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DoubleLine ETF
Trust
Prospectus
January 31,
2024 |
Commodities
DoubleLine
Commodity Strategy ETF (DCMT)
Equities
DoubleLine Fortune 500 Equal Weight ETF
(DFVE)
Please
read this document carefully before investing, and keep it for future reference.
The
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Commission
(“CFTC”) have not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the
adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a
criminal offense.
DOUBLELINE ETF TRUST
PROSPECTUS
January 31,
2024
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TICKER |
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STOCK EXCHANGE |
DoubleLine
Commodity Strategy ETF |
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DCMT |
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NYSE
Arca |
DoubleLine
Fortune 500 Equal Weight ETF |
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DFVE |
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NYSE
Arca |
Please
read this document carefully before investing and keep it for future reference.
The
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission (“CFTC”) have not approved or disapproved these securities or passed
upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the
contrary is a criminal offense.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
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The Trust and the Funds
This
Prospectus tells you about the DoubleLine exchange-traded funds (the “Funds”, and each, a “Fund”) listed on the Prospectus cover. Each
Fund offers one class of shares. Each Fund is a series of DoubleLine ETF Trust,
a Delaware statutory trust (the “Trust”).
1
Fund
Summary
DoubleLine
Commodity Strategy ETF (DCMT)
Investment
Objective
The
Fund’s investment objective is to seek total return (capital appreciation
and current income).
Fees
and Expenses of the Fund
This
table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell
shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between DoubleLine ETF
Trust and DoubleLine Alternatives LP (the
“Adviser” or “DoubleLine Alternatives”), the Fund’s
adviser, provides that the Adviser will
pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except the management fees, interest
expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and
disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions,
including brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, accrued
deferred tax liabilities, distribution fees or expenses, and any extraordinary
expenses (such as litigation). You may pay
other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial
intermediaries, which are not reflected in the fee table or example below.
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Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from
your investment) |
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None |
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Annual
Fund Operating Expenses1
(expenses
that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your
investment)
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Management
Fees |
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0.65% |
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Distribution
and/or Service (12b‑1) Fees |
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None |
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Other
Expenses2 |
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0.00% |
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Total
Annual Fund Operating Expenses |
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0.65% |
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1 The Fund expects to enter into index-related
swap transactions, under which the Fund will incur fees payable to its
counterparties. Those fees are expected to reduce the index-based returns to the
Fund under the swaps. As of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund estimates that
it will pay fees to its swap counterparties of approximately 0.25% of the Fund’s
net assets. Such fees are not reflected in the table above or in the example
below. Actual expenses may be higher or lower and will change over time. See
“Index Risk – Note regarding Index-Based Swaps” for more information regarding
such expenses.
2 Other Expenses are based on
estimated amounts for the current fiscal
year.
Example
This
example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with
the cost of investing in other funds.
2
This
example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods
indicated and then sell all your shares at the end of those periods. The example
also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s
operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or
lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
Portfolio
Turnover
The
Fund incurs transaction costs when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over”
its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction
costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable
account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses
or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. Since the Fund had not
commenced operations as of the date of this Prospectus, there is no annual
portfolio turnover rate information
included.
Principal
Investment Strategies
The
Fund is an actively managed exchange‑traded fund (“ETF”). The Fund normally seeks to generate
total return over a full market cycle through long exposures to
commodity-related investments. The commodities to which the Fund expects to have
investment exposure principally include, without limitation, industrial metals
(e.g., aluminum, copper, lead, nickel,
zinc); precious metals (e.g., gold and
silver); oil, gas and other energy commodities (e.g., crude oil, brent oil, gasoil, RBOB
(reformulated blendstock for oxygenate blending) gasoline, and heating oil);
agricultural products (e.g., coffee,
corn, soybeans, sugar, cotton, wheat); and livestock (e.g., lean hogs, live cattle). The Fund
expects to gain broad commodity exposures consistent with the Barclays
Backwardation Tilt Multi-Strategy Index (the “Barclays Index”) by entering into total and
excess return swaps, futures contracts, options on futures and/or forward
contracts the performance of which is based on the performance of the Barclays
Index.
The
Fund expects to use instruments that involve investment leverage to achieve
commodity exposures and expects to have, under normal circumstances, investment
exposure to commodities in an amount up to the value of the Fund’s total assets.
Because the Fund expects to obtain its commodities exposures through total and
excess return swaps, futures contracts, options on futures, and/or forward
contracts that do not require significant investment of the Fund’s cash, the
Fund expects to have cash available to invest in other assets. The Fund
currently expects that those other investments will be comprised principally of
fixed-income investments. See “Fixed Income Investments” below. It is possible
that the Fund might lose money on both its commodity exposures and on its
fixed-income investments.
The
Fund expects to enter into swap transactions based on the Barclays Index with a
single or a limited number of counterparties for the foreseeable future and, at
the time of the Fund’s inception, the Fund expects to obtain exposure to the
Barclays Index through swap transactions with a single counterparty. In
selecting swap counterparties for the Fund, the Adviser will normally consider a
variety of factors, including, without limitation, cost; the quality,
reliability, and responsiveness of a counterparty; the operational compatibility
between a counterparty and the Adviser; and a counterparty’s creditworthiness.
Through the Fund’s exposure to derivative instrument counterparties, the Fund
expects to have exposure to the financial services
sector.
In
order to qualify as a regulated investment company under Subchapter M of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), a fund must meet requirements including
regarding the source of its income. Income from certain commodity-related
instruments and from direct investments
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in
commodities does not constitute income that meets the qualification requirements
for a regulated investment company under the Code (“qualifying income”). The
Fund generally intends to gain exposure to commodities through direct
investments that it believes give rise to qualifying income or indirectly
through its investment in one or more subsidiaries in a manner that gives rise
to qualifying income. In particular, the Fund expects to obtain commodities
exposures by investing in one or more subsidiary private investment vehicles
organized outside the United States that invest directly or indirectly in
commodities or in derivatives transactions relating to commodities where the
Adviser determines that it may benefit the Fund if the subsidiary invests in
those transactions. DoubleLine Commodity ETF Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of
the Fund (the “Subsidiary”), is currently
expected to participate in such investments. A fund must also limit its
investment in a subsidiary or group of subsidiaries to no more than 25% of the
fund’s total assets as of the end of each quarter of the fund’s taxable year in
order to meet the asset diversification requirement for qualification as a
regulated investment company. The Fund does not expect to invest more than 25%
of its total assets in a subsidiary as of the end of each quarter of the Fund’s
taxable year, though its investments in the Subsidiary may exceed 25% of its
assets at times other than the end of each quarter of the Fund’s taxable year.
The Subsidiary will make the swap, futures, option and/or forward investments
that give the Fund exposure to the Barclays Index. When used in this Prospectus
the term “Fund” includes the Subsidiary and the term “invest” includes
investments that the Fund makes through the
Subsidiary.
Within
its broad commodity universe, the Barclays Index, which consists of futures
contracts, generally favors maintaining higher weightings to commodities that
exhibit backwardation in the term structures of their futures contracts (i.e., where prices of the contracts with
shorter-term expirations will be higher than for contracts with longer-term
expirations). For each commodity, the Barclays Index seeks to provide exposure
to the most attractive futures contract (i.e., contract selection) based on a variety
of factors including carry, seasonality, and momentum:
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The
carry factor seeks to select the futures contract that is expected to
offer the best carry for the following month (“carry” refers to the
relative performance of futures tenors driven by the convergence of
futures prices to spot prices at expiration) (“tenor” refers to the length
of time remaining before a futures contract expires and “spot” refers to
the price at which a commodity can be bought or sold for immediate
delivery). |
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The
seasonality factor seeks to provide exposure to a static December futures
tenor that may generally outperform a position held in the front-month
futures tenor. |
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The
momentum factor seeks to provide exposure to the futures contract that has
outperformed to the greatest degree the front-month contract rolling
exposure over the past
year. |
The
Barclays Index seeks to capture two sources of potential outperformance in
commodity futures markets. The first source of potential outperformance comes
through selecting, for each relevant commodity, the eligible futures contract
that is expected to offer the best outperformance relative to the front-month
contract rolling exposure used by the Bloomberg Commodity Index. This is
achieved through the use of certain futures contract selection methodologies
referred to together as “Multi-Strategy.” These Multi-Strategy methodologies
select a futures contract for each commodity that may differ from the futures
contract selected by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, based on the factors
described above including carry, seasonality and momentum. The second source of
potential outperformance comes through overweighting (relative to the weightings
in the Bloomberg Commodity Index) the exposure of the Barclays Index to the
futures contracts of commodities that exhibit the highest degree of
backwardation in the term structures of their futures contracts, while
simultaneously underweighting the exposure to the futures contracts of
commodities that exhibit a lower degree of backwardation. Historically, the
commodities with a higher degree of backwardation have generally had better
historical average performance than the commodities with a lower degree of
backwardation.
4
As
of the date of this Prospectus, the Adviser has licensed from Barclays Bank PLC
(“Barclays” or the “Index Provider”) the right to use the Barclays
Index as part of the Fund’s principal investment strategies, and the Fund
currently expects to obtain all or substantially all of its commodities-related
investment exposure through derivative instruments the performance of which is
based on the performance of the Barclays Index. However, the Adviser at any time
may discontinue the use of the Barclays Index, may supplement exposure to the
Barclays Index with other commodities-related exposures, or may use other
commodities-related indices at any time and without notice. There can be no
assurance that the Fund will continue to use the Barclays Index in implementing
its principal investment strategies.
Fixed Income Investments. The Fund
expects to obtain its commodities exposures using derivatives that allow the
Fund to achieve those exposures without significant investment of cash. As a
result, the Fund expects to have available to it cash assets to invest in debt
securities managed by the Adviser, in
order to seek to provide additional total return over a full market cycle. The
Fund may invest directly in debt instruments; alternatively, the Adviser may
choose to invest all or a portion of the Fund’s assets in one or more fixed
income ETFs or funds advised by the Adviser or a related party of the Adviser.
Fixed income investments in which the Fund intends to invest include
(i) securities or other income-producing instruments issued or guaranteed
by the U.S. Government, its agencies, instrumentalities or sponsored
corporations (including inflation-protected securities), specifically, Treasury
bills, notes, and bonds and mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by the
Government National Mortgage Association; (ii) investment-grade debt
securities (i.e., those rated above Ba1
by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. or above BB+ by S&P Global Ratings or
Fitch Ratings, Inc.) or unrated debt securities that the Adviser determines to
be of similar credit quality, as rated or determined at the time of investment;
or (iii) short-term investments, such as commercial paper, repurchase
agreements and money market funds. Although the Fund may invest in individual
securities of any maturity or duration, the Adviser will normally seek to
construct a fixed income portfolio for the Fund with a dollar-weighted average
effective duration of one year or less.
Under
normal circumstances, the Fund’s portfolio of fixed income investments is
expected to include primarily fixed income instruments rated investment grade
and unrated securities considered by the Adviser to be of comparable credit
quality.
Principal
Risks
The
value of the Fund’s shares will vary as its portfolio investments increase or
decrease in value. Therefore, the value of your investment in the Fund could go
down as well as up. You can lose money by investing in the Fund. The
significance of any specific risk to an investment in the Fund will vary over
time, depending on the composition of the Fund’s portfolio, market conditions,
and other factors. You should read all of the risk information presented below
carefully, because any one or more of these risks may result in losses to the
Fund.
The
principal risks affecting the Fund that can cause a decline in value are:
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active
management risk: the risk that the Fund will fail to meet
its investment objective and that the Fund’s investment performance will
depend, at least in part, on how its assets are allocated and reallocated
among asset classes, sectors, underlying funds and/or investments and that
such allocation will focus on asset classes, sectors, underlying funds,
and/or investments that perform poorly or underperform other asset
classes, sectors, underlying funds, and/or available investments. Any
given investment strategy may fail to produce the intended results, and
the Fund’s portfolio may underperform other comparable funds because of
portfolio management decisions related to, among other things, the
selection of investments, portfolio construction, risk assessments, and/or
the outlook on market trends and
opportunities. |
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cash position
risk: the risk that to the extent that the Fund
holds assets in cash, cash equivalents, and other short-term investments,
the ability of the Fund to meet its objective may be limited. Cash
equivalents and other short-term investments include short-term U.S.
Treasury securities, commercial paper, repurchase agreements and money
market funds. |
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commodities
risk: the risk that the value of the Fund’s shares may be
affected by changes in the values of the Fund’s investment exposures to
commodities or commodity-related instruments, which may be extremely
volatile and difficult to value. The value of commodities and
commodity-related instruments may be affected by, among other factors,
market movements, commodity index volatility, changes in interest rates,
or factors affecting supply, demand and/or other market fundamentals with
respect to a particular sector, industry or commodity, such as drought,
floods, weather, livestock disease, embargoes, tariffs and international
economic, political and regulatory developments. The Fund expects to have
significant exposure to particular sectors through its commodities-related
investments, including, for example, the energy, industrial metals, and
agricultural and livestock sectors and may be exposed to greater risk
associated with events affecting those
sectors. |
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commodity pool regulatory risk: The Fund’s investment exposure to
instruments such as futures or swaps will cause it to be deemed to be a
commodity pool, thereby subjecting the Fund to regulation under the
Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) and
CFTC rules. The Adviser is registered as a commodity pool operator (“CPO”), and the Fund will be operated in
accordance with applicable CFTC rules, as well as the regulatory scheme
applicable to registered investment companies. Registration as a CPO
imposes additional compliance obligations on the Adviser and the Fund
related to additional laws, regulations, and enforcement policies, which
could increase compliance costs and may affect the operations and
financial performance of the Fund. However, the Fund’s status as a
commodity pool and the Adviser’s registration as a CPO are not expected to
materially adversely affect the Fund’s ability to achieve its investment
objective. |
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counterparty
risk: the risk that the Fund will be subject to credit risk
with respect to the counterparties to the derivative contracts and other
instruments entered into directly by the Fund or held by special purpose
or structured vehicles in which the Fund invests; that the Fund’s
counterparty will be unable or unwilling to perform its obligations; that
the Fund will be unable to enforce contractual remedies if its
counterparty defaults; that if a counterparty (or an affiliate of a
counterparty) becomes bankrupt, the Fund may experience significant delays
in obtaining any recovery or may obtain limited or no recovery in a
bankruptcy or other insolvency
proceeding. |
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swap risk:
The Fund expects to enter into swap transactions related to
the Barclays Index with a single or a limited number of counterparties for
the foreseeable future and, at the time of the Fund’s inception, the Fund
expects to obtain exposure to the Barclays Index through swap transactions
with a single counterparty. To the extent that the Fund enters into
multiple transactions with a single or a small set of counterparties, it
will be subject to increased counterparty
risk. |
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credit
risk: the risk that an issuer, counterparty or other obligor
to the Fund will fail to pay its obligations to the Fund when they are
due, which may reduce the Fund’s income and/or reduce, in whole or in
part, the value of the Fund’s investment. Actual or perceived changes in
the financial condition of an obligor, changes in economic, social or
political conditions that affect a particular type of security,
instrument, or |
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obligor,
and changes in economic, social or political conditions generally can
increase the risk of default by an obligor, which can affect a security’s
or other instrument’s credit quality or value and an obligor’s ability to
honor its obligations when due. The values of lower-quality debt
securities tend to be particularly sensitive to these changes. Certain
debt securities in the lowest investment grade category also may be
considered to possess some speculative characteristics by certain rating
agencies. The values of securities or instruments also may decline for a
number of other reasons that relate directly to the obligor, such as
management performance, financial leverage, and reduced demand for the
obligor’s goods and services, as well as the historical and prospective
earnings of the obligor and the value of its
assets. |
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extension risk:
the risk that if interest rates rise, repayments of
principal on certain debt securities, including, but not limited to,
floating rate loans and mortgage-related securities, may occur at a slower
rate than expected and the expected maturity of those securities could
lengthen as a result. Securities that are subject to extension risk
generally have a greater potential for loss when prevailing interest rates
rise, which could cause their values to fall
sharply. |
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interest rate
risk: the risk that debt instruments will change in value
because of changes in interest rates. The value of an instrument with a
longer duration (whether positive or negative) will be more sensitive to
changes in interest rates than a similar instrument with a shorter
duration. Bonds and other debt instruments typically have a positive
duration. The value of a debt instrument with positive duration will
generally decline if interest rates increase. Certain other investments,
such as inverse floaters and certain derivative instruments, may have a
negative duration. The value of instruments with a negative duration will
generally decline if interest rates decrease. Recently, there have been
inflationary price movements, which have caused the fixed income
securities markets to experience heightened levels of interest rate
volatility and liquidity risk. The risks associated with rising interest
rates are heightened under current market conditions given that the U.S.
Federal Reserve has raised interest rates from historically low levels and
may continue to do so. Further, in market environments where interest
rates are rising, issuers may be less willing or able to make principal
and interest payments on fixed-income investments when
due. |
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prepayment
risk: the risk that the issuer of a debt security, including
floating rate loans and mortgage-related securities, repays all or a
portion of the principal prior to the security’s maturity. In times of
declining interest rates, there is a greater likelihood that the Fund’s
higher yielding securities will be pre‑paid with the Fund being unable to
reinvest the proceeds in an investment with as great a yield. Prepayments
can therefore result in lower yields to shareholders of the
Fund. |
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derivatives
risk: the risk that an investment in derivatives will not
perform as anticipated by the Adviser, may not be available at the time or
price desired, cannot be closed out at a favorable time or price, will
increase the Fund’s transaction costs, or will increase the Fund’s
volatility; that derivatives may create investment leverage; that, when a
derivative is used as a substitute for or alternative to a direct cash
investment, the transaction may not provide a return that corresponds
precisely or at all with that of the cash investment; that the positions
may be improperly executed or constructed; that the Fund’s counterparty
will be unable or unwilling to perform its obligations; or that, when used
for hedging purposes, derivatives will not provide the anticipated
protection, causing the Fund to lose money on both the derivatives
transaction and the exposure the Fund sought to hedge. To the extent that
the Fund’s investment in derivatives are commodity-related, such
investments will also be subject to commodities risk. Please see
“commodities risk” herein for more
information. |
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emerging market
country risk: the risk that investing in emerging markets,
as compared to foreign developed markets, increases the likelihood that
the Fund will lose money, due to more limited information about the issuer
and/or the security; higher brokerage costs; different accounting,
auditing and financial reporting standards; less developed legal systems
and thinner trading markets; the possibility of currency blockages or
transfer restrictions; an emerging market country’s dependence on revenue
from particular commodities or international aid; and expropriation,
nationalization or other adverse political or economic
developments. |
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Authorized
Participant concentration risk: as an ETF,
the Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis at net asset
value (“NAV”) only in a large
specified number of shares called a “Creation Unit.” Only a limited number
of institutional investors (known as “Authorized Participants”) are
authorized to purchase (or create) and redeem shares directly from the
Fund. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are
unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to
the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to
create or redeem, in either of these cases, Fund shares may trade at a
discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or
delisting. |
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secondary
market trading risk: as an ETF, shares of the Fund trade on
an exchange, the NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “Exchange”). The Fund faces numerous
market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for
Fund shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high
volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF
THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND’S SHARES TRADING AT A
PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV. |
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absence of
active market: although the Fund’s shares are currently
listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an
active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained by
market makers or Authorized Participants. Authorized Participants are not
obligated to execute purchase or redemption orders for Creation Units. In
periods of market volatility, market makers and/or Authorized Participants
may be less willing to transact in Fund shares. The absence of an active
market for the Fund’s shares may contribute to the Fund’s shares trading
at a premium or discount to
NAV. |
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early
close/trading halt/delisting risk: trading in Fund shares
may be halted due to market conditions or for other reasons that, in the
view of the Exchange, make trading in shares of the Fund inadvisable.
Additionally, an exchange or market may close or issue trading halts on
specific securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities or
financial instruments may be restricted, which may result in the Fund
being unable to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments.
In such circumstances, the Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio,
may be unable to accurately price its investments and/or may incur
substantial trading losses. The Fund must satisfy various standards
established by the Exchange in order to ensure that Fund shares can
continue to be listed for trading. There can be no assurance that the
requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund
will continue to be met. |
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trading in fund
shares is subject to expenses: most Fund investors will buy
and sell Fund shares on the Exchange or on another secondary market. When
buying or selling shares of the Fund, investors typically will pay
brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by brokers as determined by
that broker. In addition, secondary market investors will also incur the
cost of the difference between the price that a buyer is willing to pay
for shares (the “bid” price) and
the price at which a seller is willing to sell shares (the “ask” price). This difference in bid and
ask prices is often referred to as the “spread” or “bid/ask
spread.” |
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fund shares may
be sold short: shares of the Fund, similar to shares of
other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are
therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases
associated with short selling
activity. |
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Fund shares may
trade at prices other than NAV: shares of the Fund trade on
the Exchange at prices at, above or below the Fund’s most recent NAV. The
NAV of the Fund is calculated at the end of each business day and
fluctuates with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings. The
trading price of the Fund’s shares fluctuates continuously throughout
trading hours in response to relative supply of and demand for Fund shares
on the Exchange and the underlying value of the Fund’s portfolio holdings
or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund’s shares may deviate
significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility, including
during periods of high redemption requests or other unusual market
conditions. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND’S
SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV. Disruptions to creations
and redemptions, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential
lack of an active trading market for Fund shares may result in shares
trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV and/or in a reduced
liquidity of a shareholder’s investment. During such periods, shareholders
may be unable to sell their shares, may pay significantly more than NAV
when buying Fund shares, or may receive significantly less than NAV when
selling Fund shares. |
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financial
services risk: the risk that an investment in issuers in the
financial services sector or transactions with one or more counterparties
in the financial services sector may be adversely affected by, among other
things: (i) changes in governmental regulation, which may limit both
the amounts and the types of loans and other financial commitments
financial services companies can make, the interest rates and fees they
can charge, the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge and
the amount of capital they must maintain; (ii) fluctuations,
including as a result of interest rate changes or increased competition,
in the availability and cost of capital funds on which the profitability
of financial services companies is largely dependent;
(iii) deterioration of the credit markets; (iv) credit losses
resulting from financial difficulties of borrowers, especially when
financial services companies are exposed to non‑diversified or
concentrated loan portfolios; (v) financial losses associated with
investment activities, especially when financial services companies are
exposed to financial leverage; (vi) the risk that any financial
services company experiences substantial declines in the valuations of its
assets, takes action to raise capital, or ceases operations;
(vii) the risk that a market shock or other unexpected market,
economic, political, regulatory, or other event might lead to a sudden
decline in the values of most or all companies in the financial services
sector; (viii) events leading to limited liquidity,
defaults, |
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non‑performance
or other adverse developments that affect financial institutions or the
financial services industry generally, or concerns or rumors about any
events of these kinds or other similar risks, leading to market-wide
liquidity problems; and (ix) the interconnectedness or
interdependence among financial services companies, including the risk
that the financial distress or failure of one financial services company
may materially and adversely affect a number of other financial services
companies. |
|
• |
|
focused
investment risk: the risk that a fund that invests a
substantial portion of its assets in a particular market, industry,
sector, group of industries or sectors, country, region, group of
countries or asset class is, relative to a fund that invests in a more
diverse investment portfolio, more susceptible to any single economic,
market, political, regulatory or other occurrence. This is because, for
example, issuers in a particular market, industry, region, sector or asset
class may react similarly to specific economic, market, regulatory,
political or other developments. The particular markets, industries,
regions, sectors or asset classes in which the Fund may focus its
investments may change over time and the Fund may alter its focus at
inopportune times. |
|
• |
|
foreign
investing risk: the risk that investments in foreign
securities or in issuers with significant exposure to foreign markets, as
compared to investments in U.S. securities or in issuers with
predominantly domestic market exposure, may be more vulnerable to
economic, political, and social instability and subject to less government
supervision, less protective custody practices, lack of transparency,
inadequate regulatory and accounting standards, delayed or infrequent
settlement of transactions, and foreign taxes. If the Fund buys securities
denominated in a foreign currency, receives income in foreign currencies,
or holds foreign currencies from time to time, the value of the Fund’s
assets, as measured in U.S. dollars, can be affected unfavorably by
changes in exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar or other foreign
currencies. Foreign markets are also subject to the risk that a foreign
government could restrict foreign exchange transactions or otherwise
implement unfavorable currency regulations. In addition, foreign
securities may be subject to currency exchange rates or regulations, the
imposition of economic sanctions, tariffs or other government
restrictions, higher transaction and other costs, reduced liquidity, and
delays in settlement. |
|
• |
|
index risk:
the risk that the portion of the Fund invested in
instruments based on an index or basket of commodities or that use an
index or basket of commodities as the reference asset may not match or may
underperform the return of the index or basket for a number of reasons,
including, for example, (i) the performance of derivatives related to
an index or basket in which the Fund invests may not correlate with the
performance of the index or basket and/or may underperform the index or
basket due to transaction costs, fees, or other aspects of the
transaction’s pricing; (ii) the Fund may not be able to find
counterparties willing to enter into derivative instruments whose returns
are based on the return of the index or basket, or the Fund may be unable
to find parties who are willing to do so at an acceptable cost or level of
risk to the Fund; and (iii) errors may arise in carrying out an
index’s methodology, or an index provider may incorrectly report
information concerning the index. There can be no guarantee that any
index, including the Barclays Index, will be maintained indefinitely or
that the Fund will be able to continue to utilize a specific index to
implement the Fund’s principal investment strategies
indefinitely. |
Although
the Adviser has licensed the right to use the Barclays Index as part of
implementing the Fund’s principal investment strategies, there can be no
guarantee that the Barclays will maintain it indefinitely, that the Fund will
use the Barclays Index to implement its principal investment strategies, or that
other circumstances will not prevent the Fund from obtaining cost-effective
synthetic investment exposure to the Barclays
10
Index.
In those or similar conditions, the Adviser or the Fund’s Board of Trustees may,
in its sole discretion and without advance notice to shareholders, license or
select another index or basket of commodities to use in implementing the Fund’s
principal investment strategies. There can be no assurance that any substitute
index or basket so selected will be similar to the Barclays Index or will
perform in a manner similar to the Barclays Index. Unavailability of the
Barclays Index could affect adversely the ability of the Fund to achieve its
investment objective.
The
Barclays Index consists of futures contracts that were selected, in part, on the
basis of their historical backwardation in relation to the spot price for the
underlying commodity and on carry characteristics, seasonality, momentum, and
fundamentals. Any investment exposure tied or related to the Barclays Index is
subject to, among other things, the risk that the historical behavior of the
futures contracts comprising the Barclays Index may not continue as expected and
that the prices of the futures contracts held by the Fund may
depreciate.
|
• |
|
investment
company and exchange-traded fund risk: the risk that an
investment company or other pooled investment vehicle, including any ETFs
or money market funds, in which the Fund invests will not achieve its
investment objective or execute its investment strategies effectively or
that significant purchase or redemption activity by shareholders of such
an investment company might negatively affect the value of its shares. The
Fund must pay its pro rata portion of an investment company’s fees and
expenses. To the extent the Adviser determines to invest Fund assets in
other investment companies, the Adviser will have an incentive to invest
in other investment vehicles sponsored or advised by the Adviser or a
related party of the Adviser over investment companies sponsored or
managed by others and to maintain such investments once made due to its
own financial interest in those products and other business
considerations. |
|
• |
|
large
shareholder risk: the risk that certain account holders,
including the Adviser or funds or accounts over which the Adviser (or
related parties of the Adviser) has investment discretion, may from time
to time own or control a significant percentage of the Fund’s shares. The
Fund is subject to the risk that a redemption by those shareholders of all
or a portion of their Fund shares, including as a result of an asset
allocation decision made by the Adviser (or related parties of the
Adviser), will adversely affect the Fund’s performance if it is forced to
sell portfolio securities or invest cash when the Adviser would not
otherwise choose to do so. Redemptions of a large number of shares may
affect the liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio, increase the Fund’s
transaction costs, and accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or
gains to shareholders. |
|
• |
|
leveraging
risk: the risk that certain investments by the Fund
involving leverage may have the effect of increasing the volatility of the
value of the Fund’s portfolio, and the risk of loss in excess of invested
capital. |
|
• |
|
limited
operating history risk: the Fund is newly formed and has no
or a limited operating history for investors to evaluate. The Fund may not
attract sufficient assets to achieve or maximize investment and
operational efficiencies and remain viable. If the Fund fails to achieve
sufficient scale, it may be
liquidated. |
|
• |
|
liquidity risk:
the risk that the Fund may be unable to sell a portfolio
investment at a desirable time or at the value the Fund has placed on the
investment. Illiquidity may be the result of, for example, low trading
volume, lack of a market maker, or contractual or legal restrictions that
limit or prevent the Fund from selling securities or closing derivative
positions. During periods of substantial market disruption, a large
portion of the Fund’s assets could potentially experience significant
levels of illiquidity. The values of
illiquid |
11
|
investments
are often more volatile than the values of more liquid investments. It may
be more difficult for the Fund to determine a fair value of an illiquid
investment than that of a more liquid comparable
investment. |
|
• |
|
market risk:
the risk that markets will perform poorly or that the
returns from the securities in which the Fund invests will underperform
returns from the general securities markets or other types of investments.
