

Ashmore Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond Fund			8

Ashmore Emerging Markets Corporate Income Fund			15

Ashmore Emerging Markets Short Duration Fund			22

Ashmore Emerging Markets Active Equity Fund			29

Ashmore Emerging Markets Small-Cap Equity Fund			36

Ashmore Emerging Markets Frontier Equity Fund			43

Ashmore Emerging Markets Equity Fund			50

Ashmore Emerging Markets Equity ESG Fund			57

Ashmore Emerging Markets Low Duration Fund			65

Ashmore Emerging Markets Debt Fund			73

Ashmore Emerging Markets Corporate Income ESG Fund			80

Principal Investments and Strategies of Each Fund			88

Summary of Principal Risks			118

Portfolio Holdings			132

Management of The Funds			132

How the Funds’ Shares are Priced			137

Classes of Shares			138

How to Buy Shares			143

How to Sell or Exchange Shares			148

Dividends and Distributions			153

Frequent Purchases and Redemptions of Fund Shares			154

Payments to Financial Intermediaries			155

Taxes			157

Financial Highlights			160

Shareholder Correspondence and Other Information			196

USA Patriot Act			196

Other Service Providers			196

Additional Performance Information			197

Glossary			198

Appendix A—Intermediary-Specific Sales Waivers			A-1

SUMMARY INFORMATION ABOUT THE FUNDS

Ashmore Emerging Markets Total Return Fund

Investment Objective

The Fund seeks to maximize total return.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

The tables below describe the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell Class A, Class C or Institutional Class Shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below. You may qualify for sales charge discounts on a purchase of Class A Shares if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $100,000 in Class A Shares of the Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available in the “Classes of Shares” section beginning on page 138 of the Fund’s prospectus or from your financial intermediary. Investors investing in the Fund through an intermediary should consult “Appendix A—Intermediary-Specific Sales Waivers”, which includes information regarding broker-defined sales charges and related discount policies that apply to purchases through certain intermediaries.


Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
	Class A Shares		Class C Shares		Institutional Class Shares
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)		4.00%		None		None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (CDSC) (Load)⁽¹⁾(as a percentage of the lower of original purchase price or NAV)		1.00%		1.00%		None
Redemption Fee		None		None		None


Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
	Class A Shares		Class C Shares		Institutional Class Shares
Management Fees		1.00%		1.00%		1.00%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees		0.25%		1.00%		None
Other Expenses		0.22%		0.23%		0.23%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		1.47%		2.23%		1.23%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement⁽²⁾		(0.20)%		(0.21)%		(0.21)%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement		1.27%		2.02%		1.02%

⁽¹⁾	For Class A Shares, the CDSC is imposed only where shares are purchased without a front-end sales charge and subsequently redeemed within eighteen months of purchase. For Class C Shares, the CDSC is imposed only on shares redeemed within one year of purchase.

⁽²⁾

Ashmore Investment Advisors Limited has contractually agreed to waive its fees or reimburse the Fund for other expenses to the extent that Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (other than Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, interest expense, taxes, extraordinary expenses, custodial credits, transfer agency credits and expense offset arrangements) for the Fund’s Class A Shares exceed 1.27%, for the Fund’s Class C Shares exceed 2.02% and for the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares exceed 1.02% of the Fund’s average daily net assets attributable to the share class (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”). The expense limitation arrangement may be terminated before February 28, 2025 only by the Board of Trustees. Under the Expense Limitation Agreement, the Investment Manager may recoup any amounts waived or reimbursed for 36 months following the end of the month when the waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided total expenses, including such recoupment, do not exceed the applicable annual expense limit, and further that expenses may be recouped only if and to the extent that the expense ratio at the time of such recoupment is less than the annual expense limit in place at the time such expenses were waived or reimbursed.

Examples

These Examples are intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Examples assume that you invest $10,000 in the noted class of shares of the Fund for the time periods indicated, your investment has a 5% return each year and the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Class C Shares automatically convert to Class A Shares after eight years. The expense example for Class C Shares for the ten-year period reflects the conversion to Class A Shares. The Examples are based, for the first year, on Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement and, for all other periods, on Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, the Examples show what your costs would be based on these assumptions.


	Example: Assuming you redeem your shares at the end of each period												Example: Assuming you do not redeem your shares
	1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years			1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years
Class A Shares		$	524		$	827		$	1,152		$	2,071		$	524		$	827		$	1,152		$	2,071
Class C Shares		$	305		$	677		$	1,176		$	2,356		$	205		$	677		$	1,176		$	2,356

													1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years
Institutional Class Shares (whether or not shares are redeemed)														$	104		$	370		$	655		$	1,470

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 for you if your Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Examples, adversely affect the Fund’s investment performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 56% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing principally in debt instruments of Sovereign, Quasi-Sovereign, and Corporate issuers (as defined below), which may be denominated in any currency, including the local currency of the issuer. Sovereigns are governments of Emerging Market Countries (as defined below). For these purposes, Sovereigns may include EM Supra-Nationals. Quasi-Sovereigns are governmental entities, agencies and other issuers that are more than 50% owned, directly or indirectly, by a Sovereign, or whose obligations are guaranteed by a Sovereign. For these purposes, governmental entities include a province, a city and local or regional governmental bodies. A Corporate issuer is any issuer other than a Sovereign or Quasi-Sovereign that is located in an Emerging Market Country or an issuer deriving at least 50% of its revenues or profits from goods produced or sold, investments made, or services performed in one or more Emerging Market Countries or that has at least 50% of its assets in one or more Emerging Market Countries. Emerging Market Country means any country included by the International Monetary Fund in its list of Emerging and Developing Economies, any country which is considered a low-income, lower-middle-income, or upper-middle-income economy by the World Bank, and all countries represented in any widely-recognized index of emerging market securities (e.g., the relevant indices in the family of J.P. Morgan Corporate Emerging Markets Bond Index, J.P. Morgan Emerging Local Markets Index, J.P. Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index, J.P. Morgan Government Bond Index—Emerging Markets and MSCI Emerging and Frontier Markets Index).

The Fund may invest in debt instruments of all types and denominated in any currency, whether subordinated or unsubordinated, secured or unsecured, quoted or unquoted, rated or unrated, or floating rate or fixed rate. These may include, without limitation, bonds, debentures, notes, convertible securities, commercial paper, loans and related assignments and participations, trade claims, bank certificates of deposit, fixed time deposits, bankers’ acceptances, and money market instruments, including money market funds denominated in U.S. dollars or other currencies. The Fund may invest in companies of any market capitalization, and its allocations among small-, mid- and large-capitalization issuers may vary significantly over time.

The Fund will normally invest 25% to 75% of its net assets in investments denominated in or providing investment exposure to local currencies of Emerging Market Countries. Any portion of the Fund’s investment exposure to local currencies of Emerging Market Countries that has been hedged into a Hard Currency (i.e., the U.S. dollar or any currency of a nation in the G-7) will not count as currency of an Emerging Market Country for this purpose. The Fund may invest in obligations of any

credit quality, including obligations that are in default or that are subject to insolvency proceedings. The Fund may invest without limitation in debt securities that are rated below investment grade or that are unrated but judged by the Investment Manager to be of comparable quality (i.e., “junk bonds”).

The Fund normally seeks to maintain a weighted average portfolio duration of between 2 and 10 years.

The Fund may utilize various derivative instruments and related strategies, including exclusively, to gain exposure to one or more issuers or other assets. The Fund may utilize derivatives of all types and may invest in, without limitation, call and put options (including options on futures contracts), futures and forward contracts, including contracts related to currencies, and swap agreements (including total return, interest rate, and credit default swaps) and other related instruments with respect to individual bonds and other securities, indices and baskets of securities, interest rates and currencies, structured notes, and credit-linked notes as part of its principal investment strategies. The Fund expects to primarily use derivatives for hedging or efficient portfolio management purposes, but may also use them to increase the Fund’s investment exposure beyond that which it could achieve by investing directly in more conventional securities. The Fund may also invest directly in foreign currencies for hedging or other investment purposes.

The Fund may invest in convertible debt instruments and equity securities related to convertible securities or warrants the Fund holds or has held, as well as acquire and hold equity securities, including warrants, resulting from debt conversion or restructuring. The Fund may invest in the securities of other investment companies, including exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) and other pooled vehicles, if the investment companies invest principally in the types of investments in which the Fund may invest directly. The Fund may also lend its portfolio securities, borrow money for investment and other purposes, and enter into repurchase and reverse repurchase agreement transactions.

The Fund will not invest more than 25% of its net assets in issuers in any one Emerging Market Country. The Fund will not invest more than 35% of its net assets in securities of Corporate issuers having their principal place of business in Emerging Market Countries. Also, the Fund will not invest more than 25% of its net assets in investments denominated in a single currency other than the U.S. dollar or the Euro without seeking to hedge into U.S. dollars the portion of the Fund’s exposure to that currency (i.e., non-U.S. dollar, non-Euro) that exceeds 25% of the Fund’s net assets.

In managing the Fund, the Investment Manager’s fixed income and asset allocation investment committee (the “Investment Committee”), together with the relevant portfolio managers (together with the Investment Committee, the “Investment Team”), employs a largely top-down, active and value-driven investment approach in analyzing emerging markets and currencies. The Fund’s investment approach includes an emphasis on the influence of politics (both local and international). The Investment Team combines this top-down approach with an analytically-driven, bottom-up approach to making purchase and sale decisions with respect to individual corporate credits. The Investment Team seeks opportunities in selected emerging markets that it believes may benefit from significant positive changes, such as political and economic reforms, increases in capital inflows and investor confidence, and seeks to invest in issuers in government and Corporate sectors it expects will benefit from such developments and associated economic development and growth. The Investment Team’s investment process focuses on global and emerging markets fundamentals and considers factors such as liquidity and risk management at the macro level. The Investment Team utilizes the Investment Manager’s broad and current knowledge of important investment areas in various Emerging Market Countries gained, in part, through research, experience, long-standing relationships with reliable local firms and, where appropriate, visits by its investment personnel to countries in their respective regions of responsibility.

In response to adverse market, economic, political or other conditions, the Fund may deviate from its principal strategies by making temporary investments of some or all of its assets in various instruments, including short-term, high-quality fixed income securities denominated in any currency, cash, cash equivalents, money market funds, and other similar funds. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective when it does so. The Fund may also invest a portion of its assets in such investments and instruments on a short term or temporary basis to manage its cash positions or otherwise manage the Fund efficiently.

