Rebranding

The Good Harbor Tactical Core US II Fund has been renamed the Good Harbor Tactical Select Fund.

On October 1, the Aston Funds will undergo a name change to the AMG Funds IV.

The TCW Concentrated Value Fund has undergone a name change and is now the TCW Focused Equities Fund.

As of September 30, the RBC BlueBay Total Return Credit Fund will be renamed the RBC BlueBay Diversified Credit Fund.

Share Classes

On November 29, the Class B shares of the Alger SMid Cap Growth Fund and the Alger Health Sciences Fund will be converted to Class A shares.

On November 30, the F Class shares for the T. Rowe Price Institutional Core Plus Fund will be converted to institutional class shares.

On November 7, the fund shareholders of the Brandes Core Plus Fixed Income Fund, the Brandes Global Equity Fund and the Brandes International Equity Fund will vote on eliminating Class E shares of the funds.

On October 1, the sole class shares of the AMG Managers Brandywine Advisors Mid Cap Growth Fund will be reclassified and redesignated as Class N shares.

As of September 30, the Federated Bond Fund will begin to offer Class R6 shares. The fund will also reduce it's investment advisory fee by 20 bps.

Guggenheim's Rydex Dynamic Funds approved a reverse split share to be implemented on November 4 for the Inverse NASDAQ-100 2x Strategy Fund, the Inverse Russell 2000 2x Strategy Fund, the Commodities Strategy Fund, the Emerging Markets Bond Strategy Fund, the Energy Fund, the Europe 1.25x Strategy Fund, the Inverse Emerging Markets 2x Strategy Fund, the Inverse High Yield Strategy Fund, the Inverse NASDAQ-100 Strategy Fund, the Inverse S&P 500 Strategy Fund, the Japan 2x Strategy Fund, the Weakening Dollar 2x Strategy Fund and the Inverse S&P 500 2x Strategy Fund. The Commodities Strategy Fund will have a 1:12 reverse split share. The Inverse NASDAQ-100 2x Strategy Fund, the Europe 1.25x Strategy Fund, the Inverse Emerging Markets 2x Strategy Fund, the Inverse S&P 500 Strategy Fund, and the Weakening Dollar 2x Strategy Fund will have a 1:6 reverse split share. The Inverse Russell 2000 2x Strategy Fund, the Emerging Markets Bond Strategy Fund, the Energy Fund, the Inverse High Yield Strategy Fund, the Inverse NASDAQ-100 Strategy Fund, the Japan 2x Strategy Fund and the Inverse S&P 500 2x Strategy Fund will have a 1:4 reverse split share. On November 7, shares will be available on a split-adjusted basis.

On October 28, several funds from the iShares Trust will implement a reverse split share policy. The iShares Mortgage Real Estate Capped ETF and the iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF will have a 1:4 reverse split share. The iShares MSCI Global Gold Miners ETF, the iShares MSCI Global Metals & Mining Producers ETF, the iShares MSCI Italy Capped ETF, the iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF and the iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF will have a 1:2 reverse split share. On October 31, the funds will begin trading on a split-adjusted basis.

Investment Strategy

As of September 23, the Touchstone International Value Fund will now track the MSCI EAFE Value Index as its primary benchmark. The MSCI EAFE Index is now the fund's secondary benchmark.

As of September 30, the Loomis Sayles Global Equity and Income Fund will no longer track the MSCI World Index. Instead, its primary benchmark will be the MSCI All Country World Index. Its secondary benchmark, the Citigroup World Government Bond Index, will be replaced as well. It will become 60% MSCI All Country World Index and 40% Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Bond Index.

On October 1, the Virtus Global Infrastructure Fund will no longer track the S&P 500 Index. Instead, its primary benchmark is the FTSE Developed Core Infrastructure 50/50 Index, and its secondary benchmark is the MSCI World Infrastructure Sector Capped Index.

On October 31, the VanEck Vectors EM Investment Grade + BB Rated USD Sovereign Bond ETF will no longer track the J.P. Morgan Custom EM Investment Grade Plus BB-Rated Sovereign USD Bond Index. Instead, it will track the J.P. Morgan EMBI Global Diversified Index.

Portfolio Managers

As of September 23, the Farha-Joyce Haboucha will no longer serve as PM of the Touchstone Sustainability and Impact Equity Fund. David Harris and Jimmy Chang will continue to serve as co-PMs.

Robert Taylor no longer serves as a co-PM to the Natixis Oakmark International Fund.

As of August 1, Bradley Klapmeyer replaced Philip Sanders as a co-PM of the Ivy Large Cap Growth Fund. As of August 31, Andrew Massie is no longer a co-PM of the Ivy Cundill Global Value Fund. As of September 1, Lisa Kaufman replaced Keith Pauley as a co-PM of the Ivy LaSalle Global Real Estate Fund and the Ivy LaSalle Global Risk-Managed Real Estate Fund. On October 1, Nathan Brown became a co-PM of the Ivy Mid Cap Growth Fund, Michael Wolverton became a co-PM of the Ivy Energy Fund and the Ivy Global Natural Resources Fund, John Maxwell and Aaron Young replaced F. Chace Brundige and Cynthia Prince-Fox as co-PMs of the Ivy Managed International Opportunities Fund, Kenneth McQuade and Brad Halverson became co-PMs of the Ivy Small Cap Growth Fund and Bradley Warden became a co-PM of the Ivy Science and Technology Fund.