Markets may, in response to governmental actions or intervention or
general market conditions, including real or perceived adverse political,
economic or market conditions, tariffs and trade disruptions, inflation,
recession, changes in interest or currency rates, lack of liquidity in the
bond markets or adverse investor sentiment, or other external factors,
experience periods of high volatility and reduced liquidity. During those
periods, the Fund may experience high levels of shareholder redemptions,
and may have to sell securities at times when the Fund would otherwise not
do so, and potentially at unfavorable prices. Certain securities may be
difficult to value during such periods. Market risk involves the risk that
the value of the Fund’s investment portfolio will change, potentially
frequently and in large amounts, as the prices of its investments go up or
down. During periods of severe market stress, it is possible that the
market for some or all of the Fund’s investments may become highly
illiquid. Recently, there have been inflationary price movements, which
have caused the fixed income securities markets to experience heightened
levels of interest rate volatility and liquidity risk. Please see “debt
securities risks – interest rate risk” herein for more
information. |
|
• |
|
models and data
risk: the risk that the quantitative models or related data
used in managing the Fund fail to identify profitable opportunities. In
addition, failures to properly gather, organize, and analyze large amounts
of data or errors in a model or data, or in the application of such
models, may result in, among other things, execution and investment
allocation failures and investment losses. For example, the models may
incorrectly identify opportunities or data used in the construction and
application of models may prove to be inaccurate or stale, which may
result in misidentified opportunities that may lead to substantial losses
for the Fund. A given model may be more effective with certain instruments
or strategies than others, and there can be no assurance that any model
can identify and incorporate all factors that will affect an investment’s
price or performance. |
|
• |
|
non‑diversification risk: the
risk that, because a relatively higher percentage of the Fund’s assets may
be invested in a limited number of issuers, the Fund may be more
susceptible to any single economic, political, or regulatory occurrence
than a diversified fund investing in a broader range of issuers. A decline
in the market value of one of the Fund’s investments may affect the Fund’s
value more than if the Fund were a diversified fund. However, the Fund
intends to satisfy the asset diversification requirements for
qualification as a regulated investment company under Subchapter M of the
Code. |
|
• |
|
operational and
information security risks: an investment in the Fund, like
any fund, can involve operational risks arising from factors such as
processing errors, human errors, inadequate or failed internal or external
processes, failures in systems and technology, changes in personnel and
errors caused by third-party service providers. The occurrence of any of
these failures, errors or breaches could result in investment losses to
the Fund, a loss of information, regulatory scrutiny, reputational damage
or other events, any of which could have a material adverse effect on the
Fund. While the Fund seeks to minimize such events through controls and
oversight, there may still be failures that could cause losses to the
Fund. |
|
• |
|
portfolio
turnover risk: the risk that frequent purchases and sales of
portfolio securities may result in higher Fund expenses and may result in
larger distributions of taxable capital gains to investors as compared to
a fund that trades less
frequently. |
12
|
• |
|
securities or
sector selection risk: the risk that the
securities held by the Fund will underperform securities held in other
funds investing in similar asset classes or comparable benchmarks because
of the portfolio managers’ choice of securities or sectors for investment.
To the extent the Fund allocates a higher percentage of its investment
portfolio to a particular sector or related sectors, the Fund will be more
susceptible to events or factors affecting companies in that sector or
related sectors. For example, the values of securities of companies in the
same or related sectors may be negatively affected by the common
characteristics they share, the common business risks to which they are
subject, common regulatory burdens, or regulatory changes that affect them
similarly. Such characteristics, risks, burdens or changes include, but
are not limited to, changes in governmental regulation, inflation or
deflation, rising or falling interest rates, competition from new
entrants, and other economic, market, political or other developments
specific to that sector or related sectors. |
|
• |
|
tax risk:
in order to qualify as a regulated investment company under
the Code, the Fund must meet requirements regarding, among other things,
the source of its income. Certain investments in commodity-related
derivatives do not give rise to qualifying income for this purpose, and it
is possible that certain investments in other commodity-related
instruments, ETFs and other investment pools will not give rise to
qualifying income. Any income the Fund derives from investments in
instruments that do not generate qualifying income must be limited to a
maximum of 10% of the Fund’s annual gross income. If the Fund were to earn
non‑qualifying income in excess of 10% of its annual gross income, it
could fail to qualify as a regulated investment company for that year. If
the Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, the
Fund would be subject to tax and shareholders of the Fund would be subject
to the risk of diminished
returns. |
|
• |
|
U.S.
government securities
risk: the risk that debt securities issued or guaranteed by
certain U.S. government agencies, instrumentalities, and sponsored
enterprises are not supported by the full faith and credit of the U.S.
government, and so investments in their securities or obligations issued
by them involve credit risk greater than investments in other types of
U.S. government securities. |
|
• |
|
valuation
risk: the risk that the Fund will not value its investments
in a manner that accurately reflects their market values or that the Fund
will not be able to sell any investment at a price equal to the valuation
ascribed to that investment for purposes of calculating the Fund’s NAV.
The valuation of the Fund’s investments involves subjective judgment.
Certain securities in which the Fund may invest may be more difficult to
value accurately, especially during periods of market disruptions or
extreme market volatility. Incorrect valuations of the Fund’s portfolio
holdings could result in the Fund’s shareholder transactions being
effected at an NAV that does not accurately reflect the underlying value
of the Fund’s portfolio, resulting in the dilution of shareholder
interests. |
Please
see “Additional Information About Principal Investment Strategies and Principal
Risks — Principal Risks” for a more detailed description of the principal risks
of investing in the Fund.
Performance
Because this is a new Fund that does not yet
have an operating history, a bar chart and table describing the Fund’s annual
performance are not yet available. Once available, information
on the Fund’s investment results, including its NAV per share, can be obtained
at no charge by calling (855) 937‑0772 or by
visiting the Fund’s website at www.doubleline.com.
Investment
Adviser
DoubleLine
Alternatives LP is the investment adviser to the Fund.
13
Portfolio
Managers
The
portfolio managers for the Fund are:
|
|
|
| |
Name |
|
Experience with
the
Fund |
|
Primary
Title with the
Investment
Adviser |
Jeffrey
Sherman |
|
Since
the Fund’s inception in 2024 |
|
Portfolio
Manager |
Samuel
Lau |
|
Since
the Fund’s inception in 2024 |
|
Portfolio
Manager |
Jeffrey
Mayberry |
|
Since
the Fund’s inception in 2024 |
|
Portfolio
Manager |
Purchase
and Sale of Fund Shares
Individual
Fund shares may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker
or dealer at a market price. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather
than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (premium) or less than
NAV (discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference
between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the
Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the
Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market
(the “bid/ask spread”). Once the Fund commences
operations, recent information, including information on the Fund’s NAV, market
price, premiums and discounts, and bid/ask spreads, will be available
on the Fund’s website at www.doubleline.com.
Tax
Information
The
Fund’s distributions generally are 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 individual retirement account. If you invest through
such tax‑advantaged arrangements, you may be taxed later upon
withdrawal from those arrangements.
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 Fund’s Adviser, and the Fund’s
distributor or any of their affiliates may pay the financial intermediary for
the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a
conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary and your
salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your individual
salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more
information.
14
Fund
Summary
DoubleLine
Fortune 500 Equal Weight ETF (DFVE)
Investment
Objective
The
Fund’s investment objective is to seek to track
the investment results (before fees and expenses) of the Barclays Fortune 500
Equal Weighted Total Return Index (the “Underlying Index”).
Fees
and Expenses of the Fund
This
table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell
shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between DoubleLine ETF
Trust and DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP (the
“Adviser”), the Fund’s adviser, provides that the Adviser will pay all
operating expenses of the Fund, except the management fees, interest expenses,
taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of
portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including
brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses, accrued deferred tax
liabilities, distribution fees or expenses, and any extraordinary expenses (such
as litigation). You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions
and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the fee
table or example below.
|
| |
|
|
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from
your investment) |
|
None |
|
|
Annual
Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses
that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your
investment) |
Management
Fees |
|
0.20% |
Distribution
and/or Service (12b‑1) Fees |
|
None |
| |
Other
Expenses1 |
|
0.00% |
Total
Annual Fund Operating Expenses |
|
0.20% |
1 Other Expenses are based on
estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.
Example
This
example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with
the cost of investing in other funds.
This
example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods
indicated and then sell all your shares at the end of those periods. The example
also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s
operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or
lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
Portfolio
Turnover
The
Fund incurs transaction costs when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio
turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher
taxes when
15
Fund
shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in
annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance.
Since the Fund had not commenced
operations as of the date of this Prospectus, there is no annual portfolio
turnover rate information included.
Principal
Investment Strategies
Under
normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets, plus
the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in securities that
comprise the Underlying Index, or derivatives transactions that provide
investment exposure to the Underlying Index or securities that comprise the
Underlying Index.
In
accordance with its guidelines and mandated procedures, Barclays Bank PLC
(“Barclays” or the “Index Provider”) compiles, maintains and
calculates the Underlying Index. The Underlying Index takes the Fortune 500
list, which consists of the 500 largest companies in the United States based on
revenue, and excludes (1) private companies (i.e., those without
publicly-listed equity securities) and those with equity securities not listed
on the NYSE or NASDAQ; (2) and companies with listed equity securities that
do not meet a minimum liquidity threshold or minimum listing period
requirements; (3) companies incorporated outside the U.S.; (4) U.S.
companies owned or controlled by other companies, domestic or foreign, that file
with a government agency; and (5) companies that failed to report full
financial statements for at least three quarters of the current fiscal year. The
Underlying Index is reconstituted on an annual basis and is rebalanced otherwise
quarterly. Unlike most equity indices, which are weighted according to the
market capitalizations of their component companies, the constituents of the
Underlying Index are equally weighted, which means that the Underlying Index
assigns each constituent the same weight at each reconstitution and quarterly
rebalance, regardless of such constituent’s market capitalization.
The
Fund will not necessarily employ a “full replication” methodology in seeking to
track the Underlying Index, meaning that the Fund will not necessarily invest in
all of the securities comprising the Underlying Index in proportion to their
weightings in the Underlying Index. Instead, the Adviser may seek to cause the
Fund to hold a representative sample of the securities in the Underlying Index
that have aggregate characteristics similar to that of the entire Underlying
Index. This means that the Fund may not hold all of the securities included in
the Underlying Index, that its weighting of investment exposure to securities or
industries represented in the Underlying Index may be different from that of the
Underlying Index, and that it may hold securities that are not included in the
Underlying Index.
The
Fund may enter into derivatives transactions in lieu of cash investments or
otherwise to gain, or reduce, exposure to the Underlying Index. The Fund may
use, without limitation, futures contracts, swap contracts or investment in
registered open‑end investment companies, including ETFs, in order to gain
investment exposures to the Underlying Index or to one or more components of the
Underlying Index more quickly and/or economically. For example, the Fund might
enter into swap transactions or futures transactions designed to provide the
Fund a return before fees and expenses approximating the Underlying Index’s
return, including swap transactions or futures transactions where the reference
asset is the Underlying Index, or securities that comprise the Underlying Index.
The
Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., invest 25% or more of the value of its
total assets) in securities of issuers in any one industry or group of
industries to the extent that the Underlying Index reflects a concentration in
that industry or group of industries.
The Adviser may engage in active and frequent
trading of the Fund’s portfolio investments. In order to seek to reduce the
Fund’s tracking error relative to the Underlying Index by generating additional
income to offset the fees and expenses that a fund, unlike an index, incurs, the
Fund may lend portfolio securities with a value up to 33 1/3% of its total assets,
including collateral received for securities lent. The Fund will invest any cash
collateral received for securities lent in money market investments or money
market funds.
16
Principal
Risks
The
value of the Fund’s shares will vary as its portfolio investments increase or
decrease in value. Therefore, the value of your investment in the Fund could go
down as well as up. You can lose money by investing in the Fund. The
significance of any specific risk to an investment in the Fund will vary over
time, depending on the composition of the Fund’s portfolio, market conditions,
and other factors. You should read all of the risk information presented below
carefully, because any one or more of these risks may result in losses to the
Fund.
The
principal risks affecting the Fund that can cause a decline in value are:
|
• |
|
counterparty
risk: the risk that the Fund will be subject to credit risk
with respect to the counterparties to the derivative contracts and other
instruments entered into directly by the Fund or held by special purpose
or structured vehicles in which the Fund invests; that the Fund’s
counterparty will be unable or unwilling to perform its obligations; that
the Fund will be unable to enforce contractual remedies if its
counterparty defaults; that if a counterparty (or an affiliate of a
counterparty) becomes bankrupt, the Fund may experience significant delays
in obtaining any recovery or may obtain limited or no recovery in a
bankruptcy or other insolvency proceeding. To the extent that the Fund
gains synthetic exposure to the Underlying Index, the Fund will likely
enter into swap transactions related to the Underlying Index with a single
or a limited number of counterparties for the foreseeable future and, at
the time of the Fund’s inception, the Fund expects to obtain any synthetic
exposure to the Underlying Index through swap transactions with a single
counterparty. To the extent that the Fund enters into multiple
transactions with a single or a small set of counterparties, it will be
subject to increased counterparty risk.
|
|
• |
|
derivatives
risk: the risk that an investment in derivatives will not
perform as anticipated by the Adviser, may not be available at the time or
price desired, cannot be closed out at a favorable time or price, will
increase the Fund’s transaction costs, or will increase the Fund’s
volatility; that derivatives may create investment leverage; that, when a
derivative is used as a substitute for or alternative to a direct cash
investment, the transaction may not provide a return that corresponds
precisely or at all with that of the cash investment; that the positions
may be improperly executed or constructed; that the Fund’s counterparty
will be unable or unwilling to perform its obligations; or that, when used
for hedging purposes, derivatives will not provide the anticipated
protection, causing the Fund to lose money on both the derivatives
transaction and the exposure the Fund sought to hedge.
|
|
○ |
|
Authorized
Participant concentration risk: as an ETF, the Fund issues and redeems
shares on a continuous basis at net asset value (“NAV”) only in a large specified number of
shares called a “Creation Unit.” Only a limited number of institutional
investors (known as “Authorized Participants”) are authorized to purchase
(or create) and redeem shares directly from the Fund. To the extent that
these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with
creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other
Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, in
either of these cases, Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and
possibly face trading halts and/or delisting.
|
17
|
○ |
|
secondary
market trading risk:
as an ETF, shares of the Fund trade on an exchange, the NYSE Arca,
Inc. (the “Exchange”). The Fund
faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an
active market for Fund shares, losses from trading in secondary markets,
periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption
process. Any of these factors, among others, may lead to the Fund’s shares
trading at a premium or discount to NAV.
|
|
∎ |
|
absence of
active market:
although the Fund’s shares are currently listed for trading on the
Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such
shares will develop or be maintained by market makers or Authorized
Participants. Authorized Participants are not obligated to execute
purchase or redemption orders for Creation Units. In periods of market
volatility, market makers and/or Authorized Participants may be less
willing to transact in Fund shares. The absence of an active market for
the Fund’s shares may contribute to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium
or discount to NAV. |
|
∎ |
|
early
close/trading halt/delisting risk: trading in Fund shares may be halted due
to market conditions or for other reasons that, in the view of the
Exchange, make trading in shares of the Fund inadvisable. Additionally, an
exchange or market may close or issue trading halts on specific
securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities or financial
instruments may be restricted, which may result in the Fund being unable
to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments. In such
circumstances, the Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be
unable to accurately price its investments and/or may incur substantial
trading losses. The Fund must satisfy various standards established by the
Exchange in order to ensure that Fund shares can continue to be listed for
trading. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange
necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met.
|
|
∎ |
|
trading in fund
shares is subject to expenses: most Fund investors will buy and sell
Fund shares on the Exchange or on another secondary market. When buying or
selling shares of the Fund, investors typically will pay brokerage
commissions or other charges imposed by brokers as determined by that
broker. In addition, secondary market investors will also incur the cost
of the difference between the price that a buyer is willing to pay for
shares (the “bid” price) and the
price at which a seller is willing to sell shares (the “ask” price). This difference in bid and
ask prices is often referred to as the “spread” or “bid/ask spread.”
|
|
∎ |
|
fund shares may
be sold short: shares
of the Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock
exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of
increased volatility and price decreases associated with short selling
activity. |
|
∎ |
|
fund shares may
trade at prices other than NAV: shares of the Fund trade on
the Exchange at prices at, above or below the Fund’s most recent NAV. The
NAV of the Fund is calculated at the end of each business day and
fluctuates with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings. The
trading price of the Fund’s shares fluctuates continuously throughout
trading hours in response to relative supply of and demand for Fund shares
on the Exchange and the underlying value
|
18
|
of
the Fund’s portfolio holdings or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of
the Fund’s shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of
market volatility, including during periods of high redemption requests or
other unusual market conditions. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY
LEAD TO THE FUND’S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV.
Disruptions to creations and redemptions, the existence of extreme market
volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for Fund shares
may result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV
and/or in a reduced liquidity of a shareholder’s investment. During such
periods, shareholders may be unable to sell their shares, may pay
significantly more than NAV when buying Fund shares, or may receive
significantly less than NAV when selling Fund shares.
|
|
• |
|
equity issuer
risk: the risk that the market price of common stocks and
other equity securities may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or
unpredictably, including due to factors affecting equity securities
markets generally, particular industries represented in those markets, or
the issuer itself. |
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• |
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index
risk: the risk that the Fund may underperform the return of
the Underlying Index for a number of reasons, including, for example,
(i) the performance of investments or derivatives related to the
Underlying Index may not correlate with the Underlying Index and/or may
underperform the Index due to transaction costs, fees, or other aspects of
the transaction’s pricing; (ii) the Fund may not be able to find
counterparties willing to enter into derivative instruments whose returns
are based on the return of the Underlying Index or find parties who are
willing to do so at an acceptable cost or level of risk to the Fund; and
(iii) errors may arise in carrying out the Underlying Index’s
methodology, or the Index Provider may incorrectly report information
concerning the Index.
|
Although
the Adviser has licensed from the Index Provider the right to use the Underlying
Index as part of implementing the Fund’s principal investment strategies, there
can be no guarantee that the Underlying Index will be maintained indefinitely or
that the Fund will be able to continue to utilize the Underlying Index to
implement the Fund’s principal investment strategies indefinitely. If the Index
Provider ceases to maintain the Underlying Index, the Fund no longer has the
ability to utilize the Underlying Index to implement its principal investment
strategies, or other circumstances exist that the Adviser or the Fund’s Board of
Trustees concludes substantially limit the Fund’s ability to gain investment
exposure to the Underlying Index, the Adviser or the Fund’s Board of Trustees
may substitute the Underlying Index with another index that it chooses in its
sole discretion and upon 60 days’ prior written notice to shareholders. There
can be no assurance that any substitute index so selected will be similar to the
Underlying Index or will perform in a manner similar to the Index.
Unavailability of the Underlying Index could affect adversely the ability of the
Fund to achieve its investment objective.
|
• |
|
index provider
risk: the risk that the Index Provider may delay or add a
rebalance date, which may adversely impact the performance of the Fund and
its correlation to the Underlying Index. In addition, there is no
guarantee that the methodology used by the Index Provider to identify
constituents for the Underlying Index will achieve its intended result or
positive performance. The Underlying Index relies on various sources of
information to assess the potential constituents of the Underlying index,
including information that may be based on assumptions or estimates. There
is no assurance that the sources of the information are reliable, and the
Adviser does not assess the due diligence conducted by the Index Provider
with respect to the data it uses or the index construction and computation
processes. Errors in Underlying Index data, computations,
|
19
|
or
the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its
methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and/or
corrected for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact
on the Fund. |
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• |
|
industry
concentration risk: the risk that, in following its
methodology, the Underlying Index from time to time may be concentrated to
a significant degree in securities of issuers operating in a single
industry or industry group. To the extent that the Underlying Index
concentrates in the securities of issuers in a particular industry or
industry group, the Fund will also concentrate its investments to
approximately the same extent. By concentrating its investments in an
industry or industry group, the Fund may face more risks than if it were
diversified broadly over numerous industries or industry groups. Such
industry-based risks, any of which may adversely affect the companies in
which the Fund invests, may include, but are not limited to, the
following: general economic conditions or cyclical market patterns that
could negatively affect supply and demand in a particular industry;
competition for resources; adverse labor relations; political or world
events; obsolescence of technologies; and increased competition or new
product introductions that may affect the profitability or viability of
companies in an industry. In addition, at times, such industry or industry
group may be out of favor and underperform other industries or the market
as a whole. |
|
• |
|
large
capitalization risk: the risk that investing substantially
in issuers in one market capitalization category (large, medium, or small)
may adversely affect the Fund because of unfavorable market conditions
particularly to that category of issuers, such as larger, more established
companies being unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges or
attain the high growth rates of successful smaller companies, or,
conversely, stocks of smaller companies being more volatile than those of
larger companies due to, among other things, narrower product lines, more
limited financial resources, fewer experienced managers and there
typically being less publicly available information about small
capitalization companies. The Fund expects to have exposure particularly
to larger capitalization issuers through its exposure to the Underlying
Index. |
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• |
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large
shareholder risk: the risk that certain account holders,
including the Adviser or funds or accounts over which the Adviser (or
related parties of the Adviser) has investment discretion, may from time
to time own or control a significant percentage of the Fund’s shares. The
Fund is subject to the risk that a redemption by those shareholders of all
or a portion of their Fund shares, including as a result of an asset
allocation decision made by the Adviser (or related parties of the
Adviser), will adversely affect the Fund’s performance if it is forced to
sell portfolio securities or invest cash when the Adviser would not
otherwise choose to do so. Redemptions of a large number of shares may
affect the liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio, increase the Fund’s
transaction costs, and accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or
gains to shareholders. Shareholder redemptions can only be effected in
Creation Units. |
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• |
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limited
operating history risk: the Fund is newly formed and has no
or a limited operating history for investors to evaluate. The Fund may not
attract sufficient assets to achieve or maximize investment and
operational efficiencies and remain viable. If the Fund fails to achieve
sufficient scale, it may be liquidated.
|
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• |
|
liquidity risk:
the risk that the Fund may be unable to sell a portfolio
investment at a desirable time or at the value the Fund has placed on the
investment. Illiquidity may be the result of, for example, low trading
volume, lack of a market maker, or contractual or legal restrictions that
limit or prevent the Fund from selling securities or closing derivative
positions. During periods of substantial market disruption, a large
portion of the Fund’s |
20
|
assets
could potentially experience significant levels of illiquidity. The values
of illiquid investments are often more volatile than the values of more
liquid investments. It may be more difficult for the Fund to determine a
fair value of an illiquid investment than that of a more liquid comparable
investment. |
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• |
|
market risk:
the risk that markets will perform poorly or that the
returns from the securities in which the Fund invests will underperform
returns from the general securities markets or other types of investments.
Markets may, in response to governmental actions or intervention or
general market conditions, including real or perceived adverse political,
economic or market conditions, tariffs and trade disruptions, inflation,
recession, changes in interest or currency rates, adverse investor
sentiment, or other external factors, experience periods of high
volatility and reduced liquidity. During those periods, the Fund may
experience high levels of shareholder redemptions, which may only occur in
Creation Units. To satisfy such redemptions, the Fund may have to sell
securities at times when the Fund would otherwise not do so, and
potentially at unfavorable prices. Certain securities may be difficult to
value during such periods. Market risk involves the risk that the value of
the Fund’s investment portfolio will change, potentially frequently and in
large amounts, as the prices of its investments go up or down. During
periods of severe market stress, it is possible that the market for some
or all of the Fund’s investments may become highly illiquid.
|
|
• |
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non‑correlation
risk: the risk that the Fund’s return may not match the
return of the Underlying Index for a number of reasons. For example, the
Fund incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Underlying Index, and
incurs costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing
the Fund’s securities holdings to reflect changes in the composition of
the Underlying Index. In addition, the performance of the Fund and the
Underlying Index may vary due to asset valuation differences and
differences between the Fund’s portfolio and the Underlying Index
resulting from legal restrictions, costs or liquidity constraints.
|
|
• |
|
operational and
information security risks: an investment in the Fund, like
any fund, can involve operational risks arising from factors such as
processing errors, human errors, inadequate or failed internal or external
processes, failures in systems and technology, changes in personnel and
errors caused by third-party service providers. The occurrence of any of
these failures, errors or breaches could result in investment losses to
the Fund, a loss of information, regulatory scrutiny, reputational damage
or other events, any of which could have a material adverse effect on the
Fund. While the Fund seeks to minimize such events through controls and
oversight, there may still be failures that could cause losses to the
Fund. |
|
• |
|
passive
investing risk: Unlike many investment companies, the Fund
does not utilize an investing strategy that seeks returns in excess of the
Underlying Index. Therefore, the Fund would not necessarily buy or sell a
security unless that security is added or removed, respectively, from the
Underlying Index, even if that security generally is underperforming.
Additionally, the Fund rebalances its portfolio in accordance with the
Underlying Index, and, therefore, any changes to the Underlying Index’s
rebalance schedule will result in corresponding changes to the Fund’s
rebalance schedule. |
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• |
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portfolio
turnover risk: the risk that frequent purchases and sales of
portfolio securities may result in higher Fund expenses and may result in
larger distributions of taxable capital gains to investors as compared to
a fund that trades less frequently.
|
|
• |
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securities
lending risk: if the Fund lends securities, and the borrower defaults on its
obligation to return the securities loaned because of insolvency or
other reasons, there is a |
21
|
risk
that the securities will not be available to the Fund on a timely basis.
If a borrower defaults and the Fund is not able to recover the securities
loaned, the Fund and, indirectly, its shareholders will bear loss to the
extent the value of the collateral sold is not equal to the market value
of the loaned securities. Loans are secured by collateral consisting of
cash or short-term debt obligations and the Fund may invest the cash
collateral received (in money market investments or money market funds)
and the Fund and its shareholders bears the risk of loss on such
reinvestment, including the risk of total loss of such collateral. In
addition, as with other extensions of credit, there is the risk of
possible delay in receiving additional collateral or in the recovery of
the securities or possible loss of rights in the collateral should the
borrower fail financially. While securities are loaned out by the Fund,
the Fund generally will receive from the borrower amounts equal to any
dividends or interest paid on the borrowed securities. For federal income
tax purposes, payments made “in lieu of” dividends are not considered
dividend income. These distributions will neither qualify for the reduced
rate of taxation for individuals on qualified dividends nor the 50%
dividends received deduction for corporations. The costs associated with
the Fund’s securities lending activities are not shown in the Fund’s fee
table. Engaging in securities lending could have a leveraging effect,
which may intensify the other risks associated with investments in the
Fund. |
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• |
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valuation
risk: the risk that the Fund will not value its investments
in a manner that accurately reflects their market values or that the Fund
will not be able to sell any investment at a price equal to the valuation
ascribed to that investment for purposes of calculating the Fund’s NAV.
The valuation of the Fund’s investments involves subjective judgment.
Certain securities in which the Fund may invest may be more difficult to
value accurately, especially during periods of market disruptions or
extreme market volatility. Incorrect valuations of the Fund’s portfolio
holdings could result in the Fund’s shareholder transactions being
effected at an NAV that does not accurately reflect the underlying value
of the Fund’s portfolio, resulting in the dilution of shareholder
interests. |
Please
see “Additional Information About Principal Investment Strategies and Principal
Risks — Principal Risks” for a more detailed description of the principal risks
of investing in the Fund.