The Fund observes a policy to normally invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings made for investment purposes) in securities and instruments issued by Sovereign, Quasi-Sovereign, or Corporate issuers of Emerging Market Countries and Emerging Market currency-related derivative instruments. The Fund’s investments in derivatives and other synthetic instruments that have economic characteristics similar to these investments will be counted toward satisfaction of the Fund’s 80% investment policy.

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 for you if your Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Examples, may adversely affect the Fund’s investment performance.

Principal Risks

It is possible to lose money on an investment in the Fund.The Fund will be affected by the investment decisions, techniques and risk analyses of the Fund’s Investment Manager and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. The principal risks of investing in the Fund, which could adversely affect its net asset value, yield and total return are (in alphabetical order after the first five risks):

•

Emerging Markets Risk: Compared to foreign developed markets, investing in emerging markets may involve heightened volatility, greater political, regulatory, legal and economic uncertainties, less liquidity, dependence on particular commodities or international aid, high levels of inflation, greater custody risk, and certain special risks associated with smaller companies;

•

Foreign Investment Risk: Investments in foreign (non-U.S.) issuers, directly or through use of depositary receipts, may be negatively affected by adverse political, regulatory, economic, market or other developments affecting issuers located in foreign countries, currency exchange rates or regulations, or foreign withholding or other taxes, and investing in foreign securities may result in the Fund experiencing more rapid and extreme changes in value than a fund that invests exclusively in securities of U.S. issuers;

•

Currency Risk: Foreign (non-U.S.) currencies may decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar and adversely affect the value of the Fund’s investments in foreign currencies, securities denominated in foreign currencies or derivatives that provide exposure to foreign currencies;

•

Geographic Focus Risk: The Fund may be particularly susceptible to economic, political or regulatory events affecting particular countries or regions to the extent the Fund focuses its investments in such countries or regions;

•

Credit Risk: The Fund could lose money if the issuer or counterparty is unable or unwilling to meet its financial obligations, and the lack of ability, or perceived lack of ability, of the issuer to make timely payments of interest and/or principal will negatively affect the value of the security or instrument;

•

Bank Loans Risk: The Fund may invest in bank loans and participations. Risks associated with these obligations include, but are not limited to, risks involving the enforceability of security interests and loan transactions, inadequate collateral, liabilities relating to collateral securing obligations, and the liquidity of these loans. The market for bank loans may be subject to irregular trading activity, wide bid/ask spreads and extended trade settlement periods. The loans in which the Fund invests may be rated below investment grade;

•

Counterparty and Third Party Risk: Transactions involving a counterparty to a derivative contract, repurchase agreement, reverse repurchase agreement, or other financial instrument, or to a third party responsible for servicing the instrument, are subject to the credit risk of the counterparty or third party, and to the counterparty’s or third party’s ability to perform in accordance with the terms of the transaction;

•

Currency Management Strategies Risk: Currency management strategies, including the use of forward currency contracts and other derivatives, may substantially change the Fund’s exposure to currencies and currency exchange rates and could result in losses to the Fund if currencies do not perform as the Investment Manager anticipates;

•

Derivatives Risk: Investing in derivative instruments may be considered risky and involves correlation, documentation, interest rate, leverage, liquidity, market, management, interest rate and valuation risks and the risk of losing more than the principal amount invested;

•

High Yield Risk: Below investment grade securities and unrated securities of similar credit quality (commonly known as “high yield” securities or “junk bonds”) are subject to greater levels of credit and liquidity risks than higher quality securities, and are considered predominantly speculative with respect to the issuer’s continuing ability to make principal and interest payments;

•

Inflation/Deflation Risk: The value of the Fund’s investments may decline as inflation reduces the value of money; conversely, if deflation reduces prices throughout the economy there may be an adverse effect on the creditworthiness of issuers in whose securities the Fund invests and an increase in the likelihood of issuer defaults;

•

Interest Rate Risk: Debt and other securities and instruments may decline in value due to changes in interest rates, the extended duration of principal payments at below-market interest rates, and/or prepayment. The value of most fixed income securities will generally decline in response to increases in interest rates;

•

Investments in Pooled Vehicles Risk: Investing in another investment company or pooled vehicle subjects the Fund to that company’s risks, and, in general, to a pro rata portion of that company’s fees and expenses in addition to fees and expenses charged by the Fund;

•

Issuer Risk: The value of a security or instrument may decline for reasons directly related to the issuer, such as management performance, financial leverage and reduced demand for the issuer’s goods or services;

•

Large Shareholder Risk: Shareholders of the Fund, such as institutional investors, may disrupt the efficient management of the Fund’s operations by purchasing or redeeming Fund shares in large amounts;

•

Leverage Risk: Use of leverage, including through borrowings, derivatives and reverse repurchase agreements, will increase volatility of the Fund’s investment portfolio and magnify the Fund’s investment losses or gains;

•

Liquidity Risk: Illiquid securities and other instruments may be highly volatile, difficult to value, and difficult to sell or close out at favorable prices or times;

•

Management Risk: The Fund’s investment return depends on the ability of the Investment Manager to manage the Fund’s portfolio successfully; there is a risk that the Investment Manager may be incorrect in its analysis of economic trends, currencies, countries, industries, companies, and the relative attractiveness of asset classes or other matters;

•

Market Risk: The value of securities and instruments owned by the Fund may rise and fall, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to factors affecting securities markets generally or particular industries or geographic areas, including terrorism, war, natural disasters and the spread of infectious disease including epidemics or pandemics;

•

Over-the-Counter Risk: Securities and derivatives traded in over-the-counter markets may trade less frequently and in limited volumes and thus exhibit more volatility and liquidity risk, and the prices paid by the Fund in over-the-counter transactions may include an undisclosed dealer markup;

•

Portfolio Turnover Risk: If the Fund frequently trades its securities, this will increase transaction costs, may result in taxable capital gains, and may reduce the Fund’s investment performance;

•

Small and Mid-Sized Companies Risk: Investments in securities issued by small and mid-sized companies tend to be more vulnerable to adverse developments than larger companies, and may present increased volatility and liquidity risk; and

•

Valuation Risk: Certain securities and instruments may be difficult to value, and to the extent the Fund sells a security or instrument at a price lower than that used to value the security, its net asset value will be adversely affected.

An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.

Performance Information

The bar chart and performance table that follow provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares’ performance from year to year and comparing the Fund’s average annual total returns with those of broad-based market indexes. The bar chart and the information immediately below it show only the performance of the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares. Although Class A and Class C Shares would have similar annual returns (because all the Fund’s shares represent interests in the same portfolio of securities), Class A and Class C performance would be lower than Institutional Class performance because of the lower expenses paid by Institutional Class Shares of the Fund. The bar chart does not reflect any sales loads applicable to Class A or Class C Shares. The performance shown in the bar chart would be lower if it reflected sales charges applicable to Class A and Class C Shares. Performance for Class A and Class C Shares in the Average Annual Total Returns table reflects the impact of sales charges. You may obtain the Fund’s updated performance information by visiting the website at www.ashmoregroup.com or by calling 866-876-8294. As with all mutual funds, the Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) does not predict how the Fund will perform in the future.

Calendar Year Total Return—Institutional Class

Ashmore Emerging Markets Total Return Fund % Total Return

The best calendar quarter return during the period shown above was 14.94% in the second quarter of 2020; the worst was (21.79)% in the first quarter of 2020.

Average Annual Total Return

(For the period ended December 31, 2023)


	1-Year		5-Year		10-Year
Institutional Class
Return before taxes		11.58%		-2.28%		0.11%
Return after taxes on distributions		8.99%		-3.75%		-1.58%
Return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares		6.74%		-2.26%		-0.57%
JP Morgan EMBI GD Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		11.09%		1.67%		3.22%
JP Morgan ELMI+ Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		8.44%		0.87%		0.01%
JP Morgan GBI-EM GD Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		12.70%		1.14%		0.09%
50/25/25 Composite Index⁽¹⁾ (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		10.86%		1.40%		1.69%
Class A
Return before taxes		6.90%		-3.28%		-0.52%	⁽²⁾
JP Morgan EMBI GD Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		11.09%		1.67%		3.22%
JP Morgan ELMI+ Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		8.44%		0.87%		0.01%
JP Morgan GBI-EM GD Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		12.70%		1.14%		0.09%
50/25/25 Composite Index⁽¹⁾ (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		10.86%		1.40%		1.69%
Class C
Return before taxes		9.65%		-3.22%		-0.71%	⁽²⁾
JP Morgan EMBI GD Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		11.09%		1.67%		3.22%
JP Morgan ELMI+ Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		8.44%		0.87%		0.01%
JP Morgan GBI-EM GD Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		12.70%		1.14%		0.09%
50/25/25 Composite Index⁽¹⁾ (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		10.86%		1.40%		1.69%

⁽¹⁾	The composition of the 50/25/25 Composite Index is as follows: 50% JP Morgan EMBI GD Index, 25% JP Morgan ELMI+ Index and 25% JP Morgan GBI-EM GD Index.

⁽²⁾	Class C Shares performance reflects conversion to Class A Shares after eight years.

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. After-tax returns are shown for Institutional Class Shares only and will vary for Class A and Class C Shares.

Management of the Fund

Investment Manager

Ashmore Investment Advisors Limited (“the Investment Manager”)

Investment Team

Mark Coombs, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Investment Committee; Ricardo Xavier, Deputy Chairman of the Investment Committee; Herbert Saller, Senior Portfolio Manager and Member of the Investment Committee; Robin Forrest, Senior Portfolio Manager and Member of the Investment Committee; Cemil Urganci; Senior Portfolio Manager and Member of the Investment Committee; and Fernando Assad, Senior Portfolio Manager and Member of the Investment Committee, are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Mr. Forrest has participated in the management of the Fund since 2012; Mr. Assad has participated in the management of the Fund since 2016; and Mr. Urganci has participated in the management of the Fund since May 2023. Each of the other members of the Investment Team has participated in the management of the Fund since its inception in 2010.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The minimum initial investment for Class A and Class C Shares is $1,000 and the minimum subsequent investment is $50. The minimum initial investment for Institutional Class Shares is $1,000,000 and the minimum subsequent investment is $5,000. These minimums may be waived or modified by the Fund or the Distributor, including for certain financial intermediaries. Investors investing in the Fund through an intermediary should consult “Appendix A—Intermediary-Specific Sales Waivers”, which includes information regarding broker-defined sales charges and related discount policies that apply to purchases through certain intermediaries. You may sell (redeem) shares on any day the New York Stock Exchange is open through your broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (if applicable), or if you hold an account directly with the Fund by calling 866-876-8294 or by sending a letter of instruction to Ashmore Funds c/o Northern Trust Company, PO Box 4766, Chicago, IL 60680-4766. If your shares are held in the name of a financial intermediary, those shares may only be sold through that financial intermediary.

