Table of Contents

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 31, 2016.

Registration Nos. 333-209996

811-22736

 

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

 

 

Form N-1A

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

  THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933    ¨
  Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1    x
  Post-Effective Amendment No.         ¨

and/or

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

  THE INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940    ¨
  Amendment No. 1    x

(Check Appropriate Box or Boxes)

 

 

COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)

 

 

225 Franklin Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02110

(Address of Principal Executive Officers) (Zip Code)

Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code: (800) 345-6611

 

 

Christopher O. Petersen, Esq.

c/o Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC

225 Franklin Street

Boston, Massachusetts 02110

(Name and Address of Agent for Service)

 

 

Approximate date of proposed public offering: June 6, 2016.

In accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Registrant requests that its Registration Statement be declared effective as of June 1, 2016 or upon such date as the Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

This Pre-Effective Amendment relates solely to the Registrant’s Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF, Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF and Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF series.

 

 

 


Table of Contents
Prospectus
June 6, 2016
Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF
    
Ticker Symbol
ESGW
This prospectus provides important information about the Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF (the Fund), a passively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) that is a series of Columbia ETF Trust I (the Trust), that you should know before investing. Please read it carefully and keep it for future reference.
These securities have not been approved or disapproved by the Securities and Exchange Commission nor has the Securities and Exchange Commission passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
Shares of the Fund are listed and traded on NYSE Arca, Inc. (the Exchange).
The Trust has not yet received exemptive relief from the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer and sell shares of passively managed ETFs.
No person has been authorized to give any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus and the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information (SAI) dated June 6, 2016 (which is incorporated by reference into this prospectus and is legally a part of this prospectus) and, if given or made, such information or representations may not be relied upon as having been authorized by us.

 

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Table of Contents
Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF
Summary of the Fund
Investment Objective
Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF (the Fund) seeks investment results that, before fees and expenses, closely correspond to the performance of the Beta Advantage SM Sustainable Global Equity Income 200 Index (the Index).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. You may also pay brokerage commissions on the purchase and sale of shares of the Fund, which are not reflected in the table. If such expenses were reflected, the expenses set forth below would be higher.
    
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management fees (a) 0.40%
Distribution and/or service (12b-1) fees (b) 0.00%
Other expenses 0.00%
Total annual Fund operating expenses 0.40%
(a) Under the Fund’s Investment Management Services Agreement with Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC (the Investment Manager), the Investment Manager has agreed to pay the operating costs and expenses of the Fund other than taxes, interest, portfolio transaction expenses and infrequent and/or unusual expenses.
(b) Pursuant to a Rule 12b-1 Distribution and Service Plan (the Plan), the Fund may bear a Rule 12b-1 fee not to exceed 0.25% per year of the Fund’s average daily net assets. However, no such fee is currently paid by the Fund, and the Board of Trustees has not currently approved the commencement of any payments under the Plan.
Example
The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The example illustrates the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over the time periods indicated (whether or not shares are redeemed), and assumes that:
you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the periods indicated,
your investment has a 5% return each year, and
the Fund’s total annual operating expenses remain the same as shown in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses table above.
Investors may pay brokerage commissions on their purchases and sales of the Fund’s shares, which are not reflected in the example. The example also does not include transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units (defined below) because those fees will not be imposed on retail investors. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on the assumptions listed above, your costs (based on estimated Fund expenses) would be:
    
  1 year 3 years
  $41 $128
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. Because the Fund is newly organized, portfolio turnover information is not available as of the date of this prospectus.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund uses an indexing investment approach that seeks to replicate the performance of the Index.
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Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF
Summary of the Fund (continued)
The Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of the Index and depositary receipts representing such securities (or if depositary receipts are component securities of the Index, then underlying stocks of such depositary receipts).
The Index is owned and calculated by MSCI Inc. (MSCI or the Index Provider). The Index was developed by MSCI with input from Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC (the Fund’s Investment Manager). The Index, which typically holds common stocks and depositary receipts, was constructed to provide exposure to U.S. and foreign (developed market) large- and mid-cap companies (located in developed markets) that are believed to offer sustainable levels of income, as well as total return opportunity.
The Index is comprised of a subset of 200 companies within the MSCI World Index. The Index was designed to reflect the performance of the top 200 U.S. and foreign large- and mid-cap companies (located in developed markets) within the MSCI World Index. The Index reflects a combination of the Beta Advantage Sustainable U.S. Equity Income 100 Index (the U.S. Component) and the Beta Advantage Sustainable International Equity Income 100 Index (the International Component) in a single composite index.
The U.S. Component: with a starting point of the MSCI USA Index, the U.S. Component Index was designed to reflect the performance of the top 100 U.S. large- and mid-cap companies, excluding real estate investment trusts (REITs). The U.S. Component typically includes common stocks.
The International Component: with a starting point of the MSCI World ex USA Index, the International Component was designed to reflect the performance of the top 100 foreign (developed markets) large- and mid-cap companies (excluding REITs). The International Component typically includes common stocks and depositary receipts.
Each of the U.S. Component and the International Component (collectively, the Components) are constructed through the application of systematic, rules-based methodologies applied by MSCI that ranks and weights companies according to a composite factor score that focuses on security dividend yield, dividend growth, and cash-based dividend coverage ratio factors. MSCI also screens companies for "sustainability" through the application of its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rating methodology that is designed to exclude companies with unfavorable corporate ESG practices. The securities within each Component are weighted based on the overall composite model scores and dividend yield.
The Index and the Components are rebalanced on a quarterly basis in February, May, August and November. At each rebalancing, the weights of the U.S. Component and the International Component within the Index are set to match the U.S. and non-U.S. (International) weights within the MSCI World Value Index. As such, the Index's holdings in U.S. companies and non-U.S. companies are established by rule methodology, according to their weightings in the MSCI World Value Index. At March 31, 2016, the MSCI World Value Index held 59.95% in U.S. companies and 40.05% in foreign companies.
The Fund uses a replication strategy to track the performance of the Index, whereby the Fund invests in or has investment exposure to substantially all of the component securities of the Index in approximately the same proportions as in the Index. However, under various circumstances, including circumstances under which it may not be possible or practicable to purchase all of the securities in the Index, or in the same weightings, the Fund may purchase or have investment exposure to a sample of the securities in the Index in proportions expected to replicate generally the performance of the Index as a whole. There may also be instances in which the Fund may overweight (or underweight) an Index holding, purchase (or sell) instruments not in the Index as a substitute for one or more securities in the Index or utilize various combinations of other available investment techniques in seeking to replicate the performance of the Index. The Fund may sell securities or other holdings that are represented in the Index or purchase securities or make other investments that are not yet represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from or addition to the Index by MSCI.
The Investment Manager does not invest the Fund’s assets based on its view of the investment merits of a particular security or company, nor does it conduct fundamental investment research or analysis, or seek to forecast or otherwise consider market movements, conditions or trends in managing the Fund’s assets. The Fund pursues its investment objective of correlating performance with the Index regardless of market conditions and does not to take defensive positions.
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Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF
Summary of the Fund (continued)
The methodology applied by MSCI to select Index holdings and weightings does not set limits on sector or industry exposures. To the extent the Index is concentrated in a particular sector or industry, the Fund will necessarily be concentrated in that sector or industry.
The Fund may buy shares of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (the Investment Manager’s parent company), if included in the Index, subject to certain restrictions.
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund involves risks, including those described below. There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective and you may lose money . The value of the Fund’s holdings may decline, and the Fund’s net asset value (NAV) and share price may go down.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined below) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants, none of which are or will be obligated to engage in creation or redemption transactions. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable or unwilling to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able or willing to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. This Risk is heightened in times of market stress.
Changing Distribution Level Risk. The amount of the distributions paid by the Fund will vary and generally depends on the amount of interest income and/or dividends received (less expenses) by the Fund on the securities it holds. If the Fund does not receive any such income and/or dividends, the Fund may not be in a position to make distributions to shareholders. If the interest income and/or dividends the Fund receives from its investments declines, the Fund may have to reduce its distribution level.
Correlation/Tracking Error Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with the Index, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve such degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective. The factors that may adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with the Index include the size of the Fund’s portfolio, fees, expenses, transaction costs, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards, the effectiveness of sampling techniques, changes in the Index and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities in which the Fund invests. While the Fund typically attempts to track the performance of the Index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the types of securities that make up the Index in approximately the same proportion as their weighting in the Index, at times, the Fund may not have investment exposure to all securities in the Index, or its weighting of investment exposure to securities may be different from that of the Index. In addition, the Fund may invest in securities not included in the Index. The Fund may take or refrain from taking investment positions for various reasons, such as tax efficiency purposes, or to comply with regulatory restrictions, which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with the Index. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being over- or under-exposed to certain securities comprising the Index and may be impacted by Index reconstitutions and Index rebalancing events. Additionally, the Fund's underlying foreign investments may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day or at the same time as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the level of the Index. Furthermore, the Fund may need to execute currency trades that due to regulatory, legal and operational constraints will occur at a later date than the trading of the related security. Currency holdings may be valued at a different time than is used by the Index. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and the Index and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective.
Depositary Receipts Risk. Depositary receipts are receipts issued by a bank or trust company reflecting ownership of underlying securities issued by foreign companies. Some foreign securities are traded in the form of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). Depositary receipts involve risks similar to the risks associated with investments in foreign securities, including those associated with investing in the particular country of an issuer, which may be related to the particular political, regulatory, economic, social and other conditions or events occurring in the country and fluctuations in its currency, as well as market risk tied to the underlying foreign company. In addition, ADR
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Table of Contents
Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF
Summary of the Fund (continued)
holders may have limited voting rights, may not have the same rights afforded typical company stockholders in the event of a corporate action such as an acquisition, merger or rights offering and may experience difficulty in receiving company stockholder communications.
Early Close/Late Close/Trading Halt Risk.  An exchange or market may close early, close late or issue trading halts on specific securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities may be restricted, which may result in the Fund being unable to buy or sell certain securities. In these circumstances, the Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be unable to accurately price its investments and/or may incur substantial trading losses.
Environmental, Social and Governance Investing Risk . The Index’s environmental, social and corporate governance screening may cause the Fund to forgo certain investment opportunities, and/or forgo opportunities to gain exposure to certain industries, sectors, regions, countries and companies that could have benefited the Fund. In addition, the Fund may be required to sell a security when it might otherwise be disadvantageous for it to do so.
Foreign Securities Risk. Investments in or exposure to foreign securities involve certain risks not associated with investments in or exposure to securities of U.S. companies. Foreign securities subject the Fund to the risks associated with investing in the particular country of an issuer, including the political, regulatory, economic, social, diplomatic and other conditions or events occurring in the country or region, as well as risks associated with less developed custody and settlement practices. Foreign securities may be more volatile and less liquid than securities of U.S. companies, and are subject to the risks associated with potential imposition of economic and other sanctions against a particular foreign country, its nationals or industries or businesses within the country. In addition, foreign governments may impose withholding or other taxes on the Fund’s income, capital gains or proceeds from the disposition of foreign securities, which could reduce the Fund’s return on such securities. The performance of the Fund may also be negatively impacted by fluctuations in a foreign currency's strength or weakness relative to the U.S. dollar, particularly to the extent the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in foreign securities or other assets denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying foreign investments may trade in markets that may not be open on the same day or at the same time as the Fund, or foreign markets may close after the Fund has calculated its NAV for a given business day, which may cause a difference in the market price of such underlying foreign securities and the value attributed to such securities by the Fund.
Fund Shares Liquidity Risk. Although the Fund’s shares are listed on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active or liquid trading market for shares will be established or maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants, particularly in times of stressed market conditions. There is no obligation of market makers to make a market in the Fund’s shares or of Authorized Participants to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units. As such they may step away from their roles and this could in turn lead to variances between the market price of the Fund’s shares and the underlying value of those shares. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in Fund shares inadvisable. Further, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged.
Index Methodology Risk. The Fund seeks performance that corresponds to the performance of the Index. There is no guarantee or assurance that the methodology used to create the Index will result in the Fund achieving high, or even positive, returns. The Index may underperform more traditional indices. The Fund could lose value while other indices or measures of market performance increase in level or performance. In addition, the Fund may be subject to the risk that the Index provider may not follow its stated methodology for determining the level of the Index and/or achieve the index provider’s intended performance objective.
Issuer Risk. An issuer in which the Fund invests or to which it has exposure may perform poorly, and the value of its securities may therefore decline, which would negatively affect the Fund’s performance. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, breakthroughs in technology, reliance on suppliers, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, natural disasters or other events, conditions or factors.
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Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF
Summary of the Fund (continued)
Limitations of Intraday Indicative Value (IIV) Risk. The Exchange intends to disseminate the approximate per share value of the Fund’s published basket of portfolio securities every 15 seconds (the ‘‘intraday indicative value’’ or ‘‘IIV’’). The IIV should not be viewed as a ‘‘real-time’’ update of the NAV per share of the Fund because the IIV may not be calculated in the same manner as the NAV, which is computed once a day, generally at the end of the business day, (ii) the calculation of NAV may be subject to fair valuation at different prices than those used in the calculations of the IIV, unlike the calculation of NAV, the IIV does not take into account Fund expenses, and (iv) the IIV is based on the published basket of portfolio securities and not on the Fund’s actual holdings. The IIV calculations are based on local market prices and may not reflect events that occur subsequent to the local market’s close, which could affect premiums and discounts between the IIV and the market price of the Fund’s shares. For example, if the Fund fair values portfolio securities, the Fund’s NAV may deviate from the approximate per share value of the Fund’s published basket of portfolio securities (i.e., the IIV), which could result in the market prices for Fund shares deviating from NAV. The Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates are not involved in, or responsible for, any aspect of the calculation or dissemination of the Fund’s IIV, and the Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates do not make any warranty as to the accuracy of these calculations.
Liquidity Risk. Liquidity risk is the risk associated with any event, circumstance, or characteristic of an investment or market that negatively impacts the Fund’s ability to sell, or realize the proceeds from the sale of, an investment at a desirable time or price. Liquidity risk may arise because of, for example, a lack of marketability of the investment, which means that when seeking to sell its portfolio investments, the Fund could find that selling is more difficult than anticipated, especially during times of high market volatility. Market participants attempting to sell the same or a similar instrument at the same time as the Fund could exacerbate the Fund’s exposure to liquidity risk. The Fund may have to accept a lower selling price for the holding, sell other, liquid or more liquid, investments that it might otherwise prefer to hold (thereby increasing the proportion of the Fund’s investments in less liquid or illiquid securities), or forego another more appealing investment opportunity. Certain investments that were liquid when purchased by the Fund may later become illiquid, particularly in times of overall economic distress. Changing regulatory, market or other conditions or environments (for example, the interest rate or credit environments) may also adversely affect the liquidity and the price of the Fund's investments. Judgment plays a larger role in valuing illiquid or less liquid investments as compared to valuing liquid or more liquid investments. Price volatility may be higher for illiquid or less liquid investments as a result of, for example, the relatively less frequent pricing of such securities (as compared to liquid or more liquid investments). Generally, the less liquid the market at the time the Fund sells a portfolio investment, the greater the risk of loss or decline of value to the Fund. Overall market liquidity and other factors can lead to an increase in Fund redemptions, which may negatively impact Fund performance and NAV, including, for example, if the Fund is forced to sell investments in a down market. In certain circumstances, the Fund might not be able to dispose of certain holdings quickly or at fair prices, preventing the Fund from tracking the Index. Foreign securities can present enhanced liquidity risks, including as a result of less developed custody, settlement or other practices of foreign markets. In addition, in stressed market conditions, the market for Fund shares may become less liquid. Deterioration in the liquidity of Fund shares may adversely impact the liquidity of the Fund's underlying portfolio securities. These adverse impacts on the liquidity of Fund shares and on the liquidity of the Fund's underlying portfolio securities could in turn lead to differences between the market price of Fund shares and the underlying value of those shares.
Market Price Relative to NAV Risk. Shares of the Fund may trade at prices that vary from Fund NAV. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on the Exchange and are bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices that may differ, in some cases significantly, from their NAV. The NAV of the Fund will generally fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings. The market prices of shares, however, will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in NAV as well as the relative supply of, and demand for, shares on the Exchange. The Investment Manager cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their NAV. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related to, but not identical to, the same forces influencing the prices of the securities held by the Fund. Given that shares can be purchased and redeemed in large blocks of shares, called Creation Units (defined below) (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAV), and the names and quantitates of the securities and other instruments comprising the Fund's In-Kind Creation Basket/In-Kind Redemption Basket are disclosed on a daily basis, the Investment Manager does not
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Table of Contents
Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF
Summary of the Fund (continued)
anticipate that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of shares will occur, although there can be no assurance that will be the case. However, if a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.
Market Risk. Market risk refers to the possibility that the market values of securities or other investments that the Fund holds will fall, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, or fail to rise. An investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods.
Mid-Cap Company Securities Risk. Investments in mid-capitalization companies (mid-cap companies) often involve greater risks than investments in larger, more established companies (larger companies) because mid-cap companies tend to have less predictable earnings and may lack the management experience, financial resources, product diversification and competitive strengths of larger companies, and may be less liquid than the securities of larger companies.
New Fund Risk. The Fund is a newly-formed passively managed ETF. Accordingly, investors in the Fund bear the risk that the Fund may not be successful in implementing its passive investment strategy of replicating the Index, which could result in the Fund being liquidated at any time without shareholder approval and/or at a time that may not be favorable for shareholders. Such a liquidation could have negative tax consequences for shareholders.
Portfolio Turnover Risk. In seeking to meet its investment objective, the Fund may incur portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains.
Secondary Market Trading Risk. Investors buying or selling shares of the Fund will pay brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by brokers as determined by that broker. Brokerage commissions are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell relatively small amounts of shares.
Performance Information
The Fund is new as of the date of this prospectus and therefore performance information is not available.
When available, the Fund intends to compare its performance to the performance of the Beta Advantage Sustainable Global Equity Income 200 Index and to the performance of the MSCI World Value Index.
When available, updated performance information can be obtained by calling toll-free 800.774.3768 or visiting columbiathreadneedleetf.com.
Fund Management
Investment Manager: Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC
    
Portfolio Manager   Title   Role with Fund   Managed Fund Since
Christopher Lo, CFA   Senior Portfolio Manager   Manager   June 2016
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares only through Authorized Participants (typically broker-dealers) in large blocks of shares, typically 50,000 shares, called Creation Units. Creation Units are issued and redeemed typically for an in-kind basket of securities. Individual shares may only be purchased and sold on a national securities exchange through a broker-dealer. Because the Fund’s shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount).
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Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF
Summary of the Fund (continued)
Tax Information
The Fund intends to distribute net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, to shareholders. These distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income, qualified dividend income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, you may be taxed upon withdrawals from that account.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your financial advisor to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
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Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF
More Information About the Fund
Investment Objective
Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF (the Fund) seeks investment results that, before fees and expenses, closely correspond to the performance of the Beta Advantage Sustainable Global Equity Income 200 Index (the Index). The Fund’s investment objective is not a fundamental policy and may be changed by the Fund’s Board of Trustees without shareholder approval. Because any investment involves risk, there is no assurance the Fund’s objective will be achieved.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund uses an indexing investment approach that seeks to replicate the performance of the Index.
The Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of the Index and depositary receipts representing such securities (or if depositary receipts are component securities of the Index, then underlying stocks of such depositary receipts).
The Index is owned and calculated by MSCI Inc. (MSCI or the Index Provider). The Index was developed by MSCI with input from Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC (the Fund’s Investment Manager). The Index, which typically holds common stocks and depositary receipts, was constructed to provide exposure to U.S. and foreign (developed market) large- and mid-cap companies (located in developed markets) that are believed to offer sustainable levels of income, as well as total return opportunity.
The Index is comprised of a subset of 200 companies within the MSCI World Index. The Index was designed to reflect the performance of the top 200 U.S. and foreign large- and mid-cap companies (located in developed markets) within the MSCI World Index. The Index reflects a combination of the Beta Advantage Sustainable U.S. Equity Income 100 Index (the U.S. Component) and the Beta Advantage Sustainable International Equity Income 100 Index (the International Component) in a single composite index.
The U.S. Component: with a starting point of the MSCI USA Index, the U.S. Component Index was designed to reflect the performance of the top 100 U.S. large- and mid-cap companies, excluding real estate investment trusts (REITs). The U.S. Component typically includes common stocks.
The International Component: with a starting point of the MSCI World ex USA Index, the International Component was designed to reflect the performance of the top 100 foreign (developed markets) large- and mid-cap companies (excluding REITs). The International Component typically includes common stocks and depositary receipts.
Each of the U.S. Component and the International Component (collectively, the Components) are constructed through the application of systematic, rules-based methodologies applied by MSCI that ranks and weights companies according to a composite factor score that focuses on security dividend yield, dividend growth, and cash-based dividend coverage ratio factors. MSCI also screens companies for "sustainability" through the application of its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rating methodology that is designed to exclude companies with unfavorable corporate ESG practices. The securities within each Component are weighted based on the overall composite model scores and dividend yield.
The Index and the Components are rebalanced on a quarterly basis in February, May, August and November. At each rebalancing, the weights of the U.S. Component and the International Component within the Index are set to match the U.S. and non-U.S. (International) weights within the MSCI World Value Index. As such, the Index's holdings in U.S. companies and non-U.S. companies are established by rule methodology, according to their weightings in the MSCI World Value Index. At March 31, 2016, the MSCI World Value Index held 59.95% in U.S. companies and 40.05% in foreign companies.
The Fund uses a replication strategy to track the performance of the Index, whereby the Fund invests in or has investment exposure to substantially all of the component securities of the Index in approximately the same proportions as in the Index. However, under various circumstances, including circumstances under which it may not be possible or practicable to purchase all of the securities in the Index, or in the same weightings, the Fund may purchase or have investment exposure to a sample of the securities in the Index in proportions expected to replicate generally the performance of the Index as a whole. There may also be instances in which the Fund may overweight (or underweight) an Index holding, purchase (or sell) instruments not in the Index as a substitute for one or more
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Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF
More Information About the Fund (continued)
securities in the Index or utilize various combinations of other available investment techniques in seeking to replicate the performance of the Index. The Fund may sell securities or other holdings that are represented in the Index or purchase securities or make other investments that are not yet represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from or addition to the Index by MSCI.
The Investment Manager does not invest the Fund’s assets based on its view of the investment merits of a particular security or company, nor does it conduct fundamental investment research or analysis, or seek to forecast or otherwise consider market movements, conditions or trends in managing the Fund’s assets. The Fund pursues its investment objective of correlating performance with the Index regardless of market conditions and does not to take defensive positions.
The methodology applied by MSCI to select Index holdings and weightings does not set limits on sector or industry exposures. To the extent the Index is concentrated in a particular sector or industry, the Fund will necessarily be concentrated in that sector or industry.
The Fund may buy shares of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (the Investment Manager’s parent company), if included in the Index, subject to certain restrictions.    
The Fund reserves the right to substitute a different index for the Index, without the approval of the Fund’s shareholders.
The Fund’s investment policy with respect to 80% of its assets may be changed by the Fund’s Board of Trustees without shareholder approval as long as shareholders are given 60 days’ advance written notice of the change.
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund involves risks, including those described below. There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective and you may lose money . The value of the Fund’s holdings may decline, and the Fund’s net asset value (NAV) and share price may go down.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined below) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants, none of which are or will be obligated to engage in creation or redemption transactions. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable or unwilling to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able or willing to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. This Risk is heightened in times of market stress.
Changing Distribution Level Risk. The amount of the distributions paid by the Fund will vary and generally depends on the amount of interest income and/or dividends received (less expenses) by the Fund on the securities it holds. If the Fund does not receive any such income and/or dividends, the Fund may not be in a position to make distributions to shareholders. If the interest income and/or dividends the Fund receives from its investments declines, the Fund may have to reduce its distribution level.
Correlation/Tracking Error Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with the Index, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve such degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective. The factors that may adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with the Index include the size of the Fund’s portfolio, fees, expenses, transaction costs, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards, the effectiveness of sampling techniques, changes in the Index and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities in which the Fund invests. While the Fund typically attempts to track the performance of the Index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the types of securities that make up the Index in approximately the same proportion as their weighting in the Index, at times, the Fund may not have investment exposure to all securities in the Index, or its weighting of investment exposure to securities may be different from that of the Index. In addition, the Fund may invest in securities not included in the Index. The Fund may take or refrain from taking investment positions for various reasons, such as tax efficiency purposes, or to comply with regulatory restrictions, which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with the Index. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out
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of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being over- or under-exposed to certain securities comprising the Index and may be impacted by Index reconstitutions and Index rebalancing events. Additionally, the Fund's underlying foreign investments may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day or at the same time as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the level of the Index. Furthermore, the Fund may need to execute currency trades that due to regulatory, legal and operational constraints will occur at a later date than the trading of the related security. Currency holdings may be valued at a different time than is used by the Index. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and the Index and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective.
Depositary Receipts Risk. Depositary receipts are receipts issued by a bank or trust company reflecting ownership of underlying securities issued by foreign companies. Some foreign securities are traded in the form of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). Depositary receipts involve risks similar to the risks associated with investments in foreign securities, including those associated with investing in the particular country of an issuer, which may be related to the particular political, regulatory, economic, social and other conditions or events occurring in the country and fluctuations in its currency, as well as market risk tied to the underlying foreign company. In addition, ADR holders may have limited voting rights, may not have the same rights afforded typical company stockholders in the event of a corporate action such as an acquisition, merger or rights offering and may experience difficulty in receiving company stockholder communications.
Early Close/Late Close/Trading Halt Risk.  An exchange or market may close early, close late or issue trading halts on specific securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities may be restricted, which may result in the Fund being unable to buy or sell certain securities. In these circumstances, the Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be unable to accurately price its investments and/or may incur substantial trading losses.
Environmental, Social and Governance Investing Risk . The Index’s environmental, social and corporate governance screening may cause the Fund to forgo certain investment opportunities, and/or forgo opportunities to gain exposure to certain industries, sectors, regions, countries and companies that could have benefited the Fund. In addition, the Fund may be required to sell a security when it might otherwise be disadvantageous for it to do so.
Foreign Securities Risk. Investments in or exposure to foreign securities involve certain risks not associated with investments in or exposure to securities of U.S. companies. For example, foreign markets can be extremely volatile. Foreign securities may also be less liquid than securities of U.S. companies so that the Fund may, at times, be unable to sell foreign securities at desirable times or prices. Brokerage commissions, custodial costs and other fees are also generally higher for foreign securities. The Fund may have limited or no legal recourse in the event of default with respect to certain foreign securities, including those issued by foreign governments. In addition, foreign governments may impose withholding or other taxes on the Fund’s income, capital gains or proceeds from the disposition of foreign securities, which could reduce the Fund’s return on such securities. In some cases, such withholding or other taxes could potentially be confiscatory. Other risks include: possible delays in the settlement of transactions or in the payment of income; generally less publicly available information about foreign companies; the impact of economic, political, social, diplomatic or other conditions or events; possible seizure, expropriation or nationalization of a company or its assets or the assets of a particular investor or category of investors; accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards that may be less comprehensive and stringent than those applicable to domestic companies; the imposition of economic and other sanctions against a particular foreign country, its nationals or industries or businesses within the country; and the generally less stringent standard of care to which local agents may be held in the local markets. In addition, it may be difficult to obtain reliable information about the securities and business operations of certain foreign issuers. Governments or trade groups may compel local agents to hold securities in designated depositories that are not subject to independent evaluation. The less developed a country’s securities market is, the greater the level of risks. The risks posed by sanctions against a particular foreign country, its nationals or industries or businesses within the country may be heightened to the extent the Fund invests significantly in the affected country or region or in issuers from the affected country that depend on global markets. The performance of the Fund may also be negatively impacted by fluctuations in a foreign currency's strength or weakness relative to the U.S. dollar, particularly to the extent the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in foreign securities or other assets denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Currency rates in foreign countries may fluctuate significantly over short or long periods of time for a number of reasons, including changes in
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interest rates, imposition of currency exchange controls and economic or political developments in the U.S. or abroad. The Fund may also incur currency conversion costs when converting foreign currencies into U.S. dollars and vice versa. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying foreign investments may trade in markets that may not be open on the same day or at the same time as the Fund, or foreign markets may close after the Fund has calculated its NAV for a given business day, which may cause a difference in the market price of such underlying foreign securities and the value attributed to such securities by the Fund.
Fund Shares Liquidity Risk. Although the Fund’s shares are listed on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active or liquid trading market for shares will be established or maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants, particularly in times of stressed market conditions. There is no obligation of market makers to make a market in the Fund’s shares or of Authorized Participants to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units. As such they may step away from their roles and this could in turn lead to variances between the market price of the Fund’s shares and the underlying value of those shares. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in Fund shares inadvisable. Further, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged.
Index Methodology Risk. The Fund seeks performance that corresponds to the performance of the Index. There is no guarantee or assurance that the methodology used to create the Index will result in the Fund achieving high, or even positive, returns. The Index may underperform more traditional indices. The Fund could lose value while other indices or measures of market performance increase in level or performance. In addition, the Fund may be subject to the risk that the Index provider may not follow its stated methodology for determining the level of the Index and/or achieve the index provider’s intended performance objective.
Issuer Risk. An issuer in which the Fund invests or to which it has exposure may perform poorly, and the value of its securities may therefore decline, which would negatively affect the Fund’s performance. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, breakthroughs in technology, reliance on suppliers, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, natural disasters or other events, conditions or factors.
Limitations of Intraday Indicative Value (IIV) Risk. The Exchange intends to disseminate the approximate per share value of the Fund’s published basket of portfolio securities every 15 seconds (the ‘‘intraday indicative value’’ or ‘‘IIV’’). The IIV should not be viewed as a ‘‘real-time’’ update of the NAV per share of the Fund because the IIV may not be calculated in the same manner as the NAV, which is computed once a day, generally at the end of the business day, (ii) the calculation of NAV may be subject to fair valuation at different prices than those used in the calculations of the IIV, unlike the calculation of NAV, the IIV does not take into account Fund expenses, and (iv) the IIV is based on the published basket of portfolio securities and not on the Fund’s actual holdings. The IIV calculations are based on local market prices and may not reflect events that occur subsequent to the local market’s close, which could affect premiums and discounts between the IIV and the market price of the Fund’s shares. For example, if the Fund fair values portfolio securities, the Fund’s NAV may deviate from the approximate per share value of the Fund’s published basket of portfolio securities (i.e., the IIV), which could result in the market prices for Fund shares deviating from NAV. The Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates are not involved in, or responsible for, any aspect of the calculation or dissemination of the Fund’s IIV, and the Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates do not make any warranty as to the accuracy of these calculations.
Liquidity Risk. Liquidity risk is the risk associated with any event, circumstance, or characteristic of an investment or market that negatively impacts the Fund’s ability to sell, or realize the proceeds from the sale of, an investment at a desirable time or price. Liquidity risk may arise because of, for example, a lack of marketability of the investment, which means that when seeking to sell its portfolio investments, the Fund could find that selling is more difficult than anticipated, especially during times of high market volatility. Market participants attempting to sell the same or a similar instrument at the same time as the Fund could exacerbate the Fund’s exposure to liquidity risk. The Fund may have to accept a lower selling price for the holding, sell other, liquid or more liquid, investments that it might otherwise prefer to hold (thereby increasing the proportion of the Fund’s investments in less liquid or illiquid securities), or forego another more appealing investment opportunity. Certain investments that were liquid when
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purchased by the Fund may later become illiquid, particularly in times of overall economic distress. Changing regulatory, market or other conditions or environments (for example, the interest rate or credit environments) may also adversely affect the liquidity and the price of the Fund's investments. Judgment plays a larger role in valuing illiquid or less liquid investments as compared to valuing liquid or more liquid investments. Price volatility may be higher for illiquid or less liquid investments as a result of, for example, the relatively less frequent pricing of such securities (as compared to liquid or more liquid investments). Generally, the less liquid the market at the time the Fund sells a portfolio investment, the greater the risk of loss or decline of value to the Fund. Overall market liquidity and other factors can lead to an increase in Fund redemptions, which may negatively impact Fund performance and NAV, including, for example, if the Fund is forced to sell investments in a down market. In certain circumstances, the Fund might not be able to dispose of certain holdings quickly or at fair prices, preventing the Fund from tracking the Index. Foreign securities can present enhanced liquidity risks, including as a result of less developed custody, settlement or other practices of foreign markets. In addition, in stressed market conditions, the market for Fund shares may become less liquid. Deterioration in the liquidity of Fund shares may adversely impact the liquidity of the Fund's underlying portfolio securities. These adverse impacts on the liquidity of Fund shares and on the liquidity of the Fund's underlying portfolio securities could in turn lead to differences between the market price of Fund shares and the underlying value of those shares.
Market Price Relative to NAV Risk. Shares of the Fund may trade at prices that vary from Fund NAV. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on the Exchange and are bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices that may differ, in some cases significantly, from their NAV. The NAV of the Fund will generally fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings. The market prices of shares, however, will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in NAV as well as the relative supply of, and demand for, shares on the Exchange. The Investment Manager cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their NAV. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related to, but not identical to, the same forces influencing the prices of the securities held by the Fund. Given that shares can be purchased and redeemed in large blocks of shares, called Creation Units (defined below) (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAV), and the names and quantitates of the securities and other instruments comprising the Fund's In-Kind Creation Basket/In-Kind Redemption Basket are disclosed on a daily basis, the Investment Manager does not anticipate that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of shares will occur, although there can be no assurance that will be the case. However, if a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.
Market Risk. Market risk refers to the possibility that the market values of securities or other investments that the Fund holds will fall, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, or fail to rise. The value of Fund investments may fall or fail to rise because of a variety of actual or perceived factors affecting an issuer (e.g., an unfavorable earnings report), the industry or sector in which it operates, or the market as a whole, which may reduce the value of an investment in the Fund. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods. The market values of the investments the Fund holds can be affected by changes or perceived changes in U.S. or foreign economies and financial markets, and the liquidity of these investments, among other factors.
Mid-Cap Company Securities Risk. Securities of mid-capitalization companies (mid-cap companies) can, in certain circumstances, have more risk than securities of larger capitalization companies (larger companies). For example, mid-cap companies may be more vulnerable to market downturns and adverse business or economic events than larger companies because they may have more limited financial resources and business operations. Mid-cap companies are also more likely than larger companies to have more limited product lines and operating histories and to depend on smaller management teams. Securities of mid-cap companies may trade less frequently and in smaller volumes and may fluctuate more sharply in value than securities of larger companies. When the Fund takes significant positions in mid-cap companies with limited trading volumes, the liquidation of those positions, particularly in a distressed market, could be difficult and result in Fund investment losses. In addition, some mid-cap companies may not be widely followed by the investment community, which can lower the demand for their stocks.
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New Fund Risk. The Fund is a newly-formed passively managed ETF. Accordingly, investors in the Fund bear the risk that the Fund may not be successful in implementing its passive investment strategy of replicating the Index, which could result in the Fund being liquidated at any time without shareholder approval and/or at a time that may not be favorable for shareholders. Such a liquidation could have negative tax consequences for shareholders.
Portfolio Turnover Risk. In seeking to meet its investment objective, the Fund may incur portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains.
Secondary Market Trading Risk. Investors buying or selling shares in the Fund will pay brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by brokers as determined by that broker. Brokerage commissions are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell relatively small amounts of shares. In addition, secondary market investors will also incur the cost of the difference between the price that an investor is willing to pay for shares (the bid price) and the price at which an investor is willing to sell shares (the ask price). This difference in bid and ask prices is often referred to as the “spread” or “bid/ask spread.” The bid/ask spread varies over time for shares based on trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund’s shares have more trading volume and market liquidity and higher if the Fund’s shares have little trading volume and market liquidity. Further, increased market volatility may cause increased bid/ask spreads.
How is the Fund Different from Traditional Mutual Funds?
Redeemability. Traditional mutual fund shares may be bought from, and redeemed with, the issuing fund for cash at NAV typically calculated once at the end of each business day. Shares of the Fund, by contrast, cannot be purchased from or redeemed with the Fund except by or through Authorized Participants (defined below), and then typically for an in-kind basket of securities. In addition, the Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis only in large blocks of shares, typically 50,000 shares, called Creation Units.
Exchange Listing. Unlike traditional mutual fund shares, the Fund’s shares are listed for trading on the Exchange. Investors can purchase and sell shares on the secondary market through a broker. There can be no assurance that the Fund's shares will continue to trade on the Exchange or that the Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on the Exchange. See "Trading/Listing Risk" above. Investors purchasing shares in the secondary market through a brokerage account or with the assistance of a broker may be subject to brokerage commissions and charges. Secondary-market transactions do not occur at NAV, but at market prices that change throughout the day, based on the supply of, and demand for, shares and on changes in the prices of the Fund’s portfolio holdings. The market price of shares may differ from the NAV of the Fund. The difference between market price of shares and the NAV of the Fund is called a premium when the market price is above the reported NAV and called a discount when the market price is below the reported NAV. Given that shares can be purchased and redeemed directly with the Fund in Creation Units, the Investment Manager believes that premiums or discounts to the NAV of shares will be small most of the time. However, the market price of the Fund's shares may deviate significantly from the NAV of the shares, for example, in times of extreme market volatility or other conditions.
Tax Treatment. The Fund’s structure may provide for greater tax efficiency than a traditional mutual fund’s structure. Specifically, to the extent the Fund redeems its shares in kind, the distribution of portfolio securities to meet such redemption requests may mitigate certain adverse tax consequences associated with traditional mutual fund shares to continuing Fund shareholders. This is because traditional mutual funds typically sell portfolio securities to obtain cash to meet such redemptions and, as necessary, recognize taxable gains in connection with such sales. By contrast, to the extent the Fund redeems its shares in kind, as opposed to in cash, the Fund’s in-kind redemption mechanism will potentially reduce, relative to a traditional mutual fund, taxable gains resulting from redemptions. However, the Fund cannot predict to what extent, if any, it will redeem its shares in kind rather than in cash, particularly during the Fund’s growth stages when portfolio changes are more likely to be implemented within the Fund rather than through the in-kind redemption mechanism. Nor can the Fund predict the extent to which any such in-kind redemptions will reduce the taxable gain recognized in connection therewith.
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Additional Investment Strategies and Policies
This section describes certain investment strategies and policies that the Fund may utilize in pursuit of its investment objective and some additional factors and risks involved with investing in the Fund.
The Fund may consider changing the Index at any time, including if, for example: the Index becomes unavailable; the Board believes that the Index no longer serves the shareholder investment needs or that another index may better serve their needs; or the financial or economic environment makes it difficult for the Fund’s investment results to correspond sufficiently to the Index. If the Fund determines to change the Index, it will assess the appropriateness of the Fund's current name in light of the new index.
20% Asset Policy
The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in derivatives, including forward contracts (including forward foreign currency contracts), futures (including equity futures and index futures), options (including options on futures) and swaps (including portfolio and total return swaps), as well as cash, cash equivalents and money market instruments, such as repurchase agreements and money market funds (including affiliated money market funds), for the purpose of seeking to assist the Fund in tracking the performance of the Index.
Investment Guidelines
As a general matter, and except as specifically described in the discussion of the Fund's principal investment strategies in this prospectus or as otherwise required by the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act), the rules and regulations thereunder and any applicable exemptive relief, whenever an investment policy or limitation states a percentage of the Fund's assets that may be invested in any security or other asset or sets forth a policy regarding an investment standard, compliance with that percentage limitation or standard will be determined solely at the time of the Fund's investment in the security or asset.
Holding Other Kinds of Investments
The Fund may hold investments that are not part of its principal investment strategies. These investments and their risks are described below and/or in the SAI. The Fund may choose not to invest in certain securities described in this prospectus and in the SAI, although it has the ability to do so. Information on the Fund’s holdings can be found in the Fund’s shareholder reports or by visiting columbiathreadneedleetf.com.
Transactions in Derivatives
The Fund may enter into derivative transactions. Derivatives are financial contracts whose values are, for example, based on (or “derived” from) traditional securities (such as a stock or bond), assets (such as a commodity like gold or a foreign currency), reference rates (such as the London Interbank Offered Rate (commonly known as LIBOR)) or market indices (such as the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 ® Index). The use of derivatives is a highly specialized activity which involves investment techniques and risks different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. Derivatives involve special risks and may result in losses or may limit the Fund's potential gain from favorable market movements. Derivative strategies often involve leverage, which may exaggerate a loss, potentially causing the Fund to lose more money than it would have lost had it invested in the underlying security or other asset directly. The values of derivatives may move in unexpected ways, especially in unusual market conditions, and may result in increased volatility in the value of the derivative and/or the Fund’s shares, among other consequences. The use of derivatives may also increase the amount of taxes payable by shareholders holding shares in a taxable account. Other risks arise from the Fund's potential inability to terminate or to sell derivative positions. A liquid secondary market may not always exist for the Fund's derivative positions at times when the Fund might wish to terminate or to sell such positions. Over-the-counter instruments (investments not traded on an exchange) may be illiquid, and transactions in derivatives traded in the over-the-counter market are subject to the risk that the other party will not meet its obligations. The use of derivatives also involves the risks of mispricing or improper valuation and that changes in the value of the derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, reference rate or index. The Fund also may not be able to find a suitable derivative transaction counterparty, and thus may be unable to engage in derivative transactions when it is deemed favorable to do so, or at all. U.S. federal legislation has been enacted that provides for new clearing, margin, reporting and registration requirements for
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participants in the derivatives market. These changes could restrict and/or impose significant costs or other burdens upon the Fund’s participation in derivatives transactions. For more information on the risks of derivative investments and strategies, see the SAI.
Affiliated Funds Investing in the Fund
The Investment Manager or an affiliate serves as investment adviser to funds using the Columbia brand (Columbia Funds), including those that are structured as “fund-of-funds”, and provides asset-allocation services to (i) shareholders by investing in shares of other Columbia Funds, which may include the Fund (collectively referred to in this section as Underlying Funds), and (ii) discretionary managed accounts (collectively referred to as affiliated products) that invest exclusively in Underlying Funds. These affiliated products, individually or collectively, may own a significant percentage of the outstanding shares of one or more Underlying Funds, and the Investment Manager seeks to balance potential conflicts of interest between the affiliated products and the Underlying Funds in which they invest. The affiliated products’ investment in the Underlying Funds may have the effect of creating economies of scale, possibly resulting in lower expense ratios for the Underlying Funds, because the affiliated products may own substantial portions of the shares of Underlying Funds. However, redemption of Underlying Fund shares by one or more affiliated products could cause the expense ratio of an Underlying Fund to increase, as its fixed costs would be spread over a smaller asset base. Because of large positions of certain affiliated products, the Underlying Funds may experience relatively large inflows and outflows of cash due to affiliated products’ purchases and sales of Underlying Fund shares. Although the Investment Manager or its affiliate may seek to minimize the impact of these transactions where possible, for example, by structuring them over a reasonable period of time or through other measures, Underlying Funds may experience increased expenses as they buy and sell portfolio securities to manage the cash flow effect related to these transactions. Further, when the Investment Manager or its affiliate structures transactions over a reasonable period of time in order to manage the potential impact of the buy and sell decisions for the affiliated products, those affiliated products, including funds-of-funds, may pay more or less (for purchase activity), or receive more or less (for redemption activity), for shares of the Underlying Funds than if the transactions were executed in one transaction. In addition, substantial redemptions by affiliated products within a short period of time could require the Underlying Fund to liquidate positions more rapidly than would otherwise be desirable, which may have the effect of reducing or eliminating potential gain or causing it to realize a loss. In order to meet such redemptions, an Underlying Fund may be forced to sell its liquid (or more liquid) positions, leaving the Underlying Fund holding, post-redemption, a relatively larger position in illiquid securities (securities that are not readily marketable or that cannot be sold or disposed of in the ordinary course of business, within seven days, at approximately the value at which the holder has valued the security) or less liquid securities. Substantial redemptions may also adversely affect the ability of the Underlying Fund to implement its investment strategy. The Investment Manager or its affiliate also has an economic conflict of interest in determining the allocation of affiliated products’ assets among the Underlying Funds, as it earns different fees from the various Underlying Funds.
Investing in Money Market Funds
The Fund may invest cash in, or hold as collateral for certain investments, shares of registered or unregistered money market funds, including funds advised by the Investment Manager or its affiliates. These funds are not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or any other government agency. The Fund and its shareholders indirectly bear a portion of the expenses of any money market fund or other fund in which the Fund may invest.
Fund Website and Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings
Information about the Fund may be found at columbiathreadneedleetf.com. Among other things, this website includes the Summary Prospectus, this prospectus and the SAI, the Fund’s holdings, the Fund’s last annual and semiannual reports (when available), pricing information about shares trading on the Exchange, daily NAV calculations and a historical comparison of the trading prices to NAV.
Each day the Fund is open for business, it publicly disseminates the Fund’s full portfolio holdings as of the close of the previous business day through its website at columbiathreadneedleetf.com. In addition, the In-Kind Creation Basket and In-Kind Redemption Basket, which identify the securities and share quantities which may be delivered in
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exchange for purchases and redemptions of Creation Units as discussed below and in the SAI, are publicly disseminated each business day prior to the opening of trading on the Exchange via the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC).
Additional Information on Portfolio Turnover
A fund that replaces, or turns over, more than 100% of its investments in a year may be considered to have a high portfolio turnover rate. A high portfolio turnover rate can generate larger distributions of short-term capital gains to shareholders, which for individuals are generally taxable at higher rates than long-term capital gains for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Also, a high portfolio turnover rate can mean higher brokerage commissions and other transaction costs, which could reduce a fund’s returns. In general, the greater the volume of buying and selling by a fund, the greater the impact that brokerage commissions and other transaction costs will have on its returns. The Fund may sell securities regardless of how long they’ve been held. A higher portfolio turnover rate may reduce the relative potential tax efficiency of the Fund compared with traditional mutual funds except potentially in cases where accomplished through redemptions in kind.
Understanding Annual Fund Operating Expenses
The Fund’s annual operating expenses, as presented in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses table in the Fees and Expenses of the Fund section of this prospectus, generally are based on estimated expenses for the Fund’s current fiscal period and are expressed as a percentage (expense ratio) of the Fund’s average net assets. The expense ratio reflects current fee arrangements.
Fee Waiver/Expense Reimbursement Arrangements
The Investment Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses (excluding certain fees and expenses described below) through February 28, 2017, unless sooner terminated at the sole discretion of the Fund’s Board, so that the Fund’s net operating expenses, after giving effect to fees waived/expenses reimbursed, do not exceed the annual rate of 0.40%.
Under the agreement, the following fees and expenses are excluded from the Fund’s operating expenses when calculating the waiver/reimbursement commitment, and therefore will be paid by the Fund, if applicable: taxes, expenses associated with investment in affiliated and non-affiliated pooled investment vehicles (including mutual funds and exchange-traded funds), brokerage commissions, interest, infrequent and/or unusual expenses and any other expenses the exclusion of which is specifically approved by the Fund’s Board. This agreement may be modified or amended only with approval from all parties.
Primary Service Providers
The Fund enters into contractual arrangements (Contracts) with various parties, including, among others, the investment manager, the administrator, the distributor, the transfer agent and the Fund’s custodian. The Fund’s Contracts are solely among the parties thereto. Shareholders are not parties to, or intended to be third-party beneficiaries of, any Contracts. Further, this prospectus, the SAI and any Contracts are not intended to give rise to any agreement, duty, special relationship or other obligation between the Fund and any investor, or give rise to any contractual, tort or other rights in any individual shareholder, group of shareholders or other person, including any right to assert a fiduciary or other duty, enforce the Contracts against the parties or to seek any remedy thereunder, either directly or on behalf of the Fund. Nothing in the previous sentence should be read to suggest any waiver of any rights under federal or state securities laws.
The Investment Manager
Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC is located at 225 Franklin Street, Boston, MA 02110 and serves as investment adviser to the Columbia Funds. The Investment Manager is a registered investment adviser and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (Ameriprise Financial). The Investment Manager’s management experience covers all major asset classes, including equity securities, fixed-income securities and money market
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instruments. In addition to serving as an investment adviser to traditional mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and closed-end funds, the Investment Manager acts as an investment adviser for itself, its affiliates, individuals, corporations, retirement plans, private investment companies and financial intermediaries.
Subject to oversight by the Board, the Investment Manager manages the day-to-day operations of the Fund. The Investment Manager has entered into a license agreement with MSCI to use the Index, as MSCI is the owner of the Index. The Fund is permitted to use the Index pursuant to a sub-licensing agreement with the Investment Manager.
The SEC has issued an order that permits the Investment Manager, subject to the approval of the Board, to appoint an unaffiliated subadviser or to change the terms of a subadvisory agreement for the Fund without first obtaining shareholder approval. The order permits the Fund to add or to change unaffiliated subadvisers or to change the fees paid to such subadvisers from time to time without the expense and delays associated with obtaining shareholder approval of the change. The Investment Manager and its affiliates may have other relationships, including significant financial relationships, with current or potential subadvisers or their affiliates, which may create certain conflicts of interest. When making recommendations to the Board to appoint or to change a subadviser, or to change the terms of a subadvisory agreement, the Investment Manager discloses to the Board the nature of any such material relationships. At present, the Investment Manager has not engaged any investment subadviser for the Fund.
The Fund pays the Investment Manager a fee for its investment advisory services. The fee is calculated as a percentage of the average daily net assets of the Fund and is paid monthly. The fee is 0.40% of the Fund’s average daily net assets on all assets. In return for this fee (which is sometimes referred to as a unitary or unified fee), the Investment Manager has agreed to pay the operating costs and expenses of the Fund other than the following expenses, which will be paid by the Fund: taxes, interest incurred on borrowing by the Fund, if any, brokerage fees and commissions, interest and fee expense related to the Fund’s participation, if any, in inverse floater structures and any other portfolio transaction expenses, infrequent and/or unusual expenses, including without limitation litigation expenses, distribution and/or service fees, expenses incurred in connection with lending securities, and any other expenses approved by the Board.
A discussion regarding the basis for the Board approving the investment management services agreement will be available in the Fund's annual report to shareholders for the fiscal period ended October 31, 2016.
Portfolio Manager
Information about the portfolio manager primarily responsible for overseeing the Fund’s investments is shown below. The SAI provides additional information about the portfolio manager, including information relating to compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio manager, and ownership by the portfolio manager of Fund shares.
    
Portfolio Manager   Title   Role with Fund   Managed Fund Since
Christopher Lo, CFA   Senior Portfolio Manager   Manager   June 2016
Mr. Lo joined one of the Columbia Management legacy firms or acquired business lines in 1998. Mr. Lo began his investment career in 1998 and earned a B.S. and M.E. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.B.A. from the Stern School of Business at New York University.
Other Service Providers
ALPS Distributors, Inc. (the Distributor), 1290 Broadway, Suite 1100, Denver, CO 80203, serves as the distributor of Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares.
BNY Mellon Corporation (BNY Mellon), 101 Barclay Street, New York, New York 10286, is the administrator, fund accountant, transfer agent and custodian for the Fund.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, 125 High Street, Boston, MA 02110, serves as the Fund’s independent registered public accounting firm. The independent registered public accounting firm is responsible for auditing the annual financial statements of the Fund.
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More Information About the Fund (continued)
Index Provider
MSCI, Inc., 7 World Trade Center, 250 Greenwich Street, 49th Floor, New York, NY 10007, is the owner and calculator of the Beta Advantage Sustainable Global Equity Income 200 Index, which is a custom index derived from an MSCI index, as described in the Fund’s Principal Investment Strategies.
Other Roles and Relationships of Ameriprise Financial and its Affiliates — Certain Conflicts of Interest
The Investment Manager provides various services to the Fund and other Columbia Funds for which it is compensated. Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates may also provide other services to these funds and be compensated for them.
The Investment Manager and its affiliates may provide investment advisory and other services to other clients and customers substantially similar to those provided to the Columbia Funds. These activities, and other financial services activities of Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, may present actual and potential conflicts of interest and introduce certain investment constraints.
Ameriprise Financial is a major financial services company, engaged in a broad range of financial activities beyond the fund-related activities of the Investment Manager, including, among others, insurance, broker-dealer (sales and trading), asset management, banking and other financial activities. These additional activities may involve multiple advisory, financial, insurance and other interests in securities and other instruments, and in companies that issue securities and other instruments, that may be bought, sold or held by the Columbia Funds.
Conflicts of interest and limitations that could affect a Columbia Fund may arise from, for example, the following:
compensation and other benefits received by the Investment Manager and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates related to the management/administration of a Columbia Fund and the sale of its shares;
the allocation of, and competition for, investment opportunities among the Fund, other funds and accounts advised/managed by the Investment Manager and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates, or Ameriprise Financial itself and its affiliates;
separate and potentially divergent management of a Columbia Fund and other funds and accounts advised/managed by the Investment Manager and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates;
regulatory and other investment restrictions on investment activities of the Investment Manager and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates and accounts advised/managed by them;
insurance and other relationships of Ameriprise Financial affiliates with companies and other entities in which a Columbia Fund invests; and
regulatory and other restrictions relating to the sharing of information between Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, including the Investment Manager, and a Columbia Fund.
The Investment Manager and Ameriprise Financial have adopted various policies and procedures that are intended to identify, monitor and address conflicts of interest. However, there is no assurance that these policies, procedures and disclosures will be effective.
Additional information about Ameriprise Financial and the types of conflicts of interest and other matters referenced above is set forth in the Investment Management and Other Services — Other Roles and Relationships of Ameriprise Financial and its Affiliates — Certain Conflicts of Interest section of the SAI. Investors in the Columbia Funds should carefully review these disclosures and consult with their financial advisor if they have any questions.
Certain Legal Matters
Ameriprise Financial and certain of its affiliates have historically been involved in a number of legal, arbitration and regulatory proceedings, including routine litigation, class actions and governmental actions, concerning matters arising in connection with the conduct of their business activities. Ameriprise Financial believes that the Fund is not currently the subject of, and that neither Ameriprise Financial nor any of its affiliates are the subject of, any pending
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More Information About the Fund (continued)
legal, arbitration or regulatory proceedings that are likely to have a material adverse effect on the Fund or the ability of Ameriprise Financial or its affiliates to perform under their contracts with the Fund. Information regarding certain pending and settled legal proceedings may be found in the Fund’s shareholder reports and in the SAI. Additionally, Ameriprise Financial is required to make quarterly (10-Q), annual (10-K) and, as necessary, 8-K filings with the SEC on legal and regulatory matters that relate to Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates. Copies of these filings may be obtained by accessing the SEC website at sec.gov.
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Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF
Buying and Selling Fund Shares
Shares are issued or redeemed by the Fund at NAV per share only in Creation Units of 50,000 shares.
Shares trade on the secondary market, however, which is where most retail investors will buy and sell shares. It is expected that only a limited number of institutional investors will purchase and redeem shares directly from the Fund. Thus, certain information in this prospectus is not relevant to most retail investors. For example, information about buying and redeeming Creation Units directly from the Fund and about transaction fees imposed on such purchases and redemptions is not relevant to most retail investors.
Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Fund’s shares are not redeemable with the Fund. Additional information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the SAI.
Buying and Selling Fund Shares on the Secondary Market
Most investors will buy and sell shares in secondary market transactions through brokers and therefore must have a brokerage account to buy and sell shares. Shares can be bought or sold through your broker throughout the trading day like shares of any publicly traded issuer. When buying or selling shares through a broker, you will incur customary brokerage commissions and charges, and you may pay some or all of the spread between the bid and the offered prices in the secondary market for shares. The price at which you buy or sell shares (i.e., the market price) may be more or less than the NAV of the shares. Unless imposed by your broker, there is no minimum dollar amount you must invest in the Fund and no minimum number of shares you must buy.
Shares of the Fund are listed on NYSE Arca, Inc. (the Exchange) under the symbol: ESGW .
The Exchange is generally open Monday through Friday and is closed for weekends and the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.
For information about buying and selling shares on the Exchange or in the secondary markets, please contact your broker or dealer.
Book Entry. Shares are held in book entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company (DTC), or its nominee, is the registered owner of all outstanding shares of the Fund and is recognized as the owner of all shares. Participants in DTC include securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and other institutions that directly or indirectly maintain a custodial relationship with DTC. As a beneficial owner of shares, you are not entitled to receive physical delivery of stock certificates or to have shares registered in your name, and you are not considered a registered owner of shares. Therefore, to exercise any right as an owner of shares, you must rely on the procedures of DTC and its participants. These procedures are the same as those that apply to any stocks that you hold in book entry or “street name” through your brokerage account. Your account information will be maintained by your broker, which will provide you with account statements, confirmations of your purchases and sales of shares, and tax information. Your broker also will be responsible for distributing income dividends and capital gain distributions and for ensuring that you receive shareholder reports and other communications from the Fund.
Share Trading Prices. The trading prices of the Fund’s shares may differ from the Fund’s daily NAV and can be affected by market forces of supply and demand for the Fund’s shares, the prices of the Fund’s investments, economic conditions and other factors. The Exchange or another market information provider intends to disseminate the approximate value of the Fund’s portfolio every fifteen seconds. This approximate value should not be viewed as a “real-time” update of the NAV of the Fund because the approximate value may not be calculated in the same manner as the NAV, which is computed once a day. The quotations for certain investments may not be updated during U.S. trading hours if such holdings do not trade in the U.S., except such quotations may be updated to reflect currency fluctuations. The Fund is not involved in, or responsible for, the calculation or dissemination of the approximate values and makes no warranty as to the accuracy of these values.
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Buying and Selling Fund Shares (continued)
Buying Fund Shares Directly from the Fund
Fund shares can only be purchased directly from the Fund by an Authorized Participant or through an Authorized Participant. An “Authorized Participant” is a participant of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the NSCC or the DTC that has executed a Participant Agreement with the Distributor, and accepted by the Transfer Agent. The Distributor will provide a list of Authorized Participants upon request. Authorized Participants may purchase Creation Units of shares, and sell individual shares on the Exchange. See Continuous Offering below.
An Authorized Participant can purchase Fund shares directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof. The number of shares in a Creation Unit may, but is not expected to, change over time. The Fund will not issue fractional Creation Units. Creation Units may be purchased in exchange for a basket of securities or other portfolio instruments (known as the In-Kind Creation Basket and a Cash Component ) or for an all cash payment (that would be treated as the Cash Component (discussed below) in connection with purchases not involving an In-Kind Creation Basket ). The Fund reserves the right to reject any purchase request at any time, for any reason, and without notice.
In-Kind Creation Basket. On each business day, prior to the opening of trading on the Exchange, BNY Mellon will post on the NSCC bulletin board the In-Kind Creation Basket for the Fund for that day. The In-Kind Creation Basket will identify the name and number of shares of each security or other instrument that must be contributed to the Fund for each Creation Unit purchased. The Fund reserves the right to accept a nonconforming or “custom” In-Kind Creation Basket under certain limited circumstances. In the case of custom orders, the order must be received by the Distributor no later than 3:00 p.m. ET.
Balancing Amount and Cash Component. In addition to the In-Kind Creation Basket, a purchaser will either pay to, or receive from, the Fund an amount of cash (“Balancing Amount”) equal to the difference between the NAV of a Creation Unit and the value of the securities in the In-Kind Creation Basket. The Balancing Amount ensures that the consideration paid by an investor for a Creation Unit is exactly equal to the value of the Creation Unit. BNY Mellon will publish, on a daily basis, information about the previous business day’s Balancing Amount. To the extent a purchaser is not owed a Balancing Amount larger than the Creation Transaction Fee, described below, the purchaser also must pay a Creation Transaction Fee, in cash. The Balancing Amount and the Creation Transaction Fee, taken together, are referred to as the Cash Component.
Placement of Purchase Orders. All purchase orders must be placed by or through an Authorized Participant. Purchase orders will be processed either through a manual clearing process run by DTC or through an enhanced clearing process that is available only to those DTC participants that also are participants in the Continuous Net Settlement System of the NSCC. Authorized Participants that do not use the NSCC’s enhanced clearing process may be charged a higher Creation Transaction Fee (discussed below). A purchase order must be received by the Distributor prior to the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on the day the order is placed, and all other procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement must be followed, in order to receive the NAV determined on that day.
Transaction Fee on Purchases of Creation Units. The Fund may impose a “Creation Transaction Fee” on each purchase of Creation Units. The Creation Transaction Fee for purchases effected through the NSCC’s enhanced clearing process, regardless of the number of Creation Units purchased, is $2,000.
A charge of up to four (4) times the Creation Transaction Fee noted above may be imposed on purchases outside the NSCC’s enhanced clearing process, including purchases involving nonconforming In-Kind Creation Baskets or cash. Investors who, directly or indirectly, use the services of a broker or other such intermediary to compile the securities or other instruments in the In-Kind Creation Basket may pay additional fees for these services. The Creation Transaction Fee is paid to the Fund. The fee is designed to protect existing shareholders of the Fund from the costs associated with issuing Creation Units.
Redeeming Fund Shares Directly from the Fund
Fund shares can only be redeemed directly with the Fund by an Authorized Participant or through an Authorized Participant. An Authorized Participant may redeem Fund shares directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof. Creation Units may be redeemed in exchange for a basket of securities or other instruments
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Buying and Selling Fund Shares (continued)
(known as the In-Kind Redemption Basket and a Cash Component ) or, in certain circumstances, for an all cash payment (that would be treated as the Cash Component (discussed below) in connection with purchases not involving an In-Kind Redemption Basket ). The Fund can suspend redemptions or postpone payment of redemption proceeds for any period during which: (1) the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is closed other than customary weekend and holiday closings; (2) trading on the NYSE is suspended or restricted; (3) an emergency exists as a result of which disposal of the Shares or determination of the Fund’s NAV is not reasonably practicable or it is not reasonably practicable for the Fund to fairly determine the value of its net assets; and (4) the SEC by order permits for the protection of shareholders of a Fund. The Fund may also postpone payment of redemption proceeds for up to 15 calendar days due to holdings in non-U.S. investments, as further described in the SAI.
In-Kind Redemption Basket. Redemption proceeds will generally be paid in kind with a basket of securities or other portfolio instruments known as the In-Kind Redemption Basket. In most cases, the In-Kind Redemption Basket will be the same as the In-Kind Creation Basket for that same day. There will be times, however, when the In-Kind Creation Basket and In-Kind Redemption Baskets differ. The composition of the In-Kind Redemption Basket will be available on the NSCC bulletin board each day the NYSE is open for business. The Fund may honor a redemption request with a nonconforming or “custom” In-Kind Redemption Basket under certain limited circumstances.
Balancing Amount and Cash Component. Depending on whether the NAV of a Creation Unit is higher or lower than the value of the securities or other portfolio instruments in the In-Kind Redemption Basket, a redeeming investor will either receive from, or pay to, the Fund a Balancing Amount in cash. If due to receive a Balancing Amount, the amount actually received will be reduced by the amount of the applicable Redemption Transaction Fee, described below. The Balancing Amount and the Redemption Transaction Fee, taken together, are referred to as the Cash Component.
Placement of Redemption Orders. As with purchases, redemptions must be processed either through the DTC process or the enhanced NSCC process. A redemption order is deemed received on the date of transmittal if it is received by the Distributor prior to the close of regular trading on the NYSE on that date, and if all other procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement are followed.
Transaction Fee on Redemptions of Creation Units. The Fund imposes a “Redemption Transaction Fee” on each redemption of Creation Units. The amount of the Redemption Transaction Fee on redemptions effected through the NSCC and DTC, and on nonconforming or "custom" redemptions, is the same as the Creation Transaction Fee. The Redemption Transaction fee is paid to the Fund. The fee is designed to protect existing shareholders of the Fund from the costs associated with redeeming Creation Units.
Additional Information About Buying and Selling Fund Shares
Legal Restrictions on Transactions in Certain Securities. An investor subject to a legal restriction with respect to a particular security required to be deposited in connection with the purchase of a Creation Unit may, at the Fund’s discretion, be permitted to deposit an equivalent amount of cash in substitution for any security which would otherwise be included in the In-Kind Creation Basket applicable to the purchase of a Creation Unit.
Creations and redemptions of shares will be subject to applicable federal and state securities laws, including that securities accepted for deposit and securities used to satisfy redemption requests are sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act). The Fund (whether or not it otherwise permits cash redemptions) reserves the right to redeem Creation Units for cash to the extent that an investor could not lawfully purchase or the Fund could not lawfully deliver specific securities under such laws or the local laws of a jurisdiction in which the Fund invests. An Authorized Participant or an investor for which it is acting subject to a legal restriction with respect to a particular security included in an In-Kind Redemption Basket may be paid an equivalent amount of cash. An Authorized Participant or redeeming investor for which it is acting that is not a qualified institutional buyer (QIB) as defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act will not be able to receive, as part of a redemption, restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.
Continuous Offering. Authorized Participants should be aware of certain legal risks unique to investors purchasing Creation Units directly from the Fund. Because shares may be issued on an ongoing basis, a “distribution” of shares could be occurring at any time. Certain activities that Authorized Participants perform with respect to the sale of
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Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF
Buying and Selling Fund Shares (continued)
shares could, depending on the circumstances, result in Authorized Participants being deemed to be a participant in the distribution, in a manner that could render Authorized Participants a statutory underwriter and subject Authorized Participants to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the Securities Act. For example, Authorized Participants could be deemed a statutory underwriter if Authorized Participants purchase Creation Units from the issuing Fund, break them down into the constituent shares, and sell those shares directly to customers, or if Authorized Participants choose to couple the creation of a supply of new shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for shares. Whether a person is an underwriter for purposes of the Securities Act depends upon all of the facts and circumstances pertaining to that person’s activities, and the examples mentioned here should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could cause Authorized Participants to be deemed an underwriter.
Broker-dealer firms should also note that dealers who are not “underwriters” but are effecting transactions in shares, whether or not participating in the distribution of shares, are generally required to deliver a prospectus. This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(3) of the Securities Act is not available in respect of such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the 1940 Act. As a result, broker-dealer firms should note that dealers who are not “underwriters” but are participating in a distribution (as opposed to engaging in ordinary secondary market transactions), and thus dealing with shares as part of an unsold allotment within the meaning of Section 4(3)(C) of the Securities Act, will be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(3) of the Securities Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the Securities Act is only available with respect to transactions on a national exchange.
Active Investors and Market Timing
The Board has determined not to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of the Fund’s shares because investors primarily transact in Fund shares on the secondary market. Frequent trading of shares on the secondary market does not disrupt portfolio management, increase the Fund’s trading costs, lead to realization of capital gains or otherwise harm Fund shareholders because these trades do not involve the issuance or redemption of Fund shares.
The Fund sells and redeems its shares at NAV only in Creation Units pursuant to the terms of a Participant Agreement between an Authorized Participant and the Distributor, principally in exchange for a basket of securities. With respect to such trades directly with the Fund to the extent effected in-kind (i.e., for securities), they generally would not cause the harmful effects that may result from frequent cash trades.
The Board recognizes that to the extent that the Fund allows or requires trades to be effected in whole or in part in cash, those trades could result in dilution to a Fund and increased transaction costs, which could negatively impact the Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective. The Board also recognizes, however, that direct trading by Authorized Participants is critical to ensuring that the Fund’s shares trade at or close to NAV. Further, the Fund may employ fair valuation pricing to minimize the potential for dilution from market timing. Moreover, the Fund imposes transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Fund shares reflecting the fact that the Fund’s costs increase in those circumstances. The Fund reserves the right to impose additional restrictions on disruptive, excessive or short-term purchases.
Distribution and Service Fees
The Board has approved, and the Fund has adopted, a distribution and service plan (the Plan) pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. Under the Plan, the Fund is authorized to pay distribution fees to the Distributor and other firms that provide distribution and shareholder services (Service Providers). If a Service Provider provides such services, the Fund may pay fees at an annual rate not to exceed 0.25% of average daily net assets, pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act.
No distribution or service fees are currently paid by the Fund, however, and there are no current plans to impose these fees. Future payments may be made under the Plan without any further shareholder approval. In the event Rule 12b-1 fees are charged, over time they would increase the cost of an investment in the Fund.
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Buying and Selling Fund Shares (continued)
Intraday Indicative Value (IIV)
The Exchange intends to disseminate the approximate per share value of the Fund’s published basket of portfolio securities every 15 seconds (the ‘‘intraday indicative value’’ or ‘‘IIV’’). The IIV should not be viewed as a ‘‘real-time’’ update of the NAV per share of the Fund because (i) the IIV may not be calculated in the same manner as the NAV, which is computed once a day, generally at the end of the Business Day (as defined below), (ii) the calculation of NAV may be subject to fair valuation at different prices than those used in the calculations of the IIV, (iii) unlike the calculation of NAV, the IIV does not take into account Fund expenses, and (iv) the IIV is based on the published basket of portfolio securities and not on the Fund’s actual holdings. The IIV calculations are based on local market prices and may not reflect events that occur subsequent to the local market’s close (except such quotations may be updated to reflect currency fluctuations), which could affect premiums and discounts between the IIV and the market price of the Fund’s shares. The Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates are not involved in, or responsible for, any aspect of the calculation or dissemination of the Fund’s IIV, and the Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates do not make any warranty as to the accuracy of these calculations.
Determination of Net Asset Value
FUNDamentals
NAV Calculation
The Fund calculates its NAV as follows:
NAV =   (Value of assets) – (Liabilities)
Number of outstanding shares
FUNDamentals
Business Days
A business day is any day that the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is open. A business day ends at the close of regular trading on the NYSE, usually at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. If the NYSE closes early, the business day ends as of the time the NYSE closes. On holidays and other days when the NYSE is closed, the Fund's NAV is not calculated and the Fund does not accept buy or sell orders. However, the value of the Fund's assets may still be affected on such days to the extent that the Fund holds foreign securities that trade on days that foreign securities markets are open.
Equity securities are valued primarily on the basis of market quotations reported on stock exchanges and other securities markets around the world. If an equity security is listed on a national exchange, the security is valued at the closing price or, if the closing price is not readily available, the mean of the closing bid and asked prices. Certain equity securities, debt securities and other assets are valued differently. For instance, bank loans trading in the secondary market are valued primarily on the basis of indicative bids, fixed-income investments maturing in 60 days or less are valued primarily using the amortized cost method, unless this methodology results in a valuation that does not approximate the market value of these securities, and those maturing in excess of 60 days are valued primarily using a market-based price obtained from a pricing service, if available. Investments in other open-end funds are valued at their latest NAVs. Both market quotations and indicative bids are obtained from outside pricing services approved and monitored pursuant to a policy approved by the Fund's Board.
If a market price is not readily available or is deemed not to reflect market value, the Fund will determine the price of a portfolio security based on a determination of the security's fair value pursuant to a policy approved by the Fund's Board. In addition, the Fund may use fair valuation to price securities that trade on a foreign exchange when a significant event has occurred after the foreign exchange closes but before the time at which the Fund's share price is calculated. Foreign exchanges typically close before the time at which Fund share prices are calculated, and may be closed altogether on some days when the Fund is open. Such significant events affecting a foreign security may include, but are not limited to: (1) corporate actions, earnings announcements, litigation or other events impacting a
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Buying and Selling Fund Shares (continued)
single issuer; (2) governmental action that affects securities in one sector or country; (3) natural disasters or armed conflicts affecting a country or region; or (4) significant domestic or foreign market fluctuations. The Fund uses various criteria in determining whether a foreign security's market price is readily available and reflective of market value and, if not, the fair value of the security. To the extent the Fund has significant holdings of small cap stocks, high-yield bonds, floating rate loans, or tax-exempt, foreign or other securities that may trade infrequently, fair valuation may be used more frequently than for other funds.
Fair valuation may have the effect of reducing stale pricing arbitrage opportunities presented by the pricing of Fund shares. However, when the Fund uses fair valuation to price securities, it may value those securities higher or lower than another fund would have priced the security. Also, the use of fair valuation may cause the Fund's performance to diverge to a greater degree from the performance of various benchmarks used to compare the Fund's performance because benchmarks generally do not use fair valuation techniques. Because of the judgment involved in fair valuation decisions, there can be no assurance that the value ascribed to a particular security is accurate.
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Distributions and Taxes
Distributions to Shareholders
A fund can make money two ways:
It can earn income on its investments. Examples of fund income are interest paid on money market instruments, and dividends paid on common stocks.
A fund can also have capital gains if the value of its investments increases. While a fund continues to hold an investment, any gain is generally unrealized. If the fund sells an investment, it generally will realize a capital gain if it sells that investment for a higher price than its adjusted cost basis, and will generally realize a capital loss if it sells that investment for a lower price than its adjusted cost basis. Capital gains and losses are either short-term or long-term, depending on whether the fund holds the securities for one year or less (short-term) or more than one year (long-term).
Brokers may make available to their customers who own shares the DTC book-entry dividend reinvestment service. To determine whether the dividend reinvestment service is available and whether there is a commission or other charge for using this service, consult your broker. Brokers may require Fund shareholders to adhere to specific procedures and timetables. If this service is available and used, dividend distributions of both income (which may include a return of capital) and net realized gains will be automatically reinvested in additional whole shares of the distributing Fund purchased in the secondary market. Without this service, investors would receive their distributions in cash.
FUNDamentals
Distributions
Funds make payments of fund earnings to shareholders, distributing them among all shareholders of the fund. As a shareholder, you are entitled to your portion of a fund's distributed income, including capital gains. Reinvesting your distributions buys you more shares of a fund which lets you take advantage of the potential for compound growth. Putting the money you earn back into your investment means it, in turn, may earn even more money. Over time, the power of compounding has the potential to significantly increase the value of your investment. There is no assurance, however, that you'll earn more money if you reinvest your distributions rather than receive them in cash.
The Fund intends to pay out, in the form of distributions to shareholders, a sufficient amount of its income and gains so that the Fund will qualify for treatment as a regulated investment company and generally will not have to pay any federal excise tax. The Fund generally intends to distribute any net realized capital gain (whether long-term or short-term gain) at least once a year. Normally, the Fund will declare and pay distributions of net investment income according to the following schedule:
    
Declaration and Distribution Schedule
Declarations Quarterly
Distributions Quarterly
The Fund may declare or pay distributions of net investment income more frequently.
Each time a distribution is made, the net asset value per share is reduced by the amount of the distribution.
The Fund generally pays cash distributions within five business days after the distribution was declared. If you sell all of your shares after the record date, but before the payment date, for a distribution, you'll normally receive that distribution in cash within five business days after the sale was made.
Unless you are a tax-exempt investor or holding Fund shares through a tax-advantaged account (such as a 401(k) plan or IRA), you should consider avoiding buying Fund shares shortly before the Fund makes a distribution (other than distributions of net investment income that are declared daily) of net investment income or net realized capital gain, because doing so can cost you money in taxes to the extent the distribution consists of taxable income or
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Distributions and Taxes (continued)
gains. This is because you will, in effect, receive part of your purchase price back in the distribution. This is known as “buying a dividend.” To avoid “buying a dividend,” before you invest check the Fund's distribution schedule, which is available at the Funds' website and/or by calling 800.774.3768.
Taxes
You should be aware of the following considerations applicable to all Funds (unless otherwise noted):
The Fund intends to qualify and to be eligible for treatment each year as a regulated investment company. A regulated investment company generally is not subject to tax at the fund level on income and gains from investments that are distributed to shareholders. However, the Fund's failure to qualify for treatment as a regulated investment company would result in Fund-level taxation, and consequently, a reduction in income available for distribution to you and in the net asset value of your shares. Even if the Fund qualifies for treatment as a regulated investment company, the Fund may be subject to federal excise tax on certain undistributed income or gains.
Otherwise taxable distributions generally are taxable to you when paid, whether they are paid in cash or automatically reinvested in additional Fund shares. Dividends paid in January are deemed paid on December 31 of the prior year if the dividend was declared and payable to shareholders of record in October, November, or December of such prior year.
Distributions of the Fund's ordinary income and net short-term capital gain, if any, generally are taxable to you as ordinary income. Distributions of the Fund's net long-term capital gain, if any, generally are taxable to you as long-term capital gain. Whether capital gains are long-term or short-term is determined by how long the Fund has owned the investments that generated them, rather than how long you have owned your shares.
From time to time, a distribution from the Fund could constitute a return of capital, which is not taxable to you so long as the amount of the distribution does not exceed your tax basis in your Fund shares. A return of capital reduces your tax basis in your Fund shares, with any amounts exceeding such basis generally taxable as capital gain.
If you are an individual and you meet certain holding period and other requirements for your Fund shares, a portion of your distributions may be treated as “qualified dividend income” taxable at the lower net long-term capital gain rates instead of the higher ordinary income rates. Qualified dividend income is income attributable to the Fund's dividends received from certain U.S. and foreign corporations, as long as the Fund meets certain holding period and other requirements for the stock producing such dividends.
Certain high-income individuals (as well as estates and trusts) are subject to a 3.8% tax on net investment income. For individuals, the 3.8% tax applies to the lesser of (1) the amount (if any) by which the taxpayer's modified adjusted gross income exceeds certain threshold amounts or (2) the taxpayer's “net investment income.”
  Net investment income generally includes for this purpose dividends, including any capital gain dividends, paid by the Fund, and net gains recognized on the sale, redemption or exchange of shares of the Fund.
Certain derivative instruments when held in the Fund's portfolio subject the Fund to special tax rules, the effect of which may be to, among other things, accelerate income to the Fund, defer Fund losses, cause adjustments in the holding periods of Fund portfolio securities, or convert capital gains into ordinary income, short-term capital losses into long-term capital losses or long-term capital gains into short-term capital gains. These rules could therefore affect the amount, timing and/or character of distributions to shareholders.
Generally, a Fund realizes a capital gain or loss on an option when the option expires, or when it is exercised, sold or otherwise terminated. However, if an option is a “section 1256 contract,” which includes most traded options on a broad-based index, and the Fund holds such option at the end of its taxable year, the Fund is deemed to sell such option at fair market value at such time and recognize any gain or loss thereon, which is generally deemed to be 60% long-term and 40% short-term gain or loss, as described further in the SAI.
Income and proceeds received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to foreign taxes. If at the end of the taxable year more than 50% of the value of the Fund's assets consists of securities of foreign corporations, and the Fund makes a special election, you will generally be required to include in your income for
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Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF
Distributions and Taxes (continued)
  U.S. federal income tax purposes your share of the qualifying foreign income taxes paid by the Fund in respect of its foreign portfolio securities. You may be able to claim a foreign tax credit or deduction in respect of this amount, subject to certain limitations. There is no assurance that the Fund will make this election for a taxable year, even if it is eligible to do so.
A sale, redemption or exchange of Fund shares is a taxable event. This includes redemptions where you are paid in securities. Your sales, redemptions and exchanges of Fund shares, including those paid in securities or other instruments, usually will result in a taxable capital gain or loss to you, equal to the difference between the amount you receive for your shares (or are deemed to have received in the case of exchanges) and your adjusted tax basis in the shares, which is generally the amount you paid (or are deemed to have paid in the case of exchanges) for them. Any such capital gain or loss generally will be long-term capital gain or loss if you have held your Fund shares for more than one year at the time of sale or exchange. In certain circumstances, capital losses may be converted from short-term to long-term; in other circumstances, capital losses may be disallowed under the “wash sale” rules.
Your broker will be responsible for furnishing tax reporting information for Fund shares held in a nonqualified account, shareholder reports, and other communications from the Fund. For sales or exchanges of Fund shares acquired in a nonqualified account after 2011, your broker is required to report basis and holding period information to you and the IRS. Your broker may offer a choice of basis calculation methods. Contact your broker to determine which basis methods are available for your account.
The Fund or, in the case of sales of Fund shares in the secondary market, your broker, will generally be required by federal law to withhold tax on any distributions and proceeds paid to you if you have not provided a correct TIN or have not certified to the Fund or its agent, or your broker, as the case may be, that withholding does not apply.
For Authorized Participants Purchasing and Redeeming in Creation Units: An Authorized Participant that exchanges equity securities for one or more Creation Units will generally recognize a gain or a loss on the exchange. The gain or loss will be equal to the difference between (i) the market value of the Creation Unit(s) at the time and, (ii) the exchanger’s aggregate basis in the securities surrendered plus (or minus) the Cash Component paid (or received). A person who redeems one or more Creation Units for equity securities will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between (i) the exchanger’s basis in the Creation Unit(s) and, (ii) the aggregate market value of the securities received plus (or minus) the Cash Component received (or paid). The IRS, however, may assert that a loss realized upon an exchange of securities for Creation Unit(s) cannot be deducted currently under the rules governing “wash sales,” or on the basis that there has been no significant change in economic position. Persons exchanging securities should consult their own tax advisors with respect to whether wash sale rules apply and when a loss might be deductible. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a redemption of one or more Creation Units is generally treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the Creation Unit(s) have been held for more than one year and as short-term capital gain or loss if they have been held for one year or less. If you purchase or redeem Creation Units, you will be sent a confirmation statement showing how many shares you purchased or sold and at what price.
FUNDamentals
Taxes
The information provided above is only a summary of how U.S. federal income taxes may affect your investment in the Fund. It is not intended as a substitute for careful tax planning. Your investment in the Fund may have other tax implications. It does not apply to certain types of investors who may be subject to special rules, including foreign or tax-exempt investors or those holding Fund shares through a tax-advantaged account, such as a 401(k) plan or IRA. Please see the SAI for more detailed tax information. You should consult with your own tax advisor about the particular tax consequences to you of an investment in the Fund, including the effect of any foreign, state and local taxes, and the effect of possible changes in applicable tax laws.
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Premium/Discount Information
When available, information regarding how often the shares of the Fund traded on NYSE Arca, Inc. at a price above (at a premium) or below (at a discount) the NAV of the Fund during the past four calendar quarters, can be found at columbiathreadneedleetf.com.
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Financial Highlights
Because the Fund had not commenced operations prior to the date of this prospectus, no financial highlights are provided.
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Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF
225 Franklin Street
Boston, MA 02110
Additional Information About the Fund
Additional information about the Fund’s investments will be available in the Fund’s annual and semiannual reports to shareholders. In the annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund’s performance during its last fiscal year. The SAI also provides additional information about the Fund and its policies. The SAI, which has been filed with the SEC, is legally part of this prospectus (incorporated by reference). To obtain these documents free of charge, to request other information about the Fund and to make shareholder inquiries, please contact the Fund as follows:
By Mail:   Columbia Funds
225 Franklin Street
Boston, MA 02110
By Telephone: 800.774.3768
Online: columbiathreadneedleetf.com
You can review and copy information about the Fund (including this prospectus, the SAI and shareholder reports when available) at the SEC’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. To find out more about the operation of the Public Reference Room, call the SEC at 202.551.8090. Reports and other information about the Fund are also available in the EDGAR Database on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. You can receive copies of this information, for a fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov or by writing the Public Reference Section, Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, D.C. 20549-1520.
The investment company registration number of Columbia ETF Trust I, of which the Fund is a series, is 811-22736.
PRO270_10_F01_(06/16)


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Prospectus
June 6, 2016
Columbia Sustainable   International Equity Income ETF
    
Ticker Symbol
ESGN
This prospectus provides important information about the Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF (the Fund), a passively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) that is a series of Columbia ETF Trust I (the Trust), that you should know before investing. Please read it carefully and keep it for future reference.
These securities have not been approved or disapproved by the Securities and Exchange Commission nor has the Securities and Exchange Commission passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
Shares of the Fund are listed and traded on NYSE Arca, Inc. (the Exchange).
The Trust has not yet received exemptive relief from the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer and sell shares of passively managed ETFs.
No person has been authorized to give any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus and the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information (SAI) dated June 6, 2016 (which is incorporated by reference into this prospectus and is legally a part of this prospectus) and, if given or made, such information or representations may not be relied upon as having been authorized by us.

 

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Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF
Summary of the Fund
Investment Objective
Columbia  Sustainable   International Equity Income ETF (the Fund) seeks investment results that, before fees and expenses, closely correspond to the performance of the Beta Advantage SM Sustainable International Equity Income 100 Index (the Index).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. You may also pay brokerage commissions on the purchase and sale of shares of the Fund, which are not reflected in the table. If such expenses were reflected, the expenses set forth below would be higher.
    
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management fees (a) 0.45%
Distribution and/or service (12b-1) fees (b) 0.00%
Other expenses 0.00%
Total annual Fund operating expenses 0.45%
(a) Under the Fund’s Investment Management Services Agreement with Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC (the Investment Manager), the Investment Manager has agreed to pay the operating costs and expenses of the Fund other than taxes, interest, portfolio transaction expenses and infrequent and/or unusual expenses.
(b) Pursuant to a Rule 12b-1 Distribution and Service Plan (the Plan), the Fund may bear a Rule 12b-1 fee not to exceed 0.25% per year of the Fund’s average daily net assets. However, no such fee is currently paid by the Fund, and the Board of Trustees has not currently approved the commencement of any payments under the Plan.
Example
The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The example illustrates the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over the time periods indicated (whether or not shares are redeemed), and assumes that:
you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the periods indicated,
your investment has a 5% return each year, and
the Fund’s total annual operating expenses remain the same as shown in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses table above.
Investors may pay brokerage commissions on their purchases and sales of the Fund’s shares, which are not reflected in the example. The example also does not include transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units (defined below) because those fees will not be imposed on retail investors. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on the assumptions listed above, your costs (based on estimated Fund expenses) would be:
    
  1 year 3 years
  $46 $144
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. Because the Fund is newly organized, portfolio turnover information is not available as of the date of this prospectus.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund uses an indexing investment approach that seeks to replicate the performance of the Index.
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Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF
Summary of the Fund (continued)
The Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of the Index and depositary receipts representing such securities (or if depositary receipts are component securities of the Index, then underlying stocks of such depositary receipts).
The Index is owned and calculated by MSCI Inc. (MSCI or the Index Provider). The Index was developed by MSCI with input from Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC (the Fund’s Investment Manager). The Index, which typically holds common stocks and depositary receipts, was constructed to provide exposure to foreign large- and mid-cap companies (located in developed markets) that are believed to offer sustainable levels of income, as well as total return opportunity. The Index holds and the Fund typically invests in foreign companies in at least three countries, other than the U.S.
The Index is comprised of a subset of 100 companies within the MSCI World ex USA Index. Starting with the MSCI World ex USA Index, the Index was designed to reflect the performance of the top 100 (developed markets) foreign large- and mid-cap companies (excluding real estate investment trusts) ranked and weighted according to a composite factor score determined through the application of a systematic, rules-based methodology applied by MSCI. This methodology focuses on security dividend yield, dividend growth, and cash-based dividend coverage ratio factors. MSCI also screens companies for "sustainability" through the application of its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rating methodology that is designed to exclude companies with unfavorable corporate ESG practices. The Index component securities are weighted based on the overall composite model scores and dividend yield. The Index is rebalanced on a quarterly basis in February, May, August and November.
The Fund uses a replication strategy to track the performance of the Index, whereby the Fund invests in or has investment exposure to substantially all of the component securities of the Index in approximately the same proportions as in the Index. However, under various circumstances, including circumstances under which it may not be possible or practicable to purchase all of the securities in the Index, or in the same weightings, the Fund may purchase or have investment exposure to a sample of the securities in the Index in proportions expected to replicate generally the performance of the Index as a whole. There may also be instances in which the Fund may overweight (or underweight) an Index holding, purchase (or sell) instruments not in the Index as a substitute for one or more securities in the Index or utilize various combinations of other available investment techniques in seeking to replicate the performance of the Index. The Fund may sell securities or other holdings that are represented in the Index or purchase securities or make other investments that are not yet represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from or addition to the Index by MSCI.
The Investment Manager does not invest the Fund’s assets based on its view of the investment merits of a particular security or company, nor does it conduct fundamental investment research or analysis, or seek to forecast or otherwise consider market movements, conditions or trends in managing the Fund’s assets. The Fund pursues its investment objective of correlating performance with the Index regardless of market conditions and does not to take defensive positions.
The methodology applied by MSCI to select Index holdings and weightings does not set limits on sector or industry exposures. To the extent the Index is concentrated in a particular sector or industry, the Fund will necessarily be concentrated in that sector or industry.
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund involves risks, including those described below. There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective and you may lose money . The value of the Fund’s holdings may decline, and the Fund’s net asset value (NAV) and share price may go down.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined below) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants, none of which are or will be obligated to engage in creation or redemption transactions. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable or unwilling to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able or willing to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. This Risk is heightened in times of market stress.
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Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF
Summary of the Fund (continued)
Changing Distribution Level Risk. The amount of the distributions paid by the Fund will vary and generally depends on the amount of interest income and/or dividends received (less expenses) by the Fund on the securities it holds. If the Fund does not receive any such income and/or dividends, the Fund may not be in a position to make distributions to shareholders. If the interest income and/or dividends the Fund receives from its investments declines, the Fund may have to reduce its distribution level.
Correlation/Tracking Error Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with the Index, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve such degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective. The factors that may adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with the Index include the size of the Fund’s portfolio, fees, expenses, transaction costs, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards, the effectiveness of sampling techniques, changes in the Index and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities in which the Fund invests. While the Fund typically attempts to track the performance of the Index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the types of securities that make up the Index in approximately the same proportion as their weighting in the Index, at times, the Fund may not have investment exposure to all securities in the Index, or its weighting of investment exposure to securities may be different from that of the Index. In addition, the Fund may invest in securities not included in the Index. The Fund may take or refrain from taking investment positions for various reasons, such as tax efficiency purposes, or to comply with regulatory restrictions, which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with the Index. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being over- or under-exposed to certain securities comprising the Index and may be impacted by Index reconstitutions and Index rebalancing events. Additionally, the Fund's underlying foreign investments may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day or at the same time as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the level of the Index. Furthermore, the Fund may need to execute currency trades that due to regulatory, legal and operational constraints will occur at a later date than the trading of the related security. Currency holdings may be valued at a different time than is used by the Index. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and the Index and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective.
Depositary Receipts Risk. Depositary receipts are receipts issued by a bank or trust company reflecting ownership of underlying securities issued by foreign companies. Some foreign securities are traded in the form of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). Depositary receipts involve risks similar to the risks associated with investments in foreign securities, including those associated with investing in the particular country of an issuer, which may be related to the particular political, regulatory, economic, social and other conditions or events occurring in the country and fluctuations in its currency, as well as market risk tied to the underlying foreign company. In addition, ADR holders may have limited voting rights, may not have the same rights afforded typical company stockholders in the event of a corporate action such as an acquisition, merger or rights offering and may experience difficulty in receiving company stockholder communications.
Early Close/Late Close/Trading Halt Risk.  An exchange or market may close early, close late or issue trading halts on specific securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities may be restricted, which may result in the Fund being unable to buy or sell certain securities. In these circumstances, the Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be unable to accurately price its investments and/or may incur substantial trading losses.
Environmental, Social and Governance Investing Risk . The Index’s environmental, social and corporate governance screening may cause the Fund to forgo certain investment opportunities, and/or forgo opportunities to gain exposure to certain industries, sectors, regions, countries and companies that could have benefited the Fund. In addition, the Fund may be required to sell a security when it might otherwise be disadvantageous for it to do so.
Foreign Securities Risk. Investments in or exposure to foreign securities involve certain risks not associated with investments in or exposure to securities of U.S. companies. Foreign securities subject the Fund to the risks associated with investing in the particular country of an issuer, including the political, regulatory, economic, social, diplomatic and other conditions or events occurring in the country or region, as well as risks associated with less developed custody and settlement practices. Foreign securities may be more volatile and less liquid than securities of U.S. companies, and are subject to the risks associated with potential imposition of economic and other sanctions against a particular foreign country, its nationals or industries or businesses within the country. In addition, foreign
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Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF
Summary of the Fund (continued)
governments may impose withholding or other taxes on the Fund’s income, capital gains or proceeds from the disposition of foreign securities, which could reduce the Fund’s return on such securities. The performance of the Fund may also be negatively impacted by fluctuations in a foreign currency's strength or weakness relative to the U.S. dollar, particularly to the extent the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in foreign securities or other assets denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying foreign investments may trade in markets that may not be open on the same day or at the same time as the Fund, or foreign markets may close after the Fund has calculated its NAV for a given business day, which may cause a difference in the market price of such underlying foreign securities and the value attributed to such securities by the Fund.
Fund Shares Liquidity Risk. Although the Fund’s shares are listed on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active or liquid trading market for shares will be established or maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants, particularly in times of stressed market conditions. There is no obligation of market makers to make a market in the Fund’s shares or of Authorized Participants to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units. As such they may step away from their roles and this could in turn lead to variances between the market price of the Fund’s shares and the underlying value of those shares. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in Fund shares inadvisable. Further, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged.
Index Methodology Risk. The Fund seeks performance that corresponds to the performance of the Index. There is no guarantee or assurance that the methodology used to create the Index will result in the Fund achieving high, or even positive, returns. The Index may underperform more traditional indices. The Fund could lose value while other indices or measures of market performance increase in level or performance. In addition, the Fund may be subject to the risk that the Index provider may not follow its stated methodology for determining the level of the Index and/or achieve the index provider’s intended performance objective.
Issuer Risk. An issuer in which the Fund invests or to which it has exposure may perform poorly, and the value of its securities may therefore decline, which would negatively affect the Fund’s performance. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, breakthroughs in technology, reliance on suppliers, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, natural disasters or other events, conditions or factors.
Limitations of Intraday Indicative Value (IIV) Risk. The Exchange intends to disseminate the approximate per share value of the Fund’s published basket of portfolio securities every 15 seconds (the ‘‘intraday indicative value’’ or ‘‘IIV’’). The IIV should not be viewed as a ‘‘real-time’’ update of the NAV per share of the Fund because the IIV may not be calculated in the same manner as the NAV, which is computed once a day, generally at the end of the business day, (ii) the calculation of NAV may be subject to fair valuation at different prices than those used in the calculations of the IIV, unlike the calculation of NAV, the IIV does not take into account Fund expenses, and (iv) the IIV is based on the published basket of portfolio securities and not on the Fund’s actual holdings. The IIV calculations are based on local market prices and may not reflect events that occur subsequent to the local market’s close, which could affect premiums and discounts between the IIV and the market price of the Fund’s shares. For example, if the Fund fair values portfolio securities, the Fund’s NAV may deviate from the approximate per share value of the Fund’s published basket of portfolio securities (i.e., the IIV), which could result in the market prices for Fund shares deviating from NAV. The Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates are not involved in, or responsible for, any aspect of the calculation or dissemination of the Fund’s IIV, and the Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates do not make any warranty as to the accuracy of these calculations.
Liquidity Risk. Liquidity risk is the risk associated with any event, circumstance, or characteristic of an investment or market that negatively impacts the Fund’s ability to sell, or realize the proceeds from the sale of, an investment at a desirable time or price. Liquidity risk may arise because of, for example, a lack of marketability of the investment, which means that when seeking to sell its portfolio investments, the Fund could find that selling is more difficult than anticipated, especially during times of high market volatility. Market participants attempting to sell the same or a similar instrument at the same time as the Fund could exacerbate the Fund’s exposure to liquidity risk. The Fund may have to accept a lower selling price for the holding, sell other, liquid or more liquid, investments that it might
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Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF
Summary of the Fund (continued)
otherwise prefer to hold (thereby increasing the proportion of the Fund’s investments in less liquid or illiquid securities), or forego another more appealing investment opportunity. Certain investments that were liquid when purchased by the Fund may later become illiquid, particularly in times of overall economic distress. Changing regulatory, market or other conditions or environments (for example, the interest rate or credit environments) may also adversely affect the liquidity and the price of the Fund's investments. Judgment plays a larger role in valuing illiquid or less liquid investments as compared to valuing liquid or more liquid investments. Price volatility may be higher for illiquid or less liquid investments as a result of, for example, the relatively less frequent pricing of such securities (as compared to liquid or more liquid investments). Generally, the less liquid the market at the time the Fund sells a portfolio investment, the greater the risk of loss or decline of value to the Fund. Overall market liquidity and other factors can lead to an increase in Fund redemptions, which may negatively impact Fund performance and NAV, including, for example, if the Fund is forced to sell investments in a down market. In certain circumstances, the Fund might not be able to dispose of certain holdings quickly or at fair prices, preventing the Fund from tracking the Index. Foreign securities can present enhanced liquidity risks, including as a result of less developed custody, settlement or other practices of foreign markets. In addition, in stressed market conditions, the market for Fund shares may become less liquid. Deterioration in the liquidity of Fund shares may adversely impact the liquidity of the Fund's underlying portfolio securities. These adverse impacts on the liquidity of Fund shares and on the liquidity of the Fund's underlying portfolio securities could in turn lead to differences between the market price of Fund shares and the underlying value of those shares.
Market Price Relative to NAV Risk. Shares of the Fund may trade at prices that vary from Fund NAV. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on the Exchange and are bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices that may differ, in some cases significantly, from their NAV. The NAV of the Fund will generally fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings. The market prices of shares, however, will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in NAV as well as the relative supply of, and demand for, shares on the Exchange. The Investment Manager cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their NAV. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related to, but not identical to, the same forces influencing the prices of the securities held by the Fund. Given that shares can be purchased and redeemed in large blocks of shares, called Creation Units (defined below) (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAV), and the names and quantitates of the securities and other instruments comprising the Fund's In-Kind Creation Basket/In-Kind Redemption Basket are disclosed on a daily basis, the Investment Manager does not anticipate that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of shares will occur, although there can be no assurance that will be the case. However, if a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.
Market Risk. Market risk refers to the possibility that the market values of securities or other investments that the Fund holds will fall, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, or fail to rise. An investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods.
Mid-Cap Company Securities Risk. Investments in mid-capitalization companies (mid-cap companies) often involve greater risks than investments in larger, more established companies (larger companies) because mid-cap companies tend to have less predictable earnings and may lack the management experience, financial resources, product diversification and competitive strengths of larger companies, and may be less liquid than the securities of larger companies.
New Fund Risk. The Fund is a newly-formed passively managed ETF. Accordingly, investors in the Fund bear the risk that the Fund may not be successful in implementing its passive investment strategy of replicating the Index, which could result in the Fund being liquidated at any time without shareholder approval and/or at a time that may not be favorable for shareholders. Such a liquidation could have negative tax consequences for shareholders.
Portfolio Turnover Risk. In seeking to meet its investment objective, the Fund may incur portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains.
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Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF
Summary of the Fund (continued)
Secondary Market Trading Risk. Investors buying or selling shares of the Fund will pay brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by brokers as determined by that broker. Brokerage commissions are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell relatively small amounts of shares.
Performance Information
The Fund is new as of the date of this prospectus and therefore performance information is not available.
When available, the Fund intends to compare its performance to the performance of the Beta Advantage  Sustainable International Equity Income 100 Index and to the performance of the MSCI World ex USA Value Index.
When available, updated performance information can be obtained by calling toll-free 800.774.3768 or visiting columbiathreadneedleetf.com.
Fund Management
Investment Manager: Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC
    