Performance
Because this is a new Fund that does not yet
have an operating history, a bar chart and table describing the Fund’s annual
performance are not yet available. Once available, information
on the Fund’s investment results, including its NAV per share, can be obtained
at no charge by calling (855) 937‑0772 or by
visiting the Fund’s website at www.doubleline.com.
Investment
Adviser
DoubleLine
ETF Adviser LP is the investment adviser to the Fund.
Portfolio
Managers
The
portfolio managers for the Fund are:
|
|
|
| |
Name |
|
Experience with
the Fund |
|
Primary Title with the
Investment Adviser |
|
Jeffrey
Gundlach |
|
Since the Fund’s inception in 2024 |
|
Portfolio
Manager |
Jeffrey
Sherman |
|
Since the Fund’s inception in 2024 |
|
Portfolio
Manager |
22
Purchase
and Sale of Fund Shares
Individual
Fund shares may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker
or dealer at a market price. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather
than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (premium) or less than
NAV (discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference
between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the
Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the
Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market
(the “bid/ask spread”). Once the Fund commences
operations, recent information, including information on the Fund’s NAV, market
price, premiums and discounts, and bid/ask spreads, will be available
on the Fund’s website at www.doubleline.com.
Tax
Information
The
Fund’s distributions generally are taxable to you as ordinary income, qualified
dividend income or capital gains, unless you are investing through
a tax‑advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or individual
retirement account. If you invest through
such tax‑advantaged arrangements, you may be taxed later upon
withdrawal from those arrangements.
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 Fund’s Adviser, and the Fund’s
distributor or any of their affiliates may pay the financial intermediary for
the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a
conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary and your
salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your individual
salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
Additional
Information About
Principal
Investment Strategies and Principal Risks
Investment
Objectives
Each
Fund’s investment objective described in its respective Fund Summary section is
non-fundamental, which means each Fund may change its investment objective
without shareholder approval or prior notice.
Principal
Investment Strategies
References
to the “Adviser” in the discussions of a Fund’s principal investment strategies
or principal risks below shall refer to such Fund’s investment adviser, which is
DoubleLine Alternatives in respect of DoubleLine Commodity Strategy ETF
(“Commodity Strategy ETF”) and is DoubleLine ETF Adviser in respect of
DoubleLine Fortune 500 Equal Weight ETF (“Fortune 500 ETF”).
DoubleLine Commodity Strategy ETF
The
Fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”). The Fund normally seeks to generate
total return over a full market cycle through long exposures to
commodity-related investments. The
23
commodities
to which the Fund expects to have investment exposure principally include,
without limitation, industrial metals (e.g., aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, zinc);
precious metals (e.g., gold and silver);
oil, gas and other energy commodities (e.g., crude oil, brent oil, gasoil, RBOB
(reformulated blendstock for oxygenate blending) gasoline, and heating oil);
agricultural products (e.g., coffee,
corn, soybeans, sugar, cotton, wheat); and livestock (e.g., lean hogs, live cattle). The Fund
expects to gain broad commodity exposures consistent with the Barclays
Backwardation Tilt Multi-Strategy Index (the “Barclays Index”) by entering into total and
excess return swaps, futures contracts, options on futures (which may be puts or
calls and which may be exchange-traded or over-the-counter) and/or forward
contracts the performance of which is based on the performance of the Barclays
Index.
The
Fund expects to use instruments that involve investment leverage to achieve
commodity exposures and expects to have, under normal circumstances, investment
exposure to commodities in an amount up to the value of the Fund’s total assets.
Because the Fund expects to obtain its commodities exposures through total and
excess return swaps, futures contracts, options on futures, and/or forward
contracts that do not require significant investment of the Fund’s cash, the
Fund expects to have cash available to invest in other assets. The Fund
currently expects that those other investments will be comprised principally of
fixed-income investments. See “Fixed Income Investments” below. It is possible
that the Fund might lose money on both its commodity exposures and on its
fixed-income investments.
The
Fund expects to enter into swap transactions based on the Barclays Index with a
single or a limited number of counterparties for the foreseeable future and, at
the time of the Fund’s inception, the Fund expects to obtain exposure to the
Barclays Index through swap transactions with a single counterparty. In
selecting swap counterparties for the Fund, the Adviser will normally consider a
variety of factors, including, without limitation, cost; the quality,
reliability, and responsiveness of a counterparty; the operational compatibility
between a counterparty and the Adviser; and a counterparty’s creditworthiness.
Through the Fund’s exposure to derivative instrument counterparties, the Fund
expects to have exposure to the financial services sector.
In
order to qualify as a regulated investment company under Subchapter M of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), a fund must meet requirements including
regarding the source of its income. Income from certain commodity-related
instruments and from direct investments in commodities does not constitute
income that meets the qualification requirements for a regulated investment
company under the Code (“qualifying income”). The Fund generally intends to gain
exposure to commodities through direct investments that it believes give rise to
qualifying income or indirectly through its investment in one or more
subsidiaries in a manner that gives rise to qualifying income. In particular,
the Fund expects to obtain commodities exposures by investing in one or more
subsidiary private investment vehicles organized outside the United States that
invest directly or indirectly in commodities or in derivatives transactions
relating to commodities where the Adviser determines that it may benefit the
Fund if the subsidiary invests in those transactions. DoubleLine Commodity ETF
Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Fund (the “Subsidiary”), is currently expected to
participate in such investments. A fund must also limit its investment in a
subsidiary or group of subsidiaries to no more than 25% of the fund’s total
assets as of the end of each quarter of the fund’s taxable year in order to meet
the asset diversification requirement for qualification as a regulated
investment company. The Fund does not expect to invest more than 25% of its
total assets in a subsidiary as of the end of each quarter of the Fund’s taxable
year, though its investments in the Subsidiary may exceed 25% of its assets at
times other than the end of each quarter of the Fund’s taxable year. The
Subsidiary will make the swap, futures, option and/or forward investments that
give the Fund exposure to the Barclays Index. When used in this Prospectus the
term “Fund” includes the Subsidiary and the term “invest” includes investments
that the Fund makes through the Subsidiary.
The
Fund will treat the Subsidiary’s assets as assets of the Fund, and will comply
on an aggregate basis with the Subsidiary, for purposes of determining
compliance with various provisions of the 1940
24
Act
applicable to the Fund, including those relating to investment policies (Section
8), capital structure and leverage (Section 18) (such that the Fund treats the
Subsidiary’s debt as its own for purposes of Section 18) and affiliated
transactions and custody (Section 17). In addition, the Adviser and the
Fund’s Board of Trustees will comply with the provisions of Section 15 of the
1940 Act with respect to the Subsidiary’s investment advisory contract.
Within
its broad commodity universe, the Barclays Index, which consists of futures
contracts, generally favors maintaining higher weightings to commodities that
exhibit backwardation in the term structures of their futures contracts (i.e., where prices of the contracts with
shorter-term expirations will be higher than for contracts with longer-term
expirations). For each commodity, the Barclays Index seeks to provide exposure
to the most attractive futures contract (i.e., contract selection) based on a variety
of factors including carry, seasonality, and momentum:
|
· |
|
The
carry factor seeks to select the futures contract that is expected to
offer the best carry for the following month (“carry” refers to the
relative performance of futures tenors driven by the convergence of
futures prices to spot prices at expiration) (“tenor” refers to the length
of time remaining before a futures contract expires and “spot” refers to
the price at which a commodity can be bought or sold for immediate
delivery). |
|
|
· |
|
The
seasonality factor seeks to provide exposure to a static December futures
tenor that may generally outperform a position held in the front-month
futures tenor. |
|
|
· |
|
The
momentum factor seeks to provide exposure to the futures contract that has
outperformed to the greatest degree the front-month contract rolling
exposure over the past year. |
|
The
Barclays Index seeks to capture two sources of potential outperformance in
commodity futures markets. The first source of potential outperformance comes
through selecting, for each relevant commodity, the eligible futures contract
that is expected to offer the best outperformance relative to the front-month
contract rolling exposure used by the Bloomberg Commodity Index. This is
achieved through the use of certain futures contract selection methodologies
referred to together as “Multi-Strategy.” These Multi-Strategy methodologies
select a futures contract for each commodity that may differ from the futures
contract selected by the Bloomberg Commodity Index, based on the factors
described above including carry, seasonality and momentum. The second source of
potential outperformance comes through overweighting (relative to the weightings
in the Bloomberg Commodity Index) the exposure of the Barclays Index to the
futures contracts of commodities that exhibit the highest degree of
backwardation in the term structures of their futures contracts, while
simultaneously underweighting the exposure to the futures contracts of
commodities that exhibit a lower degree of backwardation. Historically, the
commodities with a higher degree of backwardation have generally had better
historical average performance than the commodities with a lower degree of
backwardation. As of the date of this Prospectus, the Barclays Index consists of
24 constituents.
As
of the date of this Prospectus, the Adviser has licensed from Barclays Bank PLC
(“Barclays” or the “Index Provider”) the right to use the Barclays
Index as part of the Fund’s principal investment strategies, and the Fund
currently expects to obtain all or substantially all of its commodities-related
investment exposure through derivative instruments the performance of which is
based on the performance of the Barclays Index. However, the Adviser at any time
may discontinue the use of the Barclays Index, may supplement exposure to the
Barclays Index with other commodities-related exposures, or may use other
commodities-related indices at any time and without notice. There can be no
assurance that the Fund will continue to use the Barclays Index in implementing
its principal investment strategies.
25
Fixed Income Investments. The Fund expects to obtain its commodities
exposures using derivatives that allow the Fund to achieve those exposures
without significant investment of cash. As a result, the Fund expects to have
available to it cash assets to invest in debt securities managed by the
Adviser, in order to seek to provide
additional total return over a full market cycle. The Fund may invest directly
in debt instruments; alternatively, the Adviser may choose to invest all or a
portion of the Fund’s assets in one or more fixed income ETFs or funds advised
by the Adviser or a related party of the Adviser. Fixed income investments in
which the Fund intends to invest include (i) securities or other
income-producing instruments issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its
agencies, instrumentalities or sponsored corporations (including
inflation-protected securities), specifically, Treasury bills, notes, and bonds
and mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by the Government National Mortgage
Association; (ii) investment-grade debt securities (i.e., those rated above Ba1 by Moody’s
Investors Service, Inc. or above BB+ by S&P Global Ratings or Fitch Ratings,
Inc.) or unrated debt securities that the Adviser determines to be of similar
credit quality, as rated or determined at the time of investment; or
(iii) short-term investments, such as commercial paper, repurchase
agreements and money market funds. Although the Fund may invest in individual
securities of any maturity or duration, the Adviser will normally seek to
construct a fixed income portfolio for the Fund with a dollar-weighted average
effective duration of one year or less.
Under
normal circumstances, the Fund’s portfolio of fixed income investments is
expected to include primarily fixed income instruments rated investment grade
and unrated securities considered by the Adviser to be of comparable credit
quality. Any credit quality requirements as to investments will apply only at
the time of an investment to which the requirement is applicable and shall not
be considered violated unless an excess or deficiency occurs or exists
immediately after and as a result of such investment. Accordingly, any later
credit quality downgrade or change in circumstances will not be considered in
determining whether any investment complies with the Fund’s credit quality
limitation or requirement.
The
Fund is not an index fund; the Fund makes investments other than in an index,
and the Fund’s investment objective is not to seek to approximate the
performance of any index. The Fund may pursue its investment objective and
obtain exposures to some or all of the asset classes described in this
Prospectus by investing in other registered
open‑end or closed‑end investment companies, including ETFs,
including investment companies sponsored or managed by the Adviser or its
related parties.
There
is no limit on the amount of the Fund’s assets that may be allocated to one or
more commodities, and the Fund may at times have significant exposure to a
single commodity or a limited number of commodities. The Fund may invest without
limit in obligations of issuers in any country or group of countries, including
emerging market countries, and investments denominated in foreign currencies. An
“emerging market country” is a country that, at the time the Fund invests in the
related instrument, is classified as an emerging or developing economy by any
supranational organization such as an institution in the World Bank Group or the
United Nations, or an agency thereof, or is considered an emerging market
country for purposes of constructing a major emerging market securities index. A
foreign issuer is any issuer which is a foreign government or a corporation or
other organization incorporated or organized under the laws of any foreign
country. The amount of the Fund’s investment in a particular asset class, or the
types of investments it may make in a particular asset class, may be limited by
tax considerations or limitations imposed by applicable law.
The
Adviser may engage in active and frequent trading of the Fund’s portfolio
investments. Any percentage limitation and requirement as to investments will
apply only at the time of an investment to which the limitation or requirement
is applicable and shall not be considered violated unless an excess or
deficiency occurs or exists immediately after and as a result of such
investment. Accordingly, any later increase or decrease resulting from a change
in values, net assets or other circumstances will not be considered in
determining whether any investment complies with the Fund’s limitation or
requirement.
26
Portfolio
investments may be sold at any time. By way of example, sales may occur when the
Fund’s portfolio managers determine to take advantage of what the portfolio
managers consider to be a better investment opportunity, when the portfolio
managers believe the portfolio investments no longer represent relatively
attractive investment opportunities, when the portfolio managers perceive
deterioration in the credit fundamentals of the issuer, or when the individual
security has reached the portfolio managers’ sell target.
Although
a portion of the Fund’s assets may be invested in instruments the performance of
which is based on an index, the Fund’s overall portfolio is not designed to
replicate the performance of any index. The Fund’s performance will deviate,
potentially significantly, from the performance of any index used by the Fund.
The
Fund is classified as a non‑diversified fund under the Investment Company Act of
1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), and
may invest in the securities of a smaller number of issuers than a diversified
fund.
Principal
Risks
The
Fund’s principal risks are listed below. The significance of any specific risk
to an investment in the Fund will vary over time, depending on the composition
of the Fund’s portfolio, market conditions, and other factors. You should read all of the risk information
presented below carefully, because any one or more of these risks may result in
losses to the Fund.
It is possible to lose money on an investment in the
Fund. Among the principal risks of investing in the Fund, which could
adversely affect its NAV, yield, and total return are the following:
|
|
|
| |
• Active
Management Risk
• Cash
Position Risk
• Commodities
Risk
• Commodity
Pool Regulatory Risk
• Counterparty
Risk
• Debt
Securities Risks
• Derivatives
Risk
• Emerging
Market Country Risk
• ETF
Related Risks
• Financial
Services Risk
• Focused
Investment Risk
• Foreign
Investing Risk
• Index
Risk |
|
• Investment
Company and Exchange-Traded Fund Risk
• Large
Shareholder Risk
• Leveraging
Risk
• Limited
Operating History Risk
• Liquidity
Risk
• Market
Risk
• Models
and Data Risk
• Non‑Diversification
Risk
• Operational
and Information Security Risk |
|
• Portfolio
Turnover Risk
• Securities
or Sector Selection Risk
• Tax
Risk
• U.S.
Government Securities Risk
• Valuation
Risk |
Please
see the section titled “Principal Risks” below for more information regarding
these risks.
DoubleLine Fortune 500 Equal Weight ETF
Under
normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets, plus
the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in securities that
comprise the Underlying Index, or derivatives transactions that provide
investment exposure to the Underlying Index or securities that comprise the
Underlying Index. The Fund will provide its shareholders with at least 60 days’
prior written notice of any change to this investment policy. When investing in
another investment company, the Fund will consider whether such investment
company has an 80% policy to invest in the Underlying Index for purposes of
determining whether to treat an investment therein toward the Fund’s 80% policy
or, if the investment company does not have such an 80% policy, the Fund will
consider the underlying investment company’s portfolio holdings.
27
In
accordance with its guidelines and mandated procedures, Barclays Bank PLC
(“Barclays” or the “Index Provider”) compiles, maintains and
calculates the Underlying Index. The Underlying Index takes the Fortune 500
list, which consists of the 500 largest companies in the United States based on
revenue, and excludes (1) private companies (i.e., those without
publicly-listed equity securities) and those with equity securities not listed
on the NYSE or NASDAQ; (2) and companies with listed equity securities that
do not meet a minimum liquidity threshold or minimum listing period
requirements; (3) companies incorporated outside the U.S.; (4) U.S.
companies owned or controlled by other companies, domestic or foreign, that file
with a government agency; and (5) companies that failed to report full
financial statements for at least three quarters of the current fiscal year. The
Fortune 500 list is generated by Fortune Media (USA) Corporation. The Underlying
Index is reconstituted on an annual basis and is rebalanced otherwise quarterly.
Unlike most equity indices, which are weighted according to the market
capitalizations of their component companies, the constituents of the Underlying
Index are equally weighted, which means that the Underlying Index assigns each
constituent the same weight at each reconstitution and quarterly rebalance,
regardless of such constituent’s market capitalization.
The
Fund will not necessarily employ a “full replication” methodology in seeking to
track the Underlying Index, meaning that the Fund will not necessarily invest in
all of the securities comprising the Underlying Index in proportion to their
weightings in the Underlying Index. Instead, the Adviser may seek to cause the
Fund to hold a representative sample of the securities in the Underlying Index
that have aggregate characteristics similar to that of the entire Underlying
Index. This means that the Fund may not hold all of the securities included in
the Underlying Index, that its weighting of investment exposure to securities or
industries represented in the Underlying Index may be different from that of the
Underlying Index, and that it may hold securities that are not included in the
Underlying Index.
The
Fund may enter into derivatives transactions in lieu of cash investments or
otherwise to gain, or reduce, exposure to the Underlying Index. The Fund may
use, without limitation, futures contracts, swap contracts or investment in
registered open‑end investment companies, including ETFs, in order to gain
investment exposures to the Underlying Index or to one or more components of the
Underlying Index more quickly and/or economically. For example, the Fund might
enter into swap transactions or futures transactions designed to provide the
Fund a return before fees and expenses approximating the Underlying Index’s
return, including swap transactions or futures transactions where the reference
asset is the Underlying Index, or securities that comprise the Underlying Index.
The
Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., invest 25% or more of the value of its
total assets) in securities of issuers in any one industry or group of
industries to the extent that the Underlying Index reflects a concentration in
that industry or group of industries.
The
Adviser may engage in active and frequent trading of the Fund’s portfolio
investments. In order to seek to reduce the Fund’s tracking error relative to
the Underlying Index by generating additional income to offset the fees and
expenses that a fund, unlike an index, incurs, the Fund may lend portfolio
securities with a value up to 33 1/3% of its total assets,
including collateral received for securities lent. The Fund will invest any cash
collateral received for securities lent in money market investments or money
market funds.
Principal
Risks
The
Fund’s principal risks are listed below. The significance of any specific risk
to an investment in the Fund will vary over time, depending on the composition
of the Fund’s portfolio, market conditions, and other factors. You should read all of the risk information
presented below carefully, because any one or more of these risks may result in
losses to the Fund.
28
It is possible to lose money on an investment in the
Fund. Among the principal risks of investing in the Fund, which could
adversely affect its NAV, yield, and total return are the following:
|
| |
• Counterparty
Risk
• Derivatives
Risk
• ETF
Related Risks
• Equity
Issuer Risk
• Index
Risk
• Index
Provider Risk
• Industry
Concentration Risk
• Large
Capitalization Risk
• Large
Shareholder Risk
• Limited
Operation History Risk |
|
• Liquidity
Risk
• Market
Risk
• Non‑Correlation
Risk
• Operational
and Information Security Risk
• Passive
Investing Risk
• Portfolio
Turnover Risk
• Securities
Lending Risk
• Valuation
Risk |
Please
see the section titled “Principal Risks” below for more information regarding
these risks.
Other
Information Regarding Principal Investment Strategies
All percentage limitations and requirements as to
investments discussed in this Prospectus or the SAI will apply only at the time
of an investment to which the limitation or requirement is applicable and shall
not be considered violated unless an excess or deficiency occurs or exists
immediately after and as a result of such investment. Accordingly, any later
increase or decrease resulting from a change in values, net assets or other
circumstances will not be considered in determining whether any investment
complies with a Fund’s limitation or requirement. Such percentage limitations
and requirements do not apply to the asset coverage test set forth in
Section 18(f)(1) of the 1940 Act. Section 18(f)(1) of the 1940 Act
prohibits registered open-end investment companies from issuing any senior
security except that any such registered company shall be permitted to borrow
from any bank provided that immediately after any such borrowing there is an
asset coverage of at least 300% for all borrowings of such registered company
and provided further that, in the event that such asset coverage shall at any
time fall below 300%, such registered company shall, within three days
thereafter (not including Sundays and holidays) or such longer period as the SEC
may prescribe by rules and regulations, reduce the amount of its borrowings to
an extent that the asset coverage of such borrowings shall be at least 300%. The
term “senior security” includes any bond, debenture, note, or similar obligation
or instrument constituting a security and evidencing indebtedness.
For purposes of applying any limitations on a Fund’s
investments in bonds, when an investment is rated by more than one nationally
recognized securities rating organization, the Adviser will utilize the highest
credit rating for that security for purposes of applying any investment policies
that incorporate credit ratings (e.g., a policy to invest a certain percentage
of a Fund’s assets in securities rated investment grade) except where a Fund has
a policy to invest a certain minimum percentage of its assets in securities that
are rated below investment grade, in which case the Fund will utilize the lowest
credit rating that applies to that investment.
Generally, this Prospectus uses the terms debt
security, debt obligation, debt instrument, bond, fixed-income instrument,
fixed-income obligation and fixed-income security interchangeably. These terms
should be considered to include any evidence of indebtedness, including, by way
of example, a security or instrument having one or more of the following
characteristics: a security or instrument issued at a discount to its face
value, a security or instrument that pays interest at a fixed, floating, or
variable rate, or a security or instrument with a stated principal amount that
requires repayment of some or all of that
29
principal amount to the holder of the security. Each
of these terms is interpreted broadly and would include any instrument or
security evidencing a payment obligation, such as an IOU. Interests representing
corporate ownership may also be a debt obligation for these purposes if, for
example, the interest represents an indirect or derivative interest in one or
more payment obligations. For this purpose, the terms also include instruments
that are intended to provide one or more of the characteristics of a direct
investment in one or more debt securities. This Prospectus also uses the term
hybrid security to refer to a security that the Adviser or a third party creates
by combining an income-producing debt security and the right to receive payment
based on the change in the price of an equity security.
Principal
Risks
Risk
is the chance that you will lose money on your investment or that it will not
earn as much as you expect. In general, the greater the risk, the more money
your investment may earn for you — and the more you can lose. The value of each Fund’s shares will vary as its
portfolio investments increase or decrease in value. Therefore, the value of
your investment in a Fund could go down as well as up. You can lose money by
investing in a Fund. When you sell your shares of a Fund, they could be
worth more or less than what you paid for them.
Each
Fund is affected by changes in the economy, in portfolio securities and in the
various markets for financial instruments. There is also the possibility that
investment decisions the Adviser makes with respect to the investments of the
Fund will not accomplish what they were designed to achieve or that the
investments will have disappointing performance.
The
Funds’ principal risks are listed below in alphabetical order, not in order of
importance. The significance of any specific risk to an investment in a Fund
will vary over time, depending on the composition of the Fund’s portfolio,
market conditions, and other factors. Your investment in a Fund may be subject
(in varying degrees) to the following risks discussed below. Each Fund may be more susceptible to some of
the risks than others. You should read all of the risk information for your Fund
presented below carefully, because any one or more of these risks may result in
losses to the Fund.
Active
Management Risk
The
risk that a Fund may fail to meet its investment objective and that a Fund’s
investment performance will depend, at least in part, on how its assets are
allocated and reallocated among the asset classes, sectors, underlying funds
and/or investments in which it invests. It is possible that the Adviser’s
judgements about the attractiveness, value and potential performance of asset
classes, sectors, underlying funds, and/or investments may prove to be incorrect
and may not anticipate actual market movements or the impact of economic
conditions generally. You could lose money on your investment in a Fund as a
result of these judgements and allocation decisions. To the extent that a Fund
invests a significant portion of its assets in a single or limited number of
asset classes, sectors, underlying funds, or investments, it will be
particularly sensitive to the risks associated with the asset classes, sectors,
funds, or investments in which it invests. Any given investment strategy may
fail to produce the intended results, and a Fund’s portfolio may underperform
other comparable funds because of portfolio management decisions related to,
among other things, the selection of investments, portfolio construction, risk
assessments, and/or the outlook on market trends and opportunities.
Cash
Position Risk
A
Fund may hold any portion of its assets in cash, cash equivalents, or other
short-term investments at any time or for an extended time. The Adviser will
determine the amount of a Fund’s assets to be held in cash or cash equivalents
at its sole discretion, based on such factors as it may consider appropriate
under the circumstances. To the extent that a Fund holds assets in cash or is
otherwise uninvested, the Fund’s ability to meet its objective may be limited.
30
In
addition, a Fund may maintain substantially all of its cash and cash equivalents
in accounts with U.S. or foreign financial institutions, and its deposits at
certain of these institutions may exceed insured limits, where applicable.
Volatility in the banking system may impact the viability of such banking and
financial services institutions. In the event of failure of any of the financial
institutions where a Fund maintains its cash and cash equivalents, there can be
no assurance that the Fund would be able to access uninsured funds in a timely
manner or at all and the Fund may incur losses. Any such event could adversely
affect the business, liquidity, financial position and performance of such Fund.
See “Market Risk” in this section for more information.
Commodities
Risk
A
Fund may directly or indirectly have exposure to global commodity markets or
particular commodities and the value of its shares may be affected by changes in
the values of the Fund’s investment exposures to commodities or
commodity-related instruments. The values of such investments may be extremely
volatile and may be difficult to determine, are subject to the risk of possible
illiquidity, and are subject to the risks and costs associated with delivery,
storage, and maintenance of physical commodities themselves. The values of
commodities and commodity-related instruments may be affected by a wide range of
factors, including overall market movements, speculative activity of other
investors, real or perceived inflationary trends, commodity index volatility,
changes in interest rates or currency exchange rates, population growth and
changing demographics, nationalization, expropriation or other confiscation,
economic or other sanctions, international regulatory, political, and economic
developments (for example, regime changes, trade disputes, wars and changes in
economic activity levels), environmental issues or regulation, and developments
affecting supply, demand and/or other market fundamentals with respect to a
particular sector, industry, or commodity, such as drought, floods, or other
weather conditions, livestock disease, trade embargoes, competition from
substitute products, transportation bottlenecks or shortages, insufficient
storage capacity, fluctuations in supply and demand, tariffs, and international
economic, political and regulatory developments. Commodity Strategy ETF expects
to have significant exposure to particular sectors through its
commodities-related investments, including, for example, the energy, industrial
metals, precious metals, and agricultural and livestock sectors and may be
exposed to greater risk associated with events affecting those sectors. Certain
commodities may originate from or be produced in countries or regions that are
experiencing or may experience social and political unrest and may be subject to
risks associated with economic, social or political developments in those
countries or regions.
The
energy sector can be significantly affected by changes in the prices and
supplies of oil and other energy fuels, energy conservation, the success of
exploration projects, and tax and other government regulations, policies of the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (“OPEC”) and relationships among OPEC members and
between OPEC and oil-importing nations. A Fund may be affected by the volume of
natural gas, oil or other energy commodities available for transporting,
processing or distribution, and a significant increase or decrease in the
production of energy commodities could impact the value of the Fund’s
commodity-related investments within the energy sector. Commodities-related
investments in the energy sector may also be affected by other factors, such as
declines or increases in the demand for crude oil, natural gas, refined
petroleum products or other energy commodities. Supply and demand for energy
commodities may be affected by a number of factors, including general market
conditions, major weather events and natural disasters, reliability or energy
infrastructure, increases in the values of the underlying commodities, taxes or
other regulatory or legislative actions, and consumer sentiment.
The
industrial metals sector can be affected by sharp price volatility over short
periods caused by global economic, financial and political factors, resource
availability, government regulation, economic cycles, changes in inflation or
expectations about inflation in various countries, interest rates, currency
fluctuations, metal sales by governments, central banks, international agencies,
or other large market participants and investment speculation and fluctuations
in industrial and commercial supply and
31
demand.