Tax Information

The Fund normally distributes net investment income and net realized capital gains to shareholders. These distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account.

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund, the Distributor, the Investment Manager or their affiliates 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 salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

Ashmore Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond Fund

Investment Objective

The Fund seeks to maximize total return.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund


Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
	Class A Shares		Class C Shares		Institutional Class Shares
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)		4.00%		None		None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (CDSC) (Load)⁽¹⁾(as a percentage of the lower of original purchase price or NAV)		1.00%		1.00%		None
Redemption Fee		None		None		None


Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
	Class A Shares		Class C Shares		Institutional Class Shares
Management Fees		0.75%		0.75%		0.75%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees		0.25%		1.00%		None
Other Expenses		1.84%		1.79%		1.77%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		2.84%		3.54%		2.52%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement⁽²⁾		(1.82)%		(1.77)%		(1.75)%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement		1.02%		1.77%		0.77%

⁽¹⁾	For Class A Shares, the CDSC is imposed only where shares are purchased without a front-end sales charge and subsequently redeemed within eighteen months of purchase. For Class C Shares, the CDSC is imposed only on shares redeemed within one year of purchase.

⁽²⁾

Ashmore Investment Advisors Limited has contractually agreed to waive its fees or reimburse the Fund for other expenses to the extent that Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (other than Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, interest expense, taxes, extraordinary expenses, custodial credits, transfer agency credits and expense offset arrangements) for the Fund’s Class A Shares exceed 1.02%, for the Fund’s Class C Shares exceed 1.77% and for the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares exceed 0.77% of the Fund’s average daily net assets attributable to the share class (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”). The expense limitation arrangement may be terminated before February 28, 2025 only by the Board of Trustees. Under the Expense Limitation Agreement, the Investment Manager may recoup any amounts waived or reimbursed for 36 months following the end of the month when the waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided total expenses, including such recoupment, do not exceed the applicable annual expense limit, and further that expenses may be recouped only if and to the extent that the expense ratio at the time of such recoupment is less than the annual expense limit in place at the time when such expenses were waived or reimbursed.

Examples


	Example: Assuming you redeem your shares at the end of each period												Example: Assuming you do not redeem your shares
	1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years			1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years
Class A Shares		$	500		$	1,079		$	1,684		$	3,313		$	500		$	1,079		$	1,684		$	3,313
Class C Shares		$	280		$	921		$	1,685		$	3,535		$	180		$	921		$	1,685		$	3,535

													1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years
Institutional Class Shares (whether or not shares are redeemed)														$	79		$	617		$	1,183		$	2,724

Portfolio Turnover

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing principally in debt instruments of Sovereign and Quasi-Sovereign issuers of Emerging Market Countries (as defined below) that are denominated in the local currency of the issuer. Sovereigns are governments of Emerging Market Countries (as defined below). For these purposes, Sovereigns may include EM Supra-Nationals. Quasi-Sovereigns are governmental entities, agencies and other issuers the obligations of which are guaranteed by an emerging market government and issuers otherwise represented in the J.P. Morgan Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets Global Diversified or a similar index as determined by the Investment Manager. For these purposes, governmental entities include a province, a city and local or regional governmental bodies. Emerging Market Country means any country included by the International Monetary Fund in its list of Emerging and Developing Economies, any country which is considered a low-income, lower-middle-income, or upper-middle-income economy by the World Bank, and all countries represented in any widely-recognized index of emerging market securities (e.g., the relevant indices in the family of J.P. Morgan Corporate Emerging Markets Bond Index, J.P. Morgan Emerging Local Markets Index, J.P. Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index, J.P. Morgan Government Bond Index—Emerging Markets and MSCI Emerging and Frontier Markets Index).

The Fund’s investments in debt instruments will generally be limited to those issued by Sovereigns and Quasi-Sovereigns. The Fund may invest in debt instruments of all types and denominated in any currency, whether subordinated or unsubordinated, secured or unsecured, quoted or unquoted, rated or unrated, or floating rate or fixed rate. These may include, without limitation, bonds, debentures, notes, convertible securities, commercial paper, loans and related assignments and participations, firm commitment, when-issued and delayed-delivery securities, mortgage-backed and other types of asset-backed securities issued on a public or private basis, bank certificates of deposit, fixed time deposits, bankers’ acceptances, and money market instruments, including money market funds denominated in U.S. dollars or other currencies.

The Fund may invest in obligations of any credit quality, including obligations that are in default or that are subject to insolvency proceedings. The Fund may invest without limit in debt securities that are rated below investment grade quality or that are unrated but judged by the Investment Manager to be of comparable quality (i.e., “junk bonds”). Ordinarily, at least 70% of the securities held by the Fund will be rated by at least one internationally recognized rating agency or issued by a Sovereign or Quasi-Sovereign issuer that itself is rated.

The Fund normally seeks to maintain a weighted average portfolio duration of between 2 and 7 years.

The Fund is a “non-diversified” fund, which means that it may invest a relatively large portion of its assets in a single issuer or a small number of issuers in comparison to a fund that is “diversified.”

Although the Fund may gain most of its investment exposure to bonds and other debt instruments by investing directly in them, the Fund may utilize various derivative instruments and related strategies, including exclusively, to gain exposure to bonds and other debt instruments. The Fund may utilize derivatives of all types and may invest in, without limitation, call and put options (including options on futures contracts), futures and forward contracts, including relating to currencies, and swap agreements (including total return, interest rate and credit default swaps) and other related instruments with respect to individual bonds and other securities, indices and baskets of securities, interest rates and currencies, and credit-linked notes as part of its principal investment strategies. The Fund expects to primarily use derivatives for hedging or efficient portfolio management purposes, but may also use them to increase the Fund’s investment exposure beyond that which it could achieve by investing directly in more conventional securities. The Fund may also invest directly in foreign currencies for hedging or other investment purposes.

The Fund may invest in convertible debt instruments and equity securities related to convertible securities or warrants the Fund holds or has held, as well as acquire and hold equity securities, including warrants, resulting from debt conversion or restructuring. The Fund may invest in the securities of other investment companies, including exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) and other pooled vehicles, if the investment companies invest principally in the types of investments in which the Fund may invest directly. The Fund may lend its portfolio securities, borrow money for investment and other purposes, and enter into repurchase and reverse repurchase agreement transactions.

The Fund will not invest more than 25% of its net assets in any one Emerging Market Country. In addition, the Fund will not invest more than 30% of its net assets in investments denominated in a single non-U.S. currency without seeking to hedge into U.S. dollars the portion of the Fund’s exposure to the non-U.S. currency that exceeds 30% of the Fund’s net assets.

In managing the Fund, the Investment Manager’s fixed income and asset allocation investment committee (the “Investment Committee”), together with the relevant portfolio managers (together with the Investment Committee, the “Investment Team”), employs a largely top-down, active and value-driven investment approach in analyzing emerging markets and currencies. The Fund’s investment approach includes an emphasis on the influence of politics (both local and international), combined with an analytically-driven, bottom-up approach to making purchase and sale decisions. The Investment Team seeks opportunities in selected emerging markets that it believes may benefit from significant positive changes, such as political and economic reforms, increases in capital inflows and investor confidence, and seeks to invest in issuers it expects will benefit from such developments and associated economic development and growth. The Investment Team’s investment process focuses on global and emerging markets fundamentals and considers factors such as liquidity and risk management at the macro level. The Investment Team utilizes the Investment Manager’s broad and current knowledge of important investment areas in various Emerging Market Countries gained, in part, through research, experience, long-standing relationships with reliable local firms and, where appropriate, visits by its investment personnel to countries in their respective regions of responsibility.

The Fund observes a policy to normally invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings made for investment purposes) in bonds and other debt instruments denominated in the local currencies of Emerging Market Countries. The Fund’s investments in derivatives and other synthetic instruments that have economic characteristics similar to these investments will be counted toward satisfaction of the Fund’s 80% investment policy.

The Investment Manager may engage in active and frequent trading of the Fund’s portfolio securities to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. The Fund may pay transaction costs, such as the bid/asked spread on purchases and sales of securities, 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 for you if your Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Examples, may adversely affect the Fund’s investment performance.

Principal Risks

•

Issuer Non-Diversification Risk: The Fund is “non-diversified” and is therefore more susceptible to the risks of focusing investments in a small number of issuers, industries or foreign currencies, and the risks of a single economic, political or regulatory occurrence, than funds that are “diversified”;

•

Liquidity Risk: Illiquid securities and other instruments may be highly volatile, difficult to value, and difficult to sell or close out at favorable prices or times;

•

Mortgage-Backed and Asset-Backed Risk: Payments on the underlying assets, whether they be mortgages or other obligations, may be delayed, prepaid, subordinated or defaulted on; rising interest rates tend to extend the duration of these securities, making them more sensitive to changes in interest rates;

•

Portfolio Turnover Risk: If the Fund frequently trades its securities, this will increase transaction costs, may result in taxable capital gains, and may reduce the Fund’s investment performance; and

•

An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.

Performance Information

The bar chart and performance table that follow provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares’ performance from year to year and comparing the Fund’s average annual total returns with those of a broad-based market index. The bar chart and the information immediately below it show only the performance of the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares. Although Class A and Class C Shares would have similar annual returns (because all the Fund’s shares represent interests in the same portfolio of securities), Class A and Class C performance would be lower than Institutional Class performance because of the lower expenses paid by Institutional Class Shares of the Fund. The bar chart does not reflect any sales loads applicable to Class A or Class C Shares. The performance shown in the bar chart would be lower if it reflected sales charges applicable to Class A and Class C Shares. Performance for Class A and Class C Shares in the Average Annual Total Returns table reflects the impact of sales charges. You may obtain the Fund’s updated performance information by visiting the website at www.ashmoregroup.com or by calling 866-876-8294. As with all mutual funds, the Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) does not predict how the Fund will perform in the future.

Calendar Year Total Return—Institutional Class

Ashmore Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond Fund % Total Return

The best calendar quarter return during the period shown above was 11.96% in the fourth quarter of 2020; the worst was (17.60)% in the first quarter of 2020.

