CALCULATION
OF REGISTRATION FEE
Title of Securities
to be Registered
|
|
Amount
to be
Registered
|
|
|
Proposed
Maximum
Offering Price
Per Share*
|
|
|
Proposed
Maximum
Aggregate
Offering Price*
|
|
|
Amount of
Registration
Fee*
|
|
Common
units of Teucrium Corn Fund, a series of the Registrant
|
|
|
100,000
|
|
|
$
|
25.00
|
|
|
$
|
2,500,000
|
|
|
$
|
139.50
|
|
*
|
Estimated
solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee pursuant to
Rule 457(d) under the Securities Act of
1933.
|
The
registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as
may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a
further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement
shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the
Securities Act or until this Registration Statement shall become effective on
such date as the Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may
determine.
The information in this preliminary
prospectus is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold
until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer
to sell these securities and the Sponsor and the Trust are not soliciting an
offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not
permitted.
Teucrium
Corn Fund
[#
of] Shares
Teucrium
Corn Fund (the “Fund”) is a commodity pool that is a series of Teucrium
Commodity Trust (“Trust”), a Delaware statutory trust. The Fund will
issue common units representing fractional undivided beneficial interests in
such Fund, called “Shares.” The Fund intends to continuously offer
creation baskets consisting of 100,000 Shares to “Authorized Purchasers” (as
defined below) through ALPS Distributors, Inc., which is the marketing agent for
Shares of the Fund (the “Marketing Agent”). Authorized Purchasers, in
turn, may offer to the public Shares of any baskets it creates. [Name
of Initial AP] is expected to be the initial Authorized
Purchaser. The Fund’s Shares are expected to trade on the secondary
market on the NYSE Arca exchange (“NYSE Arca”) and may trade in the secondary
market at prices that are lower or higher than their net asset value per
Share. Fund Shares will be listed on the NYSE Arca under the symbol
“[symbol].”
The
investment objective of the Fund is to have the daily changes in percentage
terms of the Shares’ net asset value reflect the daily changes in percentage
terms of a weighted average of the closing settlement prices for three corn
futures contracts – specifically, (1) the second-to-expire corn futures contract
traded on the Chicago Board of Trade (“CBOT”), weighted 35%, (2) the
third-to-expire CBOT corn futures contract, weighted 30%, and (3) the CBOT corn
futures contract expiring in the December following the expiration month of
third-to-expire contract, weighted 35%, less the Fund’s expenses. The
Fund’s sponsor is Teucrium Trading, LLC (the “Sponsor”), a Delaware limited
liability company that is registered as a commodity pool operator with the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and a member of the National
Futures Association (“NFA”). The Sponsor makes investment decisions
for the Fund and otherwise controls its operations.
This is a
best efforts offering; the Marketing Agent is not required to sell any specific
number or dollar amount of Shares, but will use its best efforts to sell
Shares. An Authorized Purchaser is under no obligation to purchase
Shares. This is intended to be a continuous offering and is not
expected to terminate until all of the registered Shares have been
sold, although the offering may be temporarily suspended if and
when no suitable investments for the Fund are available or
practicable.
Investing
in the Fund involves significant risks. See “What Are the Risk Factors Involved
with an Investment in the Fund?” beginning on page [x].
The
Fund is not a mutual fund registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940
and is not subject to regulation under such Act.
NEITHER
THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION (“SEC”) NOR ANY STATE SECURITIES
COMMISSION HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED OF THE SECURITIES OFFERED IN THIS
PROSPECTUS, OR DETERMINED IF THIS PROSPECTUS IS TRUTHFUL OR
COMPLETE. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL
OFFENSE.
THE
CFTC HAS NOT PASSED UPON THE MERITS OF PARTICIPATING IN THIS COMMODITY POOL NOR
HAS IT PASSED ON THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS DISCLOSURE
DOCUMENT.
This
prospectus is in two parts: a disclosure document and a statement of additional
information. These parts are bound together, and both contain important
information.
|
|
Per share
|
|
|
Per Basket
|
|
Price
of the Shares
*
|
|
$
|
25.00
|
|
|
$
|
2,500,000
|
|
*
Based on
closing net asset value on [
date
]. The price may
vary based on net asset value in effect on a particular day.
The date
of this prospectus is _______, 2009.
COMMODITY
FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
RISK
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
YOU
SHOULD CAREFULLY CONSIDER WHETHER YOUR FINANCIAL CONDITION PERMITS YOU TO
PARTICIPATE IN A COMMODITY POOL. IN SO DOING, YOU SHOULD BE AWARE
THAT FUTURES AND OPTIONS TRADING CAN QUICKLY LEAD TO LARGE LOSSES AS WELL AS
GAINS. SUCH TRADING LOSSES CAN SHARPLY REDUCE THE NET ASSET VALUE OF
THE POOL AND CONSEQUENTLY THE VALUE OF YOUR INTEREST IN THE POOL. IN
ADDITION, RESTRICTIONS ON REDEMPTIONS MAY AFFECT YOUR ABILITY TO WITHDRAW YOUR
PARTICIPATION IN THE POOL.
FURTHER,
COMMODITY POOLS MAY BE SUBJECT TO SUBSTANTIAL CHARGES FOR MANAGEMENT, ADVISORY
AND BROKERAGE FEES. IT MAY BE NECESSARY FOR THOSE POOLS THAT ARE
SUBJECT TO THESE CHARGES TO MAKE SUBSTANTIAL TRADING PROFITS TO AVOID DEPLETION
OR EXHAUSTION OF THEIR ASSETS. THIS DISCLOSURE DOCUMENT CONTAINS A
COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF EACH EXPENSE TO BE CHARGED THIS POOL BEGINNING ON PAGE
[x] AND A STATEMENT OF THE PERCENTAGE RETURN NECESSARY TO BREAK EVEN, THAT IS,
TO RECOVER THE AMOUNT OF YOUR INITIAL INVESTMENT, ON PAGE [x].
THIS
BRIEF STATEMENT CANNOT DISCLOSE ALL THE RISKS AND OTHER FACTORS NECESSARY TO
EVALUATE YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THIS COMMODITY POOL. THEREFORE, BEFORE
YOU DECIDE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS COMMODITY POOL, YOU SHOULD CAREFULLY STUDY
THIS DISCLOSURE DOCUMENT, INCLUDING THE DESCRIPTION OF THE PRINCIPAL RISK
FACTORS OF THIS INVESTMENT, BEGINNING ON PAGE [x].
YOU
SHOULD ALSO BE AWARE THAT THIS COMMODITY POOL MAY TRADE FOREIGN FUTURES OR
OPTIONS CONTRACTS. TRANSACTIONS ON MARKETS LOCATED OUTSIDE THE UNITED
STATES, INCLUDING MARKETS FORMALLY LINKED TO A UNITED STATES MARKET, MAY BE
SUBJECT TO REGULATIONS WHICH OFFER DIFFERENT OR DIMINISHED PROTECTION TO THE
POOL AND ITS PARTICIPANTS. FURTHER, UNITED STATES REGULATORY
AUTHORITIES MAY BE UNABLE TO COMPEL THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE RULES OF REGULATORY
AUTHORITIES OR MARKETS IN NON-UNITED STATES JURISDICTIONS WHERE TRANSACTIONS FOR
THE POOL MAY BE EFFECTED.
AS OF THE
DATE OF THIS PROSPECTUS THIS POOL HAS NOT YET COMMENCED TRADING AND DOES NOT
HAVE ANY PERFORMANCE HISTORY. THE SPONSOR HAS NOT PREVIOUSLY OPERATED
ANY OTHER COMMODITY POOLS OR TRADED ANY OTHER ACCOUNTS.
TEUCRIUM
CORN FUND
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING
STATEMENTS
|
iii
|
PROSPECTUS SUMMARY
|
1
|
|
Overview
of the Fund
|
1
|
|
The
Shares
|
4
|
|
The
Fund’s Investments in Corn Interests
|
5
|
|
Principal
Investment Risks of an Investment in the Fund
|
6
|
|
Principal
Offices of the Fund and the Sponsor
|
8
|
|
Financial
Condition of the Fund
|
8
|
|
Defined
Terms
|
8
|
|
Breakeven
Analysis
|
8
|
|
The
Offering
|
10
|
WHAT ARE THE RISK FACTORS INVOLVED WITH AN
INVESTMENT IN THE FUND?
|
15
|
|
Risks
Associated With Investing Directly or Indirectly in Corn
|
15
|
|
The
Fund’s Operating Risks
|
22
|
|
Risk
of Leverage and Volatility
|
31
|
|
Over-the-Counter
Contract Risk
|
32
|
|
Tax
Risk
|
34
|
THE OFFERING
|
35
|
|
The
Fund in General
|
35
|
|
The
Sponsor
|
36
|
|
The
Trustee
|
38
|
|
Operation
of the Fund
|
39
|
|
Futures
Contracts
|
42
|
|
Over-the-Counter
Derivative
|
45
|
|
Benchmark
Performance
|
46
|
|
The
Corn Market
|
47
|
|
The
Fund’s Investments in Treasury Securities, Cash and Cash
Equivalents
|
48
|
|
Other
Trading Policies of the Fund
|
48
|
|
The
Service Providers
|
49
|
|
Fees
to be Paid by the Fund
|
50
|
|
Form
of Shares
|
50
|
|
Transfer
of Shares
|
51
|
|
Inter-Series
Limitation on Liability
|
52
|
|
Plan
of Distribution
|
52
|
|
The
Flow of Shares
|
54
|
|
Calculating
NAV
|
55
|
|
Creation
and Redemption of Shares
|
56
|
|
Secondary
Market Transactions
|
60
|
|
Use
of Proceeds
|
61
|
|
The
Trust Agreement
|
66
|
|
The
Sponsor Has Conflicts of Interest
|
70
|
|
Interests
of Named Experts and Counsel
|
72
|
|
Provisions
of Federal and State Securities Laws
|
72
|
|
Books
and Records
|
72
|
|
Analysis
of Critical Accounting Policies
|
72
|
|
Statements,
Filings, and Reports to Shareholders
|
73
|
|
Fiscal
Year
|
73
|
|
Governing
Law; Consent to Delaware Jurisdiction
|
73
|
|
Legal
Matters
|
74
|
|
Privacy
Policy
|
74
|
|
U.S.
Federal Income Tax Considerations
|
74
|
|
Investment
By ERISA Accounts
|
87
|
INFORMATION YOU SHOULD KNOW
|
90
|
WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE
INFORMATION
|
91
|
Until
[
date
] (25 days
after the date of this prospectus), all dealers effecting transactions in the
offered Shares, whether or not participating in this distribution, may be
required to deliver a prospectus. This requirement is in addition to
the obligations of dealers to deliver a prospectus when acting as underwriters
and with respect to unsold allotments or subscriptions.
STATEMENT
REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This
prospectus includes “forward-looking statements” which generally relate to
future events or future performance. In some cases, you can identify
forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,”
“expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or
the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. All
statements (other than statements of historical fact) included in this
prospectus that address activities, events or developments that will or may
occur in the future, including such matters as movements in the commodities
markets and indexes that track such movements, the Fund’s operations, the
Sponsor’s plans and references to the Fund’s future success and other similar
matters, are forward-looking statements. These statements are only
predictions. Actual events or results may differ
materially. These statements are based upon certain assumptions and
analyses the Sponsor has made based on its perception of historical trends,
current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors
appropriate in the circumstances. Whether or not actual results and
developments will conform to the Sponsor’s expectations and predictions,
however, is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including the
special considerations discussed in this prospectus, general economic, market
and business conditions, changes in laws or regulations, including those
concerning taxes, made by governmental authorities or regulatory bodies, and
other world economic and political developments. See “What Are the
Risk Factors Involved with an Investment in the Fund?” Consequently,
all the forward-looking statements made in this prospectus are qualified by
these cautionary statements, and there can be no assurance that actual results
or developments the Sponsor anticipates will be realized or, even if
substantially realized, that they will result in the expected consequences to,
or have the expected effects on, the Fund’s operations or the value of its
Shares.
PROSPECTUS
SUMMARY
This
is only a summary of the prospectus and, while it contains material information
about the Fund and its Shares, it does not contain or summarize all of the
information about the Fund and the Shares contained in this prospectus that is
material and/or which may be important to you. You should read this entire
prospectus, including “What Are the Risk Factors Involved with an Investment in
the Fund?” beginning on page 15 before making an investment decision about
the Shares. In addition, this prospectus includes a statement of
additional information that follows and is bound together with the primary
disclosure document. Both the primary disclosure document and the
statement of additional information contain important information.
Overview
of the Fund
Teucrium
Corn Fund (the “Fund” or “Us” or “We”), is a commodity pool that will issue
Shares that may be purchased and sold on the NYSE Arca. The Fund is a
series of the Teucrium Commodity Trust (“Trust”), a Delaware statutory trust
organized on September 11, 2009. Additional series of the Trust that
will be separate commodity pools may be created in the future, but the Fund is
currently the Trust’s only series. The Trust and the Fund operate
pursuant to the Trust’s Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust and Trust
Agreement (the “Trust Agreement”). The Fund is managed and controlled
by the Sponsor, Teucrium Trading, LLC. The Sponsor is a limited liability
company formed in Delaware on July 28, 2009 that is registered as a commodity
pool operator (“CPO”) with the CFTC and is a member of the NFA.
The net
assets of the Fund will consist primarily of investments in futures contracts
for corn that are traded on the CBOT or on foreign exchanges (collectively,
“Corn Futures Contracts”) and other corn-based contracts and instruments such as
cash-settled options on Corn Futures Contracts and forward contracts, swaps and
other over-the-counter transactions that are based on the price of corn
and Corn Futures Contracts (collectively, “Other Corn Interests”), as
well as United States Treasury Securities, cash and cash
equivalents. Corn Futures Contracts and Other Corn Interests
collectively are referred to as “Corn Interests” in this
prospectus. The Sponsor expects to manage the Fund’s investments
directly, although it has been authorized by the Trust to retain, establish the
terms of retention for, and terminate third-party commodity trading advisors to
provide such management. The Sponsor is also authorized to select
futures commission merchants to execute the Fund’s transactions in Corn Futures
Contracts.
The
investment objective of the Fund is to have the daily changes in percentage
terms of the Shares’ net asset value (“NAV”) reflect the daily changes in
percentage terms of a weighted average of the closing settlement prices for
three Corn Futures Contracts, specifically (1) the second-to-expire Corn Futures
Contract traded on the Chicago Board of Trade (“CBOT”), weighted 35%, (2) the
third-to-expire CBOT Corn Futures Contract, weighted 30%, and (3) the CBOT Corn
Futures Contract expiring in the December following the expiration month of the
third-to-expire contract, weighted 35%, less the Fund’s expenses.
(This weighted average of
the three Corn Futures Contracts is referred to herein as the “Benchmark,” and
the three Corn Futures Contracts that at any given time make up the Benchmark
are referred to herein as the “Benchmark Component Futures
Contracts.”)
Corn
Futures Contracts traded on the CBOT expire on a specified day in five different
months: March, May, July, September and December. In terms
of the Benchmark, in June of a given year, the next-to-expire or “spot month”
Corn Futures Contract will expire in July of that year, and the Benchmark
Component Futures Contracts will be the contracts expiring in September of that
year (the second-to-expire contract), December of that year (the third-to-expire
contract), and December of the following year. In November of a given
year, the Benchmark Component Futures Contracts will be the contracts expiring
in March, May and December of the following year.
The Fund
seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing in Corn Futures Contracts
and Other Corn Interests such that daily changes in the Fund’s NAV will closely
track the changes in the Benchmark. The Fund’s positions in Corn
Interests will be changed or “rolled” on a regular basis in order to track the
changing nature of the Benchmark. For example, on a specified day
each month, the second-to-expire Corn Futures Contract will become the
next-to-expire Corn Futures Contract and will no longer be a Benchmark Component
Futures Contract, and the Fund’s investments will have to be changed
accordingly. In order that the Fund’s trading does not cause unwanted
market movements and to make it more difficult for third parties to profit by
trading based on such expected market movements, the Fund’s investments
typically will not be rolled entirely on that day, but rather will typically be
rolled over a period of days. After fulfilling the margin and
collateral requirements with respect to its Corn Interests, the Fund will invest
the remainder of its proceeds from the sale of baskets in short-term obligations
of the United States government (“Treasury Securities”) or cash equivalents,
and/or merely hold such assets in cash (generally in interest-bearing
accounts).
The
Sponsor endeavors to place the Fund’s trades in Corn Interests and otherwise
manage the Fund’s investments so that A will be within plus/minus 10 percent of
B, where:
|
·
|
A
is the average daily change in the Fund’s NAV for any period of 30
successive valuation days, i.e., any trading day as of which the Fund
calculates its NAV, and
|
|
·
|
B
is the average daily change in the Benchmark over the same
period.
|
The
Sponsor believes that market arbitrage opportunities will cause the Fund’s Share
price on the NYSE Arca to closely track the Fund’s NAV per share. The
Sponsor believes that the net effect of this expected relationship and the
expected relationship described above between the Fund’s NAV and the Benchmark
will be that the changes in the price of the Fund’s Shares on the NYSE Arca will
closely track, in percentage terms, changes in the Benchmark, less the Fund’s
expenses.
The Fund
invests in Corn Interests to the fullest extent possible without being leveraged
or unable to satisfy its expected current or potential margin or collateral
obligations with respect to its investments in Corn Interests. The
primary focus of the Sponsor is the investment in Corn Interests and the
management of the Fund’s investments in Treasury Securities, cash and/or cash
equivalents.
The
Sponsor employs a “neutral” investment strategy intended to track the changes in
the Benchmark regardless of whether the Benchmark goes up or goes
down. The Fund’s “neutral” investment strategy is designed to permit
investors generally to purchase and sell the Fund’s Shares for the purpose of
investing indirectly in the corn market in a cost-effective manner, and/or to
permit participants in the corn or other industries to hedge the risk of losses
in their corn-related transactions. Accordingly, depending on the
investment objective of an individual investor, the risks generally associated
with investing in the corn market and/or the risks involved in hedging may
exist. In addition, an investment in the Fund involves the risks that
the changes in the price of the Fund’s Shares will not accurately track the
changes in the Benchmark, and that changes in the Benchmark will not closely
correlate with changes in the price of corn on the spot
market. Furthermore, the Fund also invests in short-term Treasury
Securities, cash and/or cash equivalents to meet its current or potential margin
or collateral requirements with respect to its investments in Corn Interests and
to invest cash not required to be used as margin or collateral. The
Fund does not expect there to be any meaningful correlation between the
performance of the Fund’s investments in Treasury Securities/cash/cash
equivalents and the changes in the price of corn or Corn
Interests. While the level of interest earned on or the market price
of these investments may in some respect correlate to changes in the price of
corn, this correlation is not anticipated as part of the Fund’s efforts to meet
its objective. This and certain risk factors discussed in this
prospectus may cause a lack of correlation between changes in the Fund’s NAV and
changes in the price of corn. The Sponsor does not intend to operate
the Fund in a fashion such that its per share NAV will equal, in dollar terms,
the spot price of a bushel or other unit of corn or the price of any particular
Corn Futures Contract.
The Fund
creates and redeems Shares only in blocks called Creation Baskets and Redemption
Baskets, respectively. Only Authorized Purchasers may purchase or
redeem Creation Baskets or Redemption Baskets. An Authorized
Purchaser is under no obligation to create or redeem baskets, and an Authorized
Purchaser is under no obligation to offer to the public Shares of any baskets it
does create. Baskets are generally created when there is a demand for
Shares, including, but not limited to, when the market price per share is at a
premium to the NAV per share. Authorized Purchasers will then sell
such Shares, which will be listed on the NYSE Arca, to the public at per-Share
offering prices that are expected to reflect, among other factors, the trading
price of the Shares on the NYSE Arca, the NAV of the Fund at the time the
Authorized Purchaser purchased the Creation Baskets and the NAV at the time of
the offer of the Shares to the public, the supply of and demand for Shares at
the time of sale, and the liquidity of the Corn Futures Contracts market and the
market for other Corn Interests. The prices of Shares offered by
Authorized Purchasers are expected to fall between the Fund’s NAV and the
trading price of the Shares on the NYSE Arca at the time of
sale. Similarly, baskets are generally redeemed when the market price
per share is at a discount to the NAV per share. Retail investors
seeking to purchase or sell Shares on any day are expected to effect such
transactions in the secondary market, on the NYSE Arca, at the market price per
share, rather than in connection with the creation or redemption of
baskets.
All
proceeds from the sale of Creation Baskets will be invested as quickly as
practicable in the investments described in this
prospectus. Investments are held through the Fund’s custodian,
[Custodian] (“Custodian”), in accounts with the Fund’s commodity futures brokers
or in collateral accounts with respect to over-the-counter Corn
Interests. There is no stated maximum time period for the Fund’s
operations and the Fund will continue until all Shares are redeemed or the Fund
is liquidated pursuant to the terms of the Trust Agreement.
There is
no specified limit on the maximum amount of Creation Baskets that can be sold.
At some point, position limits on Corn Futures Contracts or other Corn Interests
may practically limit the number of Creation Baskets that will be sold if the
Sponsor determines that the other investment alternatives available to the Fund
at that time will not enable it to meet its stated investment
objective.
Shares
may also be purchased and sold by individuals and entities that are not
Authorized Purchasers in smaller increments than Creation Baskets on the NYSE
Arca. However, these transactions are effected at bid and ask prices
established by specialist firm(s). Like any listed security, Shares
of the Fund can be purchased and sold at any time a secondary market is
open.
In
managing the Fund’s assets, the Sponsor does not use a technical trading system
that automatically issues buy and sell orders. Instead, each time one
or more baskets are purchased or redeemed, the Sponsor will purchase or sell
Corn Interests with an aggregate market value that approximates the amount of
cash received or paid upon the purchase or redemption of the
basket(s).
Note to Secondary Market Investors:
The Shares can be directly purchased from or redeemed by the Fund only in
Creation Baskets or Redemption Baskets, respectively, and only by Authorized
Purchasers. Each Creation Basket and Redemption Basket consists of
100,000 Shares and is expected to be worth millions of
dollars. Individual investors, therefore, will not be able to
directly purchase Shares from or redeem Shares with the Fund. Some of
the information contained in this prospectus, including information about buying
and redeeming Shares directly from and to the Fund is only relevant to
Authorized Purchasers. Shares will be listed and traded on the NYSE
Arca under the ticker symbol “[symbol]” and may be purchased and sold as
individual Shares. Individuals interested in purchasing Shares in the
secondary market should contact their broker. Shares purchased or
sold through a broker may be subject to commissions.
Except
when aggregated in Redemption Baskets, Shares are not redeemable securities.
There is no guarantee that Shares will trade at or near the per-Share
NAV.
The
Shares
The
Shares are registered as securities under the Securities Act of 1933 (“1933
Act”) and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and do not
provide dividend rights or conversion rights and there will not be sinking
funds. The Shares may only be redeemed when aggregated in Redemption
Baskets as discussed under “Creation and Redemption of Shares” and holders of
Fund shares (“Shareholders”) generally will not have voting rights as discussed
below under “The Trust Agreement – Voting Rights” below. Cumulative
voting is neither permitted nor required and there are no preemptive
rights. As discussed in the Trust Agreement, upon liquidation of the
Fund its assets will be distributed pro rata to the Shareholders based upon the
number of Shares held. Each Shareholder will receive its share of the
assets in cash or in kind, and the proportion of such share that is received in
cash may vary from Shareholder to Shareholder, as the Sponsor in its sole
discretion may decide.
This is a
continuous offering under Rule 415 of the 1933 Act and is not expected to
terminate until all of the registered Shares have been sold, although the
offering may be temporarily suspended during such period when suitable
investments for the Fund are not available or practicable. It is
anticipated that when all registered Shares have been sold pursuant to this
registration statement, additional Shares will be registered in subsequent
registration statements. As discussed above, the minimum purchase
requirement for Authorized Purchasers is a Creation Basket, which consists of
100,000 Shares. Under the plan of distribution, the Fund does not require a
minimum purchase amount for investors who purchase Shares from Authorized
Purchasers. There are no arrangements to place funds in an escrow,
trust, or similar account.
The
Fund’s Investments in Corn Interests
A brief
description of the principal types of Corn Interests in which the Fund may
invest is set forth below.
|
·
|
A
futures contract is an exchange-traded contract traded with standard terms
that calls for the delivery of a specified quantity of a commodity at a
specified price, on a specified date and at a specified
location.
|
|
·
|
A
forward contract is a non-standardized, non-exchange traded
(“over-the-counter”) bilateral contract for the purchase of sale of a
specified quantity of a commodity at a specified price, on a specified
date and at a specified location.
|
|
·
|
A
swap is an over-the-counter bilateral contract to exchange a periodic
stream of payments determined by reference to a notional amount, with one
party’s payments determined by reference to a specified price for an
underlying asset, and the other’s determined by reference to the current
market price of that asset.
|
|
·
|
An
option on a futures contract, forward contract or a commodity on the spot
market gives the buyer of the option the right, but not the obligation, to
buy or sell a futures contract, forward contract or commodity, as
applicable, at a specified price on or before a specified
date. Options on futures contracts, like the future contracts
to which they relate, are standardized contracts traded on an exchange,
while options on forward contracts and commodities generally are
individually negotiated, over-the-counter, bilateral
contracts.
|
Unlike
exchange-traded contracts, over-the-counter contracts expose the Fund to the
credit risk of the other party to the contract. (As discussed below,
exchange-traded contracts may expose the Fund to the risk of the clearing
broker’s and/or the exchange clearing house(s)’ bankruptcy.) The
Sponsor does not currently intend to purchase and sell corn in the “spot market”
for the Fund. Spot market transactions are cash transactions in which
the buyer and seller agree to the immediate purchase and sale of a commodity,
usually with a two-day settlement. In addition, the Sponsor does not
currently intend that the Fund will enter into or hold spot month Corn Futures
Contracts, except that spot month contracts that were formerly second-to-expire
contracts may be held for a brief period until they can be disposed of in
accordance with the Fund’s roll strategy.
A more
detailed description of Corn Interests and other aspects of the corn and Corn
Interest markets can be found later in this prospectus.
As
noted, the Fund invests in Corn Futures Contracts, including those traded on the
CBOT. The Fund expressly disclaims any association with such exchange
or endorsement of the Fund by such exchange and acknowledges that “CBOT” and
“Chicago Board of Trade” are registered trademarks of such
exchange.
Principal
Investment Risks of an Investment in the Fund
An
investment in the Fund involves a degree of risk. Some of the risks you may face
are summarized below. A more extensive discussion of these risks appears
beginning on page 15.
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Unlike
mutual funds, commodity pools or other investment pools that manage their
investments in an attempt to realize income and gains and distribute such
income and gains to their investors, the Fund generally will not
distribute dividends to Shareholders. You should not invest in
the Fund if you will need cash distributions from the Fund to pay taxes on
your share of income and gains of the Fund, if any, or for any other
reason.
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·
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Investors
may choose to use the Fund as a means of investing indirectly in corn, and
there are risks involved in such investments. The risks and
hazards that are inherent in corn production may cause the price of corn
to fluctuate widely. Price movements for corn are influenced
by, among other things: weather conditions, crop failure,
production decisions, governmental policies, changing demand, the corn
harvest cycle, and various economic and monetary events. Corn
production is also subject to U.S. federal, state and local regulations
that materially affect operations.
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·
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To
the extent that investors use the Fund as a means of investing indirectly
in corn, there is the risk that the changes in the price of the Fund’s
Shares on the NYSE Arca will not closely track the changes in spot price
of corn. This could happen if the price of Shares traded on the
NYSE Arca does not correlate closely with the Fund’s NAV; the changes in
the Fund’s NAV do not correlate closely with changes in the Benchmark; or
the changes in the Benchmark do not correlate closely with changes in the
cash or spot price of corn. This is a risk because if these
correlations are not sufficiently close, then investors may not be able to
use the Fund as a cost-effective way to invest indirectly in corn or as a
hedge against the risk of loss in corn-related
transactions.
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·
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The
Sponsor has never operated a commodity
pool.
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·
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The
Fund has no operating history, so there is no performance history to serve
as a basis for you to evaluate an investment in the
Trust.
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·
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The
price relationship between the near month Corn Futures Contract to expire
and the Benchmark Component Futures Contracts will vary and may impact
both the Fund’s total return over time and the degree to which such total
return tracks the total return of corn price indices. In cases
in which the near month contract’s price is lower than later-expiring
contracts’ prices (a situation known as “contango” in the futures
markets), then absent the impact of the overall movement in corn prices
the value of the Benchmark Component Futures Contracts would tend to
decline as they approach expiration. In cases in which the near
month contract’s price is higher than later-expiring contracts’ prices (a
situation known as “backwardation” in the futures markets), then absent
the impact of the overall movement in corn prices the value of the
Benchmark Component Futures Contracts would tend to rise as they approach
expiration.
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·
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Investors,
including those who directly participate in the corn market, may choose to
use the Fund as a vehicle to hedge against the risk of loss and there are
risks involved in hedging activities. While hedging can provide
protection against an adverse movement in market prices, it can also
preclude a hedger’s opportunity to benefit from a favorable market
movement.
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·
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The
structure and operation of the Fund may involve conflicts of
interest. For example, a conflict may arise because the Sponsor
and its principals and affiliates may trade for themselves. In
addition, the Sponsor has sole current authority to manage the investments
and operations, which may create a conflict with the Shareholders’ best
interests.
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·
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You
will have no rights to participate in the management of the Fund and will
have to rely on the duties and judgment of the Sponsor to manage the
Fund.
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·
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The
Fund pays fees and expenses that are incurred regardless of whether it is
profitable.
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·
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The
Fund seeks to have the changes in its Shares’ NAV in percentage terms
track changes in the Benchmark in percentage terms, rather than profit
from speculative trading of Corn Interests. The Sponsor
therefore endeavors to manage the Fund so that the Fund’s assets are,
unlike those of many other commodity pools, not leveraged (
i.e.
, so that the
aggregate value of the Fund’s unrealized losses from its investments in
Corn Interests at any time will not exceed the value of the Fund’s
assets). There is no assurance that the Sponsor will
successfully implement this investment strategy. If the Sponsor
permits the Fund to become leveraged, you could lose all or substantially
all of your investment if the Fund’s trading positions suddenly turn
unprofitable. These movements in price may be the result of
factors outside of the Sponsor’s control and may not be anticipated by the
Sponsor.
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·
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The
Fund may invest in Other Corn Interests. To the extent that
these Other Corn Interests are contracts individually negotiated between
their parties, they may not be as liquid as Corn Futures Contracts and
will expose the Fund to credit risk that its counterparty may not be able
to satisfy its obligations to the
Fund.
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·
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The
Fund invests primarily in Corn Interests that are traded or sold in the
United States. However, a portion of the Fund’s trades may take
place in markets and on exchanges outside the United
States. Some non-U.S. markets present risks because they are
not subject to the same degree of regulation as their U.S.
counterparts. In some of these non-U.S. markets, the
performance on a contract is the responsibility of the counterparty and is
not backed by an exchange or clearing corporation and therefore exposes
the Fund to credit risk. Trading in non-U.S. markets also
leaves the Fund susceptible to fluctuations in the value of the local
currency against the U.S. dollar.
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For
additional risks, see “What Are the Risk Factors Involved with an Investment in
the Fund?”
Principal
Offices of the Fund and the Sponsor
The
principal office of the Trust and the Fund is located at 232 Hidden Lake Road,
Building A, Brattleboro, Vermont 05301. The telephone number is (802)
257-1617. The Sponsor’s principal office is also located at 232
Hidden Lake Road, Building A, Brattleboro, Vermont 05301.
Financial
Condition of the Fund
The
Fund’s NAV is determined as of the earlier of the close of the New York Stock
Exchange or 4:00 p.m. New York time on each day that the NYSE Arca is open for
trading.
Defined
Terms
For a
glossary of defined terms, see Appendix A.
Breakeven
Analysis
The
breakeven analysis below indicates the approximate dollar returns and percentage
required for the redemption value of a hypothetical $50.00 initial investment in
a single Share to equal the amount invested twelve months after the investment
was made. This breakeven analysis refers to the redemption of baskets
by Authorized Purchasers and is not related to any gains an individual investor
would have to achieve in order to break even. The breakeven analysis is an
approximation only.
Assumed
initial selling price per share
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$
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25.00
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Sponsor’s
Fee (1.00%)
(1)
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$
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0.25
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Creation
Basket Fee
(2)
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$
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0.01
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Estimated
Brokerage Fees (0.01%)
(3)
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<$
0.01
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Other
Fund Fees and Expenses
(4)
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$
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[x
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]
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Interest
Income (0.15%)
(5)
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$
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0.04
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Amount
of trading income (loss) required for the redemption value at the end of
one year to equal the initial selling price of the Share
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$
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[x
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]
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Percentage
of initial selling price per share
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[x
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]%
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(1) The
Fund is obligated to pay the Sponsor a management fee based on average daily net
assets and paid monthly at the annual rate 1.00%.
(2) Authorized
Purchasers are required to pay a Creation Basket fee of $1,000 for each order
they place to create one or more baskets. An order must be at least
one basket, which is 100,000 Shares. This breakeven analysis assumes
a hypothetical investment in a single Share so the Creation Basket fee is $.01
(1,000/100,000).
(3) The
Fund determined this amount as follows. Assuming that the price of a
Shares is $25.00, the Fund would receive $2,500,000 upon the sale of a Creation
Basket (100,000 Shares multiplied by $25.00). Assuming that this
entire amount is invested in Corn Futures Contracts and that there is no change
in the settlement price of such contracts, the Fund would be required to
purchase approximately 14 Corn Futures Contracts to support the Creation Basket
($2,500,000 divided by $17,038, the value of the March 2009 Corn Futures
Contract as of September 17, 2009). In order to reflect changes in
the Benchmark Component Futures Contracts, the Fund would have to replace
one-third (approximately 5) of the contracts it holds with new contracts five
times per year. Assuming further that futures commission merchants
charge approximately $4.00 per Corn Futures Contract for each purchase or sale,
the annual futures commission merchant charge would be approximately $200.00 (10
total Corn Futures Contract transactions (5 purchases and 5 sales) multiplied by
five times per year multiplied by $4.00). As a percentage of the
total investment of $2,500,000, this annual commission expense would be
approximately 0.01%.
(4) Other
Fund Fees and expenses include SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory
Authority (“FINRA”) registration fees and legal, printing, accounting, custodial
and administration costs. The per-share cost of these fixed or
estimated fees has been calculated assuming that the Fund has $30 million in
assets.
(5) The
Fund earns interest on funds it deposits with the futures commission merchant
and the Custodian and it estimates that the interest rate will be 0.15% based on
the current interest rate on three-month Treasury Bills as of August 31,
2009. The actual rate may vary.
The
Offering
Offering
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The
Fund will offer Creation Baskets consisting of 100,000 Shares through the
Marketing Agent to Authorized Purchasers. Authorized Purchasers
may purchase Creation Baskets consisting of 100,000 Shares at the Fund’s
NAV, which is expected to initially be $25.00. The initial
Authorized Purchaser intends to offer the Shares of the initial Creation
Basket(s) publicly. The initial Creation Basket is expected to
be purchased by the initial Authorized Purchaser on the day the SEC
declares the registration statement effective. The Shares are
expected to begin trading on the NYSE Arca on the day following the
purchase of the initial Creation Basket(s) by the initial Authorized
Purchaser.