Commodities-related investments in the industrial metals sector may also be
affected by other factors, including extraction, storage and production costs
and by changes in supply and demand for certain metals.
The
agricultural and livestock sector may be particularly impacted by weather
conditions, such as drought, flood, or other natural disasters, seasonal demand
and availability of products, competition from substitute products,
transportation bottlenecks or shortages, and fluctuations in supply and demand.
The agricultural and livestock sector may also be regulated by environmental,
health and safety laws and regulations and may be impacted by other political or
regulatory developments.
Commodity-related
investments are often offered by companies in the financial services sector,
including the banking, brokerage and insurance sectors. As a result, events
affecting issuers in the financial services sector may cause a Fund’s share
value to fluctuate. The values of investments in commodities may fluctuate in a
manner that is highly correlated with the values of traditional equity or debt
securities, especially during adverse economic conditions, and at certain times
the price movements of commodity-related investments have been highly correlated
to those of debt or equity securities.
A
Fund may from time to time invest in one or more subsidiaries organized outside
the United States that invest directly or indirectly in, among other things,
commodities or commodity-related investments. A Fund’s investment in any one
subsidiary (or in two or more subsidiaries that are engaged in the same, similar
or a related trade or business) is generally limited to 25% of the Fund’s total
assets, and the value of such an investment will be especially subject to the
risks of commodities-related investments described herein. Any such subsidiary
will not be registered under the 1940 Act and will not be subject to all the
investor protections of the 1940 Act. Changes in the laws of the United States
and/or the jurisdiction where the subsidiary is organized (for example, the
Cayman Islands) could result in the inability of a Fund and/or its subsidiary to
operate as described in this Prospectus and the SAI and could adversely affect
the Fund.
A
Fund may also directly or indirectly use commodity-related derivatives. The
values of these derivatives may fluctuate more than the relevant underlying
commodity, commodities or commodity index, particularly if the instruments
involve leverage. A Fund’s ability to invest in commodity-related derivative
instruments may be limited by the Fund’s intention to qualify as a regulated
investment company, and investments in such instruments could adversely affect
the Fund’s ability to so qualify. If a Fund’s investments in commodity-related
derivative instruments were to exceed applicable limits or if such investments
were to be recharacterized for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the Fund might
be unable to qualify as a regulated investment company for one or more years,
which would adversely affect the value of the Fund.
No
active trading market may exist for certain commodity-related investments, which
may impair the ability of a Fund to value, sell or to realize the full intrinsic
value of such investments in the event of the need to liquidate such
investments. In addition, adverse market conditions may impair the liquidity of
actively traded commodity-related investments.
Commodity
Pool Regulatory Risk
The
Commodity Strategy ETF’s investment exposure to instruments such as futures or
swaps will cause it to be deemed to be a commodity pool, thereby subjecting it
to regulation under the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) and CFTC rules. DoubleLine Alternatives
is registered as a commodity pool operator (“CPO”), and the Fund will be operated in
accordance with applicable CFTC rules, as well as the regulatory scheme
applicable to registered investment companies. Registration as a CPO imposes
additional compliance obligations on DoubleLine Alternatives and the Commodity
Strategy ETF related to additional laws, regulations, and enforcement policies,
which could increase compliance costs and may affect the operations and
financial performance of the Commodity Strategy ETF. However, the Commodity
Strategy ETF’s status as a commodity pool and the Adviser’s registration as a
CPO are not expected to materially adversely affect the Fund’s ability to
achieve its investment objective.
32
Counterparty
Risk
A
Fund will be subject to credit risk presented by another party (whether a
clearing corporation in the case of exchange-traded or cleared instruments or
another third party in the case of over‑the‑counter instruments) that promises
to honor an obligation to a Fund with respect to the derivative contracts and
other instruments entered into by a Fund. There can be no assurance that a
counterparty will be able or willing to meet its obligations. If such a party
becomes bankrupt or insolvent or otherwise fails or is unwilling to perform its
obligations to a Fund due to financial difficulties or for other reasons, the
Fund may experience significant losses or delays in enforcing contractual
remedies and/or obtaining any recovery from the counterparty, including
realizing on any collateral the counterparty has provided in respect of the
counterparty’s obligations to the Fund or recovering collateral that a Fund has
provided and is entitled to recover. If a Fund’s claim against a counterparty is
unsecured, the Fund will likely be treated as a general creditor of such
counterparty to the extent of such unsecured claim. A Fund may obtain only a
limited recovery or may obtain no recovery in such circumstances. New regulatory
requirements may also limit the ability of the Fund to protect its interests in
the event of an insolvency of a derivatives counterparty. In the event of a
counterparty’s (or its affiliate’s) insolvency, the Fund’s ability to exercise
remedies, such as the termination of transactions, netting of obligations and
realization on collateral, could be stayed or eliminated under special
resolution regimes adopted in the United States, the European Union (“EU”), the United Kingdom (the “UK”) and various other jurisdictions. Such
regimes provide government authorities with broad authority to intervene when a
financial institution is experiencing financial difficulty. In particular, with
respect to counterparties who are subject to such proceedings in the EU or the
UK, the liabilities of such counterparties to the Fund could be reduced,
eliminated, or converted to equity in such counterparties (sometimes referred to
as a “bail in”).
Subject
to certain U.S. federal income tax limitations, the Funds are not subject to any
limit with respect to the number or the value of transactions they can enter
into with a single counterparty.
The
Funds will likely, for the foreseeable future, obtain any synthetic exposure to
an index through swap transactions with a single or a limited number of
counterparties and, at the time of the Fund’s inception, the Funds expect to
obtain any synthetic exposure to an index through a swap transaction with a
single counterparty. Counterparty risks will be more pronounced for the Funds
due to the single or limited number of counterparties expected to be used by the
Funds for the foreseeable future.
Debt
Securities Risks
Debt
securities are subject to various risks including, among others, credit risk and
interest rate risk. These risks can affect a security’s price volatility to
varying degrees, depending upon the nature of the instrument.
Credit risk:
refers to the risk that an issuer, counterparty or other obligor
to the Fund will fail to pay its obligations to a Fund when they are due. If an
investment’s issuer, counterparty or other obligor fails to pay interest or
otherwise fails to meet its obligations to a Fund, the value of the investment
might be lost entirely. Financial strength and solvency of an issuer are the
primary factors influencing credit risk. Actual or perceived changes in the
financial condition of an obligor, changes in specific economic, social or
political conditions that affect a particular type of security, other instrument
or an obligor, and changes in economic, social or political conditions generally
can increase the risk of default by an obligor, which can affect a security’s or
other instrument’s credit quality or value and an obligor’s ability to honor its
obligations when due. The values of lower-quality debt securities tend to be
particularly sensitive to these changes. Certain debt securities in the lowest
investment grade category also may be considered to possess some speculative
characteristics by certain rating agencies. The values of securities or
instruments also
33
may
decline for a number of other reasons that relate directly to the obligor, such
as management performance, financial leverage, and reduced demand for the
obligor’s goods and services, as well as the historical and prospective earnings
of the obligor and the value of its assets. Credit risk is heightened to the
extent a Fund has fewer counterparties.
In
addition, lack of or inadequacy of collateral or credit enhancements for a fixed
income security may affect its credit risk. Credit risk of a security may change
over time, and securities which are rated by rating agencies may be subject to
downgrade, which may have an indirect impact on the market price of securities.
Ratings are only opinions of the agencies issuing them as to the likelihood of
repayment. They are not guarantees as to quality and they do not reflect market
risk.
Extension risk:
refers to the risk that if interest rates rise, repayments of
principal on certain debt securities, including, but not limited to, floating
rate loans and mortgage-related securities, may occur at a slower rate than
expected and the expected maturity of those securities could lengthen as a
result. Securities that are subject to extension risk generally have a greater
potential for loss when prevailing interest rates rise, which could cause their
values to fall sharply. The values of interest-only and principal-only
securities are especially sensitive to interest rate changes, which can affect
not only their prices but can also change the income flows and repayment
assumptions about those investments.
Interest rate risk:
refers to the risk that the values of debt instruments held by a
Fund will change in response to changes in interest rates. Interest rate changes
may affect the value of a fixed income instrument directly (especially in the
case of fixed rate instruments) and indirectly (especially in the case of
adjustable-rate instruments). In general, the value of a fixed-income instrument
with positive duration will generally decline if interest rates increase,
whereas the value of an instrument with negative duration will generally decline
if interest rates decrease. The value of an instrument with a longer duration
(whether positive or negative) will be more sensitive to changes in interest
rates than a similar instrument with a shorter duration. Duration is a measure
of the expected life of a bond that is used to determine the sensitivity of an
instrument’s price to changes in interest rates. For example, the price of a
bond fund with an average duration of three years generally would be expected to
fall approximately 3% if interest rates rose by one percentage point. Recently,
there have been inflationary price movements, which have caused the fixed income
securities markets to experience heightened levels of interest rate volatility
and liquidity risk. The risks associated with rising interest rates are
heightened under current market conditions given that the U.S. Federal Reserve
has raised interest rates from historically low levels and may continue to do
so. Further, in market environments where interest rates are rising, issuers may
be less willing or able to make principal and interest payments on fixed-income
investments when due.
The
values of variable and floating rate debt securities are generally less
sensitive to interest rate changes, as compared to fixed rate debt instruments,
but may decline in value if their interest rates do not rise as much, or as
quickly, as interest rates in general. A floating rate debt security’s interest
rate depends on the characteristics of the reset terms, including the index
chosen and the frequency of reset and any caps or floors, among other things.
Conversely, floating rate securities will not generally increase in value at all
or to the same extent as fixed rate instruments when interest rates decline.
Inverse floating rate debt securities may decrease in value if interest rates
increase. Inverse floating rate debt securities also may exhibit greater price
volatility than a fixed rate debt obligation with similar credit quality. When a
Fund holds variable or floating rate securities, a decrease (or, in the case of
inverse floating rate securities, an increase) in market interest rates will
adversely affect the income received from such securities and a Fund’s NAV.
Prepayment/Reinvestment Risk: Many
types of debt securities, including floating rate loans, mortgage-backed
securities and asset-backed securities, may reflect an interest in periodic
34
payments
made by borrowers. Although debt securities and other obligations typically
mature after a specified period of time, borrowers may pay them off sooner. When
a prepayment happens, all or a portion of the obligation will be prepaid. A
borrower is more likely to prepay an obligation which bears a relatively high
rate of interest. This means that in times of declining interest rates, there is
a greater likelihood that a Fund’s higher yielding securities will be pre‑paid
and the Fund will probably be unable to reinvest those proceeds in an investment
with as great a yield, causing the Fund’s yield to decline. Securities subject
to prepayment risk generally offer less potential for gains when prevailing
interest rates fall. If a Fund buys those investments at a premium, accelerated
prepayments on those investments could cause a Fund to lose a portion of its
principal investment and result in lower yields to shareholders. The increased
likelihood of prepayment when interest rates decline also limits market price
appreciation, especially with respect to certain loans, mortgage-backed
securities and asset-backed securities. The effect of prepayments on the price
of a security may be difficult to predict and may increase the security’s price
volatility. Interest-only and principal-only securities are especially sensitive
to interest rate changes, which can affect not only their prices but can also
change the income flows and repayment assumptions about those investments.
Income from a Fund’s portfolio may decline when a Fund invests the proceeds from
investment income, sales of portfolio securities or matured, traded or called
debt obligations. A decline in income received by a Fund from its investments is
likely to have a negative effect on the dividend levels, NAV and/or overall
return of a Fund.
Derivatives
Risk
A
Fund’s use of derivatives may involve risks different from, or greater than, the
risks associated with investing in more traditional investments, such as stocks
and bonds. Any use of derivatives strategies entails the risks of investing
directly in the securities, instruments, or assets underlying the derivatives
strategies, as well as the risks of using derivatives generally. Derivatives can
be highly complex and may perform in ways unanticipated by the Adviser and may
not be available at the time or price desired. Derivatives positions may also be
improperly executed or constructed.
A
Fund’s use of derivatives involves the risk that the other party to the
derivative contract will fail to make required payments or otherwise to comply
with the terms of the contract. In the event the counterparty to a derivative
instrument defaults and/or becomes insolvent, a Fund potentially could lose all
or a large portion of the value of its investment in the derivative instrument.
Derivatives transactions can create investment leverage and may be highly
volatile, and a Fund could lose significantly more than the amount it invests.
Because most derivatives involve contractual arrangements with a counterparty, a
Fund’s ability to enter into them requires a willing counterparty. A Fund’s
ability to close out or unwind a derivatives position prior to expiration or
maturity may also depend on the ability and willingness of the counterparty to
enter into a transaction closing out the position.
Derivatives
may be difficult to value, illiquid and/or volatile. A Fund may not be able to
close out or sell a derivative position at an advantageous price or time.
Use
of derivatives may affect the amount, timing and character of distributions to
shareholders and, therefore, may increase the amount of taxes payable by taxable
shareholders.
A
Fund may use derivatives to create investment leverage and the Fund’s use of
derivatives may otherwise cause its portfolio to be leveraged. Leverage
increases a Fund’s portfolio losses when the value of its investments declines.
Since many derivatives involve leverage, adverse changes in the value or level
of the underlying asset, rate, or index may result in a loss substantially
greater than the amount invested in the derivative itself. Some derivatives have
the potential for unlimited loss, regardless of the size of the initial
investment.
35
When
a Fund enters into a derivatives transaction as a substitute for or alternative
to a direct cash investment, that Fund is exposed to the risk that the
derivative transaction may not provide a return that corresponds precisely or at
all with that of the underlying investment. When a Fund uses a derivative for
hedging purposes, it is possible that the derivative will not in fact provide
the anticipated protection, and the Fund could lose money on both the derivative
transaction and the exposure the Fund sought to hedge. While hedging strategies
involving derivatives can reduce the risk of loss, they can also reduce the
opportunity for gain or even result in losses by offsetting favorable price
movements in other Fund investments.
The
derivatives markets are subject to various global regulations, and additional
future regulation of the derivatives markets may make derivatives more costly,
may limit the availability or liquidity of derivatives, or may otherwise
adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. Any such regulation
could impair the effectiveness of a Fund’s derivatives transactions or its
ability to effect its investment strategy and cause a Fund to lose value. In
particular, the U.S. government, the United Kingdom, the European Union and
various other jurisdictions have adopted mandatory minimum margin requirements
for bilateral derivatives. Such requirements could increase the amount of margin
required to be provided by a Fund in connection with its derivatives
transactions and, therefore, make its derivatives transactions more expensive
and potentially impair its ability to effect its investment strategy. U.S.
government legislation providing for regulation of the derivatives market also
includes clearing, reporting, and registration requirements, which could
restrict a Fund’s ability to engage in derivatives transactions or increase the
cost or uncertainty involved in such transactions. The European Union and the
United Kingdom (and some other jurisdictions) have implemented or are in the
process of implementing similar requirements, which will affect a Fund when it
enters into a derivatives transaction with a counterparty subject to such
requirements.
A
Fund typically will be required to post collateral or make margin payments in
connection with entering into derivatives transactions. Assets that are used as
margin or collateral may be required to be in the form of cash or liquid
securities. If markets move against a Fund’s position, the Fund will generally
be required to post additional assets and may have to dispose of existing
investments to obtain assets acceptable as collateral or margin. This may
prevent a Fund from pursuing its investment objective. Assets that are used as
margin or collateral typically may be invested, and these investments are
subject to risk and may result in losses to a Fund. These losses may be
substantial, and may be in addition to losses incurred by using the derivative
in question. If a Fund is unable to close out its position, it may be required
to continue to maintain such accounts and fulfill its payment obligations until
the position expires or matures, and the Fund will continue to be subject to
investment risk on the assets. In addition, a Fund may not be able to recover
the full amount of its margin from its counterparty or an intermediary if such
entity were to experience financial difficulty. Margin and collateral
requirements may impair a Fund’s ability to sell a portfolio security or make an
investment at a time when it would otherwise be favorable to do so, or require a
Fund to sell a portfolio security or close out a derivatives position at a
disadvantageous time or price.
Rule
18f‑4 governs a Fund’s use of derivative investments and certain financing
transactions. Among other things, Rule 18f‑4 requires funds that invest in
derivative instruments beyond a specified limited amount to apply a
value‑at‑risk based limit to their use of certain derivative instruments and
financing transactions and to adopt and implement a derivatives risk management
program. Funds that use derivative instruments (beyond certain currency and
interest rate hedging transactions) to a limited degree are not subject to the
full requirements of Rule 18f‑4. Regulatory limitations on derivatives
transactions could have the effect of restricting the Fund’s use of derivative
investments and financing transactions and prevent the Fund from implementing
its principal investment strategies as described herein, which may result in
changes to the Fund’s principal investment strategies and could adversely affect
the Fund’s performance and its ability to achieve its investment objective.
36
While
legislative and regulatory measures may provide protections for some market
participants, they are evolving and still being implemented and their effects on
derivatives markets activities cannot be reliably predicted. Current and future
regulation of the derivatives markets may make derivatives more costly, may
limit the availability or liquidity of derivatives, or may otherwise adversely
affect the value or performance of derivatives. Any such adverse developments
could impair the effectiveness of the Fund’s derivatives transactions and cause
the Fund to lose value.
Emerging
Market Country Risk
Investing
in the securities of emerging market countries, as compared to foreign developed
markets, involves substantial additional risk due to more limited information
about the issuer and/or the security; higher brokerage costs; different
accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards; less developed legal
systems and thinner trading markets; the possibility of currency blockages or
transfer restrictions; an emerging market country’s dependence on revenue from
particular commodities or international aid; and expropriation, nationalization
or other adverse political or economic developments, such as the imposition of
economic sanctions, tariffs or other governmental restrictions.
Political
and economic structures in many emerging market countries may undergo
significant evolution and rapid development, and such countries may lack the
social, political and economic stability characteristics of more developed
countries. Emerging market countries tend to have a greater degree of economic,
political and social instability than the United States and other developed
countries. Such social, political and economic instability could disrupt the
financial markets in which a Fund invests and adversely affect the value of its
investment portfolio. Some of these countries may have in the past failed to
recognize private property rights and have at times nationalized or expropriated
the assets of private companies. In addition, unanticipated political or social
developments may affect the value of investments in emerging markets and the
availability of additional investments in these markets. The small size, limited
trading volume and relative inexperience of the securities markets in these
countries may make investments in securities traded in emerging markets illiquid
and more volatile than investments in securities traded in more developed
countries, and a Fund may be required to establish special custodial or other
arrangements before making investments in securities traded in emerging markets.
There may be little financial or accounting information available with respect
to issuers of emerging market securities, and it may be difficult as a result to
assess the value or prospects of an investment in such securities.
The
securities markets of emerging market countries may be substantially smaller,
less developed, less liquid and more volatile than the major securities markets
in the United States and other developed nations. The limited size of many
securities markets in emerging market countries and limited trading volume in
issuers compared to the volume in U.S. securities or securities of issuers in
other developed countries could cause prices to be erratic for reasons other
than factors that affect the quality of the securities and investments in
emerging markets can become illiquid. For example, limited market size may cause
prices to be unduly influenced by traders who control large positions. Adverse
publicity and investors’ perceptions, whether or not based on fundamental
analysis, may decrease the value and liquidity of portfolio securities,
especially in these markets. In addition, emerging market countries’ exchanges
and broker-dealers may generally be subject to less regulation than their
counterparts in developed countries. Emerging market securities markets,
exchanges and market participants may lack the regulatory oversight and
sophistication necessary to deter or detect market manipulation in such
exchanges or markets, which may result in losses to the Fund to the extent it
holds investments trading in such exchanges or markets. Brokerage commissions
and dealer mark-ups, custodial expenses and other transaction costs are
generally higher in emerging market countries than in developed countries. As a
result, funds that invest in emerging market countries have operating expenses
that are higher than funds investing in other securities markets.
37
Emerging
market countries may have different clearance and settlement procedures than in
the United States, including significantly longer settlement cycles for
purchases and sales of securities, and in certain markets there may be times
when settlements fail to keep pace with the volume of securities transactions,
making it difficult to conduct such transactions. Further, custody practices
abroad may offer less protection generally to investors, such as a Fund, and
satisfactory custodial services for investment securities may not be available
in some emerging market countries, which may result in a Fund incurring
additional costs and delays in transporting and custodying such securities
outside such countries. Delays in settlement or other problems could result in
periods when assets of a Fund are uninvested and no return is earned thereon.
The inability of a Fund to make intended security purchases due to settlement
problems or the risk of intermediary counterparty failures could cause the Fund
to miss attractive investment opportunities. The inability to dispose of a
portfolio security due to settlement problems could result either in losses to a
Fund due to subsequent declines in the value of such portfolio security or, if
the Fund has entered into a contract to sell the security, could result in
possible liability to the purchaser.
The
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which regulates auditors of U.S.
public companies, is unable to inspect audit work papers in certain foreign
countries. Investors in foreign countries often have limited rights and few
practical remedies to pursue shareholder claims, including class actions or
fraud claims, and the ability of the SEC, the U.S. Department of Justice and
other authorities to bring and enforce actions against foreign issuers or
foreign persons is limited. Regulatory regimes outside of the United States may
not require or enforce corporate governance standards comparable to that of the
United States, which may result in less protections for investors in such
issuers and make such issuers more susceptible to actions not in the best
interest of the issuer or its investors.
In
certain emerging market countries, governments participate to a significant
degree, through ownership or regulation, in their respective economies. Action
by these governments could have a significant adverse effect on market prices of
securities and payment of dividends. In addition, most emerging market countries
have experienced substantial, and in some periods extremely high, rates of
inflation. Inflation and rapid fluctuation in inflation rates have had and may
continue to have very negative effects on the economies and securities markets
of certain emerging market countries.
The
currencies of certain emerging market countries have sometimes experienced
devaluations relative to the U.S. dollar, and future devaluations may adversely
affect the value of assets denominated in such currencies. A devaluation of the
currency in which portfolio securities are denominated will negatively impact
the value of those securities. Many emerging market countries have experienced
substantial, and in some periods extremely high, rates of inflation or deflation
for many years, and future inflation may adversely affect the economies and
securities markets of such countries. When debt and similar obligations issued
by foreign issuers are denominated in a currency (e.g., the U.S. dollar or the euro) other than
the local currency of the issuer, the subsequent strengthening of the non-local
currency against the local currency will generally increase the burden of
repayment on the issuer and may increase significantly the risk of default by
the issuer.
Emerging
market countries have and may in the future impose capital controls, foreign
currency controls and repatriation controls. In addition, some currency hedging
techniques may be unavailable in emerging market countries, and the currencies
of emerging market countries may experience greater volatility in exchange rates
as compared to those of developed countries.
A
Fund may invest in commodities or commodity-related investments that are found
in or exported from emerging market countries or the values of which are
affected significantly by economic or other conditions in emerging market
countries.
38
ETF‑Related
Risks
Authorized
participant concentration risk: because the Fund is an ETF, only a
limited number of Authorized Participants are authorized to purchase (or create)
and redeem shares directly from the Fund. If these institutions exit the
business or are unable to process creation and/or redemption orders with respect
to the Fund, or are unavailable to purchase and sell securities in connection
with creation and/or redemption orders, as applicable, and no other Authorized
Participant agrees to create or redeem, or purchase or sell securities, as
applicable, the arbitrage mechanism for keeping the market price of Fund shares
trading at or close to the Fund’s per share NAV may be impaired, and Fund shares
may trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or
delisting. These risks may be more pronounced in volatile markets, particularly
where there are significant redemptions in ETFs generally.
Secondary market
trading risk: shares of the
Fund trade on the Exchange and face numerous trading risks, including the
potential lack of an active market for Fund shares, losses from trading in
secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the
creation/redemption process. Any of these factors, among others, may lead to the
Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV.
|
∎ |
|
absence of
active market: although the Fund’s shares are currently
listed for trading on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an
active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained by
market makers or Authorized Participants. Authorized Participants are not
obligated to execute purchase or redemption orders for Creation Units. In
periods of market volatility, market makers and/or Authorized Participants
may be less willing to transact in Fund shares. The absence of an active
market for the Fund’s shares may contribute to the Fund’s shares trading
at a premium or discount to NAV. |
The
Funds’ shares may be listed or traded on exchanges or markets other than the
Exchange (where each Fund’s primary listing is maintained), and may otherwise be
made available to non‑U.S. investors through funds or structured investment
vehicles similar to depositary receipts. There can be no assurance that the
Funds’ shares will continue to trade on any such stock exchange or in any market
or that the Funds’ shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or
trading on any exchange or in any market, including the Exchange. The Funds’
shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and
investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards
of the market where they or their broker-dealer direct their trades for
execution.
|
∎ |
|
early
close/trading halt/delisting risk: trading in Fund shares
may be halted due to market conditions or for other reasons that, in the
view of the Exchange, make trading in shares of a Fund inadvisable.
Additionally, an exchange or market may close or issue trading halts on
specific securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities or
financial instruments may be restricted, which may result in the Fund
being unable to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments.
In such circumstances, the Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio,
may be unable to accurately price its investments and/or may incur
substantial trading losses. The Fund must satisfy various standards
established by the Exchange in order to ensure |
39
|
that
Fund shares can continue to be listed for trading. There can be no
assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the
listing of the Fund will continue to be met. |
|
∎ |
|
trading in fund
shares is subject to expenses: most Fund investors will buy
and sell Fund shares on the Exchange or on another secondary market. When
buying or selling shares of the Fund, investors typically will pay
brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by brokers as determined by
that broker. In addition, secondary market investors will also incur the
cost of the difference between the price that a buyer is willing to pay
for shares (the “bid” price) and
the price at which a seller is willing to sell shares (the “ask” price). This difference in bid and
ask prices is often referred to as the “spread” or “bid/ask spread.” The spread varies over
time for shares of a Fund based on trading volume and market liquidity,
and is generally narrower if the Fund has more trading volume and market
liquidity and is wider if the Fund has less trading volume and market
liquidity. In addition, increased market volatility may cause increased
spreads. There may also be regulatory and other charges that are incurred
as a result of trading Fund shares. |
|
∎ |
|
fund shares may
be sold short: shares of the Fund, similar to shares of
other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are
therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases
associated with short selling activity. |
|
∎ |
|
fund shares may
trade at prices other than NAV: shares of the Fund trade on
the Exchange at prices at, above or below the Fund’s most recent NAV. The
NAV of the Fund is calculated at the end of each business day and
fluctuates with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings. The
trading price of the Fund’s shares fluctuates continuously throughout
trading hours in response to relative supply of and demand for Fund shares
on the Exchange and the underlying value of the Fund’s portfolio holdings
or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund’s shares may deviate
significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility, including
during periods of high redemption requests or other unusual market
conditions. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND’S
SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV. Disruptions to creations
and redemptions, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential
lack of an active trading market for Fund shares may result in shares
trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV and/or in a reduced
liquidity of a shareholder’s investment. During such periods, shareholders
may be unable to sell their shares, may pay significantly more than NAV
when buying Fund shares, or may receive significantly less than NAV when
selling Fund shares. |
Equity
Issuer Risk
The
market price of common stocks and other equity securities may go up or down,
sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. Equity securities may decline in value due
to factors affecting equity securities markets generally, particularly
industries represented in those markets, or the issuer itself. The values of
equity securities may decline due to general market conditions that are not
specifically related to a particular company, such as real or perceived adverse
economic conditions, changes in the general
40
outlook
for corporate earnings, changes in interest or currency rates, or adverse
investor sentiment generally. They also may decline due to factors which affect
a particular industry or industries, such as labor shortages or increased
production costs and competitive conditions within an industry. In addition, the
values of equity securities may decline for a number of reasons that may relate
directly to the issuer, such as management performance, financial leverage,
non-compliance with regulatory requirements, and reduced demand for the issuer’s
goods or services. Equity securities generally have greater price volatility
than bonds and other debt securities, although under certain market conditions
various fixed income investments may have comparable or greater price
volatility. The values of equity securities paying dividends at high rates may
be more sensitive to change in interest rates than are other equity securities.