Average Annual Total Return

(For the period ended December 31, 2023)


	1-Year		5-Year		10-Year
Institutional Class
Return before taxes		13.84%		1.33%		0.20%
Return after taxes on distributions		11.81%		0.91%		-0.23%
Return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares		8.11%		0.83%		-0.04%
JP Morgan GBI-EM GD Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		12.70%		1.14%		0.09%
Class A
Return before taxes		9.13%		0.25%		-0.46%	⁽¹⁾
JP Morgan GBI-EM GD Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		12.70%		1.14%		0.09%
Class C
Return before taxes		11.92%		0.35%		-0.65%	⁽¹⁾
JP Morgan GBI-EM GD Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		12.70%		1.14%		0.09%

⁽¹⁾	Class C Shares performance reflects conversion to Class A Shares after eight years.

Management of the Fund

Investment Manager

Ashmore Investment Advisors Limited (“the Investment Manager”)

Investment Team

Mark Coombs, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Investment Committee; Ricardo Xavier, Deputy Chairman of the Investment Committee; Herbert Saller, Senior Portfolio Manager and Member of the Investment Committee; Robin Forrest, Senior Portfolio Manager and Member of the Investment Committee; Cemil Urganci, Senior Portfolio Manager and Member of the Investment Committee and Fernando Assad, Senior Portfolio Manager and Member of the Investment Committee, are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Mr. Forrest has participated in the management of the Fund since 2012; Mr. Assad has participated in the management of the Fund since 2016; and Mr. Urganci has participated in the management of the Fund since May 2023. Each of the other members of the Investment Team has participated in the management of the Fund since its inception in 2010.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Tax Information

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

Ashmore Emerging Markets Corporate Income Fund

Investment Objective

The Fund seeks to maximize total return.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund


Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
	Class A Shares		Class C Shares		Institutional Class Shares
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)		4.00%		None		None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (CDSC) (Load)⁽¹⁾(as a percentage of the lower of original purchase price or NAV)		1.00%		1.00%		None
Redemption Fee		None		None		None


Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
	Class A Shares		Class C Shares		Institutional Class Shares
Management Fees		0.85%		0.85%		0.85%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees		0.25%		1.00%		None
Other Expenses		0.35%		0.35%		0.35%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		1.45%		2.20%		1.20%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement⁽²⁾		(0.33)%		(0.33)%		(0.33)%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement		1.12%		1.87%		0.87%

⁽¹⁾	For Class A Shares, the CDSC is imposed only where shares are purchased without a front-end sales charge and subsequently redeemed within eighteen months of purchase. For Class C Shares, the CDSC is imposed only on shares redeemed within one year of purchase.

⁽²⁾

Ashmore Investment Advisors Limited has contractually agreed to waive its fees or reimburse the Fund for other expenses to the extent that Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (other than Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, interest expense, taxes, extraordinary expenses, custodial credits, transfer agency credits and expense offset arrangements) for the Fund’s Class A Shares exceed 1.12%, for the Fund’s Class C Shares exceed 1.87% and for the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares exceed 0.87% of the Fund’s average daily net assets attributable to the share class (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”). The expense limitation arrangement may be terminated before February 28, 2025 only by the Board of Trustees. Under the Expense Limitation Agreement, the Investment Manager may recoup any amounts waived or reimbursed for 36 months following the end of the month when the waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided total expenses, including such recoupment, do not exceed the applicable annual expense limit, and further that expenses may be recouped only if and to the extent that expense ratio at the time of such recoupment is less than the annual expense limit in place at the time such expenses were waived or reimbursed.

Examples


	Example: Assuming you redeem your shares at the end of each period												Example: Assuming you do not redeem your shares
	1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years			1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years
Class A Shares		$	510		$	809		$	1,130		$	2,039		$	510		$	809		$	1,130		$	2,039
Class C Shares		$	290		$	656		$	1,150		$	2,318		$	190		$	656		$	1,150		$	2,318

													1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years
Institutional Class Shares (whether or not shares are redeemed)														$	89		$	348		$	628		$	1,425

Portfolio Turnover

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing principally in debt instruments of Corporate issuers (as defined below), which may be denominated in any currency, including the local currency of the issuer. A Corporate issuer is an issuer located in an Emerging Market Country or an issuer deriving at least 50% of its revenues or profits from goods produced or sold, investments made, or services performed in one or more Emerging Market Countries or that has at least 50% of its assets in one or more Emerging Market Countries. For these purposes, Corporate issuers do not include Sovereigns or governmental agency issuers, but may include corporate or other business entities in which a Sovereign or governmental agency or entity may have, indirectly or directly, an interest, including a majority or greater ownership interest (e.g., CITIC, Qatar Telecom). Emerging Market Country means any country included by the International Monetary Fund in its list of Emerging and Developing Economies, any country which is considered a low-income, lower-middle-income, or upper-middle-income economy by the World Bank, and all countries represented in any widely-recognized index of emerging market securities (e.g., the relevant indices in the family of J.P. Morgan Corporate Emerging Markets Bond Index, J.P. Morgan Emerging Local Markets Index, J.P. Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index, J.P. Morgan Government Bond Index—Emerging Markets and MSCI Emerging and Frontier Markets Index).

The Fund may invest in debt instruments of all types issued by Corporate issuers, whether subordinated or unsubordinated, secured or unsecured, quoted or unquoted, rated or unrated, or floating rate or fixed rate. These may include, without limitation, bonds, debentures, notes, convertible securities, commercial paper, loans and related assignments and participations, trade claims, bank certificates of deposit, fixed time deposits, bankers’ acceptances, and money market instruments, including money market funds denominated in U.S. dollars or other currencies. The Fund may invest in companies of any market capitalization, and its allocations among small-, mid- and large-capitalization issuers may vary significantly over time.

The Fund normally seeks to maintain a weighted average portfolio duration of between 2 and 10 years.

Although the Fund may gain most of its investment exposure to Corporate issuers directly, the Fund may utilize various derivative instruments and related strategies, including exclusively, to gain exposure to one or more Corporate issuers or other assets. The Fund may utilize derivatives of all types and may invest in, without limitation, call and put options (including options on futures contracts), futures and forward contracts (including contracts related to currencies), and swap agreements (including total return, interest rate and credit default swaps) and other related instruments with respect to individual bonds and other securities, indices and baskets of securities, interest rates and currencies, and credit-linked notes as part of its principal investment strategies. The Fund expects to primarily use derivatives for hedging or efficient portfolio management purposes, but may also use them to increase the Fund’s investment exposure beyond that which it could achieve by investing directly in more conventional securities. The Fund may also invest directly in foreign currencies for hedging or other investment purposes.

The Fund will not invest more than 25% of its net assets in any one Emerging Market Country. In addition, the Fund will not invest more than 20% of its net assets in investments denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar.

In managing the Fund, the Investment Manager’s fixed income and asset allocation investment committee (the “Investment Committee”), together with the relevant portfolio managers (together with the Investment Committee, the “Investment Team”), employs a largely top-down, active and value-driven investment approach in analyzing emerging markets and currencies. The Fund’s investment approach includes an emphasis on the influence of politics (both local and international). The Investment Team combines its top-down approach with an analytically-driven, bottom-up approach to making purchase and sale decisions with respect to individual corporate credits. The Investment Team seeks opportunities in selected emerging markets that it believes may benefit from significant positive changes, such as political and economic reforms, increases in capital inflows and investor confidence, and seeks to invest in issuers in Corporate sectors it expects will benefit from such developments and associated economic development and growth. The Investment Team’s investment process focuses on global and emerging markets fundamentals and considers factors such as liquidity and risk management at the macro level. The Investment Team utilizes the Investment Manager’s broad and current knowledge of important investment areas in various Emerging Market Countries gained, in part, through research, experience, long-standing relationships with reliable local firms and, where appropriate, visits by its investment personnel to countries in their respective regions of responsibility.

The Fund observes a policy to normally invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings made for investment purposes) in bonds and other debt instruments of Corporate issuers (as defined above). The Fund’s investments in derivatives and other synthetic instruments that have economic characteristics similar to these investments will be counted toward satisfaction of the Fund’s 80% investment policy.

Principal Risks

•

Liquidity Risk: Illiquid securities and other instruments may be highly volatile, difficult to value, and difficult to sell or close out at favorable prices or times;

•

Portfolio Turnover Risk: If the Fund frequently trades its securities, this will increase transaction costs, may result in taxable capital gains, and may reduce the Fund’s investment performance;

•

An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.

Performance Information

The bar chart and performance table that follow provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares’ performance from year to year and comparing the Fund’s average annual total returns with those of a broad-based market index. The bar chart and the information immediately below it show only the performance of the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares. Although Class A and Class C Shares would have similar annual returns (because all the Fund’s shares represent interests in the same portfolio of securities), Class A and Class C performance would be lower than Institutional Class performance because of the lower expenses paid by Institutional Class Shares of the Fund. The bar chart does not reflect any sales loads applicable to Class A or Class C Shares. The performance shown in the bar chart would be lower if it reflected sales charges applicable to Class A and Class C Shares. Performance for Class A and Class C Shares in the Average Annual Total Returns table reflects the impact of sales charges. You may obtain the Fund’s updated performance information by visiting the website at www.ashmoregroup.com or by calling 866-876-8294. As with all mutual funds, the Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) does not predict how the Fund will perform in the future.

Calendar Year Total Return—Institutional Class

Ashmore Emerging Markets Corporate Income Fund % Total Return

The best calendar quarter return during the period shown above was 16.37% in the second quarter of 2020; the worst was (18.76)% in the first quarter of 2020.

Average Annual Total Return

(For the period ended December 31, 2023)


	1-Year			5-Year			10-Year
Institutional Class
Return before taxes		6.37	%		-0.73	%		1.74	%
Return after taxes on distributions		3.95	%		‑3.34	%		‑1.22	%
Return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares		3.71	%		‑1.54	%		0.09	%
JP Morgan CEMBI BD Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		9.08	%		3.19	%		3.77	%
Class A
Return before taxes		1.72	%		-1.80	%		1.06	%⁽¹⁾
JP Morgan CEMBI BD Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		9.08	%		3.19	%		3.77	%
Class C
Return before taxes		4.20	%		-1.71	%		0.88	%⁽¹⁾
JP Morgan CEMBI BD Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		9.08	%		3.19	%		3.77	%

⁽¹⁾	Class C Shares performance reflects conversion to Class A Shares after eight years.