Portfolio Manager   Title   Role with Fund   Managed Fund Since
Christopher Lo, CFA   Senior Portfolio Manager   Manager   June 2016
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares only through Authorized Participants (typically broker-dealers) in large blocks of shares, typically 50,000 shares, called Creation Units. Creation Units are issued and redeemed typically for an in-kind basket of securities. Individual shares may only be purchased and sold on a national securities exchange through a broker-dealer. Because the Fund’s shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount).
Tax Information
The Fund intends to distribute net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, to shareholders. These distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income, qualified dividend income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, you may be taxed upon withdrawals from that account.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your financial advisor to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
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Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF
More Information About the Fund
Investment Objective
Columbia  Sustainable   International Equity Income ETF (the Fund) seeks investment results that, before fees and expenses, closely correspond to the performance of the Beta Advantage Sustainable International Equity Income 100 Index (the Index). The Fund’s investment objective is not a fundamental policy and may be changed by the Fund’s Board of Trustees without shareholder approval. Because any investment involves risk, there is no assurance the Fund’s objective will be achieved.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund uses an indexing investment approach that seeks to replicate the performance of the Index.
The Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of the Index and depositary receipts representing such securities (or if depositary receipts are component securities of the Index, then underlying stocks of such depositary receipts).
The Index is owned and calculated by MSCI Inc. (MSCI or the Index Provider). The Index was developed by MSCI with input from Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC (the Fund’s Investment Manager). The Index, which typically holds common stocks and depositary receipts, was constructed to provide exposure to foreign large- and mid-cap companies (located in developed markets) that are believed to offer sustainable levels of income, as well as total return opportunity. The Index holds and the Fund typically invests in foreign companies in at least three countries, other than the U.S.
The Index is comprised of a subset of 100 companies within the MSCI World ex USA Index. Starting with the MSCI World ex USA Index, the Index was designed to reflect the performance of the top 100 (developed markets) foreign large- and mid-cap companies (excluding real estate investment trusts) ranked and weighted according to a composite factor score determined through the application of a systematic, rules-based methodology applied by MSCI. This methodology focuses on security dividend yield, dividend growth, and cash-based dividend coverage ratio factors. MSCI also screens companies for "sustainability" through the application of its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rating methodology that is designed to exclude companies with unfavorable corporate ESG practices. The Index component securities are weighted based on the overall composite model scores and dividend yield. The Index is rebalanced on a quarterly basis in February, May, August and November.
The Fund uses a replication strategy to track the performance of the Index, whereby the Fund invests in or has investment exposure to substantially all of the component securities of the Index in approximately the same proportions as in the Index. However, under various circumstances, including circumstances under which it may not be possible or practicable to purchase all of the securities in the Index, or in the same weightings, the Fund may purchase or have investment exposure to a sample of the securities in the Index in proportions expected to replicate generally the performance of the Index as a whole. There may also be instances in which the Fund may overweight (or underweight) an Index holding, purchase (or sell) instruments not in the Index as a substitute for one or more securities in the Index or utilize various combinations of other available investment techniques in seeking to replicate the performance of the Index. The Fund may sell securities or other holdings that are represented in the Index or purchase securities or make other investments that are not yet represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from or addition to the Index by MSCI.
The Investment Manager does not invest the Fund’s assets based on its view of the investment merits of a particular security or company, nor does it conduct fundamental investment research or analysis, or seek to forecast or otherwise consider market movements, conditions or trends in managing the Fund’s assets. The Fund pursues its investment objective of correlating performance with the Index regardless of market conditions and does not to take defensive positions.
The methodology applied by MSCI to select Index holdings and weightings does not set limits on sector or industry exposures. To the extent the Index is concentrated in a particular sector or industry, the Fund will necessarily be concentrated in that sector or industry.
The Fund reserves the right to substitute a different index for the Index, without the approval of the Fund’s shareholders.
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The Fund’s investment policy with respect to 80% of its assets may be changed by the Fund’s Board of Trustees without shareholder approval as long as shareholders are given 60 days’ advance written notice of the change.
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund involves risks, including those described below. There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective and you may lose money . The value of the Fund’s holdings may decline, and the Fund’s net asset value (NAV) and share price may go down.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined below) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants, none of which are or will be obligated to engage in creation or redemption transactions. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable or unwilling to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able or willing to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. This Risk is heightened in times of market stress.
Changing Distribution Level Risk. The amount of the distributions paid by the Fund will vary and generally depends on the amount of interest income and/or dividends received (less expenses) by the Fund on the securities it holds. If the Fund does not receive any such income and/or dividends, the Fund may not be in a position to make distributions to shareholders. If the interest income and/or dividends the Fund receives from its investments declines, the Fund may have to reduce its distribution level.
Correlation/Tracking Error Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with the Index, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve such degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective. The factors that may adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with the Index include the size of the Fund’s portfolio, fees, expenses, transaction costs, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards, the effectiveness of sampling techniques, changes in the Index and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities in which the Fund invests. While the Fund typically attempts to track the performance of the Index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the types of securities that make up the Index in approximately the same proportion as their weighting in the Index, at times, the Fund may not have investment exposure to all securities in the Index, or its weighting of investment exposure to securities may be different from that of the Index. In addition, the Fund may invest in securities not included in the Index. The Fund may take or refrain from taking investment positions for various reasons, such as tax efficiency purposes, or to comply with regulatory restrictions, which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with the Index. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being over- or under-exposed to certain securities comprising the Index and may be impacted by Index reconstitutions and Index rebalancing events. Additionally, the Fund's underlying foreign investments may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day or at the same time as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the level of the Index. Furthermore, the Fund may need to execute currency trades that due to regulatory, legal and operational constraints will occur at a later date than the trading of the related security. Currency holdings may be valued at a different time than is used by the Index. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and the Index and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective.
Depositary Receipts Risk. Depositary receipts are receipts issued by a bank or trust company reflecting ownership of underlying securities issued by foreign companies. Some foreign securities are traded in the form of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). Depositary receipts involve risks similar to the risks associated with investments in foreign securities, including those associated with investing in the particular country of an issuer, which may be related to the particular political, regulatory, economic, social and other conditions or events occurring in the country and fluctuations in its currency, as well as market risk tied to the underlying foreign company. In addition, ADR holders may have limited voting rights, may not have the same rights afforded typical company stockholders in the event of a corporate action such as an acquisition, merger or rights offering and may experience difficulty in receiving company stockholder communications.
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Early Close/Late Close/Trading Halt Risk.  An exchange or market may close early, close late or issue trading halts on specific securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities may be restricted, which may result in the Fund being unable to buy or sell certain securities. In these circumstances, the Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be unable to accurately price its investments and/or may incur substantial trading losses.
Environmental, Social and Governance Investing Risk . The Index’s environmental, social and corporate governance screening may cause the Fund to forgo certain investment opportunities, and/or forgo opportunities to gain exposure to certain industries, sectors, regions, countries and companies that could have benefited the Fund. In addition, the Fund may be required to sell a security when it might otherwise be disadvantageous for it to do so.
Foreign Securities Risk. Investments in or exposure to foreign securities involve certain risks not associated with investments in or exposure to securities of U.S. companies. For example, foreign markets can be extremely volatile. Foreign securities may also be less liquid than securities of U.S. companies so that the Fund may, at times, be unable to sell foreign securities at desirable times or prices. Brokerage commissions, custodial costs and other fees are also generally higher for foreign securities. The Fund may have limited or no legal recourse in the event of default with respect to certain foreign securities, including those issued by foreign governments. In addition, foreign governments may impose withholding or other taxes on the Fund’s income, capital gains or proceeds from the disposition of foreign securities, which could reduce the Fund’s return on such securities. In some cases, such withholding or other taxes could potentially be confiscatory. Other risks include: possible delays in the settlement of transactions or in the payment of income; generally less publicly available information about foreign companies; the impact of economic, political, social, diplomatic or other conditions or events; possible seizure, expropriation or nationalization of a company or its assets or the assets of a particular investor or category of investors; accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards that may be less comprehensive and stringent than those applicable to domestic companies; the imposition of economic and other sanctions against a particular foreign country, its nationals or industries or businesses within the country; and the generally less stringent standard of care to which local agents may be held in the local markets. In addition, it may be difficult to obtain reliable information about the securities and business operations of certain foreign issuers. Governments or trade groups may compel local agents to hold securities in designated depositories that are not subject to independent evaluation. The less developed a country’s securities market is, the greater the level of risks. The risks posed by sanctions against a particular foreign country, its nationals or industries or businesses within the country may be heightened to the extent the Fund invests significantly in the affected country or region or in issuers from the affected country that depend on global markets. The performance of the Fund may also be negatively impacted by fluctuations in a foreign currency's strength or weakness relative to the U.S. dollar, particularly to the extent the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in foreign securities or other assets denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Currency rates in foreign countries may fluctuate significantly over short or long periods of time for a number of reasons, including changes in interest rates, imposition of currency exchange controls and economic or political developments in the U.S. or abroad. The Fund may also incur currency conversion costs when converting foreign currencies into U.S. dollars and vice versa. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying foreign investments may trade in markets that may not be open on the same day or at the same time as the Fund, or foreign markets may close after the Fund has calculated its NAV for a given business day, which may cause a difference in the market price of such underlying foreign securities and the value attributed to such securities by the Fund.
Fund Shares Liquidity Risk. Although the Fund’s shares are listed on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active or liquid trading market for shares will be established or maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants, particularly in times of stressed market conditions. There is no obligation of market makers to make a market in the Fund’s shares or of Authorized Participants to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units. As such they may step away from their roles and this could in turn lead to variances between the market price of the Fund’s shares and the underlying value of those shares. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in Fund shares inadvisable. Further, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged.
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Index Methodology Risk. The Fund seeks performance that corresponds to the performance of the Index. There is no guarantee or assurance that the methodology used to create the Index will result in the Fund achieving high, or even positive, returns. The Index may underperform more traditional indices. The Fund could lose value while other indices or measures of market performance increase in level or performance. In addition, the Fund may be subject to the risk that the Index provider may not follow its stated methodology for determining the level of the Index and/or achieve the index provider’s intended performance objective.
Issuer Risk. An issuer in which the Fund invests or to which it has exposure may perform poorly, and the value of its securities may therefore decline, which would negatively affect the Fund’s performance. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, breakthroughs in technology, reliance on suppliers, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, natural disasters or other events, conditions or factors.
Limitations of Intraday Indicative Value (IIV) Risk. The Exchange intends to disseminate the approximate per share value of the Fund’s published basket of portfolio securities every 15 seconds (the ‘‘intraday indicative value’’ or ‘‘IIV’’). The IIV should not be viewed as a ‘‘real-time’’ update of the NAV per share of the Fund because the IIV may not be calculated in the same manner as the NAV, which is computed once a day, generally at the end of the business day, (ii) the calculation of NAV may be subject to fair valuation at different prices than those used in the calculations of the IIV, unlike the calculation of NAV, the IIV does not take into account Fund expenses, and (iv) the IIV is based on the published basket of portfolio securities and not on the Fund’s actual holdings. The IIV calculations are based on local market prices and may not reflect events that occur subsequent to the local market’s close, which could affect premiums and discounts between the IIV and the market price of the Fund’s shares. For example, if the Fund fair values portfolio securities, the Fund’s NAV may deviate from the approximate per share value of the Fund’s published basket of portfolio securities (i.e., the IIV), which could result in the market prices for Fund shares deviating from NAV. The Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates are not involved in, or responsible for, any aspect of the calculation or dissemination of the Fund’s IIV, and the Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates do not make any warranty as to the accuracy of these calculations.
Liquidity Risk. Liquidity risk is the risk associated with any event, circumstance, or characteristic of an investment or market that negatively impacts the Fund’s ability to sell, or realize the proceeds from the sale of, an investment at a desirable time or price. Liquidity risk may arise because of, for example, a lack of marketability of the investment, which means that when seeking to sell its portfolio investments, the Fund could find that selling is more difficult than anticipated, especially during times of high market volatility. Market participants attempting to sell the same or a similar instrument at the same time as the Fund could exacerbate the Fund’s exposure to liquidity risk. The Fund may have to accept a lower selling price for the holding, sell other, liquid or more liquid, investments that it might otherwise prefer to hold (thereby increasing the proportion of the Fund’s investments in less liquid or illiquid securities), or forego another more appealing investment opportunity. Certain investments that were liquid when purchased by the Fund may later become illiquid, particularly in times of overall economic distress. Changing regulatory, market or other conditions or environments (for example, the interest rate or credit environments) may also adversely affect the liquidity and the price of the Fund's investments. Judgment plays a larger role in valuing illiquid or less liquid investments as compared to valuing liquid or more liquid investments. Price volatility may be higher for illiquid or less liquid investments as a result of, for example, the relatively less frequent pricing of such securities (as compared to liquid or more liquid investments). Generally, the less liquid the market at the time the Fund sells a portfolio investment, the greater the risk of loss or decline of value to the Fund. Overall market liquidity and other factors can lead to an increase in Fund redemptions, which may negatively impact Fund performance and NAV, including, for example, if the Fund is forced to sell investments in a down market. In certain circumstances, the Fund might not be able to dispose of certain holdings quickly or at fair prices, preventing the Fund from tracking the Index. Foreign securities can present enhanced liquidity risks, including as a result of less developed custody, settlement or other practices of foreign markets. In addition, in stressed market conditions, the market for Fund shares may become less liquid. Deterioration in the liquidity of Fund shares may adversely impact the liquidity of the Fund's underlying portfolio securities. These adverse impacts on the liquidity of Fund shares and on the liquidity of the Fund's underlying portfolio securities could in turn lead to differences between the market price of Fund shares and the underlying value of those shares.
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Market Price Relative to NAV Risk. Shares of the Fund may trade at prices that vary from Fund NAV. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on the Exchange and are bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices that may differ, in some cases significantly, from their NAV. The NAV of the Fund will generally fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings. The market prices of shares, however, will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in NAV as well as the relative supply of, and demand for, shares on the Exchange. The Investment Manager cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their NAV. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related to, but not identical to, the same forces influencing the prices of the securities held by the Fund. Given that shares can be purchased and redeemed in large blocks of shares, called Creation Units (defined below) (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAV), and the names and quantitates of the securities and other instruments comprising the Fund's In-Kind Creation Basket/In-Kind Redemption Basket are disclosed on a daily basis, the Investment Manager does not anticipate that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of shares will occur, although there can be no assurance that will be the case. However, if a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.
Market Risk. Market risk refers to the possibility that the market values of securities or other investments that the Fund holds will fall, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, or fail to rise. The value of Fund investments may fall or fail to rise because of a variety of actual or perceived factors affecting an issuer (e.g., an unfavorable earnings report), the industry or sector in which it operates, or the market as a whole, which may reduce the value of an investment in the Fund. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods. The market values of the investments the Fund holds can be affected by changes or perceived changes in U.S. or foreign economies and financial markets, and the liquidity of these investments, among other factors.
Mid-Cap Company Securities Risk. Securities of mid-capitalization companies (mid-cap companies) can, in certain circumstances, have more risk than securities of larger capitalization companies (larger companies). For example, mid-cap companies may be more vulnerable to market downturns and adverse business or economic events than larger companies because they may have more limited financial resources and business operations. Mid-cap companies are also more likely than larger companies to have more limited product lines and operating histories and to depend on smaller management teams. Securities of mid-cap companies may trade less frequently and in smaller volumes and may fluctuate more sharply in value than securities of larger companies. When the Fund takes significant positions in mid-cap companies with limited trading volumes, the liquidation of those positions, particularly in a distressed market, could be difficult and result in Fund investment losses. In addition, some mid-cap companies may not be widely followed by the investment community, which can lower the demand for their stocks.
New Fund Risk. The Fund is a newly-formed passively managed ETF. Accordingly, investors in the Fund bear the risk that the Fund may not be successful in implementing its passive investment strategy of replicating the Index, which could result in the Fund being liquidated at any time without shareholder approval and/or at a time that may not be favorable for shareholders. Such a liquidation could have negative tax consequences for shareholders.
Portfolio Turnover Risk. In seeking to meet its investment objective, the Fund may incur portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains.
Secondary Market Trading Risk. Investors buying or selling shares in the Fund will pay brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by brokers as determined by that broker. Brokerage commissions are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell relatively small amounts of shares. In addition, secondary market investors will also incur the cost of the difference between the price that an investor is willing to pay for shares (the bid price) and the price at which an investor is willing to sell shares (the ask price). This difference in bid and ask prices is often referred to as the “spread” or “bid/ask spread.” The bid/ask spread varies over time for shares based on trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund’s shares have more trading volume and market liquidity and higher if the Fund’s shares have little trading volume and market liquidity. Further, increased market volatility may cause increased bid/ask spreads.
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How is the Fund Different from Traditional Mutual Funds?
Redeemability. Traditional mutual fund shares may be bought from, and redeemed with, the issuing fund for cash at NAV typically calculated once at the end of each business day. Shares of the Fund, by contrast, cannot be purchased from or redeemed with the Fund except by or through Authorized Participants (defined below), and then typically for an in-kind basket of securities. In addition, the Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis only in large blocks of shares, typically 50,000 shares, called Creation Units.
Exchange Listing. Unlike traditional mutual fund shares, the Fund’s shares are listed for trading on the Exchange. Investors can purchase and sell shares on the secondary market through a broker. There can be no assurance that the Fund's shares will continue to trade on the Exchange or that the Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on the Exchange. See "Trading/Listing Risk" above. Investors purchasing shares in the secondary market through a brokerage account or with the assistance of a broker may be subject to brokerage commissions and charges. Secondary-market transactions do not occur at NAV, but at market prices that change throughout the day, based on the supply of, and demand for, shares and on changes in the prices of the Fund’s portfolio holdings. The market price of shares may differ from the NAV of the Fund. The difference between market price of shares and the NAV of the Fund is called a premium when the market price is above the reported NAV and called a discount when the market price is below the reported NAV. Given that shares can be purchased and redeemed directly with the Fund in Creation Units, the Investment Manager believes that premiums or discounts to the NAV of shares will be small most of the time. However, the market price of the Fund's shares may deviate significantly from the NAV of the shares, for example, in times of extreme market volatility or other conditions.
Tax Treatment. The Fund’s structure may provide for greater tax efficiency than a traditional mutual fund’s structure. Specifically, to the extent the Fund redeems its shares in kind, the distribution of portfolio securities to meet such redemption requests may mitigate certain adverse tax consequences associated with traditional mutual fund shares to continuing Fund shareholders. This is because traditional mutual funds typically sell portfolio securities to obtain cash to meet such redemptions and, as necessary, recognize taxable gains in connection with such sales. By contrast, to the extent the Fund redeems its shares in kind, as opposed to in cash, the Fund’s in-kind redemption mechanism will potentially reduce, relative to a traditional mutual fund, taxable gains resulting from redemptions. However, the Fund cannot predict to what extent, if any, it will redeem its shares in kind rather than in cash, particularly during the Fund’s growth stages when portfolio changes are more likely to be implemented within the Fund rather than through the in-kind redemption mechanism. Nor can the Fund predict the extent to which any such in-kind redemptions will reduce the taxable gain recognized in connection therewith.
Additional Investment Strategies and Policies
This section describes certain investment strategies and policies that the Fund may utilize in pursuit of its investment objective and some additional factors and risks involved with investing in the Fund.
The Fund may consider changing the Index at any time, including if, for example: the Index becomes unavailable; the Board believes that the Index no longer serves the shareholder investment needs or that another index may better serve their needs; or the financial or economic environment makes it difficult for the Fund’s investment results to correspond sufficiently to the Index. If the Fund determines to change the Index, it will assess the appropriateness of the Fund's current name in light of the new index.
20% Asset Policy
The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in derivatives, including forward contracts (including forward foreign currency contracts), futures (including equity futures and index futures), options (including options on futures) and swaps (including portfolio and total return swaps), as well as cash, cash equivalents and money market instruments, such as repurchase agreements and money market funds (including affiliated money market funds), for the purpose of seeking to assist the Fund in tracking the performance of the Index.
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Investment Guidelines
As a general matter, and except as specifically described in the discussion of the Fund's principal investment strategies in this prospectus or as otherwise required by the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act), the rules and regulations thereunder and any applicable exemptive relief, whenever an investment policy or limitation states a percentage of the Fund's assets that may be invested in any security or other asset or sets forth a policy regarding an investment standard, compliance with that percentage limitation or standard will be determined solely at the time of the Fund's investment in the security or asset.
Holding Other Kinds of Investments
The Fund may hold investments that are not part of its principal investment strategies. These investments and their risks are described below and/or in the SAI. The Fund may choose not to invest in certain securities described in this prospectus and in the SAI, although it has the ability to do so. Information on the Fund’s holdings can be found in the Fund’s shareholder reports or by visiting columbiathreadneedleetf.com.
Transactions in Derivatives
The Fund may enter into derivative transactions. Derivatives are financial contracts whose values are, for example, based on (or “derived” from) traditional securities (such as a stock or bond), assets (such as a commodity like gold or a foreign currency), reference rates (such as the London Interbank Offered Rate (commonly known as LIBOR)) or market indices (such as the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 ® Index). The use of derivatives is a highly specialized activity which involves investment techniques and risks different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. Derivatives involve special risks and may result in losses or may limit the Fund's potential gain from favorable market movements. Derivative strategies often involve leverage, which may exaggerate a loss, potentially causing the Fund to lose more money than it would have lost had it invested in the underlying security or other asset directly. The values of derivatives may move in unexpected ways, especially in unusual market conditions, and may result in increased volatility in the value of the derivative and/or the Fund’s shares, among other consequences. The use of derivatives may also increase the amount of taxes payable by shareholders holding shares in a taxable account. Other risks arise from the Fund's potential inability to terminate or to sell derivative positions. A liquid secondary market may not always exist for the Fund's derivative positions at times when the Fund might wish to terminate or to sell such positions. Over-the-counter instruments (investments not traded on an exchange) may be illiquid, and transactions in derivatives traded in the over-the-counter market are subject to the risk that the other party will not meet its obligations. The use of derivatives also involves the risks of mispricing or improper valuation and that changes in the value of the derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, reference rate or index. The Fund also may not be able to find a suitable derivative transaction counterparty, and thus may be unable to engage in derivative transactions when it is deemed favorable to do so, or at all. U.S. federal legislation has been enacted that provides for new clearing, margin, reporting and registration requirements for participants in the derivatives market. These changes could restrict and/or impose significant costs or other burdens upon the Fund’s participation in derivatives transactions. For more information on the risks of derivative investments and strategies, see the SAI.
Affiliated Funds Investing in the Fund
The Investment Manager or an affiliate serves as investment adviser to funds using the Columbia brand (Columbia Funds), including those that are structured as “fund-of-funds”, and provides asset-allocation services to (i) shareholders by investing in shares of other Columbia Funds, which may include the Fund (collectively referred to in this section as Underlying Funds), and (ii) discretionary managed accounts (collectively referred to as affiliated products) that invest exclusively in Underlying Funds. These affiliated products, individually or collectively, may own a significant percentage of the outstanding shares of one or more Underlying Funds, and the Investment Manager seeks to balance potential conflicts of interest between the affiliated products and the Underlying Funds in which they invest. The affiliated products’ investment in the Underlying Funds may have the effect of creating economies of scale, possibly resulting in lower expense ratios for the Underlying Funds, because the affiliated products may own substantial portions of the shares of Underlying Funds. However, redemption of Underlying Fund shares by one or more affiliated products could cause the expense ratio of an Underlying Fund to increase, as its fixed costs would be
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spread over a smaller asset base. Because of large positions of certain affiliated products, the Underlying Funds may experience relatively large inflows and outflows of cash due to affiliated products’ purchases and sales of Underlying Fund shares. Although the Investment Manager or its affiliate may seek to minimize the impact of these transactions where possible, for example, by structuring them over a reasonable period of time or through other measures, Underlying Funds may experience increased expenses as they buy and sell portfolio securities to manage the cash flow effect related to these transactions. Further, when the Investment Manager or its affiliate structures transactions over a reasonable period of time in order to manage the potential impact of the buy and sell decisions for the affiliated products, those affiliated products, including funds-of-funds, may pay more or less (for purchase activity), or receive more or less (for redemption activity), for shares of the Underlying Funds than if the transactions were executed in one transaction. In addition, substantial redemptions by affiliated products within a short period of time could require the Underlying Fund to liquidate positions more rapidly than would otherwise be desirable, which may have the effect of reducing or eliminating potential gain or causing it to realize a loss. In order to meet such redemptions, an Underlying Fund may be forced to sell its liquid (or more liquid) positions, leaving the Underlying Fund holding, post-redemption, a relatively larger position in illiquid securities (securities that are not readily marketable or that cannot be sold or disposed of in the ordinary course of business, within seven days, at approximately the value at which the holder has valued the security) or less liquid securities. Substantial redemptions may also adversely affect the ability of the Underlying Fund to implement its investment strategy. The Investment Manager or its affiliate also has an economic conflict of interest in determining the allocation of affiliated products’ assets among the Underlying Funds, as it earns different fees from the various Underlying Funds.
Investing in Money Market Funds
The Fund may invest cash in, or hold as collateral for certain investments, shares of registered or unregistered money market funds, including funds advised by the Investment Manager or its affiliates. These funds are not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or any other government agency. The Fund and its shareholders indirectly bear a portion of the expenses of any money market fund or other fund in which the Fund may invest.
Fund Website and Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings
Information about the Fund may be found at columbiathreadneedleetf.com. Among other things, this website includes the Summary Prospectus, this prospectus and the SAI, the Fund’s holdings, the Fund’s last annual and semiannual reports (when available), pricing information about shares trading on the Exchange, daily NAV calculations and a historical comparison of the trading prices to NAV.
Each day the Fund is open for business, it publicly disseminates the Fund’s full portfolio holdings as of the close of the previous business day through its website at columbiathreadneedleetf.com. In addition, the In-Kind Creation Basket and In-Kind Redemption Basket, which identify the securities and share quantities which may be delivered in exchange for purchases and redemptions of Creation Units as discussed below and in the SAI, are publicly disseminated each business day prior to the opening of trading on the Exchange via the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC).
Additional Information on Portfolio Turnover
A fund that replaces, or turns over, more than 100% of its investments in a year may be considered to have a high portfolio turnover rate. A high portfolio turnover rate can generate larger distributions of short-term capital gains to shareholders, which for individuals are generally taxable at higher rates than long-term capital gains for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Also, a high portfolio turnover rate can mean higher brokerage commissions and other transaction costs, which could reduce a fund’s returns. In general, the greater the volume of buying and selling by a fund, the greater the impact that brokerage commissions and other transaction costs will have on its returns. The Fund may sell securities regardless of how long they’ve been held. A higher portfolio turnover rate may reduce the relative potential tax efficiency of the Fund compared with traditional mutual funds except potentially in cases where accomplished through redemptions in kind.
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More Information About the Fund (continued)
Understanding Annual Fund Operating Expenses
The Fund’s annual operating expenses, as presented in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses table in the Fees and Expenses of the Fund section of this prospectus, generally are based on estimated expenses for the Fund’s current fiscal period and are expressed as a percentage (expense ratio) of the Fund’s average net assets. The expense ratio reflects current fee arrangements.
Fee Waiver/Expense Reimbursement Arrangements
The Investment Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses (excluding certain fees and expenses described below) through February 28, 2017, unless sooner terminated at the sole discretion of the Fund’s Board, so that the Fund’s net operating expenses, after giving effect to fees waived/expenses reimbursed, do not exceed the annual rate of 0.45%.
Under the agreement, the following fees and expenses are excluded from the Fund’s operating expenses when calculating the waiver/reimbursement commitment, and therefore will be paid by the Fund, if applicable: taxes, expenses associated with investment in affiliated and non-affiliated pooled investment vehicles (including mutual funds and exchange-traded funds), brokerage commissions, interest, infrequent and/or unusual expenses and any other expenses the exclusion of which is specifically approved by the Fund’s Board. This agreement may be modified or amended only with approval from all parties.
Primary Service Providers
The Fund enters into contractual arrangements (Contracts) with various parties, including, among others, the investment manager, the administrator, the distributor, the transfer agent and the Fund’s custodian. The Fund’s Contracts are solely among the parties thereto. Shareholders are not parties to, or intended to be third-party beneficiaries of, any Contracts. Further, this prospectus, the SAI and any Contracts are not intended to give rise to any agreement, duty, special relationship or other obligation between the Fund and any investor, or give rise to any contractual, tort or other rights in any individual shareholder, group of shareholders or other person, including any right to assert a fiduciary or other duty, enforce the Contracts against the parties or to seek any remedy thereunder, either directly or on behalf of the Fund. Nothing in the previous sentence should be read to suggest any waiver of any rights under federal or state securities laws.
The Investment Manager
Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC is located at 225 Franklin Street, Boston, MA 02110 and serves as investment adviser to the Columbia Funds. The Investment Manager is a registered investment adviser and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (Ameriprise Financial). The Investment Manager’s management experience covers all major asset classes, including equity securities, fixed-income securities and money market instruments. In addition to serving as an investment adviser to traditional mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and closed-end funds, the Investment Manager acts as an investment adviser for itself, its affiliates, individuals, corporations, retirement plans, private investment companies and financial intermediaries.
Subject to oversight by the Board, the Investment Manager manages the day-to-day operations of the Fund. The Investment Manager has entered into a license agreement with MSCI to use the Index, as MSCI is the owner of the Index. The Fund is permitted to use the Index pursuant to a sub-licensing agreement with the Investment Manager.
The SEC has issued an order that permits the Investment Manager, subject to the approval of the Board, to appoint an unaffiliated subadviser or to change the terms of a subadvisory agreement for the Fund without first obtaining shareholder approval. The order permits the Fund to add or to change unaffiliated subadvisers or to change the fees paid to such subadvisers from time to time without the expense and delays associated with obtaining shareholder approval of the change. The Investment Manager and its affiliates may have other relationships, including significant financial relationships, with current or potential subadvisers or their affiliates, which may create certain conflicts of interest. When making recommendations to the Board to appoint or to change a subadviser, or to change the terms of a subadvisory agreement, the Investment Manager discloses to the Board the nature of any such material relationships. At present, the Investment Manager has not engaged any investment subadviser for the Fund.
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More Information About the Fund (continued)
The Fund pays the Investment Manager a fee for its investment advisory services. The fee is calculated as a percentage of the average daily net assets of the Fund and is paid monthly. The fee is 0.45% of the Fund’s average daily net assets on all assets. In return for this fee (which is sometimes referred to as a unitary or unified fee), the Investment Manager has agreed to pay the operating costs and expenses of the Fund other than the following expenses, which will be paid by the Fund: taxes, interest incurred on borrowing by the Fund, if any, brokerage fees and commissions, interest and fee expense related to the Fund’s participation, if any, in inverse floater structures and any other portfolio transaction expenses, infrequent and/or unusual expenses, including without limitation litigation expenses, distribution and/or service fees, expenses incurred in connection with lending securities, and any other expenses approved by the Board.
A discussion regarding the basis for the Board approving the investment management services agreement will be available in the Fund's annual report to shareholders for the fiscal period ended October 31, 2016.
Portfolio Manager
Information about the portfolio manager primarily responsible for overseeing the Fund’s investments is shown below. The SAI provides additional information about the portfolio manager, including information relating to compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio manager, and ownership by the portfolio manager of Fund shares.
    
Portfolio Manager   Title   Role with Fund   Managed Fund Since
Christopher Lo, CFA   Senior Portfolio Manager   Manager   June 2016
Mr. Lo joined one of the Columbia Management legacy firms or acquired business lines in 1998. Mr. Lo began his investment career in 1998 and earned a B.S. and M.E. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.B.A. from the Stern School of Business at New York University.
Other Service Providers
ALPS Distributors, Inc. (the Distributor), 1290 Broadway, Suite 1100, Denver, CO 80203, serves as the distributor of Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares.
BNY Mellon Corporation (BNY Mellon), 101 Barclay Street, New York, New York 10286, is the administrator, fund accountant, transfer agent and custodian for the Fund.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, 125 High Street, Boston, MA 02110, serves as the Fund’s independent registered public accounting firm. The independent registered public accounting firm is responsible for auditing the annual financial statements of the Fund.
Index Provider
MSCI, Inc., 7 World Trade Center, 250 Greenwich Street, 49th Floor, New York, NY 10007, is the owner and calculator of the Beta Advantage Sustainable International Equity Income 100 Index, which is a custom index derived from an MSCI index, as described in the Fund’s Principal Investment Strategies.
Other Roles and Relationships of Ameriprise Financial and its Affiliates — Certain Conflicts of Interest
The Investment Manager provides various services to the Fund and other Columbia Funds for which it is compensated. Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates may also provide other services to these funds and be compensated for them.
The Investment Manager and its affiliates may provide investment advisory and other services to other clients and customers substantially similar to those provided to the Columbia Funds. These activities, and other financial services activities of Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, may present actual and potential conflicts of interest and introduce certain investment constraints.
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More Information About the Fund (continued)
Ameriprise Financial is a major financial services company, engaged in a broad range of financial activities beyond the fund-related activities of the Investment Manager, including, among others, insurance, broker-dealer (sales and trading), asset management, banking and other financial activities. These additional activities may involve multiple advisory, financial, insurance and other interests in securities and other instruments, and in companies that issue securities and other instruments, that may be bought, sold or held by the Columbia Funds.
Conflicts of interest and limitations that could affect a Columbia Fund may arise from, for example, the following:
compensation and other benefits received by the Investment Manager and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates related to the management/administration of a Columbia Fund and the sale of its shares;
the allocation of, and competition for, investment opportunities among the Fund, other funds and accounts advised/managed by the Investment Manager and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates, or Ameriprise Financial itself and its affiliates;
separate and potentially divergent management of a Columbia Fund and other funds and accounts advised/managed by the Investment Manager and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates;
regulatory and other investment restrictions on investment activities of the Investment Manager and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates and accounts advised/managed by them;
insurance and other relationships of Ameriprise Financial affiliates with companies and other entities in which a Columbia Fund invests; and
regulatory and other restrictions relating to the sharing of information between Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, including the Investment Manager, and a Columbia Fund.
The Investment Manager and Ameriprise Financial have adopted various policies and procedures that are intended to identify, monitor and address conflicts of interest. However, there is no assurance that these policies, procedures and disclosures will be effective.
Additional information about Ameriprise Financial and the types of conflicts of interest and other matters referenced above is set forth in the Investment Management and Other Services — Other Roles and Relationships of Ameriprise Financial and its Affiliates — Certain Conflicts of Interest section of the SAI. Investors in the Columbia Funds should carefully review these disclosures and consult with their financial advisor if they have any questions.
Certain Legal Matters
Ameriprise Financial and certain of its affiliates have historically been involved in a number of legal, arbitration and regulatory proceedings, including routine litigation, class actions and governmental actions, concerning matters arising in connection with the conduct of their business activities. Ameriprise Financial believes that the Fund is not currently the subject of, and that neither Ameriprise Financial nor any of its affiliates are the subject of, any pending legal, arbitration or regulatory proceedings that are likely to have a material adverse effect on the Fund or the ability of Ameriprise Financial or its affiliates to perform under their contracts with the Fund. Information regarding certain pending and settled legal proceedings may be found in the Fund’s shareholder reports and in the SAI. Additionally, Ameriprise Financial is required to make quarterly (10-Q), annual (10-K) and, as necessary, 8-K filings with the SEC on legal and regulatory matters that relate to Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates. Copies of these filings may be obtained by accessing the SEC website at sec.gov.
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Buying and Selling Fund Shares
Shares are issued or redeemed by the Fund at NAV per share only in Creation Units of 50,000 shares.
Shares trade on the secondary market, however, which is where most retail investors will buy and sell shares. It is expected that only a limited number of institutional investors will purchase and redeem shares directly from the Fund. Thus, certain information in this prospectus is not relevant to most retail investors. For example, information about buying and redeeming Creation Units directly from the Fund and about transaction fees imposed on such purchases and redemptions is not relevant to most retail investors.
Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Fund’s shares are not redeemable with the Fund. Additional information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the SAI.
Buying and Selling Fund Shares on the Secondary Market
Most investors will buy and sell shares in secondary market transactions through brokers and therefore must have a brokerage account to buy and sell shares. Shares can be bought or sold through your broker throughout the trading day like shares of any publicly traded issuer. When buying or selling shares through a broker, you will incur customary brokerage commissions and charges, and you may pay some or all of the spread between the bid and the offered prices in the secondary market for shares. The price at which you buy or sell shares (i.e., the market price) may be more or less than the NAV of the shares. Unless imposed by your broker, there is no minimum dollar amount you must invest in the Fund and no minimum number of shares you must buy.
Shares of the Fund are listed on NYSE Arca, Inc. (the Exchange) under the symbol: ESGN .
The Exchange is generally open Monday through Friday and is closed for weekends and the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.
For information about buying and selling shares on the Exchange or in the secondary markets, please contact your broker or dealer.
Book Entry. Shares are held in book entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company (DTC), or its nominee, is the registered owner of all outstanding shares of the Fund and is recognized as the owner of all shares. Participants in DTC include securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and other institutions that directly or indirectly maintain a custodial relationship with DTC. As a beneficial owner of shares, you are not entitled to receive physical delivery of stock certificates or to have shares registered in your name, and you are not considered a registered owner of shares. Therefore, to exercise any right as an owner of shares, you must rely on the procedures of DTC and its participants. These procedures are the same as those that apply to any stocks that you hold in book entry or “street name” through your brokerage account. Your account information will be maintained by your broker, which will provide you with account statements, confirmations of your purchases and sales of shares, and tax information. Your broker also will be responsible for distributing income dividends and capital gain distributions and for ensuring that you receive shareholder reports and other communications from the Fund.
Share Trading Prices. The trading prices of the Fund’s shares may differ from the Fund’s daily NAV and can be affected by market forces of supply and demand for the Fund’s shares, the prices of the Fund’s investments, economic conditions and other factors. The Exchange or another market information provider intends to disseminate the approximate value of the Fund’s portfolio every fifteen seconds. This approximate value should not be viewed as a “real-time” update of the NAV of the Fund because the approximate value may not be calculated in the same manner as the NAV, which is computed once a day. The quotations for certain investments may not be updated during U.S. trading hours if such holdings do not trade in the U.S., except such quotations may be updated to reflect currency fluctuations. The Fund is not involved in, or responsible for, the calculation or dissemination of the approximate values and makes no warranty as to the accuracy of these values.
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Buying and Selling Fund Shares (continued)
Buying Fund Shares Directly from the Fund
Fund shares can only be purchased directly from the Fund by an Authorized Participant or through an Authorized Participant. An “Authorized Participant” is a participant of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the NSCC or the DTC that has executed a Participant Agreement with the Distributor, and accepted by the Transfer Agent. The Distributor will provide a list of Authorized Participants upon request. Authorized Participants may purchase Creation Units of shares, and sell individual shares on the Exchange. See Continuous Offering below.
An Authorized Participant can purchase Fund shares directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof. The number of shares in a Creation Unit may, but is not expected to, change over time. The Fund will not issue fractional Creation Units. Creation Units may be purchased in exchange for a basket of securities or other portfolio instruments (known as the In-Kind Creation Basket and a Cash Component ) or for an all cash payment (that would be treated as the Cash Component (discussed below) in connection with purchases not involving an In-Kind Creation Basket ). The Fund reserves the right to reject any purchase request at any time, for any reason, and without notice.
In-Kind Creation Basket. On each business day, prior to the opening of trading on the Exchange, BNY Mellon will post on the NSCC bulletin board the In-Kind Creation Basket for the Fund for that day. The In-Kind Creation Basket will identify the name and number of shares of each security or other instrument that must be contributed to the Fund for each Creation Unit purchased. The Fund reserves the right to accept a nonconforming or “custom” In-Kind Creation Basket under certain limited circumstances. In the case of custom orders, the order must be received by the Distributor no later than 3:00 p.m. ET.
Balancing Amount and Cash Component. In addition to the In-Kind Creation Basket, a purchaser will either pay to, or receive from, the Fund an amount of cash (“Balancing Amount”) equal to the difference between the NAV of a Creation Unit and the value of the securities in the In-Kind Creation Basket. The Balancing Amount ensures that the consideration paid by an investor for a Creation Unit is exactly equal to the value of the Creation Unit. BNY Mellon will publish, on a daily basis, information about the previous business day’s Balancing Amount. To the extent a purchaser is not owed a Balancing Amount larger than the Creation Transaction Fee, described below, the purchaser also must pay a Creation Transaction Fee, in cash. The Balancing Amount and the Creation Transaction Fee, taken together, are referred to as the Cash Component.
Placement of Purchase Orders. All purchase orders must be placed by or through an Authorized Participant. Purchase orders will be processed either through a manual clearing process run by DTC or through an enhanced clearing process that is available only to those DTC participants that also are participants in the Continuous Net Settlement System of the NSCC. Authorized Participants that do not use the NSCC’s enhanced clearing process may be charged a higher Creation Transaction Fee (discussed below). A purchase order must be received by the Distributor prior to the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on the day the order is placed, and all other procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement must be followed, in order to receive the NAV determined on that day.
Transaction Fee on Purchases of Creation Units. The Fund may impose a “Creation Transaction Fee” on each purchase of Creation Units. The Creation Transaction Fee for purchases effected through the NSCC’s enhanced clearing process, regardless of the number of Creation Units purchased, is $2,000.
A charge of up to four (4) times the Creation Transaction Fee noted above may be imposed on purchases outside the NSCC’s enhanced clearing process, including purchases involving nonconforming In-Kind Creation Baskets or cash. Investors who, directly or indirectly, use the services of a broker or other such intermediary to compile the securities or other instruments in the In-Kind Creation Basket may pay additional fees for these services. The Creation Transaction Fee is paid to the Fund. The fee is designed to protect existing shareholders of the Fund from the costs associated with issuing Creation Units.
Redeeming Fund Shares Directly from the Fund
Fund shares can only be redeemed directly with the Fund by an Authorized Participant or through an Authorized Participant. An Authorized Participant may redeem Fund shares directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof. Creation Units may be redeemed in exchange for a basket of securities or other instruments
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Buying and Selling Fund Shares (continued)
(known as the In-Kind Redemption Basket and a Cash Component ) or, in certain circumstances, for an all cash payment (that would be treated as the Cash Component (discussed below) in connection with purchases not involving an In-Kind Redemption Basket ). The Fund can suspend redemptions or postpone payment of redemption proceeds for any period during which: (1) the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is closed other than customary weekend and holiday closings; (2) trading on the NYSE is suspended or restricted; (3) an emergency exists as a result of which disposal of the Shares or determination of the Fund’s NAV is not reasonably practicable or it is not reasonably practicable for the Fund to fairly determine the value of its net assets; and (4) the SEC by order permits for the protection of shareholders of a Fund. The Fund may also postpone payment of redemption proceeds for up to 15 calendar days due to holdings in non-U.S. investments, as further described in the SAI.
In-Kind Redemption Basket. Redemption proceeds will generally be paid in kind with a basket of securities or other portfolio instruments known as the In-Kind Redemption Basket. In most cases, the In-Kind Redemption Basket will be the same as the In-Kind Creation Basket for that same day. There will be times, however, when the In-Kind Creation Basket and In-Kind Redemption Baskets differ. The composition of the In-Kind Redemption Basket will be available on the NSCC bulletin board each day the NYSE is open for business. The Fund may honor a redemption request with a nonconforming or “custom” In-Kind Redemption Basket under certain limited circumstances.
Balancing Amount and Cash Component. Depending on whether the NAV of a Creation Unit is higher or lower than the value of the securities or other portfolio instruments in the In-Kind Redemption Basket, a redeeming investor will either receive from, or pay to, the Fund a Balancing Amount in cash. If due to receive a Balancing Amount, the amount actually received will be reduced by the amount of the applicable Redemption Transaction Fee, described below. The Balancing Amount and the Redemption Transaction Fee, taken together, are referred to as the Cash Component.
Placement of Redemption Orders. As with purchases, redemptions must be processed either through the DTC process or the enhanced NSCC process. A redemption order is deemed received on the date of transmittal if it is received by the Distributor prior to the close of regular trading on the NYSE on that date, and if all other procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement are followed.
Transaction Fee on Redemptions of Creation Units. The Fund imposes a “Redemption Transaction Fee” on each redemption of Creation Units. The amount of the Redemption Transaction Fee on redemptions effected through the NSCC and DTC, and on nonconforming or "custom" redemptions, is the same as the Creation Transaction Fee. The Redemption Transaction fee is paid to the Fund. The fee is designed to protect existing shareholders of the Fund from the costs associated with redeeming Creation Units.
Additional Information About Buying and Selling Fund Shares
Legal Restrictions on Transactions in Certain Securities. An investor subject to a legal restriction with respect to a particular security required to be deposited in connection with the purchase of a Creation Unit may, at the Fund’s discretion, be permitted to deposit an equivalent amount of cash in substitution for any security which would otherwise be included in the In-Kind Creation Basket applicable to the purchase of a Creation Unit.
Creations and redemptions of shares will be subject to applicable federal and state securities laws, including that securities accepted for deposit and securities used to satisfy redemption requests are sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act). The Fund (whether or not it otherwise permits cash redemptions) reserves the right to redeem Creation Units for cash to the extent that an investor could not lawfully purchase or the Fund could not lawfully deliver specific securities under such laws or the local laws of a jurisdiction in which the Fund invests. An Authorized Participant or an investor for which it is acting subject to a legal restriction with respect to a particular security included in an In-Kind Redemption Basket may be paid an equivalent amount of cash. An Authorized Participant or redeeming investor for which it is acting that is not a qualified institutional buyer (QIB) as defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act will not be able to receive, as part of a redemption, restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.
Continuous Offering. Authorized Participants should be aware of certain legal risks unique to investors purchasing Creation Units directly from the Fund. Because shares may be issued on an ongoing basis, a “distribution” of shares could be occurring at any time. Certain activities that Authorized Participants perform with respect to the sale of
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Buying and Selling Fund Shares (continued)
shares could, depending on the circumstances, result in Authorized Participants being deemed to be a participant in the distribution, in a manner that could render Authorized Participants a statutory underwriter and subject Authorized Participants to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the Securities Act. For example, Authorized Participants could be deemed a statutory underwriter if Authorized Participants purchase Creation Units from the issuing Fund, break them down into the constituent shares, and sell those shares directly to customers, or if Authorized Participants choose to couple the creation of a supply of new shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for shares. Whether a person is an underwriter for purposes of the Securities Act depends upon all of the facts and circumstances pertaining to that person’s activities, and the examples mentioned here should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could cause Authorized Participants to be deemed an underwriter.
Broker-dealer firms should also note that dealers who are not “underwriters” but are effecting transactions in shares, whether or not participating in the distribution of shares, are generally required to deliver a prospectus. This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(3) of the Securities Act is not available in respect of such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the 1940 Act. As a result, broker-dealer firms should note that dealers who are not “underwriters” but are participating in a distribution (as opposed to engaging in ordinary secondary market transactions), and thus dealing with shares as part of an unsold allotment within the meaning of Section 4(3)(C) of the Securities Act, will be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(3) of the Securities Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the Securities Act is only available with respect to transactions on a national exchange.
Active Investors and Market Timing
The Board has determined not to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of the Fund’s shares because investors primarily transact in Fund shares on the secondary market. Frequent trading of shares on the secondary market does not disrupt portfolio management, increase the Fund’s trading costs, lead to realization of capital gains or otherwise harm Fund shareholders because these trades do not involve the issuance or redemption of Fund shares.
The Fund sells and redeems its shares at NAV only in Creation Units pursuant to the terms of a Participant Agreement between an Authorized Participant and the Distributor, principally in exchange for a basket of securities. With respect to such trades directly with the Fund to the extent effected in-kind (i.e., for securities), they generally would not cause the harmful effects that may result from frequent cash trades.
The Board recognizes that to the extent that the Fund allows or requires trades to be effected in whole or in part in cash, those trades could result in dilution to a Fund and increased transaction costs, which could negatively impact the Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective. The Board also recognizes, however, that direct trading by Authorized Participants is critical to ensuring that the Fund’s shares trade at or close to NAV. Further, the Fund may employ fair valuation pricing to minimize the potential for dilution from market timing. Moreover, the Fund imposes transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Fund shares reflecting the fact that the Fund’s costs increase in those circumstances. The Fund reserves the right to impose additional restrictions on disruptive, excessive or short-term purchases.
Distribution and Service Fees
The Board has approved, and the Fund has adopted, a distribution and service plan (the Plan) pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. Under the Plan, the Fund is authorized to pay distribution fees to the Distributor and other firms that provide distribution and shareholder services (Service Providers). If a Service Provider provides such services, the Fund may pay fees at an annual rate not to exceed 0.25% of average daily net assets, pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act.
No distribution or service fees are currently paid by the Fund, however, and there are no current plans to impose these fees. Future payments may be made under the Plan without any further shareholder approval. In the event Rule 12b-1 fees are charged, over time they would increase the cost of an investment in the Fund.
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Buying and Selling Fund Shares (continued)
Intraday Indicative Value (IIV)
The Exchange intends to disseminate the approximate per share value of the Fund’s published basket of portfolio securities every 15 seconds (the ‘‘intraday indicative value’’ or ‘‘IIV’’). The IIV should not be viewed as a ‘‘real-time’’ update of the NAV per share of the Fund because (i) the IIV may not be calculated in the same manner as the NAV, which is computed once a day, generally at the end of the Business Day (as defined below), (ii) the calculation of NAV may be subject to fair valuation at different prices than those used in the calculations of the IIV, (iii) unlike the calculation of NAV, the IIV does not take into account Fund expenses, and (iv) the IIV is based on the published basket of portfolio securities and not on the Fund’s actual holdings. The IIV calculations are based on local market prices and may not reflect events that occur subsequent to the local market’s close (except such quotations may be updated to reflect currency fluctuations), which could affect premiums and discounts between the IIV and the market price of the Fund’s shares. The Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates are not involved in, or responsible for, any aspect of the calculation or dissemination of the Fund’s IIV, and the Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates do not make any warranty as to the accuracy of these calculations.
Determination of Net Asset Value
FUNDamentals
NAV Calculation
The Fund calculates its NAV as follows:
NAV =   (Value of assets) – (Liabilities)
Number of outstanding shares
FUNDamentals
Business Days
A business day is any day that the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is open. A business day ends at the close of regular trading on the NYSE, usually at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. If the NYSE closes early, the business day ends as of the time the NYSE closes. On holidays and other days when the NYSE is closed, the Fund's NAV is not calculated and the Fund does not accept buy or sell orders. However, the value of the Fund's assets may still be affected on such days to the extent that the Fund holds foreign securities that trade on days that foreign securities markets are open.
Equity securities are valued primarily on the basis of market quotations reported on stock exchanges and other securities markets around the world. If an equity security is listed on a national exchange, the security is valued at the closing price or, if the closing price is not readily available, the mean of the closing bid and asked prices. Certain equity securities, debt securities and other assets are valued differently. For instance, bank loans trading in the secondary market are valued primarily on the basis of indicative bids, fixed-income investments maturing in 60 days or less are valued primarily using the amortized cost method, unless this methodology results in a valuation that does not approximate the market value of these securities, and those maturing in excess of 60 days are valued primarily using a market-based price obtained from a pricing service, if available. Investments in other open-end funds are valued at their latest NAVs. Both market quotations and indicative bids are obtained from outside pricing services approved and monitored pursuant to a policy approved by the Fund's Board.
If a market price is not readily available or is deemed not to reflect market value, the Fund will determine the price of a portfolio security based on a determination of the security's fair value pursuant to a policy approved by the Fund's Board. In addition, the Fund may use fair valuation to price securities that trade on a foreign exchange when a significant event has occurred after the foreign exchange closes but before the time at which the Fund's share price is calculated. Foreign exchanges typically close before the time at which Fund share prices are calculated, and may be closed altogether on some days when the Fund is open. Such significant events affecting a foreign security may include, but are not limited to: (1) corporate actions, earnings announcements, litigation or other events impacting a
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Buying and Selling Fund Shares (continued)
single issuer; (2) governmental action that affects securities in one sector or country; (3) natural disasters or armed conflicts affecting a country or region; or (4) significant domestic or foreign market fluctuations. The Fund uses various criteria in determining whether a foreign security's market price is readily available and reflective of market value and, if not, the fair value of the security. To the extent the Fund has significant holdings of small cap stocks, high-yield bonds, floating rate loans, or tax-exempt, foreign or other securities that may trade infrequently, fair valuation may be used more frequently than for other funds.
Fair valuation may have the effect of reducing stale pricing arbitrage opportunities presented by the pricing of Fund shares. However, when the Fund uses fair valuation to price securities, it may value those securities higher or lower than another fund would have priced the security. Also, the use of fair valuation may cause the Fund's performance to diverge to a greater degree from the performance of various benchmarks used to compare the Fund's performance because benchmarks generally do not use fair valuation techniques. Because of the judgment involved in fair valuation decisions, there can be no assurance that the value ascribed to a particular security is accurate.
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Distributions and Taxes
Distributions to Shareholders
A fund can make money two ways:
It can earn income on its investments. Examples of fund income are interest paid on money market instruments, and dividends paid on common stocks.
A fund can also have capital gains if the value of its investments increases. While a fund continues to hold an investment, any gain is generally unrealized. If the fund sells an investment, it generally will realize a capital gain if it sells that investment for a higher price than its adjusted cost basis, and will generally realize a capital loss if it sells that investment for a lower price than its adjusted cost basis. Capital gains and losses are either short-term or long-term, depending on whether the fund holds the securities for one year or less (short-term) or more than one year (long-term).
Brokers may make available to their customers who own shares the DTC book-entry dividend reinvestment service. To determine whether the dividend reinvestment service is available and whether there is a commission or other charge for using this service, consult your broker. Brokers may require Fund shareholders to adhere to specific procedures and timetables. If this service is available and used, dividend distributions of both income (which may include a return of capital) and net realized gains will be automatically reinvested in additional whole shares of the distributing Fund purchased in the secondary market. Without this service, investors would receive their distributions in cash.
FUNDamentals
Distributions
Funds make payments of fund earnings to shareholders, distributing them among all shareholders of the fund. As a shareholder, you are entitled to your portion of a fund's distributed income, including capital gains. Reinvesting your distributions buys you more shares of a fund which lets you take advantage of the potential for compound growth. Putting the money you earn back into your investment means it, in turn, may earn even more money. Over time, the power of compounding has the potential to significantly increase the value of your investment. There is no assurance, however, that you'll earn more money if you reinvest your distributions rather than receive them in cash.
The Fund intends to pay out, in the form of distributions to shareholders, a sufficient amount of its income and gains so that the Fund will qualify for treatment as a regulated investment company and generally will not have to pay any federal excise tax. The Fund generally intends to distribute any net realized capital gain (whether long-term or short-term gain) at least once a year. Normally, the Fund will declare and pay distributions of net investment income according to the following schedule:
    
Declaration and Distribution Schedule
Declarations Quarterly
Distributions Quarterly
The Fund may declare or pay distributions of net investment income more frequently.
Each time a distribution is made, the net asset value per share is reduced by the amount of the distribution.
The Fund generally pays cash distributions within five business days after the distribution was declared. If you sell all of your shares after the record date, but before the payment date, for a distribution, you'll normally receive that distribution in cash within five business days after the sale was made.
Unless you are a tax-exempt investor or holding Fund shares through a tax-advantaged account (such as a 401(k) plan or IRA), you should consider avoiding buying Fund shares shortly before the Fund makes a distribution (other than distributions of net investment income that are declared daily) of net investment income or net realized capital gain, because doing so can cost you money in taxes to the extent the distribution consists of taxable income or
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Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF
Distributions and Taxes (continued)
gains. This is because you will, in effect, receive part of your purchase price back in the distribution. This is known as “buying a dividend.” To avoid “buying a dividend,” before you invest check the Fund's distribution schedule, which is available at the Funds' website and/or by calling 800.774.3768.
Taxes
You should be aware of the following considerations applicable to all Funds (unless otherwise noted):
The Fund intends to qualify and to be eligible for treatment each year as a regulated investment company. A regulated investment company generally is not subject to tax at the fund level on income and gains from investments that are distributed to shareholders. However, the Fund's failure to qualify for treatment as a regulated investment company would result in Fund-level taxation, and consequently, a reduction in income available for distribution to you and in the net asset value of your shares. Even if the Fund qualifies for treatment as a regulated investment company, the Fund may be subject to federal excise tax on certain undistributed income or gains.
Otherwise taxable distributions generally are taxable to you when paid, whether they are paid in cash or automatically reinvested in additional Fund shares. Dividends paid in January are deemed paid on December 31 of the prior year if the dividend was declared and payable to shareholders of record in October, November, or December of such prior year.
Distributions of the Fund's ordinary income and net short-term capital gain, if any, generally are taxable to you as ordinary income. Distributions of the Fund's net long-term capital gain, if any, generally are taxable to you as long-term capital gain. Whether capital gains are long-term or short-term is determined by how long the Fund has owned the investments that generated them, rather than how long you have owned your shares.
From time to time, a distribution from the Fund could constitute a return of capital, which is not taxable to you so long as the amount of the distribution does not exceed your tax basis in your Fund shares. A return of capital reduces your tax basis in your Fund shares, with any amounts exceeding such basis generally taxable as capital gain.
If you are an individual and you meet certain holding period and other requirements for your Fund shares, a portion of your distributions may be treated as “qualified dividend income” taxable at the lower net long-term capital gain rates instead of the higher ordinary income rates. Qualified dividend income is income attributable to the Fund's dividends received from certain U.S. and foreign corporations, as long as the Fund meets certain holding period and other requirements for the stock producing such dividends.
Certain high-income individuals (as well as estates and trusts) are subject to a 3.8% tax on net investment income. For individuals, the 3.8% tax applies to the lesser of (1) the amount (if any) by which the taxpayer's modified adjusted gross income exceeds certain threshold amounts or (2) the taxpayer's “net investment income.”
  Net investment income generally includes for this purpose dividends, including any capital gain dividends, paid by the Fund, and net gains recognized on the sale, redemption or exchange of shares of the Fund.
Certain derivative instruments when held in the Fund's portfolio subject the Fund to special tax rules, the effect of which may be to, among other things, accelerate income to the Fund, defer Fund losses, cause adjustments in the holding periods of Fund portfolio securities, or convert capital gains into ordinary income, short-term capital losses into long-term capital losses or long-term capital gains into short-term capital gains. These rules could therefore affect the amount, timing and/or character of distributions to shareholders.
Generally, a Fund realizes a capital gain or loss on an option when the option expires, or when it is exercised, sold or otherwise terminated. However, if an option is a “section 1256 contract,” which includes most traded options on a broad-based index, and the Fund holds such option at the end of its taxable year, the Fund is deemed to sell such option at fair market value at such time and recognize any gain or loss thereon, which is generally deemed to be 60% long-term and 40% short-term gain or loss, as described further in the SAI.
Income and proceeds received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to foreign taxes. If at the end of the taxable year more than 50% of the value of the Fund's assets consists of securities of foreign corporations, and the Fund makes a special election, you will generally be required to include in your income for
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Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF
Distributions and Taxes (continued)
  U.S. federal income tax purposes your share of the qualifying foreign income taxes paid by the Fund in respect of its foreign portfolio securities. You may be able to claim a foreign tax credit or deduction in respect of this amount, subject to certain limitations. There is no assurance that the Fund will make this election for a taxable year, even if it is eligible to do so.
A sale, redemption or exchange of Fund shares is a taxable event. This includes redemptions where you are paid in securities. Your sales, redemptions and exchanges of Fund shares, including those paid in securities or other instruments, usually will result in a taxable capital gain or loss to you, equal to the difference between the amount you receive for your shares (or are deemed to have received in the case of exchanges) and your adjusted tax basis in the shares, which is generally the amount you paid (or are deemed to have paid in the case of exchanges) for them. Any such capital gain or loss generally will be long-term capital gain or loss if you have held your Fund shares for more than one year at the time of sale or exchange. In certain circumstances, capital losses may be converted from short-term to long-term; in other circumstances, capital losses may be disallowed under the “wash sale” rules.
Your broker will be responsible for furnishing tax reporting information for Fund shares held in a nonqualified account, shareholder reports, and other communications from the Fund. For sales or exchanges of Fund shares acquired in a nonqualified account after 2011, your broker is required to report basis and holding period information to you and the IRS. Your broker may offer a choice of basis calculation methods. Contact your broker to determine which basis methods are available for your account.
The Fund or, in the case of sales of Fund shares in the secondary market, your broker, will generally be required by federal law to withhold tax on any distributions and proceeds paid to you if you have not provided a correct TIN or have not certified to the Fund or its agent, or your broker, as the case may be, that withholding does not apply.
For Authorized Participants Purchasing and Redeeming in Creation Units: An Authorized Participant that exchanges equity securities for one or more Creation Units will generally recognize a gain or a loss on the exchange. The gain or loss will be equal to the difference between (i) the market value of the Creation Unit(s) at the time and, (ii) the exchanger’s aggregate basis in the securities surrendered plus (or minus) the Cash Component paid (or received). A person who redeems one or more Creation Units for equity securities will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between (i) the exchanger’s basis in the Creation Unit(s) and, (ii) the aggregate market value of the securities received plus (or minus) the Cash Component received (or paid). The IRS, however, may assert that a loss realized upon an exchange of securities for Creation Unit(s) cannot be deducted currently under the rules governing “wash sales,” or on the basis that there has been no significant change in economic position. Persons exchanging securities should consult their own tax advisors with respect to whether wash sale rules apply and when a loss might be deductible. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a redemption of one or more Creation Units is generally treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the Creation Unit(s) have been held for more than one year and as short-term capital gain or loss if they have been held for one year or less. If you purchase or redeem Creation Units, you will be sent a confirmation statement showing how many shares you purchased or sold and at what price.
FUNDamentals
Taxes
The information provided above is only a summary of how U.S. federal income taxes may affect your investment in the Fund. It is not intended as a substitute for careful tax planning. Your investment in the Fund may have other tax implications. It does not apply to certain types of investors who may be subject to special rules, including foreign or tax-exempt investors or those holding Fund shares through a tax-advantaged account, such as a 401(k) plan or IRA. Please see the SAI for more detailed tax information. You should consult with your own tax advisor about the particular tax consequences to you of an investment in the Fund, including the effect of any foreign, state and local taxes, and the effect of possible changes in applicable tax laws.
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Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF
Premium/Discount Information
When available, information regarding how often the shares of the Fund traded on NYSE Arca, Inc. at a price above (at a premium) or below (at a discount) the NAV of the Fund during the past four calendar quarters, can be found at columbiathreadneedleetf.com.
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Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF
Financial Highlights
Because the Fund had not commenced operations prior to the date of this prospectus, no financial highlights are provided.
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Columbia  Sustainable   International Equity Income ETF
225 Franklin Street
Boston, MA 02110
Additional Information About the Fund
Additional information about the Fund’s investments will be available in the Fund’s annual and semiannual reports to shareholders. In the annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund’s performance during its last fiscal year. The SAI also provides additional information about the Fund and its policies. The SAI, which has been filed with the SEC, is legally part of this prospectus (incorporated by reference). To obtain these documents free of charge, to request other information about the Fund and to make shareholder inquiries, please contact the Fund as follows:
By Mail:   Columbia Funds
225 Franklin Street
Boston, MA 02110
By Telephone: 800.774.3768
Online: columbiathreadneedleetf.com
You can review and copy information about the Fund (including this prospectus, the SAI and shareholder reports when available) at the SEC’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. To find out more about the operation of the Public Reference Room, call the SEC at 202.551.8090. Reports and other information about the Fund are also available in the EDGAR Database on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. You can receive copies of this information, for a fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov or by writing the Public Reference Section, Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, D.C. 20549-1520.
The investment company registration number of Columbia ETF Trust I, of which the Fund is a series, is 811-22736.
PRO271_10_F01_(06/16)


Table of Contents
Prospectus
June 6, 2016
Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF
    
Ticker Symbol
ESGS
This prospectus provides important information about the Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF (the Fund), a passively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) that is a series of Columbia ETF Trust I (the Trust), that you should know before investing. Please read it carefully and keep it for future reference.
These securities have not been approved or disapproved by the Securities and Exchange Commission nor has the Securities and Exchange Commission passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
Shares of the Fund are listed and traded on NYSE Arca, Inc. (the Exchange).
The Trust has not yet received exemptive relief from the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer and sell shares of passively managed ETFs.
No person has been authorized to give any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus and the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information (SAI) dated June 6, 2016 (which is incorporated by reference into this prospectus and is legally a part of this prospectus) and, if given or made, such information or representations may not be relied upon as having been authorized by us.

 

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Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF
Summary of the Fund
Investment Objective
Columbia  Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF (the Fund) seeks investment results that, before fees and expenses, closely correspond to the performance of the Beta Advantage SM Sustainable U.S. Equity Income 100  Index (the Index).
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. You may also pay brokerage commissions on the purchase and sale of shares of the Fund, which are not reflected in the table. If such expenses were reflected, the expenses set forth below would be higher.
    
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management fees (a) 0.35%
Distribution and/or service (12b-1) fees (b) 0.00%
Other expenses 0.00%
Total annual Fund operating expenses 0.35%
(a) Under the Fund’s Investment Management Services Agreement with Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC (the Investment Manager), the Investment Manager has agreed to pay the operating costs and expenses of the Fund other than taxes, interest, portfolio transaction expenses and infrequent and/or unusual expenses.
(b) Pursuant to a Rule 12b-1 Distribution and Service Plan (the Plan), the Fund may bear a Rule 12b-1 fee not to exceed 0.25% per year of the Fund’s average daily net assets. However, no such fee is currently paid by the Fund, and the Board of Trustees has not currently approved the commencement of any payments under the Plan.
Example
The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The example illustrates the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over the time periods indicated (whether or not shares are redeemed), and assumes that:
you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the periods indicated,
your investment has a 5% return each year, and
the Fund’s total annual operating expenses remain the same as shown in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses table above.
Investors may pay brokerage commissions on their purchases and sales of the Fund’s shares, which are not reflected in the example. The example also does not include transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units (defined below) because those fees will not be imposed on retail investors. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on the assumptions listed above, your costs (based on estimated Fund expenses) would be:
    
  1 year 3 years
  $36 $113
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. Because the Fund is newly organized, portfolio turnover information is not available as of the date of this prospectus.
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Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF
Summary of the Fund (continued)
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund uses an indexing investment approach that seeks to replicate the performance of the Index.
The Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of the Index.
The Index is owned and calculated by MSCI Inc. (MSCI or the Index Provider). The Index was developed by MSCI with input from Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC (the Fund’s Investment Manager). The Index, which typically holds common stocks, was constructed to provide exposure to U.S. large- and mid-cap companies that are believed to offer sustainable levels of income, as well as total return opportunity.
The Index is comprised of a subset of 100 companies within the MSCI USA Index. With a starting point of the MSCI USA Index, the Index was designed to reflect the performance of the top 100 U.S. large- and mid-cap companies (excluding real estate investment trusts) ranked and weighted according to a composite factor score determined through the application of a systematic, rules-based methodology applied by MSCI. This methodology focuses on security dividend yield, dividend growth, and cash-based dividend coverage ratio factors. MSCI also screens companies for "sustainability" through the application of its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rating methodology that is designed to exclude companies with unfavorable corporate ESG practices. The Index component securities are weighted based on the overall composite model scores and dividend yield. The Index is rebalanced on a quarterly basis in February, May, August and November.
The Fund uses a replication strategy to track the performance of the Index, whereby the Fund invests in or has investment exposure to substantially all of the component securities of the Index in approximately the same proportions as in the Index. However, under various circumstances, including circumstances under which it may not be possible or practicable to purchase all of the securities in the Index, or in the same weightings, the Fund may purchase or have investment exposure to a sample of the securities in the Index in proportions expected to replicate generally the performance of the Index as a whole. There may also be instances in which the Fund may overweight (or underweight) an Index holding, purchase (or sell) instruments not in the Index as a substitute for one or more securities in the Index or utilize various combinations of other available investment techniques in seeking to replicate the performance of the Index. The Fund may sell securities or other holdings that are represented in the Index or purchase securities or make other investments that are not yet represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from or addition to the Index by MSCI.
The Investment Manager does not invest the Fund’s assets based on its view of the investment merits of a particular security or company, nor does it conduct fundamental investment research or analysis, or seek to forecast or otherwise consider market movements, conditions or trends in managing the Fund’s assets. The Fund pursues its investment objective of correlating performance with the Index regardless of market conditions and does not to take defensive positions.
The methodology applied by MSCI to select Index holdings and weightings does not set limits on sector or industry exposures. To the extent the Index is concentrated in a particular sector or industry, the Fund will necessarily be concentrated in that sector or industry.
The Fund may buy shares of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (the Investment Manager’s parent company), if included in the Index, subject to certain restrictions.
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund involves risks, including those described below. There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective and you may lose money . The value of the Fund’s holdings may decline, and the Fund’s net asset value (NAV) and share price may go down.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined below) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants, none of which are or will be obligated to engage in creation or redemption transactions. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable or unwilling to proceed with creation and/or
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Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF
Summary of the Fund (continued)
redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able or willing to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. This Risk is heightened in times of market stress.
Changing Distribution Level Risk. The amount of the distributions paid by the Fund will vary and generally depends on the amount of interest income and/or dividends received (less expenses) by the Fund on the securities it holds. If the Fund does not receive any such income and/or dividends, the Fund may not be in a position to make distributions to shareholders. If the interest income and/or dividends the Fund receives from its investments declines, the Fund may have to reduce its distribution level.
Correlation/Tracking Error Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with the Index, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve such degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective. The factors that may adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with the Index include the size of the Fund’s portfolio, fees, expenses, transaction costs, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards, the effectiveness of sampling techniques, changes in the Index and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities in which the Fund invests. While the Fund typically attempts to track the performance of the Index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the types of securities that make up the Index in approximately the same proportion as their weighting in the Index, at times, the Fund may not have investment exposure to all securities in the Index, or its weighting of investment exposure to securities may be different from that of the Index. In addition, the Fund may invest in securities not included in the Index. The Fund may take or refrain from taking investment positions for various reasons, such as tax efficiency purposes, or to comply with regulatory restrictions, which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with the Index. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being over- or under-exposed to certain securities comprising the Index and may be impacted by Index reconstitutions and Index rebalancing events. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and the Index and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective.
Early Close/Late Close/Trading Halt Risk. An exchange or market may close early, close late or issue trading halts on specific securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities may be restricted, which may result in the Fund being unable to buy or sell certain securities. In these circumstances, the Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be unable to accurately price its investments and/or may incur substantial trading losses.
Environmental, Social and Governance Investing Risk . The Index’s environmental, social and corporate governance screening may cause the Fund to forgo certain investment opportunities, and/or forgo opportunities to gain exposure to certain industries, sectors, regions, countries and companies that could have benefited the Fund. In addition, the Fund may be required to sell a security when it might otherwise be disadvantageous for it to do so.
Fund Shares Liquidity Risk. Although the Fund’s shares are listed on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active or liquid trading market for shares will be established or maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants, particularly in times of stressed market conditions. There is no obligation of market makers to make a market in the Fund’s shares or of Authorized Participants to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units. As such they may step away from their roles and this could in turn lead to variances between the market price of the Fund’s shares and the underlying value of those shares. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in Fund shares inadvisable. Further, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged.
Index Methodology Risk. The Fund seeks performance that corresponds to the performance of the Index. There is no guarantee or assurance that the methodology used to create the Index will result in the Fund achieving high, or even positive, returns. The Index may underperform more traditional indices. The Fund could lose value while other indices or measures of market performance increase in level or performance. In addition, the Fund may be subject to the risk that the Index provider may not follow its stated methodology for determining the level of the Index and/or achieve the index provider’s intended performance objective.
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Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF
Summary of the Fund (continued)
Issuer Risk. An issuer in which the Fund invests or to which it has exposure may perform poorly, and the value of its securities may therefore decline, which would negatively affect the Fund’s performance. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, breakthroughs in technology, reliance on suppliers, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, natural disasters or other events, conditions or factors.
Limitations of Intraday Indicative Value (IIV) Risk. The Exchange intends to disseminate the approximate per share value of the Fund’s published basket of portfolio securities every 15 seconds (the ‘‘intraday indicative value’’ or ‘‘IIV’’). The IIV should not be viewed as a ‘‘real-time’’ update of the NAV per share of the Fund because the IIV may not be calculated in the same manner as the NAV, which is computed once a day, generally at the end of the business day, (ii) the calculation of NAV may be subject to fair valuation at different prices than those used in the calculations of the IIV, unlike the calculation of NAV, the IIV does not take into account Fund expenses, and (iv) the IIV is based on the published basket of portfolio securities and not on the Fund’s actual holdings. The IIV calculations are based on local market prices and may not reflect events that occur subsequent to the local market’s close, which could affect premiums and discounts between the IIV and the market price of the Fund’s shares. For example, if the Fund fair values portfolio securities, the Fund’s NAV may deviate from the approximate per share value of the Fund’s published basket of portfolio securities (i.e., the IIV), which could result in the market prices for Fund shares deviating from NAV. The Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates are not involved in, or responsible for, any aspect of the calculation or dissemination of the Fund’s IIV, and the Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates do not make any warranty as to the accuracy of these calculations.
Market Price Relative to NAV Risk. Shares of the Fund may trade at prices that vary from Fund NAV. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on the Exchange and are bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices that may differ, in some cases significantly, from their NAV. The NAV of the Fund will generally fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings. The market prices of shares, however, will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in NAV as well as the relative supply of, and demand for, shares on the Exchange. The Investment Manager cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their NAV. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related to, but not identical to, the same forces influencing the prices of the securities held by the Fund. Given that shares can be purchased and redeemed in large blocks of shares, called Creation Units (defined below) (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAV), and the names and quantitates of the securities and other instruments comprising the Fund's In-Kind Creation Basket/In-Kind Redemption Basket are disclosed on a daily basis, the Investment Manager does not anticipate that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of shares will occur, although there can be no assurance that will be the case. However, if a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.
Market Risk. Market risk refers to the possibility that the market values of securities or other investments that the Fund holds will fall, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, or fail to rise. An investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods.
Mid-Cap Company Securities Risk. Investments in mid-capitalization companies (mid-cap companies) often involve greater risks than investments in larger, more established companies (larger companies) because mid-cap companies tend to have less predictable earnings and may lack the management experience, financial resources, product diversification and competitive strengths of larger companies, and may be less liquid than the securities of larger companies.
New Fund Risk. The Fund is a newly-formed passively managed ETF. Accordingly, investors in the Fund bear the risk that the Fund may not be successful in implementing its passive investment strategy of replicating the Index, which could result in the Fund being liquidated at any time without shareholder approval and/or at a time that may not be favorable for shareholders. Such a liquidation could have negative tax consequences for shareholders.
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Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF
Summary of the Fund (continued)
Portfolio Turnover Risk. In seeking to meet its investment objective, the Fund may incur portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains.
Secondary Market Trading Risk. Investors buying or selling shares of the Fund will pay brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by brokers as determined by that broker. Brokerage commissions are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell relatively small amounts of shares.
Performance Information
The Fund is new as of the date of this prospectus and therefore performance information is not available.
When available, the Fund intends to compare its performance to the performance of the Beta Advantage  Sustainable U.S. Equity Income 100 Index and to the performance of the MSCI USA Value Index.
When available, updated performance information can be obtained by calling toll-free 800.774.3768 or visiting columbiathreadneedleetf.com.
Fund Management
Investment Manager: Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC
    
Portfolio Manager   Title   Role with Fund   Managed Fund Since
Christopher Lo, CFA   Senior Portfolio Manager   Manager   June 2016
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund issues and redeems shares only through Authorized Participants (typically broker-dealers) in large blocks of shares, typically 50,000 shares, called Creation Units. Creation Units are issued and redeemed typically for an in-kind basket of securities. Individual shares may only be purchased and sold on a national securities exchange through a broker-dealer. Because the Fund’s shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount).
Tax Information
The Fund intends to distribute net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, to shareholders. These distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income, qualified dividend income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, you may be taxed upon withdrawals from that account.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your financial advisor to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
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Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF
More Information About the Fund
Investment Objective
Columbia  Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF (the Fund) seeks investment results that, before fees and expenses, closely correspond to the performance of the Beta Advantage Sustainable U.S. Equity Income 100  Index (the Index).
The Fund’s investment objective is not a fundamental policy and may be changed by the Fund’s Board of Trustees without shareholder approval. Because any investment involves risk, there is no assurance the Fund’s objective will be achieved.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund uses an indexing investment approach that seeks to replicate the performance of the Index.
The Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of the Index.
The Index is owned and calculated by MSCI Inc. (MSCI or the Index Provider). The Index was developed by MSCI with input from Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC (the Fund’s Investment Manager). The Index, which typically holds common stocks, was constructed to provide exposure to U.S. large- and mid-cap companies that are believed to offer sustainable levels of income, as well as total return opportunity.
The Index is comprised of a subset of 100 companies within the MSCI USA Index. With a starting point of the MSCI USA Index, the Index was designed to reflect the performance of the top 100 U.S. large- and mid-cap companies (excluding real estate investment trusts) ranked and weighted according to a composite factor score determined through the application of a systematic, rules-based methodology applied by MSCI. This methodology focuses on security dividend yield, dividend growth, and cash-based dividend coverage ratio factors. MSCI also screens companies for "sustainability" through the application of its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rating methodology that is designed to exclude companies with unfavorable corporate ESG practices. The Index component securities are weighted based on the overall composite model scores and dividend yield. The Index is rebalanced on a quarterly basis in February, May, August and November.
The Fund uses a replication strategy to track the performance of the Index, whereby the Fund invests in or has investment exposure to substantially all of the component securities of the Index in approximately the same proportions as in the Index. However, under various circumstances, including circumstances under which it may not be possible or practicable to purchase all of the securities in the Index, or in the same weightings, the Fund may purchase or have investment exposure to a sample of the securities in the Index in proportions expected to replicate generally the performance of the Index as a whole. There may also be instances in which the Fund may overweight (or underweight) an Index holding, purchase (or sell) instruments not in the Index as a substitute for one or more securities in the Index or utilize various combinations of other available investment techniques in seeking to replicate the performance of the Index. The Fund may sell securities or other holdings that are represented in the Index or purchase securities or make other investments that are not yet represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from or addition to the Index by MSCI.
The Investment Manager does not invest the Fund’s assets based on its view of the investment merits of a particular security or company, nor does it conduct fundamental investment research or analysis, or seek to forecast or otherwise consider market movements, conditions or trends in managing the Fund’s assets. The Fund pursues its investment objective of correlating performance with the Index regardless of market conditions and does not to take defensive positions.
The methodology applied by MSCI to select Index holdings and weightings does not set limits on sector or industry exposures. To the extent the Index is concentrated in a particular sector or industry, the Fund will necessarily be concentrated in that sector or industry.
The Fund may buy shares of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (the Investment Manager’s parent company), if included in the Index, subject to certain restrictions.    
The Fund reserves the right to substitute a different index for the Index, without the approval of the Fund’s shareholders.
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The Fund’s investment policy with respect to 80% of its assets may be changed by the Fund’s Board of Trustees without shareholder approval as long as shareholders are given 60 days’ advance written notice of the change.
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund involves risks, including those described below. There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective and you may lose money . The value of the Fund’s holdings may decline, and the Fund’s net asset value (NAV) and share price may go down.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined below) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants, none of which are or will be obligated to engage in creation or redemption transactions. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable or unwilling to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able or willing to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. This Risk is heightened in times of market stress.
Changing Distribution Level Risk. The amount of the distributions paid by the Fund will vary and generally depends on the amount of interest income and/or dividends received (less expenses) by the Fund on the securities it holds. If the Fund does not receive any such income and/or dividends, the Fund may not be in a position to make distributions to shareholders. If the interest income and/or dividends the Fund receives from its investments declines, the Fund may have to reduce its distribution level.
Correlation/Tracking Error Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with the Index, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve such degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective. The factors that may adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with the Index include the size of the Fund’s portfolio, fees, expenses, transaction costs, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards, the effectiveness of sampling techniques, changes in the Index and disruptions or illiquidity in the markets for the securities in which the Fund invests. While the Fund typically attempts to track the performance of the Index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the types of securities that make up the Index in approximately the same proportion as their weighting in the Index, at times, the Fund may not have investment exposure to all securities in the Index, or its weighting of investment exposure to securities may be different from that of the Index. In addition, the Fund may invest in securities not included in the Index. The Fund may take or refrain from taking investment positions for various reasons, such as tax efficiency purposes, or to comply with regulatory restrictions, which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with the Index. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being over- or under-exposed to certain securities comprising the Index and may be impacted by Index reconstitutions and Index rebalancing events. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and the Index and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective.
Early Close/Late Close/Trading Halt Risk. An exchange or market may close early, close late or issue trading halts on specific securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities may be restricted, which may result in the Fund being unable to buy or sell certain securities. In these circumstances, the Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be unable to accurately price its investments and/or may incur substantial trading losses.
Environmental, Social and Governance Investing Risk . The Index’s environmental, social and corporate governance screening may cause the Fund to forgo certain investment opportunities, and/or forgo opportunities to gain exposure to certain industries, sectors, regions, countries and companies that could have benefited the Fund. In addition, the Fund may be required to sell a security when it might otherwise be disadvantageous for it to do so.
Fund Shares Liquidity Risk. Although the Fund’s shares are listed on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active or liquid trading market for shares will be established or maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants, particularly in times of stressed market conditions. There is no obligation of market makers to make a market in the Fund’s shares or of Authorized Participants to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units. As such they may step away from their roles and this could in turn lead to variances between the market price of the
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Fund’s shares and the underlying value of those shares. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in Fund shares inadvisable. Further, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged.
Index Methodology Risk. The Fund seeks performance that corresponds to the performance of the Index. There is no guarantee or assurance that the methodology used to create the Index will result in the Fund achieving high, or even positive, returns. The Index may underperform more traditional indices. The Fund could lose value while other indices or measures of market performance increase in level or performance. In addition, the Fund may be subject to the risk that the Index provider may not follow its stated methodology for determining the level of the Index and/or achieve the index provider’s intended performance objective.
Issuer Risk. An issuer in which the Fund invests or to which it has exposure may perform poorly, and the value of its securities may therefore decline, which would negatively affect the Fund’s performance. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, breakthroughs in technology, reliance on suppliers, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, natural disasters or other events, conditions or factors.
Limitations of Intraday Indicative Value (IIV) Risk. The Exchange intends to disseminate the approximate per share value of the Fund’s published basket of portfolio securities every 15 seconds (the ‘‘intraday indicative value’’ or ‘‘IIV’’). The IIV should not be viewed as a ‘‘real-time’’ update of the NAV per share of the Fund because the IIV may not be calculated in the same manner as the NAV, which is computed once a day, generally at the end of the business day, (ii) the calculation of NAV may be subject to fair valuation at different prices than those used in the calculations of the IIV, unlike the calculation of NAV, the IIV does not take into account Fund expenses, and (iv) the IIV is based on the published basket of portfolio securities and not on the Fund’s actual holdings. The IIV calculations are based on local market prices and may not reflect events that occur subsequent to the local market’s close, which could affect premiums and discounts between the IIV and the market price of the Fund’s shares. For example, if the Fund fair values portfolio securities, the Fund’s NAV may deviate from the approximate per share value of the Fund’s published basket of portfolio securities (i.e., the IIV), which could result in the market prices for Fund shares deviating from NAV. The Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates are not involved in, or responsible for, any aspect of the calculation or dissemination of the Fund’s IIV, and the Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates do not make any warranty as to the accuracy of these calculations.
Market Price Relative to NAV Risk. Shares of the Fund may trade at prices that vary from Fund NAV. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on the Exchange and are bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices that may differ, in some cases significantly, from their NAV. The NAV of the Fund will generally fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings. The market prices of shares, however, will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in NAV as well as the relative supply of, and demand for, shares on the Exchange. The Investment Manager cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their NAV. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related to, but not identical to, the same forces influencing the prices of the securities held by the Fund. Given that shares can be purchased and redeemed in large blocks of shares, called Creation Units (defined below) (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAV), and the names and quantitates of the securities and other instruments comprising the Fund's In-Kind Creation Basket/In-Kind Redemption Basket are disclosed on a daily basis, the Investment Manager does not anticipate that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of shares will occur, although there can be no assurance that will be the case. However, if a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.
Market Risk. Market risk refers to the possibility that the market values of securities or other investments that the Fund holds will fall, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, or fail to rise. The value of Fund investments may fall or fail to rise because of a variety of actual or perceived factors affecting an issuer (e.g., an unfavorable earnings report), the industry or sector in which it operates, or the market as a whole, which may reduce the value of an investment in
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the Fund. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods. The market values of the investments the Fund holds can be affected by changes or perceived changes in U.S. or foreign economies and financial markets, and the liquidity of these investments, among other factors.
Mid-Cap Company Securities Risk. Securities of mid-capitalization companies (mid-cap companies) can, in certain circumstances, have more risk than securities of larger capitalization companies (larger companies). For example, mid-cap companies may be more vulnerable to market downturns and adverse business or economic events than larger companies because they may have more limited financial resources and business operations. Mid-cap companies are also more likely than larger companies to have more limited product lines and operating histories and to depend on smaller management teams. Securities of mid-cap companies may trade less frequently and in smaller volumes and may fluctuate more sharply in value than securities of larger companies. When the Fund takes significant positions in mid-cap companies with limited trading volumes, the liquidation of those positions, particularly in a distressed market, could be difficult and result in Fund investment losses. In addition, some mid-cap companies may not be widely followed by the investment community, which can lower the demand for their stocks.
New Fund Risk. The Fund is a newly-formed passively managed ETF. Accordingly, investors in the Fund bear the risk that the Fund may not be successful in implementing its passive investment strategy of replicating the Index, which could result in the Fund being liquidated at any time without shareholder approval and/or at a time that may not be favorable for shareholders. Such a liquidation could have negative tax consequences for shareholders.
Portfolio Turnover Risk. In seeking to meet its investment objective, the Fund may incur portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains.
Secondary Market Trading Risk. Investors buying or selling shares in the Fund will pay brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by brokers as determined by that broker. Brokerage commissions are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell relatively small amounts of shares. In addition, secondary market investors will also incur the cost of the difference between the price that an investor is willing to pay for shares (the bid price) and the price at which an investor is willing to sell shares (the ask price). This difference in bid and ask prices is often referred to as the “spread” or “bid/ask spread.” The bid/ask spread varies over time for shares based on trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund’s shares have more trading volume and market liquidity and higher if the Fund’s shares have little trading volume and market liquidity. Further, increased market volatility may cause increased bid/ask spreads.
How is the Fund Different from Traditional Mutual Funds?
Redeemability. Traditional mutual fund shares may be bought from, and redeemed with, the issuing fund for cash at NAV typically calculated once at the end of each business day. Shares of the Fund, by contrast, cannot be purchased from or redeemed with the Fund except by or through Authorized Participants (defined below), and then typically for an in-kind basket of securities. In addition, the Fund issues and redeems shares on a continuous basis only in large blocks of shares, typically 50,000 shares, called Creation Units.
Exchange Listing. Unlike traditional mutual fund shares, the Fund’s shares are listed for trading on the Exchange. Investors can purchase and sell shares on the secondary market through a broker. There can be no assurance that the Fund's shares will continue to trade on the Exchange or that the Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on the Exchange. See "Trading/Listing Risk" above. Investors purchasing shares in the secondary market through a brokerage account or with the assistance of a broker may be subject to brokerage commissions and charges. Secondary-market transactions do not occur at NAV, but at market prices that change throughout the day, based on the supply of, and demand for, shares and on changes in the prices of the Fund’s portfolio holdings. The market price of shares may differ from the NAV of the Fund. The difference between market price of shares and the NAV of the Fund is called a premium when the market price is above the reported NAV and called a discount when the market price is below the reported NAV. Given that shares can be purchased and
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redeemed directly with the Fund in Creation Units, the Investment Manager believes that premiums or discounts to the NAV of shares will be small most of the time. However, the market price of the Fund's shares may deviate significantly from the NAV of the shares, for example, in times of extreme market volatility or other conditions.
Tax Treatment. The Fund’s structure may provide for greater tax efficiency than a traditional mutual fund’s structure. Specifically, to the extent the Fund redeems its shares in kind, the distribution of portfolio securities to meet such redemption requests may mitigate certain adverse tax consequences associated with traditional mutual fund shares to continuing Fund shareholders. This is because traditional mutual funds typically sell portfolio securities to obtain cash to meet such redemptions and, as necessary, recognize taxable gains in connection with such sales. By contrast, to the extent the Fund redeems its shares in kind, as opposed to in cash, the Fund’s in-kind redemption mechanism will potentially reduce, relative to a traditional mutual fund, taxable gains resulting from redemptions. However, the Fund cannot predict to what extent, if any, it will redeem its shares in kind rather than in cash, particularly during the Fund’s growth stages when portfolio changes are more likely to be implemented within the Fund rather than through the in-kind redemption mechanism. Nor can the Fund predict the extent to which any such in-kind redemptions will reduce the taxable gain recognized in connection therewith.
Additional Investment Strategies and Policies
This section describes certain investment strategies and policies that the Fund may utilize in pursuit of its investment objective and some additional factors and risks involved with investing in the Fund.
The Fund may consider changing the Index at any time, including if, for example: the Index becomes unavailable; the Board believes that the Index no longer serves the shareholder investment needs or that another index may better serve their needs; or the financial or economic environment makes it difficult for the Fund’s investment results to correspond sufficiently to the Index. If the Fund determines to change the Index, it will assess the appropriateness of the Fund's current name in light of the new index.
20% Asset Policy
The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in derivatives, including forward contracts (including forward foreign currency contracts), futures (including equity futures and index futures), options (including options on futures) and swaps (including portfolio and total return swaps), as well as cash, cash equivalents and money market instruments, such as repurchase agreements and money market funds (including affiliated money market funds), for the purpose of seeking to assist the Fund in tracking the performance of the Index.
Investment Guidelines
As a general matter, and except as specifically described in the discussion of the Fund's principal investment strategies in this prospectus or as otherwise required by the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act), the rules and regulations thereunder and any applicable exemptive relief, whenever an investment policy or limitation states a percentage of the Fund's assets that may be invested in any security or other asset or sets forth a policy regarding an investment standard, compliance with that percentage limitation or standard will be determined solely at the time of the Fund's investment in the security or asset.
Holding Other Kinds of Investments
The Fund may hold investments that are not part of its principal investment strategies. These investments and their risks are described below and/or in the SAI. The Fund may choose not to invest in certain securities described in this prospectus and in the SAI, although it has the ability to do so. Information on the Fund’s holdings can be found in the Fund’s shareholder reports or by visiting columbiathreadneedleetf.com.
Transactions in Derivatives
The Fund may enter into derivative transactions. Derivatives are financial contracts whose values are, for example, based on (or “derived” from) traditional securities (such as a stock or bond), assets (such as a commodity like gold or a foreign currency), reference rates (such as the London Interbank Offered Rate (commonly known as LIBOR)) or market indices (such as the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 ® Index). The use of derivatives is a highly specialized activity which involves investment techniques and risks different from those associated with ordinary portfolio
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securities transactions. Derivatives involve special risks and may result in losses or may limit the Fund's potential gain from favorable market movements. Derivative strategies often involve leverage, which may exaggerate a loss, potentially causing the Fund to lose more money than it would have lost had it invested in the underlying security or other asset directly. The values of derivatives may move in unexpected ways, especially in unusual market conditions, and may result in increased volatility in the value of the derivative and/or the Fund’s shares, among other consequences. The use of derivatives may also increase the amount of taxes payable by shareholders holding shares in a taxable account. Other risks arise from the Fund's potential inability to terminate or to sell derivative positions. A liquid secondary market may not always exist for the Fund's derivative positions at times when the Fund might wish to terminate or to sell such positions. Over-the-counter instruments (investments not traded on an exchange) may be illiquid, and transactions in derivatives traded in the over-the-counter market are subject to the risk that the other party will not meet its obligations. The use of derivatives also involves the risks of mispricing or improper valuation and that changes in the value of the derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying security, asset, reference rate or index. The Fund also may not be able to find a suitable derivative transaction counterparty, and thus may be unable to engage in derivative transactions when it is deemed favorable to do so, or at all. U.S. federal legislation has been enacted that provides for new clearing, margin, reporting and registration requirements for participants in the derivatives market. These changes could restrict and/or impose significant costs or other burdens upon the Fund’s participation in derivatives transactions. For more information on the risks of derivative investments and strategies, see the SAI.
Affiliated Funds Investing in the Fund
The Investment Manager or an affiliate serves as investment adviser to funds using the Columbia brand (Columbia Funds), including those that are structured as “fund-of-funds”, and provides asset-allocation services to (i) shareholders by investing in shares of other Columbia Funds, which may include the Fund (collectively referred to in this section as Underlying Funds), and (ii) discretionary managed accounts (collectively referred to as affiliated products) that invest exclusively in Underlying Funds. These affiliated products, individually or collectively, may own a significant percentage of the outstanding shares of one or more Underlying Funds, and the Investment Manager seeks to balance potential conflicts of interest between the affiliated products and the Underlying Funds in which they invest. The affiliated products’ investment in the Underlying Funds may have the effect of creating economies of scale, possibly resulting in lower expense ratios for the Underlying Funds, because the affiliated products may own substantial portions of the shares of Underlying Funds. However, redemption of Underlying Fund shares by one or more affiliated products could cause the expense ratio of an Underlying Fund to increase, as its fixed costs would be spread over a smaller asset base. Because of large positions of certain affiliated products, the Underlying Funds may experience relatively large inflows and outflows of cash due to affiliated products’ purchases and sales of Underlying Fund shares. Although the Investment Manager or its affiliate may seek to minimize the impact of these transactions where possible, for example, by structuring them over a reasonable period of time or through other measures, Underlying Funds may experience increased expenses as they buy and sell portfolio securities to manage the cash flow effect related to these transactions. Further, when the Investment Manager or its affiliate structures transactions over a reasonable period of time in order to manage the potential impact of the buy and sell decisions for the affiliated products, those affiliated products, including funds-of-funds, may pay more or less (for purchase activity), or receive more or less (for redemption activity), for shares of the Underlying Funds than if the transactions were executed in one transaction. In addition, substantial redemptions by affiliated products within a short period of time could require the Underlying Fund to liquidate positions more rapidly than would otherwise be desirable, which may have the effect of reducing or eliminating potential gain or causing it to realize a loss. In order to meet such redemptions, an Underlying Fund may be forced to sell its liquid (or more liquid) positions, leaving the Underlying Fund holding, post-redemption, a relatively larger position in illiquid securities (securities that are not readily marketable or that cannot be sold or disposed of in the ordinary course of business, within seven days, at approximately the value at which the holder has valued the security) or less liquid securities. Substantial redemptions may also adversely affect the ability of the Underlying Fund to implement its investment strategy. The Investment Manager or its affiliate also has an economic conflict of interest in determining the allocation of affiliated products’ assets among the Underlying Funds, as it earns different fees from the various Underlying Funds.
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Investing in Money Market Funds
The Fund may invest cash in, or hold as collateral for certain investments, shares of registered or unregistered money market funds, including funds advised by the Investment Manager or its affiliates. These funds are not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or any other government agency. The Fund and its shareholders indirectly bear a portion of the expenses of any money market fund or other fund in which the Fund may invest.
Fund Website and Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings
Information about the Fund may be found at columbiathreadneedleetf.com. Among other things, this website includes the Summary Prospectus, this prospectus and the SAI, the Fund’s holdings, the Fund’s last annual and semiannual reports (when available), pricing information about shares trading on the Exchange, daily NAV calculations and a historical comparison of the trading prices to NAV.
Each day the Fund is open for business, it publicly disseminates the Fund’s full portfolio holdings as of the close of the previous business day through its website at columbiathreadneedleetf.com. In addition, the In-Kind Creation Basket and In-Kind Redemption Basket, which identify the securities and share quantities which may be delivered in exchange for purchases and redemptions of Creation Units as discussed below and in the SAI, are publicly disseminated each business day prior to the opening of trading on the Exchange via the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC).
Additional Information on Portfolio Turnover
A fund that replaces, or turns over, more than 100% of its investments in a year may be considered to have a high portfolio turnover rate. A high portfolio turnover rate can generate larger distributions of short-term capital gains to shareholders, which for individuals are generally taxable at higher rates than long-term capital gains for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Also, a high portfolio turnover rate can mean higher brokerage commissions and other transaction costs, which could reduce a fund’s returns. In general, the greater the volume of buying and selling by a fund, the greater the impact that brokerage commissions and other transaction costs will have on its returns. The Fund may sell securities regardless of how long they’ve been held. A higher portfolio turnover rate may reduce the relative potential tax efficiency of the Fund compared with traditional mutual funds except potentially in cases where accomplished through redemptions in kind.
Understanding Annual Fund Operating Expenses
The Fund’s annual operating expenses, as presented in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses table in the Fees and Expenses of the Fund section of this prospectus, generally are based on estimated expenses for the Fund’s current fiscal period and are expressed as a percentage (expense ratio) of the Fund’s average net assets. The expense ratio reflects current fee arrangements.
Fee Waiver/Expense Reimbursement Arrangements
The Investment Manager has contractually agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses (excluding certain fees and expenses described below) through February 28, 2017, unless sooner terminated at the sole discretion of the Fund’s Board, so that the Fund’s net operating expenses, after giving effect to fees waived/expenses reimbursed, do not exceed the annual rate of 0.35%.
Under the agreement, the following fees and expenses are excluded from the Fund’s operating expenses when calculating the waiver/reimbursement commitment, and therefore will be paid by the Fund, if applicable: taxes, expenses associated with investment in affiliated and non-affiliated pooled investment vehicles (including mutual funds and exchange-traded funds), brokerage commissions, interest, infrequent and/or unusual expenses and any other expenses the exclusion of which is specifically approved by the Fund’s Board. This agreement may be modified or amended only with approval from all parties.
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Primary Service Providers
The Fund enters into contractual arrangements (Contracts) with various parties, including, among others, the investment manager, the administrator, the distributor, the transfer agent and the Fund’s custodian. The Fund’s Contracts are solely among the parties thereto. Shareholders are not parties to, or intended to be third-party beneficiaries of, any Contracts. Further, this prospectus, the SAI and any Contracts are not intended to give rise to any agreement, duty, special relationship or other obligation between the Fund and any investor, or give rise to any contractual, tort or other rights in any individual shareholder, group of shareholders or other person, including any right to assert a fiduciary or other duty, enforce the Contracts against the parties or to seek any remedy thereunder, either directly or on behalf of the Fund. Nothing in the previous sentence should be read to suggest any waiver of any rights under federal or state securities laws.
The Investment Manager
Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC is located at 225 Franklin Street, Boston, MA 02110 and serves as investment adviser to the Columbia Funds. The Investment Manager is a registered investment adviser and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (Ameriprise Financial). The Investment Manager’s management experience covers all major asset classes, including equity securities, fixed-income securities and money market instruments. In addition to serving as an investment adviser to traditional mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and closed-end funds, the Investment Manager acts as an investment adviser for itself, its affiliates, individuals, corporations, retirement plans, private investment companies and financial intermediaries.
Subject to oversight by the Board, the Investment Manager manages the day-to-day operations of the Fund. The Investment Manager has entered into a license agreement with MSCI to use the Index, as MSCI is the owner of the Index. The Fund is permitted to use the Index pursuant to a sub-licensing agreement with the Investment Manager.
The SEC has issued an order that permits the Investment Manager, subject to the approval of the Board, to appoint an unaffiliated subadviser or to change the terms of a subadvisory agreement for the Fund without first obtaining shareholder approval. The order permits the Fund to add or to change unaffiliated subadvisers or to change the fees paid to such subadvisers from time to time without the expense and delays associated with obtaining shareholder approval of the change. The Investment Manager and its affiliates may have other relationships, including significant financial relationships, with current or potential subadvisers or their affiliates, which may create certain conflicts of interest. When making recommendations to the Board to appoint or to change a subadviser, or to change the terms of a subadvisory agreement, the Investment Manager discloses to the Board the nature of any such material relationships. At present, the Investment Manager has not engaged any investment subadviser for the Fund.
The Fund pays the Investment Manager a fee for its investment advisory services. The fee is calculated as a percentage of the average daily net assets of the Fund and is paid monthly. The fee is 0.35% of the Fund’s average daily net assets on all assets. In return for this fee (which is sometimes referred to as a unitary or unified fee), the Investment Manager has agreed to pay the operating costs and expenses of the Fund other than the following expenses, which will be paid by the Fund: taxes, interest incurred on borrowing by the Fund, if any, brokerage fees and commissions, interest and fee expense related to the Fund’s participation, if any, in inverse floater structures and any other portfolio transaction expenses, infrequent and/or unusual expenses, including without limitation litigation expenses, distribution and/or service fees, expenses incurred in connection with lending securities, and any other expenses approved by the Board.
A discussion regarding the basis for the Board approving the investment management services agreement will be available in the Fund's annual report to shareholders for the fiscal period ended October 31, 2016.
Portfolio Manager
Information about the portfolio manager primarily responsible for overseeing the Fund’s investments is shown below. The SAI provides additional information about the portfolio manager, including information relating to compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio manager, and ownership by the portfolio manager of Fund shares.
    
