| General Investment Risk: The Portfolio’s investment may fall in value due to any of the key risk factors below and therefore your investment in the Portfolio may suffer losses. There is no guarantee of the repayment of principal. Equities Securities Risk: The Portfolio’s investment in equity securities is subject to general market risks, whose value may fluctuate due to various factors, such as changes in investment sentiment, political and economic conditions and issuer-specific factors. ESG Investment Policy Risk: The use of ESG criteria may affect the Portfolio’s investment performance and, as such, the Portfolio may perform differently compared to similar funds that do not use such criteria. ESG-based criteria used in the Portfolio’s investment policy may result in the Portfolio forgoing opportunities to buy certain securities when it might otherwise be advantageous to do so, and/or selling securities due to their ESG characteristics when it might be disadvantageous to do so. As such, the application of ESG-based criteria may restrict the ability of the Portfolio to acquire or dispose of its investments at a price and time that it wishes to do so, and may therefore result in a loss to the Portfolio. The use of ESG criteria may also result in the Portfolio being concentrated in companies with ESG focus and its value may be more volatile than that of a fund having a more diverse portfolio of investments. There is a lack of standardised taxonomy of ESG evaluation methodology and the way in which different ESG funds will apply ESG criteria may vary. Evaluation of a company’s ESG scoring using the Investment Manager’s proprietary toolkit involves the Investment Manager’s subjective judgment. In addition, in its assessment, the Investment Manager is dependent upon information and data from third party ESG providers, which may be incomplete, inaccurate or unavailable. As a result, there is a risk that the Investment Manager may incorrectly assess a security or issuer. There is also a risk that the Investment Manager may not apply the relevant ESG criteria correctly or that the Portfolio could have indirect exposure to issuers who do not meet the relevant ESG criteria used by the Portfolio. Concentration Risk: The Portfolio’s investments are concentrated in specific industry sectors, instruments or geographical locations. The value of the Portfolio may be more volatile than that of a fund having a more diverse portfolio of investments. The value of the Portfolio may be more susceptible to adverse economic, political, policy, foreign exchange, liquidity, tax, legal or regulatory event affecting the market. Emerging Markets Risk: The Portfolio will invest in Emerging Markets, which are subject to higher risks (for example, liquidity risk, currency risk, political risk, regulatory risk, economic risk, legal and taxation risk, settlement risk and custody risk) and higher volatility than developed markets. Fluctuations in currency exchange rates may negatively affect the value of an investment or reduce returns – these risks are magnified in Emerging Markets. Focused Portfolio Risk: The Portfolio may invest in a more limited number of companies than many other funds, and carry more risk because changes in the value of a single security could have a more significant effect, either negative or positive, on the Portfolio’s net asset value. Currency Risk: Underlying investments may be denominated in one or more currencies different from the Portfolio’s base currency. Also, a class of shares may be designated in a currency other than the base currency of the Portfolio. This means changes in exchange rate controls, currency movements in such underlying investments and fluctuations in the exchange rates between these currencies and the base currency may significantly and unfavorably affect the net asset value of the Portfolio’s shares. Smaller Capitalisation Companies Risk: Small- and mid-cap stocks may have lower liquidity and their prices are more volatile to adverse economic developments than large-cap stocks—smaller companies generally face higher risks due to their limited product lines, markets and financial resources. Risk Relating to Renminbi (“RMB”) Class(es) :RMB is currently not freely convertible and is subject to exchange controls and restrictions. Non-RMB based investors are exposed to foreign exchange risk and there is no guarantee that the value of RMB against the investors’ base currencies (for example HKD) will not depreciate. Any depreciation of RMB could adversely affect the value of investor’s investment in the Portfolio. Although offshore RMB (CNH) and onshore RMB (CNY) are the same currency, they trade at different rates. Any divergence between CNH and CNY may adversely impact investors. Under exceptional circumstances, payment of redemptions and/or dividend payment in RMB may be delayed due to the exchange controls and restrictions applicable to RMB. Risk in Investing in Financial Derivative Instruments: Risks in investing with financial derivative instruments include counterparty / credit risk, liquidity risk, valuation risk, volatility risk and over-the-counter transaction risk. The leverage element / component of a financial derivative instrument can result in a loss significantly greater than the amount invested in the financial derivative instrument by the Portfolio. Exposure to financial derivative instrument may lead to a high risk of significant loss by the Portfolio. Risks Associated with Payment of Dividends out of Capital: The Board has the sole and absolute discretion to amend the dividend policy, subject to the SFC’s prior approval (if required) and by giving no less than one month’s prior notice to investors. Dividend yield is not indicative of return of the Portfolio. Dividends may be paid from capital or effectively out of the capital of the Portfolio at the discretion of the Board, which may amount to a partial return or withdrawal of an investor’s original investment or from any capital gains attributable to that original investment, and result in an immediate decrease of the net asset value per Share. The distribution amount and net asset value of the currency hedged share classes may be adversely affected by differences in the interest rates of the reference currency of the currency hedged share classes and the Portfolio’s base currency, resulting in an increase in the amount of distribution that is paid out of capital and hence a greater erosion of capital than other nonhedged share classes. |