Management of the Fund

Investment Manager

Ashmore Investment Advisors Limited (“the Investment Manager”)

Investment Team

Mark Coombs, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Investment Committee; Ricardo Xavier, Deputy Chairman of the Investment Committee; Herbert Saller, Senior Portfolio Manager and Member of the Investment Committee; Robin Forrest, Senior Portfolio Manager and Member of the Investment Committee; Cemil Urganci, Senior Portfolio Manager and Member of the Investment Committee; and Fernando Assad, Senior Portfolio Manager and Member of the Investment Committee, are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Mr. Forrest has participated in the management of the Fund since 2012; Mr. Assad has participated in the management of the Fund since 2016: and Mr. Urganci has participated in the management of the Fund since May 2023. Each of the other members of the Investment Team has participated in the management of the Fund since its inception in 2010.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Tax Information

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

Ashmore Emerging Markets Short Duration Fund

Investment Objective

The Fund seeks to maximize total return.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund


Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
	Class A Shares		Class C Shares		Institutional Class Shares
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)		2.25%		None		None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (CDSC) (Load)⁽¹⁾(as a percentage of the lower of original purchase price or NAV)		1.00%		1.00%		None
Redemption Fee		None		None		None


Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
	Class A Shares		Class C Shares		Institutional Class Shares
Management Fees		0.65%		0.65%		0.65%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees		0.25%		1.00%		None
Other Expenses		0.40%		0.39%		0.40%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		1.30%		2.04%		1.05%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement⁽²⁾		(0.38)%		(0.37)%		(0.38)%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement		0.92%		1.67%		0.67%

⁽¹⁾	For Class A Shares, the CDSC is imposed only where shares are purchased without a front-end sales charge and subsequently redeemed within eighteen months of purchase. For Class C Shares, the CDSC is imposed only on shares redeemed within one year of purchase.

⁽²⁾

Ashmore Investment Advisors Limited has contractually agreed to waive its fees or reimburse the Fund for other expenses to the extent that Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (other than Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, interest expense, taxes, extraordinary expenses, custodial credits, transfer agency credits and expense offset arrangements) for the Fund’s Class A Shares exceed 0.92%, for the Fund’s Class C Shares exceed 1.67% and for the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares exceed 0.67% of the Fund’s average daily net assets attributable to the share class (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”). The expense limitation arrangement may be terminated before February 28, 2025 only by the Board of Trustees. Under the Expense Limitation Agreement, the Investment Manager may recoup any amounts waived or reimbursed for 36 months following the end of the month when the waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided total expenses, including such recoupment, do not exceed the applicable annual expense limit, and further that expenses may be recouped only if and to the extent that the expense ratio is less than the annual expense limit in place at the time such expenses were waived or reimbursed.

Examples


	Example: Assuming you redeem your shares at the end of each period												Example: Assuming you do not redeem your shares
	1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years			1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years
Class A Shares		$	317		$	591		$	886		$	1,725		$	317		$	591		$	886		$	1,725
Class C Shares		$	270		$	604		$	1,064		$	2,149		$	170		$	604		$	1,064		$	2,149

													1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years
Institutional Class Shares (whether or not shares are redeemed)														$	68		$	296		$	542		$	1,248

Portfolio Turnover

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing principally in short-term debt instruments of, and derivative instruments related to, Sovereign, Quasi-Sovereign and Corporate issuers of Emerging Market Countries (as defined below) denominated exclusively in Hard Currencies (i.e., the U.S. dollar or any currency of a nation in the G-7). The Fund normally seeks to maintain a weighted average portfolio duration of between 1 and 3 years. The Fund has no restrictions on individual security duration.

Duration is one measure of the expected life of a fixed income instrument that is used to determine the sensitivity of a security’s price to changes in interest rates. Securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to changes in interest rates, usually making them more volatile than securities with shorter durations. Accordingly, bond funds with longer average portfolio durations will generally be more sensitive to changes in interest rates than bond funds with shorter average portfolio durations. By way of example, the price of a bond fund with a duration of five years would be expected to fall approximately 5% if interest rates rose by one percentage point.

Sovereigns are governments of Emerging Market Countries. For these purposes, Sovereigns may include EM Supra-Nationals. Quasi-Sovereigns are governmental entities, agencies and other issuers that are more than 50% owned, directly or indirectly, by a Sovereign, or whose obligations are guaranteed by a Sovereign. For these purposes, governmental entities include a province, a city and local or regional governmental bodies. A Corporate issuer is any issuer other than a Sovereign or a Quasi-Sovereign that is located in an Emerging Market Country or, an issuer deriving at least 50% of its revenues or profits from goods produced or sold, investments made, or services performed in one or more Emerging Market Countries or that has at least 50% of its assets in one or more Emerging Market Countries. Emerging Market Country means any country included by the International Monetary Fund in its list of Emerging and Developing Economies, any country which is considered a low-income, lower-middle-income, or upper-middle-income economy by the World Bank, and all countries represented in any widely-recognized index of emerging market securities (e.g., the relevant indices in the family of J.P. Morgan Corporate Emerging Markets Bond Index, J.P. Morgan Emerging Local Markets Index, J.P. Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index, J.P. Morgan Government Bond Index—Emerging Markets and MSCI Emerging and Frontier Markets Index).

The Fund may invest in debt instruments of all types, whether subordinated or unsubordinated, secured or unsecured, quoted or unquoted, rated or unrated, or floating rate or fixed rate. These may include, without limitation, bonds, debentures, notes, convertible securities, commercial paper, loans and related assignments and participations, bank certificates of deposit, fixed

time deposits, bankers’ acceptances, and money market instruments, including money market funds denominated in U.S. dollars or other currencies. The Fund may invest in companies of any market capitalization, and its allocations among small-, mid- and large-capitalization issuers may vary significantly over time.

The Fund may utilize various derivative instruments and related strategies, including to gain exposure to one or more of the issuers referred to above or other assets. The Fund may utilize derivatives of all types and may invest in, without limitation, call and put options (including options on futures contracts), futures and forward contracts and swap agreements (including total return, interest rate, and credit default swaps), credit-linked notes, structured notes and other related instruments with respect to individual currencies, bonds, and securities of any kind, indices and baskets of securities, interest rates and currencies as part of its principal investment strategies. The Fund may use derivatives for hedging or efficient portfolio management purposes, but may also use them to increase the Fund’s investment exposure beyond that which it could achieve by investing directly in more conventional securities. The Fund may invest in currency-related transactions, such as currency forward transactions (including deliverable and non-deliverable forwards), currency futures transactions and currency options transactions, and may also invest directly in foreign currencies, in each case for hedging or other investment purposes.

The Fund will not invest more than 35% of its net assets in any one Emerging Market Country.

In managing the Fund, the Investment Manager’s fixed income and asset allocation investment committee (the “Investment Committee”), together with the relevant portfolio managers (together with the Investment Committee, the “Investment Team”), employs a largely top-down, active and value-driven investment approach in analyzing emerging markets and currencies. The Fund’s investment approach includes an emphasis on the influence of politics (both local and international). The Investment Team combines this top-down approach with an analytically-driven, bottom-up approach to making purchase and sale decisions with respect to individual corporate credits. The Investment Team seeks to invest in a portfolio of short duration fixed-income securities in an effort to limit the Fund’s exposure to interest rate risk. The Investment Team seeks opportunities in selected emerging markets that it believes may benefit from significant positive changes, such as political and economic reforms, increases in capital inflows and investor confidence, and seeks to invest in issuers in government and Corporate sectors it expects will benefit from such developments and associated economic development and growth. The Investment Team’s investment process focuses on global and emerging markets fundamentals and considers factors such as liquidity and risk management at the macro level. This approach utilizes the Investment Manager’s broad and current knowledge of important investment areas in various Emerging Market Countries gained, in part, through research, experience, long-standing relationships with reliable local firms and, where appropriate, visits by its investment personnel to countries in their respective regions of responsibility.

The Fund observes a policy to normally invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings made for investment purposes) in bonds and other debt instruments issued by Sovereign, Quasi-Sovereign or Corporate issuers of Emerging Market

Countries. The Fund’s investments in derivatives and other synthetic instruments that have economic characteristics similar to the investments described above will be counted toward satisfaction of the Fund’s 80% investment policy.

Principal Risks

•

Liquidity Risk: Illiquid securities and other instruments may be highly volatile, difficult to value, and difficult to sell or close out at favorable prices or times;

•

Portfolio Turnover Risk: If the Fund frequently trades its securities, this will increase transaction costs, may result in taxable capital gains, and may reduce the Fund’s investment performance;

•

An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.

Performance Information

The bar chart and performance table that follow provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares’ performance from year to year and comparing the Fund’s average annual total returns with those of a broad-based market index. The bar chart and the information immediately below it show only the performance of the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares. Although Class A and Class C Shares would have similar annual returns (because all the Fund’s shares represent interests in the same portfolio of securities), Class A and Class C performance would be lower than Institutional Class performance because of the lower expenses paid by Institutional Class Shares of the Fund. The bar chart does not reflect any sales loads applicable to Class A or Class C Shares. The performance shown in the bar chart would be lower if it reflected sales charges applicable to Class A and Class C Shares. Performance for Class A and Class C Shares in the Average Annual Total Returns table reflects the impact of sales charges. You may obtain the Fund’s updated performance information by visiting the website at www.ashmoregroup.com or by calling 866-876-8294. As with all mutual funds, the Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) does not predict how the Fund will perform in the future.

Calendar Year Total Return—Institutional Class

Ashmore Emerging Markets Short Duration Fund % Total Return

The best calendar quarter return during the period shown above was 19.19% in the second quarter of 2020; the worst was (30.86)% in the first quarter of 2020.