A
Fund may also invest in preferred securities, which represent an equity or
ownership interest in an issuer that pays dividends at a specified rate and that
has priority over common stock in the payment of dividends. In addition to many
of the risks associated with both debt securities (e.g., interest rate risk and
credit risk) and common shares or other equity securities, preferred securities
typically contain provisions that allow an issuer, at its discretion, to defer
distributions for an extended period. Preferred securities also may contain
provisions that allow an issuer, under certain conditions, to skip (in the case
of noncumulative preferred securities) or defer (in the case of cumulative
preferred securities), dividend payments. If a Fund owns a preferred security
that is deferring its distributions, the Fund may be required to report income
for tax purposes while it is not receiving any distributions. Preferred stock in
some instances is convertible into common shares or other securities. Preferred
securities typically contain provisions that allow for redemption in the event
of tax or security law changes in addition to call features at the option of the
issuer. In the event of a redemption, the Fund may not be able to reinvest the
proceeds at comparable or favorable rates of return.
Preferred
securities typically do not provide any voting rights, except in cases in which
dividends are in arrears beyond a certain time period, which varies by issue.
Preferred securities are generally subordinated to bonds and other debt
instruments in a company’s capital structure in terms of priority to corporate
income and liquidation payments, and therefore will be subject to greater credit
risk than those debt instruments. Preferred securities may be substantially less
liquid than many other securities.
Financial
Services Risk
Financial
services companies are subject to extensive governmental regulation which may
limit both the amounts and the types of loans and other financial commitments
they can make, the interest rates and fees they can charge, the scope of their
activities, the prices they can charge and the amount of capital they must
maintain. Profitability is largely dependent on the availability and cost of
capital funds and can fluctuate significantly when interest rates change or due
to increased competition. In addition, deterioration of the credit markets
generally may cause an adverse impact in a broad range of markets, including
U.S. and international credit and interbank money markets generally, thereby
affecting a wide range of financial institutions and markets. Certain events in
the financial sector may cause an unusually high degree of volatility in the
financial markets, both domestic and foreign, and cause certain financial
services companies to incur large losses. Interconnectedness or interdependence
among financial services companies increases the risk that the financial
distress or failure of one financial services company may materially and
adversely affect a number of other financial services companies. Securities of
financial services companies may experience a dramatic decline in value when
such companies experience substantial declines in the valuations of their
assets, take action to raise capital (such as the issuance of debt or equity
securities), or cease operations. Events leading to limited liquidity, defaults,
non-performance or other adverse developments that affect the financial services
industry, or concerns or rumors about any events of these kinds, have in the
past and may in the future lead to market-wide liquidity problems, may spread to
other industries, and could negatively
41
affect
the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments. For example, in response to
the rapidly declining financial condition of regional banks Silicon Valley Bank
(“SVB”) and Signature Bank (“Signature”), the California Department of
Financial Protection and Innovation (the “CDFPI”) and the New York State Department of
Financial Services (the “NYSDFS”) closed
SVB and Signature on March 10, 2023 and March 12, 2023, respectively,
and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) was appointed as receiver for SVB and
Signature. Although the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and
the FDIC have taken measures to stabilize the financial system, uncertainty and
liquidity concerns in the broader financial services industry remain.
Additionally, should there be additional systemic pressure on the financial
system and capital markets, there can be no assurances of the response of any
government or regulator, and any response may not be as favorable to industry
participants as the measures currently being pursued. In addition, highly
publicized issues related to the U.S. and global capital markets in the past
have led to significant and widespread investor concerns over the integrity of
the capital markets. The current situation related to SVB, Signature and other
regional banks could in the future lead to further rules and regulations for
public companies, banks, financial institutions and other participants in the
U.S. and global capital markets, and complying with the requirements of any such
rules or regulations may be burdensome. Even if not adopted, evaluating and
responding to any such proposed rules or regulations could result in increased
costs and require significant attention from the Adviser. Separately, credit
losses resulting from financial difficulties of borrowers can negatively impact
the sector, especially when financial services companies are exposed to
non-diversified or concentrated loan portfolios. Financial losses associated
with investment activities can negatively impact the sector, especially when
financial services companies are exposed to financial leverage. Insurance
companies may be subject to severe price competition. Adverse economic, business
or political developments could adversely affect financial institutions engaged
in mortgage finance or other lending or investing activities directly or
indirectly connected to the value of real estate.
Focused
Investment Risk
A
Fund that invests a substantial portion of its assets in a particular market,
industry, sector, group of industries or sectors, country, region, group of
countries or asset class is subject to greater risk than a fund that invests in
a more diverse investment portfolio. In addition, the value of such a fund is
more susceptible to any single economic, market, political, regulatory or other
occurrence affecting, for example, the particular markets, industries, regions,
sectors or asset classes in which the Fund is invested. This is because, for
example, issuers in a particular market, industry, region, sector or asset class
may react similarly to specific economic, market, regulatory, political or other
developments. The particular markets, industries, regions, sectors or asset
classes in which a Fund may focus its investments may change over time and a
Fund may alter its focus at inopportune times.
To
the extent a Fund invests in the securities of a limited number of issuers or
assets related to particular commodities, it is particularly exposed to adverse
developments affecting those issuers or commodities, and a decline in the market
value of a particular security or commodity held by the Fund may affect the
Fund’s performance more than if the Fund invested in the securities of a larger
number of issuers or assets related to a broader group of commodities. In
addition, the limited number of issuers or commodities to which a Fund may be
exposed may provide the Fund exposure to substantially the same market,
industry, sector, group of industries or sectors, country, region, group of
countries, or asset class, which may increase the risk of loss as a result of
focusing the Fund’s investments, as discussed above.
Foreign
Investing Risk
Investments
in foreign securities or in issuers with significant exposure to foreign markets
may involve greater risks than investments in domestic securities. To the extent
that investments are made in a limited number of countries, events in those
countries will have a more significant impact on the Fund.
42
As
compared to U.S. companies, foreign issuers generally disclose less financial
and other information publicly and are subject to less stringent and less
uniform accounting, auditing, and financial reporting standards. In addition,
there may be limited information generally regarding factors affecting a
particular foreign market, issuer, or security.
Foreign
countries typically impose less thorough regulations on brokers, dealers, stock
exchanges, corporate insiders and listed companies than does the United States
and foreign securities markets may be less liquid and more volatile than
domestic markets. Investment in foreign securities involves higher costs than
investment in U.S. securities, including higher transaction and custody costs as
well as the imposition of additional taxes by foreign governments, and as a
result investments in foreign securities may be subject to issues relating to
security registration or settlement. In addition, security trading and custody
practices abroad may offer less protection to investors such as the Funds.
Political, social or financial instability, civil unrest, geopolitical tensions,
wars and acts of terrorism are other potential risks that could adversely affect
an investment in a foreign security or in foreign markets or issuers generally.
Settlement of transactions in some foreign markets may be delayed or may be less
frequent than in the United States which could affect the liquidity of a Fund’s
portfolio. Custody practices and regulations abroad may offer less protection to
investors, such as the Funds, and a Fund may be limited in its ability to
enforce contractual rights or obligations.
Because
foreign securities generally are denominated and pay dividends or interest in
foreign currencies, and a Fund may hold various foreign currencies from time to
time, the value of a Fund’s assets, as measured in U.S. dollars, can be affected
unfavorably by changes in exchange rates with respect to the U.S. dollar or with
respect to other foreign currencies or by unfavorable currency regulations
imposed by foreign governments. If the Fund invests in securities issued by
foreign issuers, the Fund may be subject to these risks even if the investment
is denominated in United States dollars. This risk may be heightened with
respect to issuers whose revenues are principally earned in a foreign currency
but whose debt obligations have been issued in United States dollars or other
hard currencies.
Because
foreign securities generally are denominated and pay dividends or interest in
foreign currencies, and a Fund may hold various foreign currencies from time to
time, the value of the Fund’s assets, as measured in U.S. dollars, can be
affected unfavorably by changes in exchange rates with respect to the U.S.
dollar or with respect to other foreign currencies or by unfavorable currency
regulations imposed by foreign governments. If the Fund invests in securities
issued by foreign issuers, the Fund may be subject to these risks even if the
investment is denominated in United States dollars. This risk may be heightened
with respect to issuers whose revenues are principally earned in a foreign
currency but whose debt obligations have been issued in United States dollars or
other hard currencies.
Foreign
issuers may become subject to sanctions imposed by the United States or another
country or other governmental or non-governmental organizations, which could
result in the immediate freeze of the foreign issuers’ assets or securities
and/or make their securities worthless. The imposition of such sanctions, such
as sanctions imposed against Russia, Russian entities and Russian individuals in
2022, could impair the market value of the securities of such foreign issuers
and limit a Fund’s ability to buy, sell, receive or deliver the securities.
Sanctions, or the threat of sanctions, may cause volatility in regional and
global markets and may negatively impact the performance of various sectors and
industries, as well as companies in other countries, which could have a negative
effect on the performance of a Fund.
Continuing
uncertainty as to the status of the European Economic and Monetary Union (“EMU”) and the potential for certain countries
to withdraw from the institution has created significant volatility in currency
and financial markets generally. Any partial or complete dissolution of the EU
could have significant adverse effects on currency and financial markets, and on
the values of a Fund’s portfolio
43
investments.
On January 31, 2020, the UK left the EU (commonly known as “Brexit”). An agreement between the UK and the
EU governing their future trade relationship became effective January 1,
2021, but critical aspects of the relationship remain unresolved and subject to
further negotiation and agreement. Brexit has resulted in volatility in European
and global markets and could have negative long-term impacts on financial
markets in the UK and throughout Europe. There is still considerable uncertainty
relating to the potential consequences of the exit and whether the UK’s exit
will increase the likelihood of other countries also departing the EU. During
this period of uncertainty, the negative impact on not only the UK and European
economies, but the broader global economy, could be significant, potentially
resulting in increased market volatility and illiquidity, political, economic,
and legal uncertainty, and lower economic growth for companies that rely
significantly on Europe for their business activities and revenues. Any further
exits from the EU, or the possibility of such exits, or the abandonment of the
euro, may cause additional market disruption globally and introduce new legal
and regulatory uncertainties.
If
one or more EMU countries were to stop using the euro as its primary currency, a
Fund’s investments in such countries may be redenominated into a different or
newly adopted currency. As a result, the value of those investments could
decline significantly and unpredictably. In addition, securities or other
investments that are redenominated may be subject to liquidity risk and the risk
that a Fund may not be able to value investments accurately to a greater extent
than similar investments currently denominated in euros. To the extent a
currency used for redenomination purposes is not specified in respect of certain
EMU-related investments, or should the euro cease to be used entirely, the
currency in which such investments are denominated may be unclear, making such
investments particularly difficult to value or dispose of. A Fund may incur
additional expenses to the extent it is required to seek judicial or other
clarification of the denomination or value of such securities.
Index
Risk
There
are a number of reasons that a Fund’s investments that are based on an index or
that use an index as the reference asset, or other substitute investment
exposure to an index, may underperform the return of the index. Because an index
used by a Fund may not be widely used and information regarding its components
and/or its methodology may not generally be known to industry participants, it
may be difficult for the Fund to find willing counterparties to engage in total
or excess return swaps or other derivative instruments based on the return of
such index, and the Fund might have to rely on a single counterparty or a
limited number of counterparties for this purpose, increasing the credit and
counterparty risk to the Fund and, potentially, the cost of such transactions.
The provider of an index may provide model portfolios of securities or
commodities in the index to a Fund’s swap counterparties to facilitate the
counterparties’ ability to provide swaps whose returns are based on the index.
Because an index may be privately licensed from an index sponsor, not generally
available for public use, or for other reasons, there may be only a single or a
limited number of counterparties willing or able to serve as counterparties to a
swap agreement where returns are based on the index, especially if the provider
of the index fails to provide the model portfolios referred to above. Under some
circumstances, there may not be any counterparties willing or able to serve as a
counterparty to a swap agreement where the returns are based on those of an
index, or willing to do so at an acceptable cost or level of risk to a Fund. A
Fund may only be able to enter into swap agreements whose returns are based on
the return of an index, or a modified version of an index, with the sponsor of
the index or a related person of the sponsor of the index. In cases where the
sponsor of the index is the only swap counterparty available to a Fund or where
other swap counterparties are required to obtain information regarding the index
from the sponsor of the index, the cost of any swaps entered into by a Fund will
typically be higher than in the case of swaps where the index components are
broadly known. If any such swap agreements are not available for any reason, the
Fund may have to invest in other derivative instruments, “baskets” of stocks or
commodities, or individual securities or commodities in an attempt to replicate
the performance of an index, whose performance may be significantly less
correlated to the performance
44
of
the index and which, in the case of Commodity Strategy ETF, would adversely
affect its ability to also invest in debt instruments in accordance with their
principal investment strategies. It is possible that the unavailability of such
swap agreements would make it impossible for a Fund to continue to pursue its
principal investment strategies.
A
Fund may remain invested in derivatives related to an index or the underlying
components of an index even when the level of the index is declining or when the
Adviser believes the values of its component securities or commodities may be
overvalued. Accordingly, a decline in the level of a relevant index used by a
Fund should be expected to reduce the overall total return of the Fund. A Fund’s
performance could be lower than other types of funds that do not attempt to
track an index and may actively allocate their portfolio assets to take
advantage of market opportunities or to lessen the impact of a market decline.
With respect to the portion of Commodity Strategy ETF invested to earn a return
that relates to the performance of an index, the Adviser does not typically
expect to use techniques or defensive strategies designed to lessen the effects
of volatility in the level of the index or to reduce the impact of periods when
the level of the index declines. With respect to Fortune 500 ETF, the Fund seeks
to track the investment results (before fees and expenses) of the Underlying
Index—see “Passive Investing Risk.” Accordingly, a decline in the level of such
an index should be expected to reduce the overall total return of the Fund. It
is possible that Commodity Strategy ETF could lose money on its investments in
debt securities and index exposures, all at the same time.
While
index sponsors generally provide descriptions of what an index is designed to
achieve, index providers do not generally provide any warranty or guarantee or
accept any liability in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of
data in respect of their indexes, and do not guarantee that the published
indexes will be in line with their described index methodologies. The Funds and
the Advisers similarly do not provide any warranty, guarantee or acceptance of
liability for an index or the data used.
Errors
in respect of the accuracy or completeness of the data underlying an index may
occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected for a period of
time, if at all. In addition, errors may arise in carrying out an index’s
methodology, or an index provider may incorrectly report information concerning
the index. These risks may be particularly prevalent where an index is less
commonly used. For example, during a period where an index contains incorrect
constituents or when an index provider reports incorrect information regarding
index constituents, a Fund may have market exposure to investments that are not
constituents of the index and may have over- or under-exposure to the index’s
correct constituents. As such, errors may potentially result in a negative or
positive performance impact to a Fund and its shareholders, and may prevent the
Fund from achieving its investment objective. Further, apart from scheduled
rebalances, index providers may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to their
underlying indexes in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection
of index constituents. Where an index is rebalanced and a Fund in turn
rebalances its portfolio to bring it in line with such index, any transaction
and trading costs (including among other things any bid/ask spreads) arising
from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne by the Fund.
With
respect to Commodity Strategy ETF and to the extent that Fortune 500 ETF gains
index exposure through derivative instruments, calculation of an index’s return
reflects the deduction of an amount intended to represent an estimate of the
transaction costs of buying and selling the index’s constituents, which will
have the effect of reducing the index’s return.
In
certain cases, the values of derivatives may not correlate perfectly, or at all,
with the value of the assets, reference rates or indexes they are designed to
approximate. There are a number of factors that will prevent derivatives or
other strategies used by a Fund from fully achieving a desired correlation with
an index or a basket of securities or commodities, including, for example, the
impact of fees, expenses and transaction costs, including borrowing and
brokerage costs and bid-ask spreads, which are not reflected in index returns
(see also “Note regarding Index-Based Swaps” in this risk
45
below).
Other factors include, but are not limited to (i) differences in the timing
of daily calculations of the level of an index and the timing of the valuation
of derivatives, securities, commodities and other assets held by a Fund and the
determination of the NAV of fund shares, including calculations of the Fund’s
NAV using fair value prices when the price of the index does not incorporate
fair value prices; (ii) disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for
derivative instruments, securities, or commodities in which a Fund invests;
(iii) certain indexed securities will create leverage to the extent that
they increase or decrease in value at a rate that is a multiple of the changes
in an index, which will result in increased risks associated with leverage;
(iv) performance of derivatives related to an index utilized by a Fund may
not correlate with the performance of the index and a Fund will incur other
operating and investing expenses that are not applicable to the index or basket
of securities or commodities that the Fund, or a component thereof, is designed
to track; (v) a Fund having exposure to or holding less than all of the
securities, commodities or other reference assets in the underlying index and/or
having exposure to or holding securities, commodities or reference assets not
included in the underlying index; (vi) large or unexpected movements of
assets into and out of a Fund (due to share purchases or redemptions, for
example), potentially resulting in the Fund being over-or under-exposed to the
index; (vii) the impact of accounting standards or changes thereto;
(viii) changes to the applicable index that are not disseminated in
advance; and (ix) a possible need to conform a Fund’s portfolio holdings to
comply with investment restrictions or policies or regulatory or tax law
requirements.
Although
a Fund or an Adviser may license from an index’s sponsor the right to use an
index as part of implementing the Fund’s principal investment strategies, there
can be no guarantee that the index will be maintained indefinitely or that the
Fund will be able to continue to utilize the selected index to implement its
principal investment strategies indefinitely. In addition, other events could
result in the Fund no longer having the ability to utilize an index to implement
its principal investment strategies (e.g., a Fund may no longer be able to create
cost-effective investment exposure to an index to pursue all of its principal
investment strategies). In such instances, the Adviser or the Board of Trustees
may substitute an index with another index that they choose in their sole
discretion and (in the case of Commodity Strategy ETF) without advance notice to
the shareholders or (in the case of Fortune 500 ETF) upon 60 days’ prior written
notice to shareholders. If a Fund selects and uses one or more other indices or
other investments as part of its principal investment strategies, there can be
no assurance that any substitute index, or basket of securities or commodities
and other investments, selected will be similar to an index or basket previously
used by the Fund or will perform in a manner similar to such index or basket.
Unavailability of an index (or a similar index) could affect adversely the
ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective or desired exposures.
The manner in and extent to which a Fund gains exposure to an index may be
limited by the Fund’s intention to qualify for treatment as a regulated
investment company for U.S. federal income tax purposes and may bear on the
Fund’s ability to so qualify.
With
respect to Commodity Strategy ETF, an index or basket of commodities may consist
of futures contracts that are selected, in part, on the basis of their
historical backwardation in relation to the spot price for the underlying
commodity and on carry characteristics, seasonality, momentum, and fundamentals.
Commodity Strategy ETF is subject to the risk that the historical behavior of
the futures contracts comprising a basket or index of commodities may not
continue as expected and that the prices of the futures contracts held by the
Fund (or to which the Fund may have exposure) may depreciate.
To
the extent a Fund invests in one or more baskets of commodities, securities or
reference assets, including those administered or sponsored by third parties,
the Fund may be subject to many or all of the risks described above with respect
to its investments in an index.
46
Note regarding Index-Based Swaps:
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Expense Presentations. The information
presented in the tables entitled “Annual Fund Operating Expenses” within
the summary sections of this Prospectus and each Fund’s Summary Prospectus
is prescribed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). In accordance with those
requirements, the tables include information regarding each Fund’s actual
or estimated operating expenses, but do not include all investment-related
expenses (other than any Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses) or all amounts
that reduce a Fund’s investment return. For example, investment-related
expenses not shown in the tables include brokerage commissions and
undisclosed markups on principal transactions, which reduce the return on
your investment in a Fund and may be significant. The tables also do not
include expenses or amounts incurred in connection with a Fund’s
investments in swap agreements or certain other derivative instruments,
including derivative instruments that have an index as a reference asset.
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Transaction Pricing. In cases where a
Fund enters into a swap transaction or certain other transactions based on
an index or that use an index as the reference asset, the transaction
pricing will typically reflect, among other things, compensation to the
counterparty for providing the investment exposure. A Fund may also pay
fees or incur costs each time it enters into, amends or terminates a swap
agreement. The calculation of the index itself over time may also be
reduced by a number of assumed expenses or charges. Such amounts have the
effect of reducing the level of the index and would be reflected also in
the returns on any index-based swaps or other derivative instruments that
have the index as a reference asset and also may reflect compensation to
the counterparty for providing the investment exposure. These costs may be
significant and will reduce the return on a Fund’s investments in a swap
transaction or other transaction based on the index or that uses the index
as the reference asset. The terms of these transactions may change over
time, potentially in response to market conditions, without notice to
shareholders. |
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Intellectual Property. The transaction
pricing also may reflect charges by the Index sponsor for the use of the
Index sponsor’s intellectual property and/or index data (“Intellectual Property”) in connection
with the transaction. In comparison, to the extent that a Fund gains
exposure to an index through direct portfolio investments rather than
through a swap, the Adviser might typically bear the cost of any license
fees for such index under the Fund’s unitary fee. This means that, for
Fortune 500 ETF, for which the index exposure is expected to be direct
rather than synthetic, the Adviser expects to bear the cost of licensing
the Underlying Index, whereas, for Commodity Strategy ETF, for which the
Barclays Index exposure is expected to be synthetic, any licensing cost
will be borne by the Fund (as a deduction from swap returns).
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Alternate Indices. Different versions of
the same index may be available, including a total return version and an
excess return version. The performance of an excess return index typically
represents the performance of the total return version of the index that
is in excess of a short-term interest rate including other amounts
determined by reference to estimated transaction costs associated with
trading in and rebalancing the components of the index. Accordingly, an
excess return version of an index should generally be expected to
underperform the total return version of the same index. As of the date of
this Prospectus, Commodity Strategy ETF expects to enter into swap
transactions where the reference asset is the excess return version of the
Barclays Index; however, the Fund may enter into swap transactions where
the reference asset is based on any other calculation of the Barclays
Index’s return. |
47
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Additional Collateral. If markets move
against a Fund’s swap positions, the Fund may be required to maintain or
post additional assets and may have to dispose of existing investments to
obtain assets acceptable as collateral or margin. This may prevent the
Fund from pursuing its investment objective. |
Index
Provider Risk
A
Fund is linked to an underlying index maintained by a third-party provider
unaffiliated with the Fund (the “Index
Provider”) that exercises complete control over the underlying index. An
Index Provider may delay or change a rebalance date, which may adversely impact
the performance of a Fund and its correlation to its underlying index. In
addition, there is no guarantee that the methodology used by an Index Provider
to identify constituents for an underlying index will achieve its intended
result or positive performance. A Fund’s underlying index relies on various
sources of information to assess the potential constituents of its underlying
index, including information that may be based on assumptions or estimates.
There is no assurance that the sources of information are reliable, and the
Adviser does not assess the due diligence conducted by an Index Provider with
respect to the data it uses or the underlying index’s construction and
computation processes. There is a heightened risk of unreliable and/or
inaccurate data for an underlying index that includes issuers in foreign
markets, especially emerging and frontier markets, where the markets and issuers
may be subject to less stringent regulation and accounting requirements. An
index may underperform other asset classes or similar indices. Errors in
underlying index data, underlying index computations or the construction of the
underlying index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time
and may not be identified and/or corrected for a period of time or at all. Such
differences may negatively or positively impact a Fund.
Unusual
market conditions may cause an Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance
of the underlying index, which could adversely impact its normal or expected
composition and performance. For example, if a rebalance is postponed in a time
of market volatility, constituents that would otherwise be removed at the
rebalance, including due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit
ratings or other reasons may remain and adversely impact a Fund’s performance.
Similarly, an Index Provider may carry out an ad hoc rebalance of the underlying
index at any time, which may adversely impact Fund performance.
Industry
Concentration Risk
In
following its methodology, the Underlying Index from time to time may be
concentrated to a significant degree in securities of issuers operating in a
single industry or industry group. To the extent that the Underlying Index
concentrates in the securities of issuers in a particular industry or industry
group, Fortune 500 ETF will also concentrate its investments to approximately
the same extent. By concentrating its investments in an industry or industry
group, the Fund may face more risks than if it were diversified broadly over
numerous industries or industry groups. Such industry-based risks, any of which
may adversely affect the companies in which the Fund invests, may include but
are not limited to the following: general economic conditions or cyclical market
patterns that could negatively affect supply and demand in a particular
industry, competition for resources, adverse labor relations, political or world
events, obsolescence of technologies, and increased competition or new product
introductions that may affect the profitability or viability of companies in an
industry. In addition, at times, such industry or industry group may be out of
favor and underperform other industries or the market as a whole.
Investment
Company and Exchange-Traded Fund Risk
Investments
in open‑end and closed‑end investment companies, and other pooled investment
vehicles, including any ETFs or money market funds, involve substantially the
same risks as investing
48
directly
in the instruments held by these entities. However, the total return from such
investments will be reduced by the operating expenses and fees of the investment
company or ETF. A Fund must pay its pro rata portion of an investment company’s
or ETF’s fees and expenses. To the extent the Adviser determines to invest Fund
assets in other investment companies, the Adviser will have an incentive to
invest in other investment vehicles sponsored or advised by the Adviser or a
related party of the Adviser (“other DoubleLine
funds”) or other investment products sponsored or managed by DoubleLine
or its related parties over investment companies or products sponsored or
managed by others and to maintain such investments once made due to its own
financial interest in those products and other business considerations. For
example, the Adviser or its related parties may receive fees based on the amount
of assets invested in such other investment vehicles, which fees may be higher
than the fees the Adviser receives for managing a Fund. Investment by a Fund in
those other vehicles may be beneficial in the management of those other
vehicles, by helping to achieve economies of scale or enhancing cash flows. The
Funds’ Adviser or the adviser to such other DoubleLine funds will reduce their
advisory fees to avoid payment of fees by the Funds for duplicative advisory
services. This reduction in advisory fees will reduce, but will not eliminate,
the conflicts described above.
Any
investment company or ETF in which a Fund invests may not achieve its investment
objective or execute its investment strategy effectively, which may adversely
affect the Fund’s performance. Shares of a closed-end investment company or ETF
may expose a Fund to risks associated with leverage and may trade at a premium
or discount to the NAV of the closed‑end fund’s or the ETF’s portfolio
securities depending on a variety of factors, including market supply and
demand. Money market mutual funds in which a Fund may invest are subject to Rule
2a‑7 of the 1940 Act, and invest in a variety of short-term, high quality,
dollar-denominated money market instruments. Money market funds are not designed
to offer capital appreciation. In addition, certain money market funds may
impose a fee upon the sale of shares or may temporarily suspend the ability of
investors to redeem shares if such a fund’s liquidity falls below required
minimums, which may adversely affect a Fund’s returns or liquidity.
Large
Capitalization Risk
Stocks
fall into three broad market capitalization categories - large, medium and
small. A Fund that invests substantially in one of these categories carries the
risk that due to current market conditions that category may be out of favor
with investors.
If
valuations of large capitalization companies appear to be greatly out of
proportion to the valuations of small or medium capitalization companies,
investors may migrate to the stocks of small and medium‑sized companies. Larger,
more established companies may be unable to respond quickly to new competitive
challenges such as changes in technology and consumer tastes. Larger companies
also may not be able to attain the high growth rates of successful smaller
companies. The Fund expects to have exposure particularly to larger
capitalization issuers through its exposure to the Underlying Index.
Investing
in medium and small capitalization companies may involve special risks because
those companies may have a narrower focus, more limited financial resources,
fewer experienced managers, dependence on a few key employees, a more limited
trading market for their stocks, and less publicly available information, as
compared with larger companies. In addition, securities of these companies are
subject to the risk that, during certain periods, the liquidity of particular
issuers or industries will shrink or disappear with little forewarning as a
result of adverse economic or market conditions, or adverse investor
perceptions, whether or not accurate. Securities of medium and smaller
capitalization issuers may therefore be subject to greater price volatility and
may decline more significantly in market downturns than securities of larger
companies. Smaller and medium capitalization issuers may also require
substantial additional capital to support their operations, to finance expansion
or to maintain
49
their
competitive position; and may have substantial borrowings or may otherwise have
a weak financial condition and may be susceptible to bankruptcy. Transaction
costs for these investments are often higher than those of larger capitalization
companies. There is typically less publicly available information about medium
and small capitalization companies.