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Use
of Proceeds
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The
Sponsor will apply substantially all of the Fund’s assets toward investing
in Corn Interests, Treasury Securities, cash and/or cash
equivalents. The Sponsor will deposit a portion of the Fund’s
net assets with the futures commission merchant, Newedge USA, LLC, or
other custodians to be used to meet its current or potential margin or
collateral requirements in connection with its investment in Corn
Interests. The Fund will use only Treasury Securities, cash
and/or cash equivalents to satisfy these requirements. The
Sponsor expects that all entities that will hold or trade the Fund’s
assets will be based in the United States and will be subject to United
States regulations. The Sponsor believes that approximately 5%
to 10% of the Fund’s assets will normally be committed as margin for Corn
Futures Contracts and collateral for Other Corn
Interests. However, from time to time, the percentage of assets
committed as margin/collateral may be substantially more, or less, than
such range. The remaining portion of the Fund’s assets will be
held in Treasury Securities, cash and/or cash equivalents by the
Custodian. All interest income earned on these investments is
retained for the Fund’s
benefit.
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NYSE
Arca Symbol
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“[symbol]”
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Creation
and Redemption
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Authorized
Purchasers pay a $1,000 fee for each order to create or redeem one or more
Creation Baskets or Redemption Baskets. Authorized Purchasers
are not required to sell any specific number or dollar amount of
Shares. The per share price of Shares offered in Creation
Baskets on any day after the effective date of the registration statement
relating to this prospectus is the total NAV of the Fund calculated as of
the close of the NYSE Arca on that day divided by the number of issued and
outstanding Shares.
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Inter-Series
Limitation on Liability
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While
the Fund is currently the sole series of the Trust, additional series may
be created in the future. The Trust has been formed and will be
operated with the goal that the Fund and any other series of the Trust
will be liable only for obligations of such series, and a series will not
be responsible for or affected by any liabilities or losses of or claims
against any other series. If any creditor or shareholder in any
particular series (such as the Fund) were to successfully assert against a
series a claim with respect to its indebtedness or Shares, the creditor or
shareholder could recover only from that particular series and its
assets. Accordingly, the debts and other obligations incurred,
contracted for or otherwise existing solely with respect to a particular
series will be enforceable only against the assets of that series, and not
against any other series or the Trust generally or any of their respective
assets. The assets of the Fund and any other series will
include only those funds and other assets that are paid to, held by or
distributed to the series on account of and for the benefit of that
series, including, without limitation, amounts delivered to the Trust for
the purchase of Shares in a
series.
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Registration
Clearance and Settlement
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Individual
certificates will not be issued for the Shares. Instead, Shares
will be represented by one or more global certificates, which will be
deposited by the Custodian with the Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) and
registered in the name of Cede & Co., as nominee for
DTC. The global certificates evidence all of the Shares
outstanding at any time. Beneficial interests in Shares will be
held through DTC’s book-entry system, which means that Shareholders are
limited to: (1) participants in DTC such as banks, brokers,
dealers and trust companies (“DTC Participants”), (2) those who maintain,
either directly or indirectly, a custodial relationship with a DTC
Participant (“Indirect Participants”), and (3) those who hold interests in
the Shares through DTC Participants or Indirect Participants, in each case
who satisfy the requirements for transfers of Shares. DTC
Participants acting on behalf of investors holding Shares through such
participants’ accounts in DTC will follow the delivery practice applicable
to securities eligible for DTC’s Same-Day Funds Settlement System. Shares
will be credited to DTC Participants’ securities accounts following
confirmation of receipt of payment.
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Net
Asset Value
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The
NAV will be calculated by taking the current market value of the Fund’s
total assets and subtracting any liabilities. Under the Fund’s
current operational procedures, the Administrator will calculate the NAV
of the Fund’s Shares as of the earlier of 4:00 p.m. New York time or the
close of the New York Stock Exchange each day. NYSE Arca will
calculate an approximate net asset value every 15 seconds throughout each
day that the Fund’s Shares are traded on the NYSE Arca for as long as the
CBOT’s main pricing mechanism is
open.
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Fund
Expenses
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The
Fund pays the Sponsor a management fee at an annual rate of 1.00% on its
average net assets, paid on a monthly basis. The Fund is also
responsible for other ongoing fees, costs and expenses of its operations,
including
(
i)
brokerage and other fees and commissions incurred in connection with the
trading activities of the Fund; (ii) expenses incurred in connection with
registering additional Shares of the Fund or offering Shares of the Fund
after the time any Shares have begun trading on NYSE Arca; (iii) the
routine expenses associated with preparation of monthly, quarterly, annual
and other reports required by applicable U.S. federal and state regulatory
authorities, Trust meetings and preparing, printing and mailing proxy
statements and reports to Shareholders; (iv) the payment of any
distributions related to redemption of Shares; (v) payment for routine
services of the Trustee, legal counsel and independent accountants; (vi)
payment for routine accounting, bookkeeping, custody and transfer agency
services, whether performed by an outside service provider or by
Affiliates of the Sponsor; (vii) postage and insurance; (viii) costs and
expenses associated with client relations and services; (ix) costs of
preparation of all federal, state, local and foreign tax returns and any
taxes payable on the income, assets or operations of the Fund; and (xi)
extraordinary expenses (including, but not limited to, legal claims and
liabilities and litigation costs and any indemnification related
thereto).
The
Sponsor will bear the costs and expenses related to the initial offer and
sale of Shares, including registration fees paid or to be paid to the SEC,
FINRA or any other regulatory body. Total fees to be paid by
the Fund are currently estimated to be [___%] for the twelve-month period
ending ______, 2010, though this amount may change in future
years. The Sponsor may, in its discretion, pay or reimburse the
Fund for, or waive a portion of its management fee to offset, expenses
that would otherwise be borne by the Fund.
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General
expenses of the Trust will be allocated among the Fund and any future
series of the Trust as determined by the Sponsor in its
discretion. The Trust may be required to indemnify the Sponsor,
and the Trust and/or the Sponsor may be required to indemnify the Trustee,
Marketing Agent or Administrator, under certain
circumstances.
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Termination
Events
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The
Fund shall continue in existence from the date of its formation in
perpetuity, unless sooner terminated upon the occurrence of any one or
more of the following events: the filing of a certificate of dissolution
or revocation of the Sponsor’s charter or the withdrawal of the Sponsor,
unless a majority in interest of Shareholders elects within ninety (90)
days after such event to continue the business of the Trust and appoints a
successor Sponsor; the occurrence of any event which would make the
existence of the Trust or the Fund unlawful; the suspension, revocation,
or termination of the Sponsor’s registration as a CPO or membership as a
CPO with the NFA; the insolvency or bankruptcy of the Trust or the Fund; a
vote by the Shareholders holding at least seventy-five percent (75%) of
the outstanding Shares vote to dissolve the Trust, subject to certain
conditions; and the determination by the Sponsor to dissolve the Trust or
the Fund, subject to certain conditions. Upon termination of
the Fund, the affairs of the Fund shall be wound up and all of its debts
and liabilities discharged or otherwise provided for in the order of
priority as provided by law. The fair market value of the
remaining assets of the Fund shall then be determined by the
Sponsor. Thereupon, the assets of the Fund shall be distributed
pro rata to the Shareholders in accordance with their
Shares.
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Authorized
Purchasers
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We
expect the initial Authorized Purchaser to be [ ], and we
expect that there will be additional Authorized Purchasers in the
future. A list of Authorized Purchasers will be available from
the Marketing Agent. Authorized Purchasers must be (1)
registered broker-dealers or other securities market participants, such as
banks and other financial institutions, that are not required to register
as broker-dealers to engage in securities transactions, and (2) DTC
Participants. To become an Authorized Purchaser, a person must
enter into an Authorized Purchaser Agreement with the Marketing
Agent.
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WHAT
ARE THE RISK FACTORS INVOLVED WITH AN INVESTMENT IN THE FUND?
You
should consider carefully the risks described below before making an investment
decision. You should also refer to the other information included in this
prospectus, which includes the Fund’s financial statements and the related
notes.
Risks
Associated With Investing Directly or Indirectly in Corn
Investing
in Corn Interests subjects the Fund to the risks of the corn market, and this
could result in substantial fluctuations in the price of the Fund’s
Shares.
The Fund
is subject to the risks and hazards of the corn market because it invests in
Corn Interests. The risks and hazards that are inherent in the corn
market may cause the price of corn to fluctuate widely. If the
changes in percentage terms of the Fund’s Shares accurately track the percentage
changes in the Benchmark or the spot price of corn, then the price of its Shares
will fluctuate accordingly.
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·
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The
price and availability of corn is influenced by economic and industry
conditions, including but not limited to supply and demand factors such
as: crop disease; transportation difficulties; various planting, growing,
or harvesting problems; and severe weather conditions (particularly during
the spring planting season and the fall harvest) such as drought, floods,
or frost that are difficult to anticipate and which cannot be
controlled. Demand for corn in the United States to produce
ethanol has also been a significant factor affecting the price of
corn. In turn, demand for ethanol has tended to increase when
the price of gasoline has increased, and has been significantly affected
by United States governmental policies designed to encourage the
production of ethanol. Additionally, demand for corn is
affected by changes in consumer tastes, national, regional and local
economic conditions, and demographic trends. Finally, because
corn is often used as an ingredient in livestock feed, demand for corn is
subject to risks associated with the outbreak of livestock
disease.
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·
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Corn
production is subject to United States federal, state, and local policies
and regulations that materially affect operations. Governmental
policies affecting the agricultural industry, such as taxes, tariffs,
duties, subsidies, incentives, acreage control, and import and export
restrictions on agricultural commodities and commodity products, can
influence the planting of certain crops, the location and size of crop
production, the volume and types of imports and exports, the availability
and competitiveness of feedstocks as raw materials, and industry
profitability. Additionally, corn production is affected by
laws and regulations relating to, but not limited to, the sourcing,
transporting, storing, and processing of agricultural raw materials as
well as the transporting, storing and distributing of related agricultural
products. U.S. corn producers also must comply with various
environmental laws and regulations, such as those regulating the use of
certain pesticides, and local laws that regulate the production of
genetically modified crops. In addition, international trade
disputes can adversely affect agricultural commodity trade flows by
limiting or disrupting trade between countries or
regions.
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·
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Seasonal
fluctuations in the price of corn may cause risk to an investor because of
the possibility that Share prices will be depressed because of the corn
harvest cycle. In the United States, the corn market is
normally at its weakest point, and corn prices are lowest, shortly before
and during the harvest (between September and November), due to the high
supply of corn in the market. Conversely, corn prices are
highest during the winter and spring (between December and May), when
farmer-owned corn has largely been sold and used. Seasonal
corn market peaks generally occur around February or March. In
the futures market, these seasonal fluctuations are typically reflected in
contracts expiring in the relevant season (e.g., contracts expiring during
the harvest season are typically priced lower than contracts expiring in
the winter and spring). Thus, seasonal fluctuations could
result in an investor incurring losses upon the sale of Fund Shares,
particularly if the investor needs to sell Shares when the Benchmark
Component Futures Contracts are, in whole or part, Corn Futures Contracts
expiring in the fall.
|
The
Benchmark is not designed to correlate exactly with the spot price of corn and
this could cause the changes in the price of the Shares to substantially vary
from the changes in the spot price of corn. Therefore, you may not be
able to effectively use the Fund to hedge against corn-related losses or to
indirectly invest in corn.
The
Benchmark Component Futures Contracts reflect the price of corn for future
delivery, not the current spot price of corn, so at best the correlation between
changes in such Corn Futures Contracts and the spot price of corn will be only
approximate. Weak correlation between the Benchmark and the spot
price of corn may result from the typical seasonal fluctuations in corn prices
discussed above. Imperfect correlation may also result from
speculation in Corn Interests, technical factors in the trading of Corn Futures
Contracts, and expected inflation in the economy as a whole. If there
is a weak correlation between the Benchmark and the spot price of corn, then the
price of Shares may not accurately track the spot price of corn and you may not
be able to effectively use the Fund as a way to hedge the risk of losses in your
corn-related transactions or as a way to indirectly invest in corn.
Changes
in the Fund’s NAV may not correlate well with changes in the price of the
Benchmark. If this were to occur, you may not be able to effectively
use the Fund as a way to hedge against corn-related losses or as a way to
indirectly invest in corn.
The
Sponsor endeavors to invest the Fund’s assets as fully as possible in Corn
Interests so that the changes in percentage terms in the NAV closely correlate
with the changes in percentage terms in the Benchmark. However,
changes in the Fund’s NAV may not correlate with the changes in the Benchmark
for several reasons as set forth below:
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·
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The
Fund does not intend to invest only in the Benchmark Component Futures
Contracts. While its investments in Other Corn Interests would
generally be for the purpose of tracking the Benchmark most effectively
and efficiently, the performance of these Other Corn Interests may not
correlate well with the performance of the Benchmark Component Futures
Contracts, resulting in a greater potential for error in tracking price
changes in those futures contracts. If the trading market for
Corn Futures Contracts is suspended or closed, the Fund may not be able to
purchase these investments at the last reported price for such
investments.
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·
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The
Fund will incur certain expenses in connection with its operations, and
will hold most of its assets in income-producing, short-term securities
for margin and other liquidity purposes and to meet redemptions that may
be necessary on an ongoing basis. These expenses and income
will cause imperfect correlation between changes in the Fund’s NAV and
changes in the Benchmark.
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·
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The
Sponsor may not be able to invest the Fund’s assets in Corn Interests
having an aggregate notional amount exactly equal to the Fund’s
NAV. As a standardized contract, a single Corn Futures
Contracts is for a specified amount of corn, and the Fund’s NAV and the
proceeds from the sale of a Creation Basket is unlikely to be an exact
multiple of that amount. In such case, the Fund could not
invest the entire proceeds from the purchase of the Creation Basket in
such futures contracts. (For example, assuming the Fund
receives $4,679,000 for the sale of a Creation Basket and that the price
of a Corn Futures Contract is $46,800, the Fund could only invest in 99
Corn Futures Contracts with an aggregate value of
$4,633,200). While the Fund may be better able to achieve the
exact amount of exposure to the corn market through the use of
over-the-counter Other Corn Interests, there is no assurance that the
Sponsor will be able to continually adjust the Fund’s exposure to such
Other Corn Interests to maintain such exact
exposure. Furthermore, as noted above, the use of Other Corn
Interests may itself result in imperfect correlation with the
Benchmark. Any amounts not invested in Corn Interests will be
held in short-term Treasury Securities, cash and/or cash
equivalents.
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·
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As
the Fund grows, there may be more or less correlation. On the
one hand, as the Fund grows it should be able to invest in Corn Futures
Contracts with a notional amount that is closer on a percentage basis to
the Fund’s NAV. For example, if the Fund’s NAV is equal to 4.9
times the value of a single futures contract, it can purchase only four
futures contracts, which would cause only 81.6% of the Fund’s assets to be
exposed to the corn market. On the other hand, if the Fund’s
NAV is equal to 100.9 times the value of a single Corn Futures Contract,
it can purchase 100 such contracts, resulting in 99.1%
exposure. However, at certain asset levels the Fund may be
limited in its ability to purchase Corn Futures Contracts due to position
limits imposed by the CFTC or position limits or accountability levels
imposed by the relevant exchanges. In these instances, the Fund
would likely invest to a greater extent in Corn Interests not subject to
these position limits or accountability levels. To the extent
that the Fund invests in Other Corn Interests, the correlation between the
Fund’s NAV and the Benchmark may be lower. In certain
circumstances, position limits could limit the number of Creation Baskets
that will be sold.
|
If
changes in the Fund’s NAV do not correlate with changes in the Benchmark, then
investing in the Fund may not be an effective way to hedge against corn-related
losses or indirectly invest in corn.
Changes
in the price of the Fund’s Shares on the NYSE Arca may not correlate perfectly
with changes in the NAV of the Fund’s Shares. If this variation
occurs, then you may not be able to effectively use the Fund to hedge against
corn-related losses or to indirectly invest in corn.
While it
is expected that the trading prices of the Shares will fluctuate in accordance
with the changes in the Fund’s NAV, the prices of Shares may also be influenced
by other factors, including the short-term supply of and demand for the
Shares. There is no guarantee that the Shares will not trade at
appreciable discounts from, and/or premiums to, the Fund’s NAV. This
could cause the changes in the price of the Shares to substantially vary from
the changes in the spot price of corn. If this occurs, you may not be
able to effectively use the Fund to hedge the risk of losses in your
corn-related transactions or to indirectly invest in corn.
The
Fund may experience a loss if it is required to sell Treasury Securities or cash
equivalents at a price lower than the price at which they were
acquired.
If the
Fund is required to sell Treasury Securities or cash equivalents at a price
lower than the price at which they were acquired, the Fund will experience a
loss. This loss may adversely impact the price of the Shares and may
decrease the correlation between the price of the Shares, the Benchmark, and the
spot price of corn. The value of Treasury Securities and other debt
securities generally moves inversely with movements in interest
rates. The prices of longer maturity securities are subject to
greater market fluctuations as a result of changes in interest
rates. While the short-term nature of the Fund’s investments in
Treasury Securities and cash equivalents should minimize the interest rate risk
to which the Fund is subject, it is possible that the Treasury Securities and
cash equivalents held by the Fund will decline in value.
Certain
of the Fund’s investments could be illiquid which could cause large losses to
investors at any time or from time to time.
The Fund
may not always be able to liquidate its positions in its investments at the
desired price. As to futures contracts, it may be difficult to
execute a trade at a specific price when there is a relatively small volume of
buy and sell orders in a market. Limits imposed by futures exchanges
or other regulatory organizations, such as accountability levels, position
limits and price fluctuation limits, may contribute to a lack of liquidity with
respect to some exchange-traded Corn Interests. In addition,
over-the-counter contracts may be illiquid because they are contracts between
two parties and generally may not be transferred by one party to a third party
without the counterparty’s consent. Conversely, a counterparty may
give its consent, but the Fund still may not be able to transfer an
over-the-counter Corn Interest to a third party due to concerns regarding the
counterparty’s credit risk.
A market
disruption, such as a foreign government taking political actions that disrupt
the market in its currency, its corn production or exports, or in another major
export, can also make it difficult to liquidate a
position. Unexpected market illiquidity may cause major losses to
investors at any time or from time to time. In addition, the Fund
does not intend at this time to establish a credit facility, which would provide
an additional source of liquidity and instead will rely only on the Treasury
Securities, cash and/or cash equivalents that it holds. The
anticipated large value of the positions in Corn Interests that the Sponsor will
acquire or enter into for the Fund increases the risk of
illiquidity. Because Corn Interests may be illiquid, the Fund’s
holdings may be more difficult to liquidate at favorable prices in periods of
illiquid markets and losses may be incurred during the period in which positions
are being liquidated.
If
the nature of the participants in the futures market shifts such that corn
purchasers are the predominant hedgers in the market, the Fund might have to
reinvest at higher futures prices or choose Other Corn Interests.
The
changing nature of the participants in the corn market will influence whether
futures prices are above or below the expected future spot
price. Corn producers will typically seek to hedge against falling
corn prices by selling Corn Futures Contracts. Therefore, if corn
producers become the predominate hedgers in the futures market, prices of Corn
Futures Contracts will typically be below expected futures spot
prices. Conversely, if the predominant hedgers in the futures market
are the purchasers of the corn who purchase Corn Futures Contracts to hedge
against a rise in prices, prices of Corn Futures Contracts will likely be higher
than expected future spot prices. This can have significant
implications for the Fund when it is time to sell a Corn Futures Contract that
is no longer a Benchmark Component Futures Contract and purchase a new Corn
Futures Contract.
While
the Fund does not intend to take physical delivery of corn under its Corn
Interests, the possibility of physical delivery impacts the value of the
contracts.
While it
is not the current intention of the Fund to take physical delivery of corn under
its Corn Interests, Corn Futures Contracts are traditionally not cash-settled
contracts, and it is possible to take delivery under these and some other Corn
Interests. Storage costs associated with purchasing corn could result
in costs and other liabilities that could impact the value of Corn Futures
Contracts or Other Corn Interests. Storage costs include the time
value of money invested in corn as a physical commodity plus the actual costs of
storing the corn less any benefits from ownership of corn that are not obtained
by the holder of a futures contract. In general, Corn Futures
Contracts have a one-month delay for contract delivery and back month contracts
(the back month is any future delivery month other than the spot month) includes
storage costs. To the extent that these storage costs change for corn
while the Fund holds Corn Interests, the value of the Corn Interests, and
therefore the Fund’s NAV, may change as well.
The
price relationship between the Benchmark Component Futures Contracts at any
point in time and the Corn Futures Contacts that will become Benchmark Component
Futures Contracts on the next roll date will vary and may impact both the Fund’s
total return and the degree to which its total return tracks that of corn price
indices.
The
design of the Fund’s Benchmark is such that every month it is made up of
different Corn Futures Contracts, and the Fund’s investments must be rolled on
an ongoing basis to reflect the changing composition of the
Benchmark. For example, when the second-to-expire Corn Futures
Contract becomes the first-to-expire contract, such contract will no longer be a
Benchmark Component Futures Contract and the Fund’s investment in it will no
longer be consistent with tracking the Benchmark. In the event of a
corn futures market where near-to-expire contracts trade at a higher price than
longer-to-expire contracts, a situation referred to as “backwardation,” then
absent the impact of the overall movement in corn prices the value of the
Benchmark Component Futures Contracts would tend to rise as they approach
expiration. As a result the Fund may benefit because it would be
selling more expensive contracts and buying less expensive ones on an ongoing
basis. Conversely, in the event of a corn futures market where
near-to-expire contracts trade at a lower price than longer-to-expire contracts,
a situation referred to as “contango,” then absent the impact of the overall
movement in corn prices the value of the Benchmark Component Futures Contracts
would tend to decline as they approach expiration. As a result the Fund’s total
return may be lower than might otherwise be the case because it would be selling
less expensive contracts and buying more expensive ones. The impact
of backwardation and contango may lead the total return of the Fund to vary
significantly from the total return of other price references, such as the spot
price of corn. In the event of a prolonged period of contango, and
absent the impact of rising or falling corn prices, this could have a
significant negative impact on the Fund’s NAV and total return.
Regulation
of the commodity interests and commodity markets is extensive and constantly
changing; future regulatory developments are impossible to predict but may
significantly and adversely affect the Fund.
The
regulation of futures contracts and futures exchanges has historically been
comprehensive. The CFTC and the exchanges are authorized to take
extraordinary actions in the event of a market emergency, including, for
example, the retroactive implementation of speculative position limits or higher
margin requirements, the establishment of daily price limits and the suspension
of trading.
The
regulation of commodity interest transactions in the United States is a rapidly
changing area of the law and is subject to ongoing modification by governmental
and judicial action. Considerable regulatory attention has recently been focused
on both over-the-counter commodity interests and non-traditional publicly
distributed investment pools such as the Fund, and a number of proposals that
would alter the regulation of Corn Interests are being considered by federal
regulators and Congress. These proposals include the extension of
position and accountability limits to futures contracts on non-U.S. exchanges
and to over-the-counter commodity interests previously exempt from such limits,
and the forced use of clearinghouse mechanisms for all over-the-counter
transactions. There is a possibility that future regulatory changes
would result in changes, perhaps to a material extent, to the nature of an
investment in the Fund and the investments that may be available to the Fund,
and that could affect the ability of the Fund to continue to implement its
investment strategy. In addition, various national governments have
expressed concern regarding the disruptive effects of speculative trading in
certain commodity markets and the need to regulate the derivatives markets in
general. The effect of any future regulatory change on the Fund is
impossible to predict, but could be substantial and adverse.
If
you are investing in the Fund for purposes of hedging, you might be subject to
several risks, including the possibility of losing the benefit of favorable
market movements.
Producers
and commercial users of corn may use the Fund as a vehicle to hedge the risk of
losses in their corn-related transactions. There are several risks in
connection with using the Fund as a hedging device. While hedging can
provide protection against an adverse movement in market prices, it can also
preclude a hedger’s opportunity to benefit from a favorable market
movement. For instance, in a hedging transaction the hedger may be a
user of a commodity concerned that the hedged commodity will increase in price,
but must recognize the risk that the price may instead decline. If
this happens, he will have lost the benefit of being able to purchase the
commodity at the lower price because the hedging transaction will result in a
loss that would offset (at least in part) this benefit. Thus, the
hedger forgoes the opportunity to profit from favorable price
movements.
In
addition, if the hedge is not a perfect one, the hedger can lose on the hedging
transaction and not realize an offsetting gain in the value of the underlying
item being hedged.
When
using Corn Interests as a hedging technique, at best, the correlation between
changes in prices of futures contracts and of the items being hedged can be only
approximate. The degree of imperfection of correlation depends upon
circumstances such as: variations in speculative markets, demand for futures and
for corn products, technical influences in futures trading, and differences
between anticipated costs being hedged and the instruments underlying the
standard futures contracts available for trading. Even a
well-conceived hedge may be unsuccessful to some degree because of unexpected
market behavior as well as the expenses associated with creating the
hedge.
In
addition, using an investment in the Fund as a hedge for changes in food costs
generally may not be successful because changes in the price of corn may vary
substantially from changes in the prices of other food products. In
addition, the price of corn and the Fund’s NAV would not reflect the refining,
transportation, and other costs that are specific to the hedger.
An
investment in the Fund may provide you little or no diversification
benefits. Thus, in a declining market, the Fund may have no gains to
offset your losses from other investments, and you may suffer losses on your
investment in the Fund at the same time you incur losses with respect to other
asset classes.
Historically,
Corn Interests have not generally been correlated to the performance of other
asset classes such as stocks and bonds. Non-correlation means that
there is a low statistical relationship between the performance of Corn
Interests, on the one hand, and stocks or bonds, on the other
hand. However, there can be no assurance that such non-correlation
will continue during future periods. If, contrary to historic
patterns, the Fund’s performance were to move in the same general direction as
the financial markets, you will obtain little or no diversification benefits
from an investment in the Shares. In such a case, the Fund may have
no gains to offset your losses from other investments, and you may suffer losses
on your investment in the Fund at the same time you incur losses with respect to
other investments.
Variables
such as drought, floods, weather, embargoes, tariffs and other political events
may have a larger impact on corn prices and corn-linked instruments, including
Corn Futures Contracts and Other Corn Interests, than on traditional securities.
These additional variables may create additional investment risks that subject
the Fund’s investments to greater volatility than investments in traditional
securities.
Non-correlation
should not be confused with negative correlation, where the performance of two
asset classes would be opposite of each other. There is no historic evidence
that the spot price of corn and prices of other financial assets, such as stocks
and bonds, are negatively correlated. In the absence of negative correlation,
the Fund cannot be expected to be automatically profitable during unfavorable
periods for the stock market, or vice versa.
The
Fund’s Operating Risks
The
Fund is not a registered investment company, so you do not have the protections
of the Investment Company Act of 1940.
The Fund
is not an investment company subject to the Investment Company Act of
1940. Accordingly, you do not have the protections afforded by that
statute which, for example, requires investment companies to have a majority of
disinterested directors and regulates the relationship between the investment
company and its investment manager.
The
Sponsor has never operated a commodity pool.
While certain of the Sponsor’s
principals have experience with investing in Corn Interests and other commodity
interests, the Sponsor has been formed for the purpose of sponsoring the Trust
and serving as the Fund’s commodity pool operator and has never operated a
commodity pool. In addition, the Trust is newly formed and the Fund
is new and has no operating history. Therefore, you do not have the
benefit of reviewing past performance of the Sponsor, the Fund or other series
of the Trust. If the experience of the Sponsor and its management is
not adequate or suitable, the operation and performance of the Fund may be
adversely affected.
The
Sponsor is leanly staffed and relies heavily on key personnel to manage trading
activities.
In
managing and directing the day-to-day activities and affairs of the Fund, the
Sponsor relies almost entirely on Mr. Sal Gilbertie, Mr. Dale Riker and Mr. Carl
N. Miller III. If Mr. Gilbertie, Mr. Riker or Mr. Miller were to
leave or be unable to carry out their present responsibilities, it may have an
adverse effect on the management of the Fund. To the extent that the
Sponsor establishes additional funds, even greater demands will be placed on
these individuals.
The
Sponsor has limited capital and may be unable to continue to manage the Fund if
it sustains continued losses.
The Sponsor was formed for the purpose
of managing the Trust, including the Fund and any other series of the Trust, and
has been provided with capital by its principals and a small number of other
investors. If the Sponsor operates at a loss for an extended period,
its capital will be depleted and it could be unable to pay its
debts. If the Sponsor were unable to continue to provide services to
the Fund, the Fund would be terminated if a replacement sponsor could not be
found.
Position
limits and daily price fluctuation limits set by the CFTC and the exchanges have
the potential to cause tracking error, which could cause the price of Shares to
substantially vary from the Benchmark and prevent you from being able to
effectively use the Fund as a way to hedge against corn-related losses or as a
way to indirectly invest in corn.
The CFTC
and U.S. designated contract markets such as the CBOT may establish position
limits on the maximum net long or net short futures contracts in commodity
interests that any person or group of persons under common trading control
(other than as a hedge, which an investment by the Fund is not) may hold, own or
control. For example, the current position limit for investments at
any one time in the Corn Futures Contracts are 600 spot month contracts, 13,500
contracts expiring in any other single month, and 22,000 total for all
months. These position limits are fixed ceilings that the Fund would
not be able to exceed without specific CFTC authorization.
In
addition to position limits, the exchanges set daily price fluctuation limits on
futures contracts. The daily price fluctuation limit establishes the
maximum amount that the price of futures contracts may vary either up or down
from the previous day’s settlement price. Once the daily price
fluctuation limit has been reached in a particular futures contract, no trades
may be made at a price beyond that limit.
For
example, the CBOT imposes a $1,500 per contract price fluctuation limit for Corn
Futures Contracts. This limit is initially based off of the previous
trading day’s settlement price. If two or more Corn Futures Contract
months within the first five listed non-spot contracts close at the limit, the
daily price limit increases to $2,250 per contract the next business day and to
$3,500 the next business day.
All of
these limits may potentially cause a tracking error between the price of the
Shares and the Benchmark. This may in turn prevent you from being
able to effectively use the Fund as a way to hedge against corn-related losses
or as a way to indirectly invest in corn.
The Fund
does not intend to limit the size of the offering and will attempt to utilize
substantially all of its proceeds to purchase Corn Interests. If the
Fund encounters position limits, accountability levels, or price fluctuation
limits for Corn Futures Contracts on the CBOT, it may then, if permitted under
applicable regulatory requirements, purchase Other Corn Interests and/or Corn
Futures Contracts listed on foreign exchanges. The Corn Futures
Contracts available on such foreign exchanges may have different underlying
sizes, deliveries, and prices. In addition, the Corn Futures Contracts available
on these exchanges may be subject to their own position limits and
accountability levels. In certain circumstances, however, position
limits could force the Fund to limit the number of Creation Baskets that it
sells.
There
are no independent advisers representing Fund investors.
The Sponsor has consulted with legal
counsel, accountants and other advisers regarding the formation and operation of
the Trust and Fund. No counsel has been appointed to represent you in
connection with the offering of Shares. Accordingly, you should
consult your own legal, tax and financial advisers regarding the desirability of
an investment in the Shares.
The
Fund and the Sponsor may have conflicts of interest, which may cause them to
favor their own interests to your detriment.
The Fund
and the Sponsor may have inherent conflicts to the extent the Sponsor attempts
to maintain the Fund’s asset size in order to preserve its fee income and this
may not always be consistent with the Fund’s objective of having the value of
its Shares’ NAV track changes in the Benchmark. The Sponsor’s
officers, directors and employees do not devote their time exclusively to the
Fund. These persons are directors, officers or employees of other
entities that may compete with the Fund for their services. They
could have a conflict between their responsibilities to the Fund and to those
other entities.
In
addition, the Sponsor’s principals, officers, directors or employees may trade
futures and related contracts for their own account. A conflict of
interest may exist if their trades are in the same markets and at the same time
as the Fund trades using the clearing broker to be used by the
Fund. A potential conflict also may occur if the Sponsor’s
principals, officers, directors or employees trade their accounts more
aggressively or take positions in their accounts that are opposite, or ahead of,
the positions taken by the Fund.
The
Sponsor has sole current authority to manage the investments and operations of
the Fund, and this may allow it to act in a way that furthers its own interests
and in conflict with your best interests. Shareholders have very
limited voting rights, which will limit the ability to influence matters such as
amendment of the Trust Agreement, change in the Fund’s basic investment policy,
dissolution of the Fund, or the sale or distribution of the Fund’s
assets.
Shareholders
have only very limited voting rights and generally will not have the power to
replace the Sponsor. Shareholders will not participate in the
management of the Fund and do not control the Sponsor so they will not have
influence over basic matters that affect the Fund.
Shareholders
will have very limited voting rights with respect to the Fund’s
affairs. Shareholders may elect a replacement Sponsor only if the
current Sponsor resigns voluntarily or loses its corporate
charter. Shareholders will not be permitted to participate in the
management or control of the Fund or the conduct of its
business. Shareholders must therefore rely upon the duties and
judgment of the Sponsor to manage the Fund’s affairs.
The
Sponsor may manage a large amount of assets and this could affect the Fund’s
ability to trade profitably.
Increases
in assets under management may affect trading decisions. While the
Fund currently has only nominal assets, the Sponsor does not intend to limit the
amount of Fund assets. The more assets the Sponsor manages, the more
difficult it may be for it to trade profitably because of the difficulty of
trading larger positions without adversely affecting prices and performance and
of managing risk associated with larger positions.
The
liability of the Sponsor and the Trustee are limited, and the value of the
Shares will be adversely affected if the Fund is required to indemnify the
Trustee or the Sponsor.
Under the
Trust Agreement, the Trustee and the Sponsor are not liable, and have the right
to be indemnified, for any liability or expense incurred absent gross negligence
or willful misconduct on the part of the Trustee or Sponsor, as the case may
be. That means the Sponsor may require the assets of a Fund to be
sold in order to cover losses or liability suffered by it or by the
Trustee. Any sale of that kind would reduce the NAV of the Fund and
the value of its Shares.
Although
the Shares of the Fund are limited liability investments, certain circumstances
such as bankruptcy or indemnification of such Fund by the Shareholder will
increase a Shareholder’s liability.
The
Shares of the Fund are limited liability investments; Shareholders may not lose
more than the amount that they invest plus any profits recognized on their
investment. However, Shareholders could be required, as a matter of
bankruptcy law, to return to the estate of the Fund any distribution they
received at a time when the Fund was in fact insolvent or in violation of its
Trust Agreement.
You
cannot be assured of the Sponsor’s continued services, and discontinuance may be
detrimental to the Funds.
You
cannot be assured that the Sponsor will be willing or able to continue to
service the Fund for any length of time. The Sponsor was formed for
the purpose of sponsoring the Fund and other commodity pools, and has limited
financial resources and no significant source of income apart from its
management fee from the Fund to support its continued service for the
Fund. If the Sponsor discontinues its activities on behalf of the
Fund, the Funds may be adversely affected. If the Sponsor’s
registrations with the CFTC or memberships in the NFA were revoked or suspended,
the Sponsor would no longer be able to provide services to the
Fund.
The
Fund could terminate at any time and cause the liquidation and potential loss of
your investment and could upset the overall maturity and timing of your
investment portfolio.