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Portfolio Manager   Title   Role with Fund   Managed Fund Since
Christopher Lo, CFA   Senior Portfolio Manager   Manager   June 2016
Mr. Lo joined one of the Columbia Management legacy firms or acquired business lines in 1998. Mr. Lo began his investment career in 1998 and earned a B.S. and M.E. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.B.A. from the Stern School of Business at New York University.
Other Service Providers
ALPS Distributors, Inc. (the Distributor), 1290 Broadway, Suite 1100, Denver, CO 80203, serves as the distributor of Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares.
BNY Mellon Corporation (BNY Mellon), 101 Barclay Street, New York, New York 10286, is the administrator, fund accountant, transfer agent and custodian for the Fund.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, 125 High Street, Boston, MA 02110, serves as the Fund’s independent registered public accounting firm. The independent registered public accounting firm is responsible for auditing the annual financial statements of the Fund.
Index Provider
MSCI, Inc., 7 World Trade Center, 250 Greenwich Street, 49th Floor, New York, NY 10007, is the owner and calculator of the Beta Advantage Sustainable U.S. Equity Income 100  Index, which is a custom index derived from an MSCI index, as described in the Fund’s Principal Investment Strategies.
Other Roles and Relationships of Ameriprise Financial and its Affiliates — Certain Conflicts of Interest
The Investment Manager provides various services to the Fund and other Columbia Funds for which it is compensated. Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates may also provide other services to these funds and be compensated for them.
The Investment Manager and its affiliates may provide investment advisory and other services to other clients and customers substantially similar to those provided to the Columbia Funds. These activities, and other financial services activities of Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, may present actual and potential conflicts of interest and introduce certain investment constraints.
Ameriprise Financial is a major financial services company, engaged in a broad range of financial activities beyond the fund-related activities of the Investment Manager, including, among others, insurance, broker-dealer (sales and trading), asset management, banking and other financial activities. These additional activities may involve multiple advisory, financial, insurance and other interests in securities and other instruments, and in companies that issue securities and other instruments, that may be bought, sold or held by the Columbia Funds.
Conflicts of interest and limitations that could affect a Columbia Fund may arise from, for example, the following:
compensation and other benefits received by the Investment Manager and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates related to the management/administration of a Columbia Fund and the sale of its shares;
the allocation of, and competition for, investment opportunities among the Fund, other funds and accounts advised/managed by the Investment Manager and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates, or Ameriprise Financial itself and its affiliates;
separate and potentially divergent management of a Columbia Fund and other funds and accounts advised/managed by the Investment Manager and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates;
regulatory and other investment restrictions on investment activities of the Investment Manager and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates and accounts advised/managed by them;
insurance and other relationships of Ameriprise Financial affiliates with companies and other entities in which a Columbia Fund invests; and
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More Information About the Fund (continued)
regulatory and other restrictions relating to the sharing of information between Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, including the Investment Manager, and a Columbia Fund.
The Investment Manager and Ameriprise Financial have adopted various policies and procedures that are intended to identify, monitor and address conflicts of interest. However, there is no assurance that these policies, procedures and disclosures will be effective.
Additional information about Ameriprise Financial and the types of conflicts of interest and other matters referenced above is set forth in the Investment Management and Other Services — Other Roles and Relationships of Ameriprise Financial and its Affiliates — Certain Conflicts of Interest section of the SAI. Investors in the Columbia Funds should carefully review these disclosures and consult with their financial advisor if they have any questions.
Certain Legal Matters
Ameriprise Financial and certain of its affiliates have historically been involved in a number of legal, arbitration and regulatory proceedings, including routine litigation, class actions and governmental actions, concerning matters arising in connection with the conduct of their business activities. Ameriprise Financial believes that the Fund is not currently the subject of, and that neither Ameriprise Financial nor any of its affiliates are the subject of, any pending legal, arbitration or regulatory proceedings that are likely to have a material adverse effect on the Fund or the ability of Ameriprise Financial or its affiliates to perform under their contracts with the Fund. Information regarding certain pending and settled legal proceedings may be found in the Fund’s shareholder reports and in the SAI. Additionally, Ameriprise Financial is required to make quarterly (10-Q), annual (10-K) and, as necessary, 8-K filings with the SEC on legal and regulatory matters that relate to Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates. Copies of these filings may be obtained by accessing the SEC website at sec.gov.
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Buying and Selling Fund Shares
Shares are issued or redeemed by the Fund at NAV per share only in Creation Units of 50,000 shares.
Shares trade on the secondary market, however, which is where most retail investors will buy and sell shares. It is expected that only a limited number of institutional investors will purchase and redeem shares directly from the Fund. Thus, certain information in this prospectus is not relevant to most retail investors. For example, information about buying and redeeming Creation Units directly from the Fund and about transaction fees imposed on such purchases and redemptions is not relevant to most retail investors.
Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Fund’s shares are not redeemable with the Fund. Additional information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the SAI.
Buying and Selling Fund Shares on the Secondary Market
Most investors will buy and sell shares in secondary market transactions through brokers and therefore must have a brokerage account to buy and sell shares. Shares can be bought or sold through your broker throughout the trading day like shares of any publicly traded issuer. When buying or selling shares through a broker, you will incur customary brokerage commissions and charges, and you may pay some or all of the spread between the bid and the offered prices in the secondary market for shares. The price at which you buy or sell shares (i.e., the market price) may be more or less than the NAV of the shares. Unless imposed by your broker, there is no minimum dollar amount you must invest in the Fund and no minimum number of shares you must buy.
Shares of the Fund are listed on NYSE Arca, Inc. (the Exchange) under the symbol: ESGS .
The Exchange is generally open Monday through Friday and is closed for weekends and the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.
For information about buying and selling shares on the Exchange or in the secondary markets, please contact your broker or dealer.
Book Entry. Shares are held in book entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company (DTC), or its nominee, is the registered owner of all outstanding shares of the Fund and is recognized as the owner of all shares. Participants in DTC include securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and other institutions that directly or indirectly maintain a custodial relationship with DTC. As a beneficial owner of shares, you are not entitled to receive physical delivery of stock certificates or to have shares registered in your name, and you are not considered a registered owner of shares. Therefore, to exercise any right as an owner of shares, you must rely on the procedures of DTC and its participants. These procedures are the same as those that apply to any stocks that you hold in book entry or “street name” through your brokerage account. Your account information will be maintained by your broker, which will provide you with account statements, confirmations of your purchases and sales of shares, and tax information. Your broker also will be responsible for distributing income dividends and capital gain distributions and for ensuring that you receive shareholder reports and other communications from the Fund.
Share Trading Prices. The trading prices of the Fund’s shares may differ from the Fund’s daily NAV and can be affected by market forces of supply and demand for the Fund’s shares, the prices of the Fund’s investments, economic conditions and other factors. The Exchange or another market information provider intends to disseminate the approximate value of the Fund’s portfolio every fifteen seconds. This approximate value should not be viewed as a “real-time” update of the NAV of the Fund because the approximate value may not be calculated in the same manner as the NAV, which is computed once a day. The quotations for certain investments may not be updated during U.S. trading hours if such holdings do not trade in the U.S., except such quotations may be updated to reflect currency fluctuations. The Fund is not involved in, or responsible for, the calculation or dissemination of the approximate values and makes no warranty as to the accuracy of these values.
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Buying and Selling Fund Shares (continued)
Buying Fund Shares Directly from the Fund
Fund shares can only be purchased directly from the Fund by an Authorized Participant or through an Authorized Participant. An “Authorized Participant” is a participant of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the NSCC or the DTC that has executed a Participant Agreement with the Distributor, and accepted by the Transfer Agent. The Distributor will provide a list of Authorized Participants upon request. Authorized Participants may purchase Creation Units of shares, and sell individual shares on the Exchange. See Continuous Offering below.
An Authorized Participant can purchase Fund shares directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof. The number of shares in a Creation Unit may, but is not expected to, change over time. The Fund will not issue fractional Creation Units. Creation Units may be purchased in exchange for a basket of securities or other portfolio instruments (known as the In-Kind Creation Basket and a Cash Component ) or for an all cash payment (that would be treated as the Cash Component (discussed below) in connection with purchases not involving an In-Kind Creation Basket ). The Fund reserves the right to reject any purchase request at any time, for any reason, and without notice.
In-Kind Creation Basket. On each business day, prior to the opening of trading on the Exchange, BNY Mellon will post on the NSCC bulletin board the In-Kind Creation Basket for the Fund for that day. The In-Kind Creation Basket will identify the name and number of shares of each security or other instrument that must be contributed to the Fund for each Creation Unit purchased. The Fund reserves the right to accept a nonconforming or “custom” In-Kind Creation Basket under certain limited circumstances. In the case of custom orders, the order must be received by the Distributor no later than 3:00 p.m. ET.
Balancing Amount and Cash Component. In addition to the In-Kind Creation Basket, a purchaser will either pay to, or receive from, the Fund an amount of cash (“Balancing Amount”) equal to the difference between the NAV of a Creation Unit and the value of the securities in the In-Kind Creation Basket. The Balancing Amount ensures that the consideration paid by an investor for a Creation Unit is exactly equal to the value of the Creation Unit. BNY Mellon will publish, on a daily basis, information about the previous business day’s Balancing Amount. To the extent a purchaser is not owed a Balancing Amount larger than the Creation Transaction Fee, described below, the purchaser also must pay a Creation Transaction Fee, in cash. The Balancing Amount and the Creation Transaction Fee, taken together, are referred to as the Cash Component.
Placement of Purchase Orders. All purchase orders must be placed by or through an Authorized Participant. Purchase orders will be processed either through a manual clearing process run by DTC or through an enhanced clearing process that is available only to those DTC participants that also are participants in the Continuous Net Settlement System of the NSCC. Authorized Participants that do not use the NSCC’s enhanced clearing process may be charged a higher Creation Transaction Fee (discussed below). A purchase order must be received by the Distributor prior to the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on the day the order is placed, and all other procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement must be followed, in order to receive the NAV determined on that day.
Transaction Fee on Purchases of Creation Units. The Fund may impose a “Creation Transaction Fee” on each purchase of Creation Units. The Creation Transaction Fee for purchases effected through the NSCC’s enhanced clearing process, regardless of the number of Creation Units purchased, is $2,000.
A charge of up to four (4) times the Creation Transaction Fee noted above may be imposed on purchases outside the NSCC’s enhanced clearing process, including purchases involving nonconforming In-Kind Creation Baskets or cash. Investors who, directly or indirectly, use the services of a broker or other such intermediary to compile the securities or other instruments in the In-Kind Creation Basket may pay additional fees for these services. The Creation Transaction Fee is paid to the Fund. The fee is designed to protect existing shareholders of the Fund from the costs associated with issuing Creation Units.
Redeeming Fund Shares Directly from the Fund
Fund shares can only be redeemed directly with the Fund by an Authorized Participant or through an Authorized Participant. An Authorized Participant may redeem Fund shares directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof. Creation Units may be redeemed in exchange for a basket of securities or other instruments
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Buying and Selling Fund Shares (continued)
(known as the In-Kind Redemption Basket and a Cash Component ) or, in certain circumstances, for an all cash payment (that would be treated as the Cash Component (discussed below) in connection with purchases not involving an In-Kind Redemption Basket ). The Fund can suspend redemptions or postpone payment of redemption proceeds for any period during which: (1) the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is closed other than customary weekend and holiday closings; (2) trading on the NYSE is suspended or restricted; (3) an emergency exists as a result of which disposal of the Shares or determination of the Fund’s NAV is not reasonably practicable or it is not reasonably practicable for the Fund to fairly determine the value of its net assets; and (4) the SEC by order permits for the protection of shareholders of a Fund. The Fund may also postpone payment of redemption proceeds for up to 15 calendar days due to holdings in non-U.S. investments, as further described in the SAI.
In-Kind Redemption Basket. Redemption proceeds will generally be paid in kind with a basket of securities or other portfolio instruments known as the In-Kind Redemption Basket. In most cases, the In-Kind Redemption Basket will be the same as the In-Kind Creation Basket for that same day. There will be times, however, when the In-Kind Creation Basket and In-Kind Redemption Baskets differ. The composition of the In-Kind Redemption Basket will be available on the NSCC bulletin board each day the NYSE is open for business. The Fund may honor a redemption request with a nonconforming or “custom” In-Kind Redemption Basket under certain limited circumstances.
Balancing Amount and Cash Component. Depending on whether the NAV of a Creation Unit is higher or lower than the value of the securities or other portfolio instruments in the In-Kind Redemption Basket, a redeeming investor will either receive from, or pay to, the Fund a Balancing Amount in cash. If due to receive a Balancing Amount, the amount actually received will be reduced by the amount of the applicable Redemption Transaction Fee, described below. The Balancing Amount and the Redemption Transaction Fee, taken together, are referred to as the Cash Component.
Placement of Redemption Orders. As with purchases, redemptions must be processed either through the DTC process or the enhanced NSCC process. A redemption order is deemed received on the date of transmittal if it is received by the Distributor prior to the close of regular trading on the NYSE on that date, and if all other procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement are followed.
Transaction Fee on Redemptions of Creation Units. The Fund imposes a “Redemption Transaction Fee” on each redemption of Creation Units. The amount of the Redemption Transaction Fee on redemptions effected through the NSCC and DTC, and on nonconforming or "custom" redemptions, is the same as the Creation Transaction Fee. The Redemption Transaction fee is paid to the Fund. The fee is designed to protect existing shareholders of the Fund from the costs associated with redeeming Creation Units.
Additional Information About Buying and Selling Fund Shares
Legal Restrictions on Transactions in Certain Securities. An investor subject to a legal restriction with respect to a particular security required to be deposited in connection with the purchase of a Creation Unit may, at the Fund’s discretion, be permitted to deposit an equivalent amount of cash in substitution for any security which would otherwise be included in the In-Kind Creation Basket applicable to the purchase of a Creation Unit.
Creations and redemptions of shares will be subject to applicable federal and state securities laws, including that securities accepted for deposit and securities used to satisfy redemption requests are sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act). The Fund (whether or not it otherwise permits cash redemptions) reserves the right to redeem Creation Units for cash to the extent that an investor could not lawfully purchase or the Fund could not lawfully deliver specific securities under such laws or the local laws of a jurisdiction in which the Fund invests. An Authorized Participant or an investor for which it is acting subject to a legal restriction with respect to a particular security included in an In-Kind Redemption Basket may be paid an equivalent amount of cash. An Authorized Participant or redeeming investor for which it is acting that is not a qualified institutional buyer (QIB) as defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act will not be able to receive, as part of a redemption, restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.
Continuous Offering. Authorized Participants should be aware of certain legal risks unique to investors purchasing Creation Units directly from the Fund. Because shares may be issued on an ongoing basis, a “distribution” of shares could be occurring at any time. Certain activities that Authorized Participants perform with respect to the sale of
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Buying and Selling Fund Shares (continued)
shares could, depending on the circumstances, result in Authorized Participants being deemed to be a participant in the distribution, in a manner that could render Authorized Participants a statutory underwriter and subject Authorized Participants to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the Securities Act. For example, Authorized Participants could be deemed a statutory underwriter if Authorized Participants purchase Creation Units from the issuing Fund, break them down into the constituent shares, and sell those shares directly to customers, or if Authorized Participants choose to couple the creation of a supply of new shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for shares. Whether a person is an underwriter for purposes of the Securities Act depends upon all of the facts and circumstances pertaining to that person’s activities, and the examples mentioned here should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could cause Authorized Participants to be deemed an underwriter.
Broker-dealer firms should also note that dealers who are not “underwriters” but are effecting transactions in shares, whether or not participating in the distribution of shares, are generally required to deliver a prospectus. This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(3) of the Securities Act is not available in respect of such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the 1940 Act. As a result, broker-dealer firms should note that dealers who are not “underwriters” but are participating in a distribution (as opposed to engaging in ordinary secondary market transactions), and thus dealing with shares as part of an unsold allotment within the meaning of Section 4(3)(C) of the Securities Act, will be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(3) of the Securities Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the Securities Act is only available with respect to transactions on a national exchange.
Active Investors and Market Timing
The Board has determined not to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of the Fund’s shares because investors primarily transact in Fund shares on the secondary market. Frequent trading of shares on the secondary market does not disrupt portfolio management, increase the Fund’s trading costs, lead to realization of capital gains or otherwise harm Fund shareholders because these trades do not involve the issuance or redemption of Fund shares.
The Fund sells and redeems its shares at NAV only in Creation Units pursuant to the terms of a Participant Agreement between an Authorized Participant and the Distributor, principally in exchange for a basket of securities. With respect to such trades directly with the Fund to the extent effected in-kind (i.e., for securities), they generally would not cause the harmful effects that may result from frequent cash trades.
The Board recognizes that to the extent that the Fund allows or requires trades to be effected in whole or in part in cash, those trades could result in dilution to a Fund and increased transaction costs, which could negatively impact the Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective. The Board also recognizes, however, that direct trading by Authorized Participants is critical to ensuring that the Fund’s shares trade at or close to NAV. Further, the Fund may employ fair valuation pricing to minimize the potential for dilution from market timing. Moreover, the Fund imposes transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Fund shares reflecting the fact that the Fund’s costs increase in those circumstances. The Fund reserves the right to impose additional restrictions on disruptive, excessive or short-term purchases.
Distribution and Service Fees
The Board has approved, and the Fund has adopted, a distribution and service plan (the Plan) pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. Under the Plan, the Fund is authorized to pay distribution fees to the Distributor and other firms that provide distribution and shareholder services (Service Providers). If a Service Provider provides such services, the Fund may pay fees at an annual rate not to exceed 0.25% of average daily net assets, pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act.
No distribution or service fees are currently paid by the Fund, however, and there are no current plans to impose these fees. Future payments may be made under the Plan without any further shareholder approval. In the event Rule 12b-1 fees are charged, over time they would increase the cost of an investment in the Fund.
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Buying and Selling Fund Shares (continued)
Intraday Indicative Value (IIV)
The Exchange intends to disseminate the approximate per share value of the Fund’s published basket of portfolio securities every 15 seconds (the ‘‘intraday indicative value’’ or ‘‘IIV’’). The IIV should not be viewed as a ‘‘real-time’’ update of the NAV per share of the Fund because (i) the IIV may not be calculated in the same manner as the NAV, which is computed once a day, generally at the end of the Business Day (as defined below), (ii) the calculation of NAV may be subject to fair valuation at different prices than those used in the calculations of the IIV, (iii) unlike the calculation of NAV, the IIV does not take into account Fund expenses, and (iv) the IIV is based on the published basket of portfolio securities and not on the Fund’s actual holdings. The IIV calculations are based on local market prices and may not reflect events that occur subsequent to the local market’s close (except such quotations may be updated to reflect currency fluctuations), which could affect premiums and discounts between the IIV and the market price of the Fund’s shares. The Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates are not involved in, or responsible for, any aspect of the calculation or dissemination of the Fund’s IIV, and the Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates do not make any warranty as to the accuracy of these calculations.
Determination of Net Asset Value
FUNDamentals
NAV Calculation
The Fund calculates its NAV as follows:
NAV =   (Value of assets) – (Liabilities)
Number of outstanding shares
FUNDamentals
Business Days
A business day is any day that the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is open. A business day ends at the close of regular trading on the NYSE, usually at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. If the NYSE closes early, the business day ends as of the time the NYSE closes. On holidays and other days when the NYSE is closed, the Fund's NAV is not calculated and the Fund does not accept buy or sell orders. However, the value of the Fund's assets may still be affected on such days to the extent that the Fund holds foreign securities that trade on days that foreign securities markets are open.
Equity securities are valued primarily on the basis of market quotations reported on stock exchanges and other securities markets around the world. If an equity security is listed on a national exchange, the security is valued at the closing price or, if the closing price is not readily available, the mean of the closing bid and asked prices. Certain equity securities, debt securities and other assets are valued differently. For instance, bank loans trading in the secondary market are valued primarily on the basis of indicative bids, fixed-income investments maturing in 60 days or less are valued primarily using the amortized cost method, unless this methodology results in a valuation that does not approximate the market value of these securities, and those maturing in excess of 60 days are valued primarily using a market-based price obtained from a pricing service, if available. Investments in other open-end funds are valued at their latest NAVs. Both market quotations and indicative bids are obtained from outside pricing services approved and monitored pursuant to a policy approved by the Fund's Board.
If a market price is not readily available or is deemed not to reflect market value, the Fund will determine the price of a portfolio security based on a determination of the security's fair value pursuant to a policy approved by the Fund's Board. In addition, the Fund may use fair valuation to price securities that trade on a foreign exchange when a significant event has occurred after the foreign exchange closes but before the time at which the Fund's share price is calculated. Foreign exchanges typically close before the time at which Fund share prices are calculated, and may be closed altogether on some days when the Fund is open. Such significant events affecting a foreign security may include, but are not limited to: (1) corporate actions, earnings announcements, litigation or other events impacting a
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Buying and Selling Fund Shares (continued)
single issuer; (2) governmental action that affects securities in one sector or country; (3) natural disasters or armed conflicts affecting a country or region; or (4) significant domestic or foreign market fluctuations. The Fund uses various criteria in determining whether a foreign security's market price is readily available and reflective of market value and, if not, the fair value of the security. To the extent the Fund has significant holdings of small cap stocks, high-yield bonds, floating rate loans, or tax-exempt, foreign or other securities that may trade infrequently, fair valuation may be used more frequently than for other funds.
Fair valuation may have the effect of reducing stale pricing arbitrage opportunities presented by the pricing of Fund shares. However, when the Fund uses fair valuation to price securities, it may value those securities higher or lower than another fund would have priced the security. Also, the use of fair valuation may cause the Fund's performance to diverge to a greater degree from the performance of various benchmarks used to compare the Fund's performance because benchmarks generally do not use fair valuation techniques. Because of the judgment involved in fair valuation decisions, there can be no assurance that the value ascribed to a particular security is accurate.
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Distributions and Taxes
Distributions to Shareholders
A fund can make money two ways:
It can earn income on its investments. Examples of fund income are interest paid on money market instruments, and dividends paid on common stocks.
A fund can also have capital gains if the value of its investments increases. While a fund continues to hold an investment, any gain is generally unrealized. If the fund sells an investment, it generally will realize a capital gain if it sells that investment for a higher price than its adjusted cost basis, and will generally realize a capital loss if it sells that investment for a lower price than its adjusted cost basis. Capital gains and losses are either short-term or long-term, depending on whether the fund holds the securities for one year or less (short-term) or more than one year (long-term).
Brokers may make available to their customers who own shares the DTC book-entry dividend reinvestment service. To determine whether the dividend reinvestment service is available and whether there is a commission or other charge for using this service, consult your broker. Brokers may require Fund shareholders to adhere to specific procedures and timetables. If this service is available and used, dividend distributions of both income (which may include a return of capital) and net realized gains will be automatically reinvested in additional whole shares of the distributing Fund purchased in the secondary market. Without this service, investors would receive their distributions in cash.
FUNDamentals
Distributions
Funds make payments of fund earnings to shareholders, distributing them among all shareholders of the fund. As a shareholder, you are entitled to your portion of a fund's distributed income, including capital gains. Reinvesting your distributions buys you more shares of a fund which lets you take advantage of the potential for compound growth. Putting the money you earn back into your investment means it, in turn, may earn even more money. Over time, the power of compounding has the potential to significantly increase the value of your investment. There is no assurance, however, that you'll earn more money if you reinvest your distributions rather than receive them in cash.
The Fund intends to pay out, in the form of distributions to shareholders, a sufficient amount of its income and gains so that the Fund will qualify for treatment as a regulated investment company and generally will not have to pay any federal excise tax. The Fund generally intends to distribute any net realized capital gain (whether long-term or short-term gain) at least once a year. Normally, the Fund will declare and pay distributions of net investment income according to the following schedule:
    
Declaration and Distribution Schedule
Declarations Quarterly
Distributions Quarterly
The Fund may declare or pay distributions of net investment income more frequently.
Each time a distribution is made, the net asset value per share is reduced by the amount of the distribution.
The Fund generally pays cash distributions within five business days after the distribution was declared. If you sell all of your shares after the record date, but before the payment date, for a distribution, you'll normally receive that distribution in cash within five business days after the sale was made.
Unless you are a tax-exempt investor or holding Fund shares through a tax-advantaged account (such as a 401(k) plan or IRA), you should consider avoiding buying Fund shares shortly before the Fund makes a distribution (other than distributions of net investment income that are declared daily) of net investment income or net realized capital gain, because doing so can cost you money in taxes to the extent the distribution consists of taxable income or
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Distributions and Taxes (continued)
gains. This is because you will, in effect, receive part of your purchase price back in the distribution. This is known as “buying a dividend.” To avoid “buying a dividend,” before you invest check the Fund's distribution schedule, which is available at the Funds' website and/or by calling 800.774.3768.
Taxes
You should be aware of the following considerations applicable to all Funds (unless otherwise noted):
The Fund intends to qualify and to be eligible for treatment each year as a regulated investment company. A regulated investment company generally is not subject to tax at the fund level on income and gains from investments that are distributed to shareholders. However, the Fund's failure to qualify for treatment as a regulated investment company would result in Fund-level taxation, and consequently, a reduction in income available for distribution to you and in the net asset value of your shares. Even if the Fund qualifies for treatment as a regulated investment company, the Fund may be subject to federal excise tax on certain undistributed income or gains.
Otherwise taxable distributions generally are taxable to you when paid, whether they are paid in cash or automatically reinvested in additional Fund shares. Dividends paid in January are deemed paid on December 31 of the prior year if the dividend was declared and payable to shareholders of record in October, November, or December of such prior year.
Distributions of the Fund's ordinary income and net short-term capital gain, if any, generally are taxable to you as ordinary income. Distributions of the Fund's net long-term capital gain, if any, generally are taxable to you as long-term capital gain. Whether capital gains are long-term or short-term is determined by how long the Fund has owned the investments that generated them, rather than how long you have owned your shares.
From time to time, a distribution from the Fund could constitute a return of capital, which is not taxable to you so long as the amount of the distribution does not exceed your tax basis in your Fund shares. A return of capital reduces your tax basis in your Fund shares, with any amounts exceeding such basis generally taxable as capital gain.
If you are an individual and you meet certain holding period and other requirements for your Fund shares, a portion of your distributions may be treated as “qualified dividend income” taxable at the lower net long-term capital gain rates instead of the higher ordinary income rates. Qualified dividend income is income attributable to the Fund's dividends received from certain U.S. and foreign corporations, as long as the Fund meets certain holding period and other requirements for the stock producing such dividends.
Certain high-income individuals (as well as estates and trusts) are subject to a 3.8% tax on net investment income. For individuals, the 3.8% tax applies to the lesser of (1) the amount (if any) by which the taxpayer's modified adjusted gross income exceeds certain threshold amounts or (2) the taxpayer's “net investment income.”
  Net investment income generally includes for this purpose dividends, including any capital gain dividends, paid by the Fund, and net gains recognized on the sale, redemption or exchange of shares of the Fund.
Certain derivative instruments when held in the Fund's portfolio subject the Fund to special tax rules, the effect of which may be to, among other things, accelerate income to the Fund, defer Fund losses, cause adjustments in the holding periods of Fund portfolio securities, or convert capital gains into ordinary income, short-term capital losses into long-term capital losses or long-term capital gains into short-term capital gains. These rules could therefore affect the amount, timing and/or character of distributions to shareholders.
Generally, a Fund realizes a capital gain or loss on an option when the option expires, or when it is exercised, sold or otherwise terminated. However, if an option is a “section 1256 contract,” which includes most traded options on a broad-based index, and the Fund holds such option at the end of its taxable year, the Fund is deemed to sell such option at fair market value at such time and recognize any gain or loss thereon, which is generally deemed to be 60% long-term and 40% short-term gain or loss, as described further in the SAI.
Income and proceeds received by the Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to foreign taxes. If at the end of the taxable year more than 50% of the value of the Fund's assets consists of securities of foreign corporations, and the Fund makes a special election, you will generally be required to include in your income for
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Distributions and Taxes (continued)
  U.S. federal income tax purposes your share of the qualifying foreign income taxes paid by the Fund in respect of its foreign portfolio securities. You may be able to claim a foreign tax credit or deduction in respect of this amount, subject to certain limitations. There is no assurance that the Fund will make this election for a taxable year, even if it is eligible to do so.
A sale, redemption or exchange of Fund shares is a taxable event. This includes redemptions where you are paid in securities. Your sales, redemptions and exchanges of Fund shares, including those paid in securities or other instruments, usually will result in a taxable capital gain or loss to you, equal to the difference between the amount you receive for your shares (or are deemed to have received in the case of exchanges) and your adjusted tax basis in the shares, which is generally the amount you paid (or are deemed to have paid in the case of exchanges) for them. Any such capital gain or loss generally will be long-term capital gain or loss if you have held your Fund shares for more than one year at the time of sale or exchange. In certain circumstances, capital losses may be converted from short-term to long-term; in other circumstances, capital losses may be disallowed under the “wash sale” rules.
Your broker will be responsible for furnishing tax reporting information for Fund shares held in a nonqualified account, shareholder reports, and other communications from the Fund. For sales or exchanges of Fund shares acquired in a nonqualified account after 2011, your broker is required to report basis and holding period information to you and the IRS. Your broker may offer a choice of basis calculation methods. Contact your broker to determine which basis methods are available for your account.
The Fund or, in the case of sales of Fund shares in the secondary market, your broker, will generally be required by federal law to withhold tax on any distributions and proceeds paid to you if you have not provided a correct TIN or have not certified to the Fund or its agent, or your broker, as the case may be, that withholding does not apply.
For Authorized Participants Purchasing and Redeeming in Creation Units: An Authorized Participant that exchanges equity securities for one or more Creation Units will generally recognize a gain or a loss on the exchange. The gain or loss will be equal to the difference between (i) the market value of the Creation Unit(s) at the time and, (ii) the exchanger’s aggregate basis in the securities surrendered plus (or minus) the Cash Component paid (or received). A person who redeems one or more Creation Units for equity securities will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between (i) the exchanger’s basis in the Creation Unit(s) and, (ii) the aggregate market value of the securities received plus (or minus) the Cash Component received (or paid). The IRS, however, may assert that a loss realized upon an exchange of securities for Creation Unit(s) cannot be deducted currently under the rules governing “wash sales,” or on the basis that there has been no significant change in economic position. Persons exchanging securities should consult their own tax advisors with respect to whether wash sale rules apply and when a loss might be deductible. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a redemption of one or more Creation Units is generally treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the Creation Unit(s) have been held for more than one year and as short-term capital gain or loss if they have been held for one year or less. If you purchase or redeem Creation Units, you will be sent a confirmation statement showing how many shares you purchased or sold and at what price.
FUNDamentals
Taxes
The information provided above is only a summary of how U.S. federal income taxes may affect your investment in the Fund. It is not intended as a substitute for careful tax planning. Your investment in the Fund may have other tax implications. It does not apply to certain types of investors who may be subject to special rules, including foreign or tax-exempt investors or those holding Fund shares through a tax-advantaged account, such as a 401(k) plan or IRA. Please see the SAI for more detailed tax information. You should consult with your own tax advisor about the particular tax consequences to you of an investment in the Fund, including the effect of any foreign, state and local taxes, and the effect of possible changes in applicable tax laws.
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Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF
Premium/Discount Information
When available, information regarding how often the shares of the Fund traded on NYSE Arca, Inc. at a price above (at a premium) or below (at a discount) the NAV of the Fund during the past four calendar quarters, can be found at columbiathreadneedleetf.com.
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Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF
Financial Highlights
Because the Fund had not commenced operations prior to the date of this prospectus, no financial highlights are provided.
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Columbia  Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF
225 Franklin Street
Boston, MA 02110
Additional Information About the Fund
Additional information about the Fund’s investments will be available in the Fund’s annual and semiannual reports to shareholders. In the annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund’s performance during its last fiscal year. The SAI also provides additional information about the Fund and its policies. The SAI, which has been filed with the SEC, is legally part of this prospectus (incorporated by reference). To obtain these documents free of charge, to request other information about the Fund and to make shareholder inquiries, please contact the Fund as follows:
By Mail:   Columbia Funds
225 Franklin Street
Boston, MA 02110
By Telephone: 800.774.3768
Online: columbiathreadneedleetf.com
You can review and copy information about the Fund (including this prospectus, the SAI and shareholder reports when available) at the SEC’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. To find out more about the operation of the Public Reference Room, call the SEC at 202.551.8090. Reports and other information about the Fund are also available in the EDGAR Database on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. You can receive copies of this information, for a fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov or by writing the Public Reference Section, Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, D.C. 20549-1520.
The investment company registration number of Columbia ETF Trust I, of which the Fund is a series, is 811-22736.
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STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
June 6, 2016
Columbia ETF Trust I
Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF: ESGW
Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF: ESGN
Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF: ESGS
These Funds are passively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Their shares are listed and traded on the NYSE Arca, Inc.
This Statement of Additional Information describes three series of the Columbia ETF Trust I (the Trust). The Trust is an open-end registered management investment company under the 1940 Act. Additional series may be added in the future.
Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC (Columbia Management), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (Ameriprise Financial), serves as the investment manager to each Fund. ALPS Distributors, Inc. serves as the Distributor for each Fund.
Unless the context indicates otherwise, references herein to “each Fund,” “the Fund,” “a Fund,” “the Funds” or “Funds” refers to each ETF listed above.
The Trust has not yet received exemptive relief from the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer and sell shares of passively managed ETFs.
This Statement of Additional Information (SAI) is not a prospectus, is not a substitute for reading any prospectus and is intended to be read in conjunction with each Fund’s current prospectus dated the same date as this SAI. The most recent annual report, when available, for each Fund is deemed incorporated by reference into this SAI.
Copies of the Funds' current prospectuses and, when available, annual and semiannual reports may be obtained without charge by writing to the Distributor at 1290 Broadway, Suite 1100, Denver, CO 80203, calling 1-800-774-3768 or by visiting columbiathreadneedleetf.com.

 

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SAI PRIMER
The SAI is a part of the Funds' registration statement that is filed with the SEC. The registration statement includes the Funds' prospectuses, the SAI and certain exhibits. The SAI, and any supplements to it, can be found online at www.columbiathreadneedleetf.com and/or by accessing the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
For purposes of any electronic version of this SAI, all references to websites or universal resource locators (URLs), are intended to be inactive and are not meant to incorporate the contents of any such website or URL into this SAI.
The SAI generally provides additional information about the Funds that is not required to be in the Funds' prospectuses. The SAI expands discussions of certain matters described in the Funds' prospectuses and provides certain additional information about the Funds that may be of interest to some investors. Among other things, the SAI provides information about:
the organization of the Trust;
the Funds' investments;
the Funds' investment adviser, investment subadviser(s) (if any) and other service providers, including roles and relationships of Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, and conflicts of interest;
the governance of the Funds;
the Funds' brokerage practices;
the purchase, redemption and pricing of Fund Creation Units; and
the application of U.S. federal income tax laws.
Investors may find this information important and helpful. If you have any questions about the Funds, please call Columbia Funds at 800.774.3768 or contact your financial advisor.
Before reading the SAI, you should consult the prospectus for the Fund as well as the Glossary below, which defines certain of the terms used in the SAI.
Glossary
1933 Act Securities Act of 1933, as amended
1934 Act Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
1940 Act Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended
Administrative Services Agreement The Administrative Services Agreement, as amended, if applicable, between the Trust, on behalf of the Funds, and the Administrator
Administrator The Bank of New York Mellon or BNY Mellon
Advisers Act Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended
Ameriprise Financial Ameriprise Financial, Inc.
Authorized Participant A broker-dealer or other participant in the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) or a participant in DTC with access to the DTC system, and who has executed an agreement with the Distributor that governs transactions in the Funds’ Creation Units
Balancing Amount An amount equal to the difference between the NAV of a Creation Unit and the market value of the In-Kind Creation (or Redemption) Basket, used to ensure that the NAV of a Fund Deposit (or Redemption) (other than the Transaction Fee) is identical to the NAV of the Creation Unit being purchased
Board The Trust's Board of Trustees
Board Services Board Services Corporation
Business Day Any day on which the NYSE is open for business
Cash Component An amount of cash consisting of a Balancing Amount and a Transaction Fee calculated in connection with creations
Cash Redemption Amount An amount of cash consisting of a Balancing Amount and a Transaction Fee calculated in connection with redemptions
CEA Commodity Exchange Act
CFTC The United States Commodities Futures Trading Commission
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CMOs Collateralized mortgage obligations
Code Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended
Codes of Ethics The codes of ethics adopted by the Funds, the Investment Manager, ALPS Distributors, Inc. and/or any sub-adviser, as applicable, pursuant to Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act
Columbia Funds Complex The fund complex that is comprised of the registered investment companies advised by the Investment Manager or its affiliates
Columbia Funds or Columbia Fund Family The open-end investment management companies, including the Funds, advised by the Investment Manager or its affiliates
Columbia Management Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC
Creation Unit An aggregation of 50,000 shares that each Fund issues and redeems on a continuous basis at NAV. Shares will not be issued or redeemed except in Creation Units
Custodian BNY Mellon
Distribution Agreement The Distribution Agreement between the Trust, on behalf of the Funds, and the Distributor
Distribution Plan(s) One or more of the plans adopted by the Board pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act for the distribution of the Funds’ shares
Distributor ALPS Distributors, Inc.
DTC Depository Trust Company
Equity Funds Collectively, Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF, Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF and Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF
Exchange NYSE Arca, Inc.
FDIC Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
FHLMC The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation
FINRA Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
Fitch Fitch, Inc.
FNMA Federal National Mortgage Association
Foreign Funds Collectively, Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF and Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF
The Fund(s) or a Fund One or more of the ETFs listed on the front cover of this SAI
Fund Deposit The In-Kind Creation Basket and Cash Component necessary to purchase a Creation Unit from a Fund
Fund Redemption The In-Kind Redemption Basket and Cash Redemption Amount received in connection with the redemption of a Creation Unit
GNMA Government National Mortgage Association
IIV An approximate per-share value of a Fund’s portfolio, disseminated every fifteen seconds throughout the trading day by the Exchange or other information providers, known as the Intraday Indicative Value
In-Kind Creation Basket Basket of securities to be deposited to purchase Creation Units of a Fund; the In-Kind Creation Basket will identify the name and number of shares of each security or other instrument to be contributed, in kind, to a Fund for a Creation Unit
In-Kind Redemption Basket Basket of securities or other instruments a shareholder will receive upon redemption of a Creation Unit
Independent Trustees The Trustees of the Board who are not “interested persons” (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Funds
Index The index identified in a Fund’s prospectus, the performance of which the Fund seeks to track
Interested Trustees The Trustees of the Board who are currently deemed to be “interested persons” (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Funds
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Investment Management Services Agreement The Investment Management Services Agreement, as amended, if applicable, between the Trust, on behalf of the Funds, and the Investment Manager
Investment Manager Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC
IRS United States Internal Revenue Service
LIBOR London Interbank Offered Rate
Moody’s Moody’s Investors Service, Inc.
NASDAQ National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations system
   
NAV Net asset value per share of a Fund
NRSRO Nationally recognized statistical ratings organization (such as, for example, Moody’s, Fitch or S&P)
NSCC National Securities Clearing Corporation
NYSE New York Stock Exchange
REIT Real estate investment trust
REMIC Real estate mortgage investment conduit
RIC A “regulated investment company,” as such term is used in the Code
S&P Standard & Poor’s, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (“Standard & Poor’s” and “S&P” are trademarks of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. and have been licensed for use by the Investment Manager. The Columbia Funds are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Standard & Poor’s and Standard & Poor’s makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in the Columbia Funds)
SAI This Statement of Additional Information, as amended and supplemented from time-to-time
SEC United States Securities and Exchange Commission
Shares Shares of a Fund
Transaction Fees Fees imposed to compensate the Trust for costs incurred in connection with transactions for Creation Units; Transaction Fees may include both a fixed and variable component
Transfer Agency Agreement The Transfer Agency Agreement between the Trust, on behalf of the Funds, and the Transfer Agent
Transfer Agent BNY Mellon
Trustee(s) One or more members of the Board’s Trustees
Trust Columbia ETF Trust I, the registered investment company in the Columbia Fund Family to which this SAI relates
Throughout this SAI, the Funds are referred to as follows:
Fund Name:   Referred to as:
Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF   Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF
Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF   Sustainable International Equity Income ETF
Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF   Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF
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ABOUT THE Trust
The Trust is an open-end management investment company registered under the 1940 Act with an address at 225 Franklin Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02110.
The Trust was organized as a Massachusetts business trust on June 8, 2012. The offering of shares is registered under the 1933 Act.
Each Fund has a fiscal year end of October 31. Each Fund’s prospectus is dated June 6, 2016.
Fund Date Began Operations Diversified* Fund Investment Category**
Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF 6/6/2016 Yes Equity
Sustainable International Equity Income ETF 6/6/2016 Yes Equity
Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF 6/6/2016 Yes Equity
* A “diversified” Fund may not, with respect to 75% of its total assets, invest more than 5% of its total assets in securities of any one issuer or purchase more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of any one issuer, except obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies or instrumentalities and except securities of other investment companies. A “non-diversified” Fund may invest a greater percentage of its total assets in the securities of fewer issuers than a “diversified” fund, which increases the risk that a change in the value of any one investment held by the Fund could affect the overall value of the Fund more than it would affect that of a “diversified” fund holding a greater number of investments. Accordingly, a “non-diversified” Fund’s value will likely be more volatile than the value of a more diversified fund.
** The Fund Investment Category is used as a convenient way to describe Funds in this SAI and should not be deemed a description of the Fund’s principal investment strategies, which are described in the Fund’s prospectus.
ETF Overview
Each Fund offers and issues Shares at NAV only in aggregations of a specified number of Shares, generally in exchange for a basket of securities constituting the portfolio holdings of the Fund, together with the deposit of a specified cash payment, or, in certain circumstances, for an all cash payment. Shares of each Fund are listed and traded on the Exchange. Shares will trade on the Exchange at market prices that may be below, at, or above NAV.
Unlike conventional mutual funds, Shares are not individually redeemable securities. Rather, each Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis at NAV, only in Creation Units typically of 50,000 Shares. In the event of the liquidation of a Fund, the Trust may lower the number of Shares in a Creation Unit.
In the instance of creations and redemptions, Transaction Fees may be imposed. Such fees are limited in accordance with requirements of the SEC applicable to management investment companies offering redeemable securities. Some of the information contained in this SAI and the prospectuses – such as information about purchasing and redeeming Shares from a Fund and Transaction Fees – is not relevant to most retail investors.
Once created, Shares generally trade in the secondary market, at market prices that change throughout the day, in amounts less than a Creation Unit. Investors purchasing Shares in the secondary market through a brokerage account or with the assistance of a broker may be subject to brokerage commissions and other charges.
Exchange Listing and Trading
Shares of each Fund are listed and traded on the Exchange. Shares trade on the Exchange or in secondary markets at prices that may differ from their NAV or IIV, including because such prices may be affected by market forces (such as supply and demand for Shares). As is the case of other securities traded on an exchange, when you buy or sell Shares on the Exchange or in the secondary markets your broker will normally charge you a commission or other transaction charges. Further, the Trust reserves the right to adjust the price of Shares in the future to maintain convenient trading ranges for investors (namely, to maintain a price per Share that is attractive to investors) by share splits or reverse share splits, which would have no effect on the NAV.
There can be no assurance that the Funds’ shares will continue to trade on the Exchange or that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of Shares of each Fund will continue to be met. The Exchange may, but is not required to, remove the Shares of a Fund from listing if: (i) following the initial 12-month period beginning at the commencement of trading of a Fund, there are fewer than 50 beneficial owners of the Shares of the Fund for 30 or more consecutive trading days, or (ii) such other event shall occur or condition exist that, in the opinion of the Exchange, makes further dealings on the Exchange inadvisable. The Exchange will remove the Shares of a Fund from listing and trading upon termination of a Fund.
The Funds are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by the Exchange. The Exchange makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of Shares of the Funds or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the Funds particularly or the ability of the Funds to achieve their objectives. The Exchange has no obligation or liability in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Funds.
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Intraday Indicative Value
The Exchange intends to disseminate the approximate per share value of a Fund’s published basket of portfolio securities every 15 seconds (the ‘‘intraday indicative value’’ or ‘‘IIV’’). The IIV should not be viewed as a ‘‘real-time’’ update of the NAV per share of a Fund because (i) the IIV may not be calculated in the same manner as the NAV, which is computed once a day, generally at the end of the Business Day, (ii) the calculation of NAV may be subject to fair valuation at different prices than those used in the calculations of the IIV, (iii) unlike the calculation of NAV, the IIV does not take into account Fund expenses, and (iv) the IIV is based on the published basket of portfolio securities and not on the Fund’s actual holdings. The IIV calculations are based on local market prices and may not reflect events that occur subsequent to the local market’s close (except such quotations may be updated to reflect currency fluctuations), which could affect premiums and discounts between the IIV and the market price of a Fund’s shares. The Funds, the Investment Manager and their affiliates are not involved in, or responsible for, any aspect of the calculation or dissemination of the Funds' IIV, and the Funds, the Investment Manager and their affiliates do not make any warranty as to the accuracy of these calculations.
Section 12(d)(1) Information
The Trust and the Funds are part of the Columbia Funds Complex and are related for purposes of investor and investment services, as defined in Section 12(d)(1)(G) of the 1940 Act.
For purposes of the 1940 Act, shares are issued by a registered investment company and purchases of such shares by registered investment companies and companies relying on Section 3(c)(1) or 3(c)(7) of the 1940 Act are subject to the restrictions set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act, except as permitted by an exemptive order of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC has granted the Trust such an order to permit registered investment companies to invest in shares beyond the limits in Section 12(d)(1)(A), subject to certain terms and conditions, including that the registered investment company first enter into a written agreement with the Trust regarding the terms of the investment. Accordingly, registered investment companies that wish to rely on the order must first enter into such a written agreement with the Trust and should contact the Trust to do so.
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FUNDAMENTAL AND NON-FUNDAMENTAL INVESTMENT POLICIES
The following discussion of “fundamental” and “non-fundamental” investment policies and limitations for each Fund supplements the discussion of investment policies in the Funds' prospectuses. A fundamental policy may be changed only with Board and shareholder approval. A non-fundamental policy may be changed only with Board approval and does not require shareholder approval.
Unless otherwise noted in a Fund’s prospectus or this SAI, whenever an investment policy or limitation states a maximum percentage of a Fund’s assets that may be invested in any security or other asset, or sets forth a policy regarding an investment standard, compliance with such percentage limitation or standard will be determined solely at the time of the Fund’s acquisition of such security or asset (Time of Purchase Standard). Thus, a Fund may continue to hold a security even though it causes the Fund to exceed a percentage limitation because of fluctuation in the value of the Fund’s assets.
Notwithstanding any of a Fund’s other investment policies, the Fund, subject to certain limitations, may invest its assets in another investment company. These underlying funds have adopted their own investment policies that may be more or less restrictive than those of the Fund. Unless a Fund has a policy to consider the policies of underlying funds, the Fund may engage in investment strategies indirectly that would otherwise be prohibited under the Fund’s investment policies.
Fundamental Policies
The table below shows Fund-specific policies that may be changed only with a “vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities” of the Fund, which means the affirmative vote of the lesser of (1) more than 50% of the outstanding shares of the Fund, or (2) 67% or more of the shares present at a meeting if more than 50% of the outstanding shares are represented at the meeting in person or by proxy. The table indicates whether or not a fund has a policy on a particular topic. A dash indicates that the Fund does not have a Fundamental policy on a particular topic. The specific policy is stated in the paragraphs that follow the table.
Fund A
Buy or
sell real
estate
B
Buy or sell
commodities
C
Issuer
Diversification
D
Concentrate
in any one
industry
E
Act as an
underwriter
F
Lending
G
Borrowing
H
Issue
senior
securities
Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 F1 G1 H1
Sustainable International Equity Income ETF A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 F1 G1 H1
Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 F1 G1 H1
A. Buy or sell real estate
A1 – The Fund will not buy or sell real estate, unless acquired as a result of ownership of securities or other instruments, except this shall not prevent the Fund from investing in: (i) securities or other instruments backed by real estate or interests in real estate, (ii) securities or other instruments of issuers or entities that deal in real estate or are engaged in the real estate business, (iii) real estate investment trusts (REITs) or entities similar to REITs formed under the laws of non-U.S. countries or (iv) real estate or interests in real estate acquired through the exercise of its rights as a holder of securities secured by real estate or interests therein.
B. Buy or sell physical commodities*
B1 – The Fund will not purchase or sell commodities, except to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act, the rules and regulations thereunder and any applicable exemptive relief.

* For purposes of the fundamental investment policy on buying and selling physical commodities, the Funds will not consider swap contracts on financial instruments or rates to be commodities for purposes of this restriction despite any federal legislation or regulatory action by the CFTC that subjects such swaps to regulation by the CFTC.
C. Issuer Diversification*
C1 – The Fund will not purchase securities (except securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies or instrumentalities) of any one issuer if, as a result, more than 5% of its total assets will be invested in the securities of such issuer or it would own more than 10% of the voting securities of such issuer, except that: (a) up to 25% of its total assets may be invested without regard to these limitations; and (b) a Fund’s assets may be invested in the securities of one or more management investment companies to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act, the rules and regulations thereunder, or any applicable exemptive relief.

* For purposes of applying the limitation set forth in its issuer diversification policy above, a Fund does not consider futures or swaps central counterparties, where the Fund has exposure to such central counterparties in the course of making investments in futures and securities, to be issuers.
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D. Concentration*
D1 – Except that a Fund may concentrate to approximately the same extent that its index concentrates in such particular industry or industries, the Fund will not purchase any securities which would cause 25% or more of the value of its total assets at the time of purchase to be invested in the securities of one or more issuers conducting their principal business activities in the same industry, provided that: (i) there is no limitation with respect to obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, any state or territory of the United States or any of their agencies, instrumentalities or political subdivisions; and (ii) notwithstanding this limitation or any other fundamental investment limitation, assets may be invested in the securities of one or more investment companies or subsidiaries to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act, the rules and regulations thereunder and any applicable exemptive relief. For purposes of determining whether a Fund is concentrated in an industry or group of industries, the Fund may concentrate its investment in the securities of companies engaged in a single industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent as its Index.