Average Annual Total Return

(For the period ended December 31, 2023)


	1-Year			5-Year			Since Inception Date of 06/24/14
Institutional Class
Return before taxes		13.39	%		-6.69	%		-0.11	%
Return after taxes on distributions		9.61	%		‑9.57	%		‑3.40	%
Return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares		7.79	%		‑5.86	%		‑1.19	%
JP Morgan CEMBI BD 1-3 Year (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		8.00	%		2.71	%		2.83	%

	1-Year			5-Year			Since Inception Date of 09/23/14
Class A
Return before taxes		10.58	%		-7.66	%		-0.73	%
JP Morgan CEMBI BD 1-3 Year (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		8.00	%		2.71	%		2.92	%

	1-Year			5-Year			Since Inception Date of 06/13/17
Class C
Return before taxes		10.97	%		-7.67	%		-5.33	%
JP Morgan CEMBI BD 1-3 Year (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		8.00	%		2.71	%		2.59	%

Management of the Fund

Investment Manager

Ashmore Investment Advisors Limited (“the Investment Manager”)

Investment Team

Mark Coombs, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Investment Committee; Ricardo Xavier, Deputy Chairman of the Investment Committee; Herbert Saller, Senior Portfolio Manager and Member of the Investment Committee; Robin Forrest, Senior Portfolio Manager and Member of the Investment Committee; Cemil Urganci, Senior Portfolio Manager and Member of the Investment Committee; and Fernando Assad, Senior Portfolio Manager and Member of the Investment Committee, are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Mr. Forrest has participated in the management of the Fund since 2014; Mr. Assad has participated in the management of the Fund since 2016; and Mr. Urganci has participated in the management of the Fund since May 2023. Each of the other members of the Investment Team has participated in the management of the Fund since its inception in 2014.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Tax Information

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

Ashmore Emerging Markets Active Equity Fund

Investment Objective

The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund


Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
	Class A Shares		Class C Shares		Institutional Class Shares
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)		5.25%		None		None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (CDSC) (Load)⁽¹⁾(as a percentage of the lower of original purchase price or NAV)		1.00%		1.00%		None
Redemption Fee		None		None		None


Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
	Class A Shares		Class C Shares		Institutional Class Shares
Management Fees		1.00%		1.00%		1.00%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees		0.25%		1.00%		None
Other Expenses		0.44%		0.79%		0.61%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		1.69%		2.79%		1.61%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement⁽²⁾		(0.42)%		(0.77)%		(0.59)%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement		1.27%		2.02%		1.02%

⁽¹⁾	For Class A Shares, the CDSC is imposed only where shares are purchased without a front-end sales charge and subsequently redeemed within eighteen months of purchase. For Class C Shares, the CDSC is imposed only on shares redeemed within one year of purchase.

⁽²⁾

Ashmore Investment Advisors Limited has contractually agreed to waive its fees or reimburse the Fund for other expenses to the extent that Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (other than Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, interest expense, taxes, extraordinary expenses, custodial credits, transfer agency credits and expense offset arrangements) for the Fund’s Class A Shares exceed 1.27%, for the Fund’s Class C Shares exceed 2.02% and for the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares exceed 1.02% of the Fund’s average daily net assets attributable to the share class (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”). The expense limitation arrangement may be terminated before February 28, 2025 only by the Board of Trustees. Under the Expense Limitation Agreement, the Investment Manager may recoup any amounts waived or reimbursed for 36 months following the end of the month when the waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided total expenses, including such recoupment, do not exceed the applicable annual expense limit, and further that a prior fiscal year’s expenses may be recouped only if and to the extent that the expense ratio at the time of such recoupment is less than the annual expense limit in place at the time such expenses were waived or reimbursed.

Examples

your investment has a 5% return each year and the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Class C Shares automatically convert to Class A Shares after eight years. The expense example for Class C Shares for the ten-year period reflects the conversion to Class A Shares. The Examples are based, for the first year, on Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement and, for all other periods, on Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, the Examples show what your costs would be based on these assumptions.


	Example: Assuming you redeem your shares at the end of each period												Example: Assuming you do not redeem your shares
	1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years			1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years
Class A Shares		$	648		$	991		$	1,357		$	2,385		$	648		$	991		$	1,357		$	2,385
Class C Shares		$	305		$	792		$	1,406		$	2,797		$	205		$	792		$	1,406		$	2,797

													1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years
Institutional Class Shares (whether or not shares are redeemed)														$	104		$	450		$	820		$	1,861

Portfolio Turnover

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing principally in equity securities and equity-related investments of Emerging Market Issuers (as defined below), which may be denominated in any currency, including the local currency of the issuer. An Emerging Market Issuer is an issuer that is either domiciled in an Emerging Market Country, or an issuer deriving at least 50% of its revenues in or from one or more Emerging Market Countries. Emerging Market Country means any country included by the International Monetary Fund in its list of Emerging and Developing Economies, any country which is considered a low-income, lower-middle-income, or upper-middle-income economy by the World Bank, and all countries represented in any widely-recognized index of emerging market securities (e.g., the relevant indices in the family of J.P. Morgan Corporate Emerging Markets Bond Index, J.P. Morgan Emerging Local Markets Index, J.P. Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index, J.P. Morgan Government Bond Index—Emerging Markets and MSCI Emerging and Frontier Markets Index).

The Fund may invest in equity securities and equity-related investments of all types and denominated in any currency, including voting and non-voting common stock, common stock issued to special shareholder classes, preferred stock, depositary receipts, including global and American depositary receipts, warrants, securities convertible into equity securities, other equity-related investments whose returns vary on the basis of the issuer’s profitability (e.g., participation notes), as well as securities of other investment companies, including exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) and other pooled vehicles. The Fund may invest in companies of any market capitalization, and its allocations among small-, mid- and large-capitalization issuers may vary significantly over time. The Fund may invest through investment funds, pooled accounts or other investment vehicles designed to permit investments in a portfolio of equity securities listed in a particular Emerging Market Country or region, particularly in the case of countries in which such an investment vehicle is the exclusive or main vehicle for foreign portfolio investment. The Fund’s investments may include securities of companies that are in the process of being privatized by a government and securities of companies that are traded in unregulated over-the-counter markets or other types of unlisted securities markets. The Fund may invest in initial public offerings.

The Fund may utilize various derivative instruments and related strategies to gain exposure to one or more issuers or other assets. The Fund may utilize derivatives of all types and may invest in, without limitation, call and put options (including options on futures contracts); futures and forward contracts, including contracts related to currencies; and swap agreements (including total return and interest rate swaps); other related instruments with respect to individual stocks and other securities, indices and baskets of securities, interest rates and currencies; participation notes; structured notes; exchange traded notes; and credit-linked notes as part of its principal investment strategies. The Fund may enter into foreign currency forward contracts as well as foreign currency futures and options contracts with respect to any currency in which it has existing investments or has contracted to make investments in an attempt to hedge currency exchange risk. The Fund expects

to primarily use derivatives for hedging or efficient portfolio management purposes, but may also use them to increase the Fund’s investment exposure beyond that which it could achieve by investing directly in more conventional securities. The Fund may also invest directly in foreign currencies for hedging or other investment purposes.

In managing the Fund’s portfolio, the Investment Manager seeks to identify equity investments within Emerging Markets. The Fund is managed actively, utilizing a top-down approach, taking into account macro- and micro-economic insights, supplemented by bottom-up research.

Macro-economic insights are based on the Investment Manager’s economic research on Emerging Market Countries. Micro-economic insights are derived from an analysis of aggregate earnings, and country- and industry-specific factors, which include demand/supply, level of competition, regulatory environment and interest rates.

Macro- and micro-economic insights are together used to identify areas within the investable universe that the Investment Manager believes exhibit attractive fundamentals. Within these attractive areas, bottom-up research is conducted to select particular instruments based on anticipated return potential. Bottom-up research includes analysis of businesses, earnings expectations, underlying business assumptions and risks, and takes into account market factors including market positioning and capital flows.

The Fund’s portfolio is constructed from equity securities with what the Investment Manager believes to have attractive risk-adjusted upside potential. The Fund’s active weighting of investments across countries, industries and sectors reflects the Investment Manager’s top-down preferences, which may vary significantly over time. The overall liquidity, volatility and beta of the portfolio are also informed by the Investment Manager’s macro-economic insights. The number of individual securities held in the Fund’s portfolio may vary over time based on the outlook of the portfolio managers, market conditions and other factors, and the Fund is not managed to have a particular number or range of portfolio holdings.

The Fund observes a policy to normally invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings made for investment purposes) in equity securities of Emerging Market Issuers. The Fund’s investments in derivatives and other synthetic instruments that have economic characteristics similar to these instruments will be counted toward the Fund’s 80% investment policy. For example, futures contracts may be used to obtain investment exposure equal to a portion of the Fund’s cash positions.

The Investment Manager may engage in active and frequent trading of the Fund’s portfolio securities to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. The Fund may pay transaction costs, such as the brokerage 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 for you if your Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Examples, may adversely affect the Fund’s investment performance.

Principal Risks

It is possible to lose money on an investment in the Fund. The Fund will be affected by the investment decisions, techniques and risk analyses of the Fund’s Investment Manager and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. The principal risks of investing in the Fund, which could adversely affect its net asset value, yield and total return are (in alphabetical order after the first five risks):

•

Equity Securities Risk: Equity securities may react more strongly to changes in an issuer’s financial condition or prospects than other securities of the same issuer;

•

Focused Investment Risk: Focusing a fund’s investments in a limited number of issuers, sectors or industries increases risk and the volatility of the value of a fund’s shares. The Fund may be particularly susceptible to economic, political, regulatory or other events affecting the issuers, sectors or industries to the extent it focuses its investments;

•

Convertible Securities Risk: Securities that are convertible into preferred or common stocks are subject to the risks of both debt and equity securities and the risk of changing in value at a different rate than the underlying stocks. Convertible securities are subject to greater levels of credit and liquidity risk, may be speculative and may decline in value due to changes in interest rates or an issuer’s or counterparty’s deterioration or default;

•

Frontier Markets Risk: Frontier market countries are emerging market countries, but generally have smaller economies or less mature capital markets than more developed emerging markets, and, as a result, the risks of investing in emerging market countries are magnified in frontier countries. The markets of frontier countries typically have low trading volumes and the potential for extreme price volatility and illiquidity. This volatility may be further heightened by the actions of a few major investors. For example, a substantial increase or decrease in cash flows of mutual funds investing in these markets could significantly affect local stock prices and, therefore, the net asset value of Fund shares. These factors make investing in frontier countries significantly riskier than in other countries, including other emerging market countries, and any one of them could cause the net asset value of the Fund’s shares to decline;

•

IPO Risk: Securities offered in initial public offerings (IPOs) are subject to many of the same risks of investing in small companies and often to a heightened degree, their values may be highly volatile, they have no trading history and information about the issuer may have been available for only limited periods;

•

Liquidity Risk: Illiquid securities and other instruments may be highly volatile, difficult to value, and difficult to sell or close out at favorable prices or times;

•

Portfolio Turnover Risk: If the Fund frequently trades its securities, this will increase transaction costs, may result in taxable capital gains, and may reduce the Fund’s investment performance;

•

An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.