The Fund
may terminate at any time, regardless of whether the Fund has incurred losses,
subject to the terms of the Trust Agreement. For example, the
dissolution or resignation of the Sponsor would cause the Fund to terminate
unless a majority in interest of the Shareholders within 90 days of the event
elects to continue the Trust and appoints a successor Sponsor. In
addition, the Sponsor may terminate the Fund if it determines that the Fund’s
aggregate net assets in relation to its operating expenses make the continued
operation of the Fund unreasonable or imprudent. However, no level of
losses will require the Sponsor to terminate the Fund. The Fund’s
termination would result in the liquidation of its investments and the
distribution of its remaining assets to the Shareholders on a pro rata basis in
accordance with their Shares, and the Fund could incur losses in liquidating its
investments in connection with a termination. Termination could also
negatively affect the overall maturity and timing of your investment
portfolio.
As
a Shareholder, you will not have the rights enjoyed by investors in certain
other types of entities.
As
interests in separate series of a Delaware statutory trust, the Shares do not
involve the rights normally associated with the ownership of shares of a
corporation (including, for example, the right to bring shareholder oppression
and derivative actions). In addition, the Shares have limited voting
and distribution rights (for example, Shareholders do not have the right to
elect directors and generally will not receive regular distributions of the net
income and capital gains earned by the Fund). The Fund is also not
subject to certain investor protection provisions of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of
2002 and the NYSE Arca governance rules (for example, audit committee
requirements).
A
court could potentially conclude that the assets and liabilities of the Fund are
not segregated from those of another series of the Trust, thereby potentially
exposing assets in the Fund to the liabilities of another series.
The Fund
is a series of a Delaware statutory trust and not itself a separate legal
entity. The Delaware Statutory Trust Act provides that if certain
provisions are included in the formation and governing documents of a statutory
trust organized in series and if separate and distinct records are maintained
for any series and the assets associated with that series are held in separate
and distinct records and are accounted for in such separate and distinct records
separately from the other assets of the statutory trust, or any series thereof,
then the debts, liabilities, obligations and expenses incurred by a particular
series are enforceable against the assets of such series only, and not against
the assets of the statutory trust generally or any other series
thereof. Conversely, none of the debts, liabilities, obligations and
expenses incurred with respect to any other series thereof shall be enforceable
against the assets of such series. The Sponsor is not aware of any
court case that has interpreted this Inter-Series Limitation on Liability or
provided any guidance as to what is required for compliance. The
Sponsor intends to maintain separate and distinct records for the Fund and
account for the Fund separately from any other Trust series, but it is possible
a court could conclude that the methods used do not satisfy the Delaware
Statutory Trust Act, which would potentially expose assets in one Fund to the
liabilities of another series.
The
Sponsor and the Trustee are not obligated to prosecute any action, suit or other
proceeding in respect of any Fund property.
Neither
the Sponsor nor the Trustee is obligated to, although each may in its respective
discretion, prosecute any action, suit or other proceeding in respect of any
Fund property. The Trust Agreement does not confer upon Shareholders
the right to prosecute any such action, suit or other
proceeding.
The
Fund does not expect to make cash distributions.
The
Sponsor intends to re-invest any income and realized gains of the Fund in
additional Corn Interests rather than distributing cash to
Shareholders. Therefore, unlike mutual funds, commodity pools or
other investment pools that generally distribute income and gains to their
investors, the Fund generally will not distribute cash to
Shareholders. You should not invest in the Fund if you will need cash
distributions from the Fund to pay taxes on your share of income and gains of
the Fund, if any, or for any other reason. Although the Fund does not
intend to make cash distributions, the income earned from its investments held
directly or posted as margin may reach levels that merit distribution, e.g., at
levels where such income is not necessary to support its underlying investments
in corn interests and investors adversely react to being taxed on such income
without receiving distributions that could be used to pay such
tax. Cash distributions may be made in these and similar
instances.
There
is a risk that the Fund will not earn trading gains sufficient to compensate for
the fees and expenses that it must pay and as such the Fund may not earn any
profit.
The Fund
pays management fees at an annual rate of 1.00% of its average net assets,
brokerage charges of approximately 0.01% (based on futures commission merchant
fees of $4.00 per buy or sell), over-the-counter spreads and various other
expenses of its ongoing operations (e.g., fees of the Administrator, Trustee and
Marketing Agent), resulting in a total estimated expense ratio of [x]% of net
assets. These fees and expenses must be paid in all events,
regardless of whether the Fund’s activities are
profitable. Accordingly, the Fund must realize trading gains
sufficient to cover these fees and expenses before it can earn any
profit.
If
this offering of Shares does not raise sufficient funds to make the Fund’s
future operations viable, the Fund may be forced to terminate and investors may
lose all or part of their investment.
All of
the expenses relating to the Fund incurred prior to the date of this prospectus
have been or will be paid by the Sponsor. These payments by the
Sponsor were designed to allow the Fund the ability to commence the public
offering of its Shares. In general, the Fund now directly pays these
fees and expenses. If the Sponsor and the Fund are unable to raise
sufficient funds so that the Fund’s expenses are reasonable in relation to its
NAV, the Fund may be forced to terminate and investors may lose all or part of
their investment.
The
Fund may incur higher fees and expenses upon renewing existing or entering into
new contractual relationships.
The
arrangements between clearing brokers and counterparties on the one hand and the
Fund on the other generally are terminable by the clearing brokers or
counterparty upon notice to the Fund. Upon termination, the Sponsor
may be required to renegotiate or make other arrangements for obtaining similar
services if the Fund intends to continue trading in Corn Futures Contracts or
Other Corn Interests. The services of any clearing broker or
counterparty may not be available, or even if available, these services may not
be available on the terms as favorable as those of the expired or terminated
arrangements.
The
Fund may miss certain trading opportunities because it will not receive the
benefit of the expertise of independent trading advisors.
The
Sponsor does not employ trading advisors for the Fund; however, it reserves the
right to employ them in the future. The only advisor to the Fund is
the Sponsor. A lack of independent trading advisors may be
disadvantageous to the Fund because it will not receive the benefit of their
expertise.
The
net asset value calculation of the Fund may be overstated or understated due to
the valuation method employed when a settlement price is not available on the
date of net asset value calculation.
The
Fund’s NAV includes, in part, any unrealized profits or losses on open swap
agreements, futures or forward contracts. Under normal circumstances,
the NAV will reflect the settlement price of open futures contracts on the date
when the NAV is being calculated. However, if a futures contract
traded on an exchange could not be liquidated on such day (due to the operation
of daily limits or other rules of the exchange or otherwise), the settlement
price on the most recent day on which the futures contract position could have
been liquidated will be the basis for determining the market value of such
position for such day. In these situations, there is a risk that the
calculation of the NAV of the Fund on such day will not accurately reflect the
realizable market value of the futures contracts.
An
unanticipated number of redemption requests during a short period of time could
have an adverse effect on the NAV of the Fund.
If a
substantial number of requests for redemption of Redemption Baskets are received
by the Fund during a relatively short period of time, the Fund may not be able
to satisfy the requests from the Fund’s assets not committed to trading. As a
consequence, it could be necessary to liquidate the Fund’s trading positions
before the time that its trading strategies would otherwise call for
liquidation.
The
financial markets have recently been in a period of disruption and
recession and these conditions may not improve in the near future.
Throughout
2008 and at least part of 2009, the financial markets experienced very difficult
conditions and volatility as well as significant adverse trends. The
conditions in these markets resulted in a decrease in availability of corporate
credit and liquidity and led indirectly to the insolvency, closure or
acquisition of a number of major financial institutions and contributed to
further consolidation within the financial services industry. A
continued recession or a depression could adversely affect the financial
condition and results of operations of the Fund’s service providers and
Authorized Purchasers, which would impact the ability of the Sponsor to achieve
the Fund’s investment objective.
The
liquidity of the Shares may be affected by the withdrawal from participation of
Authorized Purchasers, which could adversely affect the market price of the
Shares.
In the
event that one or more Authorized Purchasers that have substantial interests in
the Shares withdraw from participation, the liquidity of the Shares will likely
decrease, which could adversely affect the market price of the Shares and result
in your incurring a loss on your investment.
You
may be adversely affected by redemption orders that are subject to postponement,
suspension or rejection under certain circumstances.
The Trust
may, in its discretion, suspend the right to redeem Shares of the Fund or
postpone the redemption settlement date: (1) for any period during
which an applicable exchange is closed other than customary weekend or holiday
closing, or trading is suspended or restricted; (2) for any period during which
an emergency exists as a result of which delivery, disposal or evaluation of the
Fund’s assets is not reasonably practicable; or (3) for such other period as the
Sponsor determines to be necessary for the protection of
Shareholders. In addition, the Trust will reject a redemption order
if the order is not in proper form as described in the agreement with the
Authorized Purchaser or if the fulfillment of the order, in the opinion of its
counsel, might be unlawful. Any such postponement, suspension or
rejection could adversely affect a redeeming Shareholder. For
example, the resulting delay may adversely affect the value of the Shareholder’s
redemption proceeds if the NAV of the Fund declines during the period of
delay. The Trust Agreement provides that the Sponsor and its
designees will not be liable for any loss or damage that may result from any
such suspension or postponement.
The
failure or bankruptcy of a clearing broker could result in substantial losses
for the Fund; the clearing broker could be subject to proceedings that impair
its ability to execute the Fund’s trades.
Under
CFTC regulations, a clearing broker with respect to the Fund’s exchange-traded
Corn Interests must maintain customers’ assets in a bulk segregated
account. If a clearing broker fails to do so, or is unable to satisfy
a substantial deficit in a customer account, its other customers may be subject
to risk of a substantial loss of their funds in the event of that clearing
broker’s bankruptcy. In that event, the clearing broker’s customers,
such as the Fund, are entitled to recover, even in respect of property
specifically traceable to them, only a proportional share of all property
available for distribution to all of that clearing broker’s
customers. The Fund also may be subject to the risk of the failure
of, or delay in performance by, any exchanges and markets and their clearing
organizations, if any, on which Corn Interests are traded.
From time
to time, the clearing brokers may be subject to legal or regulatory proceedings
in the ordinary course of their business. A clearing broker’s
involvement in costly or time-consuming legal proceedings may divert financial
resources or personnel away from the clearing broker’s trading operations, which
could impair the clearing broker’s ability to successfully execute and clear the
Fund’s trades.
The
failure or insolvency of the Fund’s custodian could result in a substantial loss
of the Fund’s assets.
As noted
above, the vast majority of the Fund’s assets are held in short-term Treasury
Securities, cash and/or cash equivalents with its custodian. The
insolvency of the custodian could result in a complete loss of the Fund’s assets
held by that custodian, which, at any given time, would likely comprise a
substantial portion of the Fund’s total assets.
Third
parties may infringe upon or otherwise violate intellectual property rights or
assert that the Sponsor has infringed or otherwise violated their intellectual
property rights, which may result in significant costs and diverted
attention.
Third
parties may assert that the Sponsor has infringed or otherwise violated their
intellectual property rights. Third parties may independently develop
business methods, trademarks or proprietary software and other technology
similar to that of the Sponsor and claim that the Sponsor has violated their
intellectual property rights, including their copyrights, trademark rights,
trade names, trade secrets and patent rights. As a result, the
Sponsor may have to litigate in the future to determine the validity and scope
of other parties’ proprietary rights, or defend itself against claims that it
has infringed or otherwise violated other parties’ rights. Any
litigation of this type, even if the Sponsor is successful and regardless of the
merits, may result in significant costs, divert resources from the Fund, or
require the Sponsor to change its proprietary software and other technology or
enter into royalty or licensing agreements.
Third
parties may utilize the Sponsor’s intellectual property or technology, including
the use of its business methods, trademarks or trade names and trading program
software, without permission, which could cause competitive harm to the Sponsor
and the Fund. The Sponsor has not registered any trademarks and does
not have patent protections on any business methods or technology used with
respect to the Fund. The Sponsor does not currently have any
proprietary software. However, if it obtains proprietary software in
the future, then any unauthorized use of such proprietary software and other
technology could also adversely affect the competitive advantage of the Sponsor
or the Fund and/or cause the Sponsor to take legal action to protect its
rights.
The
success of the Fund depends on the ability of the Sponsor to accurately
implement its trading strategies, and any failure to do so could subject the
Fund to losses on such transactions.
The
Sponsor’s trading strategy is quantitative in nature and it is possible that the
Sponsor will make errors in its implementation. The execution of the
quantitative strategy is subject to human error, such as incorrect inputs into
the Sponsor’s computer systems and incorrect information provided to the Fund’s
clearing brokers. In addition, it is possible that a computer or
software program may malfunction and cause an error in
computation. Any failure, inaccuracy or delay in executing the Fund’s
transactions could affect its ability to achieve its investment
objective. It could also result in decisions to undertake
transactions based on inaccurate or incomplete information. This
could cause substantial losses on transactions.
The
Fund may experience substantial losses on transactions if the computer or
communications system fails.
The
Fund’s trading activities, including its risk management, depend on the
integrity and performance of the computer and communications systems supporting
them. Extraordinary transaction volume, hardware or software failure,
power or telecommunications failure, a natural disaster or other catastrophe
could cause the computer systems to operate at an unacceptably slow speed or
even fail. Any significant degradation or failure of the systems that
the Sponsor uses to gather and analyze information, enter orders, process data,
monitor risk levels and otherwise engage in trading activities may result in
substantial losses on transactions, liability to other parties, lost profit
opportunities, damages to the Sponsor’s and Fund’s reputations, increased
operational expenses and diversion of technical resources.
If
the computer and communications systems are not upgraded, the Fund’s financial
condition could be harmed.
The
development of complex computer and communications systems and new technologies
may render the existing computer and communications systems supporting the
Fund’s trading activities obsolete. In addition, these computer and
communications systems must be compatible with those of third parties, such as
the systems of exchanges, clearing brokers and the executing
brokers. As a result, if these third parties upgrade their systems,
the Sponsor will need to make corresponding upgrades to continue effectively its
trading activities. The Fund’s future success will depend on the Fund’s ability
to respond to changing technologies on a timely and cost-effective
basis.
The
Fund depends on the reliable performance of the computer and communications
systems of third parties, such as brokers and futures exchanges, and may
experience substantial losses on transactions if they fail.
The Fund
depends on the proper and timely function of complex computer and communications
systems maintained and operated by the futures exchanges, brokers and other data
providers that the Sponsor uses to conduct trading
activities. Failure or inadequate performance of any of these systems
could adversely affect the Sponsor’s ability to complete transactions, including
its ability to close out positions, and result in lost profit opportunities and
significant losses on commodity interest transactions. This could
have a material adverse effect on revenues and materially reduce the Fund’s
available capital. For example, unavailability of price quotations
from third parties may make it difficult or impossible for the Sponsor to
conduct trading activities so that the Fund will closely track the
Benchmark. Unavailability of records from brokerage firms may make it
difficult or impossible for the Sponsor to accurately determine which
transactions have been executed or the details, including price and time, of any
transaction executed. This unavailability of information also may
make it difficult or impossible for the Sponsor to reconcile its records of
transactions with those of another party or to accomplish settlement of executed
transactions.
Risk
of Leverage and Volatility
If
the Sponsor causes or permits the Fund to become leveraged, you could lose all
or substantially all of your investment if the Fund’s trading positions suddenly
turn unprofitable.
Commodity
pools’ trading positions in futures contracts or other commodity interests are
typically required to be secured by the deposit of margin funds that represent
only a small percentage of a futures contract’s (or other commodity interest’s)
entire market value. This feature permits commodity pools to
“leverage” their assets by purchasing or selling futures contracts (or other
commodity interests) with an aggregate face amount in excess of the commodity
pool’s assets. While this leverage can increase a pool’s profits,
relatively small adverse movements in the price of the pool’s commodity
interests can cause significant losses to the pool. While the Sponsor
does not intend to leverage the Fund’s assets, it is not prohibited from doing
so under the Trust Agreement. If the Sponsor were to cause or permit
the Fund to become leveraged, you could lose all or substantially all of your
investment if the Fund’s trading positions suddenly turn
unprofitable.
The
price of corn can be volatile which could cause large fluctuations in the price
of Shares.
Movements
in the price of corn will be the result of factors outside of the Sponsor’s
control and may not be anticipated by the Sponsor. As discussed in
more detail above, price movements for corn are influenced by, among other
things, weather conditions, crop disease, transportation difficulties, various
planting, growing and harvesting problems, governmental policies, changing
demand, and seasonal fluctuations in supply. More generally,
commodity prices may be influenced by economic and monetary events such as
changes in interest rates, changes in balances of payments and trade, U.S. and
international inflation rates, currency valuations and devaluations, U.S. and
international economic events, and changes in the philosophies and emotions of
market participants. Because the Fund invests primarily in interests
in a single commodity, it is not a diversified investment vehicle, it may be
subject to greater volatility than a diversified portfolio of stocks or bonds or
a more diversified commodity pool.
Over-the-Counter
Contract Risk
Over-the-counter
transactions are subject to little, if any, regulation.
A portion
of the Fund’s assets may be used to trade over-the-counter corn interests, such
as forward contracts or swap or spot contracts. Over-the-counter
contracts are typically traded on a principal-to-principal basis through dealer
markets that are dominated by major money center and investment banks and other
institutions and are essentially unregulated by the CFTC. You
therefore do not receive the protection of CFTC regulation or the statutory
scheme of the Commodity Exchange Act in connection with this trading
activity. The markets for over-the-counter contracts rely upon the
integrity of market participants in lieu of the additional regulation imposed by
the CFTC on participants in the futures markets. The lack of
regulation in these markets could expose the Fund in certain circumstances to
significant losses in the event of trading abuses or financial failure by
participants.
The
Fund will be subject to credit risk with respect to counterparties to
over-the-counter contracts entered into by the Fund.
The Fund
faces the risk of non-performance by the counterparties to the over-the-counter
contracts. Unlike in futures contracts, the counterparty to these contracts is
generally a single bank or other financial institution, rather than a clearing
organization backed by a group of financial institutions. As a
result, there will be greater counterparty credit risk in these
transactions. A counterparty may not be able to meet its obligations
to the Fund, in which case the Fund could suffer significant losses on these
contracts.
If a
counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due
to financial difficulties, the Fund may experience significant delays in
obtaining any recovery in a bankruptcy or other reorganization
proceeding. During any such period, the Fund may have difficulty in
determining the value of its contracts with the counterparty, which in turn
could result in the overstatement or understatement of the Fund’s
NAV. The Fund may eventually obtain only limited recovery or no
recovery in such circumstances.
The
Fund may be subject to liquidity risk with respect to its over-the-counter
contracts.
Over-the-counter
contracts may have terms that make them less marketable than futures
contracts. Over-the-counter contracts are less marketable because
they are not traded on an exchange, do not have uniform terms and conditions,
and are entered into based upon the creditworthiness of the parties and the
availability of credit support, such as collateral, and in general, they are not
transferable without the consent of the counterparty. These
conditions diminish the ability to realize the full value of such
contracts.
Risk
of Trading in International Markets
Trading
in international markets would expose the Fund to credit and regulatory
risk.
The
Sponsor may make substantial investments for the Fund in Corn Futures Contracts,
a significant portion of which will be on United States exchanges including the
CBOT. However, a portion of the Fund’s trades may take place on
markets and exchanges outside the United States. Some non-U.S.
markets present risks because they are not subject to the same degree of
regulation as their U.S. counterparts. None of the CFTC, NFA, or any
domestic exchange regulates activities of any foreign boards of trade or
exchanges, including the execution, delivery and clearing of transactions, nor
has the power to compel enforcement of the rules of a foreign board of trade or
exchange or of any applicable non-U.S. laws. Similarly, the rights of
market participants, such as the Fund, in the event of the insolvency or
bankruptcy of a non-U.S. market or broker are also likely to be more limited
than in the case of U.S. markets or brokers. As a result, in these
markets, the Fund has less legal and regulatory protection than it does when it
trades domestically.
In some
of these non-U.S. markets, the performance on a futures contract is the
responsibility of the counterparty and is not backed by an exchange or clearing
corporation and therefore exposes the Fund to credit
risk. Additionally, trading on non-U.S. exchanges is subject to the
risks presented by exchange controls, expropriation, increased tax burdens and
exposure to local economic declines and political instability. An
adverse development with respect to any of these variables could reduce the
profit or increase the loss earned on trades in the affected international
markets.
International
trading activities subject the Fund to foreign exchange risk.
The price
of any non-U.S. Corn Interest and, therefore, the potential profit and loss on
such investment, may be affected by any variance in the foreign exchange rate
between the time the order is placed and the time it is liquidated, offset or
exercised. As a result, changes in the value of the local currency
relative to the U.S. dollar may cause losses to the Fund even if the contract
traded is profitable.
The
Fund’s international trading could expose it to losses resulting from non-U.S.
exchanges that are less developed or less reliable than United States
exchanges.
Some
non-U.S. exchanges also may be in a more developmental stage so that prior price
histories may not be indicative of current price dynamics. In
addition, the Fund may not have the same access to certain positions on foreign
trading exchanges as do local traders, and the historical market data on which
the Sponsor bases its strategies may not be as reliable or accessible as it is
for U.S. exchanges.
Tax
Risk
Please
refer to “U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations” for information regarding the
U.S. federal income tax consequences of the purchase, ownership and disposition
of Shares.
Your
tax liability from holding Shares may exceed the amount of distributions, if
any, on your Shares.
Cash or
property will be distributed at the sole discretion of the Sponsor, and the
Sponsor currently does not intend to make cash or other distributions with
respect to Shares. You will be required to pay U.S. federal income
tax and, in some cases, state, local, or foreign income tax, on your allocable
share of the Fund’s taxable income, without regard to whether you receive
distributions or the amount of any distributions. Therefore, your tax
liability with respect to your Shares may exceed the amount of cash or value of
property (if any) distributed.
Your
allocable share of income or loss for tax purposes may differ from your economic
income or loss on your Shares.
Due to
the application of the assumptions and conventions applied by the Fund in making
allocations for tax purposes and other factors, your allocable share of the
Fund’s income, gain, deduction or loss may be different than your economic
profit or loss from your Shares for a taxable year. This difference
could be temporary or permanent and, if permanent, could result in your being
taxed on amounts in excess of your economic income.
Items
of income, gain, deduction, loss and credit with respect to Shares could be
reallocated if the IRS does not accept the assumptions and conventions applied
by the Fund in allocating those items, with potential adverse consequences for
you.
The Fund
will be treated as a partnership for United States federal income tax
purposes. The U.S. tax rules pertaining to entities taxed as
partnerships are complex and their application to publicly traded partnerships
such as the Fund is in many respects uncertain. The Fund will apply
certain assumptions and conventions in an attempt to comply with the intent of
the applicable rules and to report taxable income, gains, deductions, losses and
credits in a manner that properly reflects Shareholders’ economic gains and
losses. These assumptions and conventions may not fully comply with
all aspects of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) and applicable Treasury
Regulations, however, and it is possible that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service
will successfully challenge our allocation methods and require us to reallocate
items of income, gain, deduction, loss or credit in a manner that adversely
affects you. If this occurs, you may be required to file an amended
tax return and to pay additional taxes plus deficiency
interest.
The
Fund could be treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes, which
may substantially reduce the value of your Shares.
The Trust
has received an opinion of counsel that, under current U.S. federal income tax
laws, the Fund will be treated as a partnership that is not taxable as a
corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, provided that (i) at least 90
percent of the Fund’s annual gross income consists of “qualifying income” as
defined in the Code, (ii) the Fund is organized and operated in accordance with
its governing agreements and applicable law, and (iii) the Fund does not elect
to be taxed as a corporation for federal income tax
purposes. Although the Sponsor anticipates that the Fund has
satisfied and will continue to satisfy the “qualifying income” requirement for
all of its taxable years, that result cannot be assured. The Fund has
not requested and will not request any ruling from the IRS with respect to its
classification as a partnership not taxable as a corporation for federal income
tax purposes. If the IRS were to successfully assert that the Fund is
taxable as a corporation for federal income tax purposes in any taxable year,
rather than passing through its income, gains, losses and deductions
proportionately to Shareholders, the Fund would be subject to tax on its net
income for the year at corporate tax rates. In addition, although the
Sponsor does not currently intend to make distributions with respect to Shares,
any distributions would be taxable to Shareholders as dividend
income. Taxation of the Fund as a corporation could materially reduce
the after-tax return on an investment in Shares and could substantially reduce
the value of your Shares.
PROSPECTIVE
INVESTORS ARE STRONGLY URGED TO CONSULT THEIR OWN TAX ADVISORS WITH RESPECT TO
THE POSSIBLE TAX CONSEQUENCES TO THEM OF AN INVESTMENT IN SHARES; SUCH TAX
CONSEQUENCES MAY DIFFER IN RESPECT OF DIFFERENT INVESTORS.
THE
OFFERING
The
Fund in General
The Fund
is a series of the Trust, a statutory trust organized under the laws of the
State of Delaware on September 11, 2009. The Fund is currently the
only series of the Trust, although additional series may be offered in the
future at the Sponsor’s discretion. The Fund maintains its main
business office at 232 Hidden Lake Road, Brattleboro, Vermont
05301. The Fund is a commodity pool. It operates pursuant
to the terms of the Trust Agreement dated as of [
date
] 2009, which
grants full management control to the Sponsor.
The Fund
is publicly traded, and seeks to have the daily changes in percentage terms of
the Shares’ NAV reflect the daily changes in percentage terms of the price of
corn for future delivery, as measured by the Benchmark, less the Fund’s
expenses. The Fund will invest in a mixture of listed Corn Futures
Contracts, Other Corn Interests, short-term Treasury Securities, cash and cash
equivalents.
THE
FUND HAS NOT COMMENCED TRADING AND DOES NOT HAVE ANY PERFORMANCE
HISTORY.
The
Sponsor
The
Sponsor of the Trust is Teucrium Trading, LLC, a Delaware limited liability
company. The principal office of the Sponsor and the Trust are
located at 232 Hidden Lake Road, Brattleboro, Vermont 05301. The
Sponsor registered as a CPO with the CFTC and became a member of the NFA on
[date], 2009.
The
Sponsor established the Trust and the Fund and registered the Shares of the Fund
covered by this Prospectus. Under the Trust Agreement, the Sponsor is
responsible for the management and conducts or directs the conduct of the
business of the Trust, the Fund, and any other series of the Trust that may from
time to time be established and designated by the Sponsor. The
Sponsor is required to oversee the purchase and sale of Shares by Authorized
Purchasers and to manage the Fund’s investments, including to evaluate the
credit risk of futures commission merchants and swap counterparties and to
review daily positions and margin/collateral requirements. The
Sponsor has the power to enter into agreements as may be necessary or
appropriate for the offer and sale of the Fund’s Shares and the conduct of the
Trust’s activities. Accordingly, the Sponsor is responsible for
selecting the Trustee, Administrator, Marketing Agent, the independent
registered public accounting firm of the Trust, and any legal counsel employed
by the Trust. The Sponsor is also responsible for preparing and
filing periodic reports on behalf of the Trust with the SEC and will provide any
required certification for such reports.
The
Marketing Agent will assist the Sponsor in marketing the Shares. The
Sponsor may determine to engage additional or successor marketing
agents. See “What is the Plan of Distribution” for more information
about the Marketing Agent.
The
Sponsor maintains a public website on behalf of the Fund,
www.teucriumcornfund.com
,
which contains information about the Trust, the Fund, and the Shares, and
oversees certain services for the benefit of Shareholders.
The
Sponsor has discretion to appoint one or more of its affiliates as additional
Sponsors.
Fees are
paid to the Sponsor as compensation for services performed under the Trust
Agreement. The Sponsor’s fee accrues daily and is paid monthly at an
annual rate of 1.00% of the average daily net assets of the Fund. The
Fund is also responsible for other ongoing fees, costs and expenses of its
operations, including brokerage fees, SEC and FINRA registration fees and legal,
printing, accounting, custodial and administration costs, although
the Sponsor has borne or
will bear the costs and expenses related to the initial offer and sale of
Shares.
Shareholders
have no right to elect the Sponsor on an annual or any other continuing basis or
to remove the Sponsor. If the Sponsor voluntarily withdraws, the
holders of a majority of the Trust’s outstanding Shares (excluding for purposes
of such determination Shares owned by the withdrawing Sponsor and its
affiliates) may elect its successor. Prior to withdrawing, the
Sponsor must give ninety days’ written notice to the Shareholders and the
Trustee.
Ownership
or “membership” interests in the Sponsor are owned by persons referred to as
“members.” The Sponsor currently has three members: Mr.
Sal Gilbertie, Mr. Dale Riker and Mr. Carl N. Miller III. Mr.
Gilbertie is currently the owner of 80% of the Sponsor’s membership
interests.
Management
of the Sponsor
In
general, under the Sponsor’s Limited Liability Company Agreement, the Sponsor
(and as a result the Trust and the Fund) is managed by the officers of the
Sponsor. In particular, the President of the Sponsor is responsible
for the general and active management of the business of the Sponsor, and for
the supervision and direction of the Sponsor’s other
officers. However, certain fundamental actions regarding the Sponsor,
such as the removal of officers, the addition or substitution of members, or the
incurrence of liabilities other than those incurred in the ordinary course of
business, may not be taken without a majority vote of its
members. The Sponsor has no board of directors, and the Trust has no
board of directors or officers.
The three
members of the Sponsor also serve as its officers as follows:
Sal Gilbertie
has been the President of the Sponsor since its inception. He
maintains his main business office at 653A Garcia, Santa Fe, NM
87505. From October, 2005 until _____, 2009, Mr. Gilbertie was
employed by Newedge USA, LLC, where he headed the Renewable Fuels/Energy
Derivatives OTC Execution Desk and was an active futures contract and
over-the-counter derivatives trader and market maker in multiple classes of
commodities. Immediately prior to joining Newedge, Mr. Gilbertie was
principal and co-founder of Cambial Financing Dynamics, a private boutique
investment bank, and Cambial Asset Management, LLC, an adviser to two private
funds that focusing on equity options. Mr. Gilbertie is 49 years
old.
Dale Riker
has been the Treasurer of the Sponsor since its inception. He
maintains his main business office at 232 Hidden Lake Road, Brattleboro, Vermont
05301. Mr. Riker has been President of Cambial Emerging Markets LLC,
a consulting company specializing in emerging market equity investment, since he
founded such firm in 2005. Immediately prior to founding Cambial
Emerging Markets, Mr. Riker was a private investor. Mr. Riker is 51
years old.
Carl N. (Chuck)
Miller III
has been Secretary of the Sponsor since its
inception. He maintains his main business office at 369 Montezuma
Avenue, Suite 434, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501. Mr. Miller has been a
Member of Garnet Advisors, LLC, a proprietary trading firm that focuses on a
broad array of investment opportunities, since he founded such firm in November,
2001. Mr. Miller is 57 years old.
No other
individuals provide significant services to the Fund as employees of the
Sponsor.
The three
officers set forth above are individual Principals, as that term is defined in
CFTC Rule 3.1, for the Sponsor. These individuals are Principals due
to their positions, although Mr. Gilbertie is also a Principal due to his
controlling stake in the Sponsor. None of the Principals owns or has
any other beneficial interest in the Fund. Mr. Gilbertie is primarily
responsible for making trading and investment decisions for the Fund, and for
directing Fund trades for execution. In addition, each of the three
officers of the Sponsor are registered with the CFTC as Associated Persons of
the Sponsor and are NFA Associate Members.
Prior
Performance of the Sponsor and Affiliates
THE
COMMODITY POOL OPERATOR HAS NOT PREVIOUSLY OPERATED ANY OTHER COMMODITY
POOLS.
The
Trustee
The sole Trustee of the Trust is
Wilmington Trust Company, a Delaware banking corporation. The
Trustee’s principal offices are located at 1100 North Market Street, Wilmington,
Delaware 19890-0001. The Trustee is unaffiliated with the
Sponsor. The Trustee’s duties and liabilities with respect to the
offering of Shares and the management of the Trust and the Fund are limited to
its express obligations under the Trust Agreement.
The
Trustee will accept service of legal process on the Trust in the State of
Delaware and will make certain filings under the Delaware Statutory Trust
Act. The Trustee does not owe any other duties to the Trust, the
Sponsor or the Shareholders. The Trustee is permitted to resign upon
at least sixty (60) days’ notice to the Sponsor. If no successor
trustee has been appointed by the Sponsor within such sixty-day period, the
Trustee may, at the expense of the Trust, petition a court to appoint a
successor. The Trust Agreement provides that the Trustee is entitled
to reasonable compensation for its services from the Sponsor or an affiliate of
the Sponsor (including the Trust), and is indemnified by the Sponsor against any
expenses it incurs relating to or arising out of the formation, operation or
termination of the Trust, or any action or inaction of the Trustee under the
Trust Agreement, except to the extent that such expenses result from the gross
negligence or willful misconduct of the Trustee. The Sponsor has the
discretion to replace the Trustee.
The
Trustee has not signed the registration statement of which this Prospectus is a
part, and is not subject to issuer liability under the federal securities laws
for the information contained in this Prospectus and under federal securities
laws with respect to the issuance and sale of the Shares. Under such
laws, neither the Trustee, either in its capacity as Trustee or in its
individual capacity, nor any director, officer or controlling person of the
Trustee is, or has any liability as, the issuer or a director, officer or
controlling person of the issuer of the Shares.
Under the
Trust Agreement, the Trustee has delegated to the Sponsor the exclusive
management and control of all aspects of the business of the Trust and the
Fund. The Trustee has no duty or liability to supervise or monitor
the performance of the Sponsor, nor does the Trustee have any liability for the
acts or omissions of the Sponsor.
Because
the Trustee has delegated substantially all of its authority over the operation
of the Trust to the Sponsor, the Trustee itself is not registered in any
capacity with the CFTC.
Operation
of the Fund
The net
assets of the Fund will consist primarily of Corn Interests. The Fund
will invest in Corn Interests to the fullest extent possible without being
leveraged or unable to satisfy its current or potential margin or collateral
obligations with respect to its investments in Corn Interests. The
primary focus of the Sponsor is the investment in Corn Interests and the
management of the Fund’s investments in Treasury Securities, cash and/or cash
equivalents for margining purposes and as collateral.
The
investment objective of the Fund is to have daily changes in percentage terms of
the Shares’ NAV reflect the daily changes in percentage terms of a weighted
average of the closing settlement prices of three Corn Futures Contracts: (1)
the second-to-expire Corn Futures Contract traded on the CBOT, weighted 35%, (2)
the third to expire CBOT Corn Futures Contract, weighted 30%, and (3) the CBOT
Corn Futures Contract expiring in the December following the expiration month of
the third-to-expire contracts, weighted 35%, less the Fund’s
expenses. The Sponsor does not intend that the Fund will be operated
in a fashion such that its NAV will equal, in dollar terms, the spot price of a
bushel or other unit of corn or the price of any particular Corn Futures
Contract.
The Fund
seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing in a mix of Corn
Interests such that the changes in its NAV will closely track the changes in the
Benchmark. The Fund’s positions in Corn Interests will be changed or
“rolled” on a regular basis in order to track the changing nature of the
Benchmark. For example, on a specified day each month, the
second-to-expire Corn Futures Contract will become the next-to-expire Corn
Futures Contract and will no longer be a Benchmark Component Futures Contract,
and the Fund’s investments will have to be changed accordingly. In
order that the Fund’s trading does not cause unwanted market movements and to
make it more difficult for third parties to profit by trading based on such
expected market movements, the Fund’s investments typically will not be rolled
entirely on that day, but rather will typically be rolled over a period of
days. After fulfilling the collateral requirements with respect to
its Corn Interests, the Fund will invest the remainder of its proceeds from the
sale of baskets in short-term Treasury Securities or cash equivalents, and/or
merely hold such assets in cash (generally in interest-bearing
accounts).