* For purposes of applying the limitation set forth in its concentration policy, above, a Fund will generally use the industry classifications provided by the Global Industry Classification System (GICS) for classification of issuers of equity securities and the classifications provided by the Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond Index for classification of issues of fixed-income securities. The Fund does not consider futures or swaps clearinghouses or securities clearinghouses, where the Fund has exposure to such clearinghouses in the course of making investments in futures and securities, to be part of any industry.
E. Act as an underwriter
E1 – The Fund will not underwrite any issue of securities issued by other persons within the meaning of the 1933 Act except when it might be deemed to be an underwriter either: (i) in connection with the disposition of a portfolio security; or (ii) in connection with the purchase of securities directly from the issuer where the Fund later resells such securities. This restriction shall not limit the Fund’s ability to invest in securities issued by other registered investment companies.
F. Lending
F1 – The Fund will not make loans, except to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act, the rules and regulations thereunder and any applicable exemptive relief.
G. Borrowing
G1 – The Fund will not borrow money except to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act, the rules and regulations thereunder and any applicable exemptive relief.
H. Issue senior securities
H1 – The Fund will not issue senior securities, except as permitted under the 1940 Act, the rules and regulations thereunder and any applicable exemptive relief.
Non-fundamental Policies
The following non-fundamental policies may be changed by the Board at any time and may be in addition to those described in the Funds' prospectus.
Fund Index
Each Fund seeks investment results that, before fees and expenses, closely correspond to the performance of its Index. Each of the Funds may consider changing its current Index at any time, including if, for example: the Index becomes unavailable; the Board believes that the current Index no longer serves the shareholder investment needs or that another index may better serve their needs; or the financial or economic environment makes it difficult for the Fund’s investment results to correspond sufficiently to the current Index. If a Fund determines to change its Index, it will assess the appropriateness of the Fund's current name in light of the new index.
Fundamental securities analysis is not used by the Investment Manager in seeking to correlate a Fund’s investment returns with its Index. Rather, the Investment Manager uses a passive (or indexing) approach to determine the investments a Fund makes and techniques it employs. While the Investment Manager attempts to minimize any “tracking error,” certain factors tend to cause a Fund’s investment results to vary from a perfect correlation to its index, as applicable. See About Fund Investments – Information Regarding Risks -Correlation/Tracking Error Risk below for additional details.
Additional Information About Concentration
Index rebalancings or other Index changes, or corporate actions relating to investments held by the Fund can subsequently cause the Fund to be concentrated when the Index is not, in which case the Fund will seek to exit the concentration as soon as reasonably practicable.
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Investment in Other Investment Companies
The Funds may not purchase securities of other investment companies except to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act, the rules and regulations thereunder and any applicable exemptive relief.
Names Rule Policy
To the extent a Fund is subject to Rule 35d-1 under the 1940 Act (the Names Rule), and does not otherwise have a fundamental policy in place to comply with the Names Rule, such Fund has adopted the following non-fundamental policy: Shareholders will receive at least 60 days’ notice of any change to the Fund’s investment objective or principal investment strategies made in order to comply with the Names Rule. The notice will be provided in plain English in a separate written document, and will contain the following prominent statement or similar statement in bold-face type: “Important Notice Regarding Change in Investment Policy.” This statement will appear on both the notice and the envelope in which it is delivered, unless it is delivered separately from other communications to investors, in which case the statement will appear either on the notice or the envelope in which the notice is delivered. A Fund subject to a fundamental policy in place to comply with the Names Rule will disclose in the More Information About the Fund section of its prospectus that its 80% policy cannot be changed without shareholder approval.
Summary of 1940 Act Restrictions on Certain Activities
Certain of the Fund’s fundamental and, if any, non-fundamental policies set forth above prohibit transactions “except to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act, the rules and regulations thereunder and any applicable exemptive relief.” The following discussion summarizes the flexibility that the Fund currently gains from these exceptions. To the extent the 1940 Act or the rules and regulations thereunder may, in the future, be amended to provide greater flexibility, or to the extent the SEC may in the future grant exemptive relief providing greater flexibility, the Fund will be able to use that flexibility without seeking shareholder approval of its fundamental policies.
Borrowing money – The 1940 Act permits a Fund to borrow up to 33  1 3 % of its total assets (including the amounts borrowed) from banks, plus an additional 5% of its total assets for temporary purposes, which may be borrowed from banks or other sources. The exception in the fundamental policy allows the Funds to borrow money subject to these conditions. Compliance with this limitation is not measured under the Time of Purchase Standard (meaning, a Fund may not exceed these thresholds including if, after borrowing, the Fund’s net assets decrease due to market fluctuations).
Buy or sell physical commodities – The 1940 Act does not directly limit a Fund’s ability to invest directly in physical commodities. However, a Fund’s direct and indirect investments in physical commodities may be limited by the Fund’s intention to qualify as a RIC, and can limit the Fund’s ability to so qualify. One of the requirements for favorable tax treatment as a RIC under the Code is that a Fund derive at least 90 percent of its gross income from certain qualifying sources of income. Income and gains from direct commodities investments, and from certain indirect investments therein, do not constitute qualifying income for this purpose. A Fund that qualifies for an exclusion from the definition of a commodity pool under the CEA and has on file a notice of exclusion under CFTC Rule 4.5 is limited in its ability to use certain financial instruments regulated under the CEA (“commodity interests”).
Investing in other investment companies – The 1940 Act, in summary, provides that a fund generally may not: (i) purchase more than 3% of the outstanding voting stock of another investment company; (ii) purchase securities issued by another registered investment company representing more than 5% of the investing fund’s total assets; and (iii) purchase securities issued by investment companies that in the aggregate represent more than 10% of the acquiring fund’s total assets (the “3, 5 and 10 Rule”). Affiliated funds-of-funds (i.e., those funds that invest in other funds within the same fund family), with respect to investments in such affiliated underlying funds, are not subject to the 3, 5 and 10 Rule and, therefore, may invest in affiliated underlying funds without restriction. A fund-of-funds may also invest its assets in unaffiliated funds, but the fund-of-funds generally may not purchase more than 3% of the outstanding voting stock of any one unaffiliated fund. Additionally, certain exceptions to these limitations apply to investments in money market mutual funds. If shares of the Fund are purchased by an affiliated fund beyond the 3, 5 and 10 Rule in reliance on Section 12(d)(1)(G) of the 1940 Act, for so long as shares of the Fund are held by such other affiliated fund, the Fund will not purchase securities of a registered open-end investment company or registered unit investment trust in reliance on Section 12(d)(1)(F) or Section 12(d)(1)(G) of the 1940 Act.
Issuing senior securities – A “senior security” is an obligation with respect to the earnings or assets of a company that takes precedence over the claims of that company’s common stock with respect to the same earnings or assets. The 1940 Act prohibits an open-end fund from issuing senior securities other than certain borrowings from a bank, but SEC staff interpretations allow a Fund to engage in certain types of transactions that otherwise might raise senior security concerns (such as short sales, buying and selling financial futures contracts and other derivative instruments and selling put and call options), provided that the Fund segregates or designates on the Fund’s books and records liquid assets, or otherwise covers the transaction with offsetting portfolio securities, in amounts sufficient to offset any liability associated with the transaction. The exception in the fundamental policy allows the Fund to operate in reliance upon these staff interpretations.
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Making loans (Lending) – Under the 1940 Act, an open-end fund may loan money or property to persons who do not control and are not under common control with the Fund, except that a Fund may make loans to a wholly-owned subsidiary. In addition, the SEC staff takes the position that a Fund may not lend portfolio securities representing more than one-third of the Fund’s total value. A Fund must receive from the borrower collateral at least equal in value to the loaned securities, marked to market daily. The exception in the fundamental policy allows the Fund to make loans to third parties, including loans of its portfolio securities, subject to these conditions.
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ABOUT FUND INVESTMENTS
Each Fund’s investment objective, principal investment strategies and related principal risks are discussed in each Fund’s prospectus. Each Fund’s prospectus identifies the types of securities in which the Fund invests principally and summarizes the principal risks to the Fund’s portfolio as a whole associated with such investments. Unless otherwise indicated in the prospectus or this SAI, the investment objective and policies of a Fund may be changed without shareholder approval.
To the extent that a type of security identified in the table below for a Fund is not described in the Fund’s prospectus (or as a sub-category of such security type in this SAI), the Fund generally invests in such security type, if at all, as part of its non-principal investment strategies.
Information about individual types of securities (including certain of their associated risks) in which some or all of the Funds may invest is set forth below. Each Fund may invest in these types of securities, subject to its investment objective and fundamental and non-fundamental investment policies. A Fund is not required to invest in any or all of the types of securities listed below.
Certain Investment Activity Limits. The overall investment and other activities of the Investment Manager and its affiliates may limit the investment opportunities for each Fund in certain markets, industries or transactions or in individual issuers where limitations are imposed upon the aggregate amount of investment by the Funds and other accounts managed by the Investment Manager and accounts of its affiliates (collectively, affiliated investors). From time to time, each Fund’s activities also may be restricted because of regulatory restrictions applicable to the Investment Manager and its affiliates and/or because of their internal policies. See Investment Management and Other Services – Other Roles and Relationships of Ameriprise Financial and its Affiliates – Certain Conflicts of Interest .
Types of Investments
A black circle indicates that the investment strategy or type of investment generally is authorized for the Funds. Exceptions are noted following the table.
Type of Investment Equity Funds
Bank Obligations (Domestic and Foreign)
Common Stock
Convertible Securities
Debt Obligations
Depositary Receipts
Derivatives
Foreign Currency Transactions
Foreign Securities
Illiquid Securities
Initial Public Offerings
Investments in Other Investment Companies (Including ETFs)
Money Market Instruments
Partnership Securities
Preferred Stock
Private Placement and Other Restricted Securities
Real Estate Investment Trusts
Repurchase Agreements
Reverse Repurchase Agreements
Short Sales (a)
U.S. Government and Related Obligations
Warrants and Rights
(a) The Funds may engage in short sales in accordance with its investment objective.
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Bank Obligations (Domestic and Foreign)
Bank obligations include certificates of deposit, bankers’ acceptances, time deposits and promissory notes that earn a specified rate of return and may be issued by (i) a domestic branch of a domestic bank, (ii) a foreign branch of a domestic bank, (iii) a domestic branch of a foreign bank or (iv) a foreign branch of a foreign bank. Bank obligations may be structured as fixed-, variable- or floating-rate obligations. See Types of Investments – Variable- and Floating-Rate Obligations for more information.
Certificates of deposit, or so-called CDs, typically are interest-bearing debt instruments issued by banks and have maturities ranging from a few weeks to several years. Yankee dollar certificates of deposit are negotiable CDs issued in the United States by branches and agencies of foreign banks. Eurodollar certificates of deposit are CDs issued by foreign banks with interest and principal paid in U.S. dollars. Eurodollar and Yankee Dollar CDs typically have maturities of less than two years and have interest rates that typically are pegged to the London Interbank Offered Rate or LIBOR. Bankers’ acceptances are time drafts drawn on and accepted by banks, are a customary means of effecting payment for merchandise sold in import-export transactions and are a general source of financing. A time deposit can be either a savings account or CD that is an obligation of a financial institution for a fixed term. Typically, there are penalties for early withdrawals of time deposits. Promissory notes are written commitments of the maker to pay the payee a specified sum of money either on demand or at a fixed or determinable future date, with or without interest.
Bank investment contracts are issued by banks. Pursuant to such contracts, a Fund may make cash contributions to a deposit fund of a bank. The bank then credits to the Fund payments at floating or fixed interest rates. A Fund also may hold funds on deposit with its custodian for temporary purposes.
Certain bank obligations, such as some CDs, are insured by the FDIC up to certain specified limits. Many other bank obligations, however, are neither guaranteed nor insured by the FDIC or the U.S. Government. These bank obligations are “backed” only by the creditworthiness of the issuing bank or parent financial institution. Domestic and foreign banks are subject to different governmental regulation. Accordingly, certain obligations of foreign banks, including Eurodollar and Yankee dollar obligations, involve different and/or heightened investment risks than those affecting obligations of domestic banks, including, among others, the possibilities that: (i) their liquidity could be impaired because of political or economic developments; (ii) the obligations may be less marketable than comparable obligations of domestic banks; (iii) a foreign jurisdiction might impose withholding and other taxes at high levels on interest income; (iv) foreign deposits may be seized or nationalized; (v) foreign governmental restrictions such as exchange controls may be imposed, which could adversely affect the payment of principal and/or interest on those obligations; (vi) there may be less publicly available information concerning foreign banks issuing the obligations; and (vii) the reserve requirements and accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, practices and requirements applicable to foreign banks may differ (including, less stringent) from those applicable to domestic banks. Foreign banks generally are not subject to examination by any U.S. Government agency or instrumentality. See Types of Investments – Foreign Securities .
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with bank obligations include: Counterparty Risk, Credit Risk, Interest Rate Risk, Issuer Risk, Liquidity Risk, and Prepayment and Extension Risk.
Common Stock
Common stock represents a unit of equity ownership of a corporation. Owners typically are entitled to vote on the selection of directors and other important corporate governance matters, and to receive dividend payments, if any, on their holdings. However, ownership of common stock does not entitle owners to participate in the day-to-day operations of the corporation. Common stocks of domestic and foreign public corporations can be listed, and their shares traded, on domestic stock exchanges, such as the NYSE or the NASDAQ Stock Market. Domestic and foreign corporations also may have their shares traded on foreign exchanges, such as the London Stock Exchange or Tokyo Stock Exchange. See Types of Investments – Foreign Securities . Common stock may be privately placed or publicly offered. The price of common stock is generally determined by corporate earnings, type of products or services offered, projected growth rates, experience of management, liquidity, and market conditions generally. In the event that a corporation declares bankruptcy or is liquidated, the claims of secured and unsecured creditors and owners of bonds and preferred stock take precedence over the claims of those who own common stock. See Types of Investments – Private Placement and Other Restricted Securities, – Preferred Stock and – Convertible Securities for more information.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with common stock include: Issuer Risk and Market Risk.
Convertible Securities
Convertible securities include bonds, debentures, notes, preferred stocks or other securities that may be converted or exchanged (by the holder or by the issuer) into shares of the underlying common stock (or cash or securities of equivalent value) at a stated exchange ratio or predetermined price (the conversion price). As such, convertible securities combine the investment
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characteristics of debt securities and equity securities. A holder of convertible securities is entitled to receive the income of a bond, debenture or note or the dividend of a preferred stock until the conversion privilege is exercised. The market value of convertible securities generally is a function of, among other factors, interest rates, the rates of return of similar nonconvertible securities and the financial strength of the issuer. The market value of convertible securities tends to decline as interest rates rise and, conversely, to rise as interest rates decline. However, a convertible security’s market value tends to reflect the market price of the common stock of the issuing company when that stock price approaches or is greater than its conversion price. As the market price of the underlying common stock declines, the price of the convertible security tends to be influenced more by the rate of return of the convertible security. Because both interest rate and common stock’s market movements can influence their value, convertible securities generally are not as sensitive to changes in interest rates as similar non-convertible debt securities nor generally as sensitive to changes in share price as the underlying common stock. Convertible securities may be structured as fixed-, variable- or floating-rate obligations or as zero-coupon, pay-in-kind and step-coupon securities and may be privately placed or publicly offered. See Types of Investments — Common Stock and — Private Placement and Other Restricted Securities for more information.
Certain convertible securities may have a mandatory conversion feature, pursuant to which the securities convert automatically into common stock or other equity securities (of the same or a different issuer) at a specified date and at a specified exchange ratio. Certain convertible securities may be convertible at the option of the issuer, which may require a holder to convert the security into the underlying common stock, even at times when the value of the underlying common stock or other equity security has declined substantially. In addition, some convertible securities may be rated below investment grade or may not be rated and, therefore, may be considered speculative investments. Companies that issue convertible securities frequently are small- and mid-capitalization companies and, accordingly, carry the risks associated with such companies. In addition, the credit rating of a company’s convertible securities generally is lower than that of its conventional debt securities. Convertible securities are senior to equity securities and have a claim to the assets of an issuer prior to the holders of the issuer’s common stock in the event of liquidation but generally are subordinate to similar non-convertible debt securities of the same issuer. Some convertible securities are particularly sensitive to changes in interest rates when their predetermined conversion price is much higher than the price for the issuing company’s common stock.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with convertible securities include: Convertible Securities Risk, Interest Rate Risk, Issuer Risk, Market Risk, Prepayment and Extension Risk, and Reinvestment Risk.
Debt Obligations
Many different types of debt obligations exist (for example, bills, bonds, and notes). Issuers of debt obligations have a contractual obligation to pay interest at a fixed, variable or floating rate on specified dates and to repay principal by a specified maturity date. Certain debt obligations (usually intermediate and long-term bonds) have provisions that allow the issuer to redeem or “call” a bond before its maturity. Issuers are most likely to call these securities during periods of falling interest rates. When this happens, an investor may have to replace these securities with lower yielding securities, which could result in a lower return.
The market value of debt obligations is affected primarily by changes in prevailing interest rates and the issuer’s perceived ability to repay the debt. The market value of a debt obligation generally reacts inversely to interest rate changes. When prevailing interest rates decline, the market value of the bond usually rises, and when prevailing interest rates rise, the market value of the bond usually declines.
In general, the longer the maturity of a debt obligation, the higher its yield and the greater the sensitivity to changes in interest rates. Conversely, the shorter the maturity, the lower the yield and the lower the sensitivity to changes in interest rates.
As noted, the values of debt obligations also may be affected by changes in the credit rating or financial condition of their issuers. Generally, the lower the quality rating of a security, the higher the degree of risk as to the payment of interest and return of principal. To compensate investors for taking on such increased risk, those issuers deemed to be less creditworthy generally must offer their investors higher interest rates than do issuers with better credit ratings. See Types of Investments — Corporate Debt Securities, — High-Yield Securities and — Preferred Stock — Trust-Preferred Securities for information.
Event-Linked Instruments/Catastrophe Bonds. A Fund may obtain event-linked exposure by investing in “event-linked bonds” or “event-linked swaps” or by implementing “event-linked strategies.” Event-linked exposure results in gains or losses that typically are contingent on, or formulaically related to, defined trigger events. Examples of trigger events include hurricanes, earthquakes, weather-related phenomena or statistics relating to such events. Some event-linked bonds are commonly referred to as “catastrophe bonds.” If a trigger event occurs, the principal amount of the bond is reduced (potentially to zero), and a Fund may lose all or a portion of its entire principal invested in the bond or the entire notional amount on a swap.
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Stripped Securities. Stripped securities are the separate income or principal payments of a debt security and evidence ownership in either the future interest or principal payments on an instrument. There are many different types and variations of stripped securities. For example, Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal Securities (STRIPS) can be component parts of a U.S. Treasury security where the principal and interest components are traded independently through DTC, a clearing agency registered pursuant to Section 17A of the 1934 Act and created to hold securities for its participants, and to facilitate the clearance and settlement of securities transactions between participants through electronic computerized book-entries, thereby eliminating the need for physical movement of certificates. Treasury Investor Growth Receipts (TIGERs) are U.S. Treasury securities stripped by brokers. Stripped mortgage-backed securities, (SMBS) also can be issued by the U.S. Government or its agencies. Stripped securities may be structured as fixed-, variable- or floating-rate obligations.
SMBS usually are structured with two or more classes that receive different proportions of the interest and principal distributions from a pool of mortgage-backed assets. Common types of SMBS will be structured so that one class receives some of the interest and most of the principal from the mortgage-backed assets, while another class receives most of the interest and the remainder of the principal.
See Types of Investments – Mortgage-Backed Securities, – Variable- and Floating-Rate Obligations and – U.S. Government and Related Obligations for more information.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with stripped securities include: Credit Risk, Interest Rate Risk, Liquidity Risk, Prepayment and Extension Risk and Stripped Securities Risk
When-Issued, Delayed Delivery and Forward Commitment Transactions. When-issued, delayed delivery and forward commitment transactions involve the purchase or sale of securities by a Fund, with payment and delivery taking place in the future after the customary settlement period for that type of security. Normally, the settlement date occurs within 45 days of the purchase although in some cases settlement may take longer. The investor does not pay for the securities or receive dividends or interest on them until the contractual settlement date. When engaging in when-issued, delayed delivery and forward commitment transactions, a Fund typically will designate liquid assets in an amount equal to or greater than the purchase price. The payment obligation and, if applicable, the interest rate that will be received on the securities, are fixed at the time that a Fund agrees to purchase the securities. A Fund generally will enter into when-issued, delayed delivery and forward commitment transactions only with the intention of completing such transactions.
However, a Fund’s portfolio manager may determine not to complete a transaction if he or she deems it appropriate to close out the transaction prior to its completion. In such cases, a Fund may realize short-term gains or losses.
To Be Announced Securities (“TBAs”). As with other delayed delivery transactions, a seller agrees to issue a TBA security at a future date. However, the seller does not specify the particular securities to be delivered. Instead, the Fund agrees to accept any security that meets specified terms. For example, in a TBA mortgage-backed security transaction, the Fund and the seller would agree upon the issuer, interest rate and terms of the underlying mortgages. The seller would not identify the specific underlying mortgages until it issues the security. TBA mortgage-backed securities increase market risks because the underlying mortgages may be less favorable than anticipated by the Fund.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with when-issued, delayed delivery and forward commitment transactions include: Counterparty Risk, Credit Risk and Market Risk.
Zero-Coupon, Pay-in-Kind and Step-Coupon Securities. Zero-coupon, pay-in-kind and step-coupon securities are types of debt instruments that do not necessarily make payments of interest in fixed amounts or at fixed intervals. Asset-backed securities, convertible securities, corporate debt securities, foreign securities, high-yield securities, mortgage-backed securities, municipal securities, participation interests, stripped securities, U.S. Government and related obligations and other types of debt instruments may be structured as zero-coupon, pay-in-kind and step-coupon securities.
Zero-coupon securities do not pay interest on a current basis but instead accrue interest over the life of the security. These securities include, among others, zero-coupon bonds, which either may be issued at a discount by a corporation or government entity or may be created by a brokerage firm when it strips the coupons from a bond or note and then sells the bond or note and the coupon separately. This technique is used frequently with U.S. Treasury bonds, and zero-coupon securities are marketed under such names as CATS (Certificate of Accrual on Treasury Securities), TIGERs or STRIPS. Zero-coupon bonds also are issued by municipalities. Buying a municipal zero-coupon bond frees its purchaser of the obligation to pay regular federal income tax on imputed interest, since the interest is exempt for regular federal income tax purposes. Zero-coupon certificates of deposit and zero-coupon mortgages are generally structured in the same fashion as zero-coupon bonds; the certificate of deposit holder or mortgage holder receives face value at maturity and no payments until then.
Pay-in-kind securities normally give the issuer an option to pay cash at a coupon payment date or to give the holder of the security a similar security with the same coupon rate and a face value equal to the amount of the coupon payment that would have been made.
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Step-coupon securities trade at a discount from their face value and pay coupon interest that gradually increases over time. The coupon rate is paid according to a schedule for a series of periods, typically lower for an initial period and then increasing to a higher coupon rate thereafter. The discount from the face amount or par value depends on the time remaining until cash payments begin, prevailing interest rates, liquidity of the security and the perceived credit quality of the issue.
Zero-coupon, step-coupon and pay-in-kind securities holders generally have substantially all the rights and privileges of holders of the underlying coupon obligations or principal obligations. Holders of these securities typically have the right upon default on the underlying coupon obligations or principal obligations to proceed directly and individually against the issuer and are not required to act in concert with other holders of such securities.
See Appendix A for a discussion of securities ratings.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with zero-coupon, step-coupon, and pay-in-kind securities include: Credit Risk, Interest Rate Risk and Zero-Coupon Bonds Risk.
Determining Investment Grade for Purposes of Investment Policies. Unless otherwise stated in the Fund’s prospectus, when determining, under a Fund’s investment policies, whether a debt instrument is investment grade or below investment grade for purposes of purchase by the Fund, the Fund will apply a particular credit quality rating methodology, as described within the Fund’s shareholder reports, when available. These methodologies typically make use of credit quality ratings assigned by a third-party rating agency or agencies, when available. Credit quality ratings assigned by a rating agency are subjective opinions, not statements of fact, and are subject to change, including daily. Credit quality ratings apply to the Fund’s debt instrument investments and not the Fund itself.
Ratings limitations under a Fund’s investment policies are applied at the time of purchase by a Fund. Subsequent to purchase, a debt instrument may cease to be rated by a rating agency or its rating may be reduced by a rating agency(ies) below the minimum required for purchase by a Fund. Neither event will require the sale of such debt instrument, but it may be a factor in considering whether to continue to hold the instrument. Unless otherwise stated in a Fund’s prospectus or in this SAI, a Fund may invest in debt instruments that are not rated by a rating agency. When a debt instrument is not rated by a rating agency, the Investment Manager or, as applicable, a Fund subadviser determines, at the time of purchase, whether such debt instrument is of investment grade or below investment grade (e.g., junk bond) quality. A Fund’s debt instrument holdings that are not rated by a rating agency are typically referred to as “Not Rated” within the Fund’s shareholder reports.
See Appendix A for a discussion of securities ratings.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with debt obligations include: Confidential Information Access Risk, Credit Risk, Highly Leveraged Transactions Risk, Impairment of Collateral Risk, Interest Rate Risk, Issuer Risk, Liquidity Risk, Prepayment and Extension Risk and Reinvestment Risk.
Determining Average Maturity. When determining the average maturity of a Fund's portfolio, the Fund may use the effective maturity of a portfolio security by, among other things, adjusting for interest rate reset dates, call dates or “put” dates.
Depositary Receipts
See Types of Investments – Foreign Securities below.
Derivatives
General
Derivatives are financial instruments whose values are based on (or “derived” from) traditional securities (such as a stock or a bond), assets (such as a commodity, like gold), reference rates (such as LIBOR), market indices (such as the S& P 500 ® Index) or customized baskets of securities or instruments. Some forms of derivatives, such as exchange-traded futures and options on securities, commodities, or indices, are traded on regulated exchanges. These types of derivatives are standardized contracts that can easily be bought and sold, and whose market values are determined and published daily. Non-standardized derivatives, on the other hand, tend to be more specialized or complex, and may be harder to value. Many derivative instruments often require little or no initial payment and therefore often create inherent economic leverage. Derivatives, when used properly, can enhance returns and be useful in hedging portfolios and managing risk. Some common types of derivatives include futures; options; options on futures; forward foreign currency exchange contracts; forward contracts on securities and securities indices; linked securities and structured products; CMOs; swap agreements and swaptions.
A Fund may use derivatives for a variety of reasons, including, for example: (i) to enhance its return; (ii) to attempt to protect against possible unfavorable changes in the market value of securities held in or to be purchased for its portfolio resulting from securities markets or currency exchange rate fluctuations ( i.e. , to hedge); (iii) to protect its unrealized gains reflected in the value of its portfolio securities; (iv) to facilitate the sale of such securities for investment purposes; (v) to reduce transaction costs; (vi) to manage the effective maturity or duration of its portfolio; and/or (vii) to maintain cash reserves while remaining fully invested.
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A Fund may use any or all of the above investment techniques and may purchase different types of derivative instruments at any time and in any combination. The use of derivatives is a function of numerous variables, including market conditions. See also Types of Investments — Warrants and Rights .
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with transactions in derivatives (including the derivatives instruments discussed below) include: Counterparty Risk, Credit Risk, Interest Rate Risk, Leverage Risk, Liquidity Risk, Market Risk, Derivatives Risk, Derivatives Risk – Forward Contracts Risk, Derivatives Risk – Futures Contracts Risk, Derivatives Risk – Inverse Floaters Risk, Derivatives Risk – Options Risk, Derivatives Risk – Structured Investments Risk and/or Derivatives Risk – Swaps Risk.
Structured Investments (Indexed or Linked Securities)
General . Indexed or linked securities, also often referred to as “structured products,” are instruments that may have varying combinations of equity and debt characteristics. These instruments are structured to recast the investment characteristics of the underlying security or reference asset. If the issuer is a unit investment trust or other special purpose vehicle, the structuring will typically involve the deposit with or purchase by such issuer of specified instruments (such as commercial bank loans or securities) and/or the execution of various derivative transactions, and the issuance by that entity of one or more classes of securities (structured securities) backed by, or representing interests in, the underlying instruments. The cash flow on the underlying instruments may be apportioned among the newly issued structured securities to create securities with different investment characteristics, such as varying maturities, payment priorities and interest rate provisions, and the extent of such payments made with respect to structured securities is dependent on the extent of the cash flow on the underlying instruments.
Indexed and Inverse Floating Rate Securities. A Fund may invest in securities that provide a potential return based on a particular index or interest rates. For example, a Fund may invest in debt securities that pay interest based on an index of interest rates. The principal amount payable upon maturity of certain securities also may be based on the value of the index. To the extent a Fund invests in these types of securities, a Fund’s return on such securities will rise and fall with the value of the particular index: that is, if the value of the index falls, the value of the indexed securities owned by a Fund will fall. Interest and principal payable on certain securities may also be based on relative changes among particular indices.
A Fund may also invest in so-called “inverse floaters” or “residual interest bonds” on which the interest rates vary inversely with a floating rate (which may be reset periodically by a dutch auction, a remarketing agent, or by reference to a short-term tax-exempt interest rate index). A Fund may purchase synthetically-created inverse floating rate bonds evidenced by custodial or trust receipts. A trust funds the purchase of a bond by issuing two classes of certificates: short-term floating rate notes (typically sold to third parties) and the inverse floaters (also known as residual certificates). No additional income beyond that provided by the trust’s underlying bond is created; rather, that income is merely divided-up between the two classes of certificates. Generally, income on inverse floating rate bonds will decrease when interest rates increase, and will increase when interest rates decrease. Such securities can have the effect of providing a degree of investment leverage, since they may increase or decrease in value in response to changes in market interest rates at a rate that is a multiple of the actual rate at which fixed-rate securities increase or decrease in response to such changes. As a result, the market values of such securities will generally be more volatile than the market values of fixed-rate securities. To seek to limit the volatility of these securities, a Fund may purchase inverse floating obligations that have shorter-term maturities or that contain limitations on the extent to which the interest rate may vary. Certain investments in such obligations may be illiquid. Furthermore, where such a security includes a contingent liability, in the event of an adverse movement in the underlying index or interest rate, a Fund may be required to pay substantial additional margin to maintain the position.
Credit-Linked Securities. Among the income-producing securities in which a Fund may invest are credit linked securities. The issuers of these securities frequently are limited purpose trusts or other special purpose vehicles that, in turn, invest in a derivative instrument or basket of derivative instruments, such as credit default swaps, interest rate swaps and other securities, in order to provide exposure to certain fixed income markets. For instance, a Fund may invest in credit-linked securities as a cash management tool in order to gain exposure to a certain market and/or to remain fully invested when more traditional income-producing securities are not available. Like an investment in a bond, investments in these credit linked securities represent the right to receive periodic income payments (in the form of distributions) and payment of principal at the end of the term of the security. However, these payments are conditioned on or linked to the issuer’s receipt of payments from, and the issuer’s potential obligations to, the counterparties to the derivative instruments and other securities in which the issuer invests. For instance, the issuer may sell one or more credit default swaps, under which the issuer would receive a stream of payments over the term of the swap agreements provided that no event of default has occurred with respect to the referenced debt obligation upon which the swap is based. If a default occurs, the stream of payments may stop and the issuer would be obligated to pay the counterparty the par (or other agreed upon value) of the referenced debt obligation. This, in turn, would reduce the amount of income and/or principal that a Fund would receive. A Fund’s investments in these securities are indirectly subject to the risks associated with derivative instruments. These securities generally are exempt from registration under the 1933 Act. Accordingly, there may be no established trading market for the securities and they may constitute illiquid investments.
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Equity-Linked Notes. An equity-linked note (ELN) is a debt instrument whose value is based on the value of a single equity security, basket of equity securities or an index of equity securities (each, an Underlying Equity). An ELN typically provides interest income, thereby offering a yield advantage over investing directly in an Underlying Equity. The Fund may purchase ELNs that trade on a securities exchange or those that trade on the over-the-counter markets, including Rule 144A securities. The Fund may also purchase ELNs in a privately negotiated transaction with the issuer of the ELNs (or its broker-dealer affiliate). The Fund may or may not hold an ELN until its maturity.
Equity-linked securities also include issues such as Structured Yield Product Exchangeable for Stock (STRYPES), Trust Automatic Common Exchange Securities (TRACES), Trust Issued Mandatory Exchange Securities (TIMES) and Trust Enhanced Dividend Securities (TRENDS). The issuers of these equity-linked securities generally purchase and hold a portfolio of stripped U.S. Treasury securities maturing on a quarterly basis through the conversion date, and a forward purchase contract with an existing shareholder of the company relating to the common stock. Quarterly distributions on such equity-linked securities generally consist of the cash received from the U.S. Treasury securities and such equity-linked securities generally are not entitled to any dividends that may be declared on the common stock.
ELNs also include participation notes issued by a bank or broker-dealer that entitles the Fund to a return measured by the change in value of an Underlying Equity. Participation notes are typically used when a direct investment in the Underlying Equity is restricted due to country-specific regulations. Investment in a participation note is not the same as investment in the constituent shares of the company (or other issuer type) to which the Underlying Equity is economically tied. A participation note represents only an obligation of the company or other issuer type to provide the Fund the economic performance equivalent to holding shares of the Underlying Equity. A participation note does not provide any beneficial or equitable entitlement or interest in the relevant Underlying Equity. In other words, shares of the Underlying Equity are not in any way owned by the Fund.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with equity-linked notes include: Counterparty Risk, Credit Risk, Liquidity Risk and Market Risk
Index-, Commodity- and Currency-Linked Securities. “Index-linked” or “commodity-linked” notes are debt securities of companies that call for interest payments and/or payment at maturity in different terms than the typical note where the borrower agrees to make fixed interest payments and to pay a fixed sum at maturity. Principal and/or interest payments on an index-linked or commodity-linked note depend on the performance of one or more market indices, such as the S&P 500 ® Index, a weighted index of commodity futures such as crude oil, gasoline and natural gas or the market prices of a particular commodity or basket of commodities or securities. Currency-linked debt securities are short-term or intermediate-term instruments having a value at maturity, and/or an interest rate, determined by reference to one or more foreign currencies. Payment of principal or periodic interest may be calculated as a multiple of the movement of one currency against another currency, or against an index.
Index-, commodity- and currency-linked securities may entail substantial risks. Such instruments may be subject to significant price volatility. The company issuing the instrument may fail to pay the amount due on maturity. The underlying investment may not perform as expected by a Fund’s portfolio manager. Markets and underlying investments and indexes may move in a direction that was not anticipated by a Fund’s portfolio manager. Performance of the derivatives may be influenced by interest rate and other market changes in the United States and abroad, and certain derivative instruments may be illiquid.
Linked securities are often issued by unit investment trusts. Examples of this include such index-linked securities as S&P Depositary Receipts (SPDRs), which is an interest in a unit investment trust holding a portfolio of securities linked to the S&P 500 ® Index, and a type of exchange-traded fund (ETF). Because a unit investment trust is an investment company under the 1940 Act, a Fund’s investments in SPDRs are subject to the limitations set forth in Section 12(d)(1)(A) of the 1940 Act, although the SEC has issued exemptive relief permitting investment companies such as the Funds to invest beyond the limits of Section 12(d)(1)(A) subject to certain conditions. SPDRs generally closely track the underlying portfolio of securities, trade like a share of common stock and pay periodic dividends proportionate to those paid by the portfolio of stocks that comprise the S&P 500 ® Index. As a holder of interests in a unit investment trust, a Fund would indirectly bear its ratable share of that unit investment trust’s expenses. At the same time, a Fund would continue to pay its own management and advisory fees and other expenses, as a result of which a Fund and its shareholders in effect would be absorbing levels of fees with respect to investments in such unit investment trusts.
Because linked securities typically involve no credit enhancement, their credit risk generally will be equivalent to that of the underlying instruments. Investments in structured products may be structured as a class that is either subordinated or unsubordinated to the right of payment of another class. Subordinated linked securities typically have higher rates of return and present greater risks than unsubordinated structured products. Structured products sometimes are sold in private placement transactions and often have a limited trading market.
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Investments in linked securities have the potential to lead to significant losses because of unexpected movements in the underlying financial asset, index, currency or other investment. The ability of a Fund to utilize linked securities successfully will depend on its ability correctly to predict pertinent market movements, which cannot be assured. Because currency-linked securities usually relate to foreign currencies, some of which may be currencies from emerging market countries, there are certain additional risks associated with such investments.
Futures Contracts and Options on Futures Contracts
Futures Contracts. A futures contract sale creates an obligation by the seller to deliver the type of security or other asset called for in the contract at a specified delivery time for a stated price. A futures contract purchase creates an obligation by the purchaser to take delivery of the type of security or other asset called for in the contract at a specified delivery time for a stated price. The specific security or other asset delivered or taken at the settlement date is not determined until on or near that date. The determination is made in accordance with the rules of the exchange on which the futures contract was made. A Fund may enter into futures contracts which are traded on national or foreign futures exchanges and are standardized as to maturity date and underlying security or other asset. Futures exchanges and trading in the United States are regulated under the CEA by the CFTC, a U.S. Government agency. See CFTC Regulation below for information on CFTC regulation.
Traders in futures contracts may be broadly classified as either “hedgers” or “speculators.” Hedgers use the futures markets primarily to offset unfavorable changes (anticipated or potential) in the value of securities or other assets currently owned or expected to be acquired by them. Speculators less often own the securities or other assets underlying the futures contracts which they trade, and generally use futures contracts with the expectation of realizing profits from fluctuations in the value of the underlying securities or other assets.
Upon entering into futures contracts, in compliance with regulatory requirements, cash or liquid securities, at least equal in value to the amount of a Fund’s obligation under the contract (less any applicable margin deposits and any assets that constitute “cover” for such obligation), will be designated in a Fund’s books and records.
Unlike when a Fund purchases or sells a security, no price is paid or received by a Fund upon the purchase or sale of a futures contract, although a Fund is required to deposit with its custodian in a segregated account in the name of the futures broker an amount of cash and/or U.S. Government securities in order to initiate and maintain open positions in futures contracts. This amount is known as “initial margin.” The nature of initial margin in futures transactions is different from that of margin in security transactions, in that futures contract margin does not involve the borrowing of funds by a Fund to finance the transactions. Rather, initial margin is in the nature of a performance bond or good faith deposit intended to assure completion of the contract (delivery or acceptance of the underlying security or other asset) that is returned to a Fund upon termination of the futures contract, assuming all contractual obligations have been satisfied. Minimum initial margin requirements are established by the relevant futures exchange and may be changed. Brokers may establish deposit requirements which are higher than the exchange minimums. Futures contracts are customarily purchased and sold on margin which may range upward from less than 5% of the value of the contract being traded. Subsequent payments, called “variation margin,” to and from the broker (or the custodian) are made on a daily basis as the price of the underlying security or other asset fluctuates, a process known as “marking to market.” If the futures contract price changes to the extent that the margin on deposit does not satisfy margin requirements, payment of additional variation margin will be required. Conversely, a change in the contract value may reduce the required margin, resulting in a repayment of excess margin to the contract holder. Variation margin payments are made for as long as the contract remains open. A Fund expects to earn interest income on its margin deposits.
Although futures contracts by their terms call for actual delivery or acceptance of securities or other assets (stock index futures contracts or futures contracts that reference other intangible assets do not permit delivery of the referenced assets), the contracts usually are closed out before the settlement date without the making or taking of delivery. A Fund may elect to close some or all of its futures positions at any time prior to their expiration. The purpose of taking such action would be to reduce or eliminate the position then currently held by a Fund. Closing out an open futures position is done by taking an opposite position (“buying” a contract which has previously been “sold,” “selling” a contract previously “purchased”) in an identical contract ( i.e. , the same aggregate amount of the specific type of security or other asset with the same delivery date) to terminate the position. Final determinations are made as to whether the price of the initial sale of the futures contract exceeds or is below the price of the offsetting purchase, or whether the purchase price exceeds or is below the offsetting sale price. Final determinations of variation margin are then made, additional cash is required to be paid by or released to a Fund, and a Fund realizes a loss or a gain. Brokerage commissions are incurred when a futures contract is bought or sold.
Successful use of futures contracts by a Fund is subject to its portfolio manager’s ability to predict correctly movements in the direction of interest rates and other factors affecting securities and commodities markets. This requires different skills and techniques than those required to predict changes in the prices of individual securities. A Fund, therefore, bears the risk that future market trends will be incorrectly predicted.
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The risk of loss in trading futures contracts in some strategies can be substantial, due both to the relatively low margin deposits required and the potential for an extremely high degree of leverage involved in futures contracts. As a result, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in an immediate and substantial loss to the investor. For example, if at the time of purchase, 10% of the value of the futures contract is deposited as margin, a subsequent 10% decrease in the value of the futures contract would result in a total loss of the margin deposit, before any deduction for the transaction costs, if the account were then closed out. A 15% decrease would result in a loss equal to 150% of the original margin deposit if the contract were closed out. Thus, a purchase or sale of a futures contract may result in losses in excess of the amount posted as initial margin for the contract.
In the event of adverse price movements, a Fund would continue to be required to make daily cash payments in order to maintain its required margin. In such a situation, if a Fund has insufficient cash, it may have to sell portfolio securities in order to meet daily margin requirements at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so. The inability to close the futures position also could have an adverse impact on the ability to hedge effectively.
To reduce or eliminate a hedge position held by a Fund, a Fund may seek to close out a position. The ability to establish and close out positions will be subject to the development and maintenance of a liquid secondary market. It is not certain that this market will develop or continue to exist for a particular futures contract, which may limit a Fund’s ability to realize its profits or limit its losses. Reasons for the absence of a liquid secondary market on an exchange include the following: (i) there may be insufficient trading interest in certain contracts; (ii) restrictions may be imposed by an exchange on opening transactions, closing transactions or both; (iii) trading halts, suspensions or other restrictions may be imposed with respect to particular classes or series of contracts, or underlying securities; (iv) unusual or unforeseen circumstances, such as volume in excess of trading or clearing capability, may interrupt normal operations on an exchange; (v) the facilities of an exchange or a clearing corporation may not at all times be adequate to handle current trading volume; or (vi) one or more exchanges could, for economic or other reasons, decide or be compelled at some future date to discontinue the trading of contracts (or a particular class or series of contracts), in which event the secondary market on that exchange (or in the class or series of contracts) would cease to exist, although outstanding contracts on the exchange that had been issued by a clearing corporation as a result of trades on that exchange would continue to be exercisable in accordance with their terms.
Interest Rate Futures Contracts. Bond prices are established in both the cash market and the futures market. In the cash market, bonds are purchased and sold with payment for the full purchase price of the bond being made in cash, generally within five business days after the trade. In the futures market, a contract is made to purchase or sell a bond in the future for a set price on a certain date. Historically, the prices for bonds established in the futures markets have tended to move generally in the aggregate in concert with the cash market prices and have maintained fairly predictable relationships. Accordingly, a Fund may use interest rate futures contracts as a defense, or hedge, against anticipated interest rate changes. A Fund presently could accomplish a similar result to that which it hopes to achieve through the use of interest rate futures contracts by selling bonds with long maturities and investing in bonds with short maturities when interest rates are expected to increase, or conversely, selling bonds with short maturities and investing in bonds with long maturities when interest rates are expected to decline. However, because of the liquidity that is often available in the futures market, the protection is more likely to be achieved, perhaps at a lower cost and without changing the rate of interest being earned by a Fund, through using futures contracts.
Interest rate futures contracts are traded in an auction environment on the floors of several exchanges — principally, the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the New York Futures Exchange. Each exchange guarantees performance under contract provisions through a clearing corporation, a nonprofit organization managed by the exchange membership. A public market exists in futures contracts covering various financial instruments including long-term U.S. Treasury Bonds and Notes; GNMA modified pass-through mortgage backed securities; three-month U.S. Treasury Bills; and ninety-day commercial paper. A Fund may also invest in exchange-traded Eurodollar contracts, which are interest rate futures on the forward level of LIBOR. These contracts are generally considered liquid securities and trade on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Such Eurodollar contracts are generally used to “lock-in” or hedge the future level of short-term rates. A Fund may trade in any interest rate futures contracts for which there exists a public market, including, without limitation, the foregoing instruments.
Index Futures Contracts. An index futures contract is a contract to buy or sell units of an index at a specified future date at a price agreed upon when the contract is made. Entering into a contract to buy units of an index is commonly referred to as buying or purchasing a contract or holding a long position in the index. Entering into a contract to sell units of an index is commonly referred to as selling a contract or holding a short position in the index. A unit is the current value of the index. A Fund may enter into stock index futures contracts, debt index futures contracts, or other index futures contracts appropriate to its objective(s).
Municipal Bond Index Futures Contracts. Municipal bond index futures contracts may act as a hedge against changes in market conditions. A municipal bond index assigns values daily to the municipal bonds included in the index based on the independent assessment of dealer-to-dealer municipal bond brokers. A municipal bond index futures contract represents a firm
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commitment by which two parties agree to take or make delivery of an amount equal to a specified dollar amount multiplied by the difference between the municipal bond index value on the last trading date of the contract and the price at which the futures contract is originally struck. No physical delivery of the underlying securities in the index is made.
Commodity-Linked Futures Contracts. Commodity-linked futures contracts are traded on futures exchanges. These futures exchanges offer a central marketplace in which to transact in futures contracts, a clearing corporation to process trades, and standardization of expiration dates and contract sizes. Futures markets also specify the terms and conditions of delivery as well as the maximum permissible price movement during a trading session. Additionally, the commodity futures exchanges may have position limit rules that limit the amount of futures contracts that any one party may hold in a particular commodity at any point in time. These position limit rules are designed to prevent any one participant from controlling a significant portion of the market.
Commodity-linked futures contracts are generally based upon commodities within six main commodity groups: (1) energy, which includes, among others, crude oil, brent crude oil, gas oil, natural gas, gasoline and heating oil; (2) livestock, which includes, among others, feeder cattle, live cattle and hogs; (3) agriculture, which includes, among others, wheat (Kansas wheat and Chicago wheat), corn and soybeans; (4) industrial metals, which includes, among others, aluminum, copper, lead, nickel and zinc; (5) precious metals, which includes, among others, gold and silver; and (6) softs, which includes cotton, coffee, sugar and cocoa. A Fund may purchase commodity futures contracts, swaps on commodity futures contracts, options on futures contracts and options and futures on commodity indices with respect to these six main commodity groups and the individual commodities within each group, as well as other types of commodities.
The price of a commodity futures contract will reflect the storage costs of purchasing the physical commodity. These storage costs include the time value of money invested in the physical commodity plus the actual costs of storing the commodity less any benefits from ownership of the physical commodity that are not obtained by the holder of a futures contract (this is sometimes referred to as the “convenience yield”). To the extent that these storage costs change for an underlying commodity while a Fund is long futures contracts on that commodity, the value of the futures contract may change proportionately.
In the commodity futures markets, if producers of the underlying commodity wish to hedge the price risk of selling the commodity, they will sell futures contracts today to lock in the price of the commodity at delivery tomorrow. In order to induce speculators to take the corresponding long side of the same futures contract, the commodity producer must be willing to sell the futures contract at a price that is below the expected future spot price. Conversely, if the predominant hedgers in the futures market are the purchasers of the underlying commodity who purchase futures contracts to hedge against a rise in prices, then speculators will only take the short side of the futures contract if the futures price is greater than the expected future spot price of the commodity.
The changing nature of the hedgers and speculators in the commodity markets will influence whether futures contract prices are above or below the expected future spot price. This can have significant implications for a Fund when it is time to replace an existing contract with a new contract. If the nature of hedgers and speculators in futures markets has shifted such that commodity purchasers are the predominant hedgers in the market, a Fund might open the new futures position at a higher price or choose other related commodity-linked investments.
The values of commodities which underlie commodity futures contracts are subject to additional variables which may be less significant to the values of traditional securities such as stocks and bonds. Variables such as drought, floods, weather, livestock disease, embargoes and tariffs may have a larger impact on commodity prices and commodity-linked investments, including futures contracts, commodity-linked structured notes, commodity-linked options and commodity-linked swaps, than on traditional securities. These additional variables may create additional investment risks which subject a Fund’s commodity-linked investments to greater volatility than investments in traditional securities.
Options on Futures Contracts. A Fund may purchase and write call and put options on those futures contracts that it is permitted to buy or sell. A Fund may use such options on futures contracts in lieu of writing options directly on the underlying securities or other assets or purchasing and selling the underlying futures contracts. Such options generally operate in the same manner as options purchased or written directly on the underlying investments. A futures option gives the holder, in return for the premium paid, the right, but not the obligation, to buy from (call) or sell to (put) the writer of the option a futures contract at a specified price at any time during the period of the option. Upon exercise, the writer of the option is obligated to pay the difference between the cash value of the futures contract and the exercise price. Like the buyer or seller of a futures contract, the holder or writer of an option has the right to terminate its position prior to the scheduled expiration of the option by selling or purchasing an option of the same series, at which time the person entering into the closing purchase transaction will realize a gain or loss. There is no guarantee that such closing purchase transactions can be effected.
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A Fund will enter into written options on futures contracts only when, in compliance with regulatory requirements, it has designated cash or liquid securities at least equal in value to the underlying security’s or other asset’s value (less any applicable margin deposits). A Fund will be required to deposit initial margin and maintenance margin with respect to put and call options on futures contracts written by it pursuant to brokers’ requirements similar to those described above.
Options on Index Futures Contracts. A Fund may also purchase and sell options on index futures contracts. Options on index futures give the purchaser the right, in return for the premium paid, to assume a position in an index futures contract (a long position if the option is a call and a short position if the option is a put), at a specified exercise price at any time during the period of the option. Upon exercise of the option, the delivery of the futures position by the writer of the option to the holder of the option will be accompanied by delivery of the accumulated balance in the writer’s futures margin account, which represents the amount by which the market price of the index futures contract, at exercise, exceeds (in the case of a call) or is less than (in the case of a put) the exercise price of the option on the index future. If an option is exercised on the last trading day prior to the expiration date of the option, the settlement will be made entirely in cash equal to the difference between the exercise price of the option and the closing level of the index on which the future is based on the expiration date. Purchasers of options who fail to exercise their options prior to the exercise date suffer a loss of the premium paid.
Eurodollar and Yankee Dollar Futures Contracts and Options Thereon. Eurodollar futures contracts enable purchasers to obtain a fixed rate for the lending of funds and sellers to obtain a fixed rate for borrowings. A Fund may use Eurodollar futures contracts and options thereon to hedge against changes in the LIBOR, to which many interest rate swaps and fixed income instruments are linked.
Options
Options on Stocks, Stock Indices and Other Indices. A Fund may purchase and write ( i.e. , sell) put and call options. Such options may relate to particular stocks or stock indices, and may or may not be listed on a domestic or foreign securities exchange and may or may not be issued by the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC). Stock index options are put options and call options on various stock indices. In most respects, they are identical to listed options on common stocks.
There is a key difference between stock options and index options in connection with their exercise. In the case of stock options, the underlying security, common stock, is delivered. However, upon the exercise of an index option, settlement does not occur by delivery of the securities comprising the index. The option holder who exercises the index option receives an amount of cash if the closing level of the stock index upon which the option is based is greater than (in the case of a call) or less than (in the case of a put) the exercise price of the option. This amount of cash is equal to the difference between the closing price of the stock index and the exercise price of the option expressed in dollars times a specified multiple. A stock index fluctuates with changes in the market value of the securities included in the index. For example, some stock index options are based on a broad market index, such as the S&P 500 ® Index or a narrower market index, such as the S&P 100 ® Index. Indices may also be based on an industry or market segment.
A Fund may, for the purpose of hedging its portfolio, subject to applicable securities regulations, purchase and write put and call options on foreign stock indices listed on foreign and domestic stock exchanges.
As an alternative to purchasing call and put options on index futures, a Fund may purchase call and put options on the underlying indices themselves. Such options could be used in a manner identical to the use of options on index futures. Options involving securities indices provide the holder with the right to make or receive a cash settlement upon exercise of the option based on movements in the relevant index. Such options must be listed on a national securities exchange and issued by the OCC. Such options may relate to particular securities or to various stock indices, except that a Fund may not write covered options on an index.
Writing Covered Options. A Fund may write covered call options and covered put options on securities held in its portfolio. Call options written by a Fund give the purchaser the right to buy the underlying securities from a Fund at the stated exercise price at any time prior to the expiration date of the option, regardless of the security’s market price; put options give the purchaser the right to sell the underlying securities to a Fund at the stated exercise price at any time prior to the expiration date of the option, regardless of the security’s market price.
A Fund may write covered options, which means that, so long as a Fund is obligated as the writer of a call option, it will own the underlying securities subject to the option (or comparable securities satisfying the cover requirements of securities exchanges). In the case of put options, a Fund will hold liquid assets equal to the price to be paid if the option is exercised. In addition, a Fund will be considered to have covered a put or call option if and to the extent that it holds an option that offsets some or all of the risk of the option it has written. A Fund may write combinations of covered puts and calls (straddles) on the same underlying security.
A Fund will receive a premium from writing a put or call option, which increases a Fund’s return on the underlying security if the option expires unexercised or is closed out at a profit. The amount of the premium reflects, among other things, the relationship between the exercise price and the current market value of the underlying security, the volatility of the underlying
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security, the amount of time remaining until expiration, current interest rates, and the effect of supply and demand in the options market and in the market for the underlying security. By writing a call option, a Fund limits its opportunity to profit from any increase in the market value of the underlying security above the exercise price of the option but continues to bear the risk of a decline in the value of the underlying security. By writing a put option, a Fund assumes the risk that it may be required to purchase the underlying security for an exercise price higher than the security’s then-current market value, resulting in a potential capital loss unless the security subsequently appreciates in value.
A Fund’s obligation to sell an instrument subject to a call option written by it, or to purchase an instrument subject to a put option written by it, may be terminated prior to the expiration date of the option by a Fund’s execution of a closing purchase transaction, which is effected by purchasing on an exchange an offsetting option of the same series ( i.e. , same underlying instrument, exercise price and expiration date) as the option previously written. A closing purchase transaction will ordinarily be effected in order to realize a profit on an outstanding option, to prevent an underlying instrument from being called, to permit the sale of the underlying instrument or to permit the writing of a new option containing different terms on such underlying instrument. A Fund realizes a profit or loss from a closing purchase transaction if the cost of the transaction (option premium plus transaction costs) is less or more than the premium received from writing the option. Because increases in the market price of a call option generally reflect increases in the market price of the security underlying the option, any loss resulting from a closing purchase transaction may be offset in whole or in part by unrealized appreciation of the underlying security.
If a Fund writes a call option but does not own the underlying security, and when it writes a put option, a Fund may be required to deposit cash or securities with its broker as “margin” or collateral for its obligation to buy or sell the underlying security. As the value of the underlying security varies, a Fund may also have to deposit additional margin with the broker. Margin requirements are complex and are fixed by individual brokers, subject to minimum requirements currently imposed by the Federal Reserve Board and by stock exchanges and other self-regulatory organizations.
Purchasing Put Options. A Fund may purchase put options to protect its portfolio holdings in an underlying security against a decline in market value. Such hedge protection is provided during the life of the put option since a Fund, as holder of the put option, is able to sell the underlying security at the put exercise price regardless of any decline in the underlying security’s market price. For a put option to be profitable, the market price of the underlying security must decline sufficiently below the exercise price to cover the premium and transaction costs. By using put options in this manner, a Fund will reduce any profit it might otherwise have realized from appreciation of the underlying security by the premium paid for the put option and by transaction costs.
Purchasing Call Options. A Fund may purchase call options, including call options to hedge against an increase in the price of securities that a Fund wants ultimately to buy. Such hedge protection is provided during the life of the call option since a Fund, as holder of the call option, is able to buy the underlying security at the exercise price regardless of any increase in the underlying security’s market price. In order for a call option to be profitable, the market price of the underlying security must rise sufficiently above the exercise price to cover the premium and transaction costs. These costs will reduce any profit a Fund might have realized had it bought the underlying security at the time it purchased the call option.
Over-the-Counter (OTC) Options. OTC options (options not traded on exchanges) are generally established through negotiation with the other party to the options contract. A Fund will enter into OTC options transactions only with primary dealers in U.S. Government securities and, in the case of OTC options written by a Fund, only pursuant to agreements that will assure that a Fund will at all times have the right to repurchase the option written by it from the dealer at a specified formula price. A Fund will treat the amount by which such formula price exceeds the amount, if any, by which the option may be “in-the-money” as an illiquid investment. It is the present policy of a Fund not to enter into any OTC option transaction if, as a result, more than 15% (10% in some cases; refer to your Fund’s prospectuses) of a Fund’s net assets would be invested in (i) illiquid investments (determined under the foregoing formula) relating to OTC options written by a Fund, (ii) OTC options purchased by a Fund, (iii) securities which are not readily marketable, and (iv) repurchase agreements maturing in more than seven days.
Swap Agreements
General . Swap agreements are derivative instruments that can be individually negotiated and structured to include exposure to a variety of different types of investments or market factors. Depending on their structure, swap agreements may increase or decrease a Fund’s exposure to long- or short-term interest rates, foreign currency values, mortgage securities, corporate borrowing rates, or other factors such as security prices or inflation rates. A Fund may enter into a variety of swap agreements, including interest rate, index, commodity, commodity futures, equity, equity index, credit default, bond futures, total return, portfolio and currency exchange rate swap agreements, and other types of swap agreements such as caps, collars and floors. A Fund also may enter into swaptions, which are options to enter into a swap agreement.
Swap agreements are usually entered into without an upfront payment because the value of each party’s position is the same. The market values of the underlying commitments will change over time, resulting in one of the commitments being worth more than the other and the net market value creating a risk exposure for one party or the other.
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In a typical interest rate swap, one party agrees to make regular payments equal to a floating interest rate times a “notional principal amount,” in return for payments equal to a fixed rate times the same amount, for a specified period of time. If a swap agreement provides for payments in different currencies, the parties might agree to exchange notional principal amounts as well. In a total return swap agreement, the non-floating rate side of the swap is based on the total return of an individual security, a basket of securities, an index or another reference asset. Swaps may also depend on other prices or rates, such as the value of an index or mortgage prepayment rates.
In a typical cap or floor agreement, one party agrees to make payments only under specified circumstances, usually in return for payment of a fee by the other party. For example, the buyer of an interest rate cap obtains the right to receive payments to the extent that a specified interest rate exceeds an agreed-upon level, while the seller of an interest rate floor is obligated to make payments to the extent that a specified interest rate falls below an agreed-upon level. Caps and floors have an effect similar to buying or writing options. A collar combines elements of buying a cap and selling a floor. In interest rate collar transactions, one party sells a cap and purchases a floor, or vice versa, in an attempt to protect itself against interest rate movements exceeding given minimum or maximum levels or collar amounts.
Swap agreements will tend to shift a Fund’s investment exposure from one type of investment to another. For example, if a Fund agreed to pay fixed rates in exchange for floating rates while holding fixed-rate bonds, the swap would tend to decrease a Fund’s exposure to long-term interest rates. Another example is if a Fund agreed to exchange payments in dollars for payments in foreign currency. In that case, the swap agreement would tend to decrease a Fund’s exposure to U.S. interest rates and increase its exposure to foreign currency and interest rates.
Because swaps are two-party contracts that may be subject to contractual restrictions on transferability and termination and because they may have terms of greater than seven days, swap agreements may be considered to be illiquid. If a swap is not liquid, it may not be possible to initiate a transaction or liquidate a position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses.
Moreover, a Fund bears the risk of loss of the amount expected to be received under a swap agreement in the event of the default or bankruptcy of a swap agreement counterparty. When a counterparty’s obligations are not fully secured by collateral, then the Fund is essentially an unsecured creditor of the counterparty. If the counterparty defaults, the Fund will have contractual remedies, but there is no assurance that a counterparty will be able to meet its obligations pursuant to such contracts or that, in the event of default, the Fund will succeed in enforcing contractual remedies. Counterparty risk still exists even if a counterparty’s obligations are secured by collateral because the Fund’s interest in collateral may not be perfected or additional collateral may not be promptly posted as required. Counterparty risk also may be more pronounced if a counterparty’s obligations exceed the amount of collateral held by the Fund (if any), the Fund is unable to exercise its interest in collateral upon default by the counterparty, or the termination value of the instrument varies significantly from the marked-to-market value of the instrument.
Counterparty risk with respect to derivatives will be affected by new rules and regulations affecting the derivatives market. Some derivatives transactions are required to be centrally cleared, and a party to a cleared derivatives transaction is subject to the credit risk of the clearing house and the clearing member through which it holds its cleared position, rather than the credit risk of its original counterparty to the derivative transaction. Credit risk of market participants with respect to derivatives that are centrally cleared is concentrated in a few clearing houses, and it is not clear how an insolvency proceeding of a clearing house would be conducted and what impact an insolvency of a clearing house would have on the financial system. A clearing member is obligated by contract and by applicable regulation to segregate all funds received from customers with respect to cleared derivatives transactions from the clearing member’s proprietary assets. However, all funds and other property received by a clearing broker from its customers are generally held by the clearing broker on a commingled basis in an omnibus account, and the clearing member may invest those funds in certain instruments permitted under the applicable regulations. The assets of a Fund might not be fully protected in the event of the bankruptcy of a Fund’s clearing member, because the Fund would be limited to recovering only a pro rata share of all available funds segregated on behalf of the clearing broker’s customers for a relevant account class. Also, the clearing member is required to transfer to the clearing organization the amount of margin required by the clearing organization for cleared derivatives, which amounts are generally held in an omnibus account at the clearing organization for all customers of the clearing member. Regulations promulgated by the CFTC require that the clearing member notify the clearing house of the amount of initial margin provided by the clearing member to the clearing organization that is attributable to each customer. However, if the clearing member does not provide accurate reporting, the Funds are subject to the risk that a clearing organization will use a Fund’s assets held in an omnibus account at the clearing organization to satisfy payment obligations of a defaulting customer of the clearing member to the clearing organization. In addition, clearing members generally provide to the clearing organization the net amount of variation margin required for cleared swaps for all of its customers in the aggregate, rather than the gross amount of each customer. The Funds are therefore subject to the risk that a clearing organization will not make variation margin payments owed to a Fund if another customer of the clearing member has suffered a loss and is in default, and the risk that a Fund will be required to provide additional variation margin to the clearing
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house before the clearing house will move the Fund’s cleared derivatives transactions to another clearing member. In addition, if a clearing member does not comply with the applicable regulations or its agreement with the Funds, or in the event of fraud or misappropriation of customer assets by a clearing member, a Fund could have only an unsecured creditor claim in an insolvency of the clearing member with respect to the margin held by the clearing member.
Interest Rate Swaps. Interest rate swap agreements are often used to obtain or preserve a desired return or spread at a lower cost than through a direct investment in an instrument that yields the desired return or spread. They are financial instruments that involve the exchange of one type of interest rate cash flow for another type of interest rate cash flow on specified dates in the future. In a standard interest rate swap transaction, two parties agree to exchange their respective commitments to pay fixed or floating interest rates on a predetermined specified (notional) amount. The swap agreement’s notional amount is the predetermined basis for calculating the obligations that the swap counterparties have agreed to exchange. Under most swap agreements, the obligations of the parties are exchanged on a net basis. The two payment streams are netted out, with each party receiving or paying, as the case may be, only the net amount of the two payments. Interest rate swaps can be based on various measures of interest rates, including LIBOR, swap rates, Treasury rates and foreign interest rates.
Credit Default Swap Agreements. A Fund may enter into credit default swap agreements, which may have as reference obligations one or more securities or a basket of securities that are or are not currently held by a Fund. The protection “buyer” in a credit default contract is generally obligated to pay the protection “seller” an upfront or a periodic stream of payments over the term of the contract provided that no credit event, such as a default, on a reference obligation has occurred. If a credit event occurs, the seller generally must pay the buyer the “par value” (full notional value) of the swap in exchange for an equal face amount of deliverable obligations of the reference entity described in the swap, or the seller may be required to deliver the related net cash amount, if the swap is cash settled. A Fund may be either the buyer or seller in a credit default swap. If a Fund is a buyer and no credit event occurs, a Fund may recover nothing if the swap is held through its termination date. However, if a credit event occurs, the buyer generally may elect to receive the full notional value of the swap in exchange for an equal face amount of deliverable obligations of the reference entity whose value may have significantly decreased. As a seller, a Fund generally receives an upfront payment or a fixed rate of income throughout the term of the swap provided that there is no credit event. As the seller, a Fund would effectively add leverage to its portfolio because, in addition to its total net assets, a Fund would be subject to investment exposure on the notional amount of the swap.
Credit default swap agreements may involve greater risks than if a Fund had invested in the reference obligation directly since, in addition to risks relating to the reference obligation, credit default swaps are subject to illiquidity risk, counterparty risk and credit risk. A Fund will enter into credit default swap agreements generally with counterparties that meet certain standards of creditworthiness. A buyer generally will lose its investment and recover nothing if no credit event occurs and the swap is held to its termination date. If a credit event were to occur, the value of any deliverable obligation received by the seller, coupled with the upfront or periodic payments previously received, may be less than the full notional value it pays to the buyer, resulting in a loss of value to the seller.
A Fund’s obligations under a credit default swap agreement will be accrued daily (offset against any amounts owing to the Fund). For bilateral credit default swaps (CDS) where the Fund is the seller of protection, the Fund will cover the full notional amount of the swap minus any collateral on deposit. For bilateral CDS where the Fund is the buyer of protection and the Fund does not hold the underlying security, the Fund will cover the market value of the underlying position minus any collateral on deposit. For bilateral CDS where the Fund is the buyer of protection and the Fund holds the underlying security as an offset, the Fund will cover the market value of the underlying position minus the notional amount of the swap minus any collateral on deposit. When buying CDS that are centrally cleared, the Fund will cover the daily marked-to-market obligation (i.e., the daily net liability) minus any margin on deposit with the exchange. Such segregation or designation will ensure that a Fund has assets available to satisfy its obligations with respect to the transaction. Such segregation or designation will not limit a Fund’s exposure to loss.
Equity Swaps. A Fund may engage in equity swaps. Equity swaps allow the parties to the swap agreement to exchange components of return on one equity investment ( e.g. , a basket of equity securities or an index) for a component of return on another non-equity or equity investment, including an exchange of differential rates of return. Equity swaps may be used to invest in a market without owning or taking physical custody of securities in circumstances where direct investment may be restricted for legal reasons or is otherwise impractical. Equity swaps also may be used for other purposes, such as hedging or seeking to increase total return.
Total Return Swap Agreements. Total return swap agreements are contracts in which one party agrees to make periodic payments to another party based on the change in market value of the assets underlying the contract, which may include a specified security, basket of securities or securities indices during the specified period, in return for periodic payments based on a fixed or variable interest rate or the total return from other underlying assets. Total return swap agreements may be used to
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obtain exposure to a security or market without owning or taking physical custody of such security or investing directly in such market. Total return swap agreements may effectively add leverage to a Fund’s portfolio because, in addition to its total net assets, a Fund would be subject to investment exposure on the notional amount of the swap.
Total return swap agreements are subject to the risk that a counterparty will default on its payment obligations to a Fund thereunder, and conversely, that a Fund will not be able to meet its obligation to the counterparty. Generally, a Fund will enter into total return swaps on a net basis ( i.e. , the two payment streams are netted against one another with a Fund receiving or paying, as the case may be, only the net amount of the two payments). The net amount of the excess, if any, of a Fund’s obligations over its entitlements with respect to each total return swap will be accrued on a daily basis, and an amount of liquid assets having an aggregate net asset value at least equal to the accrued excess will be designated by a Fund in its books and records. If the total return swap transaction is entered into on other than a net basis, the full amount of a Fund’s obligations will be accrued on a daily basis, and the full amount of a Fund’s obligations will be designated by a Fund in an amount equal to or greater than the market value of the liabilities under the total return swap agreement or the amount it would have cost a Fund initially to make an equivalent direct investment, plus or minus any amount a Fund is obligated to pay or is to receive under the total return swap agreement.
Variance, Volatility and Correlation Swap Agreements. Variance and volatility swaps are contracts that provide exposure to increases or decreases in the volatility of certain referenced assets. Correlation swaps are contracts that provide exposure to increases or decreases in the correlation between the prices of different assets or different market rates.
Commodity-Linked Swaps. Commodity-linked swaps are two-party contracts in which the parties agree to exchange the return or interest rate on one instrument for the return of a particular commodity, commodity index or commodities futures or options contract. The payment streams are calculated by reference to an agreed upon notional amount. A one-period swap contract operates in a manner similar to a forward or futures contract because there is an agreement to swap a commodity for cash at only one forward date. A Fund may engage in swap transactions that have more than one period and therefore more than one exchange of commodities.
A Fund may invest in total return commodity swaps to gain exposure to the overall commodity markets. In a total return commodity swap, a Fund will receive the price appreciation of a commodity index, a portion of the index, or a single commodity in exchange for paying an agreed-upon fee. If the commodity swap is for one period, the Fund will pay a fixed fee, established at the outset of the swap. However, if the term of the commodity swap is more than one period, with interim swap payments, the Fund will pay an adjustable or floating fee. With a “floating” rate, the fee is pegged to a base rate such as LIBOR, and is adjusted each period. Therefore, if interest rates increase over the term of the swap contract, a Fund may be required to pay a higher fee at each swap reset date.
Cross Currency Swaps. Cross currency swaps are similar to interest rate swaps, except that they involve multiple currencies. A Fund may enter into a cross currency swap when it has exposure to one currency and desires exposure to a different currency. Typically, the interest rates that determine the currency swap payments are fixed, although occasionally one or both parties may pay a floating rate of interest. Unlike an interest rate swap, however, the principal amounts are exchanged at the beginning of the contract and returned at the end of the contract. In addition to paying and receiving amounts at the beginning and termination of the agreements, both sides will have to pay in full periodically based upon the currency they have borrowed. Changes in foreign exchange currency rates and changes in interest rates, as described above, may negatively affect currency swaps.
Contracts for Differences. Contracts for differences are swap arrangements in which the parties agree that their return (or loss) will be based on the relative performance of two different groups or baskets of securities. Often, one or both baskets will be an established securities index. A Fund’s return will be based on changes in value of theoretical long futures positions in the securities comprising one basket (with an aggregate face value equal to the notional amount of the contract for differences) and theoretical short futures positions in the securities comprising the other basket. A Fund also may use actual long and short futures positions and achieve similar market exposure by netting the payment obligations of the two contracts. A Fund typically enters into contracts for differences (and analogous futures positions) when its portfolio manager believes that the basket of securities constituting the long position will outperform the basket constituting the short position. If the short basket outperforms the long basket, a Fund will realize a loss — even in circumstances when the securities in both the long and short baskets appreciate in value.
Swaptions. A swaption is an options contract on a swap agreement. These transactions give a party the right (but not the obligation) to enter into new swap agreements or to shorten, extend, cancel or otherwise modify an existing swap agreement (which are described herein) at some designated future time on specified terms, in return for payment of the purchase price (the “premium”) of the option. A Fund may write (sell) and purchase put and call swaptions to the same extent it may make use of standard options on securities or other instruments. The writer of the contract receives the premium and bears the risk of unfavorable changes in the market value on the underlying swap agreement. Swaptions can be bundled and sold as a package. These are commonly called interest rate caps, floors and collars (which are described herein).
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Many swaps are complex and often valued subjectively. Many over-the-counter derivatives are complex and their valuation often requires modeling and judgment, which increases the risk of mispricing or incorrect valuation. The pricing models used may not produce valuations that are consistent with the values the Fund realizes when it closes or sells an over-the-counter derivative. Valuation risk is more pronounced when the Fund enters into over-the-counter derivatives with specialized terms because the market value of those derivatives in some cases is determined in part by reference to similar derivatives with more standardized terms. Incorrect valuations may result in increased cash payment requirements to counterparties, undercollateralization and/or errors in calculation of the Fund’s net asset value.
Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) established a framework for the regulation of OTC swap markets; the framework outlined the joint responsibility of the CFTC and the SEC in regulating swaps. The CFTC is responsible for the regulation of swaps, the SEC is responsible for the regulation of security-based swaps and they are both jointly responsible for the regulation of mixed swaps.
Risk of Potential Governmental Regulation of Derivatives
It is possible that government regulation of various types of derivative instruments, including futures and swap agreements, may limit or prevent the Funds from using such instruments as a part of their investment strategy, and could ultimately prevent the Funds from being able to achieve their investment objectives. The effects of present or future legislation and regulation in this area are not known, but the effects could be substantial and adverse.
The futures markets are subject to comprehensive statutes, regulations, and margin requirements. In addition, the SEC, CFTC and the exchanges are authorized to take extraordinary actions in the event of a market emergency, including, for example, the implementation or reduction of speculative position limits, the implementation of higher margin requirements, the establishment of daily price limits and the suspension of trading.
The regulation of swaps and futures transactions in the U.S. is a rapidly changing area of law and is subject to modification by government and judicial action. There is a possibility of future regulatory changes altering, perhaps to a material extent, the nature of an investment in a Fund or the ability of a Fund to continue to implement its investment strategies. In particular, the Dodd-Frank Act, which was signed into law in July 2010, has changed the way in which the U.S. financial system is supervised and regulated. Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act sets forth a new legislative framework for OTC derivatives, such as swaps, in which the Funds may invest. Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act makes broad changes to the OTC derivatives market, grants significant new authority to the SEC and the CFTC to regulate OTC derivatives and market participants, and will require clearing of many OTC derivatives transactions.
Recent U.S. and non-U.S. legislative and regulatory reforms, including those related to the Dodd-Frank Act, have resulted in, and may in the future result in, new regulation of derivative instruments and the Fund's use of such instruments. New regulations could, among other things, restrict the Fund's ability to engage in derivative transactions (for example, by making certain types of derivative instruments or transactions no longer available to the Fund) and/or increase the costs of such transactions, and the Fund may as a result be unable to execute its investment strategies in a manner the Investment Manager might otherwise choose.
Additional Risk Factors in Cleared Derivatives Transactions
Under recently adopted rules and regulations, transactions in some types of swaps (including interest rate swaps and credit default swaps on North American and European indices) are required to be centrally cleared. In a transaction involving those swaps (“cleared derivatives”), a Fund’s counterparty is a clearing house, rather than a bank or broker. Since the Funds are not members of clearing houses and only members of a clearing house (“clearing members”) can participate directly in the clearing house, the Funds will hold cleared derivatives through accounts at clearing members. In a cleared derivatives transaction, the Funds will make payments (including margin payments) to and receive payments from a clearing house through their accounts at clearing members. Clearing members guarantee performance of their clients’ obligations to the clearing house.
In many ways, centrally cleared derivative arrangements are less favorable to open-end funds than bilateral arrangements. For example, the Funds may be required to provide greater amounts of margin for cleared derivatives positions than for bilateral derivatives transactions. Also, in contrast to a bilateral derivatives position, following a period of notice to a Fund, a clearing member generally can require termination of an existing cleared derivatives position at any time or increases in margin requirements above the margin that the clearing member required at the beginning of a transaction. Clearing houses also have broad rights to increase margin requirements for existing positions or to terminate those positions at any time. Any increase in margin requirements or termination of existing cleared derivatives positions by the clearing member or the clearing house could interfere with the ability of a Fund to pursue its investment strategy. Further, any increase in margin requirements by a clearing member could also expose a Fund to greater credit risk to its clearing member, because margin for cleared derivatives transactions in excess of clearing house’s margin requirements typically is held by the clearing member. Also, a Fund is subject to risk if it enters into a derivatives transaction that is required to be cleared (or that the Investment Manager expects to be cleared), and no clearing member is willing or able to clear the transaction on the Fund’s behalf. While the documentation in place between the Funds and their clearing members generally provides that the clearing members will accept for clearing all
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transactions submitted for clearing that are within credit limits (specified in advance) for each Fund, the Funds are still subject to the risk that no clearing member will be willing or able to clear a transaction. In those cases, the position might have to be terminated, and the Fund could lose some or all of the benefit of the position, including loss of an increase in the value of the position and/or loss of hedging protection. In addition, the documentation governing the relationship between the Funds and clearing members is developed by the clearing members and generally is less favorable to the Funds than typical bilateral derivatives documentation. For example, documentation relating to cleared derivatives generally includes a one-way indemnity by the Funds in favor of the clearing member for losses the clearing member incurs as the Funds’ clearing member and typically does not provide the Funds any remedies if the clearing member defaults or becomes insolvent. While futures contracts entail similar risks, the risks likely are more pronounced for cleared swaps due to their more limited liquidity and market history.
Some types of cleared derivatives are required to be executed on an exchange or on a swap execution facility. A swap execution facility is a trading platform where multiple market participants can execute derivatives by accepting bids and offers made by multiple other participants in the platform. While this execution requirement is designed to increase transparency and liquidity in the cleared derivatives market, trading on a swap execution facility can create additional costs and risks for the Funds. For example, swap execution facilities typically charge fees, and if a Fund executes derivatives on a swap execution facility through a broker intermediary, the intermediary may impose fees as well. Also, a Fund may indemnify a swap execution facility, or a broker intermediary who executes cleared derivatives on a swap execution facility on the Fund’s behalf, against any losses or costs that may be incurred as a result of the Fund’s transactions on the swap execution facility.
These and other new rules and regulations could, among other things, further restrict a Fund’s ability to engage in, or increase the cost to the Fund of, derivatives transactions, for example, by making some types of derivatives no longer available to the Fund, increasing margin or capital requirements, or otherwise limiting liquidity or increasing transaction costs. These regulations are new and evolving, so their potential impact on the Funds and the financial system are not yet known. While the new regulations and the central clearing of some derivatives transactions are designed to reduce systemic risk ( i.e. , the risk that the interdependence of large derivatives dealers could cause a number of those dealers to suffer liquidity, solvency or other challenges simultaneously), there is no assurance that the new clearing mechanisms will achieve that result, and in the meantime, as noted above, central clearing and related requirements expose the Funds to new kinds of risks and costs.
CFTC Regulation
Each of the Funds listed on the cover of this SAI qualifies for an exclusion from the definition of a commodity pool under the CEA and has on file a notice of exclusion under CFTC Rule 4.5. Accordingly, the Investment Manager is not subject to registration or regulation as a “commodity pool operator” under the CEA with respect to these Funds, although the Investment Manager is a registered “commodity pool operator” and “commodity trading advisor”. To remain eligible for the exclusion, each of these Funds is limited in its ability to use certain financial instruments regulated under the CEA (“commodity interests”), including futures and options on futures and certain swaps transactions. In the event that a Fund’s investments in commodity interests are not within the thresholds set forth in the exclusion, one or more Funds not currently registered as a “commodity pool” may be required to register as such, which could increase Fund expenses, adversely affecting the Fund’s total return.
Foreign Currency Transactions
The following is applicable to the extent that a fund invests in foreign securities. Because investments in foreign securities usually involve currencies of foreign countries and because a Fund may hold cash and cash equivalent investments in foreign currencies, the value of a Fund’s assets as measured in U.S. dollars may be affected favorably or unfavorably by changes in currency exchange rates and exchange control regulations. Also, a Fund may incur costs in connection with conversions between various currencies. Currency exchange rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time, causing a Fund’s NAV to fluctuate. Currency exchange rates are generally determined by the forces of supply and demand in the foreign exchange markets, actual or anticipated changes in interest rates, and other complex factors. Currency exchange rates also can be affected by the intervention of U.S. or foreign governments or central banks, or the failure to intervene, or by currency controls or political developments.
Spot Rates and Derivative Instruments . A Fund may conduct its foreign currency exchange transactions either at the spot (cash) rate prevailing in the foreign currency exchange market or by entering into forward foreign currency exchange contracts (forward contracts). (See Types of Investments – Derivatives .) These contracts are traded in the interbank market conducted directly between currency traders (usually large commercial banks) and their customers. Because foreign currency transactions occurring in the interbank market might involve substantially larger amounts than those involved in the use of such derivative instruments, a Fund could be disadvantaged by having to deal in the odd lot market for the underlying foreign currencies at prices that are less favorable than for round lots.
A Fund may enter into forward contracts for a variety of reasons, including for risk management (hedging) or for investment purposes.
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When a Fund enters into a contract for the purchase or sale of a security denominated in a foreign currency or has been notified of a dividend or interest payment, it may desire to lock in the price of the security or the amount of the payment, usually in U.S. dollars, although it could desire to lock in the price of the security in another currency. By entering into a forward contract, a Fund would be able to protect itself against a possible loss resulting from an adverse change in the relationship between different currencies from the date the security is purchased or sold to the date on which payment is made or received or when the dividend or interest is actually received.
A Fund may enter into forward contracts when management of the Fund believes the currency of a particular foreign country may decline in value relative to another currency. When selling currencies forward in this fashion, a Fund may seek to hedge the value of foreign securities it holds against an adverse move in exchange rates. The precise matching of forward contract amounts and the value of securities involved generally will not be possible since the future value of securities in foreign currencies more than likely will change between the date the forward contract is entered into and the date it matures. The projection of short-term currency market movements is extremely difficult and successful execution of a short-term hedging strategy is highly uncertain.
This method of protecting the value of a Fund’s securities against a decline in the value of a currency does not eliminate fluctuations in the underlying prices of the securities. It simply establishes a rate of exchange that can be achieved at some point in time. Although forward contracts can be used to minimize the risk of loss due to a decline in value of hedged currency, they will also limit any potential gain that might result should the value of such currency increase.
A Fund may also enter into forward contracts when the Fund’s portfolio manager believes the currency of a particular country will increase in value relative to another currency. A Fund may buy currencies forward to gain exposure to a currency without incurring the additional costs of purchasing securities denominated in that currency.
For example, the combination of U.S. dollar-denominated instruments with long forward currency exchange contracts creates a position economically equivalent to a position in the foreign currency, in anticipation of an increase in the value of the foreign currency against the U.S. dollar. Conversely, the combination of U.S. dollar-denominated instruments with short forward currency exchange contracts is economically equivalent to borrowing the foreign currency for delivery at a specified date in the future, in anticipation of a decrease in the value of the foreign currency against the U.S. dollar.
Unanticipated changes in the currency exchange results could result in poorer performance for Funds that enter into these types of transactions.
A Fund may designate cash or securities in an amount equal to the value of the Fund’s total assets committed to consummating forward contracts entered into under the circumstance set forth above. If the value of the securities declines, additional cash or securities will be designated on a daily basis so that the value of the cash or securities will equal the amount of the Fund’s commitments on such contracts.
At maturity of a forward contract, a Fund may either deliver (if a contract to sell) or take delivery of (if a contract to buy) the foreign currency or terminate its contractual obligation by entering into an offsetting contract with the same currency trader, having the same maturity date, and covering the same amount of foreign currency.
If a Fund engages in an offsetting transaction, it will incur a gain or loss to the extent there has been movement in forward contract prices. If a Fund engages in an offsetting transaction, it may subsequently enter into a new forward contract to buy or sell the foreign currency.
Although a Fund values its assets each business day in terms of U.S. dollars, it may not intend to convert its foreign currencies into U.S. dollars on a daily basis. However, it will do so from time to time, and such conversions involve certain currency conversion costs. Although foreign exchange dealers do not charge a fee for conversion, they do realize a profit based on the difference (spread) between the prices at which they buy and sell various currencies. Thus, a dealer may offer to sell a foreign currency to a Fund at one rate, while offering a lesser rate of exchange should a Fund desire to resell that currency to the dealer.
It is possible, under certain circumstances, including entering into forward currency contracts for investment purposes, that a Fund will be required to limit or restructure its forward contract currency transactions to qualify as a “regulated investment company” under the Code.
Options on Foreign Currencies. A Fund may buy put and call options and write covered call and cash-secured put options on foreign currencies for hedging purposes and to gain exposure to foreign currencies. For example, a decline in the dollar value of a foreign currency in which securities are denominated will reduce the dollar value of such securities, even if their value in the foreign currency remains constant. In order to protect against the diminutions in the value of securities, a Fund may buy put options on the foreign currency. If the value of the currency does decline, a Fund would have the right to sell the currency for a fixed amount in dollars and would thereby offset, in whole or in part, the adverse effect on its portfolio that otherwise would have resulted.
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Conversely, where a change in the dollar value of a currency would increase the cost of securities a Fund plans to buy, or where a Fund would benefit from increased exposure to the currency, a Fund may buy call options on the foreign currency, giving it the right to purchase the currency for a fixed amount in dollars. The purchase of the options could offset, at least partially, the changes in exchange rates.
As in the case of other types of options, however, the benefit to a Fund derived from purchases of foreign currency options would be reduced by the amount of the premium and related transaction costs. In addition, where currency exchange rates do not move in the direction or to the extent anticipated, a Fund could sustain losses on transactions in foreign currency options that would require it to forego a portion or all of the benefits of advantageous changes in rates.
A Fund may write options on foreign currencies for similar purposes. For example, when a Fund anticipates a decline in the dollar value of foreign-denominated securities due to adverse fluctuations in exchange rates, it could, instead of purchasing a put option, write a call option on the relevant currency, giving the option holder the right to purchase that currency from the Fund for a fixed amount in dollars. If the expected decline occurs, the option would most likely not be exercised and the diminution in value of securities would be offset, at least partially, by the amount of the premium received.
Similarly, instead of purchasing a call option when a foreign currency is expected to appreciate, a Fund could write a put option on the relevant currency, giving the option holder the right to that currency from the Fund for a fixed amount in dollars. If rates move in the manner projected, the put option would expire unexercised and allow the Fund to hedge increased cost up to the amount of the premium.
As in the case of other types of options, however, the writing of a foreign currency option will constitute only a partial hedge up to the amount of the premium, and only if rates move in the expected direction. If this does not occur, the option may be exercised and the Fund would be required to buy or sell the underlying currency at a loss that may not be offset by the amount of the premium. Through the writing of options on foreign currencies, the Fund also may be required to forego all or a portion of the benefits that might otherwise have been obtained from favorable movements on exchange rates.
An option written on foreign currencies is covered if a Fund holds currency sufficient to cover the option or has an absolute and immediate right to acquire that currency without additional cash consideration upon conversion of assets denominated in that currency or exchange of other currency held in its portfolio. An option writer could lose amounts substantially in excess of its initial investments, due to the margin and collateral requirements associated with such positions.
Options on foreign currencies are traded through financial institutions acting as market-makers, although foreign currency options also are traded on certain national securities exchanges, such as the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange, subject to SEC regulation. In an over-the-counter trading environment, many of the protections afforded to exchange participants will not be available. For example, there are no daily price fluctuation limits, and adverse market movements could therefore continue to an unlimited extent over a period of time. Although the purchaser of an option cannot lose more than the amount of the premium plus related transaction costs, this entire amount could be lost.
Foreign currency option positions entered into on a national securities exchange are cleared and guaranteed by the OCC, thereby reducing the risk of counterparty default. Further, a liquid secondary market in options traded on a national securities exchange may be more readily available than in the over-the-counter market, potentially permitting a Fund to liquidate open positions at a profit prior to exercise or expiration, or to limit losses in the event of adverse market movements.
Foreign Currency Futures and Related Options. A Fund may enter into currency futures contracts to buy or sell currencies. It also may buy put and call options and write covered call and cash-secured put options on currency futures. Currency futures contracts are similar to currency forward contracts, except that they are traded on exchanges (and have margin requirements) and are standardized as to contract size and delivery date. Most currency futures call for payment of delivery in U.S. dollars. A Fund may use currency futures for the same purposes as currency forward contracts, subject to CFTC limitations.
Currency futures and options on futures values can be expected to correlate with exchange rates, but will not reflect other factors that may affect the value of the Fund’s investments. A currency hedge, for example, should protect a Yen-denominated bond against a decline in the Yen, but will not protect a Fund against price decline if the issuer’s creditworthiness deteriorates. Because the value of a Fund’s investments denominated in foreign currency will change in response to many factors other than exchange rates, it may not be possible to match the amount of a forward contract to the value of a Fund’s investments denominated in that currency over time.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with foreign currency transactions include: Foreign Currency Risk, Derivatives Risk, Interest Rate Risk, and Liquidity Risk.
Foreign Securities
The Funds may invest in foreign securities to the extent described in their prospectuses, and may obtain exposures to foreign securities through depository receipts, as described below. Foreign securities include debt, equity and derivative securities that a Fund’s portfolio manager(s), as the case may be, determines are “foreign” based on the consideration of an issuer’s domicile, its
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principal place of business, its primary stock exchange listing, the source of its revenue or other factors. A Fund’s investments in foreign markets, may include issuers in emerging markets, as well as frontier markets, each of which carry heightened risks as compared with investments in other typical foreign markets. Unless otherwise stated in a Fund’s prospectus, emerging market countries are generally those either defined by World Bank-defined per capita income brackets or determined to be an emerging market based on the Fund portfolio manager’s qualitative judgments about a country’s level of economic and institutional development, among other factors. Frontier market countries generally have smaller economies and even less developed capital markets than typical emerging market countries (which themselves have increased investment risk relative to investing in more developed markets) and, as a result, the risks of investing in emerging market countries are magnified in frontier market countries. Foreign securities may be structured as fixed-, variable- or floating-rate obligations or as zero-coupon, pay-in-kind and step-coupon securities and may be privately placed or publicly offered. See Types of Investments — Private Placement and Other Restricted Securities for more information.
Due to the potential for foreign withholding taxes, MSCI publishes two versions of its indices reflecting the reinvestment of dividends using two different methodologies: gross dividends and net dividends. While both versions reflect reinvested dividends, they differ with respect to the manner in which taxes associated with dividend payments are treated. In calculating the net dividends version, MSCI incorporates reinvested dividends applying the withholding tax rate applicable to foreign non-resident institutional investors that do not benefit from double taxation treaties. The Investment Manager believes that the net dividends version of MSCI indices better reflects the returns U.S. investors might expect were they to invest directly in the component securities of an MSCI index.
There is a practice in certain foreign markets under which an issuer’s securities are blocked from trading at the custodian or sub-custodian level for a specified number of days before and, in certain instances, after a shareholder meeting where such shares are voted. This is referred to as “share blocking.” The blocking period can last up to several weeks. Share blocking may prevent a Fund from buying or selling securities during this period, because during the time shares are blocked, trades in such securities will not settle. It may be difficult or impossible to lift blocking restrictions, with the particular requirements varying widely by country. As a consequence of these restrictions, the Investment Manager, on behalf of a Fund, may abstain from voting proxies in markets that require share blocking.
Foreign securities may include depositary receipts, such as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), European Depositary Receipts (EDRs) and Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs). ADRs are U.S. dollar-denominated receipts issued in registered form by a domestic bank or trust company that evidence ownership of underlying securities issued by a foreign issuer. EDRs are foreign currency-denominated receipts issued in Europe, typically by foreign banks or trust companies and foreign branches of domestic banks, that evidence ownership of foreign or domestic securities. GDRs are receipts structured similarly to ADRs and EDRs and are marketed globally. Depositary receipts will not necessarily be denominated in the same currency as their underlying securities. In general, ADRs, in registered form, are designed for use in the U.S. securities markets, and EDRs, in bearer form, are designed for use in European securities markets. GDRs are tradable both in the United States and in Europe and are designed for use throughout the world. A Fund may invest in depositary receipts through “sponsored” or “unsponsored” facilities. A sponsored facility is established jointly by the issuer of the underlying security and a depositary, whereas a depositary may establish an unsponsored facility without participation by the issuer of the deposited security. Holders of unsponsored depositary receipts generally bear all the costs of such facilities and the depositary of an unsponsored facility frequently is under no obligation to distribute interest holder communications received from the issuer of the deposited security or to pass through voting rights to the holders of such receipts in respect of the deposited securities. The issuers of unsponsored depositary receipts are not obligated to disclose material information in the United States, and, therefore, there may be limited information available regarding such issuers and/or limited correlation between available information and the market value of the depositary receipts.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with foreign securities include: Emerging Markets Securities Risk, Foreign Currency Risk, Foreign Securities Risk, Frontier Market Risk, Geographic Focus Risk, Issuer Risk and Market Risk.
Illiquid Securities
Illiquid securities are defined by a Fund consistent with the SEC staff’s current guidance and interpretations which provide that an illiquid security is an asset which may not be sold or disposed of in the ordinary course of business within seven days at approximately the value at which a Fund has valued the investment on its books. Some securities, such as those not registered under U.S. securities laws, cannot be sold in public transactions. Some securities are deemed to be illiquid because they are subject to contractual or legal restrictions on resale. Subject to its investment policies, a Fund may invest in illiquid investments and may invest in certain restricted securities that are deemed to be illiquid securities at the time of purchase.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risk typically associated with illiquid securities include: Liquidity Risk.
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Initial Public Offerings
A Fund may invest in initial public offerings (IPOs) of common stock or other primary or secondary syndicated offerings of equity or debt securities issued by a corporate issuer. Fixed income funds frequently invest in these types of offerings of debt securities. A purchase of IPO securities often involves higher transaction costs than those associated with the purchase of securities already traded on exchanges or markets. A Fund may hold IPO securities for a period of time, or may sell them soon after the purchase. Investments in IPOs could have a magnified impact — either positive or negative — on a Fund’s performance while the Fund’s assets are relatively small. The impact of an IPO on a Fund’s performance may tend to diminish as the Fund’s assets grow. In circumstances when investments in IPOs make a significant contribution to a Fund’s performance, there can be no assurance that similar contributions from IPOs will continue in the future.
Although one or more risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with IPOs include: IPO Risk, Issuer Risk, Liquidity Risk, Market Risk and Small Company Securities Risk.
Investments in Other Investment Companies (Including Other ETFs)
Investing in other investment companies may be a means by which a Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective. A Fund may invest in securities issued by other investment companies within the limits prescribed by the 1940 Act, the rules and regulations thereunder and any exemptive relief currently or in the future available to a Fund. These securities include shares of other open-end investment companies ( i.e. , mutual funds), closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), UCITS funds (pooled investment vehicles established in accordance with the Undertaking for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities adopted by European Union member states) and business development companies.
Except with respect to funds structured as funds-of-funds or so-called master/feeder funds or other funds whose strategies otherwise allow such investments, the 1940 Act generally requires that a fund limit its investments in another investment company or series thereof so that, as determined at the time a securities purchase is made: (i) no more than 5% of the value of its total assets will be invested in the securities of any one investment company; (ii) no more than 10% of the value of its total assets will be invested in the aggregate in securities of other investment companies; and (iii) no more than 3% of the outstanding voting stock of any one investment company or series thereof will be owned by a fund or by companies controlled by a fund. Such other investment companies may include ETFs, which are shares of publicly traded unit investment trusts, open-end funds or depositary receipts that may be passively managed ( e.g. , they seek to track the performance of specific indexes or companies in related industries) or they may be actively managed, such as the Funds. The SEC has granted orders for exemptive relief to certain ETFs (including the Funds) that permit investments in those ETFs by certain other registered investment companies in excess of these limits.
ETFs are listed on an exchange and trade in the secondary market on a per-share basis, which allows investors to purchase and sell ETF shares at their market price throughout the day. Certain ETFs, such as passively managed ETFs, hold portfolios of securities that are designed to replicate, as closely as possible before expenses, the price and yield of a specified market index. The performance results of these ETFs will not replicate exactly the performance of the pertinent index due to transaction and other expenses, including fees to service providers borne by ETFs. ETF shares are sold and redeemed at net asset value only in large blocks called creation units. The Funds’ ability to redeem creation units may be limited by the 1940 Act, which provides that the Funds will not be obligated to redeem shares in an amount exceeding one percent of their total outstanding securities during any period of less than 30 days.
Although a Fund may derive certain advantages from being able to invest in shares of other investment companies, such as to be fully invested, there may be potential disadvantages. Investing in other investment companies may result in higher fees and expenses for a Fund and its shareholders. A shareholder may be charged fees not only on Fund shares held directly but also on the investment company shares that a Fund purchases. Because these investment companies may invest in other securities, they are also subject to the risks associated with a variety of investment instruments as described in this SAI.
Under the 1940 Act and rules and regulations thereunder, a Fund may purchase shares of affiliated funds, subject to certain conditions. Investing in affiliated funds may present certain actual or potential conflicts of interest. For more information about such actual and potential conflicts of interest, see Investment Management and Other Services – Other Roles and Relationships of Ameriprise Financial and its Affiliates – Certain Conflicts of Interest .
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with the securities of other investment companies include: Investing in Other Funds Risk, Issuer Risk and Market Risk.
Money Market Instruments
Money market instruments include cash equivalents and short-term debt obligations which include: (i) bank obligations, including certificates of deposit (CDs), time deposits and bankers’ acceptances, and letters of credit of banks or savings and loan associations having capital surplus and undivided profits (as of the date of its most recently published annual financial statements) in excess of $100 million (or the equivalent in the instance of a foreign branch of a U.S. bank) at the date of
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investment; (ii) funding agreements; (iii) repurchase agreements; (iv) obligations of the United States, foreign countries and supranational entities, and each of their subdivisions, agencies and instrumentalities; (v) certain corporate debt securities, such as commercial paper, short-term corporate obligations and extendible commercial notes; (vi) participation interests; and (vii) municipal securities. Money market instruments may be structured as fixed-, variable- or floating-rate obligations and may be privately placed or publicly offered. A Fund may also invest in affiliated and unaffiliated money market mutual funds, which invest primarily in money market instruments. See Types of Investments — Private Placement and Other Restricted Securities for more information.
With respect to money market securities, certain U.S. Government obligations are backed or insured by the U.S. Government, its agencies or its instrumentalities. Other money market securities are backed only by the claims paying ability or creditworthiness of the issuer.
Bankers’ acceptances are marketable short-term credit instruments used to finance the import, export, transfer or storage of goods. They are termed “accepted” when a bank unconditionally guarantees their payment at maturity.
A Fund may invest its daily cash balance in Columbia Short-Term Cash Fund, a money market fund established for the exclusive use of the funds in the Columbia Fund Complex and other institutional clients of the Investment Manager.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with money market instruments include: Credit Risk, Inflation Risk, Interest Rate Risk, Issuer Risk and Money Market Fund Risk.
Partnership Securities
The Fund may invest in securities issued by publicly traded partnerships or master limited partnerships or limited liability companies (together referred to as “PTPs/MLPs”). These entities are limited partnerships or limited liability companies that may be publicly traded on stock exchanges or markets such as the NYSE, the NYSE Alternext US LLC (“NYSE Alternext”) (formerly the American Stock Exchange) and NASDAQ. PTPs/MLPs often own businesses or properties relating to energy, natural resources or real estate, or may be involved in the film industry or research and development activities. Generally PTPs/MLPs are operated under the supervision of one or more managing partners or members. Limited partners, unit holders, or members (such as a fund that invests in a partnership) are not involved in the day-to-day management of the company. Limited partners, unit holders, or members are allocated income and capital gains associated with the partnership project in accordance with the terms of the partnership or limited liability company agreement.
At times PTPs/MLPs may potentially offer relatively high yields compared to common stocks. Because PTPs/MLPs are generally treated as partnerships or similar limited liability “pass-through” entities for tax purposes, they do not ordinarily pay income taxes, but pass their earnings on to unit holders (except in the case of some publicly traded firms that may be taxed as corporations). For tax purposes, unit holders may initially be deemed to receive only a portion of the distributions attributed to them because certain other portions may be attributed to the repayment of initial investments and may thereby lower the cost basis of the units or shares owned by unit holders. As a result, unit holders may effectively defer taxation on the receipt of some distributions until they sell their units. These tax consequences may differ for different types of entities.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with partnership securities include: Interest Rate Risk, Issuer Risk, Liquidity Risk and Market Risk.
Preferred Stock
Preferred stock represents units of ownership of a corporation that frequently have dividends that are set at a specified rate. Preferred stock has preference over common stock in the payment of dividends and the liquidation of assets. Preferred stock shares some of the characteristics of both debt and equity. Preferred stock ordinarily does not carry voting rights. Most preferred stock is cumulative; if dividends are passed ( i.e. , not paid for any reason), they accumulate and must be paid before common stock dividends. Participating preferred stock entitles its holders to share in profits above and beyond the declared dividend, along with common shareholders, as distinguished from nonparticipating preferred stock, which is limited to the stipulated dividend. Convertible preferred stock is exchangeable for a given number of shares of common stock and thus tends to be more volatile than nonconvertible preferred stock, which generally behaves more like a fixed income bond. Preferred stock may be privately placed or publicly offered. The price of a preferred stock is generally determined by earnings, type of products or services, projected growth rates, experience of management, liquidity, and general market conditions of the markets on which the stock trades. See Types of Investments – Private Placement and Other Restricted Securities for more information.
Auction preferred stock (APS) is a type of adjustable-rate preferred stock with a dividend determined periodically in a Dutch auction process by corporate bidders. An APS is distinguished from standard preferred stock because its dividends change from time to time. Shares typically are bought and sold at face values generally ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 per share. Holders of APS may not be able to sell their shares if an auction fails, such as when there are more shares of APS for sale at an auction than there are purchase bids.
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Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with preferred stock include: Convertible Securities Risk, Issuer Risk, Liquidity Risk and Market Risk.
Trust-Preferred Securities. Trust-preferred securities, also known as trust-issued securities, are securities that have characteristics of both debt and equity instruments and are typically treated by the Funds as debt investments.
Generally, trust-preferred securities are cumulative preferred stocks issued by a trust that is created by a financial institution, such as a bank holding company. The financial institution typically creates the trust with the objective of increasing its capital by issuing subordinated debt to the trust in return for cash proceeds that are reflected on the financial institutions balance sheet.
The primary asset owned by the trust is the subordinated debt issued to the trust by the financial institution. The financial institution makes periodic interest payments on the debt as discussed further below. The financial institution will subsequently own the trust’s common securities, which may typically represent a small percentage of the trust’s capital structure. The remainder of the trust’s capital structure typically consists of trust-preferred securities which are sold to investors. The trust uses the sales proceeds to purchase the subordinated debt issued by the financial institution. The financial institution uses the proceeds from the subordinated debt sale to increase its capital while the trust receives periodic interest payments from the financial institution for holding the subordinated debt.
The trust uses the interest received to make dividend payments to the holders of the trust-preferred securities. The dividends are generally paid on a quarterly basis and are often higher than other dividends potentially available on the financial institution’s common stocks. The interests of the holders of the trust-preferred securities are senior to those of common stockholders in the event that the financial institution is liquidated, although their interests are typically subordinated to those of other holders of other debt issued by the institution.
The primary benefit for the financial institution in using this particular structure is that the trust-preferred securities issued by the trust are treated by the financial institution as debt securities for tax purposes (as a consequence of which the expense of paying interest on the securities is tax deductible), but are treated as more desirable equity securities for purposes of the calculation of capital requirements.
In certain instances, the structure involves more than one financial institution and thus, more than one trust. In such a pooled offering, an additional separate trust may be created. This trust will issue securities to investors and use the proceeds to purchase the trust-preferred securities issued by other trust subsidiaries of the participating financial institutions. In such a structure, the trust-preferred securities held by the investors are backed by other trust-preferred securities issued by the trust subsidiaries.
If a financial institution is financially unsound and defaults on interest payments to the trust, the trust will not be able to make dividend payments to holders of the trust-preferred securities such as the Fund, as the trust typically has no business operations other than holding the subordinated debt issued by the financial institution(s) and issuing the trust-preferred securities and common stock backed by the subordinated debt.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with trust-preferred securities include: Credit Risk, Interest Rate Risk, Liquidity Risk and Prepayment and Extension Risk.
Private Placement and Other Restricted Securities
Private placement securities are securities that have been privately placed and are not registered under the 1933 Act. They are generally eligible for sale only to certain eligible investors. Private placements often may offer attractive opportunities for investment not otherwise available on the open market. Private placement and other “restricted” securities often cannot be sold to the public without registration under the 1933 Act or the availability of an exemption from registration (such as Rules 144 or 144A), or they are “not readily marketable” because they are subject to other legal or contractual delays in or restrictions on resale. Asset-backed securities, common stock, convertible securities, corporate debt securities, foreign securities, high-yield securities, money market instruments, mortgage-backed securities, municipal securities, participation interests, preferred stock and other types of equity and debt instruments may be privately placed or restricted securities.
Private placements typically may be sold only to qualified institutional buyers or, in the case of the initial sale of certain securities, such as those issued in collateralized debt obligations or collateralized loan obligations, to accredited investors (as defined in Rule 501(a) under the 1933 Act), or in a privately negotiated transaction or to a limited number of qualified purchasers, or in limited quantities after they have been held for a specified period of time and other conditions are met pursuant to an exemption from registration.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with private placement and other restricted securities include: Issuer Risk, Liquidity Risk, Market Risk and Confidential Information Access Risk.
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Real Estate Investment Trusts
Real estate investment trusts (REITs) are pooled investment vehicles that manage a portfolio of real estate or real estate related loans to earn profits for their shareholders. REITs are generally classified as equity REITs, mortgage REITs or a combination of equity and mortgage REITs. Equity REITs invest the majority of their assets directly in real property, such as shopping centers, nursing homes, office buildings, apartment complexes, and hotels, and derive income primarily from the collection of rents. Equity REITs can also realize capital gains by selling properties that have appreciated in value. Mortgage REITs invest the majority of their assets in real estate mortgages and derive income from the collection of interest payments. REITs can be subject to extreme volatility due to fluctuations in the demand for real estate, changes in interest rates, and adverse economic conditions.
Partnership units of real estate and other types of companies sometimes are organized as master limited partnerships in which ownership interests are publicly traded.
Similar to regulated investment companies, REITs are not taxed on income distributed to shareholders provided they comply with certain requirements under the Code. The failure of a REIT to continue to qualify as a REIT for tax purposes can materially affect its value. A Fund will indirectly bear its proportionate share of any expenses paid by a REIT in which it invests. REITs often do not provide complete tax information until after the calendar year-end. Consequently, because of the delay, it may be necessary for a Fund investing in REITs to request permission to extend the deadline for issuance of Forms 1099-DIV beyond January 31. In the alternative, amended Forms 1099-DIV may be sent.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with REITs include: Interest Rate Risk, Issuer Risk, Market Risk and Real Estate-Related Investment Risk.
Repurchase Agreements
Repurchase agreements are agreements under which a Fund acquires a security for a relatively short period of time (usually within seven days) subject to the obligation of a seller to repurchase and a Fund to resell such security at a fixed time and price (representing the Fund’s cost plus interest). The repurchase agreement specifies the yield during the purchaser’s holding period. Repurchase agreements also may be viewed as loans made by a Fund that are collateralized by the securities subject to repurchase, which may consist of a variety of security types. A Fund typically will enter into repurchase agreements only with commercial banks, registered broker-dealers and the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation. Such transactions are monitored to ensure that the value of the underlying securities will be at least equal at all times to the total amount of the repurchase obligation, including any accrued interest.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with repurchase agreements include: Counterparty Risk, Credit Risk, Issuer Risk, Market Risk and Repurchase Agreements Risk.
Reverse Repurchase Agreements
Reverse repurchase agreements are agreements under which a Fund temporarily transfers possession of a portfolio instrument to another party, such as a bank or broker-dealer, in return for cash. At the same time, the Fund agrees to repurchase the instrument at an agreed-upon time (normally within 7 days) and price which reflects an interest payment. A Fund generally retains the right to interest and principal payments on the security. Reverse repurchase agreements also may be viewed as borrowings made by a Fund.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with reverse repurchase agreements include: Credit Risk, Interest Rate Risk, Issuer Risk, Leverage Risk, Market Risk and Reverse Repurchase Agreements Risk.
Short Sales
A Fund may sometimes sell securities short when it owns an equal amount of the securities sold short. This is a technique known as selling short “against the box.” If a Fund makes a short sale “against the box,” it would not immediately deliver the securities sold and would not receive the proceeds from the sale. The seller is said to have a short position in the securities sold until it delivers the securities sold, at which time it receives the proceeds of the sale. To secure its obligation to deliver securities sold short, a Fund will deposit in escrow in a separate account with the custodian an equal amount of the securities sold short or securities convertible into or exchangeable for such securities. A Fund can close out its short position by purchasing and delivering an equal amount of the securities sold short, rather than by delivering securities already held by a Fund, because a Fund might want to continue to receive interest and dividend payments on securities in its portfolio that are convertible into the securities sold short.
Short sales “against the box” entail many of the same risks and considerations described below regarding short sales not “against the box.” However, when a Fund sells short “against the box” it typically limits the amount of its effective leverage. A Fund’s decision to make a short sale “against the box” may be a technique to hedge against market risks when a Fund’s portfolio manager believes that the price of a security may decline, causing a decline in the value of a security owned by a Fund or a
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security convertible into or exchangeable for such security. In such case, any future losses in a Fund’s long position would be reduced by a gain in the short position. The extent to which such gains or losses in the long position are reduced will depend upon the amount of securities sold short relative to the amount of the securities a Fund owns, either directly or indirectly, and, in the case where a Fund owns convertible securities, changes in the investment values or conversion premiums of such securities. Short sales may have adverse tax consequences to a Fund and its shareholders.
Subject to its fundamental and non-fundamental investment policies, a Fund may engage in short sales that are not “against the box,” which are sales by a Fund of securities, contracts or instruments that it does not own in hopes of purchasing the same security, contract or instrument at a later date at a lower price. The technique is also used to protect a profit in a long-term position in a security, commodity futures contract or other instrument. To make delivery to the buyer, a Fund must borrow or purchase the security. If borrowed, a Fund is then obligated to replace the security borrowed from the third party, so a Fund must purchase the security at the market price at a later time. If the price of the security has increased during this time, then a Fund will incur a loss equal to the increase in price of the security from the time of the short sale plus any premiums and interest paid to the third party. (Until the security is replaced, a Fund is required to pay to the lender amounts equal to any dividends or interest which accrue during the period of the loan. To borrow the security, a Fund also may be required to pay a premium, which would increase the cost of the security sold. The proceeds of the short sale will be retained by the broker, to the extent necessary to meet the margin requirements, until the short position is closed out.) Short sales of forward commitments and derivatives do not involve borrowing a security. These types of short sales may include futures, options, contracts for differences, forward contracts on financial instruments and options such as contracts, credit-linked instruments, and swap contracts.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with short sales include: Leverage Risk, Market Risk and Short Positions Risk.
U.S. Government and Related Obligations
U.S. Government obligations include U.S. Treasury obligations and securities issued or guaranteed by various agencies of the U.S. Government or by various agencies or instrumentalities established or sponsored by the U.S. Government. U.S. Treasury obligations and securities issued or guaranteed by various agencies or instrumentalities of the U.S. Government differ in their interest rates, maturities and time of issuance, as well as with respect to whether they are guaranteed by the U.S. Government. U.S. Government and related obligations may be structured as fixed-, variable- or floating-rate obligations.
Investing in U.S. Government and related obligations is subject to certain risks. While U.S. Treasury obligations are backed by the “full faith and credit” of the U.S. Government, such securities are nonetheless subject to credit risk ( i.e. , the risk that the U.S. Government may be, or be perceived to be, unable or unwilling to honor its financial obligations, such as making payments). Securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities may or may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government. These securities may be supported by the ability to borrow from the U.S. Treasury or only by the credit of the issuing agency or instrumentality and, as a result, may be subject to greater credit risk than securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury. Obligations of U.S. Government agencies, authorities, instrumentalities and sponsored enterprises historically have involved limited risk of loss of principal if held to maturity. However, no assurance can be given that the U.S. Government would provide financial support to any of these entities if it is not obligated to do so by law.
Government-sponsored entities issuing securities include privately owned, publicly chartered entities created to reduce borrowing costs for certain sectors of the economy, such as farmers, homeowners, and students. They include the Federal Farm Credit Bank System, Farm Credit Financial Assistance Corporation, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Student Loan Marketing Association (SLMA), and Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC). Government-sponsored entities may issue discount notes (with maturities ranging from overnight to 360 days) and bonds. On September 7, 2008, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), an agency of the U.S. Government, placed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship, a statutory process with the objective of returning the entities to normal business operations. FHFA will act as the conservator to operate the enterprises until they are stabilized.
On August 5, 2011, S& P lowered its long-term sovereign credit rating for the United States of America to “AA+” from “AAA”. Because a Fund may invest in U.S. Government obligations, the value of its shares may be adversely affected by S&P’s downgrade or any future downgrades of the U.S. Government’s credit rating. The long-term impact of the downgrade is uncertain. See Appendix A for a description of securities ratings.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with U.S. Government and related obligations include: Credit Risk, Inflation Risk, Interest Rate Risk, Prepayment and Extension Risk, Reinvestment Risk and U.S. Government Obligations Risk.
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Warrants and Rights
Warrants and rights are types of securities that give a holder a right to purchase shares of common stock. Warrants usually are issued together with a bond or preferred stock and entitle a holder to purchase a specified amount of common stock at a specified price typically for a period of years. Rights usually have a specified purchase price that is lower than the current market price and entitle a holder to purchase a specified amount of common stock typically for a period of only weeks. Warrants may be used to enhance the marketability of a bond or preferred stock. Warrants do not carry with them the right to dividends or voting rights and they do not represent any rights in the assets of the issuer. Warrants may be considered to have more speculative characteristics than certain other types of investments. In addition, the value of a warrant does not necessarily change with the value of the underlying securities, and a warrant ceases to have value if it is not exercised prior to its expiration date, if any.
The potential exercise price of warrants or rights may exceed their market price, such as when there is no movement in the market price or the market price of the common stock declines.
Although one or more of the other risks described in this SAI may also apply, the risks typically associated with warrants and rights include: Convertible Securities Risk, Counterparty Risk, Credit Risk, Issuer Risk and Market Risk.
Information Regarding Risks
The following is a summary of risks of investing in the Funds and the risk characteristics associated with the various investment instruments available to the Funds for investment. A Fund’s risk profile is largely defined by the Fund’s primary portfolio holdings and principal investment strategies (for the description of a Fund’s principal investment strategies and principal risks, please see that Fund’s prospectus). However, the Funds are allowed to use securities, instruments, other assets and investments, strategies and techniques other than those described in the Fund’s principal investment strategies, subjecting the Fund to the risks associated with these securities, instruments, other assets and investments, strategies and techniques. One or more of the following risks may be associated with investment in a Fund at any time:
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined below) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants, none of which are or will be obligated to engage in creation or redemption transactions. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable or unwilling to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able or willing to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. This Risk is heightened in times of market stress.
Changing Distribution Level Risk. The amount of the distributions paid by the Fund will vary and generally depends on the amount of interest income and/or dividends received (less expenses) by the Fund on the loans and securities it holds. If the Fund does not receive any such income and/or dividends, the Fund may not be in a position to make distributions to shareholders. If the interest income and/or dividends the Fund receives from its investments declines, the Fund may have to reduce its distribution level.
Concentration Risk. To the extent that the Fund concentrates its investment in particular issuers, countries, geographic regions, industries or sectors, the Fund may be subject to greater risks of adverse developments in such areas of focus than a fund that invests in a wider variety of issuers, countries, geographic regions, industries, sectors or investments.
Convertible Securities Risk. Convertible securities are subject to the usual risks associated with debt instruments, such as interest rate risk (the risk of losses attributable to changes in interest rates) and credit risk (the risk that the issuer of a debt instrument will default or otherwise become unable, or be perceived to be unable or unwilling, to honor a financial obligation, such as making payments to the Fund when due). Convertible securities also react to changes in the value of the common stock into which they convert, and are thus subject to market risk (the risk that the market values of securities or other investments that the Fund holds will fall, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, or fail to rise). Because the value of a convertible security can be influenced by both interest rates and the common stock's market movements, a convertible security generally is not as sensitive to interest rates as a similar debt instrument, and generally will not vary in value in response to other factors to the same extent as the underlying common stock. In the event of a liquidation of the issuing company, holders of convertible securities would typically be paid before the company's common stockholders but after holders of any senior debt obligations of the company. The Fund may be forced to convert a convertible security before it otherwise would choose to do so, which may decrease the Fund's return.
Correlation/Tracking Error Risk. A number of factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with the Index, and there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation. Failure to achieve such degree of correlation may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective. The factors that may adversely affect the Fund’s correlation with the Index include the size of the Fund’s portfolio, fees, expenses, transaction costs, income items, valuation methodology, accounting standards, the effectiveness of sampling techniques, changes in the Index and disruptions or illiquidity
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in the markets for the securities in which the Fund invests. While the Fund typically attempts to track the performance of the Index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the types of securities that make up the Index in approximately the same proportion as their weighting in the Index, at times, the Fund may not have investment exposure to all securities in the Index, or its weighting of investment exposure to securities may be different from that of the Index. In addition, the Fund may invest in securities not included in the Index. The Fund may take or refrain from taking investment positions for various reasons, such as tax efficiency purposes, or to comply with regulatory restrictions, which may negatively affect the Fund’s correlation with the Index. The Fund may also be subject to large movements of assets into and out of the Fund, potentially resulting in the Fund being over- or under-exposed to certain securities comprising the Index and may be impacted by Index reconstitutions and Index rebalancing events. Additionally, the Fund's underlying foreign investments may trade on markets that may not be open on the same day or at the same time as the Fund, which may cause a difference between the changes in the daily performance of the Fund and changes in the level of the Index. Furthermore, the Fund may need to execute currency trades that due to regulatory, legal and operational constraints will occur at a later date than the trading of the related security. Currency holdings may be valued at a different time than is used by the Index. Any of these factors could decrease correlation between the performance of the Fund and the Index and may hinder the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective.
Several factors may affect the Fund’s ability to achieve a high degree of correlation with its current Index. Among these factors are: (1) the Fund’s fees and expenses, including brokerage (which may be increased by high portfolio turnover) and the costs associated with the use of derivatives or other assets or instruments; (2) less than all of the securities underlying the Fund’s Index being held by the Fund and/or securities or other investments not included in its Index being held by the Fund; (3) an imperfect correlation between the performance of instruments held by the Fund, such as, among others, futures contracts, and the performance of the underlying securities in the Index; (4) bid-ask spreads (the effect of which may be increased by portfolio turnover); (5) holding instruments traded in a market that has become illiquid or disrupted; (6) the Fund’s share prices being rounded to the nearest cent; (7) changes to the Index that are not disseminated in advance; (8) the need to conform the Fund’s portfolio holdings to comply with investment restrictions or policies or regulatory or tax law requirements; (9) limit up or limit down trading halts on options or futures contracts which may prevent the Fund from purchasing or selling options or futures contracts; (10) early and unanticipated closings of the markets on which the holdings of the Fund trade, resulting in the inability of the Fund to execute intended portfolio transactions; and (11) fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Also, Fund rebalancings to their Index, disparities between estimated and actual purchases and redemptions of the Fund may cause the Fund to be over- or underexposed to its Index. This may result in greater tracking and correlation error.
Counterparty Risk. The risk exists that a counterparty to a financial instrument held by the Fund or by a special purpose or structured vehicle in which the Fund invests may become insolvent or otherwise fail to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, including making payments to the Fund. The Fund may obtain no or limited recovery in a bankruptcy or other organizational proceedings, and any recovery may be significantly delayed. Transactions that the Fund enters into may involve counterparties in the financial services sector and, as a result, events affecting the financial services sector may cause the Fund’s share value to fluctuate.
Credit Risk. Credit risk is the risk that the value of loans or other debt instruments may decline if the borrower or the issuer thereof defaults or otherwise becomes unable or unwilling, or is perceived to be unable or unwilling, to honor its financial obligations, such as making payments to the Fund when due. Various factors could affect the actual or perceived willingness or ability of the borrower or the issuer to make timely interest or principal payments, including changes in the financial condition of the borrower or the issuer or in general economic conditions. Fixed-income securities backed by an issuer's taxing authority may be subject to legal limits on the issuer's power to increase taxes or otherwise to raise revenue, or may be dependent on legislative appropriation or government aid. Certain fixed-income securities are backed only by revenues derived from a particular project or source, rather than by an issuer's taxing authority, and thus may have a greater risk of default. Rating agencies assign credit ratings to certain loans and fixed-income instruments to indicate their credit risk. Lower quality or unrated loans or securities held by the Fund may present increased credit risk as compared to higher-rated loans or securities. Non-investment grade loans or fixed-income instruments (commonly called “high-yield” or “junk”) may be subject to greater price fluctuations and are more likely to experience a default than investment grade loans or fixed-income instruments and therefore may expose the Fund to increased credit risk. If the Fund purchases unrated loans or fixed-income securities, or if the ratings of such investments held by the Fund are lowered after purchase, the Fund will depend on analysis of credit risk more heavily than usual. If the issuer of a loan declares bankruptcy or is declared bankrupt, there may be a delay before the Fund can act on the collateral securing the loan, which may adversely affect the Fund. Further, there is a risk that a court could take action with respect to a loan that is adverse to the holders of the loan. Such actions may include invalidating the loan, the lien on the collateral, the priority status of the loan, or ordering the refund of interest previously paid by the borrower. Any such actions by a court could adversely affect the Fund’s performance. A default or expected default of a loan could also make it difficult for the Fund to sell the loan at a price approximating the value previously placed on it. In order to enforce its rights in the event of a
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default, bankruptcy or similar situation, the Fund may be required to retain legal or similar counsel. This may increase the Fund’s operating expenses and adversely affect its NAV. Loans that have a lower priority for repayment in an issuer’s capital structure may involve a higher degree of overall risk than more senior loans of the same borrower.
Cybersecurity Breaches and Technology and Related Systems Failure Risk. The Funds and their service providers, including but not limited to the Investment Manager (in its role as investment adviser and/or administrator to the Funds), Ameriprise Financial (the Investment Manager’s parent company), any investment subadvisers, the Distributor, the Transfer Agent, the Custodian, and other service providers, as well as their underlying service providers (collectively, the Service Providers), are heavily dependent on proprietary and third-party technology and infrastructure and related operational and information systems, networks, computers, devices, programs, applications, data and functions (collectively, Systems) to perform necessary business activities. The Systems that the Funds and the Service Providers (referred to herein as we, us and our) rely upon may be vulnerable to many threats, breaches and failures, some of which may be outside of our control, including significant damage and disruption arising from Systems failures or cybersecurity breaches. Systems failures include malfunctions, user error, conduct (or misconduct) of or arising from employees and agents, and failures arising from cybersecurity breaches, natural disasters, or other actions or events (whether foreseeable or unforeseeable). Cybersecurity breaches include intentional (e.g., cyber-attacks, hacking, phishing scams, unauthorized payment requests) and unintentional events or activity (e.g., user errors arising from or caused by us or our agents). Systems failures and cybersecurity breaches may result in (i) proprietary or confidential information or data being lost, misused, destroyed, stolen, released, corrupted or rendered unavailable, including personal investor information (and that of beneficial owners of investors), (ii) unauthorized access to Systems and loss of operational capacity, including from, for example, denial-of-service attacks (i.e., efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users), and (iii) the misappropriation of Fund or investor assets or sensitive information. Any such events could negatively impact our Systems and may have significant adverse impacts on the Funds and their shareholders.
Systems failures and cybersecurity breaches may cause delays or mistakes in materials provided to shareholders and may also interfere with or negatively impact the processing of Fund investor transactions, pricing of Fund investments, calculating Fund NAVs, and trading within a Fund’s portfolio, while causing or subjecting us to reputational damage, violations of law, legal claims, regulatory fines, penalties, financial losses and reimbursement, expenses or other compensation and remediation costs, as well as additional compliance, legal, and operational costs. Such events could negatively impact the Fund, its shareholders and affect our business, financial condition and performance or results of operations.
The trend toward broad consumer and general public notification of Systems failures and cybersecurity breaches could exacerbate the harm to the Fund, its shareholders and our business, financial condition and performance or results of operations. Even if we successfully protect our Systems from failures or cybersecurity breaches, we may incur significant expenses in connection with our responses to any such events, as well as the need for adoption, implementation and maintenance of appropriate security measures. We could also suffer harm to our business and reputation if attempted or actual cybersecurity breaches are publicized. We cannot be certain that evolving threats from cyber-criminals and other cyber-threat actors, exploitation of new vulnerabilities in our Systems, or other developments, or data thefts, System break-ins or inappropriate access will not compromise or breach the technology or other security measures protecting our Systems.
To date, we have not experienced any material Systems failures or cybersecurity breaches, however, we routinely encounter and address such threats. For example, in 2015 the then-available Columbia ETFs were for a period unable to price their portfolios due to a technology issue impacting the ETFs’ third-party administrator. In another case, in 2014, Ameriprise Financial and other financial institutions experienced distributed denial-of-service attacks intended to disrupt clients’ online access. While Ameriprise Financial was able to detect and respond to this incident without loss of client assets or information, Ameriprise Financial has since enhanced its security capabilities and will continue to assess its ability to monitor and respond to such threats. In addition to the foregoing, the experiences of Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates with Systems failures, cybersecurity breaches and technology threats have included, as examples, phishing scams, introductions of malware, attempts at electronic break-ins, and unauthorized payment requests. Systems failures and cybersecurity breaches may be difficult to detect, may go undetected for long periods or may never be detected. The impact of such events may be compounded over time. Although the Funds and the Service Providers evaluate the materiality of Systems failures and cybersecurity breaches that it detects, the Funds and the Service Providers may conclude that some such events are not material and may choose not to address them. Such conclusions may not prove to be correct.
Although we have established business continuity/disaster recovery plans and systems (Continuity and Recovery Plans) designed to prevent or mitigate the effects of Systems failures and cybersecurity breaches, there are inherent limitations in Continuity and Recovery Plans. These limitations include the possibility that certain risks have not been identified or that Continuity and Recovery Plans might not – despite testing and monitoring – operate as designed, be sufficient to stop or mitigate losses or otherwise be unable to achieve their objectives. The Funds and their shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result. In addition, the Fund cannot control the Continuity and Recovery Plans of the Service Providers. As a result, there can be no
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assurance that the Funds will not suffer losses relating to Systems failures or cybersecurity breaches affecting us in the future, particularly third-party service providers, as the Funds cannot control any Continuity and Recovery Plans or cybersecurity defenses implemented by such parties.
Systems failures and cybersecurity breaches may necessitate significant investment to repair or replace impacted Systems. In addition, we, including the Funds, may incur substantial costs for Systems failure risk management and cybersecurity risk management in order to attempt to prevent any such events or incidents in the future.
Insurance and other traditional risk-shifting tools may be held by or available to us in order to manage or mitigate the risks associated with Systems failures and cybersecurity breaches, but they are subject to terms and limitations such as deductibles, coinsurance, limits and policy exclusions, as well as risk of counterparty denial of coverage, default or insolvency. While Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates maintain cyber liability insurance that provides both third-party liability and first-party liability coverages, this insurance does not cover the Funds and, with regard to covered entities, may not be sufficient to protect us against all losses. In addition, contractual remedies may not be available with respect to Service Providers or may prove inadequate if available (e.g., because of limits on the liability of the Service Providers) to protect the Funds against all losses.
Selling Agents, other financial intermediaries, and issuers of, and counterparties to, the Funds’ investments also may be adversely impacted by Systems failures and cybersecurity breaches in their own businesses, subjecting them to the risks described herein, as well as other additional or enhanced risks particular to their businesses, which could result in losses to the Funds and their shareholders. Issuers of securities or other instruments in which the Funds invest may also experience Systems failures or cybersecurity breaches, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers, and may cause the Funds’ investment in such issuers to lose money.
Depositary Receipts Risk. Depositary receipts are receipts issued by a bank or trust company reflecting ownership of underlying securities issued by foreign companies. Some foreign securities are traded in the form of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). Depositary receipts involve risks similar to the risks associated with investments in foreign securities, including those associated with investing in the particular country of an issuer, which may be related to the particular political, regulatory, economic, social and other conditions or events occurring in the country and fluctuations in its currency, as well as market risk tied to the underlying foreign company. In addition, ADR holders may have limited voting rights, may not have the same rights afforded typical company stockholders in the event of a corporate action such as an acquisition, merger or rights offering and may experience difficulty in receiving company stockholder communications. A potential conflict of interest exists to the extent that the Fund invests in ADRs for which the Fund's custodian serves as depository bank.
Derivatives Risk. Derivatives may involve significant risks. Derivatives are financial instruments, traded on an exchange or in the over-the-counter (OTC) markets, with a value in relation to, or derived from, the value of an underlying asset(s) (such as a security, commodity or currency) or other reference, such as an index, rate or other economic indicator (each an underlying reference). Derivatives may include those that are privately placed or otherwise exempt from SEC registration, including that certain Rule 144A eligible securities may be derivatives. Derivatives could result in Fund losses if the underlying references do not perform as anticipated. Use of derivatives is a highly specialized activity that can involve investment techniques, risks, and tax planning different from those associated with more traditional investment instruments. A Fund’s derivatives strategy may not be successful and use of certain derivatives could result in substantial, potentially unlimited, losses to the Fund regardless of the Fund’s actual investment. A relatively small movement in the price, rate or other economic indicator associated with the underlying reference may result in substantial loss for the Fund. Derivatives may be more volatile than other types of investments. Derivatives can increase the Fund’s risk exposure to underlying references and their attendant risks, including the risk of an adverse credit event associated with the underlying reference (credit risk), the risk of adverse movement in the value, price or rate of the underlying reference (market risk), the risk of adverse movement in the value of underlying currencies (foreign currency risk) and the risk of adverse movement in underlying interest rates (interest rate risk). Derivatives may expose the Fund to additional risks, including the risk of loss due to a derivative position that is imperfectly correlated with the underlying reference it is intended to hedge or replicate (correlation risk), the risk that a counterparty will fail to perform as agreed (counterparty risk), the risk that a hedging strategy may fail to mitigate losses, and may offset gains (hedging risk), the risk that losses may be greater than the amount invested (leverage risk), the risk that the Fund may be unable to sell an investment at an advantageous time or price (liquidity risk), the risk that the investment may be difficult to value (pricing risk), and the risk that the price or value of the investment fluctuates significantly over short periods of time (volatility risk). The value of derivatives may be influenced by a variety of factors, including national and international political and economic developments. Potential changes to the regulation of the derivatives markets may make derivatives more costly, may limit the market for derivatives, or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives.
Derivatives Risk – Forward Contracts Risk. A forward contract is an over-the-counter derivative transaction between two parties to buy or sell a specified amount of an underlying reference at a specified price (or rate) on a specified date in the future. Forward contracts are negotiated on an individual basis and are not standardized or traded on exchanges. The market for forward contracts is substantially unregulated (there is no limit on daily price movements and speculative position limits are not
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applicable). The principals who deal in certain forward contract markets are not required to continue to make markets in the underlying references in which they trade and these markets can experience periods of illiquidity, sometimes of significant duration. There have been periods during which certain participants in forward contract markets have refused to quote prices for certain underlying references or have quoted prices with an unusually wide spread between the price at which they were prepared to buy and that at which they were prepared to sell. At or prior to maturity of a forward contract, the Fund may enter into an offsetting contract and may incur a loss to the extent there has been adverse movement in forward contract prices. The liquidity of the markets for forward contracts depends on participants entering into offsetting transactions rather than making or taking delivery. To the extent participants make or take delivery, liquidity in the market for forwards could be reduced. A relatively small price movement in a forward contract may result in substantial losses to the Fund, exceeding the amount of the margin paid. Forward contracts can increase the Fund’s risk exposure to underlying references and their attendant risks, such as credit risk, market risk, foreign currency risk and interest rate risk, while also exposing the Fund to correlation risk, counterparty risk, hedging risk, leverage risk, liquidity risk, pricing risk and volatility risk.
A forward foreign currency contract is a derivative (forward contract) in which the underlying reference is a country's or region’s currency. The Fund may agree to buy or sell a country's or region’s currency at a specific price on a specific date in the future. These instruments may fall in value (sometimes dramatically) due to foreign market downswings or foreign currency value fluctuations, subjecting the Fund to foreign currency risk (the risk that Fund performance may be negatively impacted by foreign currency strength or weakness relative to the U.S. dollar, particularly if the Fund exposes a significant percentage of its assets to currencies other than the U.S. dollar). The effectiveness of any currency hedging strategy by a Fund may be reduced by the Fund’s inability to precisely match forward contract amounts and the value of securities involved. Forward foreign currency contracts used for hedging may also limit any potential gain that might result from an increase or decrease in the value of the currency. Unanticipated changes in the currency markets could result in reduced performance for the Fund. When the Fund converts its foreign currencies into U.S. dollars, it may incur currency conversion costs due to the spread between the prices at which it may buy and sell various currencies in the market.
A forward interest rate agreement is a derivative whereby the buyer locks in an interest rate at a future settlement date. If the interest rate on the settlement date exceeds the lock rate, the buyer pays the seller the difference between the two rates (based on the notional value of the agreement). If the lock rate exceeds the interest rate on the settlement date, the seller pays the buyer the difference between the two rates (based on the notional value of the agreement). The Fund may act as a buyer or a seller.
Derivatives Risk – Futures Contracts Risk. A futures contract is an exchange-traded derivative transaction between two parties in which a buyer (holding the “long” position) agrees to pay a fixed price (or rate) at a specified future date for delivery of an underlying reference from a seller (holding the “short” position). The seller hopes that the market price on the delivery date is less than the agreed upon price, while the buyer hopes for the contrary. Certain futures contract markets are highly volatile, and futures contracts may be illiquid. Futures exchanges may limit fluctuations in futures contract prices by imposing a maximum permissible daily price movement. The Fund may be disadvantaged if it is prohibited from executing a trade outside the daily permissible price movement. At or prior to maturity of a futures contract, the Fund may enter into an offsetting contract and may incur a loss to the extent there has been adverse movement in futures contract prices. The liquidity of the futures markets depends on participants entering into offsetting transactions rather than making or taking delivery. To the extent participants make or take delivery, liquidity in the futures market could be reduced. Positions in futures contracts may be closed out only on the exchange on which they were entered into or through a linked exchange, and no secondary market exists for such contracts. Futures positions are marked to market each day and variation margin payment must be paid to or by the Fund. Because of the low margin deposits normally required in futures trading, a high degree of leverage is typical of a futures trading account. As a result, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in substantial losses to the Fund, exceeding the amount of the margin paid. For certain types of futures contracts, losses are potentially unlimited. Futures markets are highly volatile and the use of futures may increase the volatility of the Fund’s net asset value. Futures contracts executed on foreign exchanges may not provide the same protection as U.S. exchanges. Futures contracts can increase the Fund’s risk exposure to underlying references and their attendant risks, such as credit risk, market risk, foreign currency risk and interest rate risk, while also exposing the Fund to correlation risk, counterparty risk, hedging risk, leverage risk, liquidity risk, pricing risk and volatility risk.
A bond (or debt instrument) future is a derivative that is an agreement for the contract holder to buy or sell a bond or other debt instrument, a basket of bonds or other debt instrument, or the bonds or other debt instruments in an index on a specified date at a predetermined price. The buyer (long position) of a bond future is obliged to buy the underlying reference at the agreed price on expiry of the future.
A commodity-linked future is a derivative that is an agreement to buy or sell one or more commodities (such as crude oil, gasoline and natural gas), basket of commodities or indices of commodity futures at a specific date in the future at a specific price.
A currency future , also an FX future or foreign exchange future, is a derivative that is an agreement to exchange one currency for another at a specified date in the future at a price (exchange rate) that is fixed on the purchase date.
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An equity future is a derivative that is an agreement for the contract holder to buy or sell a specified amount of an individual equity, a basket of equities or the securities in an equity index on a specified date at a predetermined price.
An interest rate future is a derivative that is an agreement whereby the buyer and seller agree to the future delivery of an interest-bearing instrument on a specific date at a pre-determined price. Examples include Treasury-bill futures, Treasury-bond futures and Eurodollar futures.
Derivatives Risk – Options Risk. Options are derivatives that give the purchaser the option to buy (call) or sell (put) an underlying reference from or to a counterparty at a specified price (the strike price) on or before an expiration date. The Fund may purchase or write (i.e., sell) put and call options on an underlying reference it is otherwise permitted to invest in. By investing in options, the Fund is exposed to the risk that it may be required to buy or sell the underlying reference at a disadvantageous price on or before the expiration date. If the Fund sells a put option, the Fund may be required to buy the underlying reference at a strike price that is above market price, resulting in a loss. If the Fund sells a call option, the Fund may be required to sell the underlying reference at a strike price that is below market price, resulting in a loss. If the Fund sells a call option that is not covered (it does not own the underlying reference), the Fund's losses are potentially unlimited. Options may involve economic leverage, which could result in greater volatility in price movement. Options may be traded on a securities exchange or in the over-the-counter market. At or prior to maturity of an options contract, the Fund may enter into an offsetting contract and may incur a loss to the extent there has been adverse movement in options prices. Options can increase the Fund’s risk exposure to underlying references and their attendant risks such as credit risk, market risk, foreign currency risk and interest rate risk, while also exposing the Fund to correlation risk, counterparty risk, hedging risk, leverage risk, liquidity risk, pricing risk and volatility risk.
Derivatives Risk – Structured Investments Risk. Structured investments are over-the-counter derivatives that provide principal and/or interest payments based on the value of an underlying reference(s). Structured investments typically provide interest income, thereby offering a potential yield advantage over investing directly in an underlying reference. Structured investments may lack a liquid secondary market and their prices or value can be volatile which could result in significant losses for the Fund. In some cases, depending on its terms, a structured investment may provide that principal and/or interest payments may be adjusted below zero resulting in a potential loss of principal and/or interest payments. Additionally, the particular terms of a structured investment may create economic leverage by requiring payment by the issuer of an amount that is a multiple of the price change of the underlying reference. Economic leverage will increase the volatility of structured investment prices, and could result in increased losses for the Fund. The Fund’s use of structured instruments may not work as intended. If structured investments are used to reduce the duration of the Fund’s portfolio, this may limit the Fund’s return when having a longer duration would be beneficial (for instance, when interest rates decline). Structured investments can increase the Fund’s risk exposure to underlying references and their attendant risks, such as credit risk, market risk, foreign currency risk and interest rate risk, while also exposing the Fund to correlation risk, counterparty risk, hedging risk, leverage risk, liquidity risk, pricing risk and volatility risk.
Structured investments include collateralized debt obligations which are debt instruments that are collateralized by the underlying cash flows of a pool of financial assets or receivables.
A commodity-linked structured note is a derivative (structured investment) that has principal and/or interest payments based on the market price of one or more particular commodities (such as crude oil, gasoline and natural gas), a basket of commodities, indices of commodity futures or other economic variable. If payment of interest on a commodity-linked structured note is linked to the value of a particular commodity, basket of commodities, commodity index or other economic variable, the Fund might receive lower interest payments (or not receive any of the interest due) on its investments if there is a loss of value of the underlying reference. Further, to the extent that the amount of principal to be repaid upon maturity is linked to the value of a particular commodity, basket of commodities, commodity index or other economic variable, the Fund might not receive a portion (or any) of the principal at maturity of the investment or upon earlier exchange. At any time, the risk of loss associated with a particular structured note in the Fund’s portfolio may be significantly higher than the value of the note. A liquid secondary market may not exist for the commodity-linked structured notes held in the Fund’s portfolio, which may make it difficult for the notes to be sold at a price acceptable to the portfolio manager(s) or for the Fund to accurately value them.
An equity-linked note (ELN) is a derivative (structured investment) that has principal and/or interest payments based on the value of a single equity security, a basket of equity securities or an index of equity securities. An ELN typically provides interest income, thereby offering a yield advantage over investing directly in an underlying equity. The Fund may purchase ELNs that trade on a securities exchange or those that trade on the over-the-counter markets, as well as in privately negotiated transactions with the issuer of the ELN. The liquidity of unlisted ELNs is normally determined by the willingness of the issuer to make a market in the ELN. While the Fund will seek to purchase ELNs only from issuers that it believes to be willing to, and capable of, repurchasing the ELN at a reasonable price, there can be no assurance that the Fund will be able to sell any ELN at such a price or at all. This may impair the Fund’s ability to enter into other transactions at a time when doing so might be advantageous. The Fund’s investments in ELNs have the potential to lead to significant losses because ELNs are subject to the market and volatility
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risks associated with their underlying equity. In addition, because ELNs often take the form of unsecured notes of the issuer, the Fund would be subject to the risk that the issuer may default on its obligations under the ELN, thereby subjecting the Fund to the further risk of being too concentrated in the securities (including ELNs) of that issuer. The Fund may or may not hold an ELN until its maturity. ELNs also include participation notes.
Derivatives Risk – Swaps Risk. Swaps are derivatives, whereby in a typical swap transaction, two parties agree to exchange the return earned on a specified underlying reference for a fixed return or the return from another underlying reference during a specified period of time. Swaps may be difficult to value and may be illiquid. Swaps could result in Fund losses if the underlying asset or reference does not perform as anticipated. Swaps create significant investment leverage such that a relatively small price movement in a swap may result in immediate and substantial losses to the Fund. The Fund may only close out a swap with its particular counterparty, and may only transfer a position with the consent of that counterparty. Certain swaps, such as short swap transactions and total return swaps, have the potential for unlimited losses, regardless of the size of the initial investment. Swaps can increase the Fund’s risk exposure to underlying references and their attendant risks, such as credit risk, market risk, foreign currency risk and interest rate risk, while also exposing the Fund to correlation risk, counterparty risk, hedging risk, inflation risk, leverage risk, liquidity risk, pricing risk and volatility risk.
A commodity-linked swap is a derivative (swap) that is an agreement where the underlying reference is the market price of one or more particular commodities (such as crude oil, gasoline and natural gas), basket of commodities or indices of commodity futures.
Contracts for differences are swap arrangements in which the parties agree that their return (or loss) will be based on the relative performance of two different groups or baskets of securities or other instruments. Often, one or both baskets will be an established securities index. The Fund’s return will be based on changes in value of theoretical long futures positions in the securities comprising one basket (with an aggregate face value equal to the notional amount of the contract for differences) and theoretical short futures positions in the securities comprising the other basket. The Fund also may use actual long and short futures positions and achieve similar market exposure by netting the payment obligations of the two contracts. If the short basket outperforms the long basket, the Fund will realize a loss – even in circumstances when the securities in both the long and short baskets appreciate in value.
A credit default swap (including a swap on a credit default index, sometimes referred to as a credit default swap index) is a derivative and special type of swap where one party pays, in effect, an insurance premium through a stream of payments to another party in exchange for the right to receive a specified return upon the occurrence of a particular credit event by one or more third parties, such as bankruptcy, default or a similar event. A credit default swap may be embedded within a structured note or other derivative instrument. Credit default swaps enable an investor to buy or sell protection against such a credit event (such as an issuer’s bankruptcy, restructuring or failure to make timely payments of interest or principal). Credit default swap indices are indices that reflect the performance of a basket of credit default swaps and are subject to the same risks as credit default swaps. If such a default were to occur, any contractual remedies that the Fund may have may be subject to bankruptcy and insolvency laws, which could delay or limit the Fund's recovery. Thus, if the counterparty under a credit default swap defaults on its obligation to make payments thereunder, as a result of its bankruptcy or otherwise, the Fund may lose such payments altogether, or collect only a portion thereof, which collection could involve costs or delays. The Fund’s return from investment in a credit default swap index may not match the return of the referenced index. Further, investment in a credit default swap index could result in losses if the referenced index does not perform as expected. Unexpected changes in the composition of the index may also affect performance of the credit default swap index. If a referenced index has a dramatic intraday move that causes a material decline in the Fund’s net assets, the terms of the Fund’s credit default swap index may permit the counterparty to immediately close out the transaction. In that event, the Fund may be unable to enter into another credit default swap index or otherwise achieve desired exposure, even if the referenced index reverses all or a portion of its intraday move.
An inflation rate swap is a derivative typically used to transfer inflation risk from one party to another through an exchange of cash flows. In an inflation rate swap, one party pays a fixed rate on a notional principal amount, while the other party pays a floating rate linked to an inflation index, such as the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
An interest rate swap is a derivative in which two parties agree to exchange interest rate cash flows, based on a specified notional amount from a fixed rate to a floating rate (or vice versa) or from one floating rate to another. Interest rate swaps can be based on various measures of interest rates, including LIBOR, swap rates, treasury rates and foreign interest rates.
Portfolio and total return swaps are derivative swap transactions in which one party agrees to pay the other party an amount equal to the total return of a defined underlying reference during a specified period of time. In return, the other party would make periodic payments based on a fixed or variable interest rate or on the total return of a different underlying reference.
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Derivatives Risk – Swaptions Risk. A swaption is an options contract on a swap agreement. These transactions give a party the right (but not the obligation) to enter into new swap agreements or to shorten, extend, cancel or otherwise modify an existing swap agreement at some designated future time on specified terms, in return for payment of the purchase price (the “premium”) of the option. A Fund may write (sell) and purchase put and call swaptions to the same extent it may make use of standard options on securities or other instruments. The writer of the contract receives the premium and bears the risk of unfavorable changes in the market value on the underlying swap agreement. Swaptions can be bundled and sold as a package. These are commonly called interest rate caps, floors and collars.
Early Close/Late Close/Trading Halt Risk. An exchange or market may close early, close late or issue trading halts on specific securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities may be restricted, which may result in the Fund being unable to buy or sell certain securities. In these circumstances, the Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be unable to accurately price its investments and/or may incur substantial trading losses.
Emerging Market Securities Risk. Securities issued by foreign governments or companies in emerging market countries, such as China, Russia and certain countries in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America or Africa, are more likely to have greater exposure to the risks of investing in foreign securities that are described in Foreign Securities Risk. In addition, emerging market countries are more likely to experience instability resulting, for example, from rapid changes or developments in social, political, economic or other conditions. Their economies are usually less mature and their securities markets are typically less developed with more limited trading activity ( i.e. , lower trading volumes and less liquidity) than more developed countries. Emerging market securities tend to be more volatile than securities in more developed markets. Many emerging market countries are heavily dependent on international trade and have fewer trading partners, which makes them more sensitive to world commodity prices and economic downturns in other countries. Some emerging market countries have a higher risk of currency devaluations, and some of these countries may experience periods of high inflation or rapid changes in inflation rates and may have hostile relations with other countries.
Operational and Settlement Risks of Securities in Emerging Markets. In addition to having less developed securities markets, banks in emerging markets that are eligible foreign sub-custodians may be recently organized, lack extensive operating experience or lack effective government oversight or regulation. In addition, there may be legal restrictions or limitations on the ability of the Fund to recover assets held in custody by a foreign sub-custodian in the event of the bankruptcy of the sub-custodian. Because settlement systems may be less organized than in developed markets and because delivery versus payment settlement may not be possible or reliable, there may be a greater risk that settlement may be delayed and that cash or securities of the Fund may be lost because of failures of or defects in the system, including fraud or corruption. Settlement systems in emerging markets also have a higher risk of failed trades.
Risks Related to Currencies and Corporate Actions in Emerging Markets. Risks related to currencies and corporate actions are also greater in emerging market countries than in developed countries. For example, some emerging market countries may have fixed or managed currencies that are not free-floating against the U.S. dollar. Further, certain currencies may not be traded internationally, or countries may have varying exchange rates. Some emerging market countries have a higher risk of currency devaluations, and some of these countries may experience sustained periods of high inflation or rapid changes in inflation rates which can have negative effects on a country’s economy and securities markets. Corporate action procedures in emerging market countries may be less reliable and have limited or no involvement by the depositories and central banks. Lack of standard practices and payment systems can lead to significant delays in payment.
Risks Related to Corporate and Securities Laws in Emerging Markets. Securities laws in emerging markets may be relatively new and unsettled and, consequently, there is a risk of rapid and unpredictable change in laws regarding foreign investment, securities regulation, title to securities and shareholder rights. Accordingly, foreign investors may be adversely affected by new or amended laws and regulations. In addition, the systems of corporate governance to which issuers in certain emerging markets are subject may be less advanced than the systems to which issuers located in more developed countries are subject, and therefore, shareholders of such issuers may not receive many of the protections available to shareholders of issuers located in more developed countries. These risks may be heightened in China and Russia.
China Stock Connect Risk. The risks noted here are in addition to the risks described under Emerging Market Securities Risk . A Fund may, directly or indirectly (through, for example, participation notes or other types of equity-linked notes), purchase shares in mainland China-based companies that trade on Chinese stock exchanges such as the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (China A-Shares) through the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect (Stock Connect), a mutual market access program designed to, among other things, enable foreign investment in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) via brokers in Hong Kong. There are significant risks inherent in investing in China A-Shares through Stock Connect. The underdeveloped state of PRC’s investment and banking systems subjects the settlement, clearing, and registration of China A-Shares transactions to heightened risks. Stock Connect can only operate when both PRC and Hong Kong markets are open for trading and when banking services are available in both markets on the corresponding settlement days. As such, if either or both markets are closed on a U.S. trading day, a Fund may not be able to dispose of its China A-Shares in a timely manner, which could adversely
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affect the Fund’s performance. PRC regulations require that a fund that wishes to sell its China A-Shares pre-deliver the China A-Shares to a broker. If the China A-Shares are not in the broker’s possession before the market opens on the day of sale, the sell order will be rejected. This requirement could also limit a fund’s ability to dispose of its China A-Shares purchased through Stock Connect in a timely manner. Additionally, Stock Connect is subject to daily quota limitations on purchases of China A-Shares. Once the daily quota is reached, orders to purchase additional China A-Shares through Stock Connect will be rejected. A Fund’s investment in China A-Shares may only be traded through Stock Connect and is not otherwise transferable. Stock Connect utilizes an omnibus clearing structure, and the Fund’s shares will be registered in its custodian’s name on the Central Clearing and Settlement System. This may limit the ability of the Investment Manager (and/or any subadviser, as the case may be) to effectively manage a Fund, and may expose the Fund to the credit risk of its custodian or to greater risk of expropriation. Investment in China A-Shares through Stock Connect may be available only through a single broker that is an affiliate of the Fund’s custodian, which may affect the quality of execution provided by such broker. Stock Connect restrictions could also limit the ability of a Fund to sell its China A-Shares in a timely manner, or to sell them at all. Further, different fees, costs and taxes are imposed on foreign investors acquiring China A-Shares acquired through Stock Connect, and these fees, costs and taxes may be higher than comparable fees, costs and taxes imposed on owners of other securities providing similar investment exposure.
Environmental, Social and Governance Investing Risk . The Index’s environmental, social and corporate governance screening may cause the Fund to forgo certain investment opportunities, and/or forgo opportunities to gain exposure to certain industries, sectors, regions, countries and companies that could have benefited the Fund. In addition, the Fund may be required to sell a security when it might otherwise be disadvantageous for it to do so.
EuroZone-Related Risk. A number of countries in the European Union (EU) have experienced, and may continue to experience, severe economic and financial difficulties. Additional EU member countries may also fall subject to such difficulties. These events could negatively affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments in euro-denominated securities and derivatives contracts, securities of issuers located in the EU or with significant exposure to EU issuers or countries. If the euro is dissolved entirely, the legal and contractual consequences for holders of euro-denominated obligations and derivative contracts would be determined by laws in effect at such time. Such investments may continue to be held, or purchased, to the extent consistent with the Fund’s investment objective and permitted under applicable law. These potential developments, or market perceptions concerning these and related issues, could adversely affect the value of Fund shares.
Certain countries in the EU have had to accept assistance from supra-governmental agencies such as the International Monetary Fund, the European Stability Mechanism (the ESM) or other supra-governmental agencies. The European Central Bank has also been intervening to purchase Eurozone debt in an attempt to stabilize markets and reduce borrowing costs.
There can be no assurance that these agencies will continue to intervene or provide further assistance and markets may react adversely to any expected reduction in the financial support provided by these agencies. Responses to the financial problems by European governments, central banks and others including austerity measures and reforms, may not work, may result in social unrest and may limit future growth and economic recovery or have other unintended consequences. In addition, one or more countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The impact of these actions, especially if they occur in a disorderly fashion, could be significant and far-reaching.
Focused Portfolio Risk. The Fund, because it may invest in a limited number of companies, may have more volatility in its NAV and is considered to have more risk than a fund that invests in a greater number of companies because changes in the value of a single security may have a more significant effect, either negative or positive, on the Fund’s NAV. To the extent the Fund invests its assets in fewer securities, the Fund is subject to greater risk of loss if any of those securities decline in price.
Foreign Currency Risk. The performance of the Fund may be materially affected positively or negatively by foreign currency strength or weakness relative to the U.S. dollar, particularly if the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in foreign securities or other assets denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Currency rates in foreign countries may fluctuate significantly over short or long periods of time for a number of reasons, including changes in interest rates, imposition of currency controls and economic or political developments in the U.S. or abroad. The Fund may also incur currency conversion costs when converting foreign currencies into U.S. dollars and vice versa.
Foreign Currency-related Tax Risk. As a regulated investment company (RIC), the Fund must derive at least 90% of its gross income for each taxable year from sources treated as “qualifying income” under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The Fund may gain exposure to local currency markets through forward currency contracts. Although foreign currency gains currently constitute “qualifying income,” the Treasury Department has the authority to issue regulations excluding from the definition of “qualifying income” a RIC’s foreign currency gains not “directly related” to its “principal business” of investing in stock or securities (or options and futures with respect thereto). Such regulations might treat gains from some of the Fund’s foreign currency-denominated positions as not qualifying income and there is a possibility that such regulations might be applied retroactively, in which case, the Fund might not qualify as a RIC for one or more years. In the event the Treasury Department issues such regulations, the Fund’s Board may authorize a significant change in investment strategy or the Fund’s liquidation.
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Foreign Securities Risk. Investments in or exposure to foreign securities involve certain risks not associated with investments in or exposure to securities of U.S. companies. For example, foreign markets can be extremely volatile. Foreign securities may also be less liquid than securities of U.S. companies so that the Fund may, at times, be unable to sell foreign securities at desirable times or prices. Brokerage commissions, custodial costs and other fees are also generally higher for foreign securities. The Fund may have limited or no legal recourse in the event of default with respect to certain foreign securities, including those issued by foreign governments. In addition, foreign governments may impose withholding or other taxes on the Fund’s income, capital gains or proceeds from the disposition of foreign securities, which could reduce the Fund’s return on such securities. In some cases, such withholding or other taxes could potentially be confiscatory. Other risks include: possible delays in the settlement of transactions or in the payment of income; generally less publicly available information about foreign companies; the impact of economic, political, social, diplomatic or other conditions or events; possible seizure, expropriation or nationalization of a company or its assets or the assets of a particular investor or category of investors; accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards that may be less comprehensive and stringent than those applicable to domestic companies; the imposition of economic and other sanctions against a particular foreign country, its nationals or industries or businesses within the country; and the generally less stringent standard of care to which local agents may be held in the local markets. In addition, it may be difficult to obtain reliable information about the securities and business operations of certain foreign issuers. Governments or trade groups may compel local agents to hold securities in designated depositories that are not subject to independent evaluation. The less developed a country’s securities market is, the greater the level of risks. The risks posed by sanctions against a particular foreign country, its nationals or industries or businesses within the country may be heightened to the extent the Fund invests significantly in the affected country or region or in issuers from the affected country that depend on global markets. The performance of the Fund may also be negatively impacted by fluctuations in a foreign currency's strength or weakness relative to the U.S. dollar, particularly to the extent the Fund invests a significant percentage of its assets in foreign securities or other assets denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Currency rates in foreign countries may fluctuate significantly over short or long periods of time for a number of reasons, including changes in interest rates, imposition of currency exchange controls and economic or political developments in the U.S. or abroad. The Fund may also incur currency conversion costs when converting foreign currencies into U.S. dollars and vice versa. Additionally, the Fund’s underlying foreign investments may trade in markets that may not be open on the same day or at the same time as the Fund, or foreign markets may close after the Fund has calculated its NAV for a given business day, which may cause a difference in the market price of such underlying foreign securities and the value attributed to such securities by the Fund.
Operational and Settlement Risks of Foreign Securities. The Fund’s foreign securities are generally held outside the United States in the primary market for the securities in the custody of certain eligible foreign banks and trust companies (“foreign sub-custodians”), as permitted under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the 1940 Act). Settlement practices for foreign securities may differ from those in the United States. Some countries have limited governmental oversight and regulation of industry practices, stock exchanges, depositories, registrars, brokers and listed companies, which increases the risk of corruption and fraud and the possibility of losses to the Fund. In particular, under certain circumstances, foreign securities may settle on a delayed delivery basis, meaning that the Fund may be required to make payment for securities before the Fund has actually received delivery of the securities or deliver securities prior to the receipt of payment. Typically, in these cases, the Fund will receive evidence of ownership in accordance with the generally accepted settlement practices in the local market entitling the Fund to delivery or payment at a future date, but there is a risk that the security will not be delivered to the Fund or that payment will not be received, although the Fund and its foreign sub-custodians take reasonable precautions to mitigate this risk. Losses can also result from lost, stolen or counterfeit securities; defaults by brokers and banks; failures or defects of the settlement system; or poor and improper record keeping by registrars and issuers.
Share Blocking. Share blocking refers to a practice in certain foreign markets under which an issuer’s securities are blocked from trading at the custodian or sub-custodian level for a specified number of days before and, in certain instances, after a shareholder meeting where a vote of shareholders takes place. The blocking period can last up to several weeks. Share blocking may prevent the Fund from buying or selling securities during this period, because during the time shares are blocked, trades in such securities will not settle. It may be difficult or impossible to lift blocking restrictions, with the particular requirements varying widely by country. As a consequence of these restrictions, the Investment Manager, on behalf of the Fund, may abstain from voting proxies in markets that require share blocking.
Fund Shares Liquidity Risk. Although the Fund’s shares are listed on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active or liquid trading market for shares will be established or maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants, particularly in times of stressed market conditions. There is no obligation of market makers to make a market in the Fund’s shares or of Authorized Participants to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units. As such they may step away from their roles and this could in turn lead to variances between the market price of the Fund’s shares and the underlying value of those shares. In addition, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the
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Exchange, make trading in Fund shares inadvisable. Further, trading in Fund shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to the Exchange “circuit breaker” rules. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met or will remain unchanged.
Geographic Focus Risk. The Fund may be particularly susceptible to economic, political, regulatory or other events or conditions affecting issuers and countries within the specific geographic regions in which the Fund invests. Currency devaluations could occur in countries that have not yet experienced currency devaluation to date, or could continue to occur in countries that have already experienced such devaluations. As a result, the Fund’s NAV may be more volatile than the NAV of a more geographically diversified fund.
Growth Securities Risk. Growth securities typically trade at a higher multiple of earnings than other types of equity securities. Accordingly, the market values of growth securities may never reach their expected market value and may decline in price. In addition, growth securities, at times, may not perform as well as value securities or the stock market in general, and may be out of favor with investors for varying periods of time.
Index Methodology Risk. The Fund seeks performance that corresponds to the performance of the Index. There is no guarantee or assurance that the methodology used to create the Index will result in the Fund achieving high, or even positive, returns. The Index may underperform more traditional indices. The Fund could lose value while other indices or measures of market performance increase in level or performance. In addition, the Fund may be subject to the risk that the Index provider may not follow its stated methodology for determining the level of the Index and/or achieve the index provider’s intended performance objective.
IPO Risk. IPOs are subject to many of the same risks as investing in companies with smaller market capitalizations. To the extent the Fund determines to invest in IPOs, it may not be able to invest to the extent desired, because, for example, only a small portion (if any) of the securities being offered in an IPO are available to the Fund. The investment performance of the Fund during periods when it is unable to invest significantly or at all in IPOs may be lower than during periods when the Fund is able to do so. In addition, as the Fund increases in size, the impact of IPOs on the Fund’s performance will generally decrease. IPOs sold within 12 months of purchase may result in increased short-term capital gains, which will be taxable to the Fund’s shareholders as ordinary income.
Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk of losses attributable to changes in interest rates. In general, if prevailing interest rates (which are at historic lows) rise, the values of loans and other fixed-income instruments tend to fall, and if interest rates fall, the values of loans and other fixed-income instruments tend to rise. Changes in the value of a fixed-income instrument usually will not affect the amount of income the Fund receives from it but will generally affect the value of the Fund's shares. In general, the longer the maturity or duration of a fixed-income instrument, the greater its sensitivity to changes in interest rates. Interest rate declines also may increase prepayments of debt obligations, which, in turn, would increase prepayment risk. Similarly, a period of rising interest rates may negatively impact the Fund’s performance. Actions by governments and central banking authorities can result in increases in interest rates. Such actions may negatively affect the value of fixed-income instruments held by the Fund, resulting in a negative impact on the Fund's performance and NAV. Debt instruments with floating coupon rates are typically less sensitive to interest rate changes, but these debt instruments may decline in value if their coupon rates do not rise as much as, or keep pace with, yields on such types of debt instruments. Because rates on certain floating rate loans and other debt instruments reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause fluctuations in the Fund’s NAV. Any interest rate increases could cause the value of the Fund’s investments in fixed-income instruments to decrease. Rising interest rates may prompt redemptions from the Fund, which may force the Fund to sell investments at a time when it is not advantageous to do so, which could result in losses.
Investing in Other Funds Risk. The Fund’s investment in other funds (affiliated and/or unaffiliated funds, including exchange-traded funds (ETFs)) subjects the Fund to the investment performance (positive or negative) and risks of the underlying funds in direct proportion to the Fund’s investment therein. The performance of the underlying funds could be adversely affected if other investors in the same underlying funds make relatively large investments or redemptions in such underlying funds. The Fund, and its shareholders, indirectly bear a portion of the expenses of any funds in which the Fund invests. Because the expenses and costs of an underlying fund are shared by its investors, redemptions by other investors in the underlying funds could result in decreased economies of scale and increased operating expenses for such underlying fund. These transactions might also result in higher brokerage, tax or other costs for the underlying funds. This risk may be particularly important when one investor owns a substantial portion of the underlying funds. The Investment Manager may have potential conflicts of interest in selecting affiliated underlying funds for investment by the Fund because the fees paid to it by some underlying funds are higher than the fees paid by other underlying funds, as well as a potential conflict in selecting affiliated funds over unaffiliated funds. Also, to the extent that the Fund is constrained/restricted from investing (or investing further) in a particular underlying fund for one or more reasons (e.g., underlying fund capacity constraints or regulatory restrictions) or if the Fund chooses to sell its investment in an underlying fund because of poor investment performance or for other reasons, the Fund may have to invest in other
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underlying funds, including less desirable funds – from a strategy or investment performance standpoint – which could have a negative impact on Fund performance. In addition, Fund performance could be negatively impacted if an appropriate alternate underlying fund does not present itself in a timely manner or at all.
Issuer Risk. An issuer in which the Fund invests or to which it has exposure may perform poorly, and the value of its loans or securities may therefore decline, which would negatively affect the Fund’s performance. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, breakthroughs in technology, reliance on suppliers, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, natural disasters or other events, conditions or factors.
Large Fund Investor Risk. The Fund may from time to time sell a substantial amount of its shares to relatively few investors or a single investor, including other funds advised by the Investment Manager, or third parties. Sales to and redemptions from large investors, in the form of creation units, may be very substantial relative to the size of the Fund and carry potentially adverse effects. While it is not possible to predict the overall effect of such sales and redemptions, such transactions may adversely affect the Fund’s performance to the extent that the Fund is required to invest cash received in connection with a sale at a time when the Fund would otherwise prefer not to invest , such as in an up market. Such transactions may also increase the Fund’s transaction costs, which would also detract from Fund performance. Because the expenses and costs of the Fund are shared by its investors, large redemptions in the Fund could result in decreased economies of scale and increased operating expenses for non-redeeming Fund shareholders. In addition, in the event of a Fund proxy proposal, a large investor(s) could dictate with its/their vote the results of the proposal, which may have a less favorable impact on minority-stake shareholders.
Limitations of Intraday Indicative Value (IIV) Risk. The Exchange intends to disseminate the approximate per share value of the Fund’s published basket of portfolio securities every 15 seconds (the ‘‘intraday indicative value’’ or ‘‘IIV’’). The IIV should not be viewed as a ‘‘real-time’’ update of the NAV per share of the Fund because the IIV may not be calculated in the same manner as the NAV, which is computed once a day, generally at the end of the business day, (ii) the calculation of NAV may be subject to fair valuation at different prices than those used in the calculations of the IIV, unlike the calculation of NAV, the IIV does not take into account Fund expenses, and (iv) the IIV is based on the published basket of portfolio securities and not on the Fund’s actual holdings. The IIV calculations are based on local market prices and may not reflect events that occur subsequent to the local market’s close, which could affect premiums and discounts between the IIV and the market price of the Fund’s shares. For example, if the Fund fair values portfolio securities, the Fund’s NAV may deviate from the approximate per share value of the Fund’s published basket of portfolio securities (i.e., the IIV), which could result in the market prices for Fund shares deviating from NAV. The Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates are not involved in, or responsible for, any aspect of the calculation or dissemination of the Fund’s IIV, and the Fund, the Investment Manager and their affiliates do not make any warranty as to the accuracy of these calculations.
Liquidity Risk. Liquidity risk is the risk associated with any event, circumstance, or characteristic of an investment or market that negatively impacts the Fund’s ability to sell, or realize the proceeds from the sale of, an investment at a desirable time or price. Liquidity risk may arise because of, for example, a lack of marketability of the investment. Decreases in the number of financial institutions, including banks and broker-dealers willing to make markets (match up sellers and buyers) in the Fund’s investments or decreases in their capacity or willingness to trade such investments may increase the Fund’s exposure to this risk. The debt market has experienced considerable growth, and financial institutions making markets in instruments purchased and sold by the Fund (e.g., bond dealers) have been subject to increased regulation. The impact of that growth and regulation on the ability and willingness of financial institutions to engage in trading or “making a market” in such instruments remains unsettled. As a result, the Fund, when seeking to sell its portfolio investments, could find that selling is more difficult than anticipated, especially during times of high market volatility. Market participants attempting to sell the same or a similar instrument at the same time as the Fund could exacerbate the Fund’s exposure to liquidity risk. The Fund may have to accept a lower selling price for the holding, sell other investments that it might otherwise prefer to hold, or forego another more appealing investment opportunity. Certain investments that were liquid when purchased by the Fund may later become illiquid, particularly in times of overall economic distress. Changing regulatory, market or other conditions or environments (for example, the interest rate or credit environments) may also adversely affect the liquidity and the price of the Fund's investments. Certain types of investments, such as structured notes and non-investment grade fixed-income securities, as an example, may be especially subject to liquidity risk. Floating rate loans also generally are subject to legal or contractual restrictions on resale and may trade infrequently on the secondary market. The value of the loan to the Fund may be impaired in the event that the Fund needs to liquidate such loans. The inability to purchase or sell floating rate loans and other debt instruments at a fair price may have a negative impact on the Fund’s performance. Securities or other assets in which the Fund invests may be traded in the over-the-counter market rather than on an exchange and therefore may be more difficult to purchase or sell at a fair price. Judgment plays a larger role in valuing illiquid or less liquid investments as compared to valuing liquid or more liquid investments. Price volatility may be higher for illiquid or less liquid investments as a result of, for example, the relatively less frequent pricing of such securities (as compared to liquid or more liquid investments). Generally, the less liquid the market at the time the Fund sells a portfolio investment, the greater the risk of loss or decline of value to the Fund. Overall market liquidity and other factors can lead to an increase in Fund redemptions, which may negatively impact Fund performance and NAV, including, for example, if
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the Fund is forced to sell investments in a down market. In addition, in stressed market conditions, the market for Fund shares may become less liquid. Deterioration in the liquidity of Fund shares may adversely impact the liquidity of the Fund's underlying portfolio securities. These adverse impacts on the liquidity of Fund shares and on the liquidity of the Fund's underlying portfolio securities could in turn lead to differences between the market price of Fund shares and the underlying value of those shares.
Governments and their regulatory agencies and self-regulatory organizations may take actions that affect the regulation of the instruments in which the Fund invests, or the issuers of such instruments, in ways that are unforeseeable. Legislation or regulation may also change the way in which the Fund or the Investment Manager or any Fund subadviser, as the case may be, are regulated or supervised. Such legislation or regulation could affect or preclude a Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective.
Governments and their regulatory agencies and self-regulatory organizations may also acquire distressed assets from financial institutions and acquire ownership interests in those institutions. The implications of government ownership and disposition of these assets are unclear, and such a program may have positive or negative effects on the liquidity, valuation and performance of a Fund’s portfolio holdings. Furthermore, volatile financial markets can expose the Funds to greater market and liquidity risk and potential difficulty in valuing portfolio instruments held by the Funds.
While the Investment Manager and any subadvisers can endeavor to take various preventative measures to address liquidity risk, including conducting periodic portfolio risk analysis/management and stress-testing, such measures may not be successful and may not have fully accounted for the specific circumstances that ultimately impact a Fund and its holdings.
Market Price Relative to NAV Risk. Shares of the Fund may trade at prices that vary from Fund NAV. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on the Exchange and are bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices that may differ, in some cases significantly, from their NAV. The NAV of the Fund will generally fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings. The market prices of shares, however, will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in NAV as well as the relative supply of, and demand for, shares on the Exchange. The Investment Manager cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their NAV. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be closely related to, but not identical to, the same forces influencing the prices of the securities held by the Fund. Given that shares can be purchased and redeemed in large blocks of shares, called Creation Units (defined below) (unlike shares of closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAV), and the Fund's portfolio holdings are fully disclosed on a daily basis, the Investment Manager does not anticipate that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of shares will occur, although there can be no assurance that will be the case. However, if a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.
Market Risk. Market risk refers to the possibility that the market values of securities or other investments that the Fund holds will fall, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, or fail to rise. The value of Fund investments may fall or fail to rise because of a variety of actual or perceived factors affecting an issuer (e.g., an unfavorable earnings report), the industry or sector in which it operates, or the market as a whole, which may reduce the value of an investment in the Fund. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods. The market values of the investments the Fund holds can be affected by changes or perceived changes in U.S. or foreign economies and financial markets, and the liquidity of these investments, among other factors.
Mid-Cap Company Securities Risk. Securities of mid-capitalization companies (mid-cap companies) can, in certain circumstances, have more risk than securities of larger capitalization companies (larger companies). For example, mid-cap companies may be more vulnerable to market downturns and adverse business or economic events than larger companies because they may have more limited financial resources and business operations. Mid-cap companies are also more likely than larger companies to have more limited product lines and operating histories and to depend on smaller management teams. Securities of mid-cap companies may trade less frequently and in smaller volumes and may fluctuate more sharply in value than securities of larger companies. When the Fund takes significant positions in mid-cap companies with limited trading volumes, the liquidation of those positions, particularly in a distressed market, could be difficult and result in Fund investment losses. In addition, some mid-cap companies may not be widely followed by the investment community, which can lower the demand for their stocks.
Model and Technology Risk. Investment strategies or programs that are fundamentally dependent on proprietary or licensed technology, such as, among other things, hardware, software, model-based strategies, data gathering systems, order execution, and trade allocation systems, and/or risk management systems may not be successful on an ongoing basis or could contain errors, omissions, imperfections, or malfunctions. Any such errors, imperfections or limitations in a model could affect the ability of the manager to implement strategies. Despite testing, monitoring and independent safeguards, these errors may result in, among other things, execution and allocation failures and failures to properly gather, organize and analyze amounts of data from third parties and other external sources. More specifically, as it is not possible or practicable for a manager to factor all
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relevant, available data into quantitative model forecasts and/or trading decisions, managers (and/or affiliated licensors of such data) will use their discretion to determine what data to gather with respect to an investment strategy and what subset of that data the models will take into account to produce forecasts that may have an impact on ultimate trading decisions, all of which may have a negative effect on the Fund.
Errors are often extremely difficult to detect and some may go undetected for long periods of time and some may never be detected. The adverse impact caused by these errors can compound over time. A manager (and/or the licensor of the models or technology) may detect certain errors that it chooses, in its sole discretion, not to address or fix. By necessity, models make simplifying assumptions that limit their efficacy. Models that appear to explain prior market data can fail to predict future market events. Moreover, an increasing number of market participants may rely on models that are similar to those used by a manager (or an affiliate of a manager), which may result in a substantial number of market participants taking the same action with respect to an investment. Should one or more of these other market participants begin to divest themselves of one or more portfolio investments, the Fund could suffer losses. Additionally, shareholders should be aware that there is no guarantee that a manager that uses quantitative techniques will use any specific data or type of data in generating forecasts or making trading decisions on behalf of the Fund, nor is there any guarantee that the data actually utilized in generating forecasts or making trading decisions on behalf of the Fund will be (i) the most accurate data available or (ii) free from errors.
Money Market Fund Investment Risk. An investment in a money market fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by any bank, the FDIC or any other government agency. Although certain types of money market funds seek to preserve the value of investments at $1.00 per share, it is not guaranteed and it is possible for the Fund to lose money by investing in these and other types of money market funds. In addition to the fees and expenses that the Fund directly bears, the Fund indirectly bears the fees and expenses of any money market funds in which it invests, including affiliated money market funds. To the extent these fees and expenses, along with the fees and expenses of any other funds in which the Fund may invest, are expected to equal or exceed 0.01% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, they will be reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses set forth in the table under “Fees and Expenses of the Fund.” By investing in a money market fund, the Fund will be exposed to the investment risks of the money market fund in direct proportion to such investment. The money market fund may not achieve its investment objective, and the Fund, through its investment in the money market fund, may not achieve its investment objective. To the extent the Fund invests in instruments such as derivatives, the Fund may hold investments, which may be significant, in money market fund shares to cover its obligations resulting from its investments in derivatives. Money market funds and the securities they invest in are subject to comprehensive regulations. The enactment of new legislation or regulations, as well as changes in interpretation and enforcement of current laws, may affect the manner of operation, performance and/or yield of money market funds. In the event that a money market fund’s portfolio liquidity declines below a certain level, the money market fund’s board may impose a liquidity fee on redemptions of up to 2% or suspend redemptions for a period of time (i.e., impose a redemption gate). These measures may result in an investment loss or prohibit the Fund from redeeming shares when the Investment Manager would otherwise redeem shares.
Portfolio Turnover Risk. In seeking to meet its investment objective, the Fund may incur portfolio turnover to manage the Fund’s investment exposure. Additionally, active market trading of the Fund’s shares may cause more frequent creation or redemption activities that could, in certain circumstances, increase the number of portfolio transactions. High levels of transactions increase brokerage and other transaction costs and may result in increased taxable capital gains.
Preferred Stock Risk. Preferred stock is a type of stock that generally pays dividends at a specified rate and that has preference over common stock in the payment of dividends and the liquidation of assets. Preferred stock does not ordinarily carry voting rights. The price of a preferred stock is generally determined by earnings, type of products or services, projected growth rates, experience of management, liquidity, and general market conditions of the markets on which the stock trades. The most significant risks associated with investments in preferred stock include issuer risk, market risk and interest rate risk ( i.e. , the risk of losses attributable to changes in interest rates).
Real Estate-Related Investment Risk. Investments in real estate investment trusts (REITs) and in securities of other companies (wherever organized) principally engaged in the real estate industry subject the Fund to, among other things, risks similar to those of direct investments in real estate and the real estate industry in general. These include risks related to general and local economic conditions, possible lack of availability of financing and changes in interest rates or property values. REITs are entities that either own properties or make construction or mortgage loans, and also may include operating or finance companies. The value of interests in a REIT may be affected by, among other factors, changes in the value of the underlying properties owned by the REIT, changes in the prospect for earnings and/or cash flow growth of the REIT itself, defaults by borrowers or tenants, market saturation, decreases in market rates for rents, and other economic, political, or regulatory matters affecting the real estate industry, including REITs. REITs and similar non-U.S. entities depend upon specialized management skills, may have limited financial resources, may have less trading volume in their securities, and may be subject to more abrupt
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or erratic price movements than the overall securities markets. REITs are also subject to the risk of failing to qualify for favorable tax treatment under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. Some REITs (especially mortgage REITs) are affected by risks similar to those associated with investments in debt securities including changes in interest rates and the quality of credit extended.
Regulatory Risk — Money Market Funds. Money market funds and the securities they invest in are subject to comprehensive regulations. The enactment of new legislation or regulations, as well as changes in interpretation and enforcement of current laws, may affect the manner of operation, performance and/or yield of money market funds.
Reinvestment Risk. Reinvestment risk is the risk that the Fund will not be able to reinvest income or principal at the same return it is currently earning.
Repurchase Agreements Risk. Repurchase agreements are agreements in which the seller of a security to the Fund agrees to repurchase that security from the Fund at a mutually agreed upon price and time. Repurchase agreements carry the risk that the counterparty may not fulfill its obligations under the agreement. This could cause the Fund's income and the value of your investment in the Fund to decline.
Reverse Repurchase Agreements Risk. Reverse repurchase agreements are agreements in which a Fund sells a security to a counterparty, such as a bank or broker-dealer, in return for cash and agrees to repurchase that security at a mutually agreed upon price and time. Reverse repurchase agreements carry the risk that the market value of the security sold by the Fund may decline below the price at which the Fund must repurchase the security. Reverse repurchase agreements also may be viewed as a form of borrowing, and borrowed assets used for investment creates leverage risk. Leverage can create an interest expense that may lower the Fund's overall returns. Leverage presents the opportunity for increased net income and capital gains, but may also exaggerate the Fund’s volatility and risk of loss. There can be no guarantee that this strategy will be successful.
Rule 144A and Other Exempted Securities Risk. The Fund may invest in privately placed and other securities or instruments exempt from SEC registration (collectively “private placements”), subject to liquidity and other regulatory restrictions. In the U.S. market, private placements are typically sold only to qualified institutional buyers, or qualified purchasers, as applicable. An insufficient number of buyers interested in purchasing private placements at a particular time could affect adversely the marketability of such investments and the Fund might be unable to dispose of them promptly or at reasonable prices, subjecting the Fund to liquidity risk. The Fund may invest in private placements determined to be liquid as well as those determined to be illiquid. Even if determined to be liquid, the Fund’s holdings of private placements may increase the level of Fund illiquidity if eligible buyers are unable or unwilling to purchase them at a particular time. The Fund may also have to bear the expense of registering the securities for resale and the risk of substantial delays in effecting the registration. Additionally, the purchase price and subsequent valuation of private placements typically reflect a discount, which may be significant, from the market price of comparable securities for which a more liquid market exists. Issuers of Rule 144A eligible securities are required to furnish information to potential investors upon request. However, the required disclosure is much less extensive than that required of public companies and is not publicly available since the offering is not filed with the SEC. Further, issuers of Rule 144A eligible securities can require recipients of the information (such as the Fund) to agree contractually to keep the information confidential, which could also adversely affect the Fund’s ability to dispose of the security.
Secondary Market Trading Risk. Investors buying or selling shares in the Fund will pay brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by brokers as determined by that broker. Brokerage commissions are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell relatively small amounts of shares. In addition, secondary market investors will also incur the cost of the difference between the price that an investor is willing to pay for shares (the bid price) and the price at which an investor is willing to sell shares (the ask price). This difference in bid and ask prices is often referred to as the “spread” or “bid/ask spread.” The bid/ask spread varies over time for shares based on trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund’s shares have more trading volume and market liquidity and higher if the Fund’s shares have little trading volume and market liquidity. Further, increased market volatility may cause increased bid/ask spreads.
Sector Risk. At times, the Fund may have a significant portion of its assets invested in securities of companies conducting business in a related group of industries within an economic sector. Companies in the same economic sector may be similarly affected by economic, regulatory, political or market events or conditions, which may make the Fund more vulnerable to unfavorable developments in that economic sector than funds that invest more broadly. Generally, the more broadly the Fund invests, the more it spreads risk and potentially reduces the risks of loss and volatility.
Sector Risk — Consumer Discretionary Sector Investments. To the extent a Fund concentrates its investments in companies in the consumer discretionary sector, it may be more susceptible to the particular risks that may affect companies in that sector than if it were invested in a wider variety of companies in unrelated sectors. Companies in the consumer discretionary sector are
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subject to certain risks, including fluctuations in the performance of the overall domestic and international economy, interest rate changes, increased competition and consumer confidence. Performance of such companies may be affected by factors including reduced disposable household income, reduced consumer spending, changing demographics and consumer tastes.
Sector Risk — Energy Sector Investments. To the extent a Fund concentrates its investments in companies in the energy sector, it may be more susceptible to the particular risks that may affect companies in that sector than if it were invested in a wider variety of companies in unrelated sectors. Companies in the energy sector are subject to certain risks, including legislative or regulatory changes, adverse market conditions and increased competition. Performance of such companies may be affected by factors including, among others, fluctuations in energy prices and supply and demand of energy fuels, energy conservation, the success of exploration projects, local and international politics, and events occurring in nature. For instance, natural events (such as earthquakes, hurricanes or fires in prime natural resources areas) and political events (such as government instability or military confrontations) can affect the value of companies involved in business activities in the energy sector. Other risks may include liabilities for environmental damage and general civil liabilities, depletion of resources, and mandated expenditures for safety and pollution control. The energy sector may also be affected by economic cycles, rising interest rates, high inflation, technical progress, labor relations, legislative or regulatory changes, local and international politics, and adverse market conditions.
Sector Risk — Financial Services Sector Investments. To the extent a Fund concentrates its investments in companies in the financial services sector, it may be more susceptible to the particular risks that may affect companies in that sector than if it were invested in a wider variety of companies in unrelated sectors. Companies in the financial services sector are subject to certain risks, including the risk of regulatory change, decreased liquidity in credit markets and unstable interest rates. Such companies may have concentrated portfolios, such as a high level of loans to real estate developers, which makes them vulnerable to economic conditions that affect that industry. Performance of such companies may be affected by competitive pressures and exposure to investments or agreements that, under certain circumstances, may lead to losses ( e.g. , subprime loans). Companies in the financial services sector are subject to extensive governmental regulation that may limit the amount and types of loans and other financial commitments they can make, and interest rates and fees that they may charge. In addition, profitability of such companies is largely dependent upon the availability and the cost of capital.
Sector Risk — Health Care Sector Investments. To the extent a Fund concentrates its investments in companies in the health care sector, it may be more susceptible to the particular risks that may affect companies in that sector than if it were invested in a wider variety of companies in unrelated sectors. Companies in the health care sector are subject to certain risks, including restrictions on government reimbursement for medical expenses, government approval of medical products and services, competitive pricing pressures, and the rising cost of medical products and services (especially for companies dependent upon a relatively limited number of products or services). Performance of such companies may be affected by factors including, government regulation, obtaining and protecting patents (or the failure to do so), product liability and other similar litigation as well as product obsolescence.
Sector Risk — Industrials Sector Investments. To the extent a Fund concentrates its investments in companies in the industrials sector, it may be more susceptible to the particular risks that may affect companies in that sector than if it were invested in a wider variety of companies in unrelated sectors. Companies in the industrials sector are subject to certain risks, including changes in supply and demand for their specific product or service and for industrial sector products in general, including decline in demand for such products due to rapid technological developments and frequent new product introduction. Performance of such companies may be affected by factors including government regulation, world events and economic conditions and risks for environmental damage and product liability claims.
Sector Risk — Materials Investments. To the extent a Fund concentrates its investments in companies in the materials sector, it may be more susceptible to the particular risks that may affect companies in the materials sector than if it were invested in a wider variety of companies in unrelated sectors. Companies in the materials sector are subject to certain risks, including that many materials companies are significantly affected by the level and volatility of commodity prices, exchange rates, import controls, increased competition, environmental policies, consumer demand, and events occurring in nature. For instance, natural events (such as earthquakes, hurricanes or fires in prime natural resource areas) and political events (such as government instability or military confrontations) can affect the value of companies involved in business activities in the materials sector. Performance of such companies may be affected by factors including, among others, that at times worldwide production of industrial materials has exceeded demand as a result of over-building or economic downturns, leading to poor investment returns or losses. Other risks may include liabilities for environmental damage and general civil liabilities, depletion of resources, and mandated expenditures for safety and pollution control. The materials sector may also be affected by economic cycles, rising interest rates, high inflation, technical progress, labor relations, legislative or regulatory changes, local and international politics, and adverse market conditions. In addition, prices of, and thus the Fund’s investments in, precious metals are considered speculative and are affected by a variety of worldwide and economic, financial and political factors. Prices of precious metals may fluctuate sharply.
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Sector Risk — Technology and Technology-Related Sector Investment Risk. To the extent a Fund concentrates its investments in companies in technology and technology related sectors, it may be more susceptible to the particular risks that may affect companies in those sectors, as well as other technology-related sectors (collectively, the technology sectors) than if it were invested in a wider variety of companies in unrelated sectors. Companies in the technology sectors are subject to certain risks, including the risk that new services, equipment or technologies will not be accepted by consumers and businesses or will become rapidly obsolete. Performance of such companies may be affected by factors including obtaining and protecting patents (or the failure to do so) and significant competitive pressures, including aggressive pricing of their products or services, new market entrants, competition for market share and short product cycles due to an accelerated rate of technological developments. Such competitive pressures may lead to limited earnings and/or falling profit margins. As a result, the value of their securities may fall or fail to rise. In addition, many technology sector companies have limited operating histories and prices of these companies’ securities historically have been more volatile than other securities, especially over the short term.
Small- and Mid-Cap Company Securities Risk. Securities of small- and mid-capitalization companies (small- and mid-cap companies) can, in certain circumstances, have a higher potential for gains than securities of larger, more established companies (larger companies) but may also have more risk. For example, small- and mid-cap companies may be more vulnerable to market downturns and adverse business or economic events than larger companies because they may have more limited financial resources and business operations. Small- and mid-cap companies are also more likely than larger companies to have more limited product lines and operating histories and to depend on smaller management teams. Securities of small- and mid-cap companies may trade less frequently and in smaller volumes and may be less liquid and fluctuate more sharply in value than securities of larger companies. When the Fund takes significant positions in small- and mid-cap companies with limited trading volumes, the liquidation of those positions, particularly in a distressed market, could be prolonged and result in losses to the Fund. In addition, some small- and mid-cap companies may not be widely followed by the investment community, which can lower the demand for their stocks.
Special Situations Risk. Securities of companies that are involved in an initial public offering or a major corporate event, such as a business consolidation or restructuring, may be exposed to heightened risk because of the high degree of uncertainty that can be associated with such events. Securities issued in initial public offerings often are issued by companies that are in the early stages of development, have a history of little or no revenues and may operate at a loss following the offering. It is possible that there will be no active trading market for the securities after the offering, and that the market price of the securities may be subject to significant and unpredictable fluctuations. Initial public offerings are subject to many of the same risks as investing in companies with smaller market capitalizations. To the extent the Fund determines to invest in initial public offerings, it may not be able to invest to the extent desired, because, for example, only a small portion (if any) of the securities being offered in an initial public offering are available to the Fund. The investment performance of the Fund during periods when it is unable to invest significantly or at all in initial public offerings may be lower than during periods when the Fund is able to do so. Securities purchased in initial public offerings which are sold within 12 months after purchase may result in increased short-term capital gains, which will be taxable to the Fund’s shareholders as ordinary income. Certain “special situation” investments are investments in securities or other instruments that are determined to be illiquid or lacking a readily ascertainable fair value. Certain special situation investments prevent ownership interests therein from being withdrawn until the special situation investment, or a portion thereof, is realized or deemed realized, which may negatively impact Fund performance. Investing in special situations may have a magnified effect on the performance of funds with small amounts of assets.
U.S. Government Obligations Risk. While U.S. Treasury obligations are backed by the “full faith and credit” of the U.S. Government, such securities are nonetheless subject to credit risk ( i.e. , the risk that the U.S. Government may be, or may be perceived to be, unable or unwilling to honor its financial obligations, such as making payments). Securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies or authorities and U.S. Government-sponsored instrumentalities or enterprises may or may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government. For example, securities issued by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Banks are neither insured nor guaranteed by the U.S. Government. These securities may be supported by the ability to borrow from the U.S. Treasury or only by the credit of the issuing agency, authority, instrumentality or enterprise and, as a result, are subject to greater credit risk than securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury.