Performance Information

The bar chart and performance table that follow provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares’ performance from year to year and comparing the Fund’s average annual total returns with those of a broad-based market index. The bar chart and the information immediately below it show only the performance of the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares. Although Class A and Class C Shares would have similar annual returns (because all the Fund’s shares represent interests in the same portfolio of securities), Class A and Class C performance would be lower than Institutional Class performance because of the lower expenses paid by Institutional Class Shares of the Fund. The bar chart does not reflect any sales loads applicable to Class A or Class C Shares. The performance shown in the bar chart would be lower if it reflected sales charges applicable to Class A and Class C Shares. Performance for Class A and Class C Shares in the Average Annual Total Returns table reflects the impact of sales charges. You may obtain the Fund’s updated performance information by visiting the website at www.ashmoregroup.com or by calling 866-876-8294. As with all mutual funds, the Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) does not predict how the Fund will perform in the future.

Calendar Year Total Return—Institutional Class

Ashmore Emerging Markets Active Equity Fund % Total Return

The best calendar quarter return during the period shown above was 21.67% in the fourth quarter of 2020; the worst was (25.33)% in the first quarter of 2020.

Average Annual Total Return

(For the period ended December 31, 2023)


	1-Year		5-Year		Since Inception Date of 11/01/16
Institutional Class
Return before taxes		6.02%		2.01%		3.32%
Return after taxes on distributions		5.70%		-0.11%		0.82%
Return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares		3.98%		1.21%		1.98%
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		9.83%		3.68%		4.25%
Class A
Return before taxes		0.09%		0.62%		2.29%
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		9.83%		3.68%		4.25%
Class C
Return before taxes		3.92%		0.99%		2.31%
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		9.83%		3.68%		4.25%

Management of the Fund

Investment Manager

Ashmore Investment Advisors Limited (“the Investment Manager”)

Portfolio Managers

Fernando Assad, portfolio manager, is primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Mr. Assad has participated in the day-to-day management of the Fund since 2016.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Tax Information

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

Ashmore Emerging Markets Small-Cap Equity Fund

Investment Objective

The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund


Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
	Class A Shares		Class C Shares		Institutional Class Shares
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)		5.25%		None		None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (CDSC) (Load)⁽¹⁾(as a percentage of the lower of original purchase price or NAV)		1.00%		1.00%		None
Redemption Fee		None		None		None


Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
	Class A Shares		Class C Shares		Institutional Class Shares
Management Fees		1.25%		1.25%		1.25%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees		0.25%		1.00%		None
Other Expenses		1.72%		1.64%		1.71%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		3.22%		3.89%		2.96%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement⁽²⁾		(1.70)%		(1.62)%		(1.69)%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement		1.52%		2.27%		1.27%

⁽¹⁾	For Class A Shares, the CDSC is imposed only where shares are purchased without a front-end sales charge and subsequently redeemed within eighteen months of purchase. For Class C Shares, the CDSC is imposed only on shares redeemed within one year of purchase.

⁽²⁾

Ashmore Investment Advisors Limited has contractually agreed to waive its fees or reimburse the Fund for other expenses to the extent that Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (other than Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, interest expense, taxes, extraordinary expenses, custodial credits, transfer agency credits and expense offset arrangements) for the Fund’s Class A Shares exceed 1.52%, for the Fund’s Class C Shares exceed 2.27% and for the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares exceed 1.27% of the Fund’s average daily net assets attributable to the share class (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”). The expense limitation arrangement may be terminated before February 28, 2025 only by the Board of Trustees. Under the Expense Limitation Agreement, the Investment Manager may recoup any amounts waived or reimbursed for 36 months following the end of the month when the waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided total expenses, including such recoupment, do not exceed the applicable annual expense limit, and further that expenses may be recouped only if and to the extent that the expense ratio at the time of such recoupment is less than the annual expense limit in place at the time such expenses were waived or reimbursed.

Examples


	Example: Assuming you redeem your shares at the end of each period												Example: Assuming you do not redeem your shares
	1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years			1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years
Class A Shares		$	672		$	1,314		$	1,980		$	3,751		$	672		$	1,314		$	1,980		$	3,751
Class C Shares		$	330		$	1,038		$	1,864		$	3,866		$	230		$	1,038		$	1,864		$	3,866

													1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years
Institutional Class Shares (whether or not shares are redeemed)														$	129		$	756		$	1,409		$	3,160

Portfolio Turnover

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities and equity-related investments of Small-Capitalization Emerging Market Issuers (as defined below), which may be denominated in any currency, including the local currency of the issuer. The Fund currently defines a Small-Capitalization issuer as any issuer included in the MSCI Emerging Market Small Cap Index at the time of purchase, as well as any issuer with a market capitalization that is in the lowest 15% of the market capitalization range of issuers included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Investible Market Index (IMI) at the time of purchase (between $98.60 million and $3.53 billion as of January 1, 2024). An Emerging Market Issuer is an issuer that is located in an Emerging Market Country, or an issuer deriving at least 50% of its revenues or profits from goods produced or sold, investments made, or services performed in one or more Emerging Market Countries or that has at least 50% of its assets in one or more Emerging Market Countries. Emerging Market Country means any country included by the International Monetary Fund in its list of Emerging and Developing Economies, any country which is considered a low-income, lower-middle-income, or upper-middle-income economy by the World Bank, and all countries represented in any widely-recognized index of emerging market securities (e.g., the relevant indices in the family of J.P. Morgan Corporate Emerging Markets Bond Index, J.P. Morgan Emerging Local Markets Index, J.P. Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index, J.P. Morgan Government Bond Index—Emerging Markets and MSCI Emerging and Frontier Markets Index).

The Fund may invest in equity securities and equity-related investments of all types and denominated in any currency, including voting and non-voting common stock, common stock issued to special shareholder classes, preferred stock, depositary receipts, including global and American depositary receipts, warrants, securities convertible into equity securities, other equity-related investments whose returns vary on the basis of the issuer’s profitability (e.g., participation notes), as well as securities of other investment companies, including exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) and other pooled vehicles. The Fund may invest through investment funds, pooled accounts or other investment vehicles designed to permit investments in a portfolio of equity securities listed in a particular Emerging Market Country or region, particularly in the case of countries in which such an investment vehicle is the exclusive or main vehicle for foreign portfolio investment. The Fund’s investments may include securities of companies that are in the process of being privatized by a government, securities of companies that are traded in unregulated over-the-counter markets or other types of unlisted securities markets, and unregistered securities issued in private placements. The Fund may also invest in initial public offerings. Although the Fund focuses on Small-Capitalization securities, it reserves the flexibility to invest a portion of its assets in securities of medium-or large-capitalization issuers. The Fund may utilize various derivative instruments and related strategies to gain exposure to one or more issuers or other assets. The Fund may utilize derivatives of all types and may invest in, without limitation, call and put options (including options on futures contracts); futures and forward contracts, including contracts related to currencies; and

swap agreements (including total return and interest rate swaps); other related instruments with respect to individual stocks and other securities, indices and baskets of securities, interest rates and currencies; participation notes; structured notes; exchange traded notes; and credit-linked notes as part of its principal investment strategies. The Fund may enter into foreign currency forward contracts as well as foreign currency futures and options contracts with respect to any currency in which it has existing investments or has contracted to make investments in an attempt to hedge currency exchange risk. The Fund expects to primarily use derivatives for hedging or efficient portfolio management purposes, but may also use them to increase the Fund’s investment exposure beyond that which it could achieve by investing directly in more conventional securities. The Fund may also invest directly in foreign currencies for hedging or other investment purposes.

In managing the Fund’s portfolio, the Investment Manager uses principally a bottom-up approach to identify particular securities for investment within Emerging Market Countries. The Investment Manager’s investment approach is driven by fundamental value and involves a rigorous, systemic and value-oriented security selection process. The portfolio manager analyzes the universe of available Small-Capitalization Emerging Market equity investments in an attempt to identify issuers that are undervalued relative to their long-term growth prospects. Potential candidates are systematically screened for fundamental value based on a number of factors, such as price to earnings ratio, price to future growth ratio, price to book value ratio, price to cash flow ratio, free cash flow, return on equity, debt to equity ratio, earnings growth and earnings momentum. Attractive candidates undergo a more rigorous review to assess the issuer’s long-term prospects, including with respect to management strength, market outlook, competitiveness, regulatory changes, restructuring and expansion plans, profitability, financial viability, interest coverage and hidden assets. As part of this process, the Investment Manager conducts visits to various companies in the small-capitalization segment of Emerging Market Countries and utilizes a proprietary database and earnings forecasts to compare applicable industries and issuers. The screening process is designed, in part, to avoid investments deemed by the portfolio manager to have unacceptable risk factors. The portfolio manager also reviews and takes into account overall Fund exposures to particular Emerging Market Countries and sectors in an effort to construct a portfolio that provides adequate diversification and risk controls. Taking into account the results of this screening process, the portfolio manager selects particular investments designed to produce a diversified equity portfolio of Small-Capitalization Emerging Market Issuers.

The Investment Manager may in its sole discretion consider selling a particular security held in the Fund’s portfolio when the factors that led to its investment change adversely or when a more attractive candidate is identified.

In response to adverse market, economic, political or other conditions, the Fund may deviate from its principal strategies by making temporary investments of some or all of its assets in various instruments, including short-term, high-quality fixed income securities denominated in any currency, including obligations of Emerging Market Issuers and countries, cash, cash equivalents, money market funds, and other similar funds. The Fund may not achieve its investment objective when it does so. The Fund may also invest a portion of its assets in such investments and instruments on a short term or temporary basis to manage its cash positions or otherwise manage the Fund efficiently.

The Fund observes a policy to normally invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings made for investment purposes) in equity securities and other equity-related investments of Small-Capitalization Emerging Market Issuers. The Fund’s investments in derivatives and other synthetic instruments that have economic characteristics similar to these investments will be counted toward satisfaction of the Fund’s 80% investment policy.

The Investment Manager may engage in active and frequent trading of the Fund’s portfolio securities to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. The Fund may pay transaction costs, such as the brokerage 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 for you if your Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Examples, may adversely affect the Fund’s investment performance.

Principal Risks

It is possible to lose money on an investment in the Fund. The Fund will be affected by the investment decisions, techniques and risk analyses of the Fund’s Investment Manager and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. The principal risks of investing in the Fund, which could adversely affect its net asset value, yield and total return are (in alphabetical order after the first six risks):

•

Equity Securities Risk: Equity securities may react more strongly to changes in an issuer’s financial condition or prospects than other securities of the same issuer;

•

Liquidity Risk: Illiquid securities and other instruments may be highly volatile, difficult to value, and difficult to sell or close out at favorable prices or times;

•

An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.