The
Sponsor endeavors to place the Fund’s trades in Corn Interests and otherwise
manage the Fund’s investments so that A will be within plus/minus 10 percent of
B, where:
|
·
|
A
is the average daily change in the Fund’s NAV for any period of 30
successive valuation days; i.e., any trading day as of which the Fund
calculates its NAV, and
|
|
·
|
B
is the average daily change in the price of the Benchmark over the same
period.
|
The
Sponsor believes that market arbitrage opportunities cause daily changes in the
Fund’s Share price on the NYSE Arca to closely track daily changes in the Fund’s
NAV per share. The Sponsor believes that the net effect of this
expected relationship and the expected relationship described above between the
Fund’s NAV and the Benchmark will be that daily changes in the price of the
Fund’s Shares on the NYSE Arca will closely track daily changes in the
Benchmark, less the Fund’s expenses. While the Benchmark is composed
of Futures Contracts and is therefore a measure of the price of corn for future
delivery, there is nonetheless expected to be a reasonable degree of correlation
between the Benchmark and the cash or spot price of corn.
These
relationships illustrated in the following diagram:
An
investment in the Shares provides a means for diversifying an investor’s
portfolio or hedging exposure to changes in corn prices. An
investment in the Shares allows both retail and institutional investors to
easily gain this exposure to the corn market in a transparent, cost-effective
manner.
The
Sponsor employs a “neutral” investment strategy intended to track changes in the
Benchmark regardless of whether the Benchmark goes up or goes
down. The Fund’s “neutral” investment strategy is designed to permit
investors generally to purchase and sell the Fund’s Shares for the purpose of
investing indirectly in the corn market in a cost-effective manner, and/or to
permit participants in the corn or other industries to hedge the risk of losses
in their corn-related transactions. Accordingly, depending on the
investment objective of an individual investor, the risks generally associated
with investing in the corn market and/or the risks involved in hedging may
exist. In addition, an investment in the Fund involves the risk that
the changes in the price of the Fund’s Shares will not accurately track the
changes in the Benchmark, and that changes in the Benchmark will not closely
correlate with changes in the price of corn on the spot
market. Furthermore, the Fund will also hold short-term Treasury
Securities, cash and/or cash equivalents to meet its current or potential margin
or collateral requirements with respect to its investments in Corn Interest and
to invest cash not required to be used as margin or collateral. The
Fund does not expect there to be any meaningful correlation between the
performance of the Fund’s investments in Treasury Securities/cash/cash
equivalents and the changes in the price of corn or Corn
Interests. While the level of interest earned on or the market price
of these investments may in some respect correlate to changes in the price of
corn, this correlation is not anticipated as part of the Fund’s efforts to meet
its objective.
The
Fund’s total portfolio composition is disclosed each business day that the NYSE
Arca is open for trading, on the Fund’s website at
www.teucriumcornfund.com
and the NYSE Arca’s website at
www._______.com.
The
website disclosure of portfolio holdings is made daily and includes, as
applicable, the name and value of each Corn Futures Contract, the specific types
of Other Corn Interests and characteristics of such Other Corn Interests, the
name and value of each Treasury security and cash equivalent, and the amount of
cash held in the Fund’s portfolio. The Fund’s website is publicly
accessible at no charge.
The
Shares issued by the Fund may only be purchased by Authorized Purchasers and
only in blocks of 100,000 Shares called Creation Baskets. The amount
of the purchase payment for a Creation Basket is equal to the aggregate NAV of
Shares in the Creation Basket. Similarly, only Authorized Purchasers
may redeem Shares and only in blocks of 100,000 Shares called Redemption
Baskets. The amount of the redemption proceeds for a Redemption
Basket is equal to the aggregate NAV of Shares in the Redemption
Basket. The purchase price for Creation Baskets and the redemption
price for Redemption Baskets are the actual NAV calculated at the end of the
business day when a request for a purchase or redemption is received by the
Fund. The NYSE Arca will publish an approximate NAV intra-day based
on the prior day’s NAV and the current price of the Benchmark Component Futures
Contracts, but the price of Creation Baskets and Redemption Baskets is
determined based on the actual NAV calculated at the end of each trading
day.
While the
Fund issues Shares only in Creation Baskets, Shares may also be purchased and
sold in much smaller increments on the NYSE Arca. These transactions,
however, are effected at the bid and ask prices established by specialist
firm(s). Like any listed security, Shares can be purchased and sold
at any time a secondary market is open.
The
Fund’s Investment Strategy
In
managing the Fund’s assets, the Sponsor does not use a technical trading system
that automatically issues buy and sell orders. Instead, each time one
or more baskets are purchased or redeemed, the Sponsor will purchase or sell
Corn Interests with an aggregate market value that approximates the amount of
cash received or paid upon the purchase or redemption of the
basket(s).
As an
example, assume that a Creation Basket is sold by the Fund, and that the Fund’s
closing NAV per share is $25.00. In that case, the Fund would receive
$2,500,000 in proceeds from the sale of the Creation Basket ($25.00 NAV per
share multiplied by 100,000 Shares, and ignoring the Creation Basket fee of
$1,000). If one were to assume further that the Sponsor wants to
invest the entire proceeds from the Creation Basket in the Benchmark Component
Futures Contracts and that the market value of each such Benchmark Component
Futures Contracts is $16,000, the Fund would be unable to buy an exact number of
Corn Futures Contracts with an aggregate market value equal to
$5,000,000. Instead, the Fund would be able to purchase 156 Benchmark
Component Futures Contracts with an aggregate market value of
$4,996,000. Assuming a margin requirement equal to 10% of the value
of the Corn Futures Contracts, the Fund would be required to deposit $499,600 in
Treasury Securities and cash with the futures commission merchant through which
the Corn Futures Contracts were purchased. The remainder of the
proceeds from the sale of the Creation Basket, $4,500,400, would remain invested
in cash, cash equivalents, and Treasury Securities as determined by the Sponsor
from time to time based on factors such as potential calls for margin or
anticipated redemptions.
The
specific Corn Interests purchased will depend on various factors, including a
judgment by the Sponsor as to the appropriate diversification of the Fund’s
investments. While the Sponsor anticipates significant investments in
CBOT Corn Futures Contracts, for various reasons, including the ability to enter
into the precise amount of exposure to the corn market and position limits on
Corn Futures Contracts, it will also invest in Other Corn Interests, such as
swaps, in the over-the-counter market to a significant degree.
The
Sponsor does not anticipate letting its Corn Futures Contracts expire and taking
delivery of corn. Instead, the Sponsor will close out existing
positions, e.g., in response to ongoing changes in the Benchmark or if it
otherwise determines it would be appropriate to do so and reinvest the proceeds
in new Corn Interests. Positions may also be closed out to meet
orders for Redemption Baskets, in which case the proceeds from closing the
positions will not be reinvested.
Futures
Contracts
Futures
contracts are agreements between two parties. One party agrees to buy
a commodity such as corn from the other party at a later date at a price and
quantity agreed-upon when the contract is made. Corn Futures
Contracts are traded on the CBOT in units of 5,000
bushels. Generally, futures contracts traded on the CBOT are priced
by floor brokers and other exchange members both through an “open outcry” of
offers to purchase or sell the contracts and through an electronic, screen-based
system that determines the price by matching electronically offers to purchase
and sell. Futures contracts may also be based on commodity indices,
in that they call for a cash payment based on the change in the value of the
specified index during a specified period. No futures contracts based
on an index of corn prices are currently available, although the Fund could
enter into such contracts should they become available in the
future.
Certain
typical and significant characteristics of Corn Futures Contracts are discussed
below. Additional risks of investing in Corn Futures Contracts are
included in “What are the Risk Factors Involved with an Investment in the
Fund?”
Impact
of Position Limits, Accountability Levels, and Price Fluctuation
Limits.
The CFTC
and U.S. designated contract markets such as the CBOT have established position
limits and accountability levels and position limits on the maximum net long or
net short futures contracts in commodities that any person or group of persons
under common trading control (other than as a hedge, which an investment by the
Fund would not be) may hold, own or control. The net position is the
difference between an individual or firm’s open long contracts and open short
contracts in any one commodity. In addition, most U.S. futures
exchanges, such as the CBOT, limit the daily price fluctuation for futures
contracts.
Position
limits generally impose a fixed ceiling on aggregate holdings in futures
contracts relating to a particular commodity, and may also impose separate
ceilings on contracts expiring in any one month, contracts expiring in the spot
month, and/or contracts in the last few days of trading. The position
limits currently established by the CFTC apply to certain agricultural commodity
interests, including corn. Specifically, the CFTC’s position limits
for Corn Futures Contracts are 600 spot month contracts, 13,500 contracts
expiring in any other single month, and 22,000 contracts for all
months. All futures contracts held under the control of the Sponsor,
including those held by any future series of the Trust, will be aggregated in
determining the application of these position limits. The Fund is new
and is not expected to reach asset levels that would cause these position limits
to be implicated in the near future. Assuming a contract price of
$3.20 per bushel and that the Fund was fully invested in Corn Futures Contracts,
the position limit of 22,000 contracts total would apply when the Fund’s assets
reached $352 million ($3.20 per bushel times 50,000 bushels per contract times
22,000 contracts). If such position limits become relevant in the
future, the Sponsor may enter into for the Fund Other Corn Interests not subject
to the position limits to a greater degree than would otherwise be the
case. In certain circumstances, however, position limits could
effectively limit the number of Creation Baskets that the Fund can
sell.
In
contrast to position limits, accountability levels are not fixed ceilings, but
rather thresholds above which an exchange may exercise greater scrutiny and
control over an investor, including by imposing position limits. In
light of the position limits discussed above, the CBOT has not set any
accountability levels for Corn Futures Contracts.
Futures
exchanges, including the CBOT, also limit the amount of price fluctuation for
Corn Futures Contracts. For example, the CBOT imposes a $0.30 per
bushel ($1,500 per contract) daily price fluctuation limit for Corn Futures
Contracts. Once the daily limit has been reached in a particular Corn
Futures Contract, no trades may be made at a price beyond the
limit. If two or more Corn Futures Contract months within the first
five listed non-spot contracts close at the limit, the daily price limit
increases to $0.45 per bushel ($2,250 per contract) the next business day and to
$0.70 per bushel ($3,500 per contract) the next business day. These
limits are based off the previous trading day’s settlement price.
Price
Volatility
Despite
daily price limits, the price volatility of futures contracts generally has been
historically greater than that for traditional securities such as stocks and
bonds. Price volatility often is greater day-to-day as opposed to
intra-day. Economic factors that may cause volatility in Corn Futures
Contracts include changes in interest rates; governmental, agricultural, trade,
fiscal, monetary and exchange control programs and policies; weather and climate
conditions; changing supply and demand relationships; changes in balances of
payments and trade; U.S. and international rates of inflation; currency
devaluations and revaluations; U.S. and international political and economic
events; and changes in philosophies and emotions of market
participants. Because the Fund invests a significant portion of its
assets in futures contracts, the assets of the Fund, and therefore the price of
the Fund’s Shares, may be subject to greater volatility than traditional
securities.
Term
Structure of Futures Contracts and the Impact on Total Return
Several
factors determine the total return from investing in futures
contracts. Because the Fund must periodically “roll” futures contract
positions, closing out soon-to-expire contracts that are no longer part of the
Benchmark and entering into subsequent-to-expire contracts, one such factor is
the price relationship between soon-to-expire contracts and later-to-expire
contracts. For example, if market conditions are such that the prices
of soon-to-expire contracts are higher than later-to-expire contracts (a
situation referred to as “backwardation” in the futures market), then the price
of contracts will rise as they approach expiration. Conversely, if
the price of soon-to-expire contracts is lower than later-to-expire contracts (a
situation referred to as “contango” in the futures market), then absent a change
in the market the price of contracts will decline as they approach
expiration.
Over
time, the price of the corn will fluctuate based on a number of market factors,
including demand for corn relative to its supply. The value of Corn
Futures Contracts will likewise fluctuate in reaction to a number of market
factors. If investors seek to maintain their holdings in Corn Futures
Contracts with a roughly constant expiration profile and not take delivery of
the corn, they must on an ongoing basis sell their current positions as they
approach expiration and invest in later-to-expire contracts.
If the
futures market is in a state of backwardation, (i.e., when the price of corn in
the future is expected to be less than the current price), the Fund will buy
later-to-expire contracts for a lower price than the sooner-to-expire contracts
that it sells. Hypothetically, and assuming no changes to either
prevailing corn prices or the price relationship between the spot price,
soon-to-expire contracts and later-to-expire contracts (and ignoring the impact
of commission costs and the interest earned on Treasury Securities, cash and/or
cash equivalents), the value of a contract will rise as it approaches
expiration, increasing the Fund’s total return. As an example, assume
that the Fund owns 100 Corn Futures Contract that have recently become spot
month contracts, that the price of spot month Corn Futures Contracts is $5 per
bushel, and the price of second-to-expire Corn Futures Contracts is
$4.75. The Fund will sell the spot month Corn Futures Contracts for
$2,500,000 (100 contracts multiplied by 5,000 bushels per contract multiplied by
$5), and will be able to purchase more than 105 second-to-expire Corn Futures
Contracts with the proceeds, representing an additional 25,000 bushels of corn
than it previously owned.
If the
futures market is in contango, the Fund will buy later-to-expire contracts for a
higher price than the sooner-to-expire contracts that it
sells. Hypothetically, and assuming no other changes to either
prevailing corn prices or the price relationship between the spot price,
soon-to-expire contracts and later-to-expire contracts (and ignoring the impact
of commission costs and the interest earned on cash), the value of a contract
will fall as it approaches expiration, decreasing the Fund’s total
return. As an example, assume the same facts as in the prior
paragraph except that the price of second-to-expire Corn Futures Contracts is
$5.25. The Fund will sell the spot month Corn Futures Contracts for
$2,500,000, and will be able to purchase only 95 second-to-expire Corn Futures
Contracts with the proceeds, representing 25,000 fewer bushels of corn than it
previously owned.
Historically,
the corn futures markets have experienced periods of both contango and
backwardation. Typically, whether contango or backwardation exists is
largely a function of the seasonality of the corn market and the corn harvest
cycle, as discussed above.
Marking-to-Market
Futures Positions
Futures
contracts are marked to market at the end of each trading day and the margin
required with respect to such contracts is adjusted accordingly. This
process of marking-to-market is designed to prevent losses from accumulating in
any futures account. Therefore, if the Fund’s futures positions have
declined in value, the Fund may be required to post “variation margin” to cover
this decline. Alternatively, if the Fund’s futures positions have
increased in value, this increase will be credited to the Fund’s
account.
Over-the-Counter
Derivative
s
In
addition to futures contracts and options on futures contracts, derivative
contracts that are tied to various commodities, including corn, are entered into
outside of public exchanges. These “over-the-counter” contracts are
entered into between two parties in private contracts. Unlike most of
the exchange-traded futures contracts or exchange-traded options on futures
contracts, each party to such a contract bears the credit risk of the other
party,
i.e.
, the risk
that the other party will not be able to perform its obligations under its
contract.
Some
derivatives contracts contain fairly standard terms and conditions and are
available from a wide range of participants. Others have highly
customized terms and conditions and are not as widely available. Many
of these over-the-counter contracts are cash-settled forwards for the future
delivery of commodities that have terms similar to futures
contracts. Others take the form of “swaps” in which a party pays a
fixed price per unit and the other pays a variable price based on the average
price of futures contracts for a specified period or the price on a specified
date, with payments typically made between the parties on a net
basis. For example, the Fund may enter into over-the-counter
derivative contracts the value of which will track changes in the prices of the
Benchmark Component Futures Contracts, thereby enabling the Fund to track the
Benchmark without investing in Corn Futures Contracts.
To reduce
the credit risk that arises in connection with such contracts, the Fund will
generally enter into an agreement with each counterparty based on the Master
Agreement published by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc.
that provide for the netting of its overall exposure to its
counterparty.
The
creditworthiness of each potential counterparty will be assessed by the
Sponsor. The Sponsor will assess or review, as appropriate, the
creditworthiness of each potential or existing counterparty to an
over-the-counter contract pursuant to guidelines approved by the
Sponsor. Furthermore, the Sponsor on behalf of the Fund will only
enter into over-the-counter contracts with counterparties who are, or are
affiliates of, (a) banks regulated by a United States federal bank regulator,
(b) broker-dealers regulated by the SEC, (c) insurance companies domiciled in
the United States, and (d) producers, users or traders of corn, whether or not
regulated by the CFTC. Existing counterparties will be reviewed
periodically by the Sponsor. The Fund also may require that the
counterparty be highly rated and/or provide collateral or other credit
support.
The CFTC
recently issued an order that permits certain privately-negotiated agricultural
swap contracts, including certain types of corn swaps, to be cleared by an
established futures exchange. To the extent the Fund enters into swap
agreements cleared by an exchange, the creditworthiness of the counterparty will
not be a risk.
Benchmark
Performance
The
following graph illustrates the historical performance and volatility of the
Benchmark, and the historical correlation of the Benchmark with the spot price
of corn. For purposes of the graph, Benchmark performance has been
calculated by taking the performance of each Benchmark Component Futures
Contract according to CBOT data, weighting each such futures contract as
weighted in the Benchmark, and assuming that each such futures contract was
rolled into its replacement on the day the futures contract was no longer a
Benchmark Component Futures Contract. The spot price of corn has been
determined based on the price of the spot month Corn Futures Contract according
to CBOT data.
The
Corn Market
Corn is
the most widely produced livestock feed grain in the United States, and the
majority of the United States’ corn crop is used in livestock
feed. Corn is also processed into food and industrial products,
including starch, sweeteners, corn oil, and beverage and industrial
alcohol. Additionally, corn is used in ethanol
production.
The
United States is the world’s leading producer and exporter of
corn. Approximately 85% of U.S. produced corn is sold domestically,
while approximately 15% is exported. Corn grain represented
approximately 12 percent of all U.S. agricultural exports by value during
2008.
Besides
the United States, other principal world corn exporters include Argentina and
China. Brazil, Ukraine, Romania, and South Africa also produce
significant corn exports in certain years.
Standard
Corn Futures Contracts trade on the CBOT in units of 5,000 bushels, although
1,000 bushel “mini-corn” Corn Futures Contracts also trade. Three
grades of corn are deliverable under CBOT Corn Futures
Contracts: Number 1 yellow, which may be delivered at 1.5 cents over
the contract price; Number 2 yellow, which may be delivered at the contract
price; and Number 3 yellow, which may be delivered at 1.5 cents under the
contract price. There are five months each year in which CBOT Corn
Futures Contracts expire: March , May, July, September and
December.
The
Fund’s Investments in Treasury Securities, Cash and Cash
Equivalents
The Fund
seeks to have the aggregate “notional” amount of the Corn Interests it holds
approximate at all times the Fund’s aggregate NAV. At any given time,
however, most of the Fund’s investments will be in short-term Treasury
Securities, cash and/or cash equivalents that support the Fund’s positions in
Corn Interests. For example, the purchase of a Corn Futures Contract
with a stated or notional amount of $10 million would not require the Fund to
pay $10 million upon entering into the contract; rather, only a margin deposit,
generally of 5%-10% of the notional amount, would be required. To
secure its Corn Futures Contract obligations, the Fund would deposit the
required margin with the futures commission merchant and would separately hold
its remaining assets through its Custodian in Treasury Securities, cash and/or
cash equivalents. Such remaining assets may be used to meet future
margin payments that the Fund is required to make on its Corn Futures
Contracts. Other Corn Interests typically also involve collateral
requirements that represent a small fraction of their notional amounts, so most
of the Fund’s assets dedicated to Other Corn Interests will also be held in
Treasury Securities, cash and cash equivalents.
The Fund
earns interest income from the Treasury Securities and/or cash equivalents that
it purchases and on the cash it holds through the Custodian. The
Sponsor anticipates that the earned interest income will increase the Fund’s
NAV. The Fund applies the earned interest income to the acquisition
of additional investments or uses it to pay its expenses. If the Fund
reinvests the earned interest income, it makes investments that are consistent
with its investment objectives.
Other
Trading Policies of the Fund
Options
on Futures Contracts
In
addition to Corn Futures Contracts, there are also a number of options on Corn
Futures Contracts listed on the CBOT. These contracts offer investors
and hedgers another set of financial vehicles to use in managing exposure to the
commodities market. The Fund may purchase and sell (write) options on
Corn Futures Contracts in pursuing its investment objective, except that it will
not sell call options when it does not own the underlying Corn Futures
Contract. The Fund would make use of options on Corn Futures
Contracts if, in the opinion of the Sponsor, such an approach would cause the
Fund to more closely track its Benchmark or if it would lead to an overall lower
cost of trading to achieve a given level of economic exposure to movements in
corn prices.
Liquidity
The Fund
invests only in Corn Futures Contracts that, in the opinion of the Sponsor, are
traded in sufficient volume to permit the ready taking and liquidation of
positions in these financial interests and in over-the-counter Commodity
Interests that, in the opinion of the Sponsor, may be readily liquidated with
the original counterparty or through a third party assuming the Fund’s
position.
Spot
Commodities
While
most futures contracts can be physically settled, the Fund does not intend to
take or make physical delivery. However, the Fund may from time to
time trade in Other Corn Interests based on the spot price of corn.
Leverage
The
Sponsor endeavors to have the value of the Fund’s Treasury Securities, cash and
cash equivalents, whether held by the Fund or posted as margin or collateral, at
all times approximate the aggregate market value of its obligations under the
Fund’s Corn Interests.
Borrowings
Borrowings
are not used by the Fund unless it is required to borrow money in the event of
physical delivery, if it trades in cash commodities, or for short-term needs
created by unexpected redemptions. The Fund does not plan to
establish credit lines.
Pyramiding
The Fund
does not and will not employ the technique, commonly known as pyramiding, in
which the speculator uses unrealized profits on existing positions as variation
margin for the purchase or sale of additional positions in the same or another
commodity interest.
The
Service Providers
In its
capacity as the Fund’s custodian, the Custodian holds the Fund’s Treasury
Securities, cash and/or cash equivalents pursuant to a custodial
agreement. The Custodian is also the registrar and transfer agent for
the Fund’s Shares. In addition, the Custodian also serves as
Administrator for the Fund, performing certain administrative and accounting
services and preparing certain SEC and CFTC reports on behalf of the
Fund. For these services, the Fund pays fees to the Custodian as set
forth in the table below.
The
Custodian’s principal business address is [address]. The Custodian is
a [national banking association] regulated by [___________].
The Fund
also employs ALPS Distributors, Inc. as Marketing Agent, which is further
discussed under “What is the Fund’s Plan of Distribution?” The Fund
pays the Marketing Agent’s fees as set forth in the table below. In
no event may the aggregate compensation paid to the Marketing Agent and any
affiliate of the Sponsor for distribution-related services in connection with
the offering of Shares exceed ten percent (10%) of the gross proceeds of the
offering.
The
Marketing Agent’s principal business address is 1290 Broadway, Suite 1100,
Denver, Colorado 80203. The Marketing Agent is a broker-dealer
registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and a member of the
Securities Investor Protection Corporation.
Newedge
USA, LLC (“Newedge”) is the Fund’s futures commission
merchant. The Fund and Newedge have entered into an
Institutional Futures Client Account Agreement. This Agreement
requires Newedge to provide services to the Fund in connection with the
purchase and sale of Corn Interests that may be purchased or sold by or
through Newedge for the Fund’s account. The Fund pays the fees
of Newedge as set forth in the table below.
Newedge’s
principal business address is 550 W. Jackson Blvd., Suite 500, Chicago, IL
60661. Newedge is a futures clearing broker for the
Fund. Newedge is registered with FINRA as a Broker-Dealer and with
the CFTC as a Futures Commission Merchant. Newedge is a member of
various US futures and securities exchanges.
Newedge will
act only as futures commission merchant and clearing broker for the Fund and as
such will be paid commissions for executing and clearing trades on behalf of the
Fund. Newedge has not passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this
prospectus. Newedge neither will act in any supervisory capacity with
respect to the Sponsor nor participate in the management of the
Fund.
Newedge is
not affiliated with the Fund or the Sponsor. Therefore, the Sponsor
and the Fund do not believe that the Fund has any conflicts of interest with
them or their trading principals arising from their acting as the Fund’s futures
commission merchant.
Currently,
the Sponsor does not employ commodity trading advisors. If, in the
future, the Sponsor does employ commodity trading advisors, it will choose each
advisor based on arm’s-length negotiations and will consider the advisor’s
experience, fees, and reputation.
Fees
to be Paid by the Fund
Fees
and Compensation Arrangements with the Sponsor and Non-Affiliated Service
Providers
Service Provider
|
|
Compensation Paid by the Fund
|
Teucrium
Trading, LLC, Sponsor
|
|
1.00%
of average net assets annually
|
____________,
Custodian and Administrator
|
|
|
ALPS
Distributors, Inc., Marketing Agent
|
|
.
|
Newedge
USA, LLC, Futures Commission Merchant and Clearing Broker
|
|
|
Asset-based
fees are calculated on a daily basis (accrued at 1/365 of the applicable
percentage of NAV on that day) and paid on a monthly basis. NAV is
calculated by taking the current market value of the Fund’s total assets and
subtracting any liabilities.
Form
of Shares
Registered
Form
Shares
are issued in registered form in accordance with the Trust
Agreement. The Administrator has been appointed registrar and
transfer agent for the purpose of transferring Shares in certificated
form. The Administrator keeps a record of all Shareholders and
holders of the Shares in certificated form in the registry
(“Register”). The Sponsor recognizes transfers of Shares in
certificated form only if done in accordance with the Trust
Agreement. The beneficial interests in such Shares are held in
book-entry form through participants and/or accountholders in
DTC.
Book
Entry
Individual
certificates are not issued for the Shares. Instead, Shares are
represented by one or more global certificates, which are deposited by the
Administrator with DTC and registered in the name of Cede & Co., as nominee
for DTC. The global certificates evidence all of the Shares
outstanding at any time. Shareholders are limited to (1) participants
in DTC such as banks, brokers, dealers and trust companies (“DTC Participants”),
(2) those who maintain, either directly or indirectly, a custodial relationship
with a DTC Participant (“Indirect Participants”), and (3) those who hold
interests in the Shares through DTC Participants or Indirect Participants, in
each case who satisfy the requirements for transfers of Shares. DTC
Participants acting on behalf of investors holding Shares through such
participants’ accounts in DTC will follow the delivery practice applicable to
securities eligible for DTC’s Same-Day Funds Settlement
System. Shares are credited to DTC Participants’ securities accounts
following confirmation of receipt of payment.
DTC
DTC has
advised us as follows: It is a limited purpose trust company
organized under the laws of the State of New York and is a member of the Federal
Reserve System, a “clearing corporation” within the meaning of the New York
Uniform Commercial Code and a “clearing agency” registered pursuant to the
provisions of Section 17A of the Exchange Act. DTC holds securities
for DTC Participants and facilitates the clearance and settlement of
transactions between DTC Participants through electronic book-entry changes in
accounts of DTC Participants.
Transfer
of Shares
The
Shares are only transferable through the book-entry system of
DTC. Shareholders who are not DTC Participants may transfer their
Shares through DTC by instructing the DTC Participant holding their Shares (or
by instructing the Indirect Participant or other entity through which their
Shares are held) to transfer the Shares. Transfers are made in
accordance with standard securities industry practice.
Transfers
of interests in Shares with DTC are made in accordance with the usual rules and
operating procedures of DTC and the nature of the transfer. DTC has
established procedures to facilitate transfers among the participants and/or
accountholders of DTC. Because DTC can only act on behalf of DTC
Participants, who in turn act on behalf of Indirect Participants, the ability of
a person or entity having an interest in a global certificate to pledge such
interest to persons or entities that do not participate in DTC, or otherwise
take actions in respect of such interest, may be affected by the lack of a
certificate or other definitive document representing such
interest.
DTC has
advised us that it will take any action permitted to be taken by a Shareholder
(including, without limitation, the presentation of a global certificate for
exchange) only at the direction of one or more DTC Participants in whose account
with DTC interests in global certificates are credited and only in respect of
such portion of the aggregate principal amount of the global certificate as to
which such DTC Participant or Participants has or have given such
direction.
Inter-Series
Limitation on Liability
Because
the Trust was established as a Delaware statutory trust, the Fund and each other
series established under the Trust will be operated so that it will be liable
only for obligations attributable to such series and will not be liable for
obligations of any other series or affected by losses of any other
series. If any creditor or Shareholder of any particular series (such
as the Fund) asserts against the series a valid claim with respect to its
indebtedness or Shares, the creditor or shareholder will only be able to obtain
recovery from the assets of that series and not from the assets of any other
series or the Trust generally. The assets of the Fund and any other
series will include only those funds and other assets that are paid to, held by
or distributed to the series on account of and for the benefit of that series,
including, without limitation, amounts delivered to the Trust for the purchase
of Shares in a series. This limitation on liability is referred to as
the Inter-Series Limitation on Liability. The Inter-Series Limitation
on Liability is expressly provided for under the Delaware Statutory Trust Act,
which provides that if certain conditions (as set forth in Section 3804(a)) are
met, then the debts of any particular series will be enforceable only against
the assets of such series and not against the assets of any other series or the
Trust generally. In furtherance of the Inter-Series Limitation on
Liability, every party providing services to the Trust, the Fund or the Sponsor
on behalf of the Trust or the Fund, will acknowledge and consent in writing to
the Inter-Series Limitation on Liability with respect to such party’s
claims.
The
existence of a Trustee should not be taken as an indication of any additional
level of management or supervision over any Fund. To the greatest
extent permissible under Delaware law, the Trustee acts in an entirely passive
role, delegating all authority for the management and operation of the Fund and
the Trust to the Sponsor. The Trustee does not provide custodial
services with respect to the assets of the Fund.
Plan
of Distribution
Buying
and Selling Shares
Most
investors buy and sell Shares of the Fund in secondary market transactions
through brokers. Shares trade on the NYSE Arca under the ticker
symbol “[symbol].” Shares are bought and sold throughout the trading
day like other publicly traded securities. When buying or selling
Shares through a broker, most investors incur customary brokerage commissions
and charges. Investors are encouraged to review the terms of their
brokerage account for details on applicable charges and, as discussed below
under “U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations,” any provisions authorizing the
broker to borrow Shares held on your behalf.
Marketing
Agent and Authorized Purchasers
The
offering of the Fund’s Shares is a best efforts offering. The Fund
will continuously offer Creation Baskets consisting of 100,000 Shares through
the Marketing Agent, to Authorized
Purchasers. [ ]
is expected to be the initial Authorized Purchaser. It is expected
that on the effective date, the initial Authorized Purchaser will purchase one
or more initial Creation Baskets of 100,000 Shares at a price equal to
$25.00. The initial offering price of $25.00 was set as an
appropriate and convenient price that would facilitate secondary market trading
of Shares, and the Shares of the Fund acquired by the Sponsor in connection with
its initial capital contribution were purchased at a price of $25.00 per
Share. All Authorized Purchasers pay a $1,000 fee for each order to
create one or more Creation Baskets, regardless of the number of Creation
Baskets in the order. The Marketing Agent will receive, for its
services as distributor to the Fund, a fee at an annual rate of: ____% on the
Fund’s average net assets up to $___; ___% on the Fund’s assets from $___-$___;
and ___% on the Fund’s assets in excess of $___; provided, however, that in no
event may the aggregate compensation paid to the Marketing Agent and any
affiliate of the Sponsor for distribution-related services in connection with
this offering of Shares exceed 10 percent (10%) of the gross proceeds of this
offering.
The
offering of baskets is being made in compliance with Conduct Rule 2810 of
FINRA. Accordingly, Authorized Purchasers will not make any sales to
any account over which they have discretionary authority without the prior
written approval of a purchaser of Shares.
The per
share price of Shares offered in Creation Baskets on any subsequent day will be
the total NAV of the Fund calculated shortly after the close of the NYSE Arca on
that day divided by the number of issued and outstanding Shares. An
Authorized Purchaser is not required to sell any specific number or dollar
amount of Shares.
By
executing an Authorized Purchaser Agreement, an Authorized Purchaser becomes
part of the group of parties eligible to purchase baskets from, and put baskets
for redemption to, the Fund. An Authorized Purchaser is under no
obligation to create or redeem baskets or to offer to the public Shares of any
baskets it does create.
As of the
date of this prospectus,
[ ]
is the only expected Authorized Purchaser. A list of Authorized
Purchasers will be available from the Marketing Agent. Because new
Shares can be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the
life of the Fund, a “distribution,” as such term is used in the 1933 Act, will
be occurring. Authorized Purchasers, other broker-dealers and other
persons are cautioned that some of their activities may result in their being
deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that would render them
statutory underwriters and subject them to the prospectus-delivery and liability
provisions of the 1933 Act. For example, the initial Authorized
Purchaser will be a statutory underwriter with respect to the initial purchase
of Creation Baskets. In addition, an Authorized Purchaser, other
broker-dealer firm or its client will be deemed a statutory underwriter if it
purchases a basket from the Fund, breaks the basket down into the constituent
Shares and sells the Shares to its customers; or if it chooses to couple the
creation of a supply of new Shares with an active selling effort involving
solicitation of secondary market demand for the Shares. In contrast,
Authorized Purchasers may engage in secondary market or other transactions in
Shares that would not be deemed “underwriting.” For example, an
Authorized Purchaser may act in the capacity of a broker or dealer with respect
to Shares that were previously distributed by other Authorized
Purchasers. A determination of whether a particular market
participant is an underwriter must take into account all the facts and
circumstances pertaining to the activities of the broker-dealer or its client in
the particular case, and the examples mentioned above should not be considered a
complete description of all the activities that would lead to designation as an
underwriter and subject them to the prospectus-delivery and liability provisions
of the 1933 Act.
Dealers
who are neither Authorized Purchasers nor “underwriters” but are nonetheless
participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary trading
transactions), and thus dealing with Shares that are part of an “unsold
allotment” within the meaning of Section 4(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be
unable to take advantage of the prospectus-delivery exemption provided by
Section 4(3) of the 1933 Act.
The
Sponsor intends any broker-dealers selling Shares will be members of
FINRA. Investors intending to create or redeem baskets through
Authorized Purchasers in transactions not involving a broker-dealer registered
in such investor’s state of domicile or residence should consult their legal
advisor regarding applicable broker-dealer regulatory requirements under the
state securities laws prior to such creation or redemption.
While the
Authorized Purchasers may be indemnified by the Sponsor, they will not be
entitled to receive a discount or commission from the Trust or the Sponsor for
their purchases of Creation Baskets. The difference between the price
paid by Authorized Purchasers for Creation Baskets and the price paid for Shares
to such Authorized Purchasers by investors will be deemed underwriting
compensation.
The
Flow of Shares
Calculating
NAV
The
Fund’s NAV is calculated by:
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Taking
the current market value of its total assets,
and
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Subtracting
any liabilities.
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The
Administrator will calculate the NAV of the Fund once each trading
day. It will calculate NAV as of the earlier of the close
of the New York Stock Exchange or 4:00 p.m. New York time. The NAV
for a particular trading day will be released after 4:15 p.m. New York
time.