Valuation Risk. The sales price the Fund (or an underlying fund or other investment vehicle) could receive for any particular investment may differ from the Fund’s (or an underlying fund’s or other investment vehicle’s) valuation of the investment, particularly for securities that trade in thin or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology that produces an estimate of the fair value of the security/instrument, which may prove to be inaccurate. Investors who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding securities or other instruments (or holding shares of underlying funds or other investment vehicles that have fair-valued securities or other instruments in their portfolios) may receive fewer or more shares or lower or higher redemption proceeds than they would have received if the Fund (or underlying fund or other investment vehicle)
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had not fair-valued the security or instrument or had used a different valuation methodology. The value of foreign securities, certain fixed-income securities and currencies, as applicable, may be materially affected by events after the close of the market on which they are valued, but before the Fund determines its net asset value.
Warrants and Rights Risk. Warrants are securities giving the holder the right, but not the obligation, to buy the stock of an issuer at a given price (generally higher than the value of the stock at the time of issuance) during a specified period or perpetually. Warrants may be acquired separately or in connection with the acquisition of securities. Warrants do not carry with them the right to dividends or voting rights and they do not represent any rights in the assets of the issuer. Warrants are subject to the risks associated with the security underlying the warrant, including market risk. Warrants may expire unexercised and subject the Fund to liquidity risk (the risk that it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate the instrument at an advantageous time or price), which may result in Fund losses. Rights are available to existing shareholders of an issuer to enable them to maintain proportionate ownership in the issuer by being able to buy newly issued shares. Rights allow shareholders to buy the shares below the current market price. Rights are typically short-term instruments that are valued separately and trade in the secondary market during a subscription (or offering) period. Holders can exercise the rights and purchase the stock, sell the rights or let them expire. Their value, and their risk of investment loss, is a function of that of the underlying security.
Borrowings
In general, pursuant to the 1940 Act, a Fund may borrow money only from banks in an amount not exceeding 33  1 3 % of its total assets (including the amount borrowed) less liabilities (other than borrowings). Any borrowings that come to exceed this amount must be reduced within three days (not including Sundays and holidays) to the extent necessary to comply with the 33  1 3 % limitation.
Lending of Portfolio Securities
To generate additional income, a Fund may lend up to 33%, or such lower percentage specified by the Fund or Investment Manager, of the value of its total assets (including securities out on loan) to broker-dealers, banks or other institutional borrowers of securities. A Fund may loan securities to approved borrowers pursuant to borrower agreements in exchange for collateral at least equal in value to the loaned securities, marked to market daily. Collateral may consist of cash, securities issued by the U.S. Government or its agencies or instrumentalities (collectively, “U.S. Government securities”) or such other collateral as may be approved by the Board. For loans secured by cash, the Fund retains the interest earned on cash collateral, but the Fund is required to pay the borrower a rebate for the use of the cash collateral. For loans secured by U.S. Government securities, the borrower pays a borrower fee to the lending agent on behalf of the Fund.
If the market value of the loaned securities goes up, the Fund will require additional collateral from the borrower. If the market value of the loaned securities goes down, the borrower may request that some collateral be returned. During the existence of the loan, the Fund will receive from the borrower amounts equivalent to any dividends, interest or other distributions on the loaned securities, as well as interest on such amounts.
Loans are subject to termination by a Fund or a borrower at any time. A Fund may choose to terminate a loan in order to vote in a proxy solicitation, as described in this SAI under Investment Management and Other Services – Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures – General.
Securities lending involves counterparty risk, including the risk that a borrower may not provide sufficient or any collateral when required or may not return the loaned securities, timely or at all. Counterparty risk also includes a potential loss of rights in the collateral if the borrower or the lending agent defaults or fails financially. This risk is increased if a Fund’s loans are concentrated with a single borrower or limited number of borrowers. There are no limits on the number of borrowers a Fund may use and a Fund may lend securities to only one or a small group of borrowers. Funds participating in securities lending also bear the risk of loss in connection with investments of cash collateral received from the borrowers. Cash collateral is invested in accordance with investment guidelines contained in the securities lending agreement and approved by the Board. Some or all of the cash collateral received in connection with the securities lending program may be invested in one or more pooled investment vehicles, including, among other vehicles, money market funds. To the extent that the value or return of a Fund’s investments of the cash collateral declines below the amount owed to a borrower, a Fund may incur losses that exceed the amount it earned on lending the security. The Investment Manager is not responsible for any loss incurred by the Funds in connection with the securities lending program.
The Funds currently do not participate in the securities lending program, but the Board may determine that the Funds participate in the future.
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INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT AND OTHER SERVICES
The Investment Manager
Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC, located at 225 Franklin Street, Boston, MA 02110, is the investment manager of the Funds and also serves as the investment manager and administrator of other funds in the Columbia Fund Family. The Investment Manager is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial, which is located at 1099 Ameriprise Financial Center, Minneapolis, MN 55474. Ameriprise Financial is a holding company, which primarily conducts business through its subsidiaries to provide financial planning, products and services that are designed to be utilized as solutions for clients’ cash and liquidity, asset accumulation, income, protection and estate and wealth transfer needs.
The Investment Manager and its investment advisory affiliates (Participating Affiliates) around the world may coordinate in providing services to their clients. Such coordination may include functional leadership of the business (the “Global” business). From time to time the Investment Manager (or any affiliated investment subadviser to the Funds, as the case may be) may engage its Participating Affiliates to provide a variety of services such as investment research, investment monitoring, trading, and discretionary investment management (including portfolio management) to certain accounts managed by the Investment Manager, including the Funds. These Participating Affiliates will provide services to the Investment Manager (or any affiliated investment subadviser to the Funds as the case may be) either pursuant to subadvisory agreements, personnel-sharing agreements or similar inter-company arrangements and the Funds will pay no additional fees and expenses as a result of any such arrangements. These Participating Affiliates, like the Investment Manager, are direct or indirect subsidiaries of Ameriprise Financial and are registered with the appropriate respective regulators in their home jurisdictions and, where required, the SEC and the CFTC in the United States.
Pursuant to some of these arrangements, certain employees of these Participating Affiliates may serve as “associated persons” of the Investment Manager and, in this capacity, subject to the oversight and supervision of the Investment Manager and consistent with the investment objectives, policies and limitations set forth in the Funds' prospectuses and this SAI may provide such services to the Funds on behalf of the Investment Manager.
Services Provided
Under the Investment Management Services Agreement, the Investment Manager has contracted to furnish each such Fund with investment research and advice. Under the Investment Management Services Agreement, any liability of the Investment Manager to the Trust, a Fund and/or its shareholders is limited to situations involving the Investment Manager’s own willful misfeasance, bad faith, negligence in the performance of its duties or reckless disregard of its obligations and duties.
The Investment Management Services Agreement may be terminated with respect to a Fund at any time on 60 days’ written notice by the Investment Manager or by the Board or by a vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of a Fund. The Investment Management Services Agreement will automatically terminate upon any assignment thereof, will continue in effect for two years from its initial effective date and thereafter will continue from year to year with respect to a Fund only so long as such continuance is approved at least annually (i) by the Board or by a vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of a Fund and (ii) by vote of a majority of the Trustees who are not interested persons (as such term is defined in the 1940 Act) of the Investment Manager or the Trust, cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on such approval.
The Investment Manager pays all compensation of the Trustees and officers of the Trust who are employees of the Investment Manager or its affiliates. Except to the extent expressly assumed by the Investment Manager and except to the extent required by law to be paid or reimbursed by the Investment Manager, the Investment Manager does not have a duty to pay any Fund operating expenses incurred in the organization and operation of a Fund, including, but not limited to, auditing, legal, custodial, investor servicing and shareholder reporting expenses.
The Investment Manager, at its own expense, provides office space, facilities and supplies, equipment and personnel for the performance of its functions under each Fund’s Investment Management Services Agreement.
Investment Management Services Agreement Fee Rates
Each Fund set forth in the table below, unless otherwise noted, pays the Investment Manager an annual fee for its investment advisory services, as set forth in the Investment Management Services Agreement and the table below. The fee is calculated as a percentage of the average daily net assets of each Fund and is paid monthly. The Investment Manager and/or its affiliates may, from time to time, at its/their own expense from its/their own resources, compensate purchasers of Creation Units and other financial institutions for administrative or marketing services.The Investment Manager and/or its affiliates may from time to time waive fees and/or reimburse a Fund’s expenses. See the Funds’ prospectuses for more information.
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Investment Management Services Agreement Fee Schedule
Fund Assets
(in millions)
Annual rate at
each asset level (a)
Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF All assets 0.400%
Sustainable International Equity Income All assets 0.450%
Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF All assets 0.350%
(a) In return for the investment advisory services fee, the Investment Manager has agreed to pay the operating costs and expenses of the Funds, with certain exceptions. This fee is sometimes referred to as a “Unified Fee.”
Under the Investment Management Services Agreement, the Investment Manager has agreed to pay the operating costs and expenses of the Fund other than the following expenses, which will be paid by the Fund: interest incurred on borrowing by the Fund, if any; taxes; brokerage fees and commissions and any other portfolio transaction expenses; infrequent and/or unusual expenses (including litigation expenses); distribution and/or servicing fees; expenses incurred in connection with lending securities; interest and fee expense related to a Fund’s participation in inverse floater structures; and expenses approved by the Board.
Investment Advisory Services Fees Paid. The Funds are new as of the date of this SAI, and therefore have no reporting information.
Manager of Managers Exemption
The SEC has issued an order that permits the Investment Manager, subject to the approval of the Board, to appoint an unaffiliated subadviser or to change the terms of a subadvisory agreement for a Fund without first obtaining shareholder approval. The order permits a Fund to add or to change unaffiliated subadvisers or to change the fees paid to such subadvisers from time to time without the expense and delays associated with obtaining shareholder approval of the change.
The Investment Manager and its affiliates may have other relationships, including significant financial relationships, with current or potential subadvisers or their affiliates, which may create certain conflicts of interest. When making recommendations to the Board to appoint or to change a subadviser, or to change the terms of a subadvisory agreement, the Investment Manager discloses to the Board the nature of any such material relationships .
Portfolio Managers. The following table provides information about the portfolio managers of each Fund as of March 31, 2016, unless otherwise noted.
    Other Accounts Managed (excluding the Fund)  
Fund Portfolio Manager Number and type
of account*
Approximate
Total Net Assets
(excluding the Fund)
Performance
Based
Accounts**
Ownership of Fund shares
Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF Christopher Lo 4 RICs
1 PIV
71 Other accounts
$10.26 billion
$201.52 million
$1.03 billion
None None
Sustainable International Equity Income ETF Christopher Lo 4 RICs
1 PIV
71 Other accounts
$10.26 billion
$201.52 million
$1.03 billion
None None
Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF Christopher Lo 4 RICs
1 PIV
71 Other accounts
$10.26 billion
$201.52 million
$1.03 billion
None None
* RIC refers to a Registered Investment Company; PIV refers to a Pooled Investment Vehicle.
** Number of accounts for which the advisory fee paid is based in part or wholly on performance and the aggregate net assets in those accounts.
Potential Conflicts of Interest
  Columbia Management: Like other investment professionals with multiple clients, a Fund’s portfolio manager(s) may face certain potential conflicts of interest in connection with managing both the Fund and other accounts at the same time. The Investment Manager and the Funds have adopted compliance policies and procedures that attempt to address certain of the potential conflicts that portfolio managers face in this regard. Certain of these conflicts of interest are summarized below.
  The management of accounts with different advisory fee rates and/or fee structures, including accounts that pay advisory fees based on account performance (performance fee accounts), may raise potential conflicts of interest for a portfolio manager by creating an incentive to favor higher fee accounts.
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  Potential conflicts of interest also may arise when a portfolio manager has personal investments in other accounts that may create an incentive to favor those accounts. As a general matter and subject to the Investment Manager’s Code of Ethics and certain limited exceptions, the Investment Manager’s investment professionals do not have the opportunity to invest in client accounts, other than the funds.
  A portfolio manager who is responsible for managing multiple funds and/or accounts may devote unequal time and attention to the management of those Funds and/or accounts. The effects of this potential conflict may be more pronounced where Funds and/or accounts managed by a particular portfolio manager have different investment strategies.
  A portfolio manager may be able to select or influence the selection of the broker/dealers that are used to execute securities transactions for the Funds. A portfolio manager’s decision as to the selection of broker/dealers could produce disproportionate costs and benefits among the Funds and the other accounts the portfolio manager manages.
  A potential conflict of interest may arise when a portfolio manager buys or sells the same securities for a Fund and other accounts. On occasions when a portfolio manager considers the purchase or sale of a security to be in the best interests of a Fund as well as other accounts, the Investment Manager’s trading desk may, to the extent consistent with applicable laws and regulations, aggregate the securities to be sold or bought in order to obtain the best execution and lower brokerage commissions, if any. Aggregation of trades may create the potential for unfairness to a Fund or another account if a portfolio manager favors one account over another in allocating the securities bought or sold. The Investment Manager and its Participating Affiliates (including Threadneedle) may coordinate their trading operations for certain types of securities and transactions pursuant to personnel-sharing agreements or similar intercompany arrangements. However, typically the Investment Manager does not coordinate trading activities with a Participating Affiliate with respect to accounts of that Participating Affiliate unless such Participating Affiliate is also providing trading services for accounts managed by the Investment Manager. Similarly, a Participating Affiliate typically does not coordinate trading activities with the Investment Manager with respect to accounts of the Investment Manager unless the Investment Manager is also providing trading services for accounts managed by such Participating Affiliate. As a result, it is possible that the Investment Manager and its Participating Affiliates may trade in the same instruments at the same time, in the same or opposite direction or in different sequence, which could negatively impact the prices paid by the Fund on such instruments. Additionally, in circumstances where trading services are being provided on a coordinated basis for the Investment Manager’s accounts (including the Funds) and the accounts of one or more Participating Affiliates in accordance with applicable law, it is possible that the allocation opportunities available to the Funds may be decreased, especially for less actively traded securities, or orders may take longer to execute, which may negatively impact Fund performance.
  “Cross trades,” in which a portfolio manager sells a particular security held by a Fund to another account (potentially saving transaction costs for both accounts), could involve a potential conflict of interest if, for example, a portfolio manager is permitted to sell a security from one account to another account at a higher price than an independent third party would pay. The Investment Manager and the Funds have adopted compliance procedures that provide that any transactions between a Fund and another account managed by the Investment Manager are to be made at a current market price, consistent with applicable laws and regulations.
  Another potential conflict of interest may arise based on the different investment objectives and strategies of a Fund and other accounts managed by its portfolio manager(s). Depending on another account’s objectives and other factors, a portfolio manager may give advice to and make decisions for a Fund that may differ from advice given, or the timing or nature of decisions made, with respect to another account. A portfolio manager’s investment decisions are the product of many factors in addition to basic suitability for the particular account involved. Thus, a portfolio manager may buy or sell a particular security for certain accounts, and not for a Fund, even though it could have been bought or sold for the Fund at the same time. A portfolio manager also may buy a particular security for one or more accounts when one or more other accounts are selling the security (including short sales). There may be circumstances when a portfolio manager’s purchases or sales of portfolio securities for one or more accounts may have an adverse effect on other accounts, including the Funds.
  To the extent a Fund invests in underlying funds, a portfolio manager will be subject to additional potential conflicts of interest. Because of the structure of funds-of-funds, the potential conflicts of interest for the portfolio managers may be different than the potential conflicts of interest for portfolio managers who manage other Funds. The Investment Manager and its affiliates may receive higher compensation as a result of allocations to underlying funds with higher fees.
  A Fund’s portfolio manager(s) also may have other potential conflicts of interest in managing the Fund, and the description above is not a complete description of every conflict that could exist in managing the Fund and other accounts. Many of the potential conflicts of interest to which the Investment Manager’s portfolio managers are subject are essentially the same or similar to the potential conflicts of interest related to the investment management activities of the Investment Manager and its affiliates.
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Structure of Compensation
Columbia Management : Portfolio manager direct compensation is typically comprised of a base salary, and an annual incentive award that is paid either in the form of a cash bonus if the size of the award is under a specified threshold, or, if the size of the award is over a specified threshold, the award is paid in a combination of a cash bonus, an equity incentive award, and deferred compensation. Equity incentive awards are made in the form of Ameriprise Financial restricted stock, or for more senior employees both Ameriprise Financial restricted stock and stock options. The investment return credited on deferred compensation is based on the performance of specified Columbia Funds, in most cases including the Columbia Funds the portfolio manager manages.
Base salary is typically determined based on market data relevant to the employee’s position, as well as other factors including internal equity. Base salaries are reviewed annually, and increases are typically given as promotional increases, internal equity adjustments, or market adjustments.
Annual incentive awards are variable and are based on (1) an evaluation of the employee’s investment performance and (2) the results of a peer and/or management review of the employee, which takes into account skills and attributes such as team participation, investment process, communication, and professionalism. Scorecards are used to measure performance of Columbia Funds and other accounts managed by the employee versus benchmarks and/or peer groups. Performance versus benchmark and peer group is generally weighted for the rolling one, three, and five year periods. One year performance is weighted 10%, three year performance is weighted 60%, and five year performance is weighted 30%. Relative asset size is a key determinant for fund weighting on a scorecard. Typically, weighting would be proportional to actual assets. Consideration may also be given to performance in managing client assets in sectors and industries assigned to the employee as part of his/her investment team responsibilities, where applicable. For leaders who also have group management responsibilities, another factor in their evaluation is an assessment of the group’s overall investment performance.
Equity incentive awards are designed to align participants’ interests with those of the shareholders of Ameriprise Financial. Equity incentive awards vest over multiple years, so they help retain employees.
Deferred compensation awards are designed to align participants’ interests with the investors in the Columbia Funds and other accounts they manage. The value of the deferral account is based on the performance of Columbia Funds. Employees have the option of selecting from various Columbia Funds for their deferral account, however portfolio managers must allocate a minimum of 25% of their incentive awarded through the deferral program to the Columbia Fund(s) they manage. Deferrals vest over multiple years, so they help retain employees.
Exceptions to this general approach to bonuses exist for certain teams and individuals. Funding for the bonus pool is determined by management and depends on, among other factors, the levels of compensation generally in the investment management industry taking into account investment performance (based on market compensation data) and both Ameriprise Financial and Columbia Management profitability for the year, which is largely determined by assets under management.
For all employees the benefit programs generally are the same, and are competitive within the financial services industry. Employees participate in a wide variety of plans, including options in Medical, Dental, Vision, Health Care and Dependent Spending Accounts, Life Insurance, Long Term Disability Insurance, 401(k), and a cash balance pension plan.
Administrator, Custodian, Fund Accountant and Transfer Agent
BNY Mellon, located at 101 Barclay Street, New York, New York, 10286, serves as Administrator, Custodian, Fund Accountant and Transfer Agent to each Fund. As Administrator, BNY Mellon provides each Fund with all required general administrative services, including, without limitation, clerical and general back office services; bookkeeping, internal accounting and secretarial services; the calculation of NAV; and the preparation and filing of all reports, assistance with updates to registration statements, and all other materials required to be filed or furnished by a Fund under federal and state securities laws.
As Custodian, BNY Mellon has agreed to: (1) make receipts and disbursements of money on behalf of the Fund, (2) collect and receive all income and other payments and distributions on account of the Fund’s portfolio investments, (3) respond to correspondence from shareholders, brokers and others relating to its duties; and (4) make periodic reports to the Fund concerning the Fund’s operations. BNY Mellon does not exercise any supervisory function over the purchase and sale of Fund investments. Pursuant to the Custody Agreement between BNY Mellon and the Trust the Trust has agreed to pay an annual custody fee of 0.50 basis points on the first $1 billion of its gross adjusted assets, and 0.25 basis points on gross adjusted assets in excess of $1 billion, plus certain transaction charges and additional global custody fees.
As Fund Accountant and Transfer Agent, BNY Mellon has agreed to: (1) perform and facilitate purchases and redemptions of Creation Units of each Fund, (2) make dividend and other distributions on Shares of each Fund, (3) record the issuance of Shares and maintain records of outstanding Shares of each Fund, (4) maintain certain accounts, (5) make and transmit periodic reports
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to a Fund and its other service providers, and (6) otherwise perform the customary services of a transfer agent and dividend disbursing agent. For the services to be provided by BNY Mellon to the Funds, the Trust has agreed to pay a monthly transfer agency services fee of $1,000 per Fund (which minimum is reduced for the first two years from inception of the Funds), a fund accounting fee of 1.50 basis points on the first $1 billion of its gross adjusted assets, and 1.00 basis points on gross adjusted assets in excess of $1 billion, and a fund administration fee of 2.50 basis points on the first $1 billion of its gross adjusted assets, and 2.00 basis points on gross adjusted assets in excess of $1 billion, plus certain out-of-pocket expenses. There is a minimum fund accounting and fund administration fee of $75,000 per Fund (which minimum is reduced for the first two years from inception of the Funds).
Administrative Services Fees
The Funds are new as of the date of this SAI, and therefore have no reporting information.
The Distributor
ALPS Distributors, Inc. is the Distributor for the Funds and is located at 1290 Broadway, Suite 1100, Denver, CO 80203. The Distributor is a broker-dealer registered under the 1934 Act and a member of FINRA.
Shares are continuously offered for sale by the Trust through the Distributor only in Creation Units, as described in this SAI and the prospectuses for the Funds. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Funds. The Distributor acts as an agent for the Trust. The Distributor will deliver a prospectus to persons purchasing Shares in Creation Units and will maintain records of both orders placed with it and confirmations of acceptance furnished by it. The Distributor has no role in determining the investments or investment policies of the Funds.
Distribution and/or Servicing Plans
The Board has adopted a Distribution and Service Plan pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act (the “12b-1 Plan”). In accordance with the 12b-1 Plan, a Fund is authorized to pay an amount up to 0.25% of its average daily net assets each year for certain distribution and/or service-related activities. In addition, if the payment of investment advisory services fees by a Fund is deemed to be indirect financing by the Fund of the distribution of its shares, such payment is authorized by the 12b-1 Plan. The 12b-1 Plan specifically recognizes that the Investment Manager and other persons may use investment advisory services fee revenue, as well as past profits or other resources, to pay for expenses incurred in connection with providing services intended to result in the sale of Shares. The Investment Manager and such other persons, as well as their affiliates, may pay amounts to third parties for distribution or marketing services on behalf of a Fund.
No fees are currently paid by a Fund under its 12b-1 Plan, however; and there are no current plans to impose such fees. In the event such fees were to be charged, over time they would increase the cost of an investment in a Fund.
Under each 12b-1 Plan, the Trustees would receive and review at the end of each quarter a written report provided by the Distributor of the amounts expended under the Plan and the purpose for which such expenditures were made.
Other Services Provided
Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, which is located at 125 High Street, Boston, MA 02110, is the Funds' independent registered public accounting firm. The financial statements contained in each Fund’s Annual Report will be audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. The Board has selected PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm to audit the Funds' books and review their tax returns for their respective fiscal years.
The Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm and the audited financial statements for each Fund, when available, will be included in the annual report to shareholders of each Fund, and, when available, will be incorporated herein by reference. No other parts of the annual or semi-annual reports to shareholders will be incorporated by reference herein. The audited financial statements incorporated by reference into the Funds' prospectuses and this SAI will be so incorporated in reliance upon the report of the independent registered public accounting firm, given on its authority as an expert in auditing and accounting.
Counsel
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP serves as counsel to the Independent Trustees of the Trust. Its address is 1177 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036. Goodwin Procter LLP serves as legal counsel to the Trust. Its address is 901 New York Avenue N.W., Washington, DC, 20001.
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Board Services Corporation
The Funds have an agreement with Board Services located at 901 S. Marquette Avenue, Suite 2810, Minneapolis, MN 55402. This agreement sets forth the terms of Board Services’ responsibility to serve as an agent of the Funds for purposes of administering the payment of compensation to each Independent Trustee, to provide office space for use by the Funds and their Board, and to provide any other services to the Board or the Independent Trustees, as may be reasonably requested.
Expense Limitations
The Investment Manager and certain of its affiliates have agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse certain expenses, subject to certain exclusions described in a Fund’s prospectus, so that certain Funds’ net operating expenses, after giving effect to fees waived/expenses reimbursed and any balance credits and/or overdraft charges from the Fund’s custodian, do not exceed specified rates for specified time periods, also as described in a Fund’s prospectus.
Expenses Reimbursed
The Funds are new as of the date of this SAI, and therefore have no reporting information.
Fees Waived
The Funds are new as of the date of this SAI, and therefore have no reporting information.
Other Roles and Relationships of Ameriprise Financial and Its Affiliates —
Certain Conflicts of Interest
As described above in the Investment Management and Other Services section of this SAI, and in the More Information About the Fund – Primary Service Providers section of each Fund's prospectus, the Investment Manager, an affiliate of Ameriprise Financial, receives compensation from the Funds for the various services it provides to the Funds. Additional information as to the specific terms regarding such compensation is set forth in these affiliated service providers’ contracts with the Funds, each of which typically is included as an exhibit to Part C of each Fund's registration statement.
In many instances, the compensation paid to the Investment Manager and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates for the services they provide to the Funds is based, in some manner, on the size of the Funds' assets under management. As the size of the Funds' assets under management grows, so does the amount of compensation paid to the Investment Manager and, as the case may be, other Ameriprise Financial affiliates for providing services to the Funds. This relationship between Fund assets and any affiliated service provider compensation may create economic and other conflicts of interests of which Fund investors should be aware. These potential conflicts of interest, as well as additional ones, are discussed in detail below and also are addressed in other disclosure materials, including the Funds' prospectuses. Many of these conflicts of interest also are highlighted in account documentation and other disclosure materials of Ameriprise Financial affiliates that make available or offer the Columbia Funds as investments in connection with their respective products and services. In addition, Part 1A and 2A of the Investment Manager’s Form ADV, which it must file with the SEC as an investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, provide information about the Investment Manager’s business, assets under management, affiliates and potential conflicts of interest. Parts 1A and 2A of the Investment Manager’s Form ADV are available online through the SEC’s website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.
Additional actual or potential conflicts of interest and certain investment activity limitations that could affect the Funds may arise from the financial services activities of Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, including, for example, the investment advisory/management services provided for clients and customers other than the Funds. Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates are engaged in a wide range of financial activities beyond the fund-related activities of the Investment Manager, including, among others, broker-dealer (sales and trading), asset management, insurance and other financial activities. The broad range of financial services activities of Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates may involve multiple advisory, transactional, lending, financial and other interests in securities and other instruments, and in companies, that may be bought, sold or held by the Funds. The following describes certain actual and potential conflicts of interest that may be presented.
Actual and Potential Conflicts of Interest Related to the Investment Advisory/Management Activities of Ameriprise Financial and its Affiliates in Connection With Other Advised/Managed Funds and Accounts
The Investment Manager, Ameriprise Financial and other affiliates of Ameriprise Financial may advise or manage funds and accounts other than the Funds. In this regard, Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates may provide investment advisory/management and other services to other advised/managed funds and accounts that are similar to those provided to the Funds. The Investment Manager and Ameriprise Financial’s other investment adviser affiliates (including, for example, Columbia Wanger Asset Management, LLC) will give investment advice to and make investment decisions for advised/managed funds and accounts, including the Funds, as they believe to be in that fund’s and/or account’s best interests, consistent with their
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fiduciary duties. The Funds and the other advised/managed funds and accounts of Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates are separately and potentially divergently managed, and there is no assurance that any investment advice Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates give to other advised/managed funds and accounts will also be given simultaneously or otherwise to the Funds.
A variety of other actual and potential conflicts of interest may arise from the advisory relationships of the Investment Manager, Ameriprise Financial and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates with other clients and customers. Advice given to the Funds and/or investment decisions made for the Funds by the Investment Manager or other Ameriprise Financial affiliates may differ from, or may conflict with, advice given to and/or investment decisions made by the Investment Manager, Ameriprise Financial and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates for other advised/managed funds and accounts. As a result, the performance of the Funds may differ from the performance of other funds or accounts advised/managed by the Investment Manager, Ameriprise Financial or other Ameriprise Financial affiliates. Similarly, a position taken by Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, including the Investment Manager, on behalf of other funds or accounts may be contrary to a position taken on behalf of the Funds. Moreover, Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, including the Investment Manager, may take a position on behalf of other advised/managed funds and accounts, or for their own proprietary accounts, that is adverse to companies or other issuers in which the Funds are invested. For example, the Funds may hold equity securities of a company while another advised/managed fund or account may hold debt securities of the same company. If the portfolio company were to experience financial difficulties, it might be in the best interest of the Funds for the company to reorganize while the interests of the other advised/managed fund or account might be better served by the liquidation of the company. This type of conflict of interest could arise as the result of circumstances that cannot be generally foreseen within the broad range of investment advisory/management activities in which Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates engage.
Investment transactions made on behalf of other funds or accounts advised/managed by the Investment Manager, Ameriprise Financial or other Ameriprise Financial affiliates also may have a negative effect on the value, price or investment strategies of the Funds. For example, this could occur if another advised/managed fund or account implements an investment decision ahead of, or at the same time as, the Funds and causes the Funds to experience less favorable trading results than they otherwise would have experienced based on market liquidity factors. In addition, the other funds and accounts advised/managed by the Investment Manager, Ameriprise Financial and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates, including the other Columbia Funds and accounts of Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, may have the same or very similar investment objective and strategies as the Funds. In this situation, the allocation of, and competition for, investment opportunities among the Funds and other funds and/or accounts advised/managed by the Investment Manager, Ameriprise Financial or other Ameriprise Financial affiliates may create conflicts of interest especially where, for example, limited investment availability is involved. The Investment Manager has adopted policies and procedures designed to address the allocation of investment opportunities among the Funds and other funds and accounts advised by the Investment Manager, Ameriprise Financial and other affiliates of Ameriprise Financial. For more information, see Investment Management and Other Services – The Investment Manager – Portfolio Managers – Potential Conflicts of Interests .
Sharing of Information among Advised/Managed Accounts
Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, including the Investment Manager, also may possess information that could be material to the management of a Fund and may not be able to, or may determine not to, share that information with the Fund, even though the information might be beneficial to the Fund. This information may include actual knowledge regarding the particular investments and transactions of other advised/managed funds and accounts, as well as proprietary investment, trading and other market research, analytical and technical models, and new investment techniques, strategies and opportunities. Depending on the context, Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates generally will have no obligation to share any such information with the Funds. In general, employees of Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, including the portfolio managers of the Investment Manager, will make investment decisions without regard to information otherwise known by other employees of Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, and generally will have no obligation to access any such information and may, in some instances, not be able to access such information because of legal and regulatory constraints or the internal policies and procedures of Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates. For example, if the Investment Manager or another Ameriprise Financial affiliate, or their respective employees, come into possession of non-public information regarding another advised/managed fund or account, they may be prohibited by legal and regulatory constraints, or internal policies and procedures, from using that information in connection with transactions made on behalf of the Funds. For more information, see Investment Management and Other Services – The Investment Manager – Portfolio Managers – Potential Conflicts of Interests .
Soft Dollar Benefits
Certain products and services, commonly referred to as “soft dollar services” (including, to the extent permitted by law, research reports, economic and financial data, financial publications, proxy analysis, computer databases and other research-oriented materials), that the Investment Manager may receive in connection with brokerage services provided to a Fund may have the
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inadvertent effect of disproportionately benefiting other advised/managed funds or accounts. This could happen because of the relative amount of brokerage services provided to a Fund as compared to other advised/managed funds or accounts, as well as the relative compensation paid by a Fund.
Services Provided to Other Advised/Managed Accounts
Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, including the Investment Manager, also may act as an investment adviser, investment manager, administrator, transfer agent, custodian, trustee, broker-dealer, agent, or in another capacity, for advised/managed funds and accounts other than the Funds, and may receive compensation for acting in such capacity. This compensation that the Investment Manager and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates receive could be greater than the compensation Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates receive for acting in the same or similar capacity for the Funds. In addition, the Investment Manager and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates may receive other benefits, including enhancement of new or existing business relationships. This compensation and/or the benefits that Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates may receive from other advised/managed funds and accounts and other relationships could potentially create incentives to favor other advised/managed funds and accounts over the Funds. Trades made by Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates for the Funds may be, but are not required to be, aggregated with trades made for other funds and accounts advised/managed by the Investment Manager and other Ameriprise Financial affiliates. If trades are aggregated among the Funds and those other funds and accounts, the various prices of the securities being traded may be averaged, which could have the potential effect of disadvantaging the Funds as compared to the other funds and accounts with which trades were aggregated.
Proxy Voting
The Investment Manager has adopted proxy voting policies and procedures that are designed to provide that all proxy voting is done in the best interests of its clients, including the Funds, without any resulting benefit or detriment to the Investment Manager and/or its affiliates, including Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates. Although the Investment Manager endeavors to make all proxy voting decisions with respect to the interests of the Funds for which it is responsible in accordance with its proxy voting policies and procedures, the Investment Manager’s proxy voting decisions with respect to a Fund’s portfolio securities may or may not benefit other advised/managed funds and accounts, and/or clients, of Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates. For more information about the Funds' proxy voting policies and procedures, see Investment Management and Other Services – Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures .
Certain Trading Activities
The directors/trustees, officers and employees of Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates may buy and sell securities or other investments for their own accounts, and in doing so may take a position that is adverse to the Funds. In order to reduce the possibility that such personal investment activities of the directors/trustees, officers and employees of Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates will materially adversely affect the Funds, Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates have adopted policies and procedures, and the Funds, the Board and the Investment Manager have each adopted a Code of Ethics that addresses such personal investment activities. For more information, see Investment Management and Other Services – Codes of Ethics .
Affiliate Transactions
Subject to applicable legal and regulatory requirements, a Fund may enter into transactions in which Ameriprise Financial and/or its affiliates, or companies that are deemed to be affiliates of a Fund because of, among other factors, their or their affiliates’ ownership or control of shares of the Fund, may have an interest that potentially conflicts with the interests of the Fund. For example, an affiliate of Ameriprise Financial may sell securities to a Fund from an offering in which it is an underwriter or that it owns as a dealer, subject to applicable legal and regulatory requirements. Applicable legal and regulatory requirements also may prevent a Fund from engaging in transactions with an affiliate of the Fund, which may include Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, or from participating in an investment opportunity in which an affiliate of a Fund participates.
Certain Investment Limitations
Regulatory and other restrictions may limit a Fund’s investment activities in various ways. For example, certain securities may be subject to ownership limitations due to regulatory limits on investments in certain industries (such as, for example, banking and insurance) and markets (such as emerging or international markets), or certain transactions (such as those involving certain derivatives or other instruments) or mechanisms imposed by certain issuers (such as, among others, poison pills). Certain of these restrictions may impose limits on the aggregate amount of investments that may be made by affiliated investors in the aggregate or in individual issuers. In these circumstances, the Investment Manager may be prevented from acquiring securities for a Fund (that it might otherwise prefer to acquire) if the acquisition would cause the Fund and its affiliated investors to exceed an applicable limit. These types of regulatory and other applicable limits are complex and vary significantly in different contexts including, among others, from country to country, industry to industry and issuer to issuer. The Investment Manager has policies and procedures designed to monitor and interpret these limits. Nonetheless, given the complexity of these limits, the Investment Manager and/or its affiliates may inadvertently breach these limits, and a Fund may therefore be required to sell securities that it
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might otherwise prefer to hold in order to comply with such limits. In addition, aggregate ownership limitations could cause performance dispersion among funds and accounts managed by the Investment Manager with similar investment objectives and strategies and portfolio management teams. For example, if further purchases in an issuer are restricted due to regulatory or other reasons, a portfolio manager would not be able to acquire securities or other assets of an issuer for a new Fund that may already be held by other funds and accounts with the same/similar investment objectives and strategies that are managed by the same portfolio management team. The Investment Manager may also choose to limit purchases in an issuer to a certain threshold for risk management purposes. If the holdings of the Investment Manager’s affiliates are included in that limitation, a Fund may be more limited in its ability to purchase a particular security or other asset than if the holdings of the Investment Manager’s affiliates had been excluded from the limitation. At certain times, a Fund may be restricted in its investment activities because of relationships that an affiliate of the Fund, which may include Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, may have with the issuers of securities. This could happen, for example, if a Fund desired to buy a security issued by a company for which Ameriprise Financial or an affiliate serves as underwriter. In any of these scenarios, a Fund’s inability to participate (or participate further) in a particular investment, despite a portfolio manager’s desire to so participate, may negatively impact Fund performance. The internal policies and procedures of Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates covering these types of restrictions and addressing similar issues also may at times restrict a Fund’s investment activities. See also About Fund Investments – Certain Investment Activity Limits .
Actual and Potential Conflicts of Interest Related to Ameriprise Financial and its Affiliates’ Non-Advisory Relationships with Clients and Customers other than the Funds
The financial relationships that Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates may have with companies and other entities in which a Fund may invest can give rise to actual and potential conflicts of interest. Subject to applicable legal and regulatory requirements, a Fund may invest (a) in the securities of Ameriprise Financial and/or its affiliates and/or in companies in which Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates have an equity, debt or other interest, and/or (b) in the securities of companies held by other Columbia Funds. The purchase, holding and sale of such securities by a Fund may enhance the profitability and the business interests of Ameriprise Financial and/or its affiliates and/or other Columbia Funds. There also may be limitations as to the sharing with the Investment Manager of information derived from the non-investment advisory/management activities of Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates because of legal and regulatory constraints and internal policies and procedures (such as information barriers and ethical walls). Because of these limitations, Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates generally will not share information derived from its non-investment advisory/management activities with the Investment Manager.
Actual and Potential Conflicts of Interest Related to Ameriprise Financial Affiliates’ Marketing and Use of the Columbia Funds as Investment Options
Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates also provide a variety of products and services that, in some manner, may utilize the Columbia Funds as investment options. For example, the Columbia Funds may be offered as investments in connection with brokerage and other securities products offered by Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, and may be utilized as investments in connection with fiduciary, investment management and other accounts offered by affiliates of Ameriprise Financial, as well as for other Columbia Funds structured as “funds-of-funds.” The use of the Columbia Funds in connection with other products and services offered by Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates may introduce economic and other conflicts of interest. These conflicts of interest are highlighted in account documentation and other disclosure materials for the other products and services offered by Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates.
Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, including the Investment Manager, may, subject to applicable legal and regulatory requirements, make payments to their affiliates in connection with the promotion and sale of the Funds' shares, in addition to the sales-related and other compensation that these parties may receive from the Funds, if any. As a general matter, personnel of Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates do not receive compensation in connection with their sales or use of the Funds that is greater than that paid in connection with their sales of other comparable products and services. Nonetheless, because the compensation that the Investment Manager and other affiliates of Ameriprise Financial may receive for providing services to the Funds is generally based on the Funds' assets under management and those assets will grow as shares of the Funds are sold, potential conflicts of interest may exist.
Codes of Ethics
The Funds, the Investment Manager and the Distributor have adopted Codes of Ethics pursuant to the requirements of the 1940 Act, including Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act. These Codes of Ethics permit personnel subject to the Codes of Ethics to invest in securities, including securities that may be bought or held by the Funds. These Codes of Ethics are included as exhibits to Part C of the Funds' registration statement. These Codes of Ethics can be reviewed and copied at the SEC’s Public Reference Room and may be obtained by calling the SEC at 202.551.8090; they also are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, and may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request to publicinfo@sec.gov or by writing to the SEC’s Public Reference Section, Washington, D.C. 20549-1520.
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Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures
General. The Funds have delegated to the Investment Manager the responsibility to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities held by the Funds, including Funds managed by subadvisers.
The Investment Manager votes proxies relating to portfolio securities in accordance with a proxy voting policy and pre-determined proxy voting guidelines adopted by the Board. The Funds endeavor to vote all proxies of which they become aware prior to the vote deadline; provided, however, that in certain circumstances the Funds may refrain from voting securities. For instance, the Funds may refrain from voting foreign securities if the costs of voting outweigh the expected benefits of voting and typically will not vote securities if voting would impose trading restrictions.
Board Oversight and Retention of Proxy Voting Authority. The Board may, in its discretion, vote proxies for the Funds. For instance, the Board may determine to vote on matters that may present a material conflict of interest to the Investment Manager.
The Board reviews on an annual basis, or more frequently as determined appropriate, the Investment Manager’s administration of the proxy voting process and its adherence to the approved guidelines.
Voting Guidelines. The Investment Manager and Board will generally vote in accordance with pre-determined voting guidelines adopted by the Board. The voting guidelines indicate whether to vote for, against or abstain from particular proposals, or whether the matter should be considered on a case-by-case basis. A committee within the Investment Manager (the Proxy Voting Committee), which is composed of representatives of the Investment Manager’s equity investments, equity research, compliance, legal and operations functions, may determine to vote differently from the guidelines on particular proposals in the event it determines that doing so is in the clients’ best economic interests. The Board may also determine to vote differently from the guidelines on particular proposals in the event it determines that doing so is appropriate and in the Funds’ interests. The Investment Manager and the Board may also consider the voting recommendations of analysts, portfolio managers, subadvisers and information obtained from outside resources, including one or more third party research providers. When proposals are not covered by the voting guidelines or a voting determination must be made on a case-by-case basis, a portfolio manager, subadviser or analyst will make the voting determination based on his or her determination of the clients’ best economic interests. In addition, the Proxy Voting Committee or Board may determine proxy votes when proposals require special consideration.
On an annual basis, or more frequently as determined necessary, the Board reviews recommendations to revise the existing guidelines or add new guidelines. Recommendations are based on, among other things, industry trends and the frequency that similar proposals appear on company ballots.
Addressing Conflicts of Interest. If the Investment Manager is subject to a potential material conflict of interest with respect to a proxy vote, the Board will vote the proxy by administering the guidelines or determining the vote on a case-by-case basis. If the Board determines that its members may be subject to a potential material conflict of interest with respect to a proxy vote, the member is asked to recuse himself or herself from the determination.
Voting Proxies of Affiliated Underlying Funds. Certain Funds may invest in shares of other Columbia Funds (referred to in this context as “underlying funds”) and may own substantial portions of these underlying funds. If such Funds are in a master-feeder structure, the feeder fund will either seek instructions from its shareholders with regard to the voting of proxies with respect to the master fund’s shares and vote such proxies in accordance with such instructions or vote the shares held by it in the same proportion as the vote of all other master fund shareholders. With respect to Funds that hold shares of underlying funds other than in a master-feeder structure, the proxy policy of the Funds is, in general, to ensure that direct public shareholders of underlying funds control the outcome of any shareholder vote. To help manage this potential conflict of interest, the policy of the Funds is to vote proxies of the underlying funds in the same proportion as the vote of the direct public shareholders; provided, however, that if there are no direct public shareholders of an underlying fund or if direct public shareholders represent only a minority interest in an underlying fund, the Fund may cast votes in accordance with instructions from the independent members of the Board.
Proxy Voting Agents. The Investment Manager has retained Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., a third party vendor, as its proxy voting administrator to implement the Funds’ proxy voting process and to provide recordkeeping and vote disclosure services. The Investment Manager has retained both Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. and Glass-Lewis & Co. to provide proxy research services.
Additional Information. Information regarding how the Columbia Funds (except certain Columbia Funds that do not invest in voting securities) voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent twelve month period ended June 30 will be available by August 31 of this year free of charge: (i) through the Columbia Funds’ website at www.columbiathreadneedleetf.com and/or (ii) on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. For a copy of the voting guidelines in effect on the date of this SAI, see Appendix B to this SAI.
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FUND GOVERNANCE
Board of Trustees and Officers
Shareholders elect the Board that oversees the Funds' operations. The Board appoints officers who are responsible for day-to-day business decisions based on policies set by the Board. The following table provides basic biographical information about the Funds' Trustees as of the date of this SAI, including their principal occupations during the past five years, although specific titles for individuals may have varied over the period. Under current Board policy, members generally may serve through the end of the calendar year in which they reach either the mandatory retirement age established by the Board or the fifteenth anniversary of the first Board meeting they attended as a member of the Board.
Trustees
Independent Trustees
Name, Address,
Year of Birth
Position Held
with the Funds and Length of Service
Principal Occupation(s)
During the Past Five Years
and Other Relevant
Professional Experience
Number of
Funds in the
Columbia Funds Complex
Overseen
Other Directorships Held by Trustee During the Past Five Years Committee
Assignments
Kathleen Blatz
901 S. Marquette Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55402
1954
Trustee to the Funds since April 2016 Attorney, specializing in arbitration and mediation; Chief Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court, 1998-2006; Associate Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court, 1996-1998; Fourth Judicial District Court Judge, Hennepin County, 1994-1996; Attorney in private practice and public service, 1984-1993; State Representative, Minnesota House of Representatives, 1979-1993, which included service on the Tax and Financial Institutions and Insurance Committees 120 Trustee, BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota (Chair of the Business Development Committee) since 2009; Chair of the Robina Foundation since August 2013 Board Governance, Contracts, Executive, Investment Review
Edward J. Boudreau, Jr.
901 S. Marquette Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55402
1944
Trustee to the Funds since April 2016 Managing Director, E.J. Boudreau & Associates (consulting) since 2000; FINRA Industry Arbitrator, 2002 – present; Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, John Hancock Funds (asset management), Chairman and Interested Trustee for open-end and closed-end funds offered by John Hancock, 1989-2000; John Hancock Life Insurance Company, including SVP and Treasurer and SVP Information Technology, 1968-1988 118 Former Trustee, Boston Museum of Science (Chair of Finance Committee), 1985-2013; former Trustee, BofA Funds Series Trust (11 funds), 2005-2011 Audit, Compliance, Executive, Investment Review
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Name, Address,
Year of Birth
Position Held
with the Funds and Length of Service
Principal Occupation(s)
During the Past Five Years
and Other Relevant
Professional Experience
Number of
Funds in the
Columbia Funds Complex
Overseen
Other Directorships Held by Trustee During the Past Five Years Committee
Assignments
Pamela G. Carlton
901 S. Marquette Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55402
1954
Trustee to the Funds since April 2016 President, Springboard- Partners in Cross Cultural Leadership (consulting company) since 2003; Managing Director of US Equity Research, JP Morgan Chase, 1999-2003; Director of US Equity Research, Chase Asset Management, 1996- 1999; Co-Director Latin America Research, 1993-1996, COO Global Research, 1992-1996, Co-Director of US Research, 1991-1992, Investment Banker, Morgan Stanley, 1982-1991 120 Trustee, New York Presbyterian Hospital Board (Executive Committee and Chair of Human Resources Committee) since 1996 Audit, Board Governance, Executive, Investment Review
William P. Carmichael
901 S. Marquette Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55402
1943
Trustee to the Funds since April 2016; Chair of the Board from January 2014 through November 2015 Retired; Co-founder, The Succession Fund (provides exit strategies to owners of privately held companies), 1998-2007; Adjunct Professor of Finance, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, 1993-2007; Senior Vice President, Sara Lee Corporation, 1991-1993; Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Beatrice Foods Company, 1984-1990; Vice President, Esmark, Inc., 1973-1984; Associate, Price Waterhouse, 1968-1972 120 Director, The Finish Line (athletic shoes and apparel) since July 2003; Director, International Textile Corp. since 2012; Director, hhgregg since May, 2015; former Director, Cobra Electronics Corporation (electronic equipment manufacturer), 1994-August 2014; former Director, Spectrum Brands, Inc. (consumer products), 2002-2009; former Director, Simmons Company (bedding), 2004-2010; former Trustee, BofA Funds Series Trust (11 funds) 2009-2011; former Director, McMoRan Exploration Company (oil and gas exploration and development) 2010-2013 Audit, Compliance, Investment Review
Patricia M. Flynn
901 S. Marquette Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55402
1950
Trustee to the Funds since April 2016 Trustee Professor of Economics and Management, Bentley University since 1976 (also teaches and conducts research on corporate governance); Dean, McCallum Graduate School of Business, Bentley University, 1992-2002 120 Trustee, MA Taxpayers Foundation since 1997; Board of Governors, Innovation Institute, MA Technology Collaborative since 2010 Audit, Compliance, Investment Review
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Name, Address,
Year of Birth
Position Held
with the Funds and Length of Service
Principal Occupation(s)
During the Past Five Years
and Other Relevant
Professional Experience
Number of
Funds in the
Columbia Funds Complex
Overseen
Other Directorships Held by Trustee During the Past Five Years Committee
Assignments
William A. Hawkins
901 S. Marquette Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55402
1942
Chair of the Board since November 2015; Trustee to the Funds since April 2016
Managing Director, Overton Partners (financial consulting), since August 2010; President and Chief Executive Officer, California General Bank, N.A., January 2008-August 2010; Operation Hope, COO, 2004-2007; IndyMac Bancorp, President, CBG, 1999-2003; American General Bank, President, 1997-1999; Griffin Financial Services, CEO, 1981-1997; The Griffin Funds, CEO, 1992-1998 120 Former Trustee, BofA Funds Series Trust (11 funds) 2009-2015 Board Governance, Compliance, Contracts, Executive, Investment Review
R. Glenn Hilliard
901 S. Marquette Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55402
1943
Trustee to the Funds since April 2016 Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Hilliard Group LLC (investing and consulting) since April 2003; Non-Executive Director & Chairman, CNO Financial Group, Inc. (insurance), 2003 – 2011; Chair & CEO, ING Americas, 1996-2003 118 Chairman, BofA Funds Series Trust (11 funds); former Director, CNO Financial Group, Inc. (insurance) 2003-2011 Board Governance, Contracts, Investment Review
Catherine James Paglia
901 S. Marquette Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55402
1952
Trustee to the Funds since April 2016 Director, Enterprise Asset Management, Inc. (private real estate and asset management company) since September 1998; Managing Director and Partner, Interlaken Capital, Inc., 1989-1997; Managing Director, Morgan Stanley, 1982-1989; Vice President, Investment Banking, 1980-1982, Associate, Investment Banking, 1976-1980, Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc. 120 Director, Valmont Industries, Inc. (irrigation systems manufacturer) since 2012; Trustee, Carleton College (on the Investment Committee); Trustee, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (on the Investment Committee) Board Governance, Contracts, Executive, Investment Review
Leroy C. Richie
901 S. Marquette Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55402
1941
Trustee to the Funds since April 2016 Counsel, Lewis & Munday, P.C. (law firm) since 2004; Vice President and General Counsel, Automotive Legal Affairs, Chrysler Corporation, 1993-1997 118 Lead Outside Director, Infinity Resources, Inc. (oil and gas exploration and production) since 1994; Lead Outside Director, Digital Ally, Inc. (digital imaging) since September 2005; Trustee, Marygrove College (Chair of Finance Committee), since 2007; former Director, OGE Energy Corp. (energy and energy services), 2007-2014 Contracts, Compliance, Investment Review
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Name, Address,
Year of Birth
Position Held
with the Funds and Length of Service
Principal Occupation(s)
During the Past Five Years
and Other Relevant
Professional Experience
Number of
Funds in the
Columbia Funds Complex
Overseen
Other Directorships Held by Trustee During the Past Five Years Committee
Assignments
Minor M. Shaw
901 S. Marquette Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55402
1947
Trustee to the Funds since April 2016 President, Micco LLC (private investments) since 2011; President, Micco Corp. (family investment business), 1998-2011 120 Director, Piedmont Natural Gas; Director, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina since April 2008; Chair of the Duke Endowment; Director, National Association of Corporate Directors, Carolinas Chapter, since 2013; Chair of Greenville – Spartanburg Airport Commission; former Trustee, BofA Funds Series Trust (11 funds), 2003-2011 Compliance, Contracts, Investment Review
Alison Taunton-Rigby
901 S. Marquette Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55402
1944
Trustee to the Funds since April 2016 Managing Director, Forester Biotech (consulting), 2001 - 2003; Chief Executive Officer and Director, RiboNovix, Inc., (biotechnology), 2003-2010; President and Chief Executive Officer of CMT Inc., 2001-2003; Aquila Biopharmaceuticals Inc., 1996-2000; Cambridge Biotech Corporation, 1995-1996; Mitotix Inc., 1993-1994 120 Director, Abt Associates (government contractor) since 2001; Director, Boston Children’s Hospital since 2002; Director, Healthways, Inc. (health and well-being solutions) since 2005; Director, ICI Mutual Insurance Company, since 2011 Board Governance, Audit, Investment Review
Interested Trustee Not Affiliated with Investment Manager*
Name, Address,
Year of Birth
Position Held
with the Funds and Length of Service
Principal Occupation(s)
During the Past Five Years
and Other Relevant
Professional Experience
Number of
Funds in the
Columbia Funds Complex
Overseen
Other Directorships/Trusteeships Held by Trustee During the Past Five Years Committee
Assignments
Anthony M. Santomero
901 S. Marquette Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55402
1946
Trustee to the Funds since April 2016 Richard K. Mellon Professor Emeritus of Finance, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, since 2002; Senior Advisor, McKinsey & Company (consulting), 2006-2008; President, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, 2000-2006; Professor of Finance, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 1972-2002 118 Trustee, Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company since March 2008; Director, Renaissance Reinsurance Ltd. since May 2008; Director, Citigroup Inc. since 2009; Director, Citibank, N.A. since 2009; former Trustee, BofA Funds Series Trust (11 funds), 2008-2011 Compliance, Executive, Investment Review
* Dr. Santomero is not an affiliated person of the Investment Manager or Ameriprise Financial. However, he is currently deemed by the Funds to be an “interested person” (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Funds because he serves as a Director of Citigroup Inc. and Citibank, N.A., companies that may directly or through subsidiaries and affiliates engage from time-to-time in brokerage execution, principal transactions and lending relationships with the Funds or accounts advised/managed by the Investment Manager.
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Interested Trustee Affiliated with Investment Manager*
Name, Address,
Year of Birth
Position Held
with the Funds and Length of Service
Principal Occupation(s)
During the Past Five Years
and Other Relevant
Professional Experience
Number of
Funds in the
Columbia Funds Complex
Overseen
Other Directorships Held by Trustee During the Past Five Years Committee
Assignments
William F. Truscott
c/o Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC,
225 Franklin St.
Boston, MA 02110
1960
Trustee to the Funds and Senior Vice President since April 2016 Chairman of the Board and President, Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC since May 2010 and February 2012, respectively (previously President and Chief Investment Officer, 2001 - April 2010); Chief Executive Officer, Global Asset Management, Ameriprise Financial, Inc. since September 2012 (previously Chief Executive Officer, U.S. Asset Management & President, Annuities, May 2010 - September 2012 and President – U.S. Asset Management and Chief Investment Officer, 2005 - April 2010); Director and Chief Executive Officer, Columbia Management Investment Distributors, Inc. since May 2010 and February 2012, respectively (previously Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, 2006 - April 2010); Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, RiverSource Distributors, Inc. since 2006; Director, Threadneedle Asset Management Holdings, SARL since 2014; President and Chief Executive Officer, Ameriprise Certificate Company, 2006 - August 2012. 178 Chairman of the Board, Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC since May 2010; Director, Columbia Management Investment Distributors, Inc. since May 2010; Former Director, Ameriprise Certificate Company, 2006 - January 2013 None
* Interested person (as defined under the 1940 Act) by reason of being an officer, director, security holder and/or employee of the Investment Manager or Ameriprise Financial.
The Officers
The Board has appointed officers who are responsible for day-to-day business decisions based on policies it has established. The officers serve at the pleasure of the Board. The following table provides basic information about the Officers of the Funds as of the date of this SAI, including principal occupations during the past five years, although their specific titles may have varied over the period. In addition to Mr. Truscott, who is Senior Vice President, the Funds' other officers are:
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Fund Officers
Name, Address
and Year of Birth
Position and Year
First Appointed to
Position for any Fund in the
Columbia Funds Complex
or a Predecessor Thereof
Principal Occupation(s) During Past Five Years
Christopher O. Petersen
5228 Ameriprise Financial Center
Minneapolis, MN 55474
Born 1970
President and Principal Executive Officer (2015) Vice President and Lead Chief Counsel, Ameriprise Financial, Inc. since January 2015 (previously, Vice President and Chief Counsel January 2010 – December 2014; and Vice President and Group Counsel or Counsel 2004 - January 2010); officer of Columbia Funds and affiliated funds since 2007.
Michael G. Clarke
225 Franklin Street
Boston, MA 02110
Born 1969
Treasurer (2011), Chief Financial Officer (2009) and Chief Accounting Officer (2015) Vice President – Mutual Fund Administration, Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC, since May 2010; Managing Director of Fund Administration, Columbia Management Advisors, LLC, September 2004 - April 2010; senior officer of Columbia Funds and affiliated funds since 2002.
Paul B. Goucher
100 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Born 1968
Senior Vice President (2011), Chief Legal Officer (2015) and Assistant Secretary (2008) Vice President and Lead Chief Counsel, Ameriprise Financial, Inc. since November 2008 and January 2013, respectively (previously Chief Counsel, January 2010 - January 2013 and Group Counsel, November 2008 - January 2010).
Thomas P. McGuire
225 Franklin Street
Boston, MA 02110
Born 1972
Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer (2012) Vice President – Asset Management Compliance, Ameriprise Financial, Inc., since May 2010; Chief Compliance Officer, Ameriprise Certificate Company since September 2010; Compliance Executive, Bank of America, 2005 - April 2010.
Colin Moore
225 Franklin Street
Boston, MA 02110
Born 1958
Senior Vice President (2010) Executive Vice President and Global Chief Investment Officer, Ameriprise Financial, Inc., since July 2013; Director and Global Chief Investment Officer, Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC since May 2010; Manager, Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer, Columbia Management Advisors, LLC, 2007 - April 2010.
Michael E. DeFao
225 Franklin Street
Boston, MA 02110
Born 1968
Vice President (2011) and Assistant Secretary (2010) Vice President and Chief Counsel, Ameriprise Financial, Inc. since May 2010; Associate General Counsel, Bank of America, 2005 - April 2010.
Amy Johnson
5228 Ameriprise Financial Center
Minneapolis, MN 55474
Born 1965
Vice President (2006) Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC since May 2010 (previously Chief Administrative Officer, 2009 - April 2010, and Vice President – Asset Management and Trust Company Services, 2006 - 2009).
Lyn Kephart-Strong
5228 Ameriprise Financial Center
Minneapolis, MN 55474
Born 1960
Vice President (2015) President, Columbia Management Investment Services Corp. since October 2014; Vice President & Resolution Officer, Ameriprise Trust Company since August 2009; President, RiverSource Service Corporation 2004-2010.
Ryan C. Larrenaga
225 Franklin Street
Boston, MA 02110
Born 1970
Vice President and Secretary (2015) Vice President and Group Counsel, Ameriprise Financial, Inc. since August 2011 (previously, Counsel from May 2010 to August 2011); Assistant General Counsel, Bank of America, 2005 - April 2010; officer of Columbia Funds and affiliated funds since 2005.
Responsibilities of Board with respect to Fund management
The Board is chaired by an Independent Trustee who has significant additional responsibilities compared to the other Board members, including, among other things: setting the agenda for Board meetings, communicating and meeting regularly with Board members between Board and committee meetings on Fund-related matters with the Funds' Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”), counsel to the Independent Trustees, and representatives of the Funds' service providers and overseeing Board Services.
The Board initially approves an investment management services agreement and other contracts with the Investment Manager and its affiliates, and other service providers. Once the contracts are approved, the Board monitors the level and quality of services including commitments of service providers to achieve expected levels of investment performance and shareholder services. Annually, the Board evaluates the services received under the contracts by reviewing, among other things, reports
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covering investment performance, shareholder services, marketing, and the Investment Manager’s profitability in order to determine whether to continue existing contracts or negotiate new contracts. The Investment Manager is responsible for day-to-day management and administration of the Funds and management of the risks that arise from the Funds' investments and operations. The Board’s oversight of the Investment Manager and other service providers in the operation of the Funds includes oversight with respect to various risk management functions. The Funds are subject to a number of risks, including investment, compliance, operational, and valuation risks, among others. Day-to-day risk management functions are subsumed within the responsibilities of the Investment Manager and other service providers (depending on the nature of the risk) who carry out the Funds' investment management and business affairs. Each of the Investment Manager and other service providers has its own, independent interest in risk management, and its policies and methods of carrying out risk management functions will depend, in part, on its analysis of the risks, functions and business models.
Risk oversight forms part of the Board’s general oversight of the Funds and is addressed as part of various Board and Committee activities. As part of its regular oversight of the trusts, the Board, directly or through a committee, interacts with and reviews reports from, among others, the Investment Manager, subadvisers, if applicable, the independent registered public accounting firm for the Funds, and internal auditors for the Investment Manager or its affiliates, as appropriate, regarding risks faced by the Funds and relevant risk functions. The Board also meets periodically with the Funds' CCO, to receive reports regarding the compliance of the Funds and their principal service providers with the federal securities laws and their internal compliance policies and procedures. The Board, with the assistance of the Investment Review Committee, reviews investment policies in connection with its review of the Funds' performance, and meets periodically with the portfolio managers of the Funds to receive reports regarding the management of the Funds, including various investment risks. As part of the Board’s periodic review of the Funds' advisory, subadvisory, if applicable, and other service provider agreements, as applicable, the Board may consider risk management aspects of their operations and the functions for which they are responsible. In addition, the Board oversees processes that are in place to assure compliance with applicable rules, regulations and investment policies and addresses possible conflicts of interest.
The Board recognizes that not all risks that may affect the Funds can be identified in advance; that it may not be practical or cost-effective to eliminate or mitigate certain risks; that it may be necessary to bear certain risks (such as various investment-related risks) in seeking to achieve the Funds' investment objectives; and that the processes and controls employed to address certain risks may be limited in their effectiveness. As a result of the foregoing and other factors, the Board’s risk management oversight is subject to substantial limitations.
Trustee Biographical Information and Qualifications
The following provides an overview of the considerations that led the Board to conclude that each individual serving as a Trustee should so serve. Generally, no one factor was decisive in the selection of an individual to join the Board. Among the factors the Board considered when concluding that an individual should serve on the Board were the following: (i) the individual’s business and professional experience and accomplishments; (ii) the individual’s ability to work effectively with the other Trustees; (iii) the individual’s prior experience, if any, serving on the boards of public companies (including, where relevant, other investment companies) and other enterprises and organizations; and (iv) how the individual’s skills, experience and attributes would contribute to an appropriate mix of relevant skills and experience on the Board.
In respect of each current Trustee, the individual’s substantial professional accomplishments and experience were a significant factor in the determination that, in light of the business and structure of the Funds, the individual should serve as a Trustee. Following is a summary of each Trustee’s particular professional experience and additional considerations that contributed to or support the Board’s conclusion that an individual should serve as a Trustee:
Kathleen Blatz – Ms. Blatz has had a successful legal and judicial career, including serving for eight years as Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. Prior to being a judge, she practiced law and also served in the Minnesota House of Representatives having been elected to eight terms. While in the legislature she served on various committees, including the Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee and the Tax Committee. Since retiring from the Bench, she has been appointed as an arbitrator on many cases involving business to business disputes, including some pertaining to shareholder rights issues. She also has been appointed to two Special Litigation Committees by boards of Fortune 500 Companies to investigate issues relating to cyber-security and stock options. She serves on the boards of directors of BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota as well as several non-profit organizations.
Edward J. Boudreau, Jr. – Prior to the establishment of E. J. Boudreau & Associates, Mr. Boudreau left a successful 32-year career at John Hancock Financial Services, the last 11 years of which he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the John Hancock Funds. He spent the first 18 years of his career at John Hancock in its treasury and financial management areas, progressing to Senior Vice President and Treasurer. During his time as CEO of John Hancock, Mr. Boudreau also served on the Investment Company Institute’s Board of Governors. He also has experience on other boards of directors of other companies. He is currently a member of the Advisory Board to the Mutual Fund Directors Forum and serves as a FINRA Industry Arbitrator.
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Pamela G. Carlton – Ms. Carlton has over 20 years’ experience in the investment banking industry, as a former Managing Director of JP Morgan Chase and a 14-year veteran of Morgan Stanley Investment Banking and Equity Research. She is currently the President of Springboard Partners in Cross Cultural Leadership, a consulting firm that she founded. She also has experience on other boards of directors of non-profit organizations, including the Board of Trustees of New York Presbyterian Hospital where she is on the Executive Committee and Chair of the Human Resources Committee.
William P. Carmichael – Prior to forming The Succession Fund more than 15 years ago, Mr. Carmichael, a Certified Public Accountant and attorney, had 4 years of experience with Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP) and 21 years of experience in various financial positions with global consumer product companies, including: Senior Vice President of Sara Lee Corporation and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Beatrice Foods Company. He has been Treasurer and Chairman of the Investment Committee for the Indiana University Foundation, and has been an adjunct professor of finance for the I.U. Kelley School of Business. Mr. Carmichael has also been a member of the board and the Investment Committee of the Virginia Law School Foundation, and has served on numerous public company boards. His experience covers strategic planning, corporate governance and multiple financial functions, including investments.
Patricia M. Flynn – Dr. Flynn is a Trustee Professor of Economics and Management at Bentley University, where she previously served as Dean of the McCallum Graduate School of Business. Her research and teaching focus on technology-based economic development, corporate governance and women in business, which she has also written on extensively. She has served on numerous corporate and non-profit boards, including Boston Fed Bancorp Inc., U.S. Trust and The Federal Savings Bank.
William A. Hawkins – Mr. Hawkins has been a Managing Director of Overton Partners, a financial consulting firm for over 15 years. He has over thirty years of executive level experience in the banking and financial services industry, including serving as President and Chief Executive Officer of California General Bank, N.A., President of IndyMac Bancorp and President and Chief Operating Officer of American General Bank, FSB. He also served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Griffin Financial Services of America Inc., an asset management firm. He also has experience on other boards of directors, including boards of other investment companies. He is a Certified Financial Planner and a Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter.
R. Glenn Hilliard – Mr. Hilliard has served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hilliard Group, LLC, an investment and consulting firm, for over 10 years. He previously served as Chairman of CNO Financial, Inc., an insurance holding company, and as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ING Americas, where he served in a wide-range of senior operating and board roles with responsibilities including insurance, mutual funds, investment and retail banking operations in North America and South America. Following law school graduation, including two years working on the floor of the US House of Representatives, he began his career in the life insurance industry as an attorney with Liberty Life Insurance Company where he rose to President and Chief Executive Officer. He also has served on numerous public and non-profit boards, including the boards of other investment companies.
Catherine James Paglia – Ms. Paglia has been a Director of Enterprise Asset Management, Inc., a real estate and asset management company, for over 15 years. She previously spent eight years as a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, 10 years as a Managing Director of Interlaken Capital and served as Chief Financial Officer of two public companies. She also has experience on other boards of directors of public and non-profit organizations.
Leroy C. Richie – Mr. Richie began his career in private law practice for the law firm of White & Case LLP. He then entered government service when he was appointed to serve as the Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s New York office. He later became Vice President and General Counsel, Automotive Legal Affairs of the Chrysler Corporation. He later served as General Counsel to the Executive Committee of the U.S. Golf Association. He also has experience on other boards of directors of other public companies.
Anthony M. Santomero – Dr. Santomero is the former President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. He holds the title of Richard K. Mellon Professor Emeritus of Finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and serves on the boards of several public companies, including the Board of Citigroup, Inc., Citibank N.A., Renaissance Reinsurance Company Ltd and the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company. He previously served as Senior Advisor at McKinsey & Company and was the Richard K. Mellon Professor of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. During his 30-year tenure at Wharton, he held a number of academic and managerial positions, including Deputy Dean of the School. He has written approximately 150 articles, books and monographs on financial sector regulation and economic performance. The Board has concluded that, despite his lack of technical independence (as an “interested person”) of the Funds under the 1940 Act arising solely due to his board service for Citigroup, Inc. and Citibank N.A., he could serve with “substantive independence” primarily since he has no financial interest or relationship with the Investment Manager or Ameriprise Financial. The Board also took into account Dr. Santomero’s broad array of experiences from management consulting to academia to public service, which complements the mix of experiences represented by the other Board members.
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Minor M. Shaw – Ms. Shaw is President of Micco, LLC, a private investment company, and past president of Micco Corporation and Mickel Investment Group. She is chairman of the Daniel-Mickel Foundation and The Duke Endowment. She currently serves as chairman of the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport Commission. She holds numerous civic and business board memberships and is a past chair of Wofford College Board of Trustees. Ms. Shaw serves on the boards of Piedmont Natural Gas and Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina. She has also served on the boards of Citizens & Southern Bank of SC and Interstate Johnson Lane.
Alison Taunton-Rigby – Dr. Taunton-Rigby has been a senior executive in the healthcare industry for over 30 years. She was Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of RiboNovix, Inc. and President and Chief Executive Officer of Aquila Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., Cambridge Biotech Corporation and Mitotix Inc. Prior to this, she served in senior management positions at Genzyme Corporation, Arthur D. Little Inc., Vivotech Inc., Biogen, Inc. and Collaborative Research, Inc. She has been awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II for her work as a leader in the research, development and promotion of biotechnology. She currently serves as a director of ICI Mutual Insurance Company, Healthways, Inc., Abt Associates and Boston Children’s Hospital, and serves on a number of Advisory Boards.
William F. Truscott – Mr. Truscott has served on the Board of Trustees of various Columbia funds since 2001. He has served as Chairman of the Board of the Investment Manager since May 2010 and since February 2012 has served as its President. From 2001 to April 2010, Mr. Truscott served as the President, Chairman of the Board and Chief Investment Officer of the Investment Manager. He has served as Director of Columbia Management Investment Distributors, Inc. (the distributor of the open-end funds (other than the Columbia ETFs) in the Columbia Fund Family) since May 2010 and since February 2012 has served as its Chief Executive Officer. The Board has concluded that having a senior member of the Investment Manager serve on the Board can facilitate increased access to information regarding the Funds’ Investment Manager for the Independent Trustees, which is the Funds’ most significant service provider.
Committees of the Board
The Board has organized the following standing committees to facilitate its work: Board Governance Committee, Compliance Committee, Contracts Committee, Executive Committee, Investment Review Committee and Audit Committee. These Committees are comprised solely of Independent Trustees (for these purposes, persons who are not affiliated persons of the Investment Manager or Ameriprise Financial). The table above describing each Trustee also includes their respective committee assignments. The duties of these committees are described below.
Mr. Hawkins, as Chair of the Board, acts as a point of contact between the Independent Trustees and the Investment Manager between Board meetings in respect of general matters.
Board Governance Committee. Recommends to the Board the size, structure and composition of the Board and its committees; the compensation to be paid to members of the Board; and a process for evaluating the Board’s performance. The committee also reviews candidates for Board membership, including candidates recommended by shareholders. The committee also makes recommendations to the Board regarding responsibilities and duties of the Board, oversees proxy voting and supports the work of the Board Chair in relation to furthering the interests of the Funds and other funds in the Columbia Family of Funds overseen by the Board and their shareholders on external matters.
To be considered as a candidate for Trustee, recommendations must include a curriculum vitae and be mailed to the Chair of the Board, Columbia Family of Funds, 901 Marquette Avenue South, Suite 2810, Minneapolis, MN 55402-3268. To be timely for consideration by the committee, the submission, including all required information, must be submitted in writing not less than 120 days before the date of the proxy statement for the previous year’s annual meeting of shareholders, if such a meeting is held. The committee will consider only one candidate submitted by such a shareholder or group for nomination for election at a meeting of shareholders. The committee will not consider self-nominated candidates or candidates nominated by members of a candidate’s family, including such candidate’s spouse, children, parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents, nieces and nephews.
The committee will consider and evaluate candidates submitted by the nominating shareholder or group on the basis of the same criteria as those used to consider and evaluate candidates submitted from other sources. The committee may take into account a wide variety of factors in considering trustee candidates, including (but not limited to): (i) the candidate’s knowledge in matters relating to the investment company industry; (ii) any experience possessed by the candidate as a director or senior officer of other public or private companies; (iii) the candidate’s educational background; (iv) the candidate’s reputation for high ethical standards and personal and professional integrity; (v) any specific financial, technical or other expertise possessed by the candidate, and the extent to which such expertise would complement the Board’s existing mix of skills and qualifications; (vi) the candidate’s perceived ability to contribute to the ongoing functions of the Board, including the candidate’s ability and commitment to attend meetings regularly, work collaboratively with other members of the Board and carry out his or her duties in the best interests of the Funds; (vii) the candidate’s ability to qualify as an independent trustee; and (viii) such other criteria as the committee determines to be relevant in light of the existing composition of the Board and any anticipated vacancies or other factors.
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Members of the committee (and/or the Board) also meet personally with each nominee to evaluate the candidate’s ability to work effectively with other members of the Board, while also exercising independent judgment. Although the Board does not have a formal diversity policy, the Board endeavors to comprise itself of members with a broad mix of professional and personal backgrounds. Thus, the committee and the Board accorded particular weight to the individual professional background of each Independent Trustee. As of the date of this SAI, the committee has met once.
Compliance Committee. Supports the Funds' maintenance of a strong compliance program by providing a forum for Independent Trustees to consider compliance matters impacting the Funds or their key service providers; developing and implementing, in coordination with the CCO, a process for the review and consideration of compliance reports that are provided to the Board; and providing a designated forum for the Funds' CCO to meet with Independent Trustees on a regular basis to discuss compliance matters. As of the date of this SAI, the committee has met once.
Contracts Committee. Reviews and oversees the contractual relationships with service providers. Receives and analyzes reports covering the level and quality of services provided under contracts with the Funds and advises the Board regarding actions taken on these contracts during the annual review process. Reviews and considers, on behalf of all Trustees, the Funds' investment advisory, subadvisory (if any), administrative services and principal underwriting contracts to assists the Trustees in fulfilling their responsibilities relating to the Board’s evaluation and consideration of these arrangements. As of the date of this SAI, the committee has met once.
Executive Committee. Acts, as needed, for the Board between meetings of the Board. As of the date of this SAI, the committee has met once.
Investment Review Committee. Reviews and oversees the management of the Funds' assets. Considers investment management policies and strategies; investment performance; risk management techniques; and securities trading practices and reports areas of concern to the Board. As of the date of this SAI, the committee has met once.
Audit Committee. Oversees the accounting and financial reporting processes of the Funds and internal controls over financial reporting. Oversees the quality and integrity of the Funds' financial statements and independent audits as well as the Funds' compliance with legal and regulatory requirements relating to the Funds' accounting and financial reporting, internal controls over financial reporting and independent audits. The committee also makes recommendations regarding the selection of the Funds' independent registered public accounting firm ( i.e. , independent auditors) and reviews and evaluates the qualifications, independence and performance of the auditor. The committee oversees the Funds' risks by, among other things, meeting with the Funds' internal auditors, establishing procedures for the confidential, anonymous submission by employees of concerns about accounting or audit matters, and overseeing the Funds' Disclosure Controls and Procedures. This committee acts as a liaison between the independent auditors and the full Board and must prepare an audit committee report. As of the date of this SAI, the committee has met once.
Beneficial Equity Ownership
The tables below show, for each Trustee, the aggregate value of all investments in equity securities of all Funds in the Columbia Funds Complex overseen by the Trustee, including notional amounts through the Deferred Compensation Plan, where noted. The information is provided as of December 31, 2015.
The tables only include ownership of Columbia Funds overseen by the Trustees; the Trustees and Officers may own shares of other Columbia Funds they do not oversee. The tables do not include ownership of Columbia Funds overseen by other boards of trustees/directors. The Funds are new as of the date of this SAI, therefore none of the Trustees hold shares of the Funds.
Independent Trustee Ownership
Board Member Aggregate
Dollar Range of
Equity Securities
in all Funds in the
Columbia Funds
Complex Overseen
by the Trustee
Kathleen Blatz Over $100,000
Edward J. Boudreau Jr. Over $100,000 (a)
Pamela G. Carlton Over $100,000 (a)
William P. Carmichael Over $100,000 (a)
Patricia M. Flynn Over $100,000 (a)
William A. Hawkins Over $100,000 (a)
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Board Member Aggregate
Dollar Range of
Equity Securities
in all Funds in the
Columbia Funds
Complex Overseen
by the Trustee
R. Glenn Hilliard Over $100,000 (a)
Catherine James Paglia Over $100,000 (a)
Leroy C. Richie Over $100,000
Minor M. Shaw Over $100,000 (a)(b)
Alison Taunton-Rigby Over $100,000 (a)
(a) Includes the value of compensation payable under a Deferred Compensation Plan that is determined as if the amounts deferred had been invested, as of the date of deferral, in shares of one or more funds in the Columbia Funds Complex overseen by the Trustee as specified by the Trustee.
(b) Ms. Shaw invests in a Section 529 Plan managed by the Investment Manager that allocates assets to various open-end funds, including Columbia Funds. The amount shown in the table includes the value of her interest in this plan determined as if her investment in the plan were invested directly in the Columbia Fund pursuant to the plan’s target allocations.
Interested Trustee Ownership
Board Member Aggregate
Dollar Range of
Equity Securities
in all Funds in the
Columbia Funds
Complex Overseen
by the Trustee
Anthony Santomero Over $100,000 (a)
William F. Truscott Over $100,000 (b)
(a) Includes the value of compensation payable under a Deferred Compensation Plan that is determined as if the amounts deferred had been invested, as of the date of deferral, in shares of one or more funds in the Columbia Funds Complex overseen by the Trustee as specified by the Trustee.
(b) Includes notional investments through a deferred compensation account. Mr. Truscott’s deferred compensation plan is separate from that of the Independent Trustees (for these purposes, persons who are not affiliated persons of the Investment Manager or Ameriprise Financial).
Compensation
Total compensation. The following table shows the total compensation paid to Independent Trustees (for these purposes, persons who are not affiliated persons of the Investment Manager or Ameriprise Financial) for their services from all the Funds in the Columbia Funds Complex overseen by the Trustee for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2016.
Mr. Truscott is not compensated for his services on the Board.
Trustees (a) Total Cash Compensation
from the Columbia
Funds
Complex
Paid to Trustee (b)
Amount Deferred
from Total
Compensation (c)
Kathleen Blatz $297,500 $0
Edward Boudreau $277,500 $85,625
Pamela Carlton $272,500 $38,500
William Carmichael $373,500 $0
Patricia Flynn $272,500 $272,500
William Hawkins $312,000 $90,642
R. Glenn Hilliard $252,500 $0
Catherine Paglia $292,500 $146,250
Leroy Richie $275,000 $0
Anthony Santomero $252,500 $0
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Trustees (a) Total Cash Compensation
from the Columbia
Funds
Complex
Paid to Trustee (b)
Amount Deferred
from Total
Compensation (c)
Minor Shaw $267,500 $133,750
Alison Taunton-Rigby $275,000 $275,000
(a) Trustee compensation is paid by the Funds and is comprised of a combination of a base fee and meeting fees, with the exception of the Chair of the Board, who receives a base annual compensation. Payment of compensation is administered by a company providing limited administrative services to the Funds and to the Board.
(b) Includes any portion of cash compensation Trustees elected to defer during the fiscal period.
(c) The Trustees may elect to defer a portion of the total cash compensation payable. Additional information regarding the Deferred Compensation Plan is described below.
In addition to the above compensation, all Trustees receive reimbursements for reasonable expenses related to their attendance at meetings of the Board or standing committees, which are not included in the amounts shown.
Trustees did not accrue any pension or retirement benefits as part of Fund expenses, nor will they receive any annual benefits upon retirement.
Deferred Compensation Plan . The Independent Trustees (for these purposes, persons who are not affiliated persons of the Investment Manager or Ameriprise Financial) may elect to defer payment of up to 100% of the compensation they receive in accordance with a Deferred Compensation Plan (the Deferred Plan). Under the Deferred Plan, a Trustee may elect to have his or her deferred compensation treated as if it had been invested in shares of one or more funds in the Columbia Funds Complex, and the amount paid to the Trustee under the Deferred Plan will be determined based on the performance of such investments. Distributions may be taken in a lump sum or over a period of years. The Deferred Plan will remain unfunded for federal income tax purposes under the Code, and all amounts payable under the Deferred Plan constitute a general unsecured obligation of the Funds. It is anticipated that deferral of Trustee compensation in accordance with the Deferred Plan will have, at most, a negligible impact on Fund assets and liabilities.
The Independent Trustees have a policy that each Trustee invests in shares of one or more of the Funds (including the Columbia closed-end funds) overseen by the Trustee (including shares held in the Deferred Compensation Plan) in an aggregate amount that is at least equal to the annual total compensation received by the Trustee from the Columbia Fund Complex. All Independent Trustees meet this standard.
Compensation from each Fund . The Funds are new as of the date of this SAI, and therefore have no reporting information.
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BROKERAGE ALLOCATION AND RELATED PRACTICES
General Brokerage Policy, Brokerage Transactions and Broker Selection
Subject to policies established by the Board, as well as the terms of the Investment Management Services Agreement, the Investment Manager (and/or the investment subadviser(s) who makes the day-to-day investment decisions for all or a portion of a Fund’s net assets) is responsible for decisions to buy and sell securities and other instruments and assets for a Fund, for the selection of broker-dealers, for the execution of a Fund’s transactions and for the allocation of brokerage commissions in connection with such transactions. To the extent portfolio changes are not implemented through in-kind transactions for purchases/redemptions of Creation Units, Columbia Management will execute brokerage transactions for a Fund, and a Fund may incur brokerage commissions, which will particularly be the case during the early stages of the Funds’ development or in the case of transactions involving realized losses. Also, a Fund may accept cash as part or all of an In-Kind Creation or Redemption Basket, in which case Columbia Management may need to execute brokerage transactions for a Fund.The Investment Manager effects transactions for the Fund consistent with its duty to seek best execution of client (including the Funds) orders under the circumstances of the particular transaction. Purchases and sales of securities on a securities exchange are effected through broker-dealers who charge negotiated commissions for their services. Orders may be directed to any broker-dealer to the extent and in the manner permitted by applicable law and by the policies and procedures of the Investment Manager and/or any investment subadvisers.
In the over-the-counter market, securities generally are traded on a “net” basis with dealers acting as principals for their own accounts without stated commissions, although the price of a security usually includes a profit to the dealer. In underwritten offerings, securities are bought at a fixed price that includes an amount of compensation to the underwriter, generally referred to as the underwriter’s “concession” or “discount.” On occasion, certain money market instruments may be bought directly from an issuer, in which case no commissions or discounts are paid.
The Investment Manager effects security transactions for the Funds consistent with its duty to seek best execution of client (including the Funds) orders under the circumstances of the particular transaction. In seeking such execution, the Investment Manager will use its best judgment in evaluating the terms of a transaction, and will give consideration to various relevant factors, including, without limitation, the size and type of the transaction, the nature and character of the market for the security or other instrument or asset, the confidentiality, speed and certainty of effective execution required for the transaction, the general execution and operational capabilities of the broker-dealer, the reputation, reliability, experience and financial condition of the broker-dealer, the value and quality of the services rendered by the broker-dealer in this instance and other transactions and the reasonableness of the spread or commission, if any. Research services received from broker-dealers supplement the Investment Manager’s own research and may include the following types of information: statistical and background information on industry groups and individual companies; forecasts and interpretations with respect to U.S. and foreign economies, securities, markets, specific industry groups and individual companies; information on political developments; Fund management strategies; performance information on securities and other instruments and assets and information concerning prices of same; and information supplied by specialized services to the Investment Manager and to the Board with respect to the performance, investment activities and fees and expenses of other funds. Such information may be communicated electronically, orally or in written form.
Broker-dealers may, from time to time, arrange meetings with management of companies and provide access to consultants who supply research information. The outside research is useful to the Investment Manager since, in certain instances, the broker-dealers utilized by the Investment Manager may follow a different universe of issuers and other matters than those that the Investment Manager’s staff follow. In addition, this research provides the Investment Manager with a different perspective on investment matters, even if the securities research obtained relates to issuers followed by the Investment Manager.
Research services that are provided to the Investment Manager by broker-dealers are available for the benefit of all accounts managed or advised by the Investment Manager. In some cases, the research services are available only from the broker-dealer providing such services. In other cases, the research services may be obtainable from alternative sources. Broker-dealer research typically supplements rather than replaces the Investment Manager’s own research, tending to improve the quality of its investment advice. However, to the extent that the Investment Manager would have bought any such research services had such services not been provided by broker-dealers, the expenses of such services to the Investment Manager could be considered to have been reduced accordingly. Certain research services furnished by broker-dealers may be useful to the clients of the Investment Manager other than the Funds. Conversely, any research services received by the Investment Manager through the placement of transactions of other clients may be of value to the Investment Manager in fulfilling its obligations to the Funds. The Investment Manager is of the opinion that this material is beneficial in supplementing its research and analysis; and, therefore, it may benefit the Funds by improving the quality of the Investment Manager’s investment advice. The advisory fees paid by the Funds are not reduced because the Investment Manager receives such services.
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Under Section 28(e) of the 1934 Act, the Investment Manager shall not be “deemed to have acted unlawfully or to have breached its fiduciary duty” solely because under certain circumstances it has caused the account to pay a higher commission than the lowest available. To obtain the benefit of Section 28(e), the Investment Manager must make a good faith determination that the commissions paid are “reasonable in relation to the value of the brokerage and research services provided by such member, broker, or dealer, viewed in terms of either that particular transaction or his overall responsibilities with respect to the accounts as to which he exercises investment discretion.” Accordingly, the price to a Fund in any transaction may be less favorable than that available from another broker-dealer if the difference is reasonably justified by other aspects of the portfolio execution services offered. Some broker-dealers may indicate that the provision of research services is dependent upon the generation of certain specified levels of commissions and underwriting concessions by the Investment Manager’s clients, including the Funds.
The Investment Manager does not consider sales of shares of the Funds as a factor in the selection of broker-dealers through which to execute securities transactions on behalf of the Funds. On a periodic basis, the Investment Manager makes a comprehensive review of the broker-dealers and the overall reasonableness of their commissions, including review by an independent third-party evaluator. The review evaluates execution, operational efficiency, and research services.
Commission rates are established pursuant to negotiations with broker-dealers based on the quality and quantity of execution services provided by broker-dealers in light of generally prevailing rates. On exchanges on which commissions are negotiated, the cost of transactions may vary among different broker-dealers. Transactions on foreign stock exchanges involve payment of brokerage commissions that generally are fixed. Transactions in both foreign and domestic over-the-counter markets generally are principal transactions with dealers, and the costs of such transactions involve dealer spreads rather than brokerage commissions. With respect to over-the-counter transactions, the Investment Manager, where possible, will deal directly with dealers who make a market in the securities involved, except in those circumstances in which better prices and execution are available elsewhere.
The Investment Manager or a subadviser, if applicable, may use step-out transactions. A “step-out” is an arrangement in which the Investment Manager or subadviser executes a trade through one broker-dealer but instructs that broker-dealer to step-out all or a part of the trade to another broker-dealer. The second broker-dealer will clear and settle, and receive commissions for, the stepped-out portion. The Investment Manager or subadviser may receive research products and services in connection with step-out transactions.
Use of Fund commissions may create potential conflicts of interest between the Investment Manager or subadviser and a Fund. However, the Investment Manager and each subadviser has policies and procedures in place intended to mitigate these conflicts and ensure that the use of fund commissions falls within the “safe harbor” of Section 28(e) of the 1934 Act. Some products and services may be used for both investment decision-making and non-investment decision-making purposes (“mixed use” items). The Investment Manager and each subadviser, to the extent it has mixed use items, has procedures in place to assure that Fund commissions pay only for the investment decision-making portion of a mixed-use item.
Some broker-dealers with whom the Investment Manager’s Fixed Income Department executes trades provide the Fixed Income Department with proprietary research products and services, though the Fixed Income Department does not put in place any client commission arrangements with such broker-dealers. However, such research may be considered by the Fixed Income Department when determining which broker-dealers to include on its approved broker-dealer list. It is the Investment Manager’s policy not to execute a fixed income trade with a broker-dealer at a lower bid/higher offer than that provided by another broker-dealer in consideration of the value of research products and services received by the Fixed Income Department.
In certain instances, there may be securities that are suitable for a Fund as well as for one or more of the other clients of the Investment Manager. Investment decisions for the Funds and for the Investment Manager’s other clients are made with the goal of achieving their respective investment objectives. A particular security may be bought or sold for only one client even though it may be held by, or bought or sold for, other clients. Likewise, a particular security may be bought for one or more clients when one or more other clients are selling that same security. Some simultaneous transactions are inevitable when a number of accounts receive investment advice from the same investment adviser, particularly when the same security is suitable for the investment objectives of more than one client. When two or more clients are engaged simultaneously in the purchase or sale of the same security, the securities are allocated among clients in a manner believed to be equitable to each. In some cases, this policy could have a detrimental effect on the price or volume of the security in a particular transaction that may affect the Funds.
The Investment Manager operates several separate trading desks in different geographic locations in the United States. The trading desks support different portfolio management teams managing a variety of accounts and products. Nevertheless, the equity desks are functionally and operationally integrated so as to operate as one virtual desk. The fixed income desks, however, function and operate separately but can provide support to each other to assure the continuation of services if necessary. By operating the fixed income trading desks in this manner, the Funds may forego certain opportunities including the aggregation of trades across accounts that trade on different trading desks, which could result in one trading desk competing with another in the market for similar trades. In addition, it is possible that the separate fixed income trading desks may be on opposite sides of a
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trade at the same time. While the trading desks operate in several locations, the desks do have linkages in oversight and reporting lines and are generally conducted under similar policies and procedures. In addition, certain fixed income portfolio managers currently have the authority to execute trades themselves.
As the Investment Manager seeks to enhance its investment capabilities and services to its clients, including the Funds, the Investment Manager may engage certain of its investment advisory affiliates (Participating Affiliates) around the world to provide a variety of services. For example, the Investment Manager may engage Participating Affiliates and their personnel to provide (jointly or in coordination with the Investment Manager) services relating to client relations, investment monitoring, account administration, trading and discretionary investment management (including portfolio management and risk management) to certain accounts the Investment Manager manages, including the Funds, other pooled vehicles and separately managed accounts. In some circumstances, a Participating Affiliate may delegate responsibility for providing those services to another Participating Affiliate. In addition, the Investment Manager may provide certain similar services to its Participating Affiliates for accounts they manage.
The Investment Manager believes that harnessing the collective expertise of the firm and its Participating Affiliates will benefit its clients. In this regard, the Investment Manager has certain portfolio management and client servicing teams at both the firm and at Participating Affiliates (through subadvisory or other intercompany arrangements) operating jointly to provide a better client experience. These joint teams use expanded and shared capabilities that the Investment Manager and its Participating Affiliates provide, including the sharing of research and other information by investment personnel ( e.g. , portfolio managers and analysts) across the firm and at its Participating Affiliates relating to economic perspectives, market analysis and equity and fixed income securities analysis.
Participating Affiliates may provide certain advisory and trading-related services to certain of the Investment Manager’s accounts, including the Funds. The Investment Manager may also provide similar services to certain accounts of Participating Affiliates. The Investment Manager believes that local trading in certain local markets will benefit its clients, including the Funds. However, such services may result in potential conflicts of interest to such accounts.
The Investment Manager has portfolio management teams in its multiple geographic locations that may share research information regarding leveraged loans. The Investment Manager operates separate and independent trading desks in these locations for the purpose of purchasing and selling leveraged loans. As a result, the Investment Manager does not aggregate orders in leveraged loans across portfolio management teams. For example, funds and other client accounts being managed by these portfolio management teams may purchase and sell the same leveraged loan in the secondary market on the same day at different times and at different prices. There is also the potential for a particular account or group of accounts, including a Fund, to forego an opportunity or to receive a different allocation (either larger or smaller) than might otherwise be obtained if the Investment Manager were to aggregate trades in leveraged loans across the portfolio management teams. Although the Investment Manager does not aggregate orders in leveraged loans across its portfolio management teams in the multiple geographic locations, it operates in this structure subject to its duty to seek best execution.
The Funds may participate, if and when practicable, in bidding for the purchase of portfolio securities directly from an issuer in order to take advantage of the lower purchase price available to members of a bidding group. A Fund will engage in this practice, however, only when the Investment Manager, in its sole discretion, believes such practice to be otherwise in such Fund’s interests.
The Funds will not execute portfolio transactions through, or buy or sell portfolio securities from or to the Investment Manager and its affiliates acting as principal (including repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements), except to the extent permitted by applicable law, regulation or order. However, the Investment Manager is authorized to allocate buy and sell orders for portfolio securities to certain broker-dealers and financial institutions, including, in the case of agency transactions, broker-dealers and financial institutions that are affiliated with Ameriprise Financial. To the extent that a Fund executes any securities trades with an affiliate of Ameriprise Financial, such Fund does so in conformity with Rule 17e-1 under the 1940 Act and the procedures that such Fund has adopted pursuant to the rule. In this regard, for each transaction, the Board will determine that the transaction is effected in accordance with the Funds’ Rule 17e-1 procedures, which require: (i) the transaction resulted in prices for and execution of securities transactions at least as favorable to the particular Fund as those likely to be derived from a non-affiliated qualified broker-dealer; (ii) the affiliated broker-dealer charged the Fund commission rates consistent with those charged by the affiliated broker-dealer in similar transactions to clients comparable to the Fund and that are not affiliated with the broker-dealer in question; and (iii) the fees, commissions or other remuneration paid by the Fund did not exceed 2% of the sales price of the securities if the sale was effected in connection with a secondary distribution, or 1% of the purchase or sale price of such securities if effected in other than a secondary distribution.
Certain affiliates of Ameriprise Financial may have deposit, loan or commercial banking relationships with the corporate users of facilities financed by industrial development revenue bonds or private activity bonds bought by certain of the Funds. Ameriprise Financial or certain of its affiliates may serve as trustee, custodian, tender agent, guarantor, placement agent, underwriter, or in some other capacity, with respect to certain issues of securities. Under certain circumstances, a Fund may buy
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securities from a member of an underwriting syndicate in which an affiliate of Ameriprise Financial is a member. The Funds have adopted procedures pursuant to Rule 10f-3 under the 1940 Act, and intend to comply with the requirements of Rule 10f-3, in connection with any purchases of securities that may be subject to Rule 10f-3.
Given the breadth of the Investment Manager’s investment management activities, investment decisions for the Funds are not always made independently from those other investment companies and accounts advised or managed by the Investment Manager. To the extent permitted by law, when a purchase or sale of the same security is made at substantially the same time on behalf of one or more of the Funds and another investment portfolio, investment company or account, the Investment Manager may aggregate the securities to be sold or bought for the Funds with those to be sold or bought for other investment portfolios, investment companies or accounts in executing transactions, and such transactions will generally be averaged as to price and available investments allocated as to amount in a manner which the Investment Manager believes to be equitable to the Funds and such other investment portfolio, investment company or account. In some instances, this investment procedure may adversely affect the price paid or received by a Fund or the size of the position obtained or sold by the Fund.
See Investment Management and Other Services – Other Roles and Relationships of Ameriprise Financial and its Affiliates – Certain Conflicts of Interest for more information about these and other conflicts of interest.
Brokerage Commissions
In certain instances, the Funds may pay brokerage commissions to broker-dealers that are affiliates of Ameriprise Financial. As indicated above, all such transactions involving the payment of brokerage commissions to affiliates are done in compliance with Rule 17e-1 under the 1940 Act.
Aggregate Brokerage Commissions Paid by the Funds
Total Brokerage Commissions
The Funds are new as of the date of this SAI, and therefore have no reporting information.
Brokerage Commissions Paid to Brokers Affiliated with the Investment Manager
Affiliates of the Investment Manager may engage in brokerage and other securities transactions on behalf of a Fund according to procedures adopted by the Board and to the extent consistent with applicable provisions of the federal securities laws. Subject to approval by the Board, the same conditions apply to transactions with broker-dealer affiliates of any Fund subadviser. The Investment Manager will use an affiliate only if (i) the Investment Manager determines that the Fund will receive prices and executions at least as favorable as those offered by qualified independent brokers performing similar brokerage and other services for the Fund and (ii) the affiliate charges the Fund commission rates consistent with those the affiliate charges comparable unaffiliated customers in similar transactions and if such use is consistent with terms of the Investment Management Services Agreement.
The Funds are new as of the date of this SAI, and therefore have no reporting information.
Directed Brokerage
The Funds or the Investment Manager, through an agreement or understanding with a broker-dealer, or otherwise through an internal allocation procedure, may direct, subject to applicable legal requirements, the Funds' brokerage transactions to a broker-dealer because of the research services it provides the Funds or the Investment Manager.
Brokerage Directed for Research
The Funds are new as of the date of this SAI, and therefore have no reporting information.
Securities of Regular Broker-Dealers
In certain cases, the Funds, as part of their principal investment strategies, or otherwise as a permissible investment, will invest in the common stock or debt obligations of the regular broker-dealers that the Investment Manager uses to transact brokerage for the Funds.
Investments in Securities of Regular Brokers or Dealers
The Funds are new as of the date of this SAI, and therefore have no reporting information.
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OTHER PRACTICES
Portfolio Turnover
A change in the securities held by a Fund is known as “portfolio turnover.” High portfolio turnover involves correspondingly greater expenses to the Fund, including brokerage commissions or dealer mark-ups and other transaction costs on the sale of securities and reinvestments in other securities. Such sales may also result in adverse tax consequences to a Fund’s shareholders. The trading costs and tax effects associated with portfolio turnover may adversely affect a Fund’s performance. For each Fund’s portfolio turnover rate, see the Fees and Expenses of the Fund — Portfolio Turnover section in the prospectuses for that Fund.
In any particular year, market conditions may result in greater rates than are presently anticipated. The rate of a Fund’s turnover may vary significantly from time to time depending on, among other factors, economic, market and other conditions.
The Funds are new as of the date of this SAI, and therefore have no reporting information.
Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings Information
The Board has adopted a policy regarding the disclosure of information about the Funds’ portfolio securities. Under the policy, portfolio holdings of the Funds, which will form the basis for the calculation of NAV on a Business Day, are publicly disseminated prior to the opening of trading on the Exchange that Business Day through financial reporting and news services, including the website columbiathreadneedleetf.com. In addition, each Business Day a portfolio composition file, which displays the In-Kind Creation Basket and Cash Component, is publicly disseminated prior to the opening of the Exchange via the NSCC.
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CAPITAL STOCK AND OTHER SECURITIES
Description of the Trust’s Shares
The Trust may issue an unlimited number of full Shares of beneficial interest of each Fund, with a par value of $0.00000001, and divide or combine the Shares of any series into a greater or lesser number of Shares of that Fund without thereby changing the proportionate beneficial interests in that Fund.
If a Fund does not grow to a size to permit it to be economically viable, the Fund may cease operations. In such an event, shareholders may be required to liquidate or transfer their Shares at an inopportune time and shareholders may lose money on their investment.
Restrictions on Holding or Disposing of Shares
Shares are redeemable only as described in the prospectus. The Funds may be terminated by reorganization into another open-end fund or by liquidation and distribution of their assets. Unless terminated by reorganization or liquidation, the Funds will continue indefinitely.
Shareholder Liability
The Trust is organized as a business trust under Massachusetts law. Under Massachusetts law, shareholders could, under certain circumstances, be held personally liable for the obligations of the Trust. However, the Trust’s Declaration of Trust disclaims any shareholder liability for acts or obligations of the Funds and the Trust and requires that notice of such disclaimer be given in each agreement, obligation, or instrument entered into or executed by a Fund or the Trustees. The Declaration of Trust provides for indemnification out of Fund property for all loss and expense of any shareholder held personally liable for the obligations of a Fund. Thus, the risk of a shareholder incurring financial loss on account of shareholder liability is limited to circumstances (which are considered remote) in which a Fund would be unable to meet its obligations and the disclaimer was inoperative. The risk of a Fund incurring financial loss on account of another series of the Trust also is believed to be remote, because it would be limited to circumstances in which the disclaimer was inoperative and the other series of the Trust was unable to meet its obligations.
Dividend Rights
The shareholders of a Fund are entitled to receive any dividends or other distributions declared for the Fund. No shares have priority or preference over any other shares of the Funds with respect to distributions. Distributions will be made from the assets of the Funds, and will be paid pro rata to all shareholders of each Fund according to the number of shares of each Fund held by shareholders on the record date.
Voting Rights and Shareholder Meetings
Shareholders have the power to vote only as expressly granted under the 1940 Act or under Massachusetts business trust law. Each whole share (or fractional share) outstanding on the record date shall be entitled to a number of votes on any matter on which it is entitled to vote equal to the net asset value of the share (or fractional share) in U.S. dollars determined at the close of business on the record date (for example, a share having a net asset value of $10.50 would be entitled to 10.5 votes).
Shareholders have no independent right to vote on any matter, including the creation, operation, dissolution or termination of the Trust. Shareholders have the right to vote on other matters only as the Board authorizes. Currently, the 1940 Act requires that shareholders have the right to vote, under certain circumstances, to: (i) elect Trustees; (ii) approve investment advisory agreements; (iii) approve a change in subclassification of a Fund; (iv) approve any change in fundamental investment policies; (v) approve a distribution plan under Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act; and (vi) to terminate the independent accountant. With respect to matters that affect one class but not another, shareholders vote as a class; for example, the approval of a distribution plan applicable to that class is voted on by holders of that class of shares. Subject to the foregoing, all shares of a Trust have equal voting rights and will be voted in the aggregate, and not by Fund, except where voting by Fund is required by law or where the matter involved only affects one Fund. For example, a change in a Fund’s fundamental investment policy affects only one Fund and would be voted upon only by shareholders of the Fund involved. Additionally, approval of an investment advisory agreement or, if shareholder approval is required under exemptive relief, investment subadvisory agreement, since it only affects one Fund, is a matter to be determined separately by each Fund. Approval by the shareholders of one Fund is effective as to that Fund whether or not sufficient votes are received from the shareholders of the other series to approve the proposal as to those Funds. Shareholders are entitled to one vote for each whole share held on matters on which they are entitled to vote. Fund shareholders do not have cumulative voting rights. The Trust is not required to hold, and has no present intention of holding, annual meetings of shareholders. Special meetings may be called for certain purposes.
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Liquidation Rights
In the event of the liquidation or dissolution of the Trust or a Fund, all shares have equal rights and shareholders of a Fund are entitled to a proportionate share of the assets of the Fund that are available for distribution and to a distribution of any general assets not attributable to a particular Fund that are available for distribution in such manner and on such basis as the Board may determine.
Preemptive Rights
There are no preemptive rights associated with Fund shares.
Conduct of the Trust's Business
Forum Selection. The Trust’s Bylaws provide that the sole and exclusive forums for any shareholder (including a beneficial owner of shares) to bring (i) any action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Trust, (ii) any action asserting a claim for breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any Trustee, officer or employee, if any, of the Trust to the Trust or the Trust’s shareholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against the Trust or any of its Trustees, officers or employees arising pursuant to any provision of the statutory or common law of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or any federal securities law, in each case as amended from time to time, or the Trust’s Declaration of Trust or Bylaws, or (iv) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine shall be within the federal or state courts in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
This forum selection provision may limit a shareholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that the shareholder finds favorable for disputes with the Trust and/or any of its Trustees, officers, employees or service providers. If a court were to find the forum selection provision contained in the Bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, the Trust may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions.
Derivative and Direct Claims of Shareholders. The Trust’s Bylaws contain provisions regarding derivative and direct claims of shareholders. As used in the Bylaws, a “direct” shareholder claim refers to (i) a claim based upon alleged violations of a shareholder’s individual rights independent of any harm to the Trust, including a shareholder’s voting rights under the Bylaws; rights to receive a dividend payment as may be declared from time to time; rights to inspect books and records; or other similar rights personal to the shareholder and independent of any harm to the Trust; and (ii) a claim for which a direct shareholder action is expressly provided under the U.S. federal securities laws. Any other claim asserted by a shareholder, including without limitation any claims purporting to be brought on behalf of the Trust or involving any alleged harm to the Trust, is considered a “derivative” claim as used in the Bylaws.
A shareholder may not bring or maintain any court action or other proceeding asserting a derivative claim or any claim asserted on behalf of the Trust or involving any alleged harm to the Trust without first making demand on the Trustees requesting the Trustees to bring or maintain such action, proceeding or claim. Such demand shall not be excused under any circumstances, including claims of alleged interest on the part of the Trustees, unless the shareholder makes a specific showing that irreparable nonmonetary injury to the Trust would otherwise result.
The Trustees shall consider any demand or request within 90 days of its receipt by the Trust or inform claimants within such time that further review and consideration is required, in which case the Trustees shall have an additional 120 days to respond. In their sole discretion, the Trustees may submit the matter to a vote of shareholders of the Trust or of any series or class of shares, as appropriate. Any decision by the Trustees to settle or to authorize (or not to settle or to authorize) such court action, proceeding or claim, or to submit the matter to a vote of shareholders, shall be binding upon the shareholder seeking authorization.
Any person purchasing or otherwise holding any interest in shares of beneficial interest of the Trust will be deemed to have notice of and consented to the foregoing provisions. These provisions may limit a shareholder’s ability to bring a claim against the Trustees, officers or other employees of the Trust and/or its service providers.
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Purchase, Redemption and Pricing of Shares
Transacting in Creation Units
Each Fund sells and redeems Shares in Creation Units on a continuous basis through the Distributor, without a sales load, at the NAV next determined after receipt of an order in proper form on any Business Day. No Fund will issue fractional Creation Units.
To purchase or redeem any Creation Units from a Fund, you must be, or transact through, an Authorized Participant. In order to be an Authorized Participant, you must be either a broker-dealer or other participant (“Participating Party”) in the Continuous Net Settlement System (“Clearing Process”) of the National Securities Clearing Corporation (“NSCC”) or a participant in DTC with access to the DTC system (“DTC Participant”), and you must execute an agreement (“Participant Agreement”) with the Distributor, and accepted by the Transfer Agent, that governs transactions in the Fund’s Creation Units.
Transactions by an Authorized Participant that is a Participating Party using the NSCC system are referred to as transactions “through the Clearing Process.” Transactions by an Authorized Participant that is a DTC Participant using the DTC system are referred to as transactions “outside the Clearing Process.”
Investors who are not Authorized Participants but want to transact in Creation Units may contact the Distributor for the names of Authorized Participants. Investors should be aware that their broker may not be an Authorized Participant and, therefore, may need to place any order to purchase or redeem Creation Units through another broker or Participating Party that is an Authorized Participant, which may result in additional charges.
Orders must be transmitted by an Authorized Participant by electronic order entry system, telephone or other transmission method acceptable to the Distributor pursuant to procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement. Market disruptions, electronic and telephone or other communication failures may impede the transmission of orders.
For the Funds, custom baskets ( i.e. , those baskets that differ from the In-Kind Creation Basket/In-Kind Redemption Basket) are not used in the creation and redemption process unless the use is consistent with the types of transactions specifically described and set out as examples in the Funds’ exemptive application.
Purchasing Creation Units
Fund Deposit. The consideration for a Creation Unit of a Fund is the Fund Deposit. The Fund Deposit will consist of the In-Kind Creation Basket and Cash Component, or a Cash Component that includes an all cash payment (“Cash Value”).
In addition to the In-Kind Creation Basket, a purchaser will typically pay to a Fund a “Balancing Amount” reflecting the difference, if any, between the NAV of a Creation Unit and the market value of the securities or other instruments in the In-Kind Creation Basket. If the NAV per Creation Unit exceeds the market value of the securities or other instruments in the In-Kind Creation Basket, the purchaser pays the Balancing Amount to the Fund. By contrast, if the NAV per Creation Unit is less than the market value of the securities or other instruments in the In-Kind Creation Basket, the Fund pays the Balancing Amount to the purchaser. The Balancing Amount ensures that the consideration paid by a purchaser for a Creation Unit is exactly equal to the value of the Creation Unit.
BNY Mellon, in a portfolio composition file sent via the NSCC, makes available on each Business Day, immediately prior to the opening of business on the Exchange (currently 9:30 a.m., Eastern time), a list of the names and the required number of Shares of each security in the In-Kind Creation Basket to be included in the current Fund Deposit for each Fund (based on information about the Fund’s portfolio at the end of the previous Business Day). BNY Mellon, through the NSCC, also makes available on each Business Day, the estimated Cash Component or Cash Value, effective through and including the previous Business Day.
The In-Kind Creation Basket is applicable for purchases of Creation Units of the Funds until such time as the next-announced In-Kind Creation Basket is made available. Each Fund reserves the right to accept a nonconforming ( i.e. , custom) Fund Deposit, under certain limited circumstances. In addition, the composition of the In-Kind Creation Basket may change as, among other things, corporate actions and investment decisions by Columbia Management and/or any investment subadviser(s) are implemented for the Fund’s portfolio. All questions as to the composition of the In-Kind Creation Basket and the validity, form, eligibility, and acceptance for deposit of any securities shall be determined by the Fund, and the Fund’s determination shall be final and binding.
Order Cut-Off Time. For an order involving a Creation Unit to be effectuated at the Fund’s NAV on a particular day, it must be received by the Transfer Agent by or before the deadline for such order (“Order Cut-Off Time”). All Creation Unite purchase orders are approved by the Distributor. The Order Cut-Off Time for creation and redemption orders for the Funds is generally expected to be 4:00 p.m. Eastern time for In-Kind Creation and Redemption Baskets. Custom orders typically clear outside the Clearing Process and, therefore, like other orders outside the Clearing Process, may need to be transmitted early on the relevant Business Day to be effectuated at that day’s NAV. Custom orders may be required to be received by the Transfer Agent by 3:00 p.m. Eastern time to be effectuated based on the Fund’s NAV on that Business Day. All such orders must be approved by the
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Distributor in accordance with the Participation Agreement. A custom order may be placed when, for example, an Authorized Participant cannot transact in a security or other instrument in the In-Kind Creation or Redemption Basket and therefore has additional cash included in a Fund Deposit or Fund Redemption in lieu of such security or instrument. Persons placing or effectuating custom orders should be mindful of time deadlines imposed by intermediaries, which may impact the successful processing of such orders.
In-Kind Creation and Redemption Baskets are expected to be accepted until the close of regular trading on the Exchange on each Business Day, which is usually 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. On days when the Exchange or bond markets close earlier than normal (such as the day before a holiday), the Order Cut-Off Time is expected to track the Exchange closing and be similarly earlier than normal. Persons placing or effectuating custom orders and/or orders involving Cash Value should be mindful of time deadlines imposed by intermediaries, such as DTC and/or the Federal Reserve Bank wire system, which may impact the successful processing of such orders to ensure that cash, securities and other instruments are transferred by the “Settlement Date,” which is generally the Business Day immediately following the Transmittal Date for cash and the third Business Day following the Transmittal Date for securities.
Placement of Creation Orders. All purchase orders must be placed by or through an Authorized Participant. In-kind (portions of) purchase orders will be processed through the Clearing Process when it is available. The Clearing Process is an enhanced clearing process that is available only for certain securities and only to DTC participants that are also participants in the Continuous Net Settlement System of the NSCC. In-kind (portions of) purchase orders not subject to the Clearing Process will go through a manual clearing process run by DTC. Fund Deposits that include government securities must be delivered through the Federal Reserve Bank wire transfer system. Fund Deposits that include cash may be delivered through the Clearing Process or the Federal Reserve Bank wire transfer system. Certain orders for the Funds may be made outside the Clearing Process. In-kind deposits of securities for such orders must be delivered through the Federal Reserve System (for government securities) or through DTC (for corporate securities).
Orders Using Clearing Process . In connection with creation orders made through the Clearing Process, the Distributor transmits on behalf of the Authorized Participant, such trade instructions as are necessary to affect the creation order. Pursuant to such trade instructions, the Authorized Participant agrees to deliver the requisite Fund Deposit to the Trust, together with such additional information as may be required by the Distributor. An order to create Creation Units through the Clearing Process is deemed received by the Transfer Agent on the Business Day the order is placed (“Transmittal Date”) if (i) such order is received by the Distributor by the Closing Time on such Transmittal Date and (ii) all other procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement are properly followed. All orders are approved by the Distributor. Cash Components will be delivered using either the Clearing Process or the Federal Reserve System, as described below.
Orders Outside Clearing Process. Fund Deposits made outside the Clearing Process must state that the DTC Participant is not using the Clearing Process and that the creation of Creation Units will instead be effected through a transfer of securities, other instruments and cash directly through DTC. With respect to such orders, the Fund Deposit transfer must be ordered by the DTC Participant on the Transmittal Date in a timely fashion so as to ensure the delivery of the requisite number of securities and other instruments in the In-Kind Creation Basket (whether standard or custom) through DTC to the relevant Trust account by 11:00 a.m., Eastern time, (the “DTC Cut-Off Time”) of the Business Day immediately following the Transmittal Date. The amount of cash equal to the Cash Component must be transferred directly to the Custodian through the Federal Reserve Bank wire transfer system in a timely manner so as to be received by the Custodian no later than 12:00 p.m., Eastern Time, on the Settlement Date. The delivery of (corporate) securities through DTC must occur by 3:00 p.m., Eastern Time, on the Business Day immediately following the Transmittal Date. The delivery of (government) securities through the Federal Reserve System must occur by 3:00 p.m., Eastern Time, on the Business Day immediately following the Transmittal Date.
An order to create Creation Units outside the Clearing Process is deemed received by the Distributor on the Transmittal Date if (i) such order is received by the Transfer Agent by the Closing Time on such Transmittal Date and (ii) all other procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement are properly followed. All orders are approved by the Distributor. If the Custodian does not receive both the required In-Kind Creation Basket by the DTC Cut-Off Time and the Cash Component by the appointed time, such order may be canceled. Upon written notice to the Distributor, a canceled order may be resubmitted the following Business Day using a Fund Deposit as newly constituted to reflect the then-current In-Kind Creation Basket and Cash Component. The delivery of Creation Units so created will occur no later than the third (3rd) Business Day following the day on which the order is deemed received by the Distributor.
Creation Units may be created in advance of receipt by the Trust of all or a portion of the applicable In-Kind Creation Basket, provided the purchaser tenders an initial deposit consisting of any available securities or other instruments in the In-Kind Creation Basket and cash equal to the sum of the Cash Component and at least 105% of the market value of the In-Kind Creation Basket securities not delivered (“Additional Cash Deposit”). Such initial deposit will have a value greater than the NAV of the Creation Unit on the date the order is placed. The order shall be deemed to be received on the Transmittal Date provided that it is placed in proper form prior to 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time, on such date, and federal funds in the appropriate amount are
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deposited with the Custodian by the DTC Cut-Off Time the following Business Day. If the order is not placed in proper form by 4:00 p.m. or federal funds in the appropriate amount are not received by the DTC Cut-Off Time the next Business Day, then the order will be canceled or deemed unreceived and the Authorized Participant effectuating such transaction will be liable to the Fund for any losses resulting therefrom.
To the extent securities or other instruments in the In-Kind Creation Basket remain undelivered, pending delivery of such securities or other instruments additional cash will be required to be deposited with the Trust as necessary to maintain an Additional Cash Deposit equal to at least 105% of the daily marked to market value of the missing securities. To the extent that either such securities are still not received by 1:00 p.m., Eastern time, on the third Business Day following the day on which the purchase order is deemed received by the Distributor or a marked-to-market payment is not made within one Business Day following notification to the purchaser and/or Authorized Participant that such a payment is required, the Trust may use the cash on deposit to purchase the missing securities or other instruments, and the Authorized Participant effectuating such transaction will be liable to the Fund for any costs incurred therein or losses resulting therefrom, including any Transaction Fee, any amount by which the actual purchase price of the missing securities or other instruments exceeds the Additional Cash Deposit or the market value of such securities or other instruments on the day the purchase order was deemed received by the Distributor, as well as brokerage and related transaction costs. The Trust will return any unused portion of the Additional Cash Deposit once all of the missing securities and other instruments have been received by the Trust. The delivery of Creation Units so created will occur no later than the third Business Day following the day on which the purchase order is deemed received by the Distributor.
For each of the Foreign Funds and any other Fund, holding non-U.S. investments, when a purchase order is placed, the Distributor will inform the Investment Manager and the Custodian. The Custodian shall cause local sub-custodians of the applicable Fund to maintain an account into which the Authorized Participant shall deliver, on behalf of itself or the party on whose behalf it is acting, the Fund Deposit “free of payment,” with any appropriate adjustments as advised by the Trust, in accordance with the terms and conditions applicable to such account in such jurisdiction. If applicable, the sub-custodian(s) will confirm to the Custodian that the required Fund Deposits have been delivered and the Custodian will notify the Investment Manager and Distributor. The Authorized Participant must also make available to the Custodian no later than 12:00 noon Eastern Time or earlier in the event that the relevant Exchange or the relevant bond markets close early, by the third Business Day after the order is deemed received, through the Federal Reserve Bank wire transfer system, immediately available or same day funds in U.S. dollars estimated by the Trust to be sufficient to pay the Balancing Amount next determined after acceptance of the purchase order, together with any applicable Transaction Fees. For Foreign Funds and any other Fund holding non-U.S. investments, the Custodian will make available through the NSCC on each Business Day, the list of the names and the required number of shares of each In-Kind Creation Basket to be included in the current Fund Deposit.
Acceptance of Orders for Creation Units. The Trust reserves the absolute right to reject a creation order transmitted to it by the Transfer Agent in respect of a Fund if: (i) the order is not in proper form; (ii) the investor(s), upon obtaining the Shares, would own 80% or more of the currently outstanding Shares of a Fund; (iii) the securities delivered do not conform to the In-Kind Creation Basket for the relevant date; (iv) acceptance of the In-Kind Creation Basket would have adverse tax consequences to the Fund; (v) acceptance of the Fund Deposit would, in the opinion of counsel, be unlawful; (vi) acceptance of the Fund Deposit would otherwise in the discretion of the Trust or the Investment Manager have an adverse effect on the Trust or the rights of beneficial owners; or (vii) in the event that circumstances that are outside the control of the Trust, Custodian, Distributor and Investment Manager make it practically impossible to process creation orders. Examples of such circumstances include acts of God, public service or utility problems such as fires, floods, extreme weather conditions and power outages resulting in telephone, telecopy and computer failures; market conditions or activities causing trading halts; systems failures involving computer or other information systems affecting the Trust, the Investment Manager, the Distributor, DTC, NSCC, the Custodian or sub-custodian or any other participant in the creation process, and similar extraordinary events.
Cancellations. In the event an order is cancelled, the Authorized Participant will be responsible for reimbursing the Fund for all costs associated with cancelling the order, including costs for repositioning the portfolio, provided the Authorized Participant shall not be responsible for such costs if the order was cancelled for reasons outside the Authorized Participant’s control or the Authorized Participant was not otherwise responsible or at fault for such cancellation. Upon written notice to the Distributor, such cancelled order may be resubmitted the following Business Day, with a newly constituted Fund Deposit to reflect the next calculated NAV.
Transaction Fees
To compensate the Trust for costs incurred in connection with creation and redemption transactions, investors may be required to pay a Transaction Fee. The “Creation Transaction Fee” and “Redemption Transaction Fee” are fixed for, respectively, all creation and redemption transactions through the Clearing Process on a Business Day, regardless of the number of transactions effectuated that day. A charge of up to four (4) times the fixed fee may be imposed as part of the Transaction Fee for (i) transactions outside the Clearing Process and (ii) transactions effectuated wholly or partly in cash, including custom orders, to offset brokerage and other transaction costs thereby imposed on the Trust. The Investment Manager, subject to the approval of
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the Board, may adjust or waive the Transaction Fee from time to time. Investors will also be responsible for the costs associated with transferring the securities or other instruments in the In-Kind Creation and Redemption Baskets, respectively, to and from the account of the Trust. Further, investors who, directly or indirectly, use the services of a broker or other intermediary to compose a Creation Unit in addition to an Authorized Participant to effect a transaction in Creation Units may be charged an additional fee for such services.
The Creation/Redemption Transaction Fee for Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF is $500 (up to a maximum of $2,000) and the Creation/Redemption Transaction Fee for Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF and Sustainable International Equity Income ETF is $2,000 (up to a maximum of $8,000). The Creation/Redemption Transaction Fee is based, in part, on the number of holdings in a Fund’s portfolio and may be adjusted on a quarterly basis if the number of holdings increase. Investors will also be responsible for the costs associated with transferring the securities in the In-Kind Creation (and Redemption) Baskets (and from) the account of the Trust. Further, investors who, directly or indirectly, use the services of a broker or other intermediary to compose a Creation Unit in addition to an Authorized Participant to effect a transaction in Creation Units may be charged an additional fee for such services.
Redeeming Creation Units
Fund Redemptions. Fund Shares may be redeemed only in Creation Units at their NAV next determined after receipt of a redemption request in proper form by a Fund through the Transfer Agent and only on a Business Day. The redemption proceeds for a Creation Unit will consist of the In-Kind Redemption Basket and a Cash Redemption Amount, or, in certain circumstances, a Cash Redemption Amount that includes an all cash payment, or Cash Value, in all instances equal to the value of a Creation Unit. In addition, investors may incur brokerage and other costs in connection with assembling a Creation Unit.
There can be no assurance that there will be sufficient liquidity in Shares in the secondary market to permit assembly of a Creation Unit. In addition, investors may incur brokerage and other costs in connection with assembling a Creation Unit.
The redemption proceeds for a Creation Unit generally consist of the In-Kind Redemption Basket and a Cash Redemption Amount, which consists of a Balancing Amount and a Transaction Fee.
The Balancing Amount reflects the difference, if any, between the NAV of a Creation Unit and the market value of the securities or other instruments in the In-Kind Redemption Basket. If the NAV per Creation Unit exceeds the market value of the securities or other instruments in the In-Kind Redemption Basket, the Fund pays the Balancing Amount to the redeeming investor. By contrast, if the NAV per Creation Unit is less than the market value of the securities or other instruments in the In-Kind Redemption Basket, the redeeming investor pays the Balancing Amount to the Fund.
If different from the In-Kind Creation Basket, the composition of the In-Kind Redemption Basket will be available on the NSCC bulletin board each day the NYSE is open for business; otherwise, the In-Kind Creation Basket posted on NSCC may be assumed to be the In-Kind Redemption Basket, too. BNY Mellon, in a portfolio composition file sent via the NSCC, makes available prior to the opening of business on the Exchange (currently 9:30 a.m., Eastern time) on each Business Day, the identity of the portfolio securities or other instruments in the current In-Kind Redemption Basket (subject to possible amendment or correction). The In-Kind Redemption Basket on a particular Business Day may not be identical to the In-Kind Creation Basket for that day. A Fund may honor a redemption request with a nonconforming or “custom” In-Kind Redemption Basket, under certain limited circumstances.
In lieu of In-Kind Redemption Basket and Balancing Amount, Creation Units may be redeemed consisting solely of cash in an amount equal to the NAV of a Creation Unit, which amount is referred to as the Cash Value. BNY Mellon will publish, on a daily basis, information about the Cash Value of a Creation Unit.
The right of redemption may be suspended or the date of payment postponed: (i) for any period during which the NYSE is closed (other than customary weekend and holiday closings); (ii) for any period during which trading on the NYSE is suspended or restricted; (iii) for any period during which an emergency exists as a result of which disposal of the Shares or determination of the Fund’s NAV is not reasonably practicable or for any period during which it is not reasonably practicable for a Fund to fairly to determine the value of its net assets; (iv) for any period during which the SEC by order permits for the protection of shareholders of a Fund; or (v) for up to 15 calendar days for any of the Foreign Funds and any Fund holding non-U.S. investments during an international local holiday, as described in the Other Information – Regular International Holidays section below.
Placement of Redemption Orders. Redemptions must be placed to the Transfer Agent through an Authorized Participant. In addition, redemption orders must be processed either through the DTC process or the Clearing Process.
Placement of Redemption Orders Using Clearing Process. Orders to redeem Creation Units through the Clearing Process are deemed received by the Trust on the Transmittal Date if (i) such order is received by the Transfer Agent not later than the Order Cut-Off Time on such Transmittal Date, and (ii) all other procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement are properly followed. Orders deemed received will be effectuated based on the NAV of the Fund as next determined. An order to redeem
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Creation Units using the Clearing Process made in proper form but received by the Trust after the Order Cut-Off Time will be deemed received on the next Business Day and will be affected at the NAV next determined on such next Business Day. The applicable In-Kind Redemption Basket and the Cash Redemption Amount will be transferred to the investor by the third NSCC business day following the date on which such request for redemption is deemed received.
Placement of Redemption Orders Outside Clearing Process . Orders to redeem Creation Units outside the Clearing Process must state that the DTC Participant is not using the Clearing Process and that redemption of Creation Units will instead be affected through transfer of Fund Shares directly through DTC. Such orders are deemed received by the Trust on the Transmittal Date if: (i) such order is received by the Transfer Agent not later than the Order Cut-Off Time on the Transmittal Date; (ii) such order is accompanied or followed by the delivery of both (a) the Creation Unit(s), which delivery must be made through DTC to the Custodian no later than the DTC Cut-Off Time on the Business Day immediately following the Transmittal Date and (b) the Cash Redemption Amount by 12:00 p.m., Eastern time on the Business Day immediately following the Transmittal Date; and (iii) all other procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement are properly followed. After the Trust has deemed such an order received, the Trust will initiate procedures to transfer, and expect to deliver, the requisite In-Kind Redemption Basket and/or any Cash Redemption Amount owed to the redeeming party by the third Business Day following the Transmittal Date on which such redemption order is deemed received by the Trust.
In the event that the Authorized Participant has submitted a redemption request in proper form but is unable to transfer all or part of the Creation Units to be redeemed to the Transfer Agent, the Transfer Agent may nonetheless accept the redemption request in reliance on the undertaking by the Authorized Participant to deliver the missing Shares as soon as possible. Such undertaking shall be secured by the Authorized Participant’s delivery and maintenance of collateral consisting of cash having a value (marked-to-market daily) at least equal to 105% of the value of the missing Shares, which the Investment Manager may change from time to time.
The current procedures for collateralization of missing Shares require, among other things, that any cash collateral shall be in the form of U.S. dollars in immediately-available funds and shall be held by the Custodian and marked-to-market daily, and that the fees of the Custodian and any relevant sub-custodians in respect of the delivery, maintenance and redelivery of the cash collateral shall be payable by the Authorized Participant. The Authorized Participant’s agreement will permit the Trust, on behalf of the relevant Fund, to purchase the missing Shares at any time and will subject the Authorized Participant to liability for any shortfall between the cost to the Trust of purchasing such Shares and the value of the collateral.
The calculation of the value of the In-Kind Redemption Basket and the Cash Redemption Amount to be delivered/received upon redemption will be made by the Custodian computed on the Business Day on which a redemption order is deemed received by the Trust. Therefore, if a redemption order in proper form is submitted to the Transfer Agent by a DTC Participant or an Authorized Participant with the ability to transact through the Federal Reserve System, as applicable, not later than Closing Time on the Transmittal Date, and the requisite number of Shares of the Fund are delivered to the Custodian prior to the DTC Cut-Off-Time, then the value of the In-Kind Redemption Basket and the Cash Redemption Amount to be delivered/received will be determined by the Custodian on such Transmittal Date. If, however, either: (i) the requisite number of Shares of the relevant Fund are not delivered by the DTC Cut-Off-Time, as described above, or (ii) the redemption order is not submitted in proper form, then the redemption order will not be deemed received as of the Transmittal Date. In such case, the value of the In-Kind Redemption Basket and the Cash Redemption Amount to be delivered/received will be computed on the Business Day following the Transmittal Date provided that the Fund Shares of the relevant Fund are delivered through DTC to the Custodian by 11:00 a.m. the following Business Day pursuant to a properly submitted redemption order.
If it is not possible to effect deliveries of the securities or other instruments in the In-Kind Redemption Basket, the Trust may in its discretion exercise its option to redeem such Fund Shares in cash, and the redeeming beneficial owner will be required to receive its redemption proceeds in cash. In addition, an investor may request a redemption in cash that the Fund may, in its sole discretion, permit. In either case, the investor will receive a cash payment equal to the NAV of its Fund Shares based on the NAV of Shares of the relevant Fund next determined after the redemption request is received in proper form (minus a Transaction Fee).
A Fund may also, in its sole discretion, upon request of a shareholder, provide such redeemer a portfolio of securities or other instruments that differs from the exact composition of the In-Kind Redemption Basket, or cash in lieu of some securities or other instruments added to the Cash Component, but in no event will the total value of the securities or other instruments delivered and the cash transmitted differ from the NAV. Redemptions of Fund Shares for the In-Kind Redemption Basket will be subject to compliance with applicable federal and state securities laws and the Fund (whether or not it otherwise permits cash redemptions) reserves the right to redeem Creation Units for cash to the extent that the Trust could not lawfully deliver specific securities or other instruments in the In-Kind Redemption Basket upon redemptions or could not do so without first registering the securities in the In-Kind Redemption Basket under such laws. An Authorized Participant or an investor for which it is acting subject to a legal restriction with respect to a particular security or other instrument included in the In-Kind Redemption Basket applicable to
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the redemption of a Creation Unit may be paid an equivalent amount of cash. The Authorized Participant may request the redeeming beneficial owner of the Fund Shares to complete an order form or to enter into agreements with respect to such matters as compensating cash payment, beneficial ownership of Shares or delivery instructions.
Anti-Money Laundering Compliance
The Funds are required to comply with various anti-money laundering laws and regulations. Shares of the Funds may only be purchased or redeemed in Creation Units by broker dealer firms that have entered into an Authorized Participant agreement with the Distributor. The Authorized Participants may offer shares of the Funds to investors, who then are required to comply with the various anti-money laundering laws and regulations. The Authorized Participants may request additional required information from Fund investors to verify their identity.
The Funds have delegated aspects of their anti-money laundering compliance to the Distributor. The Distributor permits federal examiners, such as the SEC, to obtain information and records relating to the Distributor’s anti-money laundering duties as they relate to the Funds, and to inspect the Distributor for purposes of the Funds’ Anti-Money laundering program.
Offering Price
The share price of each Fund is based on each Fund’s net asset value (NAV) per share, which is calculated as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE (which is usually 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time unless the NYSE closes earlier for scheduled or for unforeseen reasons) on each day the Fund is open for business, unless the Board determines otherwise. The Funds do not value their shares on days that the NYSE is closed.
The value of each Fund’s portfolio securities is determined in accordance with the Trust’s valuation procedures, which are approved by the Board. Except as described below under “Fair Valuation of Portfolio Securities,” the Fund’s portfolio securities are typically valued using the following methodologies:
Equity Securities. Equity securities (including common stocks, preferred stocks, convertible securities, warrants and ETFs) listed on an exchange are valued at the closing price on their primary exchange (which, in the case of foreign securities, may be a foreign exchange) or, if a closing price is not readily available, at the mean of the closing bid and asked prices. Over-the-counter equity securities not listed on any national exchange but included in the NASDAQ National Market System are valued at the NASDAQ Official Closing Price or, if the official closing price is not readily available, at the mean between the closing bid and asked prices. Equity securities and ETFs that are not listed on any national exchange and are not included in the NASDAQ National Market System are valued at the mean between the closing bid and asked prices. Shares of other open-end investment companies (other than ETFs) are valued at the latest net asset value reported by those companies as of the valuation time.
Fixed Income Securities. Debt securities with remaining maturities of 60 days or less are valued at their amortized cost value if such value is approximately the same as market value or at market value (based on market-based prices); or, if market value is not available, fair value. Amortized cost is determined by systematically increasing the carrying value of a security if acquired at a discount, or reducing the carrying value if acquired at a premium, so that the carrying value is equal to maturity value on the maturity date. The value of debt securities with remaining maturities in excess of 60 days is the market price, which may be obtained from a pricing service or, if a market-based price is not available from a pricing service, a bid quote from a broker-dealer. Short-term variable rate demand notes are typically valued at their par value. Other debt securities are typically valued using an evaluated bid provided by a pricing service. If pricing information is unavailable from a pricing service or is not believed to be reflective of market value, then a bid quote from a broker-dealer may be used to value the securities. Newly issued debt securities may be valued at purchase price for up to two days following purchase or at fair value if the purchase price is not believed to be reflective of market value.
Futures, Options and Other Derivatives. Futures and options on futures are valued based on the settle price at the close of regular trading on their principal exchange or, in the absence of transactions, they are valued at the mean of the closing bid and asked prices closest to the last reported sale price. Listed options are valued at the mean of the closing bid and asked prices. If market quotations are not readily available, futures and options are valued using quotations from broker-dealers. Customized derivative products are valued at a price provided by a pricing service or, if such a price is unavailable, a broker quote or at a price derived from an internal valuation model.
Repurchase and Reverse Repurchase Agreements. Repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements are generally valued at a price equal to the amount of cash invested in the repurchase agreement, or borrowed in the reverse repurchase agreement, respectively, at the time of valuation.
Private Placement Securities. Private placement securities requiring fair valuation are typically valued utilizing prices from broker-dealers or using internal analysis and any issuer-provided financial information.
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Foreign Currencies. Foreign currencies, securities denominated in foreign currencies and payables/receivables denominated in foreign currencies are valued in U.S. dollars utilizing spot exchange rates at the close of regular trading on the NYSE. Forward foreign currency contracts are valued in U.S. dollars utilizing the applicable forward currency exchange rate as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE.
Fair Valuation of Portfolio Securities. In the event that (i) market quotations or valuations from other sources are not readily available, such as when trading is halted or securities are not actively traded; (ii) market quotations or valuations from other sources are not reflective of market value (i.e., such prices or values are deemed unreliable in the judgment of the Investment Manager); or (iii) a significant event has been recognized in relation to a security or class of securities that is not reflected in market quotations or valuations from other sources, a fair value for each such security is determined in accordance with valuation procedures approved by the Board. The fair value of a security is likely to be different from the quoted or published price and fair value determinations often require significant judgment.
In general, any relevant factors may be taken into account in determining fair value, including but not limited to the following, among others: the fundamental analytical data relating to the security; the value of other financial instruments, including derivative securities traded on other markets or among dealers; trading volumes on markets, exchanges, or among dealers; values of baskets of securities traded on other markets, exchanges, or among dealers; changes in interest rates; observations from financial institutions; government actions or pronouncements; other news events; information as to any transactions or offers with respect to the security; price and extent of public trading in similar securities of the issuer or comparable companies; nature and expected duration of the event, if any, giving rise to the valuation issue; pricing history; the relative size of the position in the portfolio; internal models; and other relevant information.
With respect to securities traded on foreign markets, relevant factors may include, but not be limited to, the following: the value of foreign securities traded on other foreign markets; ADR and/or GDR trading; closed-end fund trading; foreign currency exchange activity and prices; and the trading of financial products that are tied to baskets of foreign securities, such as certain exchange-traded index funds.
Additional Information Concerning Shares
Book Entry Only System
DTC acts as securities depositary for Shares. Shares are registered in the name of the DTC or its nominee, Cede & Co., and deposited with, or on behalf of, DTC. Certificates generally will not be issued for Shares.
Beneficial owners are not entitled to have Shares registered in their names, will not receive or be entitled to receive physical delivery of certificates in definitive form and are not considered the registered holder thereof. Accordingly, each beneficial owner must rely on the procedures of DTC to exercise any rights as a holder of Shares.
The Trust will not make the DTC book-entry Dividend Reinvestment Service available for use by beneficial owners for reinvestment of their cash proceeds but certain brokers may make a dividend reinvestment service available to their clients. Brokers offering such services may require investors to adhere to specific procedures and timetables in order to participate. Investors interested in such a service should contact their broker for availability and other necessary details.
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TAXATION
The following information supplements and should be read in conjunction with the section in the Funds’ prospectuses entitled Distributions and Taxes . The prospectuses generally describe the U.S. federal income tax treatment of distributions by the Funds. This section of the SAI provides additional information concerning U.S. federal income and other taxes. It is based on the Code, applicable U.S. Treasury Regulations, judicial authority, and administrative rulings and practice, all as in effect as of the date of this SAI and all of which are subject to change, including changes with retroactive effect. Except as specifically set forth below, the following discussion does not address any state, local or foreign tax matters. The Funds may or may not invest in all of the securities or other instruments described in this Taxation section. Please see the Funds' prospectuses for information about a Fund's investments, as well as each Fund’s semiannual and annual shareholder reports, when available.
A shareholder’s tax treatment may vary depending upon his or her particular situation. This discussion applies only to shareholders holding Fund shares as capital assets within the meaning of the Code. Except as otherwise noted, it may not apply to certain types of shareholders who may be subject to special rules, such as insurance companies, tax-exempt organizations, shareholders holding Fund shares through tax-advantaged accounts (such as 401(k) Plan Accounts or Individual Retirement Accounts, variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance contracts), financial institutions, broker-dealers, entities that are not organized under the laws of the United States or a political subdivision thereof, persons who are neither citizens nor residents of the United States, shareholders holding Fund shares as part of a hedge, straddle, or conversion transaction, and shareholders who are subject to the U.S. federal alternative minimum tax.
The Trust has not requested and will not request an advance ruling from the IRS as to the U.S. federal income tax matters described below. The IRS could adopt positions contrary to those discussed below and such positions could be sustained. In addition, the following discussion and the discussions in the prospectuses address only some of the U.S. federal income tax considerations generally affecting investments in the Funds. Prospective shareholders are urged to consult with their own tax advisors and financial planners regarding the U.S. federal tax consequences of an investment in a Fund, the application of state, local, or foreign laws, and the effect of any possible changes in applicable tax laws on their investment in the Funds.
Qualification as a Regulated Investment Company
It is intended that each Fund qualify as a “regulated investment company” under Subchapter M of Subtitle A, Chapter 1 of the Code. Each Fund will be treated as a separate entity for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Thus, the provisions of the Code applicable to regulated investment companies generally will apply separately to each Fund, even though each Fund is a series of the Trust. Furthermore, each Fund will separately determine its income, gains, losses, and expenses for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
In order to qualify for the special tax treatment accorded regulated investment companies and their shareholders under the Code, each Fund must, among other things, derive at least 90% of its gross income each taxable year generally from (i) dividends, interest, certain payments with respect to securities loans, gains from the sale or other disposition of stock, securities or foreign currencies, or other income attributable to its business of investing in such stock, securities or foreign currencies (including, but not limited to, gains from options, futures or forward contracts) and (ii) net income derived from an interest in a qualified publicly traded partnership, as defined below. In general, for purposes of this 90% gross income requirement, income derived from a partnership (other than a qualified publicly traded partnership) will be treated as qualifying income only to the extent such income is attributable to items of income of the partnership which would be qualifying income if realized directly by the regulated investment company. However, 100% of the net income derived from an interest in a qualified publicly traded partnership (generally, defined as a partnership (x) the interests in which are traded on an established securities market or readily tradable on a secondary market or the substantial equivalent thereof, and (y) that derives less than 90% of its gross income from the qualifying income described in clause (i) above) will be treated as qualifying income. In general, such entities will be treated as partnerships for federal income tax purposes if they meet the passive income requirement under Code Section 7704(c)(2). Certain of a Fund’s investments in master limited partnerships (MLPs) and ETFs, if any, may qualify as interests in qualified publicly traded partnerships. In addition, although in general the passive loss rules do not apply to a regulated investment company, such rules do apply to a regulated investment company with respect to items attributable to an interest in a qualified publicly traded partnership.
Each Fund must also diversify its holdings so that, at the end of each quarter of the Fund’s taxable year: (i) at least 50% of the fair market value of its total assets consists of (A) cash and cash items (including receivables), U.S. Government securities and securities of other regulated investment companies, and (B) other securities, of any one issuer (other than those described in clause (A)) to the extent such securities do not exceed 5% of the value of the Fund’s total assets and are not more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of such issuer, and (ii) not more than 25% of the value of the Fund’s total assets is invested in, including through corporations in which the Fund owns a 20% or more voting stock interest, the securities of any one issuer
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(other than those described in clause (i)(A)), the securities (other than securities of other regulated investment companies) of two or more issuers the Fund controls and which are engaged in the same, similar, or related trades or businesses, or the securities of one or more qualified publicly traded partnerships.
In addition, for purposes of meeting this diversification requirement, the term “outstanding voting securities of such issuer” includes the equity securities of a qualified publicly traded partnership and in the case of a Fund’s investments in loan participations, the Fund shall treat both the financial intermediary and the issuer of the underlying loan as an issuer. The qualifying income and diversification requirements described above may limit the extent to which a Fund can engage in certain derivative transactions, as well as the extent to which it can invest in MLPs and certain commodity-linked ETFs.
In addition, each Fund generally must distribute to its shareholders at least 90% of its investment company taxable income for the taxable year, which generally includes its ordinary income and the excess of any net short-term capital gain over net long-term capital loss, and at least 90% of its net tax-exempt interest income (if any) for the taxable year.
If a Fund qualifies as a regulated investment company that is accorded special tax treatment, it generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on any of the investment company taxable income and net capital gain ( i.e. , the excess of net long-term capital gain over net short-term capital loss) it distributes to its shareholders. Each Fund generally intends to distribute at least annually substantially all of its investment company taxable income (computed without regard to the dividends-paid deduction) and its net capital gain. However, no assurance can be given that a Fund will not be subject to U.S. federal income taxation. Any investment company taxable income or net capital gain retained by a Fund will be subject to tax at regular corporate rates.
If a Fund retains any net capital gain, it will be subject to a tax at regular corporate rates on the amount retained, but may designate the retained amount as undistributed capital gains in a notice mailed within 60 days of the close of the Fund’s taxable year to its shareholders, who (i) will be required to include in income for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as long-term capital gain, their shares of such undistributed amount, and (ii) will be entitled to credit their proportionate shares of the tax paid by the Fund on such undistributed amount against their U.S. federal income tax liabilities, if any, and to claim refunds to the extent the credit exceeds such liabilities. For U.S. federal income tax purposes, the tax basis of shares owned by a shareholder of a Fund will be increased by an amount equal under current law to the difference between the amount of undistributed capital gains included in the shareholder’s gross income under clause (i) of the preceding sentence and the tax deemed paid by the shareholder under clause (ii) of the preceding sentence.
In determining its net capital gain, including in connection with determining the amount available to support a Capital Gain Dividend (as defined below), its taxable income, and its earnings and profits, a regulated investment company generally may elect to treat part or all of any post-October capital loss (defined as any net capital loss attributable to the portion of the taxable year after October 31 or, if there is no such loss, the net long-term capital loss or net short-term capital loss attributable to such portion, if any, of the taxable year) or late-year ordinary loss (generally, the sum of its (i) net ordinary loss from the sale, exchange or other taxable disposition of property, attributable to the portion, if any, of the taxable year after October 31 and its (ii) other net ordinary loss attributable to the portion, if any, of the taxable year after December 31) as if incurred in the succeeding taxable year.
In order to comply with the distribution requirements described above applicable to regulated investment companies, a Fund generally must make the distributions in the same taxable year that it realizes the income and gain, although in certain circumstances, a Fund may make the distributions in the following taxable year in respect of income and gains from the prior taxable year. Shareholders generally are taxed on any distributions from a Fund in the year they are actually distributed. If a Fund declares a distribution to shareholders of record in October, November or December of one calendar year and pays the distribution in January of the following calendar year, however, the Fund and its shareholders will be treated as if the Fund paid the distribution on December 31 of the earlier year.
If a Fund were to fail to meet the income, diversification or distribution tests described above, the Fund could in some cases cure such failure including by paying a fund-level tax or interest, making additional distributions, or disposing of certain assets. If the Fund were ineligible to or otherwise did not cure such failure for any year, or were otherwise to fail to qualify and be eligible for treatment as a regulated investment company accorded special tax treatment under the Code, it would be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation without any deduction for its distributions to shareholders. In this case, all distributions from the Fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits (including any distributions of its net tax-exempt income and net long-term capital gains) to its shareholders would be taxable to shareholders as dividend income. In addition, the Fund could be required to recognize unrealized gains, pay substantial taxes and interest and make substantial distributions before requalifying as a regulated investment company.
Excise Tax
If a Fund fails to distribute by December 31 of each calendar year at least the sum of 98% of its ordinary income for that year (excluding capital gains and losses) and 98.2% of its capital gain net income (adjusted for net ordinary losses) for the 1-year period ending on October 31 of that year (or November 30 or December 31 of that year if the Fund is permitted to elect and so
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elects), and any of its ordinary income and capital gain net income from previous years that were not distributed during such years, the Fund will be subject to a nondeductible 4% excise tax on the undistributed amounts. For these purposes, ordinary gains and losses from the sale, exchange, or other taxable disposition of property that would be properly taken into account after October 31 of a calendar year (or November 30 or December 31 if the Fund is permitted to elect and so elects) are generally treated as arising on January 1 of the following calendar year. For purposes of the excise tax, a Fund will be treated as having distributed any amount on which it has been subject to corporate income tax in the taxable year ending within the calendar year. Each Fund generally intends to actually distribute or be deemed to have distributed substantially all of its ordinary income and capital gain net income, if any, by the end of each calendar year and, thus, expects not to be subject to the excise tax. However, no assurance can be given that a Fund will not be subject to the excise tax. Moreover, a Fund reserves the right to pay an excise tax rather than make an additional distribution when circumstances warrant (for example, if the amount of excise tax to be paid is deemed de minimis by a Fund).
Capital Loss Carryovers
Capital losses in excess of capital gains (“net capital losses”) are not permitted to be deducted against a Fund’s net investment income. Instead, potentially subject to certain limitations, a Fund is able to carry forward a net capital loss from any taxable year to offset its capital gains, if any, realized during a subsequent taxable year.
Net capital losses a Fund incurs, if any, will be carried forward to one or more subsequent taxable years without expiration; any such carryover losses will retain their character as short-term or long-term.
Capital gains that are offset by carried forward capital losses are not subject to fund-level U.S. federal income taxation, regardless of whether they are distributed to shareholders. Accordingly, the Funds do not expect to distribute any capital gains so offset. The Funds cannot carry back or carry forward any net operating losses (defined as deductions and ordinary losses in excess of ordinary income).
Equalization Accounting
Each Fund may use the so-called “equalization method” of accounting to allocate a portion of its “accumulated earnings and profits,” which generally equals a Fund’s undistributed net investment income and realized capital gains, with certain adjustments, to redemption proceeds. This method permits a Fund to achieve more balanced distributions for both continuing and redeeming shareholders. Although using this method generally will not affect a Fund’s total returns, it may reduce the amount of income and gains that the Fund would otherwise distribute to continuing shareholders by reducing the effect of redemptions of Fund shares on Fund distributions to shareholders. The IRS has not sanctioned the particular equalization method used by the Funds, and thus a Fund’s use of this method may be subject to IRS scrutiny.
Taxation of Fund Investments
In general, realized gains or losses on the sale of securities held by a Fund will be treated as capital gains or losses, and long-term capital gains or losses if the Fund has held or is deemed to have held the securities for more than one year at the time of disposition.
If a Fund purchases a debt obligation with original issue discount (OID) (generally a debt obligation with an issue price less than its stated principal amount, such as a zero-coupon bond), the Fund may be required to annually include in its income a portion of the OID as ordinary income, even though the Fund will not receive cash payments for such discount until maturity or disposition of the obligation, and depending on market conditions and the credit quality of the bond, might not ever receive cash for such discount. OID on tax-exempt bonds is generally not subject to U.S. federal income tax (but may be subject to the U.S. federal alternative minimum tax or "AMT," as that term is defined below).
Inflation-protected bonds generally can be expected to produce OID income as their principal amounts are adjusted upward for inflation. In general, gains recognized on the disposition of (or the receipt of any partial payment of principal on) a debt obligation (including a municipal obligation) purchased by a Fund at a market discount, generally at a price less than its principal amount, will be treated as ordinary income to the extent of the portion of market discount which accrued, but was not previously recognized pursuant to an available election, during the term that the Fund held the debt obligation.
A Fund generally will be required to make distributions to shareholders representing the OID or market discount (if an election is made by the Fund to include market discount over the holding period of the applicable debt obligation) on debt securities that is currently includible in income, even though the cash representing such income may not have been received by the Fund, and depending on market conditions and the credit quality of the bond, might not ever be received. Cash to pay such distributions may be obtained from borrowing or from sales proceeds of securities held by a Fund which the Fund otherwise might have continued to hold; obtaining such cash might be disadvantageous for the Fund. In addition, payment-in-kind securities similarly will give rise to income which is required to be distributed and is taxable even though a Fund receives no cash interest payment
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on the security during the year. A portion of the interest paid or accrued on certain high-yield discount obligations (such as high-yield corporate debt securities) may not (and interest paid on debt obligations owned by a Fund that are considered for tax purposes to be payable in the equity of the issuer or a related party will not) be deductible to the issuer, possibly affecting the cash flow of the issuer.
If a Fund invests in debt obligations that are in the lowest rating categories or are unrated, including debt obligations of issuers not currently paying interest or who are in default, special tax issues may exist for the Fund. Tax rules are not entirely clear about issues such as: (1) whether a Fund should recognize market discount on a debt obligation and, if so, (2) the amount of market discount the Fund should recognize, (3) when a Fund may cease to accrue interest, OID or market discount, (4) when and to what extent deductions may be taken for bad debts or worthless securities and (5) how payments received on obligations in default should be allocated between principal and income. These and other related issues will be addressed by a Fund when, as and if it invests in such securities, in order to seek to ensure that it distributes sufficient income to preserve its status and eligibility for treatment as a regulated investment company and does not become subject to U.S. federal income or excise tax.
Very generally, when a Fund purchases a bond at a price that exceeds the redemption price at maturity – that is, at a premium – the premium is amortizable over the remaining term of the bond. In the case of a taxable bond, if a Fund makes an election applicable to all such bonds it purchases, which election is irrevocable without consent of the IRS, the Fund reduces the current interest taxable income from the bond by the amortized premium and reduces its tax basis in the bond by the amount of such offset; upon the disposition or maturity of such bonds acquired on or after January 4, 2013, a Fund is permitted to deduct any remaining premium allocable to a prior period.
If an option granted by a Fund is sold, lapses or is otherwise terminated through a closing transaction, such as a repurchase by the Fund of the option from its holder, the Fund generally will realize a short-term capital gain or loss, depending on whether the premium income is greater or less than the amount paid by the Fund in the closing transaction, unless the option is subject to Section 1256 of the Code, described below. Some capital losses realized by a Fund in the sale, exchange, exercise or other disposition of an option may be deferred if they result from a position that is part of a “straddle,” discussed below. If securities are sold by a Fund pursuant to the exercise of a covered call option granted by it, the Fund generally will add the premium received to the sale price of the securities delivered in determining the amount of gain or loss on the sale. If securities are purchased by a Fund pursuant to the exercise of a put option granted by it, the Fund generally will subtract the premium received from its cost basis in the securities purchased.
Some regulated futures contracts, foreign currency contracts, and non-equity, listed options that may be used by a Fund will be deemed “Section 1256 contracts.” A Fund will be required to “mark to market” any such contracts held at the end of the taxable year by treating them as if they had been sold on the last day of that year at market value. Sixty percent of any net gain or loss realized on all dispositions of Section 1256 contracts, including deemed dispositions under the “mark-to-market” rule, generally will be treated as long-term capital gain or loss, and the remaining 40% will be treated as short-term capital gain or loss, although certain foreign currency gains and losses from such contracts may be treated as entirely ordinary income or loss as described below. These provisions may require a Fund to recognize income or gains without a concurrent receipt of cash. Transactions that qualify as designated hedges are exempt from the mark-to-market rule and the “60%/40%” rule and may require the Fund to defer the recognition of losses on certain futures contracts, foreign currency contracts, and non-equity options.
Foreign exchange gains and losses realized by a Fund in connection with certain transactions involving foreign currency-denominated debt securities, certain options, futures contracts, forward contracts and similar instruments relating to foreign currencies, or payables or receivables denominated in a foreign currency are subject to Section 988 of the Code, which generally causes such gains and losses to be treated as ordinary income or loss and may affect the amount and timing of recognition of the Fund’s income. Under future U.S. Treasury Regulations, any such transactions that are not directly related to a Fund’s investments in stock or securities (or its options contracts or futures contracts with respect to stock or securities) may have to be limited in order to enable the Fund to satisfy the 90% qualifying income test described above. If the net foreign exchange loss exceeds a Fund’s net investment company taxable income (computed without regard to such loss) for a taxable year, the resulting ordinary loss for such year will not be available as a carryover and thus cannot be deducted by the Fund or its shareholders in future years.
Offsetting positions held by a Fund involving certain derivative instruments, such as forward, futures and options contracts, may be considered, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, to constitute “straddles.” “Straddles” are defined to include “offsetting positions” in actively traded personal property. The tax treatment of “straddles” is governed by Section 1092 of the Code which, in certain circumstances, overrides or modifies the provisions of Section 1256. If a Fund is treated as entering into a “straddle” and at least one (but not all) of the Fund’s positions in derivative contracts comprising a part of such straddle is governed by Section 1256 of the Code, described above, then such straddle could be characterized as a “mixed straddle.” A Fund may make one or more elections with respect to “mixed straddles.” Depending upon which election is made, if any, the results with respect to a Fund may differ. Generally, to the extent the straddle rules apply to positions established by a Fund, losses realized by the
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Fund may be deferred to the extent of unrealized gain in any offsetting positions. Moreover, as a result of the straddle rules, short-term capital loss on straddle positions may be recharacterized as long-term capital loss, and long-term capital gain may be characterized as short-term capital gain. In addition, the existence of a straddle may affect the holding period of the offsetting positions. As a result, the straddle rules could cause distributions that would otherwise constitute “qualified dividend income” or qualify for the dividends-received deduction to fail to satisfy the applicable holding period requirements (as described below). Furthermore, the Fund may be required to capitalize, rather than deduct currently, any interest expense and carrying charges applicable to a position that is part of a straddle, including any interest on indebtedness incurred or continued to purchase or carry any positions that are part of a straddle. The application of the straddle rules to certain offsetting Fund positions can therefore affect the amount, timing, and character of distributions to shareholders, and may result in significant differences from the amount, timing and character of distributions that would have been made by the Fund if it had not entered into offsetting positions in respect of certain of its portfolio securities.
If a Fund enters into a “constructive sale” of any appreciated financial position in stock, a partnership interest, or certain debt instruments, the Fund will be treated as if it had sold and immediately repurchased the property and must recognize gain (but not loss) with respect to that position. A constructive sale of an appreciated financial position occurs when a Fund enters into certain offsetting transactions with respect to the same or substantially identical property, including, but not limited to: (i) a short sale; (ii) an offsetting notional principal contract; (iii) a futures or forward contract; or (iv) other transactions identified in future U.S. Treasury Regulations. The character of the gain from constructive sales will depend upon a Fund’s holding period in the appreciated financial position. Losses realized from a sale of a position that was previously the subject of a constructive sale will be recognized when the position is subsequently disposed of. The character of such losses will depend upon a Fund’s holding period in the position beginning with the date the constructive sale was deemed to have occurred and the application of various loss deferral provisions in the Code. Constructive sale treatment does not apply to certain closed transactions, including if such a transaction is closed on or before the 30th day after the close of the Fund’s taxable year and the Fund holds the appreciated financial position unhedged throughout the 60-day period beginning with the day such transaction was closed.
The amount of long-term capital gain a Fund may recognize from certain derivative transactions with respect to interests in certain pass-through entities is limited under the Code’s constructive ownership rules. The amount of long-term capital gain is limited to the amount of such gain the Fund would have had if the Fund directly invested in the pass-through entity during the term of the derivative contract. Any gain in excess of this amount is treated as ordinary income. An interest charge is imposed on the amount of gain that is treated as ordinary income.
If a Fund makes a distribution of income received by the Fund in lieu of dividends (a “substitute payment”) with respect to securities on loan pursuant to a securities lending transaction, such income will not constitute qualified dividend income to individual shareholders and will not be eligible for the dividends-received deduction for corporate shareholders. Similar consequences may apply to repurchase and other derivative transactions.
In addition, a Fund’s transactions in securities and certain types of derivatives ( e.g., options, futures contracts, forward contracts and swap agreements) may be subject to other special tax rules, such as the wash sale rules or the short-sale rules, the effect of which may be to accelerate income to the Fund, defer losses to the Fund, cause adjustments in the holding periods of the Fund’s securities, convert long-term capital gains into short-term capital gains, and/or convert short-term capital losses into long-term capital losses. These rules could therefore affect the amount, timing and character of distributions to shareholders.
Certain of a Fund’s investments in derivative instruments and foreign currency-denominated instruments, as well as any of its foreign currency transactions and hedging activities, are likely to produce a difference between its book income and its taxable income. If a Fund’s book income exceeds the sum of its taxable income and net tax-exempt income (if any), the distribution (if any) of such excess generally will be treated as (i) a dividend to the extent of the Fund’s remaining earnings and profits (including earnings and profits arising from tax-exempt income), (ii) thereafter, as a return of capital to the extent of the recipient’s basis in its shares, and (iii) thereafter, as gain from the sale or exchange of a capital asset. If a Fund’s book income is less than the sum of its taxable income and net tax-exempt income (if any), the Fund could be required to make distributions exceeding book income to qualify for treatment as a regulated investment company that is accorded special tax treatment.
Rules governing the U.S. federal income tax aspects of derivatives, including swap agreements and certain commodity-linked investments, are in a developing stage and are not entirely clear in certain respects. Accordingly, while each Fund intends to account for such transactions in a manner it deems to be appropriate, an adverse determination or future guidance by the IRS with respect to these rules (which determination or guidance could be retroactive) may affect whether a Fund has made sufficient distributions, and otherwise satisfied the relevant requirements to maintain its qualification as a regulated investment company and avoid fund-level tax. Certain requirements that must be met under the Code in order for a Fund to qualify as a regulated investment company may limit the extent to which a Fund will be able to engage in certain derivatives.
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Any investment by a Fund in equity securities of a REIT may result in the Fund’s receipt of cash in excess of the REIT’s earnings; if the Fund distributes these amounts, these distributions could constitute a return of capital to Fund shareholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Dividends received by a Fund from a REIT generally will not constitute qualified dividend income and will not qualify for the dividends-received deduction.
A Fund may invest directly or indirectly in residual interests in REMICs or equity interests in taxable mortgage pools (TMPs). Under an IRS notice, and U.S. Treasury Regulations that have yet to be issued but may apply retroactively, a portion of a Fund’s income (including income allocated to the Fund from a REIT, a regulated investment company or other pass-through entity) that is attributable to a residual interest in a REMIC or an equity interest in a TMP (referred to in the Code as an “excess inclusion”) will be subject to U.S. federal income tax in all events. This notice also provides, and the regulations are expected to provide, that excess inclusion income of a regulated investment company, such as a Fund, will be allocated to shareholders of the regulated investment company in proportion to the dividends received by such shareholders, with the same consequences as if the shareholders held the related interest directly. As a result, the Fund may not be a suitable investment for certain tax-exempt shareholders, as noted under Tax-Exempt Shareholders below.
In general, excess inclusion income allocated to shareholders (i) cannot be offset by net operating losses (subject to a limited exception for certain thrift institutions), (ii) will constitute unrelated business taxable income (UBTI) to entities (including a qualified pension plan, an individual retirement account, a 401(k) plan, a Keogh plan or certain other tax-exempt entities) subject to tax on UBTI, thereby potentially requiring such an entity that is allocated excess inclusion income, and otherwise might not be required to file a tax return, to file a tax return and pay tax on such income, and (iii) in the case of a foreign shareholder, will not qualify for any reduction in U.S. federal withholding tax.
Some amounts received by a Fund from its investments in MLPs will likely be treated as returns of capital because of accelerated deductions available with respect to the activities of MLPs. On the disposition of an investment in such an MLP, the Fund will likely realize taxable income in excess of economic gain from that asset (or, in later periods, if a Fund does not dispose of the MLP, the Fund will likely realize taxable income in excess of cash flow received by the Fund from the MLP), and the Fund must take such income into account in determining whether the Fund has satisfied its regulated investment company distribution requirements. The Fund may have to borrow or liquidate securities to satisfy its distribution requirements and meet its redemption requests, even though investment considerations might otherwise make it undesirable for the Fund to borrow money or sell securities at the time. In addition, distributions attributable to gain from the sale of MLPs that are characterized as ordinary income under the Code’s recapture provisions will be taxable to Fund shareholders as ordinary income.
As noted above, certain of the ETFs and MLPs in which a Fund may invest qualify as qualified publicly traded partnerships. In such cases, the net income derived from such investments will constitute qualifying income for purposes of the 90% gross income requirement described earlier for qualification as a regulated investment company. If, however, such a vehicle were to fail to qualify as a qualified publicly traded partnership in a particular year, a Fund’s investment in that vehicle would be treated as an investment in a publicly traded partnership subject to taxation as a corporation, which would reduce the amount of income available for distribution by the vehicle to the Fund, and could adversely affect the Fund’s qualification for the asset diversification test, and thus could adversely affect the Fund’s ability to qualify as a regulated investment company for a particular year. In addition, as described above, the diversification requirement for regulated investment company qualification will limit a Fund’s investments in one or more vehicles that are qualified publicly traded partnerships to 25% of the Fund’s total assets as of the end of each quarter of the Fund’s taxable year.
“Passive foreign investment companies” (PFICs) are generally defined as foreign corporations where at least 75% of their gross income for their taxable year is income from passive sources (such as certain interest, dividends, rents and royalties, or capital gains) or at least 50% of their assets on average produce or are held for the production of such passive income. If a Fund acquires any equity interest in a PFIC, the Fund could be subject to U.S. federal income tax and interest charges on “excess distributions” received from the PFIC or on gain from the sale of such equity interest in the PFIC, even if all income or gain actually received by the Fund is timely distributed to its shareholders. Excess distributions and gain from the sale of interests in PFICs may be characterized as ordinary income even though, absent the application of PFIC rules, these amounts may otherwise have been classified as capital gain.
A Fund will not be permitted to pass through to its shareholders any credit or deduction for these special taxes and interest charges incurred with respect to a PFIC. Elections may be available that would ameliorate these adverse tax consequences, but such elections would require a Fund to include its share of the PFIC’s income and net capital gains annually, regardless of whether it receives any distribution from the PFIC (in the case of a “QEF election”), or to mark the gains (and to a limited extent losses) in its interests in the PFIC “to the market” as though the Fund had sold and repurchased such interests on the last day of the Fund’s taxable year, treating such gains and losses as ordinary income and loss (in the case of a “mark-to-market election”). The QEF and mark-to-market elections may require a Fund to recognize taxable income or gain without the concurrent receipt of cash and increase the amount required to be distributed by the Fund to avoid taxation. Making either of these elections therefore may require a Fund to liquidate other investments prematurely to meet the minimum distribution requirements
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described above, which also may accelerate the recognition of gain and adversely affect the Fund’s total return. Each Fund may attempt to limit and/or manage its holdings in PFICs to minimize tax liability and/or maximize returns from these investments but there can be no assurance that it will be able to do so. Moreover, because it is not always possible to identify a foreign corporation as a PFIC, a Fund may incur the tax and interest charges described above in some instances. Dividends paid by PFICs will not be eligible to be treated as qualified dividend income, as defined below.
A U.S. person, including a Fund, who owns (directly or indirectly) 10% or more of the total combined voting power of all classes of stock of a foreign corporation is a “U.S. Shareholder” for purposes of the controlled foreign corporation (“CFC”) provisions of the Code. Generally, a CFC is a foreign corporation that is owned (directly, indirectly, or constructively) more than 50% (measured by voting power or value) by U.S. Shareholders. As a U.S. Shareholder, such a Fund is required to include in gross income for U.S. federal income tax purposes all of a CFC’s “subpart F income,” whether or not such income is actually distributed by the CFC. Subpart F income generally includes net gains from the disposition of stocks or securities, receipts with respect to securities loans, net gains from transactions (including futures, forward, and similar transactions) in commodities, and net payments received with respect to equity swaps and similar derivatives. Subpart F income is treated as ordinary income, regardless of the character of the CFC’s underlying income. Net losses incurred by a CFC during a tax year do not flow through to the Fund and thus will not be available to offset income or capital gain generated from the Fund’s other investments. In addition, net losses incurred by a CFC during a tax year generally cannot be carried forward by the CFC to offset gains realized by it in subsequent taxable years. To the extent the Fund recognizes subpart F income in excess of actual cash distributions from a CFC, the Fund may be required to sell assets (including when it is not advantageous to do so) to generate the cash necessary to distribute as dividends to its shareholders all of its income and gains and therefore to eliminate any tax liability at the Fund level.
In addition to the investments described above, prospective shareholders should be aware that other investments made by a Fund may involve complex tax rules that may result in income or gain recognition by the Fund without corresponding current cash receipts. Although each Fund seeks to avoid significant noncash income, such noncash income could be recognized by a Fund, in which case the Fund may distribute cash derived from other sources in order to meet the minimum distribution requirements described above. In this regard, a Fund could be required at times to liquidate investments prematurely in order to satisfy its minimum distribution requirements, which may accelerate the recognition of gain and adversely affect the Fund’s total return.
Taxation of Distributions
Distributions paid out of a Fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits, whether paid in cash or reinvested in the Fund, generally are deemed to be taxable distributions and must be reported by each shareholder who is required to file a U.S. federal income tax return. Dividends and distributions on a Fund’s shares are generally subject to U.S. federal income tax as described herein to the extent they do not exceed the Fund’s realized income and gains, even though such dividends and distributions may economically represent a return of a particular shareholder’s investment. Such distributions are likely to occur in respect of shares purchased at a time when the Fund’s net asset value reflects either unrealized gains, or realized but undistributed income or gains. Such realized income and gains may be required to be distributed even when the Fund’s net asset value also reflects unrealized losses. For U.S. federal income tax purposes, a Fund’s earnings and profits, described above, are determined at the end of the Fund’s taxable year. Distributions in excess of a Fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits will first be treated as a return of capital up to the amount of a shareholder’s tax basis in his or her Fund shares and then as capital gain. A return of capital is not taxable, but it reduces a shareholder’s tax basis in his or her Fund shares, thus reducing any loss or increasing any gain on a subsequent taxable disposition by the shareholder of his or her shares. A Fund may make distributions in excess of its earnings and profits to a limited extent, from time to time.
For U.S. federal income tax purposes, distributions of investment income (except for qualified dividend income, defined below) are generally taxable as ordinary income, and distributions of gains from the sale of investments that a Fund owned (or is deemed to have owned) for one year or less will be taxable as ordinary income. Distributions properly reported by a Fund as capital gain dividends (Capital Gain Dividends) will be taxable to shareholders as long-term capital gain (to the extent such distributions do not exceed the Fund’s actual net long-term capital gain for the taxable year), regardless of how long a shareholder has held Fund shares, and do not qualify as dividends for purposes of the dividends-received deduction or as qualified dividend income (defined below). Each Fund will report Capital Gain Dividends, if any, in written statements furnished to its shareholders.
Some states will not tax distributions made to individual shareholders that are attributable to interest a Fund earns on direct obligations of the U.S. Government if the Fund meets the state’s minimum investment or reporting requirements, if any. Investments in GNMA or FNMA securities, bankers’ acceptances, commercial paper, and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities generally do not qualify for tax-free treatment. This exemption may not apply to corporate shareholders.
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Sales of Fund Shares
If a shareholder sells his or her Fund shares, he or she generally will realize a taxable capital gain or loss on the difference between the amount received for the shares and his or her tax basis in the shares. This gain or loss will be long-term capital gain or loss if he or she has held (or is deemed to have held) such Fund shares for more than one year at the time of the sale, and short-term capital gain or loss otherwise. Also, if a shareholder realizes a loss on a disposition of Fund shares, the loss will be disallowed under “wash sale” rules to the extent that he or she purchases (including through the reinvestment of dividends) substantially identical shares within the 61-day period beginning 30 days before and ending 30 days after the disposition. Any disallowed loss generally will be reflected in an adjustment to the tax basis of the purchased shares.
If a shareholder receives a Capital Gain Dividend or is deemed to receive a distribution of long-term capital gain with respect to any Fund share and such Fund share is held or treated as held for six months or less, then (unless otherwise disallowed) any loss on the sale of that Fund share will be treated as a long-term capital loss to the extent of the Capital Gain Dividend or deemed long-term capital gain distribution.
The preceding discussion, Sales of Fund Shares , applies to retail investors selling shares of a Fund on secondary markets through a broker. Shareholders redeeming large blocks of shares (creation units) directly from a Fund should consult their tax advisors, as the tax consequences may vary.
Foreign Taxes
Amounts realized by a Fund from sources within foreign countries may be subject to withholding and other taxes imposed by such countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the United States may reduce or eliminate such taxes. If more than 50% of the value of a Fund’s total assets at the close of its taxable year consists of securities of foreign corporations, the Fund will be eligible to file an annual election with the IRS pursuant to which the Fund may pass through to its shareholders on a pro rata basis foreign income and similar taxes paid by the Fund with respect to foreign securities that the Fund has held for at least the minimum holding periods specified in the Code and such taxes may be claimed, subject to certain limitations, either as a tax credit or deduction by the shareholders.
Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF and Sustainable International Equity Income ETF are expected to qualify for the election; however, even if a Fund qualifies for the election for any year, it may determine not to make the election for such year. If a Fund does not so qualify or qualifies but does not so elect, then shareholders will not be entitled to claim a credit or deduction with respect to foreign taxes paid by or withheld from payments to the Fund. A Fund will notify its shareholders in written statements if it has elected for the foreign taxes paid by it to “pass through” for that year.
In general, if a Fund makes the election, the Fund itself will not be permitted to claim a credit or deduction for foreign taxes paid in that year, and the Fund’s dividends-paid deduction will be increased by the amount of foreign taxes paid that year. Fund shareholders generally shall include their proportionate share of the foreign taxes paid by the Fund in their gross income and treat that amount as paid by them for the purpose of the foreign tax credit or deduction, provided that any applicable holding period and other requirements have been met. If a shareholder claims a credit for foreign taxes paid, in general, the credit will be subject to certain limits. A deduction for foreign taxes paid may be claimed only by shareholders that itemize their deductions. Shareholders that are not subject to U.S. federal income tax, and those who invest in the Fund through tax-exempt accounts (including those who invest through IRAs or other tax-advantaged retirement plans), generally will receive no benefit from any tax credit or deduction passed through by the Fund.
U.S. Federal Income Tax Rates
The maximum stated U.S. federal income tax rate applicable to individuals generally is 39.6% for ordinary income and 20% for net long-term capital gain (in each case, not including the 3.8% net investment income tax described below).
In general, “qualified dividend income” is income attributable to dividends received by a Fund from certain domestic and foreign corporations, as long as certain holding period and other requirements are met by the Fund with respect to the dividend-paying corporation’s stock and by the shareholders with respect to the Fund’s shares. If 95% or more of a Fund’s gross income (excluding net long-term capital gain over net short-term capital loss) constitutes qualified dividend income, all of its distributions (other than Capital Gain Dividends) will be generally treated as qualified dividend income in the hands of individual shareholders, as long as they have owned their Fund shares for at least 61 days during the 121-day period beginning 60 days before the Fund’s ex-dividend date (or, in the case of certain preferred stock, 91 days during the 181-day period beginning 90 days before such date) and meet certain other requirements specified in the Code. In general, if less than 95% of a Fund’s gross income is attributable to qualified dividend income, then only the portion of the Fund’s distributions that is attributable to qualified dividend income and reported as such in a timely manner will be so treated in the hands of individual shareholders who meet the aforementioned holding period requirements. Qualified dividend income is taxable to individual shareholders at tax rates applicable to long-term capital gain. The rules regarding the qualification of Fund distributions as
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qualified dividend income are complex, including the holding period requirements. Individual Fund shareholders therefore are urged to consult their own tax advisors and financial planners. Fixed income funds typically do not distribute significant amounts of qualified dividend income.
The maximum stated corporate U.S. federal income tax rate applicable to ordinary income and net capital gain currently is 35%. Actual marginal tax rates may be higher for some shareholders, for example, through reductions in deductions. Naturally, the amount of tax payable by any taxpayer will be affected by a combination of tax laws covering, for example, deductions, credits, deferrals, exemptions, sources of income and other matters. U.S. federal income tax rates may increase in future years.
The Code generally imposes a 3.8% net investment income tax on certain high-income individuals, trusts and estates. For individuals, the 3.8% tax applies to the lesser of (1) the amount (if any) by which the taxpayer’s modified adjusted gross income exceeds certain threshold amounts or (2) the taxpayer’s “net investment income.” For this purpose, “net investment income” generally includes, among other things, (i) distributions paid by a Fund of net investment income and capital gains as described above, and (ii) any net gain recognized on the sale, redemption or other taxable disposition of Fund shares. Certain details of the implementation of the tax remain subject to future guidance. Shareholders are advised to consult their tax advisors regarding the possible implications of this additional tax on their investment in a Fund.
Backup Withholding
A percentage of all distributions paid or credited to a Fund shareholder will generally be withheld and remitted to the U.S. Treasury if (1) the shareholder fails to provide a correct “taxpayer identification number” (TIN) or has not certified to the Fund or its agent, or such shareholder’s broker, as the case may be, that withholding does not apply or (2) the IRS notifies the Fund or its agent, or such shareholder’s broker, as the case may be, that the shareholder’s TIN is incorrect or the shareholder is otherwise subject to backup withholding. This backup withholding is not an additional tax imposed on the shareholder. The shareholder may apply amounts required to be withheld as a credit against his or her future U.S. federal income tax liability, provided that the required information is furnished to the IRS. If a shareholder fails to furnish a valid TIN upon request, the shareholder can also be subject to IRS penalties.
Tax-Deferred Plans
The shares of a Fund may be available for a variety of tax-deferred retirement and other tax-advantaged plans and accounts. Prospective investors should contact their tax advisors and financial planners regarding the tax consequences to them of holding Fund shares through such plans and/or accounts.
Corporate Shareholders
Subject to limitations and other rules, a corporate shareholder of a Fund may be eligible for the dividends-received deduction on Fund distributions attributable to dividends received by the Fund from domestic corporations, which, if received directly by the corporate shareholder, would qualify for such a deduction. For eligible corporate shareholders, the dividends-received deduction may be subject to certain reductions, and a distribution by a Fund attributable to dividends of a domestic corporation will be eligible for the deduction only if certain holding period and other requirements are met. These requirements are complex; therefore, corporate shareholders of the Funds are urged to consult their own tax advisors and financial planners.
As discussed above, a portion of the interest paid or accrued on certain high-yield discount obligations that a Fund may own may not be deductible to the issuer. If a portion of the interest paid or accrued on these obligations is not deductible, that portion will be treated as a dividend. In such cases, if the issuer of the obligation is a domestic corporation, dividend payments by a Fund may be eligible for the dividends-received deduction to the extent of the dividend portion of such interest.
Foreign Shareholders
For purposes of this discussion, “foreign shareholders” generally include: (i) nonresident alien individuals, (ii) foreign trusts ( i.e. , a trust other than a trust with respect to which a U.S. court is able to exercise primary supervision over administration of that trust and one or more U.S. persons have authority to control substantial decisions of that trust), (iii) foreign estates ( i.e. , the income of which is not subject to U.S. tax regardless of source), and (iv) foreign corporations.
Distributions by a Fund made to foreign shareholders that are not “U.S. persons” within the meaning of the Code properly reported by a Fund as (1) Capital Gain Dividends, (2) short-term capital gain dividends, and (3) interest-related dividends, each as defined below, generally are not subject to withholding of U.S. federal income tax. In general, the Code defines (1) “short-term capital gain dividends” as distributions of net short-term capital gains in excess of net long-term capital losses and (2) “interest-related dividends” as distributions from U.S. source interest income of types similar to those not subject to U.S. federal income tax if earned directly by an individual foreign shareholder, in each case to the extent such distributions are properly reported as such by the Fund in a written notice to shareholders. The exceptions to withholding for Capital Gain Dividends and short-term capital gain dividends do not apply to (A) distributions to an individual foreign shareholder who is present in the United States for a period or periods aggregating 183 days or more during the year of the distribution and (B) distributions attributable to gain that is (or is treated as) effectively connected with the conduct by the foreign shareholder of
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a trade or business within the United States, including distributions subject to special rules regarding the disposition of U.S. real property interests as described below. The exception to withholding for interest-related dividends does not apply to distributions to a foreign shareholder (A) that has not provided a satisfactory statement that the beneficial owner is not a U.S. person, (B) to the extent that the dividend is attributable to certain interest on an obligation if the foreign shareholder is the issuer or is a 10% shareholder of the issuer, (C) that is within certain foreign countries that have inadequate information exchange with the United States, or (D) to the extent the dividend is attributable to interest paid by a person that is a related person of the foreign shareholder and the foreign shareholder is a controlled foreign corporation.
If a Fund invests in a RIC that pays Capital Gain Dividends, short-term capital gain dividends or interest-related dividends to the Fund, such distributions retain their character as not subject to withholding if properly reported when paid by the Fund to foreign shareholders.
A Fund is permitted to report such part of its dividends as interest-related and/or short-term capital gain dividends as are eligible, but is not required to do so. In the case of shares held through an intermediary, the intermediary may withhold even if a Fund reports all or a portion of a payment as a short-term capital gain or interest-related dividend. Foreign shareholders should contact their intermediaries regarding the application of these rules to their accounts.
Distributions by a Fund to foreign shareholders other than Capital Gain Dividends, short-term capital gain dividends, and interest-related dividends (e.g., dividends attributable to foreign-source dividend and interest income or to short-term capital gains or U.S. source interest income to which the exception from withholding description above does not apply) are generally subject to U.S. federal income tax withheld at a rate of 30% (or lower applicable treaty rate).
In general, a foreign shareholder is not subject to U.S. federal income tax and withholding on gains (and is not allowed a deduction for losses) realized on the disposition of shares of a Fund unless: (i) such gain is effectively connected with the conduct by the foreign shareholder of a trade or business within the United States, (ii) in the case of a foreign shareholder that is an individual, the shareholder is present in the United States for a period or periods aggregating 183 days or more during the year of disposition and certain other conditions are met, or (iii) the special rules relating to gain attributable to the sale or exchange of “U.S. real property interests” (“USRPIs”) apply to the foreign shareholder’s sale of shares of the Fund (as described below).
Special rules apply if a Fund were a qualified investment entity ("QIE") because it is either a “U.S. real property holding corporation” (USRPHC) or would be a USRPHC but for the operation of certain exceptions to the definition of USRPIs described below.
Generally, a USRPHC is a domestic corporation that holds USRPIs the fair market value of which equals or exceeds 50% of the sum of the fair market values of the corporation’s USRPIs, interests in real property located outside the United States and other trade or business assets.
USRPIs are generally defined as any interest in U.S. real property and any interest (other than solely as a creditor) in a USRPHC or, very generally, an entity that has been a USRPHC in the last five years. A Fund that holds, directly or indirectly, significant interests in real estate investment trusts (“REITs”), may be a USRPHC. Interests in: (i) domestically controlled QIEs, including REITs and RICs that are QIEs, (ii) not-greater-than 10% interests in publicly traded classes of stock in REITs, and (iii) not-greater-than-5% interests in publicly traded classes of stock in RICs, generally are not USRPIs, but these exceptions do not apply for purposes of determining whether a Fund is a QIE.
If an interest in a Fund were a USRPI, the Fund would be required to withhold U.S. tax on the proceeds of a share redemption by a greater-than-5% foreign shareholder, in which case such foreign shareholder generally would also be required to file U.S. tax returns and pay any additional taxes due in connection with the redemption.
Moreover, if a Fund were a USRPHC or, very generally, had been one in the last five years, it would be required to withhold on amounts distributed to a greater-than-5% foreign shareholder to the extent such amounts would not be treated as a dividend, i.e., are in excess of the Fund’s current and accumulated “earnings and profits” for the applicable tax year. Such withholding generally is not required if the Fund is a domestically controlled QIE.
If a Fund is a QIE, under a special “look-through” rule, any distributions by the Fund to a greater-than-5% foreign shareholder (including, in certain cases, distributions made by the Fund in redemption of its shares) that are attributable directly or indirectly to (i) distributions received by the Fund from a lower-tier RIC or REIT that the Fund is required to treat as USRPI gain in its hands and (ii) gains realized on the disposition of USRPIs by the Fund will retain their character as gains realized from USRPIs in the hands of the Fund’s foreign shareholders and will be subject to U.S. tax withholding. In addition, such distributions could result in the foreign shareholder being required to file a U.S. income tax return and pay tax on the distributions at regular U.S. federal income tax rates. The consequences to a foreign shareholder, including the rate of such withholding and character of such distributions (e.g., as ordinary income or USRPI gain), would vary depending upon the extent of the foreign shareholder’s current and past ownership of a Fund.
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Foreign shareholders of a Fund may also be subject to “wash sale” rules to prevent the avoidance of the foregoing tax-filing and payment obligations discussed above through the sale and repurchase of Fund shares.
Foreign shareholders should consult their tax advisers and, if holding shares through intermediaries, their intermediaries, concerning the application of these rules to their investment in a Fund.
Foreign shareholders with respect to whom income from a Fund is effectively connected with a trade or business conducted by the foreign shareholder within the United States will in general be subject to U.S. federal income tax on the income derived from the Fund at the graduated rates applicable to U.S. citizens, residents or domestic corporations, whether such income is received in cash or reinvested in shares of a Fund and, in the case of a foreign corporation, may also be subject to a branch profits tax. If a foreign shareholder is eligible for the benefits of a tax treaty, any effectively connected income or gain will generally be subject to U.S. federal income tax on a net basis only if it is also attributable to a permanent establishment maintained by the shareholder in the United States. More generally, foreign shareholders who are residents in a country with an income tax treaty with the United States may obtain different tax results than those described herein, and are urged to consult their tax advisors.
In order to qualify for any exemptions from withholding described above or for lower withholding tax rates under income tax treaties, or to establish an exemption from backup withholding, a foreign shareholder must comply with applicable certification requirements relating to its foreign status (including, in general, furnishing an IRS Form W-8BEN, W-8BEN-E or substitute form). Foreign shareholders should consult their tax advisors in this regard.
Special rules (including withholding and reporting requirements) apply to foreign partnerships and those holding Fund shares through foreign partnerships. In addition, additional considerations may apply to foreign trusts and foreign estates. Investors holding Fund shares through foreign entities should consult their tax advisors about their particular situation.
A beneficial holder of shares who is a foreign person may be subject to state and local tax and to the U.S. federal estate tax in addition to the U.S. federal income tax referred to above.
Tax-Exempt Shareholders
Each Fund serves to “block” (that is, prevent the attribution to shareholders of) UBTI from being realized by tax-exempt shareholders. Notwithstanding this “blocking” effect, a tax-exempt shareholder could realize UBTI by virtue of its investment in a Fund if shares in the Fund constitute debt-financed property in the hands of the tax-exempt shareholder within the meaning of Code Section 514(b).
It is possible that a tax-exempt shareholder will also recognize UBTI if a Fund recognizes excess inclusion income (as described above) derived from direct or indirect investments in residual interests in REMICs or equity interests in TMPs.
In addition, special tax consequences apply to charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) that invest in regulated investment companies that invest directly or indirectly in residual interests in REMICs or equity interests in TMPs. Under legislation enacted in December 2006, a CRT, as defined in Section 664 of the Code, that realizes UBTI for a taxable year must pay an excise tax annually of an amount equal to such UBTI. Under IRS guidance issued in October 2006, a CRT will not recognize UBTI solely as a result of investing in a Fund to the extent that it recognizes excess inclusion income. Rather, if at any time during any taxable year a CRT (or one of certain other tax-exempt shareholders, such as the United States, a state or political subdivision, or an agency or instrumentality thereof, and certain energy cooperatives) is a record holder of a share in a Fund and the Fund recognizes excess inclusion income, then the Fund will be subject to a tax on that portion of its excess inclusion income for the taxable year that is allocable to such shareholders at the highest U.S. federal corporate income tax rate. The extent to which the IRS guidance remains applicable in light of the December 2006 legislation is unclear. To the extent permitted under the 1940 Act, each Fund may elect to specially allocate any such tax to the applicable CRT, or other shareholder, and thus reduce such shareholder’s distributions for the year by the amount of the tax that relates to such shareholder’s interest in the Fund. Each Fund has not yet determined whether such an election will be made. CRTs are urged to consult their tax advisors concerning the consequences of investing in a Fund.
Shareholder Reporting Obligations With Respect to Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts
Shareholders that are U.S. persons and own, directly or indirectly, more than 50% of a Fund could be required to report annually their “financial interest” in the Fund’s “foreign financial accounts,” if any, on FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). Shareholders should consult a tax advisor, and persons investing in the Fund through an intermediary should contact their intermediary, regarding the applicability to them of this reporting requirement.
Other Reporting and Withholding Requirements
Sections 1471-1474 of the Code, and the U.S. Treasury Regulations and IRS guidance issued thereunder (collectively, “FATCA”), generally require a Fund to obtain information sufficient to identify the status of each of its shareholders under FATCA or under an applicable intergovernmental agreement (an “IGA”) between the United States and a foreign government, as described more fully below. If a shareholder of a Fund fails to provide the requested information or otherwise fails to comply
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with FATCA or an IGA, the Fund is generally required to withhold under FATCA at a rate of 30% with respect to that shareholder on ordinary dividends it pays, and after January 1, 2017 (which date, under recent Treasury guidance, is expected to be delayed until on or after January 1, 2019), 30% of certain Capital Gain Dividends and gross proceeds of the sale or redemption of Fund shares it pays. If a payment by a Fund is subject to FATCA withholding, the Fund is required to withhold even if such payment would otherwise be exempt from withholding under the rules applicable to foreign shareholders described above (e.g., Capital Gain Dividends, short-term capital gain dividends and interest-related dividends).
Payments to a shareholder will generally not be subject to FATCA withholding, provided the shareholder provides a Fund with such certifications, waivers or other documentation or information as the Fund requires, including, to the extent required, with regard to such shareholder’s direct and indirect owners, to establish the shareholder’s FATCA status and otherwise to comply with these rules. In order to avoid withholding, a shareholder that is a “foreign financial institution” (“FFI”) must either (i) become a “participating FFI” by entering into a valid U.S. tax compliance agreement with the IRS, (ii) qualify for an exception from the requirement to enter into such an agreement, for example by becoming a “deemed-compliant FFI,” or (iii) be covered by an applicable IGA between the United States and a non-U.S. government to implement FATCA and improve international tax compliance. In any of these cases, the investing FFI generally will be required to provide its Fund with appropriate identifiers, certifications or documentation concerning its status.
A Fund may disclose the information that it receives from (or concerning) its shareholders to the IRS, non-U.S. taxing authorities or other parties as necessary to comply with applicable IGAs or other applicable law or regulation.
Each prospective investor is urged to consult its tax adviser regarding the applicability of FATCA and any other reporting requirements with respect to the prospective investor’s own situation, including investments through an intermediary.
Tax Shelter Reporting Regulations
Under U.S. Treasury Regulations, if a shareholder recognizes a loss of $2 million or more for an individual shareholder or $10 million or more for a corporate shareholder, the shareholder must file with the IRS a disclosure statement on IRS Form 8886. Direct holders of portfolio securities are in many cases excepted from this reporting requirement, but under current guidance, shareholders of a regulated investment company are not excepted. Future guidance may extend the current exception from this reporting requirement to shareholders of most or all regulated investment companies. The fact that a loss is reportable under these regulations does not affect the legal determination of whether the taxpayer’s treatment of the loss is proper. Shareholders should consult with their tax advisors to determine the applicability of these regulations in light of their individual circumstances.
Authorized Participants Purchasing and Redeeming in Creation Units
An Authorized Participant that exchanges equity securities for one or more Creation Units will generally recognize a gain or a loss on the exchange. The gain or loss will be equal to the difference between (i) the market value of the Creation Unit(s) at the time and, (ii) the exchanger’s aggregate basis in the securities surrendered plus (or minus) the Cash Component paid (or received). A person who redeems one or more Creation Units for equity securities will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between (i) the exchanger’s basis in the Creation Unit(s) and, (ii) the aggregate market value of the securities received plus (or minus) the Cash Component received (or paid). The IRS, however, may assert that a loss realized upon an exchange of securities for Creation Unit(s) cannot be deducted currently under the rules governing “wash sales,” or on the basis that there has been no significant change in economic position. Persons exchanging securities should consult their own tax advisors with respect to whether wash sale rules apply and when a loss might be deductible. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a redemption of one or more Creation Units is generally treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the Creation Unit(s) have been held for more than one year and as short-term capital gain or loss if they have been held for one year or less. If you purchase or redeem Creation Units, you will be sent a confirmation statement showing how many shares you purchased or sold and at what price.
Substantial Share Purchases by Authorized Participants
A Fund has the right to reject an order for a purchase of shares of the Fund if the purchaser (or group of purchasers) would, upon obtaining the shares so ordered, own 80% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund and if, pursuant to Section 351 of the Code, such Fund would have a basis in the securities exchanged for creation units different from the market value of such securities on the date of deposit. The Fund also has the right to require information necessary to determine beneficial share ownership for purposes of the 80% determination.
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CONTROL PERSONS AND PRINCIPAL HOLDERS OF SECURITIES
Management Ownership
The Funds are new as of the date of this SAI, and therefore have no reporting information.
Principal Shareholders and Control Persons
The Funds are new as of the date of this SAI, and therefore have no reporting information. Once available, tables will be presented below to identify the names, address and ownership percentage of each person who owns of record or is known by the Trust to own beneficially 5% or more of any class of a Fund’s outstanding shares (Principal Holders) or 25% or more of a Fund’s outstanding shares (Control Persons). A shareholder who beneficially owns more than 25% of a Fund’s shares is presumed to “control” the Fund, as that term is defined in the 1940 Act, and may have a significant impact on matters submitted to a shareholder vote. A shareholder who beneficially owns more than 50% of a Fund’s outstanding shares may be able to approve proposals, or prevent approval of proposals, without regard to votes by other Fund shareholders. Additional information about Control Persons, if any, will be provided following the tables. The information provided for each Fund will be as of a date no more than 30 days prior to the date of filing a post-effective amendment to the applicable Trust’s registration statement with respect to such Fund.
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INFORMATION REGARDING PENDING AND SETTLED LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
In December 2005, without admitting or denying the allegations, American Express Financial Corporation (AEFC, which is now known as Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (Ameriprise Financial)) entered into settlement agreements with the SEC and Minnesota Department of Commerce (MDOC) related to market timing activities. As a result, AEFC was censured and ordered to cease and desist from committing or causing any violations of certain provisions of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the 1940 Act, and various Minnesota laws. AEFC agreed to pay disgorgement of $10 million and civil money penalties of $7 million. AEFC also agreed to retain an independent distribution consultant to assist in developing a plan for distribution of all disgorgement and civil penalties ordered by the SEC in accordance with various undertakings detailed at http://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/ia-2451.pdf. Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates have cooperated with the SEC and the MDOC in these legal proceedings, and have made regular reports to the Funds’ Board.
Ameriprise Financial and certain of its affiliates have historically been involved in a number of legal, arbitration and regulatory proceedings, including routine litigation, class actions, and governmental actions, concerning matters arising in connection with the conduct of their business activities. Ameriprise Financial believes that the Funds are not currently the subject of, and that neither Ameriprise Financial nor any of its affiliates are the subject of, any pending legal, arbitration or regulatory proceedings that are likely to have a material adverse effect on the Funds or the ability of Ameriprise Financial or its affiliates to perform under their contracts with the Funds. Ameriprise Financial is required to make quarterly (10-Q), annual (10-K) and, as necessary, 8-K filings with the SEC-on legal and regulatory matters that relate to Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates. Copies of these filings may be obtained by accessing the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
There can be no assurance that these matters, or the adverse publicity associated with them, will not result in increased Fund redemptions, reduced sale of Fund shares or other adverse consequences to the Funds. Further, although we believe proceedings are not likely to have a material adverse effect on the Funds or the ability of Ameriprise Financial or its affiliates to perform under their contracts with the Funds, these proceedings are subject to uncertainties and, as such, we are unable to estimate the possible loss or range of loss that may result. An adverse outcome in one or more of these proceedings could result in adverse judgments, settlements, fines, penalties or other relief that could have a material adverse effect on the consolidated financial condition or results of operations of Ameriprise Financial.
NO PERSON HAS BEEN AUTHORIZED TO GIVE ANY INFORMATION OR TO MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS NOT CONTAINED IN THE PROSPECTUS OR IN THIS STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, WHICH THE PROSPECTUS INCORPORATES BY REFERENCE, IN CONNECTION WITH THE OFFERING MADE BY THE PROSPECTUS AND, IF GIVEN OR MADE, SUCH INFORMATION OR PRESENTATIONS MUST NOT BE RELIED UPON AS HAVING BEEN AUTHORIZED BY THE TRUST(S). THIS STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFERING BY THE TRUST(S) IN ANY JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH AN OFFERING MAY NOT LAWFULLY BE MADE.
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Other Information
Regular International Holidays
For each intervening holiday in a foreign market that is not a holiday observed by the U.S. equity markets, the redemption settlement cycle will be extended by the number of days of such intervening holiday. In addition to holidays, other unforeseeable closings in a foreign market, including due to regulatory action, may also prevent a Fund from delivering securities within the normal settlement period. In certain circumstances, the securities delivery cycles currently practicable for transferring portfolio securities to redeeming investors, coupled with foreign market holiday schedules, will require a delivery process longer than seven calendar days. The holidays applicable to various countries during such periods are listed below, as are instances where more than seven days will be needed to deliver redemption proceeds. Although certain holidays may occur on different dates in subsequent years, the number of days required to deliver redemption proceeds in any given year is not expected to exceed the maximum number of days listed below for each Fund. The proclamation of new holidays, the treatment by market participants of certain days as “informal holidays” (e.g., days on which no or limited securities transactions occur, as a result of substantially shortened trading hours), the elimination of existing holidays, or changes in local securities delivery practice, could further affect the information provided herein.
The dates for the period June 1, 2016 through May 31, 2017 in which the regular holidays affecting the relevant securities markets of the below listed countries are as follows (please note these holiday schedules are subject to potential changes in the relevant securities markets):
Australia
June 13
August 1
October 3
November 1
December 23
December 26
December 27
December 30
January 2
January 26
March 13
April 14
April 17
April 25
Austria
August 15
October 26
November 1
December 8
December 26
December 30
January 6
April 14
April 17
May 1
May 25
Belgium
December 26
April 14
April 17
May 1
Canada
June 24
July 1
August 1
September 5
October 10
November 11
December 26
December 27
January 2
February 20
April 14
May 22
Denmark
December 26
April 13
April 14
April 17
May 12
May 25
May 26
Finland
June 24
December 6
December 26
January 6
April 14
April 17
May 1
May 25
France
December 26
April 14
April 17
May 1
Germany
October 3
December 26
April 14
April 17
May 1
Hong Kong
June 9
July 1
September 16
October 10
December 26
December 27
January 2
January 27
January 30
April 5
April 14
April 17
May 1
May 3
May 30
Ireland
June 6
July 4
August 29
September 5
October 10
November 11
November 24
December 23
December 26
December 27
December 30
January 2
April 14
April 17
May 1
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Israel
June 12
August 14
October 2
October 3
October 4
October 11
October 12
October 16
October 17
October 18
October 19
October 20
October 23
October 24
March 12
April 11
April 17
May 2
May 31
Italy
August 15
December 26
April 14
April 17
May 1
Japan
July 18
August 11
September 19
September 22
October 10
November 3
November 23
December 23
January 2
January 3
January 9
March 20
May 3
May 4
May 5
Netherlands
December 26
April 14
April 17
New Zealand
June 6
October 24
December 23
December 26
December 27
December 30
January 2
January 3
February 6
April 14
April 17
April 25
Norway
December 26
April 13
April 14
April 17
May 1
May 17
May 25
Portugal
December 26
April 14
April 17
May 1
Singapore
July 6
August 9
September 12
December 26
January 2
January 30
April 14
May 1
May 10
Spain
December 26
April 14
April 17
May 1
Sweden
June 6
June 24
November 4
December 26
January 6
April 14
April 17
May 1
May 25
Switzerland
August 1
December 26
January 2
April 14
April 17
May 1
May 25
United Kingdom
July 4
August 29
September 5
October 10
November 11
November 24
December 23
December 26
December 27
December 30
January 2
April 14
April 17
May 1
May 29
USA
July 4
September 5
November 24
November 25
December 26
January 2
January 16
February 20
April 14
May 29
   