On October 1, Aaron Young became a co-PM of the InvestEd Portfolios. Also, Waddell & Reed Investment Management Company will no longer serve as investment advisor to the funds. They will be replaced by Ivy Investment Management Company. In addition, the Ivy Funds InvestEd 529 Plan, one of the funds in the trust, will undergo a name change to the Ivy InvestEd 529 Plan, and as of August 1, Henry Herrmann retired as CEO of Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc., president, CEO and chairman of Waddell & Reed Investment Management Company and Ivy Investment Management Company, and was replaced by Philip Sanders, previously reported.

Samir Sikka and Alex Alvarez will no longer serve as PMs of the Wells Fargo Intrinsic Small Cap Value Fund. Ann Miletti will be the PM of the fund.

Subadvisors

Nuveen fund shareholders are being asked to vote on a sub-advisory agreement enabling NWQ Investment Management Company, LLC to be the Nuveen Tradewinds Global All-Cap Fund's subadvisor. They are also asking fund shareholders to approve the reorganization of the fund into the Nuveen NWQ Global Equity Income Fund.

On October 15, Franklin Advisers, Inc will no longer serve as a subadvisor to the Old Westbury Strategic Opportunities Fund. Bessemer Investment Management LLC will act as the investment advisor.

On October 31, Western Asset Management Company will no longer serve as a subadvisor to the PF Inflation Managed Fund. Pacific Investment Management Company LLC will be the fund's sole subadvisor.

Management

As of September 23, Heidi Stam retired as managing director and general counsel of Vanguard and secretary of each of the Vanguard funds. Anne Robinson will replace Stam as general counsel of Vanguard and secretary of each of the Vanguard funds.

Trustees

As of September 13, Douglas Malmquist no longer serves as a member of the board and the audit and nominating committees of Provident Mutual Funds, Inc. He is replaced by Willard Walker.

Fund Mergers & Liquidations

As of September 23, the Calvert VP Natural Resources Portfolio merged into the Calvert VP Russell 2000 Small Cap Index Portfolio.

On November 10, the Galapagos Partners Select Fund, a member of the Ultimus Managers Trust, will terminate and liquidate.

On October 28, the Victory Select Fund will terminate and liquidate.

On October 31, the PF Absolute Return Fund and the PF Floating Rate Loan Fund will terminate and liquidate.

On February 10, 2017, the Nationwide Diverse Managers Fund will be terminated and liquidated.

On October 7, the Tax-Exempt Portfolio, an affiliate of the Northern Institutional Funds, will terminate and liquidate, even though it was originally scheduled for October 14. Similarly, on October 7, the California Municipal Money Market Fund, an affiliate of the Northern Funds and the Money Market Funds will terminate and liquidate, even though it was originally scheduled for October 14.

As of September 23, the PIMCO Money Market Fund reorganized into the PIMCO Government Money Market Fund.

On October 12, the Nicholas Money Market Fund will terminate and liquidate.

On October 14, the VanEck Vectors Gulf States Index ETF and the VanEck Vectors Indonesia Small-Cap ETF will terminate and liquidate.

AB is asking fund shareholders to vote on a reorganization of the AB Conservative Wealth Strategy into the AB All Market Income Portfolio.

Fees

As of September 30, the Gavekal KL Allocation Fund will remove its redemption fee.

Effective October 1, the BlackRock Investment Grade Bond Portfolio is waiving its management fees. Additionally on October 1, BlackRock International Limited became a subadvisor to the BlackRock Investment Grade Bond Portfolio.

Effective October 1, the Gabelli Dividend Growth Fund began waiving its investment advisory fees for the Class I shares of the fund.

As of September 27, the MassMutual RetireSMART Funds have updated both their shareholder fees, and their annual fund operating expenses.

The AlphaCentric Income Opportunities Fund has updated both its shareholder fees and its annual fund operating expenses.

As of September 26, the BlackRock Dynamic High Income Portfolio will reduce the cap on net expenses of the fund.

As of October 1, the Prudential Emerging Markets Debt Local Currency Fundand the Prudential Global Total Return Fund have enhanced their existing contractual cap. The latter fund will also reduce its management fee.

On November 1, the Eagle Investment Grade Bond Fund will lower the maximum expense ratio for each class of shares.



Check our last Filings For Fundsters column (previously called Stork and Reaper) for more SEC filing updates. For the latest new hires and fund launches, explore our People on the Move and New Fund Fuss columns. If you have a fund filing, a mutual fund launch, a product change or a new hire that you would like to announce, please contact the MFWire team at editors@investmentwires.com. 

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