In
determining the value of Corn Futures Contracts, the Administrator will use the
CBOT closing price (typically 2:15 p.m. New York time). The
Administrator will determine the value of all other Fund investments as of the
earlier of the close of the New York Stock Exchange or 4:00 p.m. New York time,
in accordance with the current [Administrative Agency Agreement] among the
Administrator, the Fund and the Sponsor. The value of
over-the-counter Corn Interests will be determined based on the value of the
commodity or Futures Contract underlying such Corn Interest, except that a fair
value will be determined if the Sponsor believes that the Fund is subject to
significant credit risk relating to the counterparty to such Corn
Interest. Treasury Securities held by the Fund will be valued by the
Administrator using values received from recognized third-party vendors (such as
Reuters and [WM Company]) and dealer quotes. NAV will include any
unrealized profit or loss on open Corn Interests and any other credit or debit
accruing to the Fund but unpaid or not received by the Fund.
In
addition, in order to provide updated information relating to the Fund for use
by investors and market professionals, NYSE Arca will calculate and disseminate
throughout the trading day an updated “indicative fund value.” The
indicative fund value is calculated by using the prior day’s closing NAV per
share of the Fund as a base and updating that value throughout the trading day
to reflect changes in the value of the Benchmark Component Futures
Contracts. Changes in the value of over-the-counter Corn Interests,
Treasury Securities and cash equivalents will not be included in the calculation
of indicative value. For this and other reasons, the indicative fund
value disseminated during NYSE Arca trading hours should not be viewed as an
actual real time update of the NAV. NAV is calculated only once at
the end of each trading day.
The
indicative fund value will be disseminated on a per Share basis every 15 seconds
during regular NYSE Arca trading hours of 9:30 a.m. New York time to 4:00 p.m.
New York time. The normal trading hours for Corn Futures Contracts on
the CBOT are 10:30 a.m. New York time to 2:15 p.m. New York
time. This means that there is a gap in time at the beginning and the
end of each day during which the Fund’s Shares are traded on the NYSE Arca, but
real-time CBOT trading prices for Corn Futures Contracts traded on such Exchange
are not available. As a result, during those gaps there will be no
update to the indicative fund value.
The NYSE
Arca will disseminate the indicative fund value through the facilities of CTA/CQ
High Speed Lines. In addition, the indicative fund value is published
on the NYSE Arca’s website and is available through on-line information services
such as Bloomberg and Reuters.
Dissemination
of the indicative fund value provides additional information that is not
otherwise available to the public and is useful to investors and market
professionals in connection with the trading of Fund Shares on the NYSE
Arca. Investors and market professionals are able throughout the
trading day to compare the market price of the Fund and the indicative fund
value. If the market price of Fund Shares diverges significantly from
the indicative fund value, market professionals will have an incentive to
execute arbitrage trades. For example, if the Fund appears to be
trading at a discount compared to the indicative fund value, a market
professional could buy Fund Shares on the NYSE Arca, aggregate them into
Redemption Baskets, and receive the NAV of such Shares by redeeming them to the
Trust. Such arbitrage trades can tighten the tracking between the
market price of the Fund and the indicative fund value and thus can be
beneficial to all market participants.
Creation
and Redemption of Shares
The Fund
creates and redeems Shares from time to time, but only in one or more Creation
Baskets or Redemption Baskets. The creation and redemption of baskets
are only made in exchange for delivery to the Fund or the distribution by the
Fund of the amount of Treasury Securities and/or cash equal to the combined NAV
of the number of Shares included in the baskets being created or redeemed
determined as of 4:00 p.m. New York time on the day the order to create or
redeem baskets is properly received.
Authorized
Purchasers are the only persons that may place orders to create and redeem
baskets. Authorized Purchasers must be (1) either registered
broker-dealers or other securities market participants, such as banks and other
financial institutions, that are not required to register as broker-dealers to
engage in securities transactions as described below, and (2) DTC
Participants. To become an Authorized Purchaser, a person must enter
into an Authorized Purchaser Agreement with the Sponsor. The
Authorized Purchaser Agreement provides the procedures for the creation and
redemption of baskets and for the delivery of the Treasury Securities and/or
cash required for such creations and redemptions. The Authorized
Purchaser Agreement and the related procedures attached thereto may be amended
by the Sponsor, without the consent of any Shareholder or Authorized
Purchaser. Authorized Purchasers pay a transaction fee of $1,000 to
the Sponsor for each order they place to create or redeem one or more
baskets. Authorized Purchasers who make deposits with the Fund in
exchange for baskets receive no fees, commissions or other form of compensation
or inducement of any kind from either the Trust or the Sponsor, and no such
person will have any obligation or responsibility to the Trust or the Sponsor to
effect any sale or resale of Shares.
Certain
Authorized Purchasers are expected to be capable of participating directly in
the physical corn and the Corn Interest markets. Some Authorized
Purchasers or their affiliates may from time to time buy or sell corn or Corn
Interests and may profit in these instances. The Sponsor believes
that the size and operation of the corn market make it unlikely that Authorized
Purchasers’ direct activities in the corn or securities markets will
significantly affect the price of corn, Corn Interests, or the Fund’s
Shares.
Each
Authorized Purchaser will be required to be registered as a broker-dealer under
the Exchange Act and a member in good standing with FINRA, or exempt from being
or otherwise not required to be registered as a broker-dealer or a member of
FINRA, and will be qualified to act as a broker or dealer in the states or other
jurisdictions where the nature of its business so requires. Certain
Authorized Purchasers may also be regulated under federal and state banking laws
and regulations. Each Authorized Purchaser has its own set of rules
and procedures, internal controls and information barriers as it determines is
appropriate in light of its own regulatory regime.
Under the
Authorized Purchaser Agreement, the Sponsor has agreed to indemnify the
Authorized Purchasers against certain liabilities, including liabilities under
the 1933 Act, and to contribute to the payments the Authorized Purchasers may be
required to make in respect of those liabilities.
The
following description of the procedures for the creation and redemption of
baskets is only a summary and an investor should refer to the relevant
provisions of the Trust Agreement and the form of Authorized Purchaser Agreement
for more detail, each of which has been filed as an exhibit to the registration
statement of which this prospectus is a part. See “Where You Can Find
More Information” for information about where you can obtain the registration
statement.
Creation
Procedures
On any
business day, an Authorized Purchaser may place an order with the Marketing
Agent to create one or more baskets. For purposes of processing
purchase and redemption orders, a “business day” means any day other than a day
when any of the NYSE Arca, the CBOT or the New York Stock Exchange is closed for
regular trading. Purchase orders must be placed
by 1:15 p.m. New York time or the close of regular trading on the
New York Stock Exchange, whichever is earlier. The day on which the
Marketing Agent receives a valid purchase order is referred to as the purchase
order date.
By
placing a purchase order, an Authorized Purchaser agrees to deposit Treasury
Securities, cash or a combination of Treasury Securities and cash with the
Trust, as described below. Prior to the delivery of baskets for a
purchase order, the Authorized Purchaser must also have wired to the Custodian
the non-refundable transaction fee due for the purchase
order. Authorized Purchasers may not withdraw a creation
request.
Determination
of Required Deposits
The total
deposit required to create each basket (“Creation Basket Deposit”) is the amount
of Treasury Securities and/or cash that is in the same proportion to the total
assets of the Fund (net of estimated accrued but unpaid fees, expenses and other
liabilities) on the purchase order date as the number of Shares to be created
under the purchase order is in proportion to the total number of Shares
outstanding on the purchase order date. The Sponsor determines,
directly in its sole discretion or in consultation with the Administrator, the
requirements for Treasury Securities and cash, including the remaining
maturities of the Treasury Securities and proportions of Treasury Securities and
cash, that may be included in deposits to create baskets. The
Marketing Agent will publish an estimate of the Creation Basket Deposit
requirements at the beginning of each business day.
Delivery
of Required Deposits
An
Authorized Purchaser who places a purchase order is responsible for transferring
to the Fund’s account with the Custodian the required amount of Treasury
Securities and/or cash by [noon] New York time on the [third] business day
following the purchase order date. Upon receipt of the deposit
amount, the Administrator will direct DTC to credit the number of baskets
ordered to the Authorized Purchaser’s DTC account on the third business day
following the purchase order date.
Because
orders to purchase baskets must be placed by 1:15 p.m., New York time, but the
total payment required to create a basket during the continuous offering period
will not be determined until 4:00 p.m., New York time, on the date the purchase
order is received, Authorized Purchasers will not know the total amount of the
payment required to create a basket at the time they submit an irrevocable
purchase order for the basket. The Fund’s NAV and the total amount of
the payment required to create a basket could rise or fall substantially between
the time an irrevocable purchase order is submitted and the time the amount of
the purchase price in respect thereof is determined.
Rejection
of Purchase Orders
The
Sponsor acting by itself or through the Marketing Agent may reject a purchase
order or a Creation Basket Deposit if:
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it
determines that, due to position limits or otherwise, investment
alternatives that will enable the Fund to meet its investment objective
are not available to the Fund at that
time;
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it
determines that the purchase order or the Creation Basket Deposit is not
in proper form;
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it
believes that acceptance of the purchase order or the Creation Basket
Deposit would have adverse tax consequences to the Fund or its
Shareholders;
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the
acceptance or receipt of the Creation Basket Deposit would, in the opinion
of counsel to the Sponsor, be unlawful;
or
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circumstances
outside the control of the Sponsor, Marketing Agent or Custodian make it,
for all practical purposes, not feasible to process creations of
baskets.
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None of
the Sponsor, Marketing Agent or Custodian will be liable for the rejection of
any purchase order or Creation Basket Deposit.
Redemption
Procedures
The
procedures by which an Authorized Purchaser can redeem one or more baskets
mirror the procedures for the creation of baskets. On any business
day, an Authorized Purchaser may place an order with the Marketing Agent to
redeem one or more baskets. Redemption orders must be placed by 1:15
p.m. New York time or the close of regular trading on the New York Stock
Exchange, whichever is earlier. A redemption order so received will
be effective on the date it is received in satisfactory form by the Marketing
Agent. The redemption procedures allow Authorized Purchasers to
redeem baskets and do not entitle an individual Shareholder to redeem any Shares
in an amount less than a Redemption Basket, or to redeem baskets other than
through an Authorized Purchaser. By placing a redemption order, an
Authorized Purchaser agrees to deliver the baskets to be redeemed through DTC’s
book-entry system to the Fund not later than [noon] New York time on the [third]
business day following the effective date of the redemption
order. Prior to the delivery of the redemption distribution for a
redemption order, the Authorized Purchaser must also have wired to the Sponsor’s
account at the Custodian the non-refundable transaction fee due for the
redemption order. An Authorized Purchaser may not withdraw a
redemption order.
Determination
of Redemption Distribution
The
redemption distribution from the Fund will consist of a transfer to the
redeeming Authorized Purchaser of an amount of Treasury Securities and/or cash
that is in the same proportion to the total assets of the Fund (net of estimated
accrued but unpaid fees, expenses and other liabilities) on the date the order
to redeem is properly received as the number of Shares to be redeemed under the
redemption order is in proportion to the total number of Shares outstanding on
the date the order is received. The Sponsor, directly or in
consultation with the Administrator, determines the requirements for Treasury
Securities and cash, including the remaining maturities of the Treasury
Securities and proportions of Treasury Securities and cash, that may be included
in distributions to redeem baskets. The Marketing Agent will publish
an estimate of the redemption distribution per basket as of the beginning of
each business day.
Delivery
of Redemption Distribution
The
redemption distribution due from the Fund will be delivered to the Authorized
Purchaser by [noon] New York time on the [third] business day following the
redemption order date if, by [noon] New York time on such [third] business day,
the Fund’s DTC account has been credited with the baskets to be
redeemed. If the Fund’s DTC account has not been credited with all of
the baskets to be redeemed by such time, the redemption distribution will be
delivered to the extent of whole baskets received. Any remainder of
the redemption distribution will be delivered on the next business day to the
extent of remaining whole baskets received if the Sponsor receives the fee
applicable to the extension of the redemption distribution date which the
Sponsor may, from time to time, determine and the remaining baskets to be
redeemed are credited to the Fund’s DTC account by [noon] New York time on such
next business day. Any further outstanding amount of the redemption
order shall be cancelled. Pursuant to information from the Sponsor,
the Custodian will also be authorized to deliver the redemption distribution
notwithstanding that the baskets to be redeemed are not credited to the Fund’s
DTC account by [noon] New York time on the [third] business day following the
redemption order date if the Authorized Purchaser has collateralized its
obligation to deliver the baskets through DTC’s book entry-system on such terms
as the Sponsor may from time to time determine.
Suspension
or Rejection of Redemption Orders
The
Sponsor may, in its discretion, suspend the right of redemption, or postpone the
redemption settlement date, (1) for any period during which the NYSE Arca or the
CBOT is closed other than customary weekend or holiday closings, or trading on
the NYSE Arca or the CBOT is suspended or restricted, (2) for any period during
which an emergency exists as a result of which delivery, disposal or evaluation
of Treasury Securities is not reasonably practicable, or (3) for such other
period as the Sponsor determines to be necessary for the protection of the
Shareholders. For example, the Sponsor may determine that it is
necessary to suspend redemptions to allow for the orderly liquidation of the
Fund’s assets at an appropriate value to fund a redemption. If the
Sponsor has difficulty liquidating the Fund’s positions, e.g., because of a
market disruption event in the futures markets or an unanticipated delay in the
liquidation of a position in an over the counter contract, it may be appropriate
to suspend redemptions until such time as such circumstances are
rectified. None of the Sponsor, the Marketing Agent, or the Custodian
will be liable to any person or in any way for any loss or damages that may
result from any such suspension or postponement.
Redemption
orders must be made in whole baskets. The Sponsor will reject a redemption order
if the order is not in proper form as described in the Authorized Purchaser
Agreement or if the fulfillment of the order, in the opinion of its counsel,
might be unlawful. The Sponsor may also reject a redemption order if
the number of Shares being redeemed would reduce the remaining outstanding
Shares to 100,000 Shares (i.e., one basket) or less, unless the Sponsor has
reason to believe that the placer of the redemption order does in fact possess
all the outstanding Shares and can deliver them.
Creation
and Redemption Transaction Fee
To
compensate the Sponsor for its expenses in connection with the creation and
redemption of baskets, an Authorized Purchaser is required to pay a transaction
fee to the Sponsor of $1,000 per order to create or redeem baskets, regardless
of the number of baskets in such order. The transaction fee may be
reduced, increased or otherwise changed by the Sponsor. The Sponsor
shall notify DTC of any change in the transaction fee and will not implement any
increase in the fee for the redemption of baskets until 30 days after the date
of the notice.
Tax
Responsibility
Authorized
Purchasers are responsible for any transfer tax, sales or use tax, stamp tax,
recording tax, value added tax or similar tax or governmental charge applicable
to the creation or redemption of baskets, regardless of whether or not such tax
or charge is imposed directly on the Authorized Purchaser, and agree to
indemnify the Sponsor and the Fund if they are required by law to pay any such
tax, together with any applicable penalties, additions to tax and interest
thereon.
Secondary
Market Transactions
As noted,
the Fund will create and redeem Shares from time to time, but only in one or
more Creation Baskets or Redemption Baskets. The creation and
redemption of baskets are only made in exchange for delivery to the Fund or the
distribution by the Fund of the amount of Treasury Securities and/or cash equal
to the aggregate NAV of the number of Shares included in the baskets being
created or redeemed determined on the day the order to create or redeem baskets
is properly received.
As
discussed above, Authorized Purchasers are the only persons that may place
orders to create and redeem baskets. Authorized Purchasers must be
registered broker-dealers or other securities market participants, such as banks
and other financial institutions that are not required to register as
broker-dealers to engage in securities transactions. An Authorized
Purchaser is under no obligation to create or redeem baskets, and an Authorized
Purchaser is under no obligation to offer to the public Shares of any baskets it
does create. Authorized Purchasers that do offer to the public Shares
from the baskets they create will do so at per-Share offering prices that are
expected to reflect, among other factors, the trading price of the Shares on the
NYSE Arca, the NAV of the Shares at the time the Authorized Purchaser purchased
the Creation Baskets, the NAV of the Shares at the time of the offer of the
Shares to the public, the supply of and demand for Shares at the time of sale,
and the liquidity of the Corn Futures Contract market and the market for Other
Corn Interests. The prices of Shares offered by Authorized Purchasers
are expected to fall between the Fund’s NAV and the trading price of the Shares
on the NYSE Arca at the time of sale. Shares initially comprising the
same basket but offered by Authorized Purchasers to the public at different
times may have different offering prices. An order for one or more
baskets may be placed by an Authorized Purchaser on behalf of multiple
clients. Shares are expected to trade in the secondary market on the
NYSE Arca. Shares may trade in the secondary market at prices that
are lower or higher relative to their NAV per Share. The amount of
the discount or premium in the trading price relative to the NAV per Share may
be influenced by various factors, including the number of investors who seek to
purchase or sell Shares in the secondary market and the liquidity of the Corn
Futures Contract market and the market for Other Corn
Interests. While the Shares trade on the NYSE Arca until 4:00 p.m.
New York time, liquidity in the market for Corn Futures Contracts and Other Corn
Interests may be reduced after the close of the CBOT at 2:15 p.m. New York
time. As a result, during this time, trading spreads, and the
resulting premium or discount, on the Shares may widen.
Use
of Proceeds
The
Sponsor will cause the Fund to transfer the proceeds of the sale of Creation
Baskets to the Custodian or another custodian for use in trading
activities. The Sponsor will invest the Fund’s assets in Corn Futures
Contracts and Other Corn Interests, short-term Treasury Securities, cash and
cash equivalents. When the Fund purchases Corn Futures Contracts and
certain Other Corn Interests that are exchange-traded, the Fund will be required
to deposit with the futures commission merchant on behalf of the exchange a
portion of the value of the contract or other interest as security to ensure
payment for the obligation under the Corn Interests at maturity. This
deposit is known as initial margin. Counterparties in transactions in
over-the-counter Corn Interests will generally impose similar collateral
requirements on the Fund. The Sponsor will invest the Fund’s assets
that remain after margin and collateral is posted in short-term Treasury
Securities, cash and/or cash equivalents. Subject to these margin and
collateral requirements, the Sponsor has sole authority to determine the
percentage of assets that will be:
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held
as margin or collateral with futures commission merchants or other
custodians;
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used
for other investments; and
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held
in bank accounts to pay current obligations and as
reserves.
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In
general, the Fund expects that it will be required to post between 5% to 10% of
the notional amount of a Corn Interest as initial margin when entering into such
Corn Interest. Ongoing margin and collateral payments will generally
be required for both exchange-traded and over-the-counter Corn Interests based
on changes in the value of the Corn Interests. Furthermore, ongoing
collateral requirements with respect to over-the-counter Corn Interests are
negotiated by the parties, and may be affected by overall market volatility,
volatility of the underlying commodity or index, the ability of the counterparty
to hedge its exposure under the Corn Interest, and each party’s
creditworthiness. In light of the differing requirements for initial
payments under exchange-traded and over-the-counter Corn Interests and the
fluctuating nature of ongoing margin and collateral payments, it is not possible
to estimate what portion of the Fund’s assets will be posted as margin or
collateral at any given time. The Treasury Securities, cash and cash
equivalents held by the Fund will constitute reserves that will be available to
meet ongoing margin and collateral requirements. All interest income
will be used for the Fund’s benefit.
A futures
commission merchant, counterparty, government agency or commodity exchange could
increase margin or collateral requirements applicable to the Fund to hold
trading positions at any time. Moreover, margin is merely a security
deposit and has no bearing on the profit or loss potential for any positions
held.
The
Fund’s assets will be held in segregation pursuant to the Commodity Exchange Act
and CFTC regulations.
Management’s
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations
Critical
Accounting Policies
Preparation
of the financial statements and related disclosures in compliance with
accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America
requires the application of appropriate accounting rules and guidance, as well
as the use of estimates. The Trust’s application of these policies
involves judgments and actual results may differ from the estimates
used.
The
Sponsor has evaluated the nature and types of estimates that it will make in
preparing the Fund’s financial statements and related disclosures once the Fund
commences operations. The Sponsor has determined that the valuation
of Corn Interests that are not traded on a U.S. or internationally recognized
futures exchange (such as swaps and other over-the-counter contracts) involves a
critical accounting policy. While not currently applicable given the
fact that the Fund is not currently involved in trading activities, the values
which will be used by the Fund for futures contracts will be provided by the
commodity broker who will use market prices when available, while
over-the-counter contracts will be valued based on the present value of
estimated future cash flows that would be received from or paid to a third party
in settlement of these derivative contracts prior to their delivery date
.
Values will be
determined on a daily basis.
Liquidity
and Capital Resources
The Fund
does not anticipate making use of borrowings or other lines of credit to meet
its obligations. It is anticipated that the Fund will meet its
liquidity needs in the normal course of business from the proceeds of the sale
of its investments or from the cash, cash equivalents and/or the Treasuries
Securities that it intends to hold at all times. The Fund’s liquidity
needs include: redeeming Shares, providing margin deposits for existing futures
contracts or the purchase of additional futures contracts, posting collateral
for over-the-counter Corn Interests, and payment of expenses, summarized below
under “Contractual Obligations.”
The Fund
will generate cash primarily from (i) the sale of Creation Baskets and (ii)
interest earned on cash, cash equivalents and its investments in Treasuries
Securities. Trading activities for the Fund have not
begun. Once the Fund begins trading activities, it is anticipated
that all of the net assets of the Fund will be allocated to trading in Corn
Interests. Most of the assets of the Fund will be held in Treasuries
Securities, cash and/or cash equivalents that could or will be used as margin or
collateral for trading in Corn Interests. The percentage that such
assets will bear to the total net assets will vary from period to period as the
market values of the Corn Interests change. Interest earned on
interest-bearing assets of the Fund will be paid to the Fund.
The
investments of the Fund in Corn Interests will be subject to periods of
illiquidity because of market conditions, regulatory considerations and other
reasons. For example, the CBOT limits the fluctuations in Corn
Futures Contract prices during a single day by regulations referred to as “daily
limits.” During a single day, no trades may be executed at prices
beyond the daily limit. Once the price of a Corn Futures Contract has
increased or decreased by an amount equal to the daily limit, positions in the
contracts can neither be taken nor liquidated unless the traders are willing to
effect trades at or within the limit. Such market conditions could
prevent the Fund from promptly liquidating a position in Corn Futures
Contracts.
To date,
all of the expenses of the Trust and the Fund
have been funded by
Sponsor. If the Fund is unsuccessful in raising sufficient funds to
cover the expenses of the Fund and the Trust or in locating any other source of
funding, the Fund
may
terminate and
Shareholders may lose all or part of their investment.
Market
Risk
Trading
in Corn Interests such as Corn Futures Contracts will involve the Fund entering
into contractual commitments to purchase or sell specific amounts of corn at a
specified date in the future. The gross or face amount of the
contracts is expected to significantly exceed the future cash requirements of
the Fund since the Fund
intends to close out any
open positions prior to settlement. As a result, the Fund should be
subject only to the risk of loss arising from the change in value of the
contracts, not from the need to make delivery under the
contracts. The Fund considers the “fair value” of their derivative
instruments to be the unrealized gain or loss on the contracts. The
market risk associated with the commitment by the Fund to purchase a specific
commodity will be limited to the aggregate face amount of the contacts
held.
The
exposure of the Fund to market risk will depend on a number of factors including
the markets for corn, the volatility of interest rates and foreign exchange
rates, the liquidity of the Corn Interest markets and the relationships among
the contracts held by the Fund. The lack of experience of the Sponsor
in utilizing its model to trade in Corn Interests in a manner that tracks
changes in the Benchmark
,
as well as drastic market
occurrences, could ultimately lead to the loss of all or substantially all of a
Shareholder’s investment.
Credit
Risk
When the
Fund enters into Corn Futures Contracts and other Corn Interests, it will be
exposed to the credit risk that the counterparty will not be able to meet its
obligations. The counterparty for the Corn Futures Contracts traded
on the CBOT is the clearinghouse associated with the CBOT. In
general, clearinghouses are backed by their members who may be required to share
in the financial burden resulting from the nonperformance of one of their
members, which should significantly reduce credit risk. Some foreign
exchanges are not backed by their clearinghouse members but may be backed by a
consortium of banks or other financial institutions. Unlike in the
case of exchange-traded futures contracts, the counterparty to an
over-the-counter Corn Interest contract is generally a single bank or other
financial institution. As a result, there will be greater
counterparty credit risk in over-the-counter transactions. There can
be no assurance that any counterparty, clearing house, or their financial
backers will satisfy their obligations to the Fund.
The
Sponsor will attempt to manage the credit risk of the Fund by following certain
trading limitations and policies. In particular, the Fund intends to
post margin and collateral and/or hold liquid assets that will be equal to
approximately the face amount of the Corn Interests it holds. The
Sponsor will implement procedures that will include, but will not be limited to,
executing and clearing trades and entering into over-the-counter transactions
only with parties it deems creditworthy and/or requiring the posting of
collateral by such parties for the benefit of the Fund to limit its credit
exposure.
Any
commodity broker for the Fund, when acting as the futures commission merchant in
accepting orders to purchase or sell futures contracts on United States
exchanges, will be required by CFTC regulations to separately account for and
segregate as belonging to the Fund all of the Fund’s assets that relate to
domestic futures contract trading. These commodity brokers are not
allowed to commingle the assets of the Fund with the commodity broker’s other
assets. In addition, the CFTC requires commodity brokers to hold in a
secure account the assets of the Fund related to foreign futures contract
trading.
Off
Balance Sheet Financing
As of the
date of this prospectus, neither the Trust nor the Fund has any loan guarantees,
credit support or other off-balance sheet arrangements of any kind other than
agreements entered into in the normal course of business, which may include
indemnification provisions relating to certain risks service providers undertake
in performing services which are in the best interests of the
Fund. While the Fund’s exposure under these indemnification
provisions cannot be estimated, they are not expected to have a material impact
on the Fund’s financial positions.
Redemption
Basket Obligation
Other
than as necessary to meet the investment objective of the Fund and pay its
contractual obligations described below, the Fund will require liquidity to
redeem Redemption Baskets. The Fund intends to satisfy this
obligation through the transfer of cash of the Fund (generated, if necessary,
through the sale of Treasury Securities) in an amount proportionate to the
number of units being redeemed, as described above under
“Redemption
Procedures.”
Contractual
Obligations
The
Fund’s primary contractual obligation will be with the Sponsor and certain other
service providers. The Sponsor, in return for its services, will be
entitled to a management fee calculated as a fixed percentage of the Fund’s NAV,
currently 1.00% of its average net assets. The Fund will also be
responsible for all ongoing fees, costs and expenses of its operation, including
(
i) brokerage and other
fees and commissions incurred in connection with the trading activities of the
Fund; (ii) expenses incurred in connection with registering additional Shares of
the Fund or offering Shares of the Fund after the time any Shares have begun
trading on NYSE Arca; (iii) the routine expenses associated with preparation of
monthly, quarterly, annual and other reports required by applicable U.S. federal
and state regulatory authorities, Trust meetings and preparing, printing and
mailing proxy statements and reports to Shareholders; (iv) the payment of any
distributions related to redemption of Shares; (v) payment for routine services
of the Trustee, legal counsel and independent accountants; (vi) payment for
routine accounting, bookkeeping, custody and transfer agency services, whether
performed by an outside service provider or by Affiliates of the Sponsor; (vii)
postage and insurance; (viii) costs and expenses associated with client
relations and services; (ix) costs of preparation of all federal, state, local
and foreign tax returns and any taxes payable on the income, assets or
operations of the Fund; and (xi) extraordinary expenses (including, but not
limited to, legal claims and liabilities and litigation costs and any
indemnification related thereto).
While the
Sponsor has agreed to pay registration fees to the SEC, FINRA, NYSE Arca or any
other regulatory agency or exchange in connection with the offer and sale of the
Shares offered through this prospectus and the legal, printing, accounting and
other expenses associated with such registrations, the Fund will be responsible
for any registration fees and related expenses incurred in connection with any
future offer and sale of Shares of the Fund in excess of those offered through
this prospectus.
Each Fund
pays its own brokerage and other transaction costs. The Fund will pay
fees to futures commission merchants in connection with its transactions in
futures contracts. Futures commission merchant fees are estimated to
be 0.01% annually for the Fund. In general, transaction costs on
over-the-counter Corn Interests and on Treasuries and other short-term
securities will be embedded in the purchase or sale price of the instrument
being purchased or sold, and may not readily be estimated. Other
expenses to be paid by the Fund are estimated to be [___%] for the twelve-month
period ending ______, 2010, though this amount may change in future
years. The Sponsor may, in its discretion, pay or reimburse the Fund
for, or waive a portion of its management fee to offset, expenses that would
otherwise be borne by the Fund.
Any
general expenses of the Trust will be allocated among the Fund and any other
series of the Trust as determined by the Sponsor in its sole and absolute
discretion. The Trust is also responsible for extraordinary expenses,
including, but not limited to, legal claims and liabilities and litigation costs
and any indemnification related thereto. The Trust and/or the Sponsor
may be required to indemnify the Trustee, Marketing Agent or Administrator under
certain circumstances.
The
parties cannot anticipate the amount of payments that will be required under
these arrangements for future periods as the Fund’s NAV and trading levels to
meet their investment objectives will not be known until a future
date. These agreements are effective for a specific term agreed upon
by the parties with an option to renew, or, in some cases, are in effect for the
duration of the Fund’s existence. The parties may terminate these
agreements earlier for certain reasons listed in the agreements.
The
Trust Agreement
The
following paragraphs are a summary of certain provisions of the Trust Agreement.
The following discussion is qualified in its entirety by reference to the Trust
Agreement.
Authority
of the Sponsor
The
Sponsor is generally authorized to perform all acts deemed necessary to carry
out the purposes of the Trust and to conduct the business of the
Trust. The Trust and the Fund will continue to exist until terminated
in accordance with the Trust Agreement. The Sponsor’s authority
includes, without limitation, the right to take the following
actions:
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To
enter into, execute, deliver and maintain contracts, agreements and any
other documents as may be in furtherance of the Trust’s purpose or
necessary or appropriate for the offer and sale of the Shares and the
conduct of Trust activities;
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To
establish, maintain, deposit into, sign checks and otherwise draw upon
accounts on behalf of the Trust with appropriate banking and savings
institutions, and execute and accept any instrument or agreement
incidental to the Trust’s business and in furtherance of its
purposes;
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To
adopt, implement or amend, from time to time, such disclosure and
financial reporting information gathering and control policies and
procedures as are necessary or desirable to ensure compliance with
applicable disclosure and financial reporting obligations under any
applicable securities laws;
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To
pay or authorize the payment of distributions to the Shareholders and
expenses of the Fund;
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To
make any elections on behalf of the Trust under the Code, or any other
applicable U.S. federal or state tax law as the Sponsor shall determine to
be in the best interests of the Trust;
and
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In
its sole discretion, to determine to admit an affiliate or affiliates of
the Sponsor as additional Sponsors.
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The
Sponsor’s Obligations
In
addition to the duties imposed by the Delaware Trust Statute, under the Trust
Agreement the Sponsor has the following obligations as a sponsor of the
Trust:
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Devote
to the business and affairs of the Trust such of its time as it determines
in its discretion (exercised in good faith) to be necessary for the
benefit of the Trust and the
Shareholders;
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Execute,
file, record and/or publish all certificates, statements and other
documents and do any and all other things as may be appropriate for the
formation, qualification and operation of the Trust and for the conduct of
its business in all appropriate
jurisdictions;
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Appoint
and remove independent public accountants to audit the accounts of the
Trust and employ attorneys to represent the
Trust;
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Use
its best efforts to maintain the status of the Trust as a statutory trust
for state law purposes and as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax
purposes;
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Have
fiduciary responsibility for the safekeeping and use of the Trust’s
assets, whether or not in the Sponsor’s immediate possession or
control;
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Enter
into and perform agreements with each Authorized Purchaser, receive from
Authorized Purchasers and process properly submitted purchase orders,
receive Creation Basket Deposits, deliver or cause the delivery of
Creation Baskets to for the account of the Authorized Purchaser submitting
a purchase order;
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Receive
from Authorized Purchasers and process, or cause the Marketing Agent to
process, properly submitted redemption orders, receive from the redeeming
Authorized Purchasers through the Depository, and thereupon cancel or
cause to be cancelled, Shares corresponding to the Redemption Baskets to
be redeemed;
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Interact
with the Depository; and
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Delegate
duties to one or more Administrators, as the Sponsor
determines.
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To the
extent that, at law (common or statutory) or in equity, the Sponsor has duties
(including fiduciary duties) and liabilities relating thereto to the Trust, the
Fund, the Shareholders or to any other person, the Sponsor will not be liable to
the Trust, the Fund, the Shareholders or to any other person for its good faith
reliance on the provisions of the Trust Agreement or this Prospectus unless such
reliance constitutes gross negligence or willful misconduct on the part of the
Sponsor.
Liability
and Indemnification
Under the
Trust Agreement, the Sponsor, the Trustee and their respective Affiliates
(collectively, “Covered Persons”) shall have no liability to the Trust, the
Fund, or to any Shareholder for any loss suffered by the Trust or the Fund which
arises out of any action or inaction of such Covered Person if such Covered
Person, in good faith, determined that such course of conduct was in the best
interest of the Trust or the Fund and such course of conduct did not constitute
gross negligence or willful misconduct of such Covered Person. A
Covered Person shall not be liable for the conduct or willful misconduct of any
Administrator or other delegatee selected by the Sponsor with reasonable care,
provided, however, that the Trustee and its Affiliates shall not, under any
circumstances be liable for the conduct or willful misconduct of any
Administrator or other delegatee or any other person selected by the Sponsor to
provide services to the Trust.
The Trust
Agreement also provides that the Sponsor shall be indemnified by the Trust (or
by a series separately to the extent the matter in question relates to a single
series or disproportionately affects a specific series in relation to other
series) against any losses, judgments, liabilities, expenses and amounts paid in
settlement of any claims sustained by it in connection with its activities for
the Trust, provided that (i) the Sponsor was acting on behalf of or performing
services for the Trust and has determined, in good faith, that such course of
conduct was in the best interests of the Trust and such liability or loss was
not the result of gross
negligence, willful
misconduct, or a breach of the Trust Agreement on the part of the Sponsor and
(ii) any such indemnification will only be recoverable from the assets of the
applicable series. All rights to indemnification permitted provided
for under the Trust Agreement shall not be affected by the dissolution or other
cessation to exist of the Sponsor, or the withdrawal, adjudication of bankruptcy
or insolvency of the Sponsor, or the filing of a voluntary or involuntary
petition in bankruptcy under Title 11 of the Bankruptcy Code by or against the
Sponsor.
The
payment of any indemnification shall be allocated, as appropriate, among the
Trust’s series. The Trust and its series shall not incur the cost of
that portion of any insurance which insures any party against any liability, the
indemnification of which is prohibited under the Trust Agreement.
Expenses
incurred in defending a threatened or pending action, suit or proceeding against
the Sponsor shall be paid by the Trust in advance of the final disposition of
such action, suit or proceeding, if (i) the legal action relates to the
performance of duties or services by the Sponsor on behalf of the Trust; (ii)
the legal action is initiated by a party other than the Trust; and (iii) the
Sponsor undertakes to repay the advanced funds with interest to the Trust in
cases in which it is not entitled to indemnification.