Redemptions
The longest redemption cycle for a Fund is a function of the longest redemption cycle among the countries whose securities or other instruments comprise the Funds. Under certain conditions, a Fund may pay redemption proceeds more than seven days after the tender of a Creation Unit for redemption, but a Fund will not take more than fifteen calendar days from the date of the tender to pay redemption proceeds.
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Index Provider Disclaimers
MSCI. THIS FUND IS NOT SPONSORED, ENDORSED, SOLD OR PROMOTED BY MSCI INC. (“MSCI”), ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES, ANY OF ITS INFORMATION PROVIDERS OR ANY OTHER THIRD PARTY INVOLVED IN, OR RELATED TO, COMPILING, COMPUTING OR CREATING ANY MSCI INDEX (COLLECTIVELY, THE “MSCI PARTIES”). THE MSCI INDEXES ARE THE EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OF MSCI. MSCI AND THE MSCI INDEX NAMES ARE SERVICE MARK(S) OF MSCI OR ITS AFFILIATES AND HAVE BEEN LICENSED FOR USE FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES BY COLUMBIA MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT ADVISERS, LLC. NONE OF THE MSCI PARTIES MAKES ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE ISSUER OR OWNERS OF THIS FUND OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY REGARDING THE ADVISABILITY OF INVESTING IN FUNDS GENERALLY OR IN THIS FUND PARTICULARLY OR THE ABILITY OF ANY MSCI INDEX TO TRACK CORRESPONDING STOCK MARKET PERFORMANCE. MSCI OR ITS AFFILIATES ARE THE LICENSORS OF CERTAIN TRADEMARKS, SERVICE MARKS AND TRADE NAMES AND OF THE MSCI INDEXES WHICH ARE DETERMINED, COMPOSED AND CALCULATED BY MSCI WITHOUT REGARD TO THIS FUND OR THE ISSUER OR OWNERS OF THIS FUND OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY. NONE OF THE MSCI PARTIES HAS ANY OBLIGATION TO TAKE THE NEEDS OF THE ISSUER OR OWNERS OF THIS FUND OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY INTO CONSIDERATION IN DETERMINING, COMPOSING OR CALCULATING THE MSCI INDEXES. NONE OF THE MSCI PARTIES IS RESPONSIBLE FOR OR HAS PARTICIPATED IN THE DETERMINATION OF THE TIMING OF, PRICES AT, OR QUANTITIES OF THIS FUND TO BE ISSUED OR IN THE DETERMINATION OR CALCULATION OF THE EQUATION BY OR THE CONSIDERATION INTO WHICH THIS FUND IS REDEEMABLE. FURTHER, NONE OF THE MSCI PARTIES HAS ANY OBLIGATION OR LIABILITY TO THE ISSUER OR OWNERS OF THIS FUND OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY IN CONNECTION WITH THE ADMINISTRATION, MARKETING OR OFFERING OF THIS FUND.
ALTHOUGH MSCI SHALL OBTAIN INFORMATION FOR INCLUSION IN OR FOR USE IN THE CALCULATION OF THE MSCI INDEXES FROM SOURCES THAT MSCI CONSIDERS RELIABLE, NONE OF THE MSCI PARTIES WARRANTS OR GUARANTEES THE ORIGINALITY, ACCURACY AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF ANY MSCI INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. NONE OF THE MSCI PARTIES MAKES ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY THE ISSUER OF THE FUND, OWNERS OF THE FUND, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY, FROM THE USE OF ANY MSCI INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. NONE OF THE MSCI PARTIES SHALL HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS OR INTERRUPTIONS OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH ANY MSCI INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. FURTHER, NONE OF THE MSCI PARTIES MAKES ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, AND THE MSCI PARITES HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO EACH MSCI INDEX AND ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL ANY OF THE MSCI PARTIES HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS) EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
No purchaser, seller or holder of this security, product or fund, or any other person or entity, should use or refer to any MSCI trade name, trademark or service mark to sponsor, endorse, market or promote this security without first contacting MSCI to determine whether MSCI’s permission is required. Under no circumstances may any person or entity claim any affiliation with MSCI without the prior written permission of MSCI.
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Financial Statements
Statement of Assets and Liabilities
COLUMBIA SUSTAINABLE U.S. EQUITY INCOME ETF
May 6, 2016
   