Large
Shareholder Risk
Certain
account holders, including the Adviser or funds or accounts over which the
Adviser (or a related party of the Adviser) has investment discretion, may from
time to time own or control a significant percentage of a Fund’s shares. The
Funds are subject to the risk that a redemption by large shareholders of all or
a portion of their Fund shares or a purchase of Fund shares in large amounts
and/or on a frequent basis, including as a result of asset allocation decisions
made by the Adviser (or a related party of the Adviser), will adversely affect a
Fund’s performance if it is forced to sell portfolio securities or invest cash
when the Adviser would not otherwise choose to do so. This risk will be
particularly pronounced if one shareholder owns a substantial portion of the
Fund. Redemptions of a large number of shares may affect the liquidity of a
Fund’s portfolio, increase the Fund’s transaction costs and/or lead to the
liquidation of the Fund. Such transactions also potentially limit the use of any
capital loss carryforwards and certain other losses to offset future realized
capital gains (if any). Shareholder redemptions can only be effected in Creation
Units.
Leveraging
Risk
A
Fund may use or create investment leverage in seeking to achieve their
respective investment objective. Certain transactions, including, for example,
when-issued, delayed-delivery, and forward commitment purchases, inverse
floaters, loans of portfolio securities, repurchase agreements (or reverse
repurchase agreements), and the use of some derivatives, can result in leverage.
In addition, a Fund may achieve investment leverage by borrowing money. Leverage
generally has the effect of increasing the amounts of loss or gain the Fund
might realize, and creates the likelihood of greater volatility of the value of
the Fund’s investments. In transactions involving leverage, a relatively small
market movement or change in other underlying indicator can lead to
significantly larger losses to a Fund. There is risk of loss in excess of
invested capital. Certain derivatives have the potential for unlimited loss,
regardless of the size of the initial investment. The use of leverage may also
require a Fund to liquidate its other holdings at disadvantageous times and
prices in order to satisfy repayment, interest payment, or margin obligations.
See “Derivatives Risk” herein and “Borrowing Risk” in the SAI.
Commodity
Strategy ETF will typically use investment leverage to obtain exposure to a
basket or index of commodities and/or to other commodities while it also holds
other investments, such as fixed income instruments. Commodity Strategy ETF may
lose money on investments intended to achieve performance similar to a basket or
an index and, at the same time, may lose money on its investments in debt
instruments and other investments.
Limited
Operating History Risk
The
Funds are newly formed and have no or a limited operating history for investors
to evaluate. Accordingly, the Funds may not attract sufficient assets to achieve
or maximize investment and operational efficiencies and remain viable. If the
Funds fail to achieve sufficient scale, they may be liquidated.
Liquidity
Risk
Liquidity
risk is the risk that a Fund may invest in securities that trade in lower
volumes and may be less liquid than other investments or that the Fund’s
investments may become less liquid in response
50
to
market developments or adverse investor perceptions. Illiquidity may be the
result of, for example, low trading volumes, lack of a market maker, or
contractual or legal restrictions that limit or prevent a Fund from selling
securities or closing positions. When there is no willing buyer and investments
cannot be readily sold or closed out, a Fund may have to sell an investment at a
lower price than the price at which the Fund is carrying the investments, may
not be able to sell the investments at all, may miss other investment
opportunities and may hold investments it would prefer to sell, any of which
would have a negative effect on the Fund’s performance and may cause a Fund to
hold an investment longer than the Adviser would otherwise determine. It is
possible that a Fund may be unable to sell a portfolio investment at a desirable
time or at the value the Fund has placed on the investment or that the Fund may
be forced to sell large amounts of securities more quickly than it normally
would in the ordinary course of business. In such a case, the sale proceeds
received by the Fund may be substantially less than if the Fund had been able to
sell the securities in more-orderly transactions, and the sale price may be
substantially lower than the price previously used by the Fund to value the
securities for purposes of determining the Fund’s NAV. In addition, if a Fund
sells investments with extended settlement times (e.g., certain kinds of loans (see “Loan Risk”
in the SAI)), the settlement proceeds from the sales will not be available to
meet the Fund’s redemption obligations for a substantial period of time. In
order to honor redemptions pending settlement of such investments, a Fund may be
forced to sell other investment positions with shorter settlement cycles when
the Fund would not otherwise have done so, which may adversely affect a Fund’s
performance. If another fund or investment pool in which a Fund invests is not
publicly offered or there is no public market for its shares or accepts
investments subject to certain legal restrictions, such as lock‑up periods
implemented by private funds, a Fund will typically be prohibited by the terms
of its investment from selling or redeeming its shares in the fund or pool, or
may not be able to find a buyer for those shares at an acceptable price.
Additionally, the market for certain investments may become illiquid under
adverse market or economic conditions (e.g., if interest rates rise or fall
significantly, if there is significant inflation or deflation, increased selling
of debt securities generally across other funds, pools and accounts, changes in
investor perception, geopolitical events (such as trading halts, sanctions or
wars), or changes in government intervention in the financial markets)
independent of any specific adverse changes in the conditions of a particular
issuer. In such cases, shares of the Fund, due to limitations on investments in
illiquid securities and the difficulty in purchasing and selling such securities
or instruments, may decline in value or the Fund may be unable to achieve its
desired level of exposure to a certain issuer or sector. During periods of
substantial market disruption, a large portion of the Fund’s assets could
potentially experience significant levels of illiquidity. The values of illiquid
investments are often more volatile than the values of more liquid investments.
It may be more difficult for a Fund to determine a fair value of an illiquid
investment than those of more liquid comparable investments.
Bond
markets have consistently grown over the past three decades while the growth of
capacity for traditional dealer counterparties to engage in fixed income trading
has not kept pace and in some cases has decreased. As a result, dealer
inventories of certain types of bonds and similar instruments, which provide a
core indication of the ability of financial intermediaries to “make markets,”
are at or near historic lows in relation to market size. Because market makers
provide stability to a market through their intermediary services, the
significant reduction in dealer inventories could potentially lead to decreased
liquidity and increased volatility in the fixed income markets. Such issues may
be exacerbated during periods of economic uncertainty.
Market
Risk
Various
market risks can affect the price or liquidity of an issuer’s securities in
which a Fund may invest. The prices of investments can fall rapidly in response
to developments affecting a specific company, industry, sector or asset class,
or to changing economic, political, demographic, market or
51
other
conditions that can affect markets broadly, including disruptions caused by
trade disputes, natural disasters, epidemics or pandemics, terrorism, or other
events.
Returns
from the securities in which a Fund invests may underperform returns from the
various general securities markets. Different types of securities tend to go
through cycles of outperformance and underperformance in comparison to the
general securities markets. Adverse events occurring with respect to an issuer’s
performance or financial position can depress the value of the issuer’s
securities. The liquidity in a market for a particular security will affect its
value and may be affected by factors relating to the issuer, as well as the
depth of the market for that security. Other market risks that can affect value
include a market’s current attitudes about types of securities, market reactions
to political or economic events, including litigation, and tax and regulatory
effects (including lack of adequate regulations for a market or particular type
of instrument).
During
periods of severe market stress, it is possible that the market for some or all
of a Fund’s investments may become highly illiquid. In such an event, a Fund may
find it difficult to sell its investments, and, for investments it is able to
sell in such circumstances, the sales price may be significantly lower, and the
trade settlement period may be longer, than anticipated.
Events
leading to limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance or other adverse
developments that affect one industry, such as the financial services industry,
or concerns or rumors about any events of these kinds, have in the past and may
in the future lead to market-wide liquidity problems, may spread to other
industries, and could negatively affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s
investments. For example, in response to the rapidly declining financial
condition of regional banks SVB and Signature, the CDFPI and the NYSDFS closed
SVB and Signature on March 10, 2023 and March 12, 2023, respectively,
and the FDIC was appointed as receiver for SVB and Signature. Although the
U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC have
taken measures to stabilize the financial system, uncertainty and liquidity
concerns in the broader financial services industry remain. Additionally, should
there be additional systemic pressure on the financial system and capital
markets, there can be no assurances of the response of any government or
regulator, and any response may not be as favorable to industry participants as
the measures currently being pursued. In addition, highly publicized issues
related to the U.S. and global capital markets in the past have led to
significant and widespread investor concerns over the integrity of the capital
markets. The current situation related to SVB, Signature and other regional
banks could in the future lead to further rules and regulations for public
companies, banks, financial institutions and other participants in the U.S. and
global capital markets, and complying with the requirements of any such rules or
regulations may be burdensome. Even if not adopted, evaluating and responding to
any such proposed rules or regulations could result in increased costs and
require significant attention from the Adviser.
Events
surrounding the COVID‑19 pandemic have contributed to significant market
volatility, reductions in economic activity, market closures, and declines in
global financial markets. These effects and the effects of other infectious
illness outbreaks, epidemics or pandemics may be short term or may last for an
extended period of time, and in either case could result in a substantial
economic downturn or recession. Governmental responses may exacerbate other
pre‑existing political, social, economic, market and financial risks. These
events may have a significant adverse effect on a Fund’s performance and on the
liquidity of a Fund’s investments, impair a Fund’s ability to satisfy redemption
requests, and have the potential to impair the ability of the Adviser’s or a
Fund’s other service providers to serve a Fund and could lead to operational
disruptions that negatively impact a Fund.
Markets
may, in response to governmental actions or intervention, or general market
conditions, including real or perceived adverse political, economic or market
conditions, tariffs and trade disruptions, inflation, recession, changes in
interest or currency rates, lack of liquidity in the bond markets or adverse
investor sentiment or other events, including a public health crisis, experience
52
periods
of high volatility and reduced liquidity. During those periods, the Funds may
experience high levels of shareholder redemptions, which may only occur in
Creation Units. To satisfy such redemptions, the Fund may have to sell
securities at times when they would otherwise not do so, and potentially at
unfavorable prices. Securities may be difficult to value during such periods.
Market risk involves the risk that the value of the Fund’s investment portfolio
will change, potentially frequently and in large amounts, as the prices of its
investments go up or down. During periods of severe market stress, it is
possible that the market for some or all of a Fund’s investments may become
highly volatile and/or illiquid. In such an event, the Fund may find it
difficult to sell some or all of its investments and, for certain assets, the
trade settlement period may be longer than anticipated. The fewer the number of
issuers in which a Fund invests and/or the greater the use of leverage, the
greater the potential volatility of the Fund’s portfolio. Recently, there have
been inflationary price movements, which have caused the fixed income securities
markets to experience heightened levels of interest rate volatility and
liquidity risk. The U.S. Federal Reserve has raised interest rates from
historically low levels and may continue to do so. Please refer to “Debt
Securities Risks – Interest Rate Risk” above.
The
United States government and the Federal Reserve and foreign governments and
central banks may take steps to support financial markets. They might, for
example, take steps to support markets and economic activity generally and to
set or maintain low interest rates, such as by purchasing bonds or making
financing broadly available to investors. Such actions may be intended to
support certain asset classes or segments of the markets, but not others, and
can have disproportionate, adverse, and unexpected effects on some asset classes
or sectors, including those in which a Fund invests. For example, efforts by
governments to provide debt relief to certain consumers or market participants
or to support certain aspects of the market could significantly and adversely
affect the value of a Fund’s investments, a Fund’s earnings, or a Fund’s risk
profile, and have other unintended or unexpected effects. Other measures taken
by governments and regulators, including, for example, steps to reverse,
withdraw, curtail or taper such activities, could have a material adverse effect
on prices for a Fund’s portfolio of investments and on the management of the
Funds. The withdrawal of support, failure of efforts in response to a financial
or other crisis, or investor perception that those efforts are not succeeding
could negatively affect financial markets generally as well as the values and
liquidity of a Fund’s investments.
Federal,
state, and other governments, their regulatory agencies, or self-regulatory
organizations may take actions that affect the regulation of the securities in
which a Fund invests or the issuers of such securities in ways that are
unforeseeable. Legislation or regulation also may change the way in which the
Funds or the Adviser are regulated. Such legislation, regulation, or other
government action could limit or preclude a Fund’s ability to achieve its
investment objective and affect the Fund’s performance.
Political,
social or financial instability, civil unrest, geopolitical tensions, wars,
natural disasters and acts of terrorism are other potential risks that could
adversely affect a Fund’s investments or markets generally. In addition,
political developments in foreign countries or the United States may at times
subject such countries to sanctions from the U.S. government, foreign
governments and/or international institutions that could negatively affect a
Fund’s investments in issuers located in, doing business in or with assets in
such countries. Any or all of the risks described herein can increase some or
all of the other risks associated with a Fund’s investments, including, among
others, counterparty risk, debt securities risks, liquidity risk, and valuation
risk.
Continuing
uncertainty as to the status of the euro and the EMU and the potential for
certain countries (such as those in the UK) to withdraw from the institution has
created significant volatility in currency and financial markets generally. Any
partial or complete dissolution of the EU could have significant adverse effects
on currency and financial markets, and on the values of a Fund’s portfolio
investments. In January 2020, the United Kingdom withdrew from the EU. During an
11-month transition period, the UK and the EU agreed to a Trade and Cooperation
Agreement which sets out the agreement for
53
certain
parts of the future relationship between the EU and the UK from January 1,
2021. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement does not include an agreement on
financial services which is yet to be agreed. From January 1, 2021, EU law
ceased to apply in the UK. However, many EU laws have been transposed into
English law and these transposed laws will continue to apply until such time as
they are repealed, replaced or amended. Depending on the terms of any future
agreement between the EU and the UK on financial services, substantial
amendments to English law may occur. Significant uncertainty remains in the
market regarding the ramifications of these developments, and the range and
potential implications of possible political, regulatory, economic and market
outcomes are difficult to predict. The markets may be further disrupted and
adversely affected by the withdrawal at various times given the uncertainty
surrounding the country’s trade, financial, and other arrangements.
Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the resulting responses by the United
States and other countries, and the potential for wider conflict could increase
volatility and uncertainty in the financial markets and adversely affect
regional and global economies. The United States and other countries have
imposed broad-ranging economic sanctions on Russia, certain Russian individuals,
banking entities and corporations, and Belarus as a response to Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine, and may impose sanctions on other countries that provide
military or economic support to Russia. The extent and duration of Russia’s
military actions and the repercussions of such actions (including any
retaliatory actions or countermeasures that may be taken by those subject to
sanctions, including cyber attacks) are impossible to predict, but could result
in significant market disruptions, including in certain industries or sectors,
such as the oil and natural gas markets, and may negatively affect global supply
chains, inflation and global growth. These and any related events could
significantly impact a Fund’s performance and the value of an investment in the
Fund, even if the Fund does not have direct exposure to Russian issuers or
issuers in other countries affected by the invasion.
Fund
may continue to accept new subscriptions and to make additional investments in
instruments in accordance with the Fund’s principal investment strategies to
strive to meet the Fund’s investment objective under all types of market
conditions, including unfavorable market conditions.
Models
and Data Risk
An
Adviser may utilize various proprietary quantitative models or related data in
connection with providing investment management services to a Fund. There is a
possibility that one or all of the quantitative models may fail to identify
profitable opportunities. In addition, failures to properly gather, organize,
and analyze large amounts of data or errors in a model or data, or in the
application of such models, may result in, among other things, execution and
investment allocation failures and investment losses. For example, the models
may incorrectly identify opportunities or data used in the construction and
application of models may prove to be inaccurate or stale, which may result in
misidentified opportunities that may lead to substantial losses for a Fund. A
given model may be more effective with certain instruments or strategies than
others, and there can be no assurance that any model can identify and
incorporate all factors that will affect an investment’s price or performance.
Investments selected using the models may perform differently than expected as a
result of, among other things, the market factors used in creating models, the
weight given to each such market factor, changes from the market factors’
historical trends and technical issues in the construction and implementation of
the models (e.g., data problems, and/or
software issues). An Adviser’s judgments about the weightings among various
models and strategies may be incorrect, adversely affecting performance.
Non‑Correlation
Risk
Fortune
500 ETF’s returns may not match the returns of the Underlying Index (that is, it
may experience tracking error) for a number of reasons. For example, the Fund
incurs operating expenses not applicable to the Underlying Index and incurs
costs in buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s
securities holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the
54
Underlying
Index. Given that the Fund has recently commenced operations and may have a
relatively small amount of assets, such transaction costs could have a
proportionally greater impact on the Fund. Additionally, if the Fund uses a
sampling approach, it may result in returns for the Fund that are not as
well-correlated with the return of the Underlying Index as would be the case if
the Fund purchased all of the securities in the Underlying Index in the
proportions represented in the Underlying Index.
The
performance of the Fund and the Underlying Index may vary due to asset valuation
differences and differences between the Fund’s portfolio and the Underlying
Index resulting from legal restrictions, costs or liquidity constraints.
Additionally, if the Fund issues or redeems Creation Units principally for cash,
it will incur higher costs in buying or selling securities than if it issued and
redeemed Creation Units principally in‑kind, which may contribute to tracking
error. The Fund may fair value certain of the securities it holds. To the extent
the Fund calculates its NAV based on fair value prices, the Fund’s ability to
track the Underlying Index may be adversely affected. Since the Underlying Index
is not subject to the tax diversification requirements to which the Fund must
adhere, the Fund may be required to deviate its investments from the securities
contained in, and relative weightings of, the Underlying Index. The Fund may not
invest in certain securities included in the Underlying Index due to liquidity
constraints. Liquidity constraints also may delay the Fund’s purchase or sale of
securities included in the Underlying Index. For tax efficiency purposes, the
Fund may sell certain securities to realize losses, causing it to deviate from
the Underlying Index. The Fund generally attempts to remain fully invested in
the constituents of the Underlying Index. However, the Adviser may not fully
invest the Fund’s assets at times, either as a result of cash flows into the
Fund, to retain a reserve of cash to meet redemptions and expenses, or because
of low assets.
The
Investment activities of one or more of the Adviser’s affiliates, for their
proprietary accounts and for client accounts, also may adversely impact the
Fund’s ability to track the Underlying Index. For example, in regulated
industries, certain emerging or international markets and under corporate and
regulatory ownership definitions, there may be limits on the aggregate amount of
investment by affiliated investors that may not be exceeded, or that may not be
exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate
consent, or, if exceeded, may cause the Adviser, the Fund or other client
accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions. As a result, the Fund
may be restricted in its ability to acquire particular securities due to
positions held by the Fund and the Adviser’s affiliates.
Non‑Diversification
Risk
A
non‑diversified Fund such as Commodity Strategy ETF may invest its assets in a
smaller number of issuers than may a diversified fund. A non‑diversified Fund
may be more susceptible to any single economic, political, or regulatory
occurrence than a diversified fund investing in a broader range of issuers. A
decline in the market value of one of a non‑diversified Fund’s investments may
affect the Fund’s value more than if the Fund were a diversified fund. Some of
the issuers in which a non‑diversified Fund invests also may present substantial
credit or other risks.
Operational
and Information Security Risks
The
Funds and their service providers depend on complex information technology and
communications systems to conduct business functions, making them susceptible to
operational and information security risks. Any problems relating to the
performance and effectiveness of security procedures used by a Fund or its
service providers to protect a Fund’s assets, such as algorithms, codes,
passwords, multiple signature systems, encryption and telephone call-backs, may
have an adverse impact on an investment in a Fund. For example, design or system
failures or malfunctions, human error, faulty software or data processing
systems, power or communications outages, acts of God, or cyber-attacks may lead
to operational disruptions and potential losses to a Fund. Cyber-attacks
include, among other behaviors, stealing or corrupting data maintained online or
digitally, denial of service attacks on
55
websites,
the unauthorized release of confidential information and causing operational
disruption. Successful cyber-attacks against, or security breakdowns of, a Fund
or its Adviser, custodians, fund accountant, fund administrator, transfer agent,
pricing vendors and/or other third-party service providers may adversely impact
the Funds and their shareholders. For instance, cyber-attacks or other
operational issues may interfere with the processing of shareholder
transactions, impact a Fund’s ability to calculate its NAV, cause the release of
private shareholder information or confidential Fund information, impede
trading, cause reputational damage, and subject a Fund to regulatory fines,
penalties or financial losses, reimbursement or other compensation costs, and/or
additional compliance costs. The Funds also may incur substantial costs for
cybersecurity risk management in order to guard against any cyber incidents in
the future. Furthermore, as a Fund’s assets grow, it may become a more appealing
target for cybersecurity threats such as hackers and malware. In general,
cyber-attacks result from deliberate attacks but unintentional events may have
effects similar to those caused by cyber-attacks. Additionally, outside parties
may attempt to fraudulently induce employees of a Fund or the Adviser or the
Fund’s service providers to disclose sensitive information in order to gain
access to a Fund’s infrastructure. Similar types of risks also are present for
issuers of securities in which the Funds invest, which could result in material
adverse consequences for such issuers, and may cause a Fund’s investment in such
securities to lose value. In addition, cyberattacks involving a counterparty to
a Fund could affect such a counterparty’s ability to meets it obligations to the
Fund, which may result in losses to the Fund and its shareholders. In addition,
the adoption of work-from-home arrangements by the Funds, the Adviser or their
service providers could increase all of the above risks, create additional data
and information accessibility concerns, and make the Funds, the Adviser or their
service providers more susceptible to operational disruptions, any of which
could adversely impact their operations. While the Funds or their service
providers may have established business continuity plans and systems designed to
guard against such operational failures and cyber-attacks and the adverse
effects of such events, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems
including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified, in large
part because different, evolving or unknown threats or risks may emerge in the
future. The Adviser and the Funds do not control the business continuity and
cybersecurity plans and systems put in place by third-party service providers,
and such third-party service providers may have no or limited indemnification
obligations to the Adviser or the Funds.
Passive
Investing Risk
Unlike
many investment companies that are “actively managed,” Fortune 500 ETF is a
“passive” investor and therefore does not utilize an investing strategy that
seeks returns in excess of the Underlying Index. Therefore, the Fund would not
necessarily buy or sell a security unless that security is added or removed,
respectively, from the Underlying Index, even if that security generally is
underperforming. If a specific security is removed from the Underlying Index,
the Fund may be forced to sell such security at an inopportune time or for a
price lower than the security’s current market value. The Underlying Index may
not contain the appropriate mix of securities for any particular economic cycle.
Additionally, the Fund rebalances its portfolio in accordance with the
Underlying Index, and, therefore, any changes to the Underlying Index’s
rebalance schedule will result in corresponding changes to the Fund’s rebalance
schedule. Further, unlike with an actively managed fund, the Adviser does not
use defensive strategies designed to lessen the impact of periods of market
volatility or market decline. This means that, based on certain market and
economic conditions, the Funds performance could be lower than other types of
funds with investment advisers that actively manage their portfolio assets to
take advantage of market opportunities or defend against market events.
Portfolio
Turnover Risk
The
length of time a Fund has held a particular security is not generally a
consideration in investment decisions. A change in the securities held by a Fund
is known as portfolio turnover. Portfolio turnover generally involves a number
of direct and indirect costs and expenses to a Fund, including, for example,
brokerage commissions, dealer mark‑ups and bid/ask spreads, and transaction
costs on the
56
sale
of securities and reinvestment in other securities, and may result in the
realization of taxable capital gains (including short-term capital gains, which
are generally taxable to shareholders subject to tax at ordinary income rates).
Such costs are not reflected in a Fund’s Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
set forth under “Fees and Expenses” but do have the effect of reducing the
Fund’s investment return. A Fund and its shareholders will also share in the
costs and tax effects of portfolio turnover in any underlying funds in which a
Fund invests.
Securities
Lending Risk
A
Fund may lend portfolio securities with a value up to 33 1/3% of its total assets,
including collateral received for securities lent. If the Fund lends
securities, and the borrower defaults on
its obligation to return the securities loaned because of insolvency or
other reasons, there is a risk that the securities will not be available to
the Fund on a timely basis. If a borrower defaults and the Fund is not able to
recover the securities loaned, it and, indirectly, its shareholders will bear
loss to the extent the value of the collateral sold is not equal to the market
value of the loaned securities. Loans are secured by collateral consisting of
cash or short-term debt obligations and the Fund may invest the cash collateral
received (in money market investments or money market funds) and the Fund and
its shareholders bears the risk of loss on such reinvestment, including the risk
of total loss of such collateral. In addition, as with other extensions of
credit, there is the risk of possible delay in receiving additional collateral
or in the recovery of the securities or possible loss of rights in the
collateral should the borrower fail financially. While securities are loaned out
by the Fund, it generally will receive from the borrower amounts equal to any
dividends or interest paid on the borrowed securities. For federal income tax
purposes, payments made “in lieu of” dividends are not considered dividend
income. These distributions will neither qualify for the reduced rate of
taxation for individuals on qualified dividends nor the 50% dividends received
deduction for corporations. The costs associated with the Fund’s securities
lending activities are not shown in the Fund’s fee table. Engaging in securities
lending could have a leveraging effect, which may intensify the other risks
associated with investments in a Fund.
Regulations
require certain bank-regulated counterparties and certain of their affiliates to
include in certain financial contracts, including many securities lending
agreements, terms that delay or restrict the rights of counterparties, such as a
Fund, to terminate such agreements, foreclose upon collateral, exercise other
default rights or restrict transfers of credit support in the event that the
counterparty and/or its affiliates are subject to certain types of resolution or
insolvency proceedings. It is possible that these new requirements, as well as
potential additional government regulation and other developments in the market,
could adversely affect a Fund’s ability to terminate existing securities lending
agreements or to realize amounts to be received under such agreements in the
event the counterparty or its affiliate becomes subject to a resolution or
insolvency proceeding.
Securities
or Sector Selection Risk
Securities
or Sector Selection Risk refers to the risk that the securities held by a Fund
will underperform securities held in other funds investing in similar asset
classes or comparable benchmarks because of a portfolio manager’s choice of
securities or sectors for investment. To the extent a Fund allocates a higher
percentage of its investment portfolio to a particular sector or related
sectors, the Fund will be more susceptible to events or factors affecting
companies in that sector or related sectors. For example, the values of
securities of companies in the same or related sectors may be negatively
affected by the common characteristics they share, the common business risks to
which they are subject, common regulatory burdens, or regulatory changes that
affect them similarly. Such characteristics, risks, burdens or changes include,
but are not limited to, changes in governmental regulation, inflation or
deflation, rising or falling interest rates, competition from new entrants, and
other economic, market, political or other developments specific to that sector
or related sectors.
57
Tax
Risk
In
order to qualify as a regulated investment company under the Code, a Fund must
meet requirements including regarding the source of its income. (See “Taxes”
below for a more detailed discussion.) Income from certain commodity-related
instruments and from direct investments in commodities does not constitute
income that meets the qualification requirements for a regulated investment
company under the Code (“qualifying
income”). The tax treatment of certain other commodity- linked
instruments in which a Fund might invest is not certain, in particular with
respect to whether income or gains from such instruments constitute qualifying
income. Generally, any income a Fund derives from investments in instruments
that do not generate qualifying income, including commodity-related swaps and
certain other commodity-related derivatives, must be limited to a maximum of 10%
of the Fund’s annual gross income. Certain ETFs and other investment pools in
which a Fund may invest might not generate qualifying income, and it may be
difficult for the Fund to determine in advance the amount of non-qualifying
income that would be generated by such investments. If a Fund were to earn
non-qualifying income in excess of 10% of its annual gross income, it could fail
to qualify as a regulated investment company for that year, unless it is
eligible to and does pay a tax at the Fund level.
Commodity
Strategy ETF generally intends to gain exposure to commodities through direct
investments that it believes give rise to qualifying income or indirectly
through their investments in subsidiaries in a manner that gives rise to
qualifying income. The Fund must limit its investment in a subsidiary to no more
than 25% of the Fund’s total assets as of the end of each quarter of the Fund’s
taxable year in order to meet an asset diversification requirement applicable to
regulated investment companies.
If
a Fund were to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company in any taxable
year, the Fund would be subject to tax on its taxable income at corporate rates,
and all distributions from earnings and profits, including any distributions of
net long-term capital gains, would be taxable to shareholders as ordinary
income. In such a case, shareholders of the Fund would be subject to the risk of
diminished returns.
U.S.
Government Securities Risk
Some
U.S. government securities, such as Treasury bills, notes, and bonds and
mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Ginnie
Mae, are supported by the full faith and credit of the United States;
others are supported by the right of the issuer to borrow from the U.S.