In the
event the Trust is made a party to any claim, dispute, demand or litigation or
otherwise incurs any liability or expense as a result of or in connection with
any Shareholder’s (or assignee’s) obligations or liabilities unrelated to the
Trust business, such Shareholder (or assignees cumulatively) is required under
the Trust Agreement to indemnify the Trust for all such liability and expense
incurred, including attorneys’ and accountants’ fees.
Withdrawal
of the Sponsor
The
Sponsor may withdraw voluntarily as the Sponsor of the Trust only upon ninety
(90) days’ prior written notice to all Shareholders and the
Trustee. If the withdrawing Sponsor is the last remaining Sponsor,
Shareholders holding a majority (over 50%) of the Trust’s Shares (not including
Shares acquired by the Sponsor through its initial capital contribution) may
vote to elect a successor Sponsor. The successor Sponsor will
continue the business of the Trust. Shareholders have no right to
remove the Sponsor.
In the
event of withdrawal, the Sponsor is entitled to a redemption of the Shares it
acquired through its initial capital contribution to the Fund at their NAV per
Share. If the Sponsor withdraws and a successor Sponsor is named, the
withdrawing Sponsor shall pay all expenses as a result of its
withdrawal.
Meetings
Meetings
of the Shareholders may be called by the Sponsor and will be called by it upon
the written request of Shareholders holding at least 25% of the Shares of the
Trust or the Fund, as applicable (not including Shares acquired by the Sponsor
through its initial capital contribution), to vote on any matter with respect to
which Shareholders have a right to vote under the Trust
Agreement. The Sponsor shall deposit in the United States mail or
electronically transmit written notice to all Shareholders of the Fund of the
meeting and the purpose of the meeting, which shall be held on a date not less
than 30 nor more than 60 days after the date of mailing of such notice, at a
reasonable time and place. When the meeting is being requested by
Shareholders, the notice of the meeting shall be mailed or transmitted within 45
days after receipt of the written request from Shareholders. Any
notice of meeting shall be accompanied by a description of the action to be
taken at the meeting. Shareholders may vote in person or by proxy at
any such meeting. Any action required or permitted to be taken by
Shareholders by vote may be taken without a meeting by written consent setting
forth the actions so taken. Such written consents shall be treated
for all purposes as votes at a meeting. If the vote or consent of any
Shareholder to any action of the Trust, the Fund or any Shareholder, as
contemplated by the Trust Agreement, is solicited by the Sponsor, the
solicitation shall be effected by notice to each Shareholder given in the manner
provided in accordance with the Trust Agreement.
Voting
Rights
Shareholders
have very limited voting rights. Specifically, the Trust Agreement
provides that Shareholders holding Shares representing at least a majority (50%)
of the Trust’s outstanding Shares (excluding Shares acquired by the Sponsor in
connection with its initial capital contribution) may vote to (i) continue the
Trust by electing a successor Sponsor as described above, and (ii) approve
amendments to the Trust Agreement that impair the right to surrender Redemption
Baskets for redemption. In addition, Shareholders holding Shares
representing seventy-five percent (75%) of the Trust’s outstanding Shares
(excluding Shares acquired by the Sponsor in connection with its initial capital
contribution) may vote to dissolve the Trust upon not less than ninety (90)
days’ notice to the Sponsor. Shareholders have no voting rights with
respect to the Trust or the Fund except as expressly provided in the Trust
Agreement.
Limited
Liability of Shareholders
Shareholders
shall be entitled to the same limitation of personal liability extended to
stockholders of private corporations for profit organized under the general
corporation law of Delaware, and no Shareholder shall be liable for claims
against, or debts of the Trust or the Fund in excess of his share of the Fund’s
assets. The Trust or the Fund shall not make a claim against a
Shareholder with respect to amounts distributed to such Shareholder or amounts
received by such Shareholder upon redemption unless, under Delaware law, such
Shareholder is liable to repay such amount.
The Trust
or the Fund shall indemnify to the full extent permitted by law and the Trust
Agreement each Shareholder (excluding the Sponsor to the extent of its ownership
of any Shares acquired through its initial capital contribution) against any
claims of liability asserted against such Shareholder solely because of its
ownership of Shares (other than for taxes on income from Shares for which such
Shareholder is liable).
Every
written note, bond, contract, instrument, certificate or undertaking made or
issued by the Sponsor on behalf of the Trust or the Fund shall give notice to
the effect that the same was executed or made by or on behalf of the Trust or
the Fund and that the obligations of such instrument are not binding upon the
Shareholders individually but are binding only upon the assets and property of
the Fund and no recourse may be had with respect to the personal property of a
Shareholder for satisfaction of any obligation or claim.
The
Sponsor Has Conflicts of Interest
There are
present and potential future conflicts of interest in the Trust’s structure and
operation you should consider before you purchase Shares. The Sponsor may use
this notice of conflicts as a defense against any claim or other proceeding
made.
The
Sponsor’s principals, officers and employees, do not devote their time
exclusively to the Fund. These persons are directors, officers or
employees of other entities which may compete with the Fund for their
services. They could have a conflict between their responsibilities
to the Fund on the one hand and to those other entities on the
other. The Sponsor believes that it has sufficient personnel, time,
and working capital to discharge its responsibilities in a fair manner and that
these persons’ conflicts should not impair their ability to provide services to
the Fund.
The
Sponsor’s principals, officers and employees may trade futures and related
contracts for their own accounts. Shareholders will not be permitted
to inspect the trading records of such persons or any written policies of the
Sponsor related to such trading. A conflict of interest may exist if
their trades are in the same markets and at approximately the same times as the
trades for the Fund. A potential conflict also may occur when the
Sponsor’s principals trade their accounts more aggressively or take positions in
their accounts which are opposite, or ahead of, the positions taken by the
Fund.
The
Sponsor has sole current authority to manage the investments and operations of
the Fund, and this may allow it to act in a way that furthers its own interests
which may create a conflict with your best interests. Shareholders
have very limited voting rights, which will limit the ability to influence
matters such as amendment of the Trust Agreement, change in the Fund’s basic
investment policies, or dissolution of the Fund or the Trust.
The
Sponsor may in the future serve as the Sponsor or investment adviser to funds
other than the Fund. The Sponsor may have a conflict to the extent
that its trading decisions for the Fund may be influenced by the effect they
would have on the other funds it manages. In addition, the Sponsor
may be required to indemnify the officers and directors of the other funds, if
the need for indemnification arises. This potential indemnification
will cause the Sponsor’s assets to decrease. If the Sponsor’s other
sources of income are not sufficient to compensate for the indemnification, it
could cease operations, which could in turn result in Fund losses and/or
termination of the Fund.
If the
Sponsor acquires knowledge of a potential transaction or arrangement that may be
an opportunity for the Fund, it shall have no duty to offer such opportunity to
the Fund. The Sponsor will not be liable to the Fund or the
Shareholders for breach of any fiduciary or other duty if Sponsor pursues such
opportunity or directs it to another person or does not communicate such
opportunity to the Fund. Neither the Fund nor any Shareholder has any
rights or obligations by virtue of the Trust Agreement, the trust relationship
created thereby, or this prospectus in such business ventures or the income or
profits derived from such business ventures. The pursuit of such
business ventures, even if competitive with the activities of the Fund, will not
be deemed wrongful or improper.
Resolution
of Conflicts Procedures
The Trust
Agreement provides that whenever a conflict of interest exists between the
Sponsor or any of its Affiliates, on the one hand, and the Trust or any
Shareholder or any other Person, on the other hand, the Sponsor shall resolve
such conflict of interest considering the relative interest of each party
(including its own interest) and the benefits and burdens relating to such
interests, any customary or accepted industry practices, and any applicable
accepted accounting practices or principles.
Interests
of Named Experts and Counsel
The
Sponsor has employed Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP to prepare this
prospectus. Neither the law firm nor any other expert hired by the
Fund to give advice on the preparation of this offering document have been hired
on a contingent fee basis. Nor do any of them have any present or
future expectation of interest in the Sponsor, Marketing Agent, Authorized
Purchasers, Custodian, Administrator or other service providers to the
Fund.
Provisions
of Federal and State Securities Laws
This
offering is made pursuant to federal and state securities laws. The
SEC and state securities agencies take the position that indemnification of the
Sponsor that arises out of an alleged violation of such laws is prohibited
unless certain conditions are met. Those conditions require that no
indemnification of the Sponsor or any underwriter for the Fund may be made in
respect of any losses, liabilities or expenses arising from or out of an alleged
violation of federal or state securities laws unless: (i) there has
been a successful adjudication on the merits of each count involving alleged
securities law violations as to the party seeking indemnification and the court
approves the indemnification; (ii) such claim has been dismissed with prejudice
on the merits by a court of competent jurisdiction as to the party seeking
indemnification; or (iii) a court of competent jurisdiction approves a
settlement of the claims against the party seeking indemnification and finds
that indemnification of the settlement and related costs should be made,
provided that, before seeking such approval, the Sponsor or other indemnitee
must apprise the court of the position held by regulatory agencies against such
indemnification.
Books
and Records
The Trust
keeps its books of record and account at its office located at 232 Hidden Lake
Road, Brattleboro, Vermont 05301, or at the offices of the Administrator located
at [address], or such office, including of an administrative agent, as it may
subsequently designate upon notice. The books of account of the Fund
are open to inspection by any Shareholder (or any duly constituted designee of a
Shareholder) at all times during the usual business hours of the Fund upon
reasonable advance notice to the extent such access is required under CFTC rules
and regulations. In addition, the Trust keeps a copy of the Trust
Agreement on file in its office which will be available for inspection by any
Shareholder at all times during its usual business hours upon reasonable advance
notice.
Analysis
of Critical Accounting Policies
The
Fund’s critical accounting policies are set forth in the financial statements
that are incorporated by reference in this prospectus prepared in accordance
with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America,
which require the use of certain accounting policies that affect the amounts
reported in these financial statements, including the following: (i)
Fund trades are accounted for on a trade-date basis and marked to market on a
daily basis; (ii) the difference between the cost and market value of Corn
Interests is recorded as “change in unrealized profit/loss” for open
(unrealized) contracts, and recorded as “realized profit/loss” when open
positions are closed out; and (iii) earned interest income, as well as the fees
and expenses of the Fund, are recorded on an accrual basis. The
Sponsor believes that all relevant accounting assumptions and policies have been
considered.
Statements,
Filings, and Reports to Shareholders
The Trust
will furnish to DTC Participants for distribution to Shareholders monthly and
annual (as of the end of each fiscal year) reports for the Fund as are required
to be provided to Shareholders by the CFTC and the NFA. Monthly
reports will contain certain unaudited financial information regarding the Funds
and Investing Funds, including the Funds’ NAVs, and annual reports will contain
financial statements prepared by the Sponsor and audited by an independent
registered public accounting firm designated by the Sponsor. The
Sponsor will furnish to the Shareholders other reports or information which the
Sponsor, in its discretion, determines to be necessary or
appropriate. In addition, under SEC rules the Trust will be required
to file quarterly and annual reports for the Fund with the SEC, which need not
be sent to Shareholders but will be publicly available through the
SEC. The Trust will post the same information that would otherwise be
provided in the Trust’s CFTC, NFA and SEC reports on the Fund’s website
www.teucriumcornfund.com.
The
Sponsor is responsible for the registration and qualification of the Shares
under the federal securities laws, federal commodities laws, and laws of any
other jurisdiction as the Sponsor may select. The Sponsor is
responsible for preparing all required reports, but has entered into an
agreement with the Administrator to prepare these reports on the Trust’s
behalf.
The
accountants’ report on its audit of the Fund’s financial statements will be
furnished by the Trust to Shareholders upon request. The Trust will
make such elections, file such tax returns, and prepare, disseminate and file
such tax reports for the Fund, as it is advised by its counsel or accountants
are from time to time required by any applicable statute, rule or
regulation.
[The
Administrator, [address and telephone number] as representative of the Trust and
the Fund, will provide tax information in accordance with applicable U.S.
Treasury Regulations relating to information reporting with respect to widely
held fixed investment trusts. Persons treated as middlemen for
purposes of these regulations may obtain tax information regarding the Fund from
the Administrator or from the Fund’s website,
www.teucriumcornfund.com.]
Fiscal
Year
The
fiscal year of the Fund is the calendar year. The Sponsor may select
an alternate fiscal year at a later date.
Governing
Law; Consent to Delaware Jurisdiction
The
rights of the Sponsor, the Trust, the Fund, DTC (as registered owner of the
Fund’s global certificate for Shares) and the Shareholders are governed by the
laws of the State of Delaware. The Sponsor, the Trust, the Fund and DTC and, by
accepting Shares, each DTC Participant and each Shareholder, consent to the
jurisdiction of the courts of the State of Delaware and any federal courts
located in Delaware. Such consent is not required for any person to
assert a claim of Delaware jurisdiction over the Sponsor, the Trust or the
Fund.
Legal
Matters
Litigation
and Claims
Within
the past 5 years of the date of this prospectus, there have been no material
administrative, civil or criminal actions against the Sponsor, the Trust or the
Fund, or any principal or affiliate of any of them. This includes any
actions pending, on appeal, concluded, threatened, or otherwise known to
them.
Legal
Opinion
Sutherland
Asbill & Brennan LLP has been retained to advise the Trust and the Sponsor
with respect to the Shares being offered hereby and will pass upon the validity
of the Shares being issued hereunder. Sutherland Asbill & Brennan
LLP has also provided the Sponsor with its opinion with respect to federal
income tax matters addressed herein.
Experts
Rothstein
Kass, an independent registered public accounting firm, has audited the
financial statements of the Trust as of _______, 2009 and the Sponsor as of
______, 2009.
Privacy
Policy
The Trust
and the Sponsor collect certain nonpublic personal information about investors
from the information provided by them in certain documents, as well as in the
course of processing transaction requests. None of this information
is disclosed except as necessary in the course of processing creations and
redemptions and otherwise administering the Trust (and then only subject to
customary undertakings of confidentiality) or as required by law. The
Trust and the Sponsor restrict access to the nonpublic personal information they
collect from investors to those employees and service providers who need access
to this information to provide services relating to the Trust to
investors. The Trust and the Sponsor each maintain physical,
electronic and procedural controls to safeguard this
information. These standards are reasonably designed to (1) ensure
the security and confidentiality of investors’ records and information, (2)
protect against any anticipated threats or hazards to the security or integrity
of investors’ records and information, and (3) protect against unauthorized
access to or use of investors’ records or information that could result in
substantial harm or inconvenience to any investor. A copy of the current Privacy
Policy can be provided on request and is provided to investors
annually.
U.S.
Federal Income Tax Considerations
The
following discussion summarizes the material U.S. federal income tax
consequences of the purchase, ownership and disposition of Shares of the Fund,
and the U.S. federal income tax treatment of the Fund, as of the date
hereof. This discussion is applicable to a Shareholder who purchases
Shares in the offering to which this prospectus relates, including a Shareholder
who purchases Shares from an Authorized Purchaser. Except where noted
otherwise, it deals only with Shares held as capital assets and does not deal
with special situations, such as those of dealers in securities or currencies,
financial institutions, tax-exempt entities, insurance companies, persons
holding Shares as a part of a position in a “straddle” or as part of a
“hedging,” “conversion” or other integrated transaction for federal income tax
purposes, traders in securities or commodities that elect to use a
mark-to-market method of accounting, or holders of Shares whose “functional
currency” is not the U.S. dollar. Furthermore, the discussion below
is based upon the provisions of the Code, and regulations (“Treasury
Regulations”), rulings and judicial decisions thereunder as of the date hereof,
and such authorities may be repealed, revoked or modified (possibly with
retroactive effect) so as to result in U.S. federal income tax consequences
different from those discussed below.
The
Sponsor has received the opinion of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP
(“Sutherland”), counsel to the Trust, that the material U.S. federal income tax
consequences to the Fund and to U.S. Shareholders and Non-U.S. Shareholders (as
defined below) will be as described in the following paragraphs. In
rendering its opinion, Sutherland has relied on the facts and assumptions
described in this prospectus as well as certain factual representations made by
the Trust and the Sponsor. This opinion is not binding on the
Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). No ruling has been requested from
the IRS with respect to any matter affecting the Fund or prospective investors,
and the IRS may disagree with the tax positions taken by the
Trust. If the IRS were to challenge the Trust’s tax positions in
litigation, they might not be sustained by the courts.
As used
herein, the term “U.S. Shareholder” means a Shareholder that is, for United
States federal income tax purposes, (i) a citizen or resident of the United
States, (ii) a corporation or partnership created or organized in or under the
laws of the United States or any political subdivision thereof, (iii) an estate
the income of which is subject to United States federal income taxation
regardless of its source or (iv) a trust (X) that is subject to the supervision
of a court within the United States and the control of one or more United States
persons as described in section 7701(a)(30) of the Code or (Y) that has a valid
election in effect under applicable Treasury Regulations to be treated as a
United States person. A “Non-U.S. Shareholder” is a holder that is
not a U.S. Shareholder. If a partnership holds our Shares, the tax
treatment of a partner will generally depend upon the status of the partner and
the activities of the partnership. If you are a partner of a partnership holding
our Shares, you should consult your own tax advisor regarding the tax
consequences.
EACH
PROSPECTIVE INVESTOR IS ADVISED TO CONSULT ITS OWN TAX ADVISOR REGARDING THE
U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSEQUENCES OF AN INVESTMENT IN SHARES, AS WELL AS ANY
APPLICABLE STATE, LOCAL OR FOREIGN TAXES, IN LIGHT OF ITS PARTICULAR
CIRCUMSTANCES.
Tax
Status of the Trust and the Fund
The Trust
is organized and will be operated as a statutory trust in accordance with the
provisions of the Trust Agreement and applicable Delaware
law. Although the matter is not free from doubt, assuming full
compliance with the terms of the Trust Agreement and other relevant documents
and notwithstanding the Trust’s organization as a trust under state law, the
Fund will be treated as a partnership that is a “publicly traded partnership”
for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Under the Code, an entity
classified as a partnership that is deemed to be a “publicly traded partnership”
is generally taxable as a corporation for federal income tax
purposes. The Code provides an exception to this general rule for a
partnership not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 whose gross
income for each taxable year of its existence consists of at least 90%
“qualifying income” (the “qualifying income exception”). For this
purpose, “qualifying income” is defined as including, in pertinent part,
interest (other than from a financial business), dividends and gains from the
sale or disposition of capital assets held for the production of interest or
dividends. In addition, in the case of a partnership a principal
activity of which is the buying and selling of commodities (other than as
inventory) or of futures, forwards and options with respect to commodities,
“qualifying income” includes income and gains from commodities and futures,
forwards, options and swaps and other notional principal contracts with respect
to commodities. The Trust and the Sponsor have represented the
following to Sutherland:
|
•
|
At
least 90% of the Fund’s gross income for each taxable year will constitute
“qualifying income” within the meaning of Code section 7704 (as described
above);
|
|
•
|
The
Fund is organized and will be operated in accordance with its governing
documents and applicable
law;
|
|
•
|
The
Fund has not elected, and will not elect, to be classified as a
corporation for U.S. federal income tax
purposes.
|
Based in
part on these representations, Sutherland is of the opinion that the Fund will
be treated as a partnership that it is not taxable as a corporation for U.S.
federal income tax purposes. The Fund’s taxation as a partnership
rather than a corporation will require the Sponsor to conduct the Fund’s
business activities in such a manner that it meets the qualifying income
exception on a continuing basis. No assurance can be given that the
Fund’s operations for any given year will produce income that satisfies the
requirements of the qualifying income exception. Sutherland will not
review the Fund’s ongoing compliance with these requirements and will have no
obligation to advise the Trust, the Fund or the Fund’s Shareholders in the event
of any subsequent change in the facts, representations or applicable law relied
upon in reaching its opinion.
If the
Fund failed to satisfy the qualifying income exception in any year, other than a
failure that is determined by the IRS to be inadvertent and that is cured within
a reasonable time after discovery (in which case the Fund could be required to
pay over amounts determined by the
IRS), the
Fund would be taxable as a corporation for federal income tax purposes and would
pay federal income tax on its income at regular corporate rates. In
that event, Shareholders would not report their share of the Fund’s income or
loss on their returns. In addition, any distributions to Shareholders
would not be deductible by the Fund but would be treated as dividends to the
extent of the Fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits. To
the extent a distribution exceeded the Fund’s earnings and profits, it would be
treated as a return of capital up to the amount of a Shareholder’s basis in its
Shares and thereafter as gain from the sale of Shares. Accordingly,
if the Fund were to be taxable as a corporation, it would likely have a material
adverse effect on the economic return from an investment in the Fund and on the
value of the Shares.
The
remainder of this summary assumes that the Fund is classified for federal income
tax purposes as a partnership that it is not taxable as a
corporation.
U.S.
Shareholders
Tax
Consequences of Ownership of Shares
Taxation of the Fund’s
Income
. No U.S. federal income tax is paid by the Fund on its
income. Instead, the Fund files annual information returns, and each
U.S. Shareholder is required to report on its U.S. federal income tax return its
allocable share of the income, gain, loss and deduction of the
Fund. For example, Shareholders must take into account their share of
ordinary income realized by the Fund from accruals of interest on Treasury
Securities and other investments, and their share of capital gain from Corn
Futures Contracts and Other Corn Interests. These items must be
reported without regard to the amount (if any) of cash or property the
Shareholder receives as a distribution from the Fund during the taxable
year. Consequently, a Shareholder may be allocated income or gain by
the Fund but receive no cash distribution with which to pay its tax liability
resulting from the allocation, or may receive a distribution that is
insufficient to pay such liability. Because the Sponsor currently
does not intend to make distributions, it is likely that in any year the Fund
realizes net income and/or gain that a U.S. Shareholder will be required to pay
taxes on its allocable share of such income or gain from sources other than Fund
distributions.
Allocations of the Fund’s Profit and
Loss
. Under Code section 704, the determination of a partner’s
distributive share of any item of income, gain, loss, deduction or credit is
governed by the applicable organizational document unless the allocation
provided by such document lacks “substantial economic effect.” An
allocation that lacks substantial economic effect nonetheless will be respected
if it is in accordance with the partners’ interests in the partnership,
determined by taking into account all facts and circumstances relating to the
economic arrangements among the partners. Subject to the discussion
below, allocations pursuant to the Trust Agreement should be considered to have
substantial economic effect.
In
situations where partnership interests are transferred during a taxable year,
the Code generally requires that partnership tax items be allocated between the
transferor and transferee using an interim closing of the books or a daily
proration method. The Fund intends to use an interim closing of the
books method under which income, gain, loss, deductions and credits will be
determined on a monthly basis, taking into account the Fund’s accrued income and
deductions and realized and unrealized gains and losses for the
month. The tax items for a particular month will then be allocated
among the holders of Shares in proportion to the number of Shares owned by them
during the month (the “monthly allocation convention”). For this
purpose, a person owning a Share at the start of business on the first trading
day of a month will be treated as owning that Share for the entire
month.
In
addition, for any month in which a Creation Basket is issued or a Redemption
Basket is redeemed, the Fund generally will credit or debit the “book” capital
accounts of existing Shareholders with any unrealized gain or loss,
respectively, with respect to Fund assets. For this purpose, the Fund
will apply a monthly convention under which unrealized gain or loss is computed
based on the lowest fair market value of the Fund’s assets during the month in
which Shares are issued or redeemed, rather than the value at the time of
issuance or redemption. The capital accounts as adjusted in this
manner will be used in making tax allocations intended to account for the
difference between the tax basis and fair market value of property owned by the
Fund at the time new Shares are issued or outstanding Shares are redeemed
(so-called “reverse section 704(c) allocations”).
The
Sponsor believes that application of the conventions described above is
consistent with the intent of the partnership provisions of the Code and that
the resulting allocations should have substantial economic effect or otherwise
should be respected as being in accordance with Shareholders’ interests in the
Fund for federal income tax purposes. The Code and existing Treasury
Regulations do not expressly permit adoption of these conventions, although the
monthly allocation convention described above is consistent with a method
permitted under recently proposed Treasury Regulations. It is
possible that the IRS could successfully challenge the Fund’s allocation
conventions on the ground that they do not satisfy the technical requirements of
the Code or Treasury Regulations, requiring a Shareholder to report a greater or
lesser share of items of income, gain, loss, deduction, or credit than if our
conventions were respected. The Sponsor is authorized to revise our
allocation method to conform to any method permitted under future Treasury
Regulations.
The
conventions used by the Fund in making tax allocations may cause a Shareholder
to be allocated more or less income or loss for federal income tax purposes than
its proportionate share of the economic income or loss realized by the Fund
during the period it held its Shares. This mismatch between taxable
and economic income or loss in some cases may be temporary, reversing itself in
a later year when the Shares are sold, but could be permanent. For
example, a Shareholder could be allocated income accruing before it purchased
its Shares, resulting in an increase in the basis of the Shares (see “
Tax Basis of Shares
”,
below). On a subsequent disposition of the Shares, the additional
basis might produce a capital loss the deduction of which may be limited (see
“
Limitations on Deductibility
of Losses and Certain Expenses
”, below).
Section 754
election.
The Fund intends to make the election permitted by
section 754 of the Code, which election is irrevocable without the consent of
the IRS. The effect of this election is that when a secondary market
sale of Shares occurs, the Fund adjusts the purchaser’s proportionate share of
the tax basis of the Fund’s assets to fair market value, as reflected in the
price paid for the Shares, as if the purchaser had directly acquired an interest
in the Fund’s assets. The section 754 election is intended to
eliminate disparities between a partner’s basis in its partnership interest and
its share of the tax bases of the partnership’s assets, so that the partner’s
allocable share of taxable gain or loss on a disposition of an asset will
correspond to its share of the appreciation or depreciation in the value of the
asset since it acquired its interest. Depending on the price paid for
Shares and the tax bases of the Fund’s assets at the time of the purchase, the
effect of the section 754 election on a purchaser of Shares may be favorable or
unfavorable. In order to make the appropriate basis adjustments in a
cost effective manner, the Fund will use certain simplifying conventions and
assumptions. In particular, the Fund will obtain information
regarding secondary market transactions in its Shares and use this information
to make adjustments to basis. It is possible the IRS will
successfully assert that the conventions and assumptions and require different
basis adjustments to be made, which could adversely affect some
Shareholders.
Section
1256 Contracts
. Under the Code, special rules apply
to instruments constituting “section 1256 contracts.” A section 1256
contract is defined as including, in relevant part: (1) a futures contract that
is traded on or subject to the rules of a national securities exchange which is
registered with the SEC, a domestic board of trade designated as a contract
market by the CFTC, or any other board of trade or exchange designated by the
Secretary of the Treasury, and with respect to which the amount required to be
deposited and the amount that may be withdrawn depends on a system of “marking
to market”; and (2) a non-equity option traded on or subject to the rules of a
qualified board or exchange. Section 1256 contracts held at the end
of each taxable year are treated as if they were sold for their fair market
value on the last business day of the taxable year (i.e., are “marked to
market”). In addition, any gain or loss realized from a
disposition, termination or marking-to-market of a section 1256 contract is
treated as long-term capital gain or loss to the extent of 60% thereof, and as
short-term capital gain or loss to the extent of 40% thereof, without regard to
the actual holding period (“60-40 treatment”).
Many of
the Fund’s Corn Futures Contracts and some its Other Corn Interests will qualify
as “section 1256 contracts” under the Code. Pursuant to the monthly
allocation convention, gain or loss on realized through disposition, termination
or marking-to-market of section 1256 contracts held by the Fund will be treated
as subject to 60-40 treatment.
Limitations on Deductibility of
Losses and Certain Expenses
. A number of different provisions
of the Code may defer or disallow the deduction of losses or expenses allocated
to Shareholders by the Fund, including but not limited to those described
below.
A
Shareholder’s deduction of its allocable share of any loss of the Fund is
limited to the lesser of (1) the tax basis in its Shares or (2) in the case of a
Shareholder that is an individual or a closely held corporation, the amount
which the Shareholder is considered to have “at risk” with respect to the Fund’s
activities. In general, the amount at risk will be a Shareholder’s
invested capital. Losses in excess of the amount at risk must be
deferred until years in which the Fund generates additional taxable income
against which to offset such carryover losses or until additional capital is
placed at risk.
Non-corporate
taxpayers are permitted to deduct capital losses only to the extent of their
capital gains for the taxable year plus $3,000 of other
income. Unused capital losses can be carried forward and used to
offset capital gains in future years. In addition, a non-corporate
taxpayer may elect to carry back net losses on section 1256 contracts to each of
the three preceding years and use them to offset section 1256 contract gains in
those years, subject to certain limitations. Corporate taxpayers
generally may deduct capital losses only to the extent of capital gains, subject
to special carryback and carryforward rules.
Otherwise
deductible expenses incurred by non-corporate taxpayers constituting
“miscellaneous itemized deductions,” generally including investment-related
expenses (other than interest and certain other specified expenses), are
deductible only to the extent they exceed 2% of the taxpayer’s adjusted gross
income for the year. Although the matter is not free from doubt, we
believe management fees the Fund pays to the Sponsor and other expenses the Fund
incurs constitute investment-related expenses subject to the miscellaneous
itemized deduction limitation, rather than expenses incurred in connection with
a trade or business.
Non-corporate
Shareholders generally may deduct “investment interest expense” only to the
extent of their “net investment income.” Investment interest expense
of a Shareholder will generally include any interest accrued by the Fund and any
interest paid or accrued on direct borrowings by a Shareholder to purchase or
carry its Shares, such as interest with respect to a margin
account. Net investment income generally includes gross income from
property held for investment (including “portfolio income” under the passive
loss rules but not, absent an election, long-term capital gains or certain
qualifying dividend income) less deductible expenses other than interest
directly connected with the production of investment income.
To the
extent that the Fund allocates losses or expenses to Shareholders that must be
deferred or disallowed as a result of these or other limitations in the Code,
you may be taxed on income in excess of your economic income or distributions
(if any) on your Shares. As one example, you could be allocated and
required to pay tax on your share of interest income accrued by the Fund for a
particular taxable year, and in the same year allocated a share of a capital
loss that you cannot deduct currently because you have insufficient capital
gains against which to offset the loss. As another example, you could
be allocated and required to pay tax on your share of interest income and
capital gain for a year, but be unable to deduct some or all of your share of
management fees and/or margin account interest incurred by you with respect to
your Shares. Shareholders are urged to consult their own professional
tax advisors regarding the effect of limitations under the Code on your ability
to deduct your allocable share of the Fund’s losses and expenses.
Tax
Basis of Shares
A
Shareholder’s tax basis in its Shares is important in determining (1) the amount
of taxable gain it will realize on the sale or other disposition of its Shares,
(2) the amount of non-taxable distributions that it may receive from the Fund,
and (3) its ability to utilize its distributive share of any losses of the Fund
on its tax return. A Shareholder’s initial tax basis of its Shares
will equal its cost for the Shares plus its share of the Fund’s liabilities (if
any) at the time of purchase. In general, a Shareholder’s “share” of
those liabilities will equal the sum of (i) the entire amount of any otherwise
nonrecourse liability of the Fund as to which the Shareholder or an affiliate is
the creditor (a “partner nonrecourse liability”) and (ii) a pro rata share of
any nonrecourse liabilities of the Fund that are not partner nonrecourse
liabilities as to any Shareholder.
A
Shareholder’s tax basis in its Shares generally will be (1) increased by (a) its
allocable share of the Fund’s taxable income and gain and (b) any additional
contributions by the Shareholder to the Fund and (2) decreased (but not below
zero) by (a) its allocable share of the Fund’s tax deductions and losses and (b)
any distributions by the Fund to the Shareholder. For this purpose, an
increase in a Shareholder’s share of the Fund’s liabilities will be treated as a
contribution of cash by the Shareholder to the Fund and a decrease in that share
will be treated as a distribution of cash by the Fund to the
Shareholder. Pursuant to certain IRS rulings, a Shareholder will be
required to maintain a single, “unified” basis in all Shares that it
owns. As a result, when a Shareholder that acquired its Shares at
different prices sells less than all of its Shares, such Shareholder will not be
entitled to specify particular Shares (
e.g.
, those with a higher
basis) as having been sold. Rather, it must determine its gain or
loss on the sale by using an “equitable apportionment” method to allocate a
portion of its unified basis in its Shares to the Shares sold.
Treatment of Fund
Distributions
. If the Fund makes non-liquidating distributions
to Shareholders, such distributions generally will not be taxable to the
Shareholders for federal income tax purposes except to the extent that the sum
of (i) the amount of cash and (ii) the fair market value of marketable
securities distributed exceeds the Shareholder’s adjusted basis of its interest
in the Fund immediately before the distribution. Any cash
distributions in excess of a Shareholder’s tax basis generally will be treated
as gain from the sale or exchange of Shares.
Constructive Termination of the
Partnership
. The Fund will be considered to have been
terminated for tax purposes if there is a sale or exchange of 50% or more of the
total interests in its Shares within a 12-month period. A termination
would result in the closing of the Fund’s taxable year for all
Shareholders. In the case of a Shareholder reporting on a taxable
year other than a fiscal year ending December 31, the closing of the Fund’s
taxable year may result in more than 12 months of our taxable income or loss
being includable in its taxable income for the year of
termination. We would be required to make new tax elections after a
termination. A termination could result in tax penalties if we were
unable to determine that the termination had occurred. Moreover, a
termination might either accelerate the application of, or subject us to, any
tax legislation enacted before the termination.
Tax Consequences
of Disposition of Share
s
If a
Shareholder sells its Shares, it will recognize gain or loss equal to the
difference between the amount realized and its adjusted tax basis for the Shares
sold. A Shareholder’s amount realized will be the sum of the cash or
the fair market value of other property received plus its share of any Fund debt
outstanding.
Gain or
loss recognized by a Shareholder on the sale or exchange of Shares held for more
than one year will generally be taxable as long-term capital gain or loss;
otherwise, such gain or loss will generally be taxable as short-term capital
gain or loss. A special election is available under the Treasury
Regulations that will allow Shareholders to identify and use the actual holding
periods for the Shares sold for purposes of determining whether the gain or loss
recognized on a sale of Shares will give rise to long-term or short-term capital
gain or loss. It is expected that most Shareholders will be eligible
to elect, and generally will elect, to identify and use the actual holding
period for Shares sold. If a Shareholder fails to make the election
or is not able to identify the holding periods of the Shares sold, the
Shareholder will have a split holding period in the Shares
sold. Under such circumstances, a Shareholder will be required to
determine its holding period in the Shares sold by first determining the portion
of its entire interest in the Fund that would give rise to long-term capital
gain or loss if its entire interest were sold and the portion that would give
rise to short-term capital gain or loss if the entire interest were
sold. The Shareholder would then treat each Share sold as giving rise
to long-term capital gain or loss and short-term capital gain or loss in the
same proportions as if it had sold its entire interest in the
Fund.
Under
Section 751 of the Code, a portion of a Shareholder’s gain or loss from the sale
of Shares (regardless of the holding period for such Shares), will be separately
computed and taxed as ordinary income or loss to the extent attributable to
“unrealized receivables” or “inventory” owned by the Fund. The term
“unrealized receivables” includes, among other things, market discount bonds and
short-term debt instruments to the extent such items would give rise to ordinary
income if sold by the Fund.