ASSETS:  
 Cash $100,000
 Total assets $100,000
LIABILITIES:  
   
 Total liabilities 0
NET ASSETS: $100,000
Shares of beneficial interest, no par value, issued and outstanding; unlimited shares authorized 4,000
Net asset value per outstanding share $25.00
See Notes to Statement of Assets and Liabilities.
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Notes to Statement of Assets and Liabilities
1. Organization
Columbia ETF Trust I (the Trust) is an open-end management investment company, registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act), consisting of multiple series. Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF (the Fund) is one of the series of the Trust. The Trust was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on March 7, 2016. The investment objective of the Fund is to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Beta Advantage SM Sustainable U.S. Equity Income 100 Index (the Index). The Index applies a systematic, rules-based multi-factor model and provides exposure to companies that are believed to offer sustainable levels of income, as well as total return opportunity. As a newly organized entity, the Fund has no operating history other than the sale to Columbia Management Investment Advisors, LLC (the Investment Manager), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial, Inc., of an aggregate of 4,000 shares of the Fund for $100,000 on May 5, 2016. Organizational costs paid in connection with the organization of the Fund will be borne by the Investment Manager.
The Investment Manager serves as investment adviser to the Fund pursuant to an Investment Management Services Agreement (the Agreement) with the Fund.
Shares of the Fund will be listed and traded on the NYSE Arca, Inc. Market prices for the Fund’s shares may be different from their net asset value (NAV). The Fund will issue and redeem its shares on a continuous basis, through ALPS Distributors, Inc. (the Distributor), at NAV in large blocks of shares, typically 50,000 shares, referred to as “Creation Units.” Creation Units will be issued and redeemed principally in-kind for a basket of securities and a cash amount. Shares will generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit at market prices that change throughout the day. Only institutions that have entered into an authorized participant agreement with the Distributor may do business directly with the Fund.
2. Significant Accounting Policies
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP) and require management to make estimates and assumptions that may affect the reported amounts and disclosures. Actual results may differ from those estimates and assumptions.
3. Agreements
A. Management Agreement
Under the Agreement, the Investment Manager determines which securities will be purchased, held or sold. The Fund’s investment management fee is a unified fee. The Investment Manager, out of the unified fee it receives from the Fund, has agreed to pay the operating costs and expenses of the Fund other than the following expenses, which will be paid by the Fund: interest incurred on borrowing by the Fund, if any; taxes; brokerage fees and commissions and any other portfolio transaction expenses; infrequent and/or unusual expenses (including litigation expenses); distribution and/or servicing fees; expenses incurred in connection with lending securities; interest and fee expense related to the Fund’s participation in inverse floater structures; and any expenses approved by the Board.
As compensation for the services rendered pursuant to the Agreement, the assumption of the expenses related thereto and administration of the Fund’s business affairs, including providing facilities, the Investment Manager is entitled to a management fee, accrued daily and paid monthly, equal to an annual percentage rate of the Fund’s average daily net assets of 0.35%. There were no management fees incurred as of May 6, 2016 relating to this Agreement.
B. Distribution and Service Plans
The Trust, on behalf of the Fund, has adopted a Distribution and Service Plan (the Plan) pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. Under the Plan, the Fund is authorized to pay distribution fees in connection with the sale and distribution of its shares and pay service fees in connection with the provision of ongoing services to shareholders of each class and the maintenance of shareholder accounts in an amount up to 0.25% of its average daily net assets each year. No Rule 12b-1 fees are currently paid by the Fund, and there are no current plans to impose these fees.
4. Creation and Redemption of Creation Units
The Trust issues and redeems shares of the Fund only in Creation Units on a continuous basis through the Distributor, without an initial sales load, at NAV next determined after receipt, on any Business Day (as defined in the Statement of Additional Information), of an order in proper form. Shares of the Fund may only be purchased or redeemed by certain financial institutions (each an Authorized Participant). An Authorized Participant is either (1) a “Participating Party” or other participant in the clearing process through the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation; or (2) a Depository Trust Company participant; which, in either case, must have executed an agreement with the Distributor. Retail investors will typically not qualify as an Authorized Participant or have the resources to buy and sell Creation Units. Therefore, they will be unable to purchase or redeem shares directly from the Fund. Rather, most retail investors will purchase shares in the secondary market with the assistance of a broker and will be subject to customary brokerage commissions or fees.
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5. Income Taxes
It is the Fund’s policy to comply with the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, applicable to regulated investment companies and to distribute each year substantially all of its investment company taxable income and capital gains to its shareholders. Accordingly, the Fund is not required to make any provisions for the payment of federal income tax.
6. Other Matters
Indemnifications
Under the Fund’s organizational documents, its Board of Trustees, officers, employees and agents are indemnified, to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act, against certain liabilities that may arise out of performance of their duties to the Fund. Additionally, in the course of business, the Fund enters into contracts that contain a variety of indemnification clauses. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund that have not yet occurred.
7. Administrator and Custodian
Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) serves as the Fund’s Administrator pursuant to a Fund Administration and Accounting Agreement (the Administration and Accounting Agreement). Under the Administration and Accounting Agreement, BNY Mellon is responsible for certain administrative services associated with day-to-day operations of the Fund. BNY Mellon also serves as Custodian for the Fund pursuant to a custody agreement. As Custodian, BNY Mellon holds the Fund’s assets.
8. Subsequent Events
Management has evaluated all subsequent transactions and events through the date on which this statement was issued and has determined that no additional items require adjustment to or disclosure in this financial statement.
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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Board of Trustees and Shareholder of
Columbia ETF Trust I – Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF :
In our opinion, the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities presents fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF (the Fund), a series of Columbia ETF Trust I, at May 6, 2016, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. This financial statement is the responsibility of the Fund's management; our responsibility is to express an opinion on this financial statement based on our audit. We conducted our audit of this financial statement in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statement is free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statement, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Boston, Massachusetts
May 24, 2016
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APPENDIX A — DESCRIPTION OF RATINGS
The ratings of S&P, Moody’s and Fitch represent their opinions as to quality. These ratings are not absolute standards of quality and are not recommendations to purchase, sell or hold a security. Issuers and issues are subject to risks that are not evaluated by the rating agencies. When a security is not rated by one of these agencies, it is designated as Not Rated. Securities designated as Not Rated do not necessarily indicate low credit quality, and for such securities the Investment Manager evaluates the credit quality.
S&P’s Debt Ratings
Long-Term Issue Credit Ratings
An obligation rated ‘AAA’ has the highest rating assigned by S&P. The obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is extremely strong.
An obligation rated ‘AA’ differs from the highest-rated obligations only to a small degree. The obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is very strong.
An obligation rated ‘A’ is somewhat more susceptible to the adverse effects of changes in circumstances and economic conditions than obligations in higher-rated categories. However, the obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is still strong.
An obligation rated ‘BBB’ exhibits adequate protection parameters. However, adverse economic conditions or changing circumstances are more likely to lead to a weakened capacity of the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.
Obligations rated ‘BB’, ‘B’, ‘CCC’, ‘CC’, and ‘C’ are regarded as having significant speculative characteristics. ‘BB’ indicates the least degree of speculation and ‘C’ the highest. While such obligations will likely have some quality and protective characteristics, these may be outweighed by large uncertainties or major exposures to adverse conditions.
An obligation rated ‘BB’ is less vulnerable to nonpayment than other speculative issues. However, it faces major ongoing uncertainties or exposure to adverse business, financial, or economic conditions which could lead to the obligor’s inadequate capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.
An obligation rated ‘B’ is more vulnerable to nonpayment than obligations rated ‘BB’, but the obligor currently has the capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation. Adverse business, financial, or economic conditions will likely impair the obligor’s capacity or willingness to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.
An obligation rated ‘CCC’ is currently vulnerable to nonpayment, and is dependent upon favorable business, financial, and economic conditions for the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation. In the event of adverse business, financial, or economic conditions, the obligor is not likely to have the capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.
An obligation rated ‘CC’ is currently highly vulnerable to nonpayment. The ‘CC’ rating is used when a default has not yet occurred, but S&P expects default to be a virtual certainty, regardless of the anticipated time to default.
An obligation rated 'C' is currently highly vulnerable to nonpayment, and the obligation is expected to have lower relative seniority or lower ultimate recovery compared to obligations that are rated higher.
An obligation rated ‘D’ is in default or in breach of an imputed promise. For non-hybrid capital instruments, the ‘D’ rating category is used when payments on an obligation are not made on the date due, unless S&P believes that such payments will be made within five business days in the absence of a stated grace period or within the earlier of the stated grace period or 30 calendar days. The ‘D’ rating also will be used upon the filing of a bankruptcy petition or the taking of similar action and where default on an obligation is a virtual certainty, for example due to automatic stay provisions. An obligation’s rating is lowered to ‘D’ if it is subject to a distressed exchange offer.
‘NR’ indicates that no rating has been requested, or that there is insufficient information on which to base a rating, or that S&P does not rate a particular obligation as a matter of policy.
Short-Term Issue Credit Ratings
Short-term ratings are generally assigned to those obligations considered short-term in the relevant market. In the U.S., for example, that means obligations with an original maturity of no more than 365 days – including commercial paper.
A short-term obligation rated ‘A-1’ is rated in the highest category by S&P. The obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is strong. Within this category, certain obligations are designated with a plus sign (+). This indicates that the obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on these obligations is extremely strong.
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A short-term obligation rated ‘A-2’ is somewhat more susceptible to the adverse effects of changes in circumstances and economic conditions than obligations in higher rating categories. However, the obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is satisfactory.
A short-term obligation rated ‘A-3’ exhibits adequate protection parameters. However, adverse economic conditions or changing circumstances are more likely to lead to a weakened capacity of the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.
A short-term obligation rated ‘B’ is regarded as vulnerable and has significant speculative characteristics. The obligor currently has the capacity to meet its financial commitments; however, it faces major ongoing uncertainties which could lead to the obligor’s inadequate capacity to meet its financial commitments.
A short-term obligation rated ‘C’ is currently vulnerable to nonpayment and is dependent upon favorable business, financial, and economic conditions for the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.
A short-term obligation rated ‘D’ is in default or in breach of an imputed promise. For non-hybrid capital instruments, the ‘D’ rating category is used when payments on an obligation are not made on the date due, unless S&P believes that such payments will be made within any stated grace period. However, any stated grace period longer than five business days will be treated as five business days. The ‘D’ rating also will be used upon the filing of a bankruptcy petition or the taking of a similar action and where default on an obligation is a virtual certainty, for example due to automatic stay provisions. An obligation's rating is lowered to 'D' if it is subject to a distressed exchange offer.
Municipal Short-Term Note Ratings
SP-1 Strong capacity to pay principal and interest. An issue determined to possess a very strong capacity to pay debt service is given a plus (+) designation.
SP-2 Satisfactory capacity to pay principal and interest, with some vulnerability to adverse financial and economic changes over the term of the notes.
SP-3 Speculative capacity to pay principal and interest.
Moody’s Long-Term Debt Ratings
Global Long-Term Rating Scale
Aaa – Obligations rated Aaa are judged to be of the highest quality, subject to the lowest level of credit risk.
Aa – Obligations rated Aa are judged to be of high quality and are subject to very low credit risk.
A – Obligations rated A are judged to be upper-medium grade and are subject to low credit risk.
Baa – Obligations rated Baa are judged to be medium-grade and subject to moderate credit risk and as such may possess certain speculative characteristics.
Ba – Obligations rated Ba are judged to be speculative and are subject to substantial credit risk.
B – Obligations rated B are considered speculative and are subject to high credit risk.
Caa – Obligations rated Caa are judged to be speculative of poor standing and are subject to very high credit risk.
Ca – Obligations rated Ca are highly speculative and are likely in, or very near, default, with some prospect of recovery of principal and interest.
C – Obligations rated C are the lowest rated and are typically in default, with little prospect for recovery of principal or interest.
Global Short-Term Rating Scale
Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Prime-1 (P-1) have a superior ability to repay short-term debt obligations.
Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Prime-2 (P-2) have a strong ability to repay short-term debt obligations.
Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Prime-3 (P-3) have an acceptable ability to repay short-term obligations.
Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Not Prime (NP) do not fall within any of the Prime rating categories.
US Municipal Short-Term Debt and Demand Obligation Ratings
While the global short-term ‘prime’ rating scale is applied to U.S. municipal tax-exempt commercial paper, these programs are typically backed by external letters of credit or liquidity facilities and their short-term prime ratings usually map to the long-term rating of the enhancing bank or financial institution and not to the municipality’s rating. Other short-term municipal obligations, which generally have different funding sources for repayment, are rated using two additional short-term rating scales ( i.e. , the MIG and VMIG scales discussed below).
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The Municipal Investment Grade (MIG) scale is used to rate US municipal bond anticipation notes of up to three years maturity. Municipal notes rated on the MIG scale may be secured by either pledged revenues or proceeds of a take-out financing received prior to note maturity. MIG ratings expire at the maturity of the obligation, and the issuer’s long-term rating is only one consideration in assigning the MIG rating. MIG ratings are divided into three levels — MIG 1 through MIG 3 — while speculative grade short-term obligations are designated SG.
The MIG 1 designation denotes superior credit quality. Excellent protection is afforded by established cash flows, highly reliable liquidity support, or demonstrated broad-based access to the market for refinancing.
The MIG 2 designation denotes strong credit quality. Margins of protection are ample, although not as large as in the preceding group.
The MIG 3 designation denotes acceptable credit quality. Liquidity and cash-flow protection may be narrow, and market access for refinancing is likely to be less well-established.
The SG designation denotes speculative-grade credit quality. Debt instruments in this category may lack sufficient margins of protection.
In the case of variable rate demand obligations (VRDOs), a two-component rating is assigned: a long or short-term debt rating and a demand obligation rating. The first element represents Moody’s evaluation of risk associated with scheduled principal and interest payments. The second element represents Moody’s evaluation of risk associated with the ability to receive purchase price upon demand (“demand feature”). The second element uses a rating from a variation of the MIG scale called the Variable Municipal Investment Grade (VMIG) scale. The rating transitions on the VMIG scale, as shown in the diagram below, differ from those on the Prime scale to reflect the risk that external liquidity support generally will terminate if the issuer’s long-term rating drops below investment grade.
The VMIG 1 designation denotes superior credit quality. Excellent protection is afforded by the superior short-term credit strength of the liquidity provider and structural and legal protections that ensure the timely payment of purchase price upon demand.
The VMIG 2 designation denotes strong credit quality. Good protection is afforded by the strong short-term credit strength of the liquidity provider and structural and legal protections that ensure the timely payment of purchase price upon demand.
The VMIG 3 designation denotes acceptable credit quality. Adequate protection is afforded by the satisfactory short-term credit strength of the liquidity provider and structural and legal protections that ensure the timely payment of purchase price upon demand.
The SG designation denotes speculative-grade credit quality. Demand features rated in this category may be supported by a liquidity provider that does not have an investment grade short-term rating or may lack the structural and/or legal protections necessary to ensure the timely payment of purchase price upon demand.
Fitch’s Ratings
Corporate Finance Obligations – Long-Term Rating Scales
AAA: Highest credit quality.
‘AAA’ ratings denote the lowest expectation of credit risk. They are assigned only in cases of exceptionally strong capacity for payment of financial commitments. This capacity is highly unlikely to be adversely affected by foreseeable events.
AA: Very high credit quality.
‘AA’ ratings denote expectations of very low credit risk. They indicate very strong capacity for payment of financial commitments. This capacity is not significantly vulnerable to foreseeable events.
A: High credit quality.
‘A’ ratings denote expectations of low credit risk. The capacity for payment of financial commitments is considered strong. This capacity may, nevertheless, be more vulnerable to adverse business or economic conditions than is the case for higher ratings.
BBB: Good credit quality.
‘BBB’ ratings indicate that expectations of credit risk are currently low. The capacity for payment of financial commitments is considered adequate but adverse business or economic conditions are more likely to impair this capacity.
BB: Speculative.
‘BB’ ratings indicate an elevated vulnerability to credit risk, particularly in the event of adverse changes in business or economic conditions over time; however, business or financial alternatives may be available to allow financial commitments to be met.
B: Highly speculative.
‘B’ ratings indicate that material credit risk is present.
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CCC: Substantial credit risk.
‘CCC’ ratings indicate that substantial credit risk is present.
CC: Very high levels of credit risk.
‘CC’ ratings indicate very high levels of credit risk.
C: Exceptionally high levels of credit risk.
‘C’ indicates exceptionally high levels of credit risk.
Defaulted obligations typically are not assigned ‘RD’ or ‘D’ ratings, but are instead rated in the ‘B’ to ‘C’ rating categories, depending upon their recovery prospects and other relevant characteristics. This approach better aligns obligations that have comparable overall expected loss but varying vulnerability to default and loss.
Short-Term Ratings Assigned to Issuers or Obligations in Corporate, Public and Structured Finance
F1: Highest short-term credit quality.
Indicates the strongest intrinsic capacity for timely payment of financial commitments; may have an added “+” to denote any exceptionally strong credit feature.
F2: Good short-term credit quality.
Good intrinsic capacity for timely payment of financial commitments.
F3: Fair short-term credit quality.
The intrinsic capacity for timely payment of financial commitments is adequate.
B: Speculative short-term credit quality.
Minimal capacity for timely payment of financial commitments, plus heightened vulnerability to near term adverse changes in financial and economic conditions.
C: High short-term default risk.
Default is a real possibility.
RD: Restricted default.
Indicates an entity that has defaulted on one or more of its financial commitments, although it continues to meet other financial obligations. Typically applicable to entity ratings only.
D: Default.
Indicates a broad-based default event for an entity, or the default of a short-term obligation.
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APPENDIX B — PROXY VOTING GUIDELINES
Set forth on the following pages are guidelines (the Guidelines) adopted and used by the Board or the Investment Manager in voting proxies for the Columbia Funds overseen by the Board. The Guidelines are organized by issue and present certain factors that may be considered in making proxy voting determinations. In accordance with the Funds' Proxy Voting Policy, the Board has delegated proxy voting authority to the Investment Manager in most circumstances. The Investment Manager has engaged third party firms to provide proxy research services (collectively, the third party research provider) to assist it in this function. The Board or the Investment Manager may, in exercising its fiduciary discretion, determine to vote any proxy in a manner contrary to these Guidelines.
Directors, Boards, Committees
Elect Directors
In a routine election of directors, the Funds generally will vote FOR the slate nominated by the nominating committee of independent directors, who are in the best position to know what qualifications are needed for each director to contribute to an effective board. The Funds generally will WITHHOLD support from a nominee who fails to meet one or more of the following criteria:
Independence — A nominee who is deemed an affiliate of the company by virtue of a material business, familial or other relationship with the company but is otherwise not an employee.
Attendance — A nominee who failed to attend at least 75% of the board’s meetings.
Over Boarding — A nominee who serves on more than four other public company boards or an employee director nominee who serves on more than two other public company boards.
Committee Membership — A nominee who has been assigned to the audit, compensation, nominating, or governance committee if that nominee is not independent of management, or if the nominee does not meet the specific independence and experience requirements for audit committees or the independence requirements for compensation committees.
Audit Committee Chair — A nominee who serves as audit committee chair where the committee failed to put forth shareholder proposals for ratification of auditors.
Board Independence — A nominee of a company whose board as proposed to be constituted would have more than one-third of its members from management.
Interlocking Directorship — A nominee who is an executive officer of another company on whose board one of the company’s executive officers sits.
Poor Governance — A nominee involved with options backdating, financial restatements or material weakness in controls, approving egregious compensation, or who has consistently disregarded the interests of shareholders.
The Funds will vote on a CASE-BY-CASE basis on any director nominee who meets the aforementioned criteria but whose candidacy has otherwise been identified by the third party research provider as needing further consideration for any reason not identified above.
In the case of contested elections, the Funds will vote on a CASE-BY-CASE basis, taking into consideration the above criteria and other factors such as the background of the proxy contest, the performance of the company, current board and management, and qualifications of nominees on both slates.
Shareholder Nominations for Director
The Funds will vote on a CASE-BY-CASE basis for shareholder-nominated candidates for director, taking into account various factors including, but not limited to: company performance, the circumstances compelling the nomination by the shareholder, composition of the incumbent board, and the criteria listed above used to evaluate nominees.
Shareholder Nominations for Director — Special Criteria
The Funds generally will vote in accordance with recommendations made by the third party research provider, which are typically based on the view that board nominating committees are responsible for establishing and implementing policies regarding the composition of the board and are therefore in the best position to make determinations with respect to special nominating criteria.
Director Independence and Committees
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals that require all members of a board’s key committees (audit, compensation, nominating or governance) be independent from management.
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Independent Board Chair/Lead Director
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals supporting an independent board chair or lead director and FOR the separation of the board chair and CEO roles, as independent board leaders foster the effectiveness of the independent directors and ensure appropriate oversight of management.
Removal of Directors
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals that amend governing documents to grant or restore shareholder ability to remove directors with cause, and AGAINST proposals that provide directors may be removed only by supermajority vote. The Funds will vote on a CASE-BY-CASE basis on proposals calling for removal of specific directors.
Board Vacancies
The Funds generally will vote in accordance with recommendations made by the third party research provider in the case of vacancies filled by continuing directors, taking into account factors including whether the proposal is in connection with a proxy contest or takeover situation.
Cumulative Voting
In the absence of proxy access rights or majority voting, the Funds generally will vote FOR the restoration or provision for cumulative voting and AGAINST its elimination.
Majority Voting
The Funds generally will vote FOR amendments to governing documents that provide that nominees standing for election to the board must receive a majority of votes cast in order to be elected to the board.
Number of Directors
The Funds generally will vote FOR amendments to governing documents that provide directors the authority to adjust the size of the board to adapt to needs that may arise.
Term Limits
The Funds generally will vote AGAINST proposals seeking to establish a limit on director terms or mandatory retirement.
General Corporate Governance
Right to Call a Special Meeting
The Funds generally will vote in accordance with recommendations made by the third party research provider, which typically recommends votes FOR adoption, considering factors such as proposed ownership threshold, company size, and shareholder ownership, but will not support proposals allowing for investors with less than 10% ownership to call a special meeting.
Eliminate or Restrict Right to Call Special Meeting
The Funds generally will vote AGAINST proposals to eliminate the right of shareholders to call special meetings.
Lead Independent Director Right to Call Special Meeting
The Funds generally will vote FOR governance document amendments or other proposals which give the lead independent director the authority to call special meetings of the independent directors at any time.
Adjourn Meeting
The Funds will vote on a CASE-BY-CASE basis on adjournment proposals and generally in the same direction as the primary proposal ( i.e. , if supporting the primary proposal, favor adjournment; if not supporting the primary proposal, oppose adjournment).
Other Business
The Funds generally will vote AGAINST proposals seeking to give management the authority to conduct or vote on other business at shareholder meetings on the grounds that shareholders not present at the meeting would be unfairly excluded from such deliberations.
Eliminate or Restrict Action by Written Consent
The Funds generally will vote AGAINST proposals to eliminate the right of shareholders to act by written consent since it may be appropriate to take such action in some instances.
Vote Unmarked Proxies
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals prohibiting voting of unmarked proxies in favor of management.
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Proxy Contest Advance Notice
The Funds generally will vote AGAINST proposals to amend governing documents that require advance notice for shareholder proposals or director nominees beyond notice that allows for sufficient time for company response, SEC review, and analysis by other shareholders.
Minimum Stock Ownership
The Funds will vote on a CASE-BY-CASE basis on proposals regarding minimum stock ownership levels.
Director and Officer Indemnification
The Funds generally will vote FOR the provision of a maximum dollar amount that can be obtained through the course of legal action from a director or officer who acts in good faith and does not benefit from a transaction.
Confidential Voting
The Funds generally will vote FOR actions that ensure all proxies, ballots, and voting tabulations which identify shareholders be kept confidential, except where disclosure is mandated by law. The Funds support the proposal to minimize pressure on shareholders, particularly employee shareholders.
Miscellaneous Governing Document Amendments
The Funds generally will vote FOR bylaw or charter changes that are of a housekeeping nature ( e.g. , updates or corrections).
Change Company Name
The Funds generally will vote FOR routine business matters such as changing the company’s name.
Approve Minutes
The Funds generally will vote FOR routine procedural matters such as approving the minutes of a prior meeting.
Change Date/Time/Location of Annual Meeting
The Funds will vote in accordance with the recommendation of the third party research provider on proposals to change the date, time or location of the company’s annual meeting of shareholders.
Approve Annual, Financial and Statutory Reports
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals to approve the annual reports and accounts, financial and statutory reports, provided companies required to comply with U.S. securities laws have included the certifications required by the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002.
Compensation
Approve or Amend Omnibus Equity Compensation Plan
The Funds generally will vote in accordance with recommendations made by the third party research provider, which typically recommends votes FOR adoption or amendments to omnibus (general) equity compensation plans for employees or non-employee directors if they are reasonable and consistent with industry and country standards, and AGAINST compensation plans that substantially dilute ownership interest in a company, provide participants with excessive awards, or have objectionable structural features.
Approve or Amend Stock Option Plan
The Funds generally will vote in accordance with recommendations made by the third party research provider, which are typically based on factors including cost, size, and pattern of grants in comparison to peer groups, history of repricing, and grants to senior executives and non-employee directors.
Approve or Amend Employee Stock Purchase Plan
The Funds generally will vote in accordance with recommendations made by the third party research provider, which are typically based on factors including the plan’s cost to shareholders, whether those costs are in line with the company’s peer’s plans, and whether the plan requires shareholder approval within five years.
Approve or Amend Performance-Based 162(m) Compensation Plan
The Funds generally will vote in accordance with recommendations made by the third party research provider, which are typically based on factors that consider the goal of the plan and in particular the linkage between potential payments to senior executives and the attainment of preset performance-based metrics.
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Approve or Amend Restricted Stock Plan
The Funds generally will vote in accordance with recommendations made by the third party research provider, which considers such factors as the balance of all equity grants and awards, the term and other restrictions in place for restricted stock.
Stock Option Repricing or Exchanges
The Funds generally will vote in accordance with recommendations made by the third party research provider on matters relating to the repricing of stock options, which are typically based on factors such as whether the amending terms lead to a reduction in shareholder rights, allow the plan to be amended without shareholder approval, or change the terms to the detriment of employee incentives such as excluding a certain class or group of employees. The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals to put stock option repricings to a shareholder vote.
Performance-Based Stock Options
The Funds will vote on a CASE-BY-CASE basis regarding proposals urging that stock options be performance-based rather than tied to the vagaries of the stock market.
Ban Future Stock Option Grants
The Funds generally will vote AGAINST proposals seeking to ban or eliminate stock options in equity compensation plans as such an action would preclude the company from offering a balanced compensation program.
Require Stock Retention Period
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requiring senior executives to hold stock obtained by way of a stock option plan for a minimum of three years.
Require Approval of Extraordinary Benefits
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals specifying that companies disclose any extraordinary benefits paid or payable to current or retired senior executives and generally will vote AGAINST proposals requiring shareholder approval of any such extraordinary benefits.
Pay for Performance
The Funds will vote on a CASE-BY-CASE basis regarding proposals seeking to align executive compensation with shareholders’ interests.
Say on Pay
The Funds generally will vote in accordance with recommendations made by the third party research provider, taking into consideration the company’s pay for performance results and certain elements of the Compensation Discussion and Analysis disclosure.
Executive Severance Agreements
The Funds generally will vote in accordance with recommendations made by the third party research provider on these proposals regarding approval of specific executive severance arrangements in the event of change in control of a company or due to other circumstances.
Approve or Amend Deferred Compensation Plans for Directors
The Funds generally will vote FOR approval or amendments to deferred compensation plans for non-employee directors, so that they may defer compensation earned until retirement.
Set Director Compensation
The Funds generally will vote AGAINST proposals that seek to limit director compensation or mandate that compensation be paid solely in shares of stock.
Director Retirement Plans
The Funds generally will vote AGAINST the adoption or amendment of director retirement plans on the basis that directors should be appropriately compensated while serving and should not view service on a board as a long-term continuing relationship with a company.
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Business Entity and Capitalization
Common or Preferred Stock — Increase in Authorized Shares or Classes
The Funds will vote on a CASE-BY-CASE basis regarding proposals to increase authorized shares of common stock or to add a class of common stock, taking into consideration the company’s capital goals that may include stock splits, stock dividends, or financing for acquisitions or general operations. With respect to proposals seeking to increase authorized shares of preferred stock, to add a class of preferred stock, to authorize the directors to set the terms of the preferred stock or to amend the number of votes per share of preferred stock, the Funds will vote on a CASE-BY-CASE basis on the grounds that such actions may be connected to a shareholder rights’ plan that the Funds also will consider on a CASE-BY-CASE basis.
Common or Preferred Stock – Decrease in Authorized Shares or Classes
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals seeking to decrease authorized shares of common or preferred stock or the elimination of a class of common or preferred stock.
Common Stock — Change in Par Value
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals to change the par value of the common stock, provided that the changes do not cause a diminution in shareholder rights.
Authorize Share Repurchase Program
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals to institute or renew open market share repurchase plans in which all shareholders may participate on equal terms.
Stock Splits
The Funds generally will vote FOR stock split proposals on the grounds that they intended to encourage stock ownership of a company.
Private Placements, Conversion of Securities, Issuance of Warrants or Convertible Debentures
The Funds generally will vote FOR the issuance of shares for private placements, the conversion of securities from one class to another, and the issuance of warrants or convertible debentures on the grounds that such issuances may be necessary and beneficial for the financial health of the company and may be a low cost source of equity capital. The Funds generally will vote AGAINST any such issuance or related action if the proposal would in any way result in new equity holders having superior voting rights, would result in warrants or debentures, when exercised, holding in excess of 20 percent of the currently outstanding voting rights, or if the proposal would in any way diminish the rights of existing shareholders.
Issuance of Equity or Equity-Linked Securities without Subscription Rights (Preemptive Rights)
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals that seek shareholder approval of the issuance of equity, convertible bonds or other equity-linked debt instruments, or to issue shares to satisfy the exercise of such securities that are free of subscription (preemptive) rights on the grounds that companies must retain the ability to issue such securities for purposes of raising capital. The Funds generally will vote AGAINST any proposal where dilution exceeds 20 percent of the company’s outstanding capital.
Recapitalization
The Funds generally will vote FOR recapitalization plans that combine two or more classes of stock into one class, or that authorize the company to issue new common or preferred stock for such plans. The Funds generally will vote AGAINST recapitalization plans that would result in the diminution of rights for existing shareholders.
Merger Agreement
The Funds will vote on a CASE-BY-CASE basis on proposals seeking approval of a merger or merger agreement and all proposals related to such primary proposals, taking into consideration the particular facts and circumstances of the proposed merger and its potential benefits to existing shareholders.
Going Private
The Funds will vote on a CASE-BY-CASE basis on proposals that allow listed companies to de-list and terminate registration of their common stock, taking into consideration the cash-out value to shareholders, and weighing the value in continuing as a publicly traded entity.
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Reincorporation
The Funds will vote on a CASE-BY-CASE basis on reincorporation proposals, taking into consideration whether financial benefits ( e.g. , reduced fees or taxes) likely to accrue to the company as a result of a reincorporation or other change of domicile outweigh any accompanying material diminution of shareholder rights. The Funds generally will vote AGAINST the proposal unless the long-term business reasons for doing so are valid. The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals to consider reincorporating in the United States if a company left the country for the purpose of avoiding taxes.
Bundled Proposals
The Funds generally will vote in accordance with recommendations made by the third party research provider on “bundled” or otherwise conditioned proposals, which are determined depending on the overall economic effects to shareholders.
Defense Mechanisms
Shareholder Rights’ Plan (Poison Pill)
The Funds will vote on a CASE-BY-CASE basis regarding management proposals seeking ratification of a shareholder rights’ plan, including a net operating loss (NOL) shareholder rights’ plan, or stockholder proposals seeking modification or elimination of any existing shareholder rights’ plan.
Supermajority Voting
The Funds generally will vote FOR the elimination or material diminution of provisions in company governing documents that require the affirmative vote of a supermajority of shareholders for approval of certain actions, and generally will vote AGAINST the adoption of any supermajority voting clause.
Control Share Acquisition Provisions
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals to opt out of control share acquisition statutes and generally will vote AGAINST proposals seeking approval of control share acquisition provisions in company governing documents on the grounds that such provisions may harm long-term share value by effectively entrenching management. The ability to buy shares should not be constrained by requirements to secure approval of the purchase from other shareholders.
Anti-Greenmail
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals to adopt anti-greenmail governing document amendments or to otherwise restrict a company’s ability to make greenmail payments.
Classification of Board of Directors
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals to declassify a board and AGAINST proposals to classify a board, absent special circumstances that would indicate that shareholder interests are better served by voting to the contrary.
Auditors
Ratify or Appoint Auditors
The Funds generally will vote in accordance with recommendations made by the third party research provider, which typically recommends votes FOR ratification or appointment except in situations where there are questions about the relative qualification of the auditors, conflicts of interest, auditor involvement in significant financial restatements, option backdating, material weaknesses in controls, or situations where independence has been compromised.
Prohibit or Limit Auditor’s Non-Audit Services
The Funds generally will vote in accordance with recommendations made by the third party research provider, which typically recommends votes AGAINST these proposals since it may be necessary or appropriate for auditors to provide a service related to the business of a company and that service will not compromise the auditors’ independence. In addition, Sarbanes-Oxley legislation spells out the types of services that need pre-approval or would compromise independence.
Indemnification of External Auditor
The Funds generally will vote AGAINST proposals to indemnify external auditors on the grounds that indemnification agreements may limit pursuit of legitimate legal recourse against the audit firm.
Indemnification of Internal Auditor
The Funds generally will vote FOR the indemnification of internal auditors, unless the costs associated with the approval are not disclosed.
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Social and Environmental
Disclose Environmental or Social Agenda
Proposals that seek disclosure, often in the form of a report, on items such as military contracts or sales, environmental or conservation initiatives, business relationships with foreign countries, or animal welfare or other environmental and social issues, will be reviewed and, if after considering the proposal the Investment Manager believes the matter may bear on the long-term value creation or sustainability of the company, a vote FOR or AGAINST may be cast, otherwise the Funds generally will ABSTAIN from voting.
Socially Responsible Investing
Proposals that seek to have a company take a position on social or environmental issues will be reviewed and, if after considering the proposal the Investment Manager believes the matter may bear on the long-term value creation or sustainability of the company, a vote FOR or AGAINST may be cast, otherwise the Funds generally will ABSTAIN from voting.
Prohibit or Disclose Contributions and Lobbying Expenses
The Funds generally will vote in accordance with recommendations made by the third party research provider, which typically considers the proposal in the context of the company’s current disclosures, Federal and state laws, and whether the proposal is in shareholders’ best interests.
Disclose Prior Government Service
Proposals seeking a company to furnish a list of high-ranking employees who served in any governmental capacity over the last five years will be reviewed and, if after considering the proposal the Investment Manager believes the matter may bear on the long-term value creation or sustainability of the company, a vote FOR or AGAINST may be cast, otherwise the Funds generally will ABSTAIN from voting.
Change in Operations or Products Manufactured or Sold
Proposals seeking to change the way a company operates (e.g., protect human rights, sexual orientation, stop selling tobacco products, move manufacturing operations to another country, etc.) will be reviewed and, if after considering the proposal the Investment Manager believes the matter may bear on the long-term value creation or sustainability of the company, a vote FOR or AGAINST may be cast, otherwise the Funds generally will ABSTAIN from voting.
Foreign Issues
Foreign Issues — Directors, Boards, Committees
Approve Discharge of Management (Supervisory) Board
The Funds generally will vote in accordance with recommendations made by the third party research provider, which typically recommends votes FOR approval of the board, based on factors including whether there is an unresolved investigation or whether the board has participated in wrongdoing. This is a standard request in Germany and discharge is generally granted unless a shareholder states a specific reason for withholding discharge and intends to take legal action.
Announce Vacancies on Management (Supervisory) Board
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholder approval to announce vacancies on the board, as is required under Dutch law.
Approve Director Fees
The Funds generally will vote in accordance with recommendations made by the third party research provider on proposals seeking approval of director fees.
Foreign Issues — General Corporate Governance
Digitalization of Certificates
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals seeking shareholder approval to amend a company’s articles of incorporation to eliminate references to share certificates and beneficial owners, and to make other related changes to bring the articles in line with recent regulatory changes for Japanese companies.
Authorize Filing of Required Documents and Other Formalities
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholders authorize the holder of a copy of the minutes of the general assembly to accomplish any formalities required by law, as is required in France.
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Propose Publications Media
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholders approve the designation of a newspaper as the medium to publish the company’s meeting notice, as is common in Chile and other countries.
Clarify Articles of Association or Incorporation
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals seeking shareholder approval of routine housekeeping of the company’s articles, including clarifying items and deleting obsolete items.
Update Articles of Association or Incorporation with Proxy Results
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholders approve changes to the company’s articles of association or incorporation to reflect the results of a proxy vote by shareholders, which is a routine proposal in certain country’s proxies.
Conform Articles of Association or Incorporation to Law or Stock Exchange
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholder approval to amend the articles of association or incorporation to conform to new requirements in local or national law or rules established by a stock exchange on which its stock is listed.
Authorize Board to Ratify and Execute Approved Resolutions
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholder approval to authorize the board to ratify and execute any resolutions approved at the meeting.
Prepare and Approve List of Shareholders
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholder approval for the preparation and approval of the list of shareholders entitled to vote at the meeting, which is a routine formality in European countries.
Authorize Company to Engage in Transactions with Related Parties
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholder approval for the company, its subsidiaries, and target associated companies to enter into certain transactions with persons who are considered “interested parties” as defined in Chapter 9A of the Listing Manual of the Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES), as the SES related-party transaction rules are fairly comprehensive and provide shareholders with substantial protection against insider trading abuses.
Amend Articles to Lower Quorum Requirement for Special Business
The Funds generally will vote on a CASE-BY-CASE basis on proposals seeking to amend the articles to lower the quorum requirement to one-third for special business resolutions at a shareholder meeting, which is common when certain material transactions such as mergers or acquisitions are to be considered by shareholders.
Change Date/Location of Annual Meeting
The Funds will vote in accordance with the recommendation of the third party research provider on proposals to change the date, time or location of the company’s annual meeting of shareholders.
Elect Chairman of the Meeting
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholder approval to elect the chairman of the meeting, which is a routine meeting formality in certain European countries.
Authorize New Product Lines
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholder approval to amend the company’s articles to allow the company to expand into new lines of business.
Approve Financial Statements, Directors’ Reports and Auditors’ Reports
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals that request shareholder approval of the financial statements, directors’ reports, and auditors’ reports.
Foreign Issues — Compensation
Approve Retirement Bonuses for Directors/Statutory Auditors
The Funds generally will ABSTAIN from voting on proposals requesting shareholder approval for the payment of retirement bonuses to retiring directors and/or statutory auditors, which is a standard request in Japan, because information to justify the proposal is typically insufficient.
Statement of Additional Information – June 6, 2016 B-8

 

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Approve Payment to Deceased Director’s/Statutory Auditor’s Family
The Funds generally will ABSTAIN from voting on proposals requesting shareholder approval for the payment of a retirement bonus to the family of a deceased director or statutory auditor, which is a standard request in Japan, because information to justify the proposal is typically insufficient.
Foreign Issues — Business Entity, Capitalization
Set or Approve the Dividend
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholders approve the dividend rate set by management.
Approve Allocation of Income and Dividends
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholders approve a board’s allocation of income for the current fiscal year, as well as the dividend rate.
Approve Scrip (Stock) Dividend Alternative
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholders authorize dividend payments in the form of either cash or shares at the discretion of each shareholder, provided the options are financially equal. The Funds generally will vote AGAINST proposals that do not allow for a cash option unless management demonstrates that the cash option is harmful to shareholder value.
Authorize Issuance of Equity or Equity-Linked Securities
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholder approval to permit the board to authorize the company to issue convertible bonds or other equity-linked debt instruments or to issue shares to satisfy the exercise of such securities.
Authorize Issuance of Bonds
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholder approval granting the authority to the board to issue bonds or subordinated bonds.
Authorize Capitalization of Reserves for Bonus Issue or Increase in Par Value
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholder approval to increase authorized stock by capitalizing various reserves or retained earnings, which allows shareholders to receive either new shares or a boost in the par value of their shares at no cost.
Increase Issued Capital for Rights Issue
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholder approval to increase issued capital in order to offer a rights issue to current registered shareholders, which provides shareholders the option of purchasing additional shares of the company’s stock, often at a discount to market value, and the company will use the proceeds from the issue to provide additional financing.
Board Authority to Repurchase Shares
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting that a board be given the authority to repurchase shares of the company on the open market, with such authority continuing until the next annual meeting.
Authorize Reissuance of Repurchased Shares
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholder approval to reissue shares of the company’s stock that had been repurchased by the company at an earlier date.
Approve Payment of Corporate Income Tax
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals seeking approval for the use by a company of its reserves in order to pay corporate taxes, which is common practice in Europe.
Cancel Pre-Approved Capital Issuance Authority
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholders cancel a previously approved authority to issue capital, which may be necessary in Denmark as companies there do not have authorized but unissued capital that they may issue as needed like their counterparts in other countries.
Allotment of Unissued Shares
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting that shareholders give the board the authority to allot or issue unissued shares.
Statement of Additional Information – June 6, 2016 B-9

 

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Authority to Allot Shares for Cash
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting that shareholders give the board the ability to allot a set number of authorized but unissued shares for the purpose of employee share schemes and to allot equity securities for cash to persons other than existing shareholders up to a limited aggregate nominal amount (a percentage of the issued share capital of the company).
Foreign Issues – Defense Mechanisms
Authorize Board to Use All Outstanding Capital
The Funds will vote on a CASE-BY-CASE basis on proposals requesting shareholders authorize the board, for one year, to use all outstanding capital authorizations in the event that a hostile public tender or exchange offer is made for the company, which is a common anti-takeover measure in France similar to the way U.S. companies use preferred stock.
Foreign Issues — Auditors
Approve Special Auditors’ Report
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals that present shareholders of French companies, as required by French law, with a special auditor’s report that confirms the presence or absence of any outstanding related party transactions. At a minimum, such transactions (with directors or similar parties) must be previously authorized by the board. This part of the French commercial code provides shareholders with a mechanism to ensure an annual review of any outstanding related party transactions.
Appoint Statutory Auditor
The Funds generally will vote FOR proposals requesting shareholder approval to appoint the internal statutory auditor, designated as independent internal auditor as required by the revised Japanese Commercial Code.
Foreign Issues — Social and Environmental
Authorize Company to Make EU Political Organization Donations
The Funds generally will ABSTAIN from voting on proposals that seek authorization for the company to make EU political organization donations and to incur EU political expenditures.
SAI940_10_001_(06/16)
Statement of Additional Information – June 6, 2016 B-10


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PART C. OTHER INFORMATION

Item 28. Exhibits

 

(a)(1)   Declaration of Trust effective June 8, 2012, is incorporated by reference to Registration Statement of the Registrant on Form N-1A (Exhibit (a)), filed on August 16, 2012.
(a)(2)   Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust, effective April 15, 2016, is filed herewith as Exhibit (a)(2) to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1 to Registration Statement No. 333-209996 of the Registrant on Form N-1A.
(b)   By-laws, as amended March 3, 2016, are incorporated by reference to Registration Statement No. 333-146374 of the Registrant (Exhibit (b)), filed on March 7, 2016.
(c)   Stock Certificate: Not Applicable.
(d)(1)   Investment Management Services Agreement between Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC and the Registrant, dated April 19, 2016, is filed herewith as Exhibit (d)(1) to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1 to Registration Statement No. 333-209996 of the Registrant on Form N-1A.
(d)(2)   Schedule A, dated April 19, 2016, to the Investment Management Services Agreement between Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC and the Registrant, dated April 19, 2016, is filed herewith as Exhibit (d)(2) to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1 to Registration Statement No. 333-209996 of the Registrant on Form N-1A.
(e)   Distribution Agreement between Columbia ETF Trust I and ALPS Distributors, Inc., dated April 19, 2016, is filed herewith as Exhibit (e) to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1 to Registration Statement No. 333-209996 of the Registrant on Form N-1A.
(f)   Not applicable.
(g)(1)   Custody Agreement between Columbia ETF Trust and The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, dated March 20, 2009, LLC is incorporated by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 86 to Registration Statement No. 333-148082 of Columbia ETF Trust on Form N-1A (Exhibit (g)(1)), filed on February 28, 2014.
(g)(2)   Amended and Restated Schedule II to the Custody Agreement updating ETF names is incorporated by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 86 to Registration Statement No. 333-148082 of Columbia ETF Trust on Form N-1A (Exhibit (g)(2)), filed on February 28, 2014.
(g)(3)   Amendment and Joinder to Custody Agreement (relating to Columbia ETF Trust I), dated April 19, 2016, is filed herewith as Exhibit (g)(3) to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1 to Registration Statement No. 333-209996 of the Registrant on Form N-1A.
(h)(1)   Administration and Accounting Agreement between Columbia ETF Trust and The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, dated March 20, 2009 is incorporated by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 86 to Registration Statement No. 333-148082 of Columbia ETF Trust on Form N-1A (Exhibit (h)(1), filed on February 28, 2014.
(h)(2)   Transfer Agency and Service Agreement, dated March 20, 2009, between Columbia ETF Trust and The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation is incorporated by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 86 to Registration Statement No. 333-148082 of Columbia ETF Trust on Form N-1A (Exhibit (h)(2)), filed on February 28, 2014.
(h)(3)   Fee Schedule for Custody, Accounting, Administration and Transfer Agency Agreements is incorporated by reference to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 2 to Registration Statement No. 333-148082 of Columbia ETF Trust on Form N-1A, filed on April 8, 2009.


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(h)(4)   Amendment to Fund Administration and Accounting Agreement updating ETF names is incorporated by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 86 to Registration Statement No. 333-148082 of Columbia ETF Trust on Form N-1A (Exhibit (h)(5)), filed on February 28, 2014.
(h)(5)   Appendix 1 to the Transfer Agency and Service Agreement updating ETF names is incorporated by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 86 to Registration Statement No. 333-148082 of Columbia ETF Trust on Form N-1A (Exhibit (h)(6)), filed on February 28, 2014.
(h)(6)   Amendment and Joinder to Transfer Agency and Service Agreement (relating to Columbia ETF Trust I), dated April 19, 2016, is filed herewith as Exhibit (h)(6) to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1 to Registration Statement No. 333-209996 of the Registrant on Form N-1A.
(h)(7)   Amendment and Joinder to Fund Administration and Accounting Agreement (relating to Columbia ETF Trust I), dated April 19, 2016, is filed herewith as Exhibit (h)(7) to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1 to Registration Statement No. 333-209996 of the Registrant on Form N-1A.
(h)(8)   Expense Limitation Agreement, dated April 19, 2016, is filed herewith as Exhibit (h)(8) to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1 to Registration Statement No. 333-209996 of the Registrant on Form N-1A.
(i)   Opinion of counsel is filed herewith as Exhibit (i) to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1 to Registration Statement No. 333-209996 of the Registrant on Form N-1A.
(j)   Consent of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is filed herewith as Exhibit (j) to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1 to Registration Statement No. 333-209996 of the Registrant on Form N-1A.
(k)   Not Applicable.
(l)   Initial Capital Agreement is filed herewith as Exhibit (l) to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1 to Registration Statement No. 333-209996 of the Registrant on Form N-1A.
(m)   Distribution and Service Plan, dated April 19, 2016, is filed herewith as Exhibit (m) to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1 to Registration Statement No. 333-209996 of the Registrant on Form N-1A.
(n)   Not applicable.
(o)   Reserved.
(p)(1)   Code of Ethics adopted under Rule 17j-1 for Registrant, effective April 14, 2014, is incorporated by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 39 to Registration Statement No. 333-146374 of Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II on Form N-1A (Exhibit (p)(1)), filed on May 15, 2014.
(p)(2)   Ameriprise Global Asset Management Personal Account Dealing and Code of Ethics Policy, effective December 1, 2015, is incorporated by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 49 to Registration Statement No. 333-146374 of Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II on Form N-1A (Exhibit (p)(2)), filed on February 19, 2016.
(q)   Power of Attorney for Michael G. Clarke, dated May 23, 2016, is filed herewith as Exhibit (q) to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1 to Registration Statement No. 333-209996 of the Registrant on Form N-1A.
(q)(1)   Trustees Power of Attorney, dated April 19, 2016, is filed herewith as Exhibit (q)(1) to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1 to Registration Statement No. 333-209996 of the Registrant on Form N-1A.


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Item 29. Persons Controlled by or Under Common Control with the Registrant

None.

Item 30. Indemnification

Article VII of the Registrant’s Agreement and Declaration of Trust, as amended, provides that no trustee or officer of the Registrant shall be subject to any liability to any person in connection with Registrant property or the affairs of the Registrant, and no trustee shall be responsible or liable in any event for any neglect or wrongdoing of any officer, agent, employee, investment adviser or principal underwriter of the Registrant or for the act or omission of any other trustee, all as more fully set forth in the Agreement and Declaration of Trust, which is filed as an exhibit to this registration statement. Article 5 of the Registrant’s Bylaws provides that each person made or threatened to be made a party to or is involved in any actual or threatened proceeding by reason of the former or present capacity as a trustee or officer of the Registrant or who, while a trustee or officer, is or was serving at the request of the Registrant or whose duties as a trustee or officer involve or involved service as a director, officer, partner, trustee or agent of another organization or employee benefit plan whether the basis of any proceeding is alleged action in an official capacity or in any capacity while serving as a director, officer, partner, trustee or agent, shall be indemnified by the Registrant, under specified circumstances, all as more fully set forth in the Bylaws, which are filed as an exhibit to the registration statement.

Section 17(h) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (1940 Act) provides that no instrument pursuant to which Registrant is organized or administered shall contain any provision which protects or purports to protect any trustee or officer of Registrant against any liability to Registrant or its shareholders to which he or she would otherwise be subject by reason of willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence, or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of his or her office.

The Registrant’s Declaration of Trust provides that nothing in the Declaration of Trust shall protect any trustee or officer against any liabilities to the Registrant or its shareholders to which he or she would otherwise be subject by reason of willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of his or her office or position with or on behalf of the Registrant and the Registrant’s Bylaws provides that no indemnification will be made in violation of the provisions of the 1940 Act.

The Registrant may be party to other contracts that include indemnification provisions for the benefit of the Registrant’s trustees and officers.

The trustees and officers of the Registrant and the personnel of the Registrant’s investment adviser are insured under an errors and omissions liability insurance policy. Registrant’s investment adviser, Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC, maintains investment advisory professional liability insurance to insure it, for the benefit of Registrant and its non-interested trustees, against loss arising out of any effort, omission, or breach of any duty owed to Registrant or any series of Registrant by Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC.

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 (the 1933 Act) may be permitted to trustees, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant by the Registrant pursuant to the Registrant’s organizational instruments or otherwise, the Registrant is aware that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the 1933 Act and, therefore, is unenforceable.

Item 31. Business and Other Connections of the Investment Adviser

To the knowledge of the Registrant, none of the directors or officers of Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC (Columbia Management), the Registrant’s investment adviser, or any subadviser to a series of the Registrant, except as set forth below, are or have been, at any time during the Registrant’s past two fiscal years, engaged in any other business, profession, vocation or employment of a substantial nature.

 

(a) Columbia Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial, Inc., performs investment advisory services for the Registrant and certain other clients. Information regarding the business of Columbia Management and the directors and principal officers of Columbia Management is also included in the Form ADV filed by Columbia Management with the SEC pursuant to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (File No. 801-25943), which is incorporated herein by reference. In addition to their position with Columbia Management, certain directors and officers of Columbia Management also hold various positions with, and engage in business for, Ameriprise Financial, Inc. or its other subsidiaries.


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Item 32. Principal Underwriter

(a) ALPS Distributors, Inc. acts as the distributor for the Registrant and the following investment companies: 1290 Funds, 13D Activist Fund, ALPS Series Trust, Arbitrage Funds, AQR Funds, Babson Capital Funds Trust, BBH Trust, Brandes Investment Trust Broadview Funds Trust, Brown Capital Management Funds, Caldwell & Orkin Funds, Inc., Centaur Mutual Funds Trust, Centre Funds, Century Capital Management Trust, Columbia ETF Trust, Cortina Funds, Inc., CRM Mutual Fund Trust, CSOP ETF Trust, Cullen Funds, DBX ETF Trust, ETFS Trust, EGA Emerging Global Shares Trust, Elevation ETF Trust, Elkhorn ETF Trust, FactorShares Trust, Financial Investors Trust, Firsthand Funds, Goldman Sachs ETF Trust, Griffin Institutional Access Real Estate Fund, Heartland Group, Inc., Henssler Funds, Inc., Holland Series Fund, Inc., Index Funds, IndexIQ Active ETF Trust, Index IQ ETF Trust, James Advantage Funds, Janus Detroit Street Trust, Lattice Strategies Trust, Laudus Trust, Litman Gregory Funds Trust, Longleaf Partners Funds Trust, Mairs & Power Funds Trust, Oak Associates Funds, Pax World Series Trust I, Pax World Funds Trust III, Pointbreak ETF Trust, Principal Exchange-Traded Funds, Reality Shares ETF Trust, Resource Credit Income Fund, Resource Real Estate Diversified Income Fund, RiverNorth Funds, SCS Hedged Opportunities Master Fund, SCS Hedged Opportunities Fund, SCS Hedged Opportunities (TE) Fund, Smead Funds Trust, SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust, SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF Trust, Stadion Investment Trust, Stone Harbor Investment Funds, Total Return US Treasury Fund, Transparent Value Trust, USCF ETF Trust, Wakefield Alternative Series Trust, Wasatch Funds, WesMark Funds, Westcore Trust, and Wilmington Funds.

(b) To the best of Registrant’s knowledge, the directors and executive officers of ALPS Distributors, Inc., are as follows:

 

Name*

  

Position with Underwriter

  

Positions with Fund

Edmund J. Burke    Director    None
Jeremy O. May    President, Director    None
Thomas A. Carter    Executive Vice President, Director    None
Bradley J. Swenson    Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer    None
Robert J. Szydlowski    Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer    None
Aisha J. Hunt    Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Assistant Secretary    None
Eric T. Parsons    Vice President, Controller and Assistant Treasurer    None
Randall D. Young**    Secretary    None
Gregg Wm. Givens**    Vice President, Treasurer and Assistant Secretary    None
Douglas W. Fleming**    Assistant Treasurer    None
Steven Price    Senior Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer    None
Liza Orr    Vice President, Senior Counsel    None
Jed Stahl    Vice President, Senior Counsel    None
Taylor Ames    Vice President    None
Troy A. Duran    Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer    None
James Stegall    Vice President    None
Gary Ross    Senior Vice President    None
Kevin Ireland    Senior Vice President    None
Mark Kiniry    Senior Vice President    None
Tison Cory    Vice President, Intermediary Operations    None
Hilary Quinn    Vice President    None
Jennifer Craig    Assistant Vice President    None

 

* Except as otherwise noted, the principal business address for each of the above directors and executive officers is 1290 Broadway, Suite 1100, Denver, Colorado 80203.
** The principal business address for Messrs. Young, Givens and Fleming is 333 W. 11th Street, 5th Floor, Kansas City, Missouri 64105.


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Item 33. Location of Accounts and Records

All accounts, books, and other documents required to be maintained by Section 31(a) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and the rules promulgated thereunder are maintained at the offices of the: (a) Registrant; (b) Investment Manager; (c) Principal Underwriter; (d) Administrator/ Fund Accountant/ Transfer Agent and Custodian. The address of each is as follows:

 

(a) Registrant

225 Franklin Street

Boston, MA 02110

 

(b) Investment Manager

Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC,

225 Franklin Street

Boston, MA 02110

 

(c) Principal Underwriter

ALPS Distributors, Inc.

1290 Broadway, Suite 1100

Denver, CO 80203

 

(d) Administrator/Fund Accountant/Transfer Agent/Custodian

The Bank of New York Mellon

101 Barclay Street

New York, New York 10286

Item 34. Management Services

Not Applicable.

Item 35. Undertakings

Not Applicable.


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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Registrant, COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I, has duly caused this Amendment to its Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, duly authorized, in the City of Minneapolis, and The State of Minnesota on the 31 st day of May, 2016.

 

COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I
By:  

/s/ Christopher O. Petersen

  Christopher O. Petersen
  President

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Amendment to the Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities indicated on the 31 st day of May, 2016.

 

Signature   Capacity       Signature   Capacity

/s/ Christopher O. Petersen

Christopher O. Petersen

 

President

(Principal Executive Officer)

   

/s/ R. Glenn Hilliard*

R. Glenn Hilliard

  Trustee

/s/ Michael G. Clarke*

Michael G. Clarke

 

Chief Financial Officer

(Principal Financial Officer)

Chief Accounting Officer

(Principal Accounting Officer)

   

/s/ Catherine James Paglia*

Catherine James Paglia

  Trustee

/s/ William A. Hawkins*

William A. Hawkins

  Chair of the Board    

/s/ Leroy C. Richie*

Leroy C. Richie

  Trustee

/s/ Kathleen A. Blatz*

Kathleen A. Blatz

  Trustee    

/s/ Anthony M. Santomero*

Anthony M. Santomero

  Trustee

/s/ Edward J. Boudreau, Jr.*

Edward J. Boudreau, Jr.

  Trustee    

/s/ Minor M. Shaw*

Minor M. Shaw

  Trustee

/s/ Pamela G. Carlton*

Pamela G. Carlton

  Trustee    

/s/ Alison Taunton-Rigby*

Alison Taunton-Rigby

  Trustee

/s/ William P. Carmichael*

William P. Carmichael

  Trustee    

/s/ William F. Truscott*

William F. Truscott

  Trustee

/s/ Patricia M. Flynn*

Patricia M. Flynn

  Trustee      

 

*           By:  

/s/ Joseph L. D’Alessandro

  Name:   Joseph L. D’Alessandro **
    Attorney-in-fact

 

** Executed by Joseph L. D’Alessandro on behalf of Michael G. Clarke pursuant to a Power of Attorney, dated May 23, 2016, filed herewith as Exhibit (q) to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1 to Registration Statement No. 333-209996 of the Registrant on Form N-1A, and on behalf of each of the Trustees pursuant to a Trustees Power of Attorney, dated April 19, 2016, filed herewith as Exhibit (q)(1) to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1 to Registration Statement No. 333-209996 of the Registrant on Form N-1A.


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Exhibit Index

 

(a)(2)   Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust, effective April 15, 2016.
(d)(1)   Investment Management Services Agreement between Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC and the Registrant, dated April 19, 2016.
(d)(2)   Schedule A, dated April 19, 2016, to the Investment Management Services Agreement between Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC and the Registrant, dated April 19, 2016.
(e)   Distribution Agreement between Columbia ETF Trust I and ALPS Distributors, Inc., dated April 19, 2016.
(g)(3)   Amendment and Joinder to Custody Agreement, dated April 19, 2016.
(h)(6)   Amendment and Joinder to Transfer Agency and Service Agreement, dated April 19, 2016.
(h)(7)   Amendment and Joinder to Fund Administration and Accounting Agreement, dated April 19, 2016.
(h)(8)   Expense Limitation Agreement, dated April 19, 2016.
(i)   Opinion of counsel.
(j)   Consent of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
(l)   Initial Capital Agreement.
(m)   Distribution and Service Plan, dated April 19, 2016.
(q)   Power of Attorney for Michael G. Clarke, dated May 23, 2016.
(q)(1)   Trustees Power of Attorney, dated April 19, 2016.

COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I

AMENDED AND RESTATED

DECLARATION OF TRUST

THIS DECLARATION OF TRUST made at Boston, Massachusetts, effective on April 15, 2016, by the Trustees hereunder and the holders of shares of beneficial interest issued hereunder and to be issued hereunder as hereinafter provided:

WITNESSETH that

WHEREAS, this Trust has been formed to carry on the business of an investment company; and

WHEREAS, the Trustees have agreed to manage all property coming into their hands as trustees of a Massachusetts voluntary association with transferable shares in accordance with the provisions hereinafter set forth;

NOW, THEREFORE, the Trustees hereby declare that they will hold all cash, securities and other assets, which they may from time to time acquire in any manner as Trustee hereunder, IN TRUST to manage and dispose of the same upon the following terms and conditions for the benefit of the holders from time to time of shares in this Trust as hereinafter set forth.

ARTICLE I

Name and Definitions

Section   1 . This Trust shall be known as “Columbia ETF Trust I” and the Trustees shall conduct the business of the Trust under that name or any other name as they may from time to time determine.

Section   2 . Definitions . Whenever used herein, unless otherwise required by the context or specifically provided:

(a) “Trust” refers to the Massachusetts business trust established by this Agreement and Declaration of Trust, as amended from time to time;

(b) “Trustees” refers to the persons signatory hereto, so long as they continue in office in accordance with the terms of this Declaration of Trust, and all other persons who may from time to time be duly elected or appointed in accordance with Article IV hereof;

(c) “Shares” means the equal proportionate units of interest into which the beneficial interest in the Trust or in the Trust property belonging to any Series of the Trust or in any class of Shares of the Trust (as the context may require) shall be divided from time to time;

(d) “Shareholder” means a record owner of Shares;

(e) “1940 Act” refers to the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Rules and Regulations thereunder, all as amended from time to time;

(f) The terms “Commission” and “principal underwriter” shall have the meanings given them in the 1940 Act;

(g) “Declaration of Trust” or “Declaration” shall mean this Agreement and Declaration of Trust, as amended or restated from time to time;

(h) “Bylaws” shall mean the Bylaws of the Trust, as amended from time to time;

(i) “Series Company” refers to the form of registered open-end investment company described in Section 18(f)(2) of the 1940 Act or in any successor statutory provision;

(j) “Series” refers to Series of Shares established and designated under or in accordance with the provisions of Article III;

(k) “Multi-Class Series” refers to Series of Shares established and designated as Multi-Class Series under or in accordance with the provisions of Article III, Section 6; and

(l) The terms “class” and “class of Shares” refer to each class of Shares into which the Shares of any Multi-Class Series may from time to time be divided in accordance with the provisions of Article III.


ARTICLE II

Purpose of Trust

The purpose of the Trust is to engage in the business of a management investment company.

ARTICLE III

Shares

Section   1 . Division of Beneficial Interest . The beneficial interest in the Trust shall at all times be divided into an unlimited number of Shares, with a par value of $0.00000001 per share. Subject to the provisions of Section 6 of this Article III, each Share shall have voting rights as provided in Article V hereof, and holders of the Shares of any Series or class shall be entitled to receive dividends, when and as declared with respect thereto in the manner provided in Article VI, Section 1 hereof. Except as otherwise provided in Section 6 of this Article III with respect to Shares of Multi-Class Series, no Share shall have any priority or preference over any other Share of the same Series with respect to dividends or distributions upon termination of the Trust or of such Series made pursuant to Article VIII, Section 4 hereof. Except as otherwise provided in Section 6 of this Article III with respect to Shares of Multi-Class Series, all dividends and distributions shall be made ratably among all Shareholders of a particular Series from the assets belonging to such Series according to the number of Shares of such Series held of record by such Shareholders on the record date for any dividend or distribution or on the date of termination, as the case may be. Shareholders shall have no preemptive or other right to subscribe to any additional Shares or other securities issued by the Trust. The Trustees may from time to time divide or combine the Shares of any particular Series or class into a greater or lesser number of Shares of that Series or class without thereby changing the proportionate beneficial interest of the Shares of that Series or class in the assets belonging to that Series or attributable to that class or in any way affecting the rights of Shares of any other Series or class.

Section   2 . Ownership of Shares . The ownership of Shares shall be recorded on the books of the Trust or a transfer or similar agent for the Trust, which books shall be maintained separately for the Shares of each Series and class. No certificates certifying the ownership of Shares shall be issued except as the Trustees may otherwise determine from time to time. The Trustees may make such rules as they consider appropriate for the transfer of Shares of each Series and class and similar matters. The record books of the Trust as kept by the Trust or any transfer or similar agent, as the case may be, shall be conclusive as to who are the Shareholders of each Series and class and as to the number of Shares of each Series and class held from time to time by each.

Section   3 . Investments in the Trust . The Trustees shall accept investments in the Trust from such persons and on such terms and for such consideration as they from time to time authorize, and may, at any time and from time to time, charge fees for effecting purchases of Shares at such rates as the Trustees may establish, as and to the extent permitted under the 1940 Act and any rules, regulations or exemptive relief thereunder.

Section   4 . Status of Shares and Limitation of Personal Liability . Shares shall be deemed to be personal property giving only the rights provided in this instrument. Every Shareholder by virtue of having become a Shareholder shall be held to have expressly assented and agreed to the terms hereof and to have become a party hereto. The death of a Shareholder during the continuance of the Trust shall not operate to terminate the same nor entitle the representative of any deceased Shareholder to an accounting or to take any action in court or elsewhere against the Trust or the Trustees, but entitles such representative only to the rights of said deceased Shareholder under this Trust. Ownership of Shares shall not entitle the Shareholder to any title in or to the whole or any part of the Trust property or right to call for a partition or division of the same or for an accounting, nor shall the ownership of Shares constitute the Shareholders partners. Neither the Trust nor the Trustees, nor any officer, employee or agent of the Trust, shall have any power to bind personally any Shareholder, nor except as specifically provided herein to call upon any Shareholder for the payment of any sum of money or assessment whatsoever other than such as the Shareholder may at any time personally agree to pay.

Section   5 . Power of Trustees to Change Provisions Relating to Shares . Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Declaration of Trust and without limiting the power of the Trustees to amend the Declaration of Trust as provided elsewhere


herein, the Trustees shall have the power to amend this Declaration of Trust, at any time and from time to time, in such manner as the Trustees may determine in their sole discretion, without the need for Shareholder action, so as to add to, delete, replace or otherwise modify any provisions relating to the Shares contained in this Declaration of Trust for the purpose of (i) responding to or complying with any regulations, orders, rulings or interpretations of any governmental agency or any laws, now or hereafter applicable to the Trust, or (ii) designating and establishing Series or classes in addition to those established in Section 6 of this Article III; provided that before adopting any such amendment without Shareholder approval the Trustees shall determine that it is consistent with the fair and equitable treatment of all Shareholders. The establishment and designation of any Series of Shares in addition to the Series established and designated in Section 6 of this Article III shall be effective upon either the execution by a majority of the then Trustees of an amendment to this Declaration of Trust, taking the form of a complete restatement or otherwise, or the adoption by vote or written consent of a majority of the then Trustees of a resolution setting forth such establishment and designation and the relative rights and preferences of such Series, or as otherwise provided in such amendment or resolution. The establishment and designation of any class of Shares shall be effective upon either the execution by a majority of the then Trustees of an amendment to this Declaration of Trust or the adoption by vote or written consent of a majority of the then Trustees of a resolution setting forth such establishment and designation and the relative rights and preferences of such class and such eligibility requirements for investment therein as the Trustees may determine, or as otherwise provided in such amendment or resolution.

Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Trustees may, without the approval of Shareholders, for the above-stated purposes, amend the Declaration of Trust to:

(a) create one or more Series or classes of Shares (in addition to any Series or classes already existing or otherwise) with such rights and preferences and such eligibility requirements for investment therein as the Trustees shall determine and reclassify any or all outstanding Shares as shares of particular Series or classes in accordance with such eligibility requirements;

(b) amend any of the provisions set forth in paragraphs (a) through (j) of Section 6 of this Article III;

(c) combine one or more Series or classes of Shares into a single Series or class on such terms and conditions as the Trustees shall determine or consolidate, merge or transfer assets of the Trust or a Series as set forth in Article VIII, Section 5;

(d) change or eliminate any eligibility requirements for investment in Shares of any Series or class, including without limitation the power to provide for the issue of Shares of any Series or class in connection with any merger or consolidation of the Trust with another trust or company or any acquisition by the Trust of part or all of the assets of another trust or company;

(e) change the designation of any Series or class of Shares;

(f) change the method of allocating dividends among the various Series and classes of Shares;

(g) allocate any specific assets or liabilities of the Trust or any specific items of income or expense of the Trust to one or more Series or classes of Shares; and

(h) specifically allocate assets to any or all Series of Shares or create one or more additional Series of Shares which are preferred over all other Series of Shares in respect of assets specifically allocated thereto or any dividends paid by the Trust with respect to any net income, however determined, earned from the investment and reinvestment of any assets so allocated or otherwise and provide for any special voting or other rights with respect to such Series or any classes of Shares thereof.

Section   6 . Establishment and Designation of Series and Classes . Without limiting the authority of the Trustees set forth in Section 5, inter alia, to establish and designate any further Series or classes or to modify the rights and preferences of any Series or class, the following Series shall be, and are hereby, established and designated:

Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF

Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF

Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF


Shares of each Series established in this Section 6 shall have the following rights and preferences relative to Shares of each other Series, and Shares of each class of a Multi-Class Series shall have such rights and preferences relative to other classes of the same Series as are set forth below, together with such other rights and preferences relative to such other classes as are set forth in any resolution of the Trustees establishing and designating such class of Shares:

(a) Assets belonging to Series . Subject to the provisions of paragraph (c) of this Section 6:

All consideration received by the Trust for the issue or sale of Shares of a particular Series, together with all assets in which such consideration is invested or reinvested, all income, earnings, profits and proceeds thereof from whatever source derived, including, without limitation, any proceeds derived from the sale, exchange or liquidation of such assets, and any funds or payments derived from any reinvestment of such proceeds in whatever form the same may be, shall irrevocably belong to that Series for all purposes, subject only to the rights of creditors of that Series, and shall be so recorded upon the books of account of the Trust. Such consideration, assets, income, earnings, profits and proceeds thereof, from whatever source derived, including, without limitation, any proceeds derived from the sale, exchange or liquidation of such assets, and any funds or payments derived from any reinvestment of such proceeds, in whatever form the same may be, are herein referred to as “assets belonging to” that Series. In the event that there are any assets, income, earnings, profits and proceeds thereof, funds or payments which are not readily identifiable as belonging to any particular Series (collectively “General Assets”), the Trustees shall allocate such General Assets to, between or among any one or more of the Series established and designated from time to time in such manner and on such basis as they, in their sole discretion, deem fair and equitable, and any General Asset so allocated to a particular Series shall belong to that Series. Each such allocation by the Trustees shall be conclusive and binding upon the Shareholders of all Series for all purposes.

(b) Liabilities Belonging to Series . Subject to the provisions of paragraph (c) of this Section 6:

The assets belonging to each particular Series shall be charged solely with the liabilities of the Trust in respect to that Series, the expenses, costs, charges and reserves attributable to that Series, and any general liabilities of the Trust which are not readily identifiable as belonging to any particular Series but which are allocated and charged by the Trustees to and among any one or more of the Series established and designated from time to time in a manner and on such basis as the Trustees in their sole discretion deem fair and equitable. The liabilities, expenses, costs, charges and reserves so charged to a Series are herein referred to as “liabilities belonging to” that Series. Each allocation of liabilities, expenses, costs, charges and reserves by the Trustees shall be conclusive and binding upon the Shareholders of all Series for all purposes.

(c) Apportionment of Assets etc. in Case of Multi-Class Series . In the case of any Multi-Class Series, to the extent necessary or appropriate to give effect to the relative rights and preferences of any classes of Shares of such Series, (i) any assets, income, earnings, profits, proceeds, liabilities, expenses, charges, costs and reserves belonging or attributable to that Series may be allocated or attributed to a particular class of Shares of that Series or apportioned among two or more classes of Shares of that Series; and (ii) Shares of any class of such Series may have priority or preference over shares of other classes of such Series with respect to dividends or distributions upon termination of the Trust or of such Series or class or otherwise, provided that no Share shall have any priority or preference over any other Shares of the same class and that all dividends and distributions to Shareholders of a particular class shall be made ratably among all Shareholders of such class according to the number of Shares of such class held of record by such Shareholders on the record date for any dividend or distribution or on the date of termination, as the case may be.

(d) Dividends, Distributions, Redemptions and Repurchases . Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Declaration, including, without limitation, Article VI, no dividend or distribution (including, without limitation, any distribution paid upon termination of the Trust or of any Series or class) with respect to, nor any redemption or repurchase of, the Shares of any Series or class shall be effected by the Trust other than from the assets belonging to such Series or attributable to such class, nor shall any Shareholder of any particular Series or class otherwise have any right or claim against the assets belonging to any other Series or attributable to any other class except to the extent that such Shareholder has such a right or claim hereunder as a Shareholder of such other Series or class.

(e) Voting . Notwithstanding any of the other provisions of this Declaration, including, without limitation, Section 1 of Article V. the Shareholders of any particular Series or class shall not be entitled to vote on any matters as to which such Series or class is not affected. On any matter submitted to a vote of Shareholders, all Shares of the Trust then entitled to vote shall, except as otherwise provided in the Bylaws, be voted in the aggregate as a single class without regard to Series or class of Shares, except that (1) when required by the 1940 Act or when the Trustees shall have determined that the matter affects one or more Series or classes of Shares materially differently, Shares shall be voted by individual Series or class and (2) when the matter affects only the interests of one or more Series or classes, only Shareholders of such Series or classes shall be entitled to vote thereon. There shall be no cumulative voting in the election of Trustees.


(f) Equality . Except to the extent necessary or appropriate to give effect to the relative rights and preferences of any classes of Shares of a Multi-Class Series, all the Shares of each particular Series shall represent an equal proportionate interest in the assets belonging to that Series (subject to the liabilities belonging to that Series), and each Share of any particular Series shall be equal to each other Share of that Series. All the Shares of each particular class of Shares within a Multi-Class Series shall represent an equal proportionate interest in the assets belonging to such Series that are attributable to such class (subject to the liabilities attributable to such class), and each Share of any particular class within a Multi-Class Series shall be equal to each other Share of such class.

(g) Fractions . Any fractional Share of a Series or class shall carry proportionately all the rights and obligations of a whole Share of that Series or class, including rights with respect to voting, receipt of dividends and distributions, redemption of Shares (subject to any condition that Shares may be offered for redemption only in such number of Shares, and in full, but not fractional, multiples thereof, as the Trustees may from time to time authorize) and termination of the Trust.

(h) Exchange Privilege . The Trustees shall have the authority to provide that the holders of Shares of any Series or class shall have the right to exchange said Shares for Shares of one or more other Series or classes of Shares in accordance with such requirements and procedures as may be established by the Trustees.

(i) Combination of Series or Classes . Without limiting the authority of the Trustees set forth in Article VIII, Section 5, the Trustees shall have the authority, without the approval of the Shareholders of any Series or class unless otherwise required by applicable law, to combine the assets and liabilities belonging to any two or more Series or attributable to any class into assets and liabilities belonging to a single Series or attributable to a single class.

(j) Elimination of Series or Class . At any time that there are no Shares outstanding of any particular Series previously established and designated, the Trustees may abolish and rescind the establishment and designation of that Series, either by amending this Declaration of Trust in the manner provided in Section 5 of this Article III for the establishment and designation of Series (if such Series was established and designated by an amendment to this Declaration of Trust), or by vote or written consent of a majority of the then Trustees (if such Series was established and designated by Trustee vote or written consent). At any time that there are no Shares outstanding of any particular class previously established and designated of a Multi- Class Series, the Trustees may abolish that class and rescind the establishment and designation thereof, either by amending this Declaration of Trust in the manner provided in Section 5 of this Article III for the establishment and designation of classes (if such class was established and designated by an amendment to this Declaration of Trust), or by vote or written consent of a majority of the then Trustees (if such class was established and designated by Trustee vote or written consent).

Section   7 . Indemnification of Shareholders . In case any Shareholder or former Shareholder shall be held to be personally liable solely by reason of his or her being or having been a Shareholder of the Trust or of a particular Series or class and not because of his or her acts or omissions or for some other reason, the Shareholder or former Shareholder (or his or her heirs, executors, administrators or other legal representatives or, in the case of a corporation or other entity, its corporate or other general successor) shall be entitled out of the assets of the Series (or attributable to the class) of which he or she is a Shareholder or former Shareholder to be held harmless from and indemnified against all loss and expense arising from such liability.

Section   8 . No Preemptive Rights . Shareholders shall have no preemptive or other right to subscribe to any additional Shares or other securities issued by the Trust.

Section   9 . Derivative Claims . No Shareholder shall have the right to bring or maintain any court action, proceeding or claim on behalf of the Trust or any Series without first making demand on the Trustees requesting the Trustees to bring or maintain such action, proceeding or claim. Such demand shall be excused only when the plaintiff makes a specific showing that irreparable injury to the Trust or Series would otherwise result. Such demand shall be mailed to the Secretary of the Trust at the Trust’s principal office and shall set forth in reasonable detail the nature of the proposed court action, proceeding or claim and the essential facts relied upon by the Shareholder to support the allegations made in the demand. The Trustees shall consider such demand within 45 days of its receipt by the Trust. In their sole discretion, the Trustees may submit the matter to a vote of Shareholders of the Trust or Series, as appropriate. Any decision by the Trustees to bring, maintain or settle (or not to bring, maintain or settle) such court action, proceeding or claim, or to submit the matter to a vote of Shareholders, shall be made by the Trustees in their business judgment and shall be binding upon the Shareholders.


ARTICLE IV

The Trustees

Section   1 . Election and Tenure . The Trustees may fix the number of Trustees, fill vacancies in the Trustees, including vacancies arising from an increase in the number of Trustees, or remove Trustees with or without cause. Each Trustee shall serve during the continued lifetime of the Trust until he or she dies, resigns or is removed, or, if sooner, until the next meeting of Shareholders called for the purpose of electing Trustees and until the election and qualification of his or her successor. Any Trustee may resign at any time by written instrument signed by him or her and delivered to any officer of the Trust or to a meeting of the Trustees. Such resignation shall be effective upon receipt unless specified to be effective at some other time. Except to the extent expressly provided in a written agreement with the Trust, no Trustee resigning and no Trustee removed shall have any right to any compensation for any period following his or her resignation or removal, or any right to damages on account of such removal. The Shareholders may fix the number of Trustees and elect Trustees at any meeting of Shareholders called by the Trustees for that purpose and to the extent required by applicable law, including paragraphs (a) and (b) of Section 16 of the 1940 Act.

Section   2 . Effect of Death, Resignation, etc. of a Trustee . The death, declination, resignation, retirement, removal or incapacity of the Trustees, or any of them, shall not operate to annul the Trust or to revoke any existing agency created pursuant to the terms of this Declaration of Trust.

Section   3 . Powers . Subject to the provisions of this Declaration of Trust, the business of the Trust shall be managed by the Trustees, and they shall have all powers necessary or convenient to carry out that responsibility including the power to engage in securities transactions of all kinds on behalf of the Trust. Without limiting the foregoing, the Trustees may adopt Bylaws not inconsistent with this Declaration of Trust providing for the regulation and management of the affairs of the Trust and may amend and repeal them to the extent that such Bylaws do not reserve that right to the Shareholders; they may elect and remove such officers and appoint and terminate such agents as they consider appropriate; they may appoint from their own number and terminate one or more committees consisting of one or more Trustees which may exercise the powers and authority of the Trustees to the extent that the Trustees determine; they may employ one or more custodians of the assets of the Trust and may authorize such custodians to employ sub-custodians and to deposit all or any part of such assets in a system or systems for the central handling of securities or with a Federal Reserve Bank, retain a transfer agent or a shareholder servicing agent, or both, to arrange for the listing and trading of Shares on one or more national securities exchanges, as appropriate, provide for the distribution of Shares by the Trust, through one or more principal underwriters or otherwise, retain, with respect to Series whose Shares trade on a national securities exchange, one or more market makers, exchange specialists, listing and other agents necessary for the calculation of such Series’ intraday indicative value, set record dates for the determination of Shareholders with respect to various matters, and in general delegate such authority as they consider desirable to any officer of the Trust, to any committee of the Trustees and to any agent or employee of the Trust or to any such custodian or underwriter.