Treasury; others are supported by the discretionary authority of the U.S.
government to purchase the agency’s obligations; still others are supported only
by the credit of the issuing agency, instrumentality, or enterprise. Although
U.S. government-sponsored enterprises may be chartered or sponsored by Congress,
they are not funded by Congressional appropriations, and their securities are
not issued by the U.S. Treasury, their obligations are not supported by the full
faith and credit of the U.S. government, and so investments in their securities
or obligations issued by them involve greater risk than investments in other
types of U.S. government securities. No assurance can be given that the U.S.
government will provide financial support to its agencies and sponsored entities
if it is not obligated by law to do so.
In
addition, certain governmental entities have been subject to regulatory scrutiny
regarding their accounting policies and practices and other concerns that may
result in legislation, changes in regulatory oversight and/or other consequences
that could adversely affect the credit quality, availability or investment
character of securities issued or guaranteed by these entities.
The
events surrounding the U.S. federal government debt ceiling and any resulting
agreement (and similar political, economic and other developments) could
adversely affect a Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective. For
example, a downgrade of the long-term sovereign credit rating of the
58
United
States could increase volatility in both stock and bond markets, result in
higher interest rates and lower Treasury prices and increase the costs of all
kinds of debt. These events and similar events in other areas of the world could
have significant adverse effects on the economy generally and could result in
significant adverse impacts on issuers of securities held by a Fund and the Fund
itself. The Adviser cannot predict the effects of these or similar events in the
future on the U.S. economy and securities markets or on a Fund’s portfolio.
The
Adviser may not timely anticipate or manage existing, new or additional risks,
contingencies or developments. In recent periods, the values of U.S. government
securities have been affected substantially by increased demand for them around
the world. Changes in the demand for U.S. government securities may occur at any
time and may result in increased volatility in the values of those securities.
Valuation
Risk
Valuation
risk is the risk that a Fund will not value its investments in a manner that
accurately reflects their market values or that a Fund will not be able to sell
any investment at a price equal to the valuation ascribed to that investment for
purposes of calculating the Fund’s NAV. The valuation of each Fund’s investments
involves subjective judgment and some valuations may involve assumptions,
projections, opinions, discount rates, estimated data points and other uncertain
or subjective amounts, all of which may prove inaccurate. In addition, the
valuation of certain investments held by a Fund may involve the significant use
of unobservable and non‑market inputs. Certain securities in which a Fund may
invest may be more difficult to value accurately, especially during periods of
market disruptions or extreme market volatility. As a result, there can be no
assurance that fair value pricing will result in adjustments to the prices of
securities or other assets, or that fair value pricing will reflect actual
market value, and it is possible that the fair value determined for a security
or other asset will be materially different from quoted or published prices,
from the prices used by others for the same security or other asset and/or from
the value that actually could be or is realized upon the sale of that security
or other asset. Technological issues or other service disruption issues
involving third party service providers may also cause a Fund to value its
investments incorrectly. Incorrect valuations of a Fund’s portfolio holdings
could result in a Fund’s shareholder transactions being effected at an NAV that
does not accurately reflect the underlying value of the Fund’s portfolio,
resulting in the dilution of shareholder interests.
Temporary
Defensive Strategies
When
attempting to respond to adverse market, economic, political, or other
conditions, subject to the applicable limitations described below, Commodity
Strategy ETF may take temporary defensive positions that may be inconsistent
(including materially inconsistent) with such Fund’s principal investment
strategies. The Adviser then may, but is not required to, temporarily use
alternative strategies that are mainly designed to limit the Fund’s exposure to
such adverse conditions under the circumstances. In implementing these
strategies, Commodity Strategy ETF may invest primarily in, among other things,
U.S. Government and agency obligations, fixed or floating rate investments,
derivative instruments, cash or money market instruments (including, money
market funds), or any other securities or instruments that the portfolio
manager(s) considers consistent with such defensive strategies or deemed
consistent with the then existing market conditions. By way of example, the Fund
may hold a higher than normal proportion of its assets in cash in times of
extreme market stress. The Fund may also use derivatives, such as futures
contracts and interest rate swaps, as an efficient means to adjust the Fund’s
interest rate, credit, and other exposures in connection with taking such
temporary defensive positions. During periods when the Fund has taken temporary
defensive positions, the Fund may not achieve its investment objective. In
contrast, as an index fund, Fortune 500 ETF does not take temporary defensive
positions during periods of adverse market, economic or other conditions.
59
Portfolio
Holdings Information
A
description of each Fund’s policies and procedures with respect to the
disclosure of its portfolio securities is available in the SAI. Currently,
disclosure of each Fund’s portfolio holdings is required by law to be made
within 60 days of the end of each fiscal quarter in either the annual report or
semi-annual report to shareholders or in the holdings reports on Form N-PORT.
Each Fund’s SAI, annual report, semi-annual report, and filings on Form N-PORT
will be available, free of charge, on the EDGAR database on the SEC’s website at
http://www.sec.gov.
Management
of the Funds
Investment
Advisers
DoubleLine
ETF Adviser LP (“DoubleLine ETF Adviser”
or an “Adviser”) serves as the investment
adviser for Fortune 500 ETF. DoubleLine Alternatives LP (“DoubleLine Alternatives” or an “Adviser” and together with DoubleLine ETF
Adviser, the “Advisers”) serves as the
investment adviser for Commodity Strategy ETF. Each of DoubleLine ETF Adviser
and DoubleLine Alternatives operates at 2002 North Tampa Street, Suite 200,
Tampa, Florida 33602 and is registered as an investment adviser under the
Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Each Fund’s respective Adviser has
been an investment adviser to the Fund since the inception of the Fund. Each
Adviser manages the investment portfolios and business affairs of the respective
Fund pursuant to Investment Management Agreement between each Fund and the
Adviser.
The
Trust and DoubleLine ETF Adviser have received exemptive relief from the SEC
that permits the Adviser, with Board approval but without shareholder approval,
to hire a sub‑adviser, materially amend the terms of an agreement with a
sub‑adviser (including an increase in its fee), or continue the employment of a
sub‑adviser after an event that would otherwise cause the automatic termination
of services. Shareholders will be notified of any such changes.
Portfolio
Managers
The
following individuals serve as portfolio managers and are together jointly and
primarily responsible for the day‑to‑day management of the Funds’ portfolios as
indicated below. Please see the SAI for additional information about other
accounts managed by the portfolio managers, the portfolio managers’
compensation, and the portfolio managers’ ownership of shares of the Fund(s)
they manage.
|
|
|
| |
Portfolio Manager |
|
Length of Service |
|
Business Experience during the
Past
5 Years |
Jeffrey Gundlach |
|
DoubleLine
Fortune 500 Equal Weight ETF
(Since the Fund’s inception in
2024) |
|
Mr. Gundlach
is the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of DoubleLine Capital LP
and is Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of DoubleLine Capital LP.
Mr. Gundlach has been CEO and CIO of DoubleLine Capital LP since its
inception in December 2009. |
60
|
|
|
| |
Portfolio Manager |
|
Length of Service |
|
Business Experience during the
Past
5 Years |
Jeffrey Sherman |
|
DoubleLine
Commodity Strategy ETF
DoubleLine
Fortune 500 Equal Weight ETF
(Since each Fund’s inception in
2024) |
|
Mr. Sherman
was named as DoubleLine Capital LP’s Deputy Chief Investment Officer in
June 2016. He has been a Portfolio Manager of DoubleLine Capital LP since
September 2010. He has been President of DoubleLine Alternatives LP since
April 2015 and President of DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP since October
2021. |
Samuel Lau |
|
DoubleLine
Commodity Strategy ETF
(Since the Fund’s inception in
2024) |
|
Mr. Lau
joined DoubleLine Capital LP in 2009. He is a Strategist on the Fixed
Income Asset Allocation (FIAA) Committee and a contributing member on the
Global Asset Allocation and Macro committees. Mr. Lau is a Portfolio
Manager on DoubleLine’s strategic commodity strategy while working in
portfolio management and trading for derivatives-based and multi-asset
strategies, including DoubleLine’s Shiller Enhanced CAPE®, Shiller Enhanced
International CAPE®, Real Estate and
Income, and Multi-Asset Trend strategies. |
Jeffrey Mayberry |
|
DoubleLine
Commodity Strategy ETF
(Since the Fund’s inception in
2024) |
|
Mr. Mayberry
joined DoubleLine Capital LP in 2009. He is a Portfolio Manager on
DoubleLine’s strategic commodity strategy while working in portfolio
management and trading for derivatives‑based and multi‑asset strategies.
Mr. Mayberry is a Strategist on the Fixed Income Asset Allocation
(FIAA) committee and a contributing member on our Global Asset Allocation
and Macro committees. |
Advisory
Agreements
The
Trust and the DoubleLine ETF Adviser have entered into an Investment Advisory
and Management Agreement in respect of Fortune 500 ETF, and the Trust and
DoubleLine Alternatives have entered into an Investment Advisory and Management
Agreement in respect of Commodity Strategy ETF (collectively, the “Advisory Agreements”), under the terms of which
the Funds have employed the respective Adviser to manage the investment of the
assets of the Funds, to place orders for the purchase and sale of their
portfolio securities, and to be responsible for overall management of the Funds’
business affairs, subject to the oversight of the Board of Trustees. The
Advisory Agreements between the Trust and the Advisers provide that the Adviser
will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except the management fees,
interest expenses, dividends and other
61
expenses
on securities sold short, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the
acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of
portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and
expenses, accrued deferred tax liabilities, distribution fees or expenses, and
any extraordinary expenses (such as litigation).
Under
the Advisory Agreements, each Fund pays its respective Adviser as compensation
for the services rendered, facilities furnished, and expenses incurred by them,
fees at the following annual rates:
|
|
|
| |
Fund |
|
Contractual
Annual
Management
Fee Rate (As a Percentage of the Fund’s Average
Daily Net Asset Value) |
|
DoubleLine
Commodity Strategy ETF |
|
|
0.65 |
% |
DoubleLine
Fortune 500 Equal Weight ETF |
|
|
0.20 |
% |
Each
Advisory Agreement provides that in the absence of willful misfeasance, bad
faith or gross negligence on the part of the Adviser, or reckless disregard of
its obligations and duties under the Advisory Agreement, the Adviser, including
its officers, directors, and partners, shall not be subject to any liability to
the Trust or any Fund, or to any shareholder, officer, director, partner, or
Trustee thereof, for any act or omission in the course of, or connected with,
rendering services under the Advisory Agreement.
DoubleLine
Alternatives has entered into an Investment Management Agreement with DoubleLine
Commodity ETF Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Commodity Strategy ETF (the
“Commodity Subsidiary Advisory
Agreement”), and there are no material differences between the terms of
the Commodity Subsidiary Advisory Agreement and those of Commodity Strategy
ETF’s Advisory Agreement. The Fund’s Subsidiary also pays the Adviser a
management fee of 0.65% of the Subsidiary’s average daily net assets. The
Adviser has contractually agreed that any management fees paid to it by the
Subsidiary will reduce the management fees payable to it by the Fund. The
Adviser has no recoupment rights with respect to fees waived under this
agreement. This fee waiver will remain in effect so long as the Fund invests in
the Subsidiary and it cannot be amended or rescinded without the approval of the
Trustees of the Trust.
A
discussion regarding the basis for the Board of Trustees’ approval of the
Advisory Agreements with respect to the Funds will be contained in the Funds’
first report to shareholders.
Additional
Information
The
Trustees of the Trust oversee generally the operations of the Funds and the
Trust. The Trust enters into contractual arrangements with various parties,
including among others, the Funds’ investment advisers, custodian, transfer
agent, and accountants, who provide services to the Funds.
Shareholders
are not parties to any such contractual arrangements and are not intended third
party (or other form of) beneficiaries of those contractual arrangements. The
Trust’s and the Funds’ contractual arrangements are not intended to create any
shareholder rights to enforce such contracts directly against the service
providers or to seek any remedy under those contracts directly against the
service providers.
The
Trust’s Second Amended and Restated Agreement and Declaration of Trust requires
a shareholder bringing a derivative action on behalf of the Trust that is
subject to a pre‑suit demand to collectively hold at least 10% of the
outstanding shares of the Trust or at least 10% of the outstanding shares of the
series or class to which the demand relates and to undertake to reimburse the
Trust for the expense of any counsel or advisors used when considering the
merits of the demand in the event that the Trustees determine not to bring such
action. In each case, these requirements do not apply to claims arising under
the federal securities laws. The Trust’s Second Amended and Restated
62
Agreement
and Declaration of Trust also provides that Delaware law will govern the rights
and obligations of the Trustees and shareholders but excepts out the duties and
liabilities of trustees with respect to matters arising under federal securities
laws.
This
Prospectus has been designed to meet the regulatory purpose of providing
information concerning the Trust and the Funds that you should consider
carefully in determining whether to purchase shares of a Fund. Neither this
Prospectus, the SAI, nor the Funds’ registration statement, is intended, or
should be read, to be or to give rise to an agreement or contract between the
Trust or the Funds and any shareholder, or to give rise to any rights in any
shareholder or other person.
Additional
shareholder information, including how to buy and sell shares of the Funds, is
available free of charge by calling toll-free: (855) 937‑0772.
Purchase
and Sale of Fund Shares
Shares
of a Fund may be acquired or redeemed directly from the Fund only in Creation
Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the Creations and Redemptions
section of this Prospectus. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in
creation or redemption transactions directly with the Funds. Once created,
shares of a Fund generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a
Creation Unit.
Shares
of the Funds are listed for trading on the secondary market on the Exchange.
Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like other
publicly-traded securities which are bought and sold at market price. There is
no minimum investment. Although shares are generally purchased and sold in
“round lots” of 100 shares, brokerage firms typically permit investors to
purchase or sell shares in smaller “odd lots” at no per‑share price
differential. The Funds’ shares trade on the Exchange using the following ticker
symbols.
|
| |
Fund |
|
Ticker Symbol |
DoubleLine
Commodity Strategy ETF |
|
DCMT |
DoubleLine
Fortune 500 Equal Weight ETF |
|
DFVE |
The
Exchange is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and
the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’
Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth National Independence Day,
Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
Secondary
Market Trading Prices and Costs
The
secondary market price of a Fund’s shares changes throughout the trading day
based on market forces such as supply and demand, economic conditions and other
factors. Therefore, the prices at which investors trade Fund shares may differ
from the Fund’s daily NAV. A Fund’s shares may trade throughout the trading day
at prices greater (premium) or less (discount) than the Fund’s NAV.
Buying
or selling Fund shares on an exchange or other secondary market involves two
types of costs that often apply to equity transactions on exchanges. When buying
or selling shares of a Fund through a broker-dealer, you may incur a brokerage
commission and other charges. The commission is frequently a fixed amount and
may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell
small amounts of shares. In addition, you may incur the cost of the “spread,”
that is, any difference between the bid price and the ask price quoted by the
broker-dealer with whom you are buying or selling Fund shares. The spread varies
over time for shares of a Fund based on the Fund’s trading volume and market
liquidity, and is generally narrower if the Fund has high trading volume and
market liquidity, and wider if the Fund has less trading volume and market
liquidity (which is often the case for funds that are newly launched or small in
size).
63
Calculation
of NAV
Each
Fund calculates its NAV once on each day the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) is open for business (a “Business Day”). Each Fund generally values its
securities and other assets and calculates its NAV as of the close of trading on
the NYSE (normally, 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time). Generally, the NYSE is closed on
weekends and the following national holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther
King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth National
Independence Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas
Day.1
Each
Fund calculates its NAV by adding the total value of its assets, subtracting its
liabilities and then dividing the result by the number of shares outstanding. In
calculating NAV, the Funds generally value their investment portfolios at market
price. If market prices are not readily available, such as if trading in a
particular security was halted during the day and does not resume prior to the
time a Fund calculates its NAV, or the Funds reasonably believe that the market
prices are unreliable, the Funds are required to price those securities at fair
value as determined in good faith using methods approved by the Board. Pursuant
to Rule 2a‑5 under the 1940 Act, these fair value methods are implemented by the
Adviser’s Valuation Sub‑Committee in its capacity as the Board’s valuation
designee. The determination of a security’s fair value price often involves the
consideration of a number of factors, is subjective in nature, and is therefore
subject to the unavoidable risk that the fair value assigned to a security may
be higher or lower than the security’s value would be if reliable market
quotations for the security were readily available.
Other
assets for which market quotations are not readily available will be valued at
their fair value as determined in good faith by the Adviser’s Valuation
Sub‑Committee in its capacity as the Board’s valuation designee.
Book
Entry
Shares
are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued
for Fund shares. The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) or its nominee is the record owner of all
outstanding shares of the Funds and is recognized as the owner of all shares for
all purposes.
Investors
owning shares are beneficial owners as shown on the records of DTC or its
participants. DTC serves as the securities depository for all shares.
Participants in DTC include securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust
companies, clearing corporations and other institutions that directly or
indirectly maintain a custodial relationship with DTC. Although a beneficial
owner of shares, you are not entitled to receive physical delivery of stock
certificates or to have shares registered in your name, and you are not
considered a registered owner of shares. Therefore, to exercise any right as an
owner of shares, you must rely upon the procedures of DTC and its participants.
These procedures are the same as those that apply to any other stocks that you
hold in book entry or “street name” form.
1 A Fund may use fair-value
pricing on bond market holidays (such as Columbus Day and Veterans Day) when the
NYSE is open for trading.
Frequent
Purchases and Redemptions of Fund Shares
The
Board has not adopted policies and procedures with respect to frequent purchases
and sales of Fund shares by Fund shareholders in the secondary market because
such transactions do not involve the Fund directly. Therefore, secondary market
trades are unlikely to disrupt management of a Fund’s portfolio, increase a
Fund’s transaction costs or cause a Fund to realize capital gains, or result in
other potential harmful effects of frequent purchases and sales. Indeed, active
trading of a Fund’s shares is a key element in helping to ensure a properly
functioning arbitrage mechanism so that a Fund’s shares trade on the secondary
market at or close to NAV.
64
The
Board also has not adopted policies and procedures with respect to frequent
purchases (creations) and redemptions of Fund shares in Creation Units directly
with Authorized Participants. Purchases (creations) and redemptions of Creation
Units are often effected in‑kind and thus are unlikely to cause the harmful
effects that may result from frequent purchases and sales of fund shares. Each
Fund also imposes transaction fees on in‑kind purchases (creations) and
redemptions of Fund shares to cover the custodial and other costs incurred by
the Fund in effecting in‑kind trades. These fees may increase if an Authorized
Participant substitutes cash in part or in whole for securities, reflecting the
fact that a Fund’s trading costs increase in those circumstances.
Distributions
The
Funds will distribute dividends of net investment income at least quarterly in
the case of Fortune 500 ETF and annually in the case of Commodity Strategy ETF.
Each Fund will distribute net realized short-term capital gains and net realized
long-term capital gains, if any, at least annually. Dividends and other
distributions on shares of a Fund are distributed on a pro rata basis to
beneficial owners of such shares. Dividend payments are made through DTC
participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners then of record with
proceeds received from the Funds.
Distributions
are paid by each Fund in cash. No dividend reinvestment service is provided by
the Funds. Broker-dealers may make available the DTC book-entry Dividend
Reinvestment Service for use by beneficial owners of the Funds for reinvestment
of their dividend distributions. Beneficial owners should contact their
broker-dealer to determine the availability and costs of the service and the
details of participation therein. Broker-dealers may require beneficial owners
to adhere to specific procedures and timetables. If this service is available
and used, dividend distributions of both income and realized gains will be
automatically reinvested in additional whole shares of the applicable Fund(s)
purchased in the secondary market.
Taxes
This
section provides a summary of certain U.S. federal income tax considerations
relevant to an investment in a Fund; it is not intended to be a full discussion
of tax laws and the effects of such laws on you, or to address all aspects of
taxation that may apply to specific types of shareholders, such as foreign
persons. Furthermore, this discussion is based on the Code and Treasury
regulations issued thereunder that are in effect as of the date of this
Prospectus, which provisions are subject to change, including retroactively.
There may be other federal, state, or local tax considerations applicable to a
particular investor. You are urged to consult your own tax advisor regarding
your investment in a Fund (including the status of your distributions from the
Fund). Additional tax information may be found in the SAI.
Taxes on Dividends and Distributions. For U.S.
federal income tax purposes, distributions of investment income generally are
taxable to you as ordinary income. Taxes on distributions of capital gains are
determined by how long a Fund owned (or is deemed to have owned) the investments
that generated the gains, rather than how long you have owned your shares.
Distributions that a Fund properly reports to you as gains from investments that
a Fund owned (or is deemed to have owned) for more than one year (“Capital Gain Dividends”) generally are treated
as long-term capital gains includible in your net capital gain and taxed to
individuals at reduced rates. Distributions of gains from investments that a
Fund owned (or is deemed to have owned) for one year or less and gains on the
sale of or payments on bonds characterized as having market discount generally
are taxable to you as ordinary income. Distributions of investment income that a
Fund properly reports to you as derived from qualified dividend income are taxed
in the hands of individuals at the reduced rates applicable to
65
net
capital gains, provided holding period and other requirements are met at both
the shareholder and Fund level. Commodity Strategy ETF does not expect a
significant portion of its distributions to derive from qualified dividend
income.
Corporate
shareholders may be entitled to a dividends-received deduction for the portion
of dividends they receive from a Fund that are attributable to dividends
received by the Fund from U.S. corporations, subject to certain limitations.
Commodity Strategy ETF does not expect a significant portion of its
distributions to be eligible for the dividends-received deduction for corporate
shareholders.
Distributions
are taxable to you even if they are paid from income or gains earned by the Fund
before your investment (and thus were included in the price you paid).
Distributions are taxable in the manner described herein whether you receive
them in cash or reinvest them in additional shares of a Fund.
A
dividend or distribution received shortly after the purchase of Fund shares
reduces the NAV of the shares by the amount of the dividend or distribution and,
although in effect a return of capital, will be taxable to the shareholder,
commonly referred to as “buying a dividend.”
Distributions
by a Fund to retirement plans and other tax‑advantaged accounts that qualify for
tax‑advantaged treatment under federal income tax laws generally will not be
taxable. Special tax rules apply to investments through such plans and/or
accounts. You should consult your tax advisor to determine the suitability of a
Fund as an investment through such a plan and/or account and the tax treatment
of distributions (including distributions of amounts attributable to an
investment in a Fund) from such a plan and/or account.
A
Fund’s investment in certain debt obligations, derivatives and hedging
transactions can cause a Fund to recognize taxable income in excess of the cash
generated by such investments. Thus, a Fund could be required at times to
liquidate investments, including at times when it may not be advantageous to do
so, in order to satisfy its distribution requirements (see “Tax Status of the
Funds” below). Such dispositions could result in realization of capital gains,
including short-term capital gains generally taxable to shareholders at ordinary
income rates when distributed to them.
Distributions
by the Fund to shareholders that are not “United States persons” within the
meaning of the Code (“non‑U.S.
investors”) properly reported by the Fund as (1) Capital Gain
Dividends, (2) short-term capital gain dividends or (3) interest-related
dividends, each as defined and subject to certain conditions described in the
SAI, generally are not subject to withholding of U.S. federal income tax.
Distributions
by the Fund to foreign shareholders other than Capital Gain Dividends,
short-term capital gain dividends and interest-related dividends (e.g., dividends attributable to dividend and
foreign-source interest income or to short-term capital gains or U.S. source
interest income to which the exception from withholding described above does not
apply) are generally subject to withholding of U.S. federal income tax at a rate
of 30% (or lower applicable treaty rate).
If
you are a non‑U.S. investor, please consult your own tax advisor regarding the
tax consequences of investing in a Fund.
Taxes When Shares Are Sold. Assuming you hold
Fund shares as a capital asset, any gain
resulting from a sale of your shares in the Fund generally will be subject to
federal income tax at either short-term or long-term capital gain rates
depending on how long you owned your shares. However, any capital loss on a sale
of shares held for six months or less will be treated as a long-term capital
loss to the extent of Capital Gain Dividends received (or deemed received) with
respect to such shares. The ability to deduct capital losses may be limited.
66
The
cost basis of shares of a Fund acquired by purchase will generally be based on
the amount paid for the shares and may be subsequently adjusted for other
applicable transactions as required by the Code. The difference between the
selling price and the cost basis of shares generally determines the amount of
the capital gain or loss realized on the sale or exchange of shares. Contact the
broker through whom you purchased your shares to obtain information with respect
to the available cost basis reporting methods and elections for your account.
Taxes
on Purchases and Redemptions of Creation Units.
An
Authorized Participant having the U.S. dollar as its functional currency for
U.S. federal income tax purposes who exchanges securities for Creation Units
generally recognizes a gain or loss. The gain or loss will be equal to the
difference between the value of the Creation Units at the time of the exchange
and the exchanging Authorized Participant’s aggregate basis in the securities
delivered plus the amount of any cash paid for the Creation Units. An Authorized
Participant who exchanges Creation Units for securities will generally recognize
a gain or loss equal to the difference between the exchanging Authorized
Participant’s basis in the Creation Units and the aggregate U.S. dollar market
value of the securities received, plus any cash received for such Creation
Units. The IRS may assert, however, that a loss that is realized upon an
exchange of securities for Creation Units may not be currently deducted under
the rules governing “wash sales” (for an Authorized Participant who does not
mark‑to‑market their holdings) or on the basis that there has been no
significant change in economic position. Authorized Participants exchanging
securities should consult their own tax advisor with respect to whether wash
sale rules apply and when a loss might be deductible.
A
Fund may include a payment of cash in addition to, or in place of, the delivery
of a basket of securities upon the redemption of Creation Units. A Fund may sell
portfolio securities to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption
proceeds. This may cause a Fund to recognize investment income and/or capital
gains or losses that it might not have recognized if it had completely satisfied
the redemption in‑kind. As a result, a Fund may be less tax efficient if it
includes such a cash payment in the proceeds paid upon the redemption of
Creation Units.
Net Investment Income Tax. The Code generally
imposes a 3.8% tax on the “net investment income” of certain individuals,
estates and trusts to the extent their income exceeds certain threshold amounts.
For these purposes, net investment income generally includes dividends paid by a
Fund, including any capital gain dividends, and net gains recognized on the
sale, redemption, exchange or other taxable disposition of shares of a Fund.
Shareholders are advised to consult their tax advisors regarding the possible
implications of this tax on their investment in a Fund.
Tax Status of the Funds. Each Fund has elected
or intends to elect and intends to qualify and to be eligible to be treated each
year as a regulated investment company under the Code, such that the Fund will
not be subject to federal income tax on income and gains timely distributed to
shareholders. In order to qualify for the special tax treatment accorded to a
regulated investment company and their shareholders, a Fund must meet
requirements with respect to the sources of its income, the diversification of
its assets, and the distribution of its income. A Fund could in some cases cure
a failure to comply with these requirements, including by paying a Fund-level
tax and, in the case of a diversification failure, disposing of certain assets.
If a Fund were ineligible to or otherwise did not cure such a failure, or if a
Fund were otherwise to fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, the
Fund would be subject to federal income tax on its net income at regular
corporate rates without reduction for distributions to shareholders. When
distributed, that income would also be taxable to shareholders as an ordinary
dividend to the extent attributable to a Fund’s earnings and profits, thereby
potentially diminishing shareholder returns.
67
Commodity-Related Investments. Income from certain commodity-related
instruments and from direct investments in commodities does not constitute
qualifying income for purposes of the source of income requirement noted above.
The tax treatment of certain other commodity-related instruments in which a Fund
might invest is not certain, in particular with respect to whether income or
gains from such instruments constitute qualifying income. A Fund generally
intends to gain exposure to commodities through direct investments that it
believes give rise to qualifying income or indirectly through its investment in
one or more subsidiaries in a manner that gives rise to qualifying income. A
Fund must limit its investment in a subsidiary or group of subsidiaries to no
more than 25% of the Fund’s total assets as of the end of each quarter of the
Fund’s taxable year in order to meet the asset diversification requirement noted
above. It is expected that all of a non-U.S. subsidiary’s income will be subpart
F income currently included in a Fund’s income as ordinary income for federal
income tax purposes (such income inclusions, “subpart F inclusions”). Under Treasury
regulations, “subpart F income” included in a Fund’s annual income for U.S.
federal income purposes will constitute qualifying income to the extent it is
either (i) timely and currently repatriated or (ii) derived with
respect to the Fund’s business of investing in stock, securities or currencies.