If some
or all of a Shareholder’s Shares are lent by its broker or other agent to a
third party — for example, for use by the third party in covering a
short sale — the Shareholder may be considered as having made a
taxable disposition of the loaned Shares, in which
case —
|
•
|
the
Shareholder may recognize taxable gain or loss to the same extent as if it
had sold the Shares for cash;
|
|
•
|
any
of UGA’s income, gain, loss or deduction allocable to those Shares during
the period of the loan will not be reportable by the Shareholder for tax
purposes; and
|
|
•
|
any
distributions the Shareholder receives with respect to the Shares will be
fully taxable, most likely as ordinary
income.
|
Shareholders
desiring to avoid these and other possible consequences of a deemed disposition
of their Shares should consider modifying any applicable brokerage account
agreements to prohibit the lending of their Shares.
Other
Tax Matters
Information
Reporting
. We report tax information to the beneficial owners
of Shares. Shareholders are treated as partners for federal income
tax purposes. The IRS has ruled that assignees of partnership
interests who have not been admitted to a partnership as partners but who have
the capacity to exercise substantial dominion and control over the assigned
partnership interests will be considered partners for federal income tax
purposes. On the basis of such ruling, except as otherwise provided
herein, we treat the following persons as partners for federal income tax
purposes: (1) assignees of Shares who are pending admission as limited partners,
and (2) Shareholders whose Shares are held in street name or by another nominee
and who have the right to direct the nominee in the exercise of all substantive
rights attendant to the ownership of their Shares. The Trust will
furnish Fund Shareholders each year with tax information on IRS Schedule K-1
(Form 1065), which will be used by the Shareholders in completing their tax
returns.
Persons
who hold an interest in the Fund as a nominee for another person are required to
furnish to us the following information: (1) the name, address and taxpayer
identification number of the beneficial owner and the nominee; (2) whether the
beneficial owner is (a) a person that is not a U.S. person, (b) a foreign
government, an international organization or any wholly-owned agency or
instrumentality of either of the foregoing, or (c) a tax-exempt entity; (3) the
amount and description of Shares acquired or transferred for the beneficial
owner; and (4) certain information including the dates of acquisitions and
transfers, means of acquisitions and transfers, and acquisition cost for
purchases, as well as the amount of net proceeds from sales. Brokers
and financial institutions are required to furnish additional information,
including whether they are U.S. persons and certain information on Shares they
acquire, hold or transfer for their own account. A penalty of $50 per
failure, up to a maximum of $100,000 per calendar year, is imposed by the Code
for failure to report such information to the Trust. The nominee is
required to supply the beneficial owner of the Shares with the information
furnished to the Trust.
Partnership Audit
Procedures
. The IRS may audit the federal income tax returns
filed by the Fund. Adjustments resulting from any such audit may
require each Shareholder to adjust a prior year’s tax liability and could result
in an audit of the Shareholder’s own return. Any audit of a
Shareholder’s return could result in adjustments of non-partnership items as
well as Fund items. Partnerships are generally treated as separate
entities for purposes of federal tax audits, judicial review of administrative
adjustments by the IRS, and tax settlement proceedings. The tax
treatment of partnership items of income, gain, loss and deduction are
determined at the partnership level in a unified partnership proceeding rather
than in separate proceedings with the Shareholders. The Code provides
for one Shareholder to be designated as the “tax matters partner” and represent
the partnership purposes of these proceedings. The Trust Agreement
appoints the Sponsor as the tax matters partner of the Fund.
Tax Shelter Disclosure
Rules
. In certain circumstances the Code and Treasury
Regulations require that the IRS be notified of taxable transactions through a
disclosure statement attached to a taxpayer’s United States federal income tax
return. In addition, certain “material advisers” must maintain a list
of persons participating in such transactions and furnish the list to the IRS
upon written request. These disclosure rules may apply to
transactions irrespective of whether they are structured to achieve particular
tax benefits. They could require disclosure by the Trust or
Shareholders (1) if a Shareholder incurs a loss in excess a specified threshold
from a sale or redemption of its Shares, (2) if the Fund engages in transactions
producing differences between its taxable income and its income for financial
reporting purposes, or (3) possibly in other circumstances. While
these rules generally do not require disclosure of a loss recognized on the
disposition of an asset in which the taxpayer has a “qualifying basis”
(generally a basis equal to the amount of cash paid by the taxpayer for such
asset), they apply to a loss recognized with respect to interests in a
pass-through entity, such as the Shares, even if the taxpayer’s basis in such
interests is equal to the amount of cash it paid. In addition, under
recently enacted legislation, significant penalties may be imposed in connection
with a failure to comply with these reporting requirements.
Investors should consult their own
tax advisors concerning the application of these reporting requirements to their
specific situation
.
Tax-Exempt
Organizations.
Subject to numerous exceptions, qualified
retirement plans and individual retirement accounts, charitable organizations
and certain other organizations that otherwise are exempt from federal income
tax (collectively “exempt organizations”) nonetheless are subject to the tax on
unrelated business taxable income (“UBTI”). Generally, UBTI means the
gross income derived by an exempt organization from a trade or business that it
regularly carries on, the conduct of which is not substantially related to the
exercise or performance of its exempt purpose or function, less allowable
deductions directly connected with that trade or business. If the
Fund were to regularly carry on (directly or indirectly) a trade or business
that is unrelated with respect to an exempt organization Shareholder, then in
computing its UBTI, the Shareholder must include its share of (1) the Fund’s
gross income from the unrelated trade or business, whether or not distributed,
and (2) the Fund’s allowable deductions directly connected with that gross
income.
UBTI
generally does not include dividends, interest, or payments with respect to
securities loans and gains from the sale of property (other than property held
for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or
business). Nonetheless, income on, and gain from the disposition of,
“debt-financed property” is UBTI. Debt-financed property generally is
income-producing property (including securities), the use of which is not
substantially related to the exempt organization’s tax-exempt purposes, and with
respect to which there is “acquisition indebtedness” at any time during the
taxable year (or, if the property was disposed of during the taxable year, the
12-month period ending with the disposition). Acquisition
indebtedness includes debt incurred to acquire property, debt incurred before
the acquisition of property if the debt would not have been incurred but for the
acquisition, and debt incurred subsequent to the acquisition of property if the
debt would not have been incurred but for the acquisition and at the time of
acquisition the incurrence of debt was foreseeable. The portion of
the income from debt-financed property attributable to acquisition indebtedness
is equal to the ratio of the average outstanding principal amount of acquisition
indebtedness over the average adjusted basis of the property for the
year. The Fund currently does not anticipate that it will borrow
money to acquire investments; however, the Fund cannot be certain that it will
not borrow for such purpose in the future. In addition, an exempt
organization Shareholder that incurs acquisition indebtedness to purchase its
Shares in the Fund may have UBTI.
The
federal tax rate applicable to an exempt organization Shareholder on its UBTI
generally will be either the corporate or trust tax rate, depending upon the
Shareholder’s form of organization. The Fund may report to each such
Shareholder information as to the portion, if any, of the Shareholder’s income
and gains from the Fund for any year that will be treated as UBTI; the
calculation of that amount is complex, and there can be no assurance that the
Fund’s calculation of UBTI will be accepted by the IRS. An exempt
organization Shareholder will be required to make payments of estimated federal
income tax with respect to its UBTI.
Regulated Investment
Companies.
Under recently enacted legislation, interests in
and income from “qualified publicly traded partnerships” satisfying certain
gross income tests are treated as qualifying assets and income, respectively,
for purposes of determining eligibility for regulated investment company (“RIC”)
status. A RIC may invest up to 25% of its assets in interests in a
qualified publicly traded partnership. The determination of whether a
publicly traded partnership such as the Fund is a qualified publicly traded
partnership is made on an annual basis. The Fund expects to be a
qualified publicly traded partnership in each of its taxable
years. However, such qualification is not assured.
Non-U.S.
Shareholders
Generally,
non-U.S. persons who derive U.S. source income or gain from investing or
engaging in a U.S. business are taxable on two categories of
income. The first category consists of amounts that are fixed,
determinable, annual and periodic income, such as interest, dividends and rent
that are not connected with the operation of a U.S. trade or business
(“FDAP”). The second category is income that is effectively connected
with the conduct of a U.S. trade or business (“ECI”). FDAP income
(other than interest that is considered “portfolio interest”) is generally
subject to a 30% withholding tax, which may be reduced for certain categories of
income by a treaty between the U.S. and the recipient’s country of
residence. In contrast, ECI is generally subject to U.S. tax on a net
basis at graduated rates upon the filing of a U.S. tax return. Where
a non-U.S. person has ECI as a result of an investment in a partnership, the ECI
is subject to a withholding tax at a rate of 35% for both individual and
corporate Shareholders.
Withholding on Allocations and
Distributions
. The Code provides that a non-U.S. person who is
a partner in a partnership that is engaged in a U.S. trade or business during a
taxable year will also be considered to be engaged in a U.S. trade or business
during that year. Classifying an activity by a partnership as an
investment or an operating business is a factual determination. Under
certain safe harbors in the Code, an investment fund whose activities consist of
trading in stocks, securities, or commodities for its own account generally will
not be considered to be engaged in a U.S. trade or business unless it is a
dealer is such stocks, securities, or commodities. This safe harbor
applies to investments in commodities only if the commodities are of a kind
customarily dealt in on an organized commodity exchange and if the transaction
is of a kind customarily consummated at such place. Although the
matter is not free from doubt, the Fund believes that the activities directly
conducted by the Fund do not result in the Fund being engaged in a trade or
business within in the United States. However, there can be no
assurance that the IRS would not successfully assert that the Fund’s activities
constitute a U.S. trade or business.
In the
event that the Fund’s activities were considered to constitute a U.S. trade or
business, the Fund would be required to withhold at the highest rate specified
in Code section 1 (currently 35%) on allocations of our income to Non-U.S.
Shareholders. A Non-U.S. Shareholder with ECI will generally be
required to file a U.S. federal income tax return, and the return will provide
the Non-U.S. Shareholder with the mechanism to seek a refund of any withholding
in excess of such Shareholder’s actual U.S. federal income tax
liability. Any amount withheld by the Fund will be treated as a
distribution to the Non-U.S. Shareholder.
If the
Fund is not treated as engaged in a U.S. trade or business, a Non-U.S.
Shareholder may nevertheless be treated as having FDAP income, which would be
subject to a 30% withholding tax (possibly subject to reduction by treaty), with
respect to some or all of its distributions from the Fund or its allocable share
of Fund income. Amounts withheld on behalf of a Non-U.S. Shareholder
will be treated as being distributed to such Shareholder.
To the
extent any interest income allocated to a Non-U.S. Shareholder that otherwise
constitutes FDAP is considered “portfolio interest,” neither the allocation of
such interest income to the non-U.S. Shareholder nor a subsequent distribution
of such interest income to the non-U.S. Shareholder will be subject to
withholding, provided that the Non-U.S. Shareholder is not otherwise engaged in
a trade or business in the U.S. and provides the Fund with a timely and properly
completed and executed IRS Form W-8BEN or other applicable form. In
general, “portfolio interest” is interest paid on debt obligations issued in
registered form, unless the “recipient” owns 10% or more of the voting power of
the issuer.
The Trust
expects that most of the Fund’s interest income will qualify as “portfolio
interest.” In order for the Fund to avoid withholding on any interest
income allocable to Non-U.S. Shareholders that would qualify as “portfolio
interest,” it will be necessary for all Non-U.S. Shareholders to provide the
Fund with a timely and properly completed and executed Form W-8BEN (or other
applicable form). If a Non-U.S. Shareholder fails to provide a
properly completed Form W-8BEN, the Sponsor may request that the Non-U.S.
Shareholder provide, within 15 days after the request by the Sponsor, a properly
completed Form W-8BEN. If a Non-U.S. Shareholder fails to comply with
this request, the Shares owned by such non-U.S. Shareholder will be subject to
redemption.
Gain from Sale of
Shares
. Gain from the sale or exchange of Shares may be
taxable to a Non-U.S. Shareholder if the Non-U.S. Shareholder is a nonresident
alien individual who is present in the U.S. for 183 days or more during the
taxable year. In such case, the nonresident alien individual will be
subject to a 30% withholding tax on the amount of such individual’s
gain.
Branch Profits Tax on Corporate
Non-U.S. Shareholders
. In addition to the taxes noted above,
any Non-U.S. Shareholders that are corporations may also be subject to an
additional tax, the branch profits tax, at a rate of 30%. The branch
profits tax is imposed on a non-U.S. corporation’s dividend equivalent amount,
which generally consists of the corporation’s after-tax earnings and profits
that are effectively connected with the corporation’s U.S. trade or business but
are not reinvested in a U.S. business. This tax may be reduced or
eliminated by an income tax treaty between the United States and the country in
which the Non-U.S. Shareholder is a “qualified resident.”
Prospective
Non-U.S. Shareholders should consult their tax advisor with regard to these and
other issues unique to Non-U.S. Shareholders.
Backup
Withholding
The Fund
may be required to withhold U.S. federal income tax (“backup withholding”) at a
rate of 28% from all taxable distributions payable to: (1) any Shareholder who
fails to furnish the Fund with his, her or its correct taxpayer identification
number or a certificate that the Shareholder is exempt from backup withholding,
and (2) any Shareholder with respect to whom the IRS notifies the Fund that the
Shareholder has failed to properly report certain interest and dividend income
to the IRS and to respond to notices to that effect. Backup
withholding is not an additional tax and may be returned or credited against a
taxpayer’s regular federal income tax liability if appropriate information is
provided to the IRS.
Other
Tax Considerations
In
addition to federal income taxes, Shareholders may be subject to other taxes,
such as state and local income taxes, unincorporated business taxes, business
franchise taxes, and estate, inheritance or intangible taxes that may be imposed
by the various jurisdictions in which the Fund does business or owns property or
where the Shareholders reside. Although an analysis of those various
taxes is not presented here, each prospective Shareholder should consider their
potential impact on its investment in the Fund. It is each
Shareholder’s responsibility to file the appropriate U.S. federal, state, local,
and foreign tax returns. Sutherland has not provided an opinion
concerning any aspects of state, local or foreign tax or U.S. federal tax other
than those U.S. federal income tax issues discussed herein.
Investment
By ERISA Accounts
General
Most
employee benefit plans and individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”) are subject
to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), or
the Code, or both. This section discusses certain considerations that
arise under ERISA and the Code that a fiduciary of an employee benefit plan as
defined in ERISA or a plan as defined in Section 4975 of the Code who has
investment discretion should take into account before deciding to invest the
plan’s assets in the Fund. Employee benefit plans under ERISA and
plans under the Code are collectively referred to below as “plans,” and
fiduciaries with investment discretion are referred to below as “plan
fiduciaries.”
This
summary is based on the provisions of ERISA and the Code as of the date
hereof. This summary is not intended to be complete, but only to
address certain questions under ERISA and the Code likely to be raised by your
advisors. The summary does not include state or local
law.
Potential
plan investors are urged to consult with their own professional advisors
concerning the appropriateness of an investment in the Fund and the manner in
which Shares should be purchased.
Special
Investment Considerations
Each plan
fiduciary must consider the facts and circumstances that are relevant to an
investment in the Fund, including the role that an investment in the Fund would
play in the plan’s overall investment portfolio. Each plan fiduciary,
before deciding to invest in the Fund, must be satisfied that the investment is
prudent for the plan, that the investments of the plan are diversified so as to
minimize the risk of large losses, and that an investment in the Fund complies
with the terms of the plan.
The
Fund and Plan Assets
A
regulation issued under ERISA contains rules for determining when an investment
by a plan in an equity interest of a statutory trust will result in the
underlying assets of the statutory trust being deemed plan assets for purposes
of ERISA and Section 4975 of the Code. Those rules provide that
assets of a statutory trust will not be plan assets of a plan that purchases an
equity interest in the statutory trust if the equity interest purchased is a
publicly-offered security. If the underlying assets of a statutory
trust are considered to be assets of any plan for purposes of ERISA or Section
4975 of the Code, the operations of that trust would be subject to and, in some
cases, limited by the provisions of ERISA and Section 4975 of the
Code.
The
publicly-offered security exception described above applies if the equity
interest is a security that is:
|
(1)
|
freely
transferable (determined based on the relevant facts and
circumstances);
|
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(2)
|
part
of a class of securities that is widely held (meaning that the class of
securities is owned by 100 or more investors independent of the issuer and
of each other); and
|
|
(3)
|
either
(a) part of a class of securities registered under Section 12(b) or 12(g)
of the Exchange Act or (b) sold to the plan as part of a public offering
pursuant to an effective registration statement under the 1933 Act and the
class of which such security is a part is registered under the Exchange
Act within 120 days (or such later time as may be allowed by the SEC)
after the end of the fiscal year of the issuer in which the offering of
such security occurred.
|
The plan
asset regulations under ERISA state that the determination of whether a security
is freely transferable is to be made based on all the relevant facts and
circumstances. In the case of a security that is part of an offering
in which the minimum investment is $10,000 or less, the following requirements,
alone or in combination, ordinarily will not affect a finding that the security
is freely transferable: (1) a requirement that no transfer or assignment of the
security or rights relating to the security be made that would violate any
federal or state law; and (2) a requirement that no transfer or assignment be
made without advance written notice given to the entity that issued the
security.
The
Sponsor believes that the conditions described above are satisfied with respect
to the Shares. The Sponsor believes that the Shares therefore
constitute publicly-offered securities, and the underlying assets of the Fund
should not be considered to constitute plan assets of any plan that purchases
Shares.
Prohibited
Transactions
ERISA and
the Code generally prohibit certain transactions involving a plan and persons
who have certain specified relationships to the plan. In general,
Shares may not be purchased with the assets of a plan if the Sponsor, the
clearing brokers, the trading advisors (if any), or any of their affiliates,
agents or employees either:
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·
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exercise
any discretionary authority or discretionary control with respect to
management of the plan;
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·
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exercise
any authority or control with respect to management or disposition of the
assets of the plan;
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·
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render
investment advice for a fee or other compensation, direct or indirect,
with respect to any moneys or other property of the
plan;
|
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·
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have
any authority or responsibility to render investment advice with respect
to any monies or other property of the plan;
or
|
|
·
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have
any discretionary authority or discretionary responsibility in the
administration of the plan.
|
Also, a
prohibited transaction may occur under ERISA or the Code when circumstances
indicate that (1) the investment in Shares is made or retained for the purpose
of avoiding application of the fiduciary standards of ERISA, (2) the investment
in Shares constitutes an arrangement under which the Fund is expected to engage
in transactions that would otherwise be prohibited if entered into directly by
the plan purchasing the Shares, (3) the investing plan, by itself, has the
authority or influence to cause the Fund to engage in such transactions, or (4)
a person who is prohibited from transacting with the investing plan may, but
only with the aid of certain of its affiliates and the investing plan, cause the
Fund to engage in such transactions with such person.
Special
IRA Rules
IRAs are
not subject to ERISA’s fiduciary standards, but are subject to their own rules,
including the prohibited transaction rules of Section 4975 of the Code, which
generally mirror ERISA’s prohibited transaction rules. For example,
IRAs are subject to special custody rules and must maintain a qualifying IRA
custodial arrangement separate and distinct from the Fund and its custodial
arrangement. If a separate qualifying custodial arrangement is not
maintained, an investment in the Shares will be treated as a distribution from
the IRA. Second, IRAs are prohibited from investing in certain
commingled investments, and the Sponsor makes no representation regarding
whether an investment in Shares is an inappropriate commingled investment for an
IRA. Third, in applying the prohibited transaction provisions of
Section 4975 of the Code, in addition to the rules summarized above, the
individual for whose benefit the IRA is maintained is also treated as the
creator of the IRA. For example, if the owner or beneficiary of an
IRA enters into any transaction, arrangement, or agreement involving the assets
of his or her IRA to benefit the IRA owner or beneficiary (or his or her
relatives or business affiliates) personally, or with the understanding that
such benefit will occur, directly or indirectly, such transaction could give
rise to a prohibited transaction that is not exempted by any available
exemption. Moreover, in the case of an IRA, the consequences of a
non-exempt prohibited transaction are that the IRA’s assets will be treated as
if they were distributed, causing immediate taxation of the assets (including
any early distribution penalty tax applicable under Section 72 of the Code), in
addition to any other fines or penalties that may apply.
Exempt
Plans
Certain
employee benefit plans may be governmental plans or church
plans. Governmental plans and church plans are generally not subject
to ERISA, nor do the prohibited transaction provisions described above apply to
them. These plans are, however, subject to prohibitions against
certain related-party transactions under Section 503 of the Code, which are
similar to the prohibited transaction rules described above. In
addition, the fiduciary of any governmental or church plan must consider any
applicable state or local laws and any restrictions and duties of common law
imposed upon the plan.
No view
is expressed as to whether an investment in the Fund (and any continued
investment in the Fund), or the operation and administration of the fund, is
appropriate or permissible for any governmental plan or church plan under Code
Section 503, or under any state, county, local or other law relating to that
type of plan.
Allowing
an investment in the Fund is not to be construed as a representation by the
Trust, the Fund, the Sponsor, any trading advisor, any clearing broker, the
Marketing Agent or legal counsel or other advisors to such parties or any other
party that this investment meets some or all of the relevant legal requirements
with respect to investments by any particular plan or that this investment is
appropriate for any such particular plan. The person with investment
discretion should consult with the plan’s attorney and financial advisors as to
the propriety of an investment in the Fund in light of the circumstances of the
particular plan, current tax law and ERISA.
INFORMATION
YOU SHOULD KNOW
This
prospectus contains information you should consider when making an investment
decision about the Shares. You should rely only on the information
contained in this prospectus or any applicable prospectus supplement. None
of the Trust, the Fund or the Sponsor has authorized any person to provide you
with different information and, if anyone provides you with different or
inconsistent information, you should not rely on it. This prospectus
is not an offer to sell the Shares in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale
of the Shares is not permitted.
The
information contained in this prospectus was obtained from us and other sources
believed by us to be reliable.
You
should disregard anything we said in an earlier document that is inconsistent
with what is included in this prospectus or any applicable prospectus
supplement. Where the context requires, when we refer to this
“prospectus,” we are referring to this prospectus and (if applicable) the
relevant prospectus supplement.
You
should not assume that the information in this prospectus or any applicable
prospectus supplement is current as of any date other than the date on the front
page of this prospectus or the date on the front page of any applicable
prospectus supplement.
We
include cross references in this prospectus to captions in these materials where
you can find further related discussions. The table of contents tells
you where to find these captions.
WHERE
YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION
The Trust has filed on
behalf of the Fund a registration statement on Form S-1 with the SEC under the
1933 Act. This prospectus does not contain all of the information set
forth in the registration statement (including the exhibits to the registration
statement), parts of which have been omitted in accordance with the rules and
regulations of the SEC. For further information about the Trust, the
Fund or the Shares, please refer to the registration statement, which you may
inspect, without charge, at the public reference facilities of the SEC at the
below address or online at www.sec.gov, or obtain at prescribed rates from the
public reference facilities of the SEC at the below
address. Information about the Trust, the Fund and the Shares can
also be obtained from the Fund’s website, which is
www.teucriumcornfund.com
.
The
Fund’s website address is only provided here as a convenience to you and the
information contained on or connected to the website is not part of this
prospectus or the registration statement of which this prospectus is
part. The Trust is subject to the informational requirements of the
Exchange Act and will file certain reports and other information with the SEC
under the Exchange Act. The Sponsor will file an updated prospectus
annually for the Fund pursuant to the 1933 Act. The reports and other
information can be inspected at the public reference facilities of the SEC
located at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20549 and online at www.sec.gov.
You may also obtain copies of such material from the public reference facilities
of the SEC at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20549, at prescribed rates. You
may obtain more information concerning the operation of the public reference
facilities of the SEC by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 or visiting online at
www.sec.gov
.
INDEX
TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
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Page
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Report
of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
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F-
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Statement
of Financial Condition as of
[
]
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F-
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Notes
to Statement of Financial Condition
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F-
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[Financial
Statements to be added by amendment]
APPENDIX
A
Glossary
of Defined Terms
In this
prospectus, each of the following terms have the meanings set forth after such
term:
Administrator:
[Administrator]
Authorized
Purchaser:
One that purchases or redeems Creation Baskets or
Redemption Baskets, respectively, from or to the Fund.
Benchmark
: A
weighted average of daily changes in the closing settlement prices of (1) the
second-to-expire Corn Futures Contract traded on the Chicago Board of Trade
(“CBOT”), weighted 35%, (2) the third-to-expire CBOT Corn Futures Contract,
weighted 30%, and (3) the CBOT Corn Futures Contract expiring in the December
following the expiration month of third-to-expire contract, weighted 35%, less
the Fund’s expenses.
Benchmark Component Futures
Contracts:
The three Corn Futures Contracts that at any given
time make up the Benchmark.
Business Day:
Any
day other than a day when any of the NYSE Arca, the CBOT or the New York Stock
Exchange is closed for regular trading.
CFTC:
Commodity
Futures Trading Commission, an independent agency with the mandate to regulate
commodity futures and options in the United States.
Chicago Board of Trade
(CBOT):
The primary exchange on which Corn Futures Contracts
are traded in the U.S. The Fund expressly disclaims any association
with the CBOT or endorsement of the Fund by the CBOT and acknowledges that
“CBOT” and “Chicago Board of Trade” are registered trademarks of such
exchange.
Code:
Internal Revenue
Code.
Commodity Pool:
An
enterprise in which several individuals contribute funds in order to trade
futures contracts or options on futures contracts collectively.
Commodity Pool Operator or
CPO:
Any person engaged in a business which is of the nature
of an investment trust, syndicate, or similar enterprise, and who, in connection
therewith, solicits, accepts, or receives from others, funds, securities, or
property, either directly or through capital contributions, the sale of stock or
other forms of securities, or otherwise, for the purpose of trading in any
commodity for future delivery or commodity option on or subject to the rules of
any contract market.
Corn Futures
Contracts:
Futures contracts for corn that are traded on the
CBOT or foreign exchanges.
Corn
Interests:
Corn Futures Contract and Other Corn
Interests.
Creation Basket:
A
block of 100,000 Shares used by the Fund to issue Shares.
Custodian:
[Custodian]
DTC:
The Depository
Trust Company. DTC will act as the securities depository for the
Shares.
DTC Participant:
An
entity that has an account with DTC.
DTEF:
A derivatives
transaction execution facility.
Exchange Act:
The
Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Exchange for Physical
(EFP):
An off market transaction which involves the swapping
(or exchanging) of an over-the-counter (OTC) position for a futures
position. The OTC transaction must be for the same or similar
quantity or amount of a specified commodity, or a substantially similar
commodity or instrument. The OTC side of the EFP can include the
physical commodity itself, swaps, swap options, or other instruments traded in
the OTC market. In order that an EFP transaction can take place, the OTC side
and futures components must be “substantially similar” in terms of either value
and or quantity. The net result is that the OTC position (and the inherent
counterparty credit exposure) is transferred from the OTC market to the futures
market. EFPs can also work in reverse, where a futures position can be reversed
and transferred to the OTC market.
Exchange for
Risk:
A technique, analogous to an EFP transaction used by
financial institutions to avoid taking physical delivery of commodities. A
dealer takes the financial institution’s futures positions into its own account
and swaps the commodity return for a funding rate.
FINRA:
Financial
Industry Regulatory Authority, formerly the National Association of Securities
Dealers.
Indirect
Participants:
Banks, brokers, dealers and trust companies that
clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a DTC Participant,
either directly or indirectly.
Limited Liability Company
(LLC):
A type of business ownership combining several features
of corporation and partnership structures.
Margin:
The amount
of equity required for an investment in futures contracts.
NAV:
Net Asset
Value of the Fund.
NFA:
National
Futures Association.
NSCC:
National
Securities Clearing Corporation.
1933 Act:
The
Securities Act of 1933.
Option:
The right,
but not the obligation, to buy or sell a futures contract or forward contract at
a specified price on or before a specified date.
Other Corn
Interests:
Other corn-related investments such as cash-settled
options on Corn Futures Contracts, swaps contracts and forward contracts
relating to corn, and over-the-counter transactions that are based on the price
of corn, Corn Futures Contracts and indices based on the foregoing.
Over-the-Counter
Derivative:
A financial contract, whose value is designed to
track the return on stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, or some other
benchmark, that is traded over-the-counter or off organized
exchanges.
Redemption
Basket:
A block of 100,000 Shares used by the Fund to redeem
Shares.
SEC:
Securities and
Exchange Commission.
Secondary
Market:
The stock exchanges and the over-the-counter market.
Securities are first issued as a primary offering to the public. When the
securities are traded from that first holder to another, the issues trade in
these secondary markets.
Shareholders:
Holders
of Shares.
Shares:
Common
units representing fractional undivided beneficial interests in the
Fund.
Sponsor:
Teucrium
Trading, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, which is registered as a
Commodity Pool Operator, who controls the investments and other decisions of the
Fund.
Spot Contract:
A
cash market transaction in which the buyer and seller agree to the immediate
purchase and sale of a commodity, usually with a two-day
settlement.
Swap Contract:
An
over-the-counter derivative that generally involves an exchange of a stream of
payments between the contracting parties based on a notional amount and a
specified index.
Tracking
Error:
Possibility that the daily NAV of the Fund will not
track the Benchmark.
Treasury
Securities:
Obligations of the U.S. government with remaining
maturities of 2 years or less.
Trust
Agreement:
The Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust and
Trust Agreement of the Trust effective as of
[ ],
2009.
Valuation Day:
Any
day as of which the Fund calculates its NAV.
You:
The owner of
Shares.
[This
page intentionally left blank.]
STATEMENT
OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
TEUCRIUM
CORN FUND
This
statement of additional information is the second part of a two part
document. The first part is the Fund’s disclosure
document. The disclosure document and this statement of additional
information are bound together, and both parts contain important
information. This statement of additional information should be read
in conjunction with the disclosure document. Before you decide
whether to invest, you should read the entire prospectus carefully and consider
the risk factors beginning on page 15.
This
statement of additional information and accompanying disclosure document are
both dated [
date
],
2009.
TEUCRIUM
CORN FUND
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
|
Page
|
|
|
The
Commodity Interest Markets
|
99
|
Potential
Advantages of Investment
|
109
|
The
Commodity Interest Markets
General
The
Commodity Exchange Act or CEA governs the regulation of commodity interest
transactions, markets and intermediaries. In December 2000, the CEA
was amended by the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, or CFMA, which
substantially revised the regulatory framework governing certain commodity
interest transactions and the markets on which they trade. The CEA,
as amended by the CFMA, now provides for varying degrees of regulation of
commodity interest transactions depending upon the variables of the
transaction. In general, these variables include (1) the type of
instrument being traded (e.g., contracts for future delivery, options, swaps or
spot contracts), (2) the type of commodity underlying the instrument
(distinctions are made between instruments based on agricultural commodities,
energy and metals commodities and financial commodities), (3) the nature of the
parties to the transaction (retail, eligible contract participant, or eligible
commercial entity), (4) whether the transaction is entered into on a
principal-to-principal or intermediated basis, (5) the type of market on which
the transaction occurs, and (6) whether the transaction is subject to clearing
through a clearing organization. Information regarding commodity
interest transactions, markets and intermediaries, and their associated current
regulatory environment, is provided below. Legislative and regulatory
changes relating to the information set forth below are currently being
discussed, so such information is subject to change.
Futures
Contracts
A futures
contract such as a Corn Futures Contract is a standardized contract traded on,
or subject to the rules of, an exchange that calls for the future delivery of a
specified quantity and type of a commodity at a specified time and
place. Futures contracts are traded on a wide variety of physical and
financial commodities, including agricultural products, bonds, stock indices,
interest rates, currencies, energy and metals. The size and terms of
futures contracts on a particular commodity are identical and are not subject to
any negotiation, other than with respect to price and the number of contracts
traded between the buyer and seller.
The
contractual obligations of a buyer or seller may generally be satisfied by
taking or making physical delivery of the underlying commodity or by making an
offsetting sale or purchase of an identical futures contract on the same or
linked exchange before the designated date of delivery. The
difference between the price at which the futures contract is purchased or sold
and the price paid for the offsetting sale or purchase, after allowance for
brokerage commissions, constitutes the profit or loss to the
trader. Some futures contracts, such as stock index contracts, settle
in cash (reflecting the difference between the contract purchase/sale price and
the contract settlement price) rather than by delivery of the underlying
commodity.
In market
terminology, a trader who purchases a futures contract is long in the market and
a trader who sells a futures contract is short in the market. Before
a trader closes out his long or short position by an offsetting sale or
purchase, his outstanding contracts are known as open trades or open
positions. The aggregate amount of open positions held by traders in
a particular contract is referred to as the open interest in such
contract.
Options
on Futures Contracts
Options
on futures contracts are standardized contracts traded on an
exchange. An option on futures contract gives the buyer of the option
the right, but not the obligation, to take a position at a specified price (the
striking, strike, or exercise price) in the underlying futures contract or
underlying interest. The buyer of a call option acquires the right,
but not the obligation, to purchase or take a long position in the underlying
interest, and the buyer of a put option acquires the right, but not the
obligation, to sell or take a short position in the underlying
interest.
The
seller, or writer, of an option is obligated to take a position in the
underlying interest at a specified price opposite to the option buyer if the
option is exercised. Thus, the seller of a call option must stand
ready to take a short position in the underlying interest at the strike price if
the buyer should exercise the option. The seller of a put option, on
the other hand, must stand ready to take a long position in the underlying
interest at the strike price.
A call
option is said to be in-the-money if the strike price is below current market
levels and out-of-the-money if the strike price is above current market
levels. Conversely, a put option is said to be in-the-money if the
strike price is above the current market levels and out-of-the-money if the
strike price is below current market levels.
Options
have limited life spans, usually tied to the delivery or settlement date of the
underlying interest. Some options, however, expire significantly in
advance of such date. The purchase price of an option is referred to
as its premium, which consists of its intrinsic value (which is related to the
underlying market value) plus its time value. As an option nears its
expiration date, the time value shrinks and the market and intrinsic values move
into parity. An option that is out-of-the-money and not offset by the
time it expires becomes worthless. On certain exchanges, in-the-money
options are automatically exercised on their expiration date, but on others all
unexercised options simply become worthless after their expiration
date.
Regardless
of how much the market swings, the most an option buyer can lose is the option
premium. The option buyer deposits his premium with his broker, and
the money goes to the option seller. Option sellers, on the other
hand, face risks similar to participants in the futures markets. For
example, since the seller of a call option is assigned a short futures position
if the option is exercised, his risk is the same as someone who initially sold a
futures contract. Because no one can predict exactly how the market
will move, the option seller posts margin to demonstrate his ability to meet any
potential contractual obligations.
Over-the-Counter
Contracts (Forward Contracts and Swaps)
A forward
contract is a contractual obligation to purchase or sell a specified quantity of
a commodity at or before a specified date in the future at a specified price
and, therefore, is economically similar to a futures contract. Unlike
futures contracts, however, forward contracts are typically traded in the
over-the-counter markets and are not standardized contracts. Forward
contracts for a given commodity are generally available for various amounts and
maturities and are subject to individual negotiation between the parties
involved. Moreover, generally there is no direct means of offsetting
or closing out a forward contract by taking an offsetting position as one would
a futures contract on a U.S. exchange. If a trader desires to close
out a forward contract position, he generally will establish an opposite
position in the contract but will settle and recognize the profit or loss on
both positions simultaneously on the delivery date. Thus, unlike in
the futures contract market where a trader who has offset positions will
recognize profit or loss immediately, in the forward market a trader with a
position that has been offset at a profit will generally not receive such profit
until the delivery date, and likewise a trader with a position that has been
offset at a loss will generally not have to pay money until the delivery
date. In recent years, however, the terms of forward contracts have
become more standardized, and in some instances such contracts now provide a
right of offset or cash settlement as an alternative to making or taking
delivery of the underlying commodity.