Without limiting the foregoing, the Trustees shall have power and authority:

(a) To invest and reinvest cash, and to hold cash uninvested;

(b) To sell, exchange, lend, pledge, mortgage, hypothecate, lease, write options with respect to or otherwise deal in any property rights relating to any or all of the assets of the Trust;

(c) To vote or give assent, or exercise any rights of ownership, with respect to stock or other securities or property; and to execute and deliver proxies or powers of attorney to such person or persons as the Trustees shall deem proper, granting to such person or persons such power and discretion with relation to securities or property as the Trustees shall deem proper;

(d) To exercise powers and rights of subscription or otherwise which in any manner arise out of ownership of securities;

(e) To hold any security or property in a form not indicating any trust, whether in bearer, unregistered or other negotiable form, or in its own name or in the name of a custodian or sub-custodian or a nominee or nominees or otherwise;

(f) To consent to or participate in any plan for the reorganization, consolidation or merger of any corporation or issuer of any security which is held in the Trust; to consent to any contract, lease, mortgage, purchase or sale of property by such corporation or issuer; and to pay calls or subscriptions with respect to any security held in the Trust;


(g) To join with other security holders in acting through a committee, depositary, voting trustee or otherwise, and in that connection to deposit any security with, or transfer any security to, any such committee, depositary or trustee, and to delegate to them such power and authority with relation to any security (whether or not so deposited or transferred) as the Trustees shall deem proper, and to agree to pay, and to pay, such portion of the expenses and compensation of such committee, depositary or trustee as the Trustees shall deem proper;

(h) To compromise, arbitrate or otherwise adjust claims in favor of or against the Trust or any matter in controversy, including but not limited to claims for taxes;

(i) To enter into joint ventures, general or limited partnerships and any other combinations or associations;

(j) To borrow funds or other property;

(k) To endorse or guarantee the payment of any notes or other obligations of any person; and to make contracts of guaranty or suretyship, or otherwise assume liability for payment of such notes or other obligations;

(l) To purchase and pay for entirely out of Trust property such insurance as they may deem necessary or appropriate for the conduct of the business of the Trust, including, without limitation, insurance policies insuring the assets of the Trust and payment of distributions and principal on its portfolio investments, and insurance policies insuring the Shareholders, Trustees, officers, employees, agents, investment advisers, principal underwriters or independent contractors of the Trust individually against all claims and liabilities of every nature arising by reason of holding, being or having held any such office or position, or by reason of any action alleged to have been taken or omitted by any such person as Trustee, officer, employee, agent, investment adviser, principal underwriter or independent contractor, including any action taken or omitted that may be determined to constitute negligence, whether or not the Trust would have the power to indemnify such person against liability; and

(m) To pay pensions as deemed appropriate by the Trustees and to adopt, establish and carry out pension, profit-sharing, share bonus, share purchase, savings, thrift and other retirement, incentive and benefit plans, trusts and provisions, including the purchasing of life insurance and annuity contracts as a means of providing such retirement and other benefits, for any or all of the Trustees, officers, employees and agents of the Trust.

The Trustees shall not in any way be bound or limited by any present or future law or custom in regard to investments by Trustees. The Trustees shall not be required to obtain any court order to deal with any assets of the Trust or take any other action hereunder.

Section   4 . Payment of Expenses by the Trust . The Trustees are authorized to pay or cause to be paid out of the principal or income of the Trust, or partly out of principal and partly out of income, as they deem fair, all expenses, fees, charges, taxes and liabilities incurred or arising in connection with the Trust, or in connection with the management thereof, including but not limited to, the Trustees’ compensation and such expenses and charges for the services of the Trust’s officers, employees, administrators, investment advisers or managers, principal underwriter, auditor, counsel, custodian, transfer agent, shareholder servicing agent, and such other agents or independent contractors, listing fees and expenses, and such other expenses and charges, as the Trustees may deem necessary or proper to incur.

Section   5 . Payment of Expenses by Shareholders . The Trustees shall have the power, as frequently as they may determine, to cause each Shareholder, or each Shareholder of any particular Series or class, to pay directly, in advance or arrears, for charges of the Trust’s custodian or transfer, shareholder servicing or similar agent, an amount fixed from time to time by the Trustees, by setting off such charges due from such Shareholder from declared but unpaid dividends owed such Shareholder and/or by reducing the number of Shares in the account of such Shareholder by that number of full and/or fractional Shares which represents the outstanding amount of such charges due from such Shareholder.

Section   6 . Ownership of Assets of the Trust . Title to all of the assets of the Trust shall at all times be considered as vested in the Trustees.

Section   7 . Advisory, Management and Distribution Contracts . Subject to such requirements and restrictions as may be set forth in the Bylaws, the Trustees may, at any time and from time to time, contract for exclusive or nonexclusive advisory and/or management services for the Trust or for any Series or class with any corporation, trust, association or other organization (a “Manager”); and any such contract may contain such other terms as the Trustees may determine, including without limitation, authority for a Manager to determine from time to time without prior consultation with the Trustees what


investments shall be purchased, held, sold or exchanged and what portion, if any, of the assets of the Trust shall be held uninvested and to make changes in the Trust’s investments. The Trustees may also, at any time and from time to time, contract with a Manager or any other corporation, trust, association or other organization, appointing it exclusive or nonexclusive distributor or principal underwriter for the Shares, every such contract to comply with such requirements and restrictions as may be set forth in the Bylaws; and any such contract may contain such other terms as the Trustees may determine.

The fact that:

(a) any of the Shareholders, Trustees or officers of the Trust is a shareholder, director, officer, partner, trustee, employee, manager, adviser, principal underwriter, distributor or affiliate or agent of or for any corporation, trust, association or other organization, or of or for any parent or affiliate of any organization, with which an advisory or management contract, or principal underwriter’s or distributor’s contract or transfer, shareholder servicing or other agency contract may have been or may hereafter be made, or that any such organization, or any parent or affiliate thereof, is a Shareholder or has an interest in the Trust, or that

(b) any corporation, trust, association or other organization with which an advisory or management contract or principal underwriter’s or distributor’s contract, or transfer, shareholder servicing or other agency contract may have been or may hereafter be made also has an advisory or management contract, or principal underwriter’s or distributor’s contract or transfer, shareholder servicing or other agency contract with one or more other corporations, trusts, associations or other organizations, or has other business or interests shall not affect the validity of any such contract or disqualify any Shareholder, Trustee or officer of the Trust from voting upon or executing the same or create any liability or accountability to the Trust or its Shareholders.

ARTICLE V

Shareholders’ Voting Powers and Meetings

Section   1 . Voting Powers . The Shareholders shall have power to vote only (i) for the election of Trustees as provided in Article IV, Section 1, (ii) to the extent provided in Article III, Section 9 as to whether or not a court action, proceeding or claim should or should not be brought or maintained derivatively or as a class action on behalf of the Trust or the Shareholders, (iii) with respect to the termination of the Trust or any Series or class to the extent and as provided in Article VIII, Section 4 and (iv) with respect to such additional matters relating to the Trust as may be required by applicable law, including the 1940 Act, this Declaration of Trust, the Bylaws or any registration of the Trust with the Commission (or any successor agency) or any state, or as the Trustees may consider necessary or desirable. The number of votes that each whole or fractional Share shall be entitled to vote as to any matter on which it is entitled to vote shall be as specified in the Bylaws. There shall be no cumulative voting in the election of Trustees. Shares may be voted in person or by proxy. A proxy with respect to Shares held in the name of two or more persons shall be valid if executed by any one of them unless at or prior to exercise of the proxy the Trust receives a specific written notice to the contrary from any one of them. A proxy purporting to be executed by or on behalf of a Shareholder shall be deemed valid unless challenged at or prior to its exercise and the burden of proving invalidity shall rest on the challenger. At any time when no Shares of a Series or class are outstanding the Trustees may exercise all rights of Shareholders of that Series or class with respect to matters affecting that Series or class and may with respect to that Series or class take any action required by law, this Declaration of Trust or the Bylaws to be taken by the Shareholders thereof.

Section   2 . Voting Power and Meetings . Meetings of the Shareholders may be called by the Trustees for the purpose of electing Trustees as provided in Article IV, Section 1 and for such other purposes as may be prescribed by law, by this Declaration of Trust or by the Bylaws. Meetings of the Shareholders may also be called by the Trustees from time to time for the purpose of taking action upon any other matter deemed by the Trustees to be necessary or desirable. A meeting of Shareholders may be held at any place designated by the Trustees. Notice of any meeting of Shareholders, stating the time and place of the meeting, shall be given or caused to be given by the Trustees to each Shareholder by mailing such notice, postage prepaid, at least seven days before such meeting, at the Shareholder’s address as it appears on the records of the Trust, or by facsimile or other electronic transmission, at least seven days before such meeting, to the telephone or facsimile number or e-mail or other electronic address most recently furnished to the Trust (or its agent) by the Shareholder. Whenever notice of a meeting is required to be given to a Shareholder under this Declaration of Trust or the Bylaws, a written waiver thereof, executed before or after the meeting by such Shareholder or his attorney thereunto authorized and filed with the records of the meeting, shall be deemed equivalent to such notice.


Section   3 . Quorum and Required Vote . Except when a larger quorum is required by law, by the Bylaws or by this Declaration of Trust, 30% of the votes entitled to be cast shall constitute a quorum at a Shareholders’ meeting. When any one or more Series or classes is to vote as a single class separate from any other Shares which are to vote on the same matters as a separate class or classes, 30% of the votes entitled to be cast by each such class entitled to vote shall constitute a quorum at a Shareholders’ meeting of that class. Any meeting of Shareholders may be adjourned from time to time by a majority of the votes properly cast upon the question, whether or not a quorum is present, and the meeting may be held as adjourned within a reasonable time after the date set for the original meeting without further notice. When a quorum is present at any meeting, a majority of the Shares voted shall decide any questions and a plurality shall elect a Trustee, except when a larger vote is required by any provision of this Declaration of Trust or the Bylaws or by law. If any question on which the Shareholders are entitled to vote would adversely affect the rights of any Series or class of Shares, the vote of a majority (or such larger vote as is required as aforesaid) of the Shares of such Series or class which are entitled to vote, voting separately, shall also be required to decide such question.

Section   4 . Action by Written Consent . Any action taken by Shareholders may be taken without a meeting if Shareholders holding a majority of the Shares entitled to vote on the matter (or such larger proportion thereof as shall be required by any express provision of this Declaration of Trust or by the Bylaws) and holding a majority (or such larger proportion as aforesaid) of the Shares of any Series or class entitled to vote separately on the matter consent to the action in writing and such written consents are filed with the records of the meetings of Shareholders. Such consent shall be treated for all purposes as a vote taken at a meeting of Shareholders.

Section   5 . Record Dates . For the purpose of determining the Shareholders of any Series or class who are entitled to vote or act at any meeting or any adjournment thereof, the Trustees may from time to time fix a time, which shall be not more than 90 days before the date of any meeting of Shareholders, as the record date for determining the Shareholders of such Series or class having the right to notice of and to vote at such meeting and any adjournment thereof’, and in such case only Shareholders of record on such record date shall have such right, notwithstanding any transfer of Shares on the books of the Trust after the record date. For the purpose of determining the Shareholders of any Series or class who are entitled to receive payment of any dividend or of any other distribution, the Trustees may from time to time fix a date, which shall be on or before the date for the payment of such dividend or such other payment, as the record date for determining the Shareholders of such Series or class having the right to receive such dividend or distribution. Without fixing a record date the Trustees may for voting and/or distribution purposes close the register or transfer books for one or more Series or classes for all or any part of the period prior to a meeting of Shareholders or the payment of a distribution. Nothing in this Section shall be construed as precluding the Trustees from setting different record dates for different Series or classes.

Section   6 . Additional Provisions . The Bylaws may include further provisions for Shareholders’ votes and meetings and related matters.

ARTICLE VI

Net Income, Distributions, and Redemptions and Repurchases

Section   1 . Distributions of Net Income . The Trustees shall each year, or more frequently if they so determine in their sole discretion, distribute to the Shareholders of each Series, in Shares of that Series, cash or otherwise, an amount approximately equal to the net income attributable to the assets belonging to such Series and may from time to time distribute to the Shareholders of each Series, in Shares of that Series, cash or otherwise, such additional amounts, but only from the assets belonging to such Series, as they may authorize. Except as otherwise permitted by paragraph (c) of Section 6 of Article III in the case of Multi-Class Series, all dividends and distributions on Shares of a particular Series shall be distributed pro rata to the holders of that Series in proportion to the number of Shares of that Series held by such holders and recorded on the books of the Trust at the date and time of record established for the payment of such dividend or distributions.

The manner of determining net income, income, asset values, capital gains, expenses, liabilities and reserves of any Series or class may from time to time be altered as necessary or desirable in the judgment of the Trustees to conform such manner of determination to any other method prescribed or permitted by applicable law. Net income shall be determined by the Trustees or by such person as they may authorize at the times and in the manner provided in the Bylaws. Determinations of net income of any Series or class and determinations of income, asset value, capital gains, expenses and liabilities made by the Trustees, or by such person as they may authorize, in good faith, shall be binding on all parties concerned. The foregoing sentence shall not be construed to protect any Trustee, officer or agent of the Trust against any liability to the Trust or its security holders to which he or she would otherwise be subject by reason of willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of his or her office.


If, for any reason, the net income of any Series or class determined at any time is a negative amount, the pro rata share of such negative amount allocable to each Shareholder of such Series or class shall constitute a liability of such Shareholder to that Series or class which shall be paid out of such Shareholder’s account at such times and in such manner as the Trustees may from time to time determine (x) out of the accrued dividend account of such Shareholder, (y) by reducing the number of Shares of that Series or class in the account of such Shareholder or (z) otherwise.

Section   2 . Redemptions and Repurchases . The Trust shall purchase such Shares as are offered by any Shareholder for redemption, upon the presentation of a proper instrument of transfer together with a request directed to the Trust or a person designated by the Trust that the Trust purchase such Shares and in accordance with such other procedures or methods for redemption as the Trustees may from time to time authorize, including any condition that Shares may be offered for redemption only in aggregations of such number of Shares (“Creation Units”), and in full, but not fractional, multiples thereof, as the Trustees may from time to time authorize; and the Trust will pay therefor the net asset value thereof, as determined in accordance with the Bylaws, next determined, provided that, if so authorized by the Trustees, the Trust and any Series may, at any time and from time to time, charge fees for effecting such redemption at such rates as the Trustees may establish as and to the extent permitted under the 1940 Act and any rules, regulations or exemptive relief thereunder. The Trustees shall have the unrestricted power to determine from time to time the number of Shares constituting a Creation Unit for each Series or class. Payment for said Shares shall, except to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act and any applicable exemptive relief therefrom, be made by the Trust to the Shareholder within seven days after the date on which the request is made. The obligation set forth in this Section 2 is subject to the provision that in the event that any time the New York Stock Exchange is closed for other than weekends or holidays, or if permitted by the rules of the Commission during periods when trading on the New York Stock Exchange is restricted or during any emergency which makes it impracticable for the Trust to dispose of the investments of the applicable Series or to determine fairly the value of the net assets belonging to such Series or attributable to any class thereof or during any other period permitted by order of the Commission for the protection of investors, such obligations may be suspended or postponed by the Trustees. Thereafter, Shareholders shall have no right of redemption or payment until the Trustees declare the end of the suspension or the suspension terminates or expires pursuant to the 1940 Act or any rules, regulations or exemptive relief thereunder. The Trust may also purchase or repurchase Shares at a price not exceeding the net asset value of such Shares in effect when the purchase or repurchase or any contract to purchase or repurchase is made.

The redemption price, less any applicable fees or charges, may in any case or cases be paid wholly or partly in kind if the Trustees determine that such payment is advisable in the interest of the remaining Shareholders of the Series the Shares of which are being redeemed. The fair value, selection and quantity of any securities or other property so paid or delivered as all or part of the redemption price may be determined by or under authority of the Trustees. In no case shall the Trust be liable for any delay of any corporation or other person in transferring securities selected for delivery as all or part of any payment in kind.

Section   3 . Redemptions at the Option of the Trust . The Trust shall have the right at its option and at any time to redeem Shares of any Shareholder at the net asset value thereof: (i) if at such time such Shareholder owns Shares of any Series or class having an aggregate net asset value of less than an amount determined from time to time by the Trustees; (ii) to the extent that such Shareholder owns Shares equal to or in excess of a percentage determined from time to time by the Trustees of the outstanding Shares of the Trust or of any Series or class; or (iii) upon such conditions as may from time to time be determined by the Trustees.

ARTICLE VII

Compensation and Limitation of Liability of Trustees

Section   1 . Compensation . The Trustees as such shall be entitled to reasonable compensation from the Trust; they may fix the amount of their compensation. Nothing herein shall in any way prevent the employment of any Trustee for advisory, management, legal, accounting, investment banking or other services and payment for the same by the Trust.

Section   2 . Limitation of Liability . No Trustee, officer, employee or agent of the Trust shall be subject to any liability whatsoever to any person in connection with Trust property or the affairs of the Trust, and no Trustee shall be responsible or liable in any event for any neglect or wrong-doing of any officer, agent, employee, Manager or principal underwriter of the


Trust or for the act or omission of any other Trustee. For the sake of clarification and without limiting the foregoing, the appointment, designation or identification of a Trustee as the chairman of the Board, the lead or assistant lead independent Trustee, a member or chairman of a committee of the Board, an expert on any topic or in any area (including an audit committee financial expert) or as having any other special appointment, designation or identification shall not (a) impose on that person any duty, obligation or liability that is greater than the duties, obligations and liabilities imposed on that person as a Trustee in the absence of the appointment, designation or identification or (b) affect in any way such Trustee’s rights or entitlement to indemnification, and no Trustee who has special skills or expertise, or is appointed, designated or identified as aforesaid, shall (x) be held to a higher standard of care by virtue thereof or (y) be limited with respect to any indemnification to which such Trustee would otherwise be entitled. Nothing in this Declaration of Trust, including without limitation anything in this Article VII, Section 2, shall protect any Trustee, officer, employee or agent of the Trust against any liabilities to the Trust or its Shareholders to which he, she or it would otherwise be subject by reason of willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of his, her or its office or position with or on behalf of the Trust.

Every note, bond, contract, instrument, certificate or undertaking and every other act or thing whatsoever issued, executed or done by or on behalf of the Trust or the Trustees or any of them in connection with the Trust shall be conclusively deemed to have been issued, executed or done only in or with respect to their or his or her capacity as Trustees or Trustee, and such Trustees or Trustee shall not be personally liable thereon.

ARTICLE VIII

Miscellaneous

Section   1 . Trustees, Shareholders, etc. Not Personally Liable; Notice . All persons extending credit to, contracting with or having any claim against the Trust or any Series or class shall look only to the assets of the Trust, or, to the extent that the liability of the Trust may have been expressly limited by contract to the assets of a particular Series or attributable to a particular class, only to the assets belonging to the relevant Series or attributable to the relevant class, for payment under such credit, contract or claim; and neither the Shareholders nor the Trustees, nor any of the Trust’s officers, employees or agents, whether past, present or future, shall be personally liable therefor. Nothing in this Declaration of Trust shall protect any Trustee against any liability to which such Trustee would otherwise be subject by reason of willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of the office of Trustee.

Every note, bond, contract, instrument, certificate or undertaking made or issued on behalf of the Trust by the Trustees, by any officer or officers or otherwise shall give notice that this Declaration of Trust is on file with the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and shall recite that the same was executed or made by or on behalf of the Trust or by them as Trustee or Trustees or as officer or officers or otherwise and not individually and that the obligations of such instrument are not binding upon any of them or the Shareholders individually but are binding only upon the assets and property of the Trust or upon the assets belonging to the Series or attributable to the class for the benefit of which the Trustees have caused the note, bond, contract, instrument, certificate or undertaking to be made or issued, and may contain such further recital as he or she or they may deem appropriate, but the omission of any such recital shall not operate to bind any Trustee or Trustees or officer or officers or Shareholders or any other person individually.

Section   2 . Trustee’s Good Faith Action, Expert Advice, No Bond or Surety . The exercise by the Trustees of their powers and discretions hereunder shall be binding upon everyone interested. A Trustee shall be liable for his or her own willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of the office of Trustee, and for nothing else, and shall not be liable for errors of judgment or mistakes of fact or law. The Trustees may take advice of counsel or other experts with respect to the meaning and operation of this Declaration of Trust, and shall be under no liability for any act or omission in accordance with such advice or for failing to follow such advice. The Trustees shall not be required to give any bond as such, nor any surety if a bond is required.

Section   3 . Liability of Third Persons Dealing with Trustees . No person dealing with the Trustees shall be bound to make any inquiry concerning the validity of any transaction made or to be made by the Trustees or to see to the application of any payments made or property transferred to the Trust or upon its order.

Section   4 . Termination of Trust, Series or Class . Unless terminated as provided herein, the Trust shall continue without limitation of time. The Trust may be terminated at any time by vote of at least 66-2/3% of the Shares of each Series entitled to vote and voting separately by Series, or by the Trustees by written notice to the Shareholders. Any Series or class may be terminated at any time by vote of at least 66-2/3% of the Shares of that Series or class, or by the Trustees by written notice to the Shareholders of that Series or class.


Upon termination of the Trust (or any Series or class, as the case may be), after paying or otherwise providing for all charges, taxes, expenses and liabilities belonging, severally, to each Series (or the applicable Series or attributable to the particular class, as the case may be), whether due or accrued or anticipated as may be determined by the Trustees, the Trust shall, in accordance with such procedures as the Trustees consider appropriate, reduce the remaining assets belonging, severally, to each Series (or the applicable Series or attributable to the particular class, as the case may be), to distributable form in cash or shares or other securities, or any combination thereof, and distribute the proceeds belonging to each Series (or the applicable Series or attributable to the particular class, as the case may be), to the Shareholders of that Series (or class, as the case may be), as a Series (or class, as the case may be), ratably according to the number of Shares of that Series (or class, as the case may be) held by the several Shareholders on the date of termination.

Section   5 . Reorganizations . The Trust, or any one or more Series of the Trust, may, either as the successor, survivor or non-survivor, (1) consolidate or merge with one or more other trusts, series, sub-trusts, partnerships, limited liability companies, associations or corporations organized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or any other state of the United States, to form a consolidated or merged trust, series, sub-trust, partnership, limited liability company, association or corporation under the laws of any state under the laws of which any one of the constituent entities is organized or (2) transfer all or a substantial portion of its assets to one or more other trusts, series, sub-trusts, partnerships, limited liability companies, associations or corporations organized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or any other state of the United States, or have one or more such trusts, series, sub-trusts, partnerships, limited liability companies, associations or corporations transfer all or a substantial portion of its assets to it, any such consolidation, merger or transfer to be upon such terms and conditions as are specified in an agreement and plan of reorganization authorized and approved by the Trustees and entered into by the Trust, or one or more Series, as the case may be, in connection therewith. Unless otherwise required by applicable law, any such consolidation, merger or transfer may be authorized by vote of a majority of the Trustees then in office without the approval of Shareholders of the Trust or relevant Series.

Section   6 . Filing of Copies, Reference, Headings . The original or a copy of this instrument and of each amendment hereto shall be kept at the office of the Trust where it may be inspected by any Shareholder. A copy of this instrument and of each amendment hereto shall be filed by the Trust with the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and with any other governmental office where such filing may from time to time be required. Anyone dealing with the Trust may rely on a certificate by an officer of the Trust as to whether or not any such amendments have been made and as to any matters in connection with the Trust hereunder; and, with the same effect as if it were the original, may rely on a copy certified by an officer of the Trust to be a copy of this instrument or of any such amendments. In this instrument and in any such amendment, references to this instrument, and all expressions like “herein,” “hereof” and “hereunder,” shall be deemed to refer to this instrument as amended or affected by any such amendments. Headings are placed herein for convenience of reference only and shall not be taken as a part hereof or to control or affect the meaning, construction or effect of this instrument. This instrument may be executed in any number of counterparts each of which shall be deemed an original.

Section   7 . Applicable Law . This Declaration of Trust is made in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and it is created under and is to be governed by and construed and administered according to the laws of said Commonwealth. The Trust shall be of the type commonly called a Massachusetts business trust, and, without limiting the provisions hereof, the Trust may exercise all powers which are ordinarily exercised by such a trust.

The state and federal courts sitting within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts shall be the sole and exclusive forums for any shareholder (including a beneficial owner of shares) to bring (i) any action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Trust, (ii) any action asserting a claim for breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any Trustee, officer or employee, if any, of the Trust to the Trust or the Trust’s shareholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against the Trust, its Trustees, officers or employees, if any, arising pursuant to any provision of the Massachusetts Business Corporation Act, the Massachusetts Uniform Trust Code, or any federal or state securities law, in each case as amended from time to time, or the Trust’s Trust Instrument or Bylaws; or (iv) any action asserting a claim against the Trust, its Trustees, officers or employees, if any, governed by the internal affairs doctrine. If any provision or provisions of this Section shall be held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable as applied to any person or entity or circumstance for any reason whatsoever, then, to the fullest extent permitted by law, the validity, legality and enforceability of such provisions in any other circumstance and of the remaining provisions of this Section (including, without limitation, each portion of any sentence of this Section containing any such provision held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable that is not itself held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable), and the application of such provision to other persons or entities and circumstances, shall not in any way be affected or impaired thereby.


Section 8 . Claims .

(a) Direct Claims . As used herein, a “direct” shareholder claim shall refer to (i) a claim based upon alleged violations of a shareholder’s individual rights independent of any harm to the Trust, including a shareholder’s voting rights under Article V, rights to receive a dividend payment as may be declared from time to time, rights to inspect books and records, or other similar rights personal to the shareholder and independent of any harm to the Trust; and (ii) a claim for which an action is provided under the federal securities laws or by state statute. Any other claim asserted by a shareholder, including without limitation any claims purporting to be brought on behalf of the Trust or involving any alleged harm to the Trust, shall be considered a “derivative” claim as used herein. No shareholder shall have the right to bring or maintain a court action or other proceeding asserting a direct claim against the Trust, the Trustees or officers, if it is a derivative claim per this paragraph a.

(b) Derivative Claims . No shareholder shall have the right to bring or maintain any court action or other proceeding asserting a derivative claim or any claim asserted on behalf of the Trust or involving any alleged harm to the Trust without first making demand on the Trustees requesting the Trustees to bring or maintain such action, proceeding or claim. Such demand shall not be excused under any circumstances, including claims of alleged interest on the part of the Trustees, unless the shareholder makes a specific showing that irreparable nonmonetary injury to the Trust would otherwise result. Such demand shall be mailed to the Secretary of the Trust at the Trust’s principal office and shall set forth with particularity the nature of the proposed court action, proceeding or claim and the essential facts relied upon by the shareholder to support the allegations made in the demand. The Trustees shall consider such demand within 90 days of its receipt by the Trust or inform claimants within such time that further review and consideration is required, in which case the Trustees shall have an additional 120 days to respond. In their sole discretion, the Trustees may submit the matter to a vote of shareholders of the Trust or series or class of Shares, as appropriate. Any decision by the Trustees to bring, maintain or settle (or not to bring, maintain or settle) such court action, proceeding or claim, or to submit the matter to a vote of shareholders, shall be binding upon the shareholders.

Section   9 . Amendments . This Declaration of Trust may be amended at any time by an instrument in writing signed by a majority of the then Trustees provided notice of such amendment (other than amendments having the purpose of supplying any omission, curing any ambiguity or curing, correcting or supplementing any defective or inconsistent provision contained herein, or having any other purpose which is ministerial or clerical in nature) shall be transmitted promptly to Shareholders of record at the close of business on the effective date of such amendment.

Section   10 . Addresses . The address of the Trust is 225 Franklin Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02110. The address of each of the Trustees is 225 Franklin Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02110.


IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned has hereunto set his hand in the city of Boston and The Commonwealth of Massachusetts as of the day first above written.

 

/s/ Ryan C. Larrenaga

Ryan C. Larrenaga
Sole Trustee

THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

Suffolk, ss.

On this 15 th day of April, 2016, before me, the undersigned notary public, personally appeared Ryan C. Larrenaga, proved to me through satisfactory evidence of identification to be the person whose name is signed above, and acknowledged to me that he signed it voluntarily for its stated purpose as sole Trustee of Columbia ETF Trust I, a Massachusetts business trust.

 

/s/ Diane Stewart Jones

My Commission Expires: September 25, 2020

 

Trust address:   225 Franklin Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02110
Trustee address:   225 Franklin Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02110

IMS Agreement – Columbia ETF Trust I

INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT SERVICES AGREEMENT

This Agreement, dated as of April 19, 2016, is by and between Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC (the “Investment Manager”), a Minnesota limited liability company and Columbia ETF Trust I (the “Trust”), a Massachusetts business trust, on behalf of its series listed in Schedule A. The terms “Fund” and “Funds” are used to refer to either the Trust or its underlying series, as context requires.

Part One: INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT AND OTHER SERVICES

 

(1)

The Fund hereby retains the Investment Manager, and the Investment Manager hereby agrees, for the period of this Agreement and under the terms and conditions hereinafter set forth, to furnish the Fund continuously with investment advice; to determine, consistent with the Fund’s investment objectives, strategies and policies as from time to time set forth in its then-current prospectus or statement of additional information, or as otherwise established by the Board of Trustees (the “Board”), which investments, in the Investment Manager’s discretion, shall be purchased, held or sold, and to execute or cause the execution of purchase or sell orders; to recommend changes to investment objectives, strategies and policies to the Board, as the Investment Manager deems appropriate; to perform investment research and prepare and make available to the Fund research and statistical data in connection therewith; to establish and make subsequent modifications to the lists of securities required to be tendered and accepted in connection with Fund creations and redemptions; and to furnish all other services of whatever nature that the Investment Manager from time to time reasonably determines to be necessary or useful in connection with the investment management of the Fund as provided under this Agreement; subject always to oversight by the Board and the authorized officers of the Fund. The Investment Manager agrees: (a) to maintain an adequate organization of competent persons to provide the services and to perform the functions herein mentioned (to the extent that such services and functions have not been delegated to a subadviser); and (b) to maintain adequate oversight over any subadvisers hired to provide services and to perform the functions herein mentioned. The Investment Manager agrees to meet with any persons at such times as the Board deems appropriate for the purpose of reviewing the Investment Manager’s performance under this Agreement and will prepare and furnish to the Board such reports, statistical data and other information relating to the investment management of the Fund in such form and at such intervals as the Board may reasonably request. The Fund agrees that the Investment Manager may, at its own expense, subcontract for certain of the services described under this Agreement (including with affiliates of the Investment Manager) with the understanding that the quality and scope of services required to be provided under this Agreement shall not be diminished thereby, and also with the understanding that the Investment Manager shall obtain such approval from the Board and/or Fund shareholders as is required by applicable law, rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, terms of this Agreement, resolutions of the Board and commitments of the Investment Manager. The Investment Manager agrees that, in the event it subcontracts with another party for some or all of the investment management services contemplated by this Agreement with respect to the Fund in reliance on an applicable “manager-of-managers” exemptive order or a


  subsequent order containing such conditions, the Investment Manager will retain overall supervisory responsibility for the general management and investment of the Fund and, subject to review and approval by the Board, will set the Fund’s overall investment strategies (consistent with the Fund’s then-current prospectus and statement of additional information); evaluate, select and recommend one or more subadvisers to provide purchase and sale recommendations to the Investment Manager or investment advice to all or a portion of the Fund’s assets; when appropriate, allocate and reallocate the Fund’s assets among multiple subadvisers; monitor and evaluate the investment performance of subadvisers; and implement procedures reasonably designed to ensure that the subadvisers comply with the Fund’s investment objectives, policies and restrictions.

 

(2) The Investment Manager shall comply (or cause the Fund to comply, as applicable) with all applicable law, including but not limited to the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder (the “1940 Act”), the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, the 1933 Act, and the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, applicable to the Fund as a regulated investment company.

 

(3) The Investment Manager shall allocate investment opportunities among its clients, including the Fund, in a fair and equitable manner, consistent with its fiduciary obligations to clients. The Fund recognizes that the Investment Manager and its affiliates may from time to time acquire information about issuers or securities that it may not share with, or act upon for the benefit of, the Fund.

 

(4) The Investment Manager agrees to vote proxies and to provide or withhold consents, or to provide such support as is required or requested by the Board in conjunction with voting proxies and providing or withholding consents, solicited by or with respect to the issuers of securities in which the Fund’s assets may be invested from time to time, as directed by the Board from time to time.

 

(5) The Investment Manager agrees that it will maintain all required records, memoranda, instructions or authorizations relating to the management of the assets for the Fund, including with respect to the acquisition or disposition of securities. In compliance with the requirements of Rule 31a-3 under the 1940 Act, the Investment Manager hereby agrees that all records that it maintains for each Fund under this Agreement are the property of the Trust and further agrees to surrender promptly to the Trust any of such records upon request.

 

(6) The Fund agrees that it will furnish to the Investment Manager any information that the latter may reasonably request with respect to the services performed or to be performed by the Investment Manager under this Agreement.

 

(7)

In selecting broker-dealers for execution, the Investment Manager will seek to obtain best execution for securities transactions on behalf of the Fund, except where otherwise directed by the Board. In selecting broker-dealers to execute transactions, the Investment Manager may consider not only available prices (including commissions or mark-up), but also other relevant factors such as, without limitation, the characteristics of the security being traded,


  the size and difficulty of the transaction, the execution, clearance and settlement capabilities as well as the reputation, reliability, and financial soundness of the broker-dealer selected, the broker-dealer’s risk in positioning a block of securities, the broker-dealer’s execution service rendered on a continuing basis and in other transactions, the broker-dealer’s expertise in particular markets, and the broker-dealer’s ability to provide research services. To the extent permitted by law, and consistent with its obligation to seek best execution, the Investment Manager may, except where otherwise directed by the Board, execute transactions or pay a broker-dealer a commission or markup in excess of that which another broker-dealer might have charged for executing a transaction provided that the Investment Manager determines, in good faith, that the execution is appropriate or the commission or markup is reasonable in relation to the value of the brokerage and/or research services provided, viewed in terms of either that particular transaction or the Investment Manager’s overall responsibilities with respect to the Fund and other clients for which it acts as investment adviser. The Investment Manager shall not consider the sale or promotion of shares of the Fund, or other affiliated products, as a factor in the selection of broker dealers through which transactions are executed.

 

(8) Except for willful misfeasance, bad faith or negligence on the part of the Investment Manager in the performance of its duties, or reckless disregard by the Investment Manager of its obligations and duties, under this Agreement, neither the Investment Manager, nor any of its respective directors, officers, partners, principals, employees, or agents shall be liable for any acts or omissions or for any loss suffered by the Fund or its shareholders or creditors. To the extent permitted by applicable law, each of the Investment Manager, and its respective directors, officers, partners, principals, employees and agents, shall be entitled to rely, and shall be protected from liability in reasonably relying, upon any information or instructions furnished to it (or any of them as individuals) by the Fund or its agents which is believed in good faith to be accurate and reliable. The Fund understands and acknowledges that the Investment Manager does not warrant any rate of return, market value or performance of any assets in the Fund. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the federal securities laws impose liabilities under certain circumstances on persons who act in good faith and, therefore, nothing herein shall constitute a waiver of any right which the Fund may have under such laws or regulations.

Part Two: COMPENSATION TO THE INVESTMENT MANAGER

 

(1) The Fund agrees to pay to the Investment Manager, in full payment for the services furnished, a fee as set forth in Schedule A.

 

(2) The fee shall be accrued daily (unless otherwise directed by the Board consistent with the prospectus and statement of additional information of the Fund) and paid on a monthly basis and, in the event of the effectiveness or termination of this Agreement, in whole or in part with respect to any Fund, during any month, the fee paid to the Investment Manager shall be prorated on the basis of the number of days that this Agreement is in effect during the month with respect to which such payment is made.

 

(3) The fee provided for hereunder shall be paid in cash by the Fund to the Investment Manager within five business days after the last day of each month.


Part Three: ALLOCATION OF EXPENSES

 

(1) The Investment Manager shall (a) furnish at its expense such office space, supplies, facilities, equipment, clerical help and other personnel and services as are required to render the services contemplated to be provided by it pursuant to this Agreement and (b) pay the compensation of the trustees or officers of the Fund who are directors, officers or employees of the Investment Manager (except to the extent the Board of the Fund shall have specifically approved the payment by the Fund of all or a portion of the compensation of the Fund’s chief compliance officer or other officer(s)). Except to the extent expressly assumed by the Investment Manager, and except to the extent required by law to be paid or reimbursed by the Investment Manager, the Investment Manager shall have no duty to pay any Fund operating expenses incurred in the organization and operation of the Fund.

Part Four: MISCELLANEOUS

 

(1) The Investment Manager shall be deemed to be an independent contractor and, except as expressly provided or authorized in this Agreement or otherwise, shall have no authority to act for or represent the Fund.

 

(2) The Fund acknowledges that the Investment Manager and its affiliates may perform investment advisory services for other clients, so long as the Investment Manager’s services to the Fund under this Agreement are not impaired thereby. The Investment Manager and its affiliates may give advice or take action in the performance of duties to other clients that may differ from advice given, or the timing and nature of action taken, with respect to the Fund, and the Investment Manager and its affiliates and their respective clients may trade and have positions in securities of issuers where the Fund may own equivalent or related securities, and where action may or may not be taken or recommended for the Fund. Nothing in this Agreement shall be deemed to impose upon the Investment Manager or any of its affiliates any obligation to purchase or sell, or recommend for purchase or sale for the Fund, any security or any other property that the Investment Manager or any of its affiliates may purchase, sell or hold for its own account or the account of any other client.

 

(3) Neither this Agreement nor any transaction pursuant hereto shall be invalidated or in any way affected by the fact that Board members, officers, agents and/or shareholders of the Fund are or may be interested in the Investment Manager or any successor or assignee thereof, as directors, officers, stockholders or otherwise; that directors, officers, stockholders or agents of the Investment Manager are or may be interested in the Fund as Board members, officers, shareholders or otherwise; or that the Investment Manager or any successor or assignee is or may be interested in the Fund as shareholder or otherwise, provided, however, that neither the Investment Manager, nor any officer, Board member or employee thereof or of the Fund, shall knowingly sell to or buy from the Fund any property or security other than shares issued by the Fund, except in accordance with applicable regulations, United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) orders or published SEC staff guidance.


(4) Any notice under this Agreement shall be given in writing, addressed and delivered, or mailed postpaid, to the party to this Agreement entitled to receive such, at such party’s principal place of business, or to such other address as either party may designate in writing mailed to the other in accordance with this Paragraph (4).

 

(5) All information and advice furnished by the Investment Manager to the Fund under this Agreement shall be confidential and shall not be disclosed to unaffiliated third parties, except as required by law, order, judgment, decree, or pursuant to any rule, regulation or request of or by any government, court, administrative or regulatory agency or commission, other governmental or regulatory authority or any self-regulatory organization. All information furnished by the Fund to the Investment Manager under this Agreement shall be confidential and shall not be disclosed to any unaffiliated third party, except as permitted or required by the foregoing, where it is necessary to effect transactions or provide other services to the Fund, or where the Fund requests or authorizes the Investment Manager to do so. The Investment Manager may share information with its affiliates in accordance with its privacy and other relevant policies in effect from time to time.

 

(6) This Agreement shall be governed by the internal substantive laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts without regard to the conflicts of laws principles thereof.

 

(7) Investment Manager is hereby expressly put on notice of the limitation of shareholder liability as set forth in the Trust’s Declaration of Trust and agrees that obligations assumed by the Trust pursuant to this Agreement shall be limited in all cases to the Trust and its assets, and if the liability relates to one or more Fund, the obligations hereunder shall be limited to the respective assets of that Fund. The Investment Manager further agrees that it shall not seek satisfaction of any such obligation from the shareholders or any individual shareholder of the Fund, nor from the Trustees or any individual Trustee of the Trust. This Agreement is executed by the Trust’s Trustees and/or officers in their capacities as Trustees and/or officers and the obligations of this Agreement are not binding upon any of them or the shareholders individually; rather, they are binding only upon the assets and property of the Trust.

 

(8) If any term, provision, agreement, covenant or restriction of this Agreement is held by a court or other authority of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, void, or unenforceable, the remainder of the terms, provisions, agreements, covenants and restrictions of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect and shall in no way be affected, impaired, or invalidated so long as the economic or legal substance of the transactions contemplated hereby is not affected in any manner materially adverse to any party hereto. Upon such a determination, the parties shall negotiate in good faith to modify this Agreement so as to effect the original intent of the parties as closely as possible in a reasonably acceptable manner in order that the transactions contemplated hereby may be consummated as originally contemplated to the fullest extent possible.


(9) This Agreement may be executed in any number of counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original for all purposes and all of which, taken together, shall constitute one and the same instrument.

 

(10) For the avoidance of doubt, no person other than the Fund and the Investment Manager is a party to this Agreement or shall be entitled to any right or benefit arising under or in respect of this Agreement, and there are no third-party beneficiaries of this Agreement. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, nothing in this Agreement is intended to, or shall be read to, (i) create in any person other than the Fund in question (including without limitation any shareholder in any Fund) any direct, indirect, derivative, or other rights against the Investment Manager, or (ii) create or give rise to any duty or obligation on the part of the Investment Manager (including without limitation any fiduciary duty) to any person other than the Fund, all of which rights, benefits, duties, and obligations are hereby expressly excluded.

 

(11) This Agreement shall be governed by the internal substantive laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts without regard to the conflicts of laws principles thereof. Exclusive jurisdiction over any action, suit, or proceeding under, arising out of, or relating to this Agreement shall lie in the federal and state courts within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and each party hereby waives any objection it may have at any time to the laying of venue of any such proceedings brought in any such courts, waives any claim that such proceedings have been brought in an inconvenient forum, and further waives the right to object, with respect to such proceedings, that such court does not have jurisdiction over that party.

 

(12) A copy of the Trust’s Agreement and Declaration of Trust, as amended or restated from time to time, is on file with the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and notice is hereby given that this Agreement is executed on behalf of the Trust by an officer or trustee of the Trust in his or her capacity as an officer or trustee of the Trust and not individually, and that the obligations of or arising out of this Agreement are not binding upon any of the trustees, officers or shareholders of the Trust individually, but are binding only upon the assets and property of the Trust. Furthermore, notice is hereby given that the assets and liabilities of each series of the Trust are separate and distinct and that the obligations of or arising out of this Agreement with respect to the series of the Trust are several and not joint.

Part Five: RENEWAL AND TERMINATION

 

(1)

This Agreement shall continue in effect for two years from the date of its execution, and from year to year thereafter, unless and until terminated by either party as hereinafter provided, only if such continuance is specifically approved at least annually (a) by the Board or by a vote of the majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund and (b) by the vote of a majority of the Board members who are not parties to this Agreement or interested persons of any such party, cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on such approval. As used in this paragraph, the term “interested person” shall have the same meaning as set forth in the 1940 Act and any applicable order or interpretation


  thereof issued by the SEC or its staff. As used in this agreement, the term “majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund” shall have the same meaning as set forth in the 1940 Act.

 

(2) This Agreement may be terminated, with respect to any Fund, by either the Fund or the Investment Manager at any time by giving the other party 60 days’ written notice of such intention to terminate, provided that any termination shall be made without the payment of any penalty, and provided further that termination may be effected either by the Board or by a vote of the majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund.

 

(3) This Agreement shall terminate in the event of its assignment, the term “assignment” for this purpose having the same meaning as set forth in the 1940 Act, unless the SEC issues an order exempting such assignment from the provisions of the 1940 Act requiring such termination, in which case this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect, subject to the terms of such order.

 

(4) Except as prohibited by the 1940 Act, this Agreement may be amended with respect to any Fund upon written agreement of the Investment Manager and the Trust, on behalf of that Fund.

Part Six: USE OF NAME

 

(1) At such time as this Agreement or any extension, renewal or amendment hereof, or any similar agreement with any organization which shall have succeeded to the business of the Investment Manager, shall no longer be in effect, the Fund will cease to use any name derived from the name of the Investment Manager or of any organization which shall have succeeded to the Investment Manager’s business as investment adviser.


IN WITNESS THEREOF, the parties hereto have executed the foregoing Agreement as of April 19, 2016.

 

COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I
By:  

/s/ Christopher O. Petersen

  Name:   Christopher O. Petersen
  Title:   President
COLUMBIA MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT ADVISERS, LLC
By:  

/s/ Amy K. Johnson

  Name:   Amy K. Johnson
  Title:   Global Head of Operations

Schedule A

 

Fund

   Assets (millions)    Management Fee Rate  

Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF

   All      0.45 % (1)  

Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF

   All      0.40 % (1)  

Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF

   All      0.35 % (1)  

 

(1)   Fee is a “unitary fee” pursuant to which the Investment Manager pays the operating costs and expenses of the Fund other than the following expenses (which will be paid by the Fund): taxes; interest incurred on borrowing by the Fund, if any; brokerage fees and commissions, interest and fee expense related to the Fund’s participation in inverse floater structures and any other portfolio transaction expenses; infrequent and/or unusual expenses, including without limitation litigation expenses; distribution and/or service fees; expenses incurred in connection with lending securities; and any other expenses approved by the Board.


IN WITNESS THEREOF, the parties hereto have executed the foregoing Schedule A as of April 19, 2016.

 

COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I
By:  

/s/ Christopher O. Petersen

  Name:   Christopher O. Petersen
  Title:   President
COLUMBIA MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT ADVISERS, LLC
By:  

/s/ Amy K. Johnson

  Name:   Amy K. Johnson
  Title:   Global Head of Operations

 

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DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT

THIS AGREEMENT is made as of April 19, 2016, between Columbia ETF Trust I, a Massachusetts business trust (the “Trust”), and ALPS Distributors, Inc., a Colorado corporation (“ALPS”).

WHEREAS, the Trust is an open-end investment company offering a number of series (each a “Fund” and together the “Funds”), having filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) a registration statement on Form N-1A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”), and the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”);

WHEREAS, ALPS is registered as a broker-dealer under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “1934 Act”) and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”);

WHEREAS, the Trust intends to issue creations and redemptions of shares of beneficial interest (the “Shares”) of each Fund on a continuous basis at their net asset value only in aggregations constituting a Creation Unit, as such term is defined in the Funds’ registration statement;

WHEREAS, the Funds will be listed on a national securities exchange (the “Listing Exchange”) and traded under the symbols set forth in Appendix A hereto;

WHEREAS, the Trust desires to retain ALPS to act as the distributor with respect to the issuance and distribution of Creation Units of Shares of each Fund, holding itself available to receive and process orders for such Creation Units in the manner set forth in the Funds’ prospectus; and

WHEREAS, ALPS desires to provide the services described herein to the Trust.

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the premises and mutual covenants herein contained, the parties agree as follows.

 

1. ALPS Appointment and Duties.

 

  (a) The Trust hereby appoints ALPS as the exclusive distributor for Creation Unit aggregations of Shares of each Fund listed in Appendix A hereto, as may be amended from time to time, and to perform the duties that are set forth in Appendix   B hereto as amended from time to time, upon the terms and conditions hereinafter set forth. ALPS hereby accepts such appointment and agrees to furnish such specified services. ALPS shall for all purposes be deemed to be an independent contractor and shall, except as otherwise expressly authorized in this Agreement, have no authority to act for or represent the Trust in any way or otherwise be deemed an agent of the Trust.

 

  (b) ALPS may employ or associate itself with a person or persons or organizations as ALPS believes to be desirable in the performance of its duties hereunder; provided that, in such event, the compensation of such person or persons or organizations shall be paid by and be the sole responsibility of ALPS, and the Trust shall bear no cost or obligation with respect thereto; and provided further that ALPS shall not be relieved of any of its obligations under this Agreement in such event and shall be responsible for all acts of any such person or persons or organizations taken in furtherance of this Agreement to the same extent it would be for its own acts.


2. ALPS Compensation; Expenses .

 

  (a) ALPS will bear all expenses in connection with the performance of its services under this Agreement, except as otherwise provided herein. ALPS will not bear any of the costs of Trust personnel. Other Trust expenses incurred shall be borne by the Trust or the Funds’ investment adviser, including, but not limited to, initial organization and offering expenses; the blue sky registration and qualification of Shares for sale in the various states in which the officers of the Trust shall determine it advisable to qualify such Shares for sale (including registering the Trust as a broker or dealer or any officer of the Trust as agent or salesman in any state); litigation expenses; taxes; costs of preferred shares; expenses of conducting repurchase offers for the purpose of repurchasing Fund shares; administration, transfer agency, and custodial expenses; interest; Trust trustees’ fees; brokerage fees and commissions; state and federal registration fees; advisory fees; insurance premiums; fidelity bond premiums; Fund and investment advisory related legal expenses; costs of maintenance of Fund existence; printing and delivery of materials in connection with meetings of the Trust’s trustees; printing and mailing of shareholder reports, prospectuses, statements of additional information, other offering documents and supplements, proxy materials, and other communications to shareholders; securities pricing data and expenses in connection with Fund-related electronic filings with the SEC.

 

3. Documents . The Trust has furnished or will furnish, upon request, ALPS with copies of the Trust’s Declaration of Trust, advisory agreement, custodian agreement, transfer agency agreement, administration agreement, current prospectus, statement of additional information, periodic Fund reports, and all forms relating to any plan, program or service offered by each Fund. The Trust shall furnish, within a reasonable time period, to ALPS a copy of any amendment or supplement to any of the above-mentioned documents. Upon request, the Trust shall furnish promptly to ALPS any additional documents reasonably necessary or advisable to perform its functions hereunder. As used in this Agreement the terms “registration statement,” “prospectus” and “statement of additional information” shall mean any registration statement, prospectus and statement of additional information filed by the Trust with the SEC and any amendments and supplements thereto that are filed with the SEC.

 

4.

Insurance . ALPS agrees to maintain fidelity bond and liability insurance coverages which are, in scope and amount, consistent with coverages customary for the distribution activities relating to the Funds contemplated under this Agreement. ALPS shall notify the

 

2


  Trust upon receipt of any notice of material, adverse change in the terms or provisions of its insurance coverage. Such notification shall include the date of change and the reason or reasons therefore. ALPS shall notify the Trust of any material claims against it, whether or not covered by insurance, and shall notify the Trust from time to time as may be appropriate of the total outstanding claims made by it under its insurance coverage.

 

5. Right to Receive Advice .

 

  (a) Advice of the Trust and Service Providers . If ALPS is in doubt as to any action it should or should not take, ALPS may request directions, advice, or instructions from the Trust or, as applicable, the Funds’ investment adviser, custodian, or other service providers.

 

  (b) Advice of Counsel . If ALPS is in doubt as to any question of law pertaining to any action it should or should not take, ALPS may request advice from counsel of its own choosing and at its own expense (who may be counsel for the Trust, the Funds’ investment adviser, or ALPS, at the option of ALPS).

 

(c) Conflicting Advice . In the event of a conflict between directions, advice or instructions ALPS receives from the Trust, a Fund or any service provider and the advice ALPS receives from counsel, ALPS may in its sole discretion reasonably rely upon and follow the advice of counsel. ALPS will provide the Trust with prior written notice of its intent to follow advice of counsel that is materially inconsistent with directions, advice or instructions from the Trust sufficiently in advance of taking any action relating to such advice to enable the Trust to consider and respond to advice. Upon request, ALPS will provide the Trust with a copy of such advice of counsel.

 

6. Standard of Care; Limitation of Liability; Indemnification .

 

  (a) ALPS shall be obligated to act in good faith and to exercise commercially reasonable care and diligence in the performance of its duties under this Agreement.

 

  (b) In the absence of willful misfeasance, bad faith, negligence, or reckless disregard by ALPS in the performance of its duties, obligations, or responsibilities set forth in this Agreement, ALPS and its affiliates, including their respective officers, directors, agents, and employees, shall not be liable for, and the Trust agrees to indemnify, defend and hold harmless such persons from, all taxes, charges, expenses, assessments, claims, and liabilities (including, without limitation, attorneys’ fees and disbursements and liabilities arising under applicable federal and state laws) arising directly or indirectly from the following:

 

  (i) the inaccuracy of factual information furnished to ALPS by the Trust or the Funds’ investment adviser, custodians, or other service providers;

 

  (ii)

any untrue statement of a material fact or omission of a material fact required to be stated or necessary in order to make the statements not misleading under the

 

3


  1933 Act, the 1940 Act, or any other statute or the common law, in any registration statement, prospectus, statement of additional information, shareholder report, or other information filed or made public by the Trust (as amended from time to time), except to the extent the statement or omission was made in reliance upon, and in conformity with, information furnished to the Trust by or on behalf of ALPS;

 

  (iii) any error of judgment or mistake of law or for any loss suffered by the Trust or a Fund in connection with the matters to which this Agreement relates;

 

  (iv) losses, delays, failure, errors, interruption or loss of data occurring directly or indirectly by reason of circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including without limitation, acts of God, action or inaction of civil or military authority, war, terrorism, riot, fire, flood, sabotage, labor disputes, elements of nature, or non-performance by a third party not otherwise caused by an action or omission by ALPs;

 

  (v) ALPS’ reasonable reliance on any instruction, direction, notice, instrument or other information that ALPS reasonably believes to be genuine;

 

  (vi) any liability of ALPS resulting from a representation, warranty or covenant that ALPS makes, or any indemnification that ALPS provides, on behalf of the Trust in an Authorized Participant agreement relating to a Fund;

 

  (vii) loss of data or service interruptions caused by equipment failure, provided ALPS has maintained reasonable practices and procedures for the safeguarding and protection of such data, service and equipment that is customary in light of the services provided under this Agreement; or

 

  (viii) any other action or omission to act which ALPS takes in connection with the provision of services to the Trust.

 

  (c) ALPS shall indemnify and hold harmless the Trust, the Funds’ investment adviser and their respective officers, trustees, agents, and employees from and against any and all taxes, charges, expenses, assessments, claims, and liabilities (including, without limitation, attorneys’ fees and disbursements and liabilities arising under applicable federal and state laws) arising directly or indirectly from ALPS’ willful misfeasance, bad faith, negligence, or reckless disregard in the performance of its duties, obligations, or responsibilities set forth in this Agreement.

 

  (d) Notwithstanding anything in this Agreement to the contrary, neither party shall be liable under this Agreement to the other party hereto for any punitive or special losses or damages. Any indemnification payable by a party to this Agreement shall be net of insurance maintained by the indemnified party as of the time of the claim giving rise to indemnity hereunder is alleged to have arisen to the extent it covers such claim.

 

  (e) A copy of the Agreement and Declaration of Trust, as amended or restated from time to time, is on file with the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and notice is hereby given to the Distributor that this Agreement is executed on behalf of the Trust by an officer or trustee of the Trust in his or her capacity as an officer or trustee of the Trust and not individually, and that the obligations of or arising out of this Agreement are not binding upon any of the trustees, officers or shareholders of the Trust individually, but are binding only upon the assets and property of the Trust. Furthermore, notice is hereby given to the Distributor that the assets and liabilities of each Fund of the Trust are separate and distinct and that the obligations of or arising out of this Agreement with respect to the Funds of the Trust are several and not joint.

 

4


7. Activities of ALPS . The services of ALPS under this Agreement are not to be deemed exclusive, and ALPS shall be free to render similar services to others. The Trust recognizes that from time to time directors, officers and employees of ALPS may serve as directors, trustees, officers and employees of other corporations or businesses (including other investment companies) and that such other corporations and businesses may include ALPS as part of their name and that ALPS or its affiliates may enter into distribution agreements or other agreements with such other corporations and businesses.

 

8. Accounts and Records . The accounts and records maintained by ALPS in connection with the services provided under this Agreement shall be the property of the Trust. ALPS shall prepare, maintain and preserve such accounts and records as required by the 1940 Act and other applicable securities laws, rules and regulations. ALPS shall surrender such accounts and records to the Trust and the Funds , in the form in which such accounts and records have been maintained or preserved , promptly upon receipt of instructions from the Trust. The Trust shall have access to such accounts and records at all times during ALPS’ normal business hours. Upon the reasonable request of the Trust, copies of any such books and records shall be provided by ALPS to the Trust at the Trust’s expense. ALPS shall assist the Trust, the Funds’ independent auditors, or, upon approval of the Trust, any regulatory body, in any requested review of the Funds’ accounts and records, and reports by ALPS or its independent accountants concerning its accounting system and internal auditing controls will be open to such entities for audit or inspection upon reasonable request. ALPS or its undersigned as defined by Rule 17a-4 of the 1934 Act shall have access to all electronic communications, including password access to the system storing the electronic communications, of registered representatives of ALPS that are associated with the Funds and are required to be maintained under Rule 17a-4 of the 1934 Act and FINRA Rules 3110 and 3010. Electronic storage media maintained by the Funds will comply with Rule 17a-4 of the 1934 Act.

 

9.

Confidential and Proprietary Information . ALPS agrees that it will, on behalf of itself and its officers and employees, treat all transactions contemplated by this Agreement, and all records and information relative to the Funds and its current and former shareholders and other information germane thereto, as confidential and as proprietary information of the Trust and not to use, sell, transfer, or divulge such information or records to any person for any purpose other than performance of its duties hereunder, except after prior notification

 

5


  to and approval in writing from the Trust, which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld. Approval may not be withheld where ALPS may be exposed to civil, regulatory, or criminal proceedings for failure to comply, when requested to divulge such information by duly constituted authorities, or when requested by the Trust. When requested to divulge such information by duly constituted authorities, ALPS shall use reasonable commercial efforts to request confidential treatment of such information. ALPS shall have in place and maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards reasonably designed to protect the security, confidentiality, and integrity of, and to prevent unauthorized access to or use of records and information relating to the Funds and its current and former shareholders.

 

10. Compliance with Rules and Regulations . ALPS shall comply (and to the extent ALPS takes or is required to take action on behalf of the Trust hereunder shall cause the Trust to comply) with all applicable requirements of the 1940 Act and other applicable laws, rules, regulations (including rules and regulations of any Listing Exchange on which Shares of the Funds trade, to the extent applicable to ALPS in connection with distribution services provided to the Funds hereunder), orders and code of ethics, as well as all investment restrictions, policies and procedures adopted by the Trust of which ALPS has knowledge (it being understood that ALPS is deemed to have knowledge of all investment restrictions, policies or procedures set out in the Funds’ public filings or otherwise provided to ALPS). Except as set out in this Agreement, ALPS assumes no responsibility for such compliance by the Trust or the Funds. ALPS shall maintain at all times a program reasonably designed to prevent violations of the federal securities laws (as defined in Rule 38a-1 under the 1940 Act) with respect to the services provided, and shall provide to the Trust a certification to such effect no less than annually or as otherwise reasonably requested by the Trust. ALPS shall make available its compliance personnel and shall provide at its own expense summaries and other relevant materials relating to such program as reasonably requested by the Trust. ALPS shall provide reports to the Trust’s Board of Trustees regarding its activities under this Agreement as are reasonably requested by the Board.

 

11. Segregation of Fees and Expenses. Any amounts paid by a Fund to ALPS under its distribution and service plan, as adopted by the Trust’s Board of Trustees, in connection with payments by ALPS to intermediaries, as directed by such Fund, for either distribution related services or shareholder services shall not be used for the distribution of Shares of, or shareholder servicing in respect of, any other Fund. However, fees under the distribution and servicing plan attributable to the Trust as a whole shall be allocated to each Fund according to the method adopted by the Trust’s Board of Trustees. ALPS’ payment of any such distribution and servicing plan fees to intermediaries shall be directed by the applicable Fund and subject to review by the Trust’s Board of Trustees.

 

12. Representations and Warranties of ALPS . ALPS represents and warrants to the Trust that:

 

  (a) It is duly organized and existing as a corporation and in good standing under the laws of the State of Colorado.

 

  (b) It is empowered under applicable laws and by its Articles of Incorporation and By-laws to enter into and perform this Agreement.

 

6


  (c) It is registered as a broker-dealer under the 1934 Act, is a member of FINRA and has the necessary license(s) and authority to serve as distributor to the Funds and provide the services set forth hereunder and in Appendix B.

 

  (d) All requisite corporate proceedings have been taken to authorize it to enter into and perform this Agreement.

 

  (e) It has and will continue to have access to the necessary facilities, equipment and personnel to perform its duties and obligations under this Agreement in accordance with industry standards.

 

  (f) ALPS has conducted a review of its supervisory controls system and has made available to the Trust the most current report of such review and any updates thereto. Every time ALPS conducts a review of its supervisory control system it will make available to the Trust for inspection a report of such review and any updates thereto. ALPS shall immediately notify the Trust of any changes in how it conducts its business that would materially change the results of its most recent review of its supervisory controls system and any other changes to ALPS’ business that would affect the business of the Trust or the Funds’ investment adviser.

 

  (g) It maintains a compliance program reasonably designed to prevent violations of the federal securities laws (as defined in Rule 38a-1 under the 1940 Act) applicable to its services provided hereunder.

 

13. Representations and Warranties of the Trust.  The Trust represents and warrants to ALPS that:

 

  (a) It is a trust duly organized and existing and in good standing under the laws of the State of Massachusetts and is registered with the SEC as an open-end management investment company.

 

  (b) It is empowered under applicable laws and by its Declaration of Trust and By-laws to enter into and perform this Agreement.

 

  (c) The Board of Trustees of the Trust has duly authorized it to enter into and perform this Agreement.

 

  (d) Notwithstanding anything in this Agreement to the contrary, the Trust agrees not to make any modifications to its registration statement or adopt any policies which would affect materially the obligations or responsibilities of ALPS hereunder without the prior written approval of ALPS, which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed.

 

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14. Duties of the Trust .

 

  (a) ALPS and the Trust shall regularly consult with each other regarding ALPS’ performance of its obligations under this Agreement. In connection therewith, the Trust shall submit to ALPS at a reasonable time in advance of filing with the SEC reasonably final copies of any amended or supplemented registration statement (including exhibits) under the 1933 Act and the 1940 Act; provided, however, that nothing contained in this Agreement shall in any way limit the Trust’s right to file at any time such amendments to any registration statement and/or supplements to any prospectus or statement of additional information, of whatever character, as the Trust may deem advisable, such right being in all respects absolute and unconditional.

 

  (b) The Trust agrees to issue Creation Unit aggregations of Shares of the Funds and to request The Depository Trust Company to record on its books the ownership of such Shares in accordance with the book-entry system procedures described in a Fund’s prospectus, as amended/updated by the Trust from time to time, in such amounts as ALPS has requested through the transfer agent in writing or other means of data transmission, as promptly as practicable after receipt by a Fund of the requisite deposit securities and cash component (together with any fees) and acceptance of such order, upon the terms described in the Trust’s registration statement. The Trust may reject any order for Creation Units or stop all receipts of such orders at any time upon reasonable notice to ALPS, in accordance with the provisions of the prospectus.

 

  (c) The Trust agrees that it will take all action necessary to register an indefinite number of Shares under the 1933 Act. The Trust shall make available to ALPS, at ALPS’ expense, such number of copies of its prospectus, statement of additional information, and periodic reports as ALPS may reasonably request. The Trust will furnish to ALPS copies of all information, financial statements and other papers, which ALPS may reasonably request for use in connection with the distribution of Creation Units.

 

  (d) The Trust agrees to execute any and all documents and to furnish any and all information and otherwise to take all actions that may be reasonably necessary in connection with the qualification of the Shares for sale in such states as ALPS, upon direction from the Trust or a Fund’s investment adviser, may designate. The Trust will keep ALPS informed of the jurisdictions in which Creation Units of the Funds are authorized for sale and shall promptly notify ALPS of any change in this information.

 

15. Anti-Money Laundering . ALPS agrees to maintain an anti-money laundering program in compliance with Title III of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (the “USA Patriot Act”) and all applicable laws and regulations promulgated thereunder. ALPS confirms that, as soon as possible, following the request from the Trust, ALPS will supply the Trust with copies of ALPS’ anti-money laundering policy and procedures, and such other relevant certifications and representations regarding such policy and procedures as the Trust may reasonably request from time to time. ALPS will provide to the Trust any Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) request received pursuant to USA Patriot Act Section 314(a), which the Fund may then provide to its transfer agent.

 

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16. Liaison with Accountants . ALPS shall act as a liaison with the Funds’ independent public accountants and shall provide account analysis, fiscal year summaries, and other audit-related schedules with respect to the services provided to the Trust and the Funds. ALPS shall take all reasonable action in the performance of its duties under this Agreement to assure that the necessary information is made available to such accountants as reasonably requested or required by the Trust.

 

17. Business Interruption Plan . ALPS shall maintain in effect a business interruption plan, and enter into any agreements necessary with appropriate parties making reasonable provisions for emergency use of electronic data processing equipment customary in the industry. In the event of equipment failures, ALPS shall, at no additional expense to the Trust, take commercially reasonable steps to minimize service interruptions.

 

18. Duration and Termination of this Agreement .

 

  (a) Initial Term . This Agreement shall become effective as of the later of the date first written above or the commencement of operations of a Fund (the “Start Date”) and shall continue thereafter throughout the period that ends two (2) years after the Start Date (the “Initial Term”).

 

  (b) Renewal Term . If not sooner terminated, this Agreement shall renew at the end of the Initial Term and shall thereafter continue for successive annual periods, provided such continuance is specifically approved at least annually (i) by the Trust’s Board of Trustees or (ii) by a vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the relevant Fund of the Trust, provided that in either event the continuance is also approved by the majority of the Trustees of the Trust who are not interested persons (as defined in the 1940 Act) of any party to this Agreement by vote cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on such approval. If a plan under Rule 12b-1 of the 1940 Act is in effect, continuance of the plan and this Agreement must be approved at least annually by a majority of the Trustees of the Trust who are not interested persons (as defined in the 1940 Act) and have no financial interest in the operation of such plan or in any agreements related to such plan, cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on such approval.

 

  (c) This Agreement is terminable without penalty on sixty (60) days’ written notice by the Trust’s Board of Trustees, by vote of the holders of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the relevant Fund, or by ALPS.

 

  (d)

Deliveries Upon Termination . Upon termination of this Agreement, ALPS agrees to cooperate in the orderly transfer of its distribution duties hereunder and shall deliver to the Trust or as otherwise directed by the Trust (at the expense of the Trust) all records and other documents made or accumulated in the performance of its duties for the Trust hereunder. In the event ALPS gives notice of termination under this

 

9


  Agreement, it will, at the Trust’s discretion, continue to provide the services contemplated hereunder after such termination at the contractual rate for up to 120 days, provided that the Trust uses all reasonable commercial efforts to appoint such replacement on a timely basis.

 

19. Assignment . This Agreement will automatically terminate in the event of its assignment (as defined in the 1940 Act). This Agreement shall not be assignable by the Trust without the prior written consent of ALPS.

 

20. Governing Law . The provisions of this Agreement shall be construed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of Colorado and the 1940 Act and the rules thereunder. To the extent that the laws of the State of Colorado conflict with the 1940 Act or such rules, the latter shall control.

 

21. Names . The obligations of the Trust entered into in the name or on behalf thereof by any trustee, shareholder, representative, or agent thereof are made not individually, but in such capacities, and are not binding upon any of the trustees, shareholders, representatives or agents of the Trust personally, but bind only the property of the Trust, and all persons dealing with the Trust must look solely to the property of the Trust for the enforcement of any claims against the Trust.

 

22. No Third Party Beneficiaries.  There are no third party beneficiaries of this Agreement. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, nothing in the Agreement is intended to, or shall be read to, (i) create in any person or entity other than the parties hereto (including without limitation any shareholder in any Fund) any direct, indirect, derivative or other rights against the parties hereto, or (ii) create or give rise to any duty or obligation on the part of any party hereto (including without limitation any fiduciary duty) to any person other than the parties hereto, all of which rights, benefits, duties and obligations are hereby expressly excluded.

 

23. Amendments to this Agreement . This Agreement may only be amended by the parties in writing.

 

24. Notices . All notices and other communications hereunder shall be in writing, shall be deemed to have been given when received or when sent by telex or facsimile, and shall be given to the following addresses (or such other addresses as to which notice is given):

 

  To ALPS:
 

ALPS Distributors, Inc.

1290 Broadway, Suite 1100

Denver, Colorado 80203

Attn: General Counsel

Fax: (303) 623-7850

 

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  To the Trust:
 

Attn: Christopher O. Petersen

Ameriprise Financial

707 2nd Ave South

5228 Ameriprise Financial Center

Minneapolis, MN 55474

 

Fax: (612) 671-2680

 

25. Counterparts . This Agreement may be executed by the parties hereto on any number of counterparts, and all of said counterparts taken together shall be deemed to constitute one and the same instrument.

 

26. Entire Agreement . This Agreement embodies the entire agreement and understanding among the parties and supersedes all prior agreements and understandings relating to the subject matter hereof; provided, however, that ALPS may embody in one or more separate documents its agreement, if any, with respect to delegated duties and oral instructions.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have executed this Agreement as of the day and year first above written.

 

COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I
By:  

/s/ Christopher O. Petersen

Name:   Christopher O. Petersen
Title:   President
ALPS DISTRIBUTORS, INC.
By:  

/s/ Jeremy O. May

Name:   Jeremy O. May
Title   President

 

11


APPENDIX A

LIST OF FUNDS

Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF

Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF

Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF


APPENDIX B

SERVICES

(a) The Trust grants to ALPS the exclusive right to receive all orders for purchases and redemptions of Creation Units of each Fund from participating parties (“Authorized Participants”) which have entered into a participant agreement with ALPS and the transfer agent in accordance with the registration statement (“Participant Agreements”) and to transmit such orders to the Funds in accordance with the registration statement; provided, however, that nothing herein shall affect or limit the right and ability of the Funds to accept deposit securities and related cash components through or outside the clearing process, and as provided in and in accordance with the registration statement. The Trust acknowledges that ALPS shall not be obligated to accept any certain number of orders for Creation Units.

(b) ALPS agrees to act as agent of the Trust with respect to the continuous distribution of Creation Units of the Funds as set forth in the registration statement and in accordance with the provisions thereof. ALPS further agrees as follows: (a) ALPS shall enter into Participant Agreements among Authorized Participants, ALPS, and the transfer agent in accordance with the registration statement; (b) ALPS shall generate and transmit confirmations of Creation Unit purchase order acceptances to the purchaser and maintain records of both orders placed with it and confirmations of acceptance furnished by it; (c) ALPS shall deliver copies of the prospectus to purchasers of such Creation Units and upon request the statement of additional information; and (d) ALPS shall maintain telephonic, facsimile and/or access to direct computer communications links with the transfer agent.

(c) ALPS shall ensure that all direct requests for prospectuses, statements of additional information and periodic fund reports, as applicable, are fulfilled at ALPS’ expense, provided the Trust has supplied such documents to ALPS in accordance with Section 3 of the Agreement. ALPS will generally make it known in the brokerage community that prospectuses and statements of additional information are available, including by ensuring applicable disclosures are included in all marketing and advertising materials that are submitted by a Fund to ALPS for review and filing with FINRA.

(d) (i) ALPS agrees to use all reasonable efforts, consistent with its distribution services provided to exchange-traded funds, to facilitate the purchase of Creation Units through Authorized Participants in accordance with the procedures set forth in the prospectus and the Participant Agreements.

(ii) ALPS shall, at its own expense, execute selected or soliciting dealer agreements with registered broker-dealers and other eligible entities providing for the purchase of Creation Units of Shares of the Funds and related promotional activities, in the forms as approved by the Board of Trustees of the Trust, as may be amended from time to time. The Trust shall not furnish or cause to be furnished to any person or display or publish any information or materials relating to the Funds (including, without limitation, promotional materials and sales literature, advertisements, press releases, announcements, statements, posters,

 

13


signs or other similar material), except such information and materials that have been approved in writing by ALPS. Furthermore, ALPS shall clear and file all advertising, sales, marketing and promotional materials of the Funds with FINRA.

(e) ALPS agrees to administer the Trust’s distribution plan on behalf of the Funds. ALPS shall, at its own expense, set up and maintain a system of recording and payments for fees and reimbursement of expenses disseminated pursuant to this Agreement and any other related agreements under the Trust’s Rule 12b-1 Plans and shall, pursuant to the 1940 Act, report such payment activity under the Distribution Plan to the Trust at least quarterly.

(f) All activities by ALPS and its agents and employees which are primarily intended to result in the sale of Creation Units shall comply with the registration statement, the instructions of the Board of Trustees of the Trust and all applicable laws, rules and regulations including, without limitation, all rules and regulations made or adopted pursuant to the 1940 Act by the SEC or any securities association registered under the 1934 Act, including FINRA and the Listing Exchange.

(g) Except as otherwise noted in the registration statement, the offering price for all Creation Units of Shares will be the aggregate net asset value of the Shares per Creation Unit of the Fund, as determined in the manner described in the registration statement.

(h) If and whenever the determination of net asset value is suspended and until such suspension is terminated, no further orders for Creation Units will be processed by ALPS except such unconditional orders as may have been placed with ALPS before it had knowledge of the suspension. In addition, the Trust reserves the right to suspend sales and ALPS’ authority to process orders for Creation Units on behalf of the Funds, upon due notice to ALPS, if, in the judgment of the Trust, it is in the best interests of the Funds to do so. Suspension will continue for such period as may be determined by the Funds.

(i) ALPS is not authorized by the Trust to give any information or to make any representations other than those contained in the registration statement or contained in shareholder reports or other material that may be prepared by or on behalf of the Funds for ALPS’ use.

(j) The Board of Trustees of the Trust shall approve the form of any Participant Agreement and Soliciting Dealer to be entered into by ALPS.

(k) At the request of the Trust, ALPS shall enter into agreements, in the form specified by the Trust, with participants in the system for book-entry of The Depository Trust Company and the NSCC as described in the registration statement.

(l) ALPS agrees to make available, at the Trust’s request, one or more members of its staff to attend Board meetings of the Trust in order to provide information with regard to the ongoing distribution process and for such other purposes as may be requested by the Board of Trustees of the Trust.

(m) ALPS will review all sales and marketing materials for compliance with applicable laws and conditions of any applicable exemptive order, and file such materials with FINRA when necessary or appropriate. All such sales and marketing materials must be approved, in writing, by ALPS prior to use.

 

14

AMENDMENT AND JOINDER

TO

CUSTODY AGREEMENT

This Amendment and Joinder (the “Amendment”) is made as of April 19, 2016, by and among the undersigned trusts on behalf of the series listed at Schedule II (each, a “Fund” and together, the “Funds”) and The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon”).

BACKGROUND:

 

A. Certain of the Funds and BNY Mellon are parties to a Custody Agreement dated as of March 20, 2009, as amended (the “Agreement”), relating to BNY Mellon’s provision of custody services to certain of the Funds.

 

B. Each Fund and BNY Mellon desire that each Fund be a party to the Agreement and receive the custody services set forth in the Agreement.

 

C. Further, the parties desire to amend the Agreement as set forth herein.

 

D. This Background section is incorporated by reference into and made a part of this Amendment.

TERMS:

In consideration of the mutual agreements contained herein, the parties hereby agree as follows:

 

1. By executing this Amendment, each Fund and BNY Mellon agree to become a party to, and be bound by, and to comply with the terms of the Agreement in the same manner as if each of the undersigned were an original signatory to the Agreement, or for Funds launched subsequent to the date of the Agreement, as if the undersigned were joined to the Agreement on the first day of such Fund’s operations. For the avoidance of doubt, each Fund hereby appoints BNY Mellon to provide accounting services in accordance with the terms set forth in the Agreement. BNY Mellon accepts such appointment and agrees to furnish such services in accordance with such terms.

 

2. Schedule II to the Agreement shall be amended and restated as attached hereto.

 

3. Miscellaneous.

 

  (a) As amended and supplemented hereby, the Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.

 

  (b)

In the event of a conflict between the terms of this Amendment and the terms of the Agreement, the terms of this Amendment shall control with respect to the subject matter described herein. This Amendment


  together with the Agreement embodies the entire agreement and understanding between the parties hereto and supersedes all prior agreements and understandings related to the subject matter hereof.

 

  (c) This Amendment may be executed in two or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original, but all of which together shall constitute one and the same instrument. The facsimile signature of any party to this Amendment shall constitute the valid and binding execution hereof by such party.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF , each party hereto has caused this Amendment to be executed by its duly authorized representatives designated below as of the day and year first above written.

 

THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON
By:  

/s/ Thomas Porrazzo

Name:   /s/ Thomas Porrazzo
Title:   Managing Director
COLUMBIA ETF TRUST
By:  

/s/ Michael G. Clarke

Name:   Michael G. Clarke
Title:   CFO and Treasurer
COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I
By:  

/s/ Michael G. Clarke

Name:   Michael G. Clarke
Title:   CFO and Treasurer


SCHEDULE II

(dated April 19, 2016)

FUNDS

COLUMBIA ETF TRUST

Columbia Core Bond ETF

Columbia Intermediate Municipal Bond ETF

COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I

Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF

Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF

Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF

Columbia Sustainable U.S. Growth ETF

AMENDMENT AND JOINDER

TO

TRANSFER AGENCY AND SERVICE AGREEMENT

This Amendment and Joinder (the “Amendment”) is made as of April 19, 2016, by and among the undersigned trusts on behalf of the series listed at Appendix I (each, a “Fund” and together, the “Funds”) and The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon”).

BACKGROUND:

 

A. Certain of the Funds and BNY Mellon are parties to a Transfer Agency and Service Agreement dated as of March 20, 2009, as amended (the “Agreement”), relating to BNY Mellon’s provision of transfer agency services to certain of the Funds.

 

B. Each Fund and BNY Mellon desire that each Fund be a party to the Agreement and receive the transfer agency services set forth in the Agreement.

 

C. Further, the parties desire to amend the Agreement as set forth herein.

 

D. This Background section is incorporated by reference into and made a part of this Amendment.

TERMS:

In consideration of the mutual agreements contained herein, the parties hereby agree as follows:

 

1. By executing this Amendment, each Fund and BNY Mellon agree to become a party to, and be bound by, and to comply with the terms of the Agreement in the same manner as if each of the undersigned were an original signatory to the Agreement, or for Funds launched subsequent to the date of the Agreement, as if the undersigned were joined to the Agreement on the first day of such Fund’s operations. For the avoidance of doubt, each Fund hereby appoints BNY Mellon to provide services in accordance with the terms set forth in the Agreement. BNY Mellon accepts such appointment and agrees to furnish such services in accordance with such terms.

 

2. Appendix I to the Agreement, as amended, shall be further amended and restated as attached hereto.

 

3. Miscellaneous.

 

  (a) As amended and supplemented hereby, the Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.

 

  (b)

In the event of a conflict between the terms of this Amendment and the terms of the Agreement, the terms of this Amendment shall control


  with respect to the subject matter described herein. This Amendment together with the Agreement embodies the entire agreement and understanding between the parties hereto and supersedes all prior agreements and understandings related to the subject matter hereof.

 

  (c) This Amendment may be executed in two or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original, but all of which together shall constitute one and the same instrument. The facsimile signature of any party to this Amendment shall constitute the valid and binding execution hereof by such party.

 

  (d) There are no third party beneficiaries of the Agreement. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, nothing in the Agreement is intended to, or shall be read to, (i) create in any person other than the parties hereto (including without limitation any shareholder in any Fund) any direct, indirect, derivative or other rights against the parties hereto, or (ii) create or give rise to any duty or obligation on the part of any party hereto (including without limitation any fiduciary duty) to any person other than the parties hereto, all of which rights, benefits, duties and obligations are hereby expressly excluded.

 

  (e) A copy of the Agreement and Declaration of Trust of each of Columbia ETF Trust and Columbia ETF Trust I, as amended or restated from time to time, are on file with the Secretary of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and notice is hereby given that this Amendment is executed on behalf of Columbia ETF Trust and Columbia ETF Trust I (together, the “Trusts”) by an officer or trustee of the Trusts in his or her capacity as an officer or trustee of the Trusts and not individually, and that the obligations of or arising out of this Amendment or the Agreement are not binding upon any of the trustees, officers or shareholders of the Trusts individually, but are binding only upon the assets and property of the applicable Trust. Furthermore, notice is hereby given that the assets and liabilities of each series of the Trusts are separate and distinct and that the obligations of or arising out of this agreement with respect to the series of the Trusts are several and not joint.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF , each party hereto has caused this Amendment to be executed by its duly authorized representatives designated below as of the day and year first above written.


THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON
By:  

/s/ Thomas Porrazzo

Name:   /s/ Thomas Porrazzo
Title:   Managing Director
COLUMBIA ETF TRUST
By:  

/s/ Michael G. Clarke

Name:   Michael G. Clarke
Title:   CFO and Treasurer
COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I
By:  

/s/ Michael G. Clarke

Name:   Michael G. Clarke
Title:   CFO and Treasurer


APPENDIX I

(dated April 19, 2016)

FUNDS

COLUMBIA ETF TRUST

Columbia Core Bond ETF

Columbia Intermediate Municipal Bond ETF

COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I

Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF

Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF

Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF

Columbia Sustainable U.S. Growth ETF

AMENDMENT AND JOINDER

TO

FUND ADMINISTRATION AND ACCOUNTING AGREEMENT

This Amendment and Joinder (the “Amendment”) is made as of April 19, 2016, by and among the undersigned trusts on behalf of the series listed at Exhibit A (each, a “Fund” and together, the “Funds”) and The Bank of New York Mellon (“BNY Mellon”).

BACKGROUND:

 

A. Certain of the Funds and BNY Mellon are parties to a Fund Administration and Accounting Agreement dated as of March 20, 2009, as amended (the “Agreement”), relating to BNY Mellon’s provision of administration and accounting services to certain of the Funds.

 

B. Each Fund and BNY Mellon desire that each Fund be a party to the Agreement and receive the administration and accounting services set forth in the Agreement.

 

C. Further, the parties desire to amend the Agreement as set forth herein.

 

D. This Background section is incorporated by reference into and made a part of this Amendment.

TERMS:

In consideration of the mutual agreements contained herein, the parties hereby agree as follows:

 

1. By executing this Amendment, each Fund and BNY Mellon agree to become a party to, and be bound by, and to comply with the terms of the Agreement in the same manner as if each of the undersigned were an original signatory to the Agreement, or for Funds launched subsequent to the date of the Agreement, as if the undersigned were joined to the Agreement on the first day of such Fund’s operations. For the avoidance of doubt, each Fund hereby appoints BNY Mellon to provide services in accordance with the terms set forth in the Agreement. BNY Mellon accepts such appointment and agrees to furnish such services in accordance with such terms.

 

2. Exhibit A to the Agreement, as amended, shall be further amended and restated as attached hereto.

 

3. Miscellaneous.

 

  (a) As amended and supplemented hereby, the Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.


  (b) In the event of a conflict between the terms of this Amendment and the terms of the Agreement, the terms of this Amendment shall control with respect to the subject matter described herein. This Amendment together with the Agreement embodies the entire agreement and understanding between the parties hereto and supersedes all prior agreements and understandings related to the subject matter hereof.

 

  (c) This Amendment may be executed in two or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original, but all of which together shall constitute one and the same instrument. The facsimile signature of any party to this Amendment shall constitute the valid and binding execution hereof by such party.

 

  (d) There are no third party beneficiaries of the Agreement. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, nothing in the Agreement is intended to, or shall be read to, (i) create in any person other than the parties hereto (including without limitation any shareholder in any Fund) any direct, indirect, derivative or other rights against the parties hereto, or (ii) create or give rise to any duty or obligation on the part of any party hereto (including without limitation any fiduciary duty) to any person other than the parties hereto, all of which rights, benefits, duties and obligations are hereby expressly excluded.

 

  (e) A copy of the Agreement and Declaration of Trust of each of Columbia ETF Trust and Columbia ETF Trust I, as amended or restated from time to time, are on file with the Secretary of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and notice is hereby given that this Amendment is executed on behalf of Columbia ETF Trust and Columbia ETF Trust I (together, the “Trusts”) by an officer or trustee of the Trusts in his or her capacity as an officer or trustee of the Trusts and not individually, and that the obligations of or arising out of this Amendment or the Agreement are not binding upon any of the trustees, officers or shareholders of the Trusts individually, but are binding only upon the assets and property of the applicable Trust. Furthermore, notice is hereby given that the assets and liabilities of each series of the Trusts are separate and distinct and that the obligations of or arising out of this agreement with respect to the series of the Trusts are several and not joint.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF , each party hereto has caused this Amendment to be executed by its duly authorized representatives designated below as of the day and year first above written.


THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON
By:  

/s/ Thomas Porrazzo

Name:   /s/ Thomas Porrazzo
Title:   Managing Director
COLUMBIA ETF TRUST
By:  

/s/ Michael G. Clarke

Name:   Michael G. Clarke
Title:   CFO and Treasurer
COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I
By:  

/s/ Michael G. Clarke

Name:   Michael G. Clarke
Title:   CFO and Treasurer


EXHIBIT A

(dated April 19, 2016)

FUNDS

COLUMBIA ETF TRUST

Columbia Core Bond ETF

Columbia Intermediate Municipal Bond ETF

COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I

Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF

Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF

Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF

Columbia Sustainable U.S. Growth ETF

EXPENSE LIMITATION AGREEMENT

COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I

225 Franklin Street

Boston, MA 02110

April 19, 2016

Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC

225 Franklin Street

Boston, MA 02110

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen:

All the funds listed in Schedule A (the “Funds”) are each a series of Columbia ETF Trust I, a Massachusetts business trust (“Trust”).

You hereby agree, as of the effective set forth on Schedule A (the “Effective Date”) and until the end of the limitation period noted on Schedule A (“Limitation Period”), to forgo current payment of fees and/or reimburse annual operating expenses of the Funds (excluding taxes, expenses associated with investment in affiliated and non-affiliated pooled investment vehicles (including mutual funds and exchange-traded funds), brokerage commissions, interest, infrequent and/or unusual expenses and any other expenses the exclusion of which is specifically approved by the Funds’ Board of Trustees.) (“Operating Expenses”), so that the Operating Expenses of each Fund are limited to the rate per annum, as noted on Schedule A, of that Fund’s average daily net assets (“Expense Limitation”). You hereby agree, upon the Effective Date, that any reimbursements necessary to maintain an Expense Limitation shall be made, in immediately payable funds, to the relevant Fund within 10 days after the end of each month.

You understand that you shall look only to the assets attributable to the respective Fund for performance of this Agreement and for payment of any claim you may have hereunder, and neither any other series of the Trust, nor any of the Trust’s trustees, officers, employees, agents, or shareholders, whether past, present or future, shall be personally liable therefor.

This Agreement is made and to be performed principally in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and except insofar as the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or other federal laws and regulations may be controlling, this Agreement shall be governed by, and construed and enforced in accordance with, the internal laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Any amendment to this Agreement shall be in writing signed by the parties hereto.


If you are in agreement with the foregoing, please sign the form of acceptance on the enclosed counterpart hereof and return the same to us.

 

Very truly yours,
COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I,
on behalf of the Funds listed in Schedule A
By:  

/s/ Christopher O. Petersen

Name:   Christopher O. Petersen
Title:   President

The foregoing Agreement is hereby accepted as of April 19, 2016.

 

COLUMBIA MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT ADVISERS, LLC
By:  

/s/ Amy K. Johnson

Name:   Amy K. Johnson
Title:   Global Head of Operations


SCHEDULE A

 

Fund

   Effective
Date
     Limitation
Period
     Expense
Limitation
 

Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF

     June 6, 2016         February 28, 2017         0.40

Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF

     June 6, 2016         February 28, 2017         0.45

Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF

     June 6, 2016         February 28, 2017         0.35

May 24, 2016

Columbia ETF Trust I

225 Franklin Street

Boston, Massachusetts 02110

Gentlemen:

I am furnishing this opinion in connection with the Registration Statement on Form N-1A (the Registration Statement) filed under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, by Columbia ETF Trust I (the Trust).

I have examined the Agreement and Declaration of Trust and the By-Laws of the Trust and, as I have deemed necessary, certificates, permits, minute books, documents and records of the Trust, as well as the applicable statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

It is my opinion that, with respect to the series of the Trust listed on Exhibit A hereto (the Funds), the shares sold in accordance with applicable federal and state securities laws will be validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable.

Under Massachusetts law, shareholders could, under certain circumstances, be held personally liable for the obligations of the Trust. However, the Trust’s Declaration of Trust disclaims any shareholder liability for acts or obligations of the Funds, and the Trust and requires that notice of such disclaimer be given in each agreement, obligation, or instrument entered into or executed by a Fund or the Trustees. The Declaration of Trust provides for indemnification out of Fund property for all loss and expense of any shareholder held personally liable for the obligations of a Fund. Thus, the risk of a shareholder incurring financial loss on account of shareholder liability is limited to circumstances in which a Fund itself would be unable to meet its obligations.

I consent to the filing of this opinion with the Registration Statement.

 

Sincerely,
/s/  

Paul B. Goucher

  Paul B. Goucher
  Chief Legal Officer
  Columbia ETF Trust I


Exhibit A

Series of Columbia ETF Trust I:

Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF

Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF

Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF

CONSENT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

We hereby consent to the use in this Registration Statement on Form N-1A of our report dated May 24 2016, relating to the Statement of Assets and Liabilities of Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF, which appears in such Registration Statement. We also consent to the reference to us under the headings “Other Service Providers” and “Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm” in such Registration Statement.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Boston, Massachusetts

May 24, 2016

INVESTMENT LETTER

May 6, 2016

Columbia ETF Trust I

225 Franklin Street

Boston, Massachusetts 02110

Dear Trustees:

We understand that Columbia ETF Trust I (the “Company”) proposes to issue and sell shares (the “Shares”) in certain series (each a “Fund” and together the “Funds”) pursuant to a registration statement on Form N-1A filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The Company currently consists of 3 Funds that are expected to be effective on June 6, 2016, as follows:

Columbia Sustainable Global Equity Income ETF

Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income ETF

Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF

In order to provide the Company with a minimum $100,000 net worth as required by Section 14 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, we hereby offer to purchase $100,000 of Shares of Columbia Sustainable U.S. Equity Income ETF.

We represent and warrant to the Fund that the Shares are being acquired by us for investment purposes and not with a view to their resale or further distribution and that we have no present intention to redeem the Shares.

Please confirm that the foregoing correctly sets forth our agreement with the Company.

 

Sincerely,
Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC
By:  

/s/ Amy K. Johnson

  Amy K. Johnson
  Head of Operations

Confirmed, as of the date first above mentioned.

 

Columbia ETF Trust I
By:  

/s/ Michael G. Clarke

  Michael G. Clarke
  Chief Financial Officer

COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I

12b-1 Distribution and Service Plan

WHEREAS, Columbia ETF Trust I (the “Trust”) is an open-end management investment company registered as such under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), and organized as a series trust;

WHEREAS, the Board of Trustees of the Trust (“Trustees”) desires to adopt a plan of distribution pursuant to Rule l2b-1 under the 1940 Act with respect to the shares of beneficial interest (“Shares”) of certain of the series of the Trust, which are identified in Schedule A hereof, as may be amended from time to time (“Funds”), and the Trustees have determined that there is a reasonable likelihood that adoption of this Distribution and Service Plan (the “Plan”) will benefit each Fund and holders of such Fund’s Shares; and

WHEREAS, the Trust has entered into a written Distribution Agreement with ALPS Distributors, Inc. (the “Distributor”), pursuant to which the Distributor will act as the exclusive distributor with respect to the creation and distribution of aggregations of Shares as described in the Trust’s registration statement (“Creation Units”);

NOW, THEREFORE, on behalf of each Fund, the Trust hereby adopts this Plan in accordance with Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act on the following terms and conditions (capitalized terms not otherwise defined herein have the meanings assigned thereto in the Trust’s registration statement under the 1940 Act and under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, as such registration statement is amended by any amendments thereto at the time in effect).

SECTION 1. The Trust has adopted this Plan to enable the Trust to directly or indirectly bear expenses relating to the distribution of the Shares of the Trust.

SECTION 2. With respect to each Fund, the Trust may pay a monthly fee up to the amount set forth in Schedule A (“Limit”) to finance any activity primarily intended to result in the sale of Creation Units of each Fund or the provision of shareholder services, including but not limited to (a) compensation paid to registered representatives of the Distributor and other persons that have entered into agreements with the Distributor, (b) salaries and other expenses of the Distributor or other parties relating to selling or servicing efforts, including travel, communications and the provision of sales personnel, (c) expenses of organizing and conducting sales seminars, printing of prospectuses, statements of additional information and reports for other than existing shareholders, (d) preparation and distribution of advertising materials and sales literature and other marketing and sales promotion expenses, (e) distribution and/or shareholder service assistance through financial institutions and intermediaries such as banks, savings and loan associations, insurance companies and investment counselors, broker-dealers, and the affiliates and subsidiaries of the Trust’s service providers, (f) delivering any notices of shareholder meetings and proxy statements accompanying such notices in connection with general and special meetings of interest holders of the Trust, and/or (g) ongoing services to shareholders which facilitate the continued retention of investors as shareholders of a Fund.

The Distributor may use all or any portion of the amount received pursuant to this Plan to compensate securities dealers or other persons that are Authorized Participants (“third parties”)


for providing distribution assistance, including broker-dealer and shareholder support and educational and promotional services, pursuant to agreements with the Distributor, or to pay any of the expenses associated with other activities authorized under this Plan. All expenses covered by this Plan shall be deemed incurred whether paid directly by the Distributor or by a third party to the extent reimbursed therefor by the Distributor.

Fees shall be payable by the Trust on behalf of any Fund regardless of whether such fees are greater or less than the actual expenses incurred by the Distributor or third party with respect to such Fund during the relevant period. Although the Fund is not permitted to pay any expenses in excess of the relevant Limit, such excess expenses may be reimbursed during any of the Fund’s subsequent three fiscal years, provided and to the extent that the current expenses plus the excess expenses do not exceed the Limit for that subsequent year and are approved in the manner provided in Section 3 herein.

SECTION 3. Nothing in this Plan shall operate or be construed to prohibit or limit additional compensation derived from sales charges or other sources that may be paid to the Distributor pursuant to the aforementioned Distribution Agreement. In addition, nothing in this Plan shall operate or be construed to limit the extent to which the Trust’s investment adviser or any other person, other than the Trust, may incur costs and bear expenses associated with the distribution of Shares of a Fund. It is recognized that the Trust’s investment adviser and other persons may use its advisory revenues, past profits and other resources to make payments to the Distributor with respect to any expenses incurred in connection with the distribution of Shares. Accordingly, the Trust’s investment adviser and other persons, directly or indirectly, may from time to time make payments to third parties who engage in the sale of Shares or render shareholder support or transfer agency services. If such payments are deemed to be indirect financing of an activity primarily intended to result in the sale of shares issued by a Fund within the context of Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act, such payments shall be deemed to be authorized by this Plan.

SECTION 4. This Plan shall not take effect with respect to any Fund until it has been approved, together with any related agreements, by votes of the majority of both (a) the Trustees and (b) the Qualified Trustees (as defined in Section 10 herein), cast in person at a meeting of the Trustees called for the purpose of voting on this Plan or such agreement.

SECTION 5. This Plan shall continue in effect for a period of more than one year after it takes effect, only for so long as such continuance is specifically approved at least annually in the manner provided in Section 4 herein for the approval of this Plan.

SECTION 6. Any person authorized to direct the disposition of monies paid or payable by the Trust pursuant to this Plan or any related agreement shall provide to the Trustees, at least quarterly, a written report of the amounts so expended and the purposes for which such expenditures were made.

SECTION 7. This Plan may be terminated at any time, without payment of any penalty, by the vote of a majority of the Qualified Trustees or by vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Shares of the Funds.


SECTION 8. All agreements with any person relating to implementation of this Plan shall be in writing, and any agreement related to this Plan shall provide (a) that such agreement may be terminated at any time, without payment of any penalty, by the vote of a majority of the Qualified Trustees or by the vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Shares of the Funds, on not more than 60 days written notice to any other party to the agreement; and (b) that such agreement shall terminate automatically in the event of its assignment.

SECTION 9. This Plan may not be amended to increase materially the amount of distribution expenses permitted pursuant to Section 2 hereof without the approval of Shareholders holding a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Shares of the Funds, and all material amendments to this Plan shall be approved in the manner provided in Part (b) of Section 4 herein for the approval of this Plan.

SECTION 10. As used in this Plan, the term “Qualified Trustees” shall mean those Trustees of the Trust who are not interested persons of the Trust, and have no direct or indirect financial interest in the operation of this Plan or any agreements related to it. The terms “assignment,” “interested person,” and “majority of the outstanding voting securities” shall have the respective meanings specified in the 1940 Act and the rules and regulations thereunder, subject to such exemptions as may be granted by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SECTION 11. While this Plan is in effect, the selection and nomination of those Trustees who are not interested persons of the Trust within the meaning of Section 2(a)(19) of the 1940 Act shall be committed to the discretion of the Trustees then in office who are not interested persons of the Trust.

SECTION 12. This Plan shall not obligate the Trust or any other party to enter into an agreement with any particular person.

SECTION 13. If any provision of the Plan shall be held or made invalid, the remainder of the Plan shall not be affected thereby.

SECTION 14. The Trust shall preserve copies of this Plan, each agreement related hereto and each report referred to in Section 6 hereof for a period of at least six years, the first two years in an easily accessible place.

Dated: April 19, 2016


SCHEDULE A

COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I

The following series of Columbia ETF Trust I are subject to this Plan, at the fee rates specified:

 

Fund

   Fee (as a Percentage of Average
Daily Net Assets of the Fund)*
 

Columbia Sustainable Global Income ETF

     0.25

Columbia Sustainable International Income ETF

     0.25

Columbia Sustainable U.S. Income ETF

     0.25

 

* The determination of daily net assets shall be made at the close of business each day throughout the month and computed in the manner specified in the then current Prospectus for the determination of the net asset value of Creation Units. Plan payments shall be made within ten (10) days of the end of each calendar month unless otherwise agreed by the parties and approved or ratified by the Trustees.

Adopted: April 19, 2016

COLUMBIA FUNDS SERIES TRUST

COLUMBIA FUNDS SERIES TRUST I

COLUMBIA FUNDS SERIES TRUST II

COLUMBIA FUNDS VARIABLE INSURANCE TRUST

COLUMBIA FUNDS VARIABLE INSURANCE TRUST I

COLUMBIA FUNDS VARIABLE SERIES TRUST II

COLUMBIA ETF TRUST

COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I

(each a “Registrant”)

POWER OF ATTORNEY

The undersigned does hereby constitute and appoint Joseph L. D’Alessandro, Paul B. Goucher, Ryan C. Larrenaga, Christopher O. Petersen, Scott R. Plummer, Michael E. DeFao and Megan E. Garcy, each individually, his true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent (each an “Attorney-in-Fact”) with power of substitution or resubstitution, in any and all capacities, including without limitation in the undersigned’s capacity as Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial Officer) and Chief Accounting Officer (Principal Accounting Officer) of each Registrant, in the furtherance of the business and affairs of each Registrant: (i) to execute any and all instruments which said Attorney-in-Fact may deem necessary or advisable or which may be required to comply with the Securities Act of 1933, the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (together the “Acts”) and any other applicable federal securities laws, or rules, regulations or requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) in respect thereof, in connection with the filing and effectiveness of each Registrant’s Registration Statement regarding the registration of each Registrant or its shares of beneficial interest, and any and all amendments thereto, including without limitation any reports, forms or other filings required by the Acts or any other applicable federal securities laws, or rules, regulations or requirements of the SEC; and (ii) to execute any and all federal, state or foreign regulatory or other required filings, including all applications with regulatory authorities, state charter or organizational documents and any amendments or supplements thereto, to be executed by, on behalf of, or for the benefit of, each Registrant. The undersigned hereby grants to each Attorney-in-Fact full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing contemplated above, as fully and to all intents and purposes as the undersigned might or could do in person, and hereby ratifies and confirms all that said Attorneys-in-Fact, individually or collectively, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

This Power of Attorney shall not be revoked by any subsequent power of attorney I may execute unless such subsequent power of attorney specifically refers to this Power of Attorney or specifically states that the instrument is intended to revoke all prior general powers of attorney or all prior powers of attorney (and unless otherwise required by a provision of law that cannot be waived). This Power of Attorney shall terminate automatically with respect to a Registrant if the undersigned ceases to hold the above-referenced office(s) of a Registrant.


Dated: May 23, 2016

 

/s/ Michael G. Clarke

Michael G. Clarke

COLUMBIA ETF TRUST I

(the “Registrant”)

POWER OF ATTORNEY

Each of the undersigned, as trustees of the above listed investment company that previously has filed registration statements and amendments thereto pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 and/or the Investment Company Act of 1940 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, constitutes and appoints Michael G. Clarke, Scott R. Plummer, Christopher O. Petersen, Paul B. Goucher, Michael E. DeFao, Ryan C. Larrenaga, Joseph L. D’Alessandro, Megan E. Garcy, Robert M. Kurucza and George M. Silfen, each individually, his or her true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent (each an “Attorney-in-Fact”) with power of substitution or resubstitution, in any and all capacities, including without limitation in the undersigned’s capacity as a trustee of the Registrant, in the furtherance of the business and affairs of the Registrant: (i) to execute any and all instruments which said Attorney-in-Fact may deem necessary or advisable or which may be required to comply with the Securities Act of 1933, the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (together the “Acts”) and any other applicable federal securities laws, or rules, regulations or requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) in respect thereof, in connection with the filing and effectiveness of the Registrant’s Registration Statement regarding the registration of the Registrant or its shares of beneficial interest, and any and all amendments thereto, including without limitation any reports, forms or other filings required by the Acts or any other applicable federal securities laws, or rules, regulations or requirements of the SEC; and (ii) to execute any and all federal, state or foreign regulatory or other required filings, including all applications with regulatory authorities, state charter or organizational documents and any amendments or supplements thereto, to be executed by, on behalf of, or for the benefit of, the Registrant. The undersigned hereby grants to each Attorney-in-Fact full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing contemplated above, as fully and to all intents and purposes as the undersigned might or could do in person, and hereby ratifies and confirms all that said Attorneys-in-Fact, individually or collectively, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

This Power of Attorney shall not be revoked with respect to any undersigned trustee by any subsequent power of attorney the undersigned may execute unless such subsequent power of attorney specifically refers to this Power of Attorney or specifically states that the instrument is intended to revoke all prior general powers of attorney or all prior powers of attorney (and unless otherwise required by a provision of law that cannot be waived). This Power of Attorney shall terminate automatically with respect to a Registrant if the undersigned ceases to hold the above-referenced office of the Registrant.

Dated the 19th day of April, 2016.


/s/ Kathleen A. Blatz

  Trustee
Kathleen A. Blatz  

/s/ Edward J. Boudreau, Jr.

  Trustee
Edward J. Boudreau, Jr.  

/s/ Pamela G. Carlton

  Trustee
Pamela G. Carlton  

/s/ William P. Carmichael

  Trustee
William P. Carmichael  

/s/ Patricia M. Flynn

  Trustee
Patricia M. Flynn  

/s/ William A. Hawkins

  Trustee
William A. Hawkins  

/s/ R. Glenn Hilliard

  Trustee
R. Glenn Hilliard  

/s/ Catherine James Paglia

  Trustee
Catherine James Paglia  

/s/ Leroy C. Richie

  Trustee
Leroy C. Richie  

/s/ Anthony M. Santomero

  Trustee
Anthony M. Santomero  

/s/ Minor M. Shaw

  Trustee
Minor M. Shaw  

/s/ Alison Taunton-Rigby

  Trustee
Alison Taunton-Rigby  

/s/ William F. Truscott

  Trustee
William F. Truscott