Net losses incurred by a subsidiary during a tax year do not flow through to a
Fund and thus will not be available to offset income or capital gain generated
from a Fund’s other investments. In addition, a subsidiary is not permitted to
carry forward any net ordinary losses it realizes in a taxable year to offset
ordinary income it realizes in subsequent taxable years. You should consult the
SAI for additional information.
Investments in Foreign Securities. A Fund’s
investments in foreign securities may be subject to foreign withholding or other
taxes. In that case, a Fund’s return on those securities may be decreased. If a
Fund meets certain requirements with respect to its asset holdings, it will be
eligible to elect to permit shareholders of the Fund to claim a credit or
deduction with respect to foreign taxes paid by the Fund. In addition,
investments in foreign securities or foreign currencies may increase or
accelerate a Fund’s recognition of ordinary income and may affect the timing or
amount of the Fund’s distributions.
Derivatives. A Fund’s use of derivatives may
affect the amount, timing, and character of distributions to shareholders and,
therefore, may increase the amount of taxes payable by shareholders. In
addition, the tax rules applicable to derivatives are in many cases uncertain
under current law. An adverse determination, future guidance by the IRS or
Treasury regulations, in each case with potentially retroactive effect, might
bear adversely on a Fund’s ability to satisfy the distribution or other
requirements to maintain its qualification as a regulated investment company and
avoid a fund-level tax.
Backup Withholding. A Fund will be required in
certain cases to withhold on distributions paid to a shareholder who
(1) has provided the Fund either an incorrect tax identification number or
no number at all, (2) who is subject to backup withholding by the IRS for
failure to properly report payments of interest or dividends, or (3) who
has failed to certify to the Fund that such shareholder is not subject to backup
withholding.
Reporting. Shareholders will be advised
annually as to the federal tax status of distributions made by a Fund for the
preceding calendar year.
Consult your tax advisor about other possible tax
consequences. This is a summary of certain U.S. federal income tax
consequences of investing in the Funds. You should consult your tax advisor for
more information on your own tax situation, including possible other federal,
state, local and foreign tax consequences of investing in the Fund. For more
information, see “Distributions and Taxes” in the SAI.
68
Creations
and Redemptions
Prior
to trading in the secondary market, shares of the Funds are “created” at NAV by
market makers, large investors and institutions only in Creation Units or
multiples thereof. Each Authorized Participant enters into an authorized
participant agreement with the Funds’ distributor, Foreside Fund Services, LLC
(the “Distributor”).
Creation
and Redemption Transactions
A
creation transaction, which is subject to acceptance by the Distributor,
generally begins when an Authorized Participant enters into an irrevocable
creation order with a Fund and delivers to the Fund via its custodian the
designated portfolio of securities (“Deposit
Instruments”) to exchange the Deposit Instruments for a specified number
of shares in volumes of Creation Units.
A
redemption transaction generally begins when an Authorized Participant enters
into an irrevocable redemption order with a Fund. The Fund then instructs the
custodian to deliver a designated portfolio of securities (“Redemption Instruments”) that constitute the
Creation Basket to the Authorized Participant in exchange for the individual
Fund shares in volumes of Creation Units being redeemed.
Generally,
other than with respect to Commodity Strategy ETF, the name and quantities of
the instruments that constitute Deposit Instruments and Redemption Instruments
(the “Creation Basket”) will be identical
to and will correspond pro rata to the positions in a Fund’s portfolio
(including cash positions) used to calculate the Fund’s NAV for that day.
However, a Fund may accept “custom baskets” that are not identical in type and
pro rata amount to the positions in the Fund’s portfolio. More information
regarding custom baskets is contained in the Fund’s SAI. With respect to
Commodity Strategy ETF, the Creation Basket will generally consist of cash
and/or debt instruments, but the Fund reserves the right to permit or require
Creation Units to be issued in exchange for a basket corresponding pro rata to
the positions in the Fund’s portfolio (including cash positions) used to
calculate the Fund’s NAV for that day.
To
the extent a Fund engages in in‑kind transactions with an Authorized
Participant, the Fund intends to comply with the U.S. federal securities laws in
accepting securities for deposit and satisfying redemptions with redemption
securities by, among other means, assuring that any securities accepted for
deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will be sold in
transactions that would be exempt from registration under the Securities Act of
1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”).
Information
about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units
(including the cut‑off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is
included in the SAI.
Because
new shares may be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during
the life of the Funds, a “distribution,” as such term is used in the 1933 Act,
may be occurring. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some
activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their
being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them
statutory underwriters and subject to the prospectus delivery and liability
provisions of the 1933 Act. Any determination of whether one is an underwriter
must take into account all the relevant facts and circumstances of each
particular case.
Broker-dealers
should also note that dealers who are not “underwriters,” but are participating
in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary transactions), and thus
dealing with shares that are part of an “unsold allotment” within the meaning of
Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of
the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933
Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery
mechanism of Rule 153 under the 1933 Act is available only with respect to
transactions on a national securities exchange.
69
Costs
Associated with Creations and Redemptions
Authorized
Participants are charged standard creation and redemption transaction fees by
the Funds to offset transfer and other transaction costs associated with the
issuance and redemption of Creation Units. The fees are designed to help protect
existing shareholders from any dilutive costs associated with purchasing and
redeeming Creation Units. The standard creation and redemption transaction fees
are set forth in the table below. The standard creation transaction fee is
charged to the Authorized Participant on any day such Authorized Participant
creates a Creation Unit, and that fee amount does not vary regardless of the
number of Creation Units purchased by the Authorized Participant on the
applicable business day.
Similarly,
the standard redemption transaction fee is charged to the Authorized Participant
by the Funds on any day such Authorized Participant redeems a Creation Unit, and
that fee amount does not vary regardless of the number of Creation Units
redeemed by the Authorized Participant on the applicable business day. The
Authorized Participant may also be required to cover certain brokerage, tax,
execution, market impact and other costs and expenses related to the execution
of trades resulting from such transaction (subject to the maximum amount shown
below for redemptions). The Authorized Participant may also bear the costs of
transferring the Deposit Instruments to or Redemption Instruments from a Fund,
as applicable.
The
following table shows, as of the date of this Prospectus, the approximate value
of one Creation Unit of each Fund, standard fees, the additional charge for
creations and the maximum additional charge for redemptions (as described
above):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Fund |
|
Creation Unit
Size1 |
|
Standard In‑Kind Creation/
Redemption
Transaction Fee1 |
|
Maximum Variable Charge for
Creations2 |
|
Maximum Variable Charge for
Redemptions2 |
DoubleLine
Commodity Strategy ETF |
|
40,000 shares |
|
$250 |
|
3.00% |
|
2.00% |
DoubleLine
Fortune 500 Equal Weight ETF |
|
60,000
shares |
|
$250 |
|
3.00% |
|
2.00% |
1 May be changed by the
Adviser at any time.
2 This amount (inclusive of
standard transaction fees), reflected as a percentage of the NAV per Creation
Unit.
Variable
charges may be imposed up to the maximum amount indicated in the table above.
Actual transaction costs may vary depending on the time of day an order is
received or the nature of the securities to be purchased or sold. The Adviser
may adjust the Transaction Fee to ensure that a Fund collects the extra expenses
associated with brokerage commissions and other expenses incurred by the Fund to
acquire any Deposit Instruments not part of the Creation Basket from the
Authorized Participant. Each Fund reserves the right to not impose a standard or
variable creation transaction fee, or to vary the amount of the variable
transaction fee imposed, up to the maximum amount listed above, depending on the
materiality of the Fund’s actual transaction costs incurred in purchasing
securities with the cash received, or where the Adviser believes that not
imposing the standard or variable transaction fee or varying the variable
transaction fee would be in the best interests of the applicable Fund and its
shareholders.
Premium/Discount
and NAV Information
The
Funds’ website, which is accessible free of charge, includes information that is
updated on a daily basis, including, on a per share basis for each Fund, the
prior business day’s NAV and the market closing price and a calculation of the
premium or discount of the market closing price for Fund shares
70
against
such NAV. The Funds’ website will disclose the median bid/ask spread for each
Fund’s most recent 30 days based on the National Best Bid and Offer, as required
by Rule 6c‑11(c)(1)(v) under the 1940 Act. The Funds will also provide any other
information on their website regarding premiums/discounts that ETFs registered
under the 1940 Act are required to provide from time to time.
Index
Disclaimers
Barclays
Bank PLC Disclaimer
Barclays
Bank PLC and its affiliates (“Barclays”)
is not the issuer, sponsor or promoter of the DoubleLine Commodity Strategy ETF
or the DoubleLine Fortune 500 Equal Weight ETF (in this paragraph, each a “Fund”) and Barclays has no responsibilities,
obligations or duties to investors in the Funds. The Barclays Backwardation Tilt
Multi-Strategy Index and the Barclays Fortune 500 Equal Weighted Total Return
Index (each an “Index”) consist of the
respective trademarks of Barclays Bank PLC and trademarks owned by or licensed
to Barclays Bank PLC and that are licensed for use by the DoubleLine ETF Trust
as the Issuer of the Funds. Barclays’ only relationship with the Issuer in
respect of the Indices is the licensing of these trademarks and the Indices
which are determined, composed and calculated by Barclays without regard to the
Issuer or the Funds or the owners of the Funds. Additionally, DoubleLine
Alternatives LP or DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP may for any Fund execute
transaction(s) with Barclays in or relating to the respective Fund’s Index and
investors neither acquire any interest in that Fund’s Index nor enter into any
relationship of any kind whatsoever with Barclays upon making an investment in
the Fund. The Funds are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Barclays.
Barclays does not make any representation or warranty, express or implied
regarding the advisability of investing in the Funds or the advisability of
investing in securities generally or the ability of any Index to track
corresponding or relative market performance. Barclays has not passed on the
legality or suitability of the Funds’ names or the Indices with respect to
any person or entity. Barclays is not responsible for and has not participated
in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of the shares of
the Funds to be issued. Barclays has no obligation to take the needs of the
Issuer or the owners of the Funds or any other third party into
consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Indices. Barclays has
no obligation or liability in connection with administration, marketing or
trading of the Funds. The licensing agreement between DoubleLine ETF Trust and
Barclays is solely for the benefit of the Funds and Barclays and not for the
benefit of the owners of the Funds, investors or other third parties.
BARCLAYS
SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY TO THE ISSUER, INVESTORS OR TO OTHER THIRD PARTIES FOR
THE USE OF THE DOUBLELINE NAME, OR THE QUALITY, ACCURACY AND/OR COMPLETENESS OF
THE INDICES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN OR FOR INTERRUPTIONS IN THE DELIVERY OF
THE INDICES. BARCLAYS MAKES NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE
OBTAINED BY THE ISSUER, THE INVESTORS OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE
OF THE INDICES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. BARCLAYS MAKES NO EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE WITH RESPECT TO
DOUBLELINE NAME, THE INDICES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. BARCLAYS RESERVES THE
RIGHT TO CHANGE THE METHODS OF CALCULATION OR PUBLICATION, OR TO CEASE THE
CALCULATION OR PUBLICATION OF THE INDICES, AND BARCLAYS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR
ANY MISCALCULATION OF OR ANY INCORRECT, DELAYED OR INTERRUPTED PUBLICATION WITH
RESPECT TO THE INDICES. BARCLAYS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING,
WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR ANY LOST
PROFITS AND EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH, RESULTING FROM THE USE
OF THE INDICES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN OR WITH RESPECT TO THE DOUBLELINE
NAME.
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None
of the information supplied by Barclays Bank PLC and used in this publication
may be reproduced in any manner without the prior written permission of Barclays
Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC. Barclays Bank PLC
is registered in England No. 1026167. Registered office 1 Churchill Place
London E14 5HP.
Bloomberg
Disclaimer
“Bloomberg®” and “Bloomberg Commodities
IndexSM” are service
marks of Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates, including Bloomberg Index
Services Limited (“BISL”), the administrator of the indices (collectively,
“Bloomberg”) and have been licensed for use for certain purposes by Barclays
Bank PLC (“Barclays”).
The
Commodity Strategy ETF is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by
Bloomberg. Bloomberg does not make any representation or warranty, express or
implied, to the owners of or counterparties to the Commodity Strategy ETF or any
member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities or
commodities generally or in the Commodity Strategy ETF particularly. The only
relationship of Bloomberg to the Licensee is the licensing of certain
trademarks, trade names and service marks and of the Bloomberg Commodities
IndexSM, which is
determined, composed and calculated by BISL without regard to Barclays or the
Commodity Strategy ETF. Bloomberg has no obligation to take the needs of
Barclays or the owners of the Commodity Strategy ETF into consideration in
determining, composing or calculating Bloomberg Commodities IndexSM. Bloomberg is not
responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the timing of,
prices at, or quantities of shares of the Commodity Strategy ETF to be issued or
in the determination or calculation of the equation by which shares of the
Commodity Strategy ETF are to be converted into cash. Bloomberg shall not have
any obligation or liability, including, without limitation, to Commodity
Strategy ETF customers, in connection with the administration, marketing or
trading of the Commodity Strategy ETF.
This
Prospectus relates only to the Commodity Strategy ETF and does not relate to the
exchange-traded physical commodities underlying any of the Bloomberg Commodity
IndexSM components.
Purchasers of the Commodity Strategy ETF should not conclude that the inclusion
of a futures contract in the Bloomberg Commodity IndexSM is any form of investment
recommendation of the futures contract or the underlying exchange-traded
physical commodity by Bloomberg. The information in this Prospectus regarding
the Bloomberg Commodity IndexSM components has been derived
solely from publicly available documents. Bloomberg has not made any due
diligence inquiries with respect to the Bloomberg Commodity IndexSM components in connection with
the Commodity Strategy ETF. Bloomberg makes no representation that these
publicly available documents or any other publicly available information
regarding the Bloomberg Commodity IndexSM components, including
without limitation a description of factors that affect the prices of such
components, are accurate or complete.
BLOOMBERG
DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF THE BLOOMBERG
COMMODITY INDEXSM OR ANY
DATA RELATED THERETO AND SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS OR
INTERRUPTIONS THEREIN. BLOOMBERG DOES NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY BARCLAYS, OWNERS OF THE COMMODITY STRATEGY ETF
OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE BLOOMBERG COMMODITY INDEXSM OR ANY DATA RELATED
THERETO. BLOOMBERG DOES NOT MAKE ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND EXPRESSLY
DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
OR USE WITH RESPECT TO THE BLOOMBERG COMMODITY INDEXSM OR ANY DATA RELATED
THERETO. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT ALLOWED BY
LAW, BLOOMBERG, ITS LICENSORS, AND ITS AND THEIR RESPECTIVE EMPLOYEES,
CONTRACTORS, AGENTS, SUPPLIERS, AND VENDORS SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY OR
RESPONSIBILITY WHATSOEVER FOR ANY INJURY OR DAMAGES—
72
WHETHER
DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE OR OTHERWISE—ARISING IN
CONNECTION WITH THE COMMODITY STRATEGY ETF OR BLOOMBERG COMMODITIES INDEXSM OR ANY DATA OR VALUES
RELATING THERETO—WHETHER ARISING FROM THEIR NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF
NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY THEREOF.
Fortune
Disclaimer
Fortune
and Fortune 500 are registered trademarks of Fortune Media IP limited (“Fortune
IP”, together with its affiliate Fortune Media (U.S.A) corporation, the “Fortune
Group”) used under license. Fortune Group is not affiliated with and does not
endorse products or services of Barclays Bank PLC or DoubleLine. Fortune Group
and Fortune are not investment advisors or broker dealers and do not guarantee
the adequacy, accuracy, timeliness and/or the completeness of the Fortune
indices or any data related thereto or any communication (including but not
limited to, oral or written communication (including electronic communications))
with respect thereto. Neither Fortune Group nor Fortune shall be subject to any
damages or liability for any errors, omissions, or delays therein. Fortune Group
and Fortune make no warranties, express or implied, and expressly disclaims all
warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or use or as
to results to be obtained by Barclays Bank plc, DoubleLine, owners of the
securities, or any other person or entity from the use of the Fortune indices or
with respect to any data related thereto. Without limiting any of the foregoing,
in no event whatsoever shall Fortune Group or Fortune be liable for any
indirect, special, incidental, punitive, or consequential damages including but
not limited to, loss of profits, trading losses, lost time or goodwill, even if
they have been advised of the possibility of such damages, whether in contract,
tort, strict liability, or otherwise. There are no third-party beneficiaries of
any agreements or arrangements between Fortune Group and Fortune and Barclays
Bank plc, other than as the licensees of Fortune Group.
Financial
Highlights
Because
the Funds have not commenced operations as of the date of this prospectus,
financial highlights are not available.
DoubleLine
Privacy Policy Notice
What
Does DoubleLine Do With Your Personal Information?
This
notice provides information about how DoubleLine (“we,” “our” and “us”) collects, discloses, and protects your
personal information, and how you might choose to limit our ability to disclose
certain information about you. Please read this notice carefully.
Why
We Need Your Personal Information
All
financial companies need to disclose customers’ personal information to run
their everyday businesses, to appropriately tailor the services offered (where
applicable), and to comply with our
73
regulatory
obligations. Accordingly, information, confidential and proprietary, plays an
important role in the success of our business. However, we recognize that you
have entrusted us with your personal and financial data, and we recognize our
obligation to keep this information secure. Maintaining your privacy is
important to us, and we hold ourselves to a high standard in its safekeeping and
use. Most importantly, DoubleLine does not sell its customers’ non‑public
personal information to any third parties. DoubleLine uses its customers’
non‑public personal information primarily to complete financial transactions
that its customers request (where applicable), to make its customers aware of
other financial products and services offered by a DoubleLine affiliated
company, and to satisfy obligations we owe to regulatory bodies.
Information
We May Collect
We
may collect various types of personal data about you, including:
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Your
personal identification information, which may include your name and
passport information, your IP address, politically exposed person (“PEP”) status, and such other information
as may be necessary for us to provide our services to you and to complete
our customer due diligence process and discharge anti-money laundering
obligations; |
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• |
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Your
contact information, which may include postal address and e‑mail address
and your home and mobile telephone numbers; |
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• |
|
Your
family relationships, which may include your marital status, the identity
of your spouse and the number of children that you have;
|
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Your
professional and employment information, which may include your level of
education and professional qualifications, your employment, employer’s
name and details of directorships and other offices which you may hold;
and |
|
• |
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Financial
information, risk tolerance, sources of wealth and your assets, which may
include details of shareholdings and beneficial interests in financial
instruments, your bank details and your credit history.
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Where
We Obtain Your Personal Information
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Information
we receive about you on applications or other forms;
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• |
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Information
you may give us orally; |
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• |
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Information
about your transactions with us or others; |
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Information
you submit to us in correspondence, including emails or other electronic
communications; and |
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• |
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Information
about any bank account you use for transfers between your bank account and
any DoubleLine investment account, including information provided when
effecting wire transfers. |
Information
Collected From Websites
Websites
maintained by DoubleLine or its service providers may use a variety of
technologies to collect information that help DoubleLine and its service
providers understand how the website is used. Information collected from your
web browser (including small files stored on your device that are
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commonly
referred to as “cookies”) allow the
websites to recognize your web browser and help to personalize and improve your
user experience and enhance navigation of the website. You can change your
cookie preferences by changing the setting on your web browser to delete or
reject cookies. If you delete or reject cookies, some website pages may not
function properly. Our websites may contain links that are maintained or
controlled by third parties with privacy policies that may differ, in some cases
significantly, from the privacy policies described in this notice. Please read
the privacy policies of such third parties and understand that accessing their
websites is at your own risk. Please contact your DoubleLine representative if
you would like to receive more information about the privacy policies of third
parties.
We
also use web analytics services, which currently include but are not limited to
Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics. Such web analytics services use cookies
and similar technologies to evaluate visitor’s use of the domain, compile
statistical reports on domain activity, and provide other services related to
our websites. For more information about Google Analytics, or to opt out of
Google Analytics, please go to https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. For
more information about Adobe Analytics, or to opt out of Adobe Analytics, please
go to: http://www.adobe.com/privacy/opt‑out.html.
How
And Why We May Disclose Your Information
DoubleLine
does not disclose any non‑public personal information about our customers or
former customers without the customer’s authorization, except that we may
disclose the information listed above, as follows:
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It
may be necessary for DoubleLine to provide information to nonaffiliated
third parties in connection with our performance of the services we have
agreed to provide to you. For example, it might be necessary to do so in
order to process transactions and maintain accounts.
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DoubleLine
will release any of the non‑public information listed above about a
customer if directed to do so by that customer or if DoubleLine is
required or authorized by law to do so, such as for the purpose of
compliance with regulatory requirements or in the case of a court order,
legal investigation, or other properly executed governmental request.
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In
order to alert a customer to other financial products and services offered
by an affiliate, DoubleLine may disclose information to an affiliate,
including companies using the DoubleLine name. Such products and services
may include, for example, other investment products offered by a
DoubleLine company. If you prefer that we not disclose non‑public personal
information about you to our affiliates for this purpose, you may direct
us not to make such disclosures (other than disclosures permitted by law)
by contacting us at [email protected] or
at 1 (800) 285‑ 1545. If you limit this sharing and you have a joint
account, your decision will be applied to all owners of the account.
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We
will limit access to your personal account information to those agents and
vendors who need to know that information to provide products and services to
you. We do not share your information to nonaffiliated third parties for
marketing purposes. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards
to guard your non‑public personal information.
Notice
Related To The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) And To “Natural Persons”
Residing In The State Of California
DoubleLine
collects and uses information that identifies, describes, references, links or
relates to, or is associated with, a particular consumer or device (“Personal
Information”). Personal Information we
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collect
from our customers and consumers is covered under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
(“GLBA”) and is therefore excluded from
the scope of the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California
Privacy Rights Act (together, “CCPA”).
However,
for California residents who are not DoubleLine customers or consumers, as those
terms are defined by GLBA, the personal information we collect about you is
subject to the CCPA. As such, you have privacy rights with respect to your
personal information. Please review the following applicable California privacy
notice that is available at
https://www.doubleline.com, or by contacting us at [email protected] or at 1 (800) 285‑1545.
CA
Privacy Notice for Website Visitors, Media Subscribers and Business
Representatives CA Privacy Notice for Employees
Notice
To “Natural Persons” Residing In The European Economic Area (The “EEA”)
If
you reside in the EEA, we may transfer your personal information outside the
EEA, and will ensure that it is protected and transferred in a manner consistent
with legal requirements applicable to the information. This can be done in a
number of different ways, for instance:
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the
country to which we send the personal information may have been assessed
by the European Commission as providing an “adequate” level of protection
for personal data; or |
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the
recipient may have signed a contract based on standard contractual clauses
approved by the European Commission. |
In
other circumstances, the law may permit us to otherwise transfer your personal
information outside the EEA. In all cases, however, any transfer of your
personal information will be compliant with applicable data protection law.
Notice
To Investors In Cayman Islands Investment Funds
If
you are a natural person, please review this notice as it applies to you
directly. If you are a legal representative of a corporate or entity investor
that provides us with any personal information about individuals (i.e., natural
persons), you agree to furnish a copy of this notice to each such individual or
otherwise advise them of its content.
Any
international transfer of personal information will be compliant with the
requirements of the Data Protection Act, 2017 of the Cayman Islands.
Privacy
For Children
DoubleLine
is concerned about the privacy of children. Our website and our services are not
targeted at individuals under 18 years of age, and we do not knowingly collect
any personal information from an individual under 18. If we learn that a child
under the age of 13 (or such higher age as required by applicable law) has
submitted personally identifiable information online without parental consent,
we will take all reasonable measures to delete such information from its
databases and to not use such information for any purpose (except where
necessary to protect the safety of the child or others as required or allowed by
law). If you become aware of any personally identifiable information, we have
collected from children under 13 (or such higher age as required by applicable
law), please contact us at
[email protected] or at 1 (800) 285‑1545. We do
not sell or share any personal information and have no actual knowledge about
selling or sharing personal information of individuals under the age of 16.
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Retention
Of Personal Information And Security
Your
personal information will be retained for as long as required:
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for
the purposes for which the personal information was collected;
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in
order to establish or defend legal rights or obligations or to satisfy any
reporting or accounting obligations; and/or |
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as
required by data protection laws and any other applicable laws or
regulatory requirements, including, but not limited to,
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U.S.
laws and regulations applicable to our business.
We
will undertake commercially reasonable efforts to protect the personal
information that we hold with appropriate security measures.
Access
To And Control Of Your Personal Information
Depending
on your country of domicile or applicable law, you may have the following rights
in respect of the personal information about you that we process:
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the
right to access and port personal information; |
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the
right to rectify personal information; |
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the
right to restrict the use of personal information;
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the
right to request that personal information is erased; and
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the
right to object to processing of personal information.
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Although
you have the right to request that your personal information be deleted at any
time, applicable laws or regulatory requirements may prohibit us from doing so.
In addition, if you invest in a DoubleLine fund through a financial
intermediary, DoubleLine may not have access to personal information about you.
If
you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us at
[email protected] or at 1
(800) 285‑1545.
Changes
To DoubleLine’s Privacy Policy
DoubleLine
reserves the right to modify its privacy policy at any time, but in the event
that there is a change that affects the content of this notice materially,
DoubleLine will promptly inform its customers of such changes in accordance with
applicable law.
You
can find more information about the Funds in the following documents:
Statement
of Additional Information (SAI)
The
Funds’ SAI provides more details about each Fund’s investments and its policies.
A current SAI is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and
is incorporated by reference into this document and is legally considered part
of this Prospectus. The SAI is available on the EDGAR Database on the SEC’s
Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and may be obtained, after paying a
duplicating fee, by electronic request at
[email protected].
77
Annual
and Semi-Annual Reports
Additional
information about each Fund’s investments is or will be available in the Funds’
annual and semi-annual reports to shareholders. The Funds’ annual report
contains a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that
affected the Funds’ performance during the Funds’ most recent fiscal year.
To
Obtain Information
You
can obtain a free copy of these documents, request other information, or make
general inquiries about the Funds by contacting the Funds:
By Email:
By Internet:
www.doubleline.com
By Telephone:
(855)
937‑0772
By Mail:
Write
to:
DoubleLine
ETF Trust
2002
N. Tampa Street, Suite 200
Tampa,
Florida 33602
Reports
and other information about the Funds (including the SAI) are available on the
EDGAR Database on the Commission’s Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and
copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by
electronic request at
[email protected].
If
someone makes a statement about a Fund that is not in this Prospectus, you
should not rely upon that information. No Fund or the distributor is offering to
sell Fund shares to any person to whom the Fund may not lawfully sell its
shares.
SEC
File Number: 811‑23746
DL-ETFPRO2
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DoubleLine
ETF Trust |
You
can find more information about the Funds in the following documents:
Statement
of Additional Information (SAI)
The
Funds’ SAI provides more details about each Fund’s investments and its policies.
A current SAI is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and
is incorporated by reference into this document and is legally considered part
of this Prospectus. The SAI is available on the EDGAR Database on the SEC’s
Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and may be obtained, after paying a
duplicating fee, by electronic request at
[email protected].
Annual
and Semi-Annual Reports
Additional
information about each Fund’s investments is or will be available in the Funds’
annual and semi-annual reports to shareholders. The Funds’ annual report
contains a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that
affected the Funds’ performance during the Funds’ most recent fiscal year.
To
Obtain Information
You
can obtain a free copy of these documents, request other information, or make
general inquiries about the Funds by contacting the Funds:
By Email:
By Internet:
www.doubleline.com
By Telephone:
(855) 937‑0772
By Mail:
Write to:
DoubleLine
ETF Trust
2002 North
Tampa Street, Suite 200
Tampa, FL
30062
Reports
and other information about the Funds (including the SAI) are available on the
EDGAR Database on the Commission’s Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and
copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by
electronic request at
[email protected].
If
someone makes a statement about a Fund that is not in this Prospectus, you
should not rely upon that information. No Fund or the distributor is offering to
sell Fund shares to any person to whom the Fund may not lawfully sell its
shares.
SEC
File Number: 811-23746
DoubleLine || 2002 N. Tampa Street, Suite 200 || Tampa, FL 33602 || (855) 937-0772
DL-ETFPRO2