The
forward markets provide what has typically been a highly liquid market for
foreign exchange trading, and in certain cases the prices quoted for foreign
exchange forward contracts may be more favorable than the prices for foreign
exchange futures contracts traded on U.S. exchanges. The forward
markets are largely unregulated. Forward contracts are, in general,
not cleared or guaranteed by a third party. Commercial banks
participating in trading foreign exchange forward contracts often do not require
margin deposits, but rely upon internal credit limitations and their judgments
regarding the creditworthiness of their counterparties. In recent
years, however, many over-the-counter market participants in foreign exchange
trading have begun to require that their counterparties post
margin.
Swap
transactions generally involve contracts between two parties to exchange a
stream of payments computed by reference to a notional amount and the price of
the asset that is the subject of the swap. Like forward contracts,
swap contracts are principally traded off-exchange. Swaps are usually
entered into on a net basis, that is, the two payment streams are netted out in
a cash settlement on the payment date or dates specified in the agreement, with
the parties receiving or paying, as the case may be, only the net amount of the
two payments. Swaps do not generally involve the delivery of
underlying assets or principal. Accordingly, the risk of loss with
respect to swaps is generally limited to the net amount of payments that the
party is contractually obligated to make. In some swap transactions
one or both parties may require collateral deposits from the counterparty to
support that counterparty’s obligation under the swap agreement. If
the counterparty to such a swap defaults, the risk of loss consists of the net
amount of payments that the party is contractually entitled to receive less to
any collateral deposits it is holding.
As the
result of the CFMA, over-the-counter derivative instruments such as forward
contracts and swap agreements (and options on forwards and physical commodities)
may begin to be traded on lightly-regulated exchanges or electronic trading
platforms that may, but are not required to, provide for clearing
facilities. (Exchanges and electronic trading platforms on which
over-the-counter instruments may be traded and the regulation and criteria for
that trading are more fully described below under “Futures Exchanges and
Clearing Organizations.”) While derivative instruments based on
agricultural commodities such as corn generally are not eligible to rely on the
CFMA exemptions, the CFTC has recently issued an order that permits certain
privately-negotiated agricultural swap contracts, including corn swaps, to be
cleared through the CBOT. Absent a clearing facility, trading in
forward contracts and swap agreements is exposed to the creditworthiness of the
counterparties on the other side of the trades. In contrast, where a
clearing facility is present, a market participant can look to the clearing
facility to guarantee the counterparty’s performance, which effectively
eliminates counterparty risk as a concern in entering into derivative
instruments.
Options
on Forward Contracts or Commodities
Options
on forward contracts or commodities operate in a manner similar to options on
futures contracts. An option on a forward contract or commodity gives
the buyer of the option the right, but not the obligation, to take a position at
a specified price in the underlying forward contract or
commodity. However, similar to forward contracts, options on forward
contracts or on commodities are individually negotiated contracts between
counterparties and are typically traded in the over-the-counter
market. Therefore, options on forward contracts and physical
commodities possess many of the same characteristics of forward contracts with
respect to offsetting positions and credit risk that are described
above. As a result of certain regulatory limitations, options on
forward contracts and other over-the-counter options relating to agricultural
commodities such as corn may not be generally available in United States
markets.
Participants
The two
broad classes of persons who trade commodities are hedgers and
speculators. Hedgers include financial institutions that manage or
deal in interest rate-sensitive instruments, foreign currencies or stock
portfolios, and commercial market participants, such as farmers and
manufacturers, that market or process commodities. Hedging is a
protective procedure designed to effectively lock in prices that would otherwise
change due to an adverse movement in the price of the underlying commodity, for
example, the adverse price movement between the time a merchandiser or processor
enters into a contract to buy or sell a raw or processed commodity at a certain
price and the time he must perform the contract. For example, if a
hedger contracts to physically sell the commodity at a future date, he may
simultaneously buy a futures or forward contract for the necessary equivalent
quantity of the commodity. At the time for performance of the
physical contract, the hedger may accept delivery under his futures contract and
sell the commodity quantity as required by the physical contract or he may buy
the actual commodity, sell it under the physical contract and close out his
futures contract position by making an offsetting sale.
The
commodity interest markets enable the hedger to shift the risk of price
fluctuations. The usual objective of the hedger is to protect the
profit that he expects to earn from farming, merchandising, or processing
operations rather than to profit from his trading. However, at times
the impetus for a hedge transaction may result in part from speculative
objectives and hedgers can end up paying higher prices than they would have if
they did not enter into a commodity interest transaction if current market
prices are lower than the locked-in price.
Unlike
the hedger, the speculator generally expects neither to make nor take delivery
of the underlying commodity. Instead, the speculator risks his capital with the
hope of making profits from price fluctuations in the commodities. The
speculator is, in effect, the risk bearer who assumes the risks that the hedger
seeks to avoid. Speculators rarely make or take delivery of the underlying
commodity; rather they attempt to close out their positions prior to the
delivery date. A speculator who takes a long position generally will make a
profit if the price of the underlying commodity goes up and incur a loss if the
price of the underlying commodity goes down, while a speculator who takes a
short position generally will make a profit if the price of the underlying
commodity goes down and incur a loss if the price of the underlying commodity
goes up.
Futures
Exchanges and Clearing Organizations
Futures
exchanges provide centralized market facilities in which multiple persons have
the ability to execute or trade contracts by accepting bids and offers from
multiple participants. Futures exchanges may provide for execution of trades at
a physical location utilizing trading pits and/or may provide for trading to be
done electronically through computerized matching of bids and offers pursuant to
various algorithms. Members of a particular exchange and the trades
executed on such exchange are subject to the rules of that
exchange. Futures exchanges and clearing organizations are given
reasonable latitude in promulgating rules and regulations to control and
regulate their members. Examples of regulations by exchanges and
clearing organizations include the establishment of initial margin levels, rules
regarding trading practices, contract specifications, speculative position
limits, daily price fluctuation limits, and execution and clearing
fees.
Clearing
organizations provide services designed to mutualize or transfer the credit risk
arising from the trading of contracts on an exchange or other electronic trading
facility. Once trades made between members of an exchange or
electronic trading facility have been confirmed, the clearing organization
becomes substituted for the clearing member acting on behalf of each buyer and
each seller of contracts traded on the exchange or trading platform and in
effect becomes the other party to the trade. Thereafter, each
clearing member party to the trade looks only to the clearing organization for
performance. The clearing organization generally establishes some
sort of security or guarantee fund to which all clearing members of the exchange
must contribute; this fund acts as an emergency buffer that is intended to
enable the clearing organization to meet its obligations with regard to the
other side of an insolvent clearing member’s contracts. Furthermore,
the clearing organization requires margin deposits and continuously marks
positions to market to provide some assurance that its members will be able to
fulfill their contractual obligations. Thus, a central function of
the clearing organization is to ensure the integrity of trades, and members
effecting transactions on an exchange need not concern themselves with the
solvency of the party on the opposite side of the trade; their only remaining
concerns are the respective solvencies of their own customers, their clearing
broker and the clearing organization. The clearing organizations do
not deal with customers, but only with their member firms and the guarantee of
performance for open positions provided by the clearing organization does not
run to customers.
U.S.
Futures Exchanges
Futures
exchanges in the United States are subject to varying degrees of regulation by
the CFTC based on their designation as one of the following: a designated
contract market, a derivatives transaction execution facility, an exempt board
of trade or an electronic trading facility.
A
designated contract market is the most highly regulated level of futures
exchange. Designated contract markets may offer products to retail
customers on an unrestricted basis. To be designated as a contract
market, the exchange must demonstrate that it satisfies specified general
criteria for designation, such as having the ability to prevent market
manipulation, rules and procedures to ensure fair and equitable trading,
minimization of conflicts of interest and protection of market participants,
position limits and dispute resolution procedures. Among the
principal designated contract markets in the United States are the CBOT, the
Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the New York Mercantile
Exchange. Each of the designated contract markets in the United
States must provide for the clearance and settlement of transactions with a
CFTC-registered derivatives clearing organization.
A
derivatives transaction execution facility, or DTEF, is a new type of exchange
that is subject to fewer regulatory requirements than a designated contract
market but is subject to both commodity interest and participant
limitations. DTEFs limit access to eligible traders that qualify as
either eligible contract participants or eligible commercial entities for
futures and option contracts on commodities that have a nearly inexhaustible
deliverable supply, are highly unlikely to be susceptible to the threat of
manipulation, or have no cash market, security futures products, and futures and
option contracts on commodities that the CFTC may determine, on a case-by-case
basis, are highly unlikely to be susceptible to the threat of
manipulation. In addition, certain commodity interests excluded or
exempt from the CEA, such as swaps, may be traded on a DTEF. There is
no requirement that a DTEF use a clearing organization, except with respect to
trading in security futures contracts, in which case the clearing organization
must be a securities clearing agency. However, if futures contracts
and options on futures contracts traded on a DTEF are cleared, then it must be
through a CFTC-registered derivatives clearing organization, except that some
excluded or exempt commodities traded on a DTEF may be cleared through a
clearing organization other than one registered with the CFTC.
An exempt
board of trade is also a newly designated form of exchange. An exempt board of
trade is substantially unregulated, subject only to CFTC anti-fraud and
anti-manipulation authority. An exempt board of trade is permitted to trade
futures contracts and options on futures contracts provided that the underlying
commodity is not a security or securities index and has an inexhaustible
deliverable supply or no cash market. All traders on an exempt board of trade
must qualify as eligible contract participants. Contracts deemed eligible to be
traded on an exempt board of trade include contracts on interest rates, exchange
rates, currencies, credit risks or measures, debt instruments, measures of
inflation, or other macroeconomic indices or measures. There is no requirement
that an exempt board of trade use a clearing organization. However, if contracts
on an exempt board of trade are cleared, then it must be through a
CFTC-registered derivatives clearing organization. A board of trade electing to
operate as an exempt board of trade must file a written notification with the
CFTC.
An
electronic trading facility is a new form of trading platform that operates by
means of an electronic or telecommunications network and maintains an automated
audit trail of bids, offers, and the matching of orders or the execution of
transactions on the electronic trading facility. The CEA does not apply to, and
the CFTC has no jurisdiction over, transactions on an electronic trading
facility in certain excluded commodities that are entered into between
principals that qualify as eligible contract participants, subject only to CFTC
anti-fraud and anti-manipulation authority. In general, excluded commodities
include interest rates, currencies, securities, securities indices or other
financial, economic or commercial indices or measures, but not physical
commodities.
The
Sponsor intends to monitor the development of and opportunities and risks
presented by the new less-regulated exchanges and exempt boards as well as other
trading platforms currently in place or that are being considered by regulators
and may, in the future, allocate a percentage of the Fund’s assets to trading in
products on these exchanges. Provided the Fund maintains assets exceeding $5
million, the Fund would qualify as an eligible contract participant and thus
would be able to trade on such exchanges.
Non-U.S.
Futures Exchanges
Non-U.S.
futures exchanges differ in certain respects from their U.S. counterparts.
Importantly, non-U.S. futures exchanges are not subject to regulation by the
CFTC, but rather are regulated by their home country regulator. In contrast to
U.S. designated contract markets, some non-U.S. exchanges are principals’
markets, where trades remain the liability of the traders involved, and the
exchange or a clearing organization does not become substituted for any party.
Due to the absence of a clearing system, such exchanges are significantly more
susceptible to disruptions. Further, participants in such markets must often
satisfy themselves as to the individual creditworthiness of each entity with
which they enter into a trade. Trading on non-U.S. exchanges is often in the
currency of the exchange’s home jurisdiction. Consequently, if it enters into
transactions on these non-U.S. exchanges, the Fund would be subject to the
additional risk of fluctuations in the exchange rate between such currency and
the U.S. dollar and the possibility that exchange controls could be imposed in
the future. Trading on non-U.S. exchanges may differ from trading on U.S.
exchanges in a variety of ways and, accordingly, may subject the Fund to
additional risks.
Accountability
Levels and Position Limits
The CFTC
and U.S. designated contract markets have established accountability levels and
position limits on the maximum net long or net short futures contracts in
commodity interests that any person or group of persons under common trading
control (other than a hedger, which the Fund is not) may hold, own or control.
In contrast to position limits, accountability levels are not fixed ceilings,
but rather thresholds above which an exchange may exercise greater scrutiny and
control over an investor including by imposing position limits. Among the
purposes of accountability levels and position limits is to prevent a corner or
squeeze on a market or undue influence on prices by any single trader or group
of traders. The position limits currently established by the CFTC apply to
certain agricultural commodity interests, such as grains (oats, barley, and
flaxseed), soybeans, corn, wheat, cotton, eggs, rye, and potatoes. Specifically,
the CFTC’s position limits for corn future contracts are 600 spot month
contracts, 13,500 contracts expiring in any other single month, and 22,000
contracts for all months. In addition, U.S. exchanges may set
accountability levels and position limits for all commodity interests traded on
that exchange. The CBOT has not set any accountability levels for
Corn Futures Contracts. Certain exchanges or clearing organizations
also set limits on the total net positions that may be held by a clearing
broker. In general, no position limits are in effect in forward or
other over-the-counter contract trading or in trading on non-U.S. futures
exchanges, although the principals with which the Fund and the clearing brokers
may trade in such markets may impose such limits as a matter of credit
policy. The Fund’s commodity interest positions will not be
attributable to Shareholders for purposes of determining whether those
Shareholders have exceeded applicable accountability levels and position
limits.
Daily
Price Limits
Most U.S.
futures exchanges (but generally not non-U.S. exchanges) limit the amount of
fluctuation in some futures contract or options on futures contract prices
during a single trading period by regulations. These regulations
specify what are referred to as daily price fluctuation limits or more commonly,
daily limits. The daily limits establish the maximum amount that the
price of a futures or option on a futures contract may vary either up or down
from the previous day’s settlement price. In general, the Chicago
Board of Trade daily limit for corn futures contracts is $0.30 per bushel
($1,500 per contract). Once the daily limit has been reached in a
particular futures or option on a futures contract, no trades may be made at a
price beyond the limit. Positions in the futures or options contract
may then be taken or liquidated, if at all, only if traders are willing to
effect trades at or within the limit. Because the daily limit rule
governs price movement only for a particular trading day, it does not limit
losses and may in fact substantially increase losses because it may prevent the
liquidation of unfavorable positions. Futures contract prices have
occasionally moved the daily limit for several consecutive trading days, thus
preventing prompt liquidation of positions and subjecting the trader to
substantial losses for those days. The concept of daily price limits
is not relevant to over-the-counter contracts, including forwards and swaps, and
thus such limits are not imposed by banks and others who deal in those
markets.
Commodity
Prices
Commodity
prices are volatile and, although ultimately determined by the interaction of
supply and demand, are subject to many other influences, including the
psychology of the marketplace and speculative assessments of future world and
economic events. Political climate, interest rates, treaties, balance
of payments, exchange controls and other governmental interventions as well as
numerous other variables affect the commodity markets, and even with
comparatively complete information it is impossible for any trader to predict
reliably commodity prices.
Regulation
Futures
exchanges in the United States are subject to varying degrees of regulation
under the CEA depending on whether such exchange is a designated contract
market, DTEF, exempt board of trade or electronic trading facility. Derivatives
clearing organizations are also subject to the CEA and CFTC regulation. The CFTC
is the governmental agency charged with responsibility for regulation of futures
exchanges and commodity interest trading conducted on those exchanges. The
CFTC’s function is to implement the CEA’s objectives of preventing price
manipulation and excessive speculation and promoting orderly and efficient
commodity interest markets. In addition, the various exchanges and clearing
organizations themselves exercise regulatory and supervisory authority over
their member firms.
The CFTC
possesses exclusive jurisdiction to regulate the activities of commodity pool
operators and commodity trading advisors and has adopted regulations with
respect to the activities of those persons and/or entities. Under the
CEA, a registered commodity pool operator, such as the Sponsor, is required to
make annual filings with the CFTC describing its organization, capital
structure, management and controlling persons. In addition, the CEA
authorizes the CFTC to require and review books and records of, and documents
prepared by, registered commodity pool operators. Pursuant to this
authority, the CFTC requires commodity pool operators to keep accurate, current
and orderly records for each pool that they operate. The CFTC may
suspend the registration of a commodity pool operator (1) if the CFTC finds that
the operator’s trading practices tend to disrupt orderly market conditions, (2)
if any controlling person of the operator is subject to an order of the CFTC
denying such person trading privileges on any exchange, and (3) in certain other
circumstances. Suspension, restriction or termination of the
Sponsor’s registration as a commodity pool operator would prevent it, until that
registration were to be reinstated, from managing the Fund, and might result in
the termination of the Fund if a successor sponsor is not elected pursuant to
the Trust Agreement. Neither the Trust nor the Fund is required to be
registered with the CFTC in any capacity.
The CEA
gives the CFTC similar authority with respect to the activities of commodity
trading advisors. If a trading advisor’s commodity trading advisor
registration were to be terminated, restricted or suspended, the trading advisor
would be unable, until the registration were to be reinstated, to render trading
advice to the Fund.
The CEA
requires all futures commission merchants, such as the Fund’s clearing brokers,
to meet and maintain specified fitness and financial requirements, to segregate
customer funds from proprietary funds and account separately for all customers’
funds and positions, and to maintain specified books and records open to
inspection by the staff of the CFTC. The CFTC has similar authority
over introducing brokers, who are persons that solicit or accept orders for
commodity interest trades but that do not accept margin deposits for the
execution of trades. The CEA authorizes the CFTC to regulate trading
by futures commission merchants and by their officers and directors, permits the
CFTC to require action by exchanges in the event of market emergencies, and
establishes an administrative procedure under which customers may institute
complaints for damages arising from alleged violations of the
CEA. The CEA also gives the states powers to enforce its provisions
and the regulations of the CFTC.
The
Fund’s investors are afforded prescribed rights for reparations under the
CEA. Investors may also be able to maintain a private right of action
for violations of the CEA. The CFTC has adopted rules implementing
the reparation provisions of the CEA, which provide that any person may file a
complaint for a reparations award with the CFTC for violation of the CEA against
a floor broker or a futures commission merchant, introducing broker, commodity
trading advisor, commodity pool operator, and their respective associated
persons.
Pursuant
to authority in the CEA, the NFA has been formed and registered with the CFTC as
a registered futures association. At the present time, the NFA is the
only self-regulatory organization for commodity interest professionals, other
than futures exchanges. The CFTC has delegated to the NFA
responsibility for the registration of commodity trading advisors, commodity
pool operators, futures commission merchants, introducing brokers, and their
respective associated persons and floor brokers. The Sponsor, any
trading advisor, the selling agents and the clearing brokers will be members of
the NFA. As such, they will be subject to NFA standards relating to
fair trade practices, financial condition and consumer
protection. Neither the Trust nor the Fund is itself required to
become a member of the NFA . As the self-regulatory body of the commodity
interest industry, the NFA promulgates rules governing the conduct of
professionals and disciplines those professionals that do not comply with these
rules. The NFA also arbitrates disputes between members and their
customers and conducts registration and fitness screening of applicants for
membership and audits of its existing members.
The
regulations of the CFTC and the NFA prohibit any representation by a person
registered with the CFTC or by any member of the NFA, that registration with the
CFTC, or membership in the NFA, in any respect indicates that the CFTC or the
NFA, as the case may be, has approved or endorsed that person or that person’s
trading program or objectives. The registrations and memberships of
the parties described in this summary must not be considered as constituting any
such approval or endorsement. Likewise, no futures exchange has given
or will give any similar approval or endorsement.
The
regulation of commodity interest trading in the United States and other
countries is an evolving area of the law. The various statements made
in this summary are subject to modification by legislative action and changes in
the rules and regulations of the CFTC, the NFA, the futures exchanges, clearing
organizations and other regulatory bodies.
The
function of the CFTC is to implement the objectives of the CEA of preventing
price manipulation and other disruptions to market integrity, avoiding systemic
risk, preventing fraud and promoting innovation, competition and financial
integrity of transactions. As mentioned above, this regulation, among
other things, provides that the trading of commodity interest contracts
generally must be upon exchanges designated as contract markets or DTEFs and
that all trading on those exchanges must be done by or through exchange
members. Under the CFMA, commodity interest trading in some
commodities between sophisticated persons may be traded on a trading facility
not regulated by the CFTC. As a general matter, trading in spot
contracts, forward contracts, options on forward contracts or commodities, or
swap contracts between eligible contract participants is not within the
jurisdiction of the CFTC and may therefore be effectively
unregulated. The Sponsor may engage in those transactions on behalf
of the Fund in reliance on this exclusion from regulation. Although
U.S. banks that may act as the Fund’s counterparties in commodity interest
transactions are regulated in various ways by the Federal Reserve Board, the
Comptroller of the Currency and other U.S. federal and state banking officials,
banking authorities do not regulate the commodity interest markets.
The CFTC
is prohibited by statute from regulating trading on non-U.S. futures exchanges
and markets. The CFTC, however, has adopted regulations relating to the
marketing of non-U.S. futures contracts in the United States. These regulations
permit certain contracts traded on non-U.S. exchanges to be offered and sold in
the United States.
Commodity
Margin
Margin is
the minimum amount of funds that must be deposited by a commodity interest
trader with the trader’s broker to initiate and maintain an open position in
futures contracts. A margin deposit is like a cash performance
bond. It helps assure the trader’s performance of the futures
contracts that he or she purchases or sells. Futures contracts are
customarily bought and sold on initial margin that represents a very small
percentage (ranging upward from less than 2%) of the aggregate purchase or sales
price of the contract. Because of such low margin requirements, price
fluctuations occurring in the futures markets may create profits and losses
that, in relation to the amount invested, are greater than are customary in
other forms of investment or speculation. As discussed below, adverse
price changes in the futures contract may result in margin requirements that
greatly exceed the initial margin. In addition, the amount of margin
required in connection with a particular futures contract is set from time to
time by the exchange on which the contract is traded and may be modified from
time to time by the exchange during the term of the
contract. Brokerage firms, such as the Fund’s clearing brokers,
carrying accounts for traders in commodity interest contracts generally require
higher amounts of margin as a matter of policy to further protect
themselves. Over-the-counter trading generally involves the extension
of credit between counterparties, so the counterparties may agree to require the
posting of collateral by one or both parties to address credit
exposure.
When a
trader purchases an option, there is no margin requirement; however, the option
premium must be paid in full. When a trader sells an option, on the
other hand, he or she is required to deposit margin in an amount determined by
the margin requirements established for the underlying interest and, in
addition, an amount substantially equal to the current premium for the
option. The margin requirements imposed on the selling of options,
although adjusted to reflect the probability that out-of-the-money options will
not be exercised, can in fact be higher than those imposed in dealing in the
futures markets directly. Complicated margin requirements apply to
spreads and conversions, which are complex trading strategies in which a trader
acquires a mixture of options positions and positions in the underlying
interest.
Ongoing
or “maintenance” margin requirements are computed each day by a trader’s
clearing broker. When the market value of a particular open futures
contract changes to a point where the margin on deposit does not satisfy
maintenance margin requirements, a margin call is made by the
broker. If the margin call is not met within a reasonable time, the
broker may close out the trader’s position. With respect to the
Fund’s trading, the Fund (and not its Shareholders personally) is subject to
margin calls.
Finally,
many major U.S. exchanges have passed certain cross margining arrangements
involving procedures pursuant to which the futures and options positions held in
an account would, in the case of some accounts, be aggregated and margin
requirements would be assessed on a portfolio basis, measuring the total risk of
the combined positions.
Potential
Advantages of Investment
The
Advantages of Non-Correlation
Given
that historically, the price of corn and of Corn Futures Contracts and Other
Corn Interests has had very little correlation to the stock and bond markets,
the Sponsor believes that the performance of the Fund should also exhibit little
correlation with the performance of traditional equity and debt portfolio
components. However, non-correlation does not mean that the Fund’s
performance will be better than that of other types of investment, and it is
entirely possible that the Fund may not outperform other sectors of an
investor’s portfolio, or may produce losses. Additionally, although
adding the Fund’s Shares to an investor’s portfolio may provide diversification,
the Fund is not a hedging mechanism vis-a-vis traditional debt and equity
portfolio components and you should not assume that Fund Shares will appreciate
during periods of inflation or stock and bond market declines.
Non-correlated
performance should not be confused with negatively correlated
performance. Negative correlation occurs when the performance of two
asset classes tend to move in opposite direction to each
other. Non-correlation means only that the Fund’s performance will
likely have little relation to the performance of equity and debt instruments,
reflecting that certain factors that affect equity and debt prices may affect
the Fund differently and that certain factors that affect equity and debt prices
may not affect the Fund at all. The Fund’s net asset value per share
may decline or increase more or less than equity and debt instruments during
periods of both rising and falling equity and debt markets. The
Sponsor does not expect that the Fund’s performance will be negatively
correlated to general debt and equity markets.
Interest
Income
Unlike
some alternative investment funds, the Fund does not borrow money in order to
obtain leverage, so the Fund does not incur any interest
expense. Rather, the Fund’s margin deposits and cash reserves are
maintained in Treasury Securities and interest is earned on 100% of the Fund’s
available assets, which include unrealized profits credited to the Fund’s
accounts.
PART II
Information Not Required in the
Prospectus
Item
13.
|
Other Expenses of Issuance and
Distribution
|
Set forth below is an estimate (except as indicated) of the amount of fees and
expenses (other than underwriting commissions and discounts) payable by the
registrant in connection with the issuance and distribution of the units
pursuant to the prospectus contained in this registration
statement.
|
|
Amount
|
|
SEC
registration fee (actual)
|
|
$
|
139.50
|
|
NYSE
Arca Listing Fee
|
|
$
|
5,000
|
|
FINRA
filing fees
|
|
$
|
750
|
|
Blue
Sky expenses
|
|
|
n/a
|
|
Auditor’s
fees and expenses
|
|
$
|
25,000
|
|
Legal
fees and expenses
|
|
$
|
425,000
|
|
Printing
expenses
|
|
$
|
50,000
|
|
Miscellaneous
expenses
|
|
|
n/a
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total
|
|
$
|
505,139.50
|
|
Item
14.
|
Indemnification of Directors
and Officers
|
The
Trust’s Declaration of Trust and Trust Agreement (the “Trust Agreement”)
provides that the Sponsor shall be indemnified by the Trust (or, by a series of
the Trust separately to the extent the matter in question relates to a single
series or disproportionately affects a series in relation to other series)
against any losses, judgments, liabilities, expenses and amounts paid in
settlement of any claims sustained by it in connection with its activities for
the Trust, provided that (i) the Sponsor was acting on behalf of or performing
services for the Trust and has determined, in good faith, that such course of
conduct was in the best interests of the Trust and such liability or loss was
not the result of gross negligence, willful misconduct, or a breach of the Trust
Agreement on the part of the Sponsor and (ii) any such indemnification will only
be recoverable from the applicable trust estate or trust estates. All
rights to indemnification permitted by the Trust Agreement and payment of
associated expenses shall not be affected by the dissolution or other cessation
to exist of the Sponsor, or the withdrawal, adjudication of bankruptcy or
insolvency of the Sponsor, or the filing of a voluntary or involuntary petition
in bankruptcy under Title 11 of the Bankruptcy Code by or against the
Sponsor.
Notwithstanding
the foregoing, the Sponsor shall not be indemnified for any losses, liabilities
or expenses arising from or out of an alleged violation of U.S. federal or state
securities laws unless (i) there has been a successful adjudication on the
merits of each count involving alleged securities law violations as to the
particular indemnitee and the court approves the indemnification of such
expenses (including, without limitation, litigation costs), (ii) such claims
have been dismissed with prejudice on the merits by a court of competent
jurisdiction as to the particular indemnitee and the court approves the
indemnification of such expenses (including, without limitation, litigation
costs) or (iii) a court of competent jurisdiction approves a settlement of the
claims against a particular indemnitee and finds that indemnification of the
settlement and related costs should be made.
The Trust
and its series shall not incur the cost of that portion of any insurance which
insures any party against any liability, the indemnification of which is
prohibited by the Trust Agreement.
Expenses
incurred in defending a threatened or pending civil, administrative or criminal
action suit or proceeding against the Sponsor shall be paid by the Trust in
advance of the final disposition of such action, suit or proceeding, if (i) the
legal action relates to the performance of duties or services by the Sponsor on
behalf of the Trust; (ii) the legal action is initiated by a party other than
the Trust; and (iii) the Sponsor undertakes to repay the advanced funds with
interest to the Trust in cases in which it is not entitled to indemnification
under the Trust Agreement.
For
purposes of the indemnification provisions of the Trust Agreement, the term
“Sponsor” includes, in addition to the Sponsor, any other covered person
performing services on behalf of the Trust and acting within the scope of the
Sponsor’s authority as set forth in the Trust Agreement.
In the
event the Trust is made a party to any claim, dispute, demand or litigation or
otherwise incurs any loss, liability, damage, cost or expense as a result of or
in connection with any Shareholder’s (or assignee’s) obligations or liabilities
unrelated to Trust business, such Shareholder (or assignees cumulatively) shall
indemnify, defend, hold harmless, and reimburse the Trust for all such loss,
liability, damage, cost and expense incurred, including attorneys’ and
accountants’ fees.
The payment of any amount pursuant to
the Trust Agreement shall take into account the allocation of liabilities and
other amounts, as appropriate, among the series of the Trust.
Item
15.
|
Recent Sales of Unregistered
Securities
|
On September 11, 2009, the Sponsor made a $100.00 capital contribution to
the Trust and acquired four shares of the Fund in connection
therewith.
Item
16.
|
Exhibits and Financial
Statement Schedules
|
3.1**
|
|
Initial
form of Declaration of Trust and Trust Agreement of the
Registrant.
|
|
|
|
3.2**
|
|
Certificate
of Trust of the registrant.
|
|
|
|
5.1*
|
|
Opinion
of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP relating to the legality of the
Shares.
|
|
|
|
8.1*
|
|
Opinion
of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP with respect to federal income tax
consequences.
|
|
|
|
10.1*
|
|
Form
of Initial Authorized Purchaser Agreement.
|
|
|
|
10.2*
|
|
Form
of Marketing Agent Agreement
|
|
|
|
10.3*
|
|
Form
of Custodian Agreement.
|
|
|
|
10.4*
|
|
Form
of Administration Agreement.
|
|
|
|
23.1*
|
|
Consent
of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP (included in Exhibit
5.1(a)).
|
|
|
|
23.2*
|
|
Consent
of Independent Registered Public Accounting
Firm.
|
*
|
To
Be Filed By Amendment.
|
(b)
Financial Statement
Schedules
The financial statement schedules are either not applicable or the required
information is included in the financial statements and footnotes related
thereto.
(a) Each
undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:
(1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a
post-effective amendment to this registration statement:
(i) To
include any prospectus required by section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act
of 1933;
(ii) To
reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date
of the registration statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment
thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change
in the information set forth in the registration
statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in
volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered
would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or
high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of
prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to
Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent
no more than 20 percent change in the maximum aggregate offering price set
forth in the “Calculation of Registration Fee” table in the effective
registration statement.
(iii) To
include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not
previously disclosed in the registration statement or any material change to
such information in the registration statement.
(2) That,
for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933,
each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration
statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such
securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial
bona fide
offering
thereof.
(3) To
remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the
securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the
offering.
(4) That,
for the purpose of determining liability under the Securities Act of 1933 to any
purchaser:
(i) If the registrant is subject to Rule 430C (§230.430C of this
chapter), each prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) as part of a
registration statement relating to an offering, other than registration
statements relying on Rule 430B or other than prospectuses filed in
reliance on Rule 430A (§230.430A of this chapter), shall be deemed to be
part of and included in the registration statement as of the date it is first
used after effectiveness. Provided, however, that no statement made
in a registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration
statement or made in a document incorporated or deemed incorporated by reference
into the registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration
statement will, as to a purchaser with a time of contract of sale prior to such
first use, supersede or modify any statement that was made in the registration
statement or prospectus that was part of the registration statement or made in
any such document immediately prior to such date of first use.
(5) That,
for the purpose of determining liability of the registrant under the Securities
Act of 1933 to any purchaser in the initial distribution of the
securities: The undersigned registrant undertakes that in a primary
offering of securities of the undersigned registrant pursuant to this
registration statement, regardless of the underwriting method used to sell the
securities to the purchaser, if the securities are offered or sold to such
purchaser by means of any of the following communications, the undersigned
registrant will be a seller to the purchaser and will be considered to offer or
sell such securities to such purchaser:
(i) Any
preliminary prospectus or prospectus of the undersigned registrant relating to
the offering required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424 (§230.424 of this
chapter);
(ii) Any
free writing prospectus relating to the offering prepared by or on behalf of the
undersigned registrant or used or referred to by the undersigned
registrant;
(iii) The
portion of any other free writing prospectus relating to the offering containing
material information about the undersigned registrant or its securities provided
by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant; and
(iv) Any
other communication that is an offer in the offering made by the undersigned
registrant to the purchaser.
(b) Insofar
as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 may
be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the registrant
pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant has been
advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such
indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Act and is,
therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for
indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the
registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling
person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or
proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in
connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in
the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent,
submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such
indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and will
be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the Registrant has duly
caused this Registration Statement on Form S-1 to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned, thereunder duly authorized, in the town of Easton, state of
Connecticut, on September 20, 2009.
Teucrium
Commodity Trust
|
|
|
By:
|
Teucrium
Trading, LLC, Sponsor
|
|
|
By:
|
/s/ Sal Gilbertie
|
September
20, 2009
|
Name:
|
Sal
Gilbertie
|
Title:
|
President
and Member
|
POWER
OF ATTORNEY
The
undersigned members and officers of Teucrium Trading, LLC, the sponsor of
Teucrium Commodity Trust, hereby constitute and appoint Sal Gilbertie and Carl
N. Miller III and each of them with full power to act with full power of
substitution and resubstitution, our true and lawful attorneys-in-fact with full
power to execute in our name and behalf in the capacities indicated below this
Registration Statement on Form S-1 and any and all amendments thereto, including
post-effective amendments to this Registration Statement and to sign any and all
additional registration statements relating to the same offering of securities
as this Registration Statement that are filed pursuant to Rule 462(b) of the
Securities Act of 1933, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto and
other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange
Commission and thereby ratify and confirm that such attorneys-in-fact, or any of
them, or their substitutes shall lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue
hereof. Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933,
this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the
capacities and on the dates indicated.
Signature
|
|
Title
|
|
Date
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
President/Member
of the Sponsor
|
|
|
/s/
Sal Gilbertie
|
|
|
|
September
20, 2009
|
Sal
Gilbertie
|
|
|
|
|
|
Treasurer/Member
of the Sponsor
|
|
|
/s/
Dale Riker
|
|
|
|
September
19, 2009
|
Dale
Riker
|
|
|
|
|
|
Secretary/Member
of the Sponsor
|
|
|
/s/
Carl N. Miller III
|
|
|
|
September
19, 2009
|
Carl
N. Miller III
|
|
|
|
3.1
|
Initial
form of Declaration of Trust and Trust Agreement
|
|
|
3.2
|
Certificate
of Trust
|