Performance Information

The bar chart and performance table that follow provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares’ performance from year to year and comparing the Fund’s average annual total returns with those of a broad-based market index. The bar chart and the information immediately below it show only the performance of the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares. Although Class A and Class C Shares would have similar annual returns (because all the Fund’s shares represent interests in the same portfolio of securities), Class A and Class C performance would be lower than Institutional Class performance because of the lower expenses paid by Institutional Class Shares of the Fund. The bar chart does not reflect any sales loads applicable to Class A or Class C Shares. The performance shown in the bar chart would be lower if it reflected sales charges applicable to Class A and Class C Shares. Performance for Class A and Class C Shares in the Average Annual Total Returns table reflects the impact of sales charges. You may obtain the Fund’s updated performance information by visiting the website at www.ashmoregroup.com or by calling 866-876-8294. As with all mutual funds, the Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) does not predict how the Fund will perform in the future.

Calendar Year Total Return—Institutional Class

Ashmore Emerging Markets Small-Cap Equity Fund % Total Return

The best calendar quarter return during the period shown above was 41.15% in the second quarter of 2020; the worst was (28.80)% in the first quarter of 2020.

Average Annual Total Return

(For the period ended December 31, 2023)


	1-Year		5-Year		10-Year
Institutional Class
Return before taxes		20.07%		10.96%		4.74%
Return after taxes on distributions		20.00%		10.94%		4.48%
Return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares		12.08%		8.75%		3.69%
MSCI Emerging Markets Small Cap Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		23.92%		9.91%		5.34%
Class A
Return before taxes		13.57%		9.51%		3.91%	⁽¹⁾
MSCI Emerging Markets Small Cap Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		23.92%		9.91%		5.34%
Class C
Return before taxes		17.80%		9.95%		3.86%	⁽¹⁾
MSCI Emerging Markets Small Cap Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)		23.92%		9.91%		5.34%

⁽¹⁾	Class C Shares performance reflects conversion to Class A Shares after eight years.

Management of the Fund

Investment Manager

Ashmore Investment Advisors Limited (“the Investment Manager”)

Portfolio Managers

Dhiren Shah and Patrick Cadell, co-portfolio managers, are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Mr. Shah and Mr. Cadell have participated in the management of the Fund since 2017.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Tax Information

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

Ashmore Emerging Markets Frontier Equity Fund

Investment Objective

The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund


Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
	Class A Shares		Class C Shares		Institutional Class Shares
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)		5.25%		None		None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (CDSC) (Load)⁽¹⁾(as a percentage of the lower of original purchase price or NAV)		1.00%		1.00%		None
Redemption Fee		None		None		None


Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
	Class A Shares		Class C Shares		Institutional Class Shares
Management Fees		1.50%		1.50%		1.50%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees		0.25%		1.00%		None
Other Expenses		0.52%		0.54%		0.53%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		2.27%		3.04%		2.03%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement⁽²⁾		(0.50)%		(0.52)%		(0.51)%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement		1.77%		2.52%		1.52%

⁽¹⁾	For Class A Shares, the CDSC is imposed only where shares are purchased without a front-end sales charge and subsequently redeemed within eighteen months of purchase. For Class C Shares, the CDSC is imposed only on shares redeemed within one year of purchase.

⁽²⁾

Ashmore Investment Advisors Limited has contractually agreed to waive its fees or reimburse the Fund for other expenses to the extent that Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (other than Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, interest expense, taxes, extraordinary expenses, custodial credits, transfer agency credits and expense offset arrangements) for the Fund’s Class A Shares exceed 1.77%, for the Fund’s Class C Shares exceed 2.52% and for the Fund’s Institutional Class Shares exceed 1.52% of the Fund’s average daily net assets attributable to the share class (the “Expense Limitation Agreement”). The expense limitation arrangement may be terminated before February 28, 2025 only by the Board of Trustees. Under the Expense Limitation Agreement, the Investment Manager may recoup any amounts waived or reimbursed for 36 months following the end of the month when the waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided total expenses, including such recoupment, do not exceed the applicable annual expense limit, and further that expenses may be recouped only if and to the extent that the expense ratio at the time of such recoupment is less than the annual expense limit in place at the time when such expenses were waived or reimbursed.

Examples


	Example: Assuming you redeem your shares at the end of each period												Example: Assuming you do not redeem your shares
	1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years			1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years
Class A Shares		$	695		$	1,152		$	1,633		$	2,957		$	695		$	1,152		$	1,633		$	2,957
Class C Shares		$	355		$	890		$	1,551		$	3,139		$	255		$	890		$	1,551		$	3,139

													1 year			3 years			5 years			10 years
Institutional Class Shares (whether or not shares are redeemed)														$	155		$	587		$	1,046		$	2,318

Portfolio Turnover

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing principally in equity securities and equity-related investments of Frontier Market Issuers, which may be denominated in any currency, including the local currency of the issuer. A Frontier Market Issuer is an issuer that is located in a Frontier Market Country, or an issuer deriving at least 50% of its revenues or profits from goods produced or sold, investments made, or services performed in one or more Frontier Market Countries or that has at least 50% of its assets in one or more Frontier Market Countries.

Frontier Market countries are countries that either currently or in the future are represented in widely-recognized indices of frontier market securities or the Investment Manager considers the market to have frontier market characteristics in respect to economic, political, or market structure.

The Fund may invest in equity securities and equity-related investments of all types and denominated in any currency, including voting and non-voting common stock, common stock issued to special shareholder classes, preferred stock, depositary receipts, including global and American depositary receipts, warrants, securities convertible into equity securities, other equity-related investments whose returns vary on the basis of the issuer’s profitability (e.g., participation notes), as well as securities of other investment companies, including exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) and other pooled vehicles. The Fund may invest through investment funds, pooled accounts or other investment vehicles designed to permit investments in a portfolio of equity securities listed in one or more Frontier Market Countries or regions, particularly in the case of countries that may have restrictions on foreign investment or countries where such investments may represent an efficient method of achieving investment exposure. The Fund’s investments may include securities of companies that are in the process of being privatized by a government, securities of companies that are traded in unregulated over-the-counter markets or other types of unlisted securities markets, and unregistered securities issued in private placements. The Fund may invest in companies of any market capitalization and may also invest in initial public offerings. The Fund’s benchmark index, the MSCI Frontier + Select Emerging Markets Countries Capped Index, is currently concentrated in the commercial banking industry. Although the Fund is not an index fund and does not seek to replicate the performance of its benchmark index, it may concentrate its investments in the commercial banking industry. As of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund’s investments are concentrated in the commercial banking industry.

traded notes; and credit-linked notes as part of its principal investment strategies. The Fund may enter into foreign currency forward contracts as well as foreign currency futures and options contracts with respect to any currency in which it has existing investments or has contracted to make investments in an attempt to hedge currency exchange risk. The Fund expects to primarily use derivatives for hedging or efficient portfolio management purposes, but may also use them to increase the Fund’s investment exposure beyond that which it could achieve by investing directly in more conventional securities. The Fund may also invest directly in foreign currencies for hedging or other investment purposes.

The Fund is managed by a committee of portfolio managers, who are officers of the Investment Manager (for purposes of this section, the “Portfolio Managers”). In managing the Fund’s portfolio, the Portfolio Managers use principally a bottom-up approach to identify particular securities for investment within Frontier Market Countries. The Portfolio Managers’ investment approach is driven by fundamental value and involves a rigorous, systemic and value-oriented security selection process. The Portfolio Managers analyze the universe of available Frontier Market equity investments in an attempt to identify issuers that are undervalued relative to their long-term growth prospects. Potential candidates are systematically screened for fundamental value based on a number of factors, such as price to earnings ratio, price to future growth ratio, price to book value ratio, price to cash flow ratio, free cash flow, return on equity, debt to equity ratio, earnings growth and earnings momentum. Attractive candidates undergo a more rigorous review to assess the issuer’s long-term prospects, including with respect to management strength, market outlook, competitiveness, regulatory changes, restructuring and expansion plans, profitability, financial viability, interest coverage and hidden assets. As part of this process, the Portfolio Managers conduct visits to various companies in the Frontier Market Countries and utilize a proprietary database and earnings forecasts to compare applicable industries and issuers. The screening process is designed, in part, to avoid investments deemed by the Portfolio Managers to have unacceptable risk factors. The Portfolio Managers also review and take into account overall Fund exposures to particular Frontier Market Countries and sectors in an effort to construct a portfolio that provides a measure of diversification among Frontier Market Countries and sectors. Taking into account the results of this screening process, the Portfolio Managers select particular investments designed to produce a diversified equity portfolio of Frontier Market Issuers.

The Fund observes a policy to normally invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings made for investment purposes) in equity securities and other equity-related investments of Frontier Market Issuers. The Fund’s investments in derivatives and other synthetic instruments that have economic characteristics similar to these investments will be counted toward satisfaction of the Fund’s 80% investment policy. For example, futures contracts may be used to obtain investment exposure equal to a portion or all of the Fund’s cash positions.

The Portfolio Managers may in their sole discretion consider selling a particular security held in the Fund’s portfolio when the factors that led to its investment change adversely or when a more attractive candidate is identified.

Principal Risks

It is possible to lose money on an investment in the Fund. The Fund will be affected by the investment decisions, techniques and risk analyses of the Fund’s Investment Manager and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. The principal risks of investing in the Fund, which could adversely affect its net asset value, yield and total return are (in alphabetical order after the first seven risks):

•

Equity Securities Risk: Equity securities may react more strongly to changes in an issuer’s financial condition or prospects than other securities of the same issuer;

•

Financial Services Risk: Investments in issuers in the financial services sector are subject to various risks affecting financial services companies and the financial services sector generally. The values of investments in the financial services sector are particularly sensitive to changes in economic conditions, such as recessions and fluctuations in interest rates. Financial services companies may be exposed to leverage, which could magnify investment losses under adverse market conditions. Investments in the financial services sector are also subject to the risk that unexpected market, economic, political, regulatory or other events might lead to a decline in the value of most or all companies in the financial services sector. In addition, the financial services sector of emerging markets can be considered riskier than the U.S. financial services sector;

•

be further heightened by the actions of a few major investors. For example, a substantial increase or decrease in cash flows of mutual funds investing in these markets could significantly affect local stock prices and, therefore, the net asset value of Fund shares. These factors make investing in frontier countries significantly riskier than in other countries, including other emerging market countries, and any one of them could cause the net asset value of the Fund’s shares to